RSS
What Will Israel Get After a ‘Ceasefire’ With Hamas?
US-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen and Russian-Israeli Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, are escorted by Palestinian Hamas terrorists and Islamic Jihad terrorists as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Who is blocking a “ceasefire” in Gaza — Israel or Hamas? If you read the international media, you would assume that it’s Israel, or at least Netanyahu, that is not interested in a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
But are things really as they appear on the surface? Israeli negotiators, including Netanyahu, put forward clear conditions for an end to the fighting: demilitarization of Hamas and its departure from Gaza. Hamas refused both. They even refused a Qatari proposal accepted by Israel.
Hamas demands the complete withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza, the return of UN aid (I wonder whether that would include UNRWA), reconstruction of Gaza followed by what is their understanding of a permanent ceasefire, and a release of all hostages, living and deceased.
Why do I preface permanent ceasefire by “their understanding”? Because for many radical Islamist groups like Hamas, their idea of a permanent ceasefire or end of war differs from its true meaning as understood in the West. The common term in Arabic is hudna, which means limited ceasefire, usually for 5 to 10 years. In the case of Gaza, such a ceasefire would not lead to peace, but just give Hamas a reprieve in war so the terrorists can reorganize, recruit new fighters, obtain new weapons, and rebuild the tunnels — all of it most likely supported and financed by Qatar, the “honest broker,” as well as countries like Iran.
Obviously, Israel should do its best to get the hostages, most importantly the living ones, out of the horrendous tunnels — but should it agree to this “permanent ceasefire”?
There are several possible outcomes, and each of them may end up in renewed fighting. One outcome: not all hostages would be released because Hamas would lose any leverage it has. Holding hostages is the only reason why the remnants of Hamas are still around.
Outcome number 2: the hostages are released, a ceasefire signed, and more Israelis are kidnapped by Hamas in the future — obviously this means new fighting will erupt.
Outcome number 3: hostages are released, the signed ceasefire lasts, but Israel is documenting that Hamas is breaking the ceasefire, such as rearming, building tunnels, expanding its ranks, and organizing terrorist activity in Israel. Does this represent a breach of ceasefire? Of course it does, but how much support would Israel be able to gather from its allies? And what would the support consist of?
Diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy — we’ve heard that before, many times. Most recently with Iran, diplomacy was considered superior to bombing Iranian nuclear sites. But Iran made clear that development of their nuclear program, including continuation of higher levels of uranium enrichment, was their sacred right and as such non-negotiable. Yet this did not discourage British and French diplomats from negotiating the non-negotiable.
And even now, after the 12-day war and ceasefire agreement, all the Iranian government is interested in are two things: their nuclear program and persecution of real and perceived opponents and dissidents. Iranian expulsion of UN nuclear program inspectors, posting a video of a manufactured nuclear attack on Israel, imprisoning and executing dissidents and whoever the Iranian police can catch, does not bode well for the ceasefire and for President Trump’s somewhat naïve expectations of a more lasting ceasefire and even an agreement about the abolishment of Iranian’s nuclear program.
Unfortunately, those are just some of the perils of Middle Eastern diplomacy. That double-speak is a big component of what happens there — permanent ceasefire for American and European audiences, hudna for Arabic speakers.
What is missing in this back and forth game is that Israelis were taken for ransom — to get Palestinian terrorists and criminals out from Israeli prisons — and to force concessions from Israel. Hostage taking is a war crime, and is being used by Hamas as blackmail, but this somehow escapes many people in the West.
People should keep this in mind when discussing a “ceasefire” with Hamas.
Jaroslava Halper, a daughter of Holocaust survivors, grew up in communist Prague, experienced the Six-Day and Yom Kippur wars from a distance, but lived through Prague Spring and Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. She escaped to Canada in 1976, where she finished her MD at the University of Toronto. She trained in pathology at the Mayo Clinic, where she also obtained a PhD. She is a professor of Pathology at the University of Georgia in Athens GA. She considers it of utmost importance to defend Israel and Judaism (at least in writing), and fight antisemitism.
