Billboard truck traverses NYC showing footage of kidnapped Israeli soldiers

‘We will continue telling the truth about the atrocities of October 7 in any way we can,’ said Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York.

By Mike Wagenheim, JNS

A mobile billboard truck displaying footage of the kidnapping of Israeli female soldiers on Oct. 7 was driven around Manhattan on Wednesday.

Arranged by Israel’s New York consulate, the initiative is a follow-up to the same footage shown on a Times Square billboard around two weeks ago.

“We will continue telling the truth about the atrocities of October 7 in any way we can,” said Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York.

“This billboard truck’s screening of the terrible footage of the kidnapping of female soldiers is just one part of our relentless public diplomacy efforts to present the facts to the American public, in the face of incessant lies from Hamas and its supporters.”

The truck crisscrossed Manhattan’s business centers, with the slogan “Let My People Go” on the back and displaying images on all sides of the kidnapping of the soldiers from the Nahal Oz base.

The video, documenting the moments of the abduction of the five field observers—Karina Ariav, Agam Berger, Liri Elbag, Daniela Gilboa and Naama Levy— has been shown with the approval and consent of their families.

Akunis said previously that the video “is meant to shock the consciousness, if only for a moment, in the heart of the global entertainment and tourism center, and to remind everyone of the horror that struck us on that terrible day.”

He said he wants everyone who sees it “to understand that these are our daughters, who could easily be the sisters or daughters of anyone. We will not rest until they all return home.”

The footage on the truck includes descriptions of the fates of those hostages, along with a message urging public action to demand their immediate and unconditional release from captivity in the Gaza Strip.