A group of Israeli-Americans has claimed responsibility for the unsolicited series of projections that appeared on the United Nations’ building in Manhattan last week showing children and elderly victims kidnapped by Hamas.
Or Waknin, the leader of the group, told The Post that about 10 New Yorkers with ties to Israel worked with the hostages’ families to make the video and showcase it “for the world to see what’s really going on.
“There’s a lot of misinformation justifying what happened,” he said.
“I’ve heard many people arguing on TV networks that the cruelty being shown by Hamas to babies, children and the elderly, is Israel’s fault,” Waknin said.
The footage featured the names and photos of some victims — including a 9-month-old baby, and an elderly woman — who are among the 100 Israelis kidnapped by Hamas when it launched a barbaric attack on the country Saturday.
“The atrocities that are happening in Israel are worse than what the Nazis did to Jews,” Waknin said.
“We’re talking about raping women and tying up children in cages and beheading babies. Those are things that are inhumane. Nothing that can be more cruel than that,” he said.
The projected video did not include any reference to Israel or show its flag, said the organizer, who used his production company for the project.
“That’s because this is not a crime against Israel. It’s a crime against humanity,” he explained.
“Hamas kidnapped babies, children, elderly people. Those are real people with names and families. … And seeing the pictures of them on the UN building, people look at it, and it starts to hit them, and they realize it could have been their grandma and their kids and someone from their families.”
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Waknin said the organizers only used images of victims if their families gave them permission to do so.
The situation for the kidnapped Israelis is dire as the Hamas military wing threatened last week that it would kill one prisoner for every Israeli airstrike “targeting innocent civilians” without prior warning.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to take “mighty vengeance” against Hamas after the group launched the worst attack on the Jewish nation in 50 years.
Jews worldwide have been advised to take extra caution as the new war rages.
President Biden last week told reporters that the Hamas terror attacks “make al-Qaeda look pure,” referring to the other ruthless terror group, before condemning the Palestinian Iran-backed Hamas as “pure evil.”
Biden said the US and its foreign partners are sending “support for the humanitarian consequences for Hamas attacks” and vowed to make sure Israel has everything it needs, Haaretz reports.
The death toll now stands at more than 1,300 in Israel, including 27 Americans, and more than 2,400 in Gaza.