The Longest War

War in Gaza: Day 245

UPDATE:

Israel special forces rescue four hostages from Gaza. In a daring daytime raid

special forces from the Yamam police commando unit simultaneously raided two houses two hundred meters apart in central Gaza’s Nuseirat area. One Israeli commando, Arnon Zamora, 39, was killed in the firefight to rescue the hostages.

Meir Jan Noa Argaman Andrey Kozlov Shlomi Ziv

The three men, Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv were all held in one house. Noa Argaman was held in a nearby house. All had been taken captive on Oct. 7, 2023 and held for over eight months.

at the Nova music festival. They were only four of the 251 captured and taken into Gaza when 3000 Hamas terrorist invaded Israel and went on a murderous rampage killing 1200 people.

The picture of Hostage Noa Argaman being carried off on a motorcycle into Gaza was broadcast around the world.

Hostage Shlomo Ziv embracing his family upon arriving in Israel after his rescue

Hostage Meir Jan with his mother upon his rescue from Gaza

Hostage Andrey Kozlov greeted by his parents after rescue from Gaza

According to Nir Dvori of Channel 12TV news, there are an estimated 87 hostages still alive in Gaza out of 124.

This was the third successful rescue of hostages since Oct 7th. All took place above ground. The special forces Yamam border police unit was supported by the Shin Bet, Israel’s FBI, as well as air and ground attacks.

Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora

Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora had led one of the first units to respond to the Oct 7th invasion by Hamas. With his squad he confronted terrorists near Kibbutz Yad Mordecai and prevented the terrorists from approaching other villages and cities, reportedly killing 30 terrorists in the action. The IDF announced that the rescue of the four hostages on June 8th be named after him.

War 

IDF troops in Gaza

Israel is engaged in the longest war in the country’s history. Eight months and counting. Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national security adviser, said last week that the war could last at least until the end of 2024. Others say that is a conservative estimate especially since according to US sources familiar with the battlefield conditions, Hamas has taken to guerrilla warfare.

According to Reuters, Hamas has forsaken the frontal confrontation with the IDF preferring to wait for the IDF to deploy and then set up ambushes and booby-traps.

This change in tactics was caused by the massive losses Hamas has faced on the battlefield. US analysts say that Hamas has lost 50% of its fighting force. The US sources estimate that Hamas now has between 9,000 - 12.000 terrorists in the field, down from between 20,000 - 25,000.However, using the new tactics, Hamas could continue to fight well into 2025.

Wissam Ibrahim, a Gaza resident, said he too had observed a shift in tactics. “In earlier months, Hamas fighters would intercept, engage, and fire at Israeli troops as soon as they pushed into their territory,” Ibrahim told Reuters by phone. “But now, there is a notable shift in their mode of operations. They wait for them to deploy and then they start their ambushes and attacks.”

US officials, who prefer to remain anonymous, said these new tactics could allow Hamas to keep fighting for months.This assumes Hamas would continue to receive weapons smuggled into Gaza via tunnels, as well as other weapons they repaired, including unexploded ordnance, or even those captured from Israeli forces.

On Wednesday, June 5th, the IDF announced that they’d received permission to raise the current reserve troop call up from 300,000 to 350,000. 

Pundits speculate that Israel may be forced into fighting a war on many fronts, In Gaza against Hamas, in Lebanon against Hezbollah, and even a possible uprising in the West Bank, as well as engaging Iran and the Houthis on a more direct level. 

Also, among those reservists, would be troops who specialize in cyber warfare, battling yet another front: protecting Israel from intrusions into computer networks and confronting disinformation on social media.

So far, according to the IDF, Israel has lost nearly 300 soldiers in battle since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct 7th, massacring 1200 Israelis, including women, who were first raped and then burned to death, and children, while taking 252 hostage. 

Ynetnews reported murmurs of dissent among some officers. Lt. 

