After weeks in which her personal life was at the center of public attention, on Saturday evening Emily Damari decided to pause. In an Instagram story, the former hostage appealed to her supporters, followers, and the media: to respect her wishes, allow her to live quietly, and give her the space to heal at her own pace.
“I understand the interest in knowing what’s going on,” she wrote, clearly referring to the public response surrounding her and her highly publicized return home. “But I’m asking you to give me my privacy and to respect me. I love you all so much — but I’m in the middle of my rehabilitation.”
“No interest in paparazzi”
Emily, who has become one of the most recognized faces associated with the fight to bring home the hostages, added that she “needs the safest, closest, and most supportive space possible.” She asked people not to share photos or footage of her without permission: “I’m not interested in paparazzi, in unauthorized photos, or anything of that sort.”
The public appeal comes just days after she posted another, deeply emotional story, in which she described her first night sleeping in her own home — after 471 days of brutal captivity in Gaza. “Fulfilling something of my own,” she called it. This time, her message is about needing calm, preserving her balance, and making one simple request: to let her breathe.
