In her first appearance to a live audience in the United Kingdom, British-Israeli former hostage Emily Damari reveals how she stayed strong throughout her captivity.
Former hostage Emily Damari revealed more about how she “didn’t choose to be a victim” during her time in Hamas captivity at a United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) event in London on Thursday.
“I used to educate the guards. They would call us ‘prisoners’, and I would say: ‘I’m not a prisoner. A prisoner gets to eat three times a day. A prisoner gets to sleep on a bed. A prisoner can call his parents, even if once a month. A prisoner gets to drink water and go to a loo and flush the chain,” she said, as reported by the Jewish Chronicle. “Above all, a prisoner did something wrong – they stole, they rape, they did something. I just woke up in my bed.’”
Notably, the UJIA event was Damari’s first time speaking to a live audience in the UK. She is a dual Israeli-British citizen.
Damari went on to reveal that on October 7, while she and Gali Berman were getting kidnapped, terrorists from Gaza were roaming about the Kibbutz.
“So, I’ve got one bullet in my hand, and one bullet in my leg. They took us outside. [Me and my best friend, Gali] are sitting on the couch on the balcony, on my balcony, and while we’re sitting there, I’m looking to my right, to my left, and seeing something like 60 or 70 terrorists outside doing whatever they want, very ecstatic from what they are doing.”
Emily Damari prepping for surgery. (credit: DAMARI FAMILY)
Emily Damari speaks for the first time to a live UK audience
She previously stated in a July interview that she told her captors that she would prefer to die than be held hostage.
“I took his gun, put it to my head, and said: ‘Shoot me! Shoot me!’” she told the Daily Mail, explaining she only went quietly once the terrorist placed a gun to Gali Berman’s head.
In London, she recounted her Dr. Hamas story at Al-Shifra Hospital.
“It was Al-Shifa and if terrorists took me to Al-Shifa, it means there weren’t civilians in there,” she told audiences. “As I got to the room, the first thing I saw was a dead body, blood on the floor, and the second thing was 10 or 15 terrorists inside the room, with their guns, and the third thing is that the doctor came to me and said: ‘Hi, I’m Dr. Hamas.’
“This is Al-Shifa Hospital that the IDF continues to come back to, and all the news was talking about it, saying :’How could they go to these civilian places? To hospitals?’ So, this is the reason.’”
Damari went on to say that one of the moments that gave her strength during captivity was watching her “amazing” mom campaign for her release. For some of her time in captivity, she thought her mother and one of her brothers were dead.
“That was my best moment in my life in my worst place in my life. I found out she was alive, and she was fighting for me.”
She also noted that she saw protests at Columbia University during her time in captivity, which made her feel conflicted.
“I remember sitting there, looking at [the protesters] on Al-Jazeera. I’m gay, but I’m watching [the protesters] on TV and thinking: ‘He’s gay, she’s gay, he’s gay’, and I’m looking at the terrorist and I’m saying: ‘If they knew that they would come to Gaza and they wouldn’t come out, maybe they wouldn’t do it.’ And he’s looking at me smiling, as if to say: ‘You’re right.’”
She also described how her determination carried her through the last minutes of her captivity.
“They gave me a red sweatshirt to try on, but I didn’t accept it. I’m not putting on red. I’m Maccabi Tel Aviv. All the world will see me in that moment. I can’t do it,” she said.
‘What’s going on? Are you crazy? You’re going out.’ I said: “No.I’m not going out in red.’ So, as you saw, I went out wearing green.’”
Now, Damari says she’s focusing on the small things, like “drinking a cup of water, even saying ‘Hello’ and ‘Good morning’ to my mum” because a future is hard to imagine.
“’Future’ is a difficult word for me. As long as my friends are still hostage in Gaza, I can’t really see my future.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog was also at the UJIA event, and noted that Emily’s story in particular touched him.
“When Emily told me that during her terrible captivity she heard me speaking in an address to the nation and drew strength from my words, you touched me to the depths of my soul. How moving it is to see you here this evening,” he said.
“We have the full right to defend ourselves. By combating the barbarism of Hamas and the genocidal aspirations of Iran, Israel is defending not only itself; Israel is fighting on behalf of the entire free world, on behalf of all peace-seeking nations, on behalf of Europe, on behalf of the UK. Israel is on the frontlines, combating extremism and terror across the globe.”
