Israel at War—Surrender?

In an earlier post in the Israel at War series, I defined an '"Axis of Lies" whose job it is to ensure that the [Hamas] atrocities are "lost" down a memory hole, the truth is obfuscated and distorted, and the public is convinced that Hamas is a group of freedom fighters while Israel is their "oppressor." 

"The Axis of Lies encompasses pro-palestinian/pro-Hamas Muslim activists in the West, leftists who are their useful idiots, and the anti-Israel propaganda media (e.g., NYT, WaPo, LAT, BBC, Reuters, AP, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS) that is the public relations arm of the Palestinians and Hamas."

David Bernstein offers a question about the Axis of Lies on Instapundit:

WHY DON’T PEOPLE WHO EXPRESS GRAVE CONCERN ABOUT PALESTINIAN CASUALTIES CALL ON HAMAS TO RELEASE ITS HOSTAGES AND SURRENDER?: Because they don’t really care about Palestinian well-being. The allegedly “pro-Palestine” movement’s main objective is to destroy the State of Israel, for various reasons–antisemitism, Islamism, pan-Arabism, hatred of the West. The welfare of actual Palestinians is at best a secondary concern. This, among others things, is why you see virtually no voices who claim to be concerned with Palestinian well-being calling on Hamas to surrender. Hamas’s surrender would surely be good for the Palestinians. It would end the war and its attendant destruction, and it would mean that some new group would govern Gaza, and that new government could hardly be worse than the corrupt, Islamist, war-mongering dictatorship of Hamas. But, and here’s the key, Hamas’s surrender would also benefit Israel. And the “movement” is happy to sacrifice both immediate and long-term Palestinian well-being to harm Israel.

I agree, but Bernstein is missing another subtle part of this hypocrisy. A clear majority of the palestinian population, despite The Biggest Lie, support Hamas and want them as their leadership. An even bigger percentage of palestinians are deeply anti-Semitic and would have no problem with the complete destruction of the State of Israel.

The Axis of Evil understands this. Therefore, if the Axis advocates the surrender of Hamas, they believe it would be doing a disservice to the palestinians. 

Surrender is not an option ... but destruction of Hamas is. That's why the Axis of Lies desperately demand cease fire after cease fire—to avoid Hamas' just and appropriate obliteration.

Israel at War—History

Many leftist history professors at schools like Harvard, Michigan, Stanford, and Princeton allow their ideology to warp their view of history. They distort historical fact, omit key events in history, and outright lie in order to promote an anti-Israel narrative. They falsely claim that Israelis are "colonialist settlers" in the "state of palestine" and then demand that Israel should therefore be sanctioned, attacked and ejected from the "palestinian's homeland." 

Professor Victor Davis Hansen—a historian with a clear and undistorted view of the history of the Middle East, provides a truthful assessment of the current conflict between the palestinians and Israel. After discussing the rabid anti-israel sentiment expressed by leftist students on college campuses that has often morphed into overt anti-Semitism, along with more than a few acts of violence and intimidation against Jewish students, Hansen address the history of the region:

For the first time in their lives, many of the ignorant [college] protestors suddenly professed concern about refugees, colonialism, disproportionality, innocent civilians, and the rules of war.

But none could explain why the Palestinians who fled Israel in 1947-48 still self-identify as victimized "refugees" when 900,000 Jews ethnically cleansed from Middle-East Arab cities about the same time do not ...

Few protestors knew that Jews have lived in present-day Israel for over three millennia. The longest colonialist presence there were Muslim Turks who brutally ran the Holy Land for 300 years until they lost in World War I and were expelled.

How exactly did it happen that the eighth-century A.D. Al-Aqsa Mosque was built within King Herod's earlier Second Temple enclosure?

The pro-Hamas crowd has little appreciation that colonizing Arab Muslims have one of history's longest records of "settling" other countries far from their historic birthland.

They "settled" and "colonized" the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Middle East, Berber North Africa, and southern Spain. Millions of Middle Easterners migrated to -- "settled?" -- supposedly infidel European cities, where they often self-segregate, and do not assimilate fully with their magnanimous hosts.

As far as "disproportionality," it is the goal of every power at war, Hamas included.

