Dear friends, if you share nothing else from this posting, I ask you please to share the mind-blowing information that follows immediately below:
“In addition to hosting Hamas battalions and their reinforcements from elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, Rafah is the site of ‘an intricate underground tunnel infrastructure that runs underneath the city and provides ample space for operatives, command and control rooms, and military equipment,’” according to testimony by Israeli attorney Gilad Noam, testifying at the International Court of Justice.
“Nearly 700 tunnel shafts have been identified in Rafah, from which approximately 50 tunnels cross into Egypt. These tunnels are used by Hamas to supply itself with weapons and ammunition, and could potentially be used to smuggle out of Gaza hostages or Hamas senior operatives.”
Fifty tunnels from Rafah into Egypt!
Observed Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies:
“Israel has finally lifted the veil on one of the region’s open secrets: that the Egyptians, while cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood in their midst, have been turning a blind eye and likely making a handsome profit off gun-running to Hamas, the Brotherhood’s Palestinian affiliate. This disclosure comes not a moment too soon. There are potentially dozens of hostages in Rafah — Americans among them, perhaps — who now face the prospect of being transported into the Egyptian Sinai, never to be seen again. The United States must use its diplomatic and military aid to Cairo to stop Cairo’s double game.” (Emphasis added here and above)
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/05/17/israel-50-rafah-tunnels-to-egypt-unearthed/
Dubowitz says, “the United States must use its diplomatic and military aid to stop Cairo’s double game.”
I would suggest it would be more realistic to say, “the United States should….” I have little faith that the Biden administration will do so. Biden is well known for his ability to turn a blind eye when it suits him; I have already written about the fact that he has applied no pressure on Egypt to allow Gazan civilians into the Sinai, even though the Egyptians are operating counter to international humanitarian law by blocking them.
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Israel has been saying for a long time that weapons are being smuggled to Hamas from the Sinai, while Egypt has been vociferously denying it.
Imagine, if you can, the disaster that would have ensued if Israel had bowed to Biden’s demands that the IDF not proceed with an operation into Rafah. Of late, Blinken – in an effort to dissuade us – had been insisting that such an operation would be futile. Blinken’s argument was that the operation would cause an unacceptable number of civilian casualties without defeating Hamas.
What we see now is that if four Hamas battalions had not only been permitted to continue functioning, but had been the on-going recipients of large quantities of weapons smuggled via 50 tunnels from the Sinai, we likely would not have been able to defeat Hamas. Then Biden and company would have said they told us so.
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Thankfully, we did not heed the warnings from Blinken, and are moving ahead in Rafah.
As to Blinken’s caveat that there would be an unacceptable number of civilians deaths caused by an IDF operation in Rafah, I note that – contrary to his predictions – casualty numbers have been exceedingly low.
Citing Dubowitz once again: “Just 12 days into Israel’s Rafah sweep, it seems that Western condemnation of Israel was overblown and premature. At this pace — barring more ill-timed and ill-judged interventions by the Biden administration — the city will be clear by month’s end for the IDF to crush Hamas’s last four remaining battalions.”
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini reports that 800,000 people have left Rafah in the last two weeks, headed for humanitarian zones.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/390178
Lazzarini called for an immediate ceasefire – no surprise – because the civilians are not safe.
But according to FDD analyst Ben Cohen, “Despite the critical stakes, Israel has prioritized the safety of Palestinian civilians in Rafah…”
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And here we have additional information that should be shared very broadly, my friends:
“The ratio of terrorists to Palestinian noncombatants killed during Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip is approximately one to one, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed this week.
“What Israel has done is take the effort to minimize civilian casualties as no other army has done…
“We use leaflets, we use millions of text messages, phone calls. We actually call the people, give up the benefit of surprise, tell them: ‘Get out of the way. Get out of the war zone so that we can accomplish our military objectives while you’re in a safe place.’”
https://www.jns.org/israel-releases-new-gaza-death-toll-claims-historically-low-civilian-deaths/
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The bitter, ugly, irony, then of International Court of Justice prosecutor Karim Khan saying today that he is seeking an arrest warrant for Netanyahu (along with Gallant) for war crimes in Gaza. For the prime minister of the nation that has managed the lowest civilian death rate in history in the course of fighting a defensive war to be charged with war crimes…there are no words that are adequate.
Please see the analysis of this situation by Professor Anne Bayefsky, the Director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and President of Human Rights Voices:
“”The move by the ICC Prosecutor is a political attempt to destroy the state of Israel dressed up as law… The Biden Administration bears direct responsibility for encouraging this move by repeatedly questioning the legality of Israel’s self-defense.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/390254
We must wait to see how this situation evolves, as the Court has not yet moved to issue warrants.
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The theme of this posting is duplicity, and thus it is appropriate that I turn to the actions of Minister without Portfolio Benny Gantz, head of the National Unity Party.
