R.A.H.N.U.T.L.O: Release All the Hostages Now Until the Last One
We all respond differently to trauma. Some of us find comfort in food, some of us prefer to seclude ourselves, and then, there are some of us, like John Weisz, who resort to sport.
As the son of Holocaust survivors, he was deeply affected by the atrocities committed in Israel on October 7; not only because of his Jewish identity but foremost, as a human being. He felt outraged at the murder, rape, mutilation, burning alive of over 1200 innocent men, women and children, sometimes entire families decimated; as well as at the kidnapping of 251 hostages, children and babies included. How can anyone fathom such horror and depravity, or the world’s reaction to the collective trauma Israel has endured since that gruesome day? Not only did the world capsize that day, but so was John Weisz’s existence upheaved.
Today, they are still hostages that are held under unimaginable and inhumane conditions; starved, deprived of medical assistance and tortured physically and psychologically on a daily basis. It is inconceivable. It is unacceptable. And while most of the world stays passive, Israel continues to bear this ordeal every single day.
Urgently needing to channel his rage before it consumed him, on October 8, at the age of 56 and unfit, John Weisz put on his running shoes and started running.
And he hasn’t stopped since.
He committed himself to run one marathon for each hostage. After barely six months of training, he tackled his first marathon in April 2024, when there were still 134 hostages kept in captivity, and, to date, in the span of 19 months, he has completed 123 marathons. He recently finished the Ten in Ten, which is a competition where runners race a marathon each day for ten consecutive days. In those days, John Weisz exceeded himself as he ran ten ultramarathons.
He has ran in all weathers and throughout the UK. It doesn’t matter how cold, how painful, how tired he feels, he’ll keep running to raise awareness to the hostages’ plight. He is fueled by the images of those young men and women who have been held captive for nearly two years, their torment and agony, as well as the constant anguish of their families. Like he says, his physical and mental pain and exhaustion are inconsequential compared to what the hostages and their families are going through. And so, it is with extraordinary willpower, determination and faith in life, that he casts the pain aside and keeps running; mile after mile after mile, until the last hostage is brought back home.
What started as a way to ease his own distress has become a calling, something that simply has to be done, at least for the return of a semblance of humanity, for a sliver of hope to enliven our bleak world.
As a symbol of the unbreakable Jewish human spirit, he chose to celebrate the beauty and resilience of life over death. To him, action takes precedence so that slogans like “Never Again” or “We will dance again” do not remain merely words but take on a whole new significance.
For John Weisz, running has become a way to beat the darkness and let the light in.
And so, with his own motto,
R.A.H.N
U.T.L.O
(Release all hostages now
Until the last one)
John Weisz shows us what true humanity and compassion look like.