A few friends from overseas have said to me recently, why doesn't Israel just capitulate, free all the Hamas terrorists (and yes, they are terrrorists, people with gallons of Israeli blood on their hands from bombings, stabbings, shootings and more) and end that war in Gaza, enough already, it's just a tool for Netanyahu and his right wing government to stay in power. 

The thing is it isn't. If you're overseas maybe you've already forgotten October 7th and moved on. Here in Israel we haven't. 

This really isn't a left right issue, a religious secular issue, a liberal versus conservative issue or a moderate versus extreme issue. This is a mainstream across the board issue of a nation still deep in trauma from the massacre of October 7th. For us it isn't February, it is the 120th October and counting. We have not moved on. Our people are still hostages in the tunnels of Gaza. Thousands of Israelis from towns and villages in the Gaza border are still refugees in their own country. Hamas is still sitting pretty in Qatar acting as though it has the upper hand and gleefully reminding us that it's already working on the next October 7th style attacks. 

This is not about "revenge" on Hamas for October 7th. This is about making sure Hamas is dismantled so that it can never do it again. This is about Israel's survival and protecting Israeli lives.

This war is a long way from being won and to see not just Israel's enemies but her supposed "friends" and "allies" trying to force a ceasefire before the goal of eliminating the Hamas war machine and infrastructure has been achieved is a sign that either they don't understand what is at stake for Israel or that they simply don't care, prepared to sacrifice yet more Israeli lives and possibly Israel itself for their own illusion of quiet. 

So the hostge deal and with it Hamas' outrageous demands are being pushed harder and harder on Israel. Release convicted blood thirsty Hamas terrorists serving multiple life sentences from Israel's jails, impose a ceasefire in Gaza, withdraw Israeli forces. 

There are a great many Israelis, including liberal, progressive Israelis, including families of hostages, including a great many soldiers and reservists, who are very worried about releasing Hamas terrorists in exchange for hostages, who are furious at the prospect of a deal which means a ceasefire, granting Hamas the reward they wanted for the atrocities of October 7th - the release of their murderous terrorists and their brutal regime intact to commit a rerun.

I've been to shiva after shiva after shiva after shiva, where tearful parents and spouses entreat whomever will listen: let the IDF finish the job, don't give Hamas a victory, don't give them a reward for what the did on October 7th, don't let our family's sacrifice have been in vain, don't leave Gaza without destroying Hamas, without getting the murderers who planned and carried out October 7th, don't give Hamas the reward of releasing more murderers (including the Nukhba squads who carried out October 7th) to murder more Israelis.

Sinwar and a whole ton of Hamas nasties who've killed loads of Israelis were released during the Gilad Shalit deal and we are still paying a hugely bloody price for that, including October 7th. It was the same with the fallout from the Jibril deal (also thanks to a Likud govt), later in the aftermath of Rabin's attempt to solve the issue by exiling freed Hamas people to Lebanon (where they learned the fine art of suicide bombing).

This is part of Hamas' psychological war against Israel. Do you pay any price to release the hostages knowing that in doing so you will be releasing unrepentant mass murderes who will kill again, meaning that you are paying for the release of the hostages with the blood of the Israelis who will be murdered by the released terrorists? Because over and over again we have seen what Hamas and similar prisoners will do when they are released.

I don't know of anyone in Israel who does not want the hostages released safe and well. I know many who are opposed to this deal with Hamas. Not because they don't want the hostages home. Because they worry how many Israelis will be murdered and mutilated and yes, taken hostage, by the Hamas prisoners who will be released in such a deal. The Hamas list of demands includes some of the bloodiest and most murderous terrorists, responsible for multiple murders of Israeli civilians in recent decades.

My heart breaks for the hostages, but how many Israelis will be murdered or kidnapped if they are released in exchange for hundreds or thousands of terrorists in Israeli jails? Who will pay the price of the terror attacks and intifadas that will unleash?

The mitzva of pidyon shvuyim (redeeming captives/hostages) is a very important mitzva but the rabbis were very clear that when the price becomes so high that the community can't keep paying it, when the redeeming of hostages means that more and more will be taken hostage for ever greater ransom demands, then not only is one permitted not to pay the ransom, one is forbidden from doing so, because the price of freeing the current hostages will be that many more will be taken because the hostage takers will see that they can get whatever they want this way. We are facing just such a situation now. It is horrific, it is heartbreaking, it is an evil dilemma that I wouldn't wish on any government.