The Agony and Explanation of the Slow, Cautious Steps in Gaza

Peloni:  Avi is quite right.

Avi Abelow

Screengrab via Youtube [Cropped]

For many of us who have supported this war effort from day one, it’s been agonizing to watch the slow, cautious steps taken by Israel’s leadership in Gaza. We’ve seen the terror tunnels, the barbarity of October 7th, and the endless cycle of ceasefire deals exploited by Hamas to regroup, rearm and boobytrap areas/homes we previously cleared. And we’ve asked ourselves again and again: why haven’t we just gone in and finished the job?

Today, Prime Minister Netanyahu made the decision that many of us have long waited for: a full-scale operation to liberate and take permanent control of all of Gaza. Not just a military campaign, not just a dismantling of terror cells, but a bold declaration that Israel will no longer tolerate a hostile Iranian/Qatari backed enclave on its border. This is the only strategic, moral, and secure path forward.

So why now? Why not earlier?

It’s not that Netanyahu fails to grasp the necessity of the war. Rather, he is making a deliberate effort to weigh something often lost in the fog of conflict: our greatest strength lies in unity. Without it, we risk losing the war in Gaza, and weakening the soul of our people. The war is just and must be fought, but Netanyahu is striving to preserve as much unity as he can along the way.

From the beginning, Netanyahu has been playing a multidimensional game. On one side, there is the very real and painful hostage crisis, something the political left has cynically weaponized to try and undermine the war effort. They frame every military action as a betrayal of the hostages, even as it was Hamas that took them and Hamas that hides behind them. Their strategy is clear: turn public opinion against the war and the Netanyahu government by exploiting our greatest pain.

Netanyahu understands this trap. That’s why, even when it delayed the military timetable, he continuously keeps the door open to hostage negotiations, not because he thought Hamas could be trusted, but because he knew that if the government appeared indifferent to the fate of the hostages, it would fracture the nation and tank support for the necessary war effort.

Yes, the delays have had a cost, international pressure has grown, even within Republican circles in the U.S., who until recently stood firmly behind Israel. But Netanyahu has made the hard calculation: internal cohesion trumps external approval. We must stay united long enough to see this war through to its rightful end, a Gaza fully under Israeli control, demilitarized, and no longer a launching pad for jihad.

The world will scream. The media will distort. But none of that changes the strategic truth: there is no sustainable security for Israel without total victory, and there is no total victory without controlling all of Gaza. Otherwise, as we’ve seen time and time again, the terror will return, more tunnels, more rockets, more indoctrinated children raised to hate and murder Jews.

Netanyahu now knows the time has come. He has given diplomacy its due, protected national unity, and made every effort to reunite the hostages with their families. But he also knows we cannot let Hamas, or any future terror entity, rebuild. There will be no more deals that leave terror intact. No more illusions of coexistence with a genocidal regime.

This war ends only when Israel ensures that Gaza can never again be used as a weapon against us. Not for ten years. Not for one. Never again.

It is now the duty of every Israeli, and every supporter of Israel, to stand firm. The fight ahead will not be easy, but the alternative is another October 7th, or worse. History will remember this moment not for how fast we acted, but for how clearly we saw what was necessary, and how unshakably we pursued it.

Netanyahu has chosen a difficult path in an immoral and chaotic situation. Now, we must complete the mission, to make Gaza Jewish again, regardless of Netanyahu’s own statements to the contrary. That disagreement can be addressed in time. Just as the Jewish people pushed to reclaim Judea and Samaria and resettled it despite opposition from Israeli governments, so too will be done in Gaza. Because true security cannot come from a military presence alone, it requires a civilian presence rooted in commitment and permanence. So, don’t worry about Netanyahu’s statements, we will make Gaza Jewish again. We have no other choice.

We are going home, to sing Ka Ribon on Shabbat or in Gaza, where the song was written by Chief Rabbi of Gaza City Yisrael Najara back in the 17th century!

Am Yisrael Chai!!!

August 9, 2025 | 2 Comments »

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  1. Avi Abelow on FB:

    Something doesn’t add up as Israel announces plans to totally destroy Hamas and liberate all of Gaza.

