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Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-794066
Who Is It that Needs to Agree to a Ceasefire? Not Israel
(Jerusalem Post) Yaara Segal - The U.S. and several Western countries have spent recent weeks exerting heavy pressure on Israel, demanding that it not enter the Palestinian city of Rafah in Gaza, under the pretext that a military offensive would cause heavy civilian casualties among the locals. Who is it that needs to agree to a ceasefire? Not Israel. Israelis do not wake up in the morning looking for ways to kill as many people as possible. In fact, on Oct. 7, Israelis near Gaza were planning to fly "peace kites" as a sign of hope for a better future with their Palestinian neighbors. The international community does not understand that the war will never stop as long as all the Israeli hostages are not freed. The vast majority of Israelis from across the political spectrum are united on this. The only time that the Israeli hostages are mentioned in Western media is almost always within the context of a possible "prisoner exchange" between Israel and Hamas. This term is offensive. It is an attempt to equate the innocent Israeli civilians kidnapped barefoot in their pajamas from their bedrooms by a terror group with Palestinian terrorists serving time in Israeli prison for killing Jews. Now, almost six months after the most horrific massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, the story in the media is one that is no longer capable of differentiating between the villain and the victim. The media has kept the spotlight off the terrorists and continues to all but physically arm Hamas and its patrons by delegitimizing Israel with irresponsible headlines. The writer served in Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is a former senior advisor to Israel's ambassador in the UAE.