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F R I DAY, N OV E M B E R 10 , 2 02 3  2 6 H E S H VA N , 578 4

Bring
g them
th home 13
1 3 1
14
4 Avigdor
Liberman
talks tough
Z
EMBER 10,
NOVE
NOVEMBER
2023

TO
‘WE NEEDALL
RELEASE S
HOSTAGEE’
BY FORC

As resolute Taking about Hamas

as dayy one control and his
former boss, MK Avigd
or Liber
once a Netan
yahu
man,

him
calls on

Adi Shoham, age 38, A month since Families of Hamas-held Netanyahu confidant, nsibility
to take
respo

kidnapped from
Kibbutz Be’eri
October 7, Israelis remain
determined and united
hostages embark on their
own global campaigns M AGAZIINE
MAGAZINE
Top military
brass enters Israel agrees
deep into
Gaza
to four-hour
• By ALEX WINSTON
and YONAH JEREMY BOB

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen.

Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet
(Israel Security Agency)
Director Ronen Bar on Thurs-
day rode deep into Gaza with
IDF troops to see up close the
ground invasion’s progress,
which included seizing con-
trol of a key Hamas base in
Gaza City and killing dozens
of terrorists.
The trip allowed them
to personally delve into
what the situation is on the
ground as opposed to just
reading reports from the
field.
daily pauses
Islamic Jihad indicates it
may release two hostages
• By TOVAH LAZAROFF,
ALEX WINSTON and Reuters
Israel agreed to a daily four-
hour pause in the fighting
in northern Gaza as Palestin-
ian Islamic Jihad published a
FAMILY AND FRIENDS of Sgt. Rose Lubin bid her a final farewell at her funeral yesterday at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in video of two of the hostages
Jerusalem. (Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post) it indicated could be released.
“We’ve been told by the
have been at odds over the
details relating to humani-
tarian pauses, including the
length of their duration,
particularly given that such
steps have been linked and
are expected to be linked to
the release of 239 hostages
held in Gaza.
Israel is looking to avoid a

ISRAEL
‘She was everything the world needed’
Family, friends, unit mourn Atlanta native Sgt. Rose Lubin, killed in Jerusalem attack
AT WAR
• By JUDITH SUDILOVSKY
Day 34 The length and color of
Border Police officer Sgt. Rose
Lubin’s hair could change
‘Photojournalists from one day to the next –
from purple to green to blue,
embedded with from long to the waist, or
Oct. 7 terrorists’ completely shaved off; her
Page 4
socks never matched, her
clothes were always a fashion
statement, and she was the
only student in her Atlanta,
Georgia, high school to have
lettered both in wrestling and
cheerleading.
And she knew by the age
of five that she wanted to go
live in Israel and join the IDF.
After graduating from high
school, she did just that and
joined the Border Police as a
lone soldier in March 2022.
On Thursday, hundreds of
people came with her family
and friends to pay their last
respects to the young woman
who a month earlier took
part in fending off Hamas ter-
rorists attacking her adoptive
home, Kibbutz Sa’ad.
On Monday morning,
Lubin, 20, died from her
wounds after being stabbed
See WORLD, Page 10
Israelis that there will be no
military operations in these
areas over the duration of the
pause,” US National Security
Council spokesperson John
Kirby said, adding that “this
process is starting today.”
The localized pauses limited
to specific areas in northern
Gaza would allow people to
flee along two humanitarian
corridors and were significant
first steps, Kirby explained.
The United States and Israel
situation in which the fight-
ing in Gaza is repeatedly halt-
ed due to such pauses thereby
increasing the timeline of the
war, and preventing it from
achieving its military objec-
tive of ousting Hamas from
the coastal enclave.
US President Joe Biden told
reporters he had asked for
a three-day pause in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin
See AGREES, Page 10

“The main strength for

now in this war, which I feel
all the time, is the cooper-
ation,” Halevi said. “I turn
around and see the IDF in
every corner; everyone is
doing everything just so that
you will be as strong as pos-
sible. There is nothing they
will not do to make you work
well. Keep moving forward,
thoroughly, and increase the AMERICAN CHRISTIAN COWBOYS join other faith-driven
pace. We are behind you.” volunteers in Israel through the Hayovel organization. (Hayovel)
Bar said: “There is an
unprecedented appreciation
for you with the public, on
the political level, and with-
Christian cowboys
in Hamas. It is getting better
and better. As a representa-
tive of the Shin Bet, we work
defend the heartland
for the IDF in this war.” • By MAAYAN HOFFMAN “We want to live for Israel;
The IDF on Thursday that is our goal,” said 24-year-
named three more soldiers Fifteen American Christian old Yosef Strain from Mon-
who died in battles in the cowboys with their wide- tana, his voice carrying a sub-
Gaza Strip. St.-Sgt.-Maj. brimmed hats, denim shirts, tle twang.
(res.) Eliahou Benjamin tight Wrangler jeans, leather The young men, mostly in
Elmakayes, 29, from the 8219 belts with large buckles and their early 20s, hail from across
Battalion in the Engineer- well-worn boots have come to the southwest: Tennessee, Mis-
ing 551 Brigade, originally Israel to protect residents of souri, Texas, Arkansas, and
from Jerusalem, was killed the biblical heartland – Judea
on Wednesday. St.-Sgt.-Maj. and Samaria. See COWBOYS, Page 10
(res.) Dov Moshe Kogan, 32,
from the IAF’s special forces
Shaldag Unit, originally from
Nov, was killed on Thursday. This ad
u to a
Sgt. Roni Eshel, 19, a lookout entitles yo
unt
observer in the Border Pro- 5% discojob
tection Force’s 414 Battalion, on the
originally from Tzur Yitzhak,
was killed on October 7. The best
time to pr
Earlier Thursday, troops epare
for winte
cleared significant areas in r is

the center of Gaza City that

NOW
were the military headquar-
ters of Hamas. Although an
IDF statement said the bat-
tle had gone on for several
Barak Waterproofing and
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2 ISRAEL AT WAR F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

‘9,500 rockets fired on

Israel since October 7’
IDF: 12% of Hamas projectiles have fallen in Gaza
• By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Around 9,500 rockets
have been fired on Isra-
el by Hamas in the South
and Hezbollah in the North
since the start of the war on
October 7, according to the
IDF.
Of those 9,500, around
3,000 were fired in only the
first four hours by Hamas.
That number is even higher
than the already staggering
widely reported 2,200 rocket
number most media carried
in the early days of the war.
It dwarfs the number of
rockets ever fired on Israel
in a day by any enemy until
now, with Hamas firing
4,500 rockets on Israel over
PALESTINIANS IN the northern Gaza Strip flee to the south yesterday. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters) 50 days during the entire
2014 Gaza conflict, a num-
Unlike past rounds of con-
flict, the IDF has stalwartly
refused to share the exact
shoot-down success percent-
age, saying that the current
conflict is the first full-scale
war when information secu-
rity and keeping Israeli ene-
mies in the dark is more
critical than in the smaller
many prior “rounds of con-
flict.”
That said, in prior rounds,
Iron Dome usually had a
success shooting down rate
of around 85-90% and top
IDF officials have said that
during this war, the IDF’s
air defense has been com-
parable.
The IDF did say it has shot
down thousands of rock-
ets, including dealing with
2,000 more complex rockets
Rockets from Yemen
Yemen has also tried to
attack Israel with ballistic
missiles and drones in a few
incidents, with the IDF’s air
defense using the Arrow mis-
sile system to shoot down a
ballistic missile at a height
of over 1,500 km., and other
Israeli and American air
defense systems shooting
down other threats.
Shooting down ballistic
missiles is more complex
not only because they must
be shot down much farther
away, but also because they
have many components to
them and the Arrow must
strike the component that
contains the explosives, and
not the engine or various
other pieces that break off
from the rocket.

