Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

The Hostage Deal Was Not Inevitable. It Was a Choice. A Bad Choice.

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When you make the wrong choice, you don’t save lives, you cost lives.

In 1985, the Peres government freed over 1,000 terrorists in exchange for three prisoners being held by the PFLP. The terrorists included Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin and key figures in the First Intifada.

In 2011, Netanyahu freed another over 1,000 terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shalit. The freed terrorists included some of the worst monsters in custody and a number of them played roles in the Oct 7 atrocities.

There is a straightforward ‘why’ here. Actually a number of them.

Israel has no empathy immune system against the demands of the family members of the hostages. Suggestions from the right that the government should not be listening to the families of the hostages were denounced as horrifying and evil. And yet you can’t win a war if you allow yourself to be taken hostage. When Islamic terrorists take individuals hostage and by doing so take an entire country hostage, wars are lost.

Every intelligent person understands this, but few Israelis and pro-Israel figures can bring themselves to say it. There are a lot of analyses that talk about how the hostage deal was “inevitable”. I’ve used that word myself. It’s not inevitable because it had to happen, but because the same choices are being made that were also made before.

Modern civilized nations have gotten into the horrid habit of paying ransoms for hostages to enemy nations and terror groups. We do it. The Euros do it. Israel does it.

Sure, the Biden administration was pressuring the Israeli government. So were the media and parts of the country. But the Jibril Deal in ’85 and the Shalit deal were not made in response to outside pressure, but to internal pressure.

To win, you have to make tough choices. We, America, Israel, used to be able to make those tough choices. We’re unable to make those choices when it comes to fighting the enemy. And we certainly aren’t making them when it comes to hostages.

But when you don’t make tough decisions, you’re faced with carnage and worse choices.

Israel failed to strike first before the Yom Kippur War. The resulting surprise attack nearly destroyed the country. During efforts to defend the Suez Canal, a disabled tank with its crew had to be pushed into the war, killing everyone inside to avoid the entire line of tanks behind it being taken out. When you aren’t aggressive enough with the enemy, you end up having to make tough choices. But when you can’t make those tough choices, you lose.

You can’t always save everyone and destroy the enemy. You have to choose. And when you make the wrong choice, you don’t save lives, you cost lives.

Gilad Shalit’s cost over 1,000 Israeli lives already. How many lives will this one cost?

Comments

  1. Yes, tough choices. We sometimes are faced with the need for an operation…one that could kill the patient, but if the chance is not taken, the patient dies anyway.

    I’m very glad the choice here is not mine to make. And this may be one time that the “collective” has to be put before fewer individuals than those who make up the collective. Thousands saved as opposed to hundreds lost.

    Dealing with criminals….how many times has the life of a serial killer been spared because he might reveal the locations of some of his victims so the families can bury them?
    How many will be murdered for the saving of those who may already have been murdered while being held?

  2. Since 3 ‘Palestinian’ prisoners are being released for every one Israeli hostage, it sends the message that kidnapping Israelis is profitable dor Hamas. Does anyine really think Hamas and other Jihadists are now discouraged from taking more civilan hostages? It’s wonderful some Israeli hostages are going home, but on some levels it was a capitulation to Hamas. It seems they dictated the terms

    • They totally did. can a strategy be devised to deal with hostage situations?

  3. As a Christian I was taught that life is a gift from God and should be treated as such. You dishonor someone when you throw away the gift they have presented you. I don’t know about other religions but Islam does not look upon life as a gift but rather as a burden to be endured. I remember one time talking with a Muslim over the internet and when he told me it was his birthday I wished him a great day and a long life. He told me not to wish such a bad thing upon him. He wanted Allah to grant him the gift of a short life. Our love for life is a weakness to these Muslims and they know how to use it against us. I know how cold-hearted it is to say this but hostages taken by Muslims should be considered the same as dead. It’s terrible to say but many more lives would be saved in the future if we had the strength not to negotiate with them. The guilt for murder would be upon the Muslims and not us but, yes, I understand how painful it is to lose those we love. Our love is for those in the present and not for those in the future … but we should think of the future too. If the Muslims win there will be no future at all for us.

    • When a no-good thug kidnaps a person and asks for ransom, even when all demands are followed exactly, it is most often the victim is already dead.
      Some years ago, there was a trend by some thugs to kidnap, get the ransom, release the victim and then kidnap again, sometimes the same person. Paying ransom encourages kidnappers.

      Probably many of the hostages held by hamas have already been murdered, or like the older man, died of his injuries or from health problems made worse by the capture and ill-treatment.

      As Mr. Greenfield relates, the mozlums have learned how to take advantage and get their fellow terrorists freed to terrorize again.
      I too, value life; and to have a loved one held, would be unbearable. Life is precious. The families should understand that their loved one is likely already dead. But, I can’t fault them for hoping they get free.

