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In-Depth Issues:
U.S. Accelerates Arms Shipments to Israel - Ron Ben Yishai ( Ynet News)
"Almost all the obstacles but one have been overcome," says an Israeli official familiar with Israel-U.S. military cooperation.
Sources say the obstacle involves precision one-ton GPS-guided bombs that the U.S has not agreed to transfer to Israel.
For over a week now, two C17 or Boeing 747 jets loaded with equipment and armaments Israel requested have been landing daily.
In January 2021, the U.S. transferred responsibility for Israel from the European Command to the Central Command (CENTCOM).
Relations with CENTCOM let Israel in through the back door to be able to cooperate with countries with which it has no diplomatic relations.
It's no secret that top Saudi, Kuwaiti and Israeli army officers sit alongside representatives from other armies at CENTCOM's headquarters in Florida.
CENTCOM has a dedicated base inside an Israel Air Force base, with a
recently completed complex designed to house and manage joint Israel-U.S. defense operations including intercepting missiles and UAVs.
The U.S. has stationed forces on an unprecedented scale in the Middle East and, unlike last time around, it's clearly offensive in nature.
The Americans have made it clear to Iran that if they attack Israel, they'll likely be subject to military blows not just from Israel, but from the U.S. too, alongside imposition of sanctions.
This means the cost to the Iranians would be very high, both economically and militarily.
In exchange for the unexpected supply flow increase, the U.S. demands that Israel avoid a preemptive strike on Iran, and that if Iran and Hizbullah attack, Israel will suffice with a proportional response, such that would not lead to a regional war.
The U.S. is actually telling Israel: We'll give you everything you need in defense terms, but you will allow the war to end before the U.S. elections.
Hamas Has Decided to Target Israelis Abroad ( Times of Israel)
Hamas has decided to carry out attacks against Israelis abroad in a bid to avenge the recent killing of group leader Ismail Haniyeh, Israel's Channel 12 reported Thursday, citing Palestinian sources.
The shift in tactics comes because the group's ability to launch attacks on Israel from Gaza has been significantly degraded during the war.
Hamas claimed responsibility for a failed suicide bombing attack on Aug. 18 in Tel Aviv by a longtime Hamas activist.
Israeli Arab Doctor Pledged Allegiance to ISIS - Darcie Grunblatt ( Jerusalem Post)
Muhammad Azzam, 34, a doctor at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, has been arrested, and an indictment was filed against him, for pledging allegiance to ISIS, the Israel Police reported Thursday.
Azzam, an Israeli citizen originally from Nazareth, was detained in July on suspicion of engaging in activities inspired by ISIS.
The Justice Ministry said Azzam had been reading ISIS-affiliated extreme online content since 2014.
Numerous media files were found on the doctor's phone, including executions, beheadings, and mutilated bodies, as well as folders titled "Explosive Materials" and "Poison Preparation."
Following Oct. 7, Azzam decided to join ISIS officially and pledged allegiance to Abu Hafs al-Hajri al-Qurashi, the new caliph.
Following Oct. 7, Azzam sent his friends footage of the atrocities with a tone of joy.
Media Spotlight on Anti-Israel Minority at DNC Paints Skewed Picture - Jacob Magid ( Times of Israel)
Pro-Palestinian activists at the Democratic National Convention received a disproportionate amount of media attention.
The spotlight on this group of delegates and demonstrators helped create a skewed narrative of a Democratic Party divided between a leadership that supports the Jewish state and a base that is walking away from it.
The reception that the parents of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin received when they took the stage on Wednesday - with chants of "Bring them home!" - and the attentive silence from the tens of thousands standing in the arena as the parents spoke, could have served as a wake-up call to reporters covering the DNC protests.
The convention ended Thursday with presidential nominee Kamala Harris pledging to ensure Israel "always has the ability to defend itself" - antithesis to the call for an Israel embargo.
AP Retracts Inflated Gaza Death Toll Figure ( CAMERA)
On Aug. 18, AP falsely reported that Gaza's "civilian death toll has now exceeded 40,000."
The Jerusalem office of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) pointed out to AP editors that the number reported by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israeli sources estimate that over 17,000 of those killed are Hamas combatants.
" AP's grossly inflated and unfounded civilian casualty figure fuels pernicious false narratives accusing Israel of genocide, further inflaming the conflict," charged Tamar Sternthal, director of CAMERA's Israel office.
