Three years after his nephew was murdered in the October 7 massacre, Israeli television host and actor Guy Zo'aretz has published a raw and painful letter marking the national memorial day. In an open post on his Instagram account, Zo'aretz shares his family's continuing struggle with the loss of Eli Baram z"l, and delivers sharp criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership.
"Hey Eli, how are you doing my soul, how are you up there? Just tell me everything's okay, that you're no longer terrified from that cursed moment in the car," Zo'aretz opens. He describes the moments of horror when Eli's laughter and music turned to disaster, wondering what passed through his nephew's mind in those final seconds: "I tried to imagine what you went through in those seconds, when the pure good in you met evil incarnate... Were you worried when you thought about Mom and Dad, about the grief that would descend on them?"
Zo'aretz details the heavy price his family pays every day. He writes about Eli's mother, for whom this past year has been the hardest, and the devastating question she asked him: "What, will I miss him like this my whole life? Will it hurt like this my whole life?" He also describes Grandma Shari, who chose to place a photograph in which Eli's eyes are closed on the living room sideboard because she cannot bear to look into his eyes, and who seeks comfort and acknowledgment of her pain from every person she meets.
