Padme

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legalized discrimination

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This era of AI scare tactics seems to be more of a boogeyman to cede to authoritarianism in government more than an actual threat to humans.

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Braslavski's first days in Gaza

The terrorists brought Braslavski to an "improvised house, like a chicken coop," and tied him inside a closet. His right arm and one of his legs were tied to either side of the closet, he clarified to Hazinor. "This is how it was 24/7."

Eventually, he managed to get untied and had a little room to move around. He detailed that there was a kitchen where he was being held, which still had gas. "Every time I heard a sound of someone coming, I went back running to the closet. I was living like that for a week," he explained.

He shared that he set a 21 day deadline, after which he would complete a "suicide mission" and make himself macaroni on the stove.

I thought to myself, maybe I'll get caught, maybe I'll die, but I have to do this," he said. "Finally, I decided to cook the macaroni. I opened the window, watched the sky for the first time since I got kidnapped, and breathed in the fresh air. Then put on a pot of water, and started warming it when the gas ran out.

I decided to do a campfire, whatever I needed to eat like a normal human being. My body needed it and I couldn't keep ignoring it," Braslavski said.

The cooking alerted the Gazans around him, and soon hundreds of them surrounded the house. They broke in and found him. "They caught me and began beating the life out of me. I couldn’t walk or stand for maybe two weeks after that," he recounted.

Humanitarian aid and staying with Alexander Troufanov

"When the humanitarian aid entered Gaza, the terrorists holding us became very happy. They started to eat as if they were in a restaurant, with meat and lots of variety," Braslavski detailed and added that he "didn't receive more food when the aid came."

I thought them: I'm smelly, I haven't showered, and I'm not eating, while they have tons of food coming in. Why are they keeping me hungry while eating like that? The smells of food turned my stomach. I could smell the meat, the coffee, the sweetness of tea, and the rice with milk that they were cooking."

But a blessing came in the form of former hostage Alexander Sasha Troufanov, whom he describes as "the greatest gift during captivity."

We started talking while whispering, afraid of what would happen to us. But little by little I started to open up, to tell him about my life, about my fears, and how I was feeling," he recounted. "He also talked, from morning till midnight. He told me that he had been shot in the leg, and other stories that today seem like hallucinations. But when I was with him, I felt happy."

This happiness was short-lived, as reality struck him again only 48 hours later. Citing the IDF's entry into Rafah, the terrorist separated them. "I was certain that we would stick together; he was my anchor, and I felt safe with Sasha," Braslavski said.

Braslavski recounts torture, abuse, and threats to convert to Islam

Braslavski detailed countless abuses and torture sessions he lived through, which only grew more intense during the two years he was held captive, especially after he refused to convert to Islam.
The PIJ claimed that "nobody would touch him" and that he'd be given "a lot of food" if he would convert. Braslavski refused. "I knew in my head that it would never happen. I told [the terrorist], I was born a Jew, I will die a Jew."

His bathroom breaks were regulated to three times a day: 9 a.m., 4 p.m., and 9 p.m.

The terrorists holding him captive blindfolded him for days, and then weeks, at a time. When Braslavski asked why, he was told "these instructions were really coming from above." At times, two blindfolds and a shirt were tied around his head to ensure no light came through.

"Everything was black," Braslavski recounted to Hazinor, "I was afraid I would lose my sight."

After a week of being blindfolded, his captors were instructed to "close his ears." One of the terrorists brought two stones from outside to put into Braslavski's ears. "He [the terrorist] took a nail and he pushed the stone into [my] ear with a nail, as deep as he could, and I was screaming," Braslavski said. "The terrorist didn’t care, and he just shoved it in deeper."

"To this day, I have bruising [inside my ear]," he told Hazinor.

The worst torture came before filming a video of him, where he is seen crying. "I didn't cry because of the hunger; they were punching me between every take. I was wiped, hit, and jumped over. I felt my bones crushing, and the pain was unbearable," he described.

One of these tortures was committed by a terrorist commander or general of sorts, who Braslavski described as "weighing a hundred kilos while I was only 50."

"He jumped over me, over my neck, punched me, and I felt pain in every bone of my body," he recounted.

In another instance, Braslavski told how the terrorists used a whip that left scars on his body to this day: "It was made with metal and covered in leather. They would whip me 40 times in a row without stopping, until my skin turned blue and red."

Braslavski recounts sexual assault

Later in the interview, he revealed that his captors stripped him naked, starved him, and tied him up while sexually assaulting him. “They stripped me of all my clothes, my underwear, everything. They tied me up while I was completely naked. I was torn apart, dying, with no food."
"It was sexual violence, and its main purpose was to humiliate me," he said. "The goal was to crush my dignity. And that's exactly what he did." “I prayed to God, ‘Please, save me, get me out of this already.’ And you just say to yourself, ‘What the f***?’”

But his faith in god was never broken: "I told them, 'Maybe you think doing this is alright because nobody sees us, but God is with us and sees you, how you torture me. That will not pass quietly. God will rip you apart.' He then got really angry and started yelling: 'Who are you to teach me about God? I'm worth ten times more to God than you are."

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