Thursday, July 11, 2024

07/11 Links Pt1: First Oct. 7 probe reveals how IDF, police failure led to Be'eri slaughter; UNRWA has 100 employees who are members of Hamas

From Ian:

First Oct. 7 probe reveals how IDF, police failure led to Be'eri slaughter
The IDF publicized its first probe into Israel’s October 7 failure to prevent Hamas’s invasion, focusing in on the invasion of Beeri in the South, which parallels central Gaza, and which was overwhelmingly destroyed.

During the invasion, 101 Beeri residents were killed, 30 hostages were taken, of which 11 are still being held by Hamas in Gaza, 150 houses were destroyed, and several complete security breakdowns took place.

From the start of Hamas’s breaking through the Beeri security gate at 6:55 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., between 80-220 Hamas terrorists at anyone time (a total of 340 Hamas forces participated) massively outnumbered Israeli defenders, who had only between 13-26 fighters at any given moment.

The Hamas invaders were broken down into: 100-120 trained Hamas Nukhba terrorists, 50-70 Hamas regular fighters, 100-150 even less trained Islamic Jihad fighters and common criminals.

Most of the around 1,000 Beeri residents were in grave danger, but hoping to wait out the invasion in their home’s safe rooms until around 6:00 p.m., when the first large evacuations started.

IDF Maj, Gen. (res.) Mickey Edelstein, who is outside the mandatory service officers chain of command, directed the probe.

A Hamas Nuseirat commander in central Gaza started maneuvering his forces to be ready for the invasion around 5:30 a.m.

Under cover of thousands of rockets being fired and using drones and hang gliders to destroy Israeli sensors and lookout towers, around 6:30 a.m., Hamas started penetrating the border into Israel in many areas.

Between 6:55 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., a huge number of things went wrong for the IDF beyond the lack of IDF or Shin Bet warnings and the lack of forces preventing the Hamas invaders from arriving at Beeri in the first place.

Around 7:30 a.m., Hamas was already attacking and overwhelming the IDF’s forward headquarters for Gaza at Reim which would have been the main party to coordinate reinforcements.

Gaza Division Commander Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld eventually fled and there was no one left nearby to coordinate a broad reinforcements operation or defense.

Rosenfeld recently resigned from the IDF.

Around 20 Hamas forces had penetrated the village from two different vectors in a short time.
Caroline Glick: JNS poll: Most Likud voters want Gallant fired
The majority of Likud voters have lost faith in Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and would like to see him fired, according to a JNS/Direct Polls survey of public opinion carried out on July 9.

Sixty-three percent of Likud voters believe that Gallant should be sacked, compared to 29% who believe he should remain in his position. Nine percent have no opinion.

Overall, 40% of Israelis support his firing, with 53% opposing it. And 7% have no opinion.

Only 16% of Likud voters believe that Gallant’s trip last month to the U.S. was helpful, while 49% said he undermined Israel’s war goals by traveling to Washington. Thirty-four percent have no opinion on the matter.

Speaking with visiting White House envoy Brett McGurk on Wednesday, Gallant expressed support for an IDF withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor that controls Gaza’s international border with Egypt.

“A solution is required that will stop smuggling attempts and will cut off potential supply for Hamas, and will enable the withdrawal of IDF troops from the corridor, as part of a framework for the release of hostages,” Gallant told the U.S. official.

Fifty-seven percent of Israelis oppose the U.S.-mediated deal currently being negotiated with Hamas, according to the survey, compared to 33% who support it. Seventy-nine percent of Likud voters oppose the prospective deal, with only 14% approving.

The contours of the agreement would require Israel to withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor that controls north-south traffic in Gaza, and from the Philadelphi Corridor. In exchange for the withdrawal and the release of hundreds of terrorists from Israeli prisons, Hamas would free 18 living women and children and the bodies of 15 deceased hostages.
Seth Frantzman: How an addiction to the Iron Dome doctrine has eroded Israel’s deterrence
Since October 7, Israel has continued to rely on a doctrine rooted in air defense as a strategy. It has evacuated the North and South and believes air defenses continue to buy it time.

The concept of Iron Dome buying Israel time to decide worked when Israel’s enemies couldn’t penetrate the air defenses and when the Israeli public wasn’t affected much by the war. However, even in those previous conflicts, which were short, living under endless rocket fire and evacuating the borders was not a doctrine for success.

Israel’s enemies today are not deterred. They believe they have caught Israel in a trap in which Israel continues to rely on precision strikes and proportional attacks.

ISRAEL’S FIRST LEADERS understood this would be a recipe for disaster. Israel can’t meet its enemies man-for-man. Israel is a small state and it can’t afford to end up like Lebanon or Iraq. It is a modern state that relies on trade and wants to be part of the first world. Endless wars against Hamas, Hezbollah and a half dozen other Iranian proxies are not a recipe for Israel’s historic success.

It was once believed that Iron Dome would buy Israel the time to make rational decisions, rather than plunge her into hasty wars. Today it is clear that relying on this concept as a strategy has led to endless caution and a fear of fighting large wars to deter enemies.

Instead, the preference is to continue letting groups like Hezbollah dictate the tempo of the war. Hezbollah says that it will stop its attacks when Israel ends the war in Gaza.

In essence this means every time Israel clashes with Hamas, Hezbollah has carved out a “right” to rain down rockets, drones and missiles on northern Israel.

The most destructive aspects of the October 7 war are now being felt on multiple fronts. Hezbollah’s ability to carve out a security zone inside Israel and fight a war between the wars inside Israel is a historic disaster for Israel.

What is the "new norm" in the Middle East?
This week, Hezbollah killed two Israelis in the Golan. Its drones continue to wreak havoc.

A year ago when an IED was planted by a man near Metulla who had penetrated Israel from Lebanon, it was seen as a big deal. Today 6,000 Hezbollah rockets and drones are seen as the new norm.

The killing of Israelis in the North is becoming a new norm, all because strategists put all their faith in air defense alone.

This recalls previous historic marches of folly, such as the Maginot Line between France and Germany.

Countries that rely solely on walled defenses are doomed to end up with enemies who learn how to pierce the defenses. History teaches us this. Israel’s historic leaders understood this.

Israel will need to rethink its reliance on air defense which went from buying time, to eroding Israel’s deterrence, preventing her from making tough decisions necessary to secure the country.


‘Serious’ errors let Hamas infiltrate kibbutz on Oct. 7, per IDF probe
Nearly 350 Hamas terrorists, including 100 members of the terror group’s elite Nukhba Force, managed to infiltrate Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel on Oct. 7 due to catastrophic failures by the Israel Defense Forces in their readiness and response, according to the first part of the IDF’s internal probe of the attacks.

“The IDF had difficulty creating a clear picture of what was happening in the kibbutz until the afternoon hours of Oct. 7, even though the yishuv emergency team had an updated picture of what was happening in the kibbutz during the morning hours,” per the Hebrew report, which the military released on Thursday evening.

“The investigation shows that the security forces did not provide sufficient warning to the residents of Be’eri about the infiltration of terrorists during the first hours of the terrorist attack,” the report adds.

In the early hours of the attack on Oct. 7, a Shabbat morning, fighting at the kibbutz “was characterized by a lack of command and control and a lack of coordination and order between the various forces and units,” per the investigation, which took three months and drew on hundreds of hours of interviews and thousands of materials. “This caused a number of incidents in which security forces gathered at the entrance to the kibbutz and did not engage in combat immediately.”

The IDF presented the findings to the kibbutz community, and the families of victims and hostages, before releasing them publicly.

A few hours prior to the public release of the investigation, members of the kibbutz said that the probe was thorough but left important questions unanswered, Israeli media reported.

Israeli media also reported that family members of Be’eri victims called for IDF leaders to resign.

‘Acts of heroism’
According to the investigation, Hamas killed 101 civilians at Be’eri and kidnapped 32 people, 11 of whom remain hostages in Gaza. The probe credited the local armed response team with “determination and courage.”

“Their bravery, in defending the kibbutz and its residents with their bodies, should be considered a miracle,” the investigation states. “It was this fighting that stopped the total occupation of the kibbutz and saved many lives.” The Israeli military also praised the yishuv emergency team for “forming an updated situational picture and maintaining contact with the residents under fire.”

“Many security forces fought bravely in Kibbutz Be’eri and performed acts of heroism,” the probe added. “At the same time, serious errors and mistakes were made, and we have the duty to learn, strengthen and correct for the future.”

Israeli soldiers “acted with great bravery and ferocity,” according to the investigation, and 31 were killed in combat, including 23 IDF members and armed response team members, in addition to eight police officers. Many soldiers and civilians were hurt.

Some 100 terrorists were killed at the kibbutz, per the investigation.

The report concluded that the IDF “was not prepared for the kind of extensive infiltration scenario that happened on Oct. 7, which included multiple areas of infiltration by thousands of terrorists, attacking in dozens of focal points at the same time.”
IDF Gen. Hiram cleared of charge of blowing up hostages along with Hamas on Oct. 7
The IDF probe of the battle of Be’eri on October 7 has cleared Brig.-Gen. Barak Hiram, commander of the 99th Division, of allegations that he ordered the killing of hostages who were mixed in with Hamas terrorists.

Despite being cleared, due to reasons which the IDF did not explain, Hiram’s future IDF career options are still frozen at this time, with no set date for when that issue will be resolved.

For nine months, the narrative against Hiram has been that in the Pesi Cohen household in Be’eri, a group of Hamas terrorists were both holding hostages as well as presenting a significant danger to IDF forces who were trying to liberate the kibbutz from Hamas’s control.

It was alleged that given an impossible choice over whether to continue to allow the Hamas forces to present a danger and given few clear-cut options for rescuing the hostages, that he ordered a tank to fire on the house, destroying it and killing everyone inside, terrorists and hostages alike.

Prior to October 7, Hiram was viewed as one of the IDF’s rising stars and was slated to take over the once prized Gaza Division, a post which is often a stepping stone to top high command positions, and could even lead to becoming IDF chief.

Further, Hiram’s 99th Division has been viewed as fighting extremely effectively in several rounds of battles in Gaza since October 7.

However, because of the Cohen household incident and the probe into the circumstances, his promotion had been frozen, and there was even a possibility that he could face disciplinary measures or worse.

Significant portions of Be’eri residents have also loudly opposed his promotion.

In contrast, the IDF probe found that Hiram was not even present when the tank in question fired on the Cohen house.

Further, the probe found that four tank shells were fired, all with the intent of being near misses that would put pressure on the Hamas terrorists to intimidate them into surrendering, but not to kill either the Hamas forces or the hostages.
Editors Notes: IDF Be'eri probe shows its time to be less arrogant after devastation
Many still refuse to utter the simple yet crucial phrase: “We have failed.” Any leader in any field should be taught to admit mistakes. It doesn’t always mean they must resign, but in some cases, accountability demands it.

The IDF’s probe into the Be’eri massacre revealed several major failures during a day and a half of terror at the kibbutz. As previously mentioned, the attackers overwhelmed the community, taking hostages and killing indiscriminately.

How could terrorists breach our borders, invade Be’eri before 7 a.m. on a Saturday, and only be neutralized by Sunday night? Where was the IDF? Where was the Police? Where was the Shin Bet? Why did it take tanks half a day to reach Be’eri? Why did soldiers outside the kibbutz hesitate due to a lack of orders? Arrogance—pure and simple.

According to the probe, until 2:30 p.m. on October 7—over seven and a half hours after the attack began—between 13 and 26 Israelis were fighting somewhere between 80 and 200 terrorists in the kibbutz.

The initial defenders included the kibbutz’s emergency standby squad and additional security forces flown in later. But they were vastly outnumbered and overwhelmed.

It took hours for a “big-picture” commander, Brig.-Gen. Barak Hiram, to oversee the defense efforts, and even then, the response was chaotic and insufficient.

THE PROBE also highlighted the failure of IDF intelligence. Despite evidence of SIM cards being activated in the Gaza Strip, this was not seen as a legitimate concern.

Hamas fired 3,000 rockets in four hours, creating chaos and overwhelming our defenses. The IDF’s failure to have a fully formed first or second line of defense at the Gaza border was a glaring oversight.

Despite these failures, our nation began piecing itself back together. The unity and support from Jews worldwide, even those previously critical of Israel, have been remarkable. Yet, this spirit keeps our politicians and security leaders out of step.

Nine months have passed, and we still have 120 hostages in Gaza. Tens of thousands of people are displaced, unable or unwilling to return home until threats from Hamas and Hezbollah are eliminated.

The situation remains unresolved, and the arrogance that got us here hasn’t disappeared.

Why didn’t they listen? Why were the warnings ignored? This arrogance—this fatal flaw—needs to be addressed. We must purge arrogance and promote accountability in our leaders. They need to be able to admit mistakes and learn from them.

While the world moves on and often criticizes Israel, we continue to live the reality of October 7.

We hope the Western world understands and supports the only democracy in the Middle East, but we are far from a solution.

Our leadership must learn to be less arrogant, but the world must also understand the complexity and trauma we face.

If we learn nothing from this, we’ve failed those who suffered. We must learn from the bad and the good, doing everything we can to grow.


UNRWA has 100 employees who are members of Hamas, Israel claims
Israel has named 100 employees of a UN agency in Gaza as members of Hamas and demanded they are fired.

This was just “a fraction” of the true number of workers from the terrorist organisation, it said in a letter to the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Israel has also sent the list countries that donate to UNRWA, many of whom – including the US and UK – froze their funding to the agency after the Oct 7 attacks.

It insists there are hundreds more active Hamas terrorists, including school headteachers, employed by UNRWA, which has 13,000 local employees. tmg.video.placeholder.alt P1yUTRslHCs

The list is expected to be updated and expanded in what Israel calls a “test case” for the agency.

After Oct 7, it emerged that 12 UNRWA employees had links to Hamas.

That brought the agency to the attention of the Israeli security forces before the latest accusations, The Telegraph understands.

They come after UNRWA gave Israel a list of its workers, which it has cross-checked against its own intelligence to identify them as belonging to Hamas.

As the war has raged, there have been accusations of Hamas tunnels under UNRWA-run schools as Israel has claimed to have uncovered large-scale infiltration of the agency.

Israel sees no role for UNRWA in Gaza after the war ends, especially in the provision of education, The Telegraph understands.

The UNRWA, the largest humanitarian organisation in Gaza, has been asked for comment.

On Wednesday, the agency’s Twitter account called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“453 attacks impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them have been reported since the war began. Two thirds of our schools in Gaza have been hit, with 524 people sheltering in our facilities killed, it said.

“UN structures, schools and shelters are not a target.”

In April, an independent review led by Catherine Colonna, the former French foreign minister, completed a report into the agency after allegations 12 UNRWA workers took part in the Hamas terror attack on Israel.

It found that Israel had failed to provide supporting evidence for its claims that a significant number of UNRWA workers were members of terrorist organisations and said the agency had “robust” policies to ensure its staff were neutral.

That has done nothing to placate Israel, which nurtures a long list of grievances against the agency and has a difficult relationship with the UN.


Bassam Tawil: Why Palestinian Leaders Cannot Make Peace With Israel
The latest "scandal" erupted after a video that appeared on social media featured [Mustafa] Barghouti warmly hugging former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami during a meeting of parliamentary factions in Italy.

Barghouti's critics, however, do not distinguish between a right-wing and left-wing Israeli Jew. For them, all Israeli Jews, including those who support a two-state solution, are enemies.

The smear campaign against Barghouti serves as a reminder of how Palestinian leaders and officials have radicalized their people against Israel to a point where it has become impossible, if not dangerous, even to be seen in the company of an Israeli Jew. Barghouti can only blame himself for the backlash he is facing for appearing together with Ben-Ami at the conference in Italy.

Given the enormous uproar caused by this brief interaction between an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian, one can only imagine the consequences for any Palestinian leader who dares even to discuss or consider peace with Israel. The outcry over the meeting in Italy crystallizes the basic reason why Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to return to the negotiating table with Israel for the past decade. Abbas knows full well that his recurring attacks on Israel have radicalized Palestinians against Israel to such an extent that most of them support the October 7 massacre of Israelis, are in favor of Hamas over his Palestinian Authority, and would be happy to kill him at a moment's notice for being a traitor over whatever they considered the slightest transgression.
Israel, Hamas agree to deal framework, PA-led force in Gaza
The Hamas terror group has agreed to a hostages-for-ceasefire framework and mediators are negotiating the details and implementation, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday night.

The Post‘s David Ignatius said that though the framework is in place, officials warned that a final agreement is unlikely to be imminent as the details of the deal are complex and will take time to work through.

One U.S. official suggested that Hamas’s acquiescence to the terms was at least in part prompted by the fact that the terror group is in “rough shape” and low on ammunition as a result of Israeli military pressure.

Ignatius said that, as part of the truce, the parties have indicated their approval of an interim governance plan in which neither Israel nor Hamas would rule Gaza. Instead, security would be provided by a U.S.-trained force backed by moderate Arab nations, drawn from a group of 2,500 vetted Palestinian Authority supporters who are already in Gaza.

Hamas told mediators that it was “prepared to relinquish authority to the interim governance arrangement” during the second phase of the agreement, which comes after the initial six-week truce, an official said.

During a Wednesday meeting in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk that the Jewish state remains committed to a deal as long as it adheres to his red lines.

The premier’s stated red lines include the ability to resume fighting in Gaza until all war goals have been met; an end to arms smuggling from Egypt; no return of “thousands” of Hamas terrorists to the enclave’s north; and maximizing the number of living hostages released.

Netanyahu’s tête-à-tête with the Biden administration official came as an Israeli delegation led by Mossad Director David Barnea touched down in Doha to continue hostage release and ceasefire negotiations.
Ceasefire deal 'within reach,' US official says, which includes interim gov't in
A senior US official told the Washington Post in a Wednesday op-ed that a framework has reportedly been agreed upon for a ceasefire-hostage release deal in Gaza.

The opinion piece reports that it would lead to the release of some hostages and that the parties involved are in the negotiating phases of implementing such a deal.

Other senior officials warned that although the framework for the deal exists, a final agreement "is not imminent" and that working on the details is complex and expected to take time. US officials say the agreement sees the resolution in three stages.

The Washington Post piece notes that in the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, both the Hamas terrorist organization and Israel have accepted an "interim governance" plan that would be utilized, in which neither Israel nor Hamas would control Gaza. Still, rather there will be US-provided security backed by moderate Arab allies, which would comprise of a "core group of about 2,500 supporters of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza who have already been vetted by Israel," the Post reports.

Other aspects of the agreement
Before such an interim government takes hold, the first phase of the agreement would see 33 hostages who are alive released by Hamas, which include all remaining female captives, men over the age of 50, and any of those who are injured. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would be released by Israel, and its forces would be withdrawn from areas considered densely populated in the Gaza Strip's eastern border.

The Post cites the American official as saying that Hamas told mediators it was "prepared to relinquish authority to the interim governance arrangement.”

Part of the deal would also see reconstruction of hospitals and a flow of humanitarian aid into the Strip.

Hamas would then release the male IDF soldiers who remain as hostages and a full IDF withdrawal of Gaza - to which there would be what the op-ed describes as a "permanent end to hostilities." The last phase of the deal would see a UN Security Council resolution described as a "multi-year reconstruction plan" in Gaza.

Another American official is also cited in the op-ed saying that Hamas is said to be "low on ammunition and supplies," as well as receiving growing pressure and criticism from Palestinian civilians who also demand a ceasefire deal.

The Post also cites another US official saying that an additional bonus of the ceasefire deal is Israel normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia. Still, Riyadh has signaled that it wants the creation of a Palestinian state as part of such a deal.


Report: Israel, Hamas to cede control of Gaza to PA-linked force in deal’s 2nd phase
The third phase would consist of a multi-year reconstruction plan for Gaza, which has been devastated by the war, and during which the bodies of the remaining dead hostages would be returned to Israel.

The Post report said progress in advancing the proposal was also made possible by support from mediators Qatar and Egypt. Qatar had threatened Hamas’s leaders that they could not remain in Doha if they did not accept the plan, and Egypt accepted a US proposal to prevent new smuggling tunnels under its border with Gaza used to supply Hamas with weapons.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told White House Middle East envoy Brett McGurk during a meeting Tuesday that Israel could withdraw troops from the Philadelphi Corridor if a solution is found to arms smuggling, according to Gallant’s office. The corridor separates Gaza from Egypt, and Israel considers control of it vital to prevent arms smuggling into the Strip.

“A solution is required that will stop smuggling attempts and will cut off potential supply for Hamas, and will enable the withdrawal of IDF troops from the [Philadelphi] Corridor, as part of a framework for the release of hostages,” Gallant told McGurk.

Israel seized the Philadelphi Corridor and the Gaza side of the Rafah Crossing in early May, soon after the army launched its offensive in southern Gaza’s Rafah. Troops have since discovered at least 25 cross-border smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza.

The Post noted that reaching a deal between Israel and Hamas is expected to quieten as well the conflict on the northern border, where Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has been attacking border areas in support of Gaza, bringing the area to the brink of a second war. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday that his Iran-backed group would cease its attacks in the event of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

Also, Saudi Arabia has shown it is ready to “move forward on normalization” with Israel, one US official told the Post. However, American officials have told The Times of Israel that the window for US President Joe Biden’s administration to approve such a deal before November’s US election has closed.
Power vacuum: Can an ‘interim’ force work for Gaza?
WHAT CAN WE LEARN from the US experience in the West Bank? The position of US security coordinator who works with the Palestinian Authority has existed since 2005, but the PA failed to prevent Hamas from taking over the Gaza Strip in 2007.

The coordinator did help the PA security forces become more professional after 2007, but they lacked basic equipment like proper ballistic helmets. Some of their units were trained in Jordan and then sent back to the West Bank. The current US Security Coordinator is Lt.-Gen. Michael R. Fenzel who assumed his position as the US Security Coordinator for Israel and the PA in November 2021.

If we look at how the PA security forces have fared in the last two years their record is not great. They have lost control of Jenin and Tulkarm in the northern West Bank. They almost lost control of Nablus. They face increasing challenges from terror groups and armed gangs with access to better rifles than the PA, the result of massive arms smuggling, some of it fueled by Iran-linked groups who seek to destabilize the West Bank and Jordan.

Israel is now forced to carry out frequent raids and even air strikes in the northern West Bank. Islamic terrorists are now building IEDs, targeting Israeli troops. This does not look like a good model for Gaza. If the PA can’t control the West Bank, how will its troops fare in Gaza?

A force of 2,500 troops will have no end of trouble controlling Gaza. They won’t be well armed and they won’t want to fight against Hamas. They will likely end up as a kind of fig leaf with Hamas and the IDF continuing to control things.

The lessons of history tell us that nature abhors a vacuum. If there is a power vacuum in Gaza, Hamas will return to fill it. Hamas doesn’t mind hiding underneath a US or Arab government-backed scheme because than it can rebuild tunnels under the ruins while above ground the PA and NGOs and the UN have to deal with the civilians.

This will free up Hamas to rebuild its empire of terror. If Israel is prevented from carrying out raids on Hamas as an interim force, then this will be a present to Hamas.

Unless the interim force has real power behind it, and the backing of the local population, it will likely fail miserably.

It’s likely that such a scheme will even fail to get off the ground unless those involved take this initiative more seriously than they have so far in planning for the ‘day after’ over the last nine months.
The Philadelphi Corridor: A Job Only Israel Can Do
For nearly 20 years, Hamas has smuggled enormous quantities of weapons and building materials through and under the Philadelphi Corridor.

Anyone who still believes the Egyptians were unaware of this is deluding themselves.

The Egyptians not only knew, but for years they were complicit - knowingly ignoring the situation, turning a blind eye, and even actively facilitating it. Egyptian officials and officers pocketed bribes that allowed the weapons highway to continue.

Proposing to involve them now in any arrangement concerning the Philadelphi Corridor and trusting them is self-deception.

Israel must, therefore, remain in Philadelphi. Neither Egypt, nor other foreign forces, nor cameras will do the job for us there as needed.

EU monitoring forces failed at the Rafah crossing and fled from there in 2007.

Cameras didn't prevent the fall of the Rafah crossing into Hamas's hands. They simply documented the failure.
Hamas leadership's secret correspondence on cease-fire: 'We are suffering heavy losses, situation in Gaza is terrible'
The level of devastation in the Gaza Strip caused by a nine-month Israeli offensive likely has helped push Hamas to soften its demands for a cease-fire agreement, several officials in the Middle East and the U.S. believe.

Hamas over the weekend appeared to drop its longstanding demand that Israel promise to end the war as part of any cease-fire deal. The sudden shift has raised new hopes for progress in internationally brokered negotiations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday boasted that military pressure – ”including Israel's ongoing two-month offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah – is what has led Hamas to enter negotiations"

Hamas, an Islamic terror group that seeks Israel's destruction, is highly secretive and little is known about its inner workings.

But in recent internal communications seen by The Associated Press, messages signed by several senior Hamas figures in Gaza urged the group's exiled political leadership to accept the cease-fire proposal pitched by U.S. President Joe Biden.

The messages, shared by a Middle East official familiar with the ongoing negotiations, described the heavy losses Hamas has suffered on the battlefield and the dire conditions in the war-ravaged territory. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to share the contents of internal Hamas communications.
JNS poll: Most Israelis oppose terms of hostage-for-ceasefire deal
A total of 57% of Israelis oppose the U.S.-mediated deal being negotiated with Hamas, according to a JNS/Direct Polls survey of public opinion carried out on July 9. And 33% support the prospective agreement.

The contours of the agreement would require Israel to withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor that controls north-south traffic in Gaza, and from the Philadelphi Corridor that controls the Strip’s border with Egypt. In exchange for the withdrawal and the release of hundreds of terrorists from Israeli prisons, Hamas would free 18 living women and children and the bodies of 15 deceased hostages.

Seventy-nine percent of Likud voters oppose the proposal, with 14% approving and 7% not knowing.

Eighty-three percent of those identifying as right-wing reject the deal, with 10% approving and 7% having no opinion.

In contrast, 59% of voters for opposition leader Yair Lapid’s left-wing Yesh Atid Party expressed support for such a deal, with 31% opposing and 11% unsure.

Some 54% of voters for former War Cabinet Minister Knesset member Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party would support the deal, compared to 34% against it and 13% not knowing.

Meanwhile, 70% of residents of southern Israel, where Hamas perpetrated its Oct. 7 massacre of some 1,200 people, expressed opposition to such a deal, with 24% approving and the rest saying they do not know.
JNS poll: Israelis support Donald Trump over Joe Biden
If Israelis were the ones who decided, presumptive Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump would defeat U.S. President Joe Biden in a landslide on Nov. 5, according to a JNS/Direct Polls survey of public opinion carried out on July 9.

According to the survey, 55% of Israelis would prefer to see Trump elected, 34% prefer Biden and 11% don’t have an opinion on the matter.

Israelis are unsure whether Biden is pro-Israel. Fifty percent said he is, while 43% said he is not and 7% don’t know.

Among young Israelis, the responses were even more dramatic. Seventy-four percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 said that Biden is not pro-Israel. Young Israelis support Trump over Biden 95%-5%.

Israel and Jewish issues played a small but explosive role in the presidential debate between Biden and Trump late last month.

In an exchange about what leverage Biden would use to get Hamas to agree to a ceasefire-for-hostages proposal that he announced in May, Trump accused the president of wanting to let the Palestinian terror group remain in power.

“Israel is the one, and you should let ’em go and let ’em finish the job,” Trump said. “He doesn’t want to do it. He’s become like a Palestinian. But they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weak one.”

Biden in his preceding answer claimed that he had “saved Israel,” but that the Jewish state had “killed a lot of innocent people.”

In May, Trump criticized Biden’s decision to freeze weapons shipments to Israel amid its war with Hamas, saying, “I support Israel’s right to win its war on terror. Is that okay? I don’t know if that’s good or bad politically. I don’t care. Gotta do what’s right.”
JNS poll: Most Israelis think early elections would hurt deterrence
While 60% of Israelis are dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the conflicts on the country’s southern and northern borders, the majority believes that early elections would hurt the war effort, according to a poll conducted for JNS.

The Direct Polls Institute, which correctly predicted the results of Israel’s most recent election in November 2022, surveyed a representative sample of 685 Israeli adults on June 27, 2024. (The margin of error is plus or minus 4.3 percentage points at a confidence level of 95%, according to Direct Polls.)

Fifty-four percent of the respondents said a national vote before the end of the wars with Hamas and Hezbollah would “hurt” (9%) or be “very harmful” (45%) to Israel’s deterrence in the face of ongoing threats.

However, only just under two-fifths of those surveyed assessed the performance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition during the war as “good” (23%) or “very good” (15%), Direct Polls found.

Voters of Netanyahu’s coalition of right-wing parties were among those most likely to support its accomplishments and oppose early elections.

Asked when the next vote should be held, a quarter of the premier’s supporters said elections should be scheduled after the war ends.

Among the broader public, the opinion was split, with 42% saying the Jewish state should go to the ballot box “immediately” and 38% stating that elections should be held near their scheduled date, in October 2026.
JNS poll: Israelis oppose deal on the table with Hezbollah
The vast majority of Israelis believe that the safety of northern residents can only be secured by a diplomatic agreement requiring Iranian-backed Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, according to a JNS/Direct Polls survey of public opinion carried out on July 9.

The survey asked, “Do you think a deal with Hezbollah that does not include a full withdrawal of Hezbollah beyond the Litani River can sufficiently ensure the safety of the residents of the north and allow them to return safely to their homes?”

