The main news item this morning is actually mostly speculation. Hamas has presented a new proposal that might even be acceptable to Israel. The Israeli war cabinet will discuss it today. That means any real commentary about it will only appear on my posts after Shabbat. The leaks, as reported so far, involve a release of a lot of hostages in return for freeing a lot of Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons. That’s the first step. Discussion about a cease-fire will follow. Hamas wants a large number of terrorists, including some convicted of murder. Up to now, that category of prisoner was not being discussed by Israel.
There are a number of other items that got eclipsed by the potential breakthrough in hostage negotiations. Israel’s “friend”, Joe Biden, has unfrozen a few billion dollars for Iran (was this why Hamas softened their stance?) and added some Israeli settlers and settlements to the US sanctions list. Spain is talking about recognizing a State of Palestine (Which one? West Bank or Gaza?). And major media giants like the New York Times and Washington Post are still quoting the Gaza Ministry of Health (and other Hamas sources) that blame Israel for all the humanitarian aid delivery problems.
Israel has tried to avoid dealing with aid distribution, and no one other than Hamas and allied UN agencies has been willing to be involved. In northern Gaza Israel got one of the big clans to step up, but only briefly. Hamas sent terrorists to murder the clan leader. Everyone got the message. Hamas still handles distribution (but via their civil administration people, not the military wing). The Netanyahu government still has no real plan for replacing Hamas civil administration. Even the appointment of a new Palestinian Authority Prime Minister hasn’t had an effect.
Israel is still involved in the ultra-orthodox draft controversy. The yeshiva students are a large potential manpower pool for the army, but the ultra-orthodox rabbis won’t join in. At least one of them even threatened to leave Israel if the law is enforced. Others say they would rather go to prison than serve. But their political leaders are avoiding threatening to leave the government because that might result in new elections.
Wetherhorn 