Breaking: Ohad is free!

by Frederic Friedel
11/24/2023 – We told you about Ohad Munder-Zichri, who was abducted by Hamas from the kibbutz of Nir Oz, where he was visiting his grandparents. That was one day before his 9th birthday. Since then, he has spent 48 days in the Hamas tunnels in Gaza, together with more than 200 hostages taken during the devastating Oct. 7 incursion. We have just seen in the news that today (November 24, late evening) Ohad has been set free!! We rejoice for this young chess talent.

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As we reported seven weeks ago, instead of celebrating at home with his family and friends, Ohad was abducted and taken to a hiding place somewhere in Gaza, one of more than 200 hostages held by Hamas since the militants’ devastating Oct. 7 incursion.

This is the invitation Ohad had sent to his friends to celebrate with him over the weekend – in his home in Tel Aviv.

The fourth-grader from the central Israeli city of Kfar Saba was nabbed along with his mother and grandparents during a holiday visit to his grandparents’ kibbutz of Nir Oz along the border with Gaza.

Ohad’s beloved uncle was killed in the attack. The boy, his mom and grandparents disappeared with the only thread of information about them coming from a cellphone signal traced to Gaza.

More than 200 hostages have been held in the Hamas tunnels for over a month. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas led to an agreement that thirty hostages would be released, the first in a batch of 13. On Friday evening we learned that among the thirteen abductees released in stage one of the Israel-Hamas hostage deal are Ohad, his mother Keren Munder and his grandmother Ruth Munder.

Our poignant front page photo (published by The Sun, UK Edition) shows Ohad, his mother and his grandmother being released by Hamas. As we write, they have crossed from Gaza to Egypt to Israel, and are now safe on native soil. And here is video of Ohad hugging his father for the first time in seven weeks.

Welcome back to life, Ohad!

Editor-in-Chief emeritus of the ChessBase News page. Studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language. He started a university career but switched to science journalism, producing documentaries for German TV. In 1986 he co-founded ChessBase.

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lajosarpad lajosarpad 12/3/2023 05:41
@hansj the fact he plays chess, makes him on-topic on chessbase. Arzi and IntensityInsanity already pointed this out for you. But I quite welcome your joining to the celebration of the happy ending of this particular story. I also believe that we all agree that no-one should suffer, everybody should live in peace and safety, Israeli or Arab or whatever.
arzi arzi 11/30/2023 06:29
hansj, actually you have a bit of a problem with logical thinking. This conversation started about a boy who got freed from Hamas. He was a boy with chess talents. You decided to break this logic with this sentence: "Is ChessBase siding with Israel in this conflict?" Now you are again breaking your own logic with this sentence:" I fail to see why the fact that this boy plays chess, is of any significance or importance at all. He is a boy and should not be taken hostage. No boys should, whether they play chess or not, are Israelis or Palestinians."

Why did you NOT tell this in the first place? No, you thought that it is very logical to ask if Chessbase is siding with Israel in this conflict. Now you started a new discussion about how wrong it is to kidnap any child. You did not care about child in the first place but only about your own agenda, "Is Chessbase siding Israel in this conflict"
IntensityInsanity IntensityInsanity 11/29/2023 03:41
Hanj it does matter because this is a chess site. If the boy was a wiz in basket weaving, then perhaps basket weaving sites would write up articles about this. It is simply a story of interest to the subculture of chess. But the fact that you complain about this one particular instance goes a great way to show your colors and where you stand as a person.
hansj hansj 11/29/2023 02:29
arzi, I think we have a slight disagreement.
I fail to see why the fact that this boy plays chess, is of any significance or importance at all. He is a boy and should not be taken hostage. No boys should, whether they play chess or not, are Israelis or Palestinians.
That he plays chess, does not make him a special person. He is still a boy like other boys, a human being like others.
arzi arzi 11/29/2023 06:00
Hansj, You seem a bit simple minded when you keep spouting the same rubbish and you don't seem to understand this simple matter. There wasn't a young chess talent in the Hamas group to cheer for his freedom, was there? Feel free to ask chessbase if you could do a comprehensive report on the Hamas chess players. I'm sure if Hamas had a chess talent in the same position as this Ohad kid, then Chessbase would have written about it and celebrated his freedom as well. You see conspiracies where there are none.
hansj hansj 11/28/2023 04:03
Well, guys.
Chessbase chose what to write about, and they chose to write about what Hamas did. Abduct a child.
Chessbase chose not to write one word about what the Israelis did.
Thus my question: Does ChessBase side with Israel?
arzi arzi 11/28/2023 06:25
Hansj, are you literate and understand the context why chessbase wrote about that kid here? I give you a hint, CHESS.

Chessbase:"We have just seen in the news that today (November 24, late evening) Ohad has been set free!! We rejoice for this young chess talent."
arzi arzi 11/28/2023 06:14
I agree with Lajosarpad that this is the celebration of the liberated child. I do not take a position on whose fault, who caused, why was attacked ... questions. Have people become so cynical that they cannot rejoice in any kind of peaceful event?
IntensityInsanity IntensityInsanity 11/28/2023 05:45
Good point lajosarpad
lajosarpad lajosarpad 11/27/2023 03:07
Wow. We literally speak about the good news that a boy abducted by terrorists/murderers regained his freedom. And you, @hansj ask who is chessbase "siding" with? What do you expect? Should chessabse "side" with the kidnappers of the boy who murdered his uncle? And @AhmedAlssiad101, do you realize how inappropriate it is to speak about the creation of a Palestinian state in the context of a boy's rescue?

Of course we may think that a Palestinian state should exist. But here Hamas acted as the terrorist group it is and abducted a pre-teen boy, who was in mortal danger. Dear chess friends, independently of whether someone supports the creation of a Palestinian state or not, let's celebrate in this context together that a little boy was rescued.
AhmedAlssiad101 AhmedAlssiad101 11/25/2023 08:23
free palestine
hansj hansj 11/25/2023 02:45
Is ChessBase siding with Israel in this conflict?
lajosarpad lajosarpad 11/25/2023 09:31
I was sure this will not end well and it is so great to read this Saturday that Ohad was actually released. I wish him and his family a quick recovery from all the physical and nonphysical wounds they might have.
Taylanhebe Taylanhebe 11/25/2023 05:35
The winners of wars are arms companies, oppressive regimes and a few dictators. The biggest losers are all the children of the world!
worterror worterror 11/24/2023 10:35
Its always awesome when actual good news comes from that region!
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