9.21 The Israeli Struggle to Get the Hostages Back
When Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, in addition to murdering 1200
people and wounding many more they took about 200 hostages including mothers and
their babies. Here is a video of them abducting Shiri Bibas and her two
children, Kfir and Ariel.
Shiri's cousin said that there is nothing she can do except tell the world about
what happened. Many people in America feel the same way. That is why
they put up posters of the abducted victims of Hamas. They download
posters from
https://www.kidnappedfromisrael.com/
and tape them outside for everyone to see.
Here is what the poster for Ariel looks like.
NBC interviewed the people who had the idea for these posters.
Sadly when people put up these posters in New York City, supporters of the Hamas
terrorist group tear them down.
This is a photo of NYU students who ripped down posters.
Even if a person believes propaganda
against Israel you would think they would sympathize with the hostages and their
families and not tear down the posters. The people who tear them down
don't like that the posters make the Palestinian terrorists look bad, but they
look bad because they are bad. They make excuses that Israel is bad to the
Palestinians but considering that the Palestinians are trying to annihilate
Israel, Israel is very good to the Palestinians. Israel has no choice but to
defend itself and its citizens. Even if Israel were as bad as Arab
propagandists have convinced the poster rippers that Israel is, is that the
fault of Shiri and her babies? Should Shiri and her babies
languish in jail cells in Hamas dungeons in tunnels deep underground?
Shouldn't every human being with a soul be demanding that they be released?
People don't just tear down the posters. Just before I wrote this paragraph on
January 4, 2024, a man who was
putting up these posters was attacked. He defended himself and was
arrested by the New York City police. One would think the police would
arrest the people who
attacked him instead. Here is a video of his arrest.
When there was a massive anti-Israel protest in Manhattan which shut down the
subway transportation hub at the World Trade Center the police didn't
arrest any of the anti-Israel protestors. I think that is because the
police are afraid of them. The police don't want
trouble and if someone puts up a poster and gets violently attacked they believe
it's safer to arrest him than to arrest the people who attacked him. They
think that by arresting him they are preventing him from angering Hamas
supporters and so are preventing violence and riots. What they don't
understand is that when the police don't defend the innocent and don't stand up
for what is right those who do wrong will be emboldened and be more violent. NYC police have already been attacked at the tree lighting at
Rockefeller Center. No one was putting up hostage posters when the police
were attacked at Rockefeller center.It seems that only when Palestinian
supporters attack them do police arrest them.
There are four approaches Israel can take to try and get the hostages returned.
1) Give in to Hamas demands. That means getting all Israeli troops out of Gaza
and releasing all the terrorists Israel holds in its prisons. The problem
with giving in to those demands is although it might result in the release of
the hostages that are still alive it will leave Hamas intact. A spokesman
for Hamas
has said it will massacre more Israelis in the future until Israel is
annihilated. If Israel releases terrorists for hostages that will just
encourage Hamas to abduct more innocent people. Despite this Israel did
agree to a deal in which it released 3 terrorists for every hostage. This
resulted in about 100 hostages being released. Israel has has offered to
release more terrorists in exchange for hostages as well as temporary ceasefires
but as of January 25, 2024 those offers have been turned down by Hamas.
2) Try and get the rest of the world to put pressure on Hamas to release the
hostages. Supporters of Israel can do their part to not let the world forget about them.
They can put up posters, post on social media, and write to their
representatives. Accounts of former hostages such as
this one called
The Girls I Met in the Tunnels are very important to disseminate. Hamas could not shoot endless missiles at Israel and
build hundreds of miles of tunnels over six stories underground without lots of
money. Most of that money comes from the countries of
Qatar and
Iran. Qatar depends on the U.S. for its security. The U.S. could
apply pressure on Qatar to stop funding Hamas. So could the rest of the
world.
3) Military pressure. If the leaders of Hamas fear for their lives they
might be willing to release the hostages. If Israel captures the leaders
of Hamas they might be able to get them to order the release of the hostages.
4) Cut off food, fuel and other supplies entering Gaza from across the Israeli
border. That would affect Hamas but it would also affect the civilians of
Gaza and the United States won't allow it and Israel depends on the United
States for arms. There are protestors in Israel who try and
block the entry of aid into Gaza saying that Hamas should release the
hostages first.
In the videos below Jewish civilians in Israel are doing approach number 2 and using music to call on the world to help bring the hostages home.
One question you don't hear asked is why didn't Israel respond to Hamas hostage
taking by taking
Palestinian civilians hostage and then exchange those hostages for the hostages held by
Hamas?
One reason is that Hamas doesn't care about Palestinian civilians. A
terrorist organization that fires rockets from kindergartens and hospitals and
that hides behind Palestinian civilians doesn't care about civilian hostages.
Top Hamas leaders
live in luxury in Qatar on money that they diverted from the Palestinians.
Khaled Mashaal is one of those Palestinians. He has
said that the success of the October 7 attack on Israel has shown that
"lliberating Palestine" i.e. annihilating Israel is a realistic idea.
Another Hamas official said
that we will repeat the October 7 attacks until Israel is annihilated. The
founding
charter of Hamas calls for the annihilation of Israel. Hamas leaders
living the life of luxury in Qatar are
willing to
sacrifice the Palestinians of Gaza in order to achieve this goal.
If Israel could abduct the top Hamas leaders in Qatar then those leaders
might be willing to order the release of the hostages in return for their own
freedom. However Israel appears to have
agreed to leave the Hamas
leaders in Qatar alone in return for Qatar assisting with negotiations to get the
hostages back.
