The Israel-Hamas Deal Everyone’s Talking About
From diverse perspectives to emotional insights, our guest writers share their thoughts on the implications and impact of this week's Israel-Hamas deal.
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Editor’s Note: We asked our guest writers to react to the Israel-Hamas deal announced this week.
‘Just One Move in a Large Chess Game’
My thoughts have changed over the day, as sunshine gives way to dusk and about 24 hours have passed since there was an official announcement of the hostage deal, but the pain and sadness in the pit of my stomach is a constant.
At first I felt a huge sense of betrayal — there is so much risk to those hostages not included in the first stage of the deal and, because it is viewed as a victory by Hamas and their supporters, providing an incentive for them to nab more of us, there may be increased risk to Israelis and Jews everywhere in the world; I feel less safe.
On the other hand, mental images of the hostages and the conditions under which they are being kept make me want to do anything to set them free. These conflicting feelings — of relief I hope will soon come to hostages and their families versus fear for all of us — rage within.
I am hoping to find out that this was just one move in a large chess game where you give up one piece to protect your king and checkmate your opponent. That there is possibly a bigger gain at stake here would be the only thing that would justify, for me, the damage this deal is doing to Israel’s deterrence and to the confidence we gained through our magnificent operations in this war we did not ask for.
— Sheri Oz, Israel Diaries
‘Human rights are dirt.’
I read the terms of the ceasefire to a friend who doesn’t follow the news so closely. “Hamas will release three hostages on the first day, then four more on day seven,” I told her. “Israel will free 30 prisoners for each civilian hostage and 50 for each female soldier, and finally there will be an influx of aid to Gaza.”
“That’s crazy,” she said as she wrinkled her nose. “What kind of person would even think something like that up?”
That’s my view exactly. This agreement makes it painfully obvious that we live in a world in which human rights are dirt. Innocent people should not be kidnapped from a music festival and held captive in tunnels for barter, but that is exactly what world governments have allowed Hamas to do and are in fact now even praising.
Humanitarian aid must always be available to innocent people in need and should not be connected to this agreement. Photos of mobs of jubilant Gazan residents celebrating and firing guns into the air — declaring the war a resounding political, military, and propaganda victory — further expose how the outrageous charge of genocide was cynically weaponized as yet another tool of war.
Whether or not this agreement proves to have been in Israel’s short-term best interests, the only real path to peace will be an arrangement designed to ensure the political and economic rights of every citizen regardless of politics.
Peace will come when human rights are seen as sacred obligations that must be fulfilled, not cheap slogans we can use to smear our enemies or ammunition for lawfare. Unfortunately, we are nowhere near that right now.
— Shlomo Levin, What’s Going On?
‘The urgency is very real. But so is the risk for the rest of the nation.’
I feel sick. The details coming out about what we’ve agreed to sound disastrous to me. First of all, it’s not a hostage release deal, it’s a terrorist release deal — which we’ve agreed to so that we can save some of our hostages.
We don’t know how many of those who will be released are alive, how many dead. We do know that many more are left behind and there is no assurance of them ever being released. We do know that the families of the hostages left behind feel the double betrayal of our own country turning our backs on them as if their lives don’t matter.
We all want the hostages home. All of them. The living and the dead. We all can understand and empathize with the families who want their loved ones saved, who are urging to save those that can be saved now — because every moment in captivity with rapists and murderers is life-threatening and mind-twisting and we do not know what will be in the next moment.
The urgency is very real. But so is the risk for the rest of the nation. Releasing murderers means that other Jews will be murdered. The only difference is that we know the names and stories of the hostages and we don’t know the names of the yet to be murdered. Releasing terrorists who attempted murder and did not succeed is no better than releasing murderers with blood on their hands — it’s just incentive for them to try harder next time. And they will. Past terrorist release deals have taught us that.
And what about the soldiers who died to secure Gaza, so that the Israelis living in proximity to Gaza can go back to their homes and live in safety? Do the lives sacrificed mean nothing? What about all the injured soldiers? What did they fight for? And how will people return to their homes knowing Hamas is still strong in Gaza and incentivized to attack again?
On top of all that — all the Jew-haters around the world are watching and what do they learn from this? That it pays to take hostages. That the way to keep Israel from winning wars is to steal babies and old people from their beds. I feel sick. Horrified and afraid for the future.
