Tuesday, June 11, 2024

06/11 Links Pt1: For Sinwar, Gaza’s civilians are cannon fodder; 19,000 Rockets Since Oct 7; John Spencer: Urban Warfare, Civilian Casualty, & Human Shields

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Saving Sinwar
The most important part of the Wall Street Journal’s expose on Yahya Sinwar’s text messages isn’t a message written by the Hamas leader at all. It is, rather, the collapse of the West’s will to win.

The Journal aptly sums up the tranche of Sinwar’s messages: “In dozens of messages—reviewed by The Wall Street Journal—that Sinwar has transmitted to cease-fire negotiators, Hamas compatriots outside Gaza and others, he’s shown a cold disregard for human life and made clear he believes Israel has more to lose from the war than Hamas.”

The main takeaway from the article has been what should’ve been clear long ago: The ceasefire negotiators are getting played by a man whose every decision is calculated to cause as much bloodshed as possible. But the Western naivete isn’t merely unsuccessful as a negotiating strategy; it has relieved Sinwar’s isolation. That makes it one of the more consequential strategic blunders in modern history.

Sinwar has always been an ideologue and a maximalist, not a pragmatist. As the texts show, he has personally ordered the escalation of violence each time there appears to be a diplomatic breakthrough—whether between Israel and another country, such as Saudi Arabia, or between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, or even between Israel and Sinwar himself. His entire military and political strategy revolves around literally blowing up peace talks.

That gives him an advantage: He knows Israel will be blamed for any lack of aid getting into Gaza, for example, so he orders attacks on aid crossings. If at any moment not enough Palestinians are dying, Sinwar will adjust accordingly and make sure to change that. Palestinian deaths are more important to the success of his strategy than Israeli deaths, although both are necessary to his hold on power.
For Sinwar, Gaza’s civilians are cannon fodder
Messages sent to mediators by Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar show that as far as he’s concerned, the more civilians die in Gaza the better.

He sees such deaths as working “to his advantage,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The Journal reviewed “dozens of messages” Sinwar sent to ceasefire negotiators and others in which “he’s shown a cold disregard for human life and made clear he believes Israel has more to lose from the war than Hamas.”

“We have the Israelis right where we want them,” said Sinwar in a message sent recently to Hamas officials looking to make an agreement via Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

In one message to Hamas leaders in Doha, the Hamas leader, citing civilian deaths in national-liberation conflicts in Algeria, said, “these are necessary sacrifices.”

In an April 11 letter, he told Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who lost three sons to an Israeli airstrike during the war, that their deaths would “infuse life into the veins of this nation, prompting it to rise to its glory and honor.”

Sinwar’s strategy appears to be to outlast Israel, win a permanent cease-fire and “declare a historic victory,” the Journal reported.

If a ceasefire isn’t reached, Sinwar calculates that Israel still loses as it will have no choice but to rule the Gaza Strip, only to be bogged down in a Hamas-led insurgency.

He was thinking along these lines at least six years ago, telling a journalist in 2018, “For Netanyahu, a victory would be even worse than a defeat.”

During that time, Hamas had organized the “March of Return” protests along the Gaza border, forcing Israeli soldiers to fire on demonstrators who threatened to breach the security barrier.

“We make the headlines only with blood,” Sinwar said in the interview. “No blood, no news.”
WSJ: Gaza Chief Sinwar Is Confident that Hamas Can Outlast Israel
For months, Yahya Sinwar has resisted pressure to cut a ceasefire-and-hostages deal with Israel.

"We have the Israelis right where we want them," Sinwar said in a recent message to Hamas officials seeking to broker an agreement with Qatari and Egyptian officials.

In dozens of messages - reviewed by the Wall Street Journal - that Sinwar has transmitted to ceasefire negotiators and Hamas compatriots outside Gaza, he has made clear that he believes Israel has more to lose from the war than Hamas.

In one message to Hamas leaders in Doha, Sinwar cited civilian losses in the national-liberation conflict in Algeria, where hundreds of thousands of people died fighting for independence from France, saying, "these are necessary sacrifices."

His ultimate goal appears to be to win a permanent ceasefire that allows Hamas to declare a historic victory by outlasting Israel and claim leadership of the Palestinian national cause.


Andrew Fox: Why Hamas must be defeated
Yet, the hostage crisis aside, Gaza is actually a tactical sideshow for Israel. The genocidal terrorists of Hamas certainly need to be militarily diminished and removed from power. But Israel faces far more serious strategic threats from elsewhere.

There is Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia based in Lebanon. Since October last year, the IDF has struck roughly 4,000 Hezbollah targets within Lebanon, and Hezbollah has fired over 4,500 rockets into Israel in return. Northern Israel has been ablaze with wildfires from downed rockets. As it stands, 60,000 Israelis have been internally displaced thanks to the threat of these rocket attacks.

Yemen’s Houthis, another Iranian proxy, also pose a significant threat. Their ongoing attacks on shipping in the Gulf in support of Hamas threaten to choke off the Suez Canal.

Then there’s Iran itself. As a sign of its intent, it launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on Israel in April. It is also on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons.

Beyond Iran and its ‘axis of resistance’, Israel also faces challenges from Qatar and Turkey. Both continue to support Palestine on the international stage with funds, strategic direction and sympathetic news media.

All in all, Israel has much bigger problems than Rafah. It is surrounded by enemies who wish for its destruction. That is why Israel sees its current fight in existential terms.

Israel’s options are limited. It cannot fight multiple offensive actions on three fronts simultaneously. So at the moment, it is waging a ground campaign in Gaza, while using its airpower to try to degrade Hezbollah’s military capability in the north.

This will continue until the IDF is in a position to attempt ground operations to drive Hezbollah back over the Litani river. This course of action is fraught with risk. Armed to the teeth and battle hardened from fighting in the Syrian civil war, Hezbollah is a far more deadly enemy than Hamas.

Gaza, then, remains but a small part of a wider Israeli strategy. But Israel cannot attempt to deal with Hezbollah until the war in Gaza is concluded. Which is why the IDF’s operation in Rafah, as Hamas’s final hiding place, is so strategically important.
Urban Warfare, Civilian Casualty, & Human Shields | John Spencer | EP 454
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down with urban warfare expert and scholar John Spencer. They discuss the ongoing war in Israel, the ideology of Hamas, their capture of western universities, the complexity of the tunnel system beneath Gaza, the underlying roots of anti-Semitism, and the reality of war in the mess of politics.

John Spencer is an award-winning scholar, professor, author, combat veteran, national security and military analyst, and internationally recognized expert and advisor on urban warfare, military strategy, tactics, and other related topics. Considered one of the world’s leading experts on urban warfare, he served as an advisor to the top four-star general and other senior leaders in the U.S. Army as part of strategic research groups from the Pentagon to the United States Military Academy.

This episode was recorded on June 4th, 2024


Daniel Greenfield: What America Can Learn from Israel on the Battlefield
America has never successfully liberated and held territory from Islamic terrorists. Both Afghanistan and Iraq are now controlled by Islamic terrorists. Many top U.S. defense officials who oversaw both disasters have been criticizing Israel for not following in their footsteps.

Rather than trying to hold territory filled with an enemy population among whom the terrorists move, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has used its manpower to attack concentrations of enemy forces, moving quickly and at times unpredictably, while refusing to get bogged down by trying to hold any particular area. This strategy has frustrated the entire Hamas war plan, which depended on using terror attacks to pin military units in place, and then launching ambushes.

Israel learned a hard lesson from Oct. 7. It's not interested in playing defense anymore. Complaints that Israel has to "reclear" areas that it's already taken miss the point. The enemy population supports the terrorists and so the area can't be "cleared" or "stabilized."

Reclearing is a strength because when terrorists return to territory that Israel is now familiar with, it can turn the tables and launch surprise attacks. Israel is not fighting to take land, but to grind down enemy forces wherever they operate. Holding and stabilizing territory bogs down armies in defensive modes, while Israel's approach is purely offensive and plays to its strengths.


Seth Mandel: Benny Gantz Trips While Trying to Fill Yitzhak Rabin’s Shoes
Benny Gantz faced a tough choice over the weekend: Look indecisive or look reckless.

As John Podhoretz wrote earlier today, Gantz picked a terrible moment to quit the Israeli war council and governing coalition—a day when Israel seemingly got “off its back foot” and plowed forward with a display of self-confidence and bravery followed by genuine joy.

Why did he do it? Gantz had been slipping steadily in the polls despite the war seemingly loosening Benjamin Netanyahu’s hold on the premiership. To keep his political fortunes from collapsing, he had to show leadership. He did so by giving Bibi an ultimatum: Come up with a plan for postwar Gaza by June 8 or I bolt.

Much has changed since then but not Gantz’s ultimatum—although nobody seems to be mentioning the initial reason for the ultimatum, which suggests Gantz was just, as they say, done with this.

Which is his prerogative.

But the first polls since the breakup haven’t exactly vindicated him. One new poll shows the public evenly split on whether there should be new elections right now or in 2026 at their scheduled time. A second poll is better for Gantz’s gambit, showing a majority in favor of early elections.

But what would those early elections mean for Gantz? According to one survey, Netanyahu is the preferred prime minister over Gantz by 16 percent. That same survey suggests that Gantz’s party would lose to Bibi’s Likud but would still likely be in a better position than Netanyahu to form a governing coalition.

But that itself merely raises more questions. One count suggests Gantz might need the Islamist party Raam in that coalition; would Raam join a coalition in the middle of the war in Gaza? In another count, a majority say they’d refuse to vote for Netanyahu but would be most excited by a new coalition backed by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. The latter means an election could bring about a shakeup that would leave Gantz in a precarious position even within his own broader coalition. Now that he’s left the government, does Gantz have any more cards to play to counteract the momentum running away from him?
Blinken announces more than $400 million in humanitarian aid to Palestinians
US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken announced an additional $404 million in new aid to Palestinians, while attending the “Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Response for Gaza” Conference in Jordan on Tuesday.

This is in addition to “the more than $1.8 billion in development, economic, and humanitarian aid that the United States has provided since 2021”, as “the largest single country provider of assistance for Palestinians,” Blinken noted.

In this speech, Blinken said that the only thing that stands in the way of the hostage release and ceasefire deal happening is Hamas.

He then urged the audience of Arab leaders to pressure Hamas to agree to the proposed deal.

In his speech, Blinken was also critical of Israel, saying that Israel has taken some steps to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, but has not done enough and has not done enough to reduce the number of civilian deaths in Gaza.

Blinken emphasized that Israel is fighting this war against “an enemy that conducts operations from schools, from hospitals, from camps of displaced families, an enemy that cynically hides behind or underneath the people it purports to represent.”

At the conference, Blinken began his speech by thanking Jordanian King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for convening it and for their “tireless efforts to help end this conflict and to help the many children, women, and men who are so desperately in need.”
Israel avoids commenting on UNSC resolution after coming out against it last week
Addressing the UN Security Council following its adoption of a US-drafted resolution calling on Hamas to accept the latest Israeli hostage deal proposal, Israel’s representative avoids commenting or expressing opposition to the initiative, which it had been voicing privately for several days.

While Ambassador Gilad Erdan was present for the start of today’s session, the Israeli response was delivered by career diplomat Reut Shafir Ben Naftali, in an apparent attempt to depoliticize the speech by not having a political appointee be the one to present it.

Ben Naftali doesn’t explicitly confirm that Israel has indeed accepted the latest hostage deal proposal, instead echoing points made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the past week.

“From the very first days following Hamas’s invasion and brutal massacre on October 7th, Israel’s goals have been very clear: To bring all our hostages home and to dismantle Hamas’s capabilities. Israel is committed to these goals – to free all the hostages, destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, and ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future,” she says.

Netanyahu has avoided offering significant comment on the proposal, which hasn’t been fully released to the public and is being interpreted by some as allowing Hamas to remain in Gaza in some form, given that the proposal envisions a phase one temporary ceasefire with the terror group that is later turned permanent in its second phase.


Jim Geraghty [WaPo]: Hamas Isn't Interested in Releasing Hostages
It would be nice if Hamas could be cajoled, pressured or bribed into releasing the remaining Israeli hostages. But there's little sign that will work. The problem is not an insufficient number of Israeli concessions. The problem is that there is little sign Hamas is willing to give up its best remaining bargaining chips.

In April, when a potential pause in fighting and an exchange of Palestinian prisoners in Israel for 40 women or sick or elderly men being held hostage was being negotiated, Hamas said it didn't have 40 hostages who matched that description. Nor is there reason to think that if Hamas agreed to a ceasefire, it would last very long. Hamas broke ceasefires with Israel in 2003, 2007, and 2008. Hamas broke at least nine short-lived truces in 2014.

The Biden administration, and much of the world, are sitting and waiting for Hamas - a U.S.-designated terrorist organization - to suddenly have a change of heart and become much more reasonable negotiators. These are the same guys who still regularly promise to "bring annihilation upon the Jews." How many different times and ways does Hamas have to say it?
Hamas welcomes Security Council vote, even as it avoids accepting truce proposal
While Hamas has yet to accept the latest Israeli hostage deal proposal after 11 days, the terror group issues a statement welcoming the UN Security Council’s adoption of a resolution calling on it to accept the Israeli offer.

“The movement would like to emphasize its readiness to cooperate with the mediators to enter into indirect negotiations on the implementation of these principles that are in line with the demands of our people and our resistance,” the Hamas statement says.

“We also affirm the continuation of our endeavor and struggle… to achieve their national rights, foremost of which is defeating the occupation and establishing an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, the right of return and self-determination,” adds the terror group, which openly seeks Israel’s destruction.
Hamas said to give amendments to hostage deal offer including new timeline, full withdrawal from Gaza
The Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad response to Israel’s latest hostage-ceasefire proposal includes amendments to the offer, Al Jazeera reports.

Quoting unnamed sources, the Qatari outlet says that the terror groups’ proposed amendments include Israel’s withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, including the Rafah Border Crossing and so-called Philadelphi Corridor — which runs for a total of 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) all along the Gaza-Egypt border.

According to the report, the Palestinian response was sent to Qatari and Egyptian negotiators by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Palestinian Islamic Jihad secretary-general Ziad al-Nakhaleh.

Reuters quotes an official briefed on the talks as saying that the Hamas response also includes a new timeline for a permanent ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.


UN: 'Israel and Hamas may be guilty of war crimes after rescue op.'
The UN human rights office said on Tuesday the killings of civilians in Gaza during the Israeli operation to free four hostages, as well as Palestinian armed groups' holding of captives in densely populated areas, could amount to war crimes.

Israel said the operation, accompanied by an air assault, took place on Saturday in the heart of a residential neighborhood in central Gaza's Nuseirat area where Hamas had kept the hostages in two separate apartment blocks.

The operation killed more than 270 Palestinians, according to Hamas-controlled Gazan health officials.

"The manner in which the raid was conducted in such a densely populated area seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution - as set out under the laws of war - were respected by the Israeli forces," Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said.

Laurence added that the holding of hostages in such densely populated areas by Palestinian terrorists was "putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk from the hostilities."

"All these actions, by both parties, may amount to war crimes," he said.

Israel's response
In response to the statement, Israel's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva accused of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights of "slandering Israel."

"The toll of this war on civilians is first and foremost the product of Hamas's deliberate strategy to maximize civilian harm," the mission said.


Jake Sullivan defends Biden’s record on Israel at AJC conference
As U.S. President Joe Biden faces growing criticism from Jewish and pro-Israel groups about his and his administration’s response to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security advisor, defended his boss at the American Jewish Committee’s annual Global Forum on Tuesday.

“On the core strategic objective—the enduring defeat of the terrorist threats against the state of Israel—there is absolutely no daylight between Joe Biden and Israel,” Sullivan said on Tuesday morning. “None. Zero.”

“The debates are over not the ‘what,’ not the objective, but rather over tactical issues, over operational issues, over particular steps that we would like to see taken,” the U.S. national security advisor said. “Because we think it’s not just in our interest, but frankly, we think it is consistent with Israel’s interests and values too.”

Biden laid out an Israeli ceasefire-for-hostages proposal on May 31 that would see the release of all hostages in exchange for a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the release of a yet-undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners and a permanent end to hostilities.

“It’s time for this war to end,” Biden said at the time.

The terms of the deal that Biden outlined neither required Hamas to surrender nor to leave the Gaza Strip, which left the question open how the deal would be consistent with removing the U.S.-designated terror organization from power.

Sullivan said on Tuesday that negotiations between intervals of the three-phased deal would produce a new Palestinian government in Gaza.


David Harsanyi: Life Hack: If You Don’t Want To Be Killed, Don’t Take Hostages
The reaction to the rescue of four Israeli hostages from Gaza is a microcosm of the past 70 years of this conflict. Every time Palestinians pay the price for acting out in some horrific, irrational, self-destructive, violent way, their defenders want to rewind history to a more convenient moment — this time to Oct. 6, 2023.

Sorry, that’s not how life works. Hamas, the chosen political entity of Gaza — the overwhelming choice of Palestinian civilians, in fact — launched this round of the conflict by massacring, sexually torturing, and kidnapping Israelis whose only sin was attending a music festival. Palestinians took hundreds of these hostages back to the Gaza Strip — a place Arabs have political autonomy over for nearly 20 years — and held them in the middle of densely populated areas hoping to dissuade Israel from liberating them, or, if it did, to create as many martyrs as possible.

Critics of Israel now ask the usual dishonest question: Are four lives worth the alleged 200-plus Arabs that were lost rescuing them?

Israel is the only nation on earth that is tasked with protecting its own people and its enemies. Every innocent lost life is, of course, a tragedy. But if you don’t want to be placed in harm’s way, don’t hold hostages in your homes and neighborhoods, and don’t cheer and support a government that puts your life in constant danger for a lost cause. This is the reality of the world.

Now, if reports are correct, Hamas — and perhaps “civilians” (it’s difficult to tell because terrorists are often dressed as noncombatants) — opened fire on the rescuers. The Israelis, who do not indiscriminately target civilians, fired back, as they should. Whatever the specifics, every lost life is Hamas’ fault.

But, as always, it also needs to be stressed that the casualty numbers that are endlessly repeated by the establishment media are fiction — as everyone in those newsrooms is surely aware. So, we must assume outlets like The Washington Post and CNN — which also detestably contends that the hostages had been “released” — are fellow travelers. One BBC interviewer even asked an IDF spokesman if Israel had warned Palestinians of their sting operation.
Israel Advocacy Movement: The Truth About Israel's Daring Hostage Raid in Gaza

The Untold Story: IDF Hostage Rescue & Hamas' Human Shields - What the Media Isn’t Telling You
Everyone's talking about the tragic loss of Palestinian lives during the recent hostage rescue. But what's missing? The reality of Hamas using human shields and the difficult choices Israel faces.

See the full story and understand the deeper context behind the headlines.




Family of Israeli hostage still in Gaza share complex emotions over Saturday’s rescue: ‘Painful because it’s not Romi’
The family of Romi Gonen, an Israeli waitress shot and kidnapped on Oct. 7, say that Saturday’s stunning rescue of four hostages from Gaza was one of their “happiest days” in months, but confessed it was also “painful… because it’s not Romi” among them.

Romi Gonen, 23, was shot in the arm and abducted by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival as her mother Meirav, 55, tried to comfort her in a heartbreaking phone call.

Romi’s sister, Yarden Gonen, 30, says she feels “very, very happy” and “over the top” for the families of the rescued hostages but admitted to “complex” emotions because her sister is still held captive.

“We want to feel only joy and happiness for them and relief but you can’t,” she said, “I wish I could only be happy without feeling any other feeling.”

Romi’s mother Meirav said she was overjoyed to see the images of hostages returning to their families on television but desperately longed for a reunion of her own.

“We envied them, I felt jealous, real jealous, not the kind of jealous that I wouldn’t want [others to return home], I just want my daughter to be one of them also in addition to the four of them.”

“It was hard for me, it was difficult,” Meirav said, “I asked my youngest child, he’s 17, how he felt he said ‘I don’t want to talk about it.'”

Meirav describes Romi as “one of the funniest girls I know,” who is beloved by her friends and customers at the high-end Tel Aviv restaurant she waitresses at.
Hostages were beaten, abused ‘almost every day,’ says doctor who treated rescuees
The doctor in charge of treating the hostages rescued from Gaza on Saturday tells CNN that the abductees were regularly beaten by their captors.

“It was a harsh, harsh experience, with a lot of abuse, almost every day,” Dr. Itai Pessach of Sheba Medical Center says. “Every hour, both physical, mental and other types, and that is something that is beyond comprehension.”

According to the American outlet, Pessach says the eight months the hostages spent under Hamas captivity “left a significant mark on their health,” despite them appearing outwardly to be in good shape.

“They had no protein, so their muscles are extremely wasted, there is damage to some other systems because of that,” he says, adding that they said the supply of food and water varied, and that they were moved a few times and dealt with different guards.

“There have been periods where they got almost no food whatsoever,” Pessach adds. “There were other periods where it was a little better, but all in all, the combination of the psychological stress, malnutrition or not getting enough food or not getting the right kind of food, medical neglect, being limited to space, not seeing the sun and all of the other things have [a] significant effect on health.”

Elaborating on the psychological strain, he says: “As time passes, hope of being released kind of decreases and you start wondering if this would ever end… losing that faith, I think, is where you get to the breaking point.”
Rescued hostages Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan discharged from hospitals
Two days after being rescued from Gaza, Noa Argamani was released from Tel Aviv's Ichilov Medical Center on Tuesday. She had undergone a series of medical and psychosocial evaluations. Her mother, Liora, remains hospitalized, so Argamani and her relatives will spend the Shavuot holiday nearby.

Almog Meir Jan was also released from the hospital, and went home on Monday night. With his release, all the hostages rescued in the operation and hospitalized at Sheba Medical Center have returned home.

Jan, a 21-year-old from Or Yehuda, was kidnapped from the nature party in Re’im. He was a recently discharged soldier who was supposed to start working at a major telecommunications company the day after the party. That morning, he managed to call his mother, Orit, and told her that the party was shut down due to rockets and gunfire around him. He told her he loved her, and then the connection was lost.

Along with Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, and Andrey Kozlov, Jan was rescued from the house where they were held in the Nuseirat refugee camp in a daring operation by the Yamam, the IDF, and the Shin Bet. Weeks of intelligence gathering, preparations, and planning preceded the operation, which unusually took place in broad daylight. Yamam fighter Chief Superintendent Arnon Zmora lost his life in the operation.

Upon Jan's return home, his mother Orit gave a statement to the media about his mental state. "Almog was in captivity for eight months. That's a long time," she said. "He experienced various things, but what I can say is that his connection with the other hostages greatly helped strengthen their spirit, hope, and faith. The bond they formed strengthened them. They did not lose hope until they were rescued. They always felt that this day would come when they would return home. Almog is strong; he has a long way to go, it's not simple."


The news that broke her: Noa Argamani recounts more details of Gaza captivity
Rescued hostage Noa Argamani spoke with Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Ronen Bar regarding her captivity, Channel 12 reported on Monday.

She stated, according to channel 12, "I tried to stay strong, but there were difficult moments. At first, I was with Moran Stella Yanai, and when she was released, I told her, 'See you soon.’ I never imagined it would take so long."

"One time, I heard a report on the radio that Israel was against ending the war, and it broke me," Argamani added.

“On some days, we heard non-stop IDF shelling nearby. What strengthened me in the end was that I tried to stay strong and practiced mindfulness," she shared.

Argamani meets mother of boyfriend who is still in captivity
In addition, on Tuesday, social media users shared posts in which Argamani could be seen reunited with Ditza Or, the mother of her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, who is still held in captivity in Gaza.


Iran's Ties to the 'Palestine Chronicle'
An American nonprofit that published the writings of a Hamas affiliate who held three Israelis hostage has ties to the Iranian regime and Al Jazeera, the Qatari-funded outlet that has served as a leading mouthpiece for Hamas, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.

Israeli authorities confirmed over the weekend that three of their hostages were held in the home of Abdallah Aljamal, an Al Jazeera contributor who most frequently wrote for a little-known U.S.-based website called the Palestine Chronicle. Aljamal's writings were featured extensively on the site, which is registered as a nonprofit in Washington State. Aljamal even filed dispatches during the time he is alleged to have housed the Israeli captives.

While little is known about the Palestine Chronicle's donors and financial status—the group's IRS tax records do not list detailed information—its founder and editor in chief, Ramzy Baroud, formerly served as an editor and executive for Al Jazeera, which was recently outlawed in Israel for providing support to Hamas.

Baroud defended Hamas's Oct. 7 terror strike on Israel and has written for Kayhan International, an outlet funded by Iran's supreme leader. At least six of the outlet's published writers have also appeared on Iranian state-controlled propaganda sites that the U.S. government seized in 2020 for being part of an influence operation run by Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC). Government documents also show that the Palestine Liberation Organization, which has engaged in terrorism, conducted an interview with the Palestine Chronicle in 2006.

The Palestine Chronicle's links to a foreign network of anti-Israel and pro-terrorism outlets shine new light on how a supposed journalist ended up housing hostages for Hamas. While the terror group is known to employ regional reporters who disseminate their propaganda, hostage-taker Aljamal's connection to an American site registered as a nonprofit raises questions about how pro-jihadi propaganda outlets are steadily feeding information to an English-speaking audience.

A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces confirmed to the Free Beacon on Monday that "the hostages were held captive by Abdallah Aljamal and members of his family in their home. This is further evidence of the deliberate use of civilian homes and buildings by the Hamas terrorist organization to hold Israeli hostages captive in the Gaza Strip."

The Palestine Chronicle, based and registered as a nonprofit group in Olympia, Washington, received its tax-exempt status in 2012, IRS records show. The group is only required to file a shortened tax form because it claims to receive less than $50,000 dollars in contributions per year. Records filed with the State of Washington show, however, that the website's parent company, the People Media Project, took in $91,107 in 2022, $59,230 in 2021, and $92,036 in 2020. The outlet claims to be entirely funded by its readers.


BabylonBee: Here's How 12 Different News Outlets Covered Israel's Hostage Rescue (Satire)
Everyone knows that the media is either fake and biased or completely 100% factual and correct, depending on how your political orientation lines up with any given news source.

With that in mind, The Babylon Bee conducted an investigation into how different media outlets covered Israel's hostage rescue operation:
1. The Babylon Bee: Breaking: Gaza Health Ministry Confirms 8 Billion Dead In Israeli Hostage Rescue
2. New York Times: Breaking: Gaza Health Ministry Confirms 8 Billion Dead In Israeli Hostage Rescue
3. CNN: GENOCIDE: Israel Mass Murders More Palestinian Citizens Also Please Pay Attention To Us We're Broke
4. Rolling Stone: Palestinians Recount Horror Of Living With 4 Jews For 247 Days
5. NotTheBee: Israel Just Pulled Off One Of The Most EPIC Rescues In History And Libz Are Big Mad. Let Me Break It Down For You. 🤣🤣🤣
6. BBC News: Israel Genocidally Commits Genocide By Shooting Back At Innocent Civilian People Shooting At Them In Horrible Genocide
7. Buzzfeed: Check Out These 32 Recipes From Child-Free Trans Women That You Need In Your Life
8. Deadspin: Here's a Video of a Racist Israeli Hostage in Blackface Oh Wait Those Are Ashes From His Friend's Incinerated Body And Oops We Just Lost Another $500 Million Defamation Lawsuit
9. Washington Post: Hi, I'm Raul, The Janitor, Nobody Here Today
10. HuffPost: Israel Brutally Murders Civilians Innocently Holding AK-47s, Hostages
11. TMZ: POOLSIDE PICS! You'll Never Believe How These Seven Celebs Responded to Israel's Slaughter of Innocent Palestinians
12. Al Jazeera: Wait! Don't Shoot! I Can Exp —
The list above will help you determine if other news outlets covered the Israeli hostage rescue as accurately as The Babylon Bee.


19,000 Rockets Launched at Israel Since Hamas’s October 7 Atrocities
Latest Developments
Hamas and other terrorist groups have launched more than 19,000 unguided rockets at Israel since the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on June 10. “The projectiles were mostly fired from the Gaza Strip, although the portion of rocket attacks from Lebanon has been steadily growing in recent months. Thousands of those rockets have been intercepted by air defense,” The Times of Israel reported. The IDF data includes only projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory. On October 21, two weeks after Hamas launched its attack, the IDF noted that one in five Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad rockets are misfired, landing within Gaza. Hamas has also admitted that some of its rockets misfire.

