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Wednesday, October 30, 2024

10/30 Links Pt1: Deterrence Is All That Matters; UNRWA has brought Israel together; UNRWA ‘payroll resembles a most-wanted list’

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Deterrence Is All That Matters
So what’s the point of even trying to reinstitute a dead letter like Resolution 1701?

Here, though the Biden administration is unlikely to acknowledge it, Israel has actually provided the ray of hope. It’s possible that a ceasefire along status quo lines could now hold long enough for Hochstein to get a full night’s sleep. But that’s only because of Israel’s recent mop-up jobs in Lebanon and its strikes on Iran.

If—and it’s still a big if—the Lebanon-Israel border can be pacified, it will be for one reason and one reason only: deterrence.

The structure of the status quo in Israel’s north favors Hezbollah and Iran; the balance of military power favors Israel. Every so often, Israel is forced to use that military advantage because the UN and the international community allow Iran and Hezbollah to stay in position to start wars. The aim of all sides is to end those wars before they expand beyond south Lebanon—in other words, before Iran and Israel come into direct conflict.

Well, we’ve passed that particular line. And rather than drag the world into a great global conflagration, the ensuing skirmishes revealed the fact that Iran is wildly overmatched.

But deterrence isn’t only about getting in the enemy’s head. Israel destroyed all of the air-defense systems provided to Iran by Russia. IDF jets also crippled Tehran’s ballistic-missile development and reportedly some drone launch sites.

That means Iran cannot keep up this tit-for-tat even if it wanted to. Israel, however, could do this every day of the week and twice on Sunday, if it needed to.

Hezbollah is depleted and demoralized, and Iran is licking its own wounds. That’s why Amos Hochstein can ask everyone to go back to their corners.

The word for this is deterrence. It’s possible that Iran will still come out of its corner swinging despite its glass jaw and blurred vision. But the result of the recent conflict is that Iran’s next attacks would be necessarily weaker than the previous round, and Israel’s responses would be stronger.

No, UNIFIL isn’t going to disarm Hezbollah. Its peacekeeping forces aren’t capable of keeping the peace, and they are unlikely even to try. Hezbollah cannot be trusted to keep its end of an agreement. Iran does not seek peace and coexistence. US and European mediators are window dressing.

Israel’s display of force is the one and only factor. If there is quiet in the north, it’ll be because Israel reestablished deterrence, and anyone who thinks otherwise is living in a fantasy.
Mark Dubowitz calls for Israel to pursue political strategy after military successes
Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, is now calling for Israel to wrap up its major ground operations in Lebanon, with a longer-term goal of converting what he praised as significant battlefield successes into political achievements that will help consolidate recent gains.

“There’s a certain point where you hit the law of diminishing returns,” Dubowitz told Jewish Insider on Monday, noting that he had recently arrived at his conclusion while observing a growing number of Israeli soldiers who have been killed in Lebanon.

From a military standpoint, Israel “has maximized its gains,” he argued, warning that “further fighting without any sort of political strategy is likely to lead to more Israeli troop losses — and not necessarily to greater military advantage.”

“Now is the opportunity to undermine Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the ayatollahs in Iran, and through covert action and support for the people with continued military pressure, come up with more sustainable political achievements that are going to accomplish Israel’s overall strategic goals.”

His assessment marks something of a turning point in how pro-Israel foreign policy hawks have publicly reckoned with the ongoing turmoil in the region — as Israel has engaged in a widening, multifront war that has decimated Hamas, wiped out Hezbollah’s top leadership structure and exposed Iran’s military vulnerabilities.

But Dubowitz said his recent conversations with a range of Israeli government and security officials indicate that they agree with his push for a broader strategic pivot in the coming weeks or months.

“From the more cautious to the more aggressive, I think there was a sense of, ‘Yes, we need to start thinking about how to convert our impressive military achievements of the recent months into sort of sustainable political victories,” he told JI.
The Biden-Harris Administration, a 'Ceasefire' and a Palestinian State
There seem to be several reasons for the Palestinians' reluctance to reach an agreement about a two-state solution, and a lasting end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

Any Palestinian leader who has recommended an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been denounced by his people as a traitor and killed. That outcome would seem quite a disincentive. As the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said, "Do you want me sitting up there having tea with Sadat?"

The donations that the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have received since 1993 could have turned the West Bank into a thriving area, and Gaza into a "New Singapore" or "Dubai on the Mediterranean," however, the leaders evidently had other priorities for that cash.

One aim of Abbas seems to be to preserve his own wealth, estimated at $100 million, and the prosperity of his sons, who own the largest businesses in the Palestinian Authority. If donors keep throwing gigantic amounts of money at one -- especially unconditionally -- why not take it?

In a situation where every attempt to achieve peace turns into another bloody war-experiment, most Israelis have apparently concluded that they would be better off without such a "peace".

From the point of view of many Palestinian Arabs, and even some Americans, Jews can return to the other countries that wanted to kill them.

At present, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, praised as "The Churchill of the Middle East," appears determined to disable Hamas and Hezbollah politically and militarily so they will not be able to threaten the security of Israelis again.

Even with a supposed "ceasefire deal," Sinwar's successor will no doubt release the hostages as slowly as possible to allow more time for the Palestinians to rearm.

For a ceasefire, Hamas -- probably also including Qatar and Iran -- is asking for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, far from the smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt. They are also asking for a "permanent ceasefire" -- meaning that they want the US administration and the international community to force Israel to stop fighting, but leave Hamas's leaders and terrorists free to rearm, regroup and ready to fight another day.

In 2023, Israel allowed extra work permits to the Gazans -- who then mapped out every house to attack, including "the names of the people, how many children they had and even which of them owned dogs."

At this point, whatever happens with a ceasefire or not, the region clearly does not seem ready for any kind of Palestinian state -- to say the least.


UNRWA has brought Israel together
It is not the norm in Israel today to have a broad-based, across-the-aisle consensual vote in the Knesset that results in the passage of legislation.

Yet that is exactly what happened this week, as 92 out of 120 Knesset members voted to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from any activities within sovereign Israel. This is an important exercise in self-respect and moral clarity, as UNRWA has shown itself time and again to be an active actor and abettor of terrorism.

Why is this law an important statement and a necessary act?

UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 pogrom and have actively supported Hamas by housing hostages and weapons in the residences of its employees, as well as giving Hamas aid and comfort.

UNRWA has availed itself of the immunity granted to the United Nations and its affiliates, and has used that immunity in a fifth-column fashion to actively oppose Israel.

The law bans UNRWA from any presence or activities in sovereign Israel, so their significant presence in eastern Jerusalem will be shut down.

In addition, the law strips UNRWA of immunity, not only in sovereign Israel but in Gaza as well. This means that Israel can arrest and prosecute UNRWA employees who act on behalf of or in conjunction with Hamas.

It is not an overstatement to say that this legislation represents a distinct disavowal of the Oct. 6, 2023 “conceptzia” and proof that political consensus can be reached in asserting Israel’s rights, interests and values.

A likely testimony to the significance of the legislation is that it has generated hysterical handwringing among many in the West. This would be expected, of course, with the United Nations itself, which has threatened to evict Israel from the international body because of its effrontery.

Many Western leaders are heavily invested in keeping a lid on an unsustainable status quo and, in the name of cheaper oil, would prefer to see Israel perennially at risk. They, too, have warned of dire consequences for this action.

Do these leaders not realize that constantly crying wolf about Israel’s actions only renders them spineless sycophants of Iran and a world order based on Islamic intimidation?


JPost Editorial: Banning UNRWA: Historic move or humanitarian crisis in the making?
While Monday’s vote in the Knesset was necessary from Israel’s point of view, the real question now is: what alternative to UNRWA can Israel accept? UNRWA has provided aid, schooling, healthcare, and assistance across the Palestinian territories for more than seven decades. An estimated 2 million Palestinians are currently displaced, and the Gaza Strip is now experiencing extreme shortages of food, water, and medicine.

The official Israeli position was presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable,” he said.

“Since avoiding a humanitarian crisis is also essential, sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza now and in the future. In the 90 days before this legislation takes effect – and after – we stand ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security.”

Following the landmark Knesset vote, we urge the prime minister to consult with Israel’s allies and convene a panel of experts to do just that.
UN Security Council warns against shutting down UN Palestinian refugee agency
The United Nations Security Council warned Israel not to shut down its Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which services Palestinians in east Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. The UNSC “strongly warned against any attempts to dismantle or diminish UNRWA's operations and mandate,” the 15-member body said in a strong worded statement it issued Wednesday.

It stressed that “any interruption or suspension of its work would have severe humanitarian consequences for millions of Palestinian refugees who depend on the Agency's services and also implications for the region.”

It spoke up after the Knesset approved two bills that would effectively shutter the organization which has serviced Palestinian refugees since 1949. It provides education, health care, and food supplies to 5.9 million refugees in those three regions under Israel's control and in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

The organization operates under a mandate from the United Nations General Assembly and only that 193-member body can end the organization’s operations.

Israel, however, has the power to prevent UNRWA from operating within its sovereign territory or within territory controlled by the IDF. The Knesset legislation unless appealed gives UNRWA 90 days to cease its operations.

The UNSC urged Israel to abide by its international obligations and “facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms into and throughout the entire Gaza strip, including the provision of sorely needed basic services to the civilian population.”
UN chief warns Netanyahu of UNRWA ban’s ‘devastating consequences’
In a letter sent on Monday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that a pair of Knesset laws to banish UNRWA from Israel “could” prevent the Palestinian-only aid agency from operating in Judea and Samaria, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem.

In the letter, obtained by JNS, Guterres appeals to Netanyahu and his government “to prevent such devastating consequences and to allow UNRWA to continue carrying out its activities,” citing international law.

Guterres took particular exception to a clause in one of the newly passed laws prohibiting any activity by UNRWA “within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel,” which would include all parts of Jerusalem.

He wrote that the U.N. deems eastern Jerusalem “to be part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and that Israel is not entitled to sovereignty over, or to exercise sovereign powers, in any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory on account of its occupation.”

U.N. officials have previously stated that UNRWA’s work would be impossible to carry out with the passage of the laws, which also require the severance of communication between Israel and UNRWA—something Guterres writes would in effect serve as a violation of Israel’s supposed responsibility to provide for “the needs of the population” in territory the U.N. deems occupied.

Guterres and Netanyahu have not spoken since the Oct. 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel, with Netanyahu refusing to take Guterres’ calls. The discord came about as a result of a statement in late October 2023 by Guterres, claiming there was no justification for the Hamas attacks before asserting the massacres didn’t happen “in a vacuum,” then running through a laundry list of declared Palestinian grievances.

The statement, which Guterres refused to retract, caused a downward spiral in U.N.-Israel relations, leading up to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz declaring earlier this month that Guterres is persona non grata in Israel.
Israeli UN envoy: UNRWA ‘payroll resembles a most-wanted list’
Israel’s envoy to the United Nations on Tuesday hit back against criticism of Jerusalem’s outlawing of the scandal-plagued United Nations Relieve and Works Agency (UNRWA).

Speaking at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Ambassador Danny Danon said, “In the last year, we have exposed UNRWA in Gaza as a terrorist front camouflaged as a humanitarian agency,” adding, “Its payroll resembles a most-wanted list, rather than an aid organization.”

The meeting was the Security Council’s quarterly open debate on the Israeli-Palestinian file, with some 50 countries participating.

Many took Israel to task for the Knesset’s passage on Monday of a pair of laws that effectively end UNRWA’s presence in Israel, and strip its employees of their diplomatic privileges.

UNRWA, the U.N.’s Palestinian-only aid and social services agency, has long been accused of ties to Gazan terror organizations. A number of UNRWA staff have been found to have participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas onslaught on Israel.

In recent weeks, UNRWA acknowledged that Fathi al-Sharif, the Hamas commander in Lebanon, killed in an Israeli airstrike, was a UNRWA school principal and chief of the UNRWA teachers’ union.

