One-day exhibition near DNC draws attention to hostages held by Hamas
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A demonstration was under way in the West Loop on the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago Tuesday—this time by a pro-Israeli organization seeking to draw attention for the hostages still held by Hamas.
A couple of blocks from the United Center, a one-day exhibition called Hostage Square Chicago was set up—with a number of art installations and groups calling for hostages still being held by Hamas to be returned home. Eight of those hostages are American citizens.
Six Israeli artists were involved in the creations. One of them, "The Milk Carton Project," features the American citizen hostages' faces on 10-foot-tall milk cartons—echoing the campaign in which photos of missing children that were placed on milk cartons back in the 1980s.
In addition to drawing attention to the hostages, the installation also mourns the lives lost on Oct 7, 2023. It is set at Madison and Morgan streets.
The installation is hosted by the Israeli American Council. A number of groups visited the installation Tuesday, including hostages' families, and Michael Herzog, the Ambassador of Israel to the United States.
Herzog said he hoped the latest hostage release deal would impact some of the families who came for the exhibition.
"There is an effort undergoing right now led by the U.S. government—and we thank the U.S. government for its efforts—to broker yet another hostage release deal," Herzog said. "Yesterday, as Secretary Blinken said, the U.S. put forward a bridging proposal which Israel accepted, and we are now waiting for Hamas to see if they are in the game."
Andrea Weinstein was among those who came to the installation representing the Americans still being held hostage.
"Now more than ever, kindness and tolerance within an open heart," Weinstein said, reading a poem written by her sister, Judih Weinstein-Haggai.
Weinstein said Judih and her husband, Gadi Haggai, were brutally murdered on Oct. 7 while out on a walk—and are featured in the Hostage Square Chicag exhibit.
Weinstein traveled from Connecticut to make her voice heard, as hostage families did for the Republican National Convention earlier this summer.
Weinstein said her family members' bodies are being held hostage—and like the eight other families of American hostages, they want them brought home.
Gaza health officials said the Israeli military has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, which was also something Weinstein addressed.
"We need to bring our loved ones home—and from the hostage family perspectives, of course our loved ones are of the utmost importance—and also we want to see a cease-fire," Weinstein said. "We don't want anyone to have to endure this kind of hell we have all endured. We don't want to see any innocent civilians in Gaza continue to be the brunt of this war."
This is all happening on the same day the Israeli military said it recovered the bodies of six hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas that launched the war in Gaza.
Israeli authorities said the bodies of Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, and Haim Perry were recovered from near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis in an intelligence-led operation.
Five of those men had already known to be dead. They range in age from 35 to 80 years old.
So far, the exact circumstances of their deaths are not known. But defense officials say they were found in Hamas tunnels a half an hour north of Rafah.