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| DAILY ALERT |
Thursday, October 19, 2023 |
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Israel at War: Daily Zoom Briefing
by Jerusalem Center Experts News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
President Joe Biden said during his visit to Israel on Wednesday: "I come to Israel with a single message: You are not alone....Hamas committed atrocities that recall the worst ravages of ISIS, unleashing pure unadulterated evil upon the world. There is no rationalizing it, no excusing it....October 7th, a sacred Jewish holiday, became the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust....The world watched then, it knew, and the world did nothing. We will not stand by and do nothing again." "We saw incredible stories of heroism and courage of Israelis taking care of one another. Neighbors forming watch groups to protect their kibbutz, opening their homes to shelter survivors. Retired soldiers running into danger once again. Civilian medics flying rescue missions. And off-duty medics at the musical festival caring for the wounded before becoming victims themselves. Reservists leaving behind their families, their honeymoons, their studies abroad, without hesitation." "For decades, we've ensured Israel's qualitative military edge. And later this week, I'm going to ask the United States Congress for an unprecedented support package for Israel's defense." "Today, I asked the Israeli cabinet...to agree to the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza. Based on the understanding that there will be inspections and that the aid should go to civilians, not to Hamas, Israel agreed....If Hamas diverts or steals the assistance...it will end." (White House) A U.S. analysis of currently available data indicates that "Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday," White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on Wednesday in a post on X. She said the U.S. assessment is based on the analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts, and open source information. (Reuters) On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on ten key Hamas terrorist group members, operatives, and financial facilitators in Gaza and elsewhere including Sudan, Turkey, Algeria, and Qatar. This action targets members managing assets in a secret Hamas investment portfolio, a Qatar-based financial facilitator with close ties to the Iranian regime, a key Hamas commander, and a Gaza-based virtual currency exchange and its operator. "The United States is taking swift and decisive action to target Hamas' financiers and facilitators following its brutal and unconscionable massacre of Israeli civilians, including children," said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen. (U.S. Treasury Department) The U.S. vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Wednesday that would have called for humanitarian pauses in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas. Twelve members voted in favor of the draft text, while Russia and Britain abstained. "We are on the ground doing the hard work of diplomacy," U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote. "We believe we need to let that diplomacy play out." Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. was disappointed the draft resolution made no mention of Israel's right of self-defense and she blamed Hamas for the Gaza humanitarian crisis. "We're working with Israel, its neighbors, the United Nations and other partners to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza," she said. "Hamas' own actions have brought this on - this severe humanitarian crisis." (Reuters) The U.S. 6th Fleet command-and-control ship Mount Whitney is heading to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to support U.S. operations there, the Navy announced Wednesday. The ship sports sophisticated command, control, communications and intelligence capabilities, allowing its commander to direct air, ground and maritime units from one location and can move and process large amounts of data. It directed U.S. military operations against the Libyan regime in 2011. (Navy Times) The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that the Islamic Republic, as of October 18, will no longer be subject to any restriction with regard to its ballistic missile-related activities and transfers by the UN Security Council. The restrictions have "unconditionally" ended, eight years after the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Iran is no longer "called upon" by the Security Council "not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles." (Press TV-Iran) See also Western Leniency Enables Iran's Missile Proliferation (Iran Dossier) Pro-Palestinian protests in the UK have been stirred up by a "sophisticated" Iranian and Hamas network operating within Britain, Robin Simcox, the head of the Commission for Countering Extremism at the Home Office, will warn on Thursday. He will warn that the thousands of protesters who have come out onto the streets following the Hamas terror attacks on Israel did not appear out of nowhere. There is a Hamas and Iran support network in Britain that is more "sophisticated, well-backed and capable" than many realize. Iran, the key financier and military backer of Hamas, has the capacity not only to carry out or incite acts of violence on Britain's streets but also to spread extremist views through regime-linked clerics, charities and educational institutes. Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, is known to believe Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the biggest threat to the UK's national security. But her calls within Government for it to be proscribed have been resisted by the Foreign Office. (Telegraph-UK) Israeli tanks mobilized outside Gaza have been adapted with metal canopies over their hatches to protect against attack drones, a safety modification widely used in Ukraine. The hardened protective screens act as a barrier from aerial strikes, causing explosives to detonate before they can seriously damage the vehicles or harm their crew. During its surprise attack on Oct. 7, Hamas used armed commercial drones to target soldiers and armored vehicles. (Washington Post) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
In the wake of U.S. President Joe Biden's lightning visit to Israel on Wednesday, 12 days into the war with Hamas, it's clear he told his hosts America has no objection to an Israeli ground operation in Gaza. Biden also promised an expansive package of security aid and pledged that the army will get all the ammunition it needs. Israel won't interfere with humanitarian aid supplied to southern Gaza via Egypt as long as it is confined to food, water and medicine for the civilian population. Humanitarian aid via Israel will be allowed only after the Israeli hostages are returned. Israel is also demanding that Hamas let the Red Cross visit the hostages. In the north, Hizbullah is still firing anti-tank missiles, rockets and guns every day, and each incident tests Israel's patience anew. Wednesday's attacks included rocket launches at Kiryat Shmona. What actually happened at the Gaza hospital has become clear: A Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket fired at Israel misfired, exploded in midair and landed in the hospital parking lot, where there were many refugees seeking shelter. The Gazan Health Ministry, which Hamas controls, inflated the number of casualties on its orders, reporting the number of deaths as 500. The actual number of fatalities, which Israel didn't cause, is apparently only a few dozen. (Ha'aretz) Minister Benny Gantz, who joined the Israeli government's war cabinet last week, spoke at the funeral for Ofir Libstein, the head of the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council, who was killed fighting Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7. Gantz said the Israel-Hamas war "will take a long time. The war in the south - and if need be also in the north or anywhere else - might take months, and the rebuilding will take years. Only when [the rebuilding] is complete will we be victorious. Our goal is not just to defeat Hamas, but to promise that the south will be 100% a paradise." Gantz, a former defense minister and former IDF chief of staff, said: "I am here...to tell all of you firstly: I'm sorry - sorry that we were not able to save you, sorry that we were not able to protect you this time....We are at war not just for your homes, the residents of the Gaza border towns, but for all of our homes." (Times of Israel) IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says there may still be Palestinian terrorists in Israeli territory from the Oct. 7 infiltration. Hagari said troops found and captured a terrorist on Wednesday night who was trying to head back to Gaza. (Times of Israel) An IDF drone eliminated a terrorist squad that launched mortar shells toward the Upper Galilee region near the Lebanon border on Wednesday. During the day, several anti-tank missiles were launched toward the areas of Metula, Malkia, and Manara. The IDF responded with fire toward the location of the shooting. (Ynet News) Eleven days after the massacre carried out by Hamas terrorists, the bodies of a woman and a child were found Wednesday in Kibbutz Be'eri, where over 130 bodies have already been recovered. Moti Bukchin, spokesperson for the ZAKA emergency service, said the woman's body was found lying on the staircase and the child on the upper floor. "The terrorists shot them and then set the house on fire," he said. "We've been there for a week and a half, praying for these horrors to end, and it just doesn't stop." Over a thousand people lived in Be'eri, the largest kibbutz in the region. In the battle at Be'eri, 103 terrorists were killed by