Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
A Ceasefire, Maybe
War
Soldiers with Dog in Gaza
Soldiers in Mud in Gaza
Israeli Tank Along Lebanese Border
The war in Gaza drags on nearly into the third full month. So far 224 Israeli soldiers have died since the Israeli army went into Gaza on Oct 27,2023. 561 Israeli military and police personnel have died since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct 7, 2023. In that invasion, Hamas massacred 1200 Israelis and took over 240 hostage. 136 hostages are still held in Gaza.
The UN sent a special investigator to look into claims that Hamas raped Israeli women during the invasion. In the past, evidence of rape, beheadings and torching of women’s bodies was presented by the Army Spokesman’s office. Evidence was also shown of mutilation and beheadings of other Israelis including the elderly, children, and infants.
Israel’s rage at those atrocities is still driving public opinion. That and the gnawing terror of what the 136 hostages sill held by Hamas in Gaza endure. Assuming that most are still alive.
Three new immigrant soldiers in Gaza interviewed on Channel 12TV said their motivation was still high. Their goal was to free the hostages and wouldn’t quit until that was accomplished.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the Israeli media that Israel would stay in Gaza until the job was done. He also suggested that the IDF, Israel Defense Forces, take over administration of Gaza once the war is over so as not to leave a void that could be filled by Hamas. Gallant has said that he expects the war to last well into 2024.
According to the Ron Ben Yishai, Ynet’s veteran military correspondent, Israel has eliminated 17 out of 24 Hamas military battalions. The Hamas military structure has been shattered, according to the Army Spokesman’s office.
Still, Israel continues to fight in north Gaza but has concentrated efforts on the south, especially Khan Younis where the IDF suspects Hamas leader Yeheh Sinwar is hiding, using the hostages as human shields.
Israel has run up against the seemingly endless tunnels spread beneath Gaza. According to Bret Stevens writing in the New York Times, there are between 350-450- miles of tunnels beneath Gaza, an area that is only 25 miles long. By comparison, he wrote, London’s underground subway system was only 249 miles long. Hamas, he wrote, has turned Gaza into a gigantic military fortress to attack Israel.
The IDF is going through each tunnel, slowly, carefully, searching for booby-traps, before destroying the tunnel. Over 5700 tunnel openings have been found so far. But 80 percent of the tunnels have still not been destroyed.
Israel has also been destroying rockets and rocket manufacturing factories in Gaza, still on Tuesday Hamas managed to fire 11 rockets into the Tel Aviv region, the first time in nearly two months rockets were fired at Tel Aviv.
The IDF reported that a squad of soldiers was no more than 150 meters away from the spot where the rockets were fired. The site was raided, the terrorists killed, the rockets destroyed.
A furor developed this week when far-right National Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir organized a conference in Jerusalem to support a return of Israeli settlers to the Gaza strip area known as Gush Katif.
12 Ministers in the present coalition attended the conference as well as numerous coalition knesset members.
Israel withdrew from that area under then right-wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005, when the 21 Israeli settlements, essentially living within a heavily armed Israeli military installation in the Gaza Strip, were unilaterally dismantled and Israeli settlers and army evacuated from inside the Gaza Strip.
According to Gen. (ret.) Gideon Sheffer, former head of Israel Military intelligence, and other high positions, speaking on Reshet Bet radio, said that then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the withdrawal “because the cost we had to pay for security to protect everyone and keep them safe wasn’t right. And in my opinion it was the correct decision.”
Sheffer also said, “What would the world say? You didn’t reach a peace agreement, so why are you there? Where is this going?”
The USA, France and other countries came out strongly against resettling the area inside Gaza. But the issue is far from over.
Meanwhile, the government reportedly wants to return those thousands of Israelis who on Oct 7th fled the Jewish settlements along the border. The plan is to return these tens of thousands of residents by July 2024. But the evacuees have no intention of returning until they feel it would be safe to live along the border once again.
Lately, the idea of a “buffer zone” inside Gaza along the border has been floated by the Israeli government. The buffer zone would protect Israeli civilians. The IDF also plans to establish a heavy presence along the border to protect the settlements and prevent another invasion.
