Good It Ain't
War Day 618
War
IDF tanks in Gaza
Which war? Gideon’s Chariots, the one with Hamas or The Rising Lion, the one with Iran? Or are they two sides of the same coin?
Destroyed building in Bat Yam
So far, since Oct 7,2023 nearly 900 soldiers and security personnel have been killed in the war between Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, in Gaza.
And, since June 13,2025, 10 Israelis have been killed and nearly 300 injured by nearly 300 rockets fired from Iran.
According to The New York Times, Israel struck six military bases in the Tehran area, including the Parchin bases, as well as residential buildings inside two heavily secured compounds where senior military officers live. Additional homes around Tehran were also struck as part of the targeted assassinations of Iranian officials.
Israel strikes near Tehran
Other reports indicated that targets in Tabriz and Arak were also hit, Arak being the site of a heavy water reactor, as well as missile bases near Tehran and in Kermanshah.
Over 200 Israeli Air Force fighter jets, guided by precise intelligence from the Military Intelligence Directorate, attacked more than 100 targets across Iran, including safe houses used by senior members of the Iranian military leadership.
According to a senior Israeli official, alongside the extensive Air Force operations, Mossad carried out a series of covert sabotage missions inside Iran.
These missions aimed to cripple Iran’s strategic missile array and its air defense capabilities.
That same June 13th night, Israel also attacked Iran’s uranium enrichment complexes. Footage from the Natanz area, home to Iran’s main enrichment facilities and thousands of centrifuges, showed heavy smoke rising. The facility was later reported to have been destroyed in the attack.
And, killed in the first attacks were Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri, Bagger’s deputy Gholam Ali Rashid, and. Senior nuclear scientists Fereydoun-Abvbasi and Abdolhamid Minoujha as well as Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, a nuclear physicist and president of Islamic Azad University.
In Israel, Bagheri, Salami and Rashid were described as the regime’s three most senior military commanders. Iran has already announced new commanders for both the military and the Revolutionary Guards.
Iran’s counterstrike was costly. In Israel, as of June 15th, 10 people were killed including six adults and 2 children. 200 were injured when Iranian rockets hit Israel. 61 buildings were damaged in Rehovot and 42 people were injured there including a mother and her child.
In Tamra, an Israeli Arab town in the north of Israel near Haifa, four Arab women, a mother and her two daughters and a sister in law, were killed by an Iranian missile as they tried to get to the bomb shelter. Previously, residents have warned about the lack of close-by bomb shelters.
Iran quitting the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and saying they would not allow any more inspections was another cause of the strike. The Israeli attack was given legitimacy when the IAEA sanctioned Iran for not abiding by their agreement with IAEA..
“Israel didn’t ask for this war. It was trust upon us,” said Israel’s President Yitzchak Herzog, speaking at the site of the Bat Yam destruction. “Iran has been threatening to destroy Israel for decades.”
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had earlier warned of mass casualties in Israel should Israel attack
Iran reportedly has a population of 100 million that is 63 times the size of Israel with a population of roughly 10 million.
According to the Times of Israel, ahead of its strikes on Iran, Israel discovered that the Islamic Republic’s scientists had conducted successful experiments in the design process of a nuclear weapon, bringing it weeks away from being able to produce a bomb if it chose to do so, according to a Hebrew media report Sunday.
This “golden information” was presented by intelligence officials to the political leadership before the decision was made to carry out preemptive strikes Friday.
This was along with the concern that Israel didn’t know everything and that Tehran could be at an even more advanced stage in building a nuclear bomb than the available information showed, Army Radio reported, citing unnamed security officials.
According to experts, the last thing Israel wanted was a nuclear bomb in Iran’s hands. “They’d do at the push of a button what Hitler had to fight a war for: kill millions of Jews. And they’d do it in a heartbeat. And then turn their sights on Jews in the Usa and Europe.”
Also, Israeli intelligence reported that Iran was about to move two crates containing 400 kg of uranium to a new missile-proof hideaway inside the bottom of a mountain.
And Ynetnews veteran military correspondent Ron Ben Yishai reported that Iran had recently completed a new underground facility at Natanz, where it planned to relocate thousands of advanced centrifuges capable of dramatically accelerating uranium enrichment.