Gantz, who is center-left, has tended to adopt stances that are too “wishy-washy” (read leftist) for me. I remain bewildered by men of military experience who do not know how to stand strong for the nation. But when he, as minister of defense, invited the PA’s Mahmoud Abbas to his home for tea and cookies in late 2021, I wasn’t bewildered, I was furious.
Yet I admired him when he opted to join a unity government at the beginning of our war with Hamas after October 7. National unity was, and remains, important, and he was doing the right thing.
Apparently, however, he has had enough of unity. Thus, did he make his public statement Motzei Shabbat (after Shabbat). But it was not just a statement, it was an ultimatum directed to the prime minister. If certain policies, which he enumerated, were not enacted by June 8, he, and his party (consisting of eight members), would depart from the unity coalition. This would not take down the government but would potentially weaken it.
In the highly politicized stance that he has now assumed, I see the direct influence of the Biden administration. I cannot prove it with documentation, but I feel it in my gut, as do most of the analysts I have discussed this with.
In early March, Gantz took an unauthorized trip to Washington DC, meeting with US officials. Netanyahu was furious and found it necessary to remind Gantz that Israel has only one prime minister. The trip was organized without the prime minister’s approval and contrary to government regulations that require “every minister to clear travel in advance with the prime minister, including approval of the travel plan.”
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For Gantz and Biden alike this current move – designed to weaken Netanyahu – was undoubtedly perceived as politically constructive. Biden would give a great deal to be rid of our prime minister, who – to his considerable credit – has stood strong against US pressure. And Gantz envisions himself as a possible successor to Netanyahu.
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The entire notion of expecting Netanyahu to come through on all of Gantz’s demands in three weeks’ time is simply ludicrous. We have to ask if Gantz wants to be taken seriously. His demands:
[] the return of our hostages
[] the collapse of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip
[] the establishment of a governing alternative
[] the return of the evacuated residents of the north by September 1
[] the promotion of normalization [with Saudi Arabia]
[] the adoption of the Israeli military service outline
My brief comments here:
The demand that Israel secure the return of the hostages is a most troubling one. For it implies – as the demonstrators making these demands do as well – that it would be a simple matter for Netanyahu to do so if he wished. But he could only do so by acceding to the Hamas demand that the IDF pull out of Gaza, thereby making it impossible to secure the collapse of Hamas and demilitarization of Gaza. The two demands are simply mutually exclusive.
This is a painful reality that many refuse to contend with, and Gantz is apparently one of those who denies the reality. Or doesn’t care.
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Implicit in normalization with Saudi Arabia is a willingness to recognize a Palestinian state and move towards that “two-state solution.” Judging by his previous behavior, we can surmise that this is something Gantz could accept. Thank Heaven, this is not the direction Netanyahu is headed in – nor is it the direction the majority of Israelis would seek.
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The “establishment of a governing alternative” refers to what is commonly called plans for the “day after.” It is an exceedingly complex matter.
There are two overriding issues here. One is with regard to the Biden demand that the PA take over.
The other has to do with the IDF remaining in Gaza for a period of some time, primarily but not exclusively for security purposes. This is something the US is opposed to.
Please see Yaakov Lappin’s analysis of this situation:
“There are good reasons to believe that setting up a temporary Israeli military administration [in Gaza] is long overdue, and ending Hamas’s rule without this interim step appears fanciful.
https://worldisraelnews.com/idf-administration-in-gaza-a-necessary-interim-solution/
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The response from the prime minister’s office came swiftly after Gantz’s public statement:
“While our heroic soldiers are fighting to destroy the Hamas battalions in Rafah, Gantz chooses to set an ultimatum to the Prime Minister instead of setting an ultimatum to Hamas. The conditions set by Benny Gantz are whitewashed words that clearly mean ending the war and a defeat for Israel, abandoning most of the hostages, leaving Hamas intact, and establishing a Palestinian state. Our soldiers did not fall in vain and certainly not for the sake of replacing ‘Hamasstan’ with ‘Fatahstan.'” The Prime Minister’s Office said.
“If Gantz prefers the national interest and is not looking for an excuse to overthrow the government, he should answer the following three questions: 1 – Is he willing to complete the operation in Rafah to destroy the Hamas battalions, and if so, how is it possible that he threatens to dismantle the emergency government in the midst of the operation? 2 – Does he oppose civilian control of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, even without Abbas? 3 – Is he willing to accept a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank as part of the normalization process with Saudi Arabia?”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/390161
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I close with a video that warmed my heart and I hope will warm yours as well. This is who we are. A young boy, unidentified, is celebrating his bar mitzvah with soldiers. This was a tweet put up by Hillel Fuld. @Hilzfuld Click on the picture to view video.
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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.
