Confronting an evil enemy that sacrifices the welfare of its own to inflict as much pain and anguish on the Jewish people.

By Jonathan Feldstein

We definitely need some miracles and extra joy this Chanukah and Christmas.  I would take an order, supersized.

As the holiday most profoundly based on a series of supernatural miracles and a major military victory by the Maccabees over Syrian-Hellenist enemies, this year more than ever, we need to continue to see the supernatural miracles that have taken place; the light amid the darkness and suffering, even (or especially) amid the fear and angst that the war has brought.

One of the things about which we especially need miracles and prayers is the immediate return of all of the remaining 100 hostages being held by terrorists in Gaza. There’s renewed talk about a deal to secure the hostages’ release being more imminent than ever.  Call me cynical, albeit I pray for it every day, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

We know that many of the hostages are dead, but many are believed to be alive and bringing them home to Israel must be an immediate priority. The imperative and pressure to secure their release must be on Hamas and all the terrorist enablers to do so, even though they have less motivation to do so now.

Fortunately, President-elect Trump has made his position clear:

all the hostages must be returned by his inauguration or there will be “hell to pay”

Holding hostages and causing grief are for the terrorists, their currency. The hostages are basically all they have left after a crushing military defeat, albeit one that’s not yet complete. Eventually, while Hamas can be physically defeated, their jihadi ideology needs a more out-of-the-box solution to bring true peace.

See www.SolutionforpeaceinGaza.com which addresses the genocidal anti-Israel ideology and presents Gazans with a vision of peace and coexistence by considering alternate concepts not rooted in hate and terror.

While it’s likely that Trump means business, and maybe the increased optimism for a deal is a result of anticipated pressure and/or consequences, the terrorists know that once they release the hostages, they will have no cards left to play. While all Israelis desperately want the hostages released and brought home, many of Israel’s commentators doubt all the hostages will be returned. Hamas and their Iranian sponsors thrive and indeed exist on the suffering of others.

Americans of my generation remember well the previous hostage crisis in 1979.  Under an impotent Jimmy Carter presidency, Iranian Islamic terrorists took over the US Embassy in Tehran and held 54 Americans hostage for 444 days. That hostage crisis ended only once President Reagan was inaugurated in January 1980.

At that point, the Iranian Islamists behaved somewhat like rational actors. Getting their feet wet in controlling a whole nation following the Islamic revolution that overthrew the Shah, they had not yet become the global sponsor of terror that they became, and are now.  They actually cared about what President Reagan thought and might do.  No sooner had Reagan become President, and the hostages were on their way home.

Today, twice the number of hostages remain in Gaza, arguably suffering conditions that are much worse including starvation, physical and psychological torture, no exposure to light, humiliation, brainwashing, and more. Their families are also suffering more than one can imagine.

This year, as the first day of Chanukah and Christmas coincide, we need the miracles and joy for all the hostages and their loved ones, all the more. But there’s another reason why this week matters even more.

Maybe it’s only a coincidence, but as we celebrate Chanukah and Christmas together this year, we also mark the same 444 days that the American hostages were held in Iran.

It’s refreshing to have an incoming president who seems to be making the hostages being released a priority. I have contended for the past year that any American president could have forced the issue to release the hostages by exerting maximum pressure on Iran and Qatar, both of which shelter and fund Hamas and its leaders. Any American president could and should have supported Israel to do everything and anything possible to pressure Hamas, eliminate the terrorists, and find and bring the hostages home, not equivocate and send a mixed signal that only emboldened the terrorists.

Until now, while there have been negotiations, there’s been very little by way of pressure. There’s been far too much equivocating from the simple fact that Israel became embroiled in a protracted and costly war of Hamas’ making following the massacre and taking of hostages and resisting their return. The consequent suffering of Gazans is largely self-inflicted because of bad choices they have made and continue to make.

There’s a simple rule in dealing with terrorists: negotiation shows weakness.  It is not a tactic to defeat the terrorists, but to kick the can down the road.  The Biden administration has enabled the terrorists, more than done anything to defeat them.  They pandered, and funded Iran to the tune of billions of dollars, showing even further weakness.

Among the hostages there are still several Americans. And it must be emphasized that the October 7 massacre by Hamas was the third largest slaughter of Americans at any one time this century after September 11.

As we celebrate Chanukah and Christmas and the hostages surpass 444 days in captivity – double the number of hostages taken by Iran in 1979 and longer than the Americans were held hostage then – all Americans should be demanding the release of all the hostages – Americans, Israelis and other nationalities –  and act to make that happen.

We should not have to wait for Trump’s inauguration with weeks more of suffering, but it may well come to that.

This should be an important national and international priority for the US because if Americans are not safe anywhere, they are not safe everywhere. The same style jihadis that took 54 Americans hostage in 1979 are now holding again American citizens in Gaza. Unless defeated, they will do it again – sometime, somewhere.

This Chanukah and Christmas, we need to commit that every effort must be taken to have all the hostages released. While praying for miracles, encourage as many to sign the petition to pressure the world powers to pressure the terrorists.

And as we celebrate the supernatural miracles of over two millennia ago, we pray fervently for more momentous miracles today that include the return of our loved ones held hostage in Gaza.

About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

An analysis of the death toll in Gaza  exposes a shameful negligence of basic standards of global journalism – statistics provided by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health do “not add up”

By Andrew Fox

The Henry Jackson Society report into Hamas’ fatality statistics in Gaza has now been released. We have very deliberately tried to omit value judgment and opinions from the report and give benefit of the doubt as much as possible. It is still damning: there is just too much wrong. Too many errors, too many impossibilities, too many signs of obvious data manipulation.

We wrote this report not to give a definitive figure. We wrote it to give people the means to rebut the false narrative. Wherever possible we have relied solely on Hamas’ own figures to damn them. Our primary source, overwhelmingly, was Hamas themselves.

Let me break it down chapter by chapter.

Chapter 1 deals with the methodology of the reporting. There are three mechanisms used by Hamas. Fatalities are recorded through:

– a mix of hospital reports

– family submissions using an open-source online form, and

– “media sources”.

In each of the methodologies, Hamas’ own figures show men as the group most likely to be killed. Adult males made up only 26% of Gaza’s population before the war.

Men are dying in disproportionate numbers – especially men of fighting age. This chapter allows anyone arguing with the pro-Hamas mob to prove that Israel is targeting fighters, not innocents.

Chapter 2 deals with the age breakdown of demographics in much more detail.

This chapter allows you to comprehensively rebut the idea that Israel is targeting women and children.

Chapter 3 reveals that Hamas  – adding to the rapists and murderers that they are – are also liars. Its claim of Gazan resident’s “killed by IDF action” is a fabrication when exposed as having being killed by themselves directly or through their own rockets that have fallen short and as well as including natural deaths.

It is beyond me why international media would not realise this. Hamas publishes the lists of people authorised to leave Gaza for medical treatment. It takes no time at all to cross reference. Shameful negligence of basic standards of journalism.

Chapter 4 proves that the IDF is telling the truth about how many combatants they have killed.

We have corroborated this all through open-source reporting. We could get nothing out of the IDF for this report, with the exception of two sources, low in the chain whose anonymity I am protecting so as not to land them in trouble.

The IDF did not cooperate in this research except where interviews are credited in the footnotes. In hindsight I’m pleased; it strengthens the report.

From this chapter one can conclusively extrapolate that the IDF are telling the truth when they say it’s 17-20 thousand (although after the Jabalia operation, completed after submission, I suggest it is now 18 thousand at a minimum).

Chapter 5 is my favourite. You know that old canard “Hamas deaths stats have been reliable in the past”?

They haven’t.

This chapter allows you to put that to bed once and for all. We have proven that Hamas lies about civilian deaths during the conflict, and actively coerces Gaza’s population to conceal Hamas combatant deaths.

Chapter 6 is the work of the amazing Tania Glezer from Fifty.Global and the International Institute for Social and Legal Studies.

They show the shocking imbalance in global media reporting on this conflict.

The West’s media has taken the conscious decision to platform the murderous rapists of Hamas over the democratic, accountable military of a country that is an ally to many of our nations. They repeat Hamas’ lies wholesale, without any scrutiny.

Shameful.

No wonder the dialogue on this conflict is as toxic as it is. Our traditional media have some serious questions to answer.

In response to the Telegraph article about our report the BBC said:

“It is challenging to report accurately on the death toll in Gaza as Israel does not allow independent access to international journalists. BBC News is clear and transparent in sourcing the figures which are available and attributing them to the Hamas-run health authority.

Beyond this, we use a range of sources to understand the impact of the war in Israel and Gaza on civilians including the IDF, the health ministry in Gaza and the UN.”

Oh yeah?

See chart below. From the data manipulation we have identified in this report, Hamas’ figures are so flawed and unreliable, international media and the UN should not be using them at all.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We’re seeing the positive response from the friendly today. I have no doubt that the next week will see a shitstorm of abuse and attempts to discredit.

But here’s the beauty of the report: it’s only Hamas’ figures we have used. Try and discredit the report, and you’re discrediting Hamas’ figures either way.

The comments of Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestine Mission to the United Kingdom, have delighted me. I’ll probably get them framed.

He said:

“Numerous international organisations and UN agencies – including the WHO – have not only confirmed these numbers, they’ve made the point that they are severely underestimated.”

The UN does not publish these figures without at least a caveat that they are unverified. Give them that much credit. Many have said they’re underestimated there is no evidence for that either other than wild supposition, like that ludicrous letter to the Lancet. Mr. Zomlot has reacted to accusations of inaccuracy with a repetition of more inaccuracy.

This report was compiled by a team comprising of the brilliant Dr Mark Zlochin, Salo Aizenberg, Elliot Malin and Tania Glezer.

Here’s the link to the full report:

https://henryjacksonsociety.org/publications/questionable-counting

About the writer:

A veteran of three grueling tours of Afghanistan, Major Andrew Fox holds a Batchelor’s degree in Law & Politics, a Master’s in Military History & War Studies, and is currently studying for a PhD in History.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

Ten lessons for Israeli/Palestinian peacemaking

By Howard Sackstein

*First published in the SAJR

Can we talk peace, whilst still in the midst of war?

Hamas is decimated, reduced to a disparate ragtag insurgency in Gaza, Hezbollah has been neutered, the myth of Shiite power in Lebanon has been exposed, Syria has collapsed, with the Butcher of Damascus, Bashar al-Assad, having fled to Moscow, Syria’s military is today a scrapheap of metal, Iran has been humiliated, its air defenses destroyed, its missile and nuclear facilities crippled and the Shiite crescent that once encircled and threatened Israel, has effectively been dismantled.

Finding peace however, is much harder than waging war. The American invasion of Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. When American forces withdrew from Kabul in 2021, they handed the country and much of their military infrastructure back to the Taliban, the very group that the Allied commanders had attempted to oust.

Similarly, the American lead invasion of Iraq in 2003, ostensibly to search for non-existent weapons of mass destruction, resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, leaving the Americans with nothing to show for it. Iraq descended into tribal and religious chaos, becoming a vassal state of Iran.  The 2011 NATO, attacks on Libya to support rebel forces and oust Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, as part of the Arab Spring, resulted in even greater chaos and instability in the region.

Since the carnage of 7 October, Israel has won a number of decisive victories on the battlefield emerging triumphant and increasingly powerful.

With victory comes opportunity.

Today, on the cusp of victory, Israel must not allow an opportunity for potential peace to slip from its grasp. Concessions after the devastation of 7 October and in the wake of victory are difficult, but peace is made between enemies not friends, and now more than ever, a genuine moonshot for peace must be made.

