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Freed Israeli hostage listed in TIME’s top 100 most influential people

Noa Argamani was named as one of the most influential people of 2025 for her efforts globally to raise awareness of the plight of the remaining captives.

By World Israel News Staff

Noa Argamani, an Israeli woman who was abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from the Nova music festival in southern Israel, has been named as one of TIME magazine’s top 100 most influential people of 2025.

Argamani, 27, was taken hostage at the festival in Re’im, the scene of the worst of the October 7 massacres, along with her boyfriend, Avinatan Or.

Viral footage of the abduction shows Argamani being forced onto a motorcycle and driven off to the Gaza Strip as she begs her captors to let her go.

Doug Emhoff, the husband of former vice president Kamala Harris, penned the TIME nomination of Argamani, calling her a “symbol of the pain and trauma” that “Jews worldwide, myself included, continue to feel.”

In a daring daylight raid on June 8, 2024, IDF and Israeli police special forces rescued Argamani and three other Israeli hostages held in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The rescue enabled Argamani to visit her mother, Chinese-born Liora Argamani, shortly before she passed away following a lengthy battle with brain cancer.

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Following her return to Israel after 245 days in captivity, Argamani became a staunch advocate for the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, including Or, who is among the 59 captives still held in Gaza.

“Noa’s advocacy has ­illuminated Hamas’ extreme brutality, but more importantly, her bravery has embodied Jewish resilience and strength even in the worst moments,” Emhoff wrote.

Other prominent figures named to TIME’s top 100 list for 2025 include US President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, Elon Musk, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., and Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.