Mohammad Abu Itiwi, a UNRWA driver in Gaza and a Hamas commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last week in a U.N. vehicle, was shown to have led a slaughter of civilians on Oct. 7, 2023 at a bomb shelter in southern Israel. Despite this, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres still referred to Abu Itiwi as a “colleague” upon his death, a sentiment Danon denounced on Tuesday.

“Abu Itiwi led his men in murdering almost all of the young people hiding in the shelter and kidnapping the survivors,” Danon told the council. “A U.N. paycheck was waiting for him in his letter box when he went back to Gaza.”


Albanese congressional briefing canceled, but antisemitic UN adviser gets US visa for speaking tour
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on Palestinian rights whose antisemitic statements have been widely criticized, is stateside on a tour of college campuses presenting her latest report that accuses the Jewish state of genocide.

The U.N. adviser, whom the global body considers an “independent expert,” was slated to brief staffers in Congress on Tuesday, but that meeting was canceled abruptly.

“As U.N. special rapporteur Albanese visits New York, I want to reiterate the U.S. belief she is unfit for her role,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, stated on Tuesday. “The United Nations should not tolerate antisemitism from a U.N.-affiliated official hired to promote human rights.”

Albanese is scheduled to present her report to the United Nations on Wednesday, and her speaking tour itinerary includes Georgetown University, Princeton University, Barnard College, City University of New York and the New School.

JNS sought comment multiple times from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, which hosted Albanese on Tuesday. Barnard directed JNS to a statement it issued defending the school’s invitation to Albanese and stating that its “educational mission depends on the exploration of challenging ideas” and hosting Albanese “does not constitute institutional endorsement.”

“Given her long track record of blatant antisemitic rhetoric and open hatred for Israel, U.N. special rapporteur Francesca Albanese must be deemed a persona non grata in all halls of power,” the Combat Antisemitism Movement stated. The Anti-Defamation League added, “How can someone who engages in antisemitism be trusted to promote human rights?”

“The latest report by Francesca Albanese is a gross perversion of history, weaponizing Holocaust comparisons to demonize Israel while ignoring the terror of Hamas. This inflammatory rhetoric must be confronted,” the World Jewish Congress stated. “United Nations, it’s time to stop platforming antisemitism.”


As Iran's Proxies Target US Troops, Biden-Harris Admin Privately Claims No Iranians Have Launched Drone Attacks on Americans in Past Year
The Biden-Harris administration is privately claiming to Congress that no Iranians have been involved in drone attacks on Americans over the past year, drawing criticism from lawmakers and experts who say the government is intentionally denying the extent of Iran's aggression in the Middle East.

In a non-public assessment provided to Congress last month, the State Department said it "has not identified any Iranian persons" responsible for attacking "a U.S. citizen from October 27, 2023, to July 23, 2024, using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)," according to a copy of the previously unreported notice reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

The assessment was transmitted to lawmakers against the backdrop of a massive Iran-fueled war in the Middle East, where Tehran’s terror proxies are wreaking havoc on Israel, attacking international shipping lines, and targeting American forces stationed in the region. Drones are a key weapon for Iran’s allies and have been used on the battlefield by Hezbollah, Hamas, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Syrian militants, and, most prolifically, Tehran-backed militia groups in Iraq.

Three American soldiers were killed in January in a drone attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan, which President Joe Biden said was "carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.

The State Department's late September analysis was mandated under a 2024 law that required a report to Congress on "any Iranian person that has attacked a United States citizen using an unmanned combat aerial vehicle." While the State Department’s analysis is technically accurate as written, Biden-Harris officials reinterpreted the law so that the report only included Iranians "directly involved" in launching drones at Americans.

This legal distinction enabled the administration to officially claim it "does not possess evidence that any Iranian persons" were involved in launching drones at Americans—even though a mounting body of evidence shows a number of Iranian-controlled terror proxies have done so.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), who is responsible for authoring the portion of the law requiring a drone report, said the State Department intentionally misinterpreted the legal requirements to avoid identifying Iran as the principal source of drone attacks on Americans in the region.

