VIDEO - Senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Zahar on Monday condemned the animation video releasedby Hamas' military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The propaganda video shows Noam Shalit, kidnapped soldier GiladShalit's father, walking the streets of Israel in another 20 years, clutching a picture of his son, who is still in captivity.
After a meeting between Hamas parliament members and a parliamentary delegation from South Africa, Al-Zahar told reporters that the video "does not reflect Hamas' official stance."
Video released by Hamas' military wing
The senior figure denounced the insinuation made in the video, according to which his organization might kill Shalit. "We have not killed in the past and will never kill captive Israeli soldiers," he said, "Our morals prevent us from doing so."
Al-Zahar emphasized that the video is "not a political or humanitarian attempt and does not reflect the faction's position, which objects killing captured soldiers and does not allow it, in order not to justify the Israeli position vis-à-vis Palestinian and Arab prisoners."
Noam Shalit responded to the video's release on Sunday, saying, "It is a shame that Hamas leaders continue to choose psychologically warfare for the who-knows-what time against our family and against the Israeli public instead of addressing and authorizing the German prisoner swap deal that has been on their table for four months with no response."