News Digest — 11/18/24
IAF Intercepts UAV In The Eilat Area Before It Crossed Into Israeli Territory
Sirens were sounded early Monday morning (18th), shortly after midnight, in the city of Eilat following a suspected infiltration of a hostile aircraft.
Several minutes later, the Home Front Command stated that the incident had concluded.
Later, the IDF issued a further update, stating that during the interception of the UAV in Eilat, several interceptors were launched toward the target.
One of the intercepters fell in the area. As of now no reports of injuries have been received.
The pro-Iranian militias in Iraq claimed responsibility for launching the drone.
This past Wednesday (13th), sirens warning of a hostile aircraft infiltration were sounded in Eilat.
A short time later, the IDF confirmed that a UAV that was launched from the East was intercepted by an Israeli navy missile boat.
The Iranian-backed militias in Iraq claimed responsibility for launching the intercepted UAV, claiming they had fired towards a “vital target” in Eilat.
‘A Moral Blow:’ IAF Strike Kills Hezbollah Media Chief Mohammad Afif In Beirut – Sources
An Israel Air Force strike on a building in central Beirut on Sunday (17th) killed Hezbollah’s media relations chief Mohammad Afif, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters on Sunday (17th).
Hezbollah later confirmed Afif’s death.
Army Radio reported that the strike targeted Hassan Nasrallah’s home in Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood.
A failed assassination attempt was carried out on this house in 2006. Since then the house has been rebuilt and has been used for Hezbollah terror infrastructure, according to Army Radio.
Before the strike, IDF Arab Media Spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on X/Twitter a map of targets in southern Beirut that Israel was preparing to target.
The spokesperson’s post explicitly pertained to the Haret Hreik and Burj al-Barajneh areas and warned local residents to immediately evacuate at least 500 meters from the buildings in question.
According to Reuters, the Israeli strike hit the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood of Beirut. Security sources said a building housing offices of the Ba’ath Party had been hit, and the head of the party in Lebanon, Ali Hijazi, told the Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed that Afif had been in the building.
The Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party, another political party with ties to Hezbollah, said in a statement that Afif had been killed but gave no details on how or where. The Lebanese health ministry said the strike had killed one and injured three.
Afif was a long-time media adviser to Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 27.
Afif managed Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station for several years before taking over the group’s media office.
Afif hosted several press conferences for journalists amid the rubble in Beirut’s southern suburbs. In his most recent comments to reporters on Nov. 11, he said Israeli troops had been unable to hold any territory in Lebanon and that Hezbollah had enough weapons and supplies to fight a long war.
In late October, Afif stated that it would “not be long before we have Israeli captives,” adding that, at the time, Hezbollah did not hold any Israeli captives but that the terrorist organization “came close.”
Earlier, in October, Afif had vowed that Hezbollah was “only in the first round” as Israeli ground troops engaged the terrorist organization in southern Lebanon.
“The elimination of this individual, if indeed carried out by Israel, carries significant implications,” a security official told Maariv on Sunday (17th) after Afif’s elimination. “First, such an action deals a moral blow to the Shia population and Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon. On the other hand, it could further impair the organization’s ability to operate both with the Lebanese public and its members. The individual was responsible for propaganda, conveying messages, and was a dominant figure for the organization’s leadership in engaging with the Lebanese public.”
In an early Sunday evening (17th) statement, the IDF reported that the air force had carried out “intelligence-based strikes on six Hezbollah military targets” in the Dahiyeh area.
Among the targets struck were weapons storage facilities, command centers, and other military sites, the IDF added.
The military reported that precautionary measures, such as collecting intelligence before the strike using aerial surveillance, and providing advance warnings, were employed before the actions were taken.
‘A Miracle:’ None Injured As Missile Destroys Haifa Synagogue
An historic synagogue with an active congregation was destroyed by a Hezbollah missile on Saturday night (16th), just a few hours after prayers were held in the building.
The Avot v’Banim synagogue in Haifa’s central Carmel neighborhood was directly struck by a rocket, with dozens of nearby apartments damaged by shrapnel and numerous cars set ablaze by the blast.
“We had a great miracle. Two hours before the rocket hit we were still praying here in the synagogue. Look what happened to us here,” Gershon Zaft, a regular worshiper at the synagogue, told Hebrew language outlet Ynet.
“It is a great miracle that there are no casualties,” Zaft stressed. “The missile hit exactly where we pray. It will take a long time to rebuild our synagogue.”
Clips circulating on social media of the scene showed that the synagogue’s roof was completely destroyed with much of the structure appearing to implode.
“The destruction is extensive,” Gideon Goldenbar, the synagogue’s caretaker, told Ynet. “We hope we will be able to salvage some Torah scrolls.”
The efforts to retrieve Torah scrolls and other holy objects from the synagogue are complicated by the huge amount of debris and the weather, as a rainstorm is expected in the coming days.
The synagogue is located in a historic Templar-style building, erected in the 1800s by Germans in Ottoman-era Israel.
The missile strike comes on the heels of reports that Israel and Lebanon are nearing a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict.
While Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar recently confirmed that Israel is “closer than ever” to reaching a diplomatic agreement that would see Hezbollah stop its daily rocket, missile, and explosive drone attacks against Israel, the timeline for such a deal remains unclear.
Report: Senior Hamas Officials In Turkey After Qatar Says Leadership Unwelcome
Senior members of Hamas’ leadership outside of Gaza have been seen in Turkey in recent days, Israeli state broadcaster KAN reported on Sunday (17th).
This latest report comes after an American source confirmed to the news outlet earlier this month that Qatar had agreed to remove Hamas from its territory.
The American source spoke to KAN after an earlier report from the state broadcaster claimed that Qatar had told the terrorist group, “You are not welcome here.”
Additionally, Reuters had also reported that the US was exerting pressure on Doha to expel Hamas weeks after the terror organization rejected the latest hostage deal proposal.
Further, Turkey has expressed sympathy for Hamas throughout the war.
In early August, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a day of mourning after the elimination of Hamas political bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh. The Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv lowered its flag to half-mast to mark the occasion.
Earlier in March, Erdogan stated that Ankara “firmly backs” Hamas, the Saudi outlet Arab News reported.
“No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization,” he reportedly said during a speech in Istanbul. “Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.”
Latin Nations Demand Action Against Iranian Threats, Declare Solidarity With Israel
Leaders from 19 Latin American countries signed a joint statement affirming solidarity with Israel and backing its right to self-defense at the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement’s (CAM) fourth annual Latin American Forum Against Anti-Semitism held last week in Costa Rica, the organization announced on Sunday (17th).
The declaration calls for implementing zero-hate policies, adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of Anti-Semitism, developing educational initiatives and interfaith programming, and demanding accountability for terrorist activities in the region – including the 1994 AMIA Jewish community center bombing in Buenos Aires and the downing of Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901 over Panama in 1994.
CEO of CAM Sacha Roytman Dratwa highlighted that “no region of the world is immune to the proliferation of anti-Semitism.”
She additionally highlighted how Latin American Jewish communities have historically been targeted by Iran-backed terror.
“The forum sent a resounding message of regional solidarity and allyship with the Jewish people and the State of Israel during a time of unprecedented levels of anti-Semitism worldwide and rising threats from the Tehran regime and its terrorist proxies, including in Latin America, where Jewish communities have already been victimized by Iranian aggression in the past,” Dratwa said.
A portion of the declaration centered on the hostages still held in captivity in Gaza.
“We IMPLORE world leaders to exert maximum pressure on Hamas to immediately release all of the approximately 101 men, women, and children who remain in captivity in Gaza after being brutally kidnapped from inside Israel on October 7.”
Speakers at the Forum included Ambassador to Costa Rica Michal Gur-Aryeh and Chair of the CAM Advisory Board for Latin America Pilar Rabola.
According to Aaron Keyak, the US deputy special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, Latin America has “a critical role to play in the global fight against anti-Semitism.”
The four-day forum, in partnership with the World Zionist Organization, featured new research on anti-Semitism in Latin America since October 7, a Kristallnacht commemoration ceremony, panels examining the evolution of anti-Semitism and discussions on implementing measures to combat anti-Semitism in the region. At Costa Rica’s legislative assembly, forum attendees met with Latin American lawmakers who presented initiatives to combat anti-Semitism and hate speech.
Shay Salamon, the director of Hispanic Affairs of CAM, said the forum represents a step toward uniting Latin American countries against rising Anti-Semitism.
“The breadth of participation and depth of commitment demonstrated here shows that Latin America stands ready to act together against hatred and discrimination,” Salamon said.
Poland Condemns Vandalism After Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Memorial Sprayed With Red Paint
The Polish Foreign Ministry on Friday (15th) condemned “an act of vandalism” after a monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was sprayed with paint, an incident that drew protest from the Israeli ambassador.
“Such acts are an attack on history and the values that unite us as a society,” the foreign minister said on social media platform X.
Israel’s ambassador to Warsaw, Yacov Livne, posted a picture on social media of red paint sprayed on the memorial, which was erected to commemorate the Jewish fighters who revolted against Nazi Germany in 1943.
An AFP photographer present at the scene on Friday (15th) saw cleaners removing the red paint, with police also at the site.
The 35-foot memorial is located at the site of several of the uprising’s armed clashes and is outside the popular Polin Museum established to commemorate the history of Polish Jews.
Livne urged Polish authorities to “find the culprits behind the incident and bring them to justice.”
“This is the first act of anti-Semitic vandalism here. Only determined action will put an end to it,” he said on X.
Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. Up to around 450,000 Jews were crowded into the Warsaw Ghetto in about a one-square mile area.
When Nazi forces began deporting Jews to death camps, some of those in Warsaw put up armed resistance on April 19, 1943.
Iran’s Radicalism And Hamas’s Fundamentalism Endanger Europe And Beyond – Pinhas Inbari
Since Trump ended his first presidency, Palestinian secular nationalism has declined, while the Palestinians’ fundamentalist religious narrative is on the rise. Today, that narrative is imbued with Hamas Islamist ideology, which Iran is likely to deploy as a new means to destabilize Europe, and eventually, the U.S.
In the recent Islamist violence against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, the pogromists did not call for the liberation of Palestine or a Palestinian state;their passionate appeal was: “Jews are a cancer!” The outbreak in the Netherlands was only the latest in a spate of violence in all the European cities with large Muslim populations.
When Hamas attacked Israel’s Gaza border communities, it did not speak of a war of liberation and a Palestinian state, but, rather, of a religious war to liberate Jerusalem. Hamas called on all the fronts surrounding Israel to join the war under the cloak of religion.
The name Hamas chose for the war – the Al-Aqsa Flood – was taken from the Islamic State, which used it after the group’s establishment in Mosul, Iraq. Islamists believe that Allah will bring a worldwide flood and only those within the ark of the Islamic State will survive to establish a new world. The choice of this theme by Sinwar was meant to convey that Hamas was the successor to the Islamic State, and the liberation of Al-Aqsa would unite all the Muslims under the flag of Islam.
The Ominous events in Amsterdam indicate the degree to which Europe’s Muslims have operationalized Hamas’ messages. Radical Islam in Europe is taking a new form. Until now, the Muslim Brotherhood’s leadership in Europe preferred a quiet infiltration of the European social and political milieu, rejecting the Islamic State’s approach of terror attacks.
The writer, a veteran Arab affairs correspondent, is a fellow at the Jerusalem Center. (Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs.)
(jcpa.org)
