Today’s Image
Meet Qaid Farhan al-Qadi. He is the one laying in bed being attended by a brother from his village and a Jewish doctor at Beersheba’s General Hospital - Soroka. What is so special about this photo? Firstly, until today al-Qadi has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7. Secondly, he was rescued this morning by IDF special forces during a special operation in a tunnel in southern Gaza. The IDF would not be more specific. He was found alone in the tunnel. It is presumed that his guards ran away when they heard the IDF troops coming. Thirdly, a devout Moslem Israeli citizen was rescued from Jihadi Moslem fanatics in Gaza by primarily Jewish Israeli special forces. Fourthly, he is being attended to by a Jewish Israeli resident doctor.
In Israel, there is nothing unusual about this. Rescuing the Moslem hostages was no less a priority than the Jewish hostages. Each day in Israeli hospitals all over the country, Jewish doctors are treating moslems, Moslem doctors are treating Jews, Christian doctors are treating moslems, etc., etc. Yet, you will hear all across the elite, Ivy League US based college campuses, beginning this week, not stop accusations about how Israel is an apartheid, racist state.
Yet, there are some who think this event is totally revolutionary. To this point, Amjad Taha, a leading analyst from the United Arab Emirates, was moved to see a picture of rescued hostage Qaid Farhan Al-Qadi in the hospital being treated by a Jewish doctor wearing a kippah. The picture you see above was shared by Taha on his X account to his followers, numbering more than 500,000. In his words…
First, in the Middle East, this is a moment for all to celebrate. Congratulations to Israel and to humanity. Second, this picture powerfully illustrates the reality: the so-called 'apartheid' Jewish state, where a Jewish doctor is treating a Muslim Arab who was held hostage by Hamas-ISIS Islamist terrorists in Gaza. Israel, this 'apartheid' state, dispatched 18 Jewish soldiers to rescue the Muslim Arab Bedouin and reunite him with his seven children…..
If you live in New York, Paris, or London, you might be confused because your media won’t show you this reality of the Middle East. Instead, go protest against McDonald’s burgers and Starbucks chai lattes.
It was a great day for Israel, all humanity and the world. In fact it has been a great few weeks recently. I am an eternal optimist (To live here you must be an optimist, have deep faith in G-d or both.) and moments like these give me hope for the future.
Gaza Rockets
No rockets fired from Gaza crossed into Israel in the past two days.
Casualties
No IDF casualties were reported in the past two days.
Gaza Operations
A few more comments regarding al-Qadi (age 52) and his rescue. From his hospital bed he was called by both President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Netanyahu. In his conversation with Herzog al-Qadi said this:
I am very grateful to the State of Israel, to the army…. People are suffering there, every minute… do everything to bring people home…. twenty four hours without sleep, people are suffering, you can’t imagine it. The IDF is doing holy work, risked their lives, did everything to rescue me.
In his conversation with the Prime Minister he had this to say:
Ahalan sahaln ya Bibi… (Prime Minister said he is happy to be speaking with him)… I am also happy, I waited for this moment, I swear, Abu Yair (Abu is Arabic for father. Netanyahu’s eldest son is named Yair.). Thank you for this work that got to a situation where I can see my family and be here. You did holy work, holy work you did. There are others (hostages) who are waiting…. I thank you very much and I invite you to visit, Abu Yair.
The IDF went searching the tunnel hoping to find living hostages, but did not know in advance that al-Qadi was there and alive. You can read more about the operation and related facts here. The IDF is keeping the location of the rescue a secret for the time being.
Lebanon Operations
This evening an Hezbollah kamikaze drone breached Israeli air space triggering sirens. It struck an area around the community of Beit Hillel, about 4 km from the border, injuring one IDF soldier. Earlier in the day an IDF drone fired a missile hitting an Hezbollah facility.
Syria/Iran/Jordan/Egypt/Iraq
US White House National Security Spokesperson, John Kirby, was interviewed on a major Israeli TV station this evening. In the interview he said that the US remains committed to defending Israeli in the event of an Iranian attack. He said that it is difficult to assess the chances of such an attack but the US takes Iranian threats seriously. He said:
We believe that they are still postured and poised to launch an attack should they want to do that, which is why we have that enhanced force posture in the region. Our messaging to Iran is consistent, has been and will stay consistent. One, don't do it. There's no reason to escalate this. There's no reason to potentially start some sort of all out regional war. And number two, we are going to be prepared to defend Israel if it comes to that.
It is my personal opinion that Iran will not attack Israel like it did in April but will try to assassinate a prominent Israeli diplomat either stationed abroad or while on a mission abroad. But what do I know??
Aid
Yesterday, 182 trucks transporting aid entered Gaza and unloaded their cargo in the staging areas. Aid organizations picked up about 96 trucks worth of aid for distribution, so aid is still accumulating at the staging areas and not being distributed.
Hostages/Ceasefire
The negotiation teams are heading to Doha, Qatar this week to continue discussions on the hostage/ceasefire deal.
Politics/Protests
In the ongoing conflict between the Supreme Court and the Minister of Justice in this government, today the High Court told the Justice Minister that he must convene the Knesset Judicial Committee within the legal framework in place for many years in order to vote in the Judicial Selection Committee. The Committee needs to convene in order to appoint two new Justices. The Minister is stalling as he wants to change the law on how Justices are appointed to the court. Today it consists of a committee that is made up a combination of leaders from the Israeli Bar Association, existing Supreme Court Justices and members of the government. It is probably best that we just change the government so we won’t have this problem….
Protestors today blocked two main traffic arteries in Tel Aviv, blocking rush hour traffic reaching several kilometers.
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
US Major (ret.) John Spencer recently wrote an article in Foreign Affairs describing how the IDF is winning on the ground in Gaza. But, he cautioned that unless there is a plan for constructing an administration in the day after, the victory could go to waste.
This article is authored by Khaled Abu Toameh a knowledgable and highly regarding Israel Arab Academic who has real insight into the Palestinian Politics and Society. Here he talks about the Jihad to Destroy Israel.
And here is a short read describing how one of the female hostages was being pushed to convert to Islam and how there were attempts by her captors in Gaza to extort money from her family.