Israelis have a justified reputation as being a blunt and opinionated people, but Dan Schueftan, a political scientist who advised multiple prime ministers, may possess these qualities in a greater dose than most. He is also a shrewd and knowledgeable analyst, and the combination makes this discussion with Pamela Paresky both entertaining and enlightening. There is no solution, Schueftan contends, to Israel’s conflict with its neighbors. But the Jewish state has the ability to improve its situation, above all by fighting its enemies with vigor and fearlessness. Schueftan is no Machiavellian, however; concerns about freedom and morality go alongside his belief in hard power.

Schueftan says some controversial, even outrageous things in the wide-ranging conversation, and I certainly don’t agree with all of it. (How, for instance, does he square his commitment to unilateral Israeli territorial concessions with his belief that Palestinians will try to slaughter Jews no matter what the circumstances?) But I learned a lot from listening, and I hope you will too. (Video, 61 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.