Hostages a Dilemma for Bibi B
y far the most emotional issue Israelis face today is the fate of the hostages tak- en by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Hamas released 105 of the 253 they
seized during a one-week truce at the end of November, in exchange for freeing Palestinian prisoners in Is- raeli jails. But nobody knows for sure how
many of the remaining 148 missing Israelis are still alive. I was in Israel at the time, and
emotions were raw. Family members protested nightly in Tel Aviv, urging negotiations with Hamas, while other families held vigils in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s of- fice, urging him to finish the fight.
the 2006 Lebanon war — facts generally glossed over by the international media. “What other country in the
world could tolerate such a sit- uation?” Seaman asked. “If we don’t resolve this now and end this threat, the future is bleak, and Israel will be destroyed in future decades. The vast ma- jority of Israelis understands this.” Senior Biden administra-
tion officials — including the president himself — have been pushing hard for Netanyahu to step down.
According to published accounts,
when Egypt and Qatar negotiated a hostage release deal in April, Hamas could not provide a list of 40 wom- en, children, and elderly hostages to release, leading to speculation that scores of the missing have died in captivity or been murdered by Hamas. More recently, the United States
was pressing Israel to accept a stag- gered hostage-for-prisoner swap that would include at least a temporary suspension of Israel’s long-planned offensive into Rafah, the southern- most city in the Gaza Strip, where Israel believes some 4,000 Hamas fighters continue to hide. Netanyahu has said consistently
Twice over the past six
months, the administration has hosted Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid in Washing- ton, D.C., treating him like a head of state. In March, Senate Major-
ity Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that Netanyahu had “lost his way” and called for new elections in Israel in a speech on the Senate floor. Biden told reporters he thought Schumer had given “a good speech.” A month later, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
that Israel must destroy the remain- ing Hamas military and political in- frastructure or face dozens of Oct. 7-style massacres in the future, and most Israelis seem to agree. “The public wishes to continue
fighting Hamas, but at the same time, wishes very much for a hostage deal to be promoted,” Israeli academic Ilana Shpaizman told The Media Line. One thing appears clear: If Netan-
yahu agrees to a permanent cease- fire in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages, his government will fall. The current war will end — while laying the groundwork for the next war. That is the future Netanyahu says he is working to prevent. — K.T.
added her voice to other top Democrats calling for Netan- yahu to leave office. “We rec- ognize Israel’s right to protect itself,” she said. “We reject the policy and practice of Netan- yahu — terrible.” “The Israeli public is aware
of Americans trying to ma- nipulate things here,” said Seaman. “Schumer’s comment about replacing Bibi woke peo- ple up.” In late April, the State De-
partment announced it was planning to impose sanctions on an Israel Defense Forces
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