Lt.-Gen. Maurice Hirsch, a former senior official in the IDF Military Advocate General Corps with 19 years of service, sheds light on the complex and often fraught decision-making process Israel undertakes regarding the release of Palestinian prisoners. Speaking with Sarah Ben-Nun on The Jerusalem Post Podcast, Hirsch detailed the legal and moral challenges involved, as well as the significant impact of previous hostage exchange deals on current policies.

The Post reports that Hirsch highlights the profound disparity and moral dilemma inherent in such exchanges, where convicted murderers—some serving multiple life sentences—are traded for the release of innocent civilians.

“This cannot be referred to as a prisoner exchange. On the one hand, you have a genocidal terrorist organization and on the other side you have a democratic country, that’s not a prisoner exchange deal. It is extortion by a terrorist organization. There is no equality that can be drawn between the two sides,” he asserts.

Hirsch further underscores the troubling reality that many of the terrorists released in prior deals, such as the Gilad Shalit exchange, quickly returned to terrorist activities.

“By 2014, 50% of those released Judea and Samaria almost immediately returned to terrorism,” he notes. “We saw a very high rate of terrorism recidivism and at rates much higher than we could show the court.”

During his tenure, Hirsch was closely involved in nearly every major prisoner release negotiation between 1998 and 2016, apart from the Shalit deal. He observed that the release of Palestinian prisoners has been a recurring event, with 41 separate instances documented since 1998. These releases stemmed from a variety of circumstances, including the Oslo Accords, exchanges for hostages or bodies, or as goodwill gestures from Israel, often timed around events like Ramadan.

In some scenarios, the individuals to be released were explicitly requested by the Palestinians, while in others, Israel had greater latitude to decide whom to include.

“There is a committee that sits in the Justice Ministry that goes through the different options, names, and cases; and then comes up with a list which is presented to the cabinet,” Hirsch explains. “In many cases, the offers made during the negotiations were totally disconnected from the ability of Israel to meet those criteria.”

Hirsch emphasizes that no moral equivalence exists between individuals convicted of terrorist crimes and innocent civilians. This principle is central to the committee’s deliberations. The committee, chaired by the Justice Ministry’s director-general and including representatives from all pertinent security agencies, meticulously reviews and selects individuals for potential release. Each candidate’s case is scrutinized according to government guidelines, with consideration given to factors such as their potential impact on ongoing judicial matters and whether they have been previously released.

“We’ve seen releasing terrorists for hostages become part of the Israeli psyche. It’s a cycle that feeds itself, if we keep releasing terrorists in exchange for hostages they will keep taking hostages. Because there is a reward for their actions. And if we never change our approach to the situation, we’re really feeding into and feeding the flames of desire to kidnap more people. Because it brings about good results for the terrorists.”

Hirsch outlines how Hamas deliberately employs the tactic of equating the release of convicted prisoners with the liberation of hostages as a strategic maneuver.

“I don’t believe we’ve been able to understand what the ramifications of these deals are. All these major deals have caused wide-scale destruction and murder. The Shalit deal led to the October 7 massacre. Already by November 2012, Yahya Sinwar was meeting with Qassem Solemanei in Tehran and planning October 7.”

He concludes by advocating for alternative strategies and leverage points that Israel could employ to secure the release of hostages. According to Hirsch, persisting with the same methods will inevitably yield the same results, and a new approach is urgently needed.

{Matzav.com}