Israeli security forces. (Ynet News) Residents of many Israeli communities have volunteered for local emergency reaction squads to protect their homes and neighbors. Civilians across the country with previous military experience are being recruited to the IDF Home Front Command, where they received firearms and began training and patrols. Emergency squads, which were initially established only in communities close to Israel's borders, have recently expanded throughout the country with efforts to establish 347 new squads in the coming weeks. (Ynet News) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David M. Friedman posted a video of the Israeli TV appearance of Or Zuk, whose parents were murdered by Hamas. She said: "My parents had no humanitarian corridor. They were brutally murdered, along with many others, who woke up on a Saturday morning - and the only reason they were murdered is that they were Jewish. It's the only reason." "We've been living for 20 years under rocket attacks and we took cover from them. The government built us shelters. But that didn't help my parents that Saturday morning. My brother hid under the bed and lay there for 7 hours in our mother's blood. So excuse me if I don't care too much about a "humanitarian corridor." We didn't get that." "On Holocaust Memorial Day everyone says, 'Never Again.' We had a holocaust in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Tomorrow I bury both my parents who were murdered 12 days ago....I want to say to anyone who hears this: What happened in Kfar Aza and Be'eri and the rest of the kibbutzim - if it doesn't end in a decisive resolution - it will happen to you too. What do you think will happen? A rocket here and there? They will come and slaughter you - even in Tel Aviv." (X) On Oct. 7, two trucks rolled into Ofakim, an Israeli city of 40,000, packed with 14 terrorists and their arsenal. Only spontaneous action on the part of residents and police officers, armed with knives and a few handguns, eventually stopped the act, but not before the city lost 50 people within five hours. Police officer Dor Elamakias was in Re'im patrolling the music festival, when he received a report about gunfire and rushed to Ofakim, where he found a "massive attack" underway. "At the beginning, we didn't know how many there were. They threw grenades and fired RPGs at us during the battle," he said. Injured during the firefight, Elamakias said he continued fighting alongside Ofakim residents as he "saw people murdered in front of our eyes, in the streets." Elamakias with armed only with his handgun and two clips. Running low on ammunition, he said, "we had to be creative; each terrorist that we killed, we used his weapon." (Times of Israel) Story by story, post by post, and article by article, an extraordinary picture of against-all-odds heroism on October 7 is emerging. Citizens, police officers, and soldiers, at home and on base, scrambled, improvised, and fought back fiercely. These citizen commandos not only saved countless lives: These Israelis saved Israel. Ben Mizrachi, 22, moved to Israel from Vancouver five years ago. He finished his IDF service as a combat medic. When Hamas terrorists swarmed the Supernova music festival, Ben's training - and courage - clicked in. He and his buddy reached their car, but they did not flee. They ferried people to safety - two, possibly three times. He started treating the wounded. And then he was murdered. Ben's story and the thousands of other stories about fighting back that day returned Israel to its Zionist trajectory. October 7 became another chapter in the Zionist tale about the Jewish redemption of a land surrounded by cruel enemies, and how Israelis have learned to fight when necessary, but live, build, and rejoice always. Some who lived elsewhere simply holstered their guns, jumped in their cars, and drove maniacally down to the area to save their kids, their grandkids, or mere strangers. A police officer, Yisrael Zinger, used Google maps to find a backroad exit when terrorists blocked the two main exits from the Supernova concert. His convoy led 500 concert-goers to safety. He then joined with other officers and soldiers in the firefight of their lives. The writer, a distinguished scholar of North American history at McGill University, is a senior fellow in Zionist thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute. (Jerusalem Post) Adi Naveh survived the horrors at the music festival in Re'im where hundreds were killed. When the Hamas attack started, "We got in the car and fled. We were being shot at....On the road to Kibbutz Be'eri, they were firing at all the cars. It was a massacre. I could see a firing squad and I felt like a sitting duck in a firing range. A bullet hit the car tire and the car exploded. We were thrown into a ditch and we then ran about 50 feet and hid behind a bush." "My husband covered me with leaves and a burnt tire and we prayed. My head was facing the road and I could see everything. I saw them abducting three girls into vans and one onto a motorbike. I saw them making sure they'd killed people in cars, and setting fire to cars with people alive inside. I saw a teenage boy - he looked really young - constantly shooting at anyone escaping." "We played dead. A terrorist trod on my head, shouting 'Allahu Akbar' and then shot and hit my hair. Miraculously, he didn't hit me. He trod on my husband and shot between his legs. There were hundreds of them. They shot anyone passing." "At home, I'm like a ghost. It's like I'm dead. I can't believe we survived. We should have died two hundred times over. I can't get the pictures out of my mind....We're not heroes. The people who died are the heroes." (Ynet News) Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities President Prof. David Harel wrote to academic leaders from prestigious institutions around the world: I am writing to you in the midst of the most devastating time Israel has experienced in many, many years. Many of you have sent us letters of condolence and support, and some of you also issued public statements condemning the barbaric, atrocious attack we underwent. However, there are those who view the Hamas attack as merely "another round" in an ongoing battle between Israel and its enemies. Some statements even make embarrassing attempts to portray things as being symmetric, asking "all sides" to refrain from hostilities. This is not merely "another round" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas is a vicious terrorist organization of the worst possible kind, and, like ISIS, cannot be allowed to exist as such. On Oct. 7, Hamas carried out a broad, carefully planned attack, targeting men, women, children, babies and seniors - all within Israel. This inhuman and horrifically violent attack clearly amounts to a crime against humanity. I find it hard to understand or sympathize with anyone exhibiting support for, or indifference to such a terror organization as Hamas and what they did on Oct. 7. Hamas must be prevented from being able to launch any such attacks in the future, ever. (Ynet News) The Israeli war cabinet understands the immensity of the task that Jewish history has thrust upon it. What's the goal? Banishing Hamas from the face of Gaza. The day after the war, Hamas will not be in Gaza: Not a "downsized Hamas" nor a "deterred Hamas" nor a "civilian Hamas." No Hamas. Someone else will be running Gaza. It might be the Palestinian Authority, as the Americans would like. It might be an international entity or some other body that will pop up. But not Hamas. How will this objective be attained? The answer is a broad conquest of Gaza on the ground. The invasion won't begin immediately. It's well understood that the longer the aerial pounding continues, the easier it will be to enter on the ground. The Israeli residents of the Gaza border area will not return to their communities unless the threat is gone. (Israel Hayom) Lt.-Col. Tomer Greenberg's Golani Brigade battalion held the Nahal Oz sector, was taken by surprise, but recovered and eliminated dozens of terrorists. "I was given a situation picture that's every battalion commander's nightmare - that there are terrorists in all the localities in my sector...that we had sustained many wounded and many killed." In Kfar Aza, soldiers detected a house where there were two babies whose parents had been killed. "We reached the place and burst in, and I saw the mother in the living room. She'd been shot. I reached the children's room and saw their father prostrate with a bullet in the head. I identified the father: he was a former Golani officer; once I'd had the occasion to work with him. And I saw two sweet babies, blue-eyed, maybe two years old, just sitting quietly in their crib." Greenberg's battalion kept fighting the next day. It eliminated dozens of terrorists, patched holes in the Gaza fence with Leopard APCs and tanks, and fired at every terrorist who tried to break through or return to Gaza. The battalion paid a painful price in blood: 41 dead and 91 wounded. Explaining the high casualty toll, Greenberg notes that his battalion was deployed over a large number of locations and under inferior conditions in each. Now the battalion is preparing feverishly for the next stage. Golani will be the spearhead, as always. Motivation is at its peak. "We've spent fifteen years preparing for [this battle]. Now let's see who's better prepared. It's clear to everyone what we're fighting for....It's not revenge. It's the twins; they didn't even cry when we took them away in the Leopard. I thought about my 3 1/2-year-old daughter. It's for them." (Israel Hayom) When we moved to Israel 20 years ago, our son was just 8 months old. We believed Israel was an ideal place to raise Jewish kids. We looked forward to a life filled with religious inspiration, national unity, freedom, and independence for our children. And that's exactly what we got. Twenty years later, we find ourselves sending our son into war. A strange cacophony of thoughts and emotions flood my brain at this moment. I am afraid. Proud. Hopeful. Even thankful. Our son has been cast into the role of our protector. This is so strange, when for the last 20 years we have always been the ones to protect him. We all want our little kids to feel safe. But as they mature, a necessary part of growth is to come to the adult understanding that we must protect ourselves and our loved ones. And our people. Especially as Jews, we cannot depend on anyone else to ensure our nation's safety. The lessons we've learned from thousands of years of Jewish history have taught us that. My son, the soldier, knows this. When he entered the army, I never really imagined that he would be heading into a combat zone. I am frightened. But I am also so proud that he has stepped into the role of a defender of our people, one who sets out to protect our safety as Jews in a world of uncertainty. As scared as I am at this moment, I am completely at peace with our decision to raise our family here. (Times of Israel) As a Palestinian refugee myself, Israel's forthcoming liberation of Gaza is long overdue. Hamas perpetrated a massacre when they violated Israel on Oct. 7 in a spree of bloodcurdling violence. As a Palestinian, I find the actions of the terrorist group beyond abhorrent. During its brutal invasion, Hamas killed, injured and abducted scores of Muslim Israelis, including Bedouins. Israel never wanted control of Gaza. Between Israel's independence and 1967, it was controlled by Egypt, which never attempted to create a Palestinian state on its territory. The unforgivable brutality Hamas just displayed against Israelis is what the Palestinian population has experienced from these cold-blooded murderers and thugs for the past 16 years since they took control of Gaza in 2007. The raping, torture and murder that Hamas has committed is inexcusable, full stop. Please, Israel, deliver our people from the wicked power of Hamas. The writer is a Jerusalem-based Palestinian peace advocate, political analyst and human rights pioneer. (Fox News) With a group of fellow Muslims, I established the Muslim American Leadership Alliance in 2015 to celebrate Muslim American heritage and promote individual freedom and diversity. For years we've been successful. Last week, however, our progress came to a standstill as Muslim leaders failed to respond adequately to Hamas' massacre in Israel. American Muslims should have followed President Biden's lead by denouncing the terror group's attacks as an affront to the sanctity of human life, according to our faith. The U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations refused to condemn Hamas. The only two Muslim women in Congress, Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, were so equivocal about Hamas and hostile toward Israel that the White House press secretary felt compelled to call their comments "repugnant." When my organization posted on Instagram expressing solidarity with our Jewish and Israeli friends, the post received few likes, and most people who commented expressed solidarity with Palestinians. A few things led Muslims to fail in this critical moment. The first was an irrational ideological fixation on Zionism, which has no effect on most Muslims. The second was an activist-fueled dehumanization of Israelis. Americans are horrified by Hamas and see many Muslims respond either by saying nothing or by blaming Jews for the rape, beheading and kidnapping of their people. In a single weekend, extremists have taken our identity hostage, tarnished our reputations and endangered our families. It will take years to restore our good name. (Wall Street Journal) When my father, who was born and raised in Gaza, was still alive, he often spoke out against Hamas. Since Hamas' attack on Israel, I have read post after post on social media referring to Hamas as freedom fighters. Hamas does not view Jewish people as human beings. Its goal is not the genocide of Jewish people in Israel; its goal is the genocide of all Jewish people on this planet. My father hated that Hamas had positioned itself as the face of Gaza worldwide. He posted on social media: "May God curse the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, they have brought us nothing but backwardness in our Arab societies." Hamas stands next to al-Qaeda and ISIS in perpetuating deadly terror attacks against civilians. I believe Israel has every right to protect its people from a vicious, violent and ugly terrorist group. If you want to help Gazans, help them to get out from under the tyranny of Hamas. (CNN) Observations: Sickening Anti-Israel Bias in the West - Allister Heath (Daily Telegraph-UK)
The writer is editor of the Sunday Telegraph. |
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