War
IDF Golani Brigade Training Base Dining Hall
The proxy war with Iran continues.
4 soldiers were killed on Sunday night, Oct 13th, when one of the two Hezbollah Iranian made Sayyad 107 type drones crashed into a dining room at a Golan brigade training base near Binyamina. 58 other soldiers were injured in the incident, nine of them moderately or slightly. "All the injured were taken to the hospitals and a message was given to their families. The incident is being investigated," said the IDF spokesman.
Iranian supplied Sayyad 107 drone
The drones came in low over the ocean and flew at rooftop level. One was shot down near Naharyia’s beach along the Lebanese border. The other landed in a crowded area and caused extensive injuries, mostly from shrapnel. A third was shot discovered and shot down over the Mediterranean.
Sgt Alon Amitai, Sgt Omri Tamari,(L-R top row) Sgt Yosef Hieb, Sgt, Yoav Agmon (L-R bottom row)
The IDF is investigating why the second drone was lost to IDF trackers and aerial pursuit. This was the largest single assault on Israel since Oct 7,2023.
Rockets were also fired at Haifa with shrapnel falling on the open air market. No injuries were reported.
According to Ynetnews, the drones flew towards Israel during a Hezbollah rocket attack meant to hide their flight by overwhelming Israel’s aerial defenses.
Hezbollah reportedly has a wide range of Iranian supplied rockets. Some were used recently to sneak into Israel, photograph sensitive sites, like army bases and the Haifa port, and then fly out undetected. Only when Hezbollah released the footage through social media was Israel aware of the penetration. Israel is fighting a war on seven fronts. Eight, according to observers if you count the media and UN attacks. in the press.
Former IDF air force chief Eitan Ben Eliyahu told Channel 12TV that Israel was facing a broad array of aerial weapons and had to be prepared for them.
Israel has troops spread out in South Lebanon, going house to house, finding weapons hidden in tunnels, their openings hidden by furniture. The general military consensus is that Hezbollah was preparing a massive incursion into northern Israel similar to that carried out by Hamas when that terror organization invaded Israel brutally massacring over 1200 people and taking over 250 hostage.
Hezbollah reportedly had plans to attack and occupy northern Israel. This plan was derailed when Israel eliminated Hezbollah chief Nasrallah and many of the top Hezbollah leadership, began attacking southern Lebanon first by the air and then with IDF troops.
Observers say that the current IDF plan is to establish a buffer zone in South Lebanon similar to the one Israel had from 1985-2000. Former Defense Minister MK Avigdor Leiberman, head of the Israel Beitenu party who has ambitions to be Prime Minister, said recently that Israel should occupy southern Lebanon to keep Hezbollah from mounting an attack similar to that launched by Hamas on Oct 7, 2023.
MK Leiberman says that Netanyahu’s primary goal is to stay in power not to secure the release of hostages. Leiberman thinks Netanyahu wants to drag out the war as long as possible, regardless of the loss of soldiers lives or that of the 101 hostages still in captivity, in order to stay in power.
Meanwhile, the New York Times has reported that Iran and Russia are drawing closer together with Russia supplying Iran with nuclear knowhow. The New York Times also reported that Hamas was ready to attack Israel in 2022 and wanted Iranian and Hezbollah support.
However, while Iran reportedly agreed in principal, the Iranian leadership preferred to wait.
Israel is still considering options for the reprisal of the Iranian missile attack on Oct 2nd, when Iran sent hundreds of missiles at Israel. The Israeli cabinet met on Friday just before the Yom Kippur fast and spent four hours discussing a response to the Iranian attack. According to observers the cabinet reached, no firm conclusion, at least not one that was publicized.
The US has been pressuring Israel not to strike Irani’s nuclear facilities for fear of dragging the US into a regional war since Israel has pledged to support Israel should Iran attack. The US is also against Israel attacking Iranians oil facilities since that might create a world-wide oil crises. Iran has treated to attack oil fields in the moderate Arab states should Israel attack Iranian oil facilities.
According to NBC-TV, US officials now believe Israel has narrowed down targets in its response to Iran’s recent missile attack to military and energy infrastructure.
There is no indication that Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, the report says citing unnamed US officials, adding that Israel has not made final decisions about how and when to act.
Israel has said that Iran’s attack of some 200 ballistic missiles on the country would “have consequences.”
According to the Jerusalem Post, on Saturday night, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant that Israel must wrap up its military operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon and allow for diplomacy to remove the terror group from its border.
The report quoted Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder regarding the call. Ryder said that Austin reportedly told Gallant that there was a “need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible.” Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a readout regarding the call.
However, there is still hope for a weakening of Hezbollah. according to reports, The Americans recognize an opportunity to solve the crisis in Lebanon and politically weaken the Shia terrorist organization. Washington hopes to succeed, with the help of Arab countries, in "freeing itself from the stranglehold" of Hezbollah in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia supports the initiative but Cairo and Qatar warn such action could lead to a civil war in Lebanon.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, there are those who, behind closed doors, think that the series of successful Israeli attacks against Hezbollah, which included the assassination of senior officials and leaders, including Hassan Nasrallah, should be used to weaken the political influence of the Shiite terrorist organization in Lebanon and "release it (Lebanon) from its (Hezbollah’s) stranglehold.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, American and Arab officials who spoke with the newspaper have said that the Biden administration is urging Arab countries, including Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to cooperate in a move that will lead to exactly this weakening of Hezbollah.
Washington recently turned to its colleagues in Cairo and Qatar, who have been partners in the cease-fire efforts in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war, and are now also involved in quiet talks for a settlement in the north.
Biden's special envoy for the region, Amos Hochstein, told Arab officials that the weakening of Hezbollah should be seen as an opportunity to break the political deadlock in Beirut. The political parties in Lebanon have not been able to reach an agreement on electing a new president since the end of Michel Aon's term in 2022.
The president of Lebanon is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Lebanese army and would be a key figure in establishing a stable government without Hezbollah control. Two Lebanese political leaders, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabia Berri, a Shia leader who is considered a "main conduit" in the dialogue with Hezbollah in the ceasefire negotiations, seem amenable to a ceasefire. And Sheikh Naim Kassem, who has been the acting head of Hezbollah since Nasrallah’s assassination, and recently called for talks on a cease-fire.
According to Ynetnews veteran military correspondent Ron Ben Yishai it is likely that Kassem's announcement of agreeing to a ceasefire without preconditions was coordinated with Iran.
Kassem is one of the founders and one of the leaders and spokesmen of the organization and a member of the Jihad Council that manages it, and he is actually the most senior member of Hezbollah's military-political leadership who survived after the assassination of Nasrallah and the attack on his supposed successor, Hashem Safi al-Din.
Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu has already confirmed that Safi al-Din was eliminated, although official confirmation of this has not yet been received according to IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari.
But some Israeli analysts say that with Hezbollah on the ropes militarily, this was not the time for a cease-fire. And the fact that Hezbollah leaders were amenable to negotiations was a sign of their weakness and fear of Israel.
Another report on Channel 12TV stated that Iranian leaders had warned the US, though back channels, that any attack by Israel on Iranian oil or nuclear facilities would be met by overwhelming force.
Commentators have also opined that the USA wants Israel to hold off on any reprisal for the Iranian rocket attack until after the US elections.
US THAAD missile defense battery
On Saturday, Ynetnews reported that the United States will immediately transfer the THAAD missile defense system to Israel to help intercept potential ballistic missile threats from Iran. American soldiers are expected to accompany the missiles and help in their operation and maintenance.
According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)., the THAAD system is considers a middle tier of the US ballistic missile defense strategy. The THAAD is a mobile system that “fires a hit-to-kill” interceptor missile capable of destroying ballistic missiles inside and outside of the atmosphere.
The THAAD system was also deployed in the Middle East in October 2023 after the Hamas attack on Israel mainly to protect US forces in the region should the US help defend Israel and risk a reprisal from Iran.
The move comes in light of Israel's request to Washington to send additional military assets to the region, as well as providing assistance with air defense systems.
However, according to the Times of Israel, Iran’s Foreign Minister did not take kindly to the US supplying weapons to Israel. In response to the news of the THAAD deployment in Israel, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi indirectly threatened United States forces who would potentially be operating a complex missile defense system in Israel.
“The US has been delivering record amount of arms to Israel,” wrote Araghchi on X. “It is now also putting lives of its troops at risk by deploying them to operate US missile systems in Israel.”
In a social media post on Sunday, Araghchi also said Iran has “no red lines” in defending itself, as Israel is said to be zeroing in on a list of targets it could strike in retaliation for the missile attack from its arch-foe two weeks ago.
“While we have made tremendous efforts in recent days to contain an all-out war in our region, I say it clearly that we have no red lines in defending our people and interests,” he added.
invasion of Israel, Hezbollah still has a healthy arsenal of weapons, estimated to be over 100,000 rockets, many long range, that can be fired into Israel from the north of Lebanon.
Iranian Tanker and Iranian Military Speed Boat in Persian Gulf
And, according to the Times of Israel, in another move against Iran, the US on Friday The United States hit Iran’s oil and petrochemicals sectors with new sanctions on Friday in response to Tehran’s October 1 attack against Israel, designating dozens of new companies and firms.
The US Treasury Department said it was going after Iran’s so-called “ghost fleet” of ships involved in selling Iranian oil in circumvention of existing sanctions, designating 10 companies and 17 vessels as “blocked property” over their involvement in shipments of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products.
The US State Department also announced it was slapping sanctions on six other firms and six ships for “knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran.”
The sanctions blocking or designating firms span entities in the United Arab Emirates, Liberia, Hong Kong, Suriname, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Gaza
IDF troops in Gaza
On Yom Kippur eve four Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza. The night after Yom Kippur another soldier fell in Gaza. The fighting goes on there but is overshadowed by the battle against Hezbollah in the north. Even though much of Hezbollah’s leadership has been eliminated Hezbollah still manages to fire rockets seemingly at will.
According to the Times of Israel, Israel is pressing the offensive in the northern part of Gaza. Two rockets were fired Saturday from northern Gaza, landing in Ashkelon despite the IDF’s presence. Although the rockets are few and far between and the launchers destroyed by drones or jet fighters shortly after firing their missiles.
Ynetnews reported that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has warned Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant of ‘dire humanitarian situation’ unfolding in north Gaza. However, Israeli sources say that much of the aid being sent into Gaza is stolen by Hamas forces and never reaches the general population.
According to Israel Radio’s Kan Reshet Bet, Aviv Borenstein, the brother of Staff-Sergeant-Major (res.) Ori Moshe Borenstein 32. father of three who fell in battle in Gaza last week, “The government isn’t concerned with the soldiers or their safety, only about itself.” Borenstein was one of the four soldiers to be killed last week in Gaza.
The IDF continues to fight in the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza. On Saturday night, the IDF announced the death of Staff Sgt. Ittai Fogel, 22, from the West Bank settlement of Yakir.
Including the four soldiers killed in the Golani Brigade dining hall, their deaths raised the total of soldiers killed on or since October 7, 2023 of last year to 739 soldiers.
Approximately 356 of the 734 were killed since the start of the military's ground operations in Gaza on October 27.
According to research in Israel, 26% of the soldiers released from service are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 50% were reportedly addicted to either drugs or alcohol.
On Sunday, the New York Times reported that secret documents had been uncovered in the Gaza tunnels. The documents provided a detailed record of the planning for the Oct 7 terrorist attack, “…as well as Mr. Sinwar’s determination to persuade Hamas’s allies, Iran and Hezbollah, to join the assault or at least commit to a broader fight with Israel if Hamas staged a surprise cross-border raid.”
Reportedly, Sinwar hoped a ‘bold assault’ would cause a ‘regional conflagration’ and cause Israel to ‘collapse.’ According to the documents Sinwar initially planned the attack for the fall of 2022 but “…the group delayed executing the plan as it tried to persuade Iran and Hezbollah to participate.”
The plan apparently called for striking 46 positions staffed by the Israeli military division that guards the border and then targeting a major air base and intelligence hub in southern Israel, as well as cities and villages. The plan stated it would be easier to attack those residential areas if the military bases were overrun. “A prediction that proved correct on Oct 7.”
Sinwar argued that Israel’s ‘internal situation’ an apparent reference to Netanyahu’s Judicial Reforms that had split apart the country, was among the reasons they were ‘compelled to move toward a strategic battle.’
Both Hezbollah and Iran said they were in agreement ‘in principal’ but there was nothing in the documents about further coordination.
According to the documents the decision to attack was also influenced by Hamas’s efforts to disrupt any normalization between Israel and moderate Arab states. Hamas also reportedly delayed attacking from 2021 until 2023 to maximize the surprise of the attack. The report stated that the leaders “must keep the enemy convinced that Hamas in Gaza wants calm.”
Israel Radio reported that in conversations with NYTimes correspondent Ronen Bergman, who revealed the secret documents, Hamas also was worried that their window of opportunity was closing since Israel was soon to put their laser defense systems in the field, a move that might neutralize Hamas and Hezbollah missiles.
According to Rafael, the company building the Iron Beam, “IRON BEAM is a 100kW class High Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS) that is expected to become the first operational system in its class. It quickly and effectively engages and neutralizes a wide array of threats from a range of hundreds of meters to several kilometers. Engaging at the speed of light, IRON BEAM has an unlimited magazine, with almost zero cost per interception, and causes minimal collateral damage.”
Iron Beam unit
According to the Calcalist Israeli webzine the Iron Beam is expected to become operational within a few months and face intensified rocket barrages. “As Hezbollah increases its attacks, Israel prepares to deploy the Iron Beam developed by Rafael. The system is expected to become operational within months, and it should dramatically streamline the interception of rockets and UAVs launched at Israel.
Lite Beam Mobile Unit
Israel has already deployed a mobile version of the Iron Beam, called the Lite Beam, that is mounted on military vehicles.
MK and former Defense Minister Avigdor Leiberman said that while he was Minister of Defense in 2016 he had presented Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Gen. Herzi HaLevi, then commander of the Operational Division of the Military Intelligence Directorate, and now IDF Chief of Staff, with a document warming of Hamas’ preparations for invading Israel, fighting in Israel’s Gaza area Jewish kibbutzim and moshavim and taking prisoners.
According to Leiberman his entreaties were dismissed claiming he didn’t know the reality on the ground and that the ‘conception’ that Hamas had been tamed with financial payouts was working.
And to further complicate the issue, Nadav Eyal, writing in Ynetnews, revealed a document written in 2022 entitled the Wall of Jericho. This document was presented by Operations Major General Yaron Finkleman and details Hamas’ plans to invade Israel.
Finkelman's summary states: "At its core, the ‘Jericho Wall’ plan symbolizes a transition to a large-scale offensive effort in Israeli territory, as part of Hamas learning lessons from previous events." Finkelman wrote that if these ideas are implemented even partially, there is "the potential for significant damage."
According to Nadav Eyal, nothing was done with this report, either.
