Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between.
Coffee in the snow.
My self imposed time out has lasted longer than usual. We all need to step back, from time to time, to keep our sanity but I guess the weight of last November, the craziness since and a few personal life problems hit me harder than usual. Yesterday a post by @lisaaronowatelier about the role of the Israeli government in the hostage crisis made me snap out of it.
A Times of Israel article exposed the hard core right wing of the Israeli government, not limited to but personified by Ben Gvir and Smotrich, respectively National Security Minister and Finance Minister, of being responsible for shutting down multiple hostage negotiations with Hamas. I have mentioned this before but it helps when Ben Gvir proudly admits it in his own words. It’s bad enough when you have to negotiate with a terrorist organization. The hostages deserve better.
As soon as the Israeli intelligence reports prior to October 7 came out it was obvious that disaster could have been minimized if not avoided completely. There were enough reliable reports to at the very least have stopped the Nova Festival to have taken place. That alone would have saved many lives and prevent many people from being taken as hostages. It became clear that, at the very least, there was criminal negligence on the part of the Israeli government. That was 2023.
Since then, as Benjamin reminds us often (holylandspeaks), it was only during a brief ceasefire that a considerable number of hostages was released. No other effort to negotiate another ceasefire with the same purpose ever succeeded since. The IDF intervention in Gaza was as inevitable as it was necessary but the strategy guiding it has always been questionable, especially its main objective, that should have been rescuing the hostages all along. It wasn’t.
The main goal of the military campaign in Gaza has been to eliminate Hamas from day one. It is a perfectly sound objective on its own, though you can debate its feasibility, but it is also the wrong way to build a military strategy when there were hundreds of hostages to consider. Their release should have been the main purpose of the campaign and yet it quickly became an afterthought.
The IDF achieved important tactical gains and managed to place Hamas in unsustainable positions many times since October 7 and yet only once was this tactical advantage used to secure the release of hostages. Every other time military action made possible for an exchange to take place, taking advantage of its success, the deals never happened. Hamas has refused every deal since November of 2023 and that can not be ignored but we are now certain they were not the only obstacle.
Bibi’s government has a lion’s share in the responsibility for all the botched deals as I’ve always suspected and now Ben Gvir openly admits. The strategy of eliminating Hamas behind the military intervention in Gaza included not reaching a ceasefire to release more hostages. In fact, it largely depended on their existence to justify the continuing offensive under the pretense of rescuing them. The hostages have been nothing but expendable pawns on the board. Now we can be certain.
The war in Israel has revealed other objectives, locally and globally, with both sides of the conflict using it for political purposes to interfere with elections and exacerbate existing tensions worldwide. It was, and remains, very visible and palpable in the US. As it happens in Israel, where the real effects of terrorism provide cover for sinister intentions, we witness how antisemitism became a tool in the authoritarian box right here.
On one hand you have the propal simps yelling for global intifada, fueling antisemitism in our streets and campuses which in turn provides a great cover for the likes of Charlie Kirk and Pete Hegseth to become “champions for Israel”, often quoted as “very wise and thoughtful allies”. The conflict was used as a weapon in our recent elections, with Netanyahu openly siding with TFG to the point where it was thought any ceasefire would not take place on Biden’s watch.
Now that TFG will become president it is safe to assume any ceasefire and hostage recovery will only happen after January 20. On cue. Right wing sectors of the Jewish community who support Netanyahu have always denigrated Biden’s approach to this crisis for obvious reasons. We now watch them insert TFG in the mix as they point out the current negotiations are the closest we’ve been to release more hostages, quoting his words on the matter. Expect full credits to be given TFG for this.
As sure as the sun coming out tomorrow, the election of the orange turd will be praised as the one factor that made the release of the next group of hostages possible. Count on it. Last year I mentioned Israelis were fighting the same fight we were fighting with the difference their authoritarians were already in government while we were trying to prevent that from happening. There’s no difference now.
The objective of Christian Nationalists and Religious Zionists is pretty much the same and our very own radical evangelists have been unlikely allies of Israel for a very long time. In a world of deception and sinister interests we have to be able to cut through the BS and identify the wolves in sheep’s clothing. There are plenty. Their words sound sweet and their motives appear to be honest but beware of what it is they represent.
Now that Ben Gvir exposed his objectives and the extreme religious Zionist parties are assuming a more active role in the Israeli government at the same time we are entering one of the darkest periods in our country’s History is a good time to identify these people and acknowledge the kind of threat they pose to us: those of us who believe in peace still and who oppose any kind of religious fundamentalism: Christian, Muslim or Jewish.
Right now all I wish for is the possibility of more hostages to go home to come true. It’s all that matters and all it should have ever mattered. How many could have been alive still we’ll never know but it is certain some would. Now that we know why that didn’t happen we must keep our eyes open and realize, once and for all, what it is we are truly fighting against. Perhaps now the fight in Israel and in the US is the same that will be easier.
Get the hostages home. Now. 🎗️
