Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo has asserted that Israel should have consented to the release of all terrorists detained in Israeli prisons in return for the hostages taken on October 7. The overwhelming majority of these hostages are civilians, including children, while many of the terrorists have committed grave offenses.
In a recent podcast discussion, Pardo revealed that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar proposed at the onset of the conflict, before Israel launched a ground offensive in Gaza, that Israel should free all terrorists in exchange for the hostages. “Israel chose revenge,” Pardo said. “And Israel knew that it could not free all of the hostages in military campaigns, and only a very few. And Israel knew that every strike by the IAF, when you don’t know where they are, could kill hostages as well.”
He elaborated, “And Israel knew that it would kill terrorists in one place and if a relative was watching hostages that day then that would likely be the end of the hostages.” Criticizing the government, he continued, “The Israeli government knew all of this and it did not bother them; instead, they began a campaign to convince all Israeli citizens of nonsense such as ‘complete victory’ for standing strong, when all it needed to do was on the first day, on October 8, carry out this processes of releasing all the hostages, and after that they could have done whatever was necessary.”
On October 8, Israel was still engaged in efforts to clear its towns near the Gaza border of terrorists, including attempts to reclaim the Sderot police station. Yahya Sinwar was released from prison in October 2011, part of a swap involving 1,027 convicted terrorists for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Following his release, Sinwar began orchestrating the massacre and kidnappings that culminated twelve years later, on October 7, 2023.
{Matzav.com Israel}