In-Depth Issues:
Former President Bill Clinton Defends Israel's War in Gaza - Jacob Magid ( Times of Israel) Former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Wednesday defended Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. Speaking in Michigan, Clinton asked voters to imagine "if you lived in one of those kibbutzim in Israel, right next to Gaza." &nb sp; "The most pro-two-state solution of any of the Israeli communities were the ones right next to Gaza, and Hamas butchered them." "The people who criticize [Israel's response] are essentially saying, 'Yeah, but look how many people you've killed in retaliation, how many is enough for you to kill to punish them for the terrible things they did?'" "That all sounds nice until you realize what you would do if it was your family and you hadn't done anything but support a homeland for the Palestinians, and one day they come for you and slaughter the people in your village." "You would say, 'You have to forgive me, but I'm not keeping score that way.' It isn't how many we've had to kill because Hamas makes sure that they're shielded by civilians. They'll force you to kill civilians if you want to defend yourself." Clinton noted that Jews "were there first" and had been in the land "in the time of King David."
How the UN Supports Israel's Enemies in Gaza and Lebanon - Tony Badran ( Tablet) The Israeli Knesset has taken a first step toward banning UNRWA from the country, following a series of revelations over the past year of its intimate, decade-long partnership with Hamas. Th e agency was shown, among other things, to have paid salaries to leading perpetrators of the Oct. 7 atrocities and allowed the terror organization to locate its combat headquarters and data centers under its schools. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) plays a similar role by allowing Hizbullah strike force members to use its bases as physical cover for the terrorist organization's tunnel networks and for the underground staging areas from which it intended to launch a bloody invasion of Israel's Galilee. IDF units operating in Lebanon have uncovered the openings of elaborate, large-scale Hizbullah tunnel networks a few yards away from UNIFIL positions. It was clearly impossible for UNIFIL commanders not to have been fully aware of the construction of those positions and their use by large squads of armed Hizbullah militants who moved in and out. This makes a mockery of UNIFIL's supposed role in demilitarizing southern Lebanon. Recently captured Hizbullah fighters have reported that the group had bribed UNIFIL personnel to use their positions. Moreover, Hizbullah took control of UNIFIL cameras near the border to collect intelligence on Israeli troop movements. In 2018, a story in the French press quoted a high-ranking Irish UNIFIL officer who relayed how some contingents regularly pass on intelligence to Hizbullah.
8 Israeli Products on TIME's Best Inventions of 2024 List - Abigail Klein Leichman ( Israel21c) TIME magazine's "Best Inventions of 2024" list includes eight products conceived in Israel. They include: Nuvo's wearable Invu remote pregnancy monitor that performs fetal non-stress tests remotely. OrCam Hear's AI-powered Ultra Focused Hearing Help, a hybrid "hearables solution" enabling people with hearing loss in noisy environments to tune into what they want while tuning out everything and everyone else. UVeye drive-thru vehicle inspection systems that check cars for damage within 30 seconds automatically. BeeHero beehive management system to monitor colony health and pollination activity. Emulait, a customizable baby bottle that mimics the mother's breast, for babies have trouble taking to a bottle. BelongAI's "Dave" cancer support chatbot, trained on eight years' worth of data from real-world patients to answer user questions and review and simplify medical documents.
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| News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia: - Iran Preparing Major Strike on Israel from Iraq - Barak Ravid
Israeli intelligence suggests Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days using a large number of drones and ballistic missiles. Carrying out the attack through pro-Iranian militias in Iraq could be an attempt by Iran to avoid another Israeli attack against strategic targets in Iran. (Axios)
See also If Iran Attacks Israel Again, U.S. Will Not Restrain Israeli Response
Washington has informed Tehran that if Iran launched another attack on Israel, the U.S. could not restrain an Israeli response, a senior U.S. official disclosed to Walla on Saturday. The official said the U.S. would not be a ble to prevent Israel from reacting or ensure that any response would remain as limited and precise as before. (Walla-Jerusalem Post) - Israel Disputes Claim that Israeli Forces Damaged UNRWA's West Bank Office
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, said Thursday on X that the UNRWA office in Nur Shams in the West Bank was severely damaged by Israeli bulldozers. In response, the IDF said the claim is false. "Terrorists planted explosives in the proximity of the UNRWA offices that were then detonated in an attempt to harm IDF soldiers. The explosives likely caused damage to the structure," the IDF said. (Reuterspan>) - Christian-Druze Town in Lebanon Fights Terrorist Takeover - Christina Goldbaum
A volunteer patrol begins at dusk every night to guard against infiltrators into Hasbayya, a mostly Druze and Christian town six miles from the Lebanese-Israeli border, seeking to prevent Hizbullah fighters from entering the town, which could make it a target of Israeli strikes.
