He Refused To Convert To Islam During Captivity in Gaza | Rom Braslavski's Story

There are things that should outrage every decent human being. One of them is this: a 21-year-old Israeli Jew, kidnapped from a music festival by Islamic terrorists, held in a dark tunnel in Gaza for over two years, tortured, starved, and repeatedly offered a full plate of food if only he would betray his God and his people. And he said no. Every. Single. Time.

Rom Braslavski didn’t just survive Hamas captivity, he defied it.

Rom Braslavski after being released covered in Israeli flag (Photo: Tel HaShomer, Eran Yardeni)

You need to understand what that means. While weak politicians rewarded Hamas by recognizing Palestine, while pro-Palestine protestors chant lies in Western capitals, while people pretend this is “complicated,” a Jewish boy sat alone, shackled in a cell underground. And his captors, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, backed by Iran, kept making him the same offer: renounce Judaism, convert to Islam, and we’ll feed you.

They starved him to the bone. They showed him fake videos claiming Iran bombed Israel. They told him his parents gave up. They offered him the Quran instead of a slice of bread. He could have bowed. He could have whispered the words they wanted to hear, just to get some rice. But he didn’t.

And when he came home, the first thing he did was put on tefillin and say, “I am Jewish. I am strong.”

Two Years in the Dark

Rom was a young man working as a security guard at the Supernova festival on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists stormed in and took him.

His mother, Tami Braslavski, has now shared the details that he shared with her. For most of the two years, he was held completely alone. Shackled by all four limbs. No bathroom, just a bottle. Fed half a flatbread at night, with a spoonful of rice if he was “lucky.” And when the abuse intensified this past spring, they whipped him “with things I won’t even mention", she said.

Rom Braslavski in a Hamas propaganda video during captivity.

Then came the bribes: read the Quran, fast for Ramadan, convert, and we’ll treat you better.

He refused. Repeatedly.

One day, starving, he broke free from his restraints. He tried to cook pasta with a fire he made from a terrorist’s uniform and a book. Smoke filled the apartment where he was kept. Locals banged on the windows. He hid, terrified he’d be lynched.

His captors showed him videos from Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square and told him his face wasn’t there. They said no one remembered him. That his country was gone. That Iran had wiped out Israel. But in his soul, Rom never left Israel. He never stopped believing. “Mom, I always knew it would end,” he told her.

“I Am Jewish. I Am Strong.”

When Rom finally emerged, on October 14, 2025, after 739 days in captivity, he didn’t ask for a phone, a TV, or a celebration. He looked at the sky, the sun, and the air, and said, That’s all I want.

You cannot buy that kind of strength. That is something deep in the bones of the Jewish people. It’s the same thing that kept Daniel praying in Babylon, kept Esther silent in Persia until the moment of truth, and kept the Maccabees fighting when the world told them to quit.

The book of Daniel tells us:

“But the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.” (Daniel 11:32)

Rom stood firm. And now it’s our turn to take action.

Braslavski looking outside the hospital window after being freed (Photo: Tel HaShomer Eran Yardeni)

This War Is Not Over

This war is about good versus evil. It’s about a culture that raises its children to hate and kidnap and murder, versus a nation that sends its sons to rescue, not destroy. Israel is fighting barbarians who use Islam as a weapon and Western naiveté as a shield.

Rom’s story is proof: Hamas isn’t interested in peace, only domination. Islamic Jihad doesn’t want coexistence, they want surrender. And when they didn’t get it from Rom, they tortured him. When they couldn’t break his spirit, they tried to starve it.

But he came out stronger than they’ll ever be. Rom won, they lost.

Rom’s mother said it best: “This isn’t over. There are still hostages and fallen soldiers whose bodies must come home. Families are still waiting, even if their loved ones’ hearts have already stopped.”

So don’t look away. Don’t say “both sides.”

There is only one side that takes hostages, tortures kids, and demands conversion under starvation. And there’s only one side that raises boys like Rom Braslavski, boys who’d rather starve than betray their God.