Israel is facing a general strike on Monday as the national labor union federation, the Histadrut, called on workers to stay home and to protest in favor of a hostage deal following Hamas’s cold-blooded murder of six hostages last week.
The union has said that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must immediately reach a deal to return the remaining 100 or so hostages, one-third of whom are thought to be dead. But Netanyahu cannot force a deal: he must deal with Hamas, at least indirectly, which has rejected every deal thus far, including those that have basically reflected the terrorist organization’s own bargaining positions, and to which Israel has warily agreed.
The families of the Israeli hostages are themselves split. Many support a hostage deal — even if it means granting Hamas an effective victory in the war. Some blame the Netanyahu government for the murders of the hostages, claiming that his insistence on Israel’s retention of the Gaza-Egypt border — key to stopping Hamas from smuggling weapons and terrorists into Gaza — led to Hamas rejecting an agreement and ultimately murdering the hostages.
But other hostage families want Netanyahu to pursue victory over Hamas, rescuing hostages where it is possible and avoiding concessions that will allow the terror group to survive and perhaps take more hostages in the future.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
