ISRAEL-HAMAS SIMCHAT TORAH WAR NEWS AND DISCUSSION

[gutlib]

Lapid stated, “There isn’t a single entity in the world—whether it be a professional body, the military, the security establishment, the Defense Minister, the Cabinet, anyone you can think of—who doesn’t understand that we will need to bring in the Palestinian Authority. Even Netanyahu understands this.”

Lapid accused Netanyahu of recognizing that ultimately the Palestinian Authority will control Gaza. “He knows this is how it will end,” Lapid claimed in an interview on Channel 12 News, adding, “The only reason he refuses to say it and meanwhile we are floundering—it’s already like Lebanon, it’s already like Vietnam—is because he fears Ben Gvir and Smotrich more than he fears for the lives of our soldiers.”

According to Lapid, the IDF will continue to maintain security control in Gaza just as it does in Palestinian cities in Judea and Samaria. “It’s not ideal, but it’s better than Hamas controlling Gaza.”

However, it turns out that Lapid is contradicting someone he holds in high regard—Yair Lapid.

A few months ago, after the start of the war, during the previous American push for post-war discussions on Gaza, Lapid wrote on December 13, 2023, that no one intends to hand over Gaza to the Palestinian Authority: “There is not a single person in the world who says that Gaza should be handed over to Abu Mazen the day after the war. Not even one! Netanyahu invented this unworkable idea so that he could say he would fight it with all his might (it’s somewhat dangerous—if there’s one person in Israel who might lose to a non-existent enemy, it’s Netanyahu).

[TimT]

Pallywood

https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/1791232505548321276

[avromie7]

Let's leave out the Israel part here, this whole concept of just throwing away taxpayer money to find these kind of things should be a huge scandal:

https://twitter.com/GreenPlusAnE/status/1791074025659048000

CC @RandPaul

[ExGingi]

Corpses of 4 kidnapped were retrieved. 3 were identified:

Shani Louk
Ron Benjamin
Amit Bouskila

HY"D

[aygart]

What might they possibly be hiding in Rafah? US weapons? You’re implying there is (or “might be”) something, when i can’t possibly think of anything of that sort.

Maybe covering for Egypt to avoid a conflict there.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b12ct00v7c

Nearly 700 tunnel shafts have been identified in Rafah, from which approximately 50 tunnels cross into Egypt. These tunnels are used by Hamas to supply itself with weapons and ammunition and could potentially be used to smuggle out of Gaza hostages, or Hamas senior operators,” Noam told the court.

[yelped]

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b12ct00v7c

Nearly 700 tunnel shafts have been identified in Rafah, from which approximately 50 tunnels cross into Egypt. These tunnels are used by Hamas to supply itself with weapons and ammunition and could potentially be used to smuggle out of Gaza hostages, or Hamas senior operators,” Noam told the court.

That's a lot!

[AsherO]

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b12ct00v7c

Nearly 700 tunnel shafts have been identified in Rafah, from which approximately 50 tunnels cross into Egypt. These tunnels are used by Hamas to supply itself with weapons and ammunition and could potentially be used to smuggle out of Gaza hostages, or Hamas senior operators,” Noam told the court.

700 shafts identified in a week under combat conditions, very impressive.

[ExGingi]

That's a lot!

Barely the tip of the iceberg.

The tunnels to Egypt are a very significant economy for both sides. There's a reason why the Egyptians don't want Israel controlling that area.

Shut down those tunnels and a peace deal with KSA creating an alternative to the Suez canal, and you've destroyed the Egyptian economy.

[AsherO]

Corpses of 4 kidnapped were retrieved. 3 were identified:

Shani Louk
Ron Benjamin
Amit Bouskila

HY"D

HY”D. The fourth was identified:
https://x.com/gloz111/status/1791469971563827211

[aygart]

Barely the tip of the iceberg.

The tunnels to Egypt are a very significant economy for both sides. There's a reason why the Egyptians don't want Israel controlling that area.

Shut down those tunnels and a peace deal with KSA creating an alternative to the Suez canal, and you've destroyed the Egyptian economy.

How does a peace deal with KSA create an alternative to the Suez Canal?

[ExGingi]

Corpses of 4 kidnapped were retrieved. 3 were identified:

Shani Louk
Ron Benjamin
Amit Bouskila

HY"D

4th one identified as Yitzchak Gelernter.
Unfortunately one IDF soldier was KIA. HY"D. 

[AsherO]

Barely the tip of the iceberg.

The tunnels to Egypt are a very significant economy for both sides. There's a reason why the Egyptians don't want Israel controlling that area.

Shut down those tunnels and a peace deal with KSA creating an alternative to the Suez canal, and you've destroyed the Egyptian economy.

All the more reason to do it. Egypt’s military has been growing at dizzying rates and building up in Sinai. Anything Israel can do to weaken Egypt is a good thing, especially things like the tunnels and KSA deal that passively effect Egypt but aren’t a direct attack.

[AsherO]

4th one identified as Yitzchak Gelernter.
Unfortunately one IDF soldier was KIA. HY"D. 

HY”D :’(

The KIA was related to the operation of retrieving these bodies?

[ExGingi]

How does a peace deal with KSA create an alternative to the Suez Canal?

Land bridge between Indian ocean and Mediterranean. Has been mentioned many times. IIRC I even posted an article about it (possibly in the "peace in the middle east" thread. I'm sure @TimT can find mentions of this.

[ExGingi]

HY”D :’(

The KIA was related to the operation of retrieving these bodies?

Yes.

[aygart]

Land bridge between Indian ocean and Mediterranean. Has been mentioned many times. IIRC I even posted an article about it (possibly in the "peace in the middle east" thread. I'm sure @TimT can find mentions of this.

That comes nothing close to the utility of the SUEZ canal.

[ExGingi]

That comes nothing close to the utility of the SUEZ canal.

Suez canal is a bottleneck. I'm sure you recall the recent shutdown due to a ship that got stuck. Also using a land bridge across the Arabian peninsula avoids the horn of Africa (Somalia etc.) and Yemen, which are shipping troublespots. That could have significant impact on costs.

[ExGingi]

That comes nothing close to the utility of the SUEZ canal.

How about if they build highway tunnels (Egypt-Raffah style).

[aygart]

How about if they build highway tunnels (Egypt-Raffah style).

Needing to unload and reload from the ship

אית ליה תרעומת משום רפסתא דספינתא
רפסתא דספינה. ריעוע הספינה שמתרועעת בהוצאת חבילות והכנסת חבילות:

[ExGingi]

Needing to unload and reload from the ship

אית ליה תרעומת משום רפסתא דספינתא
רפסתא דספינה. ריעוע הספינה שמתרועעת בהוצאת חבילות והכנסת חבילות:

Let's just say that today's container ships probably don't suffer much רפסתא דספינתא by today's port operations. It needs to be balanced against the risks and costs associated with going through the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal bottleneck. Presumably a newly built land bridge solution will be built with less bottlenecking (initially).

Who knows. Maybe just like they have PANAMAX ships and SUEZMAX ships they will come up with a new kind that traverses the land bridge somehow.