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In-Depth Issues:
IDF Pressure on Hamas "Is Having a Significant Effect" - Matan Tzuri ( Ynet News)
IDF Gaza Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Barak Hiram met on Monday with residents of Kibbutz Nirim adjacent to the Gaza border.
To improve readiness, Hiram said the IDF has significantly expanded local response teams, upgraded weapons and equipment, and increased training frequency.
"I don't expect residents to be the main response to terrorists, but part of the security buffer we're building includes a last line of defense based on the community, the location, and the immediate ability of residents to react and repel attacks until IDF forces arrive. The goal is to prevent another catastrophe."
Addressing the ongoing war in Gaza, Hiram said, "Without returning the hostages and eliminating the threat beyond our border, Israel cannot recover - not just the western Negev, but the nation as a whole."
"We see that the pressure we're applying - both directly on Hamas's military arm and on its governing structures, as well as the indirect pressure on the population - is having a significant effect."
"It's pushing them into positions they previously wouldn't even consider, both in terms of returning the hostages and in their grip on Gaza."
Hiram noted that the IDF has secured the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border.
"We inspected every segment and can now say with certainty there are no remaining tunnels crossing between Egypt and Gaza. Everything we found has been destroyed."
"I can also say with high confidence that there's no one left to dig - especially after the population was completely cleared from the area. We now have the capability to detect if digging begins and where."
Mediators Still Seeking to Broker a Ceasefire in Gaza - Aaron Boxerman ( New York Times)
Israel, the U.S. and Hamas have sent conflicting messages in recent days about progress in truce talks that would free the Israeli hostages in Gaza.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has said he is "ready for a temporary ceasefire," his conditions for ending the war include Hamas laying down its arms and that its leadership leave Gaza, which Hamas leaders have rebuffed.
Israel, in the meantime, has been threatening a ground offensive in Gaza to decisively crush Hamas.
U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said, "What I have seen from Hamas is disappointing and completely unacceptable."
Revealed: Israel Deployed Laser Weapons to Intercept Dozens of Hizbullah Drones - Yoav Zitun ( Calcalist)
Israel successfully intercepted dozens of Hizbullah drones using laser-based defense systems, the IDF revealed on Wednesday.
"Israel is the first country in the world to field a high-powered, operational laser system at scale," said Dr. Daniel Gold, head of the Defense Ministry's Directorate of Defense Research and Development.
Israel and Syria in Direct Talks, Focused on Security - Timour Azhari ( Reuters)
Israel and Syria are in direct contact and have in recent weeks held face-to-face meetings aimed at preventing conflict in the border region, five people familiar with the matter said.
On the Syrian side, contacts have been led by senior security official Ahmad al-Dalati, governor of the province of Quneitra, which borders the Golan Heights.
500 Syrians Treated at IDF Medical Facility - Elisha Ben Kimon ( Ynet News)
Over the past few weeks, IDF Medical Corps personnel have treated more than 500 Syrian civilians at a mobile forward triage and treatment facility in Hadar village in southern Syria.
The IDF said, "The facility is designed to provide medical care and support the Syrian-Druze population in the area."
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IDF Veterans Create New Infantry Division ( Ynet News)
A group of seasoned IDF fighters who had aged out of mandatory reserve duty
volunteered to establish a new light infantry reserve division - the 96th Division.
"This division is built around fighters who had been exempt from reserve duty due to age - men over 40 - who chose to re-enlist and return to meaningful service," said Lt.-Col. (res.) R.
"It's driven by a deep sense of purpose and a desire to protect their communities."
Lt.-Col. (res.) O. added, "Everyone is pushing forward, full throttle. There's so much generosity and energy here - a military-civilian network that brings security, strength, light and spirit."
IDF Announces Deployment of New "Drone Boats" ( Jerusalem Post)
The Israeli Navy has begun operating unmanned marine vessels for the first time in the past few weeks, the IDF announced on Tuesday.
The vessels gather information to analyze threats and deploy forces, representing a significant reinforcement of defense capabilities in Israel's waters.
Magen David Adom Paramedic Saved Dozens on Oct. 7 ( Jerusalem Post)
Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedic Alisa Krant, 23, saved dozens on Oct. 7, 2023.
Her day began in Ashkelon in a mobile intensive care unit, with her team treating casualties from the initial wave of rocket attacks.
Later they drove through active combat zones, risking their lives to evacuate the wounded from communities near the Gaza border, including Kibbutz Zikim and Yad Mordechai.
Among the patients Krant treated that day was Rami Cohen, a police officer who had been shot near the Sderot police station. Krant performing a thoracentesis to open his chest airways, saving his life.
Later, she helped convert a civilian evacuation bus in Netivot into a mobile medical unit.
"People ask me all the time, 'How did you do it?' But how could I not do it?" Krant said.
More than three dozen MDA personnel have been killed since the war began.
IDF Soldier Saves Life of Massachusetts Doctor with Stem Cell Donation ( Jerusalem Post)
Maya Ben Yitzhak, 23, an IDF soldier from Chicago, saved the life of a Massachusetts doctor, Amy Rothenberg, 64, a Jewish woman battling leukemia, by donating her bone marrow, the Ezer Mizion organization shared this week.
When Ben Yitzhak enlisted, she registered with Ezer Mizion's Bone Marrow Registry after doing a simple cheek swab. A year and a half later, she donated her stem cells.
"I thank my donor every single day. I talk to her a lot," Dr. Rothenberg shared.
Ezer Mizion's Bone Marrow Registry is the sixth largest globally, with 1,300,000 potential stem cell donors, and has saved 51 lives.
Britain's Chief Rabbi: If You Are Anti-Zionist, You Are Anti-Jewish - Lee Harpin ( Jewish News-UK)
Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth Ephraim Mirvis told a conference in Jerusalem:
"In the Psalms, more than 2000 years ago, were written the words, "for the Lord has chosen Zion as a place for His habitation. For Jews, the very presence of Almighty God is manifest here in this holy city more than in any other place on earth."
"And God gave this city and this land to the Jewish people for all time. Israel is not just a geopolitical reality for the Jewish people. It is far more than that. It's the center of our Jewish religion."
"So therefore, if you are anti-Zionist, you are also anti-Jewish. But more than that, you're anti-Judaism, and your animosity affects the very wellbeing of Jews right around the world."
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism "specifically allows for a person to make constructive criticism of Israel."
"Of course...if you want to see and hear constructive criticism about Israel, just come to Israel."
"However, if one is criticizing the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in the State of Israel, if one is treating Israel differently to the way one would treat any other state, that is something very different."
Video: The 2,000 Kidnapped Jewish Children - Hannah Brown ( Jerusalem Post)
In 1492, the Jews of Spain were given just weeks to convert to Christianity or flee. Over 100,000 sought shelter in Portugal, where they were met with more cruelty and oppression.
This 30-minute documentary film focuses on 2,000 Jewish children, aged eight and under, who were seized by order of King Joao II of Portugal in 1493.
After their families were unable to pay the high ransom demanded by the Portuguese crown, the children were forcibly converted and deported to the uninhabited and crocodile-infested island of Sao Tome in the Gulf of Guinea, 7,500 km. from home.
View the Video ( Jewish Community of Oporto, Portugal)
Search the Recent History of Israel and the Middle East
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- U.S.-Backed Foundation Begins Food Distribution in Gaza - Sam Mednick
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed group approved by Israel, has started operations
to distribute food in Gaza. Currently four hubs have been set up, all close to Israeli military positions, where people must go to pick up the food packages. GHF has said it will eventually be able to meet the needs of 2 million people. It said it will create more hubs within 30 days, including in northern Gaza.
GHF said it moved trucks of food to its hubs on Monday and began distribution. It said the flow of supplies would be "increasing each day" and that it plans to reach more than 1 million Palestinians by the end of the week. GHF is run by a group of American security contractors, ex-military officers and humanitarian aid officials.
To deter criminal gangs or militants from redirecting aid, private subcontractors will transport supplies in armored vehicles from the Gaza border to the hubs, where they will also provide security. The GHF said that until at least eight hubs are operating, the existing UN-led system will continue providing food in parallel. Moreover, the UN system would continue to distribute all non-food humanitarian aid - from medical supplies to hygiene items and shelter materials.
(AP)
- State Department: Opening of Aid Distribution Centers is "Great News" for Gaza
State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday: "We have great news to report out of Gaza....The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, under the humanitarian principles of independence and impartiality, has commenced providing lifesaving aid to the people of Gaza who desperately need it. Approximately 8,000 food boxes have been distributed so far. Each box feeds 5.5 people for three and a half days, totaling 462,000 meals."
