Once Again, It's the hostages, Stupid.

For months last year, American Jews criticized the Biden Administration for abandoning the hostages, especially those who had U.S. citizenship, appealing to his obligation to protect Americans in danger wherever they may be. President Trump, after facilitating the release of some 33 hostages earlier this year, has now secured the release of the one known living American hostage, Edan Alexander. This is fantastic news. Every hostage released is a tremendous relief and one step closer to ending the war. But we can’t end the war without all of the hostages home and accounted for, and with every hostage released individually, the remaining hostages’ prospects for survival grow increasingly bleak.

Trump may believe he has fulfilled his duty by obtaining the release of Edan Alexander. In one sense this is understandable as he is the President of the United States and his first obligation is to America and its citizens. But I distinctly remember him saying that “all hell would break loose” if all of the hostages were not freed by January 20, 2025. President Trump is probably the most (or at least among the most) powerful people in the world. In addition, Trump and his envoy Steven Witkoff, both have very public relationships with Qatar and have opened a line of communication with Hamas. Qatar funds and controls Hamas’ decision-making unhindered by any type of internal Hamas leadership. For these reasons, the Trump team has been incrementally successful in persuading Hamas to release hostages where others have failed. Their success proves that there is some amount of pressure that can be levied against the Qataris that would cause them to apply that same pressure on Hamas. So, what is preventing the White House from bringing home the rest of the hostages? The Trump administration has power that it is not using for this purpose; it’s been traded for a shiny new jet.

The hostage crisis is an ongoing trauma to the Jewish people. Since October 7, many of us have given up on a good nights’ sleep, and the healing will not begin until the hostages are home. But it’s not only a Jewish tragedy; it’s a human tragedy. By now we have a enough survivor testimony from the hostages who have been freed to understand the unspeakable conditions of their captivity. It is widely known that they are being tortured and starved in darkness and without adequate air. They are receiving food rations (one pita per day to share) that are less than the rations in Nazi concentration camps. They are shackled and held in cages. One needed only to have looked at Eli Sharabi’s skeletal frame and Edan’s arms scarred with burns to understand what the hostages are enduring.

Yet It takes so much effort to persuade those in power to use it to bring an end to this human suffering. Even keeping the hostages in the public consciousness takes work. Almost every world leader has sidelined the plight of the hostages. The total disregard for their welfare by the numerous NGOs who condemn Israel for fictitious crimes, the useless ICRC and the public, is obscene. Perhaps most importantly, the world’s conscience is not shocked. Instead we are drowning in a morass of deflections, justifications and false equivalency.

Even the United States abstained on a U.N. security council resolution that demanded a ceasefire in the war not conditioned on anything, including the release of the hostages. I use the term “ceasefire” sarcastically since everyone knows a ceasefire means that Israel surrenders, with Hamas and their comrades in terror emboldened to repeat future savage terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. What the pro-terror cult does not want us to understand is that all deaths are not created equal. Some are intentional, savage and cruel. Others are unavoidable because of the human shield strategy that lies at the heart of Hamas’ war plan. They don’t want you to understand that Israel has a choice of fighting a war that was forced on them or protecting Palestinians who deny its right to exist at all, over the lives of its own citizens, proving the evil strategy used by Hamas to be a success.

Neither the United States nor anyone else intervened to rescue the Jews during the Holocaust, despite being fully aware of the atrocities taking place. Then as now, protests occurred at the Whitehouse. The New York Times featured alarming headlines about the mass slaughter of Jews. A delegation of 40 Rabbis even managed to secure an audience with FDR to plead for help in saving European Jewry. It didn’t work. The U.S. borders remained closed and FDR had nothing on offer. It was not until the allies faced direct threats that action against Germany began. In the aftermath, the world was appalled by the mountains of corpses and skeletal survivors discovered in the concentration camps and the 6 million lives lost in the most efficient and systematic extermination of human beings in history. We ask how the world could allow this to happen? But we know exactly how the world let it happen.

These are the remaining living and dead hostages. Say their names:

Ariel Cunio (27)

Alon Ohel (23)

Eitan Horn (38)

Avinatan Or (31)

Elkana Bohbot (35)

Evyatar David (24)

Bipin Joshi (24)

Ziv Berman (27)

Gali Berman (27)

David Cunio (34)

Eitan Mor (24)

Maxim Herkin (36)

Omri Miran (47)

Nattapong Pinta (35)

Bar Abraham Kupershtein (23)

Guy Gilboa-Dalal (23)

Nimrod Cohen (20)

Matan Zangauker (25)

Tamir Nimrodi (20)

Matan Angrest (22)

Segev Kalfon (27)

Rom Braslavski (21)

Yosef-Haim Ohana (24)

Gadi Haggai (72)

Itay Chen (19)

Judi Weinstein Haggai (70)

Eliyahu Margalit (75)

Eitan Levi (52)

Sahar Baruch (24)

Ilan Weiss (56)

Ofra Keidar (70)

Joshua Luito Mollel (21)

Tal Haimi (41)

Arie Zalmanowicz (85)

Ran Gvili (24)

Aviv Atzili (49)

Dror Or (48)

Tamir Adar (38)

Ronen Engel (54)

Inbar Hayman (27)

Jonathan Samerano (21)

Guy Iluz (26)

Yair Yaakov (59)

Asaf Hamami (41)

Lior Rudaeff (61)

Muhammad Al-Atarash (39)

Meny Godard (73)

Omer Neutra (21)

Yossi Sharabi (53)

Shay Levinson (19)

Daniel Oz (19)

Daniel Perez (22)

Uriel Baruch (35)

Sontia Ok’Krasari (30)

Sontisek Rintalk (43)

Amiram Cooper (85)

Idan Shtivi (28)

Hadar Goldin (23)