A Polish perspective on Hamas hostage exchanges

The propaganda spectacle by Hamas is, sadly, hardly unexpected. That’s what terror groups do the world over – they use hostages as pawns to spread their message across. Now, killing children is an act from the pits of hell and reciting Psalm 83 is the right choice. If my understanding is correct, the Psalm states (paraphrased).

O God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear, do not stand aloof, O God. Humiliate the enemies.

I look at the propaganda scene with the coffins and I have two questions.

1. The stage and the big poster with the vampiric Netanyahu. Gaza is in ruins – where did Hamas get the poster? I know they have supplies but it’s still strange. I’d look into that because the trail can lead to interesting places.
2. The coffins – was it an initiative of Hamas? Was an external actor instructing them what to do? If so – who and to what end? Is there a way to find out?

Shiri Bibas seems to have interacted with her abductors in the abduction video – and if the translation of what Hamas terrorists were saying to her is correct, they were promising not to hurt her. Given what happened later – the brutal murders – only proves what ought to be apparent to anyone with a modicum of intellect: terror groups respect force and only force and lying is an art for them. False hope is what they sell to get you just when you think there’s some reason and humanity in them, that’s when they kill you.

I find it profoundly perplexing why so many people are shocked by these events. Terror groups – by definition – want to cause terror and are going to do anything to terrorize. If you can’t be as cynical and as focused, as them, you’re going to lose. Any kind of trying to justify their actions, any kind of diplomacy is a fool’s errand. Sometimes, to stop a psychopath, you need a bigger psychopath, not flowers of love and trying hard to understand your enemy, unless it’s a purely psychopathic understanding – cold empathy, to know how to defeat them.

I could send my thoughts and prayers but I’m not going to write cheap words that mean nothing to the hostages, both dead or alive. If you want to honor their memory, bring the rest of the hostages back home and remember Adam Smith’s words: mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. This isn’t the time for bleeding heart foolishness. This is the time for focus and action.

I watch the IDF embed videos sometimes. It’s interesting to see the IDF up-close. Feels like a post-apocalyptic zombie movie but it’s a good idea to show the people around the world what’s going on.