Friday, May 09, 2025

05/09 Links Pt1: Trump’s Mideast Shifts Leave Everyone Guessing; Europe's Illegal Land-Grab; Needed: A narrative Iron Dome to shoot down lies

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Trump’s Mideast Shifts Leave Everyone Guessing
Now come two more reports of muddled messaging, throwing even more confusion into the air right before Trump travels to the Mideast. Trump has talked tough about the prospect of an Iranian nuclear deal, all but saying that if a deal fails, the U.S. will do with force and fire what Iran won’t do on its own: dismantle its illicit program. After Witkoff initially seemed open to letting Iran enrich its own uranium (up to a point), which would reproduce one of the flaws of Obama-era policy, he backtracked. Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the backtrack: No enrichment should be allowed, none. On Tuesday, Trump reiterated that if Iran insists on trying to obtain a nuke, “it’s going to be a very sad thing, and it’s something we don’t want to have to do but we have no choice: they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.”

But on Wednesday, when the president was asked if Iran could still have a civilian nuclear enrichment program, he responded: “We haven’t made that decision yet.”

And now the Wall Street Journal reports that nobody actually believes Trump’s declaration of a cease-fire with the Houthis: “We are not going back any time soon,” said Nils Haupt, a spokesman for a major German liner. “It’s a good development, but it needs a lot of security guarantees for the Red Sea to be considered safe for big merchant ships.” The Journal adds that the agreement “makes no clear mention of ending attacks on commercial shipping.”

The Defense Department seemed to acknowledge as much, telling reporters that there has been no official determination on what kind of naval escorts will be arranged to ensure the security of vessels traversing the Red Sea shipping lanes and surrounding area. Meanwhile, Houthi drones are still flying overhead. “It will take some time before the southern Red Sea is safe, and we are working on it,” a Pentagon official told the Journal.

Once a system is in place, moreover, it’ll likely take months, at the very least, of consistent security before major companies switch back to their old routes. In that period of time, anything can happen, including a failed Gaza cease-fire deal and the full resumption of the war.

At the same time, the president will be negotiating with Iran. How much will he be willing to crack down on Iranian proxies like the Houthis? If the Iranians need leverage during the talks, what’s to stop them from letting the Houthis fire away again to put pressure back on the U.S.?

On top of all that, Witkoff is playing with fire by using the hostage families to pressure Netanyahu, which will only introduce more tension and volatility into domestic Israeli politics—and who knows where that will lead, exactly? Not Witkoff. Or Witkoff. Or Witkoff or even Witkoff.

So it’s too soon to say Trump is leaving Israel behind. But it’s not too soon to say that his control over events is tenuous and his penchant for unpredictability often inspires the same in other parties, and therefore Israel should figure out how to end the war in Gaza on its own terms before anything else changes.
Biden team sought to ‘get rid’ of Netanyahu for opposing Gaza plans
The Biden administration considered ways to “get rid” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he wouldn’t go along with their plans for the Gaza Strip, according to an investigation by Channel 13.

“The White House got tired of Netanyahu and started to roll around a revolutionary idea ... how to get rid of Netanyahu,” claimed Raviv Drucker, who hosts the channel’s HaMakor programme.

The broadcast, titled All the President’s Men involved in-depth interviews with nine members of Biden’s team – including former US ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides, former national security advisor Jake Sullivan, former White House national security communications advisor John Kirby and former senior Biden aide Ilan Goldenberg.

According to the report, the administration became aggravated by Netanyahu’s refusal to discuss the end goal of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza, specifically who would take charge of the Gaza Strip after Hamas had been ousted.

The Biden team proposed handing security control of the Strip to a foreign force, which would then turn it over to the Palestinian Authority (PA), Goldenberg said.

“We actually had a pretty good program of training Palestinian security forces in the West Bank ... But in the short term you needed something, probably Egyptians, Arabs ... to come in and temporarily hold it because those Palestinians wouldn’t be ready for a while,” he recalled.

However, reflecting on the administration’s assessment that Netanyahu was standing in the way, he suggested that the Israeli leader didn’t want to discuss the “day after” because it would open a “Pandora’s box” and risk collapsing his governing coalition.

Netanyahu has been under significant domestic pressure from the more right-wing elements of his government to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and to refuse PA control of Gaza.

Goldenberg, who now serves as senior vice president and chief policy officer at J Street, told the programme: “There were a lot of people who are talking about, including in the Oval Office, at times, the idea of... the president going out and giving a speech.”
The West’s two-tier international law doesn’t harm just Israel
There is absolutely no sense in which Israel was in occupation of any of Gaza when Hamas launched its attack on October 7, 2023. And the territories its army has occupied since, mostly a buffer zone near the perimeter and a few key corridors, don’t have very many civilians living in them.

Authority that has been “established and can be exercised” would imply that Israeli forces run the schools, collect the taxes, arrest criminals, operate courts, etc. It’s hard to imagine a territory being occupied by one army without soldiers on the ground and where another local force amasses an arsenal of rockets, fields 20 or so battalions under its command – and is able to hold dozens of hostages for more than a year.

The claims about international law regarding both demographic and territorial issues also doesn’t meet the basic standards of scrutiny. Wherever there is war, civilians flee. Our normal impulse in such situations is to try to end the war, and where that is not possible, to ensure that civilians who wish to leave can do so.

