This post literally made me cry. Such a פיספוס. Should have been more pressure from everyone. I don’t know Bibi’s motivations. But Biden? Blinken? Hypocrites!! We knew it the minute Biden came to give a bear hug to Israel. I believe he was sincere then , from his Democratic heart of the last generation, but we knew what would happen next. We just knew it.
“Using the hostages for policy purposes – let alone that those policy purposes were themselves damaging – is immoral and cynical.”
America left WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich in Russia for over a year. America has lost its soul. It fails to stand with Israel while
simultaneously abrogating its duty to protect its own citizens. The American ruling elite is quite close to the Western European model of no children and nothing to live for.
“The fact that the heads of the Mossad and Shaback had close connections with Qatar should have been the first red light. The fact that the negotiations were in fancy hotels in Doha, Cairo and Paris should have been the second red light.”
It seems you and I agree that the goal of the "negotiations" (I say that under duress as true negotiations are between good faith actors and are presided over by an objective power with the authority to enforce, none of which applied here) was to wring concessions from Israel.
I disagree that Netanyahu's hands are clean here. As is the Israeli left's wont they put this in the crudest way imaginable: Bibi just wanted to keep his clammy hands on power. That's all, nothing more.
That's stupid. Bibi wanted to accomplish objectives and here I think we have to be honest: he wants to depopulate northern Gaza to create strategic depth. It's a perfectly rational goal. Why should he not want this?
Unfortunately it was at the cost of the hostages. Which was not totally his fault. He was dealing with American "leadership" (again used under duress) that was using the hostages to thumbscrew him. Still he did have a narrow choice. He never chose the hostages. They were always expendable.
I wrote a couple of things about this explaining my belief and I stress it's just a belief that this wouldn't have happened under Trump and that a vote for Trump is the only hope of getting back the hostages (and their corpses).
I think Netanyahu’s “guilt” is in not making a stronger case and in going ahead with the west’s plans. Not sure that the depopulation of Gaza was in his original plan.
This post literally made me cry. Such a פיספוס. Should have been more pressure from everyone. I don’t know Bibi’s motivations. But Biden? Blinken? Hypocrites!! We knew it the minute Biden came to give a bear hug to Israel. I believe he was sincere then , from his Democratic heart of the last generation, but we knew what would happen next. We just knew it.
My heart just breaks.
“Using the hostages for policy purposes – let alone that those policy purposes were themselves damaging – is immoral and cynical.”
America left WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich in Russia for over a year. America has lost its soul. It fails to stand with Israel while
simultaneously abrogating its duty to protect its own citizens. The American ruling elite is quite close to the Western European model of no children and nothing to live for.
“The fact that the heads of the Mossad and Shaback had close connections with Qatar should have been the first red light. The fact that the negotiations were in fancy hotels in Doha, Cairo and Paris should have been the second red light.”
Did you mean red flag or red light?
It seems you and I agree that the goal of the "negotiations" (I say that under duress as true negotiations are between good faith actors and are presided over by an objective power with the authority to enforce, none of which applied here) was to wring concessions from Israel.
I disagree that Netanyahu's hands are clean here. As is the Israeli left's wont they put this in the crudest way imaginable: Bibi just wanted to keep his clammy hands on power. That's all, nothing more.
That's stupid. Bibi wanted to accomplish objectives and here I think we have to be honest: he wants to depopulate northern Gaza to create strategic depth. It's a perfectly rational goal. Why should he not want this?
Unfortunately it was at the cost of the hostages. Which was not totally his fault. He was dealing with American "leadership" (again used under duress) that was using the hostages to thumbscrew him. Still he did have a narrow choice. He never chose the hostages. They were always expendable.
I wrote a couple of things about this explaining my belief and I stress it's just a belief that this wouldn't have happened under Trump and that a vote for Trump is the only hope of getting back the hostages (and their corpses).
I think Netanyahu’s “guilt” is in not making a stronger case and in going ahead with the west’s plans. Not sure that the depopulation of Gaza was in his original plan.
It doesn't have to have been an original plan. It was opportunistic. Something he saw he could achieve.
PS this just occurred to me. Why do you think he didn't make a stronger case?
Agree with both comments.