So far, according to media reports, there have been calls for a State Inquiry Commission into the Oct 7th failure, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has adamantly refused to convene such a commission.
Some commentators say Netanyahu won’t agree until after new elections are held in Israel, now scheduled for 2026. Many critics put the blame for the Oct 7 disaster squarely on Netanyahu’s shoulders. Netanyahu has been steadfast in denying any responsibility for the Oct 7th disaster.
This past October 7 marked the one year anniversary of the invasion of Israel by Hamas. (Some call it a modern ‘Pogrom.’)The hostages have been in Gaza since then, slowly withering away. Some were killed outright when Hezbollah terrorists thought that IDF troops were getting too close to where they were holding Israelis captive in the tunnels beneath Gaza.
On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved a second national day of mourning for the over 1200 residents of the Gaza envelope communities, and Rave music festival participants, that were killed, and thousands injured, on October 7.
Next years ceremony is already controversial. Some say that the festival should be held on Oct 7, but Transport Minister Miri Regev, who is in charge of the state ceremony, wants the memorial held according to the Hebrew calendar.
News coverage on Oct 7th played archive footage of the massacre, including footage of the 2800 Hamas terrorists and the 3200 Gazans that broke through the Gaza border fence in 120 places.
An additional day of mourning will be held on the 24th of the Hebrew month of Tishrei (October 26-27), directly following the annual Simchat Torah holiday on which the Hamas attack took place last year.
Oct 7 Memorial Organized by Hostage Families
This year’s Oct 7th memorial was held in two locations, one organized by Transportation Minister Miri Regev, and one by the families of the hostages. Many of Israel’s leading entertainers refused to perform at Regev’s government sponsored ceremony but rather at the one organized by the supporters of the hostage families. Of note, the hostage’s families 90-minute ceremony was carried by all of Israel TV’s channels except for the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14.
The State’s ceremony, held following the hostage families ceremony, was also carried live on Israel TV’s four channels, including Channel 14.
And, despite the tension on the Gaza border and the now infrequent rocket attacks, the government has encouraged up to 80% of residents near the Gaza border to return to their homes.
And the government is still avoiding a state inquiry, according to Yaron Avraham, political correspondent for Channel 12TV. Also, speaking on the same panel, Chaim Yalin, from Kibbutz Beeri, said he wants a state investigation into the causes of the Oct 7 massacre not to accuse anyone of wrongdoing but simply to get at the truth.
North
Damage to Senior Citizens Home in Herzliya
On Yom Kippur Hezbollah fired over 300 missiles at Israel. Only minor damage was caused. Most of the rockets were intercepted by either the Iron Dome or the air force.
Also, just before Yom Kippur, two drones entered Israeli airspace from central Lebanon, with one hitting a housing facility for the elderly in Herzliya. Another landed in Acre lightly injuring two residents.
And Hezbollah rockets also hit an Israeli air force base in the north causing minor damage. According to Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defense Minister, the base’s operational ability ‘wasn’t even scratched.’
IDF Tank In Southern Lebanon Village
The IDF is fighting intensely in Southern Lebanon, going house to house. Israel TV footage shows troops in the bedroom of a home, pushing aside the bed, finding the entrance to a tunnel that held weapons, ammunition and explosives.
One IDF officer said that almost every home had a storeroom filled with weapons and explosives. The IDF has warned residents of South Lebanon to leave for the north while the IDF conducts their raids and bombing runs on Hezbollah targets.
Over one million Lebanese are reportedly displaced from their homes, many from Beirut, a site of constant air force attacks by the IDF, but also hundreds of thousands from South Lebanon. According to media reports, Lebanon is teetering on economic collapse.
Meanwhile, 60,000 Israelis are still denied access to their homes in the north of Israel close to the Lebanese border. Sirens sound daily and Hezbollah rockets continue to fall in communities along the border, most of which are ghost towns.
Also, 16,000 students have been evacuated from the north and 90 schools have been damaged.
And a couple in their 30’s were killed by shrapnel in Kyriat Shmona when a missile landed near them while they were talking their dog.
Israeli strategists have appeared on TV saying that now is the time to push the advantage and keep fighting Hezbollah, pushing them back further and further from the Israeli border and destroying as many weapons and missile launching sites as possible before some sort of ceasefire is imposed.
The UN has also become a factor in the battles in Lebanon.
In his call to Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reportedly told Gallant about his concern over a number of incidents along the Israeli-Lebanese border in which the IDF fired on the United Nations peacekeepers mission, known as the UNIFIL, (UN Interim Force in Lebanon), during its operations against Hezbollah.
The Pentagon Press Secretary Ryder told the media that Austin “expressed his deep concern about reports that Israeli forces fired on UN peacekeeping positions in Lebanon as well as by the reported death of two Lebanese soldiers…” and that “…the Secretary strongly emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese Armed Forces.”
United Nations Forces in Lebanon have complained that Israeli troops have been firing on the UNIFIL positions. Israel had asked the UNIFIL forces to move out of their positions warning that IDF troops and air craft would be attacking Hezbollah targets nearby. UNIFIL at first resisted but then moved some troops farther north. However, UNIFIL complains that Israeli forces have killed at least one UNFIL soldier. Also, the UN has consistently come out against Israel both on the Gaza front and now on the Lebanese front.
