News

On December 20, 2023 which was the 74th day of hostage taking by Hamas, Lithuanian diplomats met in Tel Aviv with family members of the missing Israelis.

At first, Ambassador Audrius Brūzga, at the invitation of Mayor Ron Huldai attended a joint solidarity meeting in Tel Aviv and then invited two hostage families to his Residence to continue conversation by the Christmas tree.

One of the captives, a 23 year old Evyatar David is a Litvak, his mother Galia has not speared efforts to have the Lithuanian citizenship restored to her son. The other hostage, a 19 year old teacher Tamir Nimrodi was on military duty when his unit was overtaken by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and Tamir was dragged to Gaza. The wareabouts of Tamir and Evyatar are unknown, it is presumed they are held hostage in Gaza.  

The families of the hostages were asking diplomats not only to sympathize with them but also to call on their respective governments to do all they can to expedite release of all of the captives without delay: Bring Them Home Now.

Ambassador Brūzga made it clear that Lithuania condemned Hamas terror without reservations and recognized the right and duty of the Israeli government to protect its citizens. The Ambassador wished the David and Nimrodi families strength and perseverance and also hope and invited them to listen to two musical greetings from Lithuania. One video recording was sent by violinist Dalia Dedinskaitė and cellist Gleb Pyšniak. They performed the Hebrew Lullaby by Joseph Achron, a Lithuania-born composer. The other recording came from the a capella youth group Jazz Island. Young jazz singers under the leadership of Artūras Novikas performed two compositions from their Christmas repertoire.