GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 366

More US Meddling

Where’s Sinwar?

While the vast amount of focus is on Hezbollah and Iran, some are wondering if Israel is still looking for the hostages. And by extension, the leader of the Hamas pack, Yahya Sinwar. We are told in a report in The Jerusalem Post that he is still alive and basically in hiding:

Hamas's chief Yahya Sinwar has disappeared and is no longer communicating with Qatari mediators, Qatari officials involved in the hostage deal negotiations told hostages' families last week, according to an exclusive N12 report on Sunday.

Wherever he is, if you find him, you’ll find lot of hostages:

The officials also told the families that they believed Sinwar surrounded himself with hostages.

The officials say that as they negotiate, they aren’t talking with Sinwar:

"Sinwar is currently not communicating with us. He has disappeared for us too and has not made contact," the officials were cited as saying by the Israeli news outlet, adding that due to the eliminations, Sinwar had ceased to communicate via phones.

They also say that the terrorist leader is still alive:

At present, Sinwar is communicating through "paper and pen," officials reportedly claimed, adding that there was no evidence that the Hamas leader was killed.

The sources also stated the obvious about getting a deal done:

The Qatari officials also claimed that Israel's elimination of Hamas leadership had made a hostage-ceasefire deal more challenging.

"Israel adopted a policy of eliminations that worsened the deal," the officials reportedly said, adding that "In the past, there was [Hamas's political bureau chief Ismail] Haniyeh, and he was eliminated. Now there is Khaled Mashaal, and he is much more difficult, Haniyeh."

Haniyeh was killed in July during a visit to Tehran. Israel has not claimed responsibility for his death.

US Meeting With Gallant

In a move some see as delaying any attack on Iran, the Israel Defense Minister will meet with US officials to discuss the coming attack on Iran as we read in another article by The Jerusalem Post:

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is set to visit Washington Tuesday as the United States seeks to weigh on the scope of Israel’s anticipated retaliatory strike on Iran.

Gallant made it clear that they will strike and with great force”

Whoever thinks that a mere attempt to harm us will deter us from taking action should take a look at [our achievements] in Gaza and Beirut,” Gallant said Sunday, less than a week after Iran attacked Israel with bilateral missiles.

“We are powerful in both defense and offense, and this will be reflected in the manner of our choosing, at the time and place of our choosing,” he said as he visited the Nevatim Air Force base.

But the US stance is to not hit Iran’s oil fields or nuclear sites:

US President Joe Biden has been blunt about his opposition to an Israeli strike that would target either Iran’s oil fields or its nuclear facilities. KAN reported on Sunday that the US had offered Israel monetary incentives to modify its attack plans.

The US doesn’t want a regional war:

US Ambassador to Israel Jake Lew spoke of the issue at the annual Shabtai Shavit World Summit of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at Reichman University on Sunday.

“What we've made clear publicly is that it's important for this not to escalate [Israeli-Iranian violence] into a regional war.

“The President has made some public comments that suggest the things that we think create the greatest risk of things spiraling.

While not wanting a war, they do acknowledge that Israel does need to respond:

“On the other hand, we haven't said that Israel should just tolerate having 200 ballistic missiles shot at it little over an hour, even if it was two hours,” Lew said, as he underscored how serious those attacks were.

Lew did say that hitting Iran’s nuclear sites wasn’t needed:

He cautioned that a decision to destroy Iran’s nuclear program was not a decision to make because Israel has had a successful few weeks in its military exchanges.

And in yet another Post report we read the US is bribing Israel to hit only the targets it wants them to:

The US has reportedly offered Israel a "compensation package" if it refrains from attacking certain targets in Iran, according to a report in Kan11 on Sunday.

Amichai Stein told them that he had received reports from US officials that the US had offered Israel a "compensation package" if it refrained from hitting specific targets in Iran.

The details seem to include weapons and maybe a payment:

This package was offered during negotiations between officials of the two countries on the type of response to the attack from Iran.

The package would include a total guarantee of comprehensive diplomatic protection as well as a weapons package and was offered directly in return for holding off on striking certain targets in Iran.

Stein summed it up, saying, "An American official said, 'If you don't hit targets A, B, C, we will provide you with diplomatic protection and an arms package.'"

Israel didn’t tip their hand on what they will do other than listen:

"Israeli officials responded saying, 'We consider the United States and listen to them. But we will do anything and everything we can to protect the citizens and the security of the State of Israel.'"

The discussions will go on though but Israel still says they are still going to attack:

The IDF has been in ongoing discussions with the United States over its response. Currently, US CENTCOM Chief General Michael Kurilla is in Israel as part of the discussion.

Israel has vowed a response to the attack, which saw over 180 missiles fired at Israel, killing a single Palestinian in the West Bank.

The current US administration is trying to it both ways. They want to keep Iran happy and they need to protect the Jewish vote in the upcoming elections. Israel will need to go this alone so pray that they do what’s right for their own people even if it means losing international support,