π️Lonny's War Update- October 336, 2023 - September 6, 2024 π️
π️Day 336 that 101 of our hostages in Hamas captivity
**There is nothing more important than getting them home! NOTHING!**
“I’ve never met them,But I miss them. I’ve never met them,but I think of them every second. I’ve never met them,but they are my family. BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!”
We’re waiting for you, all of you.
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!ΧΧΧ Χ Χ¦ΧΧΧ Χ’Χ Χ©ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧΧ€ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧͺ
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*3:15pm - north - hostile aircraft - Elkosh, Netua, Fasuta
Hostage Updates
- Crush Hamas or free hostages? I choose the hostages | Yossi Klein Halevi
Protesters hold signs calling for the release of hostages held by terror groups in Gaza since October 7, outside the Kirya military base, Tel Aviv, April 18, 2024. (Ahmad Gharbli/AFP)
When the immediacy of the horrors of October 7 begins to fade, the trauma that will linger in the Israeli psyche is the shattering of two core assumptions about our country.
The first was the belief that we know how to defend ourselves and project deterrence in a hostile region. But on October 7, the weakest of our enemies delivered the most devastating blow in our history, sending a message of unprecedented vulnerability to our enemies.
The second was the belief that we know how to protect each other. But on October 7, the Israelis on the Gaza border were effectively abandoned by the army and the government, sending a message of unprecedented failure to ourselves.
The ongoing agony of the hostages only deepens that sense of failure and shame.
Israel’s strength and resilience depend on maintaining our deterrence and our solidarity, the two pillars of our national ethos. During the first months of the war, Israelis pretended that we could do both: defeat Hamas, restoring our deterrence, and free the hostages, restoring our faith in our ability to protect each other. Now though, we know that we must choose between those two essential goals.
That is the cruelty of our hostage dilemma.
Prioritizing the hostages will have consequences for restoring our deterrence; prioritizing victory will have consequences for restoring our solidarity. Proponents of either position need to acknowledge the brutal price their choice entails.
The struggle between those two positions is playing out on Israel’s streets through competing photographs of smiling faces. The posters advocating an immediate deal show snapshots of hostages in the poses of daily life, while posters advocating victory show snapshots of fallen soldiers in their youthful vigor. The images pull on shared emotions – our concern for each other – but demand opposing political conclusions. Will you allow your sisters and brothers to die in the tunnels? Will you allow those who fought in the tunnels to have died in vain?
(This dichotomy, promoted on the right, ignores the fact that many soldiers say the motive inspiring them into battle is the rescue of the hostages.)
A poster held by relatives of IDF soldiers killed in Gaza at a protest in Jerusalem demanding victory, May 6, 2024 (CBN screenshot used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law)Like most Israelis in the initial phase of the war, I prioritized military victory over rescue – even if I couldn’t quite admit that to myself. The overriding need in the immediate aftermath of October 7 was to prove that we could still defend ourselves. In media interviews and essays, (including those published in TOI), I argued that our long-term existence depends on restoring our deterrence and that that could not be achieved by leaving a genocidal regime on our border.
And I feared that the demonstrations to free the hostages might strengthen Hamas rejectionism in the negotiations.
Today, though, I am on the streets, demanding a deal.
What’s changed for me is the realization that allowing the hostages to die in captivity will also have fateful security consequences for Israel, perhaps even more devastating than not destroying Hamas.
If the hostages are left to die, large numbers of Israelis will believe they were sacrificed not for a higher security purpose like retaining the Philadephi Corridor on the border between Gaza and Egypt, but for the political needs of an endlessly cynical prime minister seeking to hold his coalition together. What matters for the well-being of Israel is not whether that perception is true but that many Israelis are convinced that it is. The consequences for the covenant of trust between the state and a large part of its people will be far-reaching.
As a citizen, whom am I to believe: the heads of the IDF, the Mossad, the Shin Bet, all of whom insist that the Philadelphi Corridor can be handled differently, or a prime minister who repeatedly adds new demands in negotiations and who barely mentioned the Corridor until recently, when far-right politicians threatened to bring down the government if he withdraws from there?
Certainly, my faith in the wisdom and capabilities of our senior security officials has been badly shaken by October 7. But at least I know I can trust their motives.
For many Israelis, Netanyahu and his coalition of “ultras” – ultra-nationalist, ultra-Orthodox, ultra corrupt – have lost all credibility. And as we say ironically in Hebrew, they’ve earned that mistrust “b’yosher,” fair and square.
Netanyahu has never conveyed to the nation a genuine sense of empathy with its anguish over the hostages. Instead, he and his ministers have sometimes communicated indifference to their fate and even contempt for their families.
Netanyahu has scarcely met with the families over these long months. He has encouraged divisions among them, highlighting meetings with the handful of relatives of hostages who support him. Outrageously, the pro-government media has turned the families who are trying to pressure the government into prioritizing the hostages into virtual enemies of the state.
The far right, which preaches love for one’s fellow Jews, has shown little concern for the families. At Knesset committee sessions chaired by far-right MKs, family members have been silenced, mocked, expelled. Some family members demonstrating against the government have been physically assaulted by its supporters, with no rebuke from the prime minister.
In a TV interview, a former hostage Adina Moshe recalled how she stood at an intersection holding a sign expressing solidarity with the remaining hostages. A passerby, recognizing her, shouted, “It’s too bad they freed you.” As she told the story, she wept – not only, one sensed, from personal hurt but from incredulity at the debasement of Israeli solidarity.
Adina Moshe, 72, who was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz and released after 49 days weeps during a TV interview, July 26, 2024. (Channel 12 screenshot used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law)Netanyahu hasn’t attended the funerals of hostages and only ritualistically acknowledged their deaths. But when the IDF succeeded in freeing a handful of hostages, he rushed to the podium to address the nation and claim the credit. Now, after six hostages were murdered and a large part of the public has erupted in protest, he has tried to do damage control by reaching out to the families. But he can no longer undo the widespread perception that we are led by a man who cares more for his own needs than for Israeli lives.
Since October 7, we’ve experienced a remarkable resurgence of resilience. Israeli society has tried valiantly to restore both its military deterrence and its solidarity. Our soldiers have shown extraordinary determination in battle and unity across political differences. And while the home front is once again convulsed by protests, there have been almost no demonstrations challenging the justness of this war.
But we can’t take that resilience for granted. One of the deepest sources of Israeli resilience is our solidarity. Yet if the hostages are left to die by this government and this prime minister, something essential will die within many Israelis. The resulting heartbreak would be compounded by cynicism and despair — which will impact on the ability of a critical part of the Israeli public to continue sacrificing for this country. And that could have strategic implications.
We are facing a long-term regional war. The battle against Hamas is only phase one – and by no means the most important phase – of the Iranian-Israeli war that began on October 7. An inevitable confrontation with Hezbollah awaits, and ultimately a confrontation with Iran. Preoccupied with Hamas, we have lost sight of the far greater threat of a nuclearizing Iran. Only Israel will prevent a bomb in the hands of the ayatollahs.
Ensuring our resilience and solidarity requires new elections. This government – which continues to invest massive funding in the Haredi community that abstains from the war effort, which indulges far-right mobs storming army bases and burning Palestinian homes, and which, even after October 7, never ceased prying open and feeding off of our schisms – cannot rally the nation for the next, more fateful phase of the Israeli-Iranian war.
Perhaps the greatest sin of this government against Israel was to cause so many who love this country and have devoted their lives to its well-being to feel like outsiders and wonder whether their children have a future here. That process began with the assault on Israeli democracy in the year leading up to October 7. During that time, there was widespread talk among liberals – and not only talk – about a mass emigration of despair.
Israelis can live with a level of threat to their personal security that would break many other peoples. They are able to cope, in large part, because of their faith in the decency of this society. That faith, severely tested before October 7, is now being strained to the breaking point.
The breakdown in trust between a large part of the citizenry and its government has other practical consequences.
In recent days, some voices have suggested that it is time to reexamine the very premise of hostage negotiations. A compelling argument can indeed be made for breaking the pattern of hostage-taking and the mass release of terrorists, which only encourages more hostage-taking. Yahya Sinwar, after all, was freed in the 2011 exchange for Gilad Shalit.
But changing the norm to prioritize strategic considerations over the lives of our fellow citizens requires the trust of Israelis in the morality of that hard decision. And that requires trust in the integrity of our leader.
Needless to say, Netanyahu is not that man.
Nor are the hostages of October 7 the ones at whose expense the norm should be changed. The hostages taken from the Gaza border have already been betrayed twice by the state. Even before they were abandoned on October 7, they were abandoned when we allowed Hamas to fire rockets into their communities. The residents of Kibbutz Beeri and Sderot were forced to live under impossible conditions. Their children grew up running to shelters, with barely fifteen seconds of warning before a rocket landed.
Allowing the hostages to die would be the final betrayal.
Some of the freed hostages have openly expressed their profound sense of abandonment. “We’re a people without a state, citizens without a leader,” said former hostage Liat Atzili.
Even more devastating was the TV interview with former hostage Adina Moshe’s recounting of a conversation in captivity with Chaim Peri, who later died in Gaza. Moshe sought to reassure Peri that their release was imminent. “We’ll be free within two months,” she said.
