Jerry Seinfeld visits Israel, meets with released hostages, hostage families

Massapequa-raised comedy icon Jerry Seinfeld and his wife, author Jessica Sklar Seinfeld, visited Israel this week to show solidarity with the Jewish state and survey the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks that killed roughly 1,200 citizens, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages.

On Monday, they met with released hostages and representatives of the families of continuing hostages at the Tel Aviv headquarters of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum. “Seinfeld told the families that he feels a deep commitment to raising awareness around the world about the issue of the hostages, whose lives are in immediate danger,” the nonprofit organization said in an Instagram statement, alongside a photo of a somber Seinfeld wearing a “Bring Them Home” dog tag around his neck.

“Hearing the stories, Seinfeld and his family were very moved, and it was evident that they were deeply affected by the experiences they heard from the family members and the released hostages,” the post continued, going on to thank Seinfeld and his wife for their support.

The following day the couple toured southern Israel’s Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the first and hardest-hit communities in the terrorist attacks springing from the Gaza Strip, 3 miles away. The Seinfelds met with survivors including Yuval Haran, whose father, Avshalom, was among the more than 100 residents killed that day.

“When I heard that Seinfeld was coming to the kibbutz, it really moved me,” Haran told The Times of Israel. “He is one of the characters that my father really appreciated, and I can’t count the number of times we would sit together and watch ‘Seinfeld.’ ”

A video snippet by the news agency Reuters shows Seinfeld speaking with another survivor, an unidentified young man who tells him, “We just want to come home, and we will do whatever is necessary. Thank you for being our voice.”

Avi Issacharoff, The Times of Israel's Middle East analyst, tweeted photos of himself and the Seinfelds at the kibbutz, writing, “I had the honor of surveying the Gaza Envelope Villages” with them — referring to communities bordering the north and east of the Gaza Strip — “to witness the devastation and burned houses of Kibbutz Be'eri and the location of the Nova Party [sic],” referring to the Oct. 6-7 music festival Supernova, where Hamas killed at least 360 attendees. “Thank you Jessica and Jerry for your support in these difficult times.”

“I lived and worked on a kibbutz in Israel when I was 16, and I have loved our Jewish homeland ever since,” Seinfeld, 69, wrote on his Instagram account on Oct. 10. He has not commented publicly on his visit.