XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   On Mon, 3 Mar 2025 14:08:10 +0000, Chris Elvidge    
   wrote:   
      
   >I've never understood why -   
   >Several hundred Israelis 'captured' by Hamas = Hostages   
   >Several thousand Palestinians captured and kept in Israeli gaols without   
   >trial = Prisoners   
   >Aren't they hostages, too?   
      
   Perhaps they should use the AmE term for both -- inmates.   
      
   But yes, the prisoners taken by Hamas (and possibly others) *are*   
   hostages in the way that the others are not. In most cases they were   
   grabbed at random, to have a bargaining tool in any negotiations for a   
   ceasefire. Once they are all freed, the Israeli government has no   
   incentive to keep a ceasefire, and will be free to reseume its ethnic   
   cleansing/genocide without as many protests from within.   
      
   They are all prisoners, but the purpose for their capture differs.   
      
      
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa   
   Web:  http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm   
   Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com   
   E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)