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Let's Face It: the Hostages Are Probably Dead
[PJMedia] During its Oct. 7 terror invasion of Israel, Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", took more than 250 hostages of every age, sex, and nationality. Around 130 hostages remain in secret locations in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
 Strip — or do they?

It's a sad thing to have to conclude. But given recent political developments and actions on the ground in Gaza, it seems certain that most or perhaps all of the hostages are dead. They include, or perhaps I should say, included six Americans.

Late Monday, Hamas rejected Israel's generous offer of releasing "as many as 800 prisoners, including 100 inmates convicted of murder," in exchange for just 40 hostages. Hamas rejected the offer, even after getting political cover provided by the Biden administration, the same old faces in slightly different places, the same old ideas, the same old graft
...the gang of subgeniuses trying to pass themselves off as the adults in charge of the series of calamities characteristic of the administration of a mentally challenged geriatric case...
's shameful abstention in Monday's UN vote to demand a ceasefire that didn't include the return of any hostages.

In response — and obvious frustration — Israel on Tuesday recalled its negotiators from Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
 where the talks with Hamas were being held. In a statement, PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas’s decision is "clear proof it is not interested in continuing talks and a sad testament to the damage caused by the UN Security Council resolution."

Indeed. But why would Hamas give up the chance to get back hundreds of its own, plus a ceasefire long enough to rebuild its defenses?

There are two possibilities, and they aren't mutually exclusive.

The first is that by rejecting another ceasefire offer, Hamas — and more importantly, its sponsors in Tehran — continues to sow political confusion in the West. The antisemites infesting the media, education, and the Biden administration (plus a few losers on the Right), have more opportunities to stake their claim over American public opinion and this country's proud tradition of supporting freedom in the Middle East.

The second is that Hamas has few or no living hostages left to trade. Through abuse, neglect, or just Hamas bully boyz getting its thrills, the hostages might all be dead.

(There's actually a third possibility. Hamas just likes killing Jews and, the longer the war drags on, the more Jews it can murder. But even if that's the case, again, the other two can still be true.)

That brings us to David Bernstein, who posted on Twitter/X on Monday, "Unfortunately, I think a subtext for what's been going on is that Israel has concluded that a large % of the hostages are dead, either murdered on 10/7 or thereafter." Going further, Bernstein looked at the recent fighting at Sifah and concluded that the IDF raid was meant to gather "intelligence on who remains alive and where they might be, before any Rafah incursion and any further hostage negotiations. Which is why Israel took pains to capture the bully boyz instead of kill them."

Jerusalem has almost certainly come to the same conclusion that I have — that most or even all of the hostages are dead and that Hamas has no more bloody bargaining chips to play.

When — if? — the order comes down to the IDF to sweep Rafah, you couldn't blame those soldiers for adopting a take-no-prisoners attitude if it turns out Hamas has murdered all of theirs.
Posted by: trailing wife 2024-03-31
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=695380