Negotiating with Evil

As morning dawned upon the world, the leading news images came from the thousands of protesters in Tel Aviv clashing with police and demanding an immediate ceasefire so that the remaining hostages (or their bodies) could be released. Hamas had murdered the six hostages who were on the verge of being freed by advancing IDF forces. The face of Hirsh Goldberg-Polin, one of the six, was displayed, reminding us of October 7th when he was shown taken into captivity with his forearm amputated by a grenade thrown into a place where he and others had hidden from the rapes, be-headings and cold-blooded shootings that were taking place around them.

Although the US has made no overt effort over the 11 months since he and six other American citizens had been taken hostage, all prior negotiations have failed, with Hamas killing any reasonable “deal” put on the table, the impetus to make a “take it or leave it” proposal is emerging.

The stance taken by the Administration and by the Harris team has been one of sitting on the fence – on the one hand, announcing that the United States will continue supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, while saying that a ceasefire had to be agreed upon to end the death of Palestinian civilians.

Unfortunately, a growing number of anti-Israel protests on college campuses and on the streets of cities, funded and spurred by outside political agitators whose true agenda is to bring down Western institutions and governments, have flooded our eyes and ears through the lens of social media and news outlets. The political effect on the upcoming election, especially in the battleground states, primarily in Michigan and Minnesota, has been an understanding that sitting on that fence may lead to defeat in November.

Using Hirsh as the “poster child” for creating what may be the tipping point in the political and moral debate, a Situation Room meeting brought the President and Vice-President back to find an “immediate solution” to compel a ceasefire.

What is lost in all of this can be summed up in two Facebook posts I saw this morning:

One said: “They did not die. Hirsh did not die. They were murdered. All of them. Just because it doesn’t fit your narrative, it doesn’t make it less true.”

And then Rabbi Shmuely Boteach posted: “Just think of the sadism of Hamas that they actually take dead bodies hostage. This is wickedness at a level the world has seldom seen.”

Question – has negotiating with Evil ever worked?  Recall the “treaties” of 1938 made by Chamberlain and Stalin with Hitler. Recall that the Oslo Accords did not erase, nor will any alternative do so, the implacable design by Israel’s enemies to wipe it off the map and to openly declare that victory may only be achieved when it is “From the River to the Sea.”

The Bible (our Torah) instructs us on the unwavering intent of Amalek – to destroy Jews even if it means sacrificing the lives of their so-called “martyrs.” Amalek attacked shortly after Hashem demonstrated how the military might of the strongest empire at that time in history – Egypt – was wiped out at the Splitting of the Sea.

While the nation of Amalek no longer exists, its amoral DNA may be found in any people or movements that call for the destruction of Israel when, in fact, it calls for the final elimination of Jews under the increasingly transparent cancer of anti-Semitism.

The “Art of War,” whose authorship is attributed to Sun Tzu, thousands of years ago, called for negotiation and treaty as tools of war, utilized by a weaker power until it could, in the shadows, rise to a level of power that could overcome and defeat its enemy. Arafat embraced and declared this same strategy in Al Jazeera decades ago!  The fact that Hamas, the PLA, Iran, and its proxies have never deviated from their prime directive is lost upon those who now demand an immediate ceasefire.

Israel’s position that seeks to maintain a presence in the Philadelphi corridor, Rafah, and the Egyptian border because that region has been used for smuggling arms and releasing barrages of missiles into Israel for decades is patently reasonable and justified.

Refusing to agree that the return of hostages and bodies, especially in a trickling down fashion and in exchange for thousands of terrorists held by Israel who are dedicated to killing Jews, is patently reasonable and justified.  Defending against daily terrorist attacks and missile/UAV launches is reasonable and justified. Seeking to neutralize the ever-present threat of annihilation through the arsenal aimed at Israel from all sides is reasonable and justified.

In short, negotiating with Evil can never lead to Peace. We should have learned this over the thousands of years of wars waged in the aftermath of ceasefire deals, armistices, and treaties that were nothing but toilet paper!  Sure, we want our hostages back and the bodies of hostages who were carried away who were already dead on October 7th or killed in the months leading up to the brutal murders of Hirsh and the other five hostages this week!  But at what cost!

We need to remember History. We need to remember the clarity of what our enemies wish to do to the State of Israel and, in truth, to all Jews!  We must not forget there is no lasting Peace when negotiating with Evil!