- Utah law professor Amos Guiora is watching the Israel-Hamas peace plan unfold from his home near Jerusalem.
- Guiora praised President Trump for brokering the deal but criticized Benjamin Netanyahu for prolonging the war.
- Tears will flow in Israel when the hostages held in Gaza are released.
After two years of unimaginable suffering for all involved, the too-good-to-be-true news was announced: A hostage deal/ceasefire agreement has been signed between the relevant parties.
All credit will rightfully be directed at President Donald Trump who forced this much anticipated and badly needed agreement on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who made every effort to extend an utterly purposeless war that served his political interests exclusively.
According to public opinion polls in Israel, 80% of the population supports this agreement. It is not an exaggeration to suggest 100% of that 80% (including me) can but thank President Trump.
For the past two years we have awakened to the daily news of yet another soldier dying, giving his or her life “for the king, not the kingdom.” We have gone from rally to rally, demonstration to demonstration, week after week forcefully calling on the government to “seal the deal,” thereby bringing the hostages home, implementing a cease fire, and ending the suffering of Gazans and Israelis alike.
Tears will flow
When I was invited to speak at rallies organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, my focus was on Netanyahu’s enablers who protected him, thereby enabling him to perpetuate this unimaginable horror.
I spoke as the only child of two Holocaust survivors who has researched the costs incurred by bystanders and enablers. While they bear significant responsibility for what has transpired these past two years, Netanyahu as the final decision maker bears ultimate guilt. President Trump well understood that, hence the iron-fisted manner he imposed this agreement on the parties.
This Saturday night, hundreds of thousands — if not more — Israelis will gather at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. It will be a unique combination of deep sorrow and pent-up emotion, many of us will be shedding tears. We will somberly stand in memory of those killed, while crying as families embrace their loved ones. Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is one of the hostages who will be freed, said Thursday, “There is no playbook for how a mother receives her son who has been held hostage for two years.” She is, of course, correct.
Einav’s voice has been loud and consistent these past two years, her pain became our pain. When I briefly met her last summer while participating in a march on behalf of the hostages, I said to her, “I don’t know what to say to you.” Her gracious response, “Thank you for coming,” said everything. The fact so many of us took to the streets was critical not only in expressing support but in calling upon the government to act.
Time and patience
In many ways, we are a leaderless public. However, our resilience carried the day. That must never be forgotten because the majority of us, while suffering, were steadfast in calling on the government to end this horror show.
It is for that reason, tears will be in abundance Saturday night and in the days ahead.
While the next 96 hours are critical, the process President Trump has outlined will take time. I was deeply involved in negotiating implementation of the Oslo Peace Process while serving in the Israel Defense Forces. There are innumerable hurdles, bumps, forces of evil, peaks and valleys that lie ahead in rebuilding Gaza, implementing the IDF’s withdrawal from Gaza, and addressing the needs of the civilian population. In the same vein, we need to rebuild Israeli society.
All this will take time, patience, leadership and wise counsel.
For now, however, we must focus on the immediate and the extraordinary and overwhelming hours to come. While the emotions are invariably mixed, the unimaginable is clearly within reach.
Finally.