Biden’s pressure on Netanyahu
There are a ton of articles about how Biden is trying to kneecap Netanyahu into a ceasefire. This reflects the influence of Obama and the State Department on Biden, as well as the fact that the Democrat left hates Israel and Biden realizes that more robust support of Israel’s desire to obliterate Hamas could cost him in the 2024 election.
How much this will affect Netanyahu’s own resolve really depends on how much leverage the US has on Israel. At this point, I think Israel realizes that trying to placate world opinion is literally impossible for Israel and incompatible with Israel’s continued existence. But the US has been – until Obama, anyway – Israel’s most staunch ally, and Netanyahu probably would like to keep it that way if possible.
Then there’s the matter of armaments from the US to Israel, and especially ammunition. Israel is at least somewhat dependent on that; will Biden threaten to pull the plug? I have no idea, but I do know that Netanyahu keeps saying nothing will deter Israel from the task of eradicating Hamas:
“Over the last few days, I’ve heard a question: When this phase of returning our hostages is exhausted, will Israel return to fighting? My answer is an unequivocal yes,” he added.
Meanwhile, according to that link, Hamas has made an offer Israel has strongly refused: If Israel will stop their campaign for good, all the hostages come home – at least, the living ones. We don’t know how many are alive, because Hamas declared one hostage dead who later emerged alive in an exchange.
And speaking of hostages, remember the youngest hostage, a 10-month-old baby? This is what Hamas is saying now:
The Israel Defense Forces is investigating claims that three members of the Bibas family in Gaza, including 10-month-old Kfir, died in Hamas captivity, the military said on Wednesday. …
Without presenting evidence, the Al-Qassam Brigades attributed their deaths to “a previous Israeli shelling on the Gaza Strip.”
It goes without saying that Hamas will attribute every hostage death to Israeli airstrikes. No doubt the entire left will believe that, as they believe everything those stalwart truthtellers of Hamas say.
I don’t know whether this article is true, but I certainly hope so:
Senior officials eliminated, scarce resources, and IDF dominance in Gaza war have harmed Hamas’s morale. In a symbolic move: IDF installs mezuzahs in temporarily seized Gaza houses. …
Field officers report that after the IDF successfully targeted Hamas brigade, battalion, and company commanders, the terrorist group’s armed wing struggled to execute attacks against Israeli forces infiltrating terrorist strongholds. The IDF’s control in northern Gaza and Gaza City, with established defensive fortifications, outposts, and supply sites, aims to hinder rocket refueling and road construction in Palestinian territory.
The temporary halt in the Israeli campaign helps Hamas regroup, but there may be a limit to how much regrouping it can do, depending on personnel.
And you know those “relief trucks” are being searched to within an inch of their axle grease. I also suspect the various navies are doing a pretty good job of keeping the sea lanes closed.
But…as always…Never underestimate Joe’s ability to……well, you know the rest.
Regrouping might present a juicier target.
I would imagine the Israel is also regrouping. They have intelligence from those they have captured, and maybe some from the hostages that have been released. I understand that, according to Neo, some Gazarians are also suppling info.
Biden is a blight on the World.
Is anyone else watching the Israeli news channel? Either I just recently noticed it or it just popped up in my cable line-up. Anyway, it’s great, and a retired Israeli general was on last night or the night before saying unequivocally that Israel has the means to do this alone even if the U.S. stopped supplying weapons altogether. I’m sure they don’t want that, but he was clear that they can.
Yes i24 is a serious outfit
So the official who was in charge of the middle east portfolio openly flies the palestine flag amy mcfadden
I wonder about the issue of Israeli armaments. What is the state of their existing stocks, what is their burn rate, and how long could they continue if the US completely cut them off? And what happens if hostilities ramp up on other fronts adjacent to Israel? It makes me think of the situation during the war of independence in 1948. Israel faced a worldwide arms embargo but was able to secure supplies from the Czechs and survive. Who can help them now? Maybe Elon Musk can retool his SpaceX plants!
https://twitter.com/DrEliDavid/status/1729974230916206718
Yes! That’s it – i24. I was blanking on the name.