"Hamas has been opposed to this dynamic. They have attempted to stop the aid movement through Gaza to these distribution centers. They have failed, but they certainly tried."
"We had heard about the resistance by certain NGOs and the UN. It is unfortunate because the issue here is getting aid to Gazans, and then suddenly it moves into complaints about style or the nature of who's doing it....Being opposed to getting food and aid...because someone might feel left out is, I think, the height of hypocrisy....People who care about the nature of solving this problem are taking action and moving it forward. And that's what counts. That's what matters." (U.S. State Department)
- With Israeli Intelligence, Lebanon Is Dismantling Hizbullah in the South - Omar Abdel-Baqui
Lebanon's army has largely disarmed Hizbullah in its southern strongholds - in part with the help of Israeli intelligence - as the country's new government moves to enforce the November ceasefire. The Lebanese government has achieved roughly 80% of its objectives in disarming militias in the south, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told the Wall Street Journal. Israeli intelligence passed along by the U.S. has helped the Lebanese army find and destroy Hizbullah's remaining weapons stockpiles and military posts in the south, senior Arab officials said.
"We do see a lot of areas where the Lebanese army is way more effective than expected," an Israeli military official said. "The IDF is generally pleased by this trend and we are expecting it to continue." (Wall Street Journal)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- New Gaza Aid Group Downplays Disturbance at Distribution Center - Jacob Magid
After throngs of Palestinians overran one of its new aid distribution sites on its second day of operation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said: "The needs on the ground are great. At one moment in the late afternoon, the volume of people at the distribution center was such that the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate. This was done in accordance with GHF protocol to avoid casualties." (Times of Israel-NBC News)
See also U.S. to Push Countries to Fund Gaza Aid Centers Once They Demonstrate Results - Jacob Magid
The Trump administration plans to renew its push for countries and international organizations to fund the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation once its new aid distribution initiative is proven successful, a U.S. official said Tuesday. "The United States is a leader in innovation and once GHF works, others will want to share in its success," the official said. The official insisted that the incident involving the overrun of one of GHF's Rafah distribution sites by thousands of Palestinians on Tuesday lasted for about 20 minutes.
A senior administration official said, "Aid is getting to the people in need, and through their secure distribution system, Israel is kept safe and Hamas empty-handed....The UN and other aid agencies were wrong to criticize. These organizations echoed Hamas talking points rather than praising those who are delivering results. GHF is a threat to Hamas's longstanding system of looting the assistance intended for the people of Gaza." (Times of Israel)
- Netanyahu: The Hamas Prisoners We Captured Were Well-Fed
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that the current lie is that Israel has a policy of starvation in Gaza, but "you didn't have mass starvation at all. In fact. I'll give you one simple indication of that. We take thousands of prisoners, sort them out into civilians and combatants and we photograph them. You can see those photographs, those videos."
"What's the first thing you do when you take a prisoner in Gaza? The first thing you do is you tell them, 'Take your shirt off. We want to see that there is no suicide vest.' Thousands and thousands of prisoners taking their shirt off and you don't see one, not one emaciated [person] from the beginning of the war to the present. In fact, you see quite the opposite because you don't get that much exercise, certainly not in tunnels, but you get food. And we are accused of starvation."
"We worked out a plan with our American friends to have controlled distribution sites where an American company would distribute the food to Palestinian families. It's not a truck with flour bags, it's a package of food for a family for a week. You come and you get it. It's very hard for Hamas to steal it, especially because we guard these positions. Well, we tried the first one....There was some loss of control momentarily happening. We brought it back under control." (Prime Minister's Office)
- Israel Says UN Failing to Collect Humanitarian Aid Piling Up on Gaza Border - Emanuel Fabian
The Israel Defense Ministry's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has accused the UN of failing to collect more than 400 truckloads of humanitarian aid from the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, whose contents are awaiting distribution.
"With the renewed entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza, we have reached out to all humanitarian aid organizations and the international community, and called for them to take part in the distribution of aid to Gazan civilians. However, in the past few days, the UN has avoided fulfilling its role and instead continues to spread false and incorrect information regarding civilian distress," said COGAT chief Maj.-Gen. Ghassan Alian.
