Professor Anne Bayefsky, the Director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and President of the Human Rights Voices organization, spoke with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News about the briefing given at the United Nations Security Council yesterday (Tuesday) by rescued hostage Noa Argamani, the first such address by a former Israeli hostage before the Security Council.
"The appearance of former hostage Noa Argamani before the UN Security Council was a testimony to this young woman's extraordinary courage and selflessness. But the saddest part of watching the Council's three-hour spectacle was her having to witness the diplomatic entourage of Hamas, the political ogres that weaponize the United Nations, the law and human rights, and poison everything they touch," Professor Bayefsky stated.
She noted that the Palestinian Authority brought J Street co-founder and U.S./Middle East Project President Daniel Levy to the session to counteract Noa's testimony. "Palestinian UN representative Riyad Mansour brought along a Jew to do his dirty work, like antisemites have done throughout history."
"Invited guest speaker Daniel Levy made it painfully obvious exactly why Ms. Argamani was taken by Palestinian savages and subjected, along with other hostages, to unthinkable atrocities. Sitting but a few feet away from her, Levy was handed a UN microphone to announce Israel’s creation was a colonial wrong and the best solution was its termination. He complained that the 1947 UN partition resolution had little support and resulted in 'an apartheid regime' - a crime against humanity. His solution? 'In that single dominion, the legitimate alternative is the full entrenched enfranchisement, equal and democratic rights of all of those within that space.' No more Jewish state - notwithstanding a Jewish state is the only thing standing between the antisemites in Gaza, as well as in Judea and Samaria, and their prey," she said.
According to her, "Levy wasn’t the only prop Mansour produced. He spent his own speaking time appropriating Noa’s history, inventing blood libels, and inverting truth and lies. Under a Chinese presidency, the UN Security Council plumbed the depths of depraved human discourse."
"We owe Noa a collective embrace. She was heard. Along with the voices demonstrating the terrible reality that the UN world has no relationship to justice or human decency,"
In her testimony at the UN yesterday, Noa told the Security Council members, "As I speak, there are still 63 hostages living this nightmare, including my partner Avinatan Or. I can't even begin to describe the feeling of being left behind. I can tell, this is exactly how the hostages feel today. Abandoned by the world."
"You must understand: every second in captivity is very dangerous - I didn't think that I could make it out alive. This is why it is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that we put an end to this horrible tragedy. Without immediate action, many more innocent people will be killed, including my partner Avinatan, and that is why I want to make sure that the world knows that: the deal must go on in full, in completely, in all of its stages," she said.
Noa noted that, "My partner, Avinatan Or, and the many other hostages are only supposed to be released in the second stage of this deal. We're talking about innocent people taken from their beds, from a dance party, from their simple lives—taken into pure hell."
She recounted, "After 54 days in captivity, it was just me, Itay Svirsky, and Yossi Sharabi. One evening, the house we were held in was blown up, and we found ourselves in the destruction. Itay was able to stand up, but Yossi and I were stuck under the rubbles. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe—I thought to myself that these are the last seconds of my life. I screamed so loud so someone would hear me, and I heard Yossi screaming too. After a few seconds, I stopped hearing Yossi screaming. I was pulled out of the rubbles and tried to help Yossi. But when we got to him, it was already too late."
"Itay and I had to find somewhere else to hide, so one of our captors took us to another house. But two days later, Itay was murdered by the same captor. Itay was with me since the first day of captivity. We told each other everything—he was my true soulmate. May their memories be a blessing," she said.
