RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20908/iran-war-israel-west-bank

Armed and funded by Iran, the “battalions,” whose members are affiliated with PIJ, Hamas and the ruling Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, began operating in the northern West Bank more than three years ago.

“Iran seeks as a strategic objective to surround Israel with a crescent of active fronts maintained by Iran and supported by Islamist client militias. As part of this, the [Iranian] regime is seeking to find a way to add an eastern component to this crescent – through Jordan to the West Bank… Tehran has succeeded in establishing and maintaining an arms route in which military materiel, brought from Iran into Lebanon, is then transported across the Syrian-Lebanese border, via Jordan, into the West Bank. “The maintenance of this route is of strategic importance to Iran. It is intended, over time, to flood the West Bank with weaponry, and by so doing, to eventually make this area a third front in the ongoing long war against Israel.” — Jonathan Spyer, journalist, expert on radical Islamic groups, Jerusalem Post, July 5, 2024.

The PA’s failure to crack down on the “battalions” means that Iran now has a small army in the West Bank. It will not be long before members of this army attack Israel in the same way as the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion of Israel, in which 1,200 Israelis were murdered, with many raped, tortured and burned alive. In addition, more than 240 Israelis, including babies, women and the elderly, were abducted to the Gaza Strip, where 109 of them are still being held as hostages.

Those who persist in advocating for the establishment of a Palestinian state next to Israel must take into consideration that doing so would lead to the rise of more Iran-backed “battalions” in the West Bank and other areas over which the PA is given control. Since the gunmen are frequently praised as “heroes” by many Palestinians, neither Abbas nor anyone who replaces him would have the courage to take them on.

Even if Abbas does go back to the Gaza Strip, it is not probable that he would be able to confront Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups there. As in the West Bank, new “battalions” and militias will no doubt spring up in the Gaza Strip under Abbas’s PA to pursue the Jihad (holy war) to eliminate Israel and replace it with an Islamist state.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-gaza-end-game/

Tony Blinken is back in Israel for his ninth visit since 10/7. I wish I had his frequent flyer points.

Humor has always been a part of warfare. In order to endure oftentimes unspeakable experiences or images, people sometimes need to find a way to laugh. There is a story of British warships preparing to engage a German U-boat wolfpack in the Battle of the Atlantic. A submarine commander messaged his destroyer counterpart that in the event of engagement with the enemy, he would plan to stay on the water surface. The destroyer captain dryly responded, “So do I (meaning not get sunk).”

The Gaza war has also intertwined some jokes and laughter along with the pain, tears, and suffering. Very early in the war was the “Lego Gaza City” set with all gray parts heaped in a huge mound—just like the real thing. There was the UberEats type delivery soldier bringing food on a bicycle to his comrades in a destroyed building in Khan Yunis. And who could forget the soldier who knocked on the door of a house in Gaza to no answer. When he moved away the camera showed that nothing but the door was left to the entire building. While rockets and drones were actively on their way from Iran, one fellow put up a short video. He begged the Iranians to attack the “Jewish holy sites” as he showed on a detailed map of Israel. Each site was a branch office of the Israel Tax Authority.

As Tony Blinken once again returns to Israel, the question is what is the endgame? Hamas kidnapped so many Israelis—both live and dead—in order to use them as their strongest bargaining chip in finishing off the war. I do not believe that Yahya Sinwar or anyone else in Hamas expected the war to go as it has, with tens of thousands of Gazans dead, many of them Hamas members. I don’t think that they expected the massive levels of destruction that have led to thousands of buildings being destroyed and many thousands more being in need of dire repair before anyone will use them again. I doubt that they expected Israel to easily grab the Philadelphi Corridor on the Egyptian border and thoroughly flatten Rafah as Israel has done.

Hamas ostensibly should be like Germany or Japan and simply say yes to whatever is offered to them. They—as the Palestinians always have—are certain that they are the victors. They “demand” (like a guy with a gun facing him “demanding” something) that Israel stop fighting, remove all troops and give Rafah back to Hamas for more weapons running. While the Saudis seem to have unlimited oil, the Palestinians seem to have unlimited chutzpah. Israel is supposed to just get up and leave Gaza as if nothing happened on 10/7 or thereafter during which over 300 Israeli soldiers have been killed fighting in Gaza. Hamas, or what’s left of it, is delusional. They want to go back to the 6th of October with a slightly less valuable real estate portfolio.