Hostage release ‘terror theater’ – Does Israel allow Hamas to snatch propaganda victory from the jaws of defeat?

According to all standards of warfare, Israel has defeated Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed over half of its members, occupied large parts of its territory and devastated the infrastructure which it spent decades, and millions of dollars, to build.

Nevertheless, during the past two weeks of ceasefire in Gaza, Hamas has presented itself as the victor, proudly parading its “fighters” through the ruins in pressed uniforms and polished pickup trucks.

One might ask, and many Israelis have done so, whether the Israeli government has once again allowed a terror group to snatch propaganda victory from the jaws of a crushing military defeat?

The terror group used the first hostage release on Jan. 19 as a test run, staging an elaborate demonstration of power that threatened to go out of control when crowds of Gazan men surged toward the three female hostages being released.

Terror theater

Learning from this, the next weekend Hamas staged an even bigger ceremony. It literally erected a stage on Gaza’s ruins, posting armed and masked fighters around the square to ensure the orderly, meticulously choreographed and filmed humiliation of the four Israeli hostages.

Adorning the stage were several slogans underlining the messages Hamas intended to send. One message written in large, slightly crooked Hebrew letters read: “Zionism will not be victorious.”

Four other slogans written in Arabic and questionable English were visible behind the four hostages: “Palestine – The Victory of the Oppressed People vs the Nazi Zionism”; The Palestinian Fighters of Freedom will Always be the Victories [sic]”; “Gaza – The Graveyard of the Criminal Zionists”; and “Al Aqsa Flood – Revolution Against Zionist Injustice and Criminality.”

The messages and the accompanying show addressed its target audiences in different ways.

For Gazans who still support Hamas, this was a message of encouragement and reassurance – Hamas isn’t going anywhere and is still in control. For the few Gazans who oppose Hamas, the message is the same, only meant as a threat.

The show of force is also an effective deterrence for regional powers that would consider taking part in post-war governance of the strip. No one – not Egypt, the UAE or the Palestinian Authority – will dare to risk a military confrontation with Hamas in the ruins of Gaza.

For the international audience, slogans of “oppression,” “injustice,” “revolution” and “freedom” are meant to perpetuate Hamas’s claim to be victims, despite the sudden (re-)appearance of thousands of apparently well-fed, properly dressed and smartphone-wielding young men shouting threats at four female hostages.

International press coverage largely avoided the questions this should have raised, instead parroting Hamas’s ridiculous claims, like that the uniforms worn by the hostages, which were clearly new and looked nothing like IDF garb, were those that the soldiers were wearing while being kidnapped on Oct. 7.

Finally, “Zionism will not be victorious” is a clear enough message, and further highlighted the intended humiliation ritual of the Israeli hostages live on television, which included signed “release diplomas” and “gift bags.”

Israel wins - its enemies claim victory

Claiming victory after a military defeat against Israel has a long tradition among its Arab enemies.

In the Middle East, where the equation comparing personal loss to the loss of a society’s collective face is quite different than in Western societies, achieving what Israelis call a “victory image” in Hebrew, can be more important than actual military success.

Egypt has a whole museum dedicated to its “victory” in the Yom Kippur War 1973, which ended with IDF troops within 100 kilometers of its capital.

Killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was a master at producing these kinds of “victories.”

One of the most enduring images of the 2014 Gaza War was Sinwar emerging from the rubble and sitting on a sofa, symbolizing Hamas continued reign despite the war. Even Sinwar feebly throwing a stick at an Israel drone in his last moments was turned into a heroic last act by Hamas’s propaganda machine.

Armed victory celebrations can also regularly be observed at terrorist funerals in Judea and Samaria and have often proved effective at provoking Israeli society.

Can Israel prevent these demonstrations?

Many Israelis have demanded the IDF to take action and strike such armed demonstrations.

At the least, one must question whether the Israeli government either simply didn’t anticipate and try to prevent Hamas’ theatrics, or whether didn’t have the leverage to do so.

The IDF’s rules of engagement will prevent it from striking most of these demonstrations due to the danger to civilians, or in the case of Gaza, also to the Israeli hostages.

If Israel indeed tried but failed to prevent them, there are several possible and worrying conclusions.

Taken together with the fact that Hamas has already openly violated the ceasefire terms without serious repercussions, it seems that once again – and despite the Trump administration’s ostensible efforts – Israel is the party that is being pressured into the deal without any leverage.

Hamas is clearly not afraid of Israeli retaliation, or of Trump threatening “hellfire.”

The bravery of four young women

However, intercultural messaging can be difficult: What Hamas intended as a show of humiliation and victory was derailed by the behavior of four young women, which was all Israel talked about in the following days.

The father of freed hostage Liri Albag told Radio 103 that Hamas “told them to speak. So Liri and the other girls decided, ‘We’re not only not going to speak. We’ll make victory gestures and spoil the whole show they’d planned’.”

“The moment they did the victory gestures,” he said, the Hamas organizers “realized that they’d got themselves into a mess with these girls, took them down from the stage, and didn’t let them speak.”

Israeli media reports said that the country’s security chiefs monitoring the situation feared the show might spiral out of control but concluded that the women’s show of confidence “turned humiliation into victory.”

In the end, Hamas’s intended message of victory was replaced by another "victory image" - four heroic young women smiling in the face of evil.