Liberal and moderate commentators in the Arab world reacted online to the murder of the six hostages - Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt. Ori Danino - by Hamas.
These commentators have taken a pro-Israel line since the beginning of the war, and have criticized Hamas for their brutal and shocking actions. "The terrorists of Hamas-ISIS executed an American and five others, including a woman. Will the US take action or continue to urge Israel to negotiate with the murderers of the Americans?" tweeted commentator Amjad Taha, an Emirati journalist with over half a million followers on X.
Taha specifically criticized the conduct of the US given the fact that one of the hostages, Hirsch Goldberg-Polin, is an American citizen: "American universities and activists - where is your outrage? Are you only in favor of Hamas, and indifferent to American life?"
The Iraqi journalist Safaa Subhi, who lives in London, also commented on the murder of the hostages on X: "The coroner determined that the six Israeli kidnappers were killed within the last 72 hours, that is, three days ago. What happened in the last three or four days?"
The anti-Iranian Sobhi listed a number of events that took place in recent days, including the rescue of the kidnapped Farhan al-Qadi, a meeting between the foreign ministers of Iran and Qatar in Tehran and the escalation in the West Bank. "The decision to execute the six hostages, including an American hostage, is an Iranian decision, sponsored by Qatar," he wrote.
Haider al-Assadi, the founder and CEO of the Iraqi-Israeli Peace Association and an activist on X, wrote: "Israel only discovered a few murdered bodies of the hostages, this proves that Hamas terrorists do not want to release the hostages and do not want to negotiate peace or a ceasefire. The time has come for Israel to defeat and dismantle these terrorists, and return the remaining ones."
* Mako contributed to this article.
