Tel Aviv CNN —
The video depicts an abandoned and desperate man attempting to attack a sophisticated military drone with a wooden stick. Or perhaps it depicts a rebellious hero who looks his enemy in the eye, fighting to the very end. It depends on who’s watching.
When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the killing of Yahya Shinwar last week, they released several photos and videos of the Hamas leader’s final moments before and after his death.
It is proof that the man they said was one of the main architects of the October 7th terrorist attack is actually dead, and that he will ultimately be able to attack Israel’s enemies wherever he is hiding. was meant to warn them that they would be captured by the Israel Defense Forces.
However, the decision to release the footage appears to have backfired, at least in part, and the footage has since been used to celebrate the late Sinwar as a martyr and resistance fighter.
Israel is currently in damage control mode, releasing old photos and videos of Sinwar hiding in tunnels with a stash of gold in an attempt to portray the Hamas leader as a selfish man who only cares about himself. There is.
Gershon Baskin, a Middle East expert, peace activist and former Israeli hostage negotiator who spoke to Hamas through back channels, said the release of the footage was misguided and likely motivated by Israeli politics. said that it was high.
As an Israeli negotiator, Baskin brokered a prisoner exchange in 2011 that exchanged more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli Defense Force soldier who had been held in Gaza for five years. Yahya Sinwar was one of the Palestinian prisoners released under this agreement.
“It’s all about controlling the narrative from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s side. He needs this as a picture of victory,” Baskin told CNN.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has faced criticism from all quarters over its handling of the war in Gaza. Domestically, the country is facing huge anger over its inability to bring back the 101 hostages still being held in Gaza. Internationally, the country is under pressure over the rising death toll of Palestinians and the dire humanitarian situation in the area.
IDF releases video purporting to show Hamas leader Sinwar hours before October 7th terrorist attack
“They have no idea that (by releasing the video) they are cementing Sinwar’s legacy in Palestine and the Arab world as a new type of Saladin, a hero, a warrior to the end,” he said. , mentioned the famous Saladin. A 12th century Islamic warrior who defeated a much larger Crusader army and conquered Jerusalem.
Hamas quickly seized on the story and declared Shinwar a martyr who fought and died for the cause, but even among Palestinians who have opposed Shinwar and Hamas in the past, photos and videos show defiance and courage. said.
“I think[Israelis]were looking for an image of victory, but Sinwar gave them a different image. He was not hiding in the tunnels, as Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed, and Israeli propaganda often says He was not hiding behind Palestinian civilians and using them as human shields, as they also claim. Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian politician and head of the Palestinian National Initiative, told CNN.
“And this image would make him look like a hero to most Palestinians, most Arabs, most people who oppose the Israeli occupation and oppose the oppression that Palestinians are subjected to,” he said. added.
The video also raises questions about the method of Mr. Shinwar’s murder. The IDF, Israel’s security services, and its intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, had been searching for Shinwar for more than a year, with support from the CIA. But in the end, it was purely by chance that a group of soldiers encountered Sinwar and killed him.
At first, they didn’t even know who they had killed. The video shows Sinwar with his face covered and wearing military uniform. When Israeli soldiers returned to the building to investigate the scene, they realized it was Shinwar only a day later.
Gil Segal, a legal scholar and director of the Center for Medical Law, Bioethics and Health Policy at Israel’s Ono Academic College, said both Israel and Hamas used the video to make arguments that suited their respective objectives. The fact is stated as follows. Not surprising.
“The truth is in the eye of the beholder. Objectively, this photo shows a person covered in dust, clearly injured, and attempting to throw an object at the drone. “That’s a fact,” he said.
“Okay, let’s interpret this fact.” Some people might say, “Oh, you see this guy is fighting to his last gasp.” The second person will say, “Look, this is the Stone Age fighting the age of startups and technology,” and the third person will say, “Look, this person is at the last moment. are also violent and determined to cause damage.”
Segal said there were likely several reasons why the IDF released the material publicly, including a desire to show that Sinwar had actually died.
“That’s proof. For example, people said that (Hamas military commander) Mohammed Deif is still alive. (After the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah) there were days of rebuttals,” he said. said.
To counter the portrayal of Mr. Shinwar as a brave martyr, the Israel Defense Forces subsequently released several videos and photographs of Mr. Shinwar hiding in underground tunnels in Gaza with his family, showing that he lived a comfortable life. He added the claim that he is prioritizing himself over the people. The IDF said the footage was taken by Hamas surveillance cameras on October 6 and October 10 last year, and was obtained by the IDF in recent days.
IDF Arabic spokesman Avichai Adlai said the IDF discovered large sums of cash, food and water at Shinwar’s hideout. “As a result of his crimes and atrocities, he was hiding with his family in luxurious tunnels while the children of Gaza were outside,” Adley told X.
Adley posted a photo of Shinwar’s wife holding the bag, suggesting the accessory was a luxury item costing tens of thousands of dollars. “The people of Gaza don’t have enough money to buy tents and basic necessities, but we see many examples of Yahya Sinwar and his wife’s special love for money,” he said. said.
Sheila Efron, senior director of policy research at the Israel Policy Forum, said the release of photos and videos from the tunnel was likely an attempt to “correct course on Israel’s part.”
Israel has long maintained that Mr. Sinwar surrounded the hostages he had taken from Israel as insurance and caused Gaza residents to suffer while they took shelter underground.
“And all of a sudden, you’re looking at this guy, and not only is he not in the tunnel, he’s not with the hostages, he’s fighting heroically like the last soldier, That’s right, in the armor he looks thinner, and up to his arms he hanged himself and lost one arm and is still fighting. “This was not Israel’s intention,” she said, later saying, It added that the video posted by the Defense Forces was an attempt to reinforce their preferred narrative.
It is a known fact supported by Western intelligence agencies that Hamas has built a vast network of underground tunnels in Gaza, which it uses to store weapons, move unnoticed, and evacuate.
The Israel Defense Forces have repeatedly said they believe Sinwar was traveling with hostages through a network of tunnels, and his DNA was found near where the bodies of six hostages killed by Hamas were found in late August. It was discovered in a tunnel.
Hamas has already issued a statement refuting the Israeli version of events, accusing the Israel Defense Forces of “blatant lies” and “failed drama” depicting the last years of Sinwar’s life.
The group said Mr. Sinwar was killed “while engaged in the battlefield” after spending the past year “on various fronts in the Gaza Strip” and said “Commander Sinwar and his brothers” had joined the Israeli army. He added that he was humiliated.
But Segal said there was likely another reason why the IDF finally released the video that showed Sinwar alone.
“The person who leads a revolution, the person who leads a military operation, is usually surrounded by people who support him, people who live for them, people who do everything in their power to help him. And guess what? “This man was supposed to be fighting for the Palestinian people, but they left him alone. He was alone,” he said.
CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim, Abeer Salman and Dana Karni contributed to this report.
