|
In-Depth Issues:
Lessons Learned by the IDF after Oct. 7 ( X)
Doron Kadosh, military correspondent for Israel Army Radio, shared what the IDF is changing to make sure that the surprises of Oct. 7 never happen again.
The IDF will be splitting its intelligence collection operations into more branches and moving the intelligence posts themselves farther away from the border, putting them in a much less vulnerable position in the event of an infiltration.
The IDF is increasing the lethality of any soldiers stationed at these posts. All soldiers, including female observers, will be issued small arms to defend their outposts.
The remote-operated machine guns and grenade launchers on the border fence
require multiple control pods for each post to enable improved response in the event of multiple infiltrations in different locations.
Their armor and resistance has also been increased so they can't easily be disabled by drones or other explosives.
More of these systems have been installed at more points along the border to increase their range and ability to counter a more diverse array of threats like paragliders.
Israel Considering Additional Actions in Gaza to Bring Hostages Home - Ariel Kahana ( Israel Hayom)
Senior Israeli officials state that beginning on January 20, 2025, "it will be possible to take additional actions in Gaza."
The prevailing impression in Israel is that Trump does not particularly care what measures Israel employs in Gaza to secure the release of the hostages and conclude the war.
If no deal with Hamas has been reached by the start of the Trump administration, Israel is expected to reset the rules of engagement against Hamas.
Many of the tools currently restricted by the Biden administration, alongside specific demands on Israel, will no longer apply.
According to a source, taking full control over humanitarian aid could worsen Hamas's situation.
Moreover, Trump has pledged to release all the weapons shipments currently delayed under Biden on his first day in office, providing Israel with the means to expand its military operations significantly.
Follow the Jerusalem Center on:
Israel and PA Enable Resumption of Water Desalination in Gaza ( AFP)
Since being reconnected to Israel's electricity grid, the water desalination plant in Deir el-Balah has been producing 16,000 cubic meters of water per day, serving more than 600,000 Gaza residents, according to UNICEF.
An Israeli security source said Israel "facilitated the connection of the electric line specifically to the desalination plant," adding that a mechanism was in place to track usage to "prevent electricity from being stolen."
The Leading Israeli Companies on Wall Street - Shiri Habib-Valdhorn ( Globes-Jerusalem Post)
12 Israeli companies rose more than 100% on Wall Street in 2024.
Renewable energy company Eco Wave Power Global has developed technology for converting sea waves to usable energy.
Others include Beamr Imaging, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, healthcare company NovoCure, digital insurance companies Lemonade and Hippo Holdings, and digital investigations solutions company Cellebrite, which helped the FBI hack the telephone of the attacker of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at an election rally.
Others were advertising technology company Innovid, telecommunications equipment companies Allot and Ceragon Networks, and aircraft components and maintenance company TAT Technologies.
Search the Recent History of Israel and the Middle East
Send the Daily Alert to a Friend If you are viewing the email version of the Daily Alert and want to share it with friends, please click Forward in your email program and enter their address.
|
|
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- U.S. Ambassador to Israel Slams Washington-Funded Report Alleging Famine in Gaza
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funds the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), which released a report on Tuesday claiming that famine is imminent in northern Gaza. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew said, "The report issued today on Gaza by FEWS NET relies on data that is outdated and inaccurate....It is now apparent that the civilian population in that part of Gaza is in the range of 7,000-15,000, not 65,000-75,000 which is the basis of this report."
"At a time when inaccurate information is causing confusion and accusations, it is irresponsible to issue a report like this. We work day and night with the UN and our Israeli partners to meet humanitarian needs - which are great - and relying on inaccurate data is irresponsible."
A USAID spokesperson told JNS that FEWS NET decided to take down the Dec. 23 alert in order "to address inaccuracies in the population data set." (U.S. Embassy in Israel-JNS)
- IDF Introduces New Security Measures to Protect Gaza Aid Trucks - Yaakov Lappin
The Israel Defense Forces recently introduced a new arrangement to boost security for humanitarian aid into Gaza, directing aid convoys through Israeli-secured routes. This has markedly decreased hijackings by Hamas terrorists and criminal gangs, meaning that more aid is reaching Gazan civilians. (JNS)
- Poland Threatens to Arrest Netanyahu at Auschwitz Commemoration - Clifford D. May
On Jan. 27, there will be a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland where a million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski said last week that if Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, shows up, he'll be arrested for alleged "crimes against humanity" pursuant to a warrant issued in November by the International Criminal Court. Seriously?
The arrest warrants against Netanyahu were issued by ICC prosecutor Karim Asad Ahmad Khan based on disinformation he received from Hamas and other terrorist proxies of Iran.
For the ICC to issue warrants against the leader of a nation that is not a member of the ICC - such as Israel - violates the treaty under which the ICC was established.
