Freed hostage Emily Damari on Wednesday thanked London football team Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) and its supporters for their support during her time in Hamas captivity.
In recent months, fans of the team, which she has supported since she was a child, have called for Damari’s release, chanting “She’s one of us” and releasing yellow balloons during matches. of the team.
On Wednesday, three days after Damari was released from Hamas, her mother, Mandy Damari, posted photos of her daughter on team had made for her.
“She is so touched and we can’t wait to join you for a match,” Mandy wrote, adding: “Let’s continue for the remaining 94 hostages, including eight with links to Britain.”
Max Radford, a British pro-Israel activist and Spurs fan who was among the leaders of the movement for Damari, also posted the photos on X on Wednesday and wrote that the freed hostage “wants to thank Tottenham Hotspur, as well as their fans.” and the players, for all their unwavering support during his detention in Gaza.
He added that Damari was “so touched to hear about all the amazing people who regularly released yellow balloons during matches and tied yellow ribbons around the stadium and was so proud to be known as ‘the’ one of us.”
I told Emily everything @SpursOfficial fans who released yellow balloons and created a “She’s One of Us” chant for her. She is so touched and we can’t wait to see you again for a match????
Let’s continue for the remaining 94 hostages, including 8 with British links ????️ pic.twitter.com/7YMK6UtA90
—Mandy Damari ???????? (@DamariMandy) January 22, 2025
In response to Radford’s post, the Spurs media account on X welcomed Damari home and added that the team hoped to see her at their stadium soon.
Spurs fans first held a rally for Damari outside the team’s stadium in November, carrying signs with her name and photo and chanting: “Emily Damari, she’s one of us” and ” Take her home.”
In December, they released hundreds of yellow balloons during a team game along with the chant, a gesture that was repeated in subsequent matches over the past month.
In a video he made last week, Radford said fans of Arsenal, the team Spurs were playing against that day, also took part in releasing the balloons and demanding Emily’s release.
Damari was taken hostage from her home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the Gaza war. She was released on Sunday along with Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher, the first hostages to be freed under the first phase of a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
