Best Trip Ever: Netanyahu in Washington

by Avi Greentzeig, former editor of the Kav Itonut chain and Hadrei Hadarim website, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Just over a week ago, when Prime Minister Netanyahu began an important trip to Washington as the first foreign leader to visit newly-reelected President Trump, the media here was rife with warnings: "Trump Demands that Israel Stop the War," "Trump Doesn't Like Netanyahu," and so on.

Over-zealous reporters rushed to tell us that the one-on-one meeting between the two would last "only 15 minutes," and pompous commentators in the TV studios explained that Trump would exact a high price from Israel. First and foremost, they warned us that Trump doesn't like wars and that Israel would not be permitted to continue its campaign to destroy Hamas.

And then came Trump.

In an unforgettable press conference before reporters from all over the world, Trump smashed to smithereens 100% of the prognoses, musings, nonsense and lies that had been heard here in the preceding days. The leader of the world gave Israel more or less every possible thing it could have asked for – and then added a bonus.

Not only did the president not hint in any way or form that he has any intention of restricting Israel, he actually made it clear that as far as he is concerned, Israel can renew the war and finish the job of cleaning out Gaza. He then added the words that shook up the world: “We should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, and … build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza… The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip [and] we'll own it…"

This little addendum that he stuck in was one that, had it been uttered five minutes earlier by an Israeli, would have led to a police investigation for possible incitement, ordered by Attorney-General Gali Bahrav Miara. Just ask former MK Michael Ben-Ari.

Even as we debate, justifiably so, exactly what the chances are that Trump's Gaza plan will be actualized, we must remember that its very announcement grants Israel some important gains. For one thing, it means that the U.S. has reversed the extreme anti-Israel policies (in some areas) of the Biden Administration - which leads in turn to a reduction of international pressure upon us. The Biden term's point of departure was that even given that Israel had no other choice after Oct.7^th, it is still a war criminal country. From this followed the halt of U.S. armaments to Israel, as well as strong American pressure to increase "humanitarian aid" to Hamas/Gaza. This led to the bizarre scene of the installation of a pier in Gaza, under American auspices, for the benefit of "innocent" Gazans.

Trump has changed the American perspective. As of now, the Gazans – whether because they are "unlucky," as Trump said, or because they are a bloodthirsty, murderous gang – must be moved aside and sent away. From now on, every discussion starts with that point of departure. If the Saudis or the Qataris, or even Hamas itself, want to soften the decree, it will be up to them to make an acceptable offer.

And then also came Iran. I've seen that there are many in Israel's nationalist camp who were disappointed that Trump did not declare outright war on Iran, or something close to it. But the truth is that when Trump said he would rather negotiate with Iran than go to war with it, he gave Israel even more than it needs regarding the Iranian nuclear threat. To elaborate:

Israeli thinking is that when we hear about "diplomatic understandings" or a deal with Iran, what immediately comes to mind is the Obama era. But with Trump, it's different: When he presents a diplomatic option, he is not referring to a temporary freeze or dubious understandings – but rather something that will put a total and absolute end to Iran's nuclear aspirations.

For one thing, Trump has already signed an order directing his Secretaries of State and Defense to do everything necessary to drive Iran’s oil exports to zero. In addition, he said clearly: “If we made the deal, Israel wouldn’t bomb them." Basically, Trump is simply telling the Iranians to destroy their own nuclear reactors, so that Israel doesn't have to. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Now that Netanyahu has returned from Washington, he can get back into the Israeli routine of petty coalition fights and wasted courtroom time about years-old articles on the Walla website. It is therefore worth remembering, briefly, the gap between what the media here originally expected and the reality - which includes "small" achievements in America such as the imposition of sanctions on The Hague, the launch of an official campaign against anti-Semitism on campuses, and another weapons package for Israel worth a billion dollars.

It seems that we can sum up very simply: This was one of the most successful, if not the most successful, trips to Washington, D.C. of an Israel prime minister. Its welcome results will accompany us for many years ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister.

Trump's Golden Deal

by Dr. Meir Seidler, Senior Lecturer in the Jewish Heritage Department of Ariel University in the Shomron, translated by Hillel Fendel.

This past Tuesday evening, I set myself down in front of the TV and internet screens, and prepared myself for a long night.

The last time I remember doing something like that was when I was a boy and my parents gave me special permission to stay up to watch the legendary late-night championship fight between Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier. And here it was, over 50 years later, and it was happening again.

This time, too, I watched and listened up to the end, jumping from one channel to another internet site and back again. I started with my favorite station, Reshet Bet, the news and talk station of the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation. It has a large selection of broadcasters who enjoy frustrating and angering me and my fellow nationalists. And since, like most Israelis, I like to get angry, I listen to Reshet Bet a lot. This particular time Reshet Bet was producing a special Trump-Netanyahu summit broadcast.

The atmosphere its broadcasters emitted was one of depression, something between extreme sourness and heavy mourning. The main topic discussed for many minutes at the beginning was Netanyahu's "betrayal" of Biden. That is, Trump had said that, in contrast with Biden, he himself supported Israel absolutely and without reservations – and Netanyahu did not come out in Biden's defense! Yes, I'm serious: The Reshet Bet journalists felt that the most important thing to talk about at this time was why Netanyahu didn't have a good word for Biden. In any event, the real news – the Trump-Netanyahu meeting and subsequent press conference – soon pushed even the critical topic of Netanyahu and Biden to the back burners, and the real show began.

And what do you know? Trump took the whole world by surprise. The plan that he came up with was something that we really hadn't thought of. He explained, perhaps three times, that the reason he wanted the U.S. to essentially border Israel is that the world can't go on making the same mistakes again and again, when all they lead to is more war and more suffering. When you think about it, what he said was totally logical. War, ceasefire, rebuilding, rearming, war, ceasefire, rebuilding, rearming, and so on, over and over. What business that wants to remain competitive would ever adopt a business model like that, one that has failed time after time?

Countries from all over the world have invested large fortunes of money in what has been called, in accordance with the best Orwellian tradition, the "peace process." These monies ended up supporting not housing and reparations, but only one thing: Arab aggression that has become increasingly more brutal and has brought upon us never-ending rounds of war. One round barely ends before the next one appears on the horizon. Just in the last 15 years we have seen Operations Cast Lead, Pillar of Cloud, and Protective Edge, then the fighting accompanying the 2021 Israeli-Arab revolt, Operation Summer Rains, and more.

And now comes along Donald Trump with a vision that no one thought of; he himself could not have imagined it up until possibly a year ago. His creative plan is to turn the Gaza Strip not into the 51^st state of the United States, but something close: a beautiful shoreline front of American-built and American-owned hotels, where "anyone who wants to" can live, presumably after having been vetted for terrorist backgrounds and the like.

And here must be said something that has not yet been said outright, but appears to me to be quite obvious: The Trump Gaza Plan will include the establishment of an American military base offshore of the Mediterranean Sea (or perhaps on the beach). This explains why Trump is pushing this plan so enthusiastically. It's not because he has become a Messianic evangelical who wishes to help Israel even more than Israel itself asked for. He's still the same businessman he always was – but now he is more creative and has the resources of a superpower in his pocket. This is a golden opportunity for the United States to improve its strategic status in our region. It's the kind of thing that happens once in a century – and it happened precisely when Trump was elected President with his Make American Great Again program atop the agenda. How wondrous are G-d's ways!

The U.S. military base will benefit from a friendly neighborhood, and of course will leave plenty of space for a tourism paradise on the beach. All this will supply the "thousands of jobs" that Trump promised – and there is no doubt that he will give priority to Israeli workers over Arabs, who are liable to turn hostile at any given moment.

This is also what stands behind the weakest link in Trump's plan: the transfer of all or most of the residents of Gaza to other countries. But even this part of the plan can become realistic. Given the tremendous interest that the U.S. has in implementing this tremendous strategic upgrade, and also the no-less tremendous aid that American provides Egypt, it is very likely that a solution will be found for the transfer. This is true especially when the countries of the region wake up to the tremendous economic potential for everyone when the dollars start pouring in. Egyptian and other workers will be glad to receive American salaries in order to build the grandiose American project that will take shape here. This is a dream that with G-d's help can and will come true!

We can only hope that in the framework of this unexpected plan – and of course given the most recent developments sparked by Hamas' threats and Trump's bellicose response – all the hostages will be freed before it's too late. Hopefully, the leaders of Hamas will be made to realize that they have no hope of remaining alive if they do not release the hostages. We can only pray that this works out, under the guiding hand of the Leader of History in Whose hands are placed the hearts of kings (see Proverbs 21,1). May it be soon!

What Will Be the Netanyahu Legacy?

abridged from an article by Besheva Editor Emmanuel Shilo, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Israel's Prime Minister can either extricate himself from the second stage of the hostage-ceasefire deal that brings defeat upon Israel – or he can be remembered in infamy as he who sought to teach the world how to defeat terrorism but ended up teaching the terrorists how to defeat Israel.

Clarification: As the English version of this article is being prepared, the world is in a tizzy following President Trump's announcement that he wants to deport most of the Gazan population, with the United States taking over, owning, and rebuilding the Gaza Strip. This article deals with Netanyahu's stark choice between defeating the terrorists and caving in to them – a choice that could become moot if Trump has his way.

1.       Israel is paying a very heavy, multi-faceted price for its agreement to release thousands of terrorists in exchange for some of our tortured captives from Hamas captivity. The first issue, not at all to be sneezed at, is that it strikes a blow at justice and morality. When cruel murderers are sent free to joyous victory celebrations instead of being executed, or at least spending the rest of their lives in jail – the injustice cries out to the heavens. It is evident in the renewed suffering of the victims' families, the celebrations in our face of the terrorists' return, the emasculation of our justice system's activities to convict them, and in the apparent wasted energies of our soldiers who endangered themselves or even lost their lives in capturing them.

2.       But even graver is the danger that the Israeli populace faces with the freeing of these bloodthirsty animals from their cages and their return to the hunt. It has been said before and must be emphasized again: The Shabak has shown that some 80% of the terrorists freed in the 2011 Shalit deal returned to their terrorist ways – and have murdered nearly a dozen Israelis since then. This doesn't include the massacre of 1,200 Israelis initiated and led by Yichye Sinwar and other terrorists released with him in the Shalit deal. Israel thus saved one soldier at the price of ten other Jewish lives, including the three kidnapped youths in Gush Etzion in June 2014, and others.

Oct. 7^th, of course, also led to the abduction of 250 Israelis, which led in turn to the current release of thousands more terrorists. Thus, the mistakes of the Shalit deal are being catastrophically felt today – and who knows when the mistakes of the current deal will be similarly felt?

In 2008, a special secret committee, headed by the late Chief Justice Meir Shamgar, sought to set clear guidelines and limitations on the release of terrorist prisoners. However, its conclusions remained secret and were not implemented, and we thus ended up paying exorbitant prices for our hostages not only in 2011 but again in 2025. The simple principle of not encouraging future abductions by refusing to give in to the abductors' demands, as manifest in the Talmudic law that "captives are not redeemed for more than they are worth," is simply overlooked time and again – with tragic results.

3. But the price is even heavier than that. While some say that additional terrorists on the streets make little difference given that those who wish to cry out Allahu Akbar and kill Jews are not in short supply – they are not taking into account that these specific terrorists who are being freed have gained many skills in organizing attacks that they would not otherwise have easily acquired. They are thus a qualitative reinforcement. The example of Sinwar proves that among them are military leaders whose potential danger to Israel is inestimably greater than that of regular terrorists recruited off the street.

And even furthermore: Our deterrence capabilities suffer greatly, of course, whenever terrorists are released in this manner. Today, any terrorist who wishes to murder Jews – for the sake of Allah and heavenly delights, or for a life-long salary, or for fame and glory, or for all of the above – knows that even if he is sentenced to many life sentences, he will one day be freed in some kind of deal. This loss of deterrence is itself something that encourages and increases terrorist attacks against Israelis.

Those who clamor to Bring Them Home! at absolutely any price, and those in the media who promote their cause – do they not realize the future dangers they are pushing us and themselves into? Do they not realize that every other possible alternative must be exhausted before we take this perilous path? Our compassionate Jewish hearts go out to our tortured brethren in Gaza, but whatever happened to our intelligent Jewish brains that are usually able to learn from the past and calculate several steps ahead?