Ron Ben Yishai, writing in Ynetnews says, “The bottom line is this: the IDF is largely achieving its objectives, and now it’s up to the political echelon to step it up. The problem is Netanyahu is eager to stall, tiptoeing between Joe Biden and Itamar Ben-Gvir, not willing alienate either one. This, in turn, is making Israelis lose patience with him. The girls who have refused to enlist this week, that were slated to be IDF lookouts (along the Gaza border), is a clear sign the people are losing patience with Netanyahu and his perceived inability to make a concrete decision.”
According to the Times of Israel, US President Biden is pushing for a two-state solution and also for a demilitarized Palestinian state. One pundit quipped, “Good luck with that one.”
But rage continues among Israelis as news of the Hamas massacre continues to emerge. According to Ynetnews, Shari Mendes, a female reservist in the IDF rabbinate who helped identify women’s bodies in the Shura camp.
“Some of the women’s bodies, she says, were barely clothed, some with underwear soaked in blood. Mendes says her team wasn’t ready for the things they saw. “Women were shot many times in the face… Their mouths were in grimaces, their eyes were open, their fists were clenched”
“Our team saw women shot in the crotch, in the genitals. Women were shot in the breast… Our team saw this,” she said
Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten who is in Israel to prepare a report for the UN, called on the victims to “come forward, break the silence.” She received a mandate from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to collect evidence and information on sexual violence committed by Hamas in the massacre on October 7
UNRWA
Another furor broke out when Israel intelligence reported that at least 10 per cent of the UNRWA (United Nationals Relief Workers Agency) were active Hamas fighters. Some were proven to have been involved in the Oct 7th massacre of Israeli civilians along the Gaza border.
A Wall Street Journal report stated that ”… in addition to the 12 UNRWA staffers who allegedly directly took part in the October 7 terror onslaught, roughly 10% of UNRWA’s Gaza staff are either tied to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to Israeli intelligence.”
UNRWA reportedly fired 9 employees suspected of working with Hamas.
The US, England, Scotland, Finland, Italy, Austria and Sweden France, Canada, Japan, Germany and Australia have announced that they would temporarily suspend financial support to UNWRA.
However, a senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Times of Israel that Israel didn’t want funding for UNRWA to stop until after the war was over.
“If UNRWA ceases operating on the ground, this could cause a humanitarian catastrophe that would force Israel to halt its fighting against Hamas,” “
According to the Times of Israel, US State Department spokesman Matt Miller said, “Nonetheless… the US still supports UNRWA’s “critical” work providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
“There is no other humanitarian player in Gaza who can provide food and water and medicine to at the scale that UNRWA does,” he stressed, adding that this is why the US wants the UN to thoroughly and speedily conduct its investigation so that such conduct by agency employees can never happen again and so it can serving Palestinians in Gaza.
UNRWA is responsible for providing aid, education, food, and medical care to Gaza. However, Israel has long complained that UNRWA was a conduit for anti-Israel and anti-semitic propaganda.
The unnamed senior Israeli official argued that the latest allegations lend further credence to Israel’s mistrust of UNRWA after long-held assertions that it “perpetuates the refugee problem,” incites against Israel in its school system and allows its facilities to be used by Hamas for terror activity.
“We believe that in the long-term, UNRWA cannot be part of the solution and cannot be part of the “day after” Hamas,” the senior official added.
North
Israeli soldiers on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon
Hezbollah continues to attack Israel’s north with anti-tank rockets. Rockets hit the north on Thursday, striking at Metulla and other villages. According to Channel 12TV, nearly 500 homes in the north have been hit by rockets. And nearly 60,000 residents of the north have been evacuated.
According to CNN there are almost daily Israeli strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. And and almost daily Hezbollah strikes against Israeli targets.
Ron Ben Yishai, Ynet’s military correspondent, said,”the battle on the northern front is not even close to over. Israeli may be looking at months of skirmishes, but Hezbollah has shown some willingness to an American-Saudi-Egyptian-Qatari-French settlement that will provide Lebanon with some much-needed financial aid, but this is conditioned on a new Lebanese president that will not be hostile to Hezbollah, as Nasrallah is craving a puppet to control in the Lebanese government.
