October 374, 2023, "The War"
My 277th post on The War
Today’s Image
Welcome to some of the craziness here in Israel. This photo was taken a year ago on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. What you are seeing is extremist secular residents of Tel Aviv tearing down an improvised Mechitsa in the middle of prayers at one of the main squares in Tel Aviv. A group of Orthodox Jews in Tel Aviv had been holding outdoor Yom Kippur prayer services for several years. Orthodox Jews separate men from women during prayers services often using a Mechitsa. This is an opaque wall/barrier that prevents men from seeing the women, and women from seeing the men during prayers. In some synagogues the Mechitsa is just thin wooden panels. In others it consists of thin pieces of wood. In some synagogues the women sit in balconies.
This group in Tel Aviv hosting the outdoor Yom Kippur prayers opens their services to anyone including secular Israelis who might wander in for a brief period and then leave. It never bothered anyone before. But last year, in the midst of the Judicial Reform protests centered in Tel Aviv something changed. And rather than let the Jews pray these rather violent protesters took the law into their own hands and disrupted services on the holiest day of the year.
In support of the rioters, the Mayor of Tel Aviv announced that no outdoor prayers will be permitted in Tel Aviv with a Mechitsa. So the group of orthodox appealed this ruling to the Supreme Court which earlier this week ruled that the Mayor was out of bounds and the outdoor prayers could proceed with a Mechitsa. The Mayor and much of Tel Aviv are secular.
But the Mayor has threatened to disrupt the prayer services. These prayers are done in a way that respects people who pass by, does not interfere with their ability to move around and is not particularly loud. In effect, they really don’t bother anyone other than those who are opposed to anyone observing the faith. Pretty sick, isn’t it?? Rather than finding a way to live and let live, the Mayor just finds ways to create differences within the population.
Casualties
No IDF casualties were reported today. But two civilians were killed in Kiryat Shmona by a Hezbollah rocket which landed near them while walking their dog. The distance from the Blue Line to the city is so short that sirens have no effect since they can’t detect the launch with enough time for civilians to take cover. Their names have not been made public yet.
Rockets & Missiles & Drones
One rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel today and was neutralized.
In just a short 5 minute period this evening Hezbollah launched about 90 rockets into Israel’s upper Galilee rejoin. Some light damage and wildfires were ignited. No injuries. One home in Tzfat was directly hit by a rocket. Earlier in the day a large barrage of rockets were fired into Israel’s Northern city of Kiryat Shmona. There was serious damage and 2 civilians out walking their dog were killed by the strike.
Earlier in the day a barrage of 40 rockets were launched towards Haifa. Five civilians were lightly injured during the course of the attack. There was also some damage but it is not clear yet how serious it might have been. The injuries resulted from shrapnel as nearly all the rockets were neutralized by aerial defense systems.
Lebanon Operations
This afternoon, after the deadly attack on Kiryat Shmona, IAF drones launched a series of attacks on the rocket installations operated by Hezbollah and used in the attack, destroying them. In the process, a Hezbollah company commander was killed.
Very early this morning, several Hezbollah drone storage facilities were destroyed by Israeli fighter jets. Prior to their launch civilians were notified. You can see video clips of the operation here on the IDF’s x.com channel.
Ground forces are continuing their offensive in Southern Lebanon. A third division has augmented the existing two operating there. It is being reported that the Hezbollah combatants are refraining from operating in the open with the tactic of trying to lure IDF troops into a building so they can ambush them. It worked once so far, last week, when it led to the deaths of 8 IDF soldiers in a single operation. But the IDF is adapting quickly. Today the ground troops uncovered a 7 meter deep bunker where many hundreds of AK-47s, ammunition, RPGs and anti-tank missiles were stored to be used in the land attack on Israel. In this article you can see just how large the Hezbollah arms storage facilities became and how they improvised the firing of mortars and rockets towards Israel.
In a strange turn of events, an Israeli reporter with dual citizenship (British and Israeli) was arrested after entering Beirut. Israeli entry into Lebanon is illegal by both Lebanese and Israeli law… and it is just plain stupid.
Gaza Operations
The IDF dropped leaflets in Gaza today saying in Arabic, “No tunnel is so deep that we cannot reach you, Sinwar, go ask Hassan Nasrallah”. I am not sure what this is supposed to accomplish. Perhaps they are hoping that this will cause more information to flow from Gaza sources on the whereabouts of the terrorist leader? Here you can see the leaflet showing Sinwar inside an hour glass suggesting that “the clock is ticking”.
It was reported today in The Wall Street Journal that soon after the assassination of Ismail Haniyen in Tehran, Yahya Sinwar issued orders to the Hamas forces in Judea/Samaria (West Bank) to unleash many terror attacks in Israel. That took place shortly before that machine gun attack on riders of Tel Aviv’s Light Rail last Wednesday. Six people were killed in that attack.
