October 29, 2023 – Over 1,000 leading experts from various fields, including social work, psychology, criminology, law, medicine, and public policy, have joined their voices to urgently call upon the international community to take immediate action in securing the release of Israeli abducted children. The experts believe that every moment that passes increases the risk of irreversible damage to the lives of these innocent children.

Link to the letter: https://tinyurl.com/3h3dapf9

Prominent figures among the signatories include:

Prof. Jack Shonkoff, a renowned Professor of Child Health and Development at Harvard University.

Prof. Judith Lewis Herman, a distinguished expert in Trauma at Harvard School of Medicine and author of “Trauma and Recovery.”

Prof. Edward Tronick, a leading authority in developmental psychology and mother-child interactions.

Prof. Alicia Liberman, a world-leading psychologist in childhood trauma from the University of California, San Francisco.

Prof. Charles Zina, the Chair of Psychiatry at Tulane University, specializing in infant, child, and adolescent mental health.

Prof. Astrid Berg, President of the World Association of Infant Mental Health at the University of Cape Town.

Prof. Avshalom Caspi, a globally recognized Israeli-American psychologist at Duke University, known for groundbreaking studies on childhood violence’s effects on development.

Prof. Eli Leibowitz, a world-leading expert in child anxiety at Yale School of Medicine.

These experts hail from a diverse range of countries, including Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, Brazil, and Argentina. Many of them hold positions in esteemed institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Duke, Columbia, and UCL.

In their impassioned letter addressed to world leaders, the international community, and UN Secretary-General, the experts stress the critical need for the immediate release of the kidnapped children. They highlight the detrimental and potentially irreparable consequences that the children’s current situation poses to their lives. The abducted children have been subjected to witnessing horrific and murderous acts, and their current circumstances further imperil their physical and mental well-being.

The letter is a collaborative effort between a group of Israeli academics and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.