From Jan 30, 2024
The October 7th Hamas terrorist attack on civilians was a manipulation. Killing, raping and torturing civilians while young Gazan boys streamed their actions on cell phones, was an attack designed to create outrage. Hamas wanted to lure the IDF into Gaza where civilian casualties were bound to result. To this end they returned home with hostages and hid among their civilians. They didn’t attempt to defend Gaza from the IDF before they entered the region; they hid behind their own civilians.
The hope of billionaire (NY Post) Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh< and Khaled Mershaal< was other Arab nations would attack Israel once the invasion of Gaza began. Then the Jews could wiped out and Hamas would rule the entire country. These leaders would be even wealthier. This didn’t happen and they, or their masters, are now forced to rethink their strategy.
Keeping hostages will keep this conflict going. Another ploy is handing off some hostages to other groups like Islamic Jihad. This will keep these groups guiltily loyal and prevent them from turning on their Hamas overlords. It is possible one of these other groups could be elevated to power with the assistance of Israel; Hamas doesn’t like that.
As events are unfolding some other religious extremists of the Jewish kind are actively sabotaging Israels efforts. Junior Knesset member Amihai Eliyahu of the religious right Otzma Yehudit party displayed an openness to using the nuclear option on Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu was stopped from dismissing him by Itamar Ben Gvir<. Bibi banned Eliyahu from meetings for the near future (The Guardian).
Ben Gvir is the Minister of Security, the organization that dropped the ball when Egypt warned of an impending Hamas attack 3 days prior to the event. Ben Gvir’s leverage comes from the coalition between Likud and Otzma Yehudit that put Netanyahu in the Prime Minister post. The press, it seems, would like to blame Netanyahu for this intelligence “failure.” It is possible Ben Gvir could become the new Prime Minister if Netanyahu is ousted. Then Bezalel Smotrich, currently minister of finance, could take Gvir’s job.
The Israelis cannot risk a larger repeat of October 7th in the future. Another way, your gods believe, for Netanyahu to lose elections would be not to finish Hamas. Then their favorite Otzma boiz could take over.
Today “Israel’s hard-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged Jewish settlers to return to Gaza at a packed gathering on Sunday, drawing condemnation from Palestinians who said his words amounted to a call for their forced deportation” Reuters
They have the same boss
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