MILWAUKEE — A group of people in Milwaukee worked to bring attention to Israeli hostages in Gaza as they walked with posters Sunday featuring the faces of those taken by Hamas.
Group leader Heather Berken said they’re participating in a movement called Run for Their Lives, with marches across the city. Milwaukee is one of 200 cities taking part.
"We can let the family of the hostages of the loved ones know that we haven’t forgotten them,” Berken said. “212 days of unknown captivity, unknown of their well-being it’s scary.”
It’s a group Berken said has been meeting to walk once a week for months and is growing. About a couple dozen supporters showed up Sunday.
Liya Chernyajova was among them. Chernyajova has been in the States since 1995 after arriving as a refugee from Ukraine.
“They were taken. It was wrong no matter what started it,” Chernyajova said. “This is not debatable.”
She believes releasing the Israeli hostages is key to ending the conflict that’s killed roughly 1,200 Israelis and more than 34,000 Palestinians over the past seven months.
“I really feel for civilians in Gaza, but why civilians in Gaza being killed?” She said. “This war would have been stopped. Hamas would surrender or at least make steps to return hostages, that’s number one demand by Israel.”
Sunday, ceasefire talks in the region are still without resolution. In exchange for a hostage release, Hamas has called for a complete and permanent withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
It’s a demand Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected and called extreme.
“Every day we wake up and we hope we don’t have to come march,” Berken said. “We hope that there’s no reason for us to have to walk for the hostages because we hope—each week we hope they're released.”
Ceasefire and hostage release negotiations are expected to continue Tuesday.
For their part locally Berken said they're being intentional about avoiding the kind of confrontations seen nationwide between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups.
She is also encouraging people in Milwaukee to engage in peaceful dialogue about the issue across communities.
Berken shared that Collectivo Riverwest has been home to several “Coffee With Your Jewish Friends” sessions this year.
She said so far participants have learned, asked questions, and challenged views while maintaining kindness.
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