The new data illustrates that rocket fire continues to terrorize Israel. In April, the IDF said that approximately 9,100 rockets crossed into Israel from Gaza and that approximately 3,100 rockets had crossed into Israel from Lebanon.

Expert Analysis
“Hamas began its war on Israel with an unprecedented barrage of thousands of rockets. Israel has been able to successfully intercept rockets and reduce the Hamas threat over eight months of war. However, the threat has now shifted, as Hezbollah is increasing its attacks using drones. This illustrates how Israel is forced to contend with a rapidly changing battlefield as it counters Iranian-backed terrorist threats.” — Seth J. Frantzman, FDD Adjunct Fellow

“With the guidance of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah have been able to develop significant arms manufacturing capabilities over the years. This effort has culminated in the current conflict, where their ability to produce and deploy weapons has made a tangible impact. The most striking example of this is the array of rockets and drones deployed by Hezbollah and Hamas against Israel.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal

IDF Prepares to Defend Against ‘Swarms’ of Hezbollah Drones
The IDF is preparing to defend against “swarms” of Hezbollah drones, according to a new report from Israel’s Ynet News. “The recent demonstration of Hezbollah’s capabilities, which have intensified in recent weeks, still represents only a small fraction of the Iran-backed terror group’s aerial arsenal which the IDF believes to include an array of precision munitions supplied mainly by Iran over the past decade, or weapons that have undergone upgrade and modifications based on lessons learned in the conflict,” Ynet noted. The IDF also said on June 10 that Israeli air defenses have intercepted more than 150 drones throughout the Gaza war and corresponding fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border. Hezbollah has been intensifying its drone attacks on Israel.
Israeli battlefield commanders explain why they are breaking IDF rules to solicit donated gear
The spike in unsanctioned donations should perhaps not come as a surprise to the military, since it had warnings of a lack of preparedness around basic supplies.

Amir Avivi, a retired IDF brigadier general, told JTA he has spent years sounding the alarm about the issue while he was in service as the director of the office of the IDF chief of staff and as the deputy comptroller of the security forces. He remained vocal after his 2017 retirement from service when he founded the Israel Defense And Security Forum, a right-leaning advocacy group focused on military issues.

He said the army doesn’t always spend its money wisely.

“The military doesn’t have an endless budget, and it’s not exciting for the leadership to buy boots and or helmets,” he said.“It’s much more exciting to invest in new technologies like cyber weapons. At the end of the day, however, war is a physical event. In war, everything revolves around the number of troops, the amount of equipment, ammunition and fuel, water, and food. That’s what wins the war. We are seeing the same thing in Ukraine.”

Avivi recalled an argument he had while in service with his superior, the IDF’s then-chief of the staff, Benny Gantz, who in 2013 was forced to make budget cuts and proposed investing in technology to make up for cuts to conventional forces. Gantz went on to become a minister of defense and later joined the three-member war cabinet convened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Oct. 7 before ultimately resigning on Sunday.

“I told Gantz that the military is prioritizing all kinds of gadgets and technologies and things that seem sexy, but in the end it undermines preparedness,” Avivi said. “The army has really neglected these things, sometimes to a criminal extent, and that’s why we have had shortages. When you suddenly activate the entire army, you discover the extent of the problem.”

He added, however, that the IDF appears to have started correcting course and has spent many billions on new equipment during the current war. The IDF isn’t announcing exactly what it’s purchasing but Israeli defense spending has doubled since an all-time low before the war.

Several commanders and logistics officers, particularly those in regular army units, as opposed to the reserves, told JTA they are seeing the fruits of the military’s buying sprees, at least for some categories of equipment.

“It was a wild west with all the shortages early on, but I must admit, the situation is much better now,” said one senior commander of a combat unit.

But even the best-supplied units continue to ask for donations, according to several of the commanders.

Soldiers tend to want the best and newest gear they can get. They also turn to the donations network when they need something fast. For the military to process requests for gear can take months. “Through the civilian volunteers, I can get it the next day,” said a logistics officer.

Well-supplied units also rely on donations for gear they have realized they need, but that the military has not yet created a standard for, such as drones with thermal cameras, and solar panels to be able to charge electronics during extended periods in the field.

The gap between what the soldiers say they need and what the military regards as necessary is one of the reasons the military can claim there are no shortages, according to Avivi.

“The IDF may not have issued official standards for the type of stuff soldiers need and want,” he said. “There are things the IDF doesn’t purchase to begin with so it’s not a shortage.”

Technicalities aside, many inside and outside the army see such claims by the military as a form of lying that erodes trust and leads to disillusionment.

Shtiebel said it wasn’t easy for him to reach a point at which he was comfortable speaking out publicly. He agreed to be named in this article because he thought it would be harder for people to dismiss the problems he wanted to call attention to. He has also been thinking about his two young sons.

“What will I do the day they go to the army when I just don’t trust the army?” he said. “At this point, I’ve decided to put myself out there in case it helps turn the tide a little bit.”
Four IDF soldiers killed, six wounded in Rafah explosion
Maj. Tal Pshebilski Shaulov, 24, from Gedera, St.-Sgt. Eitan Karlsbrun, 20, from Modi'in, Sgt. Yair Levin, 20, from Givat Harel, and Sgt. Almog Shalom, 19, from Kibbutz Hamadia were killed Monday night in an incident in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in which a building collapsed, the IDF announced on Tuesday.

In the incident where the four fighters fell, another officer was seriously wounded, and five fighters were moderately injured. Area of incident heavily saturated with terror shafts, trapped houses

An investigation of the incident revealed that Givati Soldiers entered a three-story building in the Al-Bura neighborhood in the city of Rafah, which is considered an area saturated with terrorist shafts, trapped houses, and many weapons.

