‘I Fasted in a Hamas Tunnel’: Former Hostage Agam Berger Delivers Defiant Tisha B’Av Speech

At a Tisha B’Av gathering in Tel Aviv, former hostage Agam Berger delivered a powerful speech recounting her ordeal in Hamas’s Gaza tunnels and drawing strength from Jewish history. Kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, during the attack that killed 1,189 and abducted 251, Berger spoke of her resolve to maintain her Jewish identity. “Exactly one year ago, on the night of Tisha B’Av, I was sitting in a Hamas tunnel, and I chose to fast,” she told the crowd. “I fasted because I understood that our collective memory, the memory of destruction and exile, can help us grow. The Jewish people have faced catastrophes that would have wiped out most nations, yet we endure.”

Reflecting on Jewish resilience, Berger said, “From the destruction of the First and Second Temples to the Babylonian exile, the Roman conquest, Hadrian’s decrees, the Crusades, and the Spanish expulsion, our ancestors wept, mourned, and prayed, but they never surrendered to fear or victimhood. They knew they had a purpose. Every devastation eventually led to renewal.” She connected this to the founding of Israel in 1948, just three years after the Holocaust, noting, “We never gave in to despair.”

Berger described her captivity: “I was kidnapped simply for being Jewish. I risked my life to hold onto who I am. I faced the Angel of Death and refused to let him win. In captivity, they can take your freedom, even your humanity, but history shows they cannot put the darkness of captivity into the soul of a Jew.” She recalled, “We learned the Hebrew date, 6th of Av, and from that day, we counted. We knew when Tisha B’Av would fall. We fasted, we prayed. Even underground, we stayed part of our people’s journey.”

Addressing the ongoing conflict, with 49 hostages still held in Gaza, Berger urged, “Every soldier entering Gaza sees images of Al-Aqsa in homes, in buildings, in headquarters. Their eyes are on Jerusalem. We must answer that by strengthening our identity, reconnecting with our roots.” She emphasized, “This hatred against us isn’t logical or intellectual. Our generation is living through a defining moment in Jewish history. We cannot afford to falter after October 7th and all the losses we’ve endured. Our continued existence as a Jewish people, that is the victory.” Berger concluded, “Above all, we must stand for the release of the hostages. Bring them home. That is our most basic moral, national, and Jewish responsibility.” Social media on X praised her courage, with one user stating, “Agam’s faith in the tunnels is a testament to Jewish strength.”