Prisoners and hostages

On Mon, 3 Mar 2025 14:08:10 +0000, Chris Elvidge <chris@internal.net>
wrote:

I've never understood why -
Several hundred Israelis 'captured' by Hamas = Hostages
Several thousand Palestinians captured and kept in Israeli gaols without
trial = Prisoners
Aren't they hostages, too?

Perhaps they should use the AmE term for both -- inmates.

But yes, the prisoners taken by Hamas (and possibly others) *are*
hostages in the way that the others are not. In most cases they were
grabbed at random, to have a bargaining tool in any negotiations for a
ceasefire. Once they are all freed, the Israeli government has no
incentive to keep a ceasefire, and will be free to reseume its ethnic
cleansing/genocide without as many protests from within.

They are all prisoners, but the purpose for their capture differs.

 

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web:  http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
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