Breaking Down the Hostage Deal: Strategy, Ethics & Risks

by now everybody knows that there's a hostage  deal on the table and I'm about to get into the   nitty-gritty details of what we know about the  hostage deal but before we do I think it's very   important that I share not just my personal view  on the hostage deal but to share Torah the Bible's   view because we have precedent for hostage deals  Arabs have been taking Jews hostage for years not   only Arabs by the way unfortunately many other  nations have been taking Jews hostage for years   and the Torah clearly deals with what is the  proper way to deal with it so before we get   into the nitty-gritty of the actual hostage  deal what I will tell you is this there is a   concept in Torah that you are of course allowed  to redeem a hostage but you are not allowed to   pay an exorbitant amount of money or an exorbitant  amount of other terrorists in exchange for your   hostages why because this emboldens the enemy  this emboldens them to take more when they see   that when they take our people we will do anything  to get them back including releasing dangerous   terrorists back into our own society and emboldens  the enemy to just repeat the cycle of violence   Torah is very clear about this you're allowed to  redeem a hostage but it could only be at a fairgo   rate it cannot be what we're about to see in this  hostage deal so let me share with you exactly the   nitty-gritty of what is proposed to take place  again A lot of people are speculating but to our   best assumption right now and this is according  to the Jerusalem Post I'm going to share with you   what the hostage deal is going to look like the  prime minister of Qatar confirmed that 33 hostages   will be released Women and Children First followed  by female soldiers then men over the age of 50 and   young men who are defined as humanitarian crisis  in exchange Israel will release 2,000 convicted   terrorists including 250 who have been senten  to life imprisonment in addition Israel released   about a th000 terrorists captured after October  7th so that means 33 hostages are being released   for roughly 3,000 you heard it 3,000 convicted  terrorists in Israel and this would fall into   a situation where they're giving up too many  people they're giving up too many terrorists   for the amount of people that they're releasing  now I want to look at it on the bright side okay   I want to look at it on the positive side because  this is not coming from a place of stupidity it's   not coming from a place of ill will on the side of  the Israelis the quite the opposite Jewish people   are so compassionate so kind so caring imagine  the amount of people these are not just by the   way people this is not a regular you know prisoner  swap here we're talking about 33 innocent people   that were taken out of their homes maliciously in  the middle of the night these are women children   babies men who have nothing to do with the  situation were taken innocently out of their   homes and they're being in exchange for terrorists  who are sentenced to life imprisonment who have   already gone through the judicial process but  Israel and Jews are so compassionate that they're   willing to put themselves in danger to redeem life  you have to understand this sends a big message   to the world Judaism fund mentally worships life  and abor death it worships Freedom it worships the   proper treatment of its people dignity life values  rooted in goodness and kindness that's where   they're negotiating from unfortunately who they're  negotiating with are coming from negotiating a   place of death they're negotiating from a place  of terrorism they're negotiating from a place of   where they don't appreciate life and this is who  our negotiating partners are unfortunately and   this is at the Crux of the whole dilemma Israel  by the way is split you have half of the country   that really supports this hostage deal and you  have half of the country that is Vally opposed to   it and against it you have some Israelis that are  thinking with their minds with their brains that   are saying if we give up 3,000 terrorists for 33  people then we're just going to be in this vicious   cycle forever and you have some Israelis that  are thinking with their their heart and saying   how could I deny the bibas family how could I  deny them their one-year-old and 2-year-old and   three-year-old children who have been in captivity  for over a year and a half and that's at the Crux   of the whole debate that's going on in Israel  Torah clearly defines what is right and what is   wrong in the situation but it's worth noting that  even though it may be the wrong decision and even   though it goes against Torah you still have to  understand the compassion of the Jews and it's   still something to be respected and something  to be admired by the whole world so I'm going   to outline for you the phases of this deal aside  from the hostages so of course phase one is the   release of the hostages the 33 at the beginning  and then that last 42 days some IDF presence will   still be in the philadeli corridor that is the  corridor between Egypt and between Gaza so there   still will be some IDF presence there phase  two will be talks on more hostages released   and further rdf withdrawals will start on day 16  of the deal security protocols for Palestinian   returnees to Northern Gaza so right now the gazin  are not in the northern part of Gaza part of this   deal will allow for their return and phase three  is all hostages will be released and IDF will   withdraw fully but only after the full freedom of  the hostages this is what we know right now the   situation is rapidly changing it's very fluid it's  very complex nobody has all the answers there's   obviously pressure from the United States there's  obviously pressure from Qatar and all I could say   is May the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob guide  our leaders for what is best for the Jewish people