The return of our hostages was a moment of national relief – a rare breath of hope after months of trauma. Families held each other again, a country exhaled, and for a brief moment, Israel felt the warmth of unity and purpose. However, once the emotion settles, a more difficult and uncomfortable question must be asked:
Were we played by the world and shortchanged in the process?
For months, world powers insisted that any diplomatic framework would be built on one core, non-negotiable principle: Hamas must be dismantled and fully disarmed. This was presented as the bedrock of any future agreement. Yet, when the moment arrived, that bedrock dissolved. Hamas remains armed. Hamas remains in power. Hamas continues to violate ceasefire obligations while the international community looks away.
And yet, global leaders rush to proclaim “peace,” “progress,” and “victory.”
Israel pays the price
This is the painful truth: The world celebrates itself for achieving peace while Israel is shortchanged. Other nations enjoy diplomatic prestige, headlines, and self-congratulation. Israel, however, pays both the immediate and long-term price.
In the short term, nothing has changed. A fully armed terrorist regime still governs Gaza. Israeli soldiers and civilians continue to face danger. Hamas remains entrenched – its capabilities intact, its leadership untouched.
In the long term, the consequences are even more severe. As Israel contains an ongoing threat, the region around us is being reshaped in ways that benefit those who have never recognized Israel – and in some cases openly oppose it.
All of this becomes even more troubling when we consider the timing. While Hamas remains fully armed and firmly in control of Gaza, Saudi Arabia was in Washington receiving approval for F-35 stealth fighters, the most advanced aircraft in the world. How can this be called peace? How does this reflect the security guarantees Israel was promised? Or was this entire process merely a political bribe to regional players, while Israel is expected to accept the fallout?
As Saudi Arabia gains cutting-edge American weaponry, Qatar gains influence while sheltering Hamas leadership, and Turkey positions itself as a gatekeeper despite its hostility toward Israel, one cannot ignore the pattern.
Others receive rewards. Others receive weapons. Others shape the narrative.
Israel is the one absorbing the consequences.
The world enjoys its victory ceremony while Israel inherits the dangers that the other countries prefer not to confront.
At Israel’s expense
A new Middle East is being assembled – and not necessarily one that protects Israel’s future. Instead of insisting on the dismantling of Hamas as a prerequisite for stability, global powers have chosen convenience over principle. They have allowed a terrorist organization to retain control in Gaza, while they are strengthening nations that have yet to affirm Israel’s right to exist.
Israel was told to wait. Israel was told to trust. Israel was told to show “flexibility.”
While Israel waited, trusted, and sacrificed, others amassed power, influence, and advanced weaponry.
When a deal benefits every actor except the country whose survival is at stake, the question must be asked plainly: Was Israel used?
Optics for the world
Let us be clear: The return of the hostages is a miracle. It is a moral triumph. But it cannot blind us to the manipulation unfolding around us. World powers wanted a headline. They wanted calm. They wanted to move on. And so they framed a fragile, incomplete arrangement as “peace,” leaving the real dangers untouched.
Israel, however, does not have the luxury of illusions. We live with the reality – not the press release, which is why this moment demands something simple and uncompromising: Israel must stand strong and refuse to bend.
Strength is not aggression. Refusal is not obstinacy. It is survival.
If Israel does not defend its own red lines, others will redraw them for their benefit.
A question that can’t be ignored
Israel can celebrate the precious return of our people and still confront the truth.
We must ask: Did we win a moment of relief while the world claimed victory? Were promises of security replaced with political optics? Was the world’s celebration built on Israel’s vulnerability?
Were we played – and shortchanged – while others collected the rewards?
Israel cannot allow others to write our future or determine our security. We must remain strong, unbending, and clear-eyed because the survival of the Jewish state depends on refusing to accept illusions in place of truth, optics in place of strategy, or temporary calm in place of genuine security.
The writer is founder & CEO of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, and founder of JBiz Expo. (Jbizexpo.com)