🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 616, 2023 - June 13, 2025 🎗️

 

       🎗️Day 616 that 53 of our hostages are still 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

    I will not be posting about the situation with Iran as most of it will be reported sufficiently in the international press. I will only post/ comment if there are items that may be overlooked in the foreign press or has impact on the hostage situation  


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

    *


    Hostage Updates
      Until the last hostage

  • From Einav Tsengauker, mother of the hostage Matan Tsengauker:  
    In light of the developments regarding Iran and out of responsibility for our security, the demonstration at Begin Gate will not take place tomorrow. Our concern for our heroic soldiers and our beloved hostages does not stop for a moment.   I pray for quiet days, alongside the return of all the hostages.


  • The attack on Iran has removed the hostages from the headlines and any actions on their account.  I hope that this situation will not go on long.





  • Gaza and the South

  • IDF publishes documents it says prove Hamas has been confiscating aid as a matter of policy

    The IDF releases documents allegedly drawn up by Hamas that it says show that the terrorist group has maintained a policy of confiscating 15%-25% of aid entering Gaza during the war in order to finance its operations and pay operatives.

    The organization, says the IDF, sent aid directly to terrorists in the field or sold it at exorbitant prices with the profits going to Hamas.

    “Al Qassam [the Hamas military wing] took in the past 25% of the aid that arrived,” according to a planning document the IDF says is from Hamas. “It has been agreed with the brothers in Al Qassam that the percentages will be changed as such: 7% to Qassam, 4% to government entities, 4% to elements of the [Hamas] movement.”

    The IDF also shares a March 2024 letter from a resident of Gaza’s Rimal neighborhood to a senior Hamas official complaining that the day before, members of the Hamas internal security force took 17 bags of flour and 15 aid coupons from his brother’s truck. The aid was purchased by his brother in Rafah and was meant for his extended family.

    “We have a full list of the names of the intended recipients,” says the man, Idris Abdel Rahman Idris. “I express my hope that the confiscated aid will be returned to its legal owners.”

    The documents also show the terror group scrambling to react to anger in northern Gaza over a lack of supplies, and civilians hiding aid from Hamas.

    Hamas operatives in Beit Hanoun, according to internal documents, were recorded supporting demonstrations against Hamas demanding a ceasefire. Other Hamas members expressed doubt over their organization’s ability to handle rising prices and control theft.

    “A number of organization members continue to curse the movement, and claim that the organization is the primary reason for the destruction in Gaza and for the collapsing living situation,” says an internal Hamas document.

    Hamas also worked to smuggle in cigarettes to sell at exorbitant prices. Israel blocked the entry of cigarettes for this reason, says the IDF, and thwarted dozens of attempts to sneak cigarettes into Gaza.

    Hamas funded itself through protection rackets and the Muslim hawalah international money transfer system through members in Turkey, says the IDF.

    In all, Hamas has made hundreds of millions of dollars by stealing humanitarian aid during the war, says the Shin Bet.


  • Egyptian authorities detain over 200 protesters planning to march to Gaza border

    Egyptian authorities have detained more than 200 anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian activists in Cairo ahead of an international march with the stated aim of breaking the blockade on Gaza, organizers say.

    As part of the Global March to Gaza, thousands of activists planned to travel to Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian enclave on Friday to demand the entry of humanitarian aid.

    The march’s spokesperson Saif Abukeshek tells AFP: “Over 200 participants were detained at Cairo airport or questioned at hotels across Cairo.”

    He adds that those detained included nationals from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Morocco and Algeria.

    Abukeshek said that plainclothes police entered hotels in Cairo on yesterday with lists of names, questioned activists and in some cases confiscated mobile phones and searched personal belongings.

    “After interrogations, some were arrested and others were released,” he adds.

    At Cairo airport, some detainees were held for long hours without explanation, Abukeshek said, adding that others were deported, without specifying exact numbers.

    Twenty French activists who had planned to join the march were held at Cairo airport “for 18 hours,” he says.

    “What happened was completely unexpected,” Abukeshek says.

    Footage shared with AFP shows dozens of people with their luggage crammed inside a holding room at the airport.

    Cairo’s security chief does not respond to an AFP request for comment.

    Another convoy dubbed Soumoud, or steadfastness in Arabic, left the Tunisian capital on Monday, hoping to pass through divided Libya and Egypt — which organizers say has yet to provide passage permits — to reach Gaza.

    The Global March to Gaza, which is coordinating with Soumoud, said around 4,000 participants from more than 40 countries will take part in the event, with many having already arrived ahead of tomorrow’s march.

    According to the plan, participants are set to travel by bus to the city of El-Arish in the heavily securitized Sinai Peninsula before walking 50 kilometers (30 miles) toward the border with Gaza.

    They will then camp there before returning to Cairo on June 19.

    Israel has called on Egyptian authorities “to prevent the arrival of jihadist protesters to the Egypt-Israel border.”

    In response, Egypt’s foreign ministry said that while it backs efforts to put “pressure on Israel,” any foreign delegations visiting the border area must receive approval through official channels.

    The Sinai Peninsula is a tightly controlled security zone, with access routes frequently punctuated by military and police checkpoints.

  • GHF says Hamas preventing staffers wounded in attack from being treated at hospital

    The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation releases new details about the alleged Hamas attack on its local workers in the Gaza Strip last night, accusing the terror group of preventing the dead and wounded from being allowed into Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis this afternoon.

    The organization says that eight of its workers were killed and 21 seriously wounded when Hamas attacked a bus headed to its aid distribution sites. A crowd soon gathered at the scene, forcing the gunmen to retreat, according to the GHF update.

    The dead and wounded workers were transported by the International Red Cross Committee to Nasser Hospital, where Hamas members threatened staff against providing the injured with medical treatment, says GHF. The update adds that “all wounded and dead local workers were piled in the Nasser Hospital parking lot,” where, as of 2 p.m., they have remained without treatment.

    “The GHF is committed to helping the wounded and the families of the deceased and injured. Our first priority is to ensure that the injured receive the medical care that they need. We are working through many channels to transfer the injured from the hospital in Khan Younis to facilities with more robust capabilities,” reads the update.

    “We call on the parties holding the remains of the deceased to immediately release them to their families for proper funerals and burials,” continues GHF, adding that its staff, “both international and local, are all more committed to delivering food aid to the people of Gaza after this tragedy.”

  • IDF and Shin Bet: Hamas terrorists operating weapons manufacturing facility in central Gaza targeted
    The IDF and Shin Bet spokespersons announced that Hamas terrorists operating in a building used as a weapons manufacturing infrastructure in the Shati area of central Gaza Strip were targeted. According to the statement, the targeted facility produced weapons used by Hamas to advance terror operations against IDF forces. The terrorists present at the facility were operating as part of Hamas's manufacturing network.

