How have we allowed ourselves to revert back to the toxicity of political opposition that prevailed on October 6th last year, playing into the hands of our enemies?
Douglas Altabef INN:DA
These are difficult and frustrating days for Israel. We seem to be dithering in Gaza, absorbing body blows in the North, and are increasingly becoming more contentious, divisive and disruptive in the prioritization of our efforts.
There are those who want to make sure that we are doing everything, absolutely everything, we can to free our hostages. This overarching desire often does not confront the reality of what such a priority would entail.
Implicit in the demonstrations that are increasingly resembling the pre-October 7th judicial reform protests, is the conviction that we, meaning PM Netanyahu and his “far Right” coalition members, are to blame for the failure to release all the hostages.
This attitude is reflected in the mantra, “bring them home now.” Such a cry assumes that the decision to bring hostages home lies with us, and that it is only a failure of will or resolve on our parts that has created an impasse.
Would that this were so! Would that the decision was up to us. Unfortunately, it has been crystal clear that it is Hamas who is calling the shots when it comes to the hostages, who is setting the parameters and who has shown little urgency to bring about a deal.
Why? Simply because the more obstinate, demanding and intransigent they are, the better the terms that they can expect.
This is a reverse of the situation early in the war when extensive and effective IDF action brought Hamas to the table, with the result that close to half the hostages were released.
Now the situation is quite different. The IDF continues to be quite effective, but its mandate is increasingly limited. We have allowed the Americans and their politically infused priorities to dictate the course of not only the negotiations, but all the aspects of how the war will be conducted: Rafah, humanitarian aid, the desire to wrest us from the Philadelphi Corridor, etc. because we need their weapons.
It is fairly apparent that American ideas and goals have at least one eye on the upcoming election, and the need to placate anti-Israel groups and constituencies as part of the election campaign.
There is the continuing unwillingness to let Israel win, even though the result has been the continuing humiliation of American efforts and initiatives.
Most concerning, we are seeing the rise of well-funded and well-organized anti- Netanyahu forces that have co-opted many hostage families into an effort to “bring them home now,” meaning to pay any price in order to do so.
One does not have to be Metternich nor Churchill to see how all of this merely plays into Hamas’s hands. Sinwar and his cronies must be ecstatic to see the growing internal dissension here, and the willingness of those they regard as the “useful idiots” who are in effect advocating for the preservation and restoration of Hamas, and the greater likelihood of future and sooner October 7ths.
The refusal by the government to go along with this exercise in societal hari kari is portrayed of course as self-serving and the product of far-Right extremism, when it is really leadership.
Rather than honestly confront the implications of a “hostages first” orientation, its proponents pooh-pooh its security implications in ways eerily reminiscent of October 6th hubris.
In addition, they refuse to take ownership of the idea that they are only incenting Hamas to demand ever more extreme positions, confident that they will have a built cheering section advocating their acceptance.
The most painful aspect of the “do whatever it takes to get the hostages back” approach is that the two likely results of it are both dystopic.
The proposals on the table envision staged releases in the context of increasingly diminished IDF activity in Gaza. Even those fervently supporting such a plan know that the likelihood of actualizing the subsequent stages is small. Therefore, the hostage release will become a lottery, with those not initially selected for release consigned to a nether world of uncertainty, being smuggled out of the country or death.
The other horrific specter is the number and nature of the Hamas terrorists that will be released as part of the hostage release. Here we must recognize that we have sown the seeds, as it were, for future terror attacks. Not only will many released terrorists return to the attack, as did Sinwar and so many others in the wake of the Galid Shalit trade, but the clear message is that hostage taking pays, since it assures captured terrorists of a likely subsequent release.
A further peril of the current environment is the loss of the sense that those who do not share our point of view are nevertheless acting from well-intentioned convictions. Instead, we are increasingly emulating the highly polarized American and Western European citizenries, where those who disagree with us are to be demonized.
Depending on who one speaks with, a significant cohort of Israelis are either fascists or traitors.
How have we allowed ourselves to revert back to the toxicity of political opposition that prevailed on October 6th last year? Haven’t we understood that shattering our fragile but essential unity only plays into the hands of our enemies?
Perhaps the visceral hatred of the PM runs too deep among so many that a reasoned reassessment of his approach and the motivations for them is impossible. But we need to recognize that this sanctimonious condemnation is ultimately self-defeating. Do Bibi haters really believe that subsequent leaders will be able to act in ways very different from that of the Prime Minister?
It is time for us to recognize that we are in this together, that we all want hostages released and Hamas defeated. And we need to impute good faith and similar motivations for the safety, security and success of Israel and its people to those who disagree with us on tactics and priorities.
Benjamin Franklin said it best: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately.”
Douglas Altabef is Chairman of the Board of Im Tirtzu and a Director of the Israel Independence Fund
EvRe1,
Nice post. Thank you.
It must be very difficult being in Israel at this point in time. Neither the war in Gaza nor the conflict with Hezbollah has been won. The murder of hostages is acutely painful in and of itself, but is also a painful reliving of October 7th.
This situation is exactly what Hamas and all the supporters of Islamic terrorism want: pain that tears the Israeli people apart.
This article helps flesh out the details, but what we are seeing is that the progressive left is the willing handmaiden to Islamic terrorism and genocide, but they are blind to this. They see themselves as compassionate towards their Muslim brothers and sisters. Instead of seeing genocidal barbarians, they see innocent victims.
But there are also those on the left that are willing to use progressive dupes to hold onto the globalist power structures that aim to destroy nation states and turn national sovereignty into global one world government.
The globalists at the top of the food chain bring us only depopulation, a new feudalism, and impoverishment to all but the selected few. These people cannot get elected by any country because their policies appeal to no one but themselves and serve no one but their self interest.
Globalism is totalitarian tyranny, and it is happy to use Islamic radical terrorism and Marxist happy warriors to attempt to defeat and destroy democratically elected governments around the world.
Whether they are Fascist or Marxist matters little, the end results of totalitarian control, massive numbers of deaths, and destruction always follow.
From here in the US I see an Israeli PM who has not and will not give in to the Biden-Harris demands for defeat. I see an incredibly successful ground and air campaign in Gaza, with plans for even more destruction of the Hamas machinery: human beings turned into murder machines. Almost all battalions have been defeated. The tunnel system and the Hamas-Egypt relationship has been unearthed, with Egypt’s betrayal of Israel (and even of Gazans) now clear as the light of day.
I see a victorious Israeli pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah, and I see Hezbollah as hemorrhaging support from the people of Lebanon. I see Hezbollah terrorists being assassinated daily, so their ranks are slowly being decimated.
The only potential problem I can see is a plan (being discussed but not yet decided upon) to have the UAE administer Gaza after the war. Given the role MBZ has played, this sounds like a dreadful mistake. I hope this plan ends up being trashed.
When you take into account how much the Biden-Harris administration has pressured Israel to stand down every step of the way, it is pretty amazing the success of the IDF and IAF.
There will always be protesters. Perhaps Israelis are understandably sensitive to a sense of chaos when these same protesters take to the streets, given that the last time they did so, Israel suffered the worst mass atrocity in her history. Because that happened before a great national tragedy and trauma, it can be difficult to get perspective on the actual power these protesters have, as opposed to their empty threats and hostile, backbiting rhetoric.
It’s time to focus on Israel’s accomplishments so far in this war: the people of Israel have accomplished something heretofore considered impossible. They will soon conclude the war in Gaza with as near a complete defeat of Hamas as is possible.
I do not think anyone in Israel or anywhere else thought that was ever likely to happen before the 7th of October.