Friday, November 8, 2024

Netanyahu Hails Trump’s ‘Historic Return’ to the White House

by Amelie Botbol ~ JNS

Wednesday, 6 November 2024 | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday morning congratulated Donald Trump after Fox News declared the Republican the victor in the 2024 US presidential election.

“Dear Donald and Melania Trump, Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback!” the premier tweeted.

“Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America. This is a huge victory! In true friendship, yours, Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu,” he continued.

The post was accompanied by a recent picture of Netanyahu and his wife with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate and resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also congratulated Trump, calling him “a true and dear friend of Israel, and a champion of peace and cooperation in our region.”

“I look forward to working with you to strengthen the ironclad bond between our peoples, to build a future of peace and security for the Middle East, and to uphold our shared values. On behalf of the Jewish and democratic State of Israel, and all our people, I wish you much success,” tweeted Herzog.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich weighed in early Wednesday morning on the US presidential election, with the former declaring explicit support for Trump.

Ben-Gvir retweeted his own post from July 14 stating, “God Bless Trump,” with the fresh caption “Yessss,” accompanied by images of the Israeli and American flags.

Smotrich tweeted on Wednesday: “God bless Israel, God bless America.”

Foreign Minister Israel Katz tweeted, “Congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump on his historic victory. Together, we’ll strengthen the US-Israel alliance, bring back the hostages, and stand firm to defeat the axis of evil led by Iran.”

Minister-without-portfolio Gideon Sa’ar praised Trump’s “historic victory.”

“As a true friend of Israel with a proven commitment to Israel’s security, we welcome your strong and dedicated leadership as we work to build a better future of security and cooperation for the Middle East,” he tweeted.

Benny Gantz, leader of the opposition National Unity Party, called Trump ”a true friend of Israel—demonstrated through not only his words but actions.”

Gantz went on to state that, “Throughout his former tenure, he brokered the Abraham Accords, officially recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel, and moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem.”

He added: “Against the backdrop of emboldened Iranian aggression in the region, its race to nuclear capabilities, and the paramount efforts to return the hostages home, President Trump’s leadership will not only ensure the US continues to be a special friend and ally to the State of Israel but a vital beacon of moral clarity to the Middle East and the world, Thank you, and congratulations, Mr. President.”

Education Minister Yoav Kisch tweeted: “Welcome back Mr. President.”

Added Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar: “Congratulations to US President-elect Donald Trump. We’re already looking forward to the next four years.”

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on November 6, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Pray that the special relationship between Israel and the US, demonstrated by President-elect Trump during his previous tenure in office, will resume where it left off and become stronger than ever. Pray that the relationship between these two countries will be based on godly principles and a commitment to Judeo-Christian values.

Scripture

A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

- Proverbs 18:24

The Looming Terror Threat in Central Israel

by Josh Hasten ~ JNS

Thursday, 7 November 2024 | Standing on the roof of her apartment building on the eastern tip of the central Israeli town of Rosh HaAyin, just meters away from the security barrier, Moriah Tzafar shares a grave concern.

“We see [Palestinian Authority] cars driving around, getting closer to us. What are they doing here? The area is a closed military firing zone [Zone 203]. We see them carrying out tours of the fence line. There are cars, people, illegal housing and they’re getting closer. We report this every day to the authorities,” she says. “It reminds us of the [female] Israel Defense Forces [IDF] spotters overlooking the Gaza border. We didn’t listen to the spotters before October 7, 2023, how is it possible the same concept still exists, that we are [still] relying on a fence?”

Tzafar spoke during a press tour organized by the Regavim Movement this past Monday aimed at exposing security threats to Israelis living in the center of the country. The PA has constructed nearly 17,000 illegal structures within a kilometer [0.62 mi.] of Israel’s security fence, which stretches roughly along the 1949 Armistice Line from the Gilboa area in the north down to Ein Gedi near the Dead Sea.

According to Naomi Kahn, director of Regavim’s International Division, the security threat in the center of the country is pressing.

“The level of danger to Israelis living near the seamline is not a possibility, it is a reality. There have already been incursions and terrorist attacks in seamline communities and deep into Israel,” she told JNS.

“The level of danger is higher than we’d like to admit, as massive quantities of arms are coming in through Judea and Samaria [via Jordan] because the Gaza border is secured and northern border is in the process of being secured, so the Iranian proxies and anti-Israel forces are concentrating their efforts on the much longer and less protected seamline area,” she said. “They are gathering ammunition, drawing up plans and waiting for the opportune moment. The danger is massive, growing and imminent.”

Kahn explained that during the Oslo Accords the seam line was created to prevent an October 7-style scenario by forming a buffer zone and increasing Israel’s reaction time against a potential hostile invasion. However, despite the fact that it is illegal under international law to enter, build, plant, or make any physical changes within 500 meters [1640 ft.] of the security barrier, the PA constantly does so, she said.

