Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 31
by Mickey Bergman
As a “fringe diplomat” for almost 20 years, I have seen part of my share of prisoner/hostage negotiations, from Otto Warmbier to Brittany Griner. A through line in all of them is that they are not easy ‒ and require sacrifices and leadership. Without those elements deals fall apart.
The prisoner swap that safely brought Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan, Russian American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and Pulitzer Prize winner Vladimir Kara-Murza back to the United States was a series of tough but necessary calls by the Biden administration. It included the release of prisoners guilty of terrible crimes, like Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin, and others. It required multinational complex negotiations over months.
It is the unfortunate reality that to save innocent people being wrongfully detained, like Evan and Paul, trades are sometimes the only pathway. In this case, Russian prisoners, held for serious crimes, were released. President Joe Biden understands this aspect of diplomatic trades to get innocent people out of dangerous situations and make families whole again.
In contrast, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not, or refuses to care.
As an Israeli and a person whose job it is to get hostages home, the situation in Gaza is simultaneously infuriating and heartbreaking.
It has been more than 300 days since the hostages ‒ elderly men, young women and even children ‒ were ripped from their homes and taken captive by Hamas. It is Prime Minister Netanyahu’s most important job and core to the Israeli social contract that he leads the charge to bring them home.
I served in the Israeli army. But it does not take a soldier to understand that only a deal ‒ not military action ‒ can set them free. A deal in late November successfully returned more than 100 hostages, including 4-year-old American Israeli Abigail Edan.
Hamas is still holding 115 hostages, eight of them are believed to be Americans.
Netanyahu came to the United States last month and promised families that a deal is “ripening,” but it is all talk and gaslighting. At the same time, he is walking back the deal that he and his government did agree to, asking for more, derailing any progress.
There are two cardinal truths I’ve learned in my career, something that Netanyahu needs to keep in mind. First, hostage negotiation deals never get better over time. Even the latest prisoner swap deal with Russia was pricier than it could have been earlier. And second, time never plays out well for the hostages in captivity.
The deal that is on the table is the same deal that was available to Israel in December. The only difference now is that there are fewer hostages alive.
Hostages facing death at every moment
hat my daughter understands about Israel-Hamas negotiations that Netanyahu can’t
Though Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was not a decision-maker with regards to the hostage negotiations, and thus not a substance factor in the negotiations, his killing last week, nevertheless, carries a significant emotional and symbolic consequence and is likely going to force a pause in contacts over cease-fire/hostage negotiations for a couple of weeks.
It is morally bankrupt ‒ and the opposite of leadership ‒ to hold onto these proposed deals on the back of the hostages. The remaining hostages don’t have the time for Netanyahu to keep asking for more and rejecting every offer that makes it to his desk. They are starving, thirsty, injured, afraid and fighting to survive.
I know these deals are complex. I failed four tries to get Paul Whelan included in the exchange before it finally happened last week. It takes constant effort at the negotiation table, working around the clock to save the wrongfully detained.
This is where Netanyahu is failing. He leaves negotiations for weeks on end and throws a wrench in every deal because he doesn’t get what he wants.
Real leaders understand that a good deal doesn’t get you exactly what you want but it does get your citizens home. Nothing in the proposed deal poses an existential threat over the state of Israel. Therefore, Israel is strong enough to say yes ‒ and bring its people home.
Biden agreed to a deal that involved releasing convicted assassins and spies to fulfill his moral obligation to free his people who were being held illegally.
Prime Minister Netanyahu stood at the White House on July 25 with President Biden and American Israeli hostage families and said a deal was close. The families are doing all they can to advocate for a deal. Biden is doing all he can to broker the deal. It is up to Netanyahu to be a leader and make the hard choices that come with hostage deals.
Netanyahu’s legacy will either be saving the hostages or being the person responsible for keeping them in captivity. History will remember.
