Because the Israeli public wouldn’t give a shit about ending the war if it wasn’t for the hostages. Israel wasn’t going to genocide Gazans less had Hamas not taken the hostages, but doing so enabled them to shove a massive wedge into the Israeli home front, which otherwise tends to be mostly united in support of genocide.
Before Oct 7, Gazans had been living in a concentration camp for 17 years. Israel regularly bombed, cut off food/water/medical supplies, prevented the Palestinians from fishing or having an airport, tortured prisoners, killed hundreds of peaceful protesters, etc etc. While Gazans endured these 17 years of horror, Israelis normalized it. The world was ok with it. While the Arab populations stand with Palestine, Arab governments were making deals with Israel, normalizing the slow genocide of Gaza.
There was no future for Gaza, no hope for Gaza, only slow genocide.
By taking hostages, the slow genocide has become a quick one. But now, at least, the eyes of the world are on Palestine. Instead of dying quietly, their deaths are headline news around the world. When fighting for their freedom and humanity, Gazans had 0 bargaining chips. Now with the hostages, they have 1.
We can’t know what actions the Netanyahu government did not take in order to avoid incurring the anger of the anti-war (really pro-hostage) branch of Israeli politics, so that’s part of it. Other than that it’s less about how Gaza is better off now and more about how an Israeli peace movement will be essential to eventually ending the war/genocide; it’s then that the true value of having taken those hostages will be realized. This is speculation on my part, but the end of the war will come from these guys, not from the Israeli government.
How do you figure that? Their homeland is practically just a pile of bricks, and most of the hamas leadership has been killed.
Because the Israeli public wouldn’t give a shit about ending the war if it wasn’t for the hostages. Israel wasn’t going to genocide Gazans less had Hamas not taken the hostages, but doing so enabled them to shove a massive wedge into the Israeli home front, which otherwise tends to be mostly united in support of genocide.
I’m still not understanding how Gaza is better off because Hamas took hostages.
I think the strongest argument is this:
Before Oct 7, Gazans had been living in a concentration camp for 17 years. Israel regularly bombed, cut off food/water/medical supplies, prevented the Palestinians from fishing or having an airport, tortured prisoners, killed hundreds of peaceful protesters, etc etc. While Gazans endured these 17 years of horror, Israelis normalized it. The world was ok with it. While the Arab populations stand with Palestine, Arab governments were making deals with Israel, normalizing the slow genocide of Gaza.
There was no future for Gaza, no hope for Gaza, only slow genocide.
By taking hostages, the slow genocide has become a quick one. But now, at least, the eyes of the world are on Palestine. Instead of dying quietly, their deaths are headline news around the world. When fighting for their freedom and humanity, Gazans had 0 bargaining chips. Now with the hostages, they have 1.
IDF literally don’t even bother to verify if the people they’re shooting at or bombing is a hostage.
We can’t know what actions the Netanyahu government did not take in order to avoid incurring the anger of the anti-war (really pro-hostage) branch of Israeli politics, so that’s part of it. Other than that it’s less about how Gaza is better off now and more about how an Israeli peace movement will be essential to eventually ending the war/genocide; it’s then that the true value of having taken those hostages will be realized. This is speculation on my part, but the end of the war will come from these guys, not from the Israeli government.