Released hostage reveals how Hamas filmed her for psychological warfare videos - WSJ

Hamas terrorists coerce hostages into partaking in the psychological warfare videos the terror group publishes, ordering them precisely what to say and how to act, according to a Saturday exclusive Wall Street Journal report. 

The report primarily focused on Israeli hostage Aviva Siegel, who was held in captivity for over 50 days and released in a temporary deal in November. Siegel told the publication that Hamas terrorists coerced the hostages into participating in its videos and would tell her exactly what to say when they filmed her.

She said the Hamas captors created lines for her to follow, and if she said something incorrectly while recording, they would redo the take repeatedly.

“‘You didn’t say that you’re 62.’ ‘You didn’t say that you’re from Kfar Aza.’ ‘You didn’t say that Bibi [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] needs to bring you back," Siegel told WSJ, recalling how Hamas would criticize her when filming the propaganda videos.

"I always forgot something, so I had to say it again and again," Siegel explained in the report.

The terrorists filming Siegel had a small "production crew" that included a cameraman and a Hebrew-speaking person.

Staging the hostages to make them appear well-treated 

Additionally, Siegel explained how her captors would film her when she received food. “They used to make food and put it on the table,” she said, adding "We had to sit next to them and smile and say everything is okay, just for the picture."

Siegel also recounted how a terrorist once tried to have her brush her hair to make her look better taken care of, but she refused to do so. 

"I knew what I looked like. I was disgusting. I was so dirty,” Siegel explained. “I looked at him, picked my hair up, and said, ‘Beautiful.' A couple of hours later, he told me to come into the other room and that they were going to take a picture of me. So I understood that he wanted me to look better while taking the pictures.”

Another released hostage, Chen Almog-Goldstein, taken from Kfar Aza with her three children, said that her captors filmed her while she was inside the tunnels during her second day in Gaza. However, the footage was never released.

According to the Hostage Families Forum, Hamas does not always choose to make the videos public.

Propaganda videos continue to be released 

Last week, Hamas published psychological warfare videos of four of the six hostages who were murdered by the terror group. The group began by releasing the footage of Eden Yerushalmi, Alex Lobanov, and Carmel Gat.

On Thursday evening, it released footage of Hersh Goldberg-Polin. 

When the mother of Hersh, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, was asked what it was like watching a propaganda video made by Hamas of her son back in April, she told The Wall Street Journal that it was like a "very slow-motion form of trauma and torture."

She also mentioned that some families have told her that they "would give anything to have that video," as it gives them some form of hope that their loved ones are alive despite how hard the footage is to watch.