The taking of innocent civilians in hostages is a war crime, and almost everyone finds the practice abhorrent. But it also happens to be something which the Israelis and Palestinians have a record of doing to each other. Israel puts Palestinian political prisoners in various jails across their country, and Palestinians find ways to take Israeli hostages as well. Both sides have a long history of targeting civilians in various ways, and both sides seek to justify their actions. You would think that any national leader worth his salt would be doing all that he could to get the hostages of his people brought home right?
Well, according to Israeli Newspaper Haaretz not
Netenyahu,
“Wednesday night, Channel 12
News' Yaron Avraham, presented a comprehensive report detailing all of the
hostage negotiation deals that have been proposed since November, when the
last, and only, successful exchange took place.
Presented as a detailed
timeline of the last 11 months, the investigation includes never-before-seen
documents and previously unheard conversations which highlight Netanyahu's
relentless attempts to "Torpedo the Deal," as the segment is titled…
…Over the next nine months,
Avraham reported, Israel's negotiation team was sent on what is ultimately a
futile mission to secure another deal that would bring home more hostages.
Along the way, the investigation demonstrates, Netanyahu did everything in his
power to make sure they are not successful. He repeatedly prevented them from
traveling to cease-fire talks, or greatly limited their negotiation powers when
they are allowed to go.
He walked back several
promises he made, including an agreement to end the war, and invents new
"non-starters" that were previously never mentioned. He changed his
mind, he denied, and he shifted blame to anyone he possibly can. And throughout
all of this, he has ministers like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir threatened to leave
his government, if a deal moved forward.[1]
Why would Netanyahu not want these deals to go forward?
Well, there is significant pressure from his ministers and government not to
give in to any demands from the combatants holding their people, for one. And
it must be said that Hamas has murdered some of these people, civilians who
should not be targets in war, but often are, especially in the Middle East. So the leaders of Israel should be doing all that they could to get them out of captivity.
I think this is important to bring up because it highlights how often the public image people have of political leaders is so far disconnected from the reality. I am watching a show right now and one of the main characters is this woman who is high up in a drug cartel laundering their money, though its not publicly known. And she gets up in one episode and gives a speech about how her family want to give back to the community to fight against the scourge of drugs that is ripping through the community, and she even mentions her brother was a victim of drugs. She says this, even though she knows he was a victim of her crime cartel and her own actions. But the public image she is presenting to the people is one of a politically connected woman of high character who is seeking to do good, when she is anything but. The writers of this show understand how the world works, what people see and hear from the powerful is anything but the reality. This is often how the powerful act, one face for the people and one face for who they really are.
In the Australian media, and I am sure this is true for
the American media too, the Israeli Prime Minister is being presented as a statesmen, a great man doing all
that he can to get the hostages back. When the truth is journalists have revealed this is
not the case behind-the-scenes. In reality, he's been tanking these negotiations. So why does he not want to work for the
hostages to come back?
Well, one answer is that he is ideologically opposed to
negotiating with terrorists,
“A few years later, Benjamin
Netanyahu launched ‘the Jonathan Institute’, a counter-terrorism centre named
for his late brother, and edited a book called Terrorism: How the West Can Win
(1986). In it, he wrote his personal stance on hostage negotiation and
counter-terrorism:
All citizens in a democracy
threatened by terrorism must see themselves, in a certain sense, as soldiers in
a common battle. They must not pressure their government to capitulate or to
surrender to terrorism. This is especially true of public pressure on government by families of hostages. Such
pressure can only be called a dereliction of
civic duty. If we seriously want to win the war against terrorism,
people must be prepared to endure sacrifice and even, should there be the loss
of loved ones, immeasurable pain.
Decades later Netanyahu’s
words have an eerie resonance. As a matter of principle, Netanyahu, based on
his personal experience and the idealised legacy of his brother, does not
believe in hostage negotiations with terrorists.”[2]
So he is ideologically opposed to negotiating? Except he has at other times done such deals.[3] So, one cannot say that he
is entirely ideologically consistent in this area.
