Scooter Braun at press conference with families of hostages
A day after landing in Israel, pop music manager and record executive Scooter Braun arrived on Tuesday at the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum Headquarters, where he met with family members of the Gaza hostages and called for their release.
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"My message is that I'm not an expert on war and I don't have the right answers," he said. "What I know is that there are never winners in war, people suffer. I know that the people I have met in Israel from day one, every soldier that I've met, want peace in the end. They want a place where they can raise their children and not have to worry. No one wants to grow up and then see their own children go to war one day. What I noticed about coming and I feel good about coming here is that the people of this country have no interest in living in a nation that's constantly at war if they had their choice."
Braun, who manages mega-star Justin Bieber, has worked with singing stars including Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande.
"My message to people is that I hope one day that we get to a place where there is education, a terrorist organization is no longer affecting the Palestinian people and that people of both Palestine and Israel get to a place where they have sovereignty and live in safety with their children," Braun added. "We will succeed in reaching a place where there is education and a terrorist organization does not affect the Palestinian people, and that both the Israelis and the Palestinians will reach a place where their children feel safe. But first things first, the hostages need to be released and they should be working toward that and a terrorist organization can not continue to hold them."
Since the beginning of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, Braun has been involved in Israel advocacy and has dedicated his Instagram to posts and stories to support Israel amid the rising antisemitism around the world. In one of his posts, he even hosted Ella Shani, a 14-year-old Israeli girl who survived the massacre at Kibbutz Be'eri. Ella's father was murdered that day and her cousin, Amit, was kidnapped by Hamas.
Braun's arrival in Israel is one of the shows of support demonstrated by Hollywood celebrities which include Jerry Seinfeld and Debra Messing. Also staying in Israel these days is actor Michael Rapaport and the Jewish American singer Montana Tucker. Noa Tishby also announced that she will arrive in Israel on Thursday together with a camera crew, and will visit the kibbutzim to document the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas for her followers.
Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica, on Tuesday toured Kibbutz Be'eri and heard first-hand accounts from residents about the horrifying events of October 7.