There are no simple, clean solutions to the nightmare in Gaza. This has been my message throughout. There is no easy win; at every juncture there is pain.
But this does not mean that one solution is not wiser than another. From my perspective, one solution that is actually an imperative. I believe that we will get where we need to go, with the help of Heaven.
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Please read to the end for information on making a donation.
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It was the taking of hostages – mainly by Hamas but also by other terror groups such as PLFP as well as Gazan “civilians” – that has so vastly complicated the situation. Hamas is evil personified, but its leaders are not stupid. Once we agreed to negotiate with them out of a desire to save hostages, we gave them a hand in controlling the situation. Many critics of this deal point out that we should not negotiate with terrorists as a matter of principle, that such negotiations end badly.
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The process began last week, with the first group released last Friday. The original agreement was for four days, with the possibility of extensions. After the four days, we extended it for two more days, and then two more, bringing us to Friday (tomorrow).
It has not all gone smoothly. Inappropriate demands, which we rejected, were made by Hamas. Sometimes the number released fell short of what had been negotiated.
But we have persisted, because we have been getting out children and their mothers, and elderly women, albeit a few at a time. Each rescue has been celebrated. Each one is wonderful.
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As I indicated above, the agreement has been extended until Friday, provided that Hamas submits satisfactory lists of those to be released.
The question hanging over us, then, is whether it will be extended once more for two days, bringing us to Sunday. I am not certain. Sunday would be the tenth day, and we began this arrangement by stipulating no more than ten days. It would be a huge mistake to take this agreement further. This is in spite of the pressure upon us from several quarters to agree to a long-term ceasefire, in order to allow us to get the roughly 150 Israelis still in the hands of terrorists.
For, if we fail to take out Hamas’s capacity to hit us again – take out its leaders, destroy its control centers and its weapons caches – they most certainly will come at us again, and the damage they would do would be huge. What is more, Hezbollah and Iran are watching.
This makes it essential that we demonstrate maximum determination and strength. It is an existential issue.
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What is more, even if there were to be an extended ceasefire, in order to give time for us to secure the release of all of the Israeli hostages, there is no guarantee that we would be able to achieve this: There is a distinct lack of clarity regarding where all of the hostages are and who is holding them.
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In the last couple of days, it became very clear that Israel was not going to bend to pressure to agree to an extended ceasefire. Not pressure from families seeking the rescue of loved ones still in captivity, and not pressure from Qatar, which works for the benefit of Hamas, or from the Biden administration, which works for our benefit on alternate days of the week.
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From Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs, we had this yesterday:
“I will give you a rule of thumb during these tense days, on how to differentiate news from fake news. Any news on a hostage release deal that leads to ending the war or a prolonged ceasefire = fake news.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/381135
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And from Prime Minister Netanyahu a more extensive statement (emphasis added):
“There is no way we are not going back to fight to the end. This is my policy, the entire Cabinet stands behind it, the entire government stands behind it, the soldiers stand behind it, the people stand behind it—this is exactly what we will do…
“Over the last few days, I’ve heard a question: When this phase of returning our hostages is exhausted, will Israel return to fighting? My answer is an unequivocal yes.”
https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-no-way-we-will-agree-to-end-war-against-hamas/
A very welcome and reassuring statement. Note, however, that he does not clarify when “this phase of returning our hostages” will be “exhausted. He cannot do that.
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I note here that it is the position of the government and the IDF that the Israelis remaining in captivity will ultimately be released via the pressure of renewed fighting, and not via negotiations during a ceasefire.
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This morning the situation became even more complex and painful as there was a terror attack in Jerusalem.
At 7:40 a.m., two terrorists got out of a car at a bus stop at the entrance to Jerusalem and began shooting – one with an M-16 rifle and one with a handgun.
Three Israelis were killed: Livia Dickman, 24, from Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood; Hanna Ifergan, 60, a school principal in Beit Shemesh; and Rabbinical Court Judge Elimelech Wasserman, 73 (pictured).
At least six others were wounded (reports are not consistent), several seriously.
The terrorists were taken down by two off-duty soldiers and an armed civilian.
It should come as no surprise that the terrorists were members of Hamas, brothers who lived in eastern Jerusalem. They had previously been in prison for terror-related activity. This brings to the fore the entire matter of releasing terrorists in prison in a trade for hostages. Those who are released pose a threat to Israelis. The fact that the ones we are releasing do not have blood on their hands is no reassurance: in many instances it simply means they failed in their attempt to kill Jews.
Hamas subsequently took credit for the attack and called for an “escalation of resistance [terrorism].”
https://www.jns.org/six-wounded-in-terror-shooting-at-entrance-to-jerusalem/
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Today, Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar made his first public statement since October 7: “The leaders of the occupation [Israel] should know, Oct. 7 was just a rehearsal.”
