It is Purim in Israel and it seems like we have been celebrating for nearly 3 days and it is not over yet. The photo above was taken during the annual huge puppet parade which takes place along Derech Aza in Jerusalem each year. The photo shown below is the image used by the Municipality of Jerusalem to promote the parade along with all the other celebrations taking place in Jerusalem tomorrow.
We will be attending the birthday party of a friend who is turning 60 in the afternoon tomorrow.
The story of Purim dates from the period of the Persian King Xerxes I. He was the fourth king in the Persian Achaemenid Empire ruling from about 486BC until 465BC. The first king in this dynasty, Cyrus the Great, overthrew the Babylonian Empire in about 540BC. He enables the Hebrews/Judaeans that were exiled when Nebuchadnezzar II after he had destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in 587BC. Cyrus the Great permitted them to return to Judea to re-establish the tempe during his reign. So at the time of the story of Purim, there were Jews living in Eretz Israel and in the diaspora, mostly Persia. In Jewish History, Xerxes is known as Ahasuerus. He is depicted as the invading Persian King in the movie The 300 which depicts the Spartan defense of Greece against the invading Persian Army.
I provide the historical context, in part, because the story is also integral to Persian History and is recorded in their history texts as well, although the outcome of the story is a bit different. While the stories are likely embellishments of actual events, the coincidence of the stories could not be an accident. Just to emphasize the point I turn you to this article which describes how the Iranian (the physical center of the Persian Empire) Jewish Community celebrates the holiday at the tomb of Mordechai and Esther in Iran. You can see photos of the event published here. Not only are the tombs of Mordechai and Esther located in Iran, but so is the tomb of the prophet Daniel. The tomb of the Prophet Jonah is located nearby in northern Iraq, but it was destroyed by ISIS.
Each year Jews are commanded to read Esther’s Megilla, the story of Purim. The day before Purim is a fast day. In short, the story tells of how one of Ahasuerus’s senior advisors, Haman, got the idea that he should have all the Jews in the kingdom killed because they did not show him the proper respect. Mordechai, a leading Jewish member of the community, presents his niece to the king in order to join his concubine. When Mordechai, the hero of the story, gets wind of what is going on, he and his niece Esther, plot the demise of Haman in order to save the Jews living in the kingdom. As in many other Jewish holidays it goes - they tried to kill us, we survived, now let’s eat. It is a fun holiday. It is not like Halloween since there is a lot of silliness and hard core drinking associated with the holiday. It is a combinations of fun, silliness, drinking, topsy-turvy and more. Associated with the holiday, Jews are supposed to provide gifts to neighbors and donations to favorite charities.
We went to the synagogue on Thursday evening dressed in modest costumes. Some people really took the time to create very sophisticated costumes. We read the story of Esther and then had a small meal at the synagogue afterwards. For the past week there have been many parties across Israel. Normally it is a 2 day holiday. Most of the country celebrates one day, which started Thursday night. But in walled cities like Jerusalem it is celebrated the second day - Shushan Purim. Ordinarily people celebrate outside Jerusalem the first night and come to Jerusalem to enjoy the festivities a second night. But because Erev Shushan Purim came on Erev Shabbat, the festivities were postponed by a day…
Hostage/Ceasefire Agreement
In last week’s post I described the US initiated and solo discussion that took place between Hamas officials and the designated hostage negotiator Adam Boehler in Doha, Qatar. Israel was not briefed on these discussions in advance. Boehler engaged with these Hamas officials as if he was negotiating some labor dispute between a union and company management. It seems that Boehler thought that he could apply the same principles used in such negotiations with a fanatical blood thirsty terrorist organization. But, he learned the hard way that such techniques do not work in such areas and he has been reassigned to some other job in the Trump Administration.
But the main US negotiator, Steve Witikoff, arrived recently in Doha and is engaged in trying to find a formula that can work for the two antagonists and the mediators. His recent proposal was a two month extension of the first phase of the Hostage/Ceasefire Agreement with a release of ½ of the living hostages in the first week and the remaining in the last week. During the two months massive amounts of aid would be sent to Gaza, Arab prisoners would be released from Israeli jails and negotiations would continue. This has been rejected by Hamas who demands that there be a total end to the current war. There is no discussion of “Peace” by Hamas because the word doesn’t exist in their vocabulary. They talk about a “Hudna”. That is an Arabic term which describes a temporary ceasefire used in order to re-arm to eventually vanquish your enemy. Israel cannot accept an outcome where Hamas remains either a governing power or a military power within Gaza. So, as I have said since the beginning, Hamas is not going to negotiate its own demise.
