Inheritance Podcast

An Oral History: Mid-Phase Reflection

I am grateful to finally present the long-delayed, final installment of the oral history of the hostage deal that was incepted to capture the emotions that erupted upon the announcement of the deal in January 2025 and has continued to flow forth throughout its duration. Times of intense emotion are not unusual; indeed, they seem to be the norm lately. What made this intensity different was its febrile complexity. Each joyous step faltered with apprehension. Rage and betrayal paired off with catharsis and defiance. At center stage, hope and despair danced a pas de deux amidst a cacophony of nearly every other emotion a person can feel. Such a dance is ephemeral. It resists the reductive narratives that history imposes with the confidence of retrospection. It is this delicate mélange that I have endeavored to preserve over the course of three installments: in anticipation of the first hostage release, immediately after that release, and this final one, at the midpoint of the hostage deal. The interviews for this final installment were conducted between February 4th and March 16th, 2025 or from just over two weeks after the first hostage release of this deal to just over two weeks following the last release. All interviewees witnessed the release of live hostages, some the dead, and none, advancement to the second phase of the deal which was intended to see the return of the remaining 59 hostages and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Each interview was conducted one-on-one, that is, none of the contributors directly interacted with any of the others for this project. What you will hear, however, is something approximating a conversation between all of the participants. The effect, I’ve come to believe, is something of a macrocosmic synecdoche, which is to say that the conversation affected by the seventeen contributors goes some way towards capturing the range and conflict of emotions felt and thoughts entertained by each individual. I am extraordinarily grateful to each of the people who contributed to this project. Dalia and Oren report from Tel Aviv, Jennifer from Jerusalem, Darren from Salem, Massachusetts, and Andrew from Britain. Dalia made aliyah, or a return to Israel, following a life and education in the U.S. Amongst other things, she helps to run Step Forward (which you can find on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/groups/1297376727567647/?ref=share&mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=4gLmBdItXzjLPMry&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2Fg%2F1JZ8dKGEN7%2F%3Fmibextid%3DwwXIfr%26wtsid%3Drdr_09qxb8JNAzsvjRvDn%26_rdr] and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/step_forwardil?igsh=MWJvdGptbzR4Y3VzZQ%3D%3D]), a charity founded after October 7th to respond to the need of IDF soldiers for sports equipment. Jennifer grew up and worked in California before eventually moving to Israel. She had committed much of her life to non-profits, and now works at the Weizmann Institute of Science and volunteers to support families affected by the deployment of a service member. Darren, in his own words, is “not Jewish. I’m not Israeli. I’m just a guy who sees this situation since 10.7 as the most stark example of good and evil that you can get in an international conflict.” He has committed much of his time in the two years since to educating himself about the history of the region and the conflict, drawing upon an impressive variety of sources. Oren Kessler, has worked as an editor for Haaretz, correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, deputy director for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and other roles that concern Israel and the Middle East for around 20 years. His book, Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict [https://www.orenkessler.com], is as definitive a history of a formative period for Zionist and Palestinian national identity amidst the period of British colonization. He also writes on his Substack Subterranea [https://orenkessler.substack.com], which I strongly recommend. Andrew Fox [https://mrandrewfox.substack.com] has worked as a senior lecturer in war studies and behavioral sciences at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served three tours in Afghanistan as a paratrooper in the British Army. He is currently a senior associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and one of the leading military analysts and commentators on the current Israel-Gaza conflict. His writing and regular podcasts can be found on Substack [https://mrandrewfox.substack.com] where he offers a rare depth of timely analysis which I likewise strongly recommend. An emerging narrative This installment is a little different from the previous two. Some of the shock of the releases has worn off and the contributors have had more time to reflect. One of the consequences of this is that the conversation goes rather further afield, straying into the many potential consequences of this deal, how Israel is changing, and where Jews fit into a post-10.7 world. It also seems likely that the narrative that will come to define this period is beginning to