π️Lonny's War Update- October 290, 2023 - July 22, 2024 π️
π️Day 290 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
*5:10pm yesterday - north - hostile aircraft - Admit, Eilon, Goren, Gordot Hagalil, Arab al Aramsha, Avdon*6:00pm, yesterday - north - rockets - Ramat Dalton, Dalton, Several explosive-laden drones launched from Lebanon struck the Hanita and Ya’ara area in northern Israel, the IDF says. Firefighters are battling a blaze sparked by one of the drones near Hanita.There are no injuries in the attack. In response, the IDF says it is carrying out a wave of strikes in southern Lebanon.
*7:05pm yesterday - north - rockets Zra'it
*7:40am - north -rockets Majdel Shams, Sha'ar Hayeshuv, Masaada, Nimrod
*12:40pm - south - rockets - Nirim, Ein Hashlosha
*1:30pm- south - rockets - Nir Yitzhak, Sufa
There are no injuries in the attack. In response, the IDF says it is carrying out a wave of strikes in southern Lebanon.
*7:05pm yesterday - north - rockets Zra'it
*7:40am - north -rockets Majdel Shams, Sha'ar Hayeshuv, Masaada, Nimrod
*12:40pm - south - rockets - Nirim, Ein Hashlosha
*1:30pm- south - rockets - Nir Yitzhak, Sufa
Hostage Updates
Hostage Updates
- IDF announces deaths of hostages Alex Dancyg and Yogev Buchshtav in Hamas captivity: IDF says it is investigating circumstances surrounding the deaths of the two men in Khan Younis, including the possibility they were killed by Israeli fire
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday announced that it had confirmed the deaths of two additional hostages in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, after obtaining new intelligence information.
Alex Dancyg, 75, and Yogev Buchshtav, 35, were believed to have been held together by Hamas in Khan Younis where they died several months ago, while the IDF was operating there, according to the military.
The military did not detail the circumstances of their deaths, citing an ongoing probe. The possibility that they were killed by Israeli fire was being investigated. Dancyg and Buchshtav were abducted by Hamas terrorists from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz and Kibbutz Nirim during the onslaught on October 7.
Their deaths were declared by a panel of health experts and members of the rabbinate, following new information obtained by the IDF.
The IDF has now confirmed the deaths of 44 of the remaining 116 hostages held by Hamas since October 7. The terror group kidnapped 251 people during the onslaught. Hamas is also still holding the bodies of two soldiers since 2014 and two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015.
Hamas in March claimed that Buchshtav had died due to lack of food and medication, and Dancyg had been killed by Israeli fire. The claims have not been confirmed by the IDF.
Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav and Yogev Buchshtav were taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from Kibbutz Nirim (Courtesy)
Buchshtav’s wife, Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav, was abducted with him and then released on November 28 in a hostage deal with Hamas. The couple was together throughout Rimon’s captivity and she didn’t want to leave Yogev behind, but was told to go willingly or be dragged on the floor.The Hostages Families Forum said the news of their deaths only increased the urgency to secure a deal that would bring home the rest of the captives.
“This morning’s devastating news about their deaths serves as yet another stark reminder of the urgency to bring home the hostages, who face immediate mortal danger every moment in Hamas’s hell,” the forum said in a statement.
“Yogev and Alex were taken alive and should have returned alive to their families and to their country,” the forum said. “Their death in captivity is a tragic reflection of the consequences of foot-dragging in negotiations. We reiterate our demand to the Israeli government and its leader: Approve the deal immediately and bring back all 120 hostages — the living for rehabilitation and the murdered for proper burial in their homeland. Time continues to run out for the hostages with each passing week,” the forum said.
The families requested privacy from the media in the wake of the news.
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday announced that it had confirmed the deaths of two additional hostages in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, after obtaining new intelligence information.
Alex Dancyg, 75, and Yogev Buchshtav, 35, were believed to have been held together by Hamas in Khan Younis where they died several months ago, while the IDF was operating there, according to the military.
The military did not detail the circumstances of their deaths, citing an ongoing probe. The possibility that they were killed by Israeli fire was being investigated. Dancyg and Buchshtav were abducted by Hamas terrorists from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz and Kibbutz Nirim during the onslaught on October 7.
Their deaths were declared by a panel of health experts and members of the rabbinate, following new information obtained by the IDF.
The IDF has now confirmed the deaths of 44 of the remaining 116 hostages held by Hamas since October 7. The terror group kidnapped 251 people during the onslaught. Hamas is also still holding the bodies of two soldiers since 2014 and two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015.
Hamas in March claimed that Buchshtav had died due to lack of food and medication, and Dancyg had been killed by Israeli fire. The claims have not been confirmed by the IDF.
Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav and Yogev Buchshtav were taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from Kibbutz Nirim (Courtesy)
The Hostages Families Forum said the news of their deaths only increased the urgency to secure a deal that would bring home the rest of the captives.
“This morning’s devastating news about their deaths serves as yet another stark reminder of the urgency to bring home the hostages, who face immediate mortal danger every moment in Hamas’s hell,” the forum said in a statement.
“Yogev and Alex were taken alive and should have returned alive to their families and to their country,” the forum said. “Their death in captivity is a tragic reflection of the consequences of foot-dragging in negotiations. We reiterate our demand to the Israeli government and its leader: Approve the deal immediately and bring back all 120 hostages — the living for rehabilitation and the murdered for proper burial in their homeland. Time continues to run out for the hostages with each passing week,” the forum said.
The families requested privacy from the media in the wake of the news.
Music and rescued animals
On October 7, Rimon and Yogev were hiding in the safe room of their Nirim home. Rimon texted her family that she saw fire and terrorists shooting outside “everywhere.”
She sent her mother one last voice message — Rimon’s parents were also sheltering in a nearby community — “I love you, Mom. I’m so sorry I can’t be there with you. I love you.”
Yogev’s parents live in Nirim and were in touch with them that morning as well. He told his mother that he could hear voices speaking Arabic outside his window and later that they were shooting at his window. She told him to crouch down and stay protected. That was the last communication they had.
It took another week before the army could inform the Kirsht family that they believed that both Rimon and Yogev had been abducted to Gaza.
There were signs of struggle in their safe room, blood and bullet holes, and their cats and dogs — they have five of each — were all missing.
The couple, known for creating a home full of music and rescuing abused animals, had met in high school and then reconnected years later, marrying in 2021.
Yogev is a musician and soundman who builds his instruments, including electric guitars. The couple’s safe room also functions as his laboratory.
Holocaust educator and activist for Jewish-Polish relations
The last time Dancyg’s family heard from him was around 8:30 a.m. on October 7, when he was speaking with his son Mati from his home on Kibbutz Nir Oz, which lies just a few kilometers east of the southern Gaza Strip. link As the article points out, both Alex and Yogev were kidnapped alive and were known to be alive for sometime. Their blood is on Netanyahu's hands. He could have brought them home alive, but sacrificed them as well as so many of the other hostages for his own political survival. In the end, there will be a State Commission of Inquiry and will come to these conclusions as well. Unfortunately, it will be too late for the hostages who could have come back alive.
Ahead of his flight to Washington tomorrow, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds an “in-depth discussion” on attempts to reach a hostage deal, according to his office.
He is joined at the meeting by his negotiating team and senior security officials. Netanyahu decides that a negotiating team will return to the talks abroad on Thursday.
The Kan public broadcaster reports that the delegation, headed by Israel’s lead negotiator Mossad chief David Barnea, will head to Doha, Qatar, where previous talks have been held.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant welcomes Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to send Israel’s negotiating team back to the hostage deal talks, and stresses that there is a “limited window of opportunity for the release of the hostages.”
In a post on X, he wishes Netanyahu luck on his upcoming visit to the US, and says that “even if there are disagreements,” Israel’s security system supports him in the mission to bring home the 120 hostages still held captive in Gaza.
Channel 13 reported on Friday that Gallant was considering making a public declaration that Israel was “within reach” of a ceasefire and hostage release deal to pressure the premier, whom he was said to have accused of hindering progress, into finalizing the deal.
Anti-government and pro-hostage deal protesters are gathering at Ben Gurion Airport to demonstrate against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of his departure for the United States tomorrow morning.
Protesters have urged him not to travel to Washington unless a deal is first signed with the Hamas terror group to facilitate the return of the hostages from Gaza.
Banners referring to Netanyahu as “Mr. Abandonment,” in reference to his self-styled “Mr. Security” persona, have been posted at the entrance to Terminal 3, the airport’s main hub.
