Waiting and Watching
The dried wax has been pried out of the branches and the Chanukah menorah has been returned to a display case in our den. This was done carefully, to preserve the multi-colored, melted wax that over many years has dripped onto the Maccabi soldiers and the base of the menorah that my paternal grandmother and great-aunt brought back from Israel.
We are now two weeks into a new year (on the Gregorian calendar) and just days from the return of Donald Trump to the White House, as just the second U.S. president elected to serve two, non-consecutive terms in office (the other being Grover Cleveland).
I am filing this column on Jan. 13 — Day 465 since Oct. 7, 2023, when terrorists slaughtered 1,200 men, women, and children, and kidnapped more than 250 more from kibbutzim, towns, and a music festival in the “Gaza envelope” area of southern Israel.
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At this writing, 98 men, women, and (two) children are being held hostage by Hamas and allied groups.
Barak Ravid, the well-informed global affairs correspondent for Axios, reported on Jan. 3 that, according to Israeli intelligence, about half of the hostages are alive, including three of the seven U.S. citizens, who either live in Israel or hold dual citizenship.
With everything going on in our individual lives and in the often chaotic world beyond our doors, I understand how the plight of the hostages might not be a daily thought for many in the Jewish community.
I continue to check daily for Facebook posts from the Israeli branch of my family tree, from the family of Tal Shoham. He turned 39 as a hostage and unless something changes, will mark his 40th birthday as a hostage before January ends.
Shoham was kidnapped on that Oct. 7, along with his wife, his son and daughter, his mother-in-law, and a cousin and her daughter, when terrorists overran Kibbutz Be’eri.
The women and children were freed after 50 days, during a hopeful week in November 2023 when Israel exchanged a larger number of Palestinian prisoners for the release of hostages. Shoham’s father-in-law, his mother-in-law’s sister and her husband were among those murdered on Oct. 7.
With the aid of various intermediaries, Hamas and the Israeli government have held on-and-off negotiations about a ceasefire in the war in Gaza and release of hostages, each accusing the other of moving the proverbial goalposts.
Hamas says that it needs time — after 16 months? — to provide a full accounting of where all of the hostages are being held and reportedly wants to release only a portion of its captives.
A deal that would leave any of the hostages behind would cruelly compound the agony with which their families live.
Israel Channel 12 reported that during a recent closed government meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “If there is a deal-and I hope there will be-Israel will return to fighting afterward. There’s no reason to obscure or conceal this because resuming fighting is intended to complete the war’s objectives. This doesn’t obstruct a deal; it encourages one.”
Inauguration day in the United States is Jan. 20 — what would be Day 472.
Trump vowed Dec. 2, on his Truth Social media platform, that if the hostages were not released prior to his taking office “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.”
That last sentence, in particular, is an example of the hyperbole for which Trump is known, particularly given that the long and storied history of the United States includes the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Trump repeated the threat during a Jan. 7 news conference, saying: “If those hostages aren’t back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East. And it will not be good for Hamas. And it will not be good frankly for anyone.”
Given that the deaths of untold thousands of civilians and the destruction of the infrastructure of the Gaza strip have proven to be insufficient motivation, what form of “hell” does he envision will move Hamas and company to return all 98 hostages — the living and the dead — to their families?
I would not dare to predict what will happen. In general, though, history has shown that “all hell” breaking out in the Middle East is not good for anyone.
Hopefully, by the time Chanukah begins at sunset on Dec. 14, 2025, the hostages still alive will light the candles with their families and the dead will have received a proper burial and mourning.
For now, though, all we can do is wait and see what happens.
Originally published at https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com on January 15, 2025.
