Not a businesswoman, not a politician, not a nice person: The power of a hostage's mother

Opinion: Einav Zangauker has reluctantly become an international symbol, but Matan's sign of life video reminds us she is a mother who will never abandon her son 

Chen Artzi Sror|
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In all the thousands of times that Einav Zangauker, Matan's mother, addresses him directly at demonstrations and protests from Tel Aviv to Gaza, she makes sure to use the phrase "my life." An expression so Israeli, almost casual. But in Einav's mouth, it becomes real.
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Einav Zangauker after Matan's sign of life
(Video: Lior Sharon)
In every struggle, in every appeal, in every shout, she gives Matan life and gives herself the strength to continue living. The relationship between them is symbiotic. Mother and son.
The one who gave life to her son 25 years ago when she carried him in her womb, gives him life again and again in her stubborn and unbearable struggle. Now, for the first time, a sign of life has come from Matan. And Matan knows. He knows who his mother is and what she is willing to do to get him back.
Matan feeds on his mother and she feeds on him. Like an oxygen tube that runs from Ofakim, to the Hostage Square, to the Knesset, to the dark tunnels under Gaza. A tube of faith and strength that they will succeed – he will survive and she will succeed in bringing him home.
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Matan's sign of life

One of the most beautiful stories in the Bible is the story of the great Shunammite woman, an anonymous woman who is blessed with a son after long years of infertility. When her son dies in her arms, she is simply not willing to accept the decision. She sets out on a journey alone and reaches the prophet Elisha. When his followers try to stop her, because he is a respected man, she does not blink. She insists and forces him to bring her son back to life. Reality does not confuse her and she succeeds.
Einav Zangauker is a great woman. Not a businesswoman and not a politician, and she's not nice. She has made motherhood her essence, and in the face of the sea of death around her she fights for life. Einav Zangauker will go down in the history of the Jewish people as an icon of the fighting mother. Not the one who cries for her sons, but the one who insists on bringing her son back to life. And precisely because she is a symbol, she regularly suffers from teasing, humiliation and violence.
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עינב צנגאוקר מגיעה לשער בגין אחרי פרסום סרטון אות החיים של מתן מהשבי
עינב צנגאוקר מגיעה לשער בגין אחרי פרסום סרטון אות החיים של מתן מהשבי
Einav Zangauker became a symbol
(Photo: REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov)
Such iconic stories must have a happy ending, but in the terrible reality in which we have found ourselves, there is no guarantee. Family members crossed oceans in the fight for their loved ones, other mothers became symbols in this terrible fight. At least 27 kidnapped men and women were murdered in captivity, and that is just the number we know about.
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Matan's story, or that of any other of the hostages who are still alive, must not end in a similar way. The signs of life coming from the Gaza Strip must not be dismissed with the excuse of "psychological terrorism." This is real, tangible terrorism, one that could end in death at any moment. There is no guarantee of a happy ending, no promise of a miracle. And most of all, there is no time.
These days, it seems, we can whisper with hope that there is a real chance. That there is a real possibility of bringing about a deal that will return our people home. It is not possible to be satisfied with encouragement from the stands or sympathy from afar. This is a moment to stand by Einav, to stand by all the families, and to force everyone who needs to – to choose life.
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