The thorny issue of Hamas hostage videos

Journalist Yasmin Levy, from the Israeli newspaperHaaretz, denounces that the country's journalistic caste is serially censoring videos that come from people still kidnapped by Hamas.Haaretz, because it's the only major media outlet that effectively stands up to Netanyahu's draconian communications policy, which has the country's media ecosystem at its feet. But at the same time, we should agree that the videos of the kidnapped are of highly questionable value, because their discourse is often tremendously influenced by the captors, who, after all, are the ones who have encouraged their release to newsrooms, as part of the psychological warfare they wage.

According to Levy, it's the families who have asked journalists to self-censor, and they are succeeding. This is certainly bad news, because it's a distortion that they—with the obvious conflict of interest—are the ones setting the country's information policy. Many of these videos that haven't been broadcast contain criticism of the government. Now, are these criticisms credible? It's painfully unfair, but among the many things Hamas has taken from the hostages is the possibility of free expression. Even if they speak out after being released: they may have family or friends among those still being held. However, that same zeal to not facilitate Hamas's propaganda should be applied to denouncing the obvious abuses of the Netanyahu regime that have caused Israel to fall to 112th out of 180 in terms of press freedom. An impasse, seemingly unsolvable, like the conflict itself.