There is a zero possibility at this point that there will be a long-term ceasefire. The situation is out of control. What we are seeing is that Hamas is behaving as if it has the upper hand. Not only does Hamas need to be taken down, Sinwar in particular must be found and eliminated. He is the embodiment of evil.
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Secretary of State Blinken arrived in Israel today and met with our prime minister and president after the terror attack had taken place.
Netanyahu, who does not look exactly delighted to see the secretary, later reported that he told Blinken (emphasis added):
“This [the perpetrator of the terror attack] is the same Hamas that carried out the horrible massacre on Oct. 7, the same Hamas that tries to murder us everywhere…We swore, and I swore, to eliminate Hamas. Nothing will stop us.
“We will continue this war until we achieve the three goals—to release all our abductees, to eliminate Hamas completely and to ensure that Gaza will never again face such a threat.”
https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-meets-with-blinken-in-jerusalem/
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Blinken, however, is so tone-deaf that in spite of everything he persisted in speaking to a reporter about the US desire to see the ceasefire extended so more hostages can come out and more humanitarian aid can get in.
From here he goes to Ramallah. Undoubtedly to speak to the peace-loving Abbas about the “two-state solution.”
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Minister Itamar Ben Givr had it exactly right when he declared today that the terror attack for which Hamas has claimed credit is a breach of the ceasefire agreement. All things being equal, we should start fighting again this moment. But we won’t because we are waiting for hostages to be released according to the last agreement (ending tomorrow). How much longer can we be caught in this untenable conundrum?
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It boggles the mind that Blinken also noted that what happened on October 7 “further confirmed” the US commitment to a “two-state solution.” This means, if we give the Palestinian Arabs a state of their own, we will have peace and there will never be another October 7.
It is a sad state of affairs when someone so obtuse can acquire such an elevated diplomatic position. Does Blinken not know that the PA schools use the same hate-filled curriculum as the schools in Gaza? That most Arabs in the PA approved the Hamas massacre? a
Or, perhaps, does he know but pursue this nonsense anyway in order to advance the political goals of the president who appointed him?
Either way, we must simply go about our business.
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The IDF has declared it is ready and prepared to resume fighting.
At the beginning of this week, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant addressed Givati soldiers and members of the Armored Corps who were on a break (emphasis added):
“You now have a few days; we will return to fighting, we will use the same force and more. That is the task now. Remember that while you are organizing and resting and investigating, the enemy is doing the same thing. You will meet something that is a bit more prepared. Therefore, they will first meet the bombs of the Air Force, then the shells of the tanks and artillery and the blades of the D9, and in the end, also the fire of the infantry soldiers, we will fight across the entire Strip.
“Everywhere I go, I hear: ‘Let us complete the mission, go all the way.’ I want you to know that the Israel Defense Forces, the security system, the Government of Israel, all the people of Israel, and certainly, I personally, stand 100% behind you until you complete the missions. We do not stop until we are finished.”
https://www.jns.org/how-the-idf-will-resume-its-fighting-when-the-order-is-given/
According to Professor Col. (res.) Gabi Siboni, a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), as well as a senior consultant to the IDF, said last week that the offensive after the truce is fully within Israel’s abilities.
“…There is no change in the mission. The main goal will not change—the full destruction of Hamas.” (Emphasis added)
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There is a great deal more to report, including with regard to the heinous behavior of Hamas. And I will return in short order.
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Here, I want to suggest a possibility for making a donation. It concerns one very extraordinary individual, Natan Kenig, who worked for Zaka for 20 years.
For more than 40 days after the massacre on October 7, Natan was on the ground working as a Zaka volunteer from morning to night, in Kibbutz Be’eri, the locale hardest hit by Hamas. He gathered body parts, and carried the bodies of children and the elderly, who had been so brutally murdered, helping to ensure that they had dignified burials.
He took many of the pictures later shared with media.
Now he has been overwhelmed by severe post traumatic stress. He has nightmares and cannot function, he feels destroyed. When someone touches him, he pulls back. “I don’t think many have seen what I have seen,” he says.
He requires intensive, in-hospital psychological treatment to regain his life; he is failing. He has four children but cannot work and provide for them. Cannot be a father to them. Because he volunteered for 40 days and did not bring in income, he lost his home.
Please consider helping this hero. Let him know he is not alone.
https://chesedtoday.com/campaigns/kenig/?utm_source=yt-kenig-1123&utm_medium=yt-kenig-1123
This link includes a video statement from Natan.
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Pray to Heaven for Israel, my friends. Pray for the strength and wisdom of our leaders, for the safety of our boys, and for the rescue of our hostages. Pray with a heart filled with hope, not fear.
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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
