Shalom all,

Eight weeks ago today (Shabbat), was Israel’s “day that will live in infamy forever”. It was on October 7th that terrorists broke through the fence separating the Gaza Strip from the Israeli communities surrounding the Strip and massacred civilians and military personnel. The atrocities committed by Hamas, “Palestinian” Islamic Jihad (“PIJ”) and Gazan civilians left over 1,200 dead and around 5,000 wounded. In addition, an estimated 240 people were taken hostage to Gaza. Since then, the number of dead and wounded has been revised, as information became available. Some of the hostages, mostly women and children, were released, in exchange for a ceasefire agreement and the release of “Palestinian” prisoners held in Israel jails. The ceasefire is over and the fighting has resumed! theThe cessation of hostilities lasted for seven days and ended when Hamas refused to release more female, Israeli hostages. During that time, 81 Israeli hostages were released, as well as 24 foreign nations. But, Hamas sought to replace female hostages with male hostages and corpses of those who died while in captivity, in violation of the agreement that was brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Israel refused to accept the change in terms, claiming that another 17 women and children remain as hostages, including the 10-month-old Kfir Bibas.

The Times of Israel reported today: “Two Israeli officials told the Walla news site that Hamas recognizes the importance of the remaining female hostages and therefore was trying to hold onto them for longer, to extract more for their release. Another Israeli official told Walla that Hamas doesn’t want to release the remaining female hostages because it doesn’t want them speaking publicly about what they endured on October 7 and during their time in captivity.” (Emphasis mine) The Israeli government releases information daily about hostages who died while being held by Hamas, about persons who were “missing” after October 7th, whose body was finally identified by the forensics laboratory and about those whose bodies were discovered during the ground operation of the IDF. The latest hostage declared to have been killed is a 41-year old Colonel in the IDF from Kiryat Ono, Asaf Hammy. Military censorship only now allowed his name to be released, because of his high rank in the IDF.

The Shabbat is over and this is the beginning of a new week. We can anticipate that the demonstrations against Israel in various places throughout the world will continue. We can also anticipate that more and more pressure will be exerted on Israel to cease military action in the Gaza Strip, for “humanitarian reasons”.Governments and world leaders are willing to overlook the atrocities of Hamas committed against Israel. They continue their absurd accusations of a disproportionate response (which most of them don’t understand) on the part of Israel, of ethnic cleansing of Gaza (when the population of Gaza has substantially increased instead of decreased) and of causing an exorbitant number of casualties of Gazan civilians (according to unverified figures provided by Hamas-controlled health officials). And then, of course, there are the attempted excuses and attempted justifications for condemning Israel. After all, the massacre was committed against Israelis. After all, the rapes were committed against Israeli women – and sometimes young men. After all, the dismemberments were committed against Israelis and those who were with them on October 7th. After all, the people who were butchered on Black Saturday were all “settlers and potential members of the Israeli army” that needed to be killed as part of the beginning volley to end the occupation and cleanse the land of all Jews. After all, Israel committed the atrocities against its own people to justify cleansing Gaza of all Gazans. (I suppose we also took 240 people captive and handed them over to Hamas, just for good measure!) After all, Israel has always been responsible for whatever the world complains about, including global warming, earthquakes and bad breath. A simple question usually suffices to shut the mouths of anti-Israel demonstrators: If your family members and friends were killed and dismembered, your wife or daughter or sister, or mother, was raped, your home was burned to the ground and those of your family and friends that survived the massacre were taken hostage, caged, beaten and burned, starved and some died in captivity, would you fight against those brutal, barbaric and murderous terrorists in an effort to return your loved ones and to eliminate the threat of that pogrom ever taking place again? Enough is enough!

The “West”, whether it is Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia, South and Central America, as well as North America fails to understand the ideology of terrorist organizations like Hamas, PIJ, Hezbollah and their ilk. At the funeral of a “Palestinian” terrorist, who was killed when he rammed his car into an Israeli police car, one of the speakers made a simple, but straightforward, statement that capsulized the heart attitude of terrorists in the Middle East: “This people will not be defeated. A people in which a mother accompanies her Martyr son with sounds of joy will never be defeated. A people in which a child who is like a lofty mountain waits impatiently to become a young man so that he will be able to take revenge for his Martyr father will never be defeated. We love death like our enemies love life.” [emphasis added][Unidentified speaker, Official PA TV, March 8, 2023]”  And, lest one thinks that all of the terrorists are men, they should think again. Hamas women play a vital role in the overall plans and programs of the terrorist organization.

Time and time again, the question is raised what will be the situation in the Gaza Strip when the present war is over, when Hamas is defeated. These are difficult days and we all need a little humor. So, Reuters reported today what U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris had to say about the matter:“Eventually, the Palestinian Authority security forces must be strengthened to eventually assume security responsibilities in Gaza but until then, she said, ‘There must be security arrangements that are acceptable to Israel, the people of Gaza, the Palestinian Authority, and the international partners.'”Looking farther down the road, she said, the Palestinian Authority should be bolstered to the point that it can govern both the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas can no longer run Gaza, she said. ‘We want to see a unified Gaza and West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian voices and aspirations must be at the center of this work,’ she said. Once the war ends, efforts to rebuild should be pursued with a view toward the goal of a two-state solution in which Israel and the Palestinians live in peace, Harris said, referring to a long-sought U.S. objective that has not borne fruit. The Western-backed Palestinian Authority governs parts of the occupied West Bank. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ mainstream Fatah party and has ruled the enclave ever since.” 

Well, there we have it. The goal is a repeatedly dead and buried two-state solution, raised from the ashes, cleaned up and presented on a silver platter as the means by which “Israel and the “Palestinians” will live in peace. And, the “unified” state that will live alongside Israel (actually, that will slice it in half) will be ruled by the “Palestinian” Authority, which cannot even rule the people within its present, limited geographical area, located in what is popularly, but ignorantly, designated as the “occupied West Bank” – the long sought-after objective of the U.S. that still hasn’t come to fruition. First, we are told how to fight “our” war and then, we are told what kind of political arrangements we should have when we finish fighting “our”, which is, in essence, a war on everyone’s behalf against pure evil that celebrates death. So, I suppose we should all be thankful for Kamala’s stand-up injection of humor to begin the new week.

Bless, be blessed and be a blessing. In the process, please remember to pay for: the hostages, their families, the bereaved who loved ones were killed, the wounded in the hospitals and rehabilitation centers, the IDF, that the missiles of Hamas, of Hezbollah and of the Houthis will fail, and yes, the leadership of the government of Israel for wisdom upon wisdom, grace upon grace that will enable it to find favor in the sight of God and man. 

Have a simply great week.
Marvin