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| Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonan (CBS) |
I cannot imagine the feelings of relief and joy of the mothers embracing their daughters for the first time after 470 days of not knowing for sure whether they were alive or dead… or what condition they were in if alive.
There is no monetary values that can be placed upon what these families felt. Any parent can surely empathize with what it must be like.
But there are downsides to this undeniably joyous moment.
One of which is that the bulk of those hostages are still in
captivity. Hopefully that is just a technicality that will be remedied somewhat
with a total of 33 hostages released piecemeal during the first phase of
the deal which is of a six-week duration.
Another downside with repercussions for the state of
Israel is that during this same six week period, Israel must release Palestinians
(90 as I understand it) held in their prisons. How many of them have blood on
their hands is hard to know, but surely some do. As many critics of this deal
have noted this increases the danger to Israeli citizens. Masking matters worse
is that the second phase of the deal requires over a thousand additional Palestinians prisoners to be
relased for the remainder of the hostages. I don’t believe I can overstate the level of increased anxiety this poses for the Israeli people.
It should also be noted that details of the second phase still needs to be negotiated. The downside of that is that if there is no agreement Israel will resume the war.
But there are some positive things the deal incudes that make all this a bit more palatable. One of which is that Hamas realizes this and has agreed to it.
More importantly the deal provides that after Israel withdraws, Hamas can no longer rule over Gaza. Gaza must have new leadership from among Palestinians not associated with Hamas. Should that not happen Israel will resume its war in Gaza for that reason. Hamas agreed to this as well.
Hamas also agreed to a buffer zone around the perimeter of Gaza to be occupied and controlled by Israel.
To the best of my knowledge these are the main elements of the deal agreed to by all parties, Israel, Hamas, The US and apparently even the UN.
A word about the increased risk to Israel. Yes. It’s real. No doubt about that. But those who blame October 7th on the release of over a thousand Palestinians to Hamas for Gilad Shalit a few years ago are missing some key points. True - the architect of the October 7th massacre was Yahya Sinwar, who was among the terrorists released for Shalit. The argument being made is that we are making the same mistake all over again.
I do not consider that a mistake. First - the people saying that are forgetting where the real blame lies. Which was correctly identified from the very beginning: The massive failure of Israel’s military intelligence apparatus. Had Israel been ‘awake’ on that day. None of this would have happened.
Secondly anyone that believes that without Sinwar this wouldn’t have happened is apparently unaware that Hamas has thousands more like him that could have easily planned and executed it too.Or something like it.
This doesn’t ,mean that we shouldn’t be worried about proven terrorists with blood on their hands being released and trying it again. Of course we should. Israel knows this and hopefully is far better prepared this time. I have confidence that this time with God’s help they will be on their toes and rise to the occasion
I therefore have no regrets supporting the deal that got Gilad Shalit released. It’s true that I made the same argument then. But it was just as valid then just as it is now. What went wrong is that Israel failed in that mission on that fateful October 7thday. I don’t think they will ever drop the ball like that again.
Of interest is President Biden's comments upon the release of the hostages, crediting Israel’s successes in the war (with full US support) as the reason Hamas accepted the deal now whereas they rejected it in the past:
