The horrible hostage dilemma
Hamas still holds 59 hostages in Gaza, of the 251 taken on 7th October 2023, as well as the body of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin who was killed and abducted in 2014 during a ceasefire with Hamas. Over thirty of these have been confirmed by the IDF as dead; the fate of the others is unknown. “Phase 2” negotiations between Israel and Hamas are underway concerning the release of these hostages, pursuant to the hostages-ceasefire agreement reached in January. So far, these negotiations have failed to produce an agreement. Thus an unknown number of innocent civilians remain trapped in the dungeons of the Hamas tunnels deep underground in the Gaza Strip.
They remain hostage to the vile and cruel game played by Hamas and the other radical Islamist jihad groups whose sole goal is to destroy the Jewish nation.
The situation is complex and confusing. So many different states are involved, and so many different meetings and negotiations are taking place.
“They remain hostage to the vile and cruel game played by Hamas and the other radical Islamist jihad groups whose sole goal is to destroy the Jewish nation.”
This week, it was leaked that the US has held talks with Hamas leaders in Doha, without Israel being present or informed of the meetings in advance. Israeli PM Netanyahu was apparently furious about this, fearing it will embolden Hamas and undermine Israeli efforts to ensure Israel can achieve its goal of having all hostages released while keeping open the possibility of destroying Hamas.
Following a meeting with hostage survivors in the Oval Office, President Trump issued a message on Wednesday on his social media channel, demanding that Hamas release all hostages immediately.
“’Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye – You can chose. Release of all the hostages now – not later – and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you.”
The US has also this past week approved a further military aid package to Israel.
In recent days, Israel has blocked humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, over what it called Hamas’ refusal to accept a proposal to extend the initial stage of the hostages-ceasefire agreement.
Israel remains adamant that all hostages must be returned, and that Hamas may not be allowed to remain in power in Gaza. Minister of Defense Israel Katz said this week, “If Hamas does not release the hostages soon, Gaza’s gates will be locked, and the gates of hell will open—just as President Trump said. “No other country in the world stands by the sanctity of bringing back the captives—those who are alive and those are not.”
“The United Nations tries – fruitlessly – to play a meangingful role on the stage of this tragedy.”
The United Nations tries – fruitlessly – to play a meangingful role on the stage of this tragedy. The Security Council met this week to discuss the humanitarian aspects of the situation in Gaza. Jay Dharmadhikari, deputy French ambassador to the UN, delivered a statement on behalf of France, Denmark, Greece, Slovenia and the United Kingdom in which he called on Israel to lift the blockade and said that delivering aid to civilians is “non-negotiable. Parties must “find a way forward to the next phases of the ceasefire agreement and hostage release deal,” he said. Dharmadhikari also condemned “Hamas’s ongoing retention and cruel treatment of the hostages” and reiterated a call for their release. “We are clear that any plan must have no role for Hamas, must ensure Israel’s security, does not displace Palestinians from Gaza” and “should support” the unity of Gaza and Judea and Samaria under the Palestinian Authority, he said.
All of this shows how toothless the UN is, unable to either identify or address the root causes of this conflict.
In the meantime, following Trump’s recent declaration that the people of Gaza should be enabled to leave the Gaza Strip and that it should be developed into a resort, Egypt announced it would come with a counter-proposal. Last Tuesday, Arab leaders adopted an Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza that would cost $53 billion and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave. Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi made the proposal at the closing of a summit he hosted in Cairo. The plan was subsequently welcomed by Hamas but rejected by the United States and Israel, which regard the deal as a non-starter because it fails to condemn Hamas and is based on the conintuaiton of the UN refigee agency UNRWA. Israel considers that UNRWA is part of the problem, because it perpetuates the idea that Palestinians are “refugees” having a “right to return” to the houses and properties from which their forefathers fled or were displaced in 1948-1949.
Let us pray that the Lord will comfort His grieving people, and that He will intervene to end this tragedy.
US Evangelical leaders visiting Israel back annexation of Judea and Samaria
JNS: The faith leaders came for the Israel launch of the Conference of Christian Presidents, a new umbrella group representing tens of millions of pro-Israel Americans.
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Israel, US reject Egypt’s Gaza plan, Hamas welcomes it
Joshua Marks at JNS: An Arab League summit in Cairo on Tuesday endorsed the $53 billion five-year plan for the war-torn coastal enclave.
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A vile equivalence
Melanie Philips: Jews who support the Palestinian death cult pose the greatest danger to the Jewish people.
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Rebuilding Gaza is Pointless unless Hamas is Eradicated
Khaled Abu Toameh at Gatestone: “The establishment of a new government in the Gaza Strip while Hamas maintains its military capabilities there unfortunately will not work. Hamas’s presence during reconstruction will only result in the emergence of the Lebanon model: Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy terror group, simply created a terrorist state-within-a-state.”
> Read more..
US, Israel could take joint military action against Hamas if negotiations fail, Witkoff says
Andrew Bernard at JNS: Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, told reporters on Thursday that the United States and Israel could take joint military action against Hamas if negotiations with the terrorist group fail.
> Read more..
SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK: Psalm 139:7-24
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn; if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
