Today’s Image
Today’s image is of the Annual Jerusalem Gay Parade that took place on Thursday afternoon. Police shut down much of the center of the city making it difficult get around the city. Each year both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem have separate gay parades. The one in Tel Aviv ordinarily is very large and attracts visitors from other parts of the world. This year the parade in Tel Aviv was cancelled for reasons that are not clear. But Jerusalem went on with its parade which has presented difficulties in the past due to the more religiously observant population in the city. All this being said, the parade went on this year without any issues. How many Gay Parades have been hosted in Gaza City, do you think? Any guesses??? If you said zero you would be right. Gays are executed in both Gaza and the Arab sections of Judea/Samaria (West Bank). That fact resulted in this image being circulated on social media sites here in Israel during the riots and encampments across US University Campuses.
Hamas Gaza Rockets
No rockets launched from Gaza crossed into Israel in the past four days.
Casualties
The IDF announced two casualties today, Sgt. First Class (res.) Adar Gavriel - 24 (Z’’L) and Sgt. Yehonatan Elias - 20 (Z’’L). Gavriel was killed during a battle with Hamas combatants in Jabaliya on the last day of operations there. Elias died when an anti-tank missile fired by Hamas hit is unit during operations in Rafah. Yesterday, two IDF soldiers were killed near Shechem, a major city in Samaria (West Bank): Staff Sgt. Eliya Hilel - 20 (Z’’L) and Staff Sgt. Diego Shvisha Harsaj - 20 (Z’’L). During a roadside check on passing cars an Arab waiting in line accelerated his car, aiming it at the two and hit them head on. Also, yesterday the IDF reported the death of Staff Sgt. Yedidya Azouri - 21, who died in Jabaliya battle.
Gaza Operations
On Wednesday, I prematurely announced that the IDF has concluded its major sweep operation in Jabaliya. I was wrong, it announced that effective today it has ended the operation… until next time. According to the IDF, after the IDF left the area in its previous operations Hamas turned Jabaliya’s civilian infrastructure - schools, mosques, clinics - into a fortified combat complex. The fighting there was among the most intense of the war so far. More than 120 anti-tank missiles were fired at IDF infantry troops. Booby trapped explosives were planted in virtually each home. Soldiers would use special equipment to enter a home by knocking a large hole into the side of the wall. Entering through the front door or a window would almost always trigger an explosive. The IDF has confirmed 350 combatants killed, but overall estimates that 500-600 were actually killed in the operation. When you blow up buildings, burying the dead under the rubble, you don’t always know how many were inside. Many hundreds of weapons were found including RPGs, machine guns, IEDs and explosives. They also uncovered several rocket manufacturing sites (basically a machine shop) and many rocket launchers. All these arms were either destroyed or captured. Underground the IDF destroyed more than 12 km (7 mi) of tunnels. It was in these tunnels that the IDF troops recovered the bodies of 7 dead hostages. Altogether, the IDF mission in Jabaliya lasted 20 days.
And operations continue to expand in Rafah with troops and tanks entering the central part of the mostly evacuated city, focused on specific missions and what are being called precise targeting. All along the border with Egypt and the eastern part of the city, the troops are finding many, many long range rocket launchers and large amounts of rockets. They are finding weapons depots and are encountering many combatants operating as cells. Here you can read and see more about what is going on in Rafah. In the videos you can see precision munitions like that used in the assassinations of the two senior Hamas commanders last Sunday night. As you can see they destroy a building without any harm to an adjacent building. But, in the Sunday night attack there was either a large hidden armament storage facility or fuel storage facility nearby that triggered rampant fires.
So far the IDF has located 20 tunnels crossing the Gaza-Egyptian border used for smuggling. More than 82 shafts used to enter the tunnels were also located. It occurs to me that it will be “tricky” how the IDF chooses to destroy these tunnels as it needs to be coordinated with the Egyptian Army. But, parts of the Egyptian Army were clearly complicit in cooperating with the smuggling going on in the tunnels.
Lebanon Operations
Over the night IDF fighter jets conducted strikes, blowing up four buildings in the southern Lebanese villages of Aitaroun and Markaba. The buildings housed Hezbollah missile launching facilities. Two kamikaze drones launched by Hezbollah this morning made it past IDF defenses without triggering the sirens, exploding in open fields on the Golan Heights. The IDF is now investigating how they were able to make it past the alert system. Previously this morning, the a different Hezbollah drone landed near the Israeli town of Metula, but the early warning system worked as intended.
Yemen Operations
The US and UK air forces conducted strikes inside Yemen on Houthi targets in the area of the port of Salif. Altogether the raid hit 13 targets in the Houthi controlled area. According to the Houthis, 16 people were killed and 41 wounded. It is not known how many civilians vs. combatants were killed. In response the Houthis launched a missile attack in the US aircraft carrier Eisenhower deployed in the Red Sea.
