Today’s Image
Today Hezbollah fired more than 30 rockets and several kamikaze drones. One of the drones struck this high rise residential building in the northern coastal city of Nahariya. No injuries but major damage was done to two apartments in the building. You can see a video of the impact to the building here.
Gaza Rockets
Yesterday two rockets were fired at the coastal city of Ashkelon from the northern part of Gaza. One rocket was intercepted and the other fell in the sea.
Casualties
There were no casualties reported by the IDF in the past 7 days. HOWEVER, today there was a terrorist shooting at the main border crossing with Jordan at the Allenby Bridge, the crosses the Jordan River. Three civilians working at the crossing were killed: Yohanan Shchori - 61 (Z’’L), Yuri Birnbaum - 65 (Z’’L) and Adrian Marcelo Podsmeser - 57 (Z’’L).
Gaza Operations
During a raid by infantry in the neighborhood of Zeitoun in Gaza City, a machine shop used to manufacture weapons and an adjacent tunnel were found and destroyed. During the operation dozens of terrorists were killed.
The IDF has informed residents of one northern Gaza community to evacuate. This is the area from which the two rockets were fired yesterday. It would seem that preparations are being made for a targeted operation there. You can read more here.
During operations in Gaza, IDF troops have detained several UN personnel inside a truck caravan. The UN agency claimed that they were transporting Polio vaccines. But no doctors nor vaccines were found on any of the trucks. The staff is suspected of hiding terrorists inside. All are being detained for questioning.
Lebanon Operations
This evening Hezbollah launched 3 kamikaze drones into Israel striking the border town of Shlomi, about 2 km from the Lebanese border. Two soldiers were injured in the attack. After the attack, Israeli artillery units fired into the structures from where the drones were launched.
Hezbollah fired more than 20 rockets into the northern coastal area of Israel, including the city of Nahariya, and into the northern city of Kiryat Shmona. Besides the damage in Nahariya noted in the photo above, there was damage in Kiryat Shmona.
Last night Israeli fighter jets struck several facilities belonging to Hezbollah including rocket launchers in the southern Lebanese towns of Kafr Kila, Taybeh, Hanine, and Yarine.
The IDF announced today that since the first unprovoked attack by Hezbollah into sovereign Israeli territory on October 8, 26 civilians have been killed by Hezbollah along with 20 IDF soldiers and reservists. Hezbollah claims that 433 members of its organization have been killed (the IDF thinks more) along with 78 terrorists from other organizations.
Yemen Operations
The Greek oil tanker Sounion is still on fire.
It has been 55 days since the IDF struck Yemen’s port of Al-Hodeidah, and without any missiles fired from Yemen towards Israel.
Syria/Iran/Jordan/Egypt/Iraq/Turkiye
Those of you who have been following me for awhile know that I had remarked on the ongoing efforts by Iran and its proxies to penetrate inside Jordan for the purpose of both destabilizing the Peacock Throne there as well as smuggle arms into Arab terrorists groups in Judea/Samaria (West Bank). Yesterday early morning a lone Jordanian Soldier drove a truck to the main border crossing between Jordan and Israel, the Allenby Bridge, then opened fire with an automatic rifle killing three Israelis. They are named in the casualty section above. Technically, Jordan and Israel are at peace. Israel provides (sells) Jordan both fresh drinking water and natural gas. The Jordanian clerics are granted supervision authority over the Temple Mount. This relationship is very asymmetric and totally unappreciated by both the Jordanian population as well as its government. Yesterday, after the murder of the three Israelis, many Jordanians living in Amman started congratulating each other and handing out sweets. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry waited 14 hours before issuing any comments on the bloody attack. They insist it was a lone assailant. After they said that they condemn violence they spent the next 90% of their statement castigating Israel. Like all good anti-semites, blaming the victim. There was not a single apology, statement of remorse, no corrective action, nothing from this Peacock Throne. Back in 1997 a Jordanian soldier opened fire killing 7 school girls visiting an Island near the Jordanian border. The King sat that time, King Hussein (Abdullah’s father) offered profuse apologies and insisted on visiting the families in their homes in Israel. In Jordanian school systems they are taught to hate Jews and Israel. You can read more here.
