Globalization of Terror
War in Israel Day 402
War
Rocket lands in a car in Rannana
The IDF is still deeply engaged in fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon.
And heavy Hezbollah rocket barrages fell in both central and northern Israel.
Meanwhile, IDF chief of staff Herzi HaLevi said the military must prepare to expand Lebanon ground op. This as IDF fighter jets continue to strike targets in Lebanon including southern Beirut
A week or so ago IDF Chief-of-Staff, Gen. Herzi HaLevi, gave a TV interview and said that Israel had accomplished enough of her goals in Gaza and Lebanon to negotiate a release of the hostages in exchange for ending the war.
Earlier in the week PM Netanyahu fired Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.
Pundits point out that Gallant was one of the few in favor of ending the war to get the hostages back in opposition to Bibi's stance of keeping the fighting going. Bibi's reason, according to most observers, is that as long as the war goes on he has a good excuse to tell the court he can't show up for his trial.
Commentators on Israel TV’s Channel 12TV said Bibi is using the ultra-nationalists like Ben Gvir and Smotritch as a smoke screen while he pursues the goal of annexing parts of Gaza again, resettling what had been left in 2006, building more settlements in the West Bank, deporting Palestinians or pushing them from their lands, and unintentionally turning Israel into a pariah state.
Observers say that Netanyahu has filled his cabinet with yes men. Some, like Justice Minister Levine, are possessed with the idea of Judicial Reform. The outcome of this reform, for Netanyahu, would be writing and passing laws that would allow him to dismiss the charges against him and end his trial for multiple felonies.
Recent polls aired Thursday night on both Channel 12 & 13, showed that if elections would be held today Bibi's coalition would only garner 47 seats out of 120 with the opposition parties garnering between 64-68 seats, depending if Bennet comes out of retirement.
According to observers, the entire current fiasco centers around Bibi agreeing to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties’ demand to cancel the draft law. Gallant was in favor of the law. The IDF, according to Chief-of-Staff HaLevi, is badly in need of soldiers. Those fighting today have been on the front lines for between 200-300 days. One caustic observer said that these soldiers need reserves to relieve them “but there ain't none.”
Drafting the Haredim would help provide some relief.
One observer wrote of a family whose son, married with three children, had served 200 days in Gaza and was just called up again for another 60 days this time to fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The observer asks, “How many times can this happen before guys are gonna say, 'I've had enough.’"
Also, there's a bill before the Knesset to provide continued monetary support for Haredi families to help pay for their children's kindergarten and school fees.
The Attorney General, who Netanyahu wants to fire, says the bill is illegal since the Haredim don't serve in the army and therefore are not eligible for child support. One critic says that Gallant was fired because he also opposed this bill and planned to vote against it. Ultimately, wrote the critic, the vote was postponed. Gallant was fired.
A commentator on Channel12 TV said that Goldknoff, the head of the United Torah Judaism, a Haredi party, essentially was behind the dismissal of Gallant.
So far, 782 soldiers and security services have been killed in the war.
Gaza
IDF troops in Gaza
Over 370 soldiers have died so far in Gaza alone
The IDF has returned to northern Gaza to fight Hamas terrorists that are still lingering in the area. The IDF has also returned to fight in the Jabaliya refugee camp.
There are reports that the IDF has been shepherding Gaza residents out of the north towards Rafah in the south. Some discussions have been taking place over Gen (ret.) Giora Eiland’s proposal to set up a protected humanitarian corridor allowing Gazans to leave the north of Gaza for the south without being stopped by Hamas who uses them as human shields.
Eiland’s plan is to then cut off supplies and facilities, like water and electricity and shipments of food, to the north. Eiland claims this tactic is legal according to International law.
Eiland says will force Hamas terrorists to either surrender or starve, Critics have said that this ‘siege’ tactic is inhumane. So far, the tactic has not been implemented.
And on Saturday, according to Ynetnews, due to US pressure, Qatar has told Hamas officials in Doha to leave the country. However, Hamas officials say that the report is not true.
Ohad Hemo, Arab affairs correspondent for Channel 12TV said this is not the first time Qatar has asked Hamas to leave the country. He doubts that they will this time, either.
The US has also threatened to cut off military supplies to Israel should humanitarian aid not be increased to Gaza’s residents. US Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter, along with Sec. of State Anthony Blinken, that Israel had 30 days to provide humanitarian aid to Gazans or there will be a decrease in military supplies to Israel. Yaron Avraham, Channel 12TV political reporter, said that the letter had been sent 30 days ago, and the deadline to implement he humanitarian aid has passed.
