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Justine Johnston Hemmestad
Author, Newspaper Owner/editor, Iowan, "remembering" Jew

The End, from the Dayton Leader

This could well be the end of the Israel-Hamas war, but not in a good way. To see the end, Israel must be entrenched in threats – Hamas is still in power and murderers, as well as the body of deceased Hamas leader Sinwar, will be released – in a land in which Jews are meant to be safe.

Among the prisoners that Hamas demands released are the likes of high-ranking terrorists such as Abdullah Barghouti, a former commander of Hamas’ military wing in the West Bank, who is currently serving an unprecedented 67 life sentences.

This is what Israel must agree to, and the world is ok with it.

To me, it’s very similar to telling the Jews after WWII that they must live with the Nazis and be ok with it.

Or saying that Californians in the mid 1980s must be ok with setting the Night Stalker (Richard Ramirez) free after a terrorized LA community finally caught him themselves.

The Nameless One says, “Israelis have the mentality of a Jewish ghetto and Western liberal society. We didn’t mature to be the Kingdom of David, and that’s why we are still looking for a deal instead of setting a new example on how you deal with Jihadists who take hostages.”

Yes, it’s wonderful that the hostages will be released – OF COURSE. But isn’t that what Hamas wanted when they took hostages in the first place? Leverage to get everything they want.

Thus, Hamas is rewarded for taking hostages, and they have already regrouped.

The Nameless One says of the process, “I think the entire approach to the hostages since day one was wrong.

“And I was also against the Shalit deal back in 2011,” he says of Hamas’ prior hostage-taking in which 1,027 Palestinian and Arab prisoners were released in a deal brokered by German and Egyptian mediators.

Yahya Sinwar, the deceased leader of Hamas, who was serving 4 life sentences, was released in the deal.

Yet, the Nameless One also says, “We have a long way until the deal is over – about 3 months, which in the Middle East is like 30 years.”

Truly, living in the Middle East isn’t for the faint of heart.

Yet, he says he has patience – he has served over 400 days in the IDF Reserve in a 470 day war.

The Nameless One says there will likely be a few weeks of hostage exchanges – until March. This, he says, will align with Ramadan, and he says that, “as an Arabic speaker – tells me that there is a good chance the war will resume in March as Ramadan is known as the month of Jihad.”

He also acknowledges that, “Israel’s national security is sometimes being compromised because of American interests or ideologies. It is not new, and there are other historical examples of that…

“Biden’s administration’s ideology, delusions, and non-stop pressure, without a doubt, prolonged the war and prevented Israel from achieving its goal of eliminating Hamas as a functioning Jihadist state five minutes drive from Israeli city centers.

He goes on to say that if in fact the incoming Trump administration will “bring Iran to its knees, the Shiite resistance axis will dramatically be weakened (Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Palestinian territories).”

But “the future security challenges of Israel are from other US allies and partners: Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan. Turkey, without a doubt, is the most muscular actor of the three, is a NATO ally, and will play a part in stabilizing the Middle East – while America is busy with China. 

“But Israel and Turkey’s relations aren’t excellent, as Erdogan is a Muslim brotherhood-heavy Hamas supporter who supports the Jihadist’s new government in Syria. 

“Egypt is a massive country of 110 million people has enormous domestic problems, like not being able to feed their people, and they shortly won’t have drinking water. 

“Egypt is an army with a country and not vice versa. This army theoretically can damage Israel, and they have an infinite manpower that is completely incited against Israel. 

“Jordan – the smallest of them – is challenging Israel differently. Just like Egypt, their population, generally speaking, is hostile to Israel – yet the problem is their weakness, not their strength. 

“Iran is doing all it can to transfer knowledge, money, and weapons via Iraq and Jordan into the West Bank to challenge Israel, and Iran is doing everything to destabilize Jordan – so that they have a new launching pad for both Israel and Saudi Arabia. 

“Trump and his team must figure out how to make these actors (Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia) play together nicely to calm the Middle East and allow the US to focus on China. The hostage deal is just the first piece of the puzzle.”

Yet, the Nameless One is resigned to be patient. He says, “The Zionist project is a long run for generations. Even if it takes some time, I am happy and optimistic. We will get these poor souls from the inferno of Gaza. The Arabs will celebrate, as they always do…I have seen their celebrations for 40 years; and I only see one side getting better and stronger and the other side sinking into a dead end of a miserable life with no future.” 

So, as the Nameless One has said many times before, “We will see.”

About the Author
Justine Hemmestad earned a Bachelor's Degree at The University of Iowa, and a Master's Degree in Literature through Northern Arizona University. She's written three books (published by Turtle Shell Publishing and Antimony and Elder Lace Press) and has been included in nearly 30 anthologies. She's owned The Dayton Leader newspaper in Iowa for over a year, and has a vested, familial passion for Israel.
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