  • Gazan targeted in strike last month identified as man with special needs

    Muhammad al-Farra, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis on May 30, 2025. (Courtesy)

    After the IDF said it launched an airstrike in Gaza on a terrorist, the victim was identified as a disabled man with special needs

    The IDF issued a statement saying it carried out an airstrike last month targeting a “terrorist” in Khan Younis, but a Haaretz report identifies him as a man with special needs.

    The incident took place on May 30 and shortly afterward, footage of the strike blowing Muhammad al-Farra to pieces was posted on the Telegram page of Israeli journalist Amit Segal with the Hebrew caption, “Gaza.” It was liked by thousands of followers.

    The clip shows Farra walking with a limp before being targeted. Farra was diagnosed with cerebral palsy after a childhood accident.  video

    His sister told Haaretz that the army prevented the family from recovering his body for several hours.

    The IDF, in its statement on the incident, says the man was identified walking in and out of buildings “used for terrorist activity” and that it had already ordered the area to be evacuated. It does not explain why or how Farra was identified as a terrorist.

  • Hamas’s new Gaza leader: A Hebrew-speaking ‘ghost’ with a $750,000 price on his head

    With Israel having eliminated his predecessors the Sinwar brothers, Az al-Din Haddad now heads terror group in Strip where he is said to carry photos of hostages in his phone
    Az al-Din Haddad, commander of Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade, in a video released by Hamas’s military wing, May 2022.

    An unnamed released Israeli hostage said that he met Haddad five times in Gaza, even sleeping in the same apartment as him. In their first meeting in March 2024, Haddad insisted on speaking in Hebrew and told the hostage and others with him that he was responsible for all of the captives. Haddad then showed them photos of hostages he had on his phone.

    The former hostage said that Haddad was concerned about how captives would describe their treatment. When the hostage told him that some of their guards are better than others, Haddad responded, “This is life. There are good people, and there are bad people.”

    At the time, Haddad seemed cordial, asking the hostage if there was anything he needed. However, at a later meeting in January, the terror chief was colder, keeping his face covered, and complaining about alleged Israeli war crimes.

    The hostage later found out that shortly before that meeting, one of Haddad’s sons had been killed.


    Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar speaks during a press conference in Gaza City on 30 May 2019. (MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

    Haddad’s predecessor in charge of Hamas in Gaza, Muhammad Sinwar, was killed in mid-May in an Israeli strike. Before that, the terror group was led by Sinwar’s older brother, Yahya, who Israel killed in October last year.

    After the military, at the end of May, confirmed the death of Muhammad Sinwar, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned the remaining Hamas leaders in Gaza and abroad that they are next.

    “Izz al-Din Haddad in Gaza and Khalil al-Hayya abroad, and all their partners in crime, you are next in line,” Katz said in a statement.

    Haddad rose through the ranks of Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, eventually taking over as its chief, Arab and Israeli officials said. He was also in the al-Majd, the Hamas internal security group that hunts those who collaborate with Israel and spies. Al-Majd was in the past led by Yahya Sinwar.

    After the elder Sinwar’s death, Haddad took control of Hamas forces in the north of Gaza while Muhammad Sinwar controlled the south, before eventually going on to become the overall head of Hamas in Gaza.

    Arab intelligence officials and two Hamas officials told the Journal that Haddad has shown himself to be more pragmatic than the Sinwar brothers before him.

    It was Haddad who pushed Sinwar to accept a January ceasefire deal that included the release of dozens of Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. He was also said to be in favor of releasing more hostages to keep the truce going, though it eventually collapsed in March. The report also described Haddad as more amenable to Israel’s demand that Hamas disarm as part of a process to end the war, a measure rejected by both Sinwars  link


  • IDF issues new evacuation warning for southern Gaza, expanding no-go zone

    The IDF issues a new evacuation warning in the southern Gaza Strip, slightly expanding a large no-go zone.

    “The IDF is operating with great force in the areas where you are located to destroy the capabilities of the terror organizations,” the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee says on X, attaching a map showing the areas that are to be evacuated.

    Palestinian civilians in the area are called to head west.

  • IDF says it struck Hamas operatives at weapons manufacturing plan in Gaza City’s Shati camp

    Earlier today, the military says, it struck Hamas operatives at a building used as a weapons manufacturing plant in Gaza City’s Shati Camp.

    “The facility struck was used to produce weapons for the Hamas terror organization and were intended to be used in terror attacks targeting IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip.

    “The facility operators were terrorists who were part of Hamas’s weapons production unit,” the army says.

    The IDF says that “Hamas embedded this weapon production facility in close proximity to a medical site. This site was not damaged during the strike.”



  • Hamas police says it killed 12 members of Gaza’s Israeli-backed Abu Shabab militia

    US-and-Israeli-backed aid agency accuses Hamas of blocking its employees from receiving treatment after attacking them, as terror group says 21 aid-seekers killed by IDF

    Gaza’s Hamas-run police force said Thursday that it killed 12 members of the Israeli-backed Abu Shabab militia in Gaza, which said its fighters had killed five Hamas operatives but made no mention of its own casualties.

    It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed.

    According to Hamas, the Abu Shabab gunmen were killed early Wednesday by the Gaza police’s Sahm unit, which Hamas says was established to combat looting. The unit released video footage showing several dead men lying in the street, saying they were Abu Shabab fighters who had been detained and killed for collaborating with Israel. It was not possible to verify the images or the claims around them.

     
    Abu Shabab has been operating in an Israeli-controlled area of southern Gaza’s Rafah. Israel confirmed last week that it was arming the militia to bolster opposition to Hamas.

    Abu Shabab has said it secures aid deliveries but been accused of looting aid trucks. Meanwhile, Israel on Thursday released what it said were Hamas documents showing the terror group maintained a policy of confiscating 15%-25% of aid entering Gaza since the war there was sparked by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.

    The killings came shortly after the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) accused Hamas of attacking a bus carrying its Palestinian aid workers, killing at least eight, and preventing the wounded from being treated at a hospital in the Strip. GHF interim CEO John Acree said some employees “may have been taken hostage.”

    Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach GHF distribution points since they began operating in late May, according to Hamas’s civil defence agency. The IDF has confirmed firing warning shots in at least eight instances, but disputed the Hamas death tolls.

    The civil defense agency said another 21 people were killed while waiting for aid on Thursday, adding that they were among 29 people across the territory who were killed by Israeli fire.

    When contacted by AFP about reports of a deadly incident near an aid distribution point close to the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, the Israeli military said it had “conducted warning shots… hundreds of meters (yards) from the aid distribution site, prior to its opening hours.”

    GHF says employees wounded by Hamas have yet to be treated

    In an update after accusing Hamas of firing on its Palestinian employees, GHF said Thursday that the terror group had blocked the Red Cross from transporting victims to the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.

    A crowd soon gathered at the scene, forcing the Hamas terrorists to retreat, the update said.

    GHF said Hamas members threatened hospital staff from treating the employees, adding that “all wounded and dead local workers were piled in the Nasser Hospital parking lot,” where, as of 2:00 p.m. Thursday, they have remained without treatment.

    On Thursday, GHF said, it opened three sites, two in southern Gaza’s Tel Sultan and one at Wadi Gaza in the central Strip. The agency said it distributed over 45,000 boxes of food aid, with more than half of those distributed at its original aid site in Rafah, near the shore along the Gaza-Egypt border. According to the agency, each box contains meals for 5.5 people for 3.5 days.

    However, GHF does not provide Gazans with ready-to-eat meals, as aid groups recommend in such humanitarian crises. Instead, the boxes are filled largely with dry food products whose preparation requires cooking equipment, which is rare in the devastated Strip.

    Aid enters north Gaza for first time since March

    Separately, for the first time in months, Israeli authorities allowed humanitarian aid trucks to directly enter the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

    The 56 trucks from the World Food Program were transferred to northern Gaza via the Zikim Crossing, also known as the Erez West Crossing, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories announced.

    COGAT said the move comes following “the approval of the political echelon and on the recommendation of the security authorities.”   Link


    Northern Israel, Lebanon and Syria

  • IDF arrests Hamas terrorists in Syria in overnight raid
    Troops raid town in Damascus countryside, detain Hamas operatives suspected of plotting attacks against Israel; weapons and ammo seized in sweep
    IDF forces carried out a targeted overnight raid in Beit Jinn, a town in the Damascus countryside, arresting Hamas terrorists based in Syria who were planning attacks against Israel, the IDF reported Thursday. The operation was based on intelligence gathered in recent weeks. Weapons and ammunition were also seized. The detainees were transferred to Israel for interrogation.
    According to Syrian reports, local resident Muhammad Hamadeh was killed in the operation, and seven others were arrested. Sources told SyriaTV it was the first time Israeli forces operated this deep in the Beit Jinn area since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011. About 100 soldiers, 10 military vehicles and drones reportedly took part in the operation.
    Local reports said the detainees’ names were broadcast during the operation, triggering riots in the town. The Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese outlet Al Mayadeen reported that a large demonstration was being planned to coincide with Hamadeh’s funeral later in the day.
    The raid is the latest in a series of Israeli strikes and operations across Syria in recent weeks. Last Wednesday, a major explosion was reported at a missile warehouse in the Hama countryside. Syrian radio station Sham FM said the cause of the blast was unknown and the extent of the damage was still unclear.
    Qatari outlet Al Araby and the Iraqi militia-linked Sabreen News agency claimed Israel was behind the blast, allegedly carried out by a drone. One report said a Syrian air defense battalion was also hit and another claimed eight people were killed.
    IDF troops in Syria during the operation
    (Photo: IDF)


    A week earlier, Syria reported unusual Israeli strikes along the western coastline, near the cities of Latakia and Tartus. The IDF confirmed it had carried out airstrikes targeting weapons caches, including shore-to-sea missiles, which it said posed a threat to both Israeli and international maritime freedom. The military added that it also struck surface-to-air missile components in the Latakia area. "IDF troops continue to operate to eliminate all threats to the civilians of the State of Israel, in particular to the residents of the Golan Heights," the statement read.
  • Beirut reportedly warns Hezbollah against joining Iranian response to Israel

    Lebanon’s government informed the Hezbollah terror group that it would not tolerate the Iranian proxy joining in Tehran’s response against Israel following the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Saudi news outlet al-Arabiya reports.

    “The time when the organization bypassed the state in deciding to go to war is over,” the group was told, according to the report.

    The report adds that Lebanese authorities also warned Hezbollah that it would bear responsibility for dragging the country into war.


Hezbollah official says it will stay out of Israel-Iran fight

A Hezbollah official tells Reuters that the Iranian proxy group based in Lebanon will not unilaterally launch an attack on Israel in support of Tehran.

“Hezbollah will not initiate its own attack on Israel in retaliation for Israel’s strikes,” the official says.

Meanwhile, a Hezbollah statement condemns the Israeli attack on Iran, calling it a dangerous escalation by an enemy that understands only the language of “killing, fire, and destruction.”

The statement makes no mention of whether Hezbollah intends to respond to the strike. 


 



    West Bank, Jerusalem, Israel and Terror Attacks


  • Politics and the War and General News

  • As the IDF deepens its hold in Gaza, what exactly is meant to happen next? - Op-Ed by David Horovitz
    Domestic and global criticism of the war is growing. So, too, the US president’s impatience. Aid supply is chaotic, often deadly. The far right is bent on permanent reoccupation. Netanyahu is preoccupied with his own survival

    What exactly is the Israeli government, and by extension the IDF, seeking to achieve in Gaza?

    The question seems absurd, 20 months into a war that began with Hamas’s invasion and massacre.

    After all, we all know Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated goals: war until complete victory — comprising the destruction of Hamas, the return of all the hostages, the elimination of any future threat to Israel from Gaza, and (recently added) the implementation of US President Donald Trump’s plan for the relocation of the Gaza populace.

    But this doesn’t really square with declared ministerial policy, with Trump’s current mindset, or, indeed, with the day-to-day IDF military campaign.

    While Netanyahu speaks in generalities about relentless progress in the campaign to destroy Hamas, insisting that absolute victory is at hand and deriding his critics, far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, without whom Netanyahu would lose power, specifically advocate the morally untenable and unworkable departure of Gaza’s population to places unknown, the permanent Israeli occupation of the Strip, and the renewal of Jewish settlement there.

    Trump in February delighted the far right by calling for the enforced removal of Gazans, though even that initial plan envisioned a US takeover of the Strip, rather than Israel’s permanent reoccupation and settlement there. He has gradually changed tack, however, first switching to a call for Gazans’ voluntary relocation, then dropping talk of moving Gazans out and instead focusing on concern for their well-being and the need to ensure they receive humanitarian aid. This week, he reportedly told Netanyahu to just sign a deal already — to try and get back all the hostages and end the war, potentially reviving regional normalization efforts and isolating Iran.
    If the disconnect is apparently widening between the US president and the Israeli prime minister — on Gaza, as well as on how to tackle near-nuclear Iran — the disconnect between the Israeli government and the IDF is a minute-by-minute concern.

