This ceasefire, advocated by, among others, Rep. Tlaib and others who like her think the Nazi ovens didn’t go far enough, is bad for Israel’s war effort. The whole purpose is to allow Hamas to regroup, re-arm, and refortify their tunnels (now denominated by the MSM as, ummmmm, just the “basement” of a “hospital”).
That by itself demonstrates that the deal is all wrong: It makes less likely the achievement of the paramount end. But if, perversely, the disgusting currency of hostage trading is to displace that end in our thinking, the deal is still vile. It leaves the great majority of the present hostages still captive in God-knows-what conditions. Far worse, both strategically and morally, it all but assures future hostage taking for the simple reason that, as is now obvious (though conspicuously unspoken by Biden or Blinken or their pals in the media) it shows that hostage taking pays. When X pays, X gets repeated. Everyone knows this but few have the (minimal) guts to say it because it is really, really inconvenient to the appeasement crowd.
The hostage-as-commodity extravaganza, now begun with Israel’s foolhardy (although I strongly suspect, forced) acquiessence, will be gamed to the hilt by Hamas.
[That’s how it has worked in the past. Will Israel be able to steel itself for a one-and-done exchange? Or will the Biden administration keep forcing them to incentivize Hamas and others to kidnap Israelis? — Ed]
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