The Anguish of the Hostages and the Anguishing Decision Israel Must Make
September 17 , 2024 - Issue #59
Today, there is a plethora of reporting suggests that war in the north is imminent. Indicators that suggest that include:
According to Lt. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, President of the Alma Research and Education Center, “For the last two weeks . . . the volume of [Hezbollah’s] rocket attacks on non-evacuated areas has intensified.”
Israel’s War Cabinet has officially added as a war goal returning evacuated citizens of the north to their homes
Pagers used by Hezbollah’s operatives in Lebanon and some in Syria simultaneously exploded following the communication device beeping causing, according to I24 news, at least eight deaths and 2,800 to be injured among Hezbollah operatives.
Israeli internal security thwarted a Hezbollah attempt to assassinate a former senior Israeli defense in Israel, by using an explosive device controlled from Lebanon.
I will be following events closely and report to you as soon as I can provide more clarity. Now, to the main topic of this essay.
On September 1, we learned Hamas had slaughtered six hostages that until then had survived for 328 days in inhumane conditions—likely with diminishing hope and certainly with diminishing spirit and physicality.
The next day, massive protests erupted in Israel. Among other things, they demanded, “Bring them home,” referring to the hostages still held by Hamas,
Several days later, I gathered with others to listen to the words of the parents of Omer Neutra, a hostage hopefully still alive. Their despair tore a hole through my soul.
A few days afterwards, I heard Moran Stela Yanai tell her heart wrenching story of her fifty-four days as a hostage of Hamas before being released in late November and its subsequent impact on her.
Of course, it’s a priority to bring home the remaining hostages.
But how? And is doing so paramount?
There are only three roads that hold any prospect of success. All of them are risky and none of them provide certainty. They are:
Principled negotiation that does not jeopardize securing a victory over Hamas and Israel’s other enemies
Force
Capitulation
Considering the implications, downsides, and devastating costs of each option is heart wrenching. But before doing so, I think it important that I, and you, learn more about the six hostages who recently were murdered, what they experienced, who Omer Neutra is, what Moran Stela Yanai went through, and the circumstances of their capture. Only then, not from miles high but in the trenches of their anguish, do I think it appropriate to consider the issue.
The Six Hamas Slaughtered.
Ori Danino: Ori was a twenty-five-year-old off duty IDF paratrooper who went to the Supernova music festival with friends. When hell broke loose, they left in separate vehicles after filling their cars with as many people as possible. But after reaching safety, Ori worried about three others that he had met for the first time at the party. Despite his friends’ warnings that he will be killed, Ori went back to try to save those he had just met. Terrorists took Ori, and they, captive. Two were released in November. One remains a captive. Hamas murdered Ori.
Eden Yerushalmi: Eden was a twenty-four-year-old waitress in Tel Aviv who went to the Supernova festival to work as a bartender at the event. When Hamas’ rockets first appeared in the sky, she sent her family a video of them and then stayed in contact with her sisters for the next four hours while hiding in a car filled with dead friends. Then, feeling the need to move, she hid in some thorny bushes. While there, her sisters heard gunshots on the phone and then Eden’s voice, “they’ve caught me.” Eden’s sisters said that she was always the life of the party, “very friendly,” and “live[d] life to the fullest.” Now, that spark has been extinguished because Hamas murdered her.
Almog Sarusi: Almog, twenty-seven years old, was at the Supernova festival with his girlfriend. Together, they headed with friends towards a car to escape, but on the way she was shot. Rather than leave with them, Almog stayed behind to tend to his girlfriend’s wounds. While doing so, terrorists captured him, and she died. Almog prized playing his guitar, but in Gaza his music stopped when Hamas murdered him.