Aid
During a press conference in Prague, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today that the “humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire”. On Wednesday 354 aid trucks entered Gaza and yesterday 335. As of today there are more than 50 field hospitals in full operation. So it is hard to substantiate Blinken’s claims as these levels of aid trucks is more than the average daily loads entering Gaza before the war. Moreover, there are many photos and videos emerging on social media here in Israel showing Gazans roaming goats over fires and loads of bread being distributed. I believe that Blinken is just using this in order to put pressure on both Israel and Egypt. Based on all the information I see and read, there is no general humanitarian aid crisis in Gaza, although it is certainly possible that certain isolated communities are suffering.
Likely because of pressure from Secretary Blinken, Egypt and Israel are now engaged in discussions, together with the USA, on how to re-open the Rafah border crossing for aid.
Hostages/Ceasefire
A senior member of the Israeli negotiating team, in an article in one of the leading Israeli newspapers, stated that Hamas is delusional while it continues to insist that no hostages will be released until there is a permanent ceasefire. According to him
It won’t happen. Israel is fighting in Gaza, it will continue to fight in Gaza with all its strength, and if they want a truce for the benefit of Gaza’s residents it must only be through negotiating the release of hostages.
Yesterday, Thursday, Israel’s National Security Advisor, Tzachi Hanegby, met with the families of the hostages. When questioned about the state of negotiations, according to reports of the meeting, he told them that things were not looking good at the moment. He said that the government would not consider a permanent ceasefire, which is the ongoing demand of Hamas, even if that meant getting all the remaining living hostages. He said the government was hoping to come to an agreement on a temporary ceasefire in exchange for a release of many of the living hostages, but was not sure that this would happen due to Hamas’ position which continues to harden based on the ongoing, encouraging news they receive by virtue of countries recognizing a Palestinian state, UN resolutions and worldwide demonstrations. Several of the parents of these families left the meeting in tears and were upset. Today, in response one of the attendees said, during an interview, that the government would only bring back their loved ones if it would politically benefit them.
While certainly the families are justified to be upset and angry with this news. But, from my view, it is about time that someone in the government took the courage to tell these families the truth rather than leading them on with fake hopes. The government must take into account the welfare of the country and its citizens. Those residents of the towns and settlements surrounding Gaza cannot accept Hamas remaining in power, threatening another October 7. How is coming to a permanent ceasefire, leaving Hamas in power, help them live in peace? How about all those families of soldiers that have died fighting Hamas on October 7 and after?? These families of hostages have a right to be mad, but they also have a right to know the truth…
International
Yesterday, Prime Minister Netanyahu committed a faux pax when he showed a map of North Africa in which the Western Sahara was an independent country, not a part of Morocco. This happened during the course of an interview on French TV. As part of the Treaty signed with Morocco, Israel committed to recognize this region as an integral part of Morocco. There is an insurgency in the Western Sahara led by the Algerian supported Polisario Front seeking international recognition. Today, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a formal apology. Here you can see the map and more details.
Israel’s Foreign Minister issued an order that imposes restrictions on Spain’s consulate in Jerusalem. Spain now recognizes a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, but it does not recognize West Jerusalem, or any part of Jerusalem, as the capital of Israel. So this consulate serves Arab residents of Judea/Samaria (West Bank). The order from the Foreign Ministry now blocks this consulate from engaging in activities in support of this populations. It appears now that the Spanish Government is upset. “Surprise, Surprise!!” What did they expect???
Today, the French Defense Ministry announced that it will not permit Israeli companies to host a booth at the Eurosatory Arms Fair. The published reasons are that France insists that Israel cease its operations in Gaza and Israel will not. I think that the French are worried that Israeli companies will “steal all the thunder” and recognition at the show.
Yesterday, Slovenia announced that it would recognize a Palestinian state.
Politics/Protests
The National Unity Party, led by Benny Gantz, submitted a bill to parliament to dissolve the government/parliament. Gantz is a Minister in the War Cabinet and joined the government in a gesture of national unity in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack. One and a half weeks ago he issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Netanyahu to respond to eight demands regarding the conduct of the war and its aftermath. He gave the Prime Minister a June 8 deadline. It appears that he is moving up the schedule.
In Your Copious Spare Time…
Today seems to be the day for surveys. Here is one taken by Pew Research of the views of Israelis on the War. When asked about the response of the IDF to the October 7 attack, 34% of Israelis responded saying the response was not strong enough, 34% saying it was about right and 19% claiming it was excessive. Bear in mind that the Arab population in the country is about 19%, matching that last category. Also, when asked about ⅔ of the country’s population believes that the country will achieve the key goals in the fight against Hamas. I leave it to you to read the rest.
And here is a translated article from the Hebrew Press extracting out statistics from the Pew Study. What I found interesting is that among the leaders comprising the War Cabinet, 61% of the Israeli population views Defense Minister Gallant as doing a good job in the conduct of the war. This drops to 51% for Minister Benny Gantz from the National Unity Party and drops even more for Prime Minsister Netanyahu who is viewed positively by less than 42% of the population in the conduct of the war. I am not at all surprised by these statistics.