I understand we are old news for the most part. Not in the current news cycle. Nothing expedient in order to push forward a presidential campaign in an election year… not yet anyway. You see, in order for a campaign to progress there needs to be something wonderful, something exciting, something sexy to promote – like a cure for cancer or world peace. Or an end to the war in Israel.

For the past two weeks US dignitaries have been traveling to the MidEast: to Egypt to meet with the Qataris to broker a deal between Hamas and Israel to release the hostages. To call for a complete ceasefire.

Hamas refused Israel’s offer of a 2 month pause in fighting in exchange for a staged release of hostages. In the first stage civilian women and children and those in critical condition and the elderly would be released. In the second stage female soldiers, bodies, and male civilians (non-military) would be released. Stage three would see the return of everyone else (139 people total). Israel also agreed to the gradual repopulation of non-militant civilians to Northern Gaza. Hamas at first wanted a complete ceasefire and all prisoners held in Israeli jails plus all POWs captured to be set free in Gaza. Then they reneged.

US National Security Council leader John Kirby was in Egypt and in Doha last week to broker a deal. This week it’s his assistant, Brett McGurk. No go. Hamas won’t budge.

Last Friday French Minister of Defense, Sébastien Lecorne tried in vain for Hamas to allow the promised medicines sent by Israel through Egypt to reach the hostages. Some of the elderly needed heart, blood pressure and diabetes medication. One lady needed chemotherapy. Another few needed asthma and breathing treatments. No evidence has been seen of the drugs getting to the intended captives. It seems they fell into Hamas hands.

In recent days, there has been evidence that the Biden administration and Israel’s leftists are trying to undermine Netanyahu to overthrow the current Israeli administration again. In late December, during a 40 minute phone call between Netanyahu and Biden, the latter tried to get Bibi to wrap up the Gaza situation. Biden gave Netanyahu two months to end the fighting and start the rebuilding. Netanyahu said there would be no set timeline. President Biden also expressed his wish to see a “revitalized Palestinian Authority “to be the new governing body in a rebuilt Gaza. Netanyahu refused and Biden hung up on him. They wouldn’t speak again for another month.

In late October, the IDF began its push into Northern Gaza. First leaflets were dropped, text messages and phone calls made to the innocent civilians to clear the area. Three passages into Southern Gaza were given.

For the first time there was a coordinated effort by the Air Force the Navy and the Ground Forces to pinpoint and destroy missile launch pads and terrorist strongholds. Gaza city was surrounded in three weeks. Tunnels were located and sealed off. One female soldier held captive was found. Three hostage soldiers’ bodies were recovered. Precision pinpoint surgical strikes took out key Hamas leaders.

Some neighborhoods, mainly a largely Christian neighborhood, were spared destruction. In other areas, weapons, maps, Hamas handbooks and military gear were found in many homes, hospitals, mosques. and schools. A missile manufacturing facility was uncovered in a building for Scouts. That was located adjacent to a small amusement park, where there was also a launch site for rockets. In almost every building were secret escape routes leading underground to tunnels. These were all destroyed.

It took all of six weeks to accomplish the above. The the Biden administration stepped in to slow things down. More and more humanitarian aid was allowed in at the request of the US, the EU and the UN. All three checkpoints were opened. There was no way to thoroughly examine the 250 trucks entering Gaza each day. In some cases, weapons and ammunition were found in tent apparatus and in UNWRA flour bags. Hamas pirated many of the shipments once they entered Gaza- with no one to stop them.

Journalists of the world were quick to film devastation in the North and starving children in the South. It was all blamed on Israel. Yet the UN and women’s rights groups refused to acknowledge that Hamas and civilians of Gaza used rape and genital mutilation of women(and men) as a weapon of war. They refused to hear the stories or see the evidence that horrific sexual atrocities were committed by Hamas against Israelis.

In response to IS and EU requests, Gallant, the Israeli Defense Minister, agreed not to use targeted drones or coordinated attacks. He agreed to slow things down in the South. Due to foreign pressure, there was no major military incursion by the IDF into Lebanon to defeat Hizbulla. Israel would not go after the Houthis in Yemen. Still, the world only heard about Israeli vengeance and disproportionality. The world did not seem to understand Israel was not fighting innocent people, but evil. The world did not care when IDF casualties began to rise dramatically.

This last Tuesday, US Secretary of State Blinken sent Israel an ultimatum. Israel would support a two state solution with the Palestinian government in control of Gaza or risk demonization by the world. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Blinken publicly pinned Israel into a corner. Using misinformation he stated that the entire world is prepared for Palestinian statehood.

“The challenge is now, “he stated. “The question is now. Is Israeli society prepared to engage on these questions? Is it prepared to have that mindset?” Yes. We have. But it is the Palestinians who refuse to acknowledge any form of Israeli statehood. From the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea (Israel’s borders), Palestine will be free (of Jews).

After 7 October, 81% of Israelis, both Jews and Arabs polled by Tel Aviv University, were NOT in favor of a two state solution. Israel has already given up land for peace. It has not worked. President Biden only wants an Israel obedient to the dictats of the US. He sees Prime Minister Netanyahu and the current right wing coalition as the obstacle to a quick end to the war and to the creation of a two state solution. This would save his 2024 presidential bid.

Once again, Netanyahu and the Israeli government said absolutely no. The war will be seen to its conclusion. In the past two weeks, during the push into southern Gaza, #109 Division 98 has completely encircled Khan Younis. Over 5700 tunnel entrances, many in homes and schools, have been uncovered. The amount of missile fire from Gaza has been drastically reduced. There is at present only one or two rockets sent into Israel every 18-24 hours.

On Tuesday, Andrea Mitchell from NBC reported that Blinken and Netanyahu had reached an agreement. Israel would eventually concede to a US supported Palestinian state and relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be normalized. Because, as Mitchel stated, “We all know the Netanyahu administration will not be around forever.”

During his trip to Israel last week, before Davos, Blinken met with the Israeli war cabinet. He met with left wing Knesset members and judges on the Israeli Supreme Court. He met with retired leaders of the IDF and civil servants, including IAF General Nimrod Sheffer (Ret.). This was the man who last September told the press reservists including most IAF pilots would not report for duty in event of emergency. This is the man who leads some of the opposition against the Prime Minister.

And he met former prime Minister Yair Lapid. On behalf of the Biden administration and the world, Blinken attempted to convince the Israelis he met with that “ultimately there is no military solution to Hamas. It’s an ideology. Either recognize that or history will repeat itself and the violence will continue.” He was trying to encourage division and dissent against the direction of the current administration. It worked once-

At present Israel remains united. We see that if evil is not eradicated from Gaza to Yemen to the radical militant Islamists in the West Bank and in Iran, terrorism will continue. It will be exported to Europe and to the United States. Their goal is to establish an Islamic caliphate. The goal is Muslim dominance over the West. The goal is the complete eradication of Israel.

We are not pawns to be used for a presidential bid for re-election. We are not going to concede when we have 139 captives still being held by Hamas. This includes 9 Americans. We will not be told to move our boundaries so as to be completely. indefensible. Israel is a tiny sliver of land surrounded by a huge sea of Arab countries. We will not give up any more land. Please. Just leave us alone.