According to General (ret) Yakov Nagel, former head of Military Intelligence speaking on Israel Radio’s Reshet Bet, the real problem was this 400 kg of enriched uranium that only needed a tweak at a centrifuge to be turned into weaponized uranium.
Gen. Nagel pointed out that “this material was in a couple of crates stored underground. Hitting those crates was a very difficult process.” Nagel wouldn’t go into more details.
By most reports, Iran’s air defenses were destroyed in the first few waves of Israeli attacks leaving Iran essentially defenseless to future Israeli attacks.
Israeli media also reported that Iran had begun the war with between 1500 -2000 rockets. And a limited supply of long range cruise missiles that were 20% more powerful than the other ballistic missiles. But all Iran could do was lob these missiles at Israel that had a 90% kill rate of missiles and drones. “Still, 10% isn’t nothing,” said Gen Nagel. A pundit added, “Good it aIn’t.
Gen. Nagel said some of the plans for attacking Iran go back decades. He lauded the IDF and the mossad for setting up operations in Iran like those of a secret Israeli drone base inside Iran that attacked Iranian missile installations when the war began.
According to the Wall Street Journal, covert Israeli teams used explosive-laden drones to disable Iranian air defenses and destroy dozens of missiles before launch, significantly limiting Tehran’s response to the weekend strike.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel smuggled hundreds of drones into Iran in the months leading up to its recent airstrike on Iranian military and nuclear targets, using these drones to disrupt Tehran’s ability to respond to the aerial assault,
According to sources familiar with the operation, Israel transported parts for these armed drones into Iran via suitcases, trucks and tankers, alongside other munitions.
The Mossad intelligence agency reportedly used commercial channels for the deliveries, after which agents on the ground assembled the drones and distributed them to operational teams involved in the weekend’s strike.
The team leaders had been trained by Israel in a third country and then instructed their teams inside Iran. Following the Israeli assault,Iranian intelligence services issued a public advisory warning citizens to be alert for drones launched from pickup trucks and other vehicles.
Gen. Nagel also said that there was little chance Israel could wipe out all of Iran’s nuclear capability. In any case, he said, starting from zero such facilities could be built within four years.
Gen Nagel did point say that one of the main successes of the war so far was Israel’s elimination of 9 top Iranian nuclear scientists. “It is sort of like striking Oppenheimer during development of the Manhattan project.”
The Times of Israel reported that a senior Israeli military official said Saturday, June 14th, that “all the scientists eliminated in the opening strikes had, over the years, been involved in developing the nuclear detonation device.”
According to Nagel, the most effective way of stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions is for a regime changed. “It only took two days to oust the Assad regime in Syria.” He thought the Iranian people needed to stage an uprising.
However, a professor from Richman University in Israel said that if Israel goes too far and destroys too many buildings the Iranian public may well side with the Iranian regime despite their avid dislike for the repressive government.
Gen Nagel also said that he expected the conflict to go on for two or three more weeks. To which a pundit repeated, “Good it ain.t.”
According to Ynetnews, Israel's campaign against Iran has dealt major blows to their nuclear program. But officials say U.S. military support may be needed to finish the job; as Tehran holds back its heaviest missiles, Israeli forces aim to keep Iran’s skies open for further strikes
“U.S.-made bunker-busting bombs, the only ones of their kind in the world,” according to Israeli sources. These could drastically shorten this war.
“That’s If President Donald Trump gives the green light.” These rare munitions, which Israel does not possess, are capable of striking into deeply buried facilities like Fordo.
“To that end, Israel is calling on the United States to provide what officials term the “finishing leg,” a decisive aerial strike on deeply buried sites using American B-2 or B-52 bombers.
Until then, the IDF is executing a multi-stage operation that seeks to erode Iran’s strategic capabilities on multiple fronts.”
Meanwhile, the Iranians are reportedly looking for mediators to stop the Israeli attacks.
According to the Jerusalem Post, a senior US administration official said “We are committed to negotiations and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon.”
Gen Nagel thought that negotiating a deal with Iran was fraught with danger. He thought the deal that had been discussed before negotiations broke down was a very bad deal for Israel.
He saw Iran’s present regime as a sworn enemy and an existential threat to Israel’s existence. Sooner or later Israel had to pull the trigger on the plans that had been prepared. He said that Israel was ready to strike Iran a few weeks ago but that Vice President Vance and Special Envoy Witkoff talked President Trump out of it.