Col. (Res.) Hezi Nechama has been fighting in Gaza since Oct 7th. He is reportedly “…intimately familiar with the fighting in the field.”  Nechama said in the exclusive interview that, “The direction that the IDF is going will not bring victory.” Other senior IDF officials say that Nechama “…should address his statements to the political level…” not the IDF.

Ynetnews reported that according to senior IDF officials, "In the original plan of the IDF, an attack (on Gaza) was planned with two maneuvering divisions, but at the direction of the political echelon and following American pressure - it was reduced to only one. At the same time, every advance of the forces requires the approval of a political level, in contrast to other occupation operations such as, for example, in Khan Yunis or Gaza City."

Gen. (ret.) Israel Lev said on Channel 12TV that the army is suffering from a lack of confidence in their leadership since they don’t see an end game strategy. 

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotritch said that in no way was he responsible for what happened on Oct 7th. That the blame for the failure rests with the IDF. Smotritch has been criticized because before Oct 7th he pressured the IDF to move two divisions to the West Bank from their location along the Gaza border in order to protect West Bank settlers, who form his constituency. This move, according to critics, weakened Israel’s ability to respond to the Hamas invasion.

According to the New York Times, US President Biden this week said that he thought Prime Minister Netanyahu was extending the war for political reasons. This accusation has been heard in other circles.

Writing in the Times of Israel, Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin, former head of military intelligence, said, “Continued fighting in Gaza without clearly defined political objectives heightens the risk of escalation on the northern front, in the West Bank, and with Iran, and increases the likelihood of international pressure on Israel to cease hostilities without securing the return of hostages or achieving regional and international cooperation to stifle Hamas.”

In an opinion piece in Ynetnews, Professor Joel Fishman, a historian at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and senior researcher at the Israel Defense and Security forum, said that electronic media is a weapon of political war and part of Hamas’ strategy.

“It's clear US and Israel’s enemies weaponize media against them, only becoming more sophisticated with advent of Internet and social media; war’s primary goal is to isolate Israel from traditional support base, including Diaspora communities.

Prof. Fishman brought up the example of General Vo Nguyen Giap, who led the forces of North Vietnam to victory, manipulated Western news media in a manner that turned the freedom and vulnerability of an open democratic society to his advantage. Giap, wrote Fishman, adeptly utilized the medium of television (with the aid of eager American helpers) in order to undermine domestic American support for the Vietnam War.

“General Giap said, ‘In 1968, I realized that I could not defeat 500,000 American troops who were deployed in Vietnam. I could not defeat the Seventh Fleet, with its hundreds of aircraft, but I could bring pictures home to the Americans which would cause them to want to stop the war.’” 

According to Fishman, in June 1989, American historian William M. Hammond published an article entitled The Press in Vietnam as an Agent of Defeat. 

“He quoted General Westmoreland who stated in 1972 that ‘modern technology provided the press a means of indirectly involving the American public with the war on an almost hourly basis.’ It revealed the naked uncensored truth regarding war to the American public.

“In time, the cumulative pressure of anti-war protests, fed by television news from Vietnam, became a major domestic issue that destabilized the American government. 

“In 1972, Henry Kissinger told Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin “…For us, it [Vietnam] isn’t just an international problem; it has now become a major domestic problem. We cannot permit our domestic structure to be constantly tormented by this country ten thousand miles away….”

Fishman wrote that, “…As we face the reality of 2024, it is easy to recognize how the enemies of Israel and the United States are using the same ‘indirect strategy’ that the North Vietnamese employed in the sixties and early seventies. It does not require a great leap of imagination to understand how this game is played. “

Gaza 

       

UN School in Gaza IDF Says Was Site Of Hamas IJ Meeting

The IDF has finished it’s return to central Gaza and is back to concentrating on Rafa. The IDF claims to have killed hundreds of Hamas terrorists in the fighting in Jabaliya, Dir-al Balak while destroying tunnels, weapons and ammunition.