Today Israeli border police uncovered an attempt to smuggle 74 handguns into Judea/Samaria (West Bank) by terrorists at a different Jordanian border crossing near the southern city of Eilat. There have been many attempts to smuggle arms across that border. Some are caught but many are successful. IDF troops have been battling armed terrorists in various Arab villages in Samaria since the start of The War.
Members of the EU claim that they have intelligence that Iran has supplied ballistic missiles to Russia. I guess this concerns them. Just last week those same European Countries were pushing to resurrect the JCPOA deal on Iranian Nukes… What hypocrites!
Yesterday, reports came in from Syria of fighter jets striking an area near the Hama airport used by Iran for bringing in arms for Hezbollah. All together 15 missiles were fired from the fighter jets striking a “scientific research institute” and nearby military posts. I wonder how many scientific publications in Nature come out of that “institute”. According to reports, 18 Syrians were killed and many injured. You can read more here. Today, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said “We strongly condemn this criminal attack by the Zionist regime on Syrian soil.” Here you can see a video of the aftermath.
Last night, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp IRGC commander Hossein Salami stated that "the nightmare of Iran's inevitable response is shaking Israel day and night.” He added that Israeli leaders are in a state of imbalance and tension anticipating an Iranian response that will be “painful and different from what you expected.” I do not know which Israeli leaders he is talking about and I don’t see anything shaking here in Israel…
IDF
The US commander of CENTCOM,Gen. Michael Kurilla, arrived in Israel this morning. This is probably his fifth trip. I guess he likes falafel. But seriously, these meetings are important and productive. The emphasis of this trip is on the threats from Hezbollah and Iran. At the meeting the IDF’s Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin briefed Krill on the “IDF’s operational plans for Lebanon”. Sounds serious…
Aid
In less than a week 440,000 children in Gaza have been inoculated with the Polio vaccine. Aid organizations are now moving their operations to the northern half of Gaza in order to finish this operation.
COGAT reports that 208 aid trucks entered Gaza. Aid organizations picked up and distributed 164 trucks worth of aid, suggesting that aid is still accumulating inside Gaza awaiting distribution.
Hostages/Ceasefire
Today, Prime Minister Netanyahu visited a family that is in mourning for the loss of their son, an IDF reservist. He was taken hostage alive while he was off duty attending the Nova Music Festival. He was one of the six hostages recently murdered by Hamas. The family has not been participating in the demonstrations against the government and would likely consider itself in the center or center right of the political landscape. The brief conversation between the father and the Prime Minister was recorded without informed the two and somehow was released to the press. I think it worth quoting here:
Elhanan Danino (father of Ori Danino): You people on high have to stop dealing with nonsense and stirring up fights and disagreement. Without unity, we don’t deserve this country; there will be no rebuilding without this land. Shut your office for 10 minutes a day and think about where your Jewish values are. Shut it down, send everyone out, no phones, spend time alone with your creator and think, where is God in your picture, where are your Jewish values? This disaster happened because of the division and schisms. It’s as clear as the sun that’s what happened. Don’t spend time on petty and cheap politics and spin. There is no price on human life. You are a leader. You were elected, sent to lead. Clear away all the nonsense. Too many other things have gotten in…
Prime Minister Netanyahu: What things?
Danino: Stop dealing with gathering Knesset seats — with surveys, what will bring [support], what won’t. Stop it. I truly don’t know if there was a deal [to be done to save Ori and other hostages] or not. I’m not getting into that. But forgive me, sir, this all happened on your watch. My son was murdered in a tunnel that you built on your watch [by allowing funds and dual-use materials into Gaza]. Forgive me, forgive me. You’ve been in power for many years. Very many. The concrete and the dollars went in [to Gaza] on your watch. Shut yourself in a room and think about the Jewish value that you bring — not the Jewish identity of the State of Israel — we’ll control here, control there. In the end, the Holy One Blessed Be He does everything. Strong as we were before this, on Simchat Torah we got a slap unlike any other. A slap.
Netanyahu: I won’t tell you what goes on behind closed doors. It won’t interest you that much either… I was alone… Against the whole world. Facing the president of the United States and people here, and facing military elements here. To fight and to explain. It’s not only Hamas. It’s not only Hezbollah. It’s an atomic weapon they’ll drop here on all of us… I enter [my office] every day and ask myself, Why are you here? What am I here for? Why?
