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Monday, January 02, 2023

01/02 Links Pt1: UN's advisory board on Israeli 'occupation' is hypocrisy; 'Even animals get better treatment': Tortured by Hamas, man finds refuge in Israel

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: UN's advisory board on Israeli 'occupation' is hypocrisy
It asked the ICJ to define how Israel’s practices affected the legal status of Israel’s “occupation” of territory over the pre-1967 lines, which would include the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), Gaza (from which Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005) and east Jerusalem.

The UNGA resolution specifically included the “Holy City of Jerusalem” and referred to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, only by its Muslim name of al-Haram al-Sharif.

When a preliminary vote on the request for an ICJ opinion was held in November, 98 countries voted in favor and only 17, including Israel, opposed it.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu credited the drop in support for the Palestinians’ position and the additional support for Israel to his efforts, along with those of President Isaac Herzog, the Foreign Ministry and UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan.
“This is once again a one-sided Palestinian move that undermines the basic principles for resolving the conflict and potentially harming any possibility for a future process. The Palestinians want to replace negotiations with unilateral measures. They are once again using the UN to attack Israel.”
Yair Lapid
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh praised the UN vote as “a new victory for the Palestinians.” Hamas also welcomed the UN vote.

It is a dangerous move that is far from solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is likely to further inflame it, giving the Palestinians no incentive to sit down and negotiate in good faith.

Furthermore, the UN and ICJ are making a mockery of their own mandates and are being hijacked by the Palestinians. This is similar to the open-ended UN Commission of Inquiry into Israel headed by Navi Pillay.

The Palestinian push for the ICJ ruling is part of its ongoing lawfare against Israel. The court must avoid giving the impression of built-in bias against Israel when choosing the panel it appoints.
'Even animals get better treatment': Tortured by Hamas, man finds refuge in Israel
E., a resident of the Gaza Strip, talks to us from an apartment in greater Tel Aviv, where he has been residing for the past week, helped by friends, who have provided him with a roof over his head. E. has been put on Hamas' blacklist after he made several public statements and published posts, in which he dared to criticize Hamas' policy in Gaza. He attacked the Hamas leadership for violating human rights, criticized the discrimination against women in public areas, and expressed his infuriation with the way Hamas' security institutions handle anti-regime activists.

It is quite bizarre that the one who initially defended political prisoners, eventually became one himself. The Hamas' long arm found E. and he very quickly found himself subject to threats, intimidation, and physical and mental harassment.

"In the initial investigations I was severely beaten, with bruises all over my body; it was very brutal. Even animals are not treated this way. One investigator would walk past me, punch me, then another one would come and beat me mercilessly," says E. "In the later investigations, I suffered less physical torture, but more mental torture. They would offend me, curse my mother and father and threaten them. For example, on one occasion they threatened to kill me and told me, 'Tomorrow we will shoot you and throw you to the dogs, and tell everyone that you collaborated with Israel'."

Another time they wanted me to sign a document saying that after I was released I was forbidden from talking to anyone about what they did to me during the investigation, and not to share what I went through with human rights organizations. Each time after you are arrested and released, you have to take painkillers and rest for three to four days to physically get over what happened. Mentally, it stays with you. You can't forget. This is one of the things that made me leave Gaza."

A Journey in search of livelihood
Two years ago, E. was forced to leave the Gaza Strip following an investigation, during which it was made clear to him that the Hamas security forces had information about his plan to initiate mass demonstrations in Gaza. E. went to Egypt, tried to make a living from a restaurant business, and last August he managed to return to his family in Gaza. "I saw that I had returned to the same Gaza, with the same problems. There is no freedom, there are no jobs, and the jobs that are there are given to Hamas and their loyalists. There is no stability in life. The situation is bad and people live from hand to mouth. Everything I earn – it all goes, nothing is left.

"The children grow up, they have needs. You have to buy them clothes for the winter and heat the house. There are so many everyday needs, and then you ask yourself, 'what future awaits them and me? It makes you think, is this how I want to live? It doesn't make sense. The family eats fresh meat only once a week. Some people eat half portions just so that they can get through the day. Every house in Gaza has debts to the electricity corporation and people have to pay off loans that they took.

"It's getting to the point where residents are not using their cars unless there is something essential because they do not want to waste money on fuel. Many factories in Gaza are closed. Business owners are in and out of prison because of debts, but it's not just because of money. It's in almost every area of ​​life. There is no infrastructure and no projects. People avoid going to hospitals because they don't trust the medical treatment there. Hamas doesn't provide services. There is no future."


Analyzing the UN Vote Against Israel
The EU countries that voted for Israel were Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania and Romania. The United Kingdom, no longer a member of the EU, also voted for Israel.

Austria’s vote is interesting from a historical perspective since a decade ago it could be counted on to vote against Israel, as it did in 2012 when it voted to grant non-member observer status in the UN to the Palestinians. Right-wing governments there changed the country’s attitude toward Israel, which is reflected in how Austria now consistently votes. A similar dynamic is now at work in Italy, which last year’s rule voted in a far-right prime minister.

Cyprus and Greece, whose relations with Israel have gotten extremely close over the last 15 years, both abstained – which is par for the course, and far better than what they used to do two decades ago, when they could always be counted on to vote against Israel and were considered among the most anti-Israel countries in the EU.

Another country that has gone from reflexively voting against Israel to abstaining is India, which did just that on Friday. This process began in 2014 with the ascension to power of Narendra Modi and has continued ever since.

Brazil also abstained, continuing a streak of favorable votes on the Israeli/Palestinian issue that will surely end now as veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, inaugurated on Sunday as Brazil’s president, takes over from right-wing Jair Bolsonaro.

Israel’s situation in Latin America is not as good as it was when Netanyahu went there in 2017. Since then, governments have changed, and with them so have changed policies on Israel. Colombia, which long had a positive voting record on Israel, voted against on Friday, as did Mexico, a country Netanyahu visited in 2017 and invested considerable energy in cultivating ties.

He also cultivated ties with Africa. Only four Sub-Saharan countries voted for Israel on Friday – the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Liberia and Togo. Another 18 voted against, and countries with whom Israel has strong ties such as Ethiopia and Rwanda were among another 10 who abstained. A further 14 counties did not vote. Interestingly, however, 10 of those who did not vote on Friday voted for the Palestinians when they sought a seat at the UN in 2012, a sign that things are changing.

“What I’m about to say is going to shock you: Israel has a bright future at the UN,” Netanyahu said at the UN in 2016. “When it comes to Israel at the UN, you’d probably think nothing will ever change, right? Well think again. You see, everything will change, and a lot sooner than you think. The change will happen in this hall, because back home, your governments are rapidly changing their attitudes toward Israel. And sooner or later, that’s going to change the way you vote on Israel at the UN.”

Friday’s voting showed that, yes, while things in the UN are changing, that change is more gradual and less dramatic than Netanyahu envisioned at the time.


Israel's Netanyahu blames Bennett, Lapid for ICJ vote
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the past government for the United Nations General Assembly’s vote to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice with respect to the legality of Israel’s “occupation.”

“Only after I entered [the Prime Minister’s Office] did we succeed in swaying some countries to vote in our favor,” Netanyahu said.

The past government, which had been led first by former prime minister Naftali Bennett and then by his successor Yair Lapid, “had an entire year to deal with the Palestinian campaign at the UN,” Netanyahu told his faction during its monthly meeting.

The UNGA vote to question the legality of the Israeli "occupation"

The initial UNGA vote, taken on November 11, after Netanyahu won the election but before this government had been sworn in, had been 98-17, with 52 abstentions.

The final vote taken on Friday night, just one day after he was sworn in, was 87-26, with 53 abstention.

The Palestinians lost the support of 11 nations and Israel gained the backing of nine. In the first vote count, the Palestinians had the majority support of 193 of the UNGA’s member states, while the December 30th vote, the Palestinians had the support of less than half of the global assembly.

