What is wrong with us?

T. Belman. Yesterday I made the same point.

Both Netanyahu and Gantz are responsible for allowing this illegal construction to go on and for not demolishing all such buildings. They are also the ones responsible for allowing all the smuggling to take place in Gaza and for  making Israel dependent on the US for resupply.  They are also responsible for the IDF lowering its guard leading to Oct 7.

And they are the people we are looking to to prosecute the War on Hamas.

We need a new conception.

The same people whose mistaken view of the situation allowed the massacre on October 7th, made the decision fot a ceasefire now. Op-ed.

By Cindy Grosz, INN       Nov 22, 2023, 3:39 PM (GMT+2)

Cindy GroszCourtesy

As the news of the so-called “hostage deal” is made public, I can’t help but feel we are being set up! How could our government in good conscience agree to accept only some of the hostages? Don’t they realize this will endanger our soldiers, by accepting a ceasefire as part of the absurd conditions being dictated by none other than Hamas!

Why would we trust them at all? They are negotiating only because we are getting close to their leaders, destroying many of them, and their tunnels. And, exposing them to a world which seems to believe them, regardless of the facts on the ground, and their own camera’s evidence.

But, the truth is I care little about world opinion, perhaps because I am simply one of “we the people”, with no interest other than what is good for my people and my country, at this point. While we are slowly getting over the total shock of Simchas Torah, otherwise known as Black Shabbat, October 7th, this year, our “war cabinet.” those dealing with the war,and making these weighty decisions, are the very same people who were asleep at the wheel, and who allowed this catastrophe to happen!

What’s changed in their mindset of appeasement and taking Hamas at its word?

We awoke to the worst massacre against our people in my lifetime. Since the Holocaust. Yes, we have seen horror, as cafes, pizzerias and buses blew up regularly during the Intifadas (aka the Oslo War).. And yes I remember the Fogel family slaughter and the Har Nof synagogue slaughter and not so long ago another night of slaughter in Never Yaakov, the last two perpetrated by Israeli Arabs who worked in those very neighborhoods!

But those were relatively “small” “events”, nothing to compare to what we saw in the south on October 7th! That was a whole other level of evil. I would say we are now engaged in the war against Amalek. It could not be more clear! The world likes to call it genocide…my sense is we are doing the world a favor!

And the prescription and first rule of war, when dealing with Amalek is, NO MERCY! They must ALL be destroyed. Even their animals! Men, women and yes, children too! Harsh? One only need see the footage shown to foreign journalists and ambassadors, to understand the degree of depravity and evil, done with “glee” as described by Douglas Murray, one of the few unbiased reporters that was on the ground in Israel since October 7th. In his words, this was even beyond the cruelty of the Nazis!

I have no need to apologize for our actions. If I had my say I would encourage more bombing from the air until the Gazans themselves beg the Egyptians to allow them to get out of Gaza.

Ever wonder why no Arab country wants even one?

Only under this “hostage exchange agreement” is the Red Cross going to be able to meet with the hostages. Why have they not met them yet? Where are the humanitarian gestures towards our people? Gas, food, water and fie; being allowed in for “humanitarian” aid…and what did we get in return?

Why are the Gazans deserving of our concern? I don’t get it? Is it because our so called “leaders” don’t have the courage to tell the Americans, that we promised our people we will restrict any kind of aid until our hostages are at least, seen by the Red Cross, before the ceasefire. I would have held out steadfastly until the Gazans were on their knees!

As we see the huge support worldwide for Hamas, we capitulate once again to those who understand only too well, that this show is coming to a theater near them…very very soon! Hamas is not a “group” it is a jihadist ideology. “From the river to the sea” calls for the genocide that they accuse us of moving towards.

Israel, and the Jews are always the canary in the coal mine, but it never ends with the Jews!

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Yossi Yehoshua, YNET: 

But the government and the military leadership still insist on averting their eyes from reality. In the war cabinet and the IDF General Staff, there’s not even a single voice challenging the false conception that led us to the disaster from which we’re now trying to save ourselves.

The same government responsible for the biggest failure in the country’s history is pushing the deal, which it says it has no choice but to accept. Even if people like IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, both highly commendable men of stature, stand fully behind the deal, it’s not certain that one can separate their responsibility from their justified sense of guilt.

It’s clear that without unanimous support of security officials, there would have been no deal. War cabinet members say that the strong push for the deal came from these officials, not from some ministers associated with the deal.

It is worth asking the soldiers in Gaza to what extent Sinwar has deceived us since his release from prison in the 2011 prisoner release in exchange for Gilad Shalit who was held captive by Hamas for five years. The immense scale of the underground city he built in Gaza was unknown to any Israeli intelligence officials.

Before October 7, no one realized that Palestinian protests on the Gaza border were a distraction from the larger goal, to invade and control Israeli communities close to the border with the Strip.\\Israel built a border wall it claimed would defend the border over and underground but Hamas trained in front of the watchful eyes of 18-year-old soldiers who relayed what they saw, just so their commanders could label them as hysterical women. We thought Qatari money flowing into Gaza and Palestinian workers being allowed into Israel indicated Hamas was becoming a political movement, while it prepared a decisive defeat for us. Somehow, it’s not enough for us to learn our lesson: everyone is playing the same tune.

One story encapsulates it all: Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who was in office during the disaster, formed a team tasked with challenging ideas and strategies proposed by the military by posing tough questions and reverse thinking. But who headed the team? Maj. Gen. (res.) Tamir Heyman, former head of the military intelligence, who missed the warning about Hamas’ attack in May 2021.

Back then, officials also repeated the magical phrase: “Hamas is deterred.” It’s impossible to distinguish between Heyman and the current chief of military intelligence’s Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, so why were the tough questions not being asked?

In response to concern that the deal would completely halt the war, the public was told that there was a commitment to renew the fighting after four days. but again, the enemy is an irrational player, a ruthless murderer, and one who knows how to exploit Israeli society’s soft underbelly.

Just as Hamas identified Israel’s internal crisis over Netanyahu’s judicial legislation, as an opportunity to attack, it uses the hostages to garner Israel’s public support for the deal while it prepares for future actions. From its perspective, the cost is in the lives of Gazans is negligible.

Somehow, the monster that sent terrorists to slaughter Israelis will receive legitimacy after releasing 50 captives out of over 200, helping him secure a complete cease-fire. Hamas will use the images of bodies buried under rubble in Gaza to enlist world support to stop Israel for continuing the war.

Even in these agreed-upon four days of pause in fighting, the IDF’s offensive momentum will be halted, allowing Sinwar to regroup and launch an improved offensive.

Meanwhile, the agreement on a temporary cessation of drone and UAV activity for several hours a day in Gaza poses a danger to IDF forces, and Israelis should doubt what former generals and other analysts say when they try to claim there are alternative solutions. The truth is simple: there are none.

Meanwhile, troops on the ground, at the peak of their offensive effort, will be forced to stop, commanders will have to avoid complacency and also deal with the mental difficulty of returning to full-fledged combat should the cease-fire end after four days. And what will the forces do if they are shot at? or if rockets are launched by other Gaza factions? Will there be a powerful response despite the danger to the return of the captives?

The deal focuses on Gaza but what of the northern front? Hezbollah continued to launch rockets and drones. In fact, this may be a time when Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah exploits what he may perceive as a weakness or vulnerability.

The IDF is a powerful army, and the soldiers are doing excellent work and are ready to pay with their lives to achieve the war’s goals, including bringing Israeli captives back home. But under the current conditions, Israel may miss a historic opportunity to fundamentally change Gaza, both by paying with the lives of soldiers and by missing out on a better deal.