Arlene Kushner | July 10, 2025
We Israelis are dealing with an exceedingly difficult and complex time. We speak of the matzav, “the situation”, as we struggle to understand how we came to this place that feels never-ending. We are driven by a need to know what is currently transpiring and then, what we can likely expect ahead.
Take, by way of example, the assessment of how much damage the US attack did to the Iranian nuclear sites. Estimates vary so greatly that the head spins; you might end up accepting the estimate from the source you find most reliable, or perhaps you accept what you find most comforting. (Israeli intelligence says the damage was considerable.)
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This paradigm can be drawn upon again and again to describe various aspects of our current circumstances. As we hunger for reassurance about the ultimate outcome of our situation, we must measure carefully how we receive the perspective that political leaders offer. What is real and can buoy us, and what is likely not? What is still simply unknowable even at this juncture?
It is not for nothing that most of us are weary these days.
We are proud and determined. We hold fast to the belief that we will be fine in the end. But we are very weary, and more than a tad unsettled.
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Time and again, news hits us that feels unbearable.
On Monday, five soldiers from the Netzach Yehuda (ultra-Orthodox) Battalion were killed in an ambush in Beit Hanoun in which Hamas had placed explosive devices.
Three were from Jerusalem: St.-Sgt. Meir Shimon Amar, 20; Sgt. Moshe Nissim Frech, 20; and St.-Sgt. Noam Aharon Musgadian, 20. Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Benyamin Asulin, 28, was from Haifa; and St.-Sgt. Moshe Shmuel Noll, 21, from Beit Shemesh.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-860387
At the funeral of Moshe Noll, Rabbi David Noll, his father said: “I thank Hashem for nearly 22 years of joy with Moishy.” There are no words in the face of such faith, except to pray that we might be worthy of this sacrifice.
IDF
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Yesterday (Wednesday) there was the news that Abraham Azulay, 25, a resident of the Shaked Farm in the Yitzhar hills, was killed while working with engineering machinery in the Gaza Strip.
He had been married only three months.
I saw the picture of him on his wedding day, with his bride. I saw their faces radiant with joy, and I wept.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411412
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We can honor these deaths only by seeing through what they fought and died for.
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Prime Minister Netanyahu has certainly been saying regularly and consistently that he intends to see through the major goals of the war in Gaza – to bring home all of the hostages, to remove Hamas from rule in Gaza, and to ensure that Hamas will never again have the ability to attack Israel.
I have never doubted his sincerity in seeking these goals. What I have begun to be concerned with of late was the feasibility of actually achieving all of this.
The leaders of Hamas are utterly evil, but they are not stupid. They knew what they were doing when they took Israelis hostage, holding them as bargaining chips. Because of their value to Hamas, they will not let them all go.
I have read over and over again about the need to take control of 75% of Gaza. My latest information is that we now control somewhere between 65% and 75%. But why not aim for 80% or 95%? Because, according to one line of reasoning, there are areas where we fear hostages may be held and we hesitate to move in lest they be murdered.
We’ve been hitting very hard and making gains. But how then do we achieve the final defeat of Hamas?
What we have been doing of late, in line with the plans of Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, is to enter hostile neighborhoods, dismantle Hamas cells, and then withdraw, returning as necessary.
IDF
However, Lt. Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch, senior researcher at the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), pictured, says unequivocally: “That’s not how you fight a war, and this is not how you defeat terrorism.”
IDSF
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An alternative is to completely take Gaza militarily. This is what Defense Minister Yisrael Katz advocates: “the only path to decisive victory and the secure return of our hostages is the full conquest of the Gaza Strip, a complete halt to so called ‘humanitarian aid.’” Hirsch agrees: “Any solution that doesn’t end with the complete obliteration of Hamas and that allows them to regroup and to regain control in Gaza is a bad solution for Israel.”
https://www.jns.org/the-wars-endgame-inside-the-debate-over-gazas-future/
What happens to the hostages under these circumstances is not clear. The stated goal would be to coerce their release instead of bargaining for it. Could we secure full release? Or would the consummately evil Hamas kill the remaining hostages?
