Viewpoint: How do we in Israel feel about the deal?

By Aaron Weil

Several friends from around the world have been reaching out about how we in Israel are experiencing the freedom of the hostages alongside the releasing of terrorists, (dozens and dozens of whom will be convicted murderers) back into the land?

People ask, “How can your nation handle releasing 2,000 terrorists in order to repatriate 33 hostages of whom perhaps a third may already be dead?!?!” The answer... “We can’t! No one can.” The horrors, the ongoing unending pain that we all know when our thoughts turn to those still suffering in the terror tunnels of Gaza in still less than the immense gratitude and utter joy at seeing these young women reunited tonight with their moms!

Tonight, President Biden’s comments on the operation were largely focused on the 600 food trucks that Israel sends each day into Gaza (only to be robbed by Hamas who sells the contents on the black market at 10x the price). He had no words for the seven American hostages that the U.S. left behind a long time ago.

Hard to hear those comments when we can now all clearly see that none of that food, none of that medicine and none of those sweets for the kids will make their way to the hostages. Not to the Muslims, nor the Thai Buddhists and certainly not the Jews including the two sweet red-headed babies who were taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, that are still there... cold, alone and afraid in a world that has almost entirely been underground in tunnels for the majority of their lives.

How do we feel? We have no choice.

We are not fighting so called Freedom Fighters. They had their own land under their own rulers before they invaded us on Oct. 7th.

We are not fighting a war about borders, water or mineral rights or even a war of choice and conquest. We are simply fighting a war to exist against an Islamic fundamentalist enemy who is not required to fight by the laws of the Geneva Convention and for whom the use of rape as a legitimate weapon and the grotesque use of human shields is merely waved off by the masses.

In the media, it is appearing like a prisoner exchange. How warped and twisted? How does a sane world accept the exchange for a certain Mahmud Abu Warda, who is serving 48 life sentences for planning and executing multiple terror attacks, including the 1996 murder of 45 Israelis in two bus bombings in Jerusalem??? Is his life the price to free one of the babies?

The answer is “no,” because as anyone can see in the math, Israel has to release dozens and dozens of terrorists for EACH soul (living or dead that it wants to redeem). And in order to get this, we have to ensure that Hamas gets 600 aide trucks each day.

It is extortion of course, but that is to be expected when one negotiates with terrorists. What is not expected is how the world can’t seem to grasp that we are fighting an entity that is part of the same warped death cult that now runs Syria with Turkish support.

How do we feel? We have no choice.

This is horrible! Its the worst kind of deal!

And as Jews, we will do it over and over again because of our devotion to the sanctity of life. We have no choice as we are compelled by our tradition and the work of our ancestors who did the same for thousands of years.

Once those hostages are out of Gaza, my sincere hope is that together with the new US administration, Israel can finally ensure that what happened on October 7th will never be permitted to occur again. As Gazans are learning, the price of our blood is not cheap!

How do we feel about this???? It sucks! Who wants to do such a thing... and once again... Hamas has left us with no choice!

Aaron Weil, is the former CEO of UCF Hillel. He and his family now live in Tel Aviv.