According to the Biden administration and left-wing opposition in Israel, the Netanyahu government should respond to the murders of six hostages earlier this month by rewarding Hamas in current negotiations by acceding to more of the terror group’s demands. This position is not only immoral but will only encourage Hamas to kill more hostages.
Shortly after the Oct. 7 invasion of Israel by 6,000 members of Hamas—and the resultant massacre of 1,200 Israelis and the taking of 251 hostages—Hamas publicly said it would murder the hostages if Israel did not stop their military response in the Gaza Strip. The Netanyahu government did not change its policy in response to the threat, and Hamas backed down.
As the Israeli military response increased with ground troops and the taking of the northern part of Gaza, Hamas agreed 55 days later to release 10 hostages a day in exchange for a one-day ceasefire as long as Israel released three Palestinian prisoners for each hostage.
One of the reasons why Hamas operatives made this agreement was because they were surprised by the support the Biden administration gave Israel. The agreement and ceasefire ended after seven days when Hamas refused to release the requisite 10 hostages. It should always be remembered that the vast majority of the hostages are civilians and to think that Hamas should be able to get rewarded for taking these hostages with members of their terrorist network being released from prison incentivizes their taking of hostages.
In Israel, there is a strange situation in which Defense Minister Yoav Galant, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, and the heads of the Shin Bet internal security forces and Mossad, in addition to opposition leaders such as former chiefs of staff Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot, are all advocating for Israel to leave the Gaza-Egyptian border (called the Philadelphi corridor). That is where the Hamas terrorist organization has been smuggling weapons, including those used in the Oct. 7 attacks. They argue that Israel needs to prioritize the hostages’ lives over the potential of Hamas being able to smuggle more weapons and terrorists into Gaza from Egypt. Hamas has said that Israel needs to withdraw from this area before it will release any more hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet overwhelmingly rejected their position, with only Gallant casting the sole vote against this decision. Netanyahu stated at the cabinet meeting why he rejected the recommendations by generals and security leaders, quoting recent Israeli history as to when others were wrong about their security recommendations. Yitzhak Rabin—former IDF chief of staff, defense minister and prime minister Yitzhak Rabin—approved of the Oslo Accords and thought giving land to the Palestinian Authority led by terrorist Yasser Arafat could lead to peace. He was catastrophically wrong; thousands of Israeli lives were lost as a result.
Former IDF Chief of Staff and Prime Minister Ehud Barak thought Israel could withdraw from Lebanon to internationally recognized borders and disband the South Lebanon Army, and Israel would have peace with Lebanon. Barak devastatingly miscalculated as Hezbollah took over Southern Lebanon and has been firing thousands of missiles at Israel. As a result, some 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes in the north of the country since October. And Ariel Sharon, former Israeli general, defense minister and prime minister, thought that Israel could withdraw from all of Gaza, including the Philadelphi border, and that it would benefit Israel, despite writing in his own autobiography, Warrior, accurately predicting that such a withdrawal would lead to missiles being fired from Gaza towards southern Israel.
The current heads of the security services and the IDF are the same ones in place on Oct. 7 and who mistakenly believed that Hamas would not attack and who did not even have a contingency security force in place in case their assessment was wrong. In other words, the security people in Israel advocating for Israel to withdraw from the Philadelphi line have lost their credibility.
Israel does not have an easy situation; every hostage life is an entire world and every hostage death, as is every soldier’s death, is very painful. However, part of the goal is to make sure that the same mistakes are not made again and to ensure that there are no more attacks like the one on Oct. 7. Plus, all Israeli citizens should be able to return safely to their homes in the north or south of Israel without fear of missiles being fired at them or being attacked on the ground.
Netanyahu is currently withstanding pressure, both internally and from the Biden administration, to make concessions in regards to Israel’s security. But he is standing strong and holding his own frontline.
Hopefully, despite the recent tragedies, he will continue to do so.