A Painful Deal

What price do we pay for the hostages?

The hostage deal is causing a great deal of pain for many people. I’m not interested in arguments about whether it was or was not justified; it’s already taken place. What I would like to do is try to ease the pain that some are experiencing. I would like to explain why, as difficult as it is, it received political support from almost the entire spectrum (even including Smotrich, but excluding Ben Gvir), and the consequences of it are not as bad as some people fear.

There are three major concerns with the deal. One is that it incentivizes further kidnapping. The second is that the release of terrorists makes enables them to commit attacks in the future. And the third is that the pause in Operation Iron Swords enables Hamas to regroup and rearm.

These are legitimate concerns, and this is why the deal is painful for everyone. But the State failed in its responsibility to its civilians, and it must pay a heavy price. And there are responses to the concerns above, as well as other factors to take into consideration.

From a Torah perspective, it’s important to bear in mind that pidyon shevuyim, redeeming captives, is a tremendously important mitzvah. And this is real pidyon shevuyim of the highest order, not bailing some fraudster out of a US prison. Yes, the Mishnah says that one should not redeem them for “more than their value” as it incentivizes further kidnapping, and Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg famously refused to be redeemed for this reason. But every case of paying ransom, even for no more than “the value” of a person, incentivizes it - and yet the mitzvah still exists! Clearly, facilitating a certain degree of incentive is sometimes outweighed by the need to save people from a horrible fate in the here and now.

Regading the problem of incentivizing, there’s no such thing as increasing Hamas’ desire to kidnap people any more than it already is. They already received over 1000 terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shalit alone. The current deal enormously changes the “exchange rate” and is a sign of how successful the IDF campaign has been. The rate has gone down from 1000:1, including major terrorists, to 3:1 “minor” terrorists.

Regarding setting people free to commit future attacks, bear in mind that the IDF have just killed thousands upon thousands of Hamas terrorists. And there are many tens of thousands left to kill. A few hundred women and teenagers, who are not all that different from many other Palestinian women and teenagers, are not particularly significant.

Finally, regarding the pause enabling Hamas to regroup and rearm, they aren’t going to be any more powerful than they were a few weeks ago. And we are still managing to kill them in their thousands. Yes, they will slow their disadvantage somewhat. But in the bigger picture, we will still win.

So, the downsides of this deal are not as big as some fear. And there are very significant reasons for doing it. The risk in future lives is largely that of soldiers, and the idea of an army is that soldiers risk their lives on behalf of those who are defenseless. And the hostages that we are getting are the most tragic type - vulnerable members of society including women and children and the elderly. The ordeal for those in captivity is unimaginable. So is the pain for their relatives in Israel. And the pain that Israel is collectively experiencing is likewise overwhelming. At a military level, having less hostages makes it easier for the military to operate. And at a political level, there are also advantages to the pause and the aid that was allowed into Gaza.

Yes, there are risks. Yes, the concessions are deeply troubling. But sometimes, you have to swallow a bitter pill.