Deny and Lie
War Day 335
War
Six Israeli hostages were found dead in a Gaza tunnel last Saturday. All had been shot in the head. Medical examination showed that they’d been murdered 24-72 hours before their bodies were discovered. Some commentators have said that this cold-blooded murder could be a turning point in the war in Gaza.
The six were Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg Polin, Alex Lebanon, Crmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi.
Their deaths shocked the nation. Protesters took to the streets calling for an immediate resolution to the hostage crises, demanding that Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu reach an agreement with Hamas in Gaza for the release of the hostages.
US President Joe Biden told the media, “I’m devastated and outraged,” over the death of the six hostages.
Israel’s president Isaac Herzog said, “I’m crushed by the news.”
According to Haaretz, US Rep. Adam Shiff told CNN, “These sons of bitches who did this ought to be hunted down.”
The IDF assumes that the six were killed by their Hamas captors when they heard the IDF raid a nearby tunnel and found Farhan Al-Qadi, 52, an Israeli Arab from the Bedouin town of Rahat who had been held captive since Oct 7th. Their captors murdered the six hostages and fled, fearing the IDF were coming for them as well.
New evidence has shown that Hamas did not invade on October 7th with 3,000 terrorists, but with 6,000, killing over 1200 Israelis and taking 251 captive. 110 were released in months ago in a cease-fire and prisoner exchange.
Since then the bodies of other hostages have been discovered while the IDF explores the nearly 500 miles of serpentine underground tunnels beneath Gaza. Some, like the one where the six Israeli hostages were found, are up to 70 feet underground.
On Tuesday night, September 3rd, Israel’s PM Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a 40-minute TV presentation explaining why the Israeli army had to stay along the 8.7 mile Philidephi corridor separating Egypt from Gaza. According to Netanyahu, the IDF presence was a life and death situation and Israel’s very existence depended on the IDF staying there.
A senior Israeli official told CNN that “This guy just killed the negotiations for a hostage release and cease-fire in one speech.”
Families of the hostages said, after the speech, that “Netanyahu has condemned our loved ones to death.”
Critics said that by making this presentation Netanyahu was clearly stating that he preferred keeping the IDF on Philadelphi corridor over giving it up in return for the 97 hostages still held in Gaza. Of those it is unknown how many are still alive, but estimates are no more than several dozen.
In a recent NYTimes article, columnist Thomas Friedman wrote about Netanyahu’s preference for the Phildephi corridor over the return of the hostages, Friedman quotes Israeli reporter Amos Harel, who wrote in Haaretz, “what is really going on is that Bibi’s right-wing allies dream of resettling Gaza, while Netanyahu, under cover of security interests, is mainly protecting his political position. He is fighting for the integrity of his governing coalition, which might crack if a deal is approved.”
Netanyahu’s security cabinet voted to approve his plan to keep the Philadelphi corridor rather than give it up in Hostage negotiations in exchange for the Israeli prisoners. Only one cabinet member voted against Netanyahu. According to Friedman, “Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant — the only honest, courageous person in Netanyahu’s cabinet reportedly told the prime minister and his right-wing sycophants that their vote last Thursday to “prioritize the Philadelphi Corridor at the cost of the lives of the hostages is a moral disgrace.”
National Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Ultra-right wing Otzmah Yehudit party, has called Gallant a traitor and demanded his dismissal. The Times of Israel reported on Wednesday that Ben Gvir has also publicly said he is working to stop the hostage negotiations entirely.
Reportedly, Ben Gvir wrote on X that “continuing the talks just spurs them (Hamas) on to more terror.”
Pundits say Ben Gvir, and other ultra-right-wing politicians like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotritch of the Religious Zionism party, believe the hostages can be sacrificed for the greater good. That means, keeping Palestinian prisoners in jail rather than exchange them for hostages. And keep fighting in Gaza in hopes of resettling that area that was evacuated by Israeli settlers in 2005.
Netanyahu has long stated that he would settle for nothing less than an “total victory” over Hamas. But that victory has been elusive during what is now nearly a full year of fighting.
