Friday, August 23, 2024

08/23 Links Pt1: Hamas alone is to blame for the deaths of the hostages; UKLFI: Unravelling the ICJ Advisory Opinions; Danny Danon: UNSC Palestinian rep just ‘A terrorist in a suit!’

From Ian:

Brendan O'Neill: Hamas alone is to blame for the deaths of the hostages
The dire fate of the six innocents is an indictment of one thing: the barbarism of Hamas. Two of the men, Haim Peri and Yoram Metzger, were 80 years old. Eighty. What kind of lowlife kidnaps elderly, vulnerable people and forces them into the cold and black of a terrorist dungeon? Another of the men, Avraham Munder, was 79. Then there was Alexander Dancyg, aged 75. These four ageing Jews were all seized from the Nir Oz kibbutz on 7 October by the young, heavily armed racists of Hamas. To compel the frail to become players in your demented war games is ISIS levels of cruelty and depravity.

Then there was Yagev Buchshtab, just 35, cut down in his prime as a result of Hamas’s warmongering. And Nadav Popplewell, 51, who was a British-Israeli. Born in Wakefield. A Yorkshireman who later made his home in the Israeli border town of Nirim. How shameful that British leftists and liberals showed no solidarity with Mr Popplewell upon his death in the captivity of fascists. Not so much as a squeak of anger or sorrow from our self-styled ‘anti-fascist’ movers and shakers following the discovery of the body of a Yorkshire Jew 10 months after he was seized from his home by a movement devoted to killing Jews.

The culpability for the horror in Khan Younis belongs entirely to Hamas. Yes, the exact cause of death is yet to be established. But we know, with not a shred of doubt, the cause of the situation. The cause of the savagery these men found themselves swirled up in. The cause of the hell that enveloped them. It was Hamas’s conscious decision to start a war with Israel. And its calculation that seizing Jews might work to its military benefit. And its deliberate placing of these men in one of its terror caverns in Khan Younis. These men are dead because of the Jew-hate of Hamas.

Western observers’ weird reluctance to discuss Hamas’s responsibility for these six deaths – and their instinct instead to wonder if mad Israel did it – is of a piece with how the whole war is being talked about now. Hamas is constantly invisibilised. That it started the war, and is still fighting it by firing rockets into Israel and bullets into IDF soldiers, is all but memory-holed in the media coverage. Even Hamas’s continued criminal internment of Israeli civilians is turned back on Israel by the Israelophobic press: ‘Don’t do anything that might harm the hostages’, observers bark at Israel, rather than interrogating the depth of depravity Hamas has clearly reached to be able to hold Jewish innocents of all ages for such a long time.

We are witnessing a kind of unwitting absolution of Hamas. It seems the West’s cultural elite, drunk on woke, can only interpret this war through the warping prism of identity politics. So ‘white’ Israel is seen as the only true, conscious actor in the war, while ‘brown’ Hamas are the victims, or at least hapless players whose actions are not worth dwelling on for long. In this twisted vision, Israel acts, Palestine is acted upon – even though it was Hamas’s acting upon Israel on 7 October that started the entire thing. It’s time to stop blaming Israel for everything. It’s time to talk about Hamas’s culpability. It’s time to give evil its due.
Seth Frantzman: Iran cannot be allowed to make this state of alert the new normal
Both Hezbollah and Iran have tried to carve out this new normal of threatening Israel with escalation, when in fact it is Iran and Hezbollah that started this war. Iran backs Hamas and supported the October 7 attack. Haniyeh celebrated that attack publicly in Doha where he was living with Hamas leaders. He prayed and pointed to a television screen on that dark day in a video then posted online, in which he and other Hamas men smiled as they watched the massacre unfolding in Israel.

Hezbollah began to attack Israel on October 8, the day after the Hamas attack. It has since carried out more than 7,500 rocket attacks on Israel and launched more than 200 drone attacks.

The drone attacks have become increasingly deadly. IDF chief warrant officer Mahmood Amaria was killed on August 19 in a Hezbollah drone attack on Ya’ara in northern Israel. He is the latest casualty of Hezbollah’s endless war on Israel.

However, it’s worth remembering that Hezbollah also massacred 12 children in an attack on Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights in July. It was that attack that precipitated Israel’s retaliation, which killed Shukr in Beirut.

Israel has been living under a cloud after October 7. The size of the Hamas attack and its unprecedented death toll has led to a recalibration in the region. Hezbollah, which was wary of attacking Israel, used October 7 as an excuse to open the floodgates of rocket attacks. Iran has also prodded the Houthis in Yemen to attack ships. Iran and its proxies’ goal is to test the resolve of Israel and its allies. Israel faces so many threats on so many fronts today that it has not been able to deter them all. Iran senses this and this is why it has tried to make these kinds of attacks, modelled on the April attack using drones and missiles, the new norm.

For Israel this new situation is not acceptable. Israel has known since the 1950s that it must deter enemies and not be drawn into long wars of attrition. Israel has a hi-tech economy and is closely linked to the West. While Iran and its proxies don’t mind being bankrupt and destroying countries such as Lebanon or Yemen, Israel does not want its economy to suffer.

Israel has more to lose in these confrontations. Iran knows this. It knows that it can threaten and then wait. This waiting game is not in Israel’s interest, or in the interest of Israel’s allies.

The first two weeks of August illustrate the challenge Israel faces. As the one-year anniversary of October 7 approaches, it is important to understand that Israel must not be drawn into a war of attrition in the region where Iran can dictate the tempo. Iran has been dictating the tempo for much of 2024.

The death of Haniyeh was a setback for the Iranian axis. However, Haniyeh reaped what he sowed and Iran knows this. Iran used his death as an excuse to threaten Israel and then it climbed down from the threats to try to keep the region on edge. It’s time for the Middle East and Israel to stop living by Iran’s clockwork.
The new leaders of the Free World
On August 5, Sergei Shoigu, one of Russia’s top military figures, arrived in Tehran for formal meetings, where he promised his country’s “full cooperation” with Iran. His visit coincided with Russian deliveries of radar and air-defense technology that would help Iran to defend against a possible Israeli attack. In Avigdor Haselkorn’s view, these gestures of support reflect an ever-closer alliance among Russia, Iran, Syria, and North Korea:
A good example of the operation of this radical entente came on Sunday, August 11, 2024, when Moscow launched drone and missile attacks against the Kyiv region. According to Mykola Oleshchuk, the Ukrainian air-force commander, the Russians employed, among other weapons, North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles and Iran-made Shahed kamikaze drones.

On January 8, 2024, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) of South Korea verified that Hamas had been using weapons from North Korea in its war with Israel in Gaza. The NIS released a photo of a North Korean F-7 rocket-propelled grenade with Korean letters inscribed on it. In addition, Israeli forces operating in Gaza had reportedly found North Korean Bang-122 artillery shells and 122mm multiple-rocket launchers.

Haselkorn argues that Israel’s current situation must be seen in light of these global alignments:
A serious U.S. undertaking would . . . seek to take advantage of the Ukrainian offensive against Russia to undermine the entente and reshape the global power balance. To this end, it would give Israel the green light simultaneously to launch an offensive to remove the Hizballah threat on Israel’s northern border. Both Russia and Iran would be put under pressure. Iran’s ability to assist Russia would be curtailed given that its main strategic asset in the region—Hizballah—was being hammered and in need of support, which will aid Ukraine—Biden’s core interest.

In turn, the greater Ukraine’s battlefield successes, the more Russia’s ability to help Iran comes into question and the stronger would be the mullahs’ disincentives to intervene to rescue their Lebanese proxy.


‘A terrorist in a suit!’: Danny Danon hits out at Palestinian rep in UNSC confrontation
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon accused the Palestinian representative, Riyad Mansour, of platforming Hamas in addition to the Palestinian Authority at Thursday night’s UN Security Council meeting after the representative accused Israel of committing genocide.

After Mansour told the council “Israel is committing genocide,” Danon responded by telling the representative “If you cannot condemn Hamas, you are one of them. You are a terrorist in a suit!”

The confrontation occurred at the UNSC meeting to discuss the ongoing escalations in the Middle East. It came amid Danon’s first address before the council since he returned to the role.

“I see the Representative of the Palestinian Authority is still here. You have been sitting in that chair for twenty years,” Danon’s speech began. “You have spent two decades in this place proposing resolutions which accomplish nothing but hatred and violence while claiming to be an advocate for peace.

“But I want to clarify an important point, and I demand an answer: Mr. Mansour, who do you represent here today? Do you represent the Hamas Terror Organization?

“Since October 7, you have delivered hundreds of speeches – yet you have never uttered anything even resembling a condemnation of Hamas.

“Mr. Mansour, if you cannot condemn them, you are one of them! You do not represent the Palestinian people. You are a terrorist in a suit!”


ICC prosecutor urges judges to urgently rule on warrants for Israeli, Hamas officials
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court stressed the court had jurisdiction to investigate Israeli nationals and asked judges to urgently decide on arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister Yoav Gallant.

In court filings made public Friday, prosecutor Karim Khan urged judges weighing the arrest warrants sought against Israeli officials and Hamas leaders to not delay.

"Any unjustified delay in these proceedings detrimentally

affects the rights of victims," he said.

Khan stressed that the court had jurisdiction over Israeli nationals who commit atrocity crimes in the Palestinian territories and asked the judges to dismiss legal challenges filed by several dozen governments and other parties.

"It is settled law that the court has jurisdiction in this situation," the filing said, dismissing legal arguments based on provisions in the Oslo accords and assertions by Israel that it is carrying out its own investigations into alleged war crimes.

Seeking a case against Netanyahu and Gallant
ICC prosecutors say there are reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, military chief Mohammed Al-Masri, and another Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, bear criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran late July. The cou
JNS poll: 84% of Israelis say ICC a political body
Eighty-four percent of Israelis believe that the International Criminal Court is a political body, not a legal one, according to a new JNS poll. Twelve percent disagreed, while 5% of respondents had no opinion.

Respondents were asked a series of questions regarding their assessment of the ICC and how best to handle its actions against Israel, its security forces and its political leaders.

In recent weeks, the IDF’s Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi opened criminal probes against IDF soldiers for alleged improper treatment of Hamas terrorists in Israeli military jails.

State Prosecutor Amit Eisman also opened investigations against two popular singers for saying that Gaza must be destroyed following Oct. 7. Their actions fomented a public uproar.

Both the Military Advocate General’s Unit and the State Prosecution have defended their actions by insisting that they help Israel defend itself before the ICC, whose prosecutor seeks international arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

JNS asked what the public thinks about Tomer-Yerushalmi’s claim that arresting IDF soldiers for allegedly mistreating detained Hamas terrorists shows that Israel is serious about dealing with violations of the laws of war and so protects IDF soldiers and commanders from international tribunals.

Asked whether these arrests were beneficial to Israel, 23% percent of respondents said that they were very helpful, 15% said they were somewhat helpful and 13% said that they would have no impact. Thirty-four percent said they believed the arrests were very harmful to Israel, 13% believed they were somewhat harmful, while 2% had no opinion.
UKLFI: Unravelling the ICJ Advisory Opinions
This is a recording of a UKLFI Charitable Trust webinar, Unravelling the ICJ Advisory Opinions, with Natasha Hausdorff and Olivia Flasch , held on Thursday 22 August.

On 19 July 2024, the Judges of the International Court of Justice gave their advisory opinions in the case titled “Legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”.

Although the opinions are not binding and were given on the basis of documents provided by the UN of dubious accuracy and without hearing arguments in support of Israel, opponents of Israel regard them as putting wind in the sails of the BDS movement.

Apart from the main opinion, there were 14 separate opinions or declarations of the various judges. In fact there were only two judges, Bhandari and Sebutinde, who did not provide two or more opinions.

The Court’s Vice President, Sebutinde, dissented entirely from the main opinion. Three other judges dissented from the most serious conclusions, that Israel’s continued presence anywhere in the Gaza Strip, West Bank or East Jerusalem is unlawful and must be ended by Israel as rapidly as possible.

Moreover, many aspects of the majority Opinion are ambiguous and difficult to reconcile with other opinions by the same judges in this case, let alone with other cases and the facts.

In this webinar, international law experts, Natasha Hausdorff and Olivia Flasch, will seek to elucidate what happened in the case and its implications.




Reports of ‘near collapse’ of Cairo negotiations untrue, Kirby says
Discussions between Israel and Hamas in Cairo have been “constructive” and ongoing, and media reports of a “near collapse” of negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal are inaccurate, John Kirby told reporters during a 30-minute call on Friday.

“The process is actually moving forward. It’s moving forward in the way we had outlined earlier in terms of these next rounds of talks,” the White House national security communications advisor said. “What’s critical is that everybody participate in these talks, and that the sides continue to work towards implementation.”

Asked about reports in Arabic media, which cited anonymous Egyptian officials, that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had set his own protection as a precondition for a deal, Kirby said he had no confirmation of the reports.

The White House adviser also addressed the threat that Iran has made to attack the Jewish state.

“We’re not taking anything for granted,” Kirby said.
Egypt to hand Hamas a proposal for Philadelphi and Rafah
Egypt is expected to hand Hamas a new proposal with respect to the Philadelphi Corridor and its Rafah Crossing, a source told The Jerusalem Post on Friday after an Israeli delegation returned from Cairo.

The delegation headed by Mossad chief David Barnea, Mossad's David Barnea, Shin Bet's Ronen Bar and Major-General Eliezer Toledano were in Cairo on Thursday to help narrow the gaps on issues relating to the critical buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza, under which Hamas had smuggled weapons into the enclave, the source explained.

Israel hopes to resolve the issue of Philadelphi before it returns on Sunday for a high-level summit on Sunday that would led by US CIA Director William Burns.

US special envoy Brett McGurk and Burns were already in Cairo holding talks Friday in advance of that high-level summit which the US has described that summit as end-game negotiations to finalize a deal to secure the release of 109 hostages and end the ten-month Gaza war.

The Israeli delegation on Thursday brought maps and proposal to show how to secure that buffer zone.

Egypt, alongside Hamas, would also have to agree to any proposal with regard to Philadelphi since the corridor borders its territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the IDF must maintain a presence on that border so it can prevent Hamas from rearming.
Vital to have Israeli presence on Philadelphi Corridor
The Israeli military presence along the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt is essential to ensure that Hamas and the other terror organizations face considerable difficulties in their efforts to reconstruct and resupply the enormous terror enterprise they had built in the Gaza Strip.

Keeping the border closed will hamper their ability to smuggle the weaponry and the other means of warfare, personnel and even vehicles and funds that Hamas and Islamic Jihad previously brought from Egypt through the vast network of tunnels they constructed under the corridor, through the Rafah border crossing itself, and via other routes.

After identifying 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 Israel Defense Forces 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 immediately thwarted.

Clearly, on the day the shooting stops, the Gaza terror organizations will launch a gigantic effort to smuggle weapons into the Strip, and the more the Israeli presence along their vital artery shrinks, the easier it will be for them. The chances that Egyptian, Arab, international or Palestinian Authority forces would effectively meet the challenge are paltry. This idea was tried in the past and failed miserably. There is no reason to believe that it will be different another time.

Before the 2005 disengagement from the Strip, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon argued that if Israel left the Philadelphi Corridor, the world would recognize the fact that Israel was no longer the occupying power in Gaza. It was explained to him that not only would that not happen, but evacuating the Philadelphi Corridor would enable the flood of enormous quantities of weapons.

Sharon insisted—and the gloomy forecasts materialized when a Palestinian mob tore down the wall, and vast numbers of weapons flowed to Rafah in front of the Egyptian soldiers who did not lift a finger.
Movement of US naval ships has ‘gotten into the headspace of Iran,’ Pentagon says
The movement of U.S. Navy assets to support the Jewish state and defend it, if necessary, from an attack from Tehran has gotten into Iran’s head, Sabrina Singh, the deputy Pentagon press secretary said at a Thursday briefing.

“We’ve moved capabilities into the region that I think it’s fair to say have gotten into the headspace of Iran and will influence their calculation on how and if they choose to respond,” Singh said. “We don’t want to see that happen, but we have two carrier strike groups there, each with four destroyers.”

“That sends a very powerful message of deterrence, and it also sends a message that we will stand with Israel should we need to come to their defense,” she added. “I don’t have a crystal ball to be able to forecast how long they’re going to be—stay there, only that I can tell you is that we are well postured should we need to come to the defense of Israel.”

Singh told reporters that the USS Abraham Lincoln, “equipped with F-35C aircraft,” came into the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility yesterday.

The Abe‘s movement is “part of broad adjustments to U.S. military posture in the region designed to improve U.S. force protection, increase support for the defense of Israel and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to a various range of contingencies,” Singh said.
US military asking contractors to help haul boats used in troubled Gaza pier mission back to the US
Roughly seven months after setting sail for the US military’s troubled temporary pier mission off the Gaza coast, three US Army boats are expected to have to be hauled back to the US by contracted civilian vessels behind schedule, raising more concern about the state of the Army watercraft at the center of a major effort to bring humanitarian aid into war-torn Gaza.

“[C]oordination is underway for the [landing craft utility ships] to be transported back on contracted Float-On/Float-Off vessels with an expected ETA of late-October,” Col. Mary Ricks, the spokesperson for the Army’s 18th Airborne Corps, told CNN on Wednesday. The military has not yet locked in a contract for that job, she added.

Three boats deployed in March for the mission: the US Army Vessels Monterrey, Matamoros, and Wilson Wharf. The Pentagon had previously said that all personnel and equipment used with the temporary pier — called the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS — were scheduled to be home by mid-September.

It’s unclear how much the contract to bring the vessels back will cost the military. A spokesperson for Military Sealift Command told CNN the contract is “currently in the procurement phase, which means it is out for competitive bids.”

Retired Marine Corps Col. Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the CSIS International Security Program, estimated that the contract would go for $300,000 per float-on/float-off vessel, which would be used to transport the three boats. The contract description says it is for “multiple awards up to two vessels or until the Government’s needs are met,” meaning it could come out to roughly $600,000 total if two vessels are required.

The pier was announced by President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address in March.
Like father, like son
After seven months fighting Hamas terrorists in Gaza with his elite military reserve unit, 32-year-old Eyal Ghanam is now heading to the country’s volatile northern border for a two-month stint.

For Ghanam, a member of Israel’s small and strongly patriotic Druze community, military service runs deep in the family; his father’s 25-year Israel Defense Forces career saw him rise to become infantry brigade commander of the northern Gaza Strip before Israel’s unilateral pullout from the coastal territory two decades ago. He then served as an Israeli military attaché in Europe.

The native Arabic speaker says he is astounded by the inversions being played out internationally regarding Israel’s war against Hamas, now in its 11th month.

“As someone who served in combat, I don’t need the world and the media to tell me what’s wrong and what’s right,” Ghanam told JNS in an interview at his home in northern Israel. “I saw everything with my own eyes—how the Israelis and the Jews would in every single operation work to minimize the casualties even at risk to ourselves.”

Israel, he said, “is the only place in the Middle East fighting the Western war against Shariah [Islamic] law,” he added in English. “What is not to get about that?”

From Bucharest to the IDF
Two decades and a lifetime away, the younger Ghanam was at an international school in Bucharest while his father was capping his career as Israel’s military attaché to Romania, Ukraine and Bulgaria. He then made the abrupt switch, along with his older brother, to a boarding school in the northern Israeli city of Acre run by the Israeli Navy.

“We went from the sons of a diplomat, with bodyguards, to full military life, getting up at 6 a.m., in uniform, saluting the flag and working out,” he recalled. Eyal GhanamEyal Ghanam. Credit: Courtesy.

But this kind of life, he found, suited him, leading him to enlist in the “most combat unit possible,” which for him meant the Givati Reconnaissance Brigade.

“Because of my father’s service, we saw in the military a source of inspiration,” he explained. “From as long as I know myself, he educated us to give to the country and contribute,” ticking off all his family members, including his grandfather, an uncle and three brothers, who served in the military or the police, as well as an uncle who fell in battle.
IDF destroys kilometer-long Hamas terror tunnel in Rafah, finds explosives, blast doors
The IDF dismantled a one-kilometer-long Hamas terror tunnel in the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip, the IDF reported on Friday midday.

Soldiers from the Southern Gaza Brigade, together with Combat Engineering Unit and Yahalom Unit soldiers located and destroyed a Hamas attack tunnel route in the Rafah area.

The IDF further reported that in the past few weeks, the Hamas terror tunnel was investigated and explosives, electrical infrastructure, and blast doors were discovered along the tunnel.

Evidence of use of the terror tunnel
According to the IDF, on August 11, Observer soldiers from the Gaza Division identified a Hamas terrorist cell that emerged out of the tunnel shaft in the Rafah area to attack IDF soldiers.

The incident provided the IDF with evidence of ongoing terrorist activities in the area and continued use of underground facilities in the Gaza Strip, the report noted.

The IDF added that following the identification of the terrorist cell emerging from the tunnel, IAF aircraft, directed by the Southern Gaza Brigade’s fire control center, eliminated the terrorists.


IDF reservist killed, others wounded by explosive device in Gaza City
A reserve soldier was killed and several others were wounded Friday morning by an explosive device set off by Hamas operatives in Gaza City, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The slain soldier was named as Sgt. First Class (res.) Evyatar Atuar, 24, of the Jerusalem Brigade’s 6310th Battalion, from Rosh Haayin.

The Jerusalem Brigade in recent days had been carrying out an operation in Gaza City’s southern neighborhood of Zeitoun, to expand the military’s Netzarim Corridor.

The Netzarim Corridor is built around a road south of Gaza City, enabling the IDF to carry out raids in northern and central Gaza while allowing Israel to control access to the north for Palestinians seeking to return after fleeing south. It also enables Israel to coordinate deliveries of humanitarian aid directly to northern Gaza.

According to an initial IDF probe, the reservists reached a building in Zeitoun and began to search it. As four soldiers from the force entered the structure, an explosive device planted on the outer wall of the building exploded.

The blast hurt those standing outside the building, not those inside. At least four other soldiers were seriously wounded, and another three were moderately hurt, according to the IDF.

The military believed that Hamas operatives had set up a camera at the building and then detonated the bomb upon identifying troops in the area.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip now stands at 337.


IAF kills multiple Hezbollah terrorists across Lebanon after rockets invade Israel's North
The IAF eliminated Hezbollah terrorist Muhammad Mahmoud Negm, who was responsible for firing rockets toward the area of Malkia, in an airstrike, the IDF reported on Friday midday. Arab media reports added that as many as eight other Hezbollah agents were killed in other strikes.

Negm was eliminated after he launched several projectiles from Lebanon into Israel, most of which fell in open areas in the Upper Galilee with no injuries or wounded reported.

The IAF struck Negm in the area of Aita El Zot. He was a key member of Hezbollah’s Rocket and Missile Unit.

Other terrorists eliminated
Additionally, IDF soldiers identified another Hezbollah terrorist launching rockets toward the area of Yiftah early Friday. In response, IAF struck the Hezbollah terrorist and an adjacent terror military structure in the area of Meiss El Jabal, killing the terrorist and destroying the structure.

The IDF further reported that another Hezbollah terrorist associated with the rockets launched toward Malkia was eliminated in the area of Aitaroun in Lebanon.

In a report on Friday evening, the IDF confirmed the elimination of another Hezbollah terrorist in the area of Tyre. In addition to killing the terrorist Saeed Mahmoud Daeb, from Hezbollah's Rocket and Missile Unit, IAF struck the launcher from which approximately 40 rockers were fired toward the area of Safed on Friday.

No injured, wounded, or damage was reported in Israel following the rocket barrage.


'Made everyone feel at home': Yoram Metzger laid to rest and commemorated by Kibbutz Nir Oz
Yoram Metzger, who was killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip and his body recently returned to Israel by the IDF, was laid to rest on Thursday, Israeli media reported.

Metzger, a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was the father of three and grandfather of seven. He was kidnapped on October 7 with his wife, who was released in the November hostage deal.

Kibbutz Nir Oz was cited by Israeli media as writing, "We are filled with heavy sorrow over the murder of Yoram Metzger by Hamas in Gaza after he suffered physical and mental torture for months...Yoram will be remembered in our hearts as a pleasant and smiling man who always made everyone feel at home."


'Chained slave-wife': Hamas forced former hostage to wear a hijab, say Islamic prayers
Former hostage Agam Goldstein-Almog wrote about the abuse and antisemitism she was subjected to while in Hamas captivity and online upon her release, in an opinion piece published by the Washington Post on Wednesday.

Goldstein-Almog was released in November as part of a ceasefire-hostage deal.

Born in 2007, the young Goldstein-Almog grew up next to the Gaza Strip in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. On October 7, terrorists charged her home and killed her father and sister - taking her, her mother, and her two younger brothers hostage.

Goldstein-Almog described how shortly after she arrived in Gaza, a crowd of young people surrounded her - "They smiled and laughed as I wept," she wrote.

She went on to explain that her captors and those who laughed at her exhibited a baseless hatred "for all that I am and all I am not."

"My Hamas guards hated me for being Jewish, so I was coerced into reciting Islamic prayers and made to wear a hijab," she wrote. "I was forbidden from mourning my father and sister and often ordered to look down at the ground."

While being held in a terror tunnel, Goldstein-Almog said that she came across six fellow female hostages. The hostages told her how they were molested by armed men who entered a room where they were showering.

It was soon after this that a guard told Goldstein-Almog that she would "live the rest of my life as a chained slave-wife" in Gaza and that he would find her a husband there. Standing up to the terrorist, Goldstein-Almog said her mother interrupted the conversation and deflected his advances on her young 17-year-old daughter.


FDD Morning Brief | feat. Andrew Fox (Aug. 23)
FDD Senior Vice President Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Major (Ret.) Andrew Fox, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society.




The Israel Guys: This Man is on Israel’s Number One Target List | And He’s Begging for His Life…
Israel’s most wanted terrorist target, Yahya Sinwar, a man who could rival Adolf Hitler given enough time and power, is now running like a rat in a sewer, whilst simultaneously begging Israel for his life.

After all of his friends and high-ranking fellow terrorist leaders were eliminated by Israel, Sinwar is basically the only senior Hamas terrorist left, and is believed to be hiding out somewhere deep beneath the Gaza Strip.

Israel however, is closer than ever to catching him, and when they do, it will likely spell the end for this brutal and barbaric terrorist group. Let’s get into all of the details.




Federalist Radio Hour: Holding Antisemite Campus Protesters Accountable
Hosted by Emily Jashinsky
Attorney Daniel Suhr of Hughes and Suhr LLC joins Federalist Senior Elections Correspondent Matt Kittle to break down the lawsuit Columbia University students brought against the shadowy anti-Israel groups and radical Democrat politicians who took their campus hostage in spring 2024. They also discuss university faculty’s role in enabling the pandemonium.
Here I Am With Shai Davidai: #LGBTQ #pride meets #Jewish Pride | EP 06 Yuval David
Welcome to the sixth episode of "Here I Am with Shai Davidai," a podcast that delves into the rising tide of antisemitism through insightful discussions with top Jewish advocates.

In the podcast "Here I Am with Shai Davidai," Shai hosts actor and advocate Yuval David, who discusses various topics related to Jewish identity, activism, and personal experiences. Yuval begins by reflecting on the uncertain future for Israel and the Jewish people, emphasizing resilience and the need for activism. He shares his personal background, including his family's history of surviving the Holocaust and his upbringing in a strong Jewish environment. Yuval highlights his career in entertainment and journalism, noting the antisemitism he has faced and how it has shaped his advocacy work.

Yuval discusses the concept of "Hineni" ("Here I am") and its significance in Jewish culture, particularly in times of crisis. He talks about the importance of using one's talents and platforms to support Jewish causes and combat antisemitism. Yuval also addresses the challenges within the LGBTQ community, particularly the rise of groups like "Queers for Palestine" and the antisemitism he has encountered in progressive movements.

The conversation touches on the need for strong Jewish representation and the importance of social media in spreading awareness and combating misinformation. Yuval emphasizes the role of Jewish organizations in supporting activists and the necessity of a unified Jewish movement. He also speaks about the importance of educating and empowering the younger generation to embrace their Jewish identity and activism.

Throughout the podcast, Yuval shares anecdotes from his life, including his experiences with antisemitism in the entertainment industry and his efforts to challenge stereotypes and advocate for Jewish and LGBTQ rights. He concludes by stressing the importance of resilience, education, and unity in the face of adversity.






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2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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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