On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to Israel, met with the families of hostages still held by Hamas.
He recounted that meeting as "sobering." If anything, that's likely an understatement.
Sobering to meet with the families of hostages during my visit to Jerusalem. Their stories are heartbreaking and unfathomable. This war has gone on long enough. Hamas must immediately release all the hostages: living and deceased. pic.twitter.com/lNrR2IdNhg
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) September 15, 2025
The Times of Israel has more details.
The meeting was attended by both members of the mainstream Hostages Families Forum as well as by representatives from the right-wing Tikvah Forum.
The Hostages Forum says that during the meeting, the families “emphasized to Secretary Rubio that the expansion of fighting endangers the lives of the hostages who remain alive and risks the disappearance of those who have already been killed.”
Those at the meeting say that they “urged the Trump administration to act swiftly to resume negotiations, stressing that time is running out for the hostages.”
Yes, any expansion of fighting is indeed liable to endanger any hostages who are still alive, but it's hard to see any way around that. Hamas will never negotiate in good faith; they are liars, and cannot be trusted any farther than a toddler could throw an armored personnel carrier. All Israel can do is try to locate any survivors in advance and to do their best to avoid hitting them directly. Given Hamas's predilection for using innocents as human shields, that may be difficult.
Tzika Mor, the father of hostage Eitan Mor, and a member of the Tikvah Forum, asserts after the meeting that he heard from Rubio the viewpoints voiced by the Tikvah Forum families since the start — that the State of Israel “can’t accept the edicts of Hamas.”
He adds that the Israeli government knows that without heavy pressure on Hamas, the terror organization will never return all of the hostages.
Mor says that “all of the hostages who have returned until now were released only because of pressure placed on Hamas.”
We should note that the only "heavy pressure on Hamas" that has worked so far is "un-aliving Hamas terrorists in great big carload lots."
Read More: Trump to Hamas: 'This Is My Last Warning'
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Negotiation with these people, be they Hamas, Hezbollah, or any of the other various Islamic terrorist goblins, will never yield any permanent results. They don't bargain in good faith. They never have, and they never will. Any cease-fire will be temporary. Any such deal will be used by Hamas to recruit, re-arm, retrain, and plan their next atrocity. They are liars, and any deal made should be made with that knowledge in mind.
We might note that, for several decades now, the rest of the Arab/Muslim world has by and large refused to accept any "Palestinian" refugees from Gaza or the West Bank. That refusal speaks volumes, both about the nature of society in Gaza under Hamas, and in the commitment of the Arab world towards resolving this thing once and for all.
As I've said for some time, there will be no peace in Gaza until Hamas is no longer a factor. Secretary Rubio is right to meet with the families of the hostages. They are in a heartbreaking position and deserve our empathy and support. But one way or another, Hamas has to be removed. Permanently. Only that will ensure that more families, 20, 30, or 50 years from now, won't suffer the same trauma.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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