Israel Arms Thousands of Druze in Southern Syria - Lior Ben Ari (Ynet News)
    Two senior Druze officials said Tuesday that Israel has been arming and financing Druze militias in Sweida in southwest Syria, providing rifles, ammunition, and salaries to thousands of fighters.

Exposing the UN's Genocide Smears - Jake Wallis Simons (Telegraph-UK)
    The UN has released a laughable report alleging that Israel is committing "genocide."
    Pretty poor genocide, given that more than two million Gazans remain alive despite Israel's military machine possessing the means to wipe them all out in an afternoon.
    But common sense isn't a concern, as the UN has no reason to believe that people won't swallow this stuff.
    If people were starving en masse, don't you think there'd be evidence of it on TikTok?
    Instead, the briefest of browses on platforms like Snapchat's heatmaps will reveal what Gazans are posting in real time.
    Spoiler: You'll see a lot of food. And no dead babies. Sooner or later, people will realize that they've been had.

Why Do Lebanon and the Arab World Still Deny Palestinians Citizenship? - Israel Kasnett (JNS)
    Lebanon has once again reiterated that Palestinian refugees in the country will not be granted citizenship.
    This reflects a regional approach shared across the Arab world. Most Arab states deny Palestinians citizenship, even after decades of residence and multiple generations born on their soil.
    Leaving Palestinians stateless was designed to avoid permanent integration and to reinforce the idea that refugees should one day return to Palestine.
    Jacques Neriah, a Middle East analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, said, "No Palestinian has been given citizenship in any Arab country because this would mean assimilation and de facto recognizing the Zionist entity."
    This includes Syria, Egypt, and the Gulf States. Jordan stands out as the one exception.
    Arab governments argue that full integration in host countries would amount to acceptance that Palestinians will never return to their "ancestral lands."
    Keeping them stateless preserves both their identity and their political utility.

The Economy of Hamas and How Israel Should Deal with It - Eliyahu Haddad (Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
    Hamas operates a billion-dollar economy that exists largely because of Israel's direct participation in Gaza's monetary system, creating a self-defeating arrangement that transforms Israel from adversary into inadvertent sponsor.
    This wealth flows almost entirely through Israeli-controlled financial channels, denominated in Israeli currency, and facilitated by Israeli banking infrastructure.
    Hamas's economic success stems from its complete integration into Israel's monetary sphere through the New Israeli Shekel (NIS).
    Gaza lacks sovereign currency and operates as a cash economy where 90-95% of all transactions occur in Israeli Shekels.
    Until October 7, 2023, the Bank of Israel exchanged worn Israeli banknotes for new ones for banks operating in Gaza. This service enabled Hamas to maintain the currency liquidity necessary for its operations.
    The writer is a serial entrepreneur and investment professional specializing in disruptive technologies and financial analysis.

Israel's Population Grows to 10.1 Million - Yaron Drukman (Ynet News)
    On the eve of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), Israel's population stands at 10,148,000, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said Wednesday.
    7.76 million are Jews (78.5%), and 2.13 million are Arabs (21.5%). Another 260,000 are foreign residents.
    CBS found that 91.1% of Israelis are satisfied with their lives - including 92.4% of Jews and 85.5% of Arabs.

Israel's "Iron Beam" Laser Defense System Is Fully Operational - Yonah Jeremy Bob (Jerusalem Post)
    The Israel Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that Israel's "Iron Beam" is now operational and that a full series of cutting-edge air defense batteries will be deployed across the country.
    Iron Beam can shoot down not only drones, but also missiles, rockets, and mortars.
    Iron Beam will reduce the cost of shooting down aerial threats. Arrow interceptors cost millions of shekels, Iron Dome interceptors cost tens of thousands, but firing the Iron Beam is the cost of the electricity.
    Iron Beam also has the capacity to counter barrages of simultaneous aerial threats.
    Although other countries are at various stages of developing laser defense systems, Israel's Iron Beam is the only one that has moved beyond test firings to actual use in the field.
    Lasers can shoot down enemy rockets and drones much earlier because light energy travels much faster than any interceptor.

NYC Mayoral Nominee Mamdani Wants to Arrest Netanyahu - Alan M. Dershowitz (Wall Street Journal)
    Zohran Mamdani has pledged that he will order the New York City Police Department to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister visits the city while Mamdani is mayor. Has Mamdani even heard of diplomatic immunity?
    The Democratic mayoral nominee claims he would be carrying out the will of the International Criminal Court, but that position defies both U.S. foreign policy and law.
    Neither the U.S. nor Israel ever joined the court, and presidents from both parties have dismissed it as unaccountable, politicized and a threat to sovereignty.
    In 2002, Congress enacted the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, which flatly prohibits state and local officials from helping the ICC target U.S. personnel or leaders of allied nations.
    The ICC's charges against Netanyahu are a travesty. Its arrest warrant accuses him of intentionally starving civilians in Gaza - never mind that Israel has facilitated the delivery of more than a million tons of food to the strip.
    ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan had planned to travel to Israel to conduct an investigation. I arranged the trip with his deputy. Then Khan was charged with sexual misconduct. He immediately canceled the trip and issued the arrest warrants. That prompted the U.S. to impose sanctions on Khan.
    Should a Mayor Mamdani attempt such a stunt, I would happily represent the prime minister in a federal lawsuit, which would be the easiest win of my career.
    The writer is a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. 

Resilience Is Imperative for Modern Warfare. Israel's Military Proves Why - Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nadav Padan (USA Today)
    Resilience is not just a personal trait or moral principle. It is a national security asset.
    Nearly two years after Hamas's heinous Oct. 7 attacks, the Israel Defense Forces continue to grapple with fierce, urban combat.
    In the Friends of the IDF-supported Soldier Recharge Program, combat units are periodically rotated out from the front lines and brought to a week-long stay in a decompression environment.
    There, they receive warm meals, hot showers, clean clothing, a bed to sleep in, PTSD screenings, and access to trained mental health professionals.
    Many soldiers return to their units refreshed, re-centered and recharged.
    Emotional resilience is a hard necessity, as central to operational readiness as ammunition and logistics.
    Resilience is not the absence of pain; it is the will to confront it, endure it and return with resolve. In modern warfare, that is a strategic imperative.
    The writer, former Head of IDF Central Command, now serves as CEO of Friends of the IDF.

Israeli Tech Turns Rifles into Drone Killers - Maayan Hoffman (ILTV-Ynet News)
    Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) has developed the Arbel system that allows soldiers to use their AR-15 rifles to shoot down drones.
    Arbel includes an electronic trigger and internal computer that takes over after the first shot, firing a follow-up shot only when the shooter is stable on target.
    All the shooter needs to do is aim at the target, pull the trigger, keep it pulled, and concentrate only on correctly aiming.