Negotiating with terrorists: Hostage families struggle with Hamas deals

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Hillel Fuld’s first reaction to discovering that his brother Ari’s murderer is about to be released in the Hamas hostage deal is: “It’s incredible.”

In February, four Israeli hostages and six living bodies were reportedly replaced with more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners – one of them was supposed to be Palestinian Khalil Jabarin, who was 17 years old when he stabbed Ari, 45, to death in September 2018.

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“The truth is, I think it’s possible in our minds, but I don’t think we all want to face that,” Hiller said of his family’s reaction. “So, it’s definitely a punch in the gut.”

Micah Avni, who lost Hamas attacks, over Hillel Fuld and another terrorist family victim, Micah Avni, negotiated with terrorists, especially through exchanges, not only reopened the wound, but also created a feeling of justice being destroyed.

They were found to weigh the moral scales between the moral scales to minimize hostage suffering, but at the cost of freeing individuals who may further inflict further atrocities, thus undermining long-term security and rewarding terrorism.

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In the case of Ari Fuld, the attack seems to be a premeditated target, not a random person.

On the September 2018 day, Jabarin came out of the sidewalk at Harim Mall in southern Jerusalem and stabbed Ari in the main artery of the neck. At the last moment of the latter, he summons his energy to chase the killer, jumps over the wall and shoots him.

“This kid has nothing in life,” Fuld said of Jabbarin. “He was not oppressed, not occupied. He lived a life of freedom. He woke up that morning and decided that ‘It was a good day to murder the Jews.”’

According to Fuld, Jabarin was paid by Palestinian authorities through its paid plan when he was serving his sentence in prison. “It’s a terrible concept to have such an animal walking down the street.”

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Hamas still believes there are at least 59 hostages, about 200 of whom were kidnapped on October 7, 2023, returning alive, or the remains of the deceased.

“What I’m going to say is that it’s obvious that if Ali was here today, he would have explicitly opposed the deal. He’s actually talked about it many times, and that’s the concept,” said Fude, 46, an Israeli. “I don’t think our personal tragedy or pain is because he comes out and changes our view of trading, which is absolutely terrible and beautiful, right?”

He said the hostages must be brought back “at all costs” and Israel will “have to deal with the consequences of the release of these monsters.”

Although he was exempted from continuing his army service, Ari volunteered to join the IDF and also advocated for providing Israel on social media and speeches. On November 7, 2018, the Israeli policeman awarded the outstanding medal of Ari Fuld.

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Despite the personal pain of prisoner releases, both Fuld and Micah Avni acknowledge the need to release hostages at a high cost.

“I don’t think there is a single person in Israel who will not do anything on a personal level to restore hostages. But, strategically speaking, it doesn’t make sense to me to give up prisoners. It shows weakness,” said Avni, a resident of Tel Aviv.

Avni’s father, Richard Lakin, was killed by Hamas member Bilal Abu Ganem, part of the duo, who killed three Israeli civilians in an October 2015 and injured 15 people. Abu Ganem will be part of the recent release of Palestinian prisoners.

Born in the United States and parades with Martin Luther King, Lakin is an activist who helped separate schools in Connecticut, according to Avni. He was the principal of Hopewell Elementary School since 1969 until he moved to Israel with his wife and children in 1984. In his new country, he established an English-speaking school to teach Jews, Christians and Arab children.

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“For him, it was a matter of principle. He thought it was the way to bring people together,” said Micah Avni.

Lakin is coming home from a doctor on a Jerusalem bus date. Two Hamas terrorists boarded and shot Larkin and two other civilians, and 15 others were injured.

Police killed one of the attackers on the spot. The second is that Abu Ganem was taken to Hadasa Hospital with Lakin.

Unconsciously upon arrival, he had a knife in his chest and a bullet on his head, and Lakin, 76, did not survive.

Two days after the attack, Hamas released a re-engineering video. “They got the actors on the bus, ‘shot’ another actor who was playing my father, an actor who played terrorists. They knocked it out to educate young children on how to do such terrorist attacks. And it got tens of millions of views,” Avni said.

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Abu Ganem, a resident of East Jerusalem who holds an Israeli residence card, was tried in the District Court in Jerusalem and sentenced to three people to criminal proceedings. “He admitted this, and there is no doubt that he and everyone else are members of Hamas. He pays homage to what he has done,” Afni said.

After his family moved to Israel, a major prisoner exchange agreement was held in May 1985, known as the Jewish Agreement. “I remember telling my mother that – I was about to enlist – if I was captured, don’t trade any terrorists for me. Obviously, they’ll just come back and murder more people.”

The Jewish deal took place between the Israeli government and the popular front that liberated the Palestinian General Command. Israel released 1,150 prisoners from Israeli prisons. In return, Israel was captured during the First Lebanon War: Yosef Grof, Nissim Salem and Hezi Shai.

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The agreement included the release of Ahmed Yassin, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza, who later became the spiritual leader of Hamas. Ziyad al-Nakhalah was sentenced to life imprisonment and later became the leader of the Islamic jihad in Palestinian.

It sets precedents for future exchanges, including the 2011 Girard Shalit prisoner exchange, which released 1,027 Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners in exchange for IDF soldier Shalit.

Yahya Sinwar is the mastermind behind Hamas Massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023 and is part of the Shalit Exchange.

“You just can’t negotiate with terrorists. The only way to deal with terrorists is to be strong,” Afni said.

“Hamas is like the Nazis, pure evil. Sometimes it’s hard for Westerners to grasp this. But there’s no reason to do with these people. There’s no negotiation. Their ultimate goal is to destroy us, destroy us, and most people have a hard time taking over the West.

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