We definitely need some miracles and extra joy this Chanukah and Christmas. I’d take an order, supersized.
As the holiday most profoundly based on a series of supernatural miracles and a major military victory by the Maccabees over Syrian-Hellenist enemies, this year more than ever, we need to continue to see the supernatural miracles that have taken place, the light amid the darkness and suffering, even (or especially) amid the fear and angst that the war has brought.
One of the things about which we especially need miracles and prayers is the immediate return of all of the remaining 100 hostages being held by terrorists in Gaza. There’s renewed talk about a deal to secure the hostages’ release being more imminent than ever. Call me cynical, albeit I pray for it every day, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
We know that many of the hostages are dead, but many are believed to be alive and bringing them home to Israel must be an immediate priority. The imperative and pressure to secure their release must be on Hamas and all the terrorist enablers to do so, even though they have less motivation to do so now.
Fortunately, President Trump has made his position clear: that all the hostages must be returned by his inauguration, or there will be “hell to pay.”
Unfortunately, for the terrorists, holding hostages and instilling fear and grief are their currency. The hostages are basically all they have left after a crushing military defeat, albeit one that’s not yet complete. Eventually while Hamas can be physically defeated, their jihadi ideology needs a more out-of-the-box solution.
While it’s likely that Trump means business, and maybe the increased optimism for a deal is a result of anticipated pressure and/or consequences, the terrorists know that once they release the hostages, they will have no cards left to play. While all Israelis desperately want the hostages released and brought home, many Israeli commentators don’t ever believe that all the hostages will be returned. Hamas and their Iranian backers thrive and indeed exist on the suffering of others.
Americans of my generation remember well the previous hostage crisis in 1979. Under an impotent Jimmy Carter presidency, Iranian Islamic terrorists took over the US Embassy in Tehran and held 54 Americans hostage for 444 days. That hostage crisis ended only once President Reagan was inaugurated in January 1980.
At that point, the Iranian Islamists behaved somewhat like rational actors. Getting their feet wet in controlling a whole nation following the Islamic revolution that overthrew the Shah, they had not yet become the global sponsor of terror that they became, and are now. They actually cared about what President Reagan thought and might do. No sooner had Reagan become president, and the hostages were on their way home.
Today, twice the number of hostages remain in Gaza, arguably suffering conditions that are much worse including starvation, physical and psychological torture, no exposure to light, humiliation, brainwashing, and more. Their families are also suffering more than one can imagine.
This year, as the first day of Chanukah and Christmas coincide, we need the miracles and joy for all the hostages and their loved ones, all the more. But there’s another reason why this week matters even more.
Maybe it’s only a coincidence, but as we celebrate Chanukah and Christmas together this year, we also mark the same 444 days that the American hostages were held in Iran.
It’s refreshing to have an incoming president who seems to be making the hostages being released a priority. I have contended for the past year that any American president could have forced the issue to release the hostages by exerting maximum pressure on Iran and Qatar, both of which shelter and fund Hamas and its leaders. Any American president could and should have supported Israel to do everything and anything possible to pressure Hamas, eliminate the terrorists, and find and bring the hostages home, not equivocate and send a mixed signal that only emboldened the terrorists.
Until now, while there have been negotiations, there’s been very little by way of pressure.
There’s a simple rule in dealing with terrorists: negotiation shows weakness. It is not a tactic to defeat the terrorists, but to kick the can down the road. The Biden administration has enabled the terrorists more than done anything to defeat them. They pandered and funded Iran to the tune of billions of dollars, showing even further weakness.
Among the hostages there are still several Americans. And it must be emphasized that the October 7 massacre by Hamas was the third largest slaughter of Americans at any one time this century after September 11.
Americans should want all the hostages released and be prepared to make that happen, including the Americans and all the others from many nationalities including Israel. We should not have to wait for Trump’s inauguration, weeks more of suffering, but it may be that way.
This should be an important national and international priority because if Americans are not safe everywhere, they are not safe anywhere. The same jihadis that took 54 Americans hostage in 1979 are now holding 100 others. Unless defeated, they will do it again.
This Chanukah and Christmas, we need to commit that every effort must be taken to have all the hostages released. As we celebrate one military defeat centuries ago, and the ensuing miracles that happened then, we can pray fervently that there will be more miracles today as well.
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