The IDF also announced it had destroyed a 2 kilometer tunnel along the border with Egypt that was used to smuggle weapons to Hamas.

Early Thursday, the IDF carried out an airstrike at a UN compound said to be the venue for a meeting of about 30 terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. 

The IDF spokesman’s office said the IDF was very careful and took precautions not to harm civilians by using a “precise strike” on the compound. Some of those terrorist killed were reportedly members of the Nukhba force that was involved in the Oct 7th massacre in Israel.

Reuters reported that according to a UNRWA spokesperson, there were between 35-45 people in the building but the spokesperson was unsure how many were terrorists.

On Thursday, four terrorists emerged in dense fog from a tunnel shaft in Gaza’s Rafah area just 200 meters from the border fence with Israel.

The four were discovered by IDF spotters in a nearby outpost who notified an army combat unit. The terrorists were engaged.Three were eliminated and one fled back into Gaza. However, in the fighting, Warrant Officer Need Mazarib, 35, a Bedouin tracker from norther Israel, was killed. 

The IDF continues to fight in Rafah, slowly and carefully, but there are still hundreds of kilometers of tunnels beneath the ground and an estimated nine thousand Hamas terrorists moving about in them. Experts say that Hamas leader Sinwar and his deputy Mohammed Dief are in a Rafah tunnel along with the remaining hostages.

Lt. Col. (res.) Peter Lerner told Reuters “There is no quick fix after 17 years of them building their capabilities.” 

Reportedly, Hamas has constructed a 500-kilometer (310-mile) subterranean city of tunnels that is roughly half the length of the New York subway system. These tunnels are equipped with water, power, and ventilation, it shelters Hamas leaders, command and control centers, and weapons and ammunition stores.

Lerner told Reuters that Israel still had a way to go to destroy Hamas. Lerner admitted that Israel couldn’t eliminate every Hamas fighter or destroy every Hamas tunnel. But, he said, the IDF is adapting to Hamas’ new tactics.

Lerner said the goal was to destroy Hamas as a governing authority. He said this is “…an achievable and attainable military objectives.”

At the same time, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defied domestic and international calls to outline a postwar plan for Gaza. War cabinet minister Benny Gantz has given Netanyahu until Saturday June 8th to lay out a plan or he will pull his National Unity party out of the government. Pundits assume Netanyahu will not agree and Gantz will leave the government. 

This, however, according to experts, will not create enough of a crises for the government to fall. Netanyahu’s coalition still has 64 seats won in the last election which is more than enough for a majority in the 120 seat Knesset.

But time is not on Israel’s side, said one observer. And according to the Times of Israel, one Arab official told Reuters that “criminal gangs had already emerged in Gaza amid the power vacuum, seizing food deliveries and conducting armed robberies.

Another Arab source told Reuters that Israel could face the same broad insurgency that US forces faced in Iraq’s Fallujah in 2003. Then, al-Qaeda and ISIS, the Islamic State, arose sinking Iraq into conflict and chaos that is still going on twenty years later.

Meanwhile, the World Central Kitchen reported that aid trucks have been pouring unhindered into Gaza. Reportedly, aid trucks have been moving from Israel into Gaza in large numbers. As of June 2nd, 1858 trucks carried humanitarian aid into Gaza in one week.

But last week the pier that was built by the US off the coast of Gaza to help get aid by sea into Gaza was torn from its foundations by a severe storm rendering the pier temporarily unusable.

The pier had been in operation for two weeks before it was damaged. During that time US sources said over 1,000 metric tons of aid was delivered to civilians in Gaza. The Times of Israel reported that the pier has been repaired and will resume receiving humanitarian aid on Friday. 

North 

                 

Unmanned Armed Hezbollah Drone 

The north of Israel has become a hot war zone. Attacks on the north have increased by 36%. According to Channel 13TV news, in April Hezbollah fired 735 rockets into Israel. In May 1000 rockets. This week rockets fell unabated several times a day, sometimes nearly a hundred at a time.

