Israelis and families of those being held hostage by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip protest in Tel Aviv outside a meeting of the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, on Dec. 14, 2023. Photo courtesy of Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90.

By MITCHELL BARD

JNS

It was a joyous moment to see three female Israeli hostages finally released from 15 months of harrowing captivity. That happiness was tempered by the disgusting spectacle orchestrated by Hamas and enabled by the Red Cross. This humiliating episode highlighted its total failure to assist Jewish victims, evoking bitter memories of its inaction during the Holocaust.

Invisible

I wrote in November 2023 about the attitude of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from the beginning of the war. On Oct. 7, 2023, the ICRC released a statement expressing concern over “armed violence in Israel and the occupied territories.” This mealy-mouthed response ignored the slaughter of civilians by Hamas terrorists, instead framing the events as mutual violence and subtly implicating Israel.

Days later, the ICRC issued another statement acknowledging “premeditated killings of civilians” but avoided identifying either the perpetrators or victims. In the same breath, it criticized Israeli “bombings in residential neighborhoods,” drawing a false equivalence between terror massacres and defensive military actions.

It took more than a month before the American Red Cross said the ICRC was pursuing “every possible avenue to secure the release of all remaining hostages.” It would remain silent, however, because its experience—ignoring the Holocaust—was that it was most effective if it kept a low profile. Well, it succeeded in making its profile invisible while not gaining the release of a single hostage or providing them with assistance.

Hostages Mocked

For the transfer, they showed up as if they were heroes when they were essentially Uber drivers taking the former hostages a few miles to an awaiting military helicopter.

First, though, they played a part in the grotesque Hamas spectacle in which heavily armed masked terrorists in freshly laundered uniforms delivered and surrounded the hostages. Hundreds of jeering civilians lined the streets celebrating the dehumanization of the women right to the end of their ordeal. Civilians, including children—frequently portrayed as innocent victims of “genocide”—actively participated in the degradation of survivors of the Hamas massacre.

The Israelis were given “goodie bags” as if they were leaving a bat mitzvah, but instead of shouts of mazel tov! they heard only blood-curdling chants of Allahu Akbar. The Red Cross literally endorsed this farce by co-signing Hamas-drafted “certificates of release” that the hostages were forced to sign before posing for photos holding the documents with their captors.

You must give Hamas credit; their skill in media manipulation has not diminished with their loss of power. The terrorists carefully stage-managed the handover with their Al Jazeera collaborators to show pictures designed to give the world the impression of widespread support and military resilience. For their supporters, Hamas wanted to pretend that thousands of fighters survived the war to pursue their goal of committing repeated massacres. Aerial photos later revealed the crowd was no more than a few hundred people crammed into a narrow street that was part of a calculated media strategy to portray Hamas as victorious despite its decimation.

Red Cross—Step up!

At this point, the least the Red Cross can do is to ensure that it does not participate in another terrorist photo op to promote the Hamas narrative. The organization, backed by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, must ensure that future transfers occur in neutral, secure locations with no armed personnel or civilian onlookers. Hamas has managed to keep the location of the hostages secret for this long; let them maintain that secrecy for the point of exchange.

The Red Cross should not allow its reputation to be dragged further through the mud by being a party to the disgraceful abuse of innocent Israelis who miraculously survived months of torture and abuse without its medical or any other assistance.