All that being said — when I have doubted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past, I’ve discovered later that he had very good reasons for making the decisions that seemed insane at the time. There is a lot we don’t know and many pieces to balance in this dangerous chess game. All I can do is hope that by the grace of God and intelligent choices will pull us out of what looks like a horrific disaster.
— Forest Rain, Inspiration from Zion
‘Desecration of God’s Name’
A few days after October 7th, the main objective of the war — the release of the hostages — became unattainable. The hostages had been squirreled away so that they could never be located by friendly forces, let alone rescued. So by our own definition, we lost the war a few days after it broke out.
The other stated objective — crushing Hamas — has not been attained either after a year and a half of fighting. So it becomes worse. In a real sense, this war was lost before it even began. Hamas will never willingly give up all of the hostages, because that is their only leverage and thus their only guarantee of survival. Any idiot understands that. So what is left?
I amongst others referenced Sophie’s Choice, accenting the psychological torture of having to choose who gets released. We might as well have referenced the Kastner train, the last train out of Hungary before the final curtain went down. Kastner, a Jew, negotiated directly with the Nazis and chose who would be on that train. Family of course, and other assorted friends and acquaintances. Tough luck for those left behind.
That is the message being given to the “unchosen ones” and their families. Tough luck. This is a moral outrage. Israel should never agree to any deal that does not include every hostage. That we have in this case will come back to haunt us. Israel is not morally resolute. This is a great shame and a hilul HaShem (“desecration of God’s Name”).
— Ehud Neor, A Pisgah Site
‘One Final Game of Psychological Torture for Jews Worldwide’
I’m on multiple listservs and WhatsApp groups of Jews who have been exiled from their workplace, or are organizing on multiple fronts to counter antisemitism in the West.
The Jews in these groups have been living with the dual horror of processing the attacks on October 7th, sometimes traveling to Israel to bear witness to the destroyed kibbutzim, volunteer at IDF bases or farms with no workers or attending shivas or funerals, waking each day and remembering there are Jews suffering the unthinkable in tunnels in Gaza tortured — while simultaneously watching friends and coworkers cheer Jewish death.
What I know from these groups is that Jews have many opinions about the ceasefire deal. Some are furious. Many are hopeful and praying for peace. But I can’t help see how much Hamas, in their final throes of existence, loves to torture Jews. They forced Israel to make a Schindler’s list, or a Sophie’s Choice of who will live and who … may not.
(Isn’t it cool to have so many movies about Jewish death to use as an analogy? And so many reminders that what is happening to Jews today has happened time and again? Excited for the Spanish Inquisition movie.)
And now they will release hostages in an excruciatingly slow drip. One final game of psychological torture for Jews worldwide. But the only thing I can think about is the people. I met Romi Gonen’s sister at Omer Neutra’s shiva. Is she alive? Can she ever return to the person she was? I met an uncle from the Bibas family. Can their children possibly have survived? If the parents are alive, how will they ever overcome what they've gone through?
And, I think of my cousin, tortured and sterilized by Mengele, who dreamt every night that she’d grabbed her younger sister’s hand at Auschwitz and pulled her toward life. “She was never the same,” my grandmother told me.
When I met her in Israel, 50 years later, she still had the same dream. Every night. The ceasefire deal raises the ultimate Jewish question: When will the world have had its fill of Jewish death? When will we stop living in fear, just for being Jews? When will the world agree and say, dayenu1?
— Hana Raviyt Schank, Bearing Witness
‘A Midpoint in the War’
In terms of the deal itself, there is no right answer. My heart is with the hostages and their families, but in terms of Israeli security, the deal leaves Hamas as a player, still in power in Gaza, and reorganizing.
History has not ended. The wisdom of this deal depends on what Israel does next. If this ceasefire becomes permanent, it will be a clear victory for Hamas. That is unacceptable.
Once the hostages are back, Israel must resume pursuing its goal of destroying Hamas and do so with maximum prejudice. Hopefully, a Donald Trump Administration will give Israel the room to do this. Frankly, it is what should have been done on October 8th, 2023.
Israel has hugely reduced Hamas’ military capabilities, the threat it poses, and Iran’s power, so it is too extreme to say this deal means the war has achieved nothing. However, for Israel to make it count really, and claim a victory, it must view this as a midpoint in the war and no way the end of it. Israel must not make the mistake of choosing illusory “peace” over security.
— Nachum Kaplan, Moral Clarity: Truths in Politics and Culture
‘Total victory was always an empty slogan.’