A new development in the war occurred on Thursday when two small armed unmanned drones flew low and fast for a few kilometers from south Lebanon into Israel, striking the mostly Druze village of Hurfeish, killing Staff Sgt. (res.) Refael Kauders, 39, from Tzur Hadassah and injuring 12 others.

So far, according to the Times of Israel, in skirmishes along the norther border, Israel has lost 10 civilians and 14 IDF soldiers and reservists. Hezbollah and affiliated groups have lost 392 terrorists in Lebanon and Syria. 

According to veteran military journalist Ron Ben Yishai, writing in Ynetnews, “Hezbollah has learned how to hide its drones from the IDF in different ways, including flying at a low-altitude… Nasrallah escalates the conflict with Israel to assist Hamas in negotiations and Israel will need to respond forcefully while hoping it doesn't spark full-scale war.

“It is also necessary to investigate and uncover why there were no warning sirens before Wednesday's attack, in which two drones were used. Over the many years of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the latter has learned how to evade IDF countermeasures. The drone's low altitude also helps it avoid detection and the activation of sirens. 

According to experts, Israel has no answer to the new menace of Hezbollah drones that fly low and fast and avoid detection. One expert said that the Iron Beam, a laser canon that could detect and destroy the drones, will not be on line until late 2025.

Ynet reports that over the last eight months Iran and Hezbollah have not only turned the Galilee into a land abandoned by its residents, but also into a research and development lab for weapons in preparation for an extensive confrontation with Israel.

Meanwhile, hundreds of rockets fell all across northern Israeli towns and villages over the week. Some were direct hits at homes in Metula, others destroyed a supermarket and warehouse in Kyriat Shmona. Fires caused by the rockets raged in the Galilee destroying an estimated ten thousand dunams (@4,000 acres) of property. At one point those few people remaining in Kyriat Shmona were evacuated when the flames licked at their building.

As of now, nearly 100,000 people have been evacuated from the north with no date set when they can return to their homes, businesses or farms.

Israel has responded to the Hezbollah attacks by striking at Hezbollah bases in south Lebanon. Israel has also taken out a number of Hezbollah commanders both in Lebanon and in Syria. A Hezbollah spokesman said that the latest strikes by the two drones was in response to the assassination of a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon.

The residents and leaders of Israel’s north have been pressing the government to invade Lebanon and confront Hezbollah directly. Should this happen, Israel would be faced with a difficult war against a well entrenched enemy with a significant stockpile of hundreds of thousands of missiles, a large army, and an extensive tunnel system.

US special envoy Amos Hochstein has been in the region trying to negotiate a peace between Israel and Lebanon. However, Israeli leaders in the north think a diplomatic solution is only temporary. One leader said, “So, we’ll have quiet for a year, or two, and then, as before they’ll start firing again.”

According to Ben Yishai, “Despite not wanting to wage full-scale war, the IDF is ready to enter Lebanon within hours. Israel prefers to avoid a military confrontation as long as there is an opportunity to reach an agreement concerning the release of the hostages held in Gaza and reach a diplomatic settlement in Lebanon. The implication for us is that we need to tread carefully, between a firm response and further escalation.”

Hostages 

               

Tel Aviv protest calling for hostages release from Gaza

Protests take place nearly every night calling for the return of the hostages taken into Gaza by Hamas terrorists on Oct 7, 2023. The hostage protesters were joined by anti-government demonstrators calling for the present government to step down.

It is assumed that 124 hostages are still being held by Hamas in Gaza. Nir Dvori, military correspondent for Channel 12TV, said in a broadcast on Wednesday June 5th, that only about 84 hostages are probably still alive. This week, the bodies of four hostages were discovered by IDF troops fighting in Gaza.

So far, Hamas has not returned a reply to a proposal made by Israel in the latest round of talks. Israel has agreed to almost all of Hamas’ terms. The US has told Hamas to take the deal.

