The photos posted today are of two Bar Mitzvahs that took place yesterday. The top picture is of Eitan Levinshtern while he was reading psalms in support of the hostages. Eitan’s father, Sgt. Major. (res.) Elisha Levinshtern (Z’’L) died in battle in Gaza during operations in December resulting from an anti-tank missile. That left Eitan an orphan. The second photo is of a second orphan completing his Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall Plaza. Each year the Chabad Organization hosts Bar Mitzvahs for orphans from all over the country. It is done near the birthdate of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. This year 121 orphan boys participated with support from the community for their B’nei Mitzvot. Mazal Tov to Eitan and all the others….
No rockets launched from Gaza reached Israel. No casualties were reported by the IDF resulting from operations in Gaza in the past nine days. Starting with my next post, I will start reporting IDF casualties/injuries from our war on the northern border as well.
The IDF wrapped up a ground operation in northern Gaza near the first town that they entered back in early November - Beit Hanoun. Last week the IDF received intelligence that operatives from Hamas were congregating there in an effort to reconstitute some of their forces. The terrorists were using two UNRWA school facilities with underground tunnels to try to reassemble. The IDF infantry entered the area, after alerting the civilians there to evacuate and then neutralized remaining terrorists and blew up the tunnel shafts. Some of the terrorists escaped with the civilians and some were arrested. In unrelated operations the IAF struck several terrorist positions, booby trapped buildings and rocket launchers in central Gaza. Here is a short article and video describing the operation.
IAF jet fight jets struck in north eastern Lebanon this afternoon. You can see an image of the blast here . As you can see in the photo, the sun is on the horizon as it was taken looking West towards the sea from a nearby road. Earlier today, a kamikaze drone struck dispatched by Hezbollah struck the northern Israeli Arab town of Arab al-Aramshe. In the strike, four civilians and fourteen soldiers were injured. Of the fourteen IDF soldiers, one is in critical condition and five are in serious condition. You can see a video of the strike here. After the attack the IDF struck the buildings from where the rockets were fired. I expect that tomorrow we will see an uptick in IAF attacks on Hezbollah positions. This morning the IAF fighter jets destroyed several Hezbollah military facilities in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli cabinet approved today a five year plan with a budget of $1B per year to strengthen and rehabilitate the towns, villages and kibbutzim that were hit during the October 7, 2023 strike. Included in the budget are the rehabilitation of nearby farmland and open space that was destroyed due to military vehicles using the area for staging.
The Foreign Ministers of the UK and Germany arrived today, visited with President Herzog and then separately met with Prime Minister Netanyahu. They walked away understanding that Israel will strike Iran at a time and place of its choosing. Both issued their warnings that Israel should avoid any escalation… as if 320 missiles attacking a country is not an escalation?? Also British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke by phone with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Everyone has advise to give us, most of which involves not responding to the Iranian Missile attack. I guess that Great Britain should have just “sucked it up” when the Nazis bombarded London during the Battle of Britain???
Nonetheless, even just the threat of attacking Iranian assets is having the desired effect. Here is a report from the Wall Street Journal describing how Iran And Hezbollah are withdrawing senior officers from Syria for fear that Israel will attack them. Again, I say… let them sweat for a while before attacking. If you can’t read that because it is behind a pay wall, you can read a summary here .
Today the University of Haifa appointed the first Arab rector at an Israeli University - Professor Mouna Maroun, a neuroscientist and expert in post-trauma stress disorder. Maroun is a Maronite Christian from the Mount Carmel village of Isfiya. The current rector is being promoted to president of the University.
The surviving residents of Kibbutz Be’eri close to the Gaza border announced that they will be holding a Passover Seder in what has become known as Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. The holiday of Passover starts this coming Monday evening and will last for a week.
Turkiye President for Life Tayyip Erdogan met with Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas in Ankara, the capital of Turkiye. In his own words, Erdogan said he was happy to host the leader of the Palestinian cause…
While we are on the subject of Ismail Haniyeh, you may recall that two weeks ago I reported on the arrest of his sister in Israel for aiding and abetting terrorism. Well today our government run National Insurance Agency announced that they are denying her requests to receive a social security pension. What a shame!! I think that the UN Security Council needs to hold an emergency session to condemn those nazi Israelis for denying her un-earned pension…. NOT.
Iran hosted parades and celebrations today praising its glorious and successful attack against Israel. Their president, Ebrahim Raisi proclaimed that the victorious Iranian forces “brought down the glory of the Zionist regime”. And in that same speech he announced that Iran would respond with “enormous” power should the Zionist regime attack. Meanwhile his citizens seem to be encouraging the “Zionist Regime” to attack the Jihadi Islamic Republic. Take a look here and here and here and here .
The UN Security Council will be voting today or tomorrow on a resolution recognizing a “Palestinian State”. At this time it is not certain what will happen.
And here is an article I recommend from one of my favorite military analysts here in Israel - Ron Ben Yishai . In his words, Israel should take his time in attacking Iran and make them sweat a while first. I love it, GREAT MINDS think alike… He recommends focusing on targets that can destabilize the Jihadi Regime.