76 years since the birth of the modern state of Isreal has taught us lessons of what has failed, but we are yet to find a formula for peace that works. I believe there are 10 lessons that can guide our thinking.

LESSON 1

Attempting to destroy Israel and massacre Jews doesn’t end well for Palestinians. In 1948, seven Arab armies invaded Israel in an attempt to destroy the emerging Jewish state and commit genocide on the Jewish population. Their intentions were clear. The Secretary General of the Arab League described the attack, “this will be a momentous massacre (of Jews) which will be spoken of like the Tartar massacre.” For the Arabs, “from the river to the sea”, Palestine would be free of Jews. Their invasion failed resulting in the “Nakba”, the refugee problem that has dogged the region ever since. Subsequent attempts to invade Israel have all failed. The events of 7 October 2023 were merely a continuation on the same theme. Israel is there to stay; it cannot be defeated and each attempt to invade the country results in repeated and ongoing humiliation and destruction for those who try.

LESSON 2

The West Bank and Gaza cannot be legitimately annexed by another country. The war of 1948 left the West Bank of the Jordan river – which was supposed to form the fulcrum for an Arab state created by the United Nations partition plan of 1947 – under the control of Jordan, and the Gaza strip under the control of Egypt. In 1950, Jordan annexed the West Bank – an annexation recognized by only Britain, Iraq and Pakistan but no one else. The idea that the West Bank and Gaza could form part of neighbouring countries or be annexed by another country hit a major roadblock.

LESSON 3

The Palestinians are here and not going anywhere. In 1964, an Egyptian engineer in the pay of the Soviet KGB, with the support of the Arab League, established the PLO, not to liberate the occupied West Bank and Gaza (from Jordan and Egypt), but to destroy the state of Israel. Edward Said, the late renown Palestinian academic and professor at Columbia University, lectured my class in International Conflict Resolution at Harvard. He explained that no attempt had been made to establish a Palestinian state while under Jordanian and Egyptian control because Arab society was largely built around family and clan. The notion of Palestinian national identity was only born after the 1967 Six Day War, where a genocidal war by Syria, Egypt and Jordan was thwarted by a pre-emptive Israeli attack which resulted in Israeli control of the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Desert. But since then, Palestinian national Identity has been ingrained into the psyche of the world.

LESSON 4

Land and dignity are keys to peace. While on a trip to Egypt, I visited the National Military Museum in Cairo. I was amazed to see an exhibition on the great Egyptian military victory of the Yom Kippur War, a war where Egypt was wholly defeated and where Israel had surrounded the entire Egyptian 3rd Army in the Sinai and would have completely obliterated it, if not for the intervention of Henry Kissinger who taught the famous lesson of Sun Tzu, do not surround an army on all sides.  The 1973 Yom Kippur War led to the 1978 Camp David Peace Agreements between Israel and Egypt, breaking the taboo of Arab Peace with Israel and setting the precedence that Israel was willing to return land in return for peace.

LESSON 5

You make peace with your enemies not your friends. To the surprise of the world, in 1993, Israel under the leadership of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres were engaged in the unthinkable. They were secretly negotiating with the PLO, aimed at achieving a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The Oslo Accords marked the first time both parties formally recognized each other and outlined a framework for future negotiations. As a consequence, a year later in 1994, Isael and Jordan signed the Wadi Araba Treaty, ending hostiles between the countries, suddenly peace was possible not just an isolated event.

LESSON 6

A complex deal is possible but both parties have to be ready for peace. In the waning days of Bill Clinton‘s Presidency, his priority turned to solving the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Under the guidance of American diplomat Dennis Ross, Israel, represented by Yossi Beilin and the Palestinians represented by Mahmoud Abbas (the current President of the Palestinian Authority), negotiated a deal that would see Bill Clinton walk away from the White House with a Nobel Prize. The final touches were to be sealed by Clinton together with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the Presidential retreat of Camp David. The deal was done, borders were decided, Jerusalem would be expanded, the west side would be the capital of the Jewish state the east side would be the capital of a Palestinian one. Gaza and 96% of the West Bank would be given to the Palestinians as a state together with an additional 4% of Israel. On the day of signing, Yasser Arafat balked and refused to sign the deal that his team had agreed and negotiated.