coalesce; which images made the deepest impact and the most dominant concerns appear to be emerging. Amongst these images is that of former hostage, Emily Damari, triumphantly raising her mutilated hand upon returning from nearly 500 days of captivity. The astounding resilience of so many of the hostages redounds to the Israeli character and bolsters hope that the hostages may eventually recover from their ordeal. While the physical health of the first hostages released was not immediately imperiled, the release of Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Ami revealed them as skeletal versions of their former selves, an unnecessary reminder of the deprivation the hostages endured for so long. More evil still were the images from the release of Shiri Bibas and her two very young children, along with Oded Lifshitz. The ghoulishness and supreme evil of the “release ceremony” of these four people locked in caskets and displayed as public entertainment is perhaps the perfect encapsulation of the forces aligned towards the eradication of Israel. Some issues discussed in this third installment are the same as those raised in the previous two, and indeed have persisted in some form or another since the founding of Israel. How can Israel ensure its own safety? How can one have peace with neighbors committed to your eradication? Another recurring theme, the isolation of Israel and Jews, was expounded upon in this installment. Jennifer, having moved to Israel from Berkeley, a place that serves as a stand-in for progressive do-goodery, and worked most of her life in non-profits trying to help other people in the world, reflected on the sense of betrayal that came from watching her friends and colleagues turn against her and her community following October 7th. While there is an impulse to turn away from the world as the world turns away from Israel, civic society has grown much stronger. Formally or informally, many people work to support the soldiers, hostages, survivors, and their families. Although Israel is in some ways much stronger now, deep fractures remain, especially within the political sphere. Two missing words Were I to attempt a distillation of this two-hour installment, I believe I could do it in two words, if only they existed. Several times throughout my interview with him, Oren Kessler commented that a new word is needed to describe the strange commingling of happiness and sadness that runs through so much of this period. “How can you not celebrate leaving the darkness and coming into the light, quite literally…But at the same time, how do you celebrate Yair Horn returning to freedom without being just gutted by the fact that his brother Eitan is still there?” This strange commingling is manifest on seemingly every bench and light post and in every bar and café in Israel. Amidst all the hustle and bustle of normal life, reminders of the hostages are absolutely everywhere. As Dalia puts it: “in some weird way life goes on, but it’s centered around this.” If Oren’s missing word concerns two competing emotions, mine would describe but one of them: the feeling imbued in reunified people after a long and awful separation. Whether it is the reunion of a family torn asunder or of strangers who you’ve never met but have come to regard as your own family or of the reinvigorated sense of Jewish peoplehood since October 7th, there is an intensity to this feeling that no English word I am aware of manages to capture. Part of it is catharsis, the great, unburdening of grief and worry, as if a dam had burst, allowing life to flow freely through one’s veins again. Part of it is a sense that a great cosmic injustice has begun to be rectified. Part of it is feeling whole again and in the same moment, learning how extensively you had been broken by the absence of another. Something of a conclusion An unexpected and delightful consequence of the delay in publication of this installment is that this chapter finally has something of a conclusion. While the deal never progressed to Phase 2, another deal was signed last autumn. On October 13th, 2025 the final living hostages returned to Israel, and on January 27th, 2026, the body of the last dead hostage, Master Sergeant Ran Gvili, was located and returned. For the first time since 2014, no Israelis are being held captive in Gaza. Upon Gvili’s recovery, dozens of soldiers gathered around his body and sang Ani Ma’amin. Its lyrics are derived from a 12th century declaration of faith that redemption will accompany the coming of the Messiah. This declaration was given its melody in a Nazi cattle car bound for Treblinka. As of publication, the Messiah has not yet returned, but the return of all of the hostages to their home does make redemption feel rather closer. All of the murdered have been buried by their families. All those who returned alive can finally begin the process of healing, knowing that none of their compatriots are still suffering as they had. This chapter is but the latest in a long and ancient story of Jewish peoplehood. My hope is that this one will serve a similar purpose as those earlier chapters: to strengthen the ties that bind a diverse and complicated people together. The power of