Pages

▼

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

08/28 Links Pt1: Could Hamas Be Exiled?; The real reason Hamas can’t free the remaining hostages; UNSC omits Hezbollah from resolution renewing UNIFIL mandate

From Ian:

Could Hamas Be Exiled?
Exile of Hamas from Gaza will appeal to a wide range of actors involved in this conflict. For Israel, it would not only enable a deal that would return the hostages. It would allow for an end to the war in Gaza, which has taken a financial and societal toll on Israel after nearly eleven months of fighting. Ending the war would also allow the Israelis to begin to rebuild the country’s public image after a withering public relations war mounted by Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other malign actors.

For the United States, this would also have great benefits. Ahead of the 2024 election, there is significant pressure on Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden Administration to end the hostilities in Gaza. A Reagan-style deal could minimize (though certainly not eliminate) the risk of a wider war with the Islamic Republic of Iran and its many foreign fighting forces. Indeed, the regime and its proxies have indicated a tentative willingness to stop their war if there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Economically, there is also a clear virtue to this approach. The Pentagon has dispatched significant military assets to the region on several occasions. And the cost of doing so is not small. Importantly, there are also eight American hostages that our government has an obligation to return home.

Finally, a deal would also be in the interest of Palestinians in Gaza, who are desperate for a ceasefire. After eleven months, the Gazans would finally have the opportunity to rebuild—and under a deradicalized government. The Sunni Arab world would also welcome this, and some of the Gulf states may be inclined to support Gaza’s reconstruction once Hamas is officially in exile.

Admittedly, a deal does not come without drawbacks. Hamas would continue to exist. The group would likely work overtime from abroad to stoke unrest in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and beyond. In other words, Israel’s fight against Hamas would continue. But this will likely be the case regardless.

There is also the risk of normalizing Hamas. That turned out to be the fatal flaw in the Reagan plan. In 1982, the PLO was widely viewed as a villainous organization. But after only nine years of exile in Tunisia, Arafat returned to Gaza in 1993 in triumph as part of the Oslo Accords. His PLO was made the backbone of the newly created Palestinian Authority. Despite his efforts to convince the world that he and his organization had turned a new leaf, the old terrorist returned to violence with the Second Intifada of 2000.

Israel and the United States should make it clear that Hamas will never have a future in Palestinian politics. Other countries should be called upon to support this, as well.

Finally, there is the question of Yahya Sinwar himself. Israel will almost certainly refuse to offer the architect of the October 7 attacks a lifeline. Sinwar may be able to negotiate a life sentence in an Israeli jail. While the Hamas leader may not love this idea, it’s a better alternative to the certain death that currently awaits him should he continue to try and fight Israel from within the tunnels of Gaza.

The Biden Administration’s repeated ceasefire initiatives have tanked, primarily because they lack creativity. Each failed proposal has closely resembled the previous ones. Taking a page out of the Gipper’s foreign policy playbook could be a chance to break that cycle.
The real reason Hamas can’t free the remaining hostages
Only around 20 of the Israeli hostages are being held by Hamas and these are being kept in handcuffs as human shields around its leader, Yahya Sinwar, intelligence sources have told the JC.

The terror chief has surrounded himself with the captives, who are being held with him underground. Israel has already had several opportunities to eliminate him after locating the tunnels in which he was hiding but the attack was not authorised because of the danger to hostages, intelligence sources have said.

The rest of the captives, both living and dead, are believed to be in the hands of smaller terror groups.

It comes after 52-year-old Qaid Farhan Alkadi, from the largely Arab city of Rahat in Southern Israel, was rescued by Shayetet 13, the 401st Brigade, Yahalom, and ISA forces under the command of the 162nd Division in a complex operation in the south of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

The grim revelation about the other Israeli captives, based on information gathered by Israeli intelligence in cooperation with Gazan informants and captured terrorists, throws new light on the complexity of securing a hostage deal, currently the subject of intense negotiations in Qatar.

Many Israeli abductees are being held by a menagerie of smaller terror groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Mujahideen Brigades, the al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, intelligence sources have confirmed.

These groups are locked in a dispute with Yahya Sinwar’s Hamas. While Sinwar is demanding the release of Hamas prisoners as a priority, they want prisoners from their own ranks to also be represented on the list. This has led them to contemplate a coup against Hamas in recent months.

They are also arguing that no compromise must be made with Israel, insisting that any deal includes the release of all terrorists from Israeli jails, including 1,236 murderers who have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Clifford D. May: Tehran holds its fire
When I say Hamas, I really mean Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the Oct. 7 attacks. Following the funeral of Mr. Haniyeh, he was named the organization’s supreme leader—commander of both its “political” and “military” wings.

Why did Mr. Sinwar say no deal? Likely because his interests would be best served were Mr. Khamenei to widen the multifront and avowedly genocidal war against Israel.

Which brings us to what happened beginning around 5 am local time Sunday. In response to intelligence indicating that Hezbollah was imminently preparing to fire from Lebanon as many as 6,000 long-range missiles at Tel Aviv and other targets, 100 Israeli fighter jets struck 40 Hezbollah missile launch sites.

Since the day following the Hamas invasion, Hezbollah has fired close to 8,000 rockets, missiles and drones at Israeli communities, killing soldiers and civilians, burning towns, farms and forests, and causing more than 80,000 Israelis to abandon their homes.

In retaliation, Israel has carried out precision strikes inside Lebanon, including, on July 30, killing the group’s senior military commander, Fuad Shukr.

Mr. Shukr, you should know, has long been wanted by the U.S. for his role in the killing of 241 American servicemen in the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut. Our State Department posted a $5 million bounty for information on his location.

Hezbollah still has thousands of missiles left, all emplaced in southern Lebanon in flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which was intended to bring the Iranian proxy’s 2006 war with Israel to a halt.

Another all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel would undoubtedly cause significant death and damage in Israel. But it would almost certainly decimate Hezbollah and destroy what is left of Lebanon, a formerly vibrant nation that has become a failing state since Hezbollah seized power.

Mr. Khamenei understands the importance of strategic patience. He demonstrated that in 2015, when he agreed to President Barack Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) because it gave him a patient pathway into the nuclear weapons club, along with tens of billions of dollars.

That same year, Mr. Khamenei spoke of 2040 as the date by which Israel is to be exterminated.

To that end, he has been waging a war of attrition, death by a thousand cuts, most of those cuts made by Arabs whom he is only too happy to martyr in pursuit of his imperial ambitions.

Mr. Sinwar is fine with that. He has said that Gazan civilians are “necessary sacrifices.” But would it surprise you if he’d rather not be among them?

Late last week, a senior Egyptian official told an Israeli reporter that Mr. Sinwar wants a guarantee that he won’t be assassinated.

I don’t think Israeli leaders will make that promise. But I can imagine them giving Mr. Sinwar safe passage to another country, say Turkey (incongruously both a NATO member and Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood supporter), in exchange for the release of however many hostages have not yet been brutally murdered.

This may be a long shot, but nothing would be lost if Mr. Biden’s envoys were to suggest such a deal, conveying to Mr. Sinwar that it is the only way he will ever see light at the end of his tunnel.


Israel has every right to strike Hezbollah
The overall, long-term strategy of Hezbollah and its Islamist sister organisations is to try to grind Israel down. They know they cannot destroy Israel in one go, but they calculate that they have time and demography on their side. In addition, they have substantial backing from the likes of Iran and Qatar.

What’s more, these Islamist forces now have allies in the West who are determined to delegitimise and isolate Israel. Not for nothing did Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, recently write a letter to American university students. He congratulated the young activists for forming ‘a branch of the resistance front’ against ‘a [US] government which openly supports the usurper and brutal Zionist regime’. No doubt few American students side with Iran. But there are many in universities and beyond – some naïve, others more ideologically committed – who do support the idea of eradicating Israel.

Israel is strong enough to face down its opponents individually, but it is still facing an uphill battle. The economic and human costs of maintaining the large military it needs to defend itself are high. At present, Jewish Israeli men are conscripted for a minimum of 32 months in the army while women serve a minimum of 24 months. Those who serve in specialist or elite units have to serve longer. Individuals may also be committed to serving in the reserve forces for many years. Admittedly, there are widespread exemptions from military service for certain groups, most notably the strictly orthodox haredi community. Nevertheless, military service puts a huge burden on Israeli society and families.

Unlike its enemies, Israel cannot afford to make mistakes. The pogrom of 7 October was bad enough. But the devastation could have been far worse if Hezbollah had broken through in Israel’s north.

Israel faces an existential threat from Hezbollah, Hamas and their Islamist allies. Their countless declarations of their desire to destroy Israel should be taken at face value. Israel has every right to defend itself against such threats.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Iran's War Against Israel - From the West Bank
Armed and funded by Iran, the "battalions," whose members are affiliated with PIJ, Hamas and the ruling Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, began operating in the northern West Bank more than three years ago.

"Iran seeks as a strategic objective to surround Israel with a crescent of active fronts maintained by Iran and supported by Islamist client militias. As part of this, the [Iranian] regime is seeking to find a way to add an eastern component to this crescent – through Jordan to the West Bank... Tehran has succeeded in establishing and maintaining an arms route in which military materiel, brought from Iran into Lebanon, is then transported across the Syrian-Lebanese border, via Jordan, into the West Bank. "The maintenance of this route is of strategic importance to Iran. It is intended, over time, to flood the West Bank with weaponry, and by so doing, to eventually make this area a third front in the ongoing long war against Israel." — Jonathan Spyer, journalist, expert on radical Islamic groups, Jerusalem Post, July 5, 2024.

The PA's failure to crack down on the "battalions" means that Iran now has a small army in the West Bank. It will not be long before members of this army attack Israel in the same way as the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion of Israel, in which 1,200 Israelis were murdered, with many raped, tortured and burned alive. In addition, more than 240 Israelis, including babies, women and the elderly, were abducted to the Gaza Strip, where 109 of them are still being held as hostages.

Those who persist in advocating for the establishment of a Palestinian state next to Israel must take into consideration that doing so would lead to the rise of more Iran-backed "battalions" in the West Bank and other areas over which the PA is given control. Since the gunmen are frequently praised as "heroes" by many Palestinians, neither Abbas nor anyone who replaces him would have the courage to take them on.

Even if Abbas does go back to the Gaza Strip, it is not probable that he would be able to confront Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups there. As in the West Bank, new "battalions" and militias will no doubt spring up in the Gaza Strip under Abbas's PA to pursue the Jihad (holy war) to eliminate Israel and replace it with an Islamist state.
Ernst, GOP House members visit site of Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 children
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), making her fourth visit to Israel since Oct. 7, visited Majdal Shams on Tuesday, the site of a Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 Druze children last month.

“It was very tough,” Ernst told Jewish Insider, explaining that she’d met with the fathers of some of the children killed in the attack and visited the site of the attack on a soccer field and a memorial to those killed.

“Just a devastating loss,” Ernst said. “As their fathers described them, they were all extremely talented, bright young children, and to see such innocence gone, it just reminds us of the horrible cost of war.”

Ernst is traveling in the region with Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), John Curtis (R-UT) and Marianette Miller-Meeks (R-IA). She said they’re the first group of U.S. lawmakers to visit the site of the Hezbollah attack.

She said that they also met with residents of a kibbutz near Israel’s northern border who “are living every day with the stress of not knowing when they’re going to be attacked next, the fear that they’ve had since Oct. 7 that they could be overrun, that their children and women could be raped and murdered by other invaders.”

Ernst said that her main goal for the trip remains making progress toward freeing the hostages, which has been her focus on previous visits to the region as well, and bringing the war to a close.

“It’s very important for me to do everything I can to make sure we secure the release of these Americans,” Ernst said. “And of course, we would love to see an end to the war — favorably for Israel… It’s incredibly important that we see the end to the war, but in a way where Israel comes out victorious and Hamas is decimated.”

Ernst and her colleagues also met on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She came away from the meeting believing that “there’s a greater confidence coming now from leadership here in Israel that Hamas is nearing an end,” especially with Israel controlling the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt, which Ernst said is leaving Hamas with a dwindling supply of munitions.

“Once they see that beginning to diminish, they will have to find a way forward and they will have to negotiate with Israel on a temporary cease-fire, to get to a more permanent solution,” Ernst said.
Rescued Israeli hostage ‘spoke about the darkness, not being able to see’
Qaid Farhan Alkadi, who was rescued from Gaza by Israeli forces on Tuesday after 326 days in Hamas captivity, was released from Beersheva’s Soroka Medical Center on Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, relatives of the 52-year-old Muslim Israeli and father of 11 from the Bedouin city of Rahat in the Negev Desert have begun to share details regarding the brutal conditions he experienced since his abduction on Oct. 7.

“He spoke about the darkness, not being able to see. But, thank God, he’s back with us, alive—it made us all rejoice,” Alkadi’s cousin Fayez al-Sana told the New York Times after visiting him in the hospital.

Ata Abu Medigm, the former mayor of Rahat, told Ynet that Alkadi was held in near total darkness for months: “He told about a very brutal captivity, he hardly saw the sun for eight months. He would check if his eyes were functioning. He said that one of the abductees was with him for two months and died next to him.”

Dr. Mazen Abu Siam, a longtime friend and veterinarian, in a conversation with the Times called Hamas “devils” and said that Alkadi’s family had been in terrible anxiety for 10 months.

He had more harsh words for Hamas, listing the cases in which civilians were murdered on Oct. 7, including over 300 people at the Nova music festival: “They attacked everyone, even people dancing under the trees,” he said.

“I got permission to visit [Alkadi] inside [the hospital], I went in for two or three minutes. He’s fine, he’s healthy, he looks fine. A little pale. Thin compared to Oct. 7,” he said, according to Ynet. “Hope he will be released to the family tomorrow. He mentioned that he was in the tunnel for a long time, cut off from the outside world, was not connected to the Israeli media and did not know what was happening around him. I hope that all the families who have abductees in Gaza will feel what we felt on this day.”

Alkadi’s brother Juma’a told CNN that “he was dead and is now brought back to life,” and that “it was all tears. Tears of joy. What matters is that we saw him.”

Juma’a said that Alkadi was shot in the leg during the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, and the wound was poorly treated during captivity. Alkadi had been operated on without anesthesia, “As one does with animals.”


Urges Israelis to 'do everything... to get the people home'
Rescued captive Farhan al-Qadi on Wednesday urged an end to the hostages’ ordeal Wednesday, amid celebrations as he returned to his home in the southern Bedouin village of Khirbet Karkur.

Earlier in the day, staffers cheered as al-Qadi was discharged from Beersheba’s Soroka Hospital, from which he had asked to be released so he could visit his ailing 90-year-old mother. Later, after he rode into Khirbet Karkur in a convoy of happily honking cars, al-Qadi met with elated crowds in a tent set up for the occasion.

Looking pale and taking in the spotlight, the 52-year-old told the gathered press that he feels “100 percent,” while urging the government to reach a deal to bring home all the hostages.

“The place I was in — I wouldn’t wish on anybody. So do everything — demonstrations, everything — to get the people home,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if they are Arab or Jewish, all have a family waiting for them. They also want to feel the joy.”

“I hope, I pray for an end to this,” he added, saying he had delivered the same message in a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly after returning to Israel.

Al-Qadi was rescued Tuesday as troops combed a tunnel network in southern Gaza in search of hostages, the IDF said. The father of 11 was abducted on October 7 from Kibbutz Magen, near the Gaza border, where he worked as a security guard at a packaging plant.

His brother Jamal was quoted Wednesday by Channel 12 news as saying that the terrorists who kidnapped al-Qadi shot him in the leg when he refused to tell them where there were Jews.


UNSC omits Hezbollah from resolution renewing peacekeepers mandate
The United Nations Security Council omitted any mention of Hezbollah as it extended the annual mandate of its peacekeeping force along Israel’s northern border, who are tasked with monitoring compliance with Resolution 1701.

That text bans armed non-state actors such as Hezbollah from operating along Israel's border south of the Litani River.

“It is wrong that this council has ye tot condemn Hezbollah” and “we regret that due to a small minority of council members blocked the council from doing so in this mandate renewal,” US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the UNSC as it met in New York.

Member states approved the resolution, which was a significantly watered-down version of the document approved last year.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which was established in 1979, has been tasked with monitoring violations of the ceasefire that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006, which was codified under UN Resolution 1701.

Israel has taken the UN to task in past years for not empowering UNIFIL to fully monitor the situation in southern Lebanon to help ensure that the Iranian proxy group could not be able to operate there.

Lebanon, in turn, has been frustrated by Israeli military actions against terror groups in its territory, claiming that this is a violation of its sovereignty.

This year’s vote, however, took place against the back-drop of a ten-month contained cross-border war between the IDF-Hezbollah, that has prevented over 60,000 Israelis from living in their border communities and has also caused thousands of Lebanese civilians to flee their border area with Israel. That war has run concurrently with the Gaza war. Calling out Hezbollah

“Hezbollah's violent attacks put Israeli and Lebanese civilians at risk. They jeopardize Lebanon's stability and sovereignty. Lebanon should not be a haven for terrorist organizations or a launch pad for attacks against Israel.

“There is no dispute that Iran in clear violation of the arms embargo in Resolution 1701 provides Hezbollah with the majority of the rockets, missiles, and drones that are fired at Israel.

“Let's be clear, Israel has a right to defend itself against Hezbollah's attacks. No member of this council facing a brutal terrorist organization on its border would tolerate daily attacks and displacement of tens of thousands of its own people,” Wood said.

He stressed that to be effective UNFIL’s mandate had to be strengthened and the area south of the Litani River had to be freed of armed non-state actors.


German company 3W linked to Hezbollah drones used in attack on Israel
The Lebanese terrorist movement Hezbollah fired a drone at Israel on Sunday that contained technology from the German company 3W-International, according to video footage obtained of the fired aerial device that landed near Kibbutz Dan.

"Before Hezbollah’s reprisal against Israel this weekend, 3W was already on notice that its parts have wound up in drones from Iran’s proxy and partner network," Jason Brodsky, the policy director for the US-based think tank United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told i24NEWS. "Downed Houthi drones have also featured 3W parts. There needs to be better due diligence and export restrictions on these parts coming from Europe. Knowing your customer’s customer is absolutely vital."

When approached for comment by i24NEWS, Kai Weinhold, the managing director for the firm 3W Professional GmbH, said that the company "did not sell any motors or technology to Iran or Hezbollah," but that "the engine shown in the pictures looks like an engine manufactured by 3W Professional GmbH. Without knowing the serial number of the engine, I can't say this with absolute certainty."

"It is terrible that our engines appear to be being used by terrorist organizations for such acts," he added. "Unfortunately, we cannot control the resale of our products and cannot protect ourselves against them being resold for terrorist and criminal purposes. Our engines pose no danger unless they are abused to do such terrible things."

No comment
However, UANI put 3W on notice in 2020 about the engineering firm's alleged unsavory business practices. In a letter sent to Ute Weinhold, the Managing Director of 3W-Modellmotoren Weinhold GmbH, in February 2020, UANI asked for detailed information about 3W’s "sale of products which are reportedly being used by terrorist proxies of the Islamic Republic of Iran." Weinhold refused to respond at the time.

When confronted by i24NEWS about the UANI letter, Kai Weinhold said, "I have only been working for the company since October 2020. So I don't know if the UANI email you sent me today was received in February 2020. For the same reason, I don't know if this email was replied to. We comply with all export laws and regulations."

"We cannot control resale," he added. "This means we cannot prevent resale for the purposes of misuse by terrorist organizations. That's why we've already called in the police. In the past, we have always provided the CAR with all the necessary information for clarification."


Two soldiers killed in action in Gaza; IDF death toll since Oct. 7 totals 704
Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed in action in the Gaza Strip, the military announced on Wednesday.

One of the slain soldiers was named as Master Sgt. (res.) Yohay Hay Glam, 32, of the Jerusalem Brigade’s 6310th Battalion, from Netanya. He was killed on Wednesday morning while battling Hamas terrorists in central Gaza.

Earlier, the IDF announced that Staff Sgt. Amit Friedman, 19, was killed during fighting in southern Gaza. Friedman, who served with the Nahal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion, was from Or Yehuda in central Israel.

The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the IDF ground incursion in Gaza on Oct. 27 now stands at 340, and at 704 on all fronts since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, according to official military data.

Additionally, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, a member of the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, was fatally wounded during a hostage-rescue mission in Gaza in June, and civilian defense contractor Liron Yitzhak was mortally wounded in May.


IDF recovers from Gaza body of soldier slain on Oct. 7
The Israel Defense Forces recovered the body of a soldier in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday who was killed fighting Hamas operatives during the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, the military announced.

The soldier’s family has been notified and, at their request, his name is not yet being made public.

“The entire nation mourns the terrible loss … and I send our condolences from the bottom of our hearts to his family,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday night.

“I would like to thank the brave fighters and commanders of the IDF and Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] for their important action. The State of Israel will continue to make every effort to return all our abductees, both alive and dead,” he added.

A total of 107 hostages remain in Hamas captivity in Gaza.

“I commend the IDF and ISA forces who conducted a bold operation to retrieve the body of a fallen soldier from Gaza, and brought him home for burial in Israel,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday night. “This operation reflects our commitment to bringing all the hostages home.”


Seth Frantzman: Are West Bank terrorists as dangerous as the ones once in Gaza?
However, even as the IDF pushes forward in Gaza and grinds down Hamas, the IDF in the West Bank is resorting to drone strikes and sometimes raids into places like Nur al-Shams.

This is increasingly leading to a phenomenon of convergence between the West Bank and Gaza. The more the IDF succeeds in Gaza, the more it can be compared to the West Bank in terms of the success of defeating the terrorists’ abilities.

Still, the capabilities of terrorist groups in the West Bank are mounting. It is possible that at some point this convergence may occur and the trends may shift, such that the West Bank becomes the larger threat and Hamas in Gaza is mostly defeated.

What will happen if the West Bank becomes more like Gaza once was, and Gaza becomes more like the West Bank in terms of the security threat that it poses?

In other words, there may be a point where terror infrastructure increases in places like Jenin, Tulkarm, Kalkilya, Tubas, and other areas, and the groundwork is put in place for the terrorist groups to increase their strength and build up more capabilities. This is what Hamas did in Gaza prior to its takeover of it in 2007. It was able to do this slowly and achieve this through infiltrating areas such as the Philadelphi Corridor during the Second Intifada. The IDF’s current operations in Rafah, for example, are not the first time that Hamas has had to be cleared from this area. It has established arms factories and tunnels in the past as well.

Currently, the concern of convergence may just be a warning. The terrorist groups in the West Bank do have rifles, mostly smuggled M-4 and AR types, but they do not have a lot of other weapons.

Nevertheless, it is worth noting that Hamas has had a goal of using the October 7 massacre to increase its power in the region. It has done this in Lebanon and also in the West Bank. Behind the Hamas threat stands Iran and Iran’s other proxies, such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Countries such as Turkey also back Hamas, and Qatar hosts Hamas. This makes for a concerning mix of agendas and interests. As the IDF succeeds in Gaza, it is worth concentrating on the challenge in the West Bank that is embodied by the terrorist threats in places like Nur al-Shams.


Israel’s FM calls for temporary ‘evacuation’ of Palestinians from Judea and Samaria
Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz on Wednesday called for “the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever steps are required,” after the IDF overnight Tuesday launched a large-scale anti-terror operation in Judea and Samaria.

“This is a war in every respect and we must win it,” Katz tweeted.

“The IDF is working intensively starting tonight in the Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps to thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructures that have been established there,” he said.

Iran is working “to establish an eastern terrorist front” in Judea and Samaria, said Katz, following its proxy model in Lebanon with Hezbollah and the Gaza Strip with Hamas, by “financing and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons from Jordan.”

He continued: “We must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.”

The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported at least 11 deaths so far in the IDF operation—six in Jenin and five in Tubas, a city northeast of Nablus (Shechem).
IDF launches large counterterror op in northern Samaria
The Israel Defense Forces launched a large-scale counterterrorism operation in the Jenin and Tulkarem areas of northern Samaria overnight Tuesday, involving hundreds of troops and air support.

Nine Palestinians were killed, according to the IDF—three armed terrorists who posed a threat to security forces in Jenin in an aerial strike, two armed terrorists in clashes with Judea and Samaria Border Guard forces and another four in a drone strike in the Far’a camp in Tubas.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that at least 11 Palestinians had been killed.

Israeli forces have also arrested several Palestinians during the operation, which is expected to last for several days. Weapons, ammunition and military equipment were also confiscated.

Israeli forces also “exposed and dismantled explosives that were planted under the roads” and which were intended to be used in attacks against IDF troops.

According to Palestinian reports, Israeli forces were surrounding the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin, and forces were deployed at the entrances of other hospitals as well. The IDF denied Palestinian claims that troops had entered the facilities, stressing that the hospitals’ function had not been disrupted and it was still possible to enter and leave them.

Two brigade combat teams are taking part in the operation, with most of the forces being concentrated near Tulkarem, according to Ynet. In addition to the IDF, the Israel Security Agency and Israel Border Police are participating in the operation.

Five terrorists struck in Nur Shams ‘operations room’
The Israeli military revealed on Wednesday morning that five terrorists were killed on Monday in a joint IDF and Israel Security Agency operation near Nur Shams in northern Samaria.

One of the fatalities, Jibril Ghassan Ismail Jibril, was released from prison as part of the Israel-Hamas hostage deal reached in November. He was involved in terror activity in the areas of Tulkarem and Qalqilya, according to the military.

Mohanad Qarawi and Muhammad Yussef were involved in terrorist activity in Nur Shams, while Adnan Jaber was in involved in terrorist activity and manufactured explosives intended to harm security forces.

The structure targeted in the operation “was used by the terrorists to conduct terrorist activity and harm IDF soldiers operating in the area,” said the IDF, which published a video of the strike.


FDD: Hamas, other terror groups turn to boobytraps and explosives to attack Israel
The terrorist groups attacking Israel, particularly Hamas, are turning to the use of explosive devices and booby traps increasingly. This is true in Gaza and also in the West Bank.

On Sunday, the IDF said St.-Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Shlomo Yehonatan Hazut was killed in Gaza by an explosive device hidden on a road. The IDF had cleared the area, but the terrorists were still able to carry out the attack. This illustrates the growing threat of explosive devices and booby traps. These types of devices are called improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

Hazut was “the seventh soldier to fall in Gaza in four days,” Ynet reported. “Four of the fatalities were killed when IEDs detonated.”

Hazut was in Battalion 9207 of the 16th Brigade.

The IDF said it had conducted the correct procedures in the area where the explosion occurred.

“An initial probe revealed that an infantry force was on the hunt for Hamas underground tunnels and infrastructure on a path that was cleared by heavy machines of the Engineering Corps,” it said. “An IED was likely missed and was detonated remotely by terrorists hiding in a tunnel.”

In another incident, St.-Sgt. Amit Tsadikov of Battalion 202 in the Paratroopers Brigade was also killed by an explosive device on Saturday.

On Friday, an explosive device was detonated near soldiers in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood near the Netzarim corridor. Two soldiers from the Jerusalem Brigade’s 6301st Battalion were killed and seven were wounded by an explosive device planted on the outside of a building they were searching. This area has been cleared numerous times in the past.

The use of IEDs in Gaza has been growing over the last few months. Hamas has reverted to this method, along with other terrorist groups in Gaza, as a way to fight the IDF without using armed fighters. This is because Hamas lacks the manpower it had last October. It is now using the terrain to its benefit. It knows the area, so it can quietly sneak into homes and areas and leave explosives behind. It has been using this method increasingly.

Terrorist groups are also increasing their use of explosives in the West Bank in areas such as Nur Shams, near Tulkarm, and Jenin and other areas. In addition, they may be seeking to expand the war into other areas of Israel.


Navy commander says officers wanted strong strikes against Houthis; superiors refused
A military leader who served on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group in conflicts against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen stated that high command rejected requests for heavier attacks against the terrorists.

“There are definite strategies that were put forward,” Rear Adm. Marc Miguez told military veteran Ward Carroll in a YouTube interview released on Monday. “But our National Command Authority decided that those—I would call more aggressive postures and more aggressive strikes—was not something we wanted to challenge.”

Miguez noted the widespread knowledge of Iran’s support for the Houthis, saying “that is the calculus that’s handled at echelon zero, at the National Command Authority, with NSA and everybody else.”

According to Miguez, the carrier strike group attacked the Houthis seven times between October and June. “It’ll be up to our National Command Authority to probably be more aggressive with our strike groups and all of our assets, not just Navy,” he said.


USAID Officials Warned Against Gaza Pier, But Biden Pushed it Anyway
Government officials warned President Joe Biden that his plan to build a humanitarian pier off the coast of Gaza would face major challenges, but Biden pushed the $230 million plan anyway, an internal report reveals.

Biden promised, during his March State of the Union address, to open a pier to deliver humanitarian aid to the two million-plus people in the war-torn Gaza Strip. At the time, "multiple USAID staff expressed concerns" that rough waves posed major challenges for the project, according to an inspector general report published Tuesday. Biden’s focus on the pier also undermined the agency’s advocacy for opening more on-land pathways for aid—which the report deemed "more efficient and proven."

Despite the agency’s objections, the White House pressured USAID to build the pier, which survived a mere 20 days. From the start, the operation was plagued by rough weather and security problems that significantly limited the amount of aid flowing into Gaza. Humanitarian aid groups criticized the project, calling it ineffective and wasteful.

When Biden first presented his "maritime corridor" idea, USAID officials said that the pier system "was not an option USAID would typically recommend in humanitarian response operations," the report noted. Under pressure from the White House, however, the organization began looking for ways to use it "in a way that would maintain a separation between the military and humanitarian actors" in Gaza, the report said.

The inspector general's report cited numerous "external factors"—including rough seas, inclement weather, and the Pentagon’s security requirements—that it said hindered the agency’s effort to distribute supplies delivered via the pier, the Washington Post reported.

Although USAID typically leads the U.S. government's humanitarian assistance overseas, the report found that the agency had "limited control" over various aspects of the Gaza pier, such as where it would be located and who would provide security.

The pier was permanently shut down last month after only three weeks of operation. The corridor helped the U.S. military deliver just 137 trucks of aid into the region, but several of the trucks never reached the civilian population.


The cafe uniting a Negev moshav’s evacuees
A walk along Tel Aviv’s bustling Kaplan Street means passing a lengthy display of posters of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.

Between all of the tragically familiar photos on the side of the Sarona shopping and cafe area is a small navy blue sign with a red flower and white lettering stating: Cafe Otef – Netiv Ha’asara.

The red flower is an anemone, a symbol of the Gaza border area that even hosted an annual festival in its honor. Otef — the envelope — is a term for the western Negev, the part of Israel that envelops Gaza. Netiv Ha’asara is the name of the only moshav, as opposed to kibbutzim, out of the seven communities along the Gaza border where Hamas massacred the most Israelis on Oct. 7. The Gazan terrorists murdered 20 residents of Netiv Ha’asara, the last of whose remains were found this month.

Cafe Otef – Netiv Ha’asara is a small, unassuming coffee and gift shop in one of Sarona’s historic Templar buildings, where young residents of the moshav, who have been evacuated from their homes since Oct. 7, have found jobs, and residents of all ages have found a place to gather once again as a community.

Netiv Ha’asara has been evacuated before. The moshav was originally established in the Yamit region in the Sinai Desert in 1973, and demolished when Israel and Egypt made peace. Seventy families in the original community moved to its current location, which, after Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005, became the closest Israeli town to Gaza, only a quarter-mile from the city of Bet Lahia.

“Gaza was my backyard,” Yoni Shaked, a strategic adviser who grew up in Netiv Ha’asara and is working as the partner relationship manager for the moshav’s foundation, told Jewish Insider.

But last year, when Netiv Ha’asara’s 1,080 residents were evacuated after Oct. 7, it was to hotels. Unlike the kibbutzim in the western Negev, whose residents voted and made decisions for the whole community, moshavniks, like residents of Israeli cities near Gaza, don’t have that level of central decision-making and were not kept in one place. Most were sent to one of two hotels — one in Tel Aviv and the other outside Jerusalem, Shaked said, but about 40% chose not to go where the government put them.

Meanwhile, Tamir Barelko, the founder of the Arcaffe coffee shop chain, found a way to use his skills to help evacuees from the western Negev.

“The idea for ‘Cafe Otef’ was born out of a basic need we identified among the displaced communities, which is the need to remain a united community while starting to build a new routine in their new, temporary, or permanent homes,” Barelko said when the cafe opened in May. “Unlike any other employment place, the advantages and capabilities of a coffee house are the connection between employing the displaced individuals and creating a meeting place for them among themselves.”
Hostage families drive convoy to Gaza border, calling to bring them home
Hostage families led a convoy of cars on Wednesday, driving from Tel Aviv’s hostage square towards the Gaza border. The convoy stopped at various locations in the South and will gather near Israel’s border with Gaza Thursday to call out to their loved ones, using huge speakers, the Hostage Families Forum said.

A line of cars snaked down the road in Tel Aviv just before the convoy got under way. Some of the cars used trailers to tow the burned husks of vehicles destroyed in the October 7 attack. Most were covered in yellow flags and decals calling to “seal the deal.”

Over 300 cars and thousands of peoplewere included in the convoy, and Israelis waited to show their support at various locations around the country, according to the forum.

“The only thing preventing a [hostage] deal is turning the Philadelphi Corridor into the be-all and end-all,” said Hagit Chen, mother of Itay Chen, speaking at the launch of the convoy. Itay was killed on October 7, and his body is still held in Hamas captivity.

“My Itay, I’m sorry. Sorry that in the eyes of the abandoning Israeli government, you are not enough, because the Philadelphi Corridor is more important to them than you and 107 other hostages.”

“The prime minister has a majority for a deal in the government; he has a majority in the Knesset, and he has a political safety net for a deal,” she said, adding that the only thing stopping him from making a deal is the Philadelphi Corridor, which he has made to be all-important.

“For 18 years, [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu chose, in all previous missions, not to go into the Philadelphi Corridor, and for seven months of fighting, the IDF was not there,” she concluded.

“What will be written in the pages of history about this damn war is not whether we conquered the Philadelphi Corridor or how many terrorists we killed, but if we took care of our hostages and brought them home,” said Shira Albag, mother of Liri Albag, who was taken from the Nahal Oz base on October 7.


People continue to ‘lie about Israel’ being an apartheid state
Author Douglas Murray says there are people who continue to “lie about Israel” being an apartheid state.

Mr Murray told Sky News host Rita Panahi that there are people pretending Israel’s society is something that it “just isn’t”.

“Israel is a society where Muslims, Jews, Christians and others all have equal rights.

“And Hamas of course wants to take away every one of those rights and has done everything it can to do so.”


Israel Undiplomatic w/ Mark Regev & Ruthie Blum: What will it take to push Hezbollah back?
The news cycle in Israel changes every few hours and this week was no different! On today’s show, we’ll discuss yesterday’s hostage rescue and also try to understand how Israel will bring safety to its northern residents. Was Israel’s “preemptive” action on Sunday enough or will Hezbollah need to be pushed back with ground forces?

Chapters
0:00 Hostage freed
5:00 Hezbollah’s plans foiled
11:00 Was it enough?
17:00 Moving Hezbollah back
26:00 Judea & Samaria (“West Bank”)


Ryan McBeth: Why Striking Lebanon is Different than Gaza
First off, thank you for being Substack subscribers. YouTube demonetized this video. And I appreciate all of you who give me $5 every month.

Note that the videos showing air strikes were on HAMAS not Hezbollah. I needed something illustrative for the video and grabbed the wrong footage. My bad.

Israel has spent the past 10 months mapping out every inch of southern Lebanon finding every base, every tunnel, every supply depot.

Striking Hezbollah is a very low-risk proposition compared to striking targets in Gaza or Iran.

Every single Gaza strike brought the possibility of mass casualties, but in Gaza, this was a feature, not a bug for HAMAS. HAMAS needs civilian casualties because they cannot win a fight against Israel. The world must be so horrified that they end the conflict with a cease-fire and a cease-fire means a HAMAS win.

However, civilians in southern Lebanon can flee north, which is something that cannot be done by residents of Gaza. This makes Hezbollah a much more attractive target and reduces the amount of propaganda that can be released by Hezbollah.

Hezbollah is in a bad situation and they are starting to realize that Iran is not coming to help them.

Iran views its proxies the same way Bane viewed his henchmen in The Dark Knight Rises - useful, but ultimately expendable. They are speed bumps on the road to attacking Iran.

Iran’s goal here is to hold off any attack until the next presidential election when they will have some idea of what the next administration might be like.

The losers, as always are the civilians caught in the middle.

Why Striking Lebanon is Different than Gaza by Ryan McBeth

Iran is basically Bane from The Dark Knight Rises and they don't care about their henchmen.

Read on Substack


The Israel Guys: Why is the U.S. State Department Obsessed with the Temple Mount?
“This demonstrates blatant disregard for the historic status quo with respect to the holy sites in Jerusalem,”

“The ongoing reckless statements and actions of this minister only sow chaos and exacerbate tensions”

These were statements from State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller? What could have possibly happened in Israel to make the US state department say something like this?


Refugees showing 'any support' for Hamas should not be provided visas to Australia
ASPI Executive Director Justin Bassi says refugees showing any support for Hamas "rhetorical or otherwise" should not be provided visas to Australia.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton recently faced backlash after he called for an outright ban of granting visas to Palestinians coming to Australia from the war-torn enclave amid national security concerns.

Speaking to Sky News Australia, Mr Bassi discussed the issue.

"Importantly though, and the point that I've made previously, is that any support for Hamas, rhetorical or otherwise, has to be completely unacceptable," Mr Bassi said.

"But it's not just an ASIO responsibility, anyone who expresses any type of support for a terrorist organisation should not be provided a visa – but that's the responsibility of a whole range of other agencies as well.

"The absolute principle should be the government should be making crystal clear that any support for Hamas – it doesn't take violent support, it doesn't take incitement of violence – any support for Hamas rules you out of coming to Australia."


France's Chief Rabbi is reported to prosecutors after saying Israeli forces should 'finish the job' in Gaza
France's Chief Rabbi has been reported to state prosecutors for 'apologising for war crimes' after he said the Israeli military needed to 'finish the job' in Gaza.

Haim Korsia, 60, caused outrage on Monday by openly supporting Israel's actions against Hamas in Gaza - a war which has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians die, many of them children.

He said live on a news channel: 'I have absolutely no reason to be ashamed of what Israel is doing in the way it conducts the fighting' and that 'I am not uncomfortable with a policy that consists of defending its nationals.'

Rabbi Korsia added: 'Everybody would be very happy if Israel finished the job, and we could finally build peace in the Middle East without people who only want one thing all the time – the destruction of Israel.'

Now today, French MP Aymeric Caron confirmed he had filed a complaint to Paris prosecutors for comments he claimed were 'an apology for war crimes'.

In France this offence can be punished with up to five years in prison and a fine equivalent to £40,000.

Mr Caron said: 'On the basis of Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, I have contacted the Paris Public Prosecutor to report these comments by the Chief Rabbi of France publicly apologising for war crimes in Gaza.'

In turn, prosecutors said they were examining the evidence, including video images, before proceeding.

There was no initial comment about the complaint from Rabbi Korsia, who is a former chaplain to the French Army.

Rabbi Korsia made his comments on the BFM news channel on Monday, saying that all Palestinians were victims 'of an act of war that is the responsibility of Hamas' who 'refuse all proposals to stop the fighting.'

When asked if he was worried about the ferocity of the Israeli attacks on Gaza, he replied: 'I am never uncomfortable with a policy that consists of defending [Israeli] citizens.'
Just a few weeks ago, pro-Palestine Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi refused to call for Hamas to be axed. You won't believe her new role
Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi, who faced heavy criticism over her refusal to condemn Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, will join a probe into anti-Semitism.

The NSW Senator, who also holds the Greens' tertiary education and anti-racism portfolios, has been placed on a senate committee into anti-Semitism at Australian universities.

The inquiry follows complaints by a number of students and staff members from different institutions who believe anti-Jewish discourse has been normalised on campus, along with ongoing pro-Palestine protests.

More than 170 submissions by students and staff have been uploaded to the committee's website, detailing experiences with discrimination or blatant racial hate.

During a debate to refer the bill to the committee, Ms Faruqi said the Coalition was 'trying to weaponise anti-Semitism, to attack those who are standing up to Israel's genocide in Gaza'.

In July, she has repeatedly refused to call for Hamas to be axed and told the ABC's Insiders program the people of Palestine should decide whether to dismantle it.

She also minimised pro-Palestine graffiti on the Australian War Memorial as 'paint on a building'.

Last year, she posted a photo on Instagram of herself standing with student protesters holding up pro-Palestine signs outside Town Hall in Sydney, including one that said 'keep the world clean' - with an image of an Israeli flag going in the bin.

Liberal MP Julian Leeser, who originally called for the probe in May, has now asked why Ms Faruqi felt the need to insert herself into the inquiry.


NSW Greens call for students to be allowed to wear Palestinian keffiyehs and flags after antisemitic incidents in schools
The NSW Greens have called for students to be allowed to wear Palestinian keffiyehs and flags to school in an extraordinary request the state’s education department agreed to consider.

The demand came as Sky News obtained exclusive footage of anti-Semitic incidents in Sydney public schools the NSW deputy premier described as “appalling.”

NSW Greens MLC Abigail Boyd told a Budget Estimates hearing on Tuesday she had heard from “many students” who wanted to express their support for Palestine publicly.

"Palestinian students have not been allowed to wear their keffiyeh at schools, they have not been able to wear the Palestinian flag on their bags,” Ms Boyd said.

“When they have been sat up all night watching the conflict and grieving for their family and friends... when they go to school, they're not allowed to talk about the fact that they’re Palestinian.

“We’re not neutral on murder, we’re not neutral on most crimes, why would we be neutral on war?”

NSW Education Department secretary Murat Dizdar said it could be time to review a resource issued to schools in November, instructing them to be “neutral” on the Middle East conflict.

Deputy premier and education minister Prue Car told the hearing her priority was “trying to protect the wellbeing of our staff and students.”

The NSW Opposition also questioned the deputy premier about a fresh anti-Semitic scandal unfolding at two schools on Sydney’s upper north shore.

In footage obtained by Sky News, a swastika and the words “kill the Jews” in German are seen scrawled on boys’ toilets at Lindfield Learning Village, while another swastika is carved into a tree.

Screenshots supplied to the network also show a group chat where a student says he’s dressing as “Hitler” for Halloween and a photograph of a swastika made out of coloured pins adorning what appears to be a classroom wall.

At St Ives High School, a screenshot provided to Sky News shows a photo understood to be of a Jewish student, with the words “gas inhaler” written on it, shared to a group chat.


Police ban Jaffa screening of controversial ‘Jenin, Jenin 2’ film
Israel Police issued an order banning the screening of a controversial Palestinian film in Jaffa’s Al Saraya Theater on Wednesday, saying it amounted to incitement according to Channel 12 News.

The theater condemned the move to ban “Jenin, Jenin 2,” a sequel to the controversial and also-banned 2002 film, saying it was a violation of their freedom of expression.

The new film is about a 48-hour IDF incursion into Jenin last July in which hundreds of terror suspects were arrested and 13 were killed.

The widely discredited first film falsely alleged that the Israel Defense Forces massacred civilians in the West Bank city of Jenin during the Operation Defensive Shield military campaign at the height of the Second Intifada.

Mohammad Bakri, who directed the sequel as well, told Channel 12 News on Sunday that the new film features testimonies from people who were in Jenin during last year’s operation and includes some interviewees from the first film.

“It also talks about what I went through, the persecution and the ban on screening ‘Jenin Jenin,'” he said.

Police interrogated the manager of the Al Saraya theater, Mahmoud Abu Arisha, on Tuesday, according to Channel 12, and he was released with a warning and an order not to screen the movie on Wednesday.

The theater said in a statement on Wednesday that the police were banning the screening based on the High Court’s ruling on the previous film.


United Airlines staffer’s Palestinian-flag pin sparks furor —but company stands by policy allowing displays of ‘pride’
A United Airlines flight attendant was spotted wearing a Palestinian flag pin on a domestic flight — riling pro-Israel advocates even as the airline stood by its uniform policy.

Jewish civil rights group StopAntisemitism blasted United for allowing staffers for what they viewed as a divisive political statement after an outraged passenger notified the group of the staffer, who wore the pin and a keffiyeah around her neck during a Tuesday flight from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to Newark Airport.

“StopAntisemitism is alarmed by the rising trend of US airline employees displaying Palestinian flags and keffiyehs while on duty,” StopAntisemitism founder Liora Rez said. “There are no flights to Palestine.

“Political stances belong off the clock,” Rez said. “Airlines must ensure that passengers aren’t confronted with divisive symbols in what should be a neutral space.”

The group is calling on airlines to prohibit such symbols — but United isn’t budging on its policy to allow flight staff to wear Palestinian or other flag pins “that represent their pride.”

“Our uniform policy has long included an option for flight attendants to wear flag pins to designate specific language skills so that our customers who are more comfortable in a language other than English can know who on our crew speaks their preferred language,” the airline said in a statement.

“We also allow flight attendants to wear flag pins that represent their pride in a place to which they may have a special connection,” the statement added.
AIPAC headquarters vandalized by anti-Israel activists
The headquarters of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington, DC, were vandalized on Sunday, according to AIPAC and Palestine Action US.

An AIPAC spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the building was vandalized, but stressed that the committee would “not be deterred by the illegal actions of these extremists in our efforts to strengthen the US-Israel relationship.”

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) said in a Monday statement that it was seeking two suspects in the damaging and spray painting of “offensive language” in the block of AIPAC’s building. The MPDC said that it was investigating the incident as political and hate- or bias-motivated.

The American branch of the vandalism activism organization Palestine Action claimed that they had received a video and statement from activists who claimed to have mixed dog feces and red paint to smear on the building. Messages displayed on the building included “f**k Israel” and the red inverted triangle terrorist symbol.




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!
 

 

at