October 187, 2023, "The War"

My 141st post on The War

Three rockets were fired from Gaza, landing in open fields inside Israel and near the border. No damage or injuries reported. I am confident that the IDF will take out the facility inside Gaza from where they were fired either tonight or tomorrow. The IDF reports no casualties in the past 72 hours from the fighting in Gaza.

Fighting in Gaza around Khan Younis, particularly in the al-Amal and Abadan neighborhood continues to be intense. In several cases the infantry called in the IAF to take out various terrorists cells using missile fire.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Israelis living or visiting the northern part of the country (Haifa and further north) are finding that the GPS signals on their automobiles and mobile phones are not functioning. The IDF has scrambled the satellite GPS signals to prevent Hezbollah from using precision guided missiles. Yesterday and today the range of this scrambling reached as far south as Tel Aviv. It appears that this was intentional. Perhaps it was a test?? The irony is that some motorists in Tel Aviv had their phone navigation apps placing them in downtown Beirut rather than Tel Aviv. Surreal, no??

But I guess that the guidance systems used on the airborne missiles fired by Israel are working just fine. The IAF conducted several aerial attacks on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon this afternoon near the villages of Yaroun, Aynata and Maroun al-Ras. These positions included armories and observation posts. Earlier in the day Hezbollah fired missiles damaged a home in the border community of Shlomi. The residents of Shlomi have been holed up inside a hotel in Jerusalem. My wife volunteers to help one of the families there. Imagine, nearly six months confined to a hotel room with kids…

The US military announced that it downed one anti-ship missile and two drones launched by Iranian backed Houthis very early this morning in the Red Sea. No injuries or damage.

The IDF announced that it has completed its internal probe/audit into the case of the aerial attack on the World Central Kitchen staff at night earlier this week. They are preparing the results and intend to release them to the public. My guess is that this will happen early next week. There are still many issues resulting from this tragedy. One of those killed was a Polish citizen. Accusations inside the Polish government and some of its citizens are reaching the extreme. Some have accused Israel of deliberately targeting the aid workers as an assasination. The Israeli Ambassador to Poland posted on social media "“anti-Semites will always remain anti-Semites, and Israel will remain a democratic Jewish state that fights for its right to exist. Also for the good of the entire Western world.” They are now demanding an apology. And the Polish government is also insisting that Israel financially compensate the families of those killed in the attack. The World Central Kitchen has called for an independent investigation. I doubt that will happen as that would require the IDF to open up to a third party some of its operational procedures, which it won't. US Secretary of Defense Austin told Israeli Minister of Defense Gallant yesterday that the WCK tragedy is a reason why Israel should not enter Rafah. From my view it seems that the Biden Administration is mixing up political strategy with military strategy. From an Israeli perspective, there is absolutely no way to avoid another October 7 without having the IDF enter Rafah and do its best to eliminate the remaining terrorist battalions. I do not think we will be trying to accommodate Biden’s domestic political issues by risking our own population like that.

The IDF is working on its internal probe on the investigation of what happened in advance of October 7 and in the immediate IDF response. They expect the report to be completed in June. For the time being the government has done nothing to launch any investigation of its shortcomings related to the massacre on October 7.

Iran is still issuing threats regarding its intent to retaliate for the aerial assassination on several of its top ranking IRGC guards in Damascus earlier this week. They insist it is aimed at deterrence. Of course, no one really knows who executed this most incredible and precise assassination. It was so precise that absolutely no damage was done to the adjacent Canadian Embassy, nor the main Iranian Embassy building. They are accusing Israel, of course. It is my guess that they will attempt an attack on one of the Israeli Embassy facilities abroad. On March 17, 1992 a bomb exploded shattering the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina killing 29 people. Three of the victims were Israeli citizens, six were locally employed staff and the rest ordinary Argentinian citizens. Hezbollah claimed responsibility. I presume that all the Israeli Embassies are now on alert. In the meantime the IDF has cancelled any immediate leave to troops on active duty on the assumption that Iran might try some attack on Israel somewhere. As I was wrapping up this post I spotted, fresh off the press, announcements that Israel instructed several of its embassies abroad to evacuate as a precautionary measure.

As you might recall a few weeks ago I reported on cross border attacks between Iran and Pakistan along their common border. There are Sunni based Jihadis launching attacks from Pakistan and from within Iran against Iranian government facilities. Yesterday the Sunni Jihadis killed more than five Iranian Jihadi Security Officers.

No major demonstrations in Israel today. President Herzog, former Labour Party Chairman, released a statement saying that it is an integral part of our democratic character to enable peaceful demonstrations. But, according to him the tenor of the recent protests are getting more and more violent. Earlier this week violence erupted at the main demonstration in Jerusalem when protestors threw a lit torch at a police officer. Several police officers and demonstrators were injured.

Speaking of demonstrations the UN Human Rights Council is prolonging its year long investigation and fact finding mission into the 2022 violent Iranian government response to demonstrations in that country. I wonder how many more years they will take?? The Biden Administration is demanding an immediate report on the WCK tragedy. Maybe we should take a few years to report??? Excuse my sarcasm… please.

Human Rights Watch just announced that an aerial attack by the IDF on a building in Gaza in October killed 106 civilians, including 54 children. They insist that this proves that Israel is committing war crimes. I am no attorney, but I think that they have to demonstrate the intent to kill civilians to make it a war crime. I think that they will find it difficult to prove their case.