these stories is evident in the well-being of those who remember them. As Darren put it: “I feel envious of the Jews of the country who know where they’re going to be on Friday night. I only know where all my people are going to be on Super Bowl Sunday…they can come together as a country, never mind being there for their neighbor. And that’s a beautiful thing. I’m envious of them in that regard.” Additional Resources This is the third installment of the oral history of the first 2025 hostage deal. The first two installments can be found below. Dalia has recommended the Panim Project [https://www.panimproject.com], by Elyte, a portrait photographer who has worked to document the faces and testimonials of some of those impacted by October 7th. When Eli Sharabi first emerged from 491 days in captivity, he appeared a skeletal version of his former self. In the brief time since his release, he has written “Hostage [https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/hostage]”, an account of his experience. Many of the other former hostages have written about their experience or given interviews, all of which are worth exploring. Inheritance would like to honor Captain Tomer Shoham [https://www.timesofisrael.com/cpt-tomer-shoham-23-platoon-commander-who-was-moral-and-ethical/], the cousin of one of this installment’s contributors, Oren Kessler. Captain Shoham was an infantry platoon commander and was killed fighting Hamas near Kerem Shalom on October 7th. May his memory be a blessing. Thanks for reading Inheritance of a Thousand Generations! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit inheritanceofathousand.substack.com [https://inheritanceofathousand.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Digital Replicants: The Voice Clone Scam

Papa, I’m in trouble. I was in a car accident. I’m in trouble: I hit a pregnant woman and am in the hospital. Help me, I don’t know what’s going to happen. You need to help me! Late in the evening of April 16th, a 73 year old man, Alexander, picked up his phone to hear the voice of his daughter, Alisa sobbing, panicking. Alisa had been staying with him and his wife for five months but had just left to return home in America the day before. She was in deep trouble. She was in a car accident and had hit a pregnant woman. She was in the hospital and needed surgeries. Many surgeries. She was going to be reported to the Russian Federation. She needed his help. She needed his money. Alexander is a Soviet emigre to Israel and, having a deep-seated distrust of banks, never stored his money with them. He and his wife, Marina, had $50,000 in dollars and shekels stored in the house. Within four hours of receiving that call, he had handed it all over to a stranger in a cab. In this special episode of Inheritance, we learn what happened and explore how the scam worked. This podcast is of a significantly higher production value than usual in order to bring you into Alisa’s world, and better communicate how effective voice clones can be. I’m very proud of how it turned out and hope that it will be as entertaining as it is informational. This episode is also an appeal. Alisa is a dear friend of mine and a genuinely kind person. She always takes it on herself to bring others into the fold, to build community, to make people feel welcome. Despite her best efforts, she always puts others’ needs before her own. She is also not the sort of person to ask for help. So, when she confided in me what had happened, I immediately donated and volunteered to produce this episode in an effort to raise awareness as well as funds to help offset her parents’ loss. If you enjoy this episode, please consider donating a few dollars (or many) to her GoFundMe. Whether you contribute or not, please, have a conversation with your family about this scam and take measures to protect yourself. [https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA241203?ref=applespbevent.ru] Her GoFundMe can be found at this link. https://gofund.me/36482e79 [https://gofund.me/36482e79] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit inheritanceofathousand.substack.com [https://inheritanceofathousand.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

The Third Way: building outside the two-party system

If you were reading left-leaning media in the lead-up to the 2024 election, you almost certainly came across pundits expressing concern that the election of Trump would bring about the dark night of fascism to America, that this would be the final election, and that Trump would rule as a dictator. Nearly all of this criticism focused on Trump as a uniquely malicious individual and neglected to explore the underlying issue: that Trump, or any other president, can only rule as a dictator to the extent that the Executive Branch is allowed by Congress and the Supreme Court. This extent does, however, seem to grow with every administration. The vast administrative state, of which the president is the Chief Executive, comprises of somewhere around 440 agencies [https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies], each regulating and advising upon seemingly every aspect of our lives and businesses. Concerning judicial precedent