Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, December 20, 2024

Media, reporters, truth, bias - and transparency

Axios has an article that seems almost panicky, titled "Media vs. Reporting," about how Elon Musk helped stop the government spending bill.

This week's epic fight over funding the government captures the power — and flaws — of the new information ecosystem.

Why it matters: Elon Musk and his followers on X proved they dominate the Republican media industrial complex — using a digital revolt to kill a spending bill, and open the door to a government shutdown. That revolt was powered by some false information, tweeted with total self-certainty.

"We aren't just the media here now. We are also the government," Donald Trump Jr. tweeted yesterday to his 13 million followers....

So when Musk tells X followers "You are the media," it's true they're part of his media. But that's different than declaring they're all reporters, trying to validate information before sharing it.

I've been doing what I do for a long enough time to know that reporters are not necessarily any better at reporting the truth than anyone else.

There are several advantages of listening to reporters over non-reporters:

1. They at least go through the motions of validating information before publishing. We do not know what exactly they do and how they do it, though.

2. They have at least one layer of oversight, namely, editors and maybe fact-checkers.

3. At least in theory, they don't want to pub publicly shamed for getting their facts wrong.

But the overriding problem with "reporting" is that it is still as subject to bias as anything else. That bias, when entrenched, means that the editing sand fact-checking themselves are also biased. If the entire ecosystem is bad, then you cannot trust anything that comes out of it.

The news media aren't the ecosystem, however. it is much bigger than that.

This week, Tablet published a long piece by David Samuels about how the Obama administration subverted the media to push its worldview and quash any other viewpoints. In this story, reporters are not the righteous, objective upholders of truth and democracy - they are part of the problem, and only cogs in the machine.

When I wrote about Rhodes’ ambitious program to sell the Iran deal, I advanced the term “echo chambers” to describe the process by which the White House and its wider penumbra of think tanks and NGOs generated an entirely new class of experts who credentialed each other on social media in order to advance assertions that would formerly have been seen as marginal or not credible, thereby overwhelming the efforts of traditional subject-area gatekeepers and reporters to keep government spokespeople honest. In constructing these echo chambers, the White House created feedback loops that could be gamed out in advance by clever White House aides, thereby influencing and controlling the perceptions of reporters, editors and congressional staffers, and the elusive currents of “public opinion” they attempted to follow. If you saw how the game worked from the inside, you understood that the new common wisdom was not a true “reflection” of what anyone in particular necessarily believed, but rather the deliberate creation of a small class of operatives who used new technologies to create and control larger narratives that they messaged to target audiences on digital platforms, and which often presented themselves to their targets as their own naturally occurring thoughts and feelings, which they would then share with people like themselves.

This description reflects reality much more than Axios' simplistic "trustworthy reporters vs. untethered right-wing social media activists" dichotomy. Before Musk bought X, reporters and the companies that ran social media were on the same side, and opinions that disagreed with the prevailing conventional wisdom were actively silenced, like questioning COVID lockdowns or bringing up Hunter Biden's laptop.

Even the most careful, professional, ethical reporting cannot eliminate bias. Newspapers are beholden to advertisers, they must ensure they have access to newsmakers, they don't want to risk losing readership, they want to please their corporate owners as well as the activist members of their own newsrooms. The choice of stories to cover and what not to cover, and how prominent those stories are, reflect bias.

Why don't we see more stories about starvation or sexual abuse by aid workers in parts of Africa? Do black lives not matter? Not as much as ratings and circulation.

And it is not only journalism. Even science, which should be the field with the least amount of bias because the scientific method is meant to eliminate it, is still subject to bias. The choices of what topics to research, what kinds of research get funding, concerns over publishing papers that go against conventional wisdom and might lead to "cancellation" or other professional harm, have all been shown to affect the quality and objectivity of scientific research.

Of course, this is personal to me. I am my own reporter, editor, editorialist, designer, headline writer, publisher, illustrator, legal advisor, social media expert, and marketing department. To complicate things, I am anonymous. How can I get people to trust me? What is the best model for someone with no known experience, no resume, no history, to become a news media professional?

The answer is transparency.

I will show my sources. I will describe how I got from point A to point B. I try to give enough information in every article I write to allow anyone to check my work.

Moreover, I am upfront about my own biases. This is a pro-Israel blog, and I choose to cover stories from that direction. My choice of what to write comes from my biases and my mood at the moment. If I feel like I am burning out on one topic, I will switch to something else or to another medium like cartoons or memes or videos.

So EoZ is not a place for comprehensive news. But neither is any newspaper or TV show or website on Earth. At least I can tell you why I choose to cover a story and (for those who ask me) why I don't cover others - often the reason is simply that I don't have the time to do it properly, or that I'm not so interested at that moment, or that I feel others are covering it adequately and I have nothing to add.

Unlike other media, I don't have to please my boss, my advertisers, my peers (although there is some peer pressure as with anywhere else.) I am very appreciative of donations but I do not cover or avoid covering any topics because of them or the threat to withhold them.

So even though most of you don't know my name, I believe I am more transparent about these things than any major media outlet is, where they pretend that they have no biases and no external pressure to cover or not to cover a story.

Transparency is the key to being able to trust any source, whether it is a newspaper or a Facebook post or a scientific paper or a Wikipedia entry or AI.

The Axios story does get this right:

That puts even more pressure on you as a news consumer to discern what and who you can trust for reliable, actionable information. It demands skepticism and patience when hot news hits fast.
You need to be skeptical of people or sources unless you feel confident they routinely get it right. You need to be patient in not overreacting to — or oversharing — stories that hit your dopamine button.

We should be teaching students how to check their own facts, how to put things in context, how to understand the motivations of the source - and there are always motivations - how to relate the story with history, and how to be skeptical especially when the story fits in with your own biases. In short, how to think.

When a story like the drones over New Jersey comes out, it helps to compare them to UFO sightings in the past - and how most of those have more mundane explanations. Occam's razor is very useful for taking a first pass at understanding an event.

