Agam Berger’s separate release in Jabalya used for propaganda purposes

The stage where the IDF observer was taken to be displayed was decorated with pictures of the terrorists’ supposed victory over various IDF divisions.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The separate release Thursday morning of IDF observer Agam Berger was carefully staged for propaganda purposes by Gazan terrorists, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post following the event.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) took Berger to Jabalya to be turned over to the Red Cross, a city that has been the site of months of fighting over several rounds during the course of the war between the IDF and the terrorists.

The terrorist group specifically wanted to declare victory over the IDF at that location, analyst Seth Frantzman wrote, and decorated the stage where it displayed Berger accordingly.

Printed in English and Arabic on a huge poster that formed the backdrop of the stage were slogans such as “Gaza is the graveyard of the criminal Zionists,” “Palestine – The victory of the oppressed people vs the Nazi Zionists,” and “The Palestinians fighters of freedom will always be the victories [sic].”

The bunting in front contained childish approximations of the logos of various IDF divisions and brigades that had fought in Gaza in general and Jabalya in particular, with images of defeat skewering them.

Thus, the Givati symbol of a red fox and a sword was turned into a running animal with a sword stabbing it through the back and the caption “Jabalya is the grave of Givati.”

While the IDF did suffer a few dozen losses in Jabalya, thousands of terrorists were killed and captured in the fighting there.

The image labeled “Kfir,” another infantry division, had a sword buried in the helmet worn by a skull, while yellow, blue, and red lines that form part of the Nachal symbol were shown being scythed in half by a sickle named Beit Hanoun, as if that brigade’s soldiers were defeated in that town, which is the opposite of what really happened there.

The terrorists also misspelled each one of these divisions’ names.

Berger was led onto the stage by dozens of uniformed, masked terrorists wearing green headbands who had given her some kind of certificate of release to hold, exactly like the female hostages released by Hamas last week.

Black-clad terrorists holding long guns stood on stage; some filmed the proceedings, in which Berger was made to smile for the cameras and an audience of Gazans that was kept at a distance before a stylized handover was enacted and she was whisked away by Red Cross vehicles and transported to safety in Israel.

The two other Israeli hostages released on Thursday, Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yehoud, and the five Thai hostages had a seemingly much more frightening time before their release.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas jointly took them to Khan Younis to be freed close to the destroyed home of assassinated Hamas head Yahya Sinwar.

Arab media showed Yehoud completely surrounded by helmeted terrorists. She was literally pushing through a huge shouting and jeering mob in order to get to a Red Cross car.