Haaretz editorial: An Israel-Hamas Prisoner Exchange Now
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
Haaretz stands out against the gadarene rush to bomb the shit out of the Palestinians in Gaza, its editorial (11 Oct) beginning:
Israel’s most urgent task is to bring back the Israelis held by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. This means one thing only – moving forward immediately on a prisoner exchange, including a willingness to free Palestinians jailed in Israel.
Read on below.
This article was originally published by Haaretz on Wed 11 Oct 2023. Read the original here.
An Israel-Hamas Prisoner Exchange Now
Loading article text…
I hear on French tv this evening that one military expert said that his military contacts in Israel said “for us the hostages are dead”, presumably meaning they aren’t interested in negotiation.
It looks like the extreme Israeli right ultimatum before the Hamas attack, that Palestinians should leave, die or be subjugated, may be enforced at a very high price. The west,including Sunak and Starmer seem to have authorised a potential ethnic cleansing of even genocide.
Absolutely. Haaretz is not a paper of the left – except when it comes to Israel-Palestine (though it also publishes many centre and centre-right pieces, which are really useful to read). But on issues of principle – like the appalling situation of the hostages – it doesn’t lose its nerve and pretty consistently comes out on the ‘right’ side. Given what I am sure is the atmosphere in Israel today, that is very brave. Thanks for posting.
Regrettably it would not be the first time Zionist leaders have sacrificed the lives of individual Jews for ‘the greater good’.
Agreed, the lives of those on both side must be protected wherever possible. I hope the thinking which produced the remark from Ben-Gurion that if he could save all of the children of Germany by transporting them to England or only half of them by transferring them to Israel, he would choose the latter, doesn’t take precedence.
As soon as it was said that Hamas said that if you keep bombing without a warning we will start shooting the hostages
Netanyahu should have called a cease-fire and started negotiations for a prisoner exchange
Instead he carries on with the air strikes and then cuts of the electricity the water and fuel
Does he not even care for the life of his own countries people obviously not
I feel so sorry for all the innocent Israeli civillians and the innocent Palastinian civillians who are the ones suffering in all of this
So I hope and Pray its not to late to save those hostages
God knows what their families are going through
I also don’t agree with what Biden Sunack Starmer and all the other world leaders in the west are saying by saying we will support Israel fully
Because if they had done the right thing and condemned Netanyahu for previous arracks on Gaza which has give Netanyahu the impression no one can touch him Which makes you wonder what their involvement is in all of this Because how was the Israeli security allowed to fail Because only a few weeks back they were talking about how good their new Artificial Intelligence security system was which apperantly every 10 minutes sweeps the perimeters and sends any data of security breachers or around the perimeter and any other suspicious issues So it does make you think about it
I just hope and pray that all the innocent men women and children from both Israel and Palastine are.ok And that all those Families in this country who have family in Israel or Palastine get good news and their loved.ones are safe and well and will be in contact soon
instead they should be all looking for a way of bringing peace Instead Biden sends a War ship to help Netanyahu complete the job of killing all the Palastians who live there
As for Netanyahu and his Government they are not fit to reperesnt the Israeli people and are stoking up more hatred by their statements
It seems the Kahanists*** have taken over :
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-09-10/ty-article-opinion/.premium/israels-gen-z-kahanists-have-a-new-hero-terrorist/0000018a-7b2f-d193-a18b-7f3f1c0b0000
Kahane was a politician – eventually banned from the Knesset for his racist views. His political Party, the “Kach”, is considered a terrorist organisation by, among other countries, Israel.
Gideon Levy in his latest Haaretz column writes, ‘It should be possible to stand with the residents of the south, while still remembering that living on the other side are human beings just like them. We should be able to fear for the fate of Gazans and distinguish between them and their Hamas leadership. It should be possible, even in the current atmosphere, to speak about Gaza in human terms …
‘… It’s hard to imagine the terror in Sderot. It’s even harder to imagine the terror in Gaza’s Rimal district. There needn’t be a competition over which people are suffering more in order to recognize that the suffering in Gaza is staggering too … Israel has already announced that all the restraints it supposedly used in previous attacks will be lifted this time. Yes, hundreds of Gazans committed atrocious crimes, an outgrowth of 17 years of blockade and 75 years of suffering, with a bloody past and no present or future. But not all of a Gaza is to blame …’
Levy concludes: ‘I am thinking about the Gazans now when it seems like no one else in the world cares what happens to them anymore.’ Link to his piece https://tinyurl.com/23ha8nxy