News Digest — 4/25/24
IDF Spokesman On Hostage Video: ‘Until Hamas Frees Hostages We’ll Pursue Them Everywhere’
IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari responded Wednesday evening (24th) to the video published by the Hamas terror organization showing Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a hostage who has been held in Gaza for over 200 days.
“Hamas just published a video of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli boy, who was celebrating with his friends at the Nova Music Festival, when he was violently and brutally attacked and kidnapped by Hamas on Oct.7,“ Hagari said.
“Hersh has been held by Hamas in Gaza for over 200 days,” he noted. “133 hostages are still being held by Hamas in Gaza – for over 200 days, in inhumane conditions.”
“Until Hamas releases our hostages, the IDF will continue to pursue Hamas everywhere in Gaza,” Hagari declared. “This is an urgent call for action. We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to find our hostages.”
The IDF Spokesperson said, “This psychological terror video is not only a reminder of what Hamas did on Oct. 7, it is a reminder of how sick this terror group is, terrorizing the hostages and their families too.”
“To Hersh’s parents Rachel and Jon: Our hearts are with you. We will continue doing everything in our power to bring your son Hersh and all our hostages back home. Your strength continues to inspire us as we fulfill this critical mission,” Hagari concluded.
Netanyahu: ‘Campus Anti-Semitism Reminiscent Of 1930s Germany
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video in English on Wednesday (24th) in which he condemned the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rallies currently being held in universities in the United States.
“What’s happening in America’s college campuses is horrific, as anti-semitic mobs have taken over leading universities. They call for the annihilation of Israel. They attack Jewish students. They attack Jewish faculty. This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s. It’s unconscionable. It has to be stopped. It has to be condemned and be condemned unequivocally. But that’s not what happened. The response of several university presidents was shameful,” the prime minister said.
With this, he noted that “fortunately state, local, and federal officials –many of them have responded differently but there has to be more. More has to be done. It has to be done not only because they attack israel, that’s bad enough, not only because they want to kill Jews wherever they are, that’s bad enough, it is also when you listen to them, it’s also because they say not only, ‘Death to Israel,’ ‘Death to the Jews, ‘ but ‘Death to America’- and this tells us that there is an anti-Semitic surge here that has terrible consequences.”
“We see this exponential rise of anti-Semitism throughout America and throughout Western societies as Israel tries to defend itself against genocidal terrorists, genocidal terrorists who hide behind civilians. Yet it is Israel that is falsely accused of genocide, Israel that is falsely accused of starvation and all sundry war crimes. It’s all one big libel. But that’s not new. We’ve seen in history that anti-Semitic attacks were always preceded by vilification and slander, lies that were cast against the Jewish people that are unbelievable, yet people believed them.”
Netanyahu added: “Now! What is important now is for all of us who are interested and cherish our values and our civilization, to stand up together and to say enough is enough. We have to stop anti-Semitism because anti-Semitism is the canary in the coal mine. It always precedes larger conflagrations that engulf the entire world.”
“So I ask all of you, Jews and non-Jews alike, who are concerned with our common future and our common values to do one thing: stand up, speak up, be counted. Stop anti-Semitism now,” he concluded.
Report: IDF Ready For Rafah Operation, Just waiting For Green Light From Government
Israel’s military has conducted all necessary preparations to take Rafah, which it deems the last Hamas bastion in the Gaza Strip, and can launch an operation the moment it gets government approval, a senior defense official told Reuters on Wednesday (24th).
The IDF is preparing to begin the ground operation in Rafah “very soon” beginning with a massive evacuation of over a million Palestinians, KAN 11 reported Tuesday evening (23rd), citing two American officials.
Palestinians will reportedly be required to evacuate within the next four weeks to tent complexes that international aid organizations have set up.
The plan for the Rafah operation has been presented to American officials as well as other agencies in the region, KAN noted. According to the plan, the operation will move forward in stages, based on a regional division of Gaza City into defined areas.
At each stage, the IDF will inform the local population before they advance into each area so the local population can evacuate before the IDF moves forward.
Shin Bet head Ronan Bar and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi met with the head of Egyptian intelligence and the Egyptian Chief of Staff in Egypt on Wednesday (24th) to discuss the planned IDF operation in Rafah, Walla reported on Wednesday (24th).
The IDF announced Wednesday (24th) that it had recruited two reserve brigades to continue the defense and attack mission in the Gaza Strip under the command of Division 99.
The 2nd Reserve Brigade of the 146th Division and the 679th Reserve Brigade of the 210th Division will be transferred from the north of Israel at the Lebanon border, to the Gaza Strip. Before their transfer, they are continuing combat training in the North.
The IDF approved the latest plan for the Rafah operation at the beginning of this week after three previous plans were suggested. The US government has expressed firm opposition to an operation in Rafah without a credible plan to protect civilians.
“We are preparing to establish a joint operation with the United States. We understand the concern, but we will not be able to complete the mission without entering Rafah, which could also help relieve pressure on the hostage issue.” the official stated.
Amid the preparations for the Rafah operation, government officials reportedly continue to discuss potential changes to Israel’s side of the hostage deal negotiations to ensure the deal’s advancement.
IDF Hits 40 Hezbollah Sites; Gallant Says Group’s South Lebanon Command Is Decimated
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Wednesday (24th) claimed that the military had killed half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon, as the Israeli Defense Forces carried out a large wave of strikes against dozens of sites belonging to the terror group.
“Half of the Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated… and the other half hide and abandon south Lebanon to IDF operations,” Gallant said, after holding an assessment at the Northern Command headquarters in Safed with the chief of the command Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, and other top officers.
He said Israel’s main goal in the north was to return tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by Hezbollah’s daily attacks to their homes.
The wave of strikes came hours after the terror group fired anti-tank missiles at a community in northern Israel.
The military said the targets included weapon depots and other assets belonging to Hezbollah, and charged that Ayta ash-Shab was used by the group for “terror” and that it had placed dozens of sites in the area.
In a statement, the IDF said the strikes were “part of the effort to destroy the organization’s infrastructure in the border area,” and not a response to any specific attack.
Ahead of the strikes, the military issued an unusual statement announcing that it had begun to attack Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon. Amid the ongoing war, the military has generally announced strikes in Lebanon only after they have been completed. The announcement indicated that the strikes were on a much larger scale than usual.
Hours before the wave of strikes, Hezbollah fired several anti-tank guided missiles at the northern community of Avivim, striking two homes and causing a fire, with no injuries reported.
The missile attack on Avivim came after a wave of overnight Israeli Air Force strikes against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, following repeated attacks by the Iran-backed terror group on northern Israel.
Since Oct. 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
Israel has threatened to go to war to force Hezbollah away from the border if it does not retreat and continues to threaten northern communities, from where some 70,000 people were evacuated to avoid the fighting.
Argentina Asks Interpol To Arrest Iranian Minister Over AMIA Attack
Argentina has asked Interpol to arrest Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi due to his alleged role in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
Argentina previously accused Vahidi, a former senior official in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps at the time, of being one of the masterminds of the terrorist attack, and sought his extradition.
Mr. Vahidi was in Pakistan earlier this week as part of an Iranian delegation which is now in Sri Lanks.
Argentina said it had asked the two countries to detain Mr. Vahidi. The Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Interpol had issued a so-called “red notice.”
While a red notice alerts police in member countries about internationally wanted fugitives, it does not constitute an arrest warrant.
Interpol cannot compel police to arrest someone for whom a red notice has been issued, it is up to the member country to decide whether to make the arrest.
The Iranian delegation, which includes President Ebrahim Raisi, arrived in Sri Lanka early on Wednesday (24th)
However, AFP news agency reported that Mr. Vahidi was not seen accompanying the president upon arrival in Sri Lanka.
Iran’s official news agency reported that Mr. Vahidi was back in Iran on Tuesday (23rd) without referring to the “red notice.”
Earlier this month, the Court of Cassation in Buenos Aires issued a ruling blaming Iran for bombing the Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina on July 18, 1994, using its terrorist proxy Hezbollah.
In February, Argentine President Javier Milei arrived in Israel for a wartime visit, reiterating his pledge to move his nation’s embassy to Jerusalem and opening a new chapter in bilateral relations.
The three-day solidarity trip, one of his first tours abroad since taking office two months ago, signaled a major shift in Argentina’s foreign policy towards the United States and Israel after decades of backing Arab countries.
Milei has said that he would work to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization, noting that Argentines were among the 1,200 people taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7.
In March, the Jewish state and people worldwide marked the 32nd anniversary of the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires.
At 2:15 pm, on March 17, 1992, a powerful explosion rocked the building housing the diplomatic missions, killing 29 people, including three Israeli embassy personnel and six local embassy employees, and wounding 242 civilians.
In May 1999, the Argentine Supreme Court finally accused Hezbollah of that attack and issued an arrest warrant for top terrorist commander Imad Mughniyeh (who would be assassinated in Damascus in 2008).
An Israeli probe, whose findings were made public in 2003, showed that the highest levels of the Iranian regime had authorized Hezbollah to carry out the bombing.
In February, US Sen. Marco Rubio (R.-Fla) visited the Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina building to honor those killed and wounded in the summer of 1994.
Rubio also memorialized prosecutor Alberto Nisman, the Argentine attorney and chief investigator of the 1994 terrorist attack, who was found dead at his home in Buenos Aires in 2015, reportedly murdered, before he could report his findings.
(bbc.com)
Israel Showed Us How To Stand Up To Bullies
Britain’s leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, on Wednesday, (24th) praised Israel’s ability to defend itself against a major aerial attack by Iran earlier this month in an opinion piece for the Daily Mail. She stated that Britain can learn lessons from how the smaller nation was able to mount such a formidable defense despite its size. On April 14, Iran launched about 300 drones, and missiles towards Israel in an overnight strike aimed at causing widespread damage. However, Israel’s sophisticated Iron Dome anti-missile system successfully intercepted and destroyed virtually all of the incoming weapons with little to no damage inflicted.
“Israel’s defense showcased its capabilities and gave it strategic choice, deterrence, and diplomatic capital,” Mordaunt wrote in the opinion piece. “You don’t have to be a big country to be a powerful one.”
Mordaunt highlighted how Israel has consistently dedicated around 5% of its GDP towards defense spending, allowing for major investments in training, technology, infrastructure, and strategic capabilities. She argued this commitment to defense has strengthened Israel’s economy rather than hindered it.
“Israel’s long-sightedness and ability to find long-term consensus on defense policy” should be something Britain proudly emulates, according to Mordaunt. She stated, Britain has also kept defense spending strong compared to other European nations.
The opinion piece comes as Britain has announced steady annual increases in defense spending, allocating an extra $93 billion over the next six years. This is intended to not only boost security but drive resilience and economic growth as well.
“These obvious threats to our interests, combined with the aftermath of a global pandemic, have left people feeling worried and vulnerable. No words, only actions will assure them,” Mordaunt wrote, referencing threats like the war in Ukraine, cyber attacks, and terrorism.
The spending increases will cement Britain’s position as the biggest defense power in Europe and second only to the US within NATO according to Mordaunt. “Strength is a choice. It’s a choice the prime minister has made,” she stated.