"Israel has expanded the routes and aid, and extended the times of collection. Now it's the UN's turn to act accordingly with its obligation. We call on the UN to fulfill their mission entrusted to it as a key humanitarian partner as demanded and without any further delays."
(Times of Israel)
See also Israel Accuses UN Aid Chief of "Libel" for Claiming 10,000 Aid Trucks Sat at Gaza Border - Mathilda Heller
Israel accused Tom Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, of "libel" after he told CNN on Monday that there are 10,000 aid trucks on the Gaza border, cleared and ready to go.
Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) posted a video on X saying,
"There are no 10,000 trucks waiting to go into Gaza. What there are, are hundreds of trucks' worth of aid the UN hasn't picked up from the Gazan side over the last few days after we gave you plenty of routes you can use to safely distribute the aid throughout Gaza."
This comes less than a week after Fletcher told the BBC that 14,000 Gazan babies would die within the next 48 hours unless aid reached them. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs later retracted the statement. (Jerusalem Post)
- Israel Responds to Houthi Missile Attacks with Strike on Saana Airport in Yemen - Yonah Jeremy Bob
The IDF on Wednesday attacked Yemen's Sanaa International Airport in response to several Houthi ballistic missile attacks on Israel over the last week. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the air force destroyed the last airplane the Houthis still had at the airport. Katz said Israel was instituting an aerial and naval blockade on the Houthis to try to deter them from future attacks, with repeated attacks on their seaports and airport.
(Jerusalem Post)
- Israel Seizes $2 Million in Terror Funds in PA Areas - Elisha Ben Kimon
Israeli security forces launched an operation Tuesday targeting currency exchange businesses suspected of funneling terror funds, seizing $2 million in cash and assets in Ramallah, Hebron, Jenin and Nablus.
Most of the seized money originated from Turkey and Iran and was intended to support terror attacks.
In addition to cash, forces confiscated cryptocurrency, jewelry and tools used to transfer funds to terror networks. (Ynet News)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War
- Israel: Aid Distribution Centers in Gaza Mark End of Hamas Rule - Amichai Stein
The opening of the humanitarian aid distribution centers marks the beginning of the end of Hamas rule, an Israeli source said Tuesday. This is happening alongside the decisive military defeat of Hamas through intense and widespread fighting that includes clearing areas and holding them.
Despite Hamas's attempts to prevent the population from reaching the aid centers, it is failing. The more Hamas tries to continue blocking the population, the more it will face mass resistance, the source said. (Jerusalem Post)
- Video: Gazans Cheer as Aid Distribution Begins - Itamar Eichner
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which operates the new aid centers, released footage Wednesday showing Gazans celebrating the arrival of humanitarian aid and, in some cases, expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump. Two distribution centers opened Wednesday and additional centers will open soon.
One video showed Gazans, including children and teenagers, singing and cheering while holding food boxes. In one clip, a man was filmed praising Netanyahu and Trump, shouting "America!" and blowing kisses. In another video, a Gazan thanked those who delivered the aid, saying, "Well done to whoever brought us this - whether he's a Muslim, infidel, Arab, foreigner or American." (Ynet News)
- Videos Show Gazans at Aid Centers Cheering the American Contractors and Shouting "Thank you, America!" - Kassy Akiva
American-backed Gaza aid distribution centers had a bumpy but successful first day in operation.
Gazans queued in long lines to receive boxes containing flour, sugar, chocolate spread, rice, canned corn, pasta, tea, sunflower oil, tuna, and more. Videos show Gazans cheering at the American contractors and shouting "Thank you, America!" Many Gazans said this was the first aid they had received without having to pay for it.
A senior U.S. official said the White House is "proud" to back the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's "incredible mission" and that the group is a direct threat to "Hamas's longstanding system of looting the assistance intended for the people of Gaza." (Daily Wire)
- Israel's Latest Crime? Feeding the People of Gaza - Brendan O'Neill
Israel is behaving criminally again. It is trampling even harder than usual all over international law.
What inhuman act has the pariah state committed now? It is seeking to feed the people of Gaza.
The Jewish state, in tandem with the U.S., has launched the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to get foodstuffs to the people of Gaza.
You would think the activist class would be pleased at this news. They've been rending their garments for months over an alleged tyranny of famine in Gaza. Alas, they hate this initiative, because Israel is behind it, and everything Israel does is evil.
After a year-and-a-half of this infernal war Hamas started, this should be cause for celebration. Gazan lives have been sacrificed by Gaza's autocratic religious regime at the altar of its racist crusade against the Jews' homeland.
Why does this aid initiative feel "so problematic," asks one headline? It's because the Jewish state is spearheading it. What's really bugging the anti-Israel elites is that this uppity little state has the temerity to circumvent the UN and put grub directly into the hands of Gazans who need it.
An AP headline said, "UN agencies warn that Israel's plans for aid distribution will endanger lives." Drink in the Orwellianism of that. Providing aid is deathly now. Feeding the hungry kills. The doublethink of Israelophobia has rarely been so beautifully illustrated. War is peace, freedom is slavery, giving people the essentials of life will end their lives. Imagine the arrogance and outright inhumanity it must require to wring your manicured hands over the delivery of life-saving aid just because you hate the state that's delivering it.
In these people's eyes, if Israel bombs Gaza in pursuit of the Jew-hating militants that attacked it, that's a war crime. But if it pleads with civilians to flee before it drops its bombs, that's a war crime, too. Yet when it brings in truckloads of necessities, that also "endangers lives." Israelophobia is underpinned less by an opposition to war than by a frothing, post-truth hatred for the world's only Jewish nation.
(Spiked-UK)
Murder in Washington
- Secretary of State Rubio Condemns "Free, Free, Palestine" Chant as Emblem of Jew-Hatred
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday condemned the chant "Free, free, Palestine"
as an "emblem of Jew-hatred," speaking at an International Conference to Combat Antisemitism in Jerusalem. He recalled that the Washington, D.C., shooter "proudly screamed 'Free, free, Palestine' - words that now serve as a battle cry for the death of Jews, the destruction of Israel, and the horrors we must never again allow."
"Those who call to boycott Israel are calling for the boycott of their Jewish neighbors and classmates. Those who call for violence against Israelis are calling for violence against Jews. Those who call for the destruction of Israel are calling for the destruction of the Jewish people."
"I pray for the day when the entire world will recognize the futility of antisemitism, when leaders will abandon self-destructive hatred and forge a new future in partnership with Israel." (Jerusalem Post)
- A Secular Jihadi Brings the Intifada to Washington - Clifford D. May
On May 21, a college-educated terrorist fatally shot Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, two young Israeli Embassy staffers. He shot both in the back and then fired repeatedly when they fell to the ground. After that, he tossed away his weapon and strolled into the Capital Jewish Museum. When the police arrived, he pulled out a red keffiyeh and shouted, "Free, free Palestine!"
Elias Rodriguez's red keffiyeh is associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a secular, Marxist-Leninist organization. The group receives financial and military backing from Tehran. Designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU, the PFLP supports "armed struggle" in alliance with Islamists. The annihilation of Israel is its primary goal. Rodriguez, the executioner of a defenseless young woman and an unarmed young man, regards himself as a revolutionary.
Certain circles that claim to champion "diversity and inclusion" find it intolerable that one tiny Jewish state exists among the more than 20 Arab states and more than 50 Muslim states. Note, too, that no one who shouts "Free Palestine" means to suggest that people in Gaza and the West Bank should be guaranteed freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly, which are rights enjoyed by Jewish, Christian and Muslim Israelis.
The writer is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. (Washington Times)
Palestinian Arabs
- How Will We Know the PA Has Ended the "Pay-for-Slay" Policy? - Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch
A recent report quoting Israeli security sources attributed a reduction in terror in the West Bank to more stringent prison conditions. "If, in the past, we saw young Palestinians entering Israeli prisons to receive stipends from the Palestinian Authority while enjoying good conditions - meals, showers, and academic studies - today, the conditions in security prisons...are harsh. Terrorists are reconsidering their course of action and fear imprisonment."
As part of the PA's "Pay-for-Slay" policy, every Palestinian terrorist arrested by Israel is paid a monthly salary, which has two main components. One part is paid directly by the Authority to the terrorist and his family, with salary increases over time spent in prison. The second part includes NIS 400 per month, deposited by the PA every six months into the prisoner's account for purchasing items in the prison canteen and additional clothing.