Avraham also reported that newly appointed Minister of Defense Yisrael Katz, explained to Austin that aid was indeed being sent into Gaza but it was hijacked by Hamas and criminal gangs.
North
Rocket fragments in Herzliya, Israel
According to Ynetnews, Hezbollah continued to target Israel's north on Saturday firing dozens of rockets at vast areas of the Galilee and the Haifa Bay area including Acre and Haifa and Tiberias, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
During the week Hezbollah continued to fire hundreds of rockets at Israel’s north, raining down on Israeli cities, towns and villages from the beach-side resort of Naharyia, all across the upper Galilee and the Golan, and even falling in the Haifa area.
Most of the rockets have been downed by Iron Dome defenses or landed in open areas. But some of the rockets landed near civilians. Sivan Sade, 18, was killed by shrapnel while working in the fields of Kibbutz Kfar Masaryk.
The missiles aimed at the center of Israel were reportedly fired from Iraq. Shrapnel fell in Ben Gurion Airport. And a missile lodged itself into a car in Raanana, near Tel Aviv.
These attacks send hundreds of thousands of Israelis scurrying to bomb shelters. Reportedly, in the north and center of the country when entering a shopping mall, Israelis now ask the security guards the way to the nearest shelter should the sirens sound.
Lebanese troops on beach where Israeli commandos landed
In a four minute raid on a Lebanese coastal town of Batroun, 55 kilometers from Beirut, the crack IDF Shayetet 13 commandos snatched a Hezbollah Naval commander Imad Ahmaz, apparently from his home.
Hezbollah has used the sea effectively to transport weapons and supplies as well as to prepare small attack boats. Observers say that the capture of Ahmaz may give Israel information about Hezbollah’s naval strategy and shipments of weapons. As well as providing Israeli interrogators with information of the locations other Hezbollah officials.
According to reports, Hezbollah’s strategy, under Iranian instruction, is to overload Israel’s air defenses with a barrage of missiles mixed in with low-flying drones, to confuse Israel’s defenses while the Hezbollah missiles and drones reach their targets.
And Israel is considering a ceasefire in the north before the UN security council meets to call formally for a ceasefire. The issue is currently under discussion in Israel.
West Bank
Weapons found in IDF raids in West Bank
The fighting goes on in the West Bank. Since Oct 7, 2023 the police have arrested 5250 suspected terrorists with 2050 Hamas terrorists among them.
Police and the IDF and Shin Bet security services have been fighting a near daily battle with terrorists mainly in the Tul Karem area.
41 Soldiers and security officers have been killed in the West Bank since Oct 7th.
Before his dismissal as Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant said it was apparent that Iran was trying to use terrorists in the West Bank as proxies.
Hostages
Hostage Families Protest in Tel Aviv
Hostages have been held in Gaza for 400 days. And counting. IDF says that Hamas shows no signs of being willing to accept a cease-fire or release of the hostages.
According to Reuters on Saturday, Qatar will stop trying to mediate a Gaza cease-fire deal until Hamas and Israel "demonstrate a sincere willingness to return to the negotiating table.
On Saturday, Nir Dvori, military correspondent from Channel 12TV, said that the withdrawal of Qatar would seriously impede any talks to release the hostages.
Ynetnews reports that the move marks the biggest setback in efforts to reach a cease-fire since Hamas triggered the Gaza war by attacking Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Up until now, Israeli negotiators have flown to Doha, Qatar to hold talks with Hamas representatives, like those from Qatar and Egypt.
And, according to the Times of Israel, former Defense Minister Yoav gallant met with families of the hostages and encouraged the families of the abductees to strengthen their ties with the prime minister and to push for the implementation of the agreement that was discussed in early July.
"Failure to return the abductees will be the mark of Cain on Israel's forehead," he told them. "If we withdraw from territories, we can return to them, if we lose abductees, we cannot return them. The considerations for refusing the deal are neither military nor political."
According to the report, Gallant made it clear to the families that he was not optimistic. He reiterated the fact that there is nothing the families could have done that was not done, and that they must focus their efforts on Netanyahu. "He decides alone," said Gallant.
Gallant also said, ““There’s nothing left in Gaza to do. The major achievements have been achieved…I fear we are staying there just because there is a desire to stay there,” he added, referring to Netanyahu’s stated insistence on absolute victory over Hamas, and possibly to far-right calls to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and recreate Israeli settlements.
Gallant also said the idea that Israel must remain in Gaza to create stability was “an inappropriate idea to risk soldiers’ lives over.”
As for the “day after” the war, Gallant explained to the hostages’ families that he believed “it would be bad for Israel to rule Gaza,” and that Israel has to establish a governing body “that is neither Hamas nor Israel, because otherwise we will pay a heavy price.”