    As ordered by the political echelon, the military is deepening its physical control of Gaza. It controlled 40% of the Strip when the last hostage-truce framework collapsed in March. It now holds some 50%, military sources say, and its declared goal is to take control of 75%, with the two million-plus Gazans largely concentrated in three mainly coastal mini-enclaves.

    And then what?

    As far as repeated questioning of military sources can establish, the IDF actually doesn’t know.

    Expanding its areas of control involves the IDF ordering civilian evacuations and then cleaning out the evacuated areas — blowing up tunnels and booby-trapped buildings, confronting those Hamas gunmen who have not slipped away with the noncombatants to the ostensibly safe zones, and then staying put to await further orders.

    Smotrich and Ben Gvir anticipate that the IDF will remain in perpetuity, to safeguard the eventual return of Jewish settlers.

    For his part, Netanyahu used to speak about a “day after” in Gaza in which Hamas would be eliminated as a fighting force, Gaza would be demilitarized, the Gaza populace would be deradicalized and re-educated to the point where the threat of further October 7 atrocities was alleviated, and an alternate governing mechanism would be enabled. But he has since adopted Trump’s “relocate Gazans” plan, even as the US president has moved away from it.

    Some military sources speculate that the IDF may eventually be asked to oversee a controlled return of the Gaza populace to their largely ruined home areas, under a process that would necessitate screening the returnees to ensure that Hamas forces do not simply come back with them. However nice in theory, the idea is impractical. The IDF is not capable of controlling, much less screening, large masses of civilians.

    Evidence of that inability has been a terrible daily reality these past few weeks, with dozens upon dozens of Gazans reported killed in the areas surrounding the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid distribution hubs. Military sources have insisted, as regards most of these incidents, that IDF troops have not fired inside, at or immediately outside the distribution points, but acknowledge firing “warning shots” when facing large crowds of Gazans heading toward the aid hubs outside the designated routes and outside the designated opening hours.

    As far as the aid is concerned, the IDF has taken responsibility for safeguarding the GHF operation — in a framework that supersedes the UN, and thus renders Israel the prime responsible address for the feeding of Gazans. But it is not trained or equipped to fully do so. The result is that a hurriedly constructed program, intended to prevent Hamas’s ongoing looting of aid, is proving bloody and intermittently unworkable in practice, with Hamas predictably doing everything in its power to destroy the effort, and the IDF facing off against huge crowds of desperate Gazans.

    Hamas must not be allowed to reconstitute itself. Even now, it maintains a rule of fear in parts of Gaza, is able to loose off the occasional rocket, and can drop the occasional explosive drone on troops. Its “destroy Israel” ambition is undimmed. Ending this war would and should not mean ending the battle against Hamas; it will, without doubt, provide Israel with innumerable essential reasons to relentlessly target it in the future, and Israel will know better than to encourage Qatar to fund it.

    At the same time, domestic and global criticism of the war is growing — especially since the government chose in March not to move ahead with the second and third phases of the January deal it had unanimously endorsed, which was intended to secure the release of all hostages and end the war, and instead resumed the military campaign. Growing, too, is US presidential impatience, in part reflecting deepening dismay from within Republican ranks, and Trump has vast weapon-supply and diplomatic leverage to exert over Netanyahu should he so choose.

    Hamas’s monstrous slaughter is barely remembered even among those parts of the global political leadership and public that ever cared. Fifty-four hostages have been held for 614 days, and of the male soldiers abducted alive on October 7, 2023, only Edan Alexander has returned. The prime minister is dependent on the “war must not end” far-right and, his particular preoccupation this Wednesday, on the “we’d rather die than serve in the IDF” Haredi leadership.

    What exactly is the Israeli government, and by extension the IDF, seeking to achieve in Gaza? Not such an absurd question, after all.  link



  • Far-right minister urges Israeli control over Lebanon and Syria, claims lack of ‘spirit’ led to Oct. 7

    Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu seemingly calls for Israeli control over Syria and Lebanon, as well as sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza, at an ultranationalist conference in Sderot.

    Speaking at a conference held by the “Ribonut” organization’s youth chapter, Noar Ribonut, Eliyahu adjures the participants to show “spirit” for the country to be victorious in its wars and national goals.

    “What happened on Simchat Torah [October 7] wasn’t because we weren’t strong, because we didn’t have good technology or a good air force, or good tanks. What didn’t we have? Spirit,” says Eliyahu, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party.

    “Do you want sovereignty, then shout it,” he tells the audience.

    “Do we want Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]? Do we want Syria? Do we want Lebanon? Do we want Gaza?” he calls out to the crowd, who shout back “Yes” for each territory.

    “Then we need to shout it out,” says Eliyahu.  link These statements clearly emphasize the utter craziness and idiocy of these far right extremist messianics. Statements like this are not just a motto for them, it is what they want to see and will do whatever they can to make this craziness happen. They don't care at all about implications to Israel from their statements or actions. All that matters to them is their extreme ideology and everything else and everyone else can go to hell.  Statements like this used to be known to be among the tiny minority in the fringe of society. Netanyahu brought them in to his government so he could continue being prime minister and he normalized these extremists, their actions, statements and ideology, all of which do great damage to the State.

  • Despite vulnerabilities, troops blocked capture of Gaza Division base on Oct. 7 — probe

    Military investigation finds Re’im Base was entirely unprepared for such a scenario, but uncoordinated efforts led by base staff and other soldiers pushed back Hamas terrorists


    Hamas terrorists are seen near the Gama Junction in southern Israel, close to Re'im and Kissufim, amid the October 7, 2023, onslaught. (South First Responders)

    Hamas terrorists sought to capture the Israeli military’s Gaza Division headquarters during the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, but were pushed back by soldiers in a lengthy fight, according to an Israel Defense Forces probe published on Friday.

    Four IDF soldiers were killed and seven were wounded while battling the terrorists in Re’im Base, which houses the Gaza Division, the regional unit responsible for the Strip and for protecting southern Israel. Another soldier who served at the base and his father were murdered at a junction just outside the military facility.

    The investigation stated that the IDF “failed in its mission to defend the Re’im base” because the facility’s personnel were not trained to handle such an attack scenario, and the base lacked any significant defensive infrastructure.

    The lack of preparations and defenses was due to the base being treated as a “rear” facility — meaning not on the frontline — despite being located just 6.5 kilometers from the Gaza border. Families were hosted on the base, and a minimal number of soldiers had weapons. The probe also stated that there were “large breaches of information security” that allowed Hamas to collect significant knowledge on the base ahead of its attack.

