Tuesday, August 20, 2024

08/20 Links Pt1: Israel’s persecution has exposed our two-tier international justice system; IDF recovers remains of six hostages murdered in Gaza

From Ian:

Col Kemp: Israel’s persecution has exposed our two-tier international justice system
To get his men Khan is trying to push the court into unbelievable contortions. The HLMG turned our attention to one of these aberrations: violating the ICC’s foundational principle of complementarity. That means the court does not have jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed by citizens of a country that is capable and willing to investigate and prosecute those crimes. Israel has internationally respected civilian and military justice systems with a track record of credibly addressing war crimes allegations.

Thus the Prosecutor cannot lawfully assert jurisdiction over the Prime Minister and Defence Minister without evidence that the Israeli justice system would not itself bring such charges if there was a case to answer. Khan has no such evidence because it simply doesn’t exist – either on the basis of declared future intent or past practice. It is well known that the long arm of Israeli justice has previously reached out even as far as the highest offices of state.

Exposing another of the Prosecutor’s contortions the HLMG cited war crimes investigations by two ICC member states, the UK and Australia. We pointed out that these processes had taken years to conclude and nevertheless did not attract ICC intervention. The HLMG made clear that the proposed ICC arrest warrants would deny the investigatory leeway to the State of Israel which was exercised in these cases.

When deliberating on Khan’s application, the ICC judges should ask the same question that we have asked ourselves: why does the Prosecutor seem to be singling out the Jewish State for this special treatment?

If the judges do decide to grant Khan his warrants that would align the ICC with Hamas’s jihadist agenda and against the global values of justice that the court was set up to protect. This precedent would create a two-tier international justice system under which terrorists are effectively inviolable while democratic states trying to resist them are hung out to dry. That would inevitably undermine our own national security, with political and military leaders fearful of criminalisation if they have to order their armed forces into action for the legitimate defence of the country.
Andrew Fox: How Israel is clearing Hamas out of Rafah
The heat, the sand, the soldiers. I’m in Rafah, a war zone unlike any other. As a former soldier, it’s an unsettling experience. Every time we get out of a vehicle, I reach for a weapon I do not have. Instead of my army fatigues, I’m wearing lightweight trousers, a polo shirt and a blue helmet signifying I’m a civilian guest of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

There’s one thing that hits me more than anything else while I’m here: the damage to Gaza. It is appalling. Almost every building is damaged, and many are destroyed outright. After 7 October, Hamas had to be removed from Gaza. But they aren’t an easy adversary to take on.

Hamas has turned the whole place into one giant booby trap

There are 500 km of tunnels below Gaza, longer in distance than the entire London underground. In Rafah alone, the 162nd Division, who I’m alongside, have found ten tunnel-hidden rocket launching sites, 21 subterranean weapons production sites, and they have destroyed 200 tunnel entry shafts. Here’s the issue: each one of those tunnel shafts led to a mosque; a school; a person’s home. To destroy the tunnel system, there is inevitable damage to the buildings under which the tunnels run and to which they are connected.

Homes in Gaza, many concealing tunnel shafts, are almost all booby-trapped. The IDF has adapted to this. They now enter houses first with drones, then with dogs. Only when a house is seemingly clear do they enter, and even then only in four-man squads to minimise casualties if a bomb goes off. Hamas has cameras in each home, with cables running into the tunnels. If they see the IDF have missed an IED, they wait for troops to enter, then detonate the device.

When the IDF finds an IED, they will not enter and will simply destroy the house. They have neither the capacity nor the desire to clear every IED from Gaza. There are just too many to even try. All of this explains the damage in Rafah. Hamas has turned the whole place into one giant booby trap and the IDF’s only realistic option is to clear it explosively.
Ukraine Defies the U.S. to Launch a Showy Offensive Into Russia
Whatever its strategic significance turns out to be, the Ukrainians maintain they were sending a signal to the Kremlin as well as to the White House that Kyiv was finished operating under self-defeating constraints and that it would now probe red lines that had been set out by both powers. Kyiv has long been frustrated at being provided with just enough support from Washington in order to not lose—but not enough to overcome the numerically superior and better financed Russian army. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed that frustration publicly, stating that “our partners are afraid of Russia losing the war.”

Unlike last summer’s failed counteroffensive in Kharkiv, Ukraine launched the Kursk operation without first informing Washington of its plans. In fact, Zelenskyy waited a week to break the remarkable operational secrecy that had enveloped the operation.

Ukraine’s decision to proceed came exactly a week after Israel had carried out a pair of high-profile assassinations deep in enemy territory.

What changed in July is that the Ukrainians, like other embattled U.S. allies, were faced with a new opportunity in Washington: The cognitively impaired president had been forced out of his reelection bid in favor of his vice president, who was now out on the campaign trail, three months before the election. With this emergent power vacuum at the White House, the Ukrainians decided to bypass both the deposed occupant of the White House as well as the staff of his hypercautious National Security Council, instead of slowly bleeding to death under rules guaranteed to produce slow-motion defeat.

“The United States government currently has no strategy for Ukraine. Zero. None at all,” a former high-ranking Ukrainian intelligence and national security official told Tablet. “That fact is apparent to the current Ukrainian government. The political decision and the timing chosen to go into Kursk were made at the political level by the Zelenskyy administration at the request of the army command. Which wanted to take the initiative.” The former intelligence official added, “This is war, and I cannot recall an example, any time in history, of a war being won while commanders were unable to make their own decisions and to take on their own responsibilities.”

The Ukrainians had planned this type of operation for a long time—reports of Kyiv’s plots to launch incursions into Russia go back to early 2023. Tellingly, however, the decision to proceed came exactly a week after Israel had carried out a pair of high-profile assassinations deep in enemy territory. On July 31, the Israelis took out Hamas’ former chief Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran guesthouse during the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president. The day before, they had eliminated the top Hezbollah military commander, Fuad Shukr, in the heart of the group’s stronghold in Beirut.

Kyiv observed carefully how Israel conducted its strikes immediately after Prime Minister Netanyahu returned from a triumphant speech before the U.S. Congress. In fact, earlier this week the chair of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense, Roman Kostenko, explicitly referenced the Israeli example in a televised interview. “So Israel announced that they would take the advice of their partners very seriously but would afterward make their own decisions in the best interest of their own national security. I think that we can simply mirror that approach in our own case.”


Caroline Glick: The Steep Cost of Ignoring Reality
All one needs to do to understand the true intentions of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, is listen to what they say publicly.

And, yet, the Biden administration, as well as the Israeli left, continue to tell the public to not believe their lying eyes—or ears, in this case.

In this episode of "In-Focus," JNS senior contributing editor Caroline Glick discusses how the left simply ignores reality when it comes to the P.A. and how doing so actually pulls the region into further turmoil.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:30 Long-term plans for Gaza
4:00 Palestinian “moderates”
6:00 Abbas unmasked
22:00 A plan to feed the beast
28:00 Sanctioning Israelis
36:30 Censoring discourse
43:30 The cost of ignoring reality




Is a hostage deal in Israel's best interest?
Every few hours for the past several days, there has been some new morsel of news about the ceasefire negotiations, their chances of success, and the remaining bones of contention. Among them it seems is Israel’s continued control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the border strip between Gaza and Egypt, which since 2007 has been the main conduit of arms to Hamas. Ariel Kahana explains that withdrawing from the corridor, under which the IDF has located dozens of smuggling tunnels, before Hamas is defeated would be tantamount to “reviving” the terrorist group.

David M. Weinberg, meanwhile, examines the risks of a ceasefire even if it doesn’t involve such major concessions—and the cruel dilemma Israel faces:
According to government sources, the deal currently under discussion between Israel and Hamas would see between 500 and 1,000 Palestinian terrorists, 100 of them considered “heavy” terrorists (i.e., bloodthirsty butchers), released from Israeli jails in exchange for 22 live Israeli hostages, mainly women and other civilians, alongside the bodies of another dozen deceased hostages.

Some Israelis will argue that the IDF can be sent back continuously to crush Hamas in Gaza after the deal is done (although manifestly, this will not be possible given inevitable diplomatic restraints).

The released terrorists assuredly will strike again, with God-only-knows how many Israeli casualties in the future. . . . I know this to be a fact because this has been the case with every previous terrorist release. Israel repeatedly has erred by letting terrorists loose to murder more Israelis. And each time, in advance of every deal, the Israeli security establishment . . . assured Israeli politicians and the public that it “would know how to manage the situation,” i.e., how to track the terrorists and crush any nascent return to terrorist activity without too much harm done.

But this has never proved to be true. Every deal involving the release of terrorists has led to much bloodshed, planned and carried out by these released terrorists.
WSJ: Hamas Rejects Another Hostage Deal
Under heavy U.S. pressure last week, Israel accepted a "final bridging proposal" for a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza also supported by Egypt and Qatar.

Yet Hamas refused even to show up for the negotiations in Doha, and on Sunday it outright rejected the U.S. compromise.

A main sticking point is the Philadelphi Corridor, separating Gaza and Egypt. Israel insists on keeping forces there to prevent Hamas from rearming. Hamas insists Israel leave, because it wants to rearm.

Neither the Palestinian Authority nor Egypt can be trusted to control the corridor and thwart Hamas.

Israel has discovered more than a dozen tunnels from Gaza into Egypt, including one big enough for military jeeps to pass through.

Israel cannot countenance a deal that would let Hamas go back to plotting and preparing for the next Oct. 7 massacre.
Bassam Tawil: Iran's Gaza War: Ceasefire? What Ceasefire?
Hamas is now in dire need of a ceasefire because its leaders want to hold on to power in the Gaza Strip.

If the Biden-Harris administration and its Iranian, Qatari and Egyptian allies manage to impose a ceasefire on Israel, it will be viewed by many Arabs and Muslims not only as a reward for the October 7 massacres, but specifically as a lifeline for Hamas.

Hamas officials, however, were more honest than the Americans, Egyptians and Qataris. These officials were quick to deny any progress in the ceasefire talks and described them as "a waste of time."

According to reports, Hamas has demanded that the Israeli army completely withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Until recently, Hamas maintained exclusive control over the border, which allowed it to smuggle weapons and ammunition into the Gaza Strip over the past two decades.

Hamas, in addition, insists on releasing the Israeli hostages in phases. It clearly wants to hold on to as many hostages as possible as an "insurance policy" to avoid being targeted by Israel in the future. Hamas apparently wants the negotiations over the hostages to continue forever, so it can use the time to rebuild its terror infrastructure and prepare for more attacks on Israel.

In Israel, meanwhile, the plight of the hostages has been hijacked by the political rivals of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They are inciting the families of the abductees to demand a deal with Hamas at any cost, including surrendering to Hamas to end the war, and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

[I]f Israel is forced to relinquish control of the Philadelphi Corridor, it will effectively lose the war. Such a move would mean a return to the pre-October 7 era, when Hamas and other Iran-backed terror proxies controlled the border with Egypt and used it to smuggle weapons and ammunition into the Gaza Strip.

A ceasefire now will just allow Hamas to regroup, rearm and prepare for more attacks against Israel. A ceasefire does not mean that Hamas would abandon its plan to eliminate Israel and replace it with an Islamist state.

The Biden-Harris administration is, sadly, dead wrong if it believes that a ceasefire will open the door to security and stability in the Middle East. A ceasefire would simply give the Iranian regime and its terrorist allies more confidence, especially when they have nuclear weapons, to pursue their Jihad (holy war) against the Jews and Israel, and then their neighbors in the Gulf.
Tehran Is Most Likely to Stand Down If Its Own Security Is at Risk
Since Iran's unprecedented attack on Israel in April 2024, the landscape in the Middle East has shifted sharply. For decades, Tehran has projected its military force across the region through a network of proxies and militias, a strategy intended to keep fighting out of its territory and to maintain some deniability. But in April, when Iran ignored Washington's warnings and directly attacked Israel for the first time, Iran moved the goal posts.

An air defense coalition, which included the U.S., Israel and European and Arab partners, managed to intercept nearly all of Iran's attack drones, and most of Iran's missiles failed or were intercepted by Israel. But President Biden's efforts didn't stop Iran from attacking Israel in the spring; it is difficult to see how the same moves will be sufficient now. Tehran has paid no significant price for its actions.

Tehran is most likely to stand down if its leaders perceive the regime's own security is at risk. Mr. Biden should consider signaling that he is ready to shift the use of American military force from targeting Iran's proxies to targeting inside Iran, such as weapons storage or production facilities. The additional forces and capabilities he has sent to the region could be used not only to defend Israel after an Iranian attack but also to punish Iran directly.

Iran appears to be seeking to legitimize its use of force against Israel. If that's true, all those who want to prevent the big war should reject Iran's cynical play and prepare actions to break Iran's stranglehold over the region.
US ‘bridging proposal’ would allow reduced Israeli troops to remain on Gaza-Egypt border — NYT
The new US “bridging proposal” for a hostage release-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas would allow Israeli troops to continue to patrol part of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, The New York Times reports, citing officials familiar with the negotiations.

According to the Times, the US proposal would allow a reduced number of Israeli troops to remain posted along the border route. However, the officials say that the suggestion is likely to be shot down by Hamas, which has said it will not tolerate any Israeli presence in the area whatsoever.

It adds that Egypt has also expressed displeasure, and Egyptian officials have warned that the extended presence of Israeli troops would pose national security concerns.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will not withdraw from the route, or the Netzarim Corridor, and that troops must be stationed there for strategic and security reasons. Earlier this week, Israeli negotiators were said to have told the prime minister that his insistence on these demands was dooming the deal.

The officials say that another of Netanyahu’s other “non-negotiable” demands also posed issues at the talks in Doha over the weekend, after the US asked to delay in-depth conversations regarding Israel’s demand to screen displaced Palestinians returning to the northern part of the Strip, to ensure that they aren’t carrying weapons.
Netanyahu: Israel won't pay any price for hostage deal, won’t give up Philadelphi
Israel won’t make a hostage deal at any price Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday in advance of high-level negotiations slated for later this week. He made his comments to victims groups, just after the IDF was able to retrieve six bodies of Israelis killed in captivity in the enclave.

"I am not sure that there will be a [hostage] deal," Netanyahu said according to a statement put out by both groups he met with. These were the Valor Forum representing victims of the Israel-Hamas war and the Tikva Forum composed of relatives of hostages in Gaza.

"If there is a deal, it will be one that safeguards those [Israeli] interests which I have repeatedly stressed, which is preserving Israel's strategic assets," Netanyahu told the two groups, both of whom support a firm stand with regard to a deal.

He met with them a day after speaking for three hours with US Secretary Antony Blinken who is in the region in an attempt to finalize a deal.

Accusations continue to surface that security officials believed Netanyahu was adding unnecessary conditions to the deal in order to sabotage it.

Government spokesperson David Mercer stressed that Netanyahu was “willing to be flexible" and that these were complex talks, as he blamed Hamas for the absence of an agreement. Statements put out by the Prime Minister's Office stressed that Netanyahu planned to stand firm, particularly on three points: no initial permanent ceasefire, an IDF presence in the critical Philadelphi Corridor, and the maximal return of hostages in the first phase of the agreement.

“We will not accept an outline that includes an end to the war [a permanent ceasefire] as an initial condition,” he told the two groups.




Blinken suggests recent terror attacks, including suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, aren’t escalations
With his hands clasped, Israeli President Isaac Herzog detailed “ongoing terror attacks by Palestinian terrorists” in the prior 24 hours, during a Tel Aviv press conference alongside U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday. Those included the murder of Gideon Perry, 38, “simply because he’s a Jew and an Israeli,” and a suicide bomber’s attempt to carry out a major attack in Tel Aviv, Herzog said.

Blinken, who was visiting the Jewish state for the ninth time since Oct. 7, stood by solemnly, shifting his weight, with one hand over the other. “This is the way we are living these days,” Herzog said. “We are surrounded by terror from the four corners of the Earth, and we are fighting back as a resilient and strong nation.”

When it was time for the U.S. envoy to speak, Blinken said it was a “decisive moment,” during which he was part of “an intensive diplomatic effort” on U.S. President Joe Biden’s “instructions to try to get this agreement to the line and, ultimately, over the line.”

But though Blinken acknowledged the “fraught moment,” during which there is “deep concern” about an Iranian attack, the U.S. diplomat appeared to suggest that the attempted attack on Tel Aviv and the other provocations that Herzog had cited minutes earlier did not amount to “escalation.”

“It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process, and so we’re working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places and to greater intensity,” Blinken said.


Netanyahu to address UN General Assembly in New York next month
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fly to New York next month to address the United Nations General Assembly, it was announced on Monday. Netanyahu will fly to the U.S. on the official Wing of Zion plane on September 24. However, it is still unclear when his speech will be delivered to the assembly. The options are Thursday, September 26, or the day after. If his speech is postponed to Friday, Netanyahu will not have time to return to Israel before Shabbat, so he will spend the weekend in New York.
UN exhibit memorializing terror victims completely ignores Jews, Erdan says
When the United Nations marks International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to Victims of Terrorism on Wednesday, it will treat some victims as more equal than others, according to Gilad Erdan, the outgoing Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.

The Israeli envoy posted a video walkthrough—in Hebrew with English subtitles—of an exhibit about global terror victims at U.N. headquarters in New York, in a place where all visitors enter the building.

There are mentions of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001 and the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, as well as references to terror in Indonesia and Kenya. “But what’s missing?” Erdan asked.

“There’s not a single mention of any attack carried out by Palestinians against Israelis,” he said. “We are about to mark one year since the massacre and the largest terrorist attack against Jews and Israelis since the Holocaust. Yet the U.N. doesn’t think it needs to be displayed on its walls.”

There is a display of a “Palestinian victim,” which the U.N. exhibit identifies as occurring in “Palestine,” Erdan noted, “so that people might think she was harmed in Israel, but when you read the fine print, it turns out she was actually injured in an attack in New Zealand.”

The exhibit “Memories,” which is on view until Aug. 27, “aims to raise awareness about the human stories that lie at the heart of each victim and survivor of terrorism, as well as the long-lasting impact each terrorist attack has on its surviving victims,” per the U.N. website.

“It also seeks to highlight the commonalities that connect victims across the world and to emphasize the importance of preventing terrorist attacks and the emergence of new victims,” it adds. “It is in connection with the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism (Aug. 21).”


Petition to fire UN special rapporteur surpasses 40,000 signatures
UN Watch published a petition urging for the removal of Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, that so far has received more than 40,000 signatures towards a goal of 51,200.

The latest initiative says “the corrupt and antisemitic U.N. rapporteur has to go” and notes the ongoing investigation into alleged funding by pro-Hamas groups of a lobbying trip she made to Australia.

Other examples of bias, per the group, include writing “America is subjugated by the Jewish Lobby”; comparing Israelis to Nazis; and declaring at a pro-Hamas conference in November 2022 that “you have a right to resist,” alluding to the terrorist organization against Israel.

The petition concludes with UN Watch calling for countries to support the group’s U.N. resolution, made in July, to remove the official.

“Francesca Albanese abuses her U.N. position to incessantly spew antisemitism and Hamas propaganda, on social media, on TV and in her reports,” the group’s executive director, Hillel Neuer, stated on July 2. “Every day that she remains in office casts a shadow upon the human-rights council and the United Nations as a whole.”


Israel Has Killed 17,000 Terrorists in Gaza Since Start of War, IDF Says
The Israeli military has killed 17,000 terrorists in Gaza since the beginning of the war against Hamas on Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“IDF forces continue to fight in Gaza — in Rafah, Khan Yunis, the central Strip, and are attacking everywhere,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters during a briefing on Thursday night. “So far, we have eliminated more than 17,000 terrorists.”

Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that rules Gaza, launched the war with its invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7. During the onslaught, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped some 250 hostages while committing mass atrocities, including widespread sexual violence.

Israel repelled the surprise invasion and responded with weeks of airstrikes before launching a ground offensive in neighboring Gaza on Oct. 27. According to Israeli leaders, the main goals of the ongoing military campaign in the enclave are to free the hostages and dismantle Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.

Hamas leaders have vowed to carry out attacks on Israel similar to the Oct. 7 massacre “again and again.”

“The significant combat and the ensuing high accomplishments impede Hamas’ ability to raise its head again and rebuild itself, and we are determined to keep this up,” Hagari told reporters.


Hizbullah's Public Relations War Against Israel
In the media battle Hizbullah is waging against Israel, the Shiite movement recently broadcast a video about a mega-tunnel called Imad 4 in which heavy trucks could be seen speeding on a long underground road towing ballistic missiles and then erecting launch positions.

Nasrallah has threatened to expand the war to areas left untouched in the past ten months, such as Akko, Nahariya, Safed, Tiberias, and other localities in the north of Israel that were not evacuated.

Since the beginning of the war, Iranian-backed Hizbullah has been boasting about its successes including the incursion of spy drones which took pictures of sensitive targets in northern Israel on several occasions. With the evacuation of Israeli citizens from their homes in the north, Nasrallah boasted that he had imposed on Israel a security zone inside Israel just like the one that used to exist inside Lebanon.

He also hinted that a repeat of the October 7 attack might be carried out by Hizbullah's Radwan forces on the northern front. These themes are part of the psychological warfare conducted against Israel.

At the same time, Nasrallah faces a very different reality. Almost 600 Hizbullah combatants, including senior commanders, have been killed and thousands wounded. Hizbullah has seen the destruction of nearly 8,000 houses in the south of Lebanon and the flight of 120,000 civilians to Tyre, Sidon, and Beirut.
Beirut files complaint with UN Security Council about Israeli flyovers
The Lebanese government has filed a complaint with the U.N. Security Council after Israeli Air Force fighter jets repeatedly broke the sound barrier over Beirut, the country’s LBC TV channel reported on Monday.

The protest, which was filed by Beirut’s mission in New York at the instruction of Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, accuses Israel of “blatant violations of the country’s sovereignty and airspace.”

The IAF flyovers “terrorize civilians and spread fear,” Beirut states, claiming that the Jewish state’s actions violate U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in August 2006.

Lebanon’s complaint further asserts that Jerusalem’s military activities “violate international humanitarian law by engaging in practices that amount to collective punishment and psychological intimidation.”

Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists have attacked Israel’s north almost every day from Southern Lebanon since joining the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, firing thousands of drones, rockets and missiles—primarily towards northern Israel—that have killed more than 40 people and caused widespread destruction to homes, commercial buildings, farmland and the environment.

In response, Israeli jets have carried out thousands of raids on terror infrastructure in Southern Lebanon and other Hezbollah strongholds.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 called on the government in Beirut to disarm the Iranian proxy. The 2006 resolution also states that Hezbollah is forbidden to operate anywhere near the border with Israel.
This is how Hezbollah's weapons storage endangers civilians, geolocation expert says
The IDF spokesperson announced Tuesday that the IAF destroyed two launchers belonging to Hezbollah Monday night in the Al-Mansouri and A-Taybeh regions of southern Lebanon. The spokesperson announced that the launchers were ready for immediate use.

However, a closer look at the location chosen for the launchers raises some critical questions. “The launchers were set up only 620 meters from a UNIFIL base,” revealed Ben Tzion Macales, an independent geo-analyst and geolocation expert. “Someone there was not doing their mandated job, assuming they’re even interested in doing it.”

Much like their counterparts in Hamas, Macales added that, according to his findings, Hezbollah chooses to hide its weapons and equipment among the civilian population.

“The weapons warehouse destroyed yesterday in the Bekaa Valley was also located in rural, agricultural terrain, affecting the fields and constructions around it,” he added. “Likewise, in July, another warehouse placed among civilian buildings was destroyed by the IDF in Tyre. Several people were injured lightly from glass shards following the attack, which shows the proximity of these weapons to civilians – risking the nearby villages and towns.”

Warehouses targeted by Hezbollah
Another targeted warehouse used by Hezbollah in June was east of Tyre, near Wadi Jilou. “This was a building smack in the middle of an industrial area. Here, too, no people were affected during the Israeli targeting, yet Hezbollah’s choice to place it there shows their approach to human lives,” commented Macales.

In April, Christian citizens from the village of Rmeish in southern Lebanon acted against suspected Hezbollah militants who planned to use the village as a platform to fire rockets at Israel. Some of them accused the Iranian-backed militia of placing launchers near churches and schools. In contrast, others launched an online campaign reading, “Rmeish refuses to be exploited as a platform for war!”
Hezbollah fires 115 rockets at Israel after IDF hits weapons depots in east Lebanon
Hezbollah fired some 115 rockets and several drones from Lebanon at northern Israel on Tuesday in barrages throughout the day, according to the Israel Defense Forces, which said that some of the projectiles were intercepted.

Amid the repeated barrages, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that the Israeli military was shifting its focus from Gaza to the northern front, portending a major escalation with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

There were no injuries reported in the attacks on the Upper Galilee, Western Galilee, and the Golan Heights.

The IDF said some of the rocket impacts sparked fires in open areas and that firefighters were working to extinguish them.

The army said it struck one of the launchers shortly after rocket fire in the morning hours.

Sirens sounded in multiple northern communities amid the attacks.

The Iran-backed terror group said the barrages targeted military bases.

Some of the attacks it said were in response to IDF strikes on Hezbollah arms depots deep inside Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley late Monday, and the killing of a prominent operative earlier in the day.

Earlier Monday, an Israeli military NCO was killed in an explosive drone attack on northern Israel.

Israeli strikes deep inside Lebanon are relatively rare and generally come in response to deadly attacks. Nabi Chit, where one of the strikes in Baalbek reportedly took place, is some 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the Israeli border.

The IDF also carried out a drone strike on Monday night in southern Lebanon’s Deir Qanoun, near Tyre, killing a Hezbollah operative named as Hussein Suleiman. The IDF identified Suleiman as a prominent member of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile unit.


Assessing the Damage: How the Events of October 7, 2023, Have Conditioned the Israeli Psyche
The Oct. 7 attack on Israel and its aftermath have had significant emotional and behavioral impact on the Israeli public. On a national and communal level, daily life continues to flow in the face of an ongoing and unresolved conflict, with an ever-present threat of additional and expanded conflict.

The continued imprisonment of Israeli hostages and the forced displacement of tens of thousands of residents in the north has created significant trauma for those affected. Externally, the reality of international criticism against Israel, even from allies, along with the revival of massive international antisemitism, has created a feeling of isolation and a siege mentality.

The concept of psychological asymmetry, where Israel, despite its military advantage and legitimate goals, is at a disadvantage to an enemy who deliberately sacrifices civilians for perceptual gain, applies here. Despite all this, Israelis have also benefitted from an inoculation effect where resilience has developed through repeated coping with terrorism in its many forms over the years.
IDF recovers remains of six hostages murdered in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday morning recovered the bodies of six hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7, from a tunnel in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

In an operation involving the IDF and Israel Security Agency, the bodies of Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, Yagev Buchshtav, Chaim Peri and Alex Dancyg were located more than 10 months after the Hamas massacre.

The total number of hostages remaining in the hands of Hamas in Gaza now stands at 109.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that every effort will continue to be made to return all of the abductees, both alive and dead.

“Our hearts grieve over the terrible loss. My wife Sara and I convey our heartfelt condolences to the dear families. I would like to thank the brave IDF and ISA fighters and commanders for their heroism and determined action,” the premier stated.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, “We must not stop for a moment from working in every way possible to bring back all the hostages—the living to the embrace of their families, and the dead to be laid to rest. This is Israel’s highest moral duty.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called it a “daring and dangerous operation in the Hamas tunnels in Khan Younis.”

“I share in the mourning and the heavy sorrow of the families,” he said, adding, that the operation was “another expression of the determination and courage of the fighters, alongside the operational freedom of action that we have achieved all over the Gaza Strip. We will continue to expand it and realize the goals of the war—the dissolution of Hamas, and the fulfillment of our commitment to return all abductees to Israel.”
Starmer express condolences to Netanyahu after body of British-Israeli hostage recovered by IDF
The Prime Minister has expressed his condolences to his Israeli counterpart after the IDF recovered the body of a British national from the Gaza Strip.

Six Israeli hostages previously held by Hamas, including the remains of British national Nadav Popplewell, were recovered by the IDF from the Gaza Strip.

According to a Downing Street spokeswoman, Netanyahu and Starmer also “discussed diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages, and the Prime Minister welcomed Israel’s support for the American ‘bridging proposal’ and emphasised the need to move quickly.

“Regional de-escalation was in everyone’s interests, as the impact of miscalculation would come at great costs for all sides, the leaders agreed.”

She additionally said that “The UK was steadfast in its support for Israel’s right to self-defence, and would continue to work with partners to uphold regional security, the Prime Minister added.

“The Prime Minister also urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to ensure greater access to detainees held by Israel, the increased delivery of aid to Gaza and to ensure international law was upheld at all times.”

Starmer has been under pressure to impose an arms embargo on Israel since taking office in July. Labour MP and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell urged the PM to “End the sales now” after a Foreign Office official resigned over arms sales, saying that there was: “no justification for the UK’s continued arms sales to Israel, yet somehow it continues”.

Before Parliament rose for recess last month, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that any change on the UK’s stance on exporting arms to Israel would only occur after “careful assessments of the law”.


How the IDF found the bodies of 6 hostages hidden in a secret Hamas tunnel
Nearly 10 months after they were abducted by Hamas terrorists, and months after they are believed to have died in captivity, the Israel Defense Forces early on Tuesday recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages in a swiftly organized operation in the southern Gaza Strip.

It was the most rapidly effected such operation to date by the military amid the ongoing war against Hamas, indicating a growing ability of the IDF to swiftly utilize intelligence, operational capabilities and hard-won experience operating inside Hamas’s vast tunnel network.

The deceased hostages brought back to Israel on Tuesday morning were Alex Dancyg, 75, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Avraham Munder, 78. All but Munder had previously been confirmed dead by the IDF. Munder was hitherto presumed alive, although the IDF did have information raising concern for his wellbeing.

Sources in the Israel Defense Forces said the speedily orchestrated recovery operation indicated the army’s ability to quickly establish control of areas it previously withdrew from. The IDF had operated in Khan Younis for four months earlier this year before withdrawing.

Early Sunday, the IDF’s 98th Division expanded a new ongoing operation in Khan Younis — launched a week earlier — including quickly changing the offensive to another area of the city in southern Gaza.

By early Monday, the division had achieved “operational control” over one of the neighborhoods where the bodies of the hostages were believed to be held.

The IDF had relatively precise intelligence on the tunnel where the bodies of the hostages were held, although not an exact location.

With limited intelligence, combat engineers set out to search four different locations in the neighborhood.

However, within less than 24 hours, troops located a 10-meter-deep tunnel shaft that led to a tunnel system in the area. One team had spotted various indications of where the bodies were being held, according to the military.


Hundreds visit ‘Hostage Square’ on DNC sidelines as families aim to differentiate cause from Palestinian issue
Hundreds of people stop by “Hostage Square,” which was erected in Chicago to raise awareness about the plight of the 105 hostages still held in Gaza.

The square features several exhibits by Israeli and American artists honoring the victims of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

One of the exhibits features milk cartons adorned with the photos of the eight American hostages in Gaza, playing off of the “missing person” ads that were seen on such containers in the late 20th century.

The expo is organized by the Israeli American Council, which said it was forced to find a space on private property after the city of Chicago refused to give it a permit for a space closer or within the perimeter of the Democratic National Convention.

IAC did, however, accept a Wednesday evening spot at a “Speaker’s Platform” that the city has set up in one of its nearby parks to accommodate the many groups that were declined rally permits do to capacity limits.

One of the American hostages pictured on a carton is Itay Chen, an IDF soldier who was killed and abducted by Hamas on October 7.


Call Me Back: A new (and bolder) approach to Iran? – with Mark Dubowitz
Mark Dubowitz reports from Tel Aviv after over a month in Israel discussing Israel’s emerging (and bolder) approach to Iran. Mark is the CEO of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD). In his role, he has advised the Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden administrations and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and he has testified more than twenty times before the U.S. Congress and foreign legislatures. A former venture capitalist and technology executive, Mark holds a master’s degree in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

To read Mark’s recent piece in the Wall Street Journal

FDD’s Iranian Protest Tracker Map




Pinsker Centre: Ep. 54 – Are international organisations biased against Israel?
Tune in for the new episode of People Talk…Politics! Max, Samantha and Felix discuss whether Israel is disproportionately targeted by international organisations. They debated whether the anti-Israel bias in the UN Human Rights Council, exemplified by Agenda 7, is systemic within the UN as a whole, argued whether the ICC arrest warrants against Israeli politicians are justified and discussed the future of UNRWA in light of the involvement of their staff in the October 7.
The Israel Guys: MIRACLE in Tel Aviv After Major Suicide Bombing FAILED
A Miracle happened in Tel Aviv last night when a Hamas terrorist’s suicide bomb exploded prematurely killing no one but the terrorist himself. Even the police are calling it a Miracle! Hamas has just rejected yet another ceasefire deal mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the US. And guess what? They are blaming Israel for the failed deal because Israel will not agree to their demands, which includes wiping Israel off the face of the map.


Gazan visas approved by Albanese government without manual security checks leaving intelligence agencies scrambling
Australia has approved almost 3000 visas from Palestinians fleeing Gaza, but Sky News can reveal the approval process for some was carried out without any manual security checks.

New figures, collated by the opposition, show Labor has granted 2,922 Gazan visa applications since Hamas' terror attack on Israel on October 7 in stark contrast to our closest allies.

Of these almost 3,000 approved applicants, 1500 have already arrived in Australia.

By contrast, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and Spain were among 35 countries to have not taken in any Gazans at all since October 7.

But security insiders have revealed to Sky News the visitor visas for Gazans were approved in an automated process, leaving intelligence agencies scrambling to ensure none of them posed a national security risk.

To follow this exclusive story and for latest rolling coverage, stream 'Sharri' live and on demand with a SkyNews.com.au Streaming Subscription.

They described the visa process as “clunky and out of date”.

The process involves an online questionnaire where an electronic assessment classifies people into different categories of risk.

There would be a ‘ping’ if a person’s name hits a watch list, an Interpol red notice or Australia’s Movement Alert List.

But unless someone’s name is flagged on a watch list, then they are not referred for a manual security assessment.

Sources claim there is a bias in the visa process as these tourist visas are usually reserved for people visiting family members – not for those coming in from terrorist hotspots.


Bassem Youssef's X account banned or deactivated after antisemitism
Egyptian comedian and Israel critic Bassem Youssef’s X account was suspended or deactivated following a series of controversial remarks about Jews.

Youssef’s last post on the social media platform alleged that antisemitism was being used as a fear tactic that was no longer effective.

“Are you still scared to be called an antisemite by those Zionists,” Youssef wrote on Monday.

Youssef attempted to rile up Israel supporters with online commentary
Youssef said on Facebook the same day that he knew he was angering Zionists because they were “crying, whining and bitching” on his accounts about antisemitism. Enlrage image

The activist said on Sunday that clips of him decrying Jews for claiming to be “the chosen people” on July 31 of the This Past Weekend podcast were causing controversy.

Youssef said, in response to the viral clips, that he wished to clarify his point: if “you are chosen to spread the word of God or chosen to do good things to other people, that is wonderful,” but Israeli Jews were using this “divine’ status to take other people [sic] land and kill them.”

Supporters of Youssef claimed that X deleted his account to suppress his criticism of Israel, while some critics said he had deactivated his own account.
Candace Owens’s father-in-law, peer Lord Farmer distances himself from her antisemitic views
Conspiracy theorist and far right commentator Candace Owens’s father-in-law, Lord Michael Farmer, has distanced himself from her views.

It comes as Owens, who married Farmer’s son, right-wing activist George Farmer in 2019, promoted an antisemitic blood libel on social media.

She made several comments in a live video and in social media posts about the case of a Jewish American man who was accused of raping a 13-year-old in 1913.

Leo Frank was a Jewish businessman, who was wrongly convicted of murder and lynched to death in the US state of Georgia.

Over the weekend Owens claimed that Frank deserved it and was part of a sadistic cult of Jews that perpetrate attacks on Christian children all over the world.

Owens has a long history of promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories and was fired by The Daily Wire after she liked about a rabbi being “drunk on Christian blood again.”

Other antisemitic beliefs she has shared include the belief that Israel was involved in 9/11 and a secret group of Jews in Hollywood were involved in the death of Michael Jackson.

In July she was criticised for minimising the Holocaust after calling Mengele’s experiments on Auschwitz prisoners “bizarre propaganda”.

Speaking on an episode of The Candace Show entitled “Literally Hitler. Why can’t we talk about him?”, Owens described Holocaust education as “indoctrination.”

On Monday, Lord Farmer, who a member of the House of Lords, issued a lengthy statement on Twitter which addressed his daughter in laws extreme views.

On X/Twitter he wrote: “In view of public comments from a high-profile member of my family, I want to put my own views on antisemitism and Israel’s current military campaign in Gaza on public record.”

Farmer continued: “As a teenager, growing up in the wake of WW2, I became very aware of the cruelty meted out, before and during that conflict, against Jewish people – because they were Jewish. I found it impossible to comprehend how humans could, intentionally, be as cruel as possible to others. Whilst the general opinion in Britain was that it would never happen here, even then I thought ‘Really?’ and sensed it could happen anywhere. Such sadism lay dormant in the heart of everyone.
FREE PRESS: Has Candace Owens Lost It?
Join Michael Moynihan, Batya Ungar-Sargon, Bridget Phetasy, and Peter Savodnik for sharp commentary that will help keep you sane through this chaotic news cycle.

Tonight: Kamala promises a radical economic vision, RFK Jr.’s flailing campaign, Ukraine’s successful incursion into Russia & Candace Owens’ melted brain.




Anti-Israel commentator Richard Medhurst detained at Heathrow Airport under UK’s Terrorism Act
British political commentator Richard Medhurst, who is known for his anti-Israel activism, says he was detained at London’s Heathrow Airport for 24 hours and interrogated under section 12 of the UK’s Terrorism Act.

The law under which Medhurst was detained stipulates that expressing beliefs or carrying out actions that “support a proscribed organization” is a criminal offense.

Medhurst, who has voiced support for Hamas amid the terror group’s ongoing war with Israel in Gaza, says on Twitter that he believes he is “the first journalist to be arrested under this provision.”

Six police officers arrested him at the entrance of the aircraft after he disembarked, says Medhurst.

“I feel that this is a political persecution and hampers my ability to work as a journalist,” he adds.

Medhurst regularly casts doubt on the connection between Jews and the Land of Israel by means of racist innuendo about Ashkenazi surnames and misleading claims about modern Hebrew.

He has also spread conspiracy theories regarding Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught, including by insisting that there were no acts of sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists, and asserting that the victims of the massacre were killed by the IDF, not by Hamas.




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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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