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Friday, October 16, 2026

10/15 Links Pt1: Why Hamas Cheered Navi Pillay’s Nobel Peace Prize; Kontorovich: Europe Risks an Economic War over Israel and the ICC; Human Sacrifice, Not Human Shields: Col. Richard Kemp on How Hamas Fights in Gaza

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: Europe Risks an Economic War over Israel and the ICC
Last month the Netherlands and the UK both announced bans on business activities with what they described as Israeli settlements [Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria]. That includes Jerusalem and other areas America regards as fully under Israeli sovereignty. At the same time, the UK and Dutch governments are leading efforts to undermine new U.S. sanctions on the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Some of the measures directly conflict with U.S. antiboycott laws, which have been on the books for half a century. These laws were passed to ensure that foreign countries couldn't pressure American companies to give up lawful trade with third countries. Under the Dutch measure, companies trading with Israel must furnish "negative certifications" that boycotted goods aren't included - a requirement explicitly forbidden by U.S. law.
Khaled Abu Toameh: No Elections, No Reform: The Palestinian Authority's Endless Excuses Are the Smallest Part of the Problem
[H]olding elections under the current circumstances will almost certainly strengthen Hamas....

On the other hand, Abbas's decision cannot be mistaken for a genuine effort to reform anything in Palestinian politics.

While elections can be important, they can also be bogus, faked, or even harmful, as one can see in Russia, Turkey or Iran.

Elections do not mean there is a democracy, especially if they take place before any reforms. Elections are needed after the institutions of democracy -- freedom of speech and of the press, the separation of powers, freedom of religion or from religion, due process, equal justice under the law -- meaning accountability for everyone, property rights, rights for women, children and laborers, an independent judiciary, and so on -- have been set in place and are smoothly functioning. Only then can there be elections that mean anything.

What is really needed to help the Palestinian people, now being held hostage by corrupt and self-serving leaders in all of their parties, is not just elections but reforms, all of them, and serious international accountability, starting with shutting down funding for slow or nonexistent compliance.

So far, the international community has been funding leaders who mistreat their own people first, then their neighbors and everyone else second. For the sake of the Palestinians, this has to stop.

Will [Western governments] condition financial assistance on measurable reforms?... Will they impose consequences on Palestinian leaders who obstruct reform? Or will they issue statements of regret, continue providing financial support, and wait for Abbas to pretend he is finally instituting reforms by announcing yet another -- presumably fake -- election date?

Western governments should also avoid the mistaken assumption that an election announcement, by itself, represents progress.

The test of reform is not the number of "presidential decrees" Abbas issues promising elections. It is whether Palestinians acquire institutions that can hold their leaders accountable.

A recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 83% of the Palestinians believe corruption exists within Palestinian Authority institutions.

The poll also showed that Hamas leaders are more popular than Abbas and that 79% of Palestinians want him to resign.

The Palestinian political system offers no credible, nationally competitive third alternative to Fatah and Hamas.... Hamas remains an armed terrorist organization, while Fatah has presided over a system marked by authoritarianism, patronage, and corruption.

Western governments have too often treated elections as the principal answer to Palestinian political dysfunction. They are not. Palestinians need new leaders, new faces, and new political ideas. They need pragmatic, realistic, and accountable representatives who prioritize the welfare of their own people over factional interests and revolutionary slogans. They also need an overhaul of an education system that should prepare young Palestinians for peaceful coexistence, critical thinking, and economic opportunity rather than perpetuate hatred and glorify violence. They need independent institutions, financial transparency, effective anti-corruption mechanisms, and a free press capable of scrutinizing those in power.
Ottawa paid a London consultancy $989,714 to prepare Palestinian elections now postponed
Global Affairs Canada signed a $989,714 contribution agreement on April 22, 2026 with Adam Smith International Ltd of London, England, to "foster electoral readiness, political participation, and democratic renewal in Palestine", according to the federal grants disclosure database. The project, titled "SAWT Programme: Support to Elections and Political Processes", runs to March 31, 2028.

The record says the money supports "the scheduled April 2026 local elections and the November 2026 Palestinian National Council (PNC) elections", pays for "independent monitoring and technical assessments", and sets up an "International Observer Coordination Unit" to work with diplomatic missions. It names the Palestinian Central Elections Commission and Ministry of Local Government as direct beneficiaries and says the project indirectly benefits "approximately 2.8 million eligible voters in the West Bank and 1.2 million potential voters in Gaza".

