| DAILY ALERT |
Tuesday, July 23, 2024 |
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
While the U.S. government and the entire country is preoccupied by the political upheaval surrounding President Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has arrived in Washington for a previously scheduled visit. The Israeli leader is set to address Congress on Wednesday. "I will seek to anchor the bipartisan support that is so important for Israel," Netanyahu said before departing Israel on Monday. "In this time of war and uncertainty, it's important that Israel's enemies know that America and Israel stand together today, tomorrow and always." The timing may be complicated, but it is critical that he secure Biden's support for the months remaining in the president's term. (New York Times) See also Netanyahu Comes to Washington - Steve Hendrix Prime Minister Netanyahu said Monday that he expected to meet with President Biden and to thank him for supporting Israel throughout his long career. The prime minister said he intended "to tell our friends on both sides that regardless of who is elected to lead the American people after the presidential elections, Israel is its most important ally in the Middle East." Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington, said U.S. pressure on Israel to rein in its military campaign in Gaza has eased in recent weeks. "The pressure has gone now," Oren said. "It's nothing like it was." Biden's team has backed off in part because of signs the Israeli attacks are making Hamas more amenable to a deal, Oren said. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that he had received a "broad preview" of Netanyahu's speech to Congress and it focused on "how the U.S. and Israel are trying together to face down the terrorist threat" and coordinate on "regional challenges." (Washington Post) The suicide drone used by Houthi militants in a deadly attack on Tel Aviv was constructed primarily with American components, highlighting severe gaps in U.S. sanctions on Tehran, according to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). "The construction of the drones is enabled by the regime's access to American components, and indeed the drones are built almost entirely from components produced by U.S. companies," Cruz said in a letter sent to the White House on Monday. "U.S. export and trade restrictions are aimed in part to prevent the acquisition of such components by rogue regimes such as Iran. Those munitions are being used to attack U.S. servicemembers and our allies, including Israel and Ukraine, and more broadly to undermine American national security interests." (Washington Free Beacon) Energean said Tuesday it will invest $1.2 billion to develop the Katlan gas field off Israel's Mediterranean coast, with gas output expected to commence in the first half of 2027. Katlan was discovered in 2022 near the Karish and Tanin fields, also owned by Energean. The field contains 1.10 trillion cubic feet of proven and probable gas reserves. (Reuters) Imam Karim Abuzaid taught a children's class at Chicago's Darul Quran Mosque on June 30, 2024, telling them that their number one goal in life is to die as a Muslim and go to Paradise. (MEMRI-TV) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
The IDF has identified numerous rocket launch sites in the eastern part of the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone near Khan Yunis in Gaza and announced on Monday it "is about to forcefully operate against the terrorist organizations" in the area. Therefore, the IDF is adjusting the humanitarian zone and calling on the civilian population to evacuate the areas marked on maps it has distributed, "in order to mitigate harm to the civilian population and keep civilians away from areas of combat." The IDF was notifying the population of the need to evacuate the area via phone calls, SMS messages, and Arabic broadcasts. (Jerusalem Post) Qawarshi Zakaria Adam, a Muslim Canadian citizen, entered Israel on Sunday on a tourist visa and attempted a stabbing attack against Israeli security forces on Monday morning at the entrance to Netiv Ha'asara, a moshav close to the Gaza border. The assailant, who shouted "Free Palestine!" as he threatened security forces with a knife, was shot and killed. (Times of Israel) Palestinian sources say that Ashraf Nafeh, the Hamas commander in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, was killed in an Israeli drone strike on Tuesday, together with Muhammad Abu Abdo, commander of the local Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades. (Ha'aretz) See also IDF Used Ruse to Bring 2 Terror Commanders to Area Where They Could Be Targeted - Emanuel Fabian (Times of Israel) The Israel Security Agency recently foiled plans by a Palestinian terror cell from Aqabat Jabr camp near Jericho that was planning to carry out a kidnapping of Israelis. Members of the cell dug a hole in the ground where they intended to hold the Israeli hostages. Muhammad Tarik, 19, and Amin Qatash, 20, established the cell, purchased firearms and other weapons, and recruited others to carry out a kidnapping alongside shooting and explosive attacks against IDF troops and civilians in the West Bank. (Times of Israel) Members of the Hamas student organization at Ramallah-based Birzeit University, under the direction of Hamas in Turkey, formed a terror cell to attack Israeli targets, the Israel Security Agency said Sunday. They were engaged in "practical preparations to carry out a significant attack and also in a series of actions to transfer Hamas funds to operatives in the field, all under the direction of senior officials from the Hamas headquarters in Turkey." All the members of the squad who intended to take part in the attack were arrested, an M-16 weapon was seized, and tens of thousands of dollars received from Hamas were confiscated. (Ynet News) The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) told Israel's High Court of Justice on Sunday that UN and humanitarian organizations had failed to collect and distribute 35% of the aid brought into Gaza by Israel last month. The head of COGAT, Maj.-Gen. Ghassan Alian, rejected claims that the humanitarian aid delivery corridor from the Kerem Shalom crossing to central Gaza was in any way dangerous, stating that 150 trucks from the private sector use it every day. He also said there is no humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza in recent months and that assistance coming via Jordan and the Israeli port of Ashdod was flowing freely. He added that Gaza's water and fuel requirements were being met, and that all requests for the entry of medicine and medical equipment were approved by Israel. Alian said that there were currently 11 field hospitals operating in the IDF-designated humanitarian zone in southwest Gaza, alongside ten regular hospitals still operating in Gaza. (Times of Israel) In May, the Palestinian Authority petitioned Israel's High Court of Justice to annul Israel's Victims of Hostile Actions Compensation Law which permits bereaved families to claim financial compensation from entities funding terrorism. The Court is scheduled to hear the petition on Aug. 4. Attorney Barak Kedem, who represents nearly 300 bereaved families, said, "We will fight to have this petition dismissed outright. The Palestinian Authority's attempt to evade compensating terror victims while financing bloodshed will not succeed." In July, dozens of bereaved families sued the Palestinian Authority for NIS 210 million ($58.8 million) in the Jerusalem District Court. The lawsuit claims the PA initiates, supports and encourages terrorism against Israeli citizens, rewarding terrorists with substantial financial payments, in a scheme known as "pay for slay." (Ynet News) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War After Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, murdering 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, Israel's war cabinet directed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to destroy Hamas's military and governing capabilities, free all hostages, and ensure that Gaza would no longer pose a threat to Israel. Limiting the goal to merely preventing another Oct. 7 is not enough. No sovereign state would allow a genocidal terrorist organization to exist on its border. Numerous studies, including my own, have shown that targeted killing is effective in mitigating Palestinian terrorism but is insufficient. Applying military pressure is also required. That is what Israel is doing, and it is doing so carefully and precisely. Israel seeks to minimize civilian casualties. That is an integral part of its counterterrorism policy. Hamas seeks to maximize civilian casualties. That is an integral part of its propaganda strategy, and too many people are falling for it. The war in Gaza might have ended long ago had Israel applied indiscriminate force, akin to the force the Allies applied in Dresden during World War II. As of July, the IDF has dismantled 22 of Hamas's 24 battalions, killed over 17,000 Hamas terrorists, incapacitated a similar number, and captured about 5,000. The unfortunate deaths of civilians, used by Hamas as human shields, are Hamas's responsibility. Israel has enabled over 30,000 trucks carrying humanitarian aid, including 500,000 tons of food and medicine, to enter Gaza. The writer is Foreign Policy Adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Foreign Affairs) The U.S., while providing crucial military support to Israel, has inadvertently hindered our war efforts against Hamas. With humanitarian aid that benefits the terrorists and restrictions on IDF actions, America's well-intentioned policies have prolonged the conflict and increased suffering. Alongside the air and sea bridge of armaments and weapons to Israel, the U.S. ensured a "humanitarian train" for Gaza residents, including fuel and food in insane quantities. Hamas seized most of it and even made a nice profit from selling it to the Gazan population. Thus, in practice, the U.S. helped to preserve Hamas's governing capability and provided Hamas's leadership with more and more fuel, allowing it to fight and exist for many more months in underground Gaza and continue firing at Israeli border communities. Moreover, there is an inherent anomaly in the decision to aid the murderous enemy of your closest ally in the Middle East, conduct that would not have crossed America's mind against its own enemies. The U.S. also sought to limit the nature and pace of Israel's fighting, as well as the types of armaments it is allowed to use. These restrictions further endanger IDF soldiers, slow down their rate of progress