“I don’t understand why, to anyone that is protesting or demanding for a cease-fire, let’s be honest here, why aren’t you protesting to bring [the hostages] all home right now? Why aren’t you demanding that Hamas surrenders as well?” Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman recently said, referring to the more than 130 hostages still being held by Hamas after being kidnapped on October 7 last year.

Fetterman’s point is obviously nonsensical: activists in the United States and other Western countries have no power or leverage to influence Hamas, unlike their own elected officials, let alone to make Hamas “surrender.” The statement has to be understood in the context of the almost comical, desperate campaign Fetterman has waged for months to insulate his Senate seat from a future Israel lobby–funded challenge.

But it would be wrong to write this off as just a crank talking point from another cowardly politician. The idea that a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of the Israeli hostages are mutually exclusive — and that the only way to free the hostages is to continue what has now been officially ruled a plausible genocide until “victory” is achieved — is widely held. Some version of it has been articulated at various times by both the United States and Israeli governments, including just yesterday, when Israeli bombardment of the “safe area” of Rafah resulted in two hostages being freed.