LIVE UPDATES — FROM JAN. 6TH – 12TH
Israel At War: Week Fourteen Coverage
TRUSTED ANALYSIS
ISRAEL WAR — TIMELINE
Day 98 — Friday, January 12
Germany To Intervene For Israel At ICJ, Slams South Africa's Accusation As Baseless
Germany will intervene on Israel’s behalf as a third party in the International Court of Justice’s genocide hearing against Israel, according to Steffen Hebestreit, the spokesman for Germany’s federal government.
In a Friday press release, Hebestreit stated that while Germany supports the International Court of Justice in its work, it also supports Israel’s right to self-defense and rejects the ICJ’s accusation of genocide.
“The federal government firmly rejects the accusation of genocide made against Israel. It has no basis whatsoever,” Hebestreit reiterated in a post on X.
Israel rejected as false the accusations brought by South Africa at the ICJ, the UN’s top court.
Day 98 — Friday, January 12
Analysis — Red Sea Chaos: Is The Aggression Of Yemen’s Houthis Rebels Prophetically Significant?
Ever since the Hamas invasion of Israel, the Houthis in Yemen have been firing daily ballistic missiles and suicide drones at Israel, in addition to attacking ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis stand in solidarity with Hamas. They insist that when Israel withdraws from Gaza, they will stop these attacks.
While there are isolated Iran proxies In Iraq and Syria, the three main groups doing the bidding of Iran are Hamas in Gaza, which Israel is attacking now, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the southern portion of Syria, and the Houthi rebels located in Yemen.
Who Are The Houthis?
An article published in late December by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) states, “The Houthi movement’s ideology is deeply rooted in antisemitic, Islamic fundamentalist, anti-American sentiment, as reflected in the slogan on its flag…”
The slogan on the Houthi flag reads: “Allah is great, death to the USA, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam.” That pretty well summarizes what they’re all about.
AJC further noted that “the Houthis are an extremist Shia-Islamist movement and terrorist army.”
Only about 15% of Muslims in the world are Shiites, and about 85% are Sunnis. There are only three nations in the world that have a majority of Shiite Muslims—Iraq, Iran, and Bahrain. The Houthis are part of this Shiite wing of Islam.
“Backed by Iran, this organization controls approximately one-third of Yemen’s territory and more than two-thirds of the country’s population,” the article continues, “It has emerged as a prominent player in the Israel-Hamas war.”
“In recent weeks, Houthi terrorists have fired near daily ballistic missiles and suicide drones at Israel and ships in the Red Sea – most of them intercepted by Israel’s multi-layered air defense system or U.S. warships in the Red Sea,” the AJC described.
Day 98 — Friday, January 12
Netanyahu Responds To Genocide Hearings At The Hague: 'We Are Fighting Lies... The World Is Upside Down'
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, convened on Thursday to hear South Africa’s prosecution accusing Israel of genocide, the most serious accusation the court can hear. The first hearing lasted about three hours, covering South Africa’s claims of genocide.
Besides the charge of genocide, South Africa is asking the court to grant temporary relief by ordering Israel to stop the war. South African lawyer Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, asking for provisional measures against Israel, said, “Huge swaths of Gaza are being wiped from the map.”
She continued, “Experts warn that deaths from deprivation and disease risk outstripping deaths from war.”
According to Ni Ghralaigh, “The condition of urgency is met when acts of exceptional prejudice can occur before the court can make a final decision.”
South African lawyers claim that Israel is committing genocide by design in the Gaza war.
“The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life,” said South African lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
The South African government said this is a pattern of behavior, claiming the war is a culmination of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians.
South African lawyer Adila Hassim said the International Court of Justice (ICJ) “has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention” which demonstrate “a plausible claim of genocidal acts.”
South Africa’s Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusi Madonsela called Israel a colonizer and accused the Jewish state of apartheid, occupation and discriminatory laws, policies, and practices.
The South African legal team accused Israel of several crimes, including:
- Targeting Palestinians living in Gaza using weaponry that causes large scale, homicidal destruction, as well as targeted sniping of civilians.
- Designating safe zones for Palestinians to seek refuge and then bombing these.
- Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of basic needs—food, water, health care, fuel, sanitation, and communications.
- Destroying social infrastructure, homes, schools, mosques, churches, hospitals, and killing, seriously injuring, and leaving large numbers of children orphaned.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the claims, saying: “We are fighting terrorists, and we are fighting lies.”
“Today, again, we saw an upside-down world, in which the State of Israel is accused of genocide at a time when it is fighting genocide,” the premier said.
Netanyahu brought focus to the atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7 which led to Israel’s response.
“A terrorist organization carried out the worst crime against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and now someone comes to defend it in the name of the Holocaust. What brazen gall. The world is upside down,” he continued.
“And the IDF, the most moral army in the world, which does everything to avoid harming non-combatants, stands accused – by the representatives of these monsters – of genocide.”
“South Africa’s hypocrisy screams to the high Heavens.”
“Where was South Africa when millions of people were being murdered and uprooted from their homes in Syria and Yemen, by whom? By Hamas’s partners. The world is upside down. Where were you?”
We know where we are. We will continue to fight the terrorists. We will continue to refute the lies. We will continue to uphold our just right to defend ourselves and to ensure our future – until total victory,” Netanyahu concluded.
The second hearing is scheduled to take place on Friday morning, in which Israel will seek to repudiate the claims made by South Africa. This hearing is also expected to last around three hours.
Legal experts have said that South Africa’s charges will be hard to prove, as it must demonstrate intent to commit genocide.
Israel’s defense is expected to include references to relevant sections of the Geneva Conventions, as South Africa’s claims would likely need to demonstrate Israel is violating those conventions in its military operations in Gaza for the purpose of genocide.
While Israel has ignored similar attempts to attend hearings at the ICJ, its decision to respond to the charges is seen to be related to its national identity. The Holocaust was the impetus for both the Geneva Conventions and the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.
The case will likely take several years, and the request for “provisional measures” could take weeks, potentially leading to a decision being rendered around the same time that active military conflict ends, as long as Israel successfully locates and captures or eliminates Hamas leadership in Gaza.
Day 98 — Friday, January 12
Analysis — Amir Tsarfati: When God Made His Covenant With Israel, He Did So Without Caveats
Another week has gone by under wartime, and, as seems to regularly be the case, there have been some highlights and there have been some sorrows. Through it all, the people of Israel remain as dedicated as ever to defeat the enemies who are surrounding us. Unfortunately, it appears that the resolve of our allies is waning. As you’ll see below, it may not be long until we are on our own while new enemies step up against us. Rather than bombs and bullets, their weapons will be politics and pressure, sanctions and seizures, judgments and isolation. I mentioned last week the case brought by South Africa to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague accusing Israel of genocide. It is such an asinine condemnation, but I would not be surprised to see it affirmed. The ICC is an organ of the United Nations (UN), and there is nothing that the UN enjoys more than a good, old denunciation of Israel.
But Jews are used to going it alone. It is something we have had to do off and on for millennia. The only difference now is that it may be the first time that we will have been isolated as a state. If that is what happens, then so be it. We’ve been at the pointy end of the world’s swords before, yet here we are, united and stronger as a people than we have ever been. The credit for that fact does not have a human source, but One which is divine in nature.
Israel will never be completely alone in this world. God has made a covenant with His chosen people that still stands today. “But, Amir, Israel is a secular nation that still rejects the Messiah.” True. But when God made His covenant with Israel, He did so without caveats. This is a truth that He emphasized through the prophet Jeremiah, where we read:
Jeremiah 33:25-26 KJV – “Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; 26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.”
So, actually, I may be wrong. There appears to be a caveat here. When there is no day or night anymore and all the God-ordained natural systems of the universe cease, that is when the covenant will end. The fact that the sun rose this morning, however, is enough to tell you that God’s covenant still stands, and Israel is still His chosen people. That is where my hope and my peace rests. No matter what we are facing as a nation, we will survive it because God is truly on our side.
Day 97 — Thursday, January 11
US, UK Strike Houthis In Yemen In First Such Response To Red Sea Shipping Disruptions
The United States and Britain have started carrying out strikes against targets linked to the Houthis in Yemen for the first time since Iran-backed group started targeting international shipping in the Red Sea after Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught against Israel.
“American-Zionist-British aggression against Yemen launches several raids on the capital, Sanaa, Hodeidah governorate, Saada, and Dhamar,” Houthi official Abdul Qader al-Mortada says on X.
A US official says the strikes were carried out from aircrafts, ships and a submarine.
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been targeting Red Sea shipping routes to show their support for Hamas. The attacks have disrupted international commerce on the key route between Europe and Asia that accounts for about 15% of the world’s shipping traffic.
BREAKING: VIDEO OF MAJOR STRIKES IN MULTIPLE LOCATIONS IN YEMEN pic.twitter.com/BKb8oWitKe
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) January 11, 2024
US President Joe Biden says that the United States and Britain, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, had conducted strikes in Yemen at sites used by Houthi rebels.
“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea—including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Biden says in a statement released by the White House.
“These attacks have endangered US personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation,” Biden says.
Biden says he would “not hesitate” to direct further measures to protect people and the free flow of commerce.
Day 97 — Thursday, January 11
IDF Provides Evidence Showing Two Al Jazeera Journalists Killed In Airstrikes Were Terror Operatives
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday presented evidence that two Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday were terrorist operatives, and said that they were operating drones that put soldiers at risk.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during his Middle Eastern diplomatic swing, called the deaths of Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuria an “unimaginable tragedy.” The statement came after Al Jazeera reported that two of its employees were killed in the strike on a vehicle in the Rafah area. The Qatari state media accused Jerusalem of deliberately targeting the freelance journalists.
However, a document that the IDF posted to social media appears to prove that Thuria was a Hamas operative. The document lists him as a deputy squad commander in a battalion of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the terror group’s “military wing.”
Other documents found by the IDF indicate that Dadough was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative whose specialty is electronic engineering and who previously served as a deputy commander of a platoon in the Zaytoun Battalion. Before his death, he was in charge of a section of PIJ’s rocket unit.
Additionally, Israel said that Dadough had carried out terrorist attacks against Israel.
“Before the attack, the two operated drones in a manner that created a real threat to our forces, who directed … aircraft to attack the terrorists who were responsible for operating them,” the IDF said.
The IDF initially said on Sunday that it “struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to IDF troops.”
Day 96 — Wednesday, January 10
NY’s Siena College Under Fire For Inviting Professor Who Claimed Zionist Doctors Are Threat To US Medicine: ‘Unmistakably Antisemitic’
Upstate New York’s Siena College is coming under fire for inviting a medical professor to speak on campus — despite her claiming that Zionist doctors could pose a threat to US medicine and public health.
“The presence of Zionism in US medicine should be examined as a structural impediment to health equity,” Dr. Rupa Marya, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, posted on X last week.
“Zionism is a supremacist; racist ideology and we see Zionist doctors justifying the genocide of Palestinians,” she continued.
“How does their outlook/position impact priorities in US medicine?”
Local lawmakers and Jewish civil rights groups slammed the comments as antisemitic and questioned Siena College’s selection of Marya as speaker in a March lecture series.
“Portraying Zionists as a threat to US medicine is unmistakably antisemitic,” Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres told The Post on Wednesday.
“Professor Rupa Mary has no business being in academia, let alone speaking at Siena College. She is an embarrassment to the academic enterprise,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League said it was “deeply troubling” that Siena College had invited “invited someone who has shared horrific and hateful antisemitic conspiracy theories” to be part of its Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King Lecture Series on Race and Nonviolent Social Change.
“While there’s room for criticism of Israel on campus, there is simply no room for those who promote antisemitic conspiracy theories,” the ADL rep said.
“We strongly condemn Dr. Marya’s hateful rhetoric and are in direct contact with university leaders and have urged them to reconsider this choice.”
Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a former longtime trustee of the City University of New York’s governing board added that, “Saying Zionism has no place is the same as saying the Jews have no place in medicine.”
“Zionism means Judaism. You’re saying Jews shouldn’t be in medicine. Without Jewish doctors you could close half the hospitals in New York,” he said.
He noted that Israeli doctors have treated enemies in the leadership of Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
“Israeli doctors save the lives of many Palestinians. She knows it,” Wiesenfeld said.
Day 96 — Wednesday, January 10
Chief Of Staff: After Gaza - We'll Know Pecisely What To Do In Lebanon
The Chief of Staff held an assessment today (Wednesday) in the center of Gaza with the commander of the Southern Command, Major General Yaron Finkelman, commander of Division 36, Brigadier General Dado Bar Kalifa and other officers.
In a conversation with the soldiers, Halevi said that “this fighting is in a very, very complex space. There is underground, there is on ground, there is an enemy who has been preparing for a long, long time to defend itself in a very orderly manner. There is a population here, with many, many houses – it is a very, very complicated zone for fighting.”
“When coming to blow up such a system like what you did here over the past few days along the Salah al-Din Road, which is a very complex task, it must be said – we are taking action here like we have never done before. As soon as something bad happens, and something very bad has happened to us here, we lost quite a few soldiers, and many were injured. The only thing left for us as commanders – is to learn, learn, learn.
“Long fighting, many areas, we have many challenges, I see the capabilities here, I know very well what it is like to deal with any problem in Gaza. There is not a square kilometer in Gaza that you do not know how to get in there and take it apart. There is no such thing, after what you have done – there is no such thing,” he added.
The Chief of Staff also sent a message to Hezbollah when he told his soldiers: “After what you have done, there is no village in Lebanon that you cannot enter and destroy. We will put you where it is needed. You will do what is needed there. There is going to be a long war on the other side, we will leave with good results.”
Day 96 — Wednesday, January 10
Watchdog Finds UNRWA Workers Praised Hamas Massacres In Internal Telegram Channel
An investigation by the UN Watch group finds that United Nations workers in Gaza used an internal Telegram channel, which was meant to facilitate their work, to praise the Hamas massacres on October 7.
The probe finds that many of the workers at the United Nations Relief Works Agency — the UN body for Palestinian refugees — explicitly praised the onslaught in which some 3,000 terrorists crossed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages, most of them civilians.
“This is the motherlode of UNRWA teachers’ incitement to Jihadi terrorism,” says Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental organization that monitors the world body.
The report provides examples, including UNRWA teacher Waseem Ula who shared a post of a suicide bomb vest wired with explosives, with the caption: “Wait, sons of Judaism.”
Another UNRWA teacher, Abdallah Mehjez, explicitly called on civilians not to heed IDF evacuation orders and remain as human shields for Hamas.
Day 95 — Tuesday, January 9
IDF Releases Names Of Four Soldiers Killed In Action In Gaza
The IDF on Tuesday morning identified four soldiers who had fallen in battle in the Gaza Strip.
Day 95 — Tuesday, January 9
Analysis — Living Alongside Adversaries Whose Greatest Aspiration Is To Eradicate Your Nation And People
In the classic musical, Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye looks to heaven and exclaims, “I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?”
Most of us have never been viscerally hated for who we are. We have not lived alongside people who proclaim their greatest aspiration is to eradicate our nation and our families. Welcome to the reality of Israeli Jews.
On October 7th, the long-declared intention of Hamas was carried out with murderous results. For a few traumatic hours, a few thousand Hamas terrorists and other Palestinian opportunists rampaged in southern Israel. They massacred over 1,400 men, women, and children, wounded scores more, and kidnapped 242 people—dragging them back to Gaza and imprisoning them in an underground warren of terror tunnels. Even now, the fate of those hostages remains maddeningly unclear.
