A UK-Israeli woman whose parents were snatched by Hamas terrorists said it “pains” her to see some Britons “almost celebrating” the October 7 attacks.
Sharone Lifschitz’s 85-year-old mother Yocheved was among the first hostages to be freed but her father Oded, 83, is still in captivity.
She said Britons should avoid picking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as if it were “a football game”.
Ms Lifschitz added: “You see young people and old people in the UK almost celebrating October 7. It pains me as a member of the community and as a human. I’ve lived in the UK for most of my life and all my adult life.”
“I have never seen the situation this hostile and so often people think they need to pick a side like a football game…and decide these people are good and bad.”
“That’s so against everything my father and mother taught me, which is to see the human and know we are all human. I really do feel I am exasperated with people. This one-sidedness, I don’t understand how people who believe in liberal values can support a murderous organisation.”
“So many people almost believe it didn’t happen. You never, never celebrate the pain of others.”
Ms Lifschitz, 52, a London-based artist and academic, said her only source of information on her father were Hamas videos and accounts of hostages who came back.
Only when 78 Israeli and dual nationals got released in November did she know her father was in Gaza still alive.