In 2002, during the height of the Second Intifada, the Israeli government began construction of the security fence along the seam line in an attempt to prevent terrorist incursions into the center of the country.

However, according to Regavim, the state has ignored the PA attempts to annex Area C of Judea and Samaria and no steps have been taken push back against the illegal encroachment on state lands, which includes the construction of 90,000 illegal structures in areas under full Israeli jurisdiction.

At the same time, the security fence has been sabotaged repeatedly, to the point that many kilometers of the barrier have been completely demolished.

Rani Gavriel, the head of Rosh HaAyin’s auxiliary neighborhood patrol unit, working with local police to try and keep the community safe, told JNS that, “6,000 Arabs pour into Israel illegally on a daily basis.” He described a constant battle against theft, sexual assault and terrorist attacks by Arabs who penetrate the seam line.

“The Arab’s best weapon is the olive tree,” he said. “Even if the olives aren’t ready to be picked, they are in the fields using the trees as cover to carry out surveillance. These people are just like Hamas or Hezbollah. They openly say that Rosh HaAyin is theirs.”

Gavriel said he has been warning of the threat for years, meeting with the Knesset’s [parliament] Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and Internal Security Committee back in 2021, but nobody is listening. “October 7 wasn’t an isolated incident,” he warned. “We’re getting ready for the next one.”

Accompanied by a military escort, the group was taken into the nearby Firing Zone 203, located just to the east in Samaria. Kahn explained that Israel set up many firing zones on state land following Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai under the 1979 peace agreement with Egypt. Despite the fact that these training areas are closed military zones, Kahn said the PA encourages Arabs to move into them in order to create the illusion that ancient Arab villages existed there.

Firing Zone 203 is home to massive illegal construction, with beautiful villas and sports fields. E.M. (who asked that his name be withheld) the land protection officer for the Shomron Regional Council, who led the tour of the area, pointed out that we were traveling on a brand-new paved east/west route extending closer and closer to Rosh HaAyin.

“When we see the illegal construction we report it to the Civil Administration,” he told JNS. “They are working, but not doing enough. It’s time to wake up, destroy the illegal construction and take a stand against the PA, which is being funded by foreign entities.”

In the firing zone, Barak Werker, CEO of the Green Now organization, focused on the environmental damage to the area caused by the PA, which he said affects PA Arabs and Israelis alike. “When it comes to environmental issues, there are no borders. The seamline doesn’t exist,” he said.

Back in Rosh HaAyin, Moriah Tzafar had told the group her family suffers daily due to illegal burning of waste carried out by PA Arabs. “We are forced to sleep with the windows closed every night” she explained.

Werker stressed how the PA acts like a third world country, causing air pollution through illegal burns, especially of electronic waste, as well as water pollution by dumping raw sewage into streams. In his view, both Israel and the PA need to put politics aside and one entity needs to be created to handle all environmental issues.

Heading a bit further to the east in Samaria, the group was taken to the Avichai cattle farm, established on top of a hill on state land by Eitan Melet and his family more than a year ago.

With clear views of Rosh HaAyin and Tel Aviv to the west, Melet told JNS, “We are here protecting the seamline communities through a constant Jewish presence.” The Arab terrorists who carried out the 2022 terrorist attack in the city of Elad in which four Israelis were murdered, had set out from the area in which the farm is now located, he said, implying that the attack could have been prevented had there been an Israeli presence in the area at the time. “Our purpose is to safeguard the land of Israel,” said Melet.

When asked what Israel could do to increase security in the post-October 7 reality, Kahn said, “The government must treat our enemies as enemies. It must stop living under the false concept of enabling Arabs to come through and providing the Arabs with economic incentives not to attack us. We saw along the Gaza border that that is a completely false assumption, but that’s still an assumption that forms the basis of Israel’s policy. That has to be changed.”

Israel, she continued, must “take the PA at its word—it intends to create a Palestinian state in all of Judea and Samaria and we have to look carefully at what the PA has done up till now with its security forces. A PA state will not be one that intends to live in peaceful coexistence. Dozens of Israelis have been murdered by the official PA police forces while hundreds have been wounded. Their security apparatus is aimed at us and is waiting simply for the opportune moment to unleash another October 7 upon us,” she added.

Source: (Excerpt of an article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on November 5, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Josh Hasten/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Intercede for Israeli citizens who live in the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, putting their lives at risk in order to establish a Jewish presence in the Land. Pray that all Arab structures erected illegally will be demolished and the PA held to account under Israeli law as well as the Oslo Accords. Pray that any weak points along the border between Israel and Jordan will no longer be used to bring in weapons for the terrorists.

Scripture

The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my Savior, You save me from violence.

- 2 Samuel 22:3

Israeli Antibody Treatment Targets Most Aggressive Breast Cancer

by JNS

Wednesday, 6 November 2024 | A newly developed antibody-based treatment for the most aggressive type of breast cancer could also be used to treat many other cancers, the Weizmann Institute of Science announced on Sunday.

