Israel update 23.1.25

Quote of the week:

“Never before in history has a side claimed that they suffered a genocide and at the same time that they won the war they had started” Hillel Neuer of UN Watch. Video here

 

CEASEFIRE DEAL

 

The first stage of the agreement provided for the release of 33 Israeli hostages (not all of whom are alive) out of 95 then remaining in captivity, reportedly in exchange for around 1,000  Palestinian prisoners, many convicted of terrorist murders, over 6 weeks. Negotiations for the release of the remaining hostages are expected to continue.

 

90  PALESTINIAN PRISONERS RELEASED SUNDAY IN EXCHANGE FOR 3 ISRAELI HOSTAGES

 

While the international media, including the BBC reported that “mainly women & children” were released by Israel, examples included:

A 15 year old who at the age of 13 shot an Israeli father and son in the City of David, Jerusalem seriously wounding them.

A 17 year old who carried out a shooting attack in Sheikh Jarrah.

And at least two other “children” involved in stabbing attacks.

A 68 year old woman convicted of planning the assassination of an Israeli government minister.

Source: Israel Realtime. Link to “X”

 

Over the years, approximately 17,000 terrorists have been released early from Israeli prisons. Between 50-80% returned to terrorism. Notably the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was released in the Shalit deal and orchestrated Oct. 7. Report here

 

The IDF said Sunday that it is deploying reinforcements to the West Bank in light of the release of Palestinian terrorists to the area as part of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. The additional forces include special units to enable more strikes against terror groups.
The IDF is aware that many released Palestinians are likely to return to terror activities and it will be keeping track of those released. The IDF noted that it had already killed three Palestinian terrorists who were released to the West Bank during the November 2023 hostage exchange and had returned to terror. Report here

 

 

THREE ISRAELI HOSTAGES RELEASED

 

Emily Damari, 28, Romi Gonen, 23, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were released by Hamas on Sunday as part of the ceasefire deal. Steinbrecher was abducted from Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, where she was hiding under her bed. Damari, a British-Israeli, was also abducted from Kfar Aza after being shot. Gonen was abducted from the Nova music festival after being shot.Report here

 

They were reunited with their mothers.Video here

 

Emily Damari’s wounded hand (she lost 2 fingers after being shot by Hamas terrorists) has become a symbol of Israeli resilience and defiance.Reports hereand here

 

Emily thanked Tottenham Hotspur FC and its fans for their support.Report here

 

GAZA

The IDF and Israel Security Agency, in a secret operation, rescued the body of Sgt. Oron Shaul, held by Hamas,  who fell in battle in Gaza on July 20, 2014. Report here

 

Before  Sunday, the survivors of Hamas’s terror army were skulking inside what’s left of their tunnel network, hiding in civilian houses, mosques, schools and hospitals or embedding themselves into humanitarian areas on the coast. They disguised themselves as civilians, sometimes dressed as women and journalists and never daring to openly carry weapons above ground. Today they are out on the streets of Gaza proudly wearing their green bandanas and combat uniforms while flaunting assault rifles and rocket launchers.
Since the ceasefire was agreed, the terrorist leaders have been renewing their vows to kill more Jews and launch repeated Oct. 7-style massacres. Meanwhile, hordes of Gazan civilians have flooded into the streets, mostly healthy in appearance, well dressed, and many visibly over-fed. A far cry from the picture Hamas, the UN, human rights groups and so much of the media have painted for the last 15 months: of disease and famine at the hands of the Israelis. These “innocent” civilians have been screaming themselves hoarse with an Arabic rallying cry calling for the slaughter of Jews. Report here (paywall)

 

In neighbourhoods levelled by 15 months of war with Israel, Hamas officials are overseeing the clearance of rubble in the wake of Sunday’s ceasefire. The group’s gunmen are guarding aid convoys, and its blue-uniformed police once again patrol city streets, sending a clear message: Hamas remains deeply entrenched in Gaza and its hold on power represents a challenge to implementing a permanent ceasefire.Report here

 

PRE-OCT 7 GAZA

 

Before Oct. 7, 2023, Gaza was thriving economically. Hamas was willing to sacrifice all of this in pursuit of its goal of annihilating Israel and the Jews.
MEMRI’s reports on Gaza prior to Oct. 7 present videos, photos and data on life in Gaza from non-Israeli media sources.
They provide a picture of Gaza’s residential areas and tower blocks, its universities, health facilities and hospitals, its banks and financial institutions, its malls and markets, its recreation facilities such as the water park, music centre, and zoo. It also presented data on standards of living, income, and infrastructure such as a water desalination plant.Report here

 

EASTERN FRONT

 

An Israeli reservist soldier, Sgt. First Class (res.) Eviatar Ben Yehuda, 31, was killed and four others were wounded, including a senior officer in serious condition, when they were hit by a roadside bomb in the West Bank.Report here

 

The IDF launched a major counterterrorism operation in Jenin on Tuesday, which military sources said was expected to last several days. The IDF and Israel Security Agency killed 13 terrorists Wednesday in and around Jenin, including two directly involved in murdering three Israelis and wounding eight others on Jan. 6 near Kedumim.Report hereand here

 

 “The northern West Bank is flooded with Iranian weapons,” former Israel Security Agency official Yossi Amrosi said in a radio interview.    “If Hamas in the West Bank had the same tools as the terror group in Gaza, what happened in Kfar Aza on Oct. 7 could have happened in Kfar Saba (near Tel Aviv).”
He warned that the release of terrorists as part of the hostage deal could encourage acts of terror in the area. Report here

TEL AVIV TERROR ATTACKS

 

A 28-year-old man was severely wounded in a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on Saturday by a Palestinian (19) who was shot and killed at the scene by an armed civilian.Report here

 

A Moroccan national holding US residency status stabbed five people on Tuesday, before being shot. One victim was stabbed in the neck and seriously injured. Report here

LEBANON

 

IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon are continuing to locate weapons and Hezbollah infrastructure including tunnels. The IDF is still deployed to some areas of southern Lebanon in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and has until Sunday to leave, though it has reportedly asked mediators for another 30 days.Report here

HOUTHI THREAT CONTINUES

 

IDF air defences intercepted two missiles launched at separate times from Yemen on Saturday, one targeting central Israel, the second aimed at Eilat.Report here

 

Yemen’s Houthis will continue their attacks on Israel-linked ships after the Gaza ceasefire came into effect, the group said Sunday.Report here

THE MEDIA

 

While much of the reporting focused on the emotional reunions between the hostages and their families after 15 months of captivity, several high-profile outlets fell short, displaying a troubling tendency to gloss over the reality of what the Palestinian prisoner release actually entails: the release of hundreds of criminals, many convicted of violent crimes—including murder—and members of proscribed terrorist organizations. Report here

 

Arab journalists took to X to slam Hamas officials for presenting the Gaza war and the ceasefire agreement as a victory, despite the immense destruction in Gaza, the displacement of hundreds of thousands and many casualties. Saudi journalist Hussein Al-Waday wrote: “If Hamas thinks it has gained a victory, then it’s a victory over the Palestinians, for it has destroyed their lives and future and defeated their cause.” Report here

 

CO-OPERATION

 

The Road for Recovery, a joint Israeli-Palestinian programme that enables Palestinian patients to receive medical care at Israeli hospitals., has continued uninterruptedly for patients from the West Bank since October 7, 2023, despite the Gaza war. The ranks of the Israeli volunteer drivers were thinned, due to the Hamas onslaught. Six volunteers, Vivian Silver, Eli Orgad, Adi Dagan, Tami Suchman, Hayim Katsman and Chaim Peri, were murdered. Two others, Oded and Yochved Lifshitz were among the kidnapped. Several months later Yocheved was released but 84-year-old Oded remains in captivity.Report here

 

THE NETHERLANDS

 

The Dutch Defence Ministry has chosen Israeli company Elbit Systems to supply it with electronic warfare and self-protection suites to defend against anti-aircraft missiles in a deal worth $175 million.
The deal was closed even though a Dutch court has been restricting the supply of spare parts for Israel Air Force F-35 jets since February 2024. Report here (paywall)

 

BUSINESS

 

Nvidia Corporation is constructing one of the largest server farms in Israel, near Yokne’am in the north of the country.
Industry sources estimate the total investment in the Data Centre Engineering Facility at over $500 million.Reports hereand here

TRAVEL

 

British Airways will resume flights between Tel Aviv and London starting April 5.Report here

COMMENT & OPINION ON THE CEASEFIRE DEAL & ITS REPERCUSSIONS

 

David Horovitz: But nobody can forget for a second that this phase of the deal has only just begun. Not all of the 33 women, children and men to be freed are alive. There will be much that is terrible before it is over. And nobody can forget that the agreement comes at the price of the release of hundreds of the most dangerous terrorists, most of whom have every intention of killing again. And 94 hostages are still held captive in Gaza.Article here

 

 

Alan Dershowitz: The decision by the Israeli government to make significant concessions to the Hamas kidnappers should never be called a “deal.” It was an extortion…. The kidnapping was a crime. And the extortionate demand was an additional crime.

When a terrorist group “negotiates” with a democracy, it always has the upper hand. The terrorists are not constrained by morality, law or truth. They can murder at will, rape at will, torture at will and threaten to do worse. The democracy, on the other hand, must comply with the rules of law and must listen to the pleas of the hostage families.

Especially complicit, with blood on their hands, are supporters of Hamas on university campuses who chant for intifada and revolution. Also complicit are international organizations, such as the International Criminal Court, that treat Israel and Hamas as equals.

 Let us put the blame for ALL the deaths in Gaza where it belongs: on Hamas and the useful idiots and useless bigots who support murderous terrorists.Article here

 

 

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib (a Palestinian-American humanitarian activist): The reality is that the Islamist terrorism of Hamas, masquerading as “resistance,” has achieved nothing for the Palestinian people except for billions of dollars in wasted resources and tens of thousands of needless deaths, with Gaza in ruins 20 years after the withdrawal of Israel in 2005.
Hamas’s propaganda machine, run by Qatari state media  Al-Jazeera,will work overtime to turn a catastrophic disaster into a victory, desperately seeking to promote the armed resistance narrative as one that is heroic and valiant when it is cowardly and ineffective.“X” post here

 

Angela Epstein: Not once has the Red Cross visited the Israeli hostages in Gaza, despite the fact that their very mandate is to visit innocent kidnapped individuals and ensure their well-being.
Now is the time for the Red Cross to launch a voluble, deafening protest at the continued refusal to allow them access to the remaining hostages.
They need to roar that they have as much right to provide succour to the captured Israelis as the trucks of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.Article here

 

Ron Ben-Yishai: It is crucial to recognize that Hamas is not an external force imposed on Gaza’s population.
Rather, it is an authentic expression of the aspirations held by the majority of the two million residents of Gaza. Article here

 

Catherine Perez: The Bitter Lesson of the Hostage Release

On one side, innocent civilians – children, mothers, grandparents – dragged from their homes and held in appalling conditions.
On the other, convicted criminals, many of whom have committed atrocities that chill the blood.
Equating the two is not merely lazy; it is profoundly immoral. Article here

 

Jonathan Sacerdoti: The celebrations in Gaza after the ceasefire was announced looked nothing like those of a people experiencing the end of a genocide. The imagery of jubilant crowds chanting slogans, firing guns into the air, and singing songs of triumph appears entirely at odds with the scenes of devastation and suffering on international news broadcasts.

This is not the first time Gaza’s civilians have seemed quick to celebrate. After terrorists massacred and abducted Israelis on Oct. 7, hordes of Palestinians lined the streets of Gaza cheering with jubilation as lifeless bodies and desperate abductees were paraded before them to be spat on and beaten.

Many of those cheering in Gaza were declaring their intention to continue fighting, to continue killing, and to continue sacrificing their own people if necessary. Hamas focuses on the death of Jews as the ultimate measure of success. Hamas’s rhetoric and actions target Jews as a people and a religion. The glorification of those who kill Jews are manifestations of a deeply ingrained religious hatred. Article here (paywall)

 

Melanie Phillips: To all those in the West who have perpetrated the lie of Israeli genocide in Gaza for the past 15 months: look at the pictures of the mob surrounding the three Israel women hostages who were freed today, and see thousands of Gazans who are well-fed, well-groomed and well-dressed.
Look at that horrifying footage of those Gaza mobs, those enormous potential lynch mobs jeering and threatening the three Israeli women as they were handed over to the Red Cross – the same mobs who abused the live hostages and desecrated the bodies of the murdered ones when they were all dragged into Gaza after the Oct. 7 massacre. Then tell us all again that the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza are innocent civilians and victims of the Israelis.
Listen to those mobs chanting ecstatically for the murder of Jews in a repetition of the slaughter of Jews by Islam’s founder Mohammed in 7th century Khybar. Look at the thousands who have emerged in Hamas uniform and armed to the teeth, vowing to carry out more and more Oct. 7 massacres until every Jew is dead and Israel is destroyed. Article here

 

Clifford D May: On Oct. 6, 2023, Gaza was not occupied. No Israelis lived there. No Israeli soldiers patrolled there. Gaza was not then an “open-air prison” as Hamas manipulated the media to report. Gaza had hospitals, schools, libraries, malls, supermarkets, restaurants, a zoo, and sandy beaches. Members of Gaza’s elite lived in villas with swimming pools and could come and go via neighbouring Egypt. Hamas leaders could have brought a halt to this war at any time by simply releasing its hostages and laying down their weapons. Article here

 

Also see:

Andrew Fox: Without the hostages, the Gaza war would have been over months ago with an IDF victory. Article here

 

Khaled Abu Toameh: A Deal that Keeps Hamas in Power is Meaningless.Article here

Matti Friedman: Israel’s Prisoners’ Dilemma. Article here

Herb Keinon: Keeping Terrorists away from Israel’s Borders.Article here

and The True Cost of the Hostage Deal. Article here

Sherri Mandell: A Punch in the Gut to the Families of Terror Victims. Article here

Nadav Shragai: A Deal with Hamas means Israelis deserve the truth. Article here