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In-Depth Issues:
U.S. Soldiers Trapped in Israel on Oct. 7 Narrowly Escaped Being Taken Captive by Hamas - Jennifer Van Laar ( RedState)
A quarter of the 40 U.S. Army soldiers who were in Israel as the advance team for a routine training exercise last Oct. 7 were just miles from Gaza in off-base housing near the IDF's Tze'elim base when the Hamas attack began.
A group of local Israelis - IDF reservists, police officers, and ordinary citizens - got them to the base, which Hamas terrorists were quickly heading toward.
With his men in mortal danger, the U.S. team leader requested permission to open the arms locker so they could retrieve their firearms, but this was denied by U.S. Central Command.
The rest of the soldiers arrived in Tel Aviv, where Hamas rockets were hitting near their hotels.
Some 40 hours after the attacks started, a U.S. Air Force C-17 briefly touched down in Tel Aviv to exfiltrate the soldiers.
MI5 Chief: 20 Iranian-Linked Threats Foiled in UK - Tom Watling ( Independent-UK)
Ken McCallum, the head of Britain's MI5, said Tuesday that
British intelligence has thwarted 20 Tehran-backed plots that "presented potentially lethal threats to British citizens" since the start of 2022.
"We've seen plot after plot here in the UK, at an unprecedented pace and scale."
"As events unfold in the Middle East, we will give our fullest attention to the risk of an increase in - or broadening of - Iranian state aggression in the UK."
He gave an example from December when a man was jailed for reconnaissance he had carried out against the then-headquarters of the Iran International media organization.
He added that 75% of counter-terrorism operations involve investigating Islamist extremism.
IDF: We Are Dismantling Iran's Stranglehold, Piece by Piece - Yoav Zitun ( Ynet News)
IDF Major Roy Ofir, commander of the 71st Armored Battalion Tactical Command Post, described the fighting in southern Lebanon.
"We just returned from one of the villages. We hit Hizbullah hard, destroyed their infrastructure, and neutralized several of their forces and enemy squads. We found a lot of weapons, some of which we've brought back for research in Israel. We crushed anyone who confronted us."
"We're coming in with significant force. Hizbullah can't even lift its head. They're taking hit after hit. The IDF has prepared for this... we've been preparing for Lebanon and Hizbullah."
Ofir, who began the war in the Gaza sector, continued: "In the end, we are dismantling the stranglehold Iran has built around us, piece by piece."
At Dearborn, Michigan, Rally, Crowd Cheers for Hizbullah Invading Israel, Chants "Death to Israel" ( MEMRI)
At the "Stand with Lebanon" rally in Dearborn, MI, on Sep. 25, 2024, protesters cheered for Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Participants shouted, "Death to Israel."
Osama Siblani, editor-in-chief of The Arab American News, who was the MC of the event, claimed that Hizbullah has begun to invade the Galilee, which was met with cheers from the crowd.
Survey: 40% of U.S. Muslims Deny Oct. 7 Atrocities - Tyler O'Neil ( Daily Signal)
One year after Hamas terrorists in Gaza invaded Israel, raping women and slaughtering more than 1,100 people, a new survey by the Heritage Foundation
found that 39% of U.S. Muslims believe "Hamas did not commit murder and rape in Israel on Oct. 7," while 31% admitted that Hamas terrorists did commit such acts, and 30% said they don't know.
Among the general U.S. public, 64% said Hamas committed these crimes, while 7% said they did not.
43% of American Muslims said, "Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish homeland," while 33% said Israel has such a right. Among the general public, 66% said Israel has such a right, while 11% said it did not.
Antisemitism's Rise after Oct. 7 Should Scare Us All - John Podhoretz ( New York Post)
A new study released on the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel finds that 3.5 million American Jews say they have experienced some form of antisemitism in the year since.
The study by the National Opinion Research Council at the University of Chicago found that a quarter of Jewish respondents avoid displaying their Jewish identity in the workplace, an increase of 33% over the past year.
A quarter of those affiliated with a synagogue or other Jewish institution "report that their institution has been targeted with graffiti, threats, or attacks since Oct. 7."
At universities, 39% of Jewish students report they have felt uncomfortable or unsafe at a campus event due to their identity, while 29% have felt or been excluded from a group or event because they are Jewish.
We Jews don't just feel like we're in danger. We are in danger.
Brown University Rejects Divestment from Israel - Andrew Lapin ( JTA)
Brown University's board of governors has rejected a student-led proposal to divest from companies with business in Israel.
"After a year of insanity, antisemitic sloganeering, maligning of Jewish students, this is a day that we can be proud of our institutions," said Rabbi Josh Bolton, executive director of Brown/RISD Hillel in Providence, Rhode Island.
The board wrote, "The Corporation reaffirmed that Brown's mission is to discover, communicate and preserve knowledge. It is not to adjudicate or resolve global conflicts."
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What the West Could Learn from Israel - Stephen Daisley ( Spectator-UK)
While the U.S. under Biden and the yesterday nations of Europe continue to view the Middle East through their twin doctrines of Iran appeasement and two-state solutionism, Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and the UAE understand - as Israel does - that Western good intentions are a dangerous indulgence in this region, and that responsible statecraft means dealing firmly with Tehran and its proxies.
As commentator Andrew Klavan notes: "I just hope Israel can save Western civilization before Western civilization can stop them."
Truth be told, Israel isn't in the business of saving Western civilization, it's in the business of saving itself.
It just so happens that doing so benefits a Western civilization that is busy dismantling itself.
IDF Troops Raise Flag over Hizbullah's "Iran Garden" Theme Park in Lebanon - Sayan Bose ( The Sun-UK)
Israeli troops raised their flag at the destroyed site of Hizbullah's warped "Iran Garden" theme park near the Lebanese village of Mleeta on Wednesday.
The tourist spot filled with tanks, rockets, barbed wire, and guns was built to indoctrinate children and tourists with hatred for Israel.
Children and other tourists could play at aiming anti-aircraft guns, climb overturned armored personnel carriers, and wander through a Hizbullah bunker and 200-meter tunnel.
The site had a statue of Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the IRGC Quds Force, pointing towards Israel.
Does CBS News Know Where Jerusalem Is? - Oliver Wiseman ( Free Press)
In August, Mark Memmott, the senior director of standards and practices at CBS News, sent an email to all employees, reminding them to "be careful with some terms when we talk or write about the news" from Israel and Gaza.
On the list of terms was "Jerusalem." Memmott wrote: "Do not refer to it as being in Israel."
"Yes, the U.S. embassy is there and the Trump administration recognized it as being Israel's capital. But its status is disputed."
In which city is the Israeli Knesset, the home of the Israeli prime minister, and the home of the Israeli president located? The answer to that question is self-evident. Except, it seems, at CBS.
The Anti-Colony: Falsely Labeling Israel - Gerard Leval ( Washington Times)
"Colonialization" is the new mortal sin, the physical manifestation of the evil wrought by White oppressors on the unfortunate oppressed.
The current focus of this obsession is Israel, deemed a Western colony on Arab land.
Yet the notion that Israel is a colony is contrary to reality.
The most widely accepted definition of a "colony" is a territory seized and controlled by people from another territory, usually involving the displacement of indigenous peoples.
But Israel is not a colony by any definition. Israel is a nation made up of the descendants of indigenous people who have regained control of land from those who took the land by force from their ancestors.
Its founders did not seek to create an outpost for a distant society. It is assuredly not a group of people who have sought to settle in a new place; the Jews have returned to their old homeland.
Israel is the anti-colony. They do not seek to retain political ties to other countries.
On the contrary, the Zionist movement is predicated on inducing Jews to definitively leave the land of their exile to return to the land of their ancestors.
The colonists in the area "between the river and the sea" are not the Jews but the Arabs who came to the area under cover of Islam's conquest of Asia and Africa.
Many of the grandparents and great-grandparents of those who today style themselves as Palestinians were born in distant lands.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Biden, Netanyahu Speak as Israel Plans Response to Iran Attack - Michelle Stoddart
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday. The majority of the call was spent discussing Israel's plans to retaliate against Iran, but the future of Israel's campaign against Hizbullah in Lebanon was also discussed at some length, according to a U.S. official.