So is life experience. If you are too young to know about the waves of UFO sightings in the past, then you don't have the proper context to examine another story of unknown lights mysteriously appearing in the sky.

And, perhaps most of all, is humility. Everyone has a field they are experts in, and have seen how others misjudge it based on their own ignorance. But those same people believe the are experts on military matters or psychology or history based on little more than TikTok videos.

Misinformation is not something to be trivialized. It is a major problem. But it is a potential problem with every news source, present company included. Only educated consumers of news can pressure the news sources to do the right thing.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

House antisemitism report mentions that the Department of Homeland Security isn't doing its job to deport members of terror groups

On Thursday, House Republicans issued the House Antisemitism Staff Report which concentrated on how colleges and universities didn't protect Jewish students since October 7.

Beyond the focus on universities, though, it also has a section on how the Department of Homeland Security is not doing its job to deport foreigners, mostly students, who violate the law by their associations with terror organizations.

The report says:

The Committee on the Judiciary has jurisdiction over the Biden-Harris Administration’s enforcement of federal immigration law. This jurisdiction includes the adjudication, issuance, and revocation of nonimmigrant visas, such as student visas.

Certain conduct during the antisemitic protests may render aliens removable from the United States. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), an alien is inadmissible to and removable from the United States if the alien “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.” Despite the clear statutory language, in October 2023, only three weeks after Hamas’s attacks on Israel, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas declined to state whether foreign students should “have their visas revoked” if they “advocate for the elimination of Israel and attacks on Jewish individuals.” Instead, Secretary Mayorkas claimed that “it is a matter of law and it requires a legal interpretation,” noting that DHS was “assessing [the] legal assertion” that those aliens could have their visas revoked.

The Committee request that the Department of Homeland Security list all of the people who violated the law and are being deported because of their association with terror groups. After some stonewalling, the DHS answered the question: Zero.

Keep in mind that in October, the US declared Samidoun - which has been instrumental in many antisemitic protests - to be a terrorist organization, a fundraising front for the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Yet even before the designation, there were other reasons to investigate foreign student protesters. Not only does the law say that aliens associated with terrorism are inadmissible to the US, but also "Any immigrant who is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist or any other totalitarian party (or subdivision or affiliate thereof), domestic or foreign, is inadmissible."

Most of the major protests have been organized by communist groups like ANSWER (it is linked to the Party for Socialism and Liberation which describes itself as communist), and Samidoun is also linked to many communist groups itself.

In short, if the DHS wanted to protect Jews on campus, it has plenty of ammunition to not only get rid of foreign participants and supporters of antisemitic protests but also to send a message of intolerance for intolerance.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

The Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi pretended to reveal Israel's secret plans for the region.

According to him, Israel plans to invade some 50 miles into Syria to reach Suwaida, where they will meet with the American "occupiers" who supposedly hold vast swaths of land there. From there they will establish what he says they call "David's Corridor" to reach the Kurdish sections on the Euphrates.

The ultimate Zionist goal (with the Americans) is to take over Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, according to al-Houthi.

This is a pattern. Arabs accuse Israel of planning something that no sane Israeli is interested in doing, and then they take credit for dissuading Israel with their might and perseverance when Israel doesn't do what it never planned on doing in the first place.

It started with the rumor of the Mufti of Jerusalem that has never ended - that Jews were planning to demolish the Al Aqsa Mosque and build a new Temple there. This rumor is over a hundred years old, and the Arab masses still believe it, even though Israel could have destroyed Al Aqsa and the rest of the Muslim sites a thousand times over by now. But the reason, we are told, is because clerics tell believers to go there and "defend Al Aqsa."

The Greater Israel rumor is fueled by the crazed claim that the two blue stripes on the Israeli flag symbolize the Nile and the Euphrates - says that Israel plans to expand to encompass most of the Middle East. Israel having given back land it controlled for peace is not proof the accusation is wrong - it is merely proof that Israel makes tactical moves to make it look like it wants peace when its real goals of domination are obvious.

Or the perennial favorite that Israel is "Judaizing" Jerusalem. In fact, Israel protects Muslim archaeological treasures and has discovered and preserved some important ones in Jerusalem.

No rumor is too bizarre for the Arab antisemitic world not to believe. Israel controls the weather! Israel has weaponized viruses to sicken Muslims! Israel sends Palestinians chewing gum that will make them sex-crazed! Israel steals organs from dead Palestinians! Israel has a weapon that vaporizes Gaza civilians!

When the rumors don't pan out, that proves not only that the strong Arab world can stop these plans, but also that the Jews are too weak and frightened to implement them fully.

After all, the thinking goes, if the Arabs had this power they wouldn't hesitate to commit genocide on the Jews; when the Jews don't do the same to Arabs there must be a logical reason that fits in with their projection.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

My cartoon book "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" gets a great review by @BenRothke in The Jewish Link

My new book or cartoons, "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!," just received a glowing review by Ben Rothke in The Jewish Link, a weekly newspaper with a readership of 100,000.

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The Elder of Ziyon is one of the most important pro-Israel bloggers. You can read my Jewish Link interview with him at https://bit.ly/4gVMUyT and my review of his amazing book at https://bit.ly/3ZVBvsT.

The thousands of posts on his blog detail the bias and lies spread about Israel. For example, he made it eminently clear how Hamas had infiltrated UNRWA a decade before mass media started to report on it. His many posts about that malevolent U.N. agency led me to write my post about them on Medium: https://bit.ly/41BIXef.

EoZ is back with a great new book, “He’s An Anti-Zionist Too! Cartoons by Elder of Ziyon.” In 2018, he started adding his own captions to New Yorker-style cartoons. This was meant to satirize people who think they are sophisticated, yet are clueless about Israel and the Middle East.

EoZ writes that a problem with satire, especially when discussing “anti-Zionists,” is that often their reality overtakes the satirical versions. Cartoons are one way to expose the insanity, hypocrisy and hate that animate these people. And that is something he does exceptionally well in the nearly 150 cartoons in this amazing book.

This book brilliantly details the utter hypocrisy and absurdities of those who mindlessly criticize Israel—from Amnesty International to CNN and more. EoZ’s sharp wit and insight make this a most entertaining and enlightening read.

The Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary is given annually for “a distinguished portfolio of editorial cartoons or other illustrated work characterized by political insight, editorial effectiveness or public service value.” These cartoons by EoZ are certainly worthy of that prize.

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Buy your copy today, and get more as gifts for the Zionists in your life!

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

12/19 Links Pt2: Phillips: The diplomatic crisis between Israel and Ireland; Antisemitism is a public health crisis; Jesus Wasn’t Palestinian

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The diplomatic crisis between Israel and Ireland

Why are the Irish so bigoted against Israel and the Jewish people?

Ireland has a deplorable history. As Sa’ar said, it was at best neutral during World War II. In 1945, the Irish leader Éamon de Valera sent his condolences to the German people over Hitler’s death.

One reason often given is the country’s Catholicism with its ancient history of theological antisemitism. But this can’t be the whole reason since other Catholic countries aren’t suffused with this degree of venom towards Israel and the Jews.

An important further reason is that the Irish identify with the Palestinian Arabs as perceived victims of Israeli “colonial” oppression just as they identify the Irish as victims of British “colonial” oppression.

Some point to the critical influence in Ireland of Sinn Féin, the party that served as the political fig leaf for the Irish Republican Army. The IRA waged a terrorist war against Britain and the Protestants of U.K.-run Northern Ireland on and off from early in the last century and was responsible for a campaign of bomb attacks in disturbances known as the “Troubles” from the late 1960s to 1998.

The IRA received massive arms shipments from Libya in the 1980s, and was funded and trained by the Palestine Liberation Organization. After the IRA disarmed in the wake of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams met Hamas leaders in 2006 and 2009.

According to Irish journalist and anti-extremism researcher, Dr. Eoin Lenihan, the links in the Irish mind between Israeli and British “colonialists” and between the Palestinian and Irish “resistance” resulted from Adams yoking together Arab and Irish nationalism under the banner of revolutionary socialism.

This permeated more widely, he says, because, unlike other countries, Ireland doesn’t have a tradition of centrist politics. Its two big parties, Fiánna Fail and Fine Gael, have no core values; so they veer towards wherever the wind is blowing—in this case, Sinn Féin’s revolutionary leftism and the Israel-bashing NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty.

Through Sinn Fein’s influence, Ireland has become enmeshed with the international radical left and its promotion of intersectionality and victim culture. Under this dogma, the Jews can never be victims because they are seen as all-powerful, controlling the Western world in their own interests to the disadvantage of everyone else.

Victim culture is therefore itself innately anti-Jew. So there’s a double source of Jew-hatred in Ireland—both from its Catholic heritage and from the secular religion of universalism and victim culture.

Ireland is simply a danger to Israel and the Jewish people. It should be treated as a pariah until and unless it decides to support civilization rather than its nemesis.

Biden admin, universities failed to crack down on antisemitism in ‘disturbing pattern’ after Oct. 7, scathing House GOP report finds

The Biden administration, top universities and medical institutions utterly failed to crack down on antisemitism that exploded in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack, according to a scathing House Republican report released Thursday, which laid bare “systemic” and “astounding” shortcomings.

Six GOP-led House committees declared in a joint report that “antisemitism has been allowed to fester unchecked” due to “a disturbing pattern of defensiveness and denial,” according to a copy exclusively obtained by The Post.

“Across the nation, Jewish Americans have been harassed, assaulted, intimidated, and subjected to hostile environments — violations that stand in stark contrast to America’s fundamental values, including a foundational commitment to religious freedom for all,” the 42-page report says.

“The failure of our federal government departments and agencies is astounding.”

The outpouring of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish remarks and actions tested America’s free speech precepts and the fact that hate speech is generally lawful in the United States, unless it amounts to harassment or is an aggravating factor in a criminal act such as assault.

The Republican-led report points out, however, that federal law generally prevents recipients of taxpayer funds from tolerating discrimination — allowing a foothold to leverage recipients to stiffen policies on campuses and at medical settings should federal officials so choose.

In almost every case, institutions allegedly took almost no disciplinary action against alleged antisemites and made no changes to codes of conduct, and faced no loss of grants to stop the rapidly spreading Jew hatred.

The report focuses heavily on Columbia University and its recommendations urge federal agencies to use money to incentivize more stringent anti-discrimination policies — and also proposes potential legislation to that effect.

“The executive branch should aggressively enforce Title VI [anti-discrimination rules] and hold schools accountable for their failures to protect students. Universities that fail to fulfill the obligations upon which their federal funding is predicated or whose actions make clear they are unfit stewards of taxpayer dollars should be treated accordingly,” the Republican panels said.

Commuting federal death sentences would include Tree of Life shooter, McConnell says

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged U.S. President Joe Biden not to heed the call in a letter from 21 retired, liberal judges to commute the sentences of all of those on federal death row.

“President Biden’s decision earlier this month to pardon his son may well have set a unique and unfortunate precedent. But abuse of the presidential pardon doesn’t stop there,” the Kentucky senator said on the Senate floor on Dec. 18. “Last week, the president went on to commute 1,500 sentences, and the way liberal activists see it, he should have done even more.”

“More than 20 liberal retired judges—including the Boston radical, who recommended the disgraced pro-crime U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins—have now urged the president to turn his eye to federal death sentences,” McConnell said.

“If the president heeded these former judges’ call, it would mean commuting the death sentences of the perpetrator of the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh,” the senator added.

Robert Bowers was convicted of murdering 11 people at the Tree of Life*Or Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018.

12/19 Links Pt1: The ‘Machinery of Death’ and Its Apologists; Israel calls HRW ‘genocide’ report a ‘blood libel’; IDF hits Houthi targets in Yemen after missile fired at central Israel

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: The ‘Machinery of Death’ and Its Apologists

The sheer scale of the horror in Syria is going to be almost incomprehensible. And the names of many of the missing will never be known.

