Dem
47
GOP
53
The first casualty in war, of course, is the truth. It's hard to know what information you can believe, when it's coming from a war zone. That problem seems to be even more acute when the war zone in question is in the Middle East.
We say this as prelude to a rundown of some of the things that have been announced by one or the other of the hostiles in the Gaza War in the past few days. Starting with the Israelis, they said that either two or three IDF soldiers were killed by Palestinian forces, which justified an armed response. And so, the Israeli government commenced a bombing campaign over the weekend, one that lasted several hours. The Israeli government says it has now "resumed" the ceasefire.
Hamas, meanwhile, says there is no proof that Israeli soldiers were killed. It also says that the Israelis have killed 87 Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect (neutral sources say the figure is actually about half that). The Palestinians also claim that roughly 135 of the bodies they received, of prisoners that had been held at the Israeli prison Sde Teiman, were mutilated, and in some cases had organs removed. The implication here is that the Israelis were conducting medical experiments on the prisoners, either before or after they died.
Again, it's hard to know what's true. That said, there is no question there has been some substantial amount of firing on both sides during the "ceasefire." On top of that, neither side trusts the other, and the leadership, in both cases, has motivation to resume the fighting. And regardless of how true the competing claims are, neither the Israelis nor Hamas is speaking or acting like they are moving toward a permanent peace.
The situation has grown tenuous enough that the White House has dispatched several envoys to try to calm tensions and smooth things over. Leading the delegation are J.D. Vance, United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and First Son-in-Law Jared Kushner. None of these three men has impressed us as being a particularly able diplomat, but what better option does the White House have? Marco Rubio? Yeah, right. Anyhow, the administration is clearly concerned. And, given developments over the past week, that concern would seem to be justified. The next week or two will be crucial. After all, if the cease fire breaks down, there goes that Nobel Peace Prize that Donald Trump can smell but can't taste yet. (Z)