Peri disagreed. Two years, he countered.
“Why so pessimistic?” persisted Moshe. “We have a state.”
“We have Bibi,” said Peri, “and we’re leftists.”
Chaim Peri, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorist on October 7, 2023 and died in captivity. (Courtesy)When the six hostages were murdered, there was graffiti that read, “Chaim Peri was right.”
In a practical sense, it doesn’t matter whether Chaim Peri was right or not. What matters is that many here agree with him.
Standing among hundreds of thousands of Israelis at the pro-hostage protest on Sunday night in Tel Aviv, I sensed the cold rage of patriotic citizens who felt betrayed by their government. Young people, many of them back from the front, wrapped themselves in Israeli flags like a protective blanket, clinging to the symbol of the values on which they were raised and in whose name they have fought, seeking reassurance that those values still held.
Among the many hand-drawn signs was a poster with a single word in bright red letters: “Hatzilu!” The Hebrew is ambiguous. It could mean, Save them. But it could also mean, Save us. link
Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, where he is co-director, together Imam Abdullah Antepli of Duke University and Maital Friedman, of the Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI), and a member of the Institute's iEngage Project. His latest book, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, is a New York Times bestseller. His previous book, Like Dreamers, was named the 2013 National Jewish Book Council Book of the Year.
Apart from the dispute over the Philadelphi Corridor, Hamas and Israel have both toughened their positions on other core elements of a potential hostage-ceasefire deal, Channel 12 reports.
The TV report says the US is trying to find formulas to bridge those differences as it works on its so-called “final proposal” for a deal, which Channel 12 says will be conveyed to the two sides in the near future, and possibly as soon as this weekend.
Hamas, the report says, has raised the number of Palestinian security prisoners serving life terms for murder that it is demanding would be released in the earliest days of the first 42-day phase of a deal. Previously, Hamas and Israel had agreed that 150 life-term murderers would be released from Israel’s jails in return for the five female surveillance soldiers held hostage. Now, Hamas is demanding a higher number, which the TV report did not specify.
Israel, for its part, is pushing for a higher number of living hostages than previously agreed to be released in the deal’s first phase, in the so-called “humanitarian” category.
As regards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand for the IDF to remain deployed along the Philadelphi Corridor at the Gaza-Egypt border during phase 1, the TV report says the US is planning to present a map showing IDF forces still deployed there, but in smaller numbers than previously set out.
The US proposal would also provide for Israel to withdraw its troops from the Rafah border crossing between phases 1 and 2 of the deal, it says.
The report says the Americans are increasingly less optimistic about the prospects of a deal, and that Israel is not optimistic at all.
Earlier today, Netanyahu told Fox News that “there is not a deal in the making, unfortunately.”
Last night, in an English-language press conference, he said “Hamas has rejected everything.” Apart from the dispute over the Philadelphi Corridor, he cited disagreements on the ratio of hostages to terrorists to be released, and Israel’s demand to veto the release of some terrorists and to exile others.
The TV report says the families of hostages with dual American-Israeli citizenship are expected to be invited to the White House for another meeting tomorrow.
This evening, meanwhile, Channel 12 reports Netanyahu is participating in a meeting with security chiefs about preparations for tackling the security situation in the north, where Hezbollah has maintained relentless rocket fire since last October and tens of thousands of Israelis are displaced from their homes. link
Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya is accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday of deliberately stalling ceasefire negotiations, urging the US and the international community to put more pressure on Israel.
In a recorded speech released on Hamas’s official accounts, al-Hayya — who has been heading the group’s delegation to the ceasefire talks — reiterated their stance that it will not consider any proposed deal that does not entail a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and particularly from the Philadelphi Corridor, a key area along Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Netanyahu has in recent months insisted that Israel will maintain forces in the corridor, saying it is necessary to halt weapons smuggling into the Strip that would allow Hamas to re-arm. The condition was not included in previous versions of the ceasefire proposal before the current round of talks.
Egypt, which along with the US and Qatar is mediating the talks, has also been strongly opposed to Israel maintaining a military presence on the border.
Al-Hayya says Hamas “will not allow any agreement that legitimizes an Israeli presence on any part of Gaza or fails to secure our people’s rights.” “We reject going back to square one or getting caught in a vicious cycle that serves Netanyahu’s goals,” he says.
About 300 people are marching from Tel Aviv’s Habima Square to the IDF headquarters on Begin Street to demand a ceasefire deal in Gaza to free hostages, kicking off a fifth straight night of protests after the IDF said Sunday it had recovered the bodies of six Israelis in Hamas hands slain days earlier.
Protesters demanding a deal freeing hostages in Gaza gather around 27 mock coffins at Tel Aviv's Habima Square on September 5, 2024. (Noam Lehmann/Times of Israel)The group carries 27 mock coffins, representing 27 hostages killed in captivity in Gaza.
Speaking ahead of the march, Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was one of the six slain hostages whose remains were recovered over the weekend, accuses Netanyahu of “sentencing my cousin to death.”
Some members of the crowd shout: “Murderer!”
“She was abandoned to her death by a government that could have saved her,” Dickmann says, noting the number of days she was held captive. “There were 327 opportunities to save her, and each and every one of them was missed.” link
The family of hostage Gadi Moses, 80, says they haven’t heard any information about their father and grandfather of 12 since December 19, when he appeared in a Hamas propaganda video.
Efrat Machikawa, whose uncle Gadi Moses is in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip since his capture from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, as families of hostages call out to their loved ones on loudspeakers in hopes that the hostages will hear, at the Gaza border in Kibbutz Nirim, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)“I feel that he’s alive,” says Yair Moses, Gadi Moses’ son. “I know he’s strong, physically and mentally.”
Last week’s murders of six hostages, their bodies recovered by the IDF and brought home for burial, are motivating Israelis to protest for a deal, says Moses.
“There’s no grace time anymore,” says Efrat Machikawa, Gadi Moses’ niece.
On October 7, Gadi Moses was at home in Kibbutz Nir Oz with his partner, Efrat Katz, and Efrat’s daughter, Doron Katz-Asher and her two young daughters. When Hamas terrorists entered the house, Moses left the sealed room to speak with them, but was taken captive. Later in the day, another group of terrorists took Katz, Katz-Asher and her children. Efrat Katz was killed in the crossfire between the IDF and Hamas.
Moses’ ex-wife, Margalit Moses, was also taken hostage on October 7, and released in a November deal, along with Katz-Asher and her children.
Margalit Moses was kept hostage with Avraham Munder, another Nir Oz hostage, for most of her time in captivity.
His death in captivity was “very, very hard for her,” said Yair Moses.
“We’re using our anger to motivate ourselves,” he says. “The deal could have been signed and the six who were murdered would have been home, and my father too. They could be with us if the government would work to find solutions to make the deal.”
A protest outside the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza has swelled to around 2,000 people, who chant slogans against the government and in favor of a ceasefire deal.
“We are all hostages of the government of blood!” protesters yell. “A deal that isn’t signed murders everyone!”
The rally begins in earnest when marching hostage families and others arrive from Habima Square bearing 27 mock coffins, in a symbolic funeral for 27 hostages killed in captivity in Gaza.
Psychological
warfare: Sinwar-approved doc highlights Hamas's negotiating tactics - report
The document
apparently states that Hamas intentionally abuses hostages to leverage its
negotiating position.
A previously unseen document found on Yahya Sinwar's computer
reportedly sheds light on the organization's negotiation strategy, including
psychological torture of hostage families, the German newspaper BILD reported
in an exclusive on Friday.
The document, obtained by BILD, reportedly dates to spring 2024
and was said to have been approved by Yahya Sinwar personally.
According to BILD, the document lists several factors that Hamas
wanted to consider when negotiating a hostage-ceasefire
deal.
These include "exhausting" Israel's military
apparatus, increasing international pressure on Israel, and maintaining its
armed capacity.
Hostage Updates
- Crush Hamas or free hostages? I choose the hostages | Yossi Klein Halevi
Protesters hold signs calling for the release of hostages held by terror groups in Gaza since October 7, outside the Kirya military base, Tel Aviv, April 18, 2024. (Ahmad Gharbli/AFP)When the immediacy of the horrors of October 7 begins to fade, the trauma that will linger in the Israeli psyche is the shattering of two core assumptions about our country.
The first was the belief that we know how to defend ourselves and project deterrence in a hostile region. But on October 7, the weakest of our enemies delivered the most devastating blow in our history, sending a message of unprecedented vulnerability to our enemies.
The second was the belief that we know how to protect each other. But on October 7, the Israelis on the Gaza border were effectively abandoned by the army and the government, sending a message of unprecedented failure to ourselves.
The ongoing agony of the hostages only deepens that sense of failure and shame.
Israel’s strength and resilience depend on maintaining our deterrence and our solidarity, the two pillars of our national ethos. During the first months of the war, Israelis pretended that we could do both: defeat Hamas, restoring our deterrence, and free the hostages, restoring our faith in our ability to protect each other. Now though, we know that we must choose between those two essential goals.
That is the cruelty of our hostage dilemma.