“If this doesn’t happen,” he reportedly said, “the process will continue” and will endanger more soldiers if it leads to Israel protractedly remaining in Gaza.
Terrorism
West Bank Settlement of Shiloh
According to the Jerusalem Post, 902 civilians have been killed in terror attacks since Oct 7th.Police have released that the arrested Iranian-sponsored terrorist cell made up of immigrants from Abidjan had plotted to kill General Rotem Sigler, head of an air force base.
During the week a terrorist ramming attack took place near the Shilo settlement in the West Bank when a car rammed a bus stop. The driver then exited the car with a knife. Two civilians, a 26-year-old woman and a 15-year-old boy, who were lightly hurt in the attack. The terrorist was neutralized by an armed civilian at the bus stop.
Because of security threats, PM Netanyahu now holds his some of his cabinet meeting in secure underground bunkers. And the upcoming wedding of his son Avner has been postponed due to security considerations.
Meanwhile, according to news reports, Israeli West Bank settlers have allegedly torched 15 cars in the Palestinian city of Al-Bireh, near Ramallah. Some of the cars belonged to Palestinian Authority officials.
Politics
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
According to Channel 12TV, top aides to Benjamin Netanyahu are suspected of trying to blackmail an IDF officer in the military department of the Prime Minister’s Office in order to modify minutes of top-level security discussions in the hours before the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.
Observers say those crucial minutes might prove Netanyahu’s knowledge of an impending attack, something he has vehemently denied, and would be toxic in a state investigation into the Oct 7 Hamas invasion and massacre of over 1200 people, and the kidnapping of 252.
The reports provided new details of a slew of security-related probes into the PMO that have been revealed in recent days, which are largely under a court-mandated gag order.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has approved an investigation into Netanyahu himself as the scandals around his office multiply, the Maariv newspaper reported. Law enforcement officials cited in Haaretz and Ynet accused the police of trying to minimize the severity of the scandals.
A top political figure cited by Channel 12 TV said the investigations into the PMO were “only a reaffirmation of what everyone already knew.”
“The prime minister’s people didn’t shy away from any means to change the narrative and exonerate the premier from the failures that led to the war,” said the source.
Reportedly, Netanyahu’s office pushed back on the allegations, saying they were “another lie in the web of lies that some are trying to spin about the PMO.”
The i24 news channel reported Thursday that State Attorney Amit Eisman yelled at a police officer who suggested in a meeting that the case was being blown out of proportion.
Ynet cited law enforcement officials as saying that the police had been taken over by “the spirit of [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir,” who opposes a hostage deal.
According to Channel 12TV, as part of the alleged attempt to change protocols, Netanyahu’s aides are thought to have used “sensitive footage” of a military department officer in the Prime Ministers office in order to coax him into changing protocols discussions from the night of October 6-7, 2023, the day before the Hamas invasion and massacre.
Also, Police Commissioner Daniel Levy on Thursday backed down from the process he initiated to dismiss the Israel Police’s top legal adviser after Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told him last week that his actions were illegal.
According to Hebrew media, Levy explained the apparent zigzag by saying that the move had been part of a broader round of appointments for assistant commissioners, including Elazar Kahana, the force’s top legal adviser, which had been put on hold.
Former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant
And an uproar took place when Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu fired his Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant who disagreed with many of Netanyahu’s policies.
So, said one observer, Gallant, as Sec. of Defense, did his job well. And he could leave, and take a well deserved rest, since the hard work had been done.
Israel’s attorney general Gali Baharav-Miara said that the firing was legal. Netanyahu replaced Gallant with Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Likud party stalwart, and moved New Hope party Gideon Saar, once a Likud prince before starting his own party, into the post of Foreign Minister.
Recent polls on both Channel 12TV and Channel 11 KanTV show that over 60 percent of the population disapproved of Gallant’s dismissal. The polls also showed that if elections were held today Netanyahu’s coalition would only garner 47 Knesset seats out of 120 whereas the opposition coalition would win 64 seats, and oust Netanyahu from power.
Should former Prime Minister Neftali Bennett emerge from retirement the opposition would receive 68 seats. In these polls, neither New Hope’s Gideon Saar, now Foreign Minister, nor Bezalel Smotritch, now Finance Minister, would receive enough votes to stay on as Knesset members.
Netanyahu has a low popularity rating among Israelis. One professor was despondent after the dismissal of Gallant and worried about Israel’s future. A clerk in a local post office said that Netanyahu was a disaster as was his wife Sarah and couldn’t wait “to see the back of them.”
Critics worry that Netanyahu might now fire the IDF’s Chief of Staff Herzi HaLevi, as well as the heads of the Shin Bet security services and the Mossad. All this is irresponsible, say critics, in the midst of a war.
And, a furor took place in Israel when a number of staff at the Prime Minister’s office were arrested for allegedly stealing and then leaking top secret documents to the international press.
The documents that appeared to come from the personal journal of deceased Hamas chief Sinwar, spelled out that Hamas was not interested in freeing hostages and had plans to move them out of Gaza.
Even though the documents were later proved to be a forgery, the leak provided the Prime Minister with a reason not to negotiate with Hamas about an exchange of hostages and an end to the war.
One of the main culprits arrested was Eli Feldstein, a sometime spokesperson at the Prime Minister’s office. Feldstein had previously worked for ultra-Nationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir who was against the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners and against the end of the war.
Ben Gvir and his cohort Finance Minister Bezalel Smotritch both want the IDF to stay in Gaza and annex part of it to replant the settlements that were evacuated in 2006.
Meanwhile Netanyahu relied on the election of President-Elect Trump to bolster his standing and provide support for his policies. However, a recent Wall Street Journal article stated that 2024 was not 2016.
That Trump, who espouses isolationist policies, may have trouble deciding what to do with the US soldiers in Israel manning the THAAD anti-missile systems, and the warships stationed in the middle east to protect Israel from Iranian attacks.
Pundits speculate that Trump won against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for a few reasons. 1.) Because she was a woman. 2.) Because she was black/Asian/immigrant, 3.) Because people were afraid of the progressive wing of the Democratic party influencing Harris, 4.) Because men were tired of begging pushed around by their wives and saw Harris as an easy target.
Antisemitism
Israeli basketball fan after release from hospital in Amsterdam
In Amsterdam, Holland, in what the Israeli media is calling a “lynch’ five Israelis were hospitalized and 62 arrested after hundreds of well-organized pro-Palestinians, attacked several thousand Israeli Maccabi TA soccer fans attending a match between the Dutch Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv teams.
According to Ynetnews, at least 10 Israelis were injured when Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans were violently chased and attacked after attending the match in Amsterdam Thursday night against Ajax.
Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans as they hunted, beat and harassed them.
In videos on social networks, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans are seen being attacked in several locations in the city.
Reportedly, the gangs had located themselves on street corners near the hotel the Israelis were staying and also near the stadium. Social media footage shows Israelis on the ground being pummeled by Palestinians who shouted anti-Israeli and antisemitic epithets.
The Dutch authorities have been criticized for not responding to Israeli warnings of such an attack. According to Israel’s Kan Reshet Bet radio, Israel’s Diaspora Ministry informed the Dutch authorities at 19:00 of an Mossad warning of impending attack and requested the local authorities to step up security at the stadium and hotels. This after seeing social media ‘flare up.’
However, the Dutch did little to act on the warning. By Saturday, 59 of the 63 suspects were freed.
According to witnesses, and families of those attacked, Israel radio reported that in some cases, Israelis tried to flee and jumped into taxis. The problem was that many taxis in Amsterdam have immigrant, often Moslem, drivers. In at least one instance, the driver pulled the Israeli out of the taxi at a quiet spot and beat him.
Other reports of Israelis locking themselves in their hotel rooms as Palestinians or Palestinian sympathizers roamed the corridors.
Ynet reported one eye-witness account. “A 30-year-old Maccabi Tel Aviv fan describes the moments of horror: ‘I finished a four-month reserve in Gaza, and what I experienced here is no less scary. There is a war out here. They ran over me and pulled a knife on me. I am slightly injured, but I am not ready to receive treatment here, only in Israel.
“We were ambushed. I'm in the market. I saw with my own eyes children who were caught in explosions. They are everywhere. No police, complete chaos. Everything was pre-planned. The police here abandoned us. Every fourth person walking the street is a Muslim who has come to attack Jews. Me and several hundred other fans are surrounded in the hotel, the police don't allow us to leave. They just want to fly home.”
The New York Times, and other sources, report that the day before the game Israelis had taunted the opposition teams hurling anti-Moslem slurs.
One observer pointed out that violence was not unusual at soccer matches in Israel or other countries. But this incident may act to restrain some of those Israeli fans who act out at soccer matches.
According to Ynetnews, “The attacks comes day after violence erupted in Amsterdam ahead of the match. In one incident, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were attacked by a group of Dutch citizens of Turkish and Moroccan descent who reportedly waited outside a casino to target them. In another, Dutch nationals of Turkish descent reportedly chased a Maccabi fan after apparently stealing his passport and proceeded to push him into a river.”
