Netanyahu and the Hostage Blockade

A Message to the People of Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu

Netanyahu is stalling. And the Israeli people can see it. Clearly.

His duty—and the duty of his government—to recover the hostages still alive in Gaza is a duty is obviously one he would rather overlook. Yet now we know that more than a fifth of the Israeli hostages in Gaza are likely dead. Why? Because Netanyahu’s mistakes have consequences.

They had consequences for the 3 Israeli hostages desperately trying to save their lives only to die at the hands of a military fighting a war on their behalf. They had consequences for the Israeli hostage killed in a failed rescue attempt. And they will continue to have consequences—for ordinary Israelis and Gazans alike—every day Netanyahu delays and obstructs any current hostage negotations.

In a country fighting a war on behalf of the victims of October 7, you would think its Prime Minister would make bringing those victims home his top priority. As the families of these hostages can tell you, you can always fight terrorists another day. No one living now, however, can resurrect people from the dead.

But Netanyahu is a politician with a fragile grip on power, facing likely corruption charges and maybe even prison time. His political survival depends on radical right-wing ministers like Ben-Gvir, who have threatened to topple their own goverment if a hostage deal passes.

Are these the people that the Israeli public wants to lead them into the future? No. The Israeli political landscape is shifting. It is shifting toward the voices—the Israeli peace activists, the representatives of pre-1967 Israel—that Hamas worked so brutally to shut out of the conversation. It is not working. Indeed, when pollsters asked Israelis “to name anyone they would like to see entering politics,” Israelis most often chose “the relatives of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.” Yes, no one could ever sideline the families of the hostages, not Hamas nor even Netanyahu himself.

People like Gil Dickmann will continue to speak out about how the war “poses a major risk both to Palestinian civilians and to the remaining hostages.” People like Iris Haim will continue to try to get a nation in throes of rage “to listen to them.” And they need “governments all over the world” to stand with them.

What do they want now? They are requesting "a framework for a prisoner swap with Hamas.” They are requesting a temporary ceasefire. Finally, they are pressing for something to “trigger the very necessary process of going back to the voters to renew their confidence in their leaders” (emphasis mine).

We could not agree more. The entire Netanyahu strategy is absurd. Netanyahu bombs above ground while Sinwar’s Hamas and the senior ranks of the al-Qassam Brigades live comfortably underground. Netanyahu tries to pummel Hamas with the most advanced weaponry, only to have much of it repurposed by Hamas to use against Israel (Israel has the unfortunate luck of being one of Hamas’s most helpful arms suppliers; be sure to thank Netanyahu for that, among other things).

Put another way, Netanyahu sidelines the hostages he is supposed to be fighting on behalf of. He allies himself—against what should be his better judgment—with radical right-wing ministers “who want to lead [the whole world] straight into chaos.” And then, to top it all off, he both fights and arms Israel’s sworn enemies.

Netanyahu is not the person to lead this war. He is not, never was, and never will be. Listen to the families of the hostages. They know.