On Thursday Ynet reported that Hamas leader Sinwar told mediators that Hamas would not agree to any proposal demanding that Hamas give up its weapons Sinwar said, according to the Wall Street Journal, that he would only accept a peace agreement if Israel commits to a permanent ceasefire.

On Friday, the media reported that Qatar, who is mediating the negotiations, outwardly threatened to expel Hamas leaders living in luxury in Doha if they reject the latest offer.

US Sec. of State Anthony Blinken is to arrive in Israel on Monday to try to help reach some agreement on a hostage deal.

Last week US President Joe Biden urged Hamas to accept a new Israeli proposal to end the conflict in Gaza, saying that "it's time for this war to end".

The three-part proposal would begin with a six-week ceasefire in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza.

There would also be a "surge" of humanitarian aid, as well as an exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

The deal would eventually lead to a permanent "cessation of hostilities" and a major reconstruction plan for Gaza.

Speaking at the White House last Friday, May 31st, Mr. Biden said that the first phase of the proposed plan would include a "full and complete ceasefire", the withdrawal of IDF forces from populated areas and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

The second phase would see all remaining living hostages returned, including male soldiers.

The third phase would see the return of all hostages, included those no longer alive,  as well as a "major reconstruction plan" with US and international assistance to rebuild homes, schools and hospitals.

West Bank

                                       

IDF in Tulkarem

Israel security forces have been pursuing wanted terrorists in the West Bank.

Since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 cross-border terror attacks from the Gaza Strip, approximately 4,000 wanted terrorists have been arrested by Israeli forces throughout Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, including some 1,700 believed to be associated with Hamas.

Israeli forces continue to carry out arrests throughout the West Bank, in towns like Huwara near Nablus, El-Bireh near Ramallah and Ad-Dhahiriya near Hebron, searching for wanted terrorists, explosive devices and weapons.

Antisemitism 

          

Ron Lauder, World Jewish Congress President

According to Ron Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, speaking at a conference in New York this week, “… the world turned against Israel shortly after the Hamas attacks due to a deliberate social media war conducted against the Jewish people. 

“Sophisticated operators  linked to Hamas, “said Lauder, as reported in the Jerusalem Post,“began a 24-7 barrage against Israel and unleashed vile streams of antisemitism on social media and other platforms.

“Just days after October 7,” he pointed out, “well-organized demonstrations began throughout the world. Israel was not prepared for this. The United States was not prepared. The entire West was not prepared. 

“The October 7 attacks were not just attacks against Israel,” he charged, “but were an attack on peace.”

According to Lauder the forces aligned against Israel embedded themselves in colleges and universities, turning them into platforms of hate. He said this was a “premeditated social media onslaught, coupled with antisemitism, created a negative reaction against Israel.”

Lauder noted that most young people get virtually all of their news from their phones or computers. He said, “97 percent of the news they see on Israel is negative and only 3 percent is positive.”

In his address Lauder stressed that Israel must make its social media presence a priority. “Israel cannot afford to lose this front,” he urged, “and neither can the United States. It is that important.” 

Last week, according to the Times of Israel, in an open letter to US university students, Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamanei welcomed the US student protests as a new “Resistance Front” in the war against the US and Israel. The front consists of Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, Iraq’s Islamic Resistance and the Hamas terror group.

In the letter dated May 30, 2024, Khamenei wrote “I assure you that today the circumstances are changing. The people's conscience has awakened on a global scale & truth is coming to light. Besides you students from dozens of universities in U.S., there have also been uprisings in other countries among academics & general public.”

Khamenei wrote, “The greater Resistance Front which shares the same understandings and feelings that you have today, has been engaged in the same struggle for many years in a place far from you.”

Meanwhile the faculty union of CUNY (City University of New York) rejected an Israel boycott despite pro-Palestinian protests.

