Israel Update 26.9.24

No Update next week as it’s Rosh Hashanah.

Shanah Tovah to all my readers.

WAR AGAINST HIZBULLAH

CONTEXT

UN Security Council Resolution 1701which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War mandated that no armed actor (apart from the Lebanese army & UNIFIL) could be present in Lebanon south of the Litani River. Neither the Lebanese army nor the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) enforced the resolution and consequently Hizbollah and other terrorist groups embedded themselves in the civilian infrastructure of towns and villages close to the border with Israel from where thousands of attacks on Israeli civilians were launched. Since Hizbollah started attacking Israel on 8 October well over 8,000 missiles have been launched into Israeli territory. Around 80,000 Israeli civilians have been evacuated and have been living as refugees in their own country for nearly a year while their homes are destroyed by terrorist rockets on a daily basis. Parts of Northern Israel have become a wasteland.

Many casualties and much damage in Lebanon have been caused by secondary explosions when civilian homes used for storing weapons have been hit by the IAF.

The IDF: “ Secondary explosions occur because we are precisely targeting the munitions of Hezbollah that are aimed at killing our civilians” Informative 40 second video here

Yesterday, Wednesday, the IDF used an advanced David’s Sling interceptor to down a Hizbullah rocket over central Israel. Each interceptor costs over $1 million. Hizbullah’s Qader 1 surface-to-surface ballistic missile has a range of 118 miles, with a 1,100 lb. warhead. Half the Israeli population had to take shelter due to aerial attacks that targeted Tel Aviv, Zichron Ya’acov, and a swathe of northern and central Israel. There were no deaths and few direct hits from the salvos of around 100 rockets.
Two men were wounded by a Hizbullah rocket near Nahariya. Approximately 40 rockets were fired at Safed, one of which struck an assisted living facility. Last night the IAF struck 75 targets belonging to Hizbullah in the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities, ready-to-fire launchers, terrorists and terrorist infrastructure. Reports here here here and here

Some of the past week’s incidents:

Last Friday, the IAF attacked a meeting of more than 20 Hizbullah Radwan Force commanders in Beirut. Reportedly four missiles were fired at the location of the meeting, two stories underground.
The Hizbullah commanders who were eliminated were among the architects of the “plan to occupy the Galilee” – to raid Israel, occupy Galilee communities, and murder innocent civilians, similar to the massacre carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7.

U.S. officials expressed approval of the death of Ibrahim Aqil, a top Hizbullah commander responsible for a 1983 bombing that killed 241 Americans in Beirut. Reports here and here

On Saturday Israel destroyed 400 Hizbullah rocket launchers and thousands of rockets. Report here

On Sunday Hizbullah fired its deepest barrages into Israel since the beginning of the current war, with four rounds of over 140 rockets and drones fired into communities from Kiryat Bialik to the Jezreel Valley, wounding six people. One salvo struck a cowshed in Moshav Beit She’arim killing 15 cows and causing significant damage to agricultural infrastructure. Reports here and here

On Monday Hizbullah launched 250 rockets and other munitions at Israel in repeated barrages. Most were intercepted and there were no reports of deaths or serious casualties. The Israeli military said that “over a million Israeli civilians are running to bomb shelters in Haifa as Hizbullah indiscriminately fires rockets.”

The IDF launched a broad offensive targeting Hizbullah’s weapons arsenal, IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced Monday. Throughout the day, Israeli fighter jets and drones targeted 1,300 Hizbullah sites in Lebanon. Hagari shared an image of a missile stored on the roof of a family home in southern Lebanon. “This missile is ready to be launched from an opening in the roof. Below the attic lives a Lebanese family, used as human shields,” he said. Hagari also presented footage of an airstrike on a house in Lebanon, showing secondary explosions from missiles. Israeli Defense Minister Gallant said Monday night that the IDF had in recent days destroyed tens of thousands of Hizbullah rockets. Reports here (paywall)here & here