Prioritizing the hostages will have consequences for restoring our deterrence; prioritizing victory will have consequences for restoring our solidarity. Proponents of either position need to acknowledge the brutal price their choice entails.
The struggle between those two positions is playing out on Israel’s streets through competing photographs of smiling faces. The posters advocating an immediate deal show snapshots of hostages in the poses of daily life, while posters advocating victory show snapshots of fallen soldiers in their youthful vigor. The images pull on shared emotions – our concern for each other – but demand opposing political conclusions. Will you allow your sisters and brothers to die in the tunnels? Will you allow those who fought in the tunnels to have died in vain?
(This dichotomy, promoted on the right, ignores the fact that many soldiers say the motive inspiring them into battle is the rescue of the hostages.)
A poster held by relatives of IDF soldiers killed in Gaza at a protest in Jerusalem demanding victory, May 6, 2024 (CBN screenshot used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law)Like most Israelis in the initial phase of the war, I prioritized military victory over rescue – even if I couldn’t quite admit that to myself. The overriding need in the immediate aftermath of October 7 was to prove that we could still defend ourselves. In media interviews and essays, (including those published in TOI), I argued that our long-term existence depends on restoring our deterrence and that that could not be achieved by leaving a genocidal regime on our border.
And I feared that the demonstrations to free the hostages might strengthen Hamas rejectionism in the negotiations.
Today, though, I am on the streets, demanding a deal.
What’s changed for me is the realization that allowing the hostages to die in captivity will also have fateful security consequences for Israel, perhaps even more devastating than not destroying Hamas.
If the hostages are left to die, large numbers of Israelis will believe they were sacrificed not for a higher security purpose like retaining the Philadephi Corridor on the border between Gaza and Egypt, but for the political needs of an endlessly cynical prime minister seeking to hold his coalition together. What matters for the well-being of Israel is not whether that perception is true but that many Israelis are convinced that it is. The consequences for the covenant of trust between the state and a large part of its people will be far-reaching.
As a citizen, whom am I to believe: the heads of the IDF, the Mossad, the Shin Bet, all of whom insist that the Philadelphi Corridor can be handled differently, or a prime minister who repeatedly adds new demands in negotiations and who barely mentioned the Corridor until recently, when far-right politicians threatened to bring down the government if he withdraws from there?
Certainly, my faith in the wisdom and capabilities of our senior security officials has been badly shaken by October 7. But at least I know I can trust their motives.
For many Israelis, Netanyahu and his coalition of “ultras” – ultra-nationalist, ultra-Orthodox, ultra corrupt – have lost all credibility. And as we say ironically in Hebrew, they’ve earned that mistrust “b’yosher,” fair and square.
Netanyahu has never conveyed to the nation a genuine sense of empathy with its anguish over the hostages. Instead, he and his ministers have sometimes communicated indifference to their fate and even contempt for their families.
Netanyahu has scarcely met with the families over these long months. He has encouraged divisions among them, highlighting meetings with the handful of relatives of hostages who support him. Outrageously, the pro-government media has turned the families who are trying to pressure the government into prioritizing the hostages into virtual enemies of the state.
The far right, which preaches love for one’s fellow Jews, has shown little concern for the families. At Knesset committee sessions chaired by far-right MKs, family members have been silenced, mocked, expelled. Some family members demonstrating against the government have been physically assaulted by its supporters, with no rebuke from the prime minister.
In a TV interview, a former hostage Adina Moshe recalled how she stood at an intersection holding a sign expressing solidarity with the remaining hostages. A passerby, recognizing her, shouted, “It’s too bad they freed you.” As she told the story, she wept – not only, one sensed, from personal hurt but from incredulity at the debasement of Israeli solidarity.
Adina Moshe, 72, who was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz and released after 49 days weeps during a TV interview, July 26, 2024. (Channel 12 screenshot used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law)Netanyahu hasn’t attended the funerals of hostages and only ritualistically acknowledged their deaths. But when the IDF succeeded in freeing a handful of hostages, he rushed to the podium to address the nation and claim the credit. Now, after six hostages were murdered and a large part of the public has erupted in protest, he has tried to do damage control by reaching out to the families. But he can no longer undo the widespread perception that we are led by a man who cares more for his own needs than for Israeli lives.
Since October 7, we’ve experienced a remarkable resurgence of resilience. Israeli society has tried valiantly to restore both its military deterrence and its solidarity. Our soldiers have shown extraordinary determination in battle and unity across political differences. And while the home front is once again convulsed by protests, there have been almost no demonstrations challenging the justness of this war.
But we can’t take that resilience for granted. One of the deepest sources of Israeli resilience is our solidarity. Yet if the hostages are left to die by this government and this prime minister, something essential will die within many Israelis. The resulting heartbreak would be compounded by cynicism and despair — which will impact on the ability of a critical part of the Israeli public to continue sacrificing for this country. And that could have strategic implications.
We are facing a long-term regional war. The battle against Hamas is only phase one – and by no means the most important phase – of the Iranian-Israeli war that began on October 7. An inevitable confrontation with Hezbollah awaits, and ultimately a confrontation with Iran. Preoccupied with Hamas, we have lost sight of the far greater threat of a nuclearizing Iran. Only Israel will prevent a bomb in the hands of the ayatollahs.
Ensuring our resilience and solidarity requires new elections. This government – which continues to invest massive funding in the Haredi community that abstains from the war effort, which indulges far-right mobs storming army bases and burning Palestinian homes, and which, even after October 7, never ceased prying open and feeding off of our schisms – cannot rally the nation for the next, more fateful phase of the Israeli-Iranian war.
Perhaps the greatest sin of this government against Israel was to cause so many who love this country and have devoted their lives to its well-being to feel like outsiders and wonder whether their children have a future here. That process began with the assault on Israeli democracy in the year leading up to October 7. During that time, there was widespread talk among liberals – and not only talk – about a mass emigration of despair.
Israelis can live with a level of threat to their personal security that would break many other peoples. They are able to cope, in large part, because of their faith in the decency of this society. That faith, severely tested before October 7, is now being strained to the breaking point.
The breakdown in trust between a large part of the citizenry and its government has other practical consequences.
In recent days, some voices have suggested that it is time to reexamine the very premise of hostage negotiations. A compelling argument can indeed be made for breaking the pattern of hostage-taking and the mass release of terrorists, which only encourages more hostage-taking. Yahya Sinwar, after all, was freed in the 2011 exchange for Gilad Shalit.
But changing the norm to prioritize strategic considerations over the lives of our fellow citizens requires the trust of Israelis in the morality of that hard decision. And that requires trust in the integrity of our leader.
Needless to say, Netanyahu is not that man.
Nor are the hostages of October 7 the ones at whose expense the norm should be changed. The hostages taken from the Gaza border have already been betrayed twice by the state. Even before they were abandoned on October 7, they were abandoned when we allowed Hamas to fire rockets into their communities. The residents of Kibbutz Beeri and Sderot were forced to live under impossible conditions. Their children grew up running to shelters, with barely fifteen seconds of warning before a rocket landed.
Allowing the hostages to die would be the final betrayal.
Some of the freed hostages have openly expressed their profound sense of abandonment. “We’re a people without a state, citizens without a leader,” said former hostage Liat Atzili.
Even more devastating was the TV interview with former hostage Adina Moshe’s recounting of a conversation in captivity with Chaim Peri, who later died in Gaza. Moshe sought to reassure Peri that their release was imminent. “We’ll be free within two months,” she said.
Peri disagreed. Two years, he countered.
“Why so pessimistic?” persisted Moshe. “We have a state.”
“We have Bibi,” said Peri, “and we’re leftists.”
Chaim Peri, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorist on October 7, 2023 and died in captivity. (Courtesy)When the six hostages were murdered, there was graffiti that read, “Chaim Peri was right.”
In a practical sense, it doesn’t matter whether Chaim Peri was right or not. What matters is that many here agree with him.
Standing among hundreds of thousands of Israelis at the pro-hostage protest on Sunday night in Tel Aviv, I sensed the cold rage of patriotic citizens who felt betrayed by their government. Young people, many of them back from the front, wrapped themselves in Israeli flags like a protective blanket, clinging to the symbol of the values on which they were raised and in whose name they have fought, seeking reassurance that those values still held.
Among the many hand-drawn signs was a poster with a single word in bright red letters: “Hatzilu!” The Hebrew is ambiguous. It could mean, Save them. But it could also mean, Save us. link
Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, where he is co-director, together Imam Abdullah Antepli of Duke University and Maital Friedman, of the Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI), and a member of the Institute's iEngage Project. His latest book, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, is a New York Times bestseller. His previous book, Like Dreamers, was named the 2013 National Jewish Book Council Book of the Year. Apart from the dispute over the Philadelphi Corridor, Hamas and Israel have both toughened their positions on other core elements of a potential hostage-ceasefire deal, Channel 12 reports.
The TV report says the US is trying to find formulas to bridge those differences as it works on its so-called “final proposal” for a deal, which Channel 12 says will be conveyed to the two sides in the near future, and possibly as soon as this weekend.
Hamas, the report says, has raised the number of Palestinian security prisoners serving life terms for murder that it is demanding would be released in the earliest days of the first 42-day phase of a deal. Previously, Hamas and Israel had agreed that 150 life-term murderers would be released from Israel’s jails in return for the five female surveillance soldiers held hostage. Now, Hamas is demanding a higher number, which the TV report did not specify.
Israel, for its part, is pushing for a higher number of living hostages than previously agreed to be released in the deal’s first phase, in the so-called “humanitarian” category.
As regards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand for the IDF to remain deployed along the Philadelphi Corridor at the Gaza-Egypt border during phase 1, the TV report says the US is planning to present a map showing IDF forces still deployed there, but in smaller numbers than previously set out.
The US proposal would also provide for Israel to withdraw its troops from the Rafah border crossing between phases 1 and 2 of the deal, it says.
The report says the Americans are increasingly less optimistic about the prospects of a deal, and that Israel is not optimistic at all.
Earlier today, Netanyahu told Fox News that “there is not a deal in the making, unfortunately.”
Last night, in an English-language press conference, he said “Hamas has rejected everything.” Apart from the dispute over the Philadelphi Corridor, he cited disagreements on the ratio of hostages to terrorists to be released, and Israel’s demand to veto the release of some terrorists and to exile others.
The TV report says the families of hostages with dual American-Israeli citizenship are expected to be invited to the White House for another meeting tomorrow.
This evening, meanwhile, Channel 12 reports Netanyahu is participating in a meeting with security chiefs about preparations for tackling the security situation in the north, where Hezbollah has maintained relentless rocket fire since last October and tens of thousands of Israelis are displaced from their homes. link
Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya is accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday of deliberately stalling ceasefire negotiations, urging the US and the international community to put more pressure on Israel.
In a recorded speech released on Hamas’s official accounts, al-Hayya — who has been heading the group’s delegation to the ceasefire talks — reiterated their stance that it will not consider any proposed deal that does not entail a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and particularly from the Philadelphi Corridor, a key area along Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Netanyahu has in recent months insisted that Israel will maintain forces in the corridor, saying it is necessary to halt weapons smuggling into the Strip that would allow Hamas to re-arm. The condition was not included in previous versions of the ceasefire proposal before the current round of talks.
Egypt, which along with the US and Qatar is mediating the talks, has also been strongly opposed to Israel maintaining a military presence on the border.
Al-Hayya says Hamas “will not allow any agreement that legitimizes an Israeli presence on any part of Gaza or fails to secure our people’s rights.” “We reject going back to square one or getting caught in a vicious cycle that serves Netanyahu’s goals,” he says.
About 300 people are marching from Tel Aviv’s Habima Square to the IDF headquarters on Begin Street to demand a ceasefire deal in Gaza to free hostages, kicking off a fifth straight night of protests after the IDF said Sunday it had recovered the bodies of six Israelis in Hamas hands slain days earlier.
Protesters demanding a deal freeing hostages in Gaza gather around 27 mock coffins at Tel Aviv's Habima Square on September 5, 2024. (Noam Lehmann/Times of Israel)The group carries 27 mock coffins, representing 27 hostages killed in captivity in Gaza.
Speaking ahead of the march, Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was one of the six slain hostages whose remains were recovered over the weekend, accuses Netanyahu of “sentencing my cousin to death.”
Some members of the crowd shout: “Murderer!”
“She was abandoned to her death by a government that could have saved her,” Dickmann says, noting the number of days she was held captive. “There were 327 opportunities to save her, and each and every one of them was missed.” link
The family of hostage Gadi Moses, 80, says they haven’t heard any information about their father and grandfather of 12 since December 19, when he appeared in a Hamas propaganda video.
Efrat Machikawa, whose uncle Gadi Moses is in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip since his capture from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, as families of hostages call out to their loved ones on loudspeakers in hopes that the hostages will hear, at the Gaza border in Kibbutz Nirim, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)“I feel that he’s alive,” says Yair Moses, Gadi Moses’ son. “I know he’s strong, physically and mentally.”
Last week’s murders of six hostages, their bodies recovered by the IDF and brought home for burial, are motivating Israelis to protest for a deal, says Moses.
“There’s no grace time anymore,” says Efrat Machikawa, Gadi Moses’ niece.
On October 7, Gadi Moses was at home in Kibbutz Nir Oz with his partner, Efrat Katz, and Efrat’s daughter, Doron Katz-Asher and her two young daughters. When Hamas terrorists entered the house, Moses left the sealed room to speak with them, but was taken captive. Later in the day, another group of terrorists took Katz, Katz-Asher and her children. Efrat Katz was killed in the crossfire between the IDF and Hamas.
Moses’ ex-wife, Margalit Moses, was also taken hostage on October 7, and released in a November deal, along with Katz-Asher and her children.
Margalit Moses was kept hostage with Avraham Munder, another Nir Oz hostage, for most of her time in captivity.
His death in captivity was “very, very hard for her,” said Yair Moses.
“We’re using our anger to motivate ourselves,” he says. “The deal could have been signed and the six who were murdered would have been home, and my father too. They could be with us if the government would work to find solutions to make the deal.”
A protest outside the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza has swelled to around 2,000 people, who chant slogans against the government and in favor of a ceasefire deal.
“We are all hostages of the government of blood!” protesters yell. “A deal that isn’t signed murders everyone!”
The rally begins in earnest when marching hostage families and others arrive from Habima Square bearing 27 mock coffins, in a symbolic funeral for 27 hostages killed in captivity in Gaza.
Psychological warfare: Sinwar-approved doc highlights Hamas's negotiating tactics - report
The document apparently states that Hamas intentionally abuses hostages to leverage its negotiating position.
A previously unseen document found on Yahya Sinwar's computer reportedly sheds light on the organization's negotiation strategy, including psychological torture of hostage families, the German newspaper BILD reported in an exclusive on Friday.
The document, obtained by BILD, reportedly dates to spring 2024 and was said to have been approved by Yahya Sinwar personally.
According to BILD, the document lists several factors that Hamas wanted to consider when negotiating a hostage-ceasefire deal.
These include "exhausting" Israel's military apparatus, increasing international pressure on Israel, and maintaining its armed capacity.
Psychological terror with hostages
The document apparently states that Hamas intentionally abuses hostages to leverage its negotiating position.
It instructs, "Continue to exert psychological pressure on the families of the [hostages], both now and during the first phase [of the ceasefire] so that public pressure on the enemy government increases."
In recent days, following the IDF's discovery of six bodies of Israeli hostages in a tunnel below Rafah, Hamas has released several videos featuring statements from the hostages before their deaths. These videos contain mentions of the failure of the Israeli government, pleas to be brought home, and details of the hostages' horrifying living conditions.
According to BILD's reading of the document, psychological tactics against the hostages' families is a strategy developed to increase pressure on Israel's government to agree to the terms of the deal.
Hamas also, according to the document, wants to use the hostages to put pressure on Israel. "During the negotiations for the second phase (of the ceasefire, ed.), Hamas will allow the Red Cross to visit some of the prisoners as a gesture of goodwill and to convey messages to their relatives."
The stated aim of this is to increase pressure on Israel to extend the ceasefire to Hamas's benefit.
Hamas doesn't care for a quick end to the war
According to BILD, the document showed that Hamas is not seeking a quick end to the war that would benefit Gazan civilians. Rather, the document states, "Important clauses in the deal should be improved upon, even if negotiations continue over a longer period of time."
In the document, Hamas admits that its “military capacity has been weakened,” but does not see the need for a quick end to fighting, BILD revealed.
The document makes no reference to Palestinian casualties and civilian deaths.
Terrorists want to rebuild power
Hamas also lists important demands on Israel, such as the release of 100 prisoners and terrorists serving life sentences in Israeli prisons, according to BILD.
BILD added that many of the document's key points are centered on the question of how to manipulate the international community and promote the reconstruction of Hamas' military power.
The document mentions a "political maneuver," saying that Hamas negotiators should propose that "Arab forces be stationed along the eastern and northern borders" with Israel.
This is to have the sole purpose of "serving as a buffer to prevent the enemy from entering Gaza after the war ends until they (Hamas) have reorganized their ranks and military capabilities."
Israel should be the scapegoat
In the document, Hamas is allegedly adamant that Israel should be held solely responsible for the unsuccessful negotiations.
They state that if Israel rejects a deal brought by the US, "the media must be made aware that Hamas agreed, but that the deal failed due to "Israel's stubbornness."
Hamas should not be "held responsible for the failure of an agreement," the document says.
BILD adds that the document makes no reference to the Philadelphi Corridor, despite it being a key sticking point in ongoing negotiations. link
Hamas has released its latest propaganda video of hostages it executed last week, this time featuring American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Goldberg-Polin’s family has authorized the publication of the video, saying in a statement that it “must serve as an immediate wakeup call to the world to act today to secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages before it is too late.“No other family should endure what we went through,” the statement adds, stressing that they are still marking the seven-day Jewish mourning period after burying Hersh on Monday. His body, along with those of five other murdered hostages, was recovered by the IDF on Saturday.
