I was filled with joy when I saw the return of the 3 hostages yesterday. It is wonderful to have Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher  back home. If this is the start of a new chapter of peace in the region then I am thrilled. At that same time I am I am worried about the release of convicted murders. I am also worried by what I am not hearing.

On October 7, 2023, more than 1,200 men, women and children, including 46 Americans and citizens of more than 30 countries, were slaughtered by Hamas – the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Girls and women were sexually assaulted. The depravity of Hamas’s crimes is almost unspeakable. Hamas also took 254 people hostage that day, including 12 Americans.

Over the last 15 months there has been much talk regarding the disproportionality of deaths when you compare Israeli and Palestinians in this conflict. This overlooks Hamas’s role in this conflict. Seeing their mission and their tactics, it is clear that they win when they attack us and they win when we would strike back because they use civilians as shields. While academic it is interesting to note the misuse of the the ethics of “proportionality”.

The principle of proportionality prohibits attacks against military objectives which are, “expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated”. In other words, the principle of proportionality seeks to limit damage caused by military operations by requiring that the effects of the means and methods of warfare used must not be disproportionate to the military advantage sought.  Finding the captives and neutralizing Hamas is the objective and it is very sad that so many Palestinians have died in this effort, but that falls on Hamas. Where is the accountability for Hamas?

But in many ways I understand the confusion of a ethical technical term being confused with the colloquial use of the word “proportional”. But still where are those voices today? Where is the moral outrage regarding the “deal” to release hostages?

In exchange for these three women, 90 Palestinian prisoners were to be released from Israeli detention. Hamas said the first group to be freed includes 69 women and 21 teenage boys. When we bargained for the release of Gilad Shalit, I was horrified by the deal.  1026 for 1.

It will not help either side to get into a conversation regarding who is morally OK to let out. I get it that one person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. For the sake of this discussion let us ignore the Bibas babies who clearly beyond repute. Anything other than a one for one deal is an aberration to our very humanity. In their silence there is a loud proclamation as to the evaluation regarding proportionality. As of 8 January 2025, over 47,000 people – 45,936 Palestinian and 1,706 Israeli^[ – have been reported killed in the Israel–Hamas war. By this sick and twisted math by this current hostage deal the “right” number of Palestinians to kill would have been anything less than 51,180. So there is still 5,244 deaths left on that line of credit. But if you set the price by the Shalit deal, when Sinwar got set free, it would have been over 1,750,356. The current death toll is only 2.6% of that.

Only a monster would think about human life in these terms, but still every news outlet just shares the number of Palestinians given over as compared an Israeli as if it is normal. It is the banality of evil which is so remarkable. What world are we living in which any human life is not seen as infinitely valuable and therefore equal to any other human life? To all those who are silent regarding the market value of a Palestinian or an Israeli, you are part of the problem. And to all those who judge Israel for being disproportional and are silent now about the disproportionality of these hostage deals, shame on you. Please check your moral credentials. Any thing other than a one for one will not lead to peace.

It seems obvious the Palestinians will have and really deserve a land of their own. For Israel to have peace with their neighbors, their neighbors need to understand their own self worth. What is the message being given to the Palestinians in this deal? They are cheap and we are valuable in the open market. How will Israel or Palestine be held accountable for their actions when our accounting for the value of human life is so off?

Long before we appropriated Tikkun Olam as the new Jewish civic religion of mending this broken world, in the Mishna Tikkun Olam was the reason given for not doing these hostage deals. Will this create an incentive for capturing more Jews?  Look, they are so valuable they are worth somewhere between 30- 1026 X a Palestinian. I would love to see Levitt and Dubner of Freakonimics take a go at economic system of ransom. Maybe they will help us figure out a new path to peace. Sadly the Israelis and the Palestinians are just commodities to be traded in global market. All the hostages need to go free and come home right now. If there will be a deal, happy to overlook any information at to their crimes as long as it is one for one.. Our accepting anything short of that makes us responsible for this this corrupt marketplace.