has been set to criminally prosecute former presidents and giving the Executive Branch wide latitude to interpret the law that underlies its regulatory power. No wonder that each election cycle assumes the stance of a fight over a loaded gun. The power of the State is so great and can be so freely exercised to torment ones opponents that the taste for vengeance coupled with fear of retribution seems to have led to a sort of political arms race. Once in power, they seek to use whatever means are available to advance their agenda, even if reversal by the courts [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/04/bidens-novel-evictions-defense-maybe-its-illegal-its-worth-it/] or a future administration is all but guaranteed. Once in power, parties attempt to set up structural advantages to stay in power in the hopes that the power they are leveraging against their opponents will not later be used against them. This short-sighted power struggle is fueled by an apocalyptic vision of the other party: anti-democratic means are seen to be justified if it is in the service of preserving democracy, a construction that I find wholly unconvincing. Neither party has made a compelling case that they will be responsible stewards of his great nation. So perhaps, rather than putting all of our eggs in one basket and hoping that one party will win control of the loaded gun, we should work to unload that gun and roll back the influence that the federal governments have in our life. This so-called “third way”, neither Left nor Right, but towards political disarmament and reconciliation, involves advocating for the resuscitation of the system of checks and balances in our constitutional structure. The Supreme Court has gone some way towards reigning in the Executive recently, notably by overturning Chevron deference and blocking the blatantly unconstitutional eviction moratorium and student loan transference orders. Congress can and must reassert itself as well. In the federal sphere, we can advocate for deregulation, closing or limiting the jurisdiction of federal agencies, and delegating more of the work of governance to our state and local authorities. These will all limit our vulnerability to an objectionable Chief Executive and increase accountability between the citizenry and our elected officials. The federal government is no deus ex machina, it will not solve all of our problems, especially those which are at root, cultural problems. The simple fact is that there are no shortcuts to a better, healthier society. Our society is the sum total of all of the individuals that comprise it and no amount of regulation, coercion, or judicial force will change that fact. We must hold our officials accountable by first holding ourselves accountable. As John [https://inleftblank.substack.com/?utm_source=global-search]and I discuss in this conversation, we can start by learning how to have healthier conversations with people with whom we have significant disagreements. Few people hold the extreme beliefs that the opportunistic media highlights and holds out to have broad popular support amongst “the other side.” Most policy issues are more nuanced than we are led to believe and a respectful conversation will often reveal better motivations than one might have guessed from the conclusion they reach. John’s recommendation is to invite someone you have disagreements with over to your house and make them dinner. Talk, but importantly, start by talking about anything but politics. The antidote to dehumanization is humanization. Finding commonality and rapport before diving into the tricky conversations will go a long way. Thanks for reading Inheritance of a Thousand Generations! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Corrections * The Springfield Ohio immigration narrative is a bit more complicated than we covered in the podcast. See “Resources” for more context. * It was estimated that 4-5 of the 20 points in the 2024 Republican platform were related to immigration. Only 3 are directly related to immigration. Resources * Two papers on social mobility in America * Stanford [https://inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/SOTU_2015_economic-mobility.pdf] * Cato [https://www.cato.org/commentary/upward-mobility-alive-well-america] * More context on immigration in Springfield, Ohio * Reuters [https://www.reuters.com/world/us/haitian-immigrants-fueled-springfields-growth-now-us-presidential-debate-2024-09-11/] * Chevron deference * Loper Bright v Raimondo [https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-451_7m58.pdf] * Presidential immunity * Trump v United States [https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit inheritanceofathousand.substack.com [https://inheritanceofathousand.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Disaffection and the Political Realignment