Meanwhile, Israel’s national carrier El Al Airlines had cancelled all flights until June 17th. Other international carriers, like Lufthansa, Delta, United, Emirates, KLM, Air France, British Airways, EasyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, and Air Canada, have said they have halted flights for at least a month. This move has left many Israelis stranded outside of the country.
Gaza
The Times of Israel reported that Sgt. Noam Shemesh 21, from Jerusalem, was killed in Gaza’s Khan Younis on Sunday June 14 when his position was hit by an RPG. This raises the death toll since the start of the IDF military offensive to 430. Last week four Israeli soldiers were also killed in Khan Younis.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on southern Israel, when Hamas murdered some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
On Saturday, according to the Times of Israel, the IDF said that the war in Gaza had been downgraded after last Thursday’s Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
Gazans lined up for aid
The issue of the aid trucks to Gaza has captured the world’s attention. Israel media reports that Hamas had turned looting the aid trucks into a profitable business. Stealing the food, and then selling it at outrageous prices on the black market. Hamas then used the funds to pay salaries and buy weapons. Also, Hamas kept a portion of the food for themselves.
The US/Israel plan to bring aid to Gaza without Hamas stealing the goods from the trucks got off to a bad start. Hungry Gazans broke through the barriers and attempted to raid the food depots. Those few locations were guarded by US-paid security operatives. The operatives were in turn guarded by Israeli troops.
At one point someone opened fire on the Gazans seeking the food. Speculation was that the IDF opened fire. Others said that Hamas had opened fire to cast blame on the Israelis. Whatever the source Israel was condemned in the world press.
And, Israel’s standing in the world has been dropping like a stone in deep water. The protests against the Israeli war with Hamas was being distorted by pro-Hamas activists abroad.
Some of these protesters are funded by Hamas who is in turn are funded by Iran and other anti-Israeli countries and movements.
According to the BBC, over the past two weeks, approximately 237 aid trucks have entered northern Gaza. This follows a two-week period during which humanitarian deliveries were suspended. According to the BBC, the resumption of aid shipments came after the United States pressured Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, threatening to reduce military support unless significant improvements were made.
The aid delivered includes essential supplies such as food, water, medical equipment, and shelter materials. These shipments have been coordinated through the Erez West crossing, with security checks to ensure compliance with international law. However, the boxes of food still needs to be brought to a place where it can be prepared, no mean task in war-torn Gaza.
Israel reported that so far 1459 trucks have entered Gaza since May 19,2025. 108 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza on June 10th.
According to the New Yorker magazine, humanitarian organizations have raised concerns about the adequacy and safety of the aid distribution system.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has taken over aid distribution from the UN and other NGOs, has faced criticism for its centralized approach, leading to overcrowded and dangerous conditions at distribution points.
Reports indicate that over 120 people have died and hundreds more have been injured at these sites, with some aid deliveries being looted.
According to the Times of Israel, the Gaza aid group GHF says that Hamas has killed at least five local GHF staffers and possible kidnaped others. as chaos continues to plague the GHF depots.
On Wednesday June 11th, the GHF stated that Hamas operatives attacked a bus transporting its local Gazan staffers, killing at least five, injuring others and potentially taking some hostage.
The bus was ferrying the staffers to one of GHF’s aid distribution sites near the southern Gaza Strip’s Khan Younis at around 10 p.m. on Wednesday when it came under attack, a GHF statement said.
“This attack did not happen in a vacuum. For days, Hamas has openly threatened our team, our aid workers, and the civilians who receive aid from us. These threats were met with silence,” GHF said, adding that the attack will not deter the organization’s efforts to provide aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
Red Cross and unverified Hamas-linked health officials have reported near-daily fatal shooting incidents involving Palestinians trekking to aid sites since GHF’s launch on May 26. The IDF has acknowledged that on at least eight occasions the army has fired what is said were warning shots against those who strayed off the approved access routes.
Reportedly, an average of 65 aid trucks have entered Gaza each day since Israel partially lifted its blockade on May 19, but the World Food Program, a UN agency, says roughly 300 trucks a day are needed to serve Gaza’s population, which IDF officials acknowledged was on the brink of starvation before Israel resumed allowing aid in last month after a 78-day blockade.
