Benjamin Netanyahu knows the answer to that question – how to talk to the devil.
The Israel prime minister has come as close as most of us can imagine.
That’s why last week he announced: “In the past week, we saved many worlds. We brought back 110 souls.”
He was taking about hostages captured by Hamas, a proxy for Iran. It was also the end of the ceasefire in the Oct. 7 war.
Netanyahu reflected on the difficulty of the hostage negotiations, stating, “I asked myself: How do you hold discussions with the devil, a person who has no value for human life? But I was convinced that there was a way to rescue people. …
“We held tough negotiations, and we applied pressure on the brokers to improve the plan. The efforts bore fruit, and we doubled the number of people released.”
Quoting the Talmudic dictum, “He who saves a single human life has saved the whole world,” Netanyahu continued, “We released 86 Israeli civilians, children and women, teenage boys and girls, mothers and grandmothers, as well as dozens of foreign citizens.”
The prime minister explained: “These are not just names – these are souls, of boys and girls who we brought home, who we brought back to life. We will support them and take care of them. I embrace them all. Welcome, those who have left hell. Welcome home.”
Regarding discussions with families of hostages who remain in Gaza, Netanyahu said, “My wife and I met some of the families of the hostages who remain in Hamas captivity. I promised them: We will do everything in order to bring them home. We will do everything in order to bring everyone home.”
The prime minister then discussed meeting with individual freed hostages, including Maya Regev, whose leg was severely injured during the attack at the Nova Music Festival before she was captured and taken to Gaza. When Netanyahu was asked why the hostage releases ended, he placed the blame squarely at the feet of Hamas.
“Hamas violated the agreement, and I said that if it violates the agreement, we will return to war. That is what we did, and the pressure will continue to grow,” he said.
Concerning international pressure, he said, “There is international pressure; I do not deny that. But what I am doing is creating an international space to deal with this pressure, and speaking with leaders every day. I am presenting the justice of our path.”
Netanyahu sent a message to residents of the Jewish state: “We will bring back security both in the North and the South. … We are committed to bringing security back to the citizens of Israel.”
When asked about the controversial statements that Netanyahu was given opportunities to approve the elimination of Hamas leaders, such as Yahya Sinwar, and refused, the prime minister responded that it would not be responsible to reveal all of the information he received from security officials at the time.
“When the circumstances allowed it, we eliminated many leaders, both of Hamas and of other terror organizations, and we will complete the task now,” Netanyahu explained.
I believe he will.
For once, in 75 years, he must.
It’s fortunate that Netanyahu is in Israel now – as prime minister. It’s practically a miracle. He’s a statesmen for our time. That’s what Israel needs. This is a war like no other Israel has faced. It needs to be a war that is not subject to a truce of any kind. The end must be unconditional surrender by all of Hamas – because, as of now, Israel faces three enemies on their border who don’t accept peace.
First is Hamas, then there is Hezbollah, and lastly there is the Palestinian Authority. What do they have in common? They don’t accept the existence of the Jewish state. None of them does. They all reject Israel’s very right to exist. Think of what that means to the tiny state of Israel. And that includes even the Palestinian Authority. All three groups maintain it in their charters.
Every day, these enemies of Israel chant it from their secret homes and from their streets.
Imagine that coming from your next-door neighbors. It has gone on too long. Two of those entities have declared war on Israel, and it faces a possible third and simultaneous uprising by the Palestinian Authority.
God forbid!
Just look at the map … and pray.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO WND READERS: Shortly after Hamas terrorists fired over 5,000 rockets from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7 and then proceeded to attack the Jewish state by land, sea and air – torturing, burning, beheading and murdering well over a thousand people, including women, children and infants, and wounding and abducting hundreds more – world reaction was, in its own way, almost equally shocking.
For after the biggest one-day mass slaughter of Jews since the Nazi Holocaust, what followed was an outpouring of celebratory demonstrations, unbridled Jew-hatred, deliriously gleeful support for Hamas and bitter condemnation of the nation of Israel. Not just in the Arab-Muslim world, but throughout the Western world as well, including all across America.
Why? What is behind the explosion of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, pro-terror sentiment in the United States, where Israel has long been one of America’s closest friends and allies? Why are hordes of young “woke” LGBT demonstrators marching in support of Hamas – when Hamas wouldn’t think twice about binding and blindfolding them and throwing them off the roof of a tall building – as they routinely do in the Muslim world?
It turns out there’s one area of agreement that is so powerful, deep-seated and all-consuming that the vast differences between the deranged left and the murderous jihadists melt away into Kumbaya harmony.
All of this and much more is completely exposed in November’s issue of WND’s critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, titled ISRAEL VS. GLOBAL JIHAD: How Jew-hatred, radical Islam and Leftism are pushing us toward World War III. Beyond a deeply insightful dive into why leftists are surging toward radical Islam – which hates and dreams of raping and butchering them – this Whistleblower issue includes fantastic articles by everyone from top Israeli analyst (and former Israel Defense Forces officer) Caroline Glick to Harvest Christian Fellowship’s Pastor Greg Laurie on the current war in Israel and biblical prophecies regarding the End Times … which he says are now upon us.
WHISTLEBLOWER is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.
For 25 years, WND has boldly brought you the news that really matters. If you appreciate our Christian journalists and their uniquely truthful reporting and analysis, please help us by becoming a WND Insider!
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!