Commentary about the Arbel Yehud release

[Mosby]

Haviv Rettig Gur

I'll say it again, because I'm not sure the Palestinian people and their supporters have yet understood, not even after 16 months.

Every moment in which Hamas torments the Israelis strengthens the Israelis. Every time they broadcast to Israelis that we are vulnerable, they solidify our resolve and validate the continuation of the war after the release.

Hamas are fighting an over-clever psychological war against an enemy that only really exists in their imaginations. The real war, the real enemy, is constantly strengthened by these images.

Every act of machismo meant to terrify some imagined French-Algerian colonialist seals Gaza's sad fate for yet another year, or another generation.

Israelis are not learning to be afraid of Hamas. They're learning to never again tolerate an enemy like Hamas ever growing strong and prosperous and entrenched. They are learning that Gaza cannot ever become what it was, no matter the cost to Gaza going forward.

They are learning, too, that the easiest way to lessen the impact of hostage-taking is to have fewer prisoners in Israeli prisons. They are learning that terrorists are a strategic liability in prison but a strategic benefit in the grave.

There is no end to Hamas's capacity to undermine the Palestinian cause.

And in every generation, they only realize these basic truths when it's much, much too late.

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