News Digest — 7/19/24
Houthis Claim Credit After Drone Attack Kills One, Wounds 10 In Tel Aviv
A drone attack was allegedly carried out on Ben Yehuda Street on the corner of Shalom Aleichem near the US Consulate after loud explosions were heard in Tel Aviv early Friday morning (10th). The Yemeni Houthis have claimed responsibility for the attack on their personal channel.
During searches by emergency services, the body of a lifeless man in his 50s with shrapnel marks on his body was found in an apartment near the location of the explosion. 10 people were taken to the hospital with shrapnel wounds, according to Israel media.
An IDF spokesman announced that a preliminary investigation shows that the explosion in Tel Aviv “was caused by the fall of an aerial target, which did not trigger a warning.
According to the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya al-Hadath channel, the United States intercepted a ballistic missile and three drones launched by the Houthis at Israel early Friday morning, (19th), but the fourth managed to hit Tel Aviv.
Residents who live near the place of the explosion say that objects were shattered in nearby houses as a result of the blast.
Soon after the attack, a leader of Yemen’s Houthis, Hezam al-Asad, wrote on X, “Tel Aviv” with a burning emoji.
The spokesman of Yemen’s Houthis, Yahya Sarie, said on X that the group will reveal details about a military operation that targeted Tel Aviv.
Magen David Adom reported that a 37-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were injured, but were fully conscious, and were taken to Ichilov Hospital with shrapnel injuries to their limbs and shoulders. In addition, four were treated for shock at the scene.
EMTs and Paramedics treated eight casualties, including four others with shrapnel and blast injuries.
The Home Front Command stated, “No aerial intrusion into the country’s central area was detected, therefore no alarm was triggered – the incident is under investigation.”
The Mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, posted on X: “The municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo is on heightened alert in light of the severe UAV incident overnight, in which one person was killed and others were injured. The war is still here, and it is hard and painful. The municipal forces arrived at the spot quickly and dealt with the incident, and we are prepared for developments, if any. I call on the public to obey government instructions.”
The head of the Golani Regional Council, Ori Kallner, according to Ynet, commented on the explosion in Tel Aviv saying, ”there is no difference between a drone strike in the heart of Tel Aviv and incessant firing on the north of the country. The State of Israel must restore deterrence in the north, south and center.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “The war we embarked on was forced upon us by the monsters of Hamas and brought out the metastases of Iran from their hiding places.”
Top Commander In Hezbollah’s Elite Radwan Force Killed In South Lebanon Strike
The Israeli Defense Forces Late Thursday (18th) killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force in southern Lebanon, the military and the terror group said.
According to the IDF, Ali Jaafar Maatuk, also known as Habib Maatuk, was an operations officer in the Radwan Force’s Hajjar regional unit.
The Hajjar unit is responsible for attacks on northern Israel’s Ramim Ridge region, an area that has come under repeated rocket, missile, and explosive-laden drone fire amid the war against the Hamas terror group in the south.
Security sources told Reuters that Maatuk had replaced another commander in the Radwan unit, Ali Ahmed Hussein, who was killed in an Israeli strike in April.
Another operations officer in the same Radwan unit, along with several more Hezbollah operatives, were killed in the same strike on Thursday night (18th), in the southern Lebanon town of Jmaijmeh, the IDF said. The airstrike had targeted a three-story house in Jmaijmeh.
The IDF said the commanders and operatives had carried out numerous attacks against Israel.
A separate strike targeted a Hezbollah command room in the nearby town of Majdal Selm, the IDF said. Fighter jets also struck a building used by the terror group in Shaqra, the military added.
Hezbollah announced the death of Maatuk, but did not detail his rank or role in the terror group.
Also Thursday evening (18th), two suspected drones that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon were shot down by air defenses, the IDF said.
Earlier on Thursday (18th), a Hamas commander and another Hezbollah operative were killed in separate strikes in Lebanon.
Since October 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.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 12 civilian deaths on the Israeli side as well as the deaths of 12 soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 369 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon 67 operatives from other terror groups and a Lebanese soldier have been killed also.
Israel has warned that it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border, with tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from their homes in the north due to the rocket and drone attacks, and has warned that, should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northwards above the Litani River, according to UN Resolution 1701.
While the Israeli political leadership has not yet decided on launching an offensive in Lebanon and turning the Gaza Strip into the secondary front, the IDF has said it continues to target Hezbollah commanders behind attacks on Israel.
“They Assassinated Deif:” IDF Reveals Intercepted Calls Between Gazans After Targeted Strike
The IDF Spokesperson, in Arabic, released recordings of calls between Gazan residents after an attempted hit on Mohammed Deif in which they wished for all of Hamas’ leadership to die as well.
IDF Spokesperson in Arabic, Col. Avichay Adraee, on Thursday (18th) revealed recordings of intercepted telephone calls between Gaza residents, shortly after reports emerged about the attempted assassination of Hamas’ military wing commander Mohammed Deif in Gaza.
In the recording, one speaker is heard telling his friend: “They assassinated Deif! They will assassinate Sinwar as well, Inshallah. What else can I say to them? Congratulations.” His friend replied: “Inshallah, Inshallah, hopefully.” The friend concluded: “So that we can rest, enough is enough.”
In another conversation from last Saturday (13th), a Gazan man is heard telling a woman: “They assassinated Mohammed Deif.” She responded: Oh, okay, is the report true?” He confirmed, “yes.” She said, “Things will be good, hopefully, the war will end.”
The conversations were intercepted by the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate shortly after reports of the assassination attempt near Al-Mawasi last week.
“The authentic voices from Gaza show the feeling residents of the Strip have toward Hamas leaders and their hope they will all be eliminated so that the war will end.” according to Adraee.
A day after the attack, the IDF and Shin Bet officially confirmed that Hamas’ Khan Yunis Brigade Commander Rafah Salama was eliminated in the strike. Mohammed Deif’s fate is still unknown.
According to IDF intelligence estimates, dozens of bodies arrived at the hospital in Deir al-Balah after the attack, which Hamas heavily fortified in an attempt to prevent Israel from learning about Deif’s status. Reports were that Deif’s bodyguards were killed in the strike also.
Tiny 3,800-Year Old Textile Found In Israel Was Dyed With Biblical “Scarlet Worm”
Israeli researchers have confirmed that a 3,800-year old scarlet-red textile found in the Judean desert in 2016 was dyed using a tiny insect referred to throughout ancient sources, according to an article published this week in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
The peer-reviewed study was a joint effort of Hebrew University, Bar-Ilan University and the Israel Antiquities Authority, researchers said in a press release.
Archaeologists discovered the piece of textile, about a half-inch across, in the so-called “Cave of Skulls,” in the Tze’elim Stream near Masada, during a joint excavation to save heritage finds from antiquities theft in 2016.
Scientists carbon-dated the artifact to the 20th-18th centuries BCE, and employed high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) – a technique used to identify the ingredients of mixed solutions – to trace the origin of the dye to a scale insect called Kermes vermilio.
The crimson bug, found throughout the Mediterranean region but not in Israel itself, is probably the same “scarlet worm” (tola’at hashani) mentioned 25 times in the Bible, often next to mentions of blue (techelet) and purple (argaman), considered most precious and prestigious colors in the ancient world.
In the Bible the Israelites are commanded to use the “scarlet worm” to dye the fabrics of the Tabernacle and the priestly garments.
In ancient times, the dye was produced from the female scale insect, which lives on the kermes oak tree,” Na’ama Sukenik of the Israel Antiquities Authority explained in a press release.
Collecting these kermes was done in a very short window of time – one month of the year, in the summer, after the female had laid her eggs but before they hatched – when the amount of dye was greatest,” Sukenik said.
Though references to dyes made from scale insects abound in ancient sources, very few textiles dyed with the creatures have been found that predate the Roman period.
The tiny textile is the earliest evidence of the technique ever discovered, and bridges the gap between written sources and the archaeological discoveries,” Sukenik said.
Sukenik noted that Israel is home to a different scale insect, which lives on Palestinian oak trees and can produce a red-orange color.
She said the fact that the particular species of scale insect used in this textile isn’t found in Israel points to the existence of “broad international commercial networks already functioning at this time, and indicates the presence of an elite society.”
Unmasking Jihad’s Quest For International Legitimacy: The Oslo Accords And Hamas’ October 7 War On Israel – Dr. Dan Diker
• Hamas’ barbaric October 7, 2023, attack proved that Palestinian grievance against Israel is rooted in an ideological and religious-based holy war and is not merely a territorial conflict, making the international community’s “two-state solution” mantra irrelevant.
• Contrary to popular belief, the Palestinian Authority and its parent organization, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), have employed identical ideological and religious themes to Hamas in their battle against Israel’s existence and their delegitimization of Jewish self-determination and sovereignty for over half a century.
• The internationally guaranteed and facilitated Oslo peace process of the 1990s legitimized the PLO, for decades one of the world’s leading terror organizations, internationalizing the Palestinian cause at the expense of Jewish state legitimacy on the world stage, which has served to legitimize Hamas’ unspeakable atrocities.
• In order to affect a sustainably peaceful outcome in the region, the PA must condemn the October 7 massacre, abolish terror incitement and incentivization, recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, cease anti-Semitic agitation and education of Palestinian youth, halt political assaults on Israel in international fora, and actively condemn terror.
The writer is President of the Jerusalem Center
(jcpa.org)
The Epic Failure Of Anti-Israel Campus Protests – Mitchell Bard
The campus protests following the Hamas terrorists’ attacks in Israel on Oct 7 were resounding failures in achieving their stated objectives. At the same time, they revealed disturbing truths about higher education, bringing the virulent anti-Semitism of students and faculty to the forefront, and scaring Jewish students.
A Washington Monthly study found that of 1,421 public and private nonprofit colleges, 318 (22%) had protests and 123 (9%) encampments. None of the 78 historically black colleges had encampments, and only nine had demonstrations. Protests were primarily in California and the U.S. Northeast. No universities agreed to boycott Israel. When the president of Sonoma State University in California caved to pressure, his decision to boycott Israel was quickly reversed, and he was out of a job.
Colleges are the only place in America where anti-Semitism is tolerated and a double standard is applied to the treatment of Jews and other victims of prejudice.
Far from achieving their aims, demonstrators provoked a backlash. Several universities established anti-Semitism task forces and planned to require students and faculty attend meetings to learn about the persecution of Jews and what behavior is impermissible.
The Pennsylvania state Senate passed a bill to block aid to any university that boycotts or divests from Israel. Anti-mask laws are being discussed to prevent terror supporters from hiding from public view and evading accountability. Law firms and other companies declared they would not hire students who participated in protests. Donors withdrew support for institutions that failed to address anti-Semitism, and parents and students decided not to attend them.
After eight months of glorifying terrorists who savagely raped and murdered Jews, protesters succeeded only in highlighting their hatred of Jews, including their fellow students, and they failed to promote peace or aid to a single Palestinian. (JNS)
(jns.org)
