Israel will do ‘almost everything’ to get hostages back, ex-president says

Israel will do “almost everything” to ensure the safe return of its hostages from Gaza, but cannot meet the “problematic demands” of Hamas, former President Reuven Rivlin told POLITICO.

The Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been caught in an existential struggle between the country’s dueling priorities: saving the hostages or eradicating Hamas.

“We owe them everything in order to bring them back home,” Rivlin said on the sidelines of a European Jewish Association conference in Kraków, Poland. “On the other hand, it is obvious that we will not let the Hamas people ever have the opportunity to do what they have done in one day on the seventh of October.”

In recent weeks, Netanyahu has faced mounting pressure to strike another cease-fire deal with Hamas to ensure the release of the over 100 Israeli hostages who remain trapped in Gaza.

Pressure is mounting from within his own war Cabinet, from the Israeli public, and from the relatives of the hostages, who over the weekend stormed a parliamentary session in Jerusalem to demand more action to secure the release of their loved ones.

But Netanyahu hasn’t caved in, insisting that eliminating Hamas is the only way to ensure the safe return of the hostages — and having his Israel Defense Forces bomb the Gaza Strip in unrelenting attacks.

Rivlin said Israel has “an obligation” to bring the hostages back, and that it is ready to reach an “understanding” that includes a release of the Israeli hostages and of Palestinian prisoners.

But that understanding can’t come at any cost.

“We could never say to Hamas, let’s forget about what happened in seventh of October and we will let you have the chance to do it once again within a month, within two months,” he said. “This is something that we cannot bring into consideration.”

“They demand that we stop the war and we withdraw to the seventh of October’s borders,” he added. “We are not ready to accept that.”

While Netanyahu hoped the two objectives — bringing home the hostages and eliminating Hamas — would go hand in hand, Israel’s conflict tactics have cast doubt over the government’s ability to swiftly and safely return the hostages.

A new layer of tension is straining Netanyahu’s Cabinet, already under scrutiny for the high death toll of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The tally has surpassed 25,000, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, although the Israelis claim around half are Hamas combatants.

At the same time, Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected a two-state solution, despite pressure from the U.S. and the EU.

Rivlin  partially agrees with Netanyahu, arguing for a status in which Israelis and Palestinians live together in an undefined confederation — albeit one in which the Palestinian entity lacks an army or control over migrant flows.

“We have to make it very clear … that it is impossible to accept any state besides Israel that will have the ability to protect itself, and we have to find a way in order to avoid the future Palestinian state to have open borders to invite everyone from outside,” he said.