I once asked Dennis Ross, over breakfast,  what had gone wrong.  He believed that at the final moment, Arafat was unwilling to give up on the Palestinian dream of achieving everything and destroying Israel. 

Barak had risked everything for a deal that evaporated before him. On the flight home, his team honed the message that there was “no partner for peace on the Palestinian side.” The Israeli peace movement collapsed in the face of Arafat’s actions and Barak would lose the upcoming elections. The Palestinians had just blown their greatest chance for peace. As Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once famously said, “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity“.

LESSON 7

Never judge a book by its cover. The election after the collapse of the Camp David Summit was fierce. The hardline Israeli general standing for election, Ariel Sharon, would visit the Temple Mount and spark what became known as The Second Intifada which claimed the lives of over 1000 Israelis. Israel was no longer in a mood for peace and Sharon was a hawk. But Sharon was a pragmatist and against all predictions he was soon making moves for Israeli withdrawals from Gaza.

Lesson 8

Unilateral actions don’t work. Prime Minister Sharon saw an occupation of Gaza that could not be justified on moral, political, economic or military grounds. Thousands of troops were deployed to protect 8000 Jewish settlers.  Sharon decided to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza in 2005. The disengagement involved the removal of 21 Israeli settlements and the withdrawal of the IDF from the Strip.

In 2006, Gaza went to the polls and elected the Islamic Hamas. Hamas seized control, massacring Fatah (PLO) supporters, throwing officials from buildings, torturing and murdering its opponents. Hamas turned Gaza into a military arsenal, causing Israel to impose a blockade on Gaza. Hamas fired more than 11 000 missiles at Israel and invaded Israel on 7 October 2023, massacring more than 1200 people, mainly civilians and taking 251 hostages. The Sharon plan had failed.

LESSON 9

Without trust you go nowhere. In 2006 Ariel Sharon would suffer a massive debilitating stroke. He would be succeeded as prime minister by Ehud Olmert who, despite being a hardliner, began what became known as the “napkin negotiations“. Olmert and Abbas held a series of negotiations in 2008, where a deal similar to the Camp David Summit proposal previously agreed by Abbas was presented. Olmert showed Abbas maps but refused to provide copies to him for fear that they would be leaked and used against him. Abbas drew copies of the maps on a napkin. The two leaders didn’t trust each other enough to exchange formal proposals and the negotiations collapsed. Olmert was facing corruption charges and would later be sentenced to 6 years in jail for the Holyland real estate scandal.

LESSON 10

Doing nothing is not an answer. Benjamin Netanyahu followed Olmert for his second stint as Prime Minister in 2009. Netanyahu watched the collapse of all the peace efforts and decided to do nothing. His objective was to provide economic prosperity to the Palestinians rather than political rights. He colluded with the Qatari government to pump significant amount of money into the Gaza Strip hoping that this newfound wealth would dissuade the Palestinians away from attacks on Israel or demands for a Palestinian State. Netanyahu focussed on curbing Iran and making peace with the Sunni powers of the Middle East, signing the Abraham accords with Bahrain, UAE, Morocco and Sudan. But October 7 proved Netanyahu’s strategy a failure.

Frustratingly I have all of the questions but none of the answers. But I do know that doing nothing and not seizing the new opportunities that arise from an Israeli victory on the battlefield will not serve our interests in the long run.

As we close out 2024 and reflect on the past year, may our thoughts be obsessed on how we bring peace to Israel and the world.

About the writer:

Howard Sackstein is Chairperson of the SA Jewish Report but writes in his personal capacity. He has a BA in International Relations and an MA in political advocacy and international conflict resolution. He has been involved in numerous attempts to facilitate negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).