Seth Mandel: Why the West Should Care About Ukrainian and Israeli Independence
The Ukrainians are a people on their historical land. Israelis understand this concept, but fewer and fewer in the West seem to. The goal of the hostile foreign powers that invaded Ukraine and Israel was to negate the legitimacy of the land so they could wipe out the people.Herzog to Ukraine on 1,000th day of war: ‘You are not alone’
The West’s original sin against Ukrainian legitimacy goes back 30 years now. In 1994, the U.S., UK, Ukraine, and Russia signed the Budapest Memorandum. In return for security guarantees, Ukraine agreed to relinquish its nuclear arsenal, which it inherited from the Soviet Union upon the USSR’s dissolution.
In addition to agreeing not to attack Ukraine, all the signatory countries vowed to “respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.” (Emphasis added.) They also promised (again, emphasis is mine) “to refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind.”
The U.S. and UK have failed to uphold their obligations in humiliating fashion. Not only has Ukraine been losing territory to Russian aggression for a decade, that aggression was spurred in 2014 by the discussion of increasing economic ties between Ukraine and Europe. All of which means that back in 2014, we made Ukraine give up one of the world’s largest nuclear arsenals in return for promises we have been breaking every day for 10 years. Coincidentally, the U.S. ambassador to Hungary at the time, and therefore the man standing next to President Bill Clinton at the press conference announcing the Budapest Memorandum, was Donald Blinken—the father of current Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
In 2014, Russia occupied and annexed the Crimean Peninsula. In the current war, Russian troops still occupy nearly a fifth of Ukraine. Unless the future Ukraine-Russia settlement contains any pleasant surprises, there’s no reason to believe Ukraine’s territorial integrity will remain intact. Which is to say, Ukraine has been forced to reduce its sovereign territory each time Russia wanted to take a bite. Ukraine is very nearly becoming independent in name only.
Meanwhile, in Israel, Lebanon-based Iranian militias keep killing Israelis in the north and perpetuating the forced displacement of civilians there. The Hamas invasion of last year triggered the displacement of Israelis near Gaza Strip. Israel has been building underground hospitals to go with its shelters—a slightly different use of underground construction than that of Hamas in Gaza.
Israel’s total landmass is a rounding error in the Middle East. Yet the ceasefire proposals from the U.S. and Europe have for months envisioned a “peace” in which Israelis cannot be confident that they can safely live in their homes again. Hamas and Hezbollah chose to live underground, so Israeli civilians should be forced to do the same? Nonsense. Yet, that is very clearly the implication behind any “permanent” ceasefire deal that leaves Hamas in power in Gaza or Hezbollah right on Israel’s northern border.
For the comfortable West, for those wrapped in the security blanket of NATO, our allies’ limited territory is negotiable. But NATO was founded on the principle that sovereignty and independence mean something. American and European leaders ought to act like it.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog issued a video message on Tuesday in support of Ukraine on the 1000th day of its war, saying that Jerusalem identifies with its cause and what it has endured at the hands of Russia.Now, Let Israel Win
“We also pause to reflect on the enormous human suffering that this war has brought. As a country that knows the pain and loss of war, we in Israel wish to say to our friends in Ukraine, you are not alone,” Herzog said in the English-language clip.
“We feel your pain. We feel your suffering, and we continue to grieve with you in your enormous losses. So many have lost their lives, their livelihoods, their homes, their loved ones, their basic sense of security for them and their children. And this is deeply, deeply painful,” he said.
Herzog said Israel was grateful to be among the countries that have provided resources and humanitarian, medical and psychological support to Ukraine, reflecting the “goodwill and empathy of the Israeli people.”
Israel supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, he added, expressing his hope that “diplomacy and goodwill” would bring about an end to the suffering and a resolution for peace in Ukraine.
For months the Biden-Harris administration has sought to restrain Israeli military operations by blocking or delaying the delivery of weapons - far more weapons than has been reported. It is widely known that the White House has blocked the delivery of 2,000-pound MK-84 bombs to Israel, despite Congress's approving their transfer. But Israeli officials have told us that the Defense Department is slowing the delivery of thousands of 1,000-pound MK-83 bombs, 500-pound MK-82 bombs, and the Joint Direct Attack Munition kits that convert those bombs into precision-guided munitions.Israel Is a U.S. Ally, Not a Client
The State Department has also stalled thousands of Hellfire missiles, tank and mortar shells, and more than 100 armored bulldozers. Israel has requested expedited purchase of Apache helicopters, which the Defense Department has yet to approve.
Although President Biden has helped Israel defend itself - deploying U.S. military assets which have helped shoot down Iranian projectiles - he has held back from helping Israel win. Israel seeks to dismantle Hamas, degrade Hizbullah, and defang Tehran's nuclear program. Delaying weapons to Israel has dragged out the war, worsening humanitarian conditions and undercutting U.S. interests.
In its inevitable confrontation with Hizbullah, the Israeli air force planned to hit 3,000 targets a day. Instead, partly owing to insufficient U.S. weapons deliveries, Israel is conducting 1,000 strikes a week. Fewer airstrikes forced Israel to conduct more ground operations than planned to destroy Hizbullah's infrastructure. In Gaza, targets that might have been hit by artillery or from the air now require ground troops to clear. The result is more casualties.
Israel also needs to be fully armed to take the fight to Iran - to retaliate if the regime strikes again, or to attack its increasingly dangerous nuclear program. If Israel crushes the Iranian axis, it would be a boon for U.S. interests. Iran and its proxies kill America's troops, plot to assassinate its politicians and civilians, and meddle in its elections. Tehran's nuclear program remains one of America's greatest strategic threats. The administration should provide Israel with the weapons it needs to defeat the Iranian axis that threatens the Free World.
Israel wants to be an American ally, not an American client. A client relies on a patron for military protection and financial largess. An ally is self-reliant and pursues common interests with another country.Court orders PA to compensate victims of 2001 Sbarro terror attack
While President Biden provided support, every step of the way he has micromanaged Israel. He pushed for a weakened invasion of Gaza. He withheld weapons to try to stop Israel from fighting in Rafah, where Hamas's leader was hiding. He enforced delivery of humanitarian aid that Hamas stole. He urged Israel not to respond seriously to Hizbullah's rocket fire. All of this prolonged the war and put Israeli soldiers at greater risk.
If Israel were a weak state that needed the U.S. to fight its battles, that approach might make sense - but it isn't. When a strong U.S. ally is discouraged from strengthening its position, both the ally and America are undermined.
Israel targeted Houthi infrastructure that America shied away from hitting. Israel wiped out Hizbullah's missiles and leadership. Israel crippled Hamas and killed Yahya Sinwar. Israel destroyed Iran's air defenses and weapons facilities. These actions advanced the interests of the U.S. and Israel. This is the benefit of having an ally instead of a client.
Since the Oct. 7 attack, about 800 Israeli soldiers have been killed in a war to secure our country. Israelis don't expect American soldiers to risk their lives for Israel's sovereignty.
The Jerusalem District Court ruled on Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority must compensate the victims of the 2001 Sbarro suicide attack in Jerusalem.
According to the report, the ruling is based on a 2022 Supreme Court ruling, which stipulates that the Palestinian Authority is a party to the crimes caused by terrorists since it financially supports both security prisoners and their families.
The compensations to the Sbarro attack victims are set to amount to millions of shekels, and the ruling comes after two lawsuits the victims and their families filed over the last two decades. Paving way for other compensations
According to N12, the ruling may pave the way for other victims of terror attacks, including victims of the October 7 massacre, to request compensation of up to NIS 10 million for each person who was murdered.
On August 9, 2001, a suicide bomber killed 15 civilians, including four children, and wounded 130 others at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem.
Palestinian terrorist Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi led the suicide bomber to the Sbarro restaurant during lunchtime when the restaurant was at peak capacity.
Tamimi was arrested and imprisoned for her role in the bombing and was sentenced to 16 life sentences. However, she was freed in 2011 during the prisoner swap to free captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
Yisrael Medad: Palestinians must accept that violent terror tactics have failed to stop Israel
If I were a Palestinian...Maj. (ret.) John Spencer (Foreign Affairs): Can the War in Gaza Be Won?
IF AN Arab of Palestine would ask me what he should do now, this is my advice to him or her.
Accept the fact that for over a century, the armed violent terror campaign against the returning Jews to Zion has failed. You killed people and destroyed property, yet that did not halt or discourage the Jews from reconstituting their national home. We came, even clandestinely, and we resettled our patrimony. In truth, your campaign has only resulted in causing more damage to the Arabs.
If “to live peacefully in the area, [Israelis] have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians” – as Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh was quoted saying in a Reuters report from July 20 this year – then he and his employer need to grasp that it works the other way around. Arabs need to reach agreement with Israel. Enough playing the victimization card by attacking, losing and then dictating conditions for an agreement.
Israeli willingness to compromise and yield – as demonstrated by multiple partition plans rejected by the Arab world before the State of Israel was founded; withdrawals and, throughout the post-1967 years, plans for autonomy; various supposed options such as a condominium sharing of administration with Jordan; and then Oslo and even the Trump “Peace to Prosperity” outline – has been met with responses from indifference to the “Three No’s” (No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel) to walkaways from hand-drawn maps on napkins, and worse: renewed violence and terror.
The situation, I would hope our counterpart would realize, is that a true peace arrangement needs to be seen as one that should improve the lives of Arabs and therefore, he must truly desire it. He must value his own people’s livelihood more than a position of ideological extremism.
Resistance must be renounced. The incitement needs to stop. The pay-for-slay program is to be halted. Peace and coexistence educational programs are to be instituted to undo 30 years and more of hatred of Jews and the goal of eliminating Israel.
A new Palestinian must develop. He need not be submissive. He must be awarded all civil rights and social privileges, and he should fulfill all commensurate requirements, from taxes to national service.
I would hope that if I were a “Palestinian Arab,” that’s what I would do. Will he?
It is hard to have an objective, fact-based debate about Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza when the debaters have no shared definition of war. When I teach students about wars, I highlight that wars always have both underlying causes and triggering events. World War I and World War II, for example, had clear underlying causes, triggering events, and start and finish dates. But not all conflicts are so cut-and-dried; some can go on for decades, with multiple wars waged as underlying problems remain unresolved.Netanyahu: Israeli gov’t followed own view on war, not Biden’s
The current war between Israel and Hamas is one such example of a discrete war within a wider conflict. The Hamas invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was the triggering event; the underlying problems include a complex history over land ownership, sovereignty, and rights, as well as Hamas's radical belief that Israel should not exist. But there was no justification for Hamas's actions. The day before, a ceasefire had been in place between Hamas and Israel. Hamas broke that ceasefire.
I have visited Gaza three times since Oct. 7. My analysis of the war is based on what I saw, not on Israeli statements, Hamas's statements, or videos on social media. I observed both IDF operations and Hamas activities in Gaza firsthand. I witnessed the IDF taking extraordinary steps to mitigate civilian harm and imposing restraints on the use of force as it undertook what may be the greatest urban warfare challenge in modern history.
I saw the IDF tracking the movement of civilians and handing out maps to facilitate localized evacuations, pausing the fighting every day for hours at a time to allow civilians to get out of harm's way and humanitarian aid to be delivered, and in many cases not permitting operations in areas where civilians were present. I also saw Hamas's cruel use of Gazans as human shields; the tunnels the group built under civilian homes, mosques, and schools; and the militants' complete lack of care for civilian life.
Hamas did not say it conducted the Oct. 7 attacks to advance self-determination, human rights, or prosperity for the Palestinian people. The group's stated goal was to destroy the nation of Israel and kill all the Jewish people within it, and none of its actions since suggest it has other objectives in mind. Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 and started attacking Israel in 2008.
The only way to break the cycle of violence and radicalization in Gaza is for Israel to continue, through legal and methodical means, to remove Hamas from military and political power.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers at the Knesset in Jerusalem on Monday that outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden’s advice on how to handle the wars with Iran and its terrorist proxies across the region was often incorrect, and that Jerusalem had opted to “follow our own view.”Netanyahu: IDF will settle accounts with those who harm hostages, provide safe passage for intel
Following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre from the Gaza Strip, Washington “suggested that we not go in on the ground,” he said during a 40-signature debate, which opposition lawmakers can call once a month and in which the premier is legally obliged to participate.
“It said, ‘It can be handled from the air.’ It sent experts. We decided to follow our view and go in—a ground offensive,” claimed Netanyahu.
The Biden administration had also opposed going into Gaza City and its Hamas-controlled Shifa Hospital, as well as into the terrorist strongholds of Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Strip, according to the premier.
Regarding Rafah, Biden said that if Jerusalem went in, it would stand alone, said Netanyahu. “He also said he would stop important arms shipments. And so he did. A few days later, [U.S. Secretary of State Antony] Blinken appeared and repeated the same things. I told him in a broad forum: ‘Tony, if we have to, we’ll fight with our fingernails.'”
In a separate closed-door meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting on Monday, Netanyahu told legislators that the United States had estimated that 20,000 Palestinians would be killed in Rafah. “That turned out to be a total fiction,” the premier said, per Channel 14.
In September, the Israel Defense Forces told reporters during a visit to southern Gaza that an estimated 2,308 terrorist operatives were killed in Rafah, while more than 13 kilometers (8 miles) of Hamas tunnels were destroyed.
Netanyahu stressed in his public Knesset address on Monday that the United States did come to Jerusalem’s assistance at the start of the war, when Biden and other officials paid wartime visits to the Jewish state.
However, he continued, “We must preserve Israel’s independence. We decided to enter—and we occupied Rafah, the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday to hunt down terrorists who hurt hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, speaking during a visit to the Netzarim Corridor that splits the coastal enclave between north and south.
“To those who are holding our hostages: Whoever dares to harm our captives—his blood is on his own head. We will pursue you, and we will get you,” warned the Israeli leader in a video in Hebrew recorded on Gaza’s beach alongside the Mediterranean Sea.
At the same time, “whoever brings us a hostage will be given a safe way, for him and his family, to leave. We will also give a reward of $5 million for each kidnapped person. You choose—the choice is yours—but the result will be the same. We will return everyone,” he added.
Netanyahu visited alongside Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Ronen Bar, the director of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).
“We are making an effort—from this place and everywhere—to locate our hostages and return them. We are not letting up. We will continue to do this until we get them all, both the living and the dead,” he said.
Katz reiterated that the return of the 101 hostages still held by Hamas terrorists for 410 days remains the “most important mission,” followed by the destruction of Hamas’s “military” and governmental capabilities.
“We need to make sure that Hamas does not rule here ‘the day after,'” he stated, vowing that the IDF will “complete its mission” in the enclave.
🚨 Netanyahu and Katz in the Netzerim corridor: “Hams will no longer be in Gaza” pic.twitter.com/9YspCVPR17
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) November 19, 2024
Netanyahu Issues $5 Million Bounty and a Dire Warning: ‘Hamxs Will Pay With Their Lives!
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) November 19, 2024
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Major General Herzi Halevi, and Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar visited the Netzerim Corridor in Gaza. During… pic.twitter.com/wv6sEuz0x9
In Parting Shot to Jewish State, Biden-Harris Sanctions Israelis, Pours Millions into Palestinian Coffers
The Biden-Harris administration on Monday unveiled sweeping new sanctions on Israeli Jews, just days after it awarded another $230 million in taxpayer funds to the Palestinians. The back-to-back announcements signal that diplomatic relations between Israel and the outgoing White House will continue to sour until President-elect Donald Trump retakes office next year.
The new sanctions are the broadest to date, imposing unprecedented punitive measures on three Israeli organizations the administration accuses of fomenting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. They were leveled just days after a coalition of nearly 90 congressional Democrats petitioned the Biden administration to ramp up sanctions on Israel before leaving the White House.
The sanctions were announced just three days after the Biden-Harris administration awarded another $230 million in funding for humanitarian projects in the West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The American government has now sent more than $2 billion in taxpayer funds to the Palestinians since Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror spree on Israel—even as critics warn this cash is keeping Hamas on life support.
The administration’s last-minute offensive against Israel is certain to appease the Jewish state’s detractors in Congress and the State Department. But its impact will likely be short-lived, given Trump’s pro-Israel instincts and a Republican majority in Congress that can immediately freeze American aid to the Palestinians.
"They took a campaign break from scapegoating the Jews, but now that Kamala has lost, the State Department’s intifada caucus is back in charge during the Biden going out of business sale," said one senior GOP congressional source.
In announcing the $230 million aid infusion, the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) said its "commitment to the Palestinian people remains steadfast."
"This funding demonstrates our resolve to support sustainable development and provide essential services that enhance the quality of life for all Palestinians and further reduce the influence of Hamas," Amy Tohill-Stull, USAID’s mission director in the West Bank and Gaza, said in a statement.
The cash will support "economic recovery and development programs in the West Bank and Gaza," including private sector initiatives, as well as "civil society strengthening, youth empowerment and education, and community level priorities."
As American cash flows into the Gaza Strip, Jewish Israelis living in the West Bank are facing sanctions that will cut off their access to the international banking system and freeze their incomes.
The latest sanctions target Eyal Hari Yehuda Company LTD, Itamar Yehuda Levi, Shabtai Koshlevsky, and Zohar Sabah. The Israeli company provides pickup trucks and other vehicles used to build what the State Department calls illegal settlements.
Koshlevsky is the vice president of another recently designated Israeli group, Hashomer Yosh, which provides aid to farmers in the West Bank. The State Department claims the organization and its leaders are guilty of fomenting violence against Palestinians living in the area.
All of these groups and individuals, the State Department maintains, "engaged in threats and acts of violence against Palestinians, including in their homes, and demonstrated a pattern of destructiveness in the West Bank."
White House staffers “dissent.” They should be frogmarched out of the building.
— Mike (@Doranimated) November 19, 2024
When I worked at the White House, I had an entry interview with Chief of Staff Andy Card, who said to me the following: “Remember, working at the White House is a privilege, not a career. You… https://t.co/UyCLgfnLLn
US slaps fresh sanctions on six senior Hamas officials
Washington imposed sanctions on six senior Hamas officials, the US Treasury Department said Tuesday, in further action against the Palestinian terror group as Washington has sought to achieve a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.Palestinian Authority Mouthpiece Says Trump Is 'Full of Racism' But Can Be Manipulated
The Treasury Department said in a statement the sanctions targeted the terror group’s representatives abroad, a senior member of its military wing, the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, and those involved in supporting fundraising efforts and weapons smuggling into Gaza.
“Hamas continues to rely on key officials who seemingly maintain legitimate, public-facing roles within the group, yet who facilitate their terrorist activities, represent their interests abroad, and coordinate the transfer of money and goods into Gaza,” Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley Smith, said in the statement.
“Treasury remains committed to disrupting Hamas’s efforts to secure additional revenue and holding those who facilitate the group’s terrorist activities to account.”
Among those targeted was Abd al-Rahman Ismail abd al-Rahman Ghanimat, a longtime member of Hamas’s military wing who is now based in Turkey, the Treasury said. It accused him of being involved in “multiple attempted and successful terrorist attacks,” including the 1997 Café Apropo bombing in Tel Aviv.
Ghanimat was previously sentenced to five life sentences in prison but was one of 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners released in 2011 in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held at the time by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
President-elect Donald Trump is an "extremist," but the Palestinian Authority can manipulate him, according to a former authority official-turned-commentator.EU rejects move to suspend dialogue with Israel over Gaza
"You know, Trump is a racist president, he is full of racism and is an extremist," Omar Hilmi al-Ghoul said on the Palestinian Authority's official TV station last Monday. "But at the same time, he is a dealmaker. … If we act wisely and cleverly according to the logic and mentality of Trump, it will be possible to cause a positive change in direction."
Al-Ghoul also characterized Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas's outreach to Trump in recent months as "a step on the path to bridging the ties with this man."
The remarks point to the depth of the internationally funded Palestinian government's antipathy toward Trump and the United States—and the shallowness of Abbas's recent charm offensive targeting the incoming president.
"Abbas and his people hate Trump. They think he's not up to their level of humanity. They mock the way he looks. They mock the way he talks," Palestinian Media Watch founding director Itamar Marcus told the Washington Free Beacon, citing years of documentation by his Jerusalem-based watchdog group. "Now that Trump will be the president again, they think they can play him, but he should recognize exactly who they are. They see themselves as in a camp with Russia and China and the Islamic world, and they are diametrically opposed to American policy around the world."
Abbas congratulated Trump on reelection in a letter and phone call earlier this month, part of what the New York Times called "a broad strategy to rehabilitate his once adversarial relationship with Mr. Trump." In the final months of the presidential campaign, Abbas met with Massad Boulos, Trump's Arab-American campaign surrogate and the father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany, and wrote a letter to the Republican nominee condemning the "despicable" assassination attempt against him.
"Wishing you strength and safety," Abbas signed the letter. "Respectfully."
But, in Arabic, the Palestinian Authority has continued to promulgate its usual anti-Trump and anti-American propaganda.
"Currently, there is international silence regarding the war in Gaza, and as you know, the political reason for this is that there is one power that rules the world, which is America. America is the plague and the plague is America," Palestinian lawyer Anwar Abu Eisheh said on Palestinian Authority TV on Monday.
In recent columns for the official Palestinian Authority newspaper, Al-Hayat al-Jadida, Al-Ghoul described Trump voters as "the white and racist majority from among the evangelicals" and the United States as "the homeland of evil and global terror."
Muwaffaq Matar, another Al-Hayat al-Jadida columnist, predicted ahead of the U.S. election that Trump "will exceed Adolf Hitler due to the strengthening of his belief in 'racial superiority.'"
European Union foreign ministers on Monday rejected a proposal by the E.U.’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, to suspend political dialogue with Israel, Reuters reported.Elbit’s profit surges 30% as its order backlog hits record amid multifront war
“We know that there are tragic events in Gaza, huge civilian casualties, but we do not forget who started the current cycle of violence,” said Radoslaw Sikorski, foreign minister of Poland, which has regularly voted against anti-Israel proposals in the E.U.
A decision to suspend political dialogue with Israel would have required unanimity among the 27 E.U. member states.
Borrell wrote to the ministers prior to Monday’s meeting in Brussels, citing “serious concerns about possible breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza.”
At a press conference after the meeting, Borrell admitted defeat.
“Most of the member states considered that it was much better to continue having [a] diplomatic and political relationship with Israel,” he said.
Borrell, who has served since Dec. 1, 2019 as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, is set to retire at the end of this month.
The European politician, who is from Spain, has been a harsh critic of Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza and policies toward the Palestinian Arabs in general, at times making incendiary remarks that have drawn rebukes from Israeli officials.
Israeli defense giant Elbit Systems saw its quarterly profit surge and sales increase bolstered by growing demand from the Israeli military amid the fighting with Hamas terrorists in Gaza and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.Schumer says that defense bill is ‘the only way’ to pass Antisemitism Awareness Act
The country’s largest privately owned defense firm generated a net profit in the July to September period of $98.8 million, up almost 30 percent from the $76.5 million posted in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue rose by 14.4% to $1.72 billion from $1.5 billion during the same comparative period, led by aerospace sales which were up 7% and increased drone sales in Israel.
Amid Israel’s multifront war with Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies and with the war between Russia and Ukraine, Israel’s military and European countries have been showing growing interest in buying Israeli defense technology due to heightened regional security concerns.
As a result, Elbit’s order backlog hit a record $22.1 billion at the end of September, marking an increase of $1 billion from the previous quarter. About 66% of the current backlog is from orders by global customers. Elbit said that 37% of the backlog is scheduled to be completed during the remainder of 2024 and in 2025.
“The company’s order backlog (…) provides stability and resilience for the company for years to come, as our investments in R&D create strong foundations for long-term growth and development,” said Elbit CEO Bezhalel (Butzi) Machlis. “Our highly regarded solutions and products are experiencing high demand.”
Elbit is a military technology corporation specializing in the development of a broad spectrum of defense, homeland security and commercial systems that are marketed worldwide.
Listed on both the Tel Aviv and Nasdaq stock exchanges, Elbit operates in various fields including aerospace, land and naval, command and control, communications, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that incorporating the Antisemitism Awareness Act into the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act is “the only way” to get the legislation passed in the Senate and sent to President Joe Biden’s desk, even though House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has publicly rejected the idea.
Schumer made the comments to Jewish Insider on Monday after being asked if he expects a vote on the legislation during the lame-duck session. “We want it on the NDAA, that’s where it should go. It’s the only way to get it done,” Schumer said.
Schumer had proposed putting the bill, which has been stalled in the Senate since passing the House with bipartisan support in May, in the NDAA during so-called four corner negotiations with his counterparts in House and Senate leadership on Friday. Doing so would ensure the bill reaches the finish line by attaching it to must-pass legislation.
Johnson told JI on Friday that he planned to reject the proposal, accusing Schumer of trying to avoid putting senators on record with a stand-alone vote. He also argued that the legislation could be outside the scope of the annual defense and national security bill, which routinely serves as a vehicle for a host of other legislation.
The House passed a bipartisan bill to sanction any ICC official that targets Americans or our allies.@SenSchumer should bring this bill to the Senate floor immediately. pic.twitter.com/TquN6colfB
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) November 18, 2024
Iran-backed terrorists murdered an Israeli woman today on their 409th consecutive day attacking Israel.
