Sunday, June 30, 2024

06/30 Links: A Committed Zionist and a Lapsed Progressive; The Jewish Trump Vote; Israel Struggles Against Global Amnesia; U.S. to Support Israel in Defense but Not Offense

From Ian:

Meir Y. Soloveichik: ‘I Will Not Fail Thee Nor Forsake Thee’
This central lesson of our civilization seems to have been forgotten—particularly by Reagan’s successor in the White House today. Joe Biden argued in late May that a death cult that burned families alive, raped women, beheaded babies, and continues to announce its intentions to seek Israel’s annihilation is capable of embracing peace:
Indefinite war in pursuit of an unidentified notion of “total victory” will not bring Israel in—will not bring down—bog down—will only bog down Israel in Gaza, draining the economic, military, and human—and human resources, and furthering Israel’s isolation in the world. Hamas says it wants a cease-fire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it.

Whether they really mean it? It was seemingly in response to such thinking that Reagan at Arlington spoke:
Peace also fails when we forget to bring to the bargaining table God’s first gift to man: common sense. Common sense gives us a realistic knowledge of human beings and how they think, how they live in the world, what motivates them. Common sense tells us that man has magic in him, but also clay. Common sense can tell the difference between right and wrong. Common sense forgives error, but it always recognizes it to be error first.

“We endanger the peace,” Reagan reflected, “and confuse all issues when we obscure the truth; when we refuse to name an act for what it is.” Only after making this clear did Reagan refer to the American obligation to those who had died; only then did he invoke the Ridgeway story:
Peace fails when we forget to pray to the source of all peace and life and happiness. I think sometimes of General Matthew Ridgeway, who, the night before D-day, tossed sleepless on his cot and talked to the Lord and listened for the promise that God made to Joshua: “I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”… Let us make a compact today with the dead, a promise in the words for which General Ridgeway listened, “I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

The point, then, is that neither to fail nor to forsake those who died is not merely to bear their memory, but to ensure that the earlier mistakes that necessitated their sacrifice not be repeated. It is this attitude, Reagan reflected, that must be made manifest in American leadership: “Peace fails when we forget what we stand for. It fails when we forget that our Republic is based on firm principles, principles that have real meaning, that with them, we are the last, best hope of man on Earth; without them, we’re little more than the crust of a continent.”

Eighty years after D-Day, we may well wonder how many leaders are still willing to give war a chance.
John Podhoretz: The Jewish Trump Vote
If this were to hold, Trump would receive the highest level of Jewish support of any Republican presidential candidate in modern history. Jonathan Sarna, the dean of American Jewish historians, notes that the Jewish vote in presidential elections became a Democratic possession as early as 1928, when Jews cast ballots overwhelmingly for their governor, Al Smith, against Herbert Hoover. Over the nine decades following, only Dwight Eisenhower (in 1956) and Ronald Reagan (in 1980) got as much as 40 percent of the Jewish vote.

This potential sea-change will likely not hand Trump a victory in New York in November, but here’s the deal: The state that may decide the election is Pennsylvania. It just so happens Pennsylvania has nearly 300,000 Jewish adults. Jews are said to vote in huge numbers, somewhere around 80 percent.

That would mean 240,000 Jews voted in Pennsylvania in 2020. If 70 percent of them chose Biden, he received about 170,000 Jewish votes. If that were to drop to 50 percent in 2024, Biden would receive 120,000 Jewish votes—a decline of 50,000 from the previous election. Pennsylvania went for Biden by 80,000 votes in 2020 after going to Trump by 45,000 in 2016.

This could be the game right here. The decline in support for Biden among Jews is real, and if that decline is dramatic, it could make the difference in the key(stone) state. I leave it to you to figure out why Jews are deserting Biden. OK, I won’t leave it to you. Had he continued with the steadfast and unambigous support of Israel he showed in the first two months of the war in Gaza, Jews would likely be garlanding him today. Instead, he sent wild and confused signals about the morality of the conflict and stood mostly mute as campuses were lit aflame and anti-Semitism became a daily factor in Jewish lives across the country.

His people feared the wrath of Arabs in Michigan. They forgot Jews can get mad too. They forgot it because they took the Jewish vote for granted at a time of existential peril. And also because, if I’m right about all this and the Siena poll is accurate, they are just as boneheadedly stupid as they appear to have been when they decided it would be a good idea for Biden to debate. Or when Biden himself decided he needed to debate.
Haaretz: A Committed Zionist and a Lapsed Progressive
In many progressive circles, the only acceptable stance is to bash Israel and its citizens, regardless of whether those citizens are concerned for Palestinians.

There is little recognition that Hamas and its allies play any role in the conflict and are able to end the war now.

While progressive values are still my North Star, I no longer have a progressive community that shares my principles. I have become a "lapsed progressive."

The current state of the progressive community has left me no choice but to withdraw from it. These days one cannot be a committed Jew and Zionist and be welcomed in the progressive community.

I am no longer considered an ally, but rather an imperialist to be eradicated.

This evaporated for me on Oct. 7 and the resulting actions of the progressive community.

As has been well-documented, Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization committed in its charter to genocide of all Jews and the annihilation of Israel, rampaged through southern Israel, killing, raping and torturing Israeli and other nationals.

Yes, I support Israel's right to respond and defend itself. I also understand that Israelis are traumatized by Hamas's savagery on Oct. 7 and the world's fleeting memory of it.

I am appalled by progressive organizations, especially Jewish ones, who pressure Israel and the U.S. for a ceasefire, but make no demands of Hamas.

The progressive community should be pushing Hamas to release the hostages and better the lives of Palestinians by ending the war.

The progressive world is seemingly unwilling to hold Hamas accountable or put any onus on it to stop the death and destruction.


Israel Struggles Against Global Amnesia
"We pray that one day there will be peace," says Nina Tokayer, half of the Israeli musical duo Yonina. "Sometimes that means eliminating our enemies, who hate peace and want to destroy us. For some reason, a lot of people around the world don't understand that." Israelis don't understand what the world doesn't understand about Oct. 7.

Hamas is the Palestinian majority party. It will try to do Oct. 7 again if Israel quits Gaza too early, and it will do worse if Israel surrenders the West Bank. Yet the world demands both, leaving Israelis to conclude that the world has little problem subjecting them to more massacres.

Micah Goodman, a leading intellectual of the Israeli center, says, "We had Oct. 7 before - in 1929," when Arab mobs massacred more than 100 Jews across Hebron, Safed, Jerusalem and Jaffa and left more than 300 wounded. "Jews were attacked in the streets, in their homes, with all the terrible atrocities that we saw on Oct. 7."

The story the West tells itself is that after the massacre, Israel had the world's sympathy and support. But Israel went too far, and the world turned against it. The truth is darker. Most of the world didn't condemn Oct. 7 or repudiate Hamas. Qatar and Egypt, the mediators, both blamed Israel on Oct. 7. On Oct. 8, China called on Israel to "immediately end the hostilities." Russia still hosts Hamas delegations. None of Hamas's patrons have abandoned it.

The big human-rights groups equivocated on Oct. 7 about "civilians on both sides." Ever since, they have pretended the war began on Oct. 8, representing the Israeli effort as pure malevolence.

U.S. support for Israel has been essential, but it has strings attached. At every stage of the war, President Biden has worked to slow and scale down Israel's military response. U.S. generals advised Israel not to invade Gaza, senior Israeli officials say. The Americans insisted that raids from the perimeter would defeat Hamas. By January, the Biden administration was pressing hard for a Palestinian state. Never mind that polls show 2/3 of Palestinians support the Oct. 7 attack.
Like sadistic Nazis: Secret Hamas papers reveal step-by-step action plan for Oct. 7
The conquest of the Gaza border communities was a move long planned by the Hamas leadership. Another shocking handwritten document, also captured during the IDF ground maneuver in the Gaza Strip, details the full scope of "Al-Aqsa Flood." According to the document, Hamas' original goal was to take control of 221 settlements in the south, including the cities of Netivot, Ofakim, and Sderot, and expel the "settlers" from them. These were supposed to flee the using their own cars, with "priority to (expelling) women and children, and taking men aged 17-50 as hostages." The Hamas leadership estimated that Israel would respond forcefully to the attack, "not only with strikes but also with an atomic bomb." According to the document, they were prepared to absorb even that.