The resolution passed anyway because the only count that matters is the number of those who back the resolution compared to those who oppose it.

The initiative to seek an advisory opinion, however, was sparked by a report of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry that was created in May of 2021, when Netanyahu was in office.

Netanyahu was not able to halt the formation of that committee, which has a permanent mandate to investigate Israel and is expected to explore the question of whether the Jewish state is guilty of the crime of apartheid.
Netanyahu might have to turn US policy on its head
The US has continued to treat Iran with kid gloves. Although it has been lending a hand, it has not been fully behind the protest movement in Iran. It has also shied away from creating a direct threat to Iran's nuclear program.

Had Saudi Arabia and Israel been given a US umbrella against Iran, they would have found it easier to work together. Lacking such protection, both countries will have to resort to under-the-radar coordination that will most likely stay under wraps. In other words, in order to stop Iran, and on the way make peace with Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu will have to turn US Mideast policy on its head. It's hard to believe he will manage to do this so long as there is a Democratic president.

This brings us to the immediate challenges facing Netanyahu and his right-wing government. With progressive circles in the US voicing criticism, the main task Netanyahu, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen will have to pursue, along with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, will be to wage a battle to stop the erosion in Israel's legitimacy.

Countering those who want to undermine Israel's standing in the world is something every government has to deal with. The resolution passed by the UN General Assembly on Friday in which it referred Israel's "ongoing occupation" to the International Court of Justice – a measure that even the previous government under Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz could not stop – clearly demonstrates this battle.

The new government will have to fight this battle all the while pursuing judicial reforms and interacting with the Democratic administration that rejects most of its policies. This is not going to be easy. The vote

Netanyahu will now have to shape Israel's policy toward Russia as well. On the one hand, he has enjoyed a long personal rapport with President Vladimir Putin. On the other hand, this same Putin is the most hated persona in the west and in the US. Here too, Netanyahu will have to strike a delicate balance.

But having said all that, the biggest external challenge facing the government is actually domestic in origin. The diplomatic pressure works through the media, which is over-represented by the Left and from there to the foreign media, which is consumed by critical Jews in the Diaspora, who then wield influence over the already-displeased administration.

This is the onslaught the government will have to learn to deal with until January 2025 at the earliest, at which point a new president might take the oath of office.
Washington Will Not Turn on Israel's New Government
Relations between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have a long and on the whole positive history. In tune with Biden's long-established positions, at the J Street conference in Washington last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised Israel's democratic elections and congratulated Netanyahu on his victory, stressing the importance of relations between the U.S. and Israel regardless of the political hue of its government.

Blinken specifically reiterated the importance of American security-related support for Israel, emphasizing that "no peace is possible or sustainable without a strong, secure Israel," specifying that "our assistance to Israel is sacrosanct" and that "the United States' ironclad commitment to Israel's security assistance has never been stronger than it is today."

However, even if the administration makes do with conflict management, it does not mean that its definition of "management" is the same as Israel's. The upgraded status of the American envoy to the Palestinians, Hady Amr, among other things, shows that this is not the case. Israel's experienced and pragmatic prime minister can be expected to recognize this.

For the next few years, the extreme polarization in American politics and society may mean that Israel's diplomacy will have to be guided by the rule set by the late Moshe Dayan: namely, risk confrontations only on truly vital matters.
U.S. Air Force Deploys Six F-15s to Israeli Airbase for Joint Drills
The United States Air Force on Monday deployed six fighter jets to an Israeli Air Force base in southern Israel, as part of a military tactic to constantly disperse its aircraft at various airbases.

According to the IAF, during the deployment at the Nevatim Airbase, the six F-15s would conduct joint drills with Israel’s fleet of F-35 stealth fighters and a squadron of intelligence-gathering Gulfstream G550 planes.

The drills, set to take place this week, would simulate strikes deep in enemy territory, the IAF said.

The deployment by the US Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT) is part of a doctrine called “agile combat employment,” under which aircraft are dispersed at forward operating positions in allied countries around the globe, rather than at the US’s traditional main overseas bases.

The doctrine seeks to both deprive enemy forces of opportunities to damage the US Air Force, and to enable it to more quickly respond to events, according to American defense officials.

It was not immediately clear how long the AFCENT jets would be stationed at Nevatim.

In November, the Israel Defense Forces and the US military held a series of joint aerial exercises, simulating strikes against Iran and its regional terror proxies.

IDF chief Aviv Kohavi that month said joint activities with the US military in the Middle East would be “significantly expanded.”
Netanyahu planning visit to the United Arab Emirates
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the United Arab Emirates as early as next week in what will be his first trip outside the country since the swearing-in of his new government.

The reports surfaced after UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Saturday called Netanyahu to congratulate him on forming a government, the sixth time he has done so in his record-setting political career.

A statement from Netanyahu’s office said that the UAE leader had repeated his invitation for Netanyahu to make an official visit to Abu Dhabi.

Netanyahu was prime minister in Sept. 2020 when Israel normalized relations with the UAE and Bahrain as part of the Trump administration-brokered Abraham Accords.

Sudan and Morocco subsequently signed onto the accords, and Netanyahu has made it a central tenet of his new government to expand them even further, with an eye on Saudi Arabia.
PM Netanyahu to visit UAE in first official visit



Who Actually Violated Temple Mount Status Quo?
According to this newspaper’s Palestinian affairs correspondent, Khaled Abu Toameh, the Kingdom of Jordan and the Palestinian Authority have begun taking measures “to stave off any attempt by the incoming right-wing government in Israel to change the status quo at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.”

(The “Al-Aqsa mosque compound” is Islamic nationalist nomenclature for Har HaBayit, the Temple Mount compound.)

Jordan and the PA reportedly are stepping-up their efforts in the international arena to warn of the “dangers of any attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo at the holy site,” and “to reaffirm Jordan’s role as custodian of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.”

The initiative aims to send a message to the incoming Israeli government, which includes right-wing religious Zionist factions, that Jordan and the Palestinians are determined “to thwart any attempt to divide the holy site in time and space between Muslims and Jews.”

Jordan and the PA have in recent years attacked Israel for allowing Jews to tour the Temple Mount and even quietly and unofficially to pray there a bit, describing Jewish/Israeli visits as “stormings” and “violent incursions” into Al-Aqsa mosque, and as the “Judaization” of Jerusalem and its Muslim holy sites.

THE INVERSION OF TRUTH contained in the above presentation is utterly galling! If anybody has unilaterally, brazenly, and violently changed the status quo on the Temple Mount over the past 25 years, it is radical Palestinian and Islamic actors who have turned the mount into a base of hostile operations against Israel, instead of protecting it as zone of prayer and peace.

Israel, on the other hand, has acted with utmost restraint in the face of Arab assaults. (Too much restraint, in my opinion.)

The Wakf (Islamic Trust) and Islamic movement provocateurs have attacked Jewish visitors to the Mount, Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall below the Mount, and Jewish worshippers on their way to the Western Wall. They have attacked Emiratis and Bahrainis praying in Al-Aqsa mosque (because these countries signed Abraham Accord peace treaties). They have greatly restricted visitation rights to the holy mount for all non-Moslems, and hijacked the pulpits in the mosque on the mount to preach hatred and violence against Israel.
Palestinians: Changing status quo at Temple Mount a ‘declaration of war’
PLO Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh and other Palestinians denounced National Security Minister Ben-Gvir’s intention to visit the Temple Mount next week.

“Ben-Gvir’s threat to storm al-Aqsa Mosque as security minister is a blatant and shameless challenge that requires a Palestinian, Arab and international response,” Sheikh warned.

Mahmoud al-Habbash, religious affairs adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, warned that Ben-Gvir’s intention to visit the Temple Mount would ignite a “religious war.” Habbash said that the Palestinian leadership was taking steps in the international arena to “expose the practices and policies of the occupation government.”

Hamas and other Palestinian factions urged Palestinians to “defend” the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Senior Hamas official Haroun Nasser al-Din said the Israeli government would be held responsible for any escalation “if the al-Aqsa Mosque is harmed.” He added that the Palestinians will foil any attempt to impose a new reality at the site.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) organization also warned that Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount would be seen as a declaration of war on the mosque. Senior PIJ official Daoud Shehab said in a statement that Ben-Gvir does not only represent himself, “but the fascist government that has declared war on the Palestinian people.” He warned that the actions of the Israeli government would lead to “an open intifada (uprising) with the Zionist entity” and called on Palestinians to thwart the planned visit of Ben-Gvir to the site.
Police mull Ben-Gvir’s request to visit the Temple Mount
High-ranking members of the Israel Police, including Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai, will discuss on Monday a request by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, according to Israeli media reports.

Ben-Gvir, who as National Security Minister is in charge of the police force, had previously informed authorities of his intent to visit the Mount on Tuesday or Wednesday, according to the reports. That the development was leaked could indicate a desire on the part of police to torpedo the move over fears of Palestinian violence, the reports added.

A longtime advocate for Jews being allowed to freely visit and pray at their holiest site, Ben-Gvir vowed on the campaign trail to change the existing “status quo” preventing them from doing both.

Currently, Jews can only visit the Mount during short windows of time, and are prohibited from worshiping so as to not upset Muslims, who regularly riot at the site.

“I thank all the media for their interest in the subject of ascending the Temple Mount. Indeed, the Temple Mount is an important issue and, as I previously said, I plan to ascend to the Temple Mount,” tweeted Ben-Gvir in response to the reports.

“Regarding the schedule, I promise to update when I ascend. Until then, I would love for the news broadcasts to open every evening with the question of when I intend to go to the Temple Mount,” he added.
Hamas warns against Ben-Gvir visiting Temple Mount

Yair Lapid says 'people will die' if Itamar Ben-Gvir visits Temple Mount

Haredi Minister Changes Government’s ‘East Jerusalem’ Address: ‘There’s Only One Jerusalem’
The new Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf (UTJ) on Sunday sent a letter to two associates: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (Otzma Yehudit), and Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) regarding what he considered a problematic address in use for the Israeli government campus.

Before I offer my translation of the letter, you need to know that Haredi politicians have been reluctant for years to serve in government as ministers, lest they be held responsible for anti-halachic acts of the government; and they’ve also been more than reluctant to embrace nationalist and Zionist values such as IDF victories and liberated territories.

Goldknopf, a Gur Hasid serving as UTJ Chairman on behalf of the Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, is a trailblazer in this regard. He not only declared that he wanted the Finance Ministry––a portfolio no Haredi lawmaker has ever touched, he also demanded a seat at the table of the political-security cabinet––a demand he gave up only after heavy (even raging) resistance from his Lithuanian partner, MK Moshe Gafni.

Now, here’s the gist of Minister Goldknopf’s letter:
My friend MK Itamar Ben Gvir, National Security Minister, My friend MK Ofir Akunis, Minister of Science and Technology, Subject: Changing the official address of the government campus.
When I entered this morning at an opportune hour the Housing and Construction Ministry, I noticed that on the ministry’s official stationery appears the address: Government Campus East Jerusalem.
The national security and science and technology ministries reside at the same address.
United Jerusalem is one. It is not a trivial thing that official government stationery immortalizes the de facto division of the city. How can we complain about the other nations of the world who do not recognize our sovereignty over all of the holy city of Jerusalem, when an official paper of the Israeli government divides the city into east and west?
I request that you consent to join me in correcting this distortion, and determine that from now on, the official stationery and the website of the Menachem Begin Government Campus will bear the address: ‘Jerusalem.’

Folks, the redeemer is just around the corner, hectically adjusting his hat and tie. God bless you, Minister Goldknopf!
PreOccupiedTerritory: World Decides Once Again Not To End Despite Netanyahu Forming Government (satire)
Dire predictions notwithstanding, the Earth continued this week to orbit on its axis and revolve around the sun; an asteroid did not strike Earth, and none appears to pose any danger of such in the foreseeable future; and civilization persisted its evolution through a period that has seen fewer wars and people dying in wars than at any time in history – all despite the apocalyptic event, as pundits warned, of six-time-elect Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel assuming office once again.

Commentators and politicians around the world fell into a familiar pattern in early November of likening the prospect of Mr. Netanyahu securing the premiership to a disaster of epic proportions, behavior that characterized the same developments in 1996, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2017. In each case, observers note, the world refused to cooperate with the widespread predictions of chaos and war. The planet and most of its inhabitants and social phenomena appeared unmoved by the frequent resort to such locutions as “hardline,” “far-right,” “nationalist,” “warmonger,” and “war criminal,” among others, and that appearance occurred once again when Netanyahu informed President Isaac Herzog that he had managed to reach agreement with parties representing at least 61 of the 120 seats in the Knesset to join a coalition with him at the helm.

The failure of the apocalypse to materialize each time forced its predictors to insist the next time around that this time the danger was ever-more-present, they mean it. In 2022, Netanyahu’s reliance on prospective coalition partners with stated opposition to LGBT people and with racist reputations poses a threat greater than in previous elections – but, observers also note, the rhetoric already in use against Netanyahu had invoked the most extreme scenarios with vehemence and frequency, and both voters and the planet, evidence indicates, no longer put stock in the nightmarish predictions that did not materialize the previous five times.
Final Acts of Nasty: Civil Administration Uproots Jewish Vineyard near Yitzhar
On Monday morning, the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria, under the auspices of the Defense Ministry, uprooted a vineyard near the Yitzhar community in Samaria, following a petition submitted by PA Arabs to Israel’s High Court of Justice, Regavim reported.

The petitioners did not provide a smidgen of proof of ownership of the land on which the vineyard had been planted some four years ago, and yet the vineyard’s Jewish owners were handed a “Disruptive Land-Use Order,” a unique military order permitting the removal of agricultural assets even when no conflicting claim of ownership is submitted or proven.

These orders are used by the Civil Administration exclusively against Jews.

It remains to be seen how the incoming adjunct minister in the defense ministry Bezalel Smotrich who was installed above the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, a unit in the defense ministry that engages in coordinating civilian issues between the Government of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces, international organizations, diplomats, and the Palestinian Authority.

According to Srugim, Smotrich shared on a WhatsApp group: “It’s certainly outrageous, but it’s a kind of grab they’re carrying out before we’ve taken over. It’ll take time.”

In the coming days, Smotrich is expected to meet with the head of the Civil Administrationת Brigadier General Fares Atila, and Major General Ghassan Alian, the coordinator of government operations in the territories. Smotrich plans to spend at least one day a week in his office on the 15th floor of the Ministry of Defense in downtown Tel Aviv. His first order should probably be to restore the stolen land from the Jews of Yitzhar.
Two Palestinians, including gunman, killed during clashes with IDF in Samaria
Two Palestinians, including a gunman, were killed during clashes with the Israeli military in the town of Kafr Dan in Samaria overnight Sunday, according to Israeli media reports.

Israel Defense Forces troops entered the town, located near Jenin, to demolish the homes of terrorists involved in the Sept. 14 shooting attack on the Gilboa Crossing, in which Maj. Bar Falah was killed, according to the Israeli military.

Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the troops securing the demolition, and also stoned them, according to Kan News.

In the Sept. 14 terror attack, IDF spotters identified two suspects approaching the security fence in the vicinity of the crossing. The spotters alerted forces in the area, and two units crossed the fence from the Israeli side, circling around behind the suspects, according to the IDF.

According to the military, the Israeli forces did not at this stage know that the suspects were armed.


The trailblazing female Muslim Arab IDF major
She is a Muslim Arab woman.

She’s an iconoclast and a pioneer.

An army officer who has received both the President’s Award of Excellence and that of the minister of defense, she is the first Muslim Arab woman to publicly become a major in the IDF.