During a joint attack with the Nahal Brigade, the force threw a concussive charge into the building that was supposed to trigger the activation of IEDs. After it was thrown, fighters entered, and only then did the explosion occur that collapsed the building and led to the death and injury of six.

At this point, it is unclear why the charges were not activated after the concussive charge was thrown.

All of the soldiers involved in the incident were from the Givati Brigade.


Hamas commander among four Palestinians killed in West Bank clash
Border Police officers killed a Hamas commander and three other Palestinian terrorists during a West Bank arrest raid late Monday targeting a man accused of carrying out an arson attack on a settler outpost a day earlier, authorities said.

One officer was slightly hurt amid the operation, police said.

The incident occurred in the West Bank town of Kafr Ni’ma near Ramallah in the central West Bank, as troops carried out a manhunt for the terrorists behind Sunday night’s attack on the Sde Ephraim outpost.

Undercover Border Police officers and IDF troops approached a hideout where the cell that allegedly carried out the attack was gathered, causing the main suspect and three others to attempt to flee in a car, police said.

Police said the suspects tried to ram into the officers while making their escape. Officers opened fire at the vehicle in response, killing the four men inside.

In their vehicle, troops found a makeshift sub-machine gun, a military vest, and explosive devices, authorities said.
Israeli forces conclude 18-hour counterterror op in Samaria
Israeli security forces on Monday completed an 18-hour counterterror raid in the al-Fari’ah camp in the foothills of the Jordan Valley, arresting eight suspects and killing another, the Israel Defense Forces announced.

The operation in al-Fari’ah, located east of Nablus (Shechem), included troops of the IDF’s Duchifat and Lions of the Jordan Valley Battalions and the elite unit Duvdevan, as well as Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) officers. No Israeli casualties were reported in the operation.

As part of the raid, the forces discovered and destroyed an explosives laboratory where more than 80 bombs were found, according to the IDF.

One Palestinian gunman was confirmed killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops, while several other terrorists were “hit,” the army said. In addition, the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps’ Unit 636 launched a drone strike on two armed terrorists about to attack.

Forces also confiscated terrorists’ weaponry that was discovered inside a suspicious vehicle that approached during the operation in the area. All eight detained suspects and their weapons were transferred to the security forces for interrogation, stated the military.

Judea and Samaria saw a dramatic rise in Palestinian terrorist attacks in 2023 compared to the previous year, with shootings reaching their highest level since the Second Intifada of 2000-05, IDF data show.


FDD: Hezbollah escalates in the shadow of US-Israel tensions over Rafah
Hezbollah intensified its attacks against Israel since early May—shifting from pulling its punches on causing Israeli casualties to noticeably seeking to draw blood. Of the twenty-four Israelis slain in attacks from Lebanon since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah deliberately killed four—three soldiers and one civilian—during May’s second week. Nevertheless, Hezbollah is still calibrating its attacks to harm Israel’s Gaza campaign but remain below the threshold that would grant the Israelis international legitimacy to launch a full-scale campaign in Lebanon.

But the group believes this threshold is not fixed. Instead, it rises as Israeli operations in Gaza deepen, which prompts Hezbollah to act while Israel’s attention and resources are concentrated elsewhere. But when these Israeli operations create growing US dissatisfaction—which uniquely restrains Israel, Washington’s “forward military base” and “tool” in Hezbollah’s thinking—Hezbollah feels it has more freedom of action, and thus increases the depth and lethality of its attacks.

Hezbollah has been monitoring growing US-Israeli differences over Rafah operations. After these tensions culminated in Washington halting weapons shipments to Israel in early May, the group believed it could increase the intensity, lethality, and frequency of its attacks with relative impunity. Therefore, when Israel nevertheless initiated Rafah operations on May 6, Hezbollah launched a directed suicide drone attack, killing two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers.

As the Joe Biden administration doubled down on the weapons freeze, Hezbollah did the same on the lethality of its attacks—deliberately killing one civilian and one soldier, wounding five others, and bombarding the Golan Heights with sixty rockets over the next week. That week also saw Hezbollah launch a suicide drone 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) into northern Israel, its deepest attack yet, and introduce its Jihad Mughniyeh missiles and drone-launched S-5 surface-to-ground missile on May 12 and May 16, respectively.


Temporary pier anchored to Gaza coast operating again after repairs
Repairs on the broken Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore were completed, and the temporary pier was re-anchored to the Gazan coast and began operating again on Saturday, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters on Monday that some 1.1 million pounds of humanitarian aid crossed the newly reopened pier since Saturday.

U.S. Central Command “has assisted in the delivery of more than 1,573 metric tons, or approximately 3.5 million pounds of humanitarian aid, to the shore for onward distribution,” Ryder said of the pier since it first anchored on June 7 and went operational the following day.

“After going operational on Saturday, a total of approximately 492 metric tons, or approximately 1.1 million pounds, was delivered across the pier,” he added.

The Pentagon spokesman added that an American C-130, a military transport plane, dropped more than 10 metric tons of “Meals, Ready-to-Eat,” or MREs, in northern Gaza on Sunday.

“To date, the U.S. has air-dropped more than 1,050 metric tons of humanitarian assistance,” he told reporters.

Weather continues to be a factor, Ryder said on Monday.


Nikki Haley: Israelis Can't Forget What Happened on Oct. 7
On May 27, I spoke in Israel with one of the survivors of Hamas's killing spree on Oct. 7. Tali was dancing at the Nova music festival when the terrorists swarmed in. By the grace of God, she found a place to hide, and the terrorists didn't find her. But she heard everything that happened just feet away.

Tali heard the men chasing the young women she'd been dancing with minutes earlier. She heard their screams. She heard them cry for help and beg their attackers to stop. She heard the gunshots that took their lives. When the terrorists finally left, Tali came out of hiding, and saw her friends and fellow concertgoers were butchered. Many women had been raped. Some had their genitals mutilated.

