There’s widespread praise for Hamas across the world following Saturday’s release of 6 Israeli hostages by the resistance movement. Hamas freed the hostages despite Israel refusing to full-fill its end of the deal demanding guarantees that more hostages will be set free in future exchanges as part of the ceasefire. Endearing the resistance fighters to people around the world has been the good condition that the Israeli hostages appear to be in as they are set free by Hamas.
The highlight of Saturday was Israeli captive Omer Shem Tov kissing the foreheads of Al-Qassam, a moment that has now been circulated millions of times on social media with many users drawing direct comparisons with the Palestinian who always emerged from Israeli prisons malnourished and sickly with most sharing chilling accounts of torture at the hands of the Israel Defence Force. Shem Tov’s gesture is not unique though. During previous prisoner exchanges, Israeli hostages have shown affection for their captors with embraces in public. Even in post release interviews the Israeli hostages have shared how they were treated good by their captors and fed well even dismissing western as well as Israeli propaganda of Hamas raping and torturing hostages.The US government has meanwhile ignored Hamas’ goodwill and continued to peddle claims of abuse of hostages.“
Hamas’ treatment of hostages, including its brutal murder of the Bibas family, further illustrates their savagery and is yet another reason why we are saying these terrorists must release all of the hostages immediately or be destroyed,”Marco Rubio US Secretary of State.Israel also stands accused of killing its own citizens ( hostages) during many of its failed ‘rescue missions’ which have involved circulating claims of killings by Hamas. On Saturday the liberation movement hit back at Israel accusing it of spreading lies and untested claims.Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem: “We strongly condemn the false claims propagated by the Zionist occupation regarding the alleged killing of the Bibas family children by their captors and its attempt to accuse Hamas of this. These allegations are nothing but baseless lies and fabrications, promoted by Zionist media to tarnish the image of the Palestinian resistance and justify the occupation’s crimes against our people. The resistance has upheld its responsibility to safeguard the lives of captives with integrity and commitment, adhering to its Islamic morals and humanitarian values. It even refrained from harming a dog that accompanied one of the female captives, ensuring its safety—demonstrating its deep adherence to ethical and religious principles.
We affirm that these false accusations are nothing more than a blatant attempt by the criminal Zionist occupation to manipulate the emotions of the captives’ families and to divert growing public anger away from Netanyahu and his extremist, terrorist government,” said Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem. Amongst those set free by Hamas on Saturday was Ethiopian born Israeli soldier Avera Mengistu who was captured by the resistance movement a little over ten years ago.
Throughout his 10 years of imprisonment by the resistance said there was never discussion about a hostage deal. Haaretz the Israeli news paper have written an article that explains why the Israeli government refused to negotiate with Hamas over his release and in the article an ex-negotiator said that it was due to his race ( black)that the Israelis chose to neglect him feeding into reports of systematic racism in Isreal against black Jews.
Following Israel’s delay of the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners including children, many families expressed disappointment.“ I’ve been waiting for him to be released for 20 years,” said a woman who was hoping to reunite with her son two decades after his detention by Israel.Back in South Africa, the Economic Freedom Fighters held a mass rally in support of Palestine in Cape Town which was also addressed by representatives of other local political parties opposed to Israel.Former Director General in the Presidency Reverend Frank Chikane also addressed the crowd and slammed Israel for its continued occupation of Palestine and the ongoing genocide.Secretary General of the Good Party Brett Heron also used the opportunity to call out among others, the SA Jewish Board of Deputies for continued support of Israel.