Please, my friends, share this as broadly as you can, in all possible venues. If ever a post needed to be widely seen, this is it.
~~~~~~~~~~
I wept intermittently today, actually glad when I could cry, for the tears were lodged in my heart. When I told others I was crying, often the response that came back was, ”Yea, tell me about it,” or something similar. Today was a day of national weeping.
Today was the day that Hamas returned to us, as part of the “ceasefire deal,” the bodies of four Israelis who had been hostages.
One of the bodies was that of Oded Lifshitz, 84, a founding member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He was murdered more than a year ago by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which had held him hostage since Oct. 7. And his identity was confirmed via a forensic investigation at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv.
Oded believed in having good relations with the Palestinian Arabs who lived nearby in Gaza. He was a participant in a project called Road to Recovery and served as a volunteer, driving Arabs from Gaza – who required care in Israel – to the hospital.
We see how his Palestinian Arab neighbors rewarded him. This must not be forgotten.
~~~~~~~~~~
And then, according to Hamas, there were the bodies of Shiri Bibas, 33, and her two beautiful sons, Ariel, who was four when taken into captivity by Hamas and his baby brother Kfir, who was nine months old.
But as I write this, we cannot yet be certain that it is the bodies of this mother and her children who are in the coffins handed over to the IDF this morning. Oded’s identification was processed quickly. But identifying the three other bodies may take as long as 48 hours; it is a complex process that depends a great deal on the condition of the bodies and how they were kept since their deaths.
Obscene, vile, so painful to contemplate.
I do not want to wait for the final news to write, as Shabbat is coming. This must go out now. There will be a great deal more to say after Shabbat.
~~~~~~~~~~
From the early days after October 7, it was this beautiful Bibas family group that captured the heart of the nation.
Please scroll down here to the video clip of Ariel and his new baby brother. A beautiful family deserving of life and health and joy.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/02/20/world-shocked-by-hamas-barbarity/
They also were captured from Kibbutz Nir Oz. When the fact of their capture made the news, we agonized, asking ourselves again and again: What sort of monsters take a nine-month-old and four-year-old captive?? How are they being cared for?? Where are they??
Their captures epitomized the evils of Hamas in Israeli consciousness.
The pain was enlarged recently when Yarden Bibas, husband and father, was released from captivity. In his face we were able to see all of his anguish and fear and deep, deep sadness. Now I am thinking of him, and the torture he must be enduring.
Early today, the family put out a message: “Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over.
“We ask the media and the public to respect our privacy and refrain from contacting us about this matter.”
Until they know for certain, they don’t know.
~~~~~~~~~~
A very respectful process was put in place by Israel, when receiving these four deceased hostages. Hamas (and – trust me! – I will get to them below) turned the coffins over to the Red Cross at Khan Younis, who turned them over to the IDF inside of Gaza. The deceased were placed in different coffins and draped in Israeli flags. IDF chief rabbi, Brigadier General Eyal Karim, officiated at a short service. There was no media present.
The Kaddish was recited, and Rabbi Karim recited Psalm 83 over the coffins:
“A song, a psalm of Asaph. O God, do not be silent; do not hold aloof; do not be quiet, O God! For Your enemies rage, Your foes assert themselves. They plot craftily against Your people, take counsel against Your treasured ones. They say, ‘Let us wipe them out as a nation; Israel’s name will be mentioned no more.’ Unanimous in their counsel they have made an alliance against You— the clans of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria too joins forces with them; they give support to the sons of Lot. Selah.
“Deal with them as You did with Midian, with Sisera, with Jabin, at the brook Kishon— who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the field. Treat their great men like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, who said, ‘Let us take the meadows of God as our possession.’ O my God, make them like thistledown, like stubble driven by the wind. As a fire burns a forest, as flames scorch the hills, pursue them with Your tempest, terrify them with Your storm. Cover their faces with shame so that they seek Your name, O LORD. May they be frustrated and terrified, disgraced and doomed forever. May they know that Your name, Yours alone, is the LORD, supreme over all the earth.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The bodies were then placed in IDF ambulances, and a convoy crossed out of Gaza and brought them to the forensic institute. The weather was bad today, with intermittent heavy rain, but hundreds came out along the way to honor the deceased hostages.
~~~~~~~~~~
Let us back up, here, and consider the obscene “ceremony” that Hamas held in Khan Younis before turning the bodies over the Red Cross.
Elder of Ziyon described it well:
“The main backdrop shows a vampire-like Netanyahu with the words ‘The war criminal Netanyahu and his Nazi Zionist army killed them with missiles from Zionist warplanes.’ Kfir, Ariel, Shiri and Oded are shown.
“Beneath it a poster said, ‘We never forgive nor forget. Al Aqsa Flood [i.e., Oct. 7] was our promise.’
“There are four coffins on stage next to models of American missiles.
“On the left was a poster of ‘Zionist Nazism in numbers’ with the typical bogus Hamas statistics.
“On the right is a poster showing a Palestinian as a tree with deep roots facing Israeli tanks and a series of coffins with the Israeli flag on them, with the caption ‘The return of war = the return of your prisoners in coffins.’”
https://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2025/02/propaganda-as-modern-terrorism.html
~~~~~~~~~~
I have seen several descriptions for the propaganda show that Hamas put on: grotesque, depraved, abhorrent, cruel. They all fit, and more. In the end, I think we might say ein milim, there are no words. No words for the obscenity of making a propaganda show over the dead bodies of children.
Arutz Sheva noted that the crowds that came out for this “release ceremony” included children. This should not be overlooked when we talk about “innocent civilians.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/404213
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel National News also noted that, “The IDF checked the coffins they received from Hamas to make sure they were not booby-trapped. Hamas had also locked the coffins but not provided the keys to the locks.”
Consider the implications here.
~~~~~~~~~~
The spectacle was so ugly that elements of the international community noticed for the first time.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk condemned the behavior of Hamas:
“Under international law, any handover of the remains of deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families.”
Members of the Red Cross also objected to Hamas behavior.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/404229
~~~~~~~~~~
How then do we respond to this obscenity?
There are those who will say that as we see how inhumane the behavior of Hamas is, we must commit ourselves ever more deeply to bringing out all of the hostages still in the hands of Hamas, no matter the cost.
What I see is just the opposite.
Hamas has demonstrated that there are no depths to which it will not sink.
Thus must we destroy and eradicate Hamas. Without conditions, without halfway measures, without concessions, without “deals” that leave it standing.
I pray we will still be able to bring out additional hostages (after the six scheduled to come out on Saturday).
But if we do not eradicate this evil in our midst, the price we would pay going forward would be very great indeed. We must have the strength to do what must be done.
I pray that the world, having finally been offended by Hamas behavior, might be a bit more supportive going forward, but I know it falls to us.
~~~~~~~~~~
I ask for prayers for Israel’s wellbeing – for the wisdom and strength of our leaders and the safety of all Am Yisrael.
~~~~~~~~~~
©Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