According to research, antisemitic incidents in Holland have increased 800% since the Oct 7th massacre when the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist group invaded Israel killing over 1200 people and taking 252 prisoner. 101 are still being held in Gaza.
El Al added two extra flights from Amsterdam to fly the beleaguered Israelis home. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel granted permission for El Al, the Israeli airlines, to fly on Shabbat to help the Israelis flee Amsterdam.
Coincidently, the attack took place on the 86th anniversary of Kristalnacht, the ‘Night go Broken Glass’ when groups of Nazis roamed through Berlin breaking the glass of Jewish shop windows, raiding and burning synagogues. Jewish homes, hospitals and schools were ransacked as attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers Rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout Germany, Austria, and the .Over 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed, and and incarcerated in concentration camps.
Some Israeli commentators cited this attack as an example of the globalization of terrorism.
In Chicago’s DePaul University, masked men attacked two Jewish students, one an IDF veteran, who were holding a pro-Israeli protest. The IDF veteran held up a sign asking people to approach and have a dialogue.
Reported two men in masks rushed the Jewish students, knocking them down and pummeling them, then racing away. Chicago had a serious incident on October 26th when a 22-year-old Moslem man shot a Jewish man on his way to Sabbath services in the West Rogers Park neighborhood. The Jewish man was wounded and the shooter apprehended, charged with a hate crime and attempted murder.
A Brooklyn man was attacked by a masked man who shouted “You F…g Jew” and slashed him with a knife. The man was hospitalized and required 18 stitches in his face. New York police report 312 antisemitic attacks so far this year.
According to the Jerusalem Post, pro-Palestinian protesters attacked the offices of FFF9Federation Francis de Football), in protest for an upcoming match between France and Israel. The demonstrators carried placards calling for a “Free Palestine.”
Pro-Palestinian protest at soccer game in France
Later, at a soccer game in France, pro-Palestinian protesters unfurled a huge flag calling for a free Palestine.
Editorial
Israel’s new Defense Minister Israel Katz is an ambitious Likud politician. Climbing the ladder of ministries.
The top of that ladder, is Minister of Defense. After that Prime Minister.
By taking this top job, Katz will find it easier to run for PM in his party’s primary elections.
Is he capable? Likud supporters think so. He has held a variety of cabinet posts but none of substance. However, say his supporters, he has been on the various security committees and knows the ins and outs of the war.
Should Gallant have been fired? Especially in the midst of a war? Probably not, although a boss does have the right to fire an employee who doesn't follow orders.
One report speculates that Netanyahu fired Gallant as a diversion from the media’s attention on the security leak in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Following Yoav Gallant’s dismissal from the defense ministry Gallant met with a group of families of the hostages held in Gaza. According to Ynetnews, Gallant told the group that there was no reason to continue fighting in Gaza. And that a deal could be made to release the hostages except that PM Netanyahu is against ending the war.
However, a soldier presently fighting in Gaza wrote on Facebook that, “Gallant just reinforced the idea that Bibi needed to fire him. As a reservist currently serving in Gaza Gallant saying we're not needed there does not do good to morale. Only harms it.
“Also we are doing the work to keep pressure on Hamas. If we fully withdrew we would end up having to go back at some point and the pressure would have been lost. The people who have not returned are an important issue but so is making sure Hamas can't repeat what they had done. There is always room for diplomacy but we need to keep our military options open and that means holding our ground.”
One day, said a pundit, Bibi will make a move that ends his term in office. One day. Meanwhile, time and patience. The two best warriors wrote Tolstoy in War and Peace. Time and patience.
Meanwhile, the US reportedly sent long range B-52 bombers to Israel capable of easily carrying ‘bunker buster’ bombs. Israel as of now does not have the capability to deliver these bombs and attack Iranian nuclear facilities.
The US has also provided the THAAD anti-missile system and US soldiers to operate it, as well as selling Israel 25 F-15 fighters, several to arrive within days. All to help Israel defend itself, or initiate a reprisal, against an Iranian attack.
In what some observers saw as the height of hypocrisy, Iran has said that the US providing the B-52’s created a destabilizing presence in the region.
This from an implacable enemy that is turning terrorism into a global phenomena, from using proxies to attack Israel, and even, according to some reports that Iran denies, planning to assassinate Donald Trump. Iran has also been active in recruiting activists on campus, and even using proxies to incite riots in cities around the world.
Israel is still awaiting an Iranian response to Israel’s reprisal on Iranian military instillations. Some speculate that Iran will strike before President-Elect Trump takes office. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, especially after the attacks on Jews in various parts of the world, and the Israelis in Amsterdam, Jewish people are warned to take care, watch their backs, and most of all, be careful when outside of Israel.