October 265, 2023, "The War"

My 205th post on The War

Today’s Image

Today’s image is of two different Pepsi Logos used at bottle tops for its products in Lebanon. The one on the right is their traditional logo. Apparently they recently changed the logo to the one on the left. And for many Lebanese it appears to too closely resemble the Israeli flag for their tastes. On this web page you can view a video of angry Lebanese dumping their Pepsi products on the ground and into the sea. Seems pretty childish to me, but this is the Middle East and these are very important issues. I think that the Lebanese should take all their Pepsi products and dump them. For a bankrupt economy it seems like the right thing to do.

And here is the major irony of it all. Coca Cola no longer has a local bottler in Lebanon because its economy has imploded, leaving Pepsi as the sole Western soft drink vendor with an operating local bottler. You can find Coca Cola in Lebanon but it costs 3X what it should since the cans and bottles are imported. And here is the second major irony. During the period of the Arab Boycott of Israeli products starting from 1945 through about 1994 nearly all Arab countries conducted a “secondary” boycott of Israel. If a company manufactured a product in Israel or exported a product to Israel, then that company was placed under an economic boycott by all members of the Arab League. Prominent among these companies was Coca Cola which had a local bottler in Israel. Pepsi was adhering to the boycott and it was nearly impossible to find a Pepsi product inside Israel. On the converse, in most Arab countries you could not find Coca Cola products, only Pepsi products. The boycott was real and had a significant economic impact on Israel fro a long time. I know…. all very confusing. If you are interested in learning more about the Arab Boycott, Wikipedia does a good job providing historical context.

Gaza Rockets

Three rockets were fired this afternoon, crossing the border with Israel and landing in open fields. They were fire from the Gaza town of Nuseirat. I guess that the IDF did not find ALL the rocket launchers. This broke a two week streak without rockets.

Casualties

Today the IDF announced that two soldiers were killed in action in central Gaza: Sgt. first class (res.) Saadia Yaakov Dery - 27 (Z’’L) and Sgt. first class (res.) Omer Smadga - 25 (Z’’L). They were hit by a mortar while on patrol along the Netzarim Corridor. The total IDF casualty count stands at 664, of whom 312 have died since the onset of the Gaza ground incursion.

Gaza Operations

An IDF elite, special forces unit just finished conducting a special operation at one of Gaza’s largest universities. It was apparently being used by Hamas as a makeshift operational HQ. There were quite a few Hamas combatants holed up there, firing on them and other IDF troops, The combatants have been neutralized and many, many booby trapped facilities disabled. They also captured caches of weapons and barrels packed with explosives. Nearby, IDF forces have started expanding the Netzarim Corridor to offer better protection for the troops stationed along it. The fires there conducted a short operation in Al-Zahra, a neighborhood in Nuseirat where IDF troops found a weapons storage facility containing, RPGs, mortars and other armaments belonging to Hamas. There are arms stored everywhere in Gaza. About 50 terrorist combatants were killed as part of the operation.

Meantime, in Rafah IDF forces continue their operation. Gaza residents report that fighting is intense as they can hear the gunfire from the nearby humanitarian corridor. By now it appears that IDF forces can be found across the entire city. Tanks are deployed throughout the city. Fighting continues with close quarter combat as well as aerial strikes. Remember all those UN officials and governments declaring that “the sky is falling” should Israel enter Rafah??? Where are they now?

And in a rare operation, the IDF struck a site in the part of Khan Younis designated as a humanitarian zone from the air by a drone because it was used to launch rockets. No civilians were killed in the incident.

Lebanon Operations

Today was an unusually quiet day in the north.

But, on the subject of Lebanon you might find this article, translated from the Hebrew Media - Ma’ariv. The article describes the paranoia that has swept across Hezbollah rank and file as well as their Iranian counterparts helping in nearby Syria. Officers are being told not to sleep in the same place more than once. Not so sleep in cars. Not to use cell phones when passing between Hezbollah positions. According to Syrian Observatory For Human Rights, because of the repeated Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets, the terror organization abandoned the Syrian-Lebanese border area

And apparently even the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, now realizes that the IDF can reach him, even though he has been living more than 50 meters below the streets of Beirut for years, hiding from the IDF.

Aid

The US CENTCOM forces announced that the floating pier is operating and unloaded 600,000 kg of aid today.

By land more than 437 aid trucks transferred aid across the Gaza border, depositing them in the outdoor storage area. They are all arriving from either the Kerem Shalom or Erez border crossings. But aid from only 135 trucks was picked up by the NGO Aid organizations for internal distribution, leaving more aid accumulating inside Gaza.

Hostages/Ceasefire

The Foreign Minister of The Moslem Brotherhood State of Qatar announced today that there was some progress made in negotiations, but gaps remain.

Day After

Earlier today, Prime Minister Netanyahu was interviewed by the Washington DC based Punchbowl News Outlet. He was asked about his vision for the “day after” and this is how he replied:

I think we’re going to have to have sustained demilitarization, which can only be done by Israel against any resurgent terrorist effort…. But I think there has to be a civilian administration to administer not only the distribution of humanitarian aid but also civil administration. That has to be done, I think best done, with the cooperation of an inter-Arab sponsorship and assistance by Arab countries.

There needs to be some kind of de-radicalization process to teach Palestinians“a different future than the one of annihilating Israel and killing every Jew on the planet, as well as a reconstruction effort that would be led by the international community.

He is largely correct. And to date the Arab States declared that they would NOT participate in such an effort if Israel maintained a military presence and ability to enter Gaza simple/quickly. It is easy to understand their position, but anyone entering this type of role will quickly realize the necessity of the IDF to maintain the peace. Right now, as I reported yesterday, the UN Aid Agencies are threatening because they cannot distribute aid in an atmosphere of chaos.

Your can read more about the interview here.. In the interview he also addresses his recent statements about the slowdown in arms shipments from the USA. He argues that he has tried over the past several months to address the problem in closed meetings with officials in the Biden Administration, including President Biden. But felt that nothing was being done to address the problem, so he went public.

International

Armenia announced that it is recognizing Palestine. Hamas immediately took credit for the move.

And In Your Copious Spare Time…

• When General David Petraeus offers advice to Israel and the IDF, we should listen. Here is an excellent article he co-authored in Foreign Affairs.

• And here is something off the beaten track. Israel uncovered archaeological finds off its coast, in tact, dating back 3,000 years. It was reported in Al-Arabiya, the national news outlet of Saudi Arabia.