Tag Archives: Israeli Defense Force (IDF)

Being Patient In The Search For Peace

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Today, the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) posted an article about Israel’s efforts to maintain the ceasefire agreement after two Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers were killed by terror operatives in Rafah, southern Gaza.

The article reports:

Israel on Sunday night reaffirmed its commitment to the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, which had been threatened after a series of Hamas attacks on IDF soldiers sparked military retaliation.

“In accordance with the directive of the political echelon, and following a series of significant strikes in response to Hamas’s violations, the [Israel Defense Forces] has begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire,” said the army.

“The IDF will continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation,” the statement added.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday evening that the incident would be handled “toughly but properly” and that the truce in the Strip remained in effect.

“We’re gonna have to see what’s happening,” the president said, asked about Israel’s retaliatory strikes. “We wanna make sure that it’s gonna be very peaceful with Hamas, and as you know, they’ve been quite rambunctious, they’ve been doing some shooting,” he said.

However, Trump told reporters that it was possible the terrorist group’s leadership “isn’t involved in that,” suggesting that “some rebels within” launched the attacks on Israeli forces.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, speaking with journalists on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday night, claimed that “when we talk about Hamas, you’re talking about 40 different cells; it’s disjointed.

The article concludes:

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to “fully resume combat in the Gaza Strip with maximum force” in response to the ceasefire violations.

“The false illusions that Hamas will change its ways, or even adhere to the agreement it signed, are proving, as expected, to be dangerous to our security. The Nazi terrorist organization must be completely destroyed—and the sooner, the better,” said Ben-Gvir.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded with one word, tweeting on Sunday afternoon: “War.”

Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas was required to return all 28 hostage bodies it held by Oct. 13. So far, it has transferred 12 to Israel. The Palestinian terrorist organization is also refusing to disarm and intends to remain the ruling party in Gaza during an interim period, both in violation of Trump’s 20-point peace plan unveiled on Sept. 29.

Although I think distrust of Hamas is reasonable and justified, I would be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for about a week. Resuming the war too quickly might not be the best course.

Why Now?

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Why is Hamas finally willing to make peace? Are they really willing to make peace? Keep in mind that Hamas has only agreed to Part 1 of the Peace Plan. Also remember that Hamas has never been an orphan before.

Let’s look at the past two years. Under the Biden administration, Israel was pretty much prevented from taking serious action against its enemies. When President Trump took office in January, he made it very clear that he supported Israel fully in dealing with its terrorist enemies. Since January, Israel has had America’s support to deal with the constant rocket attacks and terrorist attacks within its borders.

The Abraham accords under the first Trump administration were the beginning. They represented a peaceful initiative to isolate Hamas. The attacks on Iran, Lebanon and Yemen further cut off much of Hamas’ support, both diplomatically and logistically. The attack on Hamas leadership in Qatar made it clear that there would be no safe haven for Hamas. It also put the Middle East on alert as to the dangers of sheltering the leadership of Hamas.

By the time Israel invaded Gaza, Hamas was an orphan with no place to hide. That is the reason Hamas is finally negotiating peace.

This is not a perfect agreement. If it is carried out, the price of getting twenty or so live hostages freed from Hamas is the release of more than 1,000 known Hamas terrorists. It will be interesting to see if the terrorists are allowed back into Gaza. That will be a clue as to what happens next.

It will be very interesting to see if the peace process continues after the hostages are released and the requirements of Phase 1 are implemented. Part of Phase 1 calls for the Israeli Defense Forces to withdraw from much of Gaza. Will that be a clue for Hamas to resume fighting?

If you sense a lack of trust of Hamas on my part, you are correct. There are two principles of Islam that we need to keep in mind when dealing with Hamas–hudna and taqiyya. Hudna is the act of calling a truce so that you can rearm and then breaking the truce when you feel that you are strong enough to win the war. Taqiyya is generally described as lying for the sake of Islam. Hamas is Islamic and is well aware of both of these principles.

Setting The Captives Free

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I just finished reading the book A Time To Betray by Reza Kahlili (obviously not his real name). It is the story of a man who believed that the Iranian Revolution on 1979 would bring freedom to his country. He realized he was wrong rather quickly. One of the things that added to his disillusionment was the fact that the new government was putting innocent people in prison and torturing them. One of this friends and his friend’s brother and sister were put in Evin Prison, tortured, sexually abused, and eventually killed. Reza Kahlili eventually went to work for the American CIA. His book tells his story.

On Monday, The New York Post reported:

Israel hit key Iranian targets in a fresh series of devastating airstrikes Monday, attacking the headquarters of the country’s elite military police force and blowing off the front of its most notorious, brutal prison.

The most intense bombing yet of government sites around Tehran came a day after the US joined Israel’s war on thwarting the Islamic Republic from being able to build nuclear bombs.

“The Iranian dictator will be punished with full force for attacking the Israeli home front,” Israel’s Defense Ministry said of the latest attacks.

…Shocking security footage shows one missile strike blasting open the doors of Evin Prison, where the Islamic Republic held its opponents and critics in brutal conditions, with public hangings.

The article concludes:

“The IDF is currently striking with unprecedented force regime targets and governmental repression bodies in the heart of Tehran, including the Basij headquarters, the Evin Prison for political prisoners and regime opponents, the ‘Destruction of Israel’ clock in Palestine Square, the internal security headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideology headquarters, and other regime targets,” Katz said in a statement.

Further strikes in Iran hit the access roads to the Fordow nuclear facility, one of three sites in Iran hit during US air strikes over the weekend.

The strikes were intended to “disrupt” accessibility to the underground nuclear enrichment center, the IDF claimed.

We may be about to see regime change in Iran.

The Technology Behind The Success

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Israel eliminated a lot of very important people in Iran recently. The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami, was killed. Major General Mohammad Bagheri, who had served as the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, was killed. Ali Shamkhani, who was a close aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC’s Air Force, was killed.

These leaders were successfully targeted with as little damage to Iranian civilians as possible. The precise targeting was a result of the Mossad’s strategic use of drone technology.

On Friday, PJ Media reported:

According to an Israeli official today, Israel built a drone base deep inside Iran as part of their preparations — and then unleashed them to deadly effect.

This is where I remind you that it’s only in the last two years or so that the deadly efficacy of drone warfare was proven beyond a doubt. In that short time, the IDF not only embraced it but smuggled a drone base into Iran — a tightly controlled dictatorship and presumably on high alert — then, on cue, launched those drones to destroy ballistic missile launchers before they could be used against Israel.

…There must have been soldiers on the ground to set everything up and launch the strike. Prayers, please, that they are or soon will be safely evacuated home.

Israeli intelligence was so effective — and apparently the Trump administration played along to avoid alerting Iran’s leadership — that Israel killed nearly a dozen high-level military commanders.

The article notes:

You see, the thing about Israeli intelligence is that it’s either the best or there is no Israel.

Last night showed, once again, that Israeli intelligence is the best.

Israel is not simply engaged in a casual military exercise. Israel is very aware that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, Israel will no longer exist. They are not playing games–they are fighting for their survival as a nation.

The High Ground Is Always A Strategic Asset

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On Saturday, Breitbart posted an article about a recent discovery by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) 810th Alpine (or Mountain) Brigade.

The article reports:

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) 810th Alpine (or Mountain) Brigade announced Saturday that it had found weaponry manufactured by Iran on the slopes of Har (Mount) Dov, one of two strategic mountains on the border near Israel.

Breitbart News visited the Alpine Brigade on Thursday and toured the Har Dov area, before the discovery of Iranian weaponry was announced. The newly-formed brigade was deemed necessary because of the potential for infiltration into Israel through the unfenced mountain slopes of Har Dov and Mount Hermon, the highest peak in the region.

As Breitbart News reported on location on Thursday:

Har Dov is near the Shebaa Farms, an area that Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror organization, claims for Lebanon, but which Israel seized from Syria during the Six Day War in 1967. The United Nations, normally hostile to Israel, actually agrees with Israel that Lebanon has no legal claim to the farms or Har Dov.

In recent years, Hezbollah has attempted to encroach on the area. It has also used the Har Dov issue in its effort to persuade Lebanon’s people of the need for war against Israel, rather than admitting that the Iranian regime has been using war for its own narrow interests.

Rather than dismiss Hezbollah’s claims, the Biden-Harris administration took them at face value, and attempted to persuade Israel to withdraw its forces from the Har Dov area as a condition of the ceasefire deal it wanted to impose after Hezbollah had fired missiles, rockets, and drones at Israel for nearly a year, starting in October 2023.

But Israel could not accept such a deal, primarily because Har Dov has a commanding view of almost all of the upper Galilee, making it a key strategic location.

Israel lives in a very dangerous neighborhood. It is to their advantage to maintain control of the high ground that surrounds their nation. Any effort by America or any other country to force them to surrender that high ground is a request for Israel to disappear as a county as it would be overrun by its enemies.

The Leader Of The October 7 Attack Worked For UNRWA

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On Thursday, Breitbart posted the following:

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Thursday that it had killed a Hamas commander who led the attack on dozens of civilians on October 7, 2023, who had fled the Nova music festival and hidden in roadside shelters.

In addition to being a mass murderer, the IDF said, Mohammad Abu Itiwi had also worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

The IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shabak, or Shin Bet) said in a statement:

Yesterday (Wednesday), in a joint IDF and ISA operation, the IAF struck and eliminated the terrorist Mohammad Abu Itiwi, a Nukhba commander in the Al Bureij Battalion of Hamas’ Central Camps Brigade. Mohammad Abu Itiwi has also been employed by UNRWA since July 2022.

On October 7th, Mohammad Abu Itiwi was involved in the murder and abduction of Israeli civilians. Abu Itiwi led the murderous attack on the bomb shelter on Route 232 in the area of Re’im in southern Israel.

Throughout the war, Abu Itiwi directed and carried out numerous attacks on IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip.

Following the incident, representatives of COGAT solicited clarifications from senior officials in the UN and international community and requested an urgent investigation into the involvement of UNRWA employees in the October 7th Massacre.

Keep in mind that we are still sending aid to Hamas in Gaza. It’s supposed to be humanitarian aid to the civilians there, but I wouldn’t make any heavy bets on who is actually getting the aid and what it is being used for.

The United Nations has forgotten its stated purpose. It is time for it to be disbanded and removed from New York City. The location of the building would make beautiful high-rise apartments for the residents of the city.

An Interesting Aspect Of The Death Of Yahya Sinwar

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On Thursday, Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces. There are some interesting aspects of his death.

On Thursday, Red State posted some interesting details:

On Thursday, October 17th, Yahya Sinwar finally met his deserved end. The mastermind behind the October 7th attacks in Israel, which killed over 1200 people, ate a tank shell after he and two of his bodyguards were located inside the upper floor of a building.

…It’s an incredible scene. A man who committed such evil acts was left sitting in a destroyed room full of debris and tossing a stick while resigning himself to what was coming. He knew he was done for. There was no further attempt to escape, if he was even physically capable of moving, and moments later, another tank shell would finish the job. That’s how the story of Hamas’ leader ended. Not in a grand battle, but cowering in a chair like the rat he was.

It’ll be interesting to find out why Sinwar was above ground at this point. With only two bodyguards around him, one being a UNRWA teacher, there didn’t appear to be much left of Hamas as an operation. It had been reported numerous times over the last year that Sinwar liked to surround himself with hostages. None were found in this location, though, which could indicate he was trying to lower his profile and draw less attention.

Not being underground could also be a result of the IDF’s relentless clearing of Hamas’ tunnel complexes. There may have been nowhere else for Sinwar to go at this late stage. Certainly, his death and the circumstances speak to Israel’s success in destroying Hamas. Whatever mumblings have come from politicians about the terrorist government’s demise being impossible, the IDF sure has made it possible, and in the current technological age, we are seeing it play out like never before.

Again, one of his bodyguards was an UNRWA teacher. It really is time for the United Nations to go away. Instead of seeking the peace they were supposedly created to establish, they are siding with terrorists.

The Antisemitism Of The Biden Administration

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On May 11, Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog posted an article about another move by the Biden administration to hinder Israel’s efforts to defeat Hamas.

The article reports:

In February President Biden promulgated National Security Memorandum 20. NSM-20 directs the State Department to “obtain certain credible and reliable written assurances from foreign governments receiving [U.S.] defense articles and, as appropriate, defense services” that they will abide by U.S. and international law. NSM-20 also requires the Departments of State and Defense to report to Congress within 90 days on the extent to which these governments and services are abiding by their assurances.

NSM-20 purports to impose a generally applicable requirement. However, it is obviously aimed, Biden style, at Israel’s heart — as Senator James Risch accurately pointed out in a brief statement posted yesterday.

This is that statement:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on the Biden Administration’s National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20) report on Israel:

“In keeping with nearly four years of failed foreign policy, the Biden Administration is trying to have it both ways. Today, the administration has given Israel a politically damaging assessment while publicly announcing it is withholding a select set of precision weapons. The administration is attempting to placate voters on the far left at the expense of a close ally in the midst of its justified war with Hamas terrorists.

“NSM-20 is aimed squarely at Israel in the near-term, but the additional highly-politicized reporting requirements will eventually be aimed at other American allies and partners across the globe, further impeding the delivery of security assistance and undermining our ability to deter China and Russia.”

Background:

On February 8, the Biden Administration issued NSM-20, which undermines Israeli operations against Hamas in Gaza by affording Israel’s critics the opportunity to falsely claim Israel is committing war crimes.

NSM-20 threatens to cut off aid unless Israel meets arbitrary deadlines for providing “assurances” regarding international humanitarian law as well as vague facilitation of humanitarian assistance.

On April 30, Risch sent a letter with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul to the Biden Administration urging for the repeal of NSM-20.

The article concludes:

Speaking of assessments, I assess that the report constitutes another friendly Biden stab in Israel’s back by the Biden administration. I would juxtapose the report with the judgment of John Spencer, the West Point modern urban warfare expert:

In their criticism, Israel’s opponents are erasing a remarkable, historic new standard Israel has set. In my long career studying and advising on urban warfare for the U.S. military, I’ve never known an army to take such measures [as the IDF has] to attend to the enemy’s civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings. In fact, by my analysis, Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history—above and beyond what international law requires and more than the U.S. did in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The international community, and increasingly the United States, barely acknowledges these measures while repeatedly excoriating the IDF for not doing enough to protect civilians—even as it confronts a ruthless terror organization holding its citizens hostage. Instead, the U.S. and its allies should be studying how they can apply the IDF’s tactics for protecting civilians, despite the fact that these militaries would almost certainly be extremely reluctant to employ these techniques because of how it would disadvantage them in any fight with an urban terrorist army like Hamas.

Spencer is the voice of sanity. Interested readers can hear him at length in Sam Harris’s May 7 podcast with him.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. We are treating the people who have sworn to destroy us (Iran and Hamas) better than the people who would defend us (Israel).

The Truth Is Too Gruesome To Watch

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On Monday, William A. Jacobson posted an article at Legal Insurrection about the atrocities of October 7.

The article states:

“I just saw indescribable, raw footage of Hamas’ massacre along with 100 other international journalists”

We reported yesterday that Israel was planning on providing a viewing of raw footage from Hamas and other terrorist bodycams, Israeli dashcams, and security cameras, in light of the denialism being spread about Hamas butchery.

That showing took place today:
These are some of the things shown:

The footage was collected from call recordings, security cameras, Hamas terrorists’ body cameras, victim dashboard cameras, Hamas and victims’ social media accounts, and cellphone videos taken by terrorists, victims and first responders. Over 1,000 civilians were slaughtered by the terrorists, and at least 224 people were abducted.

In one pair of videos that were screened, Hamas terrorists are seen dressed in IDF uniforms, flagging down passing cars and then shooting their occupants.

In another video, first responders are seen pouring bottled water over still-smoldering bodies, hoping to snuff out the remaining embers.

In another, a man writhes on the ground, bleeding from his stomach, as a terrorist tries repeatedly to decapitate him with farming equipment. The man appears to be southeast Asian, possibly one of Israel’s foreign agricultural workers.

In another clip, from after the assault, an Israeli woman is seen trying to work out if a partially burned woman’s corpse, with a mutilated head, is that of a family member. The dead woman’s dress is pulled up to her waist and her underpants have been removed.

Major Gen. Mickey Edelstein, who briefed reporters after the viewing, said that “we have evidence” of rape but “we cannot share it,” declining to elaborate further….

In the second segment, captured through a call recording application on a victim’s phone, a different son reaches out to a different father. “Dad, I killed 10 with my bare hands,” the terrorist excitedly tells his father in Gaza. “Their blood is on my hands, let me speak to Mom.”

“Please be proud of me, Dad,” he adds.

There is no way anyone can justify this. The article continues, but it is very difficult to read. Follow the link at your own risk.

The Cost Of Unarmed Citizens

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On Saturday, The American Thinker posted an article about some of the events in Israel on October 7.

The article notes:

On October 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel, Inbal Rabin-Lieberman, a 25-year-old security coordinator at the Kibbutz Nir Am settlement located near the Gaza Strip, saved lives because she had a gun.  After the kibbutz came under attack, Inbal hurriedly opened the armory and distributed guns to the twelve-member security team.

She caught the Hamas murderers unawares because they were not expecting to meet armed resistance.  Lieberman killed five terrorists while the others gunned down twenty-five before the Israeli Defense Force arrived.  Because of her actions, Nir-Am was the only settlement bordering the Gaza Strip that did not suffer Israeli casualties during Hama’s attack.

The number of Israelis killed in the terrorist attack is over 1,400.  How many of those deaths could have been averted had more Israelis owned guns? Israel has draconian gun-control laws, worse than those in New York City.  Only three percent (3%) of Israeli citizens own guns (compared to about thirty-two percent (32%) of U.S. citizens). 

The NY Daily News reports that less than one percent (about 0.5%) of New York City residents have legal handguns.  Jews comprise approximately nine percent (9%) of New York City’s population, the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel. 

An attack on America similar to what happened in Israel should be unthinkable, but is it? We have no idea how many terrorists have come through our porous border and what their intentions are. It would be a good idea at this point to have all Americans trained in how to use weapons and having weapons in their homes. Obviously there are some restrictions on that–mentally ill, people convicted of violent offenses, etc., but we need to have an instant, well-trained militia that can be called into action in case of an armed terrorist attack.

The War For The Survival Of Israel

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This is the link to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) website. It is a reliable source of what is going on in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon. Notice that Lebanon has been added,

Today’s summary includes the following:

08:50
Over the past day the IDF struck over 320 military targets in the Gaza Strip

 The terror targets were struck based on IDF and ISA intelligence, and included tunnels containing Hamas terrorists, dozens of operational command centers (some of which concealed Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists) and more. The IDF struck targets that posed a threat to forces in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip who are preparing for ground operations, including dozens of mortar shell and anti-tank missile launch posts.

Overnight, an IDF tank thwarted a number of terrorist cells, including an anti-tank missile cell.

06:15
Overnight, the IDF struck the terrorist cell in Lebanese territory, along with an anti-tank missile launch post. The terrorist cell was planning to carry out an anti-tank missile launch towards the town of Shlomi.

02:07
A short while ago, the IDF struck Hezbollah terrorist targets, including a military compound and an observation post. Furthermore, an IDF aircraft struck a terrorist cell operating near the border along with the weapons in terrorists’ possession.

23:22
The IDF identified two Hezbollah terrorist cells in Lebanese territory. One cell was adjacent to the area of Mattat, and planned to launch anti-tank missiles toward Israeli territory. The other, located in Har Dov, planned to launch rockets. The IDF thwarted the attacks, striking the Hezbollah terrorist cells before they fired.

The article includes the following video:

At some point you have to ask yourself, “What kind of people would do this?”

Please follow the link to the IDF website. Updates are posted on a regular basis.