Thousands of residents in southern Lebanon were seen fleeing toward Beirut and northern regions on Monday following an unusual warning from the IDF Spokesperson urging residents to distance themselves from Hizbullah weaponry. On Monday afternoon, the IDF issued another targeted warning, to residents of the Bekaa Valley. IDF Arabic Spokesperson Lt.-Col. Avichay Adraee said, “The IDF does not want to harm you. If you are in or near a building containing Hizbullah weapons, you must leave and move at least 1,000 meters outside the village or go to the nearest central school and not return until further notice. Anyone who remains near Hizbullah members, their facilities, and weapons is endangering their own lives and those of their families.” Report here

On Tuesday Hizbullah fired 300 rockets at northern Israel, setting off sirens in Haifa, Safed, Nazareth, and Yokne’am as well as across the Galilee. In Beirut, Israel targeted and killed the head of Hizbullah’s rocket and missile division, Ibrahim Qubaisi, alongside at least two other top commanders. As Hizbullah continued to fire barrages of rockets deep into northern Israel, the IDF responded with airstrikes on hundreds of the sites where Hizbullah was hiding rockets and missiles ready for launch. Report here

The UN Security Council must act to ensure that the Iranian proxy Hizbullah pulls out of southern Lebanon, Israeli FM Katz wrote in a letter to the council on Monday. “Even before October 8, Israel repeatedly warned the Security Council and UNIFIL about Hizbullah’s increasing military entrenchment on both sides of the Litani River. Now, this council must bring about a full implementation of UNSC Resolution 1701 and guarantee that there are no armed personnel, assets, and weapons between the Blue Line and the Litani River, other than those of the Government of Lebanon and UNIFIL.”
Resolution 1701 set out the ceasefire terms that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006. That resolution mandates that no armed actor, such as Hizbullah, is allowed to operate between the Israeli-Lebanese border and the Litani River. Report here

Many Syrians, especially the Sunni population, have not forgotten Hizbullah’s brutal role in their country’s civil war, where it indiscriminately slaughtered their friends and families. Hizbullah is blamed for numerous atrocities during that conflict. So in Syria, there are many who are glad to see the repeated blows that Hizbullah has received in recent days.
When Hizbullah released the names of senior Radwan Force commanders killed in Beirut, Syrians were quick to react positively to the death of Hussein Ali Ghandour who was known as the “Butcher of Madaya” in Syria – responsible for starving Syrians and burying them alive. Report here

CEASEFIRE

Israeli officials and residents of northern Israel condemned a U.S.-French ceasefire proposal between Israel and Hizbullah. The Metula Regional Council chairman said the Israeli government must “remove the threat” to avoid another “Oct. 7 next year.” Former Israel Security Agency senior official Yossi Amrosi said that a 3-week-long pause in the fighting is “a very long pause and will allow Hizbullah to reorganize.” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said Israel should not accept any proposal that does not see Hizbullah driven away from Israel’s northern border.Report here

ATTACKS FROM IRAQ

The IDF intercepted two cruise missiles as well as rockets that were fired from Iraq at the southern Golan Heights on Sunday. The targets did not cross into Israeli territory. Report here

On Wednesday evening two UAVs were detected in the airspace above Eilat. One drone was intercepted by the Israel Navy Sa’ar 5 corvette, while the second struck Eilat Port injuring two men. Pro-Iranian proxy group Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack.Report here

THE US

Two Republican senators Tom Cotton and Mitch McConnell wrote to the White House on Wednesday to condemn the “administration’s continued delay in providing critical equipment and weapons to our ally Israel in the midst of an existential war.”
The delays “undercut Israel’s efforts to restore deterrence by emboldening the Iranian-backed terrorists.”
They referred to MK-84 bombs required to hit Hamas’s and Hizbullah’s deeply buried tunnels, Apache attack helicopters requested last December, and Caterpiller D9 tractors used to clear improvised explosive devices ahead of its troops. Report here

PRESIDENT HERZOG

Israeli President Herzog said on CBS on Sep. 22: “When you’re dealing with terror organizations, they don’t really give a damn about international affairs. They take hostages, or they fire as much as they want. They get instructions from Tehran…This is the culture of terror, and it’s a terror of jihadists, meaning they don’t give a damn about anything.”
“We agree, time and again, to go into rounds of talks. We support and welcome the efforts by the United States of America and the administration. Truly. We respect it tremendously. But at the end of it, [American envoy Amos] Hochstein leaves Israel, and they keep on firing and firing, and that cannot go on forever, because our citizens must go back home….We don’t want war, but if it’s waged against us, we go all the way.”
“This morning, they launched a barrage of attacks on Israeli cities, towns and villages all over the northern part of Israel….Why would any decent nation accept it? We’re almost a year in such a situation of a kind of vicious cycle. We want to get out of this vicious cycle. And if we have no choice, then we are getting ready for escalation.” Transcript here

The Hizbullah commanders killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday were meeting to plan an attack akin to the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas, President Herzog said in an interview on Sunday. “All of these leaders were meeting together in order to launch the same horrific, horrendous attack that we had on October 7 by Hamas – by burning Israelis, butchering them, raping their women, abducting and taking hostage old people and young, and little babies – so this is exactly the same plan that they’ve been planning for years under the empire of evil of Iran.”Report here

GAZA

After months of saying a ceasefire and a hostage-release deal was close at hand, senior U.S. officials are now privately acknowledging they don’t expect Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement before the end of President Biden’s term. One problem is that, according to Biden administration officials, Hamas makes demands and then refuses to say “yes” after the U.S. and Israel accept them. The intransigence has severely frustrated negotiators, who increasingly feel the militant group isn’t serious about completing an agreement. “There’s no chance now of it happening,” an official from an Arab country added. Report here (paywall)

MEDICAL RESEARCH

For the first time, researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a method to detect protein aggregation in cells that are the hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. This discovery might enable diagnosis up to 15 years before the first symptoms appear, facilitating early treatment or even preventing the currently incurable disease. Report here

AGRI-TECH

As part of its rehabilitation after it was ravaged during Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre, Kibbutz Holit on the Gaza border is set to trial two new innovative vegetable varieties — a potato whose natural toxins have been gene-edited out and a tomato that grows semi-dried on the bush. Report here

MALAWI

10,000 foreign workers from the majority-Christian African country of Malawi are expected to arrive in Israel by the end of the year to support industries such as agriculture, construction, elder care, and tourism. 700 Malawians are already working in Israel. Report here

COMMENT & OPINION

Hizbullah

JPost Editorial: For too long, Israel has been on the receiving end of Hizbullah aggression, with rockets launched indiscriminately at our towns. Now, the moment has come for Israel to defend itself without apology. Imagine if Mexico took over parts of California or launched missiles into Texas – would the U.S. react any differently? No sovereign nation can stand idle while its citizens are targeted. As a nation, we are standing up for our right to live in peace, free from the shadow of terror.
This conflict is not about mere retaliation; it’s about survival. Hizbullah has spent years stockpiling weapons with the express intent of using them against us. But this is our home, and we will protect it with all our might. Israel will prevail because it must. Our only option is to fight for our survival. Editorial here

WSJ Editorial: When President Biden told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that “a diplomatic solution is still possible” with Hizbullah, we wonder where he’s been for the past 11 months. Israel gave those months over to diplomacy on its northern front, even as Hizbullah fired 8,500 rockets and forced 60,000 Israelis from their homes. But the U.S.-led talks went nowhere as Mr. Biden pressed Israel not to hit Hizbullah too hard.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday of Lebanon “becoming another Gaza.” Nice of him to wake up. Since 2006, UN peacekeepers have done nothing to stop Hizbullah from taking over the Security Council-mandated buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Now Israel has to do it for them.
One lesson of Oct. 7 is that Israel can’t let terrorists build up armies, even if they seem deterred. Northern Israel could never be safe if Hizbullah retains its arsenal. Editorial here (paywall)

Herb Keinon: For the next four days, leader after leader will take the podium at the UN General Assembly meeting that opened on Tuesday and blast Israel for its recent actions against Hizbullah in Lebanon. For more than 11 months, many of those leaders were deafeningly silent as Hizbullah – with no provocation on Israel’s part – sent rockets and drones into Israel as a show of solidarity with Hamas’s barbaric attack on Oct. 7. Hizbullah’s attacks were seen as a natural and even understandable show of solidarity with Hamas.
Those with real leverage over Hizbullah – first and foremost, Iran – have no incentive to push it to agree to a diplomatic solution that will lead to its withdrawal from southern Lebanon. This makes the continued IDF escalation almost inevitable. Article here

In 2 recent articles, Lebanese journalist Ali Hamadeh, known for his anti-Hizbullah positions, called on the organization to stop its war against Israel in order to prevent the outbreak of further hostilities that will prove catastrophic for Lebanon. Israel’s recent operations against Hizbullah, he wrote, were a “tragedy” for Hizbullah, and prove that it has made an “historic” mistake by “recklessly” launching a war against Israel in its bid to assist the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, against the will of most Lebanese and contrary to the country’s interests. Translation of extracts here

Dan Perry: Hizbullah’s attacks on Israel are not about land or freedom, even if they have invented a handful of trivial border demarcation disputes in order to bamboozle the gullible. This is not a fight for justice or self-determination but an orchestrated campaign of aggression.
Ignoring the threat posed by Hizbullah and Iran is not a viable option. Iran’s ambitions in the region are clear, and its pursuit of nuclear weapons is a ticking time bomb that the world cannot afford to ignore. Allowing this to be Israel’s problem alone is a terrible mistake. Article here

WSJ Editorial: After Israel pulled off a covert operation against Hizbullah that ranks with the Trojan horse, the terrorist group’s apologists are crying foul. Israel simply isn’t allowed to fight back.
Israel didn’t tamper with civilian objects like smartphones. It sabotaged Hizbullah’s secure military communications.
While UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (on Wednesday last week) said he was “deeply alarmed” by the operation, his “alarm” is highly selective; Hizbullah’s takeover of southern Lebanon and daily attacks on Israel didn’t trigger it.
But Hizbullah can’t be allowed to preserve its status quo of attacks that make Israel’s north a no-man’s-land. Editorial here (paywall)

Melanie Phillips: On the BBC’s flagship radio programme Today, Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, head of the Israel Defence and Security Forum of senior Israeli military and intelligence experts, was a rare voice defending Israel. Avivi said that if Hezbollah retreated according to U.N. resolution 1701 and stopped firing at Israel, that would be the end of it; otherwise, if the 60,000 families displaced from their homes in northern Israel were ever to be able to return, Israel would have no choice but to invade Lebanon and destroy Hezbollah. After he left the show, both the presenter Nick Robinson and the U.K.’s former ambassador to Lebanon, Tom Fletcher, agreed that Avivi was a “hardliner” who made them nervous. To the BBC and much of the progressive world, the unequivocal determination to defend Israel by defeating its enemies who threaten genocide against it is to be “hard-line.”Article here

Rich Lowry: Since the Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7, Lebanon-based Hizbullah has fired 8,000 rockets at Israel, and we are told that Israel, finally hitting back in earnest, is dangerously escalating the situation. These indiscriminate attacks have forced tens of thousands of Israelis to flee the north of the country.
Israel has been focused on the war against Hamas, while the Biden administration has been working to stay its hand. Israel is expected to accept as background noise unprovoked attacks on its sovereign territory that no other state would ever abide. The assumption is that Israel’s role is to duck and take whatever punishment its remorseless enemies dole out, lest things “escalate.” Israel won’t abide by these rules, and nor should it. The Jewish state is under no obligation to tolerate the intolerable.Article here

Lebanon & the Palestinians

How genuine is Lebanese support for the Palestinian cause when Palestinians living in Lebanon still suffer discrimination. Inter alia, they are banned from employment in 39 professions such as medicine, law, and engineering and are legally prohibited from owning or inheriting property.Article here

Gaza

Michael Oren: Those who condition their support for Israel on the conclusion of a ceasefire in Gaza and the establishment of Palestinian statehood risk reducing that support to meaningless.
Moreover, some imply that, if Israel cannot defeat terrorists without causing large numbers of civilian casualties, it must be defenceless.
Since no one in Washington or elsewhere in the world can prescribe how an enemy that hides behind and beneath millions of civilians can be fought without causing collateral damage, this view effectively neuters the IDF. Article here