Holding Liat 2026

During the October 7 attacks, Liat Beinin Atzili and her husband Aviv Atzili were kidnapped from their home on a kibbutz near the border. The incident casts a long shadow over the Beinin family as Liat’s parents, Chaya Beinin and Yehuda Beinin, grapple with the fear of what may have happened to their daughter while the wider community wrestles with the hostage crisis and its political reverberations.

Relatives and opponents alike push back against what they view as the government’s indifference to the hostages, and Yehuda intensifies his public campaign against the Gaza war. In the midst of this, Yehuda’s resolve leads him to take a high-stakes journey with his youngest daughter, Tal Beinin, to the United States in search of international pressure and support—only to discover that American political backing often mirrors Netanyahu’s position, complicating the family’s hopes for decisive action.

In Portland, ceasefire demonstrations surge, and Joel Beinin, Yehuda’s brother and a respected historian, offers a nuanced meditation on the conflict as he gives a public lecture about the Nakba. Through a series of video chats, old disagreements between the brothers surface, revealing a deep debate about the Kibbutz’s founding ideals and whether socialist dreams were subsumed by a colonialist project.

Back home, a blood trace is confirmed to be Aviv’s, though the IDF still does not know the whereabouts of his body. The kibbutz and its wider circle mourn the loss, while a sense of outrage pervades Israeli society as the war drags on and the ceasefire process looms. As the first ceasefire is announced, families anxiously await the final list of those who will be released, and Tal voices her frustration with both Israeli and American positions in a public forum about the ceasefire.

Liat is eventually released by Hamas, and Yehuda and Chaya receive a direct call from President Biden, a moment they receive with profound gratitude. She reunites with her parents at the hospital, bearing the weight of what happened to Aviv and the uncertain road that lies ahead. At Aviv’s funeral, Liat delivers a moving speech while the family finds a way to celebrate his memory, even as the grief remains palpable.

Returning to their kibbutz, Liat watches ceasefire demonstrations unfold in Tel Aviv on the screen, the city’s images mirroring the uncertain hope that the cycle of violence might be broken. Three months later, at a Holocaust memorial, she contemplates the ongoing war and the lives of Palestinians on the other side of the fence, a stark reminder of the enduring human costs that linger beyond the headlines.