Mike Waltz breaks down as he recounts Eliya Cohen's refusal of Hamas propaganda

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz became visibly emotional at Israel’s United Nations commemoration Tuesday when describing the final moments of Eliya Cohen’s captivity. Cohen, a survivor of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, was held for 505 days before his release. Waltz stated that on the night before Cohen’s liberation, Hamas attempted to force him to record a propaganda video claiming he had been treated well. Cohen refused. Waltz reported that Hamas tried again the following day, placing Cohen before cameras and instructing him to raise his hands, but Cohen refused that demand as well.

"He held firm," Waltz said, his voice breaking as he addressed the audience. "Eliya, we salute you. I salute you. You are a proud, strong Jew. You're undefeated, man." Prior to the ceremony, Waltz met privately with Cohen and his wife, Ziv Abud, asking about his physical condition and expressing relief to see them alive.

Cohen took the stage alongside Abud, a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre who was newly married to him. Abud recounted taking refuge in a roadside bomb shelter with her 19-year-old nephew and his girlfriend during the attack. She described how more than 40 terrorists attacked the shelter with grenades and gunfire. Cohen protected her by covering her with bodies, an act Abud said saved her life. She woke after seven hours in a pile of bodies, realizing her nephew and his girlfriend had been killed. She was one of seven survivors from that shelter.

Cohen described enduring heavy iron chains on his leg, lights kept on to prevent sleep, and repeated nighttime intrusions by captors screaming to frighten them. He said he was not permitted to shower, change clothes, or use a restroom at times. To survive, he focused his mind on returning home rather than on the violence surrounding him.

Another survivor addressing the diplomats was Oriya Berlin, an Israeli visual intelligence observer who arrived at a base in the Gaza border area two days before the attack. Berlin described waking to what she believed was a thunderstorm before realizing missiles were falling. She and four other soldiers ran barefoot into a small shelter while unarmed. Berlin said she heard roughly 60 heavily armed terrorists attacking the base. After ten hours, special forces reached them. Berlin refused an offer to leave military service and later moved into the IDF Public Diplomacy Office to tell the story of the soldiers who did not survive.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon used the gathering to criticize the United Nations for demonizing Israel. Danon said his son was scheduled to be at the Re'im base near Gaza on October 7 but was released home for the holiday at the last minute. "That's why it's personal," Danon said.

Waltz told Fox News Digital after the ceremony that he wanted to acknowledge both the loss of October 7 and changes in the region three years later. He cited President Trump's 20-point peace plan and a U.N. resolution establishing an International Stabilization Force as steps to prevent Hamas from rebuilding and Iran from rearming. Waltz argued that October 7 had backfired on Iran and its proxies, pointing to shifts in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.