News Digest — 11/11/24
Sirens Activated In Jerusalem Hills As IAF Intercepts, Missile From Yemen, Drones From Iraq
Sirens sounded across the Jerusalem Hills, Beit Shemesh, Kiryat Arba, and surrounding communities early Monday morning (11th).
The IDF confirmed that it had identified a single missile from Yemen, which was successfully intercepted with no casualties reported. However, explosions were heard in Beit Shemesh and nearby areas. Police and Magen David Adom (MDA) began searching the affected locations for potential damage and debris.
Firefighters from the Beit Shemesh station were deployed to inspect and secure the area. Following reports from residents, they discovered a fire that had impacted local vegetation and a vehicle. Crews arrived at the scene to contain and extinguish the fire.
Separately, the IAF confirmed that it had successfully intercepted four drones that had approached Israel from the east. Two of the UAVs were intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory.
Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq took responsibility for the drones, Israeli media reported, citing Arab media.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been holding security meetings in an underground safe-room N12 reported on Sunday (11th).
In October, a drone that infiltrated from Lebanon struck his home in Caesarea, though Netanyahu and family weren’t present at the time of the attack.
Since then, N12 reported that Netanyahu has been operating within a secure room in the basement of the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, with heightened protective measures.
Security advisors have also recommended that Netanyahu avoid staying in specific locations for an extended period of time due to the threat of additional attacks.
Earlier Sunday (11th), Yemen’s Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah television channel reported airstrikes in the Amran and Al Saada regions, both under rebel control, accusing the United States and the United Kingdom of carrying out the attacks.
Netanyahu: “We Won’t Let History Repeat Itself, We Will Fight Anti-Semitism”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday (10th) discussed the pogrom against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam and said that the incident revealed the threats against Israel by the country.
“A clear line connects the two anti-Semitic attacks against Israel that we have seen recently on Dutch soil: The reprehensible legal assault against the State of Israel at the International Court in The Hague, and the violent assault against Israeli citizens on the streets of Amsterdam. In both cases there was dangerous anti-Semitism, the goal of which was to render helpless the Jews and their state, to deny our state the right of self-defense, and to deny our citizens their very right to life,” Netanyahu opened.
He continued : “On Saturday (9th) we marked Kristallnacht which occurred 86 years ago in Europe. It was a brutal and violent assault against Jews just because they were Jews. Unfortunately , in recent days we saw pictures that recalled that night. On the streets of Amsterdam, anti-Semitic rioters attacked Jews, and Israeli citizens, just because they were Jews.”
“But there is one great difference between that night and our time: Today we have a state, government, and army of our own. We have the ability, the readiness and the determination to defend ourselves and to demand that others carry out their responsibilities. This is exactly what we have done.”
Netanyahu recounted: “Immediately following the reprehensible assault, I called the Dutch Prime Minister. He told me that he was ashamed, that is what he said, ‘ashamed,’ that such an ugly anti-Semitic attack had occurred in his country. I demanded that he deal with the rioters to the fullest extent of the law and also protect the Dutch Jewish community. Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who went to the Netherlands, did likewise.”
“On my directive, Transportation Minister Miri Regev dispatched planes that brought back all the Israelis who wished to return to Israel, over 2,000. I directed the security services to prepare special instructions for Israelis abroad in light of the new situation that has been created since the war.
The Prime Minister declared: “Attacks of this kind threaten not only Israel but endanger the entire world. We have learned something from history: Wild attacks that start against Jews, never end with the Jews, . In the end, they spread to all of society, and pass from country to country until they burn all of humanity. Therefore, I expect and demand that every responsible government take strong, vigorous, clear and urgent action.”
“In any event, we will do what is necessary to defend ourselves and our citizens. We will never allow the atrocities of history to recur. We will never capitulate to anti-Semitism or terrorism. We will continue to defend our state and our citizens in every arena, against any threat, especially the Iranian threat.”
On another note, Netanyahu stated: “In recent days, I have spoken three times with US President-elect Donald Trump. These were very good and important talks designed to further enhance the steadfast bond between Israel and the US. We see eye-to-eye on the Iranian threat in all its aspects, and on the dangers they reflect. We also see the great opportunities facing Israel, in the area of peace and its expansion, and in other areas.”
‘Dangerous’ – Israel Warns Fans To Avoid Israel-France Soccer Game
Israel’s security authority is urging fans to skip the upcoming soccer match between the Israeli and French national teams, warning that anti-Israel groups are planning to attack and physically hurt Israelis under the guise of legitimate protests.
“In the last few days, various calls have been identified among pro-Palestinians/supporters of terror groups to harm Israelis and Jews, under the cover of protests and demonstrations, and while taking advantage of mass attendance at sports and cultural events, to maximize harm and media exposure,” read a statement from Israel’s National Security Council.
The Council, which is responsible for urging Israelis to refrain from traveling to specific countries, added that Israelis in Europe should “completely avoid attending sports games/cultural events involving Israelis, with an emphasis on the upcoming match of the Israeli national team in Paris.”
The Council added that “groups that want to harm Israelis have been identified in a number of European cities,” including Brussels, major UK cities, Amsterdam and Paris.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told French news broadcaster BNF TV that the game would be held as planned, along with boosted security.
“The context of tensions make that match a high risk for us,” Nunez acknowledged, though he stressed that the police “won’t tolerate,” any violence.
He said the 2,500 police officers would be deployed to the area around the stadium, and an additional 1,500 would be stationed on public transportation and in other areas throughout the city.
“There will be an anti-terrorist security perimeter around the stadium,” Nunez added.
Last week, Arab and Muslim residents of Amsterdam launched violent attacks on Israeli soccer fans who had traveled to the city to watch Maccabi Tel Aviv compete against Dutch team Ajax.
At least two dozen were wounded as large groups of thugs, who had coordinated the attacks in advance, attacked Israelis who were alone or in pairs.
Five Israelis were hospitalized.
At Least 7 Dead In A Strike Attributed To Israel On Damascus
At least seven people were killed and some 15 wounded in a strike attributed to Israel, on a residential building in the Sayeda Zainab district south of the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday (10th), the Syrian state news agency said.
The target of the attack , according to Saudi Arabian media, was Ali Moussa Dakdouk, charged with Hezbollah’s operation on the Golan Heights, who acted as a military adviser to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iraq and Yemen and is wanted for his involvement in the murder of American troops in Iraq.
His son Hassan Ali Dakdouk, a former commander in the Radwan force was killed in an attack in a drone strike on the Syrian-Lebanon border area last September.
Sayeda Zainab, a stronghold of armed group Hezbollah, and the site of a major Shi’ite shrine, has been the target in previous strikes.
Israel has ramped up strikes in Syria since the Oct. 7 attack by militant group Hamas on Israel in 2023 and particularly since the escalation of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Syrian and Western intelligence sources say Israeli attacks in Syria have killed scores of Hezbollah and pro-Iranian militia fighters based around the eastern outskirts of Damascus and to the south of the city.
Israeli Strike Said To Kill Top Hezbollah Assassin Wanted For Killing Lebanese PM
A Hezbollah commander responsible for the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister was killed in a recent Israeli airstrike, Saudi Arabia reported on Sunday (10th).
The Al-Arabiya outlet said Salim Jamil Ayyash was killed, confirming reports on social media claiming he was struck near the Syrian city of al-Qisayr, a known Hezbollah stronghold.
Ayyash, who had a $10 million reward from Washington on his head, was a senior member of Hezbollah’s Unit 151 assassination squad, according to the US State Department.
In 2020, Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by a UN-backed tribunal over the assassination of former Lebanese prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in a suicide bombing in Beirut in 2005.
Then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in late September, refused to hand him over to the authorities, along with three other defendants who were eventually acquitted.
Ayyash faced a separate case at the tribunal over three other deadly attacks on Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005.
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel, which rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, is believed to have carried out hundreds of strikes, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including from Hezbollah.
Since Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 massacre last year, which saw some 1,200 people killed in Israel and 251 kidnapped, Israel has escalated its strikes on Iranian-backed terror targets in Syria and has also struck Syrian army air defenses and some Syrian forces.
Israel has killed many of Hezbollah’s senior commanders in over a year of conflict, which commenced when the terror group began attacking Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis on October 8, 2023.
The attacks on northern Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 40 civilians. In addition, 61 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September. Two soldiers were killed in a drone attack from Iraq and there have been several attacks from Syria as well, without injuries.
The Lebanese health ministry says the country’s death toll in the war has surpassed 3,000. The figure does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The IDF estimates that some 3,000 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups have also been reported killed in Lebanon.
Hamas Must Be Defeated, Not Legitimized – Khaled Abu Toameh
More than a year after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to view the Iran-backed Islamist movement as a legitimate partner. Last week representatives of the PA’s ruling Fatah faction (led by PA head Mahmoud Abbas) and Hamas held talks in Cairo to discuss establishing a joint administration to rule Gaza.
By negotiating with Hamas about the future of Gaza, Abbas is legitimizing the terror group and sending a message to the Palestinians and the rest of the world that he sees no problem with dealing with murderers and terrorists who committed the most horrific crimes against Jews since the Holocaust.
Abbas should, instead, be condemning Hamas and distancing himself from the terror group. He should be holding Hamas fully responsible for the destruction of Gaza as a result of the war it started. Moreover, Abbas should be urging Hamas to relinquish control over Gaza instead of begging it to agree to form a joint committee to manage its affairs.
Ever since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, thousands of Palestinians have been killed in wars they initiated with Israel. With the help of Europe, Qatar, and Iran, Hamas transformed Gaza into one of the largest bases for Islamist terrorism in the Middle East.
Hamas should not be permitted to play any role in Gaza after the war. This would allow the terror group to rearm and regroup and prepare for another Oct. 7-style attack on Israel.
The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs. (Gatestone Institute)
