GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 207

So Much Pressure

It’s Getting Violent

As we discussed in our last podcast, the Columbia student protestors had until the afternoon yesterday to disband. Instead they forcibly took over a building as we read from an article in The Times Of Israel:

Protesters at Columbia University, the epicenter of anti-Israel protests that have upended college campuses across the United States, broke into a building on the New York school’s campus on Tuesday, barricaded themselves inside and unfurled an “intifada” banner from a window.

Videos and photos from Hamilton Hall showed at least one individual smashing a window with a hammer.

Doors to the building were shut and blocked from inside with tables, chairs, metal barricades and other objects or sealed with locks, zip ties or ropes by dozens of protesters, the student paper reported.

Workers inside at the time weren’t initially allowed to leave, but got out later:

According to the Columbia Spectator, demonstrators also allegedly held workers there against their will for a short period of time.

The newspaper reported that a maintenance worker exited the building at 12:40 a.m. after yelling to be released, telling the crowd as he left that he had been “held hostage” inside. Three other workers reportedly left some 30 minutes later after the barricades blocking one door were removed.

One student group renamed the building after a girl they say was killed by the IDF:

A group calling themselves the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) declared on X that the activists had “reclaimed” Hamilton Hall and renamed it “Hind Hall in honor of Hind Rajab, a martyr murdered at the hands of the genocidal Israeli state at the age of six years old.”

The IDF refuted that claim:

An Israel Defense Forces investigation in February, immediately after the Gazan girl’s body was found, said there were no troops in the area at the time of her death.

The group vows to not leave until their demands are met:

Photos shared on social media also showed a Palestinian flag unfurled from a window of the building, as well as banners reading “Intifada” and “Gaza Calls Columbia Falls.”

For Israelis, the Arabic word “intifada,” literally “uprising,” conjures traumatic memories of mass waves of deadly terror attacks in 1987-1993 and again in the early 2000s.

Protestors said they planned to remain at the hall until the university agreed to meet the CUAD’s three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.

The University told staff and students to avoid the campus unless necessary and The White House condemned the building takeover:

“The president believes that forcibly taking over a building on campus is absolutely the wrong approach. That is not an example of peaceful protest,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said during a press briefing. “Hate speech and hate symbols have no place in this country.”

“A small percentage of students shouldn’t be able to disrupt the academic experience… for the rest of the student body,” he said. “Students paying to go to school and want an education should be able to do that without disruption and they ought to be able to… feel safe doing it.”

“They certainly deserve to be able to graduate and participate in a graduation ceremony,” Kirby added. Earlier this month, the University of Southern California decided to cancel its main graduation ceremony due to concerns over mass pro-Palestinian protests.

With Or Without Deal

In a report found in The Jerusalem Post we hear that the Rafah offensive will happen regardless of getting a hostage deal:

Israel will invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah with or without a hostage deal, Prime Minister Benjamin (Netanyahu) said on Tuesday during a meeting with forums of hostage families and families of fallen soldiers who are affiliated with the right and support the invasion.

The statement came after US officials said on Monday that new progress had been made in negotiations for a hostage deal, which would likely include at least a temporary suspension of plans to enter Rafah, the last major Hamas stronghold that the IDF has yet to attack.

Netanyahu explained why:

"The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory," Netanyahu said.

Such statements and previous ones by the PM and others makes one wonder why Hamas is seemingly ok with the current deal on the table. We’ll know more after tomorrow when Hamas is supposed to make their decision to accept it or not. In the meantime, Netanyahu listened to the two groups:

According to the prime minister's office's statement to the press, "The prime minister listened to their call to continue achieving the goals of the war and to withstand the international pressure."

The two forums that met with the prime minister were the Hope Forum, which includes families of hostages, and the Heroism Forum, which includes families of fallen soldiers. Both are affiliated with the right and have largely called to increase military pressure in Gaza. These are separate from the larger Hostage and Missing Families Forum, which has taken an increasingly critical stand against the government.

Keeping It All Together

Netanyahu is also doing his best to keep his coalition together at the same time as we read more from the Post article:

Earlier Tuesday, the far-right flank of Israel's government, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, both announced political steps aimed at pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move forwards with an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Smotrich said in a statement late Monday night that his party would convene at Israel's Knesset in Jerusalem in order to discuss the issue of Rafah. The meeting was scheduled for 2:00 p.m., the same time as a government meeting, and its three ministers will not attend the government meeting as a warning message to Netanyahu.

A closed door meeting did occur, though:

Ben-Gvir held a closed-door meeting with Netanyahu on Tuesday afternoon, prior to the general government meeting. A spokesperson for Ben-Gvir said that the meeting was "on the backdrop of the developing [hostage] deal and the fact that Israel has yet to enter Rafah."

Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich threatened in the past week to leave the government if Netanyahu agreed to cancel the invasion of Rafah.

Netanyahu needs their support:

The coalition currently includes 72 Knesset members. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich together have 14 seats, and without them the coalition will be left with 58 Knesset members, and will no longer have a majority in the 120-member Knesset.

Ben-Gvir was told they won’t make a bad deal:

Ben-Gvir said in a video statement following the meeting that the prime minister had promised that Israel would invade Rafah, that the war will not end, and that there will not be a "reckless" deal.

He added that he believes the "Prime Minister understands what the significance is if these things do not happen."

Smotrich doesn’t want Israel to lay down:

Smotrich later on in a press conference demanded that Netanyahu not wave a "white flag" of surrender by agreeing to the Egyptian-brokered deal. He said that Israel was facing a fork in the road, with "no middle", and said that he was willing to pay a "political price" if Netanyahu decided to move forward with the deal.

All of this back and forth is important as we pray that Israel doesn’t allow the pressures put on them from inside and outside keep them from dealing with terrorism all around them.

More Pressure On The Prime Minister

In a report from The Jerusalem Times we hear that it’s not just the far right that is ready to end their support of the war over the right-wing demands on Netanyahu:

In response to both ministers, National Unity Minister-without-portfolio Gadi Eisenkot issued a rare statement warning that he would not be a partner in a government that makes decisions based on “political considerations”.

“The cabinet defined the goals of the war six months ago,” Eisenkot said in a written statement that he also posted on Facebook. “In the past day, two cabinet members have been using political threats to commit extortion. This is a serious phenomenon that harms Israel’s national security. I will only be a partner in a government that makes decisions based on the national interests of the State of Israel, and not on political considerations.”

Another article from The Times Of Israel mentioned an opposition leader that said this:

Opposition leader Yair Lapid likewise criticized Ben Gvir and Smotrich, declaring that Israel had “become a hostage of irresponsible lunatics.”

“You can’t go on like this. A minister with a criminal record stands in the Prime Minister’s Office and threatens the prime minister with the consequences if he does not do what he is told,” he said. “Ben Gvir tells the whole world and the whole region that Netanyahu is weak and working for him. It is unbelievable that he is not fired on the spot.”

Predictably, the war cabinet cancelled its Tuesday meeting. Praying for the peace of Jerusalem now should also extend to all the political squabbling.