Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu might have expected the entire world to celebrate the news of four Israeli hostages being rescued from Gaza, and the entire world might have done - had it not been at the cost of hundreds of Palestinian lives.
Saturday’s bloody and brutal operation has raised new concerns among many of the Israeli hostage family members, who accuse Netanyahu and his far-right government of deprioritizing the safe return of all the hostages.
Enter Zahiro…
One hostage family member who believes that is Zahiro Shahar Mor, who says there is more reason to fear for the safety of his 79-year-old uncle, Avraham Munder, while he remains captive in Gaza.
Avraham was taken by Hamas on October 7th, along with his wife, daughter, and grandson, all of whom were released during a hostage deal between Hamas and Israel in November - with the exception of Avraham.
His nephew Zahiro tells Mehdi: “Ever since October 8th, everything they [the Israeli government] do is directed at not getting the hostages back,” and that Netanyahu’s government is actively “sabotaging their own initiatives” by rejecting deals that would have secured the release of all the hostages much earlier in the war.
Betrayed by his own country’s officials, Zahiro says Israel’s government “is being taken hostage by the diehard, right-wing, extremist fundamentalists.”
Also on the show, more betrayal …
Zahiro isn’t the only one who felt betrayed on this week’s episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered.’ Palestinian Pastor Munther Isaac of Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church accuses Christian evangelicals in the U.S. of abandoning their fellow Christians in the Occupied Territories.
“They [US Christian evangelicals] have created a worldview in which support to Israel is integral to this American identity, American exceptionalism, American national Christian identity,” says Munther, a worldview that he thinks would change if they were to visit occupied Bethlehem, for Christians the birthplace of Christ, and see the situation on the ground for themselves.
Munther is no stranger to the apartheid rule of Israel, where government policy and a 708-kilometer separation wall disrupt the worship of thousands of Palestinian Christians.
Recalling conversations with fellow evangelicals from South Africa, Munther says they described the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as being “much worse than apartheid,” adding that “you would assume that people would respect what South African theologians, church leaders are saying.”
Watch both interviews above and, for paid subscribers, be sure to let us know in the comments below what you think of the full show and who you think we should have on next.
'Netanyahu Betrayed Us': Hostage's Nephew Tells Mehdi He Wants A Ceasefire