What Israel Supporters Really Mean When They Say ‘Release The Hostages’

If you’re not on social media, you’ve likely spent ten and a half months blissfully unaware of an extremely freakish but very common phenomenon in which Israel’s supporters respond to images and videos of dead and mutilated children in Gaza by babbling about the Israeli hostages being held there by Hamas.

Whenever you see someone sharing raw footage of the most horrific thing imaginable being inflicted upon someone who couldn’t possibly have done anything to deserve it, and someone in the replie...