Hostages have been Israel’s Achilles’ heel ... ( and why go into Rafah)

Last week, there were (and probably still are) protests in Israel over the fate of the 132 hostages still held by Hamas.

Israel’s strategic weakness has been its approach to hostages. If some poor Israeli is taken; they are traded for assets way more valuable than themselves. Israel places a higher value on human life than her enemies. And, Hamas has benefitted from this ... over and over and over again. In 2011, a huge mistake was made in releasing 1027 prisoners for 1 kidnapped soldier (Gilad Shalit): 450 were Hamas terrorists, 280 serving life sentences. And half returned to terror activities and murdered more Israelis. The trade was a weakness to be exploited. And that is precisely why Hamas was focused so heavily on hostage taking on Oct 7. Engaging in this war, as if the hostages didn’t exist, as much as possible, is the right call. 

Hamas has absolutely no intention of meaningfully returning the hostages. They would only “return” the hostages by placing them in the way of Israeli fire.

As such, the focus should be on preventing this from happening again — i.e. completely obliterating Hamas. Half measures will only lead to more future bloodshed. It’s time to root them out of Rafah. I feel v. sorry for the civilians, but that’s on Hamas as the “representative” of Gaza. This is war, and wars suck.

Israel cannot compromise its national security. Israel doesn’t have the might of the US military. The Afghans discovered the hard way that President Biden, and other Western leaders, could stand back and permit a fascist regime to take over. Israel was created by those who understood that such a Holocaust could happen. Israel is surrounded by states and peoples who openly declare their desire to “kill the Jews”. Unlike the Palestinians, Israelis have nowhere else to go. Israel must act to maintain and preserve its security.

And, as a liberal democracy, Israel will observe international law and the rules of war. This was made clear when they dispersed notice recently for people to evacuate temporarily to prevent further bloodshed in the ensuing bombing campaign. In law, intent matters — not numbers. And, the ICJ have already declared that there is no genocide. Not even a plausible case of genocide.

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Israel has no option against an enemy that doesn’t “answer” to anyone

Israel needed to go into Rafah.

In earlier rounds of negotiations and in Cairo, Israel has faced considerable pressure from the international community to reach a negotiated settlement and cease their operations in Gaza. 

On the other hand, the only pressure on Hamas to compromise has been the threat of further military action. There is no other real pressure on Hamas. They hold the hostages and they don’t care about Gazan suffering. How can there be pressure on someone who doesn’t care about their own citizens. Hamas doesn’t have to answer to anybody. 

There is no middle path for Israel between either continuing full force with their military action until Hamas are obliterated, or sitting down at some negotiating table and giving Hamas more or everything they want.