Another central part of the "Pay-for-Slay" policy are PA-PLO payments to wounded terrorists and the families of dead terrorists. In addition to the imprisoned terrorists and released terrorists, there are an additional 40,000 families of dead terrorists and tens of thousands of wounded terrorists who also receive payments.
A 2018 Israeli law imposed punitive measures on the PA for its "Pay-for-Slay" program.
Since its first implementation in 2019, Israel has deducted close to NIS 4 billion - a sum equivalent to the PA payments to the terrorists in 2018 through 2024 - from the taxes Israel collects and transfers to the Authority under the Oslo Accords.
In February 2025, the PA announced what it claimed was the abolition of the "Pay-for-Slay" policy. However, this was a hoax to mislead the international community. The only way to judge whether the PA has indeed halted these payments will be to assess the quiet on the Palestinian street.
When the families of the terrorists, who have suddenly lost their primary source of income, take, en masse, to the streets to demonstrate against the PA, we will know that the PA has truly stopped the payments.
The writer, former director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria, is director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. (Jerusalem Post)
- A Palestinian State Would Be a Launching Pad to Attack Israel - Bassam Tawil
Next month, the UN is scheduled to host an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, to advance the idea of a "two-state solution" between Israel and the Palestinians. Any talk about a "two-state solution" in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel is a sick joke. The "two-state solution" died on that day, when thousands of Hamas terrorists and "ordinary" Palestinians from Gaza invaded Israel, murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands, and kidnapped another 251.
In many respects, before Oct. 7, Gaza was an independent and sovereign Palestinian state controlled by Hamas. In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza and handed it over, unconditionally, to the Palestinian Authority. Less than two years later, Hamas staged a violent coup, toppling the PA and seizing control.
The Israeli towns and villages near the border with Gaza that were invaded by the Palestinians were not "illegal settlements." The Israelis murdered and wounded on that day were not "illegal settlers." Rather, they were Israeli citizens residing within Israel's internationally recognized borders. But to many Palestinians, any Israeli is considered an appropriate target for murder, especially under the PA's lucrative "pay-for-slay" program.
Ironically, many of the Israelis who were butchered and kidnapped on Oct. 7 were peace activists. They believed in the "two-state solution." Some even volunteered to drive sick Palestinians from Gaza to Israeli hospitals for treatment. But the Palestinians who invaded Israel on Oct. 7 did not care whether the Israelis they murdered supported a "two-state solution" or not.
They did not even distinguish between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. 20 Israeli Arabs were murdered during the attacks or by Hamas rocket launches in the ensuing days. There were also 71 foreign victims on Oct. 7, mostly Thai workers.
The Oct. 7 invasion should be seen as a declaration of war on Israel by the Hamas-controlled Palestinian state in Gaza. Twenty months later, Hamas is determined to fight to the last Palestinian. By pushing for a "two-state solution," these countries are sending a message to Palestinians that Oct. 7 was worthwhile. Can these countries or the UN guarantee that a Palestinian state in the West Bank would not be used in the future as a launching pad to attack Israel? Of course not. (Gatestone Institute)
Antisemitism
- Dozens of Anti-Jewish Terror Plots in North America Have Been Foiled since Oct. 7 - Zvika Klein
The quiet work of community security directors and federal agents has derailed "tens - perhaps dozens - of potentially fatal attacks" on Jewish institutions in North America since Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre, Eric Fingerhut, president and chief executive of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), told the Jerusalem Post this week. The former congressman said plots had been uncovered in multiple states against synagogues, day schools and public events. "These cases never reached the headlines because the perpetrators were intercepted first," he noted.
Before the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, "only a handful of communities employed full-time security directors. Today, 130 of our 140 federations do, and the remaining few will fill those posts before year-end." The endeavor relies heavily on the U.S. Non-Profit Security Grant Program, whose annual budget has risen from $10 million a decade ago to $500 million, funding reinforced doors, perimeter lighting, and alarm systems.
Despite heightened anxiety, JFNA polling shows the "Oct. 8 surge" in synagogue attendance, Hebrew-school enrolment and volunteerism remains robust. "People are leaning in, not retreating," Fingerhut observed.
