At What Point Does Our Government Tell Terrorists: "Enough"

It's now 450 days since Jews were taken captive ... and 96 Jews remain in captivity as the world looks the other way

Hostages.

There are still 96 Israelis being held captive in Gaza.

Men, and women, and children - snatched from their homes by terrorists 450 days ago.

I’m trying to imagine the absolute outrage I would feel if one of my family members was taken hostage, let alone still being held hostage 14 months later - as the world dithers.

If it was my mother, or my sister, still captive in Gaza - while world leaders opined on which particular rescue efforts they felt most comfortable with - well, I cannot imagine the fury I would feel.

And all of this as the world prepares to wish each other a Happy New Year.

Imagine Hamas terrorists holding your loved ones hostage while Western politicians, including here in Australia - tut-tutted the rescuers for being too - vigorous - in their efforts to free them.

A report to be submitted to the United Nations this week says the hostages, so far released, had been subjected to physical and sexual abuse during their captivity. That includes the children.

The report from the Israeli Health Ministry, based on testimonies from released hostages, details incidents of Jews being burned, beaten, sexually assaulted at gunpoint, and deliberately starved by their Hamas captors.

Jewish women described being tied to beds while their captors stared at them.

Jewish teenagers reported being forced to perform sexual acts on each other at threat of being shot by their tormenters.

The latest report from the health ministry also said that male captives …

“ … endured severe physical abuse, including continuous starvation, beatings, burns with galvanised iron … and being denied access to the bathroom, which forced them to defecate on themselves”.

And in all likelihood, that’s only half the story. Many of the released hostages are too afraid to speak about what transpired, for fear it will only provoke worse for those still captive.

It beggars belief that our own foreign minister - who now seems completely foreign - speaks far more about how the Israeli Defence Force has offended her sensibilities, than about what Hamas has done - and continues to do - to innocents.

It boggles my mind that our own Prime Minister seems far more interested in shoring up Muslim votes than he does standing for basic freedoms.

Airbus Albo hasn’t even visited Israel.

Penny Wong visited Israel, but wasn’t bothered to travel 45 minutes from the comforts of her hotel in Jerusalem to the site of the Hamas attacks.

Virtually none of our government ministers have taken up the opportunity to view footage of what actually went down on October 7.

Talk about a collective case of looking the other way.

I was thinking about all of this when I read in horror - as many of you would have last week - about a woman set on fire in the New York subway.

More horrific than the crime, was the response - or should I say, the lack thereof.

A woman, asleep on the train, was set on fire by a madman. And fellow passengers stood idly while she burned.

A New York cop was seen to nonchalantly walk past the burning woman, even as flames engulfed her.

But here’s the crazy part. At one point the murderous madman was actually standing there, fanning the flames as everybody else watched on.

It wasn’t just that people watched her burn. People stood back as the madman made sure she burned.

Every decent person was left asking: How could this be?

How could the world be so heartless, so cruel, so unmoved, so blasé in the face of evil, so unwilling to help a fellow human being?

Well, times that horrific event by a factor of 96.

As I said, there are right now 96 of our fellow human beings held captive by madmen in Gaza - as the world watches on. As the United Nations, about as helpful as that disinterested New York cop, nonchalantly strolls on by.

Or what about this? Our government has plenty of pity for convicted heroin smugglers.

Twenty years in prison was long enough for the Bali Nine, our government said.

It begs the question, how long is long enough for innocent Jews to be held hostage by terrorists?

At what point does our government say ‘enough’.

After four hundred and fifty ONE days? Is that when Albanese and Wong finally take a stand?

Perhaps after the election?

Did any of us imagine we’d still be talking about the need to free the Jews 450 days after they were taken hostage?

I suspect the government would like us to just stop talking about them.

But if we did, we’d be no better than those who watched that poor woman burn on the subway, before getting on with their shopping.

You and I are better than that, surely. I just wish our government was.