"It's obvious that State Department lawyers worked overtime to deny Iran's role in attacking Americans, and it's also obvious why they did so," Cruz told the Free Beacon. "The Biden-Harris administration has been financing Iran's war against America and our allies since the day they took office. They have allowed over $100 billion to flow towards the Ayatollah, which enabled the Iranian regime to finance not just the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel but attacks on our soldiers across the Middle East. Rather than acknowledge the Iranian regime's role in those attacks, they have chosen to lawlessly ignore them."


US offers $5m for info on Hezbollah-linked 1994 plane bombing
The United States is offering a $5 million award for information leading to the arrest of any individual who abetted the 1994 bombing of a commercial flight in Panama believed to have been carried out by Hezbollah, the U.S. State Department announced on Tuesday.

Alas Chiricanas Flight 901 from ColΓ³n to Panama City crashed approximately 10 miles from France Field airport on July 19, 1994, after a bomb went off aboard shortly after takeoff. All 21 passengers, including three U.S. citizens, were killed.

Following the attack, one of the dead passengers, Ali Hawa Jamal, was identified as the person who had carried the bomb aboard.

The bombing took place just one day after a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device was detonated at the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85 people and injuring 300. A group calling itself Ansar Allah, which the U.S. government has determined was an alias for Hezbollah, issued a statement in Lebanon a few days later claiming responsibility for both attacks.

Since its inception in 1984, the State Department Reward for Justice program has paid out over $250 million to more than 125 people across the globe who provided information that has helped resolve threats to U.S. national security.
Hezbollah loses popular Lebanese and Shia support
If one were to rely on the Western media for an assessment of the degree of support among the Lebanese population for Hezbollah, it would be easy to draw the totally erroneous conclusion that the diverse Lebanese ethnic groups have all rallied around Hezbollah. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the Christians to the Druze, and from the Sunnis to the dominant Shi’ites, there is a massive revulsion being expressed against the Iranian proxy terrorist group Hezbollah that had bullied its way towards becoming a mafia-like state within a state.

For the first time in more than four decades, Hezbollah appears frail. After the elimination of senior leader Hassan Nasrallah by an Israeli airstrike on Beirut on Sept. 27, the halo around its invulnerable strength against Israel and other regional rivals faded rapidly. Now the group is facing local disgruntlement, adding to its diminishing ability to get involved in area military conflicts, including Syria and Yemen.

The terrorist organization, once considered to be one of the richest in the world thanks to the influx of narcotics money, Hezbollah is currently suffering its worst crisis and is no longer perceived by the Lebanese public eye as a defender of their land.

Even before the death of Nasrallah, the Shia population showed disdain towards Hezbollah and its leader for hijacking their lives and having been forced to obey its Iranian-affiliated command or face dire consequences or death.


Leaked Lebanon draft agreement calls for IDF withdrawal within week
The draft truce deal between Jerusalem and Beirut calls for a withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces from Southern Lebanon within seven days but leaves room for defensive moves against re-emerging threats, Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster reported on Wednesday.

The eight-page draft document, which was published in full by Kan on Wednesday night, has been presented to Israel’s political echelons by U.S. presidential envoy Amos Hochstein, according to the broadcaster.

The United States, alongside other unspecified countries as well as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), will supervise the implementation of the deal, which calls for the withdrawal of Hezbollah and other terror groups from Southern Lebanon within 60 days after signing.

The government in Beirut will supervise any arms sales to Lebanese organizations or weapons production, the preliminary outline adds.

The draft deal states that “Israel and Lebanon recognize the importance of UNSCR 1701 to achieving lasting peace and security and commit to taking steps toward its full implementation,” in reference to the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Following the conclusion of the 60-day truce, Washington—working in tandem with the United Nations and the international community—will facilitate indirect talks with the goal of reaching “full implementation of UNSCR 1701 and resolving the outstanding disputed points on the Blue Line.”

While the agreement aims to “improve life for civilians on both sides of the Blue Line” (the de facto border), the draft agreement only mentions “international efforts to support capacity-building and economic development throughout Lebanon to advance stability and prosperity.”

