The return of the hostages was long overdue. The war was not really going anywhere at this point with just more and more soldiers being killed or injured as they were sitting ducks in Gaza with a low intensity situation going on. We had tremendous accomplishments in the war. If the war was only going to continue at low intensity with no intention to conquer Hamas entirely and replace them, or to conquer and hold land or anything significant like that, better it should end and our soldiers, and hostages, should come home.

Israel can enforce this deal, Israel can prevent Hamas from rearming, Israel can be more aggressive against Hamas violations, against Hamas attacks, unlike in the past when Israel allowed Hamas to attack without any real response, when Israel allowed Hamas to build, when Israel saw Hamas as a necessary force in Gaza, when Israel let the money flow into Gaza despite knowing it was going to build terrorist infrastructure. Israel can and has to ensure that won't happen again. Even if the deal is not great (eg too many terrorists being released), it is not a deal of surrender and it is not a deal of defeat for Israel. 

Did we accomplish everything? I don't know - other than some meaningless words of "total victory" nothing was ever really defined as to what that would look like. Even if we did not accomplish everything people might have wanted, we accomplished an awful lot.

Bring them home now!

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What does Biden love about Haifa so much that he feels he must intervene to protect it? And why is Israel attacking Haifa?

Maybe it is because Yona Yahav, the mayor of Haifa, just said the other day that he is planning on naming a new neighborhood in Haifa after Joe Biden - Ramat Biden or something like that. That was a smart move by Yahav, a strategic maneuver to protect Haifa from Israeli attack! by naming a neighborhood after Biden, he has guaranteed that Biden will help protect his city from Israel!

BIDEN: "I made it clear to the Israelis — don't move on Haifa!"

Haifa is a major city *IN* Israel. pic.twitter.com/BdNgoDlGkM

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 18, 2024

Israel is an independent country. Israel does not appreciate political meddling by foreign powers, at least not when done so blatantly.

Netanyahu is a problem for the USA, but that is a problem they have to overcome via policy. Netanyahu is a problem for Israel, and Israelis have to overcome that problem politically. Israelis dont want [overt] help from the USA in the political arena.

Schumer might be right but it isnt his business to meddle into.

Today's TotD is a tweet that was a response - the original that was being responded to was deleted so I can only post a screenshot of it...

שובאל בני, אהוב לי מכל. אבל הלילה הוא עשה טעות חמורה בציוץ שאני מסתייג ממנו עמוקות.
ארצות הברית של אמריקה היא ידידתנו הגדולה והנשיא ביידן הוא ידיד ישראל. גם אם יש לי מחלוקת עם התנהלותו, אין שום מקום חלילה לסגנון מזלזל.
כבוד לבריות זה א׳ ב׳, כך אני מחנך את ילדיי.
מתנצל על דברי…

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) February 6, 2024

Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security, posted an apology for something his son tweeted. Before translating the apology, I will add a screenshot of the original tweet by Shuvael Ben Gvir:

Shuvael tweeted a nasty tweet saying now is the time to raise awareness of Alzheimers disease that causes a cognitive decline and dementia in older people, negatively affecting ability to function, with a picture of US President Joe Biden.

I am not sure the White House or Biden family care much what Itamar or his family members say, but if Itamar didnt do enough damage with his own posts, this was a good way to try to up the odds.

Itamar Ben Gvir posted a tweet in response, the tweet posted above. Here it is translated to English:

First of all, nice tweet by Papa Itamar.

Second, I am not sure he should be apologizing for his son, but ok. PM Netanyahu never apologized for the vile his son puts out on social media - when pressed about it he says his son is an adult and independent person. I am not sure that is the wrong policy.

Then again, I dont know how old Shuvael is, but in his profile picture he looks to be an adult, maybe in his upper teens, not a kid.

Third, while Itamar Ben Gvir's tweet is a nice sentiment, it is ironic considering his own history. 

And to close it out, Shuvael then posted his own apology.

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according to Wikipedia, despite the similar name there is no known relation to the more famous John Kennedy

  -- President of the USA Joe Biden, after a reporter asked him about the death toll in Gaza, citing Hamas statistics that 6000 Gazans had been killed in Israeli attacks. 

good for him not trusting Hamas numbers.

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On Wednesday, I'll travel to Israel to stand in solidarity in the face of Hamas's brutal terrorist attack.

I'll then travel to Jordan to address dire humanitarian needs, meet with leaders, and make clear that Hamas does not stand for Palestinians' right to self-determination.

— President Biden (@POTUS) October 17, 2023

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from about the 13:50 mark Biden talks about Israel and Netanyahu

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It was somewhat understandable when they commented on the potential appointments of Ben Gvir to a ministerial position, and specifically warning against the appointment of Smotritch to the Defense Ministry. They see it as, right or wrong, the rise of a fascist element, a far right element that is anti-Arab and they expressed their opposition to that, just as governments and citizens all around the world have expressed opposition to the rise of far right and fascist movement sin many countries around the world in recent years and specifically commented against their inclusion in government. That was wrong but at least somewhat understandable.

Now reports have the Biden administration warning Netanyahu against the possible appointment of former Ambassador Ron Dermer to the Foreign Ministry. This is different

Dermer is not representative of the far right or of extremist or fascist groups or thought. Dermer has served for Netanyahu and is representative more of Netanyahu's positions than of anything else. Sure, the Biden administration might not like him because of his more partisan approach being close to Republicans and his efforts against Barak Obama, but that is for Netanyahu to consider when making his appointments, not for the US administration to pressure Israel on.