My Word: Hostages' stories and terrorists' narratives

• Published date: 12 April 2024
• Author: LIAT COLLINS
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The pain of the families of the more than 130 hostages still being held by the terrorists in Gaza is unfathomable. Some of the hostages are known to be dead, their bodies being held as bargaining chips. The fate of the others – around 90 – is unknown, and unimaginable. To describe it as hell for the hostages and for their families is to let Hamas off lightly

And it's deliberate. Since that dreadful Saturday, when the well-armed invading terrorists rampaged through southern communities, murdering more than 1,200, raping, mutilating, beheading, and burning, Hamas has used Israel's fears for the fate of the hostages as a playing card – releasing videos of the abductees to increase the horrors and fears.

Some of those filmed returned home in the hostage release negotiated in November; others were killed during the terrorist equivalent of snuff movies. What the others are experiencing could be a fate worse than death.

Most decent human beings would want to know how they can make the situation better – how they can relieve the suffering. Not so the Iranian regime. Last week, the family of 19-year-old hostage Liri Albag was subjected to an act of particular cruelty. On Friday, a wreath was delivered to the home of the abducted young soldier with a message stating: "May her memory be a blessing, we all know that the country is more important."

There were two sinister implications: that Liri was no longer alive, and that her death was the result of the lack of will on the part of the Israeli government to pay the price Hamas is demanding for the release of the hostages.

The immediate response was predictable. Apart from the anguish, there was a political backlash. On Sunday, however, the Shin Bet (Israel's Security Agency) announced that there was a high probability that the wreath had been sent by Iranian agents. The aim was not only to cause extra pain to the Albag family but also to foster the divisions in Israeli society that had been so evident on the eve of the October 7 attack and subsequent war.

Compounding the cynical abuse, the investigation revealed that the flowers had been ordered online in the name of a fallen IDF officer. Iran and its terrorist proxies know how to exploit Israel's sensitivities.

Liri's father managed to joke that Liri prefers white flowers to those in the funeral wreath. But nobody was laughing. It was, however, a reminder that the people whose faces appear on the "Kidnapped" posters are real, with likes, and dreams, and loved ones...