The British newspaper The Guardian reported that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a key provider of aid to Palestinians, remains barred from operating in Gaza due to unsubstantiated Israeli allegations of Hamas ties. This has further complicated the humanitarian response and limited the effectiveness of aid efforts.
According to the media reports, while there has been a resumption of aid deliveries to northern Gaza, the scale and effectiveness of these efforts are still insufficient to meet the growing humanitarian needs of the population.
Also, according to Ynetnews, outgoing Shin Bet head Ronen Bar issued a formal letter stating that on numbers occasions the Shin Bet warned decision makers on the political level (the PM and his cabinet) that the funds supplied by the Qatari government would strengthen Hamas and finance their military operations. Bar submitted the report of an internal Shin Bet investigation to a Knesset committee.
North
Destroyed Hamas Drone Factory
According to the Times of Israel Hezbollah has long been considered Iran’s first line of defense in case of a war with Israel. But since Israel launched its massive barrage against Iran this week, the Lebanese terror group has stayed out of the fray.
A network of powerful Iran-backed militias in Iraq has also remained mostly quiet, even though Israel allegedly used Iraq’s airspace, in part, to carry out the attacks.Domestic political concerns, as well as tough losses suffered in nearly two years of regional conflicts and upheavals, appear to have led these Iranian allies to take a back seat in the latest round convulsing the region.
The Times of Israel reports that Hezbollah and its leader Naim Qassem have condemned Israel’s attacks and offered condolences for the senior Iranian officers who were killed.
But Qassem did not suggest Hezbollah would take part in any retaliation against Israel.
Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah militia, a separate group from Lebanon’s Hezbollah, released a statement saying it was “deeply regrettable” that Israel allegedly fired at Iran from Iraqi airspace, something that Baghdad complained to the UN Security Council over.
Meanwhile, according to Ynetnews, Hezbollah is planning to use new tactics to attack Israel. Hezbollah plans to develop more drones with “indirect” funding from Iran. Ynetnews reported that Hezbollah was regaining strength.
During a recent maneuver in south Lebanon Israel destroyed a tunnel that crossed into the Galilee. One resident of the Golan reported that he’d seen the mushroom cloud soar into the sky after the IDF blew up the 1 km long tunnel.
The north cannot be ignored, said one observer. But must be monitored, although the Lebanese army seems to be slowly taking control of south Lebanon from Hezbollah.
West Bank
IDF soldiers and security forces in West Bank
According to Ynetnews, the IDF has launched operations to thwart terror operations in Nablus. Israel TV reported that Israel is concerned with a “Gaza like’ attack on West Bank settlements by terrorists and is seeking to prevent such attacks.
According to Ynetnews, the police and IDF have launched operation “Law and Order” in the West Bank.
Security forces operated in the Ramadin market on the outskirts of Dhahiriya, near Nablus, aiming to strengthen governance and security in the area for the residents.
Israeli media reported that two terrorists were killed in a 30-hour operation in Nablus.
Meanwhile, according to the Times of Israel, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that a Muslim country could provide land for a Palestinian State, and that the US is “not too enamored” with a Palestinian State on the West Bank.
Also, the IDF has reportedly deployed 2 reserve battalions to the West Bank.
Hostages
Judith and Gadi Weinstein
On June 5th, the IDF recovered the bodies of hostages Judith and Gadi Weinstein from Gaza. The elderly American/Israeli couple were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct 7,2023. This lowered the number of hostages to 56.
According to the Washington Post, on June 8th, the body of Thai farm worker Nattapong Pinta was recovered from the Rafah area in southern Gaza, following a joint operation by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet. He was one of 41 Thai citizens kidnapped by Hamas on Oct 7, 2023 when Hamas invaded Israel, brutally murdering 1200 people and kidnapping 251.
Pinta was abducted during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel, along with four other Thai nationals from Kibbutz Nir Oz. He was believed to have been killed in captivity by the Mujahideen Brigades, a Hamas-aligned group. His remains have been identified and are scheduled for repatriation to Thailand after a ceremony in Israel
Last week the bodies of two other hostages, one identified as Yair Yaakov, also kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, were retrieved from Gaza. The IDF said they had received precise intelligence on the location of the bodies through interrogation of a captured Hamas terrorist.
