Thanks for the clarification.

And I think none of us who live outside of Israel can truly understand.

You seem to have come away with the opposite of what I intended. What I’m meaning is that given I don’t live there and they do, I don’t know the daily reality of life under terrorism and they do, it’s not appropriate for me to take a harder line. I also mean to say that given what I know about Israel, which is what I read in papers that do nothing but try to gaslight me, their acceptance of this deal and all the others that never worked does not make sense to me and never has. “I don’t see how I can” is a common colloquialism for “it wouldn’t be right of me to”, but what seems common to one is not necessarily so to another.

The misunderstanding wouldn’t matter that much except that others may read what you wrote, think it’s what I meant, and then pile on, which is a huge waste of pixels in my opinion.

I don’t disagree with anything else you said in your reply to me, except your interpretation of what I said.

Israel has to do a lot more to protect itself against future 10/7s than keeping these prisoners locked up. Whether they stay in prison or are released isn’t the biggest issue by any means.

Do you really not see why, as someone who doesn’t live there, you can take a harder line? You are an armchair warrior without any skin in the game at all – no children, no parents, no neighbors. It is theoretical to you – and to me, by the way. Israel is surrounded by millions of terrorists and the only solution will come over time from a long series of actions.

I don’t understand it and never have. However, people in Israel have to live with terrorism every day, and apparently a large majority of them are okay with the possibility of more October 7s tomorrow if they can get some of the hostages back today. I don’t see how, as a foreigner who doesn’t live there, I can take a harder line than they do, especially when they live there and know more about it than I ever will.

https://www.danielpipes.org/22451/the-momentous-horrific-hamas-israel-deal

how about this, you give us back all our hostages, we give you back the prisoners we chose, that are least likely to cause us injury,

you don’t well those gleaming towers in doha are going to get roughed up,

“It Wasn’t a Deal – It Was a Crime”—
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21320/hamas-deal-crime

+ Bonus, from Daniel Greenfield:
“UN Blocks Aid to Gaza to Fake a Famine”—
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21313/un-gaza-fake-famine

No surprise there…

My dad had 3 CIBs (Combat Infantryman Badge – WW II, Korean and Vietnam). The only time he ever talked about being captured was about the Korean war. He said they (North Koreans & Chinese) were vicious and told his troops to never allow themselves to be captured.

Told me many times that he would’ve never allowed himself to be captured by the North Koreans or Chinese (mentioning exceptions like being knocked out by a blast). He was probably a Master or First Sergeant back then (had turned down Battlefield commissions in both WW II & Korea), but I don’t know how big his outfit was.

One story was when his entire outfit was running from the enemy – the enemy was maneuvering to surround them…especially a large outfit in some nearby mountains that was quite close and he kept warning the men that surrendering was not an option. At some point after he retired, that Korean outfit he was in had yearly convention types of gatherings. They all loved and respected him there…

Israelis let their guard down—ignored warnings for decades. Hey, Palestinians were shown for decades holding up children with AK-47’s chanting death to Israel. Palestinians refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist, etcetera etcetera etcetera. Israel’s behavior is suicidal, IMHO.