    Still, the investigation said that “it is clearly evident that the fighting and heroism of IDF troops at the gate and throughout the base, while engaging with determination, prevented the capture of the base and a greater disaster.”

    While Hamas failed to capture the base, the investigation stated that a 30-minute period during which the terrorists were “pinned down” at the entrance gate was not “utilized to carry out effective actions to prepare to thwart the raid and increase the camp’s readiness for a broad attack.”

    Some 60 Hamas terrorists reached the area of Re’im Base during the attack, with 30 “isolating” the entrance junction, while the other 30 infiltrated the facility, according to the probe.

    “Their goal was to strike the sector’s command and control systems and to maximize killing, destruction, and abductions within the base,” the probe said.

    “As a result of the fighting by IDF troops in the base, most of the terrorists retreated,” the probe said, adding that at least 10 terrorists were eliminated by the forces in the area.


    Illustrative: An Israeli military helicopter lands at the Re’im Base in preparation for the release of four hostages held by Hamas, on January 25, 2025. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

    However, the fighting in the base was completely uncoordinated between the various forces trying to defend the facility against Hamas, according to the investigation. This was all while the chief of the Gaza Division was locked down in his command center, trying to manage the fighting across the entire border area.

    The findings published Friday are the latest in a series of detailed investigations into some 40 battles and massacres that took place during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, when about 5,600 terrorists stormed across the border, killed some 1,200 people, and took 251 hostages into Gaza, where dozens remain captive.

    The probe, carried out by Col. Itzik Elfasi, covered all aspects of the fighting at Re’im Base. The IDF said the investigators made visits to the scene and reviewed every possible source of information.

    The Re’im Base probe was aimed at drawing specific operational conclusions for the military. It did not examine the wider picture of the military’s perception of Gaza and Hamas in recent years, which has been covered in separate, larger investigations into the IDF’s intelligence and defenses.

    Timeline of the attack

    Hamas began an initial barrage of over 1,000 rockets at 6:29 a.m. — mostly aimed at Israeli army facilities, including Re’im Base. At the same time, thousands of terrorists streamed into Israel after breaching the Gaza border barrier.

    At 6:36 a.m., a team of trackers from the division’s Southern Brigade set out from the base to close a gate on the highway leading to the facility. Near Gama Junction, around 1.5 kilometers northwest of the base, the trackers treated two wounded civilians. Moments later, they encountered 30 armed terrorists and exchanged fire with them. The deputy commander of the tracker unit was injured, and the team retreated to the base to warn of the approaching threat.

    Meanwhile, the commander of the division’s tracker unit decided to set out from Re’im Base for Nahal Oz with several of his troops, upon receiving reports of a terrorist infiltration at the border community. As they were about to exit the base at 6:50 a.m., the soldiers found four injured civilians who said they had come under fire from terrorists on the nearby highway. The civilians were taken inside the base to shelter and told to lock the room they were in.


    Hamas terrorists are seen near the Gama Junction in southern Israel, close to Re’im and Kissufim, amid the October 7, 2023, onslaught. (South First Responders)

    At 7 a.m., the division trackers left the base in a light armored vehicle, but shortly after spotted 15 motorcycles with two terrorists on each one and a pickup truck. Coming under RPG fire and gunfire, the team reentered the base, unharmed, and joined up with the Southern Brigade tracker team.

    At the same time, an off-duty soldier from the base, Staff Sgt. Avraham Cohen, who was at the nearby Nova music festival, reached the base with two friends — Eliyahu Berenshtein and Osher Vaknin — and entered a bomb shelter. For unknown reasons, the three left shortly after and were later killed on another section of Route 232.

    At 7:15 a.m., the trackers positioned themselves at the base’s entrance gate, as some 30 Hamas terrorists arrived. The terrorists opened fire on the forces, blocked the junction, and set up ambush spots.

    The trackers engaged in an intense 30-minute battle with the terrorists, blocking them as they tried to push into the base.

    At 7:35 a.m., a soldier from the base, Sgt. Osher Shmaya, and his father, Kobi Shmaya, arrived at the entrance to the base and were ambushed and killed by the terrorists. Five minutes later, a further 30 terrorists reached the base’s parking lot.


    Kobi Shmaya (left) and his son Sgt. Osher Shmaya (Courtesy)

    At 7:45 a.m., a terrorist who charged at the entrance gate was killed by the troops. Other terrorists were apparently wounded in this incident. But simultaneously, two terrorists breached the base’s perimeter fence near the male dorms and signaled to the other 30 to enter.

    The 30 terrorists began to attack the base, hurling grenades and opening fire, close to the room where the civilians had been hiding.

    One squad of terrorists infiltrated the male dorm area, where several armed troops were waiting to defend the unarmed soldiers. Cpl. Ilay Azar shot one terrorist who breached the dorms, but he was killed by another. The armed soldiers managed to kill another terrorist at the dorms, forcing the squad to retreat.


    Cpl. Ilay Azar (IDF)

    Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Sahar Zion Machlof, commander of the 481st Signals Battalion, left the base’s command center to help rescue his troops and other soldiers who were trapped in various areas in the base. At 8:45 a.m., Machlof and several other forces encountered several terrorists inside the base and exchanged fire. The battalion commander was fatally wounded during the fighting.


    Lt. Col. Sahar Zion Machlof who was killed by Hamas on October 7, 2023. (IDF)

    An Israeli Air Force drone that had carried out strikes along the Route 232 highway and near the entrance to the base earlier arrived to assist with the fighting, but did not launch any attacks inside the base due to the close proximity to troops. Instead, the drone was diverted to Nahal Oz.

    At 9 a.m., the division’s chief combat engineering officer and several troops with him who took up a position in a fortified structure, killed one terrorist who approached them, and repelled two more in the area.

    Ten minutes later, officers scanning near the male dorms killed one terrorist.

    At 9:15 a.m., five terrorists entered the office of the division’s Northern Brigade commander, who was at the war room at the time.

    At 9:30 a.m., several soldiers from the division’s combat engineering unit reached the command center and secured it with other armed troops.

    At the same time, terrorists breached the base’s medical clinic and vandalized it, while 25 female surveillance soldiers were hiding in an adjacent bomb shelter. The terrorists then also vandalized the base’s synagogue, dining hall, and canteen, before heading for the sports hall.

    At 9:45 a.m., 15 troops of the Israeli Air Force’s elite Shaldag unit took off from Palmachim Airbase in a Black Hawk helicopter and flew toward Re’im. At 10:18 a.m., they landed east of the base and advanced toward the command center. At the same time, another IAF helicopter struck a building where terrorists were identified.

    At 11 a.m., while the Shaldag troops were scanning the base, they came under fire from the terrorists near the base’s auditorium. The troops flanked around the area, set up a sniper team on the roof of a nearby building, and engaged in heavy combat with the terrorists.

