While many Americans were watching the Super Bowl (and seeing the very timely anti-Semitism ad sponsored by Robert Kraft and his Foundation to Combat Antisemitism during the game), the Israel Defense Force was staging a rescue in Rafah, Gaza, that got out two older Israeli men who had been held as hostages since October 7th.

The details of the rescue are just amazing.

All the details about the dramatic rescue operation tonight

• 2 hostages Louis Har and Fernando Marman rescued tonight in an operation from Rafah

• Their condition is determined to be good, they were transferred to Sheba Hospital

• Shayetet 13, Shin Bet, and other forces… pic.twitter.com/nuolS6XUK9

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) February 12, 2024

The complete tweet reads:

All the details about the dramatic rescue operation tonight

• 2 hostages Louis Har and Fernando Marman rescued tonight in an operation from Rafah

• Their condition is determined to be good, they were transferred to Sheba Hospital

• Shayetet 13, Shin Bet, and other forces participated in the operation

• This was a hidden apartment in Rafah: “an operation that has been worked on for a long time, and until now the conditions were not there to carry it out”

• The hostages were kept in a hidden apartment on the second floor of the building

• The forces entered the building while the surrounding apartments full of armed terrorists. Air force stopped an attempt to attack the rescuers leaving the scene.

• An hour later: the rescue operation was over

According to The Times of Israel, Louis Har is 70 years old, and Fernando Marman is 61 years old, and they are both in stable condition at an Israeli hospital.

Now, the fact that these two men were rescued out of Rafah is highly significant. It turns out that Joe Biden had just told Benjamin Netanyahu to stay out of Rafah in order to not mess up ongoing negotiations, and because Rafah is full of civilians who have fled from other parts of Gaza.

On Sunday, the White House said President Joe Biden had warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel should not conduct a military operation against Hamas in Rafah without a “credible and executable” plan to protect civilians.

Discussion of the potential for a cease-fire agreement took up much of the call, a senior U.S. administration official said, and after weeks of diplomacy, a “framework” is now “pretty much” in place for a deal that could see the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a halt to fighting.

Biden and Netanyahu spoke after two Egyptian officials and a Western diplomat said Egypt threatened to suspend its peace treaty with Israel if troops are sent into Rafah, where Egypt fears fighting could push Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula and force the closure of Gaza’s main aid supply route.

The threat to suspend the Camp David Accords, a cornerstone of regional stability for nearly a half-century, came after Netanyahu said sending troops into Rafah was necessary to win the four-month war against Hamas. He asserted that Hamas has four battalions there.

Over half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled to Rafah to escape fighting in other areas, and they are packed into tent camps and U.N.-run shelters. Egypt fears a mass influx of Palestinian refugees who may never be allowed to return.

So, to have IDF special forces get in and out of Rafah under cover of airstrikes, with only one injury and no casualties among the IDF, is both a huge boost for Israeli morale – and a huge problem for the Biden administration. Naturally, the “Gaza health ministry”, aka Hamas, is claiming “at least 50 Palestinians” were killed in the airstrikes, and that civilians were among the dead.

Women and children were among those killed in the Israeli strikes, according to Dr. Marwan al-Hams, director of the Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital, and dozens were wounded.

Now, it is probable that civilians were killed, mostly because Hamas is HIDING THE HOSTAGES IN THE CIVILIAN POPULATION. Having the intelligence to find and extract these two men out of Rafah now absolutely justifies Netanyahu’s refusal to stay out. But Squad member Jamaal Bowman (D-Fire Alarm) is having a temper tantrum on Twitter/X about the incursion into Rafah – and conveniently leaves out the detail of the rescued hostages.

It’s noteworthy that you don’t point out where the hostages were being held.

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) February 12, 2024

Hilariously, the Reuters article that Bowman posts in his tweet is all about the rescued hostages. Why would Bowman not want to talk about the rescue of two older men from the clutches of Hamas captivity, and their safe return to Israel??? Hmmmm, that IS a puzzle! (Not really.)

The rescue of the hostages now put the Biden administration in a pickle of their own making. Biden’s comments about Israel during his implosion of a press conference last Thursday, coupled with Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s dumbassery regarding a “two-state solution” last week while meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, now makes the administration look stupid and hopelessly naive when it comes to understanding the realities on the ground in Israel. The war in Gaza would be over tomorrow if Hamas handed over the remaining hostages and surrendered. They won’t do that. Israel is actively looking for the hostages, and if they get intelligence that someone is in Rafah, then they’re going to Rafah. And the sooner that the Biden administration comes to grips with that reality, instead of actively trying to cover Hamas’s ass, the better off everyone will be.

It seems obvious to me that, given the full commitment logistically, politically, and domestically of Israel to this war, that it's not ending with anything other than the complete extermination of Hamas. Nobody important gets to live. They'd be fools to stop at less.

— Jeff Blehar is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@EsotericCD) February 12, 2024

With UNRWA being completely exposed as nothing more than a fig leaf for terrorism, run by either extremely stupid people, or people who were willing to turn a blind eye to terrorism in order to keep the money flowing in, it’s little wonder that the “professional humanitarians” are upset. Their very cushy gig that came with a healthy dose of “moral superiority” is coming to an end, and they can’t accept that. And neither can the Biden administration. After all, the administration is the same group of people that keep trying to tell Iran how much they love them, and want to give them large amounts of money. Joe Biden is apparently only as pro-Israel as his poll numbers in Michigan will allow him to be, which is extremely gross.

Can we have sympathy for the civilians of Gaza who want nothing to do with Hamas? Yes. Can we acknowledge that until Hamas is destroyed, nothing in Gaza is going to improve for civilians? Also, yes. Does the presence of hostages in Rafah make the area a legitimate target for Israel? Definitely yes. What the Biden administration and the Egyptian government decide to do with this news, after making such a stink about not wanting Israel to go into Rafah, is going to be very interesting to see.

Featured image: flag of Israel by edu_castro27 via Pixabay, cropped and modified, Pixabay license