HOLON, Israel: For Holocaust survivor Michael Kuperstein, the harrowing wait for news of his grandson — held hostage by Hamas in Gaza — feels like he is reliving a nightmare.
“It’s a second Holocaust,” said the 84-year-old, describing an anguish that has reopened old wounds he thought had long since healed.
Despite his frail health, the octogenarian is determined to take part on Thursday in the annual March of the Living at the site of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in southern Poland.
In his heart, he holds tightly to the hope of one day seeing his grandson, Bar Kuperstein, alive again.
“The government says the war must go on, that we have no choice — but that’s not true,” said Kuperstein, his anger clearly visible as talks for the release of hostages remain deadlocked.
During their attack on Israel, Hamas militants abducted 251 people and took them back to Gaza. Of those, 58 are still being held there, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Kuperstein himself narrowly escaped death in 1941, when his mother fled the Nazi advance in the Soviet Union and hid him in Tashkent — then part of the USSR, now Uzbekistan — just months after his birth.
In 1972, he immigrated to Israel with his wife Faina and their two children.
But tragedy has continued to shadow the family.
Their son, Tal Kuperstein, a volunteer paramedic, suffered severe injuries in an accident years ago while rushing to save a four-year-old girl.
The incident left him disabled, unable to speak or move.
At 17, Tal’s eldest son, Bar, moved in with his grandparents to make space at home for Tal’s live-in caregiver.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Bar also became a paramedic and once even saved his grandfather’s life after a heart attack, performing emergency aid and swiftly calling an ambulance.
Just two months later, at the age of 21, he was abducted from the Nova music festival near the Gaza border during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
The massacre at the festival left more than 370 people dead.
Bar was seen in a video taken shortly after his abduction — bound hand and foot, with a rope around his neck.
Since then the family received no updates until February, when freed hostages who had been held with Bar in Gaza tunnels confirmed he was still alive.
Witnesses at the festival told AFP that Bar had been treating the wounded when he was seized by militants.
Then on April 5, Hamas’s armed wing released a video showing Bar alongside another hostage — the first images of him alive.
“Bar looks extremely thin. He has his grandfather’s eyes. He’s the only one who inherited them,” said Faina Kuperstein, his grandmother.
“He looked so much like him when he was younger. But now, his eyes have lost their light. He looks terribly pale.
“I barely recognize his face anymore,” she said, choking back tears.
“He never left the house without kissing me goodbye. I miss him so much.”
All the hostages should have been released by now, said Michael Kuperstein.
“But we’re still waiting. Nothing changes except for more fallen soldiers. Why?” he added.
Bar turned 23 at the start of April.
Despite his speech disability, his father, Tal, longs to talk to him.
With immense effort, Tal recently managed to say a few words — a moment of pride that fills the family with hope he’ll one day be able to speak to his son again.
Faina visits Bar’s room every day. It remains neat and tidy.
At each meal, the family keeps a chair empty for him, with his photo placed on the table.
She yearns to tell him, “Your father is speaking now.”
“He’ll soon walk again. You dreamed of this moment — and look, it’s happening. You must stay strong so that you can return to us.”
Holocaust survivor says reliving nightmare with grandson’s Gaza captivity
https://arab.news/wqfse
Holocaust survivor says reliving nightmare with grandson’s Gaza captivity
- “The government says the war must go on, that we have no choice — but that’s not true,” said Kuperstein
- Kuperstein himself narrowly escaped death in 1941, when his mother fled the Nazi advance in the Soviet Union and hid him in Tashkent
How talks in Riyadh led to the end of harsh US sanctions on Syria
- Congress’ repeal of the Caesar Act caps a Saudi-led diplomatic push to reintegrate a war-weary nation into the global economy
- The end of tough US sanctions opens the door to foreign investment as Damascus reenters the world stage, analysts say
RIYADH: What began as a Saudi-led push to reengage Syria after the fall of Bashar Assad reached a pivotal moment on Dec. 17 when the US Congress voted to permanently repeal the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019.
The long-awaited step has removed a major obstacle to foreign investment and economic recovery in Syria, analysts say, further easing the nation’s global reintegration after years of international isolation.
“Saudi Arabia believed that bringing Syria back into the Arab fold was the right path forward,” Ghassan Ibrahim, a Syria expert and head of the London-based Global Arab Network, told Arab News.
“To achieve this, it required a strong and clear decision to support Syria. One of the main challenges was lifting sanctions and reconnecting Syria with the US, and Saudi Arabia played a major role in accomplishing that.”
Hani Nasira, a regional political analyst, said the decision stemmed from a meeting in Riyadh in May between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, US President Donald Trump, and Syria’s interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa.
