There was already huge support in Israel for a hostage deal. In the wake of prisoner executions by Hamas, outrage and protests have grown. Who is to blame?
Protest Background
WSJ: Hamas Executes Six Hostages, Including an American
Israel said Sunday it recovered the bodies of six hostages. They were executed in a Gaza tunnel only a day or two before Israel reached them, shot multiple times at close range.
In executing hostages, Hamas knows it is increasing pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Many Israelis demand he make more concessions toward a deal because Hamas has rejected the past several.
Netanyahu Defends His Plans for Gaza
Amid protests and a crippling strike, Netanyahu Defends His Plans for Gaza. That’s a free link to a live New York Times article.
After thousands of Israeli workers walked off the job on Monday, angry over the deaths of hostages in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a news conference that the war would only end when Israel had eliminated Hamas.
In his first news conference since the recovery of six slain hostages over the weekend — and after a day of labor strikes and protests across the country — Mr. Netanyahu defended his contentious plans for a continued Israeli presence on a strip of land in Gaza that he said was essential to Israel’s security.
Large crowds of protesters have broken through police lines near the prime minister’s private residence in Jerusalem. They’re now advancing toward his family apartment carrying coffins that symbolize the six slain hostages recently found in Gaza. There are still several more police lines between the protesters and the prime minister’s home.
Israeli control of the border area between Gaza and Egypt — known as the Philadelphi Corridor — will “determine our entire future,” Netanyahu said. He is effectively doubling down on one of his most contentious conditions for a postwar truce, which Hamas has already dismissed as a non-starter.
President Biden issued a one-word rebuke on Monday of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s commitment to reaching a cease-fire and hostage release deal, in the latest iteration of the White House’s monthslong effort to cajole and censure the Israeli leader.
As he exited Marine One on the White House lawn, Mr. Biden was asked a series of questions by waiting reporters about whether Mr. Netanyahu was doing enough to achieve a deal to get the hostages back. The president responded simply: “No.”
Protest Images
As tens of thousands protest in Tel Aviv to demand Netanyahu allow a prisoner exchange/ceasefire, Israeli forces are responding with stun grenades.
Easy to Place Blame
Netanyahu says any deal must include Israel’s right to destroy Hamas after a temporary ceasefire. Hamas, of course cannot accept such a deal.
But Hamas has demands that Israel cannot accept. And Hamas just killed executed six people to get what it wants.
So, if you want to blame Hamas, you have ammunition. If you want to blame Netanyahu, that’s easy to do as well.
The fighting will continue as long as both sides vow to destroy the other at the end of a temporary ceasefire.
Very Shaky Coalition
Politically speaking, Netanyahu is in a very shaky 3-way coalition.
The Wall Street Journal reports “Netanyahu’s coalition of right-wing, ultranationalist and religious political parties has mostly supported his hard-line stance in negotiations with Hamas. The prime minister’s ultranationalist partners have also threatened to topple the government if a hostage deal comes at the price of ending the war. Polls show the governing coalition wouldn’t be re-elected if a new vote happened now.”
Netanyahu is a corrupt politician who arguably belongs in prison. Others think Netanyahu is a hero. Take your pick or something in between.
Regardless, his government would collapse and he would be ousted if he worked out a deal.
Israeli Settlements
Britannica discusses the Israeli Settlement issue.
In 2019 the number of settlers reached nearly 630,000 (413,000 if East Jerusalem is excluded). Most of these newer settlers were motivated less by reasons of ideology or recovering lost property, however, than by cheaper housing and financial incentives offered by the Israeli government.
Stolen land is the best way to view most of these settlements.
Gaza Invasion
Regardless of how one views these things, since the October 7, Israeli invasion of Gaza, over 35,000 have been killed.
By mid-December, Israel had dropped 29,000 munitions on Gaza, destroying or damaging 70 percent of homes, destroying hundreds of cultural landmarks, and damaging dozens of cemeteries. Experts say that the scale and pace of destruction in Gaza is among the most severe in recent history. A severe humanitarian crisis has developed, with healthcare in a state of collapse, shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel due to the blockade, electricity and communications blackouts, and the UN warning of potential famine. It was widely reported that there is “no safe place in Gaza”, as Israel struck areas it had previously told Palestinians to evacuate to.Nearly all 2.3 million Gazans have been internally displaced and 250,000 to 500,000 Israelis were internally displaced, while Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians and said it lost 327 additional soldiers in its invasion as of 20 July 2024.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will have overall security responsibility over the Gaza Strip for an indefinite period following the war.European Commission president Von der Leyen said there should be no long-term Israeli security presence in Gaza, and suggested a UN mandated peace force as a possibility; while U.S. President Joe Biden said, “When this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next, and in our view it has to be a two-state solution.” On 11 November, Netanyahu widened the split with the U.S. over postwar governance, saying that he was against the Palestinian Authority having a role there. On 12 November 2023, Israeli security cabinet member Avi Dichter described Israeli strategy in northern Gaza as “Nakba 2023”.
During the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, numerous viral videos showed Israeli soldiers committing war crimes. A series of videos in mid-December 2023 showed IDF troops burning food, vandalizing a shop, and ransacking private homes. The Euro-Med Monitor recorded instances where soldiers deliberately stole civilians’ assets, including laptops, gold, and large quantities of cash.[382] Euro-Med Monitor also reported on soldiers recorded harassing corpses, dragging them, urinating on them, and amputating them. In a social media post, the Council on American–Islamic Relations condemned a video of an Israeli soldier stating, “Maybe I killed a girl, she was 12, but I’m looking for a baby.” On 2 January 2024, Palestinian diplomat Laith Arafeh condemned reports that Israeli soldiers kidnapped a baby from Gaza. On 24 February, a video went viral of an IDF soldier setting a residential neighborhood on fire while saying, “A little BBQ is great fun”.
North and South Gaza
An Israeli-occupied road dividing Gaza could last years, or even decades. The buffer zone surrounding Gaza appears to be permanent.
Does anyone really think Israel will leave? Why?
Why should any Palestinian believe Israeli occupation is temporary?
Sick of the Whole Damn Thing
Some of us a sick of the whole damn thing regardless of who is retaliating whom and why.
I do not justify or condone outrageous behavior by Hamas or by Israel.
I do suggest that US support for Israel, no matter what its leaders do is a huge part of the problem.
Fundamental Issue and Primary Objectives
The fundamental issue that negotiators try to bury is Israel and Hamas have vowed to destroy each other. Any truce is guaranteed to be temporary when total destruction of the other is the stated objective of both.
The US has been an enabler of Israel settlements which led to increased violence. Specifically, the US should stop looking away when Israel expands settlements in Palestinian territory.
This position does not excuse what Hamas did. But as with Ukraine, the US needs to step back and assess the ways our foreign policy have a marked tendency of making matters worse.
The Main Problem in a Mideast Deal is Getting Both Sides to Accept Lies
Meanwhile, The Main Problem in a Mideast Deal is Getting Both Sides to Accept Lies
Officials openly state the main challenge is to get Hamas to believe in a permanent cease fire without Israel offering that. That’s quite the admission, and challenge.
I wrote that on February 24, 2024.
Nothing has changed. But a deal based on lies cannot work.
The goal of the US should not be to get Israel and Hamas to accept each other’s lies, even temporarily.
Rather, the only policy that makes any sense is getting Israel and Hamas to change their objectives.
Biden has failed. In retrospect, has he even tried?
It wouldn’t matter. Netanyahu is a huge impediment to progress unless the mission is perpetual war.