Day 385 — Friday, October 25

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Thursday that it had killed a Hamas commander who led the attack on dozens of civilians on October 7, 2023, who had fled the Nova music festival and hidden in roadside shelters.

In addition to being a mass murderer, the IDF said, Mohammad Abu Itiwi had also worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

The IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shabak, or Shin Bet) said in a statement:

Yesterday (Wednesday), in a joint IDF and ISA operation, the IAF struck and eliminated the terrorist Mohammad Abu Itiwi, a Nukhba commander in the Al Bureij Battalion of Hamas’ Central Camps Brigade. Mohammad Abu Itiwi has also been employed by UNRWA since July 2022.

On October 7th, Mohammad Abu Itiwi was involved in the murder and abduction of Israeli civilians. Abu Itiwi led the murderous attack on the bomb shelter on Route 232 in the area of Re’im in southern Israel. 

Throughout the war, Abu Itiwi directed and carried out numerous attacks on IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip.

Following the incident, representatives of COGAT solicited clarifications from senior officials in the UN and international community and requested an urgent investigation into the involvement of UNRWA employees in the October 7th Massacre.

The IDF also provided documentation with evidence that Mohammed Abu Itiwi had been employed by UNRWA.

The shelters were the scenes of some of the most brutal murders on October 7. Many such shelters, made of concrete, stand alongside bus stops in southern Israel, due to the threat of rocket fire that existed for years before October 7.

Hundreds of young people escaping the attack on the Nova festival instinctively ran to the shelters — and that is where Hamas chased them, throwing grenades into the shelters and spraying AK-47 machine gun fire into them.

There were very few survivors; those who did survive were often kidnapped, and held as hostages by Hamas in Gaza.

There were also moments of heroism: Aner Shapira, an off-duty Israeli soldier in a shelter, caught several grenades and threw them back at the terrorists before they exploded. He taught others to do the same before he was killed.

The shelters were painted over and still stand today as memorials to the fallen, visited by thousands of Israelis.

Thursday marked the anniversary of the October 7 terror attack on the Hebrew calendar, on 22 Tishrei 5784.

Breitbart

Day 385 — Friday, October 25

The son of the late American evangelist, Billy Graham, heads a list of Israel’s top Christian Allies around the world, recognized for their unwavering faith-based support for the Jewish state.

The fifth annual list released Tuesday by the Washington, D.C.-based Israel Allies Foundation comes at a time when evangelical Christian support for Israel has served as a bulwark and counterweight against international criticism of Israel for the yearlong war against Hamas in Gaza.

The American evangelist and missionary Franklin Graham, 72, of Asheville, North Carolina—who serves as president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, named after his father—topped the 2024 list of Christian allies for his advocacy for the Jewish state and humanitarian assistance for Israeli families displaced by the war triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre.

“It is a great honor to stand with Israel. This nation was brutally attacked and has every right to defend itself from those who want to wipe it off the face of the earth,” Graham said in a written statement.  “As a Christian, I believe the Jews are God’s chosen people, and so we want to do all that we can to stand with Israel in this hour of great need and provide for those who are constantly at risk. I continue to encourage everyone to ‘pray for the peace of Jerusalem’ as the Bible teaches.”

The listing highlights the depth of the faith-based connection that tens of millions of evangelical Christians in the United States alone have for Israel.

Founded a decade and a half ago, the Israel Allies Foundation, which puts out the listing, has emerged as a powerhouse in mobilizing support for Israel worldwide through faith-based diplomacy. Its ever-growing network includes more than 50 pro-Israel parliamentary caucuses around the globe, based on shared Judeo-Christian values.

JNS

Day 384 — Thursday, October 24

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French broadcasters on Wednesday that Israel had uncovered a plot by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to attack Israel via underground tunnels involving jeeps and missiles.

Netanyahu was quoted as having told French broadcasters CNews and Europe 1 that had the plan succeeded, the attack would have been more damaging than the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

“A hundred meters, two hundred meters from the border we found tunnels, tunnels that were preparing an invasion of Israel, an attack even greater than on October 7,” Netanyahu said, according to a simultaneous translation provided by the networks.

“With jeeps, with motorbikes, with rockets, with missiles. They were planning an invasion,” he added.

The IDF confirmed two weeks ago that, several months earlier, soldiers located a tunnel on the Lebanese border that penetrated into Israeli territory.

Earlier this week, IDF soldiers located and destroyed four underground Hezbollah terrorist infrastructures.

IDF troops, including special units, scanned the tunnel and located weapons, explosive devices, and anti-tank missiles.

Arutz Sheva

Day 384 — Thursday, October 24

Al Jazeera is the most anti-American and anti-Israel news media outlet in the entire Arab world.

After the terrorist attacks against the U.S. on September 11th, 2001 – attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans – the satellite TV network began giving Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization free access to broadcast their radical Islamist speeches and messages on its airwaves. 

Now it appears that Al Jazeera may have actual radical Islamist terrorists on their payroll. 

Is there a point at which Washington will no longer tolerate the hostile actions of Al Jazeera and the government of Qatar, its host and main sponsor? Will Members of Congress speak out? Will they call for sanctions, or even other actions? 

There is growing evidence that they should. 

At 5 p.m. Israel time on Wednesday, the spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces released damning new documents that were recently discovered in the Gaza Strip.

The documents – all in Arabic – purportedly expose six so-called “journalists” working for the Al Jazeera satellite TV network as simultaneously working for Hamas and the Islamic Jihad organizations in Gaza.

“The terrorist-journalist Ismail Farid Muhammad Abu Omar was struck and injured a few months ago in Gaza,” noted the IDF in its statement.

“The documents once again confirm his involvement in terrorist activities.”

“The Al Jazeera network has attempted to disassociate itself from Omar’s terror activities,” the IDF added.

The documents include personnel tables, lists of terrorist training courses, phone directories, and salary documents for terrorists. 

“These provide unequivocal proof that these individuals serve as military operatives for the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF stated.

“These documents serve as proof of the integration of Hamas terrorists within the Qatari Al Jazeera media network,” it added.

“Most of the journalists that the IDF has exposed as operatives in Hamas’s military wing spearhead the propaganda for Hamas at Al Jazeera, especially in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Based in Doha, the capital of the tiny but rich Gulf country of Qatar, Al Jazeera is certainly the most controversial news media outlet in the Arab world. 

It is also one of the most influential TV networks in the region, having a massive audience among Arab speakers in the Middle East, North Africa and around the world.

In May of this year, ALL ISRAEL NEWS reported that the Israeli coalition government cabinet headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted unanimously to suspend Al Jazeera’s license to broadcast within Israel and the Palestinian Territories. 

Walid Omary, Al Jazeera television network bureau chief in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, told Reuters at the time that Israel’s decision was politically motivated and said the network was examining its options to respond legally.

“Israel’s suppression of free press to cover up its crimes by killing and arresting journalists has not deterred us from performing our duty,” Al Jazeera said in a statement.

Hamas released a statement at the time saying the decision by Netanyahu and the coalition government to shutter the Qatari network’s broadcasts is a “flagrant violation of press freedom, and a repressive and retaliatory measure against Al Jazeera’s professional role in exposing the crimes and violations of the occupation… as a culmination of the declared war against journalists who face systematic Zionist terror aimed at hiding the truth.” 

The Foreign Press Association condemned Israel’s decision, saying it is a “cause for concern for all supporters of a free press.” 

At the time, the Biden-Harris administration criticized Israel’s move and said it respected Al Jazeera’s work.

However, as evidence mounts that Israel was right to take action against Al Jazeera, the critical question is this: Why does the U.S. maintain an active alliance with Qatar when its government allows the leaders of the Hamas terrorist organization to live in luxury in Doha, when the Qatari government provides of millions of dollars to Hamas, when Qatar is a close ally of the Iranian regime, and when Qatar hosts and supports Al Jazeera as it spews its rabid anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda?

As ALL ARAB NEWS reported last October, “Qatar also became one of Hamas’ largest sponsors over the years, transferring monthly payments of up to $30 million to Gaza’s civil servants, most of whom are Hamas members.”

How long will Washington tolerate this? How long will other governments turn a blind eye? Not every capital has been silent or unwilling to act.

In 2002, Bahrain’s government banned Al Jazeera from operating in the kingdom because it said the network posed a threat to the security of the moderate, pro-American society.

In 2013, the Iraqi government banned Al Jazeera because it said the network was fomenting section violence.

In 2013, Egypt’s government arrested several Al Jazeera journalists as a threat to national security as the network became a mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood forces that had tried to take control over Egypt, had nearly provoked a full-blown civil war, and were burning and destroying Egyptian churches. 

In 2017, the Egyptian government blocked the Al Jazeera website from being seen in its country.

“Between 2017 and 2021, a Saudi-led coalition of 13 nations severed relations with Qatar for its close ties with Iran and its backing of the Muslim Brotherhood,” noted Joseph Epstein of the Endowment for Middle East Truth in a column for Newsweek.

“The coalition then implemented a de facto blockade of the country. A U.S.-Kuwait resolution ended the crisis in 2021.”

In 2017, Epstein noted that “Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates all closed down local Al Jazeera offices for spreading extremism by supporting the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.”

“That’s because the countries who receive Al Jazeera’s Arabic language coverage are aware of the threat it poses and how it manipulates its audiences to spread extremism and accomplish Qatar’s foreign policy goals.”

Epstein also noted that, in 2020, “the U.S. Department of Justice found that Al Jazeera’s U.S. affiliate AJ+ engaged in ‘political activities’ on behalf of Qatar’s government and ordered it to register as a foreign agent,” the Newsweek columnist reported. “To date, AJ+ has ignored these calls without penalty.”

Al Jazeera and its Qatari hosts and benefactors are not interested in journalism. They are not practicing freedom of the press. Nor are they engaged in free speech.

The evidence increasingly suggests they are actively encouraging radical Islamist terrorists, giving them a platform to speak, a platform to recruit, a platform to spread their hateful lies. 

Now are they hiring radical Islamists to act to pose as journalists for genocidal terrorist organizations, too?

When will the leaders of the Free World say, “Enough is enough”?

All Israel News

Day 383 — Wednesday, October 23

The independent watchdog group U.N. Watch issued a scathing report Tuesday on the antisemitic history, record of support for terrorist organizations, and potential financial impropriety of Francesca Albanese, the United Nations “special rapporteur” for human rights in Palestinian territories.

Breitbart News obtained a copy of the full report, totaling nearly 60 pages, on Tuesday.

Albanese is reportedly traveling to the United States this weekend to address several college campuses and hold meetings at the United Nations headquarters in New York. U.N. Watch urged American officials to “bar Francesca Albanese from entering the United States on account of her propagation of antisemitism and support for Hamas terrorism, which amounts to a national security threat.”

Albanese has since 2022 formally held the position of “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.” The position answers to the U.N. Human Rights Council, dominated by authoritarian regimes and serial human rights abusers, and is focused on condemning Israel and its self-defense activities against various jihadist terrorist organizations regularly threatening it.

While Albanese has a long record of antisemitism, including proclaiming that America is “subjugated by the Jewish lobby” in 2014, she has become significantly more vocal in condemning Israel since the jihadist organization Hamas invaded the country and massacred an estimated 1,200 innocents on October 7, 2023. The terrorist siege featured widespread acts of gang-rape, the killing of children as young as infants, mass abductions of dozens of people, and terrorists filming themselves desecrating the corpses of their victims and uploading the footage to the victims’ social media profiles.

On the day of the massacre itself, Albanese declared the slaughter “must be put in context” and equated the existence of Israel to the terrorist act itself. Albanese also extended sympathies to the “Palestinian families” allegedly affected by the Hamas attack.

Albanese separately condemned French President Emmanuel Macron in February for describing the October 7 atrocities, accurately, as “the greatest antisemitic massacre of our century.”

“No,“ she replied. “The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in reaction to Israel’s oppression.”

U.N. Watch compiled these statements alongside 60 pages of evidence of antisemitism, support for terrorism, conflicts of interest, and financial improprieties, noting that it is far from the only entity to vocally condemn Albanese. In addition to sharing her own condemnations of Israel, Albanese also regularly spreads misinformation and anti-Israel and anti-American propaganda.

It also noted that, separate from her operations within the U.N., Albanese appears to help lead a global pressure network to browbeat countries into funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian territories, whose members celebrated and participated in the October 7 attacks. Members of the U.S. Congress have repeatedly condemned her advocacy for terrorism and heard testimonies on her extensive anti-Israel and antisemitic history.

“Francesca Albanese has routinely spread antisemitism and openly supported Hamas terrorism,“ the U.N. Watch report observed. “She became the first UN human rights rapporteur in history to be condemned for antisemitism by the United States, France, and Germany.”

Far from merely opposing Israel, however, Albanese has vocalized support for radical Islamic terrorism. In November 2022, for example, Albanese spoke at a conference officially hosted by the terrorists of Hamas.

“You have a right to resist,“ she told the terrorists.

JNS

Day 383 — Wednesday, October 23

The Israel Defense Forces announced on Tuesday that it killed a group of Hezbollah commanders, including Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s chief executive council.

“The terrorists were eliminated in a strike carried out approximately three weeks ago in the area of Dahiyeh, a key Hezbollah terrorist stronghold in Beirut,” the IDF stated. “The Israeli Air Force conducted a precise, intelligence-based strike on Hezbollah’s main intelligence headquarters, deliberately located underground beneath the civilian population in the Dahiyeh.”

The strike killed 25 Hezbollah terrorists, including Safieddine and Ali Hussein Hazima, commander of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters, per the IDF.

Safieddine was a first cousin of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September. The IDF said Safieddine frequently served as acting secretary-general of Hezbollah when Nasrallah was outside Lebanon.

Hashem Safieddine’s brother, Abdullah Safieddine, is the terror group’s representative in Tehran. Hashem’s eldest son, Reza, is married to a daughter of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, killed by the United States in a 2020 airstrike in Iraq.

The confirmation of Hashem Safieddine’s death, which Israeli leaders first said was “likely” back on Oct. 8, is the latest blow to Hezbollah’s leadership cadre.