The researchers at the university in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, which offers postgraduate-only degrees in the natural and exact sciences, discovered that aggressive breast cancer prompts nearby immune cells to build “molecular bridges” between themselves, which causes these cells to refrain from attacking the cancer and leads to suppression of the immune response.

An antibody treatment that blocks the building of these bridges was shown in a mouse model at the university’s laboratories to restore the immune system’s ability to attack with force, inhibiting the cancer’s progression, the university said.

In the past, cancer treatment focused on destroying the malignant cells, using radiation treatment or chemotherapy.

In recent decades, however, it has become evident that a tumor’s development depends on the communication between the cancer and the nearby noncancerous cells.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which the study focused on, is the most aggressive type of breast cancer and represents up to 20% of all new cases, the university said.

A significant proportion of these cancers occurs in patients with mutations in two genes, which are especially common among Ashkenazi Jews.

The City of Hope cancer treatment and research center in Duarte, California, in Los Angeles County, is working with the Weizmann Institute to develop therapies based on the antibody, the university said.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women around the world, after lung cancer. While steadily on the decline over the last several decades, the chances are that one in 39 women, or 2.5%, will succumb to the disease.

TNBC accounts for 15% to 20% of breast cancer cases. They lack or show low levels of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression and/or gene amplification.

The study is being published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Cell Reports.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on November 4, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Doron Horowitz/Flash90/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Give thanks to the Lord for this medical discovery which unlocks a previously unknown connection at the body’s cellular level and offers the hope of a more effective breast cancer treatment. Pray that Israeli researchers at the Weizmann Institute will have success in bringing the antibody treatment to millions of women who have contracted breast cancer.

Scripture

A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a faithful ambassador brings health.

- Proverbs 13:17

Lebanon: Massive ‘Underground Combat Sites’

by Bassam Tawil ~ Gatestone Institute

Thursday, 7 November 2024 | The Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah, as part of its preparations for war with Israel, spent the past 15 years building a vast network of tunnels in Lebanon. Some of the tunnels were supposed to be used for invading Israel to carry out atrocities against Israelis like the ones committed by Hamas, another Iran terror proxy, on October 7, 2023.

At a time when Lebanon faced a severe financial situation, Hezbollah invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the construction of the tunnels.

The funds used to build the tunnels could have alleviated Lebanon’s financial crisis, but Hezbollah chose instead to invest in preparing for war and terror attacks against Israel.

According to some reports, Iran and North Korea helped Hezbollah set up a project forming a network of “inter-regional” tunnels in Lebanon, a network significantly larger than the Hamas tunnels. According to a 2021 report by the Alma Research and Education Center:

“Various reports indicate that in the late 1980s, and even more so after the Second Lebanon War (2006), North Korea advisors significantly assisted Hezbollah’s tunnel project…Hezbollah, inspired and supported by the Iranians, saw North Korea as a professional authority on the subject of tunneling, based on the extensive experience that it had accumulated in building tunnels for military use since the 1950s…

“Hezbollah’s model is the same as the North Korean model: tunnels in which hundreds of combatants, fully equipped, can pass stealthily and rapidly underground…”

In October, the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] discovered a tunnel in southern Lebanon that was intended by Hezbollah for use as a staging ground, where hundreds of terror operatives would arrive when called, pick up their equipment and weapons, and ready themselves to attack Israeli towns.

A reporter who visited the site wrote:

“The underground site—dug into a mountain—was some 2 kilometers [1.2 mi.] in length. It reached depths of around 40 meters [130 ft.] in some areas, and the hallways themselves were more than two meters [6.5 ft.] high. In fact, it was the largest tunnel found by the [Israeli] army in southern Lebanon to date.”

Brig. Gen. Guy Levy, commander of the IDF’s 98th Division, was quoted as saying:

“This isn’t a ‘tunnel,’ it’s an underground combat site, extremely significant, which the enemy constructed over years for the purpose of an invasion of Israel—we estimate targeting the northern [Israeli] towns.”

The current IDF operation in southern Lebanon foiled Hezbollah’s plan to invade Israel. Many of the terrorist organization’s tunnels have been destroyed by IDF troops. It is believed, however, that there are still many tunnels in many parts of Lebanon that have not yet been discovered by the IDF.

“Much is unknown about the Hezbollah tunnels,” according to a report by Patrick Sullivan, John Spencer and John Amble, published by the Modern War Institute at West Point.

“Like the Hamas tunnels in Gaza that Israeli forces have contended with during their military campaign there, the only way to know for sure how many tunnels there are—and their scale, form and purposes—is discovering them on the ground.”

The report added out that there are major differences between Hamas and Hezbollah tunnels:

“While some of the functions may be the same, the geology, construction, location, scale, and primary purposes are completely different.

