The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas released a new hostage video on Monday, showing three elderly male hostages who appear, under duress, to demand that Israel pay any price necessary to secure their release.
The hostages were identified by the Jerusalem Post as Chaim Peri, 79; Yoram Metzger, 80; Amiram Cooper, 84. Peri, ironically, was a peace activist who had volunteers to take Palestinians from Gaza to Israeli hospitals, during peacetime.
The video was released as Israeli negotiators met in Warsaw, Poland, with representatives of the Qatari government, who mediate on behalf of Hamas, to discuss a possible new deal to exchange Israeli civilian hostages for Palestinian terror convicts.
The Times of Israel noted that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) condemned the hostage video as “atrocious terror.”
Hamas and a fellow Iranian-controlled terror organization, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said over the weekend that they would not accept any deal with Israel that did not involve a complete and permanent ceasefire — meaning that Israel would have to accept defeat in its objective of destroying the groups.
Update: Kibbutz Nir Oz identified the hostages (original emphasis):
Amiram Cooper – 85 years old, a founding member of Kibbutz Nir Oz. A father of 3 and a grandfather of 9. An economist and a poet. His wife Nurit Cooper, was also abducted to Gaza and was later released.
Chaim Peri – 79 years old, member of Kibbutz Nir Oz. Resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz. A father of 5 children and grandfather of 13 grandchildren. He is an entrepreneur, a humanist, a peace activist, and contributed a lot to developing the art and culture in the Western Negev. While he was abducted from his home he saved his wife, Osnat, who was hiding in the safe room.
Yoram Metzger – 80 years old, member of Kibbutz Nir Oz. A father of 3 children and grandfather of 7 grandchildren. Worked at the Nirlat paint factory and, in recent years, in the local auto repair shop. A member of the Kibbutz winery. His wife, Tamar (Tami) Metzger, was also abducted to Gaza and was later released.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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