IDF Data on a Year of War - Emanuel Fabian (Times of Israel)
    Since Oct. 7, 2023, 17,000 Hamas operatives and members of other terror groups have been killed by the IDF in Gaza, in addition to 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on Oct. 7.
    Troops have located 4,700 tunnel shafts.
    In Lebanon, the IDF has killed more than 800 terror operatives, mostly members of Hizbullah.
    Over 26,000 rockets, missiles, and drones have been launched at Israel from multiple fronts in the past year. They include 13,200 from Gaza, 12,400 from Lebanon, 400 from Iran, 180 from Yemen, and 60 from Syria.
    728 Israeli soldiers, reservists, and local security officers have been killed and another 4,576 have been wounded since Oct. 7.
    Of them, 347 were killed and 2,299 were wounded during the ground offensive in Gaza.
    Since Oct. 7, IDF troops have arrested 5,250 wanted Palestinians, including 2,050 affiliated with Hamas.
    690 Palestinian gunmen, rioters, and terrorists carrying out attacks have been killed in the West Bank.

One Year of Sirens in Israel (YouTube-Hebrew)
    A dynamic graphic shows daily rocket launches against Israel from 7 fronts since Oct. 7, 2023.

Testimonies from Hamas's Oct. 7 Attack on Israel - Ran Shimoni (Ha'aretz)
    The memory of the horror of Oct. 7 is not fading. It may never fade.
    A mother and her children confronted by a swarm of terrorists in the safe room of their home in Kibbutz Kfar Azza; a policeman lying gravely wounded among the bodies of his murdered colleagues at the Sderot police station; an elderly couple kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and dragged into the Hamas tunnels of Gaza.
    Ten of them speak to Ha'aretz, sensing an obligation to speak on behalf of those who can no longer do so.

I Was Deeply Moved by This Film about Oct. 7 - Rachel Johnson (Evening Standard-UK)
    A documentary called "We Will Dance Again," about the Nova music festival that took place close to Gaza on 7 Oct. 2023, looks through the eyes of the young men and women who went to dance there, and also uses Hamas bodycam footage of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
    If you want to understand why even though it's been a year since 7/10, this is not the past for Israel; and if you want to understand why there is war raging in the north, you must watch it.
    As the DJ pulls the plug on his set as rockets from Gaza fill the dawn sky, you can see - you can feel - this is the day the music died for the only Jewish state.

Without the Hostages, Hamas Would Have Been Defeated by Now - Ron Ben Yishai (Ynet News)
    Nearly a year into the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza, IDF forces have been maneuvering through the densely populated area, enduring months of intense fighting.
    While the initial days of a renewed offensive in northern Gaza saw dozens of Hamas fighters openly resisting, now, instead of seeking confrontation, Hamas terrorists are mostly fleeing and hiding in tunnels.
    Hamas, as a military force, has largely been dismantled, aside from one or two battalions still present in central Gaza.
    This war is being fought under the heavy cloud of hostages taken by Hamas. This war would have ended much sooner if Hamas hadn't kidnapped hostages on Oct. 7.
    Soldiers must think twice before shooting, knowing a hostage could be in the line of fire.

Hizbullah Has Lost Much of Its Power after Its Miscalculations - Matthew Levitt (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
    Hizbullah, the formidable Shia militia in Lebanon that for years posed the most imminent and strategic threat to Israel, is suddenly a shadow of its former self.
    Within days, a spectacular series of Israeli intelligence and military maneuvers severely degraded Hizbullah's fighting capacity and dismantled its leadership cadre.
    Since Hizbullah was the backbone of Iran's network of militant proxies, Iran's strategy of arming and deploying proxy groups throughout the region is suddenly at risk as well.
    Hizbullah's near daily rocket attacks put increasing pressure on Israel, as intended. Only that pressure did not lead Israelis to stop targeting Hamas so much as it chipped away at Israel's fears about the cost of military action to address the military threats posed by Hizbullah.
    Israeli society gradually concluded the situation in the north was intolerable, and support grew for the idea that the military should do what it must to enable civilians to return to their homes.
    By the summer of 2024, Israeli military and political leaders no longer took Hizbullah threats as a reason not to attack, but rather the reason to do so forcefully.
    The writer is director of the program on counterterrorism and intelligence at the Washington Institute. 

The West Should Welcome the Weakening of Hizbullah - Jeremy Havardi (Jewish News-UK)
    If Western leaders had their way, Israel's recent audacious operations to degrade Hizbullah would not have happened because the West has been addicted to imposing a ceasefire, both in Gaza and Lebanon, that would neutralize Israel's ability to shackle its enemies and re-establish its deterrence.
    A day before Nasrallah's killing, the U.S., UK, and EU issued a joint statement calling the current hostilities "intolerable."
    Israel was asked to forego the use of force and put its trust in international guarantees and agreements.
    This is a grotesque inversion of reality. Instead of piling pressure on Israel, Western diplomats should have insisted on the unconditional removal of Hizbullah from south Lebanon according to the already agreed diplomatic solution, Security Council Resolution 1701.
    Nasrallah should be seen as a mass murdering psychopath intent on spreading an insidious brand of Shi'ite fanaticism across the region.
    His sudden demise should be welcomed as an essential step in providing long-term security and stability in the Middle East.

The Mirage of the "Two-State" Solution - Editorial (Toronto Sun-Canada)
    While Prime Minister Trudeau and other world leaders keep talking about a "two-state" solution to the ongoing war in Gaza, it's important to understand this is a pipe dream.
    The two-state solution means creating an independent Palestinian state living in peace alongside a secure Israel.
    The problem is that Hamas, designated by Canada as a terrorist group, wants what in effect would be a one-state solution - Israel cleansed of its Jewish population - as the new Palestine.
    Prime Minister Netanyahu says unilaterally granting a separate state to the Palestinians would reward Hamas for its terrorism of Oct. 7, and that any future negotiations must be carried out directly between the parties, without international pressure.

Poll: UK Jews More Attached to Israel since Oct. 7 - Simon Rocker (Jewish Chronicle-UK)
    A poll by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) found that the percentage of British Jews who said they were very or somewhat attached to Israel rose from 73% in 2022 to 78% in the summer of 2024.
    49% felt more attached after Oct. 7 compared with 19% who had become less attached.
    59% agreed that "public and media criticism of Israel make me feel Jews are not welcome in the UK."

Columbia University Donations Drop in Wake of Anti-Israel Protests - Lauren Elkies Schram (New York Post)
    Columbia University saw donations at its annual fundraiser drop 29% after the spate of anti-Israel protests on campus earlier this year.
    The university also saw a 28% drop in the number of gifts, falling from 19,229 in 2022 to 13,870, the lowest since 2015, according to the campus newspaper Columbia Spectator.

The Anti-Israel Mind: A Portrait in Unreality - Editorial (Wall Street Journal)
    On Monday's anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, Sen. Elizabeth Warren issued a statement that devoted more words to chastising Israel than Hamas.
    After noting that Israel "has the right to defend itself," she lacerated Israel for how it has defended itself, saying, "This cycle of violence won't make anyone safer."
    Ah, the "cycle of violence" theory of war. If only Israel would stop targeting those trying to kill its citizens, somehow the violence would end.
    She also noted that "Violence is escalating throughout the region, including most recently in Lebanon."
    No mention that Hizbullah launched 8,000 missiles at Israeli towns and cities before Israel decided to act to stop the bombing.
    These statements explain why Israel's enemies believe they can win a political victory against the Jewish state in the West.
    They condemn an ally trying to protect its people from annihilation more than they do the enemies who would annihilate them.

Choose a Side: The Barbarous Regime that Oppresses and Murders Women, Workers and Minorities, or Israel - Brendan O'Neill (Spiked-UK)
    The known death toll from the wave of missiles fired by Iran into Israel on Oct. 1 is Israelis 0, Palestinians 1. A man from Gaza who had been living near Jericho was brutally slain by the falling shrapnel from one of Iran's missiles.
    The Israelophobes of social media who salivated over Iran's attack were cheering a military operation that killed yet another Gazan.
    Oct. 7 made it clear that Iran's proxies are not just a threat to be carefully monitored but a fascistic menace capable of killing thousands of Jews. Not just something to be deterred but something to be destroyed.
    What is really troublesome is the haughty indignation of pampered Westerners who are lucky enough never to have experienced the existential threat of a pincer movement of racist armies.
    Israel, in countering Iran's pitiless exploitation of various states to prop up its fundamentalist worldview, is behaving far more like a "resistance."
    It is resisting Iran's proxy war on the Jewish nation and its bending of vast swathes of the Middle East to its theocratic will.
    You are either on the side of a barbarous theocratic regime that oppresses and murders women, workers and minorities and whose allies recently carried out the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, or you are on the side of Israel.