Danino: You didn’t do it [tackle Hamas] for 15 years…. 15 years you sat in silence. You did nothing.
Netanyahu: I didn’t sit in silence…
Danino: You equipped them with tunnels and dollars… Did you come here to listen or to be listened to? Because what you have to say we’ve heard for 15 years.
After this dialogue was posted, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying that he does not engage families with casualties or serious injuries in a conversation but goes to listen. During the exchange, Sara Netanyahu, the Prime Minister’s wife, accused Danino of saying things others told him to say. This is typical Sara Netanyahu.
Senior members of the Israeli negotiating team have briefed some of the hostage families in an unofficial context that there is little hope at this time for a hostage/ceasefire deal as Hamas is showing no interest and has raised the stakes for the imprisoned terrorists they demand be released as part of the deal. The Biden Administration is no longer sure what to do. To quote the officials from the negotiating team “We are waiting. The Americans are being cautious, they don’t want to put forward a deal that they know will be rejected by Hamas. They know that Hamas is the one putting obstacles in the way.”
National Unity leader Benny Gantz is in the USA now. Today he met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken telling him that there must be a way to increase pressure on Hamas to achieve a hostage/ceasefire deal. He also told Blinken that in the event a deal materializes, it is likely that the two extremist parties in the government will leave the coalition. He said that if that would happen his party would step in to get a majority to approve a deal. His may purpose in the visit was to speak at the Middle East - America Dialogue Summit. I describe the essence of his message at that forum below.
We are starting to get a glimpse of proposals being put forward by US mediators in how to deal with the Rafiah Border crossing in Gaza in order to placate Egypt. In this article, a system is described including Israeli built and monitored security cameras that can monitor what happens at the border crossing. While this provides the ability to monitor, who intercede when a problem is found??
Politics/Protests
The leader of the newly formed political party The Democrats, Yair Golan, has called on leaders of all the opposition parties to start convening in order to collaborate on how to bring down the current government and also form a “shadow government” like they do in the UK. The Democrats formed in the merger of the Labor and Meretz Parties, on the left and far left of the political spectrum. Golan is a former Major General in the IDF and was once a candidate for Chief of Staff. On October 7, be barged into the southern district’s Home Front Command and insisted that he be allowed to “re-enlist”. While packing just a hand gun he managed to save many attendees at the Nova Music Festival. While he is well respected in the country for his military service, his politics represent a small minority of the country. But, his initiative is likely to get positive responses from other leaders in the opposition. We will have to see how this plays out.
It has not been a good couple of days for Prime Minister Netanyahu. Today, his attorneys filed a petition in court demanding that the court intervene in an American produced/directed documentary being screened for the first time in Toronto, Canada, called “The Bibi Files”. The producer/director is Alex Gibney a previous Academy Award winner and well respected in the documentary film world. Footage of testimony recorded during one or more of the corruption trials that have entangled the Prime Minister in the past few years was somehow leaked to Gibney. Apparently it shows Netanyahu and his family in a very disfavorable light and the Prime Minister wants to contain the damage. The court turned down the Prime Minister’s request. Even if it hadn’t it is not sure what it could have done to stop the screening. One of the directors in the film is a Raviv Drucker, who is likely the one who leaked the footage. Whoever leaked the footage violated Israeli Law. In an interview in Variety Magazine, Gibney said “These recordings shed light on Netanyahu’s character in a way that is unprecedented and extraordinary. They are powerful evidence of his venal and corrupt character and how that led us to where we are at right now.”
Despite the fact that the Knesset is in recess for the summer, Knesset committees are meeting. One of the committees just approved an amendment to the 2024 budget allocating roughly 1B NIS (about $260M) for assistance to the families displaced in northern Israel due to Hezbollah’s bombardments and the communities in which they live.
In a rather bizarre incident, a 27 year old Tel Aviv woman is being charged in court for throwing sand, while at the beach, at National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. It was on Shabbat. I think that a most of the country probably considers her a “hero”. After throwing the ball of sand that hit Ben Gvir, she ran into the water and refused to come out despite demands by the police. She is now accused of assaulting a public servant. I just cannot believe that such an incident actually goes to court.
