DAY 230 OF THE WAR: How Do We End This War: The American Plan? Fighting in Gaza, Fallout From Yesterday's Video of the Abduction

Tel Aviv Diary, May 23, 2024

Those of you who have been reading the Tel Aviv Diary from the very beginning of the war know that I have consistently emphasized the importance of having a strategic plan for “the day after” in Gaza, even before the ground operation began. This need has become painfully apparent as the Army repeatedly returns to the same locations, and the war continues to drag on with no clear end in sight. Both the government and the Army have forgotten one of Israel's most apparent lessons from history: our wars must be short.

The necessity for short wars stems from two factors. First, as a small country that relies heavily on reservists for most of its military force, a prolonged war strains the economy. More importantly, we have learned from history that from the moment we begin to gain the upper hand in a war, international pressure for a ceasefire escalates dramatically. Astonishingly, we are surprised by the world's reaction.

Had this war lasted only two or three months, we would not be facing two cases in The Hague (ICC & ICJ), growing diplomatic isolation, and the surge of protests on college campuses over the past six weeks. This is not to suggest that everyone would love us or that protests would be non-existent. However, the protracted length of this war has guaranteed that this phenomenon would develop.

Furthermore, the political and economic repercussions of a long war do not even touch on how the extended duration of this war impacted the intolerable ordeal endured by our hostages, 230 days and counting …

We lived in a fantasy world, believing that the brutality of the attacks against us afforded us all the time in the world to retaliate. We also believed that our attackers’ unbridled barbarism justified a relaxation in our rules of engagement and acceptance of collateral damage. It’s irrelevant to the world that the damage and deaths of innocents in Gaza have been lower than those in wars waged by the United States; such “whataboutism” holds no merit. We, Israel, are not the United States and never will be.

As Israel observed Herzl Day yesterday, it's worth reflecting on Herzl’s vision. According to Herzl, this country was meant to solve the Jewish problem in Europe, a goal whose significance cannot be understated. However, Herzl made the mistake of thinking we could become a nation like any other. Whether due to politics or ingrained antisemitism, Israel stands as a free, independent state but also a distinctly Jewish state, with all the complexities that it entails. We are not subject to the same rules as other nations. We can voice our frustrations loudly, but it's a reality we must accept and learn to live with.

We were once a poor country, perhaps more self-sufficient, when our economy wasn’t based on international trade. We produced most of our food, exported some surplus, and imported only what we needed. Today, we are a rich country whose wealth stems from global trade. Our products reach international markets, and we serve as the R&D hub for numerous global corporations. This model only works if we maintain our place in the global community. To do so, we cannot be a state that survives solely on military might or one that significantly alienates other nations. While they may never love us, we nevertheless need to navigate the global landscape and play with the cards we've been dealt.

Now, let’s look at “the day after.” If asked … I would accept the American plan, not because it's perfect but because it’s the only plan currently available. The American plan, in theory, will not only end the war but also provide for rebuilding Gaza and allow Israel to enter into a NATO-like alliance with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States as a counterweight to Iran.

However, we must acknowledge that this plan has significant flaws. Firstly, it presumes that ending the war and the release of all hostages will occur. It's unclear why the Americans believe Hamas will release all the hostages to facilitate an alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia. It's evident that one reason Hamas launched this war was to disrupt what seemed to be an imminent agreement.

The American plan also envisions a multinational force, in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority, assuming control over Gaza, predicated on Hamas being sufficiently weakened to allow this transition. The primary concern for Israel, apart from ending the war, is to avoid committing to a process that could eventually lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Affirmation of the American proposal doesn't imply immediate agreement to the creation of a Palestinian state tomorrow or next year but rather, acceptance of that state sometime in the future. I recently quoted Yair Lapid, asking why Netanyahu, who is known to lie often, can't lie again in this case. On some level, we must recognize that—at this moment in time—the overwhelming percentage of Israelis believe that a Palestinian state would endanger our existence.

