News Digest — 9/13/24
IDF: 3 Of 9 Hamas Terrorists Killed In Nuseirat Strike Were UNRWA Employees
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced on Thursday (12th) that on Wednesday (11th), with the direction of IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a command and control center embedded within a compound that previously served as the Al Jaouni School in the area of Nuseirat in central Gaza.
Upon receiving reports claiming that local Palestinian UNRWA workers were killed, as a result of the strike, the IDF requested that the agency provide details and names of the workers, in order to thoroughly review the claim. To date, no answers have been provided by UNRWA despite repeated requests.
Thus far, a number of Hamas terrorists were confirmed to have been eliminated in the strike, including Aysar Karadia, a terrorist in Hamas’ Military Wing and internal Security Forces; Muhammad Adnan Abu Zayd, a terrorist in Hamas’ Military wing and an UNRWA employee; Bassem Maied Shaheen, the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas’ Military Wing who took part in the October 7 massacre; and Amar al-Jadili, a terrorist in Hamas’ Military Wing, and Internal Security Forces. Also killed were Akram Saber al-Ghalaydi, in Hamas’ Military Wing and Internal Security Forces; Muhammad Issa Abu al-Amir, a terrorist in Hamas’ MIlitary Wing who took part in the Oct. 7 massacre; Sharif Salem, a terrorist in Hamas’ Military Wing; Yasser Ibrahim Abu Shaar, a terrorist in Hamas’ Military Wing, also an UNRWA employee; and Ayad Matar, a terrorist in Hamas’ Military Wing and a UNRWA employee.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon wrote in response on X, “How surprising is it that the ‘UNRWA workers’ who were killed yesterday in the IDF attack are in fact part of nine terrorists with blood on their hands, and some of them took part in the barbaric massacre on October 7?”
“How long will the United Nations continue to bury its head in the sand and ignore the fact that Hamas terrorists have taken over UNRWA? These murderers are not aid workers. They are terrorists with blood on their hands and were rightly eliminated,” Danon wrote.
IDF Destroys Iran’s ‘Deep Layer’ Facility In Syria In Boldest Operation Yet – Axios
The IDF’s General Staff Reconnaissance Unit destroyed on Sunday (8th) a Syrian underground factory for precision missiles built by Iran, according to a Thursday (12th) Axios report.
According to the report, this was the boldest operation the IDF has carried out in recent years against Iranian targets in Syria. The destruction of the factory was reportedly a significant blow to Iran and Hezbollah’s covert effort to produce medium-range precision missiles in Syria.
The Israeli government has thus far maintained silence on the matter and is not taking responsibility to avoid provoking Syria, Iran, or Hezbollah into retaliation. The IDF Spokesperson, the Defense Ministry, and the Prime Minister’s Office have all declined to comment.
The operation took place on Sunday night (8th), with official Syrian media and the Syrian opposition reporting heavy Israel Air Force airstrikes in several areas of western Syria, including near the city of Masyaf, close to the Lebanese border.
On Wednesday (11th), a Syrian opposition TV channel and Greek Middle East expert Eva J. Kalluriotis reported that the airstrikes were merely a cover for an Israeli ground operation in Masyaf. Three sources familiar with the operation confirmed to Axios that the IDF General Staff Reconnaissance Unit conducted a ground raid and destroyed a precision missile manufacturing facility.
Two sources stated that Israel had informed the Biden administration in advance about the sensitive operation, and the US did not object. The Israeli special forces unit surprised the Syrian guards at the facility and killed several of them during the raid.
The Israeli forces used explosives they brought with them to blow up the underground facility from within, including advanced machinery, according to two sources who spoke to Axios. The airstrikes carried out on Sunday night (8th) were intended to prevent the Syrian army from sending enforcement troops back to the area.
According to the Axios report, the Iranians began constructing the underground facility in coordination with Hezbollah and Syria in 2018 after a series of Israeli airstrikes destroyed most of Iran’s missile production infrastructure in Syria.
The Iranians decided to build a deep underground factory within a mountain in Masyaf to be impervious to Israeli airstrikes.
The Iranian plan was to produce precision missiles in a protected factory near the Lebanese border, allowing for quicker delivery to Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to the report, Israeli intelligence discovered and monitored the construction process for over five years, code-naming the Iranian facility “Deep Layer.”
According to Axios’ report, an airstrike alone would not be sufficient to destroy the facility, so the IDF opted to coordinate such an alleged attack with a ground operation. The IDF considered carrying out the operation at least twice in recent years, but it was not approved due to the high risks involved.
European Airlines Resume Operations To Israel
Virgin Atlantic has announced it will restart its service to Tel Aviv just ahead of the High Holidays which begin in early October.
The British carrier will initially operate one daily flight between London Heathrow and Tel Aviv beginning on September 25, down from its pre-Oct.7 schedule of two daily flights.
Virgin Atlantic plans to utilize larger aircraft on this route compared to its competition British Airways which currently employs narrow-body Airbus A321 planes for its Tel Aviv service.
With Iran’s imminent threat of retaliation for the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh not materializing, a growing list of international carriers have steadily been returning to Israel.
Lufthansa Group recently restarted operations to Israel after a month-long hiatus. The group, which includes Lufthansa Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Swiss and Eurowings, will operate between six Western European destinations and Tel Aviv.
Other airlines that have resumed service include Ethiopian Airlines, Wizz Air, Bulgaria Air, Aegean, Air Europe, Iberia, Tarom, and LOT Polish Airlines.
