What weapon is stronger than F-16s, drones, targeted strikes, disciplined and war-hardened ground troops, and even nuclear weapons? Hostages. Despite its formidable armed forces and weapons capabilities, in the long and bitter struggle between Israel and its enemies, no tool of war has proven more effective in bending the will of the Jewish state than the abduction of its own citizens. Missiles can be intercepted, tanks can be destroyed, but a single captive Israeli can paralyse decision-making at the highest levels of government, as we are seeing today.

From the earliest wars, prisoner exchanges followed the conventions of armed conflict. After 1948 and again in 1967, soldiers were exchanged for soldiers in relatively balanced numbers. But over time, the symmetry vanished. In 1983, Israe

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