The ceasefire deal that was announced last night is not, as some are claiming, the same as the deal from eight months ago. Crucially, as Jack Khoury writes in Haaretz, “Hamas backed down from its demand for a total end to the war and a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza at the time of signing.”
This is why the Religious Zionism political party wants the war to resume at the end of the first phase of the deal and has an alibi — at least for now — to remain in the government.
The problem with the deal is that, like the Oslo Accords, it postpones the crucial issues to a later phase. Most importantly: Who will rule Gaza when the war ends?
That we are still discussing this question represents the total failure of Netanyahu’s “total victory” policy. “Total victory” was always an empty slogan used by those who don’t seem to understand that war is politics by other means, and that the notion Israel would reoccupy Gaza and build new settlements there was always a fantasy. By not acknowledging this reality, they opened the door for a return to the pre-October 7th status quo.
The pre-October 7th status quo meant Hamas ruling in Gaza as the evil bogeyman, so Israel wouldn’t be forced into concessions in the West Bank. Netanyahu thought that Hamas leaders could be placated by suits of Qatari cash and the Palestinians could be ignored while he pursued normalization with Saudi Arabia without making concessions. October 7th proved what a terrible mistake this was, but we may yet see the policy making a comeback.
— Alex Stein, Love of the Land
‘A Trumpian Publicity Stunt’
Donald Trump supporters were positively giddy when he said that there would be hell to pay if all the hostages were not returned before his inauguration on January 20th. They understandably assumed that Trump meant there would be hell to pay for Hamas.
But in fact, Hamas did not budge a millimeter and Trump never threatened them. He threatened Netanyahu.
His envoy to the Middle East, Steven Witkoff — not a diplomat but a real estate developer very snugly in bed with Qatar — called from the country that bailed him out of a bad hotel purchase to the tune of $623 million, told the Israeli prime minister he would be visiting the following afternoon, and demanded an immediate meeting.
He was told that Bibi could meet with him that evening, as soon as the Jewish Sabbath was over. According to reports, Witkoff responded “in salty language” that the Sabbath was of no interest to him. Translation: Witkoff told Bibi, “I don’t give a f*** about Shabbat — you’d better be there in the afternoon.”
This move seemed designed as a power play, meant to bring Bibi to heel and establish his own dominance. Trump has never forgiven Bibi for acknowledging Biden’s election victory, which is no doubt why he tweeted that video blaming him for our wars the other day.
Bibi did in fact break protocol and meet with Witkoff as commanded. He was then informed that “hell to pay” referred to Israel as well as Hamas. Or, if you want to be truly accurate about the subtext: Israel instead of Hamas.
The upshot is that Netanyahu was forced to accept the deal proposed by President Joe Biden, which has been on the table for eight months, and which he refused to sign for that entire time because it only releases some of the hostages, releases too many terrorists, and leaves Hamas in power.
I am inexpressibly grateful for every recovered hostage. But let’s be real: This deal is a Trumpian publicity stunt and the terms for Israel could hardly be worse.
— Elissa Wald, Never Alone
‘A Huge, Inevitable Error’
It was meant to be the war to end all wars. The slaughter in the trenches was immense with 9 million souls having lost their lives over the course of the war. Never again was the motto. Never again was the policy.
The League of Nations was birthed on the utopian ideal of world peace and the Western powers felt likewise. They vowed to do all in their power to prevent another lost generation. They sought to prevent ever more young men from losing their lives in the flower of their youth. But alas it was not to be.
Germany was sold the Ludendorff lie: that they had been stabbed in the back, that they had never been defeated, that the social democrats had sold them down the river. Upon armistice, the still militaristic German mindset remained and it led slowly but surely to greater terror ahead.
Today, Hamas stands vanquished — their forces mowed down, their leadership in an early grave, their allies diminished beyond measure. Destruction has been wrought on an enormous scale and innocents have been sacrificed on the pyre of their leaders’ fanaticism.
Yet from the depths of hell they still claim victory. They claim to be undefeated. They claim to have been stabbed in the back by the Saudis and Emiratis and their Arab brothers. Like Ludendorff before them, they will sell falsehoods to their people and continued militancy; murder and jihad will be the result.
In their attempt to ensure that “never again,” the international community has created Versailles: The forces of darkness will surely return for one last unthinkable fight to the death.
The international community called for armistice now and so it had to come. They prioritised the temporary end of human misery for the price for its assured recurrence. The Americans and Europeans could have demanded an immediate Hamas surrender; an immediate return of the hostages; but they refused to do so.
