Gantz Defends Himself: Do You Believe Him?

Yom Chamishee

Thursday

21 Av 5782

August 18 2022

 

The News on the Israeli Street

Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .

Palestinian terrorists opened fire on a bus carrying worshipers at Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem overnight. Givati IDF soldiers in the area returned fire, and one terrorist was killed. In the firefight, another friendly fire tragedy was narrowly averted when a soldier accidentally fired at a fellow soldier. Fortunately, the bullet struck the soldier in the chest where he was wearing a ceramic vest.

Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis with “rocks” and Molotovs in numerous locations. In the most egregious attack, Bruria Arma (72) was badly wounded in the face when hit by a rock near Mevo Dotan in Samaria. She is currently in Haemek Hospital in Afula.

Ten Palestinian terrorists were captured by IDF, Shin Bet, and Israel Defense Forces operating in Judea and Samaria in the Palestinian settlements of Ikhtaba, Ajah, Eljib and Bidu.

The skies are not completely open . . .

The government announced today that permanent soldiers in the IDF as well as active duty personnel will not be allowed to fly over Saudi Arabia and Oman on Israeli passenger planes (or military ones, obviously).

Saudi airspace is closed to anyone in the IDF. 

And Omani airspace is not yet opened to any Israeli aircraft.

The IDF knows and does nothing? . . .

According to reliable news reports yesterday, Hamas has now placed half of its 10,000 missiles in the strip of land between the border security fence and the front line of Palestinian homes. 

According to the news: “The rocket launchers are in pits half a meter deep, and they are all connected to the Hamas fire array that is activated remotely. Hamas used this area to place half of its rocket array because it is an open area that is easy to operate in, away from the population, and it is camouflaged under agricultural crops and fields.”

Hamas’s goal is to be able to fire hundreds of missiles at Israel every day for a month.

Our question here at OneIsrael is simply: “Why are we waiting for the next war to destroy these?”

TODAY’S BLOG

Gantz Defends Himself: Do You Believe Him?

After being roundly criticized from all sides about his meetings with Holocaust delegitimizer Mahmoud Abbas, “Defense” Minister Benny Gantz has issued an assortment of statements today.

Gantz, Statement 1:

This is a very serious incident. The very denial of the Holocaust, not least in Germany. These are outrageous, serious, delusional and false statements, they have no place. There is no phenomenon like the Holocaust that European Jewry and Jewry in general went through in World War II, it cannot be obscured. I demanded through my office that he retracted his words, and it is good that he did so.”

Say what? “He retracted his words”?

Abbas has done no such thing. Abbas has apologized for nothing, only adding that the Holocaust was a terrible event for Jews. This is the same statement he always makes when he demeans the Holocaust as he did in Germany.

Not only has Abbas not apologized for saying that Israel has committed “50 holocausts” with the Palestinian people, the entire senior leadership of the PLO came out today and issued a statement roundly supporting Abbas.

Gantz, Statement 2

I want to tell you something, in the end we live in the Middle East. I have to send soldiers to battle and I have to make every effort to prevent this battle from happening at all. We have to maintain our security stability, we have to be careful about security coordination. I don’t do this with Mother Teresa, I do it with whoever is on the ground. That’s the nature of things.”

Say what? So now, Gantz’s meetings with Abbas are all about not sending soldiers into battle, and talking with whoever is on the ground.

What in the world is Gantz talking about?

There was no imminent war when he had his meetings with Abbas, and as for “talking with whoever is on the ground”, entertaining is something entirely different. But once again, is there anyone that Gantz would not talk to?

Gantz, Statement 3:

‘I am informing everyone – we are here, the Palestinians are also here, and we need to maintain relations with them. I had meetings with Abu Mazen – one at his own home, one at my home and one at his office in Ramallah. There is no personal friendship here.”

What utter bullsh*t (pardon my French). Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) had been successfully sidelined for years only to be resuscitated by Biden, Lapid, and Gantz. No personal friendship? So why would you invite Abbas to your home for coffee (Abbas had never been invited to an Israeli official’s home before), or go to his home for tea and cake? 

Gantz, Statement 4:

“Whoever does not send soldiers into battle, and who has no responsibility for the lives of Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers – would do well not to preach about meetings that prevented and are preventing the next war and bring about stability on the ground and political freedom of action.

Thanks to the security coordination that takes place at the field levels , and by the heads of the security systems and by – there are many civilians and soldiers whose lives were saved.

Those who want to bury their heads in the sand and ignore the complex security and political reality – are not fit to hold the steering wheel of power and lead the State of Israel.

I intend to continue to conduct regional conduct in a responsible manner, especially vis-à-vis the Palestinians, for the sake of Israel’s security and without political considerations.”

Gantz cannot stop playing the war card and blustering that his coffee and tea meetings saved the lives of “many civilians and soldiers”. This is all the more ludicrous because of his performance as IDF Chief of Staff in the 2014 war. Lest we forget, our civilians and soldiers were exposed to nonstop missile fire for more than 50 straight days–with Gantz doing little to nothing to stop it. In many Israelis’ opinion, Israelis were killed because of his ineptitude.

And what is the final result of all of this: Gantz will continue to talk with Abbas because he says that it is the “responsible” thing to do. He will continue to talk to a man who demeans the Holocaust, a man who organized and financed the Munich massacre, and a man who has caused the death of dozens of Israelis because of his incitement against Israel.

This is not responsible. It is amoral.