See the statement by Prime Minister Netanyahu to members of AIPAC on Monday.
“We have to win this war,” he told them. “It is within reach…first of all because of the incredible courage of our people and our soldiers…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ugNJEYA48
He tells it true, when he says that we in Israel support plans to “finish the job.”
Elsewhere, Bibi said, “So, let’s be clear, if we stop the fighting now it means that Israel has lost the war, and we will not allow that. That is why we must not give in to these pressures, and we will not do so.”
As of last Friday, the prime minister had approved an IDF plan for the operation in Rafah to eliminate the Hamas battalions there. It includes plans to first move out the civilian population.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/386805
We are told that it will be a few weeks until everything is in place (how many weeks?). And then?
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About a month ago, our marvelous friend Douglas Murray made this exceedingly pertinent observation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY__R1ylXVc
“The Israeli people are the only people in the world not allowed to win a war. Everybody else in the world is. But Israel, whenever it begins to win, is told to stop.”
He saw it coming, just as many of us did.
It is unbearable, it is enraging. And it is incomprehensible. Wait! You want to scream. How could you have forgotten so quickly the atrocities of October 7? How could you seek to deny us our right to finish the immoral enemy that has sworn to come at us again?
Yet we have Biden and Blinken, purportedly our friends, criticizing our efforts. The hook on which they hang their claim that we must stop – or significantly diminish – the fighting is civilian casualties. According to Secretary of State Blinken, Israel must safeguard Palestinian civilians as its “number one priority.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/blinken-protecting-civilians-must-be-job-number-one-for-israel/
But he’s wrong. Our number one priority is taking out the enemy that is an existential threat.
Israel has taken extraordinary care to avoid damaging civilians – a mammoth job when Hamas is using those same civilians as human shields. I have covered this ground before. We have warned them of impending military action and moved them from sites of combat. Our ratio of terrorists (combatants) killed to civilians killed (1 to 1.5) is incredibly good. According to the United Nations, the average combatant-to-civilian death ratio in urban warfare is 1 to 9. But it’s not good enough for the international community. It will never be good enough.
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Our situation is greatly exacerbated by the distortions – the exaggerations in number of civilians killed and in the risks of starvation that that they are facing.
“The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification known as the IPC made a doomsday prediction earlier this week, stating on its website that ‘Famine is imminent as 1.1 million people, half of Gaza, experience catastrophic food insecurity …’ The UN relies on this information.
COGAT, which coordinates and facilitates humanitarian aid entering Gaza, says the report quotes Hamas figures uncritically, and that the report is outdated before its publication. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said that there is no lack of food in Gaza, the problem is orchestrated by Hamas.
“There is stable food supply in southern Gaza; markets are bustling, food stocks are piled up in the aid agency warehouses in northern Gaza, where 10 to 15 percent of Gazans remain,” says Mencer.
Hamas steals as much as 60% of food brought in and then sells it at exorbitant prices.
But all of this is glossed over.
Fingers are not pointed at Hamas, or at Egypt, which could take the civilians into Sinai temporarily and allow aid to reach them there, but chooses not to. There is an insistence on the part of the international community that the Gazan civilians cannot be moved elsewhere, even though refugees from war always seek to flee elsewhere.
And then fingers are pointed at Israel.
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I want to stop here and look at the concept of proportionality, which is so badly misunderstood. Even our friend Douglas Murray has it wrong. It has nothing to do with not killing more people in Gaza than Hamas killed on October 7. It is not a numbers game.
According to International Humanitarian Law, an attack is forbidden that may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian human life…which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/api-1977/article-51
A theoretical example from my head: The IDF has identified a major tunnel with a command center that sends messages to fighters. It is important to take out that command center to protect our troops in the area. If our military commanders were to decide that it would be easiest if we were to drop dozens of heavy bombs in the general area of that tunnel in order to take out the command center, even though many hundreds of civilians would be killed, this would not be acceptable. The loss of civilian life would be excessive for the advantage of taking out the command center, when it would be possible to do limited shelling and then send in ground troops to take it out. If ground troops that went in found it necessary to engage in gun battles in which some (smaller) number of civilians were killed, this would be acceptable. Some incidental loss of civilian life can be justified by the military advantage gained.
It is not the case that collateral damage is never acceptable. In war, this happens. But it must be weighed against the military advantage to be gained.
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On Monday, Netanyahu had a lengthy phone conversation with Biden – the first in some time. The president indicated that the US could not support a major action in Rafah but would favor a “limited operation.”
On Tuesday, Netanyahu told a closed-door session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee that “we have no other choice.