In Gaza, thousands flee

ber which itself at the time
was a major new high.
Despite this enormous
threat, the IDF’s air defense
shield has shot down the
and around a dozen drones.
Besides the general infor-
mation security consid-
eration, the current war is
the first real multifront con-
To defend against all of
these threats, the IDF said
that its air defense during
this war has been both the
most comprehensive and

south, many remain stuck

• By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI
and DOINA CHIACU
GAZA/WASHINGTON (Reu-
ters) – There were no imme-
diate reports of a lull in fight-
ing raging among ruined
buildings in the north of
the Gaza Strip, while Isra-
el agreed to pause military
operations in northern Gaza
for four hours a day from
Thursday, according to a
the White House announce-
ment. This is the first sign
of a respite in more than a
month of fighting that has
killed thousands and stoked
fears of a regional conflict.
Israel unleashed its assault
on Gaza in response to a
cross-border Hamas massa-
cre attack on southern Israel
on October 7 in which ter-
rorists killed 1,400 people,
mostly civilians, and took
239 hostages.
It was the single worst
day of bloodshed in Israel’s
75-year history and drew
international condemnation
of Hamas and sympathy and
support for Israel.
Israel’s retaliation in the
Hamas-ruled enclave caused
great concern as a human-
itarian catastrophe unfold-
ed. Hamas-run Palestinian
tallies said 10,812 Gaza res-
idents had been killed as
of Thursday, about 40% of
them children, in air and
artillery strikes while basic
supplies are running out and
areas laid waste by unrelent-
ing Israeli bombardments.
In northern Gaza, Israeli
forces fought Hamas mili-
tants and inched their way
closer to two big hospitals.
Thousands more Palestin-
ians were fleeing from the
embattled north to the south
along a perilous frontline
path after Israel told them
to evacuate, people on the
route said.
Many are however staying
in the north, packed into
the Al Shifa Hospital and
al-Quds Hospital as ground
battles rage around them
and more Israeli airstrikes
rain down from above. Isra-
el says its Hamas foes have
command centers embedded
in the hospitals.
In Paris, officials from
about 80 countries and orga-
nizations were meeting to
coordinate humanitarian
aid to Gaza and find ways
to help wounded civilians
escape the siege, now in its
second month.
“Without a ceasefire, lift-
ing of siege and indiscrimi-
nate bombarding and war-
fare, the hemorrhage of
human lives will continue,”
Jan Egeland, Secretary Gen-
eral of the Norwegian Ref-
ugee Council, said before
the White House announce-
ment.
Israel and its main back-
er the United States say a
full ceasefire would benefit
Hamas.
Residents in Gaza City,
a Hamas stronghold, said
Israeli tanks were stationed
around the area. Both sides
reported inflicting heavy
casualties on one another in
intense street battles.
Israel, which has vowed to
wipe out Hamas, says 33 of
its soldiers have been killed
in its ground operation as
they advanced into the heart
of Gaza City.
Thousands of Palestin-
ians have sought refuge at
Al Shifa hospital inside Gaza
City despite Israel’s orders
to evacuate the area it has
encircled. They are shelter-
vast majority of rockets flict Israel has fought since the most spread out ever.
which threatened a civilian the 1973 Yom Kippur War, This defense includes as far
population (an algorithm given that Hezbollah has south as the Red Sea and as
leads the air defense not to been regularly firing rock- far north as Mount Dov.
waste interceptors on rock- ets and anti-tank missiles The IDF said that to date
ing in tents in the hospital ets which will clearly only from the North to supple- 12% of Hamas rockets, or
grounds and say they have land harmlessly in an open ment Hamas’s threat from around 900, have fallen
nowhere else to go. field.) the South. within Gaza.
The UN humanitari-
an office OCHA said Israel
had again told residents of
the north to move south,
and that shelling around
the main road continued,
endangering evacuees.
“We saw decomposed bod-
ies, people from civilian cars,
civilians like us, not military
cars or resistance men,”
Khaled Abu Issa said after
crossing into the south with
his family at Wadi Gaza.
Another resident, who
asked not to be named, said
he had crossed with his wife
and six children.
“You have to hold your ID
card in your hand and raise
it as you go past the Israeli
tanks and then walk several
more kilometers searching
for a lift,” he said.
Southern areas have also
come under regular attack.
In Khan Yunis, residents
picked through the rubble
and debris of a building
destroyed by an Israeli air-
strike, hoping to find survi-
vors, on Thursday morning, ROCKETS ARE fired from the southern Gaza Strip toward Israel last week.
(Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images)
witnesses said.