International
While speaking at a Middle East Forum in Washington, DC, Gantz said:
We have enough forces to deal with Gaza and we should concentrate on what is going on in the north. Iran and its proxies are the real issue. The time of the north has come and actually I think we are late on this. In Gaza, we have crossed a decisive point of the campaign. We can conduct anything we want in Gaza. We should seek to have a deal to get out our hostages but if we cannot in the coming time, a few days or few weeks, or whatever it is, we should go up north. The story of Hamas is old news. The story of Iran and its proxies all around the area and what they are trying to do is the real issue.
It is my view that this is a growing consensus within the IDF and the general public that this should be the focus… the north.
Gantz made these comments at the Middle East - America Dialogue Summit. This was the first time that both a representative from Saudi Arabia and from Israel were both in attendance. Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the USA, Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, a woman from the Royal Family was there. She took part in a panel alongside the Moroccan and Bahraini ambassadors to the USA. The content is restricted and not released to the public, but Israeli media reporters and analysts who attended called her speech “inspiring”.
At the same conference Gal Hirsch, Israel’s envoy for hostages and missing citizens, also spoke and updated the attendees on the negotiations. He said:
Hamas is not really negotiating. There is a facade of negotiations. We thought there was progress but unfortunately now there isn't. Hamas wants to exhaust us. From time to time, Sinwar sends instructions and then dozens of Hamas spokesmen say what they want and drive the families crazy. They are just trying to bide their time… Since December, Hamas is not really in the picture. In March they came for a few days to negotiations in Doha and then disappeared. There is a direct connection between the international pressure on Israel and the willingness of Hamas to be a part of negotiations. When they see that Israel is under huge pressure from our best ally or by the UN Security Council or by UN resolutions or by Great Britain they see there is no rush. They do not need to be in a hurry regarding negotiations because the hostages are their only assets.
He said that Hamas is trying to create the narrative that Israel is the one preventing a potential agreement.
But, this is a lie. We never intercepted or canceled the deal that was on the table. No, it did not happen. And of course, Hamas is studying and learning more about our society. And so they, they want very much to divide and turn off the Israeli society by using the hostage issue and they see what is happening in Israel. The war can be stopped tomorrow. Gaza can be restored. I'm telling you that we want all the hostages back home. Demilitarization, deradicalization. And I can even believe that we will agree to build safe passage, safe passage for them to leave the Gaza Strip.
On Thursday I reported the death of a US citizen of Turkish extraction, 26 year old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi. She was shot while attending a protest in an Arab village in Samaria (West Bank). She was a member of an organization called The International Solidarity Movement. This organization recruits young western men and women to come spend time in Judea/Samaria, often intentionally inserting themselves at the forefront of demonstrations thinking that IDF soldiers will refrain from firing if a Westerner is the most visible demonstrator. The IDF has a pending investigation into the incident. My guess is that an IDF soldier came under attack and mistakenly fired above the belt. But that is purely a guess. In any case, the young woman’s body was wrapped in a PLO Flag today, then paraded through the streets of Sh’chem (Nablus). Apparently there is a dispute over where Eygi will be buried. The Turkish Government is insisting she be buried in Turkiye and the USA is insisting she be buried in the USA. Don’t the parents have something to say about this???
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
In this Op-Ed in the UK’s Jewish Chronicle, Daniel Finkelstein analyzes Sinwar’s true motives regarding the hostages. I have been arguing since the beginning of this war, what he is saying now. And that is, as terrible as it sounds, the hostages are the only collateral that Hamas has in this conflict. And Sinwar knows that without them he is a dead man. So, while he may give up a few, in my opinion he will never give up most of them.
And you should read this… Ron Ben Yishai, a military correspondent I respect, wrote this analysis just this evening. Its title says a lot “The strikes in Syria are preparation for a major campaign in Lebanon”. I sense that the pace is picking up with respect to our northern border. With a stalemate over hostage negotiations, the Israeli population is just not going to wait…
In this article authored by Dr. Daniel Pipes, a friend, he describes the real origins of the Arab immigrants to British Palestine, now Israel. His conclusion, only a small fraction were actually indigenous. Most migrated from surrounding areas for the jobs and opportunities as Great Britain and then later Israel, actually invested in developing a land neglected for centuries by the Moslem conquerors and then the Ottomans.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-september-8-2024/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/638755
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/395677
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/395702
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/395743
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-818873
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/638755
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/395677
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-819055