Eighty-four percent said no. Ten percent of respondents said yes, and 6% said they did not know.

Israelis are evenly split in their view of the possibility of winning a war with Hezbollah with Israel’s current military leadership, with 45% saying yes and 46% no. Nine percent had no opinion.

President Joe Biden’s envoy Amos Hochstein has been jetting around between Beirut, Paris and Jerusalem trying to mediate a deal that would require Hezbollah to withdraw its forces around 10 km. (6.2 miles) from the border.

The Biden administration has rejected Jerusalem’s demand that a diplomatic deal be based on the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701—which was adopted to end the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and calls for a demilitarized zone from the U.N.-demarcated Israel-Lebanon Blue Line border to the Litani River some 18 miles to the north.

According to The New York Times, Hochstein’s proposal would also require the IDF to withdraw from some of its positions along the border and see the U.S. transfer billions of dollars in reconstruction and other economic aid to the Hezbollah-controlled Lebanese government.
Painting Over the Rafah 'Red Line': Biden's State Department Sued for Stonewalling Probe Into Anti-Israel Pressure Campaign
A watchdog group is suing the State Department for obstructing an investigation into its internal discussions surrounding a months-long pressure campaign to stop Israel from entering the Gaza Strip’s Rafah neighborhood, Hamas’s last remaining stronghold.

The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA), a government watchdog group, filed the lawsuit in a U.S. district court on Wednesday, according to a copy obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. It alleges the State Department is violating Freedom of Information Act guidelines by failing to produce a litany of internal communications centered around its months-long diplomatic efforts to prevent Israel from conducting military operations in Rafah.

The watchdog group filed its initial FOIA request to the State Department in March, when the Biden administration began curtailing its initial support for Israel’s war to defeat Hamas. At the time, U.S. officials were leaning publicly and privately on the Israeli government to scale back its offensive in hopes of a ceasefire agreement with the terror group. President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from launching a major ground operation in Rafah, saying such an operation would cross a "red line."

CASA instructed the State Department to produce communications and other materials from 15 different officials who were steering the administration’s Israel policies, including those in the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs, the secretary of state's office, and the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau.

The documents are expected to show the extent to which the Biden administration coordinated its policies across multiple agencies to build the case against Israel’s military operation, including with its allies in the media. Biden ultimately held up some arms sales to Israel as a result of the diplomatic rift and spent months blaming the Jewish state for the Gaza Strip’s humanitarian situation.

The State Department has blown past the 75-day timeframe for which it was given to produce these documents under the FOIA request, according to the lawsuit. CASA is now "seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to compel compliance with the requirements of FOIA," which is to include the production of all listed documents detailing the administration’s "efforts to forestall Israel from invading Rafah."

These include: "All meeting requests, calendar entries, virtual meeting invitations, call logs ,and any chats in the relevant virtual platforms (e.g., Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex, etc.) pertaining to the development of an Israeli military offensive in Rafah, a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip."

The group is additionally petitioning the State Department to include internal communications between senior officials, including George Noll, chief of the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs; Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr; Jill Hutchings, director of the Office of Israeli and Palestinian Affairs; and Adam Lenert, deputy director for the Office of Israeli and Palestinian Affairs.
US sanctions eight Israelis, entities over ‘violent’ Judea
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned five Israeli entities and three people on Thursday for what it said is support of acts of “violent extremism” in Judea and Samaria.

The Biden administration remains “deeply concerned about extremist violence and instability in the West Bank, which undermines Israel’s own security,” according to Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman.

“We strongly encourage the government of Israel to take immediate steps to hold these individuals and entities accountable,” Miller said. “In the absence of such steps, we will continue to impose our own accountability measures.”

On Feb. 1, U.S. President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14115, sanctioning “persons undermining peace, security and stability in the West Bank.” The order cited “high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages and property destruction.”

The three Israeli citizens sanctioned on Thursday are farmer Isaschar Manne, as well as Reut Ben-Haim and Aviad Shlomo Sarid of Tzav 9 (“Order 9”), which opposes humanitarian aid going to Hamas in Gaza.

The Treasury Department released the home addresses of the three individuals, as well as their national identification numbers. The latter is like a U.S. social security number, but it is not something that Israelis keep secret, as Americans do.

In recent weeks, when the department and its Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Iranians and Russians, it included the national identification numbers but not the home addresses of those sanctioned. JNS sought comment from the U.S. Treasury Department and its Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The five sanctioned Israeli entities are the Manne Farm, Meitarim Farm, Hamohoch Farm, Neriya’s Farm and the Lehava anti-assimilation NGO.


A month after announcing $90 million in Palestinian aid, USAID will send $100 million more
On June 5, Samantha Power, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, announced that the United States would donate $90 million in aid to Palestinians. Just over a month later, Power, who is visiting Israel, revealed that Washington plans to provide another $100 million in Palestinian aid.

Power is meeting with Israeli officials “to discuss continued efforts to increase the flow of assistance across Gaza, including needed improvements to communication and coordination systems to protect humanitarian workers,” USAID stated. Israel has said that aid arrives in Gaza and sits idly without nonprofits retrieving and distributing it.

The USAID administrator and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations stated that the new $100 million will provide “urgently needed food assistance in Gaza and the West Bank,” where “nearly the entire population in Gaza is facing emergency levels of food insecurity and is in need of assistance, especially the most vulnerable, including children and pregnant and nursing women.” (The Biden administration refers to Judea and Samaria as “the West Bank.”)

JNS has reported that the United Nations, USAID’s partner in aid delivery, admitted that its claims of famine in Gaza are not data-based.
UK journal slammed for ‘unsubstantiated, outrageous’ anti-Israel letter
“The Lancet” must be unequivocal that the letter doesn’t represent it, “was not peer-reviewed and is purely speculative,” said Ted Deutch, CEO of the AJC.

At least 186,000 deaths may plausibly be attributed to the war in Gaza, according to a letter published in the 201-year-old British medical journal The Lancet in early July. That claim drew harsh rebukes from Jewish organizations on both sides of the pond.

The American Jewish Committee said that it was “deeply concerned” by the letter’s “unsubstantiated and outrageous claim” about 186,000 deaths, which “have led to widespread misleading headlines from outlets including The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, The National and The New Arab, which also falsely imply that The Lancet endorsed the content of the letter.”

Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, called on the journal to “make it unequivocally clear that the letter does not represent the views of the journal, was not peer-reviewed and is purely speculative,” and to retract it.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, which has represented British Jews since 1760, said that it was “outraged” by the letter.

“In a matter of days, we have seen the claims of the death toll in Gaza quadruple, based entirely on a letter you saw fit to publish,” wrote Andrew Gilbert, vice president of the Board of Deputies.
BBC Two’s ‘Newsnight’ provides a platform for disinformation
Presenter Victoria Derbyshire asked her studio guests – including “climate change activist” Mikaela Loach (from 06:03 here) – for comment on that topic.

Derbyshire: “Mikaela Loach: you, as a climate activist, you’ve got a network of contacts across New York and Texas in particular. How do your co-activists there look at the choice that they appear to have when it comes to this presidential election?”

Loach: “Yeah, I think, I think what’s getting lost in this conversation about…ehm…maybe Joe Biden’s mental state is the policy itself. The fact that I think a lot of votes are being lost because Joe Biden is now known as ‘genocide Joe’ to a lot of people. The fact that he has aided and abetted Israel in their assault on Gaza, which the Lancet said yesterday in one of their reports…ehm…that the death toll is probably more likely to be 186,000 people. That’s 186,000 loves – like immeasurably sacred and important human beings – whose lives have been lost in a huge way because of arms that have been sent directly from the US and money that’s been given from the US. And I think it’s really important that we don’t forget the policy issues that people also care about around this conversation.”

