Anti Semitism at Australian universities., page-120

this is a matter on which I have both complex and simple emotions at the same time. I’ve written before I think about my distaste for the middle eastern mess which is the result, in my view, of a complex web of conditions. Collective guilt, colonial interests (on Britain’s part), imperialist and economic interests (on the us part), zealotry - first on the part of resettled Jews and then on the part of Palestinians.

When governments have policies that work for the good of one group and not the collective you cannot hope to have peace. Humans have a remarkable but understandable capacity to carry hatred over generations and as the sense of being wronged escalates and is passed down over generations it leaks like a cancer.

I think that the propaganda is working in Hamas favour simply because we have had decades now of encroachment by Israel and stand offs. I don’t think it is just Hamas generating the perspective of deep wrongs though.

Hamas is callous and cruel and their opposition to Israel played out over decades in a way that has hardly conducive to any middle path. Have they released only compliant hostages. I doubt it. But make no guesses on the basis for their choices.

I don’t think they have tamed their hostages in anything more subtle than is usual. Fear operates when people are captive and it usually makes people compliant. That’s all. Some will take longer than others to move beyond the trauma and some may not fully recover. Chances are individuals have been treated differently depending on who their captor was as well

so I’m not really giving an answer.
it’s too complex. Too multi dimensional. Too much history. Too many other parties.