Israel Update 10.10.24

No Update next week as it’s Succot.

Wishing all my readers G’mar Chatimah Tovah & Well over the Fast.

A YEAR OF WAR

A dynamic graphic shows daily rocket launches against Israel from 7 fronts Oct. 7, 2023- Oct 6 2024. View here

War statistics here

TERROR ATTACKS IN ISRAEL

Seven people were killed and 11 others wounded in a shooting attack in Jaffa last week on Oct 1. Six of the wounded were in serious condition. The Arab terrorists from Hebron were armed with a rifle and a knife.The attack occurred about 40 minutes before rocket sirens were activated in Jaffa due to the missile barrage from Iran. One of the victims, Inbar Segev-Vigder, 33, mother of a 9-month-old baby was killed while shielding her son, Ari, who survived the attack. Report here and here

Israel Border Police Cpl. Shira Chaya Suslik, 19, was killed and nine others wounded in a shooting attack at the central bus station in Beersheba on Sunday. The terrorist, an Israeli Bedouin, was eliminated. Report here

Rabbi Raphael Mordechai Fishoff, a 35, who was critically wounded during a stabbing terror attack in Hadera yesterday, died from his wounds. 5 others were injured one critically, 2 seriously and 1 moderately. The Israeli-Arab terrorist was arrested by the police, after being detained by armed civilians. Report here

COUNTER TERRORISM

The Israel Police and the Shin Bet security service recently thwarted a plot by five Arab Israeli citizens to carry out a car-bombing attack at Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Mall under the banner of the Islamic State terror group. Report here

DEFENCE

Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd. announced on Tuesday its new Lite Beam laser-based interception system.
Rafael said that Lite Beam “offers advantages such as engagement at the speed of light, an unlimited magazine, and negligible cost per interception.”Report here Video (4 mins) View here (skip ad)

LEBANON

Hizbullah rockets killed two Israeli civilians in Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel on Wednesday (yesterday). In the Haifa area, eight people were treated at Rambam Hospital, mostly for shrapnel wounds. Out of 360 rockets fired by Hizbullah at Israel on Wednesday, 220 crossed into Israel. Report here and here

The IAF and IDF eliminated commander of Hizbullah’s Houla Front, who was responsible for hundreds of missile and anti-tank missile attacks toward the Kiryat Shmona area. In another strike, the IDF eliminated a commander of Hizbullah’s anti-tank unit responsible for extensive anti-tank missile attacks toward communities in northern Israel.
On Wednesday, the IAF struck multiple weapons storage facilities in the Dahieh area of Beirut and weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon. Report here

Israel Air Force jets on Monday struck various Hizbullah underground headquarters in southern Lebanon, using precise intelligence, to eliminate some 50 terrorists who were planning to attack Israel’s northern communitiesSome 100 jets struck 95 targets, in addition to 30 targets belonging to Hizbullah’s medium-range rocket unit. Report here

US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday: “I did see these reports that Hizbullah now wants a ceasefire…de-linked from Gaza….Where have they been for a year? For a year, the world has been calling on Hizbullah to stop the attacks across the border into Israel…. Israel was saying if Hizbullah stopped attacks across the border, Israel would stop its attacks in response against Hizbullah….Now that Hizbullah is on the back foot and is getting battered, suddenly they’ve changed their tune and want a ceasefire.”
“Hizbullah’s forces in southern Lebanon refuse to fully implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. Under the terms of that resolution, Hizbullah was supposed to put down its arms, and it was supposed to withdraw beyond the Litani River. And over the 18 years since that resolution was implemented, they refuse to do either of those things….So we support Israel’s efforts to degrade Hizbullah’s capability.”Briefing here

Last week:

The IDF found large quantities of anti-tank missiles, rockets and launchers inside homes in South Lebanon villages.Report here

Six IDF commandos from the elite Egoz unit were killed in intense combat in southern Lebanon early last Wednesday Oct 2 when met with heavy fire from small arms, anti-tank missiles and mortars. In heavy fog and total darkness, at least 30 Hizbullah terrorists were killed. 30 Israeli soldiers were wounded in the incident, with several continuing to fight despite their injuries. Report here

By last Friday 4 Oct over 250 Hizbullah operatives were killed during the first 4 days of Israel’s ground offensive. The Israeli toll was nine. More than half a million Lebanese civilians have fled southern Lebanon following IDF evacuation warnings. IDF troops have mostly come under anti-tank missile fire and mortar attacks, though there have also been several close-quarters engagements.180 rockets were fired from Lebanon in barrages targeting northern Israel on Friday. Report here

Last Thursday Oct 3 IAF fighter jets struck a 3.5-km.-long underground tunnel, which crossed from Lebanon into Syria and was used for smuggling and storing large quantities of weapons. Report here

IRAQ

Two Israeli soldiers were killed and 24 were wounded in a drone attack by an Iran-backed militia in Iraq last Thursday morning Oct 3, the IDF announced on Friday. Two explosive-laden drones were launched from Iraq, one of which was shot down, and the second hit an army base in the Golan Heights. Report here

IRAN

The IDF clarified that the Iranians launched 201 missiles at Israel on 1 Oct, some of which hit targets. The IDF plans a significant response.Report here

Ken McCallum, the head of Britain’s MI5, said Tuesday that British intelligence has thwarted 20 Tehran-backed plots that “presented potentially lethal threats to British citizens” since the start of 2022. Report here

Canadian Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said “I think the idea of allowing a genocidal, theocratic, unstable dictatorship (Iran) that is desperate to avoid being overthrown by its own people to develop nuclear weapons is about the most dangerous and irresponsible thing that the world could ever allow”… “If Israel were to stop that genocidal, theocratic, unstable government from acquiring nuclear weapons, it would be a gift by the Jewish state to humanity.” Report here

GAZA

The IDF said that Fawzia Amin Sido, 21, a Yazidi woman, was freed from Gaza where she had been held captive by Hamas for years after being trafficked by ISIS in 2014. She said life in Gaza was “unbearable.” Report here

Aziz Salha, one of the perpetrators of the Ramallah lynching in 2000, was killed in an IAF strike in Gaza. Salha became famous for waving his hands out of the window that were covered in the blood of two IDF reserve soldiers that he and other perpetrators had murdered. Report here

Hamas terrorists last week killed Islam Hijazi, programme director of the Heal Palestine organization working to medically support the Strip, near a hospital in Khan Younis after she refused to hand charity funds she collected over to the terror group. Report here

The IDF killed dozens of terror operatives in Jabaliya in northern Gaza over the past day, including some who launched anti-tank missiles at Israeli troops. IDF forces also located and destroyed rocket launchers in Rafah, and eliminated numerous gunmen in central Gaza. Report here

DEATH OF HIZBULLAH LEADER NASRALLAH (SEPT 27)

The targeted killing of Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was received with joy by many Arab journalists and activists on social media, who called it a justified act that has made the world a safer place. Many thanked Israel and Allah for eliminating a man who was responsible for the killing of many Lebanese, Syrians and other Arabs. Report here

The overwhelming majority of people posting comments on social media from Arab and Islamic countries are positive. There are videos of people handing out sweets in the streets, and an overwhelming sense of joy at what looks like the end of Hizbullah as we know it, as Israel continues to target its commanders. From the perspective of the overwhelming majority of Arab and Muslim peoples, Hizbullah is a destructive element that fuels sectarian conflicts and supports authoritarian regimes as long as the Supreme Leader of Iran wishes to support them. Report here

UNWRA

Hamas’s top leader in Lebanon, Fateh al-Sharif, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last week in Tyre, was an employee of UNRWA, the UN Palestinian relief agency. Report here (paywall)

Despite evidence collected by the IDF throughout the Israel-Hamas War proving that UNRWA workers included Hamas terrorists, the organization has retained its candidacy for a Nobel Peace Prize award after being shortlisted in February. The winner of the prize will be announced on October 11. Report here

COMMENT & OPINION

Iran

WSJ Editorial: As long as Iran pursues war, Israel must defend itself aggressively to survive…Israel’s best option is to degrade the Iranian axis’s capabilities and deny it safe havens. Israel will have a better chance at a durable ceasefire when its enemies know they will suffer more than Israel does when they attack. The only path to a ceasefire, and a broader Middle East peace, is an Israeli victory over Iran and its terror network. Iran is bent on America’s destruction as much as it is on Israel’s. The Jewish state is the frontline of the West, and we can’t let it lose.Editorial here (paywall)

Brendan O’Neill: The known death toll from the wave of missiles fired by Iran into Israel on Oct. 1 is Israelis 0, Palestinians 1. A man from Gaza who had been living near Jericho was brutally slain by the falling shrapnel from one of Iran’s missiles.

Oct. 7 made it clear that Iran’s proxies are not just a threat to be carefully monitored but a fascistic menace capable of killing thousands of Jews. Not just something to be deterred but something to be destroyed…

It (Israel) is resisting Iran’s proxy war on the Jewish nation and its bending of vast swathes of the Middle East to its theocratic will.
You are either on the side of a barbarous theocratic regime that oppresses and murders women, workers and minorities and whose allies recently carried out the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, or you are on the side of Israel. Article here

Admiral Lord West (First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff from 2002 to 2006 and Security Minister from 2007 to 2010).

For 41 years I served in the British Navy. I watched, during my years of service, as the ayatollahs took control of Iran and first began to terrorize their near-neighbours. They formed Hizbullah in Lebanon, a terrorist group with the express purpose of destroying the State of Israel. They also targeted our forces and allies in the Persian Gulf, even illegally seizing Royal Navy vessels and taking British sailors prisoner.
The IRGC is the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism… (their) budget is three times that of the regular Iranian armed forces. Their terrorist armies in the Middle East surround Israel and threaten its very existence. They seek to sow division on the streets of Britain or carry out attacks on Iranian dissidents across the globe….
To allow Russia and China to strengthen their Iranian attack dog, and even ensure the regime can build a nuclear bomb, will only store up far bigger troubles for us to face in the future. It’s why we must seek to stop Iran in its tracks now. Article here

Robert Williams: Iran, loathed by many of own its trapped citizens, already controls four countries in addition to its own: Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. The regime has made no secret of its commitment to exporting its Islamic revolution globally — including to Sudan, the rest of Africa, the Western Hemisphere and the world… The (Oct 1) attack by Iran on Israel was an undeniable violation of international law. There should not be the slightest doubt that the moment the Islamic Republic of Iran acquires nuclear weapons, it will try to use them on Israel. Article here

Telegraph Editorial: Leading Friday prayers in Tehran as the anniversary of the Oct. 7 pogrom approached, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised Hamas’s attack as “legitimate” and justified. If the Oct. 1 barrage of missiles had not made it perfectly clear where the moral high ground in the region lies, justifying the calculated murder of civilians should have removed any remaining doubt for rational onlookers. Editorial here (paywall)

OCTOBER 7 reflections

Telegraph Editorial: No country could tolerate the outrages perpetrated against Israel on a monthly basis, the barrages of rockets fired indiscriminately against civilian targets by Iran’s proxies. That Israel has managed to minimize casualties through its development of its own defences does not in any way lessen the repugnance we should feel at the actions of these terrorists. They are intended to wound and kill, and it is only through the ingenuity of the Israeli people that they do not more often succeed in doing so.
That so many in the West have lost sight of these fundamental truths brings shame upon us all. Too many politicians are desperate to pressure Israel into a ceasefire that will not bring the conflict to an end, but will merely give Hamas and its allies a chance to rearm. As we remember the dead of Oct. 7, we should remember too why Israel is fighting. And we should remember why we owe it our support. Editorial here (paywall)

Jonathan S. Tobin: The point of the mass terror attack wasn’t to end the “occupation” of a coastal enclave that had been evacuated by Israelis 18 years earlier or to push for a withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. It represented a Palestinian desire to turn back the clock to 1947 and destroy the State of Israel, even within the borders that existed before 1967.
The widespread support among Palestinians for this effort (and for the atrocities that ensued) lays bare the futility and the insanity of any attempt to force Israel to make territorial retreats to accommodate yet another attempt at a Palestinian state. Palestinian political culture is solely predicated on the premise that Zionism and a Jewish state are incompatible with the minimum demands of their national identity.
It is incumbent on Israelis and friends of Israel elsewhere to stop bickering over peace plans or pretending that Israel should be “saved from itself.” In the absence of a complete transformation of Palestinian society that is nowhere in sight, any advocacy for a Palestinian state in the post-Oct. 7 world is a unique form of delusionary thinking.
The only logical way to defend Israel going forward must begin by recognizing this truth and stop treating those who wish to deny Israel the same rights granted to every other nation in the world as if their opinions were reasonable and well-intentioned. Article here

Thomas S. Kaplan:Oct. 7 altered Israel’s disposition toward its enemy. The orgiastic paroxysm of hate and bloodthirstiness that unleashed hell on earth in Israel made Israelis comprehend that the Islamists meant their calls for extermination literally…At last Israelis woke up to the reality that Iran’s objective was what it had professed all along: encirclement followed by genocide. Overnight, a shadow war turned into mortal combat. Article here (paywall)

Sharon Nazarian: Oct. 7 and its aftermath forever altered the daily lives of every Jewish person around the world. For nearly a century, Jews in places like America, Canada, Great Britain and Australia took for granted their connection to and comfort within their homes and nations. Even if antisemitism still dwelt at the fringes of society, Jews in these places felt as though they had finally been woven into the very fabric of society and shared history. We found homes and places where we could let our collective guard down.
It took a single day last year for that comfort and confidence to shatter. Our homes, businesses and places of worship suddenly became targets of hateful acts, slurs, screams of “go home,” graffiti, assaults, gunshots and murder. At no point since World War II have so many Jews in so many places felt so insecure and untethered from the Western democracies in which they live. We have lost our basic sense of normalcy.
We learned that blacklists of Jewish authors, musicians and artists can sprout up again; that Jewish businesses can again be targeted, vandalized and destroyed; that Jewish schools and institutions must yet again rely on their own security to keep their children and community safe, while Jewish university students fear walking across campus alone. Article here

Zoe Strimpel: There’s the real world in which there are bullies, aggressors and perpetrators – and the proper response to them.
And then there’s the fake world in which right and wrong and life and death don’t seem to exist, in which the victim is blamed for angering, and then responding to, the bully…In which the bully becomes the victim as soon as anyone tries to stop them.
Israel is the real world. It alone among Western nations is awake.
It is fighting a multi-pronged war with its Iran-funded enemies, and it is a war waged to be won.
Israel knows it is facing an existential threat. We don’t seem to, even though it is staring us in the face.
Iran, in cahoots with other Islamist territories, plus Russia and China, could well take us all down – and would stand a much greater chance of doing so if Israel was behaving with less warlike courage, clarity of mission, ingenuity and persistence. Article here (paywall)

Dror Eydar: The fact that our enemies use their children as human shields and hide massive explosives in kindergartens, schools, mosques, and children’s rooms doesn’t matter to them at all. From their perspective, they are not responsible for their residents – “the UN is responsible,” and the UN has indeed accustomed them to the idea that they don’t need to worry about daily life because of the infinite amount of useful idiots who funnel money to them. In such a situation, they are left with ample time to focus on their reason for existence: killing Jews. Article here

Rachel Johnson: I was deeply moved by this film, a documentary called “We Will Dance Again,” about the Nova music festival that took place close to Gaza on 7 Oct. Article here

Col. (ret.) Yigal Carmon: How to prevent the next Oct 7.
Four flawed assumptions led to the disaster. Article here

Hizbollah

NY Post Editorial:Let’s all give thanks to the IDF for the operations that have not only gutted Hizbullah, but at long last took out the thugs most responsible for the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that slaughtered 220 Marines and 21 other U.S. service members. Seven U.S. presidents had failed to bring that basic justice.
While Western “friends” of Israel still keep mewling that the only path to Mideast peace starts with the creation of a Palestinian state, the barriers to Mideast peace are now: 1) The Tehran regime and its imperialist ambitions, and 2) the refusal to recognize that Israel can and will continue to exist. Israel’s Arab neighbours have slowly been coming to accept the latter truth, their attention focused by the growing Iranian threat.
After Hizbullah shot thousands of missiles into Israel and the IDF finally began to move against Hizbullah, Team Biden rushed to call for a ceasefire – between Israel and Lebanon, not even daring to call out Hizbullah. Article here

If Western leaders had their way, Israel’s recent audacious operations to degrade Hizbullah would not have happened because the West has been addicted to imposing a ceasefire, both in Gaza and Lebanon, that would neutralize Israel’s ability to shackle its enemies and re-establish its deterrence.
A day before Nasrallah’s killing, the U.S., UK, and EU issued a joint statement calling the current hostilities “intolerable.”
Israel was asked to forego the use of force and put its trust in international guarantees and agreements.
This is a grotesque inversion of reality. Instead of piling pressure on Israel, Western diplomats should have insisted on the unconditional removal of Hizbullah from south Lebanon according to the already agreed diplomatic solution, Security Council Resolution 1701. Article here

Matthew Continetti: On Sep. 26, the U.S. joined nine other countries and the EU to demand a three-week ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border. Israel isn’t fighting Lebanon. Israel wants nothing to do with Lebanon. The IDF left there 24 years ago. Israel is attempting to restore deterrence against Hizbullah.
Since the atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023, Hizbullah has fired rockets into Israel’s north, turning it into a ghost zone of abandoned communities and uprooted lives. That Israelis have put up with such disruption for so long is a reminder of their fortitude and clarity of purpose. Now that Hamas is devastated, this allows Israel to turn to Hizbullah. In Hizbullah’s case, a deal has been on the table since 2006. Move your forces back. Stop trying to kill Israelis. Peace is elusive because Hizbullah’s not interested.Article here

Michael Young: Hizbullah opened a front against Israel that virtually no one in Lebanon wanted. Entire villages, towns and quarters in Beirut’s southern suburbs are now in ruins. Who will rebuild what was destroyed? This time, there is a general belief that there will be no outside money for reconstruction, including from Gulf countries, some of whom contributed a significant amount in 2006. Nor does it seem that Iran can spare funds to rebuild Shiite-dominated areas.
What happened to the vaunted “unity of the arenas” strategy that Iran and Hizbullah formulated just last year? The arenas have been unified in ruination, as Lebanon’s Shiite-majority districts go the way of Gaza. Article here

Palestinians

Bassam Tawil: Palestinians have a custom of celebrating in the streets every time Israel is attacked or a Jew is murdered by terrorists. On October 1, 2024, when Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel, the celebrations occurred even though some of the missiles fell in Palestinian areas in the West Bank and the only person killed was, ironically, a Palestinian man in Jericho…. There is no excuse for celebrating murder. A society that celebrates murder will never be a partner for peace. True peace will only come when Palestinian leaders value their people’s lives more than celebrating the murder of Jews.Article here