The current negotiations for the release of the hostages, whether finalized or still in progress, are quite significant, akin to the sudden fall of the Bashar Assad regime and the collapse of Hamas and Hezbollah, as they are another wall falling within the fierce and determined front aimed at the destruction of the State of Israel.
As it crumbles, in the background, Iran and Russia sit increasingly alarmed. Adam Boehler, President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy for the hostages, is in the region and U.S. President Joe Biden has stated that he knows things are moving forward. In Cairo or elsewhere, the parties have met and engaged in intense discussions. It is the best way for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to demonstrate, once and for all, how he seeks a true victory—one that benefits everyone, especially the people of Israel—and how he envisions a Middle East freed from the now-defeated terrorists.
It has been said that Netanyahu’s decision to fight Hamas and, later, Hezbollah, without yielding to American dictates of battle lacked a strategic foundation. And that he was acting out of a harsh response to the terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 or, more cynically, that he was acting to protect his coalition through war. He has endured the harshest of criticisms without bending, remaining steadfast in what has shaped itself into a strategic framework.
However, one key point remains to be completed: the second phase of bringing the hostages home. The hostages represent a piece of the heart of the Jewish people.
Some of Netanyahu’s strongest opponents demanded an unconditional exchange, aligning with desperate families, and, at times, damaging negotiations. But with Israel’s successes on the battlefield, Netanyahu can negotiate from a position of strength, conceding on the number of terrorist prisoners without relinquishing control over the Philadelphi Corridor and Katzrin routes, thus ensuring that Hamas cannot regroup as it surely intends to do.
The families of the hostages continue to demand the simultaneous return of all the hostages, while the right opposes the release of terrorists to accomplish this. Netanyahu will follow his own path. Hamas has softened its stance after Trump threatened to destroy it if it does not release the hostages before his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025. Israel is much stronger now, and Netanyahu can be seen as a victor in history, even though the endless conflicts between right and left in Israel will continue even after the hostages return home.
It requires great cynicism to criticize the prime minister—as the press, which hunts him daily, does—for requesting a leave from six hours in court, where he is interrogated three days a week about cigars and potential journalistic favors. Yet Netanyahu is still the one weaving the final details of a possible agreement without capitulations—generous, but cautious.
The hostages are loved individually. Each has a name more familiar than that of a star and a face that all Israelis recognize. Oded, Liri, Romi, Segev, Ariel—every one of them has captured a piece of everyone’s heart. So, of course, does baby Kfir, who has spent more time in the hands of his torturers and captors than he did living in freedom with his parents and older brother, practically a baby himself when taken, too, at the age of 4, from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Netanyahu is right when he insists that there will be no victory until all the hostages are home because it is Israel’s rule—and Israel’s alone—to never leave anyone behind.
