π️Lonny's War Update- October 260, 2023 - June 22, 2024 π️
π️Day 260 that 120 of our hostages in Hamas captivity
**There is nothing more important than getting them home! NOTHING!**
“I’ve never met them,But I miss them. I’ve never met them,but I think of them every second. I’ve never met them,but they are my family. BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!”
There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!ΧΧΧ Χ Χ¦ΧΧΧ Χ’Χ Χ©ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧΧ€ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧͺ
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*10:15am - south - rockets Kibbutz Sufa, Gaza border communities - Two rockets hit an open field near Kibbutz Sufa after sirens sounded there a short while ago, the military says.
There are no reports of injuries or damage.
According to the IDF, the missiles hit open areas in the kibbutz, including one in the plantations area. There are no injuries. Hezbollah takes responsibility for the attack, claiming to have targeted a military position.
Hostage Updates
- Naama Levy, the observer who was kidnapped in Gaza, will be 20 years old this coming SaturdayπHer mother, Dr. Ayelet Levy Shahar: "I didn't think we would reach this date while she was still in captivity. As much as I would like not to get out of bed, just wait for her to come back. I think about the day she was born, about every birthday she celebrated. I miss and worry so much. My Naama has been there for 257 days, and nothing has progressed. It's hard to breathe, there's no air. We have to save her"
Hundreds are marching from Habima to Hostage Square in Tel Aviv to mark the 20th birthday of Naama Levy, a surveillance soldier taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7. Protesters will gather later this evening nationwide to call for early elections and an immediate deal to free the remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
A group of hostage families say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is incapable of reaching a deal to free their loved ones and call for his ouster, at a weekly press conference in Tel Aviv. “As long as Netanyahu feels safe in his seat, there won’t be a deal, there won’t be a solution in the north, there won’t be a solution for the country,” says Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held in Gaza.
“There won’t be a deal and there won’t be rehabilitation without the fall of Netanyahu’s government. Take to the streets to save the hostages and the country. He can surround himself with walls and guards, but it won’t help him because we won’t give up,” she says.
Danny Elgert, whose brother Itzik is held captive, accuses Netanyahu of doing nothing the past week to save the hostages, instead focusing on personal political goals, citing legislation that aimed to expand the Chief Rabbinate’s influence before it was withdrawn.
“Instead of working with the US in order to bring an immediate deal to save lives, you have chosen to feud with them,” he adds, referring to the prime minister’s public comments that sparked agitation in Washington this week, in which he claimed they had withheld arms.
Ayala Metzger, whose father-in-law Yoram’s body is held in Gaza, cited a report earlier this week that only around 50 hostages remain alive in Gaza. “Time passes, a deal is stuck, and the hostages are dying in captivity because Netanyahu doesn’t want a deal. The blood of the hostages is on the hands of Netanyahu and his government,” Metzger says.
The parents of Arnon Zmora, who died rescuing hostages in the Gaza Strip earlier this month, say they want all those who their son saved to “live their lives.”
Zmora, an officer of the elite Yamam counter-terrorism unit, was shot and critically injured by Hamas terrorists guarding three of the four hostages. He succumbed to his wounds shortly upon arriving at a hospital in Israel. He was part of the mission to rescue Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, Shlomi Ziv, and Noa Argamani, which was subsequently renamed “Operation Arnon” in his honor.
“The whole country has taken it very hard because Arnon really gave up his life knowingly to save hostages,” Arnon’s father Reuven tells The Daily Mail. “People we have never met said to me they came to find out who is the family who raised this boy, to say thank you, and to say sorry for our loss.”
The father of Argamani came to Zmora’s funeral, where Arnon’s mother Ruthi told him they were “thrilled” about his daughter’s rescue. “I told him that I’m very glad that Noa came back – and I hope she will live a full life, build a home and live every day like it’s the last day,” she says, adding that she wants all those rescued in the mission to heed that message. “This is the most important thing for us, that they really live their lives,” she says. “Because this is the meaning of our loss. It was their life that motivated Arnon that day.”
When the hostages and the injured Zmora arrived at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Reuven describes the atmosphere as having “an air of happiness side by side with sadness.” Zmora told his father that he was training for a hostage rescue mission in the weeks leading up to the operation, and said he had a “good feeling” that they would succeed.
A week before the mission, he gave his father his watch, and told him to give it back when he returned, The Daily Mail reports. “He knew the rescue would come at a cost,” Reuven says, his mother adding: “Arno said rescuing a hostage is the most ethical and valuable action there is.”
“We don’t just want Arnon’s legacy to be a name of mission,” Reuven says. “We want people to be like Arnon.” “Arnon hated violence or bullies and he didn’t go there to kill anyone – but to save lives,” he adds.
Gaza
- UN chief says most aid going into Gaza is being looted amid ‘total lawlessness’:The United Nations chief says that “total lawlessness” and “chaos” in Gaza is preventing the distribution of humanitarian aid within the enclave, which is why an immediate ceasefire is needed.
- UN chief says most aid going into Gaza is being looted amid ‘total lawlessness’:The United Nations chief says that “total lawlessness” and “chaos” in Gaza is preventing the distribution of humanitarian aid within the enclave, which is why an immediate ceasefire is needed.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tells reporters that “most of the trucks with humanitarian aid inside Gaza are now looted because this is a war that is different from any other one.”
“We have attacks, we have bombings, and then troops move to other places,” he says. “Hamas returns to the original ones and there is total chaos in Gaza, and there is no authority in most of the territory.” He adds that “Israel does not even allow the so-called blue police to escort our convoys because it’s local police linked to the local administration [Hamas], so lawlessness is total.”
The UN chief also stresses that those obstacles pose “extreme difficulty” to distribute aid.
“There must be a mechanism, guarantee that there is a minimum of law and order that allows for that (aid) distribution to take place and that’s why a cease-fire is so necessary,” he said.
IDF engages
terrorists, finds weapons in Gaza university used as Hamas HQ
The combat
teams completed a number of operations all across the Gaza Strip in order to
expand and increase IDF operational control in the area. The IDF announced on
Friday that it had located and destroyed weapons caches at a university in Gaza
that Hamas had been using as a headquarters.
Combat teams
from the Alexandroni Brigade, the 8th Brigade, and the Multidimensional Unit
operated in the Gaza Strip under the direction of the 99th Division, the
military added. The IDF reported that the combat teams completed a number of
operations all across the Strip to expand and increase IDF operational control
in the area.
The 8th
Brigade's combat team operated in Al-Zahra, on the outskirts of Nuseirat.
Destroying weapon caches. The soldiers
eliminated dozens of terrorists and located a weapons storage facility that
contained mortars and military equipment belonging to the Hamas terrorist
organization.
The
Alexandroni Brigade'combat team operated in Al-Omdan, on the outskirts of Gaza
City, and located many weapons and tunnel shafts in the area. The Multidimensional Unit conducted a targeted raid on a university that was
being used as a Hamas headquarters, from which terrorists fired on IDF troops,
the IDF noted. The soldiers located weapons and barrel bombs inside the
university compound. The soldiers eliminated a
terrorist who fired an RPG missile at them from a building in the area.
