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A War of Cowards: The Reality Behind Hamas’ Propaganda and Psychological Warfare
Former hostage Emily Damari is reunited with her mother, on Jan. 19, 2025. Credit: Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit.
The entire Israeli nation has followed the return of the Israeli hostages to their homes. The emotional reunions, tears, and embraces have symbolized the victory of spirit and humanity over the cruelty and terror of Hamas and the Palestinian factions.
At the same time, in other places, Palestinians celebrated the release of prisoners convicted of murdering innocent civilians, presenting it as a historic victory. These individuals are called “Jihad fighters” in Arabic, but in Western discourse, they are often referred to as “freedom fighters,” a term more palatable to the Western ear — as though they represent an ideological movement akin to the one created by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hamas tried to present the prisoner exchange deal with a royal touch, framing the return of the Israeli hostages as a “humanitarian gesture” on their part. The settings have included an official table, bureaucratic stamps, and the presence of European Red Cross personnel, who played their part in what seemed like a poorly executed school play — all to create a narrative in which Hamas appeared to have defeated the Israelis and emerged as the master, while continuing to present Zionism as an existential threat to the Islamic world.
The gap between rhetoric and reality sharpens when examining Hamas’ actions in a broader context. The organization professes commitment to Islamic principles, yet its actions blatantly contravene basic tenets of classical Islam. The Koran itself states: “Those hypocrites who remained behind rejoiced for doing so in defiance of the Messenger of Allah and hated the prospect of striving with their wealth and their lives in the cause of Allah” (Surah Al-Tawbah, 81).
The religious command to fight the enemy without fear stands in stark contrast to Hamas’ actions, which involve attacking innocent civilians while hiding behind the people of Gaza.
Rather than fighting as a military force against another military force, Hamas members hide in tunnels, leaving the population in the eye of the storm, and exploiting their suffering for political purposes. The primary casualties among the IDF in Gaza are the result of roadside bombs and traps — not direct combat, but cowardly sabotage tactics. The leaders of the organization are not fighters; they speak grandly, and then send others to their deaths while fleeing to fortified tunnels.
While the people of Gaza suffer from shortages and destruction, Hamas leaders enjoy lives of luxury in Doha and Istanbul. Their personal wealth, the result of political extortion and control over aid budgets, is in complete contradiction to their claims of sacrifice and jihad.
Even after the fighting ends, the heavy toll continues to be paid by the people of Gaza. The roadside bombs that Hamas planted in the streets have now become deadly traps for the civilians returning to northern Gaza. However, does the international community speak out? Do human rights organizations denounce this cynicism? The answer is clear.
Hamas’ charter states “jihad is the path” and “death for Allah is the highest of aspirations.” Their texts describe a paradise of alcohol, forbidden foods, and sexual pleasures for those who die for Allah, but it seems that the leaders of the organization prefer another route: fleeing, inciting, and exploiting their own people for personal gain. While the people of Gaza live under bombardment, Hamas leaders live in safety.
Eleven years ago, when three teenagers were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas operatives, the IDF launched Operation “Brother’s Keeper” to locate the teens and bring the murderers to justice. An Egyptian journalist commented: “You Israelis — you’re men! They kidnapped three children from you, and you went all out to bring them home, no matter the cost. Yet, he called the Hamas operatives barking dogs, hiding in their master’s house.”
This is not a war of heroism by Hamas. It is not a war of ideologies — unless murdering Jews is considered an ideology. This is a war of cowards.
Itamar Tzur is an Israeli scholar and Middle East expert who holds a Bachelor’s degree with honors in Jewish History and a Master’s degree with honors in Middle Eastern Studies. As a senior member of the “Forum Kedem for Middle Eastern Studies and Public Diplomacy,” Tzur leverages his academic expertise to enhance understanding of regional dynamics and historical contexts within the Middle East.
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Smotrich Says Defense Ministry to Spur Voluntary Emigration from Gaza
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
i24 News – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that the government would establish an administration to encourage the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
“We are establishing a migration administration, we are preparing for this under the leadership of the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and Defense Minister [Israel Katz],” he said at a Land of Israel Caucus at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. “The budget will not be an obstacle.”
Referring to the plan championed by US President Donald Trump, Smotrich noted the “profound and deep hatred towards Israel” in Gaza, adding that “sources in the American government” agreed “that it’s impossible for two million people with hatred towards Israel to remain at a stone’s throw from the border.”
The administration would be under the Defense Ministry, with the goal of facilitating Trump’s plan to build a “Riviera of the Middle East” and the relocation of hundreds of thousands of Gazans for rebuilding efforts.
“If we remove 5,000 a day, it will take a year,” Smotrich said. “The logistics are complex because you need to know who is going to which country. It’s a potential for historical change.”
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Defense Ministry: 16,000 Wounded in War, About Half Under 30
A general view shows the plenum at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – The Knesset’s (Israeli parliament’s) Special Committee for Foreign Workers held a discussion on Sunday to examine the needs of wounded and disabled IDF soldiers and the response foreign caregivers could provide.
During the discussion, data from the Defense Minister revealed that the number of registered IDF wounded and disabled veterans rose from 62,000 to 78,000 since the war began on October 7, 2023. “Most of them are reservists and 51 percent of the wounded are up to 30 years old,” the ministry’s report said. The number will increase, the ministry assesses, as post-trauma cases emerge.
The committee chairwoman, Knesset member Etty Atiya (Likud), emphasized the need to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for the wounded and to remove obstacles. “There is no dispute that the IDF disabled have sacrificed their bodies and souls for the people of Israel, for the state of Israel,” she said. Addressing the veterans, she continued: “And we, as public representatives and public servants alike, must do everything, but everything, to improve your lives in any way possible, to alleviate your pain and the distress of your family members who are no less affected than you.”
Currently, extensions are being given to the IDF veterans on a three-month basis, which Atiya said creates uncertainty and fear among the patients.
“The committee calls on the Interior Minister [Moshe Arbel] to approve as soon as possible the temporary order on our table, so that it will reach the approval of the Knesset,” she said, adding that she “intends to personally approach the Director General of the Population Authority [Shlomo Mor-Yosef] on the matter in order to promote a quick and stable solution.”
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Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Sky News Arabia in Damascus, Syria in this handout picture released by the Syrian Presidency on August 8, 2023. Syrian Presidency/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Over 1,300 people were killed in two days of fighting in Syria between security forces under the new Syrian Islamist leaders and fighters from ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect on the other hand, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday.
Since Thursday, 1,311 people had been killed, according to the Observatory, including 830 civilians, mainly Alawites, 231 Syrian government security personnel, and 250 Assad loyalists.
The intense fighting broke out late last week as the Alawite militias launched an offensive against the new government’s fighters in the coastal region of the country, prompting a massive deployment ordered by new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“We must preserve national unity and civil peace as much as possible and… we will be able to live together in this country,” al-Sharaa said, as quoted in the BBC.
The death toll represents the most severe escalations since Assad was ousted late last year, and is one of the most costly in terms of human lives since the civil war began in 2011.
The counter-offensive launched by al-Sharaa’s forces was marked by reported revenge killings and atrocities in the Latakia region, a stronghold of the Alawite minority in the country.
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