In his speech delivered to the UN Security Council, which met on Tuesday to discuss matters of the Middle East, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar presented a photo of the kidnapped Eviatar David, who was forced to dig his own grave, and accused the UN and the international media of falling for Hamas’s propaganda and ignoring the plight of the Israeli hostages.

“Do you know what UN Secretary-General Guterres tweeted after the horrific photos of Eviatar and Rom were published?” he said. “Not a word! Absolute silence!!”

After hearing Eli’s testimony, Israeli hostage David’s brother, Sa’ar began by addressing the crimes Hamas committed on October 7, the torture of the Israeli hostages, and the rejection of peace agreements by the Palestinian Authority (PA). “But we have also heard so many lies here that I cannot address them all,” he said, referring to the previous statements of the PA and the Russian Federation.

Sa’ar read from the Dina Project report, describing the sexual crimes and atrocities after describing in detail the murders, rapes, and other crimes Hamas committed on October 7.

He continued to speak about the starvation and torture of the hostages, saying, “This is part of a sadistic, well-planned propaganda campaign.” Its goals are psychological terror and an attempt to link Israel’s starving hostages to Hamas’s blood libel against Israel, he continued, refering to the accusations of Israel deliberately starving the Gazan population after photos of sick children circulated the media last week. 

“But this is a campaign of lies,” the FM stated.

He then went on to describe the efforts Israel is and has been making to bring aid and food into Gaza, pointing out that Hamas has been the reason the aid has not reached the rest of the population – while Israel gets the blame.

Sa’ar called on the international community to ensure terrorism and civilian kidnapping do not remain a viable option for any group to commit, as while today it is Israel’s problem, he stated, tomorrow it could be any other country’s if not stopped now.

“The world has turned upside down,” Sa’ar said. “While Hamas is running its propaganda machine – a huge part of the international media ignores the truth and buys its lies. I read the New York Times the day after Hamas published the distorted video of Eviatar David. I looked – and I didn’t find Eviatar on the front page. And then — I didn’t find his picture in the entire newspaper,” he continued, calling on the international media to put Eviatar and Rom in the spotlight.

“Isn’t this newsworthy? We are witnessing an upside-down world.”

The minister also criticized the UN Secretary-General Guterres directly, telling the council that after the publication of the hostage photos, he tweeted “Not a word. A deafening silence.”

“But we all see his endless and obsessive tweets against Israel,” he added.

Sa’ar concluded his address by connecting this silence to the rise in global antisemitism, labeling it a modern-day blood libel, and criticizing the countries that had put pressure on Israel during its negotiations with Hamas. “They directly contributed to the elimination of the chance of a hostage deal and a ceasefire,” he said.

“We live in an upside-down world. A world where Israel is placed in the dock – as it fights for its survival. There is a name for it. It is called anti-Semitism. 80 years after the end of the Holocaust – anti-Semitism is having a golden age. Again,” Sa’ar said, calling on the UN to condemn Hamas’s crimes and demand the release of the remaining hostages.