Hamas and the murder of hostages, Part II: blaming Bibi
Israel is torn right now, but it was already torn before 10/7. The trauma of that day of massive carnage and the ensuing war resulted in a temporary and illusory unity, somewhat like the US experienced after 9/11. Now, in a delayed reaction, the rift has only widened. It draws in part on the left/right split that had already become severe over the topic of what to do about the Supreme Court, which had taken enormous and unbalancing power for itself and for the left. That crisis has not been resolved.
In addition, Netanyahu is as “controversial” a figure as Trump is in this country, with his haters hating him with a white-hot passion. That has only increased. It is understandable to blame Bibi for not having seen 10/7 coming and for failing to protect the people of Israel, although he had plenty of company in that failure from others on both right and left in the government and military and in fact was not fully informed by them. Nevertheless, because he was the prime minister at the time of the attack it makes some sense to blame him, and that anger is piled onto the already-existing rage.
The fact that the hostages have been in captivity almost a year, and more are now being murdered in cold blood, has brought all of this to a fever pitch. Netanyahu is to blame, say many Israelis, who are engaging in an intensely emotional sort of magical wishful thinking. Logic dictates that the demands of Hamas were so extreme that they amount to insisting that Israel surrender to them, and even then they were only promising to release a small number of hostages they wouldn’t even guarantee were alive. What kind of bargain is that? Would any sane leader make it?
The answer is “a terrible self-destructive bargain” and “no, of course not.” But this is not a rational demand on the part of those Israelis blaming Bibi for not capitulating to their murderers, it is a deeply emotional one. Blame the person closer to you, and pretend he is an all-powerful father who can do the impossible just because you so fervently want the impossible to be possible. The truth is that no deal other than surrender would suffice, surrender would yield far more carnage, and Hamas wouldn’t even give all the hostages back alive in exchange for surrender. That’s a reality so terrible it makes emotional – although not logical – sense to deny it.
Which leaves enormous power in the hands of Hamas. They can do what they will with the hostages: parade them, make them denounce Netanyahu, kill them, and show videos of the entire process. And Hamas is well aware that the Israeli demonstrators, pained beyond measure, will continue to blame Bibi.
As will the world, and Joe Biden. Joe Biden, who apparently was able to take a moment out of his busy vacation schedule and pretend to be president again, managed to say one of the most vile and insulting – and destructive – things possible on the killing of the six hostages. This was typical Biden. His remark was that Netanyahu hadn’t done enough in the negotiations to bring the hostages home. And yet Netanyahu had done everything but surrender.
Netanyahu had this response to Biden’s accusation:
“On April 27th, secretary of state Blinken said that Israel made an extraordinarily generous offer for a hostage deal. On May 31st, Israel agreed to a US backed proposal. Hamas refused. On August 16th, Israel agreed to what the United States defined as a final bridging proposal. Hamas refused again. On August 19th, secretary Blinken said, Israel accepted the US proposal. Now Hamas must do the same. On, August 28th, that’s 5 days ago 5 days ago, deputy CIA director said that Israel shows seriousness in the negotiations.Now Hamas must show the same seriousness. I wanna ask you something. What has changed in the last 5 days?”
He went on to remind the world that the Hamas murderers executed the hostages in the midst of negotiation talks, and pressure needs to be put on them, not Israel:
“These murderers executed 6 of our hostages. They shot them in the back of the head. That’s what’s changed. And now after this, we’re asked to show seriousness. We’re asked to make concessions.What message does this send Hamas? It says, kill more hostages, murder more hostages. You’ll get more concessions. The pressure internationally must be directed at these killers, at Hamas, not at Israel. We say yes. They say no all the time, but they also murdered these people. And now we need maximum pressure on Hamas.”
No one has leverage with Hamas except Iran and Qatar, and no one appears to be putting pressure on them to stop Hamas.