During the Oslo peace process, a majority of Israelis came to believe that a Palestinian state was desirable. However, the strings of bombings that followed the signing of the Oslo Accords and the failure of the Camp David talks with Ehud Barak convinced most Israelis that no matter what we did, our gestures toward peace would not be accepted. The unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 further reinforced Israeli disillusionment. Despite withdrawing all our troops and dismantling every settlement, rather than seeing development reminiscent of the "Singapore of the Middle East," we were instead faced with continuous rocket barrages at our border.

Despite all these problems and risks, the American plan still appears to be the best opportunity we have to escape the current quagmire.

TERRORIST TESTIMONY

Today, for the first time, Israelis heard a portion of the interrogation from a captured Hamas terrorist—a 17-year-old who described how he and his relatives raped and brutally attacked a 30-year-old woman in Nir Oz. The terrorist detailed how he, followed by his cousin, and then his father assaulted the young woman and killed her as they left her house. By the time the Army reached Nir Oz, all the terrorists had already fled back to Gaza.

NORTH

Today was another very violent day on the Northern border. The day began with the IAF targeting and eliminating a high school physics teacher who was also responsible for Hezbollah’s advanced weapons. In response, Hezbollah launched continuous rocket, missile, and drone barrages throughout the day. There were 15 separate attacks, some involving up to 30 rockets. Thankfully, there were no casualties from any of these attacks.

GAZA

Fighting continues in three areas of Gaza. The Army has bolstered its troop presence in Rafah, and operations there continue to increase

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Here is how the Army described its operations in Gaza over the past 24 hours:

Division 162 forces continue to operate precisely based on information about terror targets in the ‘Brazil’ neighborhood and the ‘Shabora' area in Rafah while avoiding possible harm to the civilian population, as much as after the civilians evacuated the area.

The combat team of the 401st Brigade located a rocket launcher ready to launch towards our forces.

Combat teams of the Nahal and Givati Brigades are operating in the area; the forces located and destroyed several shafts in the area, launchers, and eliminated several terrorists in face-to-face encounters.

Air Force aircraft eliminated three terrorists in a mortar team that fired mortars at our forces in the Rafah area.

Division 98 forces continue to operate in the heart of Jabalia. In cooperation with the Air Force, they attacked and eliminated several Hamas terrorists in the attack on several military structures used for storing weapons.

Combat teams of the 7th Brigade and Paratroopers located numerous weapons, including Kalashnikov rifles, explosives, grenades, sniper rifles, magazines, and combat equipment.

Division 99 forces continue to operate in the corridor area in the central Gaza Strip. In the last 24 hours, the Air Force, in cooperation with the division's artillery brigade, carried out several attacks, including the elimination of a cell leader who was in a hideout apartment, the elimination of two terrorists who fired at our forces, and the elimination of a terrorist who infiltrated our territory on October 7th.

The combat team of the 679th Brigade continues to operate in the center of the Gaza Strip, and during the last 24 hours, identified several terrorist cells, including a cell with military equipment that entered a building, directed Air Force aircraft which eliminated the terrorists.

VIDEO OF CAPTURED HOSTAGES

Last night's broadcast of the video depicting the abduction of our women soldiers met the goals of the hostages' families. The heart-wrenching footage highlighted the situation's urgency and the critical need for their swift release, clearly capturing the public attention. It appears that CIA Director Bill Burns will visit next week to help initiate hostage negotiations.

The shocking video also received widespread attention in the Arab world. Reports indicate that there was significant criticism of Hamas across much of the Sunni community, with many comparing the group to ISIS.

PALESTINIAN-AMERICANS SPEAKS OUT REGARDING ABUSE OF WOMEN

Below is another tweet posted by Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian-American:

I saw the disgusting and truly sick video of Hamas's fighters abusing the Israeli female soldiers at the Nahal Oz base. I won't be sharing it here, but I wanted to offer some thoughts:

1. Leading the post that published the video (On the "Israel" Twitter page) with an editorialized mistranslation was truly puzzling (these are girls you can get pregnant). The video is awful enough and terrible on its own; why insert this statement, which was not stated, nor was it indirectly inferred?

2. "Sabaya" does not refer to "young girls" as some have alleged (that word is with a ص and not a س). Sabaya refers to female captives who are effectively enslaved possessions of conquerors on battlefields. The concept of Sabaya is especially troubling because the doctrine behind it allows for the sexual abuse and rape of female captives. So yes, the Hamas fighter saying that in the video was referring to the enslavement of these captives.

