This deal now before us will not allow us a national sigh of relief. It will require us to take deep breaths again and again as we gather the images into our collective memories. Only when the process is complete would we be able to look back and say we did all we can.
We are on the cusp of 42 nerve wracking days. Unexpected things will happen, all involving life and death matters, bringing memorable moments and devastating news that will break our hearts.
These weeks call for maximum restraint and our ability to embrace the families of the hostages who will be freed and at the same time allow the voices of criticism and ideological opposition to speak out, as we near the second phase of the deal.
Red Cross receives hostages in Nov. 2023 deal
This roller coaster we are facing will demand of each of us to muster patience, tolerance and compassion. We must be prepared to deal with the challenges ahead and remember there will be no collective image of victory. Not knowing at the start of each day who is alive and who did not survive will be unbearable.
The role of the Red Cross is central to the success of the deal because it can have the critical and real-time connection with the IDF. After it failed in its duty under the Geneva Convention, and did not visit the hostages or deliver vital medicine to them, the IDF officers will have to show restraint.
The public discourse is expected to be intense with voices supporting the agreement and others critical of its heavy price and of the price paid in the lives of soldiers over nearly 500 days of war. Every phase could reignite debate and raise hard questions about the price, its justification, if there was any other course of action and whether to move to the next phase.
Jonathan Adiri In the face of the claim that releasing prisoners will lead to more kidnappings, it is worthwhile and necessary to separate the determination to fight the enemy until they are defeated from the willingness to release prisoners. Only at the end of the long process will Israeli policy be examined.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
Releasing the hostages opens the path of a strategic shift in how we face the enemy that abducted them. If after the deal is complete, we return to "business as usual," Hamas will once again kidnap Israelis. If we use the time to radically change how we are prepared respond to the terrorists, they will not dare abduct again. Our conduct in the north and our willingness to inflict devastating harm on Hezbollah, at a heavy cost to ourselves, is an example.
With each passing day we will be one step closer to ending this painful chapter for the families and Israeli society at large
Jonathan Adiri is an Israeli digital health care entrepreneur and a former IDF liaison to the Red Cross