Pollard: Israel should 'shut the mouths of hostage families'

Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer who served 30 years in prison after being convicted of spying for Israel, offered the opinion that the Jewish state should have locked up the families of October 7 hostages, thus swatting away any hindrances from prosecuting its war against Hamas to the fullest.

Pollard spoke ahead of the announced prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas, due to start Friday with the freeing of 13 Israeli civilian women and children and the reciprocal release of some 30 Palestinian convicted terrorists. 

When it declared war on Hamas after the deadly attack, the first thing Israel should have done is "declared a state of national emergency and told all of the hostage families 'you will keep your mouths shut or we will shut them for you. You will not interfere with our management of this war. You will not be used by the international community or our own leftists who managed the Shalit deal as a weapon against us."

Pollard referred to the prisoner swap that took place in 2011 when 1,027 Palestinian terrorists were exchanged for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who spent five years detained in Gaza. 

Negotiations on the controversial deal started in 2009, during the later stages of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's term; the swap was ratified during the subsequent premiership of Benjamin Netanyahu. Both politicians belong to the right wing Likud party.