Hostages' fates haunt Israel as war intensifies

[CharlieH]

 

Their smiling faces look down from the sides of skyscrapers, walls between Tel Aviv's restaurants and bars and a giant video screen at a shopping mall entrance.

More than 240 hostages were snatched at gunpoint on 7 October from their homes or workplaces next to the Gaza Strip, from military bases and a big outdoor dance party.

They included some 30 children, the youngest just nine months old. But since Hamas gunmen spirited them away to Gaza, the fates of most remain unknown.

For Israelis reeling from last month's bloody massacres, it is an ongoing trauma.

"This is the last photo we have of my aunt. She was taken on a motorcycle by two terrorists," says Eyal Nouri, showing me a picture of Amina Moshe, 72, being driven away from Nir Oz, a kibbutz where she lived for 50 years.

"No children, no babies, no older women are meant to be part of any conflict. It's something against humanity to kidnap children."

 

Although this is the biggest, over the years, Israel has endured many hostage crises.

During the 1980s, the country showed it was ready to pay high prices for its citizens in prisoner swaps with Palestinian and Lebanese armed groups. Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, who later founded Hamas, was freed in one exchange.

Even Israeli soldiers' corpses were traded to give them proper Jewish burials.

Then in 2006, Hamas kidnapped a soldier, 19-year-old Gilad Shalit, in a cross-border raid. His father, Noam, led a painful five-year campaign to bring him home, stressing the "unwritten contract" between the state and its conscripts.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister - then as now - signed off on the biggest ever prisoner exchange for a single soldier. More than a thousand inmates were released including Yahya Sinwar, who went on to lead Hamas in Gaza, and apparently masterminded the 7 October attacks.

A key figure involved in the Shalit deal sees major differences between the circumstances then and now which he thinks will prevent any comprehensive deal being done.

 

"We had five years and four months to build trust with Gilad Shalit. [Now], we have days. The future of the hostages will be decided in the coming days," says Gershon Baskin, an Israeli peace activist, who led secret backchannel talks with Hamas.

 

FULL STORY

 

[thaibeachlovers]

10 hours ago, CharlieH said:

It's something against humanity to kidnap children."

and yet, where was she while the israeli military arrested Palestinian children for posting likes on social media and Palestinian children spend months in jail for throwing a stone?

Nowhere to be seen apparently.

[thaibeachlovers]

10 hours ago, CharlieH said:

"No children, no babies, no older women are meant to be part of any conflict.

and yet, her people have killed thousands of Palestinians, babies, women and children. Are they of no consequence?

[Morch]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

and yet, where was she while the israeli military arrested Palestinian children for posting likes on social media and Palestinian children spend months in jail for throwing a stone?

Nowhere to be seen apparently.

 

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

and yet, her people have killed thousands of Palestinians, babies, women and children. Are they of no consequence?

 

@thaibeachlovers

 

Never mind your lack of compassion, when expecting it from others - that's the usual emo nonsense.

But both of the "her" quotes you bothered to post are actually from the son of the 72yo kidnapped woman.

Must have missed that in your haste to score a point.

[MrMojoRisin]

On 11/16/2023 at 8:42 AM, Morch said:

 

 

@thaibeachlovers

 

Never mind your lack of compassion, when expecting it from others - that's the usual emo nonsense.

But both of the "her" quotes you bothered to post are actually from the son of the 72yo kidnapped woman.

Must have missed that in your haste to score a point.

A bit more compassion from Israeli’s towards Palestinians and October 7th never even happens.

[Morch]

2 hours ago, MrMojoRisin said:

A bit more compassion from Israeli’s towards Palestinians and October 7th never even happens.

 

If you say so.

But then, of course, for you compassion is a one way street.

[thaibeachlovers]

As seen on Al Jazeera, the relatives of the hostages are mad as h_ll with netanyahu and the war cabinet for not getting their relatives back and putting them at risk by continuing the fight.

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-hostage-families-angry-after-meeting-with-netanyahu-2023-12-05/

Several of the relatives who attended the meeting left bitterly critical of the government.

Dani Miran, whose son Omri was taken hostage on Oct. 7 by Hamas gunmen along with around 240 other Israelis and foreigners, said he felt his intelligence had been insulted by the meeting and had walked out in the middle of it.

"I won't go into the details of what was discussed at the meeting but this entire performance was ugly, insulting, messy," he told Israel's Channel 13, saying the government had made a "farce" out of the issue.

[Skipalongcassidy]

On 11/16/2023 at 5:12 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

and yet, her people have killed thousands of Palestinians, babies, women and children. Are they of no consequence?

You just don't get it... Palestinians and hamas and other muslim countries have a choice and do not do anything for themselves to change the situation... Israel struggles for survival in the muslim murderous middle east... while the rest continue to live in the 7th century with all the hate and terror.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

You just don't get it... Palestinians and hamas and other muslim countries have a choice and do not do anything for themselves to change the situation... Israel struggles for survival in the muslim murderous middle east... while the rest continue to live in the 7th century with all the hate and terror.

I'll leave you to your israeli propaganda bubble.

