Stan Polovets of The Genesis Prize Foundation champions action for hostages’ families in Tel Aviv, combining advocacy with impactful humanitarian aid.
The sound of sirens pierced the air over Tel Aviv, Israel, sending residents scrambling for shelters. For The Genesis Prize Foundation Chairman Stan Polovets, these moments during his recent 10-day visit to Israel crystallized the stark reality facing the nation. More pressing still was the reason for his journey: marking 400 days of captivity for 101 hostages held in Gaza.
“I joined other Israelis in bomb shelters as alerts were sounded due to incoming missiles launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon,” Polovets says. “There was no panic, only resolve.”
This resolve echoed through the streets of Tel Aviv on Nov. 9, when Polovets stood shoulder-to-shoulder with 5,000 people — grieving families and supporters — at Hostage Square. Their unified message rang clear: Bring them home. Now.
The Genesis Prize’s Evolving Mission
The foundation’s response to the hostage crisis builds upon its established model of philanthropic impact.
The Genesis Prize Foundation, under Stan Polovets’ leadership, had already taken unprecedented action earlier this year. The 2024 Genesis Prize honored five Israeli organizations at the forefront of the hostage crisis. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum operates around the clock to locate the kidnapped and return abductees while providing crucial support to families.
The Jewish Agency Fund for Victims of Terror delivers immediate and long-term financial assistance to victims and their families, while Lev Echad focuses on addressing the mental, financial, and logistical needs of those impacted. Natal, Israel’s Trauma and Resiliency Center, extends treatment to all Israeli citizens regardless of background, complementing OneFamily’s mission of supporting terror victims and bereaved families on their journey toward emotional and financial independence.
The decision marked the second consecutive year the foundation directed its resources toward humanitarian crises. In 2023, the Prize was awarded to Jewish activists and nongovernmental organizations working to provide humanitarian help to the people of Ukraine. This united response echoed the words of Ukraine’s first Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who told the United Nations General Assembly: “We must act united — to defeat the aggressor and focus all our capabilities and energy on addressing these challenges.”
The foundation has brought this same focus to the current crisis. “This award is not a political statement,” Polovets stated. “The Genesis Prize is a humanitarian award.” He outlined three core objectives: keeping global attention focused on the captives’ plight, providing aid to organizations supporting hostages and their families, and recognizing the spontaneous mobilization of civil society after Oct. 7.
Bearing Witness to History
In Tel Aviv, Stan Polovets met with Luis Har, who was rescued after 129 days in captivity. The Argentinian-Israeli grandfather of 10, saved through an Israel Defense Forces operation in February, shared his determination to advocate for all those still held, including Yarden and Shiri Bibas and their young children, 1-year-old Kfir and 4-year-old Ariel. “He told me that he feels lucky to be alive and will not stop speaking out on behalf of those who remain in captivity,” says Polovets.
The German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, addressed the rally in Hebrew. According to Polovets, he stated, “The German government and millions in Germany won’t give up. We’re with the hostages as long as it takes. I promise the families we’re always thinking what else we can do.”
The gravity of the current crisis became even more apparent during Polovets’ visit to the Nova Music Festival site and Kibbutz Nir Oz, where more than a quarter of the residents were either murdered or taken hostage. “I felt sick to my stomach … knowing that over 1,200 people were slaughtered by evil terrorists that day,” he recalls. However, a poignant moment occurred when he saw a menorah amid the ruins of the kibbutz — a powerful symbol of Jewish resilience.
“This menorah — a symbol of Judaism for thousands of years — lay in the burned ashes of the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust,” Stan Polovets says. “Yet, for millennia, after countless other attempts at destroying us, this symbol — and the Jews — have survived.”
The Genesis Prize Foundation’s commitment extends beyond financial support. Polovets outlined specific action items for the international community, particularly pressuring Qatar to influence Hamas and demanding countries harboring Hamas leaders facilitate their arrest and deportation.
“Israel is fighting not only for the survival of the Jewish people but for Western civilization,” says Polovets. “It’s come down to freedom versus terrorism. Civilization versus barbarism. Democracy versus theocracy.”
Stan Polovets: ‘We Will Never Forget’
The message from Hostage Square resonates beyond Tel Aviv’s boundaries. Said Stan Polovets, “Do not forget. Do not give up. Do not lose hope. We will never forget. We will never forgive. Israel — and the Jewish people — will not only survive, but we will thrive.”
The thousands gathered in Hostage Square that day demonstrated that survival alone is not enough. Their presence demanded action, justice, and, most urgently, the return of their loved ones.
This commitment to remembrance and action recently brought Stan Polovets to another significant moment in Jewish history. He stood at Thessaloniki’s old railway station in Greece, a site where thousands of Greek Jews began their fatal journey to Nazi death camps in 1943. The Genesis Prize Foundation chairman was joined by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Holocaust Museum of Greece.
“The Holocaust Museum of Greece will pay tribute to the memory of not just Thessaloniki’s Jewish community, but all 38 Greek Jewish communities that existed before the war,” Polovets explains. The Genesis Prize Foundation contributed $1 million to the project in honor of 2022 Genesis Prize laureate Dr. Albert Bourla, the Pfizer chairman and CEO, who is of Greek Jewish descent.
Scheduled for completion in 2026, the museum will preserve the memory of Thessaloniki’s unique Sephardic heritage, tragically decimated when over 90% of the city’s Jews perished in concentration camps during the Nazi occupation.
“With rising global antisemitism, education is central to the museum’s mission,” says Polovets. “Through permanent and temporary exhibitions and archives, the museum will underscore the importance of Holocaust remembrance, diversity, human rights, and freedom.”
The museum will serve as an important center for learning and reflection, bridging historical memory with contemporary education.
The relationship of these two trips is not lost on Stan Polovets. The importance of remembering — and telling — the story of the Holocaust and the story of Oct. 7, of educating the community about the evil of antisemitism and its resultant impact, is critical not only for the survival of the Jewish people but for all those who value Western freedom and democracy.
