Dear Friends, the Pesach holiday season is over. It brought with it moments of joy, along with our ongoing stress. Now we should be returning to “normal,” but there is no “normal.”
Rather, here in Israel we are caught in a web of outrages, unconscionable manipulations, and insults, one layered on top of the other.
We are not yet seeing resolution of any of the aspects of our very complex situation, but I am determined to post now in order to provide an understanding of what we are facing.
~~~~~~~~~~
The bottom line here is the need for Israel to go into Rafah – a city in the very south of Gaza, bordering on the Egyptian border – to take down four battalions operating there, towards the goal of decisively finishing Hamas as a fighting force. The only crossing point between Gaza and the Sinai is in Rafah and so it is also important to have an IDF presence there to prevent weapon smuggling.
~~~~~~~~~~
The IDF does not claim, and does not imagine, that we can destroy every single individual who belongs to Hamas. But, step by step, we can destroy their ability to harm us again in the future – by eliminating their commanders and their weapons caches and their command centers. Going into Rafah won’t finish the job, but it is an integral and essential part of achieving our goal – a necessary condition for success.
The need to finish Hamas is an existential issue – something the world has long since forgotten. Following their horrendous and totally unprovoked massacre of 1,200 innocent Israelis on October 7, Hamas made it clear they would come after us again and again. It is our responsibility as a nation – our RIGHT – to take out Hamas. But the world would rather not acknowledge this, not support us in our right to self-defense.
The response of the world is, in fact, one of the greatest outrages of all. Fueled by an explosion of anti-Semitism, people in a variety of venues – most horrifyingly the US – have come out in support of Hamas. (I will come back to this.) Hamas invents statistics and puts out fallacious information that is accepted uncritically by those eager to believe the worst of us. The bitter, bitter irony is that we, who have fought with great care to avoid civilian deaths and operate within humanitarian international law, are accused of “genocide.”
~~~~~~~~~~
For weeks, the Biden administration demanded to see our plans for how we will protect the civilians in the area of Rafah when we go in. There are some one million plus individuals there – some who moved south when Israel was fighting in the north.
Whatever plan the IDF shared with the US, however, the response came back that it was not satisfactory. That remains true until today (see following). What became evident is that no plan we devised was going to be satisfactory for the Biden administration.
But 40,000 tents have been purchased and are being set up, with the assistance of relief agencies. And we do have a plan to move out civilians from one segment of Rafah at a time.
According to JNS today (Wednesday): “The Israel Defense Forces will establish a humanitarian safe zone in the central Gaza Strip as part of preparations for the evacuation of noncombatants from the southernmost city of Rafah.
“It will be located south of Wadi Gaza and north of the central camps—Nuseirat and Bureij, near the east-west Netzarim Corridor the IDF recently created to split the Strip into two parts…” https://www.jns.org/idf-to-establish-safe-zone-for-rafah-evacuees-in-central-gaza/
~~~~~~~~~~
As movement towards entering Rafah increased, Hamas pulled an ugly trick. These guys are totally devoid of any sense of humanity or ethics; they are evil. But they are genius at playing people.
One of the hostages taken from the Nova music festival was Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23. Seen here before his capture.
Since his capture, his parents did not actually know if he was alive, but all over western Jerusalem there are signs calling to “Bring Hersch home now!!”
And then, there he was, hair cut short, skinny, subdued, on a video put out by Hamas. His parents were overwhelmed. “Stay alive!” they cried out to him, until you can be rescued.
It was impossible not to be deeply, deeply moved.
After this, two other videos of hostages were released by Hamas. And it had the effect that Hamas hoped to achieve: focus in Israel was suddenly on rescuing the hostages. Demonstrators were out on in the street in considerable numbers calling for Netanyahu to put aside the Rafah plans and make a hostage deal the priority. Certainly, this pressure, this heightened national emotion, had to have affected our prime minister, at the very least making his decisions more difficult.
~~~~~~~~~~
I’ve made my position on this issue clear before, but state it once more here. I want the hostages brought home. I hurt deeply for them and those who love them.
However, we cannot, must not sacrifice our goal of eliminating an existential threat in order to save the hostages. We cannot stop the fighting, or Hamas will come after us again. What is more, we cannot release large numbers of terrorists with blood on their hands as part of a deal, for this too would mean increased terror attacks. If we cave to Hamas in order to bring back the hostages, we would – Heaven forbid! – in the end suffer far more deaths than we would even if all the hostages were lost to Hamas. This is an unbearable situation.
And I must add here, as painful as this is to contemplate, that a good number of the hostages are in fact very likely dead. There are not many we would be able to bring back alive no matter what we agreed to.
This became increasingly clear as Hamas hedged on the numbers of hostages to be released, apparently because they don’t have many live hostages.
~~~~~~~~~~
Egypt, which is thoroughly opposed to our operation in Rafah, for fear that Gazans will break through and get into the Sinai, became actively involved in a role as negotiator. The Egyptians made a series of proposals for a deal for the hostages. And some of those proposals – as reported, all unofficial – were the stuff of nightmares. Days passed, and the Rafah operation did not begin, while the rumors continued to circulate. There was a report that Netanyahu twice postponed the operation.
It did not help that Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz announced that the hostages are the first priority and would be put before the operation in Rafah. Katz does not sit in the War Cabinet and has no vote on the issue. But yet… Was he speaking just for himself?