Following Netanyahu’s TV appearance, Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz, a former Israeli Chief-of-Staff and now a leader of the National Camp opposition party, said that it was a lie that the Philadelphi corridor was essential to Israel’s survival. Gantz said that just as Israel had left other areas of Gaza and returned to fight, they could leave the Philadelphi corridor and return should the necessity arise.
Gantz’s TV appearance was followed by another former Chief-of-Staff Gen. (res.) Gadi Eisenkott who echoed Gantz’s assessment. Eisenkott, whose son was killed in the Gaza fighting, said the main goal of the army should be, and should have always been, the return of the hostages.
Gantz said Netanyahu's reasons for not reaching a hostage deal are "nonsensical" and will not prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons.
Speaking on Channel 12TV Tamir Pardo, former head of the Mossad, said that the Philidelphi corridor was not important. “Israel is the strongest country in the region,” said Pardo. “Israel can deal with the release of a thousand Palestinian prisoners if it means getting back the hostages alive.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, of the Yesh Atid party, said, “19 years ago Netanyahu gave up the Philadelphi corridor. Now it’s important to him? This is only political.”
In a cabinet meeting Likud MK Gila Gamliel, who is the Minister of Science and Technology, said that since the deaths of the six hostages, everything has changed.
Likud MK David ‘Dudu’ Amsalem said, “What has changed?”
“Six dead hostages, that’s what!” Gamliel answered him.
Friedman writes that the “Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, long used by Hamas to smuggle in weapons but which the Israeli military did not think important enough to even occupy for the first seven months of the war.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu
Netanyahu, in his presentation said that there was no choice but to keep the IDF along that corridor to stem the flow of weapons and supplies to Hamas.
However, Yaron Avraham, on Channel 12TV, put up a the same map of Gaza that Netanyahu used in his presentation, but this time with arrows pointing in from Israel that represented the billions of dollars Israel had allowed Qatar and other Arab states to pour in Gaza as part of Netanyahu’s “concept” that money would keep Hamas quiet. “Israel also allowed supplies, like cement, into Gaza. Cement that was used by Hamas to build tunnels.
Friedman postulates that Netanyahu may now be dragging out the war until the US elections. Netanyahu, according to Friedman, wants Trump to win so that he will then support Netanyahu in his Gaza policies.
Friedman says “Based on my reporting and all my years watching Netanyahu, I would not be surprised if he actually escalates in Gaza between now and Election Day to make life difficult for the Democrats running for office. (The murderous Islamo-Fascist leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, also wants to see the war continue because it is tearing Israel apart and isolating America in the region.)
“Netanyahu may do this because, I believe, he wants Trump to win and he wants to be able to tell Trump that he helped him win. Netanyahu knows that many in the rising generation of Democrats are hostile to Israel — or at least to the Israel he is creating. that Netanyahu may even increase the fighting in Gaza. This would put Kamala Harris, the Democratic party’s presidential candidate, in a difficult position. with more civilian casualties, he will force Harris either to publicly criticize him and lose Jewish votes or bite her tongue and lose Arab and Muslim American votes in the key state of Michigan. As Harris will likely find it hard to do either, this will make her look weak to both American Jews and American Arabs.”
But the chorus of critics against Netanyahu’s decision to hold on to the Phildephi corridor has not swayed him. Nor have the hundreds of thousands that have taken to the streets to protest his position. As Channel 12TV’s Yaron Avraham said, the protests will have no effect on Netanyahu.
Israel has also been on the verge of normalization with Saudi Arabia who are worried about Iran, as are other moderate Arab countries in the region. However, the Saudi’s have said that Israel has to agree, at least verbally, to a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Netanyahu can not agree to this with his current right-wing coalition.
According to pundits, Netanyahu, supported by his coalition partners, especially Ben Gvir and Smotritch, has done all he could to destroy the Palestinian Authority and discredit Palestinian Authority leader Abu Mazan. Recently Abu Mazan has said he wanted to visit Gaza, but was warned by Hamas that he would be killed if he did so. Hamas pushed the PA out of Gaza and took control in 2007. One of the plans for the ‘day after’ in Gaza is for the PA to take control.
