CNN
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When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns from a week-long trip to Washington and incorporates the fantastic and radical Gaza program from the US president, he finds a country at a crossroads.
Will Israel return to war in Gaza? Or will the ceasefire be held and Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners see freedom?
US President Donald Trump hopes that America will take control of Gaza and leave the 2.1 million Palestinians living there. The gross appearance of the three Israelis, freed from Hamas prisoners, hurt the people. The one-month ceasefire expires in just two weeks, and talks have not begun to be made to extend it.
Holocaust memories and images have always come into contact with the spirit of Israel. But now, at a critical period of the 16-month War of Gaza, there is a fight taking place across Israeli society to define the lessons of its massacre.
On Saturday, Israelis gathered around television for a month each weekend to watch their fellow citizens have been released from more than a year’s prisoners in Gaza.
The highly staged handover ceremony in Hamas is full. Just a week ago, many Israelis received flashbacks to the October 7, 2023 scene.
However, the country is not prepared for the image of three skeletal figures of Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Levi, as Hamas extremists led them out of the Bang of Deial Al Bala this weekend. did. With a silent, sunk look on their faces, the three seemed unable to walk on their own.
For many, this image was instantly similar to the survivors of the Nazi death camp. “The three who returned today are Holocaust survivors,” Einav Zangerkar, whose son Mathan is still in Gaza, said later that day.
When the Prime Minister expressed his anger at their appearance, Opposition leader Eia Rapid said, “Netanyahu, did you discover that the hostages are miserable?”
Hamas and its allies continue to hold the 73 hostages filmed in October, of which at least 34 are believed to have been killed by the Israeli government.
Netanyahu has long been accused of intentionally blocking previous ceasefire deals. In all interviews with Israeli Channel 12 on Thursday, former Defense Minister Joav Gallant was fired by Netanyahu after months of tensions last year – agreed.
“The offer from early July, when Hamas agreed, is identical to the current offer and in some respects it’s not that good,” he said of the ceasefire contract adopted in January. “Unfortunately, there are fewer hostages living. More time has passed, and we are paying a heavier price here, as there are at least 110 killers to be released in this process. ”
The previous hostages have been released in relative health, but have been malnourished and hurt, according to doctors. With the release of the three-person Gaunt Men this weekend, Hamas appeared to be sending messages at key moments.
“We should be forced to speed up the release of all hostages this morning, as if they were released from the WWII concentration camps,” Peace, who turned veteran Israeli negotiator. Activist Gershon Baskin said on Saturday.
Even the US president said “they look like they’re 25,” Trump told reporters on Sunday in Air Force 1. “They literally look like old photos of Holocaust survivors. The same thing.”
Of course, it must be noted that many Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons say they are intentionally starving. Mohammad el-Harabi, aid worker accused of concentrating funds in Hamas in a 2016 incident challenged by international human rights groups, was among those announced earlier this month.
“The food wasn’t enough for even small children,” he told CNN. The Israeli prison says “all prisoners are detained according to the law,” and that people can file complaints if they feel they are being abused.
Just as some have seen the argument about accelerating deals with more hostages in the Holocaust, others elicit deep tensions in Israeli culture.
“We’ve become a country of victims. We were the perfect victims,” Netanyahu told Fox News this weekend. “I don’t want wars, I’m trying to end wars. But if war is forced upon me, just as these monsters were forced upon us, we’ll beat them. And we will achieve a perfect victory over them. There is no doubt about that.”
Speaking about last year’s Holocaust memory day, he said, “The sinister straight line that can connects old killers to today’s killers.”
His Foreign Minister Gideon Saa also portrayed a comparison between the Holocaust and the Gantt-Israel hostages released this weekend, but Netanyahu has avoided comparisons so far.
His extremist finance minister is equally skeptical. “The suffering of our hostages in Hamas’ brutal prisoners is heartbreaking,” Bezalel Smotrich said this weekend. “However, comparisons with the Holocaust are a serious mistake and are based on the Holocaust light empty.”
His opinion holds weight. Smotrich is at his strength. After Itamar Ben Gwil left his post as Minister of National Security in Gaza’s ceasefire, Smotrich’s right-wing religious Zionist party became key to Netanyahu’s ability to govern.
He threatened to quit if Israel did not return to war in Gaza. It is surprising that Netanyahu waited until this weekend (one week after the deadline for further ceasefire talks) to send a delegation to Qatar. Israeli media is full of speculation that he will simply run out of watches until Phase 1 of the transaction expires on March 1.
“We’re going to win 75% of the living hostages,” he tells Fox News, adding in a hurry.
Once Netanyahu returns Israel to war in Gaza, Trump’s desire for Palestinians to leave will be inevitable.
Trump’s plans are radical. If Palestinians are forced or encouraged to leave by extending disastrous humanitarian conditions, it will almost certainly constitute ethnic cleansing under international law. But Trump recognizes that paying lip service to a two-state solution in a simple populist way is merely entrenching the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We’re going to end Hamas,” Netanyahu said in the interview. “And what happens? We’ll leave people there with all of that devastation? “Well, they have to stay, they have to be locked up?” Because no one lets them leave. Everyone describes Gaza as the world’s largest outdoor prison. Why do you know? Because they are not allowed to leave. ”
You never waste opportunities. Ben Gwyr – the far-right politician convicted of instigating racism and supporting terrorist organizations – led to the appearance of hostages. “This is the Holocaust,” he said. “Encourage voluntary immigration now.”
Abeer Salman, Lauren Izso, Dana Karni and Eugenia Yosef contributed to this report.