    During the fighting, Shaldag officers Maj. Ido Yehoshua and Cpt. Rom Shlomi were killed, and three other troops were wounded. At least one terrorist was killed in the battle there.


    Maj. Ido Yehoshua (Courtesy)


    Cpt Cpt. Rom Shlomi (IDF)

    Because the Hamas terrorists were believed to be hiding in the area, the commander of the Shaldag force ordered a temporary halt to the fighting and instead focused on watching over the body of one of the slain troops to prevent it from being abducted.

    Around noon, a former commander of the division’s Southern Brigade and other officers arrived at the base — after the brigade commander at the time, Col. Asaf Hamami, was killed fighting in Nirim — and joined up with the Shaldag officers. By then, all the terrorists had retreated through the breach in the fence.

    At 12:30 p.m., a medevac team from the IAF’s Unit 669 arrived at the base and airlifted three wounded troops and two injured civilians from the Nova party to a hospital.

    Fifteen minutes later, another team of some 20 Shaldag troops reached the base, and at 1 p.m., some 50 soldiers from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit arrived. The Shaldag soldiers scanned the south of the base while the Sayeret Matkal troops searched the north.

    Between 2:53 and 4:17 p.m., several helicopter strikes, directed by the Shaldag officers, were carried out against the area of the sports hall and auditorium, while the two forces cleared the area and recovered the body of the soldier killed earlier.

    Later in the day, at 6 p.m., a company of soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade’s Reconnaissance Unit arrived at the base after battling Hamas in the nearby Kibbutz Re’im. The paratroopers joined the Shaldag officers during scans, while the Sayeret Matkal troops moved to Kibbutz Be’eri.

    At 7 p.m., the base was declared cleared of terrorists, and the officers went to the command center to update the then-division commander, Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld.   Link


    The Region and the World


  • Personal Stories

    A Former Israeli Hostage: ‘It’s Not Our Job to Take Revenge on Our Enemies’

    Hamas held Liat Beinin Atzili hostage for 54 days and killed her husband. In her grief, she explains why all she wants is peace for Israelis and Palestinians.

    Liat Beinin Atzili was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 54 days. When she returned to Israel, she learned her husband was murdered on Oct. 7. In this episode of “The Opinions,” the editor Sarah Wildman speaks to Beinin Atzili about her radically different experience from most other hostages and why she doesn’t believe in revenge.

    Sarah Wildman: I’m Sarah Wildman. I’m an editor and writer for New York Times Opinion.

    I first met Liat Beinin Atzili a little over a year ago by email. I edited an essay she wrote about the concept of tekumah, or rebirth after the Holocaust. She is a Holocaust educator and a history teacher for teens. She’s also a former hostage. She was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023. She was held for 54 days and released during a one-week truce agreement. Liat returned to a changed landscape. Her home burned, her family displaced and her husband, Aviv, murdered during the attacks.

    Her family’s efforts to bring her home are the story of a new documentary called “Holding Liat.” In it we see both the efforts to secure her release and her return. After I watched the film, I couldn’t stop thinking about how when Liat returned to Israel, she didn’t turn away from Palestinians. She turned toward them, turning to her grief to find a path to peace and rejecting revenge.

    Liat, thanks for joining me.

    Liat Beinin Atzili: Thank you.

    Wildman: It’s been more than a year since you came back, and I find grief to be this terribly strange emotion that changes every day. I can’t predict it, and I wonder how you hold it today.

    Beinin Atzili: Wow, that’s a tough one to start with.

    Wildman: I’m sorry.

    Beinin Atzili: Well, I’ll —

    Wildman: We can come back to that, and I can start someplace else.

    Beinin Atzili: No, let’s try to start with that. I won’t dive right into that, but I’ll sort of go around it. I’m going to be in the States because the film is going to be screened at Tribeca and in D.C., and I’m coming back Monday morning, and Friday is Aviv’s birthday. We’re having this huge birthday party for him.

    He worked at the agricultural machinery garage or workshop on the kibbutz, and every now and then, he used to invite bands and musicians to play in the workshop. So that’s what we’re doing. We’ve invited one of his favorite bands to give a concert on his birthday. These past weeks have been really, really emotional leading up to that. I keep thinking how happy he would be that this band is coming to play in his workshop.

    I’ve been dreaming about him a lot. I’ve been having these weird conversations with him when I don’t know if I’m awake or asleep, and I think that sort of sums it up: that when a person dies, they don’t disappear. They’re still present, just not physically, and it’s a big deal to connect to that. Like my daughter said shortly after Aviv died, she had to figure out her relationship with him — that when a person dies, you have to reconnect in a different way, and you have to redefine your relationship with them.

    I’m not saying this because he was my husband, but Aviv was an exceptional, extraordinary, unbelievable human being, so it’s easy to do that. There were very few things about him that annoyed me or that I had criticism of, and they sort of became almost nonexistent. He’s like this presence, and I wish he was really here physically, but — it’s been a journey.

    I was invited to speak at a ceremony for soldiers who had been killed in the war, and one of the things that I wanted to say was that this whole process made me fall in love with him all over again.

    Wildman: That’s very beautiful. I wanted to ask you about your life before Oct. 7, before the war, before the documentary. Your family is Israeli American. You can hear it in your voice. What brought your family to Israel?

    Beinin Atzili: Ideology. My paternal grandparents — my dad’s parents — they were members of Hashomer Hatzair, which is a Zionist socialist youth movement, and they made aliyah in 1947. And after the ’48 war broke out, they returned to the U.S. So my father grew up in a very, very Zionist home. He and his brother and sister were also in Hashomer Hatzair, and there was no question about coming to Israel and coming to live on a kibbutz eventually.

    My mother’s family is a little bit different, and it was her rebellion to join Hashomer Hatzair. My parents met in the movement, and they came to Israel together. And Aviv and I also met in the movement. So that’s how my family came to Israel and why my family came to Israel.

    Wildman: And you mentioned earlier your daughter, but you actually have three children. Tell me their names.

    Beinin Atzili: Ofri, he’s 24. Neta, he’s 22. And Aya is 20. She’s my daughter.

    Wildman: I am going to take us now to Oct. 7.

    Beinin Atzili: OK.

    Wildman: I won’t linger here for a long time for a variety of reasons, mostly because I imagine that for you having to speak about this again and again is a form of trauma. In many of the interviews you’ve given, including in the documentary, you talked about how the terrorists had these strange moments of humanity. Even when they breached your home, they asked you to get dressed. Tell me about the moment when they came in. What did they say to you?

