US-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen and Russian-Israeli Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, are escorted by Palestinian Hamas terrorists and Islamic Jihad terrorists as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

In traditional warfare, the battlefield is clear. You see the enemy. You hear the sirens. You count the missiles. But Israel, as always, faces a war that blurs the lines between military strategy and emotional sabotage –a war not only on the ground, but deep within the psyche of a nation.

Hamas, the Iranian-backed terror organization ruling Gaza, has mastered one of modern conflict’s darkest arts: psychological warfare. They have turned the Internet into a weapon. Videos of hostages — terrified, manipulated, humiliated — are not just propaganda. They are strategically deployed weapons of emotional devastation.

But this battle is not about videos alone. It’s about the manipulation of compassion, the exploitation of democratic discourse, and the destabilization of a society through empathy.

The Weaponization of Compassion

Israel is a nation of deep moral conscience. It grieves loudly. It fights to protect the innocent. It prioritizes human life in ways that its enemies weaponize against it.

Hamas understands this. Every video of a hostage, especially before a key vote, holiday, or diplomatic event, is timed like a sniper’s bullet. It’s not random. It’s a message: We control your emotions. We control your narrative.

These releases are not for humanitarian updates. They are crafted to inflict maximum psychological trauma, not only on the hostages’ families, but on Israeli society as a whole.

Fear Without Fire: The Modern Terror Strategy

The goal is not to kill Israelis with bombs, but to paralyze them with fear, guilt, and self-doubt. No less deadly. No less effective. Only cheaper and harder to fight.

Every parent in Israel sees their own child in those trembling faces. Every partner sees their loved one behind those haunted eyes. Hamas wants Israel to implode from within, to become so emotionally torn that it can no longer function rationally in the global arena or on the battlefield.

The psychological assault spreads far beyond the hostages:

• Families are caught between agony and helplessness.
• Protesters, driven by despair, inadvertently empower the very terrorists holding their loved ones.
• Governments are pushed to make concessions that could cost more lives long-term.

Emotional Blackmail in High Definition

Unlike in past wars, Hamas doesn’t need international media to spin a story. It broadcasts its own theater of cruelty. And it knows exactly how the world, and particularly Israel, will respond.

The demand is always the same: make a deal. Give us convicted murderers. Give us PR victories. Give us control.

But what seems like a “deal” is, in reality, a trap. Each concession is a message to Hamas: kidnapping works. And so, the next round begins before the last one ends.

Israel is thus caught in an impossible loop: damned if it acts, damned if it doesn’t. That is the very nature of terror’s psychological grip.

The Role of the Protests

Israelis are a passionate, democratic people. Their instinct to protest, to demand answers, is admirable. But in this context, it becomes a double-edged sword.

Every protest that demands a hostage deal at any cost, signals to Hamas that their strategy is working. That the emotional toll they’ve placed on Israeli society is tightening.

This isn’t to blame the families. Their pain is unimaginable. But it is a wake-up call for the public: don’t let your heart be hijacked by those who would use it against you.

Global Silence, Global Complicity

When ISIS broadcasted beheadings, the world rightly recoiled. When Al-Qaeda used hostages for leverage, international pressure followed. But when Hamas engages in the same barbarity, veiled in the language of “resistance,” much of the world remains quiet.

Why?

Because Hamas understands how to manipulate Western sensitivities. They present themselves as victims. Their hostage videos are not just meant for Israelis, but for the world — designed to cast Israel as cruel, regardless of its actions. Designed to portray terrorists as humanitarians, and a democratic state as inhumane.

It’s the darkest inversion of truth, and yet it works far too often.

The Real Battlefield: National Resilience

This war will not be won with firepower alone. It will be won with clarity, unity, and moral resolve. The Israeli government must continue to act with wisdom and strength, never caving to emotional extortion, no matter how painful.

And the Israeli people must remain steadfast. Empathy must not become a vulnerability. Compassion must not be surrendered to manipulation.

The terrorists want Israelis to believe they are alone. That their government has failed. That unity is futile. But nothing terrifies Hamas more than a nation that refuses to be broken.

This Is A War For The Soul

The face of modern terrorism is not always masked. Sometimes, it stares straight into the camera, crying for help, while behind the scenes, its captors smile at the chaos they’ve unleashed.

We must be strong enough to see the whole picture.

Israel is not just defending its citizens. It is defending truth, morality, and the value of life itself against an enemy that celebrates death and deceit.

This is a war for the soul. And it will be won not only with courage on the battlefield, but with clarity of purpose at home.

Sabine Sterk is  the CEO of Time To Stand Up For Israel.