Israelis are clamoring for a ceasefire/hostage release “deal at any price” with the Hamas terrorists who last week executed six more of the hostages they are holding captive in Gaza.
Tens of thousands are protesting in the streets, blocking highways and in general disrupting daily life to make sure their message is heard.
But those demonstrations, sadly, are not all about the hostages.
The anguish of the hostages’ families is being hijacked by a political movement in the country aimed at overthrowing the democratically elected government, which is doing all it can to bring the hostages home and which has agreed to a deal endorsed by the United States, the United Nations Security Council and the mediators. Only Hamas has — once again — rejected the deal, which would not bring home all the hostages or even most of them at this point, but would result in the release of deadly, murderous terrorists, freeing them to attack again.
The address is Hamas and the sovereign nations acting behalf of the terrorist organization in the talks, Qatar and Egypt. The United States is acting as a third “mediator” but has intensively pressured Israel to mitigate its response to Hamas, whose October 7th attack on Israel was the equivalent of 40 “9/11” Al Qaeda attacks on American soil.
7,000 Gazans Took Part in Oct. 7 Attacks, New IDF Data Shows
However, even the United States has finally reached the end of its patience. According to a senior Biden Administration official who spoke with The Washington Post, the US plans to offer Hamas and Israel a final “take it or leave it” deal in the coming weeks. If either side fails to accept it, the US may finally walk away, ending the endless rejections of any deal by Hamas, whose position has not budged since the start of the talks. Hamas demands Israel’s surrender and its right to maintain control over Gaza, plain and simple.
“You can’t keep negotiating this. This process has to be called at some point,” the senior official said. “Does it derail the deal? No. If anything, it should add additional urgency in this closing phase, which we were already in.”
In Israel, the Tikva Hostages’ Families Forum called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the negotiations over a ceasefire/hostage release deal with Hamas after the bodies of the six hostages were found by Israeli forces on Saturday.
In a statement on the organization’s website, Tikva Forum said the current proposal is “reckless and irresponsible, removing Israel’s military and strategic pressure from Hamas while leaving most of the hostages behind.”
Even so, Israel is willing to cede concessions that will in future once again endanger its population to rescue the hostages. But Hamas has refused to accept any deal at all since the temporary ceasefire last November in which around 100 hostages were freed in exchange for some 300 terrorists incarcerated in Israel. And Hamas violated that agreement as well.
The Gvura (Heroism) Forum of families of fallen IDF soldiers from the current war likewise has “strongly” rejected the current “surrender deal” placed on the table. “Our children didn’t die for keeping Hamas sovereign over Gaza. We demand victory!” the forum wrote in a post on the X social media platform.
The terrorists executed the hostages with multiple gunshots at close range in the bowels of Gaza late within 48 hours of having been discovered. Israeli forces found the bodies neatly lined up in a tunnel 20 meters (66 feet) beneath the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
In response, hundreds of thousands of outraged and broken Israelis gathered to protest in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, after IDF special forces recovered and brought the hostages’ bodies home to Israel.
But the political movement aimed at overthrowing Israel’s current democratically elected government that has chosen to exploit the pain of hostage families, using their agony to fuel ongoing attempts to destabilize the country, is growing.
Israel’s enemies are laughing as a result. Hamas and its fellow terrorists are being encouraged to continue their attacks on Israelis – which have skyrocketed in recent weeks – and their obstinance in refusing a deal. Consider it a gift that keeps on giving to Hamas.
On Sunday night, Khalil al-Hayya, deputy to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, reiterated in an interview with Al Jazeera exactly what the terror group is demanding.
“As long as the Palestinian prisoners are not released, as long as the war does not stop, as long as the army does not withdraw from the Strip and especially from Netzarim and Philadelphi – there will be no agreement,” al-Hayya said.
Sinwar’s deputy added that the group is demanding the release of 50 terrorist prisoners for each female soldier and 30 terrorist prisoners for each civilian. But in the second phase of the deal, the group demands 500 terrorist prisoners for each kidnapped soldier.
In addition to its demands for a prisoner deal, Hamas is not budging on its demands for a permanent ceasefire, complete withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza and restoration of the damage due to combat. In other words, surrender and permission to carry out another October 7th-style attack, again and again, until Israel is annihilated.
Hamas Official: Prepared to Repeat October 7 Operation ‘Until Israel is Annihilated’
“Our hearts along with all of Israel are torn by the difficult news. Our hearts drink blood from the heinous murder. We embrace these dear families,” the Tikva Forum said Sunday in its statement.
“Tonight, we got another reminder of who is the bitter enemy we are fighting. Murderers and rapists of the lowest kind. Human animals. In these difficult moments, we strengthen the heroic IDF soldiers who give their lives to rescue the hostages.”
The Forum added that the general strike called in response to the murder of the six hostages a “death sentence for the hostages that remain alive,” and a “reward for Sinwar,” and urged the public not to cooperate with this new effort to destabilize Israel.
“Only pressure on Hamas will bring them all home,” the Forum says on its website. “Our children are hostages in Gaza. Our families founded the Tikva Forum with the purpose of bringing our children home from a place of strength, faith, national responsibility and concern for the unity and security of all Israelis.”
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the October 7th massacre and invasion of Israel, which also resulted in the abduction of 251 hostages, was released in a previous such “deal” in 2011 that traded more than a thousand murderous terrorists incarcerated in Israel to free a single Israeli hostage, Gilad Shalit.
What might be the consequences of another such “deal”? There are more than nine million Israeli citizens whose lives depend on the IDF and the government. Are they too not entitled to security?
The reality is bitter but clear: Israel has no choice but to fight and win, no matter how long that takes and no matter the cost, because the lives of nine million Israelis depend upon it. This is an existential war, and although our hearts ache and bleed for the hostages and their families – and each of us knows at least someone taken hostage by Hamas, or their family – we cannot hold nine million other Israelis as hostages to a “deal at any price.”
Last week, some of the hostage families gathered on Israel’s southern border with Gaza to call out to their captive loved ones with megaphones. Among them were the parents of 23-year-old dual US-Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was among the six martyrs. Hersh’s mother cried out to him from the border, “It’s Mama!”
Hersh may even have heard his mother from afar; who knows?
