The return of the remains of Police Master Sergeant Ran Gvili after 843 days is a solemn moment for Israel and a painful reminder of the brutal treachery of October 7, 2023. His recovery, announced as nations prepared to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, finally allows a grieving family and a shaken nation a measure of closure after a long and agonizing wait. The relief is real, but it arrives amid unresolved questions about security and accountability that must not be swept aside.
Gvili’s story is the kind that defines a generation—wounded but refusing to stand down, he rushed back to defend Kibbutz Alumim while on medical leave and paid with his life protecting his neighbors. Reports say he saved scores of civilians fleeing the Nova music festival and fought until he was killed, before his body was taken into Gaza. Honoring his sacrifice means remembering courage and refusing to normalize the barbarism that produced his death.
With his return, Israeli officials say there are no longer any hostages in Gaza for the first time since 2014, a milestone that clears an obstacle to the next phase of a ceasefire process long delayed by blood and bargaining. Still, the promises surrounding a tentative deal—openings at Rafah, reconstruction, demilitarization—have been slow to materialize, and both sides are watching every move with suspicion. This is not the time for naïve optimism; it is the time for iron clarity about what will and will not be tolerated.
Let there be no mistaking the moral calculus: Hamas’s actions were criminal and inhuman, and any international posture that treats terror as a negotiating partner invites more carnage. Political elites who reflexively call for “balance” while ignoring who butchered innocents are morally bankrupt, and leaders who hesitate to impose decisive consequences embolden those who celebrate murder. Israel’s right to defend its citizens and to demand accountability is not an opinion; it is a basic responsibility of any sovereign nation.
Beyond Gaza, the region remains dangerously volatile. Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria have repeatedly warned they will not let their territory become a battleground for outside powers and have voiced alarm about Iranian proxies, while clashes between Syrian government forces and Kurdish units have flared in recent weeks. Those warnings are not abstract geopolitical rhetoric; they are cries from local actors who know firsthand how quickly local fights can balloon into wider conflagrations.
Washington must ensure deterrence holds and that its military posture aligns with its declared commitments, because a credible U.S. role is the only thing that has kept some of the worst scenarios at bay. The recent build-up of American naval and airpower in the region is a necessary signal that the free world will not simply look away when Tehran or its proxies cross red lines. Strategic clarity and robust backing for partners who fight terrorists and tyrants are not optional—they are essential to preventing a wider war.
As Ran Gvili is laid to rest, the nation that mourns him—and the free world that watches—should remember the human cost of weakness and the price of misplaced sympathy. Families deserve answers, and allies deserve policies rooted in strength, not sentimentalism. If leadership means anything, it means standing squarely with the innocent, holding terrorists to account, and making sure that sacrifice is never forgotten or wasted.
