OPINION:
It is easy to say in hindsight, but were there better ways to deal with the Hamas hostages at the outset of their capture (“Israel and Hamas complete their latest exchange as ceasefire’s first phase has just 2 weeks left,” Web, Feb. 15)? Hamas took 270 people hostage and carried them back to the dungeon tunnels of Gaza. They are still holding 63 of them, 500 days later.
Former President Biden announced that our “first priority would be to get the hostages back.” The word “hostage” implies that a ransom must be paid to get them released. For the promised release of 33 innocent prisoners, the Israelis are paying much more than a king’s ransom. They have emptied their prisons of hundreds of the worst kind of enemies of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel.
What if, instead of calling the captured hostages, we had called them what they really are: prisoners of war? Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack was certainly an act of war, and the people who were seized are prisoners of war. That designation would remove the cultural assumption that they had to be ransomed. Moreover, it would have demanded that the prisoners be treated like prisoners of war, and could be visited by international inspectors, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross. The ICRC dispatches delegates to check on prisoners’ condition and treatment. They share much-awaited news with the families and provide things such as books, personal hygiene items, blankets and warm clothes. This is what the IRCC is providing to both Russians and Ukrainians.
I do not fault Biden for saying what we all felt at the time — that we needed to get the hostages back right away. But it would have been better if he had said, “We are going to hunt down the perpetrators of this savagery and bring them to justice.” That would have meant eliminating Iran’s support of armed terrorism. Iran is like an octopus, and its tentacles include regimes of Hams, Hezbollah and the Houthis. You cannot kill an octopus by chopping of one of its tentacles; it will simply grow a new one.
If we intend to bring peace to Israel, we need to do more than simply cut off tentacles. We need to remove head of the octopus itself — those in Iran who are the sworn enemies of Israel.
JIM FRENCH
Freeport, Illinois
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