Freeing hostages is the first step to peace in Mid-East

As events in the Middle East war escalate and threaten to spread, the world must not lose sight of where it all began. One hundred days after Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel on October 7 to unleash a wave of indiscriminate killing and hostage-taking, we highlight the plight of those who have been taken captive. Their release may not be the full answer to ending the war but it is an essential first step to securing peace.

The launch of missiles on Friday by the US and Britain to defang Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen who have been disrupting shipping in the Red Sea will escalate tensions in the region but it is overdue. It lets the world know the US and its allies, including Australia, will not allow totalitarian states and their proxies to disrupt the global order. There is a risk it may spread the conflict by further enraging leaders in Tehran who have used their proxies in Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis to spread chaos. But for the US and its allies to do nothing would certainly prolong the suffering in Israel and in Gaza. Defence Minister Richard Marles was right to say “freedom of navigation and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea are utterly central to Australia’s national interest” and that Australia must stand up for the rules-based order and for freedom of navigation.

Equally important is for the Albanese government to reject the distraction that is the facetious charge of genocide lodged against Israel by South Africa in the International Court of Justice. The case was rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the charge of genocide was “hypocrisy and lies”. It was, he said, “an upside-down world in which Israel is accused of genocide while fighting against genocide”. Launching proceedings that do not mention the actions of Hamas or the events of October 7 underscores the bankruptcy of the charge.

Rather than show trials, it is justice for those still held hostage by Hamas that must occupy the world’s attention. On Saturday, Christine Middap and Fiona Harari detail the torment of the relatives and friends of those still held as bargaining chips, or worse. For Nikki Perzuck, whose cousin Naama Levy was taken hostage, horror is tinged with shock that too few have responded vehemently to the mass kidnappings. Ms Levy’s capture was videoed and broadcast to shock the world, and she is still missing. “You would have thought that the whole world would have stopped and said ‘We can’t believe what’s going on’,” Ms Perzuck says. “There was a little bit of that, and then it just changed very quickly. In other atrocities that have happened to women, all these women’s organisations speak up. Where is the voice for these people who have been kidnapped?” The silence is as offensive as it is outrageous.

Outrageous, too, is the suffering of Palestinians who have lost their lives or been displaced because of the actions of Hamas. But there can be no moral equivalence in the suffering of those taken hostage and the innocent who are being used as human shields by Hamas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was clear-eyed when he met leaders in Israel and across the Middle East this week. He cautioned Israel to limit the civilian casualties but said the “immense human toll was one of the many reasons that we continue to stand with Israel in ensuring that October 7 can never happen again”. More than 240 hostages were taken in the October 7 attacks, in which Israel says around 1200 people were killed, mostly civilians. Since then, 81 Israeli citizens (some joint citizens) were released during the seven-day pause in fighting at the end of November, along with 24 foreign nationals. Before that deal, another four hostages were freed. According to The Wall Street Journal, the issue is complicated by the fact Hamas isn’t holding all of the hostages who remain in Gaza. Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Hamas ally that the US has designated a terrorist organisation, said in October that it was holding more than 30 people abducted on October 7. Hamas has transferred some of its own hostages to other factions, according to Israel, complicating efforts to secure their freedom. Writing on Saturday in The Weekend Australian, Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon said “the past 100 days have given a glimpse into the world view of a fanatical bloc of nefarious sectarian and ideological actors, who are seeking to remake an entire region according to their warped vision”.

Hostage-taking has always been a calculated part of Hamas’s terrorist modus operandi, together with using ordinary Palestinians as human shields and exploiting their deaths as collateral damage. This is made clear by the fact the Israel Defence Forces knows precisely where Hamas’s notorious Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, is – in tunnels under Khan Younis – but can do nothing to get him because he has surrounded himself with dozens of hostages he is using as human shields. Nothing better sums up the dilemma Israel faces as it seeks to destroy Hamas but is impeded by the need to ensure the hostages are not killed by their captors. Hamas must let the hostages go and the world must unite to free the Palestinian people from the evil grip of Hamas.