How utterly ghastly—one can scarcely imagine, from the comfort of one’s palatial estate, the unfathomable squalor and deprivation endured by Tal Shoham and his fellow hostages at the hands of Hamas. Truly, the notion of surviving for over 500 days in a wretched tunnel, subsisting on pitiful morsels while one’s captors dine with relative abundance mere meters away, is the sort of barbarism that is supposed to exist only in the darkest epochs of human history, certainly not in the supposedly enlightened modern era.

Shoham’s recounting of the hostages' ingenious formation of a surrogate “family” to stave off utter despair is, I suppose, a touching testament to the indomitable human spirit—though, frankly, one cannot help but feel a measure of pity for those who must rely on such feeble crumbs of camaraderie for solace, rather than the robust comforts of privilege and security which civilization ought to guarantee its rightful heirs. The description of dignified people being reduced to a state of abject starvation solely for their captors’ grotesque propaganda efforts is especially appalling. Hamas stealing humanitarian aid intended for civilian relief, redirecting what ought to be meagre alms into furthering their own grotesque survival in their tunnels—imagine the sort of moral depravity required. It’s laughable, in a most tragic sense, that anyone of sophistication or education still entertains the notion of moral equivalency here.

Naturally, one must balk at the absurdity displayed by European powers in considering the hasty recognition of a Palestinian state under such ghastly circumstances. It is positively infantile to believe that rewarding this barbaric outfit with diplomatic legitimacy will do anything but embolden their tactics of human degradation. Truly, the salons of Brussels must be bursting at the seams with naïve idealists and poseurs who have clearly never suffered more than a mild delay to their air-conditioned travel.

As for the emotional dimensions—Shoham’s torment over his captured family, his shattered hope, and the ongoing suffering of David—one would have to possess a heart of utter stone not to at least roll one’s eyes heavenward at the sheer cruelty. Still, such tragedies do tend to befall the lesser-guarded, and perhaps this stands as a reminder that, in a world ever teetering on the brink of savagery, only the strongest fortresses—and alliances—permit one a good night’s sleep.

If there is any lesson here, it is surely that evil, when permitted to skulk through tunnels and thrive on well-intentioned but woefully naive international charity, will never be deterred by the sweet nothings whispered in diplomatic chambers. No, only resolute power and unyielding pressure—applied by those with the means, intellect, and will—can force the release of these poor souls. In the meanwhile, let the coddled masses wring their hands. Some of us understand both the stakes and the weight of true responsibility.