Tuesday, April 08, 2025

04/08 Links Pt1: What’s Israel’s Strategy in Gaza?; The truth about the elimination of October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar; Princeton Radicals Disrupt Event With Naftali Bennet, Yelling 'Genocide' and Pulling Fire Alarm

From Ian:

Michael Doran: The King’s Foils
The catastrophic failure of Biden’s Iran-centric approach should have discredited Restraintism, but its capacity to wear the ideological colors of every party means it is not fully dislodged from the policy establishment. Its adherents now shelter under Trump’s banner, but his policies show a clearer understanding of the region’s power dynamics.

Trump knows that the role of the United States is not to draw up idealistic roadmaps. Will he also see that its role now is to buffer between America’s allies who don’t trust each other? That’s what it did in the Cold War when, for example, it shielded Israel and Saudi Arabia, both indispensable to American power, from each other. It has historically fulfilled the same function between its NATO allies Greece and Turkey. The same logic applies now. Israel and Turkey will clash unless the United States puts distance between them by stabilizing Syria. That country must serve—like Jordan—as a buffer state: neutral, minimally armed, not a platform for escalation. Only the United States can broker such an arrangement.

Doing so requires leverage, which Trump has. Turkey’s economy is not strong, with inflation high, productivity low, and its currency long in decline. Overcentralization has frightened away capital. Meanwhile, Syria is devastated beyond recognition: Large cities are in ruins and millions of people remain displaced. Reconstruction will require outside capital, and none of it will come without a green light from the United States.

Trump has the tools. Reconstruction in Syria cannot begin until the United States lifts sanctions on Damascus, and only Washington can coordinate a reconstruction plan that will mobilize American, European, and Gulf investment to maximum effect. But American leadership in this arena must come with a price: Turkish and Israeli de-escalation. Syria cannot become a Turkish base for threatening Israel.

That is the logic, and it fits Trump’s instincts perfectly. America should not police the region, Trump believes, but he is also unready to surrender it. His style of diplomacy is transactional, built around economic leverage—exactly what this moment requires.

If Trump brokers an understanding between Ankara and Jerusalem, while neutralizing Iran, he will have achieved what the Restraintists always promise but never manage to deliver. He will have shown that the United States can lead without overextending. It can lay the foundation for a regional order that doesn’t collapse under its own contradictions, an order that offers the United States control over oil resources, shipping lanes, investment capital, and intellectual property that are key to the economic future of most of the planet.

The real choice facing Trump is not between intervention and isolation, the false binary that Restraintists present. Rather, it is between strategic engagement that leverages America’s economic power and diplomatic reach, versus the ideological retreat that Restraintists advocate. His zigzag approach—alternating between forceful action and diplomatic outreach, maintaining hawks and Restraintists in tension within his administration—creates the strategic ambiguity and flexibility needed to manage complex regional dynamics without committing to large-scale military deployments.

By continuing this approach while focusing on the Golden Triangle of Israel-Turkey-Iran, Trump can establish a stable regional order that advances American interests without requiring American troops. This is the true “America First” foreign policy—one that recognizes American power and interests while acknowledging the public’s wariness of military entanglements. It represents a genuine alternative to both neoconservative interventionism and Restraintist isolation. It is within reach. If Trump pursues it, he can change the game—and win bigly.
The truth about the elimination of October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar
The division’s intelligence personnel worked frantically to narrow these knowledge gaps. Retrospective analysis would later reveal these gaps were substantial. The division was surprised to discover during operations that Hamas leadership had concealed themselves in relatively shallow tunnels approximately 15 metres (49 feet) deep, not the expected 60-70 metres (197-230 feet).

Further, they found the tunnels were nearly completely interconnected, enabling continuous movement throughout the underground network – another critical detail largely unknown to Israeli intelligence.

Despite incomplete intelligence and insufficient forces, the 98th Division pressed forward. Previously undisclosed details about the Khan Yunis campaign of December-February 2024 reveal a brilliant, persistent military operation featuring the IDF’s first comprehensive underground pursuit of Hamas’s entire leadership structure.

Hamas operatives typically fled without engaging – abandoning their underground complexes and escaping through connecting tunnels to adjacent sectors. During these retreats, they would detonate explosives to collapse tunnel segments behind them, protected by blast doors. These collapses delayed pursuing forces, allowing the operatives to escape repeatedly.

On one occasion, during the brief window between the IDF ground force’s withdrawal and Goldfuss underground team’s arrival, Sinwar, Deif and Salameh escaped the tunnel disguised as women. Forensic evidence collected later, along with surveillance footage, confirmed that they had indeed been there.

IDF troops discovered the underground complex shortly after the group’s escape and found Hamas leadership’s meal still set out on plates. “The coffee was still hot,” as division commander Goldfus later described to media.

Evidence from the abandoned complex, combined with additional intelligence flowing to command centres, indicated Sinwar was fleeing toward western Khan Yunis.

The Shin Bet accordingly redirected IDF operations in this direction. “This marked the point where Sinwar’s hourglass began running out,” a security source explained. “Until then, he had maintained a static position, minimizing opportunities for mistakes. But once you force him to move, he must improvise, inevitably leading to errors.”

A retrospective intelligence analysis revealed that around May 2024, Sinwar successfully escaped Khan Yunis and moved southward to neighbouring Rafah. At this stage, the IDF had not yet begun operations in Rafah, allowing Sinwar to return to the relative safety of its tunnel network.

Further intelligence indicated Sinwar arrived in Rafah without Deif. After their joint escape from the Khan Yunis house, the two men separated, with Deif remaining in Khan Yunis – possibly due to mobility limitations. Deif and brigade commander Salameh would remain in the city for several more months until their joint elimination by airstrike on July 13.

Intelligence increasingly confirmed Sinwar’s presence in Rafah, eventually narrowing focus to the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood on the city’s northwestern outskirts.

By August, the IDF leadership had directed the 162nd Armored Division, aka the Steel Formation, to concentrate efforts on Tel al-Sultan’s tunnel network – smaller and less complex than Khan Yunis’s labyrinth.

The 162nd Division employed a fundamentally different approach than the 98th Division’s earlier “cat” and later “octopus” methods in Khan Yunis. The new “elephant method” involved massive force – using bulldozers and explosives to systematically destroy extensive tunnel sections, forcing Hamas operatives above ground.

This strategy gradually denied Hamas nearly all underground movement in Tel al-Sultan, leaving Sinwar and his small security detail no choice but to venture onto the surface.

Footage broadcast on Al Jazeera shows Sinwar during August-September 2024 moving through Tel al-Sultan’s rubble-strewn landscape. These images capture him in civilian clothes, using a walking stick, and wrapped in a camouflage blanket.

Following these developments and the near-complete destruction of Tel al-Sultan’s underground infrastructure, IDF leadership considered the Rafah operation largely complete.

However, Shin Bet officials worried that completely withdrawing from the neighbourhood would allow Sinwar to escape, likely to Khan Yunis. “This prompted the Shin Bet’s insistence on maintaining presence in the area,” a security source explained.

The IDF leadership ultimately decided that the 162nd Division would withdraw from Rafah, but the city wouldn’t be completely evacuated. Instead, forces from the 143rd “Fire Fox” Division, also known as the Gaza Division, would maintain a presence there. Division commander Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram committed to continuing offensive operations, focusing on Tel al-Sultan.

The specific unit deployed to Tel al-Sultan was the 450th Battalion. Its commander R. led three companies: Kfir infantry, paratroopers under Shreibman, and a tank company from the 460th Armored Brigade’s 198th Battalion.

Shreibman’s paratroopers company received orders to secure a building code-named “the Red House,” which offered strategic observation over the area.

At first light on October 17, forces examining the slain combatant’s body discovered that it was Yahya Sinwar. “This marked the first mention of Sinwar’s name throughout the entire operation,” R. noted.

When asked if they received any recognition for killing Sinwar, R. answered plainly: “No. Our persistence produced the result, but we weren’t the only ones. The pursuit of Sinwar was extensive – we simply fired the final bullet.”
Gaza official admits natural deaths listed as war fatalities
Many of those listed as war fatalities in Gaza actually died of natural causes or did not die at all, a Palestinian health official working for Hamas admitted on Saturday, following an analysis that showed massive discrepancies in casualty tallies.

The head of the statistics team at Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry, Zaher al-Wahidi, made the admission to Sky News after an analysis by the HonestReporting nonprofit last week found that some 3,400 individuals listed as war casualties in earlier tallies had been dropped from the ministry’s latest update.

Comparing the October and August tallies to the March one, HonestReporting researcher Salo Aizenberg found “around 3,400 names missing” from the latest one, “including over 1,000 minors,” he told JNS.

“We realized that a lot of people died a natural death,” Wahidi told Sky News regarding the October tally. “Maybe they were near an explosion and they had a heart attack, or houses caused them pneumonia or hypothermia. All these cases we don’t [attribute to] the war,” he said.

According to Sky News, 1,852 people appearing in October’s official list of war fatalities were removed from the March one after it was found that some had died of natural causes or were alive but had been imprisoned. In total, 3,952 names have been removed in several corrections from Gaza’s reported death toll since the war began, according to the outlet.

Whereas the Gaza Health Ministry had previously admitted error that it attributed to reporting mechanism issues, it had not conceded that natural deaths were counted along with war casualties.

The March statistics changed the age distribution of reported fatalities in Gaza: Of all deaths recorded by Hamas between the ages of 13 to 55, which is the general combat age for Hamas fighters, 72% were male, according to the HonestReporting analysis.


Iran confirms ‘indirect’ talks with Trump admin set to take place in Oman
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed on Tuesday that his government had decided to start high-level talks with the United States.

“Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks,” he wrote on X, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the talks set to take place in Muscat, which he called direct.

“It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court,” Tehran’s top diplomat said in his social media post.

Speaking in the Oval Office of the White House after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Trump announced: “We’re having direct talks with Iran, and they’ve started.

“There’s a major meeting going on between us and Iran. That will take place on Saturday, and it will be top level,” the president told reporters, adding: “We have a very big meeting, and we’ll see what can happen. And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable.

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he stressed. “If it can be done diplomatically in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing. … Hopefully, those talks will be successful.

“And I think everybody agrees that putting a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious, and the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with,” Trump said, referring to a possible military response.

Iranian state media reported on Tuesday that the talks would be led by Araqchi and U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, with Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood al-Busaidi, the foreign minister of Oman, as a mediator.

Iran’s Nournews, an outlet with close ties to the regime, called Trump’s statement regarding direct talks as part of a “psychological operation aimed at influencing domestic and international public opinion.”

In an interview with NBC News on March 30, Trump warned that if no deal is reached to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, “there will be bombing—and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”


‘Iran recruited teen Swedes to attack Israeli, Jewish targets’
The Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) accused Iran of using criminal gangs, over the last year at least, to target Israeli and Jewish targets in Sweden, many near the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, according to an investigative report published this week on CNN.

Swedish authorities say minors—some as young as 13—have been co-opted into targeting these sites, often through the use of encrypted messaging services and social media. In one incident, a 14-year-old boy carrying a 9mm semi-automatic pistol fired several shots near the Embassy at 2 a.m. before being detained, according to the report. Because of his age, he could not be prosecuted, although a 15-year-old accomplice who had planned to carry out a similar attack the night before was remanded to an 11-month stay in a juvenile care home.

Sweden has been battling a wave of gang violence, which increasingly involves children and teenagers, some of whom are too young to be either prosecuted or incarcerated. In 2024, SÄPO warned that Tehran was using the country’s criminal gang network to expand its conflict with Israel to Sweden’s streets, a claim Iran’s Embassy in Stockholm labeled a “fake and propagandistic claim” pushed by Israel.

Particular attention was paid to two rival gangs—Rumba and Foxtrot—which, according to a SÄPO source, “plotted several attacks targeting the Israeli embassy in Stockholm at Iran’s behest last year,” CNN reported. Fredrik Hallström, head of operations at SÄPO, said state actors were increasingly using organized crime to expose a vulnerability in Sweden.

In recent years, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have warned in general of an uptick in Iranian state threats in the West, targeting dissidents and journalists, as well as Israelis and Jews.
Trump Calls for Gaza ‘Freedom Zone,’ Says ‘Plenty’ of Other Nations Ready to Help Resettle Palestinians
The Gaza Strip should become a “freedom zone,” free from Hamas and daily bloodshed, according to President Donald Trump, who reaffirmed his plan to relocate Palestinians to safer countries — saying “plenty” are ready to help — during a joint meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

On Monday, during a press gathering in the Oval Office, President Trump said moving Palestinians out of Gaza would offer them a chance at a safer, freer life — while removing civilians from a combat zone long dominated by the Hamas terrorist group.

“If you take the people, the Palestinians, and move them around to different countries, and you have plenty of countries that will do that and you really have a freedom zone, a free zone where people aren’t going to be killed every day,” he said, noting that the region had for too long been associated with “killing and Hamas and problems.”

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced strong support.

“What the president is talking about is [to] give people a choice,” Netanyahu said Monday. “Gazans were closed in… people could leave [in other war zones]. What is wrong with giving people a choice?”

The matter comes as Israel remains at war with Hamas following the October 7, 2023 massacre — the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history, when thousands of terrorists stormed the border, slaughtered civilians at a music festival, and hunted down Jewish families in nearby towns, committing mass rape, torture, executions, and abductions.

In February, President Trump unveiled his vision for Gaza during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His plan calls for resettling Gaza’s population and rebuilding the strip into a thriving economic hub, marking a significant shift in U.S. policy and setting the stage for a bold new strategy in the Middle East.

Israel has since announced a new department to oversee the voluntary relocation of Gaza residents to third countries, a move ordered by Defense Minister Israel Katz. The plan aligns with Trump’s approach, emphasizing regional solutions over past failed policies.

“I welcome President Trump’s bold initiative,” Katz stated, calling it an opportunity for Gaza residents to seek a better future while ensuring Israel’s security.

According to a recent report from the Jerusalem Post, Israel plans to use its renewed ground offensive to advance the migration plan from Gaza, as Hamas remains “unwilling to compromise” in hostage talks.
Full remarks: Netanyahu at the White House

Trump expresses disbelief Israel ever left Gaza
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said that he couldn’t understand why Israel ever gave up the Gaza Strip.

During a press conference in the Oval Office on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the president said, “They took oceanfront property and they gave it to people for peace. How did that work out? Not good.”

Netanyahu traveled from Hungary to Washington on Sunday for an unplanned visit to resolve a tariff dispute.

Referring to Netanyahu, Trump said he knew that “this man” would never have done it. “He wouldn’t give it up. I know it very well. There’s no way.”

Trump had high praise for the prime minister, saying, “I hope he’s being appreciated because he’s been a great leader.”

Israel unilaterally left the Gaza Strip in 2005 during a process known as the disengagement, forcibly evacuating some 8,000 Jews from 21 flourishing communities in the area. These communities, which included prosperous greenhouses, were turned over to the Gazans, who destroyed them.

Israel had handed over the area to the Palestinian Authority, which was ousted by Hamas in a bloody takeover in 2007. A year earlier, Hamas had won the Palestinian legislative elections in Gaza.

Hamas, a Muslim Brotherhood group sworn to Israel’s destruction, turned the Gaza Strip into a terror base to launch attacks against the Jewish state.

Hamas’s terrorist efforts culminated in the Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of southern Israel.


UN chief rejects new Israeli proposal to control flow of aid into Gaza
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday rejected a new Israeli proposal to control aid deliveries in Gaza, saying it risks “further controlling and callously limiting aid down to the last calorie and grain of flour.”

“Let me be clear: We will not participate in any arrangement that does not fully respect the humanitarian principles: humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality,” said Guterres, whom Jerusalem has accused of anti-Israel bias.

Israel halted the delivery of aid on March 2, hours after the end of the Gaza ceasefire and release hostage deal’s 42-day first phase. Israel had refusal to negotiate the second phase of the deal, which would have required the IDF to withdraw from the Strip. On March 18, Israel resumed hostilities in Gaza with a series of massive airstrikes.

Israel has accused Hamas of hoarding supplies and vowed to keep blocking aid to Gaza until the terror group releases the 59 remaining hostages. However, an Israeli official on Monday confirmed to The Times of Israel that the IDF plans to renew the aid flow, following reported concern that failing to do so would risk international law violations and future legal problems for commanders who take part in the military operation.

COGAT, the IDF agency that coordinates aid, met last week with UN agencies and international aid groups and said it proposed “a structured monitoring and aid entry mechanism” for Gaza.

“The mechanism is designed to support aid organizations, enhance oversight and accountability, and ensure that assistance reaches the civilian population in need, rather than being diverted and stolen by Hamas,” COGAT posted on X on Sunday.


'DOGE The UN!': Ellie Cohanim on Her Potential Role as Trump's U.N. Ambassador!
Erin Molan's fascinating conversation with Trump's Former Convoy on Antisemitism Ellie Cohanim. They dive into the buzz surrounding her potential role as President Trump’s next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, following Rep. Elise Stefanik’s withdrawal from the running. Cohanim addresses the speculation head-on and shares her bold vision to 'DOGE the UN'—a call to shake up the organization like never before and begin the process of dismanteling this corrupt organization. From Trump’s inner circle to global diplomacy, this interview covers it all. Watch now!




Netanyahu pushes back on anti-Israel trends in meeting with podcasters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to push back against anti-Israel trends in the right-wing media world by holding a briefing in the Blair House for podcasters and other media figures, sources in the meeting told Jewish Insider on Tuesday.

Among those in attendance were podcasters including Dave Rubin, Tim Pool and former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, writers Bethany Mandel and David J. Harris Jr., influencer Jessica Kraus, Commentary senior editor Seth Mandel and Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway.

In addition to Netanyahu, his diplomatic advisor Ophir Falk and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter were present on the Israeli side.

Pool expressed concerns about increased antisemitism and anti-Zionism in the pro-Trump podcasting space, according to sources in the room. Pool famously had Kanye West on his podcast, and the rapper walked out mid-interview after Pool pushed back against antisemitic comments.

Responding to Pool, Netanyahu said that is the reason he invited the group to meet with him.

Pool argued that there is a Qatari “op” to manipulate social media algorithms to make antisemitic and anti-Israel episodes appear to receive far more views than, say, tips for picking up women, in order to incentivize podcasters and YouTubers to produce more antisemitic content.
Princeton Radicals Disrupt Event With Naftali Bennet, Yelling 'Genocide' and Pulling Fire Alarm
Anti-Israel activists at Princeton University disrupted a speech by former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, setting off a fire alarm and calling him "a fucking war criminal." The agitators joined a larger group after getting kicked out, where they told Jews to "go back to Europe" and flashed pro-Hamas hand gestures.

During Bennett’s Monday speech, which was sponsored by Princeton’s Center for Jewish Life, roughly a dozen agitators shouted, "We charge you with genocide! You’re a fucking war criminal!" and held posters with a red handprint as they marched out of the event, footage posted by the New Jersey chapter of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) showed. Princeton students and faculty led the disruption, according to AMP. A video from the Princeton Palestine Liberation Coalition, meanwhile, showed a fire alarm going off. "GENOCIDE ALARM ACTIVATED," the group wrote. Princeton's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter also shared footage of the disruption on its Instagram story.

After school officials escorted the agitators out of the event, they joined several dozen more outside and continued protesting for nearly three hours, an attendee told the Washington Free Beacon. They shouted down Jews, saying, "go back to Europe." They also used their fingers to form upside-down triangles, a symbol Hamas uses to denote Israeli targets.

The incident comes as the Trump administration intensifies its efforts to combat anti-Semitism at universities across the nation. Last week, it froze approximately $210 million in federal funding to Princeton amid an ongoing investigation into anti-Semitic activity on its campus. In July, for instance, the university promoted a professor who participated in the occupation of a campus building that disrupted school operations and led to more than a dozen student arrests.

"This is our land, you came from Europe running away from the Holocaust!" one radical yelled at Bennett. "We took you into our land! You were getting killed in Germany, the Palestinians welcomed [them] into our land! We welcomed you into our land."

Princeton’s assistant vice president for communications, Michael Hotchkiss, told the Free Beacon that the university was investigating the incident.

"We regret the disruptions at Monday’s conversation featuring Naftali Bennett. Princeton’s expansive commitment to free expression guarantees, as our policies say, ‘all members of the University community the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn.’ That guarantee does not provide any person the right to prevent another from speaking or to prevent an event from continuing," he said. "We are investigating this situation, including student complaints of harassment by protesters outside the event, and any member of the community who violated our policies is subject to discipline."


Pro-Israel lawyer kicked off LBC show after on-air row with Iain Dale over MP deportations
Natasha Hausdorff, legal director of UK Lawyers for Israel, was kicked off the air last night after a stormy interview with LBC presenter Iain Dale over the deportation of two MPs from Israel last week.

Labour’s Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang were denied entry to the country on the basis that their visit was “intended to provoke anti-Israel activities” and were briefly detained at the airport before being sent home.

The pair insisted they were part of a parliamentary delegation visiting Israel and had intended to visit humanitarian projects in the West Bank.

However, arguing in favour of their deportation on LBC yesterday evening, Hausdorff claimed that the decision was “nothing to do with freedom of speech” and that it was due to the MPs being “individuals who consistently attack Israel and spread falsehoods about the Jewish State”.
UKLFI: Natasha Hausdorff corrects misconceptions regarding Israel's barring 2 MPs on LBC
Natasha Hausdorff, international law expert and UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, is interviewed by Iain Dale on LBC radio about two UK MPs who were refused entry into Israel, tells the truth, and is kicked off the show (audio).




Pro-Palestine activists place faked baby body bags outside David Lammy’s home
David Lammy has been targeted by pro-Palestine protesters at his home in north London.

Two female activists from the activist group Youth Demand put fake baby size body bags outside the property, along with a sign on the garden hedge reading “Lammy Stop Arming Genocide”.

Justifying the incident a spokesperson for the group said:”David Lammy has admitted that Israel is in breach of international law and yet the UK has cancelled less than 10 per cent of arms sales to Israel. 90 per cent complicity with murder is still complicity with murder.

“History will rightly view those that supported the systematic slaughter of children with absolute contempt.

“David Lammy will be held to account for not having the spine to cease trading with Israel and halting British armed forces from assisting this genocide.”

The foreign secretary was in Rome at the time of the incident, where he joined the King and Queen on a royal visit.

It is not known if his family were at the North London property.

Three Youth Demand actvists had previously been charged after they staged a similar action outside the Prime Minister’s home last year.

Lammy has attempted to lead the government’s position on Israel’s actions against Hamas in Gaza, but warning the Jewish state is at a clear risk of breaching international humanitarian law.

At the same time he has repeatedly stressed Hamas status as a terrorist group who can have no future in the governing of Gaza.


What’s Israel’s Strategy in Gaza?
Three weeks have passed since Israel resumed the fighting in Gaza. In addition to aerial assaults, the IDF has sent ground troops back into the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors (between Gaza and Egypt and between northern and central Gaza, respectively), and established another east-west line, the Morag axis, between Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south. Thus it has effectively cut the Strip in three. Yet, notes Gershon Hacohen, it has not yet begun “a decisive push into the heart of Gaza City or the central refugee camps.” Hacohen tries to explain “the measured, incremental logic” behind these operations, which constitute

a middle path between two conflicting strategies being debated in Israel. One path advocates focusing solely on securing the release of hostages, even at the cost of accepting all of the terrorist organization’s demands, including ending the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The other calls for a comprehensive military campaign to capture the entire Gaza Strip and eliminate Hamas, even if this requires forgoing further efforts to rescue hostages at this stage.

In contrast, the IDF’s approach aims to pursue both goals—simultaneously promoting the release of hostages while also degrading Hamas’s military capabilities and governing authority. In practical terms, the logic behind the IDF’s actions provides the political leadership with flexibility at a critical juncture. If military pressure yields progress toward a new hostage deal, operations can be paused under a ceasefire. But if no such progress is achieved, the military campaign can escalate and expand.

In this context, the IDF has focused on establishing key transportation corridors, such as the Netzarim corridor, the expanded Philadelphi corridor, and now the Morag axis, designed to provide the IDF with freedom of movement and maneuverability in response to any future developments or arrangements.


Hugh Hewitt: Can the West survive? Douglas Murray on his new best-seller "On Democracies and Death Cults"

Israel’s failed military ideology that led to Oct.7 (and how to fix it) | True East
What happened to Israel’s military acumen on Oct. 7 and how can it be rebuilt? IDF Spokesperson (Res.) Doron Spielman is joined by IDF Major (Res.) Amiad Cohen, CEO of the Herut Center and publisher of Hashiloach Journal to break down one of the most urgent questions facing Israel today.

With fresh insights from the battlefield, Amiad shares his firsthand experience from the northern front since Oct. 7 and reveals how close Hezbollah came to launching a full invasion into Israel. The discussion traces Israel’s once-successful military doctrine, established by David Ben-Gurion, through its erosion over decades of political shifts, miscalculations and strategic complacency.

The episode also covers:
The systemic military failures that led to Oct. 7
How Hezbollah’s planned invasion could have split Israel in two
Why Israel abandoned Ben-Gurion’s military principles
How post-modern thinking weakened Israel’s will to win
The generational shift in the IDF happening right now
What decisive victory really means for Israel’s future in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond

Packed with frontline intelligence and sharp historical analysis, this episode explains why restoring Israel’s original “art of war” is not just a military necessity—but a matter of national survival.

Chapters
00:00 Systemic Failures in Israel's Military Strategy
02:57 Personal Accounts from October 7th
06:08 Comparative Readiness: North vs. South
08:49 Intelligence and Coordination Failures
11:58 Historical Context of Israeli Military Strategy
15:00 The Evolution of Military Doctrine
18:02 Territorial Control and Military Objectives
28:50 The Historical Context of Lebanon's Civil War
31:00 The Oslo Accords and Their Implications
33:55 The Evolution of Israel's Military Doctrine
40:20 Lessons from the Second Lebanon War
47:06 A Shift in Military Strategy in Gaza
55:58 The Future Vision for Israel's Leadership


Unpacking Trump’s “major meeting” announcement at Netanyahu summit | Israel Undiplomatic
Is the U.S. making a dangerous mistake by trusting Iran? What does President Donald Trump’s latest announcement mean for Israel’s security? Join JNS senior contributing editor Ruthie Blum and former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom Mark Regev—both former advisers at the Prime Minister’s Office— as they dive deep into the Trump-Netanyahu summit and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Also in this episode of “Israel Undiplomatic”:
Trump and Netanyahu’s Oval Office press conference
U.S. plans for direct talks with Iran and the risks for Israel
Why Israel must prepare for military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities
Trump’s surprising comments about Turkey and what they mean for Israel’s northern border
The domestic debate in Israel over hostages, Hamas and how to end the Gaza war

Chapters
00:00 Trump and Netanyahu's Meeting Overview
03:31 US-Israel Relations and Iran Talks
09:31 Concerns Over Iran's Nuclear Negotiations
17:08 Hostage Situations and Military Operations
27:24 Turkey's Role in Regional Politics


Hamas sees live Israeli hostages as their 'ultimate insurance policy'
Israeli Journalist Ehud Yaari discusses the next steps for a possible ceasefire deal amid Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to the White House.

"I do not see a situation where Hamas will remain without any of the live Israeli hostages – they see that as their ultimate insurance policy," Mr Yaari told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

"I think generally we have a situation where Israel will keep … mowing the lawn or, if you want gardening, not allowing the regrowth of Hamas in the Gaza Strip."




Israel Advocacy Movement: Muslims Insult Israeli And Then This Happened



Microsoft fires two workers who heckled CEO over Israel
Microsoft has fired two employees who heckled the company’s AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman during its 50th anniversary celebration over the tech industry’s ties with Israel.

Microsoft said in a termination letter that the workers’ misconduct during a live broadcast from Washington State on Friday was “designed to gain notoriety and cause maximum disruption to this highly anticipated event.”

Ibtihal Aboussad, a software engineer in the company’s AI division who is based in Canada, was fired Monday over “just cause, wilful misconduct, disobedience or wilful neglect of duty.” Mustafa Suleyman. Credit: Christopher Wilson/Wikimedia Commons.

The protest began as Suleyman was on stage presenting product updates and a long-term vision for the company at the Redmond, Washington event to a global audience that included Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.

“Mustafa, shame on you,” Aboussad shouted as she walked toward the stage, forcing Suleyman to pause his speech. “You claim that you care about using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military. Fifty thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide,” she said, using figures published by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

“Thank you for your protest. I hear you,” said Suleyman.

Aboussad persisted, shouting that both the 40-year-old British CEO and “all of Microsoft” had blood on their hands for supplying artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military.

She also threw a keffiyeh scarf onto the stage before being escorted out of the event.

A second Microsoft employee, Indian-American engineer Vaniya Agrawal, later interrupted another part of the celebration.

She had already resigned from the company but was told Monday to leave five days early.


Genuine Pro-Palestinian Demonstrations Should Call to ‘Free Gaza’ From Hamas, Says Israel’s Antisemitism Envoy
Activists who truly care about the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza should focus their energies on rallying against the ruling terrorist group Hamas, not opposing Israel, according to Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism.

“Genuine support for human rights means advocating for freedom from oppressive groups like Hamas and Hezbollah,” Michal Cotler-Wunsh told The Algemeiner in an exclusive interview during a recent trip to the United States, referring to the Iran-backed Islamist terrorist groups in Gaza and Lebanon, respectively.

Her comments came amid rising concerns over escalating hostility toward Jewish communities worldwide during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The US is just one country among several that has experienced a surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes and demonstrations since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with university campuses emerging as a hub for antisemitism and pro-Hamas activism.

“If [these demonstrations] actually are pro-Palestinian and pro-human rights, they would be calling to free Gaza from Hamas, to free Yemen from the Houthis, to free Lebanon from Hezbollah, to free the people of Iran from the Islamic Republic,” Cotler-Wunsh said.

Across the US and Europe, prestigious universities such as Harvard and Columbia have drawn international attention for allowing raucous, unsanctioned, and sometimes violent anti-Israel demonstrations which have included calls for the murder of Jews and the destruction of the Jewish state. The protesters have largely argued their activism is in support of the Palestinian people and human rights.

“Silence, impunity, and false moral equivalency are fueling and normalizing this tsunami of antisemitism,” Cotler-Wunsh warned.

“We realize this is not about human rights or Palestinian advocacy, but reflects support for terrorism, antisemitism, and anti-Western ideologies,” the top Israeli official told The Algemeiner. “They are pro-terror, pro-antisemitism, pro-anti West protests.”




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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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