The short video clip shows Mia Schem lying on a bed, her right arm being bandaged by someone out of the frame. A long, fresh scar is clearly visible.

Schem, a 21-year-old French-Israeli woman, is being held hostage by the militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The video released by Hamas on Monday is the first footage of any of the dozens of people held in the enclave.

Speaking into the camera, Schem, who looks pale, but is sitting up straight with her head held high, says she was injured and taken to Gaza, then pleads to be returned to her family.

As she speaks, loud rumbling can be heard in the background.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday in Tel Aviv, Schem’s mother urged the government and world leaders to bring her daughter back home.

  • @avater
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    331 year ago

    I’m really curios what real Palestinians think about their government which is led by a terrorist group.

    • @[email protected]
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      341 year ago

      Not defending Hanas but just curious, if you were living in Gaza under seige and oppression, what would an ideal government be like from your prespective?

      I personally cant rhink of any.

      • @TokenBoomer
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        181 year ago

        You’re putting yourself in other peoples’ shoes. That’s not how we judge people. Might I suggest entitlement or privilege to curb this behavior in the future?

      • @avater
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        1 year ago

        I would say not a group based on some religious nonsense. I get all this us versus them mindset, but I personally would never follow or vote for a group that wants to eradicate people because of what god they believe in. I just can’t understand this mentality and never will. This is one of the reasons I exited the church…

        • @[email protected]
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          51 year ago

          People tend to resort to religion when they are in dark place. Countries with high poverty levels would tend to be very religious. Its just a coping mechanism with poverty, injustice and hopelessness.

          Had you been born in these conditions, you also would’ve been very very religious (or committed suicide otherwise). But also what if Gaza was not religious? They are still at mercy of Israel/Egypt. They can’t export anything without these countries approval. They travel without their approvals, they can’t invite experts to come without their approval. Its hopeless eitherway

          • @TokenBoomer
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            11 year ago

            Stop making sense. It goes against what I was told to believe.

      • BraveSirZaphod
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        -31 year ago

        Well, you’ve got a direct parallel with Fatah and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank who don’t openly plot to murder civilians, so at the very least, I’d probably prefer them.

        • NoneOfUrBusiness
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          111 year ago

          Fatah also does nothing as their people are murdered and chased out of their homes so…

          • BraveSirZaphod
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            -11 year ago

            I would like to think I wouldn’t believe that murdering 200 civilians at a music festival is a productive response to that.

            I don’t know what the best response to Israel’s actions in the West Bank is, but I do know that it doesn’t involve intentionally murdering babies (whether or not their heads were attached to their bodies).

            • NoneOfUrBusiness
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              31 year ago

              I mean yeah true enough. Just saying that Fatah’s do nothing strategy obviously isn’t working.

              • BraveSirZaphod
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                01 year ago

                Sure. The point is it is not exactly an insurmountable challenge to imagine a Palestinian government that is strictly better than Hamas (unless your measurement of quality is murdering Jews).

                It’s not as if Hamas has been making the life of everyday Gazans very pleasant. Life isn’t a paradise in the West Bank by any means, but it’s certainly much better, and a huge part of that comes from the fact that the West Bank isn’t lobbing rockets at Israel all the time.

                • NoneOfUrBusiness
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                  51 year ago

                  The point is it is not exactly an insurmountable challenge to imagine a Palestinian government that is strictly better than Hamas (unless your measurement of quality is murdering Jews).

                  I mean, that’s true, but what can that government do when Israel has refused peace basically continuously for almost thirty years? “Just do nothing” isn’t an answer, and Palestinians have gradually had all non-violent answers taken from them.

                  Life isn’t a paradise in the West Bank by any means, but it’s certainly much better,

                  Until you’re the one whose village is getting emptied by Israeli settlers. Or until you’re the one who’s getting shot down by Israeli raids.

                  • BraveSirZaphod
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                    -21 year ago

                    I’m gonna take a wild guess that we apparently disagree on whether deliberately murdering babies can ever be justified, regardless of how justifiable one’s anger and resentment are, and given that, I don’t have much more to say.

                    what can that government do

                    They could have, you know, not murdered 1000 Israelis that has since led to thousands of dead Gazans. That would probably have been an improvement. The quality of life of the average Gazan today is noticeably worse than it was three weeks ago, and this would not be the case if Hamas had not have done what it did.

                    I’m done here.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 year ago

          and how is that working out from them? Israel keeps taking more from their land to build illegal settlements for Israelis.

    • @Siegfried
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      251 year ago

      They live in an open air prison, would you be surprised if most of them support those lunatics?

      • @avater
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        -81 year ago

        yes it would actually suprise me.

        • @NotPersonal
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          201 year ago

          Without condoning their actions. I find it pretty easy to understand how growing up in such a shitty situation could lead anyone to extremes. It’s easy for me to say “I would never” but my life has been pretty easy. I’m lucky to have never found (or tested) my breaking point.

    • @coldv
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      201 year ago

      I think they are scared shitless

    • @[email protected]
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      191 year ago

      50% of the people living in gaza are children. So they probably dont think much about their ideal government

      • @assassin_aragorn
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        81 year ago

        What worries me is what they’re learning as children. Indoctrination is a powerful and despicable tool. I heard, but cannot verify, that Hamas shows radicalizing cartoons to them. It certainly seems likely that they are influenced to see Hamas favorably.

        So even if they do support Hamas, they’ve been brainwashed into it, and their daily reality reinforces it. This doesn’t excuse anything at all but man. I just want those kids to have a peaceful life, free of hate and free from attacks. They need to be hugged and deprogrammed.

        • kamenLady.
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          21 year ago

          This situation has been going on for 18 years. 50% of the population doesn’t know everything else in their lives. From their point of view, they are fully justified to hate Israel, without the help of any doctrine, religion or anything else - and they can do so without shame.

          Gaza’s children already lost. It’s too late for them to experience a life without fear or not being hungry. They were raised in a vacuum and have no reference of anything else in life.

          Fuck everything happening around the only ones, that really didn’t have the slightest chance in life, of not living there.

    • Neuromancer
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      71 year ago

      I only know one and he hated Hamas or any of the other terrorist groups. He supported a single state under Israel.

      He stance was most people just want to have a good job, raise their family and live in peace. Israel has shown to be successful and the Palestinians should join the success.

      He lives in America now. He was able to leave and come here.

      He is Muslim.

      He felt Hamas, etc are there just to stir the pot to keep themselves in power.

      • @Doorbook
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        01 year ago

        People reach different conclusions. Some are willing to leave their homes and find peace somewhere else, while other fight back. Both will hate each other, for one to never have loyalty to their home and the other for causing more mesary.

        There are no right and wrong for these two.

    • @deleted
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      51 year ago

      Palestine is unfortunately considered as a tool by the east through Iran to pressure the west by threating Israel.

      The west usually leverage this pressure to bomb Palestine and gain more ground to build settlements.

      After years of suffering, some palestinains would rather die defending their homeland.

      Watch this video: https://youtu.be/Bvf9bpqL4KM

    • @[email protected]
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      31 year ago

      It’s not like they have a choice about their government. There’s no voting and hasn’t been for decades.

    • @[email protected]
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      -21 year ago

      The Palestinian Authority is the government Israel allows Palestinians to have. Are you calling Israel a terrorist group?