The Bibas Boys and the Lie of Moral Equivalence

February 24, 2025

by: Ilse Strauss ~ Bridges for Peace

Monday, 24 February 2025 | They were thrust into the spotlight overnight—for the most heartbreaking reason imaginable. Before October 7, 2023, few knew the names Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas. But after that dark day, when Hamas terrorists breached the Israeli border, swarming into sleepy agricultural communities to slaughter, rape and pillage, and igniting a devastating 18-month war—few will forget.

Hamas captured some of the last known images of Shiri and her two little boys. They show Shiri, 32, her face a mask of terror, franticly clutching 4-year-old Ariel and 9-month-old Kfir, as if holding them close could somehow shield them from the unfolding nightmare. The boys’ fiery red curls peek out from beneath the white blanket Shiri wrapped around them in one final, futile act of protection.

Their father, Yarden (34) had left his young family hidden in the safe room earlier, stepping out to try and draw the terrorists away, willing to sacrifice himself to save his family. But it wasn’t enough. They were taken anyway. Yarden was dragged to Gaza separately, while Shiri and the two boys—named to embody strength and courage (Ariel means “Lion of God,” while Kfir means “Lion Cub”), were marched by a baying mob of masked terrorists through the destruction of Kibbutz Nir Oz to a deadly fate in Gaza.

The images of the brave young mom clutching the boys with the hair like fire captured hearts around the world, and turned Shiri, Ariel and Kfir into the symbols of innocent hostages in the clutched of the face on unimaginable evil.

For more than 500 days, Israel waited. Hoped. Prayed. Kfir’s first birthday and Ariel’s fifth came and went in captivity. Throughout the war, Hamas claimed that Shiri and her sons had been killed in Israeli airstrikes. They taunted their father, Yarden, with chilling reports of their fate repeated, once even on camera for a propaganda video. Yet Hamas are masters of psychological warfare, known for their cruel manipulations. They had lied about the fate of hostages before, even staging deaths on film, as they did with Daniella Gilboa. And so Israel hoped…

Throughout the first stage of the hostage release agreement, that hope began to fray. Every week, a group of Israelis were released—until Yarden himself came home. But Shiri, Ariel and Kfir remained missing.

Then, last Wednesday, Hamas made a grim announcement. The bodies of Oded Lifshitz (85) and the Bibas family would be handed over to Israel—all supposedly killed in Israeli airstrikes.

 But the cruelty wasn’t over.

A Macabre Spectacle

Hamas has turned every hostage release into a grotesque performance—milling crowds of masked gunmen pressing against terrified captives, driving them onstage to parade in front of jeering crowds as their captors hand over a certificate and “memorabilia” of their “captivity.” They have made those hostages still in captivity watch the release ceremonies from afar, filming and publishing their anguish for the world to see.

Yet, last Thursday, these twisted rituals reached a horrific climax.

Israelis called Thursday “the saddest day since October 7.” But for Hamas, it was a fun affair for the whole family.

In Khan Yunis, thousands of Gazans gathered early to witness the grim display. Men lounged in plastic chairs, mothers cradled babies while children packed the bleachers erected the day before. Large loudspeakers blasted lively music, adding to the festive atmosphere as the crowd clapped and cheered.

Masked terrorists strutted proudly, posing for pictures with children, alongside tables on which automatic weapons, ammunition anti-tank mines were on display for the future generation of Gazans to marvel. On stage loomed a mural crudely depicting Israel’s prime minister as a blood-sucking vampire, complete with a message in Hebrew, Arabic and English: these hostages died in Israeli air strikes, we bear no responsibility for their demise, Israel’s fault, not ours.

And between the crowd and the stage, four black coffins. Each bore a name, a photo, and an inscription: “Date of arrest: October 7, 2023.”

Later, Israeli journalist Rachel O’Donoghue would write: “It was not just the presence of the four coffins that made the spectacle an echo of the savagery of October 7. It was the festive atmosphere—the casual, almost celebratory way a community gathered to watch a terrorist group display the bodies of murdered Jews. A society so desensitized to terroristic violence that even the sight of coffins holding two dead babies did not shock. Did not horrify. Quite the opposite. It was a cause for celebration. The mothers and fathers of Gaza brought their children to watch. To gawk. To clap. At the sight of dead Jews.”

