Welcome to The Times of Israel’s newest podcast series, Friday Focus. Each Friday, join diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan for a deep dive into what’s behind the news that spins the globe.
This week, we look at Israel’s long history of hostage release negotiations and how the price per captive has become increasingly inflated over the decades.
To begin our discussion, Berman gives a brief survey of some traditional Jewish sources dealing with the subject, including the Bible, Mishna and the Rambam’s writings.
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We then turn to 1950s Israel and hear a survey of hostage and POW situations — and how many prisoners Israel released to free its citizens.
Finally, we discuss the deal which released Gilad Shalit — and saw 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners again walk free, including Hamas October 7 mastermind, Yihye Sinwar.
Friday Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and the video was edited by Thomas Girsch.
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