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Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-884611
No One Left Behind, Israel Completes Hostage Recovery
(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - What many thought Israel would never be able to do - bring all the Gaza hostages home - has now been done. Many struggled to grasp why it was so important for the country to recover all the hostages, both dead and alive. Few countries would have gone to such great lengths or sacrificed so much - and so many - to ensure that every last hostage was returned, even at the price of releasing hundreds of convicted terrorist murderers. But therein lies the secret of Israel's solidarity: that we are a collective made up of individuals, and that the collective is only strong if each individual knows it will look out for them. And it does. This is a process that gives the individual a sense of security and, in doing so, strengthens the collective. What makes this even more remarkable is that it is taking place in a society riven by deep divisions. Yet all are part of the collective called Israel, and that collective will not allow the individual to be left to the enemy. That understanding gives the country strength. It ensures that soldiers will fight, knowing that no one will be abandoned. Ensuring the dead receive a dignified burial is something hardwired into Jewish DNA, beginning with Abraham, who insisted on purchasing a burial plot for his wife Sarah in Hebron, and continuing with Joseph, who made his brothers swear to carry his bones out of Egypt and return them to the Land of Israel.