Will 'No' beget 'No'?

Happy May Day, comrades. 

Yesterday we had pleasant enough weather in which we did a 6 + mile walk. That's three workout days in a row. 

The Times of Israel has a secondhand summary of the proposed hostage deal. When US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called the deal 'extraordinarily generous', he wasn't kidding. Arutz Shiva has more. Right now, Hamas is seeking 'clarification' on details regarding civilians moving north, 'complete withdraw' of Israeli troops, and otherwise dragging things out. KAN, Israel's public broadcaster reports that Netanyahu told Blinken, 'I will not accept a deal that ends the war.'

The pressure is on Hamas, reports The Times of Israel: 'The Gaza terror organization is “the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved,” said the top US diplomat, who is in Israel for the seventh time since the massive Hamas attack on October 7.' Israel is in a much better diplomatic place vis a vis the United States than it was a month ago. For example, the White House has flatly rejected the ICC claims of jurisdiction over Israel. And the talk on air deliveries to Gaza has been very positive.

We spent all morning thinking about this deal...We're fine with the first phase. The rest seems at odds with Netanyahu's vow, made again today, that the IDF will conquer Rafah no matter what. This is Bibi's 'I did everything I could, Mr. President,' deal. That is also what Bibi can/will tell the Israel public, who is through with him. Quothe The Jerusalem Post, 'Half of Israelis believe Netanyahu should resign immediately - poll 54% of respondents said that elections should be held earlier.' 

Preparations for the attack on Rafah continue. Ynet has a summary of what the Israeli attack would be like. Nut graph, as the J-School losers would say, there's lots of constraints and don't expect Sherman's March to the Sea. Exit question: are Israeli commandos ready to launch some kind of spectacular raid to rescue hostages?

Related, The Jerusalem Post reports on the situation in southern Lebanon and has a good summary of the 18 years since the 2006 Hezbollah War. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled south Lebanon. 'Hezbollah has destroyed South Lebanon,' reads the article. It sure has. 

Related, but not really, The Times of Israel tells us, 'Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock sparked fierce criticism on Wednesday when she rejected the “terrible” hostage deal currently being negotiated in Egypt and said that its approval would be tantamount to a betrayal of IDF soldiers and Israel’s war aims.' Orit Strock is missing an 'o'. What can we say, she seems nice. To our knowledge we're not related. Actually, there was an NFL QB in the 70s and 80s named Don Strock, and periodically we were asked if he was a relation. There's that missing 'o' again.