“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,” (Sonnet 43, 1850). This is probably the most famous line of British poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, written to her husband, the British poet Robert Browning.
In modified form, this could be a slogan for Hamas, “How do I deceive thee? Let me count the ways.” Hamas lies persistently and consistently, but it does not lie haphazardly. There is method in its dishonesty.
Consider six prominent lies of Hamas in the war. What do they teach us?
• On October 13, 2023, Hamas claimed that an Israeli air strike hit al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, killing 500. In fact, a missile shot by Palestinian Islamic Jihad misfired, and killed a few dozen people in the hospital parking lot.
• On June 1, 2025, the IDF allegedly shot 31 Palestinians killed at a GHF distribution point in Rafah; on June 17, another 51 were killed in Khan Yunis waiting for food distribution; on July 12, 27 were killed at the same distribution point in Rafah; and on July 20, 73 were killed waiting for food distribution in Gaza City. All the information for these allegations comes directly from Hamas. However, the IDF says that none of these incidents actually occurred, there is no evidence of any such incident, and why would Israel set up aid distribution points, only to shoot the very people for whom the aid is intended?
• On July 7, a fire broke out in the Christian village of Taybeh. Palestinian sources claimed Jewish settlers had committed arson against the 1,500-year-old Church of Saint George. Hamas condemned Israel for “a crime against places of worship and innocent displaced persons.” In fact, a fire did start in a field outside the church, but the fire never reached the church, a video shows Jewish settlers trying to extinguish the fire, and there were never displaced persons in the area.
• On July 25, The New York Times published, on its front page, a photo from Hamas, showing five-year-old Osama al-Rakab and his mother. The boy is emaciated, and dying of starvation. In fact, however, the boy had a genetic disease that prevented proper digestion of food, he had been evacuated by Israel to Italy on June 12 for specialized medical care, and the photo shows that his mother apparently demonstrates no signs of starvation.
• On August 2, Hamas published a video of hostage Evyatar David. The hostage is very thin, and has lost an estimated 40-50% of his body weight. Hamas claims the weight loss is caused by his eating the same food that Hamas terrorists eat. However, in one frame of the video, a terrorist is handing David a can of food – the terrorist’s arm is well muscled and apparently healthy, unlike the emaciated limbs of Eyatar David.
This should not be surprising, since the terrorist group has been stealing much of the food intended for Gazans, food that could have been used to feed the hostages.
• On August 10, the IDF killed Anas Jamal Mahmoud al-Sharif. This man fashioned himself as a journalist and videographer for Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arabic language news network that has been banned in Israel for inciting violence against IDF soldiers and revealing confidential information to Hamas. In fact, al-Sharif did report frequently on Al Jazeera, but that was a masquerade for his true position as an officer in Hamas responsible for rocket attacks against Israel.
Four lessons from Hamas's lies
SO HAMAS does lie, but what do these lies teach us about the method or message of the liars? There are at least four lessons.
First, Hamas’s lies are obvious and easily discoverable. Yet they can be made because Hamas enjoys the support of the mainstream press. Not just Al Jazeera, mentioned here, but also major newspapers and radio networks in the US and Europe report these lies with seriousness, and without exposing them for what they are.
Second, the lies always involve a place or a person who should be protected. We might call this, “the lie of the innocents.” Bombing a hospital or burning a church? Are these not protected places? Except that Israel neither bombed nor burned anything, and the sites were not damaged. Gazans seeking food, a starving boy, a journalist – are these people not protected? Except that the journalist was a terrorist who participated in October 7, and Israel did not harm the Gazans or the boy. In fact, Israel tried to help the boy with specialized medical attention available only in Europe.
Third, all of the lies completely reverse the truth. The hospital that Israel did not bomb was used by Hamas to hide hostages. The church was not burned by Israel, but Islamic radicals are gradually driving Christians out of the Holy Land, in Bethlehem, in Taybeh, and yes, in Gaza. Far from starving Gazans, Israel has provided two million tons of food, water, and medical supplies, which is frankly a very difficult task in the middle of a war. It is historically unprecedented for one party at war to feed the civilians of the enemy, but even worse where the enemy is embedded within the civilian population, so that the party is essentially feeding its own enemy.
The lie about hostage Evyatar David deserves special attention. Hamas claimed that the hostages were eating what it was eating, but the photo demonstrates that this is the very opposite of the truth. Indeed, if Hamas were physically reduced as the hostages have been, it could not possibly continue fighting. Hamas is deliberately starving hostages.
Fourth, these lies are very widely distributed by the compliant press, but even when the truth is discovered, there is never any apology or retraction from Hamas. The press either does not explain its deceptive story, or, in the case of “the starving boy,” the New York Times refuses to print an apology on the same front page, but rather published a small announcement in a secondary source.
What is israel to do? At a minimum, three things.
(1) Publish a “Hamas lie sheet,” continuously updated and widely distributed. Even if the mainstream media does not cooperate, this can be done easily on the Internet and via social media.
(2) Focus always on the Hamas treatment of other people. These terrorists massacred Israeli civilians on October 7. After it took power in 2006, Hamas massacred all members of Fatah still in Gaza. If it were to retain power now, it would massacre the Abu Shabab, Dughmush, and other clans that compete for power in Gaza. Hamas also prevents Gazans from seeking food, and executes many of those who disobey.
(3) Promote condemnations of Hamas in every possible forum – the US Congress, the EU, the UN, the ICC, BRICS, and others. These motions will not pass, but they will gain attention, and that is the name of the game now.
How does Hamas deceive us? In repetitive and predictable ways. We can respond with truth, but our message needs to be distributed as widely and as consistently as Hamas distributes its lies.
The writer is a lawyer in Israel and frequent commentator on social affairs.