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2024-09-03 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
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Netanyahu presser: If we leave Philadelphi, Hamas will be able to rearm, revive, repeat Oct. 7
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Bibi draws lines in the sand. [IsraelTimes] After PM rejects even 42-day IDF withdrawal from Gaza-Egypt border as part of hostage-ceasefire agreement, Lapid charges he wants war forever, will never make a deal
| Netanyahu declared that Israel’s war goals are "to destroy Hamas, to bring back all of our hostages, to ensure that Gaza will no longer present a threat to Israel, and to safely return the residents of the northern border," and asserted that "three of those war goals go through one place: the Philadelphi Corridor. That is Hamas’s pipeline for oxygen and rearmament." |
Defending himself against charges of blocking a hostage deal on Monday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued forcefully for what he said was the "strategic imperative" to keep Israeli troops stationed along the so-called Philadelphia Corridor along Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
’s border with Egypt.
Speaking with news hounds during a rare presser in Jerusalem, Netanyahu insisted that the 14-kilometer (8.7 miles) strip of land is essential for Israel to achieve its war aims.
Were the IDF to withdraw even for the 42-day first phase of a deal, in an effort to secure the release of numerous living hostages, it would never be able to return, he claimed, and thus Hamas
 ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
would be able to rearm, revive, and carry out many more October 7 massacres.
He rejected the assertion that the six hostages murdered by Hamas in Gaza last week were killed because his terms had prevented a deal. "We didn’t manage to extricate them. We were very close. It’s terrible," he said. "But it didn’t happen because of that decision [on the Philadelphi Corridor.] It happened, first, because they (Hamas) don’t want a deal," he said. "I look for every means... to get them home," he said of the hostages.
The Hostages’ Families Forum vowed to step up the "struggle to return the hostages" and accused the prime minister of "criminal negligence."
HAMAS’S ’OXYGEN’ SUPPLY
Early in his prepared remarks, Netanyahu declared that Israel’s war goals are "to destroy Hamas, to bring back all of our hostages, to ensure that Gaza will no longer present a threat to Israel, and to safely return the residents of the northern border," and asserted that "three of those war goals go through one place: the Philadelphi Corridor. That is Hamas’s pipeline for oxygen and rearmament."
Projecting a map of Israel and Gaza on the wall behind him, Netanyahu noted that following the 2005 Disengagement, Israel controlled all of Gaza’s borders except the one with Egypt, and it was through that border uthat weapons reached the Strip.
"The axis of evil needs the Philadelphi Axis," he declared, referring to Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and its proxies, making the argument that this was the precise reason Israel "must control it" and "make permanent the fact that we are there."
The "significance and importance" of Israeli control of Philadelphi, he said, was "to ensure that we don’t have another October 7 and another October 7 and another October 7, as Hamas has promised to carry out."
Criticizing Egypt for failing to secure the border, Netanyahu insisted he had called on then-prime minister Ariel Sharon to retain control of the corridor two decades ago ahead of the 2005 disengagement from Gaza.
He added that he had later fought against Hamas’ military build-up over the course of several governments but was stymied by a lack of international and domestic legitimacy to retake Gaza.
Netanyahu has come under immense criticism domestically for allegedly blocking a deal with his insistence since July on continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor and central Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor, which divides the north of the Strip from its south.
In July, Netanyahu added several "nonnegotiable" demands to Israel’s May 27 hostage deal proposal, including for Israeli control over both corridors.
The Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors were not specified as locations where Israeli troops would be allowed to remain, according to the text of the Israeli proposal from May, which has been published in full by The Times of Israel.
That was then. Subsequently the situation has evolved. Among other things, Hamas has killed more Israeli soldiers and more hostages, the last six by bullets in the back of the head a few days ago. According to Channel 12, Netanyahu last week indicated to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during a security cabinet meeting that he was prioritizing keeping Israeli troops in the Philadelphi Corridor over saving the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
Are those Bibi’s actual words, or just the defence minister’s prejudiced interpretation of his intention? On Monday night, the prime minister dismissed the argument that the IDF would be able to return to Philadelphi after the first phase of the proposed ceasefire deal, comparing it to past promises that Israel could and would return to Leb
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
and Gaza if there were any attacks from those newly evacuated territories.
"If we do leave [the Philadelphi Corridor], we may not return for 42 years, because we did leave and we didn’t return for 20 years," he said, calling an Israeli presence on the border "a diplomatic, strategic imperative."
"It’s a question of massive diplomatic pressure that will be applied to us by the entire world: If we leave, we will not return," he said. "This corridor is different from all the other places — it is central, it determines all of our future."
Despite massive pressure to withdraw from the corridor and end the war, such a withdrawal would "not bring back the hostages" but would have the "opposite" effect, he argued, also claiming that leaving the Philadelphi Corridor could enable Hamas to spirit the hostages to Iran or Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
, overground, during that 42-day first phase.
AN APOLOGY AND A CALL FOR UNITY
While he fiercely defended his positions, dismissing both domestic and international criticism that he was responsible for blocking a hostage deal, Netanyahu did apologize to the families of the six Israeli captives recently found dead in a Hamas tunnel.
"I told the families, and I am repeating it here tonight — I ask for your forgiveness that we did not succeed in bringing them back alive. We were close, but we didn’t succeed," he said — naming the victims and vowing that Hamas would "pay a very heavy price" for their deaths.
As protesters gathered outside his homes in Jerusalem and Caesarea, capping off a day of demonstrations and a national strike organized by the Histadrut Labor Federation, Netanyahu insisted that in order to prevail in the existential war against Iran and its axis, "we must stand united as one person against a cruel enemy that wants to destroy all of us, all of us without any exceptions."
"We agreed to the formula that President Biden presented on May 31," he continued. "We agreed to what they called the ’final bridging proposal’ on August 16. Hamas rejected the first. Hamas is rejecting the second."
THE DAY AFTER
Answering questions from news hounds, Netanyahu insisted that Israel must maintain security control of the border crossings on the "day after" Hamas and for the foreseeable future.
"When the day comes" and another body or organization can deal with this "under a permanent arrangement," he said, that would be fine with him. But "right now," Israel needs to be there to prevent more massacres, abductions and existential threats. Even though "we are very close to dismantling Hamas," he claimed, Israel still had to tackle and find an alternative to the terror group’s civilian control.
Turning to the terms of the ceasefire deal, Netanyahu said nobody is more committed to freeing the hostages than he is.
"Nobody should preach to me about this," he said. "The formula I agreed to talks about a first stage of 42 days — after which we can go back to fighting, of course, if a solution is not found in negotiations. It’s our decision, I insisted on it. And if a decision is made for the long-term, and a permanent arrangement is found in the Strip where someone else can take care of the security mission and protect the borders, go ahead. I currently don’t see it on the horizon."
Asked why, if the Philadelphi Corridor is so important, he agreed to a withdrawal from Gaza in May, when the IDF had still not even taken full control of the border, he replied indirectly that he is willing to reduce forces on the Egypt-Gaza border because there is no need for troops "every meter."
"We need to be at several locations, connected, at a certain distance from one another, with the ability to patrol along the entire road," he said, arguing that Israel cannot rely on sensors or others to guard the border.
POLITICAL INFIGHTING
Netanyahu also lamented what he described as "voices in the cabinet, ministers in the government" who urged leaving the Philadelphi Corridor "even though we had already decided not to leave" — a thinly veiled allusion to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Such dissent was the reason why a cabinet vote backing his position on the matter was necessary, Netanyahu claimed, insisting that he is "flexible in the places where I can be flexible" but that on the issue of the Gaza-Egypt border, "we all must insist."
Asked about the disunity between him and Gallant, Netanyahu said that the relationship can continue "so long as there is trust," but stressed that all ministers must be bound by cabinet decisions. "That is what is being tested now."
Answering a question about leaks from security officials attacking cabinet decisions, Netanyahu said that "the one who makes decisions is the government, and the army and other security agencies are required to follow those decisions. I don’t see another option."
AN END TO THE WAR
Asked what would define the end of the war, he replied that this would be "when Hamas no longer rules Gaza."
Just as was the case when the Allies defeated Nazi Germany, this would require a military and a political victory, he said, and "we’re well on the way to achieving both."
Told about Biden indicating earlier Monday that Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a deal, the prime minister replied: "I don’t believe that President Biden really said that."
Ouch. Speaking for a few minutes in English, Netanyahu denounced calls for Israel to make concessions after Hamas "murderers executed six of our hostages."
"They shot them in the back of the head...and now, after this, we’re asked to show seriousness? We’re asked to make concessions? What message does this send Hamas? It says kill more hostages, murder more hostages, you’ll get more concessions," Netanyahu stated.
"The pressure internationally must be directed at these killers, at Hamas, not at Israel. We say yes, they say no all the time. But they also murdered these people. And now we need maximal pressure on Hamas.
"I don’t believe that either President Biden or anyone serious about achieving peace and achieving their release would seriously ask Israel, Israel, to make these concessions," he argued. "We’ve already made them. Hamas has to make the concessions." 
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Posted by trailing wife 2024-09-03 00:00||
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