No More Excuses-Hostage Deal Now

How much longer does this war continue without achieving the goals set out by the Prime Minister at the onset of hostilities after the dastardly attack on Israel by Hamas last October 7^th?

The facts…..

Just under 700 IDF troops have been killed fighting in Gaza, on the northern border with Lebanon, in Judea and Samaria ad during the melee on October 7^th
More than 4,000 IDF troops have been wounded in action since October 7^th.
Approximately 60,000 residents of northern communities evacuated when Hezbollah shelling began last October, are still living out of suitcases with no clear understanding of when they can return to their homes or even if their homes are still habitable.
Hamas, after 10 months, is still capable of firing rockets into Israel, as far north as Tel Aviv.
Hezbollah over the last 10 days has attacked areas like Tzfat and Tel Aviv for the first time since October 7^th.
Individual terrorist incidents inside Israel abound, with the latest being a terrorist in Tel Aviv yesterday armed with enough explosives to kill 80-100 people but who presumably was killed himself when the explosive went off before he had a chance to deliver them.
Well over 100 hostages remain captive by Hamas in Gaza for 318 days, with every day there reducing the probability that they will come out alive.
The people of Israel, while we remain steadfast in our resolve to win this war, are also tired from a long war and ready to see it end.
Longer term challenges to the Israeli economy are beginning to surface making many question whether the country can come back to its former strength anytime soon.

But in my opinion, the greatest challenge to the recovery of Israel is the lack of trust of the people in the political leadership. The government failed on October 7^th to do the most important thing it was created for, and that is to keep us safe. Failing to do that broke the “contract” between the people and the political leadership. If we are to believe once again in the government that leads us, that broken promise must be repaired.

It would seem that the first thing the government should do right now is accept any cease fire/hostage release agreement that gets ALL the hostages returned as quickly as possible and ends the war. To do that, we will need to admit that, at least for the moment, we cannot totally rid Gaza of Hamas, we cannot fight this war indefinitely and we cannot exist long term as a pariah nation.

The representatives of the countries who are going to be in Cairo starting tomorrow (i.e. the US, Qatar, and Egypt, along with a delegation of Israelis) should craft a “take it or leave it” agreement that gets all the hostages returned immediately, ends the war, details the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages, removes Israeli troops from Gaza and puts an international oversight team in place to manage things on “the day after.”

Gershon Baskin, a long-time peace activist with whom I usually disagree, and successful hostage negotiator with the Palestinians, has an insightful piece in last week’s Times of Israel entitled “Bring the Hostages Home and End the War in Six Weeks” which you can see here……

https://tinyurl.com/3nwe2r76

Of course, many people will say “Oh that leftist, we know his agenda,” while others will say the plan is unrealistic. But if one takes the time to read it, while the realism is challenging it is also doable if the countries working on the agreement are willing to use their clout to make it happen.

While it certainly does not confirm to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s latest list of things that are not negotiable, given that we have not attained our stated objectives in 10 months of fighting, perhaps it is time to acknowledge that we did a great job in reducing (but not eliminating) the offensive capabilities of Hamas’ troops, but that there is little more we can accomplish right now. So let’s move forward knowing full well we might have to do battle yet again.

There may simply be no other way to get our hostages back, our troops out of Gaza and restore some breathing space to restructure our lives.

H.G. Wells said, “If we don’t end war, war will end us.” And that’s really all there is to say.