π️Lonny's War Update- October 286, 2023 - July 18, 2024 π️
π️Day 286 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
*6:20am - south - rockets Nir Am*9:40am - south - rockets Nir Am
*9:45am - south - rockets Nir Am
*9:45am - south - rockets Nir Am
Hostage Updates
- The mediators' message to the Israeli negotiating team: There's no point in approaching Hamas until we understand your positionMediators to Israel: There's a gap between what's written in the agreement and public declarations • Mossad chief in discussions: Developing a mechanism to prevent armed individuals from crossing could take months • Security officials: A mechanism to prevent armed individuals from moving northward - not realistic • Netanyahu's office: Details will be finalized before the delegation departs in the coming days • Sources familiar with negotiations: At this pace, there won't be significant progress soon.
The mediators in the negotiations conveyed a message to Israel, stating that there's no point in approaching Hamas until they receive a clear response from the Israeli negotiating team. This comes against the backdrop of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statements against the emerging agreement. "There's a gap between what's written in the agreement and public declarations," it was reported.
Netanyahu insists that the IDF will continue to control the Philadelphi Corridor and Rafah, and Israel has a position on solving the problem. Mossad chief Dadi Barnea clarified in discussions that "finding a mechanism to prevent armed individuals from crossing could take weeks or months, and the mediators don't have that time."
Among those familiar with the negotiations, there's a feeling that the PM isn't making decisions regarding the proposed solution for Philadelphi and the Nitzanim issue, and despite daily discussions recently, no substantial steps are being taken. They also expressed concern that at this pace, there won't be significant progress soon. There are assessments that Netanyahu wants to come with something to Biden or, alternatively, ask him for something upon arriving in Washington. The PM's office stated that "he gave principled instructions to the negotiating team and additional details will be finalized before the delegation's departure in the coming days."
Meanwhile, the IDF assumes there are enough tactical achievements that become leverage for a strategic move aimed at signing an agreement to release the hostages. The IDF also believes that even if we leave the corridor bisecting the Gaza Strip, there are enough things that can be done to enable the deal's implementation. The military notes that even if soldiers are not present in the Philadelphi Corridor, the IDF will operationally control it using techniques and technologies designed for this purpose. However, security officials emphasized that a mechanism to prevent armed individuals from moving northward is not realistic. The defense establishment noted that it's impossible to screen a million Gaza residents and ensure they aren't carrying weapons, but if terrorists are caught, Israel could violate the agreement and attack them since they violated it first. Link
- Shas faction in a letter to Netanyahu: "This is the right timing for a hostage deal"
Hostage Updates
- The mediators' message to the Israeli negotiating team: There's no point in approaching Hamas until we understand your positionMediators to Israel: There's a gap between what's written in the agreement and public declarations • Mossad chief in discussions: Developing a mechanism to prevent armed individuals from crossing could take months • Security officials: A mechanism to prevent armed individuals from moving northward - not realistic • Netanyahu's office: Details will be finalized before the delegation departs in the coming days • Sources familiar with negotiations: At this pace, there won't be significant progress soon.The mediators in the negotiations conveyed a message to Israel, stating that there's no point in approaching Hamas until they receive a clear response from the Israeli negotiating team. This comes against the backdrop of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statements against the emerging agreement. "There's a gap between what's written in the agreement and public declarations," it was reported.Netanyahu insists that the IDF will continue to control the Philadelphi Corridor and Rafah, and Israel has a position on solving the problem. Mossad chief Dadi Barnea clarified in discussions that "finding a mechanism to prevent armed individuals from crossing could take weeks or months, and the mediators don't have that time."Among those familiar with the negotiations, there's a feeling that the PM isn't making decisions regarding the proposed solution for Philadelphi and the Nitzanim issue, and despite daily discussions recently, no substantial steps are being taken. They also expressed concern that at this pace, there won't be significant progress soon. There are assessments that Netanyahu wants to come with something to Biden or, alternatively, ask him for something upon arriving in Washington. The PM's office stated that "he gave principled instructions to the negotiating team and additional details will be finalized before the delegation's departure in the coming days."Meanwhile, the IDF assumes there are enough tactical achievements that become leverage for a strategic move aimed at signing an agreement to release the hostages. The IDF also believes that even if we leave the corridor bisecting the Gaza Strip, there are enough things that can be done to enable the deal's implementation. The military notes that even if soldiers are not present in the Philadelphi Corridor, the IDF will operationally control it using techniques and technologies designed for this purpose. However, security officials emphasized that a mechanism to prevent armed individuals from moving northward is not realistic. The defense establishment noted that it's impossible to screen a million Gaza residents and ensure they aren't carrying weapons, but if terrorists are caught, Israel could violate the agreement and attack them since they violated it first. Link
- Shas faction in a letter to Netanyahu: "This is the right timing for a hostage deal"
Shas called on the PM "not to fear voices in the coalition" and to sign a deal for the release of hostages • Meanwhile, families of hostages are protesting outside the Kirya • Ella Ben Ami: "Netanyahu, when I sat in the shelter for 15 hours, I lost my trust in you. Now you have a chance to restore my and all Israeli citizens' trust in you" • Mother of kidnapped lookout Daniella Gilboa: "I've chosen you in all recent years, please say yes to Netanyahu's deal"
The Shas faction sent a letter to the Prime Minister this evening (Wednesday) calling on him to reach a hostage deal soon. "Do not fear the voices in the coalition opposing the deal and we strengthen you to continue acting responsibly for the mitzvah of redeeming captives, which is paramount," it stated.
"Our honored one, the Shas faction strengthens your hands in your efforts to return our kidnapped brothers and sisters, and in leading the deal currently in advanced negotiations," the letter said. "We believe that the conditions created now due to the blessed military pressure and targeted assassinations create an appropriate time to reach a deal that preserves Israel's vital security interests and brings the hostages home."
It further stated: "The Shas faction calls on you not to fear the voices in the coalition opposing the deal and strengthens you to continue acting responsibly for the mitzvah of redeeming captives, which is paramount, and as our teacher Rabbi Ovadia Yosef always instructed us, to do everything for the redemption of captives. We bless you on your important trip to the US to faithfully represent Israel's position on this important stage, and for including the families of the hostages in your trip, and we are confident that this trip will greatly assist in advancing the hostage deal and bringing it to completion soon, with God's help. Be strong and courageous!"
Meanwhile, families of hostages are currently protesting outside the Kirya base in Tel Aviv - calling on PM Netanyahu to sign a deal before his flight to the US.
Ella Ben Ami, daughter of Ohad Ben Ami, said at the protest: "PM Netanyahu, when I sat in the shelter for 15 hours, I lost my trust in you. Now you have a chance to restore my and all Israeli citizens' trust in you if you say yes to the deal you yourself put on the table and return 120 hostages to their families waiting for them here, for a hug or a grave that can't be cried over because it's currently not here. Bring everyone back before you fly, before you go on political tours in other countries, start here in the country, take the trust of your citizens and implement a deal!"
Orly Gilboa, mother of lookout Daniella Gilboa, addressed government members: "Where are all the government ministers we met with compassionate hearts and faces that sympathize with us? We need you to take action, go to Mr. Netanyahu and tell him that if there's no deal, you'll leave the government. We've been meeting Knesset members, Bibi, everyone, for 9 months and every time they tell us 'Hamas doesn't want to, we're dealing with someone who doesn't want to' and now he does want to - and we don't?? Now there's a deal, they're saying yes to a deal, now we need to say yes to the deal and not make it difficult!"
She added: "I'm addressing Mr. Netanyahu again: I, Orly, have chosen you in all recent years, you are my Prime Minister. We all expect you as the Prime Minister of Israel: bring the citizens of Israel home! We all want them and the joy in our hearts, the relief and quiet that we've been missing for nine and a half months. Please, say yes to Netanyahu's deal!"
Lishi Lavi Miran, wife of Omri Miran, also addressed Netanyahu: "I wanted to tell you that my and Omri's Roni is asking for only one thing for her birthday: for Dad Omri to return. Roni is 'marking' and I want her to 'celebrate'. It's possible now that for her 3rd birthday we can get Dad and Omri and all 119 hostages back. Don't travel without a deal! No child should live without a father! No parent should live without a child! They all should have been here long ago and we know that this time it's possible, so make the right decision already and bring them back to us now!" Link Shas ministers are telling Netanyahu not to fold to pressures by Smotrich and Ben Gvir and to go forward immediately with the hostage deal
- Urging deal, Mossad chief said to warn time running out for young female hostages
At cabinet meeting, IDF chief, Gallant and two other ministers reportedly stress need to reach deal with Hamas for release of captives
Mossad chief David Barnea told a security cabinet meeting Tuesday that young female hostages held by Hamas don’t have time to wait for a new hostage deal framework, according to unsourced leaks from the gathering that were widely reported by Hebrew media outlets Wednesday.
“It could take long weeks. The girls in captivity don’t have time to wait for changes in the proposal under discussion,” Barnea was quoted as saying in the closed-door meeting.
It was not clear why Barnea focused specifically on the women. Other people at the meeting backed the need for a swift agreement, the reports said.
“It’s an open wound in society,” Transportation Minister Miri Regev was quoted as saying of the plight of hostages, now in their 10th month of captivity. “We are obligated to the public and to the citizens who were not protected by the IDF and Shin Bet on October 7. “There is no perfect deal but there is an opportunity here that must not be missed,” Regev reportedly said.
“Women can give birth after nine months and that is a disaster that you cannot recover from,” Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel was quoted as saying, in reference to concerns the female hostages may have been raped in captivity.
Gamliel reportedly pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ignore threats from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who both oppose any deal that ends the fighting before Hamas is destroyed and who have threatened to topple the government if necessary to prevent one. “This deal is the ‘Netanyahu deal’ and under your name, and you need to move forward with it all the way and not be concerned with various coalition threats from Ben Gvir and Smotrich,” Gamliel was said to implore the prime minister. “If she goes on like that I will leave the room,” Ben Gvir responded and pointed out that Gamliel is not a full member of the top-tier security cabinet.
“The lady is an observer,” Ben Gvir said. “It is about time that you put her in her place. She doesn’t even represent the positions of Likud and her discourse is unacceptable.”
“Gila, stop,” Netanyahu reportedly told Gamliel while insisting that he was not worried by political pressure. Rather, he asserted, it was Hamas that was feeling the heat.
“Military pressure against Hamas is what will in the end bring the hostages,” he said, reinforcing his oft-stated belief that the military offensive is the most effective way of pushing Hamas into an agreement.
“I oppose a deal that is reckless,” Ben Gvir declared. Gamliel then retorted that Ben Gvir had said the same thing during a previous deal in November that had secured the release of 105 hostages.
“Even then I was right,” Ben Gvir argued. “Look at how many soldiers fell afterward. Instead of wiping out Hamas, we stopped, and it has cost us.” The army has not indicated that the week-long pause in fighting during the previous deal led to more soldier deaths.
The deal currently on the table would see the release of hostages held by Palestinian terror group Hamas in return for some form of ceasefire in the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu has reportedly hardened Israel’s position in internationally mediated talks for a deal, spurred on by intelligence assessments that Hamas is weary, weakened, and keen to end the fighting. Two key points that the prime minister has seized on are Israel’s ability to directly prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas through tunnels under the Egypt-Hamas border, and preventing Hamas from moving its fighters from southern Gaza to the north by embedding them among Palestinians displaced by the war when they are permitted to return to the north.
The reports said Barnea warned that any attempt to set up a system to monitor who moves north would take long weeks that hostages did not have.
Gallant also warned there was little likelihood the sides could reach an agreement over an apparatus to monitor Palestinians moving from southern Gaza to the north, the Walla outlet reported, citing an unnamed source at the cabinet meeting. The current deal proposal mentions only that Palestinians moving north will do so “without carrying arms while returning,” but doesn’t specify how that will be ensured.
The defense minister also repeated his opinion that Israel could prevent smuggling under the Egypt-Gaza border using monitoring equipment, an option that has reportedly been floated at negotiations talks. The plight of female hostages was further highlighted Tuesday when the parents of five female IDF soldiers held by Hamas published fresh images of the hostages from the earlier days of their captivity that showed they had suffered physical harm. Hagit Pe’er, head of the Na’amat women’s rights group, said in a statement that Barnea’s warnings of the danger to the women represented “real alarm bells — the writing is on the wall, and the prime minister cannot say he didn’t know; it’s time that the fate of the girls and all the abductees worry the prime minister more than the threats of his coalition partners.”
According to Channel 12, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi also backed Barnea in urging Netanyahu to advance with the current proposal rather than try to change terms at this stage.
The network reported that security officials told the ministers “the odds of reaching a deal are not bad, and this can happen very soon” as Hamas “is in its most difficult state since the war started.” The officials warned that even the current proposal, if approved without any alterations, could take weeks to finalize, making it even more important to seize the current opportunity for a deal, Channel 12 reported. According to Walla, Netanyahu criticized security officials and ministers who have made public statements contrary to his strategy of increased military pressure, warning it weakens Israel’s position in negotiations.
The security cabinet meeting already grabbed headlines with reports earlier in the day that Netanyahu seemingly downplayed the threat hostages face in Gaza.
“We shouldn’t be anxious,” Netanyahu told the meeting, according to the Ynet news site, referring to the drawn-out negotiations for a hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza. “Hamas is the one that should be anxious. The hostages are suffering but they are not dying.” The Prime Minister’s Office did not issue a confirmation or denial of the claim.
Kan news on Wednesday evening quoted Netanyahu differently, reporting that he had said: “We won’t lose our hostages. They’re alive, they’re not dead but their conditions are dire, and so we must do everything to get them out as soon as possible.”
One official who spoke to The Times of Israel anonymously also did not comment on Netanyahu’s statement directly, but said Netanyahu “actually stressed in the cabinet meeting that we need to do everything in order to bring all the hostages home as soon as possible, and this can only be done by increasing the pressure.”
Netanyahu’s ostensible assessment contradicts those of senior ministers in his government.
Gallant has said in recent closed meetings that if a deal isn’t reached in the next two weeks, the abductees’ fate will be “sealed,” according to the Ynet.
According to the outlet, Gallant believes conditions have ripened for a deal with Hamas, but accuses Netanyahu of hindering progress in order to retain the support of far-right elements of the coalition. Israel believes that 120 hostages are being held in Gaza — of whom dozens are confirmed by the IDF to be dead.
On Wednesday, an Israeli delegation arrived in Egypt to continue ceasefire talks as Israel and Hamas consider the latest proposal, three Egyptian airport officials said.
International mediators continue to push Israel and Hamas toward the proposal which was initially floated by Israel and promoted by US President Joe Biden at the end of May. The proposal calls for a three-phase deal that would see Israel withdraw from Gaza in return for the hostages and the release of hundreds of Palestinian security convicts held in Israeli prisons. A major sticking point is Israel’s insistence that it have the option to resume the war later so it can continue its declared war goal to destroy Hamas, while the latter is demanding an end to the fighting.
The Israeli delegation includes six officials, the airport officials said without disclosing identities. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the arrival with the media. Link Everyone is pushing for the deal except the extreme hardliners in the government, Ben Gvir and Smotrich and they are the ones controlling Netanyahu. The big question and the big hope is whether Netanyahu will show a semblance of humanity and agree to a deal even if it means the government will fall.
- Relatives of hostages urge rescued captive Noa Argamani not to join Netanyahu in DC
Several family members argue prime minister is using the young woman, make plans to protest against him in Washington since they see him as an obstacle to a deal
Some family members of hostages held by Hamas called on rescued hostage Noa Argamani on Wednesday to not join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s delegation to the United States next week, arguing he was using her to legitimize himself in the wake of the October 7 disaster.
According to a Ynet report, Argamani, who was freed by Israeli forces last month alongside three other hostages in a special forces operation, will join Netanyahu with her father and other hostage family members for the prime minister’s speech to Congress in Washington DC on July 24.
Maayan Sherman, the mother of fallen IDF soldier Ron Sherman, whose body was recovered in December from the Gaza Strip, posted on Facebook, “Beloved Noa, he’s using you. And others will pay for this with their lives. Explain this to your father. Don’t fly with him as a decoration.” Ifat Kalderon, a cousin of hostage Ofer Kalderon, posted Sherman’s remarks on X, adding, “Let someone explain to beloved Noa Argamani that he’s using her. She was kidnapped once by Hamas and a second time by him.” Danny Elgarat, whose brother Itzik is being held hostage, made a public plea to Argamani saying, “I heard with great sorrow that you agreed to travel with Bibi. Traveling with Bibi means acknowledging that he isn’t responsible for the October 7 disaster, and he’s actually using you to prove that.” “As a family member of a hostage, I’m happy you managed to be rescued from there,” Elgarat continued. “I expect you to work for the release of the rest of the hostages or to not be an obstacle. Unfortunately, in my opinion, joining the prime minister’s trip hurts the chances of bringing home the rest.” Elgarat is part of a group traveling privately to Washington to protest against Netanyahu while he is there. “If you’re in his entourage, we’ll find ourselves in an absurd situation protesting against you, and we wouldn’t want to do that,” he said.
