What happens when useful idiots aren't useful anymore

David Bernstein over at The Volokh Conspiracy notes the end of a pro-palestinian International Solidarity Movement volunteer from Italy who, while working to shield the terrorists of Hamas, was kidnapped by another Islamic terrorist group and killed when Hamas failed to meet the splinter group's demands. Bernstein also points out a particularly asinine tweet by the ISM about the murder.

Sort of an "own goal" as it were, not to mention a stupid choice of hostages.

You know Hamas doesn't see the ISMers as anything more than idiot human shields and propaganda pieces, so his value as a hostage for trade was nil (for a prior example, see Corrie, Rachel, Pancake). Either that, or the whole event was a setup to create an image of Hamas as comparatively moderate, which some media outlets already seem to have accepted. Had to say which really and it might be both at once.