The post What Will Israel Get After a ‘Ceasefire’ With Hamas? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iran Says Eight Arrested for Suspected Links to Israel’s Mossad Spy Agency
The Mossad recruitment ad. Photo: Screenshot.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday they had arrested eight people suspected of trying to transmit the coordinates of sensitive sites and details about senior military figures to Israel’s Mossad, Iranian state media reported.
They are accused of having provided the information to the Mossad spy agency during Israel’s air war on Iran in June, when it attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and killed top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
A Guards statement alleged that the suspects had received specialized training from Mossad via online platforms. It said they were apprehended in northeastern Iran before carrying out their plans, and that materials for making launchers, bombs, explosives and booby traps had been seized.
State media reported earlier this month that Iranian police had arrested as many as 21,000 “suspects” during the 12-day war with Israel, though they did not say what these people had been suspected of doing.
Security forces conducted a campaign of widespread arrests and also stepped up their street presence during the brief war that ended in a US-brokered ceasefire.
Iran has executed at least eight people in recent months, including nuclear scientist Rouzbeh Vadi, hanged on August 9 for passing information to Israel about another scientist killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Human rights groups say Iran uses espionage charges and fast-tracked executions as tools for broader political repression.
RSS
Body of Idan Shtivi, Murdered on Oct. 7, Retrieved from Gaza in Special IDF Operation
Idan Shtivi. Photo: Courtesy of the family
i24 News – The body of Idan Shtivi, a 28-year-old murdered by Palestinian jihadists at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, was recovered in a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet in central Gaza, it was cleared for publication on Saturday.
Shtivi’s remains were returned to Israel alongside the body of Ilan Weiss, another hostage killed during the October 7 massacre.
“Idan Shtivi was abducted from the Tel Gama area and brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists after acting to rescue and evacuate others from the Nova music festival on October 7th, 2023. He was 28 years old at the time of his death,” read an IDF press release.
“Following an identification process conducted at the National Center for Forensic Medicine, along with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, the Hostages and Missing Persons Headquarters notified his family.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Shviti “was a gifted student of sustainability and governance, and a courageous individual” who acted heroically on October 7, helping others flee.
“He was killed in the process and his body was abducted to Gaza by Hamas. My wife and I send our heartfelt condolences to the Shtivi family. So far, 207 hostages have been returned, 148 of them alive. We will continue to act tirelessly and decisively to bring back all our hostages—living and deceased.”
RSS
Woman Stabbed at Ottawa Grocery Store in Latest Antisemitic Attack
A social media post by the alleged attacker, Joseph Rooke of Cornwall, Ontario. Photo: Screenshot via i24
i24 News – The stabbing of a Jewish woman at an Ottawa grocery by a man with a long history of antisemitic posts on social media, the latest antisemitic hate crime in Canada, sparked outrage and prompted condemnation from officials including the prime minister.
Both the victim and the attacker are in their 70s. The woman is reportedly in serious condition.
The suspect was identified as Joseph Rooke, who has authored a series of lengthy rambling screeds on social media, ranting against Israel and Jews.
“Judaism is the world’s oldest cult,” he writes in one post, going on to say “over time jews have become insidious in governments, businesses, media conglomerates, and educational institutions in order to do what they do better than anyone else. Jews are the world’s masters of propaganda, gaslighting, demonization, demagoguery, and outright lying. Using their collective wealth they have become masters of reprisal.”
“I am under no obligation whatsoever, legal, moral, or otherwise, to like jews and I do not. If that means I meet the jewish definition of an anti-semite, so be it.”
Canada has seen a steep spike in antisemitic attacks over the past two years, including a recent incident in Montreal where a Hasidic Jew was beaten in front on his children.
After Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned the incident, many, including former Israel’s ambassador the US Michael Oren, pointed out that Carney’s rhetoric and policies contribute to the increasing insecurity of Canada’s Jewish community through uncritical embrace of outrageous and easily disprovable allegations that Israel and its supporters were guilty of the worst crimes against humanity.