And according to Ynetnews, ISGAP (the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism) reported that university members were openly advocating against Israel and Jewish students and faculty. 

The report also found that Qatar was a big funder to pro-Palestinian campus organizations, like the SJP (student group for Justice in Palestine) and others. The report also found that Columbia University had not been reporting to the US government that they’d received funding from a foreign government.

Meanwhile, Columbia University has settled a suit by Jewish students in what the Jerusalem Post reported as a ‘major development’ in Jewish group’s efforts to hold universities accountable for the rise in campus antisemitism since Oct 7th.

According to the Jerusalem Post, “Columbia has promised to provide walking escorts and safe campus entrances at all hours of the day, as well as accommodations for students who were unable to complete exams owing to campus disruption.”

And, anti-Israeli protesters were arrested for occupying and vandalizing Stanford University’s Presidents’s office.

In San Francisco, 70 anti-Israel protesters were arrested at the building holding the Israel Consulate.

In Vancouver, a burning object was hurled at a the Shaare Tzedek synagogue’s front door. No one was injured although there were people inside the synagogue at the time.

In Holland, the European Jewish Assembly met to discuss antisemitism in Europe. Dutch Chief Rabbi Menachem Margolin told 100 Jewish leaders from across Europe that Jews wearing traditional clothing or displaying mezuzahs on their doors are facing relentless harassment. Jewish students are receiving threats on their lives and are being excluded from university courses while graffiti is defacing Jewish homes, synagogues and cemeteries without any deterrent.”

He called the situation :…an existential threat that European countries are either failing to address or unwilling to tackle with the necessary determination.” He said the problems go back more than a decade.

Politics 

Yossi Fox, Dir-Gen PM’s office    Attorney General Gali Beharve-Miara (R)

Attorney General Gali Beharve-Miara has called for a state inquiry into the Oct 7th war. ”A state commission of inquiry is the best means of dealing with the current risks at the international legal level, which, if they materialize, could lead to significant harm to the interests of the state - and of course to the prime minister and the security forces personally.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu is reportedly pushing for the committee to be formed by President Herzog and not be headed by a judge appointed by the Attorney General. Or better yet, says one observer, not have any committee investigation at all.

Netanyahu is reluctant to establish a state commission of inquiry. Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth published this week that senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office claim that the demand for the establishment of such a committee is "political", and that they fear it will lead to the overthrow of the Netanyahu and Likud government. 

The head of the National Security Staff, Tzachi Hanegbi, was even quoted as saying, during a conversation with Likud political figures: "The role of a state investigative committee is to eliminate the right-wing government. Don't be fooled."

On Friday, Yossi Fox, director-general of the Prime Minister’s office, rejected the Attorney General’s call for an investigation saying that the time was not ripe for such an investigation. He said such an investigation should wait until after the war is over.

Recent polls show that Netanyahu has gained seats but still lags behind National Unity party leader Gantz. A poll taken by Channel 1 Kan TV on June 2nd showed that should elections be held now Gantz’s National Unity Party would get 27 seats, Netanyahu’s Likud coalition 21 seats. Overall, Gantz’s coalition would win the election with 64 seats as opposed to Netanyahu’s 51 seats.

June 6th was celebrated a Jerusalem reunification day. The ultra-nationalist Otzmah Yehudit party leader Itamar Ben Gvir used the day to visit the Temple Mount. While thousands of people, mostly knit-kepah youths, carried Israeli flags and marched into the Old City of Jerusalem through the Damascus Gate into the Muslim quarter.

Some of the demonstrators clashed with police, shouted ‘Death to Arabs,” and threw debris at passers by. And the police. 18 protesters were arrested.

And, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited to address a joint session of the US Congress on July 24, 2024. According to the Times of Israel Netanyahu is planning to defend Israel that is fighting a “just war.”

Red Sea 

                              

Houthi Rebels in Yemen

On Thursday, according to Ynetnews, Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed to have attacked two ships docked at the Haifa port and a third outside the port. Israel has no reports of any such attacks.

