Hotel Hamas
Apparently, Hotel Hamas gets a five-star review on Trip Advisor. I’ve stayed at the Motel 6, and I’ve stayed at the Ritz Carlton. Never have I seen such reviews! Hamas sent out a letter yesterday (Monday) purportedly written by Danielle Aloni. Danielle and her five-year-old daughter Emilia were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th. According to Hamas she was grateful to Hamas for the “extraordinary humanity” provided to her daughter who “felt like a queen.” Impressive.
I caught an interview with a former hostage from Thailand in which he said, “We were treated well. Plenty of food and we were comfortable.” Stellar.
Yahya Sinwar, the GM of Hotel Hamas apparently came to greet some of the guest himself and in perfect Hebrew assured them of their “safety.” Spectacular.
There are even videos at the handover of the hostages from the Rafah checkpoint with Hamas gunmen extending “high fives” to children and escorting the senior citizens as they were handed over. Delightful.
I must say I am truly impressed. Apparently, the members of Hamas have seen the error of their ways and have decided to expand into the hospitality business. I must book my next long weekend in Gaza. After all, it is on the Mediterranean sea.
Not so fast.
Apparently, Hamas provided pen and paper to many of their guests and asked (demanded) they write a glowing endorsement. Not sure what Trip Advisor would say about that. Sounds coerced to me but then again I stayed at a Sheraton in Chicago years ago that had a five star review and I wouldn’t give it one star. As far as the guests from Thailand are concerned, their suite upgrades may have had something to do with the fact that Thailand recognized Palestinian statehood in 2012 and rejected US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2017. Interestingly enough, my namesake – King David – declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel 3,000 years ago, well before the UN was established. The fact that many of the hostages were told to “smile” upon their release, hold hands with Hamas members and perform for the cameras is not much different than “setting the stage” for some of those lovely timeshare ads you see on the internet. Can people on vacation really look that good? Can they really be that happy?
So the fact that many of the hostages were kept in cages https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/gaza-news/article-775480, fed rice and pita, had rocks thrown at them upon their release in the south of the Gaza Strip and were abused and beaten has to be overlooked, right? Then of course there’s the fact that families were supposed to be released together. Hila Rotem, 13, was released but Hotel Hamas said, “We cannot find her mother.” This seems surprising given that Hila said her own Mother was with her for much of the time she was in captivity. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/girl-freed-from-gaza-without-her-mom-says-they-were-split-up-2-days-before-release/.
Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland recognized Hotel Hamas for their hospitality and in his own press release on behalf of the Irish government said Emily Hand, an Irish-Israeli citizen had been “found.” Praise the Lord! Apparently, Guest Relations must have assisted in this regard. Of course, Colin McGregor called him out on that one: https://www.ynetnews.com/culture/article/bkleuz11rt. Colin is awesome and when asked if Yahya Sinwar wanted to meet with him for tea and scones, Yahya apparently ran as fast as he could. With all due respect to the Prime Minister, if that is the best you can offer on behalf of one of your own citizens, you are rather pathetic.
Lastly, CNN had a touching story about one of the Palestinian “girls” that was released from captivity. In the interview, the reporter says, “She was arrested and spent years in jail for attempted murder yet she never even hurt anyone.” That seems a low bar. By this logic, if I decide to kill someone and am not successful, I am not a murderer. However, if I am successful, I am then a murderer. Not sure I’m buying it. It seems to me if you have a kitchen knife with a 10-inch blade, you try to stab someone, but you’re too slow to hit your target, you should still go to jail. I just don’t see that you should be rewarded as an international media superstar and compared to a nine-year-old girl that was kidnapped when you try to stab innocent civilians.
You may also remember Kfir Bibas, whom I wrote about here: https://www.peopleforisrael.com/day-xxxi-one-month-a-journal-from-the-holy-land/. He, along with 200 other hostages, remain in Gaza. Nine are Americans. Why continue to hold Baby Kfir? Does the hotel have a nursery?
While Hamas violates the ceasefire and I subject you to my very poor attempt at satire, we know precisely what is going on. The remaining hostages are being split up, Hamas is rearming, terrorists are trying to escape and Hamas is reloading their arsenal. I do not like where this is headed although the photos of the reunited families are truly heartwarming. Unfortunately, we also learned today that three more hostages have been killed: Yaakov Ahimas, 20; Kiril Brodski, 19; and Shaked Dahan, 19. There will be no rejoicing for their families.
We are at a very critical time. Winter has come to Israel along with the rain and requests have changed. Yes, people still need food and transportation which – thanks to you – we continue to provide. However, instead of mattresses and socks, we are now being asked for sleeping bags, coats, thermal underwear, gloves and more. Help is needed. If you can pass our information on to one friend, I’d like to gently remind you that we have no paid staff, no rent and no overhead. We are in serious need of warm, winter supplies and any help you can give would be appreciated. If all you do is to ask one friend to help us, you have done so much.
Please don’t let my poor attempt at humor (above) dissuade you in any way. It’s how I cope with the situation, and the sad reality we are dealing with. We are grateful to the One Above for His eternal blessings, and we continue to persevere. May G-d bless you and if you come to Israel…..we won’t just leave the light on for you. We’ll actually invite you to join us for a close-up look at what we are doing almost every day. Ride along, bring joy to people that are suffering and share in the opportunity to help our neighbors. We are waiting for you.
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At People for Israel, we are helping people across the Holy Land. By providing transportation to those in need, helping to enhance security in our most vulnerable communities, providing food and supplies to those in need – we are trying to do our part. When a donation is received, we utilize these funds generally within 24 – 48 hours and respond to requests we have received from across the country. Please consider giving a donation here: https://secure.cardknox.com/peopleforisrael, or asking us to speak to your church, synagogue or civic group allows us to share what is really going on here. Signing up for our journal at www.peopleforisrael.com or liking our new Facebook page is greatly appreciated: https://www.facebook.com/peopleforisraelorganization/show_switched_toast=0&show_invite_to_follow=0&show_switched_tooltip=0&show_podcast_settings=0&show_community_review_changes=0&show_community_rollback=0&show_follower_visibility_disclosure=0
David
David at People for Israel
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Since October 7, 2023
