Almost two years have passed since the Shalit deal was completed and signed in October 2011, yet the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, still continues to recycle that “great achievement” ad nauseam.
In a video clip produced by the Qassam Brigades to mark the seventh anniversary of Gilad Shalit’s abduction, the group “took inventory” of those Israeli soldiers who were kidnapped ever since it was founded. Dramatic, almost Wagnerian, music accompanies the photos of Israeli soldiers Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon (1989), Alon Karavani (1992), Shahar Simani (1993), Yaron Chen (1993), Nachshon Wachsman (1994), Sasson Nuriel (2005) and Shalit himself (2006), who was returned to Israel five years after his abduction.
The clip includes never-before released photos of Shalit during his last day in captivity, up until he was brought to the Rafah Crossing (including that unforgettable scene in which Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas’ military wing, who was assassinated at the start of Operation Pillar of Defense, drags Shalit brusquely by the hand to where the prisoner exchange with Israel would take place).
The clip ends with a Hebrew text reading, “We’ve started toward our goal, and we will reach the end.”
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