Psychological terror: Are we smart enough, strong enough to avoid falling for it?

Wow. This is psychological terrorism at its most sophisticated.

But first, to paraphrase the video itself, which the Siegal and Miron families have given permission to share. The Arabic in the corner and full-screen at the end of the video means: Military Media.

In the first shot, Prime Minister Netanyahu expresses his belief that only military pressure will bring the hostages home. In the next screen, it looks like Siegel does not agree with this, but it is possible that he is not responding to that at all, but to something else. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant then repeats the same claim, that military pressure will bring them home. Then Miron mentions all the bombing in Gaza.

After this, we see text that exclaims that military pressure will not succeed in releasing the hostages, that it actually lead to the deaths of dozens of abductees Hamas is holding and prevented them from celebrating Pesach holiday with their families.

At first, Siegel and Miron send words of love and longing to their loved ones. Siegel broke down when he spoke of Pesach last year and his hope that they will be surprised [and go home for Pesach this year]…. Miron talks of hoping to be able to celebrate Israel Independence Day [14 May] together with his family.

Both speak of their long time in captivity and how hard it is. Interestingly, the only hardship they name is that of IDF bombings around them. No mention of how they are being (mis)treated by their captors.

Both address a plea to the government to do everything it can to get them out of there while they are still alive. They also talk about the demonstrations on their behalf and request that these continue so that the government makes a deal to get them out soon.

Final texts on last two slides on screen (authoritative translation of the first sentence from the Arabic — not mine — because the Hebrew makes no sense):

Your Nazi leaders do not care about the fate of your hostage sons and their feelings.
Do what is necessary before it is too late.

In response to this clip, Omri Miron’s father told Israel Army Radio that the government has no moral right to reject the offer for a deal that is now on the table, no right to miss this opportunity to bring the hostages home.

And here is where I feel trapped.

I know that if a member of my family, of if a friend of mine, was being held by Hamas in the tunnels of Gaza, I would be wishing for whatever it would take to get them home safely and soon. But I also know, and likely would in that case as well if I let myself think about it, that the entire nation is being held hostage by Hamas.

And not only Hamas.

When the world is out there on the streets demonstrating for Hamas against Israel,

• when Israel is forced to feed those who, on Oct 7th, cheered the atrocities and abductions committed by their fellow citizens alongside Hamas terrorists,
• when Israel is accused of genocide while doing more than any other to protect civilians without knowing how many of those cheered the terrorists and, even if they hate what Hamas has brought down on them, ultimately agree with their aim of wiping Israel off the map,
• when nobody seems to care that international laws are broken by Hamas in holding civilian hostages and not letting the Red Cross assess their health and welfare while insisting on checking up on conditions in which Oct 7th Hamas terrorists are being held in Israel’s prison.
• when Biden can threaten to cease providing weapons if Israel enters Rafah (even if it is an empty threat and I am not sure it is),
• when Egypt only lets those Gazans escape the war if they have $5K per adults or $2.5K per child and the world is silent about this extortion and exploitation,
• when world leaders want Israel to accept a deal that would not only release more seriously violent terrorists in exchange for a small number of women, children, elderly, ill hostages who are still alive but also comprises an agreement to cease and desist from completing our mission to destroy the Hamas terrorist leadership and structure,

then Israel is once more compelled to fight for our lives with one hand tied behind our backs. Few around the world point out the inhumanity in that, the injustice. In fact, most, it seems, are watching with bated breath, waiting for the much-anticipated fall of the Jewish state.

So I find myself trapped between supporting the moral right of the hostages versus the moral right of the nation as a whole. A kind of Sophie’s choice?

I didn’t vote for Bibi, never have and never will. I didn’t vote for any of the trio (Bibi, Gallant, Gantz) leading the war effort today and I want them and all others responsible for Oct 7th to be investigated and punished — after the war. Not now. Calls for re-elections during wartime is destablilizing and would be tantamount to doing our enemies’ work for them — opening us up to an insurmountable onslaught on all borders.

Hamas proved that to us in this video and earlier ones in which they got hostages to beg Bibi to do all he can to bring them home.

Anyone who thinks Bibi is prolonging this war and keeping the hostages hostage in Gaza in order to hang onto his seat has not considered what a hero he would be were he to have quickly accomplished his dual task of eliminating Hamas and securing the release of the hostages. Claiming he is prolonging the war for selfish purposes is a lie propogated by the leaders of the protests who don’t want Bibi to get credit for doing anything right, even if it is to the actual detriment of the most direct victims in this story — the hostages and their families.

Why else would a video produced by Hamas have the hostages instruct the demonstrators to continue to protest and pressure Bibi? After all, Hamas knows that the Four Mothers protest movement got then Prime Minister Ehud Barak to unilaterally and unconditionally bring the IDF out of Lebanon and end the war without winning it in 2000, after three years of protest. With Israeli society so naturally divided from before Oct 7th, they perhaps imagine there can be a repeat performance of a protest movement that will leave them intact to fight another day just like it did Hezbollah.

After the initial surge of remarkable unity and setting aside of political differences in the early stages after Oct 7th, the cracks are showing up again. I attribute this to those cynically using the pain of the families, friends, in fact the pain of the entire country for their nefarious purposes of bringing down the government even in time of war.

With the release of those hostages let go in exchange for terrorists and a temporary hold on the fighting, we saw how the nation, while divided in the ways we think the country should operate, comes together in our common humanity and caring. I, who strongly opposed the hostage deal, sat mesmerized throughout the hours of live reporting on the progress the hostages made to the Red Cross ambulances and then into the welcoming arms of the IDF and then their families. This was true for each day in which a pre-determined number of hostages were released. And it would be true again, even if a deal I oppose comes to pass. I want them home no less than anyone else. I rejoice in their release and pray for their recovery and resilience in the face of unspeakable horrors.

Regarding those voted in to lead the nation and find themselves at the helm during this precarious time — I cannot imagine how they cope with the pressures of needing to defeat an enemy some world leaders may correctly label terrorists but seemingly want us to leave intact, the manipulative pressures of other world leaders forcing accomodation and appeasement, and the simultaneous pressures in our own streets shouting for a deal under any terms, something Hamas has shown it knows how to pivot to their advantage. Shouting, in fact, for your downfall even now, when you need to garner all your energies to save the nation and clear the borders so we will no longer be under threat of a tsunami of invading hoards in a frenzy of blood thirst.

I do not envy the responsibility they bear today for ALL OF US; I am not talking about their responsibility for it happening in the first place — they MUST be punished for that. The day of reckoning will come, if they pull us through this safely.

I can only hope that those leading the nation today do the best job humanly possible. And if humanly possible is not enough, that we get the help we need from the One Above, even though I doubt we really deserve it.