The past week has been surreal, with human beings stolen from their homes or a party to rot in dark tunnels for seven endless weeks - being transferred from a terror group over to the Red Cross, taken into Egypt and finally back into Israel, to packed streets of Israelis welcoming them home with tears and cheers.
The videos Hamas has put out show the hostages smiling and waving at their terrorist captors, in a further attempt by Hamas to keep garnering the world's sympathy, which in any other universe would be perceived as what it is - sick and absurd - yet in this world we live in, everything Hamas is putting out there has been swallowed up in gracious gulps by the international community.
In Israel we can hear the sound from these videos, where Hamas is ordering the hostages they are releasing to keep smiling and waving as they walk "or else." Lucky for us, we have bigger things to worry about than Hamas's "Pallywood" blackmail - we have women and children arriving back home, to discover their families have been murdered, or to find themselves orphans. In every case, if the father was also taken hostage, then he is still a captive in Gaza, and in most every case they are not returning "home." They are going to hotels at the Dead Sea or Eilat, since their neighborhoods were completely burned to the ground and pillaged on that Black Saturday, October 7th, 2023. Emily Hand was one of the children released, and her father said he had to put his lips to her ear, and he still couldn't hear her. She learned an Arabic phrase and it's "Be quiet," as her hysterical crying in captivity was constantly met with this threatening phrase. Another child released, a boy, 12, was beaten in the streets of Gaza by its "innocent civilians," before being forced to watch the 45-minute video reserved for the most seasoned war journalists, the video of the bodycam footage of Hamas slaughtering us by the thousands, carving us to bits and burning us alive and dismembering us. He was forced to watch this at gunpoint, and if he cried or looked away, he would be killed. The children were then brought to meet one of the leaders of Hamas, Yahya Sinuar, who spoke to them in "perfect Hebrew."
He knows Hebrew from being a prisoner here, during which time he had life-threatening brain cancer, so despite his record, Israeli doctors operated on him and saved his life. He was then released in 2011 as part of the 1027 prisoners given back for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped when I lived here in 2005 and kept underground for five years. Sinuar is one of the masterminds behind the barbarity here on October 7th, and speaking of prisoners being released, for every innocent woman and child being relinquished by Hamas since Friday night, we are letting out three prisoners, all of whom have attempted to murder Israelis or been caught planning to do so. Several Palestinians were also publicly executed this week by Hamas, either hung or beheaded, their bodies then mutilated for all to see. Their supposed crimes were assisting Israel, and these public displays of murder were cheered on and filmed in the streets. A friend asked me why Israel has so many prisoners available for release - and I said that we don't. There was a terror attack this morning in Jerusalem. Three were killed and it was almost much worse, but many from that bus stop had thankfully just boarded a bus. We are endangering ourselves by letting out these prisoners, but need our hostages back and have limited options. In order to get them back, we need to keep this "pause" going, and the longer we pause, the harder it will be to start again, and we must start again, because we must destroy Hamas. Though I tend to worry about what others think of me in my own life and what others are thinking and saying about Israel "out there," we as a people can't afford this luxury. Our survival as a State and as a Nation depends on the certainty that what took place here on October 7th will never occur again. It is truly that simple, and despite being the only democracy on earth that is held to an impossible standard when it comes to defending itself, it is what we must do and is what we will do. We now have 113 hostages back, but there are still 136 stuck in Gaza. All of our men, including seniors in bad health, and the Red Cross has been forbidden to visit our hostages to check on them (and not demanded to do so), not even to send us Proof of Life, despite this being required by International Law. Nor have we received "Proof of Death" of the Bibas family, who have been made the symbol of this war here in Israel, since 9-month old redheaded Kfir was the youngest hostage taken along with his 4-year old brother and mother. Their abduction was filmed with the Mom clinging to her kids as she was led away, and it was assumed they would be in the first group back last week, but they never returned. Yesterday Hamas announced their deaths, and this has been broadcast as truth all over the world. It may be true of course, but word on the street in Israel is that this is likely psychological terror on behalf of Hamas, which includes a video they posted tonight of the father wailing from a plastic chair about his family being killed. The IDF has not been able to verify this information yet and it was believed the day before Hamas's announcement that this same young family had been taken by another "clan" of terrorists in Gaza to use as a "bartering chip" against Hamas. Whether this sounds to you like an incredible horror movie or a far-fetched bad film, these shocking stories are literally our reality right now, and how are we coping? By bonding together as a united force of support and unflinching resilience. By volunteering in every nook and cranny and on the farms in the South to rescue the vegetables that feed our people. By gathering in what is now coined as "Hostage Square" to bring hope and love to the families still in despair.
Perhaps the best example comes from the freshly returned hostages and the families who have been lucky enough to get all of their loved ones back this week. They are not just happy for themselves. They are taking the necessary time to feel their emotions but then returning to the square to fight for the return of all the hostages to all the families, because here in Israel, we are all family. As the bracelet I wear on my wrist states:"Until all of the taken are home, we are all taken." And we are not all home yet. Not even close. #BRINGTHEMHOME #BRINGTHEMHOMENOW #AMISRAELCHAI
Very poignant observations. Sad…