What protestors are furious about is that Israel is more effective at being disproportionate in retaliation than Hamas and its Iranian supporters were in their preemptive mass murdering.

Targeting innocent civilians? Hamas is among the current greatest offenders in the world.

It rockets Israeli cities without warning. It mass murders Jews in their beds during peace. It exposes Gazans to mortal danger by impressing them as human shields. Hamas shoots those who refuse.

The "rules of war" are violated by Hamas daily. Such protocols require combatants to wear uniforms not to blend in with civilians, not to use them as shields, not to murder noncombatants, not to rape them, not to mutilate them, and not to execute civilians without trial.

Yes, all of the accusations levied on Israel are actually psychological projection by Islam (and their millions of useful idiots on the Left). The virulent anti-Semitism that overlays the psychological projections also come directly from Islam. It is NOT "islamophobic" to state this—the history of Islam in the region is clearly documented as a history of subjgation and conquest. Islam's guiding books are not kind to Jews, repeatedly suggesting their subjugation or slaughter. Despite desparate attempt to soften the palestinians support for Hamas, polling indicates that a majority continue to support the Islamist death cult that leads them, along with its unabashed advocacy of genocide against the Jews.

The college snowflakes who have turned into anti-Semitic attack dogs prefer to live in leftist fantasy land, where psychological projection reigns. In the real world, history rules and in that world, the Left is shown to be profoundly ignorant at best, and in their support for Hamas, downright evil.

Israel at War—Climate Change

There's really nothing that connects the israel-Hamas war to climate change, but wait ... apparently there is.

It's fair to state that the apocalyptic climate change movement is nothing more than yet another example of the normalization of insanity, orchestrated by the Left with the intent of controlling the lives of every person in the West—other countries are generally exempt. It is an authoritarian movement led by leftist elites throughout North America, the EU, and a few countries in other parts of the world. Those elites are quick to recommend draconian mandates (that do not apply to their private planes, yachts, and vacation homes) that will do little or nothing to "save the planet." but will be guaranteed to reduce the freedoms and the living conditions of normal people across the globe.

But how does any of this apply to the Hamas-Israel war?

Enter Saint greta Thrunbeg. Greta is the spokesmodel for the aspocalyptic climate cult. Along with other great scientists like John Kerry and Al Gore, Greta pinches her cherubic face dramatically and tells us that we're all gonna die unless we stop using gas stoves, jettison our private cars, stop eating meat, move into a 10' x 10' living space, and otherwise repent the damage we have done to Mother Earth. And members of the Left swoon at here every word.

Greta is a Marxist, although she may not yet understand that categorization. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that as a guest at the latest climate conference, COP28, you know, the one where global elites jet in on their private planes, pontificate on how the rest of us must sacrifice to "save the planet," and then fly off to southern climes where they live in their 10,000 square foot second homes and board their 80+ foot yachts to sail around with their contemporaries.[1]

At the conference, Greta, along with many of her leftist pals, decided that the most important thing to talk about wasn't the climate, but rather her pro-Hamas position. Nellie Bowles comments:

... wanting clean air means wanting Israel destroyed, of course. Climate movement leader Greta Thunberg has been insistent upon that, turning an eco-rally into an anti-war rally (“there can be no climate justice without international solidarity”) and this week chanting simply “crush Zionism.” How about the Sunrise Movement, America’s primarily youth environmental group? They’ve tweeted more various deranged war stances than anything eco since October 7. Anyway, call me crazy and old-fashioned, but I didn’t used to think clean air required killing Jews. But Greta tells me it does. Therefore, I am joining Hamas, for environmental reasons.

Greta is young and immensely ignorant the the science that governs the climate, but that doesn't excuse her support for Hamas, a genocidal death cult that is an existential threat to Israel. Even worse, Hamas and the palestinians (I'm beginning to think their generally one in the same) couldn't give a damn about the climate, except as it might be used to further their evil propaganda. Greta is there to help them out.

FOOTNOTE:

[1]  As if to punctuate the utter hypocrisy of those who lecture all of us on climate Change, Alex Berenson reports on an unintentionally comical story about a couple who decided to build a "sustainable" cottage on Cape Cod. If you want to smile at the cluelessness of the writters and editors of the hard left New York Times, give it a read.

