Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran … War

[Sephiroth]

That hardly explained what the people were demanding. My reading of the situation fairly early on was that the people generally wanted Hamas to be smashed. The families of hostages were shit scared that Israel's military response would get the hostages killed. That's rock/hard place stuff.

And yes, it suited Netanyahu's political purpose, likely driven by the Smotrich faction - but that is a side issue if it's the hostages we're talking about.

After all, how many hostages died between March 2025 and today?

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

That hardly explained what the people were demanding. My reading of the situation fairly early on was that the people generally wanted Hamas to be smashed. The families of hostages were shit scared that Israel's military response would get the hostages killed. That's rock/hard place stuff.

And yes, it suited Netanyahu's political purpose, likely driven by the Smotrich faction - but that is a side issue if it's the hostages we're talking about.

After all, how many hostages died between March 2025 and today?

My reading indicated that a safe return of the hostages was the Israeli public's top priority.

It would obviously have been far less stressful for the hostages and their families had Netanyahu not derailed the ceasefire, thereby preventing the hostages returning home in March.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

My reading indicated that a safe return of the hostages was the Israeli public's top priority.

It would obviously have been far less stressful for the hostages and their families had Netanyahu not derailed the ceasefire, thereby preventing the hostages returning home in March.

Big mistake by hamas was overestimating how much the Israeli government would want the hostages back, they thought it'd be like Gilad Shalit all over again and the sheer number of hostages that'd be endangered would protect them from retaliation and retribution, they thought wrong

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Big mistake by hamas was overestimating how much the Israeli government would want the hostages back

I think they may have made a mistake in their estimation of how Israel would respond to their attack in 2023.