Qatari Al-Jazeera TV show praises October massacre, Hamas, amid ceasefire mediation

"We were shot at by women and elderly carrying weapons," said one Hamas terrorist attempting to justify the massacre at Kibbutz Beeri, which took the lives of over 100 civilians.

By OHAD MERLIN JANUARY 26, 2025 13:33

Sinwar escaping in civilian attire (photo credit: SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT)

Praise for Hamas’s ‘achievements and the capabilities’ during the October 7th terror attacks, justification of the massacre in Kibbutz Beeri, and ‘exclusive Hamas footage’ showing Hamas leaders Sinwar and Deif all starred in the latest episode of the documentary series “What is Hidden is Greater,” broadcast on the Qatari state-owned TV channel, Al-Jazeera.

Notedly, the show’s presenter, Tamer Almisshal, was mentioned in Hamas documents exposed by the IDF spokesperson in Arabic last October as receiving directions or requests directly from Hamas. The episode was reportedly supposed to be broadcast a couple of weeks ago but was postponed due to the negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

During the one-hour-long episode, Almisshal boasted with what he described as access to documents, such as the war order from October 5th and ‘exclusive footage’ from Hamas, including scenes showing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar hiding while dressed up as an old person, scanning maps with Al-Qassam leader Mahmoud Hamdan and supposedly planning an attack in Rafah, even overlooking an Israeli tank several meters away. Sinwar was praised by Almisshal as “fighting from zero distance” to the very end and showing a legacy of leadership.

More ‘exclusive footage’ came supposedly from Hamas’s war room and military council meetings in the days before the massacre, allegedly showing Al-Qassam leader Mohammad Deif with his face blurred, studying maps and ‘planning the attack’ in a studio-like environment. Deif is heard talking about “taking control of the (Gaza) envelope” and calling to “fracture the area of Majdal (Ashkelon).”

The kidnapping of Naama Levy (credit: screenshot)

Additional ‘exclusive footage’ from before the attack claimed to show Al-Qassam terrorists carrying out 'investigative missions' to the security barrier and testing Israeli technological surveillance means on the fence as means to prepare for the attack, also featuring footage of a patrol led by Colonel Asaf Hamami, commander of the Southern Brigade, who was killed during the massacre. Likewise, the episode was dotted with footage of the infiltration of Al-Qassam terrorists into both civilian homes and military posts, with graphic images of dead soldiers and the kidnapping of the female soldiers into Gaza – and overlooking the civilian hostages. 

Justifying the massacre

During the episode, Almisshal also presented an exclusive interview with Izz Eddin Al-Haddad, a high-ranking commander at the Al-Qassam militia, an interview he described as 'carried out under strict security issues restrictions dictated by Al-Qassam.' During the interview, Al-Haddad, who also had his face blurred, claimed that the massacre was, in fact, a preemptive strike, alleging that they had obtained a document from Israeli intelligence unit 8200 through a breach into their servers, which had to do with preparations for an impending attack. Notedly, however, unit 8200 is described as an intelligence gathering unit, not entrusted with planning offensive kinetic strikes.

“We remained in contact with all the brokers, issuing orders of intelligence gathering and completing the preparations for a military option,” Al-Haddad added, hinting at a possible prior knowledge of the attack by some regional actors. He also thanked the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the militias in Iraq, as well as the ‘brothers’ in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and claimed that resignations by Israeli officials are further proof of Hamas’s victory.

Almisshal also interviewed an unnamed masked militant who took part in the “operation of the infiltration of Kibbutz Beeri, granting him a platform to explain and justify the massacre in the kibbutz. “Many times, we were shot at by women and elderly who were carrying guns,” the militant attempted to explain the murder of over 100 of the kibbutz’s residents, including a baby and children, and the taking of 31 of them as hostages. “I swear to Allah, we took care of the women and children and only shot those who shot at us.” He also alleged that Israel shot at the Kibbutz with warplanes, accusing Israel for the fatalities.

Evading the context of civilian casualties, Almisshal claimed that dozens of the Israeli civilians killed on October 7th include members of the Kibbutzim’s civil guard (Kitot Konenut), adding that this provides a glimpse into the ‘nature of the clashes which ensued inside the kibbutzim.’

Further participants in the episode featured foreign scholars or experts, including Jeroen Gunning, deemed a founder of Critical Terrorism Studies, who claimed that the massacre came in the context of halting normalization between Israel and Arab countries, and Andreas Krieg, who claimed, casually, that “some of them (Hamas terrorists) may have gone into one Kibbutz,” adding that this is natural as the more further into Israel they would have gone – the more they would have faced with civilians.

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Another guest speaker, Mike Mihailovitch, accused Israel of carrying out the 'Hannibal directive' to shoot at its own civilians, while a former Israeli intelligence official, Alon Evyatar, described the shock that ensued in Israel following the massacre and the rifts within Israeli society, framed by Almisshal as a platform to laud Hamas’s capabilities and achievements even further.

Hamas terrorist in civilian attire (credit: screenshot)

Further footage ‘obtained’ by Almisshal showed videos of the daily activity of Al-Qassam terrorists inside some of the tunnels, including praying, planning attacks over maps, and “placing” explosives inside a tunnel while hiding for an ambush. The episode was also dotted with clips taken from Al-Qassam’s media department, showing Hamas terrorists engaged in battle while dressed in civilian clothing, as well as videos of hostage-taking and shooting.

Almisshal ended the episode at the Qatari state-owned TV station by praising Hamas’s “historical blow” and “preemptive strike” against Israel, boasting about the fact that one year later, Israel was still unable to retrieve its hostages and stop Hamas.