Reassuring to see the Israeli hostages – actually all of them are soldiers who were captured from an army base that has been enforcing a brutal siege of Gaza for 17 years – looking well on their release.
If only we could say the same about the Palestinian hostages Israel is releasing in these swaps.
One of these Israeli women was the one in a photograph widely circulated after Oct 7 showing her in bloodied trousers. Israel genocide apologists claimed that was proof of sexual violence. As previously released hostages have confirmed, it wasn't. She'd been injured and presumably been sitting in a pool of blood in the vehicle that brought her into Gaza.
Similar fake news happily spread by western media outlets, including about beheaded babies and systematic rapes, helped stoke a political climate in which Palestinians were further dehumanised and the mass slaughter of Palestinian children became acceptable for the next 15 months – and may become acceptable once again if Netanyahu carries out his promise to restart the butchery.
Anne Settanni
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