Al Jazeera analyst claims Israeli hostages 'grateful' to Hamas

Israeli hostages held by Hamas were "grateful" to their terrorist captors as they were being released, Al Jazeera geopolitical and security analyst Zoran Kusovac claimed in a Friday segment published by the Qatari state-run media giant.

The Al Jazeera video features footage published by Hamas. Chyron banners overlaid onto the footage note that the Hamas videos show the hostages smiling and sharing high-fives with their captors.

'Grateful for those who had their lives in their hands'

“I think this could be described as psychological, emotional release. So, finally, they're being released and, in that moment, when they are leaving, they're certain that they have survived, they suddenly feel grateful to these people who had their lives in their hands and [haven’t] harmed them.

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A post shared by Al Jazeera English (@aljazeeraenglish)

Former hostages, however, have reported that Israeli hostages were indeed abused.

According to a recent N12 report, Thai hostages released by Hamas told Israeli security personnel that Jewish hostages had been beaten with electric cables.

Additionally, after the release of Eitan Yahalomi, 12, from Hamas captivity, the boy’s aunt reported that he and other kidnapped children were forced at gunpoint to watch footage of Hamas’s rampage in southern Israel.

In contrast, Kusovac, based on the Hamas footage, states that “in one of those [Hamas] videos, there are several girls and one young Israeli who appear to be genuinely hugging their former captors, giving them high fines. So, I think in their case, the feeling is sincere.”

Beyond testimonial evidence of Hamas abusing its hostages, activists have warned against accepting the Hamas footage as evidence that the hostages were treated well.

Iranian-born British political commentator, human rights advocate, and co-founder of "Alliance Against State Hostage Taking," Ana Diamond, took to X, formerly Twitter to offer her perspective as an “ex-hostage.”

1- I have seen a series of pro-Hamas accounts spreading images where the released Israeli #hostages are perceived to be 'happy' and 'thankful' for their time in #Gaza.As a former #hostage, I want to share a short thread on how traumatic entrapment (kidnapping, hostage) works: https://t.co/MRS9qpAmSr

— Ana Diamond • آننا دیاموند (@IAmAnaDiamond) November 30, 2023

“Being a captive means doing whatever is needed to survive. This may include appeasement, genuine or simulated,” Diamond wrote. “But the victims do not do so out of rational calculation; in fact, most do so out of fear, paralysis, & shame, and certainly always under severe #duress.”

Popular Israel and Jewish rights activist Hen Mazzig also took to X to share his thoughts.

“Hamas raped Israeli girls, brutalized their bodies and slaughtered Israeli babies,” Mazzig wrote. “Then they gave the hostages a water bottle and forced them to smile and say goodbye if they don’t want to die.”

Hamas shot Gali’s dog and then her brother in front of her, then dragged her sobbing by the hair into an underground tunnel in Gaza. They kept her there for 2 months in horrific conditions. Hamas raped Israeli girls, brutalized their bodies and slaughtered Israeli babies.… pic.twitter.com/km19Xj6H6B

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) November 30, 2023

Kusovac, however, in the Al Jazeera video, suggested that because there were reports that the hostages and the Hamas fighters were eating the same food, they were “practically sharing the same fate.”

Additionally, the Al Jazeera geopolitical and security analyst drew parallels between the residents of southern Israel who were kidnapped by Hamas with the Palestinian security prisoners being released, many of whom were detained for acts of terrorism.

“It took a situation where our own are being held hostage for nothing to realize that there are others on the other side who are being held hostage for nothing,” Kusovac said. “I don't think that the discussion about the public image can bring the change on its own, but it can set the playing field in a slightly less hostile way.”