GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 334

A Hypocritical Move

What Took So Long?

Charges against Hamas leadership were filed in the US and the timing is very suspect and actually puzzling as we read in a report from i24news.tv:

The US Justice Department unsealed on Tuesday charges against Hamas head Yahya Sinwar and other of the terrorist group's leaders in a southern New York court.

"The Justice Department has charged Yahya Sinwar and other senior leaders of Hamas for financing, directing, and overseeing a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the national security of the United States," said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The charges were filed against these men, some who have been taken out by the IDF:

Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammad Al-Masri (Mohammed Deif), Marwan Issa, Khaled Mashaal, and Ali Baraka were named in the complaint. Out of those, Haniyeh, Deif, and Issa are considered dead.

The US AG gave specified issues for the charges and mentioned the current war in Israel:

"As outlined in our complaint, those defendants, armed with weapons, political support, and funding from the government of Iran and support from Hezbollah, have led Hamas's efforts to destroy the state of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim," Garland said.

He said Hamas "murdered or injured thousands of civilians," including on October 7, "its most violent, large scale terrorist attack to date."

"During the attack, Hamas murdered civilians who tried to flee and those who sought refuge in bomb shelters," he said. "They murdered entire families, they murdered the elderly, and they murdered young children. They weaponized sexual violence against women. 

"On October 7, Hamas terrorists murdered nearly 1,200 people, including over 40 Americans, and kidnapped hundreds of civilians. They perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

And then Garland pointed out that the murder of one person stood out:

"This weekend, we learned that Hamas murdered six more hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli-American. We are investigating Hersh's murder and each and every one of the brutal murders of Americans as acts of terrorism. We will continue to support the whole of government effort to bring the Americans still being held hostage home.

"The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas's operations. These actions will not be our last. The Justice Department has a long memory. We will pursue the terrorists responsible for murdering Americans and those who illegally provided them with material support for the rest of their lives."

So why did it take the US this long to level these charges? All of this was known since last October. It was when an American was killed. Is this purely political? While I’m sure Israel will take the support and help, it rings a little hollow. Jews of all stripes were taken hostage and died before now. Jews from all over the world were taken, abused and lost their lives and just now you file charges? We’ll see if this changes anything, but I can tell you where to start: Iran.

He Knows

We learn in an article from The Jerusalem Post that Prime Minister Netanyahu is willing to leave the Philadelphi Corridor, but don’t read too much into that:

Israel could agree to leave the Philadelphi Corridor within the parameters of a permanent ceasefire such as would be discussed in Phase Two of the hostage deal, but not in Phase One, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the foreign media in a special press briefing in Jerusalem Wednesday night.

The PM reiterated that the Corridor was part of discussions and why the IDF remains there:

“We also agreed to begin discussions about a permanent ceasefire,” he said as he referenced a conversation that would take place during Phase One of the three-phase deal US President Joe Biden unveiled on May 31.

“The conditions that we shall have for a permanent ceasefire must include a situation where the Philadelphi Corridor cannot be perforated,” Netanyahu stated.

He also thinks there is no better solution on the table nor anyone else who will step in to guard it:

It’s unlikely, he said, that a realistic security plan exists that would prevent the smuggling of weapons under that critical buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza.

“Bring me anyone who will actually show us, not on paper, not in words, not in a slide, but on the ground, day after day after week, month after month, that they can actually prevent the recurrence of” weapons smuggling, he stated. If such a plan exists, he said, “we’re open to considering it. But I don’t see that happening… and until that happens, we’re there,” with the IDF protecting the Philadelphi Corridor.

And leaving won’t happen before or during the first part of the deal:

Certainly, he noted, Israel has no intention of leaving the Philadelphi Corridor during Phase One of the deal, which would last for six weeks.

The PM was talking to the world press before talking to the nation’s press corps:

He made his case to the foreign media repeating many arguments he had presented on Tuesday when he gave a briefing to the Israeli media in Hebrew.

What he isn’t saying publicly is that he doesn’t think there will be a second phase so he wants to get as many hostages home in the first phase. He knows that Hamas only wants to stall for 40 days or so and will drop out of the talks just like they did in November of last year.

He Also Has His Reasons

We hear from the same Post article that Netanyahu knows exactly why that southern border is crucial to eliminating Hamas:

Netanyahu relied on maps of the region and of Gaza, as well as photographs of the tunnels Hamas had built under the Philadelphi Corridor by which to smuggle arms from Egypt to Gaza. He also put a copy on the screen of a page of Hamas instructions in Arabic on how to carry out a propaganda campaign against Israel, including blaming Netanyahu for the absence of a deal.

The Pm points out just why there will be no deal although he didn’t say it directly:

He noted that the discussion going on now, referred to Phase One of the three-part deal. Hamas has insisted that Israel must withdraw from that Corridor prior to the start of Phase One.

It could just be all about semantics from both sides, though:

The May 31 framework agreement that both Israeli and Hamas backed, did not mention the Philadelphi, but it did require the IDF to leave populated areas of Gaza in Phase One. It’s a step that Israel has agreed to. The Philadelphi Corridor is not considered a populated area, but it does intersect with some populated areas. The issue of the Philadelphi Corridor, which the IDF seized only in May, came up in the negotiations around the details of how to implement the deal, which would see some 18-32 hostages returned in Phase One and the remainder of the live hostages brought back in Phase Two.

So one side says Israel agreed to leave Corridor while Israel says it doesn’t. However Netanyahu continued to make his points:

Netanyahu told the foreign media that if Israel were to leave prior to the start of Phase One, international pressure would prevent it from returning.

“When we want to come back [to Philadelphi] we’ll pay an exorbitant price in many fields,” including the loss of soldiers’ lives in retaking the Corridor, Netanyahu told reporters in Jerusalem, speaking to them in English.

The PM strongly said that if they leave they won’t be able to take it back:

“We’re in now, [if] we leave we won’t [be able to] come back. You know it. Everybody here knows it. Everybody in here knows what pressure will be bought on us so that we don’t come back, what price we’ll have to pay if we do want to come back, it’s just not going to happen,” Netanyahu stated.

It isn’t political he said and that staying in charge in the Corridor will prevent future attacks:

He rejected accusations that he has stood firm on Philadelphi for political reasons, fearing a deal would cause him to lose coalition partners and force his government to collapse.

Netanyahu stressed that he long believed the Philadelphi Corridor was a significant strategic asset and had opposed the IDF pullout from that buffer zone during the Disengagement from the Gaza Strip (2005).

The wife of a hostage still captive and was freed herself wanted to know if the Corridor is sentencing her husband Keith Siegle to die. The PM said this:

Netanyahu, who apologized at the press conference as well as in his Hebrew briefing on Tuesday for failing to return the six captives, said, “I’ll do everything to make sure that Keith and all the other hostages come back.”

He stressed, however, that “if we relieve the pressure [on Hamas], if we get out of the Philadelphi Corridor, we’re not going to get the hostages back,” he said.

Netanyahu said that leaving would set up another October 7th. He then tried to console those who have lost loved ones and those who still are being held captive and then noted that leaders also need to protect citizens from experiencing this tragedy happening again:

“I can understand the torment of family… They’re undergoing an agony that it’s hard to fathom, and I understand that.

But the responsibility of leaders is not merely to share the sentiment, the emotion, but also to exercise judgment, the correct judgment, to make sure that these horrors do not happen again. I believe that our strategy is the best way to achieve both goals, both freeing the hostages and ensuring that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again,” he said.

The pressure to make the deal, he said, should be directed at Hamas, not at Israel.