How the Spirit of Chanukah and Christmas Can Inspire Global Change

One of the things about which we especially need miracles and prayers is the immediate return of all of the remaining 100 hostages being held by terrorists in Gaza. There’s renewed talk about a deal to secure the hostages’ release, which is more imminent than ever.  Call me cynical, albeit I pray for it every day, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

We know that many of the hostages are dead, but many are believed to be alive, and bringing them home to Israel must be an immediate priority. The imperative and pressure to secure their release must be on Hamas and all the terrorist enablers to do so, even though they have less motivation to do so now.

Fortunately, President Trump has made his position clear: that all the hostages must be returned by his inauguration, or there will be “hell to pay.”

Unfortunately for the terrorists, holding hostages and instilling fear and grief are their currency. The hostages are basically all they have left after a crushing military defeat, albeit one that’s not yet complete. Eventually, while Hamas can be physically defeated, their jihadi ideology needs a more out-of-the-box solution such as www.SolutionforpeaceinGaza.com, which also needs prayers for a miraculous adoption as the only solution to bring true peace.

While it’s likely that Trump means business, and maybe the increased optimism for a deal is a result of anticipated pressure and/or consequences, the terrorists know that once they release the hostages, they will have no cards left to play. While all Israelis desperately want the hostages released and brought home, many Israeli commentators don’t ever believe that all the hostages will be returned. Hamas and their Iranian backers thrive and indeed exist on the suffering of others.

Americans of my generation remember well the previous hostage crisis in 1979. Under an impotent Jimmy Carter presidency, Iranian Islamic terrorists took over the US Embassy in Tehran and held 54 Americans hostage for 444 days. That hostage crisis ended only once President Reagan was inaugurated in January 1980.

At that point, the Iranian Islamists behaved somewhat like rational actors. Getting their feet wet in controlling a whole nation following the Islamic revolution that overthrew the Shah, they had not yet become the global sponsor of terror that they became and are now.  They actually cared about what President Reagan thought and might do.  No sooner had Reagan become President than the hostages were on their way home.

Today, twice the number of hostages remain in Gaza, arguably suffering conditions that are much worse, including starvation, physical and psychological torture, no exposure to light, humiliation, brainwashing, and more. Their families are also suffering more than one can imagine.

This year, as the first day of Chanukah and Christmas coincide, we need the miracles and joy for all the hostages and their loved ones all the more. But there’s another reason why this week matters even more.

Maybe it’s only a coincidence, but as we celebrate Chanukah and Christmas together this year, we also mark the same 444 days that the American hostages were held in Iran.

It’s refreshing to have an incoming president who seems to be making the hostages being released a priority. I have contended for the past year that any American president could have forced the issue to release the hostages by exerting maximum pressure on Iran and Qatar, both of which shelter and fund Hamas and its leaders. Any American president could and should have supported Israel to do everything and anything possible to pressure Hamas, eliminate the terrorists, and find and bring the hostages home, not equivocate and send a mixed signal that only emboldened the terrorists.

Until now, while there have been negotiations, there’s been very little by way of pressure. There’s been far too much equivocating from the simple fact that it’s because Hamas launched its massive attack and massacre on Israel on October 7, 2023, taking 251 hostages and continuing to hold them, that the war started, that we’re in the situation that we’re in, including actual suffering among Gazans but which is largely self-inflicted because of bad choices they have made and continue to make.

There’s a simple rule in dealing with terrorists: negotiation shows weakness.   It is not a tactic to defeat the terrorists but to kick the can down the road.  The Biden administration has enabled the terrorists more than done anything to defeat them. They pandered and funded Iran to the tune of billions of dollars, showing even further weakness.

Among the hostages, there are still several Americans. And it must be emphasized that the October 7 massacre by Hamas was the third largest slaughter of Americans at any one time this century after September 11.

Americans should want all the hostages released and be prepared to make that happen, including the Americans and all the others from many nationalities, including Israel.

But Americans should also especially get behind this imperative, especially this week and this holiday season.  As we celebrate Chanukah and Christmas, the hostages surpass 444 days in captivity: double the number of hostages taken by Iran in 1979, now for longer than the Americans were held hostage then.

We should not have to wait for Trump’s inauguration and weeks more of suffering, but it may be that way.

This should be an important national and international priority because if Americans are not safe anywhere, they are not safe everywhere. The same jihadis that took 54 Americans hostage in 1979 are now holding 100 others. Unless defeated, they will do it again.

This Chanukah and Christmas, we need to commit that every effort must be taken to have all the hostages released. We need to pray for more supernatural miracles and sign the petition to pressure the world powers to pressure the terrorists.

And as we celebrate one military defeat centuries ago and the ensuing miracles that happened then, we can pray fervently that there will be more miracles today as well.  

*The opinions in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Crosswalk Headlines.

Photo Courtesy: ©Unsplash/laura adai

Published Date: December 23, 2024

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of the Salem Web Network.

Jonathan Feldstein is president of the Genesis 123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians. He was born and educated in the U.S. and immigrated to Israel in 2004. He is married and the father of six. He is a leader working with and among Christian supporters of Israel, and shares experiences of living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel through his work, writing, and as host of the Inspiration from Zion podcast.
Recently he published the highly acclaimed book, Israel the Miracle, which makes a great gift for Chanukah and Christmas. 
He can be reached at firstpersonisrael@gmail.com.