Meet Ella Waweya, 33, internationally known as “Captain Ella” (even after her promotion), the IDF’s deputy spokesperson for the Arabic media.

Captain Ella’s unconventional life journey begins in the central Israeli city of Qalansawe, located east of Netanya, where virtually all the residents are Muslim Arabs. Although she was born into a conservative, religious family, from a young age Waweya felt that she wanted to be part of Israeli society.

She recalls her family watching the one-sided reports of the Qatari-based Al Jazeera on the Second Intifada when she was 12 years old. Confused about her identity and confounded by the unchartered questions of a preteen—was she Arab Israeli or was she Palestinian?—she knew one thing: She wanted to be a journalist but she wanted to show the side that Al Jazeera was not presenting—that of the State of Israel.

She had many questions but did not find anyone who could answer them in what is a very cloistered society.


Syria: Damascus Airport temporarily shut down by alleged Israeli airstrikes
Two Syrian soldiers were killed and two others wounded early on Monday morning in alleged Israeli airstrikes targeting Damascus International Airport, the SANA Syrian state news agency reported.

SANA added that material damage had been sustained in the strikes as well and that the main international airport in the capital was temporarily out of service as a result of the damage sustained.

The transport ministry said in an online statement that workers had removed debris from the strikes and that flights would resume by 9 a.m.

Reuters cited regional intelligence sources as saying that the strikes hit an outpost controlled by Iran's Quds Force and associated militias.

The Syrian army said on Monday that Israel had carried out a missile strike on Damascus International Airport and put it out of service, the latest in a string of alleged Israeli strikes targeting Iran-linked assets.

A volley of air-launched missiles had hit the airport at 2 a.m., the army said in a statement, adding that missiles also hit targets in the south of Damascus, killing two members of the Syrian armed forces and causing some damage.
Twitter shuts down, reinstates Hezbollah-affiliated Space account
Twitter shut down a Hezbollah-affiliated Space account during a live interview with Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s leader, but then reinstated it after the Al Mayadeen news outlet contacted the social media giant and “solved the issue.”

The incident reportedly took place last Thursday during Al Mayadeen‘s interview with PIJ Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhalah, who told the station that countenancing Israel’s existence was not an option and that a Palestinian terror war was therefore underway in Judea and Samaria.

“A true armed intifada is taking place in the West Bank,” said al-Nakhlah, in reference to ongoing Palestinian attacks in the territories, adding: “The Palestinians are one people in the face of one enemy. Coexisting with the enemy is not a possibility, even if certain parties agree with this notion.”

The Hezbollah-affiliated channel attributed Twitter’s initial move to “an onslaught of reports from the Israeli occupation, in retaliation to the strong-worded, unwavering and truthful statements made by al-Nakhalah.”

The network said that it “was able to get the Space back online after contacting Twitter and solving the issue.”


Ukraine Says 39 Iranian-Made Drones Downed in New Russian Strikes
Russia unleashed a drone attack on Ukraine Monday morning.

Ukraine’s military said it shot down 39 of the 40 Iran-made kamikaze drones that targeted the capital Kyiv.

Moscow targeted critical infrastructure in Kyiv and nearby towns, causing power outages and wounding at least one civilian, local officials said. According to Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko, out of 40 drones that had been spotted over Kyiv, 15 were downed over the neighboring regions, three in the Kyiv region, and 22 directly in the city’s air zone.

Ukraine’s air forces said on Telegram that they downed “39 Iranian-made kamikaze drones Shahed-131/136” and two Russian “Orlan-10 drones.”

Earlier on Monday, Oleksii Kuleba, head of the Kyiv region military administration, said in his Telegram account that were “waves” of attacks by Iranian-made kamikaze drones.

“Russians launched several waves of Shahed drones. Targeting critical infrastructure facilities. Air defense is at work,” he wrote.

According to Klitschko, the strikes had knocked out some power and heating.

“There are emergency power outages in the city,” he wrote on Telegram.

“An injured 19-year-old man was hospitalized in the Desnyanskyi district of the capital,” the mayor added. Authorities later said he was wounded by the falling debris.




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