“Southern Lebanon consists of hilly, rocky terrain, requiring Hezbollah to dig with drills into solid rock over months and years to create single tunnels. In Gaza, by contrast, sandy sediment allows for digging with simple hand tools, making tunnels quicker to dig but also requiring large amounts of concrete to reinforce them. Hezbollah’s rocky tunnel construction also makes them extremely sturdy, which affects which bunker-busting munitions can reach the tunnels. In addition to running under civilian areas and wooded ground, many of Hezbollah’s tunnels and bunkers are inside mountains. The geographic scale and the variety of terrain pose a different challenge than the network of Hamas tunnels under flat and very dense urban terrain.

Hezbollah’s tunnel system is estimated to span hundreds of kilometers, with some tunnels reaching depths of 40-80 meters [131-262 ft.] beneath rocky terrain, serving as a complex military infrastructure.

Recent videos of IDF operations in Lebanon show the danger of these tunnels, as their destruction has caused damage to buildings above them in Lebanese villages where the IDF has operated. Some tunnels were discovered near bases used by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in southern Lebanon. UNIFIL forces have failed to carry out their mission of implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which requires them to prevent the presence of armed elements of Hezbollah south of the Lebanon’s Litani River. UNSC Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, calls for the withdrawal of Hezbollah from south of the Litani River and the disarming of Hezbollah and other armed groups. It also stresses that no armed forces other than UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces will be south of the Litani River.

Even if Hezbollah says it will withdraw to north of the Litani River, the tunnels enable it easily to violate that pledge, with no one above ground the wiser. Hezbollah, moreover, never abided by UNSC Resolution 1701 to stop building tunnels and stockpiling weapons in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah and Hamas bear full responsibility for the death of thousands of Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis since the October 7, 2023 massacres in which Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis. The two terrorist groups started the war, at the behest of their patrons in Iran, with the intention of killing a large number of Israelis and eliminating Israel. The vast network of tunnels they built in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip are an indication of the terrorist groups’ determination to pursue their Jihad (holy war) against Israel, notwithstanding the risks to the Lebanese and Palestinian people living under their rule.

The current war in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip must not end without the destruction of all the tunnels and the total defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas. Those who are pushing for an immediate ceasefire are only empowering Iran and its terror proxies, paving the way for another October 7-style massacre. The defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas will benefit not only the Israelis, but the Lebanese and Palestinians, as well.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Gatestone Institute on November 5, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia

Prayer Focus
Continue to pray for the IDF soldiers fighting in the north and for the engineering troops tasked with the destruction of Hezbollah’s tunnel network. Pray that all tunnels prepared for Israel's annihilation are uncovered and destroyed. Give thanks that Hezbollah was not able to infiltrate northern Israel from these tunnels.

Scripture

For what is the allotment of God from above, and the inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Is it not destruction for the wicked, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

- Job 31:2–3

The Media Implements Sinwar’s Genocidal Vision

by Alon Dershowitz and Andrew Stein ~ JNS via Gatestone Institute

Friday, 1 November 2024 | Following the death of Yahya Sinwar, documentary evidence has emerged confirming what many observers already knew: the Hamas leader weaponized the death of Gazan civilians, especially women and children.

He understood that the media would emphasize these civilian deaths, attribute them all to Israel and increase the pressure on the Israeli government to satisfy Hamas’s unreasonable demands. This is how the Wall Street Journal put it, following a lengthy investigation:

“Arab mediators hastened to speed up talks about a ceasefire…Sinwar in a message urged his comrades in Hamas’s political leadership outside Gaza not to make concessions and instead to push for a permanent end to the war. High civilian casualties would create worldwide pressure on Israel, Sinwar said.”

This “dead baby strategy” has been used by Hamas for decades. Its leaders regard increasing the reported number of civilian casualties among Palestinians as necessary to victory, both in the court of public opinion and in the courts of law. Hence, they declare these dead civilians to be martyrs and encourage civilians to remain in dangerous places and among Hamas combatants.

This may be the first time in military history that leaders have admitted putting their own people in harm’s way to increase the casualty figures.

Without the support of the media, this strategy would not succeed. It requires that the media report Hamas-generated civilian casualty figures uncritically and without investigating the underlying components of the reported figures.

So the media report approximately 43,000 dead Palestinians. Although it could easily distinguish between combatant and non-combatant deaths, Hamas refuses to do so. Instead, it distinguishes between male adults, women and those who they describe as “children.” It fails to acknowledge that many of these so-called children were also combatants. Hamas lists anyone under 19 as a child, regardless of whether they are 15, 16, 17 or 18-year-old terrorists who have been recruited and trained by Hamas to murder Israelis. They do the same with women, conveying the impression that only men are terrorists.

Moreover, they fail to distinguish friendly-fire casualties that resulted from rockets fired by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups whose rockets have a high failure rate, with many landing in Gaza.

They suggest that all non-Hamas members are innocent civilians. But many non-Hamas “civilians” were directly involved in the massacres, rapes and kidnappings of October 7, 2023. Others cheered on these barbarians as they returned to Gaza with their live and dead hostages. Still others allowed their homes to be used to imprison hostages. Many contributed to Hamas financially and in other ways. Then there are the human shields—some voluntary, some coerced—who died as a result of deliberately being placed in harm’s way pursuant to the Sinwar strategy of maximizing civilian deaths.

Accordingly, no one really knows the precise number of innocent Palestinians who have been killed. It would not be surprising if a careful breakdown of the dead resulted in a figure below 10,000 whose deaths can reasonably be attributed to Israel, rather than to the Sinwar strategy. Even double that figure would be remarkably low in comparison with casualty figures in other urban wars fought by NATO and democratic countries. It would represent an approximate ratio of one civilian killed for every combatant killed. And it would mean that approximately one percent of Gaza’s civilian population died in a war started by Hamas and fought behind civilian shields. In comparable urban wars, the ratios have been worse for civilians.

Yet the media make it seem as if Israel is the worst offender in history. And useful ignoramuses on university campuses, along with bigots in international organizations, falsely accuse Israel of genocide, despite the successful efforts of the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] to reduce civilian casualties to the minimum possible, consistent with achieving their military goals.

The time has come for credible investigations and evaluations of the actual numbers of Gazans in the various categories who have been killed. In the absence of an honest accounting, the media will continue to do Sinwar’s nefarious work in increasing Palestinian casualties in order to increase the pressure on Israel.

The result of implementing the Sinwar strategy, even after his death, will be more Palestinian deaths, continuing warfare and the demonization of Israel. This is precisely what Sinwar asked his followers to do after his death. He should not be permitted to achieve his murderous goals posthumously. Reporting the truth will prevent that from happening, because the Sinwar strategy relies on mendacious and selective reporting by the media.

Sadly, the media’s dangerous cooperation with terrorists tells us more about them than about the war about which they purport to be “reporting.”

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate via Gatestone Institute on October 31, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Atia Mohammed/Flash90/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Pray for truth in reporting rather than the selective and inaccurate reporting of civilian casualties that we have seen so far. Pray that the media will be held responsible for their part in contributing to the success of Sinwar’s plan that put Gazans in harm’s way in order to increase international pressure on Israel.

Scripture

Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.

- Psalm 86:11

Israeli Commandos Capture Senior Hezbollah Terrorist in Lebanon

by Joshua Marks ~ JNS

Monday, 4 October 2024 | The Israel Defense Forces’ [IDF] elite Shayetet 13 naval commando unit on Friday night captured a senior Hezbollah figure in Northern Lebanon.

The IDF confirmed the operation in Batroun, south of Tripoli, on Saturday.

The terrorist, identified as Imad Amhaz, is considered to be a “significant source of knowledge” in the terror group’s naval force, according to the Israeli military.

Amhaz is being interrogated by the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504, which specializes in HUMINT, or human intelligence.

According to Lebanese reports, a 20-man team disguised as Lebanese security forces, including two soldiers in civilian clothes, arrived by sea on speedboats and raided a chalet on the coast, capturing Amhaz before leaving on the speedboats. The entire raid took only four minutes.

Hezbollah Commanders Killed

The IDF announced on Sunday morning that the commander of Hezbollah’s terror forces in the Khiam area, located in the Nabatieh Governorate of southern Lebanon, had been killed in an Israeli drone strike.

Farouk Amin Alasi led many anti-tank missile and rocket attacks on Israeli communities in the Galilee Panhandle, especially Metula, according to the army.

Additionally, the IDF eliminated Yousef Ahmad Nun, a Radwan Force company commander in the Khiam area who was responsible for rocket and anti-tank missile attacks on Israeli communities in the Galilee area and IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah terrorist Jaafar Khader Faour was killed in the area of Jouaiyya in southern Lebanon, the IDF said on Saturday.

Faour, the commander of Hezbollah’s Nasser Unit’s missile and drone arrays, “was responsible for terror attacks carried out from eastern Lebanon, from which the first rocket launches toward Israeli territory were fired on October 8, under his command,” the IDF said, adding that he planned many terrorist attacks against Israel and IDF soldiers.

“As the commander of the Nasser Unit’s missiles and rockets array, Faour was responsible for multiple rocket attacks from his area toward the Golan, including the attack that resulted in the deaths of the Israeli civilians from Kibbutz Ortal, the attack on Majdal Shams, which killed 12 children and teenagers and injured many others, and the rocket attack on Metula last Thursday, which resulted in the deaths of 5 civilians,” the IDF stated.

On Friday, the IDF eliminated two Hezbollah commanders responsible for firing over 400 projectiles at Israel in October.

