Before October 7, 2023, Leat Corinne Unger was a speech-language pathologist and Jewish educator in New York, spending her days helping children and families find language and be understood. That life changed irrevocably when her cousin, Omer Shem Tov, was kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival. In the earliest, most chaotic days, Leat asked artists around the world, myself included, to create and share portraits of Omer, refusing to let him disappear into anonymity. See my portrait of Omer here.
You may have seen Leat on the news sharing Omer’s and other hostages stories. Omer survived 505 days in Hamas captivity before his release in February 2025. Leat’s advocacy did not end with his homecoming. She founded and now leads Emet Advocacy, continuing to tell hostages’ stories and push for those still held.
In this conversation, Leat and I talk about the power of art as advocacy, her clinical background and how it shaped her instincts as a communicator, and where advocacy is headed next. We dig into what analysts now call the “cognitive warfare” dimension of hostage crises, how AI and shrinking algorithmic reach are forcing humanitarian communicators to rethink their playbooks, and what Leat believes the next generation of Jewish future advocates needs to build, and be prepared to lose, in order to sustain this work.
A note for the record: this summary leans on reporting and analysis current as of publication. Advocacy tools and platforms shift fast, so if you’re reading this well after the episode airs, treat the AI and platform-specific claims as a snapshot of the field circa 2026, not a permanent state of affairs.
Leat Corinne Unger
- Instagram: @leatcorinne
- LinkedIn: Leat Corinne Ruben Unger, M.S., CCC-SLP
Emet Advocacy
- Instagram: @emetadvocacy
Omer Shem Tov
- Instagram: @omer_shemtov