4. As if all the above isn't bad enough, we are now paying an even higher price, if that can be imagined: If the next stage of this agreement goes through, we will actually stop a war forced upon us before our war objectives have been fully achieved.

We are actually teaching our enemies that if they want to defeat us, all they have to do, Heaven forbid, is to capture a few soldiers or civilians, hold them in torturous conditions, reveal nothing about their fate, wage a psychological war against us, and just wait for public campaigns to force us into giving in to their demands. What's to stop them from demanding that we withdraw from the security zone in Lebanon, or from other areas that they desire, or from all of Judea and Samaria, or from Jerusalem? They could even demand that we give up our nuclear capabilities. Once this precedent has been set, who's to say how far it can be taken?

5. Throughout the first 15 months of this war, Prime Minister Netanyahu showed impressive strength in standing up to the pressure of the Biden Administration. Yet he caved in to the Trump Administration even before it took office. This failure shakes our confidence in him as one who, despite his share of the responsibility for the Oct. 7^th travesty, is able to lead us to full victory.

Minister Betzalel Smotrich and his Religious Zionism party remained in the government and did not overthrow it, simply to ensure that the war would be resumed after the current first phase of the deal, for the sake of defeating and dismantling Hamas. [Again, this was written before Trump's announcement on Tuesday regarding his plans for Gaza, as explained above. – HF] But given all the pressures that will be so heavily exerted to continue the deal so as to achieve the release of the remaining hostages, alive or dead, the chances are small that the war can be resumed.

Netanyahu can either be remembered as one who learned from his errors and led us to brilliant victory, or as one who, after having sought in his youth to teach the world how to defeat terrorism, ended up in his old age teaching the terrorists how to defeat the State of Israel. In the coming days, he will have to make this choice.

Charge of the Hour: Transfer the Gaza Population

by Haggai Lober,  founder of Aspaklaria Theater Company and father of St.-Sgt. Yehonatan who fell in Gaza in Dec. '23, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Let's not lose the momentum! The three reasons not to take the ethical road and expel the Arabs of Gaza are no longer relevant.

The issue of expelling a war-hungry Arab populace from our country – which Ben-Gurion and his generals did as a matter of course during the War of Independence – has become in recent decades a dirty word. It has become forbidden and immoral to even think about, let alone say out loud.

But in light of the horrors seen and still being seen by our own eyes, we have no choice but to reexamine this and other old positions.

There were three principal reasons that stood as an iron wall against any thought of resolving some of our problems by expelling murderous and hostile Arabs. These hold in many circles even now, when it is clear to all that had Gaza not been full of Arabs 16 months ago, Israel would have enjoyed security and growth, and would certainly not have had to undergo the horrors of Oct. 7^th.

The three are: alleged rights, morality, and the U.S. position.

Rights: It is claimed around the world, with very little to back it up, that "the Arabs in Israel have the right to unite as a Palestinian nation," that "they were here before us and they therefore have national rights to the land," and that "there is a national Palestinian history and legacy." For years the world has been discussing the question of which of the two "peoples" – Jews and Palestinians – have more substantial rights to this land. [This of course ignores the Balfour Declaration, which specifically mentioned only the "civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine;" no national or political rights were accorded them. -HF]

By the time of the Oslo Accords, in the early 1990's, the world had already made up its mind: There is a Palestinian entity and it has the right to be sovereign over a large part of the "contested" territory, if not the entire State of Israel (as in the widespread "Free Palestine" chants). Israel stands in the face of a "conventional wisdom" that determines that it must cede large pieces of its territory, despite the great dangers, in favor of a recently-invented Palestinian people.

However: Even assuming that this people has certain rights (which the pro-Israel side has still not quite signed on to), the murderous path by which this collective has chosen to actualize them over the years must establish clearly for all that the Palestinians have lost any claim to rights in this land.

After all, rights are acquired and can be lost. A murderer and other criminals lose their natural rights to freedom; they are placed in prison until they die, even if they maintain that their victims did them wrong.