The local elections went ahead on April 25. The Associated Press reported that turnout was 56 per cent in the West Bank, that "many races were not contested", that candidates had to accept the Palestine Liberation Organization's program, and that the Gaza vote was a single "largely symbolic pilot" in Deir al-Balah with 23 per cent turnout.

The November vote is off. Reuters reported on October 9 that Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh wrote to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on October 8 recommending "that the date of the legislative elections be adjusted by several months", because holding them "under the current circumstances faces fundamental obstacles". The election had been set for November 28.

Rebel News reported on October 9 that Carney had pointed to the scheduling of those elections on September 22 as progress justifying Canada's recognition of a Palestinian state.


Hillel Neuer: Why Hamas Cheered Navi Pillay’s Nobel Peace Prize
After leaving the U.N. human rights office in 2014, Pillay dropped any pretense of distance. In 2020, she signed a campaign titled “Sanction Apartheid Israel!” In June 2021, she joined a letter blaming Israeli “domination and oppression” for the previous month’s war, which began with Hamas firing rockets at Jerusalem and other Israeli cities.

A month later, the president of the Human Rights Council—Nazhat Shameem Khan, now a deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court—appointed Pillay to chair an inquiry into the very conflict for which she had already blamed Israel. But its mandate went even further: a permanent investigation of alleged violations before and after the 2021 clash, reaching into the conflict’s “underlying root causes,” with no end date. The campaigner became the investigator, and Pillay’s verdict came with her appointment.

In February 2022, U.N. Watch submitted a detailed legal brief requesting Pillay’s recusal. We cited her statements and the U.N.’s own impartiality standards. We received no reply.

That June, I walked up to Pillay at the Human Rights Council and handed her a copy. She acknowledged having seen our motion.

“We never received a reply,” I said.

“We can’t respond to everything,” she answered.

Everything? This was a core challenge to her fitness to preside. A few days ago, Pillay claimed that her inquiry “essentially worked like a court.” Yet a judge cannot dismiss a recusal motion as unwanted correspondence.

Later, in July 2022, her fellow commissioner Miloon Kothari railed against “the Jewish lobby” and questioned Israel’s U.N. membership. Pillay defended him, claiming his remarks had been taken out of context. In the end, Kothari retracted his comments after numerous democracies condemned him for antisemitism, as did the Human Rights Council chair himself. Pillay never recanted.

In September 2025, the Pillay inquiry fulfilled its purpose: It accused Israel of genocide. The report was built on selective quotations used to infer genocidal intent, and a complete sidelining of Hamas’ military infrastructure and use of civilian sites. According to the Pillay report’s chronology, it was Israel that attacked on October 7.

Pillay’s accusation of genocide against Israel appears to be what prompted the Nobel. Her earlier achievements—as a judge in South Africa and on the U.N.’s Rwanda tribunal—were known for decades. That record deserves recognition. But it also makes her disregard for impartiality harder to excuse.

She knew the standards. A reputation earned in one courtroom cannot exempt its owner from scrutiny in another. Nor can past courage transform a partisan investigation into justice simply because its findings carry the United Nations seal.

Pillay was named to the inquiry for her authority as a judge, but she acted on the commitments of a campaigner. The Nobel Committee is now seeking to magnify her imprimatur.

Hamas understands the benefit perfectly. Its war against Israel gains a prestigious legal vocabulary, and its victims recede behind an indictment of the state that defended them. That is why Hamas cheered. The Nobel Committee should now tell the world whether this is its desired outcome.


Seth Frantzman: Why Azerbaijan, Bahrain's Baku meetings with President Herzog are important
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog met in Baku on Wednesday with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani during his attendance at the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

These meetings, of importance for Israel, come amid a number of diplomatic and other recent successes, such as Colombia inaugurating its embassy in Jerusalem. Colombia’s Foreign Minister Omar Bula Escobar came to Israel for the event. Additionally, on October 8, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Paraguay's Vice President, Pedro Alliana, in Jerusalem.

These are historic days for the Jewish state. Three years after the October 7 attacks, Israel is increasing its engagement with several countries. This comes as the media discusses whether fighting will resume against the Islamic Republic. In this context, the meetings between Herzog and the president of Azerbaijan, as well as Bahrain’s foreign minister, are important. Azerbaijan is a rising power in the Caucasus, with influence that extends to Europe, Central Asia, and beyond. It also borders Iran.