The prime minister was initially scheduled to depart for the US this evening, but the flight was pushed back to Monday morning after his meeting with US President Joe Biden was moved to Tuesday.
Ahead of his flight to Washington tomorrow, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds an “in-depth discussion” on attempts to reach a hostage deal, according to his office.
He is joined at the meeting by his negotiating team and senior security officials. Netanyahu decides that a negotiating team will return to the talks abroad on Thursday.
The Kan public broadcaster reports that the delegation, headed by Israel’s lead negotiator Mossad chief David Barnea, will head to Doha, Qatar, where previous talks have been held.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant welcomes Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to send Israel’s negotiating team back to the hostage deal talks, and stresses that there is a “limited window of opportunity for the release of the hostages.”
In a post on X, he wishes Netanyahu luck on his upcoming visit to the US, and says that “even if there are disagreements,” Israel’s security system supports him in the mission to bring home the 120 hostages still held captive in Gaza.
Channel 13 reported on Friday that Gallant was considering making a public declaration that Israel was “within reach” of a ceasefire and hostage release deal to pressure the premier, whom he was said to have accused of hindering progress, into finalizing the deal.
Anti-government and pro-hostage deal protesters are gathering at Ben Gurion Airport to demonstrate against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of his departure for the United States tomorrow morning.
Protesters have urged him not to travel to Washington unless a deal is first signed with the Hamas terror group to facilitate the return of the hostages from Gaza.
Banners referring to Netanyahu as “Mr. Abandonment,” in reference to his self-styled “Mr. Security” persona, have been posted at the entrance to Terminal 3, the airport’s main hub.
The prime minister was initially scheduled to depart for the US this evening, but the flight was pushed back to Monday morning after his meeting with US President Joe Biden was moved to Tuesday.
Gaza
'Dismantling Hamas from
within': IDF uncovers trove of Hamas secrets
IDF and Shin Bet uncover extensive Hamas intelligence, revealing
lists of suspected LGBTQ+ individuals, brutal tactics, global operations, and
systematic terror tactics.
The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel
Security Agency) have uncovered a treasure trove of Hamas intelligence,
consisting of stacks of documents, files, and computers, including guidelines
on what to do if someone is suspected of being part of the LGBTQ community and
a phrasebook of Hebrew words to help terrorists communicate in Hebrew, which
included phrases such as "Take off your clothes."
Among the findings were operational
tables, equipment lists, classified maps, and instructions on what to do if
captured, leading to the conclusion that Hamas's military wing has transformed
into a professional army right under the nose of Israeli intelligence.
"The amount of intelligence
accumulated so far in the hands of Shin Bet and Military Intelligence allows us
to dismantle Hamas from within," said a senior security official exposed
to the heaps of documents.
Over the years, the IDF and Shin Bet
have pointed out that Hamas has transformed its military wing into an
army.
However, as intelligence analysts
delved into the gathered materials, they discovered the extent of this
transformation and the level of professionalism reached by the terrorist
organization. Hamas weapons and equipment found
in Shifa hospital. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
The intelligence included Excel
tables showing the readiness levels of special units, companies, battalions,
and brigades, including the scope of training, weapons, and ammunition.
It also included documentation of
orders in the various units and the review of equipment lists for each fighter,
protocols of meetings, discussions, and the decision-making process at senior
and junior levels.
Security officials stated that the
level of order and organization was a significant surprise for the intelligence
community.
"Hundreds and thousands of
interrogations of terrorists and senior leaders would not have yielded such
intimate intelligence on their methods of order and organization in such a
short period," said a military official exposed to the intelligence
material. The order and organization enforced by Hamas was based on a
"rulebook" that was not accessible to everyone and was maintained by
the senior command, which issued directives and operations across the Gaza
Strip.
For example, during the ground
maneuver, official documents of the terrorist organization were found,
including procedures and investigations of those suspected of being part of the
LGBTQ community.
Procedures
of Hamas for those in the LGBTQ community
The official documents of Hamas's
"rulebook" reveal brutal behavior against anyone suspected of
belonging to the LGBTQ community.
Additionally, documentation of
interrogations and testimonies about aggressive questioning focused solely on
sexual preferences and orientations was found, indicating that those suspected
of being part of the LGBTQ community faced a single fate – death.
Documents were also recovered that
held detailed plans by Hamas on how to operate worldwide in regions such as
Europe, Jordan, Egypt, the US that were far from the eyes of foreign
intelligence organizations and under the radar of the media.
The documents revealed that Hamas
developed a plan tailored to the population in each country.
Another document detailed a plan to
ignite unrest in the West Bank and undermine the Palestinian Authority (PA) by
infiltrating its security mechanisms and encouraging internal rebellion to
overthrow and take control of the PA gradually.
The IDF Intelligence Division
gathered various equipment, such as weapons from Russia, North Korea, Iran,
Egypt, Libya, and others, to trace not only their usage but also to learn about
procurement and assistance routes.
Among the items found were over 150
pickup trucks and more than 350 Chinese motorcycles smuggled through tunnels
under the Philadelphi Route, which were used by over 4,000 terrorists from 75
infiltration points to attack Western Negev settlements and military outposts
on October 7.
Educating
with antisemitism
Literature from the Hamas education
system was also found. Among the items discovered were approximately
1,500 antisemitic books, indicating
a systematic process of instilling hatred and promoting terrorism against
Israel from the first day of education in the Hamas system.
Items included children's books
teaching how to murder Jews by running them over or stabbing them, a book by
senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar titled The End of the Jews,
and other literature that places all responsibility for wars in the Middle East
on Israel, advocating for the murder of all Jews.
Additionally, booklet about senior
terrorists were found, as well as special documentation from Hamas summer camps
funded by foreign donations and photos of babies on home sofas alongside
shrapnel grenades and mortar shells.
Another procedure the Military
Intelligence carried out was linking Hamas's plans to the documents and weapons
found in Israeli territory after October 7 and in Palestinian territory
during the ground operation.
The military equipment supported the
operational idea of prolonged presence in Israeli territory, which included
medical equipment, weapons for amputating limbs using Kalashnikov rifles with
bayonets or machetes, special forces rifles (Russian Kalashnikovs), and other
rifles for the rest of the forces.
Documents found on the bodies of the
terrorists included Israeli work permits, as well as maps of settlements and
IDF bases, marking important points such as the locations of senior officials'
offices, armories, clinics, and more.
The most prominent map was of the
Tel Nof Airbase, detailing the locations of squadrons, commanders' offices, and
kibbutzim such as Nahal Oz and Be'eri.
It included the locations of dining
halls where the terrorists initially planned to concentrate most of the
hostages before transferring them to Gaza.
One of the terrorists tore the map
of Be'eri into small pieces, but an observant soldier noticed it and passed the
pieces to intelligence personnel, who then reassembled it.
The accuracy of the information on
the bases and settlements, including the lifestyle within them, indicated
Hamas's systematic and high-level intelligence gathering.IDF soldiers uncover Hamas tactical
gear, cartridges, and weapons in Gaza City, the Gaza Strip, July 20, 2024. (credit:
IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Some documents also revealed the
corruption within Hamas, showing how they not only accumulated assets but also
used them. United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) apartments were
registered in the name of Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif's wife.
Apartments of Mohammed Sinwar, Hamas
head Yahya Sinwar's brother, were found to be received from UNRWA and then
rented to Palestinians, according to rental contracts in possession of Military
Intelligence. Documentation of Hamas operatives working for UNRWA was
also found.
"After consolidating all Hamas
infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, based on what we saw in maps and documents
and what was actually discovered, it is clear that Gaza was constructed as one
large military base, including the use of kindergartens, schools, clinics,
hospitals, and mosques," said a source who reviewed Hamas documents. The
source added, "They intended to infiltrate a large number of IDF bases,
including Air Force bases."
On the bodies of terrorists with
name tags, photos, and numbers, a "phrasebook" was found that allowed
them to communicate in Hebrew with civilians and soldiers during the raid. It
included phrases like: "Take off your clothes," "Strip,"
"Take off your pants," "Children here and women
there."
Military sources indicated that
Hamas systematically integrated religious justification for their brutal acts
into all their books, pamphlets, speeches, and notebooks, using Quranic verses
and fatwas (religious rulings), including decisions on mutilating bodies and
amputations.
Furthermore, documents and
interrogations revealed that battalion commanders in the military wing received
religious authorization to write fatwas under the title of sheikh to justify
their actions against the Israeli population and soldiers, showing the
terrorists there was no contradiction between the orders and Islam.
This can explain why Hamas killed
anyone in their path during the October 7 raid, including Bedouins who were
labeled by Hamas as "collaborators" and Thai workers labeled as
"infidels."
In the clothing of the commander of
the raid on Sderot, a handwritten note was found in which he stated that
according to the Quran, their souls would ascend to heaven and, in exchange for
their sadistic actions against soldiers and civilians, including torture, they
would be welcomed into paradise.
There were also terrorists found
with pocket notebooks influenced by Abdullah Azzam, one of the founders of the
Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, who declared that killing purifies the soul.
To
sow fear that will remain in Israeli memory
Another systematic effort revealed
during the analysis of intelligence gathered from both the Palestinian and
Israeli territories included the work of combat collection and
documentation.
This was found to be intended not
only for military intelligence gathering and operational accuracy but also to
instill terror, create a psychological imprint of fear on the Israeli side,
undermine public trust in the army and state institutions, and create a sense
of chaos and insecurity.
Techniques included smearing
bloodstains using blood-soaked hands on the walls of hostages' and victims'
homes, and leaving notes and graffiti to threaten that they would "return
next year."
The effort for collection and
documentation was divided between routine and war times, which explains why all
the Nukhba fighters entered with GoPro cameras on their heads. "Hamas
wanted the atrocities and the spread of fear to remain in Israeli memory. If
it's not clear, on October 7 and for weeks afterward, Israeli citizens feared
that terrorists would come to their homes because they saw the videos.
The purpose of documenting the
videos was to create a psychological impact. They invested a lot of learning,
practice, and effort into this," a security source explained to Walla.
It is also important to highlight
that the effort for preemptive intelligence gathering included a systematic
process of military doctrine, training, and acquisition of advanced equipment
similar to elite units in the US Army and the IDF (they make equipment
comparisons in documents revealed to the Walla system), as seen in the years
leading up to the war.
The booklet includes activities such
as ambushes, covert observations, overt operations visible to the enemy (IDF),
and documentation activities during the raid into Israel.
While Israel underestimated Hamas'
intentions and the quality of its military wing compared to the quality of
Hezbollah fighters, Hamas organized itself as a professional army.
This
is how a Hamas operational photographer should act
In addition to incorporating these
into the instructional booklets, Hamas operational documentation photos were
found, capturing the activities of forces, military infrastructure, and
classified assets on masts, posts, tanks, APCs, and jeeps, which the IDF has
classified as "top secret."
During the training phase for the
photographers, two key points were emphasized: the selection of the operational
photographer - "must be precise, tactically disciplined, patient, not
hasty, able to keep secrets about his role, avoid gossip, and ensure his
details and missions are unknown, making it easier for him to move around
without raising suspicion."
Another condition for the
operational photographer's mission, highlighted in the booklet, was that
"it is advisable to prepare in advance press cards belonging to a real or
fictitious media organization, provided it is not clearly affiliated with any
group considered hostile to the enemy. Remember that your military uniform may
incriminate you, so keep that in mind. Stay calm and act as if you are
about to undergo a long period of captivity, as this will help you maintain
psychological cohesion and reduce feelings of frustration or false hope, which
is one of the quickest ways to weaken your resolve."
According to the documents, the
leadership of Hamas's military wing defined the act of "photography"
as a central and strategic task, as important as training for war, with the
goal of influencing the enemy and generating propaganda for the Palestinian
public and supporters of Hamas resistance.
This included electronic warfare,
computer network operations, psychological operations, military deception, and
operational security. Their training involves photographing scenarios
that simulate the atmosphere of battles and military operations, including
sounds of gunfire and explosions, in both open areas and built-up environments. link
- The IDF says one of some 20 Hamas operatives killed in a recent airstrike in Gaza City was responsible for a deadly attack in the West Bank in the early 2000s.
According to the IDF and Shin Bet, Nimr Hamida was killed in the strike in Gaza City’s Shati neighborhood earlier this month, which the military announced last week.
Hamida was behind an October 2003 shooting attack near the West Bank town of Ein Yabrud, killing three IDF soldiers, the military says.
He was exiled to the Gaza Strip in the 2011 Shalit deal, in which Israel exchanged more than 1,000 terrorists for hostage soldier Gilad Shalit.
In recent years, the IDF says he has served as a member of Hamas’s so-called West Bank headquarters, a Gaza Strip-based unit that advances attacks against Israel from or within the West Bank. Yahya Sinwar’s message to Israel, sent a few weeks before October 7 and warning of a flare-up in the prisons and on the issue of the captives, was immediately understood by its recipients to be referring not to violence and disturbances among Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel, but to potential developments regarding Israelis held captive and/or missing, Channel 12 reports. That is how the message was defined and cataloged, the report says.
Prior to October 7, when Hamas seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still held captive, the terror group was 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. Furthermore, in March 2023, a Russian-Israeli researcher named Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped in Baghdad, and is being held by an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia.
Sinwar’s message was regarded as “highly sensitive” and was circulated in only a very limited way in the political and security echelons. It was given “the highest possible security classification… very few people” were given access to it.
The Mossad, the Shin Bet, and the IDF all held several discussions regarding the message. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “were updated about these discussions,” the report says, and were involved in some of them.
The conclusion of these discussions was that Sinwar was indeed referring to Israeli captives and missing.
Israelis held in Gaza: Clockwise from top left: Oron Shaul, Avera Mengistu, Hadar Goldin and Hisham al-Sayed. (Flash90/ Courtesy)Israel “did not interpret the message as a warning ahead of an attack,” even though, as has been widely reported in the months since October 7, Israel intelligence had in its hands material relating to Hamas’s attack plans. Rather, Israel understood from the message that Hamas intended to “take charge of matters” regarding kidnapped researcher Tsurkov, and to demand the release of a large number of Palestinian security prisoners in return for her freedom.
Sinwar’s message was not circulated even to all high-ranking IDF and IDF intelligence branch officials, and was also not circulated to lower ranks. Those left out of the loop, therefore, were not able connect his message to other indications they might have raised.
The report says that “nobody” has been able to explain definitively why Sinwar would have wanted to convey the message. Intelligence materials accumulated since October 7 also provide no definite explanation. It makes no sense, the report notes, for Sinwar to have contacted Israel and potentially turned a spotlight onto Gaza just weeks before the invasion.
There are some who speculate that Sinwar may have been dealing with two simultaneous issues, the report goes on to say: planning October 7, while also attempting to maximize ongoing negotiations and contacts that it says were advancing at the time regarding the four Israelis in Gaza — the slain soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, and the living civilians Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.
Others in the system speculate — and “this seems ridiculous,” the TV report says — that Sinwar conveyed his clandestine message “because of differences of opinion between him and [Hamas’s military chief] Muhammad Deif regarding the timing of the [October 7] attack.” According to this thesis, Sinwar “maybe wanted to prompt Israel into taking actions that would delay the attack that Hamas was planning to a later date — maybe enabling greater coordination with Hezbollah.” Sinwar “might have been interested” in that kind of delay, while Deif might have wanted the October 7 date.
Speculation aside, the bottom line, says Channel 12, is that Sinwar’s message “was not correctly interpreted.” It should, the report concludes, have turned the spotlight onto Gaza.
'Dismantling Hamas from
within': IDF uncovers trove of Hamas secrets
IDF and Shin Bet uncover extensive Hamas intelligence, revealing
lists of suspected LGBTQ+ individuals, brutal tactics, global operations, and
systematic terror tactics.
The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel
Security Agency) have uncovered a treasure trove of Hamas intelligence,
consisting of stacks of documents, files, and computers, including guidelines
on what to do if someone is suspected of being part of the LGBTQ community and
a phrasebook of Hebrew words to help terrorists communicate in Hebrew, which
included phrases such as "Take off your clothes."
Among the findings were operational
tables, equipment lists, classified maps, and instructions on what to do if
captured, leading to the conclusion that Hamas's military wing has transformed
into a professional army right under the nose of Israeli intelligence.
"The amount of intelligence
accumulated so far in the hands of Shin Bet and Military Intelligence allows us
to dismantle Hamas from within," said a senior security official exposed
to the heaps of documents.
Over the years, the IDF and Shin Bet
have pointed out that Hamas has transformed its military wing into an
army.
However, as intelligence analysts
delved into the gathered materials, they discovered the extent of this
transformation and the level of professionalism reached by the terrorist
organization. Hamas weapons and equipment found
in Shifa hospital. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
The intelligence included Excel
tables showing the readiness levels of special units, companies, battalions,
and brigades, including the scope of training, weapons, and ammunition.
It also included documentation of
orders in the various units and the review of equipment lists for each fighter,
protocols of meetings, discussions, and the decision-making process at senior
and junior levels.
Security officials stated that the
level of order and organization was a significant surprise for the intelligence
community.
"Hundreds and thousands of
interrogations of terrorists and senior leaders would not have yielded such
intimate intelligence on their methods of order and organization in such a
short period," said a military official exposed to the intelligence
material. The order and organization enforced by Hamas was based on a
"rulebook" that was not accessible to everyone and was maintained by
the senior command, which issued directives and operations across the Gaza
Strip.
For example, during the ground
maneuver, official documents of the terrorist organization were found,
including procedures and investigations of those suspected of being part of the
LGBTQ community.
Procedures
of Hamas for those in the LGBTQ community
The official documents of Hamas's
"rulebook" reveal brutal behavior against anyone suspected of
belonging to the LGBTQ community.
Additionally, documentation of
interrogations and testimonies about aggressive questioning focused solely on
sexual preferences and orientations was found, indicating that those suspected
of being part of the LGBTQ community faced a single fate – death.
Documents were also recovered that
held detailed plans by Hamas on how to operate worldwide in regions such as
Europe, Jordan, Egypt, the US that were far from the eyes of foreign
intelligence organizations and under the radar of the media.
The documents revealed that Hamas
developed a plan tailored to the population in each country.
Another document detailed a plan to
ignite unrest in the West Bank and undermine the Palestinian Authority (PA) by
infiltrating its security mechanisms and encouraging internal rebellion to
overthrow and take control of the PA gradually.
The IDF Intelligence Division
gathered various equipment, such as weapons from Russia, North Korea, Iran,
Egypt, Libya, and others, to trace not only their usage but also to learn about
procurement and assistance routes.
Among the items found were over 150
pickup trucks and more than 350 Chinese motorcycles smuggled through tunnels
under the Philadelphi Route, which were used by over 4,000 terrorists from 75
infiltration points to attack Western Negev settlements and military outposts
on October 7.
Educating
with antisemitism
Literature from the Hamas education
system was also found. Among the items discovered were approximately
1,500 antisemitic books, indicating
a systematic process of instilling hatred and promoting terrorism against
Israel from the first day of education in the Hamas system.
Items included children's books
teaching how to murder Jews by running them over or stabbing them, a book by
senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar titled The End of the Jews,
and other literature that places all responsibility for wars in the Middle East
on Israel, advocating for the murder of all Jews.
Additionally, booklet about senior
terrorists were found, as well as special documentation from Hamas summer camps
funded by foreign donations and photos of babies on home sofas alongside
shrapnel grenades and mortar shells.
Another procedure the Military
Intelligence carried out was linking Hamas's plans to the documents and weapons
found in Israeli territory after October 7 and in Palestinian territory
during the ground operation.
The military equipment supported the
operational idea of prolonged presence in Israeli territory, which included
medical equipment, weapons for amputating limbs using Kalashnikov rifles with
bayonets or machetes, special forces rifles (Russian Kalashnikovs), and other
rifles for the rest of the forces.
Documents found on the bodies of the
terrorists included Israeli work permits, as well as maps of settlements and
IDF bases, marking important points such as the locations of senior officials'
offices, armories, clinics, and more.
The most prominent map was of the
Tel Nof Airbase, detailing the locations of squadrons, commanders' offices, and
kibbutzim such as Nahal Oz and Be'eri.
It included the locations of dining
halls where the terrorists initially planned to concentrate most of the
hostages before transferring them to Gaza.
One of the terrorists tore the map
of Be'eri into small pieces, but an observant soldier noticed it and passed the
pieces to intelligence personnel, who then reassembled it.
The accuracy of the information on
the bases and settlements, including the lifestyle within them, indicated
Hamas's systematic and high-level intelligence gathering.IDF soldiers uncover Hamas tactical
gear, cartridges, and weapons in Gaza City, the Gaza Strip, July 20, 2024. (credit:
IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Some documents also revealed the
corruption within Hamas, showing how they not only accumulated assets but also
used them. United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) apartments were
registered in the name of Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif's wife.
Apartments of Mohammed Sinwar, Hamas
head Yahya Sinwar's brother, were found to be received from UNRWA and then
rented to Palestinians, according to rental contracts in possession of Military
Intelligence. Documentation of Hamas operatives working for UNRWA was
also found.
"After consolidating all Hamas
infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, based on what we saw in maps and documents
and what was actually discovered, it is clear that Gaza was constructed as one
large military base, including the use of kindergartens, schools, clinics,
hospitals, and mosques," said a source who reviewed Hamas documents. The
source added, "They intended to infiltrate a large number of IDF bases,
including Air Force bases."
On the bodies of terrorists with
name tags, photos, and numbers, a "phrasebook" was found that allowed
them to communicate in Hebrew with civilians and soldiers during the raid. It
included phrases like: "Take off your clothes," "Strip,"
"Take off your pants," "Children here and women
there."
Military sources indicated that
Hamas systematically integrated religious justification for their brutal acts
into all their books, pamphlets, speeches, and notebooks, using Quranic verses
and fatwas (religious rulings), including decisions on mutilating bodies and
amputations.
Furthermore, documents and
interrogations revealed that battalion commanders in the military wing received
religious authorization to write fatwas under the title of sheikh to justify
their actions against the Israeli population and soldiers, showing the
terrorists there was no contradiction between the orders and Islam.
This can explain why Hamas killed
anyone in their path during the October 7 raid, including Bedouins who were
labeled by Hamas as "collaborators" and Thai workers labeled as
"infidels."
In the clothing of the commander of
the raid on Sderot, a handwritten note was found in which he stated that
according to the Quran, their souls would ascend to heaven and, in exchange for
their sadistic actions against soldiers and civilians, including torture, they
would be welcomed into paradise.
There were also terrorists found
with pocket notebooks influenced by Abdullah Azzam, one of the founders of the
Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, who declared that killing purifies the soul.
To
sow fear that will remain in Israeli memory
Another systematic effort revealed
during the analysis of intelligence gathered from both the Palestinian and
Israeli territories included the work of combat collection and
documentation.
This was found to be intended not
only for military intelligence gathering and operational accuracy but also to
instill terror, create a psychological imprint of fear on the Israeli side,
undermine public trust in the army and state institutions, and create a sense
of chaos and insecurity.
Techniques included smearing
bloodstains using blood-soaked hands on the walls of hostages' and victims'
homes, and leaving notes and graffiti to threaten that they would "return
next year."
The effort for collection and
documentation was divided between routine and war times, which explains why all
the Nukhba fighters entered with GoPro cameras on their heads. "Hamas
wanted the atrocities and the spread of fear to remain in Israeli memory. If
it's not clear, on October 7 and for weeks afterward, Israeli citizens feared
that terrorists would come to their homes because they saw the videos.
The purpose of documenting the
videos was to create a psychological impact. They invested a lot of learning,
practice, and effort into this," a security source explained to Walla.
It is also important to highlight
that the effort for preemptive intelligence gathering included a systematic
process of military doctrine, training, and acquisition of advanced equipment
similar to elite units in the US Army and the IDF (they make equipment
comparisons in documents revealed to the Walla system), as seen in the years
leading up to the war.
The booklet includes activities such
as ambushes, covert observations, overt operations visible to the enemy (IDF),
and documentation activities during the raid into Israel.
While Israel underestimated Hamas'
intentions and the quality of its military wing compared to the quality of
Hezbollah fighters, Hamas organized itself as a professional army.
This
is how a Hamas operational photographer should act
In addition to incorporating these
into the instructional booklets, Hamas operational documentation photos were
found, capturing the activities of forces, military infrastructure, and
classified assets on masts, posts, tanks, APCs, and jeeps, which the IDF has
classified as "top secret."
During the training phase for the
photographers, two key points were emphasized: the selection of the operational
photographer - "must be precise, tactically disciplined, patient, not
hasty, able to keep secrets about his role, avoid gossip, and ensure his
details and missions are unknown, making it easier for him to move around
without raising suspicion."
Another condition for the
operational photographer's mission, highlighted in the booklet, was that
"it is advisable to prepare in advance press cards belonging to a real or
fictitious media organization, provided it is not clearly affiliated with any
group considered hostile to the enemy. Remember that your military uniform may
incriminate you, so keep that in mind. Stay calm and act as if you are
about to undergo a long period of captivity, as this will help you maintain
psychological cohesion and reduce feelings of frustration or false hope, which
is one of the quickest ways to weaken your resolve."
According to the documents, the
leadership of Hamas's military wing defined the act of "photography"
as a central and strategic task, as important as training for war, with the
goal of influencing the enemy and generating propaganda for the Palestinian
public and supporters of Hamas resistance.
This included electronic warfare,
computer network operations, psychological operations, military deception, and
operational security. Their training involves photographing scenarios
that simulate the atmosphere of battles and military operations, including
sounds of gunfire and explosions, in both open areas and built-up environments. link
According to the IDF and Shin Bet, Nimr Hamida was killed in the strike in Gaza City’s Shati neighborhood earlier this month, which the military announced last week.
Hamida was behind an October 2003 shooting attack near the West Bank town of Ein Yabrud, killing three IDF soldiers, the military says.
He was exiled to the Gaza Strip in the 2011 Shalit deal, in which Israel exchanged more than 1,000 terrorists for hostage soldier Gilad Shalit.
In recent years, the IDF says he has served as a member of Hamas’s so-called West Bank headquarters, a Gaza Strip-based unit that advances attacks against Israel from or within the West Bank.
Yahya Sinwar’s message to Israel, sent a few weeks before October 7 and warning of a flare-up in the prisons and on the issue of the captives, was immediately understood by its recipients to be referring not to violence and disturbances among Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel, but to potential developments regarding Israelis held captive and/or missing, Channel 12 reports. That is how the message was defined and cataloged, the report says.
Prior to October 7, when Hamas seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still held captive, the terror group was 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. Furthermore, in March 2023, a Russian-Israeli researcher named Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped in Baghdad, and is being held by an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia.
Sinwar’s message was regarded as “highly sensitive” and was circulated in only a very limited way in the political and security echelons. It was given “the highest possible security classification… very few people” were given access to it.
The Mossad, the Shin Bet, and the IDF all held several discussions regarding the message. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “were updated about these discussions,” the report says, and were involved in some of them.
The conclusion of these discussions was that Sinwar was indeed referring to Israeli captives and missing.
Israelis held in Gaza: Clockwise from top left: Oron Shaul, Avera Mengistu, Hadar Goldin and Hisham al-Sayed. (Flash90/ Courtesy)
Israel “did not interpret the message as a warning ahead of an attack,” even though, as has been widely reported in the months since October 7, Israel intelligence had in its hands material relating to Hamas’s attack plans. Rather, Israel understood from the message that Hamas intended to “take charge of matters” regarding kidnapped researcher Tsurkov, and to demand the release of a large number of Palestinian security prisoners in return for her freedom.
Sinwar’s message was not circulated even to all high-ranking IDF and IDF intelligence branch officials, and was also not circulated to lower ranks. Those left out of the loop, therefore, were not able connect his message to other indications they might have raised.
The report says that “nobody” has been able to explain definitively why Sinwar would have wanted to convey the message. Intelligence materials accumulated since October 7 also provide no definite explanation. It makes no sense, the report notes, for Sinwar to have contacted Israel and potentially turned a spotlight onto Gaza just weeks before the invasion.
There are some who speculate that Sinwar may have been dealing with two simultaneous issues, the report goes on to say: planning October 7, while also attempting to maximize ongoing negotiations and contacts that it says were advancing at the time regarding the four Israelis in Gaza — the slain soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, and the living civilians Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.
Others in the system speculate — and “this seems ridiculous,” the TV report says — that Sinwar conveyed his clandestine message “because of differences of opinion between him and [Hamas’s military chief] Muhammad Deif regarding the timing of the [October 7] attack.” According to this thesis, Sinwar “maybe wanted to prompt Israel into taking actions that would delay the attack that Hamas was planning to a later date — maybe enabling greater coordination with Hezbollah.” Sinwar “might have been interested” in that kind of delay, while Deif might have wanted the October 7 date.
Speculation aside, the bottom line, says Channel 12, is that Sinwar’s message “was not correctly interpreted.” It should, the report concludes, have turned the spotlight onto Gaza.
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria
In the event of a war with Lebanon, the Israeli Air Force will need to take risks to combat Hezbollah’s air defenses, according to new assessments described to The Times of Israel.
The IAF has assessed that fighter jets may be shot down in an all-out war with Lebanon, and risks will need to be taken to obtain aerial superiority during the first days of a major conflict.
So far, amid ongoing skirmishes along the border, Hezbollah has shot down at least five Israeli drones, and in one case, fired missiles at Israeli jets without success.
The IAF has knowledge of the Iranian-made anti-aircraft systems that Hezbollah is in possession of, and has repeatedly made efforts to target them amid the ongoing fighting.
The Israeli military has plans ready in the event of an escalation with Hezbollah, although Israel’s political leadership has not yet made a decision on launching an offensive in Lebanon and turning the Gaza Strip into a secondary front. Regardless, the IAF maintains readiness for the event of a sudden escalation as a result of Hezbollah’s actions.
Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah rocket launchers, observation posts, and other infrastructure in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab, Khiam, and Yarine earlier today, the IDF says.
It publishes footage of the strikes. The strikes come following a series of Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel today. video
The Israeli Air Force is preparing to redeploy gun-based air defense systems to counter Hezbollah’s drones from Lebanon.
The IDF previously used the Vulcan, which was retired in 2006. It is not clear which system the IAF is planning to use now.
The ground-based systems would potentially be deployed to defend specific points, such as military bases or sensitive infrastructure, against Hezbollah drones. Such gun-based systems are not effective at covering wide areas.
Hezbollah has fired more than 300 explosive-laden drones at Israel during the ongoing war, and, according to the military, only half were intercepted. Around 30 of the drone impacts caused damage or casualties.
Until now, the IDF has used the Iron Dome air defense system and fighter jets, both using missiles, to shoot down Hezbollah drones.
In the event of a war with Lebanon, the Israeli Air Force will need to take risks to combat Hezbollah’s air defenses, according to new assessments described to The Times of Israel.
The IAF has assessed that fighter jets may be shot down in an all-out war with Lebanon, and risks will need to be taken to obtain aerial superiority during the first days of a major conflict.
So far, amid ongoing skirmishes along the border, Hezbollah has shot down at least five Israeli drones, and in one case, fired missiles at Israeli jets without success.
The IAF has knowledge of the Iranian-made anti-aircraft systems that Hezbollah is in possession of, and has repeatedly made efforts to target them amid the ongoing fighting.
The Israeli military has plans ready in the event of an escalation with Hezbollah, although Israel’s political leadership has not yet made a decision on launching an offensive in Lebanon and turning the Gaza Strip into a secondary front. Regardless, the IAF maintains readiness for the event of a sudden escalation as a result of Hezbollah’s actions.
Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah rocket launchers, observation posts, and other infrastructure in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab, Khiam, and Yarine earlier today, the IDF says.
It publishes footage of the strikes. The strikes come following a series of Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel today. video
The Israeli Air Force is preparing to redeploy gun-based air defense systems to counter Hezbollah’s drones from Lebanon.
The IDF previously used the Vulcan, which was retired in 2006. It is not clear which system the IAF is planning to use now.
The ground-based systems would potentially be deployed to defend specific points, such as military bases or sensitive infrastructure, against Hezbollah drones. Such gun-based systems are not effective at covering wide areas.
Hezbollah has fired more than 300 explosive-laden drones at Israel during the ongoing war, and, according to the military, only half were intercepted. Around 30 of the drone impacts caused damage or casualties.
Until now, the IDF has used the Iron Dome air defense system and fighter jets, both using missiles, to shoot down Hezbollah drones.
West Bank and Jerusalem
- Hamas university students in West Bank arrested for planning
‘significant terror attack’
Security forces confiscate rifles and cash while arresting suspects, who are on the student council at Birzeit University
Security forces confiscate rifles and cash while arresting suspects, who are on the student council at Birzeit University
An attempt by Hamas to carry out a shooting attack in the West Bank directed by members of the terror group in Turkey was foiled recently, the Shin Bet announced on Sunday.
According to the security agency, the cell was made up of Hamas representatives on the student council at Birzeit University in the West Bank
The Shin Bet said the cell was given instructions and funding by Hamas’s branch in Turkey. The suspected leader of the cell was identified as Mahmoud Anjatz, a resident of Kharbatha Bani Harith who the IDF said recruited the four others who were arrested with him.
Members of the cell were recently arrested by police’s elite Gideonim unit, and an assault rifle and thousands of dollars in cash provided by Hamas were also seized, the agency said.
The evidence gathered during the investigation and arrest were handed over to the military’s prosecution teams, and indictments are expected to be filed, the statement said. It added that it had arrested many students from West Bank universities in recent weeks who were suspected of terrorist activity.
“The Shin Bet will continue to work diligently to thwart any attempt by terrorist organizations to advance terrorist activity against the State of Israel, its citizens, and its residents and to bring those involved in such activities to justice,” the agency wrote. Since October 7, troops have arrested some 4,400 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,850 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 560 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were killed in clashes with gunmen during raids, or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 22 Israelis, including security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another five members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank. link
Footage emerges of Israeli citizens, reportedly from the illegal settlement of Esh Kodesh, assaulting and beating international pro-Palestinian activists in the northern West Bank, injuring several of them.
Video footage shows a group of men, some masked but others with their faces visible and sporting long pe’ot, or sidelocks, and tzitzit, attacking the activists and beating them with wooden clubs.
According to the “Looking the Occupation in the Eye” organization, which campaigns against the settlements, the Israeli assailants came down from Esh Kodesh to attack the activists who were planting olive trees in the land around the Palestinian town of Qusra, south of Nablus. IDF forces who were alerted to the incident arrived and fired shots in the air, causing the Israelis to flee the area.According to the IDF, the injured activists were evacuated from the area by the Red Crescent for medical treatment.
The IDF forces did not arrest the assailants because they fled the scene, nor did they report the incident to the police, since some of them were masked.
“The IDF views any attack and injury to citizens very severely and works to protect public order and security in the region,” the army said. video of the violent settlers against foreigners link to post
Politics and the War (general news)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant thanks US President Joe Biden for his “unwavering support of Israel over the years.”
“Your steadfast backing, especially during the war, has been invaluable,” he adds. “We are grateful for your leadership and friendship.” link
President Isaac Herzog thanks Biden for his “friendship and steadfast support” for Israel throughout his long political career.
“As the first US President to visit Israel in wartime, as a recipient of the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor, and as a true ally of the Jewish people, he is a symbol of the unbreakable bond between our two peoples,” Herzog writes on X.
“I send him, Jill Biden, and all his family, my warmest wishes from Jerusalem,” he adds.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett says US President Joe Biden is a “true friend of Israel who stood by us in our most difficult moments.”
“During my tenure as prime minister, I witnessed his unwavering support of the State of Israel,” he adds. “Thank you for everything.”
After US President Joe Biden says he will not seek reelection, Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid shares a photo of him shaking Biden’s hand on X, and writes “Thank you.”
Labor MK Na’ama Lazimi shares an image of Biden meeting 4-year-old released hostage Avigail Idan in the White House back in April, and thanks him as well.
our own Prime Minister didn't even meet with the released hostages including the young children but Biden invited the family to the Oval Office and spent 2 hours with them.Lazimi’s fellow Labor MK Gilad Kariv writes on X that Biden is “one of the greatest friends and supporters of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
“Decent Israelis will remember him as someone who was a man of true responsibility and sanity when the people who were supposed to lead us failed and abandoned us,” he adds.
President Biden proved to be the most supportive US President that Israel has ever known. His support was unwavering, even in the face of so many conflagrations with Netanyahu throughout the war. Immediately, he sent warships to both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea to send messages to Iran and Hizbollah that the US was standing by Israel and that attack by them, joining Hamas would have very grave consequences for them. I have no doubt that the message was very clear and prevented what could have been a catastrophe for Israel. He then made sure to keep weapons and munitions flowing to Israel. People like to bring up the holding up of the single shipment of 2000lb bombs. The Administration was terrified that going into Rafah with a million Palestinians there would have been a civilian blood bath and they couldn't trust Netanyahu that it wouldn't have been. All other weapons and munitions continued to flow. Biden has done more for our hostages than our own government has done both in terms of negotiations and in terms of contact with hostages' families, something our government has dismally failed in. His stepping out of the race makes him a lame duck, not just in the US but for Netanyahu as well. With all the pressure that Biden tried to apply to Netanyahu, with only some of it successful, Netanyahu will feel that the pressure is totally off and continue to do as he wishes with no regard for Biden and his administration. If Netanyahu's actions and motives were for the best for the hostages and the country, that could be excused but he has proven since the beginning of the war that his motives and actions are only what is best for him and the rest be damned. Joe Biden's stepping down will make our situation and the situation for the hostages even worse.
Above are thank you messages from Israeli politicians to Biden. Visibly absent are any from Netanyahu and other coalition members except for Galant
My brother's Facebook post: Over years the Israeli political system has been distorted in a very dangerous way that we are suffering from now more than ever. The Israeli Prime Minister has way too much power. In the past the PM was the first among equals. Now the PM is much closer to a dictator than the way the system was originally created. This is just one of many problems that we need to fix in Israel. link
- The Iranian-made drone launched by the Houthis in Yemen at Tel Aviv on Friday morning traveled more than 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) to reach Israel, according to an Israeli Air Force probe.
The modified Iranian-made Samad-3 used a non-direct flight path, which may have contributed to it not being classified as a threat, which resulted in it not being intercepted. It struck a residential building in Tel Aviv, killing an Israeli man.
According to the IAF investigation, the explosive-laden drone apparently flew west from Yemen over the Red Sea, reaching Eritrea, before then flying north over Sudan and Egypt and reaching the Mediterranean Sea. The drone then approached Tel Aviv from the west.
It was only at this point that the drone showed up on Israeli radar as an unidentified target. In hindsight, the drone had been tracked for six minutes in a row while it approached Tel Aviv from the direction of the sea, before dropping in and out of the radar for several minutes after that, according to the probe.
The drone, according to the probe, was in the air for some 16 hours, flying at a speed of between 80 and 100 knots, or 148-185 kilometers per hour.
The IAF was aware of that the Houthis had such capabilities but had no prior information on the attack itself.
The probe found that if the target had been classified as a suspected drone when it was first identified, then the IAF would have had enough time to engage it, using fighter jets or ground or sea-based air defense systems. Instead, the target was not classified as a threat, due to a human error by the air traffic control operators, and it hit Tel Aviv.
The human operators who analyze the IAFs radar were at the time in the middle of tracking a drone launched by another Iran-backed group, from Iraq. That drone was shot down by fighter jets. The IAF has explained that the air traffic control operators also frequently see targets drop in and out of the radar, which in some cases are birds or distortions caused by clouds. Additionally, the IAF’s focus has been on targets approaching Israel from the north, east, and south, and less so from the west.
Following the attack, the IAF has now doubled the number of operators analyzing the radar systems, so that targets are not missed and are correctly classified. It has also increased aerial patrols, especially in the Mediterranean, to better detect incoming threats.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed on Monday morning for Washington, where he will meet with US President Joe Biden and deliver a politically precarious speech before Congress at a time of great uncertainty following Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race and amid domestic pressure on Israel’s leaders to reach a deal with Hamas for the release of the hostages held in Gaza.
Before boarding the newly ready Wing of Zion state airplane at Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu publicly acknowledged the 81-year-old president’s decision to stand down and said he intended to meet with him and thank him for more than 40 years of friendship.
“This will be an opportunity to thank him for the things he did for Israel in the war and during his long and distinguished career in public service, as senator, vice president, and president,” Netanyahu said. Striking a bipartisan tone, Netanyahu said he intended to reaffirm to the US that “regardless of who the American people choose as their next president, Israel remains its most indispensable and strongest ally in the Middle East.”
Appearing to set aside differences between himself and Biden, at least for the time being, Netanyahu stressed the importance of presenting a united front, more than nine months after the October 7 terror onslaught in southern Israel and amid the war in Gaza, where Israel is seeking to dismantle Hamas and return the hostages held by the terror group.
The visit to Washington will be “an opportunity to discuss with him how to advance in the critical months ahead the goals that are important for both our countries — achieving the release of all our hostages, defeating Hamas, confronting the terror axis of Iran, and ensuring that all of Israel’s citizens can return safely to their homes in the north and the south,” the premier said. The war in Gaza, which was sparked by the deadly massacre committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, in which they slaughtered some 1,200 people in Israel and seized 251 hostages, has tested Israel’s ties with its top ally.
The Biden administration has stood staunchly beside Israel, and the Democrat became the first US president to make a wartime visit to the country, less than two weeks after October 7. But the relationship between the two senior politicians has appeared to grow increasingly strained as the result of disagreements over Israel’s campaign against Hamas, and chiefly the continued difficulties of getting humanitarian aid to civilians, the unverified high death toll reported by Hamas health authorities, and what the US says is Israel’s lack of postwar plans for the Strip. Similar concerns will likely persist if Americans elect a new Democratic president.
Biden earlier this year froze the delivery of high-payload bombs over fears they would be used in Israel’s incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which at the time sheltered more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
The issue of weapons shipments turned into an extended spat, after Netanyahu issued a video statement slamming “inconceivable” “bottlenecks” that the US had created in the transfer of shipments of weapons, which the Biden administration responded to by saying it had no idea what Netanyahu was talking about.
Standing on the airport tarmac on Monday, however, Netanyahu stressed that “in this time of war and uncertainty, it is important that Israel’s enemies know that America and Israel stand together — today, tomorrow, and always.”
Netanyahu’s address to Congress on Wednesday — his fourth one as prime minister — has the potential to cause disarray on both sides of the ocean, amid ongoing efforts to bring about a ceasefire and hostage release deal and rising concerns of a new full-out front opening up with the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon or the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The risks only increased with Biden’s decision Sunday to drop out of the race for president, especially since the choice of a replacement Democratic nominee — and the potential next American leader — is still up in the air.
A person familiar with Biden’s schedule confirmed Sunday that the president will host Netanyahu at the White House. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said the exact timing of the meeting has not been established because Biden is recovering from COVID-19.
Netanyahu is also expected to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, as well as GOP nominee Donald Trump, although that meeting has yet to be confirmed.
The prime minister will be accompanied on his trip by freed hostages and family members of those still captive in Gaza, including some who have criticized the prime minister over the failures surrounding the October 7 terror onslaught but who believe their presence may pressure him into agreeing to a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Speaking to the press ahead of departure, Shelly Shem-Tov, whose son Omer Shem-Tov was abducted on October 7 from the Supernova music festival, said that she decided to accept the invitation from the prime minister at the last minute.
“For 290 days, I haven’t left the country’s borders, I’ve been waiting for the moment I get the phone call that Omer is on his way home. Nine months I’ve been waiting for him to be returned to me… This time I decided to take action,” she said of her decision to travel to Washington.
“I am flying to shout out my call and that of all the families of the hostages. It’s time to sign the deal to bring them home,” she added.
Also accompanying the prime minister was Noa Argamani, who was rescued by the IDF in a daring daylight operation in central Gaza last month, and her father Yaakov Argamani, Channel 12 reported.
The brother of Oron Shaul — whose body has been held by Hamas since he was killed during the 2014 Gaza War — was also in attendance.
Some relatives of hostages publicly rejected the offer to accompany Netanyahu, however, and accused him of prioritizing the chance to address Congress over their captive loved ones.
“This is not the time for trips,” Ayelet Levy Shachar, whose daughter Naama was abducted on October 7, told reporters. “Netanyahu, first a deal, then you can travel.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant thanks US President Joe Biden for his “unwavering support of Israel over the years.”
“Your steadfast backing, especially during the war, has been invaluable,” he adds. “We are grateful for your leadership and friendship.” link
President Isaac Herzog thanks Biden for his “friendship and steadfast support” for Israel throughout his long political career.
“As the first US President to visit Israel in wartime, as a recipient of the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor, and as a true ally of the Jewish people, he is a symbol of the unbreakable bond between our two peoples,” Herzog writes on X.
“I send him, Jill Biden, and all his family, my warmest wishes from Jerusalem,” he adds.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett says US President Joe Biden is a “true friend of Israel who stood by us in our most difficult moments.”
“During my tenure as prime minister, I witnessed his unwavering support of the State of Israel,” he adds. “Thank you for everything.”
After US President Joe Biden says he will not seek reelection, Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid shares a photo of him shaking Biden’s hand on X, and writes “Thank you.”
Labor MK Na’ama Lazimi shares an image of Biden meeting 4-year-old released hostage Avigail Idan in the White House back in April, and thanks him as well.
our own Prime Minister didn't even meet with the released hostages including the young children but Biden invited the family to the Oval Office and spent 2 hours with them.
Lazimi’s fellow Labor MK Gilad Kariv writes on X that Biden is “one of the greatest friends and supporters of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
“Decent Israelis will remember him as someone who was a man of true responsibility and sanity when the people who were supposed to lead us failed and abandoned us,” he adds.
President Biden proved to be the most supportive US President that Israel has ever known. His support was unwavering, even in the face of so many conflagrations with Netanyahu throughout the war. Immediately, he sent warships to both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea to send messages to Iran and Hizbollah that the US was standing by Israel and that attack by them, joining Hamas would have very grave consequences for them. I have no doubt that the message was very clear and prevented what could have been a catastrophe for Israel. He then made sure to keep weapons and munitions flowing to Israel. People like to bring up the holding up of the single shipment of 2000lb bombs. The Administration was terrified that going into Rafah with a million Palestinians there would have been a civilian blood bath and they couldn't trust Netanyahu that it wouldn't have been. All other weapons and munitions continued to flow. Biden has done more for our hostages than our own government has done both in terms of negotiations and in terms of contact with hostages' families, something our government has dismally failed in. His stepping out of the race makes him a lame duck, not just in the US but for Netanyahu as well. With all the pressure that Biden tried to apply to Netanyahu, with only some of it successful, Netanyahu will feel that the pressure is totally off and continue to do as he wishes with no regard for Biden and his administration. If Netanyahu's actions and motives were for the best for the hostages and the country, that could be excused but he has proven since the beginning of the war that his motives and actions are only what is best for him and the rest be damned. Joe Biden's stepping down will make our situation and the situation for the hostages even worse.
Above are thank you messages from Israeli politicians to Biden. Visibly absent are any from Netanyahu and other coalition members except for Galant
My brother's Facebook post: Over years the Israeli political system has been distorted in a very dangerous way that we are suffering from now more than ever. The Israeli Prime Minister has way too much power. In the past the PM was the first among equals. Now the PM is much closer to a dictator than the way the system was originally created. This is just one of many problems that we need to fix in Israel. link
The modified Iranian-made Samad-3 used a non-direct flight path, which may have contributed to it not being classified as a threat, which resulted in it not being intercepted. It struck a residential building in Tel Aviv, killing an Israeli man.
According to the IAF investigation, the explosive-laden drone apparently flew west from Yemen over the Red Sea, reaching Eritrea, before then flying north over Sudan and Egypt and reaching the Mediterranean Sea. The drone then approached Tel Aviv from the west.
It was only at this point that the drone showed up on Israeli radar as an unidentified target. In hindsight, the drone had been tracked for six minutes in a row while it approached Tel Aviv from the direction of the sea, before dropping in and out of the radar for several minutes after that, according to the probe.
The drone, according to the probe, was in the air for some 16 hours, flying at a speed of between 80 and 100 knots, or 148-185 kilometers per hour.
The IAF was aware of that the Houthis had such capabilities but had no prior information on the attack itself.
The probe found that if the target had been classified as a suspected drone when it was first identified, then the IAF would have had enough time to engage it, using fighter jets or ground or sea-based air defense systems. Instead, the target was not classified as a threat, due to a human error by the air traffic control operators, and it hit Tel Aviv.
The human operators who analyze the IAFs radar were at the time in the middle of tracking a drone launched by another Iran-backed group, from Iraq. That drone was shot down by fighter jets. The IAF has explained that the air traffic control operators also frequently see targets drop in and out of the radar, which in some cases are birds or distortions caused by clouds. Additionally, the IAF’s focus has been on targets approaching Israel from the north, east, and south, and less so from the west.
Following the attack, the IAF has now doubled the number of operators analyzing the radar systems, so that targets are not missed and are correctly classified. It has also increased aerial patrols, especially in the Mediterranean, to better detect incoming threats.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed on Monday morning for Washington, where he will meet with US President Joe Biden and deliver a politically precarious speech before Congress at a time of great uncertainty following Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race and amid domestic pressure on Israel’s leaders to reach a deal with Hamas for the release of the hostages held in Gaza.
Before boarding the newly ready Wing of Zion state airplane at Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu publicly acknowledged the 81-year-old president’s decision to stand down and said he intended to meet with him and thank him for more than 40 years of friendship.
“This will be an opportunity to thank him for the things he did for Israel in the war and during his long and distinguished career in public service, as senator, vice president, and president,” Netanyahu said. Striking a bipartisan tone, Netanyahu said he intended to reaffirm to the US that “regardless of who the American people choose as their next president, Israel remains its most indispensable and strongest ally in the Middle East.”
Appearing to set aside differences between himself and Biden, at least for the time being, Netanyahu stressed the importance of presenting a united front, more than nine months after the October 7 terror onslaught in southern Israel and amid the war in Gaza, where Israel is seeking to dismantle Hamas and return the hostages held by the terror group.
The visit to Washington will be “an opportunity to discuss with him how to advance in the critical months ahead the goals that are important for both our countries — achieving the release of all our hostages, defeating Hamas, confronting the terror axis of Iran, and ensuring that all of Israel’s citizens can return safely to their homes in the north and the south,” the premier said. The war in Gaza, which was sparked by the deadly massacre committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, in which they slaughtered some 1,200 people in Israel and seized 251 hostages, has tested Israel’s ties with its top ally.
The Biden administration has stood staunchly beside Israel, and the Democrat became the first US president to make a wartime visit to the country, less than two weeks after October 7. But the relationship between the two senior politicians has appeared to grow increasingly strained as the result of disagreements over Israel’s campaign against Hamas, and chiefly the continued difficulties of getting humanitarian aid to civilians, the unverified high death toll reported by Hamas health authorities, and what the US says is Israel’s lack of postwar plans for the Strip. Similar concerns will likely persist if Americans elect a new Democratic president.
Biden earlier this year froze the delivery of high-payload bombs over fears they would be used in Israel’s incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which at the time sheltered more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
The issue of weapons shipments turned into an extended spat, after Netanyahu issued a video statement slamming “inconceivable” “bottlenecks” that the US had created in the transfer of shipments of weapons, which the Biden administration responded to by saying it had no idea what Netanyahu was talking about.
Standing on the airport tarmac on Monday, however, Netanyahu stressed that “in this time of war and uncertainty, it is important that Israel’s enemies know that America and Israel stand together — today, tomorrow, and always.”
Netanyahu’s address to Congress on Wednesday — his fourth one as prime minister — has the potential to cause disarray on both sides of the ocean, amid ongoing efforts to bring about a ceasefire and hostage release deal and rising concerns of a new full-out front opening up with the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon or the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The risks only increased with Biden’s decision Sunday to drop out of the race for president, especially since the choice of a replacement Democratic nominee — and the potential next American leader — is still up in the air.
A person familiar with Biden’s schedule confirmed Sunday that the president will host Netanyahu at the White House. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said the exact timing of the meeting has not been established because Biden is recovering from COVID-19.
Netanyahu is also expected to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, as well as GOP nominee Donald Trump, although that meeting has yet to be confirmed.
The prime minister will be accompanied on his trip by freed hostages and family members of those still captive in Gaza, including some who have criticized the prime minister over the failures surrounding the October 7 terror onslaught but who believe their presence may pressure him into agreeing to a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Speaking to the press ahead of departure, Shelly Shem-Tov, whose son Omer Shem-Tov was abducted on October 7 from the Supernova music festival, said that she decided to accept the invitation from the prime minister at the last minute.
“For 290 days, I haven’t left the country’s borders, I’ve been waiting for the moment I get the phone call that Omer is on his way home. Nine months I’ve been waiting for him to be returned to me… This time I decided to take action,” she said of her decision to travel to Washington.
“I am flying to shout out my call and that of all the families of the hostages. It’s time to sign the deal to bring them home,” she added.
Also accompanying the prime minister was Noa Argamani, who was rescued by the IDF in a daring daylight operation in central Gaza last month, and her father Yaakov Argamani, Channel 12 reported.
The brother of Oron Shaul — whose body has been held by Hamas since he was killed during the 2014 Gaza War — was also in attendance.
Some relatives of hostages publicly rejected the offer to accompany Netanyahu, however, and accused him of prioritizing the chance to address Congress over their captive loved ones.
“This is not the time for trips,” Ayelet Levy Shachar, whose daughter Naama was abducted on October 7, told reporters. “Netanyahu, first a deal, then you can travel.”
Israel’s very own ‘Air Force One’
Netanyahu, his wife Sara and his delegation of aides, security, and press departed for Washington on the Wing of Zion, the first time the plane has been used to carry an Israeli leader.
The plane, a reconfigured and upgraded Boeing 767, was caught up in delays and political fighting for several years after it was commissioned in 2014 and was eventually approved for use toward the end of 2021, but remained in storage at the Nevatim Airbase until Netanyahu returned to office in December 2022. While the craft was used officially for the first time last week to transport equipment and security personnel to Washington ahead of the trip, Monday’s flight provided the media with a first look inside Israel’s version of Air Force One.
The plane is divided into four sections — the prime minister’s personal area, and those for his senior aides, security and junior staff, and the press in the back.
There is wood paneling between sections, which are fitted with blue seats with white headrests. The pilots are Air Force pilots, some of them in reserves and some in active service, and the flight attendants, mostly from Arkia, are permanently assigned to the plane.
Aboard Israel’s much-awaited answer to the US’s Air Force One is a conference room, an ad hoc surgery room, and open and classified communications networks that allow the prime minister to remain in touch with officials in Israel.
Outside, the Boeing 767-300 has a white belly, a gray stripe, and a blue top with a Star of David on the tail. link
The Region and the World
- Saudi Arabia, a major foreign player in Yemen’s nearly decade-long civil war, urges restraint in the wake of an Israeli strike that the Houthi rebels said killed 6 people. The strike came in response to a Houthi drone strike in Tel Aviv on Thursday night in which one person was killed.
The Israeli strike “aggravates the current tension in the region and halts the ongoing efforts to end the war in Gaza,” the Saudi foreign ministry says in a statement.
It “called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to distance the region and its people from the dangers of war.”
Saudi Arabia mobilized an international military coalition against the Houthis in 2015, although a truce has largely held for the past two years.
Efforts by the kingdom to broker a Yemen peace deal have faltered in the wake of an anti-shipping campaign by the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which the Iran-backed group claims is being carried out to signal solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid Israel’s war with the Hamas terror group, also backed by Iran.
The rebels have targeted nearly 90 ships since November.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has engaged in a delicate balancing act as the world’s biggest oil exporter tries to extricate itself from the war on its doorstep.
It has not joined a US-led naval coalition to deter Houthi attacks or participated in strikes on Yemen carried out by the US and Britain since January.
Sunday’s foreign ministry statement affirmed the kingdom’s “continuous support for peace efforts in Yemen to spare its people more suffering.”
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen will continue to attack Israel and will not abide by any rules of engagement, the group’s spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam tells Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV, a day after Israel struck Houthi military targets near Yemen’s Hodeida port in retaliation for a drone strike in Tel Aviv on Friday in which one person was killed.
Abdulsalam says there will be “no red lines” in the Houthis’ response to Israel. “All sensitive institutions with all its levels will be a target for us,” he says.
Earlier today, the Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the terror group’s “response to the Israeli aggression against our country is inevitably coming and will be huge.”
According to the IDF, Yemen’s Houthis in the past nine months have fired over 220 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel — mostly toward the southernmost city of Eilat — in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, where Israel is battling Hamas terrorists.
Personal Stories
The Israeli strike “aggravates the current tension in the region and halts the ongoing efforts to end the war in Gaza,” the Saudi foreign ministry says in a statement.
It “called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to distance the region and its people from the dangers of war.”
Saudi Arabia mobilized an international military coalition against the Houthis in 2015, although a truce has largely held for the past two years.
Efforts by the kingdom to broker a Yemen peace deal have faltered in the wake of an anti-shipping campaign by the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which the Iran-backed group claims is being carried out to signal solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid Israel’s war with the Hamas terror group, also backed by Iran.
The rebels have targeted nearly 90 ships since November.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has engaged in a delicate balancing act as the world’s biggest oil exporter tries to extricate itself from the war on its doorstep.
It has not joined a US-led naval coalition to deter Houthi attacks or participated in strikes on Yemen carried out by the US and Britain since January.
Sunday’s foreign ministry statement affirmed the kingdom’s “continuous support for peace efforts in Yemen to spare its people more suffering.”
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen will continue to attack Israel and will not abide by any rules of engagement, the group’s spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam tells Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV, a day after Israel struck Houthi military targets near Yemen’s Hodeida port in retaliation for a drone strike in Tel Aviv on Friday in which one person was killed.
Abdulsalam says there will be “no red lines” in the Houthis’ response to Israel. “All sensitive institutions with all its levels will be a target for us,” he says.
Earlier today, the Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the terror group’s “response to the Israeli aggression against our country is inevitably coming and will be huge.”
According to the IDF, Yemen’s Houthis in the past nine months have fired over 220 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel — mostly toward the southernmost city of Eilat — in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, where Israel is battling Hamas terrorists.
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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