Video released by the Schneider Children's Medical Center shows nine-year-old Ohad Munder, who was held hostage by Hamas along with his mother and grandmother, reuniting with his father. (CNN)
Avigail Edan, the youngest American being held by Hamas, would have celebrated her birthday as a free little girl. Instead, she turned four on Friday, still a hostage. (USA Today)
In Thailand, where authorities welcomed the release of 10 of its nationals under a separate deal mediated by Egypt and Qatar, a mother danced for joy when she saw her daughter Natthawaree Mulkan was among the hostages released by Hamas. (Reuters).
It has never been equal. It has never been “tit for tat.” It is not the same thing.
Hostages, innocents, children, women, men, elderly, exchanged for people whose intent is direct harm, prisoners who vow the destruction of a nation and the people of that nation.
A total of 50 hostages are to be exchanged for 150 Palestinian prisoners. (Reuters).
I am upset at the innocents within Gaza who have been killed, harmed, and terrified. Should it be however, that Israel just stop and turn back, pretending that as has been the history of the past, Hamas will as quickly as cockroaches might, once again infest the recesses of Gaza and plot, plan, and attack once more, once again, and always. Is the only answer, the one answer that most of the world insists upon, that Israel, just pack their bags, look away, and then walk away…permitting Hamas to hide beneath the hospitals, schools, and homes of the innocents in Gaza?
When will the Arab nations and the nations of the world who never seem upset that the Jewish State of Israel is attacked, but scorn the Jewish State of Israel for defending themselves, become as assertive in their words and deeds towards the Terrorists identified as Hamas? When?
