Thursday, August 22, 2024

08/22 Links Pt1: Israeli Presence on the Philadelphi Corridor Is Vital; Sinwar wants a deal that guarantees his safety; How did the hostage talks get so crazy?

From Ian:

Israeli Presence on the Philadelphi Corridor Is Vital
The Israeli military presence along the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt is essential to ensure that Hamas will face considerable difficulties in its expected efforts to reconstruct and resupply its terror enterprise in Gaza. The closure will hamper its ability to smuggle in weaponry, personnel, and even vehicles and funds from Egypt through the vast network of tunnels they constructed under the corridor, through the Rafah border crossing itself, and via other routes.

After revealing and neutralizing all the tunnels, Israel will have to erect an underground barrier along the corridor similar to the one it built along the Gaza-Israel border. The IDF will have to be deployed along the corridor to ensure that the underground barrier, the aboveground wall, the monitoring of the Rafah crossing, and the other elements of the systems designed to prevent smuggling are functioning so that any infiltration attempt will be thwarted immediately.

The chances that Egyptian, Arab, international forces or Palestinian Authority forces will effectively meet this challenge are paltry. This idea was tried in the past and failed miserably. There is no reason to believe that another time will be different. In light of this, there is no substitute for a physical Israeli presence along the corridor to prevent smuggling.

Such a presence is also essential for additional strategic reasons. First is the need to shape a new reality in Gaza. If the overall military control that is needed to combat terror is to be in Israel's hands, Israel needs to maintain control of all of Gaza's borders, including the Philadelphi Corridor. Any other arrangement will make it almost impossible for the IDF to prevent the emergence of terror threats from Gaza.

Second, lasting Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor is what will preclude Hamas control of the strategic passage. The ongoing physical change on the ground will constitute a message to Hamas, the other members of the Iranian axis, and the Palestinians, in general, that the Oct. 7 terror attack was a strategic error that significantly harmed the advancement of their goals, chief among them the elimination of Israel.

Israeli deployment along Philadelphi can serve to make clear to the Iranians and Hizbullah that whoever launches a war against Israel pays a strategic price for it.
JPost Editorial: Netanyahu’s firm stand on Philadelphi corridor is crucial for Israel’s security
Sharon argued that maintaining a military presence there was becoming more of a security liability than an asset, as soldiers patrolling the corridor were easy targets for Palestinian terrorists. He also said that keeping soldiers there would be a constant source of friction that could destabilize the region.

Sharon further claimed that only by removing the Israeli presence from the corridor could Israel say – and have the international community recognize – that it had fully withdrawn from Gaza.

That decision has proven disastrous.

The Philadelphi Corridor, as well as the border crossing at Rafah, is the route through which Hamas turned Gaza into an armed stronghold with an arsenal of weapons that would make a small NATO country blush.

Reliance on Egypt to prevent smuggling, either through tunnels or at the Rafah Crossing by bribing poorly paid and unmotivated Egyptian soldiers, was a tragic mistake.

Not only that, but it did not prevent the international community from saying that Israel continues to “occupy” Gaza and that it was the “world’s largest open-air prison.”

Those who argued adamantly against this move were cavalierly dismissed as doomsayers and told that if Israel saw that the corridor was being used to smuggle in arms and material, the IDF could easily retake it.

That turned out to be hubris. Israel saw that the corridor had become a highway for arming Gaza, but it did not take action to retake it. Why not? Because doing so is not simple, neither militarily nor in terms of international legitimacy. Now that Israel has retaken the area, it will vacate it again at its own peril.

IDF should not evacuate
If the IDF evacuates the area, whatever remains of Hamas after the war will use it – again – to rebuild its capabilities. The Philadelphi Corridor is Hamas’s lifeline. If Israel wants to prevent Hamas from reestablishing itself after the war, it needs to cut off this lifeline, and the only way to do that is for the IDF to be present.

This brings us to another important lesson, although this one is from October 7: Technological solutions to real security problems are not always the answer. One idea floated in recent days to get Israel to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor was to rely heavily on state-of-the-art sensors to monitor the area.

Israel relied on state-of-the-art sensors and other technological wizardry on October 7 to defend its borders and prevent terrorist infiltration, but how did that work out?

Israel needs its own boots on the ground to protect itself, and what is true along the border with Gaza and Lebanon is true along the border between Gaza and Egypt. Without an IDF presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, Gaza could once again turn into a killing fortress.
The Pros and Cons of Salvaging or Ditching UNIFIL
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon numbers 10,000-plus personnel, the densest deployment of peacekeepers in the world. Its mandate is currently up for renewal at the UN Security Council by Aug. 31. Unfortunately, UNIFIL has proven ineffective in carrying out its mission for decades, and absent significant changes, there is little hope it can play a relevant role in securing the Israel-Lebanon frontier.

After the 2006 war between Hizbullah and Israel, Security Council Resolution 1701 mandated that UNIFIL help the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) ensure that the area between the Litani River and the southern frontier was "free of any armed personnel, assets, and weapons" other than the government's. Yet, Hizbullah instead expanded its military footprint along the border, prohibited UNIFIL from patrolling broad swaths of territory, and routinely harassed, assaulted, and even killed the force's personnel.

UNIFIL's latest report (covering Feb. 21-June 20, 2024) revealed a spike in the already-common "freedom of movement incidents" - 38 cases in which "plainclothes" Hizbullah members or their local supporters harassed UNIFIL patrols, threatened them with weapons, fired at them, stole their equipment, or blocked their communications signals.

Far from helping the UN enforce 1701, the LAF has consistently collaborated with Hizbullah while obstructing UNIFIL's access. Because UNIFIL depends on the goodwill of the population for its security, it often demurs from effectively monitoring areas that might generate tension.

These factors have eroded Israeli and American trust in UNIFIL. Should the force continue to underperform, Washington should seriously consider vetoing its mandate, ending the deployment, and starting anew.


How did the hostage talks get so crazy?
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel to put the screws on Netanyahu to make more concessions, such as agreeing to evacuate the Philadelphi Corridor. This is Hamas’s lifeline. Israel has found dozens of tunnels there that were used to smuggle supplies and weapons.

Instead, Blinken should have announced that Washington would end the embargo on 2,000-pound bombs and speed the delivery of weapons to Israel to pressure Hamas into surrendering the hostages. He should also do what he should have done 10 months ago to free the Gazans used by Hamas as cannon fodder: Travel to Cairo and tell Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi that the United States will cut off all aid to Egypt unless he lets civilians stay in Sinai until the hostages are released and the war ends.

No one can blame the families of the hostages for wanting the prime minister to do whatever it takes to get their loved ones home. However, any concessions will only encourage more hostage-taking. How will the families of those future captives feel?

Ending the fighting without killing Sinwar and crushing all resistance will enable Hamas to regroup and fulfill its promise to repeat Oct. 7. Israeli military and intelligence officials indicate that Israel can make some of the concessions being demanded of them, confident that after the return of the hostages, they can complete the job they started. Once the fighting stops, however, the United States will expect to begin the process of reconstruction (the third phase of the ceasefire proposal), and the pressure will shift to forcing Israel to withdraw all its troops from Gaza. Biden made it clear he won’t accept the creation of a security zone or soldiers to guard it. This is a capitulation to Hamas’s demands.

Instead, the United States should recognize Israel’s need to maintain security in Gaza for the foreseeable future. We should work with the Gulf states that are expected to foot the bill for reconstruction to make clear that not a dime will be spent until the hostages are free and Hamas is repudiated. The “moderates” in the West Bank who Biden wants to take control have said they plan to have Hamas in the government. The president needs to assert that this is unacceptable.

I wrote at the beginning of the war that it is the U.S. president, not the Israeli prime minister, who ends wars. At the Democratic National Convention, Biden declared: “We’re working around the clock, my Secretary of State, to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza now, to end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally, finally, finally deliver a ceasefire and end this war.”

There was no mention of Hamas or the need to ensure its defeat.

Had Biden given Israel everything it requested, focused all his ire and energy on Hamas, and not confined Gazans to a combat zone, the war could have ended sooner with less destruction and more Israelis and Palestinians alive. If he had used military force to end Iran’s nuclear program and cut off its oil, Biden would have choked off the funding and supply chain to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Sadly, he still doesn’t understand that decisive action—and not appeasement—is the path to peace.
UN Security Council must unite, press Hamas to accept
With Hamas balking at the “bridging” proposal that Washington is pushing and which Israel accepted, the U.N. Security Council must throw its unified weight behind the deal and hold terror feet to the fire, the U.S. envoy told the global body on Thursday.

“As members of this council, we must speak with one voice, and we must use our leverage to press Hamas to accept the bridging proposal which includes massive and immediate benefits for the Palestinians in Gaza and incorporates a number of Hamas’s earlier demands,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council.

“Colleagues, this is a decisive moment. It’s a decisive moment for ceasefire talks and for the region, and so, every member of this council should continue to send strong messages to other actors in the region to avoid actions that would move us away from finalizing this deal,” Thomas Greenfield said.

“At the same time, the United Nations and humanitarian agencies need to accelerate planning so that they can surge assistance into Gaza in the event of a ceasefire, while we all continue to press for increased humanitarian assistance now,” she added.

The U.S. envoy also told the council that Israel must “speed up clearances and remove restrictions” for aid to enter Gaza, protect Palestinians in Judea and Samaria from what she called “violent settlers” and release taxes to the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinians to ask UN General Assembly to force Israeli withdrawal from West Bank
The Palestinian Authority is set to push a United Nations General Assembly resolution next month to force Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

“We are going to initiate another action to put an end to this illegal occupation as soon as possible,” Palestinian Authority envoy Riyad Mansour said Thursday in New York at the UN Security Council’s monthly meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The PA plans to place an “actionable resolution” before the General Assembly next month that would give teeth to the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion issued last month that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and east Jerusalem is illegal, he said.

Proposed resolution to set a timeline
The resolution will set a time frame for the “end of this illegal occupation and all the other issues contained in that historic advisory opinion,” Mansour said.

“I expect almost all of you to be with us in trying really to put an end to this illegal occupation and to pave the way for implementing your global consensus on the two solutions like occupation and making the two-state reality,” he said.

“The time for waiting is over,” he added. “The time for action is now. The time for the implementation of the two-state solution will begin with a significant step in the month of September.”

Mansour did not explain how he planned to implement a UN General Assembly resolution, which often lacks enforcement capability.

Most UN steps that involve action, need the support of the United Nations Security Council. The US often uses its veto power in that 15-member body to support Israel.
Sinwar wants a deal that guarantees his safety and life, senior Egyptian official says
In the corridors of the Egyptian government, a palpable sense of pessimism lingered on Wednesday following Secretary of State Antony Blinken's discussions with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Egyptian insiders claim Blinken conveyed to the president and his foreign minister a stark message: from the U.S. vantage point, this current round of talks might well be the last indirect engagement between Israel and Hamas. The urgency was clear – reaching a conclusive agreement is paramount, and the sponsors, Egypt and Qatar, must persuade both Hamas and Israel to embrace the American proposal without adding complications.

That said, the narrative is not entirely bleak. Arab media outlets, including the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, report a different tone. Conversations with intelligence officials and members of el-Sisi's office suggest that "understandings have been reached that could pave the way for agreements with the Israeli side." As for the Palestinians, there is cautious optimism. "There could certainly be a positive shift, but negotiating with Sinwar is challenging," according to an official in Cairo. "We know Sinwar wants an agreement but remains steadfast in his conditions."

An Egyptian official, in dialogue with his U.S. counterparts, underscored a crucial stipulation: Should a deal be struck alongside the return of hostages, "Sinwar insists on guarantees for his safety and life," meaning Israel must commit to refraining from assassinating him post-agreement.

Sinwar, the Egyptian source clarified, delivers succinct and unequivocal messages, aware they will pass through many hands – Palestinian, American, and Egyptian – eventually reaching senior Israeli officials.

In terms of advancing negotiations, Cairo acknowledges the difficulties in jumpstarting talks, particularly since Haniyeh's assassination in Tehran and Sinwar's subsequent appointment as his successor. Hamas, lacking a dignified delegation for negotiations, has reportedly rejected the idea of sending representatives to Cairo alongside the Israeli delegation to facilitate message exchanges through senior Egyptian intelligence officials.

Simultaneously, Cairo firmly maintains its rejection of any proposal for an Israeli presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, a debate that lingers unresolved. The latest mediator proposal suggests installing underground surveillance facilities along the corridor, with Egypt constructing an iron barrier to thwart the smuggling of goods, including weapons and ammunition.


PBS’ Judy Woodruff apologizes for falsely telling live audience Trump tried to talk Israel out of cease-fire deal
A PBS senior correspondent apologized Wednesday after falsely telling her audience that former President Donald Trump tried to talk Israel out of a cease-fire amid its ongoing war in Gaza.

Judy Woodruff passed off blame for the blunder by “clarifying” that she based the flimsy scoop on outside reporting she had read before broadcasting from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago on Monday.

“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 that would help the Harris campaign,” Woodruff told a PBS roundtable.

“Who knows whether that will come about or not, but I have to think that the Harris campaign would like for President Biden to do what presidents do, which is work on that one.”

Woodruff caught plenty of flak online for the comment — overwhelmingly from those who pointed out that the rumors she was citing were proved false days before she regurgitated them live on air.

On Wednesday, the former “NewsHour” host said she wanted to “clarify” the remarks she made about the ongoing cease-fire talks.

“As I said, this was not based on my original reporting; I was referring to reports I had read, in Axios and Reuters, about former President Trump having spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister,” Woodruff wrote on X.

“In the live TV moment, I repeated the story because I hadn’t seen later reporting that both sides denied it. This was a mistake and I apologize for it.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told the Jerusalem Post Wednesday that Woodruff’s statements were a “complete lie.”

The Axios story Woodruff was referring to was published Aug. 14 and cited two sources who claimed Trump, 78, spoke on the phone with Netanyahu, 74, about the Gaza hostage and cease-fire deal.
Netanyahu: IAF ‘iron fist’ can hit enemies’ ‘soft underbelly’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the Israeli Air Force was prepared for “any scenario,” whether offensive or defensive, near or far.

During a visit to the Ramat David Airbase in the north’s Jezreel Valley, Netanyahu said, “The Air Force is our iron fist which knows how to hit the soft underbelly of our enemies. The ground crews, pilots and commanders here are doing heroic work. They have proven this time and again and if we need to—we will prove it again even more vigorously,” Netanyahu continued.

The prime minister met with IAF Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Omer Tischler, Air Defense Array Commander Brig. Gen. Gilad Biran and other senior Air Force officers, commanders, air crews, operators and technical crews during his visit.

Netanyahu was accompanied by his chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, military secretary, Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman and spokesperson, Omer Dostri.

The Israeli premier viewed an exhibition of combat systems at the base, including attack helicopters and jets. He was also shown both offensive and defensive capabilities.

IAF fighter jets have conducted thousands of sorties in Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere in the region over more than 10 months of war.

During a meeting with the families of Hamas hostages and fallen soldiers on Tuesday, Netanyahu stressed that Israel will continue to press for a truce deal that will free as many living hostages as possible while retaining security control over key areas of Gaza.
Gallant: Hamas’s Rafah brigade has been defeated
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared on Wednesday during a visit to the Gaza-Egypt border that the IDF has achieved victory over Hamas’s Rafah brigade.

“I came here first and foremost to express my appreciation [to the soldiers]. The Rafah brigade was defeated by the IDF’s Division 162,” Gallant said at the Philadelphi Corridor, the 8.7-mile-long buffer zone captured by Israeli forces in May.

Since taking control of the area, the IDF has located and destroyed 150 terror tunnels, and Gallant instructed the forces to finish the destruction of the remaining tunnels, which Hamas used to smuggle weapons and materials from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula into the Gaza Strip.

“Out of the 150 tunnels that were destroyed, around 100 tunnels are in fact trenches dug using engineering tools above ground and then covered with a meter or two of dirt,” the minister said.

“I gave an immediate directive to the IDF to destroy the remaining tunnels. It is critical to remember the goals of the war and to achieve them—regarding Hamas, regarding the hostages [held by Hamas], and we also understand why we are looking toward the north,” Gallant continued.

The Rafah brigade and its four battalions—Yabna (south), east Rafah, Tel Sultan (west) and Shaboura (north)—was the terror group’s final functioning brigade, according to Israel military assessments.

Its defeat marks a major milestone in the war that began on Oct. 7 with Hamas’s mass invasion of southern Israel.
FDD Morning Brief | feat. Seth Frantzman (Aug. 21)
FDD Senior Vice President Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Seth Frantzman, Senior Middle East Correspondent and Analyst at The Jerusalem Post and an FDD adjunct fellow.




Explosive factories, 14 hours, and 40 arrested: IDF completes operations in Tulkarm
Three terrorists were killed, and laboratories producing explosives were destroyed by the IDF over the course of a 14-hour operation in Tulkarm, the military said on Thursday.

The IDF, Border Police, and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) completed a counter-terrorism operation in the Tulkarm area in the West Bank.

Throughout the operation, Israel Air Force (IAF) aircraft struck and killed three armed terrorists in the area, the IDF reported.

Additionally, soldiers from the Kfir Brigade, under the direction of the Shin Bet destroyed two laboratories producing explosives, while soldiers of the Duvdevan unit destroyed an apartment of a wanted individual while arresting another. The IDF also destroyed explosives planted along the side of the road.

A successful operation
IDF soldiers arrested more than 40 wanted individuals, confiscated approximately 15 weapons, and around NIS 60,000 in terrorist funds.

Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, over 4,850 wanted persons have been arrested, over 1,960 of them are associated with Hamas.


IDF launches ‘extensive’ strikes against Hezbollah in 10 areas of southern Lebanon
The IDF said Thursday that it carried out “extensive” airstrikes against Hezbollah terror group sites in southern Lebanon overnight, as the spiraling violence between the two sides showed no sign of losing momentum.

Attacks carried out by fighter jets targeted weapon depots, buildings used by Hezbollah and a rocket launcher, in 10 areas of southern Lebanon, according to an update from the military.

The widespread strikes come in response to a Hezbollah barrage of 50 rockets the previous day at the northern town of Katzrin that caused significant damage and wounded an Israeli man.

Meanwhile, rocket and drone alert sirens sounded in the border town of Kiryat Shmona and a number of other communities in the Galilee on Thursday morning. No injuries were reported.

The widespread IDF strikes also came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at Israel’s offensive capabilities in the north, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for a harsh response to the Hezbollah attack on Katzrin.

Most of the projectiles fired by Hezbollah were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, but several hit Katzrin, causing heavy damage to homes and injuring a man in his 30s.


Hamas considers targeting Israelis abroad following Haniyeh assassination—N12 report
Following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's political wing is reportedly considering targeting Israelis abroad, according to a report by N12.

Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, was killed on July 31, 2024, in Tehran, Iran, where he was attending the inauguration of Iran's new president.

Conflicting reports suggest that he was killed by a short-range projectile, however the Jerusalem Post independently confirmed that he was killed by a remotely detonated explosive device.

His death marked a significant escalation in the Israel-Hamas conflict, with Iran and Hamas blaming Israel for the attack.

The report indicated that it is still unclear whether Hamas will focus on tourists or high-ranking Israeli officials. Until now, this strategy has been primarily employed by Iranian and Hezbollah operatives, not by Hamas.
Turkish Ambassador Says Iran Should Make Israel ‘Fall to Its Knees’ With Response to Hamas Chief Killing
Iran’s plan to attack Israel in retaliation for the recent killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran should be harsh enough to force the Jewish state to “fall to its knees,” according to Turkey’s ambassador to Iran.

“Iran’s right to reply on this issue is reasonable,” Ambassador Hicabi Kırlangıç said in a new interview with Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. “We cannot tell Iran to be patient — ‘do not respond harshly; do not respond militarily.’ Iran seems determined on this issue, but we cannot predict how it will react. Time will tell.”

Kırlangıç was responding to a question regarding Turkey’s stance on whether and how Iran should respond to the assassination of Haniyeh, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s political chief and overall leader.

“We do not know if it will be a military response, but the biggest answer is to respond in a way that makes the attacking countries [Israel and its Western allies] retreat and fall to their knees, which of course is the responsibility of not only Iran but all the countries in the region,” the ambassador said.

Haniyeh was killed in an explosion in Iran’s capital city on July 31. Iran has accused Israel of carrying out the assassination and vowed revenge, which, according to experts and Western officials, will likely take the form of a direct strike on the Jewish state. The Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh’s death.

Iran is the chief international sponsor of Hamas, providing the terrorist group with weapons, funding, and training.

It is unclear when Iran will take action against Israel. On Tuesday, the spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an Iranian military force and internationally designated terrorist organization, revealed there could be a long wait.

“Time is in our favor, and the waiting period for this response could be long,” Alimohammad Naini said, according to Iranian state media. Naini added that “the enemy” should wait for a calculated response.
Reduction of US presence in Iraq likely to embolden Iranian axis, ISIS
One of President Biden’s final acts while in office might be to secure an agreement with Baghdad to remove U.S. forces from Iraq. Little covered by the media, American diplomats are working with Iraqis to arrange for a withdrawal, probably over the course of the next two years. Yaakov Lappin discussed the potentially dangerous consequences with the American security expert Bradley Bowman and the Israeli scholar of diplomacy Eytan Gilboa:
“The Islamic Republic of Iran wants the U.S. military out of the way,” Bowman stated. He explained that the U.S. presence in Iraq acts as a significant impediment to Tehran’s strategic objectives, which include exerting greater control over Baghdad and using supply lines to arm its proxies in next-door Syria, as well as Hizballah in Lebanon. “Iran would like to make Iraq like Lebanon, where Tehran uses its terror proxy to undermine national sovereignty and control government decisions,” he explained.

Gilboa also highlighted the strategic significance of the U.S. presence in Iraq, particularly in relation to Israel and other U.S. allies in the region. “Any move that strengthens Iran and its proxies harms Israel’s national security,” he stated.

Gilboa warned that if the U.S. withdraws, Iraq could become a failed state similar to Lebanon and Yemen, where Iranian-backed militias exert significant influence. “The American presence is a buffer that helps prevent the full takeover of Iraq by Iranian forces,” he explained. Gilboa questioned whether planners in Washington were thinking about the long-term consequences of such an action.
Tehran signals attack on Israel may not be imminent
Iranian officials are signaling this week that an attack on Israel may not be imminent, nearly a month after the targeted killing in Tehran of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Despite Jerusalem not claiming responsibility, the Islamic Republic vowed to avenge the assassination on in its soil with a strong response against Israel. However, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Tehran is tamping down its urgent rhetoric.

Examples of this potentially different approach cited by the newspaper include a Wednesday statement by the Iranian mission to the United Nations that any response “must be carefully calibrated” to avoid derailing ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has also suggested that an attack might not be coming in the near future. “Time is at our disposal,” Brig. Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini, the IRGC spokesman, said on Tuesday, according to local media. “And the waiting period for this response could be long.”

Domestic politics could play a role in wanting to avoid a regional war.

President Masoud Pezeshkian, who entered office on July 28, has pleaded with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to avoid a direct attack on Israel, warning that it could threaten his presidency and lead to devastation of Iran’s infrastructure, energy and economy, the London-based Iran International reported earlier this month.

Pezeshkian told the supreme leader that a harsh Israeli counterattack could lead to the collapse of the regime.


France rescues 29 crewmembers of oil tanker attacked in Red Sea
A French destroyer rescued 29 mariners from an oil tanker that came under repeated attack in the Red Sea, officials say, while also destroying a bomb-carrying drone boat in the area.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels are suspected to have carried out the assault on the Sounion. The attack, the most serious in the Red Sea in weeks, comes during a months-long campaign by Houthis that has disrupted a trade route through which $1 trillion in cargo typically passes each year. The Houthis say their attacks aim to support Gaza during the war between Israel and the Hamas terror group there.

The Sounion is now at anchor in the Red Sea and no longer drifting, the European Union’s Operation Aspides says. However, it wasn’t clear if the vessel was still ablaze. The vessel had been staffed by a crew of Filipinos and Russians.

Military officials did not name the French destroyer involved in the rescue.

In the attack yesterday, men on small boats first opened fire with small arms about 140 kilometers (90 miles) west of the rebel-held Yemeni port city of Hodeida, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.

Four projectiles also hit the ship, it added. It wasn’t immediately clear if that meant drones or missiles.

The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attacks, though it can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge their assaults. However, they did acknowledge US airstrikes in Hodeida that the American military’s Central Command said destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile and radar system.
Agam Goldstein-Almog: I Was a Captive of Hamas
Growing up in Kibbutz Kfar Aza next to Israel's border with Gaza meant a childhood that could be interrupted at any moment by sirens warning of a Hamas rocket attack. Sibling fights or quiet nights were instantly turned into a scramble for the nearest safe room. Hamas took control of Gaza a few months before I was born in 2007, so living in its shadow is all I have ever known. Having 15 seconds to run to safety might not be a common theme in childhood, but I convinced myself that it had made me stronger than kids from comfortable Tel Aviv.

Then came Oct. 7. Hamas terrorists charged into our home, shooting my father, Nadav, and sister, Yam. I was dragged out of the house together with my mother and two younger brothers and forced into a car to Gaza. I see my father's fading eyes when I close mine at night.

My Hamas guards hated me for being Jewish, so I was coerced into reciting Islamic prayers and made to wear a hijab. Six female hostages I met in a tunnel told me about men with guns who came into their shower rooms and touched their bodies. I was fortunate to be released, along with my family members, in a prisoner exchange after 51 days. But those six young women are still in captivity, held for more than 300 days.

One morning, my family was moved from our safe house to a school hall, filled largely with Gazan women and children. Then, in an instant, Hamas launched rockets, just meters away from us, from inside the school compound. The hall erupted in joy, and as the Gazans celebrated, I realized that Hamas had moved us there to serve as human shields.

Shortly before my family and I were released, a guard told us that, in the next war, Hamas would return to kill us. There would be no hostage-taking, no more dealmaking. When we were transferred to a Red Cross vehicle for our ride out of Gaza, a mob formed. The Gazans banged on the windows and screamed at us: Die, die, die.

On social media, I watched as the movement for a Gaza ceasefire sometimes devolves into full-throated support for Hamas and the hounding of Jews in public spaces. When American students chant in praise of Hamas terrorists "Al-Qassam, you make us proud," I'm reminded that many people still hate me.
‘Hamas beat me all over my body,' Noa Argamani says in first testimony on her captivity
“I had cuts on my head; they [Hamas] beat me all over my body,” said Noa Argamani. “No one came to give me medical help. Nobody. Until I was rescued.”

For the first time since being rescued from Hamas captivity in Gaza, Argamani, one of the symbols of the October 7 massacre, spoke of her experience. She met with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on Thursday and spoke of the horrors she went through.

“Every night, I was falling asleep and thinking, this may be the last night of my life,” she said in English at the meeting in Tokyo. “Until the moment I was [rescued]… I just did not believe that I’m still surviving.”

Argamani added that the fact that she made it to their meeting in Japan, “is a miracle.”

“And in this moment that I’m still sitting with you, it’s a miracle that I’m here. It’s a miracle because I survived October 7, and I survived this bombing, and I survived also the rescue,” Argamani said of the complicated release.

She added, “Avinatan, my boyfriend, is still there, and we need to bring them back before it’s going to be too late.”

Noa Argamani's captivity
Argamani was taken hostage during the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and rescued on June 8. The meeting, which also included Noa’s father, Yacov Argamani, and Israeli Ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen, focused on Noa recounting her experience as a hostage. Noa requested Japan’s help in securing the release of more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas. Kamikawa expressed her relief at Noa’s reunion with her family and emphasized Japan’s commitment to diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire and resolving the Gaza situation. Japan has not yet met with any Palestinian victims of the Israeli bombardment in Gaza.

On June 8, The IDF announced that they had successfully rescued Argamani during an operation in the heart of Nuseirat.

26-year-old Argamani was rescued alongside three other hostages: Almog Meir (21), Andrey Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Ziv (40). Miraculously, Argamani’s rescue fell on the same day as her father’s birthday.
Gunshot wounds found on bodies of all six recovered hostages despite reports that IDF strike killed them
The bodies of the six hostages recovered by the IDF from Khan Younis in southern Gaza earlier this week bear the marks of gunshot wounds, according to initial autopsy findings released Thursday.

According to The Times of Israel, IDF representatives showed the findings from the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute to the families of Alex Dancyg, Yagev Buchshtav, Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, and Avraham Munder on Thursday morning.

The findings are initial, and the IDF and health officials have not yet released the exact causes of deaths.

Hebrew language media initially claimed that four of the hostages whose bodies were recovered had suffocated to death after the IDF started a fire in their vicinity while attacking a nearby Hamas target, and Israeli news outlet Ynet claimed that at least some of the deceased had been killed in an IDF operation six months ago.

On Tuesday, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said: "The circumstances of their deaths are being investigated. When we summarise the findings we will present them to the families and then to the public.

"We know that the abductees were killed while our forces were in Khan Younis. The spaces were examined at the Forensic Medicine Institute, we will investigate and give an answer.”

He did not state whether they had been killed by Israeli forces.

The Abu Kabir Forensic Institute is also reportedly working to identify four more bodies found near the hostages, which are believed by the IDF to be those of terrorists. According to initial findings, there were no signs of gunshot wounds on their bodies.

During the IDF operation to retrieve the hostages’ bodies, fighters in the Paratroopers Brigade, 'Yahalom' Unit, and the 75th Battalion, along with ISA forces located a tunnel shaft leading to an underground tunnel route where the bodies of the hostages were discovered.


Pogrom at Kibbutz Be'eri: Jews Under Fire
This moving narrative describes not the shocking events of October 7, 2023, at Kibbutz Be'eri and other communities in Israel, but the massacre of eastern European Jews nearly 400 years earlier by Cossacks during the 1648 Khmelnitsky pogroms, in what is now Ukraine.

Although Jewish settlements in the greater Kievan Rus region, Ukraine and Crimea included, can be traced to the 8th -10th centuries, a record of pogroms took some time to emerge. Not limited to the Rus region, pogroms were widespread in middle ages Europe as a whole. In the Rhineland area, the First Crusade of 1096 led to mass slaughter of Jews who had settled there, and the same later in Palestine when the Crusaders arrived. In England, the York pogrom of 1190 resulted in the expulsion of Jews from the land for nearly 400 years.

The long and woeful history of eastern European pogroms: the massacre of innocent, peace-loving Jews in their small villages, their shtetls, commenced about a thousand years ago and continues today. Out of these pogroms came the words of Rabbeinu Gershom, who in the 10th century wrote in his work, Zechor Brit Avraham (Recall the Covenant of Abraham):
"Wounds, bruises, and fresh blows
are inflicted on the daughter of Israel
She is pained and embittered in a foreign land
hunted like a bird from Mt. Moriah."

The year 1391 witnessed the infamous Spanish pogrom in which Sephardic Jewish communities were destroyed, and those who refused to convert to Catholicism were murdered. By 1492, the date of final expulsion, there were few, if any, openly practising Jews left in Spain.

Nearly 400 years later, in 1881, a continuous four-year pogrom occurred in southern Russia, when thousands of shtetls with their Jewish occupants were eliminated. With numerous pogroms in between, some 40 years thereafter, between the years of 1918 and 1920, major pogroms were instigated throughout Ukraine, in which more than 250,000 Jews were murdered. The mass migration of Ashkenazi Jews from Ukraine and Russia to America can be traced to those events.

Only one day after Israel's declaration of Independence in 1948, "murderous hordes," like the Cossacks of before, once again sought to purge Jews in the region through an existential attack by five Arab armies. This time was different, however: the Jews had weapons and successfully fought back against the intended massacre.

In 2021 at the city of Lod, Israel, an intended pogrom of "violence and terror" by contemporary "murderous hordes" was attempted, but fortunately with limited success. In a repeat of history, and despite relocation to their ancestral homeland of Israel, Jews were forced once again to "barricade themselves in their homes in fear of the rampaging mobs while others chose to flee the city until calm was restored." Still, this was not yet the Be'eri pogrom of 2023.

Just as the Jewish community in the European diaspora was typified by the shtetl, so the early Jewish community in Israel was characterised by a kibbutz, again a little village, established by displaced Jews from Europe in the enduring concept of communal shtetls. Shtetls were located in foreign lands, among alien cultures but not seeking assimilation, and near people invariably hostile to Jews. In his earnest way, the Russian Zionist, Ze'ev Jabotinsky (1880-1940), described this situation: the Jew, he said, "is accustomed to living by a culture while another is inaccessible to him, and he has nowhere to go."

Notwithstanding their location within Israel, most kibbutzim are little different. Kibbutz Be'eri, for instance, is situated near Gaza -- home of jihadists determined to eradicate Jews from their promised land. Likewise, Kibbutz Nahal Oz is only some 900 yards from the Gaza border.
‘To the families of the hostages, I say be strong’
“I thought that I would never see the light of day again,” former Hamas captive Louis Har told JNS this week.

On Feb. 12, after 129 days in captivity, Har and Fernando Marman were freed from Gaza by Israeli forces in an overnight rescue operation.

Since his return, Har has campaigned tirelessly to help secure the release of the hostages still held by Hamas.

“Somehow, we manage to go on. Physically, I’m okay. I feel more tired, I have less energy than I used to. I almost never sleep. Too many thoughts and too many things to take care of,” said Har.

Some days are harder than others, he explained, but telling his story is an integral part of his recovery. The freed Israeli hostages Fernando Simon Marman, 60, left, and Louis Har, 70, from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak. Source: X.

On Oct. 6, Har slept at the Nir Yitzhak home of his girlfriend, Clara Marman. At around 6:30 the next morning, they heard rocket-alert sirens and rushed for safety.

“I told Clara, ‘Really? They’re ruining another Shabbat for us?’ We lived with [the rockets] for over 20 years, it became part of the routine. We entered the safe room with the impression we’d be out 15 minutes later at most,” he said.

Clara’s brother Fernando, sister Gabriela, niece Mia and their dog Bella were also at the home when Hamas launched the invasion. All five gathered in the safe room, nonchalantly keeping the door open and occasionally bringing in food and drinks from the kitchen.

Har remembers Clara boiling water for tea and bringing the cake she had baked ahead of the Simchat Torah holiday, which fell that Saturday.

“We turned the television on and saw that Hamas terrorists had infiltrated Sderot. They drove a white Toyota off-road vehicle and were shooting in all directions, just to kill. Then, we heard [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu declare that we were at war. The entire time the explosions went on. At one point, we saw black smoke emanating from the entrance to the kibbutz,” Har recounted.

Clara called Nir Yitzhak’s security coordinator, who told her that members of the civilian defense squad knew of the attack and were on the way.

“The entire civilian squad was murdered by Hamas. There was a fire with thick black smoke that was a decoy, part of an ambush. The squad rushed in that direction thinking a rocket had landed close to the entrance of the community. The terrorists were waiting and killed them all,” said Har.

“Obviously, we didn’t know that at the time,” he added.

“We received warnings from people on WhatsApp telling us there were terrorists yelling in Arabic and shooting in all directions inside the kibbutz,” he said, prompting them to properly secure themselves in the safe room.

“Then, we heard glass shattering; the terrorists had started breaking the windows. We understood they had entered our house. We heard them,” he continued. “They started shooting at the door, but didn’t hit us. When they broke through the door, they continued shooting in an upward direction while we were still on the floor. It saved us.”

All five pleaded for their lives. They were eventually driven out of the kibbutz in a White Toyota pick-up, which was caught on a surveillance camera at 11:22 a.m.
Multimedia tunnel exhibit in Boston offers ‘glimpse’ of experiences of hostages in Gaza
Some 1,200 people signed up to visit a multimedia tunnel exhibition on City Hall Plaza in Boston that simulates the experiences of hostages whom Hamas continues to hold underground in Gaza.

The exhibit, which ran for three days earlier this week and which B’nai B’rith International sponsored, was previously presented in Washington, D.C., and across Europe. Organizers plan to bring it to other cities.

The show was developed in “close coordination” with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and hostages released from Gaza in November. It “aimed to raise awareness of the suffering of the 109 who still remain in captivity, including eight Americans,” according to B’nai B’rith.

“The hostages were quickly forgotten. The posters of these hostages were quickly torn down as soon as they were put up,” said Daniel Mariaschin, CEO of B’nai B’rith whose cousin was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas, at the exhibit opening. “These hostages have been held in unimaginable deplorable conditions.”

“The objective of Hamas is to destroy the State of Israel,” Mariaschin added. “That glimpse that we had in the beginning on Oct. 7, similar to what was seen every day for six years in the Holocaust, was indeed reminiscent of all the other attempts in history that have been made to erase our people and to erase the State of Israel.”

“We wanted to increase awareness and amplify visibility of the hostages,” Douglas Hauer-Gilad, an organizer of the exhibit, told JNS.

“Time is of the essence,” the Boston lawyer added. “We need to bring the hostages home now.”


UKLFI Charitable Trust: Defending Israel from ‘Lawfare’, with Natasha Hausdorff
Natasha Hausdorff at the Menachem Begin Heritage Centre, in Jerusalem, in conversation with senior fellow Paul Gross.


'Enemies Within' – Jews who betray their own people with Yisrael Medad
The phenomenon of Jews turning on their own people is not new but it can be severely damaging.

What is the explanation behind the hate?

Yisrael Medad is a columnist for the JPost, JNS and other outlets.

He has served as an aide and advisor to several ministers and Knesset members. He was Director of Educational Programming at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center and a member of the Betar World Executive.


I AM RAPAPORT_ STEREO PODCAST: EP 1,152 - John Spencer (Chair of Urban Warfare Studies of Modern War Institute at West Point) on Being In Khan Yunis, 400 Miles of Tunnels In Gaza, Where Is Sinwar?
This is The Zone of Disruption! This is the I AM RAPAPORT: STEREO PODCAST! His name is Michael Rapaport aka The Gringo Mandingo aka The Charles Oakley of The Jews, The Monster of Mucous aka Captain Colitis aka The Disruptive Warrior aka Mr. NY aka The Inflamed Ashkenazi aka The Smiling Sultan of Sniff aka The Flat Footed Phenom aka Mitzvah Mike is here from New York to discuss: Being in Khan Yunis, 400 Miles of Tunnels & the information IDF had, finding & recovering hostage bodies from Gaza, casualty numbers being reported, misinformation & differences in Urban Warfare, where is Sinwar?, Hamas using human shields, what does winning the war look like for both sides?, Iran, why must Israel exist? & a whole lotta mo'. This episode is not to be missed!


‘Show what ABC won’t’: Gaza ‘culture’ shocks Australians amid visa turmoil
Sky News host Andrew Bolt presents the unseen footage from mosques, TVs and musicals out of terrorist-run Gaza to shed light on the “culture” the refugees come from.

“The Albanese government is in such amazing denial about terrorist-run Gaza, about the danger of taking in nearly 3,000 refugees from there without proper checks,” Mr Bolt said.

“So tonight, I want to show you what the ABC won’t, what other commercial stations don’t and what I would bet 90 per cent of Albanese government’s politicians have never seen.”


Israelis have been ‘tortured’ since the ‘horrific’ events of October 7
AIJAC Executive Manager Joel Burnie discusses how the prolonged imprisonment of Israeli hostages has weighed on the nation.

“This has tortured the nation of Israel since the horrific events of October 7,” Mr Burnie told Sky News host Gabriella Power.

“On a daily basis, they [Israelis] are consistently traumatised and tortured with not knowing exactly what is going on with these poor hostages.”


Calls for ‘thorough review’ into Palestinian visas
Sky News host Sharri Markson has called for a “thorough review” of all visas issued to those leaving Gaza.

“What’s needed is a thorough review of all visas issued to ensure the recipients are genuine refugees and don’t pose a security risk to Australia,” Ms Markson said.

“Albanese is out of his depth; he is risking national security and he’s putting community safety on the line.”


The Israel Guys: Here’s the Real Story of What’s Happening in Gaza | Interview with a Combat IDF Soldier
How can the IDF tell the difference between who’s a civilian and who’s not? And what's the perspective of the IDF soldiers on the day after the war! Today, we’re joined by IDF soldier Gideon Israel, just back from reserve duty in Gaza. He’s seen it all, and he’s here to give us the truth from a firsthand perspective. Stay tuned as we uncover what’s really happening on the ground.


‘Horrific, terrible Hamas supporters’ protest outside the DNC
Filmmaker Ami Horowitz discusses the violent protests taking place outside the Democratic National Convention

“There’s no good vibes, there’s no joy amongst these people,” Mr Horowitz told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

“These are horrific, terrible, Hamas terrorist supporting people.

“These are not people who are going to get Kamala’s support, despite she is kowtowing to them.

“They can try to bend the knee as much as they want to these animals, they are simply not going to support them [Democrats].”


travelingisrael: HasanAbi made a Video about Me! (Free Palestine? No Thanks!)

Exploding Jewish athlete video causes Canada's largest union to ask VP to resign
Canada’s largest union called on its vice president to resign on Tuesday after he published a video on social media of a Jewish Olympic diver turning into an exploding bomb, according to union members, politicians, and Jewish organizations.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees’ (CUPE) National Executive Board passed a resolution on Tuesday calling for General Vice President and Ontario CUPE President Fred Hahn to resign and was waiting for his response, CUPE said in a Wednesday letter to members.

“The National Executive Board has lost confidence in the ability of Fred Hahn to represent the national union in his role as General Vice President, and consequently calls for his resignation from that position,” the motion said according to the letter.

CUPE said that the move followed Hahn’s Aug. 11 Facebook post depicting a Paris Olympics athlete with a Star of David tattoo turning into a bomb and exploding as he dove into a pool.

Hahn deleted the video and said in a Sunday social media post that he regretted the painful reaction it caused for some viewers, explaining that he had intended to call to attention a double standard in which the Russian Federation was barred from competing but the State of Israel had been permitted.

“My intent was never to associate Jewish people with the violence enacted by the state of Israel. It remains my strongly held view that it is a terrible mistake, and antisemitic, to conflate abhorrent actions by the state of Israel with Jewish humanity or identity,” said Hahn.

“The horrors that continue to unfold in Gaza and the ongoing colonization of the West Bank are deeply troubling and continue to cause so much anguish and pain for so many. Our collective focus should be on the unfolding genocide, on the continued contravention of international law by the state of Israeli -- not on me or my social media posts.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said in response to the statement on Tuesday that Hahn hadn’t truly apologized as he had said that he regretted the reaction of viewers. CIJA said that he had shared the video without consideration of impact to imply “Jews are killers.” On Wednesday it praised CUPE for its response and called on Hahn “to resign immediately for his blatant antisemitism.”

Ontario Labor Minister David Piccini confronted Hahn in a video he published on Tuesday, telling him that he was not representing working and had to “stop hating on Jews.” Hahn accused Piccini of engaging in a publicity stunt, and said that he opposed Israel’s actions, not Jews.

At a Wednesday press conference at a St. Catherine’s shipyard, Ontario Premier Doug Ford Praised Piccini and called on CUPE to discipline the “disgusting” Hahn. Ford later that day took to X applauded CUPE for asking Hahn to resign. Ford said during the press conference that many CUPE members had contacted the premier to complain about Hahn.

A Vineland, Ontario CUPE branch for developmental support Workers, recreation, maintenance and cleaning staff on Wednesday said on X that Hahn’s statements were “harmful, hurtful and divisive” and his stance on the Israel-Hamas War did “not reflect the opinions of our local nor the spirit of our union.”




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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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