Israel Update — Hostages and a Practical Way Forward
Background
Let us deal with some difficult questions regarding the war in Gaza, hostages, etc. We need to be able to have some understanding before we can pray and act effectively.
On 11 October 2023, an article was published stating that “any significant response from Israel would result in genocide”, and subsequently many more news items saying virtually the same thing. So, about the time the first Israeli response to the Hamas brutality of 7 October 2023 started, the propaganda machine message of “it’s a genocide” had started.
The fact is the false genocide accusation gives Jew-haters a great umbrella to hide under after they do their wicked deeds.
I was in Israel at the massacre sites in March of 2024. I met with survivors and families of hostages; I saw homes where families had been burned alive, and around 1,200 vehicle wrecks (mainly burned) where people were murdered and injured (the final human remains were removed only a few weeks before I was there). Over 1,200 people were killed, and thousands more injured, as well as 250+ hostages taken. I visited Kibbutz Be’eri, the Nova Festival site, etc. I also saw images of the horrors of that day that still haunt me now.
My Dad lived in Germany under the Nazi regime in the 1930s and 1940s, and Dad told me many stories of that time. The Nazi regime tried to hide the crimes; Hamas published their crimes. The level of wickedness is unsurpassed, and we know at least 50% (maybe 70%) of Gazans (and other Islamists) support what Hamas did. (Warning: horrific images).
We must face the reality that Israel must destroy Hamas, Hezbollah, PIJ, et. al. for Israel’s long-term viability and the survival of the Jewish people.
The fact that so many people think that this war is “genocide” is beyond absurd. It is the product of propaganda and a general lack of understanding of many factors. In reality, the IDF would prefer not to conduct “urban warfare”, but that is not a reality given the proximity, location, and strategy with Hamas. That said, the Allies achieved victory by bringing Germany and Japan to their knees. As we all know, the US dropped not one, but two atomic bombs on Japan, decimating two cities and their inhabitants.
Personal Connections
I met Rachael Goldberg, whose son Hersh was murdered by Hamas last week, and his body recovered with five others on the weekend (1st September 2024). As part of the IPC/ICEJ Solidarity mission in March 2024, we heard Rachel’s story. We prayed and wept with her. So, when I heard of Hersh’s demise, after he survived an arm being blown off by a grenade on 7th October, I was in tears and in prayer, as were all the members of the mission team.
This is not just a theoretical moral discussion, but a deeply and prayerfully felt position on Israel and the Jewish people.
Current Hostage Situation
A ceasefire will NOT help the hostages. All a ceasefire will do is strengthen the terrorists. Anything that allows Hamas, Hezbollah, PIJ, etc, to remain as coherent forces in the medium to long term will threaten the very existence of Israel and the Jewish people.
John Richardson writes in The Gatestone Institute:
- The Biden-Harris administration apparently sees no problem with a Palestinian state being yet another terrorist state, committed to annihilating Israel — as both Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force commander General Esmail Qaani (“Israel is a cancer that must be eliminated”), and senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad have straightforwardly vowed.
- A ceasefire might sound as if it is a “good thing” that benefits everyone — understandably, if a friend or family member is a hostage. The problem seems to be the Hamas demand that Israel should leave the “Philadelphi corridor” on the border between Gaza and Egypt, so that Hamas, backed by its patrons Qatar and Iran, can resume smuggling weapons and ammunition into Gaza, rearm, rebuild, and attack again.
His analysis is correct. Anything that allows the survival of Hamas is an existential threat to Israel and the Jewish people. John also points out:
- What many Israelis seem unwilling or unable to see is, sadly, that even with a ceasefire, the hostages will not be released. Hamas will hold onto as many of them as they can for as long as they can, to keep them in play as a weapon.
- With a ceasefire, Israel, unfortunately, will not get peace and will not get the hostages. The Israelis might see a few hostages at a time dribbled out, the living ones first, they hope, each one exchanged for hundreds, if not more, of convicted Palestinian terrorists released from Israeli prisons, whose first job would be to go right back to terrorising.
Israel must pursue the release or rescue of the hostages by all means necessary while not compromising security or allowing Hamas to remain.
The Way Forward
For the Muslims who believe that “Israel is only 76 years old” (as is often said on social media), the word Israel is mentioned 43 times in the Quran. Israel is not “younger than your grandma”, but Israel is older than Islam itself.
I do not know how this entire conflict will end, given how ingrained anti-semitism is within the Islamic world. However, demonstrating to the Palestinian people that their “River to the Sea” (pipe) dream is only going to make their future more and more bleak. They need to be shown (by force if necessary) that the land for a future state will only get smaller, not bigger, if they do not end their real genocidal pursuit of eradicating Jews from the Middle East.
