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Taking Hostages Turned Out to Be Hamas's Undoing
(Wall Street Journal) Ophir Falk - On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas dragged 251 hostages into Gaza. The terrorists apparently believed that the taking of hostages and accompanying psychological warfare would force Israel to capitulate, leaving Hamas victorious. Yet the hostage-taking transformed the moral landscape in ways Hamas failed to anticipate. While hostages remained in Gaza, it was no longer reasonable for international leaders to demand that Israel stop military operations. How could the world ask a nation to abandon its citizens to captivity while letting Hamas hostage-takers and torturers continue to hold them? True, a politicized battery of UN organizations engineered a massive disinformation campaign, demonizing Israel as it waged a just war by just means. And weak leaders in the UK, France, Australia and Canada succumbed to local and international propaganda, demanding that Israel stop defending itself and rewarding Palestinian terrorism by recognizing a Palestinian state. That appeasement prevented an earlier hostage release deal and prolonged the war. The hostage-taking prevented the conflict from dissolving into the traditional false narratives about "occupation," "resistance" and "apartheid." Many saw the truth - innocent people being held hostage by a genocidal terrorist organization committed to murdering Jews. The hostage-taking provided a broadly recognized imperative that eventually overcame the propaganda. The hostage-taking ironically gave Israel the time and space it needed to degrade the terrorist organization drastically. The job isn't finished, but Israel stands stronger than ever. The writer is a foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and was a member of Israel's hostage negotiation delegation.