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Palestinian Authority: Israeli Hostages Left ‘With Smiles and in Good Health’
Eli Sharabi reunites with his family after his release from Gazan captivity. Photo: IDF spokesperson’s unit
Supporting Hamas’ propaganda, senior Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Jibril Rajoub has falsely stated that all the Israeli hostages left “with smiles and in good health”:
Jibril Rajoub, Fatah’s Central Committee Secretary General: “Trump is interested in talking only about the suffering of the Israeli prisoners [the hostages], despite everyone leaving with smiles and in good health.” [emphasis added]
[Anadolu (Turkish state-run news agency), March 3, 2025]
Of course, this was a total lie as the before and after pictures show:
Rajoub’s statement echoes the PA’s mocking of the hostages exposed by Palestinian Media Watch.
In an editorial in its official daily, the PA wrote that the Israeli hostages came out of Hamas captivity “as if they had been in vacation resorts”:
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]
Upon the release of four Israeli female soldiers in January, Hamas claimed the Israeli hostages were handed over “in full physical and mental health.” Most of the released Israeli hostages have reported that they underwent starvation, abuse, torture, and were deprived of access to fresh air and daylight.
On the other hand, Rajoub and other PA officials continue voicing the medical libel that Israel deliberately “kills” Palestinian imprisoned terrorists by either using them as guinea pigs or by not providing them with proper medical treatment.
Ramallah and El-Bireh District Governor Laila Ghannam: “We are loyal to the path of the living Martyrs, the beloved prisoners who are dying as Martyrs and being murdered on a daily basis. In the last two days we received many prisoners who left the [Israeli] prisons like skeletons and every day were subjected to medical murder, and not medical neglect, in a deliberate manner and a deliberate policy (sic.).”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, April 17, 2024]
Contradicting this repeated PA libel, a released terrorist prisoner admitted that although it may be slow, the Israeli Prison Service does provide terrorists with medical treatment:
Released terrorist prisoner Saad Al-Din Jaber: “The Israeli Prison Service, in general, does not treat cases of illness seriously. They try, they send you to a hospital, they bring you [there], the processes are slow. That does not mean that they do not treat people; they treat people but very slowly.”
Official PA TV host: “Less than the minimum.”
Saad Al-Din Jaber: “Until my turn comes, my illness might get worse. If I had a minor problem, it could develop into a serious illness. That’s the problem with the issue. I want to speak about the issue fairly. The treatment exists, but very slowly.”
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, March 31, 2025]
Similarly, the director of the PA-funded Prisoners’ Club admitted that the imprisoned terrorists are well cared for:
PA-funded Prisoners’ Club Director Amjad Al-Najjar: “The reports that reached us from released prisoners and visits by lawyers [to prisoners] teach that a very short time ago some of the clothes were brought into the [Israeli] prisons, and [the prisoners] were given grey pajamas … They were given winter coats, and this is very important at the current time, especially in the Ofer Prison and at some of the detention points.”
[Official PA TV, Dec. 23, 2024]
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
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
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
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