DAY 225 OF THE WAR: Heavy Fighting in Gaza and in the North, Hostage Bodies Recovered, Gantz Issues Ultimatum

Tel Aviv Diary, May 18, 2024

It's a complicated Saturday night here in Israel. Large demonstrations throughout the country call for new elections, while at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, there was a larger-than-usual gathering in light of some of the news below. In addition, the evening was headlined by political drama as War Cabinet member and former Defense Minister Gantz, followed the speech delivered by current Defense Minister Gallant, each giving Prime Minister Netanyahu an ultimatum. Amidst all this, there have been days of intense combat both in the North and the South. Adding to the complexity, on Friday, Israel’s legal team at The Hague responded to the South African request that the International Court halt Israeli operations in Gaza.

Let’s first look back at the events that took place on Friday:

Friday was another extremely difficult day in Israel, one on a long list. On Friday afternoon, it was announced that the Army Spokesman would hold a “special press conference” moments before Shabbat. Typically, when Brigadier general Daniel Hagari holds a “special press conference,” it usually means bad news. If it were good news, I do not doubt that Prime Minister Netanyahu would have held the press conference.

I read rumors online that Hagari’s announcement was about the hostages. At 6:30 PM, Hagari took to the screens and shared that Israeli troops had retrieved the bodies of three hostages who had been killed on October 7th, and taken to Gaza: Itzhak Gelerenter (56), Amit Buskila (28), and Shani Louk (23).

On Saturday night, Hagari announced that the body of Ron Benyamin (53) was also found. It has been reported that the bodies were found in an unguarded underground storage facility in Northern Gaza. There are now 128 hostages in Gaza, of which 39 have been declared dead. Since the beginning of the ground operation, 13 bodies have been recovered by the IDF.

Later this evening, it was announced that another Paratrooper had been killed in Northern Gaza, Sergeant Ben Avishay (20)

.

The fighting in Gaza has been intense, both in the north, in Jabaliya, and in the south, in Rafah. It has been reported that as many as 800,000 Gazans have departed the city of Rafah. The fighting in Jabaliya has been described as the most intense of the war. Tonight, there are reports that the Army has asked residents of parts of Gaza City to move further south in preparation for military action there. Rockets continue to be fired at the communities close to Gaza, including Ashkelon.

The Army spokesman released the following description of the ground operation in Gaza:

Combat teams from the Givati Brigade, 401st Brigade, and Commando Brigade continue operations in eastern Rafah under the command of the 162nd Division.

In one encounter in the area, the Givati Brigade's combat team identified and eliminated a terrorist armed with an RPG in a building near the forces. Additionally, brigade fighters conducted several targeted raids in the area, discovering explosives, weapons, rockets, and RPG launchers.

During operations by the Egoz Unit, the force located and destroyed a launcher positioned in a military structure in the area.

An Air Force aircraft, in collaboration with the 215th Fire Brigade, eliminated a crucial operative in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who served as the logistics officer for the Rafah Brigade. In his role, he was responsible for preparing the enemy for the IDF maneuver in Rafah.

In Jabaliya, under the command of the 98th Division, combat team fighters from the Paratroopers Brigade eliminated several terrorists near the forces and discovered several Kalashnikov rifles over the past 24 hours.

The combat team from the 7th Brigade destroyed a loaded rocket launcher and engaged in several battles with terrorists who fired at them; the terrorists were eliminated.

The combat team from the 460th Brigade located several tunnels eliminated a terrorist armed with an RPG near the forces and discovered several explosives in the area.

Forces from the 99th Division continue fighting in the central Gaza Strip and eliminated several terrorists in the past 24 hours, including in cooperation with the Air Force.

Fighters from Unit 414 identified several terrorists after they fired RPGs at our forces. The force-directed an aircraft that attacked the building where the terrorists were located, eliminating them.

The Air Force continues to operate over the Gaza Strip and, in the past 24 hours, attacked more than 70 targets. Among the targets attacked were weapon depots, military infrastructure, terrorists posing a threat to our forces, and military structures.

LEBANON

While fighting rages in Gaza, combat on the Lebanese border today has been the worst on a sustained basis of the war. After a very violent day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday continued to be nearly as violent. Over the course of the past two days, over a hundred rockets and missiles were fired from Lebanon. In addition, suicide drones penetrated Israeli airspace and crashed, causing some damage. On both Friday and Saturday, Israel eliminated high-ranking Hezbollah field commanders. Fighting has been concentrated primarily in the border areas but could spiral out of control at any time.

GANTZ ISSUES ULTIMATUM

On the political front, War Cabinet member and former Defense Minister Gantz addressed the Israeli people tonight. In his speech, Gantz demanded that the government develop a strategic plan to achieve the war’s objectives by June 8th, or he and his party would leave the coalition.

Gantz outlined the following demands

:

1. Bring our kidnapped citizens home.

2. Dismantle Hamas rule, demilitarize the Gaza Strip, and ensure Israeli security control.

3. Alongside maintaining Israeli security control, establish an American-European-Arab-Palestinian administration to manage the civilian aspects of the Gaza Strip, laying the groundwork for a future alternative to Hamas and Abbas.