However, according to Friedman, if Trump wins the election, “I would not be shocked if Bibi declares that his ‘total victory’ in Gaza has been achieved, agrees to some cease-fire to get back any hostages still alive, mumbles a few words about Palestinian statehood in the far-off, distant future to get the Saudi-Israel normalization deal and tells his craziest far-right partners to get lost while he runs for re-election without them. His likely platform: I brought total victory in Gaza and, with Trump, forged a historic opening between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“Netanyahu wins. Trump wins. Israel loses. Gaza will still be boiling, of course. Israeli troops will still be occupying it. Israel will be more of a pariah state than ever, with more and more talented Israelis leaving for jobs abroad, but Bibi will have another term — and that is all that counts.”
Meanwhile, the fighting continues. Critics point out that Iran is getting closer by the day to building their own nuclear weapon. That, say the critics, is what Netanyahu should be concerned with, not the relatively insignificant Philadelphi corridor.
And Gadi Eisenkott said that Netanyahu did not have a “strategy” for the war or for ending it.
Benny Gantz, in the final words of his presentation said that Netanyahu was not suited to run the country and should “turn in his keys to the office and go home.”
On Wednesday, Matanyahu Engleman accused the military of building ‘high and impassable walls’ to stymie his probe into failures surrounding the Oct 7 Hamas attack.
According to the Times of Israel, “State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman excoriated the country’s political and military leaders in a speech on Tuesday, accusing them of impeding inquiries into Hamas’s October 7 massacre and refusing to take any responsibility for it.
“In Israel, as of September 2024, there is no one who has taken personal responsibility with action alongside it — not at the political level, not at the security and military level, and not at the civilian level,” Englman declared in a speech at the Israel Bar Association conference in Tel Aviv.
“There has not been a single person among the elected officials, bearers of public office, military leaders and the security establishment, who has met the proper standard and the expected time when it comes to upholding the value of bearing responsibility,” the state comptroller added.
Engleman “…also chastised the Prime Minister’s Office for holding up and interfering with his review.”
However, a few have taken responsibility. Israel’s top military intelligence official, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, who headed the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate, resigned in April over his role in the failures leading to October 7, while the commander of the IDF’s Gaza Division, Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, resigned his post in June for the same reason.
But Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government have consistently denied being responsible for the Oct 7 disaster.
Gaza
IDF soldiers in Gaza
According to Ynetnews, over the past week, the troops of the 401st Brigade have been conducting "precise, intelligence-based operations" in the Tel al-Sultan area, as part of the 162nd Division’s operations in Rafah. To date, the troops have eliminated over 200 terrorists and located dozens of weapons in civilian structures during the operations, the IDF announced on Wednesday afternoon.
In one encounter, terrorists fired at the troops from inside a building in the area. The troops conducted a targeted raid on the building, searched it, and then eliminated the terrorist inside. In the basement of the building, the troops located large quantities of weapons that were used by the terrorists embedded there.
Additionally, the soldiers located ten rocket launchers designed for firing long-range rockets and intended to be used to fire into Israel.
According to Ynetnews, the IDF made it clear to the political echelon that, given that there is no hostage deal, it must understand that any large-scale ground operation in the Gaza Strip risks the lives of hostages. The same is true in central and northern Gaza. According to a senior IDF official, "the cabinet will have to decide whether it takes responsibility for the life of a hostage."
So far, according to the IDF approximately 710 security personnel have been killed since Oct 7th and over 340 since the IDF ground incursion on Oct 27th.
Hamas Nukbah Terrorist Leader Ahmad Wadia
Also, according to Ynetnews, IDF troops and Shin Bet killed Ahmad Wadia the commander of the Nukhba unit who attacked the Moshav Netiv Ha’Asara, arriving on a paraglider.
The family of the late Gil Ta'asa from Moshav Netiv Ha'Asara was informed on Monday night that IDF and Shin Bet had eliminated Wadia.
