Day 49 — Friday, November 24

The Hamas plan, shared by other radical Islamic groups, to drive the Jews out of Israel is having an unintended effect, as rising anti-Semitism around the globe after the Hamas massacre of Israelis on October 7 is reportedly catalyzing Jews to consider moving to Israel.

A former major general in the Israel Defense Forces reserves who now serves as the Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel posited that because of rising anti-Semitism, one million new immigrants will emigrate to Israel over the next few years.

In the month after the Hamas massacre of Israelis, the hashtag #HitlerWasRight was featured over 46,000 times on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, The New York Times noted.

Major General Doron Almog, who lost members of his family in the Hamas massacre, told N12, “Over the next few years, we anticipate a million new immigrants due to the increasing antisemitism in Jewish communities around the world. … The Jewish community, still reeling from the trauma, will forge ahead in building the State of Israel with unparalleled vigor and creativity. We aspire to become a beacon of hope and inspiration for the nations of the world.”

Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer said the number of Jews considering moving to Israel increased by 81% in North America and 149% in France as of late October, World Israel News reported.

Sofer referred to rising anti-Semitism around the globe, saying, “The reports I have been receiving are very concerning. Our goal now is to strengthen the ties between us and support the communities that stand with Israel.”

After the October 7 Hamas massacre, Israeli airlines had to add more flights to bring Israeli reservists home. “Tens of thousands of Israelis who had been living abroad returned to Israel to join reserve army units and assist the war effort. Among them are hundreds of lone soldiers, Jews from around the world who previously volunteered, trained and served with the Israeli army but have no family in the country,” Voice of America reported.

daily wire

Day 49 — Friday, November 24

49 days later: Hamas on Friday afternoon released the first batch of 13 hostages it had been holding since its attack on southern Israel on October 7, as agreed upon in a deal between Israel and Hamas which was approved by the Israeli government earlier this week.

The hostages who have been freed are: Margalit Moses, 77, and Adina Moshe, 72, from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Danielle Aloni, 44, and her daughter, Emilia, 5. Danielle was featured in a recent video published by Hamas as part of its campaign of psychological terrorism against Israel.

Ruth Munder, 78, her daughter Keren, 54, and Keren’s son, Ohad, who celebrated his ninth birthday in captivity last month.

Also freed was Hannah Katzir, 77, who recently appeared in a propaganda video released by the Islamic Jihad. The terrorist group just days ago falsely claimed that Katzir had died in captivity.

Yaffa Adar, 85, who was seen being driven in a golf cart from Kibbutz Nir Oz to Gaza.

Doron Katz Asher, 34, and, her daughters Raz, 4, and Aviv, 2. The family’s father, Yoni Asher, had become one of the faces of the campaign to release the hostages.

Hannah Perry, 79, from Kibbutz NIrim.

Freed hostages enter Israeli territory for the first time:

תיעוד מרגע כניסת השבים לשטח מדינת ישראל: pic.twitter.com/dF4G6GK7Bq

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 24, 2023

The IDF’s operation to receive the hostages, codenamed “Heaven’s Doors”, began at 4:00 p.m. (Israel time). Shortly before 7:00 p.m., the IDF confirmed that the hostages are in Israeli territory.

“IDF Special Forces and ISA Forces are currently with the released hostages. The released hostages underwent an initial medical assessment inside Israeli territory. They will continue to be accompanied by IDF soldiers as they make their way to Israeli hospitals, where they will be reunited with their families,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.

“The Israel Defense Forces salutes and embraces the released hostages upon their return home. The IDF, together with the entire Israeli security establishment, will continue operating until all the hostages are returned home,” it added.

arutz sheva

Day 49 — Friday, November 24

There has never been such an outcry for peace in the Middle East as we see today. We now have 24/7 television coverage, social media, and global outcry. There are major protests and demonstrations, with millions gathering in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the United States. We have global leaders all over the globe calling and pleading for a ceasefire. Today, unlike any time in history, the world is ripe for a comprehensive solution to this Middle East peace crisis.

As I went through these conflicts in Israel, I noticed that they are always mediated, negotiated, or brokered by outside forces—this most recent ceasefire by the US, Qatar, and Egypt. That will also be the case in the end times when the Antichrist will rise from a revived Roman Empire.

This temporary peace is just another peace agreement and a long line of truces and treaties paving the way for the peace that the Antichrist will bring when he comes onto the world scene.

After the Rapture, you can imagine the chaos. The act that will catapult the Antichrist onto the global scene is a peace agreement that he will broker with Israel. It will even include the Temple Mount area.

He is going to be hailed by the world. You can see today that anyone who could solve this mess in the Middle East would be hailed as a world savior. The world stage is set for his arrival, especially with this condition in Israel and the global outrage we’ve seen.

Day 49 — Friday, November 24

With the clock striking 7 a.m., the four-day truce brokered by Qatar between Israel and Hamas has entered into effect.

The hours leading up to the temporary ceasefire saw rocket sirens triggered in Israeli towns bordering Gaza and reports of intense IDF shelling throughout Gaza, as the army looked to advance its mission against Hamas as much as possible in the final hours before the pause.

At 4 p.m., 13 hostages held in Gaza will be freed, followed by an undefined number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, according to Qatari mediators.

Over the next four days, at least 50 women and children are slated to be released, leaving an estimated 190 in the hands of Palestinian terrorists.

Over the same period, 150 Palestinian prisoners — mostly women and minors, some convicted of attempted murder — are expected to be released.

The deal incentivizes additional hostage releases, with Israel agreeing to an additional day of a truce for every ten additional hostages released by Hamas.

The deal will also enable an influx of fuel and humanitarian supplies to Gaza during the pause, which would be the first cessation of fighting since Hamas sparked the war nearly seven weeks ago when its terrorists rampaged through southern Israel on October 7, massacring some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 240 hostages.

The IDF has dropped flyers over Gaza warning residents not to returning to their homes in the Strip’s north since they are still war zones despite a four-day ceasefire that has kicked in.

Palestinian officials have been calling on displaced Gazans to return to their homes once the truce begins.

The IDF spokesperson in Arabic, Avichay Adraee, has similarly issued a statement telling Gazans the war isn’t over.

Rocket sirens blared in the evacuated Gaza border area towns of Kissufim and Ein Hashlosha in southern Israel 15 minutes after a four-day ceasefire entered effect, meaning that if projectiles were indeed launched, this appears to be the first violation of the truce by Gazan terror groups.

Times Of Israel

Day 48 — Thursday, November 23

The Iran-backed Hezbollah group on Thursday intensified its attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon where Israeli bombardments killed seven of its fighters, including members of an elite unit.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, the border between Lebanon and Israel has witnessed escalating exchanges of fire, primarily involving Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, along with Palestinian groups.

The clashes have raised fears of a broader conflagration.

Hezbollah said it carried out more than 20 attacks on Israeli military positions and claimed to have caused casualties.

In one of the attacks, it said it fired 48 Katyusha rockets at a military base at Ein Zeitim, near the town of Safed in northern Israel, about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border.

That attack, using the heavy-duty Burkan missile, marked the largest rocket salvo to be fired by the Iran-backed group since violence broke out last month.

The Israeli army said that, in response to fire towards Israel, its helicopters and fighters jets had struck “terrorist infrastructure” belonging to Hezbollah, as well as rocket launch sites.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said the Israeli army had shelled several locations in southern Lebanon in response.

Hezbollah says it has been acting in support of Hamas since the Palestinian Islamist movement’s October 7 attacks on Israel, which Israeli officials say killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw about 240 people taken hostage.

Thursday’s exchange of fire came as Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

In a statement, Hezbollah said Amir-Abdollahian and Nasrallah “reviewed the latest developments in Palestine, Lebanon and the region, and… the efforts made to end the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip”.

Amir-Abdollahian, who warned on Wednesday that the war could spiral out of control, left Beirut for Doha after their meeting, Iran’s Nour news agency reported.

Iran, which backs Hamas and Hezbollah, celebrated the October 7 attacks but denied any direct involvement.

The violence between Israel and Hezbollah has claimed at least 109 lives in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but also at least 14 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP count.

Six Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed on the Israeli side, according to the authorities.

breitbart

Day 48 — Thursday, November 23

“We have clearly defined the goals of the war: Eliminate Hamas, free our hostages and ensure that on the day after Hamas, Gaza will no longer constitute a threat to Israel. We said that we would act to create the conditions for returning the hostages and we created them. What paved the way to the current outline is the combination of two main efforts. The first effort, is the massive, relentless military pressure that we are using against Hamas. I want to commend the IDF and the ISA for the immense work that they are doing to create this pressure. The second effort is the great diplomatic pressure that we are using for the release of our hostages. We conducted difficult negotiations; we fought to improve the outline. I have just spoken again with President Biden and thanked him for acting, as per my request, with the intermediaries to significantly improve the outline; such an improvement has been achieved.

This combination of the military and diplomatic efforts created the conditions for returning our hostages. I believe that this combination will also facilitate the release of additional hostages in the next stages. The outline that has been achieved does not include the release of murderers. It does include visits by Red Cross representatives to the hostages and the delivery of medicines to them. I heard that there is someone denying this. The Red Cross says that it has not heard; then here is the explicit clause: ‘The Red Cross will be allowed to visit the remaining hostages and provide them with needed medicine.’ I expect the Red Cross to do its work.

Citizens of Israel, as Prime Minister of Israel, I frequently face tough decisions, between a difficult choice and an even more difficult choice. It is especially so on the issue of the hostages. The effort to bring all of them home is ongoing and at this time we can achieve the release of infants and children, mothers and women, who have swords at their necks. This is the precept of redeeming captives which we have a moral obligation to carry out.”