in the combat zones, and prolong the war. In addition, it turned out that the delay in sending weapons to Israel does not relate to one weapons shipment of a certain type, as Biden claimed, but to various ammunition that Israel paid for, and which was delayed for months, in the fields of artillery and air and tank warfare, as well as thousands of kits which turn bombs into smart target-guided bombs. (Israel Hayom) The IDF and Israel Security Agency have uncovered a treasure trove of Hamas intelligence, including operational tables, equipment lists, and classified maps. "The amount of intelligence accumulated so far...allows us to dismantle Hamas from within," said a senior security official. The intelligence included Excel tables showing the readiness levels of special units, companies, battalions, and brigades, including the scope of training, weapons, and ammunition. It also included orders in the various units, equipment lists for each fighter, and protocols of meetings. One document detailed a plan to undermine the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank by infiltrating its security mechanisms and encouraging internal rebellion to overthrow and take control of the PA gradually. Literature from the Hamas education system was also found, promoting terrorism against Israel from the first day of education. They included children's books teaching how to murder Jews by running them over or stabbing them. "Based on what we saw in maps and documents and what was actually discovered, it is clear that Gaza was constructed as one large military base, including the use of kindergartens, schools, clinics, hospitals, and mosques," said a source who reviewed Hamas documents. "They intended to infiltrate a large number of IDF bases, including Air Force bases." (Jerusalem Post) In Knesset testimony, Rabbi Moshe Dickstein, a reservist who served as a commander of the casualty identification unit in the IDF's Southern Command, provided details of the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli communities. "The first body we came across was in an overturned stroller. Inside the stroller was a baby, and his head was thrown aside with a knife in it. The woman we found, presumably the mother, was lying on the couch with blood flowing from her private area." "And so we went from house to house and found women lying on the floor with legs spread, it's indescribable. Another house and another house, then also in the field. They cut off men's genitals, and we found women with severed breasts. A pregnant woman with her belly opened up to reveal the umbilical cord and the baby with a knife in its body." (Israel Hayom) The Gaza War - Legal Aspects In a gross miscarriage of justice that surprised no one, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion Friday saying that Israel's "occupation" of the "Palestinian territories" violates international law. The ICJ's opinion will reinvigorate the Palestinian crusade against Israel. In legal terms, the opinion is little more than a warmed-over presentation of the Palestinian narrative. Several judges took issue with the majority opinion, but it was Uganda Judge Julia Sebutinde, the court's vice president and the only full dissenter in the case, who has come out to tell it like it is. Judge Sebutinde's dissent is a masterful analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that dismantles the majority opinion point by point, arguing that the court shouldn't have taken the case to begin with. The Israel-Palestinian conflict will be solved by a political process based on negotiations between the parties, Judge Sebutinde wrote, not a judicial settlement in The Hague. She asserts the legality of Jewish rights in all of Mandatory Palestine, cites the legal documents and principles that justify those rights, recounts the history of Palestinian intransigence, and notes a Jewish presence in the land going back to ancient times. "Israel is not a colonizer," she wrote. Judge Sebutinde also points out how a "pro-Palestinian group of states" is hijacking institutions like the ICJ to create on paper what they can't build on the ground. The writer is an adviser to The Hague Initiative for International Cooperation (thinc.). (Wall Street Journal) On July 19, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered an advisory opinion on "the policies and practices of Israel" in the territories and Jerusalem. An insight into the minds and prejudices of the judges can quickly be gained by looking at their description of Israel's War of Independence when "an armed conflict broke out between Israel and a number of Arab states." "In October 1973, another armed conflict broke out between Egypt, Syria and Israel." In its language, the Court avoided any reference to Arab aggression - that Arab states attacked Israel in 1948 to snuff out the Jewish state as soon as it was born, or that in 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel and the center of Jewish religious devotion for thousands of years. When the Court refers to eastern Jerusalem as Occupied Palestinian Territory, it is saying that, unlike any other country, Israel has no right to "settle" in its own capital, Jews have no right to live in many parts of it, and they must leave. According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, "applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation" is antisemitic. The Court's desire to protect Palestinians is not - of course - matched by concern about Muslims in Xinjiang or Buddhists in Tibet. Moreover, the Court refers to the "right to an independent and sovereign state" of the Palestinian people. Do Tibetans not have that right? The people of Xinjiang? Berbers? Basques? Catalans? The politics and prejudices of the judges permeate this ICJ action and render it illegitimate. The State of Israel and the U.S. should pay it no heed. The writer, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, served as deputy national security advisor, where he supervised U.S. policy in the Middle East for the White House. (Council on Foreign Relations) The International Court of Justice (ICJ) - the UN's top court - has ruled that Israel is the illegal occupier of the territory of a non-existent Palestinian entity. In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the word "occupation" means absolutely nothing. It is a stunningly racist term, denying the ancient Jewish presence in the Land of Israel. In 1967, the UN Security Council never demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from the disputed territories. The Oslo Accords did not do so either. When Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Oct. 7 became inevitable, even if few knew it at the time. All withdrawals by Israel only led to more violence and more death. The writer, a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, served as vice president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. (JNS) Houthi Drone Attack on Tel Aviv Following Israel's recent strike on Houthi targets, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said: "We did not participate in today's Israeli attack on Yemen and did not help Israel." This is wonderful news. It shows to the Iranians, Arab states and others that Israel is an independent actor and demonstrates that Israel is willing to go it alone against the advice or demands of the Americans. It shows the Sunni Arab countries that Israel is a reliable partner against the Iranian regime because Israel will do what it must to protect itself and stop Iran and its proxies. The distance between Iran and Israel's target in Hodeida, Yemen (2,000 km.), is beyond the flight range of the F-35 fighter jet. That means the Israelis had to refuel during the trip. Since America didn't help them, the Israelis figured out a way to do so by themselves. The flight distance is the same as between Israel and most of Iran. Thus, the strike is a serious warning to Iran. Middle Easterners despise weakness. Israel's successful attack on Iran and the Houthis in Yemen demonstrates strength. Israel has gained new respect for its willingness to decimate its enemies. The writer, a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, served as an adviser on the Islamic world for the U.S. Department of Defense for 28 years. (JNS) On July 20, Israel responded to a deadly Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv with heavy airstrikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeida, destroying most of the site's oil storage tanks. 28 oil tanks were located in the targeted area. Satellite imagery showed 18 of them visibly destroyed, though other damaged tanks may have been obscured by smoke. Israeli forces also struck two gantry cranes at the container port. The writer is a Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute, specializing in military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran, and the Gulf states. (Washington Institute for Near East Policy) The IDF on Sunday revealed how the Houthi drone traveled 2,600 km. - although Yemen is 1,800 km. from Israel - flew for 16 hours and penetrated Israel's air defense system on Friday. The drone left Yemen, flying west toward Sudan. It then turned north, flying through Sudan and Egypt, then continued over the Mediterranean Sea. It then traveled east to strike Tel Aviv. The IDF said the reason for the failure was human error - failure to flag a blip on the radar screen as dangerous. The IDF is doubling the number of radar operators so that at least two sets of eyes would be watching, which should double the chance of properly identifying these threats. When the drone was only five minutes away, the air defense and warning systems finally recognized it as a threat. The IDF said it has succeeded in shooting down the vast majority of the 1,000 drones sent against it from several distinct fronts throughout the nine-month war, but even its multi-tiered air defense is not hermetic. Israel shot down 40 out of 50 Hamas drones and dozens from Yemen, while the U.S. shot down most of the remaining 300 drones sent by the Houthis to attack Israel. Israel has successfully shot down 80 out of 200 Iranian drones, while the U.S. has shot down most others or caused them to crash prematurely. Yet on the Lebanon-Syria front, it has only shot down 150 out of 300 drones, with more of those drones hitting Israeli targets. With this workload, the Israel Air Force said that 40% of its personnel are now assigned to air defense roles. (Jerusalem Post) The bombing exchange between the Houthis of Yemen and Israel over the weekend represents the failure of U.S. policy to contain the Iran-backed Houthis as they terrorize commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Biden Administration told Israel nine months ago that the U.S. would handle the Houthi threat and it should stick to playing defense. But the attack on Tel Aviv shows that the U.S. effort is a bust. The Houthis have all but shut down Western shipping in the Red Sea, at enormous cost to global businesses and consumers. They continue to attack U.S. naval vessels, which have been forced to play a high-stakes game of catch the drones and missiles. That one or more haven't killed sailors and damaged ships is a tribute to U.S. naval training and technology. But sooner or later one might get through and result in American casualties. (Wall Street Journal) Other Issues Prime Minister Netanyahu's current visit to the U.S. should be a platform for in-depth discussion with the U.S. on strategic issues. Iran has exploited the war in Gaza for a "nuclear rush." How does the U.S. intend to act to stop Iran and is it essential and feasible to carry out active Israeli-American action jointly? The U.S. and Israel do not see eye-to-eye on the "day after" the Gaza war. While the U.S. is pushing toward an independent Palestinian state, there is no Israeli public legitimacy for an independent Palestinian state, which was reinforced this week by a Knesset vote against such a state. Moreover, recent Palestinian polls show overwhelming Palestinian public support for Hamas, even in the West Bank. Control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border cannot be dealt with by technological means alone, given the proven problematic reliance on Egypt. What type of Israeli control is required to prevent misuse of the border again? The UN aid organization UNRWA served as a platform for Hamas terrorist elements to establish, disguise, and use UN infrastructure for terrorism. UNRWA essentially perpetuates the conflict rather than helps resolve it. How do we remove the UN and UNRWA from the "day after" equation? The writer is former Deputy Head of the Palestinian Arena in the IDF Planning Directorate. (Jerusalem Post) Tensions over the Gaza war have spread to American medical centers, with doctors feuding and wearing pins to express their positions. The hospital at the University of California, San Francisco even had a protest encampment. Yet Israeli hospitals are free of such acrimony. Arabs and Jews work and receive treatment together. A year ago, my 94-year-old mother broke her hip and was treated in Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center, so I spent most of a week there. Many doctors and nurses were Arab. So were many patients - and they shared rooms with Jews receiving treatment. Everyone got along fine. The harmony in Israeli hospitals comes as a shock to many opponents of Israel. When I described the atmosphere to participants in the Harvard Yard Gaza encampment, they were incredulous that Jewish and Arab patients were treated in the same hospitals. The teach-ins they attended told them that there was apartheid in Israel, so they assumed hospitals would be segregated. The writer is a neurologist and neuroscientist. (Wall Street Journal) "Zionism" has been relentlessly misinterpreted and maligned in contemporary discourse. At its core, Zionism is the declaration that the Land of Israel is the primordial and perennial home of the Jewish people, a profound connection that transcends mere political assertion. It is a testament to an unbroken historical continuity, a sacred spiritual covenant, and an indomitable legal affirmation. The historical linkage between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel is not a contrivance of modern nationalists but a well-documented reality stretching back millennia. For over three thousand years, Jews have inhabited this territory, weathering invasions, exiles, and occupations. Archaeological discoveries provide irrefutable evidence of an ancient Jewish presence. The Jewish connection to Israel is indelibly inscribed in Jewish traditions and scriptures. The Torah and other Jewish texts are laden with declarations that the Land of Israel is the divinely ordained homeland of the Jewish people. This is found in the scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each recognize Israel as the ancestral home of the descendants of Jacob. The bond between the Jewish people and Israel is not a peripheral or convenient myth but a central, undeniable fact of history. To ignore or undermine this bond is to engage in a deceitful distortion of both history and faith, an act unworthy of serious discourse. Zionism is, in fact, a decolonization movement par excellence, firmly grounded in the principles of self-determination and indigenous rights as recognized by international law. The path to peace and justice in the region begins with acknowledging these fundamental truths. The writer is executive director at We Believe in Israel. (Daily Express-UK) Observations: The ICJ Generates the Fiction of Palestinian Statehood - Amb. Alan Baker (Jerusalem Post)
The writer, former legal adviser to Israel's foreign ministry, led the team preparing Israel's response to the previous Palestinian attempt to engage the ICJ, regarding Israel's security fence. He is Director of the Institute for Diplomatic Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. |
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