A lot of people are saying a lot of stuff, and mostly stuff they know nothing about and its way past time to not let the facts obscure the truth.
We are hearing accusations against Israel of genocide, starvation and crimes against humanity.
The truth is that October 7th was a crime against humanity with widespread rapes, mutilations and desecrating of dead bodies. The crimes perpetrated on October 7th didn’t end on October 7th, as the holding of hostages and denying The Red Cross access to them is a continuous of the original attack. The promise from Hamas to repeat the attack leaves Israel no option but to use every resource available to both free the hostages and to destroy Hamas.
The truth is that Israel is taking her time to achieve her goals in order to minimise the civilian casualties , while Hamas is putting those same civilians in harms way in order to garner support for a cease fire, so that they may regroup and continue with their plans. The more civilians that are killed by Israel the greater Hamas’s victory. Such is the cynical warped minds of this death cult that has, with the help of Iran and other players successfully set the Middle East on fire.
It is quite evident that Israel is trying to deliver aid to the people in Gaza, and while the facts show that the aid is not being delivered quickly enough, the truth is that much of the aid is stolen by the Hamas terrorists and the aid trucks are attacked by armed men.
If Hamas had any regard or care for their own civilians they would release the hostages and the bodies they hold immediately: Instead they are laying down terms that they know full well that Israel cannot agree, in order to continue the fighting into the holy month of Ramadan, which looms ahead like a seething boil waiting to be lanced.
The month of Ramadan always heralds in heightened tensions . The PA and Hamas historically use it to rile the masses against Israel delivering violence and terror to the streets. There is something quite unique about the relationship between the holiday of Ramadan and the anger that boils in the Arab soul. Often their holy mosque in Jerusalem quickly becomes a hotbed of riot and rage with spurious beliefs that Israel is about to destroy Al Aqsa.
Israel has sensibly decided not to add fuel to the fire by restricting access to the Temple Mount as being reported .
Israel must really try to calm the West Bank while at the same time routing out Hamas cells operating within Israel. It is a difficult and dangerous task. Already stabbings are being reported from Hebron, with a soldier in serious condition and another on a civilian in Jerusalem.
Some left wing media do seem to be really hoping to exploit and further explode the situation as their reporting is not truthful but full of twisted facts that will help to deliver an uncontrollable rage to an already tense situation. This excessive reporting of facts that have no context or truth, can only lead to more bloodshed at a time when we need calm and support. Words and presentation do matter, as at this time they are like a red flag to a bull.
Hamas are laying down unrealistic terms to agree to a ceasefire, as they are now like cornered rats. Their only currency is the hostages who they want to hold onto until Jerusalem and the West Bank ignites, sinking Israel into a civil war with the Arabs in addition to the current wars that are raging on 3 fronts.
They are emboldened and encouraged to continue and hold out for their demands by the support they see around the world, together with UNWRA, who despite having been proven beyond doubt, as accessories to the October 7th massacre, will be receiving funds from the EU, Canada and Iraq. This in itself is a crime against humanity, as it will lengthen the war and make a ceasefire less likely.
As we approach the fifth month since the massacres Hamas’s capabilities are vastly diminished, but daily, the IDF discover tunnels : Some are surprisingly huge and sufficient for vehicles to pass through. We now know that every school and hospital, (run by UNWRA) together with every mosque are hiding tunnels, The shock is that virtually every house has a tunnel entrance and weapons are found in children’s bedrooms and kindergartens. There is still much work to be done and the IDF are now being booby trapped and losing soldiers . 7 soldiers have been killed this week in ambushes and many more injured some very seriously, bringing the ground op total to 248 lost and nearly 15,000 injured.
Hezbollah continue with their support for Hamas and the rocket attacks in the north have increased significantly, killing one Indian worker and injuring others this week. There is damage to infrastructure and buildings. Many communities have evacuated and cannot go home until their security is guaranteed. We do not know the intentions of Hezbollah nor if they are just creating a background noise of bombing while they prepare for a full scale attack, as were the methods Hamas used to lure Israel into a false sense of security before the war.
The grandson of the Hezbollah leader, Nasrallah, has reportedly been killed together with two other leaders in an Israeli air strike earlier this week.
The Houthis have not yet been deterred by the US and UK, who are attacking their launching sites, but have not yet impaired their ability to attack and sink cargo ships in the Red Sea. In their support of Gaza, they have now killed innocent crew members on a Barbados ship.
Benny Gantz has travelled to the USA for a meeting in the White House against the wishes of the Prime Minister. We desperately need to keep the USA on side and Biden doesn’t have a good relationship with Bibi. Perhaps the meeting will strengthen US/Israel ties, which have held steady despite reports to the contrary by western media who have cherry picked the speech of Kamala Harris, to make it seem she was calling for an unconditional ceasefire.
Life goes on in Israel although many usual activities are cancelled. Israel’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest has been thrown out twice as any mention of October seem to offend the Europeans !
Some residents have returned home to the south, which is much quieter, although not totally safe. Many of those from the worst effected kibbutzim, who were staying in the hotels in Eilat have been rehoused in Beer Sheva, as the rebuilding of those communities will take a long time, perhaps even years.
So many in Israel are displaced, (around 160,000), and there is no end to the war in sight until all the hostages are returned. Negotiations are continuing and no one has given up hope and the hostages and soldiers remain upmost in the minds and prayer of all .
Shabbat Shalom