Bahrain is an important Gulf country. It joined the Abraham Accords in 2020. About the Wednesday meeting between Herzog and Aliyev, the President’s Office, in a statement distributed by Israel’s Government press Office, noted that Herzog had attended the summit “at the invitation of President Aliyev” and that he “thanked President Aliyev for the warm welcome and noted that Azerbaijan is a model of stability and an important and respected voice in the international community.”

Azerbaijan is an important country for many reasons
The leaders looked at “ways to deepen the strategic relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan, which is rooted in mutual respect, shared interests, and the deep historical ties between the two peoples. They also discussed recent regional developments and their countries’ shared commitment to stability and security in the region.”

Azerbaijan is strategically important: It has been reaching out to Syria recently, and it is a close friend of Turkey’s. Turkey has tended to be critical of Israel; and Israel has concerns about Turkey’s role in Syria. Baku can potentially play an important role in reducing tensions between the two.

Herzog’s office noted that “President Aliyev thanked President Herzog for his words of appreciation regarding Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of CICA, and emphasized that his country continues to work to strengthen mutual trust among CICA member states and to advance practical cooperation between them.”

Herzog said, “Israel and Azerbaijan share a unique relationship, one that has been developed over many years and has proven its importance in complex times as well. I thank President Ilham Aliyev for our partnership and for the open dialogue between us, and I believe we have much more to achieve together: strengthening the ties between our peoples, expanding our cooperation, and creating new opportunities for generations to come.”

In the meeting with Bahrain, Herzog also brought up the importance of strengthening the Abraham Accords. The October 7 massacre and the ensuing Israel-Hamas War created a backdrop against which it was difficult for expansion of the accords to take place. Currently, though, there are many opportunities.

“President Herzog emphasized the great importance Israel attaches to its relations with the Kingdom of Bahrain and commended the courageous leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the Government of Bahrain. The President conveyed his warmest wishes to His Majesty the King and the Bahraini people,” Herzog’s office said.


Seth Frantzman: Marrakech Airshow showcases building blocks of Israel-Morocco defense ties
The recent Marrakech Airshow showed that Israel and Morocco are moving toward closer defense ties. Israel’s Defense Ministry said last week that Israel has opened a national pavilion at the show and that the ministry had led an Israeli delegation to Morocco to participate.

“This marks Israel's first official participation in the defense exhibition held in Morocco since the signing of the Abraham Accords, and the first time the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) International Defense Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT) has opened an Israeli national pavilion and headed a delegation of Israeli defense industries at the show,” the ministry said.

Eight Israeli companies came with the delegation, including ASIO Technologies, Orbit Communication Systems, SHILAT Optronics, UVision Air, and XTEND Systems. Israel’s big three defense giants, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, were also present.

This was an important opportunity for Israel’s large companies as well as the smaller and midsize ones to showcase various systems. The ministry highlighted “advanced, combat-proven technologies at the show, including loitering munitions, AI-powered robotic systems, autonomous navigation capabilities for UAVs, laser guidance for FPV drones, satellite communications, and more.”

The ministry is seeking greater defense cooperation with countries abroad. This includes numerous Israeli companies taking part in AUSA this week.

It also includes the recent major Israeli defense deal with Greece for Achilles Shield. In that deal, valued at around €3 billion, Israel will help Greece build a multi-layered air defense array based on Israeli systems. These systems include David’s Sling and Spyder, made by Rafael, as well as the Barak system, made by IAI.

As such, a trend is clear. Israeli ties with Morocco are not just about Morocco but part of a larger story of Israeli ties with Greece and the US. Morocco is seeking to acquire several Israeli defense systems, and reports indicate it has already acquired several. For instance, we reported in January 2026 that Morocco had deployed IAI’s Barak air defense system.

The Economist also reported last year that Morocco was producing drones in cooperation with an Israeli company. “Morocco is Africa’s new military tech hub,” an op-ed at The Jerusalem Post said in April.
Ukraine sends Iranian, Russian weapons to Israel
Security collaboration between Israel and Ukraine is expanding, particularly in the study of Iranian weapons and Russian drones, according to former Israeli ambassador to Ukraine, Michael Brodsky.

Brodsky discussed the growing security ties earlier this week during a meeting with a delegation of Ukrainian journalists. He confirmed that the two countries are working together to study weapons used in Russia's war against Ukraine and that Israel has received several weapons from Kyiv for examination. He did not specify which weapons or systems were involved.

According to Ukrainian media reports, Israel is examining samples of Russian attack drones provided by Ukraine, including newer models from the Geran family, which are based on Iranian-made Shahed drones.

Ukrainian officials also confirmed to Maariv that the cooperation is underway, saying one of its earliest stages involved Ukraine transferring an Iranian Shahed drone to Israel. Russia has used these drones extensively in its war against Ukraine.

Israel is actively developing defenses against drones, laser-based systems, other tech
Brodsky said Israel is actively developing defenses against drones, including laser-based systems and other technologies. However, he assessed that no effective solution capable of countering all types of drones has yet been developed.

"Unmanned aerial vehicles are the number one problem for the entire world today," he told Ukrainian media outlets. "Whoever is first to find an effective solution will gain a significant advantage, and that solution will subsequently be adopted by others as well."

Throughout the war, Russia has repeatedly modified its weapons, changed its tactics for penetrating air defenses, and adjusted the scale of its attacks. Ukraine has responded by developing and improving its drone detection and interception capabilities.

For Israel, Ukraine's battlefield experience is particularly relevant because Iran and its allies use weapons based on similar technology. According to Ukrainian reports, the samples provided to Israel could help researchers better understand the modifications Russia has made to its drones and develop ways to counter them.

Ukraine, meanwhile, could also benefit from Israeli expertise. Israel has extensive operational, intelligence, and technological experience in confronting Iran, including its missile and drone capabilities and other military threats in the region.

Sharing intelligence, threat assessments, and lessons learned from military operations could benefit both countries and further strengthen their security cooperation.
The Effectiveness of Gulf Militaries Put to the Test
How is it that countries that have spent astronomical sums over decades purchasing some of the world's most advanced weapons systems remain relatively passive vis-a-vis Iran and struggle against its proxies to independently defend their own territory and critical infrastructure?

The Arab monarchies of the Gulf turned to investing extraordinary resources in building up their military capabilities. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and even Bahrain and Oman consistently rank among the world's leading countries in military expenditure. They possess air forces equipped with advanced generations of Western fighter jets, air defense systems, precision-guided munitions, naval vessels, UAVs, and advanced intelligence, command, and control systems.

Yet massive procurement has not translated into military effectiveness. Modern military power depends on the quality of personnel, operational experience, readiness, command-and-control, inter-service interoperability, and the capacity to learn. Some Gulf states lack the ability to fully and independently operate and maintain certain advanced systems they have acquired.

Resources directed toward expensive platforms are not necessarily matched by comparable investment in munitions stockpiles, spare parts, maintenance personnel, hardening, logistics, redundancy, personnel training, and expanding the conscription base - components that are far less visible politically, but critical in wartime.

For Arab monarchies, a strong, autonomous, cohesive military may also pose a potential internal threat. This has led to institutional fragmentation, parallel forces, national or presidential guards, and the division of responsibilities among different centers of power. From the standpoint of regime survival, dispersing power reduces the ability of any single actor to seize control of the system. From a military standpoint, however, it can undermine unity of command, information sharing, joint planning, and the capability to deploy all available resources as a unified system.

In countries with small populations, training skilled pilots, technicians, engineers, intelligence personnel, systems operators, and staff officers cannot always keep pace with the rate of advanced weapons acquisitions. Moreover, in wealthy countries, educated young people have access to well-paid and comfortable career alternatives and a military career is not always the most attractive option.

For Israel, the Gulf states' limited military effectiveness means that while they can be important political and economic partners, the scale of their arms procurement should not be taken as a sign that they are a reliable military pillar. A robust regional front against Iran therefore requires a substantial improvement in their military effectiveness and their ability to operate together over time.
'Mother of all bombs': Potential US strike plans for Iran include largest non-nuclear weapon
The United States military has developed strike plans against Iran that include using the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), colloquially known as the "mother of all bombs," the largest non-nuclear weapon in the US arsenal, CNN reported on Thursday.

According to CNN, multiple US officials said that the plans called for the MOAB to be used against Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain.

Another source said that the phrasing used in the plan was that the attack would come “prior to US retrograde in CENTCOM AOR (area of responsibility),” meaning that the US might strike Iran and then immediately pull its forces out of the region.

Several of US President Donald Trump's advisors have also told CNN that, despite Trump's claims that he would not take further action against Iran before the US midterms, it remains unclear whether he will change his mind before Election Day.

