An Israeli Arab Muslim man whose relatives are among the 134 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza confronted the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, demanding to know why his family had been taken captive.
The Israeli man, Ali Ziadna, was dressed in Muslim attire and observing the fast of Ramadan as he joined other Israeli relatives of hostages at a session of the UN Security Council, where Israel demanded that the world pressure Hamas.
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour looked taken aback as Ziadna approached him and questioned him. In the video of their exchange, which went viral on Tuesday, Mansour looked uncomfortable as he faced Ziadna’s questions.
"I'm a Muslim just like you. We're both fasting for Ramadan. Why did they kidnap my brethren? What was their sin?" / Bedouin relative of Israeli hostage taken by Hamas confront Palestinian UN envoyhttps://t.co/lrRtA5t68X
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) March 12, 2024
The left-wing Israeli daily Ha’aretz noted that Ziadna asked the ambassador to explain Hamas’s behavior: “They returned the Thai workers without a deal while the Muslims who are like me and you are left in the tunnels hungry.”
The Jerusalem Post added:
The dialogue between the two is in Arabic, however, multiple accounts on X have posted the video with roughly similar translations of what was being said.
…
Ziadna told Mansour, “Why did they kidnap my family? What crime did they commit that Hamas kidnapped them? They have been in the tunnels for 5 months, and for what? On what basis? They returned the Thai workers without a deal and the Muslims who are like me and you are left in the tunnels hungry, in pain, and naked…”.
The Palestinian ambassador replied to him: “Remember your Muslim brothers and sisters who died in Gaza, 30 thousand… and 75 thousand (wounded) and the destruction in Gaza. We are against harming any citizen, think of the civilians who have been harmed, and show solidarity with them. Don’t let [Israel] take advantage of you, those who kill the Palestinians will take advantage of you.”
The figure of 30,000 dead in Gaza is provided by Hamas, and cannot be verified; it also fails to distinguish between terrorists killed in combat and civilians killed in the crossfire (or dying from natural causes, for that matter).
Hamas murdered dozens of Israeli Arab Muslims, and took some to Gaza as hostages. Two Israeli Arab Muslim teenagers were among those released during a truce in November. One Arab hostage was accidentally killed by Israeli soldiers (along with two Jewish Israelis with whom he had escaped). Arab Muslim Israeli soldiers are also fighting in Gaza, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited with the family of a fallen Arab Muslim Israeli soldier.
The UN Security Council had convened Monday to discuss a recent UN report confirming that Hamas had committed rape and sexual violence against Israelis — both male and female — in its terror attack on October 7. In his speech to the UN Security Council, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz implored the UN to take action:
Hamas’ crimes are even more severe than the acts of terror perpetrated by al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist organizations that have been sanctioned by the United Nations.
Many countries have declared Hamas a terrorist organization, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Paraguay, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and others.
Do not turn your head away from the facts: Hamas must be declared a terrorist organization and face the harshest sanctions.
The Muslim world today celebrates the beginning of the month of Ramadan, the holiest month for Muslims.
Let me take this opportunity to wish our Muslim brothers Ramadan Kareem.
Hamas does not speak for the Muslim world, and we ask you to condemn the crimes of sexual violence committed by these barbarians in the name of the Muslim faith.
I demand that the UN Security Council exert as much pressure as possible on the Hamas organization to immediately and unconditionally release all the abductees, who today, as we speak, are being abused and assaulted, and are in great danger.
Please do all in your power to end this hell on earth.
The UN does not yet consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
Israel said earlier this week that it believes as many as 100 of the 134 hostages are still alive. Hamas has thus far refused to provide Israel with a list of the living hostages, which has made negotiations toward a new hostage deal more difficult.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