According to analysts, one of the reasons for Hamas’ resiliency so far is their labyrinth of reinforced tunnels. According to a letter the IDF found that was written by Hamas leader Sinwar it costs Hamas about $300,000 to build roughly a half-mile-long rudimentary tunnel. The IDF estimates that over 500 miles of multi-layered tunnels wend beneath Gaza.
Ron Bergman, writing in the New York Times, reported that, the IDF discovered a 2019 manual that was part of a years long effort by Hamas, well before its Oct. 7 attack and current war with Israel, to build an underground military operation that could withstand prolonged attacks and slow down Israeli ground forces inside the darkened tunnels.
Hamas tunnel in Gaza with electric and telephone lines on the wall
“The Hamas’s handbook for underground combat describes, in meticulous detail, how to navigate in darkness, move stealthily beneath Gaza and fire automatic weapons in confined spaces for maximum lethality.
“Battlefield commanders were even instructed to time, down to the second, how long it took their fighters to move between various points underground.”
According to Bergman,“Just a year before attacking Israel, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, approved spending $225,000 to install blast doors to protect the militia’s tunnel network from airstrikes and ground assaults.
According to Bergman, Hamas brigade commanders had reviewed the tunnels below Gaza and identified critical places underground and at the surface that needed fortification.
“These blast doors, as well as gas detectors and night-vision googles, were a game-changer since they prevented Israeli drones from cruising unhindered through the tunnels. And also allowed Hamas leaders and fighters to burrow into the reinforced areas for protection.”
These measures were, according to Bergman, one of the main reasons Hamas has survived so long in this war. A military spokesperson said that “the fact that Hamas is hiding in tunnels and managing much of the fighting from there prolongs the war.”
Were it not for the tunnels, experts say, Hamas would have stood little chance against the far superior Israeli military.”
“Hamas’s combat strategy is based on underground tactics,” said Tamir Hayman, a former head of Israel’s military intelligence. “This is one of the primary reasons they have managed to withstand the I.D.F. thus far.”
An Israeli military official said that it could take years to destroy the entire tunnel network.
On Aug 30, the IDF issued a statement that the Hamas Rafah brigade has collapsed. And that 80% of the border tunnels have been neutralized. Also, the Times of Israel reported that documents uncovered in Gaza tunnels show that Hamas greatly inflated the number of their supporters in order to present a larger number to impress Gazans.
North
Damage caused by rocket fire along in Kyriat Shmona
The Israeli reprisal attack on Hezbollah two weeks ago has not deterred Hezbollah from firing into the north of Israel. On Wednesday Sept 4, Hezbollah fired over 100 rockets at Israel’s north. Extensive damage was reported but no injuries.
Analysts are calling this a ‘war of attrition.’ Critics say that had Prime Minister Netanyahu reached a cease-fire agreement with Hamas, then Hezbollah would have also stopped firing. They also say that once a cease-fire was called, Israel could resume normalization talks with Saudia Arabia and other moderate nations.
Most residents of the north have still not returned to their homes. School children began classes in the center of the country rather than returning to their schools in the north. One resident of Kyriat Shmona called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to do something to insure the safety of those living in the north.
Since the beginning of the war on Oct 7th, more than 8000 rockets have been fired at Israel’s north. 26 Israeli civilians have died, 26 Israeli civilians have died. 20 IDF soldiers and reservist have been killed. Hezbollah reported that 432 Hezbollah terrorists have been killed, and 76 from other terrorist groups.
Hostages
Israelis demonstrating for release of hostages in Tel Aviv
Since the discovery of the six Israeli hostages murdered by Hamas, the streets of Israel have been alive with protests. Hundreds of thousands gathered Saturday night around the country calling for a hostage deal. Protesters assembled outside the Prime Minister’s apartment in Jerusalem. Arrests were made. The police were reportedly more brutal than normal. Experts point to the hand of National Police Minister Ben Gvir who has reportedly encouraged the police to use more force in dealing with the protesters.
According to the Times of Israel, Ninety-seven of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Throughout the war, critics have claimed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put his political survival above all else, including the fate of the hostages.
