Monday, August 26, 2024

08/26 Links Pt1: Israel’s decisive preemptive strike thwarted a major Hezbollah attack. It's about time; New Trump ad pays tribute to ‘thousands’ of Oct. 7 victims

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Israel’s decisive preemptive strike thwarted a major Hezbollah attack. It's about time
A massive attack like this one – hitting so many targets across southern Lebanon simultaneously – is not cobbled together overnight. This attack necessitated precision planning, precise intelligence, and pinpoint operational capabilities.

Coming on the heels of the ongoing demolition of Hamas’s capabilities in Gaza, the assassination of Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Shukr in Beirut, and Hamas arch-terrorist Mohammad Deif in Gaza, the attack on Hodeidah port in Yemen in July in retaliation for a Houthi strike on Tel Aviv, and the penetration of Iran’s most sophisticated air defense system in April; Sunday’s operation helps to rebuild the deterrence eroded by Hamas’s brazen October 7 attack, and projects power.

It projects Israel’s power toward its enemies and – perhaps more importantly– inward to its own citizens. The projection of power is critical for this country’s morale.

Ever since Hezbollah and Iran vowed vengeance for the back-to-back assassinations of Shukr and Haniyeh, Israel has largely been in a defensive crouch that is corrosive to morale. It feeds a sense of powerlessness, even helplessness.

But this country is neither powerless nor helpless, nor dependent on the grace of our enemies not to strike us. It can effectively forestall those attacks. Sunday’s preemptive action reminded everyone of that.

We hope that this is not a one-off but that Israel will now take a more offensive and aggressive posture against Hezbollah and not wait for it to fire and then retaliate in a minor key. The situation in southern Lebanon needs to change fundamentally to make it possible for northern border residents to return home. We hope that Sunday’s decisive action is the beginning of that change.

A potential turn of the tide
This attack could also have a positive impact on the hostage negotiations taking place in Cairo with Hamas because if Hamas’s chief Yahya Sinwar sees that his organization’s salvation is not going to come from the North, and that Israel can act with full force in Lebanon even as it is still dismantling Hamas’s capabilities in Gaza, then the terrorist organization might become more pliable.

But “might” is the operative word. No one can predict Sinwar’s thinking. Nevertheless, his negotiating position is definitely weaker if it becomes clear that Israel is willing to fully take on Hezbollah in the North, even while it continues to degrade Hamas’ capabilities in the South.

With the intensity of the fighting in Gaza much reduced compared with a few months ago, Israel now has greater bandwidth to deal with Hezbollah. As such, it needs to keep its foot just above the gas pedal in Lebanon, ready to press down and strike Hezbollah with overwhelming force at a minute’s notice – just as it did on Sunday.
Seth Frantzman: Hezbollah's plodding war of attrition on Israel will continue - this is how
In essence, what Hezbollah is saying is that its plodding attacks will continue, and this war of attrition will continue. Hezbollah will continue to attack until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Then it will revisit its demands, and it may even continue attacks after that due to the “open account” it believes it has due to the killing of Shukr.

But it is clear that Hezbollah prefers to return to some semblance of quiet. It doesn’t want a large war. It also thinks that it benefits from this low-level war. It is putting on a brave face in a sense, despite its losses. It is showing that it can take the losses of a few men a week in this long war, and that it will recover.

It is also indicating that it doesn’t view any of this with urgency. It doesn’t mind waiting for weeks or months to attack because it knows this puts Israel and the US on alert. Hezbollah believes it has achieved a lot just because it can put Israel on alert, and that in some cases, this might be enough for it to achieve a kind of victory. It has also caused Israel to evacuate the northern border, which for Hezbollah is a major accomplishment.

Nasrallah’s speech revealed the overall sense that Hezbollah has that it doesn’t need to carry out more large attacks quickly. It can wait, and it will wait as Iran keys in other proxies, such as Syrian-based militias. One of those groups launched a drone at Israel, for instance. Yemen’s Houthis have also backed the Hezbollah attack, according to a statement at Beirut-based Al Mayadeen, a pro-Iranian news channel.

Meanwhile, the Iranian regime is also signaling that it can hold off on its own claims it will retaliate against Israel. Iran’s foreign minister spoke with his Italian counterpart on Monday. “Iran’s foreign minister has reiterated his country’s pledge to punish the Zionist regime for assassinating Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran,” IRNA reported.

Iran is also reaching out to Turkey and Egypt. “Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, have discussed bilateral relations and regional issues, including the Gaza war,” IRNA reported Sunday.
Have the IDF's massive preemptive strikes prevented all-out war in Lebanon?
If Hezbollah's only accomplishment is more strikes on Safed and Acre, with minimal casualties, then the military's preemptive strike may later be credited with having prevented a much larger disaster and even war.

Step one in preventing such a war was stopping any successful strikes on major Israeli population centers or infrastructure.

Step two would be focusing Israel's strikes on imminent attack platforms of Hezbollah while leaving other parts of Hezbollah and all of non-Hezbollah Lebanon largely untouched.

In the balance of unwritten rules between Israel and Hezbollah, this would be a massive Israeli strike that still showed restraint and was not per se "offensive," but rather preemptive and narrowly tailored defense.

There are no moves by the IDF to invade southern Lebanon, which it could have decided to do.

Hezbollah may now be deciding how much more of a wave of attacks it can manage without exposing its capabilities to more hits by Israel.

It may also be trying to convince Iran to join the fight, which would make the situation even more dangerous.

But both Iran and Hezbollah know that the US could also still intervene on Israel's behalf.

Also, a Gaza ceasefire may still be possible if a larger war does not break out, possibly pitting Iran and Hezbollah against Hamas since they do not want to take larger losses. However, the Gaza terror group would like its more powerful allies to expand the war to help it get better terms from Jerusalem.

The future is highly uncertain, but round one has gone to Israel.


Terrorize Israelis while eliciting sympathy abroad: Inside Hamas’s propaganda strategy
Al Jazeera: A mouthpiece for Hamas
Al Jazeera, the Qatari-owned news network, also plays a crucial role in Hamas’s media strategy. The channel has by far a larger viewership in the Palestinian territories than any local channel. March 2023 found its rating stood at 28%. Since then, it has skyrocketed to 82%, according to a poll by the PCPSR from June of this year.

The Qatari channel has a longstanding relationship with the terror group, often acting as a platform for its messages.

On October 7, it aired a speech by Hamas’s military spokesman Abu Obeida, a move that some commentators described as serving as a mouthpiece for the terror group. “Anyone looking for Hamas’s latest video or official statements can easily find them on Al Jazeera,” Aviad said. The IDF’s Arabic spokesperson exposes his Hamas counterpart, Abu Obeida, as Hudhaifa Kahlout on October 25, 2023. (IDF)

Other media resources, such as biographies of its “martyred” operatives, videos of training sessions and of recent attacks, and archives of past operations, can easily be found on Hamas’s official website and on that of its military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.

“Hamas places significant importance on historical memory,” Aviad said.

A unified message across multiple spokesmen
Hamas boasts a long list of spokesmen, stationed in Qatar, Lebanon, Turkey and elsewhere, many of whom also serve as politburo members.

Despite their numbers, the group’s message remains consistent. The political bureau sets the communication strategy, which is then uniformly conveyed by its spokesmen.

“It’s a highly sophisticated system,” Milshtein said. “They all deliver the same message, with a high degree of coordination and no daylight between them. Consensus is one of the core pillars of Hamas. Politburo members may argue behind closed doors, but when they reach a decision, everyone is bound by it. There’s no room for personal opinions.” Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut, Lebanon, October 26, 2023. (AP/Bilal Hussein)

“This is in stark contrast to Israel, where leaders might present conflicting messages. It is not rare to hear [Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant say one thing, and [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu say something different. In Hamas, such discrepancies are almost nonexistent,” said Milshtein.

Aviad concurred, noting that Hamas has been more effective in its media strategy than Israel during this war. “Hamas is much more advanced. They know how to use international platforms — not just Al Jazeera.”

“In Israel, official communications come mainly from the army spokesman, but the government largely neglects public advocacy efforts,” Aviad said.

In the early months of the war, Hamas politburo members Osama Hamdan and Ghazi Hamad held weekly press conferences from Beirut to update the international press on Gaza’s situation and truce negotiations with Israel.

Additionally, dozens of freelance journalists — not always necessarily affiliated with Hamas — report daily from Gaza, recording and broadcasting scenes of death and destruction without filters.

“In Israel, most of these scenes are not shown, but the rest of the world sees them, and they make an impact,” Aviad said. “Meanwhile, Israelis are watching prime-time reality shows, as if we’re living in a parallel universe.”
Pressure for a Gaza ceasefire is misdirected, dishonest and dangerous
Media falsely blame Israel instead of Hamas for failed ceasefire negotiations. Last week, the Associated Press claimed: “Israel’s demand for lasting control over two strategic corridors in Gaza, which Hamas has long rejected, threatens to unravel ceasefire talks.” Apparently, AP believes Israel is solely responsible and should pay any price—including suicide—to end the war Hamas started.

Israel cannot withdraw from the Philadelphi or Netzarim corridors because Hamas will again use the former to smuggle weapons into Gaza, while the IDF considers the latter vital to preventing the return of terrorists to northern Gaza and to securing the transport of aid.

What’s more, Hamas refuses to promise a specific number of hostages that will be returned, nor will they specify how many would be dead or alive. In return, Hamas demands the release of many hardcore terrorists, who will likely return to terrorism if released. Indeed, Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre, was released as part of the deal to free IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. Israel cannot allow the resurgence of its murderous enemy.

Biden’s demand for a ceasefire hides his real motives and ignores U.S. strategic interests. Biden and Harris claim a ceasefire is necessary to save Palestinian lives and free hostages. But if that were their goal, they would call for Hamas’s unconditional surrender or, at least, not prevent Israel from destroying the terrorist group. Instead, the Biden-Harris White House has withheld weapons shipments to Israel and continuously condemned the Jewish state for civilian deaths that are Hamas’s responsibility.

Above all, Biden doesn’t realize, or perhaps he doesn’t care, that destroying Hamas would severely damage Iran and send a message to the mullahs that the U.S. will not allow the Islamic Republic and its proxy terrorist militias to attack American interests, such as U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, which have recently been struck by Iranian proxies.

It seems the real reason Biden wants a ceasefire is because he thinks it will keep Democrats in the White House by winning over far-left voters. Hamas supporters in Chicago carried signs saying “Genocide Joe” and “Killer Kamala.” They demand a halt to the war and an arms embargo on Israel. Team Biden-Harris fears that, without these votes, they could lose the election.

The administration’s desperate quest for a Gaza ceasefire is not only futile; it also contradicts American interests. Put simply, allowing Israel to destroy Hamas weakens Iran and strengthens the U.S. by deterring the Islamic Republic from attacking American assets and troops in the Middle East.

On the other hand, imposing a ceasefire on Israel before it destroys Hamas does the opposite. It emboldens Iran and encourages its tyrannical Islamist regime to keep pursuing not only the destruction of Israel but total domination of the Middle East.
Cairo hostage talks break down as Israel, Hamas fail to reach deal
The latest round of hostage negotiations ended without results as the Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief David Barnea returned home from Cairo on Sunday.

Off-and-on negotiations have continued for months with the United States, Egypt and Qatar acting as mediators.

Ground down militarily in 10 months of hostilities, Hamas dropped a key demand in early July that any deal contain an Israeli guarantee of a permanent ceasefire. However, it still insists that Israel withdraw its forces from two key corridors in Gaza.

Israel, for its part, demands an ongoing Israel Defense Forces presence along the Philadelphi Corridor between Israel and Egypt. Cairo, which also opposes an Israeli presence there, insists it can police the corridor, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary as Israel has uncovered tunnel after tunnel running under the border, and in at least one case, directly under an Egyptian outpost.

Israel also insists on a continued IDF presence along the Netzarim Corridor, a four-mile long, east-west road that bisects the Gaza Strip. Israel says it needs to monitor the corridor to prevent armed terrorists from returning to the north of the Strip.

The IDF has built four large outposts along Netzarim to house hundreds of soldiers, demonstrating its determination to maintain a permanent presence there, Ynet reported on Monday.

Israel’s government has highlighted its efforts to free the remaining 109 hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 invasion and massacre of 1,200 people.

“This is a national mission of the highest order,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Aug. 18.

“Up until now, Hamas has been completely obstinate. It did not even send a representative to the talks in Doha. Therefore, the pressure needs to be directed at Hamas and [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar, not the Government of Israel,” he added.
American intelligence is secretly helping Israel find Yahya Sinwar
The US has poured “vast resources” into helping Israel locate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, even employing the CIA to set up a task force dedicated to his capture, The New York Times reported on Sunday in a piece detailing the efforts to track down the architect of the October 7 massacres.

Citing interviews with more than two dozen officials in Israel and the US, the report revealed that the US, which considers Hamas a terrorist organisation, established channels with Israel to share information on the whereabouts of Sinwar and other leaders of Hamas in the immediate aftermath of October 7. The US has even deployed “ground-penetrating” radar to help map the hundreds of miles of underground tunnels in Gaza, an added support which a senior Israeli official called “priceless.”

But the report noted that an anonymous source familiar with the intelligence-sharing arrangement described it as being often “very lopsided,” with the Americans sharing more information than the Israelis give in return.

The source added that at times, “Americans provide information about Hamas leaders in the hopes that the Israelis will direct some of their own intelligence resources toward finding the American hostages.”

Following October 7, the CIA established a task force with the mission of locating Sinwar, who is believed to stay in touch with Hamas operatives through a network of couriers in a strategy used by other Hamas leaders in the past – and by other terrorist leaders like Osama bin Laden.

However, Sinwar’s position is unique in that he continues to actively manage the Gazan terrorist organisation’s military campaign. According to the NYT report, diplomats involved in ceasefire negotiations in Qatar say that Hamas representatives insist they need Sinwar’s input before making any major decisions in the talks.

Israeli military intelligence and Shin Bet also established a cell inside Shin Bet headquarters with the explicit goal of finding Sinwar, who the report said is “the only person who can ensure that whatever is decided in Doha is implemented in Gaza.”
Israel tightens ring around still elusive Hamas leader
Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, 61, has abandoned the tunnels and taken to cross-dressing as a woman to escape detection, Britain’s Daily Express reported on Monday, leading social-media wags to dub the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 massacre “Mrs. Dodgefire.”

So far, Sinwar has managed to evade the death blow Israel plans for him, a fate it has dealt out to many of Hamas’s leadership, including Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Mohammed Deif in Gaza.

But time doesn’t appear to be on Sinwar’s side.

“We have actually been minutes away more than once,” Shalom Ben Hanan, a former Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) official heavily involved in the hunt for Sinwar, told the Daily Express.

“As we have discovered through other elimination operations, Sinwar will not be sitting in underground tunnels or special underground zones for more than 24 to 36 hours at a time,” Ben Hanan added.

“He knows we can find such underground locations through advanced technology. And he knows if a mistake is made or we find sources to tell us where he is, he needs to be on the move—to avoid that mistake becoming fatal for him,” he said.

Also in Israel’s favor is that Sinwar is unpopular with parts of the Gazan population. “They believe he has led them to ruin and it can only get worse the longer he stays alive,” an unnamed source told the paper.

Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfuss, commander of the IDF’s 98th Paratroopers Division, in an Aug. 11 interview with Channel 12 confirmed that the IDF only missed Sinwar by minutes in one raid:

“We were close. We were in his compound. We arrived at the compound underground. The compound was ‘hot.’ We also found a lot of money there. The coffee was still hot. The weapons had been dropped … minutes.”
Yahya Sinwar ‘dressed as a woman’ hiding among Gaza's populace
Yahya Sinwar, now Hamas’s overall leader, has “dressed as a woman” while hiding among Gaza’s populace outside the terror group’s tunnel network in the Gaza Strip, the UK’s Daily Express reported on Sunday, citing Israeli intelligence sources.

The New York Times on Sunday, citing American and Israeli officials, reported that Sinwar may have left tunnels in which he had been hiding on a number of occasions over the last year.

Sinwar has reportedly been moving from place to place in the Gaza Strip to stay ahead of Israeli efforts to hunt him down. Sinwar now Hamas's most senior leader

Since his appointment to head Hamas’s political bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, Sinwar has been the Islamist organization’s undisputed leader of both its political and military wings.

In August, speaking to Maariv, one Israeli security source estimated that Sinwar was running out of places to hide as the Israeli offensive in the Strip cut away at Hamas’s leadership and continued to advance in Gaza.

Sinwar is believed to be relying on human couriers to receive information and send instructions, the Times noted.

“Sinwar is said to no longer trust electronic communications, fearing that the Israeli army will discover his location and kill him,” the Emirati Al-Ain reported earlier this month.

London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported that Sinwar is insisting that his life be spared as part of ceasefire deal. In July, the IAF targeted the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammad Deif, who had survived seven previous assassination attempts, and later confirmed his death. In the same strike the IAF also eliminated Khan Yunis Brigade commander Rafa’a Salameh.
Israeli envoy to UN: Hezbollah, Iran responsible for hostilities
Following the IAF’s preemptive Sunday strike on thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations wrote to the Security Council to “make it clear: The state of Lebanon and the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which is operating under the guidance of Iran, bear responsibility for the deterioration of the situation in the northern front.”

Guided by intelligence information showing the markings of a major imminent Hezbollah attack, the Israeli Air Force carried out its strikes in self-defense, following almost 11 months of bombardment by Hezbollah that included some 7,500 rockets and missiles and 200 explosive drones, which have displaced residents of much of northern Israel.

Ambassador Danny Danon wrote that Hezbollah’s planned attack over the weekend “unequivocally demonstrates the presence of illegal weapons in Southern Lebanon” in contravention of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for, among other things, the disarming and disbandment of all non-state military actors in the Land of the Cedars following the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Hezbollah, however, remains in control of Southern Lebanon, entrenched as an Iran proxy and dominant in Lebanese governmental affairs.

Danon wrote that Hezbollah’s actions are “part of a wider strategy by the Iranian axis aimed at the destruction of Israel through attacks from multiple fronts.”

He called on the Security Council to “condemn in the strongest terms” Hezbollah’s activities, along with those of Iran.

The ambassador noted in the letter that the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, the peacekeeping mission in Southern Lebanon, is up for renewal this week, and called for the council to “ensure UNIFIL is effectively fulfilling its tasks and is adapted to meet current challenges.”


Iranian, Houthi attacks still to come, Hezbollah leader Nasrallah warns
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned the threat of a regional war still loomed, as Iran and its Houthi proxies plan to retaliate against Israel for the assassinations of Hezbollah military leader Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.

Nasrallah’s televised address on Sunday evening came hours after Israel thwarted Hezbollah’s planned attack on the Tel Aviv area, including the Glilot military intelligence compound, by striking about 100 missile launchpads in southern Lebanon. The terrorist organization still proceeded to assault Israel’s north with over 300 rockets and drones, killing one soldier and causing extensive property damage.

Nasrallah said that Hezbollah intended to “keep the Iron Dome busy” with hundreds of rockets targeting Israel’s north, while shooting accurate missiles, heavy rockets and UAVs at Glilot and another target that he did not name – likely Defense Ministry headquarters in central Tel Aviv.

Yet Hezbollah was ultimately only able to carry out the distraction part of its plan thanks to the Israeli Air Force strike.

If the attack’s results were not “satisfactory,” Nasrallah said, “we reserve the right to retaliate another time.”

“We are asked why we waited until today for our retaliation,” Nasrallah said. “We were ready since Fuad Shukr’s death. … Hastiness could have led to a loss. … The delay was meant to punish the enemy by leading to their stock market to drop and [for Israel to incur] economic losses.”

“Israel will continue to wait because there is still an Iranian and Yemeni response. We examined over time whether it was better for the whole axis to respond in one day or individually,” the terrorist leader stated.

Iran still faces a dilemma, according to Atlantic Council Nonresident Fellow Danny Citrinowicz, as to whether to attack Israel in conjunction with Hezbollah in retaliation for Haniyeh’s assassination, for which Israel has not taken responsibility.

“The American threat and the fear of a regional campaign are very challenging to Iran,” Citrinowicz wrote. “It may…join symbolically in this attack, but it is clear that it has chosen not to join the opening barrage…[There is a] key role for the U.S. administration in pressuring Iran not to join the attack and making sure the Israeli response will be limited.”
IDF infographics show Hezbollah launched rockets from civilian areas
The IDF publishes several infographics that it says show Hezbollah rocket launch sites used in yesterday’s attack on northern Israel.

Some 230 rockets and about 20 drones were fired in the attack.

According to the IDF, 90 percent of the rockets launched yesterday morning were fired from civilian areas.

“The Hezbollah terrorist organization places its terrorist infrastructure in the middle of the civilian population, using Lebanese civilians as human shields,” the military says.

Israeli officials say that Hezbollah planned to fire hundreds more, and the IDF’s preemptive strike took out more than half of the intended threats.

The rockets were aimed at northern Israel and the drones at central Israel, including the Glilot base.

No IDF bases were hit in the attack, and none of the drones made it to central Israel.


Johnson: Biden Administration must hold Iran accountable
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday that Israel’s preemptive strike against Hezbollah hours earlier demonstrated why the administration must expedite weapons shipments to Israel and impose new sanctions on Iran.

Israel’s actions had helped save countless lives, Johnson added.

The unequivocal remarks by the Republican legislator came hours after the pre-dawn Israeli Air Force strike against the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group foiled a major Hezbollah attack on Israel.

“Iran and its terror groups must be held accountable,” Johnson wrote in a statement posted on X.

He urged the Biden administration to implement the supplementary sanctions on the Islamic Republic passed by Congress this spring.


IDF discovers ammunition, missiles and knives - all next to a baby's cradle
The IDF's 202nd Battalion found, next to a baby crib, anti-tank missiles, military vests, munitions, and knives in a residential apartment in Deir-al Balah in the Gaza Strip on Monday.

This was while the military's 7th Brigade had expanded operations on the outskirts of the Palestinian city.

Israeli forces in the brigade also eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists and struck over 100 terror targets via aerial operations in the past two weeks. IDF discovers additional Hamas tunnel

The military also stated that a tunnel constructed by the terrorist organization underground was destroyed by the IDF's Yahalom Unit and forces from the 603rd Battalion.

The tunnel in question stretched around 700 meters in length, according to the military.


New Trump ad pays tribute to ‘thousands’ of Oct. 7 victims
In a new election ad, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appears to blame US President Joe Biden’s approach to Iran for the Hamas October 7 invasion and massacre in Israel.

The video, which Trump posted to X on Monday, opens with footage of bombardment in Gaza played in reverse, as a voiceover talks about “thousands,” including Americans, who “were brutally killed” during the attack (some 1,200 people were killed).

“Before Iran helped Hamas plan the attack, before Biden gave billions of taxpayers’ money to Iran — Trump played hardball with Iran,” the ad declares, over a picture of the former US president meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

At the end of the video, Trump himself chimes in, touting “unyielding strength” as the only viable approach to foreign policy.

“When I’m back in the White House, our enemies will know, if you spill a drop of American blood, we will spill a gallon of yours,” he says.

The claims against Biden are accompanied by clippings from the New York Post, dated October 8 — the day after the Hamas attack — reading: “Iran helped plan Hamas attack” and “Biden $6 billion ransom to Iran.”

Biden last August agreed to unfreeze sanctioned Iranian assets — not American taxpayers’ money — as part of a Qatari-mediated deal to free five Americans detained in Iran. The US House of Representatives later blocked the transfer in the aftermath of the October 7 attack.

Iran has denied having prior knowledge of the attack and Israel has not accused it of direct involvement, though Tehran has supported Hamas through training and funds and shares Hamas’s avowed goal of destroying Israel. The attack was reportedly a closely guarded secret of Hamas’s top brass.


Caroline Glick: All you need to know about this morning’s preemptive strike on Hezbollah
Israel this morning foiled Hezbollah’s planned barrage of thousands of drones and missiles on the entirety of the country. Was this the response from Iran that everyone was expecting or is there more to come? Should Israel now make strategic adjustments? We’ll discuss all this and more on today’s episode of Caroline Glick’s In Focus! Also, America’s role in developments; a regional view of the situation; defensive alternatives; and the importance of the Philadelphi corridor.

Chapters
0:00 The attack this morning
3:00 Strategic assessment
12:40 Defensive alternatives
22:30 A regional view
28:00 American involvement
32:40 Negotiations and agreements
37:00 Importance of Philadelphi corridor


Former IDF spokesperson discusses Israeli-Hezbollah strikes
Former IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus joins Sky News Australia to discuss the ongoing conflict in the Middle East following the latest attacks between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel and Hezbollah exchanged rocket fire across the southern Lebanon border on Sunday fuelling fears of a wider escalation.

Israel’s military said it targeted Lebanon in a pre-emptive airstrike against Hezbollah as the militant group said it had fired drones and hundreds of rockets.

Hezbollah launched hundreds of drones and rockets at an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv in retaliation for killing one of its top military commanders last month.


The Commentary Magazine Podcast: Israel’s Remarkable Military Strike
Hosted by Abe Greenwald, Christine Rosen, John Podhoretz & Matthew Continetti
Jonathan Schanzer joins us today to talk about Israel’s action to prevent a massive barrage of Hezbollah missiles raining down on the Jewish state and the bizarre fact that so many are acting as though it has “escalated” a conflict that Hezbollah has been waging against Israel unilaterally since October 8—rather than staging an action that stopped or delayed a wider conflagration.


Israel maintains 'conventional military superiority’ over Iran-backed enemies
The Australian’s Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan has joined Sky News host Andrew Bolt to discuss Hezbollah’s missile and drone strike on Israel.

“So far, Israel has maintained clear conventional military superiority over Hamas, Hezbollah Iran and the Houthis in Yemen and the raggle-taggle militias in Syria and Iraq," he said.

“The Israeli Defence Force has done very well, and the missile defence program has done very well, although it is very, very expensive program.”




Canada draws criticism for ignoring local Jew-hatred, condemning it abroad
The Canadian government condemned the Saturday bombing outside the Beth Yaakov synagogue in the seaside resort town of La Grande-Motte in southern France.

The attack “is a reminder that antisemitism is not a relic of the past—it is a reality experienced by Jewish communities around the world,” the government stated on Sunday. “Canada unequivocally condemns this terrifying attack and stands with France against antisemitism.”

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said he was not impressed with the statement or Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s efforts to curb Jew-hatred.

“Thank you for fighting attacks on synagogues abroad while failing to do anything meaningful at all in Canada to stop bomb threats, gun shootings and Molotov cocktails against more than 100 synagogues and other Jewish centers, including those I grew up attending,” Neuer wrote.

Others had similar reactions.

“While it’s important to see the Canadian government condemning this horrific terror attack targeting Jews in France, it’s concerning to see a lack of reflection on domestic extremism and radicalization here at home, mere days after 100s of Jewish institutions were in the crosshairs,” wrote Michael Levitt, president and CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center.

“Canada’s condemnation of the antisemitic attack in France is welcome. Like France, we face a similar rise in antisemitism and attacks on communal institutions,” stated the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

“Government of a country where synagogues and Jewish schools are regularly firebombed (in response to the worst antisemitic pogroms since the Holocaust): antisemitism ‘is a reality experienced by Jewish communities around the world,’” wrote Ryan O’Connor, a lawyer in Toronto. “Then finally do something about it in Canada.”




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