“Following this decision, Syria will regain its vitality, and the train of development will return to the country,” Nasira told Arab News.
He said Saudi Arabia has emerged as “the foremost driving force and the most important incubator” of Syria’s return to the international community — a role underscored by Washington’s decision to end its strictest sanction.
Trump signaled that intent at the start of his three-day visit to Saudi Arabia on May 13. “After discussing the situation in Syria with the (Saudi) crown prince, I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” he said.
The following day in Riyadh, Trump met Al-Sharaa — who had led the rebel offensive that toppled Assad on Dec. 8, 2024 — marking the first high-level US-Syria meeting in a quarter of a century.
The meeting represented a dramatic turn for a country still adjusting to life after more than five decades of Assad family rule, and for an interim president who until recently had a $10 million bounty on his head.
“The meeting in Riyadh between the three leaders was carefully arranged and reflected a shared desire and need for cooperation between Syria and Saudi Arabia,” Ibrahim said.
“This cooperation laid the groundwork for a new type of coalition — one aimed at bringing greater stability and prosperity to the region.
“The Saudi, American and Syrian leaderships came together around a common vision; that stability is the pathway to prosperity. This vision aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, and all sides shared similar perspectives and objectives.”
Diplomatic momentum quickly followed. On May 23, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a 180-day waiver of the Caesar Act’s secondary sanctions to facilitate humanitarian aid and early recovery efforts.
Nearly a month later, on June 30, Trump issued an executive order terminating the broader US sanctions program on Syria, effective July 1, and instructed the State Department to review whether additional Caesar-mandated sanctions should be suspended.
In November, following Al-Sharaa’s historic visit to the White House — the first Syrian leader to do so — the Caesar Act suspension was temporarily extended for another 180 days before Congress ultimately moved to repeal it.
“When Assad was in power, Syria’s only allies were Iran and Russia,” Ibrahim said. “After his removal, Syria was left with just one uncertain partner: Russia. That made reconnecting with the world essential.
“President Al-Sharaa chose Saudi Arabia as the first gateway to reestablish Syria’s ties with the international community. Saudi Arabia did not hesitate; it supported the new Syria and its new leadership.
“The relationship between the two countries had always existed, but it needed this push to be fully restored.”
First imposed in 2019 during Trump’s first term, the Caesar Act was a cornerstone of US pressure on the former Syrian regime.
Designed to deter foreign entities from doing business with Damascus, the law reportedly exacted a heavy toll on ordinary Syrians already suffering through a civil war that began in 2011.
Although the act formally expired in December last year under its five-year sunset clause, Congress renewed it through the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, extending its reach into 2029 before reversing course months later.
Assad fled to Russia on Dec. 8, 2024, after Al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham seized Damascus. In the months that followed, and amid appeals from Saudi Arabia and other regional powers, the Trump administration reassessed its Syria policy.
Beyond the symbolic importance of repealing the Caesar Act, Nasira said it will facilitate the release of Syrian assets held abroad, estimated at about $400 million, providing critical funding for economic reforms.
The World Bank estimates that reconstruction will cost between $140 billion and $345 billion, with a “best estimate” of $216 billion — nearly 10 times Syria’s 2024 gross domestic product of $21.4 billion.
In July, Damascus hosted its first Syrian-Saudi Investment Forum, producing more than 40 preliminary agreements worth about $6 billion across sectors including infrastructure, telecoms, tourism and health care.
That same month, Syria signed an $800 million agreement with Dubai Ports World to upgrade port infrastructure.
In August, it reached additional energy deals with Saudi Arabia, while a separate $7 billion energy project involving Turkish, Qatari and US firms promises to boost electricity supply.
Even so, sanctions relief alone, while “necessary,” is “far from sufficient,” said Vittorio Maresca di Serracapriola, lead sanctions expert at Karam Shaar Advisory
“For international capital to enter Syria at scale, deeper conditions must be met; meaningful banking sector reform, upgraded anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism standards, and above all, political and security stability,” he said.
Nevertheless, Ibrahim believes the repeal of the Caesar Act will allow Syria to “move to the next phase; reconstructing the country and ensuring there is no vacuum of authority or power.”
“It gives Syria a real opportunity,” he said. “The next step is strengthening the new leadership, deepening cooperation, attracting investment and restoring Syria as a normal member of the international community.”
Al-Sharaa echoed that message in his first post on X following the repeal, congratulating Syrians and thanking those who helped lift the sanctions.
“Through the will of the Syrians and the support of brothers and friends, a page of suffering has been turned, and a new phase of reconstruction has begun,” he said.
“Hand in hand, we move forward toward a future worthy of our people and our homeland.”
