Now is our chance to prevent the next hostage crisis

The return of Ran Gvili is a moment that is both deeply moving and deeply painful. It brings closure to one family and relief to Israeli society as a whole. For the first time since 2014, no Israeli civilians or soldiers are being held by terrorist organizations.

This is a critical moment and creates a historic opportunity.

For the first time in years, Israel can – and must – hold an honest, serious discussion about how to confront the threat of kidnappings. This discussion can now take place without political pressure or emotional campaigns, focused on one fundamental question: what policy best serves the security of the State of Israel.

The truth is uncomfortable but unavoidable: over the years, Israel has created a built-in incentive for the kidnapping of Israelis, turning it into one of the most effective weapons in the hands of our enemies.

Until the late 1970s, Israel treated kidnappings as a strategic threat. It refused to negotiate with terrorist organizations and instead carried out bold military operations – Sabena, the Savoy Hotel, Ma’alot, Entebbe. The cost was painful, but the message was unmistakable: kidnappings do not pay.

That message changed in the late 1970s. Following the 1978 kidnapping of soldier Avraham Amram, Israel gradually adopted a different approach – negotiations, concessions, and agreements under pressure. The signal sent to our enemies was clear and dangerous: kidnapping works.

A terrorist organization does not need tanks, precision missiles, or air superiority. It needs a single Israeli – dead or alive. The moment there is a hostage, Israeli society is thrown into crisis, decision-makers operate under extreme pressure, and the enemy gains extraordinary leverage.

The Gilad Shalit deal illustrates this more clearly than any other case. In the short term, it brought national relief. In the long term, it produced a profound security failure. More than a thousand terrorists were released, many of whom returned to terrorism – including Yihya Sinwar, who later planned and led the deadliest massacre in Israel’s history. This was not an unforeseeable tragedy; it was the direct result of policy.

After the Second Lebanon War, the Winograd Commission concluded in 2008 that Israel must adopt a comprehensive strategy to prevent and confront kidnappings. As a result, Defense Minister Ehud Barak appointed a committee led by former Supreme Court Justice Meir Shamgar to establish clear rules for negotiating the return of hostages.

The Shamgar Committee submitted its conclusions in 2012. They were never made public, but their guiding principle was clear: a democratic state cannot make fateful decisions under duress. Red lines must be set in advance and upheld even in the most painful moments.

Real compassion

I have introduced a bill in the Knesset to anchor those principles in binding law. Not out of cruelty, but out of responsibility. One-for-one exchanges. No release of convicted murderers. No release of living terrorists in exchange for bodies. A fixed, limited list of eligible prisoners, with no additional concessions.

The logic is straightforward: when the enemy knows the price in advance and understands that it is limited, the incentive to kidnap declines. When kidnappings lead to harsher imprisonment conditions and immediate, severe consequences – not political or territorial gains – they stop being an asset and become a liability.

This is not a right-wing or left-wing position. Over the years, lawmakers from across Israel’s political spectrum – including Yair Lapid, Elazar Stern, and Avigdor Lieberman – have supported anchoring the Shamgar principles in law. What eroded this consensus was not reason, but public pressure and understandable human pain.

Some argue that the Israeli public will not be able to accept such limits. They are wrong. What the public truly cannot withstand is another October 7. Another hostage crisis. Another government forced to react instead of being proactive.

Real compassion is not only for today’s hostage. It is also for the soldier, the civilian, and the family who may be kidnapped tomorrow. The responsibility of elected officials is not only to bring hostages home, but to reduce the likelihood that others will ever be taken.

Now, with no Israelis in captivity, with hearts still heavy but judgment clear, this is the moment to make a strategic decision: to advance this legislation and anchor the Shamgar principles in law. To change the equation.

So that next time, when it is already too late, we are not forced to confront the same question.

Never again!