(Jewish Chronicle-UK) Daniel Finkelstein - It has been intensely frustrating to see the fate of the Israeli hostages too often ignored in media stories and political discourse, as if any government of any country can simply allow its citizens to be held and not react. Israel is portrayed as the bad guy for killing people while rescuing hostages who Hamas could, after all, have released without anyone dying. The consequence of a ceasefire is that Hamas retains part of its military structure and is able to regroup and attack again. There can never be peace in the Middle East while this holds. Defeating Hamas is the purpose of this awful war, the argument for persisting. Freeing the hostages is part of this, but it cannot be the endgame. Because if it is, Hamas will simply take more hostages. Israel has long made a policy of making huge concessions in exchange for those its opponents kidnapped. And the result, I'm afraid, has been more kidnapping. The writer is associate editor of The Times-UK.
2024-09-08 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive