If those who resemble humans do not understand what Hamas has done and support their activities then they are beyond help and, as far as I am concerned, I hope they receive what they deserve. I would parachute them over Gaza.
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1 killed, 2 hurt, in strike on northern town by Hezbollah terrorists
Anti-tank missile fired at Moshav Shtula in the Galilee, killing a 40-year-old man. Area up to 4 km from northern border closed by IDF.
Terrorists from Lebanon fired an anti-tank missile at Moshav Shtula in northern Israel this morning (Sunday).
Rescue and medical forces called to the scene reported that three people were injured in the strike, one of whom was in serious condition. The most seriously injured victim, a construction worker in his 40s, later succumbed to his injuries.
United Hatzalah ambulance driver Radi Hadad said: "A man in his 40s was unfortunately pronounced dead at the scene. We also treated two men in their 40s who were moderately injured and an additional individual who was lightly injured."
Additional anti-tank missile fire was carried out toward an IDF military post on the Lebanese border.
The Hezbollah terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the attack to Al Jazeera. IDF forces launched retaliatory strikes against terrorist targets in Lebanon following the attack on Shtula.
Following the deadly attack, the IDF announced that the area up to four kilometers from the northern border with Lebanon has been closed. The IDF emphasizes that entry into the area is prohibited and asks the public to be aware of this and not enter the area.
Civilians in the area of up to two kilometers from the border are asked to stay near protected areas.
Furthermore, GPS was restricted in active combat zones in accordance with various operational needs.
Citizens in the area should be aware that GPS restrictions can cause temporary glitches in location-based applications.
Earlier this morning, it was reported that IDF fighter jets operated in the Gaza Strip and killed Billal Al Kedra last night, the Nukhba commander of the forces in southern Khan Yunis, who was responsible for the Kibbutz Nirim massacre. Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror operatives were also killed.
The IDF also struck over one hundred military targets located in Zaytun, Khan Yunis, and west Jabaliya. These strikes impacted the capabilities of the Hamas terrorist organization, by targeting its operational command centers, military compounds, dozens of launchers, anti-tank missile launch posts, and observation posts. Furthermore, operational command centers belonging to the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization were struck.
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I heard a retired American senior officer confirm American rescue boots are now on the ground in Israel.
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The Moral Duty to Destroy Hamas
Israel is entitled to do whatever it takes to uproot this evil, depraved culture that resides next to it.
By Walter E. Block and Alan G. Futerman
A mob of Islamist Arabs incited by Jew-hatred entered the town and killed as many Jews as they could find. They went door to door, broke into the homes of their victims, and slaughtered innocent men, women and children. These gangs raped, mutilated and tortured them while screaming “Kill the Jews!”
That was 94 years ago, on Saturday, Aug. 24, 1929, in Hebron. The picture is essentially the same, only then Arab riots that included this massacre ended with 133 Jews murdered. This time, it is several times as many, and we don’t know the final figure.
Given that the events are virtually the same, the question is: Why? There was no state of Israel in 1929. There were no “occupied” territories, no “settlers.” There was no “blockade.” No security fence, no checkpoints, nothing. If the excuses of today’s murderers did not exist at that time, what did exist? A deep, maniacal, murderous and utterly destructive hatred of Jews—the same essential factor operating today, to which all other excuses are subservient.
It has been the policy of the state of Israel not to show what its enemies do to its citizens. That both kept the victims’ dignity and prevented the demoralization of Israelis. But it also avoided letting the world see clearly what kind of threat Israelis were dealing with. What kind of true evil they are fighting against. Now that is clear. The videos showing mass murder; the kidnapping of children, elderly and women; the storming of a music festival to shoot and kill whatever person they could find; and the stories of rape, execution and utter destruction are there for the world to see.
These images and videos were propagated by the assassins themselves. They use them to show their strength and prove Israeli weakness. To demonstrate to the Palestinian Arab population that the Jews can be killed like flies. What does it say of a society that these monsters think this type of “propaganda” is a “good” way to mobilize the population? It screams of a deeply perverse and murderous culture, in love with death and destruction. It is the same culture that teaches toddlers to hate. The same society that pays wages to mass murderers and celebrates on the streets with sweets and shootings when Jews get killed. It is the culture that creates the types of monsters capable of the evil they themselves proudly show to the world through social media.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” chant the useful idiots at elite institutions and parades in the West. Who are these people? Atheists who support theocratic lunatics, democrats who endorse medieval tyrants, feminists who defend misogynists who parade with the desecrated corpses of women, gays who defend maniacs who would joyfully hang them or toss them off the roof of a tall building. They talk of a secular, democratic and socialist Palestine. As George Orwell observed: “One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.” But the world has now seen what “from the river to the sea” actually means. It is nothing less than a remake of the Nazi Einsatzgruppen.
Israel expelled its own population from Gaza in 2005 so that Palestinian Arabs could begin building their own state. They instead chose Hamas. The enemies of Israel aren’t in favor of a Palestinian state. They aren’t in favor of anything positive, but only of a negative: the denial of life, especially of Jewish life. The goal is genocide. The method is mass murder of the type Jews haven’t experienced since the Holocaust.
Hence, the West needs to understand that to defend human life and dignity, it isn’t enough to claim to side with Israel. It needs to understand what this means: total, unrestrictive support. That is nothing less than allowing this beleaguered country to defend itself fully. To recognize that Hamas needs to be destroyed for the same reason and by the same method that the Nazis were. Israel is entitled to do whatever it takes to uproot this evil residing next to it. And, more important, that once it begins to proceed in that direction, it won’t be demonized for defending that which is the core of Western civilization and which its enemies hate the most: the love of everyone’s right to human life, dignity and happiness.
In other words, it needs to support a complete, total and decisive Israeli victory. If this implies an overwhelming, unprecedented use of military force, so be it. Hamas is and will be responsible for any civilian casualties. Cause and effect. They created their own destruction, and its consequences.
Mere victory isn’t enough. Israel has won every war it has ever fought. This time, the triumph must be so thorough and conclusive that there will never be any other war for this country. Israel has a moral right to finish the job, and the West has a moral duty to support it. Let Israel do what it must to finish this war in the fastest way possible, with the minimum civilian and military casualties on its side. The consequences of this lie on the group that initiated the causal sequence—the one that must be completely destroyed, Hamas.
Messrs. Block and Futerman are the co-authors of “The Classical Liberal Case for Israel.”
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From the Jewish Federations of North America Israel Office
Operation Swords of Iron: Update on Current Situation in Israel
Key Points
Israeli society is displaying unprecedented unity during this war and has come together with extensive volunteer efforts and aid from various organizations.
Heroic stories are emerging, including a journalist's rescue by his father and a retired couple's ordeal during a 20-hour Hamas hostage situation.
The war is impacting Israel's economy, with business limitations and ongoing challenges due to terrorist activity.
Arab Israelis struggle with the aftermath of the conflict, as questions on ethical considerations and the proportionality of Israel's response arise.
International support for Israel escalates, with the US dispatching additional military aid, and European leaders expressing steadfast support for Israel.
Jewish Federations launched a $500 million campaign, offering aid and resources for those affected, while maintaining close collaboration with Israeli authorities and partners on the ground.
Today is day 9 of Israel’s War with Hamas and this update takes a slightly different approach. In addition to the latest developments, today we will provide links and information focusing on more behind-the-scenes developments and areas, to give readers a better sense of the feeling in Israel.
Israeli Society
Israeli society has been galvanized by the war, leading to extraordinary giving and unity. See more in these links:
Israeli society has been galvanized by the war, leading to extraordinary giving and unity. See more in these links:
- Israelis are united as never before
- Israeli artists give their all to console, entertain amid Hamas war
- Legendary show Zehu Ze reunites for war effort
- How Israeli teens can help
- See this ad from Israel’s largest bank, as an example of how commercial entities are supporting the public.
- Jewish Federation partners are also involved in numerous volunteer efforts, including:
- Many Jewish Agency Masa Fellows are participating in volunteer activities, including assembling food packages, babysitting, conducting deliveries and more.
Kids studying at a vocational school supported by are helping survivors in the south. Students in the carpentry track created locks for safe spaces in apartments, to enhance their protection, while others in the culinary track prepared hot meals for families in the South.
Also, JDC converted an employment center in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak into a volunteer hub. So far, 500 Haredi volunteers have signed up and are staffing call centers, visiting elderly, and supporting community services. JDC aims to replicate this model in similar centers throughout Israel.
Across Israel, hundreds of thousands of citizens are taking part in a multitude of activities to assist soldiers, those evacuated from the south, and others in need. A few, almost random examples:
In the ultra-Orthodox city of Elad, youth are making 3,000 sandwiches a day for soldiers at a nearby IDF base.
In this writer’s street in a city in the center of the country, a call went out on Saturday night from a resident who explained that her son was returning from the Gaza Front for just twelve hours bringing uniforms, socks and underwear from many soldiers in his unit. Dozens of families immediately volunteered to do laundry and he headed back to the front with clean clothes for the whole unit.
There are endless stories of soldiers entering restaurants, falafel stands and countless other businesses being told, “their money is no good here” with products and services being provided for free.
Makeshift donation centers have sprung up in shopping malls, parking lots, and multiple other venues. Tens of thousands of Israelis are bringing food, clothing, personal hygiene items, home-baked cakes and cookies to these hubs so other volunteers can get them to soldiers at the front.
Stories of Heroes
Every day, we are learning more details, particularly about the events on the first day of the war, and with them countless stories are emerging of heroism, sometimes from unlikely places. See a collection here.
Haaretz journalist Amir Tibon was rescued from the fighting by his 62-year old father, a retired major-general. See here for more on the story, and here for Amir Tibon’s own retelling.
Read here the account of journalist Nir Gontarz who traveled south to save his son at the Rave attacked by Hamas gunmen.
One of the stories that has captured many Israelis’ attention has been that of Rachel and David Edri, a retired couple, held hostage in their home by Hamas for 20 hours. Rachel “bought time” until rescue forces could arrive by, among other methods, cooking food for the terrorists. See more, including video footage, here.
The Economic Impact of War
Conflict of this scale has, by definition, a significant impact on both the Israeli and the global economy. With so many reservists called up, key employees are out of pocket in many firms and businesses, and the Home Front Command has imposed restrictions on hours of operation for shopping malls and many other venues. Read below for more insight on this aspect of the war.
How has the war impacted Israel’s economy so far?
Terrorists stole credit cards from their Israeli victims
Israeli fintech experts mobilize to thwart financial transfers to Hamas
Arab Israelis
Arab Israelis face unique questions any time there is an escalation. The barbarism and horrific nature of the October 7th attack, has left many struggling. Read more here:
Israel’s Arab citizens torn
Jews and Arabs join forces to help war victims and prevent riots
Paramedic Awad Darawshe, 23: Killed treating wounded at rave massacre
Ethical Questions
A number of ethical questions have arisen in connection with Israeli’s retaliation for the attacks of October 7th and as this conflict continues, we can anticipate that additional issues will come up. Here are 3 examples.
Should Israeli hospitals refuse medical treatment to Hamas terrorists?
Cutting off electricity and water to Gaza: Ethical or excessive?
Many are discussing the issue of “proportionality” in Israel’s response. See here for a discussion, from British television that includes a forceful response as to why the call for “proportionality” is baseless.
In the international community, many are asking questions about Israel’s action. Below are two questions, and suggested answers:
Question: Are Palestinian civilians being targeted by Israel?
Answer: Israel was attacked by one of the most barbaric, immoral, inhuman organizations that the world has ever known - one that vows to wipe the entire country off the face of the earth. Hamas is a group that purposely targets civilians with documented plans to commit horrific atrocities. These plans were implemented and included beheadings, burning people alive, killing dozens of babies, raping women, taking Holocaust survivors and others as captives. This evil organization was elected by the people of Gaza.
Nonetheless, Israel is a humane, law-abiding country, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reflect those values. Despite the terrible crimes committed, and the unprecedented threats against the Jewish state, Israel is NOT targeting civilians, and is even warning Palestinians before it strikes Hamas’ terror and military targets; losing the element of surprise as the price it must pay for keeping Gazan non-combatants out of harm's way.
Israel has repeatedly warned Gaza’s civilian population to evacuate certain areas to avoid being caught in the violence. Cynically, disturbingly, and once again demonstrating their complete disregard for human life and civilian populations, Hamas has ordered residents not to leave and to stay in place, despite the warnings that Israel has given, potentially condemning some of their own people to die. And now, evidence has emerged of Hamas blocking the safe corridors created by Israel, forcing their own civilian population to remain in the fighting zone and become human shields and propaganda pawns.
Question: Why is Israel cutting off electricity and other supplies to Gaza?
Answer: Hamas, elected by the people of Gaza, is the authority in charge of the Strip, and responsible for the well-being of its citizens. If the hostages are released, Israel has said that it will immediately resume electricity and other supplies, even though, in the past, the regime has diverted large quantities of provisions and aid for military and terror purposes, while its wealthy leadership has squandered urgent resources for themselves.
For example, we have seen again and again that emergency supplies of much-needed diesel fuel (used to power generators for hospitals, among other purposes) has been redirected to Hamas’ rocket program and other military uses. It should also be noted that in regular times, Israel only supplies 10% of Gaza’s water and 50% of its electricity (a further 25% comes from solar power, and the rest from Egypt and other sources).
In short:
Israel is fighting an unprecedented war against a barbaric enemy that has committed horrific atrocities not seen since the Holocaust.
Hamas was elected by the people of Gaza and is responsible for their welfare.
Hamas purposely targets civilians and continues to do so.
Israel does not, and will not, target non-combatants, and gives warning to civilians before attacks.
Israel will resume supplies to Gaza if Hamas releases the 126+ hostages it abducted including young children, women and many elderly civilians; even though it is well-known that Hamas will almost certainly redirect those resources for military purposes.
Philanthropic Responses from North America and Israel
Jewish Federations are raising funds at lightning speed for urgent needs in Israel towards our $500 million goal.
Business magnate Mike Bloomberg has committed to matching all donations to Magen David Adom. As of Wednesday, Bloomberg had matched $7.5m in new gifts.
See more on North American philanthropy for Israel during the war, here.
Israeli philanthropist Ofer Yannay has established a Help Center for IDF soldiers, and also launched a campaign to raise national spirits, including full page ads in all of the country’s weekend newspapers with the slogan, “Am Yisrael will win.”
The Home Front
Funerals took place across Israel, as the country continues to bury its dead. Professor Erdan Segal of the Weizmann Institute published data showing that last week’s massacre was the deadliest terror attack anywhere in the world proportionate to the size of the country. Per millions of citizens, the attack was at least thirteen times as deadly as the attacks of 9/11. See here for an account of those involved in the grim task of identifying victims.
At least 265 families have now been notified officially of the death of family members. Tragically, there are still over a thousand victims awaiting final identification and burial. This process is extremely difficult due to the fact that bodies have been badly mutilated, beheaded and burned beyond recognition. Forensic teams are working hard to identify them using DNA or dental records. In addition, some 120 families have been notified of the positive identification of their loved ones as hostages in the hands of Hamas.
See here for a list of the names of those murdered that have been released so far, and here for a site in Hebrew with the names and photos of fallen soldiers.
View dramatic footage here from an IDF helicopter involved in rescuing injured soldiers during the initial fighting last Saturday.
Two-thirds of the residents of the city of Sderot in the south have already left their homes, and the remaining third have been urged by the IDF to leave today ahead of an expected ground war.
Rocket fire has slowed considerably, but has been punctured by barrages, including to Tel Aviv and other locations in the center of the country. See here for video of the impact of a rocket that fell in the town of Bat Yam, just outside of Tel Aviv yesterday.
While schools and most businesses in Israel are shuttered, there are some signs that elements of normalcy may be returning. The Ministry of Education has announced that commencing Monday, there will be a gradual return to in-person schooling, in safer areas. Meanwhile the Ministry of Health announced that non-elective surgeries would recommence in areas not directly affected by the fighting. A large area around the Gaza Strip remains a closed military zone, to which entry by civilians is prohibited. See map here. Last night, the area within 4 kilometers of the northern border was also closed to all but residents, who were ordered to remain in close proximity to shelters and safe rooms.
Israeli Reponse
On Saturday, a small group of Israeli ground forces briefly entered the Gaza Strip. Based on precise intelligence information, they recovered the bodies of an undisclosed number of Israelis who had been captured by Hamas during last week’s incursion.
Israeli forces appear to be poised for a ground invasion of Gaza. See video here of troop preparations underway, and photos here.
Following the IDF warning issued to Gazan civilians to evacuate the north of the Strip, Israel estimates that more than 600,000 of the area’s one million residents have left their homes. Israel opened three “humanitarian corridors” to provide safe passage for civilians. Sadly, and cynically, Hamas has placed roadblocks on these two routes, to stop civilians from leaving the area. See video images of Hamas road blocks here, and still photos here. At one point, Hamas announced that Israel never issued a call for Gazans to leave, prompting IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari to appear on Al Jazeera TV where he told Gazans to leave the area immediately, in his own voice.
While a full-scale escalation has not erupted in the north, Hezbollah continues to provoke Israel. Yesterday and today, the terror group fired mortar shells and rockets into Israeli territory as well as multiple anti-tank rockets at IDF positions near the border. The IDF retaliated with artillery fire towards the source of fire in Lebanon. In addition, rockets were fired at Israel from Syria today. Israeli media have described the attacks in the north as “more a show of solidarity with Hamas than an actual intent to enter the war.” Nonetheless, the frequency of attacks in the north appears to be increasing.
Overnight, the IDF carried out ongoing airstrikes against hundreds of Hamas targets in Gaza. Among the targets were terror tunnels, multi-story buildings housing Hamas assets, military compounds, residences of senior Hamas members used as military command centers, weapons storage warehouses, and communications rooms.
According to Hamas sources, some 2,329 Palestinians – many of them Hamas representatives – have been killed in Israeli strikes, in addition to the 1,500 terrorists killed during the initial invasion into Israel on Saturday
Following the formation of the national unity government in Israel, the Likud party announced that Yisrael Beitenu Party chair Avigdor Liberman, a former minister of defense, would also join the emergency government. This has not yet been confirmed by Liberman.
International Response
On Saturday night, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to US President Joe Biden for the fifth time since fighting began. The Prime Minister updated the President on latest developments, and the President reiterated the United States’ firm backing of Israel in the current war. The US has now dispatched a second aircraft carrier, the USS Eisenhower along with its entire carrier group to further bolster Israel in this dark hour; and the United Kingdom is also sending an aircraft carrier.
The Prime Minister also spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis today. The European leaders expressed their unswerving support for Israel.
A bipartisan delegation of United States senators led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer arrived in Israel earlier today and have met with President Isaac Herzog and other leaders.
Jewish Federations
Jewish Federations have launched an unprecedented $500 million campaign to support Israel. See more here.
For those in Israel – or with family or friends there – who are looking for help, critical information about the situation on the ground, or other assistance, see this resource page put together by Jewish Federations.
See also this Jewish Federations information page on requests for personal protective equipment which are circulating and this update regarding volunteering.
Readers can access a Jewish Federations toolkit of resources here.
Our Israel Office, having activated emergency protocols, is working closely with our partners on the ground, and is close contact with the Government of Israel and the IDF. We will continue to update as the situation develops.
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