Protests intended to apply pressure to the government in order to secure the release of the hostages continue. The leaders of these protests contend that the priority for the country should be the return of the hostages. Then, as they say, eliminating Hamas can be left for another day. But there is a large fraction of the country arguing that Hamas is not going to release the hostages if they think that Israel will attack them in the near future. Polls are taken to assess how much of the country feels which way and they vary depending on how the questions are asked, recent events and the hostage testimonies that are being played non stop on Israeli TV and newspapers. Those insisting that the hostage release be secured at whatever the cost ranges between 50-60% depending on those elements.
Casualties
There have been no IDF or civilian casualties in the past 6 weeks.
Rockets & Missiles & Drones
There have been no aerial explosives directed at Israel for the past 7 weeks.
Yemen Front
The big news of the day is the large aerial operation launched by US Centcom forces against many Houthi positions in Yemen intending to eliminate some members of their leadership and much of their arsenal. Here is a link to Centcom’s web site. And here is a report on AP News web site. It looks pretty serious. Just to remind my readers, Saudi Arabia and UAE were engaged in a hot war with the Houthis in Yemen after they had struck various oil facilities in both countries. However, the Biden Administration demanded that both countries stop their war with the Houthi terrorists.
Lebanon Front
Israel is maintaining its 5 key positions along the Lebanese border. The Israeli Air Force is maintaining its freedom of action by ongoing targeted attacks on senior Hezbollah leaders, their smuggling operations and arms storage/manufacturing facilities. Last week, for example, the IAF assassinated Hassan Abbas Ez-Eldin, the Head of Hezbollah’s Aerial Array in the "Bader" Regional Unit. He commanded several platoons of rocket/missile launching units.
Then in what may become a more common phenomenon, Hezbollah fighters recently engaged in gun battles with contingents of the Syrian Army’s units or rebel units affiliated with the Syrian Army along the border between the two countries as reported here.
And in a very interesting turn of events, direct meetings have started for the first time between Israeli and Lebanese officials regarding the formal agreement on the borders between the two countries. There is some speculation that this could lead to Lebanon joining the Abraham Accords but I am skeptical. I think that Lebanon will wait to see what happens with Saudi Arabia. The current talks are being sponsored by both the USA and France. Resolving borders is a step in the right direction.
Syria Front
There are reports that the Provisional Syrian Government has reached agreements with the Kurdish forces in northwestern Syria in which the Kurds will integrate their forces within the Syrian Army in exchange for enabling the Kurds to maintain some level of autonomy so it could teach Kurdish and maintain their own culture. There are also discussions ongoing with the Druze Community mostly populated in Southern Syria. But it is not clear where these talks stand today.
Meanwhile, Israel has started supplying aid packaged by the Israeli Druze community for its brethren in Southern Syria. While it is not reported in the press, I have reason to believe that there are Israeli IDF forces in limited numbers stationed with the Druze Communities in Southern Syria in order to provide up to the minute intelligence on the real situation.
And the IDF maintains its operating principles of ensuring that no major military force emerges in Southern Syria as it continues to destroy, mostly from the air, of arms storage facilities in Southern Syria that were established by either rebel forces or Hezbollah/IRGC forces. Here are some videos of the results of strikes on some radar facilities in Southern Syria.
It turns out that must of the deadly fighting against the Alawites in Western Syria a week ago was the result of rebel factions affiliated with, but not a formal part of, the Provisional Syrian Army. For the time being the fighting seems to have subsided. But I would guess that it will re-emerge at some point.
Gaza Front
The IDF maintains its positions in the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egyptian border and the 800 meter non man’s land along the perimeter of Gaza. It acts, mostly using drones, on specific incidents when they are identified by reconnaissance. For example, yesterday the IDF struck and killed three terrorists attempted to set IEDs along the Netzarim corridor which the IDF evacuated. There have also been targeted attacks at the internal edge of the non mans land when the IDF spots attempts by Hamas to plant IEDs as well.
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
As always I highly recommend reading whatever Khaled Abu Toameh writes. Here he provides an analysis on how the West should deal with Iran.
And here is an unusual report on members of the Alawite community reaching out to Israel for help.
And here you can the incredible views of positions being held by the IDF on the Lebanese side of the Mt. Hermon, the highest peak in the Levant area - Syria, Lebanon, Israel. We have had a rather dry winter. Ordinarily Israelis will sky along the slopes of the mountain in the winter.
And here is a report from the Middle East Forum on demographic trends in the Middle East and parts of Europe amongst the muslim populations.