Tuesday, February 04, 2025

02/04 Links Pt1: The two-state delusion is dead: Israel knows it, the world must accept it; Five female observers used as human shields for senior Hamas official

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: Losing the PR battle? Gaza hostage releases are not a victory for Hamas
The strength of the five women who returned, Daniella Gilboa, Liri Albag, Naama Levy, Agam Berger, and Karina Ariev has resonated across Israel. Hamas knew how important the young women were.

Hamas now faces a different challenge: As it releases more hostages, it can’t hold parades every week because many people will tire of these images. When the terror organization first conducted its handover, many tuned in to watch. Hamas used this as a spectacle.

Hamas's dilemma
But, after this happens three or five times, there might be less of a turnout – because what begins with interest, tends to fade. Hamas can declare “victory” every week, but people may stop listening, especially when they are bitter over the state of their daily lives, and have more pressing needs to tend to.

Hamas can only squeeze this hostage deal so much. At some point, it will want the deal to move forward, but will also receive less and less credit for what it gets from it. Hamas took so many hostages on October 7 – 251, along with four men whom it has held hostage since 2014 – that its ability to exploit this situation is diminishing.

Meaning, that the tables may turn a bit, where Hamas will want the deal to continue and ask its close mediator Qatar to do whatever is possible to keep things going. In turn, they will give Trump an opening to continue to showcase his ability to get deals done and declare victories.

Hamas knows that among the hostages it continues to hold, almost are all men, and that some are deceased, with the overall number of each remaining unclear.

It understands its dilemma: Handing over bodies is not the picture of victory that it wants – it can’t parade bodies on stage and give them a certificate the way it did with the observers. Hamas already has overplayed its hand in this respect, trying to showcase how holding young women and elderly men for 15 months is victorious.

Many see the images of the strong young women returning to Israel, the strength of the elderly men such as Gadi Mozes, and the five Thai foreign workers who were released – Thaenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat, and Lumnao Surasak – and empathize with them.

In that sense, Hamas is losing the battle for its image in the arena of public relations and is facing diminishing returns in Gaza. For a year, it used the hostages and produced videos of them, but now it really does need the deal to advance.

This is clearly an opening for Trump and those who support the deal to continue the ceasefire, but also to apply more pressure on Hamas.
Hamas "Regrouping under Cover of Hostage Releases"
Hamas has been using hostage release operations to rebuild its forces and map territory within Gaza, Israeli sources say.

The terror group is deploying more soldiers at each successive handover and conducting reconnaissance with drones that film the ceremonies.

"Each time they're changing the location of the handover, so they're mapping Gaza, Rafah, Khan Yunis, Gaza Port, so they're building the intelligence," said Ronen Solomon, an Israeli intelligence analyst.

The Israeli sources claimed that Hamas recruitment efforts had not been as successful as estimated by the U.S. State Department. Israel estimates that only a few hundred new, young and inexperienced recruits have been taken on.

The quantity of equipment still held by Hamas is also coming to light, with each round of hostage releases showing more arms, including machine guns, anti-tank missiles and drones.
Preventing Hamas from Rebuilding
Hamas still has 20,000 fighters and dozens of miles of tunnels in Gaza. It is already working to rebuild its capabilities and train a new generation of terrorists. Rebuilding Gaza means rebuilding Hamas. Therefore, any reconstruction of Gaza under Hamas rule must be limited to the bare minimum.

Every mechanism established to monitor materials entering Gaza has failed in the past and will fail again in preventing Hamas from using them to restore its military capabilities. Israel and the U.S. must send a clear message to the Arab world: As long as Hamas controls Gaza, another war is only a matter of time and any investment in reconstruction will be wasted.

We must also be wary of the illusion of a "technocratic government" in Gaza. As long as Hamas remains the dominant armed force, it will ultimately control any civilian authority established in Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot be the solution either. Not only does the PA continue to pay salaries to terrorists and fail to prevent attacks from its territory, it is also clear that just as Hamas expelled the PA from Gaza in 2007, the same would happen again if the PA were entrusted with security responsibilities there.

Since no other entity aside from Israel will be willing to fight Hamas over the long term, only a temporary Israeli military-civil administration in Gaza can dismantle Hamas's armed control and lay the groundwork for a local civilian alternative that could gain strength in the future.

Preventing reconstruction will also send a clear message to Gaza's population that as long as Hamas remains in power and committed to terrorism, there is no future for the territory. Additionally, it will signal to Islamist terrorist supporters, who were emboldened by Hamas's recent hostage deal, that there is a heavy price to be paid for launching murderous attacks against Israel.


The two-state delusion is dead: Israel knows it, the world must accept it
This is a remarkable transformation. Just a few years ago, any talk of relocating Palestinians was considered fringe. Parties such as Moledet, headed by late minister Rehavam Ze’evi, were considered far Right, but in today’s reality, would he be considered such? Now, it is mainstream policy discussion, and not because Israelis have become extremists, but because they have woken up.

If October 7 proved anything, it’s that Israel cannot afford to live next to another terror state. According to a survey published last week by Direct Polls for the right-wing pro-settlement organization the Sovereignty Movement and Pulse of Israel, 71% of Israelis oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state. This is up from 59% before October 7 – meaning 12% of Israelis who previously supported Palestinian statehood have changed their position.

That is a tectonic realignment. Support for Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria has also surged, with 68% of Israelis backing some form of sovereignty. A quarter of Israelis favor full sovereignty over the entire area, alongside policies encouraging Arab migration. In contrast, others support applying sovereignty to the Jordan Valley, to settlements, or only to Area C. This shows that Israelis have accepted a simple truth: a Palestinian state would not bring peace; it would bring more attacks like October 7.

