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Lest there was any doubt about the absolute depravity and monstrous evil that is Hamas, consider all that we have seen just this week.
In every handover of hostages, there has been an increasing sense of theater – and it’s also obvious that the Hamas propaganda wing is still alive and operational. And that they also have access to a FedEx Kinko’s or something, because who on earth is printing up these elaborately photoshopped banners for them to use as backdrops during these big production numbers?
So much genociding. Much genocided. https://t.co/t3Z9HJBUuX
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 22, 2025
We saw the most vicious and gleeful propaganda theater this week when Hamas handed over the bodies of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, Oded Lifshitz, and a body they claimed was Shiri Bibas. The coffins were carried by the representatives of all the terror groups in Gaza, differentiated by their headbands – just in case you thought there was a future Palestinian alternative to Hamas able to rule over Gaza. There isn’t.
But once the body in Shiri’s coffin was determined to be some random Gazan woman, completely unrelated to any hostage, the uproar was immediate and loud. So loud, in fact, that Hamas admitted that yeah, they screwed up (and could you send that body back?) and handed over Shiri Bibas quietly, without the production number, to the International Red Cross. The body was confirmed to be that of Shiri Bibas, and also confirmed that she was murdered.
So while Israel was still reeling and grieving from this horror show, there was a new horror show to watch. Today was scheduled to be the last living hostage release of Phase One, and would release six men. Hamas must have planned for this to be the distraction from the fury over the deaths of the Bibas children (and the bait-and-switch of Shiri’s body). Yes, Israel is placing a huge importance on bringing back as many living hostages as possible – which is why they are focused on the moment at hand, instead of declaring the deal broken and over.
The first two men released were identified as Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39. Video footage showed the two men looking frail and scared as they were taken to a stage in front of a crowd while flanked by masked gunmen. They were handed over to the Red Cross and were on their way to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
An additional three hostages – Omer Wenkert, 23; Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Eliya Cohen, 27 – were subsequently released in the central town of Nuseirat. They were dressed in fake army uniforms, though they were not soldiers when they were kidnapped.
Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, an Israeli Bedouin who was kidnapped by Hamas in April 2015, was officially handed off to the Red Cross on Saturday after nearly 10 years in Gaza.
Two of the hostages — Mengistu and Al-Sayed — are civilians who have been held since entering Gaza on their own more than a decade ago, long before the war sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel, which prompted military retaliation from Israeli forces.
So, why did Hisham al-Sayed get a separate hand off, without all the terror circus pomp and circumstance? Hamas explained that – he’s a fellow Arab, not a Jew!
Hamas says they will hand over Hisham without a ceremony "out of respect for Israel's Arab citizens"
Where was this "respect" when they held him hostage for a decade?? https://t.co/x3uZdE1GTJ
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) February 22, 2025
It’s obviously a very bad look for Hamas to admit that they have been holding an Arab Muslim for a decade simply because he is an Israeli citizen, isn’t it? It might give other Arab nations a negative impression of Hamas, hmmm? Contrast the footage of the handovers.
Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, and Omer Wenkert paraded on stage before being handed to the Red Cross pic.twitter.com/UT47sz40m0
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) February 22, 2025
Hostage Hisham al-Sayed was handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City without a ceremony. pic.twitter.com/R8INpUsYpD
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) February 22, 2025
The propaganda production and dog-and-pony show is reserved only for the humiliation of Jews, and Hamas has made that obviously and painfully clear. It’s also being reported that Avera Mengistu is “barely communicating” with his family members, and Hisham al-Sayed is “destroyed, emotionally and cognitively” according to his father. Both men were diagnosed with schizophrenia, and both wandered into Gaza on their own, and Hamas decided to hold them both for a decade, obviously without any mental health treatment. While the hostages taken on October 7th who were released today have a chance to recover and lead relatively normal lives (despite their reports of starvation and torture), it is unlikely that Mengistu and al-Sayed will be able to rehabilitate successfully after ten years of captivity.
And just to heap on a final evil indignity to the day, Hamas brought along two additional hostages to the terror circus today – just so they could be taunted and filmed begging for their release.
The Hamas terror group brought two hostages who are still in captivity to watch today’s release ceremony of Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen and Omer Wenkert.
