TEL AVIV – To the amusement of the Twittersphere, Hamas’ new tank, unveiled at a funeral for seven of its members who died when a tunnel collapsed on them, turned out to be little more than a parade float.
Leaders of Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedin Al-Qassam Brigades, made fiery speeches from the tank’s turret, claiming it was rehabilitated from a captured Israeli Merkava tank and would be used in future battles with Israel.
“Let us point our index finger toward heaven and renew our pledge of allegiance to Allah and to the commanders of the Izzedin Al-Qassam Brigades, and vow to continue on the path of jihad and resistance,” said spokesman for the group Abu Obeida. “[We’re] preparing ourselves for the day that we shall meet those [Israeli] tanks.”
Except upon closer inspection it becomes clear that the tank is a fake.
Watch Hamas’ propaganda video of the tank, translated by MEMRI, here:
Twitter users didn’t miss a beat in trolling Hamas over the gaffe.
“Hamas paraded yesterday a ‘captured,’ rebuilt Israeli tank,” Ofir Gendelman, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted. “FYI, tanks aren’t made of wood and don’t run on wheels.”
Other tweets said the new tank was built by Fred Flintstone
Another showed the tank in its “development stages” made out of cartons.