Israeli authorities and human rights groups, and several freed hostages, have said that hostages are coerced into making their remarks in such videos. Israeli media outlets generally publish them only if their families request that they do so.
It is not immediately known when the video of Goldberg-Polin was filmed.
Unlike a previous clip of him issued by Hamas in April that was in Hebrew, Goldberg-Polin speaks English in the latest one.
He introduces himself, says he was born in Berkeley, California, that he currently lives in Jerusalem, Israel, and that he is a dual US-Israeli citizen.“I turned 23 four days before I was kidnapped at the party in the Re’im Forest on the seventh of October,” he says, referring to the Nova music festival.
“Since I arrived in Gaza, I’ve survived with almost no medical care, little food and little water. I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun or took a breath of fresh air,” he says, highlighting “non-stop” IDF airstrikes and criticizing the Israeli government.
Goldberg-Polin then makes a plea to US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and all American citizens “to do everything you can to stop the war, stop this madness and to bring me home.”
The short clip ends with the 23-year-old offering a message to his family. “Mama, Dada, Leebie and Orly, I love you. I miss you, and I’m thinking about you every single day. I know you’re doing everything you can and that you’re out in the streets trying to bring me home.”
“Now, I need you to stay strong for me,” he says, in an echo of part of the message his mother Rachel has given when addressing her son at the end of speeches to raise awareness of the hostages’ plight across the globe: “Hersh, if you can hear me, I love you. Stay strong. Survive,” she has said.
The clip of Goldberg-Polin ends with him saying, “Keep on fighting, and hopefully, I believe I’ll be home soon. Don’t stop. I love you.” link to article and video
Gaza
- Egypt’s army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Ahmed Fathy Khalifa made a surprise visit to the country’s border with the Gaza Strip to inspect the security situation, state television reports, citing the army’s spokesperson.
This week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the case for a permanent Israeli presence on the Gaza-Egypt border, arguing that it was a necessary step to ensure Hamas cannot rearm and rebuild its control after its war with Israel ends.
Cairo has remained vehemently opposed to Israel establishing any form of control over its border route, and on Tuesday protested that by defining the Philadelphi Corridor as a military zone, it would be violating the countries’ 1978 peace accord.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has reportedly called the demand that Israel maintain control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor separating Egypt and Gaza “an unnecessary constraint that we’ve placed on ourselves.”
**The Courage to Tell the Truth Instead of More "Philadelphi Ramblings"** (Yaron Avraham, Commentary)
When attention is fixated on Philadelphi, it’s easy to forget Israel's truly complex strategic situation these days. And what about the deal? The cart is stuck—does anyone among the decision-makers have the courage to tell the truth to the public? A renewed and honest review of the war's objectives is needed, along with the accumulating failures:
Nearly a year has passed since October 7, and beyond all the security and political failures, the path to achieving the war's goals also needs to be reexamined—and, yes, critiqued in retrospect. This is the only way to improve. There's no need to fear this or be afraid of accusations of "lack of patriotism" from those who act as cheerleaders for a failed government that continues to fail even when the cart is stuck. In the next few minutes, I will attempt to outline several fundamental failures, some of which can no longer be corrected. At least one of them can still be changed, but this will require courage, leadership, and the ability to withstand internal and political pressures.
The first major failure to be noted is the pursuit of a phased hostage deal. This gradual format, which has been at the forefront since the first months of the war, is driven by considerations that are not in the best interest of the matter. To recap: the proposed deal with Hamas, which has been under negotiation for several months, is divided into three stages. In the first stage, hostages categorized as "humanitarian"—children, women, female soldiers, the injured, and the elderly—will be released. Initially, Israel spoke of about 40 hostages and agreed to 42 days of truce in return. Since then, the numbers have decreased significantly, and even in the best-case scenario, fewer than 30 hostages would be returned in the first stage. Hamas, by the way, claimed at one point to have no more than 12 hostages in this category. Following pressure and insistence from Israel, the terrorist organization "improved" its offer, and now negotiations through intermediaries revolve around at least 23 hostages. In the second stage, the men and soldiers will be released, and in the third stage, the bodies will be returned. In return, Israel will carry out a gradual withdrawal throughout the stages, leading to a complete withdrawal in the third stage of the deal and a general ceasefire, effectively ending the war altogether.
However, such a deal was considered for only a short time. It soon became apparent that it was politically unfeasible. A phased deal could allow a return to fighting after the first stage, even with hostages still in Gaza, whereas a comprehensive deal—releasing all hostages to Israel—would necessitate a complete cessation of war. In the climate of October 7, Israel was not capable—publicly or politically—of pursuing such a deal. Perhaps rightly so. Today, after 11 months of fighting, this proposal deserves serious reconsideration, exploring its feasibility once more. It would allow for the return of all our hostages, even at the cost of ending the war, with the mature understanding that the fight against terrorism will continue for years. Does anyone among the decision-makers have the courage to say this to the public? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Without a hint of cynicism, it's understandable. In an emotionless world, this would have been the right option, but after Hamas's brutal, ISIS-like display and the heavy sacrifices on the battlefield by our soldiers, it would be extremely difficult to convey this to the battered Israeli public that rightly yearns for an achievement to erase the humiliation. The political constellation (perhaps primarily) also prevents reconsideration, as progress toward a comprehensive deal that would end the war would also end this government's tenure, leading to the resignation of ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir from it. If there's one thing that is clear to them—and to everyone—it is that Benjamin Netanyahu will fiercely guard his 64 mandates.
To reach such a deal (and by the way, even for a partial one), Israel—some experts argue—needs to change its discipline in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. This week, for the first time in a long while, we saw initial voices publicly addressing this: the IDF should push the remaining Gaza Strip residents from the north to the south, through humanitarian corridors. Those who remain in the north would be "illegal combatants," namely terrorists whom Israel can treat as such—fighting a relentless war until they are eliminated or surrender. In other words, Israel needs to do what it did at the beginning of the war—but did not complete. Turn the northern Gaza Strip, where the terrorist organization is restoring its governmental and military capabilities (according to a report by Almog Boker this week, Hamas has raised 3,000 terrorists there again)—into a combat zone. Everyone south of the Natzarim corridor would be "humanitarian protected." This action would speed up a hostage deal. Why? Because one of Yahya Sinwar's insistences is the return of residents to the northern part of the Strip.
Why does Sinwar so desperately want this return north? And if he wants the return north, why doesn't the IDF do the opposite and move the residents south to protect them? This is another example of a shift in thinking that is not getting enough attention. One of its proponents is Eyal Offer, an expert on the Hamas economy, whose outside-the-box thinking always stimulates and illuminates the dark corners of conceptions. Meanwhile, instead of a renewed and honest review of the war's objectives, we continue to receive hefty servings of "Philadelphi ramblings." Make no mistake: the Philadelphi Route is of immense importance, and even if it can be conquered easily, Netanyahu is right that there will be tremendous pressure not to do so, especially during the delicate transition between the first and second phases that the Americans will want to stretch as much as possible. But since he's the only one who knows how to withstand pressures, the argument becomes redundant: who better than he knows how to deflect the pressure from the American Democratic president, especially at the end of his term? When attention is focused on Philadelphi, it is easy to forget Israel's true strategic situation these days. Iran is racing toward a nuclear bomb (who would have believed that the red line drawn by Netanyahu at the UN has been crossed) and grips Israel in the arms of its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. And not only there: recent events in Judea and Samaria are exploding, quite literally, as the minutes tick by. Therefore, with all due respect to Netanyahu's political constraints, it is time to receive from him a real strategic picture, not a board with a manipulative map (though it must be said: MKs Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot have much to learn from him about rhetoric and persuasion). Where is the Philadelphi strategy taking Israel? What does it mean for the hostages languishing in captivity, with time running out? What does it mean for the return of northern residents to their homes, which the Prime Minister avoids acknowledging as a need requiring any precision or evaluation of a date? How does this continue Sinwar's aspirations to ignite the Middle East—and set ablaze the Judea and Samaria front, which has so far been relatively controlled, especially against the backdrop of the massive incitement by Hamas, which hasn't stopped for a moment on social networks?
Where are you headed, Mr. Prime Minister? And how will the 13.8 kilometers of the Philadelphi Route guide all our future decisions from now on? Let’s hope, at the very least, that you have the answers. link
This week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the case for a permanent Israeli presence on the Gaza-Egypt border, arguing that it was a necessary step to ensure Hamas cannot rearm and rebuild its control after its war with Israel ends.
Cairo has remained vehemently opposed to Israel establishing any form of control over its border route, and on Tuesday protested that by defining the Philadelphi Corridor as a military zone, it would be violating the countries’ 1978 peace accord.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has reportedly called the demand that Israel maintain control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor separating Egypt and Gaza “an unnecessary constraint that we’ve placed on ourselves.”
