Watch now (10 mins) | Now being discussed: our future relations with the Palestinians, and even with Israeli Arabs. Nothing will be simple. Less complicated is this Eretz Nehederet spoof of BBC, a channel Israelis detest.
What does Eldar mean when he says (about Israel ruling post-Hamas Gaza) “We will eat the poison fruits that we have grown?” How did Israel grow poison fruits? There hasn’t been an Israeli in Gaza, dead or alive, since 2005?
I don't think it's a big mystery. Gaza is the way it is because of Israeli policies. In some ways being too harsh, in some ways too soft, in some ways just stupid. סוף דבר בכל נשמע Israel, if its people had had the courage, could and should have put an end to the open air insane asylum that was Hamasstan in Gaza at any moment for 15 years, and it didn't.
I am always saddened and disappointed when those who murder their parents beg to receive mercy from the court. At some point during the past year, you posted a piece by Mohammed Darawshe in which he expressed a concern that the Arab population could be seen as a "herd that could be hunted at any time". I would like to observe that even though the "herd" (or its relatives) have not ben hunted (so far) they have shown little evidence that they should not be considered as such.
I have a great deal of sympathy for the Arab population of Israel, but I agree with your sentiment that it would not be much of a burden for them to stand up at this time. and express their brotherhood.
The idea that Israel would follow a scorched earth retaliation with a never-ending occupation is madness. It's literally seeding the births of new terrorist groups.
I'm also not clear how the failure by Israeli Arabs to condemn the Hamas massacre gives moral license for Israel to act in any manner it deems fit, without regard to the impact on innocent civilians...or the cycle of deaths that will surely ensue for decades on both sides.
Finally, the impact of Israel's retaliatory actions has led to a devastating wave of antisemitism that is likely to accelerate if there isn't even a pause to enable substantial humanitarian relief (much less the release of hostages, which Netanyahu seems unwilling to prioritize).
Support for Israel in this case means trying to avert a crisis that will diminish Israel and adversely impact Jews throughout the world.
There's a difference between protecting Israel and refusing to allow a pause for substantial humanitarian assistance for Gazan civilians.
The latter will not jeopardize the firmer, and will lead to a cooling of the worldwide antisemitic wave that continues to build.
There's a choice between short-term scorched earth policies with a long-term occupation that will inevitably weaken Israel and strengthen antisemitism, and a more strategic approach that builds support, and shows some mercy to innocent civilians.
The latter approach does not endanger Israeli lives. It will do just the opposite.
Your assume the wave of antisemitism is caused by Israeli retaliatory actions in Gaza after the Oct 7 massacre. I disagree. Before Israel even pulled their forces together for a response, a wave of anti-Israeli and antisemitic demonstrations rolled over the entire world. The pro-Palestinian protesters claimed it was all Israel’s fault and they were responsible for their own deaths and brutal treatment. The uproar against Jews began before Israel started bombing Gaza. It was not about “ innocent civilians”. Not innocent civilians that are Jewish anyway. Hamas started the war, in which they use their own people as human shields. Innocent civilians die in a war. Did anyone protest in the streets for harming innocent Germans during WWII? It was before my time so please let me know. .
I don't assume anything...I watched what happened with my own eyes 3 weeks ago. There was immediate and worldwide support for Israel in the wake of the massacre.
There is no unanimity in global events, but this was as close as it gets.
There are civilians casualties in every war, but this massive death of civilians can't be simply excused as "collateral damage".
There was an opportunity to gather intelligence for a strategic response, but Netanyahu needed the fog of war.
The FBI just issued a warning that American Jews are being targeted by terrorists. This has never happened in FBI history.
Every day I read of another synagogue being burned.
A scorched earth response will come back to haunt Israel. I want Israel to be safe in the long-term. No one is safe now...not the hostages, not Israelis, not Jews throughout the world, not Gazan residents (children and babies in refugee camps are not hiding Hamas terrorists).
