Hamas' propaganda videos: Kinder, gentler terrorists?
It was disturbing to view some responses of bloggers to videos Hamas posted of hostages being released and then escorted by the masked terrorists from their vehicles to awaiting International Red Cross vehicles. Obviously, the opportunity existed for the terrorist group to demonstrate a "kinder, gentler" side to the very brutal one revealed in videos from cameras taken off the dead bodies of its members involved in the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis.
The Hamas escorts did use the hostage release opportunity to suggest they were not pure evil. Sadly, some on the internet took this bait. But others, fortunately, saw these brutal animals for what they really were – wolves portraying themselves in sheep's clothing.
For example, an Israeli mother and her daughter – Sharon Avigdori, 52, and Noam Avigdori, 12 – were shown walking to a Red Cross vehicle as their Hamas escort said in English, "Bye, now!" But, as the two hostages took seats in the Red Cross vehicle, the escort gruffly ordered them to "Keep waving."
This resulted in the posting by Sulaiman Ahmed – a United Kingdom journalist – claiming, "The prisoners seem healthy and are waving to Hamas fighters," ignoring any mention of the gruff order. But further investigation into who Ahmed is reveals he has developed a reputation for "sharing repetitive, nonstop updates about the devastation in Gaza, many of them questionable."
Ahmed has been identified as one of those who falsely reported an Israeli airstrike against the Jabalia refugee camp resulted in: "500 KILLED AND INJURED. People are still being found dead and injured in the rubble. Genocide." But the official estimate given by medical people actually on the ground and later verified was far less than what Ahmed had quoted.
While Ahmed's inciteful anti-Israel reports have more than doubled the number of X followers he has obtained since the Israel-Hamas war began – from 88,000 to 206,000 – his preference seems to be for reporting false "bombshell" stories rather than for accuracy.
Journalist Daniel Amram, who was much more observant than Ahmed, noted what the latter failed to report: "disgusting: In the Hamas video, at one point, you can clearly hear Hamas terrorists demanding the woman and the girl to 'keep waving' which they do so. What cruel and sick individuals."
Another X user, Yashar Ali, noting a scene in which a terrorist grabs a little girl hostage's hand to escort her, wrote: "Nothing like forcing children to hold your hand after you held them captive for nearly 50 days and slaughtered their neighbors and/or family. Sick." But to this post, John Reston II unsympathetically posted, "Doesn't look very forced to me."
An incident occurring on one of the videos showed how the Hamas escorts were obviously briefed to show a softer side based on one terrorist doing something he would never do for a Muslim woman – to whom Muslim males are deemed superior. He extended his hand to help hostage Adina Moshe, 72, disembark from an Hamas vehicle. However, a defiant Moshe slapped his hand away. (A more accurate picture of how Hamas treats non-Muslim women is reflected by an Israeli report that "Women who were abducted from Israeli territory and were held hostage by Hamas in Gaza were kept in cages.") Hostages were forced to speak in whispers with some of the released so traumatized, they still do so.
Unbelievably, there were a number of other anti-Israel posts from American-sounding names, although one really has no idea whether the critics were Americans or not.
The Jerusalem Post reported the following about one of the Hamas propaganda videos: "The video quickly circulated online, with some of those sympathetic to the terrorist group presenting it as a vindication of their behavior, on the basis that the kidnapped Israelis appeared grateful or warm toward their captors. Others presented it as further evidence of Hamas' cruelty."
People promoting the videos as a vindication of Hamas' behavior on Oct. 7 fulfill the meaning of "useful idiots." During the Cold War, the term was applied to those in the West who promoted communism. It is appropriately applied today to those in the West blindly accepting Islamism with no understanding of how it ultimately seeks to impact upon them directly by forcing their acceptance of Islam.
While it is doubtful gratitude was felt by any of the hostages toward their captors, even if there was, the useful idiot above fail to understand the psychological "near death" impact such captivity has on hostages. Every hostage's focus was on survival and how to best achieve it.
Accordingly, some captives could have fallen victim to what is known as "Stockholm Syndrome" – so named as a pure coping mechanism for captives physically or mentally abused by their captors. A 1973 bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, resulted in four hostages being held by the robbers for six days. When the four were finally rescued, they actually attempted to protect the robbers, with whom they had developed an amicable relationship – development of which they saw as key to their survival.
No amount of propaganda videos should undermine the reality of what Hamas is really all about as it proves there is no such thing as kinder, gentler terrorists.
The aunt of a 12-year-old boy released by Hamas said her nephew "experienced horrors" and suffers from trauma. Upon arriving in Gaza, he was beaten by Palestinian civilians. Any child who cried was immediately threatened with a gun to stay quiet. The boy was also forced to watch videos of atrocities committed by Hamas during the Oct. 7 raid. During the raid, a terrorist shot the boy's father, also dragging him into Gaza – although the father's fate remains unknown.
Additionally, Hamas refused to release the youngest hostage taken captive – a 10-month-old baby who has since been transferred to a different Palestinian terror group inside Gaza. Meanwhile, Hamas admits it has lost track of some Israeli hostages.
The director of an Israeli children's hospital treating some of the hostages shared that their "very difficult, painful, complex stories about captivity" are slowly being told. He added, "Despite the optimistic appearance (of the hostages), the captivity period was difficult and complex, and it will take time for wounds to heal."
It is absolutely fair for a kidnap victim to undertake any possible option to stay alive. What is absolutely unfair is for others to second guess those actions or to suggest a terrorist kidnapper's murderous behavior is to be forgiven by an orchestrated demonstration of a short-lived and very rare moment of humanity.
We should never forget the gesture of a Hamas terrorist extending a hand to assist a released elderly female hostage disembarking from a vehicle is the same hand that was extended to decapitate innocent Israeli babies.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@wndnewscenter.org.
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!
The post Hamas' propaganda videos: Kinder, gentler terrorists? appeared first on WND.