Last last week I reported on the successful operation to rescue a kidnapped Yazidi girl that was taken against her will into Gaza, forcibly married off to a muslim terrorist and held captive by his family. This article provides much of the background on how she was rescued and the Jewish Moroccan who was instrumental in getting her out and returned to her family in Iraq. It is almost like a 21st Century version of Oscar Schindler.
Syria/Iran/Jordan/Egypt/Iraq/Turkiye
It is reported that the Security Cabinet has met and determined the response to be directed at Iran after it sent about 180 ballistic missiles towards Israeli air space. By the way, some more information has come in regarding that attack. Apparently, in all there were 3 casualties from the attack. One Arab from Gaza who was staying in Jericho was killed. And two members of the IRGC were killed when the missiles blew up on the Iranian launch pads.
An Iranian proxy in Iraq launched a drone towards Israel that was intercepted by the IDF today.
IDF/Government
A terrorist attack was perpetrated in the coastal city of Hadera today by an Arab Israeli from the Israeli town of Umm al-Fahm. Eight people were stabbed by the terrorist before he was neutralized. All are hospitalized with two being in serious condition.
Media
The German media giant Bild announced today that around the time of Nasrallah’s assassination its Lebanese correspondent and his team were taken from their hotel rooms, handcuffed, blindfolded and transported to an undisclosed location. He was arrested and questioned over his appearance on an Israeli TV channel, reporting from Lebanon. Since then he has left the country so Bild can now make the affair public. Where was the Committee to Protect Journalists in all this???
International
Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Biden have not spoken in about 7 weeks. Given the dynamically changing events here this is disappointing. But, there is significant animosity between the two that I wrote about yesterday. Today, they are scheduled to hold a conference call with Vice President Harris in on the call. This article in Yediot Ahranot provides much of the background into this controversial and highly visible friction between the President Biden with Prime Minister Netanyahu and between Defense Minister Gallant with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced that they wish to host a conference starting on October 24 in Paris in support of Lebanon. As part of this announcement they released this statement:
France will recall through this conference the urgency of a cessation of hostilities and a diplomatic solution based on Security Council Resolution 1701 and allowing the safe return of displaced persons in Israel and Lebanon to their homes. The election of a president in Lebanon is the first step in restoring political institutions, and we support efforts in this direction.
This sounds well and good, but it is hard to trust the French these days. This is the position of Israel - Hezbollah moves north of the Litani River, all residents return to their homes and the Lebanese regain control of their country.
Russia has been relatively quiet since the ground offensive was launched into Lebanon. Their Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zahkarova, said to reporters today:
According to our assessments, Hezbollah, including the military wing, has not lost its chain of command and is demonstrating organization.
We haven’t hear from our good friend President for Life of Turkiye Tayyip Erdogan for some time. He likes to make a lot of noise and remain at the center of attention. While giving a speech at his political party faction meeting, he called us “the Zionist terrorist organization”.
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
Jordan Peterson hosted a series of interviews/discussions with former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Those of you following me for some time know that I am a fan of his, voting for his Party for the past 12 years. I encourage you to watch them. You can find them at these links:
“The Islamic Republic of Terror” - 1 hour, 45 min,
“Why Are So Many Against Israel” - 10 min
They were recorded in the past 48 hours so the discussion is fresh and relevant. As you might recall, I wrote about one week ago that our goal (you must have a goal before you can have a strategy) is to see Regime Change in Iran. And the strategy you deploy to achieve that goal is to do what is possible to weaken the tyrannical, hated Terrorist Regime and enable the civilian population to re-take their country.
And former Israeli Ambassador to the USA and Academic Historian, Michael Oren, wrote this analysis in The Atlantic describing how Israel should proceed with its offensive in Lebanon. You will note that this is what I have also been saying. Here the goal is to remove Hezbollah forces from Southern Lebanon and place the IDF there until a capable military force (hopefully Lebanese) can govern this area. No Israeli civilians permitted in the area.
And here is the first episode of The Free Press’s series “Hezbollah’s Hostages”. This first video in the series is called “The Combatant”. It documents the story of a young Lebanese Shi’ite Boy on his journey of indoctrination into the death cult of Hezbollah.
Finally, here is a shorter read from Ron Ben Yishai with an analysis/reaction to what appears to be Hezbollah’s leadership asking for a ceasefire that appeared in the Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Ahranot. It appears that they insist on a ceasefire before any serious discussions ensue. That is not going to happen as all it will lead to is Hezbollah re-arming. But, discussions while fighting is active is a real possibility.