Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We have just completed the return of the first of our hostages. Children, their mothers and additional women. Each one of them is a whole world. But I emphasize to you - the families, and to you - citizens of Israel: We are committed to return all our hostages. This is one of the war’s objectives, and we’re committed to achieve all of the war’s objectives.”
That was a statement given by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Friday, November 24, after a four day humanitarian truce and ceasefire was initiated between Hamas, a militant group that the U.S. government designates a terrorist organization, and Israel. A hostage exchange was initiated Friday and the truce between Hamas and Israel has since been extended by two days.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israel’s prime minister confirmed the truce extension had been reached and released a statement that clarified Israel’s terms for further extensions.
Mark Regev: “For every 10 hostages released, we’re willing to give an extension of another day, and if Hamas will release Israeli hostages as agreed we will extend — that’s the bottom line.”
Dr. Benjamin Radd, a Senior research fellow at the UCLA International Institute, is an authority on government and politics in the Middle East, as well as U.S. foreign policy. He spoke on the Israel government’s goals with the war and predicted how long the ceasefire would last between Hamas and Israel.
Dr. Benjamin Radd: I see it as continuing until it no longer can. At which point Israel has indicated it will absolutely resume its operation and efforts to remove Hamas from power. Israel has two objectives. It is to release all of the hostages and it is to dismantle and deconstruct Hamas as a political and military entity.
Radd also spoke on a return to talks regarding the two-state process and stated that he believes it is the key to success between the two parties.
Radd: It seems like an inevitability that the only way to prevent this from happening in the future is to resume diplomatic talks centered around the two state process. Whether or not that will happen any time soon. Remains to be seen how successful Israel is in removing Hamas leadership from Gaza. The longer that takes, the more difficult that is, the less likely that we’ll see a two state solution as a viable option. Because from Israel’s perspective, that discussion cannot be had while Hamas maintains any power authority.
In spite of this ceasefire, acts of violence against Palestinians have continued to intensify across the United States. Yesterday, November 26, three Palestinian college students were hospitalized following a shooting in Burlington, Vermont. Additionally, the Council on American-Islamic Relations recorded nearly 1300 requests for help and reports of bias following the October 7 attack on Israel. This is over a 200% increase in the number of complaints received compared to last year.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Aditya Thiyag.