The sacrificing of the hostages is a crime against Israeliness and Judaism
Protesters calling for the release of Israelis held hostage in Gaza, Tel Aviv, 23 April 2024
Uri Misgav writes in Haaretz on 24 April 2024:
The abandonment of the hostages to a fate – dying of torture, in agony – is a strategic event in the country’s history. It undermines Israel’s founding ethos. Its shockwaves will be felt for years to come. It’s an unforgivable crime against the victims and their families, but also against Israeliness and Judaism.
Redeeming captives is a great mitzvah. Israel’s wars have always ended with a prisoner exchange and the return of the bodies of the fallen. In exchange for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, 1,027 terrorists were freed in 2011. The price for the 1985 Jibril deal was also high. Sometimes, terrorists were even released in exchange for dead bodies.
The slogan “Israel will do everything” to free captives was considered sacred. The failure to secure the return of Ron Arad, an air force officer captured in Lebanon in 1986, was considered a historic failure, a lesson that must not be forgotten. So how will we view the abandonment of 133 people like Kfir Bibas and Liri Albag?
November’s hostage deal, which the sane general public greeted with joy and relief, undermined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition of settlers and ultra-Orthodox religious Zionists, as well as his media base, which consists of Channel 14 television and an organized network of mouthpieces parroting talking points. In fact, Netanyahu effectively torpedoed that deal’s sixth and final stage, while blaming Hamas.
Ever since, he has been determined not to allow another deal, which would naturally entail ending the fighting in the Gaza Strip. The hostages have been sacrificed on the altar of his continuance in power.
His partners in this crime are Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, partner/collaborator Benny Gantz and Israel Defense Forces Chief of the General Staff Herzl Halevi. Since December, they have fallen completely into line with the nonsense dreamed up by Netanyahu and his media advisers – “total victory” and “only intensifying the military pressure will bring the hostages home.” In reality, total victory has turned into running in place and strategic defeat, while increasing the military pressure is actually killing the hostages.
Nevertheless, a kind of consensus has formed in public opinion under which it’s reasonable to pulverize Gaza from both air and ground even as the enemy holds 133 civilians and soldiers – alive or, as time passes, primarily dead – in the safe houses being bombed and in underground tunnels. And all this is happening when there is a solid foundation for negotiations, including Qatari and Egyptian mediation, which proved effective in the previous deal.
The final twist in the plot occurred last month. The IDF removed itself from Gaza, while due to international pressure, humanitarian aid began flooding into it. Netanyahu and his government thereby gave up their two most significant remaining bargaining chips with Hamas – a full withdrawal and the lifting of the blockade.
Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who is described in Israel as out of touch and running through the tunnels like a frightened rat, responded by hardening his positions. Now, he is seeking his own total victory – a complete end to the fighting, the complete withdrawal of all IDF forces from every centimeter of Gaza, the return of all displaced Palestinians to central and northern Gaza and a restoration of Hamas rule throughout the territory.
Netanyahu, Gallant, Gantz and Halevi stand helpless before the magnitude of the defeat. They’re also frightened of the day on which we will learn how few hostages remain alive. Consequently, they have adopted delaying tactics.
Like a wild-eyed gambler who empties his pockets in the casino, they continue to mutter about “increasing the pressure on Hamas” and “military steps that will be taken anytime now.” Soon, they will overdraw their bank accounts once again to throw their last repulsive chip on the table – “Rafah!”
Meanwhile, they continue to blather about their “supreme commitment to bringing all our hostages home.” On seder night, we found out exactly what that commitment looks like.
Netanyahu and his wife Sara were photographed next to an empty chair at the Waldorf Astoria while holding a piece of cardboard onto which microscopic faces of the 133 hostages had been crammed. This macabre photo was then sent to the retouching and Photoshop experts. The following night, the couple celebrated a second seder, as per the custom in the Diaspora, at American billionaire Simon Falic’s fortified mansion in Jerusalem. Words fail me.
This article is reproduced in its entirety