News Digest — 4/26/24
Israeli Citizen Killed By Anti-Tank Missile Fired By Hezbollah Overnight
An Israeli civilian infrastructure worker has succumbed to wounds sustained in an anti-tank missile attack on the Mount Dov area near the border with Lebanon early Friday morning (26th) according to Hebrew media reports.
The man was identified as Sharif Suad in the reports.
The Walla news site reported that Suad was a truck driver from the Arab village of Ras al-Ein, near the Lebanon border.
The IDF said a short while ago that it shelled the launch sites overnight with artillery and tank fire in response to the attack.
Since October 8 Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a daily basis with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the ongoing war there since Hamas’ October 7 massacre.
So far the skirmishes on the border have resulted in eight civilian deaths on the Israeli side – not including this morning’s fatality – as well as the deaths of 11 IDF soldiers and reservists.
Thousands At Western Wall For Priestly Blessing With Prayers For Hostages’ return
Thousands of Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall recited a special prayer Thursday (25th) for the return of hostages held by Hamas, during the traditional priestly blessing ceremony held at the site on Passover.
The parents of two hostages attended the event in Jerusalem.
The priestly blessing, known in Hebrew as “Birkat Kohanim,” is held semi-annually on the intermediate days of Passover and Sukkot.
Male descendants of the priestly class traditionally chant the benediction by raising their hands in order to bless the congregants present.
Sigalit Cohen, born to such a family, told KAN news that she came to the Western Wall to pray for the return of her son Eliya, who was taken captive by Hamas on October 7, and is likely “unable to recite the priestly blessing in Gaza.”
The family of Segev Kalfon, who was abducted by Hamas from the Supernova rave, was also present and stood with Rabbi of the Western Wall Shmuel Rabinovitch and other rabbis on the balcony overlooking the vast crowd.
In addition to a special prayer for the hostages. Chief Rabbi of the Israel Police, Rami Berachyahu, led worshippers in praying for the Israeli army, police and other security forces in the context of the ongoing war.
The top rabbis concluded the event by singing in unison “Acheinu” a medieval Jewish prayer calling for the release of captives, which has become a symbol of the hostages’ plight since October 7.
Over 20,000 people attended the ceremony, according to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, a subsidiary of the Prime Minister’s Office that organizes the event twice a year.
The Western Wall is revered in Jewish tradition due to its proximity to the location of the two ancient Jewish Temples. The site is part of the Temple Mount Complex, which also houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam.
Mass Exodus Of Gazans From Rafah As IDF Operation Looms
As Many as 200,000 Gazans have evacuated Rafah over the past few weeks ahead of a much-anticipated Israeli ground operation in the southern Gaza city, an IDF spokesperson said Thursday (25th).
Rafah, a city which straddles the Egyptian-Gaza border, had some 200,000 residents on the Gaza side of the frontier prior to October 7, but swelled to nearly 1.5 million following the Hamas invasion of Israel and subsequent IDF military operation.
With the IDF making final preparations for the Rafah operation, the population of the city has fallen sharply, with 150,000-200,000 Gazans evacuating since April 7.
Most of the evacuees have relocated to either al-Muwasi, a Bedouin enclave adjacent to Gush Katif, central Gaza, or Khan Yunis, another city in southern Gaza, near Rafah.
IDF forces were withdrawn from Khan Yunis earlier this month, following extensive operations in the city, which had once served as the headquarters of Hamas’ top commander in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
The Israeli military is encouraging Gazans to evacuate Rafah ahead of the impending ground operation, in the hopes of minimizing civilian casualties.
The IDF has built up a stockpile of over 40,000 tents to distribute to Gazans leaving Rafah, with the aim of establishing tent cities away from the area of the planned ground incursion.
Rafah, the last Gaza city firmly under Hamas control, is home to four battalions, according to Israeli intelligence, the final operational Hamas battalions out of 24 pre-October 7th.
The Biden administration has reportedly authorized an Israeli operation within the city, after good faith efforts by Israel to establish a ceasefire and hostage release deal were reportedly rejected by Hamas, Channel 12 News reported.
There are some indications that some of Rafah’s remaining population will be housed temporarily in tent cities established in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, despite prior refusal by Cairo to open its frontier to Gaza civilians.
Satellite imagery has revealed that Egypt is setting up a massive tent city in the Sinai, indicating a change in Cairo’s position.
Flotilla Challenging Gaza Blockade Due To Leave Turkey As Israel Braces For Confrontation
A provocative flotilla of ships destined for Gaza received permission from Turkish authorities to depart from Istanbul on Friday (26th) under the leadership of an Islamist aid organization with ties to Hamas.
The three-ship convoy dubbed “Marmara 2,” represents a concerted effort to challenge the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
Organizers say two of the ships are carrying aid while the third ship will be carrying social activists, parliamentarians, journalists and members of international boycott organizations.
Israel and Egypt have maintained restrictions on Gaza to prevent weapons smuggling since 2007, when Hamas violently seized control of the Strip.
The flotilla’s name is a reference to the Mavi Marmara incident of May 31, 2010. At that time a convoy of ships trying to break the blockade ignored Israeli instructions to divert to Ashdod and was intercepted by Israeli naval commandos.
On the Mavi Marmara, the flotilla’s largest ship, a melee broke out between the commandos and passengers, several of whom were armed.
