The list of terrorists being released in the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas contains some of the most dangerous killers, those with the blood of countless Jews on their hands. Most glaring for me is the terrorist who murdered my dear friend Ari Fuld, hy”d (May God avenge his blood).
I am beyond furious. Every fiber of my being is screaming at the immorality of this deal.
The Biden/Trump teams facilitating this deal and the leaders of the Western world in general have acted with staggering moral blindness. Rather than coercing Israel into releasing dangerous terrorists and urging its withdrawal from Gaza, the deal should have targeted those states that were complicit in the atrocities of October 7, 2023, specifically Iran, Qatar, and Egypt.
Hamas’s chief benefactor, Iran, has provided financial and military support for years. Qatar openly hosts Hamas leaders and bankrolls its operations, while Egypt has allowed the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, knowingly enabling Hamas’s attacks on Israel.
The United States holds significant leverage over Qatar and Egypt, yet Western powers perversely treat these nations as neutral mediators, which they are not. This approach is not only a failure of strategy – it is a profound moral transgression.
How so? Had Qatar and Egypt been threatened with significant consequences for supporting Hamas, there would have been a tangible reason for them to exert pressure on the organization to release the hostages unconditionally. This would avoid placing Israel in the untenable position of freeing convicted murderers and terrorists, which only serves to empower Hamas to continue its jihad.
Qatar's role
QATAR IS one of the most duplicitous players on the global stage. While maintaining close ties with the United States and other Western countries, it built an extensive network of Islamist partners and dedicated itself to expanding its influence worldwide by:
• Funding terrorism – Qatar provides direct funding, political backing, and a safe haven for Hamas leaders in its capital, Doha. The very organization holding our hostages and murdering our citizens thrives, thanks to Qatar’s support.
• Undermining Western values – Qatar is the largest foreign donor to US universities post-9/11, a fact that should alarm every American. This influence is part of a larger strategy to spread Islamist ideology and undermine Western values from within.
• Weaponizing the media – with Al-Jazeera and Al-Jazeera+, Qatar created a media empire that amplifies Islamist narratives and undermines Western values.
Al-Jazeera regularly platforms Muslim Brotherhood leaders and promotes their extremist ideology under the guise of journalism. AJ+ targets Western youth through social media, repackaging Islamist propaganda into progressive talking points, sowing division, and eroding trust in democratic institutions. These platforms glorify Hamas, delegitimize Israel’s right to exist, and subtly push the Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda of undermining secular democracies.
• Islamist networks – for decades, Qatar has been a hub for Islamist entities, hosting, supporting, maintaining ties, and representing terror via the Muslim Brotherhood, a global terror organization whose stated goal is to undermine non-Islamic states; Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, which arms and trains Hamas and Hezbollah, among others; the Taliban, the very regime that turned Afghanistan into a terrorist breeding ground; and Islamist militias in Syria and Libya spreading chaos and instability across the region.
The fact that Trump envoy Steve Witkoff praised Qatar for “doing God’s work” in brokering this deal is truly appalling. Qatar is no ally of Israel, the United States, or any democracy. The incoming Trump administration’s apparent disregard for the existential threat posed by Qatar is deeply troubling.
THIS DEAL has again exposed a fatal flaw in Israel’s justice system: the lack of a death penalty for terrorist murderers. Keeping these cold-blooded killers in prison only turns them into bargaining chips for Hamas and other terror groups to exploit.
This is not the first time Israel was forced into this terrible dilemma. Every time terrorists are released, we send a dangerous message to our enemies. Kidnap more Israelis to secure the release of your murderous comrades.
There is documentation that terrorists released in similar deals have continued to murder Jews once they were freed. This cycle of incentivizing terror must end.
While we celebrate the return of our beloved hostages, the price tag is truly unbearable. The release of such heinous terrorists is a wound to the soul of our nation and, worse, a betrayal of the victims and their memory. Even worse is the fact that the deal does not free all of our hostages. It is a piecemeal surrender that will only embolden Hamas to continue its reign of terror.
With difficult days ahead, we mustn’t lose sight of the bigger picture. This moment is painful, but it’s not the end of the story. We will overcome these challenges, just as we have for 3,000 years, and we will achieve total victory over our enemies. It is not a question of if, but when.
The writer is the host of the Pulse of Israel daily video/podcast and is the CEO of 12Tribe Films Foundation.