‘A Theatre of Terror’: Hamas’s Hostage Ceremonies Staged for Humiliation

Jerusalem, 24 February, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- While Hamas farewell ceremonies featuring Israeli captives in different humiliating displays have shocked the world, it has emerged that a senior Al Jazeera journalist has helped the terror group choreograph every detail to reinforce its grip on Gaza. And experts told The Press Service of Israel that Hamas’s cruelty will likely backfire by hardening Israeli resolve.

“It’s a theatre of absurdity. A theatre of terror,” Prof. Eytan Gilboa, director of the Center for International Communication at Bar-Ilan University told TPS-IL. “We see the demonstration of the archaic culture of cruelty that Hamas, and the Gazan society on the whole, is part of. They affirm their power by humiliating the enemy.”

In the video Saturday’s “release ceremony,” a Hamas cameraman was seen approaching Israeli hostage Omer Shem-Tov and speaking to him. After a few seconds, Shem-Tov kissed the forehead of a terrorist standing beside him.

A few meters from there, two other Israeli hostages, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, were sitting in a Hamas vehicle. They were brought by Hamas to watch their friends being released, while they stayed in captivity.

“How do you feel right now?” a Hamas “interviewer” asked the captives. Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, David and Gilboa-Dalal responded, “We just want to get back home. Please save us.”

The video shocked Israelis.

The Al Jazeera Choreographer

Palestinian sources in Gaza told TPS-IL that Hamas — defeated in battle — has invested a great deal of time and money into the ceremonies as a show of force and to humiliate Israel. Three different Palestinian sources independently confirmed to TPS-IL that Hamas hired Al Jazeera journalist Tamer Almisshal, based in Qatar, to produce the first two ceremonies held in Gaza City.

The releases were held in different parts of the Gaza Strip, from the north to the south, but Almisshal’s choreography preserved stylistic unity. These included giant images of dead Hamas leaders, slogans like “Zionism will not be victorious” and “We are the extreme strength” in Arabic, Hebrew and English, how the hostages were dressed and the choice of music.

Almisshal hosts Al Jazeera’s highly-rated program “The Hidden Is More Immense” and produced of a documentary about Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the first episode of which was aired shortly before the ceasefire agreement. In the first episode, he interviewed Izz al-Din Haddad, a Hamas commander who has emerged as key figure in the terror group’s rebuilding efforts.

“Hamas is showing that it controls all of Gaza,” Gilboa explained to TPS-IL. “It is addressing Gazans first of all, and then the rest of the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria: ‘Look, we are the only force here, this is our land, and we control it.’”

‘A Message to Everyone’

Other handover ceremonies featured differing scenes, which also sent signals Hamas was very deliberate about, another expert told TPS-IL.

“Hamas has a message to everyone – Arabs, Israelis, and the Western countries,” says Dr. Ron Schleifer, a senior lecturer in the School of Communication at Ariel University, specializing in psychological warfare.

That would explain why 80-year-old  Gadi Mozes and 29-year-old Arbel Yehud were made to walk through a mob of Palestinians in Khan Yunis to reach waiting Red Cross vehicles on January 30 while in Deir el-Balah, emaciated hostages Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy were forced to thank their captors on stage on February 8.

And when Hamas released the remains of  Oded Lifshitz, Ariel and Kfir Bibas what was purported to be Shiri Bibas, Palestinian spectators, including women and children, cheered as the coffins were paraded before the crowd.

“A display of enormous cruelty is meant for the Palestinian society and other Arab countries, in case they think of taking part in ruling in Gaza. And a display of kindness, an attempt to show that they have taken proper care of the hostages, is meant for the Western audiences,” Schleifer explained.

But Hamas may have overplayed its hand with repeated ceremonies.

“Although the majority of Western media have been cooperating with the terror organization by giving it stage and airing the release ceremonies, Hamas has outplayed itself,” Gill Hoffman told TPS-IL.

Hoffman, who is, executive director of the Jerusalem-based media watchdog HonestReporting, said, “If Hamas was more subtle with its propaganda, it could achieve more. The brutality of it has already made Israel halt the Palestinian prisoners release, and may lead to more damage to Hamas.”

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 63 remaining hostages, 36 are believed to be dead.