If there is one issue that – unfortunately – divides Israelis, it is the hostage deal. Everyone wants the hostages home. The question is, at what cost? An INSS poll published last month found that 70% of Israelis supported a deal to release hostages and implement a ceasefire before the agreement took effect, with 55% believing it is acceptable to meet some Hamas demands to secure the release of hostages, even if fighting resumes later, while 73% oppose any deal that leaves Hamas in power and 59% reject a partial hostage release deal in exchange for a ceasefire. At the same time, 66% of Israelis say bringing home all hostages is more critical than dismantling Hamas, according to a January 12 aChord Institute poll.

There is no easy answer. The Israeli public understands that Hamas is using our morality against us. The question is whether we should allow it to keep doing so.

The return of Trump to the White House has reignited discussions about a potential Israeli-Saudi peace agreement. However, according to the Direct Polls survey, more than half of Israelis oppose a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia if it requires recognizing a Palestinian state. Conversely, the mentioned aChord Institute poll found that 60% of Israelis would support a Trump-led peace initiative that includes normalization with Saudi Arabia and a pathway to Palestinian statehood. This contradiction reflects the tension in Israeli public opinion. Israelis want regional integration, but they do not trust that a Palestinian state would lead to peace.

A July Palestinian-Israeli Pulse survey confirms what Israelis already understand: most Palestinians don’t support the kind of peace the world envisions. Just 40% back a two-state solution, barely ahead of those who prefer a single Palestinian state (33%) or a binational state (25%). Worse, 63% reject a detailed peace plan with a demilitarized Palestine, Israeli withdrawal, and a shared Jerusalem – terms long pushed as “realistic.” The report suggests incentives could shift opinions, but that assumes a willingness to compromise that simply isn’t there.

What is crazy is to sit in New York, London, or Paris and offer opinions about the war. It is easy to criticize Israelis for becoming more conservative or more hawkish, but unless you’ve lived through October 7 – unless you’ve seen your neighbors slaughtered, your children kidnapped, your cities shelled – you have no idea what we have been going through. Israelis are not shifting to the Right because of ideology; they are shifting to the Right because they feel that they have no choice. We are under attack by an enemy that celebrates massacres, glorifies murderers, and educates its children to kill Jews. Most Palestinians in Gaza, as well as in the West Bank, support Hamas – that is not a side issue, that is the main issue.

Israel is not the same country it was before October 7, and it will never be again. The only question now is: Will the world accept that?
A Trumpian Middle East goal: 5 Arab-Israeli peace agreements
Today, Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Donald Trump in the White House. Robert Satloff argues that the two have an opportunity not merely to address the most urgent issues concerning the war with Hamas, but to craft a strategy that can reshape the region:

When President Trump welcomes the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Tuesday, their conversation will focus on a Middle East where Israel’s stunning military prowess—supported by its American patron—has tilted the balance of power more heavily in favor of the U.S. and its allies than at any point in decades. The challenge for Trump is how to take advantage of this moment.

Over the next four years, the potential is real for Trump to achieve, with our Israeli partners, peace agreements on five fronts: with Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, [other] Arab and Muslim states, and the Palestinians. . . . With Syria and Lebanon, the first task is to strengthen the nationalist foundations of their new governments so that outside powers, such as Iran or Turkey, are not able to hold power behind the scenes.

All of that would be made easier by progress with Saudi Arabia, where a three-way set of defense and normalization agreements with the U.S. and Israel, negotiated by the Biden administration, is waiting to be signed.
JPost Editorial: At a critical crossroad: We need a Saudi normalization deal now
Netanyahu, known for his ability to seize geopolitical opportunities, understands that this historic moment must not be wasted. With the US actively backing normalization efforts, the window for achieving a deal has never been wider.

Any deal could also force the Palestinians to return to negotiations rather than rely on continued international condemnation of Israel as their only strategy. By making the Saudis an active player in the peace process, Israel gains an Arab partner that has real influence over Palestinian decision-making – something the UAE and Bahrain, despite their Abraham Accords agreements, could never achieve alone.

Of course, a deal like this will not be without opposition. Some hardline factions in Israel will oppose any concessions to the Palestinians, while elements within Saudi Arabia’s conservative religious establishment may resist official ties with the Jewish state.

The Palestinians themselves may reject what they view as an Arab betrayal but the reality is that the Arab world has moved on from the failed attempts at peace. Nations like Saudi Arabia are no longer willing to hold their own national interests hostage in the name of a Palestinian leadership that has repeatedly rejected and squandered past opportunities.

If Bibi and MBS are serious, they must find a way to navigate these challenges and act swiftly, before regional tensions or political instability derail progress.

The moment for a Saudi-Israeli deal is now. The world has changed.

MBS has already redefined Saudi Arabia’s role on the global stage, and Israel has proven that peace with the Arab world is no longer a fantasy. The Abraham Accords laid the foundation, but a Saudi-Israeli deal would be the crown jewel of Middle Eastern diplomacy.

The opportunity is here. The only question is: Will they seize it?
MEMRI: Advisor To Saudi King: The Changes Unfolding In The Middle East Provide An Opportunity For Peace With Israel
In a December 17, 2024 article in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, senior Saudi diplomat Hassan Yassin, who serves as an advisor to King Salman bin Abdulaziz, explained that the changes currently unfolding in the Middle East, including the fall of Bashar Al-Assad's regime in Syria, have sparked many hopes and create an opportunity to advance peace in the region after many years of chaos, including peace with Israel. He noted that the Arab world has already extended its hand to Israel through the Saudi peace initiative of 2002 and later through the signing of the Abraham Accords. Now, he said, it is time for Israel to abandon the path of violence and force and "become a partner in peace, prosperity and stability for the future of our shared region."

It should be noted that Yassin has been close to many Saudi kings and senior officials. He founded the Saudi Information Office in the U.S. and headed it from 1972 to 1981, and worked alongside Saudi ministers of finance and oil. His father Yousuf Yassin was a senior Saudi statesman who was an advisor and close associate of the founder of the Saudi kingdom, King Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

The following are translated excerpts from Hassan Yassin's article:[1]
"...These days, there is a sense that a quiet but certain change is spreading throughout the Arab world. After suffering under the rule of the Assad family for more than 50 years, the Syrians have recently taken back control of their future. In other Arab countries, leaders have chosen to trust their people and provide them with the tools and opportunities to build a brighter and more promising future for themselves and their countries...

"The Arab world has experienced long periods of unrest and suffering, and some of its leaders were responsible for mistakes. But today, security and enthusiasm are driving the Arab world and its people forward. In Syria, the open wound is being cleansed. In Palestine, the pain and suffering have lasted almost a hundred [years] and are [still] awaiting a solution. However, there is no doubt that the Palestinian people, who have suffered for so long, will overcome the iron fist of Israeli occupation.

"Israel is treading a path filled with danger. It relies solely on its military and its weapons, and the concern is that it will oppress not only the Palestinians but also its neighbors, such as Lebanon and Syria. However, no mountain of difficulty and despair will stand in the way of the profound historical change that is steering the moral world towards justice.

"Those who believe they have power and attempt to impose it [on others] through fear will soon discover that power does not last forever. Their future lies in extending a peaceful hand and establishing respect and trust with others. Those who believe that everyone is their enemy will find that their greatest enemy is themselves.

"In the West, especially in the U.S., public opinion has shifted and distanced itself from the violent Israeli occupation and its endless wars. In light of the changes in the Arab world and the Middle East, Israel cannot miss this opportunity to establish peace with its neighbors and become part of the positive dynamic that is currently taking place in our region and among its peoples.
US officials defend Trump’s plan to relocate Gazans: He thinks it’s ‘inhumane’ to keep them there during long reconstruction
US officials on Tuesday defended President Donald Trump’s suggestion that more Palestinians in war-shattered Gaza relocate to neighboring countries, insisting he was trying to look at the problem realistically and not imposing a solution.

Previewing Trump’s White House talks later on Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the senior officials sought to soften what was widely seen as Trump’s call for mass displacement of Gazans from the enclave, which Arab states and Palestinian leaders have vehemently rejected.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, stressed that the US wants to work with its Arab partners and Israel to come up with creative solutions to the challenge.

The suggestion that Trump made last month echoed the wishes of Israel’s far-right, and contradicted former president Joe Biden’s commitment against mass resettlement of Palestinians.

The officials stopped short of explicitly reiterating Trump’s call for Jordan and Egypt to take in more Gazans, but also did not retract his suggestion.

“President Trump looks at the Gaza Strip and sees it as a demolition site, sees it as impractical for it to be rebuilt within three to five years, believes it will take at least 10 to 15 and thinks it is inhumane to force people to live in an uninhabitable plot of land with unexploded ordnances and rubble,” one senior official told reporters.

Trump “is looking for solutions to help the people of Gaza have normal lives while the Gaza Strip is being rebuilt, and he is trying to look at this in a realistic way,” the official added.


No Gaza resettlement for 10-15 years, Waltz says
It will take at least a decade to rebuild the Gaza Strip, Mike Waltz, the U.S. national security advisor, told reporters on Tuesday, per the White House pool report.

Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for Jordan and Egypt to accept Palestinians to “clean out” Gaza—a move that both countries have rejected—Waltz told reporters that “President Trump is looking at this from a humanitarian standpoint.”

“You have these people that are sitting with literally thousands of unexploded ordinance and piles of rubble,” he said. “At some point, we have to look realistically, how do you rebuild Gaza? What does that look like? What is the timeline? A lot of people were looking at very unrealistic timelines. We’re talking 10 to 15 years.”

“Not the five years, and so that’s what we have to work through,” he added. (Phase three of the ceasefire and hostage release deal calls for the resettlement of Gaza within five years.)

Waltz and Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, spoke with reporters outside the White House for about 10 minutes ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled meeting with Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday evening.

“We’re focused on making sure phase one completes exactly as it should complete, that all the hostages including bodies should come home,” Witkoff told reporters.
Trump administration asks Congress to OK $1 billion arms sale to Israel
The Trump White House has asked congressional leaders to approve about $1 billion in weapons sales to Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing U.S. officials.

The sales would include more than $700 million in 1,000-pound bombs (4,700 in total), along with armored bulldozers worth more than $300 million, the officials said.

The 1,000-pound bombs, referred to as “general purpose bombs,” consist of 4,500 BLU-110s and 200 Mk-83s.

Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers also are part of the sale. Although they are used to defend Israeli soldiers clearing explosives, and to protect infantry camps, their sale has faced scrutiny from anti-Israel progressives in Congress because of Israel’s past use of them to demolish terrorists’ homes.

The new arms request would be paid for from the $3.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid to Israel, and comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington, where he is scheduled to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Netanyahu has extended his trip to meet congressional leaders as well.

Netanyahu and his team are expected to press Trump to move forward with a separate set of arms transfers initially requested by the Biden administration, totaling more than $8 billion, the Journal reported.

“The weapons haven’t yet received full approval because of a hold by some Democratic lawmakers,” the paper noted, citing a congressional official.

Democrats have continued to express reservations about the weapons deal as they engage with the new administration, said a spokesman for the Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Biden administration had been accused of slow-walking arms sales to Israel, a result of disagreements over Israel’s conduct of its war in Gaza.

On Jan. 25, Trump revealed he was lifting the previous administration’s partial arms embargo on Israel, sending 2,000-pound bombs that the Biden team had held up.


Trump To Withdraw US From UN Agencies That Whitewash 'Horrific Human Rights Violations'
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday withdrawing the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and cutting funding to UNRWA, the U.N. relief agency for Gaza, which has been widely criticized following reports that its staffers were involved in terrorism.

The order, which will reinstate policies from Trump's first term, will cite anti-Israel bias within both the council and UNRWA, Politico reported. The Biden administration last year suspended funding to the UNRWA for one year after reports emerged that some staffers had been involved in Hamas's October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.

The UNHRC "has not fulfilled its purpose and continues to be used as a protective body for countries committing horrific human rights violations," the Trump administration said in a fact sheet, according to Politico.

"The UNHRC has demonstrated consistent bias against Israel, focusing on it unfairly and disproportionately in council proceedings," the document reads. "In 2018, the year President Trump withdrew from the UNHRC in his first administration, the organization passed more resolutions condemning Israel than Syria, Iran, and North Korea combined."

The Tuesday order will also direct Secretary of State Marco Rubio to identify international organizations, conventions, and treaties that "promote radical or anti-American sentiment," Politico reported.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), Trump's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, said in her confirmation hearing last month that she would push for U.N. reforms and ensure that U.S. funding is going only to U.N. programs "that work, that have a basis in the rule of law, that have a basis in transparency and accountability, and strengthen our national security and our partnerships."


Trump orders Iran to be ‘obliterated’ if it kills him, but open to meeting its leader
US President Donald Trump says he’s given his advisers instructions to obliterate Iran if it assassinates him.

“If they did that they would be obliterated,” Trump says in an exchange with reporters while signing an executive order calling for the US government to impose maximum pressure on Tehran. “I’ve left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.”

The Justice Department announced federal charges in November that an Iranian plot to kill Trump before the presidential election had been thwarted.

The department alleged Iranian officials had instructed Farhad Shakeri, 51, in September to focus on surveilling and ultimately assassinating Trump. Shakeri is still at large in Iran.

Trump also says he would be willing to meet with his Iranian counterpart to try to persuade Iran to give up Tehran’s perceived efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

Trump also says Iran is too close to having a nuclear weapon and that the United States has the right to block the sale of Iranian oil to other nations.


Brother of man killed by freed Palestinian attacks ‘staggering’ hostage deal coverage
The brother of a man who was murdered by a terrorist set to be freed as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal has attacked the “staggering” coverage of the releases by the BBC and other media outlets.

The murderer of tech influencer Hillel Fuld’s brother Ari is slated to be let out of prison in the next few weeks as one of 1,200 prisoners to be exchanged for 33 Israeli hostages (eight of whom are already confirmed to be dead).

Ari was stabbed by 17-year-old Khalil Jabarin at a shopping mall in the West Bank in September 2018. A former IDF paratrooper, the 45-year-old father-of-four gave chase to Jabarin after being stabbed in the back when he saw the teenager heading towards a female shop worker with a knife. Even as his legs buckled, he drew his gun and fired at Jabarin, wounding him and preventing further loss of life.

Jabarin was sentenced to life in prison in January 2020, while it was reported that his family was set to be paid around £350 a month by the Palestinian Authority as part of the so-called “pay for slay” programme for convicted terrorists who have killed Israelis.

Hillel has spoken openly about how his brother’s murder – which he saw a clip of on social media before realising who was involved - had left him with depression and requiring therapy.

The American-Israeli who is a prominent pro-Israel voice online, said that the agreement to release Jabarin was complicated for him personally but also “beautiful” too because it has seen the return of hostages.

The deal struck with Hamas, he said, was “terrible both on a personal level and a strategic one because we are letting out 1000 monsters”.

“But it is also beautiful because we need to bring our people back and our people need to know we will do whatever we have to do, no matter how steep a price to bring them back,” he added. “These poor families will get to be reunited with their loved ones and there is nothing more beautiful than that.”

However, he was sharply critical over the apparent equivalence drawn between hostages and convicted terrorists by some broadcasters.


Dutch Parliament Conditions Palestinian NGO Funding on Recognition of Israel
The Dutch Parliament passed a resolution on Tuesday to make funding for Palestinian NGOs depend on their recognition of Israel’s right to exist.

The Dutch House of Representatives passed a resolution by a margin of 70-67 requiring greater transparency from NGOs, including detailed information about board members and funded projects, while ensuring that subsidized organizations align with the Netherlands’ foreign policy, including recognition of the state of Israel.

The motion also addresses terror ties, citing the Netherlands’ decision to halt subsidies to the Ramallah-based Union of Agricultural Work Committee (UAWC) following a terror attack by employees with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist organization.

Last year, Dutch lawmakers discovered that the previous government had continued funding a terror-linked NGO, despite knowing they had subsidized the salaries of two Palestinians convicted in the 2019 murder of a 17-year-old Israeli girl.

These two Palestinians were members of the PFLP, while also being employed by the UAWC, which has received over 20 million euros in funding from the Dutch government over the past decade.

In 2020, the government suspended funding to the UAWC pending an investigation into the 2019 bombing.

This week’s resolution also came two months after a violent attack in Amsterdam against visiting Israeli soccer fans by a mob of rioters, many of them Muslim.

Olga Deutsch, vice president of NGO Monitor, an independent Jerusalem-based research organization, explained that the lack of vetting and oversight mechanisms has allowed billions of euros to be diverted to antisemitic, anti-Israel, and terror-affiliated organizations.

“The need to change these practices became even more salient following the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023,” she told the Algemeiner.


Israel neutralizes threats, violations of Gaza truce
Israel responded to multiple violations of the Gaza ceasefire agreement on Tuesday, opening fire against Palestinians who posed a threat to its soldiers, its military stated.

The Israel Defense Forces stated that “an air force aircraft fired to repel suspicious vehicles that were moving north from the center of the Gaza Strip on a route that is not approved for vehicle traffic, without passing through the agreed inspection route.”

The Israeli Navy also fired at Palestinian vessels that defied security restrictions in Gaza’s maritime zone and failed to comply with a demand to return to the Strip’s shore, the IDF said. Subsequent fire forced the vessels to change course, Israel said.

In the central part of Gaza, soldiers shot at two Palestinians who, the IDF said, posed a threat to its forces. When warning shots failed to deter the two, Israeli troops fired a live round and “a hit was detected,” the IDF said.

Israeli forces throughout Gaza also fired warning shots “to repel suspects who were moving towards them and posed a threat,” per the IDF.

The Israeli military said it remained “determined to fully implement the terms of the deal to return hostages, is prepared for any scenario and will continue to take all necessary actions to remove immediate threats.” The IDF called on Palestinian noncombatants to “obey IDF instructions and not approach the soldiers deployed in the area.”
West Bank terror threat grows as Palestinians smuggle more IDF rifles
The deadly terrorist attack on an IDF post near Tayasir in the West Bank once again illustrates how illegally smuggled rifles are fueling the terrorist insurgency that is gripping the northern West Bank. While the IDF has launched Operation Iron Wall, designed to increase raids on the terrorists in places like Jenin, the enemy is also better armed than in the past.

Several years ago, there began to be an uptick in threats in the northern West Bank. These spread from Jenin, where Palestinian Islamic Jihad is present, to Tulkarm, Nablus, Qalqilya and other areas. It also flowed towards the Jordan valley via Tubas, Tamun and also small historic refugee camps such as Al-Fara.

While the IDF tried to break the wave of attacks, the wave increased between 2023 and 2024. Most of this was fueled by illegally smuggled rifles, primarily M-16 types.

The presence of the rifles is clear from what the IDF often finds in the wake of attacks, or sometimes during raids in places like Jenin. The rifles are not the only problem. The terrorist groups are also building up more arsenals of improvised explosives and other weapons.

However, it is the rifles that largely underpin the terror growth. The rifles can be seen at every parade of terrorists and are found often after clashes. They make the terrorists more deadly because a terrorist armed with an M-16 and a modern sight and ammo will be able to do more damage than a terrorist armed with a knife or home-made weapon, as was more common in the past.

The terrorists are well equipped not just with M-16 type rifles but also modern sights and tactical gear and accessories for the rifles. In addition, the terrorists are becoming more proficient in the use of the rifles. It is not clear where all the rifles come from but it is noticeable that they are almost all M-16 types, not AK-47s.

This means their source is a country that uses this type of rifle or they are smuggled from a place where the US or western partners exported M-16 type rifles. Tracing the weapons could have an affect of reducing the terrorist wave. In fact the problem of the rifles is bigger than just the attacks. The rifles are helping the terror groups confront the Palestinian Authority forces who are often less well armed than the terrorists.


Two IDF soldiers killed in Samaria terror attack
Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and eight more were wounded when a terrorist opened fire at a military post near the village of Tayasir in northern Samaria on Tuesday morning.

The slain troops were identified by the military as IDF Sgt. Maj. (res.) Ofer Yung, 39, a squad commander in the Ephraim Regional Brigade’s 8211th Reserve Battalion, from Tel Aviv, and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Avraham Tzvi Tzivka Friedman, 43, a soldier in the battalion, from Ein Hanatziv. Slain Israel Defense Forces Sgt. Maj. (res.) Ofer Yung, 39, from Tel Aviv, and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Avraham Tzvi Tzivka Friedman, 43, from Ein Hanatziv. Credit: IDF.

According to an initial IDF probe, the terrorist managed to take up a position near the entrance of the military post and fired on troops as they exited. The terrorist was said to have exchanged fire with troops inside the post for several minutes before being killed.

The terrorist, who reportedly had been waiting in the area for hours before carrying out the attack, was said to have been armed with an M-16 rifle and two magazines, and was wearing a tactical vest.

According to the IDF, two of the wounded soldiers were listed as being in serious condition, while the other six victims sustained light wounds.

The death toll among Israeli troops on all fronts since the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 now stands at 844. A Magen David Adom emergency medical service ambulance at the scene of a terrorist attack at an Israeli military post in northern Samaria on Feb. 4, 2025. Credit: MDA.

The village of Tayasir is located near Tammun, an area where Israeli forces have been conducting a major counter-terrorism operation since Jan. 31, dubbed “Operation Iron Wall.”

On Thursday, IDF Staff Sgt. Liam Hazi, 20, of the Kfir Brigade’s Haruv reconnaissance unit became the operation’s first casualty. Hazi was killed in a firefight with terrorists in Jenin, the military said.


Hamas’s hostage circus exposes the hypocrisy of Gaza’s victim narrative
The gruesome PR spectacles produced by Hamas during the release of Israeli hostages have been offering the world a glimpse into the core elements of the Gaza conflict. The true nature of what is often described as a mere territorial dispute, or careless and pointless warfare, is now being exposed as a deep-seated clash between civilizations.

Hamas’ propaganda machine thus resurfaced the central role of information, image, and symbolism in communicating this clash and highlighted how it stretches far beyond the sandy, dusty battlefield. In a way, it also inadvertently helped Israel make its case in its demand to end the war with nothing short of a clear, victorious result.

Over the past fortnight, Hamas released several batches of Israeli hostages in exchange for the release from Israeli prisons of notorious terrorists as part of its commitment to the deal mediated by the United States. Evidently, the terror group was not going to acknowledge loss, concede a compromise, and quietly hand out hostages.

That would be uncharacteristic of insurgent strongmen in an honor-bound Arab culture, heavily reliant on commanding and coercing the respect and awe of their public. Surrounded by destruction and debris, Hamas militants thus chose to stage a carefully-branded victory parade, oblivious to the extent of irony involved – at least, in Western eyes.

As opposed to the ritual in November 2023 – the first hostage deal, when terrorists wearing uniforms simply handed out hostages to the Red Cross, Hamas leveraged the release this time to produce a meticulously-planned show of force. The hostages were forced to become the main actors in the epicenter of a PR spectacle designated to muscle up Hamas’ regained control in Gaza.

Petrified Israeli young women and elderly were forced to march through a stampede of jeering Gaza residents, paraded like trophies. Hamas constructed a stage and invited journalists. It handed the hostages self-proclaimed “release kits” and certificates that it proudly signed and stamped with the Red Cross as a sign of confirmation of its authority toward its people in Gaza.

The frenzied crowd that mobbed the hostages witnessed how Hamas prevents them from accessing their “property” – and Israeli, the most valuable “prize” possible – all while half-enjoying the attention and the respect they commanded.

Hamas then instructed the hostages to wave and smile to the crowd, as captured in one video featuring instructions by a Hamas cameraman signaled to hostage Agam Berger. Other female soldiers kidnapped on October 7 victoriously waved to the crowd as well, in a courageous way that commanded the awe of the Israeli public.

Effectively, Hamas transposed the asset that these hostages constituted for it. It cynically used them as bargaining chips to obtain concessions from Israel. When Israel agreed, their asset converted into being used as props in Hamas’ propaganda machine.

The sensationalized way in which Hamas chose to release these hostages dials back to a fundamental principle of terrorism – intimidate, spread the message, and impose policy through fear. The lesson by Brazilian guerilla combatant and radical author Carlos Marighella to carry out “armed propaganda,” or heinous acts that would shock and awe public opinion, was not lost on Hamas. It recognizes the power of propaganda to accomplish its goals and does not hesitate to use international media attention to do just that.
Exposing Hamas’s true evil: The hostage certificate farce
Hamas updated the Soviet “Potemkin Village” approach. In that vast prison camp, the Soviet Union, Communists showed visitors a few happy places – evoking the fake pasteboard villages Grigory Potemkin supposedly erected for Catherine the Great to see as she sailed past impoverished areas in 1783.

A “certificate” is “a document containing a certified statement, especially as to the truth of something.” These Potemkin “certificates” certify the truth of something – Hamas’s evil.

Many who too easily demonize fellow citizens like President Donald Trump and his 77,284,118 voters resist calling Israel’s enemies “evil.” Characteristically, The New Republic recently called Trump “stupid and evil.” Yet weeks after October 7, a Washington Post columnist warned, “Reducing Hamas’s terrorism to a problem of ‘evil’ is a mistake.”

Shadi Hamid called using the word evil “a cop-out. It allows us to believe something is wrong with ‘them’ but not with us. And, paradoxically, it exposes an unwillingness to take terrorists seriously, reducing them to ‘crazy’ or ‘irrational’ adversaries. They usually aren’t.”

While politically correct, this analysis is topsy-turvy. October 7, 2023 happened because Israel – bullied by the world’s conceptzia too – treated evil Hamas terrorists, including Yahya Sinwar, as pragmatists. Western leaders didn’t take Hamas “seriously” enough.

Moreover, the defining misconception fueling and derailing the Oslo “Peace” Process, the Gaza Disengagement, and today’s mass pressure against Israel assumes our adversaries are rational and want what Westerners want.

Calling anti-Israel, Jew-hating terrorists or Iranian Revolutionary Guards “evil” doesn’t make Israel or its leaders perfect. But rational policymakers must contrast October 7’s initiators, enablers, and extenders with this embattled democracy defending itself and Western liberal values.

The invaluable Institute for National Security Studies Real Time Tracker quantifies the evil: Since October 7, amid 27,000 rocket attacks and 6,828 Palestinian terrorist attacks journalists keep ignoring in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, Israeli civilians have scrambled to safety 32,629 times.

Freed hostages describe the venom of supposedly innocent Gazans. Roni Krivoy, a 25-year-old sound engineer kidnapped from the Supernova music festival, escaped his captors for four days, until, his aunt later reported, “The Gazans caught him and returned him to the hands of the terrorists.”

There is no anti-Nazi-style “resistance” in Gaza countering Hamas or championing democratic values. Nor are there many prominent Palestinians denouncing Jew-hatred. And the world should stop blaming Israel’s self-defense for causing the hatred – festering for decades and predating this war, it includes many spoiled, antisemitic, anti-Western Palestinian goons on campus.

Paradoxically, only by recognizing that moral gap will there ever be any progress with the Palestinians. Kumbaya idealists discounting the mass Palestinian addiction to “River to the Sea” No-Jewish-State extermination-ism keep making the same mistakes. They refuse to see that Israel’s withdrawal from territory – twice – spurred Palestinian dictatorship, terrorism, and demands for more land.

Negotiators ignoring Palestinian anti-Western Jew-hatred are diplomatic flat-earthers. They ignore jihadi cries demanding Israel’s annihilation; this is not Zionist propagandists’ imagination but mainstream Palestinian discourse. They swallow the Palestinians’ foundational lie – defining themselves as forever victims while dodging responsibility for their mass, historic resistance to Israel’s existence.

They’re the only displaced people who pass on refugee status from generation to generation. Now, even though they claim to yearn for their homes in Israel proper when Trump speculates about moving them elsewhere, suddenly Gaza becomes their ancestral land they can never leave.
Five female observers used as human shields for senior Hamas official
The five female observers released recently from captivity in Gaza were used as human shields for a senior member of Hamas's military wing, KAN reported on Tuesday evening.

The five hostages, Liri Albag, Daniela Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy and Agam Berger, were held for extended periods of time in an apartment in Gaza City where the senior Hamas official was staying.

The girls reported being aware that the man was a senior figure, as they witnessed him giving orders to the terrorists. He also provided them with food and made sure they showered, despite also emotionally manipulating them, the girls told KAN.

In many ways, the senior official took on the role of "good cop" to the other terrorists' "bad cops."

KAN wrote that the other Hamas operatives treated the female observers like soldiers and treated them very differently to civilian hostages.

The senior Hamas member, however, was nicer to them while also trying to extract information from them regarding IDF operations near the Gaza border in the run-up to October 7.
Warm welcome Newly-released female IDF hostages serenaded with concert at Israeli hospital
The five female Israel Defense Forces soldiers who were recently freed by Hamas after 15-months in captivity were treated to a concert at the hospital where they have been recovering.

Naama Levy, 20; Karina Ariev, 20; Daniella Gilboa, 20; Agam Berger, 19; and Liri Albag, 20; were serenaded by a live orchestra at the Beilinson Hospital, in Petah Tikva, on Tuesday.

The women could be seen enjoying the music from the hospital’s upper floor as the orchestra played Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” as well as “Happy Birthday” to celebrate Albag’s 20th birthday.

The former hostages also flashed heart signs at the orchestra playing below and held each other close as their families also watched on beside them.

The concert was put together by the Lu Yihi group, an Israeli volunteer mental health organization that helps provide relief to people traumatized by war, the Times of Israel reported.


Freed hostage’s birthday wish: Return of all captives
Israel Defense Forces observer Liri Albag marked her 20th birthday on Tuesday at Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah, 10 days after being released from captivity by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

“Today, I get to celebrate my 20th birthday with my loved ones,” Albag wrote on Instagram.

She shared a picture of four cakes. “The only wish I asked for is the return of all the hostages.”

Albag attended a concert in the lobby of the the Petach Tikvah hospital on Tuesday with the four other IDF troops with whom she was abducted on Oct. 7—Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Agam Berger—per the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

The orchestra, which visited to honor the ex-hostages, reportedly played “Happy Birthday” for Albag.

Albag posted on social media on Friday for the first time since her release, thanking the people of Israel and the security forces for her freedom.

“Together, we are a force. I want to thank the soldiers of the IDF and the security services, who risked their lives and fought for us and for our country,” she wrote. “Not a morning passes that I don’t pray for their welfare.”

Addressing the families of slain IDF soldiers and murdered civilians, Albag said she felt their pain.

“Thanks to the heroes who fell during battle, my nightmare is over,” she wrote. “I was finally reunited with my family.”

“Our struggle is not over, and I will not stop fighting until everyone is home,” she added.


Monsters and Heroes: An Australian perspective
Standing in stark contrast to the mobs of Gaza was the dignity of the hostages and their families, whose entire lives were thrown into a nightmarish see-saw of despair and hope, waiting desperately for any news of their loved ones.

This is the malicious and cruel nature of Israel’s enemies who exploit the desperation of Israeli families, playing psychological terror games designed to torment them up to their very final moments.

The hostages and their families are heroes with a strength that is incalculable. They have been subjected to a cruelty that few can ever imagine, because the human mind struggles to comprehend it. Seeing them return, united with their families and friends surrounded by love, is a joy and relief that can melt the coldest of hearts.

However, we can’t lose sight that this ceasefire deal is not about a hostage swap, but a ransom, because these innocent hostages who were kidnapped are not being swapped for innocent Palestinians, but for huge numbers of cold-blooded terrorists, including mass murderers who will undoubtedly return to terror.

It seems impossible to imagine any society that continues to celebrate killers and murders become the kind of society that will live in peace with its neighbours.

If the international community that continues to push for a two-state resolution, or any solution, fails to recognise this basic reality that Palestinian society, including and especially Gaza, must be deradicalized, then a peaceful future will remain just the pipe dream of naïve romantics.

There’s an ancient Jewish text from the Talmud that says, “whoever saves one life saves the world entire”. Each time a hostage is released, an entire world is saved. Yet the joy at this salvation must be tempered by the harsh reality that in this conflict, many worlds have already been destroyed.
Albanese declines to answer caravan question
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to answer when asked in Question Time on Tuesday when he was made aware of the discovery of a caravan containing explosives and a hit list of Jewish targets.

The caravan was found abandoned in the northwestern Sydney suburb of Dural on January 19, the Daily Telegraph said last Wednesday. Alongside the explosives and the list was a message that read “F**k the Jews”. The Great Synagogue and Sydney Jewish Museum were among the targets on the list.

The AJN understands NSW Premier Chris Minns was briefed almost immediately but the Prime Minister was kept in the dark.

Asked by Opposition frontbencher Michael Sukkar when he was made aware of the investigation, Albanese told federal parliament, “We don’t discuss those details, because it’s an ongoing investigation.

“What you do when you have an ongoing investigation is that you take the advice of the Australian Federal Police and the ASIO director-general, and that is precisely what I have done the whole way through.”

When Sukkar probed, “We’ve asked for the date, not the detail … Premier Minns made the date clear,” Speaker Milton Dick said, “The Prime Minister is being clear about the question he was asked and particularly giving reasons perhaps why he’s not releasing that date.”


Penny Wong is Australia’s ‘worst ever foreign minister’
Sky News host Sharri Markson has labelled Penny Wong as “Australia’s worst ever foreign minister”.

Ms Markson said Penny Wong continues to send taxpayer money to UNRWA despite allegations of links with Hamas.

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister David Coleman joined Ms Markson to discuss Penny Wong’s funding to UNRWA.


Call me Back Podcast - with Dan Senor: The Road to Riyadh - with Nadav Eyal
As Israelis welcome home more hostages after 15 months in Hamas captivity, we sat down with Nadav Eyal to discuss what their stories reveal about their captivity, their role in Israel’s national healing process, and the broader implications for Israeli society. We also discuss the ongoing negotiations for the next phase of hostage releases, the political stakes surrounding Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, and how these developments could shape Israel and the region.

Nadav Eyal is a columnist for Yediiot. He is one of Israel’s leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
4:51 Returning hostages: experiences from captivity
7:27 Arbel Yehoud
10:10 Gadi Mozes
13:31 The story of John McCain and its resemblance to the story of Emily Damari
16:47 The story of Amit Soussana and Liri Elbag
19:03 The role of “spotters” in the IDF and the experience of female hostage soldiers
21:14 Ofer Calderon
23:19 Agam Berger
23:57 Disclaimer about the hostages’ stories
24:38 Second phase of the deal and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s arrival in DC
32:49 Resuming the war or the displacement of Palestinians as part of Saudi normalization?
36:50 Witkoff’s visit and meetings with more extreme Israeli MKs that the Biden administration would not have met
39:32 Bush-Sharon side letter during the disengagement
41:42 Taba Negotiations
45:14 Israel’s demands for the second phase
46:44 Is there a possibility that Netanyahu’s government will not survive phase two of the deal?
52:25 Saudi normalization - U.S. perspective


Erin Molan Goes 'Bat Beep Crazy' on Tucker Carlson!
Join Erin Molan in this week's "Bat Beep Crazy" episode where she dives into some of the hottest political and social issues making headlines. Here's what's covered:

Timestamps:
0:00 - Why the Democrats lost?
1:45 - Democrat leaders sucked
4:19 - Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan's debate on Israel
10:40 - Pete Hegseth evicting old media from Pentagon
12:17 - The Red Cross selective outrage
13:55 - Columbia University messed up
16:15 - Pro-Hamxs speaker at Middlebury College
18:13 - Israel weaponizing hostages?
19:54 - Attacks Against Jews in Australia - An eye-opening segment on the rising antisemitism in Australia, discussing recent incidents and what this means for the community and broader society.




Jewish actor Wallace Shawn says Israeli actions in Gaza are worse than Nazis
Wallace Shawn, American character actor of The Princess Bride and Clueless said during a podcast appearance this week that Israel is “doing evil that is just as great as what the Nazis did.”

Speaking via Zoom on a podcast, hosted by Jewish writer Katie Halper, Shawn, 81, said the Israelis “invaded somebody else’s territory, they took people’s homes, and they did many of the things that the Nazis did to the Jews.”

“You can’t be more evil than what they’re doing,” Shawn said. “They are doing evil that is just as great as what the Nazis did and in some ways, it’s worse because they kind of boast about it. Hitler had the decency to try to keep it secret... the Israelis are almost proud of it, and it’s demonically evil. You can’t be more evil. And anybody who doesn’t recognise that it’s evil, I can’t properly communicate with that person.”

The New York-born actor and playwright, who is Jewish, has been outspoken in his criticism of Israel since long before the Israel-Hamas war that launched on October 7. A member of the advisory board of the left-wing anti-Zionist organisation Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) for over a decade, Shawn expressed his support for Palestinians during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict and in 2023 signed the Artists4Ceasefire campaign urging then-President Joe Biden to push for a ceasefire.

In a 2009 interview with the JC, he said: “I find it horrifying that Jews are seen ... as victimisers who are very self-righteous about what they do,” he says. “From a moral point of view it was better when we were victims.”

He added during the Katie Halper Show appearance that “the whole world knows” Israel’s actions in Gaza are “evil.”

“The whole world knows that they are starving people, preventing children from getting medicine on purpose, and bombing hospitals,” he said. “If you don’t see that it’s evil to do those things to other human beings, then you’re in a different universe for me.”




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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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

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