Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu came to Washington and promised the families of the US hostages held by Hamas that an agreement was “ripe,” but now he is demanding more and blocking any progress.
Released WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich overwhelmed by support
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich said he was overwhelmed by the support after being held captive in Russia.
As a fringe diplomat, I have witnessed many prisoner/hostage negotiations for nearly 20 years, from Otto Warmbier to Brittany Griner. One common thread that runs through all of them is that they are not easy – and require sacrifice and leadership. Without these elements, the deals fail.
The prisoner exchange that safely returned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Vladimir Kara-Murza to the United States was a series of tough but necessary decisions by the Biden administration. It included releasing prisoners guilty of horrific crimes, such as Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin, and others. It required months of complex multinational negotiations.
It is a sad reality that sometimes exchanging innocent people like Evan and Paul who are wrongfully imprisoned is the only way forward. In this case, Russian prisoners who were incarcerated for serious crimes were released. President Joe Biden understands this aspect of diplomatic exchanges to free innocent people from dangerous situations and reunite families.
In contrast, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not care or does not want to deal with it.
More than 300 days since the Hamas hostage-taking in Israel
For me, as an Israeli and as someone whose job it is to bring hostages home, the situation in Gaza is both infuriating and heartbreaking.
More than 300 days have passed since the hostages – elderly men, young women and even children – were dragged from their homes and taken captive by Hamas. It is Prime Minister Netanyahu’s most important task and a core part of Israel’s social contract that he lead the initiative to bring these hostages home.
I served in the Israeli army. But you don’t have to be a soldier to understand that only an agreement – not military action – can free them. An agreement at the end of November allowed over 100 hostages to be released, including four-year-old American-Israeli Abigail Edan.
USA must help in the release of Hamas hostages: Your fate can change every second
Hamas is still holding 115 hostages, eight of whom are said to be Americans.
Netanyahu came to the US last month and promised the families that a deal was “ripe,” but it’s all talk and deception. At the same time, he is reversing the deal he and his government agreed to and demanding more, thereby blocking any progress.
A good hostage deal may not get you what you want, but it will bring your citizens home
There are two basic truths I have learned over the course of my career that Netanyahu should keep in mind. First, hostage situations never get better with time. Even the recent prisoner exchange with Russia was more expensive than it could have been beforehand. And second, time is never a good thing for the captured hostages.
The deal now on the table is the same one that was available to Israel in December. The only difference is that fewer hostages are alive.
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Although Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was not a decision-maker in the hostage negotiations and thus was not a substantive factor in the negotiations, his killing last week is nevertheless of considerable emotional and symbolic significance and will likely lead to a disruption of contacts on ceasefire/hostage negotiations for several weeks.
It is morally reprehensible – and the opposite of leadership – to stick to these proposed deals at the expense of the hostages. The remaining hostages have no time for Netanyahu to keep demanding more and reject every offer that lands on his desk. They are hungry, thirsty, injured, scared and fighting for survival.
I know these deals are complicated. I tried four times to get Paul Whelan included in the exchange before it finally happened last week, to no avail. It requires constant effort at the negotiating table, working around the clock to save those wrongfully imprisoned.
And this is exactly where Netanyahu fails. He lets the negotiations pause for weeks and thwarts every deal because he doesn’t get what he wants.
Real politicians know that a good deal may not get them exactly what they want, but it will get their people home. Nothing in the proposed deal poses an existential threat to the State of Israel. Therefore, Israel is strong enough to say yes – and bring its people home.
Biden agreed to a deal that would release convicted assassins and spies in order to fulfill his moral obligation to release his illegally detained people.
Prime Minister Netanyahu stood with President Biden and the American-Israeli hostage families at the White House on July 25 and said a deal is close. The families are doing everything they can to advocate for a deal. Biden is doing everything he can to broker the deal. It is up to Netanyahu to take a leadership role and make the difficult decisions that come with hostage situations.
Netanyahu’s legacy will be either the rescue of the hostages or the person responsible for their captivity. History will remember that.
Mickey Bergman is CEO of Global reacha nonprofit organization that helps return Americans kidnapped or wrongfully held abroad to their families free of charge. He is co-author of the recently published “In the Shadows: True Stories of the Elaborate Negotiations to Release Americans Imprisoned Abroad”, and has helped bring home notable Americans such as Otto Warmbier and Brittney Griner.
