Tuesday, October 08, 2024

10/08 Links Pt1: The fight for civilisation is only just beginning; Some 80% of Gaza fatalities are Hamas or family members; Ben Shapiro: The 7 Lessons Of October 7

From Ian:

Brendan O'Neill: The fight for civilisation is only just beginning
Even I could not have imagined that left-wingers in my own country would describe Hamas’s Jew-slaying spree as a ‘day of celebration’. Even I did not foresee mobs of upper-middle-class youths on our streets cheering the Houthis, a violently racist movement whose flag grotesquely issues ‘A Curse Upon the Jews’. Even I could not have foretold mobs of Israel-haters assembling outside the Sydney Opera House to chant ‘Fuck the Jews!’, and, worse, the left saying nothing about it. A left that spent the past decade damning everything it dislikes as ‘fascism’ – Trump, Brexit, gender-critical feminism – staying shamefully silent in the face of actual fascism. In the face of the slaughter of Jews, and the rank apologism for it in our own cities. Reprehensible doesn’t cover it.

The West’s moral failures in the aftermath of 7 October were of an entirely new order. They exceeded even my grim fears. They shone a harsh, inescapable light on the retreat from reason and abandonment of Enlightenment many of us have warned of for years. In the hours and days after the pogrom, a dawning, chilling realisation came: the West’s activist class and its educated elites were sympathising more with the pogromists than with the pogrom’s victims. They went from saying ‘Never Again’ to saying ‘All Right Then, One More Time’. The delirium of our post-civilisational era emerged into broad daylight. It was undeniable now: the West is in the stranglehold of a profound moral crisis.

And it continues to this day, the first-year anniversary of that wicked intrusion into Israel. Think about this: today is the anniversary of the worst act of racist violence of modern times, and yet so-called anti-racists will not be marking it. They won’t be putting a black square on their Instagram pages. They won’t hold any vigils. Not one tear will touch their cheeks for the thousand human beings murdered by racists a year ago today. No ‘anti-fascist’ will decry this fascism. On the contrary, they will spend today doing what they always do: feverishly hating on Israel, puking yet more wordy bile on to the Jewish State. They will hijack this day of Jewish remembrance to further their defamatory hatreds of the Jewish nation.

What we have seen over the past year is that when the young in particular are invited to reject Western civilisation, they might very well be tempted into the arms of its opposite: barbarism. When you educate a new generation to be wary of the West, to view our claim to be enlightened as just so much white man’s arrogance and bluster, you might just push them towards the West’s enemies. When you depict Western society as fallen, racist, phobic, shit – as so much fashionable thought does right now – you make anti-Westernism, even violent anti-Westernism, seem exotic, enticing. The sympathy for Hamas on our campuses and streets is fundamentally an extension of the West’s own crisis of meaning, of our denial of our own insights, of our betrayal of our history.

A war for the soul of humanity must now be fought. On two fronts. On the physical front of Israel’s borders, where some of the most regressive movements on Earth, sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran, openly lust and agitate for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish nation. And on the intellectual front here at home. In the academy, in politics, in hearts and minds. Only a full-throated defence of the virtues and wonders of Western civilisation might see off the moral derangement of our times and the Jew hatred it has nurtured. We owe it to the dead of 7 October to stand by Israel and repair our own broken societies.
The Failed Concepts That Brought Israel to October 7
One year ago today, an armed force of at least 3,000 men managed to penetrate a hostile border, overrun fixed and mobile defenses, commandeer army bases, and occupy for long hours a broad swath of Israeli territory in which they went house by house and village by village killing, burning, mutilating, raping, and abducting. For Israel, this was both an intelligence failure and a combat failure. A plot involving so many fighters and such careful and rehearsed action should not have been missed by military intelligence, and a territorial invasion, even with the element of surprise, should have been successfully resisted by a standing army well before the horrors of that Saturday reached their unfathomable nadir.

This essay will not look at either the intelligence or the combat failures. Lesson-learning in both of those domains should be straightforward enough. Beyond those limited tactical failures, however, are larger conceptual frameworks that were vigorously held onto in the years leading up to October 7 and that have not yet been entirely abandoned. These mental models weren’t just products of ignorance or applications of prejudice. They were comprehensive conceptual toolkits for assimilating new information and processing policy dilemmas. On October 7, they failed completely. An honest appraisal of them is crucial for any postwar policymaking.

Tactical lesson-learning is relatively easy because it doesn’t require us to abandon cognitive conceptions that we might have a heavy moral investment in. There might be a personnel investment, but personnel can be replaced, especially following a crisis. Bad ideas are different. Dislodging them often involves parting from something central to ourselves.

Even calling them “bad ideas” is an injustice. The failed concepts covered in this essay didn’t lead to disaster because they were obviously bad, but rather because they seemed to work, or at least presented a reassuring front to those who wanted to believe they were working, for so long.

Until the moment they collapsed.

In this essay, I’ll review four interrelated categories of flawed thinking in four expanding circles of blunder. The obvious starting point is Israel’s long-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. He cannot escape responsibility for Israel’s biggest security fiasco ever. But his failings are only part of the story. It is impossible to understand them without understanding the ideological aspect of his governments’ miscalculations about Gaza, especially the way that a particular right-wing religious ideology has distorted Israel’s policy priorities over the last fifteen years or more—and above all in the last two.

Ending the dissection of conceptual dead-ends there would be ideologically appealing to some and ideologically appalling to others, but it would be analytically inadequate. For neither Netanyahu the man nor messianic settler Zionism can tell the whole story. A third set of concepts has characterized the approach to Arab-Israeli conflict resolution of the people and ideas we have come to call the “peace processors.” These ideas—divorced from centuries of accepted practice in conflict mediation—are beloved by establishment liberals in the West who see themselves as genuine friends of Israel and the Jewish people, and whose repeated failures seem to have no effect on these ideas’ shelf life.

But the delusions of the peace processors can’t by themselves satisfactorily explain the failure that has brought the Middle East to such a catastrophic war this past year. For that we need to look at a fourth set of failed conceptions, those of the broader international community, from the UN to all the various self-styled humanitarian organizations, which have focused their efforts in the Arab-Israeli arena on methods that exacerbate conflict rather than mitigate it and that incentivize violence rather than reduce it. The combined result of the international community’s efforts is the creation of a unique form of governance, a veritable new category of constitution, that exists only around Israel’s borders, where non-state militias exercise a kind of sovereignty that leaves them in control of arms but without any institutional responsibility for welfare, education, food, or public utilities and without any moral responsibility not to kill their neighbors or even to protect the lives of their own citizens.
Jonathan Schanzer: The October 8th War
An unfathomable number of keystrokes (we don’t talk about spilling ink because that’s no longer a thing) was devoted yesterday to the anniversary of the October 7 massacre. Appropriately so. That attack by the Hamas terrorist organization kicked off a seven-front war that has now dragged on for a year. However, when historians look back on this conflict, October 8 may be viewed as a more significant marker.

October 8, 2023, was the day that Hezbollah, Iran’s more powerful proxy, began firing at Israel from Lebanon. The volume of fire that Israel has sustained since then is not well understood. Hezbollah has launched an estimated 10,000 rockets, missiles and drones at Israel since the fighting began. Entire swaths of Israel’s northern territory have been evacuated. The damage has yet to be assessed.

This war is still evolving. The Israelis are hammering Hezbollah relentlessly right now, with a combination of lethal air strikes and limited ground maneuvers in southern Lebanon. But this was not the case for nearly eleven months. The way the war evolved in the north was downright bizarre.

Even as Israelis sustained blow after blow from the Iranian proxy, they limited their responses to tit-for-tat, commensurate strikes. This remarkable restraint was encouraged—perhaps ordered—by the Biden White House. Under any other circumstances, the Israelis would have flattened Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut, long ago. They would have carried out a massive campaign in southern Lebanon to remove the threat along their northern border.

But they didn’t. The Biden White House was petrified of a Lebanon war. The Israelis didn’t want one either. And for good reason. Hezbollah is perhaps the most deadly foe Israel has faced in its entire history. Israeli security officials believe the group’s military capabilities are on par with a mid-size European military (think Czech Republic or similar). The group has (or at least it had) an estimated 200,000 projectiles. It has precision-guided munitions. It has a fleet of underwater and aerial drones. And its fighters have trained alongside the Russia and Iranian militaries.

The Israelis have spent years trying to prevent advanced Iranian weapons from reaching Hezbollah. This was the thrust of the “Campaign Between the Wars” that Israel waged for roughly a decade before the current war erupted. The goal was to delay the inevitable. But that clock ran out on October 8.

Given the gravity of the threat and given that Hezbollah had clearly joined the war less than 24 hours after the Hamas pogrom in southern Israel, there were many in the Israeli security establishment who were inclined to head north to fight Hezbollah immediately after 10/7. Biden said don’t. He set the Israelis on the path of war with Hamas in Gaza, and that postponed the inevitable for a time.


Israel fighting existential war on seven fronts, Netanyahu says
The Jewish state has been fighting for its existence for the past 365 days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, proposing to change the name of the Israel Defense Forces’ multi-front campaign to the “Revival War.

“One year ago, at 6:29 a.m., Hamas terrorists launched a murderous surprise attack on the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said at a Cabinet meeting marking one year since the Oct. 7 massacre.

“Since that dark day, we have been fighting,” the premier continued. “Since that dark day, we have been under attack on seven fronts.

“This is the war for our existence—the ‘Revival War.’ This is what I would like to call the war officially,” Netanyahu told the ministers.

The campaign sparked by the Oct. 7 massacre is currently named the “Swords of Iron” war.

“We bow our heads in memory of our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, our parents and elders, who were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists. Children who were murdered in cold blood, women and men who were slaughtered, entire families who were destroyed,” he said.

According to Netanyahu, “The October 7 massacre was the most horrific attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. But unlike in the Holocaust, we rose up against our enemies and fought a fierce war.”

The prime minister vowed to continue the war until all goals as defined by the Cabinet are met: Returning all of the hostages, eliminating Hamas’s capabilities, ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat, and restoring safety for residents on the northern and southern borders.

“We are changing the security reality in our region for the sake of our children and for the sake of our future—to ensure that what happened on October 7 will not happen again. Never again,” Netanyahu continued.

“With God’s help—together we will fight, together we will win,” the leader of the Jewish state stated, concluding by citing from the Book of Samuel: “Netzach Yisrael lo yishaker [‘The eternity of Israel will not lie].”


Some 80% of Gaza fatalities are Hamas or family members
Hamas is privately admitting that 80% of the Palestinians killed during the year-long war in Gaza are Hamas members or their families, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Sunday.

The report comes as most of the international media continue to use unverified Hamas casualty figures, which do not differentiate between combatants and civilians and which statisticians have previously called into question.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, which was sparked by the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 massacre one year ago today.

Israel has previously estimated that 17,000 combatants have been killed in Gaza.

A report issued by the United Nations last month using the unverified Gaza Health Ministry data concluded that 51.3% of the total fatalities in Gaza were women and children.

Earlier this year, a statistics expert said the Hamas claim that 70% of the casualties were women and children was “statistically impossible” and “not reliable at all.”


Donald Trump makes four commitments to Israel during emotional October 7 memorial
Donald Trump delivered an emotional memorial speech celebrating the lives of those lost in the October 7 massacre and vowed to help Israel in four specific proposals if he's elected.

