By Walter E. Block
When the British were about to execute three Jews accused of terrorism, the Irgun kidnapped two soldiers from that country and threatened to deal with them in a similar manner. The UK carried through on their plan and so did the Irgun, in retaliation, and in an attempt to preclude such punishments meted out by the English in the future [1]. This sort of behavior on the part of the Irgun, and also the Stern (Lehi) and Hagenah organizations is usually credited with the removal of the imperialistic army of the British from the Middle East. Good riddance to them from the Hebrew perspective, as they were instrumental in reducing and attempting to prohibit the immigration of Jews into what later became Israel, from an area very dangerous to them, namely Europe.
In many ways, the IDF is the successor of these three Jewish militias. How would this organization now act if it were to borrow a leaf from these three predecessors? This can only be speculative of course, but one course of action might be to send a message to Hamas:
“Release all of those hostages you have captured on October 7. All of them. Today. For every 24 hours they remain under your captivity, we will start executing Palestinians. Do not worry. We will not execute any civilians. That is your genocidal way, not ours. However, at present, we hold just under 10,000 Palestinians in our prisons. Many have been found guilty of murder in objective courts. In numerous civilized countries, such criminals would long ago have faced a hanging, an electric chair, deadly drugs or a firing squad. So far we have executed only one person, Adolf Eichmann. But we are now ready to make an exception in your case.”
Will this work? That is, will Hamas release its hostages? Hopefully so. If we have learned anything from economics, demand curves slope in a downward direction. Increase the price, the penalty in this case, and there will be less of the behavior in question, whether it be the purchase of shoes or the release of hostages. It may not engender the release of any extant hostages in the near term. Perhaps, however, they will think twice before engaging in this practice in the future.
On the other hand, supply curves slope in an upward direction. It is entirely possible that threat would be interpreted by Hamas as a benefit, not a cost. Say what, a positive element? Yes. They are a death cult, not a life affirming one. They offer pensions to the families of suicide bombers and martyrdom to these murderers of civilians. Deaths of a few or a few hundred or thousands of their brothers in arms in Israeli jails may not at all deter them and they will take great joy in killing the hostages they now hold. Sometimes, threats of this sort backfire. A case in point is China’s attempt to punish countries that have consorted with Taiwan, or otherwise displeased the leaders of the Peoples’ Republic. According to a study conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, these initiatives have had the very opposite of their intended effect.
On the other, other hand, studies by Isaac Ehrlich [2] have shown that executions in the US, not merely placing the death penalty on the legal books, have significantly reduced the subsequent murder rate. And this might well be a more relevant example to the Israeli situation. This then is an empirical issue, not a matter of pure logic.
Moreover, Hamas will be able to score massive amounts of publicity points in Europe and in prestigious universities the world over, focusing on the cruelty of Israel. No one ever removes a sign concerning a lost dog or cat. The same cannot be said in the case of Israeli hostages, in these environs.
But for the purpose of the present essay, we are not all that much concerned with the success or failure of this strategy. Our goal is far more limited. We ask, only, if the Irgun, the Hagenah, the Lehi were now in charge in the only Jewish State on the planet, what would they do? How would they address the problem of the hostages? It is entirely possible that they would engage in a policy somewhat along these lines, if we can extrapolate from their behavior pre 1948. They would not likely allow this hostage situation to fester for almost an entire year. Well, maybe not. There are, possibly, still some 100 or so Israeli hostages under Hamas control. It is entirely possible that these three groups would execute not one Arab prisoner daily, but 100 of them.
It is safe to say that whatever their faults and they did not always act perfectly, there would be no Israel today were it not for the Irgun, Stern (Lehi), Hagenah groups. God bless them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sergeants_affair ;
[2] Ehrlich, Isaac. 1975B. “The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment — A Question of Life and Death,” American Economic Review, Vol. 65 (3), June, pp. 397-417
Ehrlich, Isaac. 1976A. “Deterrence: Evidence and Inference,” Yale Law Journal, Vol. 85 (2), December, pp. 209-227.
Ehrlich, Isaac. 1976B. “Rejoinder,” Yale Law Journal, Vol. 85 (3), January.
Ehrlich, Isaac. 1977A. “Fear of Deterrence — A Critical Evaluation of the Report of the Panel on Research on Deterrent and Incapacitative Effects,” Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 6 (2), June.
Ehrlich, Isaac. 1977B. “Capital Punishment and Deterrence: Some Further Thoughts and Additional Evidence,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 85 (4), August, pp. 74l-788
Peloni, I’m thoroughly convinced. All we have to do now is convince groups such as the FBI (and the equivalent UK groups) that once the “philosophy” is on paper and thus applies to the entire “Ummah” no matter whom, the answer, however ugly, is clearly in front of our eyes…
@keelie
Indeed, Facts such as you report are important to bear in mind, and when we don’t, we only aid the dissimulation which is at the root of the Jihadi mentality. Watch the video from Son of Hamas. They aren’t interested in peace with us, they want us obliterated, subjugated or enslaved.
We must be watchful, weary, and responsive, anticipating our destruction based on the capacity or opportunity of our enemies and ‘allies’ to do exactly this. When they have the capacity to annihilate us, this is when we must accept that they will, and we must deny them this capacity, no matter the cost to prevent such a potential from being realized.
Raphael… how about focusing in Qatar as the root of much terrorism, and possibly the holding place for the hostages?
Aside from that, it’s all very well to proudly display one’s compassion and superior mentality, but if you read the Koran you will see what all Muslims world-wide have in store for all “infidels”… and it’s not pretty. Just ask the average Hindu how many of their ancestors were killed outright by the Muslims a few centuries ago…
In other words if someone tells you that he intends to kill you, as God has commanded, you should believe him and take appropriate action. This includes what the British did to the European Jews over several decades during the 20th centuries. I needn’t write the details.
This “appropriate action” is ugly and talk is essentially ineffective as an alternative. The folks responding to what the writer of this article has written seem mostly determined to allow all the Infidels to die so that they can show just how humane the Jews are and avoid upsetting “the world”. Fat lot of good that will do…
What makes anyone think that Hamas gives a rip about any palestinians? They don’t. Retribution executions, even of convicted killers, will only give the European and US anti-semites more ammunition to attack Israel. In short. It’s not worth it.
What I think would work, and what has worked in the past, is targeted executions of high-value Hamas, or other officials. Of course, they may return the favor, so that tactic would have to be weighed carefully. I think the best thing to do for the hostages is first to find them. Are they even still in Gaza? Once they are located, smarter people than me will have to figure out how to liberate them safely. It will require “a great miracle to happen there”.
Why is Israel Gov treating Hamas terrorists as “soldiers” and not as terrorists?
It is HagAnah, not HagEnah.
I think that Mr. Block is wrong that were the Hagenah, Irgun and Lehi fighters alive today, they would act with ruthless force against the Palesinians and kill them all, or at least all terrorist “militants: whom they captured. Actually, I think most Jewish fighters in Israel’s war of Indpendence behave humanely and in accorddance with the liternational laws of war.
The Hagenah did take prisoners and rarely “executed” them. There were some notable exceptions when Hagenah men did execute Arab prisoners they had taken, but these were exceptions’, not the rule. While Hagenah men did kill enemy soldiers, including Palestinian and other Arab guerilla fighters (or terrorists) when they encountered them in combat, they usually did their best to avoid killing women and children. This conduct was required by the Hagenah doctrine of “purity of arms,” Most Hagenah soldiers, who soon became IDF soldiers when Israel became independent in May 1948, adhered to these rules. After the 1948 War of Independence ended, the Hagenah, which was now the IDF, released many of the prisoners itt had held, including Palestinian Arab prisoners, in good condition.
The Irgun, contrary to their public image,’ also tried to minimize civilian and even enemy military casualties in their operations. Most of their operations aimed at destroying buildings rather than causing human casualties. At least, that was how Irgunist behaved during the period when Menechem Begin was their leader, 1944-48. Begin was not the inhuman monster he is often portrayed as, even during his “underground” phase.
More later.
The variant of the Skeezix story is that the KGB sent to Lebanon a team of Soviet KGB agents of Moslem heritage who started by killing and sending the “wedding kit” of one of the perpetrators to the chief of the movement that had kidnapped the Soviet Diplomat.
That says something about the cynicism of the KGB about Soviets and Marxism.
However the point is valid that if Hamas prolongs the war then she will have to kill the Barghouti clan first and the clans – hamoulahs – of the others that Hamas wants in exchange for the Israeli hostages. Alternatively round up those released for Gilad Shalit etc and together with the other killers in jail shoot the lot. BUT will anybody in Israel have the conscience to do either of the above ?
The French still reproach the English for burning Joan of Arc so be careful.
I am 83. Throughout most of my working life there were colleagues who remembered the “Two Sergeants” case and the King David Hotel bomb. The KD did not have to be blown in office hours and the Two Sergeants did not need their bodies to be mined. Both these details added a degree of nastiness that was not conducive to making peace after Israel became independent and is at the bottom of some of the British ill feeling about Israel for a generation.
You may rest assured that killing the PLO/Hamas murderers currently in Israeli prisons might not work because of their belief about going to paradise but in the short term it will promote a lot of angry sons, nephews and cousins to go out onto the streets and knife, or run over Israeli civilians.
At the moment it is clear that the US interference in October ’23 to lift the siege by insisting on letting in food, water and fuel and power has prolonged this campaign unduly and so killed more than necessary. More the political consequences of prolonging the conflict are dire for Israel so if the short term aim is to stop the fight and bad publicity then the siege of no fuel and supplies needs re-imposing pronto. That is more likely to create a situation in which the Gaza civilians surrender to Israel to be fed and accommodated in properly run and supervised prison camps for men and women separately.
This will also be an opportunity to sort out the families named Misri or Masri and if Egypt gets shirty to deport them there by right of return.
I had read that Years ago
Terrorists kidnapped a Russian Diplomat
The Russians Killed all the extended families of all the Kidnappers first..
Wiped out all of them. Man, Woman, Child…
The Kidnapping of Russian Diplomats Stopped Immediately
Yes?