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We won’t pretend to be experts in the intricacies of domestic Israeli politics. But we need only basic math skills to understand a few critical numbers when it comes to the more than 240 hostages taken by Hamas terrorists nearly a year ago on Oct. 7.
Those numbers are 105 and eight. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government must consider these numbers, and follow their obvious conclusion.
Since that gruesome day last October, negotiations have led to the release of approximately 105 of those hostages. In comparison, Israeli military operations have rescued eight hostages.
One hundred and five versus eight.
Yes, this is a complex and ever-evolving situation. As ever, it is easier for us to opine about the need for a peaceful agreement than it is for the parties involved to do the hard work of forging a deal. These numbers should leave little doubt, however, that diplomacy remains the most effective means at this point to secure the safe release of the more than 60 hostages still believed to be alive (Israeli authorities also believe around 35 of the remaining hostages are dead, according to The New York Times).
Military action, tragically, did not save the lives of the six hostages murdered by Hamas over the weekend, reportedly and excruciatingly as the Israeli Defense Forces closed in with an attempted rescue mission. No one should forget that it was Hamas who took these hostages, Hamas who murdered them and Hamas who has made clear that they would do it again. But at the same time, the outrage from protesters in Israel who are frustrated with their government’s inability to finalize a proposed cease-fire deal with Hamas is well-founded.
Netanyahu has taken a hard stance in cease-fire negotiations, apparently going beyond a previously agreed upon framework to insist that Israeli forces remain in control of the Philadelphi corridor along the border between Gaza and Egypt. Despite this, the Israeli prime minister has insisted that, “No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me.”
His actions and priorities, as demonstrated by his approach in the ongoing negotiations and by the comments of far-right members in his Cabinet, have told a different story.
If his commitment to freeing the hostages is so unparalleled, it is past time for him to prove it. His people, especially the hostages and their families, deserve nothing less. The same still remains true for Hamas, which must prove that it values the safety of Palestinian civilians — who have tragically borne the brunt of Israel’s long-since disproportionate response to the Oct. 7 attacks with tens of thousands dead and nearly 2 million people displaced — above its own organizational goals of undermining and d estroying Israel.
The difficulty of making peace with people who want to destroy you, or who have already destroyed your family, cannot be understated. However, it is what this moment requires. As past leaders involved in this same conflict have spoken to, people make peace with their enemies, not their friends.
By failing to secure that peace, leaders from all of the parties at the negotiating table continue to fail their people. They certainly failed the six hostages killed recently, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old who had so much life left to live. He was remembered by family at a funeral in Jerusalem on Monday.
“We failed you, we all failed you. You would not have failed you,” his father Jon Polin said. “Maybe your death is the stone, the fuel, that will bring home the 101 other hostages.”
The remaining hostages and their families deserve peace. The millions of displaced Palestinians in Gaza deserve peace. It has been the negotiations and the humanitarian pauses that have delivered results for the innocent people caught in this violence. The leaders involved must finally learn those lessons, do the math and secure peace for the people they represent.