Drones continue to define war for IDF, Hamas Netanyahu issues

ANALYSIS
• By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
Drones continue to be a key
part of the battlefield in the
war between Israel and Hamas,
a war that includes drones
beyond Gaza, not to mention
Lebanon and Yemen, and now
Israel. A drone struck a school
in Eilat on Thursday, which is
still being investigated.
The IDF said that a “UAV
hit a civilian building in Eilat.
The identity of the UAV and
the details of the incident are
under review.”
In Gaza, the IDF uncovered
a Hamas drone factory in a
residential building, illustrat-
ing once again the complex-
ity of targeting and prevent-
ing drone threats. Drones
are small and can be made
in civilian areas, and they do
not require huge factories,
because small drone threats
are the type that Hamas
rare condemnation
wants to focus on, as they
can drop munitions and do
surveillance.
of settler violence
The IDF added that it “dis-
covered a Hamas weapons
manufacturing and storage
facility used to produce and
store UAVs and weapons. The
site was located in a residen-
tial building, in close proxim-
ity to schools in the center of
the Sheikh Radwan neighbor-
hood in northern Gaza. In the
building, Hamas explosives
and operational plans were
found right next to a chil-
dren’s bedroom.”
The drone factory discov-
ered in Gaza shows new com-
ponents for drones, though it
is unclear whether these were
made in Gaza or smuggled.
It shows how much Hamas
capabilities have increased in
the last several years on the
drone front.
The importance of drones
isn’t limited to the South; the
IDF said on Thursday that
“terrorists fired at an IDF UAV
in the area of Har Dov, north-
ern Israel. An IDF UAV struck
the source of the fire and IDF
soldiers are responding with
artillery fire.” Hezbollah uses
drones and tries to down Israe-
li ones, as there have been a
number of incidents of the
IDF downing drones that were
flown from Lebanon.
In the West Bank, the IDF
uses drones for attacks and
surveillance. On Thursday,
“IDF soldiers conducted coun-
terterrorism activity in the
Jenin Camp and an IDF UAV
struck an armed terrorist cell
in the Jenin Camp,” the mil-
itary said. Drones aided IDF
soldiers to identify an armed
terrorist cell.
Drones are transforming the
IDF’s way of war. While drones
can’t do everything, they are
helping soldiers do a lot more.
For instance, the new Spark
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
drone, that was developed as
part of the IDF Storm Clouds
program for the 144th UAV
squadron, is playing a role in
the war in Gaza, according to
a Walla report.
These drones, based on the
Israeli company Aeronautics
Orbiter family of drones, can
perform many missions, as
the drones are not particu-
larly large or heavy. The IDF
doesn’t provide specifics, but
other Orbiter models can
weigh from several kilograms
to dozens, and some have a
range of 100km or 25 hours of
flight time.
The Walla report quoted an
IDF official praising the drone
and noted that the Spark
drone can “greatly assist the
maneuvering forces, with an
emphasis on the brigade com-
bat team. The enemy is in no
hurry to show himself and
when it happens it is for short
periods of time. If we know
mourns the passing of
how to identify him in time
using diverse methods and
attack him, we will extend the
achievement that will lead to
the destruction of Hamas.”
Israel has a plethora of other
drones as well. It uses the
Hermes 450 or Zik to carry
out surveillance and strikes,
the IAI Heron as well as Elbit
Systems Thor and Magni sys-
tems, and Rafael’s Firefly loi-
tering munition, known as
Maoz. These all form a kind of
multi-layered drone air force
that can be used against adver-
saries – adversaries that also
use drones.
Hamas uses drone to try to
target armored vehicles. Vehi-
cles in Gaza now are seen with
cages over them, apparently
to interdict drones, and the
Houthis also use drones, such
as the Samad-3, meaning that
the current conflict and dif-
ferent fronts are now all part
of the new era of drone wars.
‘There is a small handful of people
who do not represent this public’
• By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday issued
a rare condemnation of West Bank settler violence under
pressure from the United States.
“I condemn this, and we will act against it,” he said.
Netanyahu issued his statement after meeting with
settler leaders from the Yesha Council on Wednesday
night and two days after he spoke with US President Joe
Biden.
According to the White House, Biden “discussed the
situation in the West Bank” with Netanyahu and “the
need to hold extremist settlers accountable for violent
acts” against Palestinians.
At the meeting with settler leaders, Netanyahu said
he told “Biden that the allegations against the settlers
are baseless,” adding that the violence stems from “a
small extreme minority that does not come from the
settlements.”
“We condemn it and deal with it with all the severity of
the law,” Netanyahu said he told Biden.
Similarly, Netanyahu in his public statement on
Wednesday emphasized that Jewish extremists who attack
Palestinians in the West Bank represent a small fraction of
the overall Israeli population in Judea and Samaria.
“There is a tiny handful of people who do not represent

MR.
MR MARC BESEN AC this public and that take the law into their own hands,”
he said.
“We are not prepared to tolerate this. We are not
Australia prepared to accept this. We will take all action against
them. This causes severe international damage to the
Philanthropist, Governor, Honorary Doctorate recipient State of Israel, and it does not represent the public here.”
According to the United Nations, eight Palestinians,
Heartfelt condolences to his children including one child, “have been killed by Israeli settlers.”
and to all the family The attacks have inflamed an already volatile situation
in the West Bank.
Mr. Daniel I. Schlessinger Prof. Asher Cohen In Tokyo on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony
Chairman of the Board of Governors President of the Hebrew University Blinken said he had spoken with Israeli officials during
his visit last weekend about the need to stop Jewish
extremist violence.
T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T  F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 2 3 ISRAEL AT WAR 3