“The IDF can definitely chalk up some wins in the North, as they have forced Hezbollah to retreat its Radwan Force further away from the Israeli border, but Israel wants Resolution 1701 fully adopted, which means a demilitarized southern Lebanon.
“That is a sticking point Nasrallah isn’t budging on, and Israel’s northern residents are itching to go back home.”
According to the latest reports, Israel has upped the ante by targeting specific Hezbollah and IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) officials in both Lebanon and Syria. The messages to Iran are clear: “You can’t hide behind your regional proxies, and Hezbollah will continue paying the price as long as its forces are south of the Litani River.”
That said, an article in the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar newspaper estimated Hezbollah is equipped for war should the need arise. A Hezbollah spokesman said today that should Israel strike Hezbollah that Hezbollah would unleash a weapon of surprising potency.
Ben Yishai added, “Some estimate Hezbollah will jump the gun and land a preventative strike, believing Israel is poised to attack, which might not even be true, but at that point it wouldn’t even matter; The war would be on. Israeli security officials are very worried about this specific scenario and are having multiple discussions about it.”
CNN reports that a vocal lobby in Israel is pushingfor a wider war with Hezbollah after tens of thousands of Israelis fled their homes to avoid becoming targets of the Iranian proxy’s rockets.
The growing regional conflict now involves 10 countries: Jordan, Iran, Israel, Syria, Pakistan, the US, the UK; Iran’s proxies in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen; and four major terrorist groups: Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and ISIS.
Meanwhile, attacks on US troops stationed in Syria and Iraq have become targets of Iranian-backed militias. CNN quotes a US defense official as saying that US forces in Iraq and Syria have come under attack by armed drones and missiles at least 151 times since attacks began on October 17.
Three US soldiers were killed and more than 30 injured in a drone attack on the Jordanian/Syrian border last weekend. This was the first lethal attack on American targets in the Middle East since the October 7 assault on Israel by Hamas.
The US responded to the killing of the three American soldiers and eight injured by launching an air strike on Iranian militia targets in Syria.
According to a US defense official, the US strikes were carried out in two sites in western Iraq, including Al-Qa’im near the Syrian border, as well as Jurf al-Sakhar south of Baghdad.
The airstrikes killed up to seven Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah fighters, according to to US defense officials, who on Wednesday cited the US’ preliminary battle damage assessment.
The strikes also destroyed two headquarters buildings and an intelligence facility used by the Iran-backed militant group and associated groups, the officials said.
On Thursday, CBS news reported that US plans have been approved for multi-day strikes in Iraq and Syria against multiple targets, including Iranian personnel and facilities.
The media also reports that Iran has withdrawn Iran’s Revolutionary Guards officers and troops from Syria and Iraq fearing further US attacks.
According to the Times of Israel, a senior regional security official briefed by Tehran, said senior Iranian IRGC commanders had left Syria along with dozens of mid-ranking officers, describing it as a downsizing of the presence.
Not only the US is hitting Iranian-backed militias. Since December, alleged Israeli strikes have killed more than half a dozen of the IRGC members, among them one of the Guards’ top intelligence generals.
The IRGC arrived in Syria a decade ago to aid President Bashar Assad in the Syrian war.
According to the Times of Israel, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said that a war between Israel and Hezbollah is unlikely.
West Bank
Israeli special forces, dressed as medical personnel, women, and patients, snuck into a hospital in Jenin where three terrorists who were hiding and reportedly planning a terrorist attack in Israel. The terrorists were eliminated by the IDF special forces, known as the Mistarvim. (The hidden ones).
Ynetnews reported that Israel’s Chief of Staff Gen. Herzi Halevi said that Israel will not allow hospitals to become shelters for terrorists.
On Thursday, according to Ynetnews, a young Arab driver plowed into an IDF position just outside of Hebron. No soldiers were injured. The driver was ‘neutralized’ and arrested.
According to news reports, the Israeli military is concerned about a third front opening in the West Bank. The IDF has been carrying out raids in Jenin and other Arab cities arresting wanted terrorists all, according to pundits, to try to prevent Hamas and other terrorist groups from mounting a concerted attack on Israeli settlements spread around the west bank. Some small and very isolated.
Gen. (res.) Gideon Sheffer told Reshet Bet radio “I think that most of the settlements in the West Bank are at risk. They have no security.”