Carmel Gat: Forty-year-old Carmel lived in Tel Aviv where she worked as an occupational therapist. Of the six, she was the only one who did not attend the Supernova festival. Instead, she was visiting her parents at Kibbutz Be’eri. There, Hamas’ murderers killed Carmel’s mother and took Carmel hostage along with her brother Alon, Alon’s wife Yarden, and their three-year old daughter. Miraculously, Alon and his child escaped as did Yarden. But Yarden was recaptured and endured captivity for more than fifty days until she was released in November 2023. Meanwhile, Carmel endured and gained a reputation as a guardian angel with some of the other hostages and once a day did yoga with some of the other children taken into Gaza. But in late August of 2024, Carmel’s days as a guardian angel came to an end when Hamas murdered her.
Alexander Lobanov: Of the six, thirty-two-year-old Alexander was the only one married. His wife was five months pregnant on October 7 and they already had been blessed with another child who then was one-year old. Alexander, who provided care for his two disabled parents, was the head bartender at the Supernova festival. After helping others escape, he ran into the woods to hide but was captured. Alexander’s wife gave birth to his second child while he was in captivity. But now, that child will never know him and his first will not remember him because Hamas murdered Alexander.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin: Perhaps the most well-known of all the hostages, at least in the United States thanks to the tireless efforts of his parents to advocate on behalf of all those taken by Hamas, twenty-three-year-old Hersh was “happy go lucky, laid back, good humored, respectful, and curious.” Hersh, a U.S citizen, was born in America where he lived until age seven before his family moved to Israel. The night before the concert, Hersh dined with his family, after which, unbeknownst to his parents who thought he was going camping, Hersh left for the Supernova concert. Early the next morning, Hersh’s family received two WhatsApp messages from him—one saying that he loved them and the other, “I’m sorry.” Hersh tried to hide in a shelter with his best friend, Aner Shapira, and many others but it was to no avail. Hamas terrorists tossed one grenade after another into it. Aner, and possibly Hersh, tossed them back, but after throwing out at least six, Aner was killed and and Hersh’s arm was blown off at the elbow. Then, terrorists took Hersh captive and carted him off to Gaza in the back of a truck. Somehow, Hersh survived—until Hamas murdered him.
Their Last Days
The IDF tells us that Hamas executed the six late on August 29 or on August 30, 2024—a day before IDF soldiers found their bodies in a deep, dark, and extremely humid tunnel. The entrance to the tunnel was above ground, hidden in a child’s bedroom containing visible pictures of Mickey Mouse and Snow White. Suspecting a tunnel shaft in the area, the IDF used a specially designed “buggy” vehicle to search for an opening. At one point, it seemed to sink slightly, suggesting the presence of a shaft below. After cutting through material used by the terrorists to cover the entrance, soldiers found an opening that led twenty yards down to the main tunnel. They then used a drone to inspect the shaft and tunnel for boobytraps, the presence of people, or anything else. But little could be seen.
Soldiers then descended into the very narrow main tunnel that stretched 120 yards straight and long, had no side rooms, and was 4.5 feet high—too short to stand straight in. A metal door was at the end of it. On the floor they saw protein bars but little other food, bottles filled with urine, a makeshift bucket with excrement, female hygiene products, and bullet shells. They also saw blood. Lots of blood. And, in this dungeon-like world where breathing was difficult in the fetid air, they found the bullet-ridden bodies of the six hostages, in two groups of three. The IDF estimates they were there, struggling to survive, for a week or more—gasping for breath, starving (all evidenced profound weight loss—Eden weighed 80 pounds when she died), and living at the bitterest end of life until the murders snuffed out even that.
Yet, even in their last moments, honor and courage overcame fear and isolation. We know that because the IDF found evidence that when they were about to be executed, all six tried to fight off their attackers and that the Hersh, Ori, Alexander, and Almog attempted to defend the women, Eden and Carmel.
They died because Hamas murdered them. They died because of Hamas’ cruelty. They died, because Hamas wields murder as a psychological tool. They died not because of anything Israel did or did not do but because of what Hamas wants to do—survive to kill more Israelis, radicalize the world against Jews, and destroy the state of Israel. All else is just noise that serves Hamas’ purposes.
