Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs

Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs: Israel: News Around the World

By Steve Ornstein

Posted on October 9, 2024

Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs: Israel: News Around the World

News Resources – North America, Europe, and Asia:

“The Israelis Are Certainly Going to Hit Back” after Second Iran Rocket Attack – Gen. Frank McKenzie interviewed by Margaret Brennan
Gen. Frank McKenzie, former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, told “Face the Nation” on Oct. 6: “Iran is the country that’s in a corner. Their strike against Israel several nights ago was not particularly successful. Their principal ally in the region, Hizbullah, has been decapitated, and their own offensive capability is gravely limited. Hizbullah’s is gravely limited.”
“The Israelis are certainly going to hit back, and I predict it will be larger than the very restrained, very modulated response that we saw in April after the first large Iranian attack on Israel….As we know from April, Israel has the ability to operate…with great force over Iran at a time and place of their choosing.” (CBS News)

Israel Rejects UN Court’s Jurisdiction to Issue a Warrant for Netanyahu’s Arrest – Ephrat Livni
Israel has rejected the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for its prime minister and defense minister over their conduct of the war in Gaza, in filings to the court that were reclassified as public on Friday. The documents challenge the court’s jurisdiction, arguing that Israel is capable of independently investigating the same matters.
Under the treaty setting up the International Criminal Court, which Israel is not a party to, a case could be inadmissible in the court if Israel has the ability to conduct its own investigation into the actions underlying the accusations.
The Israeli filing argued, “Despite having been forced into a bloody conflict that it did not want, Israel remains a democracy endowed with an independent judiciary and deeply committed to the rule of law,” adding that Israel “has the appropriate mechanisms” to ensure accountability for any alleged crimes. “Israel has primary jurisdiction and is best placed to investigate allegations of the sort raised by the Prosecutor, given the access required to relevant evidence, information and persons.” (New York Times)

News Resources – Israel and the Mideast:

Israeli Border Policewoman Murdered, 9 Wounded in Beersheba Shooting Attack – Ilana Curiel
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. (Ynet News)

IDF Keeps Pressure on Hizbullah in Southern Lebanon – Yonah Jeremy Bob
IDF Col. Or Volozinsky said Sunday that his forces were destroying large amounts of Hizbullah Radwan forces weapons stored in almost every house in southern Lebanon. In one house alone, the IDF found dozens of anti-tank missiles.
Since anti-tank missiles caused deaths and injuries to IDF soldiers on Oct. 2, the IDF has adjusted its tactics to only enter new areas after having used greater amounts of artillery, tank fire, and air strikes to clear out potential Hizbullah ambush forces.
IDF sources suggested they were still just at the very beginning of taking apart Hizbullah’s capabilities in southern Lebanon. At the same time, the number of Lebanese civilian casualties has dropped significantly in recent days since most had evacuated southern Lebanon. So far, Hizbullah has resisted in only a few areas. Meanwhile, Hizbullah has maintained rocket fire into Israel. (Jerusalem Post)

IDF Continues Offensive in Gaza’s Jabalya – Tovah Lazaroff
The IDF is operating in the Jabalya area north of Gaza City, reporting several encounters with terrorist cells and discovering large caches of weapons. (Jerusalem Post)

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:

Remembering Oct. 7

Israeli Healthcare Workers’ Heartbreaking Accounts of Oct. 7 – Sarit Rosenblum
Dr. Ricardo Nachman, head of Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine, describes the demonic images he saw after Oct. 7: “An adult and a child stuck together and burnt with a metal wire around them. We saw killing by decapitation, faces lacerated by AK-47 gunshots, gunshots straight to the eyes, stab wounds all over bodies, people bound hand and foot.”
Israel’s Health Ministry has been documenting the events of Oct. 7 from the perspective of the doctors, nurses, social workers, lab workers, forensic scientists and security officers who saw the horrors up close.
Tal Hayun, 47, director of nursing at Soroka Hospital’s Surgery and Recovery Room, said, “The only sign that anything out of the ordinary was going on was the mixture of injured people showing up: children, adults, women from the festival in high heels, soldiers with arms or legs missing….The sight of a cart packed full of arms and legs is ingrained in my mind….Glancing at the phones of the dead and wounded in that cart, I looked at one of them and the screen read ‘Mom’ with a red heart, and it was ringing.” (Ynet News)
See also ZAKA Volunteers Help Identify the Bodies after the Oct. 7 Massacre – Hadar Gil-Ad (Ynet News)

Ordinary Israeli Citizens Caring for Each Other in Extraordinary Ways – Magali Druscovich
The idea that the People of Israel are responsible for each other is established in the Talmud. On Oct. 7, Rami grabbed his car and rescued 35 kids from the Nova music festival. Kathy received 1,200 children evacuated from the south and the north at the Kfar Maccabiah hotel. Gabriel went out to fight against the terrorists to defend his kibbutz. Noam, 18, drove south without knowing what was happening, evading a hurricane of bullets to save many lives.
There were also thousands of Israelis who donated their time organizing donations or cooking for soldiers or refugee relatives; those who set out to confront antisemitism on social media; the activists who appeared on television to educate about the conflict; communities in the diaspora organizing events in support; and philanthropists rolling up their sleeves to confront institutional chaos. (Tablet)

Lessons of Oct. 7

The Real Lessons of Oct. 7 – Jonathan S. Tobin
The post-mortems about the Oct. 7 disaster must include broader misconceptions that not only helped bring about this epic disaster but that might conceivably allow it to be repeated in the future. That’s especially true in the U.S., where public discussion of the war on Hamas continues to center on myths that should have been rejected long ago.
Belief in the idea of a two-state solution evaporated with the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, which brought nearly five years of suicide bombings into every realm of Israeli civilian life. Since Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, it was an independent Palestinian state in all but name. As such, it was an experiment that demonstrated what a two-state solution that encompassed the far larger and more strategic Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”) would mean.
While there are individual Palestinians who may believe in the idea of peace with Israel, they are isolated and overwhelmingly outnumbered by supporters of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the so-called “moderates” of Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. They have all made it clear in their rejection of every effort at a compromise peace plan over the decades that they deny the legitimacy of a Jewish state, no matter where its borders might be drawn.
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. (JNS)

Never Again? How to Prevent the Next Oct. 7 – Col. (ret.) Yigal Carmon
Flawed assumptions led to the disaster on Oct. 7. The first was that Hamas was deterred by the blows struck against it by Israel in previous rounds of fighting. The IDF did indeed severely damage Hamas’s combat capabilities in previous rounds of fighting, but this had no long-term impact on them – and certainly not on their intentions. After every round of fighting there was rebuilding, and each time, Hamas ended up better off than it was before.
The second was that Hamas boasting should not be taken seriously and was strictly for internal consumption. The prevailing view was that because Israel allowed Hamas to build itself into an independent political body, Hamas would not want to jeopardize this status by attacking Israel, and that it was now focusing on building and governing.
The third was that Gaza was experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis. This assumption is an absolute lie, as anyone who visited Gaza prior to Oct. 7 – including foreign journalists and aid workers – has seen. The violent 2018 “March of Return” events, the rioting at the border fence, and the rounds of Gaza-Israel fighting were all explained away by the Gazans’ need to improve their harsh economic situation – not by any ideological intent or practical, organized plan to attack Israel.
The fourth was that a high standard of living in Gaza created with aid funds would moderate, and even supersede, the Hamas ideology that is based on eliminating Israel and annihilating the Jews. Underpinning this idea is the postmodernist Western political doctrine that all ideologies are legitimate and equal, and that what these ideologies say to the outside world must not be taken too seriously because ideological consciousness can be shaped by monetary incentives.
The writer, former counter-terrorism advisor to two Israeli prime ministers, is founder and president of the Middle East Media Research Institute. (MEMRI)

Oct. 7 Convinced Israel that It Must Take the Battle to Its Enemies – Shayndi Raice
One year after the brutal Hamas attack, Israel is now firmly on the counterattack. It launched a stunning series of attacks against Hizbullah in Lebanon in recent weeks, while simultaneously targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen, rooting out militancy in the West Bank, and mapping out its next steps against Iran, after weathering a ferocious Iranian missile assault.
The campaign marks an aggressive shift in Israel’s security posture. For years, the military aimed to provide long stretches of peace that were punctured by short conflicts with Palestinian militants. Israel can no longer allow its enemies the time and space to build up arsenals that can pose an existential threat, many have come to believe.
“Pre-emptive wars will be in the future part of the Israeli tool kit,” said Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser. “This is not a war against Hamas or Hizbullah,” said Ofer Shelah, director of national security policy research at the Institute for National Security Studies. “This is a war against the Iranian Axis of Resistance.” (Wall Street Journal)

Terror in a Safe Space, a Year On – Walter Russell Mead
A music festival billed as providing a “safe envelope for finding inner calm, peace, harmony” ended with mass murder, rape and kidnapping and ushered the Middle East into a series of horrific wars. That is what happened a year ago outside Kibbutz Re’im at the Tribe of Nova music festival, and the horror that overtook the festivalgoers has spread far and wide since that fatal day.
For Israelis and Jews everywhere, the past year has brought hard lessons in both the importance of Zionism and its difficulties. Jews in London, Paris, Los Angeles, New York and other cities have watched mobs of Jew-haters repeatedly march through the streets. Jews unwilling to denounce Israel have been ostracized and marginalized at universities. Jews across the West are wondering whether their children have a future in their own countries.
Two generations of Westerners have raised their kids to believe that the world is rapidly becoming a safe space. We were consolidating a rules-based world order. Life would no longer be about sacrifice and heroism. It would be all about shopping, music festivals and feeling good about ourselves.
What our elites forgot is that the rules-based world order was never more than a consequence of American and allied power, and that without the steadfast maintenance of that power, the rules by which the world lives will revert to something more like the Law of the Jungle.
It turns out that the diplomacy through which presidents seek to reshape the world depends on the military power and the use of force that they want to eschew. As respect for American capacity, vision and will erodes around the world, the power of American threats and promises steadily fades.
The writer, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, is Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College. (Wall Street Journal)

Oct. 7 and the Iranian Nuclear Threat – 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. Given hours to do as they pleased with Jewish innocents, Hamas’s terrorists created vignettes of barbarism that can never be unseen: infants shot and kidnapped, children burned alive, women gang-raped and dismembered, families slaughtered en masse.
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. Having witnessed the daring and ruthless manner in which Israel executed in Lebanon the decapitation of Iran’s prize piece on the chessboard, not to mention the impressive long-range raids prosecuted on the Houthis in Yemen, Tehran should realize that the continued pursuit of nuclear weapons – successful or not – could be a death sentence for the regime and the Iranian nation.
The writer is chairman and CEO of The Electrum Group LLC and co-founder with Bernard-Henri Levy of Justice for Kurds. (Wall Street Journal)

Impact of Oct. 7 on Jewish Life

The Post-Oct. 7 World of American Jews – Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch
Oct. 7, 2023, forever changed Jewish history. Time froze on that day. It is still Oct. 7. We are unable to move on until the most intense fighting ceases and the danger is lifted. For American Jews, the past year exposed the persistence of Jew-hatred constantly bubbling under the surface of Western societies that we thought was mostly suppressed. We are beginning to hear eerie echoes of Europe, the haunting howls of hatred that brought our ancestors to these shores in the first place.
How naturally does hatred of Israel mutate into hatred of Jews. How easily do anti-Israel passions lead to violence against Jews and Jewish institutions. According to Israel’s enemies, to struggle against it is to struggle for freedom, goodness, justice and righteousness. This is classic antisemitism, always centering on the collective Jew.
Atheist, secular, religious, ultra-liberal, ultra-conservative, advocates of two states and opponents of two states were all slaughtered and kidnapped on Oct. 7. Israelis who devoted their lives to coexistence with Palestinians, who advocated and acted on their behalf, were also brutally murdered. It didn’t matter what they actually believed. No one asked.
American Jews will not debate whether the Jewish state, of all the countries of the world, has a right to exist. We will not debate whether we have a right to national dignity and self-determination.
If we cannot persuade you to leave us alone, we will defend ourselves. What other choice is there? We have already tried everything else. We are open to all discussions related to coexistence. We will not debate with you national suicide.
The writer, senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, served as executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America. (Newsweek)

American Jews Cope with the Fallout a Year after the Oct. 7 Attacks – Michelle Boorstein
American Jews are buying guns more often. They’re going to Shabbat dinners and synagogues more often. For many, the year since Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel has led to concerns over whether they are securely woven into the fabric of American life.
Grant Schmidt, a Jew who runs Shot Tec, a firearms training and retail business in a suburb of Philadelphia, says, “In some way, shape or form, everyone feels on their own.” Jewish institutions – schools, synagogues, camps – that a year ago didn’t want security guards to wear uniforms, he said, now ask that they openly carry rifles. “People are getting more into their identities. It’s like: ‘Like it or not, you’re Jewish, so own it.'”
Seth Zwillenberg, 67, a Philadelphia-area doctor, said watching campus protesters nearby shout slogans last spring was extremely jarring. “Who thought about antisemitism in America? We knew some non-Jews hate us. But who thought about it? You knew there were a few cranks on both sides but not mainstreamed on both sides. I’m angry, and I’m scared.”
The FBI said in September that anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2023 reached their highest number since data collection began in 1991, and made up 68% of all religion-based hate crimes. Joshua Leifer, a Yale University historian who in August published the book Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life, said, “American Judaism’s holiday from history is over.” (Washington Post)

Oct. 7 Forever Altered Jewish Life Worldwide – 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.
Oct. 7 and its aftermath demonstrated to Jews around the world that the lessons of the Holocaust have not been learned effectively enough to prevent the replay of those very horrors. We learned that “Never Again” is not real.
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.
What 4,000 years of Jewish history have taught us is that if it starts with the Jews, it never ends with the Jews. It is an American, Canadian, French, British, Australian, Argentinian and South African problem.
The writer is a former senior vice president for international affairs at the Anti-Defamation League. (The Hill)

Iran

We Must Stand Up to Iran Before It Fuels a Global Crisis – Admiral Lord West
Last week we saw what happens when your enemies are emboldened by overcaution. In April Iran launched an attack against Israel with more than 300 ballistic missiles, drones and cruise missiles. On Oct. 1, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) came back for more, firing 180 missiles at Israel. The IRGC is a malign influence in the Middle East and around the globe.
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-neighbors. 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. In the waters around Iran and the Gulf of Aden, crucial for the supply of goods and food to Europe, the IRGC threatens our shipping, either with their own navy or by bankrolling Houthi rebels in Yemen to fire rockets. The IRGC’s 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.
They support our enemies against allies. We read reports that the Iranians had sent 200 ballistic missiles to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, so they could bomb our friends in Ukraine. This comes after years of the IRGC supplying their attack and kamikaze drones to Putin’s army.
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.
The writer was First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff from 2002 to 2006 and Security Minister from 2007 to 2010. (Daily Express-UK)

The Defeat of Hamas and the Iranian Axis Is the Real Peace Plan – Editorial
Hamas’s massacre last Oct. 7 has taught the West forgotten lessons about deterrence, political will, and the illusions of a liberal, peaceful world. The world should never forget the videos of Hamas’s atrocities. The terrorists livestreamed as they slaughtered the defenseless. They killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, 101 of whom remain in captivity. Hamas is proud of this handiwork and would repeat it if it could.
The reply of respectable liberalism has been to urge de-escalation, ceasefires and a two-state solution, and to blame Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu when they don’t materialize. It’s as if Hamas, Hizbullah and their patron in Iran don’t exist.
As long as Iran pursues war, Israel must defend itself aggressively to survive. Hizbullah fired on Israel for 11 months. After a week of Israeli success in response, Mr. Biden called for a ceasefire there too. But if Hizbullah remains entrenched in southern Lebanon, how can there be peace?
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. (Wall Street Journal)

Why Israel Is Worried about Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions – Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh
Iran’s thwarted ballistic-missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1 was an attempt to diminish the humiliation that Tehran has felt after Israel rapidly deconstructed its most cherished protege, Hizbullah. Given the two-time failure of Iran to overwhelm the Jewish state’s air defenses, the regime’s huge investment in ballistic missiles has proved suddenly wanting.
Iran has been steadily making progress on its nuclear weapons capabilities over the past year. It is now, according to the U.S. government, down to a one-to-two-week breakout time to produce enough uranium for one atomic bomb. With its proxy fighters under siege and its conventional weapons proving insufficient, Tehran may be closer than ever to crossing the threshold and building a nuclear weapon.
Mr. Gerecht is a resident scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mr. Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. (New York Times)

The Iranian Regime Has Revealed Its True Character – 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.
Yet we know that when it comes to Israel, many onlookers hold the Jewish state to a standard far above that maintained for other nations, even as they make excuses for those who wish to wipe it from the map. The result is that when we should be lending our fullest support to an ally, our leaders are instead urged to disavow it. It is time that Britain rediscovered its backbone, and stood up for what is right. (Telegraph-UK)

Israel and the West

Britain Must Never Waver in Its Support for Israel – James Cleverly MP
One year on from Oct. 7, its horrors remain etched in my memory. Armed gunmen rampaged through a music festival. Families were torn apart. Defenseless babies were killed in cold blood, just for being Jewish. Against official advice, I was the first foreign minister to visit Israel after the attacks. With my own eyes, I later saw the bullet holes and the blood at the site of the attacks. It was barbarism beyond belief.
We must never forget that Israel is surrounded by those that wish her harm, funded and propelled by Iran. It is easy, from Britain’s comfort, to criticize Israel and call for de-escalation. But de-escalation must work both ways. It is right to call for Israel to respect international humanitarian law, as I did, but we must also question what it means when their enemies do not.
At home, anti-Semitic incidents skyrocketed. The Jewish community suffered through no fault of their own. Spending had to be increased to provide security to them. I am ashamed that was ever required.
Britain must never forget who are and aren’t our allies. Our enemies are watching. The UK must never waver in its support for Israel.
The writer served as British Foreign Secretary. (Telegraph-UK)

Tales of Infanticide Have Stoked Hatred of Jews for Centuries. They Echo Still Today – Howard Jacobson
In 1955, the Church of England put up a plaque in Lincoln Cathedral, apologizing for the harm it had done by falsely accusing Jews of the ritual slaughter of Little Hugh in 1255. That Jews habitually murdered gentile children for blood with which to make Passover matzoh was a popular superstition throughout Britain and Europe in the Middle Ages. The “blood libel,” as it became known, set the Jews apart from the entire human family; depraved, accomplices of the devil – and, of course, justified hunting them down and massacring them.
There could hardly have been a more unlikely crime to charge Jews with, given the strict taboo on blood sacrifice and the extreme laws against blood contact and consumption laid down in the Torah. It is hateful to be accused of what you haven’t done, but more hateful still to be accused of what you would never dream of doing.
Night after night, our televisions have told the story of the war in Gaza through the death of Palestinian children and a recital of the numbers dead. Here we were again, the same merciless infanticides inscribed in the imaginations of medieval Christians. Even when there are other explanations for the devastation, no one really believes them. Reporters whose reports are proved wrong see no reason to apologize. What is there to apologize for? It could have been true.
Ask how Israel is able to target innocent children with such deadly accuracy and no one can tell you. Ask why they would want to target innocent children and no one can tell you that either. Hate on this scale seeks no rational explanation. Hate feeds off the superstitions that fed it last time round.
Compare reporting from Gaza with reporting from Ukraine. Bombs have fallen there, too, but how often is the burial of Ukrainian children the lead story? (Observer-UK)

Observations:

Israel Is Fighting on the Frontline of the Free World. Thank Us Later – Eylon Levy (Telegraph-UK)

A year after Hamas burned Israeli families alive, Israel is not only fighting Hamas; it is fighting for its life against the Iranian regime and its proxy armies on seven fronts. As we fight for our survival, we know that we are fighting on the frontlines of the Free World, against the enemies of the Free World, and making the world safer for you. We don’t need your thanks. We do need you to hold your nerve.
The Oct. 7 war is existential for Israel – and for the Free World. To secure our survival, we need to remove the threat of the terrorist armies on our borders, hellbent on our destruction. Israel cannot accept a ceasefire that leaves these terrorist armies free and emboldened to intensify their religious war to annihilate us. At stake is whether the enemies of the Free World conclude that it won’t stand up for itself, and will throw its allies under a bus when the going gets tough.
This is not a war Israel started, wanted, or even expected. But it is a war that we must win, because we want to live. Much of the West wants this war to go away, but the war cannot go away until the threats go away. And we cannot wish them away.
Israel is doing the world’s dirty work. It does not want your sympathy; it demands your respect. It is single-handedly taking out the world’s most wanted terrorists with bounties on their heads. It is dismantling the Iranian regime’s proxy armies and disrupting their supply routes. It is showing the world what it means to have a spine and stand up for yourself, your survival, and your country. To withstand unimaginable pressure to do what you’ve got to do to keep your family safe.
In Israel we all dream of peace, but we know peace is impossible while we are surrounded by enemies that openly seek our annihilation. The Iranian regime and its proxy armies are counting on Western states to abandon a major ally and leave themselves exposed. Don’t.The writer is a former Israeli government spokesman.

In-Depth Issues:

IDF Data on a Year of War – Emanuel Fabian (Times of Israel)
Since Oct. 7, 2023, 17,000 Hamas operatives and members of other terror groups have been killed by the IDF in Gaza, in addition to 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on Oct. 7.
Troops have located 4,700 tunnel shafts.
In Lebanon, the IDF has killed more than 800 terror operatives, mostly members of Hizbullah.
Over 26,000 rockets, missiles, and drones have been launched at Israel from multiple fronts in the past year. They include 13,200 from Gaza, 12,400 from Lebanon, 400 from Iran, 180 from Yemen, and 60 from Syria.
728 Israeli soldiers, reservists, and local security officers have been killed and another 4,576 have been wounded since Oct. 7.
Of them, 347 were killed and 2,299 were wounded during the ground offensive in Gaza.
Since Oct. 7, IDF troops have arrested 5,250 wanted Palestinians, including 2,050 affiliated with Hamas.
690 Palestinian gunmen, rioters, and terrorists carrying out attacks have been killed in the West Bank.

One Year of Sirens in Israel (YouTube-Hebrew)
A dynamic graphic shows daily rocket launches against Israel from 7 fronts since Oct. 7, 2023.

Testimonies from Hamas’s Oct. 7 Attack on Israel – Ran Shimoni (Ha’aretz)
The memory of the horror of Oct. 7 is not fading. It may never fade.
A mother and her children confronted by a swarm of terrorists in the safe room of their home in Kibbutz Kfar Azza; a policeman lying gravely wounded among the bodies of his murdered colleagues at the Sderot police station; an elderly couple kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and dragged into the Hamas tunnels of Gaza.
Ten of them speak to Ha’aretz, sensing an obligation to speak on behalf of those who can no longer do so.

I Was Deeply Moved by This Film about Oct. 7 – Rachel Johnson (Evening Standard-UK)
A documentary called “We Will Dance Again,” about the Nova music festival that took place close to Gaza on 7 Oct. 2023, looks through the eyes of the young men and women who went to dance there, and also uses Hamas bodycam footage of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
If you want to understand why even though it’s been a year since 7/10, this is not the past for Israel; and if you want to understand why there is war raging in the north, you must watch it.
As the DJ pulls the plug on his set as rockets from Gaza fill the dawn sky, you can see – you can feel – this is the day the music died for the only Jewish state.

Without the Hostages, Hamas Would Have Been Defeated by Now – Ron Ben Yishai (Ynet News)
Nearly a year into the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza, IDF forces have been maneuvering through the densely populated area, enduring months of intense fighting.
While the initial days of a renewed offensive in northern Gaza saw dozens of Hamas fighters openly resisting, now, instead of seeking confrontation, Hamas terrorists are mostly fleeing and hiding in tunnels.
Hamas, as a military force, has largely been dismantled, aside from one or two battalions still present in central Gaza.
This war is being fought under the heavy cloud of hostages taken by Hamas. This war would have ended much sooner if Hamas hadn’t kidnapped hostages on Oct. 7.
Soldiers must think twice before shooting, knowing a hostage could be in the line of fire.

Hizbullah Has Lost Much of Its Power after Its Miscalculations – Matthew Levitt (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
Hizbullah, the formidable Shia militia in Lebanon that for years posed the most imminent and strategic threat to Israel, is suddenly a shadow of its former self.
Within days, a spectacular series of Israeli intelligence and military maneuvers severely degraded Hizbullah’s fighting capacity and dismantled its leadership cadre.
Since Hizbullah was the backbone of Iran’s network of militant proxies, Iran’s strategy of arming and deploying proxy groups throughout the region is suddenly at risk as well.
Hizbullah’s near daily rocket attacks put increasing pressure on Israel, as intended. Only that pressure did not lead Israelis to stop targeting Hamas so much as it chipped away at Israel’s fears about the cost of military action to address the military threats posed by Hizbullah.
Israeli society gradually concluded the situation in the north was intolerable, and support grew for the idea that the military should do what it must to enable civilians to return to their homes.
By the summer of 2024, Israeli military and political leaders no longer took Hizbullah threats as a reason not to attack, but rather the reason to do so forcefully.
The writer is director of the program on counterterrorism and intelligence at the Washington Institute.

The West Should Welcome the Weakening of Hizbullah – Jeremy Havardi (Jewish News-UK)
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.
Nasrallah should be seen as a mass murdering psychopath intent on spreading an insidious brand of Shi’ite fanaticism across the region.
His sudden demise should be welcomed as an essential step in providing long-term security and stability in the Middle East.

The Mirage of the “Two-State” Solution – Editorial (Toronto Sun-Canada)
While Prime Minister Trudeau and other world leaders keep talking about a “two-state” solution to the ongoing war in Gaza, it’s important to understand this is a pipe dream.
The two-state solution means creating an independent Palestinian state living in peace alongside a secure Israel.
The problem is that Hamas, designated by Canada as a terrorist group, wants what in effect would be a one-state solution – Israel cleansed of its Jewish population – as the new Palestine.
Prime Minister Netanyahu says unilaterally granting a separate state to the Palestinians would reward Hamas for its terrorism of Oct. 7, and that any future negotiations must be carried out directly between the parties, without international pressure.

Poll: UK Jews More Attached to Israel since Oct. 7 – Simon Rocker (Jewish Chronicle-UK)
A poll by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) found that the percentage of British Jews who said they were very or somewhat attached to Israel rose from 73% in 2022 to 78% in the summer of 2024.
49% felt more attached after Oct. 7 compared with 19% who had become less attached.
59% agreed that “public and media criticism of Israel make me feel Jews are not welcome in the UK.”

Columbia University Donations Drop in Wake of Anti-Israel Protests – Lauren Elkies Schram (New York Post)
Columbia University saw donations at its annual fundraiser drop 29% after the spate of anti-Israel protests on campus earlier this year.
The university also saw a 28% drop in the number of gifts, falling from 19,229 in 2022 to 13,870, the lowest since 2015, according to the campus newspaper Columbia Spectator.

The Anti-Israel Mind: A Portrait in Unreality – Editorial (Wall Street Journal)
On Monday’s anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, Sen. Elizabeth Warren issued a statement that devoted more words to chastising Israel than Hamas.
After noting that Israel “has the right to defend itself,” she lacerated Israel for how it has defended itself, saying, “This cycle of violence won’t make anyone safer.”
Ah, the “cycle of violence” theory of war. If only Israel would stop targeting those trying to kill its citizens, somehow the violence would end.
She also noted that “Violence is escalating throughout the region, including most recently in Lebanon.”
No mention that Hizbullah launched 8,000 missiles at Israeli towns and cities before Israel decided to act to stop the bombing.
These statements explain why Israel’s enemies believe they can win a political victory against the Jewish state in the West.
They condemn an ally trying to protect its people from annihilation more than they do the enemies who would annihilate them.

Choose a Side: The Barbarous Regime that Oppresses and Murders Women, Workers and Minorities, or Israel – Brendan O’Neill (Spiked-UK)
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.
The Israelophobes of social media who salivated over Iran’s attack were cheering a military operation that killed yet another Gazan.
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.
What is really troublesome is the haughty indignation of pampered Westerners who are lucky enough never to have experienced the existential threat of a pincer movement of racist armies.
Israel, in countering Iran’s pitiless exploitation of various states to prop up its fundamentalist worldview, is behaving far more like a “resistance.”
It 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.

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