We must pray, intercede, and take political action to bring about real solutions to the horror of what is really going on against Israel and the Jewish people.
If people around the globe really cared about the Palestinians, this is the narrative they would push (i.e., settle for what you have now or start thinking about emigrating to other Arab states). This is the only practical, real long-term solution. While difficult, the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 was needed for the stability of that region. The 1922 partition plan of Israel, including Judea & Samaria (West Bank) and Trans-Jordan (now Jordan), is what we still need today.
“The truth is that Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan.”
— King Hussein I of Jordan in a newspaper interview, 26th November 1981
While unpopular, I cannot see any other way that allows long-term security and peace in the region.
In 1920, the Great Powers, under the auspices of the League of Nations, agreed at a summit in San Remo that the Jewish people should have a state of their own in Mandate Palestine. This was ratified in 1922.
The land was to be all the land from the Mediterranean Sea to what is now Jordan. Because of pressure from the Arabs, the British government reneged on this agreement and created Transjordan for the Hashemite kingdom. So effectively the proposed Jewish state was cut in half (actually 27% — 73%).
Following World War II, Partition was mooted at the United Nations, giving an even smaller amount of land to the Jews. The Jews accepted; the Arabs rejected. A vote at the UN brought Israel into existence, and Israel declared Independence. Five Arab armies started war on the new state. The army of Jordan, with British officers, drove all Jews out of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
So, in summary, the “promised land” was cut in half, then cut in half again, and then its long-term Jewish residents were ethnically cleansed.
Following the end of the War of Independence (1948), hundreds of thousands of Arabs became refugees in the surrounding states of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of Jews (nearly 1 million) living in Arab lands also became refugees, mainly in Israel.
The Arab League created a policy denying citizenship, passports or meaningful employment to refugee Arabs in any Arab state, effectively making all original refugees and their successors stateless. Add to that the venality of “Palestinian” leaders, who in reality act as gangsters, stealing aid money and using their own people as human shields, glorifying the killing of Israelis and paying bounties to those who attempt murder, and you will understand that one side has firmly and indisputably been the main negative actor throughout the history.
The 1922 plan was continued by UN Article 80, and no Arabs have ever agreed to any other plan than that Israel should include Golan, Judea and Samaria (aka the West Bank), and Gaza.
I pray for the peace of Jerusalem according to Psalm 122:6. May all those within its walls have security. May shalom (peace and well-being) be known on every street corner. And Lord, I am willing to seek what is best for Jerusalem’s sake.
Addendum — A Few Forgotten Facts
- Israel became a nation in 1312 BC, two thousand years before the rise of Islam.
- Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
- Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 BC, the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years, with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.
- The only Arab dominion since the conquest in AD 635 lasted no more than 22 years.
- For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.
- Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Tanakh, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Quran. Israel is mentioned 43 times in the Quran.
- King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
- Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.
- In 1948, the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. 68% left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.
- The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution, and slaughter.
- The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same.
- Arab refugees were intentionally not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own people’s lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.
- The Arabs are represented by eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish nation. The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won.
- The PLO’s Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them.
- Under Jordanian rule (Judea & Samaria — West Bank — 1949-67), Jewish holy sites were desecrated, and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
- The UN Record on Israel and the Arabs: of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel (which is insane).
- Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.
- The UN was silent while 58 Jerusalem synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians between 1949—1967.
- The UN was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
- The UN was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
___
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons: Disaster Victim Identification after 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
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Thank you, Kym. Very well put.
Thanks Maryse … It is a critical issue.
Additional information from Israel Realtime: Do you support a deal with Hamas under the terms below, with the knowledge that 30% of released terrorists will return to terror and for every 30 terrorists who return to terror at least 1 Israeli civilian will be murdered in the future?
But no deal means the remaining live hostages will be murdered.
TERMS: Hamas has been publicly and consistently announced these terms:
1. Permanent ceasefire.
2. Withdrawal of the IDF from all areas of the Gaza Strip (including the Netzer dividing corridor, the Philadelphia Egypt-border corridor, and the 1 km buffer zone established along the border with Israel to prevent attacks and movement to the border fence).
3. The rehabilitation of the Strip. (Meaning Israel and the international community pays to rebuild Gaza, as well as providing heavy equipment and supplies.)