The conquest operation was planned to be accompanied by an international media and legal effort, branded as "Returning Home." Gaza civilians also had a role in the plan. "For extra security, a popular mass mobilization should be carried out for a symbolic return to villages and their re-conquest," it stated. "This war is a war of life and death." This grandiose plan didn't ultimately materialize. But even during October 7, Hamas carried out a "popular mass mobilization."

The "first wave" and "second wave" of armed individuals were not the only forces that invaded Israeli territory. They were joined by an additional wave, a third, of what is called in the Israeli intelligence community "looters" or "mob." These were civilians, not necessarily armed with firearms, who simply took advantage of the opportunity presented to them. "There were civilians who got the understanding — and someone took care to create this understanding – that the fence had fallen," says a military source. "As a result, so many civilians entered Israel, some of whom say in interrogations that they just wanted to infiltrate Israel to look for work. There was a mixed crowd of all types of people there, including 12-year-old children." According to testimonies obtained by Israel Hayom and Bild, Gazan women also participated in the attack.

In police interrogations of some of the "mob" caught in Israeli territory, they said that the calls in the mosques and the rumor about the breached border fence were the catalyst that caused them to storm the Gaza border communities. "There are quite a few people who say in interrogations, 'We heard Mohammed Deif in the mosque, we took a knife, and our goal was to slaughter Jews,'" a police source said.

Some of the looters "settled" for slaughtering Jews, while others kidnapped people as if finding great spoil. According to a source familiar with the information, a kind of "price list" developed in real-time around the issue of Israeli hostages, with Hamas offering money to anyone who had an Israeli hostage. "In one case, someone holding a hostage was offered an apartment in exchange," says the same source.
Sarah Vine: Whether in the name of war or the name of woke, it's always women who get it in the neck
The idea of going to Glastonbury has never really appealed to me. I'm sure it's great fun if you're into clammy sleeping bags, overpriced veggie-burgers, warm beer, chemical toilets and middle-aged women in sequins, but strangely, I'm not.

But even if I was suddenly seized by an irrational urge to spend five nights in a tent slowly basting in my own juices, I don't think I could stomach it. Not so much because of the swarms of influencers taking selfies, or the New Age charlatans hawking their wares – but because it has just become so incredibly political.

Let's face it, Glastonbury these days isn't really about the music (this year's line-up was less than electrifying) – it's just an opportunity for Left-wing luvvies to take to the stage and spout their one-sided, half-baked opinions to an audience of adoring fans too starry-eyed or too wasted to do anything other than bleat their approval like a herd of lobotomised sheep.

Exhibit A: Damon Albarn, lead singer of Britpop band Blur, going on stage and instructing the audience: 'You have to show how you feel about Palestine. Are you pro-Palestine?' Cue cheers and much waving of Palestinian flags.

Truly, irony is dead. Rich, white, middle-aged man tells crowd of festival-goers to cheer a nation in whose name the military wing of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups perpetrated an attack on – wait for it – festival-goers in Israel (the Supernova festival in Re'im) in which revellers were kidnapped, raped and murdered in ways so barbaric they beggar belief.

Young girls were mutilated and defiled, the actions of their killers gleefully documented on film and circulated widely on social media.

Who can ever forget the footage of Shani Louk, her half-naked, broken body being paraded through the streets of Gaza in the back of a pick-up truck, paramilitaries resting their boots on her, civilians spitting on her as they chanted 'Allahu Akbar'?

Any one of the beautiful young things in the audience at Glastonbury, with their sequinned make-up and tattoos, could have been Shani. Any one of them could have found themselves being mercilessly hunted down, shot, gang-raped and set on fire, as happened to those festival-goers.

And yet who do they cheer? Who do they revere? Is it the memory of these fellow festival-goers, lives cut short in such brutal, unimaginable circumstances? No. It's Palestine, in whose name Hamas perpetrated these atrocities. Palestine, a state whose people elected Hamas as its political leaders. Guys, seriously: what the hell is wrong with you?
Melanie Phillips: How bad will it be for the Jews?
Starmer may have rid the Labour party of its most egregious antisemites. But as in the progressive world in general, he has drawn a wholly artificial line between Jew-hatred and the demonisation of Israel that is now de rigeur on the left.

He fails to acknowledge the seamless connection between the two, because he fails to acknowledge that the Palestinian cause — supported by all “progressives” — is constructed entirely around the extermination of Israel and the denial of Jewish history in the land by the Palestinian Arabs who claim it instead as their own.

He fails to acknowledge that the supposedly “moderate” Palestinians are literally the heirs to the Nazis. The Palestinian Authority is pumping out genocidal Nazi-style antisemitism with its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, hero-worshipping Haj Amin al Husseini, Hitler’s ally who promised to wipe out every Jew in the Middle East.

Labour has also supported the application by Karim Khan KC, the International Criminal Court prosecutor, for arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and defence minister over “war crimes” in Gaza. Even though Khan’s case rests entirely upon fabricated, distorted and malevolent claims by Israel’s enemies — and has upended the ICC’s own rules for pursuing a country’s government — Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said that if such arrest warrants are issued a Labour government would implement them.

The only decent response to Khan’s action is to condemn it as outrageous and despicable, and to say that if the ICC issued such arrest warrants the British government would withdraw the UK from the court.

This, though, is unthinkable because Starmer is a human rights lawyer. And human rights law, as expressed through the UN, the ICC, the International Court of Justice and non-governmental organisations, has been turned into a global weapon in the armoury of those intent upon the destruction of Israel.

The question about a Starmer government is not whether it will be bad for the Jews. The only question is how bad.
Keir Starmer as PM 'would spell open season for anti-semitism' warns Israeli minister
Amichai Chikli heralded the swathe of recent right-leaning election results in Germany, France, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe, ascribing them an increasing concern about the prevalence of radical islamism, as well as migration.

The biggest exception, he said, was Britain, which was “playing with a movement that is very, very dangerous."

“There is an awakening right across Europe which is understanding the threat of radical Islam,“ said the 42-year-old minister of diaspora affairs.

“I don't mean Muslims - I have many Muslim friends and Israel has a close relationship with many Muslim states. We're speaking about the Muslim Brotherhood ideology, ISIS and al Qaeda. It all comes from the same poisoned spring which is radical Islam. This is an existential threat.“

While much of the rest of Europe was beginning to confront this head on, the UK was preparing to elect a PM who - though less extreme than Jeremy Corbyn - would be unwilling or unable to tackle the scourge of anti-semitism.

“We are seeing that it will take a miracle for the Conservatives to win, that it will be Labour. Their policy is pro-Islamist. It’s the green and red alliance - green for Islam, red for communism,' he said.

“We saw the demonstrations in the streets, we saw the words ‘from the river to the sea’ - which refers to the destruction of the Jews - emblazoned on Big Ben .

‘We see these signs regularly erected in London boroughs and there is no response from local authorities.

“Looking at the UK from the outside, it looks very bad."

He said Israel’s cabinet received regular reports of anti semitism incidents in Britain, and confirmed that there have been times when the issue had been discussed with Downing Street.
Turkish authorities refusing to allow El Al plane that made emergency landing in Antalya to refuel – TV report
An El Al plane that took off from Warsaw, Poland, has made an emergency landing in Antalya, Turkey, after a passenger fell ill and needed urgent medical treatment, Channel 12 reports.

According to the report, Turkish authorities delayed the plane from taking off to continue its flight to Israel by refusing to refuel it, though it appears there has been some progress and that the plane will be able to depart shortly.

Passengers were told that they were expected to spend several hours on the ground in Turkey, without permission to leave the plane, Channel 12 reports.

All direct flights between Israel and Turkey have been canceled since the war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

Turkey has been one of the most virulent critics of Israel since the start of the war. In May, Ankara announced it would stop all exports and imports to and from Israel over its war against Hamas.


Seth J. Frantzman: Having let Hezbollah attack, can Israel put the toothpaste back into the tube?
This illusion of peace does not change the fact that northern Israel is under the cloud of war. It’s like a storm that never breaks. With border communities evacuated, the usually busy roads are almost empty. Some are closed to most traffic near the border because Hezbollah possesses a large arsenal of anti-tank missiles that are well-suited to targeting vehicles. Towns and villages that usually host tourists over the summer are empty.

The challenge Israel faces today in northern Israel is complex. Hezbollah has already fired many thousands of rockets, drones and missiles at Israel. It increases the range and types of targets every month. For instance, in recent attacks it has moved from targeting IDF bases and soldiers to targeting Israeli defence industries.

Hezbollah has even released footage it said was taken from one of its drones showing how it could target sensitive Israeli military sites along the coast, such as a naval base, in a future war. For Hezbollah the daily attacks, which keep Israelis away from the north, is enough to achieve victory.

For Israel, victory in the north is more complex. Having let Hezbollah attack for eight months, it will be hard to put the toothpaste back into the tube. How can Hezbollah be deterred now that it knows every time it fires a few rockets, Israel will evacuate 80,000 people?

The residents don’t want to return if Hezbollah is along the border. But Hezbollah has no intention of leaving. Hezbollah may be open to playing a kind of “cup game” where it pretends to move forces off the border and puts civilian clothes on others, but Israelis won’t accept the illusion of peace knowing that there is a sword hanging over them.
Caroline Glick: Israel's End Game with Hezbollah
What is the IDF's end game with Hezbollah? Can Israel really fight a two-front war on its Southern and Northern border? Is avoiding a full-scale with the Iran-backed militia even desirable?

Journalist and author Caroline Glick discusses all this with the Herut Center's CEO Amiad Cohen. He argues that Israel must take back all of southern Lebanon while seeking to prevent a Groundhog Day situation with Hezbollah.

Anyone trying to make sense of the North needs to watch this!

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Discussion of the Situation in Lebanon
03:18 Israel's War Against Iran on the Northern Border
06:06 Iran's Strategy: Weakening Israel Economically and Through Negotiations
12:41 Challenges Faced by Israel: Exhaustion, Threat to Cities, and Reluctance to Go to War with Biden
25:07 Preventing a Groundhog Day Situation with Hezbollah
32:47 Preparing for a Long-Term War: Rebuilding Israel's Military
36:03 The Strategic Challenge of Proxies: Hezbollah in Lebanon
39:55 Exploring Regime Change in Iran: A Solution to the Iranian Threat
57:43 The Impact of the US Elections on the Region


The Israel Guys: The Trump vs Biden Debate Revealed Something Extremely Dangerous for the State of Israel
As you know, the Trump-Biden debate happened last night, and Israel was brought up a few times. We’re going to break down those moments, as well as something much deeper and more dangerous than what was talked about on that debate stage. Israel might be in serious trouble.




Jake Wallis Simons: No, Israel is not starving the people of Gaza
Without wishing to minimise the deprivations of war, here was an object lesson in propaganda in the age of mass media.

Step eagerly forward the Guardian, which on Tuesday published an article headlined “The starvation of Gaza is a perverse repudiation of Judaism’s values”. The author, John Oakes, is a radical American intellectual, whose authority appears to rest on his book about the history of fasting. Whether he knows anything about the conflict or Judaism, or has ever met anybody from Gaza, is unclear. According to his website, his second book will be about the nature of intelligence.

“For many months now, it has been no secret that one of America’s closest allies has been using hunger as a weapon against a civilian population,” he wrote, perplexingly.

“That hunger is being used by Israel is supremely ironic, given the particular role that privation from food plays both in Jewish philosophy and in the grim history of the Jewish people.” Thank you, Oakes, for helping Jews with our morality.

This morning, I spoke to a friend in Gaza whom I made during my time as a foreign correspondent. He telephoned me from his stifling tent in Deir al Balah, which had been donated by the Saudis.

“Food is available, everything is available,” he told me. “Meat, chicken, vegetables. It is not aid. It is coming from Israel, brought in by private people through the Keren Shalom crossing and sold to us as a business. The prices are much better, just a little bit higher than before the war.”

This was a relief, he added, as for seven months, Hamas had been stealing humanitarian aid and selling it to the population at exorbitant rates. Now, goods are being bought and sold as normal. Everybody he knows hates the jihadists with a passion, he remarked, scoffing at polls showing widespread support for the group in Gaza.

A former BBC executive told me this week that the intensity of Israelophobic bias there after October 7 meant that he would have handed in his notice had he not already left the corporation. At least two Jewish journalists have resigned from the Guardian in disgust, while many of those who remain have accepted Faustian conditions.

Sometimes it seems that western progressives have more sympathy for Hamas and a greater alignment with its goals than those who have actually experienced jihadism in Gaza.
IDF disputes UN data on scale of Gaza destruction
Some 16% of permanent structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed since Hamas launched its latest war against the Jewish state, Israel Defense Forces data indicate.

The IDF damage, which covers the period between the Oct. 7 massacre and the end of last month, is significantly lower than numbers reported by the United Nations (50%) and foreign media (70%).

Following an analysis using digital aerial mapping done by Unit 9900 of the IDF’s Intelligence Corps in the year leading up to the conflict, the army concluded that 35,952 permanent structures were destroyed.

In addition, 84,276 temporary structures—including sheds and tents used by terrorist organizations—were destroyed, the analysis found.

The number of destroyed or damaged structures is unlikely to rise significantly, as intense combat operations have been winding down.

The IDF told Ynet that, unlike the U.N. and media outlets, it collects near-daily evidence using advanced drones and “other technological means,” as well as satellite imagery. The reliable data will be shared with the international bodies investigating alleged Israeli violations of international humanitarian law during the conflict, the military said.

Multiple claims against Israel, which have been widely reported in the international media and which have been cited in cases in The Hague against the Jewish state, have proven inaccurate in recent months.

Earlier this month, the U.N.-backed Famine Review Committee found significant flaws in a report indicating that parts of Gaza are facing “current and imminent famine” amid the IDF operation against Hamas.

Last week, Arif Husain, chief economist and director of analysis, planning and performance at the World Food Program, admitted to JNS that none of the three benchmarks used to determine if a territory is in the Phase 5 level of food insecurity—famine—have been met.


U.S. to Support Israel in Defense but Not Offense
On June 24, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, cautioned that in any full-scale war between Israel and Hizbullah, it would be "harder for us to be able to support them [Israel] in the same way we did back in April," referring to Iran's April 14 missile and drone attack on Israel. On June 25, two U.S. officials told Politico that Hizbullah should not expect the U.S. to rein Israel in should a war break out and needs to understand that Washington will help Israel defend itself.

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, a research fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, referring to Iran's April attack, explained, "The United States can't provide that level of assistance against a potential Hizbullah assault due to the proximity and scale differences [of Hizbullah's rocket arsenal]."

He noted that the U.S. has historically focused on defensive assistance. "The policy of aiding Israel in defense only is not new; the Americans are always ready to help Israel in defense," Kuperwasser stated. He highlighted the U.S.'s consistent support in joint exercises and defensive measures. Kuperwasser also stressed the importance of intelligence sharing and the continued flow of ammunition and supplies from the U.S.

At the same time, the U.S. has largely steered clear of offensive operations in the region. For instance, "They did not take it upon themselves to handle the Iraqi nuclear reactor, nor the Syrian nuclear reactor....I would not trivialize the assistance in defense. It's important, but of course this leaves Israel the offensive dimension."

Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted the U.S.'s fluctuating stance on Iran and its implications for regional alliances. "If Iran becomes nuclear, like everyone in the region expects it will because Biden is not stopping it, then it's better for these Sunni states to be on the good side of the bully and its militias. Sunni states are behaving like America does not exist. They cannot afford to bet on a power that doesn't show up when the shooting starts."
Israeli Importer Sounds Alarm on Lagging U.S. Military Supplies
The owner of an Israeli company specializing in the import of military equipment said Thursday that there is indeed a halt in the supply of military equipment from the U.S. to Israel.

"The U.S. Department of Defense has been delaying export licenses for military equipment to Israel for months, including licenses for dual-use equipment intended for both civilian and military application," he said.

"The Americans claim there is no policy of delaying shipments, but this is the reality. I have licenses that have been delayed for six months, some not even for the IDF but for the police."
Rafah operation and Gaza war are winding down; Israel is no closer to its goals
On April 7, six months after Hamas’s surprise invasion of southern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the public that the country was only “a step away” from the long-promised “total victory” over Hamas.

That step seemed to be the IDF conquest of Rafah, which Netanyahu had also long guaranteed would occur.

On the operation in the southern Gaza city at least, the premier was true to his word. On May 6, Israeli tanks and infantry began pushing into Rafah, taking on the bulk of Hamas’s remaining battalions.

That fight has gone far better than Israel’s friends in the world predicted. Within two weeks, Israel managed to get almost a million civilians to evacuate, despite warnings from US experts that it would take months to do so.

The United Nations humanitarian aid agency cautioned days before the incursion that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel moved forward with the Rafah offensive. Despite a precision Israeli strike near a tent encampment that led to the deaths of dozens of civilians, the overall toll has been limited, and the dire predictions have not materialized.

Over 550 terrorists were killed, and dozens of tunnels were found, according to the military.

But the much-touted Rafah operation is nearing its end. Givati Brigade commander Liron Betito said last week that it would be over within a month.

“Hamas in Gaza will be defeated soon,” proclaimed Air Force commander Tomer Bar on Thursday.

Early next week, the IDF is expected to announce that Hamas has been seriously damaged as a fighting organization. The military will then move to the next phase — intelligence-based raids on Hamas as it tries to regroup in areas where the IDF has already fought.

But it’s not clear how Israel gets from the end of the major operations to the “total victory” Netanyahu has promised — the elimination of Hamas as a governing and military force, the return of all hostages, and ensuring that Gaza won’t pose a threat to Israel in the future.
From civilian ‘bubbles’ to Arab coalitions, Israel said weighing Gaza post-war schemes
Israeli and American officials are weighing competing proposals for a post-war plan for the Gaza Strip, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, though progress on the plans is being held up by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to seriously consider the issue until the offensive against Hamas ends.

One plan that is reportedly gaining traction in the political and military establishments would see the creation of “bubbles” or “islands” inside the enclave, which would serve as temporary shelters for Palestinians unaffiliated with the terror group Hamas.

Were it to be determined that Hamas no longer holds influence over such a bubble, the unaffiliated Palestinians would take on civic duties and distribute aid. Over time, a coalition of the US and Arab countries would manage the area.

Presumably, once Palestinian civilians are relocated to these bubbles, the Israel Defense Forces would have a freer hand to pursue remaining terrorist cells in Gaza. As Hamas is cleared out of more areas, the bubbles would expand.

Israel Ziv, a retired major general who is one of that plan’s designers, told The Wall Street Journal that Palestinians who denounce Hamas would be given the right to live in a bubble and reconstruct homes.

Ziv added that over time the Palestinian Authority could be brought in to administrate the area, and Hamas could also take part in administration if it releases the hostages it currently holds and disarms its military wing. However, Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out accepting either of those scenarios.

In rare comments last week, Netanyahu said the government would soon begin implementing a phased plan to found a civil administration in the north of the Strip run by local Palestinians, eventually with security assistance from Arab countries. While the Prime Minister’s Office did not provide comment on the so-called day-after plan, Israeli officials told The Wall Street Journal the premier was likely referring to the bubbles plan.

A separate plan, envisioned by the right-wing Misgav think tank, calls for a long-term Israeli military occupation of Gaza, at least until three-quarters of the military wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have been eliminated. According to the report, the IDF estimates it has killed or captured about half of Hamas’s fighting force. Only once that objective is accomplished would the administration of the enclave by a separate force be feasible, the think tank said. Advertisem
Invoking bereaved families, PM vows ‘absolute victory’ over Hamas
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed condolences to the families of IDF soldiers killed in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, speaking at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday.

“We embrace the bereaved families in their most difficult hour. We are committed to the testament of the fallen—to continue to absolute victory over Hamas,” the prime minister said.

Two soldiers were killed in action in separate incidents in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Saturday.

On Friday, the IDF announced the death in Rafah the previous day of Sgt. Eyal Shynes, 19.

On Wednesday, an IDF soldier was killed and 16 were wounded during a counterterror operation in northern Samaria.

“Dozens of terrorists are being eliminated every day. This is a difficult fight that is being waged above ground, sometimes in hand-to-hand combat, and below ground as well,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel will fight until it has achieved all of its objectives.

He again listed those goal as eliminating Hamas, returning all the hostages, ensuring Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel, and restoring Israel’s displaced citizens safely to their homes near the Gaza and Lebanon borders.

“To whoever doubts the achieving of these goals, I reiterate: There is no substitute for victory,” the prime minister said, adding he would hold an assessment at IDF Southern Command headquarters in Beersheva later in the day to monitor progress in the fighting.
Two IDF soldiers slain in Gaza City battle
Two soldiers were killed in action in separate incidents in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, the IDF announced on Saturday evening.

They were named as Staff Sgt. Yair Avitan, 20, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 890th Battalion, from Ra’anana, and Sgt. First Class (res.) Yakir Shmuel Tatelbaum, 21, of the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion, from Ma’ale Adumim.

Avitan leaves behind his parents and three younger siblings. He grew up and went to school in Ra’anana, graduating from the Amit Kfar Batya scientific-technological high school. He was buried at the Ra’anana Military Cemetery.

Shirit Avitan Cohen, Israel Hayom political commentator, eulogized Avitan, “My sweet nephew fell in Gaza on Friday. Our Yair, you didn’t even need to be in Gaza, but you insisted, so strongly insisted, on participating in this just war for our people. How worried we were every time you were there. Your grandparents lit trays of candles for you. Prayers to all the righteous just for you to return safely, and this time you didn’t come back. There are no words that can console us for your absence.”

Ra’anana Mayor Chaim Broyde said, “Our hearts break upon learning of the fall in battle of Staff Sgt. Yair Avitan, a son of our city, salt of the earth, who risked his life in defense of the country’s security. The Ra’anana community shares the pain of the Avitan family, embraces them, and surrounds them in their difficult hour.”

Tatelbaum was a student of Warrant Officer (res.) Elon Weiss, 49, who was killed in action in Gaza two weeks earlier.
Mother of slain soldier recounts being on phone with son as he was fatally shot
The mother of a soldier killed in Gaza last week said Sunday she was on the phone with him when he was shot and killed, leaving her listening helplessly from far away as he called for help before succumbing to his wounds.

Sgt. Eyal Shynes, 19, was killed Thursday while serving in the southern Gaza Strip, apparently hit by a sniper as he spoke to his mother on the phone. He was buried Friday near his hometown kibbutz of Afik in the southern Golan Heights.

Meirav Shynes told Army Radio that she had been having a “great conversation with him” when the shooting started.

“We spoke for a few minutes. He said he would be coming home and would be there July 8, and that he had asked his commander if he could extend it until Saturday to attend a concert,” she said, speaking through tears. “And then suddenly I hear that they are shooting him, and that’s how the conversation ended. But we still heard everything and it was terrible.”

Shynes said she immediately understood that her son, who was posthumously elevated from corporal in line with standard Israel Defense Forces procedure, had been hit and wounded, but did not think he had been killed.

“I didn’t really hear shooting, I heard him yell and call for his sergeant,” she said. “And when I heard him call for his sergeant I was sure he was just injured.”

She said she immediately phoned her son’s social services liaison officer to inform her about what was going on, hoping to get word on where he was being transported for treatment.

“I was sure we would soon go looking for him in some hospital. I didn’t think I would be going to get [the bad] news,” she said.


Cracking the Hamas-Egyptian cross-tunnel mystery
The less generous explanation is that politics shifted for Egypt between 2015/2019 and 2023/2024.

2015 and even 2019 were closer in time to when Hamas helped the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood against the Egyptian military, and Cairo’s main thought about Hamas was probably still to smash it and any assets, including tunnels, which it had in Egypt.

But at some later point, the politics may have changed.

Most of the world started to see Hamas as a fait accompli that would rule Gaza forever and would need to be dealt with. Egypt’s military regime itself eventually likely started to feel more secure.

Maybe at some point, Egypt’s military regime reached an understanding with Hamas that as long as Cairo preserved certain interests and influence over Gaza’s rulers, the military would look the other way over certain cross-border underground smuggling issues that only negatively impacted Israel.

There is no question that the quantity of criminal smuggling spiked in recent years, and Egypt was doing little to assist Israel in breaking the trend.

If that is true, then Egypt was probably also doing less to crack down on terror smuggling by Hamas.

The Post saw Egypt’s extensive network of watchtowers on the Philadelphi Corridor and while quite useful for spotting any potential above-land invasion, they are nearly useless to combat underground smuggling where the point of origin is deep in Rafah.

