As each innocent Israelite was set free, each joyful leap into the arms of loved ones, each homecoming and healing process began. We pray for all the stolen Israelis to have the happy relationship they deserve.
But be careful. It is a morally-equal-middle-world. Child stealing has become common. The world sees Hamas terrorists as rational actors trading commodities, not ruthless human traffickers who treat people like poker chips.
While the Washington Post doesn’t call legally imprisoned Palestinians “captives,” its “exchange” rhetoric equates innocent souls named Ella or Avigail, whose only crime is being Israeli, to deviant terrorists, young men or women—intended to unite them. The other Jew stabbed her neighbor with a knife.
Breeding terrorism
Every Statement to Hamas Blackmail – That’s It!!! – Everyone must remember: negotiating with terrorists breeds terrorism. Everyone, especially US President Joe Biden, needs to remember that Hamas has a mass of 9.3 million Israelis, with more than 161 innocent people still incarcerated.
While many accuse Israel of devaluing Palestinian life, this brilliant, life-affirming democracy trades many Palestinian terrorists for a civilian, some say blurs the moral clarity in Israel’s position – proving Hamas’ lie.
Remember that October 7 “The terrorist group Hamas has committed pure, unadulterated evil on the world.” “Its purpose was the destruction of the State of Israel and the killing of the Jewish people.” We cannot retreat because “history teaches us that if terrorists do not pay for their terror, if tyrants do not pay for their violence, there will be more chaos, death and destruction.” Prices and threats to the US and the world are increasing.
What has changed since October 19, when President Biden spoke those words?
In fact, the moral, diplomatic and existential issues have escalated. Hamas has confirmed that the West has dismissed every fear of Israel, and then some. If Gaza becomes a bastion of evil, Hamas will use the suffering of Palestinians and Israelis to launch a global anti-Zionist propaganda campaign. Yet while it is absolutely responsible for the deaths of thousands and the misery of many, every lie that Hamas tells becomes the truth believed by many in the West.
Hamas says Israel is still “in control”. Gaza, In the year How can Israel occupy Gaza if Hamas “takes over” the “territory”?
Hamas complains about Israel’s vicious “blockade” over Gaza’s Egyptian border. Somehow, all this money, weapons, and sadism got around to building a tower, which suggests it’s not much of a “block.”
Hamas has accused Israel of violating international law by bombing hospitals, mosques and kindergartens. But when you use your hospitals and mosques and kindergartens to store weapons, let alone create command and control centers or hold innocent hostages there or kill Israelis, you lose the true sanctuary of international legal protection you deserve.
We need a language change. Shifa and RNTC are hospitals, not hospitals. They call mosques with rocket factories hams. Schools full of weapon caches and hate-mongering killers, not kindergartens. The organization that often facilitates this is UNRWA, not UNRWA. And the hostages are the cubs.
Come face to face with these homophobic, theocratic, selfish, cowardly and murderous fanatics. Only slobberalists – not libertarians – rationalize stealing babies or beheading them. And only women – not feminists – stop believing the testimonies of abused women who are losing their voice in Israeli victimization and rape culture.
The most dangerous are the self-defeating “ceasefire” demands without knowing that Hamas has started the war and must be brought down militarily. An outright victory is the best way to free the remaining hostages, including the millions feared by Hamas, including 9.3 million Israelis, and hundreds of millions more if Hamas is not punished for its brutal behavior.
This is personal.
Yes, it’s private. I can hear Biden or someone else saying, “Cease fire.” “I’m willing to kill your children in Israel so that we in America can feel better about ourselves.” How can anyone in their right mind write such a claptrap when J Street “unequivocally” condemns Hamas and advocates “considering alternative strategies and tactics that minimize harm to Palestinian civilians to restore Hamas’ operational control of Gaza.” Who doesn’t want “alternative strategies” to work?
But these supposedly intelligent Washington insiders have learned nothing from 18 years of “holding” Hamas, which basically means appeasing the ogres.
Whenever Israel defends itself militarily against Hamas, J Street leads the charge in demanding an immediate cease-fire. Everyone makes political mistakes sometimes. That’s an excuse. But to fixate after the atrocities of October 7, to ignore new information, is unconscionable.
This morning, I saw three young Israeli students standing behind pictures at a bus stop. Each raptured innocent seeks my soul. But we need proof. Most of the first dozen released looked physically healthy.
Many of the rest, if alive, were probably badly injured or brutally assaulted. Israel – backed by the US – must stop salami tactics, even if it saves 40 lives.
If Hamas does not hold every last hostage accountable – and does not offer some kind of deal to free them all – Israel must continue its campaign to rid Gazans, Israelis and the world of this threat and destroy Hamas militarily. A strong, focused, sustained war against Hamas, supported by the US and the West, is the only way to liberate the puppets on those heart-wrenching posters – anyone in the free world.
The author is a senior fellow at the Jewish People’s Policy Institute, an American presidential historian and, most recently, the editor of the three-volume collection Theodor Herzl: Zionist Writings, Opening of the Jewish People’s Library.