JNS

Day 382 — Tuesday, October 22

As Israel continues to press its war against Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists, Vice President Kamala Harris expressed sympathy for a heckler who claimed that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza during a campaign event on Saturday.

Video footage surfaced over the weekend of an exchange between Harris and an anti-Israel heckler at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, in which the man interrupted her and exclaimed, “And in genocide, right? Billions of dollars in genocide you invested in?” Harris responded, “I know what you’re speaking of. I want the ceasefire. I want the war to end.”

As the man was being escorted out, Harris told the crowd, “Listen, what he’s talking about, it’s real. It’s real.”

The claim that Israel is specifically targeting Palestinians in Gaza for annihilation has been a consistent accusation by anti-Israel protestors across the U.S. in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis and the ensuing war that has taken place between Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas terrorists in Gaza. The claim remains entirely unfounded. Observers have noted the painstaking efforts that IDF forces have used to warn civilians of missile strikes before carrying them out, as well as surgically precise strikes like its recent pager attack against Hezbollah.

Observers have also noted Hamas’s tactics in battle as being notorious for using civilians as human shields and deliberately using hospitals and other civilian facilities as outposts. As reported by National Review, the number of civilian deaths in Gaza that anti-Israel activists often cite as proof of “genocide” have yet to be verified by a trustworthy source: “The Gaza-casualty figures the protester cited — announced by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which progressive activists frequently cite — are unverified. The figures do not distinguish between innocent civilians whom Hamas puts into the cross fire and the Hamas fighters and operatives killed during the war. Analysts have disputed the veracity of the numbers because of how quickly they come in and the linear trajectory of the death count.”

Meanwhile, amid the Biden-Harris administration’s ongoing push for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to continue to receive funding and support from Israel despite its ties to Hamas, new details have emerged surrounding the death of Hamas leader and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar. Among the articles found on Sinwar’s body by IDF forces was a passport belonging to Rafah native Hani Zourob, whose occupation was listed as “UNWRA teacher.”

The news adds to the extensive ties that UNRWA has to terrorist groups, including 19 of its staff members being accused of participating in the October 7 massacre, Hamas tunnels found directly under UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza, and the leader of Hamas in Lebabon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, working as an UNRWA teacher and principal before his eventual death in an Israeli air strike.

On Friday, Chris Mitchell, Middle East bureau chief for CBN News, joined “Washington Watch” to discuss the path forward for Israel following Sinwar’s death.

“[Sinwar’s death] follows a year of fighting for IDF forces where they have killed perhaps as many as 20,000 or more terrorists and decimated their infrastructure, their tunnel systems, much of their command and control, [and] many of their munitions,” he noted. “… Khaled Mashal may be the last remaining [top leaders of Hamas]. He’s in Doha, Qatar [and is] living in luxury. And it also brings up the question about the influence of Qatar. Many people have questioned that they’re hosting these Hamas leaders and also have been funding Hamas for years and actually giving them billions of dollars through that time. So it remains to be seen what will happen to that leadership.”

Mitchell concluded by asking for prayers for the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“[P]ray for the release of the hostages that so many have been praying fervently for a long time,” he urged. “Pray for the comfort for their family members and continue to pray for wisdom for the leadership of Israel, for Prime Minister Netanyahu. … Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and pray for comfort for the Israeli people that have gone through so much, as well as the Jewish people around the world. They’re celebrating right now the Feast of Tabernacles … and commemorating how God protected the Israelites during their time in the wilderness and brought them into the Promised Land. Here we are, thousands of years later, they’re back in the Promised Land.”

Washington Stand

Day 382 — Tuesday, October 22

The Israel Aviation Authority briefly halted and then resumed takeoffs at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Monday evening, amid an apparent escalation in Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and ahead of an expected retaliation for Iran’s ballistic missile attack earlier this month.

The IAA announced a short while after takeoffs were halted that the airport was operating normally, without giving a reason for the pause, and the Israel Defense Forces said that the security incident had been cleared.

In the same statement, the IDF said that helicopters and fighter jets intercepted and shot down five drones over the Mediterranean Sea, before they entered Israeli airspace.

A short while later, the IDF said that a loud explosion heard in Tel Aviv and the Sharon region was caused by a rocket fired from Lebanon that landed in an open area. Hebrew media reported that it landed in the sea.

Sirens did not sound in accordance with the policy that warnings are only issued if the rocket is deemed to pose a threat, the military said.

Later on Monday evening, IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed that Israel carried out an airstrike in Syria earlier in the day, targeting the head of Hezbollah’s financial arm responsible for funneling cash from Iran to its proxy, in one of a series of IDF strikes carried out in recent days against the terror group’s financial network.

The IDF spokesperson did not name the Hezbollah official but said he had only been in the position a few weeks since his predecessor was killed.

Times Of Israel

Day 381 — Monday, October 21

Israeli airstrikes targeted Hezbollah financial sites across Lebanon overnight Sunday, including in Beirut.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, dozens of facilities and sites used by the Iranian proxy to fund its terrorist activities against the Jewish state were attacked.

“These funds, which Hezbollah used for terror activities, were stored by the Al-Qard al-Hassan Association, which directly funds Hezbollah’s terror activities, including the purchase of weapons and payments to operatives in Hezbollah’s military wing,” the IDF said.

“The Hezbollah terrorist organization stores billions of dollars in the association’s branches, including money that was directly held under the name of the terrorist organization,” the statement continued.

“We will strike a large number of targets in the coming hours, and additional targets later tonight,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Sunday, emphasizing that in the coming days the IDF would reveal how Iran funds Hezbollah’s terror activities via civilian institutions, associations and organizations.

The military emphasized that many measures were taken before the strikes to minimize harm to the civilian population, including issuing advanced warnings via various platforms.

Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, posted a video message in Arabic to X urging residents of Lebanon to move away from infrastructure associated with the Al-Qard al-Hassan Association shortly before the wave of attacks began.

“A large portion of Hezbollah’s terrorist activities is funded by the Iranian state budget. Hezbollah uses these funds to finance its terrorist activities, including acquiring weapons, purchasing facilities for storing combat equipment, establishing launch sites and paying its members, as well as carrying out various terrorist activities,” Adraee explained.

He issued evacuation notices for at least 25 buildings in the Beirut area, in the Bekaa Valley and in South Lebanon.

“The Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association is involved in financing Hezbollah’s terrorist activities against Israel. Therefore, the IDF has decided to target this terrorist infrastructure,” Adraee said.

“The IDF continues to work forcefully to destroy Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure. Therefore, we urge people inside buildings used by Hezbollah to move at least 500 meters away in the coming hours.”

Many explosions were reported in the Dahiya neighborhood south of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. Israeli attacks were also carried out near the Beirut airport. Buildings were seen collapsing and others were on fire.

JNS

Day 381 — Monday, October 21

The commander of the Israel Defense Force’s 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Ehsan Daqsa, was killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, the military announced.

Daqsa, 41, from the Druze town of Daliyat al-Karmel, was one of the most senior officers to have been killed in the fighting in Gaza. In all, six IDF colonels have been killed in the fighting, four of them during the October 7 onslaught.

