Toronto business displaying images of hostages until Hamas frees them

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Natalia Birnbaum will be more than happy to take down the pictures of Jewish hostages held by Hamas when each and every one of them is released.

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Until that happens, the images of those abducted will continue to be displayed on the front of her business.

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If you are driving by her real estate office on Eglinton Ave. W., near Bathurst, you can’t miss seeing the faces and information of all 240 hostages on the business’s front window and door.

Some of the hostages, like Vivian Silver, we have since learned have been murdered. However, her image will remain on display with the others as a reminder of the horrors of Oct. 7.

The goal is to get everyone else out of Gaza, away from the torture they are enduring, and back home to Israel where Hamas kidnapped them on the same Black Sabbath day in which 1,400 Israelis were slaughtered.

“I was hesitant to put this up because of the rise of anti-Semitism but I am really glad I did,” said Natalia.

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One of the reasons for that is she has learned many people did not even realize Hamas had taken these innocent people hostage.

“We can hear from the door many school kids saying they didn’t realize this had happened,” Natalia explained.

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The posters out front, which are up in place of local real estate listings, are part reminder, part vigil praying for and urging their release, and part education.

It’s a generous, selfless and courageous humanitarian act at a time when Toronto is enduring hate-filled vandals trying to deny the existence of those hostages and re-write history.

Seeing the faces of the hostages is important because they are regular people who were just going about their lives when hate arrived on Oct. 7.

Natalia and her husband Moshe realize these are turbulent times for Jewish businesses that are being targeted – including a Starbucks just a block away that had its windows plastered with anti-Semitic graffiti.

A young woman subsequently took to TikTok with a video where she confessed to vandalizing at the Forest Hill coffee shop.

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The Toronto Police Hate Crimes Unit subsequently arrested a suspect on Friday.

Skigh Johnson, of Toronto, was charged with mischief interfere with the enjoyment of property in relation, then released on a promise to appear in court in January 2024.

Needless to say, this makes for trying times for anybody in business – let alone one who has hostage pictures out front.

“We are all on edge from the time we wake up until the time we go to sleep,” said Moshe. “We don’t know if we will be a victim, so it is very unsettling.”

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Certainly, these posters are a hot button in the city right now.

Police have made arrests in two separate incidents that resulted in alleged assaults sparked by people putting up hostage posters or trying to rip them down.

In speaking with a man outside the Starbucks, who puts up the hostage posters, there is vitriol that goes with trying to publicize the plight of the kidnapped.

“But I won’t be intimidated,” said the man, an Israeli flag proudly sticking out of his back pants pocket.

He feels that people need to see the faces of the hostages, so the world does not forget them.

Natalia and Moshe agree.

They have spoken to people who are close to some of the faces displayed on their wall.

And if anyone dares to try to vandalize this property or take them down, they should know there is extra security measures in place they may not realize.

Of course, the best way to see those hostage pictures removed is for those complaining about them to urge Hamas to immediately release every one of them alive.

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