IDF sources told the Post that the Egyptians had been embarrassed when confronted with the large number of cross-border tunnels that the IDF had shown them, which Cairo had said no longer existed.

But was it embarrassment in the sense of shock that Hamas had outwitted them? Or was it embarrassment that they understood that the IDF understood that Cairo had decided to look the other way?

Either way, defense sources have indicated that it is not at all clear that Egypt is even eliminating all of the extensions of tunnels that are on its side of the border.

This means that even if Israel eliminates many kilometers of tunnels going from Rafah-Gaza up until the Egyptian border, the continuation of those tunnels may remain neither destroyed nor even neutralized (partially caved in.)

That would make it that much easier for Hamas to reestablish those tunnels if (more likely when) the IDF gives up complete or partial control of the Gaza side of the Philadelphi Corridor or even once the IDF starts to reduce its standing troop presence in Rafah.

With all of that better understood, there is actually very little mystery to the Egypt-Gaza cross-border problem. Absent: several months, if not years, to continue to destroy the tunnels, a jump in cooperation from Egypt, and some way to permanently prevent Hamas from re-digging everything that is destroyed, there should be no expectation that Hamas’s rearmament oxygen will be cut off – it will not.

Rather, the question will be how long will it take Hamas to reconstitute the tunnels sufficiently to start smuggling significant amounts of weapons and will the IDF or whichever third party starts handling aspects of Gaza security try to interdict those weapons at some point within Gaza, or will Hamas rebuild unchallenged.
IDF demolishes Hamas tunnel in Rafah next to UNRWA school; rocket launching site also destroyed
The IDF says it has demolished a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah that passed adjacent to a United Nations school.

Several tunnel shafts leading to the underground passages were located by troops operating under the Negev Brigade.

The shafts were later investigated by the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, who also demolished the tunnels, the military says.

The IDF says the tunnel and its branches were some 500 meters in length, with one of the entrances being adjacent to an UNRWA school.

Separately, troops located a Hamas site in the area with at least nine rocket launchers, the military says. The rocket launching site was also demolished.


IDF kills senior PIJ terrorist in Tulkarm airstrike
The IDF carried out an aerial strike on a target in the Nur Shams camp in Tulkarm, the IDF confirmed on Sunday evening.

The operation was conducted in coordination between the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), which saw the elimination of Saeed Jabbar, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist.

Jabbar was a terrorist operative who directed terrorist plots and was involved in a series of shooting and explosive attacks against civilians and IDF soldiers, as well as the intention to further attack and create more terrorist infrastructure.


Seth Frantzman: Why is the Arab League reaching out to Hezbollah?
Reports over the weekend suggested the Arab League is shifting its position on Hezbollah. According to the reports, the Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki spoke at length with Lebanese parliament Hezbollah member Mohammed Ra’ad. “Zaki reportedly said there should be no additional escalation and that Lebanon should choose a new president to fill the long-vacant position,” the New Arab reported.

There is a lot of speculation that this means the Arab League no longer views Hezbollah as a terrorist group. However, there is still lack of clarity on whether this implies a trend in the region among the league members or whether it is merely designed to brief the league due to concerns about a possible war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

According to Al-Akhbar in Lebanon, which is considered sympathetic to Hezbollah, Zaki was visiting the country and held several important meetings. For instance, he spoke with the commander of the Lebanese army and several other factions.

“The most prominent meeting was with the head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, MP Mohammad Raad,” the newspaper said. “This was the first contact between the two sides in more than ten years, especially since the Arab League had accepted the Saudi-Emirati request and approved in 2016 the classification of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.”

According to this report, “as for the content, the sources revealed that ‘Zaki informed Hezbollah that the university decided to remove the terrorist designation against him, and it believes that he has a major role in the future of Lebanon.’ He also called for accelerating the presidential elections, pointing out the difficulty of electing any of the known candidates, and considering that ‘the solution is to agree on the third solution.’

“While Representative Raad did not comment on the issue of party classification, he repeated in the presidential file the position in support of [presidential candidate] Franjieh while emphasizing openness to any discussion, but the other party refuses dialogue.”

This section of the report appears to illustrate that the wider context is not the possible conflict with Israel, but actually Lebanese politics.


travelingisrael.com: Palestinian Dead Are Necessary (according to Hamas)

'Bombs fired at sleeping Jews': Turkish opposition leader condemns Hamas, Oct. 7
There was anger in Turkey over opposition leader Ozgur Ozel, who said in a TV interview on Saturday that Hamas is a terrorist organization, a stance he has also previously voiced.

Ozel stated, “Hamas rains bombs on innocent people in the middle of the night, with balloons, drones, and I don’t know what else.”

He further argued that accusing fingers are pointed at him when he makes these statements, yet he also stated, “You must see that this issue started there [with Hamas]. What Hamas did was an act of terror. Hamas fired bombs at sleeping Jews in the middle of the night.”

Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP,) elected Ozel as its new leader in November 2023, replacing Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the Associated Press reported shortly after the elections that year. Following the elections, Ozel vowed to strive for a better political future and “to make people smile,” AP quoted the Turkish opposition leader as saying.

Vision for Turkey's future
Following Turkey’s economic challenges and the aftermath of the February 2023 earthquakes, dissatisfaction grew within the CHP as the party missed the opportunity to defeat Erdogan in May’s elections that year.

Pre-election expectations had suggested strong support for former leader Kılıçdaroğlu, who was seen as the opposition’s best chance to unseat Erdogan since 2003.

According to the report, Ozel secured 812 out of 1,366 delegate votes, marking a significant leadership change following the party’s electoral setback.


Noisy Pro-Hamas Mob Ruins Shabbat for Jewish Dem’s Family and his Chicago Neighbors
City officials issued a community advisory alert stating that at approximately 2:43 Saturday morning, the Highland Park Police Department’s dispatch received roughly 30 noise complaint calls. The complaints reported people who were shouting near Woodland Road. According to CBS 2, Representative Rob Schneider was not present at his residence during the incident, though other family members were home at the time of the protest.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, Hamas supporters staged an overnight protest outside the Highland Park residence of Representative Brad Schneider (D-Il). The demonstration led to noise complaints and caused concern among local residents. The event left many neighbors unsettled, especially given the protesters’ pledge to return. Residents also questioned the limited response to the late-night disturbance, expressing concerns about how authorities handled the situation.

A social media post documented a nighttime demonstration outside Congressman Brad Schneider’s residence. The caption stated, “Activists in Chicago rouse Brad Schneider at 2:30 AM, calling for UNRWA refunding and an end to US support of what they term a genocide.”

The post appeared on an account called “Direct Actions for Palestine,” which mentioned two pro-Hamas organizations: American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) Chicago and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Chicago.

According to the post, demonstrators criticized Schneider regarding Congress’ decision to defund UNRWA, as well as his approval of military assistance to Israel.

The account added, “We need to hold him responsible for the loss of over 45,000 Palestinian lives in Gaza. If justice is denied to Gaza, then sleep will be denied to you. This marks only the beginning.”

According to city officials, law enforcement responded promptly, arriving within minutes to find approximately 40 demonstrators on the sidewalk. The protesters used banners, loudspeakers, and drums to voice pro-Hamas slogans and what were described as antisemitic chants. Video footage shared on social media also captured the sound of siren-like noisemakers.

A statement from Rep. Schneider’s office reported that a red substance, suspected to be animal blood, was spilled on the sidewalk during the protest.


Gay IDF soldiers slam LGBTQ protesters’ ‘fake understanding’ of human rights: ‘Queers cannot exist in Gaza’
Three gay Israeli Defense Forces soldiers, in the Big Apple to celebrate Pride week, slammed the group Queers for Palestine for its “fake understanding of human rights.”

The three soldiers, who want to meet “Jewish LGBTQ people who’ve been alienated due to the war,” sat down with the Post to reveal how they’ve navigated an increasingly hostile environment in their community.

Shay Abergil, 34, a paratrooper reservist, says gay and lesbian Israelis now have a “complicated relationship” with the LGBTQ community outside Israel.

“We always hear New York Pride being such a great and fun event, but then you have these protests and activists that make the event less fun, it’s even dangerous to wear a Star of David or speak Hebrew out loud,” Abergil added.

Abergil, who said being openly gay in the IDF is a “non-issue,” admitted that when he told his grandma he was visiting New York, she begged him to keep his Judaism in the closet.

“My grandmother, who grew up in the Bronx, said, ‘Promise me you won’t wear your yarmulke around the city — it’s too dangerous,’ ” he recalled.

He added that Palestinian gays experience brutal persecution at home.

“We want gay people in Gaza and the West Bank to get all the same rights that Westerners get,” he said.

“All the ‘queers for Gaza’ need to open their eyes,” says Amit Benjamin, 36, a first sergeant major in the IDF. “Hamas kills gays … kills lesbians. … queers can not exist in Gaza.”
Police arrested Palestine protesters before the Pride parade
Police have arrested more than 30 pro-Palestinian activists they believed planned to disrupt Saturday’s Pride parade.

The pre-emptive and intelligence led measure carried out on Saturday morning resulted in the group being held on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.

In a statement the Metropolitan Police confirmed: “This morning officers arrested 33 individuals in Jubilee Gardens, Westminster on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. All are currently in custody.”

Separately Scotland Yard has faced growing criticism for not doing more to stamp out antisemitic behaviour displayed by pro-Palestinian activists since October 7.

Days before Pride in London the Jewish community’s largest LGBT+ charity said it would not take part in the march this weekend after listening to members who “do not feel safe.”

KeshetUK and West London Synagogue usually march in Pride London as part of a Jewish contingent and said they have “long valued” their place at the event.

But this year they pulled out over fears of tensions and potential antisemitic behaviour.

According to the Telegraph a coalition of pro-Palestinian groups planned to target organisations along the march route which it say are “complicit in the ongoing genocide” in Gaza.

The Telegraph said leaked messages from online chat groups, revealed that protesters vowed to take “spikier” action at Pride.

Part of the action planned is said to have included targeting staff from Barclays, Axa, Hewlett Packard, McDonald’s and other companies they claim support Israel’s war in Gaza.


Toronto synagogue pelted with stones, glass panels shattered
A Toronto synagogue was pelted with stones, smashing glass panels above the doors, Canadian politicians and Jewish groups said on Sunday.

B'nai Brith Canada said that police were investigating the throwing of stones at the Pride of Israel Synagogue as a potential hate crime.

Ontario solicitor general Michael Kerzner visited the site, sharing a video in which he condemned the vandalism to the backdrop of the damage.

"Any attacks on houses of worship are completely unacceptable. We pride ourselves on our diversity and tolerance," Kerzner wrote on social media. "Hate has no place in our Ontario!"

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center president and CEO Michael Levitt said on X that because of the incident the Canada Day weekend was "not a happy one" for Jews of Canada.

Similar attacks on Canadian Jewish institutions

The incident is the latest in a string of attacks on Jewish institutions in Canada, and in the greater Toronto area in particular.


Glastonbury faces backlash for ‘celebrating terrorism’
The 2024 Glastonbury Festival is facing significant backlash for the prominent display of PLO flags and the presentation of false claims about Israel, including a statement that “Over 20,000 children have been murdered by Israel in 9 months.”

One of Britain’s most prestigious music events, Glastonbury traditionally celebrates music and the arts. However, this year’s festival has sparked outrage among attendees who argue it has become a platform for divisive and antisemitic content.

Throughout the five-day event (June 26-30), PLO flags were conspicuously displayed across the festival grounds, appearing during performances. Organizers permitted a “Palestine” stall to sell badges depicting Israel being replaced entirely by the PLO flag.

The developments ignited heated debates on social media. Critics pointed out an imbalance in the political discourse, noting the absence of tributes to victims of the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel, where hundreds of people were murdered and raped by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival. One Twitter user questioned, “I wonder if the Palestinian flag-waving people at Glastonbury 2024 give a thought to the young people massacred at Nova.”

Adding to the political atmosphere, a leaflet-making class was held on the festival premises, allowing protesters to create and distribute their own materials. This move further fueled the debate about the event’s focus, with one attendee lamenting that Glastonbury was “no longer a music festival” and had become a platform to “poison minds.”

The controversy extended to the performers as well.

Dua Lipa, a headlining act, made her stance clear by performing near PLO flags in the crowd. The English-Albanian Grammy award-winner, who has a history of antisemitic rhetoric, appeared to acknowledge the flags during her performance.

The political nature of this year’s festival has led some fans to call for Somerset Council to revoke Glastonbury’s license, saying it “celebrates terrorism.” Others have expressed intentions to boycott future events.
Chris Martin asks Glastonbury crowd to send love to Israel and Palestine
Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin used his Glastonbury set to call for peace for people in Israel and Palestine.

The band were not the only act to make political statements about the conflict, but he was the only artist to call for peace for both Israelis and Palestinians on the main stage.

During their headline set the band performed a duet with Palestinian singer Elyanna.

Later in their set, Martin thanked everyone who had come to see them play and called on the crowd to show a "beacon of togetherness" in a time where it seemed impossible.

He asked the audience to put their hands in the air and send their love "all over the world" mentioning both Israel and Palestine as well as Ukraine.

Elsewhere people in the crowd flew flags in tribute to the Nova festival victims and survivors.

The Nova festival was one of the sites of the October 7 Hamas massacre in which hundreds of young people were attacked and killed as they partied at the music festival.

In one clip a Jewish pride flag could be seen at the front of Dua Lipa’s show on Friday night. They were outnumbered though, by many Palestinian flags.

The singer, who has used social media to accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza, moved towards Palestinian flags in the crowd, which some festival goers said was to get them in camera shot.

The 28-year-old had previously posted to her 88 million Instagram followers: “Burning children alive can never be justified. The whole world is mobilising to stop the Israeli genocide. Please show your solidarity with Gaza.”


'We are going to take off your head,' Jewish woman told by Belgian student activists
The same day that the anti-Israel protest encampments at universities in Brussels were cleared by police on Tuesday, a Jewish woman alleged that she had been threatened and pelted with objects by student activists.

The People’s University of Brussels group and Pro-Palestinian organizations alleged brutalities against their activists as police removed them from French-speaking Free University of Brussels’ Building B, which they had occupied since May 7 and renamed after deceased Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist Walid Daqqah.

Belgian pro-Palestinian groups shared a post on Instagram on Tuesday promising to continue with their activism, proclaiming “It is not an expulsion: It is the beginning of a movement!”

Calling for the destruction of Tel Aviv
Video of the raid posted by People’s University of Brussels and photographs published by the European Jewish Congress showed that the interior of the building had been defaced, with graffiti in multiple languages lining the walls. EJC claimed that some slogans on the wall called for Tel Aviv’s destruction.

“This is the sad result of a weak administration that has succumbed to the violence, hatred and blackmail of these wanna-be revolutionary students,” EJC Director of European Affairs Ariella Witchik said on X on Thursday in response to the vandalism. “It is a far cry from the values advocated by this university, which I once respected.”

The same day as the encampment’s clearing, Belgian League against Antisemitism President Joel Rubinfeld shared the claim of a Jewish woman who said that while walking her dog past the encampment she had received abuse from the student activists who allegedly called her “Jew” in Arabic and “dirty Bourgeois”. The activists were accused of throwing objects at her, resulting in a cut. She was also threatened, supposedly told “we are going to take off your head and your dog’s too”, and “you are going to pay for the others.”

Rubinfeld said that she reported the incident to the police.


Canada imposes sanctions on ‘settler extremists’
Although official Israeli statistics show acts of so-called “settler violence” have dropped, and Israeli officials have labeled Western media reports of a surge in such violence a “blood libel,” Canada imposed a second round of sanctions on what it termed “perpetrators of extremist settler violence” in Judea and Samaria on June 27.

The sanctions list seven individuals and five entities for their role in “facilitating, supporting or financially contributing” to alleged violent acts by “extremist settlers” against Arabs and their property.

“We remain deeply concerned by extremist settler violence in the West Bank and condemn such acts, not only for the significant impact they have on Palestinian lives, but also for the corrosive impact they have on prospects for lasting peace,” said Mélanie Joly, minister of foreign affairs, in a statement, calling on authorities to “hold perpetrators of such violence accountable.”

The seven individuals are Ben Zion Gopstein, head of the Lehava NGO; former Kedumim Mayor Daniella Weiss; Einan Ben-Nir Amram Tanjil; Elisha Yered; Ely Federman; Meir Mordechai Ettinger; and Shalom Zicherman.

The five entities are the Amana movement; Hilltop Youth, a loosely organized group of religious Zionist youth; the Lehava anti-assimilation NGO; and two outpost communities in the Jordan Valley, Moshe’s Farm and Zvi’s Farm.

Supporters of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria sharply attacked the Canadian decision.

Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council, said the decision was “scandalous.”

“Canada chooses to give support to terrorism and to Hamas, which seeks to continue slaughtering Jews and [bring about] the elimination of the State of Israel,” he said.

“Those who impose immoral and illegal sanctions against Jewish entities fully share [Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya] Sinwar’s vision and create an existential threat for the State of Israel,” he added.
Labour candidate claims arms sales to Israel will stop ‘immediately’ if party takes power
Fabian Hamilton, the Labour MP for Leeds North East, has said arms sales to Israel will stop after the Labour party takes power.

Hamilton, who was speaking during a hustings at the Baab-Ul-Ilm mosque in Leeds, was asked by an audience member if “we should we be selling arms to Israel?”

According to the Daily Telegraph the former shadow foreign minister replied: “On the issue of arms sales, if we win the election next week we will stop arms sales to Israel immediately.

“We don’t supply a huge number of arms, but we will stop them because we’re complicit if we don’t. We will also stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which is our largest client…”

Hamilton, who is seeking re election, also said Labour needed to be “consistent” in its foreign policy.

He said: “If we’re stopping arms sales to Israel, which we will, we’ve been very clear about that, we will stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which we should have done some time ago.

“Obviously some people believe that Starmer’s a liar but it’s actually David Lammy who’s introduced this policy.

“Hopefully he will be foreign secretary if we win the election and he has been very clear about implementing this. I know [him] much better than I know Starmer, and I know Lammy will actually do what he says.”

The Labour Party told the Telegraph it had not called for a halt to arms sales.

A party spokesman said: “Labour has been clear that the government must uphold both our domestic and international legal obligations when it comes to arms exports.

“Despite repeatedly calling for at least a summary to be published, we have not had access to the government’s legal advice and not called for a halt to arms sales. If Labour wins the election, we will assess the most up-to-date legal advice.”


Fatima Payman indefinitely suspended from caucus in crisis talks with PM over Palestine
Labor senator Fatima Payman has been indefinitely suspended from the Labor caucus during crisis talks with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at The Lodge in Canberra.

Payman was summoned to the prime minister’s residence on Sunday afternoon after an explosive interview on the ABC’s Insiders program in which she vowed to cross the floor again and vote for a motion supporting an independent Palestinian state, should the Greens put one before parliament again this week.

The defiant West Australian senator was at The Lodge for about 40 minutes and was spotted leaving by this masthead about 3.10pm on Sunday. Labor senator Fatima Payman leaves the Lodge in Canberra on Sunday afternoon after being suspended from caucus by Anthony Albanese.

Asked if she had been expelled from the ALP, Payman said no but did not take any further questions. A source close to the senator not permitted to speak on the record said she was now considering her future with Labor and had received a “stern” talking to from the prime minister.

A Labor spokesperson said after the meeting: “By her own actions and statements, Senator Payman has placed herself outside the privilege that comes with participating in the federal parliamentary Labor Party caucus.

“If Senator Payman decides she will respect the caucus and her Labor colleagues, she can return, but until then Senator Payman is suspended from the right to participate in federal parliamentary Labor Party caucus meetings and processes.”

Albanese told Payman during their meeting that he, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Senate leader Penny Wong and her deputy, Don Farrell, had signed off on the suspension after Payman’s television interview on Sunday morning.
‘Extraordinary’ how long it took Anthony Albanese to suspend Senator Payman
Sky News host Caleb Bond reacts to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's decision to indefinitely suspend Fatima Payman from the Labor caucus after the senator vowed to cross the floor again in support of an independent Palestinian state.

Mr Bond claimed he found it “extraordinary” the Prime Minister did not do something about the Labor senator earlier.

The 29-year-old's one-week caucus suspension was upgraded following an interview on the ABC's Insiders program in which she declared she was prepared to cross the floor again if another motion was put forward to recognise a Palestinian state.


In snap election, many French Jews reluctantly endorse far right over dreaded far left
The current ‘party of antisemitism’
Gilles-William Goldnadel, a well-known French-Jewish lawyer and pundit, sees an overestimation of National Rally’s antisemitism problem and an underestimation, especially in the Jewish world outside France, of the antisemitism of the far-left LFI.

“The left-leaning media in France and abroad zooms in on the far right, raising its specter. French Jews also did this,” Goldnadel told The Times of Israel. Yet, under Melenchon, “LFI became the party of antisemitism. The party of Islamo-leftism, of Palestinianism,” Goldnadel said.

The visceral reaction of many prominent French Jews to LFI in the leadup to the parliamentary elections “demonstrates that practically everyone understands the risk, namely: If the far left takes power on July 8, French Jews will leave France,” Goldnadel added.

Melenchon, a former communist who won 19% of the vote in the previous presidential elections, has increasingly adopted pro-immigration stances and a tolerant approach to public expressions of the Muslim faith as he replaced the Socialist Party as the main political force in heavily Muslim suburbs. He’s also made multiple statements that critics said were antisemitic.

In a 2017 speech, Melenchon said about French Jews that “France is the opposite of aggressive communities that lecture to the rest of country.”

In 2014, weeks after nine synagogues were torched in France, he said he wanted to “congratulate the youth of my country who mobilized in defense of the miserable victims of war crimes in Gaza,” adding: “If we have anything to condemn, then it is the actions of citizens who decided to rally in front of the embassy of a foreign country or serve its flag, weapon in hand,” he said, referencing French pro-Israel Jews. Earlier this month he said that antisemitism in France was merely “residual.”

Melenchon, who has long sought (in French) a union on the left, recently appointed to his party’s European Parliament faction Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian activist who is under a police investigation for justifying the October 7 onslaught. She has visited multiple anti-Israel demonstrations at French campuses and danced and sang with the protesters. Melenchon has called Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza a “genocide,” and has said that “peace-loving Frenchmen” cannot express solidarity with the victims of the Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, in which the terrorist group’s gunmen murdered some 1,200 people in Israel and abducted 251.

A political tailspin
“As the National Rally moved away from antisemitism, LFI rushed toward it and embraced it,” said Philippe Karsenty, a center-right French-Jewish former politician.

Karsenty considers the early elections a major political misstep for Macron. “He’s a gambler, who arrogantly thought he would catch everyone off guard and position himself as the only alternative to Le Pen. But he misjudged the left’s ability to unite and his own unpopularity, sending us into a tailspin,” Karsenty told The Times of Israel.

In an interview (in French) with LCI, Mathieu Kassovitz, a left-leaning French-Jewish actor and film director who has inveighed against National Rally and has said he would not vote for it, appeared to reflect the dismay, confusion and desperation shared by many ahead of the elections.

“I’m sick of protests. I’m for countering violence with violence,” he said when asked whether he would attend demonstrations against a National Rally victory. With an air of cynicism, he then added: “Maybe we’re not the France of human rights and we need to accept that maybe the National Front [sic] has its place and would do a better job. Maybe it’s an experiment to try. I think we’ll never be who we [truly] are unless we go through that phase.”
Danny Danon approved as next UN ambassador for second stint
The government unanimously approved Likud MK Danny Danon as the next ambassador to the United Nations on Sunday, replacing Gilad Erdan.

This will be Danon’s second stint at Turtle Bay. He served as Israel’s envoy to the UN from 2015 to 2020.

“As Israel faces numerous fronts, it is imperative for each of us to contribute our best efforts and expertise,” said Danon. “In the face of the resurgence of diplomatic terrorism, I am committed to presenting the truth with confidence for the sake of the people of Israel and our shared future.”

He was announced as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pick earlier this month, pending government approval.

“MK Danon has extensive experience in the international arena,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a June 9 statement announcing the appointment, “and he will undoubtedly bring his talents and experience to bear at this time.”

Danon is slated to begin the role in August, when Erdan returns to Israel.
Meretz, Labor Party sign agreement to merge parties under new party name 'The Democrats'
The Labor Party, led by chairman and former IDF deputy chief-of-staff Yair Golan, reached a formal agreement on Sunday in which it will unite with Meretz under a single party called “The Democrats.”

The statement made by the merged parties said, “Unlike in the past, this is not a ‘technical bloc,’ but a historic move that finally creates one large and united party, a liberal-democratic Zionist party that will serve as a political home for a large public in Israel.”

The parties added, “The union is a necessary step in building a large and strong democratic base that will lead to the replacement of the extreme right-wing government led by [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The new party will be home for all the forces fighting for democracy and the image of Israel in recent years: Protest organizations... civil society, youth movements… [and] reserve organizations fighting for equal burden.”

In response to the unity agreement, Golan stated, “One of the goals I have set for us is to create connections that will lead to the fulfillment of the camp’s electoral potential. This is a necessary political, public and moral goal.”
Israel's Security Cabinet Okays Sanctioning PA Officials
Israel's Security Cabinet has approved a series of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs confirmed. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the move came "in light of Palestinian Authority action at the International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice, the UN, the [pending] arrest warrants against the country's leaders, and its push for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state."

Among the steps taken were the cancellation of various benefits for officials; cancellation of exit visas for PA officials and restrictions on their movement; "enforcement action against incitement" by PA officials; and the transfer of enforcement responsibilities from the PA to Israel in a nature preserve in the Judean desert that has seen unbridled Palestinian building activity, damaging heritage sites and the environment.

At the same time, the Finance Minister will unfreeze tax funds withheld from the Palestinian Authority and extend a waiver allowing Israeli banks to work with their Palestinian counterparts.
Smotrich prevents collapse of PA economy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has extended a waiver shielding Israeli banks with ties to the Palestinian Authority from lawsuits stemming from charges of supporting terrorism.

The decision to extend the waiver was reportedly made during a Thursday Cabinet meeting as a tradeoff for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval to legalize several outposts in Judea and Samaria.

The waiver, which the finance minister signed for a four-month period, extends indemnity to Israeli correspondent banks that transfer money to Palestinian Authority financial institutions in Judea and Samaria.

Smotrich also agreed to unfreeze the last three months of tax funds withheld from the P.A., a senior official in Jerusalem told reporters.

Late last month, Smotrich called for a series of punitive steps against the P.A. in response to its push for unilateral statehood and support for the International Criminal Court case against Israel.

Smotrich’s proposals came hours after Norway, Ireland and Spain declared their official recognition of “Palestine,” in decisions that the P.A. and the Hamas terrorist group welcomed.

Ramallah is “working against Israel with political terrorism and promoting unilateral measures around the world—I cannot continue to transfer funds to them. If this causes the P.A. to collapse, let it collapse,” Smotrich said.


German court rules ex-concentration camp guard, 99, unfit to stand trial
A German court ruled last Wednesday that a 99-year-old man who served as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp was unfit to stand trial for his role in the murder of thousands of inmates during the Holocaust, German media have reported.

The decision came after an expert physician commissioned by the regional court in Hanau, in the German state of Hesse, determined that the mental and physical condition of Gregor Formanek prevented the former SS officer from standing trial, Berlin-area public broadcaster RBB reported.

German tabloid Bild quoted Hans-Jürgen Förster, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, as saying that an appeal against the decision would be filed in the coming week. The public prosecutor in the German town of Giessen also said it would file an appeal, which will be brought before the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt.

The prosecutor first indicted Formanek in August for aiding and abetting over 3,300 murders while stationed as a guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Sachsenhausen was established by the SS in 1936 as the main concentration and forced labor camp in the Berlin area.

Among its well-known inmates were Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, whom the Nazis deposed during the 1938 Anschluss of Austria; Pastor Martin Niemöller, famous for his 1946 poem “First they came…“; and Herschel Grynszpan, whose assassination of Nazi diplomat Ernst vom Rath served, two days later, as the pretext for Kristallnacht.
Dialogue with a Convicted Jew Hater
As part of rehabilitation program, James Finney-Conlon meets an antisemite guilty of performing a hate crime.

Growing up, James Finney-Conlon experienced his fair share of antisemitism. Classmates threw pennies at his feet and told him that he was going to hell because he wasn’t baptized.

James's mother’s family experienced Jew-hatred in Ukraine during the pogroms. They had been imprisoned for being Jewish but bribed their way out of prison by secretly transporting jewels hidden in a sanitary napkin. “It is a crazy reality that the only reason I am in America today is because my ancestors wore jewels inside their underwear.”

James’s mother was born Jewish, but his father was a Catholic man born in Ireland. Although they fell in love, they initially broke up because they could not reconcile their conflicting faiths.

Ultimately, they decided to marry and agreed to raise their children as Jews. “My father was told that he was no longer welcome back in his family church, and my mother was told that the Rabbis would not perform the wedding. So, they were married by a judge.”

Since James grew up in an interfaith home, he bore the brunt of hate from both sides. “Jews told me I wasn’t Jewish enough, and Christians looked down on me for being a Jew. My father recently converted to Judaism. Now I have two Jewish parents. I am 30 years old, and it is exhausting when people expect you to prove who you are.”

Combating Hatred
In high school he started a World Religions Club. “As someone who grew up not being recognized for who I was, I wanted to create a space where people could be educated and learn about other religions and not be judged.” His work as a teen was recognized by a Hindu temple and he was awarded a scholarship to continue his education in religious studies and politics.

In college, he volunteered with interfaith clubs and worked hard to ensure every faith was welcome on campus. He also volunteered in men’s and women’s prisons and spent his weekends helping convicts reconcile their past.

When a gunman massacred Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, his in-laws’ synagogue, James started to feel unsafe as a Jew in America. It was the deadliest attack on a Jewish community in the United States. James decided it was time to do something to combat all this hatred. He drew upon his high school and university experience to fight back, and realized he needed to better understand the mind of an antisemitic criminal.


CyberWell briefs European leaders on online antisemitism
Government officials and youth leaders from five countries gathered in Tel Aviv to learn about the spread of Jew-hatred on the Internet.

In a June 24 statement, CyberWell, a nonprofit focused on countering antisemitism in social media, announced that the European Leadership Network had sponsored a visit featuring leaders from Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway.

“Social media promulgating hate, in general, but also specifically surrounding antisemitism, is rapidly becoming a national security crisis in countries across the globe,” said Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, CyberWell’s founder and executive director.

“Not unlike social-media platforms themselves, many countries have been surprised by terror organizations and their allies harnessing social media to spread hate and destabilize their nations,” she said.

The group hopes that such visits “will help educate and inform these leaders, and ultimately arm their governments for the fight against terror and hate online,” Cohen Montemayor said.

CyberWell says it “has achieved incredible success rates in removing Jew-hatred at scale, sparking policy guidance for content moderators and updating social-media policy to account for all forms of antisemitism.”
Amid war toll, Israeli startups nabbed $2.9b from investors, the most in two years
Investment into Israeli startups and high-tech firms over the past three months showed the first quarterly year-on-year increase since the start of 2022, despite the country’s ongoing war with the Hamas terror group, according to a report compiled by research center IVC and LeumiTech, a Bank Leumi arm that specializes in tech companies.

Israeli tech startups attracted $2.9 billion in capital from investors in the April to June quarter, up 48 percent compared with the $1.96 billion raised during the same period in 2023, and the $1.63 billion that were nabbed during the first three months of the year, preliminary data of the report displayed. There were 110 deals in the second quarter as in the corresponding period last year.

Larger deals mainly by cybersecurity firms led capital-raising rounds over the past three months with six transactions above $100 million, accounting for about 62% of the total. American-Israeli cloud cybersecurity unicorn Wiz in May raised $965 million at a staggering valuation of $12 billion.

Excluding the Wiz deal, startup fundraising in the second quarter was still up 19% compared with the first three months of the year, adding to first signs that the capital drought caused by the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas is on a path of slow recovery.

“If current volumes of transactions continue, we are on pace for the tech sector to end the year on a growth trajectory compared to last year,” remarked LeumiTech CEO Maya Eisen-Zafrir. “From in-depth examinations we conducted regarding the identity of investors, it is encouraging to see foreign investors – who have never invested in Israel – taking part in transactions since the beginning of the war.”

In 2023, fundraising nosedived 56% to $6.9 billion year-over-year as investment into local high-tech firms continued to slump when war broke out in the aftermath of the October 7 onslaught on southern communities.




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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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