On June 9, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) executed a raid deep into Hamas territory in Gaza to rescue four hostages Hamas has held since October 7. It was a brilliant bit of planning executed with near-flawless precision.
Most of the world groused about the more than 200 (uncounted) civilian casualties as if Hamas played by one set of rules and the IDF was forced to play by another. The civilians would not have died if Hamas hadn't taken the hostages. That simple fact escapes the antisemites who support Hamas's barbaric hostage-taking.
The Israeli people gave the four former hostages a warm welcome. Would that the American people had the opportunity to welcome home the five Americans still in Hamas custody.
I hate to say it, but the five Americans believed to be still alive and in Hamas custody have been forgotten here in America. Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Edan Alexander of Tenafly, N.J.; Sagui Dekel-Chen of Bloomfield, N.J.; Omer Neutra of Melville, N.Y.; and Keith Siegel of Chapel Hill, N.C., are presumably still in the clutches of Hamas somewhere in Gaza.
We say "presumably" because Hamas refuses to give Israeli negotiators a list of hostages who are still alive.
But the White House doesn't seem anxious to confirm their status. The hostages are a bother for Biden. The further from American voters' minds they are, the better for Biden's reelection chances.
And the American media has taken a blasé attitude toward the Americans in captivity. After all, there are only five of them. Not a very sexy story at all. No need to tie a yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree or count the days they were being held captive, as Walter Cronkite ended each nightly news broadcast. The enemy was known as well: "Screaming Mary," the dour-faced Abolhassan Banisadr who thought he could control the students who took the embassy and ended up barely escaping with his life.
The silence from our media and citizens is deafening. No doubt, their captors remind the American prisoners almost every day that they've been forgotten — forgotten by their government, forgotten by their fellow citizens, and forgotten by the world.
John Ondrasik of the band Five for Fighting penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal calling on all of us to remember and make note of why the U.S. would never mount an operation like the one that rescued the four Israeli hostages.
Even if the Defense Department were to propose such an operation, it strains the imagination to think President Biden would authorize it. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has suggested that Israel could soon become “indistinguishable” from Hamas. Imagine being a hostage family and knowing your loved one’s life depends on the moral clarity, conviction and negotiating savvy of someone capable of such a despicable statement.
Jimmy Carter had his flaws as president but at least, with Operation Eagle Claw, he attempted to rescue our hostages from Iran. President Biden rarely mentions our fellow citizens who are being held by barbaric terrorists. Their freedom doesn’t seem to be a high priority for his administration. Frankly, the plight of our hostages doesn’t seem to mean much to most Americans.
It makes me wonder: Who are we anymore?
Biden is going through the motions on the American hostages. He met with freed Israeli-American Hamas hostage Liat Beinin Atzili on Monday. She was part of the original deal in November as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Liat Beinin Atzili is a survivor.
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 9, 2024
It was my honor to welcome her to the White House this evening, hear firsthand about her resilience despite enduring the unthinkable, and promise her that my work isn't done until we secure the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas. pic.twitter.com/4fMneEkHzv
No mention of the American hostages still in custody. Disgraceful.
