Still A Good Moment

We knew that three more Israeli hostages were set to be released today. But the transfers of two of them didn’t make Prime Minister Netanyahu happy at all as we see in a report on that from WND.com:

The release of Agam Berger at around 10:00 a.m. local time Thursday seemed almost disciplined in comparison with the dumpster fire of chaos that surrounded the moment Arbel Yehoud, Gadi Mozes and five Thai nationals were transferred to Red Cross vehicles in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Hamas may blame the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) for the chaos, but it certainly looked like the hostages were in real danger:

Palestinian Islamic Jihad rather than Hamas held Yehoud and Mozes for the 482 days they were in captivity, although both their fighters and Hamas terrorists swarmed the ICRC vehicles awaiting the almost former hostages, ironically not far from the remains of the house in which Yahya Sinwar was killed. The Red Cross vehicles in which they were originally brought to the site could not be moved because of the violent chaos in the crowd.

Netanyahu was very stern in his responses:

"I view with utmost severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages. This is additional proof of the inconceivable brutality of the Hamas terrorist organization.

He went on to demand that the next transfers be safer:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his outrage at the scenes labeling it "additional proof of the inconceivable brutality of the Hamas terrorist organization." Further he demanded from the mediators to "make certain such terrible scenes do not recur, and guarantee the safety of our hostages."

The PM stated that “whoever dares to harm our hostages will pay.” Previously, they asked the Red Cross who is handling the transfers to maintain their safe returns:

Prior to this latest batch of releases, entreaties were made to the International Red Cross, which it should be remembered never visited the hostages even once nor ensured delivery of medicines or medical treatment, to do their utmost to prevent the terrible imagery of previous handovers. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, those requests fell on deaf ears as the Palestinian terrorist groups do their utmost to crank up the psychological trauma yet further; Arbel Yehoud looked genuinely petrified, just as she drew near to the end of her unimaginable ordeal.

The Israeli president was more calm, but did note the harrowing way the hostages were released?

The usually more placid Israeli President Isaac Herzog joined the chorus denouncing the chaos at the handover, saying "While the scenes of abuse and terror toward the hostages as they were transferred to the Red Cross were horrifying, we are moved to tears by the return from captivity of Agam Berger, Arbel Yehoud, Gadi Mozes, along with five Thai citizens released today."

In subsequent reports, the mediators did say that the releases on Saturday will be different.

More Terrorists On The Streets

As agreed, Israel set free 110 prisoners. Here is more on those prisoners from a report from the apnews.com:

Most of them were freed into the arms of loved ones in the occupied West Bank, where U.N. data shows that one in five Palestinians has passed through Israeli jail and the release of prisoners is a source of national celebration.

But 23 of them serving life sentences for more serious crimes were transferred to Egypt before further deportation.

The prisoners released Thursday were all men, ranging in age from 15 to 69.

The article tells us about two of those 110:

Zakaria Zubeidi is a prominent former militant leader and theater director whose dramatic jailbreak in 2021 thrilled Palestinians across the Middle East and stunned the Israeli security establishment.

Zubeidi once led the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade — an armed group affiliated with Fatah, the secular political party that controls the Palestinian Authority — that carried out deadly attacks against Israelis during the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, between 2000 and 2005.

If you think Zubeidi will be a model citizen now that he is out, think again. He always plans more attacks on Jews. Another violent terrorist is Abu Warda:

A Hamas militant during the second intifada, Abu Warda helped organize a series of suicide bombings that killed over 40 people and wounded more than a hundred others. Israel arrested him in 2002, and sentenced him to 48 terms of lifetime imprisonment, one of the longest prison sentences it ever issued.

He joined Hamas at the start of the intifada while he was still a student, following Israel’s killing of Yahya Ayyash, the militant group’s leading bomb maker, in 1996.

Palestinian authorities said at the time that Warda had helped to recruit suicide bombers — including his cousin, his cousin’s neighbor and a classmate at the Ramallah Teachers College — whose attacks targeting crowded civilian areas in Israeli cities killed scores of people in the early 2000s.

Again, this guy will almost certainly plan his revenge tour immediately. We read about other terrorists who are now ready to kill more Jews from a report from the Telegram channel of Israel Realtime:

Among the Arab terrorists released: Rashid Rashek, who planned to assassinate Minister Ben Gvir and carry out additional attacks in 2022, was sentenced to 13 years in prison and has now been released to the Old City of Jerusalem.

As well as terrorist Shahadah Al-Giaoui - part of the squad that kidnapped and murdered the teenager Eliyahu Ashrey.

And a prisoner previously released was killed for plotting terrorist plots. We also need to know that these prisoners are given a hero’s welcome. If you need a reminder of why Israel needs to control the area for a time before these citizens are willing to live in peace in Gaza these joyous celebrations is amply evidence of it. And it makes Trump’s idea of relocating them while Gaza is rebuilt looks better and better.