What do you think the appropriate response to Oct 7 horrors should be? Would telling terrorists: “please don’t do it again, shame on you” be adequate? After the WWII, people accused Jews of boarding trains to concentration camps like sheep without putting up a fight. But it turns out fighting back is verboten too.
Where is that clear line between Hamas and “innocent civilians? When Hamas militants breached fences between Gaza and Israel, civilians happily followed militants and killed, raped, and mutilated Jewish civilians as much as Hamas militants if not more. I doubt we will ever be able to differentiate between what militants did and what regular civilian Gaza residents did. Hamas sends rockets from hospitals, nurseries and refugee camps using them as human shields. During pro-Palestinian protests they yell “we are all Hamas”. How do you think Israel should respond to survive as a state that can guarantee safety to their citizen? I don’t know if there is a good answer. Israel may have a lot more resources than Hamas, but Hamas obviously is winning the PR war. It is winning it because they do not value lives of their own people, but the stigma is attached to the Jewish state and Jews everywhere.
This will be my final comment because we don't agree about the long-term danger to Israel of this brutal scorched earth policy.
It will create decades of hatred amongst Palestinians and generate 10 times the number of terrorists for decades to come. The Hamas massacre was dessigned to provoke this type of response. Playing into their hands was yet another blunder by Netanyahu.
No one suggested that Israel should not defend itself vigorously, but the wholesale slaughter of babies, children, elderly...these are not Hamas terrorists. Their deaths protect no one.
If a strategic coordinated plan had been followed while intelligence was gathered, Hamas leaders (not just some of their foot soldiers) could have been killed. With their leaders dead, the potential for hostage releases would increase. The tunnel entrances could have been strategically bombed.
Even now, Israel has the ability to take a step back for a humanitarian aid pause, but Netanyahu refuses.
Almost 10,000 people have been killed, and Israel is moving closer to a regional war. Thousands of Israeli soldiers will die in a protracted war. Antisemitism is already exploding worldwide.
Who is safer because of this scorched earth policy?
If Hamas continues to fire rockets, it will accelerate worldwide condemnation (which has increasingly been focused on Israel's scorched earth policies).
In light of the effective PR campaign waged by Hamas and Arab neighbors, such a pause would only benefit Israel.
I trust Doctors Without Borders to administer medical aid. I trust other humanitarian organizations as well. These groups aren't dropping off trucks of supplies, they're asking for a pause to directly administer food, water, medical support.
Thank you, Daniel, for sharing this. They present a brutally honest perspective. Maybe we will finally rid ourselves of any false illusions of what will bring peace. Perhaps the eulogy that Moshe Dayan gave over 60 years ago is our reality. We desperately need new and fresh leadership.
Great newsletter! In light of the article about the silence of Israeli Arabs after the Hamas massacre, I'll share a personal experience. I live in the Old City of Jerusalem. For 35 years I have been friends with Sami, an Christian Arab tailor who lives around the corner from me. He has sewn suits for my husband and Purim costumes for my son. Whenever I take a garment to him to fix, we have warm conversations. Sami is in his eighties now. When his wife died two months ago, several of us from the Jewish Quarter stood outside the church while the memorial service was going on, and offered him words of consolation when he exited. Two days after the massacre, I passed Sami's shop. He was standing at the entrance, as he often does, and I greeted him. I waited for him to say some words of consolation to me. He spoke as if nothing had happened. No reference to our calamity at all. I asked him what he's doing, and replied that he is praying. I asked, "What are you praying for?" I hoped he would answer something, anything, to show that he cared that 1200 innocent Jews had been butchered. He answered, "I'm praying the Lord's Prayer." This Christian prayer has NOTHING to do with what had just happened. This is a Christian (not Muslim) Arab who has many Jewish friends, and he couldn't care less about our tragedy. I walked home flabbergasted.
lefties waking up. nothing new here, arabs always hated us, support 'resistance' aka barbarity. They Must Go, or be caged, or killed. They don't want peace, they want Jews out. Dead is fine too.
What does Eldar mean when he says (about Israel ruling post-Hamas Gaza) “We will eat the poison fruits that we have grown?” How did Israel grow poison fruits? There hasn’t been an Israeli in Gaza, dead or alive, since 2005?