Israel at War—Deep Fakes

It should come as no surprise that Hamas and its hundreds of thousands (millions?) of palestinian supporters are really good at four things:

1. committing and celebrating human atrocities and then acting the victim when those who have been attacked retaliate with violence;
2. distorting irrefutable facts and proven history to such an extent that they have no resemblance whatsoever to reality;
3. lying shamelessly as they roll out propaganda that grossly overstates their own casualties while at the same time creating fake images and video to depict their "plight" under conditions of war.
4. playing the perpetual victim (80 years and counting) so that they receive billions in humanitarian aid from Western governments and additional billions from charitable groups who are often duped into donating funds that flow directly to terror groups.
   

The AP (certainly no friend of Israel) reports on the palestinians efforts to enhance item #3 (above) with their latest high-tech efforts at propaganda:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Among images of the bombed out homes and ravaged streets of Gaza, some stood out for the utter horror: Bloodied, abandoned infants.

Viewed millions of times online since the war began, these images are deepfakes created using artificial intelligence. If you look closely you can see clues: fingers that curl oddly, or eyes that shimmer with an unnatural light — all telltale signs of digital deception.

The outrage the images were created to provoke, however, is all too real.

Pictures from the Israel-Hamas war have vividly and painfully illustrated AI’s potential as a propaganda tool, used to create lifelike images of carnage. Since the war began last month, digitally altered ones spread on social media have been used to make false claims about responsibility for casualties or to deceive people about atrocities that never happened.

While most of the false claims circulating online about the war didn’t require AI to create and came from more conventional sources, technological advances are coming with increasing frequency and little oversight. That’s made the potential of AI to become another form of weapon starkly apparent, and offered a glimpse of what’s to come during future conflicts, elections and other big events.

You'll note something interesting. Not once in their report does the AP mention that these deep fakes have been produced by the palestinians, NOT Israel. After all, the propaganda media (AP is a ranking member) promote the narrative that the palestinians are the innocent, aggrieved party and that the wrenching images (many are likely faked) produced are "evidence" of "human rights abuses" by Israel. 

Then again, if you distort history, make wildly false claims of victimhood, and lie shamelessly about ... well ... almost everything, it's a small step indeed toward A.I. deep fakes.

The well-worn phrase, "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" might have to be revised. If the palestinians ask that question, the appropriate answer is NEITHER.

UPDATE:

Item # 4 in the body of this post is the profit center for the palestinians. In an extremely detailed report (the whole thing is worth a read), Sam Westrop states:

Recent analysis published by Israeli analysts place Hamas’s annual budget in Gaza at between $2 and $3 billion. At least an estimated $500 million of this is provided by the “Hamas Charity Coalition” and various investment entities. New sanctions imposed by U.S. Department of the Treasury are based on similar conclusions, and target a range of charities and companies.

One named entity in the U.S. government document is the “Gaza-based and [Palestinian Islamic Jihad]-affiliated Al-Ansar Charity Association (Al-Ansar),” which “provides millions of dollars … for the families of terrorists affiliated with Hamas and PIJ. Al-Ansar claims to provide funds to families affiliated with these terrorist groups as an extension of Iranian support to the Palestinian people, but the funding ultimately serves as a recruiting tool for terrorist activities.”

Indeed, radical movements have long used charitable programs and promises of social welfare to build a base of support and help with recruitment. Crucially, as the U.S. government realizes, charities do not have to fund Hamas’s terrorist operations directly to benefit the terrorist organization financially or ideologically.

Across the Islamist world, in fact, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood,  Khomeinists,   Wahhabis, ISIS, and al-Qaeda and, indeed, Islamist groups all around the world, have made use of charitable programs to expand and consolidate control over Muslim communities. Hamas and other terror groups refer to this approach as da’wa. The term is usually employed to mean a proselytizing call to Islam, but in the case of Islamist movements and its terror offshoots such as Hamas, it serves as a call to Islamism – and thus a vehicle to impose Islamist rule. Counter-terrorism experts and an increasing number of governments note that the use of da’wah through charity facilitates an influx of largely-unchecked foreign funds, helps to recruit to new members, frees up money for violent operations, and serves to sanitize the reputation of terror movements.

