The IDF-led rescue of four hostages over the weekend has brought heightened attention to Israel’s war with Hamas, a hope that the end may be near – whether in Israel’s accomplishment of goals or, in the case of the U.S. and United Nations, a ceasefire.
But as Israel buried the chief commander of the successful raid Monday, Caroline Glick – the senior contributing editor with the Jewish News Syndicate – warns of the more dangerous next front in her country’s war for survival. According to news reports in Israel, the IDF estimates another three weeks of heavy fighting against Hamas in Rafah, Glick said on Washington Watch Monday.
According to the journalist, when the IDF is satisfied with the destruction of Hamas it will turn its attention quickly to another Iranian-funded enemy: Hezbollah.
“We’re already moving forces up to the north where we expect to have a much larger war starting soon,” Glick told show host Tony Perkins.
An estimated 100 missiles and drones were shot into Israel from the north – from Hezbollah – on Monday, Glick said.
After Oct. 7, roughly 60,000 Israelis were evacuated from their northern-border homes as a precaution against their possible kidnapping. Actual numbers, when available, will far exceed 60,000, Glick said.
“Right now, the assessment in Israel, I think by the public and the leadership together, is that we have to steel ourselves for a much bigger war and a much more difficult war in Lebanon. The Hezbollah forces are much more powerful than the Hamas forces that we’ve fought at such cost until now.
“The only way that Israel is going to be able to allow anybody to come back safely to their home is by massively degrading Hezbollah's capabilities along the border with Israel, and the only way that you can do that is through a ground operation,” Glick said. “We’re talking about a very difficult front in the north.”
For now, Hamas remains the focus for Israel, which saw an estimated 1,200 citizens killed and another 250 kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7.
If the IDF is correct on its three weeks' estimate for continued Rafah fighting, the war against Hamas would downshift to lower-intensity fighting, more rooting out of terror cells, more guerilla-type warfare, Glick said.
Ceasefire pressure for Israel
For much of the world, the focus is the number of deaths among Palestinian civilians being used as cover by Hamas against IDF troops.
The U.S. on Friday asked the U.N. Security Council to back a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an Israel-Hamas hostage deal, increasing pressure on Israel, its top Middle East ally, to better protect civilians.
The U.N. Security Council on Monday passed a Gaza ceasefire proposal that was drafted by the U.S. The vote was 14-0. The draft was approved by President Joe Biden and was the result of almost a week of negotiations among the 15-member council, NBC News reported.
Israel claims it’s doing all it can to protect civilians, most of whom it says are Hamas sympathizers, or worse, active participants against Israel in the war.
Arnon Zamora, a 36-year-old police officer who served in an elite counter-terrorism unit, was the chief commander of the weekend hostage raid.
Glick said many Palestinian civilians were active participants against the IDF troops carrying out the raid.
The civilians are “essentially Hamas because the people who were opening fire on the rescuers and on the hostages and on the evacuation vehicle, the people who killed our incredible hero, Arnon Zamora, who was buried yesterday, they were Hamas terrorists and civilians,” she reported.
The Associated Press reported last week that casualty numbers coming out of Gaza have been highly inflated, calling into question the claims of Israeli-fueled genocide against civilians.
“From the Hamas health ministry's perspective, all terrorists are civilians, everybody who Israel kills is a civilian, and even the AP that's been parroting their numbers had to reduce by 50 percent in the number of women and children who are assessed to have been killed by Israeli forces because they discovered that Hamas's Ministry of Health data are totally fabricated. Their methodology is just make-believe,” Glick said.
Glick said there were more “civilians” – that is, enemy combatants not in uniform – who invaded Israel on Oct. 7 than there were uniformed invaders.
“This was a murderous assault, not only by Hamas, but by Palestinian society as a whole, which is why it's not that surprising that 85 percent of the Palestinians support Oct. 7, not only in Gaza, but in Judea and Samaria as well,” Glick said.
Here’s who was holding hostages
Civilian support for Hamas was evident in where the just-rescued hostages were being held, Glick said.
“The men were being held by a family, the father of whom was a physician. A son, who also lived there, is an Al Jazeera reporter and a former senior official of Hamas. That’s where the three men were held, by civilians – a physician and a reporter."
The female hostage was held by a wealthy family, Glick said.
“So, these are civilians carrying out war crimes, and they're Hamas terrorists without uniforms, but they are Hamas terrorists for all intents and purposes. They're holding hostages. They're threatening their lives day in and day out for eight months,” Glick said.
All info released to the public has a purpose
President Joe Biden celebrated Israel’s successful rescue of the four hostages by noting the others still held and with a call for a ceasefire in the same sentence. This comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed lukewarm support for Biden’s comments on a three-phased plan – an Israeli proposal according to Biden – to bring about the end of the war.
Biden made the comments in late May. Netanyahu quickly told Israeli lawmakers the president’s version of the plan was “incomplete,” according to The Times of Israel.
Following the rescue Saturday of four hostages from a Central Gaza holding place Biden said, “We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached. That is essential.”
Netanyahu says his government will continue to pursue war goals of destroying Hamas’ war-making capabilities, securing the release of all hostages, and ensuring there is no continuing threat to Israel from Gaza.
The key to consumption of any information coming out of the Israel-Hamas conflict is to modify expectations, Dave Grantham, senior fellow at the Center for a Secure Free Society, said on American Family Radio Monday.
“One thing I like to say, particularly around Middle East information, is those who know aren't talking and those who are talking don't know. Maybe I’m in that category, but when it comes to the Middle East, there are multiple levels of intrigue of discussion and relationships that we won't know about,” Grantham told show host Jenna Ellis.
The release of any information has a purpose, Grantham said. It could be as simple as placating a certain group of allies. Effective processing of information could take months, even years, Grantham explained.
“For something like a ceasefire, you immediately have to understand that as multifaceted. Some of it is for public consumption. Some of it is, perhaps, to keep other parties at bay until certain things can happen. For all we know, there’s another hostage rescue operation being planned right now.
“And the ceasefire [talk] could very well support that by putting Hamas assets on their heels. I’m always hesitant to take things at face value when it comes to Middle East issues,” he said.
Is there trust for the leaders?
A key issue in any information is whether the consumers trust the leaders who are sharing it.
For many conservatives, the relationship of trust for Biden is not strong, but Grantham says Israel has uncommon bipartisan support in Congress even when protests on college campuses or elsewhere in public might suggest something different.
“It puts the Biden administration in kind of a pickle where they're having to decide how far they're going to go one direction or the other, whether you have Sen. John Fetterman or Sen. [Chuck] Schumer versus another side and in the House maybe with the Squad.
“When I look at their base, I see it not split evenly but split enough that it’s going to be very difficult to go one way or the other in any extreme,” Grantham said.