NB: This interview was recorded on January 4th with the expectation that it would be released in the first week of February. The release was delayed due to my taking on the “Oral History of the Hostage Deal” project. Accordingly, some references will be out of date. Confronting polarization with our shared history When I began working on Inheritance, it was in large part because the politics of the day had become altogether too fraught, too anxiety inducing, too unproductive, bitter, and angry to think that it was worth engaging with. So instead, I turned to the past. I looked to history for solace. I tried to tap in to this long conversation that has been happening for thousands of years. And in it, I connected with “the universal human spirit”, the essence of humanity that exists independent of geography, independent of time. And also, I saw that the problems that we face today are not so unique to our own time. They're just a natural part of our attempt to reconcile ourselves with an imperfect world. While I still feel that an exploration of history is the more pleasant and fruitful affair, it's not something that is meant to be done in isolation, as if we were monks cloistered away. Rather, it is this larger, more distant perspective of our endeavors that I think makes it easier to more productively engage with the politics of the moment. I am able to approach our politics with less a degree of urgency than perhaps people who live their lives inculcated in it. I think that all of us, as we are now, just a few weeks into a new presidential administration, would benefit from lowering the temperature. Yes. This is a polarized country. These are fraught times. We have many contentious issues to engage with, so much so that it is easy to forget that it wasn't so long ago that both major parties largely agreed on the major issues of the time. If you read through the 2000 party platforms of both the Democrats and the Republicans, you'll find a striking degree of similarity. Both parties opened their platform, trying to take credit for the balancing of the budget and the reduction of the size of the federal government. It’s quite a thing when people are trying to take credit for the same thing, rather than blame each other for it. Both parties were promising to cut taxes further to bolster Social Security, to invest in American education, but also to hold teachers accountable.They were both interested in what we would, I think, now consider to be traditional values of honesty, hard work, openness to new information, strong discipline, willingness to reason, personal responsibility and tolerance for different points of views. The Democrats, as well as the Republicans, were interested in the expansion of charter schools. And notably, both parties were staunch advocates of globalization and free trade, and they embraced a tougher line on crime. The parties were so similar that at times it seemed a challenge to differentiate between the two candidates. Declining faith in political institutions Today is, of course, rather different. Many Americans are feeling disaffected with politics and have very little confidence in our democratic institutions ability to move the country in the right direction. This is manifesting itself in a number of ways. Around 2000 Gallup polls show that roughly one third of the country identified itself as Republican, another third as Democrat, and the other third as independent. Today, neither major party caps 30%, and a clear plurality of the country does not identify with either major party. This tracks with presidential approval numbers. President Trump, a deeply polarizing figure, was less popular than every other modern president. And yet, President Biden managed to be somehow even less popular than Donald Trump, according to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight. Joe Biden is an incredible 20 points underwater, with a mere 37.3% of Americans approving of his job performance as of January 2nd, 2025. This is an even smaller share of the country than Trump, just days after the events of January 6th, which resulted in a significant drop off in popularity for him. It's not just our presidents that Americans are unhappy with. According to the most recent Gallup poll numbers that I have, a mere 17% of Americans approve of the way Congress is handling its job. Since around 2010, that number has hovered around 20%. The Supreme Court does a fair bit better, but is still underwater, with only 44% approving and 51% disapproving. Why are Americans so disaffected with politics? Obviously, this is a big question with many and complicated answers, but I think part of that answer can be found in how the parties have changed over these past 25 years. If one were to sleepwalk through the first quarter of this century and start paying attention today, regardless of your political affiliation, I doubt you would really recognize the party that you had previously supported. Both parties have grown more authoritarian, more willing to use the state to punish its opponents, and to, subvert democratic processes to advance its own agenda. Both parties have soured on free trade and globalism, turning inwards. The Republican Party, which had for most of the 20th century supported immigration, is now defined in large part by its anti-immigration policies. Likewise, the Democratic Party has embraced such an acrid form of intolerant identitarianism that it is turning off lifelong Democrats. There are few planks in the party platforms of 2000 that either party in 2025 would now support. So of course people are feeling disaffected. The parties have left them. It seems to me that neither party seems to be particularly interested in doing the hard, serious work of politics and tending to the needs of their constituents. But that doesn't mean that we can't do that for ourselves. We have to fix it ourselves One thing we can consider as we try to de-escalate our politics, as we try to combat polarization, is we can take a longer view of history and realize that there are people who may have wound up on the other side of the political aisle who might now share a common cause with us. If we are to do the hard, slow work of repairing divisions in this country, we have to learn how to communicate better. Yes, this is trite. This is unimaginative. This is no novel observation. But it is true. If you flip open the paper or switch on TV, it might feel as if this country is preparing to go to civil war. I don't believe that we are. But I do believe that we have work trying to better understand each other and I think something that we can do to that effect is to reflect upon our country's politics and the ways that it has transformed over the past 25 years, and to consider ways that we can still constructively engage, even if we no longer have faith in the federal government's ability to faithfully execute its duties, John McWaters, who writes “Intentionally Left Blank [https://inleftblank.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile]” was kind enough to join Inheritance for this conversation. His knowledge of Republican Party politics and political ideology is a valuable contribution to this endeavor. Our conversation ran a bit long, so will be released in two parts. The second of which should be released next week. Thanks for reading Inheritance of a Thousand Generations! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Corrections * It was 537 ballots that separated Bush and Gore in Florida, not 538. * The last year the federal government passed 100% of its required appropriations on time was 1997. [https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/congress-has-long-struggled-to-pass-spending-bills-on-time/] * The last year the federal budget was in surplus is 2001 * Please let us know if you spot any other factual inaccuracies! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit inheritanceofathousand.substack.com [https://inheritanceofathousand.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Oren Kessler on the resilience of the hostages and the impact of the hostage deal on Israel

Today marks one month since the beginning of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that has so far seen the return of 24 hostages. This month has been a heart-wrenching experience filled simultaneously with joy and sorrow, horror and hope. The returned hostages have shown unimaginable resilience and the nation of Israel has drawn more united around a common cause. Meanwhile, the path towards a lasting peace seems all the more distant. Inheritance is joined by Oren Kessler to reflect on the deal so far. Mr. Kessler joined Inheritance as part of the “Oral History of the Hostage Deal [https://inheritanceofathousand.substack.com/p/an-oral-history-anticipating-the]” series, but we are releasing his interview in full today because we discussed a looming event that would begin to happen in the weeks ahead: that Israel would begin to receive dead hostages. However, just hours after we spoke on Monday, the news broke that four or five hostages would be returned dead this Thursday, February 20th. Reporting in the few hours prior to this post’s publication suggests that these will include the bodies of Siri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas. Kessler’s thoughts on the impact this will have on the nation of Israel is more timely than we had realized. Mr. Kessler is an author and journalist based in Tel Aviv and New York. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and was previously deputy director for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies [https://www.fdd.org/topic/oren-kessler/], a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society in London, Arab affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, and an editor and translator at Haaretz English edition. He is also author of Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict [https://www.orenkessler.com], which examines an under-covered portion of the region’s history: British Mandate Palestine in the years of the Great Revolt, leading up to the foundation of the modern state of Israel. It is an unflinching look at the messiness of the conflict, the grievances incurred by all parties, the individuals who sowed the seeds of Israeli and Palestinian national identities, as well as future discord. It is both well-researched and eminently readable. Palestine 1936 is one of the books that I read in the aftermath of October 7th in an attempt to better understand the region’s history. Mr. Kessler and I spoke on February 17th. Below is a summary of our conversation. The most memorable images from this deal The images from the past two hostage releases have been particularly haunting. Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi, and Yair Horn emerged from Gaza gaunt, thin, and emaciated. They bring to mind images of concentration camp survivors. When they return to Israel, time started again for them. They learned what happened on October 7th and the events since. For some, they learn about the deaths of loved ones. Only when he returned to Israel did Or Levy learn that his wife had been killed on October 7th. One particular image that has stayed with Kessler is of Levy embracing his wife’s sister, apparently apologizing for not keeping her safe. This past month has “[felt] like we’re in this very grim and sadistic reality show.” Only hours or days before the event, do we learn the names of who will be released. The nation of Israel watches as the hostages are paraded out onto a ghastly stage and forced to record propaganda, and only here do we learn who has survived and get a sense of what they have endured. Despite these horrors, the hostages have shown immense resilience. Less than a week after his release, Or Levy visited hostage square [https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/hope-dies-last-or-levy-visits-hostages-square-days-after-release-from-hamas-captivity/], against the advice of doctors. Ohad Ben Ami has returned to active life: recording interviews and talking about the importance of bringing back all of the hostages. The hostages’ resilience The resilience of these hostages is positively striking, and Kessler frequently wonders how it is possible. It is not only the hostages who have been remarkably resilient; even after the horrors of October 7th and the subsequent 16 months of war and hostage crisis, Israel remains one of the happiest nations in the world [https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world]. He suspects that Israel can credit close family ties, a feeling that they’re all in it together, and a sense of national cause can all be credited for Israel’s, and the hostages’, resilience. Although shortly before October 7th, Israel had been more polarized than perhaps at any point in its history over the issue of judicial reform, national tragedy has brought out a sense of cohesiveness that plenty of modern societies are lacking. A common refrain that you’ll hear from hostages who had some access to the media is “what kept me going was seeing people turn out in support of us.” But this makes the resilience of hostages who had a total media blackout all the more surprising. “How do you mark time for sixteen months in the captivity of terrorists and sadists and rapists and murderers if you don’t know that people are still fighting for you?” When caskets are returned The IDF estimates that eight hostages will be returned dead as part of the Phase 1 deal. With only weeks left in Phase 1, Israel will soon receive caskets. Watching living hostages return has been hard enough, so what will it do to Israel to release living terrorists in exchange for the bodies of the murdered? Every day, Israel is faced with unprecedented realities. Last September, the IDF recovered the bodies of six hostages [https://www.timesofisrael.com/bodies-of-6-hostages-murdered-by-hamas-just-days-earlier-found-in-rafah-idf/] who had been executed in captivity. Just weeks ago, Israel learned that Shlomo Mansour [https://www.timesofisrael.com/hostage-shlomo-mansour-was-slain-on-oct-7-his-body-taken-captive-to-gaza-says-idf/], an 86 year old man, had been murdered in captivity, or possibly on October 7th. There have been so many horrors that new ones can feel like simply the news of the day. As tragic as it is, “we’re going to have to grow accustomed to the image of caskets. It’s a question of when and not if.” There’s a parallel to this deluge of horror and to the macabre displays that Hamas is orchestrating. During the second Lebanon war, Hezbollah attacked an Israeli convoy traveling in Israel along the border. Two soldiers were abducted [https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/18441/] into Lebanon and their fates were withheld from Israel for two years, until the day of they were returned as part of a deal. As Kessler recalls, this release had the same sort of sick reality show feeling. The Hezbollah representatives arrived with their van and announced “now their fate will be revealed.” The truck was opened. Inside were the bodies of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. This sadistic practice of toying with the families of the deceased is common practice amongst Israel’s enemies. Just weeks ago, Eli Sharabi was forced to participate in a Hamas release ceremony where they goaded him into talking about how much he was looking forward to seeing his family again. Meanwhile, Hamas knew full well that they had already murdered his wife and daughters. Kessler believes that Israel will be shocked by it at first, but eventually, will grow familiar with this idea: another week, more caskets. A path towards reconciliation While it is imperative to get as many hostages back as possible, and Kessler wants to see Phase 2 of the deal go as far as it can to that end, he is not particularly optimistic this will happen. The price extracted by Hamas for the remaining hostages will be