How much is the life of a hostage worth?
To the editor:
Having just returned from a two-week volunteer stint in Israel, I am trying to organize thoughts and feelings after the United States Congress rejected a $17.6 billion aid package to Israel last week. Did the representatives of the American people forget that the Biden administration recently reached a deal with Iran to release five American hostages? The exchange involved the release of five Iranians held in U.S. jails and at least $6 billion of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea. Of course there is the argument that the Iranian assets are frozen, countered by the fungibility debate that money is easily transferred from one account to another in Iran. Guns and butter are interchangeable.
That $6 billion and additional oil money gained from lifted sanctions most likely partially funded Hamas and the massacre of Oct. 7 in Israel. One thousand two hundred-plus were brutally and heinously murdered, and 240 hostages — no one knows for certain — were taken into Gaza. At the same moment that Congress was rejecting the aid package to our ally, Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that nearly a quarter of the hostages still held by Hamas were dead, leaving maybe 100 still in captivity. (Over a hundred had been released in previous cease fire deals.) The families have been notified. I met some of the families while in Israel. I am haunted by them.
Hamas has been dithering about more hostage releases in return for a cease fire. They are running out of bargaining chips. I just did the math: $6 billion divided by five is $1.2 billion for each American hostage in the Iran deal; $17.6 billion divided by 130 remaining hostages is $135.4 million and change for each Israeli hostage if that were the only part of the deal that was denied. The failed legislation would have supported Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, advanced weapons procurement, and weapons production. Supporting the IDF and the return of the hostages is really what the Israelis I met care about. Hostage numbers change from moment to moment, no one knows the exact number remaining. It might be as little as 100.
Also consider that Israel is our first line of defense against terrorism in the Mideast; terrorism funded by Iran and the money we keep giving the terrorist proxies. While packing food and supplies for the IDF at an army base in the Negev Desert, I met troops coming and going from Gaza. They also haunt me. The hostages are on their minds constantly, and provide motivation to fight. Israel is a tiny country. It is almost impossible to find anyone who was not touched by the Oct. 7 massacre. The day before I came back to the United States, I sat Shiva — a time for emotional healing — with one of the hero’s family members. The deceased soldier’s father told me how much America’s support is valued. I feel like we let him down.
If you are interested, the Congressional roll call on HR 7217 can be viewed at https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202438.
Talk it over with your representatives.
Georgianne Nienaber
Sanibel