We the Silent Children 

Children for Children

Addressed with great respect to:

Honorable President of the United States Mr. Joe Biden

His Holiness Pope Francis

Honorable UN Secretary General Mr. Antonio Guterres

Honorable President of Egypt Mr. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi

His Excellency Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Than

His Excellency Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud

Honorable President of the State of Israel Mr. Isaac Herzog

“We are the world's most silent children, who in the midst of the greatest gaiety and rejoicing – were taken and thrown into a pit.” Playwright Hanoch Levin (The Child Dreams, 1993)

We, the children of Israel and the world, will not remain silent in the face of the brutal abduction of 38 boys and girls, being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7th ,2023. 

We condemn the criminal, atrocious and immoral act of kidnapping boys and girls, babies and toddlers, who were taken from their homes and beds at sunrise on October 7th.  Since then, their path has been in darkness. Not one single Organization - not even the Red Cross - has provided any significant information about them. 

We, the children of Israel and the world, are thinking about those kidnapped children, all of them. At night, we imagine them in the dark, trembling, crying, scared. Some of them do not even understand what has happened to them - why their Mommy is not there; where is Daddy who was injured…

Who will hug them now? 

Who will comfort them ?

On the morning of October 7th, a fundamental human agreement was broken and violated: children and helpless toddlers should not be taken hostage! It goes against internationally accepted laws and conventions; it goes against religion and faith. This is a terrible precedent that will leads us to a distorted and merciless world!

We appeal to you, world leaders: Protect us.

Restore our belief that the world can be a good and safe place. Nightmares should just be bad dreams - not reality itself. Prove to us that it is possible to live safely in the world - that we will be protected from the unimaginable evil that we came to know on October 7th. The day when the soil of Israel’s South was stained with so much blood.

Dear leaders, we have the right to live a safe and protected life. We are not pawns in the wars waged by grownups.

Return the kidnapped children of Israel to their homes! 

Do it now!

We hope and pray that  the world be a safe place for all children everywhere.

We are the children of Israel. We are the children of the world.

Petition initiated by: Noam Semel, Dana Devorin 

Support by: Israel Bidur Media Company | ASSITEJ-Israel, the International Association for Theater for Children and Youth | International Zionist Youth Movements Council.