Ten people, all Turkish nationals, were killed, leading to a rupture in Israeli-Turkish relations
The Marmara 2 organizing committee announced that all participants are taking into account the probability that the ships ”will be stopped in the middle of the sea” and that “the activists will be arrested by IDF forces.”
Israel, alarmed by the prospect of another confrontation reminiscent of the 2010 Marmara incident, has lobbied the US, Great Britain, and Germany to dissuade Turkey from greenlighting the flotilla’s departure.
Efforts to dissuade the flotilla’s organizers by offering to facilitate aid delivery through established channels have been rebuffed.
Israel offered to allow the aid to be transferred from the Ashdod port to Gaza, and even offered to increase the flow of aid in exchange for abandoning the flotilla.
But the organization remains steadfast in their commitment to challenge the blockade directly.
Coordinating all of this is The Foundation for Human Rights Freedom and Aid, a radical Islamic Turkish institution known as the IHH.
Designated as a terror organization in Israel and the Netherlands, and outlawed in Germany, the IHH nevertheless serves as a consultant to the UN and human rights organizations.
Israel designated the IHH as a terror organization in 2008 when it became clear that it was transferring aid to front organizations for Hamas in Hebron and Nablus.
European Parliament Votes For Unprecedented Condemnation Of Iran
The European Parliament on Thursday (25th) voted in favor of an unprecedented condemnation of Iran following its massive attack on Israel earlier in the month. The vote which passed with an overwhelming majority of 357 to 20, reiterates the EU’s “full support for the security of the State of Israel and its citizens and condemns the simultaneous rocket launches carried out by Iran’s proxies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen against the Golan Heights and Israeli territory before and during the Iranian attack.”
The EU also decided to expand the sanctions placed on the Iranian regime and on its missile and drone projects and demands that these sanctions “be urgently put in place and calls for more individuals and entities to be targeted.”
In a statement, the EU said the votes reiterate the parliament’s “long-standing call to include Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the EU list of terrorist organizations, stressing that such a decision is long overdue due to malign Iranian activities. It similarly calls on the Council and EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell to add Hezbollah in its entirety to the same list.”
The parliament called out Iran’s “persistently failing to comply with its legal safeguard obligations under its nuclear deal and urged the Iranian authorities to “immediately abide by these requirements and address all related outstanding issues.” It also recognized Iran’s role in destabilizing regional security, including by supporting Hamas and called for an immediate implementation of UN Resolution 1701 on the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz hailed the EU decision “The world now understands Iran must be stopped before it is too late,” he said. “The free world sees that Iran is a danger to world order and to peace and is the largest exporter of terror in the world.”
If You Truly Care About Humanity In The Gaza War, Choose The Side Of The Jews – Liel Leibovitz
In the conflict that has been raging since Oct.7, I hear the following argument: “We wish for the IDF to strike against the terrorists, but we also urge that no action be taken without careful consideration for Palestinian civilian casualties. We choose the side of humanity.” Not me. I choose the side of the Jews.
I don’t mean it as bravado. I mean it as a crucial moral distinction. It’s precisely my ability to feel the particular pain of my own kin, the unique and specific grieving not for all who suffer but for those who are my brothers and cousins and loved ones, that makes me able to then see others who are suffering, too.
As those who have actually fought in wars know all too well, no normal human being would ever call for war to last longer than it should or be deadlier than it must. But shrinking from doing what must be done to protect and defend Jewish security is merely an invitation for more carnage.
To support a measured response against Hamas isn’t to spare the people of Gaza; it’s merely to condemn them to decades more of suffering inflicted by the same monsters who repeatedly send women and children into the line of fire to serve as human shields.
If you, like me, treat Palestinians with dignity and respect, if you see them as moral agents capable of discerning between right and wrong, you ought to expect that they care for you as you care for them. Yet Gazans aren’t taking to the streets to topple their murderous regime. They aren’t sharing their outrage that babies were beheaded and women raped in their name. They aren’t pleading with their leaders to try different peaceful measures. Instead, Palestinian support of Hamas has been strong and consistent. (Tablet)
The “Better” Civilians Of Gaza – Alan M. Dershowitz
Albert Einstein wrote on Sept. 16, 1945: “The strangest thing is that even the better people among the Germans are not conscious of their heavy responsibility for all these crimes committed by the government they have chosen themselves.” That letter could have been written about the so-called innocent adult civilians in Gaza. They elected Hamas and, according to recent polls, continue to support it and would vote for it again.
On Oct.7, the civilians who followed the terrorists into Israel captured a nurse named Nili Margalit, forcibly transporting her to Gaza after murdering other Israelis. In Gaza, they displayed her to the “jubilant crowds” of civilians who cheered her civilian kidnappers. Other Gazan civilians permitted their homes to be used to hide and launch rockets, while others helped to hide hostages.
Among the so-called innocent “civilians” who Hamas claims have been killed by Israel, there are thousands of guilty and complicit civilians without whose assistance Hamas could not have succeeded. It is hard to shed tears if the “civilians” who kidnapped and sold Margalit were among the collateral damage.
All in all, the number of absolutely innocent Gazans is a fraction of those claimed by Israel’s enemies. A thorough and objective investigation will show that Israel has killed far fewer innocent civilians than any nation in the history of fighting terrorism in urban areas.
The writer is Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School. (Gatestone Institute)
