Speaking before hundreds of Jewish leaders in New York on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held up this photo, which he said pictured Hamas militants in Gaza interrogating an alleged collaborator.
נתניהו מציג למנהיגים היהודים תמונה שהחליט לא להציג באו''ם של הוצאה להורג שמבצעים אנשי חמאס בעזה
The orange jumpsuit was reminiscent of videos released by ISIS showing the beheading of U.S. journalists. Netanyahu, who tweeted images from ISIS videos in the past, has been criticized for using the photos to draw a comparison between Hamas and ISIS.
Netanyahu:This is a picture I didn't show yesterday. This execution is not ISIS, it's Hamas imposing its will on Gaza
Last month, Netanyahu tweeted an image from the video of the killing of American journalist James Foley. The tweet was taken down, but not before it was retweeted hundreds of times.
Many media outlets refused to publish photos of Foley, as well as of journalist Steven Sotloff, in the orange-clad jumpsuit. Friends and family of the two called for an "ISIS media blackout," arguing that posting photos of them minutes before their deaths was insensitive and served ISIS's purposes. Netanyahu's tweets, they said, were damaging and inappropriate.
@IsraeliPM Wow. Highly inappropriate and insensitive to use James Foley's image and murder to push your propaganda. Despicable.
Add PM of Israel to the list of those using pics of James Foley being beheaded for low-end politicking: https://t.co/yQdc7QgOPk
Netanyahu showed the photo in New York this week as part of his discussion on how ISIS and Hamas were one and the same, a theme he also kept to during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly Monday.
"ISIS and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree," he said. "When it comes to their ultimate goals, Hamas is ISIS and ISIS is Hamas. And what they share in common, all militant Islamists share in common."
The U.S. State Department has said that they do not agree with the characterization that Hamas and ISIS is the same.