Pro-Palestinians heckle witnesses at Congress

• By ANDREW LAPIN/JTA anti-Black views instead. that, if a violent antisemit- speech are being inconsistent.
One Democrat, Georgia Rep. ic action followed anti-Israel “I am reminded of the great
As Amanda Silberstein tes- Hank Johnson, said the hear- speech, the prior speech could philosopher Austin Powers,
tified before the US House of ing itself was hypocritical in be policed as an example of pre- who said, ‘There’s only two
Representatives on Wednesday light of the House’s vote the dicting that conduct. things I can’t stand: people
about how a student at her uni- previous night to censure Tlaib “Conduct often follows who are intolerant of other
versity had threatened to kill over speech related to Israel. words,” Silberstein said in people, and the Dutch,’” Gaetz
and rape Jewish students, she “It’s ironic that we’re holding agreement, linking chants at said, referencing the series of
was interrupted. this hearing today about cen- Cornell of “From the river to spy comedies starring Mike
“Free Palestine,” a protester sorship and speech on campus, the sea” to antisemitic threats Myers. “And a similar tension
shouted from the audience but last night, MAGA Repub- to students. “Speech advocat- seems to be on display today.”
during Silberstein’s testimony licans and others censured ing for violence should not be Silberstein and Marcus were
at a hearing on free speech and the only Palestinian voice in tolerated on a college campus,” joined on the witness panel by
antisemitism on college cam- the House of Representatives she added. Stacy Burdett, a senior executive
puses. “Anti-Zionism is not because they didn’t like what “Well, what about the eradi- at the Anti-Defamation League;
antisemitism.” she had to say,” Johnson said. cation of Hamas?” McClintock two non-Jewish conservative
Silberstein is an undergrad- “She didn’t threaten anybody. asked her. Silberstein respond- campus activists; and Pamela
uate at Cornell University, She did not advocate for vio- ed that Hamas is “a recognized Nadell, the director of Ameri-
where a student was recently lence. She stated a view, as hap- terrorist organization,” which can University’s Jewish studies
arrested for making antisemit- pens on college campuses.” led McClintock to ask, “So it program and the author of a
ic death threats. Silberstein, a Nearly two dozen Democrats AMANDA SILBERSTEIN, a Jewish Cornell University student, testifies before Congress on depends upon your viewpoint, forthcoming book on antisem-
member of the student board also voted to censure Tlaib, say- Wednesday about the antisemitism she has experienced on campus, as pro-Palestinian hecklers is that what you’re saying?” itism in America.
demonstrate behind her. (Screenshot via YouTube)
at Cornell’s Chabad-Lubavitch ing that they believed her use Gaetz, too, pushed Marcus Nadell sparred with Gaetz
movement chapter, had just of the phrase “From the river on whether punishing students over whether criticism of “glo-
described how “professors and to the sea” implied threats of speech should be protected “banned or punished.” el speech under the Education who voice support for Hamas balists” or progressive Jewish
student organizations have violence toward Jews and Israel. on campus. He asked Mar- In his answer, Marcus Department’s civil rights pro- amounts to the suppression of philanthropist George Soros,
been fueling Jew-hatred and McClintock grilled Sil- cus whether “the mere repe- referred to an executive order tections. Speech, he said, could legitimate speech. He suggest- both frequent targets of Gaetz’s
spreading it across campus berstein and Marcus about tition” of the phrase “From by president Donald Trump be used “as an indicator of the ed that those who have called ire, should always be seen as
with disregard or potentially whether certain Israel-related the river to the sea” should be that included some anti-Isra- nature of conduct.” He added for the suppression of bigoted antisemitic.
even with deliberate intent to
incite.”
It was one of several times
when pro-Palestinian protest-
ers interrupted witnesses at the
House Judiciary Committee
hearing titled “Free Speech on
College Campuses.” Through-
out the more than three-hour
hearing, they called for a cease-
fire in the Gaza Strip; decried
a purported silencing of Pal-
estinian students on campus;
and protested the recent House
censuring of Michigan Demo-
cratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who
is Palestinian-American, for her
use of the genocidal Palestinian
phrase “From the river to the
sea,” which refers to the elimi-
nation of the State of Israel.
This was not the first time
in recent days when pro-Pal-
estinian protesters disrupted
congressional proceedings.
Last week, hecklers also tried to
derail US Secretary of State Ant-
ony Blinken, as he implored
Congress to allocate emergency
funds for Israel.
Although Silberstein, unlike
Blinken, was not using her tes-
timony to advocate for Israel,
her heckling exemplified the
tense atmosphere, as Repub-
licans and Democrats alike
openly pondered the question
of whether, and how, speech
about Israel and Jews should be
policed on campus and in the
House.
“I happen to believe in the
eradication of Hamas. The
same freedom of speech that
protects my right to advocate
that position is at stake here,
is it not?”, California Repub-
lican Rep. Tom McClintock
said at one point to Kenneth
Marcus, a witness who served
in the Trump administration’s
Education Department and
chairs the Brandeis Center for
Human Rights Under Law. The
latter is a pro-Israel group that
has repeatedly brought legal
challenges against universities
it says fail to properly discipline
anti-Zionist speech.
The hearing was originally
intended to focus on the issue
of conservative college stu-
dents allegedly being silenced.
But in light of Hamas’s October
7 attack on Israel, it largely cen-
tered on antisemitism on cam-
pus and beyond, as student and
faculty rhetoric around Israel
has reached a fever pitch.
Silberstein had been invited
to testify in part because Cor-
nell recently canceled classes
for a day because of the threats
against its Jewish students. That
incident followed a professor
at the Ivy League university
publicly praising the Hamas
attacks, turning the school
into a flashpoint for the rising
temperature around antisemit-
ic and anti-Zionist speech on
campuses.
Some Republicans, includ-
ing hardline right-wing Flori-
