By Palestine Chronicle Editors
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas, released a particularly shocking video on Saturday, May 25.
The video was disturbing in terms of the imagery it contained, namely the scarred, and often decomposed remains of Israeli captives killed in relentless Israeli military bombardment, which, starting on October 7, has destroyed most of the Gaza Strip.
At a glance, the bodies, whose identity has been concealed, appear as if they are Palestinian civilians killed in the Israeli genocide on Gaza.
Nearly 36,000 Palestinians have been killed so far, in addition to 11,000 who are still missing under the wreckage of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.
Al-Qassam Brigades published a video with this caption:
"Your own army, under orders from Netanyahu, insulted your captives' dignity; alive and dead".
Translation Notes:
At the beginning of the video, Netanyahu says "Since the beginning of the war, we have been working to… pic.twitter.com/aobSplLhe9
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 25, 2024
These are some of the intended meanings of the just-released Hamas video:
One, the target audience is the Israeli public itself, neither the extremist government of Benjamin Netanyahu nor even the leadership of the opposition. This was clear from the very start as the video begins with short statements by Netanyahu, War Council Minister Benny Gantz and military army spokesman Daniel Hagari.
The three reiterate essentially the same thing, that Israel, using military force, will bring the captives home, in the words of Netanyahu, “all of them.”
Yet none were rescued, only a few bodies of dead captives, though the war has been grinding on for 232 days.
Thus the first message of the video is that: if the war continues, all Israeli captives in the hands of the Resistance will be killed, “all of them”, by the Israeli army itself.
Second, the state of the bodies themselves, a stark reminder of the conditions of Palestinian victims excavated from underneath the rubble of Palestinian homes.
This was meant to shock the Israeli public, specifically the families of the captives, who are yet to force the Netanyahu-led extremist government or War Council to change course regarding its war strategy, or position on the prisoner’s exchange.
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Three, the location of the bodies. The bodies of the killed captives were in a terrible state indicating that they had been killed in earlier phases of the war, and that they had been pulled out from beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings following the retreat of the Israeli military.
This signals two levels of Israeli failure: the military, for killing its own citizens, and the intelligence, for even failing to recognize that captives have also been killed, in these cases long ago.
Four, the political message of the video indicates the early assertion made by the spokesmen of the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza, who argued that without a deal, all Israeli captives will be killed at the hands of the Israeli military.
That may have seemed to be an exaggeration at the time but it is turning out to be true, judging by the fact that the Israeli army itself has recovered several of the captives, and also judging by the Resistance videos, including the last one, as well.
Not Ordinary Guerilla Warfare – Resistance Roundup – Day 230
Finally, the timing. Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has indicated that serious meetings are currently underway in Paris, involving the head of the CIA William Burns and other top officials from Israel and the Middle East.
The newspaper indicated that Israel is maybe willing to offer serious compromises to achieve a prisoner swap.
Though such language was used in the past, this particular event has followed a clear and decisive ruling by the International Court of Justice on Friday, ordering Israel to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah, which, according to Netanyahu, is meant to be the most decisive of his genocidal war.
‘Groundbreaking’ – South Africa Welcomes ICJ Ruling on Rafah, Other Reactions
It also comes five days after a historic decision by the International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan to request arrest warrants for two Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu himself.
It is obvious that the Israeli war strategy has failed, an equal failure to that of the Israeli military and intelligence on October 7.
Efforts Underway to Issue ICC Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu, Sinwar – Developing Story
But Israel is also failing politically and strategically as well, while the trajectory of Palestinian support throughout the world is growing by leaps and bounds.
Al-Qassam video comes to remind Israel of all of these failures, and that, once more, the only way to retrieve a single living Israeli captive can only happen through negotiations.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
That was the perception the IDF and the Israel Leadership Incompetence Incorporated created with their habit of dropping 2 000 pound bombs on residential neighbourhoods. Mind you they’d already started that habit of overreaction well before Oct 7 – Israel Leadership Incompetence Incorporated are well known for being overreactionaries, and they seem to have infected the US Leadership as well, to the extent it now is another Incompetence Incorporated. (Or perhaps they infected each other – you can’t blame Sen. Joe McCarthy on Pres. Joe Biden.)