A masked Hamas terrorist is heard on a propaganda video ordering Israeli hostages to “keep waving” as they are loaded onto a Red Cross van during Saturday’s second release.
The release, which was delayed due to Hamas objections, saw thirteen Israelis — eight children and five children — and four Thai farmworkers released after 50 days of being held in captivity.
Hamas has produced videos of the first two releases that aim to show a humanitarian side of the organization, after the brutal murders and kidnappings of the October 7 attack shocked the world. But the mask has slipped at key moments in the videos.
In one video, Israeli mother Sharon Avigdori, 52, and her daughter Noam Avigdori, 12, are seen being walked to a Red Cross vehicle. A masked Hamas terrorist tells them, in English, “Bye now.” As they are seated (0:17), he orders gruffly: “Keep waving.”
The Jerusalem Post noted: “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’s cruelty.”
In another video, released when the first 13 hostages were freed, Adina Moshe, 72, is seen slapping away the hand of a masked Hamas terrorist who tries to hold her hand as she steps out of a vehicle.
Dr. Ron Schleifer, who studies psychological warfare at Ariel University, told reporters Sunday that Hamas’s propaganda videos during hostage releases are meant to erase the memory of earlier images of atrocity and brutality during the October 7 attacks.
Hamas has produced numerous propaganda videos in which hostages demand their release and blame the Israeli government for their plight; or in which, upon their release, the hostages shake the hands of their captors and appear to smile in gratitude.
Hamas took roughly 240 hostages, including babies and elderly Holocaust survivors, in the course of murdering 1,200 people. The hostages, both civilian and military, have been held in brazen violation of international law, with no Red Cross visits.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.