Israeli Defense Establishment Defies Government, Publicly Claiming Full Retreat from Gaza is OK
Dr. Aaron Lerner, 22 July 2024

With Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about to meet with various American officials and address Congress, Channel 11 reported tonight that the Israeli defense establishment told reporters that "the IDF can retreat completely from the Gaza Strip for 6 weeks - should a new agreement be signed to release the hostages."
https://www.kan.org.il/content/kan-news/defense/775909/

They asserted that such a small period of time would not enable Hamas to recuperate in a critical manner via new weapons or the construction or renovation of smuggling tunnels.

Please note:

We are absolutely CLUELESS:

#1 How many intact tunnels cross from Egypt to the Gaza Strip today.

#2. How many new tunnels are currently under construction nor how close they are to completion.

So these retreat supporters have absolutely no basis to know the volume of military equipment which Hamas can bring into the Gaza Strip over the course of six weeks.

The members of the Israeli defense establishment are PLAYING FAST AND LOOSE WITH THE LIVES OF IDF SOLDIERS AND ISRAELI CIVILIANS.

Three possibilities:

#1. They aren't the sharpest tools in the shed.

#2. They discount future losses at such a high discount rate that the death of soldiers and civilians six weeks from now is "worth" only a small fraction of the "value" of an unknown number of live hostages.

#3. They are "secular messianics" who believe that a ceasefire will lead to the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state which will, in turn, herald a utopian peace.

And a technical note: Anyone who thinks that after we make a full retreat from the Gaza Strip for 6 weeks that we can then simply invade Gaza again with elections in America just around the corner demonstrates such a profound cluelessness of the ways of the world that they have no business making policy recommendations.
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