“Gentlemen may cry, ‘Peace! Peace!’ but there is no peace.” – Patric Henry before the Virginia Assembly, 1775

We’ve all heard talk of a peace deal in the Middle East. Of and end to the war. Of a cessation of violence. A meticulously crafted, 20-step plan was voted upon by the countries involved and set into place a few weeks ago by the Trump Administration. On the surface it looked interesting at best.

Hamas was supposed to release all hostages, 20 living and 28 corpses they had been holding through the past two years (the body of Hadar Goldin has been kept since it was taken in 2014). Israel let free 2000 convicted felons and terrorists including 250 masterminds of mass suicide bombings, and terrorists with lots of blood on their hands (literally) from the killing of multiple Israelis. They were released back into Gaza, into Judaea and Samaria (the West Bank) and East Jerusalem.

The deadline for the swap came and went, with Bahamas sending back our live hostages, thank you G-d for their safe return and 7 corpses. Only 6 were Israeli…one was a Gazan who had been sent over “by mistake.” Two full days later, 3 more were released. Hamas said it was having trouble locating the bodies. They were probably buried under rubble from IDF airstrikes. Egypt was called in with heavy diggers and the Red Crescent was set to assist. Then two more bodies were turned over. Days and deadlines came and went. 72 hours or else, threatened Trump. Then 48 hours or else. Israeli intelligence believes that Hamas knows the whereabouts of 10 of the remaining 13 bodies.

Finally last week, at the last hour of the ultimatum, Hamas reported they had found a body. It was actually a completely staged recovery, all caught on drone footage. Multiple reservists with eyewitness accounts, were the first to report it was happening. The Red Crescent was there to assist and the casket would be transferred to Israeli forces. When forensics in Israel received “the body,” it was only parts of remains… from a dismembered Ofir Tsarfati who had been previously rescued (by the IDF) and had been buried – in December, 2023! The DNA matched up. Can you imagine a sicker joke? The grieving families had to relive the trauma as they dug their loved one up and hold another burial service.

https://youtu.be/-nXbkW2g4QI?si=UZYHYlq4g-W2qw9e

In Gaza violation of this “peace deal,” Hamas has continued to fire off rockets into Israeli territory. None have made it outside the border communities surrounding Gaza, and most have been launched toward the Kerem Shalom crossing, where the humanitarian aid comes through.

As IDF soldiers have been trying to clear out the tunnel system and any booby trapped buildings from within their designated Yellow Line, terrorists dressed as civilians have jumped out of tunnels or from buildings shooting and seriously wounding soldiers. Two days ago a reservist, a father of three young children, was killed.

Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, and Vice President JD Vance both visited Israel this past week, claiming the Peace still held and the Ceasefire and plan were still relatively intact. A series of intense airstrikes by the IDF, supported by the Trump Admin were carried out across Gaza and the ceasefire went back into effect.

In what world does a ceasefire mean fighting continues? The last two weeks have seen ongoing violations from Gaza with surprise attacks and the withholding of bodies. Two more were returned late last night , so that now only 13 remain held. The area of the Gaza Strip is supposed to be policed by some grand consortium of international military. It seems that there are US, UK and French troops within Israel near the Gaza Envelope who are coordinating the ground ops. Egypt, Turkey and Qatar are on the ground enforcing the peace. That’s a bit like leaving the crocodiles in charge of the zoo, as those three countries want nothing more than the Jews gone, and Israel/Palestine to be an Islamic territory. Together they form a Muslim Brotherhood Enclave.

Hamas, which is supposed to completely disarm, is not being incentivized to do so. They, instead, have vowed never to give up their weapons, but to keep fighting ‘the occupation forces.’ The question of Israel taking land in Gaza (even in response to plan violations and for attacking Israeli troops) – move the yellow line- is completely off the table, despite the fact that the IDF currently remains in control of 53% of the Strip.

The reason Hamas, Qatar and Turkey made this deal was not to look for peace, but because Hamas was on the verge of destruction. The IDF had eliminated all of their top leadership. Israel was in control of 80% of Gaza. They were striking Gaza City hard, the last 20%, where the remaining Hamas leadership was hiding. So a deal was reached. In Arabic, Islamist terms, this is a hudna: it is a temporary pause in order to regroup and rearm. From the 2000 released terrorists comes their new leadership.

In further news, it was revealed earlier this week that the World Health Organization were the ones who actually fabricated the “Israel-caused famine” in Gaza. Top WHO officials met in Geneva in December, 2023 to discuss how to label Gaza as being in the midst of a famine, according to Dr. Michael Thieren. He stated that their main objective was to put intense global and political pressure of Israel, not based on facts or data. The roles had already been set, said Thieren. From 7 October, Israel was the aggressor and the Palestinians were the poor, innocent victims of a murderous regime. There was a 70 page document written to fit the narrative.

The fighting between Israel and Hizbulla to the North in Lebanon continues unabated. President Joseph Aoun, of the Christian party, assures the world that the Lebanese military is in control and that Hizbulla’s will never be fallowed to retrench. Yet that is all talk. The leadership crippled in the IDF beeper and walkie talkie incidents have been replaced by IRGC commanders from Iran. Shipments of arms and missile parts are regularly being transported to the Bekaa Valley…and blown up in targeted IAF strikes.

We have firsthand reports from the front of the Hizbulla attempts to dig tunnels, place missile launchers and arms caches along the border. Israel sits tight guarding along the southern edge of the Litani Border. Two of our very good friends, both reservists (husbands and fathers of four little kids each) are up there now. One is a paramedic in a tank. The other a border patrol officer. They both have left their jobs and families to serve ten days on and seven days off. It’s really hard for them, but they cannot allow the jihadists to regroup and threaten all the Northern Israeli inhabitants.

Another man we know, an older gentleman, now almost 50 years old, a father and recent grandpa, strands guard in the reserves patrolling the communities of Judaea against enemy infiltration into the towns and kibbutzim there. He and his fellow reservists uncovered an entire weapons smuggling front from Jordan last week. They called in the IDF to clean up the matter. Avi also stands guard, patrolling the roads in the Judaean hills against any rock throwers or snipers who wish to ambush passes by.

Lastly, in the past few days, 3 of the released terrorists in the peace deal have been rearrested. Get your head around this one. For those of you who speak of Israeli oppression of Christians in Bethlehem. It’s not the Israelis. The holy city for Christians and once-popular pilgrimage site has been absolutely overrun with radical jihadist Islamists, pushing out 90% of the Christians. Yesterday a 16 year old released in a hostage deal returned to Bethlehem and to his days of terror. He was caught making incendiary devices in a make-shift factory there. He was planning to carry out an attack at Rachel’s Tomb within the coming days.

Another terrorist was rearrested as he tried an attack at a crowded bus stop near Jerusalem. He was taken down just prior to committing the stabbing. So that’s a bit of the rundown on where things stand here in Israel.

We have already entered into daylight savings time, so Shabbat comes an hour earlier today. I’m still in the process of laundry, setting the table and trying to prepare the meal, so in must sign off for now. Next week I shall have some uplifting posts for you. Shabbat shalom and a peaceful weekend to all.