GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 118

Time Is Of The Essence

This Was All Part Of The Plan

Anyone who thinks taking hostages was a spur of the moment things on October 7th really needs to consider that Hamas planned all of the attack in advance as more and more documents are discovered. And should we really be surprised since Iran is training theses terrorists? Those who lived during the Iran hostage crisis back in November of 1979 know all about this tactic and how it ended. For those who weren’t alive then or for those who have forgotten this dark chapter in modern American history, here is a brief summation of how things happened from an article from the Office of The Historian, a department of the US government:

Representing the United States abroad has been a dangerous job since the beginning of the Republic, but that was never truer than during the Carter Administration. In the wake of a successful revolution by Islamic fundamentalists against the pro-American Shah of Iran, the United States became an object of virulent criticism and the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was a visible target. On November 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the embassy and detained more than 50 Americans, ranging from the Chargé d’Affaires to the most junior members of the staff, as hostages. The Iranians held the American diplomats hostage for 444 days. While the courage of the American hostages in Tehran and of their families at home reflected the best tradition of the Department of State, the Iran hostage crisis undermined Carter’s conduct of foreign policy. The crisis dominated the headlines and news broadcasts and made the Administration look weak and ineffectual.

While there are major differences between this hostage crisis and that one, some things are playing exactly the same way.

The United States Is Making All The Wrong Moves

Back in 1979 and into 1980, the Carter Administration had severe internal battles going on about the direction of resolving the crisis. And the Soviet Union saw weakness and advanced their reach into parts of the world knowing that America was paralyzed by the hostage ordeal. And the American populace was certainly not willing to get into another war after just getting out of Vietnam. President Carter was seen as more of a pacifice when it came to war and it showed in how he vacillated between action and diplomacy. A failed rescue attempt was the last straw and Carter’s chances of reelection fell precipitously. Some historians credit then Secretary of State Warren Christopher of finally getting the hostages released, but the timing speaks otherwise. You see, Ronald Reagan won the 1980 presidential election and was known as a man to not be trifled with. Although conspiracy theorists believe that the Reagan campaign cooked up a weapons for hostage deal to make the release occur after the November elections, investigations into it turned up nothing to substantiate it. But it had more to do with Iran thinking they lost leverage to get a bigger return in a deal with a weak Carter than a strong Reagan. And then Iraq invaded Iran that started a war with each other which and Iran had to pay attention more to that. Regardless, lessons should be learned here.

Negotiating With Terrorists Never Works

And I say this with the backdrop of deals between Israel and Hamas, who I might add are proxies of the same radical Islamic regime that took Americans hostage in 1979. The current state of such talks is seen in this article from i24news.tv:

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced Thursday evening that Israel agreed to the ceasefire proposal.

While initially there were reports of an initial confirmation that Hamas has approved the agreement, this was later denied by Hamas to Arab media.

The agreement is said to include a ceasefire and the return of hostages to Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian source that leads a faction within the Gaza Strip was quoted in Arab medias saying “There is no agreement on the framework yet, and Hamas has significant reservation. The Qatari statement is rushed and incorrect.”

The report went on to explain why Hamas rejected any current deal:

The source goes on to stipulate conditions, such as a "comprehensive cessation of aggression and a complete withdrawal of the occupation forces from Gaza, providing shelter for displaced people, reconstruction of Gaza and lifting the siege."

Hamas was later quotes in Arab media saying "there is no final approval from our side regarding the exchange and truce deal."

In other words, Hamas wants things to go back to the way they were before with Israel footing the bill for rebuilding. We all know that won’t happen.

Not At Any Price

Speaking for the Israel stance, Prime Minister Netanyahu updated his citizens and the world as we read in an article from i24new.tv:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed on Wednesday that, while Israel is working to secure the release of its hostages in the Gaza Strip, it will not come "at any price."

"There's a lot of rustling in the media surrounding the efforts to secure an additional release of hostages, so I want to make clear – we are working on another outline to release our hostages, but I stress, not at any price," he said in an address.

Netanyahu talked about the line in the sand for Israel:

"I have a red lines. Among them, we will not stop the war, we will not pull the IDF out of the Strip, and we will not release thousands of terrorists."

The Prime Minister assured anyone willing to listen that they are working on releasing the hostages:

Reports in various media outlets point to progress on a potential ceasefire deal that would release the more than 130 Israeli hostages held in Gaza, in exchange for thousands of Palestinian terrorist prisoners.

"We are constantly working on the release of the hostages and the other goals of the war: destruction of Hamas and ensuring Gaza can never be a threat to us again," Netanyahu said. "We are working on these three things together, and we will not give up on any of them."

From what I have seen in history, these hostages will never be let go as long as they have value to Hamas. My concern is that their value is getting lower each day and time is truly running out for their safe release. And yes, that is an urgent and constant prayer request.