#at least across the widest time range where there's data for both of them (2008-01-24 to 2024-05-07)

[toki-pona]

I keep seeing people boil the entire war down to "Israelis are bad, Palestinians are good," but it's never that simple. So it's good that there are some posts like this asking "where's your sympathy for the Israeli hostages?" It's true: taking hostages is a war crime and innocent civilians do not deserve to be taken prisoner/tortured/raped/killed, and it's wrong to say that this is any form of justice. I've seen some people celebrating Hamas attacking civilians and taking hostages, and it's bad that that's being condoned instead of condemned. Hamas is committing war crimes.

And so is Israel. Of the posts I've seen that (rightfully!) demand sympathy and attention for Hamas' Israeli prisoners, none have talked about all the prisoners Israel has been taking. To show a fuller picture of captives on each side of the war (and, honestly, to develop a better understanding for myself through researching this, since there's so goddamn much misinformation and so many baseless claims going around), here's a comparison.

Hamas is holding 92 Israeli captives. Israel is holding at least 9,100 Palestinian captives. Let's dig into some sources, some in support of each side. Bold and colours in the quotes are my own.

"The [Israeli] army said that 40 of the 132 hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza had been killed." [source, 2024-05-16] That means Hamas is currently holding 92 hostages. (We're talking about live hostages here, since that's what the original post was about. Deaths of course should not be ignored; here is a page with filterable stats on deaths and injuries on each side.)

"While some Palestinians have been released, 9,100 [Palestinians] remain captive. That’s a sharp uptick from the 5,200 that were in Israeli prisons before October 7. These figures do not include the thousands of adults and children the Israeli army has reportedly detained, tortured and interrogated in makeshift prisons across Gaza, outside any legal or civilian oversight." [source, 2024-03-22] 92 vs 9,100, and that second figure is a lowball.

But hang on... before October 7? Now why would Israel have over 5,000 Palestinian captives before the attack they're claiming to be retaliating against? Well, it turns out they've been at that for quite some time: "Israel arrested some 800,000 Palestinians since the June 1967 War. [...] Israel arrested 7,000 Palestinian children [from 2002-2012]. The [Palestinian Prime Minister's] office said that the children were held in Israeli jails in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

"The statement added that the prisoners were exposed to various types of interrogation. It added that 80 percent of them were tortured. 'The Israeli Supreme Court allowed the use torture during interrogation in violation of the international laws and related treaties,' the statement said." [source, 2012-12-12]

Now I know what you're yelling at me through your screen: I'm comparing prisoners to hostages. Those aren't the same thing; hostages don't deserve to be hostages but prisoners do deserve to be prisoners. And it's true that Israel claims that these prisoners are criminals and that they deserve to be imprisoned. But even if they were all vicious baby-murderers and their imprisonment were entirely justified (even those 7,000 children across just one decade), there is no excuse for what they are being subject to.

"An internal UN report describes widespread abuse of Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centres, including beatings, dog attacks, the prolonged use of stress positions and sexual assault." [source, 2024-03-05] There isn't a crime you can commit that makes you deserving of beating and rape. And yet recall that figure from before about 80% of Israel's Palestinian prisoners being tortured.

Now back to the civilian hostages Hamas is holding. They should of course be released. And in fact they could have been released back in October (plus an end to the war!) had Israel agreed to Hamas' proposal:

"...Hamas had offered on October 9 or 10 to release all the civilian hostages in exchange for the IDF not entering the Strip, but [Israel's] government rejected the offer. [...] There is no doubt that Netanyahu is preventing a deal. Netanyahu knows that if he goes to elections at this time he won’t be able to form a new government, and he is motivated by cold political considerations." [source, 2024-04-26]

I'm not going to pretend that Hamas are angels, but they literally made the offer of "we'll give you these hostages back if you promise to not invade Gaza." Hostages returned, plus no Gaza invasion. I cannot think of a proposal that is more aimed toward an immediate end to hostage-holding and war. But guess what Israel decided to do. I'm trying to see both sides here, so if anyone has any info I haven't seen on why Israel refused this, please let me know. The only conclusion I'm seeing is that Netanyahu doesn't care about hostages and doesn't care about a ceasefire or peace.

Of course we should remember that those 92 human beings don't deserve what Hamas is doing to them. But that does not mean we should turn a blind eye to the 9,100+ human beings who don't deserve what Israel is doing to them. Both are wrong, and we need to keep the crimes of both sides in our minds and mouths, not just the crimes of the side we don't like.

justhallel

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