I don’t normally write about events in Israel and Palestine, but the rescue of four Israeli hostages from Gaza, freed from the terrorists of Hamas by the Israeli army, is too important a moment not to acknowledge - and I’ve been taken aback by the negative reaction to it from some commentators, which is why I’ve chosen to write about it.
As has frequently been remarked, people love "dead Jews",. They also get very annoyed when we don't willingly provide dead Jews for them to love! Just listen to BBC coverage today.
Accto what I've read, two separate "civilian" families were holding the hostages captive. Noa Argamani was being kept in one family's house, while the three men were held in the house of another family two hundred metres away.
Holding enemy hostages captive is a war-crime that these "civilian" families engaged in for pay. Can anyone reasonably argue that they were *not* engaged in hostilities - that they retained the status of civilians whilst holding hostages captive? Can anyone reasonably argue that their neighbours - who refrained from alerting Israeli forces about the whereabouts of the hostages - were not completely complicit?
I believe that Palestinians are not all supporters of Hamas. The hostages freed seem to be in good physical condition and it might be that it was their luck to be kept by Palestinian families, even though there might have been a financial incentive. While I agree with your paper, let’s remember that Palestinians have been hostages of Hamas for years
Firstly that's a non-sequitur. I didn't argue that Palestinians are all Hamas-supporters, or even that most of them are. (Although the latter is true. 70-80% of Palestinians support Hamas and its Oct 7 massacre.) I pointed out that the "civilians" most likely to have died in the Nusseirat operation are the ones who were holding the hostages captive. (And possibly shooting at them; the reports say the Israeli forces were under fire.)
Secondly, you are making things up. All we know about the condition of the 4 rescued hostages is that they are "medically stable" and have been taken to an Israeli hospital. Medically stable does not equal "in good physical condition".
Thirdly, are you seriously trying to justify or exonerate the "Palestinian families" who held civilians hostage? Seriously?
What has my head shaking is the shamelessness of UNRWA and UN officials, lambasting the IDF, while it's clear that UNRWA properties continue to harbour Hamas operatives by the dozens, for days at a time.
This came out so quickly I haven’t seen the pushback against except the sniffy way that bbc report waited only a few sentences to state that local hospital in Gaza had casualties from the attack that it was trying to cope with. Other examples?
Josep Borrell, the EU Foreign Policy chief, also denounced the raid as a 'massacre'. So it seems this view is shared by some in the EU establishment, as well as by many journalists. (The BBC was more measured than Borrell on this occasion.)
As has frequently been remarked, people love "dead Jews",. They also get very annoyed when we don't willingly provide dead Jews for them to love! Just listen to BBC coverage today.
Accto what I've read, two separate "civilian" families were holding the hostages captive. Noa Argamani was being kept in one family's house, while the three men were held in the house of another family two hundred metres away.
Holding enemy hostages captive is a war-crime that these "civilian" families engaged in for pay. Can anyone reasonably argue that they were *not* engaged in hostilities - that they retained the status of civilians whilst holding hostages captive? Can anyone reasonably argue that their neighbours - who refrained from alerting Israeli forces about the whereabouts of the hostages - were not completely complicit?
I believe that Palestinians are not all supporters of Hamas. The hostages freed seem to be in good physical condition and it might be that it was their luck to be kept by Palestinian families, even though there might have been a financial incentive. While I agree with your paper, let’s remember that Palestinians have been hostages of Hamas for years
Firstly that's a non-sequitur. I didn't argue that Palestinians are all Hamas-supporters, or even that most of them are. (Although the latter is true. 70-80% of Palestinians support Hamas and its Oct 7 massacre.) I pointed out that the "civilians" most likely to have died in the Nusseirat operation are the ones who were holding the hostages captive. (And possibly shooting at them; the reports say the Israeli forces were under fire.)
Secondly, you are making things up. All we know about the condition of the 4 rescued hostages is that they are "medically stable" and have been taken to an Israeli hospital. Medically stable does not equal "in good physical condition".
Thirdly, are you seriously trying to justify or exonerate the "Palestinian families" who held civilians hostage? Seriously?
What has my head shaking is the shamelessness of UNRWA and UN officials, lambasting the IDF, while it's clear that UNRWA properties continue to harbour Hamas operatives by the dozens, for days at a time.
The comments on WSJ’s account of the rescue are running 95% positive.
Not surprising, as the WSJ's audience tilts more right, and wouldn't attract a lot of pro-Hamas types.
This came out so quickly I haven’t seen the pushback against except the sniffy way that bbc report waited only a few sentences to state that local hospital in Gaza had casualties from the attack that it was trying to cope with. Other examples?
Josep Borrell, the EU Foreign Policy chief, also denounced the raid as a 'massacre'. So it seems this view is shared by some in the EU establishment, as well as by many journalists. (The BBC was more measured than Borrell on this occasion.)
over half a million followers, presumably lots of Iranians opposed to the Khomeinist regime