On Aug. 19,
AP issued a correction, which was run by 83 media outlets.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Israeli Preemptive Strike Thwarts Hizbullah Attack on Tel Aviv - Carrie Keller-Lynn
Israel's military hit thousands of launchers in 40 locations in Lebanon with 100 jet fighters on Sunday, striking first as Hizbullah prepared for an extensive attack on military facilities and strategic sites in northern and central Israel, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said. Hizbullah later said its attacks were over for the day.
(Wall Street Journal)
See also IDF Launches Preemptive Strike on Hizbullah - Yonah Jeremy Bob
With Israeli intelligence observing that Hizbullah was about to launch its largest attack of the current war, including to the Tel Aviv and central Israel areas, the IDF preemptively and independently struck targets where Hizbullah was on the verge of launching deadly attacks on Israel.
(Jerusalem Post)
See also IDF Neutralizes Hizbullah Launch Sites - Lilach Shoval
In the predawn hours on Sunday, Israeli intelligence detected Hizbullah's positioning in rocket-launch areas, with some weapons aimed at central Israel. Beginning at 5 a.m., the IDF neutralized thousands of launch sites. The detection of preparations in rocket-launching zones led Israeli officials to conclude that this was not merely another episode in the ongoing tit-for-tat with Hizbullah. The IDF operation, aimed at eliminating the immediate threat, targeted every area where Hizbullah was identified as preparing to launch attacks on Israel.
Military intelligence suggested Hizbullah's intentions included the use of rockets, unmanned aerial vehicles, and possibly missiles against Israeli urban centers. While Israel is conducting its operation independently, all activities are being carried out in full coordination with the U.S., which was briefed in advance.
(Israel Hayom)
See also Israeli Security Cabinet Meets on Hizbullah Threat
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Security Cabinet on Sunday:
"This morning we identified Hizbullah preparations to attack Israel. In consensus with the Defense Minister and the IDF Chief-of-Staff, we directed the IDF initiate action to eliminate the threat. Since then, the IDF has been taking strong action to foil the threats. It has eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel. It is thwarting many other threats and is taking very strong action - both defensively and offensively."
"We are determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes, and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us - we will harm them." (Prime Minister's Office)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Hizbullah Attack Damages Homes in Acre - Yair Kraus
While Israel foiled Hizbullah's intention to hit strategic targets with its preemptive strike Sunday morning, hundreds of missiles and drones caused damage to communities in northern Israel. In Acre, dozens of apartments, private homes, and a kindergarten were damaged and a woman was slightly injured. Many windows were smashed, and shrapnel penetrated some houses.
(Ynet News)
- Over 100 Rockets Launched from Lebanon at Israel on Friday - Adi Hashmonai
Over 100 rockets were launched from Lebanon towards Israel on Friday, the Israeli army said. Two houses in Kiryat Shmona suffered direct hits, but there were no casualties.
The IDF attacked several targets in Lebanon on Friday. Hizbullah announced that seven of its members were killed in Israeli strikes.
(Ha'aretz)
- IDF Targets Gaza Terrorists: Dozens Eliminated
The IDF eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists and destroyed terrorist infrastructure across central and southern Gaza on Thursday, the IDF said on Friday.
In the Tel al-Sultan camp, north of Rafah, Israeli troops engaged and killed dozens of Hamas fighters in close-quarters encounters throughout Friday and Saturday morning.
(Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Iran
- Biden's Show of Force and Iran -
Editorial
After Iran threatened fire and fury, President Biden sent U.S. military assets into the region and reassembled the missile-defense coalition that stymied Iran in April. He announced new weapons sales to Israel and restored the flow of arms.
Israel credits American force with delaying Iran's attack. "The U.S. show of force is what actually makes escalation less likely," an Israeli security official says. This shouldn't be surprising. The deployment of U.S. carrier groups after Oct. 7 is widely credited with deterring Hizbullah from launching an all-out attack on Israel. "The U.S. can tell Iran 'don't' in a way that Israel can't," says a senior Israeli defense official. "It's not the same music, not the same decibel."
Stalling weapons sales and transfers to Israel led its enemies to conclude the Jewish state would give up the fight. To their surprise, Israel held firm. When Mr. Biden finally gave the order to release the weapons, bureaucratic delays evaporated and Iran took note. The weapons have begun moving, which is already making a difference in operational planning. "I had generals tell me, 'We can breathe again,'" the Israeli security official says. (Wall Street Journal)
Palestinian Arabs
- Abbas, the PLO and the PA Actively Promote the Destruction of Israel - Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas promoted the legislation that entrenched the PA's "Pay for Slay" policy which guarantees substantial monthly salaries to terrorist prisoners. He has twice authorized pay raises for the imprisoned terrorists.
In parallel, Abbas has funneled billions of shekels to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to pay monthly allowances to injured terrorists and the families of dead terrorists, and fund PLO member organizations including internationally designated terror organizations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Under Abbas, the PA school curriculum has become more radicalized and fanatical, teaching an ever-growing number of Palestinians to hate Israelis, hate Israel, and actively seek its demise. In the PA media, PA leaders openly invoke blood libels and call for the murder of Jews.
Breaching the Oslo Accords, Abbas's PA has pushed the UN and other international organizations to recognize the nonexistent "State of Palestine." Realizing that goal is just another step in the PLO's 1974 "Plan of Stages" to destroy Israel.
Abbas has never condemned the Oct. 7 massacre and sees the event as an opportunity to attack Israel for having the audacity to defend itself.
The writer, Director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs, was director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria. (Jerusalem Post)
U.S.-Israel Relations
- U.S. Unlikely to Stop Military Aid to Israel - because It Benefits from It - Dov Waxman interviewed by Amy Lieberman
As vice president and before that as a senator, Kamala Harris has consistently supported providing U.S. military aid to Israel. This position is typical of most Democratic Party members, as well as most Republicans. The U.S. has its own economic and strategic reasons for supplying that military aid. It is a U.S. national interest, not simply a favor for Israel, and that's why there is broad, bipartisan support for continuing this military aid.
When the U.S. gives military aid to Israel, the Israeli government is not putting that money in its pocket. The vast majority of the money that the U.S. allocates to Israel each year must be spent on American weapons. Those weapons are produced in factories across the U.S. So, many American lawmakers have an interest in sustaining that aid because that money ends up flowing into their own states and providing local jobs.
How does U.S. aid to Israel serve America's national interests?
A militarily strong Israel helps the U.S. counter their common enemies. During the Cold War, Israel helped contain the spread of Soviet influence in the Middle East. Israel's strategic value to the U.S. rose again following the 9/11 terrorist attacks because of Israel's long experience in counterterrorism and its vaunted intelligence-gathering capabilities.
More recently, Israel has worked with the U.S. to counter the expansion of Iranian influence in the region and to slow down Iran's nuclear program. They both regard Iran's growing power in the region as the greatest threat to regional stability, and they both want to stop Iran from having nuclear weapons. From the U.S. perspective, Israel can help the U.S. achieve its strategic goals in the region without the American military actually having to put boots on the ground. Israel is also perceived as a more reliable ally than the U.S.'s other major allies in the region.
The writer is Professor of Israel Studies at UCLA. (The Conversation)
- No, Mr. President, the Protesters Don't Have a Point - Eli Lake
In a section of President Biden's speech at the Democratic National Convention calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, he said, "Those protesters out on the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides." Really?
The leaders of the organizations trying to cause trouble at the DNC are concerned only with the casualties on the Palestinian side. We know this because the groups behind the agitations since Oct. 7 have praised the bloody massacre that kicked off the war. It's just wrong to say the masked troublemakers screaming about "genocide" in Gaza are anti-war. They are not. They want Hamas to win. If they have a point, Mr. President, it's that they are not worth listening to.
(Free Press)
Antisemitism
- Red Guard Tactics at UCLA - Elliot Kaufman
The protesters at UCLA attempted to twist Zionism - support for the existence of a Jewish state - from a modest expression of political decency into a radical and global evil, unique among the nations. In the spring, protest encampments denied "Zionists" access to a main quad and thoroughfare, a library and even some classrooms.
The protesters set up barriers and checkpoints, forcibly blocking students from parts of campus unless they deemed Israel guilty of the vilest crimes; rejected Zionism, or Israel's right to exist; and endorsed the protesters' political program. These are Red Guard tactics, anathema to the academic spirit. What university that still believed in its mission would tolerate them?
The anti-Israel fanatics demand that Jews relinquish their dignity and the solidarity that sustains Jewish peoplehood. Around half the world's Jews live in Israel, which has become the center of Jewish cultural creativity. The Jewish future, in every sphere, increasingly is built there.
To seek to destroy or dissolve the State of Israel, as anti-Zionists do, and leave those seven million Jews and that Jewish future in the hands of an Arab majority that cheers the Oct. 7 massacre, is beyond reckless. For Jews, it betrays a cruel indifference to or contempt for one's fellows. To demand that Jews take such a position, or else be vilified and shut out, is extortionate.
(Wall Street Journal)
Other Issues
- Where Did the Name "Palestine" Come From? - Amb. Dror Eydar
In 135 CE, the Roman suppression of the revolt of the Jews resulted in many Roman casualties. Emperor Hadrian, angered by the Jews, ordered the "erasure from memory" of the name "Judah" and decreed that the land be called "Palaestina," assuming that the Jews would forget their homeland and cease to rebel. However, the peoples who lived there during history were not referred to as "Palestinians." Since the Arab conquest in 638 CE, there has never been any mention in Arabic or Islamic literature of a distinct Palestinian people with their own identity or a defined country.
At the San Remo Conference in April 1920, the leaders of the victorious powers of World War I decided to grant 99% of the territory, which had previously belonged to the Ottoman Empire, to the Arab peoples. The remaining 1% was awarded to the Jewish people, and Britain was tasked with fulfilling the Balfour Declaration regarding the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in "Palestine - Land of Israel."
When British Prime Minister Lloyd George was asked about the boundaries of "Palestine," he opened an atlas and pointed to a map of "Palestine under David and Solomon," which spanned both sides of the Jordan River. "This belongs to the Jews," he said. Between 1870 and 1878, British surveyors conducted a detailed "Survey of Palestine." Jerusalem had a solid Jewish majority. The estimated Arab population of the land at the time was around 100,000.
In an interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw (March 1977), the head of the terror group As-Sa'iqa, PLO Executive Committee member Zuhair Mohsen, stated: "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the ongoing struggle against Israel for the purposes of Arab unity. Realistically, there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese. Just for political reasons we carefully underwrite our Palestinian identity, because it is of national interest for the Arabs to advocate the existence of Palestinians to balance Zionism."
This is the power of propaganda: a recently invented collective can deny the national identity of one of the oldest peoples in the world, who already in the 10th century BCE had a kingdom in their homeland, where Saul, David, and Solomon ruled. Yet the world ignorantly believes that before the establishment of Israel, there was a Palestinian state here.
The writer is a former Israeli ambassador to Italy. (Israel Hayom)
Observations:
- Preconditioning a cessation of hostilities along the Lebanon-Israel frontier on a prior halt to Israel's campaign in Gaza would allow Hizbullah to claim an unprecedented victory over Israel and have a deleterious effect on Israeli deterrence.
- When Hizbullah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, its objective, articulated by Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Nov. 3, was to exhaust Israel into accepting a premature ceasefire in Gaza so "the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, and Hamas in particular, emerge victorious." But the war has lasted far longer than the group anticipated or intended. It has trapped Hizbullah between reneging on its commitment to support Gaza, and appearing weak, or continuing a fight it cannot bear indefinitely.
- The current French and American ceasefire proposals offer no solution to Hizbullah's unyielding enmity towards Israel, which is ideologically based in the belief that the Jews, otherwise divinely ordained to be "stamped with wretchedness and humiliation and anger from God," had built their state on sacred Islamic and stolen Arab land.
- Hizbullah, therefore, will never be satiated with any Israeli concession, territorial or otherwise, short of the Jewish state's dissolution. The current deals can only ever achieve a temporary, and ultimately illusory, quiet.
- The cessation of hostilities will give Hizbullah coveted breathing room. This would stanch the bleeding that Israel is currently inflicting, and allow it to resume its military build-up - which will continue unimpeded, as it has since Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000, into an ever-larger threat to Israeli security.
- If a ceasefire is achieved under the current conditions, Hizbullah's narrative will be: In May 2000, we expelled the Zionists from south Lebanon. This time, we expelled them from Israel itself, and they were only able to return to their homes with our permission. So stay the course, the method is working.
The writer is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
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