85000 military items removed from Lebanon

 The massive amount of munitions recovered from Lebanon

Terror Attacks in Israel 2024

 Source IDSF https://www.warinisrael.org/ 

Attacks on Israel by Air 2024

Source IDSF https://www.warinisrael.org/ 

 

Trump Threats Don't Move Hamas.

 

The Hamas terror organization is demanding that it be guaranteed a role in governing the Gaza Strip even after the current war with Israel, according to a report by Israel’s national broadcaster, Kan.

An Egyptian official cited by the report said that Hamas is insisting that any potential deal, including the release of Israeli hostages, also feature a provision enshrining the terror group’s right to a role in the post-war Gaza regime. Hamas is already attempting to reconstruct itself, thus it still has plans for the destruction of Israel

Israel has hitherto insisted that the terror group be completely dismantled prior to the end of the war. Not only has Israel refused proposals to enable Hamas to retain a role in governing Gaza after the war, but it has also rejected suggestions that the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) ruling Fatah party assume control over the Gaza Strip. The PA charter still aims for the destruction of the State of Israel

While President-elect Donald Trump has pressured Hamas to reach a deal with Israel to release the remaining 100 hostages – including his repeated threat that there will be “hell to pay” if the captives are not freed by inauguration day later this month – his remarks have had only a marginal influence on Hamas, the official said.

The Egyptian source cited in the report added that another barrier to an agreement is Israel’s hesitation in accepting a ceasefire that would mark the end of the war.

Without Israel agreeing to conclude the war and a post-war role for Hamas in Gaza, the terror group is unlikely to even reach an agreement in hostage talks, the official said.

On the basis of these comments , a hostage deal does not seem likely.

Status of Ceasefire Agreement in Lebanon

 In accordance with the ceasefire agreement of 27th November, the IDF has withdrawn its forces from an area in south western Lebanon, around the town of Naqoura, which is close to the Israeli border.

• Following the IDF withdrawal, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) deployed to the town and its surroundings, in coordination with UNIFIL.
• According to the LAF, “The deployment occurred simultaneously with the Israeli enemy’s withdrawal from the town.”
• The LAF says they will begin working to remove any unexploded ordinances left from battles between the IDF and Hezbollah.
• In parallel, US Envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in Beirut yesterday to meet Lebanese officials and attend a meeting of the international monitoring committee overseeing Lebanon's ceasefire.
• The US Envoy met with the Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri.
• Following the meeting with Speaker Berri, Hochstein said, the “IDF has begun withdrawing from Naqoura in southern Lebanon, and will withdraw from all Lebanese territory. Implementing the agreement in southern Lebanon is not easy, but we are committed to supporting the Lebanese Army.”
• Hochstein also met with Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, alongside the head of the ceasefire monitoring committee, US General Jasper Jeffers.
• Their discussion focused on the mechanism for implementing the ceasefire agreement. Hochstein said that Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon would continue until the IDF is completely out of the country.

The IDF’s redeployment is part of the ceasefire agreement signed at the end of November.

• This is considered the most significant withdrawal by the IDF since the start of the ceasefire agreement.
• This is partly due to the topography of the landscape, as Naqoura is located on a mountain ridge just above the Israeli coastal communities of Rosh Hanikra and Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra.
• Naqoura also has symbolic significance as the headquarters of UNIFIL is based there.      
• Just last week the IDF exposed extensive military infrastructure that Hezbollah had embedded inside Naqoura. An IDF commander was quoted in the Israeli media saying, “When we scoured the village, we found unbelievable quantities of arms. There were warehouses, lookout points and military equipment in virtually every home.”
• The IDF withdrawal marked the third area that Israeli troops have withdrawn from since the ceasefire came into effect.
• Since the ceasefire began, as part of its operations to dismantle Hezbollah, Israel has continued to launch daily airstrikes, carry out detonations and bulldozing operations on buildings across southern Lebanon, and advance into areas it did not reach during the fighting. Israel is carrying out these manoeuvres as part of their understanding reached with the US that allows the IDF to continue to remove Hezbollah’s military infrastructure from southern Lebanon.      
• With just three weeks remaining until the January 26^th deadline for it to have fully withdrawn from the country, the IDF is still holding positions in about 60 areas of Lebanon,.
• While it says it is in line with and enforcing the agreement, Lebanese and Hezbollah officials have accused Israel of ongoing violations of the deal.

• The mechanism in place for monitoring the ceasefire agreement is led by US Army General Jasper Jeffers. He is supposed to receive reports from Israel regarding Hezbollah’s violations and pass them onto the LAF to handle. Israel has been dissatisfied with the slow pace of LAF’s responsiveness.
• 
  
• So far Israel has presented dozens of violations:
• Most significantly, there are still areas that Hezbollah has not withdrawn from as promised.
• The LAF has not deployed on the ground on the scale stipulated by the agreement.
• Hezbollah has been relocating weapons from the south to areas north of the Litani River and has continued to rebuild and regroup.
• 
  
• Earlier this week defence minister Katz said, “Israel wants to implement the agreement in Lebanon and will continue to enforce it fully and uncompromisingly to ensure the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes. But the first condition for agreement’s existence is a complete withdrawal by the Hezbollah terrorist organisation to beyond the Litani, the complete disarming and the removal of terrorist infrastructure in the sector by the Lebanese Armed Forces—and this has not yet happened. If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement, and Israel will be obliged to act forcefully to ensure the safe return of northern residents to their homes. We won’t allow the emergence of a new threat to the northern communities and to the citizens of the State of Israel.”

The original 60 day period for redeployment is due to end on January 26^th but Israel is exploring the possibility of extending this period, possibly by an additional 30 days. This will allow the IDF to continue clearing the area and give more time for the LAF to adequately redeploy to the area.           

• Whilst Israel is concerned over the response by the Biden administration, President elect Trump is expected to be more flexible on the timetable of Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.
• Defence Minister Katz has instructed the IDF to prepare offensive operational plans if the ceasefire collapses at the end of the first phase.  It is understood that the plans are in place and the IDF has prepared a bank of targets.
• There remains concern that when Israel does withdraw, Hezbollah will once again move back south.   
• The Israeli government has set March 1st as a target date for the displaced residents of the north to return home.    

Never Ask ....

 

AN EVERLASTING LIGHT - I

(A wonderful cross posting from Grandma's Army )

I am rewriting a blog I wrote a few years ago, which is still relevant:

Perhaps the most significant battle that the Jews fought, and won,  took place in the second century BCE.   Desiring to unify his kingdom through the medium of a common religion and culture Antiochus, the Greek ruler at that time, tried to root out the individualism of the Jews by desecrating their holy Temple and suppressing all the Jewish Laws.

Tomorrow we start the eight day Festival commemorating this particular victory - this year coinciding exactly with Christmas.

The story of Mattitiyahu Maccabee and his sons, who head the Revolt, is told in detail in the two books of the Maccabees.  A small, vastly outnumbered band of Jews waged battle against the mighty Greek armies, and drove them out of the land.

Even though Judaism would have disappeared if Antiochus had succeeded in his strategy,  Jewish sages chose to leave these books outside of the Bible. One of the reasons is perhaps because the most important Jewish value is “sanctification of life”, and in war people are killed - including our enemies.

Bob is a sculptor living in an agricultural community near the border 4 kms. from Gaza. His raw material is rockets and mortar shells fired into Israel by Palestinian militants from Gaza. His latest creation was a monumental Chanukah menorah. “The idea of turning rockets into religious symbols is turning the symbol of death and destruction into a symbol of light, and the Chanukah menorah is the symbol of light,” Bob said. Featured prominently in his workshop is the verse from Isaiah 2:4: “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares.”

                                                                                

Instead of glorifying the unprecedented military achievements of the Jewish fighters, our sages focused on the tiny detail of finding a small cruse of undefiled oil when the Maccabees recaptured the Temple. When they reclaimed the Holy Temple (on the day of the present Jewish month), they wished to rededicate the Temple by lighting the menorah (candelabrum) - only to discover that the Greeks had contaminated virtually all the oil.

Miraculously, the one-day supply of oil lasted eight days and nights. Hence, the name of the Festival “Chanukah” one of the meanings of which is “dedication”. To commemorate and publicize these miracles, the majority of Jews worldwide  light a Chanukah menorah on each of the eight nights of Chanukah.

The root of the Hebrew word “Chanukah” also contains another meaning, which is “education”.

In the first century BCE, on the last days of the Temple - which was at the time the centre of Jewish life - Rabbi Joshua ben Gamla established a network of state-funded schools, to include every child from the age of six. This was a unique innovation at the time when even most rulers didn’t know how to read. For the Jews, it meant that the Torah (Pentateuch) would not be forgotten and Judaism would become a civilization rooted, not in a physical building, but in texts and learning.

In Judaism, the real battle is never a military one but a cultural and spiritual one, whose heroes are not warriors but teachers. Their passion is for learning and a life of the mind. The Greeks - whose achievements in their time have perhaps never been surpassed - gradually declined, and their mighty Empire has disappeared.

To defend a country, you need armies. But, to defend a civilization you need education, educators and places of learning. Our duty, as parents, is to ensure that our future generations become literate in their heritage, and carry on the everlasting light which has kept Judaism alive.