The eye cannot miss those very clear differences between two images: the image of the release of Israeli detainees, both male and female, and the image of the liberation of our imprisoned sons from the graves of the living.

While the faces of the Israelis appeared to be full of health and wellness, wearing “starched” clothes and with combed, flowing hair, those emerging from behind the curtains of darkness appeared to have thin bodies, ragged clothes, thick hair, and tired faces, from the effects of oppression, starvation, and torture.

Those released were those who appeared to be in a difficult psychological state, unable to respond to the overwhelming emotions that awaited them the moment they arrived.

The stark difference between the two images is the difference between two beliefs, one burning and merciless, embraced by criminal killers, and the other tolerant, just and merciful, drawing from an inexhaustible source of noble values and good morals in the school of virtue, represented by the commandments of the Master of Creation to treat prisoners well, providing them with food and clothing, in application of the Almighty’s saying: “And they give food, in spite of their love for it, to the poor, the orphan, and the captive.”

The two images, as much as they are indicative, are also revealing of the arrogance of power, and of the “Bangavari” doctrine, a companion of sadism, which enjoys torture and abuse, and seeing bodies wither and melt away from the effects of terror, intimidation, and starvation.

No matter how long injustice and darkness last, we will continue to believe in the inevitability of the victory of truth over falsehood, the homeland over occupation, the prisoner over the jailer, the eye over the awl, and the owner of values over the sword-bearer and the owner of the tank.