The Gaza Ceasefire Deal – A Tough Game of Chess
The War and Global Antisemitism Have Made Me a Stronger Jew.
I’m trying to make the best of a truly bad situation; how the maelstrom of Jew hate and government sanctioned antisemitism, masquerading as hate for Israel has affected me psychologically and yes, even physically. As an American Jew, I cannot explain the pain I have for Israel’s situation, and the fear for my very survival, and that for my children and even grandchildren to my non-Jewish friends. They are free to go about their lives with the everyday mundane worries of health, financial concerns, and family. Of course I have those things too, but as a Jew, I have an inborn “Spidey Sense” of real danger. My father who fought WWII, and my grandfather – who fled Czarist Ukraine for America, would never have believed things could have gotten this bad. But they have.
Indeed, some of my Jewish friends and family are blissfully ignorant of the danger facing us in the Diaspora because after all, the antisemitism is because of Israel you see. If only we just keep quiet and stay away from “doing Israel things” and – I really like this one – “overt Jewishness,” whatever the heck that’s supposed to be, we’ll be okay. Hide your star, take your kippah off. I know people who want to take the mezuzah off their doors!
There are only about 15 million Jews in the entire world, and only ONE Jewish Homeland, Israel. Over the last several months I’ve anguished over watching antisemitic mobs supporting murderous Islamic terrorist sympathizers rampage across college campuses with impunity as they threaten and cajole Jewish college students – including members of my own family. We’ve seen anti-Jewish pogroms in the Netherlands, carefully staged and with the tacit agreement of the Dutch government, Jewish schools defaced, businesses and synagogues destroyed in Australia, Paris, and Canada; Russian mobs storming an airport on a “Jew hunt.” There are many more instances far too numerous to list here.
The blood of October 7th was still wet on the ground and on the bodies of the victims of that terrible day when in New York City, masked, pro Hamas mobs ripped American and Israeli flags, and taunted pro-Israel protestors on October 8th.
Our enemies have taken our greatest strengths – and used them against us. I’m talking about the Jewish beliefs in the sanctity of human life, return of hostages, the love of liberty and freedom – indeed the biblical duty to bring home those prisoners so violently and cruelly ripped from their families on October 7th 2023, including the bodies of the dead.
The foundation for this ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza (I call it a “capitulation to terror”) was laid back in early 2024, when then Biden Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the following:
“The families in Gaza whose survival depends on deliveries of aid from Israel are just like our families. They are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, who want to earn a decent living, send their kids to school, and have a normal life. We must not lose sight of that.”
Nothing could be farther from the truth. His attempt to draw a moral equivalency between what we all witnessed on October 7th and the actions of the IDF is obscene. Since then, Biden Administration officials have engaged in blood libels against Israel, reminiscent of the age-old antisemitic tropes which stirred up murders, pogroms, and ultimately the Shoah itself.
Now many American Jewish Democrats and supporters of VP Kamala Harris in the recent US Presidential Elections have failed to see, and still do, just how toxic the previous Biden-Harris Administration was to us. They say, “But didn’t President Biden help defend Israel during two Iranian ballistic missile attacks and block UN Resolutions against Israel, and wouldn’t his VP Harris if elected do the same?? Anyone BUT TRUMP!” Yes he did, but there are important points to know. My fellow American Jews of the “Democrat persuasion” were missing, and still are, ignoring the full picture. Biden’s infamous “DON’T” applied just as much to us as to them. As far as Kamala Harris, she was the one who told Israel NOT to go into Rafah. How would that have turned out?
The most significant action that few American Jews know about was Biden’s Executive Order 14115 which froze the financial assets of Israeli “settlers” in Judea and Samaria, as well as American Jewish and Christian Zionist groups which supported them, essentially turning their lives upside down. On Inauguration Day, President Trump dissolved this order with his own Executive Order – thank God! At the very least, he called them “harmful.”
