Will Israel’s hostage deal lead to Hamas kidnapping more Israelis in the future?
Like all Israelis, I have shed buckets of tears in recent weeks watching the scenes of Israelis kidnapped (and to a great extent tortured) by Hamas returning to their families
They are tears of joy and tears of horror but mostly tears of relief
Like all Israelis, I hope and pray that “stage one” of the deal negotiated by the Biden administration will be completed in full, including the additional tranches of live hostage releases planned for the coming weekends (which also include the return of eight bodies of killed Israelis)
I, hope and pray that President Trump’s new plans don’t upset completion of the hostage-for-terrorist release deal in the near term 1. to evacuate all Palestinians from Gaza 2. Hamas’s ongoing drip-drip torture tactics against Israel 3. and Israel’s clear intention to yet drive Hamas leadership out of Gaza
Managing these contradictory impulses and aims remains extraordinarily difficult