The military responds to reports of gunfire near teams of the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) along the Israeli-designated “humanitarian route” from the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip yesterday, saying that troops had engaged two gunmen in the area.
“Following an examination on the matter, the IDF operated to neutralize two gunmen who posed a threat to nearby IDF troops in the area,” the military says.
The IDF says the gunmen were not in close proximity to the UN workers during the incident. “We emphasize that the UN workers were not the target of the operation and they were not harmed during the strike,” the military says in a statement.
Separately, the IDF says it is examining claims of an attack in the al-Mawasi area yesterday, which according to the Red Cross killed 22 people and damaged its office there. “Following an initial inquiry, there was no direct attack carried out by the IDF against a Red Cross facility,” the military says in the statement.
It says that “the incident will be quickly examined and its findings will be presented to our international partners.” “The IDF makes significant efforts to avoid harming workers, UN facilities and international organizations working in the Gaza Strip. The IDF is committed to enabling the activity and safe movement of international organizations, including the UN, in the Gaza Strip,” the statement adds.
- Senior Hamas commander Raad Saad reportedly targeted in Gaza City strike
IDF engages
terrorists, finds weapons in Gaza university used as Hamas HQ
The combat
teams completed a number of operations all across the Gaza Strip in order to
expand and increase IDF operational control in the area. The IDF announced on
Friday that it had located and destroyed weapons caches at a university in Gaza
that Hamas had been using as a headquarters.
Combat teams
from the Alexandroni Brigade, the 8th Brigade, and the Multidimensional Unit
operated in the Gaza Strip under the direction of the 99th Division, the
military added. The IDF reported that the combat teams completed a number of
operations all across the Strip to expand and increase IDF operational control
in the area.
The 8th Brigade's combat team operated in Al-Zahra, on the outskirts of Nuseirat. Destroying weapon caches. The soldiers eliminated dozens of terrorists and located a weapons storage facility that contained mortars and military equipment belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization.
The Alexandroni Brigade'combat team operated in Al-Omdan, on the outskirts of Gaza City, and located many weapons and tunnel shafts in the area. The Multidimensional Unit conducted a targeted raid on a university that was being used as a Hamas headquarters, from which terrorists fired on IDF troops, the IDF noted. The soldiers located weapons and barrel bombs inside the university compound. The soldiers eliminated a terrorist who fired an RPG missile at them from a building in the area.
The military responds to reports of gunfire near teams of the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) along the Israeli-designated “humanitarian route” from the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip yesterday, saying that troops had engaged two gunmen in the area.
“Following an examination on the matter, the IDF operated to neutralize two gunmen who posed a threat to nearby IDF troops in the area,” the military says.
The IDF says the gunmen were not in close proximity to the UN workers during the incident. “We emphasize that the UN workers were not the target of the operation and they were not harmed during the strike,” the military says in a statement.
Separately, the IDF says it is examining claims of an attack in the al-Mawasi area yesterday, which according to the Red Cross killed 22 people and damaged its office there. “Following an initial inquiry, there was no direct attack carried out by the IDF against a Red Cross facility,” the military says in the statement.
It says that “the incident will be quickly examined and its findings will be presented to our international partners.” “The IDF makes significant efforts to avoid harming workers, UN facilities and international organizations working in the Gaza Strip. The IDF is committed to enabling the activity and safe movement of international organizations, including the UN, in the Gaza Strip,” the statement adds.
Unverified Hebrew-language media reports, citing “reports in Gaza,” claim that the target of the IDF strike in Gaza City was senior Hamas commander Raad Saad. Saad has been previously reported to be the chief of Hamas operations.
He was thought to have been at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital when the IDF raided the medical center in March, although he was not found there at the time. The IDF said it struck two Hamas military sites in Gaza City, and would provide further information soon.
At least 42 Palestinians were killed in the strikes on Gaza’s Tuffah neighborhood and Shati camp, Ismail Al-Thawabta, the director of the Hamas-run government media office, tells Reuters. The figures cannot be verified and do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah
- Kuwait calls on its citizens in Lebanon to leave ASAP: Kuwait’s foreign ministry calls on its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country as soon as possible, amid concerns that recently escalating skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah could descend into full-scale war.
This is after Canada announced plans to evacuate tens of thousands of Canadians from Lebanon due to the high threat of war.
The US reassured Israel it will offer the Jewish state full support in the event a full-scale war with Hezbollah breaks out, CNN quotes a senior Biden administration official as saying.
The pledge was made during meetings in Washington this week between National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The official tells CNN that the Biden administration would offer Israel the security assistance it needs. However, the US would not deploy American troops to the ground in such a scenario.
The reassurances come amid a public spat between Jerusalem and Washington that was sparked by a Tuesday video statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which the premier blasted what he said were “inconceivable bottlenecks” that the Biden administration had placed in the transfer of weapons and munitions to Israel.
This is after Canada announced plans to evacuate tens of thousands of Canadians from Lebanon due to the high threat of war.
The US reassured Israel it will offer the Jewish state full support in the event a full-scale war with Hezbollah breaks out, CNN quotes a senior Biden administration official as saying.
The pledge was made during meetings in Washington this week between National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The official tells CNN that the Biden administration would offer Israel the security assistance it needs. However, the US would not deploy American troops to the ground in such a scenario.
The reassurances come amid a public spat between Jerusalem and Washington that was sparked by a Tuesday video statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which the premier blasted what he said were “inconceivable bottlenecks” that the Biden administration had placed in the transfer of weapons and munitions to Israel.
Several Hezbollah operatives and sites belonging to the terror group were struck in southern Lebanon today, the IDF says.
One strike in Ayta ash-Shab targeted a Hezbollah operative who had been spotted at one of the group’s observation posts, the IDF says.
The military says that in Yaroun, a fighter jet struck a building used by Hezbollah, after an operative was identified entering it. Fighter jets struck another building used by Hezbollah in Ramyeh, the IDF adds.
A prominent Hamas and al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya operative was killed in the airstrike in Lebanon’s Western Beqaa District a short while ago, the military says.
According to the IDF, Ayman Ghatma was responsible for supplying weapons to Hamas and al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya in Lebanon.
The IDF says the drone strike was carried out over Ghatma’s involvement in advancing attacks against Israel.
Ghatma was targeted and killed while driving near the town of Khiara, some 40 kilometers from the Israeli border. The IDF publishes footage of the strike. video
"In Lebanon, scenarios for a full-scale war are being drawn: 'Hezbollah will use advanced weapons, fire precise missiles'"
In the shadow of fears of a full-scale war with Hezbollah, assessments and reports on possible scenarios for fighting are increasing. • A commentator close to the organization claims: "If a war breaks out - it will be different from the one in Gaza, and unprecedented" • The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry called on its citizens staying in Lebanon last night to leave it as soon as possible
Due to the escalation in the north and preparations for the possibility of a full-scale war with Hezbollah, Munir Shehade, a former senior official in the Lebanese government who was responsible for international emergency forces, was interviewed by the Gaza news agency "Shehab" associated with Hamas - and outlined how the beginning of a full-scale war with the organization is expected to look like.
