Friday
Yom Shishee
17 Tevet 5785
January 17 2025
UPDATE 10:00 AM ISRAEL TIME
The View from Ashdod
After fits and starts, Israeli representatives along with those from Hamas, the U.S., and Qatar have signed the hostage/ceasefire agreement. The Netanyahu Cabinet is meeting at this hour to discuss and vote on it. Tomorrow night after Shabbat ends, the government will vote. Both the Cabinet and the government will vote to approve the deal. The first hostages are expected to be released on Sunday or Monday. (See the list of the 33 that Israel believes will be released during the next 42 days in the first phase at the bottom of this blog).
In a previous blog, OneIsrael has indicated why we support the deal even though we realize that in several respects could be disastrous. We support it because despite the IDF’s amazing achievements in dismantling Hamas since October 7, there seems to be no military way to rescue our hostages.
More than this, IDF has completely lost its way in the last month. With no coherent strategy on how to proceed, we have begun to lose soldiers in unacceptable numbers. The IDF needs to step back, reorganize, and come up with a better plan of how to proceed should the ceasefire fail. It is time for many commanders including the IDF Chief of Staff Halevi to be replaced.
Last night, the IAF once again attacked Hamas assets in Gaza with intensive bombing of Khan Younis.
From the IDF Spokesman:
“Overnight, with the direction of IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF struck and eliminated Muhammad Hasham Zahedi Abu Al-Rus, a Nukhba terrorist who infiltrated into Israel on October 7th, 2023, and participated in the massacre at the Nova Music Festival.
In other joint IDF and ISA activities over the last day, the IAF conducted strikes on approximately 50 terror targets across Gaza, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, military compounds, weapons storage facilities, launch posts, weapons manufacturing sites, and observation posts.”
The Government Begins To Unravel
In an impassioned speech last night, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir said that if the Cabinet approves the deal this morning, he and his Otzma Yehudi Party would resign from the government. At the same time, he said that Otzma would continue to support the Netanyahu Coalition from the outside and possibly rejoin the Coalition in 42 days after the first phase of the agreement..
Otzma’s departure will not in itself topple the Coalition (which would still have 61+ seats), but it is the first step down a slippery slope to a new election.
As regular readers of OneIsrael know, we have have long been a supporter of Ben Gvir and Otzma, and we couldn’t help agreeing with almost everything he said last night.
Some snippets from his speech:
“The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal which will lead to the release of hundreds of murderous terrorists.”
“When we see the jubilant cheers of Hamas supporter [Hadash-Ta’al party leader] Ayman Odeh, the dancing in Gaza, the celebrations in the [Palestinian] villages of Judea and Samaria, we understand which side surrendered in this deal.”
“The deal will effectively erase the achievements of the war.”
“The deal will seal the fate of the hostages who are not released in the first phase.”
“The deal will leave Hamas with a significant ability to rebuild itself.”
“The existing deal increases Hamas’s appetite and motivation to carry out another October 7 massacre. We appeal to PM Netanyahu to come to his senses.”
What of Ben Gvir’s analysis do you disagree with, dear reader?
On the Ground in the North
The focus of activity has shifted to Gaza, but that is not to say that the IDF does not remain active in southern Lebanon.
From the IDF Spokesman:
“The troops of the 11th Brigade, under the command of the 146th Division, have operated to clear terror infrastructure in Lebanon. As part of the mission to eliminate threats, the troops conducted targeted raids and reconnaissance operations against terror infrastructure in urban areas and thicketed terrain used by Hezbollah, while acting in accordance with the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon.
During the operational activities, the brigade dismantled terror infrastructure above and below ground, and located numerous weapons depots in structures near a central UN post in the area. All of these assets were dismantled without damage to the UN post.
Additionally, the troops located and dismantled a loaded launcher aimed at Israeli territory, and neutralized other threats in the area. The brigade’s troops continue operational activity in areas near the border fence and in other areas.”
On The Ground in Judea and Samaria
*Perhaps the most catastrophic part of the ceasefire/hostage agreement is the fact that most of the 750 hard core terrorists in Israeli prisons who will be released will return to Judea and Samaria–and will quickly return to their respective terror groups. Who knows how many Israelis will be murdered in the coming years by these repatriated terrorists?
*New statistics:
2024 saw an increase of 12,297 residents in Judea and Samaria bringing the total Jewish population to 529,704—5.28% of the total population of Israel.
Note that these 529,704 Israelis do not include the more than 340,000 Jewish residents of eastern Jerusalem.
The growth rate in Judea and Samaria is 2.38% which is more than double the national growth rate of 1.1%.
On an added note, of the 840 IDF soldiers who have fallen in the war, 113 of them were residents of Judea and Samaria–more than 13%.
The Supposed 33 To Be Released By Hamas
We hesitate to publish this list because who knows whether it is accurate or not. This is who Israel believes will be released–with no idea whether they are alive or dead. Of course, Hamas could change the list at any moment. And this is certainly not the order in which these 33 will be released:
1. Liri Albag
2. Itzhik Elgarat
3. Karina Ariev
4. Ohad Ben-Ami
5. Ariel Bibas
6. Yarden Bibas
7. Kfir Bibas
8. Shiri Bibas
9. Agam Berger
10. Romi Gonen
11. Danielle Gilboa
12. Emily Damari
13. Sagui Dekel-Chen
14. Yair Horn
15. Omer Wenkert
16. Alexander Troufanov 17. Arbel Yehud
18. Ohad Yahalomi
19. Eliya Cohen
20. Or Levy
21. Naama Levy
22. Oded Lifshitz
23. Gadi Moses
24. Avera Mengistu
25. Shlomo Mansur
26. Keith Siegel
27. Tsahi Idan
28. Ofer Calderon
29. Tal Shoham
30. Doron Steinbrecher
31. Omer Shem-Tov
32. Hisham Al Sayed
33. Eli Sharabi
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.