In a stunning interview, freed hostage Maxim Herkin shattered Hamas’s propaganda machine—exposing fake videos, torture, and the shocking brutality he endured while clinging to hope through Israel’s unwavering fight for the captives.
In a deeply moving and explosive interview on Channel 12’s Uvda Thursday night, captivity survivor Maxim Herkin, an Israeli who spent months as a hostage in Gaza, laid bare Hamas’s campaign of deception and cruelty, revealing how the terror group staged propaganda videos and abused prisoners while Israel fought to bring them home.
Herkin, who had served as an IDF officer, said he concealed his military identity throughout captivity—fully aware that discovery could mean execution. “If they knew I was an officer, I wouldn’t be here today,” he admitted.
The survivor described rare moments of solace—listening secretly to IDF Radio (Galei Tzahal) broadcasts that reminded him Israel had not forgotten its hostages.
But the most shocking revelations came when he exposed Hamas’s cynical manipulation of global media:
“They smeared me with tomato paste, put a bandage on me, poured sand, and said, ‘If you want to get out of here, cooperate with us,’” Herkin recalled.
“All the videos released by Hamas were staged. The ‘blood’? It’s tomato paste. When you’re starving, you wonder why they’re wasting food just to film lies.”
One notorious clip, which appeared to show him being pulled from rubble after an Israeli airstrike, was pure fiction, he said:
“That’s a fairy tale. They filmed me under debris, fitted me with an oxygen mask, and made me speak lines. My family knew it was fake—if I’d really been under rubble, I wouldn’t be calmly speaking Hebrew. I’d be shouting in Russian!”
Herkin’s testimony not only exposes Hamas’s psychological warfare and staged suffering, but also highlights the bravery and sharpness of Israel’s captives—who even under torment, refused to break.
He also revealed that his guards beat him repeatedly after hearing public statements from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir about toughening terrorist prison conditions.
“They said, ‘This is because of Ben Gvir,’” Herkin recounted. “They wrote on my back, ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,’ and said they’d send it to him.”
While careful not to wade into politics, Herkin’s message was clear: leaders must speak responsibly, mindful that words can echo in the cells where Israelis are still held hostage.
The interview concluded with a tearful reunion between Herkin and his daughter, who traveled from Russia to embrace him for the first time since his release. Their emotional walk along the seashore symbolized hope, resilience, and Israel’s unbreakable spirit in the face of barbarism.
Herkin’s story stands as a powerful indictment of Hamas’s cruelty and deceit, and a tribute to Israel’s unyielding mission to bring every captive home—alive and free.
