New U.S. Airstrike Campaign Targeting Yemen's Houthis More Intense than Last - Jon Gambrell (AP)
    A new American airstrike campaign against Yemen's Houthis appears more intense and more extensive, as the U.S. moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel as well as dropping bombs in city neighborhoods.
    But bombing alone may not be enough to stop the Houthis, whose earlier barrage of missile fire toward the U.S. Navy represented the most intense combat it had seen since World War II.
    "Folks say, 'We'll go in there and take out everyone with the last name Houthi and we'll win.' The Houthi leadership has been taken out in history in the past, and they are resilient," U.S. Navy Vice Adm. (ret.) Kevin Donegan said. "They came back and they grew stronger."
    The Trump administration is allowing U.S. Central Command, which oversees Mideast operations, to launch offensive strikes at will, rather than having the White House sign off on each attack as under Biden.
   The military said, "CENTCOM continues to conduct strikes across multiple Iran-backed Houthi locations every day and night to restore freedom of navigation and restore American deterrence."

Israel Supplying Intelligence for U.S. Airstrikes in Yemen - Nancy A. Youssef (Wall Street Journal)
    Israel provided intelligence from a human source in Yemen on a key Houthi military operative targeted in an attack described by U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz in a Signal chat with senior Trump officials, two U.S. officials said.
    "The first target - their top missile guy - we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend's building and it is now collapsed," Waltz wrote.
    Israeli officials complained privately to U.S. officials that Waltz's texts became public, one U.S. official said.

Houthis Weakened but Not Broken by U.S. Airstrikes - Saleh al-Batati (Wall Street Journal)
    American strikes on Yemen's Houthis have destroyed military infrastructure and killed commanders and officials, but they haven't deterred the terrorist group.
    The Iran-backed militia continues to get off near-daily missile attacks on Israel and most commercial ship traffic is still being redirected around southern Africa.
    A U.S. defense official said that the military had confirmed the deaths of several Houthi leaders and that whatever capacity to strike the Houthis maintained, "It is largely because of the nearly 10 years of support provided by Iran."
    "They are well-known for false claims minimizing the results of our attacks while exaggerating the successes of theirs. Their messaging depends on lies."
    The U.S. strikes appear to be focused on targeting the top Houthi leadership. Many of the strikes have hit Saa'da, Yemen's northernmost province and the Houthi homeland.
    Yemen, twice the size of Wyoming, is a vast nation of mountains, evoking comparisons to Afghanistan.
    The Houthis are thought to have spent years stockpiling missiles and drones, hiding them in caves or underground facilities where they have built weapons assembly lines and launching facilities.

U.S. House Overwhelmingly Blocks Anti-Israel Amendments - Marc Rod (Jewish Insider)
    The House voted overwhelmingly to block two amendments by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) that would have required universities to disclose investments in countries defending war crimes or genocide cases at the International Court of Justice or countries whose leaders are facing active arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court by votes of 410-3 and 404-4.

For New Hostage Deal, U.S. Is Waiting for Hamas to Crack - Chaim Levinson (Ha'aretz)
    From Washington's perspective, there is only one deal on the table: the Witkoff framework. It calls for the release of half the remaining hostages now.
    If Hamas wants in, it's welcome. If not, Israel is free to proceed as it sees fit.
    The core dispute remains Hamas's demand for "guarantees" that once the last hostage is returned, Israel won't reoccupy Gaza.
    Hamas wants the deal to be anchored in a UN Security Council resolution, a demand unacceptable to both Israel and the U.S.
    Still, in an effort to save as many lives as possible, Witkoff proposed that Hamas release 11 hostages in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners.
    Hamas surprised mediators by rejecting the proposal, instead, offering to release only Edan Alexander, an American-Israeli citizen, along with the bodies of four other American citizens.
    An Arab source told Ha'aretz that "Witkoff and his team...believe Hamas's stubbornness will eventually break - and that only then can things move forward."

Hamas Doesn't Want Peace - Jonathan Sacerdoti (Spiked-UK)
    Hamas has shown it is not a good-faith partner for peace.
    It paraded hostages in grotesque ceremonies, flagrantly lied about which hostages were alive or dead, and used the ceasefire in Gaza to rearm and prepare for more attacks.
    The fact that Oct. 7 has become a left-wing issue is so strange. There is nothing progressive about standing up for a fanatical, Islamist worldview.
    I can't think of anything that would justify the kidnapping of babies and old women, or keeping hostages and deliberately starving and torturing them.
    I also don't know how you could not think Hamas brought Israel's response upon itself.

Harvard Suspends Partnership with Palestinian School that Hosted Hamas Military Parades - Matthew Xiao (Washington Free Beacon)
    Harvard University's School of Public Health announced Wednesday that it has suspended its research partnership with Birzeit University, a West Bank school that has hosted military parades in honor of Hamas.
    Eric Fleiss, president of the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance, said his group was "disappointed that it took this long for Harvard to suspend relations with a university that, among other misdeeds, blatantly discriminates against Israeli Jews by barring them from campus, elects would-be terrorists to student government, and hosts Hamas and PFLP parades on campus."
    "We are gratified that they have finally done it."