GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 410

Get Out Of Their Way

Returning Everyone

That’s what Prime Minister Netanyahu said when talking about getting the hostages back. We read more in an article from the Jerusalem News Syndicate:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday to hunt down terrorists who hurt hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, speaking during a visit to the Netzarim Corridor that splits the coastal enclave between north and south.

He gave those who are holding the hostages two choices:

“To those who are holding our hostages: Whoever dares to harm our captives—his blood is on his own head. We will pursue you, and we will get you,” warned the Israeli leader in a video in Hebrew recorded on Gaza’s beach alongside the Mediterranean Sea.

At the same time, “whoever brings us a hostage will be given a safe way, for him and his family, to leave. We will also give a reward of $5 million for each kidnapped person. You choose—the choice is yours—but the result will be the same. We will return everyone,” he added.

How the PM can be so definitive is not known, but he’s been right more than he’s been wrong in this war. And offering money to their captors could very well work since Hamas was paying them to hold them before. The report also tells us who was with him when he made the statements:

Netanyahu visited alongside Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Ronen Bar, the director of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).

He added this telling us that they are still working very hard on getting the hostages back:

“We are making an effort—from this place and everywhere—to locate our hostages and return them. We are not letting up. We will continue to do this until we get them all, both the living and the dead,” he said.

The new Israel Defense Minister also chimed in:

Katz reiterated that the return of the 101 hostages still held by Hamas terrorists for 410 days remains the “most important mission,” followed by the destruction of Hamas’s “military” and governmental capabilities.

“We need to make sure that Hamas does not rule here ‘the day after,'” he stated, vowing that the IDF will “complete its mission” in the enclave.

Laying The Blame On Hamas

After Netanyahu left Gaza he received information about the overall war effort:

Following the visit to Gaza, the prime minister attended an assessment at the IDF’s Gaza Division, where he was updated on the operational achievements and continued developments in the war, his office said.

He then told his government why no hostage deal is forthcoming:

On Monday, Netanyahu told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hamas continues to frustrate ongoing hostage talks in the hopes of ending the war and returning to power in the Gaza Strip.

“The only thing that Hamas wants is a deal that ends the war and for the IDF to leave the Strip in order to return to power,” the premier said, per Walla. “I am not ready to allow that under any circumstance.”

The PM then about half of the hostages are still alive and new ideas are developing:

The prime minister said during the closed-door meeting that he believes some 50 out of the 101 remaining hostages held by Hamas remain alive.

He told committee members that while there is currently no concrete proposal on the table, various “ideas have come up” in recent days.

Netanyahu’s comments were delivered after Hamas said no to the current deal on the table:

The remarks came a day after Netanyahu called an emergency meeting following Hamas’s rejection of all proposals currently on the table, a senior Israeli security source told the country’s Channel 13 News.

Hamas, for their part is being coy about who has the hostages and where they are:

The Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed outlet cited a Hamas source as saying earlier this week that the Islamist organization’s leadership has cut all contact with those actually holding the hostages, due to “strict security measures to protect the important negotiation card.”

The terrorist organization is still using the hostages as bargaining chips:

The source added that Hamas has refused to provide information on the whereabouts and status of the hostages, in particular those with U.S. citizenship, as it has not been offered “compensation” by mediators.

Some reports are telling us that Hamas says they aren’t in contact with the captives because they really don’t know where they actually are now that none of the leadership remains in Gaza. As for the Gaza strip itself there are some in the Israel government that think Israel should be in charge of the north until the hostages are released:

Also on Monday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads the Religious Zionism Party. told reporters that the IDF should occupy the entire northern part of the Strip until the hostages are released.

Jerusalem needs to “inform Hamas in clear terms that if the hostages do not return, we exercise our sovereignty and stay there forever,” he said, adding, “Then, Hamas will have the motivation to keep them alive.”

Personally I think that the only way the hostages are returned is if the IDF rescues them, but the offer of money for each hostage is significant all by itself and could work. There is one key component in this and that are the two powerful words of “but God.” He has released prisoners in the past and He certainly can do it now. As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem we need to always remember the hostages and getting them back home.

Misguided Advice

We’re told in a report from The Times Of Israel that Prime Minister Netanyahu that he wasn’t impressed with the guidance he got from Joe Biden and his administration as they fought the war:

Speaking nearly two weeks after the US election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly criticized the Biden administration’s judgment and policies at major junctions in Israel’s ongoing war against Iran and its proxies.

The PM noted that at every turn he was told by the US to not take the next steps he eventually did:

“The US had reservations and suggested that we not enter Gaza,” said Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum on Monday. “It had reservations about entering Gaza City, Khan Younis, and, most critically, strongly opposed entry into Rafah.”

Administration officials had publicly urged Israel to calibrate its Rafah offensive to minimize civilian harm.

Netanyahu reiterated how they were told not to go into Rafah and then recalled his response:

“President Biden told me that if we go in, we will be alone,” Netanyahu said. “He also said that he would stop shipments of important weapons to us. And so he did. A few days later, [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken appeared and repeated the same things and I told him — we will fight with our nails.”

The US did stop shipments of some military weapons:

The US withheld a single shipment of 2,000-lb bombs, allowing all other weapon transfers to continue.

Netanyahu then was told to not attack Iran after the Iranians attacked Israel:

Netanyahu also criticized US positions after Iran’s drone and missile attacks on Israel: “Again, we were told by our friend that there is no need to respond. And I said that sitting and not reacting is not acceptable, and we responded.”

Even now in the last days of the current US administration they are still dictating to Israel how to run the war. Enough is enough in my opinion. Hopefully President Trump will let Israel finish this war and not get in their way.