Hamas Hostage Situation Clouded by Israel-Iran Face-Off

With Israel and Iran directly engaged in hostilities against one another, it is questionable whether further progress will take place any time soon regarding the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. And, if any hostages do return, they may have stories that are too awful to tell and too awful to hear.

Count me among those who fear that the physical assaults, including rape and other abuse, will significantly diminish the likelihood of the hostage’s safe return. Israel and Iran coming to blows further complicate an already complicated situation.

Given the primitive barbarity of the October 7^th attack by Hamas, it stretches credulity to anticipate any likelihood that the captives were accorded any semblance of civilized treatment by Hamas or any of the other terrorist organizations to which Hamas may have trafficked the Israeli hostages. With Israel and Iran now engaged in direct confrontation, little is predictable, and even less is certain.

A primary purpose of Hamas’s barbaric October 7 attack on Israeli civilians was the Israeli retaliation that was sure to follow. Hamas counted on Israeli retaliation with little regard for the Gazan civilians who bear the brunt of the war Hamas unleashed. In the court of world opinion, Hamas assumed, quite correctly, that the focus would quickly shift from Hamas’s barbarism to Israeli retaliation.

Given the toll among Gazans, which Hamas anticipated and intended, we can assume there is little to no concern for the safety of the Israeli captives for whom Hamas is responsible. And yes, it is Hamas that has caused the dreadful carnage in Gaza about which we read, watch, and hear every day. Hamas leaders have acknowledged that they knew perfectly well that Israel would strike back with a vengeance. Indeed, they counted on Israel’s retaliation to continue the war they started and which the world is now witnessing.

And, while considering the horrible destruction in Gaza which Hamas has caused, consider this: relative to Israel’s size, the 1200 Israelis murdered in one day, on October 7, 2023, would be the equivalent of nearly 40,000 Americans slaughtered in one day by a hostile adversary. What would America’s response be if 40,000 Americans were murdered on one day by one adversary? I think we know. After all, when 2977 of our countrymen were murdered in America on one day, September 11, 2001, we retaliated by going to war for 20 years. During that time, nearly 120,000 Afghans died, not counting Taliban casualties.

The war in Gaza is a war Hamas has deliberately provoked by attacking Israel from Gaza. The war serves Hamas’s interest. No one should forget that. It is Hamas that is responsible for the conversion of Gaza to rubble because the Israeli retaliation that followed Hamas’s carnage was a certainty, and it was certain to be horrific. Hamas saw to that by unleashing the most primitive and ghoulish attack imaginable upon Israeli civilians. Hamas attackers even used the victims’ cell phones to live stream to the victims’ own families and friends the real-time murder, rape, and mutilation the attackers were committing.

It is estimated that about 133 dead or alive hostages remain in Gaza. Count me among those who will be surprised if 133 dead or alive victims are ever returned. The massive Israeli retaliation, of course, gives Hamas an excuse to blame Israel for any loss of hostages. The responsibility for any loss of life among the hostages is Hamas’s and Hamas’s alone. It is Hamas that attacked, murdered, raped, and mutilated Israeli men, women and children. It is Hamas that abducted men, women, and children (even toddlers), and it is Hamas who, ultimately, must answer for whatever fate has befallen the hostages.

It has been breathtaking to watch Hamas apologists on various news channels going through verbal gymnastics to avoid condemning the October 7 massacre or the men from Hamas who were responsible for the slaughter.  

Little is known about the condition of the hostages. They are Israelis, Americans, Thai and other foreign nationals, peace activists, the elderly, mothers, fathers, grandparents, children, and even toddlers who are too young to walk or even eat without being fed by an adult.

An ironic and tragic twist of history brought the world to this sad point. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have all taken center stage in the land of Israel since the Bronze Age, which morphed into the Iron Age 3500 years ago. Each religious tradition has reigned, and each has been banished, and they have all crossed swords over time. Today, that sad reality continues.

One of the worst days in Jewish history took place eighty-six years ago in Germany when on November 9, 1938, Nazis unleashed a night of terror known as Kristallnacht (night of broken glass), during which 91 Jews were murdered. Of course, in the years that followed, many millions more were to die in far greater massacres up until and including October 7, 2023, when 1200 Jews were murdered.

Thirty-five years ago, a Palestinian antiquities dealer presented me with a 5000-year-old clay bowl when I traveled to the West Bank during a tense time to meet with Palestinians during the first Intifada. The gift, he said, was to remind me that many Arabs, like nearly all Israelis, yearn for peace.

I was taken to that meeting by a retired Israeli Brigadier General, Yitzhak Segev, who had served as the military governor of Gaza and, in 1979, as the last Israeli Military Attache to Iran before the overthrow of the Shah. This former warrior had become a Peace Now activist, and he took me to meet Arabs who were also eager for peace. It is sad to contemplate how realities on the ground have deteriorated since then.

October 7, 2023, will primarily be celebrated by pro-Hamas Palestinians and antisemites of all stripes who always rise to the occasion to cheer on an old-fashioned pogrom. It is a date like December 7, 1941, that will live in infamy wherever decent men and women reside.  

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Novels by Hal Gershowitz