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Jerusalem Center for Security
and Foreign Affairs
DAILY ALERT
Sunday,
February 23, 2025
In-Depth Issues:

IDF: Palestinian Captors Murdered Bibas Children with "Their Bare Hands" - Emanuel Fabian (Times of Israel)
    IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Friday that forensic examinations have revealed that Palestinian terrorists murdered children Ariel and Kfir Bibas "with their bare hands" weeks after their kidnapping on Oct. 7, 2023.
    "Contrary to Hamas's lies, Ariel and Kfir were not killed in an airstrike. Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered in cold blood by terrorists," he said.
    "The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys - they killed them with their bare hands. Afterward, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities."
    "This assessment is based on both forensic findings from the identification process and intelligence that supports these findings."
    Hagari added that the children's father, recently released hostage Yarden Bibas, "looked me in the eyes and asked that all the world know and be horrified by the manner in which they murdered his children."
    See also IDF Spokesperson on Murder of Deceased Hostages (IDF)


PA Leader Abbas Promises Terrorists "Will Receive Their Full Payments" - Khaled Abu Toameh (X)
    President Mahmoud Abbas told the Fatah Revolutionary Council on Feb. 20: "If we had one penny left, it will go the martyrs and prisoners. They will receive their full payments, as in the past. We are proud of their sacrifices."
    See also PA Deletes Abbas's Remarks about Continuing Payments to Terrorists - Khaled Abu Toameh (X)
    The PA has instructed Palestinian media to delete the part of Abbas's speech where he says payments to the "prisoners and martyrs" will continue.


Released Palestinian Terrorist Falls to His Death in Eastern Jerusalem - Charlie Summers (Times of Israel)
    Nael Obeid, a Palestinian prisoner who was freed last week, died on Saturday after falling from a building in Issawiya, an Arab suburb of Jerusalem.
    Obeid was sentenced to seven life sentences and 30 years for partaking in a 2003 suicide bombing at Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem.


BBC Pulls Hamas "Propaganda" Documentary - Patrick Sawer (Telegraph-UK)
    The BBC on Friday pulled the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone after accusations of it being a propaganda platform for Hamas that featured children linked to terror group families.
    The BBC issued an apology on Wednesday after the son of a Hamas minister was featured prominently without disclosing this connection.
    It later emerged that another of the three children who were central protagonists in the film was the daughter of a former captain in the Hamas-run police force, while the third had been photographed posing with Hamas fighters.
    Danny Cohen, former controller of BBC Television, said the BBC had allowed itself to be used as a propaganda platform for Hamas.
    "This documentary fails the most basic of program standards.... The BBC's commitment to impartiality on the Israel-Hamas war lies in tatters."
    Alex Hearn, the co-director of Labour Against Anti-Semitism, said: "There must be an urgent investigation to discover who knew what and when, and why this BBC documentary ever got made."


A Two-State Solution Is a Lost Cause - Matthew Syed (The Times-UK)
    During a visit to the West Bank, things became darker when the conversation turned to politics.
    (I didn't mention my profession as a journalist, and flashed my driving license to gain their trust: Syed is a holy name in Islamic tradition.)
    When I asked Saif - thirtyish, wide smile - his view of a two-state solution, he responded: "I want a one-state solution. We have to destroy Israel and get rid of the Jews."
    At a checkpoint, I spoke to Abdullah, who said: "Within five years, Israel will be gone and the Jews destroyed. It is Allah's will. Nothing can prevent it."
    Of the 15 people I spoke to in the West Bank, 13 rejected a two-state solution and 12 were supporters of Hamas.
    A majority also held the Palestinian Authority in contempt, not least for its corruption.
    When I pointed out the venality of the leaders of Hamas - living in hotel suites in Doha, their wives carrying designer handbags - one man replied: "At least they are committed to the eradication of Israel."
    On the main drag in old Bethlehem, I came across a toy shop whose frontage - featuring what I inferred to be the most popular goodies - was adorned with plastic replicas of AK-47s, machetes and hand grenades.
    I looked on in horrified fascination as a child, perhaps seven, pulled at his mother's robe before she gave in to his demands, buying one of the machine guns, doubtless perceiving it as an expression of maternal love.
    The longer I stayed in the West Bank, the more I shook my head at the shallow pieties of Western politicians who trot out "two-state solution" and "Palestinian aspirations."
    Do they not see that the provision of any additional funds, land or aid will lead to the escalation of bloody jihad, as so often in the past?
    We must acknowledge what Richard Dawkins calls the "virus of fundamentalism," a phrase that came to me while watching masked murderers posing with the coffins of Israeli children in that grotesque charade of a hostage release on Thursday, surrounded by Gazan children and cheering crowds.


No to Hamas Immunity - Nadav Shragai (Israel Hayom)
    The temptation to blame the Israeli government for the hostages' deaths should be avoided because it is highly inaccurate.
    Just ask senior Democratic administration officials who closely followed the complex negotiations with Hamas and who are no fans of the current government.
    The deaths of the hostages have only one address - the terrorist organization Hamas.
    Hamas murdered hostages. Hamas starved them to death. Hamas let them die from diseases and infections. Hamas denied them medical treatment and medicine.
    In a just world, Hamas would have to pay for its crimes.
    But when Israel is being extorted and submits to terrorism to bring home living and dead hostages, revenge must wait.
    It must not, however, be canceled.
    See also Hamas Is Playing Games with Releasing Hostages - Brett McGurk (Washington Post)

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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
  • UN Rights Chief: Hamas's Parading of Israeli Bodies in Gaza Abhorrent - Emma Farge
    The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said Thursday that the parading of the bodies of Israeli hostages in Gaza was abhorrent. "Under international law, any handover of the remains of deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families." (Reuters)
        See also Hamas Threatened to Halt Slain Hostages' Release after International Red Cross Refused to Participate in Ceremony, ICRC Gave In
    The International Red Cross initially refused to take part in Hamas's ceremony during the return of the four slain hostages, Israel's Channel 12 reported Thursday. After Hamas threatened not to transfer the slain hostages, a Red Cross representative signed Hamas documents on the stage in Khan Yunis. (Jerusalem Post)
  • Hizbullah Facing Financial Squeeze as Supply Lines from Iran Are Severed - Mohamad El Chamaa
    Hizbullah is struggling with a looming financial crisis after traditional supply lines of money from Iran have been severed. This comes at a time when Hizbullah is under pressure to compensate its Lebanese constituents disgruntled with the slow pace of reconstruction after their villages and neighborhoods were damaged in the recent war with Israel.
        Along Lebanon's eastern border, the new Syrian government has started to crack down on smugglers affiliated with Hizbullah, sparking clashes between them and the Syrian army. Lebanese banks have refused to process transfers from the group's supporters abroad out of fear of violating U.S. sanctions on Hizbullah financial activities. (Washington Post)
  • Palestinian Authority Fails to Show It Can Maintain Order in West Bank - Claire Parker
    The Palestinian Authority recently launched a major military operation against militant groups in Jenin in the West Bank. If the operation succeeded, Palestinian security forces would demonstrate they could maintain order not only in the West Bank, but perhaps in Gaza as well. But the six-week campaign in Jenin came up badly short and exposed some of the challenges the PA would face in securing Gaza. The campaign also underlined questions about how far Palestinians would go to fight fellow Palestinians.
        While Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has said there must be no role for the PA in Gaza, an alternative Arab plan to counter President Trump's Gaza proposal is certain to give the authority a central role, despite profound concerns about its capabilities.
        The Jenin operation "demonstrated the limits of the PA security forces," said Ghaith al-Omari, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "If you cannot succeed decisively in an operation like Jenin, how can you hope to tackle the infinitely more complex situation in Gaza?" The U.S. government has given Palestinian security forces $1.1 billion since 2007, State Department officials said, and has supervised their training in Jordan.
        "If the end result is that everybody in the world - and especially the U.S. and the Arab countries - sees that the PA can't get control of 100 militants in Jenin, how can they secure Gaza?" said Mairav Zonszein, senior Israel analyst at the International Crisis Group. Compared with raids by Israeli troops, for the militants, the PA operation was "a break, a vacation," said Jihad, a senior member of the Jenin Battalion. He claimed that only a handful of those arrested by the PA were members of the battalion and that only one fighter had been killed by the security forces. PA forces, meanwhile, lost six members, and many others sustained injuries. (Washington Post)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
  • Hamas Frees Six Israeli Hostages on Saturday - Emanuel Fabian
    Oct. 7 captives Tal Shoham, 39; Omer Shem Tov, 22; Omer Wenkert, 23; and Eliya Cohen, 27, were returned to Israel on Saturday after over 500 days in Hamas captivity. Avera Mengistu, 37, and Hisham al-Sayed, 37, returned after a decade in Gaza. The men all looked frail and many had suffered dramatic weight loss. Five were paraded on stages in propaganda-filled ceremonies in two locations in Gaza, while al-Sayed was released separately.
        The last four "phase one" hostages are set to be freed on Thursday. All are believed dead. (Times of Israel)
        See also Israeli Hostages Freed on Saturday Report Starvation
    Released hostage Omer Shem Tov was spit on, cursed, and compelled to kiss his Hamas captors in a staged release ceremony. Shem Tov, Tal Shoham, and Omer Wenkert were held together for the last eight months in the tunnels. They were starved and left in complete darkness, their bodies wasting away.
        Eliya Cohen recounted being shackled for extended periods, suffering deep cuts from the restraints. He and his fellow captives were primarily held in sealed tunnels with limited access to light. Hamas operatives would occasionally shine flashlights into their eyes. (Jerusalem Post)
        See also Two Israeli Hostages Brought to Watch Release Ceremony in Gaza - Jack Khoury
    Hamas released a video on Saturday showing hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David watching the release ceremony for other Israeli hostages from the window of a car. The two were abducted from the Nova music festival and remain in captivity. (Ha'aretz)
  • Body of Shiri Bibas Returned on Friday
    The body of Shiri Bibas, the mother of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, whose bodies were returned to Israel on Thursday, was returned on Friday after an anonymous woman's body had been given to Israel on Thursday. The Israeli forensics team confirmed her identity and said she did not die in an Israeli airstrike as Hamas had claimed. (Jerusalem Post)
        See also Israel Says Shiri Bibas Not among Bodies Returned from Gaza on Thursday - Tamar Michaelis (CNN)
  • 3 Buses Explode in Tel Aviv Suburbs on Thursday - Einav Halabi
    An explosion occurred at a bus depot near Bat Yam's stadium Thursday night, followed by another blast at a nearby lot. A third explosion was later reported at a depot near Wolfson Medical Center in Holon. Police also discovered an unexploded charge attached to a bus in Bat Yam. No passengers were on board the affected buses and there were no injuries. Tel Aviv District Police Commander Chaim Sargrof said, "The explosive devices were found with timers....They appear to be from the West Bank."  (Ynet News)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:

    The Gaza War - Israeli Hostages

  • After What We Have Seen, How Can Anyone Still Sympathize with Hamas? - Jake Wallis Simons
    How hard is it to condemn a group that strangles a baby and a toddler, mutilates their corpses with rocks to make it look like they were killed in an airstrike, then returns them amid cheering crowds in locked coffins - no keys provided - with propaganda material stuffed around the bodies?
        Britain's Prime Minister bravely said he was "deeply saddened" by the deaths but avoided naming the perpetrators, let alone condemning their crimes. The Red Cross, which participated in the grotesque showboating as the bodies were released, issued a gentle plea for "dignity and privacy."
        I would wager that most people reading this column will be able to cite personal examples of friends, colleagues or acquaintances who have been blaringly vocal about Palestinian suffering but find themselves in a monkish reserve when it comes to the ghoulish butchery of Jewish children and the gleeful desecration of their bodies.
        If Oct. 7 taught us anything, it is that you can't solve a problem by pretending it doesn't exist. One day, the enemy will find a way to break through the fence and come for your children. We must embrace and empower those who uphold our values while at the same time demanding an end to the soft affection for Hamas.
        The writer is editor of the Jewish Chronicle-UK. (Telegraph-UK)
  • Ponder How the Bibas Boys Died - Bernard-Henri Levy
    I have spent my life witnessing and reporting on the most atrocious crimes. When I think of Kfir and Ariel Bibas and their mother, Shiri, I'm not sure I have ever encountered such horror. Consider those phrases "child hostage" and "baby hostage." Some remnant of humanity generally prevents captors from bothering with an infant. Here, they deliberately took the time to abduct these two terrified little beings clinging to their mother.
        Once, children were gassed as they descended from the trains. Hamas waited. Damn those who try to drag us into the false game of moral equivalency. These two breaths cut short, this double death of innocence, is Hamas's abomination alone - and it is unforgivable.
        The writer is a philosopher and author of more than 40 books.  (Wall Street Journal)
  • Hamas Butchered Our Children. Now Their Days Are Numbered - Editorial
    After 503 days in captivity, the remains of Oded Lifshitz, and the children Ariel and Kfir Bibas were returned by Hamas. The body of their mother, Shiri was not returned. This was barbarism, a war crime of the worst kind. Forensic reports have now confirmed that the children were brutally murdered in captivity just a month after their abduction. This was intentional, cold-blooded murder. They paraded our children's remains like trophies.
        How do you make peace with those who murder babies and celebrate their deaths? Israel must respond with the full force of its power. This is about eradicating a force of pure evil. There is no compromise to be made with those who revel in the suffering of innocents. But if Hamas believes that murdering children will break our resolve, they are mistaken. The flame of hope must now be accompanied by the fire of retribution. We must ensure that those responsible for these atrocities are met with absolute destruction. (Jerusalem Post)
  • The Death of the Bibas Family Is a Stain on the Human Conscience - Brendan O'Neill
    A mob of antisemites stole a nine-month-old baby from his home. They filmed the abduction and published the footage online. "Look what we did," the filmers essentially said: "We humiliated a baby Jew." The terror-stricken young Bibas family was violently dragged from their home for the "crime" of their Jewishness. This is the "resistance" that the privileged of the West celebrated.
        The kidnapping of the Bibas family was one of the great war crimes of our age. If the world looks the other way, if it fails to firmly condemn both the death of the Bibas family and the grotesque racist pageant of the handover of their bodies, then we will know the true depth of our crisis of civilization. An Islamist death cult came for a family of Jews and the self-styled virtuous of the West either said nothing or made excuses for it. (Spiked-UK)
  • The Two-State Solution Died with Ariel and Kfir Bibas - Casey Babb
    For more than 500 days, Israelis, Jews in the diaspora, and decent people around the world have anxiously prayed for the safe return of the Bibas brothers - 4-year-old Ariel and 9-month-old Kfir - two red-headed boys who were kidnapped along with their parents on Oct. 7, 2023 - only to find out that they were killed many months ago.
        For Israel, the killing of the Bibas boys is likely the nail in the coffin of the "two-state solution." A July 2024 survey found that nearly 90% of Israeli Jews don't believe Palestinian Arabs can be trusted. Now, with confirmation that the Bibas boys are dead, that belief may harden even further.
        The writer is a Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa.  (Newsweek)


    • Israel and the West

  • The Slow Death of the West - Maj. (ret.) Andrew Fox
    The Hamas spectacle of returning four black coffins, gleefully broadcast by news networks, was intended to incite horror in those who oppose them; and jubilation in their supporters. Two were of young children who, together with tens of thousands of Gazans, would be alive today had Hamas not abducted them as part of their Oct. 7 slaughter, rape and mutilation rampage.
        The subversion of truth and the weaponization of lies against the Jewish state is not new, but post-Oct. 7, it has taken on a new dimension. In unfair and shameless attacks on Israel defending itself, and through the media presenting Hamas's lies without question - the "starvation," the "war crimes," the "genocide" - Western media was complicit in the death of the Bibas family and the death of truth itself.
        International "law" has been weaponized. The West's enemies have worked out that while we try to abide by the rules, they need not. They will face no consequences for abusing it with spurious genocide cases in the International Court of Justice or baseless charges in the International Criminal Court.
        The writer, who served in the British Army in 2005-21, is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.  (Substack)


    • Israeli Security

  • The Egyptians Are Improving Their Positions - Dr. Yehuda Balanga
    In recent weeks, Israeli media have reported extensively on the reinforcement of Egyptian forces in Sinai. Since 2004, Egypt has built 60 crossings (bridges and tunnels) over the Suez Canal and established dozens of ammunition depots, underground storage facilities, logistics centers, and fuel reserves in Sinai. The modernization of Egypt's armed forces have accelerated since Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi came to power.
        Despite the peace agreement, Egypt has always regarded Israel as an enemy. In its education system, culture, and media, Israel is portrayed as an oppressive, murderous foreign occupier and an imperialist threat to regional peace.
        To counter what it perceives as the Israeli threat, Egypt maintains the 11th-largest army in the world, with an air force with 600 aircraft including 350 fighter jets, an armored corps with 5,300 tanks, and an overall force of 460,000 active-duty soldiers and 480,000 reservists. About half of its tanks date back to the Soviet era. Its air force includes 168 F-16 fighter jets; the rest consists mainly of older Mirage and MiG-29 aircraft.
        Normalization is not on the table. However, contrary to popular sentiment, successive Egyptian regimes have opted to maintain the peace. For Egypt, peace is a foundation of internal stability, a gateway to international cooperation and Western aid, and a means to allocate budgets toward domestic development.
        There is no need to escalate rhetoric or frame Egypt as an imminent threat. Israel can protest and demand explanations, but disputes should be resolved through the existing diplomatic channels. Ultimately, peace remains a shared Israeli-Egyptian interest.
        The writer is an expert on the Arab world in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Bar-Ilan University.  (Israel Hayom)


    • Antisemitism

  • Both the Nazis and Hamas Murdered Jewish Children - Dr. Fiamma Nirenstein
    The killing of Jewish children underscores the persistent and brutal nature of antisemitic violence, revealing its continued threat in the modern era. The Nazi ideology led to the systematic murder of 1.5 million Jewish children during World War II and the Holocaust, many slaughtered in their mothers' arms or subjected to brutal conditions in concentration and death camps. The echoes of this horror resonate today as Hamas targets Jewish children.
        The response from international organizations and human-rights groups has been tepid at best. While antisemitic violence surges across the Western world, many institutions remain silent.
        Unlike during the Holocaust, modern-day Israel has a strong military and the determination to fight for its survival and the survival of the Jewish people. Israel refuses to be deterred in its mission to eliminate Hamas.
        While Palestinian children tragically perish in war, they are collateral victims of Hamas's strategy, whereas Jewish children are deliberately targeted.
        The writer, the Israel Foreign Ministry’s Special Advisor for Combating Antisemitism, is a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. She served as vice president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Italian Chamber of Deputies.  (JNS)
Observations:

Why Trump Must Insist on Removing Hamas from Power - Khaled Abu Toameh (Gatestone Institute)
  • Hamas has reportedly expressed readiness to cede control of Gaza and hand it over to the Palestinian Authority. This does not mean, however, that Hamas is willing to lay down its weapons. Hamas wants the PA to return to Gaza only to pay salaries and fund reconstruction. That arrangement would allow the terror group to rearm, regroup and rebuild its military capabilities.
  • Hamas senior official Osama Hamdan recently affirmed that his group has no intention of laying down its weapons or ending its rule. In addition, Hamdan stressed that Hamas leaders will not leave Gaza. He told Al-Jazeera in mid-February, "The issue of the weapons of the resistance and the leaders of the resistance is non-negotiable."
  • Hamdan also threatened that Hamas would not allow any non-Palestinian party to enter Gaza. No Arab country will agree to play any role in the administration of Gaza as long as Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups continue to maintain an armed presence there.
  • Hamas leaders are basically saying that they do not believe the Trump administration's talk about removing Hamas from power. Ignoring Hamas's threats means that there will be more Oct. 7-style massacres of Israelis. Any deal that allows Hamas to remain in power would be disastrous for Israel, the Palestinians, and Arab states threatened by the Iran-led "Axis of Resistance."
  • There should be no reconstruction of Gaza as long as Iran's proxies remain in power. The idea of allowing the Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza as a civilian body that pays salaries and funds projects should be rejected by the Trump administration.

    The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
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