Wednesday, August 21, 2024

08/21 Links Pt1: Israel Is Winning; Why Israel’s Critics Stopped Pretending To Want a Ceasefire; Canadian families of Oct. 7 victims sue to stop federal funding of UNRWA

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Why Israel’s Critics Stopped Pretending To Want a Ceasefire
Then Secretary of State Antony Blinken, forced to concede Bibi wasn’t the villain, handed the Israelis another test in the form of a compromise proposal intended to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas. Israel accepted these terms. Hamas flipped out, taking credit for an attempted mass suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and mobilizing terrorists in the West Bank in the hopes of expanding the war to yet another front.

Netanyahu “confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal,” Blinken said. “It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same.” Blinken said the same in private, according to Israel’s Channel 12. “We have a way to measure if the prime minister is committed to a deal,” the secretary reportedly told families of Israeli hostages. “And this time our assessment is that he is.”

On his way to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago yesterday, President Biden confirmed to reporters that “Israel says they can work it out… Hamas is now backing away.”

Without any credible way to absolve Hamas of blame for the lack of a deal, the terms must change. The protesters, their supporters in the Squad faction of Congress, their mentors at “elite” universities—by and large these folks merely want Israel’s defeat, whatever the specific methods.

Of course, if they really wanted a ceasefire, they would have been horrified by October 7 and angry at Hamas, since there was a ceasefire in place that Hamas broke by slaughtering over a thousand innocents, ensuring there’d be a significant response. To a true ceasefire supporter, let alone a person of any moral fiber, Hamas’s attack would have been the great unforgivable crime of the century.

But the rallies in support of Hamas by progressive groups and on campuses began immediately after the massacre. Not only were these groups willing to forgive Hamas for destroying a status quo ceasefire, many of them were downright jubilant at the death and destruction caused by the terror group.

Since it’s never actually been about a ceasefire, it has been easy for the “pro-Gaza” protest movement to pivot in its demands. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the ringleader of the Democratic anti-Zionist caucus who has long demanded that the U.S. go far beyond a ceasefire and take action against Israel, had a prime speaking slot at Harris’s nominating convention last night.

There’s some value, of course, in all this dropping of pretensions. The Democratic Party with Harris as its standard-bearer is telegraphing a posture change; some in the party, such as Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, are hinting that such a shift could come sooner than later. It turns out that all it might take for Israel’s critics to drop the “ceasefire” charade is an actual ceasefire.
John Spencer: Israel Is Winning
For all the progress Israel has made toward its war aims, however, it will lose in the end if it fails to secure a replacement for Hamas as a new ruling power in Gaza. The United States knows such defeat well: it lost in Vietnam when the North Vietnamese took South Vietnam in 1975, and it lost again in Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power in 2021 from the government the United States had backed for 20 years.

It is now Israel’s responsibility to create the conditions that would allow new leadership in Gaza to survive. The first step is to reduce Hamas’s capabilities enough to let an external force enter Gaza and provide security in population centers. When a new body, such as the Palestinian Authority, takes over governance from Hamas, Israel will need to provide it security assistance, including with counterterror operations. The role of Israeli forces should not amount to a constant presence in Gaza. As parts of the strip are stabilized, the new authority can lead the postconflict work of deradicalization, disarmament, demobilization, and reconciliation. By supporting this new government in Gaza, facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid, and making it possible to rebuild, Israel can show the Palestinian public it is committed to a better future without Hamas.

To realize such a future, Hamas must be destroyed with no hope of resurgence. How Israel goes about that task does matter. It must follow international law and maintain foreign and domestic support if it is to sustain its war effort. At this point, however, Israel is losing the public relations battle. It has failed to communicate consistently how its day-to-day operations were linked to its strategic goals. All the world sees are reports of an ever-climbing civilian casualty count and images of vast destruction, without reference to how the fight against Hamas is progressing or how similar urban battles have proceeded in the past.

No previous example is exactly like Israel’s operation today in terms of the number of Hamas combatants embedded in populated urban areas, the tactics Hamas uses, or the vast bunker and tunnel complexes at its disposal. But a few battles are comparable. In the 2016–17 Battle of Mosul, more than 10,000 civilians died in a campaign by U.S. and Iraqi forces to liberate the city from around 4,000 Islamic State fighters, a civilian-to-combatant death ratio of roughly 2.5 to 1. In the 1945 Battle of Manila, the U.S. military operation led to the death of 100,000 civilians to rout 17,000 Japanese defenders, for a ratio of nearly 6 to 1. Figures are less reliable in other battles, such as the 1950 Second Battle of Seoul, urban fighting during the 1999–2009 Second Chechen War, or Russia’s more recent attack of Mariupol. But the civilian-to-combatant death ratio for Israel’s operation in Gaza today, typically estimated between 1 to 1 and 3 to 1, is at the lower end of the historical range.

Neutralizing Hamas and securing a new governing authority in Gaza may be Israel’s best chance at recovering its damaged global reputation. Israel must now show it has a plan to reach that outcome. Wars have been lost when the governments that enter a conflict, their populations, and their allies do not understand the strategy, tactics, and timelines for achieving their goals. Sun Tzu’s maxim still applies: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory, while tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Today, the world mostly sees Israel’s tactics, reported through the lens of civilian casualties. But to win, Israel needs to emphasize its strategy. It must consolidate the gains it has made against Hamas by pushing forward a political solution. If Israel cannot fully remove Hamas from power, demilitarize the strip, and back a new authority in Gaza, then Hamas will likely reconstitute itself and fight another day. That result would be no victory for Israel or for the region. Israel must therefore take advantage of the present moment, when it has the upper hand and Hamas is on the run.
Israel Katz: Iran’s global terrorist ambitions must be crushed, before it’s too late
Iran’s destabilisation efforts are increasingly evident in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Tehran is undermining the Palestinian Authority, supporting extremist groups with truckloads of weapons and money. If not for Israel’s vigilance, Judea and Samaria would quickly devolve into another Iranian stronghold, threatening both Israeli and regional stability. Iran’s ambitions extend further, as its attempts to smuggle arms through Jordan endanger this key moderate Arab state.

Furthermore ties such as those alleged by Germany’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser, between the Hamburg Islamic Center and Iran’s Supreme Leader and Hezbollah, illustrate a strategic effort by Iran to spread its revolutionary ideology globally.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is the primary driver of Iran’s strategy to encircle Israel with a ‘ring of fire’ and its terrorist proliferation in the Middle East and globally. The international community must declare the IRGC as the world’s largest terrorist organization and impose further crippling sanctions on Iran. These actions are essential to halting Iran’s destabilizing activities and ensuring global security.

The world must recognise that Israel’s fight against Hamas is about preventing Iran from establishing another terrorist launchpad on our borders – one that threatens the entire globe. Our security measures are essential to counter increasingly emboldened Iranian ambitions.

Looking ahead, any solution for Gaza, Judea, and Samaria must account for this reality. Palestinian self-governance in internal affairs, coupled with Israeli security oversight, offers the best near-term option to counter Iranian influence while allowing Palestinians the maximum opportunity to govern their own affairs. This arrangement is crucial to breaking the cycle of violence that fuels Iran’s ambitions. History proves that whenever Israel steps back from overseeing security, the first to fill the vacuum is an Iranian-controlled terror proxy.

The stakes in this struggle extend far beyond Israel. Iran’s unchecked expansionism threatens to derail normalisation efforts with our Arab neighbors, undermine global energy security, and international counterterrorism. The economic toll of Iran’s war-mongering is already frustrating global trade and spiking commodity prices.

Israel is at the forefront of the free world’s fight against Iranian encirclement. Supporting Israel against the Ayatollahs in Tehran, Sinwar’s Hamas in Gaza, and Nasrallah’s Hezbollah in Lebanon is an act of self-preservation for all free states. The world must recognize that today’s battle against Iran’s construction of a “ring of fire” around the Middle East may well be a prelude to broader confrontations. The writing is on the wall; the question now is whether the world will heed its warning before it’s too late.


JPost Editorial: Hamas's intransigence is preventing the war from ending
Blinken, in his statements to the media on Monday night after holding a long meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that “with every passing day that there’s not an agreement” hostages can perish and “intervening events” can occur that could “make things even more difficult, if not impossible.”

There is, therefore, this “fierce urgency of now” particularly since “we do see this as the best opportunity to finally get this over the finish line,” Blinken stated. “The longer this goes on, the more, again, hostages will suffer, possibly perish, and the more other things happen that should make this impossible. So that’s why we’re so intensely focused on getting this done and getting it done now.”

Just as importantly, Blinken made it clear that Netanyahu has accepted the US bridging proposals that would lead to a ceasefire and hostage release and that Hamas was the impediment to the success of this outcome. Blinken put the onus squarely on the terrorist group to find a semblance of clarity that would stop the devastation that its war on Israel has caused the Palestinian people in Gaza and accept the proposal that everyone else involved in the process – Israel, the US, mediators Egypt and Qatar – have agreed upon.

“It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same [as Israel]. And then the parties, with the help of the mediators the United States, Egypt and Qatar, have to come together and complete the process of reaching clear understandings about how they’ll implement commitments that they’ve made under this agreement,” Blinken said.

Details of the bridging agreement that have been leaked in various media reports indicated that Israel has stretched as far as it can in its insistence on maintaining a presence in the two critical Gaza security corridors of Philadelphi and Netzarim.

US President Joe Biden accused Hamas of “backing away” from the plan during his speech Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Biden’s commitment to reaching a ceasefire that would also theoretically stop the bombardment of Israel’s North by Hezbollah and its sponsor of terrorism, Iran, as well as prevent the conflict from widening to include Iran directly, should be embraced by all Israelis.

His secretary of state has made an unprecedented nine visits to the region since October 7, a testament to the importance sees in its alliance with Israel.

We thank them for standing with Israel and for confirming over the last 24 hours that it’s not Israel that is holding up a deal that would bring some of the hostages back home; it’s Hamas.
Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks ‘on the brink of collapsing’
Gaza ceasefire talks are “on the brink of collapsing” as negotiators head to Cairo this week to discuss the latest proposal, Politico reported on Tuesday, citing two U.S. and two Israeli officials.

Before heading to Egypt and Qatar, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Israel on Monday that the government in Jerusalem had accepted a Biden administration proposal to bridge differences with the Hamas for a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages held by the terror group in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners.

However, Hamas has publicly rejected the latest offer, leading Washington to become increasingly pessimistic, while outwardly displaying signs of optimism that an agreement can be achieved.

Speaking ahead of meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv on Monday, Blinken said, “This is a decisive moment, probably the best, maybe the last opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire, and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security.”
Michael Oren: Negotiate hard, watch Sinwar back down
In his ninth visit to Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken leaves little doubt that the primary, if not sole, objective of the United States right now is securing a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages.

Blinken is well aware that a retaliatory strike by Iran and Hezbollah against Israel would likely sabotage any chance of reaching such an agreement. As a result, he is calling on all parties to exercise restraint and is working to calm tensions in the region.

However, this approach could lead to the exact opposite outcome of what the Americans, and many Israelis, hope for, potentially erasing any chance of reaching a deal. At a press conference held Monday night, Blinken updated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted the American mediation proposal, saying that the ball is now in Hamas' court. The pressing question is whether Hamas is even interested in a deal or if further escalation between Israel and Iran better serves its interests.

This dilemma stems from Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s understanding that he cannot achieve his minimum demands in negotiations: a permanent cease-fire and the withdrawal of all IDF forces from Gaza, including from the Philadelphi Corridor. Without such concessions, Sinwar is unlikely to give up the "assets" in his possession (the hostages) for a deal that would allow Israel to restart the war in the future and block the flow of weapons through the corridor.

From his perspective, what could shift the balance of power is a war between Iran, Hezbollah and Israel—a conflict that could destabilize the entire region, and possibly the world. In such a war, the IDF would be forced to divert significant forces away from Gaza to address other threats, greatly increasing the pressure on Israel to reach a deal, both domestically and internationally.

It’s important to note that both the Iranian mullah regime and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah have repeatedly said they would be willing to agree to a cease-fire if Sinwar does. This stance gives the Hamas leader enormous leverage to stay away from the negotiating table and reject any Israeli offer. Thus, the regional war that Sinwar so desires becomes almost inevitable.

If that is the case, there is only one way to escape this trap that Sinwar has set: The United States, having deployed massive naval and air forces to the region, must unequivocally declare its readiness to exact a heavy price from Iran should it or its proxies dare to attack Israel.


PMO rejects claim that Trump urged Netanyahu to reject hostage deal
The Prime Minister's Office categorically rejected a recent PBS report that claimed Trump may have urged Netanyahu to reject the recent US-advanced hostage deal proposal, the office said on Wednesday.

"The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the Prime Minister of Israel, urging him not to cut a deal right now, because it’s believed it would help the Harris campaign," said PBS NewsHour host Judy Woodruff.


Israel Undiplomatic w/ Mark Regev & Ruthie Blum: Who’s at Fault for Failed Hostage Negotiations?
The hostage negotiations with the Hamas terrorist organization in Doha seem to have hit a wall—and in classic Israeli fashion, everyone is pointing fingers.

In this episode of "Israel Undiplomatic," JNS senior contributing editor Ruthie Blum and Ambassador Mark Regev, former advisers at the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, try to get to the bottom of the latest developments.

Also, six hostage bodies are recovered from the Gaza Strip; U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken blames Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Palestinian terror wave escalates in the Jewish state; and what might happen on the northern border with Lebanon.

Chapters
0:00 Hostages found
4:00 Whose responsibility is it?
10:00 Blinken visits
21:00 Terror escalates
27:00 Hezbollah & the north


Caroline Glick: Band of Brothers: A Hero's Oct. 7 Story
In this week's episode, Asher Guedalia joins "The Caroline Glick Show" to discuss the story of his brother, Yoseph Malachi Guedalia, who heroically fell on Oct. 7 while saving civilian lives.

Asher is an Israel Defense Force hero himself, having fought valiantly that day and he joins JNS senior contributing editor Caroline Glick to share his experience of faith and fortitude.

The heroism of the Guedalia brothers will move and inspire you to appreciate the modern Jewish heroes among us.


Unpacked: Does Israel Target Civilians in Gaza?
Israel is often accused of w*r cr*mes against Palestinians, and accusations of targeting civilians, using disproportionate force, and blocking civilian access to humanitarian aid have intensified during this latest war in Gaza. But are Israel’s current actions towards Palestinians in Gaza actually w*r cr*mes according to the legal definition? And if they’re not w*r cr*mes, does that mean they are justified?

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:59 Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians, Oct 7, 2023
01:56 What is a w*r cr*me?
03:17 Does Israel target civilians
05:30 Does Israel use disproportionate force?
09:45 Does Israel prevent Palestinians in Gaza from accessing humanitarian aid?
12:01 Hamas is indifferent to Palestinian suffering
13:12 Why do people accuse Israel of w*r cr*mes?
13:39 What does Israel gain from targeting civilians?
13:54 Worldwide increase in antisemitism


The Israel Guys: In HEROIC Operation Israel Recovers The Bodies Of 6 Israeli Hostages | WAR UPDATE
In a heroic mission, the IDF just rescued the remains of 6 Israeli hostages who were murdered in captivity inside of the Gaza strip by Hamas.

Hezbollah has been maintaining almost constant rocket fire into northern Israel keeping thousands of Israeli residents evacuated from their homes.

Justin discusses all of this and more on today’s show.


The Israel Guys: EXPOSED: The Real Reason IRAN Hasn’t Attacked ISRAEL Again
The world has been waiting for the impending “retaliation” on Israel from Iran in response to Israel eliminating Ismail Haniyeh. Many are surprised that an attack hasn’t happened already. In today’s show Ben Hilton dives into a timeline of the events as they have happened, and some shocking conclusions as to why an attack in the near future may not be coming at all.


After announced move to Gaza, UN aid chief still in Jordan
Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for the Gaza Strip, has yet to move her residence and offices to the war-torn coastal enclave after promising to do so more than two months ago.

“The Office of the Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza is currently based in Amman, Jordan with an office in Gaza,” a spokesperson for Kaag’s office stated in response to a query by JNS.

Kaag “uses her extensive network to engage with key governments and other stakeholders at the highest political level” to coordinate aid and reconstruction efforts amid the war against Hamas, the statement said.

Kaag, in a June 11 interview from Jordan, had told the Netherlands’ NOS public broadcaster that she intended to rent an apartment and office space in Gaza, saying the move was scheduled for later that month.

“I believe you should always work from the field. You can’t just come up with good ideas from New York or the region,” said Kaag, who previously served as the Netherlands’ deputy prime minister.

In response to JNS’s request, Kaag’s spokesperson did not make clear whether the move was postponed or canceled, and for what reason.


Intel. chief in retirement speech: I will have Oct. 7 on my conscience for rest of my life
Israel’s outgoing head of military intelligence took responsibility for his country’s failures to defend its border on Oct. 7 at his resignation ceremony on Wednesday.

Major General Aharon Haliva, a 38-year veteran of the military, announced his resignation in April and was one of a number of senior Israeli commanders who said they had failed to foresee and prevent the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

“The failure of the intelligence corps was my fault,” Haliva said at the ceremony on Wednesday, and he called for a national investigation to study and “understand deeply” the reasons that led to the war between Israel and Hamas.

“On October 7, that bitter day that I carry with me on my conscience and on my shoulders, and will carry with me until my last days, we did not uphold the sanctity of our oath. I chose to dedicate my entire adult life to the security of the State of Israel. I have always done my utmost as a soldier and as a commander to serve the country with devotion.”

Haliva will be replaced by Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder, who was most recently head of the operations division. This appointment has been met with criticism from families of October 7 victims who claim that his part in the October 7 failure has not been sufficiently investigated.

Halevi's speech at the ceremony
At the ceremony, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said, “If we have experienced successes over many years and then failed, it means that through a true investigation, we will be able to distinguish between success and failure and learn how to act to reduce the chances of failures in the future. Correction is a vital condition for the existence of our country.”
Halevi: IDF determined to return all hostages, ‘alive whenever possible’
Israel Defense Forces troops will continue to put military pressure on the Hamas terrorist organization to release the remaining 109 hostages held in Gaza, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi stated on Tuesday.

“We have a firm determination to fight Hamas, a firm determination to return all the hostages—alive whenever possible—and we will also be very, very determined and persist in bringing the fallen back to a kever Yisrael [Jewish burial],” Halevi told commanders and soldiers of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion during a tour of the coastal enclave.

Halevi’s remarks came amid ongoing indirect negotiations in Doha, Qatar for a hostage release and ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

He spoke just hours after the IDF recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages who were kidnapped alive on Oct. 7, from a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis area.

“Last night, in an operation that did not happen by chance, based on intelligence that was followed for a very long time and was developing, we had information about the location of our fallen hostages,” he said.

IDF soldiers “went to bring them out, 10 meters underground, to reach, dig, locate the tunnel, enter and bring back our people, that we would very much have liked to have brought back alive, but even bringing a body to a Jewish burial is a very, very important task,” Halevi stated.
Incoming IDF Samaria commander thanks army for ‘enormous privilege, responsibility’
Israel Defense Forces Col. Ariel Gonen was appointed commander of the military’s Samaria Regional Brigade during a handover ceremony on Mount Gerizim, near Nablus (Shechem).

Gonen replaces Col. Shimon Siso, who served in the position for the past two years and who will join the Training Brigade, the IDF said.

“When I was informed that I would take over command of the Samaria sector, I was very excited,” Gonen told guests, including commanders, soldiers and family members, at Wednesday’s ceremony in Samaria.

“Firstly, because of the enormous privilege and responsibility given to me for the most important heritage and historic areas, in which our people have lived and existed for about 3,000 years, as well as the responsibility for the residents,” he said.

“We are in one of the most challenging and complex periods of the State of Israel,” Gonen added at the ceremony. “We must continue to act with strength, in defense and attack, to stand together with our partners in every task. The path is not always easy, but the goal is clear: Security and victory.”

The Samaria Regional Brigade is part of the Judea and Samaria Division, which is a regional division that falls under the IDF’s Central Command. The Samaria Brigade operates around Nablus, a city of about 180,000 that is also a Palestinian terrorist stronghold surrounded by a handful of Israeli civilian communities.


Seth Frantzman: Hezbollah’s Katzrin attack shows terror group’s plans
WHAT CAN we learn from this? Hezbollah is not only escalating; it is also showing that it can pinpoint sites it wants to attack. Hezbollah views this as a complex tactical war, and it is openly explaining its tactics. It also seeks to expand the war slightly but in a systematic and deliberate manner. This is calculated to prevent a major war.

Israelis may be growing tired of these endless attacks on the North. A recent Institute for National Security Studies survey noted that “44 percent of respondents believe that military action against Hezbollah should be initiated, with about half of them supporting this even at the risk of a regional war, including the occupation and control of southern Lebanon.”

So far, Hezbollah calculates that there is no major drive for war in Israel and that it can continue this war of attrition. Hezbollah is willing to suffer some losses, including the 400 members that have already been killed, including senior commanders. It believes it is winning because it is openly waging war inside Israel and, unlike in the past, it is not facing a significant counterattack.

Hezbollah can read Israel’s media and statements. It knows that Israel’s defense minister has often spoken about the need to focus on Hezbollah. During a recent visit to Israel’s 36th Division in the North, he said, “Our center of gravity is moving from south to north.” Hezbollah is seeking to preempt this by moving its center of gravity toward more attacks, like the one in Katzrin.
Hezbollah fires 50 rockets at Golan, wounding one
A man was moderately wounded by a 50-rocket barrage launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah at Katzrin in the Golan Heights on Wednesday morning.

The Magen David Adom emergency rescue services said that the man in his 30s suffered shrapnel wounds from a direct rocket impact on his home. He was being evacuated to Ziv Hospital in Safed for treatment.

The Israel Defense Forces said that some of the 50 projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system, while several impacts were identified in the area of Katzrin.

Seven fire and rescue crews were working to put out fires sparked by the impacts, while police searched for any other potential casualties.

Iran’s Lebanese terror proxy took responsibility for the salvo, claiming in a statement that it had targeted a military base near Katzrin with unguided Katyusha rockets. It said that the attack was in response to an IDF strike deep in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday night.

“There is a great miracle here that no one was seriously injured,” Golan Regional Council head Uri Kellner told Ynet.

“There are quite a few victims of anxiety. At the site of destruction, as I see before my eyes, it is very lucky [no one else was hurt]. The government is responsible for this. It must stop these incidents and restore security to the residents,” he said.

He also called for a “sharp directive to the IDF to move the war across the border. There is a cruel enemy here sent from Iran and trying to destroy us … The government should respect the residents of the Golan.”


Israeli strike in Lebanon kills IRGC-linked Fatah official
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Fatah terrorist Khalil Makdah was killed in an airstrike near the coastal city of Sidon in Southern Lebanon earlier in the day.

He was the brother of Mounir al-Makdah, a resident of Lebanon whom Jerusalem accuses of operating on behalf of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Tehran’s Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah to advance terror attacks against Israel.

The drone strike targeted Makdah’s car in an upscale neighborhood in the city.

Khalil Makdah was an official with the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah faction, and Mounir is a senior official with the political party chaired by P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas, AFP reported, quoting a senior member of the Fatah movement and citing a security source.

The “assassination of a Fatah official is further proof that Israel wants to ignite a full-scale war in the region,” Tawfik Tirawi, a member of Fatah’s central committee, told AFP.

It marks the first Israeli attack on Fatah in over 10 months of war.

“The two collaborate on behalf of the IRGC and are involved in the direction of terror attacks as well as the smuggling of weapons and funds designated for terrorist activities into Judea and Samaria,” the IDF said.


IDF: Almost 300,000 polio vaccines sent to Gaza since Oct. 7
The Israeli government has facilitated the transfer of close to 300,000 doses of polio vaccine into the Gaza Strip since Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of the western Negev, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson announced this week.

Over the past months, Jerusalem “has coordinated the entry of 282,126 vials of the polio vaccine, sufficient for 2,821,260 doses,” Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, the IDF’s international spokesman, tweeted on Sunday.

“Since the discovery of the virus [in Gaza] in July, and as part of the vaccination campaign, 9,000 vials were brought through the Kerem Shalom crossing, providing 90,000 additional doses of the vaccine,” the spokesman stated.

In the upcoming weeks, another 43,250 vials of vaccine, tailored to the virus samples discovered in Gaza’s sewage, are scheduled to arrive in Israel and will be delivered to the Strip, Shoshani stated. He said the additional doses will be sufficient to vaccinate over a million children.

“As part of the medical response provided by the State of Israel, COGAT maintains continuous contact and conducts situational assessments with all health system stakeholders and the international community for ongoing monitoring of the medical situation in Gaza,” said Shoshani.

The Israeli military is also holding meetings “to implement vaccinations among the population in Gaza” in cooperation with USAID, he stressed.



Noa Argamani to G7 in Japan: I thought ‘every night is my last,’ it’s a ‘miracle that I’m here’
A young Israeli woman who became emblematic of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 says she had thought every night in captivity would be her last.

“Every night I was falling asleep and thinking, this may be the last night of my life,” Noa Argamani says in Japan on a visit with her father.

“And until the moment I was [rescued by the IDF]… I just did not believe that I was still surviving,” the 26-year-old says as she meets with senior diplomats from G7 countries in Tokyo. “And in this moment that I’m still sitting with you, it’s a miracle that I’m here.”

Argamani was among those kidnapped by the Palestinian terror group from the Supernova music festival during the brutal October 7 onslaught that sparked the ongoing war. A video that went viral showed her on the back of a motorbike screaming: “Don’t kill me!”

The video showed her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, an engineer, being led away separately.

Israeli special forces freed Argamani in a raid on Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp on June 8 along with three others — Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41.

“Avinatan, my boyfriend, is still there, and we need to bring them back before it’s going to be too late. We don’t want to lose more people than we already lost,” says Argamani.
Canadian families of Oct. 7 victims sue to stop federal funding of UNRWA
A legal challenge filed in April against the Canadian government’s decision to resume financial support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) will need to cross a key hurdle this week or face dismissal.

The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA)—the advocacy arm of Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA—announced a hearing taking place on Wednesday and Thursday in Ottowa to make the case that a lawsuit filed by family members of those murdered by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel on Oct. 7 can continue.

The hearing will determine if the plaintiffs have filed their suit in the correct jurisdiction, which the Canadian government’s lawyers deny. If the judge agrees, then the suit would be dismissed.

“CIJA brought together the Canadian families who lost loved ones in Hamas’s barbaric terrorist attacks to take the federal government to court because the government and its actors must be held accountable and abide by the law,” said Richard Marceau, CIJA’s vice president of external affairs and general counsel, in a statement.

Marceau pointed to UNRWA’s ties to the terrorist organization and “its employees’ history of moonlighting as Hamas operatives” as reasons to oppose the decision to restore government support for the group.

“Not only was the decision to restore UNRWA funding morally unconscionable, but it was also unreasonable—both in fact and in law,” Marceau said. “We are deeply concerned that Canadian government funding may be ending up in the hands of Hamas or other listed terrorist organizations. The minister’s decision must face judicial review, and UNRWA must be disqualified from funding.”


Hamas sends threatening calls, messages to hostage relatives from loved ones phones
Hamas has sent threatening phone calls and messages to relatives of Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity, according to a report on Tuesday by N12. 'Fight the government or lose your loved ones'

The messages included warnings such as: "If you don't fight the government, you won't see your loved ones return."

According to the report, the terror group sent ransom requests, claiming that without payment, the hostage families wouldn't receive information about their loved ones.

The families have since passed the phone numbers to the Shin Bet.

An initial investigation suggests that those behind the threats are hostile actors, either of Iranian origin or affiliated with Hamas.


Pro-Palestine protesters who caused £1m of damage to a weapons factory are jailed for more than five years in total
A group of Pro-Palestinian protesters who caused over £1 million of damages at a weapons factory were jailed for a total of five years and two months.

This comes after Stuart Bretherton, 25, Eva Simmons, 25, Calum Lacy, 23, Erica Hygate, 23 and Sumaya Javaid, 22, scaled the Thales UK building in Glasgow's Govan on June 1 2022 and staged a demonstration on its roof.

The five protestors unfurled banners and erected flags and ignited pyrotechnics.

The building had its fire alarm activated after Hygate and Javaid entered the building and threw a smoke bomb into the area where staff were being evacuated.

Two of the protestors remained at the building overnight and glued themselves to the roof after refusing to engage with police.

A total of £1,130,783 of damage was caused and the premises were shut due to safety concerns.

Bretherton, of Kilmacolm, Inverclyde, Simmons, of London, Lacy of Edinburgh as well as Hygate and Javaid of Birmingham, pleaded guilty to conducting themselves in a disorderly manner.

Hygate separately pleaded guilty to a vandalism charge, while Javaid also pleaded to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.

All but Javaid received 12 month sentences while she was jailed for 14 months.

A total of six police officers and five security staff were in the courtroom.

Some of the protestors and members of the public gallery were emotional after the sheriff gave his verdict.

This was followed by shouts of 'You are preventing genocide' and a repeated chant of 'Free, free Palestine' as all five were led into custody.
Legal warning issued to Adonis nightclub’s licence holders over ‘Zionist’ exclusion slur
The licence holders of the premises that host a gay rave club in London are being threatened with legal action if they refuse to disassociate with club promoters who have claimed “Zionism has no place in queer spaces”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to Eugene Wild and Stuart Glen, co-directors of DL Food and Drink Limited, the company that holds the licence for the premises, The Cause, that hosts queer nightclub Adonis at Silver Building in the Docklands.

As reported by Jewish News, the club has been condemned for including in its social bio description “Zionism has no place in queer spaces”. Following a public backlash, this was later changed to “no genocidal maniacs plz xx”.

The legal letter, seen by Jewish News, quotes CAA representative polling conducted in 2023, which found that 80% of British Jews consider themselves to be Zionist, and only 6% do not.

It then says: “Adonis is using aggressive rhetoric that is likely to exclude around 80% of its potential Jewish clientele from its venue. So far as we are aware, it has not sought to exclude the vast majority of the members of any other ethnic or religious group. We question how this approach marries up with Adonis’ claims to promote “inclusivity”. In this case, it appears to mean inclusive, except for the vast majority of British Jews.”

Whilst it notes that Adonis “sought to backtrack on its inflammatory online comments”, the harm “has already been done” and the social media posts “may well amount to breaches of the criminal law”, including “incitement to racial hatred”.

It questions what risk assessment DL Food and Drink Limited, as licence holder, and/or Adonis, as promoters, carried out to “safely and peacefully remove ‘Zionists’ from the queue or from inside your premises should they attend and asks specifically “what instructions have been given to door supervisors to achieve this objective?”


Brooklyn bookstore cancels event, citing ‘Zionist’ moderator
Liberal Brooklyn Rabbi Andy Bachman has faced “a couple of bruising experiences” in progressive spaces since Oct. 7, but even he was shocked on Tuesday night when an independent bookstore in the borough abruptly canceled a conversation he was slated to have with author Joshua Leifer. The stated reason for the cancellation: Employees of the bookstore, PowerHouse Arena, told Leifer they were “unwilling to host the conversation with Andy because they would not permit a Zionist on the premises.”

“I was expecting to be heckled but this was utterly shocking,” Bachman, the former leader of Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, told Jewish Insider hours after he was snubbed by the employees of PowerHouse Arena in DUMBO.

Bachman said about 30 attendees, all of whom had pre-bought copies of Leifer’s new book, Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life, had arrived at the event ahead of him. (Attendees were refunded for the book when the event was canceled.) “The manager said, ‘I can’t get into it with you’ and told me to call Josh. Josh said the reason they had canceled was because they did some research during the day and discovered that I was a ‘Zionist,’” Bachman told JI, noting that over the years he officiated several Jewish weddings at the venue, which doubles as an event space.

“I didn’t want to upset Josh’s event so I stepped back and let him handle it,” Bachman said. “But it’s purely insane.”

“I wrote this book to explore debates within American Jewish life, which of course includes many people who identify as Zionists,” Leifer, a Jewish Currents contributing editor and a member of the Dissent editorial board, wrote on X. “My biggest worry was about synagogues not wanting to host me. I didn’t think it would be bookstores in Brooklyn that would be closing their doors.”


NYC bookstore owner blames staffer for cancelling Jewish book event over ‘Zionist’ rabbi
A New York bookshop has blamed a staff member for cancelling the launch of a new book exploring American Jewish identity just an hour before the scheduled event, and telling the author that they “would not permit a Zionist on the premises.”

The launch event for Joshua Leifer’s book Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life was set to feature a conversation between the author and local rabbi Andy Bachman, but on Tuesday Leifer shared that powerHouse Books, and independent bookshop in Brooklyn, had abruptly cancelled it.

Leifer, a leader of the IfNotNow Jewish anti-Zionist movement said in a post on Twitter: “Less than an hour before the launch of my book Tablets Shattered, a conversation with Rabbi Andy Bachman, powerHouse Books in Brooklyn told me they are unwilling to host the conversation with Andy because they would not permit a Zionist on the premises,” Leifer

Publisher and founder of powerHouse Books, Daniel Power, said a “sub staffer” who was scheduled to run the event while the shop’s events coordinator is away decided “for reasons unknown to us” to Google the moderator, prompting her “to express reservations of some sort.”

“It was not her place to do so and was reprimanded last night for doing so, but her assertion is that the questioning of choice of moderator caused the publicist, not us, to cancel the event on very short notice,” Power said. “I am independently trying to ascertain this from the Penguin Random House publicist.”




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