Pain and Division

The controversy over a hostage deal that's tearing Israel apart

This week is already starting as one of the most painful weeks this year. After the terrible murders of the six hostages, the country seems more divided than ever, with massive protests and much of the country shut down today.

I will start this post by giving my position on the hostage deal: I don’t have one. I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not. I don’t even know how anyone can know. Nobody (in the general public) even knows what the details of the deal are! And certainly nobody knows the consequences of either doing the deal or not doing the deal.

Everyone talks about the Shalit deal, in which Sinwar was released. Was that a terrible mistake? Maybe it was, and maybe it shows that such deals are too dangerous. Or maybe it was still possible to prevent October 7th regardless of that deal having gone through. Or maybe we would have had an October 7th-like event from either Hamas or Hezbollah even without it. Who knows?

With that preface, I would like to explain why I think that both the positions of those in favor of Bibi’s hardline position, and those protesting in the streets against it, are eminently understandable.

The alleged deal, even in its broad outlines, certainly involves serious risks. First, there is the danger of releasing terrorists, some of whom are almost certain to kill again. And then there is the problem of withdrawing from the Gaza-Egypt border. Those who are opposed to surrendering control of the Philadelphi corridor have a strong case to make. Hamas wants it precisely so that it can smuggle in weapons (and possibly smuggle out terrorists and hostages) in order to inflict further harm upon Israel.

The assurance of the military authorities that a withdrawal from the border is not a significant security threat rings hollow; after all, these are the same people who believed a year ago that Hamas is not a significant security threat. The claim that Israel can certainly retake the Philadelphi corridor after six weeks is also doubtful; some of us remember Ariel Sharon’s promise that if missiles are ever fired out of Gaza, Israel will be able to reconquer Gaza with full international support. Meanwhile, many protestors are weakening Israel by placing the onus upon Israel to capitulate to Hamas’ demands, seemingly at any price.

At the same time, the position of those protesting the government is also eminently understandable. After all, the fact is that all the heads of the army as well as the defense minister are in favor of the deal - surely this counts for something. And is the government - i.e. Bibi - really motivated by the best interests of either the hostages or the country? The government has showed an appalling lack of concern for the hostages - the hostage’s families were not even contacted by the government for several days after October 7th, and ever since then, Bibi only seems to be interested in meeting with hostages that are released or rescued (for photo ops), not with the families of those who are still held captive. And with regard to whether Bibi is acting in the best interests of the country, he appears to be hostage to Ben-Gvir, who never wants to cede anything and is trying to expand the war to as many fronts as possible while working to decrease international support, either out of a delusionary belief in Israel’s invincibility or a lack of care for the human costs involved. There is also understandable reason to believe that Bibi is dragging the war out either due to a longstanding inability to act decisively or in order to push off elections and his downfall.

Meanwhile, Bibi himself has earned severe distrust. Yesterday I saw a lone protestor standing outside Ramat Beit Shemesh, with a placard that said “Someone who cheats on his wife will also cheat on his country.” There was a mistake in this sign - it should have said “cheats on his wives” in the plural. I myself used to be a huge fan of Bibi, until six years ago when it became absolutely clear that he is a blatant liar with absolutely zero integrity, who readily harms the country and even national security in order to amass and retain power. Over the last ten months, he’s refused to take any responsibility for anything, and won’t even do press interviews in Israel - in fact he barely speaks to the country at all. So even if Bibi is acting in the country’s best interests in this case, it’s only to be expected that people will be deeply suspicious of this and presume that he’s going against the advice of the military for his own personal interests.

It’s a very, very difficult time for the country. I think that we need to try to understand, wherever possible, which people share our core values and simply have a different opinion as to which compromises to make in order to best realize them.