Despite the heads up that Loach’s politicised choice of earrings should have given to the Newsnight production team, Derbyshire failed to challenge either her predictable employment of the ‘genocide Joe’ slur used by both the far-Left and the far-Right or her promotion of disinformation concerning content published at The Lancet and instead simply moved on to the next contributor.

As explained by the Jewish Chronicle and others, The Lancet did not publish “a report” about the death toll in the Gaza Strip. On July 5th – rather than “yesterday” as claimed by Loach – it published a letter.


Professor Sascha-Dominik (Dov) Bachmann and Andrew Fox: Is an Israel-Lebanon War Going to Happen: How Did We Get There?
Firstly, let us examine the wider strategic picture. All these attacks on Israel are interlinked. The Iranian regime aims to ratchet up international pressure on Israel. They have provoked the military reaction they sought after 7 October, and have used the resulting violence and damage, and humanitarian crisis, to draw unprecedented international criticism of Israel.

Hezbollah exploited the 7 October attacks to escalate their attacks on Israel, knowing that IDF ground forces were occupied elsewhere. The Iranian regime has tried to stop international shipping using the Houthis, and have attacked American forces in Iraq through their militias. This is all to degrade US influence in the Gulf, and Saudi Arabia’s, with the eventual aim of destroying Israel and establishing total Iranian Islamic regime dominance within the region. Therefore, it is very much in the US and the West’s interests to facilitate Israeli victory.

So, what might Western support look like and how might Israel mitigate Hezbollah’s strengths and the threats of regional escalation? Firstly, nothing should happen without a US carrier group in the Mediterranean. This will be essential for interdiction of attempted Houthi and Hezbollah blockades of Israel.

Secondly, international pressure should be strengthened against Iran. President Joe Biden will need to admit that former President Barack Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal cancelled by Donald Trump and re-instituted by him, has been a disaster that has emboldened Iran from an international diplomacy perspective and that the easing of sanctions allowed it to increase its funding of Hezbollah and other proxies. The threat of its “snapback” (ie to pre-deal UN sanctions) must be leveraged to force Iran to back its proxies down.

Thirdly, Israel’s targeting must focus on Hezbollah missile capability. The 150,000 missiles are not the priority: their launchers are. This will require a massive aerial bombardment that will cause significant destruction (despite all civil casualty mitigation attempts) and will inevitably draw further international condemnation of Israel. She and her allies must be prepared for this and have a counter-narrative in the cognitive warfare domain firmly in place before any assault occurs.

Fourthly, Hezbollah’s command and control nodes must be targeted. Israel has been doing this with success since 7 October, but will need to continue.

Fifthly, Israel must have a clear plan for the aftermath. It has been the gaping flaw in their Gaza policy. They need to know how the Third Lebanon War ends: it needs to end with the defeat of Hezbollah, unlike in 2006.

The Third Lebanon War must be not only surgical and precise, and with a clearly defined vision of victory, but also supported by an international information campaign of support.
Report: Western Countries Slowing Ammunition to Israel in Informal Boycott
The Israeli newspaper HaCalcalist (“The Economist”) reported Tuesday (via Google Translate):
Calcalist has learned that arms suppliers from European countries … simply stopped answering their Israeli counterparts, and also that a foreign power other than the US, which used to trade with Israel, has since October 7 refused to supply Israel with raw materials from which ammunition can be manufactured.

Despite the requested attempt to strengthen local industry and thus reduce dependence on the world, those who believe that Israel will be able to produce all the ammunition it needs for itself are likely to be deluded. First of all, even in the case of a massive increase in Israeli production capacity, a significant portion of the ammunition is still expected to come from foreign countries in any scenario due to limited production potential. Even the United States is having trouble these days supplying itself and its allies, including Israel and Ukraine, with all the shells they need. Secondly, in order for the Israeli defense industries to be able to produce weapons materials in large quantities, a large quantity of raw materials from which bombs can be made is needed and cannot be to be mined in Israel, therefore these must also eventually come from foreign countries.

Since the outbreak of the war, more and more reports have been received about countries and companies wishing to reduce or limit defense trade with Israel. Among other things, a problem was reported in the supply of F-35 spare parts with Dutch suppliers; the governments of Italy, Canada and Belgium announced the cessation of defense exports to Israel (despite reports of shipments continuing to arrive and deals continuing to be signed); and the Spanish government even prevented a ship carrying a shipment of weapons from India to Israel from docking on the country’s shores.

At the same time, the report says, Serbia has helped supply Israel with ammunition, and “another country” has begun selling Israel the raw materials necessary for manufacturing weapons.

Still, the shortage of ammunition is so worrying to Israeli defense officials that some tanks in Gaza are not being fully loaded with shells, due to a desire to conserve resources for a possible war in Lebanon, according to a report in the New York Times earlier this month.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer, asked about the reports of an informal arms embargo, said Wednesday that he could not confirm them. But rumors of arms shortages have been circulating in Israel for several months.


IDF takes out Rafah terror cell that fired five rockets
The Israeli Air Force on Thursday morning eliminated a group of terrorists who less than 30 minutes earlier fired five rockets from Rafah in southern Gaza at Israeli border communities.

Israel’s aerial defense array intercepted the projectiles, which set off air-raid sirens in Kibbutzim Holit and Kerem Shalom, Moshavim Dekel Yated, Yevul and Sdei Avraham, and the village of Avshalom.

In addition, in a combined aerial and ground attack, Israeli forces hit terrorist targets in the area where the launches took place.

On Thursday afternoon, rocket warning sirens sounded in Moshav Nir Yisrael, northeast of Ashkelon.

“Three rockets were fired in the direction of the moshav and were detected striking open areas. There are no reports of casualties,” the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council said.


Médecins Sans Frontières has lost its way
The good health of the MSF Gaza operation and its organisational leadership are compromised in multiple ways: by breaches of ethics, by breaches of organisational ethos and by breaches of administrative and criminal laws.

The first corrective step for MSF to take is to examine and self-diagnose its institutional illness. It can then formulate organisational policies that will remedy its current politicisation and protect it from politicisation in future. This is a longer-term institutional health plan.

If MSF fails to take care of its illness itself, then steps might be taken by governments. These include governmental administrative and funding reviews.

MSF charitable status should be reviewed by the Australian and other governments in light of its public record of political advocacy. Ongoing failure to prevent these unethical and political activities must see MSF lose its charitable status altogether.

Governmental funding, whether direct or through partnerships with third parties, should be audited and suspended until MSF has put its house in order, via measures that prevent unethical, criminal and political activities.

Ultimately, there is the threat of criminal sanctions. Although admissible evidence from a foreign war zone is likely to be difficult to prove in courts, nevertheless governmental articulation of a bright line between humanitarianism and criminality under universal laws must be publicised.

In Aesop’s fable, a lame frog claims to be a wonder-working doctor but is taunted by a clever fox: ‘Physician, heal thyself!’. So must it be for Médecins Sans Frontières, which wore a halo but went rogue.


Hezbollah drone wounds man in Western Galilee
A man around 30 years of age was critically wounded by a drone fired from Lebanon near Kibbutz Kabri in the Western Galilee on Thursday.

The Hezbollah strike was part of a massive drone and rocket barrage fired at northern Israel.

Magen David Adom paramedics arrived to treat the victim.

Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, saying that it was “in response to Israeli attacks in Southern Lebanon,” and aimed at the IDF’s Malikia post.

