# Trump invites freed Israeli hostage to White House

Israeli media reports Israeli American Trump donor will fly Eli Sharabi to Washington DC to meet president this week

The freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi has been invited to Washington to meet  this week, his brother told Israeli media on Sunday.

Sharabi, who was released from Gaza after , expects to meet Trump with other freed hostages on Tuesday, after the US president watched him describe the severe hunger and violence he endured on Israeli television.

Excerpts from Sharabi’s  on Israel’s Channel 12 “were shown to Trump, with English subtitles, and he was shocked once again, but also expressed great sympathy for those who survived captivity”, his brother Sharon said, according to a translation from the Israeli newspaper .

Israeli advocacy groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), have posted  online.

When Sharabi and two other hostages, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami,  alongside after nearly 500 days in captivity, their physical condition outraged Israelis, and Trump. Sharabi was at home in Be’eri kibbutz with his British-born wife and their two teenage daughters when Hamas attacked on 7 October 2023.

In the Israeli television interview, Sharabi recalled being tied up, losing consciousness and experiencing extreme hunger.

“I remember not being able to fall asleep because of the pain,” he said. “The ropes are already digging into your flesh, and every movement makes you want to scream.”

Sharabi’s brother said the freed hostage was flying to the US onboard a plane provided by Miriam Adelson, the Israeli American widow of the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and a major Trump donor.

“Tomorrow morning, we’re boarding the plane with Mrs Adelson’s kind help. We’ll arrive to see Trump and explain to him up close the urgency of continuing the first stage or beginning the second stage – it doesn’t really matter,” Sharon Sharabi said, referring to  between Israel and Hamas.

During the 7 October attack, after the armed group kidnapped Sharabi from his home, they shot the family dog, locked his wife Lianne and their daughters in a safe room, and set it on fire, according to Lianne’s parents, who spoke to the BBC. Sharabi only learned that his wife and daughters had been killed that day .

Sharabi’s other brother, Yossi, was also taken hostage that day. He died early last year in Gaza, , when the Israeli army bombed a building near where he was being held.

The  continues to support Israel amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. On Friday, it approved a nearly $3bn arms sale to Israel, bypassing congressional review to supply more 2,000lb bombs used in the war against Hamas.

Following Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of a  on Sunday, the White House said it “supports” Israel’s decision.

At a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Sunday, the families of Israelis still being held in Gaza  their government to stop violating the ceasefire/hostage deal that puts the lives of their loved ones at further risk.
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