I don't think it's a big mystery. Gaza is the way it is because of Israeli policies. In some ways being too harsh, in some ways too soft, in some ways just stupid. סוף דבר בכל נשמע Israel, if its people had had the courage, could and should have put an end to the open air insane asylum that was Hamasstan in Gaza at any moment for 15 years, and it didn't.
I am always saddened and disappointed when those who murder their parents beg to receive mercy from the court. At some point during the past year, you posted a piece by Mohammed Darawshe in which he expressed a concern that the Arab population could be seen as a "herd that could be hunted at any time". I would like to observe that even though the "herd" (or its relatives) have not ben hunted (so far) they have shown little evidence that they should not be considered as such.
I have a great deal of sympathy for the Arab population of Israel, but I agree with your sentiment that it would not be much of a burden for them to stand up at this time. and express their brotherhood.
This was an incredibly disappointing newsletter.
The idea that Israel would follow a scorched earth retaliation with a never-ending occupation is madness. It's literally seeding the births of new terrorist groups.
I'm also not clear how the failure by Israeli Arabs to condemn the Hamas massacre gives moral license for Israel to act in any manner it deems fit, without regard to the impact on innocent civilians...or the cycle of deaths that will surely ensue for decades on both sides.
Finally, the impact of Israel's retaliatory actions has led to a devastating wave of antisemitism that is likely to accelerate if there isn't even a pause to enable substantial humanitarian relief (much less the release of hostages, which Netanyahu seems unwilling to prioritize).
Support for Israel in this case means trying to avert a crisis that will diminish Israel and adversely impact Jews throughout the world.
So what would you suggest should be the appropriate response? Obviously you don’t live in Israel or in imminent harms way.
There's a difference between protecting Israel and refusing to allow a pause for substantial humanitarian assistance for Gazan civilians.
The latter will not jeopardize the firmer, and will lead to a cooling of the worldwide antisemitic wave that continues to build.
There's a choice between short-term scorched earth policies with a long-term occupation that will inevitably weaken Israel and strengthen antisemitism, and a more strategic approach that builds support, and shows some mercy to innocent civilians.
The latter approach does not endanger Israeli lives. It will do just the opposite.
Your assume the wave of antisemitism is caused by Israeli retaliatory actions in Gaza after the Oct 7 massacre. I disagree. Before Israel even pulled their forces together for a response, a wave of anti-Israeli and antisemitic demonstrations rolled over the entire world. The pro-Palestinian protesters claimed it was all Israel’s fault and they were responsible for their own deaths and brutal treatment. The uproar against Jews began before Israel started bombing Gaza. It was not about “ innocent civilians”. Not innocent civilians that are Jewish anyway. Hamas started the war, in which they use their own people as human shields. Innocent civilians die in a war. Did anyone protest in the streets for harming innocent Germans during WWII? It was before my time so please let me know. .
I don't assume anything...I watched what happened with my own eyes 3 weeks ago. There was immediate and worldwide support for Israel in the wake of the massacre.
There is no unanimity in global events, but this was as close as it gets.
There are civilians casualties in every war, but this massive death of civilians can't be simply excused as "collateral damage".
There was an opportunity to gather intelligence for a strategic response, but Netanyahu needed the fog of war.
The FBI just issued a warning that American Jews are being targeted by terrorists. This has never happened in FBI history.
Every day I read of another synagogue being burned.
A scorched earth response will come back to haunt Israel. I want Israel to be safe in the long-term. No one is safe now...not the hostages, not Israelis, not Jews throughout the world, not Gazan residents (children and babies in refugee camps are not hiding Hamas terrorists).
What do you think the appropriate response to Oct 7 horrors should be? Would telling terrorists: “please don’t do it again, shame on you” be adequate? After the WWII, people accused Jews of boarding trains to concentration camps like sheep without putting up a fight. But it turns out fighting back is verboten too.
