[Sundaycommunity] Fwd: Israel at War: Making sense of this week's news
H. Burns
burnsh at hotmail.com
Sun Feb 11 07:41:36 PST 2024
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: JSpaceCanada <info at jspacecanada.ca>
Date: February 9, 2024 at 17:15:13 EST
To: Helena Burnstein <helena.burnstein at sympatico.ca>
Subject: Israel at War: Making sense of this week's news
Shabbat news and update round up
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Dear Helena,
Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the IDF<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=qyDi432GwqzcezEbr9kAv93ma8qo7fzX-WkOcu3UzcizasMY2O7etTx9_Ma-gatLb-zHwvLrXyuQworCYrwHbUC_sGgiwylfbb0gaR95Zy3kUC3ZWtlFV5vm-laNpnGgJecCkrkFwC1zHrhiz8Z9Zg&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shabbatemail_feb92023&n=2> to prepare to evacuate civilians from Rafah, in the south of Gaza, in anticipation of expanded military operations in the region.
Rafah, designated as a safe zone for Palestinians fleeing the fighting in the strip, is now a temporary "home" for more than 1.5 million displaced Gazans.
Bibi initially rejected taking control of all of Gaza, as some IDF officials had suggested, and instead focused on a limited area in the north, with a stated goal to eliminate Hamas and return the hostages.
What we are seeing now, in this snap and rash decision by the Israeli government, is evidence of a panicked Netanyahu, knowing the army will soon have to stop the fighting as a result of ongoing ceasefire and hostage release negotiations, gasping for his political survival while utterly failing to provide any image of victory for his people.
He is likely hoping for a short-term "win" in the south, the killing of key Hamas leadership, to sell to a public that is losing patience with him by the day. What will likely happen is an existing humanitarian catastrophe that will only get worse, as civilian damage in the region grows exponentially.
All this rests on the backdrop of an operation in the north that, while definitely causing damage to Hamas' ability to operate in the strip, has not "eliminated Hamas" as Netanyahu promised, but in fact, has in recent weeks seen a reemergence of Hamas' power in the north<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=FECXgvVBAH18GBWRCy8D9TxiJHR_qe-cvAEDYaeIKXalf1mYx57RhvImHpNtBp0hXvMU-KO1ZXAPoNaxOuUPa2CJFqNNv18NtvoUkChozcDQshnlcGf1a56B7SMnW7sx9b1Kemo911eopdGTuv8WQxUcVOUo72gVUlMrMDs4GV3I8mzMVv9-gPiBPCG7mrgHikofzsaXVvVaAoUdj-u7LlyZ0veiUSxmeaiR98ZHdPpOnZhkukLRRdzpjz1epzvdmaN9xlWFSiwg_djquERajA&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shabbatemail_feb92023&n=3>. And of course, no additional hostages have been returned, and reports of hostage deaths are growing<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=zknsI8pcSlWeZ2MxAO0HgKH4JJarLVvDsZQBBZlz2NobrVWDXEI8YZNUhdXWphXxO0cKCfvBUdX6L0NS9hppeEAtIzuGI5-8yTNTYyLC-WY5Hhv8ryH8f5u2d5GDf4h9C4xExqlZaBzqxKyg1X5BiC6T5ajxk1ACbBIYkG_81g9muBVK-TJcCjsdk9A6eijwsqKNU6l2VH5d1b3H_hFDoVHjx7op6gw8J-8X7CqF3mGaE40gICgw7_M3prKIg8l-OOXFYy8WkM1ksV-7OGaV7HftZ0l5vAIngqYTV19dw3FyIoUepMlxjhl_qTDgqvZvmO0hpUM7-w20AgFtVr4ppw&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shabbatemail_feb92023&n=4>.
As this tragedy continues to unfold, now in its fourth month, it is becoming increasingly clear, and being voiced by experts in Israel and abroad<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=YqgukYA3Mrlri-dqG7I8TolIxKrLZZEollTYNA06UuW_dDpGoAWhC6vPY7AK4yAJWVtLE0jSq_8lOgz0G72ESw&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shabbatemail_feb92023&n=5>, that the goals of entirely eliminating Hamas and releasing the hostages are wholly incompatible.
The choices that need to be made now are not easy. Though the anger with Netanyahu expressed by large swaths of the Israeli public is absolutely righteous, conducting a war against a terrorist organization, as over 100 of your citizens are held captive in a rapidly deteriorating situation is an incredibly difficult situation to be in.
