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Is the War with Israel Playing Out According to Hamas' Plan? What Will Happen to the Hostages? How do Israeli's View Biden and the U.S.?
I have an old friend Israeli who lives in the U.S., named Phil Isaac. But Isaac reads news in Hebrew, and has many friends in Israel. I asked him a series of questions about the Hamas Israel War.
Q: Can Hamas actually be removed from the Gaza Strip? Some US military people say this is too ambitious.
A: Yes. Hamas is done, finished, as far as operating in Israel goes. Hamas can be removed from power inasmuch as the Nazis were removed and ISIS too.
As it turns out, the strong response by Biden was very unexpected by Sinwar. Even if Hezballah wanted to join in an attack, which Sinwar hoped for, the presence of a US armada made it too late.
And notice that Iran has thrown Hamas under the bus. They didn't know it was happening and now that Biden jumped in with an armada, Iran is chilling its heels.
Q: In the same way that Putin invaded Ukraine because he sees the Biden Administration as weak, Hamas invaded Israel because they saw weakness in the US. Correct?
A: Try to take your animosity for the Democrats and for Biden out of any geopolitical analysis. Otherwise you'll be just singing to your own mind's choir. Netanyahu just today spoke highly of Biden and thanked him.
I have watched and followed Biden for years. He is viscerally a man who loves the Jewish people. He met Golda and he is of the Holocaust generation. He is genuinely a lover of the Jewish people. And his flight to Israel right after 10-7 proves it. He is in charge and he sent the armada in. Biden in this case has saved Israel. This is UNANIMOUSLY the view in Israel. And I keep tabs.
Q: How is Israel doing, with 300,000 reservists activated?
A: Economically, Israel is in bad shape but functioning. Many businesses are going under due to lack of work force and lack of customers. The agricultural sector has no Thai workers who about 1/3 fled the country. Industry is struggling. All the towns in the north, by Lebanon have been abandoned and are empty. Higher education stopped due to call up of reserves. Many schools not open and some by zoom. But there is no place to go. As Golda told Biden over 50 years ago, and as he himself recounts now, Golda told him "we have a secret weapon" which was ? "We have no place to go".
You have to understand that calling up 300,000 reserves in Israel I extremely difficult. Roads have to be free and mass transit running to take civilians to their bases. If sll of Israel were attacked by Hizbollah with precise missiles, nothing would move in Israel and the reserves would be unavailable. The first 72 hours were absolutely crucial. Biden's speech on Oct 10th was paramount in importance to chill Hizbollah. Those first two and half days were key to Israel's survival.
Q: The hostage deal doesn't make much sense. Netanyahu is essentially telling Hamas: We will eliminate you, but if you want to live an additional 19 days, release 190 hostages. Then, after 19 days, we will come and finish you off. Why would Hamas accept?
A: No, it doesn't make sense. Yehoshuah Hadad is on Ch 13 in Israel and I assume he and Channel 13 know who in Hamas makes decisions. Hadad is respected in Israel as an Israeli Arab who speaks against Hamas.
The deal with Hamas is a game of chicken. Hamas has no intention of releasing all the hostages. The hostages are the best life insurance Hamas has. Literally. So they'll milk it and milk it. They're experts at extending hostage negotiation as long .
Q: In planning the Al Aqsa Flood, the attack of October 7th; what was Hamas military chief Yahya Sinwar thinking? Is this the war he envisioned?
A: It's impossible to fully understand the mind of a fanatic. But I suspect- only suspect, not even opine - that Sinwar's plan was
1. Take over Gaza envelope, without much Israeli resistance. Then, move from Gaza envelope deeper into the Negev.
2. Then his success would be seen and Hizbollah would attack immediately from the North with 150,000 missiles thereby paralyzing Israel and preventing mobilization of reserves.
3. The Erdwan commando force of Hizbollah would then stream across the border and take northern Israel.
4. There would be an uprising on the West Bank and pressure would be put on Israel from three fronts, North, South and Center. Israel would then be paralyzed and Hamas and hizbollah would come towards Tel Aviv.
Maybe that was Sinwar's wet dream. It was spoiled by:
1. incredible immediate resistance from Israel in the villages in the South, during the first 12 hours of the attack.
2. The immediate intervention of Biden in person, and sending of US aircraft and then the G Ford Task Group to the area, chilling any major move by Hizbollah.
3. The creation of a Western unified stance by Biden with the Western Europeans to chill Iran.
4. Mobilization of the IDF which then made any surprise attack from Hizbollah impossible.
It could be that Sinwar didn't himself expect the huge atrocities and success of his pogrom. Ironically, that fueled Israel to react in a unified way which was even a surprise to most Israelis, in the aftermath of the judicial coup attempt by Netanyahu.
Maybe God intervened and sent Biden in 48 hours to save Israel. Right now Biden is the biggest foreign hero Israel has ever seen. His "DON'T " speech to Hizbollah and Iran put a stick in the spokes of Sinwar and bought Israel time to call up reserves.
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