Al Jazeera and Hamas Said Israel Killed Their Own Hostages. They Lied.

It took only hours after the IDF recovered six Israeli hostages murdered in Gaza for Hamas’s propaganda machine to shift into gear. Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino were all mercilessly shot to death in a tunnel under Rafah. But before the families of the hostages had the chance to mourn their dead, Hamas were already coming out with their “version” of the story.

According to Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq, it was the IDF, not Hamas, who’d killed their own people in an airstrike. But Hamas’s lies weren’t only disseminated from their Telegram channels and Arab media. Al Jazeera English, once again, played a key role in broadcasting Hamas’s lies to the world. In an announcement on Instagram, Al Jazeera parroted Hamas’s baseless lies in their caption, for all their five million followers to see. It bears noting that Al Jazeera is a Qatari-state owned channel. Qatar has financed Hamas and hosted their leadership in Doha for years. To this day, Qatar’s emir has refused to expel Hamas from Doha.

Within hours, conspiracy theories were abounding on social media. The top comments on a myriad of news channel posts stated gleefully that the IDF had butchered the hostages they were supposed to protect. Others claim proudly that the “resistance” would never kill hostages (something its spokesperson Abu Obaida admitted Hamas had done, even before the murder of six Israeli hostages). But for anybody with a working brain, the jig was up.

So Hamas decided to change their plans. Via their Al Qassam Brigades Telegram channel, Abu Obaida announced “new instructions for the treatment of hostages.” In response to the IDF’s successful rescuing of four hostages in Nuseirat, Obaida proclaimed Hamas would shoot any hostages who were close to being rescued by Israel. According to Hamas, Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on military means meant Israeli captives “will return in coffins.” As if their threats weren’t enough, Hamas published an illustration with a terrorist holding a gun in his hand. His gun has a sticker of Abu Obaida plastered on it. Opposite him is a hostage in a tunnel with an IDF insignia on their shirt. Translated from Hebrew and Arabic, the caption says “Military pressure equals death and failure. Bartering equals freedom and life.” So much for the hostages being killed by Israeli airstrikes.

It should come as no surprise that Al Jazeera’s narrative changed to instantly accommodate Hamas. If Hamas wants to inflict psychological warfare on Israel, you best believe Al Jazeera will be there to amplify it (forget that a few days ago they’d just said the IDF killed its own hostages). Middle East Monitor, a lobbying group financed by Qatar, followed suit too. Of course, none of this should surprise us. Anyone who’s been paying the slightest bit of attention for the past eleven months knows Al Jazeera is nothing but the propaganda wing of Hamas.

Of course it should also come as no surprise that people still insist the IDF killed their own hostages, in spite of Hamas’s announcements. Apparently, some people will defend Hamas for things even they won’t defend. Antisemitism truly does sick things to the mind.

Dan Frankel is a writer and engineering/advisory consultant.

Opinion