Terror groups in Gaza continue to hold 53 hostages, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF, and 20 who are believed to be alive. There are grave concerns for the well-being of three others, Israeli officials have said.
Red Sea
Israeli Missile Boat in Red Sea
On June 10th, the IDF hit the Houthi controlled port of Hadeidah from the sea, the first time the IDF has struck from a missile boat.
Israel also attempted to assassinate Yemen’s Houthi rebel military chief Muhammad Al-Ghamari. Israeli military experts told Israel radio they believe that Al-Ghamari was killed or at least seriously wounded. Houthi sources in Yemen say that the Israeli attempt was unsuccessful.
Ynet news site quoted a source in Yemen as saying the strike was directed at his command headquarters. The Times of Israel reported that Al-Ghamari, trained in Iran, had coordinated between the Houthis and Iran, and overseen the Houthis’ missile program.
According to the Times of Israel, the Houthis, whose slogan calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews” began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas massacre.
Since October 2023, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have launched over 220 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel, primarily in solidarity with Palestinians amid the ongoing Gaza conflict. While most of these projectiles have been intercepted by Israeli air defenses or fallen short, several have caused damage and casualties
Anti-Semitism
Environment activist Greta Thurnberg with sandwich from IDF soldier
Environment activist Greta Thurnberg and eleven others sailed from Sicily on the yacht Madleen bound for Gaza. Along the way they were diverted by the Israel navy to the Israeli port of Ashdod where they were given food and water.
Thurnberg and three others were deported, eight others held in Israeli jails until they too were deported. Thurnberg claimed she was kidnapped, yet pictures of her smiling eating a sandwich provided by Israeli troops was widely distributed.
Recently, at a graduation ceremony at George Washington University, in Washington D.C., several audience members were spotted wearing a kaffiyeh. One of the speakers took to the stage and began a speech that pivoted to a rant about freeing Gaza and Palestine. No one turned off the mic.
An administration official said after the speech that the text was not presented to them prior to the ceremony. Later, the administration issued an apology on Youtube.
And one of the anti-Israeli chat group leaders was discovered to be Abu Obeida who was said to be the chief spokesman of the Al Qassam Brigade of Hamas.
In New York City, Amnon Shem, 72, was attacked on New York City’s upper east side while hanging a poster of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. A group of youths attacked him yelling “Free Palestine.”
Asaf Leiberman, a radio talk show host, attended a music festival with his family in Barcelona. He told Reshet Bet that one of the bands stopped playing and began shouting Free Palestine. The chant was taken up by the crowd. He started to boo until his wife elbowed him in the side fearing the crowd would turn on them.
And in Paris, according to Israel’s Reshet Bet radio, a 60-year-old French rabbi, born and raised in Paris of Holocaust parents, said he was punched while walking peacefully down the street by three men who spoke French with heavy eastern European accents.
A few days later the same rabbi said he was in a Paris coffee shop waiting to meet a congregant who wanted a private meeting when he was knocked unconscious from behind by an attacker with a bottle. The rabbi, who said he always wears a skullcap in public, said he never remembered such severe anti-semitism in his life as there is now in Paris.
Also, a recent Pew study that counted Jews by religion found that 5.6 million people in the USA identified as Jews through religion not because of culture or family backgrounds. The study added that the latter would include another 1.8 million people bringing the total to 7.4 million.
This compares to the 2.3 billion Moslems in the world. Today, according to the Pew study, Islam is the fastest growing religion increasing 21% since 2010.
One pundit said it was rather hard for a few million Jews to put up a decent fight against 2.3 billion Moslems. But Israel had no choice.
The US Justice Department sued an Oakland California cafe owner for ejecting a Jewish customer and using Hamas symbols and creating an Oct 7th pro-Hamas menu.
In Greece, according to the Jerusalem Post, Meidad Hozeh, 35, was accosted in the streets of Athens because a group of pro-Palestinian activists heard him speaking Hebrew.
Hazeh fled into a restaurant bathroom after fighting with the gang. Police arrived but handcuffed Hazeh. Then released him after shown a video showing he was the victim. “Not a single person came to my aid during the attack, “ he said.
Politics
Coalition leaders applauding vote in the Knesset
The issue of the Haredi draft bill nearly brought down Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition government on June 11th. The ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) parties were pushing for a bill to dissolve the Knesset. This would lead to new elections. The vote was close, 61-53 (out of 120 knesset seats).