4. Release of Palestinian prisoners: in the first phase of the deal: 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female soldier, 30 Palestinian prisoners for every civilian. In the second phase of the deal – 500 Palestinian prisoners for each soldier. Phase 1 only
5. Israel has no or very limited veto power on which prisoners, whether terror leaders or mass murderers or torturing murdering baby killing terrorists from the Oct. 7 massacre are selected by Hamas.
Thankyou Kym
Truth and critical analysis seems decidedly lacking from most reporters and media.
If Israel backs down now, succumbing to the pressure of bad faith ‘friends’, the statements made by Hamas will no doubt come to fruition.
Every day will be October 7.
You have said what desperately needed to be said.
Thanks Leonie… appreciated your support and encouragement
Thank you Kym for clearly defining the Hamas problem – and the solution.
Not a palatable solution but now is the only viable one. Thanks Ian
Thanks Kym , a well presented position on Israel and the Hostages
Thanks Stephen, I appreciate your leadership and understanding.
Thank you Kym for your insightful analysis of the Israeli – “Palestinian” problem. I do pray for peace but believe that really tough decisions will have to be made by the Netanyahu government and military leadership. I have heard that the IDF soldiers on the ground are getting tired. Personally I can see that kow-towing to world opinion has failed Israel miserably. Mossab Hassan Yousef, whose own father is the co-founder of Hamas, has many salient things to say re the situation. I can see that caving in on prisoner exchange with the brutal leadership of Hamas has done Israel much harm. The time has long gone past for niceties. Those murderers need to face the music- not just gaol time. I pray for great wisdom for the Israeli government that they would stand firm in the face of great opposition. This battle certainly is a spiritual one. It is a privilege to be involved on this level and standing with our God and His people. May our Sovereign God’s Perfect Will be done. And we pray for all those on all sides of the fence who are innocently caught up in all this in the Mighty Name of our Saviour and that there will be the spirit of repentance flow over the whole land- including those caught up in Hamas/PLO etc.
Thanks Eunice for your comprehensive comment. You have a good understanding of the case I put. Thanks again
Thank you Kym for your incredibly accurate article on Israel and your insights into the hostage situation. It covers all bases.
If only the world and Israel could see that the Hamas will never stop (and those behind them like Iran and other proxies) until they kill all Jews and take over their land…It is written in their charter to kill the Jews and take the land. There is no mention in their charter, ever of a peace deal. For Israel try to barter peace with the Hamas is like trying to make a peace deal with Hillter and the Nazis.
One side wants peace and the other side, the terrorists want to exterminate the Jewish people.
May God help all of Israel see this sad truth amidst the middle of the war situation, and to know God Himself will step in at the right time as Ezekiel and the prophets foretell, for they are His people and he gave them the land.
Meanwhile heartfelt prayers go up for all in Israel who are suffering, all the families of the hostages and all those in the IDF and innocent civilians within Israel and those facing cruel and unfounded anti Semitism in the West and beyond.
Thanks Gail. We also pray for the civilians trapped in this mess.
Please listen to the video embedded here. ‘Experience the presence of God’. This is a message we all need to hear. “Listen to Jesus. The Father only points to Jesus. The Spirit of prophecy only testifies about Jesus. The Spirit glorifies, testifies, reveals, exults Jesus The Christ. Listen to HIM. Focus on Him and HE will show you what ‘it is all about'”. https://www.godisreal.today/
Thank you dear Kym for posting this. Our only hope is Christ. The Kingdom of God has come. It WILL continue to grow like the smallest of seeds that grows to the largest of all trees and like yeast that makes the whole lump of dough to rise. Kindest regards, Jane.
The sooner we eradicate Hamas, the sooner we can prevent them from using children as shields.
Here’s their diabolical agenda if you haven’t read it yet 👇
Hamas Covenant…
Article 2
The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Moslem Brotherhood in Palestine. Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times. It is characterized by its deep understanding, accurate comprehension and its complete embrace of all Islamic concepts of all aspects of life, culture, creed, politics, economics, education, society, justice and judgement, the spreading of Islam, education, art, information, science of the occult and conversion to Islam.
Basically says that the intolerant and oppressive Sharia law is what they seek to implement in Israel.
Article 8:
Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.
That basically says what it says.
Article 11:
The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [endowment] consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organisation nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that.
Basically says that a two state solution WILL NEVER BE ACCEPTED
Article 13:
Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.
Basically says that’s it’s either their way… or DEATH.
Article 15:
The day that enemies usurp part of Muslim land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Muslim. In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.
Basically says that no Jews belong in Israel and it is a Muslim’s duty to hate them and fight them.
