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In-Depth Issues:
Israelis Reject Another Palestinian Terror State - David Isaac ( JNS)
The UN Security Council resolution endorsing the U.S. plan for Gaza calls for a "pathway" to Palestinian statehood.
However, polling by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs found that between 75% and 80% of Israelis "reject another Palestinian terror state, which this time would overlook Ben-Gurion Airport," said the center's president Dr. Dan Diker.
Israel doesn't want to come across as a "killjoy" and pour cold water on the U.S.-sponsored plan, Diker said.
But he believes the Trump administration is making a mistake by taking its plan to the UN at the urging of its Arab partners, who hope to use the UN as an international lever to isolate Israel and bring further pressure against it.
Efforts to establish a Palestinian state won't work, and repeating calls for a "two-state solution" ignore the nature of the struggle that Israel faces, he said.
"We face jihad. We are facing a religious war. It has been what psychologists call a 'resisted experience.' That's when you know something's true, but you don't want to admit it to yourself."
Israel, U.S. to Accelerate Production of Air Defenses - Yonah Jeremy Bob ( Jerusalem Post)
Israel's Defense Ministry and U.S. officials on Thursday announced the acceleration of Iron Dome, Iron Beam, and David's Sling production for future air defense against rockets and drones.
The U.S. aid package approved by Congress in April 2024 includes $5.2 billion to enhance Israel's air defense systems.
Defense Ministry Director-General Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amir Baram said, "The Iron Dome system has fundamentally transformed the battlefield, demonstrating unprecedented interception capabilities on a global scale against a vast spectrum of threats."
"This contract will dramatically enhance the multi-layered defense posture and strategic stability of the State of Israel."
"Joint production in Israel and the United States exemplifies the potential of our technological and industrial partnership."
Insights from Israel's 12-Day War Against Iran - Gen. Charles Wald et al. ( Jewish Institute for National Security of America)
A synchronized opening strike combined fighter jets traveling 1,000 miles and on-the-ground intelligence assets hitting senior military commanders and nuclear scientists all within minutes.
Israeli planes flew uncontested over Tehran and then refueled above Syria.
Drones loitered for hours, hunting Iranian missile launchers, and eliminated hundreds of them - more than half of Iran's arsenal - in less than two weeks.
Israel pulled off an operational masterpiece on June 13-24, 2025, displaying intelligence and military capabilities that exceed those of any other American partner and resetting the Middle East's strategic landscape.
Israel advanced not just its own but also American national security.
Gen. Charles Wald (ret.) is a former Deputy Commander of U.S. European Command; Vice-Adm. Mark Fox (ret.) is a former Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command; Lt.-Gen. Robert Ashley (ret.) is a
former Director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
Fake Gaza Accounts Exposed on X - Avital Fried ( Israel Hayom)
The X social network's new feature displays users' locations and additional information, enabling the identification of fake behavior and bots impersonating real users.
This has led to the exposure of fake accounts and user manipulations from around the world.
Some presented themselves as Gazans, some raised funds, and others posed as journalists from Gaza while actually reporting from other countries.
For example, user @noor_jomaa01 presented herself as a Gazan and raised tens of thousands of dollars, but it turns out her origin is actually from Nigeria.
The prominent anti-Israeli account "Khalisi" was exposed as tweeting from Pakistan. Numerous accounts of "journalists from Gaza" were exposed as actually operating from the U.S.
Poll: 2/3 of Brits Have Lost Patience with Anti-Israel Marches - Stephen Pollard ( Telegraph-UK)
Polling released on Nov. 20 by the More In Common think tank shows that 44% of Brits say the UK is now an unsafe place for Jews.
A poll in October by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research found that 35% of Jews feel unsafe in Britain in 2025 - compared with just 9% in 2023.
47% of British Jews now see antisemitism as a "very big" problem - up from 11% in 2012.
Such numbers are a response to reality - both a rational response to the record levels of antisemitism and an emotional response to the history of Jews that is embedded in our DNA.
In the past two years, many Jews have banged on about the hate marches, about social media, about Islamists, about misleading and incendiary reporting of the Gaza war. It has mainly felt as if we were screaming into the void.
Overwhelmingly, the feeling has been that no one really gives a damn. The marches continue. The hate spreads. The poison deepens.
