Hamas attacks Israel
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From the NYT:
Netanyahu May Face a Choice Between a Truce and His Government’s Survival
The Israeli prime minister has been put on the spot by President Biden’s announcement outlining a proposal for a truce.
For months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has refused to offer a timeline for ending the war against Hamas in Gaza, a stance his critics see as a political tactic. But he has been put on the spot by President Biden’s announcement outlining a proposal for a truce.
Mr. Netanyahu, a conservative, has long juggled competing personal, political and national interests. He now appears to be facing a stark choice between the survival of his hard-line, hawkish government and bringing home hostages held in Gaza while setting himself and Israel on a new course away from growing international isolation.
Critics of the prime minister have portrayed him as indecisive and say there are two Netanyahus. One, they say, functions pragmatically in the small war cabinet he formed with some centrist rivals, to give it public legitimacy. The other is effectively being held hostage by the far-right members of his governing coalition, who oppose any concession to Hamas and who ensure his political survival.
On Friday, Mr. Biden outlined broad terms that he said were presented by Israel to the American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators who have been pushing for a deal to pause the fighting and free hostages in Gaza. Israeli officials confirmed that the terms matched a cease-fire proposal that had been approved by Israel’s war cabinet but not yet presented to the Israeli public.
Now, analysts say, it is crunchtime for Bibi, as the prime minister is popularly known.
Mr. Biden “booted Netanyahu out of the closet of ambiguity and presented Netanyahu’s proposal himself,” Ben Caspit, a biographer and longtime critic of the prime minister, wrote in Sunday’s Maariv, a Hebrew daily. “Then he asked a simple question: Does Bibi support Netanyahu’s proposal? Yes or no. No nonsense and hot air.”
The leaders of two far-right parties in the coalition — Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s minister of finance, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister — have pledged to bring Mr. Netanyahu’s government down if the prime minister goes along with the deal outlined by Mr. Biden before Hamas is fully destroyed. Some hard-line members of Mr. Netanyahu’s own Likud party have said they will join them.
At the same time, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, two former military chiefs who joined the emergency government for the duration of the war, have threatened to withdraw the support of their centrist National Unity party by June 8 if Mr. Netanyahu fails to come up with a clear path forward. And opposition parties have begun organizing to try to topple the government.
The cease-fire proposal involves three phases. Under the plan, groups of hostages would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, a temporary cease-fire would turn into a permanent cessation of hostilities, and an internationally backed effort would be launched to rebuild Gaza.
More than 100 hostages were released under a more limited deal last November. An estimated 125 people are still being held by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, though dozens are believed to be dead.More here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/02/world/middleeast/netanyahu-biden-truce-proposal.html
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people desperate for a good news day, and they got one
(thats my hospital btw....) -
Who wants to tell them that they might still be alive, if only....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/09/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-hostages/
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
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“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
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@George-K said in Hamas attacks Israel:
She started with “the four hostages and then being released”
They weren’t released, sweetheart.
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I really wish I hadn’t listened to that. I was having a really good day up until then.
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WSJ:
Blaming Israel for Rescuing Its People
Hamas hid four hostages in a crowded civilian area and fired on rescuers.
The Editorial BoardJune 9, 2024 at 2:43 pm
It’s rare good news in a grinding war. On Saturday Israeli commandos rescued four hostages from two civilian buildings near the heart of Gaza’s Nuseirat market. It was a high-risk but well-planned and -executed mission that is a morale boost for Israelis.
Noa Argamani, age 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were all abducted during the music-festival massacre. A video showed Ms. Argamani begging for her life. Eight months later she heard a knock on the door: “It’s the IDF, we’ve come to rescue you.” She can now visit her terminally ill mother. Mr. Jan was mobbed on his return by friends chanting, “He is one of us, and we will never give him up,” a refrain of sports teammates now given new meaning. Mr. Jan’s father died hours before his son’s return.
The non-surprise is that professional anti-Israel voices, United Nations officials and the European Union foreign-policy chief rushed to attack Israel. Egypt condemned the operation “in the strongest terms.” How dare Israel rescue its own citizens. Didn’t it know there would be casualties? The BBC asked whether Israel gave a warning that the rescue raid was coming. Seriously? A tip-off to terrorists? Perhaps read them Miranda rights too.
“BREAKING: Gaza’s Health Ministry says 274 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli operation,” reports the Associated Press, only 48 hours after it had exposed how the Hamas ministry’s daily death tolls are “at odds with underlying data.” When will the media stop taking the kidnappers at their word?
Haters of Israel will blame it and excuse Hamas every time, and the media are easily manipulated into playing along. The Hamas figure is likely inflated, and it includes the terrorists killed trying to stop the rescue as well as those who hid the hostages.
Hamas started the war with a massacre, took these hostages and hid them in a crowded civilian area. Then, when Israel came to free them, Hamas responded with heavy fire, including RPGs—yet people are condemning Israel. It makes us wonder if the West has lost the moral discernment and instinct for self-preservation needed to defend itself in a world of killers. Hamas could not survive if not for its enablers around the world.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
