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Hostages
The Free Press Heroes of 2025
Heroes emerge even—or especially—in times of great darkness. Here are a few of the people we’re thankful for as we end the year.
The Editors
What We Learned This Year
Allie Beth Stuckey, Amanda Knox, H.R. McMaster, Natan Sharansky, Vinay Prasad, Emily Oster, and others on their takeaways from 2025.
The Free Press
Rachel Goldberg-Polin: ‘I Saw Our Dead Son Suddenly Alive Again’
Newly public footage shows Hersh and his fellow hostages lighting a menorah in captivity. It is a reminder that, even in the bleakest of circumstances…
Rachel Goldberg-Polin
The Hostage Release and the Future of Gaza
Yesterday, the 20 living hostages returned to Israel. It was a moment of relief and celebration. But the questions of disbanding Hamas remain—and the…
Bari Weiss
1HR 58M
A Transformed Middle East. Plus. . .
Olivia Reingold on Zohran Mamdani’s trip to a Brooklyn synagogue. Do chatbots have speech rights? And much more.
The Free Press
The Hostages Return Home and the Lies Fall Apart
For the ‘ceasefire now’ crowd, the end of the fighting has been a bit of a drag.
Eli Lake
How Three Real-Estate Moguls Ended the War in Gaza
The expert class believed that peace depended on pressuring Israel and appeasing its enemies. Trump and his allies succeeded by rejecting that myth.
Michael Oren
Trump Deserves His Middle East Victory Lap
The president has triumphed in the Middle East by flipping the script in the most Trumpian way imaginable.
Matthew Continetti
WATCH: The Hostage Release and the Future of Gaza
A conversation on the release of the remaining hostages with Michael Oren, Haviv Rettig Gur, Matti Friedman, Jon Polin, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, and…
Rafaela Siewert
1HR 58M
They Brought Them Home. Plus. . .
Woody Allen on Diane Keaton. An exclusive interview with Nobel winner María Corina Machado. And much more.
The Free Press
They Are Home
For two dark and often hopeless years, Israelis rallied to keep the hostages in the headlines. It worked.
Matti Friedman
738 Days: The Story of the Hostages
We never stopped reporting on the hostages. Read, listen, and watch our coverage here.
The Free Press
For Free People.
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