Peloni: Is there no limit to the sacrifices which Israel must make to permit this failing peace plan move forward?
By | Nov 14, 2014
Hamas soldier storming Alumim in southern Israel during October 7 Massacre. Photo by CCTV footage: No human authorship – I24, Public Domain, Wikipedia
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yielded to American pressure. He has agreed to let the 200 Hamas fighters still in tunnels under Rafah, on the east side of the Yellow Line that demarcates where the IDF and Hamas forces in Gaza are in control, to go free. It’s a terrible concession on the part of the Israelis, who had earlier been determined to wipe out all the Hamas fighters who had been in tunnels to the east of the Yellow Line, terrorists who now will be allowed not just to escape being killed by the IDF, that had them trapped in those tunnels, but Israel has apparently agreed as well that it will not even hold them as prisoners.
They will be free to leave the part of Gaza that the IDF holds and move to the part that Hamas holds, from where they, or at least their leaders, will then be deported to a country wiling to take them. So far, no country has offered to do so. Will they then be allowed to remain in Gaza, free to join other Hamas members in controlling their half of the Strip by fighting the clans, such as the Doghmush family, or the militia serving under Yasser Abu Shabab, that oppose Hamas’ rule? How do the Americans expect to force those 200 fighters, once freed, not to return to their jihad terrorist ways?
The pressures that the Americans brought to bear upon the Israelis have not been made public, but no doubt involve continued diplomatic support at the UN, including vetoes at the Security Council of anti-Israel resolutions, a slowing down of weapons deliveries that Israel needs to replace all the arms and ammunition it has used up since October 7, 2023, and even, possibly, a threat not to join Israel in a second attack on the nuclear facilities, including the new site at Pickaxe Mountain, that Iran has been frenetically building.
It remains unclear why Washington thinks it needs to curry favor with Hamas by rescuing the 200 Hamas fighters in those tunnels under Rafah from the IDF. Does the Trump administration really think that such a concession will persuade Hamas to do what has repeatedly said it will not do — that is, disarm entirely?
If Bibi knows why this concession is a reasonable solution to the current situation, he needs to come clean with those who will evidently have to pay the price.
This concession comes at the tail of the never ending list of concessions appeasing especially the so-called Palestinians.
What’s next? Giving up the Temple Mount?
Is this maybe the quid pro quo for the pardon letter that would leave Bibi as a pardoned criminal rather than an Israeli leader with no criminal record? Come on, Bibi, you can bargain for better than that. The offer to go home, be quiet, and all charges will be dropped and forgotten has been around for years now and didn’t need DJT’s intervention to convince Bibi. At least that option would leave him as a free man. On the other hand, maybe DJT would prefer to have a more amenable deal partner, since accepting a pardon would end Bibi’s political career immediately. The preferred deal partner would agree to all the promises DJT made to the Saudis and Qataris and maybe even the Turks. As far as the Turks are concerned, they are probably demanding a two state solution on Cyprus to gain their cooperation, as has been reported recently.
Nonetheless, I wonder why DJT had to make promises like not restoring sovereignty to Judea and Samaria. This leaves Israel open to all the claims of illegal settler violence that Hamas and the PA love to conspire to. I cannot imagine how often the USA would have to veto UNSC resolutions to make this fly indefinitely. If each Islamic state were to demand a resolution on the Palestinian affair, the USA would run out of vetoes and demand more concessions within one UN session. Obviously, there is no easy way to fix this problem except to finally put the fear of Israel into all their hearts.