Polio and hostage murders
a terrible start to September
The depths of tragedy sweeping across the Israeli and Palestinian communities today is profound. The IDF this weekend discovered six hostages murdered after eleven months in captivity. Four men and a pair of women, all in the prime of their lives, died as on-going operations to destroy Hamas continued in Gaza. One of the four, dual national Israeli-American, is proof that so many things occurring far away in Israel have close connections to U.S. families.
Protests intensified in Israel between those demanding a ceasefire to assure the remaining living hostages return to their families, despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s continuing resistance to pulling back from offensive actions against Hamas. his hard right coalition partners see no reason to delay efforts to wipeout Hamas, if not the entire Palestinian community in the adjacent territories. Several attempts at ceasefires collapsed as Netanyahu or the Hamas leaders pulled back when the opportunity for a stand down arose, all within the context of Netanyahu’s intention to continue the IDF scorched earth policies in Gaza through the end of this calendar year. Hamas has been no more willing to push for a ceasefire, despite the absolutely debilitating beating the Palestinian population is suffering.
The World Health Organization, a United Nations body, intends to implement a mass inoculation effort in Gaza as the millions living in that hellhole now confront the scourge of a polio outbreak. The contagious, debilitating illness leaves its victims paralyzed, an even crueler condition than the panic and starvation confronting those suffering through the on-going urban warfare between Israel and the 7 October attackers of Hamas.
No indications exist that either the Israeli Prime Minister nor the Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar intend soon to curtail their warfare in Gaza. Netanyahu confronts significant stress within his “War Cabinet”, often clashing publicly with his Defense Minister over the path ahead. Lurking behind everything else is the perception the Prime Minister’s actions result to a significant degree from personal legal troubles once he is out of office, motivating him to continue a war that could extend his term as a “wartime” Prime Minister. Long a controversial figure who sees himself as a martyr within the Israeli body politic, Netanyahu retains his position because the public remains divided on the best course for the nation after the shocking attacks eleven months ago. His margin of electoral support is razor thin but he does have the majority in a democracy.
At the same time, yesterday’s discoveries led to a renewed, fierce effort by those who no longer see any option but a ceasefire to save the remaining living hostages, though we don’t know the status of those people for certain. Today, the largest labour union, Histadrut, announced a general strike beginning Monday evening which could have significant impact in this highly unionized society. Many families of hostages have opposed Netanyahu’s policies from the beginning, arguing they would lead to precisely the effects seen yesterday with the purported murders of the six either Friday or Saturday as IDF troops neared their holding area. The announcement last night only raised the virtual frenzy of the hostage family efforts to alter the Prime Minister’s course. Time will tell whether he can maintain his posture that the eradication of Hamas outweighs everything else.
Hamas, as authoritarian rulers in Palestinian Territories, faces less overt pressure to agree to the ceasefire. Much of the international public opinion, including some in this country, now views Palestinians as victims in this conflict, as if the 7 October murder of Jewish Israelis and associated hostage-taking never occurred. The Israeli offensive has killed a number of Hamas leaders (as well as a couple of prominent Iranians, running the risk of horizontal escalation across the region) but Hamas appears surviving as a coherent entity, even if tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians are dead or injured as a result of the warfare.
In short, the tragedy, the death, the destruction, and—more relevantly to our theme of actions and consequences—the further primordial hatred between the two sides goes on. It’s hard to see it ending well for anyone, especially should the conflict spread into Lebanon with Hezbollah in addition to Hamas.
Millions around the world regularly oppose Hamas and especially Israel in this war but familiarity with events breeds weariness. As the war drags out, more consequences such as the famine earlier this summer, now a polio threat, will arise. Likely people’s attention will stray elsewhere without remembering the death and destruction continue. That inability to continue focusing on the horrors is a common consequence of war; ask the Ukrainians. But much of the world sees Israel as the aggressor rather than the victim, a danger which may well undermine the Jewish state’s security further into the future.
President Biden, in the face of substantial antipathy within his own party, stands firm in supporting Israel with arms, even if he openly chastises Netanyahu occasionally. FPOTUS remains as wishy-washy on this as any other topic, accusing Jews of not understanding the depth of his personal support for Israel while seeming not to grasp that Biden’s policy is probably similar to one Trump himself would adopt if Israel is our primary interest. The fanciful nonsense of his personal ability to end conflicts is just that—incoherent, irrelevant chatter from someone who can’t focus on solutions, only attacks. Vice President Harris, married to a Jewish American, states she will support Israel.
Five weeks from tomorrow, Jews will commemorate the Yahrzeit (year time), or anniversary, of the 7 October 2023 attacks. That date will fall among the High Holy Days between Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the day of Atonement), running from 2 to 12 October 2024. Especially for those families who lost loved ones but for all Jews around the globe, the reading of the names of those who died that day will be excruciatingly bitter.
The future in the Hamas-Israel war is so far from bright in any sense.
Thank you for taking time to read this newsletter today or any other. I welcome your thoughts of any type. Please feel free to circulate if you think if of value. I deeply thank the paid subscribers to Actions.
We seem to only drift further into the mist, clouds, and unknown without a clear path back out.
Be well and be safe. FIN
Bethan McKernan, “Hostage deaths could pile pressure on Netanyahu to agree Gaza ceasefire”, theguaradian.com, 1 September 2024, retrieved at https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/01/hostage-deaths-pressure-netanyahu-agree-gaza-ceasefire
Lena Sun and Hajar Harb, “In Gaza, a sprint to blunt polio”, Washington Post, 1 September 2024: A1.