exceedingly high and will provide Hamas the image of victory. Images of a victorious Hamas is not something Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to be able to tolerate. It is also not likely that Netanyahu’s government would be able to survive a Phase 2. Bezalel Smotrich and others on the far-right have threatened to leave the government [https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-far-right-finance-minister-withdraws-threat-quit-coalition-over-2025-01-27/] should Israel not return to routing Hamas from Gaza. “Does anyone think [Netanyahu] will risk his coalition for the sake of a few more hostages?” That said, both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff [https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-envoy-says-there-will-absolutely-be-stage-2-of-ceasefire-as-talks-continue/], who serves as U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, have indicated that they are committed to going ahead with the deal. With regards to long-term reconciliation, Kessler is even less optimistic. For the longest time, the assumption was that peace with Palestine would be the first domino to fall: a necessary precondition for peace with the rest of Israel’s neighbors. However, the Abraham Accords [https://www.state.gov/the-abraham-accords] showed that assumption was wrong: Israel was able to work towards normalization with Bahrain, the UAE, and Morocco. Now, Kessler believes that peace with Palestine will be the last domino to fall, as it is the thorniest, most irreconcilable conflict. That said, we are in an era of the unknown. The Abraham Accords struck him like a bolt out of the blue. Donald Trump’s recent “Mar-a-Gaza [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g9xgj2429o]” proposal is something that absolutely no one saw coming. Perhaps an enduring solution will emerge unexpectedly. Israel since the ceasefire deal Mr. Kessler describes a surreal nation. Today, the bars and cafés are full. “On the face of it, life goes on as it always has…but when you go to the bars, when you go to the cafes, there are posters of the hostages everywhere.” Even if you want to forget about the hostages for a moment, it is impossible to do so. There are reminders everywhere. People on the streets are happy and enjoying life, but there’s something different now. There’s this strange commingling of happiness and sadness, particularly on days that hostages are released. How can you not celebrate people leaving the darkness and coming out into the light? How do you celebrate Yair Horn returning to freedom without being gutted that his brother Eitan is still there? You have to give equal weight to both. Reliving October 7th Prior to this deal, the last hostages to be released from Hamas captivity were brought home in November 2023. In those interminable months since, four hostages were rescued by the IDF and the bodies of a few murdered hostages were recovered, but very little progress was made in bringing the hostages home. There was an odd sort of stasis that emerged. Since this deal began, however, a flurry of raw emotion has reasserted itself. In some ways, it is like reliving October 7th. For the hostages, time froze. They are coming out of Gaza to learn the true scale of what happened on October 7th. Some are learning that their own loved ones had been murdered or are still in captivity in Gaza. Some hostages had thought they were the only one taken that day and are learning that they were just one of 250. Family you’ve never met Israel is home to fewer than 10 million people. Almost everybody in Israel was affected by October 7th and the subsequent war in some way. Indeed, Kessler’s own cousin, Tomer Shoham [https://www.timesofisrael.com/cpt-tomer-shoham-23-platoon-commander-who-was-moral-and-ethical/], was a commander of an elite unit and was killed on October 7th. As hostages return to their homes in Israel, they also return to the shared plight that seems to have gripped everyone in the nation. As an outsider, it has struck me to see how consistently and how deeply Israelis and Jews in diaspora care about the hostages. It is a care that is all-consuming at times and that manifests every day. It is unifying to share this care with others, while somewhat isolating from those who have already forgotten them. It is a strange feeling to care so deeply about people that you’ve never met, but whose faces have become so familiar and whose stories you have come to know so well. It feels as if their fate directly impacts your own. A common refrain from the hostages who have returned is that they can not begin to find closure until all of the hostages have returned. It was a failing of the entire country on October 7th. Despite the exceptional heroism shown by soldiers, police, and ordinary civilians that day, the institutions failed and 1,200 people were murdered. Kessler identifies a lingering feeling that the country, the government, and the army owe these hostages and bereaved families a debt that has not been repaid in these past 500 days. For them, time continues to standing still in this way. Thanks for reading Inheritance of a Thousand Generations! 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