The Islamic world often looks the other way as da'wa funds are used in a way that allows Islamist terror groups to fund weapons purchases and other terror-related activities. Islam is complicit in this and needs to be called out. But no one goes there because ... Islamophobia.

 

Israel at War—Iran, Part 3

In the first of two "Israel at War" posts on Iran (here and here), I related a family event that happened 44 years ago. I repeat it here:

I was at a family get-together in very early February, 1979, hosted by my late Aunt, a wonderful woman who also was an unreconstructed liberal in the old-school sense of the word. On that day, the Islamist Ayatollah Khomeni, was en route from France to Iran. His plane was in the air as our family gathered.

Like virtually all liberals at that time, my aunt was thrilled with the ascension of Khomeni, glad that the "evil dictator" Shah of Iran had been overthrown to be replaced by an Islamist government headed by the Ayatollah.

During a discussion on the Middle East, my Aunt asked me what I thought of the situation in Iran and of Khomeni.

I smiled, and then said, "Shoot the plane down."

Aghast, my aunt frowned and made the argument that "Iranians and the world" would be much better off under the vaunted Ayatollah, a man of peace. Liberals and the American media treated Khomeni as a hero and a savior of the Iranian people.

History provides an unequivocal answer as to whether I or my aunt was correct.

In my first post, I characterized Iran this way:

... a repressive, Islamist dictatorship (like many Muslim countries, unfortunately) that imprisons dissidents and represses its people. As a hegemon in the ME, it supports (with money and arms) Islamist terror groups like Hamas and Hezballah, who it uses as 'cat's paws' to attack Israel. It has repeatedly called for the annihilation of the Jewish state, the murder of Jews, and the defeat of the Great Satan, the USA. It is a cancer in world affairs. 

And in my second post, I wrote:

The best case result for the West is the destruction of the current ruling dictatorship within Iran. That's easy to say, but extremely difficult, even though, unlike the palestinians in Gaza who support Hamas in significant numbers, a substantial percentage of the Iranian people have shown signs for years that they hate the regime and want it gone. Barack Obama had a golden opportunity to help them during the Green revolution in 2009, but threw it away—one of many of his foreign policy disasters.

Along with many professional geopolitical analysts, I believed that Iran had their puppet, Hamas, commit its atrocities to submarine the Trump-initiated accords (resurrected after three years by the Biden administration) between Saudi Arabia and Israel. I still think that's true.

But Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh suggest another reason that may have had as much to do with the Hamas barbarism as its potential for geopolitical impact. They suggest that:

... a fundamental motivation of Iran’s theocracy [is] anti-Semitism. At least three generations of radical Iranian clerics have viewed Israel as illegitimate, usurping sacred Islamic lands in the name of a pernicious ideology advanced by history’s most devilish and stubborn people. Using the language of French Marxism, they call Israel a Western “colonial-settler state,” and they believe Jews guide American imperialism in the Middle East. In this struggle between good and evil, Muslims have a religious obligation to resist Israel and global Jewry.

The founder of the revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, set the standard for the Islamic Republic of Iran. In his book “Islamic Government,” he wrote, “From the very beginning, the historical movement of Islam had to contend with the Jews, for it was they who first established anti-Islamic propaganda and engaged in various stratagems, and as you can see, this activity continues down to the present.” He depicted Jews as distorters of the Quran, financial hoarders, and agents of the West.

Khomeini’s anti-Semitic themes were picked up by his two most important disciples, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the “pragmatic” cleric par excellence, and the current supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Rafsanjani published a book, “Israel and Beloved Jerusalem,” claiming that resistance to the Jewish state was the sacred duty of “every Muslim and anyone who believes in God.” Judaism for Rafsanjani was irretrievably “immersed in colonialism” and “Zionism is the essential partner of global arrogance [America].” Messrs. Rafsanjani and Khamenei green-lighted the bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, which left 85 dead and 300 wounded.

It's interesting that the current leftist meme that calls Israel a “colonial-settler state” (an absurd characterization that is historically false), was derived from Marxist ideology. Maybe that's why Western leftists have been driven into hysteria over the current Hamas-Israel war, have dropped all pretense of being "anti-Zionist," and evolved into pure-bred anti-Semites.

