Everybody wants the Israeli—and American—hostages in Gaza home. Not everybody is willing to pay any price to get them out.
The Iran-Iraq war was well received in the West. A famous politician of the day famously asked if both sides could lose. Israel was keen on actually fostering such an outcome. A fellow who was in the Mossad for many years published his memoirs, including a very telling story about this war. Israel, he claimed, very carefully monitored the war. If they felt that one side was getting the upper hand, they would then work clandestinely to help even the playing field. At one point in the war, they concluded that Iraq was gaining the upper hand. So they sent to Iraq via a Mossad-run job agency in France two driving experts. One was tasked with teaching young Iraqis to drive big trucks, while the other was sent to the garage. The first taught his students that brakes are for losers. Real men never use the brakes. The second agent set the trailer on a big rig to separate from the cab over a certain speed. During their two months there, the number of traffic accidents and associated fatalities involving trucks skyrocketed. When they felt that the outcome might get them caught, they stole their boss’ Land Rover and made their way to Turkey.
With the obvious role played by Egypt in allowing Iranian weapons to flow to Hamas in Gaza, it may be time for Israel to adopt a similar approach in its neighbor’s politics. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood were no friends of Israel, but Israel might be served in fomenting internal strife in Egypt. It is obvious that weapons flowed into Gaza also during el-Sisi’s reign, so it is only proper that Israel make Egypt pay for helping in the murder of its citizens and soldiers. Not enough to bring down the government, but just enough to keep them constantly busy fighting Islamic enemies in Sinai and Egypt proper. They need to be taught that Jewish blood comes with a price.
With the revelation that American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other hostages were murdered in Gaza, the pressure to make a bad deal with Hamas will only skyrocket. Every hostage deal that Israel has made in the past has led to future dead Israelis. The attack on 10/7, now increased to 3,800 “Nukhba” Hamas terrorists and 2,200 Gazans (so much for the innocent civilians canard)--for a total of 6,000 combatants—was orchestrated by Yahya Sinwar and other terrorists released in the 1000-to-1 Gilad Schalit deal. Israel could have told Hamas at the time that they will get 5 or 20 hostages for one hapless Israeli soldier who stumbled out of his tank to get caught by Hamas. They could have told them to pound sand. But Israel let Hamas dictate the terms and a lot of people died because of it. Even the November deal to release a few hostages let out terrorists who have since been killed or recaptured. Terrorists do not retire to collect stamps. They continue to murder until they are put out of business.
Everybody wants the hostages home, and everybody feels very sorry for the long-suffering families. That their cause has been hijacked by the anti-Netanyahu left does not mitigate their pain. But there can be no more blank checks for the terror organizations. If the Philadelphi Corridor is once again given back to Hamas, they and Egypt will renew their lucrative gun-running operation. Estimates I hear say 90% of the endless weapons brought into Gaza came above ground and around 10% through cross-border tunnels. Gaza cannot be allowed to rearm. It’s very easy for me to possibly condemn innocent hostages to death by supporting no deal over a very dangerous deal. But I could claim that I am speaking for the yet unknown people who may die if a bad deal is struck. Everyone—Hamas, the US, the EU, and the Democrats—is pushing Israel to make any deal. They want this war and the one in Ukraine in the rearview mirror. Israel cannot give back the sole route for weapons movement into the Gaza Strip. As with Schalit, if the terms are fixed by Israel, their choices are to accept, hold on to the abductees, or God forbid kill them. Releasing the hostages by setting free killers and opening up the arms flow into Rafah is the first step in killing other people, currently unnamed. Every deal from the 1985 Jibril trade forward has led to new terror leaders getting out and killing large numbers of citizens ten years later.
Nobody wants to be the doctor who tells a patient that he has three months to live. Nobody wants to be the person knocking on the door of the parents of a fallen soldier. And nobody wants to be the person to tell a hostage family that their loved one, even if alive, can only be brought home if we condemn another 500 people to die over the next few years. This is not merely a utilitarian exercise of how to make fewer people die. Israel has lost many soldiers by attempting to reduce Gazan civilian casualties rather than fight an all-out war. After so many failed hostage deals, it is time for Israel to set the rules. The Philadelphi Corridor and Netzarim passage must remain with Israel, period. Now, let’s talk. There is no mitzvah for Israel to commit suicide and yes, we all want the hostages home—alive. But not at any price. If Israelis are to die later to get the hostages home today, then the prime minister has to tell their families that he cannot make that deal.
The fact that 6,000 people crossed into Israel while another thousand fired 4,300 rockets into Israeli territory should give the US pause. Kurt Schlichter has already described a hopefully fictional coordinated attack (The Attack) within the US from terrorists coming across a completely open border. Is the US capable of dealing with a brigade-level attack on civilians and unprotected infrastructure? Israel was not, though one might claim that after the first seven hours of complete confusion, it got on its feet and ended the killing and moved to offense within a few days. As with 9/11, the terrorists are thinking outside of the box. Are we capable of doing the same?