Gilad Shalit Mocked By Hamas TV Cartoon

JERUSALEM — Hamas TV in Gaza has broadcast a short animated movie mocking an Israeli soldier captured by the militant Islamic group three years ago.

Israeli media played excerpts of the movie Monday. It depicts 22-year-old Israeli Sgt. Gilad Schalit chained to a jail cell wall pathetically pleading with a Palestinian boy to be set free.

The boy refuses, saying he has relatives in Israeli prisons.

Gaza militants captured the soldier in June 2006 after tunneling into Israel. Two other soldiers were killed in the attack.

Schalit has not been seen since, and Hamas has prevented the Red Cross from visiting him.

Egypt has been mediating attempts to arrange a swap of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the soldier.

Comments

[DeniseA]

An important difference is that Gilad hasn't committed any terrorist acts.

[CigarGod]

All Israel has to do is release the hostages they took illegally and the kid can go home.
But he is too go a propaganda tool to make a deal for.

[Darwin256]

And Hamas only feeds the flame by mocking his distress.

[CigarGod]

Yep. Not helpful.

[arle]

And just what was the IDF doing about feeding flames when they were bombing every sort of structure in the Gaza Strip -- prisons, police stations and government buildings in particular.. You don't suppose they would have been displeased to martyr one of their own, huh?

[AdamX]

Guess again. You know so little, yet talk so much.

[CigarGod]

You had some wisdom to impart?

[engineerndng]

Illegal hostages or POWs? Potatoe/Potatoe?

[haxman]

Hamas exists only to destroy Israel. It is the basis of their charter. They are cowards and killers. They do nothing to build up or create. Israel exists by UN agreement that the entire world, except a few Arab states, agreed to. They kill, they commit terror. Israel builds, supplies food, jobs, energy, creativity.

[amalfedup]

Blah...Bla­h....Blah.­... Please give a new statement, this one has been over used it no longer can be heard.

[azbird]

Haxman`s statement should be repeated over and over till you get it. You obviously , dont get it. You would rather be rude.

[azbird]

haxman`s statement should be said over and over until all you people get it Why would anyone say that all Israel has to do is release the Pal. prisoners taken illegally. They are in prison because they are terrorists.

[BigAl72]

WAR SUCKS ANYWHERE!!!

[Bitsko]

Not to defend Hamas, but how does this compare to innocent prisoners tortured in Gitmo and elsewhere?

[Maverick85]

Bitsko--

You know for a fact that:

--The Guantanamo prisoners were "innocent";

--that they were "tortured";

--that the totality of that exceeds the suffering of the Israeli prisoner?

ALSO: to all my good Proggies: travel Israel and the region, and then do some new, fact-based blogging.

[amalfedup]

You know for a fact they weren't?

[DD1Prime]

All this incident does is prove that kidnapping and hostage-holding will remian prime tools of the Hamas regime. Not exactly the policies that will lead to peace and reconciliation.

At least they aren't sawing off people's heads yet.. but who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Where is the ability to treat both enemies and friends responsibly - does Hamas have ANY strategy for holding power except wishing away the existance of Israel and attempting suicide attacks?

[LeeCalif]

Go to FreeGaza.org for the latest updates on the Israel Navy illegally seizing the relief ship and it's occupants.

[QuidQuintessa]

How dare those Hamas thugs first capture and then caricature a man whose mission it was to kill them! People, Israel has over 10,000 Palestinians in their jails, many of whom have never been charged with a crime. There are several hundred Palestinian children in Israeli prison. No resistance is anything acceptable to the White Man on a Mission: Hamas attacks occupiers, they are terrorists. Hamas attacks military targets, they are terrorists. Hamas arrests a would-be murderer who is incidentally contravening international law, they are terrorists. Hamas makes a cartoon, they are terrorists.

[iSeeDumbPeople]

THANK YOU.

[Tacitsf]

It's so sad to me how polarized the Arab-Israeli conflict has become when someone can make an argument defending Hamas. Recently I got blasted for linking to a post about abuse of Palestinians by Israeli border police on Facebook. I am Israeli myself, and do not in any way support the Israeli military. I love the country because I have family there, but I think the government and military are engaging in terrible human rights violations.

