The West would rather stand with terrorists than Israel

If your loved ones were taken hostage by jihadis, whether in Iran, Iraq or Gaza, how would you want your government to react? On Saturday, we saw how the Israelis roll.

Operation Arnon, which successfully recovered Noa Argamani and three other captives, was the most complex, risky and resourceful hostage rescue since Entebbe. Helmet cam footage of the commandos going in, released yesterday, is heart-stopping. To paraphrase President Kennedy, the message to Israelis was clear: this is what your country will do for you.

Yet it isn’t only Israeli nationals who are being held by Hamas. Two Britons remain hostages in Gaza as Lord Cameron confirmed in January, as well as five living Americans and the remains of a further three. In the past eight months, these people have been almost entirely forgotten.

Do you know their names? Would you recognise their pictures if they appeared on hostage posters in London? Do we not want our countrymen back with as much passion as the Israelis want theirs?

After months of silence, yesterday NBC reported that US officials were poised to negotiate a unilateral deal with Hamas to release their people, both living and dead, over the heads of the Israelis. This was striking for a number of reasons. Firstly, is Britain engaged in similar talks? Secondly, what will the Americans offer Hamas in return, will these sweeteners cut across the Israeli war effort? Finally, was negotiation with terrorists really the only option on the table?

Israel is hardly the only country that has enacted spectacular release missions in the past. In 1980, the CIA, with Canadian support, smuggled six diplomats out of Tehran while posing as a film crew researching a science fiction production. That same year, when gunmen took 26 hostages at the Iranian embassy in South Kensington, the SAS abseiled from the roof and enacted a daring rescue.

By contrast, recent decades have instead seen an increasing reliance on diplomatic jaw-jaw, often accompanied by hefty ransoms. Last year, the White House released £4.8 billion into Iranian coffers to secure the freedom of five Americans, raising the future incentive to £940 million per hostage. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was set free in 2022 after Downing Street had paid the Iranians £400 million, supposedly a debt that had been owed since the Seventies. You could hear the chuckles in Tehran.

It is true that the Israelis have often paid a heavy price in return for the release of captives: there was the deal in November to free 150 Palestinian convicts in return for 50 hostages. In 2011, 1,027 prisoners – among them a certain Yahya Sinwar, the future architect of October 7 – were controversially released in exchange for one kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit.

Israeli citizens are constantly asked what they can do for their country; this is what the state pledges in return. But Israelis also know that if the opportunity for direct rescue arises, the best commandos in the world will be standing by, no matter the risks.

Why have British and American forces not directly joined the IDF, either in supporting roles, as we did against Islamic State, or in the air or sea, or to participate in special forces operations? That would have sent a powerful message to our jihadi enemy that the West stands resolute, shoulder-to-shoulder in defence of our hostages and our people.

The RAF and American airforce magnificently helped thwart the Iranian missile assault in April. But what about British and American captives? What about destroying Hamas? When he announced the building of an American humanitarian pier, President Biden was at pains to point out that “no US boots will be on the ground”. Why? Victory over Hamas is squarely in our national interest. True collaboration could facilitate a swifter end to the conflict.

From the point of view of Hamas, a deal with the Biden administration would further strain US-Israeli relations. It would pile pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been accused of neglecting a hostage agreement. Terrorists know that the sowing of discord between allies is a powerful weapon. That Hamas places such a premium on doing so holds a lesson that we should urgently learn.

The hostages are international. Our enemy is the same. If jihadism is to be defeated, Western unity – and strength – is vital.