Why is Israel giving in to a hostage exchange with jihadi murderers? Wasn’t the IDF winning the war against these Islamist terrorists? What’s going on?
God bless the child
On May 9 1941 Billie Holiday stepped into Columbia Records’ Studio A at 799 Seventh Avenue in New York to record what would become perhaps her most classic song, ‘God Bless The Child.’ The song was born out of frustration and a family argument, and it was co-written with Jewish songwriter Arthur Herzog, Jr. Here is one memorable line from that hit: “Rich relations give crusts of bread and such – You can help yourself, but don’t take too much.”
The wry observations that Billie and Arthur made here have pertinent relevance to what is going on in Israel.
We’ll help you for a price – so just don’t take too much!
The determination of world powers to shrink the borders of the Jewish state (expressed so laconically by Kissinger in 1975) and to establish a terrorist jihadi state in the heartland of the Land promised by the God of Israel to Jacob’s children, is the nuclear core which has powered US realpolitik for the past 75 years:
- “Israel does us more harm than good in the Arab world . . . We can’t negotiate about the existence of Israel but we can reduce its size to historical proportions . . . I think in ten to fifteen years Israel will be like Lebanon – struggling for existence, with no influence in the Arab world . . . If the issue is the existence of Israel, we can’t cooperate. But if the issue is more normal borders, we can cooperate . . . I think the Palestinian identity has to be recognized in some form … (It) will be a tremendous fight … (but) no solution is possible without it”
The tightening of American diplomatic thumbscrews on Israeli fingers over the years has caused nearly two handfuls of Israeli Prime Ministers to cry ‘Uncle’ to Uncle Sam, forcing them under superpower duress to consent to the dividing up of the Land of Israel: Begin, Rabin, Peres, Barak, Sharon, Olmert, Bennett/Lapid, and Bibi. This dangerously flawed U.S. State Department conception has led to strategically suicidal withdrawals from the Sinai (the Camp David Accords), the West Bank (the Oslo Accords), Gaza (Ariel Sharon’s Disengagement) and the latest pressures by both the Biden and incoming Trump administrations to ram through an Israeli ceasefire and withdrawal – leaving Hamas still the master of Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority jihadi terror group being granted a new lease on life under the protection of the US ‘Godfather.’
- These political machinations – American and European pressure on Israel – have resulted in Israel caving in and bowing to that pressure. Internationally accepted political wisdom has determined that Israel must continue to withdraw from both the West Bank and Gaza, and that a Palestinian terrorist state must be established in the heart of the Promised Land, on lands which the God of Israel declared as Israel’s national patrimony forever (see Joel 3:1-2). The world is ‘cruising for a bruising’.
A Jekyll-and-Hyde relationship exists between Israel and the USA. On one hand, America makes state-of-the-art military weaponry available to Israel (which the Jewish state pays for, directly to the American arms industry). On the other hand, the US State Department and POTUS rudely rebuke and threaten Israel’s Prime Minister, government and military forces, treating Israel like a problem child who needs to be spanked and sent up to his room without supper. This usually happens when Israel is well on the way to decisively defeating its enemies. Recent events highlight these dynamics on steroids. They show that for America, Israel is not their priority concern in the Middle East. Thus, the US treats the Jewish state in a schizophrenic and Machiavellian fashion, strengthening the Jewish state’s enemies while simultaneously allowing munitions to flow to Israel.
The government of Israel finds itself in nearly total dependence on US arms, whether it be tank and artillery shells, bunker-buster bombs or F-35 stealth fighter jets. American displeasure has tremendous influence over IDF policies and battle strategies. This has been seen in how the Israeli government has swallowed hard many times and obeyed US diktats regarding how it is prosecuting its war on Hamas, specifically on such issues as:
- accusing Israel of indiscriminate slaughter of Gazans – based on wildly inaccurate figures from Hamas:
- increasing humanitarian aid without achieving the complete release of Israeli hostages, and where most of that aid ends up in Hamas hands
- the supply of oil, gas, water and electricity to Hamas control, which allows Hamas’ war machine to keep firing rockets at Israeli civilians and to keep attacking IDF ground troops. This has caused over 100,000 Israeli civilians in the communities beside Gaza to flee their homes and become refugees in their own homeland
- holding back pre-emptive strikes on Hezbollah (Iran’s proxy in Lebanon) for nine months, while Hezbollah has been attacking Israeli civilians in the North of the country and causing 80,000 Israelis living near the Lebanese border to abandon their homes and become refugees in their own land. This gives a combined total of at least 200,000 Israeli refugees within Israel as a result of Hamas and Hezbollah jihadi attacks
The combined political and military carrot-and-stick approach by successive US administrations has decisively influenced the IDF top brass, resulting in them making policy decisions which avoid eliminating Hamas, and which shrink the IDF’s available inventory, IDF reserves training times, and length of regular military service. As a result, the IDF has become less than fully prepared to wage and win war on seven fronts simultaneously. On top of that, the US Secretaries of State and Defense have joined with the POTUS in micro-managing Israel’s present prosecution of the war, rebuking the IDF publicly and even threatening the Jewish state with embargoes and diplomatic censure when the IDF does not respond quickly enough to American ‘suggestions.’
In the words of one of Bob Dylan’s lesser-known songs ‘Medicine Sunday’:
- Well, that midnight train pulled on all down the track
- You’re standing there watching, with your hands tied behind your back
- And you smile so pretty, and nod to the prison guard . . .
Israeli political analyst Carolyn Glick sums up how the US Administration’s bear hug has affected Israel’s successful prosecution of the current war:
- “This was why the U.S. opposed Israel’s ground operation in Gaza; supported Egypt in blocking Gazans from fleeing Gaza for shelter in Egypt or third countries; opposed Israel’s takeover of Rafah and the border with Gaza; slow-walked the delivery of offensive weapons, including assault rifles, tank and artillery shells and bombs for the air force in an effort to compel Israel to adopt a defensive posture; and consistently sought to coerce Israel to accept hostage deals with Hamas that would precipitate its strategic defeat in the war. This is why the administration began sanctioning Israeli citizens who they claim obstruct their goal of establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. Likewise, the administration’s consistent, unswerving pressure on Israel to admit massive quantities of goods into Gaza, under the headline ‘humanitarian aid,’ facilitated Hamas’s survival in power.”
A divided American heart leads to a divided Jewish state
The Hamas-Israel deal did not descend from the clouds on angels’ wings. It was forced through by incoming POTUS Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff on January 16 2025.
- “Last Friday evening, Steven Witkoff, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, called from Qatar to tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides that he would be coming to Israel the following afternoon. The aides politely explained that was in the middle of the Sabbath but that the Prime Minister would gladly meet him Saturday night. Witkoff’s blunt reaction took them by surprise. He explained to them in salty English that Shabbat was of no interest to him. His message was loud and clear.” Witkoff then said that Trump expected Israel to agree to the ceasefire, and then “things that Netanyahu had termed life-and-death issues … suddenly vanished”.
Witkoff, a longtime friend and golfing buddy of Trump, is a billionaire real-estate executive from New York City. Nancy Okail, an Egyptian American human rights activist (sentenced to jail in absentia by Egyptian court), thinks that Trump’s pick of property mogul Steve Witkoff as Middle East envoy was the “most interesting decision,” indicating as it did that the incoming president sees the region “as one giant real estate deal.”
Witkoff’s intricate connection with the Middle Eastern country of Qatar goes back to November 2013, when his Witkoff Group acquired the 610-room Park Lane Hotel in Manhattan for approximately $654 million. Due to various DOJ-connected problems, Witkoff ended up selling the property to the Qatar Investment Authority (the country’s sovereign wealth fund) for $623 million in August 2023. Journalist Caroline Glick shed light on the role of Steve Witkoff and his business ties to Hamas-supporting Qatar. “They have an enormous amount of money that they use to buy influence in the West, and especially in Donald Trump’s circle. And one of those people is Steven Witkoff”, Glick said.
At Qatar’s May 15 2024 Economic Forum, Witkoff praised Qatar, calling it “really impressive,” adding, “this is solid government.”
Witkoff has expressed similar admiration for the UAE’s pro-business agenda. In December 2024, he took the stage at Bitcoin MENA, a cryptocurrency conference in Abu Dhabi. Witkoff and Trump’s sons are cofounders of World Liberty Financial (WLF), a crypto-platform with investments from TRON (blockchain crypto-platform). There seems to be a small fly in the financial ointment here: Israeli authorities say that Hamas and other groups designated as terrorist organizations have used Tron’s low-cost, high-speed network for illicit financing. Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing froze numerous Tron wallets since July 2021, linking many to Hamas, Hezbollah, and other groups. Crypto seizures announced by the Israeli security services since 2021 have frequently singled out Tron’s use by militants, including Hamas whose 2023 attack on Israel killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities, and triggered the Gaza war. The US Treasury Department also seized Tron wallets allegedly connected to terrorism financing after the 2023 attack on Israel.
It bears mentioning that Jared Kushner (POTUS Trump’s son-in-law) was instrumental in negotiating the Abraham Accords in 2020. Kushner’s private equity firm Affinity Partners has received more than $2 billion in investments from Saudi Arabi after Kushner left the White House in 2020. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is an investor in Affinity. In May 2018 Kushner Companies received a bailout of its flagship New York building (666 Fifth Avenue) by Brookfield Properties, a publicly traded company headquartered in Canada, one of whose major investors in the Qatar Investment Authority. On December 20 2024 Affinity Partners raised an additional $1.5 billion from the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi-based asset manager Lunate. Wealth funds in the United Arab Emirates and a Qatari entity (both unnamed) also have each invested over $200 million apiece in Affinity.
In November 2024, Jewish Insider noted that Witkoff’s previous financial dealings with Qatar, a country that has sought to influence him through its lobbying efforts, have raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Ben Baird, the director of advocacy for the Middle East Forum, commented on Witkoff’s appointment: “One can’t help but wonder if there aren’t some geopolitics at play here. It’s not a sure bet how people like Witkoff are going to enact policies.”
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani credited Witkoff on Wednesday January 15 2025, in a speech announcing the Hamas-Israel deal.
Dr Daniel Pipes notes in the Middle East Forum that the present deal releases many hundreds of jihadi murderers who have killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. “It nearly assures continued Hamas rule in Gaza. It boosts Islamist morale worldwide. It humiliates the West’s foremost Middle Eastern ally.”
- Qatar is the world’s primary bankroller of Hamas. Qatar is also a full-fledged mediator (along with the USA) in this deal. Qatar also houses the US’s largest airbase in the Middle East, as well as hosting the US military’s CENTCOM and Hamas’ senior leadership. For America to allow it such influence and power in these negotiations reveals that the US has a divided heart in these matters. And for the incoming POTUS and his family to have such close financial connections with Hamas’ biggest bankroller should give us all pause for thought and for increased prayer. Qatar and the US are both on board in seeking a Palestinian state led by terrorists, to be created on land that God has promised to Israel alone.
Jihad is not just a philosophy
In ‘Neighborhood Bully’, Bob Dylan’s masterpiece about the Jewish people and the Jewish state, he wryly notes: “There’s a noose at his neck and a gun at his back and a license to kill him is given out to every maniac – He’s the neighborhood bully!” Hamas’ Charter declares: “The Platform of The Islamic Resistance Movement [Harakat al-Muqawima al-Islamiyya]: Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors.”
The Gazan enemy attacking the Jewish state is Hamas – a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot Islamically committed to Israel’s total destruction. Western secular leaders for the most part have absolutely no idea who Hamas is, and what its end-game strategy is – or what the God of Jacob says about who Israel is in His eyes, and what His end-game strategy is for them. In the rare case where some might faintly grasp these issues, most of them don’t care enough about the Jewish people for it to make any difference in their political and diplomatic decisions.
Jeremiah’s prophetic declaration rings down the corridors of time. His summation of God’s heart and coming judgments on the nations who deal casually or cruelly with Israel are crystal-clear:
- “And do not fear, Jacob My servant, declares YHVH, and do not be dismayed, Israel. For behold, I am going to save you from far away, and your descendants from the land of their captivity . . . For I am with you, declares YHVH, to save you. For I will completely destroy all the nations where I have scattered you, only I will not destroy you completely . . . There is no one to plead your cause . . . All your lovers have forgotten you; They do not seek you . . . Therefore all who devour you will be devoured, and all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity . . . Those who plunder you will become plunder, and all who plunder you I will turn into plunder. For I will restore you to health and I will heal you of your wounds, declares YHVH, because they have called you an outcast, saying: ‘It is Zion; no one cares for her’” (Jeremiah 30:10-17)
Yahya Sinwar’s less famous brother
On June 25 2006 a squad of Hamas terrorists attacked an IDF Merkava Mark III tank near Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing. Their RPG fire killed two of the tank crew, badly wounded the third, and the fourth, Corporal Gilad Shalit, was captured and taken back into Gaza. Shalit was held prisoner in Gaza for 1,934 days before being liberated in a hostage-for-terrorist deal. In the first stage, Shalit was transferred to Egypt and then to Israel. At the same time Israel released 477 prisoners. Two months later, Israel released another 550 prisoners. Lists of prominent Hamas prisoners released can be found here and here.
Over 190 Israelis were murdered by these terrorists. A 2011 Israeli poll reported that, at the time, 79% of Israelis surveyed supported the exchange, while 14% opposed it. One of the Hamas prisoners release was Yahya Sinwar, who later took over leadership in Hamas, and orchestrated the October 7, 2023 jihadi massacres – resulting in the death of 1,180 Israelis (797 civilians and 383 IDF soldiers); as well as 3,400 wounded and 251 Israelis taken captive. Sinwar’s brother Mohammed (commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade) was one of the masterminds behind the October 7 pogrom. Mohammed Sinwar is currently the one leading the hostage-terrorist deal negotiations.
Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Ronen Bar presented data to the ministers in the Israeli government’s security cabinet on Friday January 17 2025, stating that “82% of those released in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011 returned to terrorism,” and that 15% of them carried out attacks themselves after their release in the deal, or planned the attacks.
The deal which was brokered mandates the release of over 1,000 prisoners (most who are Hamas-connected). A partial Hebrew list of 734 of these terrorists is available here, an a very short list in English is available here.
- It is to be assumed that the release of so many hardened jihadi murderers – many of them into Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and East Jerusalem – will result in many more Israeli fatalities. This deal was not the Israeli government’s choosing, nor does it reflect the heart and thoughts of most Israelis. It is a deal that has been forced on Israel by political pressure, by Israel’s allies.
Releasing the kraken
There is an old Norwegian word kraken or krakjen, which in turn comes from the Old Norse krókr (literally, ‘hook’ or ‘hooked’). This probably refers to primitive grapnel anchors shaped like hooks, which grab onto earth at the bottom of a lake or shallow body of water. In Norwegian sailor folklore, the kraken (also known as horven) is a legendary sea monster said to appear in the sea between Norway and Iceland.
Modern literary use of the word kraken includes: John Wyndham’s novel The Kraken Wakes (1953), the Kraken of Marvel Comics, the 1981 film Clash of the Titans and the 2010 remake. A kraken was also featured in two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. There is also a professional hockey team known as the Seattle Kraken. To ‘release the kraken’ in colloquial speech means ‘to release a great destructive force.’
Many in the Western world have chosen to castigate Israel and champion Hamas in this latest terrorist-catalyzed war. As a result, a ‘kraken of anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel’ has been released across the face of the globe. Shocking though it is, even feminists and civil-rights activists have championed mass rapes of Israeli teens and women, and the murder of children and Holocaust survivors by Hamas jihadis. The moral philosophies of these people – who delight in describing themselves by the epithet ‘woke’ – have melted down into ethical idiocy and quasi-Nazi endorsements. The advocacy of Islamist anti-Semitism by these people is releasing divine judgment on their nations. This is resulting in a super-fast slide downhill into moral and spiritual darkness (as per Romans 1:18-32). As the English Standard Version accurately translates the Hebrew of Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse!”
- Though the clash between Hamas’ jihadi terrorists and the Jewish state of Israel seems to some to be only regionally significant, the God of Israel is using international responses on this issue to sift the destinies of the nations.
How shall we then pray?
- Pray for revelation and courage to be given to Israel’s leaders in political, intelligence and military spheres – to understand and counteract strategies against Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8) – as Islamic State/al Qa’eda armies gather at our borders.
- Pray that enemy strategies against the Jewish people and their state, against Middle East Christians and other minorities – will be confounded, and that a great harvest would take place in all of these areas!
- Pray for the protection of Israeli and Jewish people from the assaults of jihadi terror organizations and Western fellow-travelers, and the return of the Jewish people to both the Land and the Messiah of Israel
- There are approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages remaining, kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. Plans are tentatively underway to release a total of 33 out the 98 remaining Israeli hostages – half who are dead. Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips. That would leave 65 hostages with Hamas, some dead, some alive. Pray for the release of all the hostages, and for YHVH’s justice to be brought on the heads of the Hamas kidnappers
- Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth
Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.
In Messiah Yeshua,
Avner Boskey
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