da Rep. Matt Gaetz, suggested
that efforts to restrict pro-Pal-
estinian or pro-Hamas speech
on campuses were misguid-
ed. Another, California Rep.
Kevin Kiley, accused university
administrators at schools such
as Harvard of relying on free
speech as an excuse to avoid
condemning students with
pro-Hamas views.
A Cornell alum, Texas Rep.
Wesley Hunt, condemned
the school’s administra-
tion for not immediately
firing a pro-Hamas profes-
sor, suggesting administra-
tors would have done so if
he had shared anti-trans or
4 ISRAEL AT WAR F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

‘Photographers embedded with Oct. 7 terrorists’

• By Jerusalem Post Staff
and Walla
Media watchdog Hon-
estReporting published an
investigative report late on
Wednesday showing that
photojournalists from leading
news outlets, including The
New York Times, AP, Reuters,
and CNN joined Hamas ter-
rorists from the Gaza Strip on
October 7 to document the
horrific events with their cam-
eras.
The report questions how
they were able to be on site
at such critical and horrific
points of the day, if they did
not know of the plan ahead
of time. And even if they did
not, why they didn’t alert their
agencies to the atrocities.
HonestReporting, which
works to expose anti-Israel
bias in the foreign press, raised
weighty ethical questions in
the investigation regarding
the presence of those photog-
raphers alongside Hamas ter-
rorists.
Among other things, it begs
the question of whether the
photographers were aware in
advance of the intent to carry
out the massacre and how
they arrived on the scene so
quickly. Did Hamas allow
them to be there? Did these
PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS surround a disabled Merkava tank on the Israeli side of the border fence
near Khan Yunis on October 7. (Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images)
news reporters have approval
to enter Israel alongside the
terrorists? Did the photogra-
phers inform their editors that
they were accompanying the
terrorists as they carried out
the attacks against the Israelis?
According to the investi-
gation, the photographers
documented up close the
kidnapping of civilians and
soldiers, an attack on a tank,
and the lynching of an IDF
soldier. Four of them appear
in photo credits to the AP, Has-
san Eslaiah, Yousef Masoud,
Ali Mahmud, and Hatem Ali,
with Eslaiah also freelancing
for CNN. HonestReporting’s
piece shows since-deleted
tweets of Eslaiah standing in
front of a burning Israeli tank,
as well as photos he took at the
very moments the terrorists
entered Kfar Aza.
Masoud, who also freelanc-
es for the Times, added to the
tank photos, while Mahmud
and Ali photographed abduc-
tions of Israelis to the Gaza
Strip, according to the report,
which supplied screenshots of
the photos with AP credit.
Mohammed Fayq Abu
Mostafa, a Reuters photojour-
nalist, according to the report,
even photographed a “lynch
mob brutalizing the body of
an Israeli soldier” dragged
from the burning tank.
It is important to note that
HonestReporting was the first,
and by press time, only agency
to present the evidence and
raise these ethical questions.
“AP had no advance knowl-
edge of the October 7 attack,”
said spokesperson Nicole
Meyer. “AP’s role is to capture
news and images from events
happening worldwide, at any
point, even if they are terrible
and involve victims. AP uses
photos from freelancers from
all over, including Gaza.”
The Jerusalem Press Club
stated that “if indeed repre-
sentatives of news agencies
and significant networks
were aware in advance of the
expected massacre, it raises ini-
tial concerns about complicity
in a crime or failure to prevent
the murder.
“The investigation raises dif-
ficult ethical questions, not
only about the behavior of
those on the ground, but also
of the network and news agen-
cy executives,” the club added.
“The question is whether they
knew about Hamas’s intent
and still gave it their tacit
approval.
“We urge them to conduct
a thorough investigation
to examine what they knew
before the massacre and
whether a different course of
action on their part could have
saved the lives of many inno-
cent people. We demand that
they publish their findings as
soon as possible, just as they
disseminated the reports and
horrific images.”
The National Public Diplo-
macy Directorate in the Prime
Minister’s Office stated that
it “views with utmost gravity
that photojournalists work-
ing with international media
joined in covering the brutal
acts of murder perpetrated by
Hamas terrorists on October 7
in the communities adjacent
to the Gaza Strip.
“These journalists were
accomplices in crimes against
humanity; their actions were
contrary to professional eth-
ics,” the directorate said.
“Overnight the GPO issued
an urgent letter to the bureau
chiefs of the media organi-
zations that employed these
photographers and sought
clarifications on the matter.
The National Public Diploma-
cy Directorate demands that
immediate action be taken.”
Communications Minister
Dr. Shlomo Karhi contacted
CNN, Reuters, The New York
Times, and the AP on Thursday
in light of the report, saying
“The gravity of the situation
demands a swift and thorough
response. It is now a time for
individuals, journalists, insti-
tutions, unions, and organi-
zations around the world to
make a clear choice. We must
decide whether we stand on
the side of life and good or on
the side of depraved terrorism,
inhumanity, and evil.”
International news organiza-
tion Reuters denied on Thurs-
day any suggestion it had prior
knowledge of the October
7 attack by Hamas on Israe-
li civilians and soldiers, in a
statement responding to the
report by HonestReporting.
“We are aware of a report by
HonestReporting and accusa-
tions made against two free-
lance photographers who con-
tributed to Reuters coverage of
the October attack,” Reuters
said.
“Reuters categorically denies
that it had prior knowledge of
the attack or that we embed-
ded journalists with Hamas on
October 7,” the news agency
added.
“Reuters acquired photo-
graphs from two Gaza-based
freelance photographers who
were at the border on the
morning of October 7, with
whom it did not have a prior
relationship. The photographs
published by Reuters were
taken two hours after Hamas
fired rockets across southern
Israel and more than 45 min-
utes after Israel said gunmen
had crossed the border.
“Reuters staff journalists
were not on the ground at the
locations referred to in the
HonestReporting article.”