    Since day one of this war, many on the political left in Israel have insisted that Prime Minister Netanyahu is to blame for Hamas existing and for carrying out the Oct. 7th massacre. That it was due to Netanyahu’s security policies failed to prevent October 7th. That he didn’t destroy Hamas all the years he was Prime Minister when he should have.

    That’s a serious accusation, and while it may make for a compelling soundbite, it doesn’t hold up under honest scrutiny. It ignores the fact that Israel’s entire security establishment, all these years, advised Netanyahu to “manage” Hamas, based on the widespread belief that Hamas was “deterred” and primarily interested in “economic stability in Gaza”, as their advice to Netanyahu days before Oct 7th clearly exemplifies, to allow in tens of thousands of more Gazans to work in Israel. Pinning all the blame solely on Netanyahu is not just simplistic, it’s misleading.

    But now, as Netanyahu finally makes it clear that he intends to finish the job, to defeat Hamas completely and ensure October 7th never happens again by taking all of Gaza, those same critics are suddenly telling him to stop. That going all the way is too dangerous. That there is no national consensus for such an act. That we must end the war now.

    Let’s be honest: this isn’t about policy, and it never war. This has always been about politics. If Netanyahu is blamed for not destroying Hamas, and then attacked again for trying to destroy Hamas, then the real issue isn’t what he does. It’s that it’s him and his government doing it.

    This is a dangerous hypocrisy, and undecided Israelis, those still weighing where they stand, need to recognize it for what it is.

    Because here’s the truth: our Islamonaz*i enemies don’t play by our rules.

    For them, simply surviving to fight another day is victory.

    Surviving another day means they can rearm. Regroup. Launch more rockets. Dig more tunnels. Kidnap more of our people.

    That’s what happened after the last major offensive in Gaza in 2014. That’s what led to October 7th. And if Hamas is left standing, even in one neighborhood of Gaza, they will do it all again, and they have made that intent loud and clear.

    How can anyone ignore the reality of who we’re fighting? This is an enemy that built its terror infrastructure under homes, children’s bedrooms, schools, and hospitals, not by accident, but by design. They use their own civilians, mothers and babies, as human shields, turning every neighborhood into a battlefield while hiding behind their own, so that their dead non-combatants help them win in the war of images, a PR battle, against Israel. That’s not just cruel, it’s multiple war crime. And yet somehow, the outrage from the political left is still directed at Netanyahu and his government for wanting to put a total end to this?

    And it’s not just about our Islamonaz*i enemy in Gaza. Every terror group, every radical regime, and every Jew-hater around the world is watching how this ends.

    If Hamas survives, they win. And when they win, they inspire. From Tehran to Beirut to London to U.S. college campuses, a Hamas that survives to fight, kill and kidnap us another day, this war gives strength to every one of our enemies, near and far.

    But if we finish the job, if Israel stands strong and dismantles Hamas entirely and liberate all of Gaza, we send a different message: Never again means never again. Not just words. Action. Clarity. Strength.

    That’s why this war cannot end halfway. That’s why the only path to true security for all Israelis, left, right, secular, religious, Jew, Arab, is total victory in Gaza which includes Israel returning as sovereign over all of Gaza, making Gaza Jewish again and implementing Trump’s Gaza emigration policy, so that Gaza is empty of an enemy population that educates its children via its mothers milk to dream of killing Jews.

    We all want to protect our soldiers and bring our hostages home alive. But there is no safety in retreat. There is no peace in indecision. And there is no deterrence in unfinished business.

    This war is not about a politician. It is about our future.

    It is about whether Israeli children can grow up without sirens, bomb shelters, and the threat of kidnappings. It is about whether Israel can defend itself without apology. It is about whether we stand united against those who seek to destroy us, or whether we tear ourselves apart mid-battle.

    Calls for a referendum or bringing down the government while this war is still not finished are not just ill-timed they’re reckless.

    This is a just war. And like every just war, it must end in victory, not ambiguity.

    The time for political debates will come. But only after we win and ensure that we are protected moving forward.

    Until then, we owe it to our soldiers, our hostages, and our future, to finish the mission.

    Total victory in Gaza. Nothing less will protect us. Nothing less will deter our enemies. Nothing less will honor those we’ve already lost.

    Am Yisrael Chai!!!

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