UN Secretary General António Guterres requested to visit Israel and then Lebanon. Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz denied Guterres’ request.
According to the Times of Israel, “Foreign Minister Israel Katz defends his decision to ban United Nations Secretary General António Guterres from the country, after more than 100 UN member nations protested the move.
In a joint letter, the nations stressed their “full support and confidence in the Secretary General and his work” and stated that Katz’s decision to declare him persona non grata harmed the UN’s “ability to carry out its mandate” and “could further delay an end to all hostilities and the establishment of a credible path towards the two-State solution.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Katz tweeted that the banning of the Portuguese diplomat had been spurred by Guterres’ refusal to condemn Iran’s recent missile attack against Israel along with “his antisemitic and anti-Israeli behavior.”
Katz asserts nearly 90 percent of Israelis agree with his decision and that “Guterres can continue to try to collect signatures in support [of himself] from UN members [but] the decision will not be changed.”
Guterres denies the charges against him.
According to Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, something changed in Guterres perception to lead him to an anti-Israeli bias.
UNIFIL forces have often complained about Israeli attacks on their positions. In the previous war in Lebanon in 2006, Hezbollah fighters often took up firing positions adjacent to UNIFIL troops. A tactic, pundits say, is being used again in the present conflict. Similar, they say, to Sinwar’s use of human shields in Gaza.
On Monday, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, addressed the problem with the UN in Lebanon. Prime Minister Netanyahu called for the UNIFIL soldiers to be withdrawn from combat areas.
Netanyahu sent a recorded message to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a Hebrew language message. “It is time for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the areas of combat.
“The IDF has repeatedly asked for this, and has been met with repeated refusals, all aimed at providing a human shield to Hezbollah terrorists,” said Netanyahu.
“Mr. Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately,” Netanyahu said in English.
UNIFIL said the IDF has hit a number of UNIFIL posts, including the headquarters at Naqoura. UNIFIL soldiers have been lightly injured in the incidents.
“Your refusal to evacuate the UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah,” said Netanyahu. “This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers.”
Netanyahu said Israel “regrets the injury” to the peacekeepers, and that Israel is doing whatever it can to prevent that happening.
“But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is just get them out of the danger zone,” said Netanyahu.
The prime minister said European leaders should be criticizing Hezbollah, not Israel, for using UNIFIL as a “human shield.”
On Sunday, Oct 13, the Israel Defense Forces call on civilian residents of 21 more villages in south Lebanon to evacuate to areas north of the Awali River amid intensified fighting against Hezbollah.
“The IDF has no intention of harming you. For your own safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move immediately to the north of the Awali River,” IDF Arabic-language spokesman Col. Avichai Adraee wrote on X. “To ensure your own safety, you must evacuate without delay.”
“Anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives, facilities or weapons is putting their life in danger,” Adraee warned.
Also, according to media reports, the US has asked Israel to stop bombing Beirut in order to avoid civilian casualties. Nir Dvori, Channel 12TV’s military correspondent, said that heeding the US request would be a mistake. He said in the past the US has asked Israel to refrain from actions that Israel ignored, like the IDF’s entry into Rafah, that later turned out to be quite important in defeating Hamas.
Dvori told Channel 12TV’s panel on Sunday night that Israel was facing a long war and that there would be difficult days. But he insisted that Israel now faced an historic opportunity for a new reality in Lebanon and the Middle East.
Contrary to Nir Dvori’s opinion, former Mossad executive Zohar Palti said that Israel needs to cooperate with America’s and respect the US’s wishes. He said that CENTCOM, the US Army’s force in the region, was important for Israel’s defence and Israel and the US had coordinate their actions if they were to defeat Iran. Palti said that CENTCOM had helped defeat the recent Iranian missile barrage and was important for any further conflict with Iran.
Palti said that Iran wasn’t Lebanon or Gaza. And that when Israel talks about attacking Iran that there had to be consideration taken that such an endeavor would involve the entire Middle East.
Channel 12TVs Arab affairs correspondent Ohad Hemo toured southern Lebanon on Sunday with other reporters. News footage showed tunnel openings within sight of UNFIL watch towers, weapons and explosives secreted in dugouts in the forest within easy reach of nearby villagers, and a fairly intricate hidden Hezbollah military infrastructure.
Hemo said that Hezbollah’s obvious goal was for their Radwan forces to invade Israel the same way Hamas invaded Israel’s Gaza envelope communities, using brute force and explosives, to take down the border fence. Hemo was critical of the government for allowing this infrastructure to be put in place under the nose of the IDF.
According to Reuters, Hezbollah is now preparing for a long term war of attrition and still have a large stockpile of medium-range and long-range missiles.
West Bank
IDF Apache Helicopter over West Bank town
The IDF has been relentless in raiding West Bank terrorist hotbeds searching for wanted terrorists. Recently, Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi fof the Hama’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigade, was killed by an Israeli air strike in the West Bank town of Tulkarem.
And, Muhammad Abduallah, head of the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad terror group in the Tulkarem area was killed by an IDF airstrike near the
Nur Shams refugee camp. Abdullah had replaced Muhammed Jabber, who was killed in August during a firefight with IDF forces.
Also last week, five ISIS operatives were arrested for planning to destroy the Azrieli towers in Tel Aviv using a car bomb.
But terrorists still manage to get into Israel. Just before Yom Kippur a terrorist struck in Hadera, in the center of Israel, killing one and wounding six.
This was the third major terror attack in Israel in recent weeks and follows the terror attacks in Tel Aviv’ Jaffa light rail attack last Tuesday.
In that attack, two Hamas terrorists, Mohammad Mesek,19, and Ahmad Himouni, 25, from the West Bank town of Hebron, shot and killed seven Israelis at the Jaffa light rail train station.
A few days earlier a terrorist had opened fire in a McDonald’s restaurant in the Beer Sheva bus station killing border policewoman Sgt. Shira Suslik, 19, of Beer Sheva and wounding 10.
According to the Times of Israel, the shooter, who was said to be killed at the scene by IDF soldiers, was identified as Ahmad al-Uqbi, 29, an Israeli citizen from the unrecognized Bedouin village of Uqbi, near Hura. al-Uqbi
The Kan public broadcaster, reported that al-Uqbi was a relative of Muhanad al-Uqbi, from the same Bedouin town, who carried out a deadly 2015 terror shooting inside the Beersheba central bus station. Al-Uqbi reportedly has a prior criminal record.
This week National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was in Jaffa calling for the destruction of the Al-Nuzha Mosque where theJaffa light rail terrorists had appeared shortly before they attacked the passengers on the train.
The Al-Nuzha Mosque mosque, a landmark in Jaffa, and pundits say is not considered a center of terrorism or a threat to Israel. According to an eyewitness who was inside the mosque, the terrorists peeked in, warned everyone to stay inside or they’d be a ‘dead man’ and then left.
According to analysts, Ben Gvir can ignite an uprising of the Arab Israeli community should he attempt to raise the building. Just making the threat had the social media buzzing with warnings and calls for protests.
Hostages
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Critics say that the government has switched focus from Gaza and the hostages to fighting Hezbollah in the north, leaving the hostages to languish as Hamas prisoners.
Hostage Families Protest in Tel Aviv
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was taken captive during the October 7 terror onslaught last year, lit a torch outside the Tel Aviv Kirya, IDF headquarters, and apologized to her son for the situation in which “a year has passed and we still haven’t succeeded in causing the government to bring a hostage deal.”
Hostage families held a protests on Saturday night after the Yom Kippur fast calling for negotiations and the release of the hostages.
According to the Times of Israel, multiple protests were held around the country as protesters called for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The protests were centered around the day’s focus of apologizing for sins, asking the captives for forgiveness. Protesters shouted epithets charging that the government doesn’t deserve forgiveness for failing to return the abductees.
Danny Elgarat, whose brother Itzik is being held captive, accused Netanyahu of not wanting a hostage deal.
“He wants to protect his reign, and he’s willing to sacrifice you all for his personal interests,” Elgarat said.
Criticism of PM Netanyahu is that he is more interested in staying in power than conducting a successful negotiation with Hamas is widespread. This reluctance, critics say, is costing lives.
Red Sea
On Oct 7th, Reuters reported that Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis had fired two missiles at the city of Jaffa, in central Israel. Israel said it had intercepted a missile aimed at the area from Yemen.
The Israeli military said the surface-to-surface missile had set off air raid sirens across central Israel, sending residents running for shelter. AP reported on Thursday Oct 10th that Houthi rebels had attacked a Liberian-flagged chemical tanker in the Red Sea.
According to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, the Olympic Spirit tanker had been in the Red Sea and was skirting the coast of East Africa when it was attacked.
The Red Sea is a waterway that once saw $1 trillion in goods move through it in a year., The ongoing conflicts in the Middle East stemming from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip has significantly reduced the shipping on the Red Sea route
On Saturday night, according to the Times of Israel, The IDF says it intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” headed toward Israel from the direction of the Red Sea.
Politics
Last week Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant was to travel to the US to meet with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to discuss Israel’s response to the Iranian missile attack, a possible cease-fire in the north and the ceasefire terms for the release of hostages.
PM Netanyahu cancelled Gallant’s trip at the last minute. Some said because Netanyahu was concerned what Gallant would make a deal without consulting the PM.
Observers say that Gallant has been a thorn in Netanyahu’s side since the war began and has been one of the few members of the cabinet to oppose Netanyahu and his plans. Netanyahu had already tried to fire Gallant once but had to recant after a public outcry.
Also, US and other security sources have said that replacing the Minister of Defense in the middle of the war was irresponsible. Still, last week Netanyahu announced that he’d offered MK Gideon Saar the Defense Ministry portfolio.
Saar turned down the offer but did enter the government. Now he sits in the cabinet as Minister without Portfolio and, say observers, as a constant reminder to Gallant that he can be replaced at any moment.