3. There's a bizarre, gross, sad, pathetic, and inhumane obsession by some to focus on the mistranslation and textual inaccuracies instead of the real issue with the video: a brutal and vile group of fighters abusing, terrorizing, and mistreating dazed, bloodied young women who should not have been treated that way. If, after seeing the video, your takeaway is to focus on a false translation, you are a participant in the horrendous dehumanization game that plagues both sides of this conflict. You can be both horrified by the awful & horrendous killing taking place in Gaza without engaging in whataboutism to dismiss the true horror and evil seen in this video.

4. There's missing outrage that should be directed at the Israeli commanders who let these young women fall captive and didn't provide any support or reinforcement to the base, which was overrun for hours by Hamas. So be furious at Hamas but also livid at the incompetent and pathetic IDF leadership that allowed a ragtag militia to humiliate supposedly marvelous armed forces for hours and capture female soldiers. That no one has yet to be held accountable for the security failures on Oct 7 is an absolute scandal.

5. Hamas is not ISIS politically, strategically, and otherwise. But their Islamist ideology has numerous components that are just as vile, evil, sick, twisted, violent, and despicable as ISIS. I say this because when people cheer on Hamas's supposed "resistance," they are in an indirect way supporting a derivative of extreme Islamist ideology that has nothing to do with the Palestinian national project or the aspirations for dignity, freedom, and independence. I never thought that the Palestinian cause would be associated with such vile and grotesque acts that I believed would be relics of the last century.

6. Even if these were female soldiers, and they were not involved in combat, to mistreat women like this is not only criminal and disgusting, but it goes against the fundamental values of Arab and Muslim societies, which respect the holy sanctity of women's bodies and spaces. Imagine the outrage if Israeli soldiers did this to Palestinian women. Now, before you go off on me, yes, Palestinian women have experienced violence and mistreatment at the hands of Israel's military, and that's long been documented. But there's something exceptionally horrific about up close and personal/highly targeted and personalized violence in the way we saw in the video that is genuinely unprecedented. Two wrongs don't make a right; if you saw that video and thought it was justified because these are soldiers and are "prisoners of war," you've sadly lost the plot and your humanity. Think of how Naama Levy, who was truly & sincerely interested in peace and coexistence with Palestinians, was telling the fighter that she has friends in Palestine. This is another dimension to the horror of October 7: the attack targeted numerous individuals who were not hateful adversaries of the Palestinian people and killed many peace activists in the Gaza Envelope communities.

7. The most important outcome of the video should be immense and unrelenting pressure to restart the ceasefire and hostage exchange deal to get these young ladies released from Hamas's captivity as soon as possible. While this video can and does make one's blood boil with rage and fury, these feelings and energies must be meaningfully harnessed to push for a positive outcome. The hostages must be released, ideally immediately and unconditionally. But we know that's not the case; they will only be released through a deal. That might be difficult for some to accept, but it's the only way to get those young ladies and all the other hostages released.

Hamas is a despicable, deadly criminal enterprise that has harmed the Palestinian people and cause and is an embarrassment to humanity and the Arab world. It deserves nothing but contempt, condemnation, and critique. Shame on anyone who's not repulsed by that video, regardless of mistranslated/misrepresented text. Ceasefire and hostage deal now!

Netanyahu Was Warned

A political storm erupted today when the IDF, responding to a freedom of information request, revealed that prior to October 7th, it had sent four separate letters to Prime Minister Netanyahu. These letters warned that his coalition’s proposed changes to the justice system were increasing the risk of war — giving our enemies the impression that Israel was weak and that the government was losing support.

Months ago, when Netanyahu had been asked about these warnings, he denied receiving any such alerts. Today, Netanyahu's office immediately issued a statement clarifying that the Army had not specifically warned him of an attack from Hamas. From a legal standpoint, he is correct. The army was concerned about a potential assault by Hezbollah, not Hamas. Nevertheless, both the public warning from Defense Minister Galant and the official letters from the Army, all cautioned that there could be attacks if the judicial overhaul continued. Netanyahu, however, still disregarded these warnings.

