When Kidnapping Becomes Strategy - The West Has Emboldened Hamas To Plan More

For months, the heart of Israel has been torn in two directions--one toward the desperate yearning of families whose loved ones are held hostage by Hamas, and the other toward the uncompromising necessity of destroying the terrorist group that holds them captive. This duality of compassion and resolve is not only reshaping Israel's war against Hamas but redefining modern warfare itself.

Hamas has learned a devastatingly effective lesson: rockets, with all their noise and fire, cost millions and rarely achieve their goals. But hostages-innocent men, women, children-paralyze nations. They fracture societies. They create impossible dilemmas for governments, forcing leaders to weigh the lives of the few against the security of the many. Hamas has discovered that nothing weakens Israel's hand more than its moral heart.

Recent weeks have underscored just how entrenched this strategy has become. Negotiations to free current hostages remain ongoing, and yet Hamas is already plotting the next abductions. A few weeks ago, militants attacked an IDF post in Khan Yunis in what appeared to be an attempt to seize more soldiers. And just days ago, Hamas threatened that Israel's new operation in Gaza City would "invite" further kidnappings. The message is clear: hostage-taking is no longer an occasional tactic; it has become central to Hamas's military doctrine.

This is not without precedent. Israel has long faced the excruciating burden of negotiating for its captured citizens. The 2011 exchange of over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for the release of a single soldier, Gilad Shalit, set a chilling standard. Many of those released returned to violence. Israel's generosity and compassion were repaid with more terror. And now, history is repeating itself. For every concession made to free hostages, Hamas grows bolder, confident that kidnapping is the most powerful weapon in its arsenal.

The human cost cannot be ignored. Every Israeli family with a loved one in captivity experiences a daily torment that no government, no military strategy, can fully comfort. Their pain is real, their calls for action justified. No society that values human life can dismiss such anguish. And yet, if Hamas is permitted to dictate the terms of this conflict through abductions, the cycle of terror will never end. Each release, each compromise, plants the seed for the next round of kidnappings.

Israel's leaders face a cruel paradox: to save the few risks endangering the many. This is why Israel has now moved forward with what it calls the "final operation" in Gaza City. By delaying its decisive blow against Hamas for the sake of negotiations, Israel has allowed its enemy precious time to regroup and entrench itself. Hamas understands this. The hostages were never only bargaining chips; they were shields, strategically placed between Israel and the decisive victory it seeks.

The lesson here is sobering. Compassion must never be confused with capitulation. Israel cannot allow its war effort to be held hostage by those who thrive on cruelty. To negotiate endlessly with terrorists is to reward terror. To release convicted militants back onto the battlefield is to endanger countless more innocent lives.

War is always tragic. It always breaks hearts and tests the moral fabric of nations. But war against terrorism is uniquely cruel, because it exploits a people's deepest values--the love of family, the sanctity of life--as weapons against them. Hamas has weaponized Israel's compassion. That is why Israel must learn to fight not only with strength but with clarity: hostages cannot be allowed to paralyze the pursuit of victory.

The days ahead will be dark. Families will continue to cry out for their loved ones, and their cries must be heard. But alongside their pain, Israel must carry a grim determination: never again to let kidnapping dictate the pace of war. Hamas has chosen a path of brutality. Israel must answer with the resolve of a nation unwilling to bow to terror, even as it weeps for its sons and daughters.

In the end, the only true safeguard against future kidnappings is the defeat of those who take them. Until Hamas is dismantled, every truce, every exchange, will be temporary. The world must understand this. And Israel must hold fast to it. Compassion must guide its heart--but resolve must guide its hand.

And yet, in the midst of this bitter struggle, the response of the international community adds insult to injury. Instead of isolating Hamas and those who embolden it, Western nations have chosen this very moment to reward the Palestinians with calls for statehood at the United Nations this September. 

France's Emmanuel Macron was the first to openly declare his support--a move that not only hardened Hamas's negotiating stance but emboldened its leaders to believe that terrorism is paying off. What message does it send when, even as Israeli families wait in agony for news of their loved ones, the world signals to Hamas that violence leads to political gains?

This is the absurdity of our age: terrorists hold innocent people in tunnels, threaten to seize more, and the supposed guardians of peace and democracy hand them legitimacy on the world stage. If there are lessons to be learned from this conflict, one of them must be this: rewarding terror ensures its survival. The West should be standing firmly against Hamas's barbarity, not granting it political dividends. Anything less is not just a betrayal of Israel, but of the very principle that innocent lives must never be used as bargaining chips in the pursuit of power.