Responding to the Kan News report, Sean Savett, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, noted that “there are many reports and drafts circulating. They do not reflect the current state of negotiations.”


Hezbollah said to demand Germany be booted from UNIFIL for its ‘complicity’ with Israel
Hezbollah demands that Germany be permanently removed from the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in Lebanon after it became an “accomplice of the enemy,” according to the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, affiliated with the Shiite terror group.

On October 17, a German warship operating as part of the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission brought down an unmanned flying object off the coast of Lebanon. Berlin has also authorized over $100 million in military exports to Israel in the last three months, according to foreign ministry data.

Al-Akhbar further outlines Hezbollah’s position in ongoing talks for a ceasefire. The terror group demands that Israel completely cease its “aggression” as a necessary precondition for further negotiations, adding that it has “not made any commitment” to disconnect the Lebanese front from the Gaza front, since this would run counter to its ideology of a “united resistance.”

Hezbollah reportedly insists that no amendment be made to Security Council Resolution 1701, the UN decision that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese army.

The resolution has gone largely unenforced since it was passed, allowing Hezbollah to build up a formidable arms cache and defensive capabilities, with neither UNIFIL peacekeepers nor the Lebanese army willing to challenge the Iran-backed terror group.
Hezbollah chief vows to continue ‘war program’ against Israel
In his first speech since being appointed Hezbollah leader earlier this week, Naim Qassem vowed to continue the path of his slain predecessor Hassan Nasrallah, he declared on Wednesday.

“I start with a verse from the holy Quran which guides us and points out what happened with the Jews throughout history,” said Qassem, according to a translation by Lebanon’s L’Orient Le Jour daily.

“The Almighty said they will only inflict harm on you. And if they fight you, they will not be victorious. There will be harm inflicted. Great sacrifices will be made. However, in the end, they will flee, and victory will be for the faithful,” he continued.

“What is my plan? A continuation of my predecessor’s. We will carry on with the war program as it has been outlined so far.”

Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Sept. 27 after heading the Iranian-backed terrorist group for more than 30 years, remains “the symbol of the resistance and the beloved of resistance fighters,” he said.

Qassem in his address also paid tribute to the slain head of Hezbollah’s executive council, Hashem Safieddine, as well as Palestinian Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who he said had “resisted until his last breath.”

The newly-minted Lebanese terrorist leader thanked Hezbollah “for placing its trust in me for this heavy responsibility.”


IDF kills deputy commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force
The IDF announced on Wednesday that Mustafa Ahmad Shakhadi, deputy commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike near Nabatieh in Southern Lebanon.

The IDF emphasized that his removal from the battlefield “further impairs the Radwan Force’s ability to function and carry out terror activities against IDF forces and the Israeli civilian front along the northern border, specifically its plan to seize the Galilee.”

Shakhadi in his previous roles was responsible for Radwan operations during the Syria conflict from 2012 to 2017, and also managed the unit’s combat operations in Southern Lebanon.

“The Radwan Force is Hezbollah’s elite unit, aimed at infiltrating Israeli territory and capturing areas near the northern border,” the military said. “The IDF will continue to act against Hezbollah terrorists and commanders and to thwart any threat facing Israeli citizens.”


IAF intercepts drone that crossed into Israel's North, Home Front
The Israel Air Force (IAF) intercepted one drone and received reports regarding additional fallen drones, the military announced on Wednesday evening.

One drone was intercepted in the area of Ya’ara, and two other crashes were identified. There were no reports of casualties, the military said.

This report follows an earlier announcement by the IDF that at least one drone had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory, triggering drone sirens in the area of Haifa and Nahariya.

The IAF conducted several interception attempts, and sirens were sounded due to the possibility of fallen shrapnel from the interceptors.

Two people were lightly wounded while on the way to a shelter in the Hadera area, Magen-David Adom (MDA) stated.

The Home Front Command announced that as of 6:30 p.m., the incident involving the drones from Lebanon had ended.

Police conducted searches in Nahariya to locate crash sites, the Israel Police stated.


Return of hostages now top mission for IDF in Gaza, declares Gallant
The return of the 101 hostages still being held by Hamas has become the “most important mission” for Israel Defense Forces in Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated on Wednesday during a visit to the site where Hamas senior leader Yahya Sinwar was killed two weeks ago.

The IDF will continue to put “as much pressure on Hamas as possible in order to create the conditions necessary to ensure the return of the hostages,” Gallant told troops, according to a readout from his office.

“The political echelon must do what is necessary to bring about a deal. You must apply military pressure and do what is necessary to create the conditions required for us to carry out an agreement. This is our most important mission in Gaza at this time,” said the defense minister.

“Do what is necessary, and we will bring about an agreement because you created the conditions for us to carry it out, and I hope that we will do it,” he added, stressing that “routine tasks” remain, including the defense of the border and maintaining the IDF’s freedom of operation.

“In any place where Hamas rears its head, it meets the IDF—whether in Rafah, Khan Yunis or Jabalia—wherever Hamas rises, it is taken down,” Gallant said, telling soldiers that their actions “led to the conditions that ultimately caused Sinwar to make a mistake” that led to his death.

The Israeli government’s stated war aims for the Gaza Strip include the destruction of Hamas as a military and governing force, ensuring that it can no longer threaten the Jewish state, and securing the return of all hostages taken by Hamas during its border infiltration and massacre in southern Irsael on Oct. 7, 2023.


IDF official: Deadly Gaza strike targeted spotter, wasn’t aimed at felling structure
A military official said Wednesday that an attack on a five-story building in which Gaza health officials said scores of deaths took place was aimed at a binoculars-holding spotter in the building and that the intent was not to destroy the structure.

The admission comes after a widespread international outcry over the strike that appeared to kill dozens of Palestinians, many of them women and children.

The Israel Defense Forces official agreed to provide details only on condition of anonymity, citing military protocol and the ongoing investigation into the incident.

The official said the building was not known to be a shelter for civilians, and that it collapsed as a result of the strike on the spotter.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claimed Tuesday that at least 70 people were killed in the first of two strikes on the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, asserting that more than half of the victims were women and children. The ministry’s casualty tolls do not differentiate between civilians and terror operatives.

The military has said it is investigating the strike, initially urging skepticism of Hamas’s claims. However, images and photos from the scene appeared to show widespread carnage.

The official said there are discrepancies between the numbers of victims reported by authorities in Gaza and what Israeli intelligence indicates, and that the victims included known terror operatives. The official did not provide detailed evidence to support that assertion.


'We're fashioning post-war Gaza': The contractor set to facilitate aid distribution in Gaza
Moti Kahana, an American-Israeli businessman and CEO of the American logistics company GDC, says his company has been chosen to serve as a contractor "to secure humanitarian aid and ensure that civilians in Gaza receive it and that Hamas and other criminals don't steal it."

"This will...allow Israel to focus on fighting terrorism where it needs to. The U.S. Army sometimes brings in contractors and that's how we should be seen too."

GDC "is made up of former soldiers from elite units in the U.S., UK and France. The common denominator is that none of them are Jewish."

Kahana says his employees have extensive experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The company is made up of 'war junkies,' people who love fighting bad guys. They really believe this is the right thing to do....These are people who have fought terrorism their whole lives."



"This will begin stabilizing post-war Gaza so that people there will understand there's free food available. There isn't a starvation problem in Gaza. The problem is that criminals steal food and sell it, becoming very rich."

"The American plan is to flood Gaza with so much food that the price of sugar won't make it worth stealing."


World Gay Group Bans Only Middle Eastern Country That Doesn’t Ban Gays
The Left never believes in the things it claims to believe in. That especially includes identity politics which it uses as a tool to undermine and take power, but which it has zero commitment to. If you doubt that, consider what unions, gay rights, and unions looked like in the USSR. Or Communist Cuba. Or in Gaza.

LGBTQ groups, like other identity politics organizations, don’t prioritize their group except as a means to an end, and the easy way to tell is to see how they respond to the treatment of their people in the leftist and Islamist dictatorships allied with the Left.

ILGAWorld, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, has gone ahead and banned the one country in the Middle East that doesn’t ban gays.

Ironically, Israel is about the only country in the Middle East to even have an ILGA member group to ban. The rest of the Arab Muslim world bans gay groups. It’s so bad that ILGA doesn’t even list the Middle East as a region and its regional countries are limited to Israel and Turkey.

Having banned Israel, it’s now limited to Turkey whose Islamist regime will get around to banning its LGBTQ groups sooner or later. Islamist police routinely arrest people at gay pride events.

But ILGA chose to side with Erdogan and Hamas over Israel.


Popular leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker steps up antisemitic, anti-Israel rhetoric
Hasan Piker, among the most-watched streamers on the platform Twitch, is coming under fire for anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric that has escalated in recent weeks.

Piker, also known as HasanAbi, has hosted several well-known lawmakers including Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) on his platform. Critics also say his conduct reflects deeper problems with antisemitism at Amazon-owned Twitch, the dominant player in the streaming market.

In one recent stream, Piker declared that “it doesn’t matter if rapes f***ing happened on Oct. 7, like that doesn’t change the dynamic for me even this much,” holding his fingers up in a pinching gesture. He had previously denied those atrocities.

“So that’s the other part of this problem that many people can’t contend with,” he continued. “The Palestinian resistance is not perfect.”

Discussing efforts to compel Israeli Haredim to serve in the military, Piker described Haredim as “inbred.” He added that it would be “hilarious” if Haredim left Israel in response to the policy and also “very funny” if Haredi soldiers were deployed to Lebanon.

He has referred to Israelis, particularly West Bank settlers, as “inbred” on a host of other occasions as well, laughed at the stories of Jewish students who faced antisemitism on college campuses and parodied Israeli accents.

During a reaction to Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent CNN town hall, Piker and a co-host laughed at an attendee who thanked Harris for her concern for the hostages, and mocked her for asking about antisemitism on college campuses.

Piker, on his show with Ocasio-Cortez, blamed the Abraham Accords and other Trump administration policies for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.


Police accused of ‘doing nothing’ as elderly Jews faced ‘Zionist dogs’ abuse at JW3
Outraged community members and activists have accused the Metropolitan Police of doing “absolutely nothing” while Jews queuing up for an event at the JW3 cultural centre were called “pigs”, “baby killers” and “Zionist dogs”.

Videos filmed by anti-Israel protesters themselves show elderly people being screamed at and crying as they waited to enter the building in north-west London last Sunday.

A witness said there were 50 to 60 demonstrators, mostly with their faces covered, shouting and “doing Hamas triangles with their hands”.

Video footage posted online showed people chanting: “Yemen you make us proud, turn another ship around”, a reference to the Houthi terror group.

Further footage seen by the JC shows a police officer standing in front of one demonstrator as he says: “Look like pigs. You look like pigs. They look so ugly. Unbelievable.”

Josh, a counter-protester who provided the footage, said: “I’m just filming him but he carries on quite openly. There were three officers standing there the whole time. As far as I’m concerned it’s an antisemitic trope.”

Itai Gal, an activist with the pro-Israel Stop the Hate campaign group who also joined the counter-protest, said he was “dismayed” by the lack of reaction shown by the Met.

“They were tens of metres away from them. They let them harass ordinary people, Jewish members of the community who were just going to their community centre. They got faced with all this hate,” he said.

The event, organised by Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz and featuring former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, was slated to examine “what sort of Israel” might emerge from the Gaza and Lebanon war and how the conflict’s shockwaves have affected disapora Jews.

Jonathan Cohen KC, who acted as a legal observer at the demonstration, told the Telegraph the police did “absolutely nothing”.

He said: “For the first hour and a half a group of deeply unpleasant antisemites were allowed to effectively blockade both entrances to a Jewish community centre.

“I saw them shouting at people who were trying to enter and obstructing their ability to do so. The police did absolutely nothing until I remonstrated with them to impose some kind of conditions.

“I absolutely would say that [it is two-tier policing]. I can imagine no world in which supporters of the far-right would be allowed to engage in a deeply hostile demonstration outside a mosque or other Islamic communal institution.”




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