Israel has entered a new stage in its national history, where it feels as though we are now living from one Saturday to the next.
Every round of hostage releases is accompanied by an emotional roller coaster: waiting anxiously for their arrival at the drop point; skipping a heartbeat when they emerge from the Hamas minivans; bracing for the handover; tearing up when they are driven away by the Red Cross; sobbing quietly as they are transferred to the IDF; and then wailing uncontrollably at the sight of their reunion with parents and family.
And all of that is broadcast live throughout the day from multiple locations, with television reporters constantly reminding us how we are supposed to feel, talking of “pride,” “victory,” “heroism,” “solidarity,” and a new cliché bandied about from one TV studio to another: “These are the moments that define us as a nation.”
It was indeed hard not to be swept away on Saturday by the raging current of emotions. Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy, released from Hamas captivity after 477 days, had, over this period, become like daughters of the Israeli nation.
We learned of their personal stories, watched in horror the video clips of their abduction, followed their parents’ and friends’ struggles, wore yellow pins, tied yellow ribbons to car door handles, and longed for their return. How could one not be moved and tearful when they were finally released?
But after the moments of elation subside, we must also look at reality clearly — not through the sentimental screens of commercial television networks.
Released hostages reunite with their parents after being freed from Hamas captivity; top (L-R) Karina Ariev, Liri Albag; bottom (L-R) Naama Levy, Daniella Gilboa, January 25, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)
The four hostages were released in an orchestrated display of Hamas control. The four showed incredible strength and character — smiling, waving and confident on the stage in Gaza City’s Palestine Square. But the banner behind them denouncing “criminal Zionism” and proclaiming that “the Palestinian fighters of freedom will always be victories (sic)” and “Zionism will not win,” and the Hamas gunmen armed with Israeli Tavor rifles at their side was not an Israeli “victory picture” but the image Hamas had hoped for.
It showed the murderous terror organization demonstrating to Palestinians in Gaza, to the broader Arab public, to Israelis and to the rest of the world that it remains standing even after 15 months of war against a far stronger Israel, continues to rule Gaza despite Israel’s first declared war objective of toppling Hamas rule, and dictates the hostages’ fate, despite the second declared war objective of “freeing all hostages.”
Hamas fighters, armed with Israeli-made Tavor rifles, secure an area in Palestine Square in Gaza City before handing over four Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team on January 25, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
This is the plain truth. Israel must free the hostages, and it will have to pay an unbearable price for it. That has been clear from the first day of the war to anyone not in denial about reality.
And if we do not break free from our national autoimmune disease — feeding ourselves baseless myths— we are laying the groundwork for the next disaster.
The October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre happened because we had become addicted to the illusion that Hamas was deterred, that Israel’s government was strong against terror, and that there was no strategic Palestinian problem. What we saw in Gaza City’s Palestine Square on Saturday happened because the Israeli government refused to present plans for “the day after.” And so, while the IDF plowed through Gaza with full force, leaving behind destruction on a historic scale, Hamas rule did not collapse.
The next disaster will happen if we continue believing that what we saw on Saturday was a “total victory” of the “Israeli spirit” rather than a massive systemic failure.
A Palestinian woman throws confetti as Hamas gunmen prepare to hand over four Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team from a stage in Gaza City on January 25, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
What we saw on Saturday were not “the moments that define us as a nation.” The moments that define us as a nation also include the blatant disregard of surveillance soldiers’ warnings in the months, weeks, days and hours before Hamas invaded; the eggs thrown at Eli Albag and the spitting on hostages’ families over past months; the refusal to discuss “the day after” in Gaza, thereby allowing Hamas to remain the sole governing power in the territory; the insistence on not establishing a state commission of inquiry to investigate, without fear or favor, the events that led to this catastrophe… And, most of all, the capacity to experience an event in which we are forced, against our will, to endure humiliation by a much weaker enemy, and still celebrate it as a “total victory.”
If we do not at least understand this, we have learned nothing from the tragedy of October 7.
Translated and edited from the Hebrew original on The Times of Israel’s sister site Zman Yisrael.
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