An American mother carried her son to safety on 9/11. She lost him on October 7

On Sept. 11, 2001, Orna Neutra was eight months pregnant in New York City. As terrorists attacked the country where she was preparing to raise her child, she walked across the Queensboro Bridge with one thought: getting her unborn son to safety.His name would be Omer.“I remember walking across the Queensboro Bridge, focused on one thing: carrying my unborn child to safety,” she recounts in remarks prepared for a Republican convention appearance with her husband, Ronen.

Omer was born a month later. Twenty-two years after 9/11, he was killed during the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.As the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the Neutras’ remarks bring those two moments together through the experience of one American family.Before Omer became a name in international headlines, he was a boy born in New York and raised on Long Island. His parents place American identity at the center of their account of his life.“Our son Omer was a proud American,” Orna says in the prepared text.The grandson of Holocaust survivors, he grew up with what his parents describe as an understanding of “both the privilege of freedom and the responsibility to defend it.”He went to Israel and enlisted as a lone soldier, serving away from his parents’ home in the United States. He became a tank commander. His parents describe that decision as an expression of the values he had grown up with.“He enlisted in the IDF out of a profound sense of duty, believing that by defending Israel, he was also defending America and the values of the free world,” their remarks state.On Oct. 7, Omer and his crew fought near Israel’s border with Gaza to defend the communities behind them. He was killed that day, and his body was taken into Gaza. But his parents did not know he was dead.“For 14 months, we believed he was alive,” Orna’s prepared remarks read. “Then we learned that he had been killed on October 7.”That discovery changed the nature of their wait. Their campaign to bring their son home continued, now with the knowledge that they would be bringing him home for burial.Omer’s remains were returned on Nov. 2, 2025. The return was part of the hostage process under the ceasefire brokered by the U.S.“After 757 days,” Ronen says in the prepared remarks, “Omer was brought home, and we were able to bury our son with dignity.”The distinction between returning living hostages and recovering those who had been killed is central to the parents’ address. They describe both as obligations to the hostages and their families.“The living, so they can rebuild their lives,” Ronen says. “And the murdered, so their families can bring them home, bury them with dignity, and begin to grieve.”Their remarks thank President Donald Trump for prioritizing the hostages and credit him with securing their return.“Thank you, President Trump, for making the hostages a priority, for being relentless, and for bringing them home,” the opening reads.The Neutras also recall the words of Adm. Brad Cooper at Omer’s graveside. According to their prepared remarks, he called their son “a hero of two nations.”For his parents, that description captured the relationship between Omer’s U.S. upbringing and his decision to serve in Israel.“An American who gave his life defending Israel,” Ronen says, “and an Israeli soldier who understood that the security of Israel and America are bound together.”The address then returns to the September morning when Orna carried him across a bridge before he was born.For the Neutras, the connection between Sept. 11 and Oct. 7 is personal as well as historical. Their remarks describe “the same hatred, the same glorification of murder, and the same responsibility to stand together against it.”Their remembrance also looks toward the Jewish New Year. After recounting their son’s life, the months of uncertainty, and his eventual return, they close with a prayer.THE LEFT IS GASLIGHTING YOU ABOUT ABDUL EL SAYED’S 9/11 POSTS“Our prayer for this new year is for moral clarity,” Orna continues, “the courage to distinguish good from evil, those who protect life from those who destroy it.”Their final words join the two countries that shaped Omer’s life: “May God bless America, may God bless Israel, and may this be a year of peace.”Ariella Noveck is a journalist specializing in antisemitism and Middle East affairs, with extensive experience covering Jewish communities worldwide. She can be followed on X and Instagram @AriellaNoveck