Cornered
Again Israel finds itself more isolated. And Nethanyahu has a point.
This last weekend - a long holiday weekend in North America - turned out to be a dark one as the sad news from Israel trickled in. It started late Saturday night with the announcement of the murdered hostages, which I addressed here, and was followed by their funerals yesterday. Against the backdrop of the terrible news and the incredibly sad farewells, the political temperature was ramped up and it was all directed at Israel. Biden put on the pressure and the UK even went as far as implementing a partial arms embargo on Israel. It’s great to have allies.
But the darkest tone was set by Hamas who at the same time released videos of the six executed hostages. There was no time stamp on them so it is hard to say when they were made. Some argue it was done long ago, some say there were taken right before each got a bullet to their head. What we do know is that these videos were targeted at the already divided Israeli public and to paint its leaders, in particular Nethanyahu, as the culprits of the hostage crisis. The goal was to further split and disrupt Israeli society which by the way yesterday also managed to avoid a general strike. One look at social media left no doubt that that is exactly what was transpiring as people started to tear each other apart over the issue as to who actually had blood on his hands. Nethanyahu? Biden? Or maybe the people who actually pulled the trigger, like Hamas?
She was no doubt forced by her captors to say it, but in what were probably the last recorded images of her alive, hostage Eden Yerushalmi, laid it all out:
It wasn't helpful that on the same day Joe Biden weighed in commenting that Nethanyahu “was not doing enough to secure a deal for the release of hostages”, as if the Israeli PM could on his own have baked a deal with the world’s most violent and duplicitous terror group. The pressure applied by the US on Nethanyahu to not engage deep into Gaza and to hold back to get a deal done has run counter to Israel’s stated and necessary objective to destroy Hamas. And the Israeli security establishment did figure out that military pressure on Hamas was a far more effective tool in making progress on the hostage front than without it. Israel had no choice but to proceed with entering deep into Gaza as it would give it its best chance to (a) isolate and destroy Hamas and (b) get as many hostages as possible out. Any other option would automatically give Hamas a win by both surviving in power in Gaza and only slowly trickling out the emaciated hostages at its leisure for an internationally recognized ceasefire.
It may be an unusual thing to do in the current environment in particular given his track record since being re-elected in late 2022. Yet we have to start seeing it from Benjamin Nethanyahu’s side. And it is also a lame and worn-out line to suggest that he is only prolonging the war for political reasons. He is not. In fact the progress Israel is making is shortening the Gaza war and that will enable Israel to reallocate its resources and focus on Hezbollah in the north which is a far bigger and urgent engagement. Let me explain.
As Eden Yerushalmi points out in the video above, it was Nethanyahu who released over 1,000 Palestinian terrorists (including Hamas leader Sinwar) in return for one captured soldier in 2011. It was in retrospect one of Israel’s gravest mistakes as it directly set the stage for the October 7th attack: it got Sinwar out and it proved to Hamas the extreme value of having Israeli hostages in your possession. So Nethanyahu could not possibly over the past few weeks acquiesce in a deal that would be driven by the same disastrous mechanics. The terms of the most recent deal stipulated that not all hostages would come back immediately and, here is the crux, Israel had to give up military control of the one area required for the delivery of supplies to Hamas, the Philadelphi Corridor, the border area between Gaza and Egypt. That is why Bibi insisted to not vacate that area as part of a hostage deal, even against the advice of his military top brass who insisted they could easily retake that area later. Why did he ignore that advice, making a deal with Hamas harder and create the perception he was throwing these hostages under the bus? Because such a deal, put together with US support, would make it extremely difficult for Israel to re-enter the corridor later: it would be a breach of the agreement and the very thing any US president would want to avoid. It would tie Israel down into an impossible position. Remember that stabilizing the Middle East is key for Harris, but also for Trump and Israel would have to pay a hefty price for that.
Nethanyahu in all likelihood was boxed in, cornered. He either could have rolled the dice on a deal that would leave Hamas in place and some hostages return, or try and persevere in removing Hamas - and thereby removing all future threats - and hope some hostages could be saved. A cynical look would say that short-term US politics were competing with long term Israeli interests. Nethanyahu picked the latter.
From day one I have referred to the devilish dilemma presented by the hostages, but never could we have expected that international politics could have started to play such a decisive role in their fate in this way. I don’t think Biden has blood on his hands as many were screaming out over the weekend. But there is a case to made that the endless back-and-forth, the extreme international pressure on Israel and the callous intent of Hamas while many large power players stayed deliberately silent, together conspired to determine the tragic fate of the murdered hostages.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat and Almog Sarusi will however not go down as anonymous victims. They were accidentally caught up in the maelstrom of history and they paid for it with their lives. Their names will forever be tied to the fundamental changes in the course of Middle East and global history.
Photo: Rachel Goldberg-Polin delivers the eulogy for her son Hersh at the funeral in Jerusalem, Monday September 2, 2024. Full video can be found here.
I really hate that the US is waffling. For goodness sakes help Israel do what it needs to do and quit listening to the far left Palestinian supporters, many of whom have no idea who they're supporting. I would, at least, help Israel with our air power to hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
To put this war of civilizations in a sports metaphor: Iran and co. have outscored the western team so far. It’s the resolve of a third league team against the internal division of an overpaid premier league club. The audience is watching in bewilderment and double checking the odds on their bets … “this one shouldn’t be too hard, right??”
Like in sports, the second half can get worse if we don’t get back to basics. An understanding we are up against a regime that rules based on fundamentalist islamac beliefs, out to destroy western civilization as we know it and replace it with their “dark ages” ideology. Given the vast majority in the west is set on an emphatic approach, it probably will get worse from here, until we are once again firmly reminded of some out of vogue lessons that have ruled this planet for thousands of years. Only time will tell what the price is we’ll pay for negligence.