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Israeli Hostages Return From Hell, Proving Nazi Comparison to Hamas Is True
Released hostage Or Levy, Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, February 8, 2025. Photo: Haim Zach/GPO/Handout via REUTERS
Last Friday, I had a conversation with a friend about the comparison between Hamas and the Nazis. I explained that this similarity does not stem from an Israeli sense of victimhood, but from solid historical facts.
We talked about the Hamas charter, which mirrors Hitler’s Mein Kampf, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and Goebbels’ propaganda. In both cases, the goal is the same: the total demonization of the Jews, portraying them as the evil rulers of the world, justifying their persecution, and ultimately — clear calls for their destruction.
The Palestinians also embrace language blaming Jews for all the world’s wrongs throughout history — and many don’t know that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (the Palestinian Arabs’ leader prior to 1948) actually worked closely with Hitler to bring about the destruction of every Jew in the world.
Then, on Saturday afternoon, everything I tried to explain in words became a reality that needed no interpretation. Three Israeli hostages returned from hell — Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Ami — and their emaciated bodies told everything that is impossible to describe in words. It was an image that shocked every Jew, and every human being with a conscience. These living skeletons reminded us of the pictures we thought were left behind, in black and white, from 1940s Europe.
Ohad Ben Ami tried to introduce some humor when joking with his family: “I left you in size XL and came back in size Medium.” But behind the laughter was an unbearably harsh truth — his body, like that of his fellow captives, is a living testimony of abuse, starvation, and suffering with no end in sight. Skin stretched over protruding bones, lifeless eyes, physical weakness that turned their ability to walk into a struggle. These were not prisoners released — they were survivors.
Other Hamas survivors were not so lucky; Eli Sharabi found out after nearly 500 days in hell that his wife and three daughters were massacred by Hamas — just like what the Nazis did.
And if that’s not shocking enough, it turned out that in recent days, they had seen some improvement in their conditions — meaning, the images we saw were of hostages “in relatively good condition.” If this is the case, the question arises: what kind of hell did they endure before? What did they look like when they were even weaker? And what will the long term consequences of their torture be?
In recent days, the Red Cross has raised complaints about Israel releasing Palestinian murderers in shackles as part of the deal with Hamas — something that allegedly harms their dignity. What will the Red Cross say now? Will they claim another success story? Another successful operation for an organization that failed to convey even a small message of hope to those Israeli hostages — not to mention food and medicine. The same organization that failed in Theresienstadt in 1941, during the Ma’alot massacre in 1974, in the Gilad Shalit affair, and in many other incidents — failed once again now. But the main thing is that the dignity of Palestinian murderers should not be harmed.
The gap between this week’s colored pictures of Israeli hostages and the black-and-white images from the Holocaust is only technical. The essence remains the same. Empty eyes, bodies starved to the point of being mere shadows of themselves, relentless torture. History doesn’t repeat itself in the same way, but it echoes — and again, we are witnessing images we thought were relegated to the past.
There is not a single Jew, not a single human being, whose place is in the hands of these perpetrators of evil. The State of Israel is obligated to bring them all back. Every day they remain there is a moral stain, a silent cry that we, as Jews, cannot leave unanswered.
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.
The post Israeli Hostages Return From Hell, Proving Nazi Comparison to Hamas Is True first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.