Zionist Myth #3: The War Would Be Over Tomorrow If Hamas Released The Hostages and Surrendered
The notion that Hamas surrendering and releasing "the hostages" would end "the war" rests on false premises
Supporters of Israel often claim that the violence in Gaza would end immediately if only “Hamas” (Zionist shorthand for the collection of armed resistance groups currently fighting Israeli troops) would surrender and release the Israeli “hostages” they are holding. Senator Chris Murphy of New Jersey is one of many US politicians, including President Joe Biden, who has repeated this talking point.
I have a number of questions for Senator Murphy. First, who is it that doesn’t care about the people of Gaza—besides you, that is? The Israeli government and most Jewish Israelis, that’s who. More than 80% of Gaza’s residents are refugees (or, in most cases, descendants of refugees) from elsewhere in Palestine, having fled there during the 1948 ethnic cleansing campaign known by Palestinians as the “Nakba” (Arabic for “catastrophe”) that coincided the designation of Israel as a state by the United Nations. For many decades, Gaza has been surrounded by a fence as well as by the Israeli military, preventing Gaza residents from leaving without the permission of the Israeli government (which is typically only granted for medical treatment unavailable in Gaza, and sometimes denied even then), and restricting the flow of goods into and out of Gaza. Gaza has been under a strict blockade, under which outside supplies of food, water, medicine, and other commodities have been severely limited by the Israeli regime since 2007. Every few years, Israel engages in a massive bombing campaign (sometimes accompanied by a ground invasion) in Gaza, killing hundreds to thousands of people at a time. Even though the vast majority of its victims are civilians, it is supposedly a tactic to limit the power of Palestinian armed militants to resist Israel’s de facto imprisonment of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, and is cynically called “mowing the lawn” by Israelis. Even the Great March of Return of 2018-2019, an act of nonviolent protest in which Gaza residents merely approached the fortified fence preventing them from leaving Gaza, was violently suppressed by Israeli snipers, who killed more than 200 people.
Second, Senator Murphy, why do you only talk about the Israeli “hostages” held captive in Gaza, even though thousands of Palestinians are also being held captive indefinitely by Israel despite not having been charged with or convicted of any crime? And why are only Israelis being held captive referred to as “hostages,” even though the majority of them are either active duty soldiers or reservists, whereas the vast majority of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons or detention camps are civilians?
Third, Senator Murphy, do you know what happened to that ceasefire proposal you mentioned that you said Hamas could accept? They accepted it, you asshole! In fact, Hamas accepted the deal on May 6, several days before Murphy’s interview from which the above quote was taken. The proposal, which called for a 6-week ceasefire, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the release of both the several thousand Palestinian captives held in Israeli prisons but not convicted of (or in many cases even charged with) any crime and the 120 or so Israelis held captive by Hamas, and substantial humanitarian aid, was rejected by Israel, not Hamas. In fact, the proposal was similar to offers Hamas has made themselves. Hamas first offered a ceasefire proposal involving an exchange of captives within days of October 7, according to a spokesperson for the Israeli hostages:
Hamas also offered ceasefire/prisoner exchange deals on October 16, October 28, November 15, January 1, January 18, January 22, February 7, and March 15. Israel rejected all of these offers. The one (temporary) ceasefire proposal that Israel accepted, a deal negotiated between Israel and Hamas by Qatar, took place in late November 2023 and involved the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners (all of them either women, children, or males aged 18) and 105 Israelis held captive in Gaza. And despite continual pressure from the families of the Israeli captives, the Israeli government refused to prioritize gaining the release of the Israeli captives, and put their lives at great risk with its carpet bombing throughout Gaza. They’ve killed dozens of their hostages through their bombing in Gaza, and a rescue mission in June that rescued four also killed three, as well as nearly 300 Palestinians. They also killed perhaps hundreds of Israeli citizens, many of them captives of Palestinian armed groups, on October 7 through shelling, bombing and missile fire deliberately aimed at groups of unidentified fleeing people in an attempt to prevent the Palestinians from taking hostages. And recently, Israel killed Hamas’ chief negotiator, Hamas political bureau chief and former Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh. It couldn’t be clearer that the Israeli government cares not a whit about the hostages.
Finally, the claim that the mass slaughter would stop if only “Hamas” surrendered and released Israel’s hostages reflects profound ignorance of the context. Whatever one thinks about the Palestinians taking prisoners, some of them civilians, to use as bargaining chips, the fact is that far more Palestinians than Israelis are being held captive, and typically they’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. And Hamas and its allies are engaged in armed struggle against an illegal military occupation and apartheid system that’s been in place for 76 years, and of course against a genocide as well. Israel has been steadily encroaching on Palestinian land throughout that time, kicking out or killing the inhabitants, and Israeli leaders have openly stated their intention to either expel or kill all Palestinians and take their land and resources. Shortly before October 7, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke before the United Nations and showed a map of “Greater Israel” that depicted a future “Israel” consisting of all of Palestine and sizable chunks of neighboring countries. Under international law and as a matter of justice, Palestinians have every right to resist Israeli occupation and colonization of Palestine, including through armed struggle. They most certainly will not—and should not—stop at the behest of their oppressors; they will continue their struggle until they are free.