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How Israel Turned the Tide in Rafah
(Wall Street Journal) Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz interviewed by Elliot Kaufman - Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that for months Western powers pressured Israel to end the war in Gaza. They called for an "immediate cease-fire," which would leave Hamas victorious. "The main reason that this murderer, [Hamas leader] Sinwar, didn't do the hostage deal is because he expected the world to stop Israel without it. He expected the ICJ, the ICC, the Security Council, maybe...the United Nations...and the EU" - surely one of them would force Israel to capitulate. Katz was on the receiving end of many lectures from Western officials. "I sat with foreign ministers, and they told me, 'Don't go to Rafah, don't go to Rafah. It'll be a mess.'" The Rafah operation was delayed by months as the White House withheld weapons from Israel. On May 6, Israel invaded Rafah anyway. "And we were right. Everyone knows it now, even the U.S....They said that it would take four months to evacuate the population. It took only days." More than a million Gazans quickly evacuated Rafah to designated safe zones. No critics recanted, but the pressure on Israel quietly diminished. "There will be a deal only if Sinwar will understand that he doesn't have any other choice. The people that deal with the negotiations are telling us now: 'Don't stop, continue'" - push Hamas even harder. "You will sit there, in the fjords in Norway, and decide that there will be a Palestinian state? It will not happen. We want peace more than you do." It's suicide that Israelis object to. "We don't ask anyone to fight instead of our soldiers. It's a principle for us." But "we need you to back us, and to let our enemies know that you back us. This is not a regular war. Iran and Hizbullah, Hamas and the Houthis and the Shiite militias - they want to eliminate Israel. To destroy Israel. It's not a game. We don't have another homeland, OK?" "It's not like the Holocaust. I'm a son of Holocaust survivors...but it's the same intent. If they would have the power to do the same thing, they would do it."