    Beinin Atzili: I was sitting on the floor, and it was all very, very quiet and not rushed and not — I mean, it’s this incredibly violent act, but it wasn’t. It didn’t feel violent. And they said, “Get up. You’re going to come with us now. Get dressed.” I didn’t respond. I didn’t understand, and I understood what they were saying, but I sort of didn’t — it didn’t register.

    There were two of them. One of them said, “Don’t worry. We’re not going to hurt you. We’re going to protect you. We don’t hurt women.”

    I asked to take something from the bedroom. They let me do that. I said that I had to look for my glasses. They helped me look for my glasses. I couldn’t find them, so I ended up without glasses. And really, they didn’t touch me. Everything was done, like, in a conversation that was very relaxed.

    Wildman: What was your emotional state?

    Beinin Atzili: Nonexistent. I really — like my brain was mush. There was nothing going on. I remember leaving the house. The house was on fire already, so at some point they said, “We have to get out of here.” And I was looking around and just not registering what I was seeing.

    There’s a parking lot in front of my house, and all the cars were burned, and the windows were shattered. And I was like, “What’s going on here?” I was sure that I’d see other people being taken from their houses as well, but there was nobody else outside.

    Wildman: You have talked a bit about how you were treated in Gaza, which was different from other hostages. Tell us where you were taken and how you were treated.

    Beinin Atzili: I was taken first to an apartment where a family lived, and there were women and children, and most of my communication was with them, but not only with them. I had a feeling that they understood what I was going through, that I was a woman alone who’d been kidnapped from her home, that I had children that I was worried about, that I had a husband that I was worried about.

    So they told me: Take a shower. Change your clothes. Drink something. Eat. They let me watch television in English. So I had an idea of what was going on. And then the next morning, the father was an old guy, he brought me a toothbrush and toothpaste. I saved the toothpaste until the end. I kept saying, “I’m getting out of here before this tube of toothpaste ends.” It almost lasted the whole time, but it was a few days short.

    I told them that I didn’t see well and that I wore glasses, and so they brought, like, a million pairs of glasses and said, “Try these on. Maybe they’ll work. Maybe they’ll help you.” They asked if I wanted to be alone or if I wanted to be with them. It was really — it was very, very, in some ways, strange to be treated this way and definitely reassuring. I also kept saying to myself, “OK, you know, I can deal with this. I can do this.”But then the next day — that was on Saturday — on Sunday evening, I was transferred to a different place, so that was a little bit of a worry, even though the transfer was also OK. And then I arrived at a different apartment, and I met a woman from Nir Oz. It was such a relief knowing that I wouldn’t be alone. I’ll be with another woman. I’ll be with a woman that — I mean, I didn’t know her very well, but somebody that I know who she is.

    There were other people in the apartment, but after a day or two, we just stayed, the two of us with two men who stayed with us the whole time. We were moved around a little bit. They kept saying, “It’s our job to keep you safe. Don’t worry. As long as we’re here, you’ll be safe.”

    Wildman: Were you aware of the bombing campaigns? Did you hear them or see them?

    Beinin Atzili: Yeah, we watched television almost every day for a few minutes. So they told us, and at first they tried to hide the fact that they had cellphones, but we realized, eventually, that they were connected. And then we asked them, “All right, we saw a few minutes of TV, but can you tell us more about what’s going on?”

    Wildman: How did you not panic? Or did you?

    Beinin Atzili: Well, there was nothing to panic about, really. We did have a routine. A lot of this daily routine was waiting for things to happen. I mean, things that we knew would happen, like waiting for it to be dark and to turn the light on — that was a thing. We waited for meals, and then we waited to take a shower. We ate pretty well.

    Wildman: What did you eat?

    Beinin Atzili: During the first few days, we couldn’t eat at all just because we were so scared and in shock. So they were a little bit worried about that, and they asked us what we like to eat. And then I told them that I’m vegetarian — I don’t eat meat. And then they said, “So what are you going to eat? How are you going to stay healthy?”

    So I told them what I like to eat, and one of them liked to cook, so he kept asking, “What do you want me to cook for you?” And almost anything that we asked for and that he could get his hands on then he made for us — macaroni and cheese. At some point we said that we liked sweet potatoes, so they got sweet potatoes for us. But there was one large meal a day. Sometimes we didn’t finish it, so we’d save food for later. It was just — it’s unpleasant not to be in control of when and what you eat, but I wasn’t hungry.

    Wildman: Did they ask you about yourself?

    Beinin Atzili: Yeah, in this daily routine. So usually we’d have our meal and then, sort of in late afternoon, like four or five, we’d have coffee or tea with them. And then we had lots of conversations, and they asked about our lives, about our families, and they told us about themselves a lot.

    Wildman: Were they religious?

    Beinin Atzili: Yes, very religious.

    Wildman: Did they ask you about religion?

    Beinin Atzili: Yes, and we spoke about this. I’m not religious at all. It was strange to them, the concept of a person not believing in God, not being religious at all.

    Wildman: How did you hold the fact that they were human, that they were kind to you, with the conditions of not being allowed to leave?

    Beinin Atzili: I kept saying, “If you like me so much, then take me home.” And they said: If we could, we would, but we’ll be killed if we take you home. And it was never — the thought was never finished. I didn’t really understand who they thought would kill them. I mean, they for sure would’ve been killed. I didn’t know if they thought that the Israel Defense Forces would shoot them or Hamas would murder them for letting us go.

    Wildman: I want to take us to the release. You were held 54 days, and you were released. When you first got back, what did you think about Israel’s response to the war itself?

    Beinin Atzili: I knew what was happening. It wasn’t that I didn’t know anything and then all of a sudden I was exposed to what was happening. And even during the time that I was in Gaza, I thought, “OK, Israel retaliated to the attack on Oct. 7. I mean, that’s OK. That’s obvious. But all right, what now?”

    I’m a history teacher, I know Israeli history. Israel is not prepared for long wars. I was really, really, really surprised that this war was taking so long. It seemed to me that not enough effort was made to return the hostages and to end the war and to let the people who live in the Negev, in the area that Nir Oz is in, return home. I sort of didn’t understand what the end game was.

    Wildman: What did you know about the status of your family while you were being held?

    Beinin Atzili: I didn’t know anything.

    Wildman: What was your biggest fear?

    Beinin Atzili: My biggest fear wasn’t that all three of my children were dead but that they’d been taken hostages as well, my sons. But I prepared myself. I had a lot of time to prepare myself for the worst-case scenario. I kept telling myself, “If one of the kids or both of them had died, then I hope that at least Aviv was alive because I don’t know how I’m going to deal with the death of one of my children without him.” So that was a huge concern.