Yet polling also shows that 60% say they are concerned about the rise in antisemitism and 67% have lost patience with the marches, saying that the most disruptive should be banned.
64% said they do not like hearing a musician shouting "death to the IDF" at Glastonbury, as the BBC broadcast live.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Iran Withdraws from Deal to Let International Nuclear Inspections Resume - Erika Solomon
Iran said Thursday that it was withdrawing from an agreement to allow a resumption of international inspections of its nuclear sites. In recent weeks, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has said that while Iran does not appear to be actively enriching uranium, there has been renewed activity at some nuclear sites. The IAEA has been unable to inspect Iranian nuclear facilities since the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June. In September, Iran and the IAEA met in Cairo and agreed on a resumption of inspections.
(New York Times)
See also Iran Has Made Minimal Progress on Reconstituting Its Destroyed Nuclear Sites - David Albright
Five months after the 12-day war, our assessment is that the overall damage caused by airstrikes to numerous nuclear sites was extensive and, in many cases, catastrophic. Iran has since undertaken efforts to conduct clean up work at several sites. The main nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan were largely destroyed and have seen little significant activity since the war. A major exception is at the Esfahan mountain complex, where Iran has access to at least one of the three tunnel entrances.
Overall, satellite imagery indicates that Iran does not appear able to enrich uranium in any significant manner or make gas centrifuges in significant numbers. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities, its facility to produce uranium hexafluoride (UF6), and its centrifuge manufacturing and research and development facilities remain severely damaged or destroyed. Iran appears to have made minimal progress on reconstituting its destroyed capabilities. (Institute for Science and International Security)
- Anti-Hamas Armed Groups Seek Future Role under Gaza Peace Plan - Lucy Williamson
A patchwork of armed groups have emerged to fight Hamas in Gaza over recent months. They include groups based around family clans, criminal gangs, and new militias, some backed by Israel. But these militias - each operating in its own local area inside the Gaza territory currently controlled by Israeli forces - have not been officially included in the U.S. peace plan, which calls for an International Stabilization Force and a newly-trained Palestinian police force to secure Gaza.
Hossam al-Astal, who leads a militia called the Counter-Terrorism Strike Force near Khan Yunis, told Israeli media this week that "U.S. representatives" had confirmed his group would have a role in Gaza's future police force.
(BBC)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- 17 Terrorists Who Fled Gaza Tunnels Killed or Captured - Elisha Ben Kimon
The IDF said Saturday night that all 17 terrorists who attempted to flee tunnels in the Israeli-controlled zone of eastern Rafah were killed or captured after a 24-hour manhunt. 11 were killed and 6 were arrested. One detainee told interrogators that about 30 operatives had been inside the tunnel along with the bodies of 10 recently killed terrorists. He said the group left the tunnel to search for food and water.
Israel and the U.S. have discussed how to deal with the terrorists trapped in the Rafah tunnel network. One proposal, which would have allowed them to be deported, collapsed after no foreign state - including Turkey and Qatar - agreed to accept them.
(Ynet News)
- IDF Kills Palestinian Authority Police Officer Who Shot Soldier
The IDF killed a Palestinian Authority police officer who shot and wounded a reservist soldier near Nablus in the West Bank on Thursday, the military announced on Friday.
(Jerusalem Post)
- Trump Meets with Freed Israeli Hostages at White House - Linda Dayan
U.S. President Donald Trump met with 17 recently released Israeli hostages at the White House on Thursday, joined by 9 others from past rescues, who came to personally thank him for leading the effort to secure their freedom. Trump told them, "You are not hostages anymore: You are heroes."
Addressing freed hostage Matan Angrest, Trump said "Because of service in the IDF, Matan was subjected to severe beatings, even at times losing consciousness. He went through hell. I've heard stories that were not good. Look at you, how good you look. It just made you tougher, right? It did, made you tougher."
"But Matan never broke, and today he's a living testimony to the toughness, heart, and faith of the Jewish people. Great knowing you, you're a great inspiration to everybody, whether you're Jewish or not," Trump said. (Ha'aretz-Ynet News)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War
- International Force for Gaza Unlikely as Countries Refuse to Deploy Troops - Ariel Kahana
No nation has expressed readiness to have its forces directly engage Hamas fighters to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2803, approved last week, designed to disarm Hamas. Israel increasingly assesses that the International Stabilization Force for Gaza won't materialize. Azerbaijan - an ally of Israel that considered joining the force - conveyed in recent days that it will not agree to endanger the lives of its soldiers in Gaza.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Netanyahu told the Cabinet that President Trump's representatives have agreed that if no alternative actor emerges to eliminate Hamas, and if the organization refuses voluntary disarmament, Israel will assume the mission.