He noted that “the prime minister invited other family members who refused the invitation. We would be happy and relieved if you did the same. Condition your participation on a deal before the flight.” Many relatives of the hostage have been increasingly critical of Netanyahu, viewing him as being a central obstacle to a deal that is reportedly now widely backed by the defense establishment. He argues that further pressure is needed on Hamas to reach a deal that is acceptable to Israel.
Regarding Netanyahu’s trip, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum put out a statement saying: “We need the prime minister here, available, with all his energy being put forth to bring the hostages home, using all his power in the most important place for the people of Israel at this time.
Other hostage family members expected to join Netanyahu include Ditza Or, the mother of Noa Argamani’s partner Avinatan Or, still held hostage, and Ayelet Samerano, whose son Jonathan’s body remains in Gaza, Ynet reported.
Ayelet Levy-Shahar, the mother of Naama Levy, refused the invitation, the report added.
It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that.
Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 19 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 42 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.
One more person has been listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014. Link Noa is in a very confusing position. the parents of her boyfriend, Avinatan, who is still being held by Hamas, have been against a deal and buy into Netanyahu's position of more military pressure. His mother is accompanying Netanyahu to Washington where he wants to show that he has support for his position. Noa only met his family after her rescue. I sincerely hope she doesn't go to Washington as all the released hostages have been sharing the position that a deal must be made immediately.
Gaza
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says the Lebanese terror group may soon target towns in Israel that haven’t so far been subjected to its rocket attacks if the IDF “continues to strike civilians.”
Lebanese official media reported yesterday that five people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, including three Syrian children. In response, the Shiite terror group fired 100 rockets that targeted several areas of northern Israel in four separate waves last night and early this morning.
In an address to mark the Shiite festival of Ashura, Nasrallah further warns Israel to refrain from a ground incursion into its northern neighbor.
“If your tanks come to southern Lebanon, you will not suffer a shortage of tanks, because you will have no tanks left,” he says, according to a report in the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar network.
The comment appears to refer to a response given by the IDF to a High Court petition earlier this week, in which the army stated that it does not have enough tanks to launch a pilot training program for female troops since many tanks were damaged in the war, contradicting previous statements by senior military officers.
Nasrallah vows to continue attacks against Israel as long as the war in Gaza persists, and denies alleged rumors that a diplomatic settlement has been reached to halt the conflict on the Lebanese border.
“All that is being circulated about a finalized agreement regarding the situation on the Lebanese front is incorrect,” he says.
The Hezbollah leader further pledges to rebuild border towns and make them “more beautiful than they were,” and praises the residents for providing a “steadfast environment” to fighters of the “resistance.”
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says the Lebanese terror group may soon target towns in Israel that haven’t so far been subjected to its rocket attacks if the IDF “continues to strike civilians.”
Lebanese official media reported yesterday that five people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, including three Syrian children. In response, the Shiite terror group fired 100 rockets that targeted several areas of northern Israel in four separate waves last night and early this morning.
In an address to mark the Shiite festival of Ashura, Nasrallah further warns Israel to refrain from a ground incursion into its northern neighbor.
“If your tanks come to southern Lebanon, you will not suffer a shortage of tanks, because you will have no tanks left,” he says, according to a report in the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar network.
The comment appears to refer to a response given by the IDF to a High Court petition earlier this week, in which the army stated that it does not have enough tanks to launch a pilot training program for female troops since many tanks were damaged in the war, contradicting previous statements by senior military officers.
Nasrallah vows to continue attacks against Israel as long as the war in Gaza persists, and denies alleged rumors that a diplomatic settlement has been reached to halt the conflict on the Lebanese border.
“All that is being circulated about a finalized agreement regarding the situation on the Lebanese front is incorrect,” he says.
The Hezbollah leader further pledges to rebuild border towns and make them “more beautiful than they were,” and praises the residents for providing a “steadfast environment” to fighters of the “resistance.”
West Bank and Jerusalem
Politics and the War (general news)
- The Israel Defense Forces announced on Tuesday that it will begin to send out initial draft orders to members of the Haredi community beginning on Sunday, though the government appeared no closer to legislation on the issue following a bombshell High Court ruling last month.
The announcement was followed by a rowdy protest by Haredi extremists, who blocked a major highway.
The draft orders are the first stage in the screening and evaluation process that the army carries out for new recruits, ahead of enlistment in the military in the coming year.
“The orders were issued as part of the IDF’s plan to advance the integration of conscripts from the ultra-Orthodox community into its ranks,” the military said, without specifying how many draft orders would initially be sent out and to which age groups.
The IDF said it aims to recruit members of all segments of society to the military, “by virtue of it being the people’s army and in light of the increased operational needs at this time, in view of the security challenges.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last week that the draft orders would begin to be sent out to members of the Haredi community next month.
The dispute over the ultra-Orthodox community serving in the military is one of the most contentious in Israel, with decades of governmental and judicial attempts to settle the issue never reaching a stable resolution. The Haredi religious and political leadership fiercely resists and protests any effort to draft mainstream yeshiva students who are actually involved in religious study. Many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that military service is incompatible with their way of life, and fear that those who enlist will be secularized. Many Israelis who do serve, however, say the decades-long arrangement of mass exemptions unfairly burdens them, a sentiment that has strengthened since the October 7 attack and the ensuing war, in which more than 680 soldiers have been killed and over 300,000 citizens called up to reserve duty.
Haredi activists who oppose any draft orders in the ultra-Orthodox community regularly stage raucous protests in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and elsewhere, which snarl up traffic and are forcibly broken up by police.
Following news of the IDF announcement on Tuesday, Haredi extremists staged a protest along Route 4 near Bnei Brak, shutting down the highway during rush hour traffic. Police said they were redirecting traffic to other routes while working to clear the demonstrators from the road.
On Monday evening, two senior IDF officers who were visiting Bnei Brak to discuss establishing a tailored Haredi army brigade were attacked by dozens of ultra-Orthodox rioters who surrounded their car and shouted “murderer” and other epithets at them.
The Brothers in Arms activist group, which opposes exemptions from military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews, has staged protests in some Haredi cities around the country. The government earlier this week voted to back a bill lengthening mandatory service for male IDF soldiers to three years, sparking further ire among those who view the burden of service as unequal.
Last month, the High Court ruled that there was no longer any legal framework allowing the state to refrain from drafting Haredi yeshiva students into military service, and the attorney general ordered the government to immediately begin the process of conscription for 3,000 such men — the number the military has said it is able to process at this preliminary stage.
The current government, which includes the Shas and United Torah Judaism ultra-Orthodox parties, has vowed to pass legislation that would slowly increase Haredi enlistment, but major gaps remain between the desires of the Haredi factions and of many senior Likud lawmakers. The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is currently working on an ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill that chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) has said will advance only if there is “broad agreement.” If passed, the legislation would set the age of exemption from mandatory service for Haredi yeshiva students at 21 and “very slowly” increase the rate of ultra-Orthodox enlistment. link
Gantz slams PM’s war management, says ‘everything will be revealed’ in future inquiry
Former war cabinet minister Benny Gantz pans Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership, accusing him of hesitating and delaying necessary operations in Gaza.
Addressing Netanyahu in a tweet after the premier defended his wartime leadership during a heated Knesset debate by declaring that Israel is “on the way to absolute victory,” Gantz says that Netanyahu was “afraid” to maneuver in Gaza, having “delayed entering Khan Younis” and “hesitated to enter Rafah.”
“You talked about the city of Rafah for a campaign, when we insisted on the need to first seize the Philadelphi Corridor and prevent a renewed strengthening of Hamas,” he continues, speaking of the time before Gantz left the wartime government, citing the premier’s conduct.
“Everything will be revealed when the protocols and testimonies are heard by the state commission of inquiry, which will have to ask the questions — why did you delay the entry of Rafah and Khan Younis? Why did you fear, delay and hesitate? And what are the prices we paid and are still paying for it?”
Such a commission hasn’t yet been formed, and Netanyahu is reportedly seeking to change the way it could eventually be formed to be more amenable to him.
Labor MK Naama Lazimi slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, blaming him for strengthening Hamas ahead of October 7 and accusing him of playing political games while Israelis suffer.
Addressing the prime minister during a so-called 40 signatures debate on the “government of abandonment” called by the opposition, Lazimi says that while “entire settlements were bombed and destroyed,” Netanyahu “took advantage of the war to distribute bribe money to [his] cronies.”
“The reservists and their wives, the orphans of the IDF, the farmers — all these will wait. The main thing is that the [coalition] partners loot as quickly as possible before the burning tower of cards finally collapses,” she says, apparently referring to bids to allocate money to priorities of his ultra-Orthodox and far-right coalition partners.
“You strengthened those who slaughtered us. You handed [Hamas] suitcases of dollars in cash, you saw these murders as an asset. You avoided killing the heads of Hamas at least six times. Until now you have not explained to the public why. You are afraid to meet the public because you know that lives have been ruined because of your abandonment,” she says, repeating several unverified claims against Netanyahu — charging him with preferring “political survival over saving lives.”
“The one who prevents the greatest mitzvah of ransoming captives is the one who has forgotten what it is to be a Jew and a human being,” Lazimi adds, paraphrasing a hot mic comment made over 20 years ago by Netanyahu that the left “has forgotten what it is to be a Jew.” link
A lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party says he won’t support the government if it agrees to withdraw IDF troops from the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor.
Multiple reports in recent days have indicated that Israel has been showing increasing flexibility on the matter, with negotiators agreeing to discuss alternatives to direct Israeli control of the key frontier, including electronic surveillance systems controlled by Israel aimed at preventing weapons smuggling into the Strip. Netanyahu’s office has denied the reports.
“Put simply, if we won’t be at the Philadelphi Corridor, we won’t be in the State of Israel,” Likud MK Moshe Saada tells Radio 103FM, describing the border strip as Hamas’s “oxygen pipe.”
“Leaving the Philadelphi Corridor is an existential threat to the Jewish nation’s life in the Land of Israel. This is one of the red lines because unfortunately, it has been written in blood,” he says.
Asked if he will resign if such a withdrawal goes ahead, Saada says: “I won’t support the government. I have told this to the prime minister in the past and I think he agrees with me.”
Karhi: We rejected a bill to commemorate October 7 due to Lazimi's attitude towards the PM
The Communications Minister boasted that a bill proposed by a Labor Party MK to commemorate October 7 was rejected, despite the coalition voting with the opposition on five similar proposals • "This is what happens to those who behave shamefully and disgracefully towards the Prime Minister of Israel," he wrote • Lazimi: "Personal revenge, they don't care that I lost a family member in the war"
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi boasted last night (Wednesday) in an X post that the coalition rejected a bill to establish a day commemorating the events of October 7 and the Swords of Iron War, proposed by MK Naama Lazimi (Labor), due to her speech yesterday in the 40-signature discussion attended by PM Netanyahu. "This is what happens to those who behave shamefully and disgracefully towards the Prime Minister of Israel," Karhi wrote.
Minister Karhi revealed that the reason for rejecting MK Lazimi's bill by the coalition, despite voting with the opposition on 5 similar bills, was "in response to her shameful behavior today towards Prime Minister Netanyahu." Karhi also attached a picture of Lazimi and quoted a dialogue between him and MK Kariv: "Kariv: Aren't you ashamed?; Karhi: A king who forgoes his honor, his honor is not forgiven."
Lazimi responded to Karhi's post, writing: "You played politics with a memorial day because I said the leader is to blame, and you think this honors this important proposal? You've lost all connection to reality and life itself. Busy with Bibi's honor instead of the people of Israel. You didn't hurt me. I have a family member who was killed, friends who were injured and murdered, and you're rejecting my bill for a memorial day. It speaks about you and all of you. Also, he is the leader and he is to blame."
According to Lazimi's bill, the memorial day for the October 7 massacre would be held on the 24th of Tishrei (two days after Simchat Torah), and it would be observed in state institutions, IDF camps, and schools. Flags in state institutions and IDF camps would be lowered to half-mast, and a state memorial ceremony would be held at a location determined by the government. However, similar bills from coalition and opposition MKs passed, so the rejection of this specific bill has no substantial meaning.
MK Lazimi opened the 40-signature discussion attended by the PM, saying: "You are the head and you are to blame. Your days in power are the hardest Israel has known since we established the state. Under your responsibility, 1,400 citizens were massacred and murdered. Hundreds were kidnapped, tens of thousands were evacuated from their homes, and the entire country experienced the price of abandonment. 120 hostage families look to you and wait for you to bring them home, and you're busy with yourself. Don't fly before you bring them back. First a deal, then a flight."
She added: "You strengthened those who slaughtered us. You transferred suitcases of cash dollars to them, you saw these murderers as an asset. You avoided killing Hamas leaders at least 6 times. Until now, you haven't explained to the public why. You're afraid to meet the public because you know lives were ruined because of your abandonment. You repeatedly sabotage a deal to return the hostages. You prefer political survival over saving lives. Whoever prevents the greatest mitzvah of redeeming captives is one who has forgotten what it means to be Jewish and human. The continuation of the war serves you. A Prime Minister who has an interest in prolonging the war and the situation must go. This people is light years away from your values. This people knows we have no revival without returning the hostages. This people knows your days in the chair are numbered. After you go, Israel will return to being the successful nation it is." Link
Netanyahu and Edelstein's New Maneuver for the Draft Exemption Law | First Publication
The two are considering merging the law to extend regular service for soldiers with the law exempting Haredim from conscription • The reason: Gallant, and possibly opposition elements, will be forced to vote for the new law to avoid causing a shortage of soldiers in the IDF.
PM Netanyahu and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Yuli Edelstein are exploring the possibility of merging the law that extends mandatory service with the law that will exempt most young Haredi men from conscription - thus attempting to force Defense Minister Gallant and elements in the opposition to support the law. The two also met during the day, but it's unknown if they discussed this proposal in the meeting.
Netanyahu and Edelstein are considering merging the law that extends regular mandatory service for combat soldiers to 36 months, together with the law that will exempt most young Haredi men from IDF conscription. This, in their view, is to try to force Minister Gallant, and opposition elements who have announced they will support the service extension law, to support the law - in order to prevent a shortage of soldiers.
Edelstein clarified last month that "the conscription law will pass with broad consensus - or not pass at all." Yesterday, he referred to the law in a Twitter post, writing: "I still haven't seen a draft of the conscription law that everyone agrees on, the righteous finder is invited to deliver it to me. And seriously, tomorrow we will start working on the wording of the law in a professional and precise manner, and I promise that it will change from end to end, in such a way that it will be agreed upon by the public and the national needs of the State of Israel." Link
The Knesset has voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The resolution was co-sponsored by parties in both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition together with right-wing parties from the opposition and even received support from Benny Gantz’s centrist National Unity party.
The center-left Yesh Atid party’s MKs left the plenum to avoid backing the measure, even though its chairman Yair Lapid has spoken in favor of a two-state solution. The only ones to back the resolution were lawmakers from the Labor, Ra’am and Hadash-Ta’al parties. The initiative is passed just days before Netanyahu’s visit to the US to address a joint session of Congress and meet with President Joe Biden at the White House. The move is likely to further irk Democrats uncomfortable with embracing an Israeli government that increasingly rejects a two-state solution.
Already in February, the Knesset passed a resolution sponsored by Netanyahu rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, but that motion specifically addressed the unilateral establishment of such a state amid reports that countries abroad were considering recognizing a Palestinian state absent a peace agreement with Israel.
Today’s resolution — passed 68-9 — rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state, even if it is part of a negotiated settlement with Israel.
“The Knesset of Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel will pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region,” the resolution states.
“It will only be a matter of a short time until Hamas takes over the Palestinian state and turns it into a radical Islamic terror base, working in coordination with the Iranian-led axis to eliminate the State of Israel,” it continues. “Promoting the idea of a Palestinian state at this time will be a reward for terrorism and will only encourage Hamas and its supporters to see this as a victory, thanks to the massacre of October 7, 2023, and a prelude to the takeover of jihadist Islam in the Middle East.” Link This vote means very little, except to provide Netanyahu the excuse when he meets Biden to say that the Knesset and the Israeli people are against a Palestinian State, which is somewhat true. But if the Israelis and the Palestinians were to be presented with a real possibility of reaching peace through a two state solution, the majority of both people would be in favor. As far as the vote not meaning much, Israel doesn't have the veto of whether the world recognizes a Palestinian State. As we have seen in the last 2 months, more countries are recognizing it and many more will follow. Israel will be forced into a situation rather than being part of the solution and that is never in our favor.
The announcement was followed by a rowdy protest by Haredi extremists, who blocked a major highway.
The draft orders are the first stage in the screening and evaluation process that the army carries out for new recruits, ahead of enlistment in the military in the coming year.
“The orders were issued as part of the IDF’s plan to advance the integration of conscripts from the ultra-Orthodox community into its ranks,” the military said, without specifying how many draft orders would initially be sent out and to which age groups.
The IDF said it aims to recruit members of all segments of society to the military, “by virtue of it being the people’s army and in light of the increased operational needs at this time, in view of the security challenges.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last week that the draft orders would begin to be sent out to members of the Haredi community next month.
The dispute over the ultra-Orthodox community serving in the military is one of the most contentious in Israel, with decades of governmental and judicial attempts to settle the issue never reaching a stable resolution. The Haredi religious and political leadership fiercely resists and protests any effort to draft mainstream yeshiva students who are actually involved in religious study. Many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that military service is incompatible with their way of life, and fear that those who enlist will be secularized. Many Israelis who do serve, however, say the decades-long arrangement of mass exemptions unfairly burdens them, a sentiment that has strengthened since the October 7 attack and the ensuing war, in which more than 680 soldiers have been killed and over 300,000 citizens called up to reserve duty.
Haredi activists who oppose any draft orders in the ultra-Orthodox community regularly stage raucous protests in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and elsewhere, which snarl up traffic and are forcibly broken up by police.
Following news of the IDF announcement on Tuesday, Haredi extremists staged a protest along Route 4 near Bnei Brak, shutting down the highway during rush hour traffic. Police said they were redirecting traffic to other routes while working to clear the demonstrators from the road.
On Monday evening, two senior IDF officers who were visiting Bnei Brak to discuss establishing a tailored Haredi army brigade were attacked by dozens of ultra-Orthodox rioters who surrounded their car and shouted “murderer” and other epithets at them.
The Brothers in Arms activist group, which opposes exemptions from military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews, has staged protests in some Haredi cities around the country. The government earlier this week voted to back a bill lengthening mandatory service for male IDF soldiers to three years, sparking further ire among those who view the burden of service as unequal.
Last month, the High Court ruled that there was no longer any legal framework allowing the state to refrain from drafting Haredi yeshiva students into military service, and the attorney general ordered the government to immediately begin the process of conscription for 3,000 such men — the number the military has said it is able to process at this preliminary stage.
The current government, which includes the Shas and United Torah Judaism ultra-Orthodox parties, has vowed to pass legislation that would slowly increase Haredi enlistment, but major gaps remain between the desires of the Haredi factions and of many senior Likud lawmakers. The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is currently working on an ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill that chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) has said will advance only if there is “broad agreement.” If passed, the legislation would set the age of exemption from mandatory service for Haredi yeshiva students at 21 and “very slowly” increase the rate of ultra-Orthodox enlistment. link
Gantz slams PM’s war management, says ‘everything will be revealed’ in future inquiry
Former war cabinet minister Benny Gantz pans Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership, accusing him of hesitating and delaying necessary operations in Gaza.
Addressing Netanyahu in a tweet after the premier defended his wartime leadership during a heated Knesset debate by declaring that Israel is “on the way to absolute victory,” Gantz says that Netanyahu was “afraid” to maneuver in Gaza, having “delayed entering Khan Younis” and “hesitated to enter Rafah.”
“You talked about the city of Rafah for a campaign, when we insisted on the need to first seize the Philadelphi Corridor and prevent a renewed strengthening of Hamas,” he continues, speaking of the time before Gantz left the wartime government, citing the premier’s conduct.
“Everything will be revealed when the protocols and testimonies are heard by the state commission of inquiry, which will have to ask the questions — why did you delay the entry of Rafah and Khan Younis? Why did you fear, delay and hesitate? And what are the prices we paid and are still paying for it?”
Such a commission hasn’t yet been formed, and Netanyahu is reportedly seeking to change the way it could eventually be formed to be more amenable to him.
Labor MK Naama Lazimi slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, blaming him for strengthening Hamas ahead of October 7 and accusing him of playing political games while Israelis suffer.
Addressing the prime minister during a so-called 40 signatures debate on the “government of abandonment” called by the opposition, Lazimi says that while “entire settlements were bombed and destroyed,” Netanyahu “took advantage of the war to distribute bribe money to [his] cronies.”
“The reservists and their wives, the orphans of the IDF, the farmers — all these will wait. The main thing is that the [coalition] partners loot as quickly as possible before the burning tower of cards finally collapses,” she says, apparently referring to bids to allocate money to priorities of his ultra-Orthodox and far-right coalition partners.
“You strengthened those who slaughtered us. You handed [Hamas] suitcases of dollars in cash, you saw these murders as an asset. You avoided killing the heads of Hamas at least six times. Until now you have not explained to the public why. You are afraid to meet the public because you know that lives have been ruined because of your abandonment,” she says, repeating several unverified claims against Netanyahu — charging him with preferring “political survival over saving lives.”
“The one who prevents the greatest mitzvah of ransoming captives is the one who has forgotten what it is to be a Jew and a human being,” Lazimi adds, paraphrasing a hot mic comment made over 20 years ago by Netanyahu that the left “has forgotten what it is to be a Jew.” link
A lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party says he won’t support the government if it agrees to withdraw IDF troops from the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor.
Multiple reports in recent days have indicated that Israel has been showing increasing flexibility on the matter, with negotiators agreeing to discuss alternatives to direct Israeli control of the key frontier, including electronic surveillance systems controlled by Israel aimed at preventing weapons smuggling into the Strip. Netanyahu’s office has denied the reports.
“Put simply, if we won’t be at the Philadelphi Corridor, we won’t be in the State of Israel,” Likud MK Moshe Saada tells Radio 103FM, describing the border strip as Hamas’s “oxygen pipe.”
“Leaving the Philadelphi Corridor is an existential threat to the Jewish nation’s life in the Land of Israel. This is one of the red lines because unfortunately, it has been written in blood,” he says.
Asked if he will resign if such a withdrawal goes ahead, Saada says: “I won’t support the government. I have told this to the prime minister in the past and I think he agrees with me.”
Karhi: We rejected a bill to commemorate October 7 due to Lazimi's attitude towards the PM
The Communications Minister boasted that a bill proposed by a Labor Party MK to commemorate October 7 was rejected, despite the coalition voting with the opposition on five similar proposals • "This is what happens to those who behave shamefully and disgracefully towards the Prime Minister of Israel," he wrote • Lazimi: "Personal revenge, they don't care that I lost a family member in the war"
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi boasted last night (Wednesday) in an X post that the coalition rejected a bill to establish a day commemorating the events of October 7 and the Swords of Iron War, proposed by MK Naama Lazimi (Labor), due to her speech yesterday in the 40-signature discussion attended by PM Netanyahu. "This is what happens to those who behave shamefully and disgracefully towards the Prime Minister of Israel," Karhi wrote.
Minister Karhi revealed that the reason for rejecting MK Lazimi's bill by the coalition, despite voting with the opposition on 5 similar bills, was "in response to her shameful behavior today towards Prime Minister Netanyahu." Karhi also attached a picture of Lazimi and quoted a dialogue between him and MK Kariv: "Kariv: Aren't you ashamed?; Karhi: A king who forgoes his honor, his honor is not forgiven."
Lazimi responded to Karhi's post, writing: "You played politics with a memorial day because I said the leader is to blame, and you think this honors this important proposal? You've lost all connection to reality and life itself. Busy with Bibi's honor instead of the people of Israel. You didn't hurt me. I have a family member who was killed, friends who were injured and murdered, and you're rejecting my bill for a memorial day. It speaks about you and all of you. Also, he is the leader and he is to blame."
According to Lazimi's bill, the memorial day for the October 7 massacre would be held on the 24th of Tishrei (two days after Simchat Torah), and it would be observed in state institutions, IDF camps, and schools. Flags in state institutions and IDF camps would be lowered to half-mast, and a state memorial ceremony would be held at a location determined by the government. However, similar bills from coalition and opposition MKs passed, so the rejection of this specific bill has no substantial meaning.
MK Lazimi opened the 40-signature discussion attended by the PM, saying: "You are the head and you are to blame. Your days in power are the hardest Israel has known since we established the state. Under your responsibility, 1,400 citizens were massacred and murdered. Hundreds were kidnapped, tens of thousands were evacuated from their homes, and the entire country experienced the price of abandonment. 120 hostage families look to you and wait for you to bring them home, and you're busy with yourself. Don't fly before you bring them back. First a deal, then a flight."
She added: "You strengthened those who slaughtered us. You transferred suitcases of cash dollars to them, you saw these murderers as an asset. You avoided killing Hamas leaders at least 6 times. Until now, you haven't explained to the public why. You're afraid to meet the public because you know lives were ruined because of your abandonment. You repeatedly sabotage a deal to return the hostages. You prefer political survival over saving lives. Whoever prevents the greatest mitzvah of redeeming captives is one who has forgotten what it means to be Jewish and human. The continuation of the war serves you. A Prime Minister who has an interest in prolonging the war and the situation must go. This people is light years away from your values. This people knows we have no revival without returning the hostages. This people knows your days in the chair are numbered. After you go, Israel will return to being the successful nation it is." Link
Netanyahu and Edelstein's New Maneuver for the Draft Exemption Law | First Publication
The two are considering merging the law to extend regular service for soldiers with the law exempting Haredim from conscription • The reason: Gallant, and possibly opposition elements, will be forced to vote for the new law to avoid causing a shortage of soldiers in the IDF.
PM Netanyahu and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Yuli Edelstein are exploring the possibility of merging the law that extends mandatory service with the law that will exempt most young Haredi men from conscription - thus attempting to force Defense Minister Gallant and elements in the opposition to support the law. The two also met during the day, but it's unknown if they discussed this proposal in the meeting.
Netanyahu and Edelstein are considering merging the law that extends regular mandatory service for combat soldiers to 36 months, together with the law that will exempt most young Haredi men from IDF conscription. This, in their view, is to try to force Minister Gallant, and opposition elements who have announced they will support the service extension law, to support the law - in order to prevent a shortage of soldiers.
Edelstein clarified last month that "the conscription law will pass with broad consensus - or not pass at all." Yesterday, he referred to the law in a Twitter post, writing: "I still haven't seen a draft of the conscription law that everyone agrees on, the righteous finder is invited to deliver it to me. And seriously, tomorrow we will start working on the wording of the law in a professional and precise manner, and I promise that it will change from end to end, in such a way that it will be agreed upon by the public and the national needs of the State of Israel." Link
The Knesset has voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The resolution was co-sponsored by parties in both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition together with right-wing parties from the opposition and even received support from Benny Gantz’s centrist National Unity party.
The center-left Yesh Atid party’s MKs left the plenum to avoid backing the measure, even though its chairman Yair Lapid has spoken in favor of a two-state solution. The only ones to back the resolution were lawmakers from the Labor, Ra’am and Hadash-Ta’al parties. The initiative is passed just days before Netanyahu’s visit to the US to address a joint session of Congress and meet with President Joe Biden at the White House. The move is likely to further irk Democrats uncomfortable with embracing an Israeli government that increasingly rejects a two-state solution.
Already in February, the Knesset passed a resolution sponsored by Netanyahu rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, but that motion specifically addressed the unilateral establishment of such a state amid reports that countries abroad were considering recognizing a Palestinian state absent a peace agreement with Israel.
Today’s resolution — passed 68-9 — rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state, even if it is part of a negotiated settlement with Israel.
“The Knesset of Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel will pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region,” the resolution states.
“It will only be a matter of a short time until Hamas takes over the Palestinian state and turns it into a radical Islamic terror base, working in coordination with the Iranian-led axis to eliminate the State of Israel,” it continues. “Promoting the idea of a Palestinian state at this time will be a reward for terrorism and will only encourage Hamas and its supporters to see this as a victory, thanks to the massacre of October 7, 2023, and a prelude to the takeover of jihadist Islam in the Middle East.” Link This vote means very little, except to provide Netanyahu the excuse when he meets Biden to say that the Knesset and the Israeli people are against a Palestinian State, which is somewhat true. But if the Israelis and the Palestinians were to be presented with a real possibility of reaching peace through a two state solution, the majority of both people would be in favor. As far as the vote not meaning much, Israel doesn't have the veto of whether the world recognizes a Palestinian State. As we have seen in the last 2 months, more countries are recognizing it and many more will follow. Israel will be forced into a situation rather than being part of the solution and that is never in our favor.
The Region and the World
The US State Department on Wednesday announced that it has sanctioned former IDF Sgt. Elor Azaria, who in 2016 shot dead an incapacitated Palestinian attacker in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Azaria was convicted by a military court of killing the already-subdued attacker, who had stabbed an Israeli soldier, and served nine months of an 18-month prison sentence. Under the sanctions, he will be “generally” barred from entry into the US along with his immediate family members,
“We are designating Elor Azaria… for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights, namely an extrajudicial killing in the West Bank,” the State Department said in a statement. The Biden administration began sanctioning Israeli extremists earlier this year with visa bans and financial restrictions upon determining that Jerusalem wasn’t doing enough to reign in violent settlers who regularly target Palestinians, Israeli peace activists and even Israeli security forces with overwhelming impunity.However, Wednesday’s announcement appeared to be the first time it sanctioned an Israeli citizen using 2020 legislation that allows the secretary of state to bar entry to foreign government officials who have been involved in “gross violation of human rights” or “significant corruption.”
The State Department said Azaria met the definition of a foreign government official as a former IDF sergeant. He was demoted to private as part of his conviction.
The 2016 incident revealed deep divisions in Israeli society over the army’s activities in the West Bank, with some — mostly on the right — arguing Azaria behaved heroically in killing the Palestinian assailant, while others said he had broken the law and deserved a harsher sentence than he received.
Several months after his release he said in an interview that he had no regrets about the incident and he has gone on to protest in support of soldiers accused of beating Palestinian suspects. Asked later Wednesday why the step was taken against Azaria eight years after the crime, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US has been conducting a review of violent acts in the West Bank amid the uptick of settler attacks in the territory since the Hamas-led October 7 attack that started the war in Gaza.Upon determining his actions constituted a a gross violation of human rights, the US was legally required to impose a visa ban, Miller claimed. It was not clear whether the US has previously used the law to target someone as low-level as Azaria in another country, but the decision came as the Democratic administration continues to come under pressure from progressives to hold the IDF accountable for alleged rights abuses against Palestinians.
Wednesday’s announcement came roughly three months after the Biden administration moved to sanction the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion for alleged human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The US then backtracked after the plan was leaked several days in advance amid uproar from Israel. The State Department claimed that it was extending its probe into the unit upon receiving new evidence that reforms were implemented to address the problems in Netzah Yehuda. Blinken’s office has continued to regularly receive queries from reporters who have demanded to know why the US isn’t following through with its plan to sanction the controversial Israeli unit, and Wednesday’s announcement appeared aimed at demonstrating that the administration is still acting against Israeli soldiers who have committed rights abuses. It is only one visa ban, however, and it is unclear whether this will satisfy critics.
In Israel, National Unity chair Benny Gantz slammed the US announcement as “interference” with the Israeli justice system.“The State of Israel has an independent, robust judicial system that is both capable and willing to punish under Israeli law. There is no reason why the US State Department should impose sanctions against Israeli civilians,” Gantz tweeted.
“Such is the case with Elor Azaria that was investigated, tried in court, convicted while serving in the IDF and ultimately held accountable, like in other cases,” Gantz added. “I want to convey to our American friends – there is no justification to interfere in Israel’s internal legal processes.”In Wednesday’s announcement, the State Department said that it was separately imposing visa restrictions on an additional group of unnamed individuals involved in carrying out attacks in the West Bank.These entry bans were issued under an order signed by Blinken in December, which was the first move directed at violent settlers. The individuals designated under this particular sanction are not publicized, though.
The US went further in February when US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that allowed for more far-reaching financial sanctions to be imposed against Israeli extremists.
The US has announced five batches of these sanctions, targeting five entities and three individuals in the latest round last week.
But the State Department made a mistake with one of the individuals targeted, accidentally designating an individual with an almost identical name as the Israeli extremist it intended to sanction. On Monday, it fixed the error after an uninvolved Israeli found his assets frozen.
Miller said Wednesday that 11 individuals and 11 entities have been sanctioned through the Biden executive order and dozens of settlers have been hit with visa bans through the act signed by Blinken. “Promoting accountability and justice for any crimes, violations and abuses committed against Palestinians and against Israelis are essential to stable, just and an enduring peace in the region,” Miller said.“We again call on the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to hold accountable those responsible for violence in the West Bank and we reiterate that we will continue to impose our own accountability measures as necessary,” he added.
As for whether these types of sanctions have been effective, Miller pointed to what he said has been the uproar from those targeted along with their supporters. link Elor Azaria is a cold blooded killer. Yes, he killed a terrorists but that same terrorist was already shot and totally out of commission. There were officers at the scene and had things under control. Azaria went over and shot him to make sure he was dead. His reasons for doing so were so full of crap that the Chief of Staff, Gadi Eisencott at the time even commented on it and said he was a criminal. The same extreme right wing politicians who are the ones preventing a hostage deal are the same ones who defended Azaria's actions and called him a hero.
Personal Stories Be’eri’s boutique cheesemakers carry on, without Dror Or’s
‘golden hands’
The US State Department on Wednesday announced that it has sanctioned former IDF Sgt. Elor Azaria, who in 2016 shot dead an incapacitated Palestinian attacker in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Azaria was convicted by a military court of killing the already-subdued attacker, who had stabbed an Israeli soldier, and served nine months of an 18-month prison sentence. Under the sanctions, he will be “generally” barred from entry into the US along with his immediate family members,
“We are designating Elor Azaria… for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights, namely an extrajudicial killing in the West Bank,” the State Department said in a statement. The Biden administration began sanctioning Israeli extremists earlier this year with visa bans and financial restrictions upon determining that Jerusalem wasn’t doing enough to reign in violent settlers who regularly target Palestinians, Israeli peace activists and even Israeli security forces with overwhelming impunity.However, Wednesday’s announcement appeared to be the first time it sanctioned an Israeli citizen using 2020 legislation that allows the secretary of state to bar entry to foreign government officials who have been involved in “gross violation of human rights” or “significant corruption.”
The State Department said Azaria met the definition of a foreign government official as a former IDF sergeant. He was demoted to private as part of his conviction.
The 2016 incident revealed deep divisions in Israeli society over the army’s activities in the West Bank, with some — mostly on the right — arguing Azaria behaved heroically in killing the Palestinian assailant, while others said he had broken the law and deserved a harsher sentence than he received.
Several months after his release he said in an interview that he had no regrets about the incident and he has gone on to protest in support of soldiers accused of beating Palestinian suspects. Asked later Wednesday why the step was taken against Azaria eight years after the crime, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US has been conducting a review of violent acts in the West Bank amid the uptick of settler attacks in the territory since the Hamas-led October 7 attack that started the war in Gaza.Upon determining his actions constituted a a gross violation of human rights, the US was legally required to impose a visa ban, Miller claimed. It was not clear whether the US has previously used the law to target someone as low-level as Azaria in another country, but the decision came as the Democratic administration continues to come under pressure from progressives to hold the IDF accountable for alleged rights abuses against Palestinians.
Wednesday’s announcement came roughly three months after the Biden administration moved to sanction the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion for alleged human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The US then backtracked after the plan was leaked several days in advance amid uproar from Israel. The State Department claimed that it was extending its probe into the unit upon receiving new evidence that reforms were implemented to address the problems in Netzah Yehuda. Blinken’s office has continued to regularly receive queries from reporters who have demanded to know why the US isn’t following through with its plan to sanction the controversial Israeli unit, and Wednesday’s announcement appeared aimed at demonstrating that the administration is still acting against Israeli soldiers who have committed rights abuses. It is only one visa ban, however, and it is unclear whether this will satisfy critics.In Israel, National Unity chair Benny Gantz slammed the US announcement as “interference” with the Israeli justice system.“The State of Israel has an independent, robust judicial system that is both capable and willing to punish under Israeli law. There is no reason why the US State Department should impose sanctions against Israeli civilians,” Gantz tweeted.
“Such is the case with Elor Azaria that was investigated, tried in court, convicted while serving in the IDF and ultimately held accountable, like in other cases,” Gantz added. “I want to convey to our American friends – there is no justification to interfere in Israel’s internal legal processes.”In Wednesday’s announcement, the State Department said that it was separately imposing visa restrictions on an additional group of unnamed individuals involved in carrying out attacks in the West Bank.
These entry bans were issued under an order signed by Blinken in December, which was the first move directed at violent settlers. The individuals designated under this particular sanction are not publicized, though.
The US went further in February when US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that allowed for more far-reaching financial sanctions to be imposed against Israeli extremists.
The US has announced five batches of these sanctions, targeting five entities and three individuals in the latest round last week.
But the State Department made a mistake with one of the individuals targeted, accidentally designating an individual with an almost identical name as the Israeli extremist it intended to sanction. On Monday, it fixed the error after an uninvolved Israeli found his assets frozen.
Miller said Wednesday that 11 individuals and 11 entities have been sanctioned through the Biden executive order and dozens of settlers have been hit with visa bans through the act signed by Blinken. “Promoting accountability and justice for any crimes, violations and abuses committed against Palestinians and against Israelis are essential to stable, just and an enduring peace in the region,” Miller said.“We again call on the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to hold accountable those responsible for violence in the West Bank and we reiterate that we will continue to impose our own accountability measures as necessary,” he added.
As for whether these types of sanctions have been effective, Miller pointed to what he said has been the uproar from those targeted along with their supporters. link Elor Azaria is a cold blooded killer. Yes, he killed a terrorists but that same terrorist was already shot and totally out of commission. There were officers at the scene and had things under control. Azaria went over and shot him to make sure he was dead. His reasons for doing so were so full of crap that the Chief of Staff, Gadi Eisencott at the time even commented on it and said he was a criminal. The same extreme right wing politicians who are the ones preventing a hostage deal are the same ones who defended Azaria's actions and called him a hero.Dairy originally established to make yogurt and labneh for
kibbutz eventually became accomplished in artisanal cheeses, only to be
decimated by the Hamas attack
Dagan Peleg, chief
cheesemaker at Be’eri Dairy, has struggled to continue making his local
gruyere, Manchego and blue cheeses following the Hamas attack of October 7.
On that day, Peleg’s longtime
partner Dror Or was killed when their kibbutz was invaded by terrorists from
Gaza. In total, 101 Be’eri civilians and 31 security personnel were killed and
32 people were taken hostage. Much of the kibbutz was destroyed.
Or was at first
thought to have been taken hostage with two of his three teenage children, Noam
Or and Alma Or. But months later he was identified as having been killed on
October 7 and his body taken to Gaza. His wife Yonat Or, another Be’eri entrepreneur known for her vintage
carpentry, was killed on October 7 too, with her body discovered several days
later.
Noam and Alma, 17 and 13, were released during a weeklong
ceasefire at the end of November.
Months later, Peleg is able
to speak of Dror, but can’t quite wrap his head around the loss.
“Dror fit me like a glove simply because we didn’t agree on most things,” said Peleg. “That’s what made us work so well.”
A boutique operation
Nine months after the devastating attack, Peleg showed The Times
of Israel through the Be’eri dining hall. The dairy is housed down the hall
from the dining hall and kitchen, part of a sprawling set of buildings in the
middle of the community.
At a nearby table were army personnel, now ever-present at
Be’eri, which is considered part of a military zone extending from the Gaza
Strip.
The cheesemaking operation includes a kitchen where the cheeses are mixed, a walk-in refrigerator where wheels of Manchego are soaking in brine, and another stacked with wheels of herb-studded gouda drying in their coating of yellow wax.
Across the breezeway is the outer room of the dairy where Yacov
Benacot, 65, Peleg’s other partner, was slicing and packaging gouda, and
several more inner storerooms.
“These shelves are usually filled with cheese. We had crates filled with cheese, lined all along the walls,” Peleg said, pointing around the dairy.
The three business partners didn’t start out in the cheesemaking
world. Peleg, 63, came to live in the kibbutz after marrying a Be’eri native
and after finishing his degree in graphic design. He worked at first as a
designer.
Or, 49, born and raised in
Kibbutz Re’im, had trained as a chef and spent several years working at Tel
Aviv restaurants. When he married Yonat and moved to Be’eri, where she had
grown up, he first worked in the kibbutz’s printing operation. Benacot was born
and raised in Be’eri and had worked for years in the kitchen.
It was Peleg who started
making cheese for the kibbutz.
This was in the early 1990s when, like many kibbutz communities, Be’eri was overflowing with milk from its cowsheds. Rather than sell it at cost to the Israel Dairy Board, the decision was made to use it for basic dairy products, part of a larger kibbutz trend.
Peleg got the operation
started with a small pasteurizer set up in a corner of the kibbutz kitchen,
where he bagged milk, made soft, creamy white cheese, yogurt, labneh, feta-like bulgarit and other simple products.
Ten years later, however,
many kibbutz cowsheds were shut by the Israel Dairy Board to prevent
over-milking and a concurrent runoff of manure. Be’eri started getting its milk
from Kibbutz Gvulot, making Peleg’s job largely unnecessary.
He didn’t want to leave the work,
however, having gained an appreciation for the process.
“It was like touching the
holy grail. I loved it,” he said.
Instead of closing the
operation, the kibbutz agreed to expand it, with Benacot joining Peleg to make
more complex cheeses for the kibbutz, and with the aim of obtaining a business
license to sell outside the community as well.
Peleg spent a month in Provence,
France, in “a village of 100 people,” where he learned “not how, but why to
make cheese.”
From experts there, he
learned complicated types of cheesemaking, studied the simple pleasures of
bartering wine and cheese with one’s neighbors, along with the satisfaction of
doing things the way they’ve been done for generations.
He brought those customs back to Kibbutz Be’eri, to Israel’s
so-called Gaza Envelope communities, and set out to create cheeses influenced
by his own Negev environment.
Prior to October 7, the Be’eri Dairy was producing 16 different cheeses, selling in local kibbutz stores as well as at Israeli wineries around the country.
“People taste my Gruyere and say, ‘That’s Gruyere,’ but it’s not
the kind that you eat in the Alps made from the milk of cows that eat 10 kinds
of flowers,” said Peleg. “It’s totally different here, it’s the desert. I’m
creating a conversation between the Alps and the desert and this is my terroir.
The cheese is made from cows that eat the carrots grown here in the desert. And
the cheese is eaten by people who are from here.”
It was that sense of “being
able to feel the cheese in our fingers and hands,” that described Peleg’s work
with his partners.
Part of the ability to make
more complex cheeses came about from his partnership with Or, whom Peleg
described as a chef “with an amazing touch, God touched him.” It was Peleg who
convinced Or to leave the print shop and join the dairy by enticing him with
their gelato operation, which no longer exists.
“We didn’t agree on the small
things,” said Peleg, “but that was part of what made us work. He had a golden
touch, he knew all kinds of things.”
The three cheesemakers would
make time to enjoy their own products, Peleg said, gathering with friends from
other kibbutzim to sample their latest offerings with a bottle of wine “made in
someone’s garage.”
On October 7, all of that ended.
Changed lives
Throughout that day, as
terrorists assaulted the community for long hours with the military overwhelmed
and in disarray, Peleg, his wife Neta, their daughter and her boyfriend spent
hours together in the sealed room of their house, holding the door shut against
the marauders. They survived, somehow overlooked by the raiders who ransacked
and burned their neighbors’ homes, and killed or kidnapped their relatives and
friends.
Benacot’s two
in-laws were also killed — the siblings of his wife Racheli, including her
brother Arie “Arik” Kraunik,
the head of the kibbutz security team. And Dror Or and Yonat Or were murdered
and two of their children taken hostage.
After the army began to
regain control late in the day, Peleg, Benacot and their families were
evacuated with the rest of the Be’eri survivors to two hotels in the Dead Sea
area. Peleg and his family later moved to Kibbutz Tzora, where he was born and
raised.
By November, he and Benacot
were back at work, driving a daily three-hour round trip to their now deserted
kibbutz, where they still had hundreds of cheeses in the process of being
brined and dried. At first they had to be accompanied by soldiers, as the
entire area was considered high-risk.
“It was unreal to be back,”
said Peleg.
Eventually they brought a third person in — Tom Carbone, a younger Be’eri kibbutznik who studied winemaking in Italy and had worked at the dairy.
Carbone, a wiry redhead,
is himself processing the atrocities of October 7 and the loss of his mother Galit Carbone in the attack. He, his wife and their
one-year-old child survived for 20 hours in their shelter.
Eventually Peleg and Benacot
built a travel schedule around the cheesemaking. “It’s not the same as being
able to come to work on bikes,” but they’re producing 70% of their usual
output, said Peleg.
“We have to live here in
order to make more cheese,” added Benacot.
But locals were craving
Be’eri cheese, even at the Dead Sea, where many evacuated kibbutz members
remain in hotel lodging. The cheesemakers located a refrigerator, placed it in
the main Dead Sea hotel housing Be’eri evacuees and stocked it with their
product.
“That’s exactly why I make
cheese,” said Peleg. “They wanted something from home, something that maybe
offered some optimism.”
The dairy is still a
business, and a profitable one.
“In the beginning, you just
want to make the cheese,” said Peleg. “Today I have the ability in my skills to
change textures and flavors and bring my audience what it wants, along with the
flavors from here, from this place.”
Peleg’s acquired expertise has made him popular around the world, and he has been brought to destinations as far-flung as Tibet to teach locals how to make cheese from yak milk.
In September, the three partners were putting the finishing
touches on plans for a new dairy to be constructed at a junction near the
kibbutz, working with a French advisor. At the time, they were discussing
whether to purchase new equipment or wait to move into the space with their
current equipment and gradually adjust to the larger workshop.
“Dror kept saying we should
get the new equipment, and bring in a fourth partner who thinks differently
than we do,” said Peleg.
Now, it’s all about doing
what they can, said Peleg and Benacot, who are moving ahead with their plans,
as painful as that is without Or.
“We’re back to talking about the future, and there are opportunities now, but it’s hard to think about doing this without Dror,” said Peleg. “I was pessimistic at first but now I’m in, because Dror would want it. And I want to make cheese.”
Be’eri cheeses are
available at several wineries, and are sold in Tel Aviv at Cafe Otef, a new chain of cafes begun as an effort to employ
evacuated Gaza area survivors living in Tel Aviv.
The newest
branch of Cafe Otef is run by Reut Karp, a former student of Peleg’s wife and
the ex-wife and business partner of Dvir Karp, a chocolatier from Re’im who was killed with his
partner, Stav Kimchi, on October 7.
“It’s a small world around
here,” said Peleg. “We would hang out together at all the outdoor food fairs,
me with cheese and Dvir with his chocolate.”
The dairy’s
business consultant is Alon Gat, another Be’eri member whose life was shattered
by October 7. His mother Kinneret Gat was killed and his wife Yarden Roman-Gat and sister Carmel Gat were taken hostage. Yarden was released while
Carmel remains in Gaza.
Peleg and Or
used to have cheese and wine together on Fridays at the kibbutz “parliament,”
an informal regular gathering with Peleg’s wife’s uncle, Gideon Pauker of Kibbutz Nir Oz. Pauker was murdered
beside his wife on October 7. He was known for making wine with his Nir Oz
friends Chaim Peri, taken hostage and killed in captivity, and Gadi Mozes, still in captivity.
Pauker’s son is now
continuing the work at the winery, planting new vines in his father’s memory.
Now, months later, the three
surviving cheesemakers stand in the breezeway outside their kitchen, opening a
bottle of Be’eri rosΓ© and tasting their latest “besor,” a creamy, tangy blue
cheese.
“I lived the slow food life
and nose-to-tail [approach] before Tel Aviv had even heard of it,” said Peleg,
referring to culinary efforts to preserve traditional and regional cuisine,
including the food trend in which chefs incorporate as much of an animal as
possible into their menu.
“I’ve won medals and studied
abroad, but I’m most proud of my local dairy that operates here, with customers
from the area. When locals want cheese, they come to Be’eri. They’re our backbone,”
said Peleg.
“It’s kind of a miracle that we got here.” link
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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