It was under this banner that so many humanitarian organisations mobilised during the Syrian Civil War to press Western governments to accept the millions of Syrians fleeing the conflict when it broke out in 2011. The same impulse was manifest a decade later when almost 7 million Ukrainians fled Ukraine.

On territory, too, the argument makes no sense and isn’t grounded in any actual international law. UN member states are obligated to respect each other’s recognised borders, but the line between Israel and the Hamas-ruled enclave is no such thing. It is an armistice line drawn in 1949 (and adjusted slightly one year later) that reflected the Israeli and Egyptian positions at the end of the 1948 war. The text of the Israel-Egypt armistice, like that of the Israel-Jordan and Israel-Syria but notably not the Israel-Lebanon one, makes clear that “the Armistice Demarcation Line is not to be construed in any sense as a political or territorial boundary, and is delineated without prejudice to rights, claims and positions of either party”.

By insisting that Hamas can’t lose any territory in the war it launched, the international community has invented a norm that never before existed and removed one of the few levers Israel has to pressure it to end the war and release the hostages.

It’s annoying to hear international law invoked against Israel in so many different contexts to condemn actions that are entirely consistent both with actual international law and with the practices of other states at war. But it’s not the hypocrisy that should bother us most.

These commitments have real impacts on the course of the war, and in nearly every case they run counter to the stated objectives of the countries insisting on them.

They made the plight of the hostages much worse and much longer. They made the war much longer than necessary and much deadlier for both sides. And they locked a large civilian population in a war zone where the de-facto governing authority was not only indifferent to civilian losses on its own side, but actually had much to gain by it.

Making it impossible to defeat Hamas in the war it itself launched in 2023 won’t bring peace to Gaza; it will only ensure that the next war will be even bloodier.


Ruthie Blum: Is Trump really turning his back on Bibi and Israel? Don’t bet on it
Employing anonymous “sources” for such consequential topics is a neat trick to stir up trouble. It’s a form of lazy coverage that enables slant to hide in plain sight by cloaking itself in authority.

That’s why it’s imperative to note conflicting versions of what is essentially gossip in disguise. Take Axios’s latest self-touted “scoop,” for example. In it, correspondent Barak Ravid reveals that a “private meeting” took place on Thursday between Trump and Dermer.

Yes, that Dermer. The one who supposedly “talked to senior Republicans in his usual arrogance” about what the president “must do.”

Ravid wrote that the meeting in question—held at the White House “ahead of the fourth round of nuclear talks between the U.S and Iran on Sunday in Muscat and President Trump’s trip to the Middle East starting on Monday”—was “not made public by the U.S. or Israel.”

Yet, later in the same piece, he said that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the get-together. Apparently, then, the sit-down wasn’t being kept secret.

In fairness, Ravid pointed out that it’s not typical for American presidents to meet with foreign officials who aren’t heads of state. What he didn’t acknowledge, however, is that Trump’s making an exception for Dermer suggests that relations aren’t as sour as certain “sources” would like them to be.

Another clue that Washington hasn’t turned its back on Jerusalem is that U.S. Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (doubling as interim national security advisor) and special Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff were present at the powwow. Rest assured that had there been the slightest hint of dressing down of Dermer during that chat, Ravid would have been dining out on it with a vengeance.

Furthermore, in an interview on Wednesday with “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” Trump reaffirmed his steadfast alliance with Netanyahu and expressed alarm over the surge in antisemitism across the United States.

“I think nobody’s been better to Israel as a president than me, by a factor of about 20,” he said. “In fact, I could say maybe nobody’s ever been better than me on Israel. And I am shocked to see what I’m seeing, because if you look back at the old days of the Holocaust, you’re seeing the same kind of thing happening now.”

How the two allies proceed in the next days and weeks remains to be seen. Nevertheless, writing off the bond between them is not merely premature. It’s irresponsible propaganda that emboldens enemies of both.
Signs emerge of a growing disconnect between Washington and Jerusalem
With President Donald Trump set to head to the Middle East in the coming days, and the next round of Iran talks being held this weekend, there are growing signs of friction between the United States and its closest ally in the Middle East.

The apparent divisions are especially notable in the context of the Iran talks — Israel largely opposes diplomacy with the regime and favors a military option to address Iran’s nuclear program, on which the Trump administration has not yet been willing to cooperate.

A series of recent developments, public comments and reports point to evidence of a growing disconnect between the two sides.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had been scheduled to travel to Israel this week for talks before meeting Trump in Saudi Arabia, but no longer plans to do so, instead traveling with Trump, Defense Department Spokesperson Sean Parnell said, while saying Hegseth “did not cancel his trip to Israel.”

Despite a reported push from the Israeli government to add a stop in Israel to Trump’s Middle East junket, he is currently only expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Ha’aretz reported that the Trump administration is “heavily pressuring” Israel to make a deal with Hamas before Trump’s regional trip, and “communicating to Jerusalem that if Israel does not move forward together with the United States toward an agreement, it will be left on its own.” It also reported that U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told hostage families this week that Israeli military pressure is endangering their loved ones.

Israel Hayom reported that there’s a growing personal rift between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Trump reportedly viewing Israel as unwilling to come along on his initiatives and plans for the Middle East and frustrated by Israeli pressure for the U.S. to join military strikes on Iran.

And Reuters reported this week that Trump is planning to move ahead with an agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia that does not require the Gulf state to normalize relations with Israel, which was previously a parameter of the deal.

After initially brushing off international calls to pressure Israel to increase humanitarian aid provided to Gaza, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said this week, “There is a desperate need for humanitarian aid in Gaza.” He said Israel would be part of the security mechanism for a new aid distribution system, but would not distribute the aid. .
US to send Gaza aid with Israeli support, says Huckabee
The United States will soon begin delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza—an urgent priority for U.S. President Donald Trump—U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced during a press conference on Friday.

The process has already been launched and will proceed without delays tied to ceasefire negotiations or developments in the ongoing war, Huckabee emphasized, addressing the reporters outside the embassy in Jerusalem.

“One of President Trump’s most urgent concerns is getting aid into Gaza,” the ambassador said. “The process has begun. The food will be distributed efficiently and safely to those who need it inside Gaza.”

He stressed that the plan includes strict safeguards to prevent Hamas from intercepting the aid, citing past instances of the group stealing and reselling food to fund weapons and violence. “Hamas has taken food meant for hungry people, sold it on the black market, and used the money to buy weapons and kill people,” he said.

Huckabee said that there is no tension between the U.S. and Jerusalem regarding the aid plan. “There is no disagreement or sense of conflict between us and Israel. The president has made that clear,” he said.
Schneider leads House Dems to call for resumption of aid to Gaza
A group of 28 House Democrats led by Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) wrote to President Donald Trump on Friday urging him to call on Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu to resume aid flows into Gaza.

The letter follows one from close to 100 House Democrats earlier in the week, backed by J Street, which described Israel’s blockade of aid as a moral failure that would also endanger Israel’s security. The Schneider-led letter is worded in a less strident manner toward Israel, and is framed as supportive of Trump’s own comments and efforts on the issue.

“Israel has the right and obligation to defeat Hamas and rescue the hostages,” the letter reads. “At the same time, it is critical that Israel enables entry of lifesaving humanitarian aid into Gaza. We respectfully urge you to call on Prime Minister Netanyahu to immediately address this humanitarian crisis and promote lasting peace.”

The Democratic lawmakers highlighted that stores of food and water in Gaza are running short, and said that it is vital for humanitarian assistance to again get to those in need, even amid the ongoing conflict.

The lawmakers repeatedly reference Trump’s own comments on the issue, which the letter frames in a supportive light.

“You recently highlighted the ongoing humanitarian suffering in Gaza, where Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields. We appreciate your recognition of the urgent need for food, water, and medicine to reach civilians — and we agree,” the letter reads. “We also urge you to keep your recent commitment ‘to help the people of Gaza get some food.’”

“We respectfully urge you to continue speaking out about the importance of restoring humanitarian assistance and to encourage Prime Minister Netanyahu to enable the delivery of life-saving food, water, and medicine to civilians in Gaza without delay,” the letter continues. “Your leadership at this critical moment can help save lives, reinforce America’s steadfast support for both our values and our allies, and support Israel’s vital mission to dismantle Hamas and bring every hostage home.”


US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cancels scheduled visit to Israel, sources tells the 'Post'
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth canceled his scheduled visit to Israel next week, prior to President Donald Trump's visit to the region, a source familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post.

This would have been Hegseth's first trip to Israel since he began his role as defense secretary.

He was scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, according to a Saturday Axios report.

Hegseth will still travel with Trump to Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

This comes following reports that Trump is no longer demanding Saudi Arabia normalize ties with Israel as a condition for progress on civil nuclear cooperation talks.
U.N. Reports Ignore Hamas's Use of Human Shields While Accusing Israelis of Attacking Civilian Infrastructure, New Investigation Finds
The United Nations and its network of international NGOs have systematically whitewashed Hamas’s reliance on human shields in Gaza, sweeping aside mountains of evidence revealing how the terror group intentionally places civilians in harm’s way to maximize bloodshed, a new report finds.

The first-of-its-kind investigation, conducted by the Henry Jackson Society’s Centre for the New Middle East, presents "the ‘missing chapter’ in all the U.N. and NGO reports" issued since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Its authors reveal in detail how the terror group transformed civilian residences and infrastructure into military outposts, all while evading international scrutiny.

One video referenced in the report, which Hamas members filmed themselves, shows terrorists planting mines among children’s toys inside a civilian building. Other pieces of evidence the Henry Jackson Society published include footage of rockets stored inside a child’s bed in a Gaza apartment and speakers—nestled among dolls and backpacks—playing the sounds of children crying, meant to lure Israeli soldiers into booby-trapped homes.

The U.N. has issued 367 individual reports on the war since Oct. 7, none of which affirmatively state that Hamas has turned residential areas into battlefields and hid behind civilians.

"The U.N. has rarely acknowledged and never asserted the use by Hamas of ‘human shields,’" according to the report. "The phenomenon of ‘human shields’ has only been mentioned four times, in each case in only a single sentence, as either an ‘allegation,’ an Israeli ‘claim,’ or an unverified ‘report’ that this practice occurred."

While the U.N. has not issued any analysis of Hamas’s tactics, it has accused Israel of launching "indiscriminate attacks" and "attacks on hospitals" in Gaza without mentioning the reality that the terror group uses these sites as weapons depots and operational headquarters.

The report’s authors conclude that the U.N. and associated NGOs "deliberately omit" Hamas’s practices because admitting them would "undermine their entire argument that Israel is deliberately targeting civilians."

The International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) December 2023 legal filing accusing Israel of genocide is one particularly notable example. The 84-page complaint does not acknowledge that Hamas started the war against Israel, nor does it discuss the terror group’s use of civilian shields.

"The word ‘tunnel’ appears only three times, all in critical references to Israel," the investigation found. The only instances in which the ICJ mentions human shields are to accuse Israel of employing the tactic against Palestinians.

"There is no acknowledgment of Hamas embedding rocket launchers within or near civilian infrastructure," the report notes. "The document entirely overlooks Hamas’s broader military strategies and its use of civilian areas, attributing all blame for civilian casualties solely to Israel."
Seth Frantzman: India-Pakistan clashes are a test for global military technology powers
The reports about the India-Pakistan clashes are shrouded in the fog of war.

Reports say India has lost one or more warplanes. Reports also talk about clashes using drones. Drones have increasingly come to dominate the modern battlefield. Most of the drones being used today are loitering munitions or types of one-way kamikaze drones. Loitering munitions are the name given to a class of drones that carry a warhead. The system can loiter over the battlefield, looking for a target, and then carry out an attack. At the point when the system decides to attack, usually based on a human operator making a determination, it will fly toward its target the way a cruise missile would. Thus, it combines missile and drone technology.

The India-Pakistan clashes may not be over. However, the world’s countries are watching. China will want to see how its warplanes and missiles stack up. Russia will want to see how India’s S-400s perform. India uses French Rafale warplanes. Israel will be looking closely as well.

The full story emerging between India and Pakistan is not a simple military lesson of whether one system works better than another.

India’s military and defense sector today is dominated by a “make in India” approach that seeks to have most of the defense procurement be done locally. This makes sense for a country of a billion people with ample resources.

However, it was not historically what India did. Despite its size, India’s defense investment has increased over the years. The country is trying to modernize, and each clash leads to questions about whether these efforts are performing well. Pakistan is merely one foe for India. China is also a rival. India is also important in terms of ties with the Gulf and China.

What happens in the India-Pakistan clashes has wider implications as well for Asia and the Pacific, as well as wars in Gaza and Ukraine. This is an increasingly Hobbesian world of an emerging new world order.

The multi-polar world in which we live today is one of increasing wars in various regions. Countries are willing to take more chances than in the past. They are less cautious and have less restraint. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an example, as is the October 7 attack.

With shifts in global power accelerating, conflicts such as the one between India and Pakistan are more important.

Countries such as China may draw conclusions about its own tensions with Taiwan or with other states.

If China’s military technology performs well, it could cause Beijing to gamble. A gamble could lead to another, larger conflict.


The International Front: The Increasing Biased (and Misleading) Criticism of Israel
As Israel continues to fight and thwart threats to its security on multiple fronts, it faces increased international criticism of Israel’s presence and strikes in Lebanese and Syrian territory. This criticism is often biased and misleading. Subsequently, international pressure on Israel is also mounting.

The recurring international criticism claims that Israel’s presence in Lebanon and Syria is not driven by security needs but rather indicates Israel’s intention to occupy territory in violation of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon and international law regarding Syrian sovereignty. Furthermore, the international criticism asserts that Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Syria are harming uninvolved civilians.

With regard to Lebanon, the criticism against Israel argues that the Lebanese government and army are working to enforce their authority, prevent ceasefire violations, and dismantle Hezbollah’s weapons. Israel’s presence and continued strikes undermine Lebanon’s ability to enforce the ceasefire terms. In the context of Syria, the argument is that there is no longer any threat to the State of Israel. The old regime supported by Iran has fallen, the civil war has ended, and the new regime has declared that it is not interested in conflict with Israel. Therefore, there is no justification for Israel’s presence in Syrian territory or for conducting strikes there.

In both Lebanon and Syria, Israel maintains a limited presence in areas near the border at several strategic points that allow for monitoring and detection of activities that pose a threat to Israel.
Needed: A narrative Iron Dome to shoot down lies
It’s time for a new strategy. Much like Israel’s Iron Dome intercepting rockets, what is needed now is an “Iron Narrative,” a coordinated, global offensive against antisemitic incitement and agents. This requires:
- Legal and economic retribution: Sue antisemitic actors—governments, NGOs, academics—under existing hate-speech and anti-discrimination laws.
- Reputational destruction: Expose the hypocrisy of public figures, like Albanese and Borrell. Their past statements, alliances and funding sources must be weaponized against them.
- Media counteroffensive: Flood social-media platforms with unassailable documentation of Hamas’s crimes and Israel’s historical legitimacy. X has shown that alternative media can bypass legacy propaganda.
- Psychological resolve: Abandon the Diaspora Jewry instinct to “blend in” by refraining from seeking validation from those who despise Israel and the Jewish people.

The Oct. 7 atrocities have ruptured the facade of Western liberalism. The rise of conservative movements and leaders reflects a growing rejection of woke Islamist collusion. Much of the West, however, remains in denial. Its failure to confront Islamist radicalization will inevitably trigger a nativist backlash, with Jews again caught in the crossfire. Already, there are signs that European and Western citizens are weary of seeing their universities overtaken, monuments defaced, founding fathers insulted and values undermined.

What do Western leaders expect right now? Do they believe that average Europeans will continue tolerating the exponential deterioration of their public safety, with no-go areas, massacres at Christmas markets, explosions in train stations, stabbings at festivals and an economy strained by supporting those people who are unwilling to integrate or contribute? If there is no reality check soon and no renewed leadership, what lies ahead is a painful reckoning for people of all religions, nationalities, ethnicities, ideologies and socioeconomic strata.

Having reached this current state of affairs, the global Jewish community must act pre-emptively. Just as Israel eliminated Hamas commanders in Gaza, it must dismantle their enablers in Brussels, Geneva and New York. The tools exist: Israel’s intelligence upper hand, the political leverage of the United States and other pro-Western nations, existing philanthropism and the moral clarity of Jewish history. All that is missing is to connect the dots with the proper political will.
Europe's Illegal Land-Grab: Part III
The international community continues to conspire against the reality of Israel's existence by testing the limits of its sovereignty and threatening the Jewish right to self-determination and self-defense.

The EU would never allow an external entity to abridge the sovereignty of one of its own member states in this way, nor would it endorse such behavior anywhere else.

"To think that the Palestinians are only enraged about settlements is also fatuous nonsense. Talk to the 15-year-olds. Their grievance is not just with Israeli settlements, but with Israel. Most Palestinians simply do not accept that the Jews have any authentic right to be here." —Thomas Friedman, New York Times, October 31, 2000.

The progressive international public has fervently bought into the red herring of Jewish settlements while hypocritically remaining silent regarding settlement activity in Western Sahara, northern Cyprus, Ceuta and Melilla, Tibet, Kashmir and the Falkland Islands.

The mainstream media and cultural apparatus conveniently ignore the history of these Jewish "settlers," many of whom are indigenous to the region but whose parents or grandparents were forcibly expelled from the West Bank or parts of Jerusalem in 1948 when Jordan seized and occupied territory. Instead of acknowledging them as descendants of refugees merely returning home...

Those who understand the scope of this have witnessed how the plan of former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is part of a much bigger strategy of illegal land use that extends to the Negev Desert in the south and to the Galilee in the north, all driven by a European-supported narrative that replaces Jewish history with the 20th-century fiction of Palestinian-Arab nationalism.


Israeli Druze officer details Israel's strategic border defense in Syria to 'Post'
IDF Major J. built Israel’s new border defense trenches with Syria with his own bare hands – or at least commanding a fleet of engineering vehicles.

In a recent interview with The Jerusalem Post about the status of the trenches, which the Post witnessed up close a few months before, Maj. J. gave a fuller history of the new Syrian border defense project.

“We started in August 2024 and worked on a few different positions in parallel,” even before the falloff of the Assad regime over December 7-8, 2024, said Maj. J., whose father spent around 30 years reaching a top rank in the Israel Prisons Service, with a brother who is a Lieutenant-Colonel in the IDF, and another brother in the Jerusalem police force.

His is a story of an Israeli-Druze family from Ma’jar which is inseparable from Israel’s military and security forces.

In August 2024, “the Syrians could see our engineering vehicles from a kilometer away. We carried it out in the demilitarized zone. There are other defense lines beyond the border fence in the international area. We exploited the situation down to the last meter available, but we have a right to do that, also with tanks and infantry.”

Maj. J. stated that, “The barrier is exactly on the fault line. It’s a bit complex. Some land areas are not fully defined in terms of sovereignty and we are aggressive. We didn’t want certain unknown actors [Syrian jihadists] to be there…We put the barrier a bit beyond that [uncertain] area. It’s not critical for us to go too far out and we are generally still on the international border.”

He added that the IDF still cooperates with UN forces on the Syrian border.
Rules in Gaza to change ‘very soon,’ Netanyahu warns Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stern warning to Hamas on Thursday, declaring that the “rules are about to change” as the IDF prepares to expand its offensive in the Gaza Strip.

“To Hamas, I say one thing: The rules are about to change very soon,” Netanyahu said during a visit to reservists of the IDF’s 5th “HaSharon” Infantry Brigade at the Tze’elim training base in the Negev.

“I came to see firsthand the quality of our soldiers—our heroes—in preparation for the intense action we are about to undertake in Gaza,” he said in remarks released by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s two key objectives: “First—to defeat Hamas, to be victorious over Hamas, to eliminate Hamas. The second, of course, simultaneously—is to release our hostages.”

The prime minister also marked the anniversary of the 1972 rescue of hostages from Sabena Flight 571—a mission in which he participated, as a member of the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal), and was wounded. “The spirit has not changed—it is the exact same spirit I see here, pulsing among the soldiers and commanders, uniting everyone with one goal—to achieve a great victory.”

That victory at Lod Airport (today Ben-Gurion International Airport) over the Black September Organization, a Palestinian terrorist group, he added, extended beyond the battlefield: “It reverberates throughout the entire region.”

Under his leadership, Netanyahu said, Israel has changed the face of the Middle East by confronting threats from Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime in Syria. He also pointed to Israel’s recent actions against Iran, which he labeled a key sponsor of regional terrorism. “We still face challenges, but we have strong spirit, and that spirit is embodied by our military.”
Two soldiers KIA in Gaza, bringing IDF wartime toll to 856
Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed fighting Palestinian terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip, the military announced on Friday.

The slain men were identified as Sgt. Yishai Elyakim Urbach, 20, of the Combat Engineering Corps’ 605th Battalion, from Zikhron Ya’akov, and Staff Sgt. Yam Frid, 21, of the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion, from Sal’it in western Samaria.

According to an initial IDF probe, the first incident occurred when Hamas operatives fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a building in Rafah’s Jenina neighborhood, where Israeli troops were positioned. The explosion caused part of the structure to collapse, killing Urbach and wounding two other soldiers—one seriously and one moderately.

Roughly two hours later, in the same area, an armored personnel carrier was struck by an explosive device. Frid was killed in the blast, and four other soldiers were wounded, including three in serious condition.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered condolences in a public statement:
“Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I mourn with the families of Sergeant Yishai Elyakim Urbach and Staff Sergeant Yam Freid, of blessed memory, who fell in battle in Gaza.

“Our hearts are with the dear families who have lost what was most precious to them. May their memory be a blessing.

“Elyakim and Yam fell defending the country in the war for our existence. Their heroism and bravery will be forever etched in our hearts.”


Rock-throwing terrorists injure Israeli baby in Jordan Valley
Several terrorists threw rocks at an Israeli car and bus near the town of Na’ama in the Jordan Valley on Thursday evening, lightly injuring an infant.

The baby, who was on the bus during the attack, received medical attention at the scene, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Following the incident, security forces were deployed to the area and were searching for the attackers.

On Wednesday, three people were wounded in two separate terrorist-incidents; a shooting attack in northern Samaria where two people were seriously wounded, and a car-ramming in Judea in which one person was injured.

These latest attacks are part of an uptick in Arab violence throughout Judea and Samaria. On Friday, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, commander of the IDF Central Command, visited the Jordan Valley and Emekim Brigade during a recent military exercise. During his visit, he met with battalion commanders and other officers to discuss the importance of training and operational readiness amid evolving challenges in the region and preparations for the formation of a new Eastern Division.

“We’re on the brink of a significant transformation regarding the eastern front — and in many ways, that transformation is already underway,” Bluth said. “The threats are changing — Syria is not what it was, and our enemies have shifted tactics. We have to adapt accordingly,” according to an IDF statement posted on X.


IDF says it razed major tunnel in Rafah after Hamas operatives provided location
The Israel Defense Forces said Friday that during recent operations in southern Gaza’s Rafah, two Hamas operatives surrendered to troops and provided intelligence on a major tunnel in the area, which was then demolished.

The two Hamas terror operatives were captured by soldiers of the 188th Armored Brigade and handed over to the Shin Bet. During their interrogation, the military said the pair provided “significant intelligence, pointing to the location of underground infrastructure in the area.”

The tunnel, which was located shortly afterward in Rafah’s Shaboura camp, served “key terrorists” in Hamas, the IDF said.

Combat engineers of the elite Yahalom unit mapped out the tunnel, which spanned around a kilometer and was some 25 meters below ground. The military said the tunnel featured rooms to reside in, a bathroom, a kitchenette, blast doors and several entrance shafts.

The tunnel was then demolished, the army added.

Meanwhile, sources close to the Hamas terror group said a delegation held two meetings with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Doha this week but they produced no breakthrough in the search for a Gaza truce.

“Egyptian officials met twice with a high-level Hamas delegation led by [chief negotiator] Khalil al-Hayya [and] Qatari officials on Wednesday and Thursday in Doha,” one source told AFP.


Israeli forces kill, arrest Lions’ Den terrorists in heart of Nablus
Israeli security forces killed a member of the Iranian-backed Lions’ Den terrorist coalition and arrested a second operative during a counter-terrorism operation in the heart of Nablus (Shechem) on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces announced in a statement.

The joint operation of the IDF’s Samaria Brigade and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) came after precise intelligence was uncovered by the Military Intelligence Directorate and the Shin Bet, the army said.

According to security officials, the slain terrorist had been involved in carrying out past attacks, acquiring weapons and planning future assaults targeting Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Undercover troops arrived in Nablus for an arrest raid but “identified him as being armed and posing a threat to the force,” the IDF said.

Soldiers found a handgun, two magazines and cash suspected to be intended for terrorist use in his possession. A tactical vest was also discovered in the terrorist’s vehicle, according to the statement.

A second high-level wanted man, who was with the terrorist at the time of his death, was apprehended and transferred for interrogation by security agencies.

The IDF noted that the raid was met with violent riots, including gunfire and explosives thrown at the troops, who responded with live fire. The army “identified a hit;” no injuries were reported among troops.

The Nablus-based Lions’ Den was the focus of much of the IDF activity in Samaria before the Hamas-led terrorist massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

On April 8, the Israel Police’s Unit 33 (“Gideonim”) elite intelligence-led undercover unit detained Mahmoud al-Bana, a top commander in the Lions’ Den.

Al-Bana, who was carrying an M16 rifle and a grenade, tried to evade arrest and was shot in his leg by police, according to security officials.
IDF kills head of the Islamic Jihad terror cell in Jenin
Israeli security forces killed a member of the Iranian-backed Lions’ Den terrorist coalition and arrested a second operative during a counter-terrorism operation in the heart of Nablus (Shechem) on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces announced in a statement.

The joint operation of the IDF’s Samaria Brigade and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) came after precise intelligence was uncovered by the Military Intelligence Directorate and the Shin Bet, the army said.

According to security officials, the slain terrorist had been involved in carrying out past attacks, acquiring weapons and planning future assaults targeting Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Undercover troops arrived in Nablus for an arrest raid but “identified him as being armed and posing a threat to the force,” the IDF said.

Soldiers found a handgun, two magazines and cash suspected to be intended for terrorist use in his possession. A tactical vest was also discovered in the terrorist’s vehicle, according to the statement.

A second high-level wanted man, who was with the terrorist at the time of his death, was apprehended and transferred for interrogation by security agencies.

The IDF noted that the raid was met with violent riots, including gunfire and explosives thrown at the troops, who responded with live fire. The army “identified a hit;” no injuries were reported among troops.
IDF downs Houthi terror missile fired from Yemen
The Israel Defense Forces on Friday intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Yemen by Iran-backed Houthi terrorists, triggering air raid sirens across central Israel, including in Tel Aviv. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The missile attack marks the latest in a string of escalations between Israel and the Houthis, who have intensified aerial assaults on Israeli territory in recent days. On Monday night, the IDF conducted a wave of airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah Port, saying the operation targeted missile launch sites and UAV infrastructure used in repeated attacks on Israeli civilians.

On Tuesday, the Israeli Air Force launched a large-scale strike on Sanaa International Airport, with dozens of fighter jets flying more than 1,000 miles to drop 50 precision bombs in a 15-minute operation. The IDF said the strike disabled the Houthi-controlled airport and targeted major power stations in the Yemeni capital, as well as a cement factory allegedly used for tunnel construction and terror infrastructure.

The military response follows a ballistic missile strike by the Houthis on Sunday that targeted Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, injuring six civilians and causing significant flight disruptions.

Israeli leaders have responded with firm rhetoric. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video statement on Wednesday, reaffirmed Jerusalem’s resolve: “There is one principle that guides me: Israel will defend itself—anywhere, against any threat, with its own forces.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz echoed the warning, stating Thursday that Israel “must be able to defend itself independently against any threat and any enemy.” In a post on X, he added: “The Houthis will absorb heavy blows from Israel if they continue firing toward us. The IDF is prepared for any mission.”

In a counterstatement, the Houthis announced a “comprehensive aerial blockade” on Israel and vowed to continue their missile attacks.


The American Arrangement with the Houthis Gives Them an Opportunity to Rebuild
The experts at the Institute for the Study of War are not particularly optimistic about the agreement between the Houthis and the U.S.

The Houthis will likely exploit the cease-fire with the United States to reconstitute themselves while continuing to target Israel. U.S. airstrikes from March 15 to May 5 targeted Houthi weapons and ammunition depots, sites related to missiles and drones, and Houthi leadership. It is unclear how much the U.S. airstrikes degraded Houthi capabilities, however. . . . The Houthis are a well-entrenched military and political organization with decades of wartime experience, which will make it possible for the Houthis rapidly to replace dead commanders and experts.

Houthi officials have clarified that their cease-fire with the United States does not include Israel, and that they will continue to attack Israel in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis launched three drones targeting Eilat airport in southern Israel and an Israeli military target in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area on May 7 after the U.S. cease-fire took effect.


FDD: Why Can’t Anyone Stop Yemen’s Houthi Rebels?
What to Do About the Houthis in the Long Term?
The problem with the Houthis is symbolic of a larger challenge. US and Israeli airpower have not subdued the rebel group. Israel’s air forces say it has been able to intercept more than ninety-five percent of missiles launched from Yemen.

However, that means some will get through from time to time. Air defenses are not a substitute for a wider strategy. Neither is bombing. Israel and the US do not want to have boots on the ground in Yemen.

No one is marching an army from the coast as Hodeidah to Sana’a. This isn’t because this would be impossible. It’s because history shows how difficult it would be. The Egyptians intervened in Yemen in the 1960s to back the North Yemen Republic against the Royalists, who held the high ground.

The Egyptians failed to dislodge the Royalists, who were backed by Riyadh at the time. Today, things are different, but the geography is the same. The key to stopping the Houthis likely lies in thinking outside the box or getting Tehran to tell them to stop their aggression. Oman helped reduce the conflict with the US, but it remains to be seen if the Houthis are deterred and will prevent their attacks in the region.
Debunking the myth of the Israel lobby (w/Daniel Samet) | Think Twice
Israel’s detractors have always alleged that American support for the Jewish state is based on two factors: politicized sympathy for the Jews and the purchase of congressional backing by an all-powerful “Israel lobby.” But according to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, both assertions are myths that are themselves the product of partisan propaganda rather than objective analysis.

He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Ronald Reagan Institute scholar Daniel J. Samet, author of the new book, U.S. Defense Policy Toward Israel: A Cold War History. Samet argues that, notwithstanding the popularity of Israel among the majority of Americans, Washington’s backing for it has always been based on cold, hard analysis of U.S. national interests and not sentiment or even campaign contributions.

The scholar dissects the myth of the “Israel Lobby” and the supposed ability of AIPAC and other pro-Israel organizations to influence American policy. He argues that despite its reputation as wielding enormous power, it has never won a fight with any American administration whose policies it opposed. That includes friendly ones like that of Ronald Reagan which sold planes to Arab nations and opposed Israel’s bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor as well as more hostile presidents like Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama, who pushed through the dangerous Iran nuclear deal despite the protests of the pro-Israel community and AIPAC.

Samet’s book details the fact that during Israel’s early years when it was in the greatest danger, it received no defense aid from the United States, whether from sympathetic presidents like Harry Truman or hostile ones like Dwight Eisenhower, because it was perceived as a weak state that interfered with American efforts to appease or engage with hostile Arab states. It was not until after its astonishing victory in the 1967 Six Day War, that Washington began to think of it as a strategic asset or partner.

Nor has sympathy for Jews been an indicator of American policy. As Samet points out, President Richard Nixon was guilty of harboring antisemitic sentiments. But because he saw Israel as a vital ally in the Middle East against Soviet expansionism, he delivered vital aid to the Jewish state in its moment of need during the Yom Kippur War that enabled it to prevail.

A close reading of the history of the relationship between the two countries during the Cold War, as well as the decades since then shows that realpolitik and rational evaluations of American interests have always determined U.S. policy. More to the point it is such a realistic approach rather than one than relies solely on arguments about common values, democracy and the natural sympathy most Americans have for Israel, is, as the Trump administration has showed, the best guarantee of strong U.S.-Israel alliance.

Chapters
00:00 Understanding the U.S.-Israel Relationship
02:53 The Influence of the Israel Lobby
06:02 Historical Context: Truman to Eisenhower
09:05 The Shift in U.S. Policy: Kennedy to Johnson
11:51 The Yom Kippur War and Nixon's Role
15:13 The Evolution of Military Aid to Israel
17:56 The Strategic Importance of Israel
21:05 Nixon, Kissinger, and the Complexity of Alliances
31:00 Kissinger's Realpolitik and US-Israel Relations
36:00 Carter's Complex Relationship with Israel
40:56 Reagan's Strategic Partnership with Israel
49:13 The Pollard Affair and Its Impact
49:57 Bush's Fractious Relationship with Israel
57:00 Lessons for Current US-Israel Relations




Here I Am With Shai Davidai: Hebron is not what you think | EP 39 Yardena Schwartz
In this episode, Shai Davidai sits down with award-winning journalist and author Yardena Schwartz to discuss her new book, "The Ghosts of a Holy War," which explores the 1929 Hebron massacre and its lasting impact on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yardena shares her personal journey from Jewish day school in the U.S. to making Aliyah and living in Israel for a decade, and how a pivotal class at Columbia Journalism School led her to investigate the complex history of Hebron.

Together, Shai and Yardena delve into the city’s past as a beacon of coexistence between Jews and Muslims, the realities of segregation and conflict today, and the often-overlooked nuances of Hebron’s history. Yardena recounts her eye-opening experiences reporting in Hebron, the significance of the 1929 massacre, and the ongoing effects of disinformation and incitement in the region. The conversation offers a thoughtful look at history, identity, and the challenges of understanding the roots of conflict.


travelingisrael.com: Zionist Jews Are the Worst! – Let’s Fact-Check That
"Zionist Jews are the worst!"
That’s what they say — again and again.
Genocidal, racist, colonizers, baby-killers... you name it, we’ve been accused of it.

So let’s test that narrative.
In this video, we take a global tour — from France to the UK, from Sweden to Australia — and look at who’s actually committing violence, terrorism, and hate crimes. Spoiler alert: it’s not the Zionist Jews.


We don’t torch mosques.
We don’t drive trucks into parades.
We don’t kidnap Muslims.

00:00 - “Zionist Jews are the worst!”
00:23 - A Global Reality Check: France, Germany, UK & more
06:30 - What About the West? USA, Canada, Australia
09:15 - So Who's Really Committing the Violence?
10:30 - Final Thoughts & What’s Next


Hasan Piker: How a Jew-Hating, Hamas-Loving Streamer Seduced The New York Times
The first hints of Piker’s troubling views surface subtly, with the article merely stating he “criticizes…the Israeli government,” juxtaposed oddly alongside his support for organized labor, universal healthcare, and LGBTQ rights.

It’s only midway through—after considerable focus on Piker’s fitness routines and intermittent fasting diet consisting of “precisely chicken breast with low-carb pita, mezze, and sauces”—that the NYTimes bothers to hint at what this “criticism” entails:
A vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, Mr. Piker has been labeled anti-American across the political spectrum for saying the U.S. ‘deserved’ the September 11 attacks. His recent accusations that Israel is committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza and his diatribes against the Zionist movement have led supporters of Israel, including liberals like Representative Ritchie Torres of New York, to call Mr. Piker antisemitic.”

Predictably, the NYTimes immediately offers Piker a convenient rebuttal: “I find antisemitism to be completely unacceptable,” along with his disingenuous claim that “I find the conflation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism to be very dangerous.”

Yet the NYTimes is evidently aware of Piker’s antisemitism—initially publishing a photo of his “bulking” chicken meal consumed in his studio, inadvertently showing a viewer comment on Piker’s Twitch stream stating in block capitals: “I’D FUCK THIS IDF BITCH TO DEATH.”

In writer Jack Crosbie’s rush to flatter Piker, it seems he didn’t bother examining the photos closely. And in typical New York Times fashion, the image was quietly edited later to crop out the damning viewer comments, leaving only the innocuous chicken meal behind.




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



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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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