Why are Israel's deals to exchange hostages so lopsided?
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.1 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 February 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Under the first phase of the deal, Hamas agreed to release a total of 33 Israeli hostages – and Israel said it would free around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
NPR's Jerome Socolovsky looks into why Israel has long accepted lopsided deals to bring back abducted citizens.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | On Sunday, Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem. |
| 0:08.3 | At the press conference, afterwards, Netanyahu hugged Rubio and was enthusiastic about Israel's relationship with the U.S. |
| 0:16.3 | President Trump is the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House. |
| 0:21.9 | And the visit in Washington reflected that in every way. And your visit here reflects it in everywhere. |
| 0:27.7 | Netanyahu also praised what he called Trump's bold vision for Gaza, a vision that includes |
| 0:34.2 | relocating Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries and rebuilding the |
| 0:39.0 | strip under U.S. ownership. And Netanyahu insisted that he and Trump are on the same page |
| 0:45.5 | about the urgency of releasing the remaining Israeli hostages. |
| 0:49.1 | President Trump and I are working in full cooperation and coordination between us. |
| 0:55.0 | We have a common strategy, including when the gates of hell will be open, as they surely will, |
| 1:02.8 | if all our hostages are not released until the last one of them. |
| 1:08.3 | Before this past weekend, 24 hostages and more than 730 Palestinian prisoners had been freed during phase one of the ceasefire deal. |
| 1:18.9 | This weekend, three more were released all civilian men in exchange for more than 360 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails. There are nearly |
| 1:30.4 | 10,000 Palestinians in custody in Israel and the West Bank, many held without charge. The current |
| 1:37.9 | phase of the ceasefire deal ends in less than two weeks, and an Israeli delegation traveled to Cairo today to hash out details |
| 1:46.1 | for a second phase, even as the number of Palestinian prisoners released, especially ones |
| 1:52.3 | convicted of serious crimes, has sparked debate among Israelis. Consider this. As talks move toward |
| 1:59.3 | the second phase of a ceasefire deal, we look at the politics of these exchanges. |
| 2:06.6 | From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. |
| 2:10.2 | Support for NPR, and the following message come from Bowling Branch. Change your sleep with the softness of Bowlen Branch's 100% organic cotton |
| 2:18.9 | sheets. Feel the difference with 15% off your first set of sheets at bolandbranch.com with code |
| 2:24.5 | NPR. Exclusions apply. See site for details. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.