Bye Bye Ceasefire (12/1/23)
I'm not going to wax poetic about the ceasefire, but I will repeat that the main beneficiary was Hamas. They smuggled goods into Gaza via humanitarian trucks. They stole time to move goods and people around, replenishing their evil reserves. They thankfully did release hostages with that ridiculous 3:1 citizen:terrorist ratio. It was negotiated by the new Diplomatic power-player on the world scene, Qatar; they're getting their own blog entry. The returnees were sick, gaunt and traumatized. The average weight loss for children was 1/5 of their body weight. For our elderly women, it was 19 kilos - that's 41 pounds. You know what that's called? Starvation. Spare me the commentary about the plastic smiles and forced waves imposed on them by their gallant kidnappers. Hamas only let them shower and change their clothes for the first time in 50+ days so they'd be camera-ready. There's a reason they retain a family member: it's leverage over the people they've released. Tell anyone where we hid you? I'll kill your father. Tell anyone what you saw or what we did? I'll kill your husband. That's their M.O. Torture and intimidation.
The peaceful pause is already moot. After a last minute extension, at 7 am Israel time, when both sides agreed upon a hostage exchange list, it was violated just 38 minutes later. The perpetrator was a Palestinian terrorists released 12 yrs prior. He killed three people and injured several: a 24 year old pregnant woman, a rabbi and a grandmother named Hanna Ifergan. Does that surname sound familiar? It should, it's mine. I didn't know her, in this massive and intricate web of my husband's family, but rest assured branches of his family are mourning.
Who else is mourning? We are, for the HUNDREDS of victims of sexual assault on October 7th. What more does the UN Women's Council or #MeToo movement need to know before they actually pipe up to help those who were so horrifically violated? Sexual violence is a war crime. Women were gang raped so violently that their pelvic bones broke; they were found with bullets in their privates; bloodied, naked and with semen on their backs. To deny, refute or simply refuse to acknowledge is just another violation of our women and men (because yes, shooting and cutting off testis qualifies as sexual violence). Literally, what more do they need; videos? No problem, Hamas took those too. It's #metoo unless you're a Jew. I am desperate for any sign of life from my social justice brethren, whom I marched alongside for years in support of various causes. We've supported the rights of so many others, but no one wants to publicly support us?
I could get bogged down in the minutiae, but the real issue is that Israel is continually made to fight to a draw. The world powers never allow it to win, which is intolerable and makes for perpetual conflict. And frankly, it's antisemitic. No other nation is told to stand down when their existence hangs in the balance. You want this to finish? One side needs to unequivocally win, and the other side needs to clearly lose. Ambiguity serves no one. Everyone needs to know which side they're on: winners or losers. Blinken's latest round of tap dance diplomacy, where he shakes Abbas' hand and gooses Israel with the other, serves no one. The current administration has a 12 month agenda right now. It has kicked into November 2024 re-election mode and Israel will suffer for its fickle temperament.
On a "winning" note, Israel is experiencing a birth rate spike. Israel's Population and Immigration Border Authority recently released a list of names that have been used for some of the 17,629 newborns since Oct 7th. Guess which names are surging? Those of the southern kibbutzim. We will never forget our lost family:
-Oz, Hebrew for "might,” now belongs to 49 boys and 1 girl
-Be'eri, 34 boys and 11 girls
-Erez, 8 boys and 2 girls
-Nir, 5 boys and 3 girls
-Nova, Latin for "new" and the name of the music festival, 3 girls
Shabbat Shalom. Am Yisrael Chai.