Apologies for the lateness of the post. I fell ill this weekend, so was late in putting this together.
Quick Hits
IDF forces have subdued the Al Shifa hospital complex. International journalists were invited inside to view, and the IDF released a video of both tunnels and weapons caches along with security footage from October 7th confirming that Hamas was using the Hospital as a base of operations.
The BBC released an apology video and retraction for running with a libelous Reuters story claiming the IDF were targeting Arab speakers and medical personnel in the Al Shifa hospital. When, in fact, the IDF were sending in Arab speakers and medical personnel to assist in medical care for patients within the hospital.
In Washington D.C., on Tuesday, November 14th, around 290,000 attended the “March for Israel.” It was said to be the largest gathering of Jews in US history. Speakers included Israel’s President Isaac Hertzog. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, and other leaders from both sides of the political aisle. (More Below)
A massive march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem took place last week to try and put pressure on the Israeli government to rescue or secure the release of the almost 240 remaining hostages. (More Below)
Embedded Reporters with the IDF, along with reporting from inside Gaza, have more or less confirmed that Northern Gaza is uninhabitable, leaving over a million people without homes and in desperate need of resources.
It appears as if a deal has been met for a four day ceasefire in exchange for 53 hostages of the 238 held captive in Gaza. This is a breaking news story as of Tuesday November 21st so we will have more to say in Friday’s Newsletter
March to Jerusalem - Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
Over the course of about three days, 30,000 Israelis marched from Tel Aviv to the Prime Minister’s offices in Jerusalem to demand that the Israeli government bring the hostages home.
On October 7th, a combination of Hamas fighters and a Gazan mob took over 240 hostages. Since the 7th, four hostages have been released by Hamas, one was rescued, and one has been confirmed dead. What policy the Israeli government should take regarding the remaining 238 hostages is one of several impossible choices foisted upon the Israeli government after October 7th. Hostages, however, have a particular history and create a particularly salient political crisis in the Israeli context. Let’s look into that now.
Hostage Taking in Israel—a Brief Explainer
The security and protection of its citizens is perhaps the most foundational covenant made between a people and her government. Perhaps the quickest way for a government to fold is for its citizens to lose confidence in their government’s ability to guarantee their safety. This reality makes hostage-taking such a conundrum for the government facing a hostage crisis—if an enemy government or terrorist organization takes hostages, the government has a duty to the safety and security of their citizens, but if they pay for the hostages in money or a prisoner exchange, they then set a precedent that incentivizes the taking of hostages in the future. Iran and Russia have taken advantage of this reality multiple times, with the USA most recently being the exchange of a Russian arms dealer for the WNBA player Brittany Greiner.
Beyond the normal challenges all governments face in hostage situations, Israel faces several unique challenges related to its religion and national ethos
The first challenge comes from Israel’s national ethos. The central ethos of the state of Israel is the protection of the Jewish people. As was mentioned in our deep dives the state of Israel was born from the experience of European and Middle Eastern Pogroms and the horrors of Holoucaust. A core argument made by the founders of the state of Israel was the necessity of a Jewish state to protect Jewish people. For 2000 years Jews depended upon the goodwill of the people groups in the countries they were scattered throughout for their safety. For 2000 years they were let down. Zionist argued that a Jewish state would be the only guarantee for the saftey of Jewish people because a Jewish state would pursue every avenue to secure the release of her citizens. Throughout its history the IDF and the State of Israel has pursued this promise vigorously. Putting forth herculean efforts to free captives and protect its people. No man woman or child will be left behind this is the fundemental covenant between the State of Israel and her people. This is known by every Israeli citizen and by her enemies.
The second challenge stems from the Jewsih faith. There is a treasured command in Judaism stemming from both the Torah and Talmud called “pidyon shvuyim” or the “redemption of captives or prisoners”. Near the beginning of the Torah we see an example of this principal in Abraham himself when he rescues his nephew Lot from a foreign army. God then redeems his people Israel from bondage in Egypt—and gives them many laws concerning the redemption of fellow Hebrews in bondage of one form or another. The Talmud states that redeeming captives is among the most important of mitzvah (commandment). While not every Israeli follows the Torah or is religious at all, Israeli society has been profoundly shaped by these priorities found in the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud. This too is know by every Israeli citizen and by her enemies.
The third challenge is one of historical president. Israel has a history of making very lopsided deals flowing from these principals—most notably is the case of Gilad Shalit. In 2006 near the Gaza Strip. IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was abduction by Hamas forces and taken to Gaza. Shalit was held captive over five years while Israeli officials attempted to bring him back. A national campaign was launched to demand the Israeli government to do whatever it takes to bring him home—appealing to the first two priciples stated above. In 2011, the state of Israel greenlighted a historic deal. The state of Israel freed over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit's release. Included among the prisoners freed was Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7th massacre. This exchange, while powerful in one sense, created a massive strategic challenge for Israel’s defense going forward because it created a massive incentive structure for enemies of Israel to take hostages.
