Brother of Arab Israeli hostage held by Hamas confronts Palestinian UN ambassador

An Israeli citizen of Arab Bedouin descent, whose brother and niece were kidnapped by the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas on Oct. 7, confronted the Palestinian Authority's envoy to the UN on Monday and the heated exchange was recorded and posted to social media.

Ali Ziadna, arrived at the UN headquarters in New York City, with other relatives of Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, to attend the special session of the UN Security Council to debate a recently published report about the systematic sexual violence perpetrated against Israeli women, men, children and elderly, on Oct. 7.

"Why did they kidnap my family?" Ziadna asked the Palestinian Authority (PA) UN envoy Riyad Mansour.

"What crime did they commit that Hamas kidnapped them? They have been in the tunnels for 5 months, and for what? On what basis?” he said in Arabic.

Ziadna, who is a Muslim, also noted that Islamist Hamas treated Muslim Israeli hostages worse than non-Muslim Thai workers who were released. 

“They returned the Thai workers without a deal and the Muslims, who are like me and you, are left in the tunnels hungry, in pain, and naked..." he said. 

The PA envoy refrained from addressing Ziadna directly and shifted the focus to the humanitarian situation in Gaza amid Israel's ongoing military operation against Hamas. 

"Remember your Muslim brothers and sisters who died in Gaza, 30,000... and 75,000 (wounded) and the destruction in Gaza," Mansour replied.

"We are against harming any citizen. Think of the civilians who have been harmed, and show solidarity with them,” Mansour urged Ziadna, in a reference to the current death toll statistics published by the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry. The statistics have not yet been confirmed by an independent source.

"Don't let [Israel] take advantage of you, those who kill the Palestinians will take advantage of you," the PA envoy added without elaborating.

Following Hamas' invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, Bedouin Israeli IDF soldiers played a crucial role in repelling the Gazan terrorists from southern Israel. 

Israeli UN Ambassador Israel Katz, who accompanied the families of hostages at the UN debate, blasted the UN for ignoring Hamas’s crimes against humanity. 

“For too long the UN has been silent on Hamas actions,” Katz said. “UN never condemned nor disapproved these Hamas brutal crimes,” he added.