    • I completely agree with you, CES, that hostages taken by Muslims should, effectively, be written off as already dead, tragic though this be. This is one of the many cruel realities that informed people should ascertain and thereafter conclude accordingly when dealing with the hideous religion (and yes, it is hideous) that is Islam.

      No quarter for evil (and if Islam is not evil, then what the Hell is?) even though such a necessary approach will result in many innocents being lost.

      But the fault for this is entirely with Islam, the most monstrous ideology, religious or secular, which has ever existed over such a long period of time in the history of mankind. And, unfortunately, between Islam, Leftism and the despicable authoritarians like Xi and Putin who are presently dominant (and “complicated” by the utter fool of a President who is Joe Biden, not to mention other “subsidiary” Western fools like Macron and the putrid excuse for a Pope who is Francis) I don’t see at present a light on the horizon. Frankly, quite the opposite, i.e., a continual metaphorical dark night for mankind for the foreseeable future. Not looking good.

    • I saw that interview with Pollard. However, it must be understood against the backdrop of the Shalit disaster. The mastermind of the 1200 murders on October 7, Sinwar, was released for Shalit in 2011. The result: 1200 Jews dead in 2023. While I certainly don’t condemn the families for expressing their grief, I do condemn their demand that the government effectively sacrifice future dead Jews for their relatives. In Jewish law, if a Jew is faced with a choice between accepting his own death or the taking of the life of another, the Jew must accept death. Pollard knew both Jewish law and understood that if the government caved to the hostage families demands, just like Israel caved to the “Four Mothers” in the 2006 Lebanon war (which led to the disaster of UNIFIL and Hesbullah becoming the rulers of Lebanon), then the focus of the present conflict would immediately cease to be the destruction of HAMAS and would become all about the hostages. HAMAS is ISIS but it is also Amalek. The only thing that will work with HAMAS-Amalek is to do to them what God commanded for Amelek. Sadly, Israel is the living proof of the truth of Santayana’s famous observation that those who fail to learn from history are condemned to relive it.

  6. I thought so as well. I used to be an admirer of Netanyahu, but realized that he folded under a certain pressure threshold, & was overrated. Israel badly needs a new Menachem Begin or an Yitzhak Shamir, who would boldly build new Jewish settlements in Judea, Samaria or Gaza anytime a Pali jihad attack happened. Netanyahu ain’t either of them

    • I couldn’t agree more with you. Although in general I don’t want to disparage Bibi now, this ‘deal’ is terrible for all of the reasons mentioned including to help diminish the morale of the IDF soldiers. Any soldier wants 3 things: complete his mission successfully, remain in one piece and return home to his family asap. Any reason to elongate the mission must have real merit. This ceasefire over a # of days does not. Even Bibi and his Leftist war cabinet admit that it will allow Hamas to regroup, rearm, get more ammunition, set more booby traps, get much needed fuel to run their ventilation systems in their tunnels and top up their food supply. Do you see any merit? I do not.

      There are 2 simple rules that Israel must follow but tragically often fails to:
      1. Never negotiate with terrorists
      2. Don’t appease your enemy

      Regarding #2 above, who is Israel’s enemy? Israel has many. Sadly most of the world is not on Israel’s side, including their ‘ally’ the US. We all know or should know that thanks to the US (under Obama and the Biden regimes) Iran has been paid billions of dollars, either directly in cold hard US dollars or indirectly from oil sanctions relief. Even today Gaza receives hundreds of millions of dollars in ‘humanitarian aid’ from the US and most western nations (like mine here in Canada). Without a doubt, most of that aid goes directly to Hamas. Where is the aid to the victim in this war, Israel? NONE!

      Millions of Israelis have suffered and continue to suffer from this war. Besides the gruesome murders, rapes and kidnapping, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been forced to leave their homes close to Gaza and live in makeshift places as far away as Eilat. There is nobody to harvest the fruit on farms or milk the cows. Businesses can’t run without the 300,000 men and women who are now serving to protect Israel in an existential war against Hamas-ISIS in the south and Hezbollah in the north. Not to mention those pesky arabs throughout Israel and in the territories that are always trying to murder Israeli civilians on the street every single day.

  7. At least Israel should align its English language usage with its commitment to the idea of equality. It should be “priority is for mothers and their children” or even “priority is for parents and their children”. So it should not be “priority is for women and children” which infantilises women. When it comes to the really difficult stuff like war it’s men, as usual, who do all the heavy lifting. Wonen in general shouldn’t be treated like 12 year old big sisters lumped with looking after the babies and children of the world’s family.

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