No one knows whether the arrangements for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas will last until the end of the various phases envisaged. Everything could go wrong at any moment. But there is one achievement that even a failure along the way can never annihilate: Israel’s moral victory over history. It is to have placed the bar of our values higher than those established by the military or political criteria of the moment. So high, in fact, that no nation in the world, no people, can claim to match Israel’s moral commitment to its own people. No country would be able to accept the enormous sacrifices that Israelis are making today to save some of their fellow citizens. This sacredness of life advocated by Judaism, this Zionist tradition of leaving no one behind, of abandoning no soul, does honor to the people of Israel. And shame on those who exploit it so cruelly.
Beyond the base calculations of how many terrorists will be exchanged for a single hostage, there is the arithmetic of greatness of mind and heart. Let our enemies boast. The only victory they can boast of is that won on the battlefield of hatred and savagery. The price they set is way too low. One Israeli is not worth just a hundred or a thousand terrorists. It’s too little. He’s worth tens of thousands because terrorists, in terms of human value, are worth absolutely nothing. In the case of Hamas, if the price to pay is so exorbitant, the State of Israel has only itself to blame. Because this is the price for the mistakes he made. That of having evacuated Gaza in 2005 without ensuring a moderate succession, that of having allowed Hamas to strengthen over the years, that of October 7, 2023. That of having created a monster.
Some rightly deplore the withdrawal of IDF troops and the release of hundreds of dangerous murderers who only dream of doing it again. They forget that there will always be time to reinvest Gaza if necessary and to eliminate the released terrorists a little later. For twenty years, Israel let Hamas recruit thousands of assassins, dig hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, produce thousands of missiles. So, waiting another year or two to finally settle their score isn’t so bad. But there are soldiers who fell in combat, wounded, disabled. Isn’t it an insult to them to accept Hamas’s terms? On the contrary, it is the greatest tribute that we can pay them. They did not fight with the primary objective of killing as many terrorists as possible. When in Gaza, they approached a street, a building, what they hoped above all was to find hostages there and free them. They did not fight so fiercely out of hatred of the enemy or simple desire for revenge, but out of love. Love of neighbor, love of life, love of Israel.
-In the history books, there will only be mention of an Israeli victory if the hostages return. Otherwise, despite military successes on the ground, we will speak of a defeat. This is how the vast majority of the Israeli population feels, as polls reveal. This includes families whose members have been victims of attacks or have lost a loved one in war. Since October 7, 2023, Israelis have constantly thought about the hostages. The whole country suffers with them, day after day. Their photos cover the walls of the country. The voices that rise today against the bad agreement, and it is bad, are heretical voices that blaspheme the most sacred values of Judaism that elevate the soul beyond strategic or political considerations to achieve Tzedek, that is to say, a justice freed from circumstances and capable of refusing choices that history wants to force on us. It is because of the necessity of Tzedek that yesterday and the day before yesterday, Shabbat was broken, with rabbinical authorization, by a government sitting in Jerusalem!
The hostage agreement heroically revives the greatest Jewish tradition. And with its true values. Beyond all the suffering inflicted on them, the people of Israel safeguard their dignity. Beyond all the wars imposed on him, he preserves his humanity. Beyond the turmoil of history, he maintains a high degree of morality. And above all, an invincible love of neighbor and of life, whatever happens. This is why the people of Israel are said to “live.”
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