Here’s my previous prediction on what Hamas would do with the hostages. It’s from last January [emphasis added]:
The demonstrators in Israel for the hostages plead, “Bring them home!” But why address Israel? After all, Israel isn’t holding the hostages. And it’s been made clear for a long time that Hamas is finished negotiating, except perhaps to ask for a total Israeli surrender in exchange for the hostage release. So how can Israel “bring them home”? Aren’t the costs of such concessions unconscionable?
Israel is being addressed in these pleas, rather than Hamas, because Israel is humane and Hamas is not. Remember William Lloyd Garrison’s famous statement, “With reasonable men I will reason, with humane men I will plead … “. What many – most?- people forget is the rest of the quote, “but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.” Negotiations with Hamas are “wasted words.”
As far as a military way to bring them home goes – Israel probably doesn’t know where they all are, and even if and when Israel does know where they are (almost certainly not in one place but in many), a military approach would be likely to kill them or precipitate Hamas murdering them.
… If the world was united in stating the obvious fact that the kidnappings are evil and Hamas must release the hostages or face attack or severe sanctions, globally – perhaps that would be enough pressure. But in reality that is very far from happening and Hamas knows it, and knows that the world is actually far more united against Israel. …
I think that Israel must not do any more large prisoner exchanges for hostages. Israel must hang tough against such negotiation and certainly against any long-term ceasefire. But I also think I know what the terrorists would do if Israel made that position clear – plus of course there would be the terrible and yet understandable spectacle of the grief-stricken and angry families of the hostages. The terrorists would then use Israel’s stance as a propaganda point to say that Israel is heartless. The terrorist propaganda would turn the terrorists’ own heartlessness and evil inside out and blame it on the Israelis, and much of the world would stupidly buy that, as they’ve bought so much else the terrorists are selling. In addition, I think the terrorists would start beaming videos of hostage after hostage pleading and pleading, and perhaps being mistreated or even tortured, as well as possibly killed either onscreen – or probably off, the better to claim that Israel’s airstrikes did the deed.
Ah, but it’s Bibi’s fault.
ADDENDUM: I focused on the opposition to Netanyahu, because they contitute a large and exceptionally vocal and active group who get all the publicity, it seems. They give Hamas hope. And Biden, who has undue influence, supports that group.
But they do not constitute a majority in Israel – at least, in terms of support of his position vis a vis a hostage deal – although it’s easy to lose sight of that:
JNS asked respondents: “Do you believe Israel should support or oppose a deal that conditions the receipt of between 18-30 hostages on an IDF withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor for six weeks, during which Hamas will be able to rearm and smuggle hostages out of Gaza?”
Thirty-five percent of respondents overall said that Israel should agree to such a deal, while 62% opposed it. Three percent had no opinion.
Of course, the way the question is worded makes it easy to say “no.” However, the wording is a realistic statement of the risks of such a deal, in my opinion.
More from the poll:
Sixty-one percent of Israelis agreed with the sentence, “Only military pressure on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and planned military actions including hostage rescue operations can lead to the release of the hostages.” Thirty-three percent agreed that “Continuing IDF operations in the Gaza tunnels endangers the hostages’ lives.”
To me it seems that, unfortunately, the hostages’ lives are endangered no matter what Israeli does and that has been true from the start.
As for the question of whether Netanyahu is to blame for the murder of the hostages, it’s split along coalition lines:
Israelis are sharply split over whether Netanyahu bears responsibility for the execution of the hostages. Opposition voters support the claim 69% to 28%, while coalition voters oppose it 94%-6%.
And even with a deal, “69% of Israelis believe that between 83 and 71 hostages would be left behind in Gaza indefinitely.” I agree.
Do we really know how prevalent the opposition to Netanyahu’s handling of the war actually is?
We know we can’t believe American polls. Nor can we believe in the size or intensity of American protests, because for Leftist causes those are stage-managed by professionals working in conjunction with sympathetic media and government. I don’t know how to gauge how different any of those things are for Israel.
So how are we suppose to judge what is actually happening in Israel?
Niketas:
That’s a good question. The demonstrations are certainly huge, and there was a big (although short) labor strike that was extensive, promoted by Israeli’s labor organization. The answer – and I think I’ll add an addendum to the post – is that polls show most Israelis support Bibi’s position. See this.
