Israel will face a general strike on Monday as the national trade union federation Histadrut calls on workers to stay home and protest against the hostage trade following Hamas' cold-blooded killing of six hostages last week.
The coalition says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government must immediately agree to the return of the roughly 100 remaining hostages, about a third of whom are believed to be dead. But Netanyahu cannot force a deal; he must negotiate, at least indirectly, with Hamas, which has so far rejected any deal, including one that essentially mirrors the terror group's own negotiating stance, to which Israel has cautiously agreed.
The families of the Israeli hostages are also divided. Many support the hostage deal, even if it means handing Hamas a de facto victory in the war. Some blame the Netanyahu government for the hostages' deaths. They say that the Netanyahu government demanded that Israel maintain the Gaza-Egypt border, which is key to preventing Hamas from smuggling weapons and terrorists into Gaza, and that this led Hamas to reject the deal and ultimately kill the hostages.
But other hostage families want Netanyahu to pursue victory against Hamas, rescue hostages where possible and avoid making concessions that would allow the terror group to survive and potentially take more hostages in the future.
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday The show airs Sunday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. (4 to 7 p.m. ET) on SiriusXM Patriot. He is the author of “Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” which is available for preorder on Amazon. He also wrote,Trumpian virtue: The lessons and legacy of Donald Trump's presidency” is available on Audible. He is the 2018 recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
