Omer Shem Tov spent 505 days in hell. Hamas kidnapped the 22-year-old Israeli on October 7, 2023, and held him in Gaza for nearly a year and a half, much of it in a pitch-black underground cell where Hamas starved him, isolated him, and forced him to dig tunnels for his captors. But in a new interview with CNN’s Bianna Golodryga, Shem Tov revealed more than just the horrors of his captivity. He gave a rare glimpse into the political calculus of the terrorists who held him and their reaction when Donald Trump returned to power.
“At first,” Shem Tov recalled, “they were spitting on me, cursing me. I was starving. They gave me two pieces of pita bread a day. Then it got worse — by the end, I was getting one biscuit and a few sips of salty water. I dropped from 176 pounds to 121.” He went 80 days without a shower. “There were times I thought I was blind,” he said. “It was so dark, I couldn’t see my own hand in front of my face.”
But then something changed. And it changed fast.
“As soon as Donald Trump was elected,” Shem Tov said, “they understood that he wants to bring the hostages back home. So immediately, the way they treated me changed.” He was given more food, and the constant verbal abuse suddenly stopped. “They stopped cursing me. They stopped spitting on me.”
Why the sudden shift? Shem Tov says it wasn’t just fear.
“They wanted Kamala to be elected,” he said flatly. “Yes, yes, yes. They talked about politics. They wanted Kamala. But as soon as Trump came in, they got scared.”
That fear translated into a sharp change in behavior — proof, Shem Tov believes, that Trump was taken seriously in a way Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were not. “Before, we felt like nothing was happening,” he explained. “Then he came into the road, and they were very scared of him.”
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In a visit to the Oval Office, Shem Tov told Trump that he believed it was President Trump — and divine intervention — that led to his release. Shem Tov recalled that Trump simply told him, “You got a good future.”
The contrast between how Hamas viewed Trump and how they viewed Kamala Harris speaks volumes. For all the rhetoric from the left about “diplomacy” and “nuance,” the terrorists Shem Tov lived with clearly respected force — and feared consequences. They knew that Trump meant business.
Now, months after his release, Shem Tov is on a mission. He speaks publicly, recounts his experience, and pleads for the return of the remaining hostages. “Time is critical,” he said. “We have to get them out.”
When Golodryga asked him if Trump’s continued pressure could help secure their freedom, Shem Tov didn’t hesitate: “I think so. Yes.”
Part one of the interview:
Part 1 of my full interview with Omer Shem Tov: pic.twitter.com/9cCokWgSLW
— Bianna Golodryga (@biannagolodryga) May 28, 2025
Part two of the interview:
Part 2: pic.twitter.com/oeM7FrmxRG
— Bianna Golodryga (@biannagolodryga) May 28, 2025
The takeaway couldn’t be clearer or more damning. Hamas wanted Kamala Harris in the White House because it saw her as weak. But the moment Trump returned to power, everything changed. The terrorists stopped spitting, stopped cursing, stopped starving the hostages, and started negotiating. Why? Because they feared him. They knew what countless Americans already understand: Donald Trump means what he says, and when he draws a red line, it’s not just for show.
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