Each time Eitan Goldmeer tosses his axe during a competition, it is in commemoration of lives lost and dozens who are still being held hostage by Hamas in the protracted conflict in Gaza.
That is because his custom axe is emblazoned with the date October 7, 2023, the words, “Bring Them Home” and a yellow ribbon, a symbol of solidarity.
Goldmeer is using it “to bring attention to the hostage crisis still going on in Israel,” he said, noting that his mutual friend’s body is being held in captivity by Hamas. “My plan is to continue throwing it until, God willing, we reach a day when all the hostages are released and all the bodies are returned.”
The 24-year-old New Yorker used the axe in early April in Appleton while competing in his third World Axe & Knife Throwing Championships. Goldmeer is one of very few axe throwers at the sport’s highest level to outwardly observe his Jewish religion. He also wears “Bring Them Home” dog tags and a yellow ribbon lapel pin as well as a kippah during competitions.
“I am very easy to pick out in a crowd at a tournament, because I’m the only one with one on. If you just look at the tops of everyone’s heads, you can pick me out of a crowd of 200,” he said.
Competitive axe and knife throwing carries a reputation of sorts that its participants are closed-minded and unaccepting. But that is a misnomer, Goldmeer said.
“In general, it’s very, very supportive, which was one thing I was deeply concerned about when I first started,” he said. “It’s your classic go out and tumble in the country and throw sharp things” activity.
Despite the support, Goldmeer said he has been very careful in how he talks about the axe while emphasizing that it is not a referendum on his beliefs on Israel or Gaza.
“I think there are horrible atrocities being committed on both sides. And I told people that this is not an end-all-be-all statement,” he said. “I believe in the right for everybody to live and grow up without the fear of a rocket landing on their house.”
Goldmeer competes as he mourns the loss of his friend’s friend Omer Neutra, an American who was killed on Oct. 7 while serving as a tank commander in the Israel Defense Forces. His body has been held since then by Hamas, according to news reports. (Neutra’s parents spoke at Congregation Shalom and at the Republican National Convention in July, where they asked people to remember that there are American hostages, too.)
Goldmeer said he should not have to say that he believes in the rights of Palestinians just to grieve the loss of Jewish life, adding that he has had to have “very difficult conversations” that “were very emotionally charged” with people in the axe throwing community.
“There were some very rough things said I think in both directions. I can say that when I get emotional about Israel, I get protective. It’s my friend’s body being held captive, and people who aren’t Jewish or don’t have familiarity with the Jewish community or with Israel aren’t going to understand what that feels like,” he said.
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