Mousa Izz al-Din, the commander of Hezbollah’s forces in the coastal sector, and Hassan Majid Daib, Hezbollah’s artillery commander in the coastal sector, were killed in an airstrike in the Tyre area.

2,000 Hezbollah Terrorists Killed Since Start of Ground Op

Some 2,000 Hezbollah terrorists have been killed by troops and in airstrikes since the start of Israel’s ground operation in southern Lebanon on October 1, according to IDF estimates.

Since Hezbollah began its near-daily attacks on Israel on October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas led a massacre of 1,200 people, nearly 3,000 Hezbollah members have been killed, according to Israeli military assessments.

100 Projectiles Fired Into Israel on Saturday

Hezbollah terrorists launched 100 projectiles (rockets, missiles and drones) from Lebanon into Israeli territory on Saturday, according to the IDF.

Sirens continued to sound on Sunday morning in the north and down into central Israel, with residents in the Menashe and Carmel areas running to bomb shelters, including Talmei Elazar east of Hadera.

Alerts were also heard in the Galilee and Golan Heights during the morning hours.

The IDF said two projectiles crossed into Israel from Lebanon following the sirens that sounded in the areas of Menashe and Carmel. The Israel Air Force shot down one projectile and the other fell in an open area.

Another 10 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory after alarms were heard in the western Galilee area, with some of the projectiles intercepted and the rest falling in open areas.

Seven people were killed and one person was seriously wounded on Thursday in two separate Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel’s north.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on November 3, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: IDF/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Pray that information gained from the capture of Imad Amhaz will help Israel’s naval forces protect her coastline and the offshore gas rigs. Give thanks for the intelligence and unity that allowed this 20-man team to infiltrate enemy territory, achieve its objective and complete the mission in four minutes!

Scripture

When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

- Numbers 10:9

Abbas Calls for Sanctions against Israel at UN

by JNS

Thursday, 7 November 2024 | Palestinian Authority [PA] chief Mahmoud Abbas demanded on Monday that the UN sanction Israel for alleged breaches of its charter and failure to implement resolutions, Ramallah’s Wafa news outlet reported.

Addressing the UN’s World Urban Forum in Cairo, Abbas said Israel should be penalized for what he called its “failure to fulfill its obligations upon gaining UN membership in 1949 and for not adhering to UN General Assembly [UNGA] resolutions 181 and 194,” according to the Wafa news report.

UNGA Resolution 181 was adopted in 1947 and called for the partition of the British Mandate into two states: one Jewish and one Arab. It was rejected by Palestinian and Arab nations, with the latter launching a war of annihilation against the nascent Jewish state.

Resolution 194 (1948), which is not legally binding, recommends that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.”

Abbas claimed that the “implementation of relevant UN resolutions, especially the recent UNGA decision on the International Court of Justice’s [ICJ] advisory opinion, along with granting Palestine full UN membership, are essential for achieving justice and stability.”

The PA chief’s remarks closely resembled those of Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Palestinian rights whose anti-Jewish statements have been widely criticized, who told the Democracy Now outlet last week that Israel should be suspended from the world body due to Jerusalem’s alleged attempts to “erase Palestinianness.”

“There has been the violations of hundreds of resolutions by the—on Israel, over occupied Palestinian territory, by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, and steady violation of international humanitarian law, human rights law, the Apartheid Convention, the Genocide Convention,” Albanese charged.

Last month, Abbas claimed that Israel is a “colonial project” that would be defeated if the US withdrew its support, the Jewish state’s Kan News public broadcaster reported, quoting Russian state-controlled media.

The Kan report cited an interview that aired on Russia-1 with Russia Today chief editor Margarita Simonyan, who met Abbas on the sidelines of the BRICS summit on October 22–24, held in Kazan in central Russia.

According to Simonyan, the Palestinian leader told her over coffee, “We have an issue with the US. They are the ones perpetrating everything. Who brought Zionism to this country? The colonizers.”

Officials of Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction sat down with Hamas terrorists in Cairo in recent days for talks on the establishment of a body to manage Gaza after the conclusion of Israel’s war against terror.

Last month, a PA official told Reuters that the terrorist groups were in negotiations to form a committee to run Gaza and manage its border crossings after talks for a unity government faltered. At the time, the committee’s form and duties remained unclear, the PA official said.

On September 25, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa announced that Fatah had agreed to meet with Hamas in Cairo. Mustafa said the talks would focus on forging initial deals “to arrange the situation” in Gaza. He confirmed his “readiness to administer the Gaza Strip the day after the war,” the Ma’an News Agency reported, “without excluding anyone.”

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on November 6, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Loey Felipe/UN Photo/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Pray that accusations against Israel brought forth by PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas and UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Rights Francesca Albanese will be exposed for the blatant lies that they are. Pray that Abbas’s speech at the UN World Urban Forum in Cairo will have the opposite effect that he intended and will instead cause UN member countries to support Israel.

Scripture

For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head…They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

- Psalm 83:2, 4

Israel Katz’s Path to Defense Minister

by Itamar Eichner ~ Ynetnews

Wednesday, 6 November 2024 | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Foreign Minister Israel Katz as the country’s new defense minister Tuesday, replacing Yoav Gallant, who was dismissed for the second time in the current administration and in the middle of a war.

This marks the most senior position Katz has held to date and one that could bolster his path to potential leadership, following his two terms as foreign minister and previous stints as finance, transportation, energy, agriculture and intelligence ministers.

Katz, 69, has not been among Netanyahu’s closest allies, yet he has shown loyalty in the current  government, proving himself to be non-threatening in Netanyahu’s eyes. The prime minister likely believes that appointing Katz, a seasoned political figure, will alleviate public surprise and discontent over Gallant’s dismissal, as Gallant was widely seen as a competent defense minister with favorable ratings among Israelis. Netanyahu understood that an alternative appointment, such as Avi Dichter, might not receive public approval.

Over the years, Katz has built a reputation as a political “bulldozer,” especially during his tenure as transportation minister. However, in the past year, he faced significant criticism, particularly over the perceived decline in Israel’s international standing. Katz has since lowered his profile, focusing his efforts on consolidating his influence within the Likud party.

Katz was born in Ashkelon in 1955 to Holocaust survivors from Romania who lost most of their families in concentration camps. He grew up in the farming community of Kfar Ahim, studied at the Or Etzion yeshiva, and served in the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] paratroopers, reaching the rank of captain.

Early in his political career, Katz aligned with Ariel Sharon, establishing the “Sharon Camp” in the Likud Party following the Lebanon War and Sharon’s ousting as defense minister. Katz later became Sharon’s assistant at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Since 1998, Katz has served in the Knesset [parliament], holding numerous influential roles. Twice, he was elected president of the Likud convention and twice as chairman of the Likud Secretariat; remaining in that role today.

Relationship with Netanyahu and Questions Surrounding the Appointment 

Katz understands the dynamics with Netanyahu, leaving US relations to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer while focusing on the EU and the UN. Recently, Netanyahu has drawn Katz closer, inviting him into Israel’s wartime decision-making forum. Though Katz has experience as a member of the Security Cabinet, questions remain about whether a former IDF captain like Katz has the requisite experience to lead the Defense Ministry amid a multifront war. Some argue, however, that high-ranking military credentials have not guaranteed successful defense ministers, suggesting it may be time for a civilian leader less beholden to military norms. In the coming period, Netanyahu is expected to play a dual role as both foreign and defense minister, with Katz as a figurehead defense minister.

Source: (Excerpt of an article originally published by Ynetnews on November 6, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: US Embassy Jerusalem/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia

Prayer Focus
Pray for a smooth transition as Israel Katz assumes the critically important role of defense minister during this time of war. Pray for unity between the members of Israel’s Security Cabinet as Prime Minister Netanyahu leads the country. Pray that all of Israel’s leaders will recognize the wisdom that comes from God alone.

Scripture

Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses.

- Deuteronomy 34:9

Irish Textbooks Say Jesus Was from ‘Palestine,’ Downplay Auschwitz

by Caanan Lidor ~ JNS

Tuesday, 5 November 2024 | “Jesus was born in a country called “Palestine,” which is also known as the Holy Land and located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”

This piece of information, which inaccurately ties the Christian holy figure to the Palestinian cause and ignores Israel’s existence, is one of several passages highlighted in a report published Monday on problems in how Irish textbooks treat the Jewish religion, history and state. The text, found in an Irish religious studies textbook from 2020 for 7–9th graders titled “Inspire – Wisdom of the World,” is part of a pattern of “oversimplification and delegitimization” of Israel and Jews, the IMPACT-se watchdog group wrote in “European Textbooks Ireland Review.”

“Historical references to Jesus living in ‘Palestine’ without appropriate context can contribute to narratives that challenge Israel’s legitimacy and undermine the Jewish historical connection to the land,” wrote IMPACT-se, a Jerusalem-based nonprofit that monitors antisemitic and anti-Israel bias in education worldwide. The area where Jesus lived was primarily referred to as Judea at the time.

Other textbooks feature the discredited “Palestinian Land Loss” maps, which mislabel Jordanian and Egyptian-held territory as part of “Palestine,” among other issues. A 2022 book civics textbook titled “Call to Action” for the same age group uses an “unfair and inaccurate framing of Israel as the sole aggressor and actor responsible for the conflict,” IMPACT-se wrote.

A history book titled “Dictatorship and Democracy” for 17- and 18-year-olds identifies Auschwitz as a “prisoner of war camp,” which “minimizes the unique and horrific nature of the Holocaust and the systematic extermination carried out there,” IMAPCT-se wrote.

The recommendations in the report call for Ireland’s National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to “revise historical references and refrain from using politically-loaded terms like “Palestine” in the context of Jesus, and “implement proofreading and approval mechanisms.”

Ireland is a traditionally Catholic country with one of Europe’s highest worship attendance rates (7th of 33 countries, according to a PEW study from 2018). In an Anti-Defamation League [ADL] survey on antisemitism from 2014, 20% of Irish respondents expressed what ADL defined as antisemitic attitudes, similar to in Italy and Portugal.

Ireland is one of Israel’s most vociferous critics within the European Union, and one of a handful of European countries that recognized Palestinian statehood in May. In March, Ireland said it would support South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice for alleged genocide against Palestinians.

In September, Irish President Michael D. Higgins accused Israel’s embassy in Dublin of leaking to the media a letter he had penned to Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, where Higgins had written that the Islamist dictatorship, which maintains terrorist proxies across the Middle East, had a “crucial role” in achieving peace there. The embassy has denied this.

Last week, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called on the European Union to “review its trade relations” with Israel, following what he described as a “shameful” vote by the Knesset [parliament] on a law banning the activities in the country of UNRWA, the UN aid agency for Palestinians.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on November 5, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Screen capture from IMPACT-se's report titled "European Textbooks Ireland Review."/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Pray that educational materials which present inaccurate or biased information as historical truth, such as the Irish textbook, will continue to be exposed. Pray that any nation whose educational system is perpetrating such biased or politically-motivated material will remove such textbooks.

Scripture

My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

- Proverbs 3:1–3

Former Hamas Hostage Marks Bar Mitzvah

by Amelie Botbol ~ JNS

Tuesday, 5 November 2024 | Former Hamas captive Erez Kalderon celebrated his bar mitzvah [religious coming-of-age for boys] in Kiryat Gat, southeast of Ashkelon, on Thursday, after marking his 12th birthday in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas terrorists kidnapped Kalderon, along with his father, Ofer, and 16-year-old sister, Sahar, from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Erez and Sahar were among 105 hostages released last November as part of a weeklong ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Ofer, now 53, remains a captive in Gaza.

“It was very difficult. For probably the first time in the last year, we let ourselves celebrate for Erez to feel some joy in almost 400 days,” Eyal Kalderon, Ofer’s cousin, told JNS on Sunday.

“It’s such an emotional event for any Jewish boy, a bar mitzvah ceremony. It’s his transition from child to grown-up. It’s very symbolic and he deserved to feel on that day like a regular kid. We just wanted to give him that chance even if just for one hour,” Eyal added. In September, Erez shared the harrowing story of his kidnapping and captivity in Gaza.

“It’s difficult for me to speak on camera, but if this reaches my dad—it’s worth everything,” he said in a video message.

Erez recounted the terrifying moments when attackers breached their home: “They simply broke the handle and entered. My dad quickly ran to the safe room, yelled at my sister Sahar to open the window, and I jumped out first.” Erez was caught by an attacker who took him away on a motorcycle. “I glanced to the side and saw my dad on his knees while they were beating him—that was the last time I saw him,” he recalled.

As he read a portion of the Torah on Thursday, Erez was accompanied by his uncle Nissan Kalderon, Ofer’s brother. “His father was meant to stand next to him and give him the confidence to do his ‘aliyah to the Torah,’ [reading of Torah blessing to the congregation] but he wasn’t. Erez did it with Nissan but it’s not the same,” Eyal Kalderon told JNS. “We live with very mixed feelings, happiness but a lot of sadness as well.”

After the bar mitzvah ceremony, the Kalderons held an event in Ness Ziona, where family members delivered speeches and a clip of Erez and Ofer was shown.

According to the latest Israeli intelligence assessment, an estimated 51 out of the 101 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza are alive.

“You can be alive one day and dead the next. It should be the world’s priority to bring them back,” Eyal said.

CIA director William Burns has proposed a 28-day ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for Hamas releasing eight hostages and Israel freeing dozens of Palestinian terrorists, Axios reported, citing three Israeli officials.

The head of the US intelligence agency advanced the plan during discussions in Doha on October 27 with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Mossad director David Barnea.

On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that the return of the hostages has become the Israel Defense Force’s [IDF] “most important mission” in Gaza.

Gallant said that the IDF will continue to put “as much pressure on Hamas as possible in order to create the conditions necessary to ensure the return of the hostages.”

The government, he continued, “must do what is necessary to bring about a deal. You must apply military pressure and do what is necessary to create the conditions required for us to carry out an agreement. This is our most important mission in Gaza at this time.”

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on November 4, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: X/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Continue to cry out in intercession for the release of the hostages still held in Gaza. Pray they will experience the comforting presence of God in the midst of the darkness of captivity. Give thanks that Erez Kalderon was able to mark his bar mitzvah surrounded by family and friends. Pray that he will soon be reunited with his father Ofer who is still held hostage in Gaza.

Scripture

Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield… Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, just as we hope in You.

- Psalm 33:20, 22