That being said, just because you might believe, as I do, that Israel has innocent blood on its hands, it doesn't mean you have to stand up in defense of Hamas. Are Palestinians in an extremely trying and difficult situation? Absolutely. But that doesn't make what Hamas does a legitimate political revolutionary resistance. They kill civilians. Even their own. If you are going to justify their kidnapping of a soldier whose "mission it was to kill them", then how can you possibly condemn Israel for imprisoning Hamas militants??

And this is the root of the problem with both sides of this conflict. People believe that if you believe one side is wrong, then the other side must be right. Well, guess what. This is WRONG. You want to condemn acts of terrorism on the Israeli side? Then condemn them on Hamas's side too, or else you're no better than the defenders of Israeli actions in Gaza.

[Darwin256]

Good Post!

[kasukabe]

I wouldn't hold my breath making a sophisticated argument like yours. Most people prefer to see the middle east in very black and white terms it only hurts their heads if you introduce complexity into the situation.

I would be very interested to do an experiment to see how many people can even point to Israel on a map.

[egaeus]

While it's terrible that this young Israeli soldier has been forced to languish in prison or worse, the news from the Middle East tends to be one sided, as do the numbers of Israeli victims vs. Palestinian ones. There are thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, but this new story focuses on the one Israeli soldier. During the recent Gaza conflict, Israel killed some 1200-1400 Palestinians vs. 13 Israeli soldiers. For every one Israeli, there are 300 Palestinians killed, yet this is the type of news coverage routinely heard from the region.

[iSeeDumbPeople]

I agree.

www.IfAmericansKnew.org

http://www.btselem.org/English/ (don't miss the video section)

[JohnnyLee]

Untrue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas_suicide_attacks

That phase of the conflict may have been one sided - but you can't isolate that away from the rest of the conflict and say the damage has been one sided.

Just as you can't talk about land being taken away from the Palestinians without talking about Arab Jews who lost their lands i.e. over 100K Iraqi Jews were kicked out of Iraq in the 1950s.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah#Aliyah_from_Arab_countries

[arle]

Cause and effect. Who started the ethnic cleansing in the Middle East, hmm? What came first? What you describe... or things like the Nakba and the Lavon affair?

[Snowball]

Two wrongs do not equal a right. Sorry.

[CessnaDriver]

Hey, I have just come to a startling realization! Extremists are A-holes!

[kentah]

I'm still trying to understand how the description of this cartoon is in any way mocking. It seem more like a statement than anything else. Possibly a link or an embedded video maybe even a picture would help otherwise it's just hearsay.

[zaz33]

kentah - I agree

The headline didn't seem to match the story. It appears that the cartoon was making a statement.

[Diogenis]

HuffPo headliners are usually never matching the story...just sen sational.

[brandnewstuff]

Really Israel needs a realit check They have abuse power over many in this world and using sublime hatred and masking as humor... the pot and the kettle or eye for an eye...

[escribacat]

How disgusting. That says a lot about Hamas and about the people who would watch such a thing on TV.

[Bubbas]

So they can draw a cartoon of someone suffering, yet others can't draw a picture of Mohammed. These people are full of great logic, compassion, and understanding...

[iSeeDumbPeople]

Do you think they at least know who Netanyahu is?

http://maxblumenthal.com/2009/06/feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-on-the-eve-of-obamas-speech-in-cairo/

[HekmabaJuzimax]

Shalit is no longer with us. Hamas will continue demanding things they know the Israelis will never agree to. If Israeli ever gets confirmation, it's all over for Hamas. Pass the popcorn.

[driven989]

"Hamas will continue demanding things they know the Israelis will never agree to."

You mean like compliance with international law. Yes, you are correct -- Israel will never agree to this.

[balabusta]

no, they wil not comply with the international request to commit suicide and leave their security to the murderous thugs of Hamas. By the way, have you registered your potest about 140 people killedby China.

I'm sorry. They're not Israel, so no need to criticize.