Last weekend three more hostages were released by Hamas in Gaza, but the happiness and excitement rapidly turned into anger. The three men looked emaciated, ad clearly been starved almost to death and could barely walk. From their stories, it rapidly became clear that Hamas systematically denies the male hostages food and the three released men lost approximately thirty percent of their body weight.
The condition of the three released hostages increased the anxiety over the remaining men still in the hands of Hamas and it is reasonable to assume that other men received the same inhuman treatment, meaning they are all in real danger for their lives.
It is unclear how long it will take still until all hostages are being released. The ”negotiations” are being held at a speed that is unbelievable taking into account that it has been almost sixteen months that the hostages were taken. However, even the completion of the “first stage” is now uncertain, because Hamas has threatened to stop the process because of truce violations by Israel. And with Trump these days making the decisions, apparently, if no hostages will be released next Saturday, according to the agreement, the cease-fire will end and Israel will return to the war.
The hostages have become the key to future military actions and Israel and its government have no idea how to handle this.
But Israel should remember two things. The suffering of the hostages is incomprehensible and cannot be explained or justified in any way.
However, on the Palestinian side, (yes there are human beings there also), approximately forty thousand families will wait in vain for the return of their members because they are not being held hostage. They are not being starved of tortured. They have been killed in the brutal war that Israel is waging, with massive bombardments on urban areas, leaving no stone on the other, and killing many people. True, quite a few of those killed were (may have been) Hamas terrorists, but conservative numbers still imply that twenty five thousand women, children and elderly were killed by Israel. The fact that this immense number does not make any impression upon Israelis is frightening in itself but explanations for this will need to be found after the war is over, to restore some humanity to the Israel of today.
In addition, while negotiations for the release of the hostages are being stalled again, voices in the Israeli leadership, including former minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, have clearly stated that not only did Israel know what was happening to the hostages, a deal has been held up again and again and in fact could have been reached months ago already. So why did it not happen? The decisions were made by one man only: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The fascists in his government have stated from the beginning that the “want all hostages released”, but they will not agree to an end of the war. The war must continue until Hamas has been destroyed completely. And Netanyahu, knowing his government will fall without the fascists, gave in every time. In his mouth, the words “we will release all the hostages” has become a farce, and even his supporters know that if it is up to Netanyahu, it will never happen.
Even now, when a negotiation team traveled again to Doga, Netanyahu decided to stay for the weekend in Washington with his wife, living in a luxurious hotel costing the Israeli taxpayer a fortune. Upon his return he didn’t think it necessary to discuss the situation with his cabinet and his advisors and only today apparently a discussion was held.
Where is the Israeli opposition in the Knesset? Is there anybody awake there? Or maybe they are worried to upset Netanyahu and lose any chance of becoming closer to him ever? The Israeli population agrees to Netanyahu’s lies and delay tactics? Apparently it does.
And one more thing. While Netanyahu and his fascist partners are still talking about a “complete Victory” and the complete destruction of Hamas, the disgusting release ceremony of last Saturday clearly shows that while Hamas was severely hit and lost many fighters, they are far from beaten. They still in control of large areas of Gaza, they still have a large fighting force and they aren’t going anywhere and will continue to fight is Israel doesn’t stop this war.
It is high time that Israel comes to its senses, stop this war, start to rebuild both the south and the north to allow their citizens to return. But Israel’s citizens should do one thing: get rid of Netanyahu and his fascist government and return to the democratic values that made this country great.
I hope you found this article interesting and I welcome any comments you may have.
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