Here is a short update on the ceasefire/hostage “negotiations”. The venue has been moved from Qatar to Egypt. I believe, although this is not the official explanation, that this happened because Israeli negotiators no longer trust the Qataris. Israel was insisting that Qatar had several means for applying pressure on Hamas as it funds and protects the organization. And, so far, Qatar has refused to put any of those points of pressure into play. Again, in my view, because Qatar is unable to contribute from an Israeli perspective the venue has shifted. Let me emphasize that this is my opinion and this is not the official positions of any party directly involved. Nonetheless, the Qatari Prime Minister is now saying that the fault lies with Netanyahu. And Hamas announced that it is not budging on its position that the IDF must evacuate Gaza completely as a condition before releasing any hostages. In the Israeli press, rumors are being quoted that the reason is due to a disagreement on if/how/which Gazan civilians would be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza.

I thought that this might be a good point in time for me to digress a bit and attempt to describe how it is that all of you living outside of Israel see such a different picture of events that what we see here AND the reality of what is happening on the ground. For reference, I guide you to read these two articles here and here. So hang in there and bear with me on this….

Without doubt what happens in Israel and the surrounding area are the most reported news items in the world, on a daily basis. On a proportional basis there are more foreign reporters in and around Israel than anywhere else in the world. For the most part the foreign press lives in and around Jerusalem. It is a fun and dynamic city with many international scents and flavors. To my knowledge no Western press official lives in Ramallah nor any other city in Judea/Samaria (West Bank). Why should they when Jerusalem is so much more fun? There are some Western reporters in Gaza. On occasion you might see a Western reporter recording some report inside some town in Judea/Samaria, but for the most part they hang around the American Colony Hotel, situated along the old border between East and West Jerusalem. A good friend of mine, and fellow skipper, is the architect of that Hotel.

So for the most part these reporters hang around that hotel with other reporters drinking and having a generally good time. When it is time to do either a live broadcast or a summary of events of the day, you will mostly see a foreign correspondent reporting in front of a camera with the city of Jerusalem at their rear for backdrop. So how do they get their reports, images and videos from actual “on location”. What they do is hire, either on a contract basis, part time or full time staff basis, “runners” who live and work from somewhere within Gaza or Judea/Samaria (West Bank). These Arab “runners” are often given a “Press” vest, maybe some equipment and sometimes stickers they can use to mark their vehicles with “Press” emblems. These Arab “runners” live and work in the towns and villages from where they report.

So, imagine for a minute that you are one of these “runners”. Your neighbors, the police and the neighborhood terrorists know that you are a “runner” for this or that Western paper, TV station or ? And sometimes you are a “runner” for more than one. What is the likelihood that you are going to file a report that shows your neighborhood terrorist using children as human shields? Are you going to report on how an errant rocket fired by Hamas landed on a clinic or school? Are you going to report conflicting casualty figures from those reported by the Palestinian Authority or Hamas? And if Hamas comes by and offers you the opportunity for a side job making a lot of money doing not much of anything, as long as you file favorable reports, how will you answer? Or if a friend of yours asks to borrow your Press Vest for a day without telling you why, what will you do? And these are all just simple persuasive gestures. Or you see a staged, faked set of casualties on a Pallywood stage and are told to film it or you will be killed. What would you do?

Now suppose for moment that a Palestinian Authority official comes pounding on your door one night threatening the lives of your family if you don’t fall in line with how you report on a given topic that day. What will you do?

Or suppose for a moment you happen to be a Western reporter that requests permission from the Palestinian Authority to enter Nablus in order to do a critical report on how their police force is taking bribes from local merchants. Do you think you will get permission? Or suppose you get permission, file a negative report with your editorial team in your home country. Do you think that the PA will ever allow you back in somewhere so you can do your job?

Finally, suppose you finally are able to file a report that is very critical of Hamas, and survive. Then you submit it to your editorial team at your home office and they reject it because it is not anti-Israel? What do you do? How long do you think your career will last?

So, hopefully now you get a picture of what really goes on here. The reports you see are the reports that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority want you to see. Because, if not, either your life is threatened, your livelihood is threatened, your family is threatened or worse. Or if you are a Western Reporter, you are denied access to the world’s greatest story and your home office brings you home, then tells you to find a different job.

But when these reports are filed, no one tells you that the video was filmed by some intimidated “runner” or that the “runner” also happens to be a Hamas operative. No one checks to see the credibility of these “runners” as long as the videos gets viewers and show what terrible things that the IDF does.

So now that you get the picture, you might be thinking that there is no other way to report on such stories. Perhaps you might be right, but don’t you think the people deserve to know the circumstances? Or you might think that, well the IDF has censors on what can be reported and they only allow reporters in to a combat area when they say so. The answer to the first is yes. But those censors are not permitted to block publication on the basis of whether a report is favorable to Israel or not. They are only allowed to judge if the news releases sensitive or classified information to the public. And regarding the second, it is not true. Reporters are in battle zones regardless. It is only that the IDF cannot assure a reporter is out of danger unless the IDF provides the escort.

I hope that this helps you understand the reality of what happens here. Perhaps it was the same in Iraq, Afghanistan or any other conflict zone for that matter. But, it is my view that Israel and the IDF are under a non stop, unforgiving world microscope and judged in ways that no other nation has ever been scrutinized in the past, including the USA.