Re: [Salon] As Netanyahu Stalls the Next Stage of the Hostage Deal, Israelis Must Turn Their Shock Into Action

If I may add, that far worse condition is maintained with or without what appears as "war," as Occupied Palestinian Territory continues to be under attack as a war of aggression, as a permanent "Military Occupation," a stage/state of warfare, which is why it falls under the Law of Armed Conflict, the 4th Geneva Conventions. I saw that first-hand in observing a military tribunal detention hearing of a Palestinian child (under age 16) as "Lawfare" in a military prison near Jerusalem, enforced by kinetic (military repression/attack) operations, almost two years ago. It was bad enough then. How much worse it is now can be seen in the released prisoners. 

On Feb 8, 2025, at 7:30 PM, Chas Freeman via Salon <salon@listserve.com> wrote:

[Not a word about the far worse condition of the Palestinian hostages mistreated and released by Israel, which has not been bombed or deprived of food and water.]

As Netanyahu Stalls the Next Stage of the Hostage Deal, Israelis Must Turn Their Shock Into Action - Israel News - Haaretz.com

Amos HarelFeb 8, 2025

The horror show that Hamas staged in Deir al-Balah on Saturday morning surrounding the release of the three hostages – gaunt, frightened, the effects of prolonged captivity clearly visible on their faces – provoked shock and anger in Israel. 

But beyond the anger toward the terrorist organization, which abducted Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi from their respective homes in Kibbutz Be'eri and Or Levy from the Nova music festival, it is important to translate the shock into practical measures.

If the Israeli public doesn't exert heavy pressure on the government to advance to the second phase of the deal and ensure the release of the 76 hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip (more than half of whom are presumed dead), they will continue to suffer under similar, and perhaps even harsher, conditions. 

We can also expect a clear statement from the heads of the defense establishment – the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, the heads of the Mossad and of the Shin Bet security service and the head of the IDF's Hostages and Missing Persons Command Center – even if the government is working diligently to oust most of them.

The need is even more urgent in light of Benjamin Netanyahu's actions. The prime minister, who extended his stay at a Washington luxury hotel (with a large and extravagant entourage) through Saturday evening, is investing considerable effort from the American capital to foil the transition to the next stage of the deal. 

Initially, it was leaked from his camp that for now, he would prefer to extend the first stage – the weekly release of three living hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinians jailed in Israel – due to the difficulty of reaching agreement on the second stage.

Israelis gather to watch the release of the three hostages in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, on Saturday.
Israelis gather to watch the release of the three hostages in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, on Saturday.Credit: Tomer Appelbaum

But an unnamed Israeli source who spoke with Haaretz's Liza Rozovsky in Washington over the weekend went further. According to him, if Hamas "doesn't agree to cease to exist in the Gaza Strip," the options are to resume fighting or to extend the first stage of the deal. 

Israel, he added, would agree to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor and the buffer zone along the Gaza-Israel border only if Hamas leaders and "everyone connected to the organization" are exiled.

The implications of this for the remaining hostages are clear. All of the remaining living hostages in Gaza are men, most of them of fighting age – 50 or younger, and therefore either serving as reservists or theoretically capable of doing so. It's known that the male hostages in the Strip were in many cases treated even more harshly than their female counterparts, who were subjected to physical and psychological abuse. Most of the remaining hostages probably look like the three who returned to Israel on Saturday, half-starved.

It's not hard to imagine the condition of those remaining in the tunnels and what is liable to happen to them if the second stage is delayed. 

Be'eri residents watch the hostages' release, in the local pub, on Saturday.
Be'eri residents watch the hostages' release, in the local pub, on Saturday.Credit: Ilan Assayag

The horrific sight of Ben Ami, Sharabi and Levy also cast in a ridiculous light the right wing's campaign for the release of Ari Rosenfeld, the noncommissioned officer who was charged with leaking classified information to a Netanyahu aide, from Military Intelligence custody (he was released, very belatedly, to house arrest last week), and their brazen claim that his condition is worse than that of the hostages in Gaza.

There is a significant gap between the public's great concern for the fate of the hostages – as reflected in the television broadcasts and comments on social media – and the indifference displayed by the government. 

Under the pretext of not desecrating Shabbat, only a few cabinet members bothered to issue responses to the return of Ben Ami, Sharabi and Levy. For them, the entire affair is a matter for the defense establishment, whose heads monitored the hostages' handover from their war rooms. 

The indifference of many cabinet ministers and coalition lawmakers to the hostages' fate is matched only by the callousness with which they regard their responsibility for the calamity of the October 7 massacre. The military top brass, in contrast, are at least visibly tormented – and most of the highest-ranking officers, justifiably, are already on their way out.

Deliberate sabotage

Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, whom Netanyahu fired in November, confirmed over the weekend in interviews with Channel 12 News and the daily Yedioth Ahronoth something that was reported in these pages at the time: The prime minister deliberately sabotaged the negotiations on a hostage deal back in May of last year, a targeted attack that continued far into July (the thwarting of U.S. President Joe Biden's outline after its acceptance) and September (leaks to foreign media outlets, which were meant to distract from Hamas' murder of six hostages in Rafah, and to manufacture an artificial crisis around the demand that Israel withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor).

It emerges from Gallant's remarks that even in May, members of Netanyahu's inner circle took care to inform Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the minimum number of living hostages to which Israel had agreed to. The publication of the number – only 18 – helped harden Hamas' positions, stirred public outrage in Israel, and created a deliberate delay in the negotiations. 

Defense Minister Israel Katz at the Knesset, last month.
Defense Minister Israel Katz at the Knesset, last month.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi

The postponement of the deal's finalization until last month cost the lives of hostages and of dozens of soldiers in the war in the Strip, which could have already been concluded.

But Gallant left his 14th-floor office long ago. His replacement is Israel Katz, Netanyahu's minion and main troll in the defense establishment. Katz's latest outburst, on Friday, was directed at the head of Military Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, who has been targeted for dismissal by the prime minister's associates in the ongoing wave of purges. 

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi insisted about six months ago on appointing Binder head of MI, despite reservations about the performance of the Operations Division (which he led) on October 7. 

Netanyahu and Katz are focused not on the details of the investigations, but rather on constantly diverting attention from the government's failures, of which the sight of the hostages returning from Gaza also serves as a reminder.

The pretext this time was Binder's warning, in a meeting of defense officials, that advancing U.S. President Donald Trump's "plan" for the emigration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip could provoke unrest on the Temple Mount and in the West Bank around the beginning of Ramadan, which starts at the end of February. 

President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, on Friady.
President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, on Friady.Credit: Ben Curtis / AP

This warning is entirely professional, part of the duties of the head of Military Intelligence. But Katz instructed Halevi to reprimand Binder, on the grounds that officers are prohibited from "speak[ing] out against the important plan." 

Katz also said in a meeting with reservists last week that October 7 was a "one-time event" that couldn't be repeated, and therefore it is better "not to dwell on it." There is no escaping the conclusion that Israel's wartime defense minister simply knows nothing about the important subject entrusted to him.

Meanwhile, it seems that Trump himself is considering whether to take a step back from his population transfer proposal and the uproar it provoked. 

On Friday, he called it a simple "real estate transaction," adding that the United States is in "no rush to do anything." Perhaps billionaire Dr. Miriam Adelson, his favorite donor, should explain to him that from the perspective of the Israeli hostages, the entire matter is actually quite urgent. 

At the same time, the Prime Minister's Office would do well to tone down its talking points. Netanyahu's envoys to the radio and TV studios are already describing the proposal as an event of biblical proportions. 

That might seem a bit ridiculous if Trump abandons it in the end and returns to focusing on his battles against transgender people and his struggle to bring back plastic drinking straws.

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