Members of the Biden administration were relatively satisfied with the level of detail that was shared and felt the Israeli government was receptive to their arguments for sticking to conventional military targets rather than nuclear or oil production sites, the U.S. official said.
(ABC News)
- U.S.: We Support Israel's Efforts to Degrade Hizbullah's Capability
State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday:
"I did see these reports that Hizbullah now wants a ceasefire...de-linked from Gaza....Where have they been for a year? For a year, the world has been calling on Hizbullah to stop the attacks across the border into Israel.... Israel was saying if Hizbullah stopped attacks across the border, Israel would stop its attacks in response against Hizbullah....Now that Hizbullah is on the back foot and is getting battered, suddenly they've changed their tune and want a ceasefire."
"Hizbullah's forces in southern Lebanon refuse to fully implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. Under the terms of that resolution, Hizbullah was supposed to put down its arms, and it was supposed to withdraw beyond the Litani River. And over the 18 years since that resolution was implemented, they refuse to do either of those things....So we support Israel's efforts to degrade Hizbullah's capability."
"Obviously we don't trust Hizbullah....Hizbullah said that they would implement 1701. And they blew through all of their commitments.... So...yes, we do support Israel launching these incursions to degrade Hizbullah's infrastructure so ultimately we can get a diplomatic resolution that allows 1701 to finally be fully implemented." (State Department)
- Israeli Defense Minister: Hizbullah Is Battered and Broken - Michael Doran
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told IDF officers from the Northern Command on Tuesday:
"Hizbullah is an organization without a head. Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was also probably eliminated. This thing has a dramatic effect on everything that happens. There is no one to make decisions, no one to act. The fire complex that Hizbullah built over the years with a huge Iranian investment has [today been reduced to a level of capabilities similar to the level that Hamas started the war with] and maybe below that. All this together with the significant action that is being taken on the front...is peeling away all the capabilities."
"There is fear, there is panic, there is desertion, there is an erosion of the Hizbullah organization which is of a different magnitude. The organization...has never experienced anything like this."
"The actions we are taking are observed all over the Middle East. When the smoke in Lebanon clears, in Iran they will realize that they have lost their most valuable asset - which is Hizbullah. Today we are one year from the beginning of the war, the result...is that Hamas is a disintegrated organization."
"Hizbullah is a battered, broken organization, without command and control capabilities, without significant fire capabilities...and above all, without leadership at any level - not at the political level, not at the military level, not in the ability to make decisions. We need to take advantage of that, because our goal is to return the residents of the north to their homes safely."
"The meaning of security is that the residents know that there is nothing on the other side that can endanger them and the actions you are taking will allow us to return the residents to their homes when the time comes safely and change the situation completely."
The writer is director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute. (X)
- A Masked Mob Outside a Lawmaker's Home - Jillian Lederman
Anti-Israel protesters marked a year since Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre by setting up camp Sunday outside Rep. Greg Landsman's Cincinnati home, in what the Ohio Democrat calls "an attempt to intimidate my Jewish family." For two days, the Landsmans needed a police escort to enter or leave the house. The protesters wore all black, and their faces were hidden beneath kaffiyehs or black masks.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Ku Klux Klan members covered their faces as they burned crosses and engaged in acts of intimidation and violence.
Anti-Israel demonstrators aren't covering their faces for their health, but to intimidate the targets of their protests and to escape accountability for their actions.
As in the days of the Klan, those who wear masks seek not to express their views but to dominate others. Members of the mob outside Mr. Landsman's house have joined America's long history of people who hide their faces in the name of bigotry and intimidation.
(Wall Street Journal)
- Canadian Political Leader: Israel Hit on Iran Nuclear Sites Would Be Gift to Humanity - Sean Boynton
Canadian Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday said an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would be "a gift by the Jewish state to humanity."
"I think the idea of allowing a genocidal, theocratic, unstable dictatorship that is desperate to avoid being overthrown by its own people to develop nuclear weapons is about the most dangerous and irresponsible thing that the world could ever allow," Poilievre said. "If Israel were to stop that genocidal, theocratic, unstable government from acquiring nuclear weapons, it would be a gift by the Jewish state to humanity." (Global News-Canada)
See also Video - Pierre Poilievre: The Jewish People Will Triumph (YouTube)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- 2 Killed, 8 Wounded by Hizbullah Rockets in Northern Israel
Hizbullah rockets killed two Israeli civilians in Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel on Wednesday. In the Haifa area, eight people were treated at Rambam Hospital, mostly for shrapnel wounds.
(Jerusalem Post)
- Six Wounded, 2 Critically, in Stabbing Rampage in Central Israeli City of Hadera
Six people were wounded in a terror stabbing attack in Hadera on Wednesday.
The terrorist, Ahmad Jabarin, 36, from the Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, attacked in four different locations before being eliminated by an armed citizen.
(Jerusalem Post)
- Israel Air Force Strikes Hizbullah Underground Headquarters, Kills 50 Terrorists
Israel Air Force jets on Monday struck various Hizbullah underground headquarters in southern Lebanon, using precise intelligence, to eliminate some 50 terrorists who were planning to attack Israel's northern communities, IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday. Some 100 jets struck 95 targets, in addition to 30 targets belonging to Hizbullah's medium-range rocket unit.
(Jerusalem Post)
- Hizbullah Commander Responsible for Hundreds of Missiles Launched at Israel Eliminated -
Yoav Zitun
The Israel Air Force and IDF artillery eliminated Ahmad Moustafa al-Haj Ali, commander of Hizbullah's Houla Front, who was responsible for hundreds of missile and anti-tank missile attacks toward the Kiryat Shmona area. In another strike, the IDF eliminated Mohammad Ali Hamdan, commander of Hizbullah's anti-tank unit in the Meiss El Jabal area, who was responsible for extensive anti-tank missile attacks toward communities in northern Israel.
On Wednesday, the IAF struck multiple weapons storage facilities in the Dahieh area of Beirut and weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
(Ynet News)
See also 220 Hizbullah Rockets Reach Israel on Wednesday
Out of 360 rockets fired by Hizbullah at Israel on Wednesday, 220 crossed into Israel, the IDF said.
(Jerusalem Post)
- IDF Killed Dozens of Gaza Gunmen on Wednesday
The IDF killed dozens of terror operatives in Jabaliya in northern Gaza over the past day, including some who launched anti-tank missiles at Israeli troops. IDF forces also located and destroyed rocket launchers in Rafah, and eliminated numerous gunmen in central Gaza. (Times of Israel)
- Undercover Israeli Commandos Kill Terror Leader, Four Others in Nablus
Undercover Israeli forces from the Yamam counter-terror unit killed five armed terrorists in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, including Issam al-Salaj, the long-sought leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade terror group in the Balata refugee camp.
A security source said those targeted had been "involved in carrying out and planning terror operations against civilians and the IDF." (Times of Israel)
- Netanyahu: "There Is Only One Force in the World Fighting Iran Right Now - Israel"
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem on Wednesday:
"There is only one force in the world fighting Iran right now. There's only one force in the world that stands in Iran's way to conquest. And that force is Israel. If we don't fight, we die. But it's not only our fight, it's the Free World's fight, and I would say the civilized world's fight."
"There are quite a few dictatorships around the world, they're all bad. But this dictatorship is different because it wants to throw us all back into a dark age. They want to destroy us and others. Us first, because we stand in their way of conquering the Middle East, but they want to subjugate the world and bring it back to dark ages." (Prime Minister's Office)
- Knesset Committee Moves to Curb UNRWA Activities in Israel
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee unanimously approved two bills aimed at curbing the activity in Israel of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees. The first bill prohibits UNRWA from operating any mission, service or activity, either directly or indirectly, in the sovereign territory of the State of Israel. The second bill states that the invitation for UNRWA to operate, based on correspondence exchanged on June 14, 1967, will expire on Oct. 7, 2024, or upon final approval of the bill in the Knesset.
During the debates on the bill, the committee heard from representatives of bereaved families whose loved ones were either held captive in Gaza by UNRWA members, or were murdered with the assistance of UNRWA members.
Committee Chair MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) said, "The UNRWA problem did not begin on Oct. 7; it merely came to the surface and was revealed in all of its evilness (on that day).... We all witnessed UNRWA's activity on Oct. 7....We know that some of the hostages were held by workers of the organization....UNRWA is out!" (Knesset News)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Hizbullah
- Hizbullah's Decisions Have Upended Its Relations with Shiites, Lebanon, and Iran - Michael Young
Hizbullah opened a front against Israel that virtually no one in Lebanon wanted.
Entire villages, towns and quarters in Beirut's southern suburbs are now in ruins.
Who will rebuild what was destroyed? This time, there is a general belief that there will be no outside money for reconstruction, including from Gulf countries, some of whom contributed a significant amount in 2006. Nor does it seem that Iran can spare funds to rebuild Shiite-dominated areas.
Resolving this problem and reviving a traumatized community will easily be a decade-long task, one that will neutralize Hizbullah militarily for many years ahead - as the 2006 war did for just under two decades.
What happened to the vaunted "unity of the arenas" strategy that Iran and Hizbullah formulated just last year? The arenas have been unified in ruination, as Lebanon's Shiite-majority districts go the way of Gaza. The Israelis are able to escalate to ever-higher levels of destruction without Iran and its allies being able to do the same.
Iran's two most potent regional allies in the fight against Israel - Hizbullah and Hamas - have undermined their respective publics' ability to endure new wars, which has had a crippling effect on their, and Iranian, power. (The National-UAE)
Iran
- Winning This Regional War Is the First Step to Creating Regional Peace - Yossi Klein Halevi
Following the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023, the strategic goal of Israel's counteroffensive was to restore its shattered deterrence. Israelis across the political spectrum agreed that the first step was destroying Hamas's ability to govern, not allowing the regime responsible for Oct. 7 to remain on Israel's border.
Destroying the Hamas regime meant denying it immunity. Terrorists would not be allowed to massacre Israeli civilians, cross back into Gaza and hide behind Palestinian civilians. Destroying Hamas's capacity to govern required pursuing terrorists wherever they operated, including inside hospitals and mosques. It meant entering Hamas's vast network of tunnels.
But the war that began in Gaza was never about Gaza alone. Defeating Hamas was only the first stage of a regional conflict between Israel and the Iranian-led axis of radical Islamism. Israel's stunning success against Hizbullah has gone a long way to restoring our military credibility.
Today, Iran sits at the nuclear threshold. No country, including the U.S., is likely to use force to prevent the Iranian regime from developing a nuclear bomb - except Israel. The Jewish state, founded on the promise of providing a safe refuge for the Jewish people, cannot allow the ayatollahs to attain the means to fulfill Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei's prophesy of the destruction of Israel.
Israel's determination to prevent a nuclear Iran is precisely what has attracted Sunni Muslim states to seek normalization with the Jewish state. Arab leaders are terrified not of Israel but of an imperial Iran, which seeks hegemony over the region.
The worst-kept secret in the Middle East is that Arab leaders are quietly hoping for an Israeli victory over Hamas and Hizbullah and, most of all, Iran. Winning this regional war is the first step to creating a regional peace.
The writer is a senior fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. (Los Angeles Times)
- A Wider War Carries Risks But Also Opportunities - Jennifer Rubin
The devastation of Iran's most heavily armed proxy comes as a shock and humiliation to Hizbullah's patron. Its limited airstrike on Israel signaled that it has neither the capacity nor the will for an all-out war with Israel, which is poised for a counterstrike.
"Unexpected opportunities will also come - to undermine Iranian malign influence in the region, for example, by actively impeding its efforts to reconstitute Hizbullah," said Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council.
As for Lebanon, Middle East negotiator Dennis B. Ross observed, "Hizbullah has ruled Lebanon and turned it into a failed state. It was responsible for killing Hariri, the Port explosion, and no president since Nov. 1, 2022. With Nasrallah and the leadership of Hizbullah gone, it is time for the Lebanese government and military to take back the state."
Paul Salem of the Middle East Institute writes, "The current rout of Hizbullah leaves Iran profoundly vulnerable." Iran could decide "to build a more powerful deterrent, which would be a nuclear weapon; but it might be too late for that. If Iran tries now to make a run for it, Israel - with backing from the U.S. - will undertake airstrikes on as many Iranian security facilities, nuclear and otherwise, as it can manage." (Washington Post)
Israel-U.S. Relations
- We Should Want Israel to Win - Bret Stephens
The world had better hope that Israel wins its wars against Hamas, Hizbullah, the Houthis and their masters in Tehran. By "wins," I mean that Israel inflicts such costs on its enemies' capacity to wage war that they accept that their interests, irrespective of their desires, are no longer served by fighting.
A peace deal between Jerusalem and Riyadh - among the grand geopolitical ambitions of the Biden administration - is not going to happen if the Jewish state emerges from the war looking like a loser. Worse, the Mideast coalition of moderates and modernizers that was coalescing in the wake of the 2020 Abraham Accords will fall apart in the wake of an Israeli loss, as nervous Arab states recalibrate their approach toward an ascendant Iran.
The American people had better hope Israel wins. Since it came to power in 1979, Iran's Islamist regime has declared itself at war with two Satans: the little one, Israel; the big one, us. This has meant suffering for thousands of Americans: the hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran; the diplomats and Marines in Beirut; the troops around Baghdad and Basra, killed by munitions built in Iran and supplied to proxies in Iraq; the American citizens routinely taken as prisoners in Iran; the Navy SEALs who perished in January trying to stop Iran from supplying Houthis with weapons used against commercial shipping.
The war Israelis are fighting now is fundamentally America's war, too: a war against a shared enemy; an enemy that makes common cause with our totalitarian adversaries in Moscow and Beijing; an enemy that has been attacking us for 45 years. Americans should consider ourselves fortunate that Israel is bearing the brunt of the fighting; the least we can do is root for it.
Those who care about the future of freedom had better hope Israel wins. We are living in a world that increasingly resembles the 1930s, when cunning and aggressive dictatorships united against debilitated, inward-looking, risk-averse democracies. Today's dictatorships also know how to smell weakness. We would all be safer if, in the Middle East, they finally learned the taste of defeat.
(New York Times)
- Those Darned Disobedient Israelis - Seth Mandel
White House frustration with Benjamin Netanyahu has been a running theme this week, thanks to early peeks at Bob Woodward's forthcoming book on President Biden. The coverage revolves around the notion that Israel is disobedient. "We supply Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, and yet Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to be charting his own course," CBS's Bill Whitaker said to Vice President Harris.
"The Biden-Harris administration has pressed him to agree to a ceasefire; he's resisted. You urged him not to go into Lebanon; he went in anyway."
Since the administration has said in the past that Hamas was the holdup to a ceasefire deal, what exactly is Netanyahu being accused of resisting here?
Moreover, military aid to Israel is spent in the U.S., stimulating the domestic economy and ensuring America benefits from Israeli research and development.
On Monday, the New York Times carried a long reflection on Biden's inability to control events in the Middle East over the past year. "The administration has been repeatedly thwarted in reining in Mr. Netanyahu, who has sidestepped or dismissed entreaties from the White House to de-escalate the conflict and leave room for a postwar creation of a Palestinian state." Reporter Michael Shear asks, "How do you pressure an ally facing a threat to its existence? How far should you go if that ally ignores your advice?"
Nobody has been asking Biden why the Iranians don't listen to him.
Turkey is a recipient of U.S. aid and a member of NATO. Does it take marching orders from Washington? How about the Palestinian Authority? Does the U.S. have no sway over anybody? We only seem to ask the question about U.S. influence over the one country under assault and surrounded by genocidal enemies: Israel.
(Commentary)
Israeli Security
- The IDF Is Dismantling Israel's Enemies - Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari
A year ago, the State of Israel suffered the worst terror attack in its history - a day that will forever be etched into our collective memories. For the Israel Defense Forces, it was a day in which we failed in our most basic task to protect the people of Israel.
We had to immediately put in place a strategy that would allow us to defend our country, dismantle Hamas, and bring our hostages home.
On Oct. 8, it became clear to the leadership of the IDF that Israel would rise out of the ashes and overcome the challenges before us. When the IDF called people up to reserve duty, more people arrived than were called up. When we took the initiative, we began to dismantle our enemies.
We have eliminated most of the leadership of both Hamas and Hizbullah. We have dismantled whole brigades of Hamas in Gaza. We are working to systemically dismantle the capabilities Hizbullah built up to allow them to invade northern Israel and carry out an Oct. 7 of their own.
Today, a year on from Oct. 7, our enemies should understand that the gruesome attack that day was a strategic mistake. Israel cannot, and will not, be defeated. There is no path to eliminate the Jewish state as the Ayatollahs in Iran have dreamed of doing. There is no way to break the Israeli spirit as the terrorist leaders of Hamas and Hizbullah believed. We will, ultimately, be victorious.
The writer is head of the IDF Spokesperson's Unit. (Newsweek)
Antisemitism
- Anti-Israel Protesters Celebrate Oct. 7 Attacks - Liel Leibovitz
We were treated Monday to a reminder that the marauders who want us dead are alive and well in New York City. There they were on the first anniversary of the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust - in Times Square, Grand Central and Columbus Circle - chanting for Hamas, Hizbullah and other death cults committed to raping, kidnapping and killing Israelis, Americans and Jews.
There they were, on American soil, cheering for the monsters who still hold four American citizens in captivity, promising to globalize the intifada and bring the bloodshed that is their only true passion to these shores as well, expressing their admiration for organizations that our government had long ago classified as terrorist groups.
You hardly need to be Jewish to realize that the so-called pro-Palestine crowd isn't really all that interested in Palestine. Their main goal is America, that lone bastion of Western civilization, which is why they strategically chose all-American events, like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade or the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony, as the optimal settings to unleash their mayhem. (New York Post)
Remembering Oct. 7
- Documentary Review: "One Day in October" - Heartbreaking Interviews with Hamas Terror Attack Survivors - Stuart Jeffries
Eight-year-old Emily was holed up in the bomb shelter of her friend Hila's house at Kibbutz Be'eri when Hamas terrorists found the two girls - along with Hila's mum, Raaya. "When they arrived, we just opened up, because if we held the door they would have shot and the bullets would have hit us," recalls Emily.
"One Day in October" is composed of heartbreaking survivor interviews along with disturbing footage from phones and security cameras. If you want insight into why Israel is doing what it is doing in Gaza and Lebanon, this film may help.
If you want to understand why Hamas murdered civilians, though, it won't help.
Camera footage includes audio from hysterically excited unseen terrorists as they race to join the killing spree. "It's time for the nation of Jihad!...I swear to God!...We'll slaughter them!...I wanna livestream this! We've got to show the folks back home!" A comrade assures the speaker they already are: Hamas massacred Israelis for viewers in real time.
(Guardian-UK)
- Documentary Review: "One Day in October," Senseless, Merciless Slaughter - All Captured on GoPros - Anita Singh
"One Day in October" (Channel 4), marking the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, features survivors of the massacre at Kibbutz Be'eri telling their stories.
Emily Hand spent her ninth birthday in Hamas captivity before she was released.
Her father, Irish-born Tom Hand, says, "Last night in the car, she just told me that she saw at least 12 dead bodies at the fence. People that she knows, dead at the side of the road."
It is the stuff of nightmares, as families huddled in bomb shelters while the killers closed in. CCTV captured heavily-armed Hamas men swarming into the compound. Survivors saw husbands, wives and children die in front of them. One 15-year-old boy, his life ebbing away, asked his father if he could be buried with his surfboard. (Telegraph-UK)
Palestinian Arabs
- The Palestinian Tradition of Celebrating the Death of Jews - Bassam Tawil
Palestinians have a custom of celebrating in the streets every time Israel is attacked or a Jew is murdered by terrorists. The latest Palestinian celebrations took place on Oct. 1, when Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel. The celebrations occurred even though some of the missiles fell in Palestinian areas in the West Bank and the only person killed was, ironically, a Palestinian man in Jericho.
The largest celebrations occurred a year ago, on Oct. 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas terrorists and "ordinary" Palestinians invaded Israel from Gaza and murdered 1,200 Israelis. A video from Al-Jazeera showed celebrations in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Palestinians are also happy to see Americans targeted by terrorists. While Israel declared a "national day of mourning" in solidarity with the U.S. after the 9/11 attacks, Palestinians celebrated by handing out sweets, firing guns in the air, and chanting Allahu Akbar. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has since been celebrating the 9/11 attacks with cartoons glorifying al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden or mocking and attacking the U.S. as evil.
The Palestinians also celebrated when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein fired Scud missiles at Israel more than 30 years ago.
It is hard, if not impossible, to find one senior Palestinian official who is willing to criticize his own people for celebrating terrorist attacks, or who is willing to condemn the Oct. 7 atrocities and massacres against Israelis. Palestinians who celebrate the murder of their neighbors are not ready for a state, which will undoubtedly be used as a springboard to slaughter more Jews and to try to destroy Israel. A society that celebrates murder will never be a partner for peace.
(Gatestone Institute)
Weekend Features
- How Well Have Israelis Handled the War? - Dr. Daniel Polisar
Over the past year, most Israelis have dedicated themselves to the war effort with remarkable focus and perseverance. This starts with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, mostly reservists who were called away from their homes and careers, and have risked life and limb to defend their country. They could not have done so effectively and with peace of mind without the unwavering backing of their spouses, who for months at a time have taken care of their families while providing emotional and logistical support to their life partners on the front lines.
The spirit of voluntarism remains powerfully alive throughout society twelve months into the war, and is shared by young and old alike - who have taken upon themselves a myriad of activities to support the troops, the Israelis displaced from the Gaza envelope and the areas near the Lebanese border, and the families of the hostages.
In addition, a remarkably large number of Jews and other supporters of Israel around the world have gone well above and beyond to support Israelis in need of their assistance, especially to our soldiers and to the victims of Oct. 7.
Speaking with dozens of soldiers and hearing and reading the words of hundreds more, a clear picture emerges. They are animated by a touching nobility of purpose: They are fighting so that their family, friends, and neighbors can enjoy the good and simple things in life, so that the hostages can be reunited with their families, and the displaced residents of the south and north can return to their homes, till their fields in peace, and send their children to their own schools so that they can flourish and contribute in turn to their country.
Israelis as a whole are largely motivated by these same goals and are also dedicated to doing everything possible so the soldiers return home safely at war's end and so those injured in body or spirit can recover and lead full lives in communities that embrace and uplift them. This suggests that when we look back on a horrific year,
we should also do so with a measure of pride and optimism.
The writer is executive vice president of Shalem College in Jerusalem. (Times of Israel)
Observations:
- The Oct. 7 Remembrance Day starkly exposed the profound difference between our narrative and the one our enemies tell themselves and the world. I accessed pro-Hamas information sources, but found no difference between them and pro-Fatah channels.
- From their perspective, the near-total destruction of Gaza, the death of tens of thousands of their people, and the displacement of the vast majority of Gaza's residents were all worth the price of that one euphoric day when they were allowed to fulfill their perceived purpose: to murder Jews, behead our children, brutally rape our daughters, and tie parents and children together and burn them alive.
- The beliefs of the Gaza Palestinians, and if you investigate, also of those in Samaria and Judea, have remained unchanged for a century. In the wake of Oct. 7, they force us to confront a harsh reality. They see themselves as freedom fighters demanding justice, while portraying us as robbers who plundered land that doesn't belong to us.
This is the dominant narrative among many Israeli-Arab citizens as well (see the Vision of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel).
- The fact that our enemies use their children as human shields and hide massive explosives in kindergartens, schools, mosques, and children's rooms doesn't matter to them at all. From their perspective, they are not responsible for their residents - "the UN is responsible," and the UN has indeed accustomed them to the idea that they don't need to worry about daily life because of the infinite amount of useful idiots who funnel money to them. In such a situation, they are left with ample time to focus on their reason for existence: killing Jews.
- Will we forever live by our sword? Apparently so. Rafael Eitan, the late former IDF Chief of Staff, once said that he prefers to live by his sword rather than having the sword of Damocles hanging over him. This obliges us to have long-term patience and iron resilience in all matters related to defeating the enemy and destroying its military and governmental capabilities.
The writer is a former Israeli ambassador to Italy.
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