Amir Tibon
@amirtibon · Israeli journalists — political, diplomatic, legal
Amir Tibon is a Haaretz correspondent whose family survived October 7 in Nahal Oz — a story his father's rescue drive made famous — and the author of The Gates of Gaza.
A few weeks before the April 2019 Knesset election, Netanyahu went into a panic because of disturbing reports about the sale of submarines to Egypt. He came out with a bombastic headline: “I instructed” them to file a one-million-shekel lawsuit against Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, and Boogie Ya’alon (who were then leading the Blue and White party) over statements they made on the subject. All the media, of course, published the headline, and all the broken mouthpieces shared videos with foam at the corners of their mouths. How did it end? A lawsuit was never filed, but Netanyahu actually received a serious warning letter from the state commission of inquiry into the submarine affair, which is investigating whether he harmed the security of the State of Israel and is expected to submit its conclusions in the coming months. Once a liar, always a liar. The chief person responsible for the October 7 massacre. He ignored all the warnings, made a stupid video with pink glasses, and went to drink champagne at a cabin, while Hamas trained for the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Translated from HebrewI don't believe the serial liar, Benjamin "Free education until age three" Netanyahu, nor his little liar, Ron "All the hostages returned" Dermer. I believe the briefings coming out of the United Arab Emirates much more, the most pro-Israel country in the Middle East over the past decade, a country whose ties with Netanyahu he once boasted about and which today he accuses of a deranged and absurd conspiracy because that's what he has become, a deranged conspirator who shouts and sweats as he tries to erase the huge stain of October 7, without success.
Translated from Hebrew"What this government will try to do is shift the responsibility onto others". 8.10.2023 to this day.
Translated from HebrewThere are many polite words in the official response of the United Arab Emirates. But there is no denial of the report. Not even close. Netanyahu ignored a double warning—both from the United Arab Emirates and from Egypt. We paid the price with 1,200 dead and murdered, 250 hostages, and entire communities destroyed—some of them still stand empty today, three years later.
Translated from HebrewThe best partner Hamas could have asked for. And even today, three years after the October massacre, he continues to transfer hundreds of trucks to them every day as they rebuild their terrorist army and prepare the ground for a drone attack on the Gaza envelope.
Translated from HebrewReminder: We do not need to provide explanations for the betrayal fantasies of failed ministers like Shlomo Karhi. They need to explain why Netanyahu's advisers received millions of dollars from the terror empire Qatar, and why Netanyahu continues to employ them and pay for their legal protection, even after their dark ties to the "Kingdom of October 7" were exposed.
Translated from HebrewTwo years ago, around this time, rumors began circulating about something terrible in the Gaza Strip: a group of hostages had been found dead in a tunnel, and their names had not yet been published. Those rumors were very worrying. I was worried about our friend Omri Miran, about Tzachi Idan, of blessed memory, about the female observers and the armored soldiers at the Nahal Oz outpost, and about the Berman brothers from Kfar Aza; all of them were still in the enemy’s hands at that time. I did not know that I really needed to worry about Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and five other hostages who were with him in the tunnel in Rafah. That evening I was still exchanging messages with John, his father, about the imaginary negotiations for the hostages’ release that supposedly were taking place in those days. I never got to know Hersh, but I knew the family through his wonderful sister Libi, who had been my student at a pre-military preparatory academy in the Gaza envelope. After 7/10, she contacted me and introduced me to her amazing parents, who led a tremendous international campaign for Hersh and all the hostages: a struggle against time and against human evil, a struggle to save lives and against dragging the war on forever and ever until the “total victory” that will not come and did not come. On 21.08.2024, ten days earlier, I stayed awake until midnight to watch John and Rachel’s speech at the Democratic convention in the United States, a powerful speech that left not a single dry eye in the hall. I wrote John a few words of encouragement, and we arranged to meet when they returned to Israel. At the end of that accursed Sabbath, a week and a half after their speech in the United States, John sent me an article about the negotiations for a hostage deal. I wrote what I thought, and we exchanged a few more messages. He was determined and optimistic, refusing to give up, as in all my conversations with him. So when the wave of rumors began, and there were even irresponsible and heartless people on the devil’s app, Telegram, spreading names—some of which later turned out not to be correct—I did not think of Hersh, the American citizen whose parents had been forced to become the international faces of the hostage campaign. Nevertheless, the rumors grew more persistent, and the night grew darker. The next day was September 1, an emotional day, the first day of the school year, a new beginning. But how can one celebrate such a thing in a reality where six young people, kidnapped by a terrorist organization and able to survive for ten months in impossible conditions in Hamas’s tunnels of horror, are ultimately murdered after a long period of abuse and starvation—a failure so colossal that it is impossible even to begin to understand it? At six in the morning, after everything had already been “cleared for publication,” I wrote John the only word I could think of: Sorry. Nothing more needed to be added. Two years later, that is the word the State of Israel owes the families of all 46 hostages who were taken alive to Gaza. They could and should have been brought back alive, but they returned in coffins. We are sorry we failed. And instead of saying that one word, sorry, and then falling silent and being ashamed, there are cynical, shameless politicians who even today—even this very evening, at a lavish gala event in the United States—continue to say that they “brought back” “all the hostages.” Tomorrow is September 1, an emotional day, a day of joy in the heart. My eldest daughter is starting first grade with her friends in Nahal Oz, her younger sister is starting kindergarten at the kibbutz, and we will celebrate tomorrow. But I will never forget 31.08, just as I do not forget 7/10, and I am still waiting for the people who truly need to do so to finally say they are sorry.
