A Hostage Relative Boldly Asserts Negotiations With Hamas Are Worthless
On the Eve of A Wider War, He Says Only Military Strength Will Bring Them Home
Despite the imminent military onslaught of Iranian rockets, missiles and drones, Israelis conclude that only hard military strength will permit them to survive as a nation - and get the hostages home.
This view is strongly expressed by Shimon Or, who is the uncle of Avinatan Or, a current Hamas hostage. He believes negotiations with Hamas continue to be a fool’s errand.
In an interview given to Israel National News, he warned, “There is no hope in this negotiation. All it is doing is creating an illusion for the hostages’ families as if something is going to happen.”
Similarly his views are reflected in a June internal public opinion survey of Israelis that show 73% believe the expansion of a ground war into Lebanon is necessary despite the risks of a widening war with Iran and the possibility of an end to hostage negotiations.
Most importantly, those who had the most to lose - northern Israeli residents - were more likely to express this belief.
These views are in direct conflict with the claims by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris that only a ceasefire negotiation can free the hostages. This view is held by many Democrats, especially progressive activists.
Another poll of Israelis conducted in late May by the liberal Pew Research Center further rebuts the Left-wing Democratic view of the war in Gaza. The Center’s survey shows a clear majority of Israelis believe only a strong, military response to Hamas in Gaza will lead towards a path of peace.
“A new Pew Research Center survey finds that 39% of Israelis say Israel’s military response against Hamas in Gaza has been about right, while 34% say it has not gone far enough,” according to the Center. That’s three out of four Israelis.
Avinatan Or currently is a Hamas prisoner, most likely in one of their remaining tunnels in Gaza. His partner is Noa Argamana who was taken hostage alongside of Avinatan on October 7. But she was freed - not through negotiations - but because of a successful, daring daytime June 8 Israeli commando raid in Gaza.
Noa herself received a standing ovation by the U.S. Congress when she accompanied Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, D.C. He recognized her in a speech before a Joint Session of Congress in the U.S. Capitol Building on July 26.
Shimon Or, Avinatan’s uncle, gave a pretty blunt interview, this time to the Jerusalem Post, after Israelis received word of the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. He continues to exude confidence that only Israeli military strength can get back the hostages.
The Israeli told the Post he believes Hamas has no intention of ever returning the remaining hostages.
“I don’t have concerns about how Hamas will respond because I don’t care what Hamas thinks,” said the uncle, who is a member of the Israeli-based Hope Forum.
“As far as I am concerned, [Hamas] is not a legitimate source on which to determine the State of Israel’s actions,” he said.
“My opinion is that the State of Israel must bring back the hostages by itself and not depend on a deal or anything that comes from negotiations with Hamas,” he added.
Hamas does not want to return the hostages, “and therefore, it will not return them.”
That’s tough talk. But also perhaps honest talk too.
Since Haniyeh’s assassination, political control over any future negotiations has been taken over by Yayah Sinwar, the acknowledged mastermind of the October 7 bloodbath in Israel.
“If we talk to Hamas, Gazans will understand that Hamas is continuing to be a dominant leader in Gaza, and we will not get the hostages,” Or states.
He argues only by completely removing Hamas from power in Gaza will Israel be able to bring the hostages home. “The assassination (of Haniyeh) can be leveraged into the start of a new strategy,” he suggests. But it should begin with the end of all negotiations with Hamas.
This isn’t the view from Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinker. Both cling to the hope of continued negotiations, even as Iran mobilizes its forces across the Middle East for all-out war with Israel.
Will today’s Western leaders learn of the fruitlessness of negotiations with an opponent that steadfastly says its aims are for the elimination of the state of Israel and for the killing of all Jews?
Perhaps Or’s comments are tough. But perhaps they are very honest. After all he not only calls for the elimination of Israel, which he calls “Little Satan.” But the Ayatollah and his Islamic allies also call for the defeat of the “Great Satan,” which, by-the-way, is the United States.