“Following the sirens that sounded in the Western Galilee area in the past hour, several UAVs were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory and they fell in the Western Galilee area,” the IDF said.

“In addition, following the sirens that sounded at 10:41 in the Upper Galilee area, a number of suspicious aerial targets were identified from Lebanon towards Israeli territory and they were successfully intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array,” the army continued.

Kabri is around 2.5 miles east of the Mediterranean seaside city of Nahariya.

Later on Thursday afternoon, the IDF confirmed it intercepted more drones from Lebanon. The UAVs did not cross the border and, accordingly, no air-raid sirens were activated, the army added.

Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese daily affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that IDF artillery attacked in the areas of Naqoura, Alma al-Shaab, Tir Harfa, Al-Dahira, Wadi Saluki and Baraachit, all in Southern Lebanon.


20,000 dunam of KKL-JNF forests in Israel destroyed by Hezbollah
Since the beginning of the Hezbollah attacks on Israel on October 8, approximately 20,000 dunams of forest area in the north have been destroyed due to enemy explosions. Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – Jewish National Fund estimates that once all areas designated as closed military zones are reached, the damage will be even greater.

The list of KKL-JNF sites and forests damaged in northern Israel is tragically long: Biriya Forest, Naftali Mountains Forest (Ramim Ridge), Nabi Yusha Keren Naftali Forest, Bar’am Forest, Meron Forest, Rosh Hanikra Forest (Sulam Ridge), Kahal/Ammiad Forest, Katzrin Forest in the Golan Heights, Daliot Forest, Salukia Springs, and the Hanita (Matzuba) Forest.

KKL - JNF’s firefighting service, which includes 26 fire trucks and 300 employees who work in firefighting in addition to their professional roles, has been actively participating in extinguishing forest fires across the country. KKL - JNF’s firefighting system operates in full cooperation with the security forces, police, IDF, local authorities, emergency squads, fire and rescue services, and the Nature and Parks Authority.

In addition to the damage to flora in KKL - JNF northern forests, significant harm has been caused to wildlife, including bird populations. While adult birds can save themselves and fly to other nesting places, chicks that cannot yet fly have burned in their nests. Additionally, due to the fires, many reptiles whose nests are intact struggle to find food.

Cattle and sheep herds in the forests are managed by KKL - JNF’s grazing unit, which was established to address the dramatic increase in the number of fires in recent years. The herds in KKL - JNF’s open areas feed on flammable shrubbery, which prevents about 80% of fires in these areas. However, due to the damage and danger in the area (pregnant cows that miscarried, herds dispersing and disappearing, and animals burning), an alternative grazing solution was needed. KKL-JNF provided assistance by building mobile enclosures and fences.

“The fires are continuing, the war continues, and we fear that the forests will continue to burn,” says Shelli Ben Yishai, director of the Northern Region of KKL-JNF.


John Ondrasik: America's Invisible Hostage Crisis in Gaza
In 1979, Islamic radicals in Iran took 52 Americans hostage, holding them for 444 days. The hostages' plight captured the nation's attention. Across the country people prayed for their release. Tying a yellow ribbon on a tree or lamppost became a public expression of sorrow and concern. Even the White House Christmas tree had one.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas killed more than 30 American citizens and took as many as a dozen Americans hostage. Five, we pray, are still alive. Have you seen one yellow ribbon? Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, who was born in Berkeley, Calif., attended the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, where a Hamas grenade blew off his left arm below his elbow.

Other American hostages include Edan Alexander of Tenafly, N.J.; Sagui Dekel-Chen of Bloomfield, N.J.; Omer Neutra of Melville, N.Y.; and Keith Siegel of Chapel Hill, N.C. Frankly, the plight of our hostages doesn't seem to mean much to most Americans. It makes me wonder: Who are we anymore?
Families of US citizens impacted by October 7 to sue Iran for $500 million
Fifty-four families of American citizens who were impacted by the October 7 Massacre are set to file a lawsuit against Iran for its support of Hamas on Friday.

The suit filed with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by law firm Dr. Gideon Fisher & Coclaims 500 million dollars for mental and bodily harm caused by the Iranian regime through alleged financing, arming, and abetting of Gazan terrorist organizations.

The plaintiffs and their families, which include Israeli citizens, suffered from Hamas's attacks on sites such as the Nova Music Festival, Sderot, Zikim beach, and Kissufim.

Plaintiff Gal Levy, whose father is an American citizen, was wounded by gunfire at the Nova festival and has undergone extensive surgeries and rehabilitation.

"I feel the injury every day, because I still have fragments in my body and also mentally I live the moments of horror, when I was lying wounded, in the building at the entrance to Nova, and a terrorist came in and took our cellphones," Levy said in a statement. "I saw the evil and cruelty with my eyes. I feel it is a mission to tell our story in court as well. I hope that this lawsuit will do justice and send an important message to the countries on the axis of evil that support terrorism."

One of the firms representing the plaintiffs, Gideon Fisher & Co, reportedly collected testimony of the massacres and atrocities from 1,250 family members of victims. They've also gathered opinions from security, medical, intelligence, and legal experts outlining direct and indirect Iranian involvement in the actions of Hamas and other Gazan terrorist groups.

"After many months of work, during which testimonies of victims impacted physically and mentally were collected and a team of international experts was assembled, our office is leading an important legal and moral process of filing damages claims against Iran and other partners of Hamas, who are behind the criminal attack against Israeli and American citizens on 10/7," said Attorney Dr. Gideon Fisher. "Beyond the war effort, we are required to act and fight Hamas and its supporters in the legal and civil realm as well."
'He then asked if I was a soldier': Woman recalls frightening meeting with Hamas leader in captivity
For 55 harrowing days, Sapir Cohen endured captivity at the hands of Hamas in Gaza. Her ordeal began with her abduction from Nir Oz on October 7 and ended with her release in the final swap on November 30, 2023. However, her partner, Alex (Sasha) Trufanov, who was kidnapped alongside her, remains in captivity, held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In a revealing and exclusive interview with Israel Hayom, set to be published over the weekend, Cohen recounts the terrifying moments of her abduction, her confinement in tunnels and homes of Hamas operatives, the constant fear of sexual assault, and the hope she drew from seeing demonstrations in Israel demanding the hostages' release. Perhaps most startling is her account of an unexpected and frightening conversation with none other than Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza.

"On day 51, a man who appeared to be a senior figure arrived and informed Sahar Calderon and Or Yaakov, my fellow captives, that they would be released the following day. He then turned to me and said I would be released too. One of the other captors mentioned that I was over 18, prompting him to ask if I was a soldier. When I said no, he inquired about my military service," she told Israel Hayom. "I felt my face turning red and found myself at a loss for words. Trying to recall what I had told my captors during the initial interrogation, I said I had been a clerk at the Kirya (the IDF military headquarters). He asked if I served in the reserves, and when I again replied no, he simply turned and left."

"It wasn't until after my return to Israel that I realized the identity of the man who had spoken to me. It was Yahya Sinwar himself, the Hamas leader in Gaza." When asked what she would have said to Sinwar had she recognized him, Cohen replied, "I wouldn't have asked anything." Sapir was released after 55 days in captivity during the final phase of the hostage deal on November 30, 2023. In recent weeks, Cohen has been addressing Jewish communities worldwide, including segments of the public who oppose a hostage deal.

"During my captivity, one of my captors called me to watch Al-Jazeera when they were showing footage of the Hostages Square [where the protests are held to secure their release]," she recalls. "I saw tens of thousands of Israelis united in purpose, and it filled me with hope. The captor smiled, interlocked his fingers into two fists, and said, 'When all the Jews are like this, it's strong, strong, strong. We'll wait a bit, there will be chaos among you.' It was then that I understood they are acutely aware of our vulnerabilities and know that our greatest threat comes from within.


The Israel Guys: Israel Just ASSASSINATED Nasrallah’s Bodyguard While Hezbollah Continues To Spy On Israel
Once again, Hezbollah spied on Israeli military bases and intelligence sites in northern Israel and released the footage to spread fear to the Israeli public. Israel took out a Hezbollah operative outside of Damascus who was a former bodyguard to Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Using this as an excuse, Hezbollah fired a barrage of 40 rockets at the Golan Heights ending the lives of two Israeli civilians.




Ben Shapiro Shuts Down Hysterical Pro-Palestine Activist on Capitol Hill
The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro shut down a pro-Palestine supporter on Capitol Hill today who tried to accuse him of supporting genocide against people in Gaza.

And Shapiro’s short and sweet response was pretty glorious.

Shapiro - who, in case you happen to live under a rock in the middle of nowhere, is the Editor in Chief of the Daily Wire, a Jew, and an ardent supporter of Israel - was on Capitol Hill Wednesday to testify before Congress about the unfair bias of advertisers against conservative media organizations thanks to Democrat lawmakers and supposed “fact-checkers” that prop up left-wing media outlets. Which is a whole separate discussion entirely, and one well worth noting.

But during his time on the Hill, Shapiro was also accosted by a woman who berated him for being complicit in Israel’s so-called genocide of Palestinians (known to the rest of us as the Jewish state’s defense against terrorists who slaughtered more than 1,200 of their people before hauling hundreds of men, women, and children into captivity).

Shapiro asked the woman if she “feel[s] good standing in solidarity with the terrorists who innocent Israeli people,” to which she responded that she stands “in solidarity with the Palestinian people who have been murdered,” referring to civilians who’ve lost their lives thanks to Hamas terrorists who use their own civilians as human shields.

Of course, the banshee couldn’t let that simply be that, and continued to shout at Shapiro as he took his leave before turning to the rest of the people in the room and shouting at them for inviting Shapiro to testify in the first place.


"Democrats Are INSANE If They Let Him Stay!" Biden x Israel Debate
The war in Gaza has turned US politics inside out - with Israel once a Democratic cause but sympathies now shifting towards Palestinians. And with President Joe Biden’s health and mental ability being brought more and more into question with every public appearance in the run-up to the election; the questions stands of who would be the best US leader to help solve the conflict in the Middle East while also looking after the interest of Americans.

Piers Morgan Uncensored is joined by founder and host of ‘The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur, 'PragerU' commentator Xaviaer DuRousseau, ‘Part Of The Problem’ podcast host Dave Smith and Israeli journalist Emily Schrader to discuss.

00:00 - Introduction
01:30 - Should Biden stay in the race?
10.20 - Biden’s age and health
13:50 - Would Biden or Trump be better at resolving Israel-Gaza?
15:45 - Trump labels Biden a ‘bad Palestinian’
16:20 – Emily: 'AIPAC is not a lobby for a foreign government'
17:50 – US involvement in the Middle East
21:40 - Xaviaer talks about his time in Israel
22:50 - Xaviaer: "We need to get terrorism out the Middle East"
23:50 - Dave Smith slams candidates approach to Israel-Hamas
24.53 - American public's opinion on the conflict




Code Pink, Palestinian Youth Movement face lawsuit after LA protest
Two prominent pro-Hamas groups face legal action following a June 23 demonstration in Los Angeles that devolved into violence and intimidation.

The attorney for plaintiff Ronen Helmann filed suit against Code Pink and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) on July 7. Both groups have organized anti-Israel protests around the country since the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

In the suit, Helmann recounts his experience at the pro-Israel event conducted at the Adas Torah synagogue in the city’s heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood. When he sought to enter the building, the protesters filmed him with their phones and hurled insults such as “Nazi,” “baby murderer” and “colonizer.”

The suit also says Code Pink and PYM violated Helmann’s First Amendment rights by preventing him from entering his place of worship.

The LAPD said that more than 150 people participated in the demonstration that ran amuck, though none were arrested.


Australian Human Rights Commission announce Sara Saleh’s resignation
Sara Saleh who was employed by the Australian Human Rights Commission as a policy officer and was posting social media content calling for the abolition of Israel.

However, Saleh was allowed to keep her role for more than two and a half months.

This was until Ray Hadley put questions about it to the AHRC yesterday and her resignation was then announced.


Victorian Jewish MP calls for police to investigate Mohammad Sharab after rant against America
A Victorian Jewish MP has called on police to investigate a pro-Palestinian activist who called for the death of America and other western countries during a protest in Melbourne this week.

Deputy Liberal leader David Southwick on Wednesday referred Mohammad Sharab, who is already on bail for unrelated kidnapping charges, to both Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police.

The Herald Sun has obtained footage of Mr Sharab delivering a six-minute rant to a crowd of protesters outside Melbourne’s US embassy earlier this month.

“When we say death to America and death to Israel. We say death to the colony, death to the greed, death to the terrorism of the United States,” he said.

“It is called the United Terrorist States of America. That’s what they are united for. They are united for terrorism, for killing, for genocide and for stolen lands.”

Mr Sharab, who was wearing a keffiyeh and a hat in the colours of the Palestinian flag, vowed to “pass the message of resistance”.

“We are rising against the colony … I say bring back the armed resistance. I say give America what it deserves – death,” he said.

“We might not have the numbers but we have the consciousness and the will to keep rising up to come up and put an end to this colony.

“The colony will fall. The USA will fall. Israel will fall. Germany will fall. France will fall. The UK will fall. All those colonies will fall. We will keep passing on the message. We will keep passing the message of resistance.

“We are the people. Power to the people.”


Palestinian activist Hash Tayeh told he will be arrested for inciting hatred
Palestinian activist and businessman Hashem Tayeh has been told police will arrest him next week over allegations he incited hatred of Jewish people while leading protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

The 33-year-old owner of the Burgertory chain has been notified by police he will be arrested and interviewed as part of an investigation into whether chants and speeches at rallies and demonstrations in the CBD have breached the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.

A source familiar with the investigation, who cannot speak publicly about the ongoing legal matter, said Tayeh was formally notified by a detective he was under investigation on Thursday, but that no charge had yet been laid.

He has been instructed to attend a police station at an agreed time next week, where he will be arrested and interviewed in the presence of his lawyer.

Tayeh has emerged as a prominent organiser and leader of the protest movement that formed in Victoria over the past nine months after Israel invaded and blockaded the Gaza Strip in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attacks.

Tayeh declined to comment. On social media he has repeatedly rejected allegations he is antisemitic, saying the claims were unfounded and incorrect.

Victoria Police said it had recently received a complaint about “potential antisemitic comments made by an individual”.

“A person of interest has been identified and they have been contacted, both directly and through their legal representative, to arrange a time to be interviewed,” a police spokesperson said.

“It is standard practice for police to interview persons of interest about their alleged behaviour while a matter is being investigated. This is a voluntary interview.” Loading

“Victoria Police takes all allegations of antisemitic and offensive behaviour extremely seriously and will not shy away from interviewing people in relation to potential offences.”

The detective is investigating whether Tayeh broke the law by reciting chants such as “all Zionists are terrorists” and other statements equating Zionism with terrorism, and whether Tayeh’s involvement in organising the protest movement amounts to a crime.




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