But leftist protesters, as obnoxious and loud as they are, along with their many supporters in the propaganda media, are not the biggest enablers of Iran's dangerous theocracy. Western left-wing leaders and politicians come first. Gerecht and Takeyh write:

Western statesmen and journalists have often seen the Iranian theocracy’s anti-Semitism as anti-Zionism, something turned on and off for Arab audiences by more sophisticated Persians. Many have consistently tried to isolate the regime’s anti-Semitism to a group of Iranian “hardliners”—even though these same men have always held power. Obviously it is easier for Barack Obama and Joe Biden to envision their nuclear diplomacy with Tehran as stabilizing and possibly transformative when Iran’s rulers aren’t seen as diehard, lethal anti-Semites. Imagine, however, if the Islamic Republic’s anti-Semitism were transmuted into a murderous creed targeting non-Jewish Americans? Would these presidents have been so keen to give billions in sanctions relief and seek a new modus vivendi with the U.S.? 

Shockingly, I suspect that the answer might be "yes." Barack Obama, a politician who is idolized by the modern American Left, was among the first to have the hubris to believe that a repressive, Islamist dictatorship driven by a core of anti-Semitic sentiment could be dealt with using diplomacy. His foolhardy efforts to appease the Mullahs showed a degree of moral decay (and dare I say it, overt anti-Israel sentiment) that exists to this day.

The hard men of Iran must be dealt with—not with diplomacy, but with violence, delivered preferably by their own beleaguered people or by an outside actor. There was a time when I though the West might use Israel as their 'cats paw' in delivering violence to Iran. But the West has devolved into a weak and corrupt actor on the world stage—one that gladly allows evil to exist and flourish, as long as succor is provided to those who it deems "oppressed" and in need of "humanitarian aid."

Iran's Mullahs smile, surprised by the utter naivete and weakness they see, and don't change a thing in their inexorable march toward a world that is dominated by radical Islam. 

Israel at War—The Dems Wobble

To their credit, it took the Democrats almost two months before they allowed their latent pro-palestinian sympathies to overcome their concern about losing their many, many Jewish supporters. But as many Jewish progressives move Right because they are fed up with the blatant anti-Israel bias of the Dems' trained hamsters in the propaganda media, the vicious Jew hatred spawned by woke academia, and the anti-Semitic language espoused by the Rashia Tlaib wing of the party, Democratic leaders may no longer care.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Israel agreed on Monday to a two-day extension of its truce with Hamas to gain the release of more hostages, a priority of President Biden. But another idea is gaining ground among Democrats that is more dangerous: condition U.S. aid on how Israel conducts its war of self-preservation.

The stipulation is said to be merely that Israel follow international law. But since Israel does follow international law, and the U.S. already can withhold foreign assistance on human-rights grounds, the condition is unnecessary—but not harmless. During wartime, it would signal to Israel’s enemies that the U.S. has gone wobbly on the campaign to destroy Hamas.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.), chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Middle East, made positive noises about the idea Sunday. “We regularly condition our aid to allies based upon compliance with U.S. law and international law,” he said, adding, “I think that you can defeat Hamas without this level of civilian casualty,” which he calls “unacceptable.”

Asked on Friday, President Biden said conditioning aid is “a worthwhile thought,” but “I don’t think if I started off with that, we’d ever gotten to where we are today. We have to take this a piece at a time.” Asked twice to clarify, national security adviser Jake Sullivan wouldn’t rule out the idea.

Not for the first time, Democrats are following Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), who called for the condition on Thursday. “We cannot be complicit in actions that violate international law,” he wrote. “That includes an end to indiscriminate bombing.” Mr. Sanders is responding to the increasingly loud street protests against Israel by the Democratic left.

Here's a comment I made in the WSJ:

Democrats tell us repeatedly that they care so, so much about human rights and international law. They're happy to place "conditions" on Israel, but why is it that they aren't DEMANDING that Hamas release ALL hostages taken on October 7th right now. Using hostages as human shields is an outright violation of international law, so that demand should be easy to make.

And while they're at, the Democrats might focus some of their "moral outrage" on Islamic leaders, who have done virtually nothing to eliminate or at least rein in Islamist terror groups like Hamas, ISIS, al Qaida, Hezballah, the Taliban, and Boko Haram—all spawned out of Islam.

