Shalom all,

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12)

In a press conference convened last night by the war cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Minister Benny Gantz, explained the considerations leadaing to the agreement for the release of the hostages held by Hamas. They were joined by the IDF spokesman, Brigadier General Daniel Hagari, who indicated that the deal was not yet finalized and that things could still go wrong. As a result, it was decided not to notify the families, so that their expections would not be crushed if things don’t work out. And, sure enough, only two short hours later, Tzachi Hanegbi, the head of the National Assembly, announced that there would be a delay in implementing the deal for the release of the hostages. As a result, the ceasefire scheduled to take place this morning at 10:00 a.m. would also be delayed. The excuse is that the agreement needed to be formally signed and ratified and that neither side had done so when the earlier announcements had been made.

Following the announcement of the delay, it was reported that the IDF would continue its operations in the Gaza Strip, as long as the agreement is not finalized. Progress was made towards finalizing the agreement and the ceasefire is now scheduled to go into effect tomorrow, Friday at 07:00 Israel time. The return of the hostages is scheduled to take place tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. Israel time.

The Jerusalem Post reported this morning that a spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry stated that talks concerning a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas were “progressing positively”. The spokesman added that “work is continuing with the two parties and our partners in the sisterly Arab Republic of Egypt and the United States of America, to ensure the rapid start of the truce and to provide what is necessary to ensure the parties’ commitment to the agreement.” Again, we see that the Qatari emphasis is the commencement of the “truce”, while Israeli media interprets the broader package to include the “ceasefire and hostage release.” Once again, we see that from the point of view of announcements, the Qatari spokesman makes clear the importance of the deal – a cessation of fighting. The fact that hostages will be released as well is almost a secondary consideration.

Without question, the last-minute delay in the implementation of the deal was a crushing blow to the families, who are anxiously waiting for the return of their loves ones who have remained in Hamas control for close to 50 days.

It should also be noted that the deal that is to be completed within 4 days. But, if Hamas succeeds in locating additional minors or female non-combatants who were taken hostage, the deal can be extended to up to 10 days. In that case, for every 10 hostages released, Israel will agree to one extra day’s pause in the fighting. Hamas needs to find and gather women and children from other locations in the Gaza enclave. This is claimed to be the reason that it insisted on a 6-hour UAV blackout during each day of the ceasefire. It is more probable that they want to use this time to move their people around and try to booby trap more locations.

Also, according to Israeli estimates, of 98 women and children being held hostage by Hamas, 40 are under the age of 19 and five are female soldiers in active service, who are not included in the deal. The total number of hostages has not been finalized, because there are still 8 people missing (6 Israelis and 2 foreign nationals) and it is not known whether they were killed and as yet unidentified, or if they were actually taken hostage.

With the ceasefire set to begin tomorrow morning and the release of the hostages set to begin tomorrow afternoon, Israel continues to hold its breath in anticipation of what tomorrow will reveal. 

When the period of ceasefire is over, the war is expected to resume. But, the goal of removing the threat of Hamas from Israel will extend beyond the borders of the Gaza Strip. According to a report in the Jewish News Syndicate, P.M. Netanyahu gave orders to the Israeli Mossad to eliminate leaders of Hamas “wherever they are”. Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, added that those leaders “are living on borrowed time.” Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz, the former Defense Minister and IDF chief, who is part of the War Cabinet, added that Israel will kill the leaders of Hamas who were responsible for the massacre of October 7th. “There will be no sanctuary cities, no sanctuary houses. We will go wherever we need to in order to eradicate child murderers—above and below ground, in Gaza and around the world… [adding] We will reach the heads of [the Hamas] government just as we reached the centers of [that] government.”

And then there’s an interview conducted by Sky News with of Eylon Levy, of the National Public Diplomacy Directorate of the Prime Minister’s Office. The question posed by the anchor was a veiled accusation that because of the 3 for 1 numbers swap in the hostage deal, Israel does not value “Palestinian” lives. The response was that the question was astonishing and was an outrageous and disgusting accusation.The video is only one minute in length. Worth the watch.

“Hummus diplomacy”?