Article 16:
It is necessary to follow Islamic orientation in educating the Islamic generations in our region by teaching the religious duties, comprehensive study of the Koran, the study of the Prophet’s Sunna (his sayings and doings), and learning about Islamic history and heritage from their authentic sources.
Basically says to teach their kids this ideology in Gaza which is what they have been doing since the PLO was established.
Article 18:
Woman in the home of the fighting family, whether she is a mother or a sister, plays the most important role in looking after the family, rearing the children and imbuing them with moral values and thoughts derived from Islam. She has to teach them to perform the religious duties in preparation for the role of fighting awaiting them. That is why it is necessary to pay great attention to schools and the curriculum followed in educating Muslim girls, so that they would grow up to be good mothers, aware of their role in the battle of liberation.
Basically says that they need to brainwash their women to be on board with creating Jihadists who will die for the cause of Allah.
Article 24:
The Islamic Resistance Movement does not allow slandering or speaking ill of individuals or groups, for the believer does not indulge in such malpractices.
Of course this is only talking about themselves. Not Jews, or Christians, or Muslims who disagree with them. And how do we know this? Because in 2005, when they got elected, they went out and eliminated all Palestinians who opposed them politically eliminated
Article 27:
Our homeland is one, our situation is one, our fate is one and the enemy is a joint enemy to all of us. Secularism completely contradicts religious ideology.
Basically says There is no room for anyone else under Hamas
Article 28:
Arab countries surrounding Israel are asked to open their borders before the fighters from among the Arab and Islamic nations so that they could consolidate their efforts with those of their Muslim brethren in Palestine. As for the other Arab and Islamic countries, they are asked to facilitate the movement of the fighters from and to it, and this is the least thing they could do.
Basically, it says all Muslim countries need to help with this jihad or else.
Article 30:
Writers, intellectuals, media people, orators, educators and teachers, and all the various sectors in the Arab and Islamic world – all of them are called upon to perform their role, and to fulfill their duty. Jihad is not confined to the carrying of arms and the confrontation of the enemy. The effective word, the good article, the useful book, support and solidarity – together with the presence of sincere purpose for the hoisting of Allah’s banner higher and higher – all these are elements of the Jihad for Allah’s sake.
Basically says that all famous Muslims need to get on board or else
Article 31:
Under the wing of Islam, it is possible for the followers of the three religions – Islam, Christianity and Judaism – to coexist in peace and quiet with each other. Peace and quiet would not be possible except under the wing of Islam. It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region, because the day these followers should take over there will be nothing but carnage, displacement and terror.
Basically says, it’s not possible to have ‘peace’ unless Jews, Christians and Atheists are UNDER THE CONTROL OF THESE MANIACS.
Article 32:
World Zionism, together with imperialistic powers, try through a studied plan and an intelligent strategy to remove one Arab state after another from the circle of struggle against Zionism, in order to have it finally face the Palestinian people only. Egypt was, to a great extent, removed from the circle of the struggle, through the treacherous Camp David Agreement. They are trying to draw other Arab countries into similar agreements and to bring them outside the circle of struggle.
Basically says that the camp David Agreement where peace was ALMOST attained is TREASON IN ISLAM
Article 35:
The present Zionist onslaught has also been preceded by Crusading raids from the West and other Tatar raids from the East. Just as the Muslims faced those raids and planned fighting and defeating them, they should be able to confront the Zionist invasion and defeat it.
Basically says they will win.
Article 36:
The Islamic Resistance Movement adopts Islam as its way of life. Islam is its creed and religion. Whoever takes Islam as his way of life, be it an organisation, a grouping, a country or any other body, the Islamic Resistance Movement considers itself as their soldiers and nothing more.
Basically says Islam will take over the world, and they are the TRUE soldiers of Islam.
All of this was simply reinforced in
Hamas Principles and Policies of May 2017. Look it up for yourself.
And then they try to tell you that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance and that only under them can other faiths truly practice their beliefs in security and safety.
Kym, great piece, thank you. The kicker for me has been turning off of ‘mainstream media’ that gives such a filtered report. I have never proven a report ‘a direct lie, but I am sure there have been lies. All I hear is ‘filtered’ to fit the ‘narrative’! A monumental deception. I now get my war reports only from those ‘alternative’ media outlets I trust, the Bible based ones! We must all seek to open the eyes of those around us to the ‘diabolical deception purporting to be news.
Thanks Jim. Yes, MSM is very biased. When we meet pro-pal people on the street at Jewish community rallies ‘Bring the hostages home’ a question I ask is have you ever been to Israel and how many Arab Israelis do you know. That leaves them stumped 99/100. I then speak of what is reality on the ground.