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The Consequences of Accepting Hamas's Terms for a Hostage Deal

(Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security) Prof. Hillel Frisch - Paying "any price" for the Israeli hostages' release effectively means accepting Hamas's continued effective control over Gaza, accompanied by the lifting of the blockade and the extensive release of Palestinian terrorists from prison. Hamas would be able to portray such an outcome as a significant achievement and as proof of the legitimacy of the jihadist project. This message will bolster support for Hamas and its methods within the Palestinian arena and throughout the Muslim world. Israel has already released more than 300 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment - more than were released in 2011 in the Gilad Shalit exchange (280 prisoners serving life sentences). Some of these murderous terrorists are viewed as the elite of Palestinian society: individuals who successfully planned attacks, evaded capture, found accomplices who would not betray them, and coolly executed their terrorist acts. For example, Israel freed Abd al-Nasser Issa (born 1969), one of the founders of Hamas's military wing, considered a natural successor to Mohammed Deif as the next commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. To gauge the meaning of the release of such prisoners, recall the importance of those released in the Shalit deal in the execution of the Oct. 7 massacre. They included Yahya Sinwar - the chief architect of Oct. 7 - along with at least ten senior Hamas political and military leaders. Hamas's true objective now is to rebuild its leadership and senior command ranks by drawing from this substantial and high-caliber pool of released prisoners. The writer is professor emeritus at Bar-Ilan University and former senior researcher at its Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies.
2025-04-03 00:00:00
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