Israel has reached the finals in Hamas' cruel reality show

Opinion: The terror group's cynical and masochistic presentation of hostage releases is supported by most of the world - a world that issues warrants, screams 'Free Palestine' for masked terrorists it sees as freedom fighters and doesn’t condemn them at the UN  

Lior Ben Ami|
A man - a father - sits inside a white International Red Cross van. Through the rear window, Khan Younis fades into the distance, terrorists fade into the distance. In his hands, a certificate.
A head of a family, who did everything he could that morning when he rushed out to face Hamas murderers so they'd take him instead, returns alone. His right hand is likely in his pocket — just as it was during his release ceremony and just as it will be in a moment when he meets his father and sister. The van is empty of his wife and two young sons. In his left hand, a certificate.
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Protest calling for the release of hostages
(Photo: Dana Kopel)
Soon, the van will arrive. The sun is out today. One can only guess how long it's been since he last saw sunlight. Who and what waits for him now? The people are following his progress from home, giving a sorrowful sigh. A nation searches for a sign of relief — in his gaze, in his steps, even in the certificate.
Certificates are given for achievements, for completing a journey, for finishing a school term. And here, in Hamas’ sadistic reality show, we’ve reached the finale. End of game. Here, on stage, are the survivors. And it turns out, not only did the released hostages survive — so did Hamas.

See the difference

And earlier, on that same stage in Khan Younis, a father of four, after 484 days in captivity, waves — after being forced to— and soon he’ll wave to his friends, shouting that he loves them, this time by choice. And you’ll see the difference.
Then, at a port where the wind blows, against a backdrop of flags in jarring green and the deep blue of the Gazan sea, a 65-year-old man, gaunt and pale, walks slowly toward freedom, two brown paper bags in his hands. What’s in them, in these strange bags? Souvenirs? Tunnel merchandise?
Certificates, signatures, documents. A staged show of deception, of normalcy. A maddening performance enabled by a prime minister who failed to translate military success into an agreement that would have brought everyone back together, removed a murderous regime and set the nation on a new path much earlier.
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Hamas terrorists in Gaza
Hamas terrorists in Gaza
Hamas terrorists in Gaza
(צילום: AP)
And not just him. The world, hypocritical and ignorant in its own way, contributed to Hamas’ outrageous, unimaginable spectacle. Through pressure, protests, incitement and standing with evil. Not all of it — some of it. A world that issues warrants, screams “Free Palestine” for masked terrorists, doesn’t condemn them at the UN and sees them as freedom fighters.
Perhaps it's that very validation they received from this so-called enlightened world that leads Hamas to see itself as victims of the 81-year-old agronomist, the 29-year-old space exploration instructor, the 54-year-old carpenter, the 65-year-old occupational therapist and the 35-year-old father with the sorrowful gaze whom they are now forced, against their will, to release.
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Perhaps that’s why, in their eyes, they are an orderly organization. Humane. Justice-seeking. One that operates by international standards. One that gives parting gifts in a brown paper bag.
Let the prime minister look. Let him see what happens when the national vision during wartime means just another week in office, when the people are sold an absolute victory as a concept instead of a real plan.
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ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו נכנס לעדותו השביעית
ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו נכנס לעדותו השביעית
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(Photo: Yariv Katz)
Let the nations of the world look. Let them see a kidnapped young woman and an elderly man passing through the corridor of hell, through a brainwashed mob. Let them see a father returning alone in a van. Let them see a mother and two toddlers who aren’t coming home. Who aren’t receiving certificates.
And in the end, for those who missed the message, there’s another chance after October 7 to understand: those who stormed civilian homes that morning, targeting children in pajamas and the helpless, saw them as a threat — a target for elimination.
ליאור בן עמיLior Ben AmiPhoto: Yuval Chen
Here is a group of murderers who believe that two little redheads are as much of a threat as Golani Brigade soldiers. Or as America itself. To them, Israeli existence is a threat. And likely, any non-extreme Islamist existence is a threat.
The human train stops at yet another station of evil. Let the world wake up. Or does it, too, need a certificate from Hamas or its likes in order to do so — if, of course, it even makes it to that stage?
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