‘Nasrallah is holding his cards close to his chest’

AYELET FRISH
(Sivan Farag)
• By ERIC NARROW
Soldiers enclose around Gaza
City, Houthis in Yemen claim to
have launched drone attacks
towards Israel, Hezbollah Leader
Hassan Nasrallah speaks out
An analysis of the Israel-Hamas war by leading strategic expert Ayelet Frish
publicly on the War for the first
time, Congress votes to censure
Rashida Tlaib, and antisemitism
runs rampant throughout major
global cities as the war contin-
ues to dominate public dis-
course and headlines around
the world, and that is just this
week. Amidst the layered com-
plexities surrounding Israel’s
war against the Hamas, there is
one unobjectionable truth – the
global implications of the Isra-
el-Hamas War permeate all lev-
els of society and will leave a
lasting impact throughout the
Middle East and the rest of the
world.
Ayelet Frish, CEO of Frish Stra-
tegic Consulting Ltd. and lead-
ing international strategic advis-
er, breaks down the events that
have unfolded over the past
week as Israel to continues its
most crucial campaign for the
future of the Jewish Nation.
Key Events from the Week
IDF troops completed the
encirclement of Gaza City, the
nucleus of the Hamas terror
machine, and continue operat-
ing inside Gaza, engaging in
complex, close-range, urban
warfare. Israeli forces have elimi-
nated thousands of terrorists
thus far, including senior Hamas
leaders behind the October 7th
massacre.
The IDF continues to call on
residents of Gaza City to evacu-
ate to the south, opening
humanitarian corridors for
Gazan civilians who are march-
ing to safety while waving white
flags as IDF troops ensure their
safe passage. Thousands of civil-
ians marching with white flags
is usually considered a victory
photo for the other side. In this
case however, this photo
doesn’t represent victory or
glory, but what it does show is
the sad reality of the evil of
Hamas against its own people.
Israel has deployed a large
number of troops to its north-
ern border with Lebanon and
Syria, and is readily prepared to
act against any terror threat on
its northern front, with ground
troops and the air force operat-
ing to deter future attacks.
Israeli Spirit
The trials and tribulations of
the Jewish people have become
ingrained in their culture and
religion, but for Frish, the Octo-
ber 7th massacre ranks high as
one of the most pivotal events
in recent Jewish history. The
need to explain the significant
and horrific loss of life may
sound redundant, but as the
world continues to ignore the
catalyst for the ongoing war,
Frish feels that it is critical to
understand that this event is a
turning point for Israel. Follow-
ing years of continued rocket
fire, provocation, and endless
rounds of military operations
against the Hamas terrorist
organization that has repeatedly
called for Israel’s destruction, we
are seeing an unprecedented
unification of the Israeli people
around the simple principle of
the survival of a nation that has
succumbed to hate, fear and
systematic extermination for
thousands of years.
Historically, Israel will concede
to a ceasefire when they reach a
point that will result in inevita-
ble military casualties or a hos-
tage situation. However, this
point was already breached at
the onset of the Israel-Hamas
War and Israel now understands
that the military and civil situa-
tion calls for an unprecedented
shift in strategy to change this
reality and return Israel’s deter-
rence and military strength.
Frish directs her message clearly
to Hamas, who are looking to a
ceasefire as a means to rearm
and regroup. “The nation is
united, and we will hurt and cry
for every fallen soldier. We will
fight to bring every single hos-
tage home, but we are deter-
mined to fight. Even though we
are devastated to lose so many
soldiers, the spirit of the people
is different than anything we
have ever seen.”
The Israeli people recognize
that the fight in Gaza is a fight
that are now willing to take on
in order to ensure that Hamas
and the threat of terror is elimi-
nated. This is the first time that
there is no debate about the
need for boots on the ground in
order to win this war. Israel can
only move forward if we wipe
out the extremist Iranian proxies
of Hamas and Hezbollah at its
source.
“I do not recognize any weak-
ness or concession on the part
of the Israeli people,” Frish
states confidently, “I only see
the immense strength and the
resolve of the families of the fall-
en soldiers are giving to more
soldiers to fight for Israel’s exis-
tence.”
It’s that spirit that should
frighten Israel’s enemies. Rather
than deal a devastating blow to
Israel’s fervor through the
demonstration of their commit-
ment terror, the actions of
Hamas, Iran and other terrorist
organizations have only
emboldened the Jewish nation,
seen through unprecedented
military recruitment, social
action and cohesion of a coun-
try that was battling civil unrest
just a few months ago.
It is a fundamental part of
Israel’s DNA to protect all its citi-
zens, and in that vein, Israel’s
military and intelligence forces
are determined to rescue the
more than 230 hostages that
Hamas is utilizing as its insur-
ance policy for its survival. “The
terrorists think that they can kid-
nap our babies, toddlers, chil-
dren, women and elderly and
use them as human shields
while cowering in their terror
tunnels underneath schools and
hospitals, and that this strategy
will protect them from Israel,”
Frish asserts, noting that they
continue to use their own civil-
ian population as cover above
ground, highlighting the stark
contrast of how each side values
the lives of its people, “If the Ira-
nian ISIS [Hamas] thinks that
they can exploit Israel’s adher-
ence to the preservation of life
as a weakness, they need to
know that they will still die like
dogs in those tunnels.”
Israel’s number one priority is
the safe return of its citizens and
foreign nationals abducted by
the terror organization, and its
elite intelligence and special tac-
tical teams are committed to the
complete extermination of the
Hamas terrorist threat so that
the massacre of October 7th
will never happen again. Frish
explains that the Shin Bet has
recommissioned the NILI arm, a
special clandestine national
security unit committed to the
elimination of the terrorist lead-
ers involved in deaths of the
1,400 Israelis murdered on
October 7th. To the barbaric
terrorists who perpetrated such
heinous atrocities and to their
proponents who think they can
mistake the crisis in Israel as an
opportunity to strike, Israel
warns, “There is nowhere you
will be able to hide.”
The Threat in the North
Inspired by the perceived vic-
tory of the Iranian enabled
Hamas on October 7th, Frish
has no doubt that the war will
extend to Israel’s northern bor-
der, and we will have no choice
but to deal with the imminent
threat of Hezbollah. The lacklus-
ter speech of Hezbollah Leader
Hassan Nasrallah has garnered
jokes from both sides of the Ira-
nian axis, but Frish is not inter-
ested in the commentary. “I
believe that Nasrallah is holding
his cards close to his chest. The
number of ballistic and guided
missiles that Hezbollah has are
greater than you can imagine,”
Frish notes that the missiles are
primed and not just targeted at
the northern villages but have
the capability of unleashing
unforeseen destruction on the
Israel major urban centers of Tel
Aviv and Haifa with precision
accuracy and more destructive
capabilities.
“After October 7th, there is no
Israeli leader that can stand
behind the strategy of contain-
ment, living from round to
round [of attacks]. Even if it
doesn’t happen in the coming
weeks, in the ongoing timeline
of the State of Israel, there will
need to be a major incursion on
the northern front against Hez-
bollah.” Nasrallah may not have
said much of anything concrete
in his hour-long speech, but he
has demonstrated that Israel’s
enemies are fearful, and in
Frish’s opinion, they should be.
The notion of safety and secu-
rity in Israel has been shattered,
and Israel now understands that
the unconscionable massacre
empowered by Iranian support
and more frighteningly, danger-
ous terrorist ideology, can hap-
pen again. Highlighting the
renewed spirit and resolve of
the Jewish people, Frish adds
that “there is no mother in the
northern communities of Mis-
gav Am, Metula or Kiryat Shmo-
na after October 7th that can
put their children to sleep
knowing the enemy in the
north shares the same goal. On
October 7th we understood the
clear picture. Hezbollah, like
Hamas, is planning and laying
the groundwork, not just to fire
massive missile attacks against
Israel, provided by the Iran, but
to spread terror and fear within
Israeli villages.”
In 2018, Israel uncovered a
web of tunnels on its northern
border with Lebanon, cross-bor-
der tunnels which were con-
structed by Hezbollah in order
to infiltrate Israel from Lebanon.
Israeli intelligence and military
forces unveiled plans by Hezbol-
lah to enter Israel and attack
Israeli towns and villages by sur-
prise, just as Hamas did on
October 7.
We have seen the evil
unleashed in the South, the
extent of which we could have
never imagined, and this is the
exact same agenda of Hezbol-
lah, perpetuated by the Iranian
axis and influence, spread
throughout its proxies in the
Mideast, and continues to
inspire radicalism.
Since Operation Protective
Edge, Iran has bolstered its sup-
port of its proxies in Lebanon,
Syria and Gaza, sharing military
technology, resources and
assisting in the rapid establish-
ment of factories that manufac-
ture weapons of mass destruc-
tion, with the ultimate goal of
the annihilation of Israel, even at
the cost of their own humanity
and civilians’ lives. Israeli
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
revealed new images this week
from Southern Lebanon, clearly
identifying an Iranian airstrip
used to bolster Hezbollah’s ter-
rorist capabilities. The world
knows that Iran has been esca-
lating its nuclear capabilities,
and advancing its exportation
of terrorism through its axis,
and Frish reaffirms the growing
accessibility of the greatest dan-
ger to Israel- the enablement of
an Iranian nuclear threat.
Frish bluntly states the end
goal of this radicalism ideology,
“All day and all night, Iran only
wants to spread global terror,
kill all the Jews and destroy Isra-
el. We cannot fool ourselves
into thinking this is an issue of
terrorism. This is religious
extremism.”
While Israel should not insti-
gate a two front war until it has
eradicated the cancerous Hamas
threat in Gaza, the world should
prepare for the inevitable neces-
sity of the impending war in the
north. For those that support
the globalization of terrorism
and ideals spread by Iran, Frish
reaffirms that they should be
scared. The rest of the Arab
world may not outwardly sup-
port Israel’s actions, but Frish
believes that the eradication of
dangerous radicalism primarily
focused on creating weapons of
mass destruction will be quietly
appreciated, by millions of
Arabs who are partners for
peaceful resolution.
College Campuses
Even with indisputable,
empirical evidence to support
the response of the Israeli gov-
ernment and military forces, the
rhetoric that echoes throughout
college campuses and the legis-
lative halls is becoming increas-
ingly dangerous. “We are see-
ing a large percentage of young
people, 18-25, in the United
States who are very active on
social media and getting their
information from ‘fake news,’
standing on the side of Hamas
and fervently against Israel,”
Frish explains, shocked by the
rising trend that has allied edu-
cated American liberals on the
side of terrorism.
The trajectory is growing
more dangerous each day, and
the responsibility to correct this
should not fall squarely on the
shoulders of Israel and its sup-
porters, but on the members of
congress who claim to be on
the side of freedom, on the col-
lege professors who are
impressing their own beliefs on
their students, and on the uni-
versity presidents and leader-
ship, who are standing idly by
as their campuses continue to
spread rampant antisemitism. “I
feel deep shame for them for
allowing racism, antisemitism
and allowing their students to
praise the [barbaric] actions of
Hamas, who burn and behead
babies,” Frish expresses, hoping
that these educators will answer
the call to correct the mounting
hatred, but adds, “It’s not too
late. Today it is in Israel, but
tomorrow it will be in Boston,
in your playgrounds. Wake up!”
T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T  F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 2 3 ISRAEL AT WAR 5

‘Post-war recovery must not be spendthrift’

