10/7, two years, waiting for Godot
Hamas brought this upon Gaza, while memories of Israeli dead still linger.
It had always been Ismail Haniyeh’s goal to make Gaza into a trap that Israel could not escape. It had always been Yahya Sinwar’s goal to kill as many Jews as possible, and to bring Israel to its knees. Both men are now dead, along with tens of thousands of Palestinians, and more than 1,200 Israelis whose deaths weigh on the horror of memories like chains to the soul.
The thousands of Hamas invaders who poured out of Gaza two years ago today did not have any military goal. Their goal was simply to kill: young, old, mothers, children, all unarmed and slaughtered in the most pitiless and evil way. Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to hunt them down, to the last one. Most of them—I heard over 25,000—have been killed in the past two years of fighting.
Haniyeh’s trap was sprung. The hundreds of miles of tunnels under Gaza required Israel to inflict massive destruction on the territory, and to displace or kill thousands of civilians. As I said, this was the plan. Many Gazans were only too happy to have a tunnel under their homes. Even if they weren’t, the tunnels went in, under mosques, schools, hospitals, government offices, U.N. facilities, media centers. Israel would have to take all of these out to dismantle the tunnels.
In the first year, the IDF claimed it destroyed 80 percent of the tunnels (more than 150) on the Philadelphi Corridor. As the IDF pulled back out of north Gaza, and then out of Gaza City, Hamas recommenced building tunnels and using more that had not been eliminated.
As long as it had people, material, and money, the plan has been to continue building tunnels, launching rockets into Israel, and preparing for the next onslaught to kill more Jews.
But as Palestinians suffer, since their welfare is not considered important to Hamas, their suffering is used to build sympathy for terrorists, and blame for Israel. This has always been the trap. Where Haniyeh’s and Sinwar’s goal of bringing Israel to its knees and killing many more Jews has spectacularly failed, in that the Jewish State has proved too tough for its military enemies, the goal to wound the conscience of Israelis and Jews around the world has been accomplished, because two years later, none of us are free from the effects of that day.
And where are the hostages? Where is the fruit of the 20 point plan touted by President Donald Trump? Hamas verbally agreed to release the hostages and proceed with part of the deal on Friday. The deadline was Sunday at 6:00 p.m., Washington D.C. time. That has come and gone, and we’ve reached the anniversary of the slaughter.
Where is the hell and annihilation Trump promised if the deadline was not honored?
Meanwhile, Trump takes victory lap after victory lap for things that don’t seem to matter in the larger sense of the world. He gives a speech to the Naval Academy. He travels. He meets with Democrats. The federal government is shut down, but Trump spends like money is available and unlimited for his use.
Also meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine are engaged in the biggest modern war in the world, fueled by thousands of drones, missiles, and technology our defense infrastructure needs, but would rather focus on “fat generals.” (To operate a semi-autonomous drone swarm, physical fitness, military grooming, and even sexual orientation or gender identity are not really important, because it’s mostly done sitting in a chair in front of a computer.) Granted, the United States has such an enormous military advantage in global reach, global power, logistics, and armament that it’s difficult to imaging us “losing.” Yet, America is gone from Afghanistan, and our enemy, the Taliban, rules that place. America is mostly gone from Iraq, and Islamists rule that place. America helps to protect Israel, but under the previous administration, did little to stop 10/7.
Trump has delivered words and promises, and “yes!” from many nations and leaders. He has delivered a “yes, but” from Hamas. But the hostages have not been released. The bodies of the dead Israelis still held by Hamas have not been returned. In order to move on from this horrible day, all the hostages need to come home, living and dead. Hamas needs to exit the stage in Gaza. But what’s on stage in Gaza? Manufactured outrage by luxury beliefs queen Greta Thunberg, who complains about sleeping on an air mattress.
Every day that goes by after today is a tragedy in miniature, a reliving of the evils that occurred two years ago. All the victory laps and words and “yes!” don’t help if Hamas doesn’t follow through. Every day that passes is another day where Hamas builds confidence that it doesn’t have to follow through.
No wonder IDF troops are skeptical. They’ve stopped fighting, but Hamas has only decided to negotiate, instead of act. The war will end when Hamas acts, releases the hostages, and puts down its weapons. I don’t think they’ll do it voluntarily, even if their leaders in Qatar, who barely escaped death at the hands of Israel, want it done.
Every day is a sad waiting for the betrayal, and the grinding task of resuming the destruction of tunnels and terrorist hidey holes. Don’t tell me about the stories you hear about extremist Israeli West Bank settlers and in the IDF who relish killing. Armies have their sociopaths and religious nuts, like every other place. The vast majority of the IDF dreads the task before them, unwinding Haniyeh’s traps left behind in his own memory, in death.
Every day is a sad stage like the play “Waiting for Godot,” where the bus never arrives, and Godot never gets off of it. Every day is another day waiting for the “yes!” to arrive, but all we have gotten is a phone call promising it’s coming.
Everyone is tired of waiting.
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