**The Courage to Tell the Truth Instead of More "Philadelphi Ramblings"** (Yaron Avraham, Commentary)
When attention is fixated on Philadelphi, it’s easy to forget Israel's truly complex strategic situation these days. And what about the deal? The cart is stuck—does anyone among the decision-makers have the courage to tell the truth to the public? A renewed and honest review of the war's objectives is needed, along with the accumulating failures:
Nearly a year has passed since October 7, and beyond all the security and political failures, the path to achieving the war's goals also needs to be reexamined—and, yes, critiqued in retrospect. This is the only way to improve. There's no need to fear this or be afraid of accusations of "lack of patriotism" from those who act as cheerleaders for a failed government that continues to fail even when the cart is stuck. In the next few minutes, I will attempt to outline several fundamental failures, some of which can no longer be corrected. At least one of them can still be changed, but this will require courage, leadership, and the ability to withstand internal and political pressures.
The first major failure to be noted is the pursuit of a phased hostage deal. This gradual format, which has been at the forefront since the first months of the war, is driven by considerations that are not in the best interest of the matter. To recap: the proposed deal with Hamas, which has been under negotiation for several months, is divided into three stages. In the first stage, hostages categorized as "humanitarian"—children, women, female soldiers, the injured, and the elderly—will be released. Initially, Israel spoke of about 40 hostages and agreed to 42 days of truce in return. Since then, the numbers have decreased significantly, and even in the best-case scenario, fewer than 30 hostages would be returned in the first stage. Hamas, by the way, claimed at one point to have no more than 12 hostages in this category. Following pressure and insistence from Israel, the terrorist organization "improved" its offer, and now negotiations through intermediaries revolve around at least 23 hostages. In the second stage, the men and soldiers will be released, and in the third stage, the bodies will be returned. In return, Israel will carry out a gradual withdrawal throughout the stages, leading to a complete withdrawal in the third stage of the deal and a general ceasefire, effectively ending the war altogether.
However, such a deal was considered for only a short time. It soon became apparent that it was politically unfeasible. A phased deal could allow a return to fighting after the first stage, even with hostages still in Gaza, whereas a comprehensive deal—releasing all hostages to Israel—would necessitate a complete cessation of war. In the climate of October 7, Israel was not capable—publicly or politically—of pursuing such a deal. Perhaps rightly so. Today, after 11 months of fighting, this proposal deserves serious reconsideration, exploring its feasibility once more. It would allow for the return of all our hostages, even at the cost of ending the war, with the mature understanding that the fight against terrorism will continue for years. Does anyone among the decision-makers have the courage to say this to the public? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Without a hint of cynicism, it's understandable. In an emotionless world, this would have been the right option, but after Hamas's brutal, ISIS-like display and the heavy sacrifices on the battlefield by our soldiers, it would be extremely difficult to convey this to the battered Israeli public that rightly yearns for an achievement to erase the humiliation. The political constellation (perhaps primarily) also prevents reconsideration, as progress toward a comprehensive deal that would end the war would also end this government's tenure, leading to the resignation of ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir from it. If there's one thing that is clear to them—and to everyone—it is that Benjamin Netanyahu will fiercely guard his 64 mandates.
To reach such a deal (and by the way, even for a partial one), Israel—some experts argue—needs to change its discipline in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. This week, for the first time in a long while, we saw initial voices publicly addressing this: the IDF should push the remaining Gaza Strip residents from the north to the south, through humanitarian corridors. Those who remain in the north would be "illegal combatants," namely terrorists whom Israel can treat as such—fighting a relentless war until they are eliminated or surrender. In other words, Israel needs to do what it did at the beginning of the war—but did not complete. Turn the northern Gaza Strip, where the terrorist organization is restoring its governmental and military capabilities (according to a report by Almog Boker this week, Hamas has raised 3,000 terrorists there again)—into a combat zone. Everyone south of the Natzarim corridor would be "humanitarian protected." This action would speed up a hostage deal. Why? Because one of Yahya Sinwar's insistences is the return of residents to the northern part of the Strip.
Why does Sinwar so desperately want this return north? And if he wants the return north, why doesn't the IDF do the opposite and move the residents south to protect them? This is another example of a shift in thinking that is not getting enough attention. One of its proponents is Eyal Offer, an expert on the Hamas economy, whose outside-the-box thinking always stimulates and illuminates the dark corners of conceptions. Meanwhile, instead of a renewed and honest review of the war's objectives, we continue to receive hefty servings of "Philadelphi ramblings." Make no mistake: the Philadelphi Route is of immense importance, and even if it can be conquered easily, Netanyahu is right that there will be tremendous pressure not to do so, especially during the delicate transition between the first and second phases that the Americans will want to stretch as much as possible. But since he's the only one who knows how to withstand pressures, the argument becomes redundant: who better than he knows how to deflect the pressure from the American Democratic president, especially at the end of his term? When attention is focused on Philadelphi, it is easy to forget Israel's true strategic situation these days. Iran is racing toward a nuclear bomb (who would have believed that the red line drawn by Netanyahu at the UN has been crossed) and grips Israel in the arms of its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. And not only there: recent events in Judea and Samaria are exploding, quite literally, as the minutes tick by. Therefore, with all due respect to Netanyahu's political constraints, it is time to receive from him a real strategic picture, not a board with a manipulative map (though it must be said: MKs Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot have much to learn from him about rhetoric and persuasion). Where is the Philadelphi strategy taking Israel? What does it mean for the hostages languishing in captivity, with time running out? What does it mean for the return of northern residents to their homes, which the Prime Minister avoids acknowledging as a need requiring any precision or evaluation of a date? How does this continue Sinwar's aspirations to ignite the Middle East—and set ablaze the Judea and Samaria front, which has so far been relatively controlled, especially against the backdrop of the massive incitement by Hamas, which hasn't stopped for a moment on social networks?
Where are you headed, Mr. Prime Minister? And how will the 13.8 kilometers of the Philadelphi Route guide all our future decisions from now on? Let’s hope, at the very least, that you have the answers. link
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria
West Bank and Jerusalem and Terror attacks within Israel
- Troops have killed 36 combatants and detained 46 wanted Palestinians during a major military operation in the northern West Bank, the military says.
According to the army, some two dozen weapons have been confiscated, three bomb-making labs have been destroyed, and dozens of explosive devices have been neutralized.
The major anti-terror operation — internally dubbed “Summer Camps” — began August 28 with simultaneous raids on Jenin, Tulkarem and the Far’a camp near Tubas.
Israel says it is attempting to dismantle the Iran-backed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror networks in the three areas of the northern West Bank.
According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, 40 Palestinians have been killed across the West Bank since August 28. The number includes three Palestinian terrorists from the Hebron area in the southern West Bank, two of whom carried out twin car bombings for Hamas, and a third who killed three Israeli police officers in a shooting.
The IDF releases footage of a drone strike on a group of Palestinians hurling explosive devices at troops during an ongoing raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.
According to the military, more than 20 Palestinian gunmen have been killed in drone strikes amid the operation in the northern West Bank, which began late last month. link
According to the army, some two dozen weapons have been confiscated, three bomb-making labs have been destroyed, and dozens of explosive devices have been neutralized.
The major anti-terror operation — internally dubbed “Summer Camps” — began August 28 with simultaneous raids on Jenin, Tulkarem and the Far’a camp near Tubas.
Israel says it is attempting to dismantle the Iran-backed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror networks in the three areas of the northern West Bank.
According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, 40 Palestinians have been killed across the West Bank since August 28. The number includes three Palestinian terrorists from the Hebron area in the southern West Bank, two of whom carried out twin car bombings for Hamas, and a third who killed three Israeli police officers in a shooting.The IDF releases footage of a drone strike on a group of Palestinians hurling explosive devices at troops during an ongoing raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.
According to the military, more than 20 Palestinian gunmen have been killed in drone strikes amid the operation in the northern West Bank, which began late last month. link
Politics and the War (general news)
Former prime minister Ehud Barak says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed Israel to weaken significantly ahead of October 7 despite being “repeatedly warned” of the implications of his judicial overhaul policies.
Former prime minister Ehud Barak testifies at independent civilian commission of inquiry into the October 7 disaster, September 5, 2024 (Courtesy)Testifying before an independent civilian commission of inquiry into the October 7 disaster, the former prime minister and IDF chief of staff defends opponents of the overhaul who announced last year that they would no longer show up for volunteer reserve duty in protest of the government’s plans regarding the judiciary.
The protest was “justified, important and necessary” in the face of a choice between liberal democracy and “a de facto, racist, ultranationalist, reckless and corrupt messianic religious dictatorship,” he says.
Arguing that “there was no refusal” to perform military service on the part of opponents of the overhaul and that such claims constitute “a ruse intended to discredit the protest,” Barak says instead that the protesters had threatened to stop volunteering because they were “not ready to be killed in the service of a dictator.”
“It is clear that the obvious weakening of Israeli society as a result of a year of controversy and struggle against dictatorship has an effect on the way our opponents perceive the State of Israel and its capabilities. But the question is who is responsible for this, and I unequivocally state that the one who is responsible for this is the one who sets the chain of circumstances in motion,” he continues.
Barak blames Netanyahu, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and MK Simcha Rothman, the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
Former prime minister Ehud Barak slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while testifying before an independent civilian commission of inquiry into October 7.“A worthy leader does not allow the country he heads to weaken like this, when he is repeatedly warned of the meaning of what he is doing,” Barak argues.