These three realities make the political position of Israel’s leaders incredibly difficult. Israeli civilians expect their government to rescue hostages by any means necessary, but doing so will only ensure more hostages are taken in the future. The government faces an impossible choice—voilate core principals or continue to incentivinse the kidnapping of its citizens in the future. These factors are at the heart of the protests we saw last week and will be the rational for any deal that Israel makes for hostages over the next few days and weeks. The pressure is now on Netenyahu’s government. We will see how they respond.
March for Israel - Washington D.C.
As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter, I attended Tuesday’s March for Israel in lieu of my usual analysis. I’m going to offer the reflection I wrote on November 14th after the event. I hope you will indulge me in this journalistic impropriety as I am no journalist—I have never claimed to be a dispassionate observer in these matters, but I have striven to be objective in my presentation of facts.
As I said from the outset of these newsletters I believe in Israel’s right to exist as a country in safety, in the return of the hostages, and in the Jewish people’s right to safety and self-expression around the world. These were the aims of the March, and I was proud to be there. As Churchill once said: “I decline utterly to be impartial between the fire brigade and the fire.” There is no moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas I stand on the side that seeks to avoid civilian casualties rather than attack civilians and hide behind them. I do however promise you, dear reader, that I will report to you any credible story of Israeli overreach and the humanitarian plight of the Palestinians in Gaza. They are made in the image of God and deserving of protection, dignity, and self determination. I long for the day when they can peacefully coexist with Israel as a state of their own.
Anyways, enough justification, here’s what I wrote the night of November 14th:
I’ve never been to the National Holocaust Museum. The last time I was in Washington, D.C. I was twelve years old, footsore, and too afraid to see the horror of what Europe did to her Jews. Sixteen years later, I returned to Washington for the March for Israel; I feared no longer but knew it was the proper place to begin the day. I knew what lay within; having been to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and becoming a Holy Land tour guide, I knew I must not look away. So, I watched the story of Jew-hatred unfold throughout the 1930s and 40s. Beginning with public bullying and ending in the gas chambers–the museum lays out the story of what people can do to a hated minority, provided good men and women refuse to stand up to the progressive ideology of the day. The heartbreaking tale of how six million souls were snuffed out while the majority of their neighbors and the “international community.” shuffled their feet and shifted the blame for why they really couldn't do anything more to aid the cause of the Jews. On each floor of the museum, the Jewish plight gets more desperate, and I am filled with rage, sadness, helplessness, and hopelessness. Why did we not do more? How could we let this happen? Never again.
On October 7th, 2023, 1200 Jews were butchered by Hamas terrorists in an orgy of unadulterated barbarism, and 240 hostages were taken from their homes to untold terrors in Gaza. The “international community” has responded and responded decisively, with an overwhelming rise in Jewish hatred. Firebombing synagogues, killing protestors, attempting to ram cars into Jewish schools, and Jew hunting in an airport in Daghastan are among some of the thousands of incidents of Jewish hatred October 7th unleashed. The ADF has reported an over 400% rise in antisemitic incidents in the past 40 days. How on earth does the massacre of Jews lead to the targeting of Jews? How could we, not even a century removed from the horrors of Auschwitz, be witnessing the return of pogroms in the name of a new progressive ideology– have we learned nothing?
It is with profound pride that I can write on the evening of November 14th, 2023, in the United States of America we have learned. I watched almost 300,000 of my fellow countrymen rally to the nation's capital for the sake of the Jewish people. I watched the leadership from both of my country's political parties give speeches in support of the Jewish people and the Jewish state. I watched people of different faiths, nationalities, ethnicities, and political persuasions rallying together against the scourge of Jewish hatred. I stood among them, a Christian American of Irish descent deeply committed to my faith, and was welcomed and thanked for my presence and support. I had countless backslaps and thank you’s from folks in the crowd for being a Christian who showed up for my Jewish countrymen, and I was and am deeply proud to have done so.
I am proud to have stood in the shadow of the Washington Monument and lived out the words he wrote to the Jewish community. To be an American that gives “bigotry no sanction, to persecution, no assistance” to be an American that extends his blessing to “the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
There are many troubling problems in American democracy. But today was a good day, a day where our nation's leaders were profoundly correct in their moral judgments. Where people stood together in peace and solidarity, upholding the nation's values and making a statement to Jews around the world. You are not alone. The United States stands with you. Never Again has not failed today.
Good job Zachery, sorry to hear you were ill. Praying for you to feel better and continue to do all the good things you do.