Trump promised he would not allow Israel to be threatened with destruction, nor stand by if another holocaust took place. He also said he would not allow a jihad on America and will support Israel's right to win its war on terror.

The ex-president's remarks came during remarks memorializing the tragic attack on Israel at his Trump National Doral Miami resort Monday evening.

His commemorative speech in a glistening gold, chandelier-laden ballroom at his Miami golf club struck a more serious and measured note.

Speaking to a room of a couple hundred supporters, many of whom were Jewish and donning kippahs and other traditional wear, the ex-president detailed the horrors committed by Hamas on the 1,200 Israelis killed that day.

'One year ago today, every civilized person was filled with shock and horror and grief at the news of an evil so absolute,' Trump said. 'It was demonic.'

'It seemed like the gates of hell had sprung open and unleashed their horrors onto the world.'

'Today we mourn the more than 1,200 innocent victims of the October 7 attacks.'

Lining the walls of the ornate room were some 1,200 lit candles, each a flame in remembrance of one of those killed by Hamas that tragic day.

Similarly adorning the walls were the portraits of each of the fallen.

Seats on both sides of the stage had yellow roses laid out and reserved markers with the names of those still being held hostage by Hamas.

Looking out to the rows of supporters and rows of empty chairs Trump made a promise should he be elected.

'So here is my commitment to you on the solemn date, I will not allow the Jewish state to be threatened with destruction, I will not allow another holocaust of the Jewish people, I will not allow a jihad to be waged on America for our allies and I will support Israel's right to win its war on terror, and it has to win it,' Trump said.


‘Bibi, you’ve got no strategy’: Biden said to yell at Netanyahu, and call him ‘liar’ and ‘son of a bitch’
US President Joe Biden called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “fucking liar” after IDF troops went into Rafah, and yelled at the premier after an Israeli Air Force strike took out a top Hezbollah commander, according to an upcoming book by US journalist Bob Woodward.

The relationship between the two leaders grew increasingly tense during the spring of 2024, according to CNN, which snagged an advance copy of the book, entitled “War.”

According to the excerpts, during an April phone call, Biden asked Netanyahu: “What’s your strategy, man?”

Netanyahu said Israel had to go into Rafah, the Gaza-Egypt border city that had become Hamas’s last stronghold in Gaza.

“Bibi, you’ve got no strategy,” responded Biden, according to Woodward.

In May, Israeli forces entered Rafah in a limited operation that went far more smoothly than the US had predicted.

Also in April, Israel allegedly assassinated two Revolutionary Guard generals in the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. After the US and other allies helped Israel intercept most of the missiles Iran fired in response, Biden urged Netanyahu to not respond and to “take the win.”

According to the book, Biden considered Israel’s limited response to the Iranian attack a success. “I know he’s going to do something but the way I limit it is tell him to ‘Do nothing,'” Biden told advisers.

After Israel entered Rafah, Biden said of Netanyahu: “He’s a fucking liar.”

“That son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy,” said Biden privately, according to Woodward. “He’s a bad fucking guy!”

Politico was the first to report that Biden had been using this phrase to talk about Netanyahu in February, but the White House quickly issued a denial.

In July, Israel took out Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s top military commander.

“Bibi, what the fuck?” yelled Biden in their next conversation. “You know the perception of Israel around the world increasingly is that you’re a rogue state, a rogue actor.”

Shukr played a key role in the bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983 which left 241 US servicemembers dead. The US had a $5 million bounty on Shukr’s head when he was killed.


FDD: U.S. Treasury Sanctions Additional Hamas Financiers on First Anniversary of October 7 Massacre
Latest Developments
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control “designated three individuals and one sham charity that are prominent international financial supporters of Hamas” as well as a Hamas-controlled bank in Gaza on October 7. The designation marked the Treasury’s eighth tranche of sanctions against Hamas financiers since the 2023 terrorist attack in southern Israel.

“As we mark one year since Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack, Treasury will continue relentlessly degrading the ability of Hamas and other destabilizing Iranian proxies to finance their operations and carry out additional violent acts,” Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said. Treasury assessed that Hamas may raise as much as $10 million a month through sham charities.

Expert Analysis
“Every day is October 7 for a family member of a hostage. Treasury should be imposing sanctions on a rolling basis on Hamas-connected entities in Qatar and Turkey to turn up the pressure.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

“The Treasury sanctions are a good reminder that Hamas operates non-profits to raise funds and fight against Israel. Some of these groups have even risen to prominence among the supposed human rights crowd. This is just another front for Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups seeking to destroy Israel.” — David May, FDD Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst Charities and Non-Profits Key to Hamas Fundraising

Treasury designated Hamid al-Ahmar, a Yemeni national and a key member of Hamas’s investment portfolio who runs the League of Parliamentarians for Al-Quds and Palestine, a non-governmental organization based in Turkey. Al-Ahmar was also designated for his support of Al-Quds International Foundation, a Hamas-run charity. Treasury also sanctioned Mohammad Hannoun, Majed al-Zeer, and Adel Doughman for fundraising on behalf of Hamas in Europe. Al-Zeer was the president of the UK-based nonprofit Palestinian Return Centre from its inception in 1996 until 2021.


UN leader lacks moral clarity needed for a peace prize
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is a top contender for the Nobel Peace Prize, scheduled to be announced on Friday. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the International Court of Justice are also being considered. Awarding the prize to any of them would be a travesty. The secretary-general’s moral equivalence between terrorists and victims, his false statistics and his distortions of international humanitarian law raise serious questions regarding his neutrality, commitment to justice, and ability to uphold the principles enshrined in the U.N. Charter.

For the past year—since the barbaric Oct. 7 assault by Hamas operatives who slaughtered, raped, tortured and burned individuals in Israel’s south; Hezbollah’s unremitting 8,000-plus missile attacks on civilian populations in Israel’s north, which U.N. Resolution 1701 was mandated to prevent; and two attacks by Iran, including the most recent launching of 180 ballistic missiles at millions of Israelis in civilian population centers across Israel—Guterres has been disproportionately focused on condemning Israel’s legally justified actions to defend its citizens and ensure that all 135,000 people who have been displaced of them can safely return to their homes. Israel has been facing an existential threat from Iran and its terrorist proxies on multiple fronts.

Those of us with institutional memory recognize a troubling recrudescence of the era of Kurt Waldheim, the U.N. secretary-general with a hidden Nazi past who presided over the world body for a decade, during which the General Assembly passed its infamous resolution declaring “Zionism is racism.” Waldheim’s tenure was mired in accusations of antisemitism. Eventually, he was barred in disgrace from entering countries in Europe and the United States.

Similar political theater was on full display last month at the U.N. General Assembly when an automatic majority of anti-Israel member states were similarly elated at the passage of the Palestinian-drafted U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for an arms embargo against Israel. Volker Türk, the secretary-general’s Austrian protégé and high commissioner for human rights, was one of the measure’s advocates. Subsequently, Guterres stated before the U.N. General Assembly meeting that he was prepared to back the implementation of the adopted resolution.


The IDF advocate general is protecting ‘civilians’ who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre
Of all the images of Israelis being taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, the most heartbreaking is that of Shiri Bibas holding her two redheaded toddlers, her face contorted in horror, as if the camera had frozen the very instant when she realized there is no human feeling in her barbaric captors to appeal to.

We now know who these barbarians are. The Israel Defense Forces positively identified the kidnappers of the Bibas family. They still live in Gaza.

And though Israel vowed to hunt down each and every one of the participants in the massacre, it is not targeting the Bibas abductors—because Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi has defined them as “citizens,” not combatants, and so has vetoed targeting them. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi accepted the dictum and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant acquiesced. And so the tormentors of Shiri Bibas and her children are alive and well. The matter was first exposed by Amit Segal on Channel 12 News earlier this year, but nothing has changed since then.

How did we arrive at this madness? The legal reasoning is as banal as it is irrelevant to the case at hand. It is based on Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Convention, which deals, among other things, with civilians who participate in military activities. Such civilians, the Protocol says, are only legitimate targets for the duration of their participation in these activities.

Israel, like the United States, did not ratify the Protocol, but according to Israel’s Supreme Court, it is nevertheless now part of customary international law, and therefore applies to the Israeli military.

The U.S. realized that the clear-cut dichotomy between soldiers and civilians had become untenable in modern-day wars, where terror organizations are imbedded in civilian populations, and thus vested in the president the authority to designate enemies who take part in military activity without being part of a regular army by the intermediary category of “unlawful combatant.”

Israel’s Supreme Court found another way to deal with the gray areas. According to former Supreme Court President Justice Aharon Barak, the idea that a civilian participating in military action is only a legitimate target for the duration of participation can become more elastic if “duration” is interpreted more broadly. If such an individual repeatedly takes part in military actions, then the periods between those actions should be considered as preparation to resume action, and therefore covered by the term “duration.”

But the military advocate general, Tomer-Yerushalmi, is apparently even stricter, and thus classified non-affiliated participants in the massacre simply as “civilians.”
Three Hamas Oct. 7 perpetrators killed in Israeli strikes
Israel revealed on Tuesday that last week three Hamas terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre were killed in two separate airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

Mhuammad Rafa’i, a terrorist from Hamas’s Gaza Brigade who took part in the Oct. 7 attack in the areas of Kfar Aza and Nahal Oz, was killed in an attack on a Hamas command and control center embedded inside the Shuja’iyya school in Gaza City’s Daraj Tuffah district.

Additionally, Rafa’i was involved in terror activities against IDF troops and Israeli civilians.

Another strike, in Rafah on Oct. 1, killed Hamas terrorists Muhammad Zinon and Basel Ahras, who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre and plotted terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

The two operations were a joint effort of the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency and were carried out by the Israeli Air Force.

“The IDF and the ISA will continue to operate against Hamas terrorists involved in the deadly Oct. 7 massacre,” the statement said.

Twenty terrorists killed in Jabaliya area

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to operate in Jabaliya in northern Gaza to root out a Hamas resurgence there, killing 20 terrorists over the past 24 hours.

Troops also located a weapons storage facility and found weapons, including grenades and AK-47 rifles.
As Oct. 7 Mastermind Yahya Sinwar Resurfaces, Senators Push for Bounty on Hamas Leader's Head
Hamas leader and Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar—who went quiet for roughly two weeks, sparking rumors of his death—resurfaced on Monday, according to an Israeli official who spoke to Axios. A bipartisan group of senators is pushing for the United States to greet his reemergence with a $25 million bounty on his head.

Sinwar has resumed communications with his allies in Qatar after going dark for more than two weeks. The terror leader's reappearance on the one-year anniversary of Hamas's Oct. 7 attack is reigniting congressional concerns that the United States is not doing enough to hold him accountable for the brutal attack.

Though Sen. Ted Budd (R., N.C.) and 11 of his colleagues in the upper chamber petitioned the Biden-Harris State Department in late September to put a bounty out on Sinwar and other Hamas leaders, the agency has not responded. Now, Budd is admonishing the administration, pushing it to "help bring these terrorists to justice."

"After 365 days, the State Department has failed to issue a bounty that would help bring these terrorists to justice," he said in a statement shared with the Washington Free Beacon. "The fact that the Biden-Harris administration continues to leave tools unused shows a complete disregard for the safety and security of American citizens around the world."

Such a bounty would come through the Rewards for Justice program, a congressionally funded initiative that offers cash for information on global terrorists and criminals. While the State Department is currently offering up to $10 million for information on top Hamas financiers, it has not gone after Sinwar and his closest associates.

The group of 12 lawmakers, which includes Nevada Democratic senator Jacky Rosen, initially requested "the immediate authorization of a reward of up to $25 million" under the program "for information that leads to the arrest of, locates, or disrupts the financial support for Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders or operatives responsible for the murder and kidnapping of Americans on October 7, 2023," according to a copy of the previously unpublished letter.

The lawmakers also pressed the State Department to authorize a bounty for Mohammad Al-Masri, Hamas’s top military commander; Khaled Meshaal, the terror group’s exiled leader who is living in Qatar; and Ali Baraka, who helms Hamas’s foreign affairs bureau from Lebanon.

Each of these Hamas officials were named in a September Justice Department indictment charging them with orchestrating the Oct. 7 assault that killed more than 40 Americans and some 1,200 Israelis. It remains unclear if the Biden Harris administration will pressure Qatar, its top regional intermediary, to turn Meshaal over to authorities.
26,000 rockets, missiles and drones fired at Israel since Oct. 7
Over 26,000 rockets, missiles and drones have been launched at Israel by Iran and its regional terror proxies since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the latest Israel Defense Forces data.

The numbers were published on the first anniversary of the massacre. As of Oct. 2, there have been 13,200 launches from the Gaza Strip, 12,400 from Lebanon, 400 from Iran, 180 from Yemen and 60 from Syria.

Furthermore, the IDF estimates that as many as 17,000 terrorists have been killed during fighting in the Gaza Strip over the past year (up to Sept. 25), with a high probability that 14,000 were eliminated and a medium-to-low probability regarding the remaining 3,000. The IDF notes that due to Hamas concealing the data, its Intelligence Division is working to estimate the total figure.

The terrorists killed in Gaza include eight at the rank of brigade commander or above, 30 at the battalion commander level and 165 at the company commander level.

As of Sept. 25, approximately 40,300 targets in Gaza have been attacked from the air and over 1,000 launch sites and command posts have been destroyed. Moreover, 4,700 tunnels were identified.

On the northern front, where Israeli forces are battling Hezbollah in Lebanon, over 800 terrorists have been killed, including 90 commanders. (The official tally does not include last month’s deadly communication device explosions targeting Hezbollah operatives, which Jerusalem has not taken responsibility for.)

As of Sept. 29, approximately 4,900 targets in Lebanon have been attacked from the air and 6,000 from the land.

Israeli soldiers under IDF Central Command, which includes Judea and Samaria, Jerusalem, the Sharon and Gush Dan, have killed over 690 terrorists since Oct. 7, 2023.
Woman wounded as Hezbollah fires 100-plus rockets at Haifa
Hezbollah fired over 100 rockets from Lebanon at the Haifa area in northern Israel on Tuesday afternoon, with at least one injury reported.

According to the Magen David Adom emergency service, a 71-year-old woman was in mild condition from a shrapnel injury to her hand. She was evacuated to Rambam Hospital for further evaluation and treatment.

Six other individuals were injured while running to shelters and five people suffered from anxiety, according to MDA. In addition to Rambam, the injured were taken to Carmel Medical Center.

Sirens sounded across the Galilee and Haifa Bay shortly after the Israel Defense Forces said that it attacked the Iranian terror proxy in Beirut, with some 85 launches in the first salvo, followed around 30 minutes later by another 20 projectiles.

Iron Dome intercepted many of the rockets, while multiple impacts were detected, according to the IDF.

There were reports that some rockets and shrapnel fell in Haifa, causing damage to the Mediterranean port city. A direct hit on a building in Kiryat Yam was reported and damage to buildings on Jerusalem Boulevard in the city. Residents reported broken shutters and a burst water pipe.

In the late morning, 25 rockets were fired in the Lower Galilee area, with the IDF saying that some of the projectiles were shot down and others fell in the area.


IDF announces fallen soldier Noam Israel Abdu, killed in northern Gaza Strip
Staff-Sergeant Noam Israel Abdu was killed in battle while fighting in the Gaza Strip, the IDF announced on Tuesday.

St.-Sgt. Abdu, 20, from Kadima Tzoran, served in the 17 Division (NCO training) in the Bislach Brigade, which is part of the Golani Brigade.

Abdu fell in northern Gaza Strip. In the same incident, a combat soldier from the 17 Division (NCO training) was severely wounded.

In a seperate incident, during combat in southern Lebanon, a soldier from the 7012 Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade was severly wounded.

IDF death tally
According to the IDF's tally, the death of St.-Sgt. Noam Israel Abdu raises the total of soldiers killed on or since October 7 of last year to 730.

Some 347 of this number were killed since the start of the military's ground operations in the Strip on October 27.


Hezbollah HQ head killed in Israeli strike
The commander of Hezbollah’s headquarters in the Beirut area was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Monday, according to the Israel Defence Forces.

Israeli Air Force jets guided by the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate targeted Suhail Hussein Husseini, who the IDF said had “played a crucial role” in transferring weapons between Iran and its Lebanese terror proxy.

His duties also included distributing the weapons to Hezbollah units and overseeing the transportation and allocation of the arms.

Husseini was also responsible for managing the budgets and logistics of Hezbollah’s most sensitive projects, “including the organisation’s war plans and other special operations, such as co-ordinating terrorist attacks against the state of Israel from Lebanon and Syria,” the IDF said on Tuesday.

Additionally, he was a member of the Jihad Council, Hezbollah’s senior military forum.

The IDF said the headquarters included Hezbollah’s Research and Development Unit, “which is responsible for manufacturing precision-guided missiles and managing the storage and transportation of weapons in Lebanon”.

Hezbollah launched 190 projectiles into Israeli territory on Monday, mostly targeting the north of the country, with five rockets fired at the Tel Aviv area on Monday night.

The group has attacked Israel nearly every day since October 8, firing thousands of rockets, missiles and drones at Israel, killing more than 40 people and causing widespread damage. Tens of thousands of Israeli civilians remain internally displaced owing to the ongoing violence.

Hezbollah has launched more than 12,400 projectiles at Israeli territory over the past year, according to the most recent IDF figures.

Jerusalem has escalated attacks on Hezbollah since last month adding the return of evacuated Israeli civilians to the north as an official war goal.
IDF troops raze Hezbollah terrorist tunnel crossing into Israeli territory
Israel Defense Forces soldiers destroyed a Hezbollah terrorist tunnel that crossed some 10 meters (33 feet) into sovereign Israeli territory from Lebanon, the military revealed on Tuesday night.

According to the statement, the tunnel had no exit in Israeli territory, though its path crossed the Blue Line—a U.N.-recognized delineation marking Jerusalem’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000—in the area of Zar’it, an agricultural community in the Upper Galilee near the border.

The underground infrastructure was physically located in recent months during a targeted IDF counter-terrorism operation to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure in Southern Lebanon, the army statement announced.

“The tunnel was under full [Israeli] operational control until troops arrived in the area [as part of the IDF ground maneuver] in order to prevent it from being used to carry out terrorism,” the statement noted.

Elite IDF troops were said to have discovered a cache of weapons and explosive devices, as well as anti-tank missiles, in the tunnel.

“The IDF will continue its limited, localized, targeted ground operations based on precise intelligence and targeted airstrikes in Southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is no longer a threat to the civilians of northern Israel,” said the army.


FDD: UNIFIL Denies Israel Threatened Irish Peacekeepers Despite Irish President’s Claim
Latest Developments
A spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on October 7 refuted claims that Israel threatened Irish peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. On October 4, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) instructed Dublin to withdraw Irish troops from an outpost along the Blue Line — the de facto boundary that divides Israel from Lebanon. Irish President Michael D. Higgins responded by accusing the IDF of levying “outrageous” threats against “this peacekeeping force.” However, UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti clarified on October 7 that the IDF “asked us to move from certain positions” but that “so far, we have not received threats.”

One week earlier, Higgins defended his recent overtures to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. On July 11, Higgins penned a letter expressing “best wishes” to the newly inaugurated Pezeshkian and belief that “Iran with its long tradition of culture will play a crucial role in achieving” Middle East peace. Dublin publicized Higgins’ letter on July 26, but the full text was not made available until July 29. Asked about the correspondence, Higgins said on September 24 that his letter to Pezeshkian “was a standard one I have written to many heads of state” and, without providing evidence, accused the Israeli Embassy in Dublin of leaking the letter. The Israeli embassy said Higgins’ accusation was “baseless” and that “the embassy rejects it completely.” Subsequent investigations revealed that the full text of the letter was first publicized in a July 27 post on X, since deleted, from the Iranian Embassy in Dublin.

Ireland has been the seat of some of the fiercest anti-Israel activity since October 7, 2023. Days before the first anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 atrocities, thousands of activists from 160 Irish civil society groups gathered in Dublin “to mark the grim milestone of one year of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.” They called on Dublin and other governments to “stop arming Israel” or otherwise “actively facilitating apartheid Israel’s brutal onslaught.” Many demonstrators were seen waving the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah — both U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist groups.

In March, Ireland announced its intention to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state in lockstep with Belgium, Slovenia, and Spain. Dublin reaffirmed this intention in May. The Biden administration opposes unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, understanding that Palestinian statehood should occur “at the end of the process,” following a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.

Expert Analysis
“The Irish government has less credibility at this point than the United Nations, and that’s saying something. It’s quite something for any UN peacemakers to pick the moment Hezbollah is on the ropes as the first time in 18 years to defend their mandate. The Irish are blocking and tackling for Hezbollah, putting themselves and Israeli troops at greater risk.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

“The fact that it took UNIFIL to rebut President Higgins’ latest conspiracy theory about Israel should give Ireland and its leaders pause. For the last year, Dublin has both lapped up and promoted the most outlandish lies about the Jewish state. This isn’t diplomacy, it’s hatred.” — Ben Cohen, Senior Analyst and Rapid Response Manager


Ben Shapiro: ONE YEAR LATER: The 7 Lessons Of October 7
One year later, we examine the lessons of October 7 for Israel and the rest of the West; we speak with the parents of a hostage and a wounded Israeli soldier; and Kamala does "60 Minutes."




Total Victory | Gregg Roman on What It Means For Israel to Win the Oct. 7 War
Gregg Roman, Director of the Middle East Forum, join Eylon for an in-depth discussion about Israel's path to victory over Hamas and the broader regional challenges facing the Jewish state. Roman outlines the Israeli Victory Project, explaining why defeating Palestinian rejectionism is crucial for lasting peace. The conversation touches on historical comparisons, including the LTTE in Sri Lanka, the complexities of post-war Gaza governance, and how international perceptions of Israel’s fight for survival have evolved since October 7. Tune in for a compelling conversation on what "total victory" means for Israel's future.


Commentary Podcast: Where Are the Men?
The disgusting displays of pro-terror masked goons marauding through New York City's streets brings to mind the question of who exactly is going to stand up to these monsters—and praises those who do. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris goes on 60 Minutes and helps explain why she's not running away with this race, while JD Vance comes up with a brilliant formulation. Give a listen.


Eugene Kontorovich: "Israel WILL Retaliate!" | Kevin O'Sullivan Analyses Tensions In The Middle East
Talk's Kevin O'Sullivan is joined by Israeli legal scholar Professor Eugene Kontorovich to discuss the rising tensions in the Middle East.

The pair also discuss the controversy the BBC are under for their coverage of the rising tensions, to which Eugene says its a "deliberate effort to defame the Jewish state."


The Rubin Report: Hezbollah’s Mistakes Are Already Backfiring | David Friedman
Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” talks to former Ambassador to Israel David Friedman about the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah; Hezbollah's firing of thousands of missiles into Northern Israel; how Israel has severely damaged Hezbollah through military precision with its attack on Hezbollah's pager system; the strategic intelligence operations that targeted key Hezbollah leaders; the importance of deterrence in the Middle East, and how Israel's recent actions have shifted the power balance; and much more.


John Spencer: Researcher: Pro-Gaza protests hurt US | Cuomo
It’s been one year since Hamas militants launched a surprise cross-border attack against Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting an additional 250. John Spencer, chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point, weighs in on "CUOMO."




Triggernometry: Why I’m Off the Fence About Israel’s War - Konstantin Kisin

Comedy Cellar USA: Live from the Table: One Year Since 10/7 with Dan Senor
We are joined by columnist, writer, and political adviser, Dan Senor. He is co-author of the book Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle and The Genius of Israel. He is host of the podcast Call Me Back.


The Dispatch: The Future of Israel's War | Dan Senor Full Interview
In this conversation, Dan Senor discusses the resilience of Israeli technology and military capabilities in the face of conflict, particularly following the events of October 7th. He highlights the strategic advantages Israel has developed over the years, the psychological impact of military successes on adversaries like Hezbollah, and the implications of Iran's missile attacks. The conversation also delves into Israel's potential actions regarding Iran's nuclear program, the geopolitical landscape post-conflict, and the importance of U.S.-Israel relations. Additionally, they explore the future of Gaza and the Palestinian territories, the economic implications of Israel's startup culture, and the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu amidst these challenges.




“The World Did NOT Begin On October 7” One Year On With Norman Finkelstein & Naftali Bennett
One year ago today, Hamas terrorists burst through the barriers walling off Israel from Gaza and massacred more than 1,100 innocent people, taking 250 more as hostages. The sheer scale of the atrocity, and the animalistic barbarism of the killers, shocked the world.

It was just the latest in a conflict spanning decades - and still, Israelis and Palestinians continue to live side-by-side no nearer to peace. What will happen next?

Piers Morgan is joined by former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett before hosting a debate between political scientist and activist, Norman Finkelstein, Egyptian journalist Rahma Zein, Israeli-American commentator Emily Shrader and former British Army Officer and board member of Friends of Israel Initiative, Colonel Richard Kemp.

01:00- Introduction
03:39 - Bennett on the path Israel has taken since Oct 7th attacks
05:22 - What kind of Gaza and Lebanon are we left with?
08:40- “If we leave Hamas as it is, they will just regrow their tentacles”
11:20 - “Israel is doing the hard tough work on behalf of the free world”
15:34 - Zein responds to Bennett’: “You will have more 7 Octobers to come”
17:53 - Colonel Kemp: “Hamas turned Gaza into a military base"
21:54 - “Zionism is working on a press release”
23:33 - Schrader counters Zein on Palestinians being displaced
25:16 - Finkelstein: “The people of Gaza were suffering a genocide”
37:05 - “Do you expect people to have their land taken and do nothing?”
47:11 - "Israel’s favourite cheerleader with pompoms"
49:35 - “There’s IDF soldiers on TikTok showcasing their war crimes”
54:05 - Last word from Schrader




'This Day Restored the Nation's Dignity': Top Al Jazeera Anchor Celebrates Hamas's Oct. 7 Slaughter
A leading Al Jazeera anchorman celebrated the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror spree on Israel, writing in a now-deleted Monday tweet that the mass killing of more than 1,200 women and children "restored the nation's dignity and prestige."

Jamal Rayyan's caption came alongside an AI-generated photo depicting fireworks and a large "7" shining above the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. The prominent anchor, who joined Al Jazeera at its launch in 1996 following a stint at BBC Arabic, deleted the post after it attracted media attention. In other Monday ramblings, Rayyan called pro-Israel Arabs "Arab Zionists" who should "not bet on the victory of the Zionist entity" and "secretly support the resistance," according to the Times of Israel.

The post marks the latest example of Al Jazeera and its employees celebrating terrorism against Israel in the wake of Oct. 7. Israel recently banned the network, funded in part by Qatar's Hamas-friendly government, from operating in the country, citing alleged ties to the terror group.

Al Jazeera's reach, however, extends far beyond the Middle East. At least six of its alums left the network to join the Washington Post's foreign desk, which has faced criticism for shoddy and inaccurate coverage of Israel's war on Hamas, the Washington Free Beacon reported in June.

The posting is just the latest example of Al Jazeera and its employees celebrating terrorism against Israel in the wake of Oct. 7. Since that time, the outlet has published a steady stream of anti-Israel propaganda, prompting the Israeli government to raid its office and ban it from publishing in the country.

Al Jazeera did not respond to a request for comment on Rayyan's posts.

Just last week, the Doha-based outlet came under fire for publishing a comedy skit that mocked the Oct. 7 attack. It showed Hamas terrorists infiltrating a military base and casually abducting an Israeli soldier, who did not resist and spoke of the importance of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.


Coalition rejects Prime Minister’s motion
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on Tuesday the Coalition would not support a motion moved by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese marking the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel because it should have focused on the 1200 Israelis killed that day. “That’s what this motion was to be about. But of course, the prime minister is trying to speak out of both sides of his mouth, and that is not something that we will support in relation to this debate,” Dutton stated.

The motion led by the Prime Minister condemned Hamas’s terrorism and called for “the immediate and unconditional release of all the remaining hostages”, and also condemned “antisemitism in all its forms”.

Regarding Iran, the motion called for the Islamic Republic to “cease its destabilising actions” through its terror proxies – the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas and condemned Iran’s attacks on Israel recognising “Israel’s right to defend itself”.

The motion urged “the protection of civilian lives and adherence to international law” and mourned “the death of all innocent civilians, recognising the number of Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza and the catastrophic humanitarian situation.” It also supports “international efforts to deescalate for a ceasefire in Gaza and in Lebanon” and “affirms its support for a two-state solution”.

Despite the Coalition not supporting the motion and the Greens abstaining, the motion passed 85 to 54.

Dutton said to the Prime Minister, “There has been a position of bipartisanship on these issues, and your predecessors would have had the decency to respect the Jewish community in a way you have not done today,” adding, “And for that PM, you should stand condemned.”

Liberal MP Paul Fletcher commented, “Unfortunately, the language of this motion reflects the continued equivocation of this prime minister and of this government on what should be an issue where there is clarity, on what should be an issue where it is accepted and understood and recognised that this is a conflict between good and evil.

“The response of the state of Israel to defend itself, to defend its people, to restore order, is a response which is appropriate and proportionate,” Fletcher said.


Anti-Israel protesters show true colors by celebrating October 7 attacks
You hardly need to be Jewish, or a political scientist, to realize that the so-called pro-Palestine crowd isn’t really all that interested in Palestine.

Their main goal is America, that lone bastion of Western civilization, which is why they strategically chose all-American events, like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony, as the optimal settings to unleash their mayhem.

Trying to disrupt our favorite national pageants is a very strange way to win friends and influence people, but it’s not really our sympathy that the protesters want.

They want us to know that they hate us and everything we represent, and that, if allowed, they intend to do in Manhattan and Brooklyn and Queens what they’d done in Nir Oz, Kfar Aza, Be’eri and all the other Israeli communities hit hardest one year ago this week.

Now we know.

And now that we know, we won’t let it happen.

Normal Americans are finally realizing just how deep-seated — and how dangerous — this hatred truly is, and, as Americans always do, they’re taking action. It’s why we’ve seen donations to Columbia University, that renowned seat of Jew-hatred and bigotry, drop 30% this past year.

It’s why we’ve seen lawmakers demand that we take our own laws seriously and deport any foreign national who is openly and outwardly expressing support for terrorists.

And it’s why an overwhelming majority of Americans recently told the Pew Research Center that Israel had very valid reasons to keep on fighting until it defeated Hamas and Hezbollah.

Americans, hallelujah, understand that Israel’s fight isn’t Israel’s alone. It’s the Western world’s struggle against the so-called Axis of Resistance — Iran, Russia, China and their minions. It’s a civilizational fight, and though it may have started a year ago in some dusty corner of the Middle East, it is now being waged right here in Midtown.

The barbarians are at the gates. That’s bad news. But here’s the good news: So are we.


Anti-Israel protesters assault Democratic Jewish leader in Manhattan
Video captured by a reporter for The Washington Free Beacon shows a mob of masked, keffiyeh-clad protesters in New York City attacking Todd Richman, co-chair of Democratic Majority for Israel, on Monday.

Wearing a “Bring Them Home Now” shirt, dog tags and a Star of David, Richman passed an anti-Israeli demonstration, filming it by phone.

A woman smacking a tambourine approached. Richman took an Israeli flag out of his pocket and displayed it when another woman grabbed it, starting a tug-of-war.

Someone took the flag and tossed it as crowd members started to push Richman, who was attempting to leave the scene. The woman with the tambourine struck him in the head with the instrument. Seconds later, another person hit Richman with a Palestinian flag, causing his nose to bleed. Police officers then intervened and guided him out of the crowd.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) called the attack “outrageous violence.”

He added that “those who support violence in the Middle East, practice violence in America.”

The Anti-Defamation League posted on X: “The incident captured on this video is a clear assault. Those responsible for this brazen violence must be apprehended and held fully accountable by the law.”

Michael Dickson, executive director of StandWithUs Israel, wrote: “Unmask these hateful people, arrest them and punish them to the full extent of the law.”


Pro-Palestine supporter who allegedly held Nazi swastika sign at rally unmasked as Sydney restauranteur Alan Yazbek
A man who allegedly held up a Nazi swastika sign at a pro-Palestinian protest has been identified as prominent restaurateur Alan Yazbek.

The 56-year-old founder of Middle Eastern eatery Nomad Sydney in Surry Hills broke his silence on Tuesday night- two days after he was been charged with knowingly display a Nazi symbol in public.

Yazbek was pictured on Sunday allegedly holding a sign made to look like the Israeli flag, but with a swastika the Star of David in the middle and the words 'Stop Nazi Israel'.

He and his wife Rebecca have run the popular Nomad restaurant for more than a decade and have expanded with two more outlets in Melbourne, one also called Nomad and the other called Reine.

'So many of us have family in the region. Every loss of life is a tragedy. We're in mourning,' Yazbek told the Daily Telegraph.

Those attending the rally in Hyde Park in Sydney's CBD had earlier been warned by the police about displaying symbols or flags of the Hezbollah terror group or photos of its recently assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Around 10,000 people attended the rally, which was mostly peacefully apart from two arrests.

Along with Yazbek, Jewish man Osher Feldman was detained for allegedly breaching the peace in a separate incident.




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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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