The potential deployment of the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal would mark a significant escalation in the conflict, although officials familiar with military planning discussions told CNN that questions remain over its effectiveness in achieving Washington's strategic objectives.

MOAB unlikely to penetrate Iranian nuclear sites
According to several sources, the MOAB likely would be unable to penetrate deep below the ground, where Iranian nuclear facilities, such as Pickaxe Mountain, are believed to be.

“The MOAB is a massive information operation type weapon that is great for huge area clearance but not much else,” one source familiar with military planning discussions around Iran told CNN. “It is definitely not designed as a deep penetration warhead.”

The source said the MOAB's main tactical advantage in this scenario would be its psychological effect on Iran.

“POTUS has unfortunately put himself in a situation where he is almost compelled to do something and, without the ammunition designed to penetrate that level… you have to look at psychological effects for which the MOAB is well-equipped,” the source said.


Poll: Majority of Lebanese Support a Deal with Israel
According to a poll conducted by Statistics Lebanon published last week, Hizbullah's standing among the country's Shia population has weakened significantly.

Of the 800 Shia adults surveyed in September, 42.1% expressed disappointment, anger, or concern over Hizbullah's leadership and conduct.

63.3% supported some form of agreement with Israel, whether through direct negotiations, mediation, or a comprehensive regional deal to end the conflict.

71.1% said decisions on war and peace should be made solely by Beirut.

66.4% said they would support Hizbullah transferring its weapons to the state, while only a third said the group should retain its arsenal.
Rubio urges Lebanon to not return confiscated explosives to Hezbollah, US official says
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun about the confiscation of hundreds of kilograms of explosives from Hezbollah, a US State Department official said on Thursday.

Rubio urged Aoun to hold accountable those who ordered, financed and directed the shipment, and "underscored that returning explosives to (Hezbollah) should be out of the question," the US official said.

Rubio urged direct military-to-military communication between Lebanese and Israeli forces "for deconfliction," the official added.

A Hezbollah lawmaker said earlier the explosives seized last week by Lebanese security forces belonged to his group.

The lawmaker, Hassan Fadlallah, said Hezbollah had intended to use the explosives against Israel, whose troops are occupying swathes of Lebanese territory seized in this year's war.

A Hezbollah official and a Lebanese security source told Reuters the explosives seized in a car last week were intended to be used in explosive drones targeting Israeli troops.

Aoun told Rubio the Lebanese army and security forces were fully carrying out decisions to prevent armed displays, confiscate weapons and combat smuggling, the presidency said, adding Aoun asked Rubio to pressure Israel to halt attacks on southern Lebanese towns and villages.


Hamas will be destroyed within 18 months of becoming PM, Eisenkot pledges
Yashar party leader and former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot pledged to destroy Hamas’s military wing and dismantle its leadership within 18 months of becoming prime minister while giving a briefing at the Gaza border on Thursday ahead of the October 27 elections.

“I pledge that within 18 months of taking office as prime minister, Hamas will no longer rule the Gaza Strip. We will destroy Hamas’ military wing,” he said during a press statement near the communities bordering the Gaza Strip in the South.

“This will happen either through action based on President Trump’s framework, which Netanyahu’s government accepted, or through the use of military and operational capabilities,” he added.

Eisenkot said the plan to eliminate Hamas would be formulated with the heads of the defense establishment, “restore the National Security Council,” and would be presented at the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Yashar has been leading in recent polls and is part of the opposition bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel ended Iran war with more interceptors than it started with, Rafael CEO says
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems emerged from Israel’s recent wars with Iran with more Tamir interceptors in stock than it had when the fighting began, despite thousands of interceptors being fired to defend the country against missiles, rockets, and drones, according to CEO Yoav Tourgeman.

"We ended the war with more Tamir interceptors than before," Tourgeman told Defense & Tech by The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting & Exposition in Washington, DC.

For decades, air-defense development focused primarily on improving the performance of individual systems with greater range, better accuracy, and higher interception rates. But recent conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have exposed a significant challenge where even the most advanced interceptor is of limited value if a defending country cannot produce enough of them to sustain operations through a prolonged campaign.

For Rafael, the Israeli defense company behind the famous Iron Dome and David’s Sling, industrial capacity is becoming inseparable from operational effectiveness.

The challenge is building an architecture that can handle them all, including simultaneous attacks designed to overwhelm defenses through sheer volume. The company’s answer is a layered approach to air defense, matching different systems to different threats, from inexpensive drones and rockets to ballistic missiles and emerging hypersonic weapons.

No single interceptor can economically or effectively address every threat, Tourgeman argued, adding that “we are building the right solution for the right threat.”

The Israeli company's combat credentials remain central to that argument. According to Tourgeman, Iron Dome and David's Sling have intercepted more than 11,000 threats together since becoming operational.

“There would have been a lot more blood in the streets without the Iron Dome,” he said. “These systems have proven themselves in situations we once thought impossible.”
Bedouin man sentenced to 24.5 years for joining IDF to spy for Gazan terror group
A Bedouin man from southern Israel who joined the military to spy for a Palestinian terror group in the Gaza Strip four years ago was sentenced on Wednesday to 24.5 years in prison, authorities said.

Shehadeh Abu Alqian, 29, from a Bedouin village near Hura in the northern Negev region, had been charged with enlisting in the Israel Defense Forces in 2022 to spy for the Mujahideen Brigades, as well as transferring stolen military equipment to the terror group.

The Mujahideen Brigades is a relatively small armed faction in the Gaza Strip and is somewhat allied with the coastal enclave’s rulers, Hamas. The terror group participated in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught, abducting several hostages, including Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, who were all then murdered in captivity.

The Beersheba District Court handed him a 24.5-year sentence on Wednesday for his actions. Prosecutors said the case of Abu Alqian had been referred to Interior Minister Yariv Levin to assess whether to revoke his Israeli citizenship.

Abu Alqian was arrested by the Shin Bet on May 30, 2022, eight days after he joined the army.

According to an indictment filed in June 2022, Abu Alqian sought to “act against the State of Israel and against its security” after his father’s illegally built home in the unrecognized village of Atir was given a demolition order by authorities in mid-2019. Illustrative: A view of houses in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Sawaneen in Israel’s southern Negev Desert, on June 8, 2021. (Hazem Bader/AFP)

On September 9, 2019, Abu Alqian stole an M4 assault rifle and magazine from a soldier waiting at a bus station in the Yatir Forest area of southern Israel, and buried the equipment underground near his home, according to the charges.

In 2021, Alqian joined the Mujahideen Brigades after making contact online with an agent of the group who called himself Abu Saliman, according to court papers.

The indictment said Abu Alqian provided the terror group with information on military helicopter movements, IDF training in the area of his town, and photos of a military base and of Beersheba’s train station.

In March 2022, prosecutors said, Abu Saliman asked Abu Alqian for military equipment, and Alqian offered to sell what he had stolen more than two years before, as well as five grenades and thousands of bullets that he obtained by unspecified means.

After digging up the materiel, Abu Alqian, with the help of a cousin, in May 2022 transferred it to a hiding spot used by the Mujahideen Brigades in the West Bank, according to prosecutors.

He enlisted in the IDF that same month and, during the recruitment process, provided the Mujahideen Brigades operative with names, telephone numbers and photos of Bedouin soldiers serving in the military, the indictment read.
Car ramming reported near Ateret, IDF dispatched to scene
A car ramming was reported near the West Bank area of Ateret, lightly injuring a civilian who was evacuated to receive medical attention, according to a report received by the IDF.

The IDF later confirmed that the incident was not terror-related and that the driver was transferred to the security forces.

Officers from the Judea and Samaria District Police opened an investigation into the incident, according to the IDF statement.


Paging Hezbollah | Official Trailer
Israel spent years building a fake company just to sell Hezbollah rigged pagers. It worked. New trailer for PAGING HEZBOLLAH, in theaters 10/30.




IDF, Shin Bet kill two terrorists in Khan Yunis who allegedly smuggled weapons into Gaza
The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced they killed two terrorists on Wednesday for alleged involvement in the smuggling of weapons and other military assets into Gaza, according to a joint statement.

Basel Nabil Abd Al-Rahman Kashta and Ahmad Raja Al-Shaer were killed in the strikes in Khan Yunis to eliminate "an immediate threat to Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating in the Yellow Line area," the joint statement said.

The IDF and Shin Bet added that precise munitions and aerial surveillance were used to mitigate unnecessary harm to civilians.

The statement said that the IDF would focus its efforts on limiting Hamas's military build-up and its financing capabilities to prevent the terrorist group from regaining its capacity to threaten IDF troops and Israeli civilians.

IDF dismantles Gaza tunnel stretching past the Yellow Line
Separately, the IDF said Thursday that engineering troops from the Gaza Division's Southern Brigade, working with the Yahalom combat engineering unit, sealed and dismantled an underground tunnel route approximately 1.5 kilometers long that crossed the Yellow Line area in the Gaza Strip.

The tunnel contained rooms intended for use by Hamas terrorists, according to the IDF. Troops in the Southern Command remained deployed in the area under the ceasefire agreement and would continue operating to remove immediate threats, the statement said.

The IDF also announced Wednesday that the 99th Division had completed a four-month mission in the northern Gaza Strip, east of the Yellow Line.

During the operation, troops eliminated more than 100 terrorists and neutralized approximately eight kilometers of underground tunnels, according to statements from the IDF.


Ask Haviv Anything: 154: How Israel broke pan-Arabism, and what that means for Iran, with Dan Schueftan
In the 1950s and 60s, Gamal Abdel Nasser promised the Arab world that unity would erase the humiliation of 1948 and ultimately destroy Israel. Instead, it led to the devastation of 1967. Enter Anwar Sadat, who engineered a limited war in 1973 not to conquer Israel militarily, but to deliver a psychological shock that would force American intervention and secure Egypt’s national interests over pan-Arab fantasies. Today, Israel faces a new regional axis led by Iran, fueled by religious redemption rather than secular nationalism. Dan Schueftan joins the podcast to unpack the strategic genius of Sadat, the miscalculations of President Carter, and the historical blueprint Israeli leaders are working from as they seek to break the Iranian ring of fire today.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the Arab-Israeli Conflict and Its Lessons
02:00 Historical Context: Arab Weakness and Pan-Arabism
05:13 The Illusion of Complete Victory and Peace
06:11 The Response Strategy: 25 Years of Peace with Egypt
08:05 Arab Failures and the Rise of Sadat
09:29 Sadat's Shift from Pan-Arabism to Egyptian National Interest
12:12 The 1967 and 1973 Wars: Shock and Strategy
15:04 Lessons from the 1973 War and Sadat's Calculations
19:52 US Diplomacy: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Cold War Context
25:01 Sadat's 1977 Shift Toward Peace and Strategic Genius
29:58 The Role of American Policy and the Camp David Accords
34:48 Religious and National Redemption in Arab Politics
40:01 The Current State of the Middle East and Future Lessons
50:13 Lessons for Israel and the Arab World Today
01:00:04 The Importance of Resilience, Response, and Realpolitik
01:09:48 US Leadership, Democracy, and Regional Stability


HonestReporting: Human Sacrifice, Not Human Shields: Col. Richard Kemp on How Hamas Fights in Gaza
Colonel Richard Kemp commanded British forces in Afghanistan and worked on counterterrorism at the Cabinet Office. In Kabul, he once had to order an attack on an al-Qaeda cell hiding in a civilian neighborhood, knowing civilians could die. That's the vantage point he brings to the charge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Genocide is a crime of intent, not a crime of scale. So what would it look like if the IDF were actually trying? Kemp walks through what the law of armed conflict says about hospitals and human shields, and why he calls Hamas's strategy "human sacrifice." He describes sitting in an IDF planning meeting inside Gaza before a strike, and tells the story of an Israeli pilot who flew sortie after sortie and finally abandoned an attack because too many civilians were nearby.

He also takes on the numbers, starvation, the ceasefire, and where the IDF could have done better. He's not a neutral party. But he has stood where the people being accused stand.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Cold open & introducing Col. Richard Kemp
3:01 The order he had to give in Kabul
9:32 Split-second decisions and the mistakes every army makes
14:45 "War criminal" and "genocide": what gets lost
18:26 If Gaza is a genocide, which war isn't?
24:33 What would it look like if the IDF were trying?
26:22 Human shields and who the law holds responsible
32:06 Why he calls it "human sacrifice"
33:43 Inside an IDF strike planning meeting in Gaza
42:13 The civilian-to-combatant numbers
48:57 Starvation, aid and the ICC
52:41 What a ceasefire actually means
55:26 How do you fight jihadists?
1:06:04 Where could the IDF have done better?
1:11:09 One question for anyone convinced it's genocide


Knesset speaker rejects genocide charges in speech to European parliamentary leaders
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, addressing European parliamentary leaders in Rome on Thursday, rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza and accused world leaders of spreading falsehoods for political gain, drawing some applause.

“Everyone in this room knows the truth — Israel is not committing genocide. Enough with this despicable lie,” Ohana, a senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, said in a speech at the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament.

The two-day summit brings together parliamentary leaders from the Council of Europe’s 46 member states and beyond to discuss threats to democracy and the future of the rules-based international order.

The council is a human rights and democracy organization that is separate from the 27-member European Union. Israel is not a member of the Council of Europe, but holds observer status in the council’s Parliamentary Assembly.

Speaking at the conference, Ohana held up a copy of “And Every Single One Was Someone,” a 1,250-page book that contains the word “Jew” six million times to commemorate the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

“This is what real genocide looks like,” Ohana said.

“Many world leaders proclaim the importance of their values, yet when the moment of truth arrives, only a few are willing to defend them,” he said, accusing some leaders of knowingly endorsing “false propaganda” to secure “fleeting electoral applause in their simmering streets.”

The war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, was “a global clash of civilizations, a battle between the forces of darkness, radicalism and extremism, and those of freedom, liberty and democracy,” Ohana said.

“Some of the member-states represented here have a deeply dark place in the history books. I urge you this time to stand on the right side of history, fighting for freedom with us,” he said.

Ohana’s remarks were met with applause, and Austrian lawmaker Petra Bayr, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, thanked him in Hebrew.


For BBC Verify, No Investigation Is Ever Enough When It Comes to the IDF
BBC Verify is known to give a free pass to terrorist organizations, reaching its conclusion first before it lays out the facts.

In its most recent “investigation,” it analyzed “Hundreds of IDF investigations into killings without public outcome.” Using AI, the BBC reportedly identified 254 “incidents of harm” that the IDF had said it was looking into but for which no public outcome had been reported.

While 254 incidents may sound substantial in isolation, these incidents span three years of war on multiple fronts. More than that, the very fact that incidents are under investigation is hardly evidence of a failure to investigate and reach a conclusion, especially when complex investigations take time during periods of war.

Yet even incidents that have been investigated by the IDF are presented as insufficient to BBC Verify. In different incidents involving the World Central Kitchen (WCK) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the BBC highlighted only the very last line of the IDF’s statement that it “did not find a basis for or reasonable suspicion to begin a criminal investigation.” It therefore ignored that these incidents, among others, were examined thoroughly by the IDF’s General Staff Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which determines whether there is a basis or reasonable suspicion for criminal proceedings. In the WCK case, the investigation identified serious failures and led to disciplinary action, while ultimately finding that the threshold for a criminal investigation had not been met.

These cases, and others that are under ongoing investigation, reveal the challenges of urban warfare against a terrorist entity that embeds itself in civilian populations. The IDF also has an obligation to protect its soldiers and avoid exposing sensitive operational and personal information. Given the nature of these investigations, the details of ongoing cases cannot necessarily be made public without potentially compromising operational security or the soldiers involved.

The BBC itself has no problem refusing to make internal investigations, like the Balen Report, public. But when it comes to Israel, neither thorough investigations nor conclusions are ever enough.


Iran’s Sanctioned Press TV Finds a New Platform in UK-Based Sovereign Media
A new Jewish Onliner investigation has documented extensive connections between Sovereign Media, a Nairobi-based socialist news outlet, and Iran’s state-media apparatus. They run through the founder’s career at Press TV, journalists associated with both organizations, articles republished directly from Iranian state broadcasting, and a British corporate structure dedicated to building an international anti-imperialist media coalition while obfuscating the outlet’s Iranian ties.

The full report can be accessed at this link. Below is an abridged version.

Key Findings
Iranian state-media connections: Sovereign Media founder Ahmed Kaballo spent years at Iran’s Press TV in London, eventually joining the leadership of its UK office. At least five other Sovereign-associated journalists have documented professional links to Press TV or its sister broadcaster HispanTV.
Press TV propaganda republished: Sovereign published at least three articles credited to Press TV, including material defending Tehran’s account of its crackdown on anti-regime unrest and its military confrontation with the United States. The outlet also publishes content denying the atrocities of October 7th.
British corporate infrastructure: Kaballo controls a UK-registered company called “Sovereignty Media Group” whose founding documents propose building the “largest global coalition of anti-imperialist media” and institutions serving socialist political movements.
Funding network: Sovereign acknowledges funding from the Babochki Collective, co-founded by James “Fergie” Chambers, who was arrested in Spain amid U.S. allegations involving money laundering and material support for Hamas.





 


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