On Sunday, the IDF announced the death of six hostages whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel 20 meters deep in Rafah, not far from where Farhan Alkadi had been rescued.
The six were Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Uri Danino, 25, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27.
With the exception of Carmel Gat, who was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Be’eri, the others were taken hostage at the Nova music festival.
The IDF had already located them and were moving towards saving them.
Autopsies indicated that they were killed, brutally, roughly 24 to 72 hours before the army got to them. They were shot in the head at close range.
~~~~~~~~~~
Best known of the six hostages was Hersh Goldberg-Polin (top left above). His parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, had run an unending campaign to “Bring Hersh Home!” with signs and posters seen all over the Jerusalem area where the Goldberg-Polin family lives and beyond.
Some months ago, Hamas had put out a video of Hersh, so that his family knew he was still alive. Very recently Jon and Rachel spoke, movingly and with dignity, at the Democratic Convention.
The family holds joint Israeli-American citizenship and thus Hersh’s situation was of particular interest in the US. Hersh had been about five when his family made aliyah; he is survived by two younger sisters.
~~~~~~~~~~
Hersh was buried in Jerusalem on Monday. There had been a delay while waiting for relatives from America to arrive. I have information that any relatives in the US who wished to come were brought at no cost to them by El Al Airlines and the Israeli government.
Thousands of people stood along the route taken by the funeral procession to honor Hersh and his family.
Speeches given at the funeral were exceedingly moving, none more so than the incredibly eloquent words of Hersh’s mother Rachel Goldberg-Polin (who spoke in English). Please take the time to hear her:
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/395544
~~~~~~~~~~
The shock of learning how close our soldiers had come to rescuing the six further inflamed very heightened tensions in the country.
On the left there have been massive demonstrations for some time calling on Prime Minister Netanyahu to reach an agreement– an agreement that would require leaving the Philadelphi Corridor (the site of weapons smuggling by Hamas) and permit hundreds, if not thousands, of dangerous terrorists in our prisons to be released.
My position is clear and has not changed. It is hardly my opinion alone. We cannot stop this war until we have won and defeated Hamas – otherwise we will face other October 7 massacres down the road. And we will have lost essential deterrence, as Hezbollah and Iran are watching. We cannot release large numbers of terrorists without putting our population at serious risk for attacks in the future (and more on this below).
Those who agree include the members of the Tikva Forum, parents of hostages who insist we must not cave to Hamas, and families of soldiers who have died, who say we must defeat Hamas or their soldiers (more than 700 in number now) will have died in vain.
I share here a link to an assessment of the situation by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, who maintains that it is essential for the IDF to stay at the Corridor:
https://jcpa.org/article/israeli-presence-on-the-philadelphi-corridor-is-vital/
~~~~~~~~~~
The large-scale demonstrations calling for a surrender to Hamas in order to bring home the hostages is about a good deal more than the hostages: it is a political movement designed to bring Netanyahu down. Among those making the most noise in this regard, fueling the fury of the crowds, is head of the opposition Yair Lapid, whose position I find deplorable. Standing along with him are Benny Gantz and Yair Golan.
Unfortunately, I must also include here Yoav Gallant, Minister of Defense (Likud), who has publicly argued against Netanyahu that stepping away from the Philadelphi Corridor would not be a problem.
It is painful, painful to observe this dissension when we should be standing together.
And in my opinion, it is deplorable to see the finger pointed at Netanyahu instead of at Hamas and the international community that has not stood firmly against Hamas.
~~~~~~~~~~
Caroline Glick, in a recent analysis, addresses this situation:
“Sinwar’s Israeli Accomplices: The generals, the left’s political leaders and the rioters in the streets are all playing the roles the Hamas chief assigned them.”
Glick writes (emphasis added):
“Rather than respond to the heartbreaking news [of the murder of the six hostages] with condemnations of Hamas and demands that Israel fight to victory; rather than call for Israel to execute an equal or larger number of Hamas terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 atrocities who are currently in Israeli jails, Israel’s opposition leaders in the Knesset have joined the anarchist groups in blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Hamas’s murder of the six…
“…Have they lost their minds?
“Hamas took the hostages on Oct. 7 because its calculating leader Yahya Sinwar rightly identified hostages as Israel’s soft underbelly….
“Sinwar’s war strategy has been the same since the outset of the war: To use international pressure and domestic political unrest to compel Israel to capitulate to his demands. If he and Hamas are able to survive, Hamas wins. Obviously, the hostages are a key means of accomplishing his goal.”
https://www.jns.org/sinwars-israeli-accomplices/
~~~~~~~~~~
A new IDF assessment of what happened on October 7 indicates that 6,000 Gazans crossed the border to commit mayhem on that day. Some 3,800 were terrorists from the Hamas terror group’s elite Nukhba forces; another 2,200 Gazans came with them. Some were from other terror groups, and many were what would be called “civilians” – who came to loot and participate in the massacre.
Another 1,000 terrorists remained inside of Gaza to launch rockets that day. In total then, there were 7,000 Gazans involved in the attack on Israel.
Dare we risk a repeat of this?
~~~~~~~~~~
As if all of this is not enough, on Sunday there was also news of three policemen killed outside of the PA city of Tarkumiya near Hevron, in Judea: Ch.-Insp. Arik Ben Eliyahu, Senior-NCO Hadas Branch, and Adv.-St.-Sgt.-Maj. Roni. The terrorist was then taken down by security forces.
This is an indication of the growing terror threat in Judea & Samaria – a threat that I will consider in depth going forward.
Said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on September 1, following the murder of the police officers (emphasis added):
“I would like to address the prime minister, my colleagues in the Cabinet and the minister of defense. We are one step away from Oct. 7 in Judea and Samaria.
“We have the opportunity to do what we failed to do in Gaza on the night between Oct. 6 and 7. To restore barriers…and to strike terrorism with a hard blow.
“Gaza, Lebanon, and Judea and Samaria are part of the same Iranian choke ring that seeks to destroy the State of Israel. We are proving in Gaza that there is a military solution to terror. We must prove this here in Judea and Samaria and in Lebanon against Hezbollah.”
https://www.jns.org/smotrich-were-one-step-away-from-oct-7-in-judea-and-samaria/
He is 100% correct and the terror risk in Judea & Samaria must not be minimized or ignored.
~~~~~~~~~~
Keep praying to Heaven for Israel.
Pray for the safety of all Israel.
Pray for the strength and wisdom of our leaders, for the safety of our soldiers, and for the rescue of our hostages.
Pray in a spirit of hope.
~~~~~~~~~~
©Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
