Jubilation in Arab World, Concern in Israel, as 200 Palestinian Prisoners, Including Significant Terrorists, Released
Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday as part of the ongoing hostage release deal. In return, Hamas released four young Israeli women who had been held in Gaza since October 7, 2023. The released prisoners included 120 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israel, including several who were involved in multiple deadly attacks.
Media responses to the release varied across Israel, the Arab world, and the West, with some celebrating the return of the detainees, who range in age from 16 to 67, and others fearing for Israel’s security now that the prisoners have been set free.
Most of the freed detainees were released to the West Bank, while 70 prisoners whose crimes were considered especially serious were transferred to Egypt. Sixteen of the prisoners were returned to Gaza.
The most notorious of the released prisoners include Mohammed Odeh, 52, Wael Qassim, 54, and Wissam Abbasi, 48, who were accused of directing a 2002 suicide bombing on a pool hall that killed 15 and a bombing at Hebrew University later that year that killed nine, including five American students.
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A report by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency mostly avoided reference to the crimes committed by the released prisoners. It noted only that the oldest of the released prisoners, 69-year-old Mohammed al-Tous, had been imprisoned since 1985 “on accusations of carrying out attacks against Israeli targets.”
Israeli media was more specific about al-Tous’ crimes, with a Hebrew-language Israel Today report describing al-Tous as “responsible for a series of suicide attacks during the Second Intifada.”
An English-language Al Jazeera video kept similarly mum about the crime committed by the released prisoners. Instead, the report focused on the humanitarian side of the story, showing a Palestinian woman, Magda Balousha, expressing her joy at the return of her husband Abdul Rahman Taha Balousha “after a long wait and long years.”
The Al Jazeera report made no reference to Balousha’s crimes nor any of the crimes committed by the prisoners. According to Israeli government data, Balousha is a member of Hamas who was convicted of attempted murder, among other offenses.
Likewise, Wafa, the state-run news agency of the Palestinian Authority, highlighted the “emotions running high among families and supporters celebrating the return of their loved ones” without making reference to any of the detainees’ crimes.
Israeli media, on the other hand, put the focus on the crimes committed by the 200 detainees. The subhead of an English-language Haaretz report about the release read, “Some of the high-profile prisoners include terrorists from the Second Intifada responsible for killing dozens of Israelis in the early 2000s; an Islamic Jihad terrorist involved in the murder of 20 Israelis and the injury of approximately 150 others; and a terrorist convicted of carrying out the 2003 attack on bus line 2 in Jerusalem, which killed 23 people.”
In the Western world, journalists attempted to strike a balance. “Some were convicted of multiple murders, including the killing of Israeli civilians. Others were never charged with a crime,” the BBC wrote of the released prisoners.
