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Free the hostages or destroy Hamas: Which way for Israel?

WATCH: “Israel Undiplomatic” with Mark Regev and Ruthie Blum, Ep. 41

free the hostages

U.S. President Donald Trump has again changed the rules of the game by demanding that Hamas free the hostages in Gaza by Saturday, Feb. 15. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu must now decide if the Israel Defense Forces will follow through with Trump’s ultimatum or settle for a compromise to keep the ceasefire alive.

It remains to be seen how Israel will approach the impossible choice between freeing more hostages or ending the ceasefire and destroying Hamas. It’s almost certain that Hamas will never free all of them and disband on their own, as the ceasefire demands.

Join JNS senior contributing editor Ruthie Blum and Mark Regev, former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom—both former advisers at the Prime Minister’s Office—for an in-depth discussion of this difficult decision facing Netanyahu.

Hear what everyone in Israel is talking about every week on Israel Undiplomatic!

Ruthie Blum, a former adviser at the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is an award-winning columnist and a senior contributing editor at JNS. Co-host with Ambassador Mark Regev of the JNS-TV podcast “Israel Undiplomatic,” she writes on Israeli politics and U.S.-Israel relations. Originally from New York City, she moved to Israel in 1977. She is a regular guest on national and international media outlets, including Fox, Sky News, i24News, Scripps, ILTV, WION and Newsmax.
Mark Regev is an Australian-Israeli diplomat, government advisor, and former ambassador. He served as Israel’s Ambassador to the UK (2016–2020) and as Senior Advisor for Foreign Affairs and International Communications to Prime Minister Netanyahu (2020–2021). Currently, he is the Chairman of the Abba Eban Institute for Diplomacy and Foreign Relations at Reichman University. Regev co-hosts Undiplomatic on JNS TV’s YouTube channel alongside Ruthie Blum.
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