“I made it clear to the president in our conversation, in the clearest way, that we are determined to complete the elimination of these battalions in Rafah. And there is no way to do it, other than the entrance ground of ground forces.”
https://www.jns.org/no-other-choice-netanyahu-defying-biden-on-rafah-op/
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Netanyahu alluded to another significant goal to be achieved when going into Rafah: taking control of the Philadelphi corridor, which runs along the border with the Sinai. This is the only way to prevent smuggling of additional weaponry to Hamas. He said we are also looking at another entry point into Gaza, and improvement in distributing humanitarian aid.
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At Biden’s request, Netanyahu agreed to send a top delegation to Washington to discuss the Rafah operation. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer (to Blinken’s left in the picture) and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi will be going, likely next week. This is not ringing bells for me: I expect that basically they will play the game and hold their ground. Someone from COGAT will go with them to discuss aid distribution.
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At the same time that all of this is going on, we have re-entered indirect hostage negotiations with Hamas. The negotiating is being done by Qatar and Egypt, with messages carried by them between the Israeli team and the Hamas team. (They will all be in the same hotel in Doha.) We are being told that Hamas will take some days in-between responses because of communication with Sinwar. No point in rushing this when it’s possible to slow things down.
Hamas modified its position a bit, so that the Americans are saying that there is some chance of success now. I don’t really believe this is the case. Once again, Israel is going through the motions – there is enormous pressure on the government to get the hostages out – but has expressed pessimism.
The single biggest sticking point remains: As we entered “stage one” – a six-week ceasefire – we would have to agree that in stage two we would negotiate an end to the fighting. Additionally, there is a non-starter with regard to prisoners released in exchange for the hostages. Reportedly they want over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners, including roughly 100 serving lifetime sentences for murdering Israelis, in exchange for the release of 40 female, elderly and wounded hostages. This is more than double what Israel had agreed to, and as I understand it, they want to pick which prisoners are released.
I raise yet another question. Netanyahu had demanded a list of those hostages who are still alive. Some 50 to 70 are thought dead. I have seen no report that this request was honored. So, do we know who would be released?
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It seems clear to me that the negotiations were re-started as a stalling tactic with regard to our going into Rafah. Qatar has already warned that it will complicate negotiations if we go in. It could be that those negotiations will fall apart before we even get in. If this is not the case, then the answer must be that we will stop in Rafah temporarily if and when a ceasefire is successfully negotiated.
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In spite of all of this, we are making some significant military progress:
The targeted death of Marwan Issa, deputy to the military wing’s leader Muhammed Deif, has been confirmed. After an Israeli air-strike on a tunnel in central Gaza, where he was believed to be, it was said there was a probability that he was taken out – he was still buried in the rubble. It took some days for a final confirmation, which came from the US. Issa, who had been involved in planning the October 7 massacre, had been particularly elusive.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/white-house-confirms-israel-killed-hamas-no-3-in-strike-last-week/
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The really big news is with regard to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. We had cleared that site of terrorists many weeks ago and pulled back.
The terrorists, however, admitting now that they never dreamed the IDF would return, had gone back in and were caught in an extremely significant operation that began earlier in the week. That operation is on-going as I write. Soldiers of the IDF’s 401st Brigade, the Duvdevan Unit, and Shayetet 13, along with Shin Bet forces, are involved in the fighting.
So far, some terror 350 suspects have been apprehended — in addition to the arrest of 250 confirmed terrorists. Weapons and military equipment were located throughout the hospita: Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns, magazines, mortars, grenades, RPGs, and combat gear. Additionally, cash totaling more than NIS 11 million (about $3 million) was found in the hospital compound.
An IDF source said that “We’re sitting on a goldmine,” with regard to what is being discovered at Shifa. Not only are terrorists being interrogated, Hamas military archives and binders have been seized.
Most of the terrorists surrendered. One terrorist said: “I understood that Allah left me with two choices: surrender or die, and I chose to surrender.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387048
Just today it was announced that Mahmoud Kawasme, the last remaining conspirator at large from the Hamas kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in 2014, was captured.
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What must be emphasized is the care being taken not to disturb patients and staff in the hospital.
“Israeli forces supplied the Shifa Hospital Emergency Room with two generators on Tuesday, in addition to sending technicians to repair problems with the ER’s electricity and to maintain the generators, IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said. That assistance came in addition to providing supplies of food and water to those in the hospital.”
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Tomorrow is the Fast of Esther – particularly significant this year as we pray for the safety of our people. After Shabbat, on Sunday, Purim will be celebrated, and then on Monday, Shushan Purim in Jerusalem, a walled city.
To all celebrating I wish joy and peace.
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I recently discovered a video of Hatikva sung in English. Truth be told, I far prefer it in Hebrew, but I thought the accompanying video was so moving I decided to share it. The heart fills with pride and love. Enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2FZsuaneAc
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Dear friends, before I ask you to pray, I ask, if you are in America, that you spread the word far and wide of your support for Israel.
Most importantly, let your elected leaders know that it is not only the progressive left that votes – that you are demanding support for Israel.
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And then: 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.
