Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is heading to New York to attend a special UN Security Council session he initiated, following his condemnation of Hamas for a “sadistic propaganda campaign.” The minister’s remarks were prompted by videos showing two Israeli captives, Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, in a visibly starved and tortured state. He claimed that the starvation and torture of these individuals are a deliberate tool for propaganda.
Sa’ar made strong historical comparisons, linking Hamas’s actions to those of the Nazis and ISIS. He criticized the international community’s failure to ensure humanitarian access to the hostages, pointing out that the Red Cross has not been allowed to visit the remaining 50 captives. The minister also dismissed the narrative of a starvation crisis in Gaza as a “fake propaganda campaign” and argued that the substantial amount of aid entering the territory disproves the claim.
He framed hostage-taking as a strategic maneuver by terror groups to maintain power and achieve their goals. Sa’ar warned that this is a dangerous global trend and that the world must make it “not worthwhile for the terrorists” to kidnap civilians. His trip to the UN is part of an effort to put the issue “front and center on the world stage,” with a special UN Security Council session he initiated with the help of the US and Panama.
The minister’s address also included a broad critique of the international community’s response. He slammed what he called the “unbalanced and twisted anti-Israeli agenda” of international media, and he accused countries of creating a “false symmetry” between hostages and terrorists. He specifically targeted diplomatic actions, such as the recognition of a Palestinian state, as a “pure prize for terror” that has ultimately harmed negotiations.