Hostage Crisis

Why aren’t we hearing more about the Americans held by Hamas?

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Yael Alexander, mother of Hamas hostage Edan Alexander, pauses while speaking during a news conference on Capitol Hill on March 6, 2024, the day before President Joe Biden's State of the Union address. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Given all the important news this week about hush-money payoffs to porn stars and gluten-free options at pro-terrorist campouts, you’re forgiven if you missed some of the more marginal developments in world events.

Like jihadist maniacs forcing a U.S. citizen to beg for his freedom on camera with part of his arm conspicuously missing.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin is one of five Americans captured by Hamas during the October 7 pogrom who are still being held in Gaza—or so one hopes, as there’s no telling how many are alive. Itay Chen had long been listed as a sixth captive but it was discovered just last month that he was murdered during the initial attack last year.

Weirdly, we don’t hear much about them.

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  1. Dougrhon

    I don't buy any of this. Trump is not calculating how to appeal to the Jew haters on the right by not talking about it. He's Trump. He has the attention span and discipline of a flea. He's busy dealing with his trials and personal grievances right now. The leftist core of the Democratic party that Biden is trying to apease (and failing obviously) hate the hostages because they are ZIONISTS. To the left Zionist is not the name of someone who believes in the creation and maintenance of a Jewish national homeland. It is the name for the spawn of satan. Between a murderous psycopathic death cult that slaughtered 1,200 people and maintains a totalitarian pseudo state and some American kids who are ZIONISTS the leftists stand with the psychos. Biden is doing a terrible dance and is falling on his face. He would have been so much better off simply standing by Israel rhetorically as well as by providing military aid and not forcing it to delay this final battle for months. He would have maintained the gratitude of the many Americans who support Israel over the death cult instead of alienating them and would have been no worse off with the leftists who support the death cult.

    I also take issue with the conclusion that "Americans have turned against Israel" Democrats have. Some Americans have been turned by the relentless hostile anti Israel propaganda (which the Biden administration has helped foment going so far as to recite Hamas statistics which are made up lies) but the majority of Americans still support Israel and want it to succeed in winning over the death cult.

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  2. Joneillsixsigma

    Nick's right about taking the direct approach - a US assault to rescue the hostages would end badly. B. H. Liddell Hart advocated the indirect approach to strategy. We may not know where the hostages are, but I'll bet we know where Hamas leadership is hiding in Qatar and other places. We probably also know where a number of Hamas' Iranian masters are located. Take them hostage and that's a good bargaining chip.

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  3. Bnmjordan

    "Americans Held Hostage - Day 203" Seems like Nightline should be all over this, since it was exactly this issue that created the show 45 years ago when Iran took hostages.

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    Jak41592

    1 think Nick had his answer with the fact that Biden can't get the hostages back and does not want to look weak because he can't do anything about it. The rest is meaningless

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    EmmyCab

    Kudos for taking a break (mostly) from the non-stop Trump obsession to focus on other important topics.

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    1. Dougrhon

      He actually gives Trump too much credit with the argument that Trump is being quiet over electoral calculation.

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  6. Sersinghaus

    One thing I don't understand is this:

    https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/17/west-bank-israel-responsible-rising-settler-violence

    Is this true or is this not true?

    Hamas and its donors are one of the worst things going obviously, as I've commented on this website many times. It's a horrid cult, and they use people in Gaza for nightmarish ends.

    I don't have the energy to add anything else to this.

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    1. Dhafvens

      I believe that there are Israelis who abuse and mistreat their Palestinian neighbors.

      I've heard of at least one of these settler violence reports being completely debunked as lies from the Palestinians, and know of other cases where the Palestinians clearly lied to stir up anti-Israrli fervor. I know that the Palestinians abuse their Israeli neighbors.

      I don't trust Human Rights Watch to arbitrate fairly between the two sides.

      I have trouble comparing small-scale land theft and tit-for-tat violence from Israeli settlers to large-scale Palestinian terrorism like Oct 7.

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      This comment has been deleted

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      Gbr0wn

      Hamas hadn't oughta did what they did - THAT you can take to the bank

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  7. Viki

    The hostage absence haunts me everyday. It’s abysmal that there is not more mention about who is left. 😔 I think of baby Kfir in prayers every night.

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  8. Ken Motamed

    "[I] suspect that most Americans don’t have strong feelings on the topic because they simply haven’t heard much about it." Every life is important, especially to that person's nearest and dearest. But we're talking about a handful of people in the midst of a conflict that has already taken thousands of lives. So, I guess it's a matter of perspective.

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    Abridge683

    A thought: The value of a hostage is directly related to how badly one is perceived to want them back. By keeping the hostage issue on a low burner their value to Hamas is reduced. That's not to say their release isn't greatly to be desired - but only that it's possible - possible I say - that it's a ploy in the negotiations.

    Yes? No? Maybe? Thoughts?

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      Teresaklopfer

      I had the same thought. Perhaps highlighting their names might make Hamas more likely to torture them on video- although it’s hard to imagine Hamas being more brutal than they already have been.

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    2. Dougrhon

      No. The Biden administration is not talking about it publicly as noted. But they have been "negotiating" woith Hamas continuously for six months. Hamas is fully aware of how important the hostages are to Israel and how desperately the US wants a ceasefire.

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    3. Ken Motamed

      You're right, whether the strategy is intended or not.

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    Kevin Johnson

    As I wrote several times, TMD, until recently, regularly reported on ceasefire negotiations, fighting, and even explicitly on hostages without mentioning Americans being held or listing them. I supposed this was due to following larger news organizations and/or getting reporting from them. TMD also wasn’t quoting experts on how Israel seeks to protect civilians but extensively quoting pro-Hamas sources. In the larger media environment (not TD) I can’t help but see this as one exam0e among many of folks unable to see Israelis or those with them as ever fully innocent. They are oppressors or at minimum benefit from oppression so killing or kidnapping them is understandable, even if regrettable. The Americans among the victims lose some of their “innocence” through association, so the less said the better. I’m glad TMD changed its approach.

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    1. Dougrhon

      Ding ding ding. As I mentioned in my comment, the Americans are ZIONISTS. The leftists that Biden is trying to apease hate them as much as they hate Netanyahu or any other Israelis.

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