Another answer is that he does not want this war to end,
because it allows him to stay in power,
“Netanyahu’s stance is also
key to his political survival. Oct. 7th took place during a time of unprecedent
political division within Israel. After winning the 2022 Israeli elections,
Netanyahu formed a ruling coalition with extremist religious and nationalist
parties, creating the most right-wing government is Israel’s history. Netanyahu
and his coalition partners attempted to pass a ‘judicial reform’ bill that
would strip Israel’s supreme court, the only check on its 120-member
legislature body, the Knesset, of judicial review powers. Israel had mass
protests for nine months that only ended with 7 October and the start of the
war in Gaza. Netanyahu’s approval rating plummeted after 7 October, but has
recovered. The war has allowed Netanyahu to put the protests behind him and
instead portray himself as the protector of Israel.”[4]
So, another possible answer is that this is politically a winner for Netanyahu whose political career and freedom were in danger before this war happened. His hold on power was in fact on the brink.
Still another answer is that his goal is to completely
destroy any semblance of self-rule in Gaza, and a deal would not help achieve
that.[5] This even goes as far as drastically
decreasing the population of Palestinians in Gaza by trying to drive them out. As the
Intercept reports,
“Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has tasked his top adviser, Ron Dermer, the minister of
strategic affairs, with designing plans to “thin” the Palestinian population in
the Gaza Strip “to a minimum,” according to a bombshell new report in an Israeli
newspaper founded by the late Republican billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
The outlet, Israel Hayom, is
considered to be something of an official organ for Netanyahu. It reported that
the plan has two main elements: The first would use the pressure of the war and
humanitarian crisis to persuade Egypt to allow refugees to flow to other Arab
countries, and the second would open up sea routes so that Israel “allows a
mass escape to European and African countries.” Dermer, who is originally from
Miami, is a Netanyahu confidante and was previously Israeli ambassador to the
United States, and enjoys close relations with many members of Congress.
The plan to ethnically
cleanse Gaza of Palestinians faces some internal resistance from less hard-line
members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, according to Israel Hayom.”[6]
If Netanyahu makes a deal that brings the war to an end this puts his Prime Ministership in jeopardy and he loses his chance to clear the Palestinians out of Gaza once and for all. Or at least to break their ability to make any resistance to the increasing encroachments of Israel into their territory. Therefore, for multiple reasons, from his perspective, a hostage deal is not preferred. Israel must keep pushing if it wants to achieve its goals.
This is medieval. This man is clearly on a crusade. Going to war like this on such a scale between two states is a thing of ancient military history, not modern war practice. Yet here we are. And he appears to be willing to take down the entire West to fulfil his crusade. And not one senior western politician seems willing to counteract this quest. The hostages create his public cover, his justification. But in reality he could have done a deal long before now.
Hamas should release the hostages. So too should Israel
release their political prisoners. But at the end of the day both these sides
are not really focused on that, they both want dominance over the same land,
and this war is really about that. Some Christians are ok with this because
they believe it fulfills prophecies in the Bible. Many other Christians condemn
the actions of both sides because they are placing the lives of innocent civilians
in danger. Either way, we can see that the public image of a leader doing
everything he can to get these people back is not the case.
Don’t fall for the public image presented by the media of
public leaders, especially leaders who are willing to drop bombs on civilians. Our
modern media is a fully captured propaganda arm of the globalist military
machine. This war will be condemned by the same media in years to come, just
like they now condemn the Iraq war. But that is not good enough. Evil is
happening now, and there is every good reason to speak out against it while it
is happening.
List of References
[1] Rachel
Fink, 2024, “New Evidence Reveals Netanyahu's Relentless Efforts to Block
Hostage Deal, Report Shows” https://archive.md/ysGm4#selection-1159.0-1175.361
[2] Charlotte
Krausz, 2024, “Why Netanyahu Doesn’t Want a Hostage Deal” https://www.foreignaffairsreview.com/home/why-netanyahu-doesnt-want-a-hostage-deal
[3]
Ibid.
[4]
Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ryam
Grim 2023, “Netanyahu’s Goal for Gaza: ‘Thin’ Population ‘to a Minimum’” https://theintercept.com/2023/12/03/netanyahu-thin-gaza-population/
No comments:
Post a Comment