However some European carriers still remain cautious. Ryanair has announced it will not resume flights to Israel until at least the end of October.
The return of international flights is seen as a positive step for Israel’s tourism industry which has been severely impacted by the ongoing war against Hamas.
Financial experts estimate the war’s economic impact at $53 billion.
As more airlines return to the market, competition on popular routes is expected to increase. Currently, El Al holds a monopoly on direct flights between Tel Aviv and New York with high demand leading to premium fares for return tickets during the holiday season.
The Palestinian Authority Has No Intention Of Making Peace With Israel – Bassam Tawil
More than 30 years ago, the Israeli government was convinced to sign the Oslo Accords with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), headed by Yasser Arafat. The assumption was that if you bring Arafat’s PLO from the Arab countries to Gaza and the West Bank and help them create a government and police force, the Palestinians would renounce terrorism and give up their dream of destroying Israel.
However, the Palestinian Authority, established in 1994, had no intention of making peace with Israel, and still has not. Instead of preparing the Palestinians for peace and recognition of Israel’s right to exist, Arafat and his successor, Mahmoud Abbas, launched a huge campaign to delegitimize Israel and demonize Jews.
Palestinian leaders continue to praise terrorists as “martyrs” and “heroes” and pay monthly salaries to their families. Under both Arafat and Abbas, Palestinian terror groups including Iran-backed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad thrived and formed armies in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian leaders did nothing to stop the terrorists.
The Israeli pullout from Gaza in 2005, to enable the Palestinians to create a Dubai on the Mediterranean, instead enabled Hamas and other terror groups to turn the enclave into a huge base for Jihad (holy war) against Israel. Many Palestinians viewed the withdrawal as an Israeli display of weakness and retreat in the face of rockets and suicide bombings. The thinking among the Palestinians became, “Oh, it’s working! So let’s do it more!” The pullout from Gaza only gave the terrorists more confidence and fueled their desire to pursue jihad against Israel. (Gatestone Institute)
Israel Plays An Outsized Role In The Western World’s Defense – Lawrence Solomom
Israel devotes a larger proportion of its GDP to arms and security exports than any other country on Earth, and more than 80% supports the world’s democracies. By acting as these democracies’ armory and their intelligence shield, Israel plays an outsized role in the Western world’s defense. Israel stands out because of its small size – all other major arms exporters have populations many times that of the Jeiwsh state’s 9.9 million.
Almost half of Israel’s arms exports support Asian countries that are threatened by China, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and India. The U.S., the world’s second largest democracy and until recently the largest purchaser of Israeli arms, also relies on Israeli innovations to improve the performance of its F-15 and F-16 fighter jets.
The European democracies, which account for 35% of Israel’s arms exports, want an Iron Dome missile defense system of their own. To date, 21 countries have joined their European Sky Shield Initiative. ESSI, which has as its heart Israel’s Arrow 3 air-defense system. Finland just purchased the David’s Sling defense system and the Baltic countries seek the Iron Dome.
In the Middle East, Israel’s military and its intelligence services work with America and other Western allies to neutralize threats from Iran and its proxies. Israel provided the U.S. with the intelligence needed to target Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. Israeli intelligence is credited with saving the lives of hundreds of American servicemen stationed in Iraq and Syria in 2020 and 2021 from Iranian attack. The late Sen. Daniel Inouye, a former chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said, “Israel’s contribution to U.S. military intelligence is greater than all NATO countries combined.”
When Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Syria under Bashar Assad came close to acquiring nuclear weapons, and the U.S. refused to act against them, Israel destroyed their nuclear facilities. While the U.S. does more than any other country to support democracies, in proportion to the size of its economy, Israel contributes five times as much, with little fanfare and less recognition of its large role in thwarting the world’s tyrannies.
The writer is a columnist for Canada’s National Post and a fellow of the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research. (JNS)
(jns.org)
I Fought In Iraq – I Know Israel’s Doing All It Can To Save Civilians – General Sir John McColl (The Times-UK)
• Expressions for support and sympathy for Israel after the brutal massacre of Israeli citizens, led by Hamas on Oct. 7, have rapidly turned into widespread criticism, including from allies. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are accused of the reckless use of force and the murder of civilians, while international organizations have expressed concern about inadequate flows of aid. Last week I visited Israel with a team of military experts from six NATO countries to see for myself.
• I have seen war and know how difficult it can be to minimize civilian casualties. Basing my views about the Israel-Hamas war on UK media coverage, I arrived in Israel critical and skeptical of their military operations. What we, military observers with decades of combined experience in leading NATO armies, saw was the most complex and demanding operational environment any of us had come across, including in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• Our briefing from the independent military legal directorate laid out in detail the rules designed to protect civilian life. The procedures are at least as rigorous as those applied in the UK armed forces. In addition, the Israeli military carries out civilian evacuations of war zones, forgoing the element of surprise, to which it would be entitled in armed conflict.
• Accompanying troops in Rafah, we found that the rules of engagement were being adhered to rigorously and that a significant number of engagements were being aborted because the clearance of civilians could not be verified. The perspectives that we gained indicate that there is balance missing in the reporting of events in Gaza.
• I came away from the trip satisfied that the IDF’s operations and rules of engagement were rigorous compared to the British Army and our Western allies. War is terrible, but sometimes necessary. And Israeli soldiers are fighting in conditions of extraordinary complexity and risk. It’s time for the world to have its eyes opened to that.
The writer is a former deputy supreme allied commander of NATO who served for 38 years in the British Army and saw combat in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