"We don't want any strangers or anyone related to Hizbullah here," Ghassan Halabi, the deputy mayor of Hasbayya, told the New York Times last month. "It took us years to build this town and it could all be destroyed within minutes. We can't allow that to happen." (New York Times)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:- Israeli Naval Commandos Capture Senior Hizbullah Operative in Northern Lebanon - Yoav Zitun
Israeli authorities confirmed Saturday that a team of more than 25 naval commandos captured Emad Amhaz, a senior Hizbullah weapons expert in Batroun, northern Lebanon, who is currently being interrogated by military intelligence. Locals observed a military force conducting an amphibious landing on the beach. The force captured the Lebanese national, taking him to the shore and departing on motorboats to the open sea. One Israeli official remarked, "They just reached in and extracted someone from deep within Lebanon." (Ynet News)
See also Commando Mission Reveals Israel's Deep Penetration into Hizbullah - Avi Ashkenazi
The raid by an Israeli commando force in Batroun, north of Beirut, demonstrates an impressive level of intelligence and deep infiltration into Hizbullah, sending a message to Hizbullah members that they are not safe anywhere in Lebanon. The raid also conveys Israel's determination to wage high-intensity operations even in areas distant from the border. In other words, if there is no security in the Galilee, there will be no security for Hizbullah throughout Lebanon. (Jerusalem Post) - IDF Says 900 Terrorists Killed in Jabalia in Gaza - Emanuel Fabian
The IDF announced Saturday that Israeli troops had killed some 900 terror operatives during an ongoing operation in Jabalia in northern Gaza. Another 700 Palestinians have been detained, among whom at least 300 have been confirmed to be members of terror groups. (Times of Israel)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War
- Laying Siege to Israel's Enemy Isn't a War Crime - Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland
18 years ago Gaza be came de facto an independent state. It had clear borders, a stable central regime, an independent foreign policy and its own army. On Oct. 7, 2023, the state of Gaza launched a murderous war against the state of Israel. Militarily, the IDF achieved an impressive victory in Gaza. From the civilian aspect, however, Hamas is winning. It is maintaining its political control because it is still distributing the supplies in Gaza.
As a result, Hamas is seen as a government that takes care of the citizens. It gets rich from the supplies, which it receives for nothing but sells for an exorbitant price. With the considerable funds it accumulated, it pays the people loyal to it and recruits more combatants to replace those who were killed.
We must now think of another strategy that can create real pressure on the other side. The only solution which can achieve that lies in taking territory. Honor and land are seen as the sole values that guide Arab leaders. Th at's why I proposed occupying northern Gaza.
The argument that occupying territory in war is a forbidden move, and is even a war crime, is totally groundless. The most common and legitimate act in war is occupying territory. In Israel's campaign in Rafah, the IDF moved the maximum number of civilians to another area and the number of civilian casualties was small. We should carry out the exact same campaign in the north of Gaza. First, the civilians must be evacuated, and then we must act against the terrorists who remain there.
The most effective and economic way (in terms of casualties) to operate is by laying a siege, not by assault. Siege is an acceptable, approved military tactic by international law. There is no component in this proposal that is in violation of humanitarian international law.
The writer is a former head of Israel's National Security Council. (Ha'aretz) - The Need for Temporary Military Rule in Gaza - Col. (res.) Prof. Gabi Siboni
Hamas remains deeply embedded within the Gaza population and has no difficulty recruiting young armed followers. Any future solution for Gaza will require the complete military and political destruction of Hamas. As long as Hamas retains power, transferring control to a local or external entity remains problematic.
Hamas is still able to rebuild because it controls the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Its control of food distribution prolongs the war and hinders Israel's ability to achieve its objectives. Removing Hamas's governance necessitates that the IDF directly oversee humanitarian aid distribution, signaling to the population that Hamas's era in Gaza is over with no return.
The writer was director of the military and strategic affairs program of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) from 2006-2020. (Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security)
Hizbullah
- Hizbullah Loses Popular Lebanese and Shia Support - Hany Ghoraba
For the first time in more than four decades, Hizbullah appears frail. Hizbullah is no longer perceived by the Lebanese public as a defender of their land. Prominent Lebanese Shia scholar Ali Al-Amin stressed on Al Arabiya on Oct. 10 the necessity of handing over Hizbullah's wea pons to the Lebanese army.
One desperate Lebanese resident of Beirut's southern district, a Hizbullah stronghold, said in an Oct. 17 viral video: "Our building is destroyed...We don't have money to eat....They should remove their munition storage from underneath our homes."
Shia Muslim analyst Hadi Murad said, "This Iranian expansion is calling for fighting till the last Shia Muslim in Lebanon....The Iranian is not welcome to give us orders from above and below so we would fight for him and he is sitting at the negotiation table."
The writer, an analyst at Egypt's Al Ahram, is a senior fellow at the Investigative Project on Terrorism. (JNS)
Iran
- Iranian Religious Scholar: If We Conquer Israel, We Will Be Able to Conquer the West
Iranian religious scholar Masoud Aali stated on IRINN TV (Iran) on Oct. 24, 2024: "Israel is not an ordinary country or government. It is the fortress of...the West. If you manage to conquer it, you can conquer the West. Israel is the executive arm of Western hegemony. If you cut off this arm, Western hegemony will collapse."
"From the beginning of the Revolution, our Imam [Khomeini] presented the destruction of Israel as a religious idea and strategy, and not as a political idea....He knew that Israel has to be annihilated for [the Hidden Imam] to appear. He knew that the Western hegemony was meant to collapse." (MEMRI-TV)
Palestinians
- Palestinian Misrepresentation and Falsification of the Oslo Accords Tax Provisions - Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch
The Israel-Palestinian Oslo Accords (1993-1995) established reciprocal economic and financial commitments to strengthen peace. To this end, Israel agreed to waive certain taxes in favor of the Palestinian Authority (PA), assuming that their reciprocal commitments would contribute to peaceful relations. Based on this commitment, since 2010, Israel has collected over 107.5 billion shekels on behalf of the PA.
Rather than using this tax income to promote peace, the Palestinians have used the money to fund a host of policies that fundamentally breach t heir commitments in the Oslo Accords, including incitement to terror, the "Pay-for-Slay" terror reward policy, promoting Palestinian statehood, and using international fora to hound Israeli officials.
In their attempt to falsify and misrepresent the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians are now claiming that the agreed-upon taxes are "Palestinian monies" stolen by Israel. In light of these actions, which are tantamount to a unilateral alteration of the Oslo Accords, Israel should reconsider its position regarding the tax waivers and adopt performance-based criteria as a precondition for any future transfers.
The writer, Director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center, was director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria. (Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs)
Observations:
- The 14th-century Arab Muslim historian and political theorist Ibn Khaldoun assessed that history is a cycle of violence in which strong horses replace weak horses. After Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre, Israel, by necessity, has become the Middle East's strong horse in its ongoing battle against the Iranian regime and its terror proxies.
- The Arab world knows this. They witnessed the IDF's destruction of both Hamas and Hizbullah's command structure and leaderships, and the detonation of much of their weaponry and ammunition stockpiles. They then watched as Israel's air force decimate d Iran's anti-aircraft defenses and dominated Iranian air space.
- Arab League members widely denounced Israel's counterassault against the Iranian regime, while at the same time, Abraham Accords diplomats from Bahrain, Morocco and the UAE have remained in Tel Aviv, as have ambassadors from Jordan and Egypt, and even assisted Israel during Iranian regime missile and killer drone attacks.
- Israel's strong horse status is a key to winning peace and moderation in the Middle East but has been misunderstood in the West. America's mistaken mirroring of Israel as a small version of itself has constrained it from defeating radical enemies.
- Victory cannot be achieved against radical Islamic terrorism using Western principles and methods of compromise, ceasefire, diplomacy, and territorial concession. The Middle East does not work that way. Different rules apply.
- Compro mise signals weakness. A ceasefire is merely a cessation of hostilities to rearm and resupply. Territorial concession is the fate of the vanquished. The unilateral territorial concession of Gaza in 2005 led to five Hamas wars, climaxing in the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7. "Goodwill diplomacy" and territorial compromise opposite jihad, as demanded by the U.S. and Europe, proved to be a strategic disaster and existential threat to Israel.
- Israel's evolving self-awareness as an indigenous ethnic minority in a chaotic, unstable, and unforgiving Middle East recognizes that there is no alternative to the strong horse.
The writer is President of the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs.
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