A time for war, and a time for peace. Koheleth 3:8
Apparently, there is a new peace-loving group on the Middle-eastern bloc. Yes, you guessed it right – it is Hamas. There are the ones insisting on ending the war with Israel and on permanent cease-fire. Can you imagine? Yes, Hamas. Not the blood-thirsty Israelis who only wish to continue fighting.
Last Sunday as soon as the cease-fire was announced Hamas fighters started pouring out from the remaining tunnels holding their guns high up above their heads – just like rats in Albert Camus’ Plague, promising more October 7 like attacks on Israel and claiming victory while dancing on the rubble that used to be Gaza. Only real peaceniks could accomplish that. And what happened to the pro-Hamas groups in the US and Europe who were calling for immediate and permanent ceasefire for the last 15 months? One would bet that they must be celebrating the peace descending on Gaza and Israel. But no, they are still marching to free Palestine and call for obliteration of Israel.
What a contrast to scenes coming from Israel: when it became clear that 3 female hostages were transferred from Hamas claws to IDF celebratory masses gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square waiving Israeli flags and singing. The reunion of the three young women with their mothers was moving, there were no calls to continue the war. It was clear that at least two of the three women had some issues – one was missing two fingers, and another was limping. But the mothers and daughters could not be happier.
As much the scenes were emotional and bringing tears to my eyes and eyes of many other people watching the footage, I think with trepidation what the next few days and weeks will bring – the release of the first 90 terrorists and murderers from Israeli prisons as a ransom for the three innocents will be just a beginning – and in a perverse way we should hope that more hostages will be sent home, even with Israel paying a really steep price for what should be a humanitarian act. If Hamas would like to show that they really yearn for peace they would let all the remaining hostages just go free, but this is something they are not fundamentally able to process and do. These people together with Hezbollah and Houthis have only one goal in life – to kill Jews.
Next week four more hostages are supposed to be delivered – and here it gets really scary. Are at least some of them going to be alive? Yes, alive. And why were not the Bibas babies and their parents (or at least their mother) released, or are they even still alive? And how about the five so called female soldiers, 19-20 years old? When are they coming home – alive? And so on, the same can be said about all of the hostages. Hard to imagine the uncertainty and suffering the hostages and their families had to endure for the last 15 months, and now when finally, their hopes are high…no, no, better not to think about it.
Apparently, each hostage released yesterday received a “present” – map of Gaza and photos of the hostages taken by their captors and believe this one – a certificate of release signed by a Red Cross representative!
I cannot believe that anybody in Israel would think that this new ceasefire will be permanent or even longer lasting than a couple of years. Judging from past skirmishes and conflicts, Hamas (and we should not forget the lovely Palestinian Islamic Jihad as well) drunk with their “victory”, went to work on new battles and armament. And I am sure that they are hard at work on this again. It is shameful that humanitarian aid of 600 trucks will be heading to Gaza daily to feed Hamas and their serfs. One can hope, but not expect anything that the Gazan population would finally decide that enough is enough and rise against Hamas. But this is not in the offing, they will rather suffer under Hamas which will provide (or at least will try} them with Bread and Games (panem et circenses as they used to say in ancient Rome), the games here would be Jew hunting and killing. Gazans started pouring back to northern Gaza to go “home” and are reported to be crushed that nothing or very little is left from their homes, and they are questioning whether this is the Hamas victory, not the weapons and fancy vehicles flaunting by Hamas. It is not just the homes, but also hospitals, schools etc. I hope that the US government will live up to its declaration that Hamas will not rule Gaza. How this is going to be achieved is not clear, or at least I was not informed. However, things have changed, and one hopes that may lead to new, perhaps even Hamas-less development and future. Hamas is stipulating that the cease-fire is tied to Gaza reconstruction. I assume they expect the West, USA for sure to flip the bill. Why not pass the bill to Hamas leaders living in luxury in Qatar and to Qatar itself? Let them spend their wealth on something useful and actually contributing to peace. The dismantling or at least downgrading of UNRWA might be the best thing for Gaza and Israel, and should lead to de-Hamasification, equivalent to post WWII de-Nazification of Germany. A new education system with new guidelines, textbooks and teachers not associated or affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad or other terrorist groups would be equally important to open the minds of Gazans, especially of children. This would take years to accomplish, but it is something even signatories of Abraham accords would be willing to participate in. Just make sure to keep the UN out of this!! And how about Hamasniks? Let them enjoy their stay in tunnels. And we Jews both in Israel and in the diaspora should stick together no matter how big our disagreements are, we are one big, though most of the time bickering, but still loving family.