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Disgusting Palestinian Mockery: Tortured Israeli Hostages Were in ‘Vacation Resorts’
Released hostage, Ohad Ben Ami, who was seized during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, embraces a loved one as he is reunited with his family at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on February 8, 2025. Photo: Haim Zach/GPO/Handout via REUTERS
In a grotesque editorial in its official paper, the Palestinian Authority (PA) wrote last week that Hamas is releasing the Israeli hostages after almost a year and a half “in good health” and “without dust on their clothes, as if they had been in vacation resorts.”
The PA even stated that Hamas “did not protect only their lives but also their welfare,” releasing them “with gifts”:
PA editorial: “They [Hamas] handed over the hostages with gifts and in good health! … completely committed to the agreement, with the release of [Israeli] hostages without dust on their clothes, as if they had been in vacation resorts! They [Hamas] did not protect only their lives but also their welfare.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 2, 2025]
The photos of the three male hostages Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Ami, who were released on Saturday, prove how odious the PA’s distorted claim is.
The Israeli hostages were starved, tortured, and kept in the dark for almost the entire period of their captivity. The appearances of Levy, Sharabi, and Ben Ami resemble those of Holocaust survivors emerging from the Nazi death camps in 1945.
Indeed, Israeli medical sources who treated the three told the press that “their condition is no different than people who spent a year in a concentration camp,” according to YNet News. Other released hostages have revealed the severe physical, psychological, and sexual abuse they suffered from the Hamas terrorists and Gazan civilians who held them captive.
Palestinian Media Watch has exposed the PA Foreign Ministry’s ridicule of Israel, which it said “whines about 100 hostages.”
The following is a longer excerpt of the PA’s editorial:
The Israeli hostages in the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, when they were handed over [to the Red Cross] while they were most neatly dressed, became through populist demonstrations a kind of message from Hamas to Israel. The message is that [the Hamas members] have reached a state of logical thinking, obedience, and good behavior, as they handed over the hostages with gifts and in good health! …
More than 50,000 female and male Martyrs and more than 100,000 wounded — and the result is an agreement of performances for [internal] consumption and messages that confirm to Israel: We are completely committed to the agreement, with the release of hostages without dust on their clothes, as if they had been in vacation resorts!
They [Hamas] did not protect only their lives but also their welfare, but they forgot and neglected protecting the lives of the Gaza Strip residents, whose lives and homes have been crushed by Israeli fighter jets for 15 months! They, who cover themselves with a religious guise, forgot and ignored the fact that one of the goals of Islamic law is to protect life, mind, and property.
Was it not possible to hand over these hostages in the first week of Israel’s war against the Gaza Strip, after it became clear that it is a highly aggressive and wild war?
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 2, 2025]
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy
Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
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