— AIPAC 🇺🇸🇮🇱🎗️ (@AIPAC) November 19, 2024
J Street calls it “unjustifiable,” while it lobbies Senators to block weapons Israel needs to prevent future attacks.@jstreetdotorg is many things, but it’s not pro-Israel. https://t.co/ESkOpHRK8F
Islamists attempted to detonate a bomb to murder Jews and our allies at a rally in Canada.
— Joo🎗️ (@JoosyJew) November 19, 2024
"Globalise the Intifada" they scream in Canada - the voices of the idealistic, young Left-wing merged with religious Muslim extremists.
The West has been groomed by an insidious ideology. https://t.co/UlYEPcq5jZ pic.twitter.com/6MaOfYiA7Y
Anne Bayefsky: UN–Biden Plan to Thwart the Will of the American People
How Can a UN-Biden Plan Be Stopped?Cruz says UN draft resolution against Israel is aimed at undermining incoming Trump admin, GOP Congress
As these options are debated, the UN itself is ratcheting up the pressure on what they read as an angry, spiteful and like-minded Biden crew. A Secretary-General report will be out by mid-December on a General Assembly to-do list for laying waste to the “racist” Jewish state, including sanctions, arms embargoes, isolation, and dungeons in the Hague awaiting Israeli “criminals.”
Palestinians and their UN cronies are also pursuing rejection of the credentials of the Israeli UN delegation and suspension of Israeli participation in the General Assembly. These moves don’t require Security Council approval, and anything short of a rapid American promise of severe repercussions for bilateral and multilateral relations may well produce miscalculations.
Which brings us to the pollyannish view that Biden could not possibly have any such Trump-proofing visions for his legacy. Alas, the truth is that his Presidency has emboldened Israel and America’s enemies, and wrongly and gravely impeded Israel’s prosecution of an existential war. President Biden is unlikely to wake up minutes to midnight.
Faced with these attempts to derail a Trump foreign policy before it even has a chance to begin, what can the incoming administration do?
Beware the pro-UN, anti-Israel “Logan Act” crowd. That’s the virtually moribund 18th century Act which has almost never been invoked and has led to zero convictions. The Act prohibits U.S. citizens from attempting to “influence the measures or conduct” of a foreign government or to “defeat the measures of the United States.” Such threats against the Trump team would be bogus, unconstitutional, as well as discriminatory – since according to Democrats, former Secretary of State John Kerry lobbying Iranians in opposition to then President Trump’s policies didn’t count.
There is no reason for the incoming Trump administration to hide from other nations the point that antisemitism at the United Nations will not be tolerated on their watch. That the UN’s hiding behind “humanitarianism” while fanning the flames of terror, violence and intolerance doesn’t fool the new administration. That a phony ceasefire imposed on Israel before the release of all the hostages, before the end of Palestinian rocket fire, and before the termination of Hamas’s reign of terror is a fake out, and the new President won’t fall for it. Making all that clear is called free speech.
Here is what is really anti-democratic: a lame-duck American President using the United Nations to achieve what he couldn’t do in a domestic setting; modifying or introducing what is effectively treaty law without the advice and consent of the Senate; foisting international financial legal obligations on the American people without any prior consideration by Congress; making immutable foreign policy moves with intent to defeat the measures of the President-elect.
Americans of all political stripes need to remind President Biden’s lame-duck administration that they didn’t come out to vote only to hand over control to the Russians, the Chinese and the United Nations.
Just hours before the United Nations Security Council is slated to vote on an alleged anti-Israel resolution pushed by Algeria to impose an end on the Jewish state's war of self-defense against Hamas, the Biden administration has gone silent about how it will vote.Pending UNSC resolution calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire
The irony of the notoriously anti-Israel Algeria devising the resolution recalls the witty line of the late Israeli Ambassador to the U.N., Abba Eban, who said, "If Algeria introduced a (U.N.) resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions."
The proposed resolution has triggered outrage from several quarters, including a leading Republican U.S.senator.
"This resolution is just one of several assaults on Israel being planned at the United Nations, meant to preemptively and permanently undermine the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.
"I will work with my Republican colleagues and with President Trump to take whatever steps are necessary to undo these measures, including fundamentally reevaluating our relationship with the U.N. and the Palestinians, broadly cutting aid, imposing sanctions on specific officials responsible for those measures, and countering governments and NGOs pushing or implementing them," he said.
Fox News Digital reported last week that U.N. experts believed Biden’s administration might seek to replicate Obama’s parting shot at Israel, in which he failed to veto an anti-Israel resolution in the closing weeks of his administration.
A United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages held by Hamas could come up for a vote as early as Tuesday, though the possibility of a U.S. veto looms large. The resolution, drafted by the E10, or 10 elected members of the Security Council, is another effort by the body to bring about an end to the war or at least improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The UNSC has passed four resolutions on the matter thus far, with little to no effect, and has failed to pass resolutions a number of times. The latest draft demands a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, allowing the repopulation of all areas of the Strip. Notably, the United States won a concession in negotiations this week, when language relevant to Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter was removed from the draft. That language, which determined “that the situation in the Gaza Strip and the regional escalation constitute a threat to international peace and security.” That specific language triggers Chapter VII, which empowers the UNSC to take collective action it deems fit, up to and including the use of force. Closed consultations on the draft are set for Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. (E.T.). JNS sources indicate that the Biden administration is pushing to remove language pertaining to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, though the E10 are almost certain not to accept this.
Israel has filed a complaint with the UN Security Council about missile & drone attacks from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) November 19, 2024
Foreign Minister @gidonsaar is demanding “immediate action.” Israel reserves the right to self-defense if these attacks don’t stop. pic.twitter.com/wCOMOFNwWQ
BREAKING: Tomorrow at 12:15 pm Geneva time—at the exact time I was supposed to see Lazzarini before he canceled the event—we will begin to release exclusive new evidence exposing the widespread complicity of UNRWA staff and senior officials with Hamas terrorists. Stay tuned here. https://t.co/iI4hf3wkdl
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 19, 2024
UNSC meets on Gaza aid amid reported accusation Israel abetting looters
Ahead of a likely vote on a new Israel-Hamas ceasefire resolution, the United Nations Security Council met on Monday and called for a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza.
The session, chaired by British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, focused on what the U.N. claims is a dire humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
Lammy, representing the United Kingdom in its role as UNSC president for the month of November, said there needs to be a “huge, huge rise in aid,” claiming that “famine is imminent” as the winter approaches.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a U.N.-linked agency, has made multiple claims of ongoing or imminent famine during the war, only to have those assertions and projections rejected by the committee that reviews its work.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UNSC that Hamas is to blame for another breakdown on ceasefire negotiations. She said the terror group “refused to engage on any of the numerous proposals put forward in the past eight weeks.”
Still, the Biden administration is pushing Israel to improve the flow of aid, a week after the State Department said Jerusalem was not impeding aid delivery and, therefore, was not in violation of U.S. law.
Israel must “urgently take additional steps to alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza,” said Thomas-Greenfield, who added that Israel was working to implement 12 of the 15 steps the Biden administration laid out in an Oct. 13 letter to Israeli officials to address the situation in Gaza.
Those steps, Thomas-Greenfield said, include Israel allowing commercial trucks into Gaza, confronting a breakdown in civil order and implementing humanitarian pauses across high-population areas in the Strip to allow assistance to reach those in need.
The Washington Post reported on Monday that U.N. officials blame Israel for increasingly large-scale looting of humanitarian trucks by armed Gazan gangs, with allegations that Israel is turning the other way or actively helping the perpetrators. Israel denies the allegations, and such gangs have been looting trucks throughout the war.
🚨"GENOCIDE"🚨
— Daniel Roth (@daniel_c_roth) November 19, 2024
Israel has:
• voted to increase truck deliveries
• reopened humanitarian xings
• restored Jordan AF corridor
• removed 30 dual-use restrictions
• restored deliveries to north Gaza
• expanded Mawasi hum. zone by 25%
• agreed to implement UN Winter Plan pic.twitter.com/Fj7MPrg1Us
Journalist: Do you know who looted the aid trucks?
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) November 19, 2024
UN: When armed people...we're not asking questions...I do not have that detail
The UN knows that aid is being stolen and their solution is to berate Israel for not sending in more aid...to be stolen. pic.twitter.com/6xb8bbdv4b
Hamas continues to abuse Gazans via its control of the food.
— Imshin (@imshin) November 19, 2024
Abu Ali:
The Hamas bread cartel
In recent days, social media has been flooded by Gazans on the flour and bread crisis.
The big bakeries and Hamas have created a bread cartel and they have good control over the most… https://t.co/2YuCPwDsHp pic.twitter.com/O61bveMJQG
You literally can't hate the NYT enough.
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) November 18, 2024
Hamas violently robs almost 100 aid trucks, and somehow, the headline manages not to mention Hamas and instead blame Israel. pic.twitter.com/NuNOL13nGs
Don’t Assume Iran’s Retaliation Will Target Only Israel
In Canada, authorities recently foiled an Iranian attempt to assassinate the former attorney general and famed human-rights lawyer Irwin Cotler, who throughout his career has been a staunch defender of Israel. This is hardly the first time the Islamic Republic has tried to murder a politician or activist on foreign soil. The incident should serve as a reminder that the retaliation against Israel the ayatollahs have been promising since the October 26 attack might not come in the form of a massive missile barrage aimed at the Jewish state. Shay Khatiri writes:
[Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei finds himself between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, his domestic support base demands he respond to the Israeli attack. On the other, his attacks on Israel have backfired. Not only did they fail to damage Israel significantly, but Israel’s retaliation also degraded Iran’s military. A third round of attacks on Israel would not likely succeed but would invite more Israeli attacks and degrade Iranian targets further.
There is an alternative path for Khamenei: Iran can attack the United States. In the past, Iran has responded to Israeli attacks by striking at U.S. interests in Syria and Iraq. Khamenei realizes Iran cannot deter Israel, but it can deter the United States given the Biden administration’s delusions about diplomacy and its lack of will to retaliate in kind. Iran has used this dynamic in the past to push Washington to constrain Jerusalem.
Iranian FM (2013-2021) Mohammad-Javad Zarif in 2020: We Want To Resolve The Problem Of Israel By Popular Referendum, Not By Throwing The 'Kikes' Into The Sea (Archival) pic.twitter.com/998WhAAB7f
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) November 19, 2024
Latin American nations demand action against Iranian threats, declare solidarity with Israel
Leaders from 19 Latin American countries signed a joint statement affirming solidarity with Israel and backing its right to self-defense at the Combat Antisemitism Movement's (CAM) fourth annual Latin American Forum Against Antisemitism held last week in Costa Rica, the organization announced on Sunday.Iran still ramping up uranium enrichment, UN nuclear watchdog finds
The declaration calls for implementing zero-hate policies, adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of Antisemitism, developing educational initiatives and interfaith programming, and demanding accountability for terrorist activities in the region – including the 1994 AMIA Jewish community center bombing in Buenos Aires and the downing of Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901 over Panama in 1994.
CEO of CAM Sacha Roytman Dratwa highlighted that "no region of the world is immune to the proliferation of antisemitism."
She additionally highlighted how Latin American Jewish communities have historically been targeted by Iranian-backed terror.
"The forum sent a resounding message of regional solidarity and allyship with the Jewish people and the State of Israel during a time of unprecedented levels of antisemitism worldwide and rising threats from the Tehran regime and its terrorist proxies, including in Latin America, where Jewish communities have already been victimized by Iranian aggression in the past," Dratwa said.
Iran has continued to expand its stockpile of uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, citing a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.Iran offers to cap enriched uranium stock if UN watchdog scraps resolution
The nuclear watchdog of the United Nations said as of Oct. 26, Tehran had 182.3 kilograms (401.9 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%, an increase of 17.6 kilograms (38.8 pounds) since its last report in August.
This level of enrichment is just a technical step from 90% enrichment, considered weapons grade. According to the IAEA, it is possible to create an atomic bomb with roughly 42 kilograms (92.5 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% if the material is further enriched to 90%.
Tuesday’s report was said to have estimated that the Islamic Republic’s total stockpile of enriched uranium stands at 6,604.4 kilograms (14,560 pounds)—an increase of 852.6 kilograms (1,879.6 pounds) since August.
Earlier this week, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Tehran hopes that Wednesday’s IAEA meeting, which is expected to pass a resolution against the Islamic Republic, will remain free of “political pressure.”
Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei Baghaei told reporters at a press conference that the regime hopes that Britain, Germany and France will “allow the issues between Iran and the [IAEA] agency to continue in a technical way and away from political pressures and considerations.”
The remarks came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that “there is still an opportunity for diplomacy” over the nuclear program. But he warned that the opportunity was “limited.”
He added that Iran was prepared for “confrontation” or “cooperation,” depending on the path chosen by the international community.
Iran has offered to not further expand its stock of highly enriched uranium and has made preparations to implement the restriction, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said in a confidential report to member states on Tuesday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency assessed that Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity since its last tally in August, in defiance of international demands, according to the report, which was seen by news agencies.
Uranium enriched to 60% purity has no civilian application and is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
During IAEA chief Rafael Grossi’s trip to Iran last week, “the possibility of Iran not further expanding its stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60% U-235 was discussed, including technical verification measures necessary for the Agency to confirm this if implemented,” the report read.
Iran’s offer would cap the stock at around 185 kilograms (408 pounds).
On November 16, one day after Grossi left Iran, IAEA inspectors verified that Tehran had started to get ready to curb its stockpile at underground nuclear sites in Fordow and Natanz, the report said.
“Iran ha[s] begun implementation of preparatory measures aimed at stopping the increase of its stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60 % U-235,” it read.
A senior diplomat, however, said Iran’s offer, which would cap the stock at around 185 kg, was conditional on Western powers scrapping a planned resolution against Iran at this week’s IAEA board of governors meeting.
Former Iranian Deputy FM and Advisor to Khamenei Mohammad-Javad Larijani: Iran Can Obtain Military Nuclear Capability in 48 Hours, and We Can Reduce It to 24 Hours; Any Attack on Our Nuclear Infrastructure Will Result in a New Policy That the West Will Not Like pic.twitter.com/2mmjU9rPcW
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) November 19, 2024
US special envoy lands in Beirut to press for Israel-Hezbollah truce
U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in Beirut on Tuesday to advance ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist organization.
“We have a real opportunity to end the conflict, and now is the moment to decide. We are committed to doing everything we can to work with Lebanon and Israel to end this conflict,” Hochstein said at a press conference.
He made the remarks after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who represents Hezbollah as head of the Amal movement, at the second presidential palace in Ain El-Tineh.
President Joe Biden’s point man in the Land of the Cedars later met with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and he was scheduled to meet with Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun.
Mikati reportedly emphasized that Lebanon’s primary objectives are achieving a ceasefire and safeguarding its sovereignty. He also highlighted the need to implement international resolutions and bolster the Lebanese Armed Forces in the southern region of the country.
Lebanon delivered its written response to the latest U.S. proposal on Monday, according to Reuters.
According to Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Berri, the response included “comments” that were “presented in a positive atmosphere.”
He did not provide details on the nature of the comments, saying only that they “affirm the precise adherence to [U.N.] Resolution 1701 with all its provisions,” according to Reuters.
Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Lebanon War, stipulated that Hezbollah must disarm and retreat north of the Litani River, but was never enforced. The Litani lies some 20 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border.
Reports of a ceasefire in Lebanon miss that Hezbollah did not agree to end its war on Israel's people. In this Daily Briefing, Citizen Spokesman @AsherWestropp discusses what is needed for the war to end, and to ensure it doesn't start again tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/vXtfxfCMDu
— Israeli Citizen Spox (@IsrCitizenSpox) November 19, 2024
BREAKING: Saudi reports that the meeting between American diplomat Amos Hochstein and Lebanese parliament chair Nabih Berri “didn’t meet expectations.”
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) November 19, 2024
The source of the continued disagreement? The line in the ceasefire agreement that promises Israel “the right to self…
Lebanese Academic Charles Chartouni: Israel Is Not an Aggressor, It Was Attacked by Hizbullah; We Should Sign a Peace Accord with Israel; Hizbullah Should Surrender; There Is No Shame in That - It Would Spare Further Casualties pic.twitter.com/I48tUG1KLN
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) November 19, 2024
IDF surprised by the quantity of Russian arms in Southern Lebanon
Israeli forces operating in Southern Lebanon have found a far greater amount of Russian weaponry there than the military had expected, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.Soldier killed in Lebanon, upping IDF toll to 799
Some of the weapons, which include modern anti-tank missiles, came from Russian stockpiles in neighboring Syria, according to the report, which cited Syrian security officials and an Arab official.
The sheer amount of modern Russian armaments now known to have been in Hezbollah’s possession has sparked concern that Moscow’s relationship with the Lebanese terrorist organization may be closer than previously assumed, the report said.
As much as 60% to 70% of the weaponry found during the first days of the Israeli ground operation were Russian-made, an Israeli officer told the Journal.
The Russian and Syrian governments didn’t respond to a request for comment, while the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment.
Israel has tried with little success to maintain good relations with Moscow in recent years due to Russia’s military presence in Syria, walking a diplomatic tightrope during the Russia-Ukraine war.
An Israel Defense Forces reservist was killed in action battling Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Southern Lebanon, the military announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Sgt. 1st Class (res.) Omer Moshe Gaeldor, 30, from Jerusalem, served in Lebanon as a member of the 5111th operational support unit of the IDF’s Golani Brigade, according to the statement.
According to Israel’s Ynet news outlet, Gaeldor was killed when his unit was attacked by a Hezbollah suicide drone. Three additional soldiers were seriously wounded in the incident, the IDF confirmed.
On Sunday, the IDF announced that three IDF soldiers were killed in Gaza. Capt. Yogev Pazy, 22, from Giv’ot Bar, and Staff Sgt. Noam Eitan, 21, from Hadera, were killed in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the IDF. They were members of the Nachshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade, where Pazy served as a platoon commander, the statement noted.
Earlier on Sunday, the army announced that IDF Sgt. 1st Class (res.) Idan Kenan, 21, also of the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion, was killed by sniper fire in Beit Lahiya.
The death toll among Israeli troops on all fronts since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre currently stands at 799, according to official military figures.
Additionally, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, a member of the Israel Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, was fatally wounded during a hostage-rescue mission in Gaza in June, and civilian defense contractor Liron Yitzhak was mortally wounded there in May.
Omer fell during the current operation against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon.
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) November 19, 2024
May his memory forever be a blessing.🕯️ pic.twitter.com/D3Bq7TIGXQ
Five hurt as Hezbollah rockets pound central, northern Israel
Five people were lightly wounded by Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel on Tuesday morning, four in central Israel and one in Karmiel in the country’s north.
Five launches on the center were detected, and 25 rockets were launched at the Galilee shortly afterwards, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Also on Tuesday morning, the IDF issued an all-clear after earlier reporting that it was tracking several “suspicious aerial targets” that had crossed from Lebanon into Israel, setting off sirens in the Upper Galilee area.
Sirens also sounded in Ghajar, Even Menachem and Shtula in northern Israel during the morning hours.
Tuesday’s attacks came just hours after Hezbollah terror rockets fired at the Tel Aviv metropolitan area wounded five people, one of them seriously.
According to a preliminary investigation, a surface-to-surface missile from Lebanon broke into several pieces after being intercepted at high altitude on Monday night. One of the pieces impacted outside the Ayalon Mall in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, causing a fire.
A 54-year-old woman was seriously wounded in the attack, while four other people sustained moderate to light wounds, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency response group. All five victims were evacuated to Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah.
A great miracle happened tonight in Bnei Brak (near Tel Aviv). Video from a nearby Yeshiva building. pic.twitter.com/r2VIUZJT5t
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) November 18, 2024
Hezbollah missile strike on Ramat Gan: What went wrong with Israel’s defense?
How and why did Hezbollah succeed at hitting Ramat Gan on Monday night?
And why did the IDF first say that they had shot down the Hezbollah ballistic missile, only for the police to contradict them, and for the military to later put out an amended message that indicated both the IDF and the police had some part of the story right?
Shortly before 9 p.m. Monday, Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile at the Tel Aviv area.
The Iron Dome is generally not capable of shooting down ballistic missiles due to their speed and different trajectory from cheaper Hezbollah rockets.
Alternatively, David’s Sling and the Arrow 2 and 3 missile defense systems are each capable of shooting down different kinds of ballistic missiles, with David’s Sling focused on medium-range missiles and the Arrow systems capable of shooting down longer-range missiles up in the atmosphere.
The IDF fired off interceptors to destroy the ballistic missile, striking it at a height of around 12 km. high in the sky.So the military was correct when it said that it struck the Hezbollah missile.
The IDF did strike the missile
However, it also said that some shrapnel from the missile had then fallen to Ramat Gan causing some damage.This was not entirely correct.
The police who were on site saw that a large part of the still-held-together ballistic missile landed in Ramat Gan on a bus, causing an explosion and fires, and wounding people nearby.Based on seeing the large amount that remained of the missile, they concluded it had not been shot down.They were also partially correct.What happened was that the Israeli interceptor struck the ballistic missile, but for reasons that are now being probed, did not cause it to explode as designed.
Rather, a small part of the missile exploded, but a larger part was simply cut off from the rest, leading it to drop relatively straight down at high speed from the 12 kilometer shoot-down point.
The fact that so much of the missile remained whole was part of why the damage was much larger than usual, and larger than it would have been if what had fallen out of the sky had “just” been smaller pieces of shrapnel.
An updated IDF probe into last night's missile strike in Ramat Gan has found that the Hezbollah projectile launched from Lebanon was hit by an interceptor at an altitude of 12 kilometers, but failed to cause it to explode.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 19, 2024
The interceptor hit the Hezbollah missile, causing it to… pic.twitter.com/3Ox4iV5QJM
Remember the news from 24 hours ago, when an #Israel strike in Beirut killed 5 in a “crowded residential neighborhood.” Pic on the right is a Hezbollah poster that identifies casualties of the Israeli strike: 6 Hezbollah fighters/commanders. pic.twitter.com/J1YdYrkG5z
— Hussain Abdul-Hussain (@hahussain) November 19, 2024
IDF: Here's how Hezbollah rockets fell short and hit a UNIFIL base
Multiple UN Interim Force in Lebanon bases were hit by rocket fire on Tuesday morning and then again in the afternoon, one in the region of Ramyeh, another near Chamaa, and additional locations were hit later, UNIFIL said.
Earlier on Tuesday, a report was received that a UNIFIL post in the area of Ramyeh had been hit, causing several injuries and damage to the post.
Later, UNIFIL statements clarified that four Ghanaian peacekeepers had sustained wounds from the attack.
An IDF review determined that Hezbollah fired a rocket that fell short and hit the UNIFIL post, the military said.
UNIFIL largely agreed with this, saying the rocket was “fired most likely by non-state actors within Lebanon.”
According to the IDF assessment, the rocket was fired from the area of Deir Aames, one of many fired by Hezbollah in a barrage launched at Israel at 9:50 a.m. Several UNIFIL incidents
The UNIFIL West headquarters was hit by five rockets, which damaged the maintenance workshop; no peacekeepers were injured, according to UNIFIL.
"non-State actors"https://t.co/k17tfq16Ka
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 19, 2024
BREAKING 🚨
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) November 19, 2024
Massive Hamxs surrender in northern Gaza last night pic.twitter.com/vvDpw3wi9f
JUST IN⚡️
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) November 19, 2024
Initial report: A terrorist attempted to attack Border Police officers at the Shuafat checkpoint. The terrorist was shot and neutralized.
No casualties among IDF forces. pic.twitter.com/QkY0P1Ot9g
Israeli security forces continue to operate against terror in Samaria
The Israel Defense Forces conducted counterterrorism raids in Samaria overnight on Monday amid ongoing attacks by Palestinian terrorists in the area, said the military in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
In a series of operations in cooperation with the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Israel Border Police, IDF soldiers carried out raids in the area of Jenin, a hotbed of Palestinian terrorism, the army announced.
As part of the operation, Border Police were deployed to Qabatiya, just south of Jenin, in an attempt to arrest a suspected terrorist, according to the statement. During the operation, gunmen opened fire on the fighters from the building where the wanted Palestinian was hiding.
The officers were said to have employed the “pressure cooker” protocol that involves increased gunfire to force a wanted terrorist out, after which the suspect was killed along with two other terrorists who were found to be carrying three M16 rifles and additional equipment.
The army identified the main suspect as Raed Hanaysha, pointing out that the slain Arab terrorist previously served time in an Israeli prison for terrorist activities, and had also been involved in shootings and bombings of security forces.
The Palestinian Authority described the slain terrorists as “young men,” naming the additional casualties of the “large-scale military onslaught” in Qabatiya as Anwar Nidal Saba’neh, 25, and Adnan Suleiman Tazaza’a, 32.
The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad terror group subsequently confirmed in a statement that the three men were members of the organization.
Israeli Force are currently exchanging Gunfire with several Terrorists that have Barricaded themselves within a Building near the City of Jenin in the West Bank; with a number of Missiles being fired at the Building. pic.twitter.com/gE8dVxkUG6
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 19, 2024
The IDF is searching for IEDs planted in the streets of the terror nest in the Palestinian city of Jenin.
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) November 19, 2024
Sorry, you can’t park there. pic.twitter.com/57bB0Ft2kt
Israeli troops kill three Islamic Jihad gunmen in West Bank gunbattle
Three gunmen from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group were killed by Israeli forces during a firefight in the northern West Bank, the army said Tuesday.
No Israeli soldiers were injured in the Tuesday morning exchange, which came as troops raided the Jenin area as part of an ongoing anti-terror operation.
Border police troops had entered the town of Qabatiya south of Jenin to arrest Raed Hanaysha, 24, a PIJ operative previously imprisoned for terrorism. Hanshaya is suspected of being involved in shooting and bombing attacks against soldiers in the West Bank that did not cause casualties, according to a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces, Israel Police, and Shin Bet security service.
Officers laid siege to the building where Hanaysha was holed up after coming under fire from two other gunmen in the building, using a tactic known as a “pressure cooker,” which involves escalating the volume of fire against a building to flush suspects out.
Both Hanaysha and the two gunmen were killed, with Islamic Jihad later confirming that the three had been members of the terror group.
The other two men were identified by PIJ as Anwar Saba’neh, 25, and Suleiman Tazazaa, 32.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group confirms the deaths of three members in an Israeli military raid in the northern West Bank this morning.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 19, 2024
The gunmen killed in an exchange of fire with Border Police officers in Qabatiya are named by the terror group as Anwar Saba'neh,… https://t.co/CtZ4pUqATM pic.twitter.com/Bi492vUgZg
🏥Humanitarian Aid Updates:
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 19, 2024
•14 field hospitals have been established in Gaza since the start of the war
•2,800 trucks carrying 28,000 tons of medical equipment and hygiene products have been delivered for Gazan civilians
•1,000 blood units were transferred to the…
spiked: Debunking the lies about Israel | Natasha Hausdorff
Israel is easily the most demonised nation on Earth. Despite the Jewish State being a liberal democracy, Western activists spend vastly more time raging against it than they do genuinely despotic regimes. We’re told Israel is committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza, that it is going out of its way to kill civilians in its war against Hamas, that it is an ‘apartheid state’. But none of this bears any resemblance to reality. Here, barrister Natasha Hausdorff debunks the anti-Israel myths, which she says have become a kind of new blood libel.
Israeli Journalist Sounds Alarm Over Civilization Clash | The Caroline Glick Show
Tzvi Yehezkeli’s story is the stuff of leftist nightmares: A left-leaning Israeli journalist who turns right-wing after decades of toeing the line. His unique style of interview and undercover journalism makes him particularly dangerous to the media narrative.
Yehezkeli is famous in the Jewish state for reporting as an undercover "Muslim," exposing harsh truths to the Western world.
He now joins JNS senior contributing editor Caroline Glick to tell his story and, more importantly, to sound the alarm about the impending Islamist threat. You don't want to miss this eye-opener!
Chapters
00:00 Undercover Insights: The Reality of Sharia in Europe
01:49 The Symbiotic Relationship: Media and Palestinians
04:10 Clash of Civilizations: Islam and European Society
06:59 The Rise of ISIS: Understanding the Threat
09:54 The British Response: A Failure to Acknowledge
11:18 Europe's Demographic Shift: A Lost Continent?
12:45 Historical Context: Fatah and European Collusion
15:58 The Role of Anti-Semitism in European Politics
17:27 Security Failures: Lessons from Amsterdam
20:17 Islam in America: A Different Landscape
23:40 The Dawa Strategy: Spreading Islam in the U.S.
26:54 Democracy vs. Radical Islam: A Future Dilemma
27:45 The Palestinian Issue: Internal Politics in Israel
30:06 Media's Role: Reporting from the Ground Zero
33:00 The Journalist's Dilemma: Objectivity vs. Identity
37:58 The Ramavia Bombing and Its Impact
39:44 Media Manipulation and the Role of Journalists
42:08 The Illusion of Peace and the Reality of Conflict
46:57 Awakening to the Truth of Palestinian Leadership
51:20 Personal Transformation and Embracing Jewish Identity
56:28 The Challenge of Israeli Leadership and Public Perception 01:07:48 The Future of Israel and the Ongoing Conflict
Israel: State of a Nation: On the Ground in Lebanon with IDF Spox Maj. Doron Spielman
What is going on in Lebanon today? We speak with a man who has been on the ground in south Lebanon, and has seen with his own eyes the terrifying infrastructure Hezbollah has built there. With entire villages set up to hide the terror army’s military assets, the IDF is now forced to go house-to-house, tree-to-tree to find the whole city blocks that were built underneath.
Major (Res.) Doron Spielman has spent decades working in the IDF spokespersons’ office, helping the world to understand how the IDF operates. He describes in detail what he saw with his own eyes. He and Eylon sit for an in-depth conversation detailing how Hezbollah have been planning a full-blown invasion into Israel’s north.
The American Renaissance Is Coming w/ Dave Rubin | The Quad
Now that the dust of President-elect Donald Trump's Nov. 5 election victory has settled, it’s time to dig in! What’s coming for the United States, especially in relation to the Middle East?
Join Vivian Bercovici, a former Canadian ambassador to Israel, along with activist and writer Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll for an in-depth conversation on the first week since Trump’s win.
Stick around for Israeli innovation envoy Fleur Hassan-Nahoum’s interview with the one and only Dave Rubin, as well as the Scumbags and Heroes of the Week!
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Context
01:04 Trump's Cabinet Appointments and Their Implications
06:19 Focus on Key Appointees: Huckabee and Rubio
12:56 Strategic Appointments and Political Dynamics
16:12 Hawkish Stance on Iran and Global Relations
20:33 Cultural Shifts and Political Landscape
27:12 Unity, Healing, and Political Identity
30:32 The Role of Iran in Global Politics
32:28 Scumbags and Heroes Segment
The Israel Guys: BREAKING: Israel Bombs Iranian Nuclear Facilities
So it turns out, Israel actually destroyed a nuclear weapons site 19 miles southeast of Tehran. We’ll get into the crazy details of that story, also both Hezbollah and Iran might be close to making a deal with Israel to end this war.
The Israel Guys: The Pope Calls to Investigate Israel for Genocide
With drone attacks from Lebanon and Yemen, Israeli Air Force strikes in Beirut, an attack on the home of Israel's Prime Minister, and daily barrages of rockets on Israel, a lot has been happening in the Holy Land.
Also, the New U.S. Senate Majority leader, John Thune, is threatening the ICC over arrest warrants of Israeli officials. And just yesterday, the Pope made an outrageous statement about Israel!
“It is part and parcel of the tsunami of antisemitism that we have seen that has been fueled by non other than Iran.” @CotlerWunsh speaks on a foiled Iranian plot to kill her father, former Canadian Justice Minister @IrwinCotler. pic.twitter.com/ZfjX2EajjF
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) November 18, 2024
Destroying Hamas was the only honest, proper solution for any enduring peace. pic.twitter.com/qhggeqnaZd
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) November 19, 2024
BREAKING: Dave Smith’s and Glenn Greenwald’s heads just exploded pic.twitter.com/Am22hJUhTF
— Strxwmxn 📟 (@strxwmxn) November 19, 2024
This bad faith take refuses to die, so I’ll repeat: Israel, like America, has military centers in civilian neighborhoods. Here's Israel's General Staff building (across from a shopping mall), and Brooklyn's Fort Hamilton (next to a baseball field). Both Israel and America clearly… https://t.co/fR2Uhobz9L pic.twitter.com/Hu0YE9DKPz
— Ari Lamm (@AriLamm) November 19, 2024
The rocket alarms caught us in the middle of a live broadcast but it turned out to be an informative video including a message to our enemies! pic.twitter.com/eE1SW37BKV
— יוסף חדאד - Yoseph Haddad (@YosephHaddad) November 19, 2024
Why Does Bernie Sanders Feed Antisemitic Stereotypes?
Sanders’ statement feeds into antisemitic stereotypes, and it is especially noxious given his insistent weaponization of his Jewish identity to viciously criticize the Jewish State.
Sanders has spent the months since October 7, 2023, behaving as a token Jew for some of the most virulently anti-Israel segments of the left, highlighting his own Jewish heritage only insofar as it helps him slander Israel and Zionism, and refusing to condemn the dog-whistling antisemites in his corner of the party.
Charging Israel with the Democrats’ humiliating defeat this year is just the latest example of this tendency, which feeds into the time-honored antisemitic strategy of blaming Jews for self-inflicted issues.
American voters did not come to the ballot box concerned with Benjamin Netanyahu — they voted with their own country and personal interests in mind.
Sanders’ insistence on overlooking this obvious reality, and accusing the “Zionists” for the loss, reflects a concerning level of ignorance and a willingness to throw his own people under the bus for cheap political capital.
Rather than fanning the flames of Jew hate, the senator would do well to turn his concerns inward towards his own party and the myriad ways they have failed the American people. Otherwise, if they don’t learn to speak to everyday American voters, the Democrats will keep losing, and Bernie Sanders will shout his brainless lies into the void.
Get this: While Biden campaigned as a moderate from Scranton, he governed as a left-wing radical, infusing some 500 DEI directives throughout the federal government over his term.
— Shelley G (@ShelleyGldschmt) November 18, 2024
He even imposed *5* DEI directives on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.🤦♀️https://t.co/lbrkQt4hVH pic.twitter.com/uuwafx64rD
There is no shortage of Jew haters in Congress, all from the Democratic party. Casten is one of them. https://t.co/nhoVGLEPQN
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) November 19, 2024
These Hamas-loving antisemites have been largely given a free pass.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) November 19, 2024
Change is coming. https://t.co/ZHhMq94G0v
AOC receives widespread criticism over AIPAC accusation
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is facing continued backlash over a post on Sunday suggesting that AIPAC was responsible in part for Democrats’ election losses, and that Democrats could be more successful in the future if they shunned the group and its positions.
“If people want to talk about members of Congress being overly influenced by a special interest group pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats then they should be discussing AIPAC,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
The post received criticism from Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, who participated in an antisemitism webinar with Ocasio-Cortez earlier this year — in an attempt to bridge the divide between the left-wing New York congresswoman and her supporters, and the Jewish community.
“So singularly focusing on [AIPAC] here — when there are a number of special interest groups that operate the same way — plays into dangerous tropes,” Spitanick wrote on X.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), a Jewish Democrat and former presidential candidate, also called out the New York congresswoman.
And the backlash has continued to grow.
Georgia state Rep. Esther Panitch, a Jewish Democrat, responded, “if you are calling being pro-Israel a ‘wildly unpopular agenda,’ you have learned nothing from this last election loss. The American people REJECTED the far left’s bs claims against Israel.”
Panitch, who worked to rally support for Vice President Kamala Harris in her home state, argued that Ocasio-Cortez’s left-wing policy views are responsible for Democrats’ losses among Jews in the recent election.
“NY Jews voted for Trump in higher numbers than ever. She (and the rest of the Squad) are huge reasons why,” Panitch added.
Remember when JDCA cheered on @AOC this summer? We do.
— RJC (@RJC) November 18, 2024
Elevating AOC, who continues to enable and endorse the worst elements of the Democratic Party was - and is - a disgrace.
+ It's one of the main reasons Jewish voters supported President Trump at the highest % in 40 years. https://t.co/YiyySusqty pic.twitter.com/90WGVHaxne
Kudos to the ADL for standing firmly against AOC’s delusional and antisemitic statements. https://t.co/Ue3eGQ54uU
— Talia (@tfiiiiine) November 18, 2024
The horseshoe theory is on full display.
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) November 18, 2024
AOC and Nick Fuentes are aligned. pic.twitter.com/xne1HiIm6R
Calling for Congress to stop selling arms to Israel is not a moral statement. It's a statement that shows that you don't care about the lives of Israelis who are under daily attack from Hamas & Hezbollah terrorists.
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) November 19, 2024
Randi stands with @jstreetdotorg.
Americans stand with Israel. https://t.co/ZwP0v0SV3C
Dearborn Imam Usama Abdulghani: They Got Sinwar, Haniyeh, Nasrallah, and Safieddine – We Should Appreciate Khamenei While He Is Still Alive pic.twitter.com/EDwJD0eAuI
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) November 19, 2024
CAIR Official Husam Aylush in a California Mosque Friday Sermon: The Democrats Sacrificed Their Presidential Race by Pandering to AIPAC; Trump’s Cabinet Picks Are Like a “Who’s Who of Islamophobia”; He's Like a Middle Eastern Leader, If You Miss Back Home - It's Coming to Us pic.twitter.com/VZ8XnsfWXw
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) November 19, 2024
“Zio-Nazis!"
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) November 19, 2024
“Baby killers!”
"Genocidal Pedophiles!”
Pro-Hamas protesters scream all the classic antisemitic tropes outside the Zionist Organization of America’s “Superstar Ball” event in NYC. Good for @AlanDersh for sticking one of his pro-Israel books in their faces. WATCH pic.twitter.com/5XM1uHiQTC
Jake Morphonios, a member of @jvplive & an ass't scoutmaster, is an "independent investigative journalist." He says, “Remember...it wasn’t just the Germans, a lot of people knew that the Jews had designs on world domination...the Nazis were right!” https://t.co/izqZDhiRAQ pic.twitter.com/hPPCtIvvGn
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) November 18, 2024
UNCOVERING PNN: The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree.
— Frum TikTok (@FrumTikTok) November 19, 2024
Abu Rahss's (PNN's founder) legal name is Ramsey Aburdene.
His father is Palestinian and the treasurer of UNRWA in the United States.
His mother is German. pic.twitter.com/Tv5bsgXa6i
BREAKING: Members of Palestine News Network went up to random Jews in downtown LA saying "Do you like killing babies motherf*ucker?"
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) November 18, 2024
Approaching random Jews on the street and levying blood libels is the definition of antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/piL6nYQT57
Palestine News Network has been going around the country harassing random Jews on the street.
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) November 18, 2024
Imagine if this was targeting any other group? pic.twitter.com/o4Yj2y32HP
⚠️ Watch what happened when The Palestine News Network tries harassing a Jewish man. Watch until the end. pic.twitter.com/UtAJ7fuhE4
— Awesome Jew (@JewsAreTheGOAT) November 19, 2024
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) November 18, 2024
The epic moment Ottawa Police take down & arrest a Jihadist who refuses to get off the road.
— Leviathan (@l3v1at4an) November 19, 2024
Would you like to see police in Canada do more of this during the Hamas rallies? pic.twitter.com/fyFOhvtRAL
"We need positive, open dialogue and relationship with our communities"
— habibi (@habibi_uk) November 19, 2024
Is this a joke? In Leeds, the Green Party backs and joins some of the most awful hate marches in the country. Just last Saturday, they screamed "we don't want no Zionists here!"
Reject fake Green posturing. https://t.co/qPDgWqsBfY pic.twitter.com/BJmvuenfEf
Here's another scene from that day. Hirons was marching with Ali Dogan, one of the most repulsive racists you will ever come across. He turns to Nick Griffin for wisdom about the Jews.
— habibi (@habibi_uk) November 19, 2024
"Terrorist supporter!" "You've got no say!" "You are a Zionist dog!"
Leeds PSC are fascists. https://t.co/wXxSbqA6kN pic.twitter.com/MdKHLndUnx
Several arrests of Pro-Hamas rally Marshalls taking place in Ottawa, the place where the least amount of action has taken place over 13 months.
— Leviathan (@l3v1at4an) November 18, 2024
Better late than never, right? pic.twitter.com/XqlYTmnMhB
Hamasnik Starter Kit 2024 pic.twitter.com/n9RJXWNjFU
— Caт Вee ✡︎ (@CatShoshanna) November 19, 2024
Helen Burnett is an enthusiastic Corbyn supporter, in case you are wondering why a reverend is joining a racist hatred rally.
— habibi (@habibi_uk) November 19, 2024
"Why are the pews empty?" pic.twitter.com/WTD6rAF9vF
Piers Corbyn has just been questioned by police for brandishing a sign saying ‘Zionism must be destroyed’.
— Nicole Lampert (@nicolelampert) November 19, 2024
He says it’s not a racial statement but a ‘political statement’.
But what does ‘Zionism must be destroyed’ mean? Am I asking too much for a slogan from him to make sense?… pic.twitter.com/fWc0otKXPM
I have never seen a lower energy "protest" in my life. They're so tired.
— 𝗡𝗶𝗼𝗵 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗴 ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) November 19, 2024
pic.twitter.com/VphOsZK626
Now you can customize your own religion like build a bear workshop🧸😂
— Yechiel Jacobs (@JacobsYechiel) November 19, 2024
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👇👇👇https://t.co/ttEjS64Y3R pic.twitter.com/L4XKLlui6T
Make Christmas Palestinian Again! pic.twitter.com/EmJseClblm
— Lyle Culpepper (@ShutupLyle) November 18, 2024
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it here! |
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