IDF releasing photos and a video showing the Hamas leader during his last moments alive and after his death backfired Israel slippin' It's not a smart move
Extracts: It depends on who is watching, 1. The video depicts a desperate, abandoned man trying to attack a sophisticated military drone with a wooden stick or 2. perhaps it shows a defiant hero who is staring the enemy in the eye while fighting till the bitter end
When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the killing of Yahya Sinwar last week, they released several photos and a video showing the Hamas leader during his last moments alive and after his death
It was meant to be proof that the man they said was one of the main architects of the October 7, 2023 terror attack was indeed dead and a warning to Israel’s enemies that no matter where they hide, the IDF will eventually get them
But the decision to release the footage appears to have backfired at least in part, as it has since been used to celebrate Sinwar for dying as a martyr and a resistance fighter
Now, Israel is in damage control mode, releasing older photos and videos of Sinwar hiding in tunnels with stashes of money in an attempt to portray the Hamas leader as a selfish man who only ever cared for himself
Gershon Baskin, a Middle East expert, peace activist and a former Israeli hostage negotiator who used to speak to Hamas through backchannels, said,
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the release of the footage was misguided and likely motivated by Israeli politics
As a negotiator for Israel, Baskin mediated the 2011 prisoner swap that saw more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners exchanged for Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier who had been held in Gaza for five years Yahya Sinwar was among the Palestinian prisoners released in that deal
Baskin told CNN
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“It is all about controlling the narrative from the side of Netanyahu – Netanyahu needs this as his victory pictures”
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been under criticism from all sides over the way the war in Gaza is going 1. Domestically, it is facing huge anger over its inability to bring back the 101 hostages still held in Gaza 2. Internationally, it is under pressure over the mounting Palestinian death toll and horrific humanitarian situation in the strip.
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“They have no idea that (by releasing the video) they are cementing the legacy of Sinwar in Palestine and the Arab world as a new kind of Saladin, a hero, a fighter to the very end”
Baskin said, referring to the famous 12th-century Muslim warrior who defeated a much bigger Crusader army and conquered Jerusalem
Hamas was quick to seize the narrative and declare Sinwar a martyr who fought and died for the cause but even Palestinians who have opposed Sinwar and Hamas in the past said the photos and video show defiance and bravery
Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian politician and president of the Palestinian National Initiative, told CNN
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“I think (the Israelis) were looking for an image of victory but Sinwar gave them a different image" 1. Sinwar was not hiding in a tunnel as Netanyahu claimed 2. Sinwar was not hiding behind Palestinian civilians, taking them as human shields as Israeli propaganda used to say 3. Sinwar was not hiding behind Israeli prisoners or captives as Israeli propaganda also claimed 4. Sinwar was fighting
Barghouti added,
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“And this image will make Sinwar look like a hero for most Palestinians and most Arabs and most people who are against Israeli occupation and against the oppression that Palestinians are subjected to”
