Israel is not equipped to deal with the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages,” said former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren.
He told ILTV News that Israel released more than 1,000 terrorists in 2011 in exchange for hostage Gilad Schalit, and 80% of them went back to committing acts of terror — including Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind October 7. Sinwar and his brother, also a Hamas terrorist, have both been assassinated by Israel.
“Unfortunately, we created this precedent going back to the 1980s, releasing large numbers of security prisoners for relatively small numbers of Israeli hostages,” Oren said. “It is very difficult to break that precedent. Now I suggest that once this war is over, that we cease this practice and let it be known to our enemies will never again be able make those types of exchanges.”
Watch the full interview:
CEASEFIRE EFFORTS
(ILTV)