The Deal is a bitter pill to swallow. On one hand, so far at this writing we have gotten back seven female hostages held in Gaza dungeons – four IDF soldiers, one border police officer (off duty at the time of her kidnapping from home) and two civilians. However in exchange, Israel has had to release over one hundred Palestinian Terrorists with much Jewish blood on their hands, with many more to come.
But what choice did we really have? Every Jewish life is precious to us, a universe in itself, and the Israeli public and World Jewry was clamoring for some movement on the hostage front. Now it’s happening. Phase I is supposed to last six weeks, and includes preliminary planning for Phase II. If the planning for Phase II takes longer, the ceasefire is supposed to be extended. It includes a complete ceasefire, and the PULL BACK of the IDF from specific populated areas of Gaza, and the release of about thirty Israeli hostages – women, elderly and wounded. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed, in his address, said “children will also be released in the 42-day-long phase one,” according to an AFP report.
My main concern through all the diplomacy behind the scenes is in the implementing of Phase II. This will see the return of remaining living Israeli hostages including male soldiers. The remaining Israeli forces are supposed to pull out (gladly??) from Gaza, and the temporary ceasefire will become permanent.
Phase III is supposed to be the time when Gaza gets rebuilt, the Palestinians with most likely Hamas still in charge will realize the errors of their evil bloodthirsty ways and make nice with the Jews, and all will be forgiven. Dancing and singing will break out, hummus will be served (Israeli and Palestinian) and longtime enemies will become friends and lovers. Hell, maybe they will even share NETFLIX accounts. I also have a bridge to sell you! The total number of Palestinian Terrorists released is supposed to be roughly 1,700 – give or take. At least 350 or so are serving multiple life sentences for murder.
This deal is like a very complicated chess game. For those of you who play, I would say we are at move 15, where the opening moves are over and we move into the positioning and jockeying of the intense middle game, where victory is often decided.
It is far different than the goals of the war which were decided by the War Cabinet – the complete elimination of any vestige of Hamas to have any influence in the Gaza Strip, and NO participation of the Palestinian Authority (PLO) either; the so-called “moderates.” PA President Mahmoud Abbas, a Holocaust-denying vicious antisemite who would make the Grand Mufti blush has a tenuous hold on power, with over 80 percent of the Arabs of Judea and Samaria supporting Hamas and their actions in the massacre and invasion of Israel on October 7th.
From the outset, PM Netanyahu should have immediately halted ALL AID going into Gaza. What nation at war in their right mind feeds the enemy? Only Israel does – because of world pressure. But what about the hostages you may ask? Does anyone honestly think the hostages were getting any of this aid, let alone the good citizens of Gaza? It was all used by Hamas to replenish their armed forces, who were fighting in civilian clothes to make themselves indistinguishable from “innocent Gazans.”
PM Netanyahu has insisted on continuing the war until Israel achieves its aim of dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities. If Jerusalem somehow manages to coax Hamas into completely ceding control of Gaza in the negotiations regarding the deal’s second phase, which are slated to commence on February 3, Netanyahu has indicated he’d be prepared to end the war. But in the likely scenario where Hamas refuses to surrender, PM Netanyahu claims he has received assurances from US President Trump that Israel will be able to resume fighting.
I’ve watched my people get slandered, pasted with blood libels, criticized at the UN; where the new US Ambassador, Elise Stefanik said “the rot of antisemitism” is pervasive. Now, with the “Trump 2.0” Administration taking office, many American Jews and Israelis are hopeful that things will get better.
I think of the parents and families of our fallen heroes, and I grieve with them. I cannot believe that they would want to see the enemy that took their loved ones from them to survive intact. I’m sure they would want their fallen loved one’s comrades in arms to continue the fight, where we can and must win!
So where does all this leave me? I’m just a lowly “keyboard warrior” who cares and has a vested interest in a complete Israeli victory in this fight. I’ve also become a stronger Jew through prayer and meditation, and a very active “Spidey Sense.” My advice to you is not to lose yours (or get one) and to stay vigilant and informed.