Newly published video from a debate event held last June in Los Angeles shows Moran Stela Yanai, who was kidnapped by Hamas to Gaza on October 7, 2023 and released during the November 2023 hostage release deal, directly addressing pro-Palestinian Arab activist Aidan Dewolf, who organized an anti-Israel protest encampment at UCLA.
Yanai, who is a jewelry designer, attended the Nova Festival on October 7, 2023, to sell her jewelry. During the Hamas attack on the festival, she was kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip, where she was held captive for 54 days.
She later recounted the harsh conditions she experienced during her captivity, including humiliation and abuse.
In the video from the June event, Yanai is shown trying to tell her story to Dewolf.
"I really want to talk to you on eye level and tell you a story, if you want to hear it,” she told Dewolf.
"When I was kidnapped to Gaza, I was caught three times. The last time, I was caught by 13 Hamas terrorists. 13. I want you to acknowledge the facts as they are, truly. I’ve visited the US, have you ever been to Israel? Have you visited Gaza before? Probably not," she added.
"On October 7, and this is what they told me, they had no idea about the Nova festival, they didn’t know there were 3,000 people there. They planned, and this is what they told me, to continue onward and kill as many people as possible. In Be'er Sheva, Tel Aviv, Haifa—they wanted to slaughter everyone,” said Yanai.
"And you know what, maybe you won’t believe me, but I can show you the videos that I have. Do you know how many bodies were there? Do you know how much violence I experienced firsthand? I was caught in the middle of the lynch; I was portrayed as a soldier because I chose that day, unintentionally, to wear olive-green clothes that looked like a uniform. That was enough to classify me as a soldier.”
"And they treated me like a soldier. I’m 40 years old, look at me, I’m 40. I have a cat and a dog; I had two cats, I lost one that day. I have a mom and dad, and a brother, who left their whole lives to try and help me. My mom found out I was kidnapped through my 12-year-old niece, who saw a video on TikTok and recognized me. That’s how they found out I was kidnapped. Did you know that?"