HOSTAGE RELEASE CREATING MORE PR PROBLEMS FOR ISRAEL
Israeli and Palestinian civilians are celebrating the exchange of hostages. Wait, some might say. Israel was not holding “hostages”, they were prisoners. That is not how the Palestinians view the matter. The vast majority of people scarfed up by Israel and jailed were not afforded due process. This type of abuse is one grievance that is fueling support for Hamas and Hezbollah.
Netanyahu and his government are not happy about this deal. They were forced to accept it by a combination of domestic political pressure from the Israeli families who wanted their loved ones back and the international pressure generated by the viral images of dead Palestinian children and women. Premature babies gasping for breath did not play well across the globe. Those images produced horror and revulsion, which led many nations that were on friendly terms with Israel to break relations.
One measure of Israel’s PR problem comes via SkyNews, which normally takes a pro-Israel slant in its coverage of the battle between Israel and Hamas.
When you lose SkyNews, you know you have a problem.
Then you have Israeli extremists popping up on social media with posts that feed the meme that Israelis are heartless monsters. Jonathan Pollard — an American intelligence analyst who was convicted and jailed for selling Top Secret intelligence to Israel — posted this rant:
Pollard’s status as a horror of a human being is cemented by his insistence on jailing Israeli families who demanded that Israel secure the release of their loved ones. He conveniently ignores the fact that the Netanyahu Government’s incompetence contributed to Hamas being able to take hostages.
Compounding Netanyahu’s problems are the Israeli witnesses coming forward with first hand testimony that the Israeli Defense Force killed many of the kibbutzim residents who were being held by Hamas fighters during the October 7 raid. Israeli Colonel Nof Erez’s opinion is certainly not what Netanyahu wants to hear.
Israel’s propaganda campaign to paint Hamas as the “muderers of children” is blowing up in its face as witnesses come forward with testimony that Israel was responsible. Max Blumenthal write up at the Grayzone is based on reporting from the left-leaning Israeli newspaper, Haaretz:
Time is not on Israel’s side. The images of rejoicing Palestinians are seen around the world and building sympathy for the Palestinians. If (or when) Israel refuses to extend the ceasefire and return to its indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Gaza it is going to engender more global opposition to Israel, not less. There is a strong diplomatic campaign by Egypt and Saudi Arabia to secure a permanent cease-fire. According to Zvi Bar’el, a columnist for Haaretz:
Obtaining a permanent cease-fire is now the focus of Arab diplomatic efforts, led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia. They are currently lobbying the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, Russia, France, Britain and America – in hopes of persuading even Washington to back a binding cease-fire resolution.
If Egypt and Saudi Arabia succeed, this will derail Netanyahu and imperil his coalition government because they will be forced to abandon their promise to destroy Hamas. Netanyahu is now at the mercy of Joe Biden and his national security team. U.S. domestic politics will be the deciding factor in Biden’s decision — he will either coerce Netanyahu into accepting ceasefire or give Netanyahu the green-light to renew the mission to eliminate Hamas. What do you think Biden will do?