Recent polls show that even with the surge in popularity following Nasrallah’s assassination Netanyahu’s coalition would still lose to the opposition if new elections were held today.
Experts say that Netanyahu is one of the most skilled politicians Israel has ever had and that Netanyahu must know he would be taking a risk calling new elections now. Unless, experts say, he knows something others don’t.
Some say that Netanyahu is waiting for the outcome of the US elections before dissolving his present government, hoping that Donald Trump would be a significant ally.
A recent Wall Street Journal poll shows that Trump holds a clear lead , 48 percent vs 33 percent, over Harris on who would better handle the Israel-Hamas war.
Antisemitism
Pro-Palestinian Demonstrator Cover Picasso with Poster in London
According to the Jerusalem Post, Bullets were fired at a Jewish day school in Toronto on Friday night, during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Toronto Police reported on Saturday.
This was the second time the girls school, Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School, has been targeted this year.The school was empty at the time of the shooting. In May, the school was attacked by two men who fired five rounds at the building.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow called it a "horrific antisemitic act, shattering the peace of the High Holidays and Yom Kippur.”
Canada reported that in 2022, Jewish Canadians were the targets of 67% of all religion-based hate crimes.
In Britain, two protesters were arrested for covering a Picasso painting in the National Gallery in London with a photo of a mother and child from Gaza. Both were members of the British pro-Palestinian organization Youth Demand, and were protesting UK arms sales to Israel.
It seems from the report that one of those arrested, Malachi Rosenfeld. was Jewish. He said, ”I am taking action because, as a Jew, I feel like it’s my duty to call out the genocide being committed in Gaza. I want the world to know this isn’t in the Jewish name, and I want to see a free Palestine.” Go figure, quipped one pundit after reading the Rosenfeld’s statement.
Another observer pointed out that there were Jewish students and even their parents supporting the protests against the war in Gaza. Estelle, not her real name, a mother of two who had spent a few years in Israel in her youth, said she was always against the “occupation” of Palestinians. Her two children now take part in anti-Israel demonstrations.
Estelle’s sister Alisa (not her real name) and many nieces and nephews live in Israel and are aghast at the woman’s views and those of her children.
Another student, the son of a Conservative Rabbi, is also active in anti-Israel demonstrations. His parents are distraught over his attitude.
One observer points the finger a the BDS movement, founded by Palestinians, that have become, according to Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, another front in the war against Israel.
On Oct 7th, on the one year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters marched through London. Other pro-Palestinian rallies took place in different cities around the world.
According to the Jerusalem Post, In early September, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK had suspended 30 of the 350 arms contracts with Israel over concerns that the military equipment would be used for human rights violations in the Gaza war.
And the US Network CBS has been accused of anti-Israel bias by Israel’s National Unity party leader Benny Gantz.
According to the Times of Israel and other media outlets, employees at CBS News were reportedly told by a senior executive not to refer to Jerusalem as being in Israel.
“Jerusalem’s status is clear and undisputed – the eternal capital of the Jewish people,” Gantz writes on X. “It has been so for millennia, and will always remain so. No attempt to distort or hide that reality will change it.”
CBS News’ senior director of standards and practices, Mark Memmott, made the comment on the status of Jerusalem in an August email to staff on “controversial” terms, according to the Free Press newsletter last week.
“Yes, the US embassy is there and the Trump administration recognized it as being Israel’s capital. But its status is disputed,” Memmott wrote.
“The status of Jerusalem goes to the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel regards Jerusalem as its ‘eternal and undivided’ capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem, that has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war, as the capital of a future state.”
In New York City, the police are probing an at Union Square in Manhattan incident when Todd Richman, chairman of Democracy Majority of Israel, was attacked by pro-Palestinian protesters at an Oct 7 anti-Israel rally Richman unfurled an Israeli flag at the pro-Palestinian protest. Reportedly he was hit with a flag pole and punched in the face. NYPD’s hate crimes
unit is investigating the incident.
At Columbia University, pro-Palestinian demonstrators “went loud” as students marked the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7th massacre by Hamas terrorists of over 1200 Israelis in the Gaza envelope
Grafitti in Buenos Aires, Argentina
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, police are investigating an incident where graffiti that read “Save the Nation. Kill a Jew” was scrawled on a monument in the city center. According to JTA, over 500 antisemitic incidents have been recorded in Argentina in 2024.
And in the US, Brown University refused to divest from any investments made in Israel.
According to Bret Stevens, writing in the New York Times, the FBI reports that Jews account for 50% of all hate crimes reported in the USA.
Stevens quotes the ADL that in 2013 Israel made up 1/50th of the population, but accounted for 751 antisemitic incidents. In 2023 the number had jumped up to 8873 antisemitic incidents reported.
Editorial
Patience is what’s needed now, according to pundits. While Israeli jets are roaring overhead like echoes of a kettle drum, Israelis are sitting uncomfortably, shifting in their chairs trying to find a place that allows them to relax while awaiting Israel’s reprisal to the second Iranian rocket attack.
According to observers, the reprisal could take many forms. Former Prime Minister Neftali Bennet, now leading PM Netanyahu in the polls, says Israel should attack Iranian nuclear facilities.