I keep going back to Hamas as Animal House, “You f’d up! You trusted us! Hey, make the best of it. Maybe we can help you.” (with all the hostages we say you haven’t killed if you get off our backs)
Time will tell if Netanyahu is Flounder…
Thanks, miguel cervantes, the news that Germany is suspending funding of UNRWA is good news. Nobody should fund it, certainly not the US.
Israel has a native arms industry, but I don’t know how big it is. The Middle East should be awash in good ol’ American weapons and munitions. I’m sure Israel could do a black market deal for some. As much as Moslems hate Israel many Moslems love money more.
When the Americans-hostage-in-the-embassy in 1979 in Tehran started, my thesis adviser and a fellow grad student (University of Chicago, Astronomy and Astrophysics) both said that the U.S. should bomb its own embassy and then proceed from there. This would never have occurred to me, but it was a serious suggestion. (Showing an enemy you’re serious, rather than sentimental, is critical.)
I reminded the friend/fellow grad student about this today and asked him for his prescription re Israel and Gaza. He wrote back:
Hostages are obvious bargaining chips, and I always felt that showing that they aren’t stops the enemy from taking future hostages and disrupts their entire business model.
The Israelis should prosecute the war as if the hostages are already dead. There are or were about 240 hostages, and they lost 1,400 people in the Oct 7th attack, an attack Hamas vowed to repeat indefinitely until the Jews are no more. Gaining less than 240 now for losing 1400 on a future date is not protecting Jews. Destroying Hamas is the only way to protect Jews.
If the Israelis recover some hostages alive, great. They should not let Hamas actions regarding the hostages dictate their military actions. That gives the initiative to Hamas. Israel should destroy Hamas, just as the Allies destroyed the Third Reich. That also involved extensive civilian casualties, and one could argue that the Germans were less Nazi than the Palestinians are Hamas.
Our weakened Western civilization with its sentimentality is a real drawback here, as US support is likely to soften as stories about civilian deaths get out, Palestinian and hostages alike, never mind the idiots like Ilhan Omar who cheer the terrorists on.
Once we see the first Palestinian Teddy Bear produced by suburban women, we know Israel has lost our support. Sometimes war IS the ANSWER, and war is a terrible thing.
A dear friend of mine is on her deathbed. She is a Separdic Jew from Morocco, who married an American stationed at a navy base in Morocco. One of her grandsons in Israel got called up after the October 7 massacre, and is now in Gaza, driving a tank.
I’m failing to see how this ceasefire ends. Hamas is going to keep dribbling out hostages. This will allow Biden to play the snake by publicly admonishing Israel to continue the ceasefire while “negotiations” continue. Presto, Biden gets to continue pretending that he’s Israel’s friend while actually selling out the Israelis to placate his pro-Hamas base.
I hope neo is correct that Israel has already done substantial damage to Hamas. That might be all that they are a le to do.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-775796
Ah, but what does Anthony Blinken have to say?!
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-775872
This is what a stolen election leads to, an inescapable conclusion
Wouldn’t surprise me at all if the red-haired baby was sold into slavery to be raised as a Muslim. I mean here is the ultimate trophy child, a Jewish Israeli knowing nothing of his heritage prostrating himself before allah every Friday at the mosque.
Ed, “the red-haired baby … knowing nothing of his heritage … ” is a disturbing scenario, but one history has shown to be common in Islamic practice. Plus, the Europeans kidnapped over the centuries as slaves and the Slavs “handed over” to be brought up as Janissaries were old enough to know their heritage, and still had no or little choice in what happened to them.
However, now we have DNA, so should the opportunity ever arise to convince that red-haired person of his true parentage, that could be provided unequivocally. Then again, knowing that heritage might not convert him, or might even drive him mad.