This past weekend, Hamas and Islamic Jihad cruelly released horrifying videos of our hostages – Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski.
The world witnessed their terrible condition. Starved. Tortured. Evyatar was forced to dig his own grave. The world saw the thick arm of the well-fed terrorist – next to the starved and tortured Evyatar.
On October 7 – and since then – Hamas has committed evil crimes like the Nazis and ISIS did.
There are still 50 hostages cruelly being held in the dungeons of Gaza.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad are using the starvation and torture of hostages as part of a deliberate and well-planned sadistic propaganda campaign.
These organisations also planned the starvation campaign of lies together. The amount of aid entering proves that it is a fake propaganda campaign.
We see the dire condition of our starved hostages – yet they still have not seen representatives of the Red Cross.
Despite this being explicitly agreed upon.
Hamas has also kidnapped civilians in the past.
But it was done on a huge scale on October 7
Terror states and organisations kidnap civilians in order to ensure their own survival and interests.
Innocent civilians are inhumanely used as tools by terrorists to achieve their goals.
In the case of Hamas – to force upon us their conditions: Remaining in power in Gaza.
This is a dangerous phenomenon that could happen tomorrow anywhere.
The international community must make it not worthwhile for the terrorists.
The world must put an end to the phenomena of kidnapping civilians.
It must be front and centre on the world stage.
International hypocrisy must be exposed.
Certain countries and leaders try to create a symmetry between both sides. Between hostages and murderers. But this is a distortion.
There is no symmetry here
You heard what the President of France said. Hostages “on both sides”. But there aren’t!
On one side you have hostages, brutally kidnapped from their homes on October 7. Tortured and held in cruel captivity for almost two years by Hamas.
On the other side evil murderers serving life sentences.
The simple truth:
There are hostages on one side. And terrorists on the other.
The steps taken by countries like France, the UK, Canada and others are a pure prize for terror. A huge gift for Hamas.
Here you have a senior member of Hamas clearly stating: These are the fruits of October 7.
These countries must understand the consequences of their actions.
I warned that recognising a virtual Palestinian state will lead to the assassination of the chances to reach a hostage deal and ceasefire.
This is exactly what happened.
It’s immoral. And it’s also politically foolish.
They claim that they seek the end of the war. But their actions directly prolong it.
These steps have only hardened Hamas’ stance during critical days in the negotiations for a hostage deal and ceasefire and rewarded them for their terror.
It is a huge mistake. It is morally distorted. It is geopolitically foolish. It is time for these countries to do some soul-searching.
If you can’t help – for God sake – don’t continue to cause damage to all the people living in our region.
Gideon Sa’ar is Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs