"The Voice of Your Brother's Blood Cries Out." But Is There a Deal to be Had?
"The Voice of Your Brother's Blood Cries Out." But Is There a Deal to be Had?
Even as the largest protest ever for a hostage deal was taking place, a leading Israeli public intellectual reminded us that there's no reason to assume that any deal is even possible.
We were not at the Tel Aviv protest last night, but several people texted us from Kaplan, while they were there, to say that they’d never seen the protests so large. And then, the press confirmed. Estimates are that there were some 500,000 people at the Kaplan (Tel Aviv) protest, and another 250,000 at other locations throughout Israel.
That’s 750,000 protesters in a country of about 9,000,000 people. If you do the math, a comparable protest in the United States would require some 29,000,000 protesters.
It’s big.
The rage and grief over the murder of six hostages just over a week ago are still palpable. And to many, the murder of those hostages clearly disproves the notion that “the only way to get them back is massive military pressure”—which has been the government’s claim—since the hostages were apparently killed when the terrorists feared that the IDF was getting close.
In Makor Rishon, a right-leaning paper that tends to be read by the religious community, there was a full page ad (not clear who paid for it) that read, in good Biblical fashion:
What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood calls out to Me from the ground!
Yet is a deal even possible? Whether it’s through negotiation or military pressure, is there anything in the world that would get Hamas to give up the remaining living hostages? Talk to people around town, and you hear: “What’s in it for Sinwar? They’re his human shield. And he knows that we’re going to kill him, whether it’s now, next year or in five years. Why on earth would he give them up?”
Last night after Shabbat, at the very same moment that hundreds of thousands were gathering in Kaplan Square, Dr. Einat Wilf, one of Israel’s most formidable public intellectuals (gotta love her profile below), posted a very long comment on X in which she argued that we should stop deluding ourselves. (By the way, if you haven’t read her The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace, which her post below echoes in some ways, it’s a must.)
Already, her post has gotten a ton of traction, which is why we’re sharing it with you. The post in the original Hebrew can be read here:
What follows is a Google translation of her long and important text, in which we’ve corrected only the most egregious Google gaffes. The Google translation does not come close to doing justice to her Hebrew text, but her basic point still comes through clearly.
Our country is being torn apart by a terrible struggle over something that doesn’t really exist.
A few months ago, one of the American negotiators in the peace process said in a closed meeting that “After thirty years he had to admit that in fact there was never a negotiation.” According to him, “Israel offered and Arafat said no. Israel offered more and Arafat said no. Israel offered more and Abu Mazen said no.” And he added that “In fact there was never a moment when negotiations really took place in the sense that the Palestinians tried to reach an agreed and acceptable result.” I add that as much as there was a negotiation during the “peace process” years, it was conducted between the US and Israel. The US pressured Israel and Israel offered more. The US pressed and Israel offered more. But in all these years of the so-called “peace process,” we didn’t really bother to find out whether the Palestinians in general accept the most basic condition for any peace solution based on two states, and that is that one of the two states is the state of the Jewish people. We assumed that this was what was meant by the expression “two states” but it was only an assumption on our part. As much as this involved the internalization of Palestinians who are not refugees and do not have such a thing as the “right of return” into the State of Israel, there was never a moment when they were really ready to accept a two-state solution with one of the two being the Jewish state.
That dynamic is happening again now. Apparently there are negotiations on a deal to release the hostages, and there are outlines, and stages, and the Americans are constantly pressuring the Israelis to agree to more, and Israel generally agrees, but there is really no deal from the Palestinian side. To understand this, you need to listen not to the Americans, not to our people, but to the Palestinians.
If there is one thing that I have committed myself to since I realized that the Palestinians do not lie on the fundamental issues, it is to listen to them without masking what they say with the wishes of my own heart. For months now I have been listening to the voices of the immigrants from their side and through the mask of “negotiations” and flights to Doha and Paris and Americans saying “right around the corner”, it is clear that there really is no deal that returns all the abductees.
The colossal failure in conducting the political, diplomatic and military campaign led to the fact that eleven full months after the invasion and massacre of Hamas and its supporters in Israel, Hamas feels confident enough to insist on exactly the same position it presented after the invasion and massacre: full Israeli withdrawal. Hamas remains in full control of Gaza, including on the border with Egypt, and the billions that are flowing once again for “rehabilitation” (yes, exactly the same rehabilitation of every previous round). Given the lack of symmetry in the goals - this is Hamas’s definition of “total victory”, with all the implications of an overall inspiration to our enemies.