But, security experts like Zohar Palti, former head of international intelligence for the Mossad, warned that striking Iran is not like striking Lebanon. Iran is nearly 1000 miles away and requires scores of jet fighters that need to be refueled in the air sometime during the attacks.
And Iran is a huge country with the nuclear sites spread out over approximately 20 sites. “They’d all have to be hit simultaneously for the attacks to be successful,” said Palti.
Striking Iran’s oil facilities would be easier to hit but analysts say this could have a devastating effect on the oil supplies to countries, like China and Russia, that rely on Iran for their energy source. And also, striking these facilities could cause a spike in worldwide oil prices.
According to media reports, during a conversation last week between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu, the first time the two had spoken in nearly a month, Biden told Netanyahu to find a ‘proportional’ response to the Iranian attack.
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Minister of Defense
However, Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has promised that while Iran’s missile strike was "aggressive but inaccurate," Israel's response would be "lethal, precise and above all, surprising.”
Iranian leaders have stated publicly that any attack on their nuclear or oil facilities would be met with an overwhelming response.
Nir Dvori, military correspondent for Channel 12TV, said that his sources indicate that Israel must hit Iran hard and avoid a war of attrition that would mean Israel an endless cycle of Iran attacking and Israel returning fire.
Meanwhile, Israelis wait for another siren. The center of the country scurried to bomb shelters on Yom Kippur when Hezbollah fired over 300 rockets at Israel. The whine of a motorcycle engine perks up people’s ears, like a dog hearing someone at the door, thinking the noise is a warning of an impending rocket or drone attack.
Donald Trump has said he will not allow another Holocaust if he is elected. That is enough to gain him some Jewish votes. But former General Mark Milley has said that at his core Trump is a “total fascist.”
Then there’s Kamala Harris. Some worry that she may veer away from Joe Biden’s pro-Israeli Zionist approach and return to Barack Obama’s disastrous reading of the Middle East that started with the Arab Spring, helped bring on the rise of ISIS, and wound up with millions of refugees from Syria and other countries fleeing civil war.
Succot, the festival of the booths, is fast approaching followed by Simchat Torah, celebrating the Israelis receiving the Torah. Last year along with the Simchat Torah celebrations Israel received a deadly invasion of Hamas terrorists.
The IDF and analysts say that Hamas is reportedly neutered as a military force. This even though Sinwar is still roaming around the tunnels beneath Gaza, using those hostages still alive as human shields.
A media recent report said that a month ago the IDF knew where Sinwar was but was afraid that hitting him with bunker buster bombs would also kill hostages.
Pundits said that is is patiently waiting for another opportunity to take out Sinwar.
Then there’s Iran. What will Israel do? Will they go after the head of the snake? Strike at the Iranian leaders? Would that cause a regional war, something the Americans want to avoid at all costs, especially with the US election only weeks away, and American troops potential targets of an Iranian reprisal.
There are those who say that had the West not fallen for Ayatollah Khoumeini’s pitch that he was a moderate and if he allowed back in Iran following the overthrow of the Shah, he would not take harsh actions against the Shah’s followers. He lied. A bloodbath followed his return to Iran.He even killed his closest advisers who believed in moderation.
Had he been assassinated in France, say pundits, before returning to Iran, hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved and the world would be a safer place. The US and the West, warn observers, have to be cautious in believing in the terms of a ceasefire either in Lebanon or Gaza.
So, the drama goes on. Netanyahu hopes that the Shin Bet and Mossad’s success in taking out Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders will be enough to keep him in power. And that Donald Trump wins the election and gives him support for any of his plans. MK Leiberman thinks that Netanyahu will ride his current wave of popularity and dissolve parliament soon after the U S elections, even though he is behind in the polls.
Time will tell. Meanwhile, the hardest thing seems to be: patience.
Made even harder with the frequent sound of jet fighters streaking through the skies over Israel heading either north or south. Take you pick.
A recent discussion about Baseball Hall of Fame’s Jewish pitcher Sandy Koufax was in the news. Koufax did not pitch in a championship game on Yom Kippur. The question raised, did he say in his hotel room, as some say, or did he attend a Conservative synagogue in Minneapolis, where the game was being played. To many, there is a difference. To some just the fact he didn’t play on Yom Kippur was the key. He asserted his Jewish identity in a very public manner. Would he have been allowed to do the same now without creating a media flurry?
Mausoleum of Christopher Columbus in Seville, Spain
And on an arcane note, according to the Guardian newspaper, a Spanish TV documentary cited a 20-year study, by Spanish forensic scientist Professor José Antonio Lorente from the University of Granada, that DNA tests reveal the remains in Christopher Columbus’ mausoleum in the Church of Seville prove Columbus was Jewish of Spanish origin.
Prof. Lorente confirmed that DNA samples taken from Columbus, his son Hernando, and his brother Diego, have led to significant findings. "We have been able to prove beyond all doubt that the remains in Seville belong to Christopher Columbus," said Lorente.
Does that mean that the Jews can now lay claim to the USA?