Israel Update 13.11.25

HOMECOMING FOR TWO MORE MURDERED HOSTAGES 

 

IDF Lt. Hadar Goldin was laid to rest on Tuesday, more than 4,000 days after he fell during “Operation Protective Edge” in 2014.  Hamas killed Goldin on Aug. 1, 2014, two hours after a ceasefire had taken effect and held his body for over 11 years. The funeral drew thousands of Israelis to Kfar Saba.  Addressing the mourners, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said: “Hadar, you gave far beyond measure for your country. We continue to discover rays of light you left behind after your passing. You have returned to the land for which you fought, but we will go back to every place where a promise remains unfulfilled, and we will keep working until the last of our sons returns home.”

Four more bodies are still being held in Gaza, those of three Israelis—Meny Godard, Sgt. Ran Gvili and Dror Or—and of one Thai citizen, Sudthisak Rinthalak, who was working in Israel. Report here

 

 

The remains of Lior Rudaeff, 61, were returned to Israel last Friday night. A longtime resident of Nir Yitzhak, Rudaeff was a member of the kibbutz’s response team who was killed on Oct. 7. He volunteered as a Magen David Adom emergency medical technician and ambulance driver for 40 years. Report here

 

Footnote: Islamic Jihad and Hamas announced that they will hand over a hostage’s body at 8 p.m on Thursday.Report here

 

PROOF OF UNWRA & AL JAZEERA CONNECTIONS TO HAMAS

 

 

The IDF has published  intelligence documents as evidence of Hamas’s connection to Iran, to UNRWA, and Al Jazeera. Lists of UNRWA employees included teachers, principals, counsellors, and medical staff who all had positions in Hamas’s Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades.
One document listed 15 Al Jazeera journalists alongside their roles within the terror organizations. A 2023 document showed that Hamas established an “Al Jazeera Phone,” a secure line that would allow it to communicate with the channel. The IDF found a collection of photos of “Hamas exploiting stolen Humanitarian Aid in tunnels,” where individuals are shown next to sacks of stolen humanitarian aid. Report here

 

GAZA

 

 

The U.S. and Israel are moving an average of 674 humanitarian aid trucks through Gaza each day since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, according to the U.S.-led Civil-Military Coordination Centre. They contradict Hamas claims that Israel has hampered aid distribution in Gaza.
“Hamas continues to spread lies through false stats to paint a false picture of starvation to undermine the ceasefire and peace efforts,” a U.S. official said. “Sadly, many in the media remain useful idiots by publishing these (lies).” Report here

 

 

During a two-day symposium in October for U.S. Central Command and members of the newly-created Civilian-Military Coordination Centre for Gaza, documents were presented expressing concerns about whether a so-called International Stabilization Force – a multinational security initiative meant to keep the peace in Gaza – can really be deployed.
The presentations paint a vivid picture of the hurdles the Trump administration and its allies in the region face in creating the “lasting peace” President Trump seeks and are in stark contrast to the mostly rosy rhetoric emanating from top administration officials. Yet the documents also suggest that the administration is committed to the peace agreement, despite its complexity. Report here

 

The UAE is concerned about Qatar and Turkey playing a central role in the proposed plan to rebuild Gaza, viewing them as “Hamas enablers.” “These states will make it possible for the terrorist organization to continue existing,” a source said. “There are interested parties affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood who are currently embedding themselves in key positions in the Gaza reconstruction plan.”  Report here

 

HAMAS THWARTED IN EUROPE

 

 

Austria’s domestic intelligence service has uncovered a weapons cache in Vienna linked to Hamas for use in “possible terrorist attacks in Europe.” A British citizen “having close ties to the weapons cache” was arrested in London on Monday. Report here

 

 

IRAN

 

 

Regional officials and analysts are warning that another outbreak of war between Israel and Iran is only a matter of time. Israeli officials believe that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, enough to make 11 nuclear weapons, is not buried under rubble, but has been spirited away to a safe place. Moreover, Iran also appears to be continuing to work on a new enrichment site known as Pickaxe Mountain and has refused to give international inspectors access to that site. Report here

 

 

The Iranian regime and its proxies are doing their utmost to ensure that their Jihad(holy war) to destroy Israel continues in full force.
Although Iran’s proxies have been weakened, they are trying to rise from the ashes with the help of their patrons in Tehran.
More than 250 representatives of Iran-backed groups attended a conference in Beirut in November. Article here

 

 

According to Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, in preparation for the next war, Tehran has greatly increased its missile production, working around the clock in hopes of being able to “fire 2,000 at once to overwhelm Israeli defences, not 500 over 12 days”

The cost to Israel of the June 2025 war: Iran launched over 500 ballistic missiles and 1,100 drones at Israel. The attacks killed 32 people and wounded over 3,000. There were 36 missile impacts and one drone strike in populated areas of Israel, causing damage to 2,305 homes in 240 buildings, along with two universities and a hospital, and leaving over 13,000 Israelis displaced from their homes. Report here

 

FORMER HOSTAGES UPDATE

 

 

Recently freed hostage Rom Braslavski, who was held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza for 738 days, was so severely beaten by his captors that he begged them to let him starve to death instead. He had been working as a security guard at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7. Report here

 

 

Matan Zangauker, 25, freed after 738 days in captivity, described being seized by armed terrorists who stormed his home. As he was driven into Gaza on a motorcycle, he was greeted by “children, women, old people, lined up with sticks, with rocks, with pipes, and they started to hit me, to beat me.”
He was held underground for most of his captivity, often denied food, and subjected to physical and psychological abuse. Report here

 

On Sunday, Gal and Ziv Berman, who endured 772 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza, attended a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. and Beitar Jerusalem F.C., the first since before their abduction. Report here

 

How recently released brothers David & Ariel Cunio have changed since their captivity. Article here

 

 

KAZAKHSTAN

 

The post-Soviet central Asian Muslim-majority state will be the 5^th country to sign the Abraham Accords. Kazakhstan has had diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992. Report here

 

DEFENCE

 

 Greece is advancing plans for a $3.5 billion modernization of its air-defence network,  aiming to replace a patchwork of older Russian and U.S.-made systems with an integrated, multi-layered network sourced primarily from Israeli defence contractors. Report here

 

India is seeking to not only procure Israel Aerospace Industries’ Air Lora ballistic missiles and Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ice Breaker cruise missiles, but also to manufacture them. Report here

THE UK

 

 

8 Israeli quantum experts joined the British Embassy’s delegation to London for the UK’s National Quantum Showcase week, advancing UK-Israel co-operation and promoting innovation in quantum research, technology and industry. Report here

 

 

Anti-Israel activists plotted to hunt down players from Maccabi Tel Aviv’s football team during their recent visit to Birmingham. The Israeli side became the target of a coordinated plan involving hotel stakeouts and surveillance by protesters determined to track the team and have the match cancelled. The game on 6 Nov went ahead without any Maccabi fans present in the stadium. Report here

 

87^th ANNIVERSARY OF KRISTALLNACHT

 

 

German-born Walter Bingham was among Holocaust survivors in Israel marking the 87th anniversary of Kristallnacht on 9^th Nov 1938.  Months later Bingham, now 101, was put on a Kindertransport from Germany to England. His father died in the Warsaw Ghetto, and he never saw his mother again. He said  “We now live in an era equivalent to 1938, where synagogues are burned, and people in the street are attacked.”  Report here

 

SPORT

 

 

Israel’s Omri Haviv, 23, won a gold medal at the Jiu-jitsu World Championships in Bangkok, taking first place in the category for adult men under 69 kg competing without a Gi, the traditional jiu-jitsu uniform. Report here

 

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

The BBC

 

Jake Wallis Simons: With every misleading piece of BBC reporting sent out into the world, public opinion is hardened against the Jews. As has been the case for thousands of years, antisemitism is based on lies.
A recent leaked internal memo leaked documents the BBC’s relentless bias against Israel… BBC Arabic devoted huge swathes of articles to statements from Hamas and Hizbullah. BBC Arabic described Hamas’s terror attacks as “military operations” and barely covered the deaths of Israeli hostages.
BBC Arabic gave a platform to journalists who had openly glorified terrorism hundreds of times. Various BBC platforms spread fake news about starvation in Gaza. BBC News did not inform viewers that, under international law, hospitals were allowed to be targeted when they were being used as military bases.Numerous BBC channels repeatedly suggested that the International Court of Justice had ruled there was a “plausible genocide” in Gaza, despite the fact that the ICJ president herself had debunked this claim on BBC.
In light of the findings, it is no exaggeration to say that the BBC has long been functioning as the propaganda arm of Hamas, funded by the British public.Article here

 

 

Brendan O’Neill: Gripped by a “desire always to believe the worst about Israel,” the BBC “raced to air” Hamas allegations against the Jewish state without adequate checks. Such was the extent of its Israelophobic misinformation that the BBC has been forced to correct two stories about Gaza every single week since Oct. 7, 2023.   Article here

 

Hamas Deceit

 

Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas lied to President Trump when it said it had accepted his plan for ending its war against Israel. It was simply trying to buy time to reassert control over Gaza and prepare for more attacks against Israel. Now it is arguing that it needs to engage in negotiations about the implementation of most parts of the Trump plan…
According to (Hamas) officials, Hamas only agreed to the first phase of the Trump plan, which calls for Israel to suspend military operations and release Palestinian prisoners, and for Hamas to return all Israeli hostages, dead and alive, within 72 hours. It has been weeks, and Hamas has not yet fulfilled that phase-one obligation…
For Hamas, the longer the negotiations continue, the better. Those who are familiar with Hamas’s way of handling things know that such negotiations, if and when they start, could last for months or years. Hamas will likely try to drag out negotiations until the Trump administration is replaced by another that Hamas hopes will be less interested in Gaza.
Hamas is not serious about laying down its weapons or relinquishing control over Gaza. For Hamas, the Trump plan is nothing but a temporary ceasefire that would enable it to get back on its feet to rule Gaza again, and resume its Jihad (holy war) to destroy Israel. Article here

In the Israel-Hamas War, International Law Favors the Lawless

 

Mathew Giagnorio: The International Criminal Court’s decision in 2024 to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders alongside Hamas commanders marked the collapse of legal neutrality. To equate a liberal democracy defending its citizens with a jihadist organization dedicated to genocide is not impartial justice – it is ideological jurisprudence.

The law’s neutrality, meant to ensure fairness, now serves those who reject fairness altogether. The result is a grotesque inversion: liberal democracies are treated as war criminals for defending themselves, while regimes and militias that glorify mass murder are treated as legitimate political actors.

If international law can no longer distinguish between those who uphold it and those who annihilate it, then it ceases to be law at all. The challenge of our time is to rescue the law from those who would use it to destroy the very civilization that created it. A world where the law protects the lawless is not a world governed by justice – and democracies will not survive long in it. Article here

 

“Red Alert” filmmaker exposes the post-Oct 7 truth

 

Lawrence Bender: Over almost four decades of making movies and TV shows, I’ve supported many causes, working with people from many different walks of life – ethnicities, races, women, LGBTQ. I did it because it’s how I saw the world, not because I was “supposed to.”
Then came Oct. 8, 2023, the day after the horrific massacre in Israel. I started to notice my phone not ringing. I wasn’t getting calls from this diverse group of people I’d been working with most of my life: “Are you OK?” “Do you have family or friends in Israel, and are they OK?”
Not only were my peers staying quiet, but many also denied the atrocities that happened. Some even started justifying the acts of terror. And the antisemitism of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, of which I’ve been a member since 1995, became clear. The very industry that preaches inclusion and empathy mostly turned away when my fellow Jews were being raped and murdered. Even worse, many blamed Israel for all this.
I was compelled to act, and the result is my limited scripted TV series on Paramount+, “Red Alert.” My team and I made it to honour the very people who went through this horrific experience, those who were killed and those who survived. It became a mission to tell their stories – to show the truth of these incredible heroes ignored or maligned by Hollywood and the rest of the world.
We chose family and underdog stories – a middle-aged mother running off to save her son and, in the process, saving many neighbours; a man trying to save his wife; a mother saving her two daughters as her son is taken into Gaza.
And we have a very important story of an Arab family whose father saves his child, himself and ultimately saves an IDF unit. All true. Most people don’t understand that many Arabs were also murdered by Hamas. All these ordinary people became superheroes.
For my progressive friends who have gotten it so wrong – who have twisted the truth, excused the terror and demonized Israel – I hope they begin to understand the real truth. Article here

Anti-Zionism of New York City Mayor-Elect

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch: I met Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani after the primaries. Several prominent and liberal New York City rabbis spent an hour with him. We entered with open hearts and open minds. We were interested in taking the measure of the man.
Zohran Mamdani is an ideologically committed, dogmatic opponent of the Zionist idea. He is not simply a critic of Israel. He does not believe in coexistence. He does not believe in two states for two peoples. His opposition to Israel is existential. He believes that Israel has no right to exist at all as a Jewish state in any territory.

This is the position of Israel’s most implacable foes. It is the ideology of Hamas, Hizbullah, Iran, and their supporters in the West. He doesn’t hide it, he’s proud of it. “The struggle for the Palestinian liberation was at the core of my politics and continues to be,” he proclaimed in a 2023 speech. Video here

 

 

 Dr. Dan Diker: Zohran Mamdani’s election as New York City’s mayor holds far-reaching implications for the U.S., Israel, and Western democracies. Mamdani represents a hybrid “Red-Green” political alignment, integrating revolutionary Marxist ideology with Islamist terminology and anti-Zionist positions…New York City now serves as a case study testing whether Red-Green ideological frameworks can transform American urban governance. Article here