On Wednesday, David Barnea, head of the Mossad and one of the negotiators for the hostages release, said that he’d received directives to tell the Hamas representatives in Qatar, where the next meeting would be held to discuss the hostages’ release, that in the second stage of a cease-fire Israel would withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor.
However, observers point out that Netanyahu has kept changing the terms of the negotiations, agreeing to a point and then adding another point that essentially nullified the agreed terms.
Ronen Bergman, writing in Yideot Ahranot (Ynet), pointed out one of the main things Netanyahu did not bring to his TV presentation defending his position on the Philidelphi corridor.
Bergman quotes a document he acquired written by Netanyahu and given to the hostage negotiation team on May 27th. “ The "clarification" document was revealed in its entirety: the maps, the changes and the list of abductees included by Netanyahu
According to Bergman, a senior Israeli security official told him,”One thing he will not bring - a deal.”
Bergman wrote that a "clarifications" document was handed over to mediators on July 27, at Netanyahu's request. This was after Israel proposed the May 27 outline and received Hamas's consent for most of it.
Then, according to Bergman, Netanyahu sprung the “Philadelphi surprise.”
The "clarifications" document that the head of the Mossad sent to the mediators on behalf of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu included dramatic changes and additions to the May 27 outline, which was submitted on behalf of Israel and received agreement to most of the terms from Hamas.
The Prime Minister's "turning back" move, as the full document reveals, completely changed the picture of the negotiations - and became a "bloody document", as a senior security official put it - which, according to him, is "stained with the blood of the six abductees who were murdered in the tunnel in Rafah”.
Bergman wrote that other changes to the May 27th document, such as reneging on Hamas fighters carrying weapons, and Israeli troop withdrawals from certain areas, and changes in the maps showing where Israeli troops would be stationed, were added to the July 27th document. In essence, the July 27th document sabotaged the May 27th document and insured that the negotiations would fail, according to the senior Israel official.
"History will one day judge this document with extreme severity," the senior security source told Yediot Ahronoth. "Above, at the top of the document it is written that it is a 'clarification document', but in my opinion the most appropriate name for it is the 'blood document' - because its pages are stained with the blood of the six abductees who were murdered in the tunnel in Rafah. The names of four of them are listed in the appendix at the end of the document. If it were not for the deliberate sabotage included in the document To prevent a deal - there is a good chance that they would have been released already a month ago and are here with us alive."
Meanwhile, the US Justice Department has issued an indictment for six Hamas members, three who are already dead, in connection with the Oct 7th invasion of Israel and the massacre of 1200 Israelis. One of those still alive is Khalid Mashal, who lives in Qatar. Pundits expect the US to pressure Qatar to turn over Mashal to US authorities. However, the same pundits doubt Qatar will comply.
On Aug 31st, Mashal reportedly called on Hamas faithful to resume suicide bombings as they did during the second Intifada.
Speaking at the funeral of Hersch Goldberg-Polin, Israel’s President Herzog said, on Monday, that Israel’s leaders have “an urgent and immediate task — to act to the best of their ability to save those who can still be saved, and to return all our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters to their homes in peace. This is a supreme moral, Jewish and humanitarian imperative of the State of Israel to its citizens.”
Demonstrations continued on Wednesday night calling for the release of the hostages. A massive demonstration is expected Saturday night that will have locations all across the country.
Also, Gen (ret.) Giora Eiland, former head of Israel’s Military Intelligence, told Channel 12TV that a group of generals has come up with a plan to end the war.
The document, titled "The Generals' Plan," was spearheaded by retired Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, former head of the IDF Operations Directorate, with support from dozens of senior officers, including retired Maj. Gen. Gershon HaCohen, Brig. Gen. (Res.) Guy Hazut and Brig. Gen. (Res.) Dedi Simchi. "As long as Hamas controls humanitarian aid, it cannot be defeated," said Col. (Res.) Hazi Nechama, one of the forum’s founders.
IDF forces in the Philadelphi Corridor in Gaza
The plan calls for the northern Gaza Strip, including the city of Gaza and its surrounding neighborhoods, to be declared a closed military zone. An estimated 300,000 civilians would be given one week to evacuate via secure IDF corridors. After the evacuation period, the area would be placed under full military siege, leaving Hamas terrorists with the option to either surrender or face death. The forum emphasized that the plan complies with international law, as civilians would be given the opportunity to leave before the siege begins.