The Israel Security Agency told the Cabinet, "Hamas is exploiting the ceasefire to strengthen its power to prepare against us." Prime Minister Netanyahu noted, "Every day the Americans search for who will demilitarize Gaza, they (Hamas) grow stronger. It's clear from all contacts that if there's no external force, we're demilitarizing."
According to sources close to the White House, presidential advisor Jared Kushner currently doesn't expect Gaza rehabilitation to begin before the military threat posed by Hamas is removed. The IDF's position is also that reconstruction in Gaza should not be agreed to in any area without demilitarization being carried out.
(Israel Hayom)
- Every Tunnel and Rocket Launcher in Gaza Must Be Dismantled before Reconstruction Starts - Dr. Emmanuel Navon
The UN Security Council has now endorsed President Trump's plan for Gaza, authorizing an International Stabilization Force that is explicitly tasked with dismantling Hamas's military, not merely containing it. Israel must make demilitarization non-negotiable, with no reconstruction funds before every tunnel and every launcher is dismantled.
Moreover, Israel must tie any progress on the political track for Palestinians to explicit and verifiable benchmarks, not vague promises.
The writer, who lectures at Tel Aviv University, is a Senior Fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. (Times of Israel)
- In Gaza, Shades of Nation-Building - Lazar Berman
"We are getting out of the nation-building business," Donald Trump said during his 2016 campaign, marking a shift from predecessors who tried to export American values to developing states. He said in May 2025, "The so-called 'nation-builders' wrecked far more nations than they built - and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves." Yet Trump seems to be committing American treasure to a project in Gaza that increasingly looks like the very thing he has so vociferously opposed.
With the first phase of the Gaza plan nearing completion, the U.S. is now shifting its focus to the next phase, the creation of a prosperous, demilitarized Gaza free of Hamas rule. But to make that vision a reality, Trump looks to be following a path similar to those taken by the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan, where American missions to foster modern, competent statehood ultimately fell apart, now remembered as resource-wasting quagmires.
Even if Trump stops short of a full nation-building program in Gaza, there are still relevant lessons that emerge from the costly U.S. experiments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Competent local security forces are notoriously difficult to create, especially when foreign peacekeepers head home. "Britain and France both tried" nation-building efforts, warned historian and former envoy to Washington Michael Oren. "They lost their nerve and they ran away. America is liable to do the same thing." (Times of Israel)
- How Israel's Victory Strengthens America's Hand - Zineb Riboua
The calculations of Middle Eastern regimes are based on concrete questions: who commands intelligence superiority, who can blunt Iranian power, and who remains anchored in the American security system. By those measures, Israel has become indispensable. Its performance on the battlefield and its record in covert operations have only reinforced its value to governments that prioritize their own survival and long-term modernization.
Israel's military successes against Hamas, Hizbullah, and Iran have made it a more valuable strategic partner. States that face Iranian pressure or seek technological and security upgrades are not distancing themselves from Israel, but moving closer.
CENTCOM, which coordinates U.S. military activity in the Middle East, is deepening operational coordination between the IDF and Arab armies - including those of countries that don't have formal relations with Israel. Regional leaders saw the disruption of Iranian assets in five countries, and concluded that Israeli hard power mattered much more than the opinions of Islamist preachers or Western university students.
Israel has shown itself to be the one power both capable of rolling back Iran and willing to do so. Even the American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities were made possible by Israeli intelligence and by attacks that neutralized Iran's air defenses and decapitated its military. Israel's actions matter for America, too, which needs Israel more than ever to help it keep Iran in check and to anchor its efforts to counter China in the region.
The writer is a research fellow at the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East.
(Mosaic)
Israel and the West
- 700 Million Zionists and the Battle for the Free World - Sagiv Asulin and Dr. Dan Diker
The phenomenon of non-Jewish leaders and influencers, predominantly Christian evangelicals, openly declaring themselves Zionists is expanding. Against the backdrop of eroding values, intergenerational division, and a culture war on the West, there is a need to establish a global Zionist alliance to protect the foundations of Western civilization's bedrock principles of collective freedom and security and personal liberty.
For Christians who define themselves as Zionists, this is a declaration of resistance to Islamist, anti-Western domination and an identification of Zionism as a force leading the global struggle against the collapse of the Free World. Islamists have understood that the path to conquering the Free World would not be achieved through force, but through a systematic, long-term, and heavily-funded perception war for strategic influence. In this war of perception and influence, Zionism is marked as the West's original sin.
In this war, the West has one clear pathway to victory: to use precisely the same tools being deployed against it - building public consciousness, asserting constant aggressive presence on social media and campuses, building new grassroots organizations, and investing in education.
Some 600 to 700 million Evangelical Christians across the globe support the state and people of Israel. They are joined by other groups who identify with Zionist values. They are not merely "pro-Israel" in opinion; they are active partners in the understanding that strengthening Israel means empowering the West.
Adv. Sagiv Asulin, a former senior defense official, is an expert on Iran, influence operations, and strategic perception at the Jerusalem Center. Dr. Dan Diker is president of the Jerusalem Center.
(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
- Hamas Exploits Western Ignorance of War - Maj. (ret.) Andrew Fox
I am neither Jewish nor Israeli. In the case of Israel's war in Gaza, my experiences, academic knowledge, and military training lead me to believe that the IDF has fought this war in a manner that adheres to the laws of armed conflict. If I thought Israel was committing genocide or war crimes at scale, I would say so. Having weighed up the facts, I believe the evidence I have seen points to the opposite conclusion.
The vast majority of those criticizing Israel have not seen firsthand evidence. Most have only seen carefully curated Hamas propaganda, filtered through complicit media working with Hamas, amplified and repeated unwittingly by other news outlets, and turbocharged by social media.
This propaganda campaign works on emotion. Israel's enemies have weaponized the power of empathy. They have taken the images of war and have portrayed them as something unique. In doing so, they spin the world's only Jewish state, and the only democracy in the Middle East, as something uniquely evil.
People do not understand the true depth of the horror of Oct. 7, nor do they understand what a war looks like when fought against a terrorist state on your own border. War is a terrible thing, in which civilians and children always suffer the most, especially when forced into harm's way by their own leaders' policy of human sacrifice for PR gains.
People deny what I have seen with my own eyes, based on things they themselves have only seen on social media. And because I represent the rational narrative, I am told that I am uniquely evil - with all the death threats and insults that come with that designation. I will continue to share what I believe to be true because when the dust settles from Gaza, a just outcome needs the truth in its corner.
The writer, who served in the British Army for 16 years, is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. (Jerusalem Post)
Observations:
- Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other Palestinian terror groups have rejected UN Security Council Resolution 2803, adopted on November 17, which welcomes the establishment of a temporary International Stabilization Force in Gaza.
- Hamas claims it agreed only to the first phase of Trump's plan, which calls for an end to the war and the release of all the hostages - alive and deceased - within 72 hours. That was on Oct. 9; now, weeks have passed and the remains of three hostages are still being held.
- Recently, the terror group's leaders said that they never agreed to the remaining phases of the plan, which require the armed groups to lay down their weapons and accept the deployment of an international force, as well as the establishment of a temporary international governing body.
- By rejecting Resolution 2803, the Palestinian terror groups are making it clear that they have no intention of disarming or allowing Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to play any role in the governance of Gaza. The only reason the terror groups agreed to the first phase of Trump's plan was so that the war would end and they could maintain their rule over Gaza.
- Fayez Abu Shamala, a pro-Hamas Gaza academic, noted on Nov. 18 an intention to target members of the international force: "The Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza will deal with the American stabilization force just as the Afghan mujahideen dealt with the U.S. forces in 2001, and just as the Iraqi insurgents dealt with the invading American forces in 2003, and just as the resistance dealt with the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon in 1984. The stabilization force will be targeted by the [Palestinian] insurgents."
- Even if the international troops sent to Gaza are granted a clear mandate to use force to disarm the terror groups and dismantle their military infrastructure, not one of them will use it. No one wants to get shot at, especially when, as the world has seen for years with UN forces in Lebanon, it is so much easier to look the other way, or even be rewarded for helping a terror group reconstruct its power.
The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
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