Day 48 — Thursday, November 23

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy was left visibly stunned after a Sky News reporter questioned whether the hostage deal, which would trade 150 security prisoners in exchange for just 50 hostages held by Hamas, meant that Israel valued Palestinian lives less than Israeli ones.

The interviewer explained that she had spoken to a hostage negotiator in preparation for the interview and that he had said that the unfair exchange spoke of Israel’s diminished valuation of Palestinian lives.

Asked to comment on the above, Levy answered, with arched eyebrows in a look of shock, that the comment was “an astonishing accusation.”

“If we could release one prisoner for everyone hostage, we would obviously do that. We are operating in horrific circumstances.

“We’re not choosing to release these prisoners who have blood on their hands. We are talking about people who have been convicted of stabbing and shooting attacks.

“Notice the question of proportionality doesn’t interest Palestinian supporters when they’re able to  get more of their prisoners out. But really, it is outrageous to suggest that the fact that we are willing to release prisoners who are convicted of terrorism offenses, more of them than we are getting our own innocent children back, somehow suggests we don’t care about Palestinian lives. Really, that is a disgusting accusation.

Levy later posted on X that the question had left him “speechless.”

The first question that left me speechless (but only for a second): pic.twitter.com/P4Bh0SKtl9

— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) November 23, 2023

jpost

Day 48 — Thursday, November 23

Iran warned Israel that war will spread across the Middle East if Israel does not extend its cease-fire with the terrorist group Hamas.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the comments Wednesday to Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen just hours after the cease-fire was announced.

Negotiators are still hammering out the details of a cease-fire deal accompanied by a prisoner exchange that involves at least 150 Palestinians jailed by Israel and at least 50 Israelis held by Hamas.

The New York Times noted that, among the issues currently being deliberated, Hamas and Israel still disagree on how many captives are in the Gaza Strip and which Palestinians held in Israel will be released.

The two sides are also still discussing the best route for Israeli hostages to be returned to the Jewish State and how much humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza during the cease-fire agreement.

While some have praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the deal, seeking to bring home some of the hostages from Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, others have characterized it as appeasement.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli minister of national security in Netanyahu’s government, called the agreement a “dangerous precedent” that could play into the hands of the terrorists.

“Hamas wanted this timeout more than anything,” Ben-Gvir wrote on X. “It … wanted to receive, in return fuel, the release of terrorists, the halting of IDF operations, and even a ban on [reconnaissance] flights. All these it received.”

Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza captured around 240 hostages on Oct. 7.

Newsmax

Day 48 — Thursday, November 23

A Thai man who worked in Israel and survived the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack told The Daily Wire he can identify the man seen in recently-released footage of injured hostages at Al Shifa hospital as his longtime roommate.

Mitchai Sarabon, recovering from injuries suffered in the attack, says the man shown on a stretcher with a bloodied hand is his roommate and colleague Phonsawan Pinakalo.

“We did everything together, from cooking and eating,” Sarabon told The Daily Wire through a translator. “I can recognize him even if he only had one leg shown in the video.”

The Israeli Defense Forces released a surveillance video reportedly showing two hostages being moved through the hospital on October 7. It was released as evidence that Hamas is operating inside the hospital, which has been under siege by the Israeli military because of the terrorist activity.

Critics have cast doubt on the footage, saying there is no evidence that the men seen in the videos are hostages. The IDF did not disclose the identity of the injured, though it did say that one was a Thai citizen.

Though his face is blurred in the security camera footage the IDF released, Sarabon says he recognizes Pinakalo, his roommate of nearly four years, by his body shape and the spotted shorts the man in the video is wearing. He provided a photo of Pinakalo that was posted to Facebook the day before the attack showing him wearing the same unique shorts that are visible in the footage.

“That day we were all celebrating the day off and he wore the shorts late into the night before bed until the morning on October 7 before Hamas came,” he said.

The IDF says the footage is from between the hours of 10:42 a.m. and 11:01 a.m. on Oct. 7 and shows a Nepalese civilian and a Thai civilian who were abducted by Hamas.

“These findings prove that the Hamas terrorist organization used the Shifa Hospital complex on the day of the October 7 Massacre as terrorist infrastructure,” the IDF wrote.

Breaking: the @IDF released cctv footage from the Shifa Hospital with an October 7th time stamp, documenting Hamas terrorists forcibly transporting hostages (a Nepalese civilian and a Thai civilian) through the hospital.

These findings prove that the Hamas terrorist organization… pic.twitter.com/immopC5qyB

— Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) November 19, 2023

Daily Wire

Day 47 — Wednesday, November 22

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the hostages in Gaza have had a “knife to their throats” and that it is Israel’s responsibility to rescue them.

Netanyahu in a press conference notes that doing so is the fulfillment of the religious commandment to redeem hostages.

He says this has been done throughout Jewish history through military operations, but that sometimes those are not possible.

The premier describes returning the hostages as a “holy mission.”

Netanyahu stresses that the security establishment unanimously supported the deal to secure the release of 50 hostages, explaining that it will not harm the military objectives, rather it will even advance them.

The army will use the multi-day truce to prepare for the resumption of the war, Netanyahu says. “All of our forces will be protected during the pause and intelligence collection will continue,” he says.

“The war continues. We will continue until we complete all of our goals,” Netanyahu says, listing those goals again as removing Hamas, returning all of the hostages, and ensuring that whatever comes next in Gaza will not pose a threat to Israel.

He reiterates that he will not allow an authority that incites against Israel to return to Gaza, referring to the Palestinian Authority. This repeated assertion has infuriated the US, as Netanyahu has refused to offer any alternatives for who will govern Gaza and the rejection of the PA has turned off several Arab governments from contributing to day-after planning.

Netanyahu says the IDF “will restore security both in the south and in the north.”

He also recognizes that “the victory has a huge price,” referring to the 70 soldiers who have fallen fighting in Gaza over the past month.

Netanyahu says he has met with bereaved parents who told him that they want the IDF to “continue until the end, until victory” and vows that that is what the army will do.

times of israel

Day 47 — Wednesday, November 22

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., is asking the Associated Press and Reuters to answer questions about their journalists’ knowledge of the October 7th Hamas attack after Israel accused the outlets of having a forewarning of the terrorist strike that killed over 1,200 people.

Lawler, along with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, are penning letters to the news outlets demanding answers about any possible knowledge they may have had prior to the Hamas attack, which the outlets previously denied.

“That these journalists would knowingly not share this information, and in the process save thousands of Israeli and Gazan lives, is simply beyond the pale,” said Lawler.

After a report from Honest Reporting raised ethical questions about why some AP and Reuters journalists were at the site of attack shortly after the atrocities occurred, the Israeli government’s press office director, Nitzan Chen, accused the outlets of being “alongside Hamas terrorists, documenting the murder of Israeli civilians, lynching of soldier and kidnappings to Gaza,” according to a letter obtained by Politico.

However, the Associated Press and Reuters are denying any involvement.

fox news

Day 47 — Wednesday, November 22

Israeli officials voted on Wednesday morning local time to approve deal in which dozens of hostages kidnapped by Hamas will be let go in exchange for Israel releasing some Palestinian women and minors convicted of crimes from prisons inside Israel.

Hamas will release 12-13 hostages a day for four days in exchange for a ceasefire during that period of time, The Times of Israel reported. Israel will release about three times that number to return to their homes in Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem.

Israel also reportedly agreed to allow fuel to go into Gaza, as well as a “significant amount of humanitarian aid,” the report said. Israel’s military and security agencies all reportedly supported the deal. It’s not clear when the ceasefire will go into effect.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly demanded that some of the conditions include the possibility for further hostages to be released after the four day pause, a commitment by Hamas to locate and find hostages held by other terror groups inside Gaza, and a refusal to release Palestinians from Israeli prisons who have been convicted of murder, the report noted, adding that Israel believes Hamas can help locate 30 additional women and children who were taken hostage by other terrorist groups.

“We are at war – and will continue the war,” Netanyahu said. “We will continue the war until we achieve all of our war aims: To eliminate Hamas, return all of our hostages and our missing, and ensure that there is no element in Gaza that threatens Israel.”

The IDF, Shin Bet, and the Mossad “have made it completely clear in their professional assessment, that the security of our forces will be ensured during the pause and that the intelligence effort will be maintained in those days,” he continued. “They have made it clear that not only will the war effort not be harmed, it will enable the IDF to prepare for the continuation of the fighting.”

daily wire

Day 46 — Tuesday, November 21

Police in Germany conducted raids and arrested more than a dozen individuals who were found to have publicly shown support for Hamas and antisemitism on social media platforms.

The raids, which took place in the German state of Bavaria, primarily focused on the city of Munich. A total of 17 individuals, ranging in age between 18 and 62, were arrested. 

The arrests included a man who shared an image in a classroom chat on WhatsApp with the words “Gas the Jews” and others calling for a second holocaust on social media, according to Fox News.

“Germany, like the rest of the world, has seen a sharp rise in antisemitism following the Israel-Hamas war,” Bradford Betz, writing for Fox News, noted. “In Bavaria alone, there were nearly 150 incidents between Oct. 7 and Nov. 9 – an increase of 285% from the same time period a year earlier, according to the RIAS group, which tracks antisemitism in the country.”

“Germany, the country that gave rise to the Nazis and Adolf Hitler in the first half of the 20th century, has strict rules against hate speech,” Betz continued. “Raids in connection with the publication of banned symbols such as swastikas and other Nazi symbols are not uncommon. The denial of the Holocaust, in which the Nazis murdered 6 million European Jews, is also banned.”

