In Joe Biden’s proposed agreement to end The Israeli Military Offensive (and Defensive) actions, he puts releasing the hostages as the third stage in his preferred sequences of events. For Biden, now and before October 7, 2023, releasing the hostages has been a very low priority. Evidently, terrorist activities are rewarded, not punished.
When the world was stable (before Joe Biden), Western nations, including America, understood that negotiating with terrorists was not an option. The reason for this rule of thumb is that negotiating with terrorists about their terroristic behavior would reward this type of immoral behavior. This type of reward would lead to more terroristic behavior (it works, so why not?). It’s worth noting that there are American hostages in Gaza.
The United Nations and the United States of America have chosen not to set a high priority of rescuing the hostages. This is just another action that screams, “You are Jews, and your right to live and defend yourselves is not the same as it is for the rest of the world’s population.” (Remember the “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign?) Their actions and lack of actions speak louder than the anti-Israel / Anti-Jewish rhetoric being spewed across the West.
Image: The original Democrat hostage crisis in Tehran, 1979. Public domain.
This is not the first time the Far Left / Democrat / Progressive Agenda, which includes refusing to act against hostage takers, has led the world to instability and dysfunctionality.
During the Jimmy Carter administration, Iran seized more than 60 American hostages from the US Embassy, in addition to over a dozen other hostages. President Carter, the Democrats, and sundry other leftists established a policy of diplomacy and restraint. The result was that hostages were held for 444 days in inhumane conditions. The Carter Presidency ended with President Carter losing his reelection bid. He left office in shame.
It wasn’t until Reagan’s inauguration that Iran released the hostages. They did so in large part because they feared the new Republican, conservative administration would launch a military offensive.
In September 2023 (two months before the October 7th attack on Israel), the Biden Administration made a very low-profile $16 billion contribution to Iran by unfreezing funds. The deal was in part to release hostages already in Iran. The Biden administration assured all and sundry that the money did not go to fund Iran’s war machine. Despite Iran’s admitted role in the October 7 attack, the Biden administration has not penalized Iran.
The world’s nations, including America, have blood on their hands because of their liberal stance on terrorism against Israel. Fortunately, as Israel’s recent daring risk of four hostages reveals, Israel is not similarly constrained.
If the West, including America, supported Israel’s focus on recovering hostages without concessions, this war would be over, and the hostages would be home—just as happened when Jimmy Carter lost re-election. Ronald Reagan won office because of the threat of military action unless the hostages in Iran were released.