UN Halves Its Estimate of Women and Children Killed in Gaza (Foundation for Defense of Democracies)
    The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has revised its child fatality figure from the Gaza war sharply downward, reporting more than 14,500 deaths on May 6 but 7,797 on May 8.
    OCHA also revised downward its figure for women fatalities from more than 9,500 deaths to 4,959 deaths.
    The Gaza Ministry of Health admitted it did not have names for more than 10,000 of the individuals it claimed to be deceased.
    "While the UN's belated decision to rectify the casualty figures is welcome, it may come too late to undo the harm already caused," said Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst at FDD.

Israel Receives Top Points from 14 Countries in Eurovision Public Televote (Times of Israel-Washington Post)
    Israel's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, on Saturday received top points in the popular vote from over a dozen countries, including France, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, UK, Italy, Luxembourg, and Portugal.
    Israeli singer Eden Golan performed the song "Hurricane." The song was originally titled "October Rain," with references to the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
    Eurovision organizers said it violated the ban on politicized lyrics, so Israel changed the title and some of the lyrics in order to compete.
    Overall, Israel finished in fifth place, while coming in second in the televote.
    Even the Irish public gave Israel 10 points (12 is max).
    See also Video: Israel's Eurovision Entry - "Hurricane" (Eurovision Song Contest)

U.S. Distancing Hostage Deal by Tying Israel's Hands over Rafah - Avi Issacharoff (Ynet News)
    President Joe Biden's confirmation on Wednesday about delaying the shipment of munitions for the IDF, amid the administration's opposition to an offensive on Rafah, is likely to hinder any progress or breakthrough in negotiations with Hamas for a ceasefire.
    Hamas leaders understand that Israel's hands are tied due to American pressure, leading Hamas to insist on its outrageous demands in talks for the release of captives.
    In northern Israel, which has been emptied of its residents, Hizbullah has said it will continue to attack Israel as long as the fighting in Gaza continues.
    In other words, by restraining Israel in Gaza, the White House is hampering any possibility of calm in the north.
    The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist focusing on Palestinian affairs, is one of the creators of the TV series "Fauda."

Hamas Is Retaking Unattended Parts of Gaza - Yoav Zitun (Ynet News)
    While the eyes of the world are focused on Rafah, where the IDF has begun a limited and targeted ground operation, Hamas is retaking sections of Gaza left unattended.
    The IDF has recently completed the construction of four large outposts along the Netzarim Corridor, a 3-km. strip of land dividing northern and southern Gaza, for hundreds of soldiers, including those responsible for securing the new port constructed by the U.S. military.
    To the south of the corridor, the IDF has identified a build-up of hundreds of Hamas operatives. There is almost daily mortar fire toward IDF forces in the corridor.
    Thousands of Hamas operatives have returned in recent weeks to impose their control over the population that returned to Khan Yunis.

Hamas Urges Halt to Aid Airdrops after Two Killed in Gaza Parachute Failure (Times of Israel)
    Hamas on Thursday called for an end to airdrops of aid after two Palestinians were killed in northern Gaza when an aid pallet crashed into a warehouse after its parachute failed to open.
    At least 21 people have been killed in Gaza from airdrops of aid gone wrong, Hamas authorities said.

What "Palestinian Genocide"? - Frida Ghitis (CNN)
    Claims that Israel has been committing a genocide of Palestinians date to long before Oct. 7.
    Yet the population of Gaza was estimated to be less than 400,000 when Israel captured the territory from Egypt in a war against multiple Arab countries in 1967. It's now estimated at 2 million.
    Population growth of almost 600% would make it the most inept genocide in the history of the world.

Six Months Out: The U.S. Presidential Election and America's Jews - Steven Windmueller, PhD (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
    Since the mid-1980s, Israel has not been a central factor for most Jewish voters.
    In 2024, we note a higher degree of concern and attention to matters related to Israel's security and U.S. political and military support for the Jewish state.
    But for many American Jews, the Israel card will not necessarily define their voter preferences, as there are today an array of domestic and foreign considerations driving Jewish voting concerns for this fall's election.
    Jews vote in exceedingly high numbers; somewhere between 72% to 85% of Jewish voters live in "purple states" (states neither "red" nor "blue") where the 2024 contest for the control of the Office of the President, the Senate, and the House will be determined.
    In several critical states (Pennsylvania and Arizona, and to a lesser degree, Georgia), the "Jewish vote" might be particularly significant in determining the outcomes.
    The writer, Emeritus Professor of Jewish Communal Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles, is a fellow of the Jerusalem Center.

Ex-U.S. Army Chief Defends Israel's Oct. 7 Response (Times of Israel)
    Gen. (ret.) Mark Milley, former Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, defended Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza at a national security panel in Washington on May 7.
    "Israel has a right to defend itself. They were the ones who were attacked, brutally, on the 7th of October. 1200 people were slaughtered - not just killed in the conduct of war, they were slaughtered, beheaded, butchered, raped in front of their husbands."
    "It was stuff that was not even a hair's breadth removed from what the Nazis did. And if you take the math and do 1,200 and apply it to the United States, that'd be 50,000-100,000 people dead in a morning. Can you imagine what we would do?"
    "If there's any morality at all, you need to get into it, achieve your political objectives, get it done, get it done fast, and get it over with."

Hillary Clinton Slams Anti-Israel Protesters - Jacob Magid (Times of Israel)
    Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slammed the pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protest movement at American colleges in an interview Thursday on MSNBC.
    "I have had many conversations with a lot of young people over the last many months. They don't know very much at all about the history of the Middle East," she said.
    Clinton, a professor of public affairs at Columbia University, said students were ignorant of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process spearheaded by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, which collapsed in 2000 when an unprecedented land-for-peace offer was rejected by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
    She said much of the student protesters' knowledge of the conflict came from "willfully false... incredibly slanted, pro-Hamas, anti-Israel" propaganda.

IDF Operates Unmanned D9 Bulldozers in Gaza - Israel Wolman (Ynet News)
    The IDF reported Thursday that it is employing unmanned D9 "Panda" bulldozers in Gaza.
    The robotic bulldozers, converted by Elta Systems, part of Israel Aerospace Industries, execute complex and lengthy engineering tasks without human involvement.
    These include excavation, path opening in rough terrain, obstacle removal, setting up dirt barriers and tank firing positions, and even building demolition - all without risking human lives and in any weather condition and visibility.

Israeli Startups Raised over $1 Billion in April (Globes)
    Despite the war, Israeli startups raised over $1 billion in April 2024.
    Israeli tech companies raised $6.9 billion in 2023. In the first four months of 2024, Israeli startups have raised $2.6 billion.