Netanyahu is playing Trump — and the hostages are being sacrificed

6 comments

1. **From Ruby Chen, father of Itay Chen, a 19-year-old American member of the IDF who was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023:** 

   It has been nearly two years since Oct. 7, 2023, the day my son Itay, a U.S.-Israeli citizen, was taken hostage by Hamas.

   For my New York-based family, and for the families of the 47 other hostages still in Hamas dungeons in Gaza, every day since has been a battle against despair. My family had held out hope that the recent cycle of talks for a comprehensive ceasefire and hostage release deal was hours away, and then reality hit us in the face (again) when we learned of the Israeli strike against Hamas leadership in Qatar on Tuesday.

   There has been no shortage of deals to end the war that have fallen apart over the past year, and even now, another agreement was on the table. Side letters between negotiators were reportedly being exchanged to close gaps in the deal’s framework. Progress was once again being made.

   But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose — as he has done repeatedly over the past two years — to prioritize revenge, backed by his political allies in Israel, over saving the hostages. In doing so, Netanyahu is betraying not only the hostages and their families, but the U.S., as well, putting Israel’s most crucial ally in a difficult situation in which it will be forced to choose between its own strategic interests in the Middle East and Netanyahu’s political interests.

   Read more: [https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/israel-strike-qatar-hamas-leaders-hostages-danger-rcna230462](https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/israel-strike-qatar-hamas-leaders-hostages-danger-rcna230462) 

2. Very important perspective. Netanyahu has no plan, at least not one that prioritizes getting the hostages back. His blundering will be studied in political science departments for years.

3. I don’t get this kind of discourse at all. Israel has been continuously halting the conduct of the war for negotiations for the last 2 years. These negotiations have resulted in a majority of the hostages being brought back to Israel in hostage deals in which Israel has released thousands of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are terrorists who have killed in total hundreds of Israelis.

   Hamas only holds now fewer than 20 living hostages, whom they’re refusing to release unless their terms are met. Their terms are basically an Israeli surrender: The Israeli army leaves the Gaza strip, Hamas remains in power, Israel releases thousands of armed Hamas men, Hamas gets to keep hostages until the Gaza strip rebuilding is underway, Hamas gets to control the rebuilding operation, Hamas gets to keep their weapons after the war. This is not something Israel can live with. The concessions are cosmetic: Hamas is willing not to be formally in power, giving that honor to some form of a “technocrat government”, but if Hamas has thousands of armed troops and the government doesn’t then Hamas is the de-facto ruler. We’ve seen this time and again – why is UNRWA the way it is? How free is the press in Gaza?

   Given that dynamic of the past two years, how can anyone say that Israel doesn’t care about the hostages? If that were so, the war would have been long over – that would have been better for both sides, but this means giving up hostage deals. My read of the situation is that Hamas has made it clear that they’re going to keep the hostages and their position for post-war conditions makes negotiations futile. If anything, a decapitation strike on Hamas in Qatar looks like another attempt to bring Hamas to agree to terms Israel can live with – if this group won’t, then maybe the next one will.

4. The idea that Israel or the US should compromise its strategic interests for the sake of 20 hostages seems crazy to me. Obviously the calculus is different for Ruby Chen, but from a geopolitical standpoint, the priority has to be national security.

5. The return of the hostages is a secondary goal, with the primary goal being defeat of Hamas. A lot of badfaith, feelgood, and braindead arguments being thrown around about how Netanyahu lies about wanting the hostages back just because he doesnt lie down and pretend to enjoy having to give up the primary goal.

   The same way the US wasnt going to give up on the primary goal of the surrender of Japan just to avoid having to “sacrifice” whatever US POWs the Japanese may have had, so it is with Israel. Back then no one would’ve advocated giving up defeating Japan to get back 20 POWs because they didnt want to be giggled at, now these people are comically widespread with a comical sense of moral righteousness.

6. Who isn’t playing Trump? I mean, at this point if you as a world leader are not playing Trump for your own benefit then you are just missing out.

Comments are closed.