As New York City’s Democratic Socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani fanned the flames of antisemitism Wednesday — the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 atrocities — pro-Hamas protesters shrieked hateful slogans on the streets of the Big Apple.
Freed hostage Eliya Cohen, meanwhile, had spoken the day before about his 505-day ordeal in a speech that I wish Zohran and his ilk would be forced to listen to every single day.
Cohen — like so many others, including his now-wife Ziv Aboud — was subject to almost unimaginable cruelty by people who can only be described as what they were: pure evil.
"They didn't let me change clothes or to get a shower, even to eat or to drink," he said. "They chained me with heavy iron chains by my leg," Cohen said during an emotional discussion moderated by Dr. Phil McGraw at Israel’s U.N. commemoration Tuesday.
He said lights were kept on to prevent the hostages from sleeping and that captors would enter repeatedly during the night screaming in an effort to frighten them. Cohen said they were not permitted to use a restroom and that at times survival felt almost impossible.
Despite surviving what would have broken many people, Eliya had a defiant answer when Dr. Phil asked him, what would you say to the terrorists if you had the chance? Cohen didn’t hesitate. “I won,” he said, pumping his fingers in the air. “And you’re probably underground in your tunnels.”
Or dead. Watch:
From 505 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza to the United Nations: Eliya Cohen shares a powerful message in conversation with Dr. Phil. @DrPhil https://t.co/4gUvOv7WR8
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) October 7, 2026
Cohen’s treatment echoes that of Evyatar David, who was forced to make Hamas propaganda videos, including one where he was compelled to dig his own grave even as he was close to death. Thankfully, he was eventually released in 2025 and is alive (but suffers from traumatic PTSD and flashbacks, as one might expect).
This is Evyatar David. Hamas took him from the Nova festival on October 7 and put him in a tunnel. Then they filmed him like this and sent it out. Look at his ribs. Look at his arms. Look at the shaft he is standing in. That isn’t a siege. That’s a man being starved on purpose, by the people holding the key, while the same people told the world Gaza was the one suffering from a famine that didn’t exist. The video is fifteen seconds. The mainstream media spent two years on the other pictures. This one barely moved them. Never forget.
— Mor Edge Insight (@MorEdge_Insight) October 5, 2026
This is Evyatar David. Hamas took him from the Nova festival on October 7 and put him in a tunnel. Then they filmed him like this and sent it out.
Look at his ribs. Look at his arms. Look at the shaft he is standing in. That isn’t a siege. That’s a man being starved on purpose, by the people holding the key, while the same people told the world Gaza was the one suffering from a famine that didn’t exist.
The video is fifteen seconds. The mainstream media spent two years on the other pictures. This one barely moved them.
Never forget.
I certainly don’t judge Evyatar David for his forced participation in this wanton cruelty, but Cohen revealed that he told his captors where they could put it when they asked him to do the same:
Waltz said that on the night before Cohen’s release, Hamas tried to make him record a propaganda video claiming he had been treated well. "He refused," [U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike] Waltz said. "He held firm. He said no."
Waltz said Hamas again tried to turn Cohen’s release into propaganda the following day, placing him before cameras and instructing him to raise his hands.
"He refused again," Waltz said. "Eliya, we salute you. I salute you," Waltz continued. "You are a proud, strong Jew. You're undefeated, man" he said with his voice breaking.
Other survivors told of their horrific experiences. Cohen’s wife Ziv, whom he married in January 2026 following their 2025 release, recounted that she hid in a bomb shelter when the savages attacked the Nova Music Festival. It was designed for eight, but 29 desperate attendees crammed in. Hamas eventually bombarded it with grenades, and Ziv only survived because she became covered in bodies… and body parts.
The stories are so satanic that it is absolutely incomprehensible to me that so many in America try to minimize the actions of Hamas demons and blame Israel for the entire problem. I’ll paraphrase what I wrote Wednesday about the pro-terrorist protests that engulfed Mamdani’s NYC: There’s a sickness infecting many Americans, and it needs to be stomped out — with prejudice.
Editor’s Note: New York City is now facing the consequences of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist takeover.
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