By Michael Golden
Eight-year-old Emily Hand was sleeping over at a friend’s house near the Gaza border when Hamas began its assault. Her father Thomas heard the gunshots from his home starting at 7 a.m., as terrorists were going door-to-door, shooting his neighbors. But there was no action he could take.
Days later, Thomas learned from Israeli soldiers that Emily had been murdered. Like so many other parents, he was indescribably devastated. Yet at the same time, he told the world that he was relieved. In a tearful, gut-wrenching interview not soon to be forgotten, Thomas described his reaction to the news:
“They just said: ‘We found Emily, and she’s dead.’ And I went: ‘Yes!’ I said ‘Yes!’ And I smiled… She was either dead or in Gaza — and if you know anything about what they do to people in Gaza, that is worse than death.”
When Thomas gave that chillingly revealing answer last week, we did not know how many Israelis had been taken hostage by Hamas.
We do now: 199.
The day after the attack, a rabbi in New York named Jonathan Jaffe wrote a long post that captured the raw anger that so many Jews were feeling. And in four sentences, he also distilled precisely what many of us were thinking:
“Vanished is the false security that a racist, ruthless threat can be endured through the occasional skirmish. You cannot make peace with those who distribute candy to children in celebration that yours have been murdered. And now, Israel will act like any other country would if it was invaded by a blood thirsty neighbor and its citizens murdered, tortured, kidnapped and mutilated. It will do whatever it needs to make sure this can never happen again.”
Rabbi Jaffe, too, had no idea of how many innocent Jews had been abducted by the butchers.
There are 199. That’s how many. And Hamas has the power to set them free right now.
In the nine days since Hamas’ indiscriminate killing spree, Israel has been rightfully striking back. But the mission gets incredibly difficult if the IDF goes in on the ground. The night after Hamas attacked, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, explained the group’s larger aim:
“They have a military tactic that serves a media, diplomatic and legal strategy. They attack us the way they do, they get us to kill a lot of their civilians, inadvertently. That gets emphasized by the media. That immediately creates a diplomatic situation, as pressure is put on governments to condemn Israel. And then that takes a legal reality, where we are condemned in international courts and delegitimized.”
It’s hard to believe, but Hamas actually sets it society up to increase the number of “their people” who will be killed. Bret Stephens of The New York Times describes the cycle:
“That’s why Hamas turned Gaza’s central hospital into its headquarters during the 2014 conflict. It’s why it stored rockets in schools. It’s why it has used mosques to store guns. It does all this knowing that Israel, which has agreed to abide by the laws of war, tries to avoid hitting those targets — and, when it does hit them, that it will result in accusations of war crimes and diplomatic demands for restraint.”
On top of all of this, once Israel has been induced to defend itself, its military is basically forced to fight with one arm tied behind its back. This is because Israelis don’t want to kill anyone outside of the aggressors who spawned the war in the first place — Hamas. Anyone familiar with the modern history of the Middle East knows the difference between the way Islamic extremists “fight” — and how Jews defend themselves — with as much honor as is humanly possible.
Oh, how we wish that everyone understood this. How we wish.
Meanwhile. Hamas holds 199 hostages. Jewish hostages. Toddlers without their parents. Elderly without their medications. Holocaust survivors who fought to live their lives in Israel.
By choosing not to release them, Hamas is begging for the IDF to go in and do terribly difficult things.
Now that the Israelis are sending airstrikes into Gaza and preparing to fight on the ground to rescue the hostages and root out Hamas, the media pendulum has begun to swing. Any human being watching innocent people suffering — especially children — will feel deep sympathy. It is a perfectly awful thing to see.
But that doesn’t mean anyone should lose sight of the fact that this is exactly how Hamas drew it all up in their playbook. Almost literally.
The good news for Israel is that US leaders and those from several other allies have been vocally expressing their clear support for the actions that Israelis will choose to take. This should not be taken for granted.
During the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Henry Kissinger privately told Prime Minister Golda Meir: “I’m an American first, then Secretary of State, and lastly a Jew.”
Exactly 50 years and one week later, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced to the world: “I am a proud Jew.” As he stood next to Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday, Blinken further announced:
"You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself. But as long as America exists, you will never ever have to. We will always be there by your side.”
There is even talk of the US sending in Special Forces to help the IDF to save the hostages.
The 199 hostages.
On the day of the massacre, it was noteworthy to see the Democratic Senate Majority Leader and Republican Minority Leader both releasing statements of overwhelming support. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced:
“The United States and the civilized world must stand in solidarity as a fellow democracy defends its sovereignty and its citizens and must unequivocally condemn these vicious attacks against civilian populations.”
President Biden was even clearer:
“In this moment, we must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel. And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack.”
Additionally, Biden organized other world leaders and issued a joint statement of “steadfast and united support” for Israel. It was signed by President Macron of France, Chancellor Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Meloni of Italy, and Prime Minister Sunak of the United Kingdom.
One week later, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) arrived in Israel with a bipartisan group of five senators. He could scarcely wait to talk to the press:
“We came here with a simple message to the Israeli people: We have your back. We feel your pain, your ache, and America will stick with you in this difficult time.”
This might have been the most important American statement so far, particularly because of the words: “stick with you.”
The Israelis have at least 199 of their brothers and sisters to rescue from imprisonment at the hands of Hamas. The IDF trains for just such Herculean tasks.
Technically, Israelis don’t need any external imprimatur from allies to make their own military decisions. But it helps. Especially in a world where loyal support for Israel has been historically lacking — to put it mildly. Strength in numbers is always the best way to get off the block.
Israel has difficult decisions to make about the next steps it will take. If it’s true that every action has a reaction, in the Middle East, that equation is exponentially larger. But whatever gets decided, no one should lose sight of the hostages for one single second.
All 199 of them.
Michael Golden is the Editor-in-Chief of JEWDICIOUS.
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