The courageous Israeli operation that resulted in the rescue of four Israeli hostages on June 8 has confirmed what many Israelis and Palestinians have known for some months: that Palestinian civilians were, and continue to be, complicit in the crimes carried out by the terrorist organization Hamas prior to October 7, 2023, and onward.
The four hostages, Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv, were abducted, together with more than 250 Israelis, during the Hamas-led attack -- backed by Qatar and Iran -- on Israel eight months ago.
It has now come to light that the hostages were being held in a residential area of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. This is another instance of how Palestinian terrorist groups use fellow Palestinians as human shields in the Jihad (holy war) to slaughter Jews and eliminate Israel. In this instance, it is difficult to say that the Palestinian families were used as human shields because they held the hostages voluntarily and happily.
If ruling regimes such as Hamas do not want their civilians killed during hostage rescue operations, they should not start unprovoked wars to begin with, then complain when they are hit back. They also should not take hostages, then hide them among the civilian population. It is not complicated.
The Palestinian families can hold only themselves accountable for the scores of Gazans who died during the rescue operation. Those families were not coerced or threatened into keeping the hostages inside their homes. The exact opposite is true: They were delighted to help Hamas because they support the terrorist group.
Three of the hostages - Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Zia were held in the home of Palestinian journalist Abdallah Al-Jamal, who worked for the US 501(c)3 registered non-profit organization The Palestine Chronicle, and as a spokesperson for the Hamas Ministry of Labor. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that the three hostages were being held by this "journalist" and his family.
Unsurprisingly, Abdallah Al-Jamal also worked for the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera television network, which has long been serving as a de facto mouthpiece for Hamas and other Islamist terror groups.
Abdallah, his wife Fatima, and his father, Dr. Ahmed Al-Jamal, were killed during the Israeli raid on the apartment where they were holding the hostages.
The Palestinian journalist's involvement in impriosning Israeli hostages did not surprise those who are familiar with his hatred for Jews and his affiliation with Hamas.
On October 7, Abdallah Al-Jamal, in response to the Hamas-led attack on Israel, celebrated on social media:
"Praise be to God, thank you very much, Oh God, pay back, Oh God, pay back, Oh God, pay back, Oh God, you promised victory. Oh God, accept it, accept it, grant us your victory."
Ironically, Al-Jamal has been the source of multiple stories about Israeli attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip. He wrote the stories while he and his family members were holding three Jewish hostages in their home.
One can only wonder if he was one of the foreign media's "trusted sources" for the fake Gaza casualty statistics – since revised down by the U.N. -- published by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. On June 3, the Associated Press reported:
"The proportion of Palestinian women and children being killed in the Israel-Hamas war appears to have declined sharply, an Associated Press analysis of Gaza Health Ministry data has found, a trend that both coincides with Israel's changing battlefield tactics and contradicts the ministry's own public statements.
"The trend is significant because the death rate for women and children is the best available proxy for civilian casualties in one of the 21st century's most destructive conflicts. In October, when the war began, it was above 60%. For the month of April, it was below 40%. Yet the shift went unnoticed for months by the UN and much of the media, and the Hamas-linked Health Ministry has made no effort to set the record straight."
Al-Jamal's most recent article, dated June 3, was headlined: "My House Will Always Be Open – Stories from the Gaza Siege."
Indeed, the Palestinian journalist's house was open – but only for imprisoning hostages kidnapped by Palestinian murderers, thugs and rapists from an Israeli music festival on October 7.
The Biden administration and those in the West who have been crying about the "innocent" and "uninvolved" civilians killed and injured since the beginning of the war initiated by Hamas, should direct their anger towards the Palestinians, not Israel, for aiding and abetting murderers, rapists and kidnappers.
"Today proved one thing for sure: there is no such thing as innocent civilians in Gaza," commented Raylan Givens, a social media influencer who describes himself as a "proud American and Patriot." He added:
"Everyone in the neighborhood knew what was going on; all of these families knew who was being held in these buildings, and they are all complicit in Hamas crimes.
"These families did it willingly, and they were not coerced or threatened by Hamas. Are we supposed to believe that the 'innocent' Gaza families who poured across the border on October 7 and committed some of the worst atrocities of that day suddenly grew a heart amid drew the line at holding hostages? The fathers and sons who had no problem raping Israeli women to death, but suddenly would be so against Hamas that they need to be coerced into helping them? Even if they were [coerced and threatened], what would it have taken to get into contact with anyone from the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and say, 'I'm being forced to hold hostages in my house; please come get them out and take my family with them.' Israel would have done that in a heartbeat, and no one would have died.
"These families made the same choice hundreds of thousands of Gazans made and continue to make daily. They choose to help Hamas, they choose to hate Jews, they choose to participate in the killing and torture of Israelis, and they continue to support a murderous terrorist organization even if it means the death of them and their entire families." (Raylan Givens, X, June 9, 2024)
The Palestinian journalist and his family should be kept in mind the next time we hear about civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip. For the previous eight months, he and his family had been holding Jewish captives in their house. We must also not forget the thousands of "ordinary" Palestinians, to many of whom Israel had given work permits, who crossed the border into Israel on October 7 and took part in the crimes against Israelis.
Recently, interrogation videos released by the Israeli authorities showed a Palestinian father and son confessing to murdering, kidnapping and raping Jewish women in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.
After the son had had his way with her, the father had his way with her, then murdered her.
We must also never lose sight of the fact that despite the devastation the terrorist group bestowed on its own people in the Gaza Strip, there are still many Palestinians there who continue to collaborate with Hamas. Before we break down in tears for the Gaza Strip's "innocent" civilians, let us recall that a larger portion of them elected Hamas in the January 2006 parliamentary election, supported it, worked for it, sheltered it, and rejoiced over the majority of its crimes against Israelis, including the October 7 atrocities.
The Israeli rescue operation serves as a reminder that Israel is continuing to do everything possible to save its citizens, while Hamas – with the help of many "ordinary" Palestinians -- is doing its utmost to save itself, including sacrificing its own citizens.
Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East. The work of Bassam Tawil is made possible through the generous donation of a couple of donors who wished to remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.
R van Druten