Any decisions being made now come with heavy consequences, and none of them erase the trauma inflicted on the region and its people. But these decisions must come.
First and foremost, as we have been saying for over two months now - negotiations, not bombs, save lives<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=YqgukYA3Mrlri-dqG7I8TjTxser3dtRbJxwURtNdKthaM_VRN6mqQ3rKFAZ38y7GiFxHRfNRJGgcDFVDf2YGOw&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shabbatemail_feb92023&n=6>.
There will be no return of the hostages, no defeat of Hamas, no peace for Israelis and Palestinians through prolonged fighting.
And while calls for a ceasefire in early days, when such an action would all but guarantee a return to an untenable pre-October 7 status quo, were premature and lacked safety guarantees for Israelis and Palestinians alike, it is now time for the fighting to stop.
For those concerned with how Israel will protect itself from additional attacks should the war end, the answer lies not in violence but in dialogue.
Hamas will only be eliminated when an alternative option is available to the Palestinians in the form of independent statehood.
The hostages will only come home when a deal for their release is signed and agreed upon.
And the constant bloodshed, pain, loss, destruction, trauma, and fear will only come to an end when both Israelis and Palestinians can realize their own self-determination and sovereignty on their land through a negotiated two-state solution.
This is what JSpaceCanada was founded upon, this is what JSpaceCanada continues to fight for. When there is no shortage of trauma to go around, when our pain feels unbearable, when empathy is in short supply and extremism is on the rise, it is harder to engage in this fight. But it is also precisely when it is most necessary.
For all those still with us, we thank you. When peace in the region is realized, it will be because of you, because of this work, because we refused to give up.
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In Haaretz, Anshel Pfeffer challenges Netanyahu's refrain of "total victory" against Hamas as a fantasy.<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=Po9_7fe3x4fOY6l6R7zOdfwqngvEBKGkaOoWIReBYJBCDf_dGrYNzZHYsLY5m0AfFDVbFmiz8HwyrachmyfKHY6vYrpXAdkAzTU_83uOny1_COtCuGMArayAhoLoL7kxWuTYvPiY-tfMcQXOOlXoXxh1_AF3cVaUqwfNn60l92rN7b88Z6W8g-hTeVTOx7sqybeYK5GmT8VQQVnpZSGaU4WyFqR_U545ST_qemy95o4&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shabbatemail_feb92023&n=7>
On how the international community can provide a better future for Gaza, in the Atlantic by Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib.<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=Ad-pzZpZoRYVMb-dTcQz7s8A1OYoSr1OCnhJGLqcuZynmmiug2JYZdiSACAJ47Hiz741r5abwDXnTEwepUY9WUM7icciygzHjAVcY6wtYD5FH18lmUVW4Z3tpoNqjNyH6h4kIYcPPOgM3pYoy9gRME7vA6IMeXfvByvHUy8rdMtOyoyLa246Yingzj5nisMCPzrbTPH_gtt80vDXNbLnOMrKVmzS6irQkT6lSgbRVIXTXPX6RI4onXN1z4v-AqDpKbUU4aN_90dFyLfJKI07zA&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shabbatemail_feb92023&n=8>
WATCH: Our Interim Board Chair, Maytal Kowalski, spoke to CBC Vancouver about her experiences as an Israeli living in the diaspora as the war rages on.<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=zknsI8pcSlWeZ2MxAO0HgM6Fh2ZA8OyjmFp5mL7VOMwdEl0jSoZgbGMsbHB6DlzJ&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shabbatemail_feb92023&n=9>
Palestinian-British writer Samir El-Youssef writes in the Guardian that until Israelis and Palestinians see each other as more than a "faceless enemy," there will never be peace.<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=FECXgvVBAH18GBWRCy8D9STfn5_obmJT_ymll8hPaHK27m8S95fOqF7uqherCeQfdEHqhqPt3hjI6F9K19nBRhEik5raJtcr-Qon-Z1wHUyCWbSuB3S-PVPTrO0vJKEVYVUnJaSfW8cwcIyzv9mJ8w&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shabbatemail_feb92023&n=10>
In the New York Times, instead of numbers and statistics, portraits of Gazans affected by the war.<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=PiInCVHjZg_Lhb0RQ-dhd40SRkJi4ysm15JROmNi4bGCok8sPUohMiOxfldHU6tFttg2FaPrvs8mcZPReYjVFH20ZDHeRGnoVLWcRBbSYJs&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shabbatemail_feb92023&n=11>
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