For those who wish to view it, here is a link to an IDF video of the tunnel and what they found there.
Captured and Released in November 2023
Then Forty-year-old Moran Stela Yanai went to the Supernova festival to sell jewelry. Instead, soon after daybreak, she found herself fleeing from terrorists. Twice terrorists captured here and twice Moran talked her way free by pretending she was an Arab. But the third time Hamas’ terrorists caught her, after she had broken her ankle falling from a hiding place in a tree, they dragged Moran off into Gaza in a car filled with men. There, for fifty-four days she existed in a surreal world where she was starved, mentally tortured and physically abused (in a prior interview she said, "The sexual degradation I went through was beyond words" but that she won’t speak further of it until all the other hostages are released.)
For nearly an hour, Moran spoke to us, her words sandwiched between two videos—one of family members speaking before she was released and the other of her screams of relief in the first moments after seeing her parents and being gathered into their embrace when they first saw each other upon her return to Israel. Moran detailed the degradation, the loss of freedom, and the emotional impact of what she underwent but refrained from detailing many of the more gruesome physical aspects. Nor was there a need for her to do so.
Moran Stela Yanai now has made it her mission to speak around the world—not only about what she experienced but also to maintain our focus on the remaining hostages. And something else—to teach us the power and determination of the human spirit to survive when faced with unimaginable cruelty, the need to not ask why when faced with such adversity, and the importance of finding value and appreciation for every day of life.
She is such an impressive person and the measured weight of her words so powerful.
And then there are the almost seventy still in Gaza, desperate to be rescued, likely close to death.
One is Omer Neutra
Omer, an American citizen, was twenty-two when Hamas’ terrorists captured him. In high school, Omer was a student leader and avid sports participant. In 2020, rather than go to college right away, Omer moved to Israel to attend a year-long education and leadership program. Imbued with a love of Israel gained through his life’s experiences, he volunteered for the Israeli army. His father, Ronen said, “Our son drafted himself, not because he had to, but because he wanted to.”
On October 7, Omer commanded a tank guarding the border with Gaza. He was captured after an RPG shell struck his tank, slowing it enough to permit Hamas terrorists to attach explosive devices to the tank’s front and back. The resulting fire forced Omer and the other three crew members to exit the vehicle. When they opened its hatch, terrorists dragged them out and took them into Gaza. Two did not survive, Omer and the fourth crew member remain in captivity.
What Should Israel Do?
After the IDF found the six dead, young Israelis, Israeli society blew up. There were massive demonstrations and strikes. Their angered cries demanded that Netanyahu secure the release of the remaining hostages, blamed him for the death of the six, and vilified him for his purported motives. However, another huge segment of Israeli society adamantly opposes any deal for release of the hostages that jeopardizes Israel’s attainment of its other war goal—ending Hamas’ ability to govern Gaza and threaten Israel in the future. Right or wrong, fair or not, these two goals—release of the hostages and destroying Hamas—may well conflict.
If so, what to do?
But before I attempt to respond to this question, I think it important to provide you the other side of this terrible coin by providing you with the thoughts of a reservist serving in Gaza that I found online, and an essay written by Dr. Einat Wilf, widely read in Israel, that Daniel Gordis translated (I interviewed Wilf in her apartment in Tel Aviv in May 2024).
The reservist wrote:
“The Philadelphi Corridor is more important than hostages. It’s more important than me and my entire battalion, which has been fighting in Gaza since the beginning of the war.” “Approximately every 100 meters,” he explained, “a tunnel passes through the fence, openings used for smuggling massive amounts of contraband.” Therefore, “Leaving Philadelphi for one day means a death sentence for thousands more Israelis … Our blood [meaning the soldiers fighting in Gaza] is no less red than the blood of the hostages, although we are ready to sacrifice our lives for the sake of defeating the enemy.” The reservist then concluded, “Take a deep breath, and think again about your rhetoric. Now you are on the side of our worst enemy.”
Even though there is reporting that much of Hamas’ weapons flowed above ground from Egypt through Rafah, the reservists’ words that evidence concern for the lives of his fellow soldiers and civilians must be considered.
Dr. Wilf, a former liberal Knesset member turned “conservative” by Palestinian rejectionism of deals previously offered, wrote:
“Our country is being torn apart by a terrible struggle over something that doesn’t really exist.
A few months ago, one of the American negotiators in the peace process said in a closed meeting that ‘After thirty years he had to admit that in fact there was never a negotiation.” According to him, “Israel offered, and Arafat said no. Israel offered more, and Arafat said no. Israel offered more, and Abu Mazen said no.’ And he added that ‘In fact there was never a moment when negotiations really took place in the sense that the Palestinians tried to reach an agreed and acceptable result.’
I add that as much as there was a negotiation during the “peace process” years, it was conducted between the US and Israel. The US pressured Israel and Israel offered more. The US pressed and Israel offered more. But in all these years of the so-called “peace process,” we didn’t really bother to find out whether the Palestinians in general accept the most basic condition for any peace solution based on two states, and that is that one of the two states is the state of the Jewish people. We assumed that this was what was meant by the expression “two states” but it was only an assumption on our part. As much as this involved the internalization of Palestinians who are not refugees and do not have such a thing as the “right of return” into the State of Israel, there was never a moment when they were really ready to accept a two-state solution with one of the two being the Jewish state.
That dynamic is happening again now. Apparently, there are negotiations on a deal to release the hostages, and there are outlines, and stages, and the Americans are constantly pressuring the Israelis to agree to more, and Israel generally agrees, but there is really no deal from the Palestinian side. To understand this, you need to listen not to the Americans, not to our people, but to the Palestinians.
If there is one thing that I have committed myself to since I realized that the Palestinians do not lie on the fundamental issues, it is to listen to them without masking what they say with the wishes of my own heart. For months now I have been listening to the voices of the immigrants from their side and through the mask of “negotiations” and flights to Doha and Paris and Americans saying ‘right around the corner’, it is clear that there really is no deal that returns all the abductees.
The colossal failure in conducting the political, diplomatic and military campaign led to the fact that eleven full months after the invasion and massacre of Hamas and its supporters in Israel, Hamas feels confident enough to insist on exactly the same position it presented after the invasion and massacre: full Israeli withdrawal. Hamas remains in full control of Gaza, including on the border with Egypt, and the billions that are flowing once again for “rehabilitation” (yes, exactly the same rehabilitation of every previous round). Given the lack of symmetry in the goals - this is Hamas’s definition of “total victory”, with all the implications of an overall inspiration to our enemies.
And for those asking—as far as Hamas is concerned, until now Hamas has not paid a price, certainly not one that it considers a price. The civilian casualties are not a price and the trained killers we eliminated are already being replaced by others. As long as Hamas controls Gaza (and the flowers for the Israeli capitulation to bring in regular supplies to Gaza and the complete blindness to the double game of Qatar and Egypt, and of course the American stupidity/naivety again) and is in a position to demand what it demanded the day after the invasion and massacre.
And even those who say that this deal should be accepted, with all its implications, it is not clear that it really exists either. Because as far as Hamas is concerned, the main thing is to ensure that Israel does not attack again and does not endanger its rule, and to that end it is quite possible that it will keep hostages that will allow a horrific and continuous trickle in the negotiations to ensure that Israel will not act against it. The enemy in front of us is not stupid. He’s studied Israeli society. Talk of “we’ll make a deal and then we’ll do what we want in Gaza,” shows that we still continue to underestimate the enemy, his determination and his sadism.
And instead of looking at the terrible failure of the management of the campaign from October 7 until today and at the determined enemy in front of us, we are tearing ourselves apart, we blame each other, the families of the abductees who are consumed by worry, get bogged down in the discussion of an axis, instead of understanding that we now need a leadership that will conduct a campaign and a determined policy (deeds, not talk like sand), that understands the magnitude of the hour and the threat, that will not lead us to the terrible choice between abandoning the abductees and Israeli surrender, and will produce another, new alternative.
The enormous mistake from the beginning was to assume that the release of the abductees is contrary to the goal of destroying Hamas. This is exactly the same goal—precisely because for Hamas keeping the hostages is a guarantee of its victory, therefore subduing Hamas is the only way to release the hostages. But the destruction of Hamas relies on a combination of a political and diplomatic campaign, which, first and foremost, will make it clear that Israel has finished giving regular supplies to its enemy while at war, and that, at least on Israel’s part, “nothing goes in until the hostages come out.”
This is a policy that makes it clear that Egypt and Qatar are invited to give supplies to Hamas through the border with Egypt and we will not prevent it (even if we sit on the border). We have a legal obligation to allow this, but not to do it ourselves and within our borders. As long as the enemy does not surrender and there is no conquest but only a continuous war, this is not our obligation. We need a policy that works to cleanse the north of the Gaza Strip and Gaza City and pushes the population south with a clear statement that we will only stop when all the hostages are released.
We face a bitter enemy who has believed for a long time that it now finally has an opportunity to bring to an end the insane attempt of Jews to have a sovereign state and is working in the most brutal way towards this purpose. It is not an enemy seeking to achieve a limited goal of living alongside us in dignity or freeing a few murderers from our prisons. Faced with such an enemy we must be no less determined.”
Some might find some of Dr. Wilf’s ideas extreme. Perhaps so too with the reservist. But some of you might also think that the demands of many to secure release of the hostages at the risk of jeopardizing victory in Israel’s war with Hamas is extreme too.
Simply put, the issue is whether to increase the likelihood of Hamas agreeing to release some but not all hostages, should Israel risk loss of the war with Hamas, not returning the 60,000 evacuees to their homes in the north, the deaths of more soldiers and civilians, and increased isolation worldwide?
Reaching a correct conclusion is tortuous enough if our minds are unclouded, but that reasoned state will prove impossible unless we first rid ourselves of some of the emotions that might swirl within us. Therefore, let’s set aside for the moment whether you are a Netanyahu supporter or detractor. Let’s also forget whether Israel’s July 27 clarifications of the May 2024 ceasefire proposal presented new conditions regarding the Philadelphi corridor and other issues or just a fine tuning of what Israel had agreed to. Historians, not present-day information leakage with political motivations, will provide us with that answer. Let’s also forget about Hamas’ new demands for more of its murderous minions to be released from Israeli jails in return for some of the hostages to be released and Hamas’ arguably fluid acceptances that don’t clearly seem to equate to a yes. Instead, let’s just focus on the central question—are the future costs too high for what must be paid now to rescue some hostages from further certain suffering and likely death? Or put another way, to the extent they conflict, which goal is more important: winning the war against Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran or securing release of more hostages?
First things first, Israel has always placed a high priority on recovery of its captured soldiers, whether alive or dead. The most recent and most costly example was the release in 2011 of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, many of them serving life sentences for murdering Israelis, in exchange for the release of one Israeli soldier held by Hamas for five years—Gilad Shalit. Within three years of that prisoner release, six Israelis were killed by some of those released. Since then, according to an article published by the Jewish News Syndicate, terrorists released from Israeli jails in prisoner exchanges have killed hundreds of Israelis. In fact, Israeli Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, estimated that “80% of freed terrorists return to terrorism in one way or another, whether commanding, instructing, or killing directly.” And of course, one of those released by Israel to procure the return of Shalit was Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas who crafted and commanded the October 7 attack, and all that Hamas has done since. So far then it is clear, freeing killers comes at a price that exacts far more blood than is saved.
Of course, there is more to the hostage story than soldiers held hostage and Hamas’ demand that Israel release numerous terrorists from Israeli prisons. And that is that many of the remaining hostages are civilians including women and two children. And furthermore, Hamas is demanding control over Israeli policy—specifically a ceasefire leading to an end of the war with Hamas in place, armed, and unfettered. In other words, a victory for Hamas that would leave it intact and free to grow and strengthen itself until it can mount another large-scale attack against Israel in the future while meanwhile engaging in individual terrorist attacks that would kill Israelis at home and Jews abroad.
And there is more. In the north, Israel must now deal with Hezbollah. To do so, it must not allow Hamas’ threat to reemerge in the south. That is why control of the Philadelphi corridor, above and below ground, is crucial and Israel’s refusal to end the war with Hamas before it can no longer govern vital. It simply is not sufficient to rely on the capability of the IDF to return to the Philadelphi corridor and Gaza as a whole—worldwide if Israel did so, it would suffer an enormous political price, more Israeli soldiers would lose their lives in a battle environment that Hamas would sew with deadly surprises, and anti-Semitic forces already set free to assail Jews would run wild. Meanwhile, Hezbollah would sit back with glee safe from serious attack while it strengthened its forces and prevented Israelis from returning to their homes in the north because Israel’s ability to strike it would be hamstrung during a ceasefire with Hamas and any blowback should Israel reenter Gaza. And, of course, while all this is going on, Iran would giddily advance its nuclear weapon program.
Thus, what it comes down to in stark terms is the value of a hostage’s life versus the value of the lives of many more Israeli soldiers and civilians. Yet, for the families of those still in the Gazan dungeons that equation is foreign to them. They want their loved ones released no matter the future cost and I don’t blame them for thinking and advocating for that. Nor do I ignore the social value of leaving no one behind. But that is easy for those not charged with making decisions. Leaders must not allow themselves to be wayed by emotion and they must not put the individual welfare of a few before the survival of many. Instead, they must coolly calculate the level of Israel’s sacrifice required to meet Hamas’s demands today coupled with its certain increased demands of tomorrow. And Israel’s leaders must not ignore the incentive such sacrifices will give to all Israel will face in the future.
Therefore, as harsh as it may sound, and with total empathy for those now living in a perpetual hell, I doubt any responsible Israeli leader can countenance sacrificing the future of many by adopting an unsure path towards rescue of some. Nor would American policy be different. Clearly written in US Policy Directive/PPD-30, promulgated in 2015 during the Obama Administration, I found the following regarding U.S. government hostage recovery activities: “[T]he United States Government will make no concessions to individuals or groups holding U.S. national’s hostage. It is United States policy to deny hostage-takers the benefits of ransom, prisoner releases, policy changes, or other acts of concession. This policy protects U.S. nationals and strengthens national security by removing a key incentive for hostage-takers to target U.S. nationals, thereby interrupting the vicious cycle of hostage-takings, and by helping to deny terrorists and other malicious actors the money, personnel, and other resources they need to conduct attacks against the United States, its nationals, and its interests.”
Nevertheless, we must not forget that the hostages held by Hamas are there because Hamas will not let them go. We must not forget that their suffering is directly due to Hamas’ cruelty. We must not forget that the six dead Israelis found by the IDF in the tunnels were slaughtered for no reason other than to use terror to force Israel to adopt policies against its interest. We must not forget that Hamas’ central purpose is to destroy Israel, and if it has a base of operations it will kill, degrade, and torture innocent Jews anywhere to achieve its objectives and use its own people as sacrificial pawns.
And we must not forget that enemies surround Israel on all sides, sense that Israel is on ropes and are relentlessly attacking it and probing further for its weaknesses—militarily and psychologically.
