Reported minutes indicate that both the IDF chief and Smotrich pushed to exclude having the return of the hostages become an official goal of the war
ed note–remember, ladies and Gentile-men, as long as the hostages remain in Hamas custody, the terrorist Jews making up the Kosher Nostra government of Netanyahu have an excuse to continue with the Gentile-cide in Gaza they have been planning for these last 3,000 years.
Times of Israel
In the hours immediately after the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion into southern Israel, several military and political leaders sought to exclude the issue of returning hostages from the official goals of the war, according to minutes from the first cabinet discussions.
Channel 12 on Tuesday published quotes from the closed-door meetings as part of a report on the second anniversary of the assault.
The first cabinet meeting of the war took place at 1 p.m., six and a half hours after Hamas began its attack.
Then-IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi told those present that they must not ‘attach the hostages and the missing to the war’s objectives’ according to the Channel 12 report.
The quotes also revealed the fractured and confused picture that the military and politicians had as the IDF struggled to clear the thousands of terrorists from the overrun border communities and bases.
Shas leader Arye Deri asked how many hostages there were at that point and was given different answers by both the Shin Bet and the IDF.
According to then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar’s tally at that point, there were 14 abducted soldiers and 28 civilians, as well as ‘dozens of people we’ve lost contact with.’
The head of the IDF’s Operations Directorate, Maj. Gen. Oded Basyuk, said there were 169 people with whom contact had been lost.
Hamas abducted 251 people that day, 47 of whom remain in captivity after Hamas returned 148 hostages during two deals, and the IDF rescued eight and recovered 51 bodies.
At least 26 of the remaining hostages have been confirmed dead by the IDF. The remaining 22 are believed to be alive.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged at this first cabinet meeting to ‘ignore’ the hostages, arguing that Israel ‘cannot operate in this mindset.’
Smotrich has been outspoken against hostage deals that would involve ending the fight against Hamas, claiming that there is ‘no greater danger to Israel’ than stopping the war and that the hostages’ families’ pain was ‘overcoming reason.’
He has threatened to quit the government over hostage deals on multiple occasions, most recently in late August, and made a similar threat in January after a three-phase hostage-ceasefire deal started, saying that if Israel did not resume the war after the first phase, he would resign.
Returning the hostages was included in Israel’s official goals for the war only much later.
Meanwhile, then-defense minister Yoav Gallant told the cabinet meeting that he had instructed the IDF that there would ‘be no conversation and no messages to Hamas. No negotiations.’
A wider government meeting was held five hours later, at 6 p.m., where the issue of the hostages was again raised, and again, was not included in Halevi’s stated list of objectives for the war.
‘We are proposing a plan of action, here are its components: Stabilization of defense — close the border; denial of military and governmental capabilities (for Hamas) and changing defense agreements; creating deterrence — they made a mistake! Our response won’t be proportional either, and saving hostages — not among our objectives,’ he said, according to Channel 12.
The report added that Smotrich interjected with, ‘If you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk,’ a quote that comes from the film ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,’ evoking a burst of laughter from the meeting’s attendants.
Negotiations on a new deal proposed by US President Donald Trump are underway in Egypt.
Trump’s 20-point plan calls for a gradual Israeli withdrawal and the release of all remaining hostages within 72 hours of the start of a truce, among other conditions, and is aimed at ending the war in Gaza.