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| Some of the hostages still being held by Hamas (AJC) |
A lot of people are therefore extremely upset that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to have a different priority – winning the war against Hamas and lately Hezbollah, or perhaps more importantly destroying Iran’s ability to ever hurt Israel again, Iran is after all responsible for all terrorism against Israel by those two entities as well as other of its proxies.
Hostage families are angry. I have often said that I can’t really blame them for feeling this way. Especially now after a year of pure mental torture. These families wake up every morning with thoughts of dread about what the hostages themselves must be going through. Many of these families along with sympathetic protestors fill the streets of Tel Aviv on what seems like a daily basis increasingly angry - cursing Netanyahu for unnecessarily prolonging the war instead of ending it with some sort of deal for the release of the hostages.
I of course completely understand how these families feel. I cannot imagine what they have been going through for an entire year now!
However, with respect to the protestors that have been joining them I can’t help but feel that they are blaming the wrong person for their own selfish reasons. It wasn’t Netanyahu that kidnapped these hostages. Although he may share some of the blame for the security lapse that allowed it to happen, it was an Iran supported and funded proxy, Hamas - led by Yahya Sinwar who kidnapped them. I never hear a single protester blaming Hamas or Sinwar for that. Just Netanyahu - blaming him for ignoring the hostages and prolonging the war for his own selfish reasons.
Here the truth. Netanyahu agreed to a hostage deal last November that freed many hostages at the expense of a temporary cease fire and the release of many Palestinian prisoners. And with respect to recent negotiations, he has agreed to a lot of Sinwar’s demands. But every time Netanyahu agrees, Sinwar adds more conditions. This is a fact stated – not by me – but by Biden administration officials involved in the so-called negotiations. Unlike the Netanyahu hating Israeli protesters (and their American sympathizers), Biden administration officials have been blaming Sinwar a lot more than Netanyahu.
It is quite obvious to me that those protesting along with hostage family members are the same Netanyahu haters that protested him before October 7th of last year. The language they use about him is so vile, you would think they were talking about Sinwar. It is almost as though to them - Hamas had nothing to do with it!
OK. Let us grant that the protesters know that they can have no influence on Sinwar. And are protesting the only person that might respond to public pressure.
But in almost every instance when a protester is asked about what Netanyahu should do, the answer is invariably to demand a cease fire in exchange for the hostages . ‘Whatever it takes’ to bring them home! Arguing that the war has gone on long enough.
Well, I’m pretty sick of the war too. Too many good people have died or suffered severe injuries battling Hamas - and now Hezbollah. I want to see it all end now too. No wants peace more than I do.
‘Make a deal and bring them home!’ is a nice slogan. But Israel cannot make a deal that would involve self destruction. And that is the only deal that Sinwar will agree to. He wants to empty Israeli prisons of Palestinian terrorists with blood on their hands. He wants Israel to leave Gaza. And he wants to open up its Gaza’s borders - the purpose of which is to reconstitute Hamas to its former glory. Only this time with the additional terrorists (freed by Israel) at his disposal.
It is therefore imperative for Israel to fight to the finish rather than to agree to a deal that will harm more Jews that it will free hostages.
Netanyahu is right to carry on the war on all fronts against those who would annihilate Israel given the chance.
Those like the protesters - who disagree, see Netanyahu as a self serving politician whose only goal is to stay in power; thereby prolonging the war towards that end; and could not care less about the hostages. They will not be convinced. To them he is warmonger who would sell his soul to the devil to retain power and whose polices will usher in world war III.
I do not see him that way. And thankfully there are a lot of Israelis that do not see him that way either. And actually support what he’s doing. Don’t know if they are a majority or not but the country is pretty evenly divided. Polls have shown an increase in his popularity recently too.
There are also a lot of good people in the US that support what he’s doing. The vast majority of conservative politicians and Senator John Fetterman have been urging him to ‘finish the job’ and criticizing the Biden administration for putting the brakes on Netanyahu. Military experts have been saying the same thing. At least the ones I have heard interviewed.
They all seem to agree, for example, that Iran should pay a heavy price for attacking Israel. And that Israel has many legitimate options in that regard that the US should support. Like bombing their missile launching sites, bombing their above ground nuclear development sites, bombing their oil fields... And yet while President Biden agrees that Iran deserves a severe response for attacking Israel with 200 missiles last week, he doesn’t think they should do any of those things because it will widen the war.
As the conservative politicians and military experts have been saying, ‘Don’t hole Israel back! Let them finish the job’.
Meanwhile, what about the hostages? Hopefully there can be anther successful IDF rescue. I’m sure Israel is working on it. But it does not seem like a viable option. Sad to say, I have no good answer for that. The one thing that Netanyahu cannot do is make a deal that will hurt his nation. Which is the only deal Sinwar will accept. In light of this, Israel must continue to work on a plan to rescue the hostages in other ways and to destroy Iran’s capability of ever hurting Israel again - whether directly or through their proxies. Whatever it takes.