I watched the video of Netanyahu’s speech, that you quoted above.
I kept waiting for “You can’t handle the truth!” But what he said was better.
There is the process of “displacement”. There’s no use being mad at what you can’t change, nor at something or somebody who doesn’t care for your condemnation.
It’s like using a hose to fill a barrel which is already full. The water just runs off making no difference.
As I said earlier, the population of Israel is so small that, for example, a similar proportional hit on 9-11 would have been about 48,000 dead.
You don’t/shouldn’t/can’t argue with the bereaved and near-bereaved. One example is from my father after WW II. He and his brothers were paying their respects to the families of school friends killed in the war. Apparently that was a thing then.
One had been killed late in the Pacific war. His mother lamented that if we’d had the atomic bomb sooner, Arthur would be with them today. Given the relevant dates, that was pretty much a certainty. But the poor woman was so distraught that impersonal circumstance was not adequate for her grief. She thought the Jews had delayed the use of the bomb. There would be no logical point in discussing the issue with her. Nor mercy.
All of which being true, you don’t take their insistence as having some special insight due to their grief. And it’s not worth arguing or discussing. Facts and logic will be bent and twisted beyond imagining.
You just have to go on with the logical path. And be willing to take the hits and in Bibi’s case, there are plenty who will cynically climb aboard the displacement for their own purposes.
Niketas Choniates makes a good point – ‘Do we really know how prevalent the opposition to Netanyahu’s handling of the war actually is?’
If the news is true—then am not sure how long Israel can last if someone doesn’t bring Iran’s military to its knees. True or not, at this rate, time is on Iran’s side, and they are closing in.
If one is winning the Propaganda War, then why rush to turn it hot? Let your foe disintegrate or wither away. Iran is certainly winning the Propaganda War, and the DEMs are certainly nervous about Muslim support in certain areas.
The protests in Israel are large, and could grow larger. Same for the US.
Fortunately, for Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is still in charge…
Caroline Glick Show with Eugene Kontorovich, “Biden’s Actions Against Israel Are Unprecedented”, (1:01:17): https://youtu.be/9sAMFQ-ouMA
Well the blue and grey coalition with the arab party did cobble together four govts before netanyahu
Because bibi derangement is a thing actually those that steered israel into oslo decline are the ones who should be accountable and yet they never are
Jonathan cahn who has provided special insight into this cursed world has a new book out the dragon prophecy which has many interesting elements on events leading up and after october 7th
“If I were a hostage” sounds bad because I’ve never been one and I can’t say with certainty how I’d feel in that situation but… I actually think I’d be a little upset if my country went to extraordinary self-sacrificial lengths for the slim hope of rescuing me. I don’t think I’d want my country to make enormous concessions bound to result in more violence and bloodshed in the future just for me and maybe 100 or so other people. I wonder if any of the rescued hostages have commented on this.
There is an expression: As above, so below. I have a paraphrase: As in Israel, so in America. The forces of deconstruction in both countries operate on the same principles. Sew discord, as loudly as possible and count on the lickspittle media, which has no interest in anything other than a lede that bleeds in order to get eyeballs or ears on their “stories” to amplify it. The Israeli and American media operate out of the same paradigm, without a thought for the consequences of their “journalism.” Sadly, they are often successful in convincing otherwise uninformed audiences that they are “telling it like it is.” President John Adams had it right when he said, “There has been more new error propagated by the press in the last ten years than in an hundred years before 1798.” I suppose the only comfort, cold as it is, is in knowing that it has ever been thus and we are experiencing nothing not previously seen and experienced.
They. Can. Go. To. Hell! The world is changing, a lot of people are beginning to realize it’s not Disney Land.
This whole situation reminds me of how the Germans, through manipulation of the Judenraete (the Jewish councils in the ghettos) made the Jews complicit in their own destruction, in part by forcing them to decide who would be deported to the killing factories next. When I worked with Yehuda Bauer, I found on his bookshelf several pamphlets published after World War II denouncing various Jewish leaders for their part in the destruction — and written in the most vile language possible. For example, the very Orthodox of Eastern Europe were furious with the Zionists for rescuing youth rather than the great sages of the time. And the postwar Kasztner trial in Israel brought out even more of the anguish. However the current standoff ends — and I don’t see any heroically happy ending, I predict there will be similar anger and divisions in Jewish society. Another long-term win for the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish forces.
The world is changing
Lord I hope so.
Caroline Glick Show with Eugene Kontorovich, “Biden’s Actions Against Israel Are Unprecedented”, (1:01:17): https://youtu.be/9sAMFQ-ouMA
I, too, listened to this today. The level of evil our present Administration is operating in is unbelievable.
Neo, you wrote a sadly prescient post regarding the hostages.
Many insightful comments here. I’m at a loss for words.
Richard Aubrey, the population of Israel is about 9.4 million, and the population of the U.S. is about 324 million. The U.S. has over 32 times the population of Israel, and has way way more than 32 times the amount of land.
Everyone knows hostage families.
Everyone knows people who were murdered on October 7.
Everyone knows soldiers who died protecting the country.
It is Mike, but where it’s heading now one knows. All can say there does seem to be a pendulum that swings back and forth, unless like the Classical World you have collapse. The world seems to dominated by two great ideologies, safety of the many vs. freedom for the individual. Neither one seems to.prevail so you have religions. I think the world is moving back to conservatism and a certain hardness, this manifestation of Liberals don’t seem to realize this.
My view is the hostages were never going to be allowed to return. Their murder is the most likely end no matter what was done. Especially since no pressure to release them is being forced on Hamas.
Sundowner’s statement is to hurt Netanyahu.
No one knows). All I can say
Jeeeesh I can’t write anymore!
What i was referring to
https://youtu.be/PUrWvDOQWtI?si=491gz5_MMzp8MiLN
I know matthew 24 as caveat but it feels
real
Orde wingate who was a iconoclast but definitely a christian trained the palmach that became the idf and of course haj amin allied themselves with the nazis and later the soviets the islamic resistance movements comes from the brotherhood on a parallel track
The great Douglas Murray said in an interview with Piers Morgan that in a democracy like Israel, they have no influence (the public that is) on Hamas so the only government that they have influence on is their own, so it’s easier to turn on your own government which is susceptible to public pressure because it is a democracy instead of the enemy, such as Hamas which is committed to your destruction and you have no influence on.
Ilana. Thanks for the correction. I called up google for the population and apparently they heard me asking for some other country.
So my point is even more acute.
So many people have been driven to emotionally discard reality that something bad is going to happen.
there is a pragmatic republicanism, and then there is the utopian totalitarian state,
cahn relies on many ancient references and brings them up to their modern equivalents in hebrew, greek latin persian et al
Whole lotta people gonna have to die.
For “humane” (read “progressive”) reasons, to be sure.
For JUSTICE! (Oh, and HUMAN RIGHTS…)
…Just as long as the Zionist Entity is obliterated—it’s all actually quite simple.
(Just ask “Biden”…. Or “Harris” for that matter…if you can get a straight answer out of ’em…)
The interesting thing about Wingate (AKA “The Friend”, in Zionist circles) is that he began his service in Palestine, like many in the British armed forces serving there, as sympathetic to the Arabs.
Once his sympathies switched—a Changer!—he was mustered out of there, but not before he was able to train the Jews in anti-terrorist (or, if you will, anti-“insurgent”) tactics and create the Special Night Squads (SNS) in the mid-to-late-30s, which was the precursor of the Palmach, as miguel noted above…
The only answer is to inflict such pain and suffering on the ‘Palestinian’ people that the very thought of harming a Jew makes them wet their pants.
Every dead hostage? A ‘Palestinian’ town is leveled and incinerated.
Hes a fascinating character yes his family certainly had arab sympathies and he transcended them one wonders if he had come back from burma if memory serves