Father of Israeli hostage who met with pope is on a mission to ‘bring them all home’

Jerusalem, Jul 4, 2024 / 07:00 am

When he fell asleep the evening of Oct. 6, 2023, Danny Miran was happy.

“I thought: How wonderful, tomorrow is a holiday,” he told CNA sitting in the headquarters of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Tel Aviv. The holiday was Simchat Torah (the joy of the Torah).

“But I woke up to one of the darkest days in my life,” he said.

Miran is the father of one of the Israelis who was kidnapped on Oct. 7 and is still being held hostage in Gaza. Omri Miran, 46 years old at the time of his kidnapping (he turned 47 in captivity), was living in the kibbutz Nahal Oz, a few kilometers far away from Gaza, with his wife, Lishay, and their two daughters, ages 6 months and 2 years old. He is a gardener, like his father, and a shiatsu therapist.

“I turned on the TV and saw that there was an alarm in the Gaza envelope. I called my son and he told me to not be excited, that it happens from time to time and it would pass.”

When the news got worse, Miran called his son again, who this time was worried. He was in the shelter with his wife and two daughters, holding a kitchen knife, the only “weapon” available in his house.

“We were texting each other until he stopped answering. And that was around 11 am. At that moment I felt I didn’t have a son anymore; I didn’t have a daughter-in-law and grandkids anymore. I was sure they [were] gone, they’re killed.”

For Danny Miran it was like lightning on a clear day: “Nobody prepares you for such a thing. I started to cry with no control on my tears. This is how I basically stayed. I was alone at home, with myself.”

That evening, Miran discovered that everyone was alive: His daughter-in-law and granddaughters were evacuated near Beer Sheva, in the center of the country, while his son was taken hostage and brought to Gaza.

A few days after Oct. 7, Miran, 79, left his home in northern Israel and joined the Hostages Families Forum. He now lives in a hotel, and his life’s purpose has become bringing his son and the other hostages (there are still 120) home and keeping the issue central in the public discourse.

For this reason, Miran is willing to participate in all advocacy activities, both domestically and abroad. He has traveled to many countries and has spoken to politicians, diplomats, and religious leaders.

On April 8, Miran was part of the delegation who met Pope Francis at the Vatican, and on June 13, in Jerusalem, he shared his testimony with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, and a group of 160 Catholic pilgrims.

“I felt the entire community was visiting and talking to me and how they resonated with what I was going through. I felt supported; they came with love, with great love,” he said.

Miran, who defines himself as a believer — “I’m not practicing Judaism fully like a religious practicing person, but I’m a believer” — was deeply moved by his meeting with Pope Francis.

“I was looking at him, into his eyes, and it was like looking into my father’s eyes. They were full of mercy and I saw that he cared.”

Miran also shared with CNA the words that the pope personally said to him: “He said, ‘This is like a Shoah,’” the Jewish Holocaust. 

Miran asked the pope to share what he told him with the entire Christian world. In fact, he is convinced that “the message would be so influential and different when it comes from him” and the pope “has the potential to counter antisemitism that also comes from within the Christian world.”

“As a Jew, as a believer,” Miran shared, “I also believe that wherever I will go within the three monotheistic beliefs — Judaism, Christianity, Islam — if I’m invited to pray, I will join because it’s the same God.” But, he added, “what happened on Oct. 7 was against anything in the beliefs of the three Abrahamic beliefs.”

Miran also shared a hope: “After World War II, European people realized that wars would not lead them anywhere. Therefore, they decided to pursue peace and prosperity by opening borders, and that was the way to move forward. I pray in my heart that the day will come when the same thing will happen in our region: to open our hearts, to open our borders, and to live in peace among ourselves.”

On the fourth floor of a building in Tel Aviv, where the Hostages and Missing Families Forum has established its headquarters, people share their struggles and work but also food and friendship. This is what gives Miran the strength to continue fighting for his son.

“Jews from all around the world showed their support and empathy in an active way. Thanks to their donations we were able to establish an NGO [nongovernmental organization], rent several floors in this building, and provide food. We also have a permanent presence [at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art] with installations donated by various artists. What could be stronger than that?”

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Every week, Miran visits his daughter-in-law, for whom he has words of great affection and admiration, along with his two granddaughters.

“The last time Omri saw the youngest, she was 6 months old. He never saw her crawl, take her first steps, he never saw her teeth grow, or heard her say her first words. His daughter calls a picture ‘dad.’ And his older daughter asked her mom if her dad is still her dad.”

“Day by day, the absence of him just grows. I miss him more and more,” Miran said. “I don’t know what kind of life he has... I assume he doesn’t even have any means to shave, so I decided not to shave and wait for the day he will return so we can shave our beards together.”