Bay Area man continues campaign to remind people of Israeli hostages
LAFAYETTE — For the last 101 days, Yoav Harlev has stood on an overpass in Lafayette above Highway 24, flanked by Israeli and American flags, reminding anyone who notices that Israeli hostages remain in Gaza.
"It's painful; it's a level of pain I have never experienced," Harlev told CBS News Bay Area. "It's physical. Don't sleep at night. Think about them in the morning when I get up."
He moved to the Bay Area in 1992, but his home, he said, is in Israel at a small kibbutz along the border with Gaza.
"Every morning I wake up and I hope that I open my phone and I will see the hostages are getting released," he said of the remaining 132 Israeli hostages. "Then I realize we have to come back up here and remind the world to do whatever we can to bring them back."
For Harlev, the joint campaign to bring the hostages home isn't just personal, it's family. Of those who remain, he said he knows at least 105 of them.
He grew up on Kibbutz Kissufim that sits along Israel's border with Gaza. It was founded in part by his parents in an isolated part of the Negev desert. "Most people have never heard of Kissufim unless they've specifically been there," Harlev explained. "Most Israelis until October 7 couldn't find it on a map, probably, it's just a small peaceful community."
Peace, he says, was the founding influence of the kibbutz that was attacked on October 7th.
"I grew up with that knowledge of the people across the fence from us 100 meters from our fields — Those are our neighbors," he said of the kibbutz as he shows a photo of his classmates conversing with Palestinians across the border decades ago. "Our job is to work together for this whole region, not just to build walls and fences."
His peaceful demonstration is seen by an estimated 24,000 people a day and is attracting dozens more to participate by holding signs, waving Israeli and American flags, and displaying photos of the hostages that remain. Many of whom, he said, are affiliated to his high school.
"There's just so many that if I don't know them personally, I know a child, a parent or close friend, someone that knows them very, very well," he explained.
Harlev holds a photo of Shlomo Monsour, a man he grew up with on Kibbutz Kissufim who turned 86 while in captivity.
"Shlomo is the kindest, sweetest soul gifted carpenter handyman who can fix anything, builds toys for his grandchildren, and just the nicest guy," Harlev said of Monsour. "There are others early on that unfortunately are no longer alive that were murdered. So, I just choose not to go there. Try to bring home anybody we can bring on right now."
Others hold the photo of 1-year-old Kfir Bibas with hopes to ensure the hostages of all ages are not forgotten.
"We're here for the people that don't know and have an opportunity to learn about what we're doing and why we're up here," Harlev explained.
He explained his daily demonstration has become his calling, a way to support his home from 6,000 away. Harlev said he won't stop until every hostage is returned.
"I try not to cry today," he said. "So far, I'm doing OK. I learned to cry a lot more over the last 101 days. It's just human."