JEWISH WORLD

JEWISH WORLD • JUNE 14-20, 2024 31 JEWISH WORLD • JUNE 14-20, 2024 3 ilies, you brought joy to the peo- ple of Israel,” Aviram Meir said through tears. “I would like to address the Zmora family and tell you that the blood of your children is mixed with ours. This is an unbreakable alliance. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” Arnon’s widow Michal Zmora was the last to speak and said she had chosen to do so intentionally. “I asked to speak last because Noa Argamani, Andrey Kozlov, Almog Meir, and Shlomi Ziv were held hostage in apartment buildings. Not sharing a tunnel with Sinwar. In the homes of the very same peo- ple the world has championed as the perpetual victims of this war since October 7. And we know that people in the area shot at the IDF rescue vehicles on their way out. Were those people been holding our people hostage for eight months a chance to kill the hostages before we got there? How do you think a hostage rescue oper- ation works? There is so much we don’t yet know about what happened; some of it will become clear in the coming days, and some of it we might not know for years. But there are a couple of things we do know for sure so far: In honor of Arnon Zmora, thousands of Israelis lined the streets and attended the funeral of Arnon Zmora. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. Arnon Zmora Rescue continued from page 4 continued from page 4 for the country.” The head of theYamamcounter-ter- ror unit said of Zmora that he was “al- ways first, and during the heroic oper- ation he led, he actedwith courage and was a model for his fighters. “His actions brought light to the people of Israel and unfortunately he paid for it with his life,” he add- ed. “Instead of being part of the na- tional jubilation, we are going into deep mourning.” The funeral was attended by Is- rael Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, who delivered a eulogy on behalf of the Israel Police. “Arnon, I knew you and heard a lot about you. You fought on Octo- ber 7 in the kibbutzim surrounding Gaza, you participated in countless activities and operations that will forever be hidden from the public eye,” Shabtai said. “You always understood the mission that was before you, you strove for contact, you acted with the courage reserved for outstanding people, and I be- lieve you deeply felt the magnitude of the hour. was a military-aged man, no wom- an or child in sight. But of course, that didn’t stop Francesca from calling it “genocidal intent turned into action.” Another day, another blood libel from the U.N. CNN exhibited a rare glimpse of self-awareness in their reporting of the rescue mission: the last line of their front page article was “CNN is not able to independently verify the media office numbers.” The media office in Gaza being Hamas, obvi- ously. Nice of them to let readers who made it to the very end know that the numbers were unverifiable, but why did they go ahead and issue a push notification to millions of people with those same numbers in the head- line? This is journalistic malpractice. E ven more ludicrously, a BBC reporter asked former IDF In- ternational Spokesperson Jonathan Conricus if the IDF warned Pales- tinians in the area before commenc- ing the operation. Sorry, what ? Did we give the terrorists who have “Arnon, we agreed that we would parachute together at the end of my term,” said Shabtai, whose tenure will end on July 17. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to do it.” A mong those paying tribute to Zmora was Aviram Meir, the uncle of Almog Meir Jan, one of the hostages rescued during Saturday’s daylight operation. Arnon “brought joy to the fam- the commanders were talking about how much of a hero you are… now everyone knows about your hero- ism,” she said. “More than every- thing, though, you were a sweet man, full of laughter, sensitivity and compassion. You have been my spouse for the last 12 years. For the last eight years, you have also been the perfect father. “It’s important that these things be said last, after the stories of heroism. That’s what will resonate from you.” Michal continued: “There is no other love like ours, there isn’t any. You don’t see that kind of love any- more, a love that involves choosing each other every morning. A love that involves dialogue and listening — with each passing day, we loved each other more. “We raised two wonderful chil- dren together, my love, whose worlds fell apart in an instant. I am enveloping them and protecting them. I know you know that, and I also know that you thought about card-carrying members of Hamas? It doesn’t matter in the slightest; what matters is that if the IDF hadn’t shot back and killed them, they would not have survived, and neither would the hostages. So now, I want to get a few things straight. If a person holds another human being hostage in their apartment, they deserve to get killed. If a person shoots at a soldier on his way out of rescuing those hos- tages, they deserve to get killed. If a person has never once ex- pressed an interest in Hamas releas- ing the hostages, they do not get to be outraged when we do whatever we have to do to rescue them. Don’t want “civilian” casualties? Don’t use civilians to guard our hostages. Better yet, don’t take our civilians hostage in the first place. It’s really that simple. Hamas had 245 days to return the hostages back peacefully. They us in the split second when you re- alized that death was coming. “In the end, the children and I will be fine,” she said through tears. “They will know how much of a hero their father was, how many lives he saved… but much more than that, they will remem- ber how much fun they had with you. Riding bikes, playing the guitar, lighting a bonfire, eating ice cream, having fun together, and being a family.” Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minis- ter Benjamin Netanyahu eulogized Zmora at the outset of the weekly cabinet meeting. “The massive achievement yester- day caused the nation to stand up tall- er,” saidNetanyahu, “and I must say, it caused Israel’s supporters around the world to stand taller as well.” “But it came with great pain, the fall of the hero of Israel, the IDF warrior, the late commander Arnon Zmora,” he continued. Lazar Berman is the diplomacy reporter for the ‘Times of Israel.’ could have accepted any of the ceasefire offers that would have gotten them hundreds of terrorists freed in exchange. It’s not our prob- lem that they didn’t. The war is far from over; there are stillmany hostages beingheld inGaza. Use your anger to call on Hamas to re- lease them now, or don’t be horrified when we do what we have to do to release them in the future. I have spent the last eight months trying to convince people outside of my echo chamber to listen to the Israeli perspective in this conflict. But now, to all on traditional me- dia and social media who, without knowing the facts, are enraged at how the rescue mission was con- ducted, I have one response: I don’t care what you think. Rachel Lester served in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit for four years, creating videos for the military’s millions of social media followers. The uncle of one of the rescue hostages said in thanking Arnon Zmora’s family, ‘The blood of your children is mixed with ours.’ Don’t want ‘civilian’ casualties? Don’t use civilians to guard our hostages. Better yet, don’t take our civilians hostage.