News Digest — 7/17/24
100 Rockets Target Northern Israel As IDF Strikes In Lebanon
Around 100 rockets targeted several different areas of northern Israel in three separate waves on Tuesday night (16th), as the IDF responded with strikes on Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, which media reports claimed killed at least five people.
The first salvo set off waves of sirens in the border city of Kiryat Shmona and a number of surrounding areas. The IDF later said at least 40 rockets had been fired toward the city in the attack.
Several of the rockets were shot down by the Iron Dome, but some struck the northern city, causing damage to buildings, according to police. There were no reports of injuries.
Several hours later,a separate wave of 10 rockets set off sirens in the Western Galilee, which the IDF said landed in open areas with no injuries.
Late Monday night, (15th), 20 rockets fired from Lebanon targeted Kiryat Shmona. Most of them were intercepted. Some landed in the evacuated city, including one that hit a shopping mall.
In addition, 20-30 rockets were fired toward the Mount Meron area in the Upper Galilee, with no injuries reported.
On Tuesday evening (16th), the IDF said that it had struck the launcher used in the attacks on Kiryat Shmona. The launcher, in the area of Jabal Blat, was targeted by a drone. In a separate attack, the military said the IDF had targeted a Hezbollah cell in the area of Yarine in southern Lebanon
On Wednesday morning (17th), the IDF aerial defense systems intercepted a series of projectiles fired toward the Nahariya area in northern Israel.
The projectiles were launched in response to IAF strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure overnight.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have fired missiles, drones and rockets at Israeli communities and IDF posts in northern Israel on a near-daily basis. So far, the cross-border attacks have resulted in 12 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 17 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 367 Hezbollah members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 66 operatives from other terror groups were killed.
Ex-Hostage Noa Argamani And Her Father To Join Netanyahu On Visit To Congress
Netanyahu prepares for his address to the US Congress, inviting rescued and released hostages and their families to accompany him; Noa Argamani, who was rescued in June, will join the prime minister and her father, including her boyfriend’s mother Ditza Or.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington next week will feature his address to Congress on July 24, to which the prime minister has invited representatives of hostages’ families, though some have not yet responded.
A political source said that those expected to fly with Netanyahu to Washington include representatives of captive soldiers and civilians, men and women who attended the Nova music festival and those from the affected kibbutzim and cities, Jews and non-Jews. The list also includes families who have been waiting for the past 10 years for their loved ones to be returned from Gaza. The list was created by the Coordinator for the Hostages and Missing, Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Gal Hirsch.
While some hostages’ families take part in the protests and the “First deal, then you can travel,” campaign, several families have accepted the prime minister’s invitation, including Yaakov and Noa Argamani, Ditza Or, the mother of Noa Argamani’s boyfriend Avinatan Or, Ayelet Samerano, the mother of Yonatan Samerano; and Tali Gueli, the mother of the late Ran Gueli.
Ayelet Levy, Naama’s mother, has already rejected the prime minister’s invitation to join him in Congress. Other families said that Netanyahu’s Office offered them a place on the flight with the Prime Minister, but they refused until a full agreement on the captives was reached.
Sasha Ariv, the sister of the captive reconnaissance soldier Karina Ariv, has yet to respond to the invitation. “I want to see progress,” she said. “I can’t fly in peace until I see a deal in the works.” Alon Gat, the brother of captive Carmel Gat, and Eliyahu Bibas, the father of Yarden Bibas, are also considering whether to accept the invitation. In addition, October 7 families, family members of hostages from 2014 have also received invitations to join Netanyahu’s visit to Congress.
New Immigration Wave? Almost 70% Of Jews Do Not Feel Safe In France
With a whopping 68% of Jews in France reporting that they do not feel safe in their home country, increasing numbers are looking at Israel as a possible place to live, the Committee for Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs was told Monday (15th).
The recent political gains of the far-left, and a four-fold rise in anti-Semitism since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7 are the two major reasons for Jewish fear.
“The rise of the radical left in France is a very bad sign for Jews there,” Committee Chair MK Oded Forer said, pointing to Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the LA France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party which received the most seats of the leftist alliance that beat the centrists and far right in last week’s legislative elections.
Melenchon has long been a harsh Israel critic. Forer pointed out that he did not condemn the Hamas massacre of 1,200 people during its invasion of Israel on October 7, and “in his election rally, people were waving more Palestinian flags than French flags.”
“The amount of hatred and incitement of the leftist parties towards Jews legitimizes violent actions against the Jews,” the Israel Beiteinu MK added.
South Paris community leader Albert Myara testified that “The number of anti-Semitic incidents across France has increased by 400%” and “the attitude towards Jews is at times intolerable.”
The threat does not only come from the left, as far as the Jews are concerned.
Rabbi Moshe Sebbag, chief rabbi of the Grand Synagogue of Paris, had told The Jerusalem Post after the surprising success of the far right in the first round of elections on June 30 that “It is clear today that there is no future for Jews in France. I tell everyone who is young to go to Israel or a more secure country.”
He told the Committee Monday (15th) that “People in the Jewish community prefer to conceal their Jewish identity when they are in public spaces.”
The anti-Semitic mindset is seemingly taking hold of the next generation as well.
A Jewish school teacher told the hearing that schoolchildren attending a Chabad summer camp were “cursed and shoved” by 10-year-old-locals who called them “dirty Jews.”
Since the beginning of the war nine months ago, 3,714 French Jews have opened Aliya (immigration) files at the Jewish Agency, but there is a far greater potential, as studies show that fully 38% of French Jews, some 200,000 people, are considering leaving the country.
Ariel Kandel, CEO of Qualita, an umbrella organization for French immigrants to Israel, told the committee that there is easily a potential for 50,000 to come to the Jewish state even this year, because, “It is not just the French street that is anti-Semitic, it is the French establishment as well.”
He urged the government to “formulate a serious plan” to help them.
Officials from the ministries of Aliyah and Integration, and Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism, said in response that they are preparing plans to assist Jewish communities “worldwide,” and needed more budgets to expand their work.
National Aliyah Promotion Company head Arie Abithol specifically mentioned the need for funding Hebrew studies abroad, which help immigrants’ absorption into the Israeli workforce.
“We are missing a budget of about NIS 2 million in order to operate additional ulpans for Hebrew language studies,” he said. “In France, hundreds of people are on the waiting list for … the ulpans.”
Some 700 French Jews have immigrated to Israel since the beginning of the year. About a hundred came Monday (15th), with video clips on social media showing the group waving small Israeli flags and singing “AM Yisrael Chai,” (the Jewish people live) after landing.
What the ICC gets Wrong About Israel – John Spencer
• In May, the International Criminal Court announced applications for warrants for the arrests of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defense minister Yoav Gallant. As someone who has visited the frontlines in this war, and who has written about, visited, and engaged in various urban battles over the past two decades as a U.S. army officer and researcher, I believe the ICC’s decision is wrong about Israel.
• Worse, the ruling could perversely have the opposite effect intended: By holding all states to such a high standard when it comes to avoiding civilian harm, governments may feel hamstrung to respond to attacks in the future, even in self-defense. That could have a chilling effect on countries that adhere to international legal norms, while providing a bonanza for rogue states like Russia or non-state actors like Hamas that ignore these norms.
• In Gaza, the terrain, the density of tunnels under population centers, the nature of the enemy, and the presence of hostages all combine to make this war an exceptionally fraught one for Israel to fight bloodlessly. What I saw in Gaza convinced me that Israel has taken the necessary steps to avoid civilian casualties. As the war continues, Israel continues to announce temporary evacuations instructing civilians to move out of harm’s way. Israel has gone above and beyond what is traditionally required of armies.
• The ICC has accused Israel of “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare,” and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population.” This kind of accusation ignores mountains of evidence to the contrary which I saw firsthand.
• Israel has implemented almost all the civilian harm mitigation practices required of urban warfare and legal norms spelled out by international humanitarian law (IHL), as well as created a few new ones no military has ever tried. The IDF fields legal officers at the brigade and division level to approve legitimate targets and provide guidance to avoid civilian casualties and violations of IHL.
• The ICC ruling makes a mockery out of Article 51 of the UN Charter, which allows countries to act in self-defense. If any country takes all these precautions and is still considered beyond the pale of modern war, can any country that tries to adhere to international humanitarian legal norms fight wars at all, even to defend themselves?
• By singling out the Israeli leadership for war crimes, the result could be a blank check to rogue actors like Hamas as well as rogue states like Russia, Iran, or North Korea. The IDF should be commended for its efforts to reduce civilian harm, not charged in an international court alongside Hamas leaders.
The writer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point.
(x.com)
Start-Up Nation Co-Author Optimistic On Israel – Ariel Whitman
Dan Senor, co-author of the 2009 bestseller Start-Up Nation, says, “Israel still has more startups per capita than any country in the world. It attracts the most global venture capital on a per capita basis than any country in the world. It is number one in the world in R&D as a percentage of GDP. And it is number four in the world in terms of Israeli public companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.”
“Israel has hundreds of venture capital firms, 120 accelerators, 35 incubators, and over 400 multinational companies that have set up shop in Israel. Now Israelis are starting to build big standalone companies that remain in Israel.” In 2013, “there was only one company in Israel that was generating over a billion dollars in annual revenue, and that was CheckPoint. Today there are nearly a dozen Israeli companies that are generating over a billion dollars in revenue.”
“There’s virtually no major global tech company in the world today that doesn’t have an operation set up in Israel. All these non-tech companies have also set up R&D operations in Israel: Coca-Cola, Walmart, Mercedes-Benz, and Procter & Gamble. All these companies have really complicated problems that they can solve only through innovation – and that’s where Israel comes in – Israeli talent is well known and unique throughout the world.” (Globes)
