A five-story-tall yellow ribbon spanning the west-facing side of the Jewish Federation Los Angeles\u2019 building on Wilshire Boulevard \u2014 commemorating the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks in Gaza \u2014 is set to be taken down Wednesday, two days after the remains of the last hostage were returned to Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the moment we installed the ribbon, it was never meant to be permanent,\u201d Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of JFEDLA, said Tuesday in a statement announcing the planned removal of the symbolic ribbon.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a promise that we would keep watch, raise our voices, and refuse to look away until every hostage was home. Taking it down now is both a moment of profound relief and a reminder of the immense human cost that led us here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The removal, set for 2 p.m. Wednesday, will come two days after the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer from an elite counterterrorism unit, was recovered by the Israeli military and returned to his home country.<\/p>\n
Gvili was one of some 250 people, most of them civilians, taken hostage when Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups staged a series of attacks in Gaza that also left about 1,200 dead. Numerous hostages were subsequently released during a pair of brief ceasefires, but dozens died while in captivity. The attacks set off a two-plus-year war that killed an estimated 70,000 Palestinians.<\/p>\n
The yellow ribbon affixed to the JFEDLA\u2019s building at 6505 Wilshire Blvd., near San Vicente Boulevard, was installed in 2024 to mark the one-year anniversary of the attacks.<\/p>\n
Stretching from the eighth to 12th floors, inclusive, the decal-like ribbon has served \u201cas a visible reminder of the lives taken, the families shattered, and the urgent call to bring every hostage home,\u201d the JFEDLA\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince its installation, the ribbon has stood high above Wilshire Blvd. as a sign of Jewish solidarity and collective mourning for the Los Angeles community and beyond,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n
The organization said the ribbon is the largest in the U.S. commemorating the victims of the Gaza attacks.<\/p>\n
It was created at such a \u201cmonumental scale\u201d by Farkas and JFEDLA Chief Creative Officer Rob Goldenberg \u201cto ensure the message could not be ignored: We will never forget the hostages and we demand they all come home,\u201d the federation said.<\/p>\n
Goldenberg told City News Service that the ribbon\u2019s removal will be a \u201cpretty emotional\u201d moment for many people with offices in the building. Because the ribbon sits on the building\u2019s west side, at sunset it illuminated many offices in yellow \u2026 a daily reminder to pause and remember the tragedy.<\/p>\n
JFEDLA\u2019s announcement said that while the ribbon is coming down, \u201cthe memory of October 7th and its impact will remain deeply etched in the community\u2019s consciousness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ribbon may come down, but we will never waver in our responsibility to care for the Jewish people,\u201d Farkas said. \u201cWe honor those who were lost; hold the survivors and families close; and recommit ourselves to the work of healing, remembrance, and building a safer future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A five-story-tall yellow ribbon spanning the west-facing side of the Jewish Federation Los Angeles\u2019 building on Wilshire Boulevard…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":549644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,51094,4527,316,131423,45564,37490,2961,224,5337,119572,2694,45001],"class_list":{"0":"post-549643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-come","11":"tag-hamas","12":"tag-home","13":"tag-honoring","14":"tag-hostages","15":"tag-huge","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-ribbon","20":"tag-victims","21":"tag-yellow"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115973892599979796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}