GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 114

US Meddling Continues

How Long?

According to one war cabinet member, the fight against Hamas could last a long time as we see in an article from The Times Of Israel:

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz tells residents of the evacuated southern communities that the war against Hamas could last “10 years, or even an entire generation,” and acknowledges the urgent need to ensure the release of the hostages still held in Gaza, Channel 12 reports.

“There is time to destroy Hamas, there is no time left for the hostages, right now they are the priority,” he tells representatives of various Gaza border communities during a meeting about the ongoing war.

“Complete removal of the threat will take time, we are hoping for relative security by the summer,” he says, and adds that the troops in Gaza will soon reach the city of Rafiah, which borders Egypt.

We may need to read between the lines on that 10 year comment to mean the deradicalization process which may take an entire generation since the intense indoctrination has been going on for a long time. At least that is what I think he meant by that.

Delegation On Hostage Release In Paris

A summit was held in Paris, France that held some hope that a new hostage release deal could be possible as we read in an article from i24news.tv:

A summit meeting in Paris where Israeli negotiators tried to hammer out a deal that would free hostages held in Gaza by the terrorists of Hamas concluded on Sunday without agreement. Further talks will be held later in the week, the office of Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu said, pointing out the "constructive" nature of the talks and the "significant gaps" between the sides.

The summit saw the heads of Israel's security agencies, Mossad's Dedi Barnea and Shin Bet's Ronan Bar, meeting with the head of the CIA, the prime minister of Qatar, and the Egyptian minister of intelligence.

Qatar and Egypt probably brought Hamas’ concerns to the summit and apparently both sides had firm lines in the proverbial sand that couldn’t be resolved. I personally think that Hamas is on the ropes but still wants to use the hostages as leverage to stop the fighting so they can regroup to fight another day. It makes no sense to release more prisoners if they’re going to get killed later. And Israel won’t offer an end to the fighting not will they allow Hamas to have any part in Gaza for any reason. I highly doubt this impasse will ever be resolved at this point.

US Support For War Waning

The current US administration doesn’t the political stomach for the war in Israel going for a year as we see in an article from The Times Of Israel:

US President Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone conversation last week that he will not support a year-long war in Gaza, according to an Axios report Friday.

Citing two anonymous US officials, the report said Biden asked Netanyahu to speed up the transition to low-intensity fighting against Hamas that would reduce harm to civilians, warned that “he is not in it for a year of war,” and pressed him on an “end state.”

The call between the two world leaders was cordial, but agreement on all things was also evident:

In their call last week, their first conversation after 27 days, Biden reportedly told Netanyahu that he does not understand exactly what Israel’s strategy is for ending the war, and asked for an answer on the prime minister’s vision for the day after the war…The call between the two leaders last Friday lasted for nearly 40 minutes and was held in good spirits, Hebrew media reported at the time.

Both held the line on their previous disagreements and much like the Paris conference, nothing changed. Biden for his part is pushing for things to go more his way, and his logic was mostly political:

According to the Axios report Friday, an adviser for Biden said the White House was concerned about the Gaza war dominating news cycles and losing support among younger voters, who largely oppose the Biden White House’s policy, ahead of the presidential elections.

“A source close to the White House said Biden can’t have the war and the growing death toll to continue dominating the news cycle as the elections get closer,” the Axios report read.

Of course, the US needs to refute the totals given to him them by Hamas and understand that Israel is doing all it can to avoid killing anyone but terrorists. I doubt that will ever be noted publicly because this support for Israel is deeply tied to politics and Biden getting reelected.

America Getting In The Way

According to a former Trump ambassador to Israel, the current administration is hampering Israel’s war efforts as we see in a report from The Times Of Israel:

David Friedman, ambassador to Israel under president Donald Trump, tells Channel 12 that President Joe Biden is hampering Israel’s war effort, and that the president’s charge last month of indiscriminate bombing by Israel in Gaza is a lie.

Friedman, who on October 12 tweeted his gratitude for “the moral, tactical, diplomatic and military support” that the Biden administration was providing for Israel, says he feels differently now and was always concerned “that the president’s commitment would fade.”

In particular, Friedman thinks that the constant mantra of protecting citizens is not needed:

He says Biden has made “some inappropriate comments. He spoke about the ‘indiscriminate bombing’ that Israel engaged in, which I think is an outright lie… He speaks continuously about this need to impose a two-state solution, which I think is tone-deaf right now. He is, I think, to some extent hampering the war effort by this desire to force Israel to engage in I think what he refers to as low-intensity combat. Why are people on the ground blowing up an empty building when it could be done by the air? I don’t know. I’m certainly not in a position to cast blame. But that’s sort of the kind of messaging that America has been giving Israel.”

He tried to clarify his former bosses comments about the attack not happening if Trump was in office:

Asked what Trump meant when he said that October 7 would not have happened under his presidency, Friedman says the point is that “all this malign activity goes back to a strong Iran. When we left office, Iran was weak. If we were still in office, I think Iran would still be weak.”

He adds that there were Hamas attacks during his four years as ambassador, and “at no time did the United States put any handcuffs or limitations on Israel’s ability to respond.”

For me, Friedman makes total sense. Unfortunately hindsight is 20/20 and the reality is that we do have a war now and Israel may yet need to stop letting the United States or any other country dictate how they run it.