Yet, we also must not forget the hostages. We and Israel must do everything possible to secure their release. Not by weakness in policy propagated by empathy but through power and unity. Israel must make clear it will not cave to threats, America and other nations must support Israel’s rapid application of force to clear enemies from its borders, and we must advocate and educate those willing to listen regarding what Israel faces and what it must do to survive.
And—we must continue to fervently care for our brothers and sisters in captivity with all our hearts and not allow anyone to forget what those innocents still living day-by-day in the dungeons of Gaza are suffering at the hands of their captors where deprivation is the order of the day. For we could just as easily be them. Therefore, we must consider their fate our fate and recognize that securing their freedom secures our freedom. All while recognizing that Israel must resolutely squash without compromise those that assail it, and that forgoing Israel’s security to gain hostage releases will only cause more hostages to be taken and the price for their release to increase.
I have hope. But that hope depends on us uniting to fight the scourge of terror that surrounds us—not by giving in to it but by without compromise destroying it.
Also, if you have an interest in the danger Hezbollah presents and how it came to be, you might consider purchasing my book which can be obtained on Amazon here.
Reports: Israeli troops Raided IRGC Weapons Facility in Syria, Took Equipment, Documents —Written by TOI Staff for Times of Israel—September 12, 2024
Hezbollah Creating 'New Norm' in Israel's North with Escalating Rocket Barrages - Analysis—Written by Seth J. Frantzman for the Jerusalem Post—September 8, 2024
The Egoz Boys—Boys from an elite Israeli unit speaking candidly in a five minute video about their daily experiences in Gaza—By Ani Wilcenski and Isaac De Castro for Tablet Magazine—July 11, 2024
Deciphering the Labyrinth of Israel's Security Challenges—An article focusing on my friend Sarit Zehavi, written by Nathan Minsberg for Israel Hayom—September 4, 2024.
IDF’s Preemptive Strike (August 25) – A Demonstration of Force to Send a Message—Written By staff for the Alma Research and Education Center—September 3, 2024
The Last Man in Metula—This 3.5 minute video of a conversation with Yaniv Elhadef, a man I consider a friend and with whom I spent several hours a few years ago, gives you an important personal perspective—Done by Tablet Magazine—August, 2024
Israel Must Decisively Defeat Hezbollah, Golan Council Head Says—Written by Amichai Stein for Jewish News Syndicate—August 27, 2024
Northern Council Heads Boycott IDF Security Briefing—Written by Raphael Poach for Jewish News Syndicate—August 28, 2024
‘My Sweet Boy Hersh, We Tried So Desperately to Save You’—The Full Text of Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s eulogy at the funeral of her son Hersh, abducted, held captive and murdered by Hamas in Gaza—September 3, 2024
Documents Detail Hamas Plan to Use Hostages to Remain Military Threat—Foundation for Defense of Democracies Flash Brief—September 6, 2024
JetBlue Is Changing Its Inflight Maps In Response To Israel-Palestine Criticism—Written by Vyte Klisauskaite for Simple FLying—September 8, 2024
This is How Hezbollah's Weapons Storage Endangers Civilians, Geolocation Expert Says—Written by Ohad Merlin for the Jerusalem Post—August 20, 2024
Let Their *Own* Words Win Your Pro-Israel Debates.—Written by Professor David S. Levine for Future of Jewish—August 23, 2024
I Read the New ‘Gaza Famine Report’ So You Don’t Have To—An important read written by Rachel Lester and posted in the Times of Israel Blogs—June 19, 2024
Israel’s Struggle with Hezbollah—A War Without End is now available in eBook and hardback format on Amazon and IngramSpark. This compelling narrative explores Hezbollah’s origins and cancerous growth, traces Israel’s response, and reveals Israel’s present readiness to meet Hezbollah’s challenge.
Cliff Sobin
Important Link—Alma Research and Education Center: Understanding the Security Challenges on Israel’s Northern Border
By now the decision, which is pretty much the same each time, should extract some degree less of anguish.