But doing the latter would alienate the Rashida Tlaib/Ilhan Omar wing of the party—can't have that. So instead, they feed the anti-Israel hate lust of many on the Left, and move ever closer to putting all of Israel in harm's way.

Oh wait ... Israel, a tiny democracy of less than 9 million people, is already in harm's way because Islam can't countenance the presence of the infidel in the Arab Crescent.

Maybe Bernie Sanders might suggest that since Hamas is in clear violation of International Law, all aid to Gaza—every U.S. dollar—should be cut off—immediately!

Nah, Bernie only pontificates about Israel—a country he seems to truly despise. He and far too many Democrats live in a Marxist world where the "oppressor" and the "oppressed" have no connection to reality and are defined by fools like the Senator.

Israel at War—The Hostage Deal, Consequences

The leftist supporters of the anti-Israel/anit-Semitic movement are guilty of fantasy thinking 24-7. Like all leftists, they construct a world—history, facts, statistics, and opinion—that doesn't exist but supports their fantasy narratives. They gladly embrace blatant lies when those lies serve their narratives, and enthusiastically construct new lies that will serve their needs going forward. The reality of the Left is fantasy.

But all of us, including yours truly, are guilty of fantasy thinking every so often. For me, it sometimes happens when I see what I think are bad decisions that are made with good intentions. I hope against hope that I'm wrong in my assessment of the decisions, and that things will work out in the end. But deep down, I know the decision is the wrong one, even if it was made for the right reasons.

That's what happened when Israel agreed to the terms of the on-going release of kidnapped men, women, children and seniors by the Hamas terrorists. Those same barbarians abducted 240+ souls, and murdered, raped, and mutiated over 1200 more Israelis. 

I knew Israeli officials agreed to terms that wholly favored Hamas for the right reasons—to get some of the abducted people home. But by every logical measure, I recognized that by agreeing to those terms, Israel put itself at a tactical and strategic disadvantage that could, if not carefully navigated, lead to a disastrous outcome in which Hamas survives and prospers, the palestinians in Gaza remain a parasitic blight on the region, and israel gains absolutely nothing but the global opproprium that always occurs when the tiny democratic state responds to terrorist attacks.

Alex Berenson contends that agreeing to the terms of the hostage release is a grave mistake on the part of Israeli leadership:

It is impossible to overstate how bad this deal is. The ceasefire - whether it lasts four days, 11, or much longer - is a disaster for Israel on every level.

Symbolically: By agreeing to a hostages-for-prisoners swap, Israel has implicitly agreed the Palestinian criminals in its prisons are no different than the civilians that Hamas’s terrorists grabbed from their beds and homes on Oct. 7.

Militarily/Tactically: The pause gives Hamas’s fighters a chance to rest after weeks of bombardment, rebuild their defenses, and rearm.

Worse, Israel has lost the chance to force the action. Hamas decides whether to keep the ceasefire in place by releasing more hostages; Israel has no choice in the matter.

Militarily/Strategically: By agreeing to a ceasefire only weeks only beginning a bloody invasion, Israel enables its critics to question if the invasion was necessary at all - especially because it has failed to capture any senior Hamas commanders and killed only one, the commander of the group’s “Northern Gaza Brigade.” Even the most fervent Israeli partisan cannot justify killing thousands of civilians to take out the equivalent of one mid-level general.

Morally: Most importantly, Israel has squandered what is left of the world’s sympathy for it. It should have told Hamas that the taking of hostages was a war crime and it would never agree to a ceasefire as long as Hamas held them. It should have drawn that line and stuck to it. It should have repeated over and over: As long as Hamas holds hostages, Israel views all of Gaza as a legitimate military target.

Now Israel has lost that moral clarity. 

As much as it pains me to say so, I have to agree.

Sure, the relatives of the released hostages win in this arrangement, and that's wonderful for the individual families that are involved. Sure, the criminal scum that Israel was forced to release just adds a few more death cult members to a palestinian population that is loaded with them—no big deal. 

But Israel as a whole loses.  

