Hamas Video Interrupts Israeli 'Big Brother' Broadcast

A Hamas propaganda video on Friday at around 10:30 PM interrupted the satellite broadcast of Israel's Channel 2 program "Big Brother." The interruption did not affect cable subscribers, only dish owners.

The video cut in at about the same time that four rockets were shot from the Gaza Strip into the Sha'ar HaNegev regional council — close enough that the assumption of a pre-plan seems reasonable.

The video began with an animation of a ramming attack against civilians at a bud stop, followed by images from the January 1 shooting attack on a pub on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv. With ominous music in the background, three phrases appeared on the screen in Hebrew: "The year began in Tel Aviv and here we are back in Dizengoff"; "The story is not over, to be continued"; and "Stay at home."

Concurrently with the rockets attack and the video, a member of Hamas' political bureau, Khalil al-Hayah, tweeted a message regarding the IDF's closing down of Arab TV channel Falastin al-Yum on charges of incitement to terrorism, saying that the move was "a sign of the weakness of the enemy before the determination of our nation to reach our goals."

Those goals having been displayed at length in the video that cut the Channel 2 signal Friday night.