After turning down the request of Chinese born Liora Argamani to the government in Beijing, for help to secure the release of her daughter Noa, abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and held captive in Gaza, the Chinese media was unmoved and even unimpressed by her extraction on Saturday in a special operation.
The government there said Argamani should have renounced her citizenship when she moved to Israel and her daughter Noa was only "only half Chinese" and "lacked Chinese blood," thus they would not assist her.
Yuval Weinreb, a China expert followed the coverage of the hostage rescue operation in Chinese media and social platforms. "In contrast to the joy in Israel, China reported on the extraction of the Israeli hostages but it was hardly a news sensation and the coverage of the operation itself and of Noa Argamani's rescue from captivity was for the most part consistent with the reporting since the war began," he said. adding that the official Chinese news agency did not even mention Argamani in the report and just said four captives were freed.
On social media, Weinreb said, some posts ignored the extraction and concentrated on the horrendous images in the aftermath of the Israeli attacks or complained that the BBC for example focused on the extraction and not on the "genocide perpetrated by the Jews." Others justified the abduction of hostages as a "legitimate resistance of a foreign occupier," or said Noa seemed to have been better fed than the poor Gazan children.