However, according to Reuters, Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it has carried out two joint military operations with Yemen’s Houthis on Israel’s port in Haifa.

Earlier in the week, Israel’s Arrow anti-missile system intercepted a missile aimed at Israel. Sirens were sounded in Eilat but the missile was downed over the Red Sea.

On Thursday, the US military said it destroyed 8 Houthi drones and two “unmanned surface vessels” in the Red Sea over the previous day. The Central Command also said they’d destroyed an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis at US targets.

A report on the Israeli-based Media line said that Houthi summer camps are being used to indoctrinate children into hard-line Houthi ideas. 

“The methods employed by the camps, which the Muslim Brotherhood used to hold before the Houthis took over, aim to reshape beliefs and build a generation that believes in everything associated with the Houthis and is prepared to die for the Houthis’ sake and not for the country’s sake,” said Ahmed Al-Muhanna (not his real name), a teacher at a public school in Sana’a, Yemen.

“These children are being prepared to die and to fight on behalf of the Houthis, and this has to be stopped by parents, the government of Yemen and the international community,” he continued.

Editorial

While Prof. Joel Fishman’s example of Vietnam fighting a successful war using social media is quite fitting to today’s situation, another pundit brought up the example of the PLO.

The once unknown Palestinian cause was brought to the world’s attention through outrageous criminal acts; hijacking airlines, blowing up buildings, rocket attacks on Israeli communities, turning terrorism into front-page headlines.

Founder of the PLO, Yassir Arafat, was once quoted as saying that his goal was to do things that kept the Palestinian issue somewhere between the front page of the New York Times and page six.

The PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) was founded in 1964, according to Wikipedia, “to establish an Arab state over the entire territory of Mandatory Palestine, advocating the elimination of the State of Israel.” 

However, with the 1993 Oslo accords, the PLO now only seeks statehood in the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza. One pundit said that he wished Hamas would come to the same conclusion.

Another practitioner of mastering the news cycle is former president Trump. He skillfully manipulated the media during his last presidential campaign by saying and doing anything to make certain that he was in the news every day 

Trumps recent trial, at which he was convicted for 34 felonies, made front page headlines and was featured in the daily TV news shows during the entire length of the trial. A public relations boon for Trump, even if he was convicted of those 34 felonies.

Controlling the narrative has become a key factor in winning the current war. Like the Vietnamese and the PLO, Hamas has masterfully set about presenting the dead and dying, the destruction and mayhem, all caused by their invasion of Israel and the murder and rape and capture of Israelis as if Hamas is the victim. Israel’s victimhood is lost in the force of this Hamas media manipulation.

Those who are motivated against Israel by the images Hamas promotes, through a highly-sophisticated social media campaign, become quite agitated. The campus antisemitism and anti-Israeli activity is incited by these images.  

And by statistics. The Hamas controlled Gaza Health Ministry says that 36,000 Gazans have died in the war. A number that inspires protesters to cry “Stop the Genocide.”

The truth, while still unpleasant, is not as horrific. According to US reports, Gaza hospitals admit to approximately 24,000 Gazan deaths. The UN says the number is probably even less. 

However, this number, according to the IDF and other sources, includes an estimated 15,000 Hamas terrorists killed in the war.  Bottom line, thousands of Gazans have died, many as a result of Israeli attacks gone awry, but not the tens of thousands that Hamas claims. And not anywhere near enough to justify the claims of genocide.

According to an article in the Times of Israel, director of the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Shlomo Mofaz, said Hamas’ estimates are typically based on body counts, battlefield intelligence, and the interrogations of captured Hamas commanders. But, said Mofaz, a former intelligence officer, his researchers are skeptical of the Palestinian data.

Mofaz said that In previous conflicts, his researchers have found numerous inconsistencies, like including natural deaths from disease or car accidents among the war casualties. He expects that to be the case this time as well. The large number of unidentified dead raises further questions, he said.