Where is that clear line between Hamas and “innocent civilians? When Hamas militants breached fences between Gaza and Israel, civilians happily followed militants and killed, raped, and mutilated Jewish civilians as much as Hamas militants if not more. I doubt we will ever be able to differentiate between what militants did and what regular civilian Gaza residents did. Hamas sends rockets from hospitals, nurseries and refugee camps using them as human shields. During pro-Palestinian protests they yell “we are all Hamas”. How do you think Israel should respond to survive as a state that can guarantee safety to their citizen? I don’t know if there is a good answer. Israel may have a lot more resources than Hamas, but Hamas obviously is winning the PR war. It is winning it because they do not value lives of their own people, but the stigma is attached to the Jewish state and Jews everywhere.
This will be my final comment because we don't agree about the long-term danger to Israel of this brutal scorched earth policy.
It will create decades of hatred amongst Palestinians and generate 10 times the number of terrorists for decades to come. The Hamas massacre was dessigned to provoke this type of response. Playing into their hands was yet another blunder by Netanyahu.
No one suggested that Israel should not defend itself vigorously, but the wholesale slaughter of babies, children, elderly...these are not Hamas terrorists. Their deaths protect no one.
If a strategic coordinated plan had been followed while intelligence was gathered, Hamas leaders (not just some of their foot soldiers) could have been killed. With their leaders dead, the potential for hostage releases would increase. The tunnel entrances could have been strategically bombed.
Even now, Israel has the ability to take a step back for a humanitarian aid pause, but Netanyahu refuses.
Almost 10,000 people have been killed, and Israel is moving closer to a regional war. Thousands of Israeli soldiers will die in a protracted war. Antisemitism is already exploding worldwide.
Who is safer because of this scorched earth policy?
That's all I have to say on the topic.
And what do you think that Hamas will do with that “pause”?
If Hamas continues to fire rockets, it will accelerate worldwide condemnation (which has increasingly been focused on Israel's scorched earth policies).
In light of the effective PR campaign waged by Hamas and Arab neighbors, such a pause would only benefit Israel.
I’m sure they will distribute that ‘humanitarian aide ‘ as they have done in the past and as the good ‘humanitarians ‘ that they are.
I trust Doctors Without Borders to administer medical aid. I trust other humanitarian organizations as well. These groups aren't dropping off trucks of supplies, they're asking for a pause to directly administer food, water, medical support.
Thank you, Daniel, for sharing this. They present a brutally honest perspective. Maybe we will finally rid ourselves of any false illusions of what will bring peace. Perhaps the eulogy that Moshe Dayan gave over 60 years ago is our reality. We desperately need new and fresh leadership.
Great newsletter! In light of the article about the silence of Israeli Arabs after the Hamas massacre, I'll share a personal experience. I live in the Old City of Jerusalem. For 35 years I have been friends with Sami, an Christian Arab tailor who lives around the corner from me. He has sewn suits for my husband and Purim costumes for my son. Whenever I take a garment to him to fix, we have warm conversations. Sami is in his eighties now. When his wife died two months ago, several of us from the Jewish Quarter stood outside the church while the memorial service was going on, and offered him words of consolation when he exited. Two days after the massacre, I passed Sami's shop. He was standing at the entrance, as he often does, and I greeted him. I waited for him to say some words of consolation to me. He spoke as if nothing had happened. No reference to our calamity at all. I asked him what he's doing, and replied that he is praying. I asked, "What are you praying for?" I hoped he would answer something, anything, to show that he cared that 1200 innocent Jews had been butchered. He answered, "I'm praying the Lord's Prayer." This Christian prayer has NOTHING to do with what had just happened. This is a Christian (not Muslim) Arab who has many Jewish friends, and he couldn't care less about our tragedy. I walked home flabbergasted.
The Ambassador gave us a GREAT interview at JEWDICIOUS. Thank you, Michael!! https://tinyurl.com/3s9yvy7j
lefties waking up. nothing new here, arabs always hated us, support 'resistance' aka barbarity. They Must Go, or be caged, or killed. They don't want peace, they want Jews out. Dead is fine too.