* Hezbollah will use advanced anti-aircraft weapons different from what it has used so far.
* Hezbollah will impose a complete naval blockade on Israel and may fire precise missiles at refineries and ports.
* Nasrallah's warning that thousands of fighters are ready to join the fight against Israel hints at the organization's ability to invade the Galilee.
* Regarding the threat Nasrallah directed towards Cyprus, the senior official said: If Israel uses Cyprus's military bases to attack Lebanon - this will lead to a "most dangerous threat" against it. "All of its air force bases will be out of use in the first hours of fighting, which will push it to look for an alternative and Cyprus is expected to become an Israeli air base."
According to Shehade, "Nasrallah's messages constitute a heavy warning and include a clear definition of the prominent characteristics of the upcoming campaign if Israel decides to start fighting against Lebanon." In addition, the former Lebanese senior official referred to Nasrallah's threat not to limit the fighting and noted that this is a "clear threat against civilians in Israel, ammonia facilities, the Dimona reactor and the Israel Electric Corporation."
Meanwhile, Ibrahim al-Amin, the editor of the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar associated with Hezbollah, noted that Hassan Nasrallah signaled through his speech that "if Israel decides to enter into a campaign with Lebanon - it will face new rules of engagement different from those that exist today, and this in itself will constitute an element of surprise."
"The way the resistance will fight in a full-scale war will not be similar to anything seen in any campaign against Israel, and this means that what remains on the field is a test of strength," al-Amin added. He clarified that his speech was not only directed at Israel, but "to all regional and international players supporting it militarily and politically. Nasrallah declared to the world that the resistance's weapons will reach all places that the enemy will exploit for its benefit."
Regarding Cyprus's attempt to distance itself from involvement due to Nasrallah's threat, he wrote: "Is Cyprus aware of the seriousness of the meaning of turning its territories into operational bases for Israeli forces? If the Cypriots understand the matter and claim their inability to change the equations, this does not exempt them from responsibility."
The commentator close to Hezbollah concluded: "The drums of war are already beating, and there's no need for anyone to predict what might happen. But what the enemy and its sponsors need to understand is that the campaign, if it occurs, will look different from the one in Gaza. If the enemy threatens us with destruction and death, as happened in Gaza, then it should know that we will start our campaign with sights it never imagined for itself."
Alongside this and in light of fears of war, the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry issued a call last night for its citizens staying in Lebanon without urgent need to leave it as soon as possible and to avoid traveling to Lebanon for the time being. Also, the Saudi Al-Arabiya channel reported from its sources that UNIFIL forces have begun fortifying their bases in southern Lebanon. link A full scale war with Hizbollah will be unlike any war we have ever fought. If we assume that Iran will not take a direct part in the war, they will continually supply Hizbollah nevertheless. Hizbollah already has sophisticated weapons in extremely large volumes; all types of missiles and it is estimated that their missile supplies are between 100,000-200,00. Since October 7, they have been surveilling our military capabilities and have succeeded in finding weak spots. They will rain down upon us thousands of missiles per day reaching most parts of the country with a focus on the urban areas of the center of the country and will first attempt to hit our utilities: electricity, gas and water sources and carriers to inflict immediate pain on the entire population. They believe, as does the US Intelligence agencies that our air defenses will not be robust enough to handle the onslaught of such heavy barrages of missiles, rockets, anti tank shells and UAVs of varying types. Already, the army is redeploying multiple Iron Dome batteries in the north from the South. We, of course would cause major destruction to Lebanon, starting with Hizbollah positions and strongholds in the south and moving north and then hitting Beirut in order to force Lebanese political pressure on Hizbollah stop the missiles and rockets. Now to their ground forces. Hizbollah has thousands of special forces fighters, their Radwan forces and most likely an even more sophisticated tunnel system than Hamas. We only dealt with tunnels that come into Israeli territory and we most likely only found and dealt with a small fraction of them. There are almost definitely tunnels that lead under the border into Israel and we don't know to what depth and length they go. The Hizbollah forces together with their reserve forces number upwards of 50,000-60,000 and their Radwan forces are war veterans from the Syrian Civil War. Add to all of this the other Iranian proxies of the Houthis in the south who would not only continue their attempts of UAV and missile attacks, they will increase them as well as the Pro Iranian Iraqi Militias that have launched multiple UAVs at Israel throughout this war. And all that I have described is with the assumption that Iran will be a backroom player. If they join the war as a direct player, the situation becomes exponentially worse. The US has already committed support to Israel in the event of a war with Hizbollah. This does not mean boots on the ground but if Iran joins, the US will be playing a much different role of being directly involved with at least, air and sea fighting, if not boots on the ground. None of this is a good situation.
Several Hezbollah operatives and sites belonging to the terror group were struck in southern Lebanon today, the IDF says.
One strike in Ayta ash-Shab targeted a Hezbollah operative who had been spotted at one of the group’s observation posts, the IDF says.
The military says that in Yaroun, a fighter jet struck a building used by Hezbollah, after an operative was identified entering it. Fighter jets struck another building used by Hezbollah in Ramyeh, the IDF adds.
A prominent Hamas and al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya operative was killed in the airstrike in Lebanon’s Western Beqaa District a short while ago, the military says.
According to the IDF, Ayman Ghatma was responsible for supplying weapons to Hamas and al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya in Lebanon.
The IDF says the drone strike was carried out over Ghatma’s involvement in advancing attacks against Israel.
Ghatma was targeted and killed while driving near the town of Khiara, some 40 kilometers from the Israeli border. The IDF publishes footage of the strike. video
"In Lebanon, scenarios for a full-scale war are being drawn: 'Hezbollah will use advanced weapons, fire precise missiles'"
In the shadow of fears of a full-scale war with Hezbollah, assessments and reports on possible scenarios for fighting are increasing. • A commentator close to the organization claims: "If a war breaks out - it will be different from the one in Gaza, and unprecedented" • The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry called on its citizens staying in Lebanon last night to leave it as soon as possible
Due to the escalation in the north and preparations for the possibility of a full-scale war with Hezbollah, Munir Shehade, a former senior official in the Lebanese government who was responsible for international emergency forces, was interviewed by the Gaza news agency "Shehab" associated with Hamas - and outlined how the beginning of a full-scale war with the organization is expected to look like.
* Hezbollah will use advanced anti-aircraft weapons different from what it has used so far.
* Hezbollah will impose a complete naval blockade on Israel and may fire precise missiles at refineries and ports.
* Nasrallah's warning that thousands of fighters are ready to join the fight against Israel hints at the organization's ability to invade the Galilee.
* Regarding the threat Nasrallah directed towards Cyprus, the senior official said: If Israel uses Cyprus's military bases to attack Lebanon - this will lead to a "most dangerous threat" against it. "All of its air force bases will be out of use in the first hours of fighting, which will push it to look for an alternative and Cyprus is expected to become an Israeli air base."
According to Shehade, "Nasrallah's messages constitute a heavy warning and include a clear definition of the prominent characteristics of the upcoming campaign if Israel decides to start fighting against Lebanon." In addition, the former Lebanese senior official referred to Nasrallah's threat not to limit the fighting and noted that this is a "clear threat against civilians in Israel, ammonia facilities, the Dimona reactor and the Israel Electric Corporation."
Meanwhile, Ibrahim al-Amin, the editor of the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar associated with Hezbollah, noted that Hassan Nasrallah signaled through his speech that "if Israel decides to enter into a campaign with Lebanon - it will face new rules of engagement different from those that exist today, and this in itself will constitute an element of surprise."
"The way the resistance will fight in a full-scale war will not be similar to anything seen in any campaign against Israel, and this means that what remains on the field is a test of strength," al-Amin added. He clarified that his speech was not only directed at Israel, but "to all regional and international players supporting it militarily and politically. Nasrallah declared to the world that the resistance's weapons will reach all places that the enemy will exploit for its benefit."
Regarding Cyprus's attempt to distance itself from involvement due to Nasrallah's threat, he wrote: "Is Cyprus aware of the seriousness of the meaning of turning its territories into operational bases for Israeli forces? If the Cypriots understand the matter and claim their inability to change the equations, this does not exempt them from responsibility."
The commentator close to Hezbollah concluded: "The drums of war are already beating, and there's no need for anyone to predict what might happen. But what the enemy and its sponsors need to understand is that the campaign, if it occurs, will look different from the one in Gaza. If the enemy threatens us with destruction and death, as happened in Gaza, then it should know that we will start our campaign with sights it never imagined for itself."
Alongside this and in light of fears of war, the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry issued a call last night for its citizens staying in Lebanon without urgent need to leave it as soon as possible and to avoid traveling to Lebanon for the time being. Also, the Saudi Al-Arabiya channel reported from its sources that UNIFIL forces have begun fortifying their bases in southern Lebanon. link A full scale war with Hizbollah will be unlike any war we have ever fought. If we assume that Iran will not take a direct part in the war, they will continually supply Hizbollah nevertheless. Hizbollah already has sophisticated weapons in extremely large volumes; all types of missiles and it is estimated that their missile supplies are between 100,000-200,00. Since October 7, they have been surveilling our military capabilities and have succeeded in finding weak spots. They will rain down upon us thousands of missiles per day reaching most parts of the country with a focus on the urban areas of the center of the country and will first attempt to hit our utilities: electricity, gas and water sources and carriers to inflict immediate pain on the entire population. They believe, as does the US Intelligence agencies that our air defenses will not be robust enough to handle the onslaught of such heavy barrages of missiles, rockets, anti tank shells and UAVs of varying types. Already, the army is redeploying multiple Iron Dome batteries in the north from the South. We, of course would cause major destruction to Lebanon, starting with Hizbollah positions and strongholds in the south and moving north and then hitting Beirut in order to force Lebanese political pressure on Hizbollah stop the missiles and rockets. Now to their ground forces. Hizbollah has thousands of special forces fighters, their Radwan forces and most likely an even more sophisticated tunnel system than Hamas. We only dealt with tunnels that come into Israeli territory and we most likely only found and dealt with a small fraction of them. There are almost definitely tunnels that lead under the border into Israel and we don't know to what depth and length they go. The Hizbollah forces together with their reserve forces number upwards of 50,000-60,000 and their Radwan forces are war veterans from the Syrian Civil War. Add to all of this the other Iranian proxies of the Houthis in the south who would not only continue their attempts of UAV and missile attacks, they will increase them as well as the Pro Iranian Iraqi Militias that have launched multiple UAVs at Israel throughout this war. And all that I have described is with the assumption that Iran will be a backroom player. If they join the war as a direct player, the situation becomes exponentially worse. The US has already committed support to Israel in the event of a war with Hizbollah. This does not mean boots on the ground but if Iran joins, the US will be playing a much different role of being directly involved with at least, air and sea fighting, if not boots on the ground. None of this is a good situation.
West Bank
- Media reports say a Jewish Israeli man was shot and killed after driving his vehicle into the West Bank town of Qalqilya.
Palestinian security sources tell the Ynet news site that the man was transferred by the Palestinian Red Crescent to an Israeli ambulance. Images posted to social media appeared to show that his vehicle was later set on fire. There is no immediate confirmation from the Israel Defense Forces or rescue services.
It’s unclear what the man was doing in Qalqilya. Israelis are barred from entering West Bank areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The incident comes a day after police said that two wanted Palestinians, members of the Islamic Jihad terror group, were killed by officers in a raid on Qalqilya. video of the burning of the car
The Israeli who was shot dead in his car this morning in the West Bank city of Qalqilya was found with vegetables he bought in the city, an unnamed source in the Palestinian Authority’s security forces tells the Kan public broadcaster. Findings in the ongoing investigation have been passed onto Israel’s security establishment, the report says. It has been declared a terror attack
From the NY Times: Israeli Official
Describes Secret Government Bid to Cement Control of West Bank
Israeli judges
have long ruled that Israel’s control of the territory is a temporary military
occupation and complies with international law. A powerful minister’s recent
speech, caught on tape, suggested the government is trying to change that.
An armed soldier
standing behind a concrete barrier and sandbags. He is flanked by Israeli
flags.
An influential
member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition told settlers in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank that the government is engaged in a stealthy effort
to irreversibly change the way the territory is governed, to cement Israel’s
control over it without being accused of formally annexing it.
In a taped
recording of the speech, the official, Bezalel Smotrich, can be heard
suggesting at a private event earlier this month that the goal was to prevent
the West Bank from becoming part of a Palestinian state.
“I’m telling you,
it’s mega-dramatic,” Mr. Smotrich told the settlers. “Such changes change a
system’s DNA.”
While Mr.
Smotrich’s opposition to ceding control over the West Bank is no secret, the
Israeli government’s official position is that the West Bank’s status remains
open to negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Israel’s Supreme
Court has ruled that Israel’s rule over the territory amounts to a temporary
military occupation overseen by army generals, not a permanent civilian
annexation administered by Israeli civil servants.
Mr. Smotrich’s
June 9 speech at a West Bank gathering may make that posture harder to
maintain. In it, he outlined a carefully orchestrated program to take authority
over the West Bank out of the hands of the Israeli military and turn it over to
civilians working for Mr. Smotrich in the defense ministry. Parts of the plan
have already been incrementally introduced over the past 18 months, and some
authorities have already been transferred to civilians.
Israel’s finance
minister, Bezalel Smotrich, addressing the relatives of hostages during a rally
in Jerusalem this month.Credit...Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty
Images
“We created a
separate civilian system,” Mr. Smotrich said. To deflect international
scrutiny, the government has allowed the defense ministry to remain involved in
the process, he said, so that it seems that the military is still at the heart
of West Bank governance.
“It will be
easier to swallow in the international and legal context,” Mr. Smotrich said.
“So that they won’t say that we are doing annexation here.”
Reporters for The
New York Times listened to a recording of the roughly half-hour speech that was
provided by one of the attendees, a researcher from Peace Now, an
anti-occupation campaign group. A spokesman for Mr. Smotrich, Eytan Fold,
confirmed he gave the speech and said the event was not a secret.
Mr. Smotrich, a
far-right lawmaker, said Mr. Netanyahu was aware of the details of the plan,
much of which was foreshadowed in a coalition agreement between their parties
that allows the prime minister to remain in power. Mr. Netanyahu is “with us
full on,” Mr. Smotrich said in the speech.
If the government
collapses, a future coalition could reverse the changes, but government moves
in the West Bank have, in the past, usually remained in place through
successive administrations.
For many
Palestinians, the speech itself is likely to be greeted with less surprise than
the fact that Mr. Smotrich said the words aloud.
“It’s interesting
to hear Smotrich in his own voice confirm much of what we suspected about his
agenda,” said Ibrahim Dalalsha, director of the Horizon Center, a political
analysis group in Ramallah, West Bank.
Still, Mr.
Dalalsha said, the approach is not new.
Palestinians have
said for years that Israeli leaders are trying to annex the West Bank in all
but name, building settlements in strategic locations in a bid to prevent
contiguous Palestinian control across the territory. “It’s been going on since
1967,” said Mr. Dalalsha. “Since way before Smotrich came to the scene,” he
added.
Israel seized
control of the territory from Jordan in 1967 during a war with three Arab
states. Since occupying it, Israel has settled more than 500,000 Israeli
civilians, who are subject to Israeli civil law, alongside the territory’s
roughly three million Palestinians, who are subject to Israeli military law.
Roughly 40 percent of the territory is administered by the Palestinian
Authority, a semiautonomous Palestinian-run body that relies on Israel’s
cooperation for much of its funding.
For decades,
Israel’s Supreme Court has described Israel’s rule over the territory as a
military occupation, overseen by a senior general, that complies with the
international laws that apply to occupied territories. The current ruling
coalition disputes the term “occupation,” but it also publicly denies the West
Bank has been permanently annexed and placed under the sovereign control of
Israel’s civilian authorities.
“The final status
of these territories will be determined by the parties in direct negotiations,”
the prime minister’s office said in a statement in response to Mr. Smotrich’s
speech. “This policy has not changed,” the statement added.
Mr. Smotrich’s speech suggested otherwise.
Israeli settlers
peering through a car’s tinted windows to see if Palestinians were inside it as
the vehicle traveled near the village of Wadi as Seeq in the West Bank in
December.Credit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
In particular, he
pointed to one change under which military officers no longer oversee most of
the process by which Israeli settlements are expanded, land is expropriated and
roads are built in the West Bank. Those roles are now overseen by “a civilian
working under the defense ministry” who does not work for military commanders,
he said, but in a new directorate that Mr. Smotrich supervises.
Even as
international pressure grows to declare a Palestinian state that would
encompass the West Bank and Gaza, Mr. Smotrich’s comments suggest that Israel
is quietly working to firm up its control over the West Bank and make it harder
to disentangle from Israeli control.
Diplomats have
been trying to reach a “grand deal” for the Middle East that would both end the
Israeli war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and improve Israel’s ties with other
nations in the region. Saudi Arabia, for one, says it will recognize Israel —
but only if Israel in turn permits Palestinian statehood.
Mr. Smotrich’s
speech suggests just how distant that prospect may be as he moves to merge
governance of the occupied West Bank with governance of the state of Israel.
Mr. Smotrich’s
speech “fundamentally undermines the longstanding argument of the state of
Israel that the settlements are legal because they are temporary,” said Talia
Sasson, a former senior official in Israel’s justice ministry who led an
influential government inquiry in 2005 into the government’s support for
illegal settlements.
The speech made
clear just how powerful Israel’s once-marginal settler movement has become.
Mr. Smotrich is a
longtime settler activist who once worked outside the Israeli establishment to
build settlement encampments that are considered illegal even under Israeli
law. As a religious hard-liner, he believes the West Bank — which Israelis
refer to by its biblical names, Judea and Samaria — was given to Jews by God.
As a lawmaker
over the past decade, Mr. Smotrich attracted attention for regularly making
extremist comments, including his call to destroy a Palestinian town; his
support for segregation between Arabs and Jews in maternity wards; and his
backing for Jewish landowners who will not sell property to Arabs.
Since late 2022,
Mr. Smotrich has gained extraordinary influence over government policy. That is
when his party joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, helping it
secure a small majority in Parliament.
An aerial view of the fence along the 1948 line separating Palestinian village
Hable, left, and Israeli Matan, West Bank, in December.Credit...Sergey
Ponomarev for The New York Times
Mr. Smotrich used
that leverage to persuade Mr. Netanyahu to assign him both the position in the
defense ministry as well as the finance ministry, a role that Mr. Smotrich has
used to block funds for the Palestinian Authority.
“My goal — and I think of everyone here — is
to first and foremost prevent the establishment of a terror state in the very
heart of the land of Israel,” Mr. Smotrich said in the recorded speech.
Mr. Smotrich said
his main achievement has been to place many of the military’s duties in the
West Bank under civilian control. While the army has often turned a blind eye
to settlement expansion and even guards unauthorized settlements from
Palestinian attack, soldiers have also sometimes destroyed settler encampments
built without government permission and barred Israeli activists from entering
the West Bank.
To counteract
that influence, Mr. Smotrich said, the government has:
Given civilians
greater control over settlement construction plans as well as oversight over
the lawyers who decide legal issues in the settlements.
Stripped the
army’s top commander in the West Bank of the ability to block settlement
construction plans.
Secured nearly
$270 million from Israel’s defense budget to guard settlements in 2024-2025.
Moved closer to
establishing a new security squad that could more speedily demolish Palestinian
buildings in the West Bank that have been built without Israeli permission.
To some extent,
Mr. Smotrich’s comments appeared to be an attempt to defuse criticism from his
own base about his record in office. Settler activists say that the military
still too often stops them from building new settlement outposts, and that Mr.
Smotrich has not done enough to intervene.
“Fifteen years
ago, I was one of those running on the hills, erecting tents,” Mr. Smotrich
told the settlers in his speech. Now, he said that his behind-the-scenes work
will have far more impact than the construction of any single settlement
encampment. link Netanyahu, in his undying need to remain prime minister brought the most extreme elements of Israeli society into his government and made them senior government ministers. He made Smotrich Finance Minister and a Minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of the West Bank Civil Administration. This has given Smotrich unbelievable and unacceptable power to impact the entire country now and into the far future. Smotrich will do anything and everything to further his messianic dreams of complete takeover of the West Bank, make it part of Israel and get rid of all the Palestinians. The war has not had any impact on these dreams, nor has the hostage situation. This is the most important thing to him and to hell with everything else. He has manipulated the Finance Ministry accordingly and has been working under cover in the Defense Ministry to accomplish his goals to the detriment of the entire country. He, along with this entire government is a danger to the future of Israel and has to be distanced from any public power position.
The IDF says troops who tied a wounded Palestinian to the hood of a military vehicle in the northern West Bank this morning acted against army protocols.
Troops had operated in the Wadi Burqin area, adjacent to the city of Jenin, to detain wanted Palestinians. Amid the operation, the IDF says troops returned fire at gunmen who shot at the soldiers.
One of the suspected gunmen was shot and detained and was brought out of the area while tied to the vehicle’s hood.
The IDF in response to a query on the matter says the soldiers’ actions were “contrary to orders and procedures.”“The conduct seen in the video is not consistent with the IDF’s orders and what is expected of its soldiers,” the military says.
It adds that the “incident is being investigated and will be dealt with accordingly.” The wounded Palestinian was handed over to the Red Crescent for treatment. video
Palestinian security sources tell the Ynet news site that the man was transferred by the Palestinian Red Crescent to an Israeli ambulance. Images posted to social media appeared to show that his vehicle was later set on fire. There is no immediate confirmation from the Israel Defense Forces or rescue services.
It’s unclear what the man was doing in Qalqilya. Israelis are barred from entering West Bank areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The incident comes a day after police said that two wanted Palestinians, members of the Islamic Jihad terror group, were killed by officers in a raid on Qalqilya. video of the burning of the car
The Israeli who was shot dead in his car this morning in the West Bank city of Qalqilya was found with vegetables he bought in the city, an unnamed source in the Palestinian Authority’s security forces tells the Kan public broadcaster. Findings in the ongoing investigation have been passed onto Israel’s security establishment, the report says. It has been declared a terror attack
From the NY Times: Israeli Official Describes Secret Government Bid to Cement Control of West Bank
Israeli judges
have long ruled that Israel’s control of the territory is a temporary military
occupation and complies with international law. A powerful minister’s recent
speech, caught on tape, suggested the government is trying to change that.
An armed soldier
standing behind a concrete barrier and sandbags. He is flanked by Israeli
flags.
An influential
member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition told settlers in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank that the government is engaged in a stealthy effort
to irreversibly change the way the territory is governed, to cement Israel’s
control over it without being accused of formally annexing it.
In a taped
recording of the speech, the official, Bezalel Smotrich, can be heard
suggesting at a private event earlier this month that the goal was to prevent
the West Bank from becoming part of a Palestinian state.
“I’m telling you,
it’s mega-dramatic,” Mr. Smotrich told the settlers. “Such changes change a
system’s DNA.”
While Mr.
Smotrich’s opposition to ceding control over the West Bank is no secret, the
Israeli government’s official position is that the West Bank’s status remains
open to negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Israel’s Supreme
Court has ruled that Israel’s rule over the territory amounts to a temporary
military occupation overseen by army generals, not a permanent civilian
annexation administered by Israeli civil servants.
Mr. Smotrich’s
June 9 speech at a West Bank gathering may make that posture harder to
maintain. In it, he outlined a carefully orchestrated program to take authority
over the West Bank out of the hands of the Israeli military and turn it over to
civilians working for Mr. Smotrich in the defense ministry. Parts of the plan
have already been incrementally introduced over the past 18 months, and some
authorities have already been transferred to civilians.
Israel’s finance
minister, Bezalel Smotrich, addressing the relatives of hostages during a rally
in Jerusalem this month.Credit...Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty
Images
“We created a separate civilian system,” Mr. Smotrich said. To deflect international scrutiny, the government has allowed the defense ministry to remain involved in the process, he said, so that it seems that the military is still at the heart of West Bank governance.
“It will be
easier to swallow in the international and legal context,” Mr. Smotrich said.
“So that they won’t say that we are doing annexation here.”
Reporters for The
New York Times listened to a recording of the roughly half-hour speech that was
provided by one of the attendees, a researcher from Peace Now, an
anti-occupation campaign group. A spokesman for Mr. Smotrich, Eytan Fold,
confirmed he gave the speech and said the event was not a secret.
Mr. Smotrich, a
far-right lawmaker, said Mr. Netanyahu was aware of the details of the plan,
much of which was foreshadowed in a coalition agreement between their parties
that allows the prime minister to remain in power. Mr. Netanyahu is “with us
full on,” Mr. Smotrich said in the speech.
If the government
collapses, a future coalition could reverse the changes, but government moves
in the West Bank have, in the past, usually remained in place through
successive administrations.
For many
Palestinians, the speech itself is likely to be greeted with less surprise than
the fact that Mr. Smotrich said the words aloud.
“It’s interesting
to hear Smotrich in his own voice confirm much of what we suspected about his
agenda,” said Ibrahim Dalalsha, director of the Horizon Center, a political
analysis group in Ramallah, West Bank.
Still, Mr.
Dalalsha said, the approach is not new.
Palestinians have
said for years that Israeli leaders are trying to annex the West Bank in all
but name, building settlements in strategic locations in a bid to prevent
contiguous Palestinian control across the territory. “It’s been going on since
1967,” said Mr. Dalalsha. “Since way before Smotrich came to the scene,” he
added.
Israel seized
control of the territory from Jordan in 1967 during a war with three Arab
states. Since occupying it, Israel has settled more than 500,000 Israeli
civilians, who are subject to Israeli civil law, alongside the territory’s
roughly three million Palestinians, who are subject to Israeli military law.
Roughly 40 percent of the territory is administered by the Palestinian
Authority, a semiautonomous Palestinian-run body that relies on Israel’s
cooperation for much of its funding.
For decades,
Israel’s Supreme Court has described Israel’s rule over the territory as a
military occupation, overseen by a senior general, that complies with the
international laws that apply to occupied territories. The current ruling
coalition disputes the term “occupation,” but it also publicly denies the West
Bank has been permanently annexed and placed under the sovereign control of
Israel’s civilian authorities.
“The final status
of these territories will be determined by the parties in direct negotiations,”
the prime minister’s office said in a statement in response to Mr. Smotrich’s
speech. “This policy has not changed,” the statement added.
Mr. Smotrich’s speech suggested otherwise.
Israeli settlers
peering through a car’s tinted windows to see if Palestinians were inside it as
the vehicle traveled near the village of Wadi as Seeq in the West Bank in
December.Credit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
In particular, he
pointed to one change under which military officers no longer oversee most of
the process by which Israeli settlements are expanded, land is expropriated and
roads are built in the West Bank. Those roles are now overseen by “a civilian
working under the defense ministry” who does not work for military commanders,
he said, but in a new directorate that Mr. Smotrich supervises.
Even as
international pressure grows to declare a Palestinian state that would
encompass the West Bank and Gaza, Mr. Smotrich’s comments suggest that Israel
is quietly working to firm up its control over the West Bank and make it harder
to disentangle from Israeli control.
Diplomats have
been trying to reach a “grand deal” for the Middle East that would both end the
Israeli war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and improve Israel’s ties with other
nations in the region. Saudi Arabia, for one, says it will recognize Israel —
but only if Israel in turn permits Palestinian statehood.
Mr. Smotrich’s
speech suggests just how distant that prospect may be as he moves to merge
governance of the occupied West Bank with governance of the state of Israel.
Mr. Smotrich’s
speech “fundamentally undermines the longstanding argument of the state of
Israel that the settlements are legal because they are temporary,” said Talia
Sasson, a former senior official in Israel’s justice ministry who led an
influential government inquiry in 2005 into the government’s support for
illegal settlements.
The speech made
clear just how powerful Israel’s once-marginal settler movement has become.
Mr. Smotrich is a
longtime settler activist who once worked outside the Israeli establishment to
build settlement encampments that are considered illegal even under Israeli
law. As a religious hard-liner, he believes the West Bank — which Israelis
refer to by its biblical names, Judea and Samaria — was given to Jews by God.
As a lawmaker
over the past decade, Mr. Smotrich attracted attention for regularly making
extremist comments, including his call to destroy a Palestinian town; his
support for segregation between Arabs and Jews in maternity wards; and his
backing for Jewish landowners who will not sell property to Arabs.
Since late 2022,
Mr. Smotrich has gained extraordinary influence over government policy. That is
when his party joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, helping it
secure a small majority in Parliament.
An aerial view of the fence along the 1948 line separating Palestinian village
Hable, left, and Israeli Matan, West Bank, in December.Credit...Sergey
Ponomarev for The New York Times
Mr. Smotrich used
that leverage to persuade Mr. Netanyahu to assign him both the position in the
defense ministry as well as the finance ministry, a role that Mr. Smotrich has
used to block funds for the Palestinian Authority.
“My goal — and I think of everyone here — is
to first and foremost prevent the establishment of a terror state in the very
heart of the land of Israel,” Mr. Smotrich said in the recorded speech.
Mr. Smotrich said
his main achievement has been to place many of the military’s duties in the
West Bank under civilian control. While the army has often turned a blind eye
to settlement expansion and even guards unauthorized settlements from
Palestinian attack, soldiers have also sometimes destroyed settler encampments
built without government permission and barred Israeli activists from entering
the West Bank.
To counteract
that influence, Mr. Smotrich said, the government has:
Given civilians
greater control over settlement construction plans as well as oversight over
the lawyers who decide legal issues in the settlements.
Stripped the
army’s top commander in the West Bank of the ability to block settlement
construction plans.
Secured nearly
$270 million from Israel’s defense budget to guard settlements in 2024-2025.
Moved closer to
establishing a new security squad that could more speedily demolish Palestinian
buildings in the West Bank that have been built without Israeli permission.
To some extent,
Mr. Smotrich’s comments appeared to be an attempt to defuse criticism from his
own base about his record in office. Settler activists say that the military
still too often stops them from building new settlement outposts, and that Mr.
Smotrich has not done enough to intervene.
“Fifteen years ago, I was one of those running on the hills, erecting tents,” Mr. Smotrich told the settlers in his speech. Now, he said that his behind-the-scenes work will have far more impact than the construction of any single settlement encampment. link Netanyahu, in his undying need to remain prime minister brought the most extreme elements of Israeli society into his government and made them senior government ministers. He made Smotrich Finance Minister and a Minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of the West Bank Civil Administration. This has given Smotrich unbelievable and unacceptable power to impact the entire country now and into the far future. Smotrich will do anything and everything to further his messianic dreams of complete takeover of the West Bank, make it part of Israel and get rid of all the Palestinians. The war has not had any impact on these dreams, nor has the hostage situation. This is the most important thing to him and to hell with everything else. He has manipulated the Finance Ministry accordingly and has been working under cover in the Defense Ministry to accomplish his goals to the detriment of the entire country. He, along with this entire government is a danger to the future of Israel and has to be distanced from any public power position.
The IDF says troops who tied a wounded Palestinian to the hood of a military vehicle in the northern West Bank this morning acted against army protocols.
Troops had operated in the Wadi Burqin area, adjacent to the city of Jenin, to detain wanted Palestinians. Amid the operation, the IDF says troops returned fire at gunmen who shot at the soldiers.
One of the suspected gunmen was shot and detained and was brought out of the area while tied to the vehicle’s hood.
The IDF in response to a query on the matter says the soldiers’ actions were “contrary to orders and procedures.”“The conduct seen in the video is not consistent with the IDF’s orders and what is expected of its soldiers,” the military says.
It adds that the “incident is being investigated and will be dealt with accordingly.” The wounded Palestinian was handed over to the Red Crescent for treatment. video
Politics
- A very important interview with my brother's good friend: 'Abbas has
failed': Fatah opponent Samer Sinijlawi details path to peace
The war
between Israel and Hamas has created a deeper divide between Palestinians and
Israelis
A Pew Research Center poll
conducted between March and April shows that 76% of Jewish Israelis think that
Israel will definitely or probably succeed in achieving its war aims against
Hamas; 12% think it will definitely or probably fail. Four percent think
Israel’s military response to Hamas in Gaza has gone too far. Ninety percent of
those surveyed perceive the role of the US in the war positively, and 40% think
Israel should govern the Gaza Strip after the war.
The same poll was
conducted among Arab Israelis, with different results. Only 38% of Arab
Israelis think Israel will succeed in defeating Hamas; 42% believe it will
definitely or probably fail. Seventy-four percent think the war in Gaza has
gone too far. Regarding the US role in the war, only 29% perceive it to be
positive and a mere 3% want Israel to govern the Gaza Strip after the war.
Meanwhile, one week ago, the Palestinian Center for Policy and
Survey Research (PSR) reported through a poll that Palestinian support for
armed struggle grew from 8% to 54% in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The
support for Hamas rose by six percentage points to 40%. Fatah, led by
President Mahmoud Abbas, had 20% backing. The analysis also showed that
two-thirds of the interviewees thought the decision
of Hamas to attack on October 7 was correct.
The war
between Israel and Hamas has created a deeper divide between Palestinians and
Israelis
A Pew Research Center poll
conducted between March and April shows that 76% of Jewish Israelis think that
Israel will definitely or probably succeed in achieving its war aims against
Hamas; 12% think it will definitely or probably fail. Four percent think
Israel’s military response to Hamas in Gaza has gone too far. Ninety percent of
those surveyed perceive the role of the US in the war positively, and 40% think
Israel should govern the Gaza Strip after the war.
The same poll was
conducted among Arab Israelis, with different results. Only 38% of Arab
Israelis think Israel will succeed in defeating Hamas; 42% believe it will
definitely or probably fail. Seventy-four percent think the war in Gaza has
gone too far. Regarding the US role in the war, only 29% perceive it to be
positive and a mere 3% want Israel to govern the Gaza Strip after the war.
Meanwhile, one week ago, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) reported through a poll that Palestinian support for armed struggle grew from 8% to 54% in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The support for Hamas rose by six percentage points to 40%. Fatah, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, had 20% backing. The analysis also showed that two-thirds of the interviewees thought the decision of Hamas to attack on October 7 was correct.
A complex array of feelings
“I don’t believe in polls during the war. If you test the feelings of both Israelis and Palestinians in this time, you will just find anger, hatred, and grief,” Samer Sinijlawi, a Palestinian political activist and Fatah opponent to President Mahmoud Abbas. “This is understandable because Israelis were shocked on the 7th of October, and also the Palestinians suffer every day by seeing images of what is happening in Gaza. Polls are not a proper toll during a war to examine real phenomena,” Sinijlawi added. Speaking Wednesday at the Future of Israel Conference at Tel Aviv University on a panel with Ksenia Svetlova, CEO of the organization ROPES and a researcher at the Atlantic Council, Sinijlawi spoke of the importance of understanding each other’s collective trauma and building mutual trust after all the atrocities that both sides have committed.
“The majority of Israelis and Palestinians will be glad to find a way out of this conflict, but the issue is that they don’t trust each other. The main task for any political leadership should be to build this trust again because they have reached a stage where they don’t know each other anymore. As Palestinians, we have to take the first step to initiate something,” he stated.Sinijlawi sees answers to the current war as coming through insiders: “The solution to this conflict won’t be solved through Washington but through Tel Aviv. We have to be present here as Palestinians, especially in events like these, to understand Israeli concerns and what is their perception of the current conflict.”
The media coverage of the war on both sides has altered the vision of the “other” to an extreme and has led to dehumanization as well, he asserts.
“The bad media coverage has impacted negatively on both sides since only negative things were said both in Israeli and Arab media against the other side. We have to fight this fundamental ignorance that prevents us from seeing real facts,” Sinijlawi explained.
The future of the Palestinian Authority (PA) the day after the war plays an important role in Sinijlawi’s discourse. As an opposition member of Fatah, he told The Media Line that Mahmoud Abbas and the PA have been lacking vision and haven’t improved the status of Palestinians at all on any level.
“Many Palestinian rights activists have been killed for criticizing Abbas. Moreover, this president doesn’t want to guarantee elections and has been ruling there without public consensus. Every Palestinian feels like a hostage in the hands of Abbas. The Palestinians are fed up with this corruption,” Sinijlawi said.
The PSR’s poll showed this dissatisfaction, with 60% of those surveyed supporting the PA’s dissolution and 89% wanting Abbas to resign.
Several guest speakers who represented the Israeli center, left, and right-wing opposition to the current government attended the university event, including Knesset member and National Unity leader Benny Gantz, Ra’am party head Mansour Abbas, and the newly elected head of the Labor party, Yair Golan.
Gantz emphasized the importance of bringing back the hostages and building a “stronger version of Israel” that can face the threats of external powers like Iran and its proxies.
He recently resigned from the emergency War Cabinet and is a vocal opponent of the current government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We must not mirror the image of extreme behaviors we see in some members of the coalition. Our positions are different. And our path is also different. We will not make generalizations, and we will not spread hatred, period. … After the October disaster, we must hold elections, and it is better if we do so with a broad consensus,” he stated. link
The Region and the world
- Explosions were reported near a ship east of the Yemeni port city of Aden, Britain’s maritime safety agency UKMTO says.
The agency, which did not identify the vessel, says the ship was able to continue its journey and “the crew are reported safe.”
- French prosecutors charge teens for planning terror attack on Jewish targets
The agency, which did not identify the vessel, says the ship was able to continue its journey and “the crew are reported safe.”
PARIS — French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a youth in the Paris region with planning a terrorist attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source tells AFP. While no details on the pair have been released, French anti-terrorist investigators have expressed increased concern over the young age of some suspects detained in recent months for planning terror attacks.
French politicians have also condemned a growing number of attacks on the country’s Jewish community, the biggest outside Israel and the United States. Outrage has been expressed over the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a park in the Paris suburbs last Saturday. Two 13-year-old boys have been charged with rape and making antisemetic insults.
The 19-year-old has been charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” says the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity. The youth aged under 18 was detained on June 13, the source says.
The pair made contact on social media and were planning a “a violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” says the source without giving details on the plot. Anti-terrorism investigators say a growing number of youths have been held in recent months for preparing attacks.
US officials reportedly order the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, the aircraft carrier leading America’s response to Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, to return home.
The US Naval Institute’s news service reports, citing an anonymous official, that the Eisenhower would be returning home to Norfolk, Virginia, after an over eight-month deployment in combat that the Navy says is its most intense since World War II.The report said an aircraft carrier operating in the Pacific would be taking the Eisenhower’s place.
The closest American aircraft carrier known to be operating in Asia is the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
Personal StoriesRepaying a debt
with blood: Israeli doctor saved Sinwar, nephew killed on Oct. 7
Dr. Yuval Bitton
saved Yahya Sinwar's life in 2004. Sinwar promised to repay the debt upon his
release in 2011, only to plot the murder of Bitton's nephew and countless other
Israelis 19 years later.
Dr Yuval Bitton treated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a prison clinic in
2004, saving his life with a brain tumor diagnosis and facilitating an
immediate transfer to the hospital. Some 19 years later, Bitton’s nephew was
killed by terrorists on October 7 in an attack orchestrated by the now-Hamas
leader, Bitton told CNN on Thursday.
Bitton was employed as a dentist at Nafha Prison when he met
Sinwar. Sinwar was serving four life sentences for the abduction and murder of
two IDF soldiers. The notorious terror leader never completed his sentences,
having been freed as part of a 2011 prisoner-hostage exchange that saw 1000
terrorists released in exchange for Gilad Shalit.
Bitton told CNN he felt he knew the attack was coming and
immediately knew who was behind the devastating murders of over 1200 people.
Repaying a debt
with blood: Israeli doctor saved Sinwar, nephew killed on Oct. 7
Dr. Yuval Bitton
saved Yahya Sinwar's life in 2004. Sinwar promised to repay the debt upon his
release in 2011, only to plot the murder of Bitton's nephew and countless other
Israelis 19 years later.
Dr Yuval Bitton treated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a prison clinic in 2004, saving his life with a brain tumor diagnosis and facilitating an immediate transfer to the hospital. Some 19 years later, Bitton’s nephew was killed by terrorists on October 7 in an attack orchestrated by the now-Hamas leader, Bitton told CNN on Thursday.
Bitton was employed as a dentist at Nafha Prison when he met Sinwar. Sinwar was serving four life sentences for the abduction and murder of two IDF soldiers. The notorious terror leader never completed his sentences, having been freed as part of a 2011 prisoner-hostage exchange that saw 1000 terrorists released in exchange for Gilad Shalit.
Bitton told CNN he felt he knew the attack was coming and
immediately knew who was behind the devastating murders of over 1200 people.
“I
know the person who planned and conceived and initiated this criminal attack,”
Bitton said. “I have known him since 1996 – not only him but the entire Hamas
leadership in Gaza – and it was clear to me that this is what they were
planning.” How an Israeli doctor saved the life of Yahya
Sinwar
In 2004, Sinwar reportedly appeared before Bitton complaining of neck pain and a loss of balance.
“When he explained to me what was happening to him, I diagnosed it as a stroke, and together with the general practitioner, we decided to take him to the hospital,” Bitton said. “He arrived at the hospital, the diagnosis was that he had an abscess in the brain, and he was operated on that day, thus saving his life because if it had exploded, he would have died.”
The terrorist leader allegedly acknowledged Bitton’s role in saving his life at the time and later promised during his 2011 release that he would repay the debt he owed Bitton.
Repaying
life with death
In
the mind of Yahya Sinwar
Israel's
costly mistake
Acronyms and Glossary
ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague
IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague
MDA - Magen David Adom - Israel Ambulance Corp
PA - Palestinian Authority - President Mahmud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen
PMO- Prime Minister's Office
UAV - Unmanned Aerial vehicle, Drone. Could be used for surveillance and reconnaissance, or be weaponized with missiles or contain explosives for 'suicide' explosion mission
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