Ceasefire? In exchange for what?

It is as empty a term as the “two-state solution,” which the Palestinians have rejected time and again.

By Phyllis Chesler

The White House issued a joint statement on Aug. 16 from the United States, Egypt and Qatar about a hostage and ceasefire deal. Missing from those in agreement are Israel, Iran and its proxy armies, Hamas and Hezbollah. Are these folks completely crazy? Egypt is the very country that refused to offer the slightest shelter to Gazan civilians who wished to escape—the same country that greedily profited for years from the weaponized, underground tunnels built by Iran/Hamas. Qatar? Iran’s paymaster and Taliban supporter does not bring clean hands to this statement. Who are they to have any say in this matter? America? Don’t even get me started.

A “ceasefire?” In exchange for what? What if there are only two Israeli hostages left alive; is that sufficient to justify a “ceasefire?” Israel cannot afford to free another 1,000 Palestinian Islamist terrorists in order to ransom another Gilad Shalit. Last time, senior Hamas leader and Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar was one of those Israel released. See where that got us. Also, the phrase “ceasefire” is a delusion; it is no guarantee that Iran/Hamas/Hezbollah will not commit massacres again and again, as they’ve sworn to do. “Ceasefire” is as empty a term as the “two-state solution,” which the Palestinians have rejected time and again.

Recently, journalist David Remnick spent 13 pages in The New Yorker on a too-positive portrait of the sadistic psychopath, Sinwar, whom even Remnick admits is hero-worshipped by the Gazans; even Remnick concedes that Hamas soldiers fight dressed as civilians and that the civilians support Hamas. Remnick portrays only the Israelis in a negative light, quoting only a handful of left-wing Israelis whose specialty is criticizing their own country. There are no civilians in Gaza. With some very endangered and silent exceptions, they are all Hamasniks, all Jew-haters in their very bones.

OK, I get it. Israel screwed up beyond belief in not trusting the military intelligence they had before Oct. 7, maybe also by choosing a policy of “mowing the lawn” instead of launching a pre-emptive attack against Hamas and Iran long before now. But here we are. The entire world has propagated the filthiest lies against Israel and is now condemning the small nation for daring to fight back. Enough! If I were the Emperor of Ice Cream, I would launch a pre-emptive attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities; institute a death penalty in Israel; and execute in battle every single fighter affiliated with Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi, etc., fighter.

These suggestions are not out of bloodthirsty revenge. They are to demonstrate to our enemies that Israel is here to stay. It’s not going anywhere. Israel is strong enough and savvy enough to play by the rules of the Arab street—and not only by the “higher” ethical standards of defenseless, Diaspora Jews. Israel must be victorious in order for the 2020 Abraham Accords between Israel and the Sunni Arab states to succeed. And succeed they must.

First published in the Jewish News Syndicate

(August 16, 2024 / JNS)