 

Israel struggles for survival in the muslim murderous middle east..

Sure, LOL. They have deals with the neighbours except Lebanon and Syria, and if they hadn't bombed thousands of children to death would have one with Saudi. That's some struggle, LOL. In case you hadn't noticed, the only "enemy" they were facing prior to October 7 were Hamas and an oppressed population in the West Bank.

 

while the rest continue to live in the 7th century with all the hate and terror

That's anti semitic. Arabs are semites too.

[thaibeachlovers]

9 minutes ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

You just don't get it... Palestinians and hamas and other muslim countries have a choice and do not do anything for themselves to change the situation... Israel struggles for survival in the muslim murderous middle east... while the rest continue to live in the 7th century with all the hate and terror.

Did the over 6,000 Palestinian children blown to bits by israeli bombs or dying slowly under the rubble of their homes pose a threat to israel or "have a choice"?

 

Do they not count as people, or are they just Palestinians, so of no consequence?

Doesn't matter what Hamas said or did, israel can't beat 6,000 dead children in world opinion.

[Skipalongcassidy]

6 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'll leave you to your israeli propaganda bubble.

 

Israel struggles for survival in the muslim murderous middle east..

Sure, LOL. They have deals with the neighbours except Lebanon and Syria, and if they hadn't bombed thousands of children to death would have one with Saudi. That's some struggle, LOL. In case you hadn't noticed, the only "enemy" they were facing prior to October 7 were Hamas and an oppressed population in the West Bank.

 

while the rest continue to live in the 7th century with all the hate and terror

That's anti semitic. Arabs are semites too.

anti-semitic

adjective

Relating to or characterized by anti-Semitism; hating Jews.

 

Semitic people or Semites is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group associated with people of the Middle East... OBSOLETE - 

 

adjective

1. No longer in use

  

[Morch]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

As seen on Al Jazeera, the relatives of the hostages are mad as h_ll with netanyahu and the war cabinet for not getting their relatives back and putting them at risk by continuing the fight.

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-hostage-families-angry-after-meeting-with-netanyahu-2023-12-05/

Several of the relatives who attended the meeting left bitterly critical of the government.

Dani Miran, whose son Omri was taken hostage on Oct. 7 by Hamas gunmen along with around 240 other Israelis and foreigners, said he felt his intelligence had been insulted by the meeting and had walked out in the middle of it.

"I won't go into the details of what was discussed at the meeting but this entire performance was ugly, insulting, messy," he told Israel's Channel 13, saying the government had made a "farce" out of the issue.

 

@thaibeachlovers

 

Yes, and....?

[Morch]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'll leave you to your israeli propaganda bubble.

 

Israel struggles for survival in the muslim murderous middle east..

Sure, LOL. They have deals with the neighbours except Lebanon and Syria, and if they hadn't bombed thousands of children to death would have one with Saudi. That's some struggle, LOL. In case you hadn't noticed, the only "enemy" they were facing prior to October 7 were Hamas and an oppressed population in the West Bank.

 

while the rest continue to live in the 7th century with all the hate and terror

That's anti semitic. Arabs are semites too.

 

@thaibeachlovers

 

Israel didn't wake up one day and decided to bomb the Gaza Strip. Something happened on the 7/10. Wasn't it on AJ?

 

Your comment on antisemitism is trolling. This been discussed many times here. Shame that you resort to such nonsense.

[Morch]

57 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Did the over 6,000 Palestinian children blown to bits by israeli bombs or dying slowly under the rubble of their homes pose a threat to israel or "have a choice"?

 

Do they not count as people, or are they just Palestinians, so of no consequence?

Doesn't matter what Hamas said or did, israel can't beat 6,000 dead children in world opinion.

 

@thaibeachlovers

 

In a recent post on a parallel topic you basically justified the Hamas 7/10 attack. The 7/10 attack led to Israel's response. There was no massive bombing of the Gaza Strip on 6/10. Hamas knew perfectly well what would happen. You seem to either ignore this, or give Hamas a free pass. I don't think Hamas gave it's own civilians much choice, do you?

 

Why do you think what Hamas did does not matter? As for 'world opinion' - you do notice that there are no actual attempts to stop Israel, and that even Arab countries aren't up in arms? Yeah...maybe got to do something with 'what Hamas did'.

[thaibeachlovers]

59 minutes ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

anti-semitic

adjective

Relating to or characterized by anti-Semitism; hating Jews.

 

Semitic people or Semites is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group associated with people of the Middle East... OBSOLETE - 

 

adjective

1. No longer in use

  

Regardless, what you said was hate speech and racist.

[placeholder]

On 12/7/2023 at 8:12 AM, Skipalongcassidy said:

You just don't get it... Palestinians and hamas and other muslim countries have a choice and do not do anything for themselves to change the situation... Israel struggles for survival in the muslim murderous middle east... while the rest continue to live in the 7th century with all the hate and terror.

Mort Sahl once remarked of a famous and politically controversial actor, that it was possible to dislike her for herself. Even if anti-semitism wasn't a thing among the Palestinians, they would still have plenty of reasons to hate Israel.