West Bank
West Bank IDF operation
Israel is worried that the West Bank will turn into another active front in the war and has mounted an operation to curtail that possibility.
The IDF has warned of the possibility of an Oct 7th type invasion launched by West Bank terrorists. This week two car bombs were discovered in the west bank near Jewish settlements. And three police officers were killed in a drive by shooting near a Jewish West Bank settlement while sitting in their car.
According to Nir Dvori, Channel 12TV’s military correspondent, the IDF is worried by the sharp uptick in terrorist attacks in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, this week Israel launched the largest operation into the West Bank since 2023, hitting the towns of Tulkarem, Jenin and others. According to Uri Sharon, military correspondent for Kan Channel 1 TV, over 30 terrorists were killed and 2000 weapons seized, as well as explosive devices, in the operation.
Channel 12TV’s Dvori also reported that the IDF has recently received reports, and thwarted, over 40 attempted terrorist attacks
According to Ynet news, Five days have passed since the IDF completed its last large-scale operation in the Noor al-Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem, during which it eliminated terrorists, including senior officials, and destroyed terrorist infrastructure.
Also killed was Mohamed Jabar,, Abu Shahja’a, the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Tulkarem. Jabar was killed along with five other terrorists in a firefight while hiding in a mosque.
According to the IDF, “ it seems that there is satisfaction in the refugee camp,” over the IDF operation since it will bring some peace and stability to the area.
Mohamed Jaber, head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Tulkarem
Security officials recognize that the residents of the refugee camp expressed a desire to bring about a lull in the fighting between the IDF forces and the militants there. From a conversation on the Palestinian networks, it seems that the public is expressing more active opposition to terrorist activities in the camp, such as the placing of explosives and the use of civilian buildings for terrorism.
According to media reports, the Palestinian social networks support the terrorists, because the social networks are used to recruit terrorists, but “the man in the street has had enough.”
According to Ynetnews, the IDF is very close to defeating the organization of the terrorist battalions in Nur al-Shams and Tulkarem. Palestinians now hope that the Palestinian Authority will be able to take control and return governance to the refugee camp.
Israel has also stepped up the level of weaponry used against terrorists in the West Bank. Back in October, Jet fighters fired missiles for the first time since the second Intifada in 2002, taking out a wanted terrorists. A drone was used to take out the Hamas commander of Jenin.
According to the Times of Israel, Egyptian president Al Sisi has said he is worried that the West Bank operation complicates the Peace Negotiations.
And Jordan’s king Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, has said he is concerned that the IDF operation in the west bank, and settler violence against Palestinians, may lead to Palestinians fleeing the West Bank and seeking refuge in Jordan.
According to Ynetnews, “Well-organized groups numbering dozens emerge in northern West Bank refugee camps carrying out increasingly daring attacks that they can post of social media to entice more recruits
Iran's terror arm, closest to Israel is no longer the Hamas or the Islamic Jihad but the "battalions of terror" operating in the West Bank against civilians and security forces.
The initiative for localized terror squads or battalions, developed in the Jenin refugee camp in 2021-2022 and with time, and funding of millions of shekels a year, mostly from Iran, they grew. This investment has bolstered those initiatives that are well-armed thanks to weapons being smuggled across the Jordanian border.
According to the Times of Israel, since October 7th, Israeli troops have arrested about 5,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,000 affiliated with Hamas. 29 Israeli have been killed during that time including security personnel.
Red Sea
According to Ynetnews, The IDF said early on Wednesday that its aerial defenses successfully intercepted a drone "making its way to Israel from the East," adding that the UAV did not cross into Israeli territory and there were no injuries in the incident.
Earlier this week CENTCOM reportedly destroyed several drones and unmanned sea borne vessels aimed at merchant ships in the Red Sea.