To understand the biblical and prophetic implications of this attack—and the ensuing War in Gaza—we need to consider the who, what, when, where, and why.
Prophetically, we know that the remaining Jewish diaspora will be motivated to return home to Israel. This war may spark a mass Aliyah. [Aliyah = “Going Up”, a Jew returning to Israel] But we also know all the nations of the world will come against Israel in the End Times. Rising Antisemitism in the West is providing the motivation for the diaspora to return, and the rapidly shifting sands of political expediency demonstrate why the nations will turn against God’s chosen people when they are fully regathered to their ancient homeland.
The accelerating pace of world events is yet another sign that we are living in the End Times. The wars forecast in Scripture may materialize very soon—and in rapid succession.
Day 95 — Tuesday, January 9
Analysis — ‘Al Capone Method’: The Antisemitic Harvard President Resigned… But Not For What You Think
The minute she let out that a genocide of the Jewish people depended on the context was the minute she should have resigned or been fired, period. That she didn’t see the gravity of her statement was bad enough as a human being, but much worse as the president of an Ivy League school such as Harvard. Then, the board backed her up and kept her in her position. Both Miss Gay and the Harvard board dug their heels. They wouldn’t address the elephant in the room: antisemitism.
What happened next could be called the “Al Capone Method”. In Capone’s case, not able to get him for multiple murders, the authorities arrested him, found him guilty, and incarcerated him, but for tax evasion. To be sure, I am not comparing Miss Gay to Al Capone but simply making a parallel in the methodology used. Different means to the same end.
When she should have been fired for antisemitism, Miss Gay wasn’t, but soon after, she was accused of multiple cases of plagiarism connected to her Ph.D., and for that, she eventually had to resign from her position as President of Harvard. She did issue an apology for her faux pas…too little too late, and the firing was deserved but based on the wrong motive. Incidentally, Miss Gay has retained her teaching position at Harvard.
When it comes to Jew-hatred, it is always easier to condemn historical antisemitism, such as the crimes of the Nazis or even other crimes against the Jews throughout history. What is done is done and it is far enough removed in the past for anyone to argue its veracity unless they are historical revisionists. The challenge with modern antisemitism is that it is happening in front of our very eyes, and so we have a duty to expose it and denounce it. We must take sides in real-time, and this might affect us in many ways. The price might be high, but it is the price to pay for doing the right thing.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
IDF Kills Hamas Rocket Director In Syria: 'We Will Not Allow Terrorism From Syrian Territory'
The IDF has eliminated the terrorist responsible for recent rocket launches by the Hamas terror organization from Syria toward Israel.
Today (Monday), the IDF eliminated Hassan Hakashah in Beit Jinn in Syria. He was a central figure responsible for rockets fired by Hamas from Syrian territory toward Israel in recent weeks.
The IDF stated “We will not allow terrorism from Syrian territory and hold Syria responsible for all activity emanating from its territory. The IDF will continue to act against any threat posed to the State of Israel.”
Arutz Sheva
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Analysis — Israel Matters To The Past, Present, And Future Of Human History
Israel is in the news today in lots of different ways, and people have lots of opinions. But I want you to know Israel is a special place. Israel is the “Bible land.”
All the important things of human history that God has planned, both from the past, present, and future, are focused largely within what I call “the Golden Triangle.” It’s about five and a half miles long, a mile wide at the most. That’s why Israel is so unique.
In this triangle, and around that triangle as well, God said that there would be a unique people, the Jewish people, and through them, the Messiah would come. This Messiah would be the descendant of Abraham and also of King David. He would be born in Bethlehem, just five miles from Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is incredibly important. This is the only place on earth where God has chosen to make His name known so that you and I might know Him and have a relationship with Him. In the old days, God chose this place. It is here that Jewish people set up the temple and followed God’s instructions, and here that God met/tabernacled with them. Down the valley, there is Bethlehem, where Jesus was born—the incarnation. Within the golden triangle, everything about Jesus is going to unfold.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Report: Israeli Strike On South Lebanon Kills Elite Hezbollah Commander
An alleged Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Monday killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, three security sources told Reuters.
The security sources identified him as Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy head of a unit within the Radwan force. They said he and another Hezbollah fighter were killed when their car was hit in a strike on the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm.
“This is a very painful strike,” one of the security sources said.
Hezbollah has lost over 130 terrorists in Israeli shelling on southern Lebanon since cross-border bombardment began in the aftermath of Hamas’s rampage in Israeli territory on Oct. 7.
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah cautioned Israel in two televised addresses last week against launching a full-scale war on Lebanon.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Evidence Shows Iran Trained Hamas On How To Produce, Use Precision-Guided Missles: Israel
Israel says it has uncovered evidence that Iran trained Hamas on how to produce and use precision-guided missiles — suggesting the terror group has significantly upgraded its weapons capabilities.
“Under Iranian guidance, Hamas operatives learned how to operate and build precision missile production components and strategic weapons,” the Israel Defense Forces said Sunday.
“This is indicated by the findings of IDF troops at a weapons production site located in a 100-meter-long Hamas tunnel uncovered in Daraj Tuffah, northern Gaza.”
Photos from the weapons production site showed what the IDF said was a rocket engine and cruise missile warhead built by Hamas.
Accompanying video posted to X showed IDF troops sorting through their findings inside a home they’d recently secured, which was filled with weapons components, Hamas uniforms and even a United Nations Relief Works Agency identification card.
Before the newly uncovered evidence, Hamas was believed to have been equipped to use only unguided missiles, according to the Times of Israel.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
US Envoy: China Allowing Antisemitic Content To Skyrocket On Its Tightly-Controlled Internet Since Oct. 7
Antisemitic content on China’s tightly controlled internet has skyrocketed since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, according to a senior Biden administration official.
“What we saw after October 7 was a drastic change in the social media within China. The antisemitism became more unplugged, more free-flowing,” US deputy antisemitism envoy Aaron Keyak tells The Washington Post.
“Because we know that the Chinese internet is not free, that’s a conscious decision by the Chinese government to allow that kind of rhetoric to be greatly increased,” Keyak says.
“This is not some kind of uptick, this was a tsunami of antisemitic rhetoric that was allowed to spread on China’s social media,” Keyak says. “This sort of drastic increase that has been sustained since October 7 coming out of China does not happen by accident.”
The Chinese government denies that it promotes or allows antisemitism to fester online.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Report: Photojournalists Called On Gazans To Join Massacre On October 7
A photojournalist who lives in the Gaza Strip and worked for several international news organizations called on residents of Gaza to storm the border with Israel after Hamas terrorists launched their attack on the morning of October 7, an investigation by Honest Reporting has found.
According to the report, the freelancer made the call while, together with another Gaza photojournalist, happily showing footage from the Hamas massacre in which an IDF soldier was being lynched. The two laughed when describing how the soldier was already dead as the terrorist continued to brutalize his body.
The freelancer worked for Reuters, AP, APA Images, and Turkish news agency Anadolu.
Honest Reporting stated that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh had twice kissed the photojournalist in question.
Both photojournalists stated that they had been with the Hamas terrorists since the beginning of the operation on October 7 and described witnessing the kidnapping of Israelis from a safe room in Sderot.
One photojournalist said to Gazans watching the video: “Advice, whoever can go – go. It is a one-time event that will not happen again.”
“Really, it will not repeat itself,” the other one said in agreement.
The photojournalist added: “Perhaps I saw at least 50 female settlers that young people were taking.”
He further said that any Gazan who decided to take part in the massacre “can go at least 10 kilometers, if not more.”
A photograph by the photojournalist was chosen as one of the ‘pictures of the month’ in October by Reuters.
Over 1,200 people were murdered in southern Israel on October 7, making it the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Nazi Holocaust. In addition, ABout 240 people were kidnapped and taken to Gaza. Over 130 people are still held hostage in Gaza over three months later.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Biden Says US Is Working To ‘Significantly’ Get Israel Out Of Gaza; Israel: Anything Short Of 'Total Israeli Victory' Will Fuel Extremism
The White House has been pushing Israel to massively reduce its military presence in Gaza, US President Joe Biden said on Monday as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was schedule to visit Tel Aviv on Tuesday to meet with top official about the transition to a low intensity campaign in the enclave.
“I have been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them [to] reduce and significantly get out of Gaza,” Biden said, in what has been one of his clearest statements to date expressing his desire for the Gaza war to end.He spoke after several protesters calling “ceasefire now” interrupted his remarks.
“I understand their passion,” Biden said of the protesters as security removed them from the church.
The US has publicly defended the IDF campaign in Gaza and provided military support even as it has pressed Israel to begin a low intensity phase and to do more to both protect Palestinian civilians and to secure the entry of humanitarian assistance into the enclave.
In Qatar, Blinken on Sunday said, that “to many innocent Palestinian lives had been lost.”
Prior to leaving Saudi Arabia for Israel, Blinken laid out all these points for reporters including his support for Israeli security and Palestinian statehood.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday that G7 major powers are working with Israel to secure a “rapid” end to its devastating war in Gaza and reduce civilian casualties, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday.
An Italian foreign ministry statement said Tajani had phone calls with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and suggested “joint forms of pressure, at G7 level, on the parties involved (in the conflict) to achieve certain objectives.”
“G7 countries are working with the Israeli government to find a rapid way out of the military phase,” it quoted Tajani as saying as Italy begins its one-year presidency of the Group of Seven major industrialized powers.
It said this would help revive prospects of negotiating the “difficult but unavoidable” two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines.
Israel has insisted that it plans to continue its military campaign until it has destroyed Hamas in Gaza and secured the release of what now esteemed to be some 136 hostages, seized during the October 7 attack.
Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said on Monday that the free world understands that “anything short of a total Israeli victory after the 10.7 atrocities would leave Hamas free and emboldened to attack again thinking it has the support of the international community.”
A failure to defeat Hamas would “fuel violent extremism around the world the same sort of violent extremism we have been helping to thwart on the streets of Western capitals,” he said.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Netanyahu Tells Hezbollah To Learn From What IDF Did To Hamas: 'No Terrorist Is Immune'
The war against Hamas will continue “until victory,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, the three-month anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre in the northwestern Negev.
Speaking at the start of the regular weekly Cabinet meeting, which was held at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv instead of its usual meeting place at the Knesset in Jerusalem, the premier issued a warning to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“I have a clear message for our enemies: What happened on October 7 will not happen again. This is the commitment of my government and this is the reason why our soldiers in the field are giving their lives. Our commanders and soldiers, conscripts and reservists, in the north and the south, repeat one thing: ‘We are not coming back until we carry out [the mission],’ and I say: ‘We are not stopping until victory,’” Netanyahu said, according to a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“The war must not be stopped until we achieve all of its goals: Eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel. I say this to both our enemies and our friends. This is our responsibility and it is the responsibility of all of us,” he continued.
“Every other consideration must be set aside, and we must continue until total victory. This victory will be achieved only when we complete our goals and when we restore security to residents of the north and south alike,” the premier continued.
“I suggest that Hezbollah learn what Hamas has already learned in recent months: No terrorist is immune. We are determined to defend our citizens and to return the residents of the north safely to their homes. This is a national goal that we all share and which we are all working to achieve responsibly. If we can, we will do so diplomatically, and if not, we will work in other ways,” said Netanyahu.
Day 93 — Sunday, January 7
Four Israeli Border Police Officers Injured By Road-Side Bomb During Overnight Counter-Terror Op In West Bank
Four Border Police officers were wounded by a roadside bomb and six Palestinian were killed in an airstrike during an overnight raid in the West Bank’s Jenin.
In a joint statement, the IDF and police say forces entered Jenin for a counter-terrorism operation, when an explosive device planted on the side of a road hit a Border Police vehicle.
Two officers were seriously wounded, another moderately, and the fourth was lightly hurt, according to police.
The IDF says that during the extraction of the wounded officers, an attack helicopter carried out an airstrike against a group of Palestinian gunmen hurling explosives at troops.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry says six were killed in the strike.
Day 92 — Saturday, January 6
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Enters Red Sea - Report
An American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is in the Red Sea, U.S. Naval Institute reported on Friday. The deployment is said to be a part of Washington’s effort to prevent the Iran-backed Houthis’ attack on vessels in the area.
“USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), the flagship of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, is in the Red Sea as part of U.S. efforts to prevent Houthi attacks on merchant ships, according to USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker,” said U.S. Naval Institute.
Meanwhile, USS Gerald R. Ford is said to have headed back to the U.S. via the Atlantic as it withdrew from the Mediterranean. Earlier on Monday, the U.S. military was reported to bring its largest aircraft carrier strike group (CSG) back to its base in the state of Virginia.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower deployment comes as the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinked has kicked off his Middle Eastern tour in Turkey amid the multi-front tensions in the region that include Houthis’ hostilities in the Red Sea region.
The joint statement from the governments of the U.S., Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and the UK, made earlier on Wednesday, read: “The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways.”
Meanwhile, a former Houthi spokesperson told i24NEWS that Western threats would not deter the group.
Day 92 — Saturday, January 6
‘I’m Afraid Every Day For My Children’: As Antisemitism Soars, French Jews Flee To Israel
Freddo Pachter says that in his 17 years coordinating the immigration of French speakers to Israel for the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, he has never seen such high demand — and that includes after events such as the Hyper Cacher supermarket terror attack, the jihadist murders by Mohammed Merah, and the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
The number of requests he is receiving from French Jews has continued to rise since October 7, reflecting the climate of fear, he says.
“Some people tell me that they are afraid of being in France because they are Jewish, and they took down their mezuzahs,” Pachter says, referring to the parchment scrolls affixed to the doorposts of many Jewish homes. “It’s unbearable to live like that, to hide any sign of Judaism…”
On October 7, thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed the border with Israel under the cover of heavy rocket fire, brutally murdering 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 240 more to the Gaza Strip, where 132 are still being held — not all of them alive. In the wake of the massacre, Israel launched an ongoing military campaign aimed at retrieving the hostages and ousting Hamas from power in the Strip.
The onslaught also set off a violent wave of anti-Israel activity around the globe, with Jews spanning the Diaspora reporting an alarming rise in antisemitic hate crimes often accompanied by anti-Israel messages.
In December, several events were organized in France aimed at providing information and advice for those who wish to relocate to Israel. Gatherings in Paris, Marseille and Lyon each drew hundreds of attendees, some of whom had to travel to get there.
Beyond the increase in demand, Pachter also observed a change in the profile of the people he met during these meetings.
“Usually we see people who are experiencing professional or social difficulty, who have been fired or want to change fields. But this time we had engineers, doctors and lawyers,” says Freddo, who believes this can be attributed to the increase in antisemitic hate crimes in France. “These are no longer people who leave France for financial problems — their lives in France would be more comfortable.”
Pachter’s observation is more than just a hunch — the Aliyah and Integration Ministry has recorded a 430 percent increase in the number of applications from France since the October 7 onslaught. A number of French Jews confirmed to The Times of Israel that they no longer feel safe in France and feel compelled to hide their kippah or other outward signs of Judaism for fear of being targeted.
“I can no longer see myself living in France with everything that is happening. I am afraid every day for my children, it is no longer a life,” says one mother who lives in Paris and requested to remain anonymous for her own safety.
“October 7 changed everything. I would never have imagined thinking of leaving France for Israel. It may seem paradoxical given the situation in Israel, but at least there we will not have to hide,” says another anonymous French Jewish woman who is seriously considering leaving France in the coming months.
ISRAEL WAR — TIMELINE
Day 98 — Friday, January 12
Germany To Intervene For Israel At ICJ, Slams South Africa's Accusation As Baseless
Germany will intervene on Israel’s behalf as a third party in the International Court of Justice’s genocide hearing against Israel, according to Steffen Hebestreit, the spokesman for Germany’s federal government.
In a Friday press release, Hebestreit stated that while Germany supports the International Court of Justice in its work, it also supports Israel’s right to self-defense and rejects the ICJ’s accusation of genocide.
“The federal government firmly rejects the accusation of genocide made against Israel. It has no basis whatsoever,” Hebestreit reiterated in a post on X.
Israel rejected as false the accusations brought by South Africa at the ICJ, the UN’s top court.
Day 98 — Friday, January 12
Analysis — Red Sea Chaos: Is The Aggression Of Yemen’s Houthis Rebels Prophetically Significant?
Ever since the Hamas invasion of Israel, the Houthis in Yemen have been firing daily ballistic missiles and suicide drones at Israel, in addition to attacking ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis stand in solidarity with Hamas. They insist that when Israel withdraws from Gaza, they will stop these attacks.
While there are isolated Iran proxies In Iraq and Syria, the three main groups doing the bidding of Iran are Hamas in Gaza, which Israel is attacking now, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the southern portion of Syria, and the Houthi rebels located in Yemen.
Who Are The Houthis?
An article published in late December by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) states, “The Houthi movement’s ideology is deeply rooted in antisemitic, Islamic fundamentalist, anti-American sentiment, as reflected in the slogan on its flag…”
The slogan on the Houthi flag reads: “Allah is great, death to the USA, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam.” That pretty well summarizes what they’re all about.
AJC further noted that “the Houthis are an extremist Shia-Islamist movement and terrorist army.”
Only about 15% of Muslims in the world are Shiites, and about 85% are Sunnis. There are only three nations in the world that have a majority of Shiite Muslims—Iraq, Iran, and Bahrain. The Houthis are part of this Shiite wing of Islam.
“Backed by Iran, this organization controls approximately one-third of Yemen’s territory and more than two-thirds of the country’s population,” the article continues, “It has emerged as a prominent player in the Israel-Hamas war.”
“In recent weeks, Houthi terrorists have fired near daily ballistic missiles and suicide drones at Israel and ships in the Red Sea – most of them intercepted by Israel’s multi-layered air defense system or U.S. warships in the Red Sea,” the AJC described.
Day 98 — Friday, January 12
Netanyahu Responds To Genocide Hearings At The Hague: 'We Are Fighting Lies... The World Is Upside Down'
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, convened on Thursday to hear South Africa’s prosecution accusing Israel of genocide, the most serious accusation the court can hear. The first hearing lasted about three hours, covering South Africa’s claims of genocide.
Besides the charge of genocide, South Africa is asking the court to grant temporary relief by ordering Israel to stop the war. South African lawyer Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, asking for provisional measures against Israel, said, “Huge swaths of Gaza are being wiped from the map.”
She continued, “Experts warn that deaths from deprivation and disease risk outstripping deaths from war.”
According to Ni Ghralaigh, “The condition of urgency is met when acts of exceptional prejudice can occur before the court can make a final decision.”
South African lawyers claim that Israel is committing genocide by design in the Gaza war.
“The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life,” said South African lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
The South African government said this is a pattern of behavior, claiming the war is a culmination of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians.
South African lawyer Adila Hassim said the International Court of Justice (ICJ) “has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention” which demonstrate “a plausible claim of genocidal acts.”
South Africa’s Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusi Madonsela called Israel a colonizer and accused the Jewish state of apartheid, occupation and discriminatory laws, policies, and practices.
The South African legal team accused Israel of several crimes, including:
- Targeting Palestinians living in Gaza using weaponry that causes large scale, homicidal destruction, as well as targeted sniping of civilians.
- Designating safe zones for Palestinians to seek refuge and then bombing these.
- Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of basic needs—food, water, health care, fuel, sanitation, and communications.
- Destroying social infrastructure, homes, schools, mosques, churches, hospitals, and killing, seriously injuring, and leaving large numbers of children orphaned.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the claims, saying: “We are fighting terrorists, and we are fighting lies.”
“Today, again, we saw an upside-down world, in which the State of Israel is accused of genocide at a time when it is fighting genocide,” the premier said.
Netanyahu brought focus to the atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7 which led to Israel’s response.
“A terrorist organization carried out the worst crime against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and now someone comes to defend it in the name of the Holocaust. What brazen gall. The world is upside down,” he continued.
“And the IDF, the most moral army in the world, which does everything to avoid harming non-combatants, stands accused – by the representatives of these monsters – of genocide.”
“South Africa’s hypocrisy screams to the high Heavens.”
“Where was South Africa when millions of people were being murdered and uprooted from their homes in Syria and Yemen, by whom? By Hamas’s partners. The world is upside down. Where were you?”
We know where we are. We will continue to fight the terrorists. We will continue to refute the lies. We will continue to uphold our just right to defend ourselves and to ensure our future – until total victory,” Netanyahu concluded.
The second hearing is scheduled to take place on Friday morning, in which Israel will seek to repudiate the claims made by South Africa. This hearing is also expected to last around three hours.
Legal experts have said that South Africa’s charges will be hard to prove, as it must demonstrate intent to commit genocide.
Israel’s defense is expected to include references to relevant sections of the Geneva Conventions, as South Africa’s claims would likely need to demonstrate Israel is violating those conventions in its military operations in Gaza for the purpose of genocide.
While Israel has ignored similar attempts to attend hearings at the ICJ, its decision to respond to the charges is seen to be related to its national identity. The Holocaust was the impetus for both the Geneva Conventions and the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.
The case will likely take several years, and the request for “provisional measures” could take weeks, potentially leading to a decision being rendered around the same time that active military conflict ends, as long as Israel successfully locates and captures or eliminates Hamas leadership in Gaza.
Day 98 — Friday, January 12
Analysis — Amir Tsarfati: When God Made His Covenant With Israel, He Did So Without Caveats
Another week has gone by under wartime, and, as seems to regularly be the case, there have been some highlights and there have been some sorrows. Through it all, the people of Israel remain as dedicated as ever to defeat the enemies who are surrounding us. Unfortunately, it appears that the resolve of our allies is waning. As you’ll see below, it may not be long until we are on our own while new enemies step up against us. Rather than bombs and bullets, their weapons will be politics and pressure, sanctions and seizures, judgments and isolation. I mentioned last week the case brought by South Africa to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague accusing Israel of genocide. It is such an asinine condemnation, but I would not be surprised to see it affirmed. The ICC is an organ of the United Nations (UN), and there is nothing that the UN enjoys more than a good, old denunciation of Israel.
But Jews are used to going it alone. It is something we have had to do off and on for millennia. The only difference now is that it may be the first time that we will have been isolated as a state. If that is what happens, then so be it. We’ve been at the pointy end of the world’s swords before, yet here we are, united and stronger as a people than we have ever been. The credit for that fact does not have a human source, but One which is divine in nature.
Israel will never be completely alone in this world. God has made a covenant with His chosen people that still stands today. “But, Amir, Israel is a secular nation that still rejects the Messiah.” True. But when God made His covenant with Israel, He did so without caveats. This is a truth that He emphasized through the prophet Jeremiah, where we read:
Jeremiah 33:25-26 KJV – “Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; 26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.”
So, actually, I may be wrong. There appears to be a caveat here. When there is no day or night anymore and all the God-ordained natural systems of the universe cease, that is when the covenant will end. The fact that the sun rose this morning, however, is enough to tell you that God’s covenant still stands, and Israel is still His chosen people. That is where my hope and my peace rests. No matter what we are facing as a nation, we will survive it because God is truly on our side.
Day 97 — Thursday, January 11
US, UK Strike Houthis In Yemen In First Such Response To Red Sea Shipping Disruptions
The United States and Britain have started carrying out strikes against targets linked to the Houthis in Yemen for the first time since Iran-backed group started targeting international shipping in the Red Sea after Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught against Israel.
“American-Zionist-British aggression against Yemen launches several raids on the capital, Sanaa, Hodeidah governorate, Saada, and Dhamar,” Houthi official Abdul Qader al-Mortada says on X.
A US official says the strikes were carried out from aircrafts, ships and a submarine.
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been targeting Red Sea shipping routes to show their support for Hamas. The attacks have disrupted international commerce on the key route between Europe and Asia that accounts for about 15% of the world’s shipping traffic.
BREAKING: VIDEO OF MAJOR STRIKES IN MULTIPLE LOCATIONS IN YEMEN pic.twitter.com/BKb8oWitKe
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) January 11, 2024
US President Joe Biden says that the United States and Britain, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, had conducted strikes in Yemen at sites used by Houthi rebels.
“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea—including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Biden says in a statement released by the White House.
“These attacks have endangered US personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation,” Biden says.
Biden says he would “not hesitate” to direct further measures to protect people and the free flow of commerce.
Day 97 — Thursday, January 11
IDF Provides Evidence Showing Two Al Jazeera Journalists Killed In Airstrikes Were Terror Operatives
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday presented evidence that two Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday were terrorist operatives, and said that they were operating drones that put soldiers at risk.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during his Middle Eastern diplomatic swing, called the deaths of Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuria an “unimaginable tragedy.” The statement came after Al Jazeera reported that two of its employees were killed in the strike on a vehicle in the Rafah area. The Qatari state media accused Jerusalem of deliberately targeting the freelance journalists.
However, a document that the IDF posted to social media appears to prove that Thuria was a Hamas operative. The document lists him as a deputy squad commander in a battalion of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the terror group’s “military wing.”
Other documents found by the IDF indicate that Dadough was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative whose specialty is electronic engineering and who previously served as a deputy commander of a platoon in the Zaytoun Battalion. Before his death, he was in charge of a section of PIJ’s rocket unit.
Additionally, Israel said that Dadough had carried out terrorist attacks against Israel.
“Before the attack, the two operated drones in a manner that created a real threat to our forces, who directed … aircraft to attack the terrorists who were responsible for operating them,” the IDF said.
The IDF initially said on Sunday that it “struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to IDF troops.”
Day 96 — Wednesday, January 10
NY’s Siena College Under Fire For Inviting Professor Who Claimed Zionist Doctors Are Threat To US Medicine: ‘Unmistakably Antisemitic’
Upstate New York’s Siena College is coming under fire for inviting a medical professor to speak on campus — despite her claiming that Zionist doctors could pose a threat to US medicine and public health.
“The presence of Zionism in US medicine should be examined as a structural impediment to health equity,” Dr. Rupa Marya, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, posted on X last week.
“Zionism is a supremacist; racist ideology and we see Zionist doctors justifying the genocide of Palestinians,” she continued.
“How does their outlook/position impact priorities in US medicine?”
Local lawmakers and Jewish civil rights groups slammed the comments as antisemitic and questioned Siena College’s selection of Marya as speaker in a March lecture series.
“Portraying Zionists as a threat to US medicine is unmistakably antisemitic,” Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres told The Post on Wednesday.
“Professor Rupa Mary has no business being in academia, let alone speaking at Siena College. She is an embarrassment to the academic enterprise,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League said it was “deeply troubling” that Siena College had invited “invited someone who has shared horrific and hateful antisemitic conspiracy theories” to be part of its Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King Lecture Series on Race and Nonviolent Social Change.
“While there’s room for criticism of Israel on campus, there is simply no room for those who promote antisemitic conspiracy theories,” the ADL rep said.
“We strongly condemn Dr. Marya’s hateful rhetoric and are in direct contact with university leaders and have urged them to reconsider this choice.”
Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a former longtime trustee of the City University of New York’s governing board added that, “Saying Zionism has no place is the same as saying the Jews have no place in medicine.”
“Zionism means Judaism. You’re saying Jews shouldn’t be in medicine. Without Jewish doctors you could close half the hospitals in New York,” he said.
He noted that Israeli doctors have treated enemies in the leadership of Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
“Israeli doctors save the lives of many Palestinians. She knows it,” Wiesenfeld said.
Day 96 — Wednesday, January 10
Chief Of Staff: After Gaza - We'll Know Pecisely What To Do In Lebanon
The Chief of Staff held an assessment today (Wednesday) in the center of Gaza with the commander of the Southern Command, Major General Yaron Finkelman, commander of Division 36, Brigadier General Dado Bar Kalifa and other officers.
In a conversation with the soldiers, Halevi said that “this fighting is in a very, very complex space. There is underground, there is on ground, there is an enemy who has been preparing for a long, long time to defend itself in a very orderly manner. There is a population here, with many, many houses – it is a very, very complicated zone for fighting.”
“When coming to blow up such a system like what you did here over the past few days along the Salah al-Din Road, which is a very complex task, it must be said – we are taking action here like we have never done before. As soon as something bad happens, and something very bad has happened to us here, we lost quite a few soldiers, and many were injured. The only thing left for us as commanders – is to learn, learn, learn.
“Long fighting, many areas, we have many challenges, I see the capabilities here, I know very well what it is like to deal with any problem in Gaza. There is not a square kilometer in Gaza that you do not know how to get in there and take it apart. There is no such thing, after what you have done – there is no such thing,” he added.
The Chief of Staff also sent a message to Hezbollah when he told his soldiers: “After what you have done, there is no village in Lebanon that you cannot enter and destroy. We will put you where it is needed. You will do what is needed there. There is going to be a long war on the other side, we will leave with good results.”
Day 96 — Wednesday, January 10
Watchdog Finds UNRWA Workers Praised Hamas Massacres In Internal Telegram Channel
An investigation by the UN Watch group finds that United Nations workers in Gaza used an internal Telegram channel, which was meant to facilitate their work, to praise the Hamas massacres on October 7.
The probe finds that many of the workers at the United Nations Relief Works Agency — the UN body for Palestinian refugees — explicitly praised the onslaught in which some 3,000 terrorists crossed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages, most of them civilians.
“This is the motherlode of UNRWA teachers’ incitement to Jihadi terrorism,” says Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental organization that monitors the world body.
The report provides examples, including UNRWA teacher Waseem Ula who shared a post of a suicide bomb vest wired with explosives, with the caption: “Wait, sons of Judaism.”
Another UNRWA teacher, Abdallah Mehjez, explicitly called on civilians not to heed IDF evacuation orders and remain as human shields for Hamas.
Day 95 — Tuesday, January 9
IDF Releases Names Of Four Soldiers Killed In Action In Gaza
The IDF on Tuesday morning identified four soldiers who had fallen in battle in the Gaza Strip.
Day 95 — Tuesday, January 9
Analysis — Living Alongside Adversaries Whose Greatest Aspiration Is To Eradicate Your Nation And People
In the classic musical, Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye looks to heaven and exclaims, “I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?”
Most of us have never been viscerally hated for who we are. We have not lived alongside people who proclaim their greatest aspiration is to eradicate our nation and our families. Welcome to the reality of Israeli Jews.
On October 7th, the long-declared intention of Hamas was carried out with murderous results. For a few traumatic hours, a few thousand Hamas terrorists and other Palestinian opportunists rampaged in southern Israel. They massacred over 1,400 men, women, and children, wounded scores more, and kidnapped 242 people—dragging them back to Gaza and imprisoning them in an underground warren of terror tunnels. Even now, the fate of those hostages remains maddeningly unclear.
To understand the biblical and prophetic implications of this attack—and the ensuing War in Gaza—we need to consider the who, what, when, where, and why.
Prophetically, we know that the remaining Jewish diaspora will be motivated to return home to Israel. This war may spark a mass Aliyah. [Aliyah = “Going Up”, a Jew returning to Israel] But we also know all the nations of the world will come against Israel in the End Times. Rising Antisemitism in the West is providing the motivation for the diaspora to return, and the rapidly shifting sands of political expediency demonstrate why the nations will turn against God’s chosen people when they are fully regathered to their ancient homeland.
The accelerating pace of world events is yet another sign that we are living in the End Times. The wars forecast in Scripture may materialize very soon—and in rapid succession.
Day 95 — Tuesday, January 9
Analysis — ‘Al Capone Method’: The Antisemitic Harvard President Resigned… But Not For What You Think
The minute she let out that a genocide of the Jewish people depended on the context was the minute she should have resigned or been fired, period. That she didn’t see the gravity of her statement was bad enough as a human being, but much worse as the president of an Ivy League school such as Harvard. Then, the board backed her up and kept her in her position. Both Miss Gay and the Harvard board dug their heels. They wouldn’t address the elephant in the room: antisemitism.
What happened next could be called the “Al Capone Method”. In Capone’s case, not able to get him for multiple murders, the authorities arrested him, found him guilty, and incarcerated him, but for tax evasion. To be sure, I am not comparing Miss Gay to Al Capone but simply making a parallel in the methodology used. Different means to the same end.
When she should have been fired for antisemitism, Miss Gay wasn’t, but soon after, she was accused of multiple cases of plagiarism connected to her Ph.D., and for that, she eventually had to resign from her position as President of Harvard. She did issue an apology for her faux pas…too little too late, and the firing was deserved but based on the wrong motive. Incidentally, Miss Gay has retained her teaching position at Harvard.
When it comes to Jew-hatred, it is always easier to condemn historical antisemitism, such as the crimes of the Nazis or even other crimes against the Jews throughout history. What is done is done and it is far enough removed in the past for anyone to argue its veracity unless they are historical revisionists. The challenge with modern antisemitism is that it is happening in front of our very eyes, and so we have a duty to expose it and denounce it. We must take sides in real-time, and this might affect us in many ways. The price might be high, but it is the price to pay for doing the right thing.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
IDF Kills Hamas Rocket Director In Syria: 'We Will Not Allow Terrorism From Syrian Territory'
The IDF has eliminated the terrorist responsible for recent rocket launches by the Hamas terror organization from Syria toward Israel.
Today (Monday), the IDF eliminated Hassan Hakashah in Beit Jinn in Syria. He was a central figure responsible for rockets fired by Hamas from Syrian territory toward Israel in recent weeks.
The IDF stated “We will not allow terrorism from Syrian territory and hold Syria responsible for all activity emanating from its territory. The IDF will continue to act against any threat posed to the State of Israel.”
Arutz Sheva
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Analysis — Israel Matters To The Past, Present, And Future Of Human History
Israel is in the news today in lots of different ways, and people have lots of opinions. But I want you to know Israel is a special place. Israel is the “Bible land.”
All the important things of human history that God has planned, both from the past, present, and future, are focused largely within what I call “the Golden Triangle.” It’s about five and a half miles long, a mile wide at the most. That’s why Israel is so unique.
In this triangle, and around that triangle as well, God said that there would be a unique people, the Jewish people, and through them, the Messiah would come. This Messiah would be the descendant of Abraham and also of King David. He would be born in Bethlehem, just five miles from Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is incredibly important. This is the only place on earth where God has chosen to make His name known so that you and I might know Him and have a relationship with Him. In the old days, God chose this place. It is here that Jewish people set up the temple and followed God’s instructions, and here that God met/tabernacled with them. Down the valley, there is Bethlehem, where Jesus was born—the incarnation. Within the golden triangle, everything about Jesus is going to unfold.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Report: Israeli Strike On South Lebanon Kills Elite Hezbollah Commander
An alleged Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Monday killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, three security sources told Reuters.
The security sources identified him as Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy head of a unit within the Radwan force. They said he and another Hezbollah fighter were killed when their car was hit in a strike on the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm.
“This is a very painful strike,” one of the security sources said.
Hezbollah has lost over 130 terrorists in Israeli shelling on southern Lebanon since cross-border bombardment began in the aftermath of Hamas’s rampage in Israeli territory on Oct. 7.
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah cautioned Israel in two televised addresses last week against launching a full-scale war on Lebanon.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Evidence Shows Iran Trained Hamas On How To Produce, Use Precision-Guided Missles: Israel
Israel says it has uncovered evidence that Iran trained Hamas on how to produce and use precision-guided missiles — suggesting the terror group has significantly upgraded its weapons capabilities.
“Under Iranian guidance, Hamas operatives learned how to operate and build precision missile production components and strategic weapons,” the Israel Defense Forces said Sunday.
“This is indicated by the findings of IDF troops at a weapons production site located in a 100-meter-long Hamas tunnel uncovered in Daraj Tuffah, northern Gaza.”
Photos from the weapons production site showed what the IDF said was a rocket engine and cruise missile warhead built by Hamas.
Accompanying video posted to X showed IDF troops sorting through their findings inside a home they’d recently secured, which was filled with weapons components, Hamas uniforms and even a United Nations Relief Works Agency identification card.
Before the newly uncovered evidence, Hamas was believed to have been equipped to use only unguided missiles, according to the Times of Israel.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
US Envoy: China Allowing Antisemitic Content To Skyrocket On Its Tightly-Controlled Internet Since Oct. 7
Antisemitic content on China’s tightly controlled internet has skyrocketed since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, according to a senior Biden administration official.
“What we saw after October 7 was a drastic change in the social media within China. The antisemitism became more unplugged, more free-flowing,” US deputy antisemitism envoy Aaron Keyak tells The Washington Post.
“Because we know that the Chinese internet is not free, that’s a conscious decision by the Chinese government to allow that kind of rhetoric to be greatly increased,” Keyak says.
“This is not some kind of uptick, this was a tsunami of antisemitic rhetoric that was allowed to spread on China’s social media,” Keyak says. “This sort of drastic increase that has been sustained since October 7 coming out of China does not happen by accident.”
The Chinese government denies that it promotes or allows antisemitism to fester online.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Report: Photojournalists Called On Gazans To Join Massacre On October 7
A photojournalist who lives in the Gaza Strip and worked for several international news organizations called on residents of Gaza to storm the border with Israel after Hamas terrorists launched their attack on the morning of October 7, an investigation by Honest Reporting has found.
According to the report, the freelancer made the call while, together with another Gaza photojournalist, happily showing footage from the Hamas massacre in which an IDF soldier was being lynched. The two laughed when describing how the soldier was already dead as the terrorist continued to brutalize his body.
The freelancer worked for Reuters, AP, APA Images, and Turkish news agency Anadolu.
Honest Reporting stated that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh had twice kissed the photojournalist in question.
Both photojournalists stated that they had been with the Hamas terrorists since the beginning of the operation on October 7 and described witnessing the kidnapping of Israelis from a safe room in Sderot.
One photojournalist said to Gazans watching the video: “Advice, whoever can go – go. It is a one-time event that will not happen again.”
“Really, it will not repeat itself,” the other one said in agreement.
The photojournalist added: “Perhaps I saw at least 50 female settlers that young people were taking.”
He further said that any Gazan who decided to take part in the massacre “can go at least 10 kilometers, if not more.”
A photograph by the photojournalist was chosen as one of the ‘pictures of the month’ in October by Reuters.
Over 1,200 people were murdered in southern Israel on October 7, making it the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Nazi Holocaust. In addition, ABout 240 people were kidnapped and taken to Gaza. Over 130 people are still held hostage in Gaza over three months later.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Biden Says US Is Working To ‘Significantly’ Get Israel Out Of Gaza; Israel: Anything Short Of 'Total Israeli Victory' Will Fuel Extremism
The White House has been pushing Israel to massively reduce its military presence in Gaza, US President Joe Biden said on Monday as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was schedule to visit Tel Aviv on Tuesday to meet with top official about the transition to a low intensity campaign in the enclave.
“I have been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them [to] reduce and significantly get out of Gaza,” Biden said, in what has been one of his clearest statements to date expressing his desire for the Gaza war to end.He spoke after several protesters calling “ceasefire now” interrupted his remarks.
“I understand their passion,” Biden said of the protesters as security removed them from the church.
The US has publicly defended the IDF campaign in Gaza and provided military support even as it has pressed Israel to begin a low intensity phase and to do more to both protect Palestinian civilians and to secure the entry of humanitarian assistance into the enclave.
In Qatar, Blinken on Sunday said, that “to many innocent Palestinian lives had been lost.”
Prior to leaving Saudi Arabia for Israel, Blinken laid out all these points for reporters including his support for Israeli security and Palestinian statehood.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday that G7 major powers are working with Israel to secure a “rapid” end to its devastating war in Gaza and reduce civilian casualties, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday.
An Italian foreign ministry statement said Tajani had phone calls with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and suggested “joint forms of pressure, at G7 level, on the parties involved (in the conflict) to achieve certain objectives.”
“G7 countries are working with the Israeli government to find a rapid way out of the military phase,” it quoted Tajani as saying as Italy begins its one-year presidency of the Group of Seven major industrialized powers.
It said this would help revive prospects of negotiating the “difficult but unavoidable” two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines.
Israel has insisted that it plans to continue its military campaign until it has destroyed Hamas in Gaza and secured the release of what now esteemed to be some 136 hostages, seized during the October 7 attack.
Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said on Monday that the free world understands that “anything short of a total Israeli victory after the 10.7 atrocities would leave Hamas free and emboldened to attack again thinking it has the support of the international community.”
A failure to defeat Hamas would “fuel violent extremism around the world the same sort of violent extremism we have been helping to thwart on the streets of Western capitals,” he said.
Day 94 — Monday, January 8
Netanyahu Tells Hezbollah To Learn From What IDF Did To Hamas: 'No Terrorist Is Immune'
The war against Hamas will continue “until victory,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, the three-month anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre in the northwestern Negev.
Speaking at the start of the regular weekly Cabinet meeting, which was held at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv instead of its usual meeting place at the Knesset in Jerusalem, the premier issued a warning to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“I have a clear message for our enemies: What happened on October 7 will not happen again. This is the commitment of my government and this is the reason why our soldiers in the field are giving their lives. Our commanders and soldiers, conscripts and reservists, in the north and the south, repeat one thing: ‘We are not coming back until we carry out [the mission],’ and I say: ‘We are not stopping until victory,’” Netanyahu said, according to a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“The war must not be stopped until we achieve all of its goals: Eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel. I say this to both our enemies and our friends. This is our responsibility and it is the responsibility of all of us,” he continued.
“Every other consideration must be set aside, and we must continue until total victory. This victory will be achieved only when we complete our goals and when we restore security to residents of the north and south alike,” the premier continued.
“I suggest that Hezbollah learn what Hamas has already learned in recent months: No terrorist is immune. We are determined to defend our citizens and to return the residents of the north safely to their homes. This is a national goal that we all share and which we are all working to achieve responsibly. If we can, we will do so diplomatically, and if not, we will work in other ways,” said Netanyahu.
Day 93 — Sunday, January 7
Four Israeli Border Police Officers Injured By Road-Side Bomb During Overnight Counter-Terror Op In West Bank
Four Border Police officers were wounded by a roadside bomb and six Palestinian were killed in an airstrike during an overnight raid in the West Bank’s Jenin.
In a joint statement, the IDF and police say forces entered Jenin for a counter-terrorism operation, when an explosive device planted on the side of a road hit a Border Police vehicle.
Two officers were seriously wounded, another moderately, and the fourth was lightly hurt, according to police.
The IDF says that during the extraction of the wounded officers, an attack helicopter carried out an airstrike against a group of Palestinian gunmen hurling explosives at troops.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry says six were killed in the strike.
Day 92 — Saturday, January 6
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Enters Red Sea - Report
An American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is in the Red Sea, U.S. Naval Institute reported on Friday. The deployment is said to be a part of Washington’s effort to prevent the Iran-backed Houthis’ attack on vessels in the area.
“USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), the flagship of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, is in the Red Sea as part of U.S. efforts to prevent Houthi attacks on merchant ships, according to USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker,” said U.S. Naval Institute.
Meanwhile, USS Gerald R. Ford is said to have headed back to the U.S. via the Atlantic as it withdrew from the Mediterranean. Earlier on Monday, the U.S. military was reported to bring its largest aircraft carrier strike group (CSG) back to its base in the state of Virginia.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower deployment comes as the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinked has kicked off his Middle Eastern tour in Turkey amid the multi-front tensions in the region that include Houthis’ hostilities in the Red Sea region.
The joint statement from the governments of the U.S., Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and the UK, made earlier on Wednesday, read: “The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways.”
Meanwhile, a former Houthi spokesperson told i24NEWS that Western threats would not deter the group.
Day 92 — Saturday, January 6
‘I’m Afraid Every Day For My Children’: As Antisemitism Soars, French Jews Flee To Israel
Freddo Pachter says that in his 17 years coordinating the immigration of French speakers to Israel for the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, he has never seen such high demand — and that includes after events such as the Hyper Cacher supermarket terror attack, the jihadist murders by Mohammed Merah, and the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
The number of requests he is receiving from French Jews has continued to rise since October 7, reflecting the climate of fear, he says.
“Some people tell me that they are afraid of being in France because they are Jewish, and they took down their mezuzahs,” Pachter says, referring to the parchment scrolls affixed to the doorposts of many Jewish homes. “It’s unbearable to live like that, to hide any sign of Judaism…”
On October 7, thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed the border with Israel under the cover of heavy rocket fire, brutally murdering 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 240 more to the Gaza Strip, where 132 are still being held — not all of them alive. In the wake of the massacre, Israel launched an ongoing military campaign aimed at retrieving the hostages and ousting Hamas from power in the Strip.
The onslaught also set off a violent wave of anti-Israel activity around the globe, with Jews spanning the Diaspora reporting an alarming rise in antisemitic hate crimes often accompanied by anti-Israel messages.
In December, several events were organized in France aimed at providing information and advice for those who wish to relocate to Israel. Gatherings in Paris, Marseille and Lyon each drew hundreds of attendees, some of whom had to travel to get there.
Beyond the increase in demand, Pachter also observed a change in the profile of the people he met during these meetings.
“Usually we see people who are experiencing professional or social difficulty, who have been fired or want to change fields. But this time we had engineers, doctors and lawyers,” says Freddo, who believes this can be attributed to the increase in antisemitic hate crimes in France. “These are no longer people who leave France for financial problems — their lives in France would be more comfortable.”
Pachter’s observation is more than just a hunch — the Aliyah and Integration Ministry has recorded a 430 percent increase in the number of applications from France since the October 7 onslaught. A number of French Jews confirmed to The Times of Israel that they no longer feel safe in France and feel compelled to hide their kippah or other outward signs of Judaism for fear of being targeted.
“I can no longer see myself living in France with everything that is happening. I am afraid every day for my children, it is no longer a life,” says one mother who lives in Paris and requested to remain anonymous for her own safety.
“October 7 changed everything. I would never have imagined thinking of leaving France for Israel. It may seem paradoxical given the situation in Israel, but at least there we will not have to hide,” says another anonymous French Jewish woman who is seriously considering leaving France in the coming months.