4. Return Israel's northern residents to their homes by September 1st and rehabilitate the western Negev.

5. Promote normalization with Saudi Arabia as part of a comprehensive move to form an alliance with the free world and the Arab world against Iran.

6.  Adopt a service framework that ensures all Israelis serve the state and contribute to the national effort.

In his speech, Gantz stated that he has spoken to Arab and Western leaders and believes an agreement for a joint administration of Gaza can be reached.

Netanyahu’s office immediately  issued the following statement in response:

While our heroic fighters are battling to destroy the Hamas brigades in Rafah, Gantz chooses to issue an ultimatum to the Prime Minister instead of issuing an ultimatum to Hamas.

The conditions set by Benny Gantz are sanitized words whose clear meaning is: ending the war and Israel's defeat, abandoning most of the hostages, leaving Hamas in place, and establishing a Palestinian state. Our soldiers did not fall in vain and certainly not to replace Hamastan with Fatahstan. If Gantz prefers the national interest and is not looking for an excuse to bring down the government, he should answer the following three questions:

1. Is he willing to complete the operation in Rafah to destroy the Hamas brigades, and if so, how can he threaten to dismantle the emergency government amid the operation?

2. Does he oppose the Palestinian Authority's civilian control over Gaza, even without Abbas?

3. Is he willing to accept a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank as part of the normalization process with Saudi Arabia?

The Prime Minister's position on these critical issues is clear: Prime Minister Netanyahu is determined to eliminate the Hamas brigades, and he opposes bringing the Palestinian Authority into Gaza and establishing a Palestinian state that would inevitably be a terrorist state.

Prime Minister Netanyahu believes that the emergency government is crucial for achieving all the war's objectives, including bringing all our hostages home, and expects Gantz to clarify his positions to the public on these issues.

Then, Gantz’s office issued the following reply:

1. If the Prime Minister had listened to Gantz, we would have entered Rafah months ago and completed the mission. We must complete the mission and create the necessary conditions for it.

2. The Palestinian Authority will not be able to control Gaza; other Palestinian factors can - but only if we secure the backing of moderate Arab states and American support. The Prime Minister should focus on this instead of undermining these efforts.

3. As Gantz said in his speech - there is no intention to establish a Palestinian state, and this is not the Saudis' demand. Unlike Netanyahu, Gantz did not return Hebron and did not announce support for the two-state solution at Bar-Ilan.

4. If the Prime Minister values the emergency government, he should hold the necessary discussions, make the required decisions, and not drag his feet out of fear of the extremists in his government.

Between these issues and the related issue of the draft of the Ultra-Orthodox, we are going to see a tumultuous period in Israeli politics during our longest sustained war.

DEMONSTRATIONS TONIGHT

Tonight, as has been the case on every recent Saturday night, demonstrations have been held across Israel calling for a new election. In Tel Aviv, there have typically been three demonstrations and rallies: A rally at Hostage Square to show solidarity with the hostages, a demonstration on Kaplan Street demanding new elections, and a little later, a protest on Begin Street, attended mostly by hostage families and passionate supporters who are more direct in their demands of the government.

Tonight, I chose to attend the rally at Hostage Square. Although this rally takes place weekly, this week’s gathering was promoted as a particularly international display of solidarity—and it was. The event featured speeches from the German, Austrian, British, and American Ambassadors to Israel, as well as a prerecorded message from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Several prominent musical artists gave brief performances. The highlight of the evening was the performance by Eden Golan, Israel’s representative to Eurovision, who sang the uncensored version of Israel’s Eurovision entry “Hurricane”— originally titled “October Rain”—for the first time in public.

The rallying cry remains unchanged on day 225… Bring Home the Hostages Alive NOW.

PALESTINIAN POPULATION CONTINUES TO GROW

It seems we are doing a terrible job at “genocide”… According to Palestinian statistics, the number of Palestinians has grown tenfold since 1948. There are currently 5.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. There are 1.75 million Arab Israelis, 6.56 million in Arab countries, and another 772,000 in the rest of the world.

HOUTHIS

Central Command (CENTCOM) released the following report regarding the Houthis:

At approximately 1 a.m. (Sanaa time) On May 18, Iranian-backed Houthis launched one anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) into the Red Sea and struck M/T Wind, a Panamanian-flagged, Greek-owned and operated oil tanker.

M/T Wind most recently docked in Russia and was bound for China. The impact of the ASBM caused flooding, which resulted in the loss of propulsion and steering. A coalition vessel immediately responded to the distress call by M/T Wind, but no assistance was needed. The M/T Wind crew restored propulsion and steering, and no casualties were reported. M/T Wind resumed its course under its own power.

This continued malign and reckless behavior by the Iranian-backed Houthis threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of mariners across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

AN OP-ED  SUBMITTED BY A READER

“There is a Cancer in Western Society,” by Adam ‘A.J.’ Edelman

There is a cancer in Western society. It isn’t new, but like all cancers, it takes only a small defect to continue replicating itself until a system is brought to its knees.