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We are now engaged in an intensive negotiation for a ceasefire with Hamas that would presumably bring the release of 10 live hostages and 18 deceased over the course of 60 days.
I have already written extensively expressing my concern about the terms of this deal. We would not secure release of all hostages and might seal the fate of those left behind.
We would have to withdraw from portions of Gaza, thereby allowing Hamas to regroup and plant explosives in areas to which we would return. What would the cost to our troops be?
We would also apparently agree to allow increased movement of “humanitarian aid” into areas from which we would withdraw. That aid, primarily food and medications, would give Hamas an opportunity to strengthen.
It feels like insanity. Perhaps because it is insanity. Many think so.
Gabi Siboni, CEO of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), calls it “catastrophic.” He warns that the deal “will weaken our military position and force us to delay critical operations to remove the Hamas strongholds in North Gaza.”
Hirsh says, “We’ve cornered ourselves into a reality where we believe that the only way to get hostages out is to trade them for terrorists and let the terrorists set their demands.” (I have just read that Netanyahu has informed the families of hostages that Hamas would decide who gets released.)
What I see as the most powerful – and painful – assessment of the situation comes from Martin Sherman, CEO of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies:
“The issue with the hostages is a heart-wrenching situation…but running a country is a strategic exercise, not a humanitarian exercise, and we can’t mortgage our future and the success of this war for the sake of what in the end comes down to a clear appeal to emotion over reason.”
JNS
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The likelihood of a ceasefire deal being finalized seems to be increasing, as Israel has made concessions, e.g., regarding the areas from which the IDF would withdraw – although we have not agreed to all that was demanded.
These concessions are presumably in the interest of getting out some hostages.
But there are rumors afloat indicating that Trump, eager for the Nobel Peace Prize, is coercing Netanyahu into making concessions that are not in Israel’s best interest.
The main sticking point is what happens at the end of the 60-day ceasefire. One of the reports suggests that Witkoff, Trump’s envoy, has assured the mediators that Trump ”does not intend to allow Jerusalem to resume fighting against Hamas in Gaza following a 60-day ceasefire, even if this is not explicitly included in the text of a deal being hashed out in Washington and Qatar.”
Reportedly, this information is from “an Arab diplomat and a second source familiar with the matter.”
This is generating considerable alarm. But these are still rumors, not confirmed verifiable facts, and we are ill-advised to take them as facts.
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I close here, then, with a video statement from Netanyahu yesterday, following two intense meetings with Trump, in which he refutes these rumors. There is no pressure from Trump, he says. There is close coordination.
Let us pray.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j_xqRaBBVU
Once again, stay tuned.
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I ask for prayers for all of Am Yisrael.
Pray for the wisdom and courage of our leaders.
Pray for the safety of our soldiers as they fight.
Pray for the recovery of all hostages.
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©Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
Israel should not be negotiating with terrorists. There is nothing to gain for Israel, and only Hamas gains. Even if they just gain time, they gain while Israel loses.
Israel must prosecute the war to the end as decisively as possible. But here is the difficulty for any Israeli PM, not just for Netanyahu:
If the US CIA is insisting upon Israel negotiating with terrorists because their goal is the destruction of Israel, shouldn’t this be what is discussed out in the open where the American people and the Israeli people can see who is doing what?
It appears that the CIA is putting both Trump and Netanyahu in a situation that is no-win. If Israel is harmed, it also harms the US. The CIA has been pro-jihadi for some time now, at least going back to 1975. Covertly.
If Trump is working behind the scenes to free America from the CIA that is hopeful, (and also no one knows if this is actually possible) but the Israeli people are being put in the middle of something very difficult for anyone to control, especially if Israelis are not notified of who is attempting to doom them into nonexistence. If Trump is not working behind the scenes to change the CIA then is Trump himself a deep state actor, doing the bidding of the CIA and turning on Israel by expecting Israel to negotiate with essentially Hitler?
It is not Iran, Hamas, Qatar, Trump, or Netanyahu who are primarily to blame in all of this: it is the US intel community that has been allowed by US law to grow to become its own leviathan both inside the US government (secretly) and outside the US (secretly).