No one who is anti-Israel will give the Israelis credit for any cessation in violence including the leftist elites who lead many countries and all of the main stream media. No one who is anti-Israel will recognize that the deal gives new power to an Islamist death cult, No one will make any demands of Hamas—only Israel.

I hope in the end this works out in a way that allows good to triumph over evil. But I fear that's nothing more than fantasy thinking.

UPDATE-1:

The Biggest Lie becomes even bigger. Rabbi Michael Barclay comments on the reason that palestinian "civilians" (who the lie goes, "hate" Hamas) are returning to the War Zone during the 4-day truce:

From the moment the ceasefire started, hours before the hostages were exchanged, Hamas revealed its real goal of this ceasefire time if we only look at their actions. It is a setup to increase demonstrations for Gazan “civilians” after Israel recommences the war.

Thousands of Gazan “civilians” are moving frim the safety of the south back to the battlefield of the north, including women and children. On Thursday night, Hamas urged that all “civilians” who support them go back to the north. Why would they do this? Why would any family consciously put themselves back in harm’s way when they could stay safely in the south?

It is because they are not “innocent civilians” at all. They are simply Hamas terrorists and supporters without physical weapons. These “civilians” are not forced human shields being abused by Hamas, they are willing and active cogs in the Hamas war effort, willing to die for their cause of destroying Israel and repeating the horrors of October 7, which they celebrated in the streets of Gaza at that time. They are unarmed soldiers whose only goal is to protect Hamas against Israel when the war is restarted in a few days. These “innocents” are anything but innocent, and are returning to the north with the intent of stopping Israel from destroying Hamas bases, tunnels, and weapons.

These thousands of unarmed soldiers are not being forced to be human shields. They are returning to the north so that they can become martyrs. They hope to die for their cause, and in so doing, create more images of “innocents” dying to negatively affect world opinion of Israel. They are hoping that their presence as “civilians” will protect Hamas bases from Israeli attacks; that it will lead to more IDF deaths, God forbid, and that if they die, they will have sacrificed themselves as brave soldiers for Hamas in the effort to get the world to allow Hamas to survive this war.

As depraved as Hamas’ acts on October 7 were, the acts of these unarmed soldiers betray an equally sick and twisted psychology.  

Thousands of Gazans are consciously putting their own children in harm’s way with one intent: to protect Hamas with their children’s lives. These are not innocent civilians; they are the very worst and most dangerous type of soldiers: soldiers with a death wish. Not just for themselves, but for their children.

Canon fodder and Martyrdom—Islam at its most perverse.

UPDATE-2:

The editors of The Wall Street Journal comment:

... Hamas is using the hostages to play on Western respect for human life. Hamas knows its strategy is dividing Israeli opinion between those who prioritize the release of the hostages and those who want Hamas defeated so it can never again slaughter 1,200 people.

Hamas is also manipulating the world, including the Biden Administration. President Biden said Sunday he hopes the initial four-day military truce can be extended so more hostages will be released. That includes the unknown number of Americans held in who-knows-what condition underground. Hamas released the first U.S. hostage on Sunday, a 4-year-old American-Israeli girl, Abigail Edan, whose parents were murdered in front of her.

But every day the truce lasts the more time the jihadists have to regroup, slip out of Gaza, rearm, or plan more ambushes against Israelis. And the longer it lasts the more odds increase of an extended cease-fire, which is what Hamas really wants. The onus will fall on Israel to end the truce, though Hamas is unlikely ever to release all hostages, who are its only source of leverage.

This is a terrible choice that Hamas doesn’t have to make because it considers civilians, including Palestinians, to be expendable weapons of war. That’s why it hides in hospitals, schools and mosques—and kidnaps women and children to serve its murderous ends.

In a way, this is similar to Sophie's Choice. No matter what decision is made going forward, Israel loses. But the world has already decided (predictably and wrongly) that Israel is the villain in this story. Maybe it's time for the Israelis to play the part—publicly demand that Hamas release ALL the hostages within 24 hours, since keeping them is a international war crime. Start the clock the minute the demand is made. When they refuse (and they will), end the truce ...

... drop a million warning leaflets, use social media to warn palestinian "civilians" to leave once again now that they've cynically returned to the war zone, wait another 12 hours, and then ...

... finish Hamas with prejudice.