Yesterday's meeting between the families of the abductees and the war cabinet was difficult. The prime minister and ministers did not have good answers to the questions that were thrown at them. They couldn't even say that the strategy they were leading guaranteed that at the end of the process, at some point, the abductees would return home.
War Cabinet Meeting with Families of Abductees and Returnees // Moshe Ben-Simhon
The truth must be told: 61 days into the war, Israel has reached an impasse on the issue of the abductees. The original plan stalled after Hamas did not release all the women and children in its possession, and there is no new outline. This means that 137 Israelis are held captive in Gaza, hanging between life and death. The promise that they will return home now rests mainly on words and less on deeds.
We lost precious time
Israel lost precious time until all the functions dealing with the issue of abductees were appointed. After that, it lost more time before it entered serious negotiations with Hamas (mediated by the American, Egyptian and Qatari). Then it lost more time trying to improve the outline, and now it is losing time again, thinking that military pressure will push Hamas into concessions and compromises.
This argument is legitimate, but it has no reference. Factually, the previous outline changed only minor during the fighting. On the other hand, the abductees remained in captivity for more than a week, until they were rehabilitated.
Twins Emma and Yuli Cuneo get into a Red Cross car, Photo: Reuters
Anyone who has been exposed to the testimonies of the released prisoners about what they went through there, or who listened to the statements of the spokesman of the US State Department, who assessed that Hamas did not release the last of the women so that they would not reveal what they went through at its hands, can understand the significance of every additional moment in captivity, not to mention the danger to life: from injuries or illnesses that were not treated - at the hands of Hamas, or as a result of an Israeli attack.
Satan on Earth
There is no dispute that Hamas did not meet the previous agreement. There is also no dispute that Yahya Sinwar is Satan on earth. It didn't take the October 7 attack and its aftermath to know this: even before that, he refused to release even a shred of information about the Israelis and the bodies of the soldiers he was holding.
Negotiators believe Sinwar understands only power. If Israel had blinked last Friday, given up on the women (or some of them) and agreed to a new outline that would include men and bodies, it would have been left with nothing, especially without the 15 women held in Gaza (plus two Bibas children).
Khan Yunis, Gaza, photo: GettyImages
That Sinwar would cheat us again, then change the terms again, and then make demands and conditions that we were unable to meet in order to blow up the deal again, all while earning valuable time of respite that serves him.
In the opinion of these experts, Hamas must now stew, to see that Israel is also determined, that we, too, are willing to go all the way. And most of all, to pay a price: in the territory it loses, in the people who are killed to it, in the suffering that Gaza and its residents are going through because of it. They agree that it may endanger the abductees, but they believe it increases the chances that more abductees will return home safely.
The counterargument is equally powerful. Given that Israel is negotiating with Satan, everyone we can should be brought back, whenever possible, thinking that tomorrow might be impossible. That the lives of abducted women are important, but the lives of the abducted men and soldiers are no less important. And most importantly: that waiting is a gamble that may turn out to be a tragic mistake that there will be no way to correct.
Families of the abductees outside a meeting with the War Cabinet, Photo: Gideon Markowitz
As of last night, Israel prioritizes the tough path. This is controversial, but legitimate, as long as abductees remain a priority at all times. Since this is someone whom the state abandoned on Black Sabbath, it has an obligation not to abandon them again.
Even if this is a negotiating tactic, the strategic goal of returning all the hostages must be maintained: it is no less important than the parallel goal of toppling the Hamas regime in Gaza. Without it, Israel will not be able to look itself and its citizens in the eye.
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