DECISIONS AT THE HAGUE

Tomorrow, the ICJ will render its opinion on South Africa's request to sue Israel. I will not speculate on the outcome of the decision; I will discuss the ruling in Saturday night’s update.

ANOTHER WORTHWHILE READ

One of our readers sent me this interview with Khaled Mashaal, the political head of Hamas. This is an interesting piece.

BUSINESS

According to an interview with company executives for the website Breaking Defense, the French company Thales is acquiring Get Sat., the Israeli satellite firm. Get Sat, based in Rehovot, specializes in the development, manufacturing, and supply of satellite terminals. Thales confirmed the acquisition, although the purchase amount was not disclosed.

A senior Thales executive stated, “The acquisition of Get Sat will complement our satellite communications business and enhance our secure satellite communications offerings, further solidifying our leading position in communications integration.” Thales officials attribute the motivation for the acquisition to SpaceX, Elon Musk's space company. A senior Thales official explained, “Market demands are changing dramatically thanks to Elon Musk and SpaceX. The U.S. Department of Defense now wants terminals capable of operating in any orbit, on any network, and across any band, all while on the move.”

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A PIECE OF HISTORY

The Munich Olympics Terror Attack

On September 5, 1972, as people around the world sat glued to their television sets watching the Munich Olympics, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorists burst into the apartment complex housing the Israeli team. The PLO terrorists killed one athlete and took eight others hostage. This harrowing incident was the culmination of a long string of attacks leveled by terrorists against Israeli targets. Just three months earlier, there had been a deadly attack at Lod Airport (now Ben Gurion), where 26 people were killed and 80 were wounded.

The terrorists responsible for the Munich attack were part of a group known as “Black September,” a faction of the PLO. Their objective was to use the hostages to negotiate the release of 234 prisoners held in Israeli jails, along with two German inmates from German prisons. The massacre, occurring in the context of the 20th anniversary of the founding of Israel, was intended to bring international attention to the Palestinian cause.

The initial breach at the Olympic complex occurred in the early morning hours, catching the athletes off guard as they slept. Moshe Weinberg, a wrestling coach, attempted to resist the attackers and was shot and killed. Another weightlifter, Yossef Romano, also tried to overpower the terrorists and was fatally shot. The remaining hostages were forced into two separate rooms within the complex.

The news of the attack spread rapidly, with media coverage capturing the attention of millions worldwide. The Games were suspended as the situation unfolded. German authorities attempted to negotiate with the terrorists, but the negotiations were fraught with difficulties and misunderstandings. The terrorists demanded safe passage to Cairo, which led to a hastily arranged plan to transport them and their hostages to the nearby Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base.

German police organized a rescue operation at the Air Base. However, it was poorly planned and executed. The authorities underestimated the number of terrorists, and the snipers positioned to neutralize them were inadequately prepared. As the terrorists and hostages arrived at the Air Base, a gunfight ensued. Tragically, all nine hostages were killed, along with five of the terrorists and one German police officer. The three surviving terrorists were captured, but were later released by the German government in exchange for hostages, following the hijacking of a Lufthansa airplane.

The names of the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches killed in the attack are:

1. Moshe Weinberg, wrestling coach

2. Yossef Romano, weightlifter

3. Ze'ev Friedman, weightlifter

4. David Berger, weightlifter

5. Yakov Springer, weightlifting judge

6. Eliezer Halfin, wrestler

7. Yossef Gutfreund, wrestling referee

8. Kehat Shorr, shooting coach

9. Mark Slavin, wrestler

10. Andre Spitzer, fencing coach

11. Amitzur Shapira, track coach

The Munich massacre had profound and far-reaching consequences. It exposed significant flaws in international security measures, particularly concerning the protection of athletes at global events. The attack highlighted the global reach of terrorism and the vulnerabilities of open, international gatherings. In response, countries around the world began to reassess and strengthen their security protocols. The tragedy also prompted Israel to initiate “Operation Wrath of God,” a covert campaign to hunt down and eliminate those responsible for the attack, which was successful

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