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Hostage Deal Is a Necessary Deal With the Devil
Aviv Asher, 2,5-year-old, her sister Raz Asher, 4,5-year-old, and mother Doron, react as they meet with Yoni, Raz and Aviv’s father and Doron’s husband, after they returned to Israel to the designated complex at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Petah Tikva, Israel, in this handout picture released on November 25, 2023. Photo: Schneider Children’s Medical Center Spokesperson/Handout via REUTERS.
In opposing the current deal to release Palestinian terrorists in return for innocent Israeli hostages, many point to the deal where Israel got back kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar, now a chief leader of Hamas. Even if that deal was miscalculated, this one is different.
Many are discussing how they are for or against the deal, which is supposed to free 50 — mainly women and children — in return for Palestinian women and children (or people who started as children) most of whom were convicted of violent crimes. I wish we could get all our hostages back now, but it is crucial to save the lives of at least these 50.
There is a huge concern that Israeli soldiers will lose actionable intelligence and that Hamas will re-arm and perhaps Sinwar will escape. We’re already hearing reports that Hamas is telling all its civilians to go back into areas where Israel is operating, which could hamper future military action.
Any time an army has momentum and its enemy is on the ropes, it’s never a good idea to stop. But to bring back hostages out of Hell, you have to make a deal with the devil.
We learn in the Talmud that “whoever saves a single life, is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world.”
This shows that freeing captives is sacrosanct. At the same time, there is a real fear that freeing criminal prisoners will only encourage more kidnapping. Here’s a big secret: evil people, who make it their mission to kill and torture, will find a way to do it.
Some of the prisoners being released were violent and we know that violent criminals will likely be violent again. How do you stop that from happening? These are tough questions with no good answers.
But you can’t answer the cry of a relative who wants their loved one back with, “Sorry, maybe at a later point” — because at a later point, they may not be alive.
Israel did not ask to be in this war or to be in this position. We do know we are dealing with terrorists we cannot trust.
The ceasefire is a clear propaganda win for Hamas and gives them legitimacy. But this decision, as hard as it was, may be followed by a much harder decision: What if after the four days, Hamas says it will continue to release hostages but only if Israel releases some of the most dangerous murderers and terror planners?
Israel must calculate at what point their soldiers lose so much that many are in danger, and at what point the population is in peril if certain criminals are let go. President Biden had been pushing for a ceasefire, and perhaps while getting hostages back, this will get Israel some points with the United States.
A big tragedy is the failure of the international community and all major countries for not strongly demanding all hostages back from day one.
Based on the information that is known, we must be thankful to get these hostages back. We shouldn’t do this with blinders on, and should continue to make a cost-benefit analysis, while respecting the lives of all the hostages.
American college students who took down posters of the hostages thought they were big shots. Should these hostages be released, I hope these college students take a look in the mirror and work on being less hateful. It isn’t likely.
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post Hostage Deal Is a Necessary Deal With the Devil first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.