GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 329

A Divided Front

Another One Bites The Dust

As the hostage talks continue the IDF continues to target and take out terrorist leaders as we see in a report from i24news.tv:

After an exchange of fire, elite Israel Police Yamam fighters under the direction of the Shin Bet security agency, eliminated Mohammed Jaber, the head of the terrorist organization in Nur Shams in the West Bank, according to a statement early Thursday.

He was taken out along with other terrorists:

Jaber, also known as "Abu Shuja," was killed along with three other terrorists. Two more were arrested in the operations that began earlier this week and are still going on.

These terrorists are falling like flies as the IDF is getting very serious about clearing out the West Bank and keeping the area from becoming another Gaza or Lebanon:

A focal point in the widespread operation in the northern West Bank concentrates on Tulkarem, under the command of the Kfir Brigade. The four terrorists hid in a mosque in the Nur Shams refugee camp adjacent to Tulkarm. Jabar was involved in numerous terrorist attacks, including ordering the shooting attack last June that killed Israeli Amnon Mukhtar. During the gunfight, a Yamam fighter was lightly injured and at the end of the operation was evacuated for medical treatment at a hospital.

Notice that these men are using places of worship to work from and also putting innocent people in harms way as they do so. We now read more on the actual campaign:

The operation began with precise intelligence from the Shin Bet – the Yamam fighters entered the mosque in Nur Shams at around 4:00 in the morning, encircling the building, and eliminated the four terrorists.

Jaber was a major leader in the area and represents a big loss for terrorism there:

Jaber was one of the most wanted men in the West Bank and a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Besides planning terrorist attacks, he built the Nur Shams terror cell, which is considered the most dangerous in the area, commanding numerous operatives and attracting many young Palestinians to join his cause. He survived many targeted killing attempts by Israeli security forces, which gave him a heroic status in terror circles. According to Palestinian reports, the siege the finally ensnared him lasted 18 hours.

Mohammed Deif also was thought to have nine lives and the IDF caught up with him. Expect more and more of these terrorists to be found and eliminated as the war in Israel moves to a more regional one.

Fireworks

Sparks flew in a cabinet meeting over priorities in the war as we learn in an article from The Times Of Israel:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that he was prioritizing his stance of maintaining Israeli troops in the Philadelphi Corridor over saving the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

The stance was shared during a heated security cabinet meeting Thursday night during which the premier had the top ministerial body vote to approve a series of maps drawn up by the IDF, which show how Israel aims to keep its troops deployed in the nine-mile narrow stretch known as the Philadelphi Corridor during the first phase of the ceasefire being negotiated.

It must be said that the PM and Gallant really aren’t on good terms since he was fired by Netanyahu before the October 7th attacks and rehired a week later. Such political differences are not minor and have flared up in the recent past, but this dispute appears to be very strong:

It was the latest representation of the divide between Netanyahu and the security establishment, which has pushed for more compromise in the negotiations, particularly regarding the Philadelphi Corridor, fearing that the premier’s hardline positions could scuttle a deal.

The vote was not mentioned before the meeting:

According to a transcript from the meeting leaked to Channel 12 on Friday, the ministers had not been briefed ahead of time that they would be holding a vote on the IDF maps and Gallant demanded to know why it was necessary.

Gallant’s point is over his concern on the hostages, but Netanyahu stood firm:

“The significance of this is that Hamas won’t agree to it, so there won’t be an agreement and there won’t be any hostages released,” Gallant told the ministers.

Netanyahu replied: “This is the decision.”

One minister tried to get the cabinet to vote and move on:

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer then pushed to proceed with a vote on the maps that the IDF presented last week to mediators in Cairo, but Gallant claimed that Netanyahu had imposed his position on the security establishment and that the maps the IDF presented went against its stance.

According to the article Netanyahu took issue with the insinuation that he was controlling the situation all by himself. Things got testy from there:

“I imposed? I imposed?” Netanyahu responded.

“Of course you did. They had their own plan. You are running the negotiations by yourself ever since the war cabinet disbanded (in June). We learn of decisions only after the fact. The negotiators sketched the maps as you wanted, but they had a different position,” Gallant said.

Netanyahu then banged his hands on the table, demanding an immediate vote on his Philadelphi maps.

Another member of the military showed support for Gallant and added to the perception that the PM and his military leadership are at odds:

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi piped in to raise his own concerns about the prime minister’s strategy: “The IDF will know how to enter and return to the Philadelphi Corridor at the end of the first six weeks of the ceasefire. There are enough constraints in the talks, you don’t need to add another.”

One of the negotiators also didn’t see the need for the vote now:

“There is no logic to this vote right now. In any case, the negotiations are currently focused on (other issues) and not the Philadelphi Corridor,” added Mossad spy agency director David Barnea, who has led the Israeli negotiating team.

Things Got More Tense

As if the meeting was already heated, Gallant raised the stakes when he said this:

Gallant then told the cabinet they faced a choice: to remain in the corridor or to return the hostages.

“You are deciding to stay in the Philadelphi Corridor. Is this logical to you? There are living (hostages) there!” Gallant said.

Trying to cool things down Ron Dermer reminded Gallant who his boss which seemed to further anger Gallant:

Dermer replied, “The prime minister can do as he likes,” to which Gallant responded, “The prime minister can indeed make all the decisions, and he can also decide to kill all the hostages.”

The members were not happy with Gallant and the Defense Minister lost the room, but Netanyahu and Gallant kept at it:

At this point, other ministers in the room called out Gallant for speaking to the prime minister in such a manner.

Gallant then told Netanyahu he would eventually cave to Sinwar’s demands anyway.

Netanyahu shot back that he doesn’t take directions from anyone.

The Defense Minister kept pushing, though:

Gallant accused the cabinet of abandoning the hostages by making the decision, adding he would vote against the measure.

He again turned to the premier and asked, if he had to decide between withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor or bringing back the hostage, which would he choose.

Netanyahu stressed that only a determined negotiating stance would bring back the hostages.

Pressed again on the question by Gallant, the prime minister said he was choosing to remain in the Philadelphi Corridor.

At this point, Gallant could see he was in the minority but still felt he was right:

Gallant went on to acknowledge that he had lost the argument this time, but he predicted that the ministers would come around to his position.

“Hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later,” the defense minister said.

The rift could be fatal for Gallant in one member’s view:

An unnamed cabinet minister told Ynet that unlike in previous arguments between the pair, nobody came to Gallant’s defense on Thursday night, believing he had gone too far in his criticism.

“This was the most intense argument I can recall between Netanyahu and Gallant,” one of the ministers said. “Netanyahu isolated Gallant completely. In situations such as these, a defense minister may as well lay down his keys.״

The vote was passed on an 8-1 count with one abstention. The vote was not as important as the continued feud between the two men which we must pray doesn’t spill over into what they both should agree on and that is winning the war and getting the hostages back. From where I stand getting the hostages back will need divine intervention which is good since we can petition the courts of Heaven right now on that front. God has rescued prisoners before and He can certainly do so now.