In the 2014 Gaza war, Hamas fired some 3,500 rockets into Israel over the course of 50 days. By contrast, Iran’s proxy army Hizballah, which now has troops and bases in both Lebanon and Syria, has the capability to launch two-to-three thousand rockets at Israel per day, some of which could reach Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and points farther south. Tehran can also offer support to Hizballah by deploying its own troops based in Syria, the Shiite militias under its command, and a fleet of drones that it appears to be building up. While the IDF has attacked Tehran’s assets in Syria repeatedly over the past few years, its commanders and strategists believe that a war on Israel’s north is almost inevitable. Jonathan Schanzer discusses the situation with Jonathan Silver. (Audio, 18 minutes.)

Robert Satloff has some harsh words for the U.S. government in this regard, words I take especially seriously because Satloff is someone inclined to political moderation. Why, he asks, have American diplomats failed to achieve anything in their endless rounds of talks in Doha and Cairo? Because

there is simply not enough pressure on Hamas to change course, accept a deal, and release the remaining October 7 hostages, stuck in nightmarish captivity. . . . In this environment, why should Hamas change course?

Publicly, the U.S. should bite the bullet and urge Israel to complete the main battle operations in Gaza—i.e., the Rafah operation—as swiftly and efficiently as possible. We should be assertively assisting with the humanitarian side of this.

Satloff had more to say about the hostages, especially the five American ones, in a speech he gave recently:

I am ashamed—ashamed of how we have allowed the story of the hostages to get lost in the noise of the war that followed their capture; ashamed of how we have permitted their release to be a bargaining chip in some larger political negotiation; ashamed of how we have failed to give them the respect and dignity and our wholehearted demand for Red Cross access and care and medicine that is our normal, usual demand for hostages.

If they were taken by Boko Haram, everyone would know their name. If they were taken by the Taliban, everyone would tie a yellow ribbon around a tree for them. If they were taken by Islamic State, kids would learn about them in school.

It is repugnant to see their freedom as just one item on the bargaining table with Hamas, as though they were chattel. These are Americans—and they deserve to be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.