How a hostage deal now can help defeat the Iranian regime and secure Israel's future - opinion

It should be obvious to anyone paying attention over the last bunch of years that Israel’s goal in this war is to topple the Iranian regime.

Bibi and Ron Dermer have, for many years, openly encouraged Iranian people of various stripes to rise up against their oppressive government.

Whether by meeting with Reza Pahlavi, publicly praising the lady rebels who courageously revealed their hair in the face of regime oppression, drinking clean water and speaking directly to the Iranian people about what we can offer them, or broadcasting messages to them even as this war is going on, overthrowing the Islamic regime has always been their guiding principle.

Many criticize Bibi for having no principles other than remaining in power, but that’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the man.

He has always been willing to make deals and compromises to remain in power because he believes that he’s the only Israeli leader truly clear-eyed about how to handle the Ayatollah regime.

In order to accomplish that lofty, but achievable and absolutely necessary goal, Bibi and Dermer will have to operate with finesse, aggressiveness, and creativity, particularly in the American arena.

At some point, the administration will likely lose patience with this war, although Israel does likely have some rope.

Making deals under Donald Trump

Even a seemingly unfavorable deal from a security standpoint must be considered. As he’s done many times before, Bibi must compromise in other areas to bring about the fall of the regime in Iran.

The timing of such a move is perfect because the chances of Bibi’s coalition partners leaving the coalition over a hostage deal now, in the midst of all-out war with our archenemy, are nearly zero.

This is a rare opportunity to bring home our hostages and to parlay that into a leg up in our war effort against the ayatollah. Consider that the deal will have the secondary effects of strengthening Israeli resolve when it’s needed, uniting the people when that’s needed, and providing respect and accomplishments to Trump when his support is needed more than anything.

It will also, for the first time, largely unite Israeli society behind a hostage deal and likely finally pull the utterly shameful opposition into a unity wartime government. We will take our enemies' most piercing weapon - the fact that it holds and tortures our people - and remove that leverage from them, while at the same time using the deal to our geopolitical advantage.

This deal might also set off the era of Abraham Accords 2.0, which both we and Trump are eager to accomplish. The Saudis and others will never be seen to make a deal with us to end the war in Gaza, but if the war in Gaza is already ending and we defeat Iran on behalf of the whole Middle East, peace with the Sunni Arab states will likely follow.

It also shouldn’t hurt that we’ll be able to refresh and prepare the reservists and active duty soldiers alike, in anticipation of the very unlikely, but not impossible event we find ourselves fighting on the ground soon, far from Israel’s borders. Finally, it also doesn’t hurt that the Israeli left will have practically no defining cause on which to attack Bibi.

Hamas will not be left standing in the end, but even if it is, that’s far preferable to leaving the Islamic regime in Iran standing. After this regime is overthrown by the Iranian people, God willing, Israel will still have enemies and plenty of them — but that is not something to lament.

The thing is, it’s better to have weak enemies than no enemies, and perhaps even those to the right of Bibi in his coalition can appreciate that. It is not by accident that the Jewish kingdom split following King Shlomo’s reign. Too much peace and bounty is unhealthy and unsustainable for a society, certainly such an unfortunately divided society as ours.

Enemies can be a blessing, but they must never again become as dangerous as the Iranian regime was becoming. If allowing Hamas to take a breath results in more time and more weapons against Iran, it would be foolishly stubborn to reject such a quid pro quo. It’s more than likely that a deal with Hamas is coming eventually, one way or another, so let’s do it now and use it to our advantage against Iran, while also freeing our people.

If war progress slows, the costs become too high, or the opposite, if the nuclear project and ballistic missiles are completely destroyed and unable to be replenished, many will, as they’ve done often, accuse Bibi of keeping us in this war in order to hold his government together. That was never the case! Bibi has remained in the war in Gaza for several reasons, certainly in order to return our hostages without sacrificing our security, but perhaps most especially because Bibi knows that at the end of the war brought upon us on October 7th, a true and complete victory demands the Islamic regime in Iran be overthrown.

We could not stop and cannot stop fighting before the ayatollah is hanging from the same cranes from which he hanged so many of his people. Israel likely could have and still could kill the Ayatollah, but it will only be sufficient if the Iranian people are the ones to free themselves of his terror and reclaim their country, and we cannot stop until they do so. A deal for our hostages now will allow us to reach that point.

In addition to providing Trump several massive diplomatic accomplishments, making a hostage deal and defeating Iran can help America in several other ways.  As America seems headed in the direction of isolationism, Bibi can pitch on American television that America better enter such an ill-considered period after defeating one of our common worst enemies, without even placing an American boot on the ground.

Defeating the ayatollah regime will also weaken China by destroying their military, economic, and energy ally, thus setting back China’s aggression towards the United States in a major way and perhaps taking the wind out of China’s sails in further economic negotiations.

The entire Middle East will be on the side of America, even if this administration repatriates their people from American soil. America can now buy time to build its golden dome in peace, while pursuing economic development and debt slashing without fear of foreign aggression for many years to come. Provide Israel with the weapons and we will fight and defeat the Islamic regime, for everyone.

Both Israel and America might never know how close we came to the brink; let’s not lean into it again. The generation of peace awaits, but only after the Islamic regime is defeated.

There will be hard and heavy days ahead, but we shall go on to the end, whatever the cost may be. With America behind us, we will certainly emerge victorious, for their sake, for our sake, and for the sake of the Iranian people.

The way to ensure victory is by compromising with Hamas.

Long live a free Iran, God Bless America, Am Yisrael Chai!

Together we will fight, and with God’s help, together we will win.

Seffi Jonas is an MD-PhD candidate at Ben Gurion University and is currently serving in the 5th reserve brigade in Rafah. He lives in Tel Aviv with his wife and 2 children.