Politics
In a recent Channel 12TV poll, nearly 70% of the Israeli population thought that PM Netanyahu should resign. However, as Channel 12TV political commentator Avraham Abramovitch pointed out, the polls are insignificant because there are no elections on the horizon.
According to recent polls Netanyahu’s coalition would be handily defeated by the opposition, gaining no more than 45 seats to the oppositions 71.
Pundits also point out that ultra-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotritch will never leave the present coalition since they know that they’ll never have a chance to be in power again. According to the polls, Smotritch’s Religious Zionism party would not even get enough votes to get a seat in a new Knesset.
According to pundits, as of now, Smotritch is content with syphoning money from the national treasury and pouring it into expanding existing settlements and funding new, sometimes illegal, ones.
And, Judicial Reform, that has been frozen since Oct 7th, is again rearing it’s ugly head, the nation are at stake.”
Yariv Levin, architect of the Judicial Reform movement
Justice Minister Yariv Levin declared, “It is time for us to decide on whether to pursue this with all of our strength,” the Kan broadcaster quoted Levin, one of the primary architects of the overhaul, as saying at an August cabinet meeting: “The time has come to make the change that is needed in the judicial system.”
His move is echoed by the head of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee,Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionism Party. This duo was responsible for pushing the judicial reform that critics say weakened Israel to the extent that Hamas could successfully invade from Gaza.
MK Simcha Rothman
Speaking at a Israel Bar Association meeting Rothman, who according to the Times of Israel is considered a driving force behind the government’s attempt to overhaul the judiciary, raised hackles when he said that Hitler had seized power by controlling the courts.
“When Hitler rose to power in Germany he didn’t burn the courthouses, he burned the parliament because parliaments are always the enemy of dictators. The courts helped him,”
Earlier, a number of participants left the hall when Rothman took the microphone. During his talk Rothman was heckled and jeered at for his effort to overhaul Israel’s judiciary.
The Judicial Reforms was widely considered a right-wing power grab, and one that, if successful, would allow the charges against PM Netanyahu to be dropped.
Israel’s President Yitzchak Herzog
According to the Times of Israel, President Isaac Herzog cautioned the government on Tuesday, Sept 2nd against resurrecting its highly divisive judicial overhaul legislation from last year, issuing a strident call for unity.
Speaking to the Israel Bar Association, he said, “Don’t you dare…Let us recover and heal after the terrible break. We must not make fateful decisions regarding the country’s core values without a broad consensus, and an in-depth and shared dialogue.”
Referencing the bitter fight over the sweeping reform that gripped Israel in 2023, Herzog said the “fracture that weakened our resilience and strength is beginning to return to our lives” and declared that “the soul and future of Israel is at stake.”
According to the Times of Israel, the controversial package of proposals, which sought to increase government control over the judiciary and limit the High Court’s power of judicial review, prompted mass protests last year, and was briefly paused after a general strike brought the country to a standstill in March 2023.
Last July, the government managed to pass a component of the overhaul, prohibiting courts from rejecting government decisions on the basis of “reasonableness.”
That law was overturned in December, however, by which time the overhaul’s legislative agenda had already been frozen in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught that starting the ongoing war.
Meanwhile, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party has reportedly begun talks with the opposition to Netanyahu’s coalition. Shas would like to see other parties join Netanyahu’s coalition so that Ben Gvir and Smotrich can be ousted from the government.
On a positive note, in spite of the war and the demonstrations for the release of the hostages, according to the Jerusalem Post, more than 30,000 Jews have immigrated to Israel since October 7th.
Anti-Semitism
According to the JTA, The University of Maryland has revoked a permit for pro-Palestinian groups to hold an event on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 terror onslaught in Israel, following concerns from Jewish groups that such an event could glorify the Hamas killings.
Also according to the JTA, at CUNY, the 25-campus public college system in New York, the Hillel centers at Baruch as well as Hunter College were both recently picketed with identical banners reading “Bring the war home” and “Hillel go to hell.” The banners also featured an inverted triangle, a symbol of Hamas, as well as a picture of an assault rifle.
The New York city council has reportedly decided to investigate the threats to Hillel and the upheaval on the CUNY campuses.
