Gaza Week in Review

Q. Your title reads like a bizarre stream of consciousness…

A. It was quite a week. Every event (Gaza), bombastic statement (Trump), or low-key yet momentous mass prisoner release by Israel called up a troublesome association from the past. Even the comparisons of freed Israeli hostages to Nazi camp survivors, while historically problematic, were understandable to anyone who knows the US Army photos of Buchenwald and Bergen Belsen survivors from 1945.

Q. Perhaps you can start with the Israeli release of Palestinian prisoners. That got the least media attention.

A. Every time we see three or four Israeli hostages released by Hamas after being paraded before a ludicrous terrorist pseudo-tribunal, with Red Cross participation and a mass Gazan audience, Israel responds by releasing over 100 (183 on Saturday) convicted or recently captured Palestinian terrorists from its jails--with minimal ceremony and fanfare.

There are several reasons for Israel to downplay its weekly release of Palestinian prisoners. First, it is extremely unpopular among Israelis, who are well aware that they are potentially setting free the next Yahya Sinwar, the next Hamas or Islamic Jihad suicide bomber.

Shin Bet statistics show that around 12 percent of Palestinian terrorists who are convicted and later released by Israel are terrorism recidivists. Recall that Sinwar, the Hamas leader who orchestrated the October 7 attack on Israel, was released in 2011 as part of the deal for captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Second, Hamas quite understandably trumpets the release by Israel of its incarcerated Palestinian terrorists and fighters--some, frankly, also looking emaciated and abused--as a victory. The price Hamas extracts from Israel for a single Israeli--dozens of terrorists--is indeed mind-boggling in the annals of prisoner exchanges. Compare for example to Russians and Ukrainians, whose POW exchanges are roughly one-on-one.

Is one Israeli really the equivalent of dozens or even scores of Palestinians, some of them mass murderers? At a certain philosophical level, there is something insulting here to both sides. Israel, for its part, has no need to help Palestinians celebrate. Indeed, the ceremonies Hamas choreographs in the Strip on Saturdays, with emaciated Israelis thanking their tormentors, are designed to play up Hamas’s ‘victory’ and obvious ongoing control of the Strip and, correspondingly, humiliate Israel.

Releasing terrorists in exchange for emaciated Israelis is one primary price that Israel is paying for the sins of October 7, 2023 that are widely attributed to the leadership under Netanyahu and the security establishment. The Netanyahu government is not comfortable reminding Israelis of that, either.

1. Bills, Resolutions
2. Letters
3. Hearings
4. Selected Members on the Record
5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements

1. Bills & Resolutions

TARGETING FREE SPEECH/RIGHT TO PROTEST ISRAEL/ZIONISM

(LEGISLATING THE IHRA DEFINITION OF ANTISEMITISM) HR 1007: Introduced 2/5/25 by Lawler (R-NY) and 58 cosponsors (44 Republicans and 14 Democrats), “To provide for the consideration of a definition of antisemitism set forth by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance for the enforcement of Federal antidiscrimination laws concerning education programs or activities, and for other purposes,” aka, the “Antisemitism Awareness Act.” Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Press releases: Gottheimer Helps Lead Reintroduction of Bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act; Sherman and Colleagues Reintroduce the Antisemitism Awareness Act

Also see:

For background on this legislation (which has been introduced numerous times and which has nothing to do with fighting antisemitism, and everything to do with delegitimizing and suppressing campus free speech/activism critical of Israel), see this compendium of resources.
For a deep dive into the history/objectives of this legislation, see this article (by me). Also see my evergreen X-post (posted 3/21/23): “The battle over the IHRA definition of antisemitism, in a nutshell: ‘you have to define it to fight it’ = ‘you have to define all meaningful criticism of Israel/its policies/ Zionism as ‘antisemitism’ in order to suppress it, because we can’t win the arguments otherwise.'”
REMINDER: This Antisemitism Awareness Act was passed by the House on 5/1/24, in the form of HR 6090. As covered extensively in the Round-Up from May-December 2024, passage of HR 6090 sparked far-reaching opposition from across the political spectrum, including from across the right-side of the political spectrum — for receipts see this compendium: Statements & Analyses Opposing Federal IHRA legislation (2024). Ultimately, despite a months-long campaign by pro-AAA actors targeting Schumer (D-NY), including intense media pressure, the bill died in the Senate — due in part to opposition (mainly from the Right) and in part to House Speaker Johnson (R-LA) refusing to cooperate with Schumer’s (D-NY) 11th hour effort to attach the bill to a piece of must-pass legislation (which would have enabled it to pass without Democrats being forced into a scored vote for/against it).
With respect to the Senate, note: Schumer to co-sponsor Antisemitism Awareness Act in the Senate (Jewish Insider 2/5/25)
Media: Lawler, Gottheimer to reintroduce Antisemitism Awareness Act – Companion legislation in the Senate is expected soon from Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) (Jewish Insider 2/5/25); Bipartisan House group reintroduces Antisemitism Awareness Act (Jewish News Syndicate 2/5/25); Gottheimer Helps Lead Reintroduction of Bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act (Insider NJ 2/5/25)
Supporting: ADL Welcomes Re-Introduction of Antisemitism Awareness Act, Pushes for Immediate Passage in Congress (Anti-Defamation League 2/5/25); CAM Welcomes Reintroduction of Antisemitism Awareness Act (Combat Antisemitism Movement 2/5/25)
Opposing: Statement on Reintroduction of the Antisemitism Awareness Act (2-6-2025)(New Jewish Narrative)
Sherman (D-CA) on X: “Proud to join @RepMikeLawler and @RepJoshG in reintroducing the Antisemitism Awareness Act to finally use IHRA’s definition of #antisemitism in antidiscrimination laws. You can’t fight what you can’t define. The Jewish community has been clear: we must adopt the IHRA definition. (1/2) Contrary to lies told about IHRA, it clearly states ‘criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country can’t be regarded as antisemitic.’ But calling to destroy the only Jewish state, which Hamas sought to do on #October7th is antisemitic in theory and in practice. (2/2)“

1. Bills, Resolutions 2. Letters 3. Hearings 4. Selected Members on the Record 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements

1. Bills & Resolutions

1. Bills, Resolutions
2. Letters
3. Hearings
4. Selected Members on the Record
5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements