A Message from the Caribbean: Sof, sof, habayta.

“Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this occasion.”

With grateful and joyous hearts, the Understanding Israel Foundation and the people of the Caribbean join the families of the released hostages, the people of Israel and people of all faiths and nations around the world in celebrating this most momentous of days: the return of all remaining living hostages and the bodies of four who were murdered. We wait with continued hope that the twenty-four murdered hostages unaccounted for (as at the time of this writing) will also be gracefully returned to Israel, to the families waiting for the bodies of their loved ones, for final closure and true healing.

Sof, sof, habayta – finally, finally, at home.

Truly, it feels like the long nightmare day of October 7 is over and we have emerged – finally – to a new hopeful day: finally, we have turned the calendar and are sof, sof on October 8.

The Understanding Israel Foundation extends its thanks and congratulations to President Donald Trump, to his administration and to the team he assembled to formulate and implement this peace plan, with particular mention of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. We also commend President Trump for bringing other Arab states to support and oversee this initiative, with the shared expectation that their continued engagement will help maintain peace in the region and prevent any return to violence. We also commend the government of Israel for its courage, partnership, and commitment to peace, and we pray that the progress made today will continue in a spirit of cooperation and faith. We trust and pray that all elements of the peace plan will conclude in similar successes. Even as we celebrate, we remain mindful that peace is fragile and must be protected.

To the hostages – those returned in the past, those who returned today, and those who have yet to return – we salute you. We have no idea of the horrors you truly suffered, but in the past two years, through the stories your families made known to us, we have come to love and cherish you. You remain lions of Israel; you remain a rallying cry of unity and hope in Israel and throughout the world. Now that you are free, we wish you healing and resilience and our love and support; we are forever with you, as we have been for the past two years.

We are standing at a precipice for the Jewish people around the world. The fight is not over. October 13^th, 2025 – while we welcome it and have fought for it for two whole years – is not the end; the fight has only just begun.

While it may seem we have concluded a terrible chapter of history, it is with a grave heart that I warn: it is not over. Around the world, the ceasefire crowd has shown that although a ceasefire has been achieved, this was never what they actually cared for. What they have always been baying for – “Free, free Palestine, from the river to the sea” – is an actionized genocidal call to eradicate Jews from the Jewish homeland, by any means necessary. There is no space to listen, to dialogue or to even compromise with this crowd: their aim is the destruction of the State of Israel; and the continuation of the genocide that began on October 7 – they are proclaiming the genocide of the Jewish people. And this is not just relegated to Israel. With alarming increases of antisemitic attacks around the world on Jewish people, Jewish community centers, Jewish businesses and other non-Jewish, pro-Israel/pro-Jewish stakeholders not involved in Israel’s actions in Gaza over the past two years, we are seeing a carefully organized, globalized campaign to dehumanize and demonize Jews in a way that is eerily similar to Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1939, before the Nazi death machine began its systematic process to annihilate six million Jews, or one third of the world’s Jewish population. While the Holocaust was terrible in its scope, it was limited to Europe and was enacted by one major actor – the Nazi party. What we are seeing today is a globalized “intifada” and a globalized hatred – the likes of which we have never seen before and one which wishes to culminate in the genocide of all Jews everywhere.

We are standing at a precipice for the Jewish people around the world. The fight is not over. October 13^th, 2025 – while we welcome it and have fought for it for two whole years – is not the end; the fight has only just begun.

The Understanding Israel Foundation was formed with the noble mission of bridging the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago with the State of Israel; while that remains our focus, we have realized in the past two years that the establishment of this foundation has a greater calling than just this: it is to be the voice of clarity and reason in the Caribbean region, which is suffering from growing, rampant hatred toward Israel and the Jewish people.

We call on our members, our partners and our allies: celebrate this moment of the return of the living hostages, but also to realize that a great responsibility has been put on our shoulders, not as a burden, but as an honor: to speak out and advocate for – not just the State of Israel – but more importantly, for the right of every Jew to live freely and peacefully in his or her home country,

We stand united, we stand strong, we stand prepared, ready to do what we must to ensure that the horrors of the European Holocaust, which ended only eighty years ago, will never happen again; not while we have the strength, the courage and the conviction to defeat this surging hate all around us.

Sof, Sof, habayta – finally, finally, home: we celebrate the return of the living hostages and unite in joy in this moment.