Israel Update 1.5.25

No Israel Update next week – hopefully back on 15 May

 

NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED IN ISRAEL DUE TO WILDFIRES

 

On Wednesday, uncontrolled wildfires spread across the hills of Jerusalem, leading Israel to declare a national emergency as it requested international assistance to battle the blaze.

A huge fire broke out on Wednesday morning in the fire-prone forests near Beit Shemesh, a town west of Jerusalem, and rapidly spread in the dry heat, carried by strong winds to the main highway towards Tel Aviv.

A video from Highway 1, showed people abandoning their cars as thick smoke covered the roadside. Israeli media also reported people being pulled from their cars to escape the flames. Residents in several villages along the route were evacuated and 16 people were treated for smoke inhalation. Report here (paywall)

 

Fires simultaneously broke out across the country. A map showed the locations, all of which are on the Israeli side of the Green Line. Hamas posted on social media a call for Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel to “burn whatever you can of groves, forests and settler homes” and “set their cars ablaze.”

Several individuals from East Jerusalem have been arrested by Israeli police on suspicion of attempting to ignite fires in the area. Report here (scroll down for map)

 

As at Thursday morning firefighters were still battling blazes at 11 locations on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Seven towns remain evacuated. 10 firefighting planes are taking part in the effort along with 119 firefighting teams. Report here

 

As at Thursday afternoon, police have arrested 18 people suspected of arson, one of whom was caught in the act. Report here

 

Firefighting planes were en route to Israel from Croatia (the first country to announce its support), Cyprus France & Italy. Report here

 

 

YOM HAZIKARON (MEMORIAL DAY)  & YOM HA’ATZMAUT (INDEPENDENCE DAY)

 

Israel observed Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) on Tuesday night and Wednesday amid profound grief, with 316 IDF soldiers killed this past year and 61 disabled veterans succumbing to past injuries. Since October 7, 2023, 849 soldiers and 934 civilians, including 58 children, have died. Nationwide sirens marked moments of remembrance for the 25,417 fallen service members and 5,229 terror victims. Report here

 

Many Yom Ha”Atzmaut celebratory events around the country were cancelled because fire services could not provide cover in case of emergencies at public gatherings, due to multiple wildfires and high winds.

The annual live state Yom Ha’Atzmaut ceremony was cancelled on Wednesday night due to dangerous weather conditions. Instead a recording of the dress rehearsal was broadcast.  The 35 torch lighters are named here and included British lawyer Natasha Hausdorff , Interview with Natasha here

Report of the recorded event here

 

 

Israel at 77 in a series of stunning aerial photographs.Photos embedded in this article

 

 

GAZA WAR AGAINST HAMAS

 

 

An Israeli reserve soldier Master Sgt. (res.) Asaf Cafri, 26, was killed and three others were wounded, two seriously and one moderately, during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip last Thursday. Cafri’s great-grandmother, 96-year-old Holocaust survivor Magda Baratz, was attending a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany at the time of his death. Report here

 

 

An Israeli soldier Cpt. Ido Voloch, 21,and a police officer, Sgt. Neta Yitzhak Kahane, were killed during fighting against Hamas in Gaza last  Friday. Also on Friday, four soldiers were wounded in a Hamas attack, one soldier seriously, one moderately and two were lightly hurt. Report here

 

 

Claims by Hamas that 70% of casualties in the Gaza conflict are women and children have been dismissed as “demonstrably false” in a new report by the Henry Jackson Society think tank. The report claims that the IDF has generally managed to avoid disproportionately harming civilians…Stone and Rose said their work “identifies extensive statistical anomalies, glaring inconsistencies, and a concerted effort by Hamas to inflate the number of civilian deaths – particularly among women and children – while systematically omitting combatant fatalities, especially among its own operatives.” Prof. Rose said: “Hamas has waged not just a physical war but an information war, and far too many in the West have fallen for it.”  Report here (paywall)

 

 

A recent joint statement by the UK, France, and Germany demands that Israel “immediately restart the flow of aid” to Gaza. It also criticizes comments by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz who last week said that Israel has no intention of allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza until a “civilian” mechanism is established to bypass Hamas’s control of supplies.    Responding, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said: “Israel is fighting Hamas, which steals humanitarian aid, uses it to rebuild its war machine, and hides behind civilians….Article 70 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions requires aid when ‘the civilian population is not adequately supplied. During the 42-day ceasefire, 25,000 aid trucks entered Gaza. Israel is monitoring the situation on the ground, and there is no shortage of aid in Gaza.”…”The so-called balance the E3 statement is trying to create between Israel and Hamas is ethically outrageous,” mentioning “only in passing the fact that Hamas still holds 59 hostages in inhumane conditions underground. The war can end tomorrow if the hostages are released and Hamas lays down its weapons.Report here

 

HOUTHI ATTACKS

 

The Houthis targeted the Beer Sheva area in southern Israel early on Saturday and the Arava Desert and northern Dead Sea areas early on Sunday. IDF aerial defences intercepted the missiles.Report here

 

 

HOSTAGES

 

On Friday, former hostage Ron Krivoi spoke publicly for the first time about his time in Hamas captivity. Krivoi was working as a soundman at the Nova music festival when he was taken hostage and was freed during the November 2023 ceasefire.
He was first held for some time in a Gaza apartment. When the house was bombed and Krivoi was able to escape, he tried to make his way through Gaza for several days before being recaptured. “The people who caught me beat me up….When they caught me and brought me back, the people who beat me were ordinary Gazans.”
He was then taken to a tunnel. “These aren’t the tunnels you see in pictures. We were in something really small, deep underground. There wasn’t even a floor – we were on sand, and the mattresses were all mouldy. We were inside a very, very small cage. Honestly, about a meter and a half by a meter and a half, and we had to lie down and rest in it – you couldn’t stand. No height, no toilets, no food. We were five people, we ate one small dish with some canned food and a pita that we divided among us. I was there for 51 days and lost nine kg. (20 pounds).” Krivoi said soldier Matan Angrest arrived a day after he did. “His injuries were very severe.” Krivoi said Angrest, who is still in Gaza, suffers greatly at the hands of captors due to being a soldier.Report here

 

 

Tal Shoham spent 505 days in Hamas captivity. He was sometimes bound, starved, beaten and threatened with death. The tunnels were dark and damp, and it was hard to breathe He, Omer Wenkert, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal  a cell. They showered roughly every 21 days. Shoham lost about 60 pounds (28 kilograms) while in captivity. He developed a leg infection that was so bad he couldn’t walk for weeks. His leg is still not fully healed..

Shoham and Omer Wenkert were freed together in the last release of living hostages before the ceasefire ended. The last thing Shoham told David and Gilboa-Dalal was to be strong and not lose hope. Hamas later released a video showing the two captives, sitting in a vehicle, distressed as they were forced to watch the handover of released hostages that day. A group representing hostages’ families called the video “sickening.”  Report here

 

SYRIA

 

 

Around 650 Druze clerics crossed the Syrian border into Israel last Friday for an overnight visit to celebrate the holiday of Ziyara at the tomb of Nabi Shuaib in the Lower Galilee, the second such visit since the overthrow of Assad in December. The participation of the Syrian Druze, alongside the Israeli Druze community, was approved by Israeli authorities. The visit also granted families the rare opportunity to reunite with their relatives, and, for some of them, to meet face-to-face for the first time.Report here

 

On Wednesday Israel defended the Syrian Druze with an airstrike on an extremist group in Syria  that was reportedly preparing to continue attacks against the Druze population in the town of As-Suweida.  Israel’s PM & Defence Minister jointly said “Israel will not allow harm to come to the Druze community in Syria, out of a deep commitment to our Druze brothers in Israel, who are tied by family and historical bonds to their Druze brothers in Syria”. Report here

 

Footnote: The tomb of Rabbi Chaim Ben Yosef Vital, a 17th-century kabbalist was desecrated in Damascus.Report here

 

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC)

 

 

Appeals judges at the ICC ordered a lower panel to reconsider Israel’s objections to the court’s jurisdiction over arrest warrants issued against Israeli leaders last year for their conduct of the Gaza war. The appeals chamber said the court had not properly weighed challenges by Israel to its jurisdiction, saying there had been an “error of law.” “The Appeals Chamber therefore reversed the decision and remanded the matter to the Pre-Trial Chamber for a new ruling on the substance of Israel’s challenge to the jurisdiction of the Court”.   Report here

 

In a recent order issued behind closed doors, ICC judges told ICC prosecutor Karim Khan that he can no longer make public announcements referring to applications for arrest warrants in the court’s Palestinian case. The new order comes as Khan is preparing a fresh round of applications for Israelis in connection to alleged war crimes.
Reportedly, the publicity generated by Khan’s statements has frustrated ICC judges and staff within the prosecutor’s office due to concerns his actions have departed from routine practice and placed pressure on the judges considering the applications. In their secret order, the judges ordered Khan to refrain from disclosing any forthcoming requests unless he receives their permission.Report hereand here

 

 

SAUDI BLOGGER

 

Pro-Israel Saudi blogger Loay Alshareef said during his third visit to Israel, “Until I was 20, I was the quintessential mainstream Arab-Muslim in the Muslim world – radical against Jews, anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, anti-everything related to most non-Muslims, especially Jews and Christians. The indoctrination in schools throughout the Middle East was so radical that it completely shaped my worldview.”
During his first visit, he toured the kibbutzim near the Gaza border and “I saw the savage attack carried out by the barbaric terrorists of Hamas. They didn’t attack soldiers. They call what they did ‘resistance.’ In what dictionary is kidnapping a toddler considered resistance in war? Attacking and killing people at a music festival is resistance? Of course, it’s not resistance. It’s an act of barbarism and terrorism that must be condemned.”
“This is a war that Israel didn’t ask for, didn’t want, and didn’t start….This war could have ended yesterday if those who started the war had ended it. I support ending this war with a complete victory and defeat of Hamas, so we don’t reach another round and another war….Hamas started this war because they truly believe in erasing Israel, they truly believe in killing Jews for God so they can go to heaven.” Report here

 

 

DEFENCE

 

 

The U.S. military has adopted many of Israel’s systems and integrated them into combat and counter-terrorism operations worldwide.
The Emergency Bandage – a simple yet highly effective haemorrhage control dressing developed by an Israeli military medic – has saved countless lives. It is now standard issue in the individual first aid kits of American soldiers, special operations forces, and first responders.
The Trophy Active Protection System (APS) has dramatically increased the survivability of armoured platforms in combat, providing a layered defence against incoming anti-tank guided missiles and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), automatically detecting, tracking, and intercepting threats before they reach the vehicle. The U.S. Army integrated the Trophy APS onto M1 Abrams main battle tanks beginning in 2018.
During the Iraq War, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) produced a majority of U.S. casualties. Israel’s counter-IED capability far exceeded that of the U.S.  Israel shared these technologies, providing the U.S. with vehicle-mounted microwave devices. Report here

 

 

SPORT

 

Israeli windsurfer Tamar Steinberg on Friday won the gold medal at the World Cup in France. Israeli Sharon Kantor won bronze. It was the second gold medal in a row for Steinberg, who recently won first place at a competition in Spain. Report here

 

 

During the London Marathon on Sunday, 59 runners donned yellow hats and pinned photographs of the 59 remaining Gaza hostages to their shirts, taking the run as an opportunity to spread awareness about their plight after 570 days in captivity.Report here

 

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

 

Yom Hazikaron – JPost Editorial :

This week, as sirens pierce the air, bringing an entire nation to a standstill, Israel stands united in grief on Remembrance Day – as we remember fallen soldiers and victims of terror. These sirens remind us with devastating clarity why Israel must remain resolute and strong in a region that has rarely allowed peace.
Critics fail to comprehend that Israel carries the sacred obligation to safeguard its people. International law does not demand suicidal generosity toward those who have written Israel’s destruction into their founding charter. The same nations that condemn Israel would never allow aid to flow unchecked into territories controlled by forces planning their citizens’ massacre.
Israelis remember the unbearable price paid – generation after generation – simply to have a state at all. Each name read aloud at memorial ceremonies tells the story of why Israel cannot bow to international pressure when it comes to the security of its people. Israelis stand at gravesides and reaffirm a painful truth learned through centuries of persecution: without strength, there is no Israel. Editorial here

 

 

 

Aviram Bellaishe: The European countries currently leading the move to recognize a Palestinian state – France, Spain, Ireland, Norway – are not doing so in a rational political process, but due to domestic political pressure: tumultuous demonstrations, a public arena dominated by Muslim voices, and militant campuses.

France has 6.8 million Muslims (10% of the population); 2.5-3 million Muslims live in Spain; Germany’s Muslim population is 5.5 million.

Unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state has become an act of domestic appeasement. Article here

 

 

Peter Berkowitz: Nowhere do human-rights organizations more crudely politicize human rights than in the case of Israel.
Human-rights organizations’ attacks on Israel tend to suppress such basic international laws-of-war principles as the prohibition on combats’ embedding themselves within their own urban areas to use civilians and civilian infrastructure as shields.
The organizations also ignore that these reprehensible tactics give Hamas presumptive moral and legal responsibility for the collateral death and destruction that result from Israel’s exercising its right of self-defence to eliminate threats to its territorial integrity and political sovereignty. Article here

 

 

Melanie Phillips: The Commons hearing that turned into a trial against Israel and its defenders. Parliament should be investigating the hostility, double standards and deafness to facts when it comes to Israel. Article here