Try to imagine, if you will, planning a family event – a marriage, a Bar Mitzvah, a 60^th anniversary party –in a city that is being bombed by terrorists who announce that they are enraged and entitled to commit even more horrific acts because you had the audacity to fight back and kill one of their leaders. Try to imagine the months and weeks of planning, never knowing if at the last moment the event would have to be called off; or worse, that it would take place and everyone, your entire family, would have to run to bomb shelters in the middle of the festivities. Now try to image it is the week of the event, and two days before, an enormous, deadly bomb carried in a backpack by a suicide bomber goes off not far from the venue.

If you can imagine all that, then you are right on track to understanding the last few months in the life of my family. Last night, finally, with great faith, and I can say, great courage, my entire family from near and far gathered in Tel Aviv to celebrate the wedding of my grandson and his fiancée. Having once been in a Hamas suicide bombing in the Park Hotel in Netanya, I carefully vetted security. It was sub-par. I alerted those involved that the guard had to stand in front of the entrance, not across the street!! In the case of the Park Hotel, the guard was sitting in the lobby (!).

I don’t know if any real change was made, but thank the dear Lord, it was an evening of only happy events.

I am tremendously grateful to God for the privilege of living to see another grandchild married in Israel. I am tremendously grateful to God for letting us enjoy this event without interruption. Today, the day after, I feel as if a great load has been lifted from my heart.

This is the way we Israelis live today. It is a travesty and an affront to all those who believe in the right of mankind to live in peace, health and happiness.

Unfortunately, Israel seems at times to be the only country in the world willing to risk the lives of its soldiers to fight for this principle.

Netanyahu has been vilified within and without for his courage and foresight in not giving into terrorist demands. I’ll quote you the recent words of Eliyahu Liebman, father of Elyakim, who was a security guard at the Nova Festival and saved many lives until murdered by Hamas and taken to Gaza. Eliyahu published a tweet this morning (Wednesday) on X in which he listed the problems he sees in the hostage deal at hand: “A deal is a death sentence for many Jews out of the millions of Israeli residents who are now alive,” Liebman wrote. “A deal encourages terrorism against Jews. A deal will give the official approval of State of Israel to further kidnappings, and encourage the murderers of Israeli Jews to think they will be freed through other deals of this nature. It’s a cycle of blood.”

On the same topic, Israel Today said this: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under heavy criticism for reportedly telling the Israeli negotiating team that if it comes down to freeing the remaining hostages or retaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor (Gaza-Sinai border), he prefers Philadelphi.

Why would he take that position?

Critics say Netanyahu only cares about his own political survival. But choosing Philadelphi over the hostages achieves the opposite. It provides fuel to a mainstream media and political opposition already keen to paint Bibi as a cruel and heartless “dictator” who defies the will of the people.

If his goal is to stay in office, why take this path, rather than go along with the Americans and reap the rewards of being the prime minister who “brought them home”?

Maybe Netanyahu is more concerned with the long-term security and wellbeing of the State of Israel. Surrendering the Philadelphi Corridor is as shortsighted today as it was in 2005. Leaving it and other strategic positions in Gaza will set the stage for the next October 7 massacre. Yes, Israel’s security chiefs argue that they can always return to the Philadelphi Corridor. But Israel’s security chiefs have been saying such things for decades, only to belatedly realize that international pressure wouldn’t permit them to take necessary actions against Palestinian terrorism.

Faulty assurances convinced most Israelis that leaving Gaza twenty years ago wouldn’t result in it becoming a terrorist haven. And we know how that turned out.

Maybe Netanyahu deserves a little credit for taking the difficult diplomatic positions needed to prevent the next catastrophe.

Yesterday, the bodies of six Israelis murdered on October 7 were found by the IDF in a tunnel beneath the “humanitarian zone” in Khan Yunis. These bodies were deliberately taken to be used as “hostages” to leverage to Hamas demands. How sick is that?

The use of the word “hostage” to describe dead bodies is another grotesque press narrative adopted from Hamas lingo to shore up pressure on Israel. In talking of the release of hostages, Hamas is talking also about people they’ve already murdered.

Why is the press allowing them to do this? Since when is a dead body a hostage and not a corpse, asks Israel Today: “The smaller the number of hostages, the less incentive there is for Israel to agree to a ceasefire and free thousands of terrorists. The smaller the number of hostages, the greater the possibility that Israel might be able to rescue them. And the smaller the number of hostages, the fewer terrorists Hamas can demand in exchange for them. So for all those in the media and the international community who want to see Hamas saved from destruction, the larger the number of hostages, the better.”

There is a rumored plan now for Hamas to dig up corpses from the British Military Cemetary in Gaza and hold them “hostage” until Great Britain meets their demands. We are dealing with a new kind of barbarian.

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