A full year’s worth of Jewish holidays have nearly passed and the Neutra family is still waiting for their beloved Omer to return home.

“We keep on hoping that every time a holiday like this shows up, there’ll be a miracle,” his father Ronen said.

October 7 marked one year since Ronen and Orna Neutra’s son was taken hostage during Hamas’ terror attack on Israel. A commander in the Israel Defense Forces, Neutra was patrolling a border during the time of a ceasefire. They never imagined the border would be breached.

Omer is not an Israeli child for whom service was his destiny. He was born and raised in New York and grew up a quintessential American life.

“He’s this big, tall guy, big smile on his face. He’s the one who breaks the ice,” his mother said.

A Knicks fan, captain of his sports teams, attending summer camp — he took a year after high school to live in Israel, and that changed him.

“He connected to the people, he connected to the land, he connected to the family,” his father said. “He felt that he must protect the only Jewish land.”

What has unfolded over the last 365 days in that region is beyond their worst imagination. From the war itself to the antisemitism across college campuses, to painful frustration with leaders who hold their son’s fate in their hands.

“That’s also been a very big disappointment,” Orna Neutra said. “You know, that understanding that there are forces that are much bigger, and they’re not necessarily clean. You know that all these leaders are driven by very, you know, different motivations and our son’s life is not necessarily a priority.”

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The Neutras are grateful for access to the Biden administration but still say not enough is being done. They wrote in one op-ed that they question Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “sincerity and urgency,” stemming from an in-person meeting they had about a deal this summer.

The Neutras have fashioned a workaround on American soil. Daily media appearances, speeches, and regular calls with the White House. They are part of a team of American families pushing to bring home seven citizens dead and alive.

While the spotlight is not their most comfortable place to be, they know their voice is needed. The circumstances are dire. They’re now armed with more knowledge than before about the realities of their son’s situation without care from the Red Cross, including the horrifying images of where the eighth, now executed American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was kept.

“There was really no room for imagination left after that,” his mother said. They both said they try to push those thoughts out of their heads and remain positive and push the urgency they feel every day.

The Neutra Family

Their concern only grows as Israel was attacked by Iran and seeks to root out Hezbollah, fighting on multiple fronts, that Omer’s plight will fade to the background.

“Maybe we’re trying to solve too much, and we’re trying to solve issues and problems that that region of the world has been facing for decades, and our child is still there,” said Orna Neutra.

They say every day feels like October 7, but that they must keep up hope for themselves and for Omer. After all, their family has been here before. Ronen keeps a ribbon around his neck, made from his grandfather’s gold coin. He fled and fought against the Nazis. It sits next to his own dog tags from his IDF service and now the hostage tag honoring his son.

“We pray that he has these genes in him and that they’re keeping him strong and resourceful, and that he will survive this and come out,” his mother explained.

It’s a visual evidence of generation after generation’s fight for survival, strung on a chain with the hope that one day soon, that last tag will be removed.

In one week, Omer will have his second birthday in captivity. The 22-year-old was born one month after September 11, 2021. His mother walked across a bridge in New York City to save herself and to save him.

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