On the other hand, Itamar Ben Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) and Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionists) not only spoke up for the Rafah operation but threated to leave the coalition if Netanyahu caved.
~~~~~~~~~~
In the midst of this situation came reports that the International Criminal Court was contemplating the issuing of arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi for failure to respect international law in Gaza. This is obscene, beyond outrageous. Israel is not even a member of the Court, which has no jurisdiction over us. https://www.jns.org/icc-may-issue-arrest-warrants-for-israeli-officials-this-week/
Netanyahu called this possible action “an outrage of historic proportions.” See here for his comments, which include a determined statement to move ahead regardless of what the ICC does. Scroll down for a YouTube statement by the prime minister in English. https://www.jewishpress.com/news/global/un/icc-notwithstanding-netanyahu-promises-to-destroy-hamas-and-rescue-hostages/2024/05/01/
~~~~~~~~~~
To exacerbate the situation, there are suggestions from political analysts that Biden gave the nod to the ICC to proceed with their action – that the ICC would not have contemplated this without his approval. This is plausible because he has not spoken out against it, which is what we might have expected from the man who assures us he has our back.
The most I have picked up is a comment from press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who said the Court does not have jurisdiction. Nothing from Biden himself. And even from Jean-Pierre no comment about how upset the president is with this, etc.
Compare this with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) who came out with a strong statement against the ICC. He additionally urged Biden to join him in pressuring the Court not to take this action. Biden did not heed him. https://jewishinsider.com/2024/04/johnson-urges-wh-to-push-icc-to-walk-back-plans-for-israeli-arrest-warrants/
And so, we do have friends, good friends, among the elected officials in the US, but not in the White House. Biden’s silence is totally despicable.
~~~~~~~~~~
Today was the day that Hamas, which very deliberately drags out deliberations on hostage negotiations, was supposed to deliver a decision on the most recent proposal but did not.
My own hunch (and I pray that I am not wrong) is that they will turn it down. From their perspective, the goal of the deal was to secure certain concessions from Israel. Primary among these was an Israeli agreement to a permanent ceasefire.
But Netanyahu made clear yesterday that this was not going to happen: “Israel will launch a ground offensive in Rafah,” he declared, “regardless of the success of truce talks.”
~~~~~~~~~~
I note here, as well, that our intelligence indicates that the remaining hostages are likely being held in tunnels in Rafah. Thus, it is believed that we may be able to recover some hostages when we go in.
~~~~~~~~~~
Today Secretary of State Blinken showed up here once again. His arrival usually precipitates a collective groan from many of us. He went on at great length about how Hamas absolutely must agree to the hostage deal that in on the table. Not surprisingly, his focus was on the ceasefire.
In the course of the day, Blinken – hosted by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant – visited Kibbutz Nir Oz, where Hamas terrorists tortured and slaughtered a large percentage of the residents and toured Kerem Shalom, one of the key land crossings used to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the civilian population in Gaza.
As The Jewish Press pointed out: “the entry of humanitarian aid through the Erez Crossing was made possible only after engineering work was carried out in the area by the Engineering Units and additional IDF forces.
“The forces constructed inspection and protection infrastructure in the area and paved roads in both Israeli and Gazan territory, enabling the entry of substantial amounts of aid to the northern part of the Gaza Strip.” https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/blinken-inspects-newly-opened-crossings-to-northern-gaza/2024/05/01/
I am confident that this was explained to Blinken.
The secretary of state received a security briefing with high level individuals including Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. And, of course, he met privately with Netanyahu.
Our prime minister told Blinken that Israel will not agree to terminate the current war with Hamas in exchange for a hostage deal.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, he said that the IDF will carry out its ground operation in Rafah, even if a hostage deal is secured. “The Rafah operation does not depend on anything.” https://worldisraelnews.com/israel-wont-end-gaza-war-in-exchange-for-hostage-deal-netanyahu-tells-blinken/
My response: Thank Heaven! Right on, Bibi!
~~~~~~~~~~
Blinken, for his part, said that Israel has yet to convince the US that it is prepared to ensure the safety of the Gazans currently in Rafah.
And I stop here to ask: When does a nation at war – fighting a moral war of self-defense – have to ensure the safety of all enemy civilians in the theater of the war? This is nonsense. There is always some collateral damage. A nation at best can work to minimize the damage, and this Israel has done consistently and will continue to do. The US has set up an impossible standard.
Blinken had said before coming into Israel that we must do “more” for the civilians of Gaza. Today, speaking to reporters, he declared:
“We cannot, will not support a major military operation in Rafah absent an effective plan to make sure that civilians are not harmed and no, we’ve not seen such a plan.” https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/blinken-says-us-cannot-support-rafah-assault-without-humanitarian-plan/
We knew that was coming.
~~~~~~~~~~
Now we await the beginning of a Rafah operation, which military experts say should come as soon as possible. Let us hope.
~~~~~~~~~~
Let your elected leaders in the US know that it is not only the progressive left that votes – that you are demanding support for Israel. Especially now!!
~~~~~~~~~~
Keep praying to Heaven for Israel. Pray for the strength and wisdom of our leaders, for the safety of our soldiers, and for the rescue of our hostages. Pray with a heart filled with hope.
~~~~~~~~~~
© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
