LIVE UPDATES — FROM OCT. 5th – 11th
Israel At War: Week Fifty-Three Coverage
TRUSTED ANALYSIS
Day 371 — Friday, October 11
Hezbollah Anti-Tank Fire Kills 27-Year-Old Foreign National In Northern Israel
A 27-year-old foreign worker from Thailand was killed following Hezbollah anti-tank missiles launched from Lebanon into northern Israel, hitting Kibbutz Yaraon in the Upper Galilee, MDA confirmed Friday morning.
In addition to the Thai foreign national killed, multiple others were reportedly wounded in the attack.
The missile was fired at an agricultural area, where MDA first responders pronounced him dead, the emergency medical service stated.
It was the second fatal rocket attack in two days. On Wednesday, two people were killed, and several were wounded to varying degrees following a barrage of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel.
In that incident, the military reported that 20 launches were detected towards Kiryat Shmona alone.
The two killed were a couple, a man and a woman, both aged 40, Israeli media reported.
They sustained fatal wounds due to falling shrapnel while walking their dogs and did not have time to enter the protected area, Ynet reported.
Earlier this week, at least nine people were wounded following a rocket barrage toward Haifa, with injuries attributed to broken glass and other causes while running to protected areas.
Day 371 — Friday, October 11
Three IDF Reservists Die In Blast In Northern Gaza
Three Israel Defense Forces reservists were killed and two other soldiers were seriously wounded when their vehicle hit an explosive device in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, the military announced on Thursday.
The casualties were named as Master Sgt. (res.) Ori Moshe Borenstein, 32, from Moreshet; Master Sgt. (res.) Tzvi Matityahu Marantz, 32, from Bnei Adam; and Maj. (res.) Netanel Hershkovitz, 37, from Jerusalem. All three were part of the 5460th support unit of the IDF’s 460th Brigade.
According to Israel’s Channel 12 News broadcaster, the deadly explosion took place shortly after the unit crossed into the coastal enclave to provide logistical assistance to soldiers of the 162nd Division.
Day 371 — Friday, October 11
Anti-Semitic Incidents Up 500% On Campuses Since October 7: Report
Anti-Semitic incidents have surged by 500% since October 7, 2023, with 1,200 reported incidents, according to new data from the Anti-Defamation League.
Following Hamas’ October 7 terrorist massacre of Israeli civilians in southern Israel — the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust — many campuses have been engulfed in protests. Students at campuses around the nation have been documented defending Hamas’s attack, chanting ethnic cleansing slogans against Israel, and setting up encampments that have led to the harassment and intimidation of Jewish students.
In the previous year’s same period, 200 anti-Semitic incidents were reported on college campuses, according to the ADL.
“From that day on, Jewish Americans haven’t had a single moment of respite,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “Instead, we’ve faced a shocking number of antisemitic threats and experienced calls for more violence against Israelis and Jews everywhere.”
The Daily Wire has extensively reported on anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses, including Columbia student Khymani James saying Zionists don’t deserve to live, and a Jewish student at Lawrence Technological University being suspended from his soccer team after reporting a teammate for assaulting him and making Nazi salutes at him.
Nationwide, there have been more than 10,000 anti-Semitic incidents since October 7 — a 200% increase compared to the prior year. This was the highest number of incidents the ADL recorded since it began tracking in 1979.
According to the ADL’s Center on Extremism, 8,015 of the incidents involved verbal or written harassment, 1,840 were acts of vandalism, and 150 were cases of physical assault.
Over 2,000 incidents occurred at Jewish institutions, including synagogues and Jewish centers, with half being bomb threats. In comparison, such institutions received 81 bomb threats during the previous same year period.
More than 3,000 incidents occurred during anti-Israel rallies, which have been documented to include support for terrorist groups including Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as reported by The Daily Wire.
The ADL expects their figures to increase in its final 2024 report, to be released in the spring, as the group learns of more incidents over the past year.
The organization’s methodology includes tracking both criminal and non-criminal incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault reported by victims, law enforcement, partner organizations, and media outlets.
While incidents in the data do not include general anti-Israel activism, since October 7, 2023, the group began to include incidents where anti-Israel activists support terrorism or attacks on Jews, Israelis, and Zionists.
Day 370 — Thursday, October 10
1 Killed, 5 Injured, In Terrorist Stabbing Spree In Hadera
A man who was gravely wounded Wednesday in a terrorist stabbing rampage in Hadera died Thursday.
He was named as Rafael Mordechai Fishof, 35, reported variously to be a father of six or eight children.
Fishof was hospitalized in the intensive care unit at the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in the city after the attack but doctors were unable to save his life.
The other five victims included another man in serious but stable condition, one in moderate condition, and three in good condition.
The alleged attacker used a moped to drive between four locations in the city, stabbing people at each place. He was identified by Hebrew-language media as an Arab Israeli resident of Umm al-Fahm.
The terrorist was apprehended by police with the help of armed citizens at the scene.
A video posted to social media showed the moment a number of armed members of the public surrounded the suspect on what appeared to be a main shopping street, their weapons drawn.
At least two warning shots were fired in the air before one man fired at the suspect as he reached into his coat. It wasn’t immediately clear if he was hit.
Armed police officers then arrived at the scene and pushed the suspect to the ground while shouting at the others not to shoot.
אירוע הדקירות בחדרה: עלה לחמישה מספר הפצועים, שניים מהם במצב קשה. המשטרה: ההערכה שמדובר בפיגוע עדיין נבדקת >>> https://t.co/yXb0HRvNFQ
(שימוש לפי סעיף 27א) pic.twitter.com/HcV1gkWUc5
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 9, 2024
Day 370 — Thursday, October 10
Justice Is Knocking On The Door: Sinwar Has Resurfaced... But He knows His Time Is Short
Hamas chairman Yahya Sinwar, presumed killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza, has resurfaced. This week, he renewed contact with mediators in Qatar to arrange his safety, seeking immunity via a ceasefire-for-hostages deal. A senior Egyptian official stated, “Sinwar insists on guarantees for his safety and life,” Ynet reported in August.
It is believed that Sinwar revealed his survival because Qatar threatened to confiscate or freeze Sinwar’s bank account and that it wouldn’t finance the post-war reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Sinwar seeks to expand the Israel-Hamas conflict into a true regional war, but he understands that he may not live much longer and is seeking to do what he can to survive.
Sinwar is the face of pure evil. Before he masterminded the massacre of 1,200 Israelis, he murdered many suspected collaborators with Israel. He then spent at least 22 years in prison in Israel, during which Israeli surgeons saved his life by removing his brain tumor. As one of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for one Israeli soldier in 2011, Sinwar wasted no time rising up Hamas’s ranks and orchestrating further terror against the Jewish state.
Blind, fanatical adherence to radical Islamic doctrine has spurred this serial killer to commit unspeakable crimes for many years. He has been crafty in hiding from the Israel Defense Forces, but justice is knocking on his door.
He knows his time is likely short and must now decide between his insane desire to murder Israelis and his innate desire to survive. But now that he has revealed himself, it’s unlikely that he will remain safely hidden away. Israel has its sights squarely set on removing the threat he has long posed.
Friends Of Israel Gospel Ministry
Day 369 — Wednesday, October 9
Syria: Seven Killed In Israeli Strike In Damascus
Syrian state media reported on Tuesday that an Israeli airstrike targeted a residential building in Damascus, killing seven people and wounding 11 others.
The strike, in the Mazzeh district of the Syrian capital, also caused significant material damage, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
According to Ynet, the target of the strike was Haj Samer, a senior official in Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, responsible for transferring weapons to the terrorist group from Iran and its proxies.
According to the Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya TV channel, the building that was struck was frequented by Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah officials.
The upscale neighborhood where the attack occurred is home to the Iranian embassy, which tweeted that no Iranian citizens were killed in the strike.
On April 1, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Zahedi, a top commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force responsible for Syria and Lebanon, was killed in an alleged Israeli strike on a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus.
That attack prompted Iran’s first-ever direct strike on Israel a couple of weeks later.
On Sept. 30, Syrian media reported that three people had been killed and nine wounded in Israeli airstrikes in Damascus. One of those killed was well-known Syrian TV journalist Safaa Ahmed, according to Syrian state television.
Israel rarely admits to attacks on Syrian territory, although in February Jerusalem revealed that it had attacked more than 50 targets belonging to Hezbollah and other Iran-backed terror groups in Syria since Oct. 7.
Day 369 — Wednesday, October 9
Antisemitic Attack In Paris: 'They Threatened Me With A Knife And Drew Swastikas On My Body'
A shocking antisemitic event occurred on Monday evening in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, on the anniversary of the October 7 massacre, when a Jewish woman fell victim to a brutal attack at the entrance to her home.
She stated that three men attacked her, without provocation on her part. They threatened her with a box knife, uttered antisemitic threats, and even mentioned the events of October 7.
During the attack, the attackers did not use only verbal and physical violence, but also drew swastikas on the woman’s body with a red marker.
The French CNEWS network, which reported on the incident, said that the attack occurred around 19:40 and joins a long line of antisemitic incidents that have plagued France in recent years. It also highlights the tense atmosphere that prevails in the Jewish community in the country.
The police in Paris immediately opened an investigation into the incident. The local authorities in France even called on the public to be vigilant and report any information that may help in apprehending the attackers.
The leaders of the Jewish community in France expressed deep shock at the attack and called on the government to take more decisive steps in the fight against antisemitism. “It is impossible that Jews are living in fear on the streets of Paris,” said one of the community leaders.
Day 369 — Wednesday, October 9
IDF Destroys Hezbollah Tunnel That Crossed Into Israel, Steps Up Airstrikes
Israeli forces have demolished a small Hezbollah tunnel that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon, the military announced Tuesday, as its ground operation north of the border continued to target the terror group’s infrastructure.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, the 20-meter-long tunnel had no exit in Israeli territory, and its path crossed the UN-recognized Blue Line by about 10 meters, in the western sector of the border, near the Lebanese village of Marwahin, just across from the Israeli community of Zar’it.
No towns were ever under any threat by the tunnel, the military said.
According to Israeli military assessments, Hezbollah began the construction of the tunnel about two years ago, and it was quickly identified by the IDF. The military said it wanted to keep tabs on the tunnel as it was being built, rather than reveal to Hezbollah that it had intelligence of the underground route.
The tunnel was physically located by commandos during raids in southern Lebanon several months ago, though the military stressed that it was previously known to the IDF and it had full control over the area.
The military said troops searched the tunnel and found weapons inside, including explosives and anti-tank missiles.
Now that the IDF is operating in southern Lebanon with larger forces, it said it took the opportunity to demolish the tunnel.
According to the IDF, there are no other tunnels known to cross into Israel from Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the IDF said Hezbollah launched some 180 rockets from Lebanon at northern Israel on Tuesday, including a barrage of some 25 projectiles fired in the evening at Kiryat Shmona.
According to the military, some of the rockets fired at Kiryat Shmona were intercepted, while others impacted in the area. There were no reports of injuries or major damage in that attack.
Some of the rocket launchers used by Hezbollah to fire 105 projectiles at Haifa earlier in the day were struck by an Israeli Air Force drone, the military said, adding that it carried out several strikes against Hezbollah buildings and anti-tank missile launch posts in southern Lebanon over the past day.
After the barrage, the IDF Home Front Command issued stricter guidelines in several cities near Haifa, preventing schools from operating in Kiryat Ata, Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat Yam, and Kiryat Motzkin.
Schools will stay open in Haifa itself, provided that a bomb shelter can be reached quickly enough, the IDF said.
Overnight, the IDF said it struck a weapons depot and another Hezbollah site in Beirut, and Monday night, the military said a drone strike was carried out against a school in southern Lebanon’s Tayr Harfa, where a group of Hezbollah operatives were spotted.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday that 50 operatives and at least six top commanders in Hezbollah’s so-called Southern Front were killed in a wide wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon the previous day.
The Southern Front, responsible for the terror group’s military activity in south Lebanon, was commanded by Ali Karaki, who was killed alongside Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah last month.
“The terrorists we killed yesterday are the commanders and terrorists who were set to — on the day that the order would be given — infiltrate Israel, into towns in the north, to murder and kidnap Israeli civilians,” Hagari said.
A separate strike on Monday in Beirut killed the head of Hezbollah’s logistical headquarters, Suhail Hussein Husseini, the IDF said. He was a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, the terror group’s top military body.
Day 368 — Tuesday, October 8
Netanyahu Seeks To Officially Change The Name Of The War To 'The War Of Revival'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested at the cabinet meeting on Monday to change the name of the war “The Revival [Tekuma] War”. He said: “One year ago today, at 06:29 in the morning, Hamas terrorists launched a murderous surprise attack against the State of Israel, against the citizens of Israel. Shortly after this massacre, I said at the Kirya [IDF headquarters] in Tel Aviv: ‘We are at war. This is not a military operation, this is a war”. We will fight back with a strength that the enemy has never known, and we will exact a price from him that he has not known. We are in a war and we will win it.”
“Since that black day we have been fighting. This is our war of existence – the ‘War of Revival. That is what I would like to call the war officially,” said Netanyahu, adding that “since that black day we have been on the offensive on seven fronts. Our counterattack on our enemies in Iran’s axis of evil is a necessary condition for guaranteeing our future and our security.”
“We will end the war when we complete all the goals we set: overthrowing the evil rule of Hamas, returning all our hostages home – both the dead and the living, thwarting any future threat from Gaza to Israel, and returning our residents in the south and north safely to their homes.”
“On this day, we give respect to the memory of our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, our parents and our elders, who were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists. Children and girls who were murdered in cold blood, women and men who were slaughtered, entire families who were destroyed. Our hearts are with the bereaved families whose loved ones have been broken and whose lives have drastically changed. Our hearts are with families of the hostages, who are going through endless agony of pain and worry for the fate of their loved ones. We will forever remember the faces, the stories, the lives that were lost, the lives that we still have to save.”
Netanyahu added: “We will remember our heroes who fell in the battle in Gaza, in Lebanon and in other areas. Thanks to them we defeated the enemy, thanks to them we destroyed most of its capabilities. We freed many of our hostages, and we are determined to complete the mission. We will send a prayer for the peace of our wounded heroes, and we will express gratitude from the bottom of our hearts to the heroism of our fighters in the Israel Defense Forces and in the security arms. They are the ones who stand as a protective wall between the evil of our enemies and the good of our people and our country. These warriors stand between the fate of our people who were slaughtered in past generations, and now rise in our country as a strong and fighting nation. They fight in the air, at sea and on land. They fight without hesitation and with endless determination.”
Netanyahu concluded his speech: “These fighters are imbued with the heroic spirit of our people – women and men, regular and reserve, army and police, Shin Bet and Mossad. They are determined to secure our future – they are determined to win. The October 7th massacre was the most horrific attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. But unlike the Holocaust – we rose up against our enemies and fought a fierce war. We are changing the security reality in our region; for the sake of our children, for the sake of our future, to ensure that what happened on October 7th will not happen again, never again. With God’s help – together we will fight, together we will win – and Israel’s will secure its victory.”
Arutz Sheva
Day 368 — Tuesday, October 8
Analysis — ‘The Die Has Been Cast’: There is No Going Back From What Iran Set Into Motion On October 7th
The origin of cultural idioms is an interesting study. Take, for instance, the phrase “The elephant in the room.” The phrase is of American origin, possibly as recently as the 1950s. It has come to refer to any subject that requires a conversation but one that is being avoided by all parties with an interest in said conversation.
Likewise is the idiom, “The die has been cast.” According to one researcher, this phrase was first spoken by Julius Caesar when crossing the Rubicon. The first known usage of the phrase in print goes back to 1626 and Sir Thomas Herbert. The “die” in this phrase is not referring to the modern-day process of die-casting metal. Instead, the “die” is the singular of dice, and therefore, the phrase means “the dice have been rolled.” In other words, once the dice have been rolled, there is no turning back.
I thought of this latter phrase in relation to the first anniversary of the barbaric, murderous, depraved actions of the Islamic terror group Hamas toward the nation of Israel and the Jewish people on October 7, 2023. No amount of obfuscation, misdirection, political double-speak, or demonic moralizing can excuse what took place on that day. This is not how civilized people conduct their affairs. Sometimes war is inevitable, but in those instances, there is a formal declaration after efforts have been made to avoid it. Americans especially should be sensitive to this after December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001.
Yet, without warning, Iran’s terrorist proxy Hamas, in a well-planned surprise attack, murdered, raped, and assaulted civilians, taking captive hundreds of innocent people. This was not a declaration of war; this was a declaration that when uncivilized people are propagandized long enough, they become the willing tools of demonic barbarian slaughter.
There was great celebration throughout the Shia Muslim world at the devastation rendered to what Shia Muslims refer to as the “little Satan,” Israel. The atrocity inflicted upon the Jewish people on October 7, 2023, was seen by a jubilant Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi Shia Muslims as a blessing from “Allah” and surely a sign of his granting a forthcoming victory over all Jews. At long last, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was within grasp.
No one knows, except the ayatollah’s themselves, what the desired outcome of their barbaric invasion was. One thing is for certain: neither Iran nor any of its aforementioned proxies understood that pushing Israel to the degree that they did would result in an all-out war. We can be certain about this because, for all of their bluster and saber-rattling, Iran has been exposed as a “paper tiger” with neither the means nor the will to enter into a direct military conflict with Israel.
Along the way, the “elephant in the room” conversations are now taking place. Terrorist sympathizers are being exposed at the highest levels of government in the US, UK, France, and elsewhere. Their repeated calls for restraint on Israel’s part and a continual call upon Israel to accept a cease-fire exposes them as cowards in the least and radical Islamist mouthpieces that are not worthy of office.
This kind of behavior and moral blindness by elected representatives is not a mere disagreement over policy. Their support of Iran terrorism through Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and every other group around the world shows a fundamental lack of understanding about what makes us all human beings. There is no scenario where rape as part of an ideology, murdering babies, infants, and toddlers in their cribs, defenseless old men and women in the streets, and taking captive hundreds of people and subjecting them to the worse imaginable treatment for over a year is acceptable. And yet, that is the argument being advanced by Islamists and their sympathizers.
International organizations have attempted to stop Israel’s response through lawfare (The International Criminal Court of Justice comes to mind), or through the United Nations. Why would any nation ever support the United Nations after it has been proven that the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) was riddled with Islamic terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre?
The latest blindness and abject lunacy come from the Nobel Peace Prize Forum which declared their complete moral bankruptcy just days ago by nominating for their highest honor the same terrorist UNRWA mentioned above, the International Criminal Court of Justice mentioned above, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has been so openly biased against Israel that Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, recently banned him from entering Israel. It was Guterres who demonstrated his own inability to comprehend basic morality by declaring soon after October 7, 2023, that the Hamas barbarity “did not happen in a vacuum.”
What Iran does not understand is that they rolled the dice on October 7, 2023, thereby casting the die for what will soon come upon them. They cannot walk back what has already been set in motion. In their obsession to destroy Israel, the ayatollahs started the process of their own demise.
Day 367 — Monday, October 7
Netanyahu Calls Macron, Other Western Leaders Who Support Arms Embargo Against Israel A ‘Disgrace’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed French President Emmanuel Macron and other Western leaders on Saturday who he said had called for an arms embargo on Israel over its airstrikes against Hamas in Gaza.
“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side, yet President Macron and other western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
He continued, “Is Iran imposing an arms embargo on Hezbollah, on the Houthis, on Hamas and on its other proxies? Of course not. This axis of terror stands together, but countries who supposedly oppose this terror axis call for an arms embargo on Israel.”
Netanyahu called their stance a “disgrace,” adding that Israel would win “with or without their support, but their shame will continue long after the war is won.”
He said, “in defending ourselves against this barbarism, Israel is defending civilization against those who seek to impose a dark age of fanaticism on all of us. Rest assured, Israel will fight until the battle is won – for our sake and for the sake of peace and security in the world.”
Netanyahu noted that Israel is defending itself on seven different fronts, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Lebanon, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, terrorists in Judea and Samaria and Iran.
On Saturday, Macron said France would no longer supply arms to Israel, although the country will continue to send missile defense equipment.
“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” Macron said in an interview, according to Euro News.
Day 367 — Monday, October 7
A Year Of War: IDF Data Shows 728 Troops Killed, Over 26,000 Rockets Fired At Israel
As the country marked one year since the onset of the war on October 7, 2023, the Israel Defense Forces on Monday published new data on its operations in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Lebanon, from the number of rockets fired at Israel to the number of sites struck by the Israeli Air Force.
According to the data, some 17,000 Hamas operatives and members of other terror groups have been killed by the IDF in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7, when gunmen rampaged through southern communities massacring some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 to Gaza.
Israel responded with a military campaign to topple the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip, destroy the terror group, and free the hostages.
The Hamas-run health ministry has said over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, though the figure cannot be independently verified and is believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza.
The IDF’s data said that the military has killed eight Hamas brigade commanders and those of an equivalent rank, as well as more than 30 battalion commanders. More than 165 Hamas company commanders and operatives with a similar rank have also been killed, according to the data.
Some 40,300 targets have been struck in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war, and troops have located some 4,700 tunnel shafts, the IDF said.
The day after the Hamas assault, Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah began attacks along Israel’s northern border, saying it was acting in support of Gaza. That fighting steadily escalated over the months, until boiling over last month after Israel began a new offensive against the terror group by killing its entire top leadership and launching a ground operation in southern Lebanon.
In Lebanon, the IDF said it has killed more than 800 terror operatives, mostly members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah. The number included 90 Hezbollah commanders, according to the IDF.
According to the IDF’s data, nearly 11,000 Hezbollah positions have been struck by the military.
Since the beginning of the war, over 26,000 rockets, missiles, and drones have been launched at Israel from multiple fronts.
The numbers included 13,200 projectiles fired from Gaza — at least 5,000 on October 7 alone — 12,400 from Lebanon, around 60 from Syria, 180 from Yemen, and [nearly 500] from Iran — the latter of which in two direct attacks on Israel on April 13 and October 1.
The IDF did not detail how many drones and missiles had been launched from Iraq at Israel amid the war.
The figures did not include rockets — said by Israel to be at least in the hundreds — launched by Gazan terror groups that misfired and landed in the Strip, as well as those launched by Hezbollah that landed short in Lebanon.
The IDF said the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 has interrogated some 7,000 Palestinian suspects in the Gaza Strip, many of whom were arrested and brought to Israel for further questioning. Many have also been returned to Gaza after questioning.
A total of 728 soldiers, reservists, and local security officers have been killed and another 4,576 have been wounded in the war since October 7 — the latest on Sunday. Of them, 346 were killed and 2,299 were wounded during the ground offensive in Gaza.
Since October 7, in the West Bank, the IDF said troops have arrested more than 5,250 wanted Palestinians, including more than 2,050 affiliated with Hamas. Additionally, some 690 gunmen, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks have been killed by troops in the West Bank, the IDF said.
The IDF said 150 brigade-level raids have been carried out in the West Bank, and 30 homes of Palestinians accused of terrorism have been demolished.
Day 367 — Monday, October 7
Analysis — These Are Indeed ‘Days Of Awe’ In Israel
The seventh month of the Hebrew calendar begins the Jewish civil new year, starting with three high holy days — Rosh Hashana (the Feast of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). The days from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur are known as the “Ten Days of Repentance,” or “Days of Awe.” It is a time of reflection and fasting.
This year, the Days of Awe contain a horrible anniversary — October 7th. On that day one year ago, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel. They killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They took 251 hostages — again, mostly civilians. This was not an uprising. These were not freedom fighters. Those who question the difference between freedom fighters and terrorists should ask themselves this: Who but terrorists would intentionally butcher babies and their mothers?
The numbers don’t convey the savagery of October 7th. When you hear about the crimes Hamas committed that day (and since), remember that the descriptions have been filtered. Societal norms limit the level of detail witnesses and journalists can give in telling these stories. Rescued hostages usually tell almost no one the true horrors they faced while held captive by terrorists.
On October 8th of last year, Hezbollah decided to add another front to Israel’s war. With the Hamas battle raging to the south in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon began firing missiles at Israel from the north — close to 10,000 of them over the last year. Imagine someone firing thousands of missiles at the United States. Would the US start its response by calling for a ceasefire, or would it first shut down the enemy’s ability to make war?
In a limited way, Israel struck back with targeted attacks on key Hezbollah leaders. But the battle to the north really heated up on September 17th and 18th when Israel exploded thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies in a precisely targeted attack against mid-level and higher Hezbollah fighters. In a stunning series of moves, Israel then destroyed all Hezbollah’s top leaders.
Israel fights because it must. The Jews in Israel cannot run. They have no other place to go. But escape is not on their minds. They are where they want to be. They choose to make their stand in the Promised Land, the place God gave them. May we all make our stand in the Land of Promise.
In April of this year and again in October, Iran launched massive aerial assaults on Israel. Combined, the two attacks included 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles, and more than 300 ballistic missiles. The October bombardment was the largest ballistic missile onslaught in history. The April attack tragically severely wounded a 7-year-old Bedouin girl, and in October the Iranians killed one Palestinian man. Otherwise, these massive assaults did only minor damage. And that is a miracle of biblical proportions.
Day 367 — Monday, October 7
Analysis — Remembering The Bloodiest Crime Against Jewish People Since 1945
Just one year ago, as I was packing my bags to take a group of believers to Israel, I woke up to the news that Hamas had invaded southwest Israel from the Gaza Strip. It was not long before the world was made aware of the terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 1,200 Israelis and that Hamas had taken 240 hostages back to Gaza. The world was in shock…Well, for about a week at least! Eventually, as the IDF started to respond with an incursion into Gaza to rescue hostages and eliminate Hamas terrorists, the attention quickly turned away from Israel and to the Palestinians.
We are now getting ready to remember the victims, the hostages, and their families while Israel is still fighting on up to seven fronts. From a human perspective, things are looking very bleak. Here are a few things to consider as we go to the Lord remembering October 7.
• 10/7 was the bloodiest death toll since the Holocaust: I have always resisted comparing any event to the Holocaust for fear of diminishing the impact of the Final Solution in the minds of people. This is especially true in our age of historical revisionism, relativism, and Holocaust denial. 10/7 changed everything! Again, 1200 innocent Israelis were murdered and 240 taken hostage by Hamas, of which over 100 are still in captivity, if still alive.
This makes 10/7 the bloodiest crime against Jewish people since 1945. NEVER AGAIN seems to have become two words without meaning to the global Jewish community.
• The world needs to flip the narrative: One would expect the whole world to come to the rescue of Israel as they saw the results of the attack. Hamas asking for a cease-fire, reinforced by many world governments, including the US, and asking Israel to show restraint is simply ludicrous.
There was a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip up to October 6, 2023, with no Israeli control at all. Hamas broke the cease-fire. The accusations of genocide, ethnic cleansing and occupations need to be flipped. Even though Gaza is inhabited by “Palestinians,” it belongs to Israel. Nobody likes to hear this, but the “Palestinians” are the occupiers of Gaza and Judea and Samaria (the West Bank.)
Israel keeps warning Gazans and Lebanese people before bombing areas to rid the world of Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists. On the other hand, Hamas and Hezbollah use their civilians as human shields and private homes as weapons depots. Why has this never been reported in the mainstream media?
Incidentally, we need to turn ethnic cleansing on its head. There were 600,000 Arabs in Israel in 1948, and through Zionist ethnic cleansing–do not miss the irony– there are “only 2,000,000” today. Every accusation thrown at Israel needs to be flipped and connected to Hamas and Hezbollah if we want the truth to be told. The perceived victims are the ignored perpetrators.
• Israel has the right to defend herself: Any country in the world being attacked would immediately retaliate and nobody would find fault in that. It is the standard, expected response. If Canada or Mexico were to shoot one missile onto US soil, the response would most likely be immediate, and nobody would ask the US to show restraint. Israel has been blanketed with thousands of rockets and missiles from Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen, and Iran.
Israelis defend themselves from all this by always going the extra mile to minimize collateral damage. They do it with surgical precision, as we witnessed in the case of the concerted beepers attack on Hezbollah terrorists.
The 1917 Balfour Declaration, the 1920 SanRemo Resolution and the 1947 UN vote for partition validate Israel’s right to exist AND right to defend herself as a sovereign nation.
• Now is the time for Christians to show support: Anybody reading their Bible will notice that Israel and the Jewish people are spoken of on so many of its pages. It is time for Christians to help pull Israel from the grip of world antisemitism.
2,000 years of hatred against the Jews, too often at the hands of Christians, can be reversed. It cannot and should not be ignored, and now is the time to rebuild bridges. Jewish people worldwide need to hear from their Jewish friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Israel needs Christian support economically and spiritually.
Day 366 — Sunday, October 6
IDF Vows ‘No Relief Or Respite’ For Hezbollah; 440 Terror Operatives Killed In Ground Op
The Israel Defense Forces continued its campaign to degrade Hezbollah in Lebanon on Saturday as it targeted command centers, weapons caches, tunnels and more, and as the military said it believed it had killed at least 440 Hezbollah operatives since the start of ground operations on Monday.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said in a statement that Israel “must continue exerting pressure on Hezbollah and creating additional and lasting damage to the enemy. Without relief and without allowing a respite for the organization.”
The army said on Saturday said it had struck Hezbollah operatives overnight in a command center embedded in a mosque in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil, located within the Martyr Salah Ghandour Hospital compound.
According to the military, the operatives were using the command room “to plan and carry out acts of terror against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”
The IDF said the drone strike was “precise” and based on intelligence.
Before carrying out the strike, the IDF said it sent text messages to residents and called up officials in the nearby villages “demanding that all acts of terror carried out at the hospital cease immediately.”
Meanwhile, three people were lightly injured as a result of a Hezbollah rocket impact in the northern Arab village of Deir al-Asad, police and medics said. They were taken to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said it had treated 10 people for acute anxiety after the rocket hit Deir al-Asad.
Police said officers operated at several scenes of rocket impacts in Karmiel, where a rocket damaged an apartment building, and Deir al-Asad, where three people were lightly injured.
Day 365 — Saturday, October 5
Khamenei Holding Rifle Says Iran ‘Won’t Back Down, Israel Won’t Last Long’; Hails Hamas Oct. 7 Massacre
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered a rare Friday sermon defending this week’s missile attack on Israel that deepened fears of a regional war, while praising the “logical and legal” Hamas-led October 7 invasion and massacre in southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza and fueled violence throughout the Middle East.
Speaking in front of tens of thousands at a mosque in the capital Tehran, Khamenei said Iran-backed armed groups in the Middle East “will not back down” even after Israel recently killed a spate of terrorist leaders.
In his first public Friday sermon in nearly five years, Khamenei spoke in Arabic to discuss fighting against Israel by the Iran-aligned “axis of resistance,” including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinian terror group Hamas.
“The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms, and will win,” Khamenei told the crowd at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque, where supporters carried portraits of slain Hezbollah and Hamas leaders.
“Israel will never defeat Hamas and Hezbollah,” he declared.
He hailed the terror groups’ “fierce defense” against Israeli forces over the past year, referring to Hamas’s brutal October 7 onslaught against Israel and the subsequent solidarity attacks by Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and militia groups in Iraq and Syria.
The Tehran-backed terrorists were engaged in “logical and legitimate” action against Israel, Khamenei claimed, and “no one has the right to criticize them.”
Khamenei was pictured holding a rifle and spoke with it by his side.
He claimed Tuesday’s missile barrage, which sent most of Isrsael’s populace into bomb shelters and killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank, was based on international law, Iranian law and Islamic beliefs.
He urged nations from “Afghanistan to Yemen and from Iran to Gaza and Yemen” to be ready to take action against the enemy, and praised those who had died doing so.
The speech was preceded by a commemoration ceremony for Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli strike on southern Beirut on September 27 alongside Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Abbas Nilforoushan.
Khamenei’s sermon took place days before the first anniversary of the October 7 terror atrocities, and after Iran this week had fired barrages of some 200 missiles at Israel in what it said was retaliation for the killings of Nasrallah, Nilforoushan as well as Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
“What our armed forces did was the minimum punishment for the crimes of the usurping Zionist regime,” said Khamenei of the missile fire, Iran’s second-ever direct attack on US-backed Israel.
The Iranian leader charged that Israel was a “malicious regime” which has “only kept itself standing by the injection of American support.”
It “will not last long,” he said.
“The Palestinians were right” to launch the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, Khamenei stated, calling it “a logical and legal” action.
Iran has hailed but denied any involvement in the Hamas attack, which was the deadliest on Jews since the Holocaust. Some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst through the border from Gaza and killed 1,200 people — most of them civilians slaughtered in their homes and at a music festival, amid rapes and other monstrous acts of brutality. The terrorists also abducted 251 people, 97 of whom are still held captive.
Day 365 — Saturday, October 5
Ridiculous: UN Secretary-General, UNRWA Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the UNRWA agency, and the International Court of Justice in The Hague have all been nominated for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, as reported by Reuters on Thursday.
According to the report, experts close to the process told the news agency these two organizations and the veteran diplomat are considered frontrunners in the race for the prize, which supposably aims to honor those who have brought peace, security, and the protection of the vulnerable.
António Guterres assumed his role as UN Secretary-General in 2017, having previously served as Portugal’s Prime Minister and President of the Socialist International. Since taking office, Russia has invaded Ukraine, committing numerous atrocities. Additionally, devastating civil wars have broken out in Myanmar, Sudan, and Ethiopia, and the Middle East has entered an unprecedented state of conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
In Israel, Guterres is viewed as pro-Palestinian, and this week Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared him a “persona non grata” – an unwelcome persona – within the State of Israel, following his refusal to condemn Iranian aggression after a missile attack on Israel earlier this week.
However, UNRWA’s nomination is even more problematic than that of the UN Secretary-General. Throughout the past year of fighting in Gaza, the extent of the Hamas’ infiltration into the UN agency has repeatedly come to light. The organization itself admitted that some of its employees, including senior figures, participated in the massacres of October 7 and in the kidnapping of Israeli civilians. The organization’s schools and supply systems were commandeered by Hamas, and the group even established a computer and server base beneath UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City.
Day 365 — Saturday, October 5
Analysis — Israel Did The World An Enormous Favor With Its Elimination Of Nasrallah
So much has changed over the course of one week. Israel moved into Southern Lebanon with a ground invasion determined to eliminate Hezbollah’s terror and tunnel network. Iran has once again launched a couple hundred ballistic missiles into Israel, with the majority of them thankfully being intercepted. Israel has also vowed to respond despite pressure from the United States not to do so.
Last Friday, Israel sent F-15 fighter jets to eliminate Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. In a series of precision strikes using over 82,000 lb bunker-busting bombs, the Israeli Air Force blew up Hezbollah’s headquarters in a suburb of Beirut—which was hiding deep underground below residential homes.
The successful operation came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in New York giving his speech at the United Nations General Assembly. His trip to the US portrayed a message to Hezbollah’s leader—that Israel probably wouldn’t carry out any dramatic actions while the Prime Minister was away. This illusion lured Nasrallah to the headquarters, where he was likely listening in on Netanyahu’s speech.
Then all of a sudden… boom! A series of massive explosions utterly destroyed Hezbollah’s headquarters, killing their leader.
Israel did the world a favor. Nasrallah was a terrorist who had an enormous amount of blood on his hands—killing scores of Americans, Israelis, and other civilians across the Middle East. Unfortunately, much of the media doesn’t report it that way. They only report that Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader. Shame on them! This man was a brutal terrorist. Israel, and the world as a whole, is a much better place without him.
Day 365 — Saturday, October 5
Analysis — The Ill-Fated Ideology Behind Iran’s Goal Of Destroying Israel
After decimating Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel has now turned its attention to Hezbollah in the north. These two terror proxies of Iran have been a thorn in the side of Israel for decades now. They had grown so large that it was once unthinkable that Israel would be able to defeat them. At least that’s what Hamas and Hezbollah had fooled themselves into believing. The political and military echelon of Israel were no doubt confident of their ability to deal crushing blows to their enemies. However, they needed the steely will and international legitimacy to achieve it. In the most tragic of ways, October 7 provided both.
If strategists are to be believed, once Israel has dealt with Hezbollah, it will turn its attention to the head of the terror snake – Iran. Since this conflict is on the horizon, it is helpful to understand the ideology which drives the Iranian clerical and political leadership. Although many nations have historically dismissed Iranian rhetoric as the ramblings of an irritating but incapable enemy, they have since proven they are very much committed to their goal of destroying Israel.
In Iran, the highest-ranking political leader is not the president, it is the Supreme Leader. The current Supreme Leader is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On 15 January 2001, Ayatollah Khamenei left Israel in no doubt of his hatred when he said this: “It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region.” If that sounds familiar, consider the words of Psalm 83:4: “They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’”
Similarly, one month prior to Khamenei’s speech, then Iranian President at the time Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared: “The Jews should expect a ‘reverse exodus’, because one day, the tumour will be removed from the body of the Islamic World, and then millions of Jews who moved there will become homeless again.” Rafsanjani died in 2017, no doubt bitterly disappointed that his antisemitic desire remained unfulfilled.
Day 371 — Friday, October 11
Hezbollah Anti-Tank Fire Kills 27-Year-Old Thai Foreign National In North
A 27-year-old foreign worker from Thailand was killed following Hezbollah anti-tank missiles launched from Lebanon into northern Israel, hitting Kibbutz Yaraon in the Upper Galilee, MDA confirmed Friday morning.
In addition to the Thai foreign national killed, multiple others were reportedly wounded in the attack.
The missile was fired at an agricultural area, where MDA first responders pronounced him dead, the emergency medical service stated.
It was the second fatal rocket attack in two days. On Wednesday, two people were killed, and several were wounded to varying degrees following a barrage of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel.
In that incident, the military reported that 20 launches were detected towards Kiryat Shmona alone.
The two killed were a couple, a man and a woman, both aged 40, Israeli media reported.
They sustained fatal wounds due to falling shrapnel while walking their dogs and did not have time to enter the protected area, Ynet reported.
Earlier this week, at least nine people were wounded following a rocket barrage toward Haifa, with injuries attributed to broken glass and other causes while running to protected areas.
Day 371 — Friday, October 11
Three IDF Reservists Die In Blast In Northern Gaza
Three Israel Defense Forces reservists were killed and two other soldiers were seriously wounded when their vehicle hit an explosive device in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, the military announced on Thursday.
The casualties were named as Master Sgt. (res.) Ori Moshe Borenstein, 32, from Moreshet; Master Sgt. (res.) Tzvi Matityahu Marantz, 32, from Bnei Adam; and Maj. (res.) Netanel Hershkovitz, 37, from Jerusalem. All three were part of the 5460th support unit of the IDF’s 460th Brigade.
According to Israel’s Channel 12 News broadcaster, the deadly explosion took place shortly after the unit crossed into the coastal enclave to provide logistical assistance to soldiers of the 162nd Division.
Day 371 — Friday, October 11
Anti-Semitic Incidents Up 500% On Campuses Since October 7: Report
Anti-Semitic incidents have surged by 500% since October 7, 2023, with 1,200 reported incidents, according to new data from the Anti-Defamation League.
Following Hamas’ October 7 terrorist massacre of Israeli civilians in southern Israel — the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust — many campuses have been engulfed in protests. Students at campuses around the nation have been documented defending Hamas’s attack, chanting ethnic cleansing slogans against Israel, and setting up encampments that have led to the harassment and intimidation of Jewish students.
In the previous year’s same period, 200 anti-Semitic incidents were reported on college campuses, according to the ADL.
“From that day on, Jewish Americans haven’t had a single moment of respite,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “Instead, we’ve faced a shocking number of antisemitic threats and experienced calls for more violence against Israelis and Jews everywhere.”
The Daily Wire has extensively reported on anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses, including Columbia student Khymani James saying Zionists don’t deserve to live, and a Jewish student at Lawrence Technological University being suspended from his soccer team after reporting a teammate for assaulting him and making Nazi salutes at him.
Nationwide, there have been more than 10,000 anti-Semitic incidents since October 7 — a 200% increase compared to the prior year. This was the highest number of incidents the ADL recorded since it began tracking in 1979.
According to the ADL’s Center on Extremism, 8,015 of the incidents involved verbal or written harassment, 1,840 were acts of vandalism, and 150 were cases of physical assault.
Over 2,000 incidents occurred at Jewish institutions, including synagogues and Jewish centers, with half being bomb threats. In comparison, such institutions received 81 bomb threats during the previous same year period.
More than 3,000 incidents occurred during anti-Israel rallies, which have been documented to include support for terrorist groups including Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as reported by The Daily Wire.
The ADL expects their figures to increase in its final 2024 report, to be released in the spring, as the group learns of more incidents over the past year.
The organization’s methodology includes tracking both criminal and non-criminal incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault reported by victims, law enforcement, partner organizations, and media outlets.
While incidents in the data do not include general anti-Israel activism, since October 7, 2023, the group began to include incidents where anti-Israel activists support terrorism or attacks on Jews, Israelis, and Zionists.
Day 370 — Thursday, October 10
1 Killed, 5 Injured, In Terrorist Stabbing Spree In Hadera
A man who was gravely wounded Wednesday in a terrorist stabbing rampage in Hadera died Thursday.
He was named as Rafael Mordechai Fishof, 35, reported variously to be a father of six or eight children.
Fishof was hospitalized in the intensive care unit at the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in the city after the attack but doctors were unable to save his life.
The other five victims included another man in serious but stable condition, one in moderate condition, and three in good condition.
The alleged attacker used a moped to drive between four locations in the city, stabbing people at each place. He was identified by Hebrew-language media as an Arab Israeli resident of Umm al-Fahm.
The terrorist was apprehended by police with the help of armed citizens at the scene.
A video posted to social media showed the moment a number of armed members of the public surrounded the suspect on what appeared to be a main shopping street, their weapons drawn.
At least two warning shots were fired in the air before one man fired at the suspect as he reached into his coat. It wasn’t immediately clear if he was hit.
Armed police officers then arrived at the scene and pushed the suspect to the ground while shouting at the others not to shoot.
אירוע הדקירות בחדרה: עלה לחמישה מספר הפצועים, שניים מהם במצב קשה. המשטרה: ההערכה שמדובר בפיגוע עדיין נבדקת >>> https://t.co/yXb0HRvNFQ
(שימוש לפי סעיף 27א) pic.twitter.com/HcV1gkWUc5
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 9, 2024
Day 370 — Thursday, October 10
Justice Is Knocking On The Door: Sinwar Has Resurfaced... But He knows His Time Is Short
Hamas chairman Yahya Sinwar, presumed killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza, has resurfaced. This week, he renewed contact with mediators in Qatar to arrange his safety, seeking immunity via a ceasefire-for-hostages deal. A senior Egyptian official stated, “Sinwar insists on guarantees for his safety and life,” Ynet reported in August.
It is believed that Sinwar revealed his survival because Qatar threatened to confiscate or freeze Sinwar’s bank account and that it wouldn’t finance the post-war reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Sinwar seeks to expand the Israel-Hamas conflict into a true regional war, but he understands that he may not live much longer and is seeking to do what he can to survive.
Sinwar is the face of pure evil. Before he masterminded the massacre of 1,200 Israelis, he murdered many suspected collaborators with Israel. He then spent at least 22 years in prison in Israel, during which Israeli surgeons saved his life by removing his brain tumor. As one of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for one Israeli soldier in 2011, Sinwar wasted no time rising up Hamas’s ranks and orchestrating further terror against the Jewish state.
Blind, fanatical adherence to radical Islamic doctrine has spurred this serial killer to commit unspeakable crimes for many years. He has been crafty in hiding from the Israel Defense Forces, but justice is knocking on his door.
He knows his time is likely short and must now decide between his insane desire to murder Israelis and his innate desire to survive. But now that he has revealed himself, it’s unlikely that he will remain safely hidden away. Israel has its sights squarely set on removing the threat he has long posed.
Friends Of Israel Gospel Ministry
Day 369 — Wednesday, October 9
Syria: Seven Killed In Israeli Strike In Damascus
Syrian state media reported on Tuesday that an Israeli airstrike targeted a residential building in Damascus, killing seven people and wounding 11 others.
The strike, in the Mazzeh district of the Syrian capital, also caused significant material damage, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
According to Ynet, the target of the strike was Haj Samer, a senior official in Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, responsible for transferring weapons to the terrorist group from Iran and its proxies.
According to the Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya TV channel, the building that was struck was frequented by Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah officials.
The upscale neighborhood where the attack occurred is home to the Iranian embassy, which tweeted that no Iranian citizens were killed in the strike.
On April 1, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Zahedi, a top commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force responsible for Syria and Lebanon, was killed in an alleged Israeli strike on a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus.
That attack prompted Iran’s first-ever direct strike on Israel a couple of weeks later.
On Sept. 30, Syrian media reported that three people had been killed and nine wounded in Israeli airstrikes in Damascus. One of those killed was well-known Syrian TV journalist Safaa Ahmed, according to Syrian state television.
Israel rarely admits to attacks on Syrian territory, although in February Jerusalem revealed that it had attacked more than 50 targets belonging to Hezbollah and other Iran-backed terror groups in Syria since Oct. 7.
Day 369 — Wednesday, October 9
Antisemitic Attack In Paris: 'They Threatened Me With A Knife And Drew Swastikas On My Body'
A shocking antisemitic event occurred on Monday evening in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, on the anniversary of the October 7 massacre, when a Jewish woman fell victim to a brutal attack at the entrance to her home.
She stated that three men attacked her, without provocation on her part. They threatened her with a box knife, uttered antisemitic threats, and even mentioned the events of October 7.
During the attack, the attackers did not use only verbal and physical violence, but also drew swastikas on the woman’s body with a red marker.
The French CNEWS network, which reported on the incident, said that the attack occurred around 19:40 and joins a long line of antisemitic incidents that have plagued France in recent years. It also highlights the tense atmosphere that prevails in the Jewish community in the country.
The police in Paris immediately opened an investigation into the incident. The local authorities in France even called on the public to be vigilant and report any information that may help in apprehending the attackers.
The leaders of the Jewish community in France expressed deep shock at the attack and called on the government to take more decisive steps in the fight against antisemitism. “It is impossible that Jews are living in fear on the streets of Paris,” said one of the community leaders.
Day 369 — Wednesday, October 9
IDF Destroys Hezbollah Tunnel That Crossed Into Israel, Steps Up Airstrikes
Israeli forces have demolished a small Hezbollah tunnel that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon, the military announced Tuesday, as its ground operation north of the border continued to target the terror group’s infrastructure.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, the 20-meter-long tunnel had no exit in Israeli territory, and its path crossed the UN-recognized Blue Line by about 10 meters, in the western sector of the border, near the Lebanese village of Marwahin, just across from the Israeli community of Zar’it.
No towns were ever under any threat by the tunnel, the military said.
According to Israeli military assessments, Hezbollah began the construction of the tunnel about two years ago, and it was quickly identified by the IDF. The military said it wanted to keep tabs on the tunnel as it was being built, rather than reveal to Hezbollah that it had intelligence of the underground route.
The tunnel was physically located by commandos during raids in southern Lebanon several months ago, though the military stressed that it was previously known to the IDF and it had full control over the area.
The military said troops searched the tunnel and found weapons inside, including explosives and anti-tank missiles.
Now that the IDF is operating in southern Lebanon with larger forces, it said it took the opportunity to demolish the tunnel.
According to the IDF, there are no other tunnels known to cross into Israel from Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the IDF said Hezbollah launched some 180 rockets from Lebanon at northern Israel on Tuesday, including a barrage of some 25 projectiles fired in the evening at Kiryat Shmona.
According to the military, some of the rockets fired at Kiryat Shmona were intercepted, while others impacted in the area. There were no reports of injuries or major damage in that attack.
Some of the rocket launchers used by Hezbollah to fire 105 projectiles at Haifa earlier in the day were struck by an Israeli Air Force drone, the military said, adding that it carried out several strikes against Hezbollah buildings and anti-tank missile launch posts in southern Lebanon over the past day.
After the barrage, the IDF Home Front Command issued stricter guidelines in several cities near Haifa, preventing schools from operating in Kiryat Ata, Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat Yam, and Kiryat Motzkin.
Schools will stay open in Haifa itself, provided that a bomb shelter can be reached quickly enough, the IDF said.
Overnight, the IDF said it struck a weapons depot and another Hezbollah site in Beirut, and Monday night, the military said a drone strike was carried out against a school in southern Lebanon’s Tayr Harfa, where a group of Hezbollah operatives were spotted.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday that 50 operatives and at least six top commanders in Hezbollah’s so-called Southern Front were killed in a wide wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon the previous day.
The Southern Front, responsible for the terror group’s military activity in south Lebanon, was commanded by Ali Karaki, who was killed alongside Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah last month.
“The terrorists we killed yesterday are the commanders and terrorists who were set to — on the day that the order would be given — infiltrate Israel, into towns in the north, to murder and kidnap Israeli civilians,” Hagari said.
A separate strike on Monday in Beirut killed the head of Hezbollah’s logistical headquarters, Suhail Hussein Husseini, the IDF said. He was a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, the terror group’s top military body.
Day 368 — Tuesday, October 8
Netanyahu Seeks To Officially Change The Name Of The War To 'The War Of Revival'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested at the cabinet meeting on Monday to change the name of the war “The Revival [Tekuma] War”. He said: “One year ago today, at 06:29 in the morning, Hamas terrorists launched a murderous surprise attack against the State of Israel, against the citizens of Israel. Shortly after this massacre, I said at the Kirya [IDF headquarters] in Tel Aviv: ‘We are at war. This is not a military operation, this is a war”. We will fight back with a strength that the enemy has never known, and we will exact a price from him that he has not known. We are in a war and we will win it.”
“Since that black day we have been fighting. This is our war of existence – the ‘War of Revival. That is what I would like to call the war officially,” said Netanyahu, adding that “since that black day we have been on the offensive on seven fronts. Our counterattack on our enemies in Iran’s axis of evil is a necessary condition for guaranteeing our future and our security.”
“We will end the war when we complete all the goals we set: overthrowing the evil rule of Hamas, returning all our hostages home – both the dead and the living, thwarting any future threat from Gaza to Israel, and returning our residents in the south and north safely to their homes.”
“On this day, we give respect to the memory of our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, our parents and our elders, who were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists. Children and girls who were murdered in cold blood, women and men who were slaughtered, entire families who were destroyed. Our hearts are with the bereaved families whose loved ones have been broken and whose lives have drastically changed. Our hearts are with families of the hostages, who are going through endless agony of pain and worry for the fate of their loved ones. We will forever remember the faces, the stories, the lives that were lost, the lives that we still have to save.”
Netanyahu added: “We will remember our heroes who fell in the battle in Gaza, in Lebanon and in other areas. Thanks to them we defeated the enemy, thanks to them we destroyed most of its capabilities. We freed many of our hostages, and we are determined to complete the mission. We will send a prayer for the peace of our wounded heroes, and we will express gratitude from the bottom of our hearts to the heroism of our fighters in the Israel Defense Forces and in the security arms. They are the ones who stand as a protective wall between the evil of our enemies and the good of our people and our country. These warriors stand between the fate of our people who were slaughtered in past generations, and now rise in our country as a strong and fighting nation. They fight in the air, at sea and on land. They fight without hesitation and with endless determination.”
Netanyahu concluded his speech: “These fighters are imbued with the heroic spirit of our people – women and men, regular and reserve, army and police, Shin Bet and Mossad. They are determined to secure our future – they are determined to win. The October 7th massacre was the most horrific attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. But unlike the Holocaust – we rose up against our enemies and fought a fierce war. We are changing the security reality in our region; for the sake of our children, for the sake of our future, to ensure that what happened on October 7th will not happen again, never again. With God’s help – together we will fight, together we will win – and Israel’s will secure its victory.”
Arutz Sheva
Day 368 — Tuesday, October 8
Analysis — ‘The Die Has Been Cast’: There is No Going Back From What Iran Set Into Motion On October 7th
The origin of cultural idioms is an interesting study. Take, for instance, the phrase “The elephant in the room.” The phrase is of American origin, possibly as recently as the 1950s. It has come to refer to any subject that requires a conversation but one that is being avoided by all parties with an interest in said conversation.
Likewise is the idiom, “The die has been cast.” According to one researcher, this phrase was first spoken by Julius Caesar when crossing the Rubicon. The first known usage of the phrase in print goes back to 1626 and Sir Thomas Herbert. The “die” in this phrase is not referring to the modern-day process of die-casting metal. Instead, the “die” is the singular of dice, and therefore, the phrase means “the dice have been rolled.” In other words, once the dice have been rolled, there is no turning back.
I thought of this latter phrase in relation to the first anniversary of the barbaric, murderous, depraved actions of the Islamic terror group Hamas toward the nation of Israel and the Jewish people on October 7, 2023. No amount of obfuscation, misdirection, political double-speak, or demonic moralizing can excuse what took place on that day. This is not how civilized people conduct their affairs. Sometimes war is inevitable, but in those instances, there is a formal declaration after efforts have been made to avoid it. Americans especially should be sensitive to this after December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001.
Yet, without warning, Iran’s terrorist proxy Hamas, in a well-planned surprise attack, murdered, raped, and assaulted civilians, taking captive hundreds of innocent people. This was not a declaration of war; this was a declaration that when uncivilized people are propagandized long enough, they become the willing tools of demonic barbarian slaughter.
There was great celebration throughout the Shia Muslim world at the devastation rendered to what Shia Muslims refer to as the “little Satan,” Israel. The atrocity inflicted upon the Jewish people on October 7, 2023, was seen by a jubilant Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi Shia Muslims as a blessing from “Allah” and surely a sign of his granting a forthcoming victory over all Jews. At long last, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was within grasp.
No one knows, except the ayatollah’s themselves, what the desired outcome of their barbaric invasion was. One thing is for certain: neither Iran nor any of its aforementioned proxies understood that pushing Israel to the degree that they did would result in an all-out war. We can be certain about this because, for all of their bluster and saber-rattling, Iran has been exposed as a “paper tiger” with neither the means nor the will to enter into a direct military conflict with Israel.
Along the way, the “elephant in the room” conversations are now taking place. Terrorist sympathizers are being exposed at the highest levels of government in the US, UK, France, and elsewhere. Their repeated calls for restraint on Israel’s part and a continual call upon Israel to accept a cease-fire exposes them as cowards in the least and radical Islamist mouthpieces that are not worthy of office.
This kind of behavior and moral blindness by elected representatives is not a mere disagreement over policy. Their support of Iran terrorism through Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and every other group around the world shows a fundamental lack of understanding about what makes us all human beings. There is no scenario where rape as part of an ideology, murdering babies, infants, and toddlers in their cribs, defenseless old men and women in the streets, and taking captive hundreds of people and subjecting them to the worse imaginable treatment for over a year is acceptable. And yet, that is the argument being advanced by Islamists and their sympathizers.
International organizations have attempted to stop Israel’s response through lawfare (The International Criminal Court of Justice comes to mind), or through the United Nations. Why would any nation ever support the United Nations after it has been proven that the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) was riddled with Islamic terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre?
The latest blindness and abject lunacy come from the Nobel Peace Prize Forum which declared their complete moral bankruptcy just days ago by nominating for their highest honor the same terrorist UNRWA mentioned above, the International Criminal Court of Justice mentioned above, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has been so openly biased against Israel that Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, recently banned him from entering Israel. It was Guterres who demonstrated his own inability to comprehend basic morality by declaring soon after October 7, 2023, that the Hamas barbarity “did not happen in a vacuum.”
What Iran does not understand is that they rolled the dice on October 7, 2023, thereby casting the die for what will soon come upon them. They cannot walk back what has already been set in motion. In their obsession to destroy Israel, the ayatollahs started the process of their own demise.
Day 367 — Monday, October 7
Netanyahu Calls Macron, Other Western Leaders Who Support Arms Embargo Against Israel A ‘Disgrace’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed French President Emmanuel Macron and other Western leaders on Saturday who he said had called for an arms embargo on Israel over its airstrikes against Hamas in Gaza.
“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side, yet President Macron and other western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
He continued, “Is Iran imposing an arms embargo on Hezbollah, on the Houthis, on Hamas and on its other proxies? Of course not. This axis of terror stands together, but countries who supposedly oppose this terror axis call for an arms embargo on Israel.”
Netanyahu called their stance a “disgrace,” adding that Israel would win “with or without their support, but their shame will continue long after the war is won.”
He said, “in defending ourselves against this barbarism, Israel is defending civilization against those who seek to impose a dark age of fanaticism on all of us. Rest assured, Israel will fight until the battle is won – for our sake and for the sake of peace and security in the world.”
Netanyahu noted that Israel is defending itself on seven different fronts, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Lebanon, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, terrorists in Judea and Samaria and Iran.
On Saturday, Macron said France would no longer supply arms to Israel, although the country will continue to send missile defense equipment.
“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” Macron said in an interview, according to Euro News.
Day 367 — Monday, October 7
A Year Of War: IDF Data Shows 728 Troops Killed, Over 26,000 Rockets Fired At Israel
As the country marked one year since the onset of the war on October 7, 2023, the Israel Defense Forces on Monday published new data on its operations in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Lebanon, from the number of rockets fired at Israel to the number of sites struck by the Israeli Air Force.
According to the data, some 17,000 Hamas operatives and members of other terror groups have been killed by the IDF in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7, when gunmen rampaged through southern communities massacring some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 to Gaza.
Israel responded with a military campaign to topple the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip, destroy the terror group, and free the hostages.
The Hamas-run health ministry has said over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, though the figure cannot be independently verified and is believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza.
The IDF’s data said that the military has killed eight Hamas brigade commanders and those of an equivalent rank, as well as more than 30 battalion commanders. More than 165 Hamas company commanders and operatives with a similar rank have also been killed, according to the data.
Some 40,300 targets have been struck in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war, and troops have located some 4,700 tunnel shafts, the IDF said.
The day after the Hamas assault, Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah began attacks along Israel’s northern border, saying it was acting in support of Gaza. That fighting steadily escalated over the months, until boiling over last month after Israel began a new offensive against the terror group by killing its entire top leadership and launching a ground operation in southern Lebanon.
In Lebanon, the IDF said it has killed more than 800 terror operatives, mostly members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah. The number included 90 Hezbollah commanders, according to the IDF.
According to the IDF’s data, nearly 11,000 Hezbollah positions have been struck by the military.
Since the beginning of the war, over 26,000 rockets, missiles, and drones have been launched at Israel from multiple fronts.
The numbers included 13,200 projectiles fired from Gaza — at least 5,000 on October 7 alone — 12,400 from Lebanon, around 60 from Syria, 180 from Yemen, and [nearly 500] from Iran — the latter of which in two direct attacks on Israel on April 13 and October 1.
The IDF did not detail how many drones and missiles had been launched from Iraq at Israel amid the war.
The figures did not include rockets — said by Israel to be at least in the hundreds — launched by Gazan terror groups that misfired and landed in the Strip, as well as those launched by Hezbollah that landed short in Lebanon.
The IDF said the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 has interrogated some 7,000 Palestinian suspects in the Gaza Strip, many of whom were arrested and brought to Israel for further questioning. Many have also been returned to Gaza after questioning.
A total of 728 soldiers, reservists, and local security officers have been killed and another 4,576 have been wounded in the war since October 7 — the latest on Sunday. Of them, 346 were killed and 2,299 were wounded during the ground offensive in Gaza.
Since October 7, in the West Bank, the IDF said troops have arrested more than 5,250 wanted Palestinians, including more than 2,050 affiliated with Hamas. Additionally, some 690 gunmen, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks have been killed by troops in the West Bank, the IDF said.
The IDF said 150 brigade-level raids have been carried out in the West Bank, and 30 homes of Palestinians accused of terrorism have been demolished.
Day 367 — Monday, October 7
Analysis — These Are Indeed ‘Days Of Awe’ In Israel
The seventh month of the Hebrew calendar begins the Jewish civil new year, starting with three high holy days — Rosh Hashana (the Feast of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). The days from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur are known as the “Ten Days of Repentance,” or “Days of Awe.” It is a time of reflection and fasting.
This year, the Days of Awe contain a horrible anniversary — October 7th. On that day one year ago, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel. They killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They took 251 hostages — again, mostly civilians. This was not an uprising. These were not freedom fighters. Those who question the difference between freedom fighters and terrorists should ask themselves this: Who but terrorists would intentionally butcher babies and their mothers?
The numbers don’t convey the savagery of October 7th. When you hear about the crimes Hamas committed that day (and since), remember that the descriptions have been filtered. Societal norms limit the level of detail witnesses and journalists can give in telling these stories. Rescued hostages usually tell almost no one the true horrors they faced while held captive by terrorists.
On October 8th of last year, Hezbollah decided to add another front to Israel’s war. With the Hamas battle raging to the south in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon began firing missiles at Israel from the north — close to 10,000 of them over the last year. Imagine someone firing thousands of missiles at the United States. Would the US start its response by calling for a ceasefire, or would it first shut down the enemy’s ability to make war?
In a limited way, Israel struck back with targeted attacks on key Hezbollah leaders. But the battle to the north really heated up on September 17th and 18th when Israel exploded thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies in a precisely targeted attack against mid-level and higher Hezbollah fighters. In a stunning series of moves, Israel then destroyed all Hezbollah’s top leaders.
Israel fights because it must. The Jews in Israel cannot run. They have no other place to go. But escape is not on their minds. They are where they want to be. They choose to make their stand in the Promised Land, the place God gave them. May we all make our stand in the Land of Promise.
In April of this year and again in October, Iran launched massive aerial assaults on Israel. Combined, the two attacks included 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles, and more than 300 ballistic missiles. The October bombardment was the largest ballistic missile onslaught in history. The April attack tragically severely wounded a 7-year-old Bedouin girl, and in October the Iranians killed one Palestinian man. Otherwise, these massive assaults did only minor damage. And that is a miracle of biblical proportions.
Day 367 — Monday, October 7
Analysis — Remembering The Bloodiest Crime Against Jewish People Since 1945
Just one year ago, as I was packing my bags to take a group of believers to Israel, I woke up to the news that Hamas had invaded southwest Israel from the Gaza Strip. It was not long before the world was made aware of the terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 1,200 Israelis and that Hamas had taken 240 hostages back to Gaza. The world was in shock…Well, for about a week at least! Eventually, as the IDF started to respond with an incursion into Gaza to rescue hostages and eliminate Hamas terrorists, the attention quickly turned away from Israel and to the Palestinians.
We are now getting ready to remember the victims, the hostages, and their families while Israel is still fighting on up to seven fronts. From a human perspective, things are looking very bleak. Here are a few things to consider as we go to the Lord remembering October 7.
• 10/7 was the bloodiest death toll since the Holocaust: I have always resisted comparing any event to the Holocaust for fear of diminishing the impact of the Final Solution in the minds of people. This is especially true in our age of historical revisionism, relativism, and Holocaust denial. 10/7 changed everything! Again, 1200 innocent Israelis were murdered and 240 taken hostage by Hamas, of which over 100 are still in captivity, if still alive.
This makes 10/7 the bloodiest crime against Jewish people since 1945. NEVER AGAIN seems to have become two words without meaning to the global Jewish community.
• The world needs to flip the narrative: One would expect the whole world to come to the rescue of Israel as they saw the results of the attack. Hamas asking for a cease-fire, reinforced by many world governments, including the US, and asking Israel to show restraint is simply ludicrous.
There was a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip up to October 6, 2023, with no Israeli control at all. Hamas broke the cease-fire. The accusations of genocide, ethnic cleansing and occupations need to be flipped. Even though Gaza is inhabited by “Palestinians,” it belongs to Israel. Nobody likes to hear this, but the “Palestinians” are the occupiers of Gaza and Judea and Samaria (the West Bank.)
Israel keeps warning Gazans and Lebanese people before bombing areas to rid the world of Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists. On the other hand, Hamas and Hezbollah use their civilians as human shields and private homes as weapons depots. Why has this never been reported in the mainstream media?
Incidentally, we need to turn ethnic cleansing on its head. There were 600,000 Arabs in Israel in 1948, and through Zionist ethnic cleansing–do not miss the irony– there are “only 2,000,000” today. Every accusation thrown at Israel needs to be flipped and connected to Hamas and Hezbollah if we want the truth to be told. The perceived victims are the ignored perpetrators.
• Israel has the right to defend herself: Any country in the world being attacked would immediately retaliate and nobody would find fault in that. It is the standard, expected response. If Canada or Mexico were to shoot one missile onto US soil, the response would most likely be immediate, and nobody would ask the US to show restraint. Israel has been blanketed with thousands of rockets and missiles from Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen, and Iran.
Israelis defend themselves from all this by always going the extra mile to minimize collateral damage. They do it with surgical precision, as we witnessed in the case of the concerted beepers attack on Hezbollah terrorists.
The 1917 Balfour Declaration, the 1920 SanRemo Resolution and the 1947 UN vote for partition validate Israel’s right to exist AND right to defend herself as a sovereign nation.
• Now is the time for Christians to show support: Anybody reading their Bible will notice that Israel and the Jewish people are spoken of on so many of its pages. It is time for Christians to help pull Israel from the grip of world antisemitism.
2,000 years of hatred against the Jews, too often at the hands of Christians, can be reversed. It cannot and should not be ignored, and now is the time to rebuild bridges. Jewish people worldwide need to hear from their Jewish friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Israel needs Christian support economically and spiritually.
Day 366 — Sunday, October 6
IDF Vows ‘No Relief Or Respite’ For Hezbollah; 440 Terror Operatives Killed In Ground Op
The Israel Defense Forces continued its campaign to degrade Hezbollah in Lebanon on Saturday as it targeted command centers, weapons caches, tunnels and more, and as the military said it believed it had killed at least 440 Hezbollah operatives since the start of ground operations on Monday.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said in a statement that Israel “must continue exerting pressure on Hezbollah and creating additional and lasting damage to the enemy. Without relief and without allowing a respite for the organization.”
The army said on Saturday said it had struck Hezbollah operatives overnight in a command center embedded in a mosque in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil, located within the Martyr Salah Ghandour Hospital compound.
According to the military, the operatives were using the command room “to plan and carry out acts of terror against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”
The IDF said the drone strike was “precise” and based on intelligence.
Before carrying out the strike, the IDF said it sent text messages to residents and called up officials in the nearby villages “demanding that all acts of terror carried out at the hospital cease immediately.”
Meanwhile, three people were lightly injured as a result of a Hezbollah rocket impact in the northern Arab village of Deir al-Asad, police and medics said. They were taken to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said it had treated 10 people for acute anxiety after the rocket hit Deir al-Asad.
Police said officers operated at several scenes of rocket impacts in Karmiel, where a rocket damaged an apartment building, and Deir al-Asad, where three people were lightly injured.
Day 365 — Saturday, October 5
Khamenei Holding Rifle Says Iran ‘Won’t Back Down, Israel Won’t Last Long’; Hails Hamas Oct. 7 Massacre
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered a rare Friday sermon defending this week’s missile attack on Israel that deepened fears of a regional war, while praising the “logical and legal” Hamas-led October 7 invasion and massacre in southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza and fueled violence throughout the Middle East.
Speaking in front of tens of thousands at a mosque in the capital Tehran, Khamenei said Iran-backed armed groups in the Middle East “will not back down” even after Israel recently killed a spate of terrorist leaders.
In his first public Friday sermon in nearly five years, Khamenei spoke in Arabic to discuss fighting against Israel by the Iran-aligned “axis of resistance,” including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinian terror group Hamas.
“The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms, and will win,” Khamenei told the crowd at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque, where supporters carried portraits of slain Hezbollah and Hamas leaders.
“Israel will never defeat Hamas and Hezbollah,” he declared.
He hailed the terror groups’ “fierce defense” against Israeli forces over the past year, referring to Hamas’s brutal October 7 onslaught against Israel and the subsequent solidarity attacks by Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and militia groups in Iraq and Syria.
The Tehran-backed terrorists were engaged in “logical and legitimate” action against Israel, Khamenei claimed, and “no one has the right to criticize them.”
Khamenei was pictured holding a rifle and spoke with it by his side.
He claimed Tuesday’s missile barrage, which sent most of Isrsael’s populace into bomb shelters and killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank, was based on international law, Iranian law and Islamic beliefs.
He urged nations from “Afghanistan to Yemen and from Iran to Gaza and Yemen” to be ready to take action against the enemy, and praised those who had died doing so.
The speech was preceded by a commemoration ceremony for Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli strike on southern Beirut on September 27 alongside Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Abbas Nilforoushan.
Khamenei’s sermon took place days before the first anniversary of the October 7 terror atrocities, and after Iran this week had fired barrages of some 200 missiles at Israel in what it said was retaliation for the killings of Nasrallah, Nilforoushan as well as Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
“What our armed forces did was the minimum punishment for the crimes of the usurping Zionist regime,” said Khamenei of the missile fire, Iran’s second-ever direct attack on US-backed Israel.
The Iranian leader charged that Israel was a “malicious regime” which has “only kept itself standing by the injection of American support.”
It “will not last long,” he said.
“The Palestinians were right” to launch the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, Khamenei stated, calling it “a logical and legal” action.
Iran has hailed but denied any involvement in the Hamas attack, which was the deadliest on Jews since the Holocaust. Some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst through the border from Gaza and killed 1,200 people — most of them civilians slaughtered in their homes and at a music festival, amid rapes and other monstrous acts of brutality. The terrorists also abducted 251 people, 97 of whom are still held captive.
Day 365 — Saturday, October 5
Ridiculous: UN Secretary-General, UNRWA Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the UNRWA agency, and the International Court of Justice in The Hague have all been nominated for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, as reported by Reuters on Thursday.
According to the report, experts close to the process told the news agency these two organizations and the veteran diplomat are considered frontrunners in the race for the prize, which supposably aims to honor those who have brought peace, security, and the protection of the vulnerable.
António Guterres assumed his role as UN Secretary-General in 2017, having previously served as Portugal’s Prime Minister and President of the Socialist International. Since taking office, Russia has invaded Ukraine, committing numerous atrocities. Additionally, devastating civil wars have broken out in Myanmar, Sudan, and Ethiopia, and the Middle East has entered an unprecedented state of conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
In Israel, Guterres is viewed as pro-Palestinian, and this week Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared him a “persona non grata” – an unwelcome persona – within the State of Israel, following his refusal to condemn Iranian aggression after a missile attack on Israel earlier this week.
However, UNRWA’s nomination is even more problematic than that of the UN Secretary-General. Throughout the past year of fighting in Gaza, the extent of the Hamas’ infiltration into the UN agency has repeatedly come to light. The organization itself admitted that some of its employees, including senior figures, participated in the massacres of October 7 and in the kidnapping of Israeli civilians. The organization’s schools and supply systems were commandeered by Hamas, and the group even established a computer and server base beneath UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City.
Day 365 — Saturday, October 5
Analysis — Israel Did The World An Enormous Favor With Its Elimination Of Nasrallah
So much has changed over the course of one week. Israel moved into Southern Lebanon with a ground invasion determined to eliminate Hezbollah’s terror and tunnel network. Iran has once again launched a couple hundred ballistic missiles into Israel, with the majority of them thankfully being intercepted. Israel has also vowed to respond despite pressure from the United States not to do so.
Last Friday, Israel sent F-15 fighter jets to eliminate Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. In a series of precision strikes using over 82,000 lb bunker-busting bombs, the Israeli Air Force blew up Hezbollah’s headquarters in a suburb of Beirut—which was hiding deep underground below residential homes.
The successful operation came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in New York giving his speech at the United Nations General Assembly. His trip to the US portrayed a message to Hezbollah’s leader—that Israel probably wouldn’t carry out any dramatic actions while the Prime Minister was away. This illusion lured Nasrallah to the headquarters, where he was likely listening in on Netanyahu’s speech.
Then all of a sudden… boom! A series of massive explosions utterly destroyed Hezbollah’s headquarters, killing their leader.
Israel did the world a favor. Nasrallah was a terrorist who had an enormous amount of blood on his hands—killing scores of Americans, Israelis, and other civilians across the Middle East. Unfortunately, much of the media doesn’t report it that way. They only report that Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader. Shame on them! This man was a brutal terrorist. Israel, and the world as a whole, is a much better place without him.
Day 365 — Saturday, October 5
Analysis — The Ill-Fated Ideology Behind Iran’s Goal Of Destroying Israel
After decimating Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel has now turned its attention to Hezbollah in the north. These two terror proxies of Iran have been a thorn in the side of Israel for decades now. They had grown so large that it was once unthinkable that Israel would be able to defeat them. At least that’s what Hamas and Hezbollah had fooled themselves into believing. The political and military echelon of Israel were no doubt confident of their ability to deal crushing blows to their enemies. However, they needed the steely will and international legitimacy to achieve it. In the most tragic of ways, October 7 provided both.
If strategists are to be believed, once Israel has dealt with Hezbollah, it will turn its attention to the head of the terror snake – Iran. Since this conflict is on the horizon, it is helpful to understand the ideology which drives the Iranian clerical and political leadership. Although many nations have historically dismissed Iranian rhetoric as the ramblings of an irritating but incapable enemy, they have since proven they are very much committed to their goal of destroying Israel.
In Iran, the highest-ranking political leader is not the president, it is the Supreme Leader. The current Supreme Leader is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On 15 January 2001, Ayatollah Khamenei left Israel in no doubt of his hatred when he said this: “It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region.” If that sounds familiar, consider the words of Psalm 83:4: “They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’”
Similarly, one month prior to Khamenei’s speech, then Iranian President at the time Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared: “The Jews should expect a ‘reverse exodus’, because one day, the tumour will be removed from the body of the Islamic World, and then millions of Jews who moved there will become homeless again.” Rafsanjani died in 2017, no doubt bitterly disappointed that his antisemitic desire remained unfulfilled.