Last month, German police raided an apartment and arrested a 29-year-old man after foreign intelligence services alerted German authorities of his plans to commit a terrorist attack. The Daily Wire reported that “the suspect was planning to ram a truck into a pro-Israel rally in North Rhine-Westphalia to kill as many people as possible.”

Dr. Mark Hitchcock, who is the Senior Pastor of Faith Bible Church in Oklahoma and an associate professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, recently underscored the demonic nature of this global rise of antisemitism.

“These are chilling echoes of the 1930s and the 1940s. What we should keep in mind, as we see all of this, is that there is much more to antisemitism than meets the eye,” he explained. “What we’re seeing is the unveiling of an ancient satanic conspiracy. Antisemitism has been rightly called ‘the oldest hatred.’ It goes all the way back to the time of God’s calling of Abraham.”

“It’s irrational, and it’s demonic. God chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants to be the forebears of the Messiah. Therefore, Satan wants to destroy them because he hates what God loves,” Hitchcock described. “The problem is our world today is blind to the demonic component of antisemitism. They look at this and think, why does the world hate the Jews so much? They don’t understand that Satan takes irrational things, such as the hatred of the Jewish people and the land of Israel, and makes them appear rational.”

“What we’re seeing happening right now is unlike anything that we’ve seen since the time of the Holocaust,” he warned.

HD STAFF

Day 46 — Tuesday, November 21

As the Israeli Cabinet met to negotiate the terms of a deal to free Israeli hostages in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that, even if a ceasefire is reached, Israel will continue its objectives to destroy the terrorist organization Hamas.

“We are at war, and we will continue the war until we achieve the goals: The elimination of Hamas, the return of all the abductees, and the promise that there will be no threat to Israel in Gaza,” the PM explained.

“I told the families yesterday that the return of the abductees is a sacred mission, and I am committed to it with my friends,” he continued. “As Maimonides said, there is no higher mitzvah than redeeming captives.”

“In war, there are prisoners, and also, in the release of hostages, there are stages,” Netanyahu underscored. “We won’t let up until we get them all back.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Netanyahu announced that he was convening the War Cabinet, the Political-Security Cabinet, and the Cabinet, with the final meeting beginning at 1:00 pm (EST). A decision was reached by the Cabinet Wednesday morning.

HD STAFF

Day 46 — Tuesday, November 21

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen is warning the United Nations Security Council that failure to adopt the 1701 resolution calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah could lead to an expanded regional war.

“For the good of regional stability and to avoid further escalation, the next session of the UN Security Council must adopt a totally different approach in order to end the dangerous violations by Hezbollah and other terrorist groups on the border,” Cohen wrote.

According to the Times of Israel, “UN Security Council resolution 1701 brought to an end the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and called for the disarmament of all non-state armed forces in Lebanon, as well as for the region between the Israel-Lebanon border and the Litani River to be freed of all armed forces other than the Lebanese army and the UN’s peacekeeping mission UNIFIL.”

“These clauses of the resolution were never implemented, and Hezbollah has become a heavily armed terror militia,” the Israeli news organization explained.

The Foreign Minister’s comments come after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday informed reporters that Hezbollah has fired over 1,000 munitions at Israel since the October 7th Hamas attack.

“Iran is the root of hostility and aggression against the State of Israel. The war is multifront, even though its intensity is focused on Gaza,” Gallant stressed. “Since the beginning of the war, Hezbollah has fired more than 1,000 munitions at Israeli targets but suffers far more significant harm. We’re thwarting [missile and rocket] squads and hitting military assets and targets, Hezbollah pays a heavy price every day.”

Erick Stakelbeck, host of The Watchman newscast, recently noted that Hezbollah’s firepower and fighting force pose a considerable threat if they decide to enter the war fully.

“Hezbollah has a much more powerful, advanced, and well-trained fighting force than Hamas,” he described. “Do the math. One hundred fifty thousand rockets and missiles pointed at every inch of the world’s one and only Jewish State, and at least 40-50,000 well-trained battle-hardened foot soldiers. Hezbollah is a different beast, and I do mean beast, than Hamas.”

“Hezbollah is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Iranian regime,” Stakelbeck highlighted, adding that, while Hassan Nasrallah hasn’t yet declared war, they may be pushed by Iran to jump in for the purpose of preventing Hamas’ destruction.

“Do Hezbollah and the Iranian regime step back and watch as their brother in arms, their terror ally, Hamas, is wiped off the face of the Earth by the IDF?” he asked. “Hamas has been a very valuable asset to Iran, to Hezbollah, and to the jihadist cause.”

“Pray for the IDF that God would give them wisdom, protection, and discernment,” he urged. “These are demonic Nazis and barbarians—I do not say that lightly.”

HD STAFF

Day 46 — Tuesday, November 21

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to convene the War Cabinet, the Political-Security Cabinet, and the Cabinet this evening (Tuesday) amidst reports that a deal to free dozens of hostages from Hamas captivity is imminent.

The War Cabinet will convene first at 6:00 p.m., followed by the Political-Security Cabinet at 7:00 p.m. and the Cabinet will convene at 8:00 p.m.

Earlier, Prime Minister Netanyahu met with IDF troops in the south, where he stated that “we are advancing” toward [freeing] the hostages. “I don’t think I should say too much, even now, but I hope we have good news soon.”

Netanyahu reiterated that “the elimination of Hamas” remains Israel’s goal in the war which began with the massacre of over 1,200 people on October 7.

About 240 people were taken hostage during the massacre and have been illegally held in Gaza for over a month and a half.

arutz sheva

Day 46 — Tuesday, November 21

The Castro dictatorship in Cuba held an anti-Israel concert “for peace in Palestine” in support of the genocidal Hamas terror group on Friday, less than two months after Hamas jihadists slaughtered 250 people at a peace music festival in Israel.

The Communist Party celebrated by lighting up Havana’s “Plaza of the Revolution” with the colors of the Palestinian flag.

“We will not be among the indifferent,” the figurehead of the Castro regime, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, declared on social media.

Díaz-Canel later marched alongside “Palestinian students” stationed in Cuba within the Plaza.

The Plaza of the Revolution also hosted a concert, allegedly for the anti-Israel cause, attended by Díaz-Canel, Prime Minister Manuel Marro Cruz, and Palestinian Ambassador to Cuba Akram Samhan.

Diaz-Canel met on Friday with 144 Palestinian students studying medicine in Cuba. The presidential office said 53 of the students were born in Gaza, “where Israel today commits an unprecedented genocide.”

The Cuban president said it was “an honor and a tremendous pride” to “embrace” the Palestinian students.

“Our country is, and always will be, alongside the cause of the brotherly people of Palestine,” he said.

Diaz-Canel’s regime has issued several statements in support of the Palestinians since the brutal Hamas attacks of October 7, which the Cuban government is careful not to mention, except in the course of blaming the Israelis for the violence perpetrated against them.

The Cuban government’s official statement on the day after the Hamas attack merely referred to an “escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine.” Cuba blamed that escalation on “75 years of permanent violation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and of Israel’s aggressive and expansionist policy.”

Cuba demanded an independent state for the Palestinians and called for United Nations action against the “occupying power” of Israel and the United States, which Cuba said were “complicit” in Israel’s offenses.

The Hill noted in late October that Cuban officials “have been meeting over the last year with high-ranking officials from Iran and Hamas.” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Havana to meet with Diaz-Canel in June.

breitbart

Day 45 — Monday, November 20

300 UN diplomats have joined the list of individuals given a screening of raw footage gathered by the IDF of the Hamas massacre of Israelis on October 7th.

The event screening, which took place on Monday, was organized by the Israeli Mission to the United Nations. The approximately 43 minutes of graphic footage was compiled mainly from body cam footage and social media live streams from Hamas terrorists carrying out the brutal attack. 

While invited by the Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, the UN Secretary-General, did not attend the screening due to apparent “scheduling constraints,” according to Israeli journalist Yuna Leibzon.

The Secretary-General, António Guterres, has been blasted by Erdan on multiple occasions since the beginning of the conflict for implying that Israel provoked the massacre by placing Palestinians under “suffocating occupation.”

Select members of the press have screened the IDF footage, as well as Israeli Knesset members, Hollywood executives, US Lawmakers, and others, with many leaving the screenings visibly shaken and in tears.

Prior to the United Nations screening in New York, Gilad Erdan released a statement stressing the need for anti-Israel UN members to bear witness to the October 7th events, which has been called “the most well-documented massacre in history.”

“The time has come for the distorted UN, which makes immoral equivalencies between Israel and Hamas, to see with its own eyes what kind of barbaric murders it is worried about and maybe understand how much it has betrayed its original mission,” he urged.

HD STAFF

Day 45 — Monday, November 20

The question that everybody’s asking is, “How come so many people all around the world are rising up to destroy this country and the people of Israel for no apparent reason ever since the dawn of history?”

I believe that the answer is not anywhere else but in the Bible itself. In the Book of Psalms, Psalm 83 is giving, in my opinion, the answer for all of these questions. The Bible says in Psalm 83:1-2, “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.” The enemies of God and those who hate God are up to do something, yet they cannot fight the living God, the God of Israel.

Pslam 83:3-4 KJV – “They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.”

And so we can see that the battle is between the enemies of God and those who are God’s. And in their attempt to fight God, they come up against His people, His sheltered ones, Israel. And their obvious goal is to cut the name of Israel off so it’ll be remembered no more.

The prayer of Asaph in Psalm 83 reminds us that there is “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastics 1:9). Satan is always opposing what God is doing for, and through, His people. Whether it’s Israel or the church, the enemy roams like a roaring lion seeking to devour the people of God.

Day 45 — Monday, November 20

Israeli forces say they arrested 300 terrorists in Gaza and have taken them into Israel for interrogation about Hamas tunnel locations and other key information.

Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari announced the action on Monday, saying members of all terror groups inside Gaza were among the 300 arrestees.

“We arrested over 300 terrorists from the terrorist organizations during the ground maneuver who were taken for further investigation in Israeli territory. The information that emerges from the interrogations of the captives is of great value, leads to the elimination of terrorists and the preservation of the security of our forces,” Hagari wrote in a statement.

“300 terrorists from all the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip were interrogated and they gave the locations of underground terrorist tunnels, warehouses and weapons, along with exposing the enemy’s methods of operation, and the enemy’s assimilation efforts within the civilian population,” the IDF wrote.

fox news

Day 45 — Monday, November 20

A journalist employed by NBC was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of inciting terrorism and identifying with a terrorist organization.

Marwat Al-Azza, a 45-year-old journalist, employed by the NBC television network and living in east Jerusalem, was arrested after four recent posts on her personal Facebook page regarding the October 7 terror attack by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, in which at least 1,200 people were murdered and 240 taken hostage.

In her investigation, she admitted to what was attributed to her.

“These are very serious offenses during a time of declared war when the respondent lives and makes a living in the same country that is under attack and yet chooses to incite and glorify the horrible acts committed against civilians,” a police representative concluded at yesterday’s hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.

jerusalem post 

Day 44 — Sunday, November 19

The Israel Police on Sunday issued a statement criticizing the sourcing of a claim made in the Hebrew language Haaretz newspaper that some Israelis may have died from friendly fire on October 7.

The Haaretz report cited a police official as saying that an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) helicopter arriving at the site of the Nova festival may have shot dead some Israeli civilians.

The claim was blown out of propotion and used to make patently false conspitatorial claims regarding Israel executing hundreds of its civilian deaths on October 7.

The police statement specified that its investigation focused solely on police activity rather than the IDF response; therefore it did not contain any reference to “the harm to civilians due to air activity there.”

The statement urged news outlets to “take a responsible approach and only base stories on official sources.”

i24 News

Day 44 — Sunday, November 19

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed Sunday that they had hijacked an Israeli cargo ship traveling through the Red Sea.

The Tehran-backed Houthis released a statement claiming responsibility, with Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree saying in a statement that the rebels “carried out a military operation in the Red Sea, the results of which were the seizure of an Israeli ship and taking it to the Yemeni coast.”

He said the Houthis were “dealing with the ship’s crew in accordance with the teachings and values ​​of our Islamic religion,” reiterating repeated threats to target any Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea due to Israel’s “brutal aggression” against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Two US defense officials confirmed that Houthi rebels seized the ship, a vehicle carrier named the Galaxy Leader, in the Red Sea. The rebels descended on the cargo ship by repelling down from a helicopter, the officials said, confirming details first reported by NBC News. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.

A statement from the Israel Defense Forces decried the hijacking of the Galaxy Leader as a “very serious incident on the global scale.”

The Bahaman-flagged vessel is registered under a British company, which is partially owned by Israeli tycoon Abraham Ungar, who goes by Rami. The vessel was leased out to a Japanese company at the time of the hijacking.

According to the military, the ship was sailing from Turkey to India with an international civilian crew, without any Israelis aboard.

“This is not an Israeli ship,” the IDF asserted, while directly blaming the Houthis for the hijacking.

The Prime Minister’s Office identified the vessel as a British ship being operated by a Japanese company that was “hijacked on an Iranian whim by the Houthi militia in Yemen.” It added there were 25 crew members on board from Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Philippines and Mexico, but no Israelis on the ship.

“This is another act of Iranian terrorism which expresses a leap forward in Iranian aggression against citizens of the free world, and creates international implications when it comes to the security of global shipping routes,” the statement said.

times of israel

Day 44 — Sunday, November 19

Politico reports that US President Joe Biden directed officials in his administration to prepare visa bans and sanctions for Israelis who attack Palestinian Arabs.

A memo to aides like Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday, orders their agencies “to develop policy options for expeditious action against those responsible for the conduct of violence in the West Bank.”

Parts of the memo became known after President Biden’s op-ed in The Washington Post revealing his intentions for such a move. “The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank,” he wrote in the op-ed.

The Biden administration has defended Israel’s operation in Gaza, but has also pushed for Israel to take a stronger stance against Israeli civilians attacking Palestinians. Recently, some of Biden’s party have called.for restrictions or conditions on US aid to Israel.

The targets for reprimands are broadly defined in the memo. They include people or entities that “have directly or indirectly engaged in actions or policies that threaten the security or stability of the West Bank,” take “actions that intimidate civilians in the West Bank with the purpose or effect of forcing displacement actions in the West Bank,” or make moves “that constitute human rights abuses or violations and actions that significantly obstruct, disrupt or prevent efforts to achieve a two-state solution.”

The memo notes that the administration views these attacks as a serious issue liable to destabilize the Middle East as a whole. It was issued after intense debate among President Biden’s cabinet.

President Biden commented on the attacks on Palestinians: “I continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank. They’re attacking Palestinians in places that they’re entitled to be, and it has to stop. They have to be held accountable.”

HD Editor’s Note:

A two-state solution advocates for the dividing of Jerusalem, with the east portion of the city being given to the Palestinians for their state capital.

God told the prophet Zechariah that a time would come when Israel is re-established, and the world would be fixated on the idea of dividing the Jewish State, specifically Jerusalem.

In Zechariah 12:3, God warned the nations: “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

Arutz Sheva

Day 43 — Saturday, November 18

Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant vowed Saturday night that all Hamas operatives would be killed — including those outside Gaza, sheltering in comfortable exile in Arab states like Qatar.

“There is no difference between a terrorist who walks around with a Kalashnikov … and a terrorist who wears a three-piece suit and walks around in another part of the world,” Gallant told a press conference, as the war entered its seventh week. “All of them are dead men walking.”

Gallant’s remarks hinted at the kinds of targeted killing that the Israeli security services carried out after previous terror attacks, such as the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. Israel spent several years hunting down and killing everyone responsible for that attack.

Currently, senior Hamas leaders live in luxury in Doha, Qatar. Many of them are billionaires, as they condemn Palestinians in Gaza to death by attacking Israel and starting wars. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh travels by private plane to various supportive destinations around the world, including Tehran and Moscow.

Israel’s explicit goal in the war, which began when Hamas launched a massive terror attack on October 7, is to destroy Hamas and to return the more than 200 hostages it took.

Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have often said that every Hamas member is marked for death.

breitbart

Day 43 — Saturday, November 18

During World War I, a U.S. Senator from California named Hiram Johnson was credited with uttering the phrase, “The first casualty of war is the truth.”

Ironically, Sen. Johnson died on August 6, 1945, the day America dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

While not “atomic,” the Israeli media monitoring site, Honest Reporting, dropped the equivalent of an ethical bomb last week.

Their stunning November 8 exposé –  “Broken Borders: AP & Reuters Photographs of Hamas Atrocities Raise Ethical Questions” – revealed appalling behavior by some of the biggest brand names in the global mainstream media.

“On October 7, Hamas terrorists were not the only ones who documented the war crimes they had committed during their deadly rampage across southern Israel,” the report began.

“Some of their atrocities were captured by Gaza-based photojournalists working for the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies whose early morning presence at the breached border area raises serious ethical questions.”

Among them:

• What were they (the freelance photographers) doing there so early on what would ordinarily have been a quiet Saturday morning?
• Was it coordinated with Hamas? 
• Did the respectable wire services, which published their photos, approve of their presence inside enemy territory, together with the terrorist infiltrators? 
• Did the photojournalists who freelance for other media, like CNN and the New York Times, notify these outlets? 

How could an AP reporter have actually been on site, taking pictures in real time, when no one knew the attack was coming, least of all the Israeli military or the residents of Kfar Aza?

“Judging from the pictures of lynching, kidnapping and storming of an Israeli kibbutz, it seems like the border has been breached not only physically, but also journalistically,” the Honest Reporting article concluded.

Day 43 — Saturday, November 18

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says this week he will bring for initial approval in the Knesset a bill mandating the death penalty for terrorists.

In a post on X, Ben Gvir writes that he will bring the bill, already prepared by his Otzma Yehudit party, to the Knesset National Security Committee on Monday.

“I expect all members of Knesset to support this important bill,” he writes.

The death penalty has only been imposed twice in the history of the Jewish state, the last time being the execution of Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

times of israel

Day 43 — Saturday, November 18

Commanding Officer of the Southern Command in the Shifa Hospital: “We see the presence of Hamas in all the hospitals, it is a definite, clear presence. They are cynically using these hospitals as we can see here in the heart of Shifa”

Today (Friday), the Commanding Officer of the Southern Command conducted a situational assessment in the Shifa hospital following the targeted operational activity of IDF troops.

IDF

Day 43 — Saturday, November 18

The Israel Defense Forces released video of its Arrow 3 air defense system launching to intercept a missile fired in the Red Sea region.

The IDF announced the first Arrow 3’s successful operational interception on Nov. 9, when it shot down a ground missile fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen. The historic launch of this exo-atmospheric missile is the first time wartime combat has taken place in space.

The Arrow-3 Interceptor missile was developed in a joint venture by the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). It is the most sophisticated of Israel’s air defenses, designed to target incoming ballistic missiles.

In August, Israel announced the sale of its Arrow 3 system to Germany for $3.5 billion in a U.S.-approved deal. Israel sought approval for the deal from the U.S. State Department because the system was jointly developed by the two countries. Israeli defense officials said the system would extend Germany’s defense capability while strengthening the defense relationship between Israel and the United States.

fox news

Day 49 — Friday, November 24

The Hamas plan, shared by other radical Islamic groups, to drive the Jews out of Israel is having an unintended effect, as rising anti-Semitism around the globe after the Hamas massacre of Israelis on October 7 is reportedly catalyzing Jews to consider moving to Israel.

A former major general in the Israel Defense Forces reserves who now serves as the Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel posited that because of rising anti-Semitism, one million new immigrants will emigrate to Israel over the next few years.

In the month after the Hamas massacre of Israelis, the hashtag #HitlerWasRight was featured over 46,000 times on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, The New York Times noted.

Major General Doron Almog, who lost members of his family in the Hamas massacre, told N12, “Over the next few years, we anticipate a million new immigrants due to the increasing antisemitism in Jewish communities around the world. … The Jewish community, still reeling from the trauma, will forge ahead in building the State of Israel with unparalleled vigor and creativity. We aspire to become a beacon of hope and inspiration for the nations of the world.”

Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer said the number of Jews considering moving to Israel increased by 81% in North America and 149% in France as of late October, World Israel News reported.

Sofer referred to rising anti-Semitism around the globe, saying, “The reports I have been receiving are very concerning. Our goal now is to strengthen the ties between us and support the communities that stand with Israel.”

After the October 7 Hamas massacre, Israeli airlines had to add more flights to bring Israeli reservists home. “Tens of thousands of Israelis who had been living abroad returned to Israel to join reserve army units and assist the war effort. Among them are hundreds of lone soldiers, Jews from around the world who previously volunteered, trained and served with the Israeli army but have no family in the country,” Voice of America reported.

daily wire

Day 49 — Friday, November 24

49 days later: Hamas on Friday afternoon released the first batch of 13 hostages it had been holding since its attack on southern Israel on October 7, as agreed upon in a deal between Israel and Hamas which was approved by the Israeli government earlier this week.

The hostages who have been freed are: Margalit Moses, 77, and Adina Moshe, 72, from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Danielle Aloni, 44, and her daughter, Emilia, 5. Danielle was featured in a recent video published by Hamas as part of its campaign of psychological terrorism against Israel.

Ruth Munder, 78, her daughter Keren, 54, and Keren’s son, Ohad, who celebrated his ninth birthday in captivity last month.

Also freed was Hannah Katzir, 77, who recently appeared in a propaganda video released by the Islamic Jihad. The terrorist group just days ago falsely claimed that Katzir had died in captivity.

Yaffa Adar, 85, who was seen being driven in a golf cart from Kibbutz Nir Oz to Gaza.

Doron Katz Asher, 34, and, her daughters Raz, 4, and Aviv, 2. The family’s father, Yoni Asher, had become one of the faces of the campaign to release the hostages.

Hannah Perry, 79, from Kibbutz NIrim.

Freed hostages enter Israeli territory for the first time:

תיעוד מרגע כניסת השבים לשטח מדינת ישראל: pic.twitter.com/dF4G6GK7Bq

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 24, 2023

The IDF’s operation to receive the hostages, codenamed “Heaven’s Doors”, began at 4:00 p.m. (Israel time).
Shortly before 7:00 p.m., the IDF confirmed that the hostages are in Israeli territory.

“IDF Special Forces and ISA Forces are currently with the released hostages. The released hostages underwent an initial medical assessment inside Israeli territory. They will continue to be accompanied by IDF soldiers as they make their way to Israeli hospitals, where they will be reunited with their families,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.

“The Israel Defense Forces salutes and embraces the released hostages upon their return home. The IDF, together with the entire Israeli security establishment, will continue operating until all the hostages are returned home,” it added.

arutz sheva

Day 49 — Friday, November 24

There has never been such an outcry for peace in the Middle East as we see today. We now have 24/7 television coverage, social media, and global outcry. There are major protests and demonstrations, with millions gathering in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the United States. We have global leaders all over the globe calling and pleading for a ceasefire. Today, unlike any time in history, the world is ripe for a comprehensive solution to this Middle East peace crisis.

As I went through these conflicts in Israel, I noticed that they are always mediated, negotiated, or brokered by outside forces—this most recent ceasefire by the US, Qatar, and Egypt. That will also be the case in the end times when the Antichrist will rise from a revived Roman Empire.

This temporary peace is just another peace agreement and a long line of truces and treaties paving the way for the peace that the Antichrist will bring when he comes onto the world scene.

After the Rapture, you can imagine the chaos. The act that will catapult the Antichrist onto the global scene is a peace agreement that he will broker with Israel. It will even include the Temple Mount area.

He is going to be hailed by the world. You can see today that anyone who could solve this mess in the Middle East would be hailed as a world savior. The world stage is set for his arrival, especially with this condition in Israel and the global outrage we’ve seen.

Day 49 — Friday, November 24

With the clock striking 7 a.m., the four-day truce brokered by Qatar between Israel and Hamas has entered into effect.

The hours leading up to the temporary ceasefire saw rocket sirens triggered in Israeli towns bordering Gaza and reports of intense IDF shelling throughout Gaza, as the army looked to advance its mission against Hamas as much as possible in the final hours before the pause.

At 4 p.m., 13 hostages held in Gaza will be freed, followed by an undefined number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, according to Qatari mediators.

Over the next four days, at least 50 women and children are slated to be released, leaving an estimated 190 in the hands of Palestinian terrorists.

Over the same period, 150 Palestinian prisoners — mostly women and minors, some convicted of attempted murder — are expected to be released.

The deal incentivizes additional hostage releases, with Israel agreeing to an additional day of a truce for every ten additional hostages released by Hamas.

The deal will also enable an influx of fuel and humanitarian supplies to Gaza during the pause, which would be the first cessation of fighting since Hamas sparked the war nearly seven weeks ago when its terrorists rampaged through southern Israel on October 7, massacring some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 240 hostages.

The IDF has dropped flyers over Gaza warning residents not to returning to their homes in the Strip’s north since they are still war zones despite a four-day ceasefire that has kicked in.

Palestinian officials have been calling on displaced Gazans to return to their homes once the truce begins.

The IDF spokesperson in Arabic, Avichay Adraee, has similarly issued a statement telling Gazans the war isn’t over.

Rocket sirens blared in the evacuated Gaza border area towns of Kissufim and Ein Hashlosha in southern Israel 15 minutes after a four-day ceasefire entered effect, meaning that if projectiles were indeed launched, this appears to be the first violation of the truce by Gazan terror groups.

Times Of Israel

Day 48 — Thursday, November 23

The Iran-backed Hezbollah group on Thursday intensified its attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon where Israeli bombardments killed seven of its fighters, including members of an elite unit.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, the border between Lebanon and Israel has witnessed escalating exchanges of fire, primarily involving Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, along with Palestinian groups.

The clashes have raised fears of a broader conflagration.

Hezbollah said it carried out more than 20 attacks on Israeli military positions and claimed to have caused casualties.

In one of the attacks, it said it fired 48 Katyusha rockets at a military base at Ein Zeitim, near the town of Safed in northern Israel, about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border.

That attack, using the heavy-duty Burkan missile, marked the largest rocket salvo to be fired by the Iran-backed group since violence broke out last month.

The Israeli army said that, in response to fire towards Israel, its helicopters and fighters jets had struck “terrorist infrastructure” belonging to Hezbollah, as well as rocket launch sites.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said the Israeli army had shelled several locations in southern Lebanon in response.

Hezbollah says it has been acting in support of Hamas since the Palestinian Islamist movement’s October 7 attacks on Israel, which Israeli officials say killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw about 240 people taken hostage.

Thursday’s exchange of fire came as Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

In a statement, Hezbollah said Amir-Abdollahian and Nasrallah “reviewed the latest developments in Palestine, Lebanon and the region, and… the efforts made to end the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip”.

Amir-Abdollahian, who warned on Wednesday that the war could spiral out of control, left Beirut for Doha after their meeting, Iran’s Nour news agency reported.

Iran, which backs Hamas and Hezbollah, celebrated the October 7 attacks but denied any direct involvement.

The violence between Israel and Hezbollah has claimed at least 109 lives in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but also at least 14 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP count.

Six Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed on the Israeli side, according to the authorities.

breitbart

Day 48 — Thursday, November 23

“We have clearly defined the goals of the war: Eliminate Hamas, free our hostages and ensure that on the day after Hamas, Gaza will no longer constitute a threat to Israel. We said that we would act to create the conditions for returning the hostages and we created them. What paved the way to the current outline is the combination of two main efforts. The first effort, is the massive, relentless military pressure that we are using against Hamas. I want to commend the IDF and the ISA for the immense work that they are doing to create this pressure. The second effort is the great diplomatic pressure that we are using for the release of our hostages. We conducted difficult negotiations; we fought to improve the outline. I have just spoken again with President Biden and thanked him for acting, as per my request, with the intermediaries to significantly improve the outline; such an improvement has been achieved.

This combination of the military and diplomatic efforts created the conditions for returning our hostages. I believe that this combination will also facilitate the release of additional hostages in the next stages. The outline that has been achieved does not include the release of murderers. It does include visits by Red Cross representatives to the hostages and the delivery of medicines to them. I heard that there is someone denying this. The Red Cross says that it has not heard; then here is the explicit clause: ‘The Red Cross will be allowed to visit the remaining hostages and provide them with needed medicine.’ I expect the Red Cross to do its work.

Citizens of Israel, as Prime Minister of Israel, I frequently face tough decisions, between a difficult choice and an even more difficult choice. It is especially so on the issue of the hostages. The effort to bring all of them home is ongoing and at this time we can achieve the release of infants and children, mothers and women, who have swords at their necks. This is the precept of redeeming captives which we have a moral obligation to carry out.”

Day 48 — Thursday, November 23

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy was left visibly stunned after a Sky News reporter questioned whether the hostage deal, which would trade 150 security prisoners in exchange for just 50 hostages held by Hamas, meant that Israel valued Palestinian lives less than Israeli ones.

The interviewer explained that she had spoken to a hostage negotiator in preparation for the interview and that he had said that the unfair exchange spoke of Israel’s diminished valuation of Palestinian lives.

Asked to comment on the above, Levy answered, with arched eyebrows in a look of shock, that the comment was “an astonishing accusation.”

“If we could release one prisoner for everyone hostage, we would obviously do that. We are operating in horrific circumstances.

“We’re not choosing to release these prisoners who have blood on their hands. We are talking about people who have been convicted of stabbing and shooting attacks.

“Notice the question of proportionality doesn’t interest Palestinian supporters when they’re able to  get more of their prisoners out. But really, it is outrageous to suggest that the fact that we are willing to release prisoners who are convicted of terrorism offenses, more of them than we are getting our own innocent children back, somehow suggests we don’t care about Palestinian lives. Really, that is a disgusting accusation.

Levy later posted on X that the question had left him “speechless.”

The first question that left me speechless (but only for a second): pic.twitter.com/P4Bh0SKtl9

— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) November 23, 2023

jpost

Day 48 — Thursday, November 23

Iran warned Israel that war will spread across the Middle East if Israel does not extend its cease-fire with the terrorist group Hamas.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the comments Wednesday to Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen just hours after the cease-fire was announced.

Negotiators are still hammering out the details of a cease-fire deal accompanied by a prisoner exchange that involves at least 150 Palestinians jailed by Israel and at least 50 Israelis held by Hamas.

The New York Times noted that, among the issues currently being deliberated, Hamas and Israel still disagree on how many captives are in the Gaza Strip and which Palestinians held in Israel will be released.

The two sides are also still discussing the best route for Israeli hostages to be returned to the Jewish State and how much humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza during the cease-fire agreement.

While some have praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the deal, seeking to bring home some of the hostages from Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, others have characterized it as appeasement.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli minister of national security in Netanyahu’s government, called the agreement a “dangerous precedent” that could play into the hands of the terrorists.

“Hamas wanted this timeout more than anything,” Ben-Gvir wrote on X. “It … wanted to receive, in return fuel, the release of terrorists, the halting of IDF operations, and even a ban on [reconnaissance] flights. All these it received.”

Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza captured around 240 hostages on Oct. 7.

Newsmax

Day 48 — Thursday, November 23

A Thai man who worked in Israel and survived the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack told The Daily Wire he can identify the man seen in recently-released footage of injured hostages at Al Shifa hospital as his longtime roommate.

Mitchai Sarabon, recovering from injuries suffered in the attack, says the man shown on a stretcher with a bloodied hand is his roommate and colleague Phonsawan Pinakalo.

“We did everything together, from cooking and eating,” Sarabon told The Daily Wire through a translator. “I can recognize him even if he only had one leg shown in the video.”

The Israeli Defense Forces released a surveillance video reportedly showing two hostages being moved through the hospital on October 7. It was released as evidence that Hamas is operating inside the hospital, which has been under siege by the Israeli military because of the terrorist activity.

Critics have cast doubt on the footage, saying there is no evidence that the men seen in the videos are hostages. The IDF did not disclose the identity of the injured, though it did say that one was a Thai citizen.

Though his face is blurred in the security camera footage the IDF released, Sarabon says he recognizes Pinakalo, his roommate of nearly four years, by his body shape and the spotted shorts the man in the video is wearing. He provided a photo of Pinakalo that was posted to Facebook the day before the attack showing him wearing the same unique shorts that are visible in the footage.

“That day we were all celebrating the day off and he wore the shorts late into the night before bed until the morning on October 7 before Hamas came,” he said.

The IDF says the footage is from between the hours of 10:42 a.m. and 11:01 a.m. on Oct. 7 and shows a Nepalese civilian and a Thai civilian who were abducted by Hamas.

“These findings prove that the Hamas terrorist organization used the Shifa Hospital complex on the day of the October 7 Massacre as terrorist infrastructure,” the IDF wrote.

Breaking: the @IDF released cctv footage from the Shifa Hospital with an October 7th time stamp, documenting Hamas terrorists forcibly transporting hostages (a Nepalese civilian and a Thai civilian) through the hospital.

These findings prove that the Hamas terrorist organization… pic.twitter.com/immopC5qyB

— Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) November 19, 2023

Daily Wire

Day 47 — Wednesday, November 22

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the hostages in Gaza have had a “knife to their throats” and that it is Israel’s responsibility to rescue them.

Netanyahu in a press conference notes that doing so is the fulfillment of the religious commandment to redeem hostages.

He says this has been done throughout Jewish history through military operations, but that sometimes those are not possible.

The premier describes returning the hostages as a “holy mission.”

Netanyahu stresses that the security establishment unanimously supported the deal to secure the release of 50 hostages, explaining that it will not harm the military objectives, rather it will even advance them.

The army will use the multi-day truce to prepare for the resumption of the war, Netanyahu says. “All of our forces will be protected during the pause and intelligence collection will continue,” he says.

“The war continues. We will continue until we complete all of our goals,” Netanyahu says, listing those goals again as removing Hamas, returning all of the hostages, and ensuring that whatever comes next in Gaza will not pose a threat to Israel.

He reiterates that he will not allow an authority that incites against Israel to return to Gaza, referring to the Palestinian Authority. This repeated assertion has infuriated the US, as Netanyahu has refused to offer any alternatives for who will govern Gaza and the rejection of the PA has turned off several Arab governments from contributing to day-after planning.

Netanyahu says the IDF “will restore security both in the south and in the north.”

He also recognizes that “the victory has a huge price,” referring to the 70 soldiers who have fallen fighting in Gaza over the past month.

Netanyahu says he has met with bereaved parents who told him that they want the IDF to “continue until the end, until victory” and vows that that is what the army will do.

times of israel

Day 47 — Wednesday, November 22

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., is asking the Associated Press and Reuters to answer questions about their journalists’ knowledge of the October 7th Hamas attack after Israel accused the outlets of having a forewarning of the terrorist strike that killed over 1,200 people.

Lawler, along with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, are penning letters to the news outlets demanding answers about any possible knowledge they may have had prior to the Hamas attack, which the outlets previously denied.

“That these journalists would knowingly not share this information, and in the process save thousands of Israeli and Gazan lives, is simply beyond the pale,” said Lawler.

After a report from Honest Reporting raised ethical questions about why some AP and Reuters journalists were at the site of attack shortly after the atrocities occurred, the Israeli government’s press office director, Nitzan Chen, accused the outlets of being “alongside Hamas terrorists, documenting the murder of Israeli civilians, lynching of soldier and kidnappings to Gaza,” according to a letter obtained by Politico.

However, the Associated Press and Reuters are denying any involvement.

fox news

Day 47 — Wednesday, November 22

Israeli officials voted on Wednesday morning local time to approve deal in which dozens of hostages kidnapped by Hamas will be let go in exchange for Israel releasing some Palestinian women and minors convicted of crimes from prisons inside Israel.

Hamas will release 12-13 hostages a day for four days in exchange for a ceasefire during that period of time, The Times of Israel reported. Israel will release about three times that number to return to their homes in Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem.

Israel also reportedly agreed to allow fuel to go into Gaza, as well as a “significant amount of humanitarian aid,” the report said. Israel’s military and security agencies all reportedly supported the deal. It’s not clear when the ceasefire will go into effect.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly demanded that some of the conditions include the possibility for further hostages to be released after the four day pause, a commitment by Hamas to locate and find hostages held by other terror groups inside Gaza, and a refusal to release Palestinians from Israeli prisons who have been convicted of murder, the report noted, adding that Israel believes Hamas can help locate 30 additional women and children who were taken hostage by other terrorist groups.

“We are at war – and will continue the war,” Netanyahu said. “We will continue the war until we achieve all of our war aims: To eliminate Hamas, return all of our hostages and our missing, and ensure that there is no element in Gaza that threatens Israel.”

The IDF, Shin Bet, and the Mossad “have made it completely clear in their professional assessment, that the security of our forces will be ensured during the pause and that the intelligence effort will be maintained in those days,” he continued. “They have made it clear that not only will the war effort not be harmed, it will enable the IDF to prepare for the continuation of the fighting.”

daily wire

Day 46 — Tuesday, November 21

Police in Germany conducted raids and arrested more than a dozen individuals who were found to have publicly shown support for Hamas and antisemitism on social media platforms.

The raids, which took place in the German state of Bavaria, primarily focused on the city of Munich. A total of 17 individuals, ranging in age between 18 and 62, were arrested. 

The arrests included a man who shared an image in a classroom chat on WhatsApp with the words “Gas the Jews” and others calling for a second holocaust on social media, according to Fox News.

“Germany, like the rest of the world, has seen a sharp rise in antisemitism following the Israel-Hamas war,” Bradford Betz, writing for Fox News, noted. “In Bavaria alone, there were nearly 150 incidents between Oct. 7 and Nov. 9 – an increase of 285% from the same time period a year earlier, according to the RIAS group, which tracks antisemitism in the country.”

“Germany, the country that gave rise to the Nazis and Adolf Hitler in the first half of the 20th century, has strict rules against hate speech,” Betz continued. “Raids in connection with the publication of banned symbols such as swastikas and other Nazi symbols are not uncommon. The denial of the Holocaust, in which the Nazis murdered 6 million European Jews, is also banned.”

Last month, German police raided an apartment and arrested a 29-year-old man after foreign intelligence services alerted German authorities of his plans to commit a terrorist attack. The Daily Wire reported that “the suspect was planning to ram a truck into a pro-Israel rally in North Rhine-Westphalia to kill as many people as possible.”

Dr. Mark Hitchcock, who is the Senior Pastor of Faith Bible Church in Oklahoma and an associate professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, recently underscored the demonic nature of this global rise of antisemitism.

“These are chilling echoes of the 1930s and the 1940s. What we should keep in mind, as we see all of this, is that there is much more to antisemitism than meets the eye,” he explained. “What we’re seeing is the unveiling of an ancient satanic conspiracy. Antisemitism has been rightly called ‘the oldest hatred.’ It goes all the way back to the time of God’s calling of Abraham.”

“It’s irrational, and it’s demonic. God chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants to be the forebears of the Messiah. Therefore, Satan wants to destroy them because he hates what God loves,” Hitchcock described. “The problem is our world today is blind to the demonic component of antisemitism. They look at this and think, why does the world hate the Jews so much? They don’t understand that Satan takes irrational things, such as the hatred of the Jewish people and the land of Israel, and makes them appear rational.”

“What we’re seeing happening right now is unlike anything that we’ve seen since the time of the Holocaust,” he warned.

HD STAFF

Day 46 — Tuesday, November 21

As the Israeli Cabinet met to negotiate the terms of a deal to free Israeli hostages in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that, even if a ceasefire is reached, Israel will continue its objectives to destroy the terrorist organization Hamas.

“We are at war, and we will continue the war until we achieve the goals: The elimination of Hamas, the return of all the abductees, and the promise that there will be no threat to Israel in Gaza,” the PM explained.

“I told the families yesterday that the return of the abductees is a sacred mission, and I am committed to it with my friends,” he continued. “As Maimonides said, there is no higher mitzvah than redeeming captives.”

“In war, there are prisoners, and also, in the release of hostages, there are stages,” Netanyahu underscored. “We won’t let up until we get them all back.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Netanyahu announced that he was convening the War Cabinet, the Political-Security Cabinet, and the Cabinet, with the final meeting beginning at 1:00 pm (EST). A decision was reached by the Cabinet Wednesday morning.

HD STAFF

Day 46 — Tuesday, November 21

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen is warning the United Nations Security Council that failure to adopt the 1701 resolution calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah could lead to an expanded regional war.

“For the good of regional stability and to avoid further escalation, the next session of the UN Security Council must adopt a totally different approach in order to end the dangerous violations by Hezbollah and other terrorist groups on the border,” Cohen wrote.

According to the Times of Israel, “UN Security Council resolution 1701 brought to an end the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and called for the disarmament of all non-state armed forces in Lebanon, as well as for the region between the Israel-Lebanon border and the Litani River to be freed of all armed forces other than the Lebanese army and the UN’s peacekeeping mission UNIFIL.”

“These clauses of the resolution were never implemented, and Hezbollah has become a heavily armed terror militia,” the Israeli news organization explained.

The Foreign Minister’s comments come after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday informed reporters that Hezbollah has fired over 1,000 munitions at Israel since the October 7th Hamas attack.

“Iran is the root of hostility and aggression against the State of Israel. The war is multifront, even though its intensity is focused on Gaza,” Gallant stressed. “Since the beginning of the war, Hezbollah has fired more than 1,000 munitions at Israeli targets but suffers far more significant harm. We’re thwarting [missile and rocket] squads and hitting military assets and targets, Hezbollah pays a heavy price every day.”

Erick Stakelbeck, host of The Watchman newscast, recently noted that Hezbollah’s firepower and fighting force pose a considerable threat if they decide to enter the war fully.

“Hezbollah has a much more powerful, advanced, and well-trained fighting force than Hamas,” he described. “Do the math. One hundred fifty thousand rockets and missiles pointed at every inch of the world’s one and only Jewish State, and at least 40-50,000 well-trained battle-hardened foot soldiers. Hezbollah is a different beast, and I do mean beast, than Hamas.”

“Hezbollah is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Iranian regime,” Stakelbeck highlighted, adding that, while Hassan Nasrallah hasn’t yet declared war, they may be pushed by Iran to jump in for the purpose of preventing Hamas’ destruction.

“Do Hezbollah and the Iranian regime step back and watch as their brother in arms, their terror ally, Hamas, is wiped off the face of the Earth by the IDF?” he asked. “Hamas has been a very valuable asset to Iran, to Hezbollah, and to the jihadist cause.”

“Pray for the IDF that God would give them wisdom, protection, and discernment,” he urged. “These are demonic Nazis and barbarians—I do not say that lightly.”

HD STAFF

Day 46 — Tuesday, November 21

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to convene the War Cabinet, the Political-Security Cabinet, and the Cabinet this evening (Tuesday) amidst reports that a deal to free dozens of hostages from Hamas captivity is imminent.

The War Cabinet will convene first at 6:00 p.m., followed by the Political-Security Cabinet at 7:00 p.m. and the Cabinet will convene at 8:00 p.m.

Earlier, Prime Minister Netanyahu met with IDF troops in the south, where he stated that “we are advancing” toward [freeing] the hostages. “I don’t think I should say too much, even now, but I hope we have good news soon.”

Netanyahu reiterated that “the elimination of Hamas” remains Israel’s goal in the war which began with the massacre of over 1,200 people on October 7.

About 240 people were taken hostage during the massacre and have been illegally held in Gaza for over a month and a half.

arutz sheva

Day 46 — Tuesday, November 21

The Castro dictatorship in Cuba held an anti-Israel concert “for peace in Palestine” in support of the genocidal Hamas terror group on Friday, less than two months after Hamas jihadists slaughtered 250 people at a peace music festival in Israel.

The Communist Party celebrated by lighting up Havana’s “Plaza of the Revolution” with the colors of the Palestinian flag.

“We will not be among the indifferent,” the figurehead of the Castro regime, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, declared on social media.

Díaz-Canel later marched alongside “Palestinian students” stationed in Cuba within the Plaza.

The Plaza of the Revolution also hosted a concert, allegedly for the anti-Israel cause, attended by Díaz-Canel, Prime Minister Manuel Marro Cruz, and Palestinian Ambassador to Cuba Akram Samhan.

Diaz-Canel met on Friday with 144 Palestinian students studying medicine in Cuba. The presidential office said 53 of the students were born in Gaza, “where Israel today commits an unprecedented genocide.”

The Cuban president said it was “an honor and a tremendous pride” to “embrace” the Palestinian students.

“Our country is, and always will be, alongside the cause of the brotherly people of Palestine,” he said.

Diaz-Canel’s regime has issued several statements in support of the Palestinians since the brutal Hamas attacks of October 7, which the Cuban government is careful not to mention, except in the course of blaming the Israelis for the violence perpetrated against them.

The Cuban government’s official statement on the day after the Hamas attack merely referred to an “escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine.” Cuba blamed that escalation on “75 years of permanent violation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and of Israel’s aggressive and expansionist policy.”

Cuba demanded an independent state for the Palestinians and called for United Nations action against the “occupying power” of Israel and the United States, which Cuba said were “complicit” in Israel’s offenses.

The Hill noted in late October that Cuban officials “have been meeting over the last year with high-ranking officials from Iran and Hamas.” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Havana to meet with Diaz-Canel in June.

breitbart

Day 45 — Monday, November 20

300 UN diplomats have joined the list of individuals given a screening of raw footage gathered by the IDF of the Hamas massacre of Israelis on October 7th.

The event screening, which took place on Monday, was organized by the Israeli Mission to the United Nations. The approximately 43 minutes of graphic footage was compiled mainly from body cam footage and social media live streams from Hamas terrorists carrying out the brutal attack. 

While invited by the Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, the UN Secretary-General, did not attend the screening due to apparent “scheduling constraints,” according to Israeli journalist Yuna Leibzon.

The Secretary-General, António Guterres, has been blasted by Erdan on multiple occasions since the beginning of the conflict for implying that Israel provoked the massacre by placing Palestinians under “suffocating occupation.”

Select members of the press have screened the IDF footage, as well as Israeli Knesset members, Hollywood executives, US Lawmakers, and others, with many leaving the screenings visibly shaken and in tears.

Prior to the United Nations screening in New York, Gilad Erdan released a statement stressing the need for anti-Israel UN members to bear witness to the October 7th events, which has been called “the most well-documented massacre in history.”

“The time has come for the distorted UN, which makes immoral equivalencies between Israel and Hamas, to see with its own eyes what kind of barbaric murders it is worried about and maybe understand how much it has betrayed its original mission,” he urged.

HD STAFF

Day 45 — Monday, November 20

The question that everybody’s asking is, “How come so many people all around the world are rising up to destroy this country and the people of Israel for no apparent reason ever since the dawn of history?”

I believe that the answer is not anywhere else but in the Bible itself. In the Book of Psalms, Psalm 83 is giving, in my opinion, the answer for all of these questions. The Bible says in Psalm 83:1-2, “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.” The enemies of God and those who hate God are up to do something, yet they cannot fight the living God, the God of Israel.

Pslam 83:3-4 KJV – “They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.”

And so we can see that the battle is between the enemies of God and those who are God’s. And in their attempt to fight God, they come up against His people, His sheltered ones, Israel. And their obvious goal is to cut the name of Israel off so it’ll be remembered no more.

The prayer of Asaph in Psalm 83 reminds us that there is “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastics 1:9). Satan is always opposing what God is doing for, and through, His people. Whether it’s Israel or the church, the enemy roams like a roaring lion seeking to devour the people of God.

Day 45 — Monday, November 20

Israeli forces say they arrested 300 terrorists in Gaza and have taken them into Israel for interrogation about Hamas tunnel locations and other key information.

Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari announced the action on Monday, saying members of all terror groups inside Gaza were among the 300 arrestees.

“We arrested over 300 terrorists from the terrorist organizations during the ground maneuver who were taken for further investigation in Israeli territory. The information that emerges from the interrogations of the captives is of great value, leads to the elimination of terrorists and the preservation of the security of our forces,” Hagari wrote in a statement.

“300 terrorists from all the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip were interrogated and they gave the locations of underground terrorist tunnels, warehouses and weapons, along with exposing the enemy’s methods of operation, and the enemy’s assimilation efforts within the civilian population,” the IDF wrote.

fox news

Day 45 — Monday, November 20

A journalist employed by NBC was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of inciting terrorism and identifying with a terrorist organization.

Marwat Al-Azza, a 45-year-old journalist, employed by the NBC television network and living in east Jerusalem, was arrested after four recent posts on her personal Facebook page regarding the October 7 terror attack by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, in which at least 1,200 people were murdered and 240 taken hostage.

In her investigation, she admitted to what was attributed to her.

“These are very serious offenses during a time of declared war when the respondent lives and makes a living in the same country that is under attack and yet chooses to incite and glorify the horrible acts committed against civilians,” a police representative concluded at yesterday’s hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.

jerusalem post 

Day 44 — Sunday, November 19

The Israel Police on Sunday issued a statement criticizing the sourcing of a claim made in the Hebrew language Haaretz newspaper that some Israelis may have died from friendly fire on October 7.

The Haaretz report cited a police official as saying that an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) helicopter arriving at the site of the Nova festival may have shot dead some Israeli civilians.

The claim was blown out of propotion and used to make patently false conspitatorial claims regarding Israel executing hundreds of its civilian deaths on October 7.

The police statement specified that its investigation focused solely on police activity rather than the IDF response; therefore it did not contain any reference to “the harm to civilians due to air activity there.”

The statement urged news outlets to “take a responsible approach and only base stories on official sources.”

i24 News

Day 44 — Sunday, November 19

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed Sunday that they had hijacked an Israeli cargo ship traveling through the Red Sea.

The Tehran-backed Houthis released a statement claiming responsibility, with Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree saying in a statement that the rebels “carried out a military operation in the Red Sea, the results of which were the seizure of an Israeli ship and taking it to the Yemeni coast.”

He said the Houthis were “dealing with the ship’s crew in accordance with the teachings and values ​​of our Islamic religion,” reiterating repeated threats to target any Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea due to Israel’s “brutal aggression” against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Two US defense officials confirmed that Houthi rebels seized the ship, a vehicle carrier named the Galaxy Leader, in the Red Sea. The rebels descended on the cargo ship by repelling down from a helicopter, the officials said, confirming details first reported by NBC News. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.

A statement from the Israel Defense Forces decried the hijacking of the Galaxy Leader as a “very serious incident on the global scale.”

The Bahaman-flagged vessel is registered under a British company, which is partially owned by Israeli tycoon Abraham Ungar, who goes by Rami. The vessel was leased out to a Japanese company at the time of the hijacking.

According to the military, the ship was sailing from Turkey to India with an international civilian crew, without any Israelis aboard.

“This is not an Israeli ship,” the IDF asserted, while directly blaming the Houthis for the hijacking.

The Prime Minister’s Office identified the vessel as a British ship being operated by a Japanese company that was “hijacked on an Iranian whim by the Houthi militia in Yemen.” It added there were 25 crew members on board from Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Philippines and Mexico, but no Israelis on the ship.

“This is another act of Iranian terrorism which expresses a leap forward in Iranian aggression against citizens of the free world, and creates international implications when it comes to the security of global shipping routes,” the statement said.

times of israel

Day 44 — Sunday, November 19

Politico reports that US President Joe Biden directed officials in his administration to prepare visa bans and sanctions for Israelis who attack Palestinian Arabs.

A memo to aides like Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday, orders their agencies “to develop policy options for expeditious action against those responsible for the conduct of violence in the West Bank.”

Parts of the memo became known after President Biden’s op-ed in The Washington Post revealing his intentions for such a move. “The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank,” he wrote in the op-ed.

The Biden administration has defended Israel’s operation in Gaza, but has also pushed for Israel to take a stronger stance against Israeli civilians attacking Palestinians. Recently, some of Biden’s party have called.for restrictions or conditions on US aid to Israel.

The targets for reprimands are broadly defined in the memo. They include people or entities that “have directly or indirectly engaged in actions or policies that threaten the security or stability of the West Bank,” take “actions that intimidate civilians in the West Bank with the purpose or effect of forcing displacement actions in the West Bank,” or make moves “that constitute human rights abuses or violations and actions that significantly obstruct, disrupt or prevent efforts to achieve a two-state solution.”

The memo notes that the administration views these attacks as a serious issue liable to destabilize the Middle East as a whole. It was issued after intense debate among President Biden’s cabinet.

President Biden commented on the attacks on Palestinians: “I continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank. They’re attacking Palestinians in places that they’re entitled to be, and it has to stop. They have to be held accountable.”

HD Editor’s Note:

A two-state solution advocates for the dividing of Jerusalem, with the east portion of the city being given to the Palestinians for their state capital.

God told the prophet Zechariah that a time would come when Israel is re-established, and the world would be fixated on the idea of dividing the Jewish State, specifically Jerusalem.

In Zechariah 12:3, God warned the nations: “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

Arutz Sheva

Day 43 — Saturday, November 18

Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant vowed Saturday night that all Hamas operatives would be killed — including those outside Gaza, sheltering in comfortable exile in Arab states like Qatar.

“There is no difference between a terrorist who walks around with a Kalashnikov … and a terrorist who wears a three-piece suit and walks around in another part of the world,” Gallant told a press conference, as the war entered its seventh week. “All of them are dead men walking.”

Gallant’s remarks hinted at the kinds of targeted killing that the Israeli security services carried out after previous terror attacks, such as the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. Israel spent several years hunting down and killing everyone responsible for that attack.

Currently, senior Hamas leaders live in luxury in Doha, Qatar. Many of them are billionaires, as they condemn Palestinians in Gaza to death by attacking Israel and starting wars. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh travels by private plane to various supportive destinations around the world, including Tehran and Moscow.

Israel’s explicit goal in the war, which began when Hamas launched a massive terror attack on October 7, is to destroy Hamas and to return the more than 200 hostages it took.

Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have often said that every Hamas member is marked for death.

breitbart

Day 43 — Saturday, November 18

During World War I, a U.S. Senator from California named Hiram Johnson was credited with uttering the phrase, “The first casualty of war is the truth.”

Ironically, Sen. Johnson died on August 6, 1945, the day America dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

While not “atomic,” the Israeli media monitoring site, Honest Reporting, dropped the equivalent of an ethical bomb last week.

Their stunning November 8 exposé –  “Broken Borders: AP & Reuters Photographs of Hamas Atrocities Raise Ethical Questions” – revealed appalling behavior by some of the biggest brand names in the global mainstream media.

“On October 7, Hamas terrorists were not the only ones who documented the war crimes they had committed during their deadly rampage across southern Israel,” the report began.

“Some of their atrocities were captured by Gaza-based photojournalists working for the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies whose early morning presence at the breached border area raises serious ethical questions.”

Among them:

• What were they (the freelance photographers) doing there so early on what would ordinarily have been a quiet Saturday morning?
• Was it coordinated with Hamas? 
• Did the respectable wire services, which published their photos, approve of their presence inside enemy territory, together with the terrorist infiltrators? 
• Did the photojournalists who freelance for other media, like CNN and the New York Times, notify these outlets? 

How could an AP reporter have actually been on site, taking pictures in real time, when no one knew the attack was coming, least of all the Israeli military or the residents of Kfar Aza?

“Judging from the pictures of lynching, kidnapping and storming of an Israeli kibbutz, it seems like the border has been breached not only physically, but also journalistically,” the Honest Reporting article concluded.

Day 43 — Saturday, November 18

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says this week he will bring for initial approval in the Knesset a bill mandating the death penalty for terrorists.

In a post on X, Ben Gvir writes that he will bring the bill, already prepared by his Otzma Yehudit party, to the Knesset National Security Committee on Monday.

“I expect all members of Knesset to support this important bill,” he writes.

The death penalty has only been imposed twice in the history of the Jewish state, the last time being the execution of Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

times of israel

Day 43 — Saturday, November 18

Commanding Officer of the Southern Command in the Shifa Hospital: “We see the presence of Hamas in all the hospitals, it is a definite, clear presence. They are cynically using these hospitals as we can see here in the heart of Shifa”

Today (Friday), the Commanding Officer of the Southern Command conducted a situational assessment in the Shifa hospital following the targeted operational activity of IDF troops.

IDF

Day 43 — Saturday, November 18

The Israel Defense Forces released video of its Arrow 3 air defense system launching to intercept a missile fired in the Red Sea region.

The IDF announced the first Arrow 3’s successful operational interception on Nov. 9, when it shot down a ground missile fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen. The historic launch of this exo-atmospheric missile is the first time wartime combat has taken place in space.

The Arrow-3 Interceptor missile was developed in a joint venture by the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). It is the most sophisticated of Israel’s air defenses, designed to target incoming ballistic missiles.

In August, Israel announced the sale of its Arrow 3 system to Germany for $3.5 billion in a U.S.-approved deal. Israel sought approval for the deal from the U.S. State Department because the system was jointly developed by the two countries. Israeli defense officials said the system would extend Germany’s defense capability while strengthening the defense relationship between Israel and the United States.

fox news