When his son was dragged from his home in Kibbutz Re’im into Gaza as a hostage on October 7, 2023, Ramzi Nassar quickly understood that his own identity could put his son’s very life in danger.

As an Arab Muslim man married to a Jewish woman, he feared his 18-year-old boy could be viewed by the Islamist terrorists not just as a hostage, but as a symbol of ostensible defection and disloyalty.

And so, hostage Liam Or-Nassar became simply Liam Or in all state and media mentions, while his father made the difficult decision to hide himself and not campaign publicly for the release of his son.

“If Hamas knew, it could hurt Liam. It’s not something that would have been well-received on the other side, that his Muslim father is married to a Jewish woman, even though there’s no such prohibition in Islam. The boy could have been considered a traitor, a son of a traitor,” Nassar told the Ynet news site. “I acted entirely out of a cold and painful calculus.”

“We also didn’t want them to assign him a ‘higher value,’ to hold on to him longer, if it turned into some major media event here in Israel.”

The interview, published on Friday, was the first time Nassar publicly identified himself as Liam’s father since the abduction.

יותר משנתיים אחרי שובו של ליאם אור משבי חמאס, נחשף לראשונה הסוד שהעמיד אותו בסכנה: זהותו של אביו – רמזי נסאר, ערבי מוסלמי.

"החשש היה שאם בחמאס יידעו, זה עלול לפגוע בליאם", מספר רמזי בראיון בלעדי. "הילד היה עלול להיחשב לבוגד, לבן של בוגד. היה לי עצוב מאוד שאני צריך לשתוק בגלל… pic.twitter.com/olFCiQNMzO

— שאולי ✊????????????️‍???? (@Shaulirena) January 23, 2026

Nassar, his wife Dana Or and their children all lived in Re’im. During the October 7 onslaught, as the kibbutz was being invaded by Hamas terrorists, Nassar contacted Liam, who was living a short distance away in the youth neighborhood. At first, his son answered.

“We were texting, and he told me he could hear people outside, footsteps, shouting, bursts of gunfire. I… urged him to stay in the safe room. He wrote back, ‘Dad, I’m scared.’”

Later, Liam stopped answering. His parents, hiding in their own safe room with their other........

© The Times of Israel