Translated from HebrewShameless lies by one of the people most responsible for the massive humiliation of October 7, who has refused to show even a hint of remorse for his catastrophic failure as "Minister of Strategic Affairs"
Netanyahu has been talking nonsense for months about a “broad government.” So why is he suddenly begging Ben-Gvir to unite with Smotrich now? Is the crook and liar who talked about unity actually planning another “full-on massacre” government with these two? If Netanyahu says it will rain, tomorrow will be a heat wave. If he says tomorrow is summer, take an umbrella. A hopeless liar.
Translated from HebrewDoron is right. There must be no negotiations with the Haredi parties, period. Their goal was and remains to keep Netanyahu in power in order to extort outrageous things from him that harm the security of the state. They want to save Netanyahu, and their way of doing that is to conduct a useless “dialogue” with the other side. We must not give them an inch.
Translated from HebrewWhile Hamas continues to threaten the border communities and drive the residents here crazy with kites (preparation for drones), the prime minister of the massacre and the failure is going to do a PR spin on a ship from 80 years ago, and along the way female civilians are being driven off the beach for his sake with weapons drawn. Netanyahu's Israel, a country without security, only for the cowardly ruler and his deranged family.
Translated from HebrewAs @rpy41447130 Rafi Ben Shitrit, father of Israeli hero Elroi, of blessed memory, says: "All that remains of the total victory is the hat."
Translated from HebrewInstead of a third-world country, it is better to simply call a spade a spade: a Likud state.
Translated from HebrewThe problem Israelis don't want to admit is that this meeting, more than shaping our reality, is a reflection of it. The fact that such a meeting took place reflects the Israeli government's failure to achieve "total victory" after three years of a costly war, which is why negotiating with Hamas is now the policy of the United States as it tries to avoid another useless round of fighting. Being angry at Trump/Kushner/BoP is a childish response. But recognizing the Israeli government's strategic failures, both before and after Oct7, which led us to this reality, is much more difficult to do.
So it turns out Amit Segal's Kurds really did arrive in the end... to mediate between the Revolutionary Guards and the U.S.
Translated from HebrewMiri Rekev's legacy. It was always annoying to fly in the summer. But the collapse of Ben Gurion Airport on her watch is breaking records. And so too in education, in the hospitals, in violence everywhere, and of course in security. A government of total failure that is destroying Israel.
Translated from HebrewThis is the third time Naftali Bennett has come since 10/7. He came right at the beginning of the war to offer condolences to the family of the community security coordinator, Ilan Fiorentino, of blessed memory. He came again a year ago for a tour with Maglan fighters who were in the kibbutz on 10/7. And yesterday he slept at the kibbutz and met with residents for a conversation about the worrying security situation. An absolute majority of the ministers in the massacre-and-failure government did not even think of coming. What do they really have to look for in a community where 16 people were murdered and 8 were kidnapped on their watch?
Translated from HebrewSmart thread about Israeli politics and U.S. public opinion. Thanks @elikowaz.
A month and a half before the October massacre. A hair-raising report (for those who have any) by @roysharon11
Translated from HebrewThis episode, publishing a column full of pathos against Israelis who left the country voting, just before Netanyahu reserves a spot in Likud for someone exactly like that, sums up Kalman Liebeskind's entire outlook since the October massacre: "It's fine because it's Bibi."
Translated from Hebrew
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