An IDF probe into the death of Daqsa found that he was outside his tank with other officers when they were hit by an explosive device in Jabaliya, as part of an ongoing offensive there against Hamas.

According to the probe, Daqsa, the commander of the brigade’s 52nd Battalion, and two other officers got out of their tanks in Jabaliya and walked several meters to an observation point.

The site had been booby-trapped with explosives, which killed Daqsa on the spot, seriously wounded the 52nd Battalion commander, and injured the other two officers, who were listed in light and moderate condition.
Daqsa had taken command of the 401st Brigade in June. On October 7, though not on duty, he headed to southern Israel to fight off Hamas’s onslaught, including leading a counteroffensive into the Erez Crossing area that had been taken over by terrorists.

Daqsa had been decorated with a citation from the head of the Northern Command for rescuing wounded paratroopers while under fire during the Battle of Ayta ash-Shab in 2006 during the Second Lebanon War.

Following the deadly incident on Sunday, the IDF  appointed Col. Meir Biderman, the deputy head of the 162nd Division, to be the acting commander of the 401st Brigade. Col. Benny Aharon, a former commander of the 401st Brigade, was set to take Biderman’s place.

Lt. Col. Daniel Ella, the former commander of the 52nd Battalion who was moderately wounded during fighting in Gaza in July, was to return as the battalion’s acting commander.

The mayor of Daqsa’s hometown Daliyat al-Karmel, Rafik Halabi, said the town was “wearing black” after the death of the commander.

“With sorrow, pain, and much grief, Daliyat al-Karmel, the IDF, the Druze community and the State of Israel say goodbye to one of its heroes,” Halabi wrote in a post on X.

“A hero, a brave, humble fighter who became a legend, who fought since the beginning of the war.”

Times Of Israel

Day 380 — Sunday, October 20

A drone launched by the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal town of Caesarea on Saturday morning, his spokesperson confirmed.

The Axios news outlet reported that Netanyahu’s private home was struck, without providing further details.

“The prime minister and his wife were not at their residence at the time of the attack and there were no casualties,” Netanyahu’s spokesman affirmed.

The IDF reported that three drones were launched in the attack, two of which were shot down by helicopters.

“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake. This will not deter me or the State of Israel from continuing our just war against our enemies in order to secure our future,” Netanyahu said in a video statement on Saturday evening.

The strike was the first time that one of Israel’s enemies targeted a site associated with Netanyahu during this war.

During the day, Israeli’s Channel 12 News reported that Netanyahu spoke on the phone with former U.S. President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. House Speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson, who each expressed their shock following reports of the attack.

Sources close to Netanyahu told Kan that Israel will deliver a strong response to Hezbollah and Iran.

“I say to Iran and its proxies in its axis of evil: Anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price. We will continue to eliminate the terrorists and those who dispatch them. We will bring our hostages home from Gaza. And we will return our citizens who live on our northern border safely to their homes.”

“Israel is determined to achieve all our war objectives and change the security reality in our region for generations to come. Together, we will fight, and with God’s help – together, we will win,” the prime minister said.
During the drone attack, no sirens were activated in Caesarea. However, alarms were triggered near Glilot, the location of the IDF’s Mossad headquarters, as well as an IDF intelligence base.

The attack came after Hezbollah announced a “new phase” in its attacks against Israel in the wake of the elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday, amid withering rocket fire on northern Israel that left one man dead and several others injured.

Since Friday evening, Hezbollah has fired more than 100 rockets and drones at Israeli towns, killing one man and wounding at least 10 Israelis.

In his first video message released earlier on Saturday, shortly after the drone strike, Netanyahu was seen strolling in an undisclosed location, speaking about Sinwar’s death before declaring, “We’re going to win this war.”

After being asked whether anything would deter him, Netanyahu answered simply: “No.”

All Israel News

Day 380 — Sunday, October 20

Senior American officials voiced serious concern on Saturday following the leak of two US intelligence documents allegedly outlining Israel’s preparations for a potential strike on Iran. These documents were published by a Telegram account linked to Iran.

While both the US Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the leaked documents, they did not deny their authenticity.

The timing of the leak comes as Israel is completing preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran in response to the October 1 missile attack. An unnamed senior Israeli official remarked, “Israel’s defense establishment is aware of the leak and takes it very seriously.”

The leak occurred on Friday when the Middle East Spectator Telegram channel claimed it had received documents about Israel’s strike preparations from a source within the US intelligence community. This Telegram channel is known for publishing pro-Iranian propaganda, and its associated Twitter account states that its operators are based in Iran.

The documents included an alleged report from the US Department of Defense’s visual intelligence agency, which had been circulated within the US intelligence community three days earlier. The report detailed alleged recent actions at Israel Air Force (IAF) bases, including the movement of advanced munitions believed to be intended for a strike on Iran. The report also noted that intelligence obtained through wiretaps indicated that the IAF conducted an exercise this week involving fighter jets and drones as part of its strike preparations.

The leaked documents reportedly revealed close surveillance by US intelligence on Israel’s preparations for a strike on Iran, including the use of satellites to monitor activities at Israeli Air Force bases. The alleged leak also highlights a severe security breach within the US intelligence community, allowing highly classified information to reach entities affiliated with Iran.

American officials described the incident as “extremely serious” but noted that, in their view, the leak is unlikely to affect Israel’s operational plans.

[Former US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman commented on the leak, calling it an “unacceptable break of trust by the Biden-Harris Administration”]

Jerusalem Post 

Day 379 — Saturday, October 19

The Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and seen internationally as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, expressed its condolences Friday on the “martyrdom” of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, calling him a “great national leader” and urging Palestinian national unity.

Some of the PLO’s constituent factions also expressed condolences for the terror chief’s demise, including Abbas’s secularist Fatah party, which said Israel’s “killing and terrorism will not succeed in breaking the will of our people.”

Sinwar was the architect of the October 7, 2023 invasion and slaughter in southern Israel, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst through the Gaza border and massacred 1,200 people in their homes, communities and at a music festival, and abducted 251 to Gaza where 101 are still held hostage. He was killed by IDF troops in Gaza’s Rafah on Wednesday.

Among the condolences quoted by WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, were messages from the Palestinian National Initiative and the Palestinian Democratic Union, left-wing members of the PLO which, like Fatah, have expressed opposition to armed struggle against Israel.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held talks on Friday with representatives of Hamas and expressed condolences over the death of Sinwar, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

During the meeting, Fidan said that Turkey will “use all diplomatic means to mobilize the international community against the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” the ministry said.

Turkey’s relations with Israel have significantly deteriorated under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has repeatedly expressed support for Hamas and hosted its representatives in Turkey since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, while comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.

The condolences from the PLO and Turkey came hours after Hamas confirmed Sinwar’s death and vowed not to release the hostages unless Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza and ended the war.

Israel has long accused Abbas and the PA of backing terror by lionizing terrorists as “martyrs” and paying stipends to jailed terror operatives and families of slain terrorists.

It also accuses the PA of inciting to hatred of Israel in its education system. Fatah regularly lauds the actions of Palestinian terrorists and senior Fatah officials have at times expressed support for Hamas and its deadly attacks on Israelis.

Times Of Israel

Day 385 — Friday, October 25

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Thursday that it had killed a Hamas commander who led the attack on dozens of civilians on October 7, 2023, who had fled the Nova music festival and hidden in roadside shelters.

In addition to being a mass murderer, the IDF said, Mohammad Abu Itiwi had also worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

The IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shabak, or Shin Bet) said in a statement:

Yesterday (Wednesday), in a joint IDF and ISA operation, the IAF struck and eliminated the terrorist Mohammad Abu Itiwi, a Nukhba commander in the Al Bureij Battalion of Hamas’ Central Camps Brigade. Mohammad Abu Itiwi has also been employed by UNRWA since July 2022.

On October 7th, Mohammad Abu Itiwi was involved in the murder and abduction of Israeli civilians. Abu Itiwi led the murderous attack on the bomb shelter on Route 232 in the area of Re’im in southern Israel. 

Throughout the war, Abu Itiwi directed and carried out numerous attacks on IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip.

Following the incident, representatives of COGAT solicited clarifications from senior officials in the UN and international community and requested an urgent investigation into the involvement of UNRWA employees in the October 7th Massacre.

The IDF also provided documentation with evidence that Mohammed Abu Itiwi had been employed by UNRWA.

The shelters were the scenes of some of the most brutal murders on October 7. Many such shelters, made of concrete, stand alongside bus stops in southern Israel, due to the threat of rocket fire that existed for years before October 7.

Hundreds of young people escaping the attack on the Nova festival instinctively ran to the shelters — and that is where Hamas chased them, throwing grenades into the shelters and spraying AK-47 machine gun fire into them.

There were very few survivors; those who did survive were often kidnapped, and held as hostages by Hamas in Gaza.

There were also moments of heroism: Aner Shapira, an off-duty Israeli soldier in a shelter, caught several grenades and threw them back at the terrorists before they exploded. He taught others to do the same before he was killed.

The shelters were painted over and still stand today as memorials to the fallen, visited by thousands of Israelis.

Thursday marked the anniversary of the October 7 terror attack on the Hebrew calendar, on 22 Tishrei 5784.

Breitbart

Day 385 — Friday, October 25

The son of the late American evangelist, Billy Graham, heads a list of Israel’s top Christian Allies around the world, recognized for their unwavering faith-based support for the Jewish state.

The fifth annual list released Tuesday by the Washington, D.C.-based Israel Allies Foundation comes at a time when evangelical Christian support for Israel has served as a bulwark and counterweight against international criticism of Israel for the yearlong war against Hamas in Gaza.

The American evangelist and missionary Franklin Graham, 72, of Asheville, North Carolina—who serves as president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, named after his father—topped the 2024 list of Christian allies for his advocacy for the Jewish state and humanitarian assistance for Israeli families displaced by the war triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre.

“It is a great honor to stand with Israel. This nation was brutally attacked and has every right to defend itself from those who want to wipe it off the face of the earth,” Graham said in a written statement.  “As a Christian, I believe the Jews are God’s chosen people, and so we want to do all that we can to stand with Israel in this hour of great need and provide for those who are constantly at risk. I continue to encourage everyone to ‘pray for the peace of Jerusalem’ as the Bible teaches.”

The listing highlights the depth of the faith-based connection that tens of millions of evangelical Christians in the United States alone have for Israel.

Founded a decade and a half ago, the Israel Allies Foundation, which puts out the listing, has emerged as a powerhouse in mobilizing support for Israel worldwide through faith-based diplomacy. Its ever-growing network includes more than 50 pro-Israel parliamentary caucuses around the globe, based on shared Judeo-Christian values.

JNS

Day 384 — Thursday, October 24

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French broadcasters on Wednesday that Israel had uncovered a plot by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to attack Israel via underground tunnels involving jeeps and missiles.

Netanyahu was quoted as having told French broadcasters CNews and Europe 1 that had the plan succeeded, the attack would have been more damaging than the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

“A hundred meters, two hundred meters from the border we found tunnels, tunnels that were preparing an invasion of Israel, an attack even greater than on October 7,” Netanyahu said, according to a simultaneous translation provided by the networks.

“With jeeps, with motorbikes, with rockets, with missiles. They were planning an invasion,” he added.

The IDF confirmed two weeks ago that, several months earlier, soldiers located a tunnel on the Lebanese border that penetrated into Israeli territory.

Earlier this week, IDF soldiers located and destroyed four underground Hezbollah terrorist infrastructures.

IDF troops, including special units, scanned the tunnel and located weapons, explosive devices, and anti-tank missiles.

Arutz Sheva

Day 384 — Thursday, October 24

Al Jazeera is the most anti-American and anti-Israel news media outlet in the entire Arab world.

After the terrorist attacks against the U.S. on September 11th, 2001 – attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans – the satellite TV network began giving Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization free access to broadcast their radical Islamist speeches and messages on its airwaves. 

Now it appears that Al Jazeera may have actual radical Islamist terrorists on their payroll. 

Is there a point at which Washington will no longer tolerate the hostile actions of Al Jazeera and the government of Qatar, its host and main sponsor? Will Members of Congress speak out? Will they call for sanctions, or even other actions? 

There is growing evidence that they should. 

At 5 p.m. Israel time on Wednesday, the spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces released damning new documents that were recently discovered in the Gaza Strip.

The documents – all in Arabic – purportedly expose six so-called “journalists” working for the Al Jazeera satellite TV network as simultaneously working for Hamas and the Islamic Jihad organizations in Gaza.

“The terrorist-journalist Ismail Farid Muhammad Abu Omar was struck and injured a few months ago in Gaza,” noted the IDF in its statement.

“The documents once again confirm his involvement in terrorist activities.”

“The Al Jazeera network has attempted to disassociate itself from Omar’s terror activities,” the IDF added.

The documents include personnel tables, lists of terrorist training courses, phone directories, and salary documents for terrorists. 

“These provide unequivocal proof that these individuals serve as military operatives for the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF stated.

“These documents serve as proof of the integration of Hamas terrorists within the Qatari Al Jazeera media network,” it added.

“Most of the journalists that the IDF has exposed as operatives in Hamas’s military wing spearhead the propaganda for Hamas at Al Jazeera, especially in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Based in Doha, the capital of the tiny but rich Gulf country of Qatar, Al Jazeera is certainly the most controversial news media outlet in the Arab world. 

It is also one of the most influential TV networks in the region, having a massive audience among Arab speakers in the Middle East, North Africa and around the world.

In May of this year, ALL ISRAEL NEWS reported that the Israeli coalition government cabinet headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted unanimously to suspend Al Jazeera’s license to broadcast within Israel and the Palestinian Territories. 

Walid Omary, Al Jazeera television network bureau chief in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, told Reuters at the time that Israel’s decision was politically motivated and said the network was examining its options to respond legally.

“Israel’s suppression of free press to cover up its crimes by killing and arresting journalists has not deterred us from performing our duty,” Al Jazeera said in a statement.

Hamas released a statement at the time saying the decision by Netanyahu and the coalition government to shutter the Qatari network’s broadcasts is a “flagrant violation of press freedom, and a repressive and retaliatory measure against Al Jazeera’s professional role in exposing the crimes and violations of the occupation… as a culmination of the declared war against journalists who face systematic Zionist terror aimed at hiding the truth.” 

The Foreign Press Association condemned Israel’s decision, saying it is a “cause for concern for all supporters of a free press.” 

At the time, the Biden-Harris administration criticized Israel’s move and said it respected Al Jazeera’s work.

However, as evidence mounts that Israel was right to take action against Al Jazeera, the critical question is this: Why does the U.S. maintain an active alliance with Qatar when its government allows the leaders of the Hamas terrorist organization to live in luxury in Doha, when the Qatari government provides of millions of dollars to Hamas, when Qatar is a close ally of the Iranian regime, and when Qatar hosts and supports Al Jazeera as it spews its rabid anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda?

As ALL ARAB NEWS reported last October, “Qatar also became one of Hamas’ largest sponsors over the years, transferring monthly payments of up to $30 million to Gaza’s civil servants, most of whom are Hamas members.”

How long will Washington tolerate this? How long will other governments turn a blind eye? Not every capital has been silent or unwilling to act.

In 2002, Bahrain’s government banned Al Jazeera from operating in the kingdom because it said the network posed a threat to the security of the moderate, pro-American society.

In 2013, the Iraqi government banned Al Jazeera because it said the network was fomenting section violence.

In 2013, Egypt’s government arrested several Al Jazeera journalists as a threat to national security as the network became a mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood forces that had tried to take control over Egypt, had nearly provoked a full-blown civil war, and were burning and destroying Egyptian churches. 

In 2017, the Egyptian government blocked the Al Jazeera website from being seen in its country.

“Between 2017 and 2021, a Saudi-led coalition of 13 nations severed relations with Qatar for its close ties with Iran and its backing of the Muslim Brotherhood,” noted Joseph Epstein of the Endowment for Middle East Truth in a column for Newsweek.

“The coalition then implemented a de facto blockade of the country. A U.S.-Kuwait resolution ended the crisis in 2021.”

In 2017, Epstein noted that “Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates all closed down local Al Jazeera offices for spreading extremism by supporting the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.”

“That’s because the countries who receive Al Jazeera’s Arabic language coverage are aware of the threat it poses and how it manipulates its audiences to spread extremism and accomplish Qatar’s foreign policy goals.”

Epstein also noted that, in 2020, “the U.S. Department of Justice found that Al Jazeera’s U.S. affiliate AJ+ engaged in ‘political activities’ on behalf of Qatar’s government and ordered it to register as a foreign agent,” the Newsweek columnist reported. “To date, AJ+ has ignored these calls without penalty.”

Al Jazeera and its Qatari hosts and benefactors are not interested in journalism. They are not practicing freedom of the press. Nor are they engaged in free speech.

The evidence increasingly suggests they are actively encouraging radical Islamist terrorists, giving them a platform to speak, a platform to recruit, a platform to spread their hateful lies. 

Now are they hiring radical Islamists to act to pose as journalists for genocidal terrorist organizations, too?

When will the leaders of the Free World say, “Enough is enough”?

All Israel News

Day 383 — Wednesday, October 23

The independent watchdog group U.N. Watch issued a scathing report Tuesday on the antisemitic history, record of support for terrorist organizations, and potential financial impropriety of Francesca Albanese, the United Nations “special rapporteur” for human rights in Palestinian territories.

Breitbart News obtained a copy of the full report, totaling nearly 60 pages, on Tuesday.

Albanese is reportedly traveling to the United States this weekend to address several college campuses and hold meetings at the United Nations headquarters in New York. U.N. Watch urged American officials to “bar Francesca Albanese from entering the United States on account of her propagation of antisemitism and support for Hamas terrorism, which amounts to a national security threat.”

Albanese has since 2022 formally held the position of “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.” The position answers to the U.N. Human Rights Council, dominated by authoritarian regimes and serial human rights abusers, and is focused on condemning Israel and its self-defense activities against various jihadist terrorist organizations regularly threatening it.

While Albanese has a long record of antisemitism, including proclaiming that America is “subjugated by the Jewish lobby” in 2014, she has become significantly more vocal in condemning Israel since the jihadist organization Hamas invaded the country and massacred an estimated 1,200 innocents on October 7, 2023. The terrorist siege featured widespread acts of gang-rape, the killing of children as young as infants, mass abductions of dozens of people, and terrorists filming themselves desecrating the corpses of their victims and uploading the footage to the victims’ social media profiles.

On the day of the massacre itself, Albanese declared the slaughter “must be put in context” and equated the existence of Israel to the terrorist act itself. Albanese also extended sympathies to the “Palestinian families” allegedly affected by the Hamas attack.

Albanese separately condemned French President Emmanuel Macron in February for describing the October 7 atrocities, accurately, as “the greatest antisemitic massacre of our century.”

“No,“ she replied. “The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in reaction to Israel’s oppression.”

U.N. Watch compiled these statements alongside 60 pages of evidence of antisemitism, support for terrorism, conflicts of interest, and financial improprieties, noting that it is far from the only entity to vocally condemn Albanese. In addition to sharing her own condemnations of Israel, Albanese also regularly spreads misinformation and anti-Israel and anti-American propaganda.

It also noted that, separate from her operations within the U.N., Albanese appears to help lead a global pressure network to browbeat countries into funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian territories, whose members celebrated and participated in the October 7 attacks. Members of the U.S. Congress have repeatedly condemned her advocacy for terrorism and heard testimonies on her extensive anti-Israel and antisemitic history.

“Francesca Albanese has routinely spread antisemitism and openly supported Hamas terrorism,“ the U.N. Watch report observed. “She became the first UN human rights rapporteur in history to be condemned for antisemitism by the United States, France, and Germany.”

Far from merely opposing Israel, however, Albanese has vocalized support for radical Islamic terrorism. In November 2022, for example, Albanese spoke at a conference officially hosted by the terrorists of Hamas.

“You have a right to resist,“ she told the terrorists.

JNS

Day 383 — Wednesday, October 23

The Israel Defense Forces announced on Tuesday that it killed a group of Hezbollah commanders, including Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s chief executive council.

“The terrorists were eliminated in a strike carried out approximately three weeks ago in the area of Dahiyeh, a key Hezbollah terrorist stronghold in Beirut,” the IDF stated. “The Israeli Air Force conducted a precise, intelligence-based strike on Hezbollah’s main intelligence headquarters, deliberately located underground beneath the civilian population in the Dahiyeh.”

The strike killed 25 Hezbollah terrorists, including Safieddine and Ali Hussein Hazima, commander of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters, per the IDF.

Safieddine was a first cousin of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September. The IDF said Safieddine frequently served as acting secretary-general of Hezbollah when Nasrallah was outside Lebanon.

Hashem Safieddine’s brother, Abdullah Safieddine, is the terror group’s representative in Tehran. Hashem’s eldest son, Reza, is married to a daughter of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, killed by the United States in a 2020 airstrike in Iraq.

The confirmation of Hashem Safieddine’s death, which Israeli leaders first said was “likely” back on Oct. 8, is the latest blow to Hezbollah’s leadership cadre.

JNS

Day 382 — Tuesday, October 22

As Israel continues to press its war against Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists, Vice President Kamala Harris expressed sympathy for a heckler who claimed that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza during a campaign event on Saturday.

Video footage surfaced over the weekend of an exchange between Harris and an anti-Israel heckler at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, in which the man interrupted her and exclaimed, “And in genocide, right? Billions of dollars in genocide you invested in?” Harris responded, “I know what you’re speaking of. I want the ceasefire. I want the war to end.”

As the man was being escorted out, Harris told the crowd, “Listen, what he’s talking about, it’s real. It’s real.”

The claim that Israel is specifically targeting Palestinians in Gaza for annihilation has been a consistent accusation by anti-Israel protestors across the U.S. in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis and the ensuing war that has taken place between Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas terrorists in Gaza. The claim remains entirely unfounded. Observers have noted the painstaking efforts that IDF forces have used to warn civilians of missile strikes before carrying them out, as well as surgically precise strikes like its recent pager attack against Hezbollah.

Observers have also noted Hamas’s tactics in battle as being notorious for using civilians as human shields and deliberately using hospitals and other civilian facilities as outposts. As reported by National Review, the number of civilian deaths in Gaza that anti-Israel activists often cite as proof of “genocide” have yet to be verified by a trustworthy source: “The Gaza-casualty figures the protester cited — announced by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which progressive activists frequently cite — are unverified. The figures do not distinguish between innocent civilians whom Hamas puts into the cross fire and the Hamas fighters and operatives killed during the war. Analysts have disputed the veracity of the numbers because of how quickly they come in and the linear trajectory of the death count.”

Meanwhile, amid the Biden-Harris administration’s ongoing push for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to continue to receive funding and support from Israel despite its ties to Hamas, new details have emerged surrounding the death of Hamas leader and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar. Among the articles found on Sinwar’s body by IDF forces was a passport belonging to Rafah native Hani Zourob, whose occupation was listed as “UNWRA teacher.”

The news adds to the extensive ties that UNRWA has to terrorist groups, including 19 of its staff members being accused of participating in the October 7 massacre, Hamas tunnels found directly under UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza, and the leader of Hamas in Lebabon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, working as an UNRWA teacher and principal before his eventual death in an Israeli air strike.

On Friday, Chris Mitchell, Middle East bureau chief for CBN News, joined “Washington Watch” to discuss the path forward for Israel following Sinwar’s death.

“[Sinwar’s death] follows a year of fighting for IDF forces where they have killed perhaps as many as 20,000 or more terrorists and decimated their infrastructure, their tunnel systems, much of their command and control, [and] many of their munitions,” he noted. “… Khaled Mashal may be the last remaining [top leaders of Hamas]. He’s in Doha, Qatar [and is] living in luxury. And it also brings up the question about the influence of Qatar. Many people have questioned that they’re hosting these Hamas leaders and also have been funding Hamas for years and actually giving them billions of dollars through that time. So it remains to be seen what will happen to that leadership.”

Mitchell concluded by asking for prayers for the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“[P]ray for the release of the hostages that so many have been praying fervently for a long time,” he urged. “Pray for the comfort for their family members and continue to pray for wisdom for the leadership of Israel, for Prime Minister Netanyahu. … Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and pray for comfort for the Israeli people that have gone through so much, as well as the Jewish people around the world. They’re celebrating right now the Feast of Tabernacles … and commemorating how God protected the Israelites during their time in the wilderness and brought them into the Promised Land. Here we are, thousands of years later, they’re back in the Promised Land.”

Washington Stand

Day 382 — Tuesday, October 22

The Israel Aviation Authority briefly halted and then resumed takeoffs at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Monday evening, amid an apparent escalation in Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and ahead of an expected retaliation for Iran’s ballistic missile attack earlier this month.

The IAA announced a short while after takeoffs were halted that the airport was operating normally, without giving a reason for the pause, and the Israel Defense Forces said that the security incident had been cleared.

In the same statement, the IDF said that helicopters and fighter jets intercepted and shot down five drones over the Mediterranean Sea, before they entered Israeli airspace.

A short while later, the IDF said that a loud explosion heard in Tel Aviv and the Sharon region was caused by a rocket fired from Lebanon that landed in an open area. Hebrew media reported that it landed in the sea.

Sirens did not sound in accordance with the policy that warnings are only issued if the rocket is deemed to pose a threat, the military said.

Later on Monday evening, IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed that Israel carried out an airstrike in Syria earlier in the day, targeting the head of Hezbollah’s financial arm responsible for funneling cash from Iran to its proxy, in one of a series of IDF strikes carried out in recent days against the terror group’s financial network.

The IDF spokesperson did not name the Hezbollah official but said he had only been in the position a few weeks since his predecessor was killed.

Times Of Israel

Day 381 — Monday, October 21

Israeli airstrikes targeted Hezbollah financial sites across Lebanon overnight Sunday, including in Beirut.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, dozens of facilities and sites used by the Iranian proxy to fund its terrorist activities against the Jewish state were attacked.

“These funds, which Hezbollah used for terror activities, were stored by the Al-Qard al-Hassan Association, which directly funds Hezbollah’s terror activities, including the purchase of weapons and payments to operatives in Hezbollah’s military wing,” the IDF said.

“The Hezbollah terrorist organization stores billions of dollars in the association’s branches, including money that was directly held under the name of the terrorist organization,” the statement continued.

“We will strike a large number of targets in the coming hours, and additional targets later tonight,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Sunday, emphasizing that in the coming days the IDF would reveal how Iran funds Hezbollah’s terror activities via civilian institutions, associations and organizations.

The military emphasized that many measures were taken before the strikes to minimize harm to the civilian population, including issuing advanced warnings via various platforms.

Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, posted a video message in Arabic to X urging residents of Lebanon to move away from infrastructure associated with the Al-Qard al-Hassan Association shortly before the wave of attacks began.

“A large portion of Hezbollah’s terrorist activities is funded by the Iranian state budget. Hezbollah uses these funds to finance its terrorist activities, including acquiring weapons, purchasing facilities for storing combat equipment, establishing launch sites and paying its members, as well as carrying out various terrorist activities,” Adraee explained.

He issued evacuation notices for at least 25 buildings in the Beirut area, in the Bekaa Valley and in South Lebanon.

“The Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association is involved in financing Hezbollah’s terrorist activities against Israel. Therefore, the IDF has decided to target this terrorist infrastructure,” Adraee said.

“The IDF continues to work forcefully to destroy Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure. Therefore, we urge people inside buildings used by Hezbollah to move at least 500 meters away in the coming hours.”

Many explosions were reported in the Dahiya neighborhood south of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. Israeli attacks were also carried out near the Beirut airport. Buildings were seen collapsing and others were on fire.

JNS

Day 381 — Monday, October 21

The commander of the Israel Defense Force’s 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Ehsan Daqsa, was killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, the military announced.

Daqsa, 41, from the Druze town of Daliyat al-Karmel, was one of the most senior officers to have been killed in the fighting in Gaza. In all, six IDF colonels have been killed in the fighting, four of them during the October 7 onslaught.

An IDF probe into the death of Daqsa found that he was outside his tank with other officers when they were hit by an explosive device in Jabaliya, as part of an ongoing offensive there against Hamas.

According to the probe, Daqsa, the commander of the brigade’s 52nd Battalion, and two other officers got out of their tanks in Jabaliya and walked several meters to an observation point.

The site had been booby-trapped with explosives, which killed Daqsa on the spot, seriously wounded the 52nd Battalion commander, and injured the other two officers, who were listed in light and moderate condition.
Daqsa had taken command of the 401st Brigade in June. On October 7, though not on duty, he headed to southern Israel to fight off Hamas’s onslaught, including leading a counteroffensive into the Erez Crossing area that had been taken over by terrorists.

Daqsa had been decorated with a citation from the head of the Northern Command for rescuing wounded paratroopers while under fire during the Battle of Ayta ash-Shab in 2006 during the Second Lebanon War.

Following the deadly incident on Sunday, the IDF  appointed Col. Meir Biderman, the deputy head of the 162nd Division, to be the acting commander of the 401st Brigade. Col. Benny Aharon, a former commander of the 401st Brigade, was set to take Biderman’s place.

Lt. Col. Daniel Ella, the former commander of the 52nd Battalion who was moderately wounded during fighting in Gaza in July, was to return as the battalion’s acting commander.

The mayor of Daqsa’s hometown Daliyat al-Karmel, Rafik Halabi, said the town was “wearing black” after the death of the commander.

“With sorrow, pain, and much grief, Daliyat al-Karmel, the IDF, the Druze community and the State of Israel say goodbye to one of its heroes,” Halabi wrote in a post on X.

“A hero, a brave, humble fighter who became a legend, who fought since the beginning of the war.”

Times Of Israel

Day 380 — Sunday, October 20

A drone launched by the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal town of Caesarea on Saturday morning, his spokesperson confirmed.

The Axios news outlet reported that Netanyahu’s private home was struck, without providing further details.

“The prime minister and his wife were not at their residence at the time of the attack and there were no casualties,” Netanyahu’s spokesman affirmed.

The IDF reported that three drones were launched in the attack, two of which were shot down by helicopters.

“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake. This will not deter me or the State of Israel from continuing our just war against our enemies in order to secure our future,” Netanyahu said in a video statement on Saturday evening.

The strike was the first time that one of Israel’s enemies targeted a site associated with Netanyahu during this war.

During the day, Israeli’s Channel 12 News reported that Netanyahu spoke on the phone with former U.S. President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. House Speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson, who each expressed their shock following reports of the attack.

Sources close to Netanyahu told Kan that Israel will deliver a strong response to Hezbollah and Iran.

“I say to Iran and its proxies in its axis of evil: Anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price. We will continue to eliminate the terrorists and those who dispatch them. We will bring our hostages home from Gaza. And we will return our citizens who live on our northern border safely to their homes.”

“Israel is determined to achieve all our war objectives and change the security reality in our region for generations to come. Together, we will fight, and with God’s help – together, we will win,” the prime minister said.
During the drone attack, no sirens were activated in Caesarea. However, alarms were triggered near Glilot, the location of the IDF’s Mossad headquarters, as well as an IDF intelligence base.

The attack came after Hezbollah announced a “new phase” in its attacks against Israel in the wake of the elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday, amid withering rocket fire on northern Israel that left one man dead and several others injured.

Since Friday evening, Hezbollah has fired more than 100 rockets and drones at Israeli towns, killing one man and wounding at least 10 Israelis.
In his first video message released earlier on Saturday, shortly after the drone strike, Netanyahu was seen strolling in an undisclosed location, speaking about Sinwar’s death before declaring, “We’re going to win this war.”

After being asked whether anything would deter him, Netanyahu answered simply: “No.”

All Israel News

Day 380 — Sunday, October 20

Senior American officials voiced serious concern on Saturday following the leak of two US intelligence documents allegedly outlining Israel’s preparations for a potential strike on Iran. These documents were published by a Telegram account linked to Iran.

While both the US Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the leaked documents, they did not deny their authenticity.

The timing of the leak comes as Israel is completing preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran in response to the October 1 missile attack. An unnamed senior Israeli official remarked, “Israel’s defense establishment is aware of the leak and takes it very seriously.”

The leak occurred on Friday when the Middle East Spectator Telegram channel claimed it had received documents about Israel’s strike preparations from a source within the US intelligence community. This Telegram channel is known for publishing pro-Iranian propaganda, and its associated Twitter account states that its operators are based in Iran.

The documents included an alleged report from the US Department of Defense’s visual intelligence agency, which had been circulated within the US intelligence community three days earlier. The report detailed alleged recent actions at Israel Air Force (IAF) bases, including the movement of advanced munitions believed to be intended for a strike on Iran. The report also noted that intelligence obtained through wiretaps indicated that the IAF conducted an exercise this week involving fighter jets and drones as part of its strike preparations.

The leaked documents reportedly revealed close surveillance by US intelligence on Israel’s preparations for a strike on Iran, including the use of satellites to monitor activities at Israeli Air Force bases. The alleged leak also highlights a severe security breach within the US intelligence community, allowing highly classified information to reach entities affiliated with Iran.

American officials described the incident as “extremely serious” but noted that, in their view, the leak is unlikely to affect Israel’s operational plans.

[Former US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman commented on the leak, calling it an “unacceptable break of trust by the Biden-Harris Administration”]

Jerusalem Post 

Day 379 — Saturday, October 19

The Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and seen internationally as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, expressed its condolences Friday on the “martyrdom” of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, calling him a “great national leader” and urging Palestinian national unity.

Some of the PLO’s constituent factions also expressed condolences for the terror chief’s demise, including Abbas’s secularist Fatah party, which said Israel’s “killing and terrorism will not succeed in breaking the will of our people.”

Sinwar was the architect of the October 7, 2023 invasion and slaughter in southern Israel, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst through the Gaza border and massacred 1,200 people in their homes, communities and at a music festival, and abducted 251 to Gaza where 101 are still held hostage. He was killed by IDF troops in Gaza’s Rafah on Wednesday.

Among the condolences quoted by WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, were messages from the Palestinian National Initiative and the Palestinian Democratic Union, left-wing members of the PLO which, like Fatah, have expressed opposition to armed struggle against Israel.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held talks on Friday with representatives of Hamas and expressed condolences over the death of Sinwar, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

During the meeting, Fidan said that Turkey will “use all diplomatic means to mobilize the international community against the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” the ministry said.

Turkey’s relations with Israel have significantly deteriorated under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has repeatedly expressed support for Hamas and hosted its representatives in Turkey since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, while comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.

The condolences from the PLO and Turkey came hours after Hamas confirmed Sinwar’s death and vowed not to release the hostages unless Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza and ended the war.

Israel has long accused Abbas and the PA of backing terror by lionizing terrorists as “martyrs” and paying stipends to jailed terror operatives and families of slain terrorists.

It also accuses the PA of inciting to hatred of Israel in its education system. Fatah regularly lauds the actions of Palestinian terrorists and senior Fatah officials have at times expressed support for Hamas and its deadly attacks on Israelis.

Times Of Israel