Rather more Gazan naked terrorists in Gaza than fully clothed ones to perpetrate more bloody massacres in Israel
By Jonathan Feldstein
Videos have gone viral of Hamas terrorists who have been captured by the IDF in Gaza or surrendered and laying down their weapons in their underwear.
While its simply essential operational practice to have terrorists strip to be sure they are not hiding weapons or wearing a bomb/suicide belt, multiple Israeli leaders have expressed regret for these images being circulated at all, committing that it will not happen again. They advise that these videos were not released by the IDF in an official capacity, and that it’s not appropriate to do so.
I’m neither a military man nor a political leader but if it were up to me, I’d go out of my way to show more pictures of such semi- naked terrorists. If this is the worse thing Israel is actually guilty of in a world that is conflating the evils of Hamas’ Islamic terror vs. Israel’s legitimate right and need for self-defense, or comparing alleged civilian casualties comingled with the number of terrorists killed, that is not something that will keep me awake at night. If they are not terrorists, and released following interrogation, I can live with them getting dressed and going home.
As for the terrorists, humiliating them in their underwear, lays bare the emptiness of their theology. Rather than dying for the “resistance” as “martyrs”, they are stripping down after being captured or now in increasing numbers surrendered, forsaking the delusional Koranic promise of 72 virgins for their perverted pleasures. Perhaps they realize that that there are no virgins awaiting them for martyrdom and that at least in an Israeli prison they will be clothed, fed, and possibly sent home in a future exchange.
Not only would I not stop filming terrorists in their underwear, I’d publicize these widely. I’d put them out all over Arabic social media showing that even the terrorists prefer to live in an Israeli jail rather than die for the “resistance”.
I would do this as part of an aggressive campaign of psychological warfare to demoralize all the Gazans and turn them and all Palestinian Arabs against Hamas. Certainly, this is a front in the war in which Hamas has been excelling. I say, take the psychological warfare right back to them.
I’d flood the Arab world with videos of terrorists captured following the October 7 massacre, confirming that they used rape and all sorts of other inhuman violence as a deliberate “tactic” in their “resistance”.
I’d target Lebanon, hoping that any rational Lebanese who don’t want to see their country turned into the next Gaza by Hezbollah would rise up and take their country back.
I’d hack and flood every Arabic website with the “Top Ten” videos of (former) Hamas leaders admitting that their own leaders are destroying Gaza, such as the recording of former Hamas communications minister, Yousef al-Mansi, saying:
“Nobody likes Sinwar. There are people who day and night pray that God will free us from him,” and:
“This is a group of lunatics Sinwar leads. They destroyed the Gaza strip. They set it back 200 years.”
Let Gazans and the Arab world see and hear this, along with al-Mansi saying that Hamas’ October 7 massacre is “the opposite of Islam.”
While at it, I’d drop millions of leaflets revealing the tremendous wealth that their so-called leadership, residing not in decaying Gaza but in luxurious Qatar. Residing palatially in Qatar’s capital Doha while “their people” suffer for their destructive decision-making back “home” in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal have amassed a net worth of $4 billion each. Poor deputy chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, Abu Marzouk is worth only $3 billion. Let the Gazans know that together they have pilfered $11 billion for the “resistance”, and remind them that $11 billion could provide every single Gazan an average monthly salary for almost a year and a half: money they will need badly when the war is over.
Let these dropped leaflets over Gaza show the receipts from the purchase of more than $25,000 in jewelry by the son of Ismail Haniyeh, Maaz Haniyeh, who obviously is doing well himself in the family business of pilfering billions of dollars; billions that could have been invested in the well-being of Gazans, instead of expensive gifts for his whores.
What will be in Gaza after Hamas is crushed is anyone’s guess. Few if any Arab countries want to take responsibility or much less really help with rebuilding the lives of two million Gazans. The unexposed reality is that the Arab world that has funded Hamas and other terrorists for decades and is quick to blame Israel, shy away in taking responsibility themselves to help. The only future for Gaza is Gazans rebuilding but on the peaceful premise of ending incitement and terror and fighting Israel once and for all. The Gazans need to take the responsibility for this goal in the same way they were responsible for electing Hamas and allowing terrorists to terrorize them for nearly two decades.
Sadly, while there are reports of more and more in the Arab world criticizing Hamas, it’s hard to imagine real, substantial change in Gaza, without being pushed to the limits to undertake that change themselves. An aggressive Israeli campaign of psychological warfare and demoralizing their population is a legitimate and non-lethal way to do so.
If it doesn’t work, if a campaign of psychological warfare backfires and hardens attitudes against Israel, the Hamas terrorists and their ilk will continue in their fight over fake virgins to secure a place in their hellish hereafter.
After all, they’ll already be naked.
About the writer:
Jonathan Feldstein - President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
