Day 266 — Friday, June 28

Hezbollah launched a barrage of some 40 rockets at northern Israel on Thursday afternoon, in what the terror group said was a response to recent Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, including the killing of one of its operatives earlier in the day.

The exchange of fire came as American intelligence expected a major escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in the coming weeks in the absence of a ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Politico reported.

An unnamed senior US official told the outlet that the risk of war is higher than it has been for weeks. The officials said that a major attack by either side, which could spark a war, could happen with “little notice.”

Amid travel warnings from Washington and several European countries, two senior officials who spoke to Politico said the start date of a war was unclear, but that Israel was acquiring arms and building up forces quickly.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces said most of the rockets fired in the major barrage at the northern city of Safed and nearby communities were downed by the Iron Dome air defense system.

Police said that some of the rockets caused damage to property, and the Fire and Rescue Service said it was working to extinguish fires sparked by the attack.

Sirens had sounded in Safed and several towns in the Galilee amid the barrage, which Hezbollah claimed responsibility for.

In a statement, the terror group claimed to have launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at Israeli military bases in the Galilee.

It said that the attack was a response to recent Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, including one earlier on Thursday in the town of Sohor that killed one of the terror group’s operatives, and an alleged strike in Nabatieh on Wednesday night.

The drone strike Sohmor, located in the Western Beqaa District about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Israeli border, killed Hezbollah operative Ali al-Din.

The IDF said al-Din was a member of Hezbollah’s aerial forces, behind drone attacks on northern Israel.

A separate drone strike on Thursday killed two Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon’s at-Tiri, the military said.

The IDF also said that fighter jets struck a building used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Ramyeh, Houla, and Aitaroun on Thursday. It added that troops also shelled areas in southern Lebanon with artillery.

Earlier Thursday, two explosive-laden drones launched by Hezbollah at the Western Galilee struck areas near Rosh Hanikra, the military said.

The IDF said there were no injuries in the attack. Hezbollah took responsibility, claiming to have targeted an Israeli Navy base.

Drone infiltration sirens had sounded in Rosh Hanikra and several nearby towns amid the incident.

Meanwhile, the IDF announced that troops carried out exercises this past week simulating fighting in Lebanon, which the military said were part of the Northern Command’s efforts to increase readiness amid the heightened tensions on the northern border.

Times Of Israel

Day 266 — Friday, June 28

Adolf Eichmann, a key architect of the Nazis’ “final solution,” in 1961 faced trial in Jerusalem after being captured by the Israeli Mossad hiding in Argentina. The televised trial was the first time holocaust victims were able to speak directly to the world about the horror they had faced.

These testimonies had an immeasurable impact on public opinion and further brought to light the barbarity of Jew hatred.

Antisemitism, however, didn’t die with Hitler. Nor did it die after Eichmann’s execution.

On October 7th, the Jews faced the worst massacre since the Holocaust. The perpetrators’ genocidal intentions were clear and well-documented. Yet, it didn’t take long before the horrified gasps of the world turned into victim blaming and global antisemitism. The Jew hatred spanned college campuses, city streets, and, sadly, even some church pulpits.

It is for that reason that many Israelis who survived the massacre on October 7th are on a mission to travel abroad and draw on the heart-changing influence of personal testimonies.

I attended one such event organized by the World Zionist Organization at the Jewish Community Centre (JCC) in London, Ontario, last Sunday, where survivors Asaf Artel and David Bromberg shared their powerful stories.

Day 265 — Thursday, June 27

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) wrote to President Joe Biden on Wednesday to demand that the administration do more to support Israel against Hamas, and do more to free American and Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Johnson’s letter comes as the Biden administration has admitted that Hamas, not Israel, rejected a proposed deal to achieve a ceasefire and the release of at least some of the hostages. Hamas wants Israel to end the war in any deal.

In the letter, first obtained via the Jewish Insider news website, Johnson says that Biden’s current stance makes it more difficult, not easier, to reach a deal on Hostage releases:

It has been 8 months since Iranian-backed terrorists invaded Israel and murdered over 1,200 Israelis, took 235 people– including American citzens — hostage, and committed acts of rape and other horrific atrocities that are clear violations of international law and human rights.

The failure to resolutely support Israel in its military objectives to eliminate Hamas has made it harder to facilitate the release of those being detained, including American hostages that Hamas brutally kidnapped on October 7, 2023. Instead of focusing on bringing home the Americans and Israelis held hostage, your administration has spent months pressuring and attempting to micromanage Israel. The United States must do everything in our power to support Israel’s right to self-defense, and work toward the immediate release of hostages, including the remaining American citizens.

Since the massacre on October 7th, multiple decisions by your administration have undercut Israel’s efforts to bring U.S. Hostages home, weakened the U.S.-Israel relationship, and eroded America’s ability to deter our enemies.

The letter says that Biden has not shown the “ironclad” commitment to Israeli security that he promised earlier in the war, and urges the administration to “put maximum pressure on Hamas and its enablers.”

Johnson closes by asking the White House to brief him and other congressional leaders by July 10 on the administration’s plans to address the situation, and on what is being done to help Israel fight Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Breitbart

Day 265 — Thursday, June 27

“Israel is being measured by double and triple standards” in its fighting in Gaza, a standard “that does not exist anywhere in the world,” John Spencer, head of urban warfare studies at West Point, said at a recent “War Room” briefing in collaboration with the Jerusalem Institute for Public and State Affairs.

Spencer, a world-renowned expert on urban warfare who served for 25 years as an infantry soldier and did two tours in Iraq, has publicly and repeatedly defended and praised the Israel Defense Forces’ performance during the Gaza War in recent months.

“The IDF uses tactics that no army has ever seen to prevent harm to civilians and still fulfill its mission,” Spencer told the Jerusalem Institute for Public and State Affairs, after visiting the soldiers of the IDF’s 98th Division in the field.

He also stridently rejected international accusations that Israel was using starvation as a weapon, was bombing indiscriminately or committing genocide.

“It’s all a lie,” Spencer declared, noting that if the standards being applied to Israel now, would in the future be applied to Western countries, it would make anti-terror warfare almost impossible.

These standards include requirements of a massive evacuation of the population before entering an area, not using heavy “bunker-buster” bombs to reach enemies hidden away underground, enemy who is in underground warfare and the demand to prevent any and all civilian casualties.

“It’s impossible and unimaginable,” Spencer stressed.

“When ISIS ruled Iraq, it held the territory for about two years and built up its defenses. In the battles against the terrorist organization, the number of dead ranged from 10,000 to 40,000 people, and the numbers were reported only after a year,” Spencer said, criticizing the use of unreliable Hamas casualty numbers to determine the proportionality of Israel’s actions.

“No one posed a question to the United States then, how many civilians were killed? And no one asked ISIS that question. It’s simply impossible.”

“This imaginary standard of zero civilian casualties in a war where Israel is required to meet a new standard is very problematic,” Spencer emphasized.

He has made this point repeatedly over the past months. In article in Newsweek back in March, Spencer brought up the IDF’s operation in Gaza’s Shifa hospital as an example of the lengths the army goes to prevent civilian harm.

“Israeli media reported that doctors accompanied the forces to help Palestinian patients if needed. They were also reported to be carrying food, water and medical supplies for the civilians inside,” Spencer wrote.

“None of this meant anything to Israel’s critics, of course, who immediately pounced. The critics, as usual, didn’t call out Hamas for using protected facilities like hospitals for its military activity.”

“In their criticism, Israel’s opponents are erasing a remarkable, historic new standard Israel has set. In my long career studying and advising on urban warfare for the U.S. military, I’ve never known an army to take such measures to attend to the enemy’s civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings.”

“The international community, and increasingly the United States, barely acknowledges these measures while repeatedly excoriating the IDF for not doing enough to protect civilians… Instead, the U.S. and its allies should be studying how they can apply the IDF’s tactics for protecting civilians,” Spencer wrote.

All Israel News

Day 265 — Thursday, June 27

In the Bible, Isaiah the prophet writes something that I believe really describes the days in which we are living, especially when it comes to Israel. In Isaiah 5:20, God says, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

I believe that perfectly describes what we’re seeing with the widespread hatred of Israel at home and abroad. They accuse Israel of actions that they themselves commit.

Such was the case last week with a Palestine Solidarity group in Western Canada, in Regina, Saskatchewan. The group booked the film theater at the downtown public library to bring in speaker Jeet Heer, who is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation, a progressive monthly news magazine, to speak on why “Canada and the US [are] backing Israel’s genocide.” With that title, their cards are pretty much on the table regarding what the evening was going to look like. It’s just another opportunity to bash Israel and the Jewish people.

Several Israel-loving people, myself included, wrote letters to the library administration and contacted city councilors to express our deep concern regarding the event. We warned that its intention was to disseminate lies and propaganda against Israel and the Jewish people—which is contrary to the principles of education and community building that the institution stands for.

When the Palestine Solidarity group found out that there was opposition to their Israel bashing night, they immediately took to Facebook to share their displeasure.

As a result of the Palestine Solidarity in Regina’s heated response, especially their claim that opposers were “supporters of the genocide,” the administration of the library canceled the event. Good for them! Unfortunately, the cancelation only lasted for a couple of days.

The Palestine Solidarity group instructed their followers to put immense pressure on the CEO and the board of the library to rethink their decision to cancel the event. 

Adding to the pressure, Jeet Heer voiced his displeasure by writing in The Nation, “I’ve Just Been Canceled…” making it an international story. Shamefully, Regina city councilor Dan LeBlanc intervened and sponsored the event. So, the event was back on the schedule this week.

You see, they use the freedoms we have in our country to spread disinformation on Israel and the Jewish people, and when challenged, they play the victim card… and they do it all too well.

You see, they use the freedoms we have in our country to spread disinformation on Israel and the Jewish people, and when challenged, they play the victim card… and they do it all too well.

Day 265 — Thursday, June 27

Martin Niemoller was an influential German pastor during the rise and reign of Adolph Hitler. When Hitler’s National Socialist Party, the Nazis, wrested power from the German government by hook and crook, Niemoller was an enthusiastic supporter. Hitler had promised Niemoller that he had no interest in the church and promised that his party would allow the church to tend to the spiritual needs of the people without interference. This was a monumental lie. Hitler aggressively pursued control of all aspects of German life, including the church.

Niemoller’s awakening from his slumber evinced a heavy toll on his heart and mind. He realized too late that he had fallen victim to the siren song of propaganda and had failed his Lord and the German people.

In his desire to participate in the tsunami of popular support for the Nazis and the national pride they seemed to engender, Niemoller lost sight of the Bible and what it says concerning Israel. What did he do? He repented of his naivety and began to preach the truth concerning the Nazis, encouraging his fellow Germans to stand against the warmongering and wicked barbarity that was even then manifesting itself toward the Jewish people. This courage landed Niemoller in Hitler’s concentration camps, where he would spend eight years.

In an act of public confession and repentance, Niemoller authored a poem still quoted to this day.

We have arrived once again at a place in history concerning the Jewish people that if it is to be reversed, there must be mass confession and repentance among Christians in America.

I had brief hope for this nationwide confession and repentance days after October 7, 2023. There appeared to be near global shock and outrage at the hellish murder, rape, and kidnapping of innocent people by the demonically charged terrorist organization Hamas and their Iranian masters. Alas, that did not translate into mass confession and repentance. Instead, the same mechanisms that have fueled anti-American hatred and violence within our national borders as well as overseas began their unchecked money flow to their agents. These agents used that money to influence ignorant people to engage in college campus protests. We have all seen the idiocy on full display.

American Christians have said little to nothing for decades while the enemies of Israel, the terrorist proxies of Iran, have bombed, murdered, kidnapped, and raped Jews at their discretion. October 7, 2023, horrendous as it was, is just a microcosm of a greater evil against Israel that has been sustained for decades while American Christians simply went about their daily lives none the wiser.

Day 264 — Wednesday, June 26

A Hamas operative involved in smuggling arms to the terror group through the Rafah border crossing and via tunnels crossing into Egypt was killed in an airstrike, the military announces.

According to the IDF, Wissam Abu Ishaq was targeted in a drone strike in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday.

It says that he was involved in running weapons to Hamas, and in recent years, smuggled arms through the Rafah Crossing and cross-border underground routes.

Since Israel’s takeover of the Egypt-Gaza border area, military officials say Hamas is no longer able to smuggle weapons into the Strip.

A separate airstrike overnight targeted a rocket launching site in southern Gaza’s Rafah, the military says.

The IDF says fighter jets and other aircraft struck dozens more targets across Gaza in the past day, including booby-trapped buildings, buildings used by terror groups, tunnels, and cells of gunmen.

Times Of Israel

Day 264 — Wednesday, June 26

The 4,782 documented instances of Jew-hatred in Germany in 2023—2,787 of which happened after Oct. 7—represent an 80% increase over 2022, according to a report from the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information Centers on Antisemitism.

On average, about 33 antisemitic incidents occurred per day in Germany from Oct. 7 until the end of the year, compared to a little more than seven daily from Jan. 1 to Oct. 7, 2023, according to the new data, released on Tuesday by the Bundesverband RIAS, which is funded by the German state.

Two-thirds of the instances that involved “extreme violence, assaults and threats” also took place after Oct. 7, per the study.

“The antisemitic massacres and terrorist attacks in Israel motivate people in Germany to engage in antisemitic behavior,” said Bianca Loy, research associate at the Bundesverband RIAS and co-author of the study. “Many well-known antisemitic stereotypes have been updated and applied to the Hamas massacres, and the war in Israel and Gaza.”

Owing to this, she added, “violence against Jews has been justified, trivialized or denied.”

Loy called the situation, in which many have to hide their Jewish identities, “alarming and unacceptable.”

“The unprecedented rise in antisemitic incidents must be understood as a wake-up call,” stated Benjamin Steinitz, managing director of the Bundesverband RIAS. “The state has the responsibility to ensure that Jews can safely participate in civic life.”

JNS

Day 263 — Tuesday, June 25

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, on Monday ripped UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and called on him to resign, after the UN chief insisted that claims he has never condemned Hamas were “misinformation”.

Erdan shared a video of Guterres telling a reporter, “I’ve heard the same source many times saying that I never attacked Hamas. That I never condemned Hamas. That I’m a supporter of Hamas.”

“I asked for a statistic to be made by our colleagues. I have condemned Hamas 102 times, 51 of them in formal speeches, the others on different social platforms,” continued Guterres. “So the truth, in the end, always wins.”

In response, Erdan wrote in a post on social media site X, “The Secretary General’s response proves yet again that he has ZERO integrity. His ‘condemnations’ of Hamas have been empty words when compared to his actions.”

“Since October 7th, the Secretary General essentially justified the massacre by saying it did not happen ‘in a vacuum’. He has focused only on pressuring Israel instead of Hamas. Not once has he demanded the designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization,” continued Erdan.

“He refused to include Hamas in the list of organizations involved in sexual violence even after it was proven. He only convened the UN Security Council for the people of Gaza, whilst completely ignoring Israel and the hostages. His sole aim has been to help Hamas survive this war. The SG paints a distorted picture of events on the ground, including ignoring Israel’s massive humanitarian efforts,” wrote Erdan.

“Antonio Guterres is an accomplice to terror and should resign today!” concluded the Israeli Ambassador.

As Erdan pointed out, Guterres has not stopped short of criticizing Israel since the start of the war in Gaza. In late October, the UN chief said that Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 “did not happen in a vacuum” and appeared to blame Israel for the attack.

After his remarks were widely condemned, the UN chief claimed his comments were misinterpreted and that he had indeed condemned Hamas.

Later, he mentioned the sexual crimes committed by Hamas in its October 7 attack in Israel in the same breath as “reports of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees”.

More recently, Guterres appeared to equate between Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

In a post on social media, Guterres wrote, “Nothing can justify the 7 Oct terror attacks by Hamas” but then added, “Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

He then added, “It’s high time for a humanitarian ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Gaza.”

Arutz Sheva

Day 263 — Tuesday, June 25

The Cuban External Relations Ministry announced this weekend it would intervene in the ongoing case against Israel brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to “end the genocide against the Palestinian people.”

South Africa sued Israel at the ICJ at the Hague in December, accusing its government of “genocide” against Palestinians in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza. Hamas, an overtly genocidal Sunni jihadist terrorist organization, invaded Israel from Gaza on October 7, engaging in mass killings, gang rape, torture, abductions, and other atrocities. Hamas killed an estimated 1,200 people – including infants, elderly people, and disabled people – and abducted an estimated 250 people, of which about 116 remain in captivity.

The South African case claims that Israel’s self-defense military operation in Gaza, launched following a war declaration against Hamas in October, is in reality an attempt to eliminate the civilian Palestinian population of Gaza. South Africa’s case has been plagued by poor arguments and errors, including incorrect citations of the Bible.

Israeli legal adviser Tal Becker dismissed the suit in January as “barely distinguishable from Hamas’s own rejectionist rhetoric” and accused South Africa of endorsing Hamas’s attempted genocide against the Jewish people in its attempt to smear Israel as a genocidal actor.

“If the claim of the applicant now is that in the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas, Israel must be denied the ability to defend its citizens, then the absurd upshot of South Africa’s argument is this,” Becker argued, “under the guise against Israel of the allegation of ‘genocide,’ this court is called to end operations against an organization that pursues an actual genocidal agenda.”

The most significant action the ICJ has taken so far on the lawsuit is its order in May demanding that Israel not engage in military operations in Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza, a demand Israel ignored. The ICJ does not have any material enforcement mechanism.

The Cuban Communist Party, through its foreign ministry, wholeheartedly supported South Africa’s stance in its statement this weekend.

“Israel, with total impunity, protected by the complicity of the government of the United States, ignores its obligations as an occupying power as per the Fourth Geneva Convention,” the Cuban foreign ministry (MINREX) asserted in its statement on the intervention, which it published on Saturday. “Genocide, Apartheid, forced displacement, and collective punishment cannot have a place in the world today, nor can they be tolerated by the international community.”

The Cuban communist regime, which boasts a history of over half a century of committing a litany of human rights atrocities, claimed that the goal of the South African ICJ action was to “stop the atrocities against the Palestinian people as a result of the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force on the part of Israel.”

The ICJ is the official court of the United Nations. Only states can be plaintiffs or defendants at the ICJ. The court has a mechanism to allow third-party states who are signatories to relevant international law to offer statements on how the court should interpret the provisions of that legal document.

Cuba, a notoriously repressive communist state, is one of only four countries on the State Department’s official list of state sponsors of terrorism as a result of its longtime collaboration with terrorist organizations such as Hamas. Cuba maintains close relationships with the three other countries on the list – Iran, Syria, and North Korea – and has long-established friendly relationships with organizations such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist terrorist organization, and the Shiite Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah.

Breitbart

Day 262 — Monday, June 24

A soldier of the Israel Defense Forces was seriously wounded in one of several drone attacks Hezbollah launched against Israel on Sunday, as tensions between the sides have reached a boiling point making an all-out war seem imminent.

The soldier sustained serious wounds caused by shrapnel when a Hezbollah suicide drone exploded near him in the area of Ayelet Hashahar, according to the IDF. The soldier was rushed to the hospital for treatment and his family was informed, the IDF stated.

The weekend saw no significant pause in Hezbollah’s incessant attacks against Israel, as two anti-tank missiles hit homes in the northern Israeli town of Metula on Saturday evening, causing damage and fires but no casualties.

The attacks continued early Sunday morning with a first drone attack, in which a suicide drone managed to penetrate defenses and exploded near the community of Beit Hillel in the Upper Galilee.

The IDF later announced that an interceptor missile targeted the drone but failed to intercept it, underscoring the difficulty Israel’s aerial defense has been experiencing against Hezbollah’s drone array.

Several hours later, another drone penetrated unusually deep into Israel, causing rocket alarms near the Arab city of Sakhnin, which is located in the Lower Galilee some 22 km (13,5 miles) from the Lebanese border.

The drone was intercepted in the adjacent Misgav Regional Council, near the site of a sensitive factory belonging to the Rafael Defense Contractor, which was the likely target of the strike.

In the early afternoon, four drones attacked IDF barracks in the area of Ayelet Hashahar. Footage filmed by soldiers who, contrary to orders, didn’t seek shelter in a bunker, showed one drone impact near them and another drone being intercepted in mid-air.

The IDF confirmed that one drone was shot down and three others impacted, with the shrapnel of one of the explosions wounding one IDF soldier. The impacts caused wildfires, Army Radio reported.

The Israeli army on Saturday released footage of a strike deep in Lebanese territory that killed the terrorist Ayman Ghatma, reportedly a weapons supplier for Hamas and the Sunni terror group al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya in Lebanon.

The IDF said an airstrike hit Ghatma’s vehicle near the town of Khiara in Lebanon’s Beqaa area, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the border. Ghatma was a target due to his active involvement in launching attacks against Israel over the past months, according to the Israeli military.

Later on Saturday, the IDF said it eliminated a terrorist who was identified at a Hezbollah observation post in the area of ​​Ayta al-Sha’ab. Israeli forces eliminated another terrorist who entered a military structure in the town of Yaroun, and attacked a terror squad in the a-Tayba area, among other strikes.

All Israel News

Day 262 — Monday, June 24

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that Israel was prepared to pause fighting in Gaza for a partial deal in exchange for the return of a number of hostages held by Hamas, but insisted the war will not end until the terror group is destroyed.

Netanyahu also said the phase of intense fighting in the Gaza Strip was winding down as Israel increasingly readies for a potential flareup Lebanon’s Hezbollah intensifies its cross-border attacks on Israel, in his first interview with a Hebrew-language outlet since Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

Asked whether he was prepared to reach an agreement with Hamas after the high-intensity phase of the conflict is over that would constitute a commitment to end the war, Netanyahu said: “No. I’m not prepared to end the war and leave Hamas in place. I am prepared to do a partial deal, that’s no secret, that would return some of the people to us.”

“But we are obligated to continue the fighting after a pause in order to complete our goal of destroying Hamas,” he told the right-wing Channel 14 program “The Patriots.” “I’m not prepared to give up on that.”

Hamas kidnapped 251 people on October 7, when thousands of terrorists led by the group stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people, sparking the war in Gaza. It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, though dozens are believed dead.

Netanyahu’s office released a statement later Sunday saying that it Hamas that was rejecting the deal on offer, not Israel.
“Hamas is the one opposing the deal, not Israel,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. “Netanyahu made it clear that we will not leave Gaza until we return all 120 of our hostages, both living and dead.”

Hamas meanwhile charged that Netanyahu’s comments amounted to a rejection of the proposal unveiled by US President Joe Biden in late May, reiterating its demand that any agreement include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war sparked by its October 7 attack.

Once the intense fighting is over in Gaza, Netanyahu said, Israel will be able to deploy more forces along the northern front.

“The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah.”

“After the end of the intense phase” in Gaza, the prime minister added, Israel will “redeploy some forces to the north… primarily for defensive purposes.”

Addressing the possibility of a full-blown war with Hezbollah, Netanyahu said he hoped there would be a diplomatic solution but was bracing for the possibility there won’t be.

“We will meet this challenge too. We can fight on several fronts, we are prepared for this,” he stated.

Netanyahu vowed Israel will any enforce any deal with Hezbollah to ensure that its forces are not on the border, saying, “it won’t be an agreement on paper.”

“It will include the physical distancing of Hezbollah from the border, and we will need to enforce it… We are committed to returning the residents of the north to their homes,” he added.

Times Of Israel

Day 262 — Monday, June 24

18 people, including 15 police officers and an Orthodox priest, were killed on Sunday in a terrorist attack in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, its governor Sergei Melikov said, according to The Associated Press.

Authorities said the terrorists opened fire on a church, two synagogues and a police post in two cities in the region.

Dagestan’s Interior Ministry said a group of armed men shot at a synagogue and a church in the city of Derbent, located on the Caspian Sea. Both the church and the synagogue caught fire, according to state media.

Almost simultaneously, reports appeared about an attack on a church and a traffic police post in the Dagestan capital, Makhachkala.

The authorities announced a counter-terrorist operation in the region. The Anti-Terrorist Committee said five terrorists were eliminated.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated that so far, there are no known Jews or Israelis among the victims.

Following the attacks, Amb. Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, said in a statement, “We are deeply troubled by what appears to be a coordinated attack on two synagogues, one of which has been burned to the ground, and a deadly attack on a church. An attack on the rights of individuals to practice their faiths freely and openly is an attack on humanity. As we await more information on the motivations of the attackers, we are reminded of the danger posed by antisemitism and all religious-based violence.”

“Every public leader, including in international organizations, has an obligation to not only condemn antisemitism without equivocation but act urgently to keep communities safe. We join the world in praying for the people of Derbent and Makhachkala, including law enforcement and clergy, and hope that the perpetrators are quickly brought to justice,” he added.

The Israeli Embassy in Moscow is in contact with the leaders of the Jewish community in the district.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. The authorities launched a criminal probe on the charge of a terrorist act.

Arutz Sheva

Day 261 — Sunday, June 23

Over the past few weeks, the simmering tensions between the Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah and Israel have escalated to a point where, today, Israel is openly preparing its troops for the outbreak of a full-blown war, which media and experts are speculating may only be weeks away.

Biden administration officials have recently been cautioning Israeli leaders almost daily against escalating the conflict, fearing a wider regional war that could pull in Iran and its proxies is becoming inevitable.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8 of last year, after declaring its support for Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Since that day, the Lebanese terrorists have been firing on Israeli targets almost daily, only stopping for a longer period during the hostage deal truce in November.

Israel, in response, moved large numbers of IDF troops to the northern border, fearing a large-scale assault similar to the one Hamas carried out on Oct. 7.

However, the first days of fighting proved that Hezbollah sought only to launch enough attacks to be seen as supporting Hamas, without provoking an all-out war with Israel.

In recent months, the group has escalated its attacks to the degree that many in Israel see a war to push Hezbollah back from the border as inevitable.

Over more than eight months, Hezbollah so far fired over 5,000 rockets, drones, anti-tank missiles and mortar grenades at Israel, to the clip of about 10 attacks per day.

Around 80,000 residents from northern Israel were forced to evacuate their homes, with approximately 60,000 still displaced in their own country.

Communities located up to several kilometers from the border have been evacuated, with residents either receiving a small living stipend or being housed in hotels around the country by the government.

They have been watching for almost nine months as Hezbollah terrorists have been destroying their homes. In some communities close to the border, the terrorists have been picking off homes on one street after the other, destroying large parts of the towns.

At least 947 buildings have been significantly damaged by Hezbollah’s drones, rockets and missiles, so far.

As temperatures have risen over the past months, Hezbollah’s projectiles landing in open areas have increasingly sparked wildfires. These blazes have threatened homes, destroyed fields and natural parks, and incinerated about 20,000 acres.

In the exchanges of fire, Hezbollah has killed 10 Israeli civilians and 15 IDF soldiers and reservists.

The IDF has responded with artillery and tank shelling, as well as waves of airstrikes, including in areas deep inside Lebanese territory, far away from the Israeli border.

Hezbollah confirmed the deaths of 349 of its members in the Israeli strikes, with most being killed in Lebanon but some dying in Syria. Israel estimates that the true number of killed terrorists is even higher.

In addition, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed 63 terrorists from other groups allied with Hezbollah, including the local Hamas branch, as well as one soldier of the Lebanese army, and dozens of Lebanese civilians, some of whom were associated with Hezbollah-affiliated organizations.

All Israel News

Day 260 — Saturday, June 22

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave an interview to Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News, in which he was asked about the video he posted and which raised the ire of the Biden administration.

“I deeply appreciate the support we were given by President Biden and the United States administration for our war effort from the beginning. President Biden came here, he sent two carrier groups, and he gave us valuable assistance and ammunition and weapons from the beginning of the war. I appreciate that. And I remain appreciative,” stressed Netanyahu.

He added, “We began to see that we had some significant problems emerging a few months ago. And in fact, we tried, in many, many quiet conversations between our officials and American officials, and between me and the president to try to iron out this diminution of supply.”

“And we haven’t been able to solve it. Now this is crucial. It’s crucial for our common war aims to defeat Hamas and to prevent an escalation in Lebanon to a full-fledged war to have this supply. Because, otherwise, it hinders Israel’s ability to fight this war, which is an actual war of survival and multi-front war against Iran, that Iran terror axis and its various terrorist minions, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and others.”

“I raised this issue with Secretary Blinken. And I said that we are being told by our Defense Department officials that barely a trickle is coming in. He said, ‘Well, everything is in process. We’re doing everything to untangle it. And to clear up the bottlenecks,’” Netanyahu continued.

“And I said, ‘Well, that’s what I expect to happen. Let’s make sure that it does happen. It must happen.’ And I quoted Churchill, who said to Roosevelt in World War II, ‘Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job.’ I said, give us the tools, and we’ll finish the job a lot faster.”

“And of course, prevent future wars. We’ll win this war against Hamas, deter a future war in the north with this Hezbollah and assure our common interest in the Middle East. I felt that airing it was absolutely necessary after months of quiet conversation that did not solve the problem,” stated Netanyahu.

In the video released Tuesday, Netanyahu expressed astonishment at moves from the Biden administration to hold up munitions shipments to Israel during the war against Hamas.

On Thursday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby commented on Netanyahu’s video, telling reporters that the Prime Minister’s claims are “vexing and disappointing to us as much as it was incorrect.”

Netanyahu said in response to Kirby’s statements, “I am prepared to suffer personal attacks provided that Israel gets the munitions it needs from the US.”

Arutz Sheva

Day 260 — Saturday, June 22

Despite dramatic video footage showing the New York City Police Department entering a building on the Columbia University campus on the Upper West Side to arrest anti-Israel protesters who had barricaded themselves within, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, is declining to press charges against many of the alleged offenders.

A Manhattan prosecutor “argued that the defendants should not face criminal penalties, citing their lack of criminal histories and arguing that the protesters will face internal discipline at Columbia,” The Washington Free Beacon reported from within the courthouse on Thursday.

“The prosecutor also argued that Bragg’s office lacked evidence to land convictions in the cases, given those who occupied Hamilton Hall wore masks and covered up surveillance cameras,” the paper added. “New York City police arrested the occupiers while they were inside Hamilton Hall.”

The Free Beacon reported that Bragg’s office dismissed charges against 30 of the 46 people arrested for allegedly entering the building illegally. After the charges were dismissed, one protester, “whose entire head was covered with a ski mask,” said at a press conference that “the protesters ‘resist the pigs, the police in the U.S.’”

“This is standing with Palestinian resistance,” the protester said, per the Free Beacon. “This is an interlinking of our struggles—struggles against carceral violence, against colonialism, against racism, against genocide.” The person also said that the protesters “refuse to condemn the Palestinian resistance.”

JNS sought comment from the Manhattan D.A.’s office.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote that Bragg, “who charged President Trump with 34 felonies over an internal business record is letting violent, pro-Hamas rioters go free.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) called the Manhattan prosecutor’s decision “gutless.” The watchdog group StopAntisemitism commented that it was “flabbergasted” at Bragg’s decision.

Gerard Filitti, senior counsel at the Lawfare Project, wrote that Bragg dropped the charges “for lack of evidence that they were trespassing in a building they barricaded themselves in.”

“It’s time for the Justice Department to step in and protect our civil rights,” he added.

JNS

Day 260 — Saturday, June 22

A new poll recently conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research revealed, once again, the hearts of the majority of the Palestinian people. Here are some of the highlights of that research:

• 73% of Gazans and 57% of West Bank Palestinians still think Hamas’ decision to launch its offensive against Israel on October 7 was correct.
• 63% blame Israel for the current suffering of Gazans in the war, while 22% blame the US, 8% blame Hamas, and 4% blame the Palestinian Authority.
• 56% think Hamas will be in control of Gaza after the war
• 75% of Palestinians said they were satisfied with Hamas’ performance in the current war.
• 65% opposed the idea of a two-state solution
• 63% supported a return to confrontations and armed intifada

Well, there you have it right from their own sources. Yet the world, with little compassion for the Jewish people, pressures Israel to make peace with the people who have nothing more than a perpetual hatred for them.

Judgment time is coming one day, and that’s what we read about in the Bible—in the books of Ezekiel, Obadiah, and Malachi—concerning the Edomites.

Some Bible scholars would say that the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, have disappeared from the world scene with zero trace of their existence as a people group remaining today. Others would identify a very strong relation to today’s modern-day Palestinians. In fact, the late Dr. Jimmy DeYoung traced Esau’s descendants through Amalek, Agag, Haman, Herod, then on through to Amin al-Husseini, all the way up to Yasser Arafat, who was the originator of the modern-day Palestinian movement.

While I have yet to verify Dr. DeYoung’s modern genealogical links, what I do know for sure is that the spirit of the Edomites is alive and well to this day.

In Genesis chapter 36, Esau’s name was changed to Edom, and we know that he settled in Mount Seir, which is in modern-day, Jordan. When we look at Ezekiel 35, the book of Obadiah, and Malachi chapter one, we read about judgment that’s coming on Edom for their perpetual hatred for Israel.

Day 266 — Friday, June 28

Hezbollah launched a barrage of some 40 rockets at northern Israel on Thursday afternoon, in what the terror group said was a response to recent Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, including the killing of one of its operatives earlier in the day.

The exchange of fire came as American intelligence expected a major escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in the coming weeks in the absence of a ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Politico reported.

An unnamed senior US official told the outlet that the risk of war is higher than it has been for weeks. The officials said that a major attack by either side, which could spark a war, could happen with “little notice.”

Amid travel warnings from Washington and several European countries, two senior officials who spoke to Politico said the start date of a war was unclear, but that Israel was acquiring arms and building up forces quickly.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces said most of the rockets fired in the major barrage at the northern city of Safed and nearby communities were downed by the Iron Dome air defense system.

Police said that some of the rockets caused damage to property, and the Fire and Rescue Service said it was working to extinguish fires sparked by the attack.

Sirens had sounded in Safed and several towns in the Galilee amid the barrage, which Hezbollah claimed responsibility for.

In a statement, the terror group claimed to have launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at Israeli military bases in the Galilee.

It said that the attack was a response to recent Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, including one earlier on Thursday in the town of Sohor that killed one of the terror group’s operatives, and an alleged strike in Nabatieh on Wednesday night.

The drone strike Sohmor, located in the Western Beqaa District about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Israeli border, killed Hezbollah operative Ali al-Din.

The IDF said al-Din was a member of Hezbollah’s aerial forces, behind drone attacks on northern Israel.

A separate drone strike on Thursday killed two Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon’s at-Tiri, the military said.

The IDF also said that fighter jets struck a building used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Ramyeh, Houla, and Aitaroun on Thursday. It added that troops also shelled areas in southern Lebanon with artillery.

Earlier Thursday, two explosive-laden drones launched by Hezbollah at the Western Galilee struck areas near Rosh Hanikra, the military said.

The IDF said there were no injuries in the attack. Hezbollah took responsibility, claiming to have targeted an Israeli Navy base.

Drone infiltration sirens had sounded in Rosh Hanikra and several nearby towns amid the incident.

Meanwhile, the IDF announced that troops carried out exercises this past week simulating fighting in Lebanon, which the military said were part of the Northern Command’s efforts to increase readiness amid the heightened tensions on the northern border.

Times Of Israel

Day 266 — Friday, June 28

Adolf Eichmann, a key architect of the Nazis’ “final solution,” in 1961 faced trial in Jerusalem after being captured by the Israeli Mossad hiding in Argentina. The televised trial was the first time holocaust victims were able to speak directly to the world about the horror they had faced.

These testimonies had an immeasurable impact on public opinion and further brought to light the barbarity of Jew hatred.

Antisemitism, however, didn’t die with Hitler. Nor did it die after Eichmann’s execution.

On October 7th, the Jews faced the worst massacre since the Holocaust. The perpetrators’ genocidal intentions were clear and well-documented. Yet, it didn’t take long before the horrified gasps of the world turned into victim blaming and global antisemitism. The Jew hatred spanned college campuses, city streets, and, sadly, even some church pulpits.

It is for that reason that many Israelis who survived the massacre on October 7th are on a mission to travel abroad and draw on the heart-changing influence of personal testimonies.

I attended one such event organized by the World Zionist Organization at the Jewish Community Centre (JCC) in London, Ontario, last Sunday, where survivors Asaf Artel and David Bromberg shared their powerful stories.

Day 265 — Thursday, June 27

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) wrote to President Joe Biden on Wednesday to demand that the administration do more to support Israel against Hamas, and do more to free American and Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Johnson’s letter comes as the Biden administration has admitted that Hamas, not Israel, rejected a proposed deal to achieve a ceasefire and the release of at least some of the hostages. Hamas wants Israel to end the war in any deal.

In the letter, first obtained via the Jewish Insider news website, Johnson says that Biden’s current stance makes it more difficult, not easier, to reach a deal on Hostage releases:

It has been 8 months since Iranian-backed terrorists invaded Israel and murdered over 1,200 Israelis, took 235 people– including American citzens — hostage, and committed acts of rape and other horrific atrocities that are clear violations of international law and human rights.

The failure to resolutely support Israel in its military objectives to eliminate Hamas has made it harder to facilitate the release of those being detained, including American hostages that Hamas brutally kidnapped on October 7, 2023. Instead of focusing on bringing home the Americans and Israelis held hostage, your administration has spent months pressuring and attempting to micromanage Israel. The United States must do everything in our power to support Israel’s right to self-defense, and work toward the immediate release of hostages, including the remaining American citizens.

Since the massacre on October 7th, multiple decisions by your administration have undercut Israel’s efforts to bring U.S. Hostages home, weakened the U.S.-Israel relationship, and eroded America’s ability to deter our enemies.

The letter says that Biden has not shown the “ironclad” commitment to Israeli security that he promised earlier in the war, and urges the administration to “put maximum pressure on Hamas and its enablers.”

Johnson closes by asking the White House to brief him and other congressional leaders by July 10 on the administration’s plans to address the situation, and on what is being done to help Israel fight Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Breitbart

Day 265 — Thursday, June 27

“Israel is being measured by double and triple standards” in its fighting in Gaza, a standard “that does not exist anywhere in the world,” John Spencer, head of urban warfare studies at West Point, said at a recent “War Room” briefing in collaboration with the Jerusalem Institute for Public and State Affairs.

Spencer, a world-renowned expert on urban warfare who served for 25 years as an infantry soldier and did two tours in Iraq, has publicly and repeatedly defended and praised the Israel Defense Forces’ performance during the Gaza War in recent months.

“The IDF uses tactics that no army has ever seen to prevent harm to civilians and still fulfill its mission,” Spencer told the Jerusalem Institute for Public and State Affairs, after visiting the soldiers of the IDF’s 98th Division in the field.

He also stridently rejected international accusations that Israel was using starvation as a weapon, was bombing indiscriminately or committing genocide.

“It’s all a lie,” Spencer declared, noting that if the standards being applied to Israel now, would in the future be applied to Western countries, it would make anti-terror warfare almost impossible.

These standards include requirements of a massive evacuation of the population before entering an area, not using heavy “bunker-buster” bombs to reach enemies hidden away underground, enemy who is in underground warfare and the demand to prevent any and all civilian casualties.

“It’s impossible and unimaginable,” Spencer stressed.

“When ISIS ruled Iraq, it held the territory for about two years and built up its defenses. In the battles against the terrorist organization, the number of dead ranged from 10,000 to 40,000 people, and the numbers were reported only after a year,” Spencer said, criticizing the use of unreliable Hamas casualty numbers to determine the proportionality of Israel’s actions.

“No one posed a question to the United States then, how many civilians were killed? And no one asked ISIS that question. It’s simply impossible.”

“This imaginary standard of zero civilian casualties in a war where Israel is required to meet a new standard is very problematic,” Spencer emphasized.

He has made this point repeatedly over the past months. In article in Newsweek back in March, Spencer brought up the IDF’s operation in Gaza’s Shifa hospital as an example of the lengths the army goes to prevent civilian harm.

“Israeli media reported that doctors accompanied the forces to help Palestinian patients if needed. They were also reported to be carrying food, water and medical supplies for the civilians inside,” Spencer wrote.

“None of this meant anything to Israel’s critics, of course, who immediately pounced. The critics, as usual, didn’t call out Hamas for using protected facilities like hospitals for its military activity.”

“In their criticism, Israel’s opponents are erasing a remarkable, historic new standard Israel has set. In my long career studying and advising on urban warfare for the U.S. military, I’ve never known an army to take such measures to attend to the enemy’s civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings.”

“The international community, and increasingly the United States, barely acknowledges these measures while repeatedly excoriating the IDF for not doing enough to protect civilians… Instead, the U.S. and its allies should be studying how they can apply the IDF’s tactics for protecting civilians,” Spencer wrote.

All Israel News

Day 265 — Thursday, June 27

In the Bible, Isaiah the prophet writes something that I believe really describes the days in which we are living, especially when it comes to Israel. In Isaiah 5:20, God says, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

I believe that perfectly describes what we’re seeing with the widespread hatred of Israel at home and abroad. They accuse Israel of actions that they themselves commit.

Such was the case last week with a Palestine Solidarity group in Western Canada, in Regina, Saskatchewan. The group booked the film theater at the downtown public library to bring in speaker Jeet Heer, who is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation, a progressive monthly news magazine, to speak on why “Canada and the US [are] backing Israel’s genocide.” With that title, their cards are pretty much on the table regarding what the evening was going to look like. It’s just another opportunity to bash Israel and the Jewish people.

Several Israel-loving people, myself included, wrote letters to the library administration and contacted city councilors to express our deep concern regarding the event. We warned that its intention was to disseminate lies and propaganda against Israel and the Jewish people—which is contrary to the principles of education and community building that the institution stands for.

When the Palestine Solidarity group found out that there was opposition to their Israel bashing night, they immediately took to Facebook to share their displeasure.

As a result of the Palestine Solidarity in Regina’s heated response, especially their claim that opposers were “supporters of the genocide,” the administration of the library canceled the event. Good for them! Unfortunately, the cancelation only lasted for a couple of days.

The Palestine Solidarity group instructed their followers to put immense pressure on the CEO and the board of the library to rethink their decision to cancel the event. 

Adding to the pressure, Jeet Heer voiced his displeasure by writing in The Nation, “I’ve Just Been Canceled…” making it an international story. Shamefully, Regina city councilor Dan LeBlanc intervened and sponsored the event. So, the event was back on the schedule this week.

You see, they use the freedoms we have in our country to spread disinformation on Israel and the Jewish people, and when challenged, they play the victim card… and they do it all too well.

You see, they use the freedoms we have in our country to spread disinformation on Israel and the Jewish people, and when challenged, they play the victim card… and they do it all too well.

Day 265 — Thursday, June 27

Martin Niemoller was an influential German pastor during the rise and reign of Adolph Hitler. When Hitler’s National Socialist Party, the Nazis, wrested power from the German government by hook and crook, Niemoller was an enthusiastic supporter. Hitler had promised Niemoller that he had no interest in the church and promised that his party would allow the church to tend to the spiritual needs of the people without interference. This was a monumental lie. Hitler aggressively pursued control of all aspects of German life, including the church.

Niemoller’s awakening from his slumber evinced a heavy toll on his heart and mind. He realized too late that he had fallen victim to the siren song of propaganda and had failed his Lord and the German people.

In his desire to participate in the tsunami of popular support for the Nazis and the national pride they seemed to engender, Niemoller lost sight of the Bible and what it says concerning Israel. What did he do? He repented of his naivety and began to preach the truth concerning the Nazis, encouraging his fellow Germans to stand against the warmongering and wicked barbarity that was even then manifesting itself toward the Jewish people. This courage landed Niemoller in Hitler’s concentration camps, where he would spend eight years.

In an act of public confession and repentance, Niemoller authored a poem still quoted to this day.

We have arrived once again at a place in history concerning the Jewish people that if it is to be reversed, there must be mass confession and repentance among Christians in America.

I had brief hope for this nationwide confession and repentance days after October 7, 2023. There appeared to be near global shock and outrage at the hellish murder, rape, and kidnapping of innocent people by the demonically charged terrorist organization Hamas and their Iranian masters. Alas, that did not translate into mass confession and repentance. Instead, the same mechanisms that have fueled anti-American hatred and violence within our national borders as well as overseas began their unchecked money flow to their agents. These agents used that money to influence ignorant people to engage in college campus protests. We have all seen the idiocy on full display.

American Christians have said little to nothing for decades while the enemies of Israel, the terrorist proxies of Iran, have bombed, murdered, kidnapped, and raped Jews at their discretion. October 7, 2023, horrendous as it was, is just a microcosm of a greater evil against Israel that has been sustained for decades while American Christians simply went about their daily lives none the wiser.

Day 264 — Wednesday, June 26

A Hamas operative involved in smuggling arms to the terror group through the Rafah border crossing and via tunnels crossing into Egypt was killed in an airstrike, the military announces.

According to the IDF, Wissam Abu Ishaq was targeted in a drone strike in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday.

It says that he was involved in running weapons to Hamas, and in recent years, smuggled arms through the Rafah Crossing and cross-border underground routes.

Since Israel’s takeover of the Egypt-Gaza border area, military officials say Hamas is no longer able to smuggle weapons into the Strip.

A separate airstrike overnight targeted a rocket launching site in southern Gaza’s Rafah, the military says.

The IDF says fighter jets and other aircraft struck dozens more targets across Gaza in the past day, including booby-trapped buildings, buildings used by terror groups, tunnels, and cells of gunmen.

Times Of Israel

Day 264 — Wednesday, June 26

The 4,782 documented instances of Jew-hatred in Germany in 2023—2,787 of which happened after Oct. 7—represent an 80% increase over 2022, according to a report from the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information Centers on Antisemitism.

On average, about 33 antisemitic incidents occurred per day in Germany from Oct. 7 until the end of the year, compared to a little more than seven daily from Jan. 1 to Oct. 7, 2023, according to the new data, released on Tuesday by the Bundesverband RIAS, which is funded by the German state.

Two-thirds of the instances that involved “extreme violence, assaults and threats” also took place after Oct. 7, per the study.

“The antisemitic massacres and terrorist attacks in Israel motivate people in Germany to engage in antisemitic behavior,” said Bianca Loy, research associate at the Bundesverband RIAS and co-author of the study. “Many well-known antisemitic stereotypes have been updated and applied to the Hamas massacres, and the war in Israel and Gaza.”

Owing to this, she added, “violence against Jews has been justified, trivialized or denied.”

Loy called the situation, in which many have to hide their Jewish identities, “alarming and unacceptable.”

“The unprecedented rise in antisemitic incidents must be understood as a wake-up call,” stated Benjamin Steinitz, managing director of the Bundesverband RIAS. “The state has the responsibility to ensure that Jews can safely participate in civic life.”

JNS

Day 263 — Tuesday, June 25

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, on Monday ripped UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and called on him to resign, after the UN chief insisted that claims he has never condemned Hamas were “misinformation”.

Erdan shared a video of Guterres telling a reporter, “I’ve heard the same source many times saying that I never attacked Hamas. That I never condemned Hamas. That I’m a supporter of Hamas.”

“I asked for a statistic to be made by our colleagues. I have condemned Hamas 102 times, 51 of them in formal speeches, the others on different social platforms,” continued Guterres. “So the truth, in the end, always wins.”

In response, Erdan wrote in a post on social media site X, “The Secretary General’s response proves yet again that he has ZERO integrity. His ‘condemnations’ of Hamas have been empty words when compared to his actions.”

“Since October 7th, the Secretary General essentially justified the massacre by saying it did not happen ‘in a vacuum’. He has focused only on pressuring Israel instead of Hamas. Not once has he demanded the designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization,” continued Erdan.

“He refused to include Hamas in the list of organizations involved in sexual violence even after it was proven. He only convened the UN Security Council for the people of Gaza, whilst completely ignoring Israel and the hostages. His sole aim has been to help Hamas survive this war. The SG paints a distorted picture of events on the ground, including ignoring Israel’s massive humanitarian efforts,” wrote Erdan.

“Antonio Guterres is an accomplice to terror and should resign today!” concluded the Israeli Ambassador.

As Erdan pointed out, Guterres has not stopped short of criticizing Israel since the start of the war in Gaza. In late October, the UN chief said that Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 “did not happen in a vacuum” and appeared to blame Israel for the attack.

After his remarks were widely condemned, the UN chief claimed his comments were misinterpreted and that he had indeed condemned Hamas.

Later, he mentioned the sexual crimes committed by Hamas in its October 7 attack in Israel in the same breath as “reports of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees”.

More recently, Guterres appeared to equate between Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

In a post on social media, Guterres wrote, “Nothing can justify the 7 Oct terror attacks by Hamas” but then added, “Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

He then added, “It’s high time for a humanitarian ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Gaza.”

Arutz Sheva

Day 263 — Tuesday, June 25

The Cuban External Relations Ministry announced this weekend it would intervene in the ongoing case against Israel brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to “end the genocide against the Palestinian people.”

South Africa sued Israel at the ICJ at the Hague in December, accusing its government of “genocide” against Palestinians in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza. Hamas, an overtly genocidal Sunni jihadist terrorist organization, invaded Israel from Gaza on October 7, engaging in mass killings, gang rape, torture, abductions, and other atrocities. Hamas killed an estimated 1,200 people – including infants, elderly people, and disabled people – and abducted an estimated 250 people, of which about 116 remain in captivity.

The South African case claims that Israel’s self-defense military operation in Gaza, launched following a war declaration against Hamas in October, is in reality an attempt to eliminate the civilian Palestinian population of Gaza. South Africa’s case has been plagued by poor arguments and errors, including incorrect citations of the Bible.

Israeli legal adviser Tal Becker dismissed the suit in January as “barely distinguishable from Hamas’s own rejectionist rhetoric” and accused South Africa of endorsing Hamas’s attempted genocide against the Jewish people in its attempt to smear Israel as a genocidal actor.

“If the claim of the applicant now is that in the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas, Israel must be denied the ability to defend its citizens, then the absurd upshot of South Africa’s argument is this,” Becker argued, “under the guise against Israel of the allegation of ‘genocide,’ this court is called to end operations against an organization that pursues an actual genocidal agenda.”

The most significant action the ICJ has taken so far on the lawsuit is its order in May demanding that Israel not engage in military operations in Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza, a demand Israel ignored. The ICJ does not have any material enforcement mechanism.

The Cuban Communist Party, through its foreign ministry, wholeheartedly supported South Africa’s stance in its statement this weekend.

“Israel, with total impunity, protected by the complicity of the government of the United States, ignores its obligations as an occupying power as per the Fourth Geneva Convention,” the Cuban foreign ministry (MINREX) asserted in its statement on the intervention, which it published on Saturday. “Genocide, Apartheid, forced displacement, and collective punishment cannot have a place in the world today, nor can they be tolerated by the international community.”

The Cuban communist regime, which boasts a history of over half a century of committing a litany of human rights atrocities, claimed that the goal of the South African ICJ action was to “stop the atrocities against the Palestinian people as a result of the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force on the part of Israel.”

The ICJ is the official court of the United Nations. Only states can be plaintiffs or defendants at the ICJ. The court has a mechanism to allow third-party states who are signatories to relevant international law to offer statements on how the court should interpret the provisions of that legal document.

Cuba, a notoriously repressive communist state, is one of only four countries on the State Department’s official list of state sponsors of terrorism as a result of its longtime collaboration with terrorist organizations such as Hamas. Cuba maintains close relationships with the three other countries on the list – Iran, Syria, and North Korea – and has long-established friendly relationships with organizations such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist terrorist organization, and the Shiite Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah.

Breitbart

Day 262 — Monday, June 24

A soldier of the Israel Defense Forces was seriously wounded in one of several drone attacks Hezbollah launched against Israel on Sunday, as tensions between the sides have reached a boiling point making an all-out war seem imminent.

The soldier sustained serious wounds caused by shrapnel when a Hezbollah suicide drone exploded near him in the area of Ayelet Hashahar, according to the IDF. The soldier was rushed to the hospital for treatment and his family was informed, the IDF stated.

The weekend saw no significant pause in Hezbollah’s incessant attacks against Israel, as two anti-tank missiles hit homes in the northern Israeli town of Metula on Saturday evening, causing damage and fires but no casualties.

The attacks continued early Sunday morning with a first drone attack, in which a suicide drone managed to penetrate defenses and exploded near the community of Beit Hillel in the Upper Galilee.

The IDF later announced that an interceptor missile targeted the drone but failed to intercept it, underscoring the difficulty Israel’s aerial defense has been experiencing against Hezbollah’s drone array.

Several hours later, another drone penetrated unusually deep into Israel, causing rocket alarms near the Arab city of Sakhnin, which is located in the Lower Galilee some 22 km (13,5 miles) from the Lebanese border.

The drone was intercepted in the adjacent Misgav Regional Council, near the site of a sensitive factory belonging to the Rafael Defense Contractor, which was the likely target of the strike.

In the early afternoon, four drones attacked IDF barracks in the area of Ayelet Hashahar. Footage filmed by soldiers who, contrary to orders, didn’t seek shelter in a bunker, showed one drone impact near them and another drone being intercepted in mid-air.

The IDF confirmed that one drone was shot down and three others impacted, with the shrapnel of one of the explosions wounding one IDF soldier. The impacts caused wildfires, Army Radio reported.

The Israeli army on Saturday released footage of a strike deep in Lebanese territory that killed the terrorist Ayman Ghatma, reportedly a weapons supplier for Hamas and the Sunni terror group al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya in Lebanon.

The IDF said an airstrike hit Ghatma’s vehicle near the town of Khiara in Lebanon’s Beqaa area, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the border. Ghatma was a target due to his active involvement in launching attacks against Israel over the past months, according to the Israeli military.

Later on Saturday, the IDF said it eliminated a terrorist who was identified at a Hezbollah observation post in the area of ​​Ayta al-Sha’ab. Israeli forces eliminated another terrorist who entered a military structure in the town of Yaroun, and attacked a terror squad in the a-Tayba area, among other strikes.

All Israel News

Day 262 — Monday, June 24

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that Israel was prepared to pause fighting in Gaza for a partial deal in exchange for the return of a number of hostages held by Hamas, but insisted the war will not end until the terror group is destroyed.

Netanyahu also said the phase of intense fighting in the Gaza Strip was winding down as Israel increasingly readies for a potential flareup Lebanon’s Hezbollah intensifies its cross-border attacks on Israel, in his first interview with a Hebrew-language outlet since Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

Asked whether he was prepared to reach an agreement with Hamas after the high-intensity phase of the conflict is over that would constitute a commitment to end the war, Netanyahu said: “No. I’m not prepared to end the war and leave Hamas in place. I am prepared to do a partial deal, that’s no secret, that would return some of the people to us.”

“But we are obligated to continue the fighting after a pause in order to complete our goal of destroying Hamas,” he told the right-wing Channel 14 program “The Patriots.” “I’m not prepared to give up on that.”

Hamas kidnapped 251 people on October 7, when thousands of terrorists led by the group stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people, sparking the war in Gaza. It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, though dozens are believed dead.

Netanyahu’s office released a statement later Sunday saying that it Hamas that was rejecting the deal on offer, not Israel.
“Hamas is the one opposing the deal, not Israel,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. “Netanyahu made it clear that we will not leave Gaza until we return all 120 of our hostages, both living and dead.”

Hamas meanwhile charged that Netanyahu’s comments amounted to a rejection of the proposal unveiled by US President Joe Biden in late May, reiterating its demand that any agreement include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war sparked by its October 7 attack.

Once the intense fighting is over in Gaza, Netanyahu said, Israel will be able to deploy more forces along the northern front.

“The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah.”

“After the end of the intense phase” in Gaza, the prime minister added, Israel will “redeploy some forces to the north… primarily for defensive purposes.”

Addressing the possibility of a full-blown war with Hezbollah, Netanyahu said he hoped there would be a diplomatic solution but was bracing for the possibility there won’t be.

“We will meet this challenge too. We can fight on several fronts, we are prepared for this,” he stated.

Netanyahu vowed Israel will any enforce any deal with Hezbollah to ensure that its forces are not on the border, saying, “it won’t be an agreement on paper.”

“It will include the physical distancing of Hezbollah from the border, and we will need to enforce it… We are committed to returning the residents of the north to their homes,” he added.

Times Of Israel

Day 262 — Monday, June 24

18 people, including 15 police officers and an Orthodox priest, were killed on Sunday in a terrorist attack in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, its governor Sergei Melikov said, according to The Associated Press.

Authorities said the terrorists opened fire on a church, two synagogues and a police post in two cities in the region.

Dagestan’s Interior Ministry said a group of armed men shot at a synagogue and a church in the city of Derbent, located on the Caspian Sea. Both the church and the synagogue caught fire, according to state media.

Almost simultaneously, reports appeared about an attack on a church and a traffic police post in the Dagestan capital, Makhachkala.

The authorities announced a counter-terrorist operation in the region. The Anti-Terrorist Committee said five terrorists were eliminated.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated that so far, there are no known Jews or Israelis among the victims.

Following the attacks, Amb. Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, said in a statement, “We are deeply troubled by what appears to be a coordinated attack on two synagogues, one of which has been burned to the ground, and a deadly attack on a church. An attack on the rights of individuals to practice their faiths freely and openly is an attack on humanity. As we await more information on the motivations of the attackers, we are reminded of the danger posed by antisemitism and all religious-based violence.”

“Every public leader, including in international organizations, has an obligation to not only condemn antisemitism without equivocation but act urgently to keep communities safe. We join the world in praying for the people of Derbent and Makhachkala, including law enforcement and clergy, and hope that the perpetrators are quickly brought to justice,” he added.

The Israeli Embassy in Moscow is in contact with the leaders of the Jewish community in the district.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. The authorities launched a criminal probe on the charge of a terrorist act.

Arutz Sheva

Day 261 — Sunday, June 23

Over the past few weeks, the simmering tensions between the Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah and Israel have escalated to a point where, today, Israel is openly preparing its troops for the outbreak of a full-blown war, which media and experts are speculating may only be weeks away.

Biden administration officials have recently been cautioning Israeli leaders almost daily against escalating the conflict, fearing a wider regional war that could pull in Iran and its proxies is becoming inevitable.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8 of last year, after declaring its support for Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Since that day, the Lebanese terrorists have been firing on Israeli targets almost daily, only stopping for a longer period during the hostage deal truce in November.

Israel, in response, moved large numbers of IDF troops to the northern border, fearing a large-scale assault similar to the one Hamas carried out on Oct. 7.

However, the first days of fighting proved that Hezbollah sought only to launch enough attacks to be seen as supporting Hamas, without provoking an all-out war with Israel.

In recent months, the group has escalated its attacks to the degree that many in Israel see a war to push Hezbollah back from the border as inevitable.

Over more than eight months, Hezbollah so far fired over 5,000 rockets, drones, anti-tank missiles and mortar grenades at Israel, to the clip of about 10 attacks per day.

Around 80,000 residents from northern Israel were forced to evacuate their homes, with approximately 60,000 still displaced in their own country.

Communities located up to several kilometers from the border have been evacuated, with residents either receiving a small living stipend or being housed in hotels around the country by the government.

They have been watching for almost nine months as Hezbollah terrorists have been destroying their homes. In some communities close to the border, the terrorists have been picking off homes on one street after the other, destroying large parts of the towns.

At least 947 buildings have been significantly damaged by Hezbollah’s drones, rockets and missiles, so far.

As temperatures have risen over the past months, Hezbollah’s projectiles landing in open areas have increasingly sparked wildfires. These blazes have threatened homes, destroyed fields and natural parks, and incinerated about 20,000 acres.

In the exchanges of fire, Hezbollah has killed 10 Israeli civilians and 15 IDF soldiers and reservists.

The IDF has responded with artillery and tank shelling, as well as waves of airstrikes, including in areas deep inside Lebanese territory, far away from the Israeli border.

Hezbollah confirmed the deaths of 349 of its members in the Israeli strikes, with most being killed in Lebanon but some dying in Syria. Israel estimates that the true number of killed terrorists is even higher.

In addition, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed 63 terrorists from other groups allied with Hezbollah, including the local Hamas branch, as well as one soldier of the Lebanese army, and dozens of Lebanese civilians, some of whom were associated with Hezbollah-affiliated organizations.

All Israel News

Day 260 — Saturday, June 22

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave an interview to Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News, in which he was asked about the video he posted and which raised the ire of the Biden administration.

“I deeply appreciate the support we were given by President Biden and the United States administration for our war effort from the beginning. President Biden came here, he sent two carrier groups, and he gave us valuable assistance and ammunition and weapons from the beginning of the war. I appreciate that. And I remain appreciative,” stressed Netanyahu.

He added, “We began to see that we had some significant problems emerging a few months ago. And in fact, we tried, in many, many quiet conversations between our officials and American officials, and between me and the president to try to iron out this diminution of supply.”

“And we haven’t been able to solve it. Now this is crucial. It’s crucial for our common war aims to defeat Hamas and to prevent an escalation in Lebanon to a full-fledged war to have this supply. Because, otherwise, it hinders Israel’s ability to fight this war, which is an actual war of survival and multi-front war against Iran, that Iran terror axis and its various terrorist minions, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and others.”

“I raised this issue with Secretary Blinken. And I said that we are being told by our Defense Department officials that barely a trickle is coming in. He said, ‘Well, everything is in process. We’re doing everything to untangle it. And to clear up the bottlenecks,’” Netanyahu continued.

“And I said, ‘Well, that’s what I expect to happen. Let’s make sure that it does happen. It must happen.’ And I quoted Churchill, who said to Roosevelt in World War II, ‘Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job.’ I said, give us the tools, and we’ll finish the job a lot faster.”

“And of course, prevent future wars. We’ll win this war against Hamas, deter a future war in the north with this Hezbollah and assure our common interest in the Middle East. I felt that airing it was absolutely necessary after months of quiet conversation that did not solve the problem,” stated Netanyahu.

In the video released Tuesday, Netanyahu expressed astonishment at moves from the Biden administration to hold up munitions shipments to Israel during the war against Hamas.

On Thursday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby commented on Netanyahu’s video, telling reporters that the Prime Minister’s claims are “vexing and disappointing to us as much as it was incorrect.”

Netanyahu said in response to Kirby’s statements, “I am prepared to suffer personal attacks provided that Israel gets the munitions it needs from the US.”

Arutz Sheva

Day 260 — Saturday, June 22

Despite dramatic video footage showing the New York City Police Department entering a building on the Columbia University campus on the Upper West Side to arrest anti-Israel protesters who had barricaded themselves within, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, is declining to press charges against many of the alleged offenders.

A Manhattan prosecutor “argued that the defendants should not face criminal penalties, citing their lack of criminal histories and arguing that the protesters will face internal discipline at Columbia,” The Washington Free Beacon reported from within the courthouse on Thursday.

“The prosecutor also argued that Bragg’s office lacked evidence to land convictions in the cases, given those who occupied Hamilton Hall wore masks and covered up surveillance cameras,” the paper added. “New York City police arrested the occupiers while they were inside Hamilton Hall.”

The Free Beacon reported that Bragg’s office dismissed charges against 30 of the 46 people arrested for allegedly entering the building illegally. After the charges were dismissed, one protester, “whose entire head was covered with a ski mask,” said at a press conference that “the protesters ‘resist the pigs, the police in the U.S.’”

“This is standing with Palestinian resistance,” the protester said, per the Free Beacon. “This is an interlinking of our struggles—struggles against carceral violence, against colonialism, against racism, against genocide.” The person also said that the protesters “refuse to condemn the Palestinian resistance.”

JNS sought comment from the Manhattan D.A.’s office.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote that Bragg, “who charged President Trump with 34 felonies over an internal business record is letting violent, pro-Hamas rioters go free.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) called the Manhattan prosecutor’s decision “gutless.” The watchdog group StopAntisemitism commented that it was “flabbergasted” at Bragg’s decision.

Gerard Filitti, senior counsel at the Lawfare Project, wrote that Bragg dropped the charges “for lack of evidence that they were trespassing in a building they barricaded themselves in.”

“It’s time for the Justice Department to step in and protect our civil rights,” he added.

JNS

Day 260 — Saturday, June 22

A new poll recently conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research revealed, once again, the hearts of the majority of the Palestinian people. Here are some of the highlights of that research:

• 73% of Gazans and 57% of West Bank Palestinians still think Hamas’ decision to launch its offensive against Israel on October 7 was correct.
• 63% blame Israel for the current suffering of Gazans in the war, while 22% blame the US, 8% blame Hamas, and 4% blame the Palestinian Authority.
• 56% think Hamas will be in control of Gaza after the war
• 75% of Palestinians said they were satisfied with Hamas’ performance in the current war.
• 65% opposed the idea of a two-state solution
• 63% supported a return to confrontations and armed intifada

Well, there you have it right from their own sources. Yet the world, with little compassion for the Jewish people, pressures Israel to make peace with the people who have nothing more than a perpetual hatred for them.

Judgment time is coming one day, and that’s what we read about in the Bible—in the books of Ezekiel, Obadiah, and Malachi—concerning the Edomites.

Some Bible scholars would say that the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, have disappeared from the world scene with zero trace of their existence as a people group remaining today. Others would identify a very strong relation to today’s modern-day Palestinians. In fact, the late Dr. Jimmy DeYoung traced Esau’s descendants through Amalek, Agag, Haman, Herod, then on through to Amin al-Husseini, all the way up to Yasser Arafat, who was the originator of the modern-day Palestinian movement.

While I have yet to verify Dr. DeYoung’s modern genealogical links, what I do know for sure is that the spirit of the Edomites is alive and well to this day.

In Genesis chapter 36, Esau’s name was changed to Edom, and we know that he settled in Mount Seir, which is in modern-day, Jordan. When we look at Ezekiel 35, the book of Obadiah, and Malachi chapter one, we read about judgment that’s coming on Edom for their perpetual hatred for Israel.