As Mike Waltz, Trump's incoming national security adviser, pointed out: "First it's the leaders of Israel's democracy, then it's the leader of any democracy that doesn't fit the ICC's agenda." In fact, the ICC already has an open investigation of the U.S. - even though the U.S. is also not a member of the ICC.
The writer is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). (Washington Times)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- IDF Intercepts Yemen Missile for Second Night in a Row - Yoav Zitun
For the second consecutive night, Israel's air defenses intercepted a missile launched from Yemen toward central Israel early Wednesday. The launch triggered air raid sirens that forced millions of Israelis to rush to bomb shelters in the middle of the night. A large missile fragment landed in a residential backyard in Be'er Ya'akov. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated on Tuesday: "We will not tolerate continued missile fire on Israel by the Houthis." (Ynet News)
See also Houthis Expecting Israeli Retaliation
The Houthis have raised their combat readiness to the highest possible level in preparation for an expected Israeli retaliation, Saudi media reported on Wednesday. The Houthis ordered the evacuation of areas near the port of Hodeidah.
(Jerusalem Post)
See also At Israel's Request, UN Security Council to Hold Emergency Session on Monday on Houthi Attacks (Israel Hayom)
- Gaza City Airstrike Hits Hamas Operatives about to Launch Drones - Emanuel Fabian
Hamas operatives in Gaza City planning to carry out an attack with explosive-laden drones against IDF troops were targeted in a helicopter airstrike on Wednesday.
(Times of Israel)
- More Palestinian Terrorists Eliminated in Jabalya - Yoav Zitun
IDF and Israel Security Agency forces killed five terrorists and arrested dozens more in the area of the Indonesian hospital in Jabalya in northern Gaza on Tuesday. To minimize harm to the civilian population, IDF forces allowed residents, patients, and hospital staff to evacuate in an orderly manner before and during the operation. The IDF said, "The operation was conducted after multiple warnings were issued to the Gazan Health Ministry regarding terrorist activity being conducted inside the hospital." (Ynet News)
- Israel Targets Islamic Jihad Terror Cell in Gaza - Emanuel Fabian
An airstrike in Nuseirat in central Gaza targeted "a vehicle with an Islamic Jihad terror cell inside,"
the IDF said Thursday. The five people killed in the strike were affiliated with the Islamic Jihad TV channel Al-Quds Today. Israel has repeatedly documented members of terror groups in Gaza working under the cover of journalists. (Times of Israel)
- Israeli Forces Kill 7 Palestinian Gunmen in Tulkarm - Emanuel Fabian
The IDF said Thursday it had completed a two-day counterterrorism operation in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, during which seven Palestinian gunmen were killed. The IDF destroyed explosive devices, seized weapons, and detained several suspects. (Times of Israel)
- IDF Displays Thousands of Captured Hizbullah Weapons - Emanuel Fabian
At an army base in northern Israel this week, the IDF invited journalists to view arms and other equipment captured from Hizbullah. On display were 6,840 RPG rockets and anti-tank missiles, including 340 Russian-made Kornets, along with their launchers; 9,000 explosive devices and grenades; 2,250 unguided rockets and mortars; 2,700 assault rifles; 2,860 other guns, including sniper rifles; and 60 anti-aircraft missiles.
The IDF said that some of the weapons that meet Israel's military standard - including the mortars - will be put to use by the army.
The IDF said Wednesday that it had killed 3,800 Hizbullah operatives during the fighting in Lebanon. Thousands more were wounded. (Times of Israel)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Israeli Security
- Israel Has Reshaped the Middle East - Yossi Melman
Beginning on Sep. 17, 2024, Israel's pager sabotage operation, one of the most astonishing feats of intelligence in modern history, triggered a chain reaction. It paved the way for Hizbullah's defeat in Lebanon, regime change in Syria, a blow to Iran's ambitions of Middle Eastern dominance and, ultimately, a reassertion of Israel's military supremacy. The military force of Hizbullah, as well as Hamas in Gaza, has practically evaporated.
The most important development in the new reality emerging in the Middle East is the Iranian predicament. In April, Iran decided, for the first time, to directly confront Israel militarily. Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones against Israel. The entire Israeli population found itself in shelters for hours. Yet the Iranian attack turned out to be a colossal failure.
For years, IDF generals estimated that Hizbullah and Iranian missile and drone strikes would cause unprecedented damage, killing thousands and inflicting widespread destruction.
They were wrong. Israeli air defenses in collaboration with U.S., UK, Jordanian, Saudi and other Western coalition forces, repelled the Iranian attack.
In October, Israel retaliated, destroying most of Iran's air defenses and attacking the Parchin military base, where Iran was developing explosives for its nuclear program. The Israeli attack proved to Iranian military, political, and religious leaders that they had been penetrated and exposed by Israel's advanced technology and military supremacy.
When Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar executed his brutal massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, he hoped to trigger a wider chain reaction that would change the face of the Middle East. Sinwar's plan worked - except in reverse.
(Jewish Chronicle-UK)
- Israel Recognizes that Every Front Is Potentially Unstable - David Horovitz
Israel's political and military leadership has now recognized that every front is potentially unstable.
Israel has not rushed to embrace Syria's new jihadist leadership and has been proactive in minimizing the military consequences should the rebels' ostensible congeniality prove superficial. Hence the ongoing airstrikes on weapons stores and infrastructure, and the IDF's seizure of the border buffer zone.
Hizbullah is down but not out. The assessment is that Hizbullah will work assiduously to rebuild its capabilities and revive efforts to attack - including to infiltrate across the border.
With millions of Israelis now forced to dash for bomb shelters several nights a week due to the threat of Houthi rockets from Yemen, more potent Israeli strikes are in the offing.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, there has been a decline in terrorist attacks.
Regarding Iran, the Israeli assessment is that the ayatollahs are likely to try to attain nuclear weapons. Israel appears to believe it knows what Iran is doing when it comes to weaponization.
Concern about IDF operations triggering Hamas to murder hostages radically constrains the IDF's ability to attempt hostage rescues, and its ability to battle Hamas in Gaza areas where it knows hostages may be held. The sooner that all or even almost all of the living hostages are released, the greater the IDF's capacity to step up operations against Hamas in southern Gaza. Unfortunately, this is an equation that Hamas understands all too well.
(Times of Israel)
Hizbullah
- How the IDF Blocked Hizbullah's Attacks on Tel Aviv - Yonah Jeremy Bob
The IDF disclosed on Wednesday that its success against Hizbullah from mid-September until the November 26 ceasefire was based on an unprecedented level of infiltration. Its intelligence branches spent years identifying where Hizbullah's rockets were located and how to strike them, and following their movements if they were mobile. The IDF also diagnosed Hizbullah's command structure and eliminated its top three tiers in a matter of weeks.
This led to the IDF preventing Hizbullah from doing any major damage in Tel Aviv with its 150,000-rocket arsenal. Hizbullah did cause wide damage to villages on the northern border and in the northern third of the country, but failed to cause enough strategic damage to pressure Israel into giving in to its terms.
(Jerusalem Post)
The Gaza War
- The Experiences of Israeli Hostages Rescued from Gaza - Itamar Eichner
The Israel Ministry of Health has completed a report based on testimonies from Israeli hostages released or rescued from Hamas captivity in Gaza. Some of the hostages experienced great weight loss after starvation and malnutrition, leading to "muscle breakdown and a weakened immune system. As a result of appalling hygiene, and unclean water, hostages suffered from stomach pains and diarrhea during their time in captivity."
Some hostages were held alone in the dark for days, tied hand and foot. They were beaten all over their bodies, some had their hair pulled out, and in some cases their skin was burned with an iron heated over a hot fire. Several hostages described experiencing immense pain under medical treatment. (Ynet News)
Observations:
- You might have thought that after the Oct. 7 onslaught, the world would have shown sympathy to Israel. Instead, much of the so-called civilized world has turned against Israel and the Jewish people.
Attacks on Jews worldwide are at record levels. We can only understand what's happening if we realize that we're looking at a worldwide war on both the Jews and the Free World.
- The first demonstrations in the West, mainly by Muslims, took place on Oct. 7 itself while the attack in Israel was still going on. They were an ecstatic celebration of the slaughter of Jews. The Islamists believed that their moment had come. They understood Oct. 7 to be the final and victorious onslaught. Having broken through Israel's defenses, they thought that they were now on the way to destroying Israel altogether. Then the path would be open for the defeat of the West.
- There's been nothing spontaneous about these demonstrations. They've been organized from the start by an alliance composed of Hamas and other Muslim Brotherhood groups, the hard left, and Western Palestinian activists. Anti-Israel indoctrination has gone on for decades and long colonized the universities. Billions of dollars have been devoted to frying the minds of the Western intelligentsia.
- For several decades, Western elites have held that the West was born in the sins of racism and colonialism and that therefore national identity in the West is itself intrinsically evil. The Western nation-state, they said, had created hatred, prejudice, and war. The culture and laws of Western nations therefore had to be trumped by universalist institutions and laws such as the UN, international law, and "human rights" legislated by international courts.
- As John Lennon sang, there's nothing to fight or die for. But Israel - the paradigmatic nation-state - certainly believes there's something to fight and die for. That something is its continued existence. It refuses to negotiate its own demise.
- Israel will survive because it has no alternative. Israel will prosper and grow because there the Jewish people know what they are, they love what they are, and as a result they want their nation to survive. The West will only survive if it decides to love us instead of disdaining us and trying to erase what makes the Jewish people special - which is what has made the West special too.
The writer is a columnist for The Times-UK. This essay has been adapted from a speech given on December 8, 2024, at the Jewish Leadership Conference in New York.
|