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In-Depth Issues:
Israel Retaliates Against Houthis in Yemen on Thursday - Itamar Eichner ( Ynet News)
In its largest airstrike in Yemen since the war began, Israel targeted the control tower at Sanaa International Airport and civilian aircraft used by the Houthi government on Thursday.
Additional strikes targeted Hodeidah port, a power station and oil facilities.
The U.S. provided intelligence for the strike.
Mass Demonstration in Yemen's Capital after Israeli Strikes ( AFP)
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Yemen's Houthi-held Sanaa, a day after Israeli jets pounded Houthi targets in response to missile and drone attacks on Israel.
The crowd chanted and brandished Kalashnikovs, placards and pistols as they listened to fiery anti-Israel speeches.
At the demonstration, bearded men in headdresses held up Yemeni and Palestinian flags and waved Yemen's traditional curved dagger.
Israel Considers Extending Presence in Lebanon - Yoav Limor ( Israel Hayom)
Israel is exploring the possibility of keeping IDF forces in key positions in southern Lebanon even after the 60-day deadline stipulated in the ceasefire agreement for a full withdrawal.
The primary reasons are sluggish deployment of the Lebanese Army in the south, and the continued discovery of Hizbullah weaponry and infrastructure, coupled with its ongoing efforts to rebuild its capabilities with Iranian assistance.
In recent weeks, Israel has repeatedly complained to international bodies about the slow pace of the Lebanese Army's actions, warning that if Lebanon does not fulfill its obligations under the agreement, Israel may need to stay in southern Lebanon to safeguard its northern communities.
Hospitals in Northern Israel Move Out of Underground Bunkers after Months of War - Diana Bletter ( Times of Israel)
For 14 months, as Hizbullah fired thousands of rockets into northern Israel, departments at Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya had been working in underground, fortified rooms.
On Dec. 8, 11 days after the ceasefire with Hizbullah, the maternity departments and nurseries returned to their regular wards.
Other northern hospitals had done the same, including Ziv Medical Center in Safed and Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.
Russian Interference in Israel's Internal Affairs - Lt.-Col. (res.) Daniel Rakov ( Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security)
Since April 2023, Russia has been running an interference campaign in Israel as part of its global influence network, Doppelganger.
The network injects political messages and false information into the public discourse in Western countries through social networks while posing as locals.
The campaign seeks to deepen polarization in Israel to advance Russian interests, such as withholding military aid to Ukraine, distancing Israel from the U.S., and getting Jerusalem to adopt a more positive attitude toward Moscow.
A senior Kremlin official is steering interference in Israel's internal affairs.
Russia increasingly sides with Israel's enemies and aspires to limit Israel's military freedom of action.
In July 2023, Israel demanded that Russia suspend its interference campaign.
The writer served in the IDF for more than 20 years, primarily in Israeli Defense Intelligence.
Blame Hamas and Hizbullah for Civilian Deaths, Not Israel - Con Coughlin ( Gatestone Institute)
If Western politicians and aid agencies want to apportion blame for the high death tolls in the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, then they need look no further than the Iranian-backed terror groups cynically risking the lives of innocent civilians to achieve their diabolical agenda.
Whether it is using schools and hospitals that are supposed to be afforded immunity in conflict under international law, or simply using Palestinian civilians as human shields, Hamas terrorists have consistently jeopardized the well-being of those they purport to defend.
It is a similar picture in Lebanon, where Hizbullah fighters have deliberately located their missile stockpiles and command centers within densely-populated civilian areas.
While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have implemented a range of measures in both Gaza and Lebanon to avoid civilian casualties - which includes encouraging civilians to leave their homes in advance of military action - Western politicians and aid agencies invariably blame Israel for any civilian casualties, when they should really be blaming the Hamas and Hizbullah terrorists who deliberately put their own people in harm's way in the first place.
The writer is defense and foreign affairs editor at the Daily Telegraph-UK.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Behind Israel's Dismantling of Hizbullah - Mark Mazzetti
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah did not believe that Israel would kill him. In his view, Israel had no interest in a full-scale war. What he did not realize was that Israeli spy agencies were tracking his every movement - and had been doing so for years.
A New York Times investigation, based on interviews with more than two dozen current and former Israeli, American and European officials,
reveals how Israeli spies had near constant visibility into the movements of Hizbullah leaders.
In 2012, Israel's Unit 8200 - the equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency - stole a trove of information, including specifics of the leaders' secret hide-outs and the group's arsenal of missiles and rockets.
Prior to the 2006 war, an operation planted tracking devices on Hizbullah's Fajr missiles that gave Israel information about munitions hidden inside secret military bases, civilian storage facilities and private homes. During the war, the Israeli Air Force bombed the sites, destroying the missiles. As Hizbullah rebuilt after the 2006 war, the Mossad recruited people in Lebanon to help Hizbullah build secret facilities after the war, thereby learning the locations of hide-outs.
(New York Times)
- Secret Assad Files Show Syria Put Children on Trial - Louise Callaghan
Secret intelligence documents uncovered by the Sunday Times in Syria have revealed the terrifying extent of Bashar al-Assad's surveillance state, where family members spied on each other and the slightest suspicion could result in ordinary people - including children - being swept into a network of prisons notorious for torture and executions, with victims buried in mass graves.
Thousands of files detail the way the regime infiltrated protest and rebel groups since 2011. They reveal details about the vast network of informants that reported to the regime, and how the intelligence services forced the people they arrested to give up names of alleged collaborators - who would in turn be detained. The security services tapped phones, hacked computers and sent agents to surveil suspects.
One document notes the detention of a 12-year-old boy, brought in "for tearing up a sheet of paper bearing a picture of the president." The boy claimed that he had torn up the paper without noticing the picture of the president. He told interrogators he didn't have bad intentions and didn't intend to offend anyone. Nonetheless, he was sent to stand trial in court. (Sunday Times-UK)
- Houthis Say U.S., Britain Launch Fresh Airstrike on Yemeni Capital - Ahmed Asmar
The Yemeni Houthi group reported a fresh U.S.-British airstrike on the capital Sanaa on Friday evening, according to Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV. Israeli planes had launched airstrikes on Sanaa on Thursday.
(Anadolu-Turkey)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Palestinian Terrorist Murders Israeli Woman in Herzliya Stabbing Attack - Raanan Ben-Zur
Ludmila Lipovsky, 83, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist in Herzliya on Friday. The assailant was neutralized by security guards on the scene.
(Ynet News)
- IDF Arrests 240 Terror Suspects in Northern Gaza Hospital - Einav Halabi
The IDF announced Saturday it had arrested more than 240 suspects at a Hamas command center located inside Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya in northern Gaza. The hospital was being used for military activities in violation of international law. Troops faced resistance during the operation, including anti-tank fire from terrorists.
The detainees included members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as 15 individuals implicated in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. Among those arrested were engineering and anti-tank missile operatives and the hospital's director, suspected of being a Hamas operative. Some detainees attempted to evade capture by posing as patients or fleeing in ambulances.
Prior to the operation, 350 patients, medical staff and caregivers were evacuated from the hospital. The hospital had been supplied with tens of thousands of liters of fuel, food and medical supplies in recent weeks to ensure its functionality. (Ynet News)
- IDF Shoots Down 2 Gaza Rockets over Jerusalem Area
Two rockets fired Saturday from northern Gaza toward the Jerusalem area were successfully intercepted by Israeli Air Force defense systems.
(Ynet News)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War
- Starvation, Sexual Abuse, and Children Beaten in Hamas Captivity - Shir Perets
Hostages who returned from Hamas captivity in Gaza endured beatings, isolation, deprivation of food and water, branding, hair-pulling, and sexual assault, an Israel Health Ministry report to be submitted to the UN revealed Saturday. The food and water they had access to were of poor quality, leading to multiple cases of malnutrition and illness.
Most released hostages returned home to discover their families had been murdered by Hamas and their homes had been destroyed. Numerous hostages have been suffering from survivor's guilt.
Two children reported that they were bound together and beaten throughout their captivity, and two additional children were found with burn marks consistent with branding on their lower limbs. Many hostages of all ages and genders described undergoing sexual abuse at the hands of their captors.
"The severe physical and mental states of the returnees offer the world a glimpse into the widespread atrocities committed by Hamas," said Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, head of the Health Ministry's medical directorate. (Jerusalem Post)
- Israel Risks Reviving Hamas by Exchanging Terrorists for Hostages - Camilla Turner
Mosab Hassan Yousef, 46, the eldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of Hamas's foremost leaders in the West Bank, has warned Israel must not "rejuvenate" the terrorist group by releasing its most dangerous members - including his father - from jail as part of a hostage deal.
He told The Telegraph: "The only card in Hamas's hands today is the hostages. They want the release of hundreds if not thousands of mass murderers from Israeli prisons. The most dangerous Hamas leaders today are not in Qatar or Turkey - they are in Israeli prisons....[Hamas] wants them released back to the streets."
Yousef warned that releasing senior Hamas members from Israeli jails "could actually rejuvenate Hamas and bring us to square one. We are talking about some very dangerous people. Even if they are released abroad, they can continue forming and creating terrorist cells and attacking Jews worldwide." (Sunday Telegraph-UK)
Israeli Security
- Israel Air Force Counters Syrian and Hizbullah Anti-Aircraft Systems - Yoav Zitun
Hizbullah successfully downed state-of-the-art Israel Air Force UAVs at a rate of one a month in the war's first six months. In addition, after Syrian anti-aircraft systems took down an Israeli F15 in the Galilee in the past decade, the Air Force has worked hard to counter these threats.
There were many very close encounters with hundreds, sometimes only dozens, of meters separating these missiles from Israeli planes.
Recently, in a matter of 25 hours, the IAF destroyed over 100 Syrian surface-to-air batteries, dependent on advanced Russian systems. "Syria's entire surface-to-air array was destroyed along with both its mobile and portable batteries," said an IDF source. "They're fast and deadly, with efficient ranges covering 20-40 km., and there are the SA-17 and SA-22 with further ranges."
Hizbullah also had anti-aircraft systems using the same Russian and Iranian-made batteries. An anti-aircraft array of 100 large surface-to-air missiles included advanced detection radars reliant on Syria's anti-aircraft array. The Air Force rarely flew over Lebanon in recent years for fear of its manned aircraft being shot down by Hizbullah. Moreover, any Israeli aircraft flying over the northern third of Israeli sovereign airspace was in danger of being taken down by Hizbullah. (Ynet News)
Israel and the West
- To Support Western Values, the U.S. Must Support Israel - Dr. Michael Doran interviewed by Matan Hasidim
Middle East expert Michael Doran, a former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Diplomacy, said, "When people talk about 'Israel' in American discourse, it's never 'just about Israel.'
Behind the scenes of the Israel debate, there's actually a debate between Americans...about which values should be dominant in American society itself."
"I personally believe that the commitment to Israel reflects the deeper values of the United States. This commitment reminds the U.S. of its role in the world and what it represents....As long as the West continues to be committed to the traditional values that we all see as the great values of the West, it must support Israel."
"Your society wants to continue thriving, while the West is being swept by a great current of nihilism and suicidal aspirations from some of its elites, which also guide our politics. Even if you compare birth rates between secular Israelis and what's common in Western countries, you'll find a big difference. That tells us everything we need to know."
"Many Americans, like me, see Israel as a family member of the U.S. that needs to be protected, and I think we're still the overwhelming majority among Republicans, and among Americans in general." (Makor Rishon-Israel Hayom)
Israeli Arabs
- How Israeli Arab Leaders Betray Their Own People - Khaled Abu Toameh
Over the past few years, Hamas has called on the two million Arab citizens of Israel to revolt against their own country and join the Jihad against Israel. While Hamas's attempts were partially successful in May 2021, when some Arabs attacked their Jewish neighbors, after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel, the Arab citizens of Israel have not only refrained from engaging in violent acts but have denounced the atrocities.
A poll conducted after Oct. 7 showed that 68% of the Arab citizens of Israel believe that the attack did not reflect Arab society's values, the Palestinian people, and the Islamic nation. The poll also found that 86% support helping out with civilian volunteering efforts during the war between Israel and Hamas, while 70% reported that they feel part of Israel and its problems.
A survey conducted by the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University found that 57% of Israeli Arabs believe that Hamas intentionally targeted civilians, including women and children, during the Oct. 7 onslaught. At least 54% approve of Arab Israelis taking part in the efforts to explain Israel's position in the war to the world.
However, some Israeli Arab leaders continue to act against the interests of their own people, taking advantage of the country's democratic system to engage in anti-Israel rhetoric. These Israeli Arab leaders are causing huge damage to their own constituents. These leaders make the Israeli Arabs look as if they are a "Fifth Column" - an enemy within - stoking fear and mistrust between Jews and Arabs inside Israel, while ignoring that most Israeli Arabs say they feel comfortable living in the Jewish state.
At least 23 Arab Israeli citizens were murdered by Hamas terrorists during the attack on Oct. 7 or by Hamas rocket attacks in the ensuing days. Most of the victims were Bedouin residents. Moreover, several Bedouin men and women were abducted by Hamas.
If Israeli Arabs want to secure a prosperous future for themselves and their children, they need to get rid of extremist Arab leaders who speak and act against the interests of the Arab community inside Israel. If these Arab leaders are unhappy living in Israel, they are welcome to move to the West Bank, Gaza or any Arab country - where they will quickly miss Israel's democracy and freedom of speech.
The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. (Gatestone Institute)
Observations:
- In recent months, Israel has restored its territorial integrity and national pride after the massacre on October 7, 2023, of nearly 1,200 citizens, the wounding of 3,300 others, and the abduction of 240 people as hostages by Hamas. Israel fully understands that the defense of the country remains a vital necessity in a world of ceaseless Islamic terrorism.
- However, what also emerged soon after Israel began pursuing its war aims against Hamas and Hizbullah was opposition from vital Western countries. Both the governing elite of Europe and certain politicians in America have morally condemned Israel for disproportionate responses to the terrorist attack.
- Guiding these elites' reactions and judgment is an ideology that dethrones patriotism and the defense of one's national home, leaving them incapable of understanding a country for whom defense means winning a war, imposing terms on the enemy, and bringing peace to its people.
- What French political theorist Pierre Manent calls "the religion of humanity" rests at the heart of the contemporary European Union. It requires ignoring real differences in cultures, religions, and forms of government. This ignores the reality that the nation, filled with law, culture, and historical memory, is a necessary component of democratic government.
- A Europe and a West retreating from the political nation will only be confused by a nation that insists on defending itself. Manent observes that the "political role of Israel exposes our naive dreams of global unification." The Muslim world rejects Israel for theological and political reasons.
- In March 2024, President Biden threatened to withhold certain weapons if Israel invaded Rafah.
There were even hints from the administration that Israel was engaging in war crimes, although the portions of international law that had been violated were never cited. The result was a delay, as Israel, aware of international opinion turned against it, deliberated what to do next. The outcome took longer than needed - which, paradoxically, likely occasioned more civilian casualties than would have occurred without U.S. pressure.
- One of the Biden administration's last dictates to Israel was to increase food shipments to Gaza (despite widespread knowledge that Hamas was intercepting food shipments) or risk America withholding future military funding. Left unsaid was how any of these shipments would actually reach Gaza civilians instead of the remnants of Hamas, given that most civilians have evacuated the area. There is no international legal warrant for a belligerent nation to take such action unless you are Israel.
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