Last minute pressure by Shas party leader Aryeh Deri on the United Torah Judaism and Degel HaTorah parties allowed the vote to dissolve the knesset to be barely defeated.
A cynic brought up a delicate point. What if Netanyahu, who had fallen so drastically in the polls that he would probably not be re-elected, used this war with Iran as a way to boost his popularity. Not something any critic of Netanyahu would discard out of hand.
Netanyahu had just barely survived a vote of no-confidence when the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) parties were convinced that voting for a dissolution of the knesset should wait a while. Perhaps, said one observer, these Haredi leaders were apprised of the imminent IDF strikes on Iran.
The war also distracts the attention from Netanyahu’s trial for corruption. Giving him a good excuse not to appear for cross-examination by the state prosecutor.
Whatever the reason, Netanyahu is now closer to a hero than a villain in the eyes of most Israelis. Perhaps that was his goal after all.
Meanwhile, the war also caused Justice Minister Yariv Levin to pause his drive to fire Attorney General Gila Beharav Miara. Levin sought to bypass the Knesset Statutory Committee, that must officially dismiss the Attorney General, and instead pass a bill that would allow the AG’s dismissal by 75% of the cabinet.
Critics say this would essentially make the hiring and firing of the AG political, controlled by the party in power, thus stripping the AG of impartiality.
Levin has also tried to declaw the High Court by pushing for legislation that would give the final word on an issue to the government not the courts.
On June 8th, Levin stated that he refused to recognize the authority of High Court chief justice Yitzchak Amit. Likud MK Miki Zohar also said that High Court Justice Amit was not suited to hear the case against the attorney general.
And a window of the High Court of Justice building in Jerusalem was smashed by an airgun, or something similar, around the time of a nearby right wing protest.
Also, before the war started, PM Netanyahu was forced to appear in court and testify in his five-year-long corruption trial. Reportedly, he had said that he didn’t remember over 1200 times in interrogations and in testimony in court.
Also, Ynetnews reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu had fired former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief-of-Staff Hertz HaLevi because they had opposed granting Haredi draft exceptions, thus keeping his coalition government in power.
And, according to the British Guardian newspaper, Itamar Ben Gvir, the ultra-right Minister of National Security, and Bezalel Smotritch, ultra-right Finance Minister, have both been sanctioned by five countries, Britain, France Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
According to the Guardian, these measures include travel bans and asset freezes. The sanctions were enacted in response to what the five countries called the ministers' incitement of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and their promotion of settlement expansion, actions that these countries argue undermine the two-state solution and violate international law . The EU is also considering similar sanctions against the two Israeli ministers.
Also, A Times of Israel report stated that Prime Minister Netanyahu approved a major deal between top Israeli defense companies and Qatar.
Reportedly, Elbit, Rafael, Israel Aerospace Industries were all said to have received authorization from the Israel Defense Ministry before Oct 7th to sell weapons and cyber technology to the Hamas backing Gulf state. A pundit asked, Did the weapons and tech get into the hands of Hamas?
According to Yossi Beilin, former Justice Minister and Deputy-Foreign Minister under labor led governments and a close ally of the late Labor party leader Shimon Peres, “This is not the same Netanyahu that we are used to. He looks the same. But he’s not the same.”
Editorial
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei
The war started officially on June 13,2025. But Israel’s war with Iran has been going on for decades. Iranian leaders have openly threatened to destroy Israel. Supreme Leader Khamenei has said “It is the Zionist regime, which is the cancerous tumor of the region..it has to be uprooted and it will be uprooted for certain.”
Iranian Rockets in the sky over Israel
Iran has used proxies to attack Israeli and Jewish sites around the world, including the bombing on July 18, 1994 of the AMIA, (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) Jewish Community offices in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
So, Israeli’s population is now stuck between the bellicose statements of Israel’s Defense Minister Yisrael Katz saying the IDF is going to burn to the ground anything military in Iran, and the Iranian obsession with eradicating Israel and the Jews living there. Also destroying the USA in the mix if possible.
Former Military Intelligence head Prof. Gen (ret.).Yakov Nigel has said that should Iran make a mistake and attack US targets, then the conflict would be significantly shortened because of a devastating US response.
