ARTICLES

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Last Friday, twenty freed hostages sat down with families and friends for their first weekly Shabbat since terrorists kidnapped them and forced them into the tunnels of Gaza. Amid joy, tears, and shock, familiar customs and rituals gradually returned. Candle lighting, the reciting of ancient Hebrew prayers, and favorite dishes served with fresh ingredients filled the evening. Surreal conversations began to replace memories of darkness and deprivation as survivors struggled to recount their harrowing captivity.

Mainstream media would do well to pay close attention, as if they were sitting at those Shabbat tables or in a courtroom listening to witnesses whose testimony of evil is undeniable. For the past two years, mainstream outlets have launched a dangerous kind of journalism across cyberspace and its allied social media platforms.

I have named this phenomenon rogue reporting. The word “rogue” can have many meanings, but here it describes those who misuse their position or authority with destructive results. Rogue reporters chose to promote lies from Hamas, the aggressor, over facts from Israel, the victim. Their decisions helped spread a violent cancer of Jew hatred that has now metastasized across the world.

As more truths emerge from freed hostages and their families, will the media listen? Will they choose reliable sources such as the survivors themselves, Israeli leaders, and the IDF? Or will they continue to echo terrorist propaganda? Will they repair their platforms by returning to facts and integrity? Will they consult Christian media outlets that have long recognized the difference between good and evil?

This article touches on only a few stories among many. Will mainstream media share them widely and acknowledge the damage caused by giving credibility to terrorist lies?

Survivor stories are difficult to hear, but facts must rise above falsehoods. Each survivor endured unique cruelties, and nothing can erase their suffering and inhumane treatment, whether they were freed earlier or among the most recent group of twenty living hostages.

Rom Braslavski, a religious Jew, is piecing together two lost years. When he first saw his little brother, he did not recognize him, remembering him still as a boy. Among his many sorrows, Rom was devastated to have missed his brother’s bar mitzvah.

Like Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s cruelty defied comprehension. Rom survived in almost total isolation, sustained by the psalms he had memorized long before. At times, he was confined near the bodies of those who had perished. Chained inside a small cage for months, he endured agonizing pain in his hands and feet. When terrorists demanded that he convert to Islam in exchange for more food, Rom summoned the strength to refuse.

Upon arriving at the hospital after his release, he put on tefillin, small black leather boxes containing Scriptures, bound to his head and arm as a symbol of devotion to God. His family shared that he now prefers to be outside, looking at the sky. Supporters from around the world are sending him photographs of their own sky views as tokens of solidarity and hope.

Rom’s reliance on the psalms in such torment reminds us that Judaism formed the cradle of Christianity. The Old and New Testaments are one sacred book. God spoke through Jewish scribes who wrote and preserved the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, and Jewish believers added twenty-seven books that became the New Testament. Rom’s faith amid suffering stands as a message for all believers. Without Judaism as God’s chosen foundation, Christianity would not exist. God’s unconditional love is a gift to both Christians and Jews who seek Him with repentant hearts through the Messiah, despite our human failures and flaws.

Another story that shocked Israel and its supporters involved Evyatar David. Hamas forced him to dig his own grave for a propaganda video after starving him nearly to death. So emaciated that his ribs and shoulders protruded, Evyatar’s image was used to pressure Israel. When the filming ended, the terrorists finally gave him food. A few days after his release, a photo showed Evyatar playing his guitar with friends as the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea. The twenty-four-year-old Israeli was once again surrounded by freedom, beauty, and music.

Many other accounts reveal both cruelty and courage. Elkana Bohbot was shackled in darkness for most of his captivity and lost all sense of time. His mother said that at one point, he asked his captors for a needle, thread, and scrap of fabric so he could sew a teddy bear for his young son Re’em. When Elkana arrived at Sheba Medical Center, he carried the handmade toy into a tearful family reunion.

Matan Angrest suffered psychological torment as his captors lied about his family and “treated” his severe hand injuries without anesthesia. Terrorists also deliberately starved hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, boasting about turning their captives into “poster children of skin and bones.”

Israeli digital creator Yael Levontin described Hamas’s inhumanity as “the horror that defied humanity.” She wrote, “Because the terrorists burned bodies, tore people apart, and left behind only ashes and bone, Israel had to do something it had never done before: summon archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority, experts in ancient civilizations, to help identify the murdered.” One archaeologist explained, “We can recognize bones that are thousands of years old by texture and shape. But this was different. Bone fused with metal, plastic, teeth, and ash. This is not science. It is agony.”

Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and their allies have descended into a hatred that thrives on crimes against humanity.

After reading many hostage stories, I am compelled to suggest this: rogue reporting should be recognized as a modern form of complicity, an accessory to crimes against truth and humanity. Will mainstream media turn away from their Nazi-like adherence to Hamas propaganda that has endangered Jews worldwide?

On October 7, 2023, the terrorists gleefully recorded their atrocities on body cameras. Now, we have the testimonies of survivors who lived through the horror. Their stories are not joyful, but they are essential. They must be heard.

As Christians, we must commit ourselves to truth. We are called to pass on verified facts, not propaganda. We have our own trustworthy Christian media sources such as CBN News, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, AllIsrael.com, The 700 Club Israel, The Watchman with Erick Stakelbeck and Yair Pinto, Boots on the Ground at TBN, and Amir Tsarfati at Behold Israel.

Proverbs 12:22 reminds us, “The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in people who are trustworthy.” May we be those truth-tellers who honor God by speaking facts, not falsehoods.

Our CBN Israel team invites you to join us in prayer and to share this message widely.

Prayer Points:

• Pray for the recovery and healing of all freed hostages.
• Pray for families still waiting to receive the bodies of their loved ones.
• Pray for wisdom for Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump.
• Pray for Christians to stand boldly for truth in every arena of life.

Arlene Bridges Samuels is the weekly feature columnist for CBN Israel since 2020. Working on the staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as their SE Regional Outreach Director for nine years, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as the Leadership Outreach Director part-time for their project American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel, is published at AllIsrael.com and The Jerusalem Connection, and has traveled to Israel since 1990. By invitation, she attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summits as part of Christian media worldwide. In 2024, Arlene and her husband Paul co-authored Mental Health Meltdown: Illuminating the Voices of Bipolar and Other Mental Illnesses. www.TheMentalHealthMeltdown.com.