Resend: "It's the hostages, stupid." Add in feckless Itamar and Bezalel
Ben Gvir and Smotrich--an heroic offer to Hamas, and a Modest Proposal
Revisit and updated from October 7th:
Keith Siegel(64), American hostage
Office of the Prime Minister (Rosh HaMemshelah)
3 Kaplan St.
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
Jerusalem 91919
Tel: 972-2-6705555
Dear Bibi (pm_eng@pmo.gov.il), Itamar and Bezzy:
I know Itamar’s armored car ran another red light, and he’s in hospital, but let Barnea start, at least, with an Offer to throw in Bezzy to the trade for 33 hostages.
“So, I have a Modest Proposal, and while I am no Jonathan Swift, [nor too swift since October 7th] and I detest sarcasm and hyperbole, it is more of a suggestion for Bibi’s ultra-religious Cabinet allies, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich: volunteer to exchange yourselves for the newly captured Israeli citizens (and s oldiers) in Gaza.
”And there is hope for your future, says the Lord, and the children shall return to their own border.” - Jeremiah 31:16
You are lacking. “I would like to be remembered as the protector Israel,”you said, but you did not protect us because protected yourself first, by letting Itamar and Bezzy sit at your table. Worse, you believe your own myth and have yet to stand up and take responsibility.
Boosha.
Bibi, character counts. “Chartacter is destiny”So utterly at variance with destiny are the plans of pathological liars. No one believes what you say. Find a truth teller, someone with surplus that you can borrow.
If you can count, try counting to [240], by twos.
Last summer I asked you to stand trial:“Bibi. Just stand trial. Or, take the plea deal. Let the bereaved families have their day. It’s not hard, right foot in front of left. Right first, always, to protect the heart, it let’s you pivot left. Protect the heart. Protect the heartland.”
But, no. “All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up. It isn’t that the evil thing wins — it never will — but that it doesn’t die.” —John Steinbeck , Steinbeck: A Life in Letters
My life, my sire wrote: “there is no winning and losing”;Carpe noctem, the darkness is your friend; help the injured, never leave; we are one; some people are worth are worth dying for; others are worth living for. Your brother knew this.
Good rules often fail, good rules fail well. FAIL FAST. The worst mistakes should be extremely rare.“Remember:The rules like streets, can only take you to known places.” --Ocean Vuong. King Solomon Street failed, HaKlali failed, you failed. They took responsibility. Try it.
You are feckless--lacking initiative or strength of character; you are. Irresponsible:lacking initiative or strength of character; “a feckless mama's boy,"; in your case, Sarah.
“Hannah, I hope you are safe, are you?”
“Tell her I am fine. Tell her to be fine.” —Duchess of Orange 🍊
Moses says to the stubborn monarch in the name of G‑d: “Shalach ami v’yaavduni,” “Let My people go so that they may serve Me.” Unfortunately, the last Hebrew word of the phrase somehow got lost in the shuffle: v’yaavduni—“that they may serve Me”—never quite made it to the top of your chart.
Bibi: Trading Smotrich and Ben Gvir for [212] hostages still resonates. It serves everyone; and, surely, your ultra-religious ministers can see their destiny in it. Let’s see hands raised, Itamar and Bezzy. Sure.
Two for [212]. You don’t ask, you don’t get.
This is a squib, and a three-quarters, because too many people I love are in peril. So, forgive typos and my new grammar creations. This is a work in progress as the cousins call in:
Caught flat footed, hardly the right metaphor, on Shabbat and Simchat Torah, a day past the 50th anniversary of the last debacle, was bad enough. There were unverified reports from Hamas that [212] Israelis, soldiers and civilians, have been taken hostage. Corroboration is needed. Still, Israel has not dealt with violence this grave since the Second Intifada, twenty years ago. This is a stark test for a country whose moral fabric is being tested internally, and it would be a serious test under any circumstance, disregarding the fact that Ben Gvir and Smotrich’s supporters are often not reservists called up to the army, and where none (to be confirmed) is being held hostage. The scope, complexity and timing of the attack has stunned Israelis, many, especially the ultra-Orthodox supporters of Ben Gvir and Smotrich could be seen on the streets Saturday marking the joyous Simchat Torah holiday.
I was called up to the Torah, for the first time on Simchat Torah, on October 4, 1969 to read, with my partner, the very end of Deuteronomy and he read the very beginning of Genesis.
The specter of hostages is especially grave. Bibi does not have a plan. This reality is coupled with Hamas’ strategic objective already accomplished—derailing the Saudi-US-Israel initiative which has no measurable price because it is a private market deal with no comparable publicly priced deals to help estimate value to Tehran.
Getting the hostages back. What’s the plan?
"The entire system failed. It's not just one component. It's the entire defense architecture that evidently failed to provide the necessary defense for Israeli civilians," he said of the early morning attack. "This is a Pearl Harbor type of moment for Israel, where there was reality up until today, and then there will be reality after today." —Jonathan Conricus, ex-IDF Spokesperson
The attack, in which Hamas militants entered Israel and infiltrated military bases, towns and farms and took hostages, is unprecedented in Israeli history since town-by-town fighting in the 1948 war of independence.
This oozes with the desperation of the IRGC, and there mullah masters to fracture US-brokered negotiations aimed at Saudi normalization with Israel in a deal involving American security guarantees for Riyadh which will likely be put on hold. To say perhaps this was Tehran’s major strategic goal as it cheers on its Sunni Foreign Legion in Gaza defines understatement.
A Saudi statement said the violence can be traced to Israel’s occupation, provocations and depriving Palestinians of their rights. Israeli officials said Iran was behind this through its sponsorship of Hamas, which rejects Israel’s right to exist. The Saudi deal is supposed to include Israeli concessions for the Palestinian Authority.
Conclusion: Hamas feet on the ground was not paramount, “It was the hostages, stupid.”
Now, the first and second concerns of this failed Israeli Prime Minister, and his ultra-religious coalition partners who desire a law excusing the ultra-religious from IDF service, is freeing the dozens of Israelis captured by Hamas, and Hezbollah’s, and Iran’s surrogate in Gaza.
So, I have a Modest Proposal, and while I am no Jonathan Swift, and I detest sarcasm and hyperbole, it is more of a suggestion for Bibi’s ultra religious Cabinet allies, Ben Gvir and Smotrich: volunteer to exchange yourselves for the newly captured Israeli citizens (and soldiers) in Gaza.
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;For he today that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition.”
—Prince Henry, Henry V, Act IV, Scene 3, Line 60
That declaration underscores the reality of “shared danger” in the IDF officer corps ethos.
Every IDF soldier knows that his commanding officer will demand of himself, at bare minimum, that which he demands of others. The IDF officers school motto of “Look on me, and do likewise” was taken from Gideon, who led his 300 well-mannered troops into battle against the Midianites with that phrase.
Bibi should ask himself : what are two not so old goat’s really worth?
The best idea I have imagined is for Smotrich and Ben Gvir to volunteer themselves in exchange for the hostages. Outcomes abound. They will achieve the sainthood that they so desire, and proclaim, and they know in their hearts that, like Daniel in Daniel 6:23, G-d will protect them in the Lions’ Den. Paramount is their faith, and their courage would be undeniable.
“Some people are cowards... I think by and large a third of people are villains, a third are cowards, and a third are heroes. Now, a villain and a coward can choose to be a hero, but they've got to make that choice.”—Tom Hanks
Of course, blame pointing is Bibi’s skill, and his destiny, too. Why not sacrifice two flamethrowers who ignited the local climate in exchange for a national unity government with the Opposition/Lapid? This surprise attack could inflict more political damage if Bibi is blamed for leaving the nation divided and unprepared. Or, this war could unify the country behind him and his counterattack. But, the hostages, in the Lion’s Den.
In a unity government, Bibi gets to keep his immunity from prosecution, BG and Smotrich become his much needed scapegoats, heroes to their followers, and his ultra-religious colleagues know that you need two goats for the ceremony. It’s their fast lane to the “melech Yisrael” (King of Israel) aegis that they dream of—to be the greatest of all time.
Here in the West, “the goat” is an acronym for “the greatest of all time.” Ironically, in the Leviticus, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designated to be cast into the desert to carry away the sins of the community.
Scapegoat ceremony depicted at Lincoln Cathedral, Aaron taking two goats and casting two lots, one for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat.
The scapegoat gets to live, to be used for atonement by sending it in to the wilderness. If the Gaza Strip is not the Wilderness, then what is?
It’s all right here, to help Ben Gvir and Smotrich in contemplating their heroic offer:
7”And he shall take the two he goats, and place them before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
8And Aaron shall place lots upon the two he goats: one lot "For the Lord," and the other lot, "For Azazel." “ אֶחָ֖ד לַֽעֲזָאזֵֽל:”
9And Aaron shall bring the he goat upon which the lot, "For the Lord," came up, and designate it as a sin offering.
10And the he goat upon which the lot "For Azazel" came up, shall be placed while still alive, before the Lord, to [initiate] atonement upon it, and to send it away to Azazel, into the desert.
The scapegoat was a goat that was designated (Hebrew: לַעֲזָאזֵֽל) la-'aza'zeyl; "for absolute removal" (for symbolic removal of the people's sins with the literal removal of the goat), and outcast in the desert as part of the Yom Kippur Temple service, that began during the Exodus with the original Tabernacle and continued through the times of the temples in Jerusalem.
Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Cohen Gadol sacrificed a bull as a sin offering to atone for sins he may have committed unintentionally throughout the year. Subsequently he took two goats and presented them at the door of the tabernacle. Two goats were chosen by lot: one to be "for YHWH", which was offered as a blood sacrifice, and the other to be the scapegoat to be sent away into the wilderness and pushed down a steep ravine where it died.
The blood of the slain goat was taken into the Holy of Holies behind the sacred veil and sprinkled on the mercy seat, the lid of the ark of the covenant. Later in the ceremonies of the day, the High Priest confessed the intentional sins of the Israelites to God placing them figuratively on the head of the other goat, the Azazel scapegoat, who would symbolically "take them away."
21And Aaron shall lean both of his hands [forcefully] upon the live he goat's head and confess upon it all the willful transgressions of the children of Israel, all their rebellions, and all their unintentional sins, and he shall place them on the he goat's head, and send it off to the desert with a timely man.
22The he goat shall thus carry upon itself all their sins to a precipitous land, and he shall send off the he goat into the desert.
But we don’t do that now, much to the regret of the white boys in Charlottesville, the Israelphobes on college campuses, the Jewish Space Laser ladies, and other haters.
We do form panels to self-judge. But that does not accelerate the release of 199 Israeli hostages held by Tehran’s surrogate, and the price of releasing hostages, as we know, might not be in Bibi’s budget. “So, what you got?”
The Winograd Commission investigated in 2006, and drew lessons from the 2006 Lebanon War. It has been praised as testimony to the fortitude of Israel's democracy and ability to self-criticize, impressing even Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. In a few months, no doubt that Israel will examine itself, and microscopically dissect the causes and culprits that led to this tragedy.
We will get there. But we need the hostages back, first.
Bibi’s coalition partners can save the country much sturm und drung, they can leave their mark on history, if you only we give them a chance to raise their hands and say “follow me.” If the Old Testament does not give guidance now to two true believers, then I have grave doubts about their sincerity. It’s a “win-win.” All they have to say is “Acharei (follow me).” And, volunteer to exchange themselves for the Israeli citizen hostages.
They ought to ask themselves this: do you want to be be a goat in the herd or a shepherd?”
Running with the herd is man’s natural instinct. It is difficult to believe that these two men, soldiers never, have the love it takes to act in an unexpected way and move them to overcome the daunting obstacles to the heroism of the men and women reservists that they have been deriding in public.
In the crucible part of a thriller novel-the writer never lets their characters escape. A hero must have ONE path to escape. That golden bridge. My bet is that after grave ( a shallow one) consideration, both Ben Gvir and Smotrich will say “There are some comforts to being in the herd.”
Seanthesheepman—“Good girl, Stormy.”
On Simchat Torah, it’s a double parasha reading from Deuteronomy 33 - to the end of chumash; Genesis 1:1 - 2:3. First, I read the part in Deutoronomy where Moses dying blesses all of the tribes, every last member: Moses mentions every tribe by name and blesses each one individually, and all Israel together. For the very last verse congregants rise to their feet, and at the conclusion exclaim: "Be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen each other!" Then my Bar Mitzvah partner read from the first lines of Bereshit (Genesis). The Torah is begun from the beginning, from Genesis.
I read the haftorah which is taken from the first chapter of Joshua. Joshua was the successor of Moses, one of the Twelve Spies, and the Book of Joshua, the first of the collection of the Books of the Prophets, is the continuation of the Torah. Tradition was handed down from Moses to Joshua, and from Joshua to the Elders, and from the Elders to the Prophets, and so on, in an unbroken chain, to this very day.
Moses mentioned every tribe by name, and blesses each one individually. But Ben Gvir and Smotrich are not in that chain, they did not serve in combat roles nor do they believe that we strengthen each other. BG was disqualified and Smotrich’s short service in the Israel Defense Forces, was as a secretary in the Operations Division of the General Staff:
“No man shall stand up before you all the days of your life: as I was with Moses, so shall I be with you. I will not fail you, and I will not abandon you.”—Joshua 1:5
Here’s their chance not to abandon the captives, even whilst they study Torah every day.
לְהִתְרָאוֹת
Philippe.
.
©Philippe du Col, 2023
©Philippe du Col, 2023,Duchess of Orange 🍊