In a video published by Hamas, Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal are seen inside a vehicle in the stage area set up by the terror group for the release of the three captives in central Gaza’s Nuseirat.
The two are seen calling on Israel to secure their release.
This was deliberate and intentional cruelty, and obviously designed to remind Israel that Phase One is officially over, and if they want any more living hostages, Phase Two will have to be negotiated. Hamas psychologically tormented these men, and recorded it, in order to keep hell from being unleashed on them. What happens now is up to Israel. While President Trump keeps affirming that he will support whatever decision Israel makes, it is Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government that will need to make the final decision. In truth, the decision has already been made. While even one hostage still lives, Israel will stay at the negotiating table. We can all pass judgement on the wisdom of that decision, but that likely is the option that the Israeli people will demand.
Featured image by Hadi Mohammad for FARS News Agency via Wikimedia Commons, cropped, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
draigh says: I’m now in favor of carpet bombing Southern GAZA with MOAB’s. The individuals remaining there are monsters! They should be elimated.
Cameron says: Find every child under the age of five. Adopt them out to Christian homes far away from that land. Everyone five or over gets disposed of. Then Gaza is bulldozed down to the soil and handed over to Israel.
Alifa Saadya says: Gaza is actually a very interesting place. In the Byzantine period, it was an important center of early Christianity (mostly Nestorian, if I remember correctly). Before modern agriculture (and drip irrigation) it was one of the few areas in the south in which the Bedouin and fellahin could produce a few crops for export (provided there had been enough rain in the winter). There is still a small number of Christians who live there, and I am sure their lives under Hamas have not been easy. Christians in the Middle East always tell you how well they have gotten along with their Muslim neighbors, but that is rather disingenuous. There are plenty of accounts of Christians being attacked, murdered, raped, and driven from their homes. Remember when Palestinian “freedom fighters” were holed up in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem a few years ago? They used pages from historic Bibles as toilet paper, and looted the stores of the Christian monks who lived and worked there.
While I understand the rage that wants Gaza to be leveled, I wonder if it might be better to give it to the Christians there. Middle Eastern Christians have been the best of the entrepreneurs in the Arab world. They might not like Jews any better than the other Arabs, but at least they are not murderous jihadis.
Scott says: Wait a minute… palis used toilet paper???
Scott says: I doubt there’s much left there worth salvaging. Might as well level it, then give the rubble to the Christians and let them rebuild.
GWB says: Christians in the Middle East always tell you how well they have gotten along with their Muslim neighbors, but that is rather disingenuous.
It’s called dhimmitude. They have to tell you how wonderful life is under their Muslim masters.
GWB says: They were handed over to the Red Cross
And at the moment the Red Cross vehicle moved out of range, an airstrike should have obliterated everyone there. Period.
after nearly 10 years in Gaza
If the world believed what they claim to believe, that alone should have resulted in the rounding up and imprisoning for life the entire leadership of Hamas/Gaza. But, no, we can’t expect of them the same level of righteousness as is imposed on the West. You have to understand their victimization or some such.
This guy being held hostage for 10 years should rain fire down on Gaza as the shameless sins brought down fire from God on Sodom and Gomorrah.
It might give other Arab nations a negative impression of Hamas, hmmm?
HA! The rest of the Arab world (except for Iran and their terror proxies) already doesn’t want anything to do with the “Palestinians” and haven’t for several decades.
This was deliberate and intentional cruelty
And it’s why retribution is the proper response. Tell the Gazans, “You release all the hostages now, dead or alive. Otherwise, next Sunday, we will kill 100 Gazans. If they are not released the Sunday after that, we will kill 1,000 Gazans. The week after that, 10,000 Gazans. When we reach 1 million Gazans we will simply not stop and will destroy all of Gaza and every man, woman, and child over 10 in it. Then we will drive the children under 10 into the Sinai desert*. We will tear down every building, collapse every tunnel, and turn Gaza into a wasteland for a generation. It’s your choice what happens to you.” It’s just and will actually save lives in the long run.
(* I’m willing to do the “adopt out” with children 5 and under. But, remember that their version of Sesame Street has their version of Cookie Monster blowing himself up to kill Jews. So 5yo might be a little late.)
Scott says: Damn GWB, you are one eloquent dude! Can’t find a single word to argue with.
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