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The ceasefire that is now in force between Israel and Hamas has left many supporters of Israel aghast. For It was the IDF that had battered Hamas, not the other way round, yet Israel found itself having to sue for peace, granting Hamas concession after concession and leaving the terror group able to claim that it is still standing. Israel has agreed in this first phase to pull the IDF forces from Gaza’s main cities, including Rafah, Khan Younis, and Gaza City, thus allowing Hamas operatives inside those cities to reappear from their hideouts, both above and below ground, to regroup, rearm, and also to recruit new members. Israel has agreed to give up the east-west Netzarim Corridor, which allowed the IDF to prevent Hamas operatives moving from south to the north, or north to south of the Strip, in attempts to evade IDF attacks that focus now on one, and now on another part of Gaza. Israel will also withdraw its forces from the Philadelphi Corridor, along the Egypt-Gaza border, which has allowed the IDF to prevent weapons from being smuggled from the Sinai into Gaza.
Veteran Israeli journalist Nadav Shragai discusses the lopsided — in both quantity and quality — hostage-for-criminal exchange that Israel has agreed to here: “Why the Hamas Deal Could Lead to More Hostage Taking — And Why No One Is Talking About It,” JNS.org, Jan. 19, 2025:
…Those who insist may naively believe that after the deal, we can resume the war against Hamas at our discretion. However, we must simultaneously recognize the deal’s devastating repercussions and damage.
It is imperative to cling to the truth, no matter how painful, and to pose relevant questions—questions we have long avoided. We must confront the harsh realities we have whitewashed and repressed. This reckoning must occur now, mere moments before the first phase of the deal, and only then can we make an informed decision.
We must question aloud why the discourse surrounding the deal’s cost has focused for months solely on Gaza’s Philadelphi Corridor (on the southern border with Egypt), the Netzarim axis (in the middle of the Strip), the return of Gazans to the northern Strip, and the war’s conclusion.
Meanwhile, the release of hundreds of terrorists—hundreds of potential “Sinwars”—remains absent from the conversation, accepted as a fait accompli and an inescapable fate we must simply “deal with” and contain.
We should challenge the assessments of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the Israel Defense Forces that they can “manage” the released terrorists. On the eve of the Shalit deal, they made similar assurances and misjudged the reality.
We must ask them directly: Could you be mistaken again? Might Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar be wrong in 2025, just as Yoram Cohen was in 2011?
It is crucial to remember that since 1985, Israel has released thousands of terrorists through various deals, gestures and diplomatic frameworks. About half of them returned to terrorism and murdered Jews. Hundreds were killed or wounded by these released terrorists long before the Simchat Torah massacre on Oct. 7, 2023….
How many hundreds of Palestinian terrorists that Hamas demands be let loose in this latest, most regrettable exchange, will promptly return to terrorism, and how many Israelis will die as a result? And why did the Israeli leaders not show that they had learned the lesson of the Shalt debacle, and insist that no terrorist murderers should be included in the exchange? They could have listed a number of the most vicious of the killers that Hamas has demanded be freed, such as those responsible for the attack on the Passover service at the Park Hotel in 2001, including Abdullah Barghouti, a bomb expert who was sentenced to 67 life terms; Abbas Sayed, the planner of the Passover Seder, when 30 elderly Israelis were killed and 130 wounded, Ibrahim Hamed, commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in Judea and Samaria during the Second Intifada, the man responsible for attacks including the double suicide bombing on Ben-Yehuda Street and at Cafe Moment in Jerusalem, and Ahmed Mughrabi, the Fatah-Tanzim commander in Bethlehem. Imagine the effect of listing these men, and their intolerable crimes, whom Israel is supposed to free but could still appeal to the world’s conscience: “are these people who, if they had been murdering your people in similar ways, you would have agreed to free?”
Of course they will go back to terrorism. It’s really the only marketable skill they have.
Hopefully Israel has beefed up security and stopped holding music festivals on the Gaza border.
And armed their civilian population all along the border with Gaza. Long guns, sidearms and whatever is necessary.
Amen brother. I have never understood why Israel is so restrictive re: letting the population own guns and ammo. After Oct 7 I read that gunowners were allowed a paltry 50 rounds. They increased it to 100 rds. Still not enough.
Hell, I go through that in 30 minutes at the range.
Israel has highly restrictive civilian firearms regulations in large part because twenty percent of the nation’s citizens are Arabs. Like it or not, their loyalties are questionable, particularly those with family ties to the disputed territories.(loyal Druze, many Bedouins and some ordinary Arabs,,excepted). Israel just cannot have the kind of “shall issue” gun laws of the US.
The new rule is that terrorists must be gunned down on the streets like mad dogs and not apprehended. If they are not incarcerated, they can’t be traded. End of story.
Of course they will try to go back to terrorism. So put a tracker on them. Make travelers and job, public benetis, medical patients, and driver’s license applicants undergo biometric identification. Terrorists attempting to do these things in Israel or in Western countries will be arrested and jailed,, given life in prison, or executed. No more work permits for Palestinians in Israel.
The alternative is to abandon the hostages. The greatest mitzvah in Judaism is to ransom hostages. With intelligence, the dangers of releasing terrorists can be mitigated. David Friedman said the lessons of 10/7 had been learned and it would never happen again.
Hugh, how many will return to terror as Liri Albag told her parents, “Dad, there are two million terrorists there, make no mistake. I sat with children aged 8 and 4 who were cursing ‘the Jews,’” Albag was cited as having told her father since being released as part of the truce deal. That is why it is imperative that Israel change its law, making the death penalty for terror and murder.
Terrorists should be exicuted with a month of their Convictions
It is vital that a genuinely peaceful agency takes over the education of Gazan children – so that the current generation is the last one that is trained to hate. What you do about the teaching they receive at home and in the mosque, is another matter, though.
contrary to popular opinion , you cant re educate a muslim . like dogs to their vomit they will return to the only thing that gives them existence . they love death so they tell us . oblige them wherever and whenever you can . israel is its own worst enemy , the left in israel are doing to israel what the left in the u.s. are doing , will do , and have done for years . how can you beat a moronic people group sitting in a pile of rubble where their house once stood , [ fakestinians ] and then declare that you have won? you cant !. the west will rebuild the pile of rubble and groundhog day will continue . if the u.s. and israel rebuild the cesspit that is gaza they deserve to lose , which is where its heading . welcome to dumb and dumber . hopefully israel knows where all the murdering scumbags they have let out go and start to eliminate them one by one . time to play hardball .