GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War Day 664

Winning Both Wars

Hamas Defeated Quickly

It’s hard to say quickly refers to anything happening with the fighting in Israel against Hamas, but one Israeli military critic thinks the war could end very soon as we read in a report from World Israel News:

After nearly two years of war, Col. (res.) Hezi Nehama has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the IDF’s current strategy against Hamas, sharply condemning what he sees as stagnation on the ground in Gaza.

His opinion is valuable:

With decades of experience in IDF operations, his analysis carries both authority and frustration.

He believes as others believe that strong force is the way:

Col. Nehama believes the war against Hamas can be won—and won swiftly—but only through a decisive and aggressive strategy that goes beyond the current approach.

One of those changes is to stop holding back the IDF:

He is deeply critical of the cautious tactics now being employed and advocates for a forceful ground campaign with fewer restraints.

Nehama says that total demolishing of Hamas must be done:

According to him, the only path to victory is to fully dismantle Hamas’s military and governing capabilities—not simply degrade them.

And he sees the manpower coming from the northern war front:

He also argues that Hezbollah’s weakened posture in the north makes it possible for Israel to shift forces southward, thereby enabling a full-scale ground operation in Gaza.

Nehama then lays out the strategy which includes moving the Gazans out of harms way:

Nehama has proposed a strategy that includes deploying four to five IDF divisions simultaneously across northern, central, and southern Gaza; occupying every area and eliminating Hamas fighters; relocating civilians to humanitarian zones to isolate Hamas; and enforcing a complete blockade of Hamas-controlled areas.

Then he wants the IDF to get serious about keeping Hamas from getting stronger:

He has also criticized the IDF’s limited use of siege tactics, suggesting that failing to fully block access to Hamas-held zones allows the group to regroup and rearm.

And then he brings up providing humanitarian aid in places Hamas controls, something that even international rules says can stop:

In a recent radio interview, Nehama said, “The IDF Legal Counsel’s radical interpretation of international law forces the IDF to provide humanitarian supplies even in areas controlled by Hamas—something not required by law.

The result: Hamas controls the supplies, and in these areas we’re not fighting. It’s a dead end.”

Hamas then resells these supplies to fund its war efforts against the IDF, he added. Nehama remains confident that a quick victory is achievable—but only if Israel adopts a clear, forceful, and uncompromising strategy.

A Half-Hearted Apology

We see in an article from Honest Reporting that the New York Times admit they left out critical information about the young boy who became the poster child of Israeli starving Gazans:

It took five days of pressure from the Israeli consulate in New York and organizations like HonestReporting for the Times to admit their mistake.

Here is their lackluster retraction:

“After publication of the article, The Times learned from his doctor that Mohammed also had pre-existing health problems,” an editor’s note added to the article said.

A New York Times spokeswoman issued this statement on Tuesday night:

Children in Gaza are malnourished and starving, as New York Times reporters and others have documented. We recently ran a story about Gaza’s most vulnerable civilians, including Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, who is about 18 months old and suffers from severe malnutrition. We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems. This additional detail gives readers a greater understanding of his situation. Our reporters and photographers continue to report from Gaza, bravely, sensitively, and at personal risk, so that readers can see firsthand the consequences of the war.”

They admit they lied but still think it suited their purposes:

In other words, the New York Times ran a picture without properly checking the truth behind it. The Times continues to stand behind the underlying message against Israel that it tried to convey by running the photo in the first place. Instead of being self-critical about its reporters and photographers who got the story wrong, the Times praised their bravery and sensitivity.

So the NYT still thinks what they did was right. But to use deception to criticize Israel with something they had nothing to do with did the damage anyway:

No, New York Times, the new information does not merely add context about Mohammed’s pre-existing health problems. It proves that the way he looks has nothing to do with Israel and the war that began with the October 7 massacre. Thank you for your non-apology, but the damage of this blood libel has already been done. It has been weaponized and used to demonize Israel around the world, resulting in dangerous policy changes by the leaders of France and the United Kingdom and the president of the United States saying “That’s real starvation. I see it, and you can’t fake that.”

Aiding And Abetting The Terrorists

And even worse, they help the terrorists stealing the food and causing the crisis:

The New York Times’ lies about the photograph and the resulting international condemnation of Israel led to Hamas hardening its positions in negotiations to end the war. There are up to 20 live Israeli hostages, who are actually known to be starving, whose horror has been prolonged by the irresponsibility of the Times and other media outlets that ran the photo without doing their due diligence.

The fake narrative using the photo even stoked antisemitism:

There have also been antisemitic incidents throughout the world since the photo ran, and the connection between the rapid rise in anti-Jewish violence and its connection to dishonest reporting since October 7, 2023, has been well documented.

Rather than putting the apology on the front page they essentially buried it keeping it from the 50 plus million regular readers:

Instead of running a front-page apology online and in print and showing true accountability, the Times hid its correction by posting it on its PR account, which has 89,000 followers on X, not its regular account with 55 million followers.

And other lies haven’t been addressed either:

The Times also has not taken back another incorrect report, published Saturday, claiming in a headline that is shameful since it’s not satirical: “No Proof Hamas Routinely Stole U.N. Aid, Israeli Military Officials Say.”

The usual anonymous sources provided the fake news:

The article quotes unnamed, anonymous “military sources.” Even after official IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said and proved that the opposite was true, there has still been no admission from the Times that it made yet another dangerous mistake. There has been no statement by the newspaper’s spokeswoman and no editor’s note.

The article gave the NYT a little credit, though:

But at least with its statement about the photo, The Times did somewhat more than nothing to update its readers. Other media outlets have not even done that.

As Prime Minister Netanyahu correctly pointed out, Israel is fighting on an eighth front, the lamestream media that is difficult because not only the truth will defeat them. But prayer can.