Ambassador Mike Waltz
U.S. Representative to the United Nations
New York, New York
AS DELIVERED
Danny, thank you for your kind words. It’s so good to be with you all again.
I just had the opportunity to meet Eliya and Ziv just outside, and I want to start today with talking about you all. What you two endured is just—I think it’s completely unimaginable to any normal human being.
And Eliya, there is one part of your story—I hope I’m pronouncing your name right. My Hebrew’s not the best—but it’s one in your story that I haven’t able to get out of my head that the night before you were released after 505 days in captivity, chained, starved, tortured, believing that the love of his life, Ziv, had been murdered because that’s the psychological torture that the terrorists impose on people. The night before, Hamas tried to make him record one of their propaganda videos, saying all was well, he had been treated magnificently, that it was all fine. He refused. He held firm. He said no.
And the next day, as they were finally handing him over, Hamas tried to turn his release again into a propaganda moment. They put him on a stage, surrounded him with cameras, told him to raise his hands for the spectacle. He refused again.
Eliya, we salute you. I salute you. You are a proud, strong Jew. You’re undefeated. You stood strong, man, and I’m deeply—deeply admirable. And I admire you.
Ziv, when all that’s happening underground, you were living through your own nightmare. You survived the music festival, one of peace and hope and fun, underneath the bodies of people who had been murdered. You watched Eliya being taken away, not knowing whether you would ever see him again.
At 505 days, neither of you knew what had happened to the other, and thankfully, we now obviously know how it ends. Both were freed just a few weeks ago, as Danny just celebrated with you, that you both got married. And from what I hear about your wedding, it was beautiful, and you used it to celebrate new life and to honor those that can no longer celebrate life.
And there’s others—that I think their stories should be heard, and we should take these opportunities and these moments to tell their stories. Ziv’s nephew, Amit, who was murdered at the Nova Festival. And like Aner, who protected God knows how many innocents. Do you know how they protected them? By picking up and throwing Hamas’ hand grenades that they were throwing at a civilian crowd at a music festival. They picked them up and threw them back. Not once, not twice—seven times. I mean, that’s a medal of honor. That’s multiple in our system. Sadly, it was the eighth grenade that Hamas threw at these civilians that killed him.
Folks, I’ve had the honor over these last few years of getting to know many of these hostages and their desperate, desperate families, hearing many of these stories firsthand. The one thing that struck me as a veteran again and again is their extraordinary ability to kind of hold two things at once: to carry the memory of this immense loss, the suffering and pain, but at the same time moving forward and living such beautiful lives, building families, going back to work, telling your stories through art and through love and through peace.
I want to recognize Oriya Berlin, who’s also here today for her unbelievable courage. She finished her IDF training on October 5, a brand new recruit, just two days on the job, when Hamas attacked her base. She was wounded in combat. Obviously survived, but what I found so admirable: she didn’t go home, she didn’t rest, she didn’t stay in the hospital, she went back to her duty, she stood with her fellow brothers and sisters in arms. Thank you, Oriya, for your bravery, and I salute you too.
I have to commend someone else who you just saw, Alon Ohel. Alon didn’t just kind of magically arrive on the USS Nimitz. He was facilitated by and helped by my good friend Ambassador Jeff Bartos, who, as many of you know, and is here for us and a real fighter for the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Alon was taken from the same shelter as Eliya, and for much of their captivity, they were held together underground. To go from that to a year later, standing on the deck of the USS Nimitz, just as it returned on its last voyage from combat operations in the Middle East against the Iranian regime on America’s 250th in front of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor to sing that song with another great friend and fighter for the U.S.-Israel relationship, John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting, was a surreal and amazing, just an amazing experience.
Here is a young man who spent 738 days in Hamas captivity. He had been held underground, away from his family, away from daylight, away from his piano that he loved, been such a huge part of his life. To see him playing on that deck was just an absolute beautiful symbol of freedom, and it struck me then, like how much it changed in just a year.
A year ago, 48 hostages underground, including two Americans, held in those Hamas terror tunnels. Their families were still waiting, calling us, begging for something to change, they were fighting every day.
And now today, for the first October 7 commemoration since that terrible morning, every hostage out, the living are back with their families, those who were sadly murdered are home for a proper burial. Even Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who have been held by those depraved terrorists since 2014, were out and back home, which no one said was possible.
President Trump thought it was possible, and he told his envoys, he told me, he told Secretary Rubio, he told Steve and Jared to never stop pushing until we got them home—and we did.
And I just can’t tell you how amazing it was. I can tell you this: firsthand from the moment we started transition in my previous role as National Security Advisor, from that first day, he was talking about these hostages. They were always top of mind for the President and his charge to all of us, I can tell you, he was like, “I don’t want to see you guys again until we get them home.”
But that wasn’t the end of the job. The President was determined, and is still determined, that we do not go back to that cycle of violence. That we don’t go back to that old cycle where Hamas rearms, Iran feeds its proxies with weapons and money, then we have another war, we have another attack, we have another generation of Israelis and Palestinians who pay the price.
Colleagues, October 7 can never ever happen again, and it will not ever happen again, and certainly not under this President’s watch. And that’s why he fought so hard and put together and put forward his 20-Point Peace Plan.
He then charged us to do what seemingly was another impossible task to bring that plan to the UN of all places. Well, you know what? We got it done. Resolution 2803 passed through the UN Security Council 13-0. The UN endorsed that plan. It provides a framework for what? A Gaza without Hamas rule, a demilitarization of the Strip, an international stabilization force and a path towards reconstruction and peaceful coexistence.
It’s not guaranteed to work, folks. But what everything we’ve tried in the past was guaranteed to fail and had failed. And so, the terrorist aimed to isolate Israel and destroy any hope for peace.
Let’s take stock just for a minute of all the things that the media and the experts said couldn’t be done. The biggest thing that they said couldn’t be done was the Abraham Accords.
Look, folks, October 7, completely, and I think irreversibly has backfired on Iran and all of their terrorist proxies.
The Shia Crescent that Iran spent decades and billions building has shattered. Assad is gone. Syria is no longer Iran’s pawn. Lebanon is actually talking to Israel to break free from Hizballah. Iraq is turning westward. All of these things, you never know this by reading any of the headlines. But most importantly, Hamas, its friends, and its backers are in shambles.
And meanwhile, despite all of the experts that said it was impossible that the Abraham Accords would never survive all of these tests and conflict—meanwhile, the Abraham Accords are actually expanding.
You wouldn’t know that, but today, right now as we speak, Iron Dome technology is protecting cities like Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I mean, that folks, just was completely unthinkable. Israelis and Arabs are standing shoulder to shoulder to defend the region from Iranian attacks.
And just as recently as this month, Danny and I were able to host the Foreign Minister of Israel and the Foreign Minister of Morocco together as they expanded their relationship. They upgraded their embassies. They have direct flights. They’re upgrading their trade and tourism. They’re establishing new avenues for investment.
So, folks, my bottom line is—and I know I went a little long, but I think it’s so important for everyone to hear: have hope. Peace is possible. America will stand with the Jewish people. The terrorists are on their back foot. Be strong, be resilient, be wise, and know that what you’re doing is right. Stand with your moral compass, and know that this administration, the United States of America, stands with you.
Thank you. It’s good to be with you.
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