A major reason that Hamas was able to hit Israel so hard was that we didn’t take their cunning and their ruthlessness seriously enough. We didn’t know the details about the miles of tunnels under Gaza nor the immense size of the weapons cache smuggled in from Egypt through the Philadelphi Corridor. We learned our lesson on the military side. We are also learning our lesson on the political side.
This past Friday, the German newspaper BILD published a document that appears to have come from the computer of Yahya Sinwar. In it, we find a ceasefire strategy that shows the manipulative and disingenuous of Hamas’s claims to want to return hostages and end the war. The article detailed six key points:
1) Blame Israel: Hamas is committed to blaming Israel for every failed hostage negotiation. This is going according to plan. Despite Hamas rejecting every deal that doesn’t include a complete Israeli surrender, the media lays the responsibility at the feet of Netanyahu without fail. Just last week, the BBC was found to have breached journalistic rules 1500 times in the past months, pushing their agenda of anti-Israel propaganda in order to brainwash the people.
2) Preserve Military Power: Hamas is not thinking about giving up. They are ready to fight to the death of the last of their human shields. But they may be facing trouble very soon now that the IDF has closed the underground armament highway from Egypt through the Philadelphi Corridor. In fact, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant revealed a letter yesterday from the recently exterminated Khan Yunis brigade commander Rafa Salama to Yahya and Mohammed Sinwar in which he reported that 70% of Hamas’s weapons had been destroyed, 95% of its rockets were ruined, and 50% of his operatives had been killed or wounded. Worse yet, 60% of his terrorists who were still of able body had fled, leaving him at only 20% strength. In summary, Hamas is not negotiating from a position of strength.
3) Use Hostages for Pressure: This is where Hamas is finding its most success, both in Israel and abroad. Last Friday, 25,000 demonstrators marched in Tel Aviv demanding that Netanyahu sign a hostage deal. This is despite the fact that there is no hostage deal. I understand the pain of the families of the hostages. But we cannot just cut and run out of Gaza. Hamas must be broken, or there will soon come a day when the butchers will pour over the border again, slaughtering more people and kidnapping more hostages.
4) Prolong the Negotiations: Hamas does not want a deal. They thwart every attempt. That is because the greatest weapon they have is public opinion. The longer they can extend the talks – despite the suffering of their own civilians – the more the pressure will build against Israel’s government to either cave or to throw Netanyahu out of office.
5) Use Arab Forces as a Buffer: This is a strategy in which they envision placing Arab troops along the border between Israel and Gaza. Doing this will allow Hamas to buy time and regroup, as they prepare for a future confrontation.
6) Keep Raising the Price for Hostages: Like going to a retailer who ups the price every time to reach for your wallet, Hamas continues to raise their demands with each negotiation. Again, this is because they have no interest in returning the hostages. They are just pawns in Hamas’s terrorist game. This was made quite clear this past week when RAdm. Daniel Hagari of the IDF showed the horrific conditions in which six hostages were kept for the last 11 months. When it became evident that the hostages were about to be rescued, Hamas put a bullet into the back of each innocent’s head. To Hamas, Israeli hostages are no different than their own civilians – they are just cannon fodder to be used then disposed of when their usefulness is at an end.
This is what Israel is dealing with. Anyone who believes that Netanyahu or his government can just negotiate their way out of this conflict has absolutely no understanding of the true situation.
Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant clearly indicated the changing attention of the Israeli Defense Forces from south to north when he told troops, “The center of gravity is moving northward, we are near to completing our tasks in the south, but our mission here is not yet done.” A second indication of this shift also came Tuesday when US CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael Kurilla met with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and others to discuss Lebanon. Israel will not be safe as long as the terrorist group Hezbollah has thousands upon thousands of rockets pointed toward the border.
In preparation for the coming attack, the Israeli military has been daily destroying Hezbollah’s ability to launch their missiles. This included an unusual strike in the heart of Syria last Thursday into Friday. The target was an Iranian research facility that worked with drones and chemical weapons. There were three waves to the attack at Masyaf.
The first destroyed access roads to the targeted facility. The second wave took out the anti-aircraft batteries. The third wave brought commandos in helicopters. They took out a number of people at this Iranian research facility, confiscated computers, then destroyed the compound. When they left, they brought some prisoners with them to be interrogated. If you want to find out more about this, watch my Breaking News Update from this morning.
New Eastern Front in Israel
Even as the IDF gears up for the north, a new front is rearing its ugly head. Citing Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei’s statement that the West Bank will be armed like Gaza, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on X, “The Iranian terror octopus is working to establish an eastern terror front against Israel and moderate states in the region.” Many don’t realize that 50-60% of those living in Jordan are Palestinian. So, it was no wonder that when a Palestinian opened fire at the Allenby Crossing between Israel and Jordan on Sunday, killing three Israeli civilians, there was great celebration in Jordan with the passing out of sweets and the setting off of fireworks.
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