GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 444

A New Sheriff In Town

A New Day Coming

When President Trump took a shot across the bow of Hamas telling them the hostages need to be release by his inauguration it set the clock ticking for their release since January 20th is only 27 days away. But in an article from WND.com the incoming National Security Advisor (NSA) for Trump was very clear about what will happen if any future terrorists decide to abduct an American:

The incoming National Security Adviser Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., told conservative talk-show host Ben Shapiro there's a new sheriff in town with the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, and any terrorist organization which thought about holding U.S. hostages captive should think long and hard about whether the costs would outweigh the benefits.

The 4 American hostages have now beaten the time the last terrorist record for holding hostages:

Waltz pointed out the four remaining U.S. hostages held in Hamas captivity in Gaza have now been there for longer than the 444-day U.S. embassy siege in Tehran in February 1979.

Waltz was very clear that they should never have been held that long:

"That's totally unacceptable, and I think writ large, there have never been enough consequences," says Waltz. "That's what we need to be talking about with these people. [If] You take an American … there is going to be all hell to pay. There are going to be nothing but consequences for you financially, and maybe even a bullet in your damn forehead."

He then issued a warning to anyone else who is thinking about taking an American hostage:

"The next time you think about it … a lot of these groups are going to say, 'Whoa, it's just not worth it under Donald Trump,'" he surmised.

The next NSA head says that there will be changes in place under Trump that will set a vastly different tone for actions against anyone or any organization harming American citizens:

Waltz added there seemed to be a perverse incentive structure in place, which far from deterring terrorists seems to encourage them to chance their arm and take hostages, including Americans. He stated clearly in the interview that if the cost of capturing U.S. citizens became prohibitively high – which he expected to be the case under President Trump – then they would stop doing it.

Waltz then spoke about the US foreign policy for the last four years and he didn’t hold back with his opinion of it:

Away from the Palestinian issue – although linked – Waltz claimed President Biden's victory in the 2020 election was a disaster, and particularly a foreign policy standpoint. He drew attention to how close Israel and Saudi Arabia were to inking a normalization deal following the successful signing of the Abraham Accords in Sept. 2020, between the Jewish state and four Arab/ Arab-majority countries.

Indeed, the incoming NSA drew a direct causal link between the proximity of a normalization deal between Saudi and Israel, and Iran's decision – despite its protestations of being kept in the dark – of lighting the fuse for the Oct. 7 attacks.

The article went on with Waltz saying the Saudis are already capitulating to Trump.

More Incentives

In the past few days, leaders past and present are lobbying for Prime Minister Netanyahu to strike Iran in response to one of their proxies, the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Yesterday it was the head of the Mossad and today it is a former member of the Israeli War cabinet as we’re told in a report from The Times Of Israel:

Faced with Houthi attacks from Yemen and dangers posed by other Iranian proxies, Israel “must target Iran directly,” opposition politician Benny Gantz declared on Monday.

Speaking with the press ahead of his National Unity party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Gantz stated that “the solution to putting an end to the attacks lies in Tehran.”

“Today, we have the opportunity to catalyze a ‘strategic flip’ against Iran and its proxies. We must capitalize on the opportunity. It would be a strategic mistake of historic proportion not to,” said Gantz, a former defense minister and IDF chief.

Those in Mossad and even Shin Bet seem to agree with Gantz:

The security establishment apparently agrees with Gantz, according to a Channel 12 report Sunday that said the question of tackling Iran — a possible reference both to efforts to deter the Houthis and to target Iran’s nuclear facilities — has come up repeatedly in security cabinet meetings, even as the focus has been on finding ways to counter the upsurge in Houthi missile attacks.

Channel 13, for its part, quoted Mossad chief David Barnea saying: “We need to go for the head [of the snake], for Iran — if we only hit the Houthis, it’s not certain we’ll manage to stop them.”

These statements are apparently causing unrest in Iran:

Quoting unnamed Israeli political and military leaders, Channel 12 reported that Tehran’s leadership believes Israel may soon attack it, and is holding frenzied consultations to decide what to do in the event that it does.

The report added that Iran believes Israel agreed to a ceasefire last month in its conflict with Hezbollah up north because it would free up forces to focus on a direct attack against the Islamic regime.

So now striking Iran has more than a few logical reasons with the nuclear threat being at the top of the list. Gantz also gave his opinion on ending the hostages as well:

In his statement, Gantz said that “the nations of the region together with the United States must work together with Israel to remove the threat of a nuclear Iranian regime,” adding that a comprehensive deal with Hamas covering all of the hostages held in Gaza was also needed, even if their release would be spread over a period of time.

Short Term And Long Term

Gantz continued with his thoughts about eliminating Hamas completely taking a swipe at his political rival at the same time:

Other than securing the release of the remaining hostages, Gantz said, “We must use this time to do what Netanyahu has refused to do for over a year: replace the Hamas government,” adding that while Hamas’s commanders have largely been eliminated and its infrastructure destroyed, Israel “continues to let it run the Strip.”

Gantz said that who runs Gaza at the end of the war is something that hasn’t been clearly defined:

“The State of Israel has not made a real decision to replace Hamas. It is not working with our friends in the world to establish an administration to run the Gaza Strip as I proposed a year ago. Such plans exist in the defense establishment, but this is something that can only be led by a determined political echelon, one that is not bound by messianic dreams and coalition needs,” he asserted.

He thinks that is changing the hearts and minds of Gazans must happen if the Strip will ever be free of Hamas and terrorism overall:

Even if a new government focused on de-radicalization is established, however, Hamas will not disappear overnight, requiring the IDF to continue operating in Gaza in the future and “ninth-grade children will still be fighting in Gaza” when they grow up and are conscripted.

While I see where Gantz is going with all this, I disagree with handing over the reigns of doing that to those who also believe that Israel is committing genocide right now. I believe that Israel needs to take control of the area just as they need to do in the West Bank and take over the education system and news systems who have been teaching hatred of Jews for decades. Unless these people see a new way of thinking, the ongoing indoctrination will only breed exactly what Gantz said. As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem we need to add to the list the changing of the hearts and minds of the people who have only known antisemitism.