Greta Thunberg center in Kaffiyeh
Also, celebrities have taken sides. According to the website Politico, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was arrested during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Copenhagen on Wednesday morning wearing a kaffiyeh.
In October last year, the Israeli military criticized Thunberg after she sent a message supporting Palestinians, not long after Hamas' attack.
In December, Thunberg then accused Israel of "war crimes" and "genocide" as its offensive in Gaza ramped up.
Also Former pop star Roger Waters has told actor Nicolas Cave to apologize for his support of Israel.
However, movie star Gwyneth Paltrow has held talks with Israeli hostage families. And actor Ben Stiller has condemned the killing of the six hostages in Gaza.
In a surprise move, The Global Imams Council, part of the Islamic Seminary of Najaf, Iraq, issued a statement holding Hamas solely responsible “for death and suffering of all innocent lives since Oct as their actions have not only brought death and destruction upon the region, but have also led to immense suffering for the Palestinian people.”
The statement added, “The regime in Iran share equal responsibility.” And that Hamas’ action violates the laws of Islam and the Geneva Convention.
Editorial
The US has apparently had enough. On Wednesday US President Biden’s office floated the idea of holding direct talks with Hamas and excluding Israel. How this would play out is a matter of conjecture. However, the move does point to the US’s growing impatience with PM Netanyahu’s obdurance in reaching an agreement with Hamas that would allow the hostages to be released.
Netanyahu, according to a Times of Israel editorial by David Horowitz, has put israel “in existential danger…Facing a genocidal Iranian regime and its proxies, Netanyahu’s new obsession with the Philadelphi Corridor risks the lives of the hostages and, ultimately, the future of our country.”
Families of the hostages have said that Netanyahu, by his avoidance of a deal, has murdered their loved ones.
However, Benny Gantz, a leader of the opposition, has said that “Netanyahu is not a murderer…he has simply lost his way.” Gantz added, “He is not fit to lead the country.”
In Israel’s north, tens of thousands of residents have been driven from their homes. Those that remain are under constant Hezbollah terrorist rocket barrages.
When faced with charges that he is ignoring the fate of the hostages, of the residents of the north, and of the residents of the Gaza envelope of Jewish settlements, Netanyahu finds a way to deny all the accusations. At times he simply lies.
Reportedly, Netanyahu is anticipating the reelection of former US President Trump. One pundit said that both Trump and Netanyahu have honed two things to perfection, how to deny, and how to lie. Both tactics have worked well for them. Both Netanyahu and Trump have energized their base voters with these tactics. Supporters of both are aghast that nothing is being done to stop the demonstrators who oppose them.
A pundit points out that Trump and Netanyahu have another thing in common. Both are on trial for felonies. And both deny the charges and lie about the circumstances leading to the charges.
But there is no denying that 97 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza. There is no denying that Iran is getting closer by the day to a nuclear weapon. There is no denying that Iran has sworn to eradicate Israel. Having a nuclear weapon would give them that ability.
One observer points out the comparison to yet another political leader: Nicolae Ceaușescu, the Romanian communist party leader who ruled that country like a dictator until he was deposed. While Ceaușescu and his wife dined on gold plates, many of his countrymen didn’t have food to put on their tables.
When he was arrested by revolutionaries who had taken control of the country he was in shock. He hadn’t given them permission to arrest him, he said at his trial. Nor had he authorized the trial. Ceaușescu and his wife were living in a world far removed from reality.
The question is, are Netanyahu and his wife Sarah also living in a parallel a parallel universe? Have they not realized, asked one critic, that stashing their errant son Yair in luxury in Miami at the cost of millions of dollars a year to Israeli taxpayers is disapproved of by most Israelis? That Israel doesn’t need an Air Force One that costs tens of millions of dollars just to shuttle Prime Minister Netanyahu around in luxury? Have they not realized that Israelis want peace? Want their soldiers home? Want hi-tech to begin flourishing again. Want to keep the best and the brightest from fleeing to other countries?
Maybe not.
Meanwhile, it’s deny and lie, and stay in power, and maybe, most of all, stay out of jail.