Freed hostage Rom Braslavski, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival and held captive in Deir al-Balah, has shared an emotional account of a deeply personal encounter with IDF Arabic-language spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, explaining how Adraee’s broadcasts became a source of hope during his darkest days in Hamas captivity.

In a social media post published Sunday, Braslavski reflected on a meeting at Kfar Maccabiah with fellow former hostage Sasha Troufanov and Adraee, describing it as an extraordinary full-circle moment that united three people whose lives would otherwise never have crossed.

Braslavski opened his post by marveling at the unlikely connection between the three men. “One story. Avichay Adraee, Sasha Troufanov, and me. In a parallel world, there would never have been any connection between us. Sasha, a Russian from a kibbutz in southern Israel, Avichay Adraee, an ‘elite’ figure with ranks on his shoulders, and me, a simple soldier and security guard at the Nova festival.”

He said everything changed after the October 7 attack. “But our worlds are no longer parallel. And I was kidnapped to Gaza,” Braslavski wrote, before describing the man who became a symbol of hope during his captivity. “And the person who did me so much good (I believe Sasha too) was the giant man, though small in stature, in the picture – Avichay Adraee.”

While many Israelis know Adraee as the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman who addresses audiences in Gaza and Lebanon, Braslavski explained that he came to know him in a far more personal way.

“Avichay Adraee is the IDF spokesman in the Arab world. Most of you may not know him or have heard him because he speaks Arabic. But I heard him every day. Every attack. I heard him, I felt him. Avichay was the person who gave me hope in such a dark place.”

Braslavski vividly recalled secretly listening to Adraee’s broadcasts while being held by his captors in central Gaza.

“I would hear him endlessly when I secretly listened to Al Jazeera radio from behind the curtain of the partners in my terrorists’ tent in Deir al-Balah. I secretly listened and followed the man in the picture religiously, day after day, hour after hour.”

He said Adraee’s speeches were far more than news updates—they reminded him that Israel was fighting to bring the hostages home.

“Hearing his incredibly precise words in every speech he gave to the people of Gaza and Lebanon filled me with pride. He would summarize attacks, issue warnings, and present reality as it was. He spoke in Arabic from Israel, and it reached all of Gaza. There isn’t a terrorist in Gaza who doesn’t know Avichay Adraee and grow up with him. (Maybe I’m not a Gazan terrorist, but I also grew up on him). The man was there from the beginning of the war until the end. He covered everything. And he said – the Israel Defense Forces will not surrender until all the hostages are brought out.”

After returning to Israel, Braslavski said he and fellow former hostage Sasha Troufanov finally had the opportunity to meet the man whose voice had accompanied him throughout his ordeal.

“And after we were miraculously freed, I happened to sit with Sasha at Kfar Maccabiah. I was completely stunned, clinging to Sasha and looking at him with admiration, and then we met Avichay. Sasha suggested we go over, and I didn’t hesitate. Two hostages walking over to speak with the IDF spokesman for the Arab world.”

Braslavski described the meeting as deeply meaningful, saying the three spent a long time talking together.

“It was a long conversation that, naturally, included a lot of Arabic,” he wrote, recalling the bond he and Troufanov formed while imprisoned together. “Sasha and I shared a small room and the trunk of a car together in Rafah for two days, and for me, walking over to the IDF spokesman and saying hello was the greatest sense of closure I could have received.”

Braslavski concluded his heartfelt post by expressing gratitude to the people who stood by him during and after his captivity.

“Friends, I love you. Thank you for who you were for me in captivity, and thank you for who you are for me today.”