COMMENT
• By DAVID BRODET
The IDF has switched from
defense to attack. This will be
a war that entails military and
civilian expenditure the likes of
which we have not seen since
the Yom Kippur War.
The goal of destroying the
military and governing capac-
ity of Hamas requires a mas-
sive military effort. The need to
fight in the extensive and con-
voluted system of tunnels that
Hamas has built over a decade
means a long war, and the lon-
ger it goes on, the greater will be
the economic damage.
Our recent wars have
involved the home front as
well. The residents of the West-
ern Negev were hard hit by the
murderous assault of October 7,
and, together with the rocket
fire at other places, the damage
was estimated at NIS 5-6 billion
in the first week alone: houses
destroyed, vehicles burnt, fac-
tories and installations out of
action, and unharvested crops.
The war has caused the most
extensive ever evacuation of
settlements in Israel, in the
South and in the North. Some
125,000 people have been dis-
same page as the ministry pro-
fessionals.
It seems that Smotrich has
his own dreams and his own
agenda. This means that the
following forecast depends on
a return to talking about the
economy, and talking much
less about politics and ideology.
The minister of finance must
listen much more to his pro-
fessional staff, and to the Bank
of Israel. This applies not just
vis-à-vis the Budgets Division,
which is supposedly the most
miserly. The minister has an
economic adviser called the
Bank of Israel, and its view is
very clear. The business sector
too, while it has its interests,
still talks sensibly. He should
listen to it.
At the moment, the Bank of
Israel is fulfilling its function
as the central bank, dealing
with exchange rates, the capital
market, and monetary policy,
and I haven’t heard it speak in
a strong voice as an economic
adviser. It would be good if it
were to become more involved
in that respect.
Good opening position
Israel’s opening economic
position in this war was good,
another NIS 13b.
This means that government
spending between October 7
and December 31 will grow by
some NIS 45b.
Assuming that the govern-
ment diverts about NIS12b.
to financing this expenditure
form existing budgets (includ-
ing coalition party allocations),
and that the damage to state
revenues will be about NIS 10b.,
then the fiscal deficit will grow
by about NIS 42b., 2% of GDP,
bringing it to 3.5% of GDP,
without any military opera-
tions in the north.
Government debt will be rea-
sonable, and will amount to
about 63% of GDP by the end
of 2023. Financing the deficit
will increase the debt servicing
burden further, because of the
high interest rates in Israel and
abroad.
2024 budget
The budget for 2024 will
have to go back to the drawing
board, since it is irrelevant to
A TANK moves to a position during a drill in the Golan Heights yesterday. (Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images) the new reality. Military and
civilian spending will grow
further, and will challenge the
Knesset approves aid plan budget and the economy.
Financing of the deficit must
first of all come from diverting
amounting to about 8% of the
workforce, mainly men aged
21-45, harms GDP. The con-
struction industry is the main
victim, since Palestinian work-
ers are not being allowed in,
foreign workers have left, and
Israeli Arabs fear to go out to
work. For similar reasons, there
is a shortage of manpower in
agriculture.
Supply chains and logistics
have been disrupted by the
mobilization of drivers and
warehouse workers, and in
service sectors the number of
layoffs will grow. The decision
that entitlement to unemploy-
ment benefit for unpaid leave
will not be as it was during the
COVID-19 pandemic, but will
be partial, is important.
In the fourth quarter, GDP
will shrink by 5%, as a result of
the decline in activity in some
industries, and the switch of
civilian product to military
product. Instead of forecast
annual GDP growth of 3%,
GDP will rise by about 2%.
Mobilization of the reserves
for an extended period in 2024
will cause a loss of industrial
manpower, and a full outbreak
of war in the North will entail
further, prolonged mobiliza-

for businesses affected by war

placed. Rehabilitation of the
settlements in the Negev will
require rebuilding of houses,
production facilities, and infra-
structure, to the tune of NIS
3-4b., in order for existing resi-
dents to return and new ones to
be absorbed.
The economy is a second-
ary problem. It will take time,
but if we deal with the securi-
ty problem, the economy will
sort itself out – Israel has been
through such crises before.
That is on the assumption that
the approach is responsible and
not spendthrift. This is where I
feel concern.
I don’t know, for example,
what the economic implica-
tions are of extending the area
entitled to compensation to up
to 40 km. from the Gaza Strip. If
it amounts to NIS 1b. and calms
the population there, then it
may be that the cost is worth-
while.
The problem is that I don’t
trust Minister of Finance Beza-
lel Smotrich. Disputes between
the minister and the Budgets
Division are practically normal.
It has always been that way.
The assumption has been that
the minister has political con-
siderations but is still on the
even though economic trends
before the war deteriorated
because of the judicial over-
haul proposals. Foreign cur-
rency reserves were high, the
balance of payments was good,
and the fiscal deficit for 2023
was expected to be under 2%
of GDP.
The Ministry of Finance
should not be complacent
about this opening position,
given the challenges facing the
economy, but it should be gen-
erous in the right places.
2023 budget
Three weeks of the defensive
posture cost NIS 8b. in pay for
some 360,000 military reserv-
ists, keeping them fed and
watered, and equipment and
weapons procurement (exclud-
ing munitions for the Air Force,
paid for out of US military aid).
The government’s extra civilian
expenditure was about NIS 4b.,
including housing for 125,000
evacuees, compensation pay-
ments and arrangements for
those harmed financially, and
special expenditure on health,
welfare, and education.
In November and Decem-
ber 2023, the fighting and the
mobilization of the reserves
• By ARIELLA MARSDEN
The Knesset passed a financial aid plan for
businesses in the South and the North almost
five weeks after the beginning of the war, in a
special plenum session on Wednesday night.
The plan passed its second and third read-
ings into law after the Finance Committee had
spent hours finalizing the details throughout
the day.
The plan contains a continuity grant for
businesses with an annual cycle of between
NIS 12,000 and NIS 400 million, that have
suffered a decline of at least 25% bimonthly
or 12.5% in October and/or November. The
sum of the grant will be determined for each
business according to its regular cycle com-
pared to its loss.
For businesses that were started after Sep-
tember 2, 2022, the calculation will be dif-
ferent.
In order for employees to maintain an
income if they were placed on furlough, the
plan also changes the requirements for unem-
ployment benefits to allow them to be paid
sooner. As such, employees will no longer
have to use their remaining vacation days
before getting paid, and they will be eligi-
will continue, and I estimate another NIS 20b., and that
that the military cost will be the civilian cost, which has
ble to start receiving money after 14 days, as
opposed to the regular 30.
Displaced Israelis from the South and the
North will be eligible for an automatic exten-
sion of their benefits, and people over the age
of 67 who lost their place of work will be given
a special grant.
The benefits in the plan will be valid
between October 7 and November 30.
The financial aid plan went through many
changes over the last few weeks. When the
Finance Ministry first presented its plan in the
Finance Committee, it was faced with heavy
criticism from people who said the compen-
sation offered wasn’t enough.
It also applied only to businesses located
at most seven kilometers from the border.
Businesses further out would be given less
compensation. The final plan that passed in
Knesset extended the limit to 40 km. in order
to include towns that were heavily affected,
but originally wouldn’t have been included.
During the same meeting, Economy Minis-
ter Nir Barkat presented his own plan, which
didn’t include the seven-km. limit and award-
ed higher compensation to affected business-
es. The final plan that passed on Wednesday
night was a combination of both plans.
run into management and
operational difficulties, will be
budgets from less vital items
to the needs of the war and
its civilian consequences. Dis-
tortions caused by coalition
pressures, the contribution of
which to the economy and
society is minimal, and even
negative, will have to be fixed.
A temporary rise in the fiscal
deficit and in government debt
is unavoidable.
The main way of financ-
ing the war is through issues
of government bonds, since
the availability of finance on
overseas debt markets has been
impaired.
In my view, because of both
short-term and medium-term
considerations, the fiscal deficit
for 2024 should be set at no
more than 5% of GDP, or 7%
if the northern front becomes
active. Government debt will
then be 66-68% of GDP, and
the deficit will be between NIS
100b. and NIS140b. This takes
into account a reduction in tax
receipts, and assumes that Air
Force munitions will continue
to be supplied from US aid and
will be external to the budget.
The labor market and
GDP
Mobilization of the reserves,
tion, and additional costs, and
will lead to greater harm to the
economy.
A continuation of the fight-
ing, at low intensity, and con-
tinued mobilization of the
reserves, will affect growth in
2024, forecast at 1.5%, while
the unemployment rate will
reach 5%. Military expenditure
will have an impact in 2025-
2027 as well.
To the extent that fiscal and
monetary policy work correct-
ly in a coordinated way, they
will have a beneficial effect on
growth and inflation.
Given the Bank of Israel’s
$200b. in foreign currency
reserves, and the governor of
the bank’s declaration that
$30b. will be used to stabilize
the currency, the shekel-dollar
exchange rate will not go sig-
nificantly higher than NIS 4/$.
Inflation in 2024 will be in
the range of 4-5%.
The writer was budgets commis-
sioner in the Finance Ministry from
1991 to 1994, and director-general
of the ministry from 1995 to 1997.
He has served as chairperson at
several Israel companies, among
them Bank Leumi (2010-2019)
and El Al (2020-2021).
(Globes/TNS)

