Parents of NY-born hostage fear emphasis on Iran attack will draw focus from hostages
PLAINVIEW, New York – A poster of 22-year-old Omer Neutra hangs in the front window of his childhood home next to a simple blue and white sign that reads “Bring Omer Home.”
That blue and white sign hangs in the doors and windows of many houses on the street in Plainview, New York, where Omer was raised before signing up for a gap year program in Israel and enlisting in the army.
The daffodils in front of the family’s window have returned. The magnolia and cherry blossom trees lining the street are in full bloom.
The last time Ronen and Orna Neutra spoke to Omer – their oldest son – on October 6, the neighborhood’s leaves were golden-orange.
A tank commander, Omer was stationed near Gaza’s border when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel the morning of October 7.
Ronen and Orna have barely been home since.
They’ve been on Capitol Hill, at the White House, on cable news, at the State of The Union address.
They’re about to embark on their fifth trip to Israel since October.
Ronen, Orna and family members of the seven other Israeli-American hostages had just returned from yet another trip to Washington as news broke of a possible Iranian retaliatory attack on Israel for the killing of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander in Syria.
As leaders in the US capital scrambled to scuttle an Iranian attack, the hostages’ families met with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan for the seventh time since October 7, and with Vice President Kamala Harris for the second. Another day was spent meeting with lawmakers on the Hill. They received guidance during a meeting with Hillary
agency reported that a Guards helicopter had boarded and taken into Iranian waters the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, saying it was linked to Israel.
MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A.), which operates the Aries, confirmed Iran had seized the ship and said it was working “with the relevant authorities” for its safe return and the well-being of its 25 crew members.
MSC leases the Aries from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, Zodiac said in a statement, adding that MSC is responsible for all the vessel’s activities. Zodiac is partly owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.
Katz said in response, “The ayatollah regime of Khamenei is a criminal regime that supports Hamas’s crimes and is now conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law.
“I call on the European Union and the free world to immediately declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization and to sanction Iran now,” he said.
Video on Iranian news channels purporting to show the seizure included a figure abseiling from a helicopter onto a ship. Reuters was able to verify that the ship in the video was the MSC Aries but not the date it was recorded.
On Tuesday the naval head of the Revolutionary Guards, Alireza Tangsiri, said it could close the Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, if deemed necessary.
The ship’s seizure comes after half a year of attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group, which looked to retaliate against Israel for its part in the Gaza war.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan posted on X Saturday that he had spoken with his Israeli counterpart Tzahi Hanegbi. “During the call, I reiterated the United States’ ironclad commitment to the security of Israel.”
US Central Command (CENTCOM) Michael Erik Kurilla was in Israel on Friday and met with Gallant.
Biden on Friday said that he expected that an Iranian attack would occur “sooner” rather “than later.”
His message to Iran, he said, was “don’t” attack Israel.
“We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support
Israel. We will defend – help defend Israel. And Iran will not succeed.”
Germany warned its citizens to leave Iran, saying that there was a risk both of a sudden escalation in Tehran’s existing tensions with Israel and that Germans might be at risk of arbitrary arrest in the country.
“In the current tensions, especially between Israel and Iran, there is a risk of a sudden escalation,” the Foreign Office wrote in a fresh travel warning issued on Friday. “It cannot be excluded that air, land, and sea transport routes could be affected,” it added.
“German citizens are at concrete risk of being arbitrarily arrested and interrogated and being given long prison sentences. Dual citizens with Iranian and German nationality are especially at risk,” the Foreign Office said.
The US, France, Russia, Poland, and India issued travel warnings.
The US embassy asked its staff and their families not to travel outside of “greater Tel Aviv (including Herzliya, Netanya, and Even Yehuda), Jerusalem, and Be’er Sheva areas until further notice.”
France advised its citizens to refrain in the coming days from traveling to Iran, Lebanon, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. It also asked that the families of diplomatic staff leave Iran.
India advised its citizens on Friday against traveling to Iran and Israel until further notice given the “prevailing situation in the region”.
India’s foreign ministry said citizens in the two countries should observe “utmost precautions about their safety and restrict their movements to the minimum.”
An IDF reserve soldier and member of Kibbutz Hanita’s emergency standby squad was seriously injured as a result of an explosive UAV that exploded on the kibbutz on Saturday.
The IDF confirmed that this was a result of an explosive UAV and that the reserve soldier was evacuated to the hospital for medical treatment, and his family was notified.
Following alerts activated around the area surrounding Kibbutz Hanita, three missiles that were shot into Israeli territory from Lebanon fell into open areas, the IDF confirmed on Saturday.
Additionally, two explosive drones crossed from Lebanese territory into Israel a short time ago and exploded in the area of Hanita in northern Israel.
In response, the IDF retaliated with artillery fire to southern Lebanon.
This came after over 40 rocket launches from Lebanon crossed into Israeli territory on Friday, the IDF responded by striking the sources of fire, the military stated. •