(Jerusalem Post)
- Israel Accuses International Courts of Antisemitism - Chen Maanit
Dr. Gilad Noam, Israel's deputy attorney general for international affairs, told the Israel Bar Association on Wednesday, "The [international] courts have a big problem, and there is, without a doubt, to put it mildly, a tendency toward serious bias against Israel - to put it less mildly, there is also antisemitism. This is something sweeping across the world, and it has not passed international judicial institutions by."
"These courts were established for very noble purposes, purposes that I think we can all relate to, and they have now lost their way....Their professionalism, in everything related to determining facts, establishing the truth and facts, is questionable, and we saw this with the super-fast and unprecedented rush for arrest warrants against the prime minister and former defense minister." Noam is now seeking to have the arrest warrants rescinded on the ground that the court acted without relating to Israeli claims that the ICC had no jurisdiction over the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
He strongly rejected claims that Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza. "The State of Israel does not direct attacks against a civilian population. It distinguishes between an innocent civilian population and those who are working to destroy it, and it does so in an extremely challenging situation that no country has ever faced, of a terrorist organization that we all know employs tactics that challenge us." (Ha'aretz)
Weekend Features
- Marthe Cohn, a Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany, Dies at 105 - Harrison Smith
Marthe Cohn, a French Jew, was asked to spy for the French army in late 1944. She had already lost her fiance, a member of the French resistance who had been tortured and shot by the Germans outside Paris. One of her younger sisters, Stephanie, had also been killed - arrested and deported to Auschwitz while trying to help people escape to unoccupied France.
Cohn had managed to survive the Nazi occupation with help from false identity papers provided by a friend. She was also aided by her blond-haired, blue-eyed appearance and her fluency in German, which she learned as a child in Metz, a French city not far from the border.
After joining French military intelligence, she was able to cross enemy lines and spend a month in Germany, where she passed as a German nurse while making small talk with SS officers and Nazi soldiers, gathering information about troop movements.
During one encounter, she told the German soldiers that she was terrified about the prospect of an Allied invasion. "They told me not to worry," she said. "And then they told me in precisely which section of the Black Forest the German army was waiting for the Allies." She also revealed that German troops near Freiburg were withdrawing from the fortified Siegfried Line.
Her spying earned her France's Croix de Guerre and was credited with saving the lives of Allied troops. More than 50 years later, she was named a knight in the Legion of Honor, the country's highest order of merit. Cohn died May 21 at the age of 105. She shared her story at schools and community centers across Europe and the U.S., where she worked as a nurse after the war.
(Washington Post)
Observations:
- On Sep. 8, 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) executed a deep-penetration commando raid into Syria targeting an underground missile-production facility near Masyaf. The site had been constructed by Iran to supply precision-guided missiles to Hizbullah and other Iranian proxies - posing a strategic threat Israel could not ignore.
- Buried more than 400 feet underground, it was close to reaching the capacity to produce missiles with ranges capable of striking major Israeli cities and military installations. Traditional airstrikes alone are insufficient to neutralize this kind of fortified and subterranean facility, designed to counter the well-developed air superiority of Israel and other Western-allied forces.
- The raid redefined the limits of special operations in the region, and signaled a new era in how states counter adversaries operating from hardened spaces on enemy territory. With this mission, Israel changed its playbook, shifting from a largely reactive posture - focused on retaliatory airstrikes and the maintenance of deterrence by aggressive responses to attacks - to a proactive doctrine of deep penetration, operational surprise, and joint-force synchronization, aimed at denying the enemy the ability to attack in the first place.
- The raid was executed by 120 commandos from the Israeli air force's elite Shaldag unit. To suppress air defenses and divert attention from the infiltration corridor, simultaneous Israeli airstrikes were launched against Syrian military sites. These initial strikes also targeted and reportedly eliminated many of the 30 Syrian guards and soldiers stationed at the missile complex.
- The entire assault concluded without a single Israeli casualty. This remarkable feat reflects both the tactical prowess of the units involved and the deliberate preparation - underpinned by highly accurate intelligence, mock-site rehearsals, and precision timing - that made the operation possible.
- The raid on Masyaf was a demonstration of capability with profound strategic implications. In its wake, Iran and its network of proxies and allies will be forced to reassess the survivability of even their most hardened infrastructure. Israel has shown it can penetrate not just underground facilities, but the illusions of impunity that those facilities have offered to its enemies.
The writer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point.
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