The heroic rescue of Israeli hostages by Israeli forces in Rafah was a big, big problem for the Arab media. For hours, they just couldn’t find the right slant to make Israelis look bad and themselves victorious. Finally, Palestinian journalist Ahmed Darousha came up with this: “The prisoners that the occupation claims to have freed were not imprisoned by Hamas but were held by a family in a civilian apartment building. There was no exchange of fire as the occupation army claimed.”

That’s the best they could come up with! That Hamas “resistance” fighters weren’t there, so of course the soldiers could intimidate the poor civilians in their innocent little apartment. If you look at the area, it was blown apart. Such pathetic liars.

While Israeli forces continue to advance uninterrupted towards Rafah, demanding the evacuation of those occupying Nasser Hospital, who are refusing to move with the claim they are afraid of Israeli gunfire, great waves of Gazans continue to leave Rafah in droves. I understand the biggest question among Gazans now is: “Where will we go?” Should have thought of that while you were giving out candies and celebrating October 7.

What has us worried though, is that Israel has sent a representative to yet another “ceasefire and hostage release” negotiation. While certain Israelis among the hostage families apparently told the Israeli representative “not to come back without a deal,” for the rest of us, this is our greatest fear. Making a deal with the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt to save Hamas? Who are you kidding? This is not in our best interest by a long shot.

As far as Qatar is concerned, the Iranian foreign minister just arrived there, where he met with Ismail Haniyeh, chairman of the political bureau of Hamas. I think that says everything about the reliability of the Qatar “negotiator.”

What I find even more ludicrous is King Abdullah telling Biden: “We cannot bear an Israeli military operation in Rafah. It will cause a catastrophe. We need a permanent and complete ceasefire. “ Gee, if I remember correctly, in the 1970’s Abdullah’s father King Hussein killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and exiled the rest, including the PLO which threatened them. It was called “Black September.”

It’s especially ridiculous for Abdullah to back a two-state solution, since Jordan is the “two-state solution,” created when the original mandate for the Jewish homeland was partitioned into Jewish and Arab states. Such short memories.

Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah, had another one of his talks today:

“It is very important to do everything possible so that Israel does not win and that it comes out of this war defeated and discouraged. … This is important for all countries in the region. A deterred and weakened Israel is something that can be dealt with… Israel is a dangerous power for the entire region.”

He also said if Israel backs off from going into Rafah, Hezbollah will stop firing in the north. But “As Israel expands the fire, we will also expand the fire. Israel will have to prepare shelter for 2 million residents of northern Israel.”

Hey Nasrallah, I live in the north, and we all have shelters. So shut up, you aren’t scaring anyone, but you are revealing you are all shaking in your boots. This time, not a word about “wiping Israel off the map,” as per his usual. Kind of lowered his expectations considering the beating his forces are getting from us in Lebanon. Now you understand how very important it is for Israel to go into Rafah and emerge victorious.

I heard a podcast today by a military analyst who said the following: Hamas wasn’t supposed to attack Israel alone on October 7. There was an attack in the planning for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and all the Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria, as well as West Bank terror groups and Israeli Arabs to attack all at once. Hamas jumped the gun and decided to go it alone because of the fear Israel was approaching a deal with Saudi Arabia.

Just try to envision such a scenario… God works in mysterious ways. We are grateful.

Two Jewish holidays are coming up, both commemorating Jewish victories over genocidal antisemites. The first is Purim, on which all the Jews were destined to die in a Holocaust arranged by Haman, the Persian king’s advisor. In the end, Jewish Queen Esther got the king to change his mind, and Haman was hung. Every holiday we bake “Haman’s ears cookies”. This year, they are being called “Sinwar’s ears cookies.”

After that comes Passover, where Jews enslaved in Egypt also had their babies murdered by Pharoah’s decree, were saved and liberated, while Pharoah and his people suffered ten plagues, each of them increasing in strength until finally every first-born died.

I guess the Gazans have faced many plagues in trying to annihilate the Jewish people in the State of Israel. But if they don’t let our people go soon, the worst plagues of all are still to come.

Hear that, Sinwar? We are baking your ears, and soon you and your minions will drown in the “flood” you rashly dashed into full of hubris and hate.

---