There are those who find in the current torrential storm of antisemitism something that was buried, lingering among groups and peoples, and is only now coming out on the wave of the war in Gaza.

Historically, there was always antisemitism. There are library shelves filled with discussions on why. Neither the PLO, nor Hamas, needed to try hard to bring it out of the sewer under the guise of anti-Israeli sentiment. 

Ron Lauder, head of the World Jewish Congress, told an audience this week that the social media attacks on Israel were not carried out by Hamas, but rather organized by Iran with help from Russia. 

Where the truth lies is open to speculation and interpretation and fixed ideas. But what is obvious is that this PR war is yet another and perhaps one of the most important fronts Israel is presently fighting. The question is: what can be done to stop it?

Ultra-Nationalists like Otzmah Yehudit (Jewish Power) leader Itamar  Ben Gvir and Jewish Home party head Finance Minister Bezalel Smotritch, want to resettle Gaza with and invade Lebanon. Their irresponsible rhetoric along with other reckless statements by ultra-Nationalists, does not bring any sympathy to beleaguered Israel.

According to Amos Yadlin, Israel should take what achievements have been made in the war so far, like destroying half of Hamas’ army, and accept a ceasefire. Even withdraw the troops. 

Yadlin claims Israel is approaching a strategic crossroads, especially as the US election nears. He believes that Israel should accept a hostage deal, that would also stop the fighting in Lebanon since Hezbollah has said they would quit fighting once an agreement is reached in Gaza, allowing the deal to normalize relations with the Saudis and other Muslim countries to go through.

“Normalization will legitimize the existence of a Jewish state in the heart of the Middle East, preserve regional and international support for actions against Hamas, constrain its sources of funding, and build a coalition against Iran. 

“Additionally, it will help curb international legal actions against Israel and its leaders, while bolstering Israel’s global standing. The political cost will be significant, but it is far preferable to the alternative, which jeopardizes Israel’s security.”

As one observer points out, the only problem standing in the way of Yadlin’s advice is PM Netanyahu and his government of yes men and unreasonable ultra-nationalists.

And of course, adds Yadlin, Hamas’ leadership. “…if, after Israel agrees to cease hostilities in exchange for the release of all hostages, Sinwar reneges on the deal, it will only strengthen the resolve of Israeli society and the moderate countries in the region to defeat Hamas. 

“The relentless campaign against Hamas will then gain US support for expanding operations in Rafah, permanently severing smuggling routes from Sinai to Gaza, expelling Hamas leadership from Qatar, and implementing various other measures. These efforts will persist until Hamas is replaced by a moderate local Gazan leadership that rejects religious extremism and the radical ideology akin to ISIS.”

Yadlin says that the Biden administration recognize that “… no Israeli mainstream leader willing to give control of Gaza and the West Bank to a Palestinian entity while it continues to fund terrorists, incite violence, and fail to prevent terrorist attacks from its territory.

“Ultimately, the choice confronting the Prime Minister of Israel is stark: aligning with Ben Gvir and Smotritch, risking further deterioration of Israel’s security, economy, and foreign relations, while jeopardizing the crucial alliance with the United States, now more essential than ever; or forging a regional and international coalition to defeat Hamas and counter the radical axis led by Iran in the region.”

Meanwhile, as if Israel doesn’t have enough to worry about, said one pundit, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Leiberman to Israel army radio that Iran is planning a Holocaust within two years once it develops a nuclear bomb, said Wednesday morning in an interview with Army Radio.

"We are in the midst of an Iranian plan of destruction," explained Leiberman, a former defense minister. 

"After they acquire a nuclear bomb within two years, Israel will be attacked with the aim of destroying it from multiple fronts with tens of thousands of missiles simultaneously. They are planning a Holocaust for us in the next two years."

As an observer quipped, “So, nu, what else could go wrong?”