As a result they have determined the fate of many countries, and mostly not for the better. They are a criminal cartel and allied with other criminal cartels. No president has ever lived who tried to contain the damage they have caused.
That is what Americans and Israelis and the whole world is up against. We the People are up against the same forces in the War in Ukraine. Neither Biden, Trump, nor Putin are in and of themselves to blame for the War in Ukraine. It is totally a war started by the US, UK, and EU intel communities as a proxy war between the US and Russia, a war that the American people don’t want, the Ukrainian people don’t want, and the Russian people don’t want. And those who started the war don’t care about how Americans, Ukrainians, and Russians feel. Its purpose is global depopulation and financial control of Ukraine and Russia (this is a delusional goal but men have been expected to fight for similarly delusional goals before).
This is what the people of the world need to think about, understand, and look into, in order to see who is really in control of all our lives, who is ordering the deaths of so many every day.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sharply criticized the details of the emerging hostage deal with Hamas.
Smotrich said, “If, God forbid, the reports are true about the Prime Minister’s willingness to withdraw as part of a hostage deal from areas conquered by our soldiers, this would be a betrayal of the soldiers and the families who sacrificed everything dear to them and a violation of the promise made to them.”
“Withdrawing from areas repeatedly conquered with our soldiers’ blood and allowing the enemy to enter, arm, and booby-trap them, and then sending our soldiers to conquer them again is an illogical and immoral slap in the face.” Smotrich has canceled most of his scheduled meetings today and convened a series of consultations on the issue.
Minister Ben-Gvir warned that withdrawal would lead to more abductions. “As negotiations for reckless deals intensify, so does the motivation of Hamas terrorists to abduct more people, and last night it cost us the life of an IDF soldier who was killed during a kidnapping attempt”.
He further called on the Prime Minister to order a decisive confrontation with Hamas, “Enough negotiating with a murderous terrorist organization and pursuing a deal that will revive and strengthen it. The lives of our soldiers and the residents of the south are more important than any normalization and economic agreements.”
He demanded from Netanyahu, “Give the order to crush Hamas completely. We have no extra soldiers to lose in reckless deals!”
Families of the hostages stated: “The media reports about the deal and its implications do not give us peace. While our loved ones are in chains and cages of Hamas in tunnels deep underground, the Prime Minister and the negotiation team are discussing the reconstruction of the Strip with Qatar. Hamas senses that Israel is eager for a deal and is entrenching its positions. Where in the world is such a thing heard? Are we delusional? Has the State of Israel given up on defeating Hamas and returning the hostages?”
“Just yesterday Hamas terrorists tried to abduct a soldier. Yesterday. We are rushing to a partial deal that will endanger the hostages who will remain there, endanger the IDF soldiers, and endanger the residents of the south. The dangerous flexibility in negotiations will encourage future kidnappings and reflects the essence that Hamas will never release everyone.”
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“Instead of announcing the halt of all aid until the hostages are returned, they are talking about reconstructing the Strip. Instead of dealing with the defeat of Hamas, we are talking to them in Qatar. Instead of dealing with the return of all the hostages, we are fighting only for half. Prime Minister, you do not have a mandate to abandon the rest of the hostages!”
As far as Netanyahu is concerned, he can only lose. If he sacrifices the remaining hostages to finish the war, he has guaranteed that Hamas is gone and the war is over. The public that have been complaining forever about getting the hostages back will be in uproar and never vote for him again. The protesters who have Benn paid to energize this Show out uf all reasonable dimension will not vote for him either if their pay check is no longer delivered.
However, if the war is over without further loss of the lives of our soldiers, thatis a win. The reservists can go back to their civilian occupations and the country will be back on an even keel again. That is also a win.
All the ideas about a two state solution will probably be resolved when Jordan becomes a republic (fingers crossed).
The Abraham Accords might finally come to fruition.
We can expect Netantahu to go home and get some well deserved rest. The court cases will suddenly no longer be of public interest. I would suggest to go for it.
We are left to pray that we get a new government with an equally capable PM and not the failing nonsense from last time that allowed themselves to be coerced into giving up everything for the sake of a little less pressure from our supposed allies.
“And if pigs had wings, they’d fly.”