Organized mass atrocities require enormous bureaucratic systems. “The graves were prepared in an organized manner — the truck would come, unload the cargo it had, and leave,” one farmer told Reuters. He lived near a former Syrian military base and would often see refrigerated trucks full of bodies driving to a nearby cemetery with a full military escort.

Digging and then expanding such graves can be decade-long projects, as satellite images showed. And that means the UN is only part of the problem, because the world cannot plausibly feign ignorance. The anti-Western propaganda on campuses and in textbooks and flooding through the discourse of the activist class is being disseminated precisely for the benefit of the regimes digging those mass graves.

It may get tiresome to keep hearing questions like “Where were the tentifada protests and the flotillas to Syria?” But the answer is important. The students and activists marching for Gaza are not overlooking the Syrian victims; they are actively on the side of those committing the atrocities. Waving a Hezbollah flag is an act of anti-Israel incitement, yes. But it is not only that. It is also a show of support for the “machinery of death” putting Syrian civilians in the ground.

At moments like this we see the activists and protesters who have enabled these crimes for who they are. They aren’t just now finding out what goes on in Sednaya prison and others like it. They did not back a regime that turned out to be evil. They chose to back an evil regime, eyes wide open. The Syrian civil war has been going on for nearly a decade and a half. Eleven years ago, the Obama administration announced to the world that, yes, Assad had used poison gas on families trying to hide in their basement:

“The situation profoundly changed… on August 21, when Assad’s government gassed to death over a thousand people, including hundreds of children. The images from this massacre are sickening: Men, women, children lying in rows, killed by poison gas. Others foaming at the mouth, gasping for breath. A father clutching his dead children, imploring them to get up and walk. On that terrible night, the world saw in gruesome detail the terrible nature of chemical weapons, and why the overwhelming majority of humanity has declared them off-limits — a crime against humanity, and a violation of the laws of war.”

The Iranian empire responsible for the barbaric crimes in Syria, in Gaza, in Lebanon may be receding, but now is not the time to look away. Now is the time to sear into our memories just how low Tehran’s apologists are capable of sinking.

Middle East Scholar: "The Sunnis Can Smell Blood"

Dr. Mordechai Kedar interviewed by Nadav Shragai (Israel Hayom) Lt.-Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar, 72, a frequent guest on Al-Jazeera, served for 25 years in IDF Military Intelligence. Now closely monitoring developments in Syria, he said, "Iran has abandoned its proxies - Hamas, Hizbullah, and Assad. The glue that has held the Shi'ite alliance together is now disintegrating, and the Sunnis can smell blood."

"I sense that Iraq, too, might disavow the Iranian presence there in the not-too-distant future, and we could even witness the fall of the Houthis in Yemen. The events in Syria have provided a real boost to the Sunnis everywhere, encouraging them to get organized against the Iranian presence."

"We need to encourage the minorities in Iran to rise up against the Persian hegemony....There is no Iranian people. There are Persians and other large groups, such as Baluchis, Arabs, Kurds, Azeris, and Turkmen, alongside an additional 40 or so smaller groups....In Iran today, at least 80 out of the 90 million people there are over the moon about what has been happening in Syria, as this is a blow to the Iranian government and its plans to spread out over the entire Middle East."

In Syria, "we have exchanged radical Alawites for Sunni jihadis, who are backed by a megalomaniac in the form of [Turkish President] Erdogan, who provides refuge for Hamas, who talks in favor of Hamas, from his land Hamas mastermind terrorist attacks carried out in Israel, who has sworn to revive the days of the Ottoman Empire....Only last July, he made a clear threat to invade Israel." Regarding the hostage talks, he said, "Hamas will not release all of them. The hostages are their life insurance policy. That is the reason why, to date, they have yet to provide Israel with a complete list of names of all of them. In any deal, they will seek to keep hold of a certain number of hostages."

"Even after a deal, they will definitely suddenly discover some additional hostages, holed up somewhere or other, with some other organization or local clan, hostages of whom they really 'had no idea.' They have absolutely no intention of returning them all."

Reasons to Be Hopeful

In a crisis, you are going to want an Israeli on your side. In times of difficulty, Israelis have a way of stepping up to help that goes way beyond the norm.

Whether you were a farmer who couldn't get the crop in on time, the partner of a reservist struggling to support the family, or a business from the north or south in trouble, Israelis rushed in their hundreds of thousands to help.

During the first two weeks of the Oct. 7 war, more than 1,000 civil initiatives emerged across Israel and 48.6% of the Israeli population engaged in volunteering, according to a report from Hebrew University.

In addition, locally-based international humanitarian aid organizations continued to send out dedicated and trained staff to help in all sorts of crisis situations.

In January, SmartAID sent help to earthquake-hit Japan, then to Taiwan after another earthquake in April.

In October, SmartAID provided solar power units and communication systems to communities in Florida and North Carolina in the wake of two devastating hurricanes.

In June, IsraAID sent help to Papua New Guinea after a deadly landslide. It also expanded access to safe water in Ukraine and drilled new bore holes in Kenya after the country suffered its worst drought in 40 years.

Israeli villages and towns near Gaza are finally rebuilding. Destroyed buildings are being bulldozed and rebuilt, volunteers are cleaning and clearing, residents are returning, businesses reopening.

Since the ceasefire with Hizbullah on Nov. 27, the north has also seen signs of recovery.

Citizens are beginning to return home, communities are regrouping, farms are getting back to normal, businesses are reopening, and rebuilding is beginning.

Israel's air defense systems more than proved themselves in the last 15 months. According to Rafael CEO Yoav Turgeman, the Iron Dome and David's Sling systems intercepted more targets than all other air defense systems combined in the past 50 years.

In one year since Oct. 7, there had been 26,000 rockets, missiles and drones launched at Israel - 13,200 from Gaza, 12,400 from Lebanon, 400 from Iran, 180 from Yemen, and 60 from Syria.

Democrats Fear Trump Will Weaponize Defense Dept Against America's External Foes (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook and Substack pages.

Washington, December 19 - Senior Biden administration officials expressed their concerns today that as part of an anticipated revamping of government institutions that the president-elect and his associates have promised, the federal agencies that oversee US military operations might be repurposed for missions and policies aimed at undermining or curtailing opponents of the US and aiding her allies.

Outgoing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has cautioned media and government figures ever since Election Day that Donald Trump will weaponize the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Space Force, and other forces under Department aegis against America's enemies, in a sharp break with policy under outgoing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the latter of whom Trump defeated in the election.

"That's not what government institutions are for," insisted Austin. "Government institutions, as Presidents Obama and Biden have repeatedly modeled for us, serve the primary purpose of containing, weakening, and ultimately eliminating domestic political opposition. That can be through the Department of Justice, obviously, but the Internal Revenue Service of the Department of the Treasury also has an important role to play in targeting both individuals and organizations hostile to the Obama-Biden vision for America."

"It's dangerous to weaponize this department in particular against our rivals and foes," he continued. "I dread the thought of sanctions enforcement actually taking place against Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, for example, or their facing American-led consequences for their decades-long destabilization of Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Iran, and the Palestinian Territories. Perish the thought of US military action to block the export of Iranian oil to China, or Iranian drones to Russia!"

Other defense officials fear that Trump might remove any restrictions Biden had placed on Israel or Ukraine in confronting enemies of the US. "If, as threatened, Trump insists on full supply of Israel to achieve victory, or Ukraine to strike anywhere in Russia," acknowledged one senior Pentagon official, "then our enemies might be effectively deterred. Our defense contractors would never stand for such a thing. Also, the grievance narratives that drive both Right and Left politics will have to find new conflicts to carry the valence necessary for grifting and generating clout. We can't have that."

Administrators at the Department of Defense and in the various Commands of the military have already ordered plans drawn up to defend against an anticipated "weaponization" of the Department that they expect will take the form of eliminating DEI programs.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

The Champaign, IL city council had a meeting on Tuesday where it discussed the normal stuff one would expect in such a meeting. But, of course, people also brought up Israel, because, you know, Israel and genocide and Palestinians and stuff.

City Council member Davion Williams went on a ten minute response to a comment about Gaza, starting around 2:30:00.

I've listened to it a couple of times and I cannot figure out what he is really trying to say. This elected official cannot put together a coherent English sentence. But what is abundantly clear is that he is a stupid, ignorant antisemite.

He starts by saying that Israel has "occupied" Palestine since 1948 (and Zionism only started a brief time before that.) So much for the "territories." Those are history nowadays - Israel haters now openly call for the destruction of the entire state.

Then he talks about Judaism. He seems to be saying that since Jews don't believe the messiah has come, then they are hypocrites for not stopping the war in Gaza. Again, the logic isn't just fuzzy - it is the ravings of a nutcase. But tying a "genocide" to Judaism itself shows how bigoted and antisemitic he is.

Then comes the conspiracy theory.

There is a small element of individuals who have a lot of control over our music, over our food, over media, over a hole lot of things..."We [turn] a blind eye to it, and I'm sorry, but it's the truth, and we don't know it. I just found out...I love Pringles. They're kosher. I just found that out. I stopped eating them.

His nonsense meanders in other directions, too. For example, says that a lot of Black people are not really African Americans but really Native Americans, and this history has been hushed up.

The guy is a lunatic. And he is an antisemite. Yet somehow he got himself elected to the city council - and no one said a word in response to his crazed monologue. A smattering of people even applauded at the end.

This is way too much of America today.

(h/t D)

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

The complaints out of the Iranian axis of resistance in response to Israel's attack on Houthi positions last night are about as ridiculous as you can imagine.

Hamas issued in a statement on Thursday: "The aggression on Yemen is a dangerous escalation and an extension of the aggression on our Palestinian people and the aggression on Syria and the Arab region."

Islamic Jihad "condemned the barbaric aggression that targeted Yemeni sites and facilities in the capital, Sana'a, and the port of Hodeidah, by the criminal Zionist entity." At the same time, it praised the Houthi missile attack on Israel, saying "the blessed missile strike by the Yemeni Ansar Allah Movement, which targeted the depth of the enemy entity with all boldness and courage.....the great destruction it caused confirm the bravery of the free Yemeni in confronting the Zionist enemy entity."

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the strikes "constitute a blatant violation of the international law and the UN Charter."

Keep in mind that Iran has been promising a massive attack on Israel for nearly two months now. Apparently that is somehow not a violation of the UN Charter.

As for the Houthis themselves, they did some creative editing of the timeline. "The Government of Change and Construction in Sana'a condemned the Israeli aggression on civilian facilities in Yemen, calling it a blatant violation of international law and human rights. It also praised the military operation that targeted occupied Jaffa with "Palestine-2" hypersonic missiles as an initial response."

The Houthi attack on Israel came before Israel attacked Yemeni targets.

Perhaps the Houthis are slightly more self-aware than Iran on the hypocrisy of shooting missiles to Israel and then complaining that Israel's responses are violations of international law.

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission, which praised October 7, is urging a boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day

The UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission has initiated a campaign to urge everyone boycott the annual Holocaust Memorial Day activities on January 27.

The reason given is because the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust did not list Gaza as a genocide along with genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

Their press release implies that the organization behind the commemoration uses the Holocaust as an excuse to promote murdering Palestinian children.

IHRC chair Massoud Shadjareh said, “We have suspected for a long time that HMD promotes the exceptionalisation of genocide through the Nazi Holocaust. Any failure to include the actual genocide that is unfolding so graphically in our own time gives the lie to the slogan 'Never Again' exposing it as a political device to promote one genocide over all others. Civil society cannot allow the Gaza genocide to be legitimised by the misappropriation of the Nazi Holocaust”.

The IHRC sent a letter to 460 universities, schools and town councils instructing them to boycott the event unless the events prioritize Gaza over the Holocaust itself. As they self-righteously write, "Our commitment to ‘Never Again’ must extend to all people, in all places, for it to hold true."

Really?

Because the IHRC itself praised the October 7 attacks as "spectacular" in a 15 minute video that idolizes Hamas and the Iranian terror axis, and even praises war - an unusual position for a human rights NGO.

The IHRC also lobbies the British government to reverse its bans on Hamas and Hezbollah, saying that these are "popular resistance groups" who represent all Palestinians. Not only that, but they oppose the British navy defending worldwide shipping under attack by the Houthis.

In fact, the this antisemitic "human rights" organization that is proudly pro-war and pro-terror enjoys consultative status with the United Nations and with various official EU institutions. Needless to say, the IHRC positions towards Islamist terrorism contradicts the stated aims of the UN and EU.

Not too many human rights groups explicitly support attacking, burning and raping civilians. Not too many human rights NGOs support a strategy of getting 1.8 billion Muslims to support war.

But when the group calls itself Islamic, then the world gives them a pass.

Perhaps a letter writing campaign can be mounted to pressure the UN and EU to sever all ties with a group that supports and praises violence. Even if it calls itself "Islamic."

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Two weeks before the October 7 Hamas pogroms, Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the UN and gave his vision of a "New Middle East."

Two weeks ago, we saw another blessing already in sight. In the G20 Conference, President Biden, Prime Minister Modi, and European and Arab leaders announced plans for a visionary corridor that will stretch across the Arabian Peninsula and Israel. It will connect India to Europe with maritime links, rail links, energy pipelines, fiber-optic cables.

This corridor will bypass maritime chokepoints and dramatically lower the costs of goods, communication and energy for over two billion people.

What a historic change for my country! You see, the Land of Israel is situated on the crossroads between Africa, Asia and Europe. And for centuries, my country was repeatedly invaded by empires passing through it in their campaigns of plunder and conquest elsewhere. But today, as we tear down walls of enmity, Israel can become a bridge of peace and prosperity between these continents.

Peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia will truly create a new Middle East.

But then he added that there were those who wanted to disrupt the potential peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Now you know, Ladies and Gentlemen, you know there’s a fly in this ointment, because rest assured, the fanatics ruling Iran will do everything they can to thwart this historic peace. Iran continues to spend billions to arm its terror proxies. It continues to extend its terror tentacles in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, South America, even North America. ...

Iran continues to threaten international shipping lanes, hold foreign nationals for ransom and engage in nuclear blackmail. Over the past year, its murderous goons have killed hundreds and arrested thousands of Iran’s brave citizens.

Iran’s drones and missile program threaten Israel and our Arab neighbors. And Iran’s drones have brought and bring death and destruction to innocent people in the Ukraine.

Yet the regime’s aggression is largely met by indifference in the international community.

This is as close a prediction of October 7 as there was, based not on intelligence but just on knowing the psychology of antisemites.

Bibi was right. Iran and its proxies did everything they could in order to thwart a new Middle East and to maintain their stranglehold on Gaza, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Yemen.

And today we are on the cusp of a new Middle East. It isn't one that Netanyahu or anyone else envisioned, but it is a world where Iran's malign influence on the region has been dramatically scaled back.

The attacks on and since October 7 by Iran and its proxies has indeed ushered in a new Middle East - one that has been permanently changed, although we still don't know what it will look like in six months or five years. Nevertheless, Hamas helped usher in the era of a New Middle East - one without Hamas, one with a much smaller and less influential Hezbollah, and one where moderate Arab states are much more willing to stand up to an Iran that has been shown to be a mostly paper tiger.

Netanyahu reiterated the theme of a New Middle East in the General Assembly this year as well. In this case he knew what would happen only a few hours afterwards: Israel killed Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah. In his speech he practically promised that would happen: "We took out senior military commanders who not only shed Israeli blood but American and French blood as well. And then we took out their replacements. And then the replacements of their replacements. And we’ll continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met. "

Critics derided both of these speeches by Netanyahu, as they have done with his previous UN speeches. But when you look back at them, they are the most prescient of any other leaders' speeches at the UN in history.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

12/18 Links Pt2: Israel’s Irish Goodbye; Qatar: The Arsonist and the Firefighter; Montreal shul targeted with firebomb in second attack since Oct. 7

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Israel’s Irish Goodbye

The debate over whether Israel should formally establish diplomatic relations with Germany was an impassioned, often vicious, deeply emotional probing of national trauma. It came long after Israel’s internal fight over whether to accept German reparations, which nearly tore the government apart. By the time the two countries proposed exchanging ambassadors, the wound had clearly not yet healed, and maybe never would.

In the end, diplomatic pragmatism and a shared hope for moving forward prevailed. Israel’s first embassy in Germany was opened in 1965.

Do you know when Israel’s embassy in Ireland was established? 1996.

So please, Irish President Michael Higgins and Prime Minister Simon Harris, spare us the feigned offense and the community-theater histrionics and the supposed shock in reaction to Israel’s announcement that it would close its embassy in Dublin. Ireland’s history with Israel is uniquely shameful among supposed Western democracies. Whether that justifies the closing of the embassy is another matter, but let’s stop pretending we’re talking about a normal situation. Ireland was the last EU country to host an Israeli embassy, and the gesture was watered down by making the same offer to the PLO, a terrorist organization that did not represent an existing nation-state.

Here’s the point: Ireland has always treated Israel with special contempt. Decades after Eamon de Valera offered Germany his condolences on the death of Adolf Hitler, the country he helped found seemed permanently stuck in time. Ireland had to be dragged kicking and screaming into recognizing the Jews. The Israeli embassy barely predates the Good Friday Agreement.

This is not ancient history, in other words. The closing of the Israeli embassy in Dublin, whatever its merits, is not the end of an era; it’s the end of an insulting modern experiment that Irish leaders spent a couple decades routinely sabotaging. Irish leaders thought they could have a Jewish pet who would crawl around on all fours and eat out of a bowl on the floor. And they have the chutzpah to scold him as he stands up on two feet and walks out.

Jonathan Tobin: Don’t expect any humor about antisemitic ‘genocide’ smears

It’s easy to dismiss this story as a minor kerfuffle about a misguided effort to inject comedy into the debate about the Middle East. But it should be seen as providing more insight into the gap between the two sides than perhaps many liberal Jews who are still seeking dialogue have been willing to admit. The failure of this initiative speaks volumes about how toxic leftist ideas like critical race theory, settler-colonial theory and intersectionality have made dialogue or efforts to promote compromise solutions on a whole range of topics—of which Israel is just one—impossible. It also shows how the pervasive influence of this destructive intellectual fashion is more or less killing comedy.

If the debate about the Middle East were really, as liberals have long insisted, about the imperative for Israel to trade “land for peace” or its need to avoid building homes in Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria, then dialogue intended to build trust on both sides would be not only possible but necessary. But as decades of Palestinian rejection of every compromise offered to them have shown, if that would mean recognition of the legitimacy of a Jewish state in the Middle East, that is a price they are not willing to pay. Meaning, the conflict is not about borders or settlements.

The Palestinian Arabs and their supporters abroad who have rallied to their cause since Oct. 7 have made no secret of the fact that what they desire is turning back the clock to 1948 or 1917 and the elimination of Israel. Being so quick to manufacture lies about Israeli actions and intentions is not just a manifestation of Jew-hatred, though that’s part of it. Those who buy into the myth that Israel is a manifestation of a “settler-colonial” imperialism are drawn inevitably to the conclusion that there is nothing at all to talk about with Israelis or their supporters.

The anti-Israel movement’s adoption of this frame of reference is reflected in more than just the intolerant invective employed in the social-media ravings of those comics and others who believe that even a debate with Zionists would compromise their moral standing as progressives. Much like the best-selling book by anti-Zionist author Ta-Nehisi Coates, their accusations hurled against Israel are not merely divorced from the facts of what has actually happened in Gaza; they ignore the genocidal goals of the Palestinians, their embrace of terrorism and their unwillingness to compromise.

Such sentiments have, due to the progressives’ adoption of woke ideologies that falsely label Jews and Israelis as “white oppressors,” migrated from the ivory towers of academia to the political grassroots. This was made apparent as first President Joe Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris spent the 2024 presidential campaign trying to placate their party’s left-wing base, which has grown increasingly intolerant of any stand on the Middle East that isn’t resolutely opposed to Israel.

Woke is killing comedy
The impact of these toxic ideas is not limited to politics. It is also a major reason why comedy—or at least the sector of it that is pitched to appeal to the half of the country that didn’t vote for Donald Trump—is dying.

For years, comedians have decried the stultifying impact that a spirit of political correctness has had on their craft. As anyone who has watched the political skits that appear on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” or the monologues of the late-night comedy shows that don’t appear on Fox News, liberals can only accept humor that pokes fun at their political foes or those who hold different views about religion and culture. Edgy humor that doesn’t respect the shibboleths of woke sensibilities about certain protected minorities is no longer tolerated. Groundbreaking comedians of the past, like Lenny Bruce, had to navigate the intolerance of established society and the conservative values of the 1950s and early 1960s. Today, someone like him doesn’t have to worry about being arrested for offending decency codes. But they would surely be canceled by the left that dominates popular culture.

The result of this cultural trend is that much of what is now considered comedy is humorless virtue-signaling, essentially a nod to audiences’ shared contempt for those outside of their group.

Until mainstream culture shakes itself free of this leftist orthodoxy, efforts to arrange such joint events will always fail. Conversations between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian comics, as well as their audiences, are impossible in a cultural context where progressives in America have declared that we are all locked in an endless race war between oppressors and victims.

Under these circumstances, pursuing dialogue across the unbridgeable gap between those who want to destroy Israel and those who work to support it is a fool’s errand. And that’s no joke.

Qatar: The Arsonist and the Firefighter

On Qatar National Day, as the Gulf nation celebrates its sovereignty and development, it’s essential to examine the darker side of its international role. While Doha projects itself as a stabilizing force and a mediator in global conflicts, evidence reveals a more duplicitous reality. Qatar has acted both as the arsonist and the firefighter—publicly advocating for peace while covertly funding and supporting extremist actors like Abu Mohammad al-Julani and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), who destabilize the Middle East and threaten Western interests. HTS, which has links to al-Qaeda and ISIS, has been widely recognized as one of the most dangerous jihadist groups in the region, posing a direct threat to global security.

The Roots of the Allegations
Abu Mohammad al-Julani’s prominence as the leader of the al-Nusra Front, which initially aligned itself with al-Qaeda, and its later rebranding efforts under Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have drawn significant international attention. While HTS has sought to distance itself from extremist origins, its links to Qatar have remained under scrutiny. Despite its rebranding, HTS retains strong ties to al-Qaeda, with its leadership and operations deeply intertwined with global jihadist networks. Furthermore, its battlefield alliances with ISIS-linked factions have amplified its capacity for terror.

A 2016 U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report suggested that the al-Nusra Front “probably received logistical, financial, and material assistance from elements of the Turkish and Qatari governments.” This report, while cautious in its language, highlighted Qatar’s role in supporting extremist groups.

Qatar’s Public Denials and Its Hidden Agenda
While Qatari officials have consistently denied connections to al-Nusra Front or its successor organizations, their actions tell a different story. In a 2017 interview with Middle East Eye, former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani admitted that Qatar “maybe” supported al-Nusra Front during the early years of the Syrian conflict but insisted such support had ceased. These admissions expose Qatar’s strategic duplicity—courting extremist groups to expand its influence while publicly denying culpability.

Media Appearances and the Role of Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera, Qatar’s state-funded media outlet, has amplified the voices of extremists like Abu Mohammad al-Julani. In December 2013, the network aired an exclusive interview with al-Julani, marking his first televised appearance. This was followed by a 2015 interview where al-Julani emphasized his focus on fighting the Assad regime and denied plans to target Western nations. These interviews legitimized al-Julani and HTS, bolstering their recruitment and propaganda efforts, all while Qatar claimed to be an ally of the West in counterterrorism efforts.

12/18 Links Pt1: A New Era of Hezbollah Defeat; US intel ‘badly misjudged’ escalation risks of Israel’s war against Hezbollah; Debunking the Gaza Death Toll

From Ian:

Can Israel Save the World from a Nuclear Iran?

For the last 20 years, two primary fears have held Israel back from launching a preemptive military strike to eliminate Iran's nuclear program. The first was a concern that a military strike would not succeed. Senior defense officials in Israel and the West warned that the Israeli Air Force could not reach Iran, could not overcome the advanced Russian air defense systems that surrounded its strategic facilities, and could not penetrate some of the nuclear installations, which are buried deep underground beneath layers of thick concrete and steel.

The second fear was the practical price Israel would pay if it attacked. Iran is believed to have about 2,500 long-range ballistic missiles capable of striking Israel; Hizbullah, until recently, had an arsenal of 150,000 missiles; Hamas had around 40,000 and the Houthis in Yemen have hundreds. Lastly, the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, until recently, was in possession of hundreds of Scud missiles and several tons of chemical weapons.

These fears are no longer relevant. In October, more than 100 Israeli Air Force aircraft flew more than 2,000 km. and struck more than 20 targets throughout Iran, including Iran's S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, knocking out Iran's ability to defend itself and repel a future attack. All this means Iran is today vulnerable.

Israel, whether on its own or in coordination with the U.S., has a unique opportunity to remove the primary threat that it has warned about for more than 20 years - Iran's nuclear program. This window of opportunity is not unlimited. If Israel or the U.S. fail to act, Iran will take the final steps and build a nuclear bomb.

Danny Danon calls for UN to designate IRGC as a terrorist organization

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon addressed the Iranian regime directly in Farsi during Wednesday's session of the United Nations Security Council, saying to not miss this rare, historic opportunity and "take action now."

"I am telling the Iranian people, we know the cost of freedom and the courage it demands," Danon said before the Security Council. "Your fight is not just for yourselves but for the millions of lives the regime has destabilized and destroyed. In your hands lie the power to restore the beautiful Iranian nation, to rebuild a land rich in history, culture and resilience."

Danon was the last diplomat to speak in Wednesday's session centered on the Palestinian question and Israel's ongoing war with Hamas. Earlier in the session, Michael Levy, brother of Israeli hostage Or Levy, testified before the council about his family's experience as a hostage family.

The chance before us is clear, Danon said, to finally end the Islamic regime of Iran's aspirations for a Shiite supremacist Empire, the chance to "liberate the world from the most corrupt, most violent, most destabilizing regime."

"Israel has acted decisively," he said, by striking terror networks that once "cast a shadow over our region."

A New Era of Hezbollah Defeat

In the eighteen-year interwar interregnum, Israel shifted to a strategy of preventing the outbreak of a major war. Employing its intelligence-gathering skills to maximum effect, the Israelis struck repeatedly at Iranian weapons transfers to Hezbollah, primarily in war-torn Syria. This became known in Israel as the “campaign between the wars.” But the pinprick Israeli strikes, meant to slow Hezbollah’s arms buildup—specifically precision guided munitions—never challenged Hezbollah’s overall strength.

But in preparation for this war, the Israelis seem to have spent at least the past decade penetrating every level of Hezbollah’s organizational apparatus. Indeed, when the time came to fight, no Hezbollah official and no Hezbollah asset was safe. Israel seized the initiative and crippled the group’s military apparatus before it could even mobilize. The Israelis located and liquidated one Hezbollah “ghost” commander after the next, including the elusive mid-level Radwan force commanders who had invested heavily in anonymity. Israel’s campaign this go-round even demonstrated a better understanding of the pressure points on Hezbollah’s support base and the group’s broader Lebanese environment. Hezbollah’s path to regeneration, while not impossible, is more complicated than ever before.

On the Israeli home front, the Israeli public was steeled for this fight. The October 7 horrors and Hezbollah’s ability to conduct its own identical attack created an unprecedented recognition among Israelis that Hezbollah would need to be defeated, no matter the price. Compounding this, Hezbollah’s strikes drove an estimated 160,000 Israelis from their homes since October 8. According to one Israeli official who spoke on background to us, Hezbollah has destroyed $10 to $15 billion in Israeli insfrastructure in the countries north.

The war may not be over yet. And more damage could still be sustained. But after nearly a year of indecision, the IDF gained the conventional upper hand, and this time employed it to maximum effect. Israel deployed its forces according to a combined-arms doctrine that was specifically developed over the past eighteen years to confront Hezbollah. This included internal restructuring of the IDF to create forces like the Oz Brigade, which brought all the IDF’s special forces units under one umbrella, to confront an irregular actor like Hezbollah. When Israel entered Lebanon this time, it favored powerful and agile ground maneuvers over armor or standoff firepower.

Israel had also invested in building a multitiered missile defense array, including the short-range Iron Dome and and mid-range David’s Sling systems. These systems are defensive and not hermetic. They could not always neutralize Hezbollah drones and or “sniping” attacks on northern communities. There simply is no substitute for offensive action. Nevertheless, these systems blunted Hezbollah’s attacks just enough to minimize the group’s impact on the Israeli Home Front and to keep up public moralem a vital component of any democracy’s war effort.

Predictably, Hezbollah is now attempting to claim victory. Merely surviving is the group’s key metric in this regard. Admittedly, the group has scored several hits against Israel, killing 56 Israeli soldiers and wounding hundreds of others, and confounding Israeli defenses with anti-tank guided missile attacks and swarms of loitering munitions. But as the dust settles, a stark picture of the group’s defeat emerges: at least 2,500 members killed, many of them elite and irreplicable leaders, a decimated arsenal, and flattened military infrastructure. All of this will take years to rebuild.