In 1934, German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl directed and produced the film “Triumph of the Will,” funded directly by Adolf Hitler.
It has long been universally regarded as the gold standard of cinematic political propaganda. Variety magazine characterizes it as “a visually hypnotic record of the 1934 Nazi Party Congress held in Nuremberg” and a production that “embraces the ideological metaphysics of totalitarian rapture (the fetishism of beauty, the idealization of the mob).”
But now there’s a new death-cult filmmaker taking the world by storm. It has elaborate state-of-the-art sets, camera operators and sound professionals. It has vast production budgets, burly, heavily-armed leading men, carefully crafted scripts, and highly curated cuts. It has a cast of thousands and a rapturously enthusiastic—and completely free—global distribution system. Yes, the spirit of Leni Riefenstahl is alive and well in Gaza and producing blockbuster short films for Hamas Studios Inc.
After the Holocaust, Swiss bankers and insurers demanded death certificates from Holocaust survivors who had the temerity to attempt to claim policies and accounts purchased and set up by their murdered relatives before the war. Exasperated survivors attempted to explain to them that death certificates were not issued at Auschwitz, but that did not move Swiss officials, and most policies were never honored.
In a spiritually related twist on Nazi-sympathizing bureaucratic officialdom, Hamas created “hostage graduation certificates,” signed by—wait for it—the International Committee of the Red Cross, and gave the hostages Hamas swag bags and Gaza key chains. It was all recorded with loving care and sent out to the world on YouTube and other platforms.
Riefenstahl used Roma prisoners as extras in “Triumph of the Will” and claimed, à la Captain Renault in the movie “Casablanca,” that she was shocked, shocked that there was murder going on in those concentration camps!
But Hamas Studios has upped the ante by filming the Israeli hostages speaking in Arabic gushing about their captors; i.e. the rapists murderers of Oct. 7, 2023. Then, with cameras rolling, they paraded the young women in fake military outfits (not the blood-stained pajamas they were taken in) onto a professional set complete with flags and a stage. The audience was the swarming masses of armed male terrorists and “civilians.”
After World War II, Riefenstahl was arrested by Allied forces and held for several years in a French detention camp for being a Nazi sympathizer. Arguably, she did pay a small price for her role in creating the nationalistic propaganda that bolstered Hitler and his regime. But unfortunately, the most important lesson learned from that era of cinematic propaganda has been lost and forgotten already—that there must be consequences for propagandizing for the bad guys.
Unfortunately, Hamas’ polished version of events are being distributed by the world media and consumed by hundreds of millions of people who know little to nothing about what’s really going on in the Middle East.
This must stop.
It’s important to note that these short films are being produced remotely from Qatar by Al Jazeera journalist Tamer Almisshall. Qatar is sheltering Hamas’ leadership, funding Hamas, funding Al Jazeera and the hostage release films but somehow is still promoted as an honest broker for the hostages release, “doing God’s work.”
It is critical for both President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to view this propaganda onslaught through a Middle Eastern lens. It is a message from Hamas to America, Israel, and to its own supporters, that it will continue to humiliate and insult not just the hostages but both administrations and leaders.
There are little details that get caught on camera that don’t fit the narrative of a Gaza mercilessly destroyed by Israel, with nothing left but a crime scene. Before the ink on the hostage deal was dry, Hamas pulled itself out of the rubble in its thousands, wearing freshly pressed uniforms and riding in what looked like brand-spanking new, white pickup trucks.
The message from Hamas to the world is one of its survival and a doubling down on its allegiance to violence, against Israel and fellow Palestinians as well.
Since the events of Oct. 7, Hamas has enjoyed widespread support from international institutions and NGOs, the international press and on the streets and college campuses in North America and Europe. The current cinematic jihad originating in Gaza is another pillar of a highly coordinated and lavishly funded assault on the Western world,
Trump and Netanyahu—two leaders who understand the media more than most—need to put an end to this propaganda circus before any further stages of the hostage and ceasefire negotiations proceed.
Laura Rosen Cohen is a Toronto-based writer.
The views in this article are the writer’s own.
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