One year has passed since Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel, and on my wrist, I still wear the band that reads, “Bring them home.” It’s a constant reminder of the innocent Americans held captive in the dungeons of Gaza. Sadly, their plight has been largely ignored in the United States, overshadowed by calls for ceasefires, protests, and international outrage over the conflict. The fate of these American hostages has become a mere afterthought.
Listening to the Biden administration, you might not even know that seven Americans, including four believed to be alive, are among the 97 hostages held by Hamas. When they do acknowledge them, they rarely prioritize their safe return. This isn’t just a tragedy for those seven souls; it represents a loss for all Americans – the loss of security and safety abroad. The blue passport, once a symbol of global protection, has been tarnished.
We were initially told the White House’s silence was a sign of sophisticated diplomatic and military strategy. However, that narrative shattered on September 1, 2024, when Hamas executed Hersh Goldberg-Polin. This was no accident. The U.S. passport once guaranteed the government would protect its citizens abroad. But under the Biden-Harris administration, that promise seems to have evaporated.
Hersh was perhaps the most prominent American captive in Gaza. He was featured in a Hamas propaganda video in April 2024, and his parents even spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August. Yet, the government that issued his blue passport failed to save his life.
President Biden, in words that ring hollower with each passing day since Hersh’s death, promised Hamas would “pay for these crimes.” However, the exact price the U.S. has exacted remains a mystery, while American captives continue to endure brutality in Gaza’s tunnels. Instead of decisive action, the Biden administration has opted for lawfare. Following Goldberg-Polin’s murder, Attorney General Merrick Garland charged Yahya Sinwar for “financing, directing, and overseeing a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the national security of the United States.” But this lawsuit is nothing more than a talking point that won’t save a single life.
Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst aptly summarized the perverse post-October 7 world: Hamas is “emboldened to celebrate the death of Americans when they should be cowering in fear of the response awaiting them for spilling American blood.”
According to the Biden administration, the return of American hostages is contingent on a ceasefire deal that might release some hostages, a group that may or may not include Americans. After a year, it’s clear the diplomatic track where the U.S. plays the passive mediator role, elevating Hamas to a state-like status, has utterly failed.
It has been leaked that American officials have finally admitted in private that a hostage deal is a pipe dream. There are no more excuses for inaction. The U.S. must unleash its might on a terrorist group that continues to harass and humiliate its citizens. Our leaders have succumbed to a paralyzing fatalism, making us believe America is powerless. We are not. After this year of loss, we cannot also lose our will to defend the words printed in every U.S. passport, the words that instruct the world to allow Americans “to pass without delay or hindrance.”
