Israel Update 7.11.24

SURVIVOR

 

 

A father of three from Bat Yam who was seriously wounded when Hamas terrorists stormed the Nova music festival on Oct 7 was released from hospital on Monday after over a year of medical treatment. Hospital staff cheered and rang bells to bid farewell to Nati Ganon, 40, as he was discharged, though the celebration was bittersweet as his wife Shiran was murdered during the onslaught at the outdoor rave. He said that his greatest victory was returning home to raise his 3 children, Ilay, 15, Ori, 11 and Mai, 8. Report here

 

 

 

RESILIENCE

 

The first Gaza-border neighbourhood to be fully renovated since the Oct 7 massacre last year will be in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, thanks to the initiative of Omri Ronen and the Brothers and Sisters in Arms organization. On Oct 7, Omri’s widowed grandmother, Nira, 86 a co-founder of the kibbutz  was murdered in her home alongside her Filipina caregiver, Angie Aguirre. After nearly 200 days serving in a special IDF reserve unit, Omri, visited Kfar Aza with his father to find that none of the ruins had been rebuilt so he approached the kibbutz’s leaders and argued that rebuilding had to start as soon as possible without waiting for the authorities. When he issued a call through Brothers and Sisters in Arms for volunteers, nearly 6,000 people responded.Article here

 

 

 

The younger sisters of two surveillance officers, Sgt Roni Eshel and Cpl Noa Marciano, both murdered by Hamas, began their IDF service on Monday, in an emotional moment for the two families. The two new recruits, Yael Eshel and Yuval Marciano, were set to serve as instructors for combat soldiers. Their families met coincidentally at a base in central Israel. Article here

 

 

HIZBULLAH’s  ATTACKS AGAINST ISRAEL

 

 

Israel’s northern communities including the cities of Haifa, Nahariya & Akko (Acre) are suffering daily bombardments from Hizbullah in Lebanon.

 

Yesterday, Hizbullah Hezbollah fired 120 rockets at Israel in multiple barrages. Sgt. Ariel Sosnov, 20 was killed by an impact amid a barrage of some 50 rockets on the border community of Avivim. Three other soldiers were injured. Sivan Sadeh, an 18-year-old resident of Kfar Masaryk, was killed by rocket shrapnel.. Property was damaged in central Israel during two attacks on central Israel including the Tel Aviv area. One rocket reportedly fell inside Ben Gurion Airport’s parking lot without causing injuries.Reports herehereand here

 

 

On Saturday morning rockets reached Central Israel and 19 people were injured in a Hizbullah rocket attack on the Israeli Arab town of Tira, near Kfar Saba.

This is the latest example of Hezbollah killing and wounding people in Arab and Druze communities in recent weeks. It is unclear why Hezbollah rocket fire is increasingly killing and wounding civilians. It appears that Hezbollah may be firing its rockets indiscriminately. In the first year of its war on Israel, when it launched thousands of rockets and drones, Hezbollah claimed that it was targeting Israeli military sites. Reports hereand here

 

 

Eduard Sololov, a 57-year-old father of four from Nahariya, who had  suffered critical injuries on October 23 when he was struck in the head by falling shrapnel during a large rocket attack , died on Sunday. Some 25 rockets were launched at Nahariya during the attack, which occurred on the eve of the Simhat Torah holiday.report here

 

 

ISRAEL’S RESPONSE TO HIZBULLAH

 

 

An IDF Apache helicopter gunship shot down a Hizbullah kamikaze drone south of Haifa on Saturday. Video here

 

 

A  team of more than 25 Israeli naval commandos captured Emad Amhaz, a senior Hizbullah weapons expert in Batroun, northern Lebanon.

The raid demonstrated an impressive level of intelligence and deep infiltration, sending a message to Hizbullah members that they are not safe anywhere in Lebanon. The raid also conveyed Israel’s determination to wage high-intensity operations even in areas distant from the border. Report hereArticle here

 

 

The IDF confirmed launching airstrikes in Syria on Monday targeting infrastructure and assets of Hizbullah’s intelligence division. Report here

 

 

The IDF announced on Sunday that Israeli forces had conducted a raid on a Hizbullah underground compound stocked with weapons and containing logistical and medical supplies for prolonged stays and military tents. The troops also located and destroyed rocket launchers, high-powered explosives ready to be activated, anti-tank missiles, mortar shells, AK-47 rifles, surface-to-air missiles, and a launcher concealed in a mountain on a track aimed directly at civilian communities in northern Israel.Report here

 

 

SOUTH LEBANON

 

A volunteer patrol begins at dusk every night to guard against infiltrators into Hasbayya, a mostly Druze and Christian town six miles from the Lebanese-Israeli border, seeking to prevent Hizbullah fighters from entering the town, which could make it a target of Israeli strikes.
The deputy mayor said “We don’t want any strangers or anyone related to Hizbullah here. It took us years to build this town and it could all be destroyed within minutes. We can’t allow that to happen.” Article here (paywall)

 

 

“A” originally from the area said “Some of the villages in the south have stood their ground and opposed infiltration and interference by other parties, especially Hizbullah. Hizbullah’s policy is not Lebanese. It never was and never will be.” … We saw with our own eyes Hizbullah’s takeover in the area. We saw how they took over all the state’s institutions, justifying it under the premise of so-called ‘resistance.’ They claimed that they support Lebanon but are in fact operating on Iran’s agendas, alleging that this would ‘free Al-Quds [ed. Jerusalem].’ We have nothing to do with this; we only want to live our life and follow our religion.” Article here

 

 

IRAN

 

 

A senior US official  has stated that the US has informed Tehran that if Iran launched another attack on Israel, the U.S. could not restrain an Israeli response adding that the U.S. would not be able to prevent Israel from reacting or ensure that any response would remain as limited and precise as before. Report here

 

 

Israel disclosed on Sunday the capture in a night-time raid some months ago  of Ali Soleiman al-Assi, an Iranian operative residing in the Saida area of southern Syria near the Golan Heights. The IDF said his apprehension effectively thwarted a prospective attack against Israeli interests in the area. Report here

 

 

GAZA

 

 

Some 1,000 Hamas terrorists have been killed since the IDF’s latest operation in Jabalya in northern Gaza began over a month and a half ago.
The IDF estimates that 500-600 terrorists remain entrenched in the area, with some blending into the civilian population still present.
Of the 70,000 Gazans originally in the region, the IDF has managed to evacuate 55,000 southward.
IDF forces have discovered over 200 booby-trapped buildings. In two incidents, explosives were triggered inside homes, killing six soldiers.
IDF ground forces have been developing new tactics. “Instead of firing missiles from a Hermes 450 drone, we’ve killed dozens of terrorists using Iron Ball, a drone that drops simple fragmentation grenades on terrorists and tunnel shafts.” Report here

 

 

“The reports that the Gazan population doesn’t receive food and all sorts of things are simply not true,” said Lt.-Col. Dori, 47, the operations officer of the 14th Reserve Armoured Brigade, which recently concluded an operation in Bureij in central Gaza.
“With my own eyes, I saw humanitarian convoys go in almost every day,” with the exception of days when operational reasons precluded this. “But the next day, the amount is made up. If there is any reason food doesn’t reach civilians, it’s because of Hamas looters that don’t allow their civilians to reach it or don’t distribute it.” He said he saw Hamas gunmen steal aid: “They wait for trucks to come, raid them and loot them.” Report here

 

 

Israel and the World Health Organization announced that 231 Gazans, both patients and their caregivers, were evacuated to the UAE and Romania on Wednesday for medical treatment.  They were transferred into Israel via the Kerem Shalom crossing, and then to Ramon Airport near Eilat.Report here

 

A second round of polio vaccinations for Gazan children has been completed.Report here

 

 

BILL CLINTON

 

 

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton last Wednesday defended Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Speaking in Michigan, Clinton asked voters to imagine “if you lived in one of those kibbutzim in Israel, right next to Gaza.”
“The most pro-two-state solution of any of the Israeli communities were the ones right next to Gaza, and Hamas butchered them.”    Clinton noted that Jews “were there first” and had been in the land “in the time of King David.” Report here

 

 

 

GERMANY

 

Data from the German Foreign Ministry show that since the beginning of August, Germany has approved defense exports to Israel worth $102 million.Report here

 

 

SOLIDARITY

 

 

A group of about 60 Indigenous representatives from around the globe gathered at Jerusalem’s Western Wall Plaza on Monday, joining hands to show their support for Israel and the Jewish people. Among the crowd, alongside symbols of Indigenous cultures, many waved Israeli flags to express their support for the country in a time of war. But the delegation was uniquely positioned to also convey another message: Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel. Delegates travelled from, inter alia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Report and pictures here

 

 

MEDICAL RESEARCH

 

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have identified a protein (Ly6a) that prevents the body’s immune system from attacking tumours. The discovery of the protein has enabled the scientists to modify its activity, allowing them to stimulate the immune system to fight cancer cells. The breakthrough could lead to new treatments for cancer, including types that are resistant to immunotherapy. Report here

 

 

 

INNOVATION

 

 

TIME magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2024” list includes nine products invented in Israel. They include:
Nuvo’s wearable Invu remote pregnancy monitor that performs fetal non-stress tests remotely.
OrCam Hear’s AI-powered Ultra Focused Hearing Help, a hybrid “hearables solution” enabling people with hearing loss in noisy    environments to tune into what they want while tuning out everything and everyone else.
UVeye drive-thru vehicle inspection systems that check cars for damage within 30 seconds automatically.
BeeHero beehive management system to monitor colony health and pollination activity.
Emulait, a customizable baby bottle that mimics the mother’s breast, for babies have trouble taking to a bottle.
BelongAI’s “Dave” cancer support chatbot, trained on eight years’ worth of data from real-world patients to answer user questions and review and simplify medical documents. Article here

 

MEDIA BIAS (Censorship?)

 

 

Henry Jeffries wrote an article for The Guardian  (a UK newspaper) on some world whiskies mentioning the Israeli M&H whisky. He tweeted that the Israeli whisky had been omitted from both the print and online editions. Subsequently the reference to M&H was reinstated online with a note: “This article was amended on 5 November 2024 to reinstate a reference to a whisky from the M&H distillery” Article hereand here

 

 

 

CAMEL RACE

 

 

 

Israel’s first-ever legal camel race took place in the south on Friday, with thousands of spectators from across the country travelling to the Negev Desert to cheer on the participants. Spectators came from both the local Bedouin and Jewish communities, in  a spirit of coexistence. Camel races had been held illegally in the Negev for a number of years, with activists raising concerns about the welfare of the animals and the safety of participants. Nawaf Nabari, who hosted the event, said the race was a symbol of hope for the future. “We are here together, and we will stay together, and we will live here together, in peace.” Report here

 

 

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

 

 

The US

 

Dan Diker: America’s mistaken mirroring of Israel as a small version of itself has constrained the Jewish and democratic state from defeating radical Middle Eastern enemies. Victory cannot be achieved against radical Islamic terrorism using Western principles and methods of compromise, ceasefire, diplomacy, and territorial concession.Article here

 

 

 

Hizbullah

 

Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Assaf Orion: One year ago, Hizbullah started what has morphed into the third Lebanon war with Israel, exposing the international failure to implement security arrangements mandated after their second war in 2006. UN Security Council Resolution 1701 ably diagnosed the main reasons for the outbreak of the second Lebanon war: Hizbullah’s possession of military weapons outside the government’s control, and its deployment of forces in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel.

1701 called on Beirut to extend its sovereignty via the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), supported by UNIFIL, and to establish a zone south of the Litani River that was free of any nongovernmental armed forces. Yet none of these requirements was fulfilled.

Disarmament of militias was never seriously addressed. Instead, Lebanese officials essentially endorsed Hizbullah’s right to bear arms. The Lebanese government and LAF actively colluded with Hizbullah in violating 1701, systematically obstructing UNIFIL access to Hizbullah military sites including cross-border tunnels, firing ranges, and missile launch sites.

To end the current Lebanon war and prevent the outbreak of a fourth one, the international community must provide better security arrangements, especially an effective implementation mechanism that helps the Lebanese government establish a monopoly on arms within its borders.

Specifically, future security arrangements must ensure that Lebanese territory is no longer used to threaten Israel – whether by Hizbullah, other Iranian proxies, Palestinian groups, or  jihadists. The goal is to safeguard both Israel and Lebanon’s security and sovereignty. Article here

 

Bassam Tawil:  Iran and North Korea helped Hizbullah set up a network of tunnels in Lebanon significantly larger than the Hamas tunnels. The current IDF operation in southern Lebanon foiled Hizbullah’s plan to invade Israel. Even if Hizbullah says it will withdraw to north of the Litani River, the tunnels enable it to easily violate that pledge.
Hizbullah and Hamas bear full responsibility for the death of thousands of Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis since Oct. 7. The two terrorist groups started the war, at the behest of their patrons in Iran, with the intention of killing a large number of Israelis and eliminating Israel.
The current war in Lebanon and Gaza must not end without the destruction of all the tunnels and the total defeat of Hizbullah and Hamas. Those who are pushing for an immediate ceasefire are only empowering Iran and its terror proxies, paving the way for another Oct. 7-style massacre.Article here

 

UNWRA

 

 

Sam Sokol: Last week, Knesset members voted 92 to 10 to prohibit UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory, and 87-9 to bar state authorities from having any contact with the agency. “There are internationally recognized organizations that deal with humanitarian aid in all conflict zones. UNRWA was an anomaly. It doesn’t exist in any other conflict zone that there’s a specific organization just for one group,” said Likud MK Dan Illouz, a co-sponsor of the second bill. “Our goal is not to stop the humanitarian aid. Our goal is for it to go through channels that are not pro-terror, pro-Hamas, but rather through channels like the World Food Program.”
The Prime Minister’s Office said Israel is prepared to work with international partners, both in the 90 days before the legislation takes effect and afterward, to ensure that humanitarian aid would still reach Gazan civilians.
Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, the sponsor of the first bill, said, “I can guarantee that there will not be a vacuum….The important international actors are aware of the fact that you need to work urgently to find a replacement for UNRWA.” Concerns can be handled, he asserted, calling on Israel’s allies and neighbours to pitch in on replacing UNRWA. “Our interest is that as soon as possible there will be a prosperous Gaza ruled by a non-corrupt and especially non-terror government.”   Article here

 

 

 

Melanie Phillips: In reality, hundreds of aid trucks enter Gaza every week. Hamas continues to steal the aid and sell it on the black market at hugely inflated prices. Hamas has seized an estimated $500 million in foreign aid since the war began.
Moreover, why should Israel be held responsible for providing Gaza with humanitarian assistance? Israel has been under bombardment from Gaza for two decades. Gaza’s population elected Hamas to rule them. Opinion polling consistently reveals that even among those who now hate Hamas, the vast majority support the killing of Israelis.
Thousands of those civilians took part in the Oct. 7 atrocities in Israel and grossly abused the Israeli captives when they were dragged into Gaza. The IDF subsequently found evidence of ties to Hamas in virtually every house. In what conceivable moral universe is a country targeted for such a remorseless and genocidal attack expected to look after the welfare of its murderous attackers?
The pretence that UNRWA exists to provide for the suffering was finally ripped apart by the part its employees played in the Oct. 7 atrocities and in the war that has followed. Israelis are no longer prepared to tolerate people who are trying to kill them and destroy their country while parading as humanitarian relief workers. Article here

 

 

 

UNIFIL

 

Lt.-Col. (ret.) Orna Mizrahi: UNIFIL peacekeeping force is ineffective in its current format.
There are now 10,000 UNIFIL soldiers from 50 countries, supported by an annual budget exceeding $500 million. In recent years, it has become unmistakably clear that UNIFIL was not fulfilling its primary mandate – overseeing the prohibition of Hizbullah’s military presence in southern Lebanon. Hizbullah operatives were able to travel south without any impediment, where they then prevented UNIFIL from accessing the areas they had taken over, using these locations to amass weapons to attack Israel in a future war.
In light of UNIFIL’s failure to prevent Hizbullah from establishing an extensive presence and building its military strength in southern Lebanon, some in Israel have argued that the international force is ineffective and that the government should push to end its mandate or at least scale it back since it does not fulfill its purpose. They contend that UNIFIL’s presence is even a burden on Israel, given that it restricts the IDF’s freedom of operation, particularly during wartime.
The exposure of Hizbullah’s extensive and deep presence and its operational readiness for war in the area south of the Litani River – a flagrant violation of UN Resolution 1701 – strongly underscores UNIFIL’s inability to fulfill its mandate. It will not be able to continue operating in its current format “the day after” the war between Israel and Hizbullah. Media reports indicate that Israel seeks substantive revisions to UNIFIL’s mandate.
Any ceasefire agreement to end the war must include the changes necessary to create an improved security reality along the border while also preserving Israel’s freedom of operation if it becomes apparent that Resolution 1701 is not being enforced. Article here

 

 

How the UN supports Israel’s enemies in Gaza & Lebanon.

 

Tony Badran: The Israeli Knesset has taken a first step toward banning UNRWA from the country, following a series of revelations over the past year of its intimate, decade-long partnership with Hamas.
The agency was shown, among other things, to have paid salaries to leading perpetrators of the Oct. 7 atrocities and allowed the terror organization to locate its combat headquarters and data centres under its schools.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) plays a similar role by allowing Hizbullah strike force members to use its bases as physical cover for the terrorist organization’s tunnel networks and for the underground staging areas from which it intended to launch a bloody invasion of Israel’s Galilee.
IDF units operating in Lebanon have uncovered the openings of elaborate, large-scale Hizbullah tunnel networks a few yards away from UNIFIL positions.
It was clearly impossible for UNIFIL commanders not to have been fully aware of the construction of those positions and their use by large squads of armed Hizbullah militants who moved in and out.
This makes a mockery of UNIFIL’s supposed role in demilitarizing southern Lebanon.
Recently captured Hizbullah fighters have reported that the group had bribed UNIFIL personnel to use their positions.
Moreover, Hizbullah took control of UNIFIL cameras near the border to collect intelligence on Israeli troop movements.
In 2018, a story in the French press quoted a high-ranking Irish UNIFIL officer who relayed how some contingents regularly pass on intelligence to Hizbullah.  Article here

 

 

Also see Hillel Neuer: Untenable: The UN must stop protecting Israel’s Terror Foes in Gaza & Lebanon. Article here

 

Footnote

It’s very unusual for KS&DS to be mentioned in the Israeli press but the shul is referred to in this article reporting on a Kingston Hospital pathologist.Article here