    Wildman: And you didn’t know what had happened to him.

    Beinin Atzili: No.

    Wildman: When did you learn?

    Beinin Atzili: The day after I returned.

    Wildman: I know that in the film, you held a funeral, but I think his body has not been returned. Is that correct?

    Beinin Atzili: Yes, that’s correct. According to Jewish burial laws, there were enough remains to be buried and to have a funeral, so we decided to do that, and I’m very, very glad that we did. I think that it gave us closure, and I think it enabled me to grieve.

    And I think that it also helped me to heal or to move forward from the experience of being a hostage, because the focus sort of shifted. When I think of my status, I don’t think of myself as somebody who was a hostage. First of all, I’m a widow. And to me, the major thing that happened to me on Oct. 7 is that Aviv was killed.

    Wildman: It’s devastating that you came back to this news.

    Beinin Atzili: Yeah.

    Wildman: And you have this strange mix between the joy of knowing your children are OK, because all three of them were OK. But I’ve seen you talk about how you don’t hold grief and anger. You went toward grief, and I wonder how you did that.

    Beinin Atzili: At first it was a decision, but then, you know, fake it till you make it. [Laughs.]

    I knew that if I let all this anger out, if I was in that place, then I’d fall apart. I couldn’t see myself dealing with both emotions. So at first I really decided, and I worked hard to not be angry. And now so many things have happened and so many things have changed that — it’s not that I’m not angry at all. I’m not angry that this happened to me. There’s nothing I can do about that. I’m angry at things that can be different and that I can change.

    Wildman: How do you see the way the country has received you? Do you feel you’re able to meet those emotions alone, or is there a national response that you’ve sort of been put in the middle of as well?

    Beinin Atzili: I think there is a national response that I’m not happy about. Well, there are different things. I think that the way I’ve been taken care of since by official government bodies, I think that a lot has been done to understand what my needs are. I have this really nice apartment, a furnished apartment that the government paid for. And volunteers came here and put houseplants and pictures on the wall, food in the refrigerator. That was an amazing thing. I don’t know any other country where that would’ve happened.

    I think people are so upset about what happened and how things have been dealt with since that they sort of forget and don’t see that there are a lot of things that do function in Israel and that function well. But I think that society as a whole expected us to tell a certain story, to bring back a certain message, and people who didn’t play the role were and are criticized really harshly. I think that to me, the important thing is to be able to tell my story the way I want to tell it and not to have people be upset or furious or violent toward me because I’m not playing to what they want to think.

    Wildman: When you say “criticized,” do you mean by politicians?

    Beinin Atzili: Well, yes, actually also politicians.

    Wildman: The narrative didn’t fit what they wanted it to.

    Beinin Atzili: Yes. I do have empathy toward people who were suffering, and the fact that I was wronged, that something happened to me, doesn’t give me the right to do that to other people. I mean, I don’t believe in revenge.

    In Judaism, when a person dies violently or in war, we say: Hashem yikom damo — meaning, “God will take revenge in his name.” I think that’s a pretty good translation. I think that what that means, or my take on that, is that it’s not our job to take revenge on our enemies. It’s God’s job.

    Wildman: I watched the webinar you did with the Parents Circle. I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about that group. I can say that it’s a group of Palestinians and Israelis who have lost family members to the conflict and see more commonality in that loss than difference. But not everybody would turn toward them. So I’m curious about your choice to do so and what that’s been like.

    Beinin Atzili: I mean, I felt that I needed to be able to communicate with Palestinian women — that’s the experience that I’ve had — and that I needed to be in a place where people aren’t afraid to talk about peace and hope and to share their experience and their loss and to still want a different future.

    I really felt a need to be surrounded by people who relate to all these things in a similar way that I do. So that was that decision.

    Wildman: What has it been like to share your story with Palestinians?

    Beinin Atzili: Well, first of all, they were also very curious about how a Jewish Israeli woman related to this experience. I think they were very relieved not by the fact that I was treated well but by the fact that I’m willing to talk about it.

    I think it’s a story that they needed to hear — that there are people who are willing to speak about a not horrible experience. I’m not saying that it’s not horrible, but it could have been so much worse.

    Wildman: When you speak about your experience in places like the Parents Circle, is it primarily focused on explaining the trauma, or do you give a broader picture of “This is what our life was like. This is how I met Aviv. This is who Aviv was” so that they see the fullness of the picture? Or are you focused on the trauma?

    Beinin Atzili: No. First of all, in general, I don’t like to focus on the trauma. These were 54 days of my life. I’m over 50. There’s so much more to my life story than those 54 days — definitely a broader picture. And also, people are curious about Aviv, and I love talking about him.

    Wildman: Was he political?

    Beinin Atzili: Yes, but not as much as me.

    Wildman: What do you think he would think about you talking about peace and rejecting revenge?

    Beinin Atzili: I think he’d support that. I mean, I keep thinking, when I do meet him again someday, somewhere, you know?

    Wildman: In olam ha-ba.

    Beinin Atzili: Yeah, like, what I want him to say is, “Wow, you did great.” So that’s always in my mind.

    Wildman: I wonder if your history as a Holocaust educator alters how you see the conflict. You went back to teaching pretty quickly. I imagine it helped to go back to work, but in one of the final scenes in the documentary, you are explaining to your students about the ghetto wall in Warsaw and what Germans and Poles could see or couldn’t see or what they allowed themselves to see beyond the fence.

    It can be very difficult to talk about the Holocaust in any context other than the Holocaust. But in the film you talk about this fence, and I wonder if you think studying the Holocaust has given you tools to see beyond this fence differently and look for peace?

    Beinin Atzili: Definitely. I had a very similar conversation today with a colleague, and I think that that’s something that separates people — what you’re willing to see and what you’re willing to acknowledge and what you’re willing to know that’s happening and how you relate to that.

    I’ll say — not in a delicate way — I think that a good person can’t ignore violence, can’t ignore suffering, can’t ignore death. And those things, you know, we live in a world where obviously, wars happen, and some wars are justified, to a certain extent. And I think that asking yourself, “To what extent is what’s happening now OK or not?” — is it enough? What else has to be done, or what can be done?

    I don’t know if I’m saying this very clearly, but I think that these questions have to be asked. What happened in Israel on Oct. 7 doesn’t and can’t justify anything. I think that these questions aren’t discussed enough. What do we want to happen? What are Israel’s goals? How do we see the future?

    To me, that’s what it means to look beyond the fence, to want to know what the price is. 

    Wildman: Liat, thank you so much for joining me, and thank you for sharing Aviv with us and letting us hold his memory, too.

    Beinin Atzili: Thank you, Sarah.    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

    IPS - Israel Prison System

    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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