Another observer said he’d once had a long discussion with Ron Nachman, now deceased, the former mayor of Ariel, one of the largest settlements in the West Bank.
Ariel was first established in 1978 and its population was 19,647 in 2021, composed of veteran and young Israelis, English-speaking immigrants, and immigrants from the former Soviet Union, with an additional influx of above 10,000 students from Ariel University. It is the fourth largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
The late mayor reportedly said that he was against the lone hilltop settlements and was only in favor of large population blocks.
According to Wikipedia, There are over 100 Israeli illegal outposts in the West Bank, some with only a smattering of families living in caravans and hastily built homes. In total, over 450,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank. 220,000 Jewish residents live over the Green Line in Jerusalem in what are considered neighborhoods that are part of Jerusalem and Israel. Others consider them settlers residing in East Jerusalem
US President Biden on Thursday said that he would impose sanctions of settlers who committed acts of terror on Palestinians. The move was criticized by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotritch whose Jewish Home party represents the settler movement.
The Times of Israel reported that Smotrich accused US President Joe Biden of making common cause with antisemites and legitimizing attacks on Israeli settlers by putting fresh sanctions on Israeli extremists who attack West Bank Palestinians.
In a statement to reporters, Smotrich denied that settler violence is a problem, calling it a “lie spread by Israel’s enemies to slander settlers and pioneers and the settler movement and to harm them.”
“This is an immoral BDS campaign that turns victims into attackers and sanctions the spilling of settler blood. It’s too bad the Biden administration is cooperating with these actions,” the far-right minister adds.
Hostages
Gen (ret.) Gideon Sheffer told Israel radio, “First let’s get the hostages back. I’m not against the idea to remove Hamas. But how do we do that in a reasonable manner?
“Everyone in the world says they have a ‘suggestion’ but Hamas has to accept this because if not, the war continues. If getting the hostages back is impossible, then we have no choice but to continue the war.”
Meanwhile, reports that Hamas leader Haniyeh is in Cairo for negotiations. Israel and the USA have also sent representatives to negotiate a hostage release.
Ynetnews reports that the current proposal is that for every Israeli female soldier released Israel will release 150 Palestinian prisoners. Also, Israel will agree to a 35-day ceasefire and that one hostage will be released each day. Other terms mentioned is a six-week pause in the fighting during which time the sides would continue to negotiate until an agreement was reached to release all of the hostages.
However, there are a few hitches in the talks, according to one analyst. First, Hamas has listed at least half-a-dozen names of men with ‘blood on their hands.” One of those mentioned are Marwan Barghouti, who is serving multiple life sentences for organizing terrorist attacks that took hundreds of Israeli lives.
Barghouti is considered one of the candidates to replace 87-year-old Palestinian leader Mohammed Abbas. Others are equally considered as vicious terrorists who have been responsible for hundreds of Israeli civilian deaths.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would not agree to these Hamas demands. And ultra-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has said that he would withdraw from the coalition with his 8 Knesset seats if the deal goes through. This withdrawal would cause the government to fall.
Yair Lapid, of the Yesh Atid party, has said he would join Netanyahu’s coalition to provide a ‘safety net’ and keep the coalition in power if that’s what takes to get the hostage deal approved.
Negotiations are reportedly still ongoing.
Gen (ret.) Tomer Hyman, former head of military intelligence, told Channel 12TV that the negotiations would take time. “Hamas wants to drag out the negotiations. This is a psychological ploy to put pressure on the families of the hostages.”
Gen. Hyman said that the prisoner exchange is only part of the deal. There is also an increase in the aid trucks to Gaza that are to be included. He said that most of Israelis polled are against aid to Gaza, saying why should they get aid when they are holding hostages.
Hyman said that more aid will mean someone has to distribute it. Now that is Hamas, who take the aid for themselves and strengthens their political position.
Hyman said that something has to be done to control who passes out the aid. He thought either an Israeli military entity, or an indigenous Gaza entity. “If neither are found then Hamas will fill the void.”
As for the prisoners, he said “That’s a problem. But freeing the hostages is imperative. And if this brings about a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia, and keeps good relations with the US, perhaps it is worth it.”