In 2021, a famed geophysicist named Dorian Abbott was invited to speak at MIT until, very recently, considered an institute of higher education that ranked amongst the best in the world. Unfortunately for Mr. Abbott, he had spoken previously about his opposition to affirmative action. Holding an independent thought, an opinion that went against the dogmatic principles of MITs students, was verboten, and Abbott was uninvited, free speech be damned.

One needs only look at the campus protest responses (or lack thereof) by our superiors in academia to understand that Western society has come to a place unrecognizable for many.  Far worse, it has started to shed the very foundational premises that gave rise to the greatest systems of governance on earth. Systems of freedom and market economies that have done more to uplift the world's standard of living at a faster rate than any other time in human history.

I speak of the inevitable result of replacing objective reality with subjective reality.

From language to “safe spaces,” the way in which we used to view the world is no more. The clear lenses of cause and effect, fact and fiction, and actions and consequences have been replaced with “my truth.” There is no such thing as reality, you see. It is all a social construct. Everyone’s reality is their own reality, and that means there is no basis on which to judge them as objectively right or wrong. I feel it; therefore, it must be so.

The campus protests are the inevitable result of teaching an entire generation that words, actions, and facts have no meaning. “There is a genocide because I feel bad about war” is now an acceptable standard for catering to the delusions of a group of young adults who would consider a lack of access to Uber Eats a disruption in their humanitarian aid. You see, these are the brave young revolutionaries who are fighting to save the world from its evil elders. From climate change to capitalism, their reality is king, facts be damned.  

Injustice needs no figures and no evidence. One needs only to perceive it, and because it is so perceived, it can and should be acted upon without consequence. In a system where subjective reality reigns supreme, there are no consequences to actions, no matter how disruptive they may be. My university prohibits chanting “death to Zionists?” not in my world, where Zionists are akin to Hitler. How can you possibly fault me for holding up traffic, preventing people from reaching their places of employment, or ambulances making it to a hospital to save a life when, in my reality, I am “saving the world” from climate change?

What makes this cancer so insidious, so horribly toxic, is that our younger generations are indoctrinated in such a system, first in an educational system that spoon-feeds false narratives that seek to undermine the very legitimacy of Western ideals, but also in higher education, where the grift of oppressor/oppressed narratives finds a welcome home. 

From ages seven through 21, many young Americans are educated that there is no such thing as a reality apart from their own. That is unless their reality is less virtuous than another’s.  When your reality conflicts with a more virtuous reality of another, their reality has the right of way. And there is nothing less virtuous than Western values and, by proxy, the Jews and Israel. It was not a free speech issue when it came to Mr. Abbott—he made the young adults at MIT feel “attacked” and “unsafe.” Their reality was far more virtuous than his own. Yet when it comes to camping out in front of a Jewish learning center on campus and shouting “death to Zionists,” that is free speech. Because the cause is virtuous and just, that is reality. 

Youth will almost always be predisposed to “buck the system” and challenge the status quo. Historically, objective reality and guidance of systems with responsible adults kept this radical revolutionism within bounds. No longer. Now, the inmates not only run the asylum, the asylums are mainstream. It is a cancer that must be excised not only for society today but for Western Civilizations' future.

(The writer is a member of Israel’s Olympic Bobsledding Team)

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A PIECE OF HISTORY

Peace After the Six-Day War?

With the end of the Six-Day War, the question was what would become of the territories conquered by Israel.  On June 12, 1967 Prime Minister Levi Eshkol addressed the Knesset and said:

Let this be said: There should be no illusion that Israel is prepared to return to the conditions that existed a week ago. We have fought alone for our existence and our security, and we are therefore justified in deciding for ourselves what are the genuine and indispensable interests of our State and how to guarantee its future.

On June 18, 1967, the Israeli cabinet met and secretly voted to return both the Sinai and the Golan Heights in return for demilitarization and passage of Israeli ships through the Suez Canal. In the meantime, on the ground the Israeli military administration strived to be as unobtrusive as possible. The Israeli government allowed free movement of goods and people across the Jordan River to Jordan. As a result, the farmers on West Bank were able to sell their products in Jordan. Slowly, movement within the West Bank and Gaza was opened up, and by 1970, residents of the West Bank and Gaza could travel freely into Israel.

In the meantime, Israel was hopeful that the Arab states would be willing to reach out to negotiate peace. The famous saying from that time was that the Israelis were waiting for a “phone call”. That call never came. Instead, on July 23, 1967, Nasser announced: “We shall never surrender and shall not accept any peace that means surrender. We shall preserve the rights of the Palestinian people.”

The leaders of thirteen Arab states met in Khartoum from August 29 to September 1. At the end of the conference, they issued what became known as “The three ‘No’s of Khartoum”— No peace with Israel, No negotiations with Israel, and No recognition of Israel.

The Israeli Knesset passed legislation annexing the Arab parts of Jerusalem to Israel. On September 24, 1967, Eshkol announced plans to reestablish the four communities in the Etzion bloc that had been overrun during Israel’s War of Independence.