Today is Yom Hazikaron – Israel Memorial Day.
Always a day filled with pain, as families and friends visit the graves of loved ones who gave their lives protecting Israel – in the IDF, the police, the Shin Bet, or were murdered by terrorists.
This reality is part of what it means to live in Israel, and from year to year we cope with it, with dignity and deep sorrow.
But this year is different. We are still at war with Hamas, facing the inevitability of yet more deaths to be endured by our soldiers. At the same time, we remember with horror the massacre on October 7 as well as the fact that there are hostages still held by Hamas, many of whom are already dead. This sears our souls, for it calls up a situation that is incomprehensible, overwhelming, enraging.
There is no one in this country, I would guess, who does not know of someone who was killed in battle or at the hands of terrorists these past seven months.
And so, I take this moment to salute the memory of all who have died. And to mark the bravery of our dedicated young soldiers who understand why they are fighting and risk their lives willingly. On a regular basis, the news reports their deaths in battle. I go on-line and see their pictures, and my heart drops. Ach, another and another. Beautiful faces of sons and husbands and fathers.
My allusion above to “dark skies” was not meant allegorically – although that interpretation would be appropriate. Here in Jerusalem today we had chill winds, dark skies and even a bit of rain, all very unusual for May, but somehow fitting.
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Since last Yom Hazikaron, 1,594 Israeli soldiers and civilians have been slain. May their memories be for a blessing.
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Yet so complicated is this time, so anguished, that, while we mourn our deaths, we must also deal with, and mourn, the world response to what happened on October 7. This is in large part a response with an underpinning of anti-Semitism, and informed by a refusal to confront and recognize the consummate evil that was visited upon us.
Suddenly we have become the ‘bad guys,’ accused of killing tens of thousands of Gazan civilians. There is insufficient attention, if any at all, paid to the facts:
[] That the numbers cited come from the Gazan Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas – Hamas that distorts data.
[] That there is no distinguishing between how many of the dead were Hamas combatants and not civilians.
[] That some 20% of the dead were likely killed by Hamas rockets that misfired and fell short, inside of Gaza.
[] That Hamas utilizes civilians as human shields – sometimes refusing to let them seek shelter away from a combat area.
[] That our civilian to combatant ratio of those killed is the lowest in the world; the US, when fighting in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, killed a substantially higher percentage of civilians.
Facts do not matter to most, but it is important that we persist in citing them, while holding our heads high and continuing to do what we must because the issues are existential.
The UN has just substantially cut the statistics it is providing regarding numbers of women and children in Gaza said to have been killed during the war. In March it was claimed 13,450 children had been killed, a number that UNICEF called “staggering,” implying Israel might be guilty of war crimes. Now it is saying 7,797 Gazan children had died in the war—a drop of roughly 42%.
As to women, the UN dropped the number to have been killed from 9,500 to fewer than 5,000—a drop of almost 50%.
UN Secretary General António Guterres blamed the errors on the “fog of war,” but failed to explain why the first, higher set of numbers was accepted as accurate.
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The Biden administration, as has become obvious, wants to stop our operation in Rafah, claiming that it will cause too many civilians deaths. I find this position to be appalling. They are seeking to deny us the right to eliminate the ability of Hamas to repeat the massacre of October 7, which is precisely what Hamas has declared it intends to do. And they would deny us this right even as we take extraordinary care to avoid civilian deaths.
Secretary of State Blinken very recently declared that a major Israeli operation in Rafah will not finish Hamas: “there will still be thousands of armed Hamas left.”
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-800917
It is important to refute Blinken – who is attempting to make it sound as if our operation in Rafah would be futile, killing civilians without achieving our goal.
Israel’s leaders, military and political, have never claimed that we will be able to totally eliminate all members of Hamas during this war. That would be an impossible task.
What we are after is eliminating the ability of Hamas to inflict damage on us. We are doing this by going after commanders and command centers – so that they are no longer organized, and the average weapon-toting Hamas member is without guidance. We are after battalions, which consist of about 1,000 members in an organized group; there are four such remaining battalions in Rafah – 20 have already been dismantled as operating units. As well, we aim at destroying weapons caches, launching sites, and tunnels wherever we can.
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When this war is over (please Heaven, with our goals achieved), there will still be thousands of members of Hamas present in Gaza. It will be necessary for Israel to maintain a military presence there for some considerable duration – a year, more? – to ensure that they do not regroup and manage a resurgence. This is why we are now operating again in Jabaliya, in the north.
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I have already written about Biden’s threats to withhold weaponry if we do a major operation in Rafah, but Blinken has now reinforced this threat: “There are certain [weapons] systems that we will not provide Israel that would aid in that effort because it’s something that we do not want to be part of, given the damage that it would do to civilians.”
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Senate Republicans called a press conference to protest Biden’s threat to withhold weapons from Israel. Senator Ted Cruze (R-TX) spoke and what he said is well worth hearing and sharing:
The first half of this statement concerns Biden’s assistance to Iran, which provides funding to Hamas. It is worth listening to. At minute 3:55 the senator begins to address Biden’s treatment of Israel. He provides information that many do not know and that everyone should know.
“The Biden White House has been the most anti-Israel administration…since day one”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynwIT0gk-ro
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Lastly for today I offer this, beyond outrageous if it is indeed true:
“The Biden administration will share key intelligence with Israel about the whereabouts of Hamas’s leadership in Gaza if Israel agrees not to go ahead with its military operation in Rafah, according to The Washington Post.
“’The Biden administration, working urgently to stave off a full-scale Israeli invasion of Rafah, is offering Israel valuable assistance if it holds back, including sensitive intelligence to help the Israeli military pinpoint the location of Hamas leaders and find the group’s hidden tunnels, according to four people familiar with the U.S. offers,’ said the report.”
https://www.jns.org/report-us-offers-israel-sensitive-intelligence-on-hamas-to-avoid-rafah-op/
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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.
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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.
