Israel and Hamas agreed to a truce in order to exchange hostages and prisoners, which has gone into its sixth day. Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) spoke on MSNBC's Morning Joe about the ongoing developments, saying this was the right way forward. However, he also warned that "Israel has lost the information war" and that Hamas "wants more Palestinians to die" in addition to Israelis.
"Hamas did not just take Israelis hostage, but they are holding Palestinians hostage by using them as human shields in order to sell that propaganda around the world. They want more Palestinians to die, unfortunately, so they can feed that over social media," said Rep. Moskowitz, adding that placing priority on getting the hostages out "is definitely the path forward."
At the same time, he stated, "We are going to either run out of hostages or it is clear Hamas does not know where they are. And we are going to back to how this started because Gaza cannot continue with Hamas in control."
Host Joe Scarborough pointed out that President Biden has "privately" warned Israel to "not give Hamas what it wants, which is scenes of civilians being killed by Israeli bombs," asking Rep. Moskowitz if he felt the same way.
"I agree that Israel has lost the information war," he answered, sharing a sentiment with Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL). However, Moskowitz said, "Some of that has nothing to do with how Israel is prosecuting the war. It has to do with [the fact] that there is a double standard when it comes to Israel, and Hamas has built a propaganda machine."
Furthermore, countries such as Russia and China are boosting pro-Hamas voices on the internet (such as through TikTok), which influences Americans' perspectives. As a result, while Moskowitz believed "Biden is giving Israel good advice... and not give Hamas those things, Hamas is going to manufacture them anyway."
A prime example Moskowitz gave occurred just recently, as prisoners held in Israel "were totally fine, and then all of a sudden, they get over into Gaza, and there are videos of them all bandaged, saying that their arms were broken. That they were tortured." However, corroboration on this is currently needed.
