The Oslo effect

The enormous demonstrations in Israel against PM Benjamin Netanyahu bolstered by the hijacked hostage family demonstrations, might be giving people outside the country the impression that the public is generally against Netanyahu because of his conduct of the war and that his days in office are therefore numbered.

It is clear that Israelis are being increasingly maddened by grief and horror over the unconscionable fate of the hostages trapped in the hell holes of Gaza.

However, the demonstrators’ demand for an immediate ceasefire deal to release the hostages poses a direct threat to Israel’s security and indeed existence — precisely the outcome that Hamas intended through its diabolical manipulation of the hostages’ plight.

The demonstrators are backed by assorted military and intelligence types in an attempt to lever Netanyahu out of office by creating division and demoralisation while Israel is fighting for its life. What Netanyahu’s opponents fail to grasp is that, even if the prime minister is as opportunist as he is portrayed, his conduct of the war has overwhelming public backing.

The majority of Israelis insist that Hamas be defeated once and for all. After the October 7 terrorist attacks and atrocities in southern Jewish communities, they demanded that Israel should never again be content with repeatedly inflicting “serious blows” on Hamas only for it to resume its murder offensives within a few months.

Of course, everyone desperately wants the hostages brought back home. But the idea that the ceasefire deal would achieve this is sheer fantasy. Only a few of them would be released in the first phase. Hamas would then use the ceasefire to regroup and rearm, spinning out the continuing negotiation farce to keep the rest of the hostages trapped and thus retain control of the Gaza Strip.

It would only ever release all the hostages (if at all) with Israel’s total surrender. That’s what those calling for an immediate ceasefire deal are actually promoting.

The only way to save the hostages is through military pressure. That’s one reason why it’s imperative for Israel to retain control of the Philadelphi corridor, the area of Gaza that borders Egypt. The importance of this corridor cannot be exaggerated. Israel’s capture of it has uncovered deep below its surface an extensive infrastructure of giant tunnels into Egypt, the principal route through which Hamas imported its rocket launchers, vehicles and ammunition.

The vast majority of the military and security officials who belong to the authoritative Israel Defence and Security Forum are adamant that Israel must not cede control of the corridor. The forum’s chairman, Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, said that tens of thousands of rockets and thousands of Nukhbah terrorists were waiting inside Sinai to go into Gaza through Philadelphi.

Even if Israel made only a short retreat, these troops and equipment could be brought in within a week. Egypt has made billions from the smuggling trade into Gaza and wants to continue.

Moreover, said Avivi,” only 30 out of more than 100 hostages are slated to be released in the first phase of a deal in return for 1200 Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails.” The country is aware of the price of freeing Palestinian terrorists including Sinwar, in the case of the Shalit deal

Despite the thousands on the streets, most Israelis in an opinion poll show that 79 per cent agreed that Israel needed to control Philadelphi permanently to prevent weapons smuggling from Egypt to Gaza.

However, those who aren’t blinded by a pathological hatred of Netanyahu can see that he is holding off intense American pressure to pull out of Philadelphi, just as they can also see that America itself bears a significant measure of responsibility for the hostages’ fate.

The Biden administration forced Israel to proceed in Gaza far more slowly than the IDF judged necessary to defeat Hamas and thus save the hostages. For three months the administration stopped Israel from entering Rafah — below which the six hostages were murdered. If Israel had been free to proceed at its own pace, those six captives and many others might have been saved.

The left, pushing the anti-government protests, will almost certainly discover that, for the second time, it has made a terrible strategic error. The first such error was the 1993 Oslo Accords, which gave the Palestinians political power and status — with the Americans even training their police —on the assumption that they intended to live in peace alongside Israel.

This was a victory of fantasy over reality. The eventual result was more than 1,000 Israelis murdered in the five-year intifada from 2000 to 2005.

The effect of the Oslo nightmare has created the public’s revulsion and anger that these same types of people have been doing the work of Hamas for it by promoting Israel’s surrender.