October 299, 2023, "The War"
My 224th post on The War
Today’s Image
This is a young comedian from the USA, Zach Fox. He went into Ramallah to hear first hand what the Arab residents thought about a variety of topics - Hamas, October 7, the Jews, Palestine, Israel, etc. You can watch his short video here.
Gaza Rockets
No rockets launched from Gaza crossed into Israel in the last 11 days. But, several rockets were misfired from within Gaza’s Humanitarian Zone and landed on an UNWRA School in nearby Khan Younis killing several people. I bet you didn’t find that in any of the news outlets in the West!! Israel’s COGAT coordinated with the World Health Organization the transportation of the injured to a nearby hospital. You can see a photo of the launch site and the nearby school here.
Casualties
One soldier died today (and several hospitalized) resulting from inhalation of toxic fumes while sleeping inside a building in Gaza: Staff Sgt. Noam Douek -19 (Z’’L). The fumes came from a generator they were using while asleep. And an Israeli officer - Cpt. Ariel Topaz -24 (Z’’L) succumbed to injuries sustained when a terrorist driving a truck struck him and three other soldiers inside Israel.
Gaza Operations
Operations are continuing in three main areas of Gaza now:
Khan Younis and the adjacent humanitarian zone that was recently evacuated and from where the rockets are being fired,
Rafah and
Netzarim corridor
In all three locations the focus has been on locating and destroying Hamas military infrastructure - armaments, armament storage facilities, tunnels, rocket launchers, etc.
Lebanon Operations
Late this afternoon Israeli fighter jets struck several Hezbollah operational buildings in the southern Lebanese villages of Altaroun and Ayta ash-sham. Earlier in the day Hezbollah launched several kamikaze drones into Israel. All were intercepted by Israeli defense systems, but the shrapnel ignited several fires in the north. Earlier in the day an IDF drone struck several Hezbollah combatants nearby a known rocket launching facility. The combatants and launcher were destroyed.
Today’s IDF fighter jet operations follow last nights attacks on more than 10 Hezbollah facilities in southern Lebanon.
Aid
Hostages/Ceasefire
The IDF recovered the bodies of five hostages that were previously declared dead: Ravid Katz - 51 (Z’’L), Oren Goldin - 33 (Z’’L), Maya Goren - 56.(Z’’L), Sgt. Kiril Brodski - 19 (Z’’L), and Staff Sgt. Tomer Yaakov Ahimas - 20 (Z’’L). All five were killed on October 7 and their bodies carried to Gaza. Troops found their bodies yesterday in a tunnel located in the Humanitarian Zone near Khan Younis where the IDF is currently active. The tunnel was some 20 meters underground and 200 meters long. They found the bodies as a result of questioning of captured Hamas combatants. Here you can see a video of the recovery operation and read more. It is important to note that the bodies were found inside a tunnel below the humanitarian zone designated by the IDF for the protection of the Gazan civilian population. I guess that Hamas found a dual purpose for the zone… Really sick!!
With regards to the intense negotiations going on, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the Qatari Foreign Minister met over the phone to discuss how to break through some issues holding up progress on the discussions.
Day After
As reported yesterday and three days ago, discussions about dealing with the “day after” are picking up pace on several fronts. Firstly, there was an announcement about the various Palestinian factions announcing some form of reconciliation. That means that they are trying to project some form of unity. But past history suggests that it will not last long…. Minister Ron Dermer was just in Abu Dhabi, UAE meeting with his counterpart to discuss the “day after”. One thing he heard was the preference by the Gulf States that Salam Fayyad be put in charge of a technocratic authority. I mentioned his name in a previous pst. Fayyad is a Jordanian-Palestinian economist who attended University in the USA and worked at the International Monetary Fund for a brief period. He is viewed as a transparent and non-corrupt senior figure. He was once the Prime Minister of the “State of Palestine” but removed because he interfered with the corrupt practices of Mahmoud Abbas and his party cronies. And now we are hearing from Mohammad Dahlan. Dahlan was a leader in Gaza loyal to the PLO before he was kicked out of Gaza by Hamas. He said today that he would only participate if the Palestinian Authority became truly democratic and was part of a package that created a Palestinian State. My guess is that these demands will eliminate him from being considered. He currently lives in the UAE. How he supports himself is anyone’s guess. But officials in the PLO seem to be very, very comfortable in life.
From what I can read in the Hebrew Press it appears that Israel has clearly comprised on several of its positions regarding the day after. It seems that Israel is now willing to accept a role for the Palestinian Authority in managing the Egyptian border crossing. Also, it seems that it deference to Egypt, Israel is willing to locate high tech equipment and IDF staff on the Egyptian side of the border in order to perform early detection of tunnel activity as well as manage the border crossing with Gaza.
Politics/Protests
Hostage families that jointed Prime Minister Netanyahu on his trip to Washington said today that the Prime Minister:
failed to present any new solutions or a new path forward
and, above all, he failed to commit to the hostage deal that is now on the table even though Israel’s senior defense and intelligence officials have called on him to do so
While I am no major supporter of the Prime Minister and believe that it has been time for him to step down (since 2012), I view their comments as totally unfair and unreasonable. You can’t expect the Prime Minister to be making statements publicly regarding very sensitive negotiations that are going on, in real time. Anything he would say would be interpreted by one side or another for shifting positions.
International
Those of you reading my posts know that I was critical of Prime Minister’s proposed speech to the joint session of Congress long before it was announced. I felt that such an action in a contentious election year in the USA would construe such a move as playing politics. BUT, I have to admit that I think I was wrong. Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered a set of very clear messages through this venue without showing any biases or mishaps against one political party over the other. With many of the Democratic Critics passing on the speech, the hall was left mostly with Congressional Representatives leaning to the support of Israel. Netanyahu is an excellent orator and it came through well… at least from this side of the Ocean. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was the worst speech by any foreign dignitary. But I view this as a case of “sour grapes”. She is much too busy orchestrating President Biden’s early retirement, behind the backs of the Democratic Party Primary voters to be concerned with what our Prime Minister has to say.
Today, the Prime Minister is meeting with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in separate 1:1 closed meetings.
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
Those of you following my posts for some time know that in my post of June 20th I spoke of four areas that were clearly exposed in the aftermath of October 7 that are risking the Western Civilization on which the longest and most prosperous period in human history is based:
The Corruption of Western Media News Reporting,
The “Buying” of Western Civilizations Finest Universities by Gulf States,
The Well Funded, Organized and Professional Organizations orchestrating these Pro-Hamas, Anti-Western protests/riots across the Western World,
The Corruption of United Nations Agencies and other International NGOs
Well today I draw your attention to this investigative report coming from Honest Reporting that documents a prominent journalist from that once bastion of independent/fair news reporting - CBS News (once the home of Walter Cronkite, and Edward R. Murrow). It documents one of their news producers playing an active role in Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, both terrorist organizations.
And here is an interesting video of a young journalist who ventured into Ramallah, asking local Arabs there their opinions on a variety of subjects. You should take the time to watch and listen.
The Zach Fox video is very disheartening.... but would anyone "on the street" really admit to the opposite views and risk backlash (or harm) from Hamas?? Still, the disinformation that has been part of the "education" of West Bank Palestinians is sadly very apparent.