Daily Alert Archives

Israel Is Paying a Terrible Price in This "Deal" with Hamas

(Telegraph-UK) Jake Wallis Simons - In the negotiations between Jerusalem and Hamas, the jihadis have tried to secure the release of the very worst murderers serving the longest sentences in Israeli prisons. Israelis have been forced to watch as criminals are released to secure the freedom of their innocent compatriots who were snatched from their homes for no greater crime than simply being Jewish. Israelis are under no pretense that giving freedom to such numbers will produce anything other than blood and tears. Israel is a practical country and it is quite obvious that the very dynamic of the deal provides a powerful incentive for further hostage taking. Yet this is the nature of the Israeli social contract. The Jewish state is a remarkable outlier when set alongside other liberal democracies. Its birth rate is high, not low; its population young and growing; its social bonds are powerful, with the nation relating to itself as an extended family, not atomized, unpatriotic and demoralized. The ancient Talmudic motto, "Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Bazeh," means "all of Israel hold a responsibility for each other." It is this that motivates hundreds of thousands of men, both young and not-so-young, to leave their families, their children and their businesses and place their necks on the line for the sake of defending the family of the nation. The writer is editor of the Jewish Chronicle-UK.
2025-03-04 00:00:00
Full Article