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America’s envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, delivered a simple, uncompromising message to the thugs in Gaza: release the hostages and the fighting ends. Boehler made it clear that the fate of this war is in the hands of Hamas, and that nothing moves forward until Americans and other captives are freed — a plain calculus of justice and common sense.
Boehler didn’t just talk about principles; he went to the region and sat down with intermediaries tied to Hamas in pursuit of getting Americans home, drawing heat from some in Jerusalem who prefer posturing to results. The criticism from Israeli officials is predictable politics, but make no mistake — when an American is a hostage, political squabbles must be set aside in favor of direct action to save lives.
The Trump administration has put a concrete Gaza peace plan on the table that conditions a cessation of hostilities on the release of hostages and specific security arrangements, a tough but pragmatic framework designed to end bloodshed quickly. Israel has signaled willingness to work with the plan, yet Hamas remains the obstinate actor refusing to seize a path to peace and the return of innocent lives.
Let’s be blunt: negotiating with terrorists is not a moral equivalence — Hamas are murderers who hide behind civilians and use hostages as bargaining chips — but refusing to talk at all while Americans remain captive is not leadership. Boehler’s willingness to engage, while maintaining the hardline that nothing proceeds without hostages released, is exactly the kind of muscle-and-mind diplomacy Americans should applaud.
Critics who howl about backchannels and “diplomatic norms” forget the first duty of any government is to protect its citizens. President Trump’s team is right to insist that American lives are the priority and to use every tool to recover them, even if that means taking uncomfortable meetings to secure real outcomes.
Now the ball is squarely in Hamas’s court: free the captives, accept a viable peace architecture, and the violence can stop — or reject it and face the full consequences. Patriots should stand behind a plan that puts Americans and Israeli security first, demand accountability from terrorists, and support a White House willing to do the hard work of bringing hostages home and restoring stability to the region.
