Friday, September 20, 2024

09/20 Links Pt1: Kemp: Israel is winning its war against Hezbollah. We should celebrate; Hezbollah Radwan Force chief killed; Haniyeh rejected billions and a Palestinian state

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: An explosive moment of clarification
The Iranian war of extermination against Israel continues to be a clarifying moment for the supposedly civilised world. As this crisis continues, it is remorselessly spotlighting those who stand against such evil and those who are shamefully siding with it.

Israel’s astounding feat this week in killing or disabling thousands of senior Hezbollah operatives by causing their pagers and walkie-talkie radios to explode has sent its western enemies into a frenzy. Anti-Israel activists and the media have been falling over each other to claim that the attack indiscriminately endangered and killed innocent civilians and amounted to a reckless escalation of the war.

In fact, never in the history of warfare has there been a more precisely targeted attack against enemy combatants. The explosive devices had only been distributed to senior Hezbollah operatives. The small amount of explosive inside was designed to hurt only the carriers.

The number of civilian casualties was accordingly extremely small. All such casualties are regrettable. But those accusing Israel of recklessly endangering civilians and escalating the war fail to acknowledge the difference between deliberately aiming to kill civilians and inadvertently causing civilian casualties in a just war of defence.

They fail to register the dozens of Hezbollah missiles and rockets that Hezbollah is firing every day to kill Israelis. They fail to refer to the 12 Druze children and young people killed by such an attack in July on Majdal Shams. They fail to note that Hezbollah has been increasingly widening its target range ever more deeply into Israel.

Escalation, it seems, is a one-way street. It never applies to attacks on Israel, only to Israel when it defends itself.

The Biden administration continues to play a double game. Ever since the October 7 pogrom, it has pressured Israel not to take the steps needed to defeat Hamas, stop Hezbollah and neutralise Iran. That pressure has become frenzied in recent days as Israel has signalled it may have no alternative but to clear Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon altogether.

But at least the United States voted against the appalling resolution passed by the UN General Assembly on Wednesday — by 124-14 with 43 abstentions — demanding that Israel should end “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months.

The text of the resolution was based on the advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice in July that Israel’s “occupation of Palestinian territory” was illegal. But the ICJ is a kangaroo court, relying for its “evidence” entirely on falsehoods propagated by those who want to see the Jewish state destroyed.

That includes the United Nations itself, which is institutionally programmed for Israel’s destruction by singling it out for a campaign of lies, bullying, harassment, discrimination and demonisation that it deploys against no other country in the world.

This world body is morally bankrupt. So, too, is the British government, which couldn’t bring itself to vote against a resolution demanding Israel’s withdrawal to the 1948 ceasefire lines — dubbed by Israeli statesman Abba Eban “Auschwitz borders” because their indefensibility would guarantee Israel’s extermination — but instead abstained.
Richard Kemp: Israel is winning its war against Hezbollah. We should celebrate.
In the past 11 months they have killed an estimated 20,000 terrorists against 340 IDF deaths. On probably the most complex battlefield seen in modern warfare, they have also achieved great success in minimising civilian casualties and maximising aid deliveries.

Much of this experience from Gaza will be applied in Lebanon. There are differences of scale, terrain, population and tactics, but Hezbollah is another Iranian terror proxy like Hamas, trained, armed and equipped by Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Judging by events in Lebanon in the past few days, Israel’s intelligence penetration of Hezbollah is substantial, a factor that will have a major bearing on the prosecution of the war.

Severely damaging Hezbollah is not only in Israel’s interests but ours too.

In 2015, British security services, acting on Israeli intelligence, disrupted a Hezbollah bomb factory in London. Years before, Hezbollah was involved in killing hundreds of British and American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by Iranian proxies.

Iran is the controlling hand behind the conflict in the Middle East, including Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and attacks on US bases in Syria, Jordan and Iraq. Tehran has set itself firmly against Western interests in Europe by supplying arms to Russia for attacking Ukraine, and it is on the threshold of becoming a nuclear armed state.

Israel deserves Britain’s support as its multi-front war with Iran shifts northwards. It does not deserve our shameful arms suspension, abstention on a Palestinian initiated anti Israel vote this week at the UN, or Starmer’s hand-wringing message of “deep concern” over the pager attacks.

At a time when this country is trying to weaken Iran with new sanctions for supplying ballistic missiles to Russia, these moves have the opposite effect and show diplomatic illiteracy.
Seth Frantzman: The Israel vs. Hezbollah War of 2024 Is Getting Closer to Reality
The exploding pagers now may push the Israel-Hezbollah conflict into a new phase. Hezbollah has suffered a large number of casualties. It is not clear how many Hezbollah fighters have been impacted. However, the group announced thirty-eight fallen members. This means the group has now lost 478 members since it began its attacks on Israel. The death toll for the September 17 exploding pagers incident is now the largest single-day death toll for the group since October 2023. Hezbollah will want to respond.

Meanwhile, the IDF is preparing for this eventuality. The IDF has sent its 98th Division, which is composed of commandos and paratroopers, to the north to prepare for escalation. The 98th Division played a key role in fighting in Gaza. It was the division that took Khan Younis from Hamas in January and February 2024, in tough fighting that required the commandos and combat engineers to enter tunnels to root out terrorists. The 98th gained more experience in a number of raids into Gaza between May and July 2024. The 98th Division will join the 36th Armored Division, which the IDF had redeployed from Gaza to the north earlier this year. Along with these units, the IDF has the 91st Division, which is the main division responsible for securing the Israeli border with Lebanon. These units have reserve brigades that have been rotated into the north and also trained throughout the war to prepare for possible confrontation with Hezbollah.

For the IDF, this has been a long waiting game. The IDF doesn’t train units to sit in bivouacs and stay on the defensive. Instead, Israel had trained for years for rapid ground maneuver of forces using the latest technology to work closely with the air force and navy to strike at enemies such as Hezbollah. In fact, the main training of units such as the 36th Division was for war in the north. Its constituent units, such as the Golani infantry and 7th Armored, often trained to assault hilly and mountainous terrain, as one would find in southern Lebanon. Israel’s soldiers are well prepared for a war in the north.

The question facing Israel’s political leadership and its security establishment is what kind of strategy it has now for the Lebanon front and Gaza. In Gaza, the fighting has been reduced since its heavy clashes during the opening months of the war. The IDF has two divisions in Gaza, one on the Egyptian border and one in central Gaza. Hamas has lost many fighters and has fewer rockets than when the war began. However, the terrorist group is still deadly. On September 17, the IDF announced that four soldiers had been killed and a number wounded in southern Gaza. The fight is ongoing against Hamas, which continues to control parts of central and northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Hezbollah has suffered a setback. Nonetheless, it still has more than 30,000 fighters under arms. It has dug into areas in southern Lebanon, tunneling into the rocky countryside and preparing for a major war. With Iranian backing, the group also expects to receive support from other fronts, such as Iranian proxy militias in Syria and Iraq.

Hezbollah also has forces in Syria. Hezbollah is aware of Israel’s capabilities, and it knows that Israel is now concentrating forces in the north. However, it also believes that it has enough capabilities to pose a serious threat to Israel. If Hezbollah chooses to strike Israel, it will be unleashing a war whose outcome and dynamics neither side could possibly predict.


Seth Mandel: The Question for the Biden Administration in the Wake of the Pager Plot
Which means the better question, following the pager attacks, is not What is Israel’s long-term strategy for Hezbollah? but rather What is the West’s long-term strategy for Iran?

Removing Hezbollah from Lebanon would be like pouring salt into a bag of sugar and asking Israel to only remove the grains of salt. There isn’t any appetite in the White House or in the capitals of Europe for Israel to do what it would require to pull this off. And even if there were, without a change in America’s Iran policy (at the very least), it would still make only a negligible difference in the long term, because we would keep funding Iran’s expansionism in the region while asking Israel why Iran is expanding in the region.

You know what else would help focus the West on a long-term goal in the region? Allowing Israel to win its war in Gaza. That, too, is a war against an Iranian proxy. If after October 7 the U.S. is still going to waver on the necessity of fully defeating and removing Hamas, then Iran knows it can get away with almost anything up north as well.

It doesn’t necessarily require a war to defeat Iran’s regime in the long-term. But that’s irrelevant anyway, since there doesn’t appear to be anything Iran could do that would draw the U.S. into such a war. But victory would require opposing Iranian expansionism rather than, say, wagging our finger at the Houthis holding Yemen hostage and bombing the commercial shipping lanes while our European allies flirt with an embargo—on Israel.

In the meantime, Israel—with America’s help, of course—has built missile shields for its own defense and maintained a qualitative military edge over its foes in the hopes of preserving some level of deterrence. Whatever else the pager plan accomplished, it likely paused an escalation by Hezbollah in its tracks, which is what Tony Blinken and the rest of the Biden administration have been asking for. Having now received that delay, it is the Biden administration that ought to be able to answer the question: OK, now what?
Ruthie Blum: With allies like these
Notice his ongoing failure to mention that Egypt for years has been enabling the smuggling of weapons and construction materials through tunnels connecting the Philadelphi Corridor to Gaza. No wonder Cairo opposed the Israel Defense Forces entering Rafah; its leader didn’t want the men and women in IDF uniforms to discover the size and extent of those passageways. And he’s remained adamant during “negotiations” for a ceasefire-hostage-release deal that Israel maintain no control over the area.

Nevertheless, Blinken told reporters that he “thanked the president [Abdel Fattah el-Sisi] and the foreign minister [Badr Abdelatty] and other colleagues for Egypt’s commitment to this work. And we discussed the importance of getting this deal across the finish line—something we’ll continue to pursue, along with our Qatari counterparts.”

As though Qatar, which provides a safe haven for Hamas honchos, is some kind of honest broker, rather than a force of evil.

“We all know that a ceasefire is the best chance to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to address the risks to regional stability—risks that I know are felt viscerally here in Egypt; in particular, the Houthis’ continued attacks on global commerce in the Red Sea, aided and abetted by Iran, are reducing traffic in the Suez Canal. And that’s cost Egypt a projected $5 billion in lost revenue.”

Nice that he’s so worried about Egyptian finances. Amazing that his sole reference to Tehran is in the Houthi context when the Islamic Republic is behind Hamas and Hezbollah.

“We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress over the last month, month and a half,” he said. “There are, I think, in the agreement, eighteen paragraphs; fifteen of them are agreed, but the remaining issues need to be resolved.” In other words, the insurmountable ones.

“The most important thing in this moment is seeing a demonstration of political will to finally conclude this agreement,” he claimed, obviously directing the comment at Israel. Let’s face it: “Political will” isn’t what comes to mind when considering the motives of mass murderer Yahya Sinwar and his rapist executioners.

“And that’s what we discussed,” Blinken expounded. “We also discussed in some detail what would be necessary arrangements if an agreement is finally reached, in terms of the so-called ‘day after’—what happens in Gaza in terms of its governance, its security, its reconstruction. And here, as well. Egypt is and will be a critical partner, and I think we had a very useful conversation about that today, as well.”

Thank God that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t give the likes of Blinken a heads-up about plans to detonate Hezbollah’s communication devices. All Jerusalem would have received in return was a big, fat “don’t.”
Israel proposes ‘safe passage deal’ to end war in Gaza
Israel has submitted a new proposal to the United States to end the war in Gaza by freeing all of the remaining hostages held by Hamas and allowing the terror group’s leader Yahya Sinwar to exit the enclave, Kan News reported on Thursday.

The framework for the deal, which would be achieved all in one phase, also includes safe passage out of Gaza for other senior Hamas terrorists, the release of Palestinian security prisoners, demilitarization of the Strip and a new system of governance in Gaza.

Israel’s Coordinator for Hostages and Missing Persons, Gal Hirsch, met with families of the hostages and updated them on the proposal, according to the report. Some of the relatives told Kan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should present the proposal to the United Nations.

Netanyahu is scheduled to deliver a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 27.

In the meeting with the families, Hirsch reportedly said that the proposal was presented during his meetings last week with American officials at the White House and State Department.

The proposal has been dubbed the “Safe Passage Deal,” according to sources who met with Hirsch.

The current Israeli proposal on the table to end the conflict in Gaza calls for the safe passage of Yahya Sinwar and other terrorists–likely to Qatar or Turkey–in exchange for the return of all remaining hostages, and a declared end to the intensive phase of fighting.
Thousands rally in Jerusalem demanding victory over Hamas
Thousands of Israelis gathered in Jerusalem on Thursday night for a protest organized by the Tikva Forum for Families of Hostages, demanding immediate and decisive action from the government to secure the release of all Israelis held by Hamas in Gaza and the definitive defeat of the terrorist group.

The demonstration, which took place on Kaplan Street, which runs through the government campus on Givat Ram, starting at 7 p.m., brought together families of hostages, bereaved families from the Forum for Families of Fallen Heroes (the Gvura Forum), war veterans and IDF reservists under the banner “Demanding Resolution Now for the Release of All Hostages.”

The protest comes amid ongoing negotiations for a hostage deal, with critics arguing that current proposals could leave captives in Gaza for years without Israel maintaining leverage over Hamas.

Knesset member Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit) addressed the crowd, emphasizing the urgency of the situation.

“Our goal is clear: to bring back all our hostages,” she declared. “What we need to do today is one thing only: Strike Hamas in every possible way until they are forced to release our loved ones.”

Son Har-Melech also stressed the importance of maintaining pressure on Hamas by restricting aid supplies and other goods from entering Gaza until all hostages are free.
Biden-Harris Worked 'Around the Clock' for Months on Gaza Ceasefire Deal That's Never Going to Happen
After months of negotiating with Hamas and claiming a deal was imminent, the White House is starting to suspect the terrorists are not 'serious about completing an agreement'

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have claimed for months to be working "around the clock" on a Gaza ceasefire deal that is "close" to happening. Spoiler alert: It's not going to happen because Hamas, the terrorist organization that massacred Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, doesn't want to release their hostages.

Despite their reportedly tireless efforts to negotiate with the terrorists, the Biden-Harris administration has privately conceded that a ceasefire deal won't happen before the end of Biden's term in January 2025. "No deal is imminent," a Biden-Harris official told the Wall Street Journal. "I'm not sure it ever gets done."

The Journal's report highlights the fecklessness of an administration that has repeatedly stressed the importance of securing a ceasefire deal in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages. President Biden has claimed since February to be "close" to achieving such a deal. Meanwhile, Harris has claimed to be "working around the clock" for months with nothing to show.

"I absolutely believe that this war has to end, and it has to end as soon as possible," Harris said this week during a softball interview with members of the National Association of Black Journalists. "And the way that will be achieved is by getting a hostage deal and the ceasefire deal done. And we are working around the clock to achieve that end."

It would appear that the Biden-Harris administration is finally starting to realize that Hamas is not a reliable negotiating partner. (Duh.) Administration officials have grown "frustrated" with the terrorist organization, which continues to make demands but then "refuses to say 'yes' after the U.S. and Israel accept them," the Journal reports. The officials are starting to suspect the Hamas terrorists are not "serious about completing an agreement."

You don't say.
Haniyeh rejected billions and a Palestinian state, son reveals In 2021 Gaza had more
Ismail Haniyeh, the late Hamas leader, turned down a deal offering billions of dollars and the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza, according to his son, Abd Al-Salam Haniyeh.

The offer, part of the "Deal of the Century" brokered by former Trump adviser Jared Kushner, was refused due to demands to disarm Hamas, according to Haniyeh’s son, who also reflected on the transformation and development of Gaza in recent years.

In an interview posted on YouTube in August and translated by Memri TV, the son of the former head of Hamas’s political bureau said his father had been offered a deal by Kushner, then senior adviser to President Donald Trump.

“He said that Kushner (told) a mediator that he wanted to come over and reach an agreement about the Deal of the Century and the establishment of a (Palestinian) state in Gaza, and then billions would be spent on Gaza, and they would hand over the weapons of the resistance”.

Haniyeh recollected that his father “famously said ‘may our hands be paralysed if we sign an agreement that will separate Gaza from Palestine’.”

In the interview with SamaQuds network on YouTube, Haniyeh’s son talked about how much Gaza had improved in recent years, with the opening up of more aid channels and global attention on the Strip.

“After the 2008-2009 (war) the world opened up (to Gaza). For the first time, a huge thing happened.

Although “There were 1,200 martyrs and there was destruction,” Haniyeh remarked that the attention of “The world, Al-Jazeera TV, the media,” improved things for the territory.

“There was an Arab summit, and people were sympathising.

“The convoys started. The tunnels began to be active, and whatever,” he went on, referring to the mass expansion of Hamas’s tunnel network and the increasing aid convoys into Gaza.

“Then there was the Arab Spring and then, in 2013... it was a time of progress, and (in 2012), the Emir of Qatar came, and laid the cornerstone for the reconstruction. All this has turned into Gaza.”

“People who came to Gaza in 2020-2021 could not believe this was Gaza because it was so beautiful. With buildings, the Doha Promenade, the Egypt Promenade, restaurants, and so on and so forth.

“Who would have thought that this was besieged Gaza which had been through wars? The kind of beauty that was there could not be found in many Arab countries,” Haniyeh went on.


Dave Rich: Israel's always-critics

The Libertarian: Operation Grim Beeper: Targeted or Terrorism? | Libertarian: Richard Epstein | Hoover Institution
Hosted by Richard Epstein & Tom Church
Richard Epstein clears up questions over Israel’s beeper attack on thousands of Hezbollah members in Lebanon and provides the classical liberal’s approach to preventing gun violence and school shootings.


UKLFI Charitable Trust: Natasha Hausdorff discusses the Hizbollah pagers and rising antisemitism on Fox News.
Natasha Hausdorff, UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, discusses the Hizbollah pagers and rising antisemitism around the world on Fox News, 19 September 2024.




Lebanon Bans Pagers and Walkie-Talkies on All Flights From Beirut After Israel's Explosive Attacks
Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all flights departing from Beirut, after such devices exploded this week in an Israeli surprise attack against Hezbollah terrorists.

Passengers flying out of the Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport are now prohibited from carrying pagers and walkie-talkies in both their checked and carry-on luggage, according to a directive issued by Lebanon’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The ban also extends to air shipments of these devices.

The precaution follows two waves of deadly explosions involving Hezbollah militants' pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. On Tuesday, thousands of pagers detonated simultaneously, killing at least 12 and injuring the "waist and crotch areas" of many Hezbollah operatives. Another wave targeting walkie-talkies on Wednesday claimed at least 20 more lives and wounded hundreds.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a televised address Thursday, acknowledged that Hezbollah "received a heavy, painful blow," calling the surprise attacks a "declaration of war" and daring the Jewish state to invade Lebanon.

While he spoke, Israeli forces carpet bombed Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah terrorists switched to using pagers and walkie-talkies earlier this year due to concerns about Israel surveilling and infiltrating their cell phones.
CEO of company linked to Hezbollah pagers being guarded by Hungarian secret services
The woman whose company was linked to thousands of pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria this week is under the protection of the Hungarian secret services, her mother told The Associated Press on Friday.

Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono has not appeared publicly since the deadly simultaneous attack that targeted Hezbollah on Tuesday and that has been widely blamed on Israel. She is listed as the CEO of Budapest-based BAC Consulting, which the Taiwanese trademark holder of the pagers said was responsible for manufacturing the devices.

Her mother, Beatrix Bársony-Arcidiacono, told The Associated Press that her daughter had received unspecified threats and “is currently in a safe place protected by the Hungarian secret services.”

The “Hungarian secret services advised her not to talk to media,” she said by phone from Sicily.

Hungary’s national security authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the AP could not independently verify the claim.

The attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, first targeting pagers and then walkie-talkies, have killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 3,000, primarily Hezbollah members. Two children have also been killed. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. The image shows a sign with the names of several companies on the door of a house which houses the headquarters of the Hungarian company that allegedly manufactured the pagers that exploded in an attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, Budapest, Hungary, September 18, 2024 (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono’s company came under scrutiny after Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese firm, said it had authorized BAC Consulting to use its name on the pagers that were used in the first attack, but that the Hungarian company was responsible for manufacturing and design.

On Wednesday, a Hungarian government spokesman said the pagers delivered to Hezbollah were never in Hungary, and that BAC Consulting merely acted as an intermediary.

Beatrix Bársony-Arcidiacono, who also uses the name Beatrice, echoed that.

“She is not involved in any way, she was just a broker. The items did not pass through Budapest. … They were not produced in Hungary,” she said.
The Israel Guys: Israel is RE-INVENTING Modern Warfare | What’s Coming Next?
The attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon keep coming, and the embarrassment and defeat for Hezbollah are more and more apparent. Israel is at the beginning of the end of eradicating Hamas in Gaza. They have humiliated Hezbollah on the public stage, and shut down their attempts at any major attacks against Israel. Even while Hezbollah’s leader, Nasrallah, threatened to declare war on Israel (as if they weren’t already at war), Israeli fighter jets broke the sound barrier while circling over Beirut! The terror and embarrassment of Israel’s enemies could not be more apparent. And they should be scared. No enemy of the Jewish state, and no enemy of God and the Bible is safe.




‘Whole of Hezbollah’s senior command level likely damaged’
Hezbollah on its knees
According to Cmdr. (res.) Eyal Pinko, a researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University and a former Israeli Navy officer, who also served in an intelligence organization, the attack struck up to 3,000 terror operatives in “less than a second.

“If you just look at the persons who were carrying those beepers, this is probably the senior commanders and above. So it’s from the battalion commanders and above. So probably what is happening now in Hezbollah is that all the commanding structure from, let’s say, the rank of lieutenant colonel in a regular military to the generals, the two or three generals, are totally injured or some of them are already died. So now to get even to the time to reset and to start to understand what is happening, it will take a few days.”

The surprise attack left Hezbollah on its knees, he added, though the organization’s opposition in Lebanon still does not stand a chance against the Islamist group’s armed operatives, estimated to number almost 100,000 (including reserve forces).

“You need to have a huge army in order to, to compete with them,” said Pinko. However, the 3,000 or so injured operatives mean that an enormously significant number of senior commanders are not functional—in all likelihood, “all [of the] senior commanding level were damaged,” he assessed.

Hezbollah operatives in Syria were also hurt in the pager blasts.

And on Sept. 9, international media reports said Israeli special forces and aircraft struck an IRGC missile site in Hama, western Syria, which was designed to produce accurate missiles for Hezbollah. That attack, said Pinko, harmed the group’s ability to get hold of “kits that make their bombs more accurate—the rocket accuracy program. So all these moves kind of look like softening up the target before actually striking,” he said.

On July 31, the Israeli Air Force killed Hezbollah’s second in command, Fuad Shukr, considered to be the organization’s “military” chief of staff, landing another blow.

Pinko said that strike and others like it showcased “very precise, very accurate, very good intelligence, amazing intelligence.”

Meanwhile, as international media reports focus on the pager attack, less attention has been given to how the explosive material in them was activated.

Malicious code
Barak Gonen, senior lecturer at the Jerusalem College of Technology and a former cybersecurity official in the Israel Defense Forces, told JNS that in theory, “Getting a remote device to run a malicious code requires uploading the code into the device before execution, which is an immense task if done remotely.”

He added, “I would assume that all modern intelligence agencies employ experts that master the skills of attacking remote devices. However, in this event, as the details unfold it becomes more apparent that the devices were ‘treated’ before handling them to Hezbollah. As an attacker, holding the device in your hand makes it far easier to attack, as you can alter the code that is running in the device. What the attacker would need to do is have an image of the new code, and then burn it into the device pretty much in the same manner that the factory, or cellphone technicians, do.”
Israeli Forces Kick Off 'New Era' In Fight Against Hezbollah, Eliminating 20 of Terror Group's Senior Commanders
Explosions rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday as Israeli forces kicked off "a new era" in their fight against Hezbollah by eliminating at least 20 of the terror group’s senior commanders in an airstrike.

Israeli warplanes conducted precision strikes across Beirut’s suburbs, targeting Hezbollah strongholds as part of an operation that signaled the Jewish state is prepared for some of the most intense fighting on its northern front in years. The Friday strikes marked the deadliest single-day attack on Beirut since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. They also confirmed that Israel is in full war swing against Hezbollah after spending nearly a year engaged in smaller, tit-for-tat exchanges with the terror group in the wake of Oct. 7.

Senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil—who had a $7 million U.S. bounty on his head for his role in terror attacks dating back to the 1980s—was reportedly killed during the airstrikes, dealing a major blow to the terror group as it grapples with the fallout of this week’s mass pager and radio attacks. Israel said it completely annihilated the command force behind Hezbollah’s Radwan group, a special operations unit run by Aqil.

Israeli officials say Aqil was meeting with other Hezbollah commanders in the basement of a residential building, discussing how to "use civilians as human shields," when Israel bombed the structure, killing everyone. The strike occurred after Hezbollah fired dozens of missiles into Israel, killing two soldiers on Thursday as payback for this week’s surprise attacks.

Israel’s operation made clear that it would no longer stand by as Hezbollah launched fire rockets and drones into its northern territory, forcing the evacuation of around 50,000 civilians from their homes. It also capped a brutal week for Hezbollah, which was still reeling from a series of sophisticated strikes on its communications networks that saw pagers and handheld radios across the country simultaneously explode on Tuesday and Wednesday.

At least two residential buildings in Beirut collapsed as a result of Friday’s airstrikes, which followed a similar precision attack the day before on Hezbollah strongholds. Thursday’s airstrike occurred just as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah appeared on television to declare Israel’s surprise operation a "declaration of war" against his terror group.

Lebanese health authorities claim at least 12 were killed and another 60 wounded in Friday’s airstrikes. The pager and radio attacks earlier in the week killed around 30 and wounded thousands more, often around the terrorists' "crotch areas."
IDF strike kills Hezbollah Radwan Force chief Ibrahim Aqil in Beirut
The IDF conducted a targeted strike on Radwan Force commander and head of Hezbollah Operations Ibrahim Aqil in Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday, killing the high-ranking terrorist.

Hezbollah later confirmed that Aqil was killed by an Israeli strike.

Including Aqil, around ten Hezbollah Operations commanders were eliminated in the strike, according to Israeli media reports. Security sources told Reuters that other members of Hezbollah's Radwan Force were killed when the Israeli strike hit a meeting they were attending.

Hezbollah-run publication Al-Manar claimed that more than one strike targeted southern Beirut. Lebanese media placed the strike site in the Al-Qaim neighborhood of Beirut.

The Lebanese Health Ministry claimed that 12 had been killed in the strike and that another 66 were wounded, nine of whom were in critical condition.

Initially, Reuters reported that a thick cloud of smoke was seen climbing over the Lebanese capital, adding that residents of the city's southern suburbs reported hearing a blast.

Israeli and foreign media reported that the meeting was between Palestinian and Hezbollah officials. The Jerusalem Post was not able to confirm the report at this time.

The strike follows massive Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel overnight between Thursday and Friday, during which some 50 homes in the Israeli border community of Metulla were reportedly damaged. Additionally, rocket falls and shrapnel sparked fires across several locations in the North.

The IDF noted that the Home Front Command's defensive guidelines for Israeli residents, notably those in northern Israel, are currently unchanged.

"We are in a new phase of the war and continue to pursue Hezbollah," an Israeli official told Ynet after the strike. "We are preparing for a response. Everything is on the table."
IDF airstrike in Beirut kills top Hezbollah terror commander
A targeted strike by the Israel Defense Forces in Beirut on Friday reportedly killed senior Hezbollah terrorist Ibrahim Aqil—alias Al-Hajj Abdul Khader—in the predominately Shi’ite Dahiyeh neighborhood.

Aqil was a member of Hezbollah’s top “military” body, the Jihad Council, which is subordinate to the Shura Council and under the direct control of terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah. Credit: The U.S. Department of State.

He was also responsible for the Radwan Force commandos in the Swords of Iron War and led Hezbollah’s tunnel project in Lebanon.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that the Biden administration was not informed of the strike ahead of time.

The United States had offered a $7 million bounty for Aqil.

In July, the Israeli Air Force struck in Beirut, killing Fuad Shukr, also known as al-Hajj Mohsin, a senior member of the Jihad Council who was responsible for the 1983 bombing that killed 241 U.S. troops in the Lebanese capital.

In January, an Israeli drone strike on an office in Beirut eliminated Saleh al-Arouri, the commander of Hamas operations in Judea and Samaria and the terrorist group’s deputy politburo chief.
Who is Ibrahim Aqil, target of Israel's Beirut strike?
In a Friday statement confirming Aqil's death, IDF spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari noted that he was the leader and architect of Hezbollah's "Plan to Conquer the Galilee."

The Radwan Force commanders killed alongside Aqil in the strike were likewise involved in the plan, the Hagari added.

"Hezbollah intended, on the day of command, to invade Israeli territory, seize Galilee communities, and murder innocent civilians, similar to what Hamas did during the brutal massacre on October 7," the IDF spokesperson said of the Hezbollah plan.

According to Hagari, Aqil, since 2004, has served as head of Hezbollah's Operations Division. In this role, he reportedly oversaw a variety of terror activities, including bombings and anti-tank missile fire on Israeli territory. He also allegedly oversaw activities related to explosive devices and air defense, among others.

In 2019, the same year the US State Department proscribed Aqil as a global terrorist, the Hezbollah leader orchestrated an anti-tank missile attack on Avivim, Hagari continued, adding that, last year, he oversaw the terror attack at the Megiddo Junction.

Throughout the war, the Radwan Force leader also reportedly orchestrated terrorist infiltration attempts into northern Israel.


‘Idiot’ AOC slammed over ‘untrue’ post about Hezbollah pager attack
Author and commentator Andrew Klavan slammed “idiot” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez following her latest post commenting on the attack on Hezbollah communication devices in Lebanon.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, in a post to X, said the pager attack in Lebanon “clearly and unequivocally violates international humanitarian law and undermines US efforts to prevent a wider conflict”.

She then went on to call for the “full accounting” of the attack to Congress, including an answer from the State Department as to whether any “US assistance went into the development or deployment” of the technology.

“It’s a stupid theory, it’s observably untrue,” Mr Klavan told Sky News host James Macpherson.




Why Egypt Prefers Palestinian Terrorists On Its Border
"Before el-Sissi, but also during his tenure, cars, motorcycles, clothes, drugs, medicines, alcoholic beverages, and weapons were smuggled through the Philadelphi Corridor over the years, lots of weapons: improved RPG-29 rockets that killed our soldiers in the Iron Swords War, hidden rocket parts, machine guns, mines, and more." — Nadav Shragai, Israeli author and journalist, Israel Hayom, July 10, 2024.

"[E]ven those who trust President el-Sissi now cannot guarantee that a new [former Egyptian President] Mohammed Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood won't rise to power in the future, as we saw happen in 2012 presidential elections in Egypt. Israel must, therefore, remain in Philadelphi [gateway between Egypt and Gaza].... Foreign monitoring forces have failed in Lebanon over the years, and they also failed at the Rafah crossing from which European Union monitors fled in 2007." — Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom, July 10, 2024.

"Even today the city of Rafah [near the border with Egypt] is full of smugglers who bribe the Egyptian police and run a business sector with a turnover in the billions. The smuggling still continues during wartime, as war materiel and other goods flow from Sinai into Gaza every day. And there is fear that such smuggling is, or will be, accompanied by smuggling in the other direction. Senior Hamas figures are likely to try to escape into Egyptian territory, with hostages, and from there to Iran." — Brig. Gen. (Res.) Amir Avivi, March 4, 2024.

"Palestinians desperate to leave Gaza are paying bribes to brokers of up to $10,000 (£7,850) to help them exit the territory through Egypt... Very few Palestinians have been able to leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, but those trying to get their names on the list of people permitted to exit daily say they are being asked to pay large 'coordination fees' by a network of brokers and couriers with alleged links to the Egyptian intelligence services.... a network of brokers, based in Cairo, helping Palestinians leave Gaza has operated around the Rafah border for years.... The Guardian has spoken to a number of people who have been told they would have to pay between $5,000 and $10,000 each to leave the strip, with some launching crowdfunding campaigns to raise the money. Others were told they could leave sooner if they paid more." — The Guardian, January 8, 2024.

"A company owned by an influential Egyptian businessman and ally of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi is making around $2m a day from Palestinians fleeing Israel's war on Gaza... Hala Consulting and Tourism Services, a firm owned by Sinai tribal leader and business tycoon Ibrahim al-Organi, has been charging Palestinians crossing from Gaza's Rafah to Egypt at least $5,000 per adult and $2,500 for children under 16. It has a monopoly on providing transfer services at the Rafah crossing...." — Middle East Eye, May 1, 2024.

Anyone who believes that the Egyptians would act differently if and when Israel withdraws from the border area must be living on another planet. If the IDF leaves, Hamas will swiftly return to the border, and the Egyptians will continue looking the other way.
Over 1000 ready-to-launch rockets in South Lebanon destroyed in IDF strike
IDF fighter jets struck hundreds of rockets that were ready for immediate launch into Israeli territory, the IDF announced on Thursday night.

Starting on Thursday afternoon, a total of about 100 rocket launchers and other military infrastructure were attacked, including about 1,000 rockets that were ready for immediate launch, the IDF said.

Three Lebanese security officials told Reuters that these were "the heaviest aerial strikes since the conflict began in October."

According to reports in Lebanese media, cited in Israeli media, the number of attacks ranged from about fifty to seventy throughout Lebanon in only about twenty minutes.

These strikes come only days after the far-reaching Hezbollah communications explosion, spanning two days, wounding thousands and killing at least 30 people.

On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet voted to officially add the return of residents to the North as an official war goal.


Fire breaks out on playground in North as Hezbollah fires roughly 140 rockets
A playground in the northern Israel city of Safed was hit by a rocket during a barrage of over 100 rockets that targetted Israel's North on Friday, Israeli media reported, noting that fires were ignited in the area as a result of the barrage.

The IDF later reported that roughly 120 rockets had crossed from Lebanese territory into Israel after sirens sounded in the Golan Heights, Safed, and the Upper Galilee areas. Another approximately 20 rockets crossed into northern Israel after sirens sounded in the Meiron and Netua areas.

A fire broke out at the playground itself following the rocket hit, according to media reports. There were no reported injuries as a result of the incident, although one man in the Golan was lightly wounded from the shrapnel of a rocket, according to a Ynet report.

Additional fires erupted in the area of Safed following the barrage as well, media reports noted.

While rockets and shrapnel did fall, igniting fires in several areas, the IDF stated that Israel's Aerial Defense Array managed to intercept others.

Fire and Rescue Services subsequently responded to combat the blazes that had erupted in the North, the military added. Over half of houses in Metullah damaged since October

Separately, following an overnight rocket barrage, some 50 houses in the northern Israel community of Metulla sustained damage from rockets fired from Lebanon overnight, according to an assessment of the damage, Maariv reported on Friday.

According to the report, over 300 houses in the community have now been damaged since Hezbollah started firing rockets and launching drones at northern Israel on October 8 of last year.

This figure reportedly represents about half of the houses in Metulla.


US ‘deeply disturbed’ by video of IDF troops pushing bodies of gunmen off a rooftop
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday that video footage of Israel Defense Forces troops pushing the bodies of three Palestinian gunmen off a rooftop earlier this week are “deeply disturbing,” adding that the US is waiting for the results of an IDF investigation into the incident.

The video, apparently filmed following an exchange of fire in the West Bank city of Qabatiya on Thursday, would “depict an egregious behavior by professional soldiers,” if found to be authentic, Kirby said.

“We reached out immediately to our Israeli counterparts about it, and we pressed them for more details. They have assured us that they’re going to investigate this and that there will be proper accountability if it’s warranted,” he said. “We’re going to be very eager to see what the IDF investigation finds. As always, we expect that an investigation will be conducted thoroughly and transparently.”

The IDF said, “This is a serious incident that is not in line with IDF values ​​and what is expected of IDF soldiers.”

According to the military, Israeli troops killed four gunmen during the clashes in Qabatiya, after surrounding a building where a wanted Palestinian was holed up.

During the firefight, the IDF said commandos from the Duvdevan unit used a tactic known as “pressure cooker” that involves escalating the volume of fire directed at a building to force a suspect to come out.

Three assault rifles and other weapons were seized from their bodies, the IDF said.

The IDF said that one of those killed in Qabatiya was Shadi Zakarneh, and identified him as “responsible for directing and carrying out attacks in the northern West Bank area.”

It said he was “the head of the terrorist organization” in Qabatiya but did not specify which group he belonged to.


The truth doesn’t interest the UN, ICC, and ICJ when it comes to Israel
Following the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the “Israeli occupation,” the Palestinians submitted a request to the UN General Assembly for economic sanctions and embargoes, and to halt the supply of security equipment to Israel.

This was passed on Wednesday with 124 nations in favor, 14 against, and 43 abstentions.

The Palestinians are also calling for the convening of a committee of the states party to the Fourth Geneva Convention to advance UN resolutions related to what they refer to as the “question of Palestine.”

This committee is expected to examine Israel’s alleged violations of the Racial Discrimination Convention (apartheid).

At the same time, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan has renewed his request for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Khan’s actions, echoing those of his predecessor, Gambian Fatou Bensouda, reflect the same antisemitic conduct.

Meanwhile, South Africa, obligated by the ICJ to present its evidence by October 28, 2024, had sought a significant extension – denied by the court – hoping that new evidence of a “genocide in Gaza” would emerge.

Clearly, whatever evidence South Africa has compiled over the past 11 months is flimsy at best, despite prosecutor Khan’s arrogant and condescending statement: “My advantage is that I’ve seen the evidence”?

The UN budget, largely funded by the United States, also supports UNRWA, whose representatives have been complicit in building the Hamas terror network, assisting in horrific killings, and hiding hostages in their homes in Gaza – as well as educating Palestinian children to hate Israel.

The courts, established with the noble purpose of preventing bloodthirsty and corrupt leaders from committing genocide, are betraying the very values they were founded to uphold.

The wrong focus point
Instead of focusing their investigations on South Africa, the greatest criminal state in Africa, or on countries still engulfed in bloody wars, such as Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon (controlled by the terror state of Iran), these courts find time to issue indictments against the only democratic state in the region.

On Wednesday, the UN not only approved the Palestinian proposal demanding an arms embargo and sanctions against Israel, it also called for the “end of Israeli presence and withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories.”

When it comes to Israel, neither the UN, the ICC, nor the ICJ are concerned with truth or justice.


Israel files ICC petition challenging potential arrest warrants against PM, Gallant
The Foreign Ministry said Friday that Israel has filed an official petition to the International Criminal Court, challenging potential arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and asserting that Israel has a robust and independent legal system able to self-investigate such claims.

Earlier this month, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan called on the court to issue arrest warrants he requested in May for Netanyahu, Gallant and leaders of the Hamas terror group “with utmost urgency.”

Khan requested the warrants in charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes for the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas, and Israel’s military policies in the subsequent Gaza war against the terror group.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it is questioning the court’s jurisdiction in the matter, asserting that Khan contravened the rules of the court and failed to offer Israel the opportunity to investigate the claims itself.

“There is no other democracy with an independent and well-regarded justice system such as Israel that has faced such discriminatory treatment by the prosecutor,” ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said.

“Israel remains committed to the rule of law and to justice and will continue to defend its citizens from the ongoing attacks and atrocities of Hamas as well as Iran’s other terrorist arms, in accordance with international law,” Marmorstein said.

The warrants sought by Khan are on charges that Israel has targeted civilians in Gaza and used starvation as a method of war.

Israel strongly rejects the accusations, pointing to the relatively low civilian-to-combatant ratio among the casualties in Gaza and the terror group’s use of civilians as human shields, while highlighting its own efforts to expand humanitarian aid into the enclave, despite regular looting by gangs and terror groups.


White House stresses need for UNRWA safeguards as progressive lawmakers call to restore funding
Progressive members of Congress are seeking to end the congressionally and administratively mandated pause on UNRWA funding, according to new legislation introduced Friday morning by Reps. Pramila Jayapal, André Carson (D-IN) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).

At least 65 other representatives signed on to co-sponsor the legislation.

"The United States has historically been one of the largest financial supporters of UNRWA, which serves nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees across the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. In March of this year, the US paused UNRWA funding after the Israeli government alleged that 12 agency employees had direct involvement in Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack," a statement from Jayapal's office said.

"Following the UN’s investigation and proactive commitments made by UNRWA toward complete accountability and reform, all countries except the US have resumed their UNRWA funding, including the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Finland, Germany, Japan, and Sweden.

Notably, progressive Jewish organization J Street is also behind the bill, with its president Jeremy Ben-Ami saying, "We should restore funding, as all our major allies have, and stop playing politics with Palestinian welfare and Israel’s security."

White House comments on the bill
National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby commented on the legislation Friday morning, saying the White House's position has been "very consistent since we paused funding to UNRWA earlier this year."

That pause was following allegations that a number of their employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack, he added.

In light of the fact that there is still an ongoing crisis in Gaza, and the essential role that UNRWA does play in the distribution of life saving assistance, Kirby said the US continues to support funding for UNRWA with appropriate safeguards, transparency measures built in and "obviously" with accountability also baked into that.

"We believe that all of those efforts should include, for example, a requirement that the executive branch, certified in Congress, that UNRWA has implemented the proper policies and procedures to include the vetting of their personnel, any plans that they have for investigating credible reports of violations of those policies and procedures," Kirby said.

Kirby said the White House did support a provision in the March, 2024 Appropriations Act to that effect, but it was not included in what became law.

"So bottom line: been consistent, we continue to support the essential role that UNRWA plays, and therefore support funding for UNRWA. But again, I want to stress, with the appropriate safeguards, with transparency measures built in, and certainly with a provision for accountability," he said.

"And we're going to look forward to working with other partners, Japan, UK, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Canada, others, to ensure that those appropriate safeguards are adequate to the task and to help secure appropriate funding levels for UNRWA's humanitarian mission."


After the Pogrom – the new book by Brendan O’Neill
spiked is thrilled to announce the publication of After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation, the new book by Brendan O’Neill. It is out now and available to order on Amazon.

After the Pogrom is an unflinching account of how the West failed the moral test of 7 October 2023 – the day that Islamist terror group Hamas charged into southern Israel from Gaza, inflicting murder, mutilation and rape on innocent people. It documents, in chilling detail, how academics, activists and the commentariat ended up making excuses for Hamas’s pogrom – the worst act of violence against the Jews since the Holocaust.

The book is brilliant, incisive – a call to arms for civilisation. But don’t take our word for it. It’s a ‘brutally honest analysis of how the world failed the test of Hamas’s brutality’, says Eylon Levy, former Israeli government spokesman. In the words of Jake Wallis Simons, author of Israelophobia, Brendan’s book ‘lands a bruising blow in the cause of liberty, tolerance and good sense’.




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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