Demonstrations in Israel, which demanded a Gaza hostage deal, the BBC’s correspondent, Jon Donnison, said, “Outrage at Hamas is a given in Israel, but these protests are not about that.” The protests were aimed at Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, he said.

He may be right, but isn’t it extraordinary that Hamas’s wickedness is “a given”? And doesn’t it become more of a given if the Western media use it only as a springboard for attacks on Mr Netanyahu rather than exposing Hamas?

In the same BBC programme yesterday, Mishal Husain said that the six hostages whose bodies were discovered on Saturday, had been “found dead”. Israel said they had been “brutally murdered”. Hamas said they had died in “Israeli strikes”. Husain effectively presented these as two equally likely possibilities.

This was a fine example of false balance: Israel – which now has the bodies, and therefore some evidence (including of shots to the head) – is a democratic state with the rule of law and a free press. It is therefore answerable. Hamas is a terrorist and totalitarian pseudo-state which exercises its power of life and death as it pleases. No reasonable person would equate the credibility of both sides.

Two things need emphasising. The first is the astonishing evil of Hamas’s actions. The 250 or so hostages were almost all taken from Israel on the same day, October 7 last year, in operations which included mass murder and rape, and involved extreme violence towards and humiliation of those kidnapped. Those taken included old people, sick people, women and children.

Once held in Gaza, they were ill-treated and, contrary to all law except an Islamist interpretation of sharia, denied any rights as prisoners. They were often held without light, sanitation, new clothes; almost all without enough food, some even without regular water. Those who were Jews (the great majority) were treated even worse than those who were not, their faith and race insulted. Some were threatened and tormented into giving false reports of good treatment. Some were beaten, some molested. Some died of wounds or illness. Some were killed in captivity.

Eleven months later, all this is still going on. It must be the biggest continuous, organised non-state violation of international law and morality this century. Strange how muted are the protests of Western governments and international organisations against these atrocities.

AfriPrime App link:  FREE to download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

It is true that governments and NGOs do call for the release of the hostages, but this usually takes the form of pressure on Israel, not Hamas, to concede something.

Which brings me to the second thing which needs emphasis. This is that mass hostage-taking is a brilliantly successful terrorist policy because it uses terror in so many ways and for so long. It benefits not just from the fear at the moment of kidnap, or the fear of those held captive. It also exploits the fear of the families of the hostages as they oscillate between hope and despair.

Hamas inflicts further torture on these people sadistically, but with a purpose. It wants to turn them, in effect, into its instruments. It knows – and despises the fact – that in free countries citizens have a voice. How diabolically clever of Hamas to use that voice to try to break a democracy.

Most of the families of the hostages are so desperate to get back their children/parents/spouses/siblings that it is the only thing they think of. Who can blame them? But it is a fact – indeed, it is why people take hostages in the first place – that such an attitude is exactly what the kidnappers want. A few Israeli hostage families have bravely said as much, but their words have got little airing in the West.

As a result, the Israeli government comes under truly enormous pressure. It is directly menaced by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, excoriated by the UN and other major international institutions, and impeded by the EU and even, in significant areas, by the Biden administration. Yesterday, the British Government tossed in its farthing of disapproval by banning 30 export licences related to arms. Israel has also, all the time, to deal with terrible unhappiness among its own people. Presumably it is for that reason that the Netanyahu government did agree an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners last year, though it bought it no military advantage and no political peace at home.

Hamas is skilfully calibrating the situation to achieve its ends. I wish that Western leaders and media would recognise what this means. One does not have to be a fan of Mr Netanyahu to see how unfair it is to stigmatise him as what prevents peace in Gaza.

When hostages are taken, it is not literally true that no one should talk to their captors. Hidden channels can help furnish necessary intelligence and play for time. But it is true that to negotiate with the likes of Hamas is, ipso facto, to give them the whip hand.

There is plenty of evidence to trace the consequences. One example will suffice. In 2011, a single Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, was released by Hamas. In return, Mr Netanyahu (then, as now, prime minister) released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including the murderer Yahya Sinwar. Today, Sinwar is the leader of Hamas. Far from breaking the cycle of violence, hostage deals tend to perpetuate a cycle in which violence pays.

AfriPrime App link:  FREE to download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT