The bad ‘deal’ and the media coverage disaster boosting Hamas

The first three Israeli hostages are back home, and this is surely something we should all be happy about. We hope that all the ones who are still captive will also be released as soon as possible. Humanely speaking, it’s wonderful.
However, this “deal” is not a victory for Israel, nor for the international war on terrorism. It is in fact a disaster on all levels: political, strategic, and media.
Politically and strategically speaking, the two main objectives of the war, defeating Hamas and eradicating it from Gaza were not achieved. Moreover, the hostages will have to be exchanged for hundreds of murderers and terrorists, at a ratio of 1:30 or 1:50, who will return to terrorism and possibly kill more Israelis.
This is exactly what happened with Yahya Sinwar and other terrorists who took part in the October 7th pogrom. Shin Bet head Ronen Bar stated it very clearly: “82% of those released in Shalit deal returned to terror activity”. However, some decision-makers never seem to learn from previous mistakes.
I don’t like to repeat myself, but let’s not be naïve, Hamas has no interest in releasing all the hostages, because they are the only leverage the terrorist organization has against Israel, its life insurance. The release process will go on for months, maybe years and, in the meantime, Hamas will ask for guarantees regarding its permanence and political role in Gaza.
Hamas will now use the “deal” to boost its image all over the Middle East and the Islamic world, presenting itself as a champion of “resistance against the Zionist killing machine”. This, willingly or not, will increase its position as a potentially legitimate interlocutor, especially if there are political actors in the area willing to follow along and provide the terrorist organization with the necessary support. Therefore, the Netanyahu government failed in Gaza.
As if the damage wasn’t already substantial, the Israeli media and the government made the huge mistake of conducting extensive live media coverage to the event of the hostage exchange on Sunday, therefore providing a huge international media platform to Hamas. Unfortunately, the coverage will probably continue throughout the whole stage of the “deal”, causing further damage to the already catastrophic situation.
These terrorists, who are infamous but not stupid, immediately took advantage of the situation by parading in the streets of Gaza, fully armed and in uniform, showing not only that they survived, but also that they are still in full control. It doesn’t matter if this is true or not, because what matters today is the image, unfortunately.
The whole exchange should have been done far away from media attention, with minimum information until the hostages were back in Israel.
Cutting deals with terrorists is wrong, and not just ethically, but practically speaking.
1- Negotiations and deals encourage terrorists to repeat atrocities, because they know that at the end of the game, their demands will be met. Negotiating with terrorists means putting the lives of more citizens at risk, because they will become targets of more terrorist actions, inside and outside of the borders. (Hamas reconfirmed that they would perpetrate more attacks, and they will, maybe through the hands of those who are being released by Israel).
2- Negotiations provide the terrorist organization with political legitimacy, elevating them to legitimate interlocutors, when instead they should be marginalized and subjected to strong pressure by all possible means.
3- Negotiations and possible agreements allow terrorists to boost their propaganda, presenting the results achieved as a “great victory of the resistance”. A situation that is occurring at this moment, with Hamas, the Iranian regime and even the extremist left-wing pro-Pal groups who are rejoicing over the outcome of the negotiation.
Not only that, but terrorists and their supporters tend to call for the level of conflict to be raised when they are in the grip of exaltation. This is clear and obvious because when the terrorists perceive the negotiation as a “victory of the resistance” or a “surrender of the enemy,” they aim to persist in the fight with greater intensity. Hamas is not just a terrorist organization anymore, it’s an international terrorist ideology, as already explained months back by Noor Dahri, director of the UK-based think tank Islamic Theology of Counter-Terrorism. Hamas found support among the far-left in the West and within the Islamist diaspora. Therefore, this “deal” will likely have an impact abroad too.
These are all undeniable facts, unless we want to deny reality. As they say, “There are none so deaf as those who do not wish to hear”.
The problem is that reality does not forgive and does not care about political propaganda. The consequences of this “agreement” will soon be seen and unfortunately once again it will be the citizens who will bear the consequences. One wonders if there is real will to eradicate Hamas, because this situation is a clear deja vu.