Yes, a collective can become a nation on its own recognizance. However, the enlightened world can also, and is even obligated to, dismantle this entity - if it turns out that murder and evil are the basis of its nationhood. As the Mishna teaches: "Gathering wicked people together is bad for them and bad for the world; dispersing them is good for them and good for the world" (Sanhedrin 8,5).

The second element that negates a political Palestinian presence in the land is morality, or the lack thereof. Do Arabs who commit crimes of terrorism deserve to remain here? It is precisely those who insisted on seeing the Arabs of the Land of Israel as a national collective who relate to its terrorist organizations as individual and isolated instances. They refuse to attribute any nationalistic motives to these terrorist groups. Have they forgotten that these acts are not just neighborhood crimes or gang fights, but rather full-fledged acts of war that must be responded to as such?

The widespread lie that "aside from some bad terrorists, the Arab populace in general wants only peace and a comfortable life" – was totally shattered on Oct. 7^th. "Regular" citizens joined gleefully in the atrocities, and our soldiers later found guns and other weapons in cribs throughout Gaza (and in Judea and Samaria). They also found that the walls in every children's room feature the pictures of child-killers and other terrorists, as a basic part of the educational curriculum over there.

Nationalistic terrorism is war. And because of the important role played by the local Gaza population in encouraging and enabling the terrorists to kill Jews, this supportive populace may not be considered "uninvolved," but must rather be dealt with forcefully and severely.

In fact, the "ethical" argument must actually be reversed, as follows: "It is not ethical towards us, nor towards the world, not to deal with this murderous and ideological hornets' nest, and to let this abominable collective continue to exist while we deal only with the murderers themselves. This is simply not moral!"

In the case of Gaza, there is no doubt: A mass evacuation of the population to Arab countries will dismantle the collective murderous demon that the Palestinian people, and its supporters around the world, have become.

And finally, the third reason for not deporting or expelling the Arabs of Gaza: "We can't buck the United States, which wants a two-state solution and nothing else. We can't afford to disagree."

Even if this argument is worthy of consideration, and even if one might want to check from a historical standpoint whether it was the U.S. that led us into surrender, or perhaps it was we who got the Americans to force us to supply the terrorists with "humanitarian aid" – either way, it appears that the point is now moot. It's President Trump himself who is leading the charge to empty Gaza of Arabs!

In the light of the collapse of the third argument against transfer, we would be wise to "collapse" the other two as well, and go full-steam ahead towards the only solution that will enable our children to grow up in peace and security in their land: the dissolution of the Hamas-Gaza populace. This plan has the best chances for success – and could even win President Trump a Nobel Peace Prize.

One thing is certain: The Nation of Israel, including international Jewry, will receive the great prize of all: the prize of life. This means the ability of Jewish parents like me to see their children grow up alongside them without fear of death by war, or murder, rape and kidnappings by our bloodthirsty enemies.

It has to be done now – right now. We can't lose the momentum.

Needed: New, Younger IDF Leadership

by Emanuel Shilo, Editor of Besheva Weekly, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The resignation of Lt.-Gen. Hertzi HaLevi as IDF Chief of Staff was sad but necessary, and must lead to a major change in the very conception of how the IDF is to fight our enemies.

HaLevi's resignation was regrettable because he is a good man, with admirable values, who dedicated his life to Israel's security. Even in the current multi-front war he exhibited great tactical abilities, brought us great achievements, and was party to some very impressive successes.

It was necessary, however – not only because HaLevi led the list of those who were responsible for the worst calamity ever experienced by the State of Israel, but also, and more critically, because he failed to achieve the war objectives in Gaza.

Despite the clear blame that he has now accepted upon himself for Oct. 7^th, he was given another chance, as well as nearly unlimited resources to fight the war against Hamas and win it decisively. His strategy, however, did not lead to the achievement of either of the two main objectives set by the government: destroying Hamas, and freeing the hostages.

Yes, after 15 months of warfare under Lt.-Gen. HaLevi the IDF struck a strong blow at Hamas' military capabilities, liquidated its leaders, dismantled its divisions and brigades, killed tens of thousands of terrorists, and destroyed a tremendous amount of arms, fortifications, and tunnels. But the bottom line is that the failed strategy led by HaLevi enabled Hamas to survive and even recover and partially rebuild itself.

