DAY 332 OF WAR: Netanyahu Claims Philadelphi Corridor is “Essential to Israel’s Security”, Two Heartrending Funerals, Worker’s Strike Has Limited Impact, Britain Blocks Arms

Tel Aviv Diary, September 2, 2024

Today was a complicated day in Israel. It was a day marked by funerals of young, brutally murdered hostages, continuing yesterday’s tragedies, and a partial economic strike. Initiated by the Histadrut (the National Labor Union), the strike aimed to support for the families of hostages. The government challenged the strike and escalated the issue to court—an action that surprised observers who doubted the government would have the audacity to contest such a strike. Nevertheless, this government took the issue to court. When the case was presented, the court declared the strike illegal, classifying it as political rather than economic. As a result, the strike was called off at 2:30 PM.

Was today’s general strike effective? I doubt it, especially if the aim was to change Netanyahu's mind. Such a change seems improbable. Our collective frustration stems from our seeming hopelessness in trying to impact the government's actions. We are dealing with an extremely unpopular Prime Minister, and it appears there are no effective means to influence his decisions. Decisions which may very will result in the death in captivity of the remaining captives.

Last night witnessed one of the largest demonstrations in Israel’s history, but I fear it will still have little impact.

Our political system is resistant to public opinion, largely due to the complexities of our political lists and their selection processes. People often question why there aren't at least a few honorable individuals with integrity within the Likud party. The answer is simple: to succeed in the Likud primaries, one must adopt extreme positions and demonstrate loyalty to Netanyahu; otherwise, they stand a significant risk of not being reelected to the Likud list.

TWO MORE HEARTRENDING FUNERALS

Today, funerals were held for two of the six hostages recently and brutally executed by Hamas. The ceremony for Hersh Goldberg-Polin was particularly well-attended, with tens of thousands of people lining the funeral procession route. The service was heartbreaking, including eulogies delivered by both of Hersh’s parents, who each spoke with remarkable composure. President Herzog also spoke, asking for forgiveness.

These parents have worked tirelessly and exerted absolutely every effort within their power in the hopes of bringing their only son back home alive. The first ten minutes of tonight's 8 o'clock main news broadcast were devoted to Hersh’s funeral. By the end of the segment, the anchor was moved to tears, and so was I.

NETANYAHU VS. THE HOSTAGE DEAL

Ronen Bergman published a lengthy article in Ynet this morning, outlining a timeline that clearly supports the view that Netanyahu has taken steps to derail any ceasefire/hostage release agreement. Bergman asserts that when Netanyahu proposed his plan to the Americans on May 27th, he neither anticipated President Biden's immediate endorsement nor expected Sinwar to accept it.

On July 4th, the day before Hamas agreed to the deal, Finance Minister Smotrich, having received information that Hamas was likely to accept the agreement, publicly stated that Hamas’s readiness to agree indicated they were under pressure and, thus, Israel should impose more demands. When Israel received Hamas’s affirmative response, Israel reportedly delayed for two weeks until Netanyahu's trip to Washington before making new demands not originally in the proposal. These demands included maintaining control over the Philadelphi corridor and inspecting all individuals traveling to Northern Gaza. Negotiators at the time warned that these additions would delay any agreement, which indeed they did.

Yesterday, National Security Minister Ben-Gvir expressed pride in his influence over the government, particularly in preventing negotiations on what he termed a “reckless” agreement. In many ways, Ben-Gvir’s declaration says it all. Most observers believe that Netanyahu's actions can largely be explained by his fear of Ben-Gvir.

During last Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu gave a ten-minute speech emphasizing the vital strategic importance of the Philadelphi corridor. Netanyahu went on to say we will not leave it—not for 42 days, nor at any time in the future.

NETANYAHU GIVES A PRESS CONFERENCE

During his press conference tonight, Netanyahu claimed that Israelis must all stand united against the threat from Iran, maintaining that we are fighting for our survival. For the first time, Netanyahu also publicly sought forgiveness for the failure to bring the hostages back alive, acknowledging that although the government’s efforts were close, they ultimately failed.

Netanyahu then gave a fifteen-minute presentation, complete with maps, on the vital strategic importance of the Philadelphi corridor. His presentation was riddled with historical inaccuracies— and it remains unclear why, if the Philadelphi corridor is so crucial, we did we wait seven months to secure it? By the end of his talk, Netanyahu had transformed the Philadelphi corridor into Israel’s “Maginot line”, purportedly holding back the Iranians. Of course, the Prime Minister totally ignored our extremely long, unguarded border with Jordan.

Most observers felt that Netanyahu's soliloquy on the border zone effectively eliminated any chance of reaching an agreement with Hamas. During the question and answer session, Netanyahu was unable to address what the situation in Gaza would be after the war, even jesting [as if this is a humorous matter] that perhaps the Messiah would arrive to resolve the issue.

GADI EIZENKOT

In response to Netanyahu’s remarks tonight, former IDF Chief of Staff and member of the war cabinet, MK Gadi Eizenkot, wrote the following:

I watched the Prime Minister's historical security briefing. As a history enthusiast, I found stories that were exactly the opposite of the facts.

Prime Minister Netanyahu,

In your statement, you forgot to address the state's commitment to its citizens. You completely forgot the goals of the war and the fact that you adamantly refused to update the war objectives regarding the North. You also forgot that on October 7, you were the Prime Minister under whose leadership the greatest disaster and failure since the establishment of the state occurred.

A leader who remembers would stand before the hurting Israeli public on a night like this and explain why leaders pay heavy prices to save the lives of Israelis held in captivity under a real existential threat and to release the bodies of those brutally kidnapped to Gaza.

It is clear that you also forgot the principles of your own plan, the Netanyahu plan, which you brought for approval to the war cabinet, in which you agreed, more than three months ago, to withdraw IDF forces from the entire Gaza Strip to achieve the war's objective concerning our captives. I find it hard to believe that you would agree to a plan that includes giving up a corridor that “determines our entire future.” My unfortunate conclusion is identical to the one that led us to resign from the emergency government under your leadership— You know the truth, and you are running away from it.

Israel is the strongest state in the Middle East. The Philadelphi Corridor is an important artery in the fight against terrorism, and it requires an operational response, but there was and will never be an existential threat to its security. Existential issues are the state's commitment to its citizens, the citizens’ trust in the state, and internal cohesion to face the many challenges ahead of us.

BIDEN SPEAKS OUT

Today, upon arriving at the White House, President Biden was questioned by a press gaggle about whether he believed Prime Minister Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a hostage deal. President Biden responded—“No.”