Hamas wasn’t done with the psychological torture though. The group handed over the coffins—locked—and then provided the wrong keys. Then, in what they called an accident, they sent back the wrong body, returning the remains of a Palestinian woman instead of Shiri.

As the sun set for Shabbat, the truth emerged. Hamas had lied—again. Shiri, Ariel and Kfir had not died in airstrikes. The evidence revealed something even more horrifying: they had been strangled to death shortly after being taken hostage. Then Hamas mutilated their bodies to mimic the injuries of a missile strike.

Oded Lifshitz had not died in an airstrike either.

None of them had.

Moral Equivalence?

Many condemned Hamas outright. Landmarks across the world lit up in orange in memory of the brothers’ trademark fiery hair. Yet the predictable anti-Israel rhetoric came quickly: “How are the Bibas brothers different from the Palestinian children who died in Gaza? Why do you condemn Hamas without mentioning the children who died in Israeli airstrikes?”

The argument is morally misplaced. Every innocent civilian death in war is tragic. But Proverbs 29:2 warns: “When the wicked rules, the people groan.” And tragic as it may be, when an evil leader drags his people into a war by attacking his neighbor and then uses his own civilians as human shields, the suffering of the evil leader’s people is his fault, not his neighbor’s.

The evil leader did have alternatives. Good ones. In 2005, Israel withdrew entirely from the Gaza Strip in a “land-for-peace” effort. Simply put, it was a test run that would hopefully lead to the creation of the one thing the Palestinians claimed they wanted in exchange for peace with the Israelis: a state of their own. The international community poured billions into prospering Gaza, and with open borders to Israel and Egypt, Hamas had every opportunity to turn the area into a paradise.

Make no mistake. Israel and her people are far from perfect. There are mistakes, wrong decisions and bad apples—just like in any other country. But at least Israel tries—again and again.

The same cannot be said of Hamas. Instead of peace and prosperity, the terrorist organization chose to make the destruction of Israel its main goal, as its charter clearly stipulates. Hamas therefore pocketed the billions and built a war machine. They fired rockets at Israeli civilians, dug terror tunnels, incited uprisings in the Sinai Peninsula and turned Gaza into a fortress of destruction. The result? Both Israel and Egypt imposed partial blockades to limit access to materials used by Hamas for war—with the restrictions on the Egyptian side even tighter than on Israel’s.

Hamas imprisoned its own people in a death trap—and then started a war.

Neither the Bibas boys nor the children who died in Gaza deserved to suffer. But the difference is clear: Hamas kidnapped Ariel and Kfir to serve as human shields, just as they use their own civilians as shields. Hamas held them hostage to prevent Israel from responding to the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. The Bibas brothers were in Gaza because Hamas wanted to exterminate Jews without suffering the consequences.

Lebanese–Canadian professor Gad Saad put it best: “A non-targeted baby that dies in an airstrike is a tragedy. A baby that dies at the hands of his captors by being beaten to death is a violation of human decency. Both babies died, both are innocent, both deaths are tragic, but there is zero moral equivalence between the two realities.”

Recently, someone accused me of being one-sided. That’s an astute observation. I am firmly and unapologetically against the side that kidnapped two babies, strangled them, mutilated their bodies to shift the blame to the other side—and then paraded their corpses as propaganda.

I am decidedly against those who openly declare: “We long for death as our enemies long for life.” Against those who admit: “When we talk about peaceful resistance, we deceive the public.” Against those who pray for the extermination of Jews—not just Zionists or Israelis, but Jews—and who promise to repeat the atrocities of October 7 “again and again until Israel is annihilated,” eagerly “sacrificing martyrs” (Gaza’s civilians) in the process.

Can you blame me?

Posted on February 24, 2025

Source: (Bridges for Peace, February 24, 2025)

Photo Credit: Chenspec/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia