🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 350, 2023 - September 20, 2024 🎗️

  

🎗️Day 350 that 101 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!!!”

We’re waiting for you, all of you.
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.

#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope

There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!

‎אין נצחון עד שכל החטופים בבית

Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements

*8:40pm yesterday- north - rockets Metulla

*7:30am - north - rockets - Metulla
*1:00pm - north - rockets - Safed, Dalton, Biryia, Ortal, Ramot Dalton, Kerem Ben Zimra, Rihania, Kfar Blum, Acbara, Kaditha, Baram, Dovev, Amuka, Bar Yochai, Kfar Shammai, Meron, Meron Galil
*1:30pm - north - Rockets - Meron Golan, Ortal, Sha'al, Had Nes, Kfar Hanasi, Gadot, Mishmar Hayarden, Jordan River Rafting, Ein Zivon, Alonei Habashan
*1:55pm - north - rockets -  Sde Meron, Sasa, Zva'on, Matat, Netua 

*3:35pm - north - rockets - Dovev, Baram

*4:00 pm- north - rockets - Sasa

*5:05pm - north - rockets - Shtula, Rosh zooma , Shomera , Biryia, Batam, Zivon  Alvarado, Elioelet, Hathor Haglikit, Amuka, Tuba Zangaria, Machanaim Landing pad, Dalton

**Two Israeli soldiers were killed and several others were wounded in Hezbollah missile and drone attacks on northern Israel today, the IDF announces.

The slain soldiers are named as:

Major (reserve) Nael Fwarsy, 43, a logistics company commander in the 300th “Baram” Regional Brigade’s 299th Battalion, from Maghar.

Sgt. Tomer Keren, 20, of the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion, from Haifa.

Fwarsy was killed and another soldier was lightly wounded after an explosive-laden drone launched by Hezbollah struck an area outside Ya’ara in the Western Galilee.

Keren was killed and eight other soldiers were wounded, including one seriously, after two anti-tank missiles launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon struck a position in the Ramim Ridge area on the border in the Galilee Panhandle.

Maj. (res.) Nael Fwarsy, 43, left, and Sgt. Tomer Keren, 20 who were killed in Hezbollah strikes on the northern border on September 19, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Hostage Updates 

• The Israeli military’s envoy to negotiations aimed at freeing hostages held in Gaza, Nitzan Alon, is said to have told family members of the captives that he and the rest of the negotiating team were unfamiliar with a reported new Israeli offer.

  Israel has put a proposal on the table that would end fighting in the Gaza Strip and give the head of Hamas safe passage out of the enclave in exchange for the immediate release of all hostages held in Gaza, the demilitarization of the Strip and the establishment of an alternative governing power there, Kan news reported earlier.

  An Israeli official confirmed the outlines of the report to The Times of Israel and said Gal Hirsch, the government point man on the hostages, had presented the plan to American officials, who were expected to pass it on to unspecified Arab officials.

  Hirsch told families of hostages that the proposal had been presented last week in a meeting with US officials from the White House and State Department, Kan said.

  However, Alon reportedly tells family members he is unaware of such a proposal.

  “Gal Hirsch’s offer that was sent to the US is not known to the negotiating team,” Channel 12 quotes Alon as telling the families. “Hirsch was never a part of the negotiating team.”

  Channel 12 says Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is also unaware of the new proposal and it had not been discussed by the government.

  The channel quotes family members as decrying the new offer as government spin.

  “It seems that it is spin from the government to show that they are supposedly on the way to a deal,” the family member says.

• US Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz met earlier today with relatives of the seven remaining American hostages in Gaza for the first time.

  The Minnesota governor “listened to the stories and perspectives of the families and emphasized that Vice President Harris, alongside President Biden, will continue doing everything possible to secure the release of their family members and all the hostages, including the remains of those who have been tragically confirmed to be deceased,” a campaign spokesperson says in a statement.

  “Walz expressed his solidarity with the families and told them he stands with them as they continue to advocate for the release of their loved ones,” the statement continues.

  “Walz stated that the people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas caused on October 7th. He condemned the brutality against both Americans and Israelis and reaffirmed his and Vice President Harris’s commitment to Israel’s security.”

  “The group discussed the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to end the war and ensure Israel is secure, all hostages are released, and the suffering in Gaza ends,” the statement adds.  link I find it astounding that there are many American Jews (and Israelis) who think that tRump was a more supportive president than Biden is. Biden has been the most supportive president to Israel in the history of the State. He not only talked the talk, he walked the walk. This war would have looked very different if not for Biden. I have no doubt that his absolute support, moral, weapons, economic and warships in the area, are single handedly responsible for deterring a multifront war that could very well have been war for our survival. Unfortunately, everyone thinks of the single shipment of 2000 pound bombs that his administration held back to prevent major humanitarian devastation prior to our entering Rafah in a ground and air incursion. A single shipment and it is the focus of so many people instead of looking at everything else that he has done. He is the only US President to ever come to Israel in the middle of a war and he has done more for our hostage releases than our own government and has only failed in this mission so far because of our failed government and prime minister who continues to put his own self interest ahead of that of the hostages' lives and the good of the country. If it was up to Biden, our hostages would have been home a long time ago, the war would have ended as well as the war in the north and Gaza would be governed by a reformed Palestinian Authority and rebuilding would be long underway offering the Gazans a better future without Hamas. And that is the only way to defeat Hamas. Biden's Vice President has been 100% supportive of everything the administration did on Israel's behalf and her long public track record has shown unequivocal support for Israel. There is no comparison between actual actions and just words. tRumps 'big' accomplishments for Israel has been to state that Jerusalem is our capital (we didn't need anyone to say that. It is our declaration and that is all that matters). And people think that 'moving' the American Embassy to Jerusalem was a big deal. For those who don't know, all that was done was to change the sign of the US Consulate in Jerusalem to say it is the Embassy and the Embassy sign in Tel Aviv was changed to Consulate. That's it! There was no big move, no big changes. The Ambassador still lives in Herzlia and does much of his business at the Consulate in Tel Aviv because it is closer to his home. The real accomplishment of tRump was the Abraham Accords. It was not a peace treaty as we were never at war with any of the countries that signed on. It was a normalization agreement with countries that we already had unofficial relations with and the accords made it public and the ability to tourists on both ends to visit (many more Israelis to them than to Israel), and that will eventually lead to normalization with Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab States. But that won't happen in the near future due to the obstinance of our Prime Minister's refusal to deal with what really needs to be done, moving towards a Palestinian State that will be at Peace with Israel.

Gaza 

• "It's a bone in Hamas's throat, in the end they'll have nowhere to return to"
  
  
  After a long period in the Netzarim Corridor, the commander of Battalion 6310 and his company commander are certain: if needed, we can conquer the place again. "The number of tunnels we expose there every day is in the dozens, it's unbelievable, you're amazed," they say – and recall successful operations and evacuations under fire. "We'll destroy what needs to be destroyed so the war will end eventually," say the commanders and reveal the complex coping with loss, burnout, and distance from home.
  
  
  "What hurts Hamas is that in the end, their ground is being damaged," Company Commander Captain (res.) Shai Adler tries to summarize his complex and prolonged stay in the Netzarim Corridor, the area that bisects the Gaza Strip. The smell of Gaza still lingers in the nostrils of reservist Adler, just days after he left there with the entire battalion. "I arrived home in Tel Aviv," he says, "and on one hand I'm happy that everyone is in routine and living their lives, but on the other hand it's important to note that there's a parallel world, not far from Tel Aviv – less than a hundred kilometers away."
  
  
  In that parallel world Adler describes, everything looks different: "Soldiers there are fighting and sweating and eating tuna from cans, until Hamas understands that they simply won't have anywhere to return to. There we are ultimately defending the people of Israel and destroying the enemy and harming them and trying to achieve as many assets as possible, which in the end will give us as a people, as an army, and as a country this achievement that Hamas will have nowhere to return to, because we will destroy what needs to be destroyed so that the war will end eventually," he clarifies coolly.
  
  
  "The number of tunnels we expose there every day is in the dozens, it's unbelievable, you're amazed," he admits. "Sometimes it happens by chance – the bulldozer works here and there and identifies a tunnel, and in the end it's an unbelievable number of tunnels. Hamas built a city underground and we're locating and destroying infrastructure above and below ground. You enter houses there, and you build positions, and Gaza is Gaza – hot and dusty and everyone's sweating and conditions aren't simple, especially for reserves it's not simple at all. We raid houses and encounter the enemy and eliminate them, and we've also captured terrorists. Those we caught provide intelligence."
  
  
  "I arrived from Netzarim an hour before the birth"
  
  
  The company commander Adler recounts one moment with great satisfaction: "An event of a night ambush with a mission. We caught four terrorists alive, and they had great intelligence value. Elite units don't always manage to bring these achievements, and you realize that in the activity you did there is great value and significance for the command and also for finding the rest of the enemy's infrastructure and planning for the future – and there's no higher value than that. It's a great pride. Hamas will have no way and nowhere to return to, because we're hitting them hard. That's the mission – to destroy it and its infrastructure, and that's what we're doing. Unfortunately sometimes it also affects us, but that's the mission and everyone understands it."
  
  
  Adler is a Company Commander in Battalion 6310 of the Jerusalem Brigade. Not many people in the army know the Netzarim Corridor - the area that Hamas demands to be evacuated - as intimately as the forces of this battalion, reservists who left everything to eradicate Hamas there. Adler himself was there for two extended periods, and it was there that he received the news on the red phone that his wife was entering the delivery room: "My wife called. She said her water broke on the way to the hospital. I arrived from the corridor an hour before the birth," the officer recalls. "We had gone out the night before on a raid at four in the morning on a rocket and missile workshop. The company encountered RPG fire, gunfire, and terrorists, and then we found an explosive device, and just as we started to summarize the event - phone call. Understand the dissonance between where I was a few hours earlier and the birth."
  

  
  

  "This is a difficult event," Adler adds sadly. "The company and the fighters understand the mission and why they're there, also with the help of talks, hugs, and support - from the home front, from families, and from the battalion. The company thinks about moving forward and not stopping, because otherwise hesitation leads to depression. After that day, we continued the attack forward, to restore the sense of capability. The company came out of it with their heads held high and moved forward, despite all the loss and difficulty experienced in such an event."

  
  

  The battalion commander and company commander remember and mention in the conversation the names of the other fallen soldiers of the brigade in Gaza, all reservists: Sergeant Major Shlomo Yehonatan Hazut from Battalion 9207, Sergeant Major Yaniv Yitzhak Oren from Battalion 8119, who fell on the same day as the three reconnaissance battalion fighters in Zeitoun, Sergeant Major Mordechai Yosef Ben Shoam and Major Yotam Yitzhak Peled, also from Battalion 8119, and Sergeant Major Yochai Chai Glam from the reconnaissance battalion.

  
  

  "There's burnout, but there's also motivation"

  
  

  **Was there a fighter you had a personal conversation with, who needed to be lifted up and found it too difficult?**

  "Of course, also among some of the team that stayed in Gaza and other combat teams," Adler replies. "We explain to the fighters on the front line the heavy prices we're extracting from the enemy and share with them what's being done at the brigade and division level and what strategic assets we are as a company and battalion. From this, they understand the overall picture, that they are the ones who are hitting and destroying and moving forward and this significantly hurts the enemy. Our attacks are on the enemy's centers of gravity - in Zeitoun, in various neighborhoods, Shujaiya and others - again striking and destroying infrastructure and leaving them scorched earth. This is the main mission, that they won't be able to raise their heads, neither above ground nor underground."

  
  

  **How's the motivation of the guys for the next round?**
  
  

  "We've done over 300 days of reserve duty in the last year and a half - this is the third round we've just completed since Simchat Torah," Adler emphasizes. "We'll come when called. It's hard to leave family and work every few months, and there's burnout, but there's motivation."

  
  

  **Are there people who said "enough, it's too heavy for me," for more or less justified reasons?**
  
  

  Battalion Commander Yaari responds: "There are lots of those," and Adler agrees: "It's difficult for them and we're all experiencing it personally. If at the beginning we had 120% turnout, we're now at about half of that, you could say." The battalion commander tries to explain how the burden and load are expressed: "There are many people who find it very difficult, and it affects their studies, people have postponed their studies for a year, and another round sometimes means postponing for another semester. People at work, the economy is now unashamedly starting to make it difficult, people are counting their 61 days from return because they understand that after a third round they can already be fired because of it."

  
  

  "There are people who return to work and actually don't have a job anymore, because they took a project they were managing from them, and they're told, 'You come and go, and you're not really relevant. I'll let you work and then you'll leave again?' There are reserve soldiers looking for work and are asked off the record, 'Where do you do reserve duty and how many reserve days do you do a year' - to know if it's worth employing them. There are self-employed people whose businesses are closed and not functioning, and families who are relocating their lives to try to cope with the reserve period."
  

  
  

  The warriors who come for reserve duty especially from abroad

  But not everything is dark. "One of the medics with Adler is a paramedic in the USA who comes every time, even before the war," Yaari recounts. "He arrived for the war from the preparations, until one day after the battalion is released. In the battalion, there are at least ten people from Australia, USA, and France. It's amazing how much determination people have to come and continue to serve when the price they pay is greater, because there abroad they don't care where you go, here there's still a law that somewhat protects people." And Adler agrees and adds: "I have two guys from the USA, a sniper and a paramedic – they pay for a round-trip flight and don't receive a salary there, they receive minimum wage here and still come, because they understand the significance."

  
  

  "If I can make a call here to employers, citizens, university lecturers, and everyone who needs to hear – guys, embrace the reserve soldiers. I have student soldiers and I hear what the lecturers are doing to them and it makes me want to cry," Adler says sadly. "Instead of embracing and giving what's needed and supporting, they tell them to postpone for a year. Why? What, are we fighting for ourselves? We're fighting for everyone! They're at the forefront and they're making it very difficult for them in studies, and also employers, and we need to connect them and not delay life even more, it's already difficult with families and children and wives and we need to embrace these people. The state needs to incentivize employers who employ reservists on the front lines, so they'll want to employ reservists and soldiers. We also encounter the beautiful people of Israel, when civilians wait outside the fence with food and when you're looking for a unit bonding evening and civilians step up – despite us being in this event for a year." Battalion Commander Yaari is moved when he talks about those who wear uniforms despite the difficulties. "Those who come to reserve duty after so many rotations are determined people that nothing will break. They will come when called, despite all the difficulty, because it's important to them, the country and the people. The situation also towards a campaign in the north – everyone understands it, and when called to the flag they will come. We have strong reservists and an even stronger home front."

  
  

  Towards the end of the conversation, the Company Commander reveals an important detail about his Battalion Commander. "I'll tell you what Yaari won't tell – he doesn't go home. His wife is in crazy difficulty and he lives in the Golan, without a shelter, on the conflict line, with the drones and missiles. His wife told him, 'Enough, we're leaving.' She left from there without asking him because it was hard for her to bear it alone, so you understand the difficulty of two children when the husband is a Battalion Commander fighting in Gaza and rockets and drones are fired all the time, it's part of the difficulty and coping." And the Battalion Commander explains: "My wife decided to move to live close to my parents, so now we'll return and start to understand where we are and what we're doing, to acclimate to a new home." link

  
  

  
  

• A veteran Israeli anti-war activist whose soldier son was killed in Lebanon in 1997, launched a hunger strike outside the Knesset on Friday, urging the government to bring back the hostages.

  
  Orna Shimoni outside the Knesset, Sep. 20, 2024 (Screenshot taken from X in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
  
  Orna Shimoni, 83, noted that she was starting the hunger strike the day after the anniversary of her son Eyal’s death.

  “I decided to go on a hunger strike to bring back all the hostages at the end of the memorial evening in his memory,” said Shimoni, according to Israel’s Kibbutz Movement, as she urged people to come and join her outside the Knesset in Jerusalem. Shimoni, who has been active in campaigning for the return of soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, told the Ynet news site that she had initially kept her decision to hunger strike a secret, and has forbidden her children to treat her, should it cause her to fall ill.

  “My children don’t stop crying,” she said. “Six million people need to come out here and show the lawmakers that the majority of the people want to bring back the hostages, ” she said.

  “I promise I will not die hunger striking. I want masses of people to come,” she said.  A number of relatives of hostages held in Gaza have launched temporary hunger strikes over the past 11 months.

  Shimoni was a longtime member of the Four Mothers group, which campaigned for an Israeli withdrawal from the so-called security zone in southern Lebanon. The group was dismantled after the IDF withdrew in 2000.

  It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF.

  Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

  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.

Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria

• Israel will face “a crushing response from the axis of resistance,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami tells Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday according to state media, after attacks on Lebanese Hezbollah’s communication devices blamed on Israel.

  “Such terrorist acts are undoubtedly the result of the Zionist regime’s (Israel) despair and successive failures. This will soon be met with a crushing response from the axis of resistance and we will witness the destruction of this bloodthirsty and criminal regime,” Salami says in his message to Nasrallah.

  Iran is Hezbollah’s main sponsor and the axis of resistance refers to Tehran’s terror proxies across the region that are aligned against Israel.

  Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was among those injured when Hezbollah pagers exploded on Tuesday.

  
  

• Casualties caused by explosions in booby-trapped radios and pagers in Lebanon this week seriously disrupted its fragile health sector, the World Health Organization chief said on Thursday.

  The UN health agency cited Lebanese health authorities’ toll that 37 people had been killed and more than 3,000 injured in the pager blasts that detonated in areas considered strongholds of the Hezbollah terror group.

  “These events have seriously disrupted Lebanon’s already fragile health system,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells a press conference, adding that the global body had distributed blood supplies and trauma kits in the country.

  “The whole health system came under immense pressure very, very quickly,” says WHO emergencies chief Mike Ryan at the same briefing.

• Israeli fighter jets struck some 30 Hezbollah rocket launchers and other infrastructure in southern Lebanon this evening, the IDF says.

  According to the military, the launchers included some 150 launch barrels that were primed for an immediate attack on Israel.

  Additionally, several buildings and a weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah were struck in several areas of southern Lebanon, the military adds.

  The IDF releases footage of the strikes.

• Israeli fighter jets in the last several hours struck over 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon that were primed for immediate attacks on Israel, the military says. The IDF says that in total, the launchers included around 1,000 launch barrels. The strikes began this afternoon, and were carried out in several waves. "The IDF continues to damage and degrade the terror capabilities and military infrastructure of the Hezbollah terror organization," the military adds. video

• After intensive Israel airstrikes in southern Lebanon, the IDF publishes a list of guidelines for civilians in several communities and cities in northern Israel, telling them to remain close to bomb shelters.

  The guidelines apply to civilians in the Merom HaGalil Regional Council, Upper Galilee Regional Council, Mevo’ot HaHermon Regional Council, Yesud HaMa’ala, Hatzor, Rosh Pina, Safed, Metula, and towns in the Golan Heights from Katzrin and northward.

  The IDF calls on civilians in those areas to reduce movement outside of homes, avoid large gatherings, guard the entrances to the communities, and remain close to bomb shelters.

  The guidelines are until further notice, the IDF says.

• A preliminary investigation by Lebanese authorities into the communications devices that exploded in Lebanon this week found that they were implanted with explosives before arriving in Lebanon, according to a letter by the Lebanese mission to the United Nations that was seen by Reuters.

  The authorities also determined the devices, which included pagers and hand-held radios, were detonated by sending electronic messages to the devices, says the letter, sent to the UN Security Council. Israel has been blamed for the attack on the Hezbollah devices, but has not taken responsibility.

• Israeli military officials will be presenting the political echelon, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with various plans for the northern front during a meeting this evening, amid heightened tensions with Hezbollah.

  IDF sources say the military seeks to achieve Israel’s war goals in the north, returning the displaced Israelis back to their homes, but without causing the conflict to expand to a regional multi-front war.

  The IDF has been on heightened alert following the recent events in Lebanon, and expects that the coming days may also be intense.

  Israel has not taken responsibility for the Hezbollah communication devices that exploded in Lebanon in the past two days, killing 37 people, the vast majority of them terror operatives.

  In the past 2-3 days, the IDF has been holding continuous assessments, and presenting plans to the political echelon. Earlier this evening, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi approved new battle plans.

  So far, there have been no changes to guidelines for civilians, though the IDF has said it would update the public immediately if there are any developments.

• US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says that the US would urge Israel to halt strikes on Hezbollah if the terror group stopped launching attacks against the Jewish state first.

  “Nasrallah could stop the terrorist attacks across Israel, and I guarantee you, if he did that, we would be impressing upon Israel the need to maintain calm on their end,” Miller says, in a somewhat uncharacteristically frank statement for a State Department spokesperson.

  “The bottom line is, he hasn’t stopped those terrorist attacks, and so as long as Hezbollah is launching terrorist attacks across the border, of course, Israel is going to launch military action to defend itself as any country would,” he adds.

  “What we continue to push to all the parties is not to escalate the conflict, not to let it spiral out of control into a war that we don’t think serves either side’s interests, and to ultimately try to get to a ceasefire in Gaza that would help bring calm across the Blue Line,” Miller says. link This would be a great thing. However, Hizbollah has made it clear that as long as the war in Gaza continues, they will continue their attacks and we should believe them. They proved it when we had the only hostage release in November 2023. When there was an agreed ceasefire in Gaza, there was also a ceasefire in the north.

• Lebanese media report that the IDF has launched a new wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon, in the Mahmoudiyeh area.

  The reports say more than 50 sites had been hit.

  The reports come amid a heavy barrage of rockets on the north.

  Eli Bin, head of the Magen David Adom rescue service tells Ynet that he has recieved reports that an MDA station in Metulla suffered a direct hit.

  There are no injuries reported, he says.

  
  
• The IDF conducted a targeted strike in Beirut, the military announced on Friday afternoon. Israeli media reports named the primary target of the strike as Radwan Force commander and head of Hezbollah Operations, Ibrahim Aqil. 
  Reuters reported that a thick cloud of smoke was seen climbing over the Lebanese capital, adding that residents of the city's southern suburbs reported hearing a blast. According to unconfirmed reports, the strike hit a meeting between Palestinian and Hezbollah officials.
  Hizbollah confirmed that Ibrahim Aqil was killed in the attack

West Bank and Jerusalem and Terror attacks within Israel

•   The IDF says it carried out a drone strike against a group of Palestinian gunmen in a vehicle in the West Bank city of Qabatiya, near Jenin, a short while ago.

  The military says it will provide further details on the strike soon. 
  Earlier today, IDF troops killed four Palestinian gunmen during clashes in Qabatiya.

    

• The IDF and Shin Bet killed the leader of a terror group in the West Bank, Shadi Zakarneh, among other terrorists, during Thursday operations, Israel's military announced on Friday. Zakarneh was the leader of a terror group in Qabatiya and held a role that made him responsible for orchestrating and executing attacks in northern Samaria, the IDF noted. 

  

  IDF eliminates terrorists in the West Bank, September 20, 2024. (photo credit:IDF SPOKESMAN'S UNIT)

  He was killed during a strike enacted by the Israel Air Force (IAF) after Shin Bet intelligence spotted several armed terrorists in the area of Qabatiya.  The IAF strike targeted the vehicle that the Zakarneh and two additional terrorists were in. It then killed the three terrorists simultaneously. 
  Since the vehicle the three terrorists were located in was loaded with weapons and explosives, a second explosion then took place after the strike, the IDF added. During the operation, seven wanted individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activities were arrested by the forces. 
  Additionally, in the area of Qabatiya, the IDF’s elite Duvdevan unit killed four armed terrorists during an exchange of fire. The forces confiscated three weapons and additional combat gear found on the terrorists. Link

Politics and the War (general news) 

• AG tells Netanyahu she won’t represent him in efforts to block Oct. 7 state commission of inquiry
  

  Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that she opposes his position not to establish a state commission of inquiry into the failings leading up to Hamas’s devastating October 7 invasion and atrocities until after the current war ends.

  She says therefore that her office will not represent the government in petitions to the High Court of Justice that have asked the court to order the government to establish such a commission, and authorizes the cabinet to take independent counsel to present its position.

  Baharav-Miara says that the events of October 7 were unprecedented in Israel’s history from the perspective of the severe consequences of Hamas’s attack, and its far-reaching impact on the country and the general public, as well as its strategic repercussions.

  “My professional opinion… is that because of the extreme circumstances it is critically important that the investigation of the events of the war and learning its lessons should be carried out with total professional independence, through the best and only mechanism available under the law, and totally disconnected from any external influence on the manner in which the investigation is conducted, and it’s results,” the attorney general tells Netanyahu.

  She insists that a state commission of inquiry is the only appropriate framework for such an investigation.

  The attorney general adds that such a commission would also protect Israel from proceedings against it and senior government officials in international courts.

  The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague has requested arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes he alleges have been committed in Gaza during Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas. The court has yet to decide whether or not to issue the warrants.

  State commissions of inquiry can either be established by a government resolution or the Knesset’s State Control Committee, and are independent panels whose members are selected by the Supreme Court president from among serving or retired Supreme Court or district court judges.

  The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, one of the petitioners, describes the attorney general’s decision as “dramatic and unprecedented,” and that it “expresses clear proof to the fact that the government’s [decision to] refrain from establishing a commission of inquiry contravenes the public interest and the principles of law and proper administration.”

  Netanyahu has said probes into October 7 failures need to wait until the end of the war and has refused to commit to a state commission of inquiry. link Everyone who is decent and knows that responsibility for the war and everything that led up to it must be brought before a State Commission of Inquiry. However, the person most responsible who refuses to take any responsibility will do everything he can to prevent a state commission from coming into existence. This is the same person who demanded of his predecessors to take responsibility and resign for all kinds of things that were legitimate and not but he doesn't believe that he needs to be beholding to his own demands. He is a dangerous hypocrite who needs to be out of political life as soon as possible.

  
  

• Opposition leader Yair Lapid slams efforts to oust Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in favor of New Hope chief Gidon Sa’ar, calling out the leaders of the Knesset for their “moral bankruptcy.”

  “Politics has become the country’s biggest problem,” Lapid declares at the Social Justice for the Rehabilitation of Israel conference.

  If Shas leader “Aryeh Deri is capable, in the middle of a war, to try to replace a defense minister, to remove an experienced security professional like Yoav Gallant, and replace him with a defense minister who has no experience in the field, this means that our politics has lost its sanity,” he states.

  “The fact that Deri and [United Torah Judaism leader Yitzchak] Goldknopf imagine that they can replace a defense minister during a war that their constituents are avoiding, while we already have ten thousand wounded and seven hundred dead, just so that Gideon Sa’ar will help them pass an evasion law, is moral bankruptcy. This is a complete breach of trust.”

  Sa’ar has denied reports that he is in touch with Haredi leaders to find a compromise on the enlistment issue.

  Talks to bring him into the government appear to have been put on hold during the recent escalation in the north.
  
  

The Region and the World

• "Establishment of a New Immigrant Party, Deepening Social Divide, and Inciting Arab Citizens | Russia's Shadow War Against Israel"

  The leaked information from a company managing disinformation campaigns for the Kremlin provided a rare glimpse into Russia's covert front against Israel. According to the documents, the Russians weren't content with just producing fake news, but planned to open a physical office in Israel, influence elected officials, and promote their policies by reducing immigration and the war in Ukraine.

  An investigation into a leak containing thousands of documents, including email correspondences, internal plans, and fabricated articles, reveals the scope, depth, and cynicism of Russian attempts to influence Israeli public opinion. The materials leaked from a Moscow-based company called "Social Design Agency" (SDA), hired by the Kremlin and operating in Israel, Germany, France, the United States, England, Italy, Turkey, and apparently other countries. German media outlets received the materials and distributed them to media outlets worldwide.

  According to the documents, the Kremlin planned to reach several layers of Israeli society by promoting Prime Minister Netanyahu's status regarding his positions on the war in Ukraine, establishing a party appealing to the Israeli audience of Russian origin that would receive 3-4 seats in the Knesset, working with Russian-speaking politicians, spreading anti-Ukraine messages in synagogues, creating graffiti to provoke anger among residents in Arab areas, and additional plans. Conversely, in other countries, the Russians engaged in spreading and promoting anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli content to undermine diplomatic relations between Israel and key countries.

  A small portion of the documents was revealed about two weeks ago in an FBI report published by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its efforts to shut down Russian-operated websites. The report reviewed the Russians' global disinformation campaign, which included creating content distributed on social networks and fake websites.

  The Russian company, which has been sanctioned, and its founder reportedly reports directly to Putin. The SDA was founded in 2017 and is one of the main companies working for the Kremlin in its efforts to influence public opinion and political forces. Among its employees are Hebrew and Arabic translators, and it has been sanctioned by the U.S. for allegedly supporting the Kremlin's disinformation efforts.

  The documents describe in detail the fragile political and social situation in Israel and name Israeli citizens of Russian origin whose activities should be monitored. The campaign's goal, according to the documents, was to increase support for Russia's war against Ukraine to 50% among Israelis, particularly those with anti-Ukrainian views. Another central goal, showing the scale of Russian aspirations in penetrating Israel, was to ensure that no party in the Knesset would support transferring military aid to Ukraine.

  The Russians saw the outbreak of the war on October 7 as an opportunity to advance their agenda within Israel. One document states, "Now, a central trend in the project can be a positive assessment of the wisdom and foresight of the Israeli Prime Minister." The Russians tried to promote the idea that if PM Netanyahu had approved the sale of Iron Dome systems to Ukraine, the Israeli home front would have been left without protection.

  The war also served Russia to deepen the rift between Israel and the rest of the world. In Turkey, for example, ideas were spread that, according to the documents, were well-absorbed in Turkish society, stating that "Israel is an enemy of all Muslims, including Turkish Muslims. Turkey cannot afford to be on the same front as those committing genocide in Gaza."

  The documents also reveal Russian concerns about emigration from Russia since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine - an estimated million people, mostly highly skilled professionals from high socio-economic backgrounds. According to the documents, the SDA planned an incitement campaign against Russian immigrants in several European countries. Due to the sensitivity of the plan, in which Russia targeted its own citizens, the documents stated that "the project must not have any traces to the Kremlin."   
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Personal Stories

  'Iranian proxies and drug lords': Lebanese react to Hezbollah's ‘pager intifada’ - interview

The Jerusalem Post reached out to four Lebanese citizens in the homeland and diaspora to hear their perspectives on the pager explosions.

I want to address directly the leader of a militia that dominates my country and jeopardizes its sovereignty.

Hassan Nasrallah has plunged his community and his people into a confrontation with the State of Israel, one of the foremost nations in terms of technological and military advancement, all under the pretext of “supporting Gaza.”

The day after the terrorist Hamas began its fateful operation, Nasrallah initiated gunfire into Israeli territory, causing tens of thousands of innocent civilians to flee their homes. He supported the terrorist organization in its horrific crime of kidnapping hostages and using civilians as human shields.

Nasrallah’s misguided bets have characterized his entire journey. He gambled that Israel could not withstand a prolonged war, but Israel surprised everyone, and the war continued for nearly a year. He bet on the collapse of the political, security, and military institutions, yet Israel has proven to be cohesive and fighting for its own existence – a critical component not found in the combat doctrine of younger, inexperienced militants.

Nasrallah has gambled on direct Iranian intervention in the battle, only to see Khamenei retreat and limit himself to prayer as he witnessed US aircraft carriers sailing with terrifying weaponry capable of annihilating half the globe. He relied on international diplomatic pressure and protests around the world, yet he failed because his “axis” was the one that initiated the aggression.
Now, Nasrallah and most of his affiliates were subject to an astonishing military intelligence operation unprecedented in history, resulting in thousands of their members being injured or killed. Frankly, most Lebanese are not reveling in this situation, as it is not in the Lebanese character to gloat over the enemy. On the contrary, some even donated blood in hospitals.

But what comes next? Is this a battle that he really believes can be won?

LET US remind the organization’s leadership of Khomeini’s stance when he called for a ceasefire upon realizing that he could not withstand the fight against Iraq. Or Imperial Japan’s position in World War II, when the emperor learned that the balance of power was uneven in comparison to the US – and decided to halt the fire.

For the record, we have called time and time again for Nasrallah’s organization to place all militants, weapons, missiles, and drones under the command of a united Lebanese army, requesting a ceasefire and immediate preparation for peace negotiations. Historical experiences have proven that any bet on Axis politics is a losing gamble, and that peace is the only serious project that can ensure security and prosperity, far from the discourse of hatred, vengeance, and antisemitism.
Conversely, the continuation of destructive policies means more tragedies, all in line with Khamenei’s path. There is no alternative to a state of institutions. There can be no coexistence between a state and a non-state actor, nor between an army and an armed militia that practices terrorism. Now the question remains: Is Nasrallah the true leader he claims to be, who knows when to stop? Or will he only realize it when it’s already too late?

Mira, late twenties, Mount Lebanon region

Surreal events… actually insane! How was it even possible? How could it be so precise? How can it happen two days in a row?

On this day we can’t but remember the May 2008 clashes in Lebanon, when the Lebanese government wanted to dismantle Hezbollah’s telecommunication system and Hezbollah chose to go to war and attack the Lebanese people to protect its telecommunication network. Here we are years later and their communication devices are exploding in their faces! It sounds like justice was served!

As usual, Hezbollah’s propaganda machine is trying to gaslight the public into believing that the targeted Hezbollah members are civilians! While the Western Left is trying to make it look like it’s an attack on Lebanon, where in reality, Lebanon is only closer to being free from Hezbollah.

Unfortunately, Hezbollah is using this incident to gain sympathy… Trying to make us forget that this is a war they chose, while the Lebanese people said NO TO WAR!

They dragged Lebanon into this, and destroyed the country for the sake of the Islamic Republic of Iran… and since they did, I fully support the complete destruction of Hezbollah (the real enemy of Lebanon).

Jinaan, 31, Mount Lebanon region

As a Lebanese Patriot and Druze from Mount Lebanon, I stand vehemently against Hezbollah, the real enemy of Lebanon and the Lebanese spirit.

Hezbollah slaughtered Druze sheikhs in the 2008 attacks on Deir Qobel and Chouiefat and has been buying strategic highlands in Mount Lebanon, planning to dominate and terrorize our minority populations in the near future.

They are Iranian proxies and drug lords with no sense of Lebanese patriotism, and they bring us war and destruction to fulfill their Iranian mullah’s interests and endanger our families and children by doing so.

May Israel help us “beep” them out of existence.

B.

The moment I heard the news, I felt a surge of happiness, especially considering what they’ve done for Israel, Lebanon, and Syria, as well as their recent massacre in Majdel Shams. I was hopeful that this could be a turning point, possibly leading the Lebanese people to rise up against the terrorist organization.

However, I was disappointed by the attacks against me since yesterday, particularly from those who claim to oppose the terrorist group but seem to be siding with them. Instead of fear, people should be more optimistic and seize the opportunity, but unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. All we’re hearing from the Lebanese side are conspiracy theories about the US and Israel.

At one point, I hoped we could approach things differently, instead of just waiting for tomorrow to hear Nasrallah threatening the Lebanese people again. While it’s clear the attacks are directed solely at Hezbollah, it seems they’re still unable to grasp that reality. The last time we spoke, I was more optimistic, but now I feel more pessimistic, as no significant change has taken place.

I long for the day we can witness true peace between Lebanon and Israel, but as a friend mentioned to me today, Lebanon has become like Nazi Germany. For people to change their mindset, Lebanon might have to be devastated before they realize peace is necessary. I wish I could remain optimistic, but I’m more of a realist.

Dr. Ghassan Bou Diab - Peace activist, and director of Demokrattia Center for Research & Strategic Studies  link

Acronyms and Glossary

COGAT - Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories

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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