Barak recalls that Netanyahu has previously stated that he was aware of Hamas plans similar to those carried out last October.
Addressing the Knesset State Control Committee in 2017, Netanyahu said Hamas had an operational plan for a multi-pronged attack, including thousands of missiles on Israeli cities, naval commando raids, hang gliders and incursions from dozens of tunnels, some of which come up in [Israeli] territory.”
However, “one of the reasons that [Hamas] is deterred is because I have a policy, that I’m not willing to tolerate droplets [of violence], and there’s always a strong reaction, usually very fast, on every such droplet,” Netanyahu said at the time.
Barak also appears to reference the four communiques from the Military Intelligence Directorate received by Netanyahu in the spring and summer of 2023 warning him about how the country’s enemies viewed the upheaval in Israeli society at the time.
Recalling his experience as both defense minister and IDF chief of staff, Barak notes that “before sending such letters, there are many oral conversations” in which the prime minister is warned about the topic of the missives.
A week ago, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid testified before the committee that Netanyahu had appeared “bored and indifferent to the issue” during an August 21, 2023, briefing with his military secretary Brig. Gen. Avi Gil.
According to Lapid, during that briefing, Gil stated that Iran and terror groups in Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza “all identified weakness, an internal divide, tensions, and a loss of preparedness in the army, alongside an emerging crisis with the Americans.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold a discussion on Israel’s response to Hamas following the execution of six hostages, but will not include most of his cabinet in the talks, Channel 13 news reports.
An official in the Prime Minister’s Office confirms to The Times of Israel that Netanyahu will hold a “national security meeting” tonight, without providing details.
According to the Channel 13 report, military officials are expected to tell Netanyahu that taking punitive action in revenge will be difficult given that it is already fighting the group everywhere it needs. Any move seen as aimed at revenge could also hurt talks for a hostage release, they will likely warn, according to the report, which does not cite a source. link Once again, Netanyahu is planning to kill any chance of a deal while claiming it is for the purpose of revenge. The hostage families, including the families of the 6 who were executed don't want revenge, they want Netanyahu to make a deal to bring the rest of the hostages home. That's it "Bring them home!"
**The
Defense Ministry Conducts Successful First Test of Laser System for
Intercepting Aerial Threats**
The
"Magen Or" (Light Shield) system intercepts rockets, UAVs, and cruise
missiles, with its main advantage being significantly lower costs compared to
missile-based interception systems like the Iron Dome. According to estimates,
the system will become operational by the end of 2025 at the earliest.
The Defense
Ministry conducted a successful and first-of-its-kind test of the laser system
developed by Israeli defense industries, the IDF, and the Defense Ministry, as
reported this evening (Thursday) on the evening news by Kan 11. According to
defense industry sources, the test met expectations and is considered a
breakthrough. The "Magen Or" system is designed to intercept aerial
threats such as rockets, unmanned aerial vehicles, and cruise missiles, with
its primary advantage being significantly lower costs compared to kinetic
interception systems using missiles, thus reducing reliance on such systems.
This means it allows for maintaining a readily available stockpile that can be
replenished as needed. According to estimates, the system will be operational
by the end of 2025 at the earliest.
In March
2022, then-Defense Minister Benny Gantz approved a major order for the
development and production of "Magen Or," developed by Rafael in
collaboration with Elbit Systems.
Then-Prime
Minister Naftali Bennett wrote on social media: "When I said about two
months ago, 'We will surround Israel with a laser wall that will take away the
enemy's strongest card against us,' there were skeptics who immediately jumped
in to explain why it was impossible or would take many years. Today, we are
moving another step forward in the laser project, which is becoming, day by
day, a reality. Instead of the enemy bankrupting us financially, we will
bankrupt them. Currently, the cost of intercepting an enemy rocket is vastly
higher than the cost of the rocket itself. Once the laser systems are deployed
and in full use, the interception cost will be negligible." link
Former prime minister Ehud Barak says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed Israel to weaken significantly ahead of October 7 despite being “repeatedly warned” of the implications of his judicial overhaul policies.
Former prime minister Ehud Barak testifies at independent civilian commission of inquiry into the October 7 disaster, September 5, 2024 (Courtesy)
Testifying before an independent civilian commission of inquiry into the October 7 disaster, the former prime minister and IDF chief of staff defends opponents of the overhaul who announced last year that they would no longer show up for volunteer reserve duty in protest of the government’s plans regarding the judiciary.
The protest was “justified, important and necessary” in the face of a choice between liberal democracy and “a de facto, racist, ultranationalist, reckless and corrupt messianic religious dictatorship,” he says.
Arguing that “there was no refusal” to perform military service on the part of opponents of the overhaul and that such claims constitute “a ruse intended to discredit the protest,” Barak says instead that the protesters had threatened to stop volunteering because they were “not ready to be killed in the service of a dictator.”
“It is clear that the obvious weakening of Israeli society as a result of a year of controversy and struggle against dictatorship has an effect on the way our opponents perceive the State of Israel and its capabilities. But the question is who is responsible for this, and I unequivocally state that the one who is responsible for this is the one who sets the chain of circumstances in motion,” he continues.
Barak blames Netanyahu, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and MK Simcha Rothman, the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
Former prime minister Ehud Barak slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while testifying before an independent civilian commission of inquiry into October 7.“A worthy leader does not allow the country he heads to weaken like this, when he is repeatedly warned of the meaning of what he is doing,” Barak argues.
Barak recalls that Netanyahu has previously stated that he was aware of Hamas plans similar to those carried out last October.
Addressing the Knesset State Control Committee in 2017, Netanyahu said Hamas had an operational plan for a multi-pronged attack, including thousands of missiles on Israeli cities, naval commando raids, hang gliders and incursions from dozens of tunnels, some of which come up in [Israeli] territory.”
However, “one of the reasons that [Hamas] is deterred is because I have a policy, that I’m not willing to tolerate droplets [of violence], and there’s always a strong reaction, usually very fast, on every such droplet,” Netanyahu said at the time.
Barak also appears to reference the four communiques from the Military Intelligence Directorate received by Netanyahu in the spring and summer of 2023 warning him about how the country’s enemies viewed the upheaval in Israeli society at the time.
Recalling his experience as both defense minister and IDF chief of staff, Barak notes that “before sending such letters, there are many oral conversations” in which the prime minister is warned about the topic of the missives.
A week ago, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid testified before the committee that Netanyahu had appeared “bored and indifferent to the issue” during an August 21, 2023, briefing with his military secretary Brig. Gen. Avi Gil.
According to Lapid, during that briefing, Gil stated that Iran and terror groups in Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza “all identified weakness, an internal divide, tensions, and a loss of preparedness in the army, alongside an emerging crisis with the Americans.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold a discussion on Israel’s response to Hamas following the execution of six hostages, but will not include most of his cabinet in the talks, Channel 13 news reports.
An official in the Prime Minister’s Office confirms to The Times of Israel that Netanyahu will hold a “national security meeting” tonight, without providing details.
According to the Channel 13 report, military officials are expected to tell Netanyahu that taking punitive action in revenge will be difficult given that it is already fighting the group everywhere it needs. Any move seen as aimed at revenge could also hurt talks for a hostage release, they will likely warn, according to the report, which does not cite a source. link Once again, Netanyahu is planning to kill any chance of a deal while claiming it is for the purpose of revenge. The hostage families, including the families of the 6 who were executed don't want revenge, they want Netanyahu to make a deal to bring the rest of the hostages home. That's it "Bring them home!"
**The
Defense Ministry Conducts Successful First Test of Laser System for
Intercepting Aerial Threats**
The "Magen Or" (Light Shield) system intercepts rockets, UAVs, and cruise missiles, with its main advantage being significantly lower costs compared to missile-based interception systems like the Iron Dome. According to estimates, the system will become operational by the end of 2025 at the earliest.
The Defense
Ministry conducted a successful and first-of-its-kind test of the laser system
developed by Israeli defense industries, the IDF, and the Defense Ministry, as
reported this evening (Thursday) on the evening news by Kan 11. According to
defense industry sources, the test met expectations and is considered a
breakthrough. The "Magen Or" system is designed to intercept aerial
threats such as rockets, unmanned aerial vehicles, and cruise missiles, with
its primary advantage being significantly lower costs compared to kinetic
interception systems using missiles, thus reducing reliance on such systems.
This means it allows for maintaining a readily available stockpile that can be
replenished as needed. According to estimates, the system will be operational
by the end of 2025 at the earliest.
In March
2022, then-Defense Minister Benny Gantz approved a major order for the
development and production of "Magen Or," developed by Rafael in
collaboration with Elbit Systems.
