Part 2 Nov. 25th, 2023 - Rachel, Your Children Have Returned
Be Careful Hamas! Games Based On Lives Will Backfire On You
At 4 PM on Saturday evening, many eyes were on the television news, or others out gathering waiting for the second hostage return. It was time. The 4 PM deadline for the return had arrived.
The cynical or better said, those lacking trust, among us, were waiting for the other shoe to fall. And fall it did. As 7 PM rolled by and no hostages, we all knew something was going on.
Let me paint a picture that most news seems to live out.
Entire families, who had been notified some of their loved ones would be released, were all waiting already at the hospital to greet them. The entire Israeli army went back to a footing of attack in Gaza. The southern border, with Hizbollah, was put on the highest alert. The normal populace began to despair. And we all know what happens when people despair. Anger and rage come next.
Once again our psychological and emotional status were being manipulated. As individuals, as a country, and as a people united.
By 9 PM, we learned what the delay was all about. Hamas wanted more supplies, though Israel, according to the Egyptians, Qatar, the United States, and even the assholes of the International Red Cross, all admitted publicly that Israel had held up its part of the bargain already.
Hamas though, thought that this was a good time to pull the rope ever more taught. They assumed whatever demand they made, Israel would capitulate. They have good reason to assume this. In the past, Israel always capitulated when it came to hostages.
As MK Yuli Edelstein tweeted on the situation, saying:
"There is a fundamental Arabic value, translated to 'patience is the key to victory.' They have patience, but so do we.
"They will try to stretch the rope, but we will decide when it is time to tear the rope. They will try to play with us and we will respond at the right time and in the right way for us. Carefully, resolutely. Every step is calculated forward until everyone is here. Until victory."
Among the thirteen released, (along with another four workers from Thailand, who are being released under a separate deal), are many stories. Some of the poignant are below.
These next two families are all related. Six women released, some to horrible news about their loved ones, who were killed on October 7th.
Ben Shapiro hit the nail on the head with this video. He called the entire process and said exactly what would happen.
Calling The Shots Correctly
The right answer to the wrong question.
This video is with an Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levy and Sky News. If you do not want to listen to the video, a partial cleaned-up transcript is below. Eylon starts as follows:
This is really heartbreaking…  Hamas could release the hostages now.
It could have released them yesterday, and every moment that it chooses not to release those vulnerable little children is a moment that it continues to psychologically terrorize these children's families.
We're hoping that at least tomorrow we can start to bring to an end the nightmare of some of the most vulnerable hostages.
The children Hamas has been holding incommunicado; they've been holding them in the dark and they've been keeping their families in the dark. Their families know nothing about their condition physically, mentally, emotionally. Maybe even worse these children don't know what has happened to their families. what happened to them on October 7th.
This is little Abigail she's three she was orphaned. Does this little girl who's been held in a tunnel for days know she's an orphan? What does it mean for a three-year-old girl to know that she's an orphan?
This hostage crisis is intensely personal for everyone in Israel. We're a small country, everyone knows someone who has had someone stolen from them, and we're hoping to begin bringing back our stolen children bring back those hostages and we're committed to the pledge that we will bring all of them back and there will be no one left behind.
 What caused the delay? It appears that Hamas is determined to psychologically terrorize us. Hamas could have released these hostages long ago. It didn't have to take them hostage in the first place!...
Hamas can decide whenever it wants to release all of those hostages, the children, and the elderly, the men, and the women, the soldiers, and the civilians…
We are continuing to apply military pressure on Hamas to release all of our hostages. It hasn't suddenly developed a conscience. It hasn't suddenly developed a sense of morality. The terrorists who burned butchered and beheaded people on October 7th haven't suddenly realized it's evil to hold a two-year-old…
And this war has to end with the end of Hamas.
The interviewer then asks:
Mr Levy: I was speaking to a hostage negotiator this morning he made the comparison between the hostages hostages that Hamas has promised to release as opposed to the prisoners that are Palestinians that Israel has said that it will release. And he made the comparison between the numbers and the fact that does Israel not think that Palestinian lives are valued as highly as Israeli lives?
Eylon Levy Answers:
That is an astonishing accusation. If we could release one prisoner for everyone hostage we would obviously do that. We're operating in horrific circumstances we're not choosing to release these prisoners who have blood on their hands. We are talking about people who have been convicted of stabbing and shooting attacks notice the
 question of proportionality doesn't interest Palestinian supporters when they were able to get more of their prisoners out but really it is outrageous to suggest that the fact that we are willing to release prisoners who are convicted of terrorism offenses. More of them than we are getting our own innocent children back somehow suggest that we don't care about Palestinian lives. Really that's a disgusting accusation…