Throughout the entire war, the whole global commentary has been centered on casualty numbers over grand strategy. The powers that be wanted death to end, so they called for war to end. Ceasefire over surrender. Humanitarianism over real peace. A huge, inevitable error.
Yet without the surrender of Hamas put at front and centre of global demands, they were always always going to live to fight another day, however gingery, however diminished. In this context, Israel had no choice but to agree to this hostage deal and take stock knowing that their “Second World War” is a decade or more around the corner.
We know what will happen next. Palestinian rearmament. Palestinian nationalist militarism. Palestinian violence. International appeasement. Munich. Czechoslovakia. Poland. War. And finally genuine surrender.
At that moment, when the Ludendorff doctrine has finally expired and Hamas hatred is dead in a bunker, will the Palestinians finally find democracy and freedom in the heart of total defeat? Like the Germans before them, they will look back at their Victory in Europe Day as an act of national salvation.
But that day will only come to pass after much violence and needless death and so we must wait once more for the Fuhrer. Only then, when Islamism and Arab rejectionism die with him, will all the peoples of the Middle East — Jews and Arabs among them — finally be free.
— Daniel Clarke-Serret, Guerre and Shalom
‘I feel sick, I feel tired, and I feel hopeful.’
I have no thoughts on this ceasefire agreement — only feelings.
I feel that the hostages need to come home, and I feel that they needed to come home about 450 days ago. I feel that the world and whatever remains of the “international community” abandoned them long ago, and, what is more, I feel that the world accepts the captivity of Jewish people as par for the course.
I feel that the young men and women of the United States, who have continued to party and go to concerts since October 7th, see nothing in common between themselves and the young men and women who were kidnapped at the Nova Music Festival. I feel that that demonstrates a fundamental truth about their worldview: Jews don’t count.
I feel that everyone and their mother knows that making this deal with Hamas is not a solution but rather a pause — a pause between this war and the next. And I feel that the world is quite okay with that. In fact, that seems to be exactly what the world wanted all along.
I feel torn between my Jewish heart, which tells me that one innocent life is worth as much as the entire world, and my American mind, which tells me that anything short of complete and total victory will only incentivize future violence and hostage taking.
I feel that this war and its ignominious end will be remembered by future generations the same way that the Franco-Prussian War is remembered today — as the prologue to the coming conflagration. And I feel that the leaders of today will be remembered as the as Wilsons and Chamberlains by tomorrow.
I feel sick, I feel tired, and I feel hopeful. I feel hopeful because I am a Jewish educator, and if you could see what is happening in our classrooms, you would feel hopeful too. Because all around the world, young Jews are waking up from the dreams of their parents and finding ways to build something new. I feel hopeful because I am a religious fool who believes that G-d can do anything, at any time, for anyone.
I feel angry that the world is so tolerant of anti-Jewish violence, and I feel that the only possible future for the Jewish People is one that is truly independent of the world and its pressures.
I feel ready — ready to capture the flag and carry the torch of the Jewish tradition, from one generation to the next, as my ancestors have done since the dawn of time.
And I feel Jewish — Jewish and proud and unapologetic.
— Ted Goldstein, The Zionist Voice
A Hebrew word that means approximately “it would have been enough”
Hamas is already claiming the cease-fire as a victory of respit for now and an opportunity to murder the rest of the Jews soon to come. Israel should not agree to anything other than: release all hostages, give up everyone in Hamas, release no prisoners. Any other terms will be claimed as a victory of David over Goliath, thus cementing antisemitic attitudes around the world for at least a generation. My heart goes out to the friends and families of the hostages, but my brain says not to take any deal with Hamas. It is a deal with the devil to be reneged on at their convenience and to their full advantage.
This ceasefire agreement is not worth the paper it is written on because Hamas has never been bound by ceasefires and has an express goal of rendering Israel Judenrein . The question is not if Hamas will break the ceasefire but when will it do so
Many decisors of Jewish law view the rhetoric about Pidyon Shevuyim ( redeeming hostages) and Pikuach Nefesh ( saving lives ) as wholly inapplicable in the context of a war between nations where you are winning a war as opposed to the medieval context of redeeming an individual from a local chieftain.
Hopefully the brass of the IDF which like the American brass before Pearl Harbor and the French brass before the German invasion in 1940 who all suffered from the same error of overconfidence and a disdain of intelligence and a refusal to see the need for an offensive defense should be shown the door.