An analysis shows Iran is using the release of U.S. citizen Keith Siegel and other hostages to further a misleading narrative – one that says U.S.-designated terror group Hamas has treated its captives fairly and another that Israel subjected Palestinian prisoners to systematic brutality.
On Feb. 1, Hamas released three hostages from captivity in Gaza, including Siegel. Hamas abducted Siegel, who also is an Israeli citizen, from his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in its Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel. He spent more than 480 days in captivity.
Hamas also released Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners amid a fragile ceasefire that went into effect on Jan. 19.
Iranian media reports focused on a narrative that Palestinian prisoners exhibited signs of torture and abuse.
By contrast, Iranian media said, Siegel and other hostages released in previous exchanges had shown appreciation to Hamas for treating them humanely.
On Feb. 2, Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) released an alleged statement from Siegel in which he thanked Hamas for meeting all of his medical and dietary needs.
IRNA also claimed Siegel had “criticized the Israeli regime for not doing enough to reach a deal to return the prisoners sooner and end the bloody war in Gaza.”
A statement from Siegel’s family, however, published by the Times of Israel that same day, said he had been forced to sign off on the thank you letter to Hamas.
“Hamas terrorists forced Keith to write them a detailed thank you letter while holding him captive,” the statement from Siegel’s family read. “This is just one example of many that demonstrates Hamas’s cruel and cynical behavior and highlights the urgency of bringing all remaining hostages back home.”
While Iranian media focused on claims that Hamas had provided Siegel appropriate medical care, they omitted that Siegel’s ribs were broken and he was shot in the hand when militants abducted him on Oct. 7, 2023, along with the other 249 hostages.
His wife, whom Hamas also took captive and freed in November 2023, recounted having to beg for food and water.
Hamas also paraded Siegel on stage for propaganda purposes, before a banner reading “Nazi Zionism Will Not Win.”
Exploiting other hostages
Meanwhile, an article from Iran’s state-run Press TV on Feb. 2 promoted other alleged statements made by hostages in Hamas custody to further Tehran’s propaganda goals.
Press TV claimed Gaida Moses, 80, who was released on Jan. 30, “lived in the same conditions as his captors and ate what they ate together.”
Moses’ niece Efrat Machikawa told the BBC that Moses survived primarily on a piece of bread and an olive a day during his 15-plus months in captivity.
“I have no idea how he survived,” she said. “He lost so much weight.”
In December 2023, the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad also released a propaganda video in which Moses pleaded for Israel to make a deal to secure his release.
Additionally, Press TV focused on Danielle Aloni, a former hostage who was released with her 5-year-old daughter in November 2023 after a month in Hamas’ captivity. Aloni wrote a thank you letter to Hamas’ armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades. That letter went viral in Arabic language media.
Family and Israeli media said the letter was Hamas propaganda. The Times of Israel reported in November 2023 that Aloni’s family members were still in custody when she composed the letter, suggesting she may have been coerced to write it.
Hamas also filmed other former captives smiling and waving at their captors while being released during a temporary ceasefire in November 2023.
Those filmed gestures, the Times argued, “were clearly demanded by the captors and made under duress” in a bid by Hamas to “show the world it has been and is treating the hostages humanely.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Hamas’ attempts to turn the release of hostages into a spectacle was intended to showcase their strength and humiliate their enemy. This tactic, the Journal says, also risks derailing the fragile ceasefire.
Press TV also cited a statement from Chen Almog-Goldstein, who was abducted by Hamas with three of her children. Goldstein reportedly said her captors “protect[ed] us with their bodies from [Israeli] strikes.”
That sentiment was reflected in interviews she gave to Western media.
At the same time, Goldstein watched Hamas gunmen shoot and kill her husband and eldest daughter on Oct. 7, 2023.
Chen’s daughter, Agam, who was taken hostage alongside her, recounted their captivity in far harsher terms.
Press TV cites Chen as saying her Hamas captors claimed they would die before she did, signaling their duty to protect her. Press TV further cited Hamas, which claimed the Israeli military “deliberately and repeatedly” targeted locations where the militants were holding Israeli captives.
But Agam said Hamas was intentionally putting hostages in harm’s way.
“But then, in an instant, the low buzz of conversation was drowned out by Hamas launching rockets, just meters away from us, from inside the school compound. The hall erupted in joy, and as the Gazans celebrated, I realized that Hamas had moved us there to serve as human shields,” Agam wrote for The Washington Post in August.
Agam also recounted Hamas guards sexually abusing women and hating her “for being Jewish.”