And for those asking—as far as Hamas is concerned, until now Hamas has not paid a price, certainly not one that it considers a price. The civilian casualties are not a price and the trained killers we eliminated are already being replaced by others. As long as Hamas controls Gaza (and the flowers for the Israeli capitulation to bring in regular supplies to Gaza and the complete blindness to the double game of Qatar and Egypt, and of course the American stupidity/naivety again) and is in a position to demand what it demanded the day after the invasion and massacre.
And even those who say that this deal should be accepted, with all its implications, it is not clear that it really exists either. Because as far as Hamas is concerned, the main thing is to ensure that Israel does not attack again and does not endanger its rule, and to that end it is quite possible that it will keep hostages that will allow a horrific and continuous trickle in the negotiations to ensure that Israel will not act against it. The enemy in front of us is not stupid. He’s studied Israeli society. Talk of “we’ll make a deal and then we’ll do what we want in Gaza,” shows that we still continue to underestimate the enemy, his determination and his sadism.
And instead of looking at the terrible failure of the management of the campaign from October 7 until today and at the determined enemy in front of us, we are tearing ourselves apart, we blame each other, the families of the abductees who are consumed by worry, get bogged down in the discussion of an axis, instead of understanding that we now need a leadership that will conduct a campaign and a determined policy (deeds, not talk like sand), that understands the magnitude of the hour and the threat, that will not lead us to the terrible choice between abandoning the abductees and Israeli surrender, and will produce another, new alternative.
The enormous mistake from the beginning was to assume that the release of the abductees is contrary to the goal of destroying Hamas. This is exactly the same goal—precisely because for Hamas keeping the hostages is a guarantee of its victory, therefore subduing Hamas is the only way to release the hostages. But the destruction of Hamas relies on a combination of a political and diplomatic campaign, which, first and foremost, will make it clear that Israel has finished giving regular supplies to its enemy while at war, and that, at least on Israel’s part, “nothing goes in until the hostages come out.”
This is a policy that makes it clear that Egypt and Qatar are invited to give supplies to Hamas through the border with Egypt and we will not prevent it (even if we sit on the border). We have a legal obligation to allow this, but not to do it ourselves and within our borders. As long as the enemy does not surrender and there is no conquest but only a continuous war, this is not our obligation. We need a policy that works to cleanse the north of the Gaza Strip and Gaza City and pushes the population south with a clear statement that we will only stop when all the hostages are released.
We face a bitter enemy who has believed for a long time that it now finally has an opportunity to bring to an end the insane attempt of Jews to have a sovereign state, and is working in the most brutal way towards this purpose. It is not an enemy seeking to achieve a limited goal of living alongside us in dignity or freeing a few murderers from our prisons. Faced with such an enemy we must be no less determined.
One can agree or disagree about what Israel should do now, but Dr. Wilf’s argument needs to be contended with. (In addition to her book mentioned above, take a look at We Should All Be Zionists: Essays on the Jewish State and the Path to Peace.)
One can absolutely understand the rage and frustration not only of the hostage families, but of the many hundreds of thousands who took to the streets. But is that deal that they’re pushing for really possible? I don’t know—I only know that there are very smart people with very different answers. There is no one making Dr. Wilf’s argument in a more compelling way than she has.
Understanding Israel now requires that we get how deeply divided the country is on that issue, too.
I have followed Einat Wilf for years - ever since I had her speak on Peoplehood to a group of Catholic high school teachers that I brought to Israel. She should be required reading for all diplomats, negotiates and people in the State Department. Her analysis is always clear, eloquent and well thought out. Agree with her or disagree but she should never be ignored. That Israel is being torn apart by rules imposed on it by possibly well-meaning, but certainly misguided allies is tragic. Everything about this situation is tragic and how it will resolve is not yet written. But we, at least, must be clear-headed and not turn on one another.
The hostage families have become the tools of the Israeli Left in their quest to topple Bibi’s government. And both are Sinwar’s useful idiots in his jihad against the Jewish State.