It appears that as a result of the Israel Gaza War, there are calls to boycott Israeli restaurants in New York City. Despite anti-Israel graffiti and listing the locations of “Zionist Restaurants” online, Israeli restaurant owners are not intimidated. Those who heed the call to boycott Israeli restaurants will end up missing the joy of scooping up some hummus (pronounced “hoomoos”, not “humm us”) with warm and soft pita bread. Definitely their loss!

But, can you believe it? 900 chefs in the US signed a petition calling for the boycott, not only of Israeli restaurants, but also of Israeli food. The petition, entitled “Hospitality for Humanity”, calls for boycotting everything culinary from Israel in an effort to leverage for a ceasefire. While we should not longer be amazed at the outrageous claims being made by pro-Hamas supporters and anti-Israel demonstrators, there always seems to be one more absurd claim. This time, according to the petition, there is the assertiion that Israel is appropriating “Palestinian” cuisine and attempting to eliminate it from the culinary world, just as Israel is trying to erase the “Palestinian” people. Sadly, some Jewish people added their names to the petition. Honestly, I was not aware that there was food that would qualify as “Palestinian” cuisine, whatever that it.  Now that a ceasefire is supposed to take effect tomorrow, can people go back to eating Israeli food?

Israel’s first lady says silence over Hamas mass rapes is ‘betrayal of all women’.

Michal Herzog, the wife of Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, is a champion of victims of sexual violence and those who defend them. In an article that appeared in Newsweek, she wrote that “It is not that condemnations of gender-based violence by Hamas have been weak or insufficient – there have been none at all. Statement after statement by organizations like UN Women, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) have failed to condemn these crimes. They failed us, and all women, at this critical moment…The silence of international human rights organizations, and the unwillingness to believe Israeli women in the face of overwhelming evidence has been devastating.” She will focus her attention on the world’s silence and the victims of Hamas during the International Day for the Prevention of Violence against Women, which will take place on Saturday, November 25th.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner is the president of Shurat HaDin, an Israeli organization that files claims on behalf of victims of terrorism and seeks to bankrupt terrorist organizations, one case at a time. She is the co-author of the National bestselling Harpoon: Inside the Covert War Against Terrorism’s Money Masters. In her article appearing in Ynetnews last week, she wrote concerning the massacre that took place on Black Saturday: 

“Underage girls were savaged as were their mothers before the eyes of other family members. Grandmothers, even those in wheelchairs, were molested and sodomized. The terrorists filmed their heinous acts in gory snuff films to be shared on social media and streamed on their GoPro cameras. They took their human trophies back to Gaza to be violated, abused, and held for ransom. Images released in real-time documented the atrocities…Where are the self-righteous sisters of The Squad? Where is AOC, Rashida, and Ilhan? I guess their duplicitous feminist stance takes a pause when the victims are Jewish. Where is the Me-Too movement? They shamed and helped prosecute sexual predators in show business and the workplace. Why are they giving Hamas a pass? Where are the female journalists on the BBC and MSNBC? CNN’s Christiane Amanpour has been aggressively critical of Israel’s defensive actions, but silent on the sexual crimes perpetrated by Hamas.” And she asked: “Where is the outrage at the rape of children? Israeli children were raped on October 7. Where is the outrage from Save the Children or UNICEF? In 2014, after Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria, movie stars and politicians spearheaded the global outcry. Michelle Obama launched a social media campaign to “Bring Back Our Girls.” But the former first lady has been nowhere to be seen since October 7. Her silence has been deafening.”

Darshan-Leitner concludes that when the war is over and Hamas is eradicated, “Those who spent their lives fighting for women and children but held their tongue when the victims were Jewish will have to answer for their hypocritical and tell-tale prejudicial silence.“

Israeli women – Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Druze – will gather in two days at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem for this year’s International Day for the Prevention of Violence against Women. As Michal Herzog cogently points out: “They will meet in the lingering shock of the violation of our rights, and with the profound sense that all of us who believe in those rights have been betrayed.” 

Much to pray about: The hostage deal and cease fire set to go into effect tomorrow; the hostages who will not be included in the deal and their families, including members of the IDF; the IDF still on the front lines in Gaza AND in the north, where Hezbollah has significantly increased its activity by launching dozens of missile barrages; the multitudes of wounded being treated in hospitals throughout Israel; the bereaved families who lost loved ones from October 7th until today.

Bless, be blessed and be a blessing.

Marvin