However other observers say that a US attack could ignite a regional war drawing in China and Russia, both backers of Iran.
Should that happen, and should that expanded conflict turn out in favor of China and Russia, the US could suffer exactly the fatal blows Iran hoped for but couldn’t deliver on its own.
As of now, because of the Iranian missile and drone attacks, Israeli schools are closed. Many families have gathered together, children taking their children from an apartment without a ‘safe room’ or bomb shelter to the grandparents’ homes. Synagogues are closed. Minyanim (quorum of at least ten men) have sprung up in the same places they did during the Covid-19 epidemic, in backyards and courtyards of buildings or in bomb shelters.
Life has been upended. The high-screeching whine of a motorcycle, that sounds at first like a siren, raises hackles. Children are bored. The Home Front Command has told everyone to stay close to home, only go out if you have to. Tell that to a 3-year-old, said one frustrated grandparent.
But, said one pundit, should the war in Gaza end, what would the protesters use as a rallying cry.
So far nearly 900 soldiers, police and security personnel have died in the war since Oct 7, 2023. This is a small number compared to the 58,000 US soldiers who died in Vietnam.
But the body bags and body count and daily news eventually worked against the US military, emotionally exhausting the citizens, inundating them with tales of successes while the boys kept dying.
Will the same thing happen in Israel? One gets the feeling that the war in Gaza was growing unpopular. One observer said the solution was simple: “Say we won, stop the war, get the hostages back and bring the soldiers home. If necessary, go back in again, later.”
And then came June 13th, 2025 and Israel’s bombing of Iran.
One veteran Israeli took a cynical view of the war. He said the main benefactor would be the US arms industry. Most of Israel’s weapons were either American, like the F-35 jet-fighter/bombers, the heavy American supplied bombs, the co-produced Iron Dome and Iron Beam anti-missile defenses, and other weapons.
Israel has a $14.5 billion defense industry. The war, said the veteran Israeli, will only give the military industries greater income.
But the war with Iran is only in the early stages. Should the body count continue to rise the public may reassess the logic of striking Iran favoring a more diplomatic approach like that forwarded by U S President Trump.
According to Ynetnews, while Israeli officials hope their solo campaign can delay Iran’s nuclear program for several years, or pressure Tehran into a better nuclear agreement, they concede that success may ultimately depend on Washington.
“If the U.S. does not provide the ‘finishing leg,’” one official told Ynetnews, “we hope our operational package will suffice to push Iran’s program back by years, or bring them to a better deal.”
Another pundit raised the question if the world was now going through a revival of the 1930’s antisemitic hatred syndrome with kaffiyehs and chants of “Free Palestine” coupled with rising antisemitism.
Jews are now uncomfortable in their cities and towns. Israelis are seeking real estate property outside the country. All driven by Islamic Fundamentalists.
Then there are those allied with Arab states and driven by social media, perhaps financed and guided by China and Russia, countries trying to take over as the world’s leading superpower using Israel as a fulcrum to topple the United States.
Still, Israel is a normal country, maybe even above normal. A burgeoning economy despite the Gaza war and the recent recovery from the Covid-19 epidemic.
Construction cranes pierce the sky around the country. Lite rail lines are lengthened in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, disrupting the seemingly endless flow of traffic. Barriers keep pedestrians from entering the seemingly ubiquitous construction sites.
And then there are the posters and signs and protests to remind the population of the now only 53 hostages perhaps 20 still alive, languishing in Gaza’s tunnels or hidden in toilets in apartments guarded 24/7, fed just enough to stay alive, if that, denied water to drink, let alone wash and shower.
Fighting in Gaza, Israeli soldiers killing and being killed. Almost 900 since the war began, nearly 30 since the latest operation began on March 18, 2025. The IDF forces firing missiles and dropping bombs on Hezbollah forces in the North.
And then there are the Israelis worried that US President Trump will sell them out in a negotiated settlement with Iran over their nuclear weapons development.
And the Israelis worried over the creeping dictatorships helped along by PM Netanyahu and pushed onward by Justice Minister Levin, with neo-fasccst ministers like Ben Gvir and Smotritch rooting from the sidelines.
Time will tell how this will play out.
Meanwhile, there are miles to go before we sleep, as Robert Frost wrote.IDF tanks in Gaza