US backing for Israel freed the hostages. Can peace follow now? - The Jewish Chronicle

The return of Israel’s hostages is a moment of profound relief and joy after two years of war and anguish over their fate. That these tormented souls, held in tunnel dungeons and subjected to unspeakable cruelty, have been freed on the eve of Simchat Torah – the very festival on which the Hamas invasion began – cannot erase the horror of that day; nothing ever will. But it may allow the anniversary, forever marked by grief, also to carry another memory: of deliverance, of life reclaimed, and of a nation enduring.

For British Jews who refused to let the hostages be forgotten, it is vindication of solidarity and persistence. For Israel it is the fruit of terrible sacrifice and relentless resolve: soldiers who bled and held the line so that no captive would be abandoned.

This breakthrough came about because US President Trump stood by Israel, backing its military action against Hamas without which no deal that genuinely promised peace could ever have been achieved: one that demanded the immediate release of all hostages, Hamas’s disarmament, and Israel’s security presence in Gaza for the foreseeable future. It is obvious that Washington also pressured Hamas’s backers, Qatar and Turkey, forcing them in turn to lean on the Islamist terrorists. It seems more than likely that Israel’s failed attempt to assassinate Hamas’s leadership in Doha nonetheless succeeded in sending an unmistakable message: Qatar’s days of playing both arsonist and firefighter were finished. It now had to choose to put out the flames.

Trump’s morally and strategically sound policy stands in stark contrast to that of Europe and the UK, which abandoned Israel, isolated and vilified it, pressing the victim to surrender to the very terrorists who had attacked it. Many Western governments were less interested in confronting terror abroad than in appeasing radicals at home – a stance which backfired disastrously. Placating fanatics never calms them; it emboldens them. The evidence is clear: hate-filled marches that continued even after the Manchester attack, and in the UK and across Europe, the October 7 anniversary was turned into fresh celebrations of the worst massacre of Jews since the Shoah. Protesters who claimed to march for a ceasefire carried on even after one was in place. That truth is plain: this was never about peace or concern for Palestinians, but about hostility to the Jewish state. Long after Hamas is gone as a governing force, European leaders will struggle with the demons they have allowed this war to unleash within their own societies.

Israel, on the other hand, for all its losses, stands today stronger than it did on October 6: Hamas nearly broken, Hezbollah diminished, Iran’s arsenal blunted. None of this would have happened had Israel bowed to international pressure and ended the war earlier. Two falsehoods must be corrected. The first is the claim that such a deal was available much earlier but rejected by Israel. This is false. Every previous proposal required Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza, with the release of all hostages only after such a retreat. That would have left Hamas holding maximum leverage, with no guarantee that all captives would ever return. Only by front-loading the hostages’ release, while retaining IDF troops in Gaza, could Israel ensure Hamas’s disarmament – or, failing that, reduce it to a force incapable of threatening Israel’s security.

The second falsehood is the suggestion that Israel had to be pressured into accepting this deal, an absurd claim, given that this agreement fulfils the government’s own stated war aims. Instead, by breaking its enemies’ strength and proving its own, Israel helped rally the Sunni Arab world, enabling them to lean on Hamas to accept the deal that brought home the hostages.

The next steps ahead, ensuring Hamas’s disarmament and the destruction of the tunnels, will require keeping the threat of renewed Israeli military force real and credible. No doubt, should that moment arrive, the usual suspects – likely including Europe – will again call for Israeli restraint and “de-escalation”. But failure to remove Hamas from the scene is a recipe for perpetual war and misery; an enduring peace can exist only without the Islamists.

Beyond arms, a campaign of de-radicalisation is essential if there is to be any hope of moving from ceasefire to peace. The murderous fanaticism that celebrated hostage-taking and mass slaughter is a social disease: indoctrination in schools, mosques and public discourse must be replaced with civic education for coexistence.

With the hostages home, the path to Hamas’s irrelevance may at last come within reach. It opens the possibility of hope not just for Gaza but for the entire Middle East, extending the Abraham Accords into a regional peace that could even embrace Saudi Arabia.

Even as we dare to hope for peace, we must remember the price. Nearly 1,200 innocents were slaughtered on October 7. Thousands of young Israeli soldiers have since laid down their lives or suffered terrible wounds to defend their country, protect its people and bring the hostages home. Their sacrifice can never be repaid. The hostages are free because of their courage, their endurance – and the unbreakable will of a nation.

To get more from opinion, click here to sign up for our free Editor's Picks newsletter.

Topics: