The truth behind Israel's June 8 hostage rescue

Israel says Palestinian fatalities included numerous Hamas terrorists who, unbeknownst to the hostages' rescuers, were using the apartment as a base

As promised I recorded the podcast with Ya’akov yesterday and this morning and was ready to go… when I realized I had misplaced a key piece of equipment needed to transmit the finished recording to my sound and production guy.  Alas, the podcast will arrive tomorrow. Apologies.

In the meantime, I thought you might find these two columns I wrote recently for the National Post (Canada) of interest.

In the first, published last week, I wrote about the Israeli rescue of four hostages, alive, on Saturday, June 8. As you may recall, the information we had for the first few days regarding operational issues as well as fatalities was less than complete. The piece based on what was known on Sunday, June 9.

That I dared to question who might qualify as a “civilian” in this asymmetrical war between Hamas and Israel caused major consternation among one particular NGO, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East. The name tells you everything.

The head of media of this organization took great offence at my column and organized a national email campaign, expressing blind rage. Perfidy, they said. Both the newspaper – for publishing my column – and me for writing it, were purveyors of racism, supporters of genocide, ethnic cleansing and then some. Honestly, I can’t keep track any more.

The fact that I described the Israeli operation as having been “daring and brilliant” really pushed them over the edge. By doing so, according to CJPME logic, I was applauding the deaths of civilians.

Needless to say, I did and do no such thing. (Unlike, of course, the Palestinians in Gaza and the world over who took to the streets on October 7th celebrating wildly. Gaza Strip. London. Paris. Toronto. New York. Montreal. Etc. They literally celebrated and vowed to repeat October 7th for as long as required to destroy Israel. To realize the goals of Operation al Aqsa Flood.

Within days of publication of the first piece, there were additional disclosures from multiple parties – including Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip - regarding Hamas conduct and what happened and why civilians died, at all. Those developments are addressed in this, my second column on the topic, which was published this morning:

I write a column regularly in the National Post focusing on the middle east and, periodically, other issues. But the mid-east is my beat  and I tend to stay in my lane. I will be posting all columns on this site going forward, and will also add some links to other writing I’ve done and events in which I’ve participated that I expect will be of interest to State of Tel Aviv subscribers.

Thanks for your interest.