Two main factors enabled Hamas to continue to rule in Gaza. The first was the humanitarian aid to Gaza that was forced upon us by the Biden Administration. Unforgivably, however, we did not prevent Hamas from taking corrupt control of its distribution, thus enabling the terrorists to retain a form of governmental authority as well as great financial resources. The second factor was the lack of an alternative to Hamas. With no one to compete with, even a weakened Hamas was able to remain in power.

These two factors should have been neutralized, via the formation of an Israeli military administration – as governed the Galilee for many years after 1948, and as still governs Judea and Samaria – which would administer/govern the Gaza population, distribute supplies, and prevent the area from falling under Hamas rule. But the Netanyahu government's orders to the IDF to prepare for this was met by foot-dragging by Gen. HaLevy, backed by former Defense Minister Yoav Galant. Despite the uncompromising fighting spirit of the troops and officers in the field, the top security brass did not believe in its ability to overthrow Hamas, opposed a full conquest of the Gaza Strip, and aspired to end the war and secure the hostages' freedom via a humiliating and disastrous deal of surrender.

Another strategic error of HaLevy that cost us many soldiers and wasted much time was his method of repeated incursions. Under this system, we conquered cities and areas in Gaza, destroyed buildings and tunnels, and killed or banished terrorists, and then quickly withdrew – thus allowing the terrorists to regroup and re-arm themselves, causing us to go in yet again and lose soldiers as we conquered them again, etc., etc.

Though this approach had some initial successes, such as in the Shifa Hospital terrorist complex, it quickly proved to be a failure in general – and yet HaLevy's General Staff refused to recognize its mistake. The root of the problem appears to be that the army under Gen. HaLevy is unable to consider actually conquering and controlling Gaza, even for a limited time. If we ever want to renew the fighting and achieve full victory, it can happen only after we stop fearing this idea.

On the political front, the religious-Zionist public can be pleased with the manner in which its two Knesset parties operated during the current hostage-deal crisis. Ben-Gvir's Jewish Strength party resigned from the government, but announced that it would not bring it down and would even leave the door open to return if the warfare is renewed. Smotrich's Religious-Zionism party voted against releasing thousands of terrorists and temporarily ending the war in return for some of the hostages – but took upon itself the complex task of fighting from within to try to ensure that after the first, six-week stage of the deal, the war to destroy Hamas will be renewed.

These two approaches complement each other. If both parties had quit the government, Netanyahu would have had to find partners from the left-center, who would have dictated intolerable terms. And if neither had left the government, Netanyahu would have understood that all is fine and he can go on caving to American pressure. This way, Ben-Gvir wields a stick over the Prime Minister while Smotrich offers him a carrot. Perhaps this integrated approach will produce the desired results.

Prospects Don't Look Good

In truth, of course, at present the prospects for a renewal of the war against murderous and fortified Hamas following the first stage of this deal do not look promising. It will not be easy to overcome the protests of the well-funded Kaplanists who will insist that not even one hostage corpse be left behind. And in general, it will be hard for the nation, and particularly the troops, to resume fighting after so many months of warfare and so many fallen soldiers, and seek to regain what we just recently gave away.

What is needed to overcome these challenges are three things: Strong will on the part of Netanyahu, support from the Trump Administration, and total enlistment, determination and commitment on the part of the right-wing public. We must be willing to take to the streets en-masse and demand that the catastrophe of Oct. 7th finally receive its proper response: the total annihilation of Hamas. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted by other considerations, such as a need to prove that we too want the hostages home or the demand that hareidim enlist in droves. We must be focused on the immediate goals, with confidence that the hostages can be freed by winning the war and that the hareidi/IDF problem will be solved in time. For now, we must concentrate on winning the war and nothing else.

The coming weeks will be very fateful, and will hopefully bring about a revolutionary change in the way the top IDF brass thinks and plans the coming battles. There must be a total switch, with new, younger leadership that strives for victory, not for containment. We pray that we will be able to rise to the greatness of the occasion and pass the tests that stand before us.