How Netanyahu Leveraged Leaked and False ’Hamas Documents’ as the Hostage Protests Were Surging
In September, after news broke of the murder of six Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity, the protests for a hostage deal reached unprecedented levels. Netanyahu then exploited documents attributed to Hamas and leaked to German tabloid Bild and the U.K.’s Jewish Chronicle to undermine the protests, suggesting that the demonstrators were ’falling into Hamas’ trap.’ Here’s how it unfolded, step by step
Bar PelegNov 2, 2024 , Haaretz
▻https://www.haaretz.com/haaretz-explains/2024-11-02/ty-article/.premium/how-netanyahu-used-the-hamas-documents-leaks-as-the-hostage-protests-peaked/00000192-ee06-dc6c-add7-ff06cae80000
The early September publication in the German tabloid Bild about a document allegedly found in Hamas tunnels has recently resurfaced in the headlines following an investigation into classified document leaks from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
The document supposedly outlined Hamas’s war strategy – putting pressure on the families of the hostages to, in turn, pressure the government, while Hamas are in fact not interested in a deal. Netanyahu seized on the report, using it to suggest that the protesters advocating for the hostages’ release “are falling into Hamas’s trap.” This was not the first time that documents purportedly belonging to Hamas have been used by Netanyahu.
On September 1, the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson announced that six hostages had been murdered in Hamas captivity: Almog Sarusi, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, and Hersh Goldberg-Polin. All six had been abducted alive, and four of them – Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi, Gat, and Sarusi – were supposed to be released in the first humanitarian agreement if the deal proposed by Biden at the end of May had been implemented. That evening, a massive protest for the hostages took place on Begin Road in Tel Aviv.
The following day, Netanyahu held a press conference where he presented a document that he said was found in Gaza, in which Hamas instructed “to intensify the psychological pressure” on the hostages’ families and on Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and “to continue the line blaming Netanyahu for what happened.” This document was originally published by journalist Amit Segal on Channel 12 News in January. “Here is a directive document found in a tunnel belonging to a senior Hamas official,” Netanyahu stated at the press conference. “I can’t confirm it’s from Sinwar himself, but I can confirm it’s from high-ranking members of Hamas.”
Later that week, the protests advocating for the release of the hostages continued, with thousands gathering every evening at the main protest site near the Kirya defense headquarters. This was the first and only week during the hostages’ protests where thousands took to the streets day after day. On Thursday of that week, a false report was published in the Jewish Chronicle, claiming that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning to smuggle himself along with Israeli hostages out of Gaza through the Philadelphi Route.
Almost all major Israeli media outlets echoed the report that evening, lending weight to Netanyahu’s claim that there was a risk Hamas would try to smuggle the hostages to Egypt, and from there to Iran and Yemen. Consequently, Israel, he argued, must insist on maintaining a military presence along the Philadelphi Route. According to Yediot Ahronoth, the prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, stated in a meeting with the families of hostages that same week that Israel must remain along the Philadelphi Route due to “reports that they might smuggle them to Yemen and Iran.”
Netanyahu presented this argument in the press conference held the day after the murder of the six hostages was revealed. “They can take them and smuggle them out. They cross the fence, and they’re gone. They could end up in Iran or Yemen,” he said. A senior Israeli official involved in the negotiations told Haaretz that week, “The press conference convened by the Prime Minister was meant to stall the deal for political reasons,” adding that if Netanyahu hadn’t raised new demands in the negotiations, including a military presence along the Philadelphi Route, “a deal would have been reached long ago.”
The Jewish Chronicle report turned out to be false. The Chronicle ended its association with the author after an investigation into the unsatisfactory validity of his claims, according to the paper. The story was removed from the website, and the Chronicle issued an apology