A heartfelt Shehechaynu for the returned hostages; for their unconquerable families; for the 915 valiant soldiers of the IDF who died, and the thousands injured; for the strong and capable leaders of Israel and the United States, supported by amazing and capable diplomats. President Donald Trump in the Knesset proved he doesn’t need a Nobel Prize (who wants to be in the company of Yasser Arafat anyhow?). He knows and we know what they did.
But the war is not over. Hamas violated the agreement in the first moment by retaining deceased hostages and putting a Palestinian body in a coffin given to Israel.
Bravo to the Abraham Accords countries, who held fast; to the stalwart supporters of Israel in the US and in countries where it is uncomfortable and even dangerous to wear a Magen David; to military professionals who gave professional military information to those of us who needed to understand the war on the ground and clearly understand that Israel had NOT committed “genocide.”
But the war isn’t over. Despite a clearly defined and publicized line for the IDF to maintain, Gazans have been sent to violate the line. Some have been killed.
Israel remains the regional strong horse despite the grinding of Gaza. Israel’s not-quite-complete destruction of Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran in Syria and Lebanon, and — with American coordination and participation — destruction of enormous swaths of Iranian nuclear and conventional capabilities has been a regional game-changer. Israeli diplomats are talking to Syrian government officials, and Indonesia was a pleasant surprise.
But the war isn’t over. As Palestinian analyst Ahmed Fouad AlKatib of The Atlantic Council posted:
Hamas channels are making it clear and repeating their slogan: “We are the flood; we are the day after.” Their terrorists emerged from the tunnels, and when they’re not executing or shooting Gazans, they walk around markets, steal aid & impose taxes like a gang. This is not the behavior of a group that’s demobilizing or deradicalizing. They are reinventing themselves as policemen and want to have a central role in the future of Gaza.
After two horrifying, terrifying, heartbreaking years — and betrayal — a resilient Israel moves to the next step. Life. Baruch HaShem. But this is why we break a glass at a wedding.
Life means dealing with the world as it is. Hamas is not defeated, Gaza needs a lifeline, and Israel needs recovery. And the President’s plan has 20 points, of which only three — the most important three — have been achieved. There will be pressure for the other seventeen.
The most important “next step” is not “rebuilding” or “investing,” per the Cairo agreement, but to recall Hamas ran Gaza because it overthrew the Palestinian Authority (PA) — the West’s puppet — in a bloody civil war in 2007. The PA “governs” Judea and Samaria only because Israel continually routs Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) from its nests in Jenin and Nablus. Can the PA be wiggled back into Gaza? Don’t pretend Hamas is defeated. This, in an ugly nutshell, is the problem of doing “politics” with Palestinian “partners.”
Pay serious attention to Gaza voices. Karim Jouda has been posting from Gaza all along:
For the first time in 20 years, it can be clearly said that there are armed forces in Gaza capable of confronting Hamas’s power from within. No one knows where Gaza is heading, but if Hamas does not make internal Palestinian concessions, the Strip will not calm down. [emphasis added]
AlKhatib again:
Hamas’s new terror unit, “Rade3′” or “the deterrer,” joins its “Saham” or “arrow” unit in hunting down Gazans suspected of being opponents of its rule, kidnapping, torturing, executing, and disappearing dozens of people using vans, trucks, and SUVs. Hamas has declared all-out war on all clans, any opposition, and other families or people who are suspected of “harboring” anti-Hamas activists. This has created an unprecedented campaign of terror and fear that’s got everyone worried about being executed for miscellaneous disputes because all it takes is being labeled an “Israeli collaborator” or “traitor” to be killed.
Where is the hope? Where is the life? For Palestinians, it is in the acceptance of defeat and from learning its lessons. Dr. Az al-Din Shihab reacted to Hamas’s declaration of victory:
We were the victims of the destruction that Hamas began from within our own homes — and then the Israeli army unleashed its full force upon us, while Hamas operatives vanished into their tunnels.
May history record the truth: we were defeated — utterly, painfully, and finally. And we, the people of Gaza, are the ones who have the right to say whether we were defeated or not — not those who sit comfortably in Qatar or Turkey…
And somewhere amid all this, I understood something simple yet terrible: My mother’s tears are holier than my homeland itself, and my father’s grief means more to me than any flag. [emphasis added]
Sometimes you hit bottom before you rise; Jews have hit bottom many times in our history, but we rise. Whatever progress comes in the President’s plan — there are a lot of good things in it for everyone; a hallmark of Trumpian diplomacy — there are real people in Gaza, some good, some evil, some defeated, some not. And to ignore them is a huge mistake — the future of Israel is intimately tied to what happens there.
The day the living hostages returned was a day to celebrate.
As former hostage Eli Sharabi said, “Now, Life.”
But tomorrow is here.
