Israel Update 5.9.24

First Update for a month due to travel arrangements. HRG

 

 HOSTAGES

 

The IDF on Saturday recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages from a Hamas tunnel in Rafah who had been murdered by their captors a day or two earlier.  They are Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Ori Danino, 25; Alex Lubnov, 32; Carmel Gat, 40; and Almog Sarusi, 25. The IDF said there were no clashes inside the tunnel, and the Hamas terrorists who murdered the six fled the area. Report here

 

 All six hostages were found with gunshot wounds to their head and other areas and signs of neglect in captivity were found on their bodies. It was reported yesterday that Eden Yerushalmi, appeared to have been starved and had lost 10 kilos in captivity, weighing only 36 kilos (79 lbs) when she was recovered.Reports here& here

 

Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, a Bedouin Muslim Arab-Israeli and father of 11  had been rescued last week by the IDF after 326 days in Hamas captivity.

He was taken hostage on October 7 while working as a guard at Kibbutz Magen. He said that he was abducted because he refused to show Hamas terrorists where they could find Jews.

He had undergone surgery without anaesthetic and had lost 45 pounds in weight. Worse, he had witnessed the death of another hostage  Aryeh Zalmanovich.

“It really hurts me,” he said. “I was shot in the leg because I didn’t want to give up Jews. That’s how we grew up, that’s how my grandfather grew up, and it’s how my children are growing up. 90%  of the residents in Israel, Muslims, Jews, Bedouins, are together, one family, one people, Jewish and Arab. No one can take away that togetherness,” he said.Reports hereherehere& here

 

(The murder of 6 hostages and) Hamas’s new demand to increase the number of Palestinian prisoners released as part of the deal have raised even more questions among U.S. negotiators about whether an agreement is possible, U.S. officials said. “In Doha last week, Hamas presented demands that were different from what was agreed on in the past,” a U.S. official said. Report here

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told CNN “We should all be angry at Hamas because they’re the ones that are preventing any deal from happening…Hopefully there will be a deal that Hamas will agree to. Because up until this point they haven’t agreed to anything. They haven’t agreed to any proposal that was put forward. There are a lot of people who believe, unfortunately, mistakenly, that there’s some deal on the table that Hamas has agreed to that the Israeli government does not agree to. That’s simply not true.” Report here

 

THE UK

 

The UK government on Monday announced immediate suspension of 30 licenses for items used in the current conflict in Gaza which go to the IDF, from a total of 350 licenses to Israel. The list of suspended items includes important components which go into military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as items which facilitate ground targeting. Press release  here

 

A senior UK government source told The Times that the U.S. had privately warned Britain against suspending arms sales.
John Kirby, a spokesman for the U.S .National Security Council, said: “There’s been no determination by the United States they have violated international humanitarian law…we’re going to continue to do what we have to do to support Israel’s defensive capabilities.”
Privately, one British minister said: “The U.S. will find the intervention unhelpful, the pro-Palestinian MPs think it won’t go far enough, and the Israel supporters think it’s bonkers. By trying to please all sides, they’ve ended up pissing off everyone.” Report here (paywall)

 

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis wrote:
“It beggars belief that the British government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licenses, at a time when Israel is fighting a war for its very survival on seven fronts forced upon it on Oct. 7, and at the very moment when six hostages murdered in cold blood by cruel terrorists were being buried by their families.
As Israel faces down the threat of Iran and its proxies, not just to its own people but to all of us in the democratic West, this announcement feeds the falsehood that Israel is in breach of international humanitarian law, when in fact it is going to extraordinary lengths to uphold it.
Sadly, this announcement will serve to encourage our shared enemies. It will not help to secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages, nor contribute to the peaceful future we wish and pray for. Britain and Israel have so much to gain by standing together against our common enemies for the sake of a safer world. Surely that must be the way forward” Statement here

 

HEZBOLLAH’S WAR AGAINST NORTHERN ISRAEL

 

Daily missile barrages continued including:

On 21 Aug. several rockets hit houses in Katzrin in the largest attack on the town so far. One man was moderately wounded, and several fires broke out.

On 23 Aug. over 100 rockets were launched from Lebanon towards Israel. Two houses in Kiryat Shmona suffered direct hits.

A Hizbullah anti-tank guided missile attack on Kfar Yuval on Sunday wounded three Israelis, one seriously. Meanwhile, 30 rockets were launched at Israel from Lebanon.

Reports hereherehere (paywall)& here

 

 

25 Aug. Israel foiled Hezbollah’s intention of hitting strategic targets in the north and centre (including Tel Aviv area)  in a pre-emptive action when the IDF destroyed thousands of rocket launchers in southern Lebanon in a strike in which 100 fighter jets took part, preventing severe damage and significant casualties.Report here& here

 

However, Hezbollah still managed to launch hundreds of missiles and drones causing damage to communities in northern Israel. In Acre dozens of apartments and private homes were damaged by a direct hit and a woman was slightly injured. Shocked residents said that there was no time to reach the protected area, despite the alarm.Report here

 

Expectant mothers are concerned that a full-blown war may prevent them from reaching a hospital in time for delivery.
To help them prepare for an emergency birth at home, a volunteer project in the Western Galilee and the Golan Heights called First Contractions matches expectant mothers with volunteer midwives who live near them. 60 midwives have been enrolled, among them Jews, Arabs, and Druze.  Article here

GAZA WAR AGAINST HAMAS

 

In recent days, a post from an unnamed reservist in Gaza has been going viral in Israel. “The Philadelphi Corridor is more important than hostages,” wrote the reservist. “It’s more important than me and my entire battalion, which has been fighting in Gaza since the beginning of the war.” Approximately every 100 meters, he explained, a tunnel passes through the fence, openings used for smuggling massive amounts of  weapons and contraband. Therefore, “leaving Philadelphi for one day means a death sentence for thousands more Israelis… Article here

 

Aug 10: The IDF and Shin Bet security agency on Saturday night named 19 Hamas and PIJ terror operatives killed in an earlier airstrike on a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command room at a school in Gaza City and on Monday named 12 more terrorists killed, 31 in total.

The Gaza Strip’s Hamas-run civil defence agency claimed over 90 people were killed but the IDF said the strike was carried out using three “precision munitions” and that footage afterwards showed that there was no major damage to the surrounding school complex. It also said that the missiles “could not have caused the damage that corresponds to the casualty reports of the government media office in Gaza.”
However, several Western diplomats, the Egyptian and Qatari mediators of ceasefire-for-hostage talks and numerous Muslim countries denounced Israel over the airstrike. Articles here and here

 

Commentary: While Hamas hides behind civilians, the world chooses to believe their lies. Article here

 

Hamas launched rockets from a site near the humanitarian aid route in Khan Yunis toward central Israel on Tuesday 13/8 . IDF International Spokesperson Lt.-Col. Nadav Shoshani shared a video on X showing Hamas terrorists in civilian clothes launching rockets from within tents near the humanitarian zone. Report here

 

PM Netanyahu has instructed the defence establishment to prepare to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza, instead of the international organizations. The humanitarian aid sent to Gaza currently reaches Hamas and enables it to maintain control. Report here

 

6,000 Gazans infiltrated Israel during the Oct. 7 massacre, double the previous estimate, according to a new recently published probe. 3,800 were identified as Hamas Nukhba terrorists.
4,300 rockets were fired at Israel on that day.
119 breaches were discovered in the border fence, twice the previous estimate. Article here

 

EASTERN FRONT

 

Three Israeli police officers, two men and a woman, were killed in a drive-by shooting attack in the West Bank on Sunday morning. Report here

 

Four Israelis were wounded Friday night in two separate car bomb attacks in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem. Report here (paywall)

 

Armed and funded by Iran, new armed “battalions,” whose members are affiliated with PIJ , Hamas, and the ruling Fatah faction headed by P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas, began operating in the northern West Bank over 3 years ago and have carried out countless attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.
Recently, the gunmen started using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) against Israeli civilian and military vehicles. The PA’s failure to crack down on the “battalions” means that Iran now has a small army in the West Bank.Article here

 

THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC)

 

The High Level Military Group (HLMG), an international group of retired generals and senior military officers, filed an amicus brief with the ICC last week stating that ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s claims that Israel deliberately starved Palestinians and intentionally targeted civilians during the current war in Gaza lack evidence and do not stand up to scrutiny. Report here

 

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has threatened to charge the ICC’s chief prosecutor  Karim Khan with professional misconduct. In a letter to Khan dated August 27, the UKLFI refutes, item by item, Khan’s accusations against PM Netanyahu  and Defence Minister Gallant, and provides detailed evidence showing that all his allegations are false.Article here

 

THE STORY OF JUST ONE OF MANY Oct 7 HEROES

 

 Young IDF officer 2nd Lt. Avichail Reuven, one of 9 children of Ethiopian immigrants ran 12 km  (8 miles) from Kiryat Malachi to the Gaza border to help fight off the terrorists. Article here

 

SOLIDARITY

 

Since the beginning of the war, approximately 400 doctors and 30 health professionals from the U.S. and other countries have arrived in Israel to assist in treating the large number of injured or to fill in for Israeli medical staff who are called to military duty.
Some 7,000 doctors registered to volunteer at a website launched shortly after the war began for medical professionals. They will be contacted if needed. Article here

 

ALIYAH

 

Since Oct. 7, more than 29,000 new immigrants have arrived in Israel, most of them from the West.  Some 30,000 people have opened aliyah files, expressing their desire to immigrate, since Oct. 7.
More than 5,500 opened in France, compared to 1,200 in the same period last year, an increase of 355%. In the U.S., more than 6,000 files were opened, a 62% increase compared to the same period last year. Canada recorded an 87% jump in the number of files, while a 63% increase was noted in the UK. Article here

 

BUSINESS/MEDI-TECH

 

Global healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson has announced that it will acquire Israeli startup V-Wave for up to $1.7 billion.
V-Wave’s Ventura Interatrial Shunt (IAS) is an implantable device, in a minimally invasive procedure, that can alleviate the elevated left atrial pressure that plagues patients with congestive heart failure. Article here

 

DEFENCE

 

 Israeli company Rafael’s laser-based air defence system, Iron Beam, is expected to enter operational service next year.Article here

 

The Netherlands Army has announced that it will procure more than 200 medium-range anti-tank missile launchers that will boost combat range, for an investment of up to €250 million  from Israeli government company Rafael Advanced Defence Systems,Article here

 

As part of expanding strategic relations between the Israeli and Indian defence establishments, officials from both countries held a seminar this week aimed at enhancing security cooperation in combating drone threats. Article here

 

ARCHAEOLOGY

 

 Israeli archaeologists in Jerusalem found a 2,700-year-old stone seal last week near the Temple Mount’s southern wall.
The writing on the seal is Hebrew is a Jewish name: Yeho’ezer ben Hoshayahu. very similar to the name of one of King David’s warriors mentioned in the Torah. It was only some 1,400 years after the creation of that seal, in the seventh century CE, that the Muslims of the Arabian Peninsula invaded and occupied the Land of Israel. The Muslim occupiers never called the country “Palestine.” Article here

 

PARIS PARALYMPICS

 

At the time of writing (Thurs afternoon) the Israeli team has won 7 medals.

Rowing: a gold and a bronze.

Swimming: 2 golds, a silver & a bronze.

Taekwondo: a gold.

Details of medal winners here (scroll down to Israel)

 

Later today, Israel plays Turkey in the women’s goalball final so is guaranteed another medal.

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

Israel’s situation

 

Matti Friedman: Here in Israel, we’ve had to learn a lot since this war began. We’ve learned that we’re nearly encircled by Iranian proxies. We’ve learned that the terrorist organization Hamas operates openly in the territory of two American allies, Turkey and Qatar. We’ve learned that Egypt, which has a border with Gaza and a peace agreement with Israel, has been allowing in the weapons that Hamas uses against us.
We’ve learned that Hamas is not universally shunned as a terror group, but actually enjoys broad support, including in the West, including among some of the most educated citizens. We’ve seen that much of the Western press is capable of turning a story about a war launched by Muslim fundamentalists into a story about the injustice of the Israeli response, and indeed about the injustice of our country’s existence.
We’ve seen the support of the American administration wane as the war wears on, including an explicit demand by the White House to stay out of Rafah – the Gaza city where the six hostages were found, but too late. Article here

 

Hamas & the hostages

 

 

D.Tel Editorial: The international narrative continues to be overwhelmingly anti-Israel, even as IDF special forces extricate the bodies of innocent Israeli hostages dragged from their homes on Oct. 7.
They were kept in tunnels for months on end, tortured and starved, only to be killed as help arrived.
The sheer mercilessness of their captors does not appear to exercise the same people around the world so eager to join pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Where are the mass protests against the inhumanity of Hamas?
Hamas is happy to sacrifice as many Palestinians as it can to turn international opinion.
That it has partly succeeded in doing so is a blot on the people unable to make a moral distinction between those who perpetrated this violence and those responding to it. Editorial here (paywall)

Charles Moore: Contrary to all law, they were denied any rights as prisoners…
Some were beaten, some molested. Some died of wounds or illness. Some were killed in captivity. Eleven months later, all this is still going on.
It must be the biggest continuous, organized non-state violation of international law and morality this century.
Strange how muted are the protests of Western governments and international organizations against these atrocities. Article here (paywall)

 

Philadelphi Corridor

 

Bret Stephens: Hamas was able to initiate and fight this war only because of a secure line of logistical supply from Egypt.

Israel’s control of the Philadelphi Corridor largely stops this.

To relinquish it now, for any reason, forsakes what Israel has been fighting for, consigns Palestinians to further misery under Hamas, and all but guarantees that a similar war will eventually be fought again. Why do that?

Some argue that Israel can always retake the corridor if Hamas fails to fulfill its end of the bargain or if Israelis feel their security is again at risk. That argument is a fantasy. Once Israel leaves Gaza, international pressure for it not to re-enter for nearly any reason short of another Oct. 7 will be overwhelming. Article here (paywall)

 

Prof Hillel Frisch: No technology can substitute for an IDF presence on the Gaza-Egyptian border. Article here

 

The UK

 

 

Jake Wallis Simons: Over the last three years, Britain sold £3.1 billion  worth of weapons to Qatar, the world’s foremost sponsor of Sunni jihadism and the principal benefactor of Hamas. It sold £1.9 billion worth to Saudi Arabia, which has been engaged in a bloody war in Yemen that has not been fought entirely according to democratic norms. Turkey, which has crushed the Kurds once again with less concern for human rights than one might hope, received £799 million in British arms.
By contrast, Israel, the Middle East’s sole democracy and the only power to respect the rights of women and minorities, which is locked in an existential struggle against the forces of jihadism that menace us all, bought £83 million of British arms, 1% of its total weapons purchases.
Yet it is the Jewish state that attracted the criticism of Foreign Secretary David Lammy amid misinformation that it has been prosecuting the war in Gaza to excess. In fact, Israel has been fighting a cleaner war in Gaza than has ever been waged anywhere in the world.
Arguably, the Israeli-British security partnership has benefited us more. Britain’s Watchkeeper surveillance UAVs, based on Israel’s Hermes 450 drone, have saved countless British lives in Afghanistan. British troops have trained with Israel’s cutting-edge Rhino mobile command and control centre. In 2015, Israeli intelligence helped the Metropolitan police discover a bomb factory in northwest London, complete with three tons of ammonium nitrate. Article here (paywall)

 

 

 Paul Nuki: The UK’s decision to suspend some 30 arms licenses to Israel could put the lives of British citizens and soldiers at risk.
Much of the human intelligence that keeps British special forces operating on the ground in Middle East hotspots safe is supplied by Israel, as are many of the “eyes in the sky” that operate overhead.
Israeli intelligence is also vital for combating Islamist terrorist threats in the UK and Europe – threats that remain substantial…  No one is suggesting Israel would now deliberately withhold information, but intelligence is by its nature a transactional business that works most efficiently when trust is high and relations are good. Article here (paywall)

 

 

Angela Epstein: This is the same man (Lammy) who previously nominated Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. He has also restored funding to UNRWA, a UN agency that had housed Hamas terrorists. Article here

 

Also see Lee Harpin Article here

 

Einat Wilf: As long as UNRWA fuels the destructive vision of “return,” Western taxpayers’ funds will be used only to prepare for war. By providing taxpayer cash to fund UNRWA, the UK is telling Palestinians that they need never build a constructive future for themselves.Article here (paywall)

UNIFIL

 

 

 David Schenker and Assaf Orion: The UN Interim Force in Lebanon numbers 10,000-plus personnel, the densest deployment of peacekeepers in the world.  After the 2006 war between Hizbullah and Israel, Security Council Resolution 1701 mandated that UNIFIL help the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) ensure that the area between the Litani River and the southern frontier was “free of any armed personnel, assets, and weapons” other than the government’s. Yet, Hizbullah instead expanded its military footprint along the border, prohibited UNIFIL from patrolling broad swathes of territory, and routinely harassed, assaulted, and even killed the force’s personnel. Article here

Gaza War

 

Andrew Fox (retired British Army Major and Sandhurst lecturer)

Operations are severely hampered by the IDF’s remarkable efforts at civilian protection. The IDF has moved hundreds of thousands of people out of harm’s way, and it has sacrificed surprise to ensure civilians are protected. Of course Hamas fighters have moved to humanitarian zones along with the civilians. It is unquestionable that the IDF’s extraordinary efforts to protect civilians have made the war far more difficult to fight. The constant disruption and interference by a U.S. administration seeking a quick end to the operation have prolonged both the war and the suffering of the people of Gaza. Article here

 

 

Maj. (ret.) Andrew Fox also reported from Rafah: The IDF has destroyed 200 tunnel entry shafts in Rafah alone. Each one led to a mosque, a school, or a person’s home. To destroy the tunnel system, there is inevitable damage to the buildings under which the tunnels run and to which they are connected…
Homes in Gaza are almost all booby-trapped.
But why go into Rafah at all? Simply because the aim is to destroy Hamas. Their capability hinges on the supply tunnels from Rafah into Egypt, some of which run 2 km. beyond the Egyptian border.
In Rafah, the IDF estimates the total number of civilians killed is fewer than 100. The place is empty. Civilians heed the IDF’s warnings and flee to the humanitarian zones when they are told to do so. Report here

 

 

Col. (res.) Prof. Gabi Siboni: Why is it taking so long to destroy Hamas?Article here

Eastern Front (W.Bank)

 

 

Khaled Abu Toameh: If anyone is upset with Israel for its counterterrorism operation, they need to be more upset with the PA for not standing up to the armed groups and preventing Iran from establishing a terror base in the West Bank.Article here

 

Con Coughlin: EU should condemn Iran, not Israel, for West Bank violence. Article here

 

Israel, Judah & Palestine – an historical perspective.

Amb. Dror Eydar: In an interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw (March 1977), the head of the terror group As-Sa’iqa, PLO Executive Committee member Zuhair Mohsen, stated: “The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the ongoing struggle against Israel for the purposes of Arab unity. Realistically, there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese. Just for political reasons we carefully underwrite our Palestinian identity, because it is of national interest for the Arabs to advocate the existence of Palestinians to balance Zionism.”
This is the power of propaganda: a recently invented collective can deny the national identity of one of the oldest peoples in the world, who already in the 10th century BCE had a kingdom in their homeland, where Saul, David, and Solomon ruled. Yet the world ignorantly believes that before the establishment of Israel, there was a Palestinian state here. Article here