Red Sea
According to CNN the Biden administration has a regional war on its hands in the Middle East and needs to change its strategy fast.
In the past four months, routine Houthi drone and missile strikes were launched in the Red Sea against commercial shipping and American warships, These attacks were followed by retaliatory US and UK strikes in Yemen against Houthi targets.
Politics
In a recent Channel 12TV poll, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party would only receive 18 Knesset seats should elections be held today. Gen (ret.) Benny Gantz’s National Unity party would receive 37 seats. The polls showed that Gantz’s coalition would garner 68 seats against Netanyahu’s coalition that would only receive 47 seats.
The polls also showed that 41% of those polled thought Gantz would be a good prime minster but only 29% thought Netanyahu would be a good Prime Minister. Should Netanyahu run against Gantz’s number two, Gen (ret.) Gadi Eisenkott, Netanyahu was only chosen by 24 % of those polled, whereas Eisenkott received 36% rating.
According to Channel 12TV’s political analyst Avraham Abramovtich, the recent polls showed that the public was ‘militant and activist. 93% were in favor of an investigation into the causes of the Oct 7th invasion by Hamas. Abramovitch said that the public seemed to be moving more to the center but was more militant. In his opinion the National Unity party under Gantz is essentially the new Likud.
The Israeli media also quoted organizers of the anti-Judicial Reform protests saying that the Judicial Reforms must be kept at bay at all costs. Should they move forward, said the organizer in an interview, “We’ll be back in the streets.”
Both Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkott, his second in the National Unity party, have said that if there aren’t new elections soon then protesters would return to the streets.
Anti-Semitism
According to the Jerusalem Post, Young Americans are turning against Israel, and that’s Israel’s fault, says New York Times columnist Ezra Klein. Is he right?
In a major January 27 op-ed, Klein pointed to a recent poll showing only 27% of Americans aged 18 to 29 – known as “Gen Z” – are more sympathetic to Israel than to the Palestinian Arabs, as compared to 63% of Americans who are 65 or older.
According to Klein,the real reason for hostility toward Israel among that Gen Z age bracket is their ignorance of the history and facts of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
“Israel is not to blame if many young people choose to base their views on misleading Instagram photos, biased college professors, and radical ideologies that falsely paint Israel as a “white supremacist” state.
“Those members of Gen Z who are marching for Hamas, or telling pollsters they oppose Israel, are driven by a variety of motives. For many, old-fashioned ignorance or personal factors, such as a desire to join a popular cause, may determine whether they march against Israel,
In Chicago, the city council passed a resolution condemning Israel for actions in Gaza.
A US Federal Judge said that Israel “plausibly torments genocide.” And South Africa has called on other countries to halt any funding to the IDF.
At The End
In Israel, at the end of the nightly news, on all of the stations, there are feature stories. Survivors relive how they hid from the murderers. Soldiers retell how they found survivors if they could and rescued them. Or finding dead and mutilated bodies. Stories of the brave soldiers turned civilians on the farms and kibbutzim who grabbed a weapon and went out to fight the terrorists. And how many died, heroes, but dead none-the-less, leaving families with small children. Stories that brought tears and chills and anger.
No wonder, then, that an overwhelming majority of Israelis supported the war in Gaza. Over 80 percent were against providing aid to the Gazans knowing that it was those Gazans who voted for Hamas and kept that terrorist group in power.
Israelis who wondered why the world took the side of Hamas. Wondered if the world had forgotten what the Allies did to the Germans during WWII. The German cities turned to rubble. And then there was the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki payback for the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. And bombs that probably ended the war. The world forgets those acts that the Allies committed all in the name of destroying evil from the world.
What is it that turns the world against Israel? Against the Jewish people? Not the whole world, of course. But enough to bring fright into Jewish homes around the world. Fright that those who hate Israel will transfer that hate to them.
Is there a solution? Is there a reason? One observer said that beneath the thin layer of civility humans are at core beasts. Why is it that the civilized see those protecting themselves as beasts and not those who are creating the terror? Pundits say that if Israel does not stop Hamas today the terrorists will only invade again tomorrow with blood in their eyes. At the end, Israel has no choice but to stop them any way they can. Or face another massacre.
Jerusalem Magazine 