I also visited Nir Oz, a once beautiful kibbutz now filled with ruins, where neighbors were tortured and burned alive. The terrorists who perpetrated those crimes have promised to do it again.

It's crucial that Israel finish the job in Gaza, defeat Hamas and return every hostage back home, including the eight Americans who are still hostages in Gaza, five of whom are known to be alive.

A ceasefire is the same as defeat. It would give the terrorists time and resources to complete their mission, which is the total destruction of Israel. Israel is fighting America's enemies. That's true of Hamas. It's true of Hizbullah and the Houthis. Most of all, it's true of Iran.

Our own security demands that we stand with Israel to stop Iran. We must give Israel everything it needs to destroy Hamas, defeat Hizbullah and beat down everything Iran throws its way. If Israel loses, America does, too.
4 Hostages Rescued from "Innocent" Gazan Civilians | JLMinute
4 hostages were rescued from the hands of Hamas in a miraculous Israeli military operation. The media flipped the script and focused in on the "innocent" Gazan civilians killed in the operation. But were the civilians innocent? Were they and do they continue to be complicit with Hama?

JNS CEO Alex Traiman and Middle East Correspondent Josh Hasten delve into this issue and other pressing stories
- Coalition crisis with Benny Gantz leaving the war cabinet
- Blinken visiting Israel
- Hezbollah attacks in the North


'We will dance again': Scooter Braun responds to pro-Palestinian groups protesting Nova exhibit
Anti-Israel activists took their roving protests on Monday to the street outside a Lower Manhattan exhibition commemorating the victims of the Nova music festival massacre on Oct. 7.

Hundreds of protesters, led by the hardline pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime, gathered outside the exhibit on Wall Street, lighting flares and smoke canisters in the colors of the Palestinian flag. Footage from the scene showed the protesters chanting “Long live the intifada,” a reference to two Palestinian uprisings, the second of which, in the early 2000s, was a years-long wave of terror attacks that killed some 1,000 Israelis.

Since Oct. 7, Within Our Lifetime has staged frequent street protests against Israel, and Monday’s came amid what the group called a “Day of Rage” that featured stops in multiple locations. The Nova stop stood out because it targeted a site meant to memorialize the more than 360 people murdered by Hamas at the festival, where the terror group also took dozens of hostages during its invasion of Israel.

The exhibit is an interactive display set up in collaboration with some of the producers and survivors of the music festival and aims to recreate the visuals and sounds of the massacre.

Producer Scooter Braun defends Nova exhibit
On Monday night, the Nova exhibition posted a statement by music producer Scooter Braun, who helped bring the exhibition to New York, announcing that it would be extended until June 22 and responding to the protesters.

“And for those who chose to protest against innocent music lovers who were massacred… WE WILL DANCE AGAIN… and you are all invited,” wrote Braun, who is Jewish, invoking a slogan adopted by the massacre’s survivors. “Thank you for the inspiration. It is more important than ever that we fight for our shared humanity.”

Before heading to the exhibit, the anti-Israel activists gathered in Union Square. Protesters had flags and shirts bearing the insignia of the Hezbollah and Hamas terror groups, and argued with pro-Israel counter-protesters in the area. A sign in the crowd said, “The Zionists are not Jews and not humans.”


The Israel Guys: The World Condemns Israel for Rescuing Hostages...What on Earth?
In a dramatic rescue, the likes of which Israel has not seen in nearly fifty years, Israeli special forces have rescued four hostages from deep within the Gaza Strip. We are going to get into the dramatic details of this rescue on today’s show. Meanwhile the United States has responded to this incredible news with negativity, saying that Israel rescuing innocent hostages makes it extremely difficult to sweet talk Hamas terrorists into a ceasefire deal with Israel.




'Magnificent' Israeli hostage rescue a 'great shot in the arm' for the government
The Australian Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan has commended the “magnificent effort” of the Israel Defence Force following their rescue of four Israeli hostages.

"A magnificent effort by the Israeli commandos to get their people out," Mr Sheridan told Sky News Australia.

“A great shot in the arm for the Israeli government.

“Probably doesn’t affect things fundamentally.”


Call for police commissioners to address ‘radical’ pro-Palestinian splinter groups
Sky News host Steve Price says Australians are “sick and tired” of radical pro-Palestinian splinter groups agitating and vandalising the country.

“It is about time the police commissioners of Australia’s two biggest jurisdictions, Sydney and Melbourne, got together with the heads of ASIO and the AFP and worked out a coordinated plan to deal with radical splinter groups that have clearly infiltrated these so-called pro-Palestinian rallies,” Mr Price said.

“Australians are sick and tired of the dangerous, violent, aggressive vandals and agitators.”


PwC Melbourne-based senior leader accused of ‘antisemitism’
PwC has been accused of antisemitism after one of its senior leaders was exposed for tweeting terrorist propaganda and anti-Israel conspiracies.

The controversy comes as the final report into the consulting firm's tax scandal is due to be released tomorrow.

Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dr Dvir Abramovich said he was horrified by the posts PWC Melbourne-based senior leader Jim Christodouleas had tweeted.

“At the time when antisemitism is going through the roof in this country the last thing we need is for somebody in that position to poor fuel on the fire,” Dr Abramovich said.

A PwC Australia spokesperson has confirmed the firm had “spoken to the individual to remind them that while they are free to express themselves everyone should do so in a measures and respectful fashion”.

It’s understood PwC accepted its senior leader's explanation that he didn’t think the posts were offensive and he would take a break from the social media platform.

Dr Abramovich has expressed outrage over PwC's response to the situation claiming they should have condemned the posts and taken serious disciplinary action against Mr Christodouleas.

“Tolerating antisemitism is antisemitism,” Dr Abramovich said.

PwC has declined to respond to Dr Abramovich’s claims.






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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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