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While the UN devotes its human rights operations to the demonization of the democratic state of Israel above all others and condemns the United States more often than the vast majority of non-democracies around the world, the voices of real victims around the world must be heard.
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Emily Damari, 28, Romi Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31. (Courtesy)
Palestinian Authority/Gaza, January 20, 2025
Hamas terrorists mock female hostages, release them with ‘goodie bags’ as souvenirs
Original source
In a disturbing revelation, Israeli media reported that Hamas forced three recently released hostages from Gaza—Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doron Steinbrecher—to participate in a staged propaganda ceremony before their release.
The hostages were handed “gift bags” by their captors, an act that highlights the psychological manipulation employed by the terror group.
The gift bags, reportedly handed to the hostages just before they were transferred to the Red Cross, included unsettling items: a photo of Gaza, photographs of the hostages during their captivity, and a so-called “certificate of release.”
According to Hebrew-language reports, these items were designed to leave a lasting psychological imprint on the survivors, embedding memories of their trauma into tangible objects.
Emily Damari and Romi Gonen, held together in captivity, were allegedly coerced into posing for photos while smiling and holding their certificates.
This grotesque ceremony, described as a “farewell” by Hamas, forced the hostages to simulate gratitude toward their captors, further compounding their psychological distress.
A video released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) showed the hostages clutching these bags as they were handed over to Israeli troops, a chilling reminder of the torment they endured.
Experts have pointed out that such staged acts serve dual purposes for Hamas. On one hand, they aim to perpetuate the group’s narrative of “humanity” despite the underlying brutality of their actions. On the other, they act as a method of psychological warfare, ensuring that the trauma of captivity lingers long after the hostages have been freed.
The staged ceremony and its accompanying “souvenirs” reveal the calculated cruelty of Hamas’s tactics.
For the survivors, these so-called gifts are not tokens of remembrance but haunting symbols of their ordeal, serving as constant reminders of the psychological and emotional scars left by their time in captivity.
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