Then-Prime
Minister Naftali Bennett wrote on social media: "When I said about two
months ago, 'We will surround Israel with a laser wall that will take away the
enemy's strongest card against us,' there were skeptics who immediately jumped
in to explain why it was impossible or would take many years. Today, we are
moving another step forward in the laser project, which is becoming, day by
day, a reality. Instead of the enemy bankrupting us financially, we will
bankrupt them. Currently, the cost of intercepting an enemy rocket is vastly
higher than the cost of the rocket itself. Once the laser systems are deployed
and in full use, the interception cost will be negligible." link
The Region and the World
-
Personal Stories **"I Told the Terrorist, 'We go home'": Moshe and Diana Were Kidnapped and Managed to Escape**
Eleven months after the dark Sabbath, we revisit the incredible story of Moshe and Diana Rosen. After being kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak by Hamas terrorists, they refused to be taken to Gaza and miraculously managed to escape. They recount moments of terror, their barricading in the safe room, the terrorists shooting at the door and wounding them, looting, and eating everything in sight. They also recall the moment they looked the terrorists in the eye and said they weren't going any further: "We were prepared to die right there, not in Gaza."
The terrorists broke into their house, shot at the safe room door, looted, ate everything they could find, kidnapped Moshe (72) and Diana (75) Rosen, and led them, wounded, through the fields, attempting to take them into the Gaza Strip through a breach in the fence—until a dramatic turn of events brought the ordeal to its climax: "I said I needed a doctor and a hospital: 'We go home.' Then Diana and I turned around with whatever strength we had left and ran home. We felt like at any moment we would hear the gunshot that would end this nightmare, but we were ready to die here, not in Gaza."
Eleven months after the massacre, we revisit the unbelievable story of the courage of an elderly couple from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak who survived Hamas terrorists against all odds.
They have lived in Nir Yitzhak for 50 years. There, they built their home, raised their family, and tied their fate to the kibbutz. Even the early morning sirens didn't hint at what was to come. "We are already used to sirens," Moshe Rosen says. "As usual, we entered the safe room, expecting that this would end like in the past, and we would be able to return to our routine, which, of course, didn't happen—instead, the shooting intensified as the hours passed, and the messages we received from the community confirmed that a war was happening throughout the kibbutz." As time passed, the sound of gunfire grew louder. By 11:30 a.m., it was clear: the terrorists were at their doorstep.
"In an instant, we heard the house door break down," Moshe recalls, "we felt the house shake, everything breaking. They started overturning furniture and breaking windows—everything in their path—and, of course, it only took them a few seconds to reach the safe room. Despite being elderly and up against a squad of attackers, we managed, unfortunately, to hold the safe room door shut. Why do I say unfortunately? Because when they couldn't manually open the door, they fired a burst from an AK-47 into it. The door opened, and we were injured in our hands because, as mentioned, we were holding the door."
With their son, Yonatan, Diana and Moshe Rosen in Hadassah Hospital Mt. Scopus
**What went through your minds at that moment?**
Diana: "Just death. At that moment, I was sure our lives were ending there."
Moshe describes the dramatic chain of events: "They entered the safe room and saw that we were wounded. My injury was particularly severe because the burst of bullets pierced through the door, continued through my hand, and reached the wall of the safe room. They gestured for us to leave the safe room, sat us on the couch in the adjoining room, and held a consultation over the radio about what to do with us. Among the attackers, there was a looter. He took everything he saw and smashed whatever he couldn't take. Another terrorist calmly opened the refrigerator door and started eating and drinking whatever he wanted. Meanwhile, the consultation regarding our fate ended. Someone, who I assume was the squad commander, signaled us to accompany them back to Gaza."
The destruction in the house as documented by their son, Yonatan
At the same time, the couple's son, Yonatan Rosen, was at his home in northern Israel. Even when news began to arrive in the early morning hours, he didn't imagine his parents were in danger. "We had just been at their place the evening before," he recalls. "Usually, when we visit, we stay overnight in the safe room, but fortunately, we went back home that night and weren't physically involved in the event.
"The next morning, around 7 a.m., we realized something was happening in the south. Initially, I didn't grasp the severity, I didn't even check the news; I was no different from anyone else in the country. My wife told me to call my parents. We thought there was heavy rocket fire, and in an hour or two, they would leave the safe room. It was only when messages from friends in Nir Oz started coming in, and pictures appeared on the news, that we began to understand this was something completely different, but even then, we weren't worried. We thought our parents were in the safe room and that everything was fine."
At 10 a.m., reports of infiltration into Nir Yitzhak began to arrive. "We called them; they said there had been an infiltration, and they could hear gunfire and the emergency response team. That's when we started to understand something was happening," Yonatan says. "Around 11:30, we understood from them that the terrorists were in their yard, and around 12:15, I could no longer get messages or calls through to them. I thought it was over. I called their neighbor, a good friend named Turko. He tried to calm me down, said maybe their battery had died. He didn't tell me what he knew. He likely thought it was over too."
**"They Pushed Us Through Bushes"**
Meanwhile, surrounded by terrorists, the Rosens were forced to walk towards Gaza. "It was a slow and erratic walk," Moshe recalls, "they pushed us through bushes across the kibbutz. We took a long roundabout route that took an hour and a half to the fence separating the kibbutz fields from Gaza. I mention this because if we had walked in a straight line, the distance would have been less than 100 meters. This long route was to avoid being detected by anyone."
"They kept looking up to see if anyone was watching them. Meanwhile, my injury worsened; my wound got infected. They pushed us, yelled, and threatened us. During that time, we quietly searched with our eyes for anyone who could rescue us, but we saw no one. All the houses were shut. Diana saw that some homes showed signs of break-ins, and cars were burned."
Eventually, they reached the fence separating the kibbutz from the agricultural fields. At that moment, the couple knew it was do or die. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. "There was a large hole in the fence that they must have opened earlier. They started going through the breach, with one terrorist guarding and aiming his weapon at us. He was nervous. They crossed the breach while looking around and signaled the last terrorist in line, who was holding us, to bring us through with them."
"The other terrorists were already waiting on the other side of the fence, claiming a vehicle was supposed to come soon to take us to Gaza. At that moment, because I was severely wounded with continuous bleeding, I refused to cross. I told him I needed a doctor and a hospital: 'We go home.' Then Diana and I turned around with whatever strength we had left and ran home, feeling like at any moment we would hear the gunshot that would end this nightmare, but we were ready to die here, not in Gaza."
**Where did you find the courage?**
Moshe: "The situation was such that we couldn't hold on any longer. We understood that death was imminent, and if we were going to die, it was better in the kibbutz than in a tunnel in Gaza. What is certain is that no shot was fired—whether out of some tacit agreement or because there was no choice."
Diana: "What Moshe didn't see, but I did, was that above us at that moment were a military helicopter and a drone, and I believe that's what stopped them. They were afraid of that."
Moshe: "I think they were stunned by the whole situation. I also think there might have been another reason—they were waiting for a vehicle. Our kibbutz is three kilometers from Gaza. A private vehicle couldn't carry all the kidnappers along with our belongings and our bodies. That may have been a consideration for them, and also, it's important to remember that everything unfolded very quickly. They didn't have time to deliberate. From the army's investigation of the incident, it was also suggested that they feared that if they shot us, it would expose them. After all, we were in an open area."
After narrowly escaping death, the Rosen couple needed to find a place to hide, as fighting was still ongoing in the kibbutz. "We ran with whatever little strength we had left, until we reached what was left of our home after all the destruction and looting. We understood that we couldn't stay there because the war was still ongoing, and there were more terrorists and looters roaming around Nir Yitzhak," Moshe says. "I didn't have a phone to make contact. When they dragged us, they ordered me to throw away my phone. They didn't want to take it with them, probably due to tracking concerns. Luckily, Diana's phone was still hidden in the house, and they didn't find it."
"Diana managed to contact our eldest son, Yonatan, who then called our neighbor across the street, Turko, who agreed to risk his life, open his home, and apply a tourniquet to me. He is a brave friend. He dared to open the door despite the danger to his life. We waited at his house for many hours. Eventually, a military vehicle took us to an ambulance, and the ambulance took us to Soroka Hospital."
"Suddenly, the phone rang, and it was Diana," says Yonatan. "She managed to tell me that they had escaped and returned home. I couldn't believe it. I thought it was some sort of hallucination, and I wasn't the only one. Even the military operation room was in complete disbelief. For two hours, I was on the line with Turko, the brave neighbor. He sat on the couch with Moshe and Diana, who were severely injured, and was helpless. He wanted to help but couldn't because he was already locked in his safe room. Turko asked to contact the rescue forces, but they were engaged in other emergencies. For four hours, the entire kibbutz was like a battlefield. Turko deserves enormous credit for his bravery."
To this day, the extent of their injury is still evident. "Diana and I are trying to live a normal life again, but it's difficult," Moshe says. "The state is assisting us with mental support and all kinds of assistance, but our minds still haven't fully processed the trauma."
### Conclusion
Moshe and Diana Rosen's incredible survival story from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak is a testament to human resilience, bravery, and the will to live. Against all odds, they defied the terrorists' attempts to take them to Gaza, choosing to face death on their own terms rather than in captivity. Their story serves as a powerful reminder of the human spirit's capacity to endure even the most harrowing circumstances. link
Acronyms and Glossary
ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague
IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague
MDA - Magen David Adom - Israel Ambulance Corp
PA - Palestinian Authority - President Mahmud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen
PMO- Prime Minister's Office
UAV - Unmanned Aerial vehicle, Drone. Could be used for surveillance and reconnaissance, or be weaponized with missiles or contain explosives for 'suicide' explosion mission
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