Budgets Division defeats Smotrich in ministry power struggle

ANALYSIS
• By OREN DORI
Senior Finance Ministry offi-
cials turned up to work yester-
day amid confusion over who
is responsible for the 2024 state
budget. This is what happens
when the minister of finance
decides to upend the division
of responsibilities within the
ministry.
Minister Bezalel Smotrich
wanted to strip powers from
the Budgets Division, among
other things so that it would
not prevent him from main-
taining the allocations to the
haredi parties in the original
budget, according to ministry
sources.
Yogev Gardos, head of the
Budgets Division, stood his
ground, and on Monday eve-
ning ministry legal adviser Asi
Messing ruled against Smo-
trich and found that the deci-
sion could not be carried out,
as this would turn the posts
of budgets commissioner and
accountant general into polit-
ical appointments.
Smotrich, however, has been
FINANCE MINISTER Bezalel Smotrich approaches the Knesset
podium to address matters of aid to evacuees from the North
and South last week, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
looks on. (Hadas Porush/Pool/Haaretz)
trying to circumvent the legal
opinion. He has refrained from
saying explicitly that he will
not accept the ruling, but he
appointed associates to den-
igrate it. “The State of Israel
is at war, and we don’t have
time to read 16 pages of ver-
biage detached from reality,
designed to create bureaucratic
impediments and prevent the
efficient management of a war
budget,” they wrote.
In Smotrich’s circle, they
are trying to give the impres-
sion that they will carry on as
planned, that is, to manage the
budget through a special team
set up by the minister, headed
by ministry Director-General
Shlomi Heisler. He is supposed
to receive powers taken away
from ministry professionals,
is reluctant to take on these
extra powers.
“The team formed at the
Finance Ministry is intended
to streamline and shorten pro-
cesses, and the ministry will
operate by means of it until
the end of the war,” Smo-
trich’s associates said. They
added a veiled threat to the
ministry’s professional ranks:
“The finance minister does
not intend to allow anyone to
harm the public and prevent it
from receiving the response it
needs at this time of war.”
So what will actually hap-
pen? Will the team convene
to set the budget, giving the
last word to Heisler, Smotrich’s
personal appointee?
The conclusion from conver-
sations with Finance Ministry
people past and present is that
Smotrich lost and the Budgets
Division won.
The team, consisting of
Heisler, Gardos, and Accoun-
tant-General Yali Rothenberg,
will convene. There is nothing
exceptional about that. But it
is now clear that Heisler will
not have a veto over the divi-
sion heads, contrary to what
Smotrich decided. If they do
not reach agreement between
themselves, the matter in ques-
tion will go to the minister to
decide, as is normal practice in
any case.
In any event, it looks as
though the matters that will
come before the team will not
be broad macro issues in the
budget, but rather short-term
problems.
It should be mentioned that
the hierarchy at the ministry
unusual, in that the divisional
heads are at the same level as
the director-general, and not
subordinate to him.
In the end, it doesn’t mat-
ter whether meetings between
senior officials are designated
as a “special team” or as rou-
tine management meetings. In
practice, the preparation of the
budget will be in the hands of
the entity whose job that is,
the Budgets Division.
The realization that Smotrich
will be forced into a U-turn
is bad news for anyone who
hoped that the state would
loosen the purse strings and
pour out money. Smotrich has
recently come out with bud- order to finish the year without
getary decisions without agree- breaching statutory spending
ment with the ministry profes- limits. The ministry has been
sionals, such as expansion of scratching around everywhere
the area in which businesses for sources of these funds.
will be entitled to extra com- The Ministry of Environmen-
pensation for war damage to 40 tal Protection has had its clean-
kilometers from the Gaza Strip liness fund taken away. The
border, or the instruction to budget for rehabilitating quar-
freeze interest on deferred loan ries has also gone, and even the
repayments. Knesset has contributed NIS 80
A budget led by the Budgets million of its budget (without,
Division will presumably be heaven forbid, touching Knes-
tighter and more restrained set members’ pay).
than one exposed to political All this is not enough, and
motives. Even before any refor- the Finance Ministry will have
mulation of the 2024 budget, to submit changes to the 2023
the most acute need at the budget for rapid approval.
moment is to deal with soaring The battle will mainly be over
expenditure up to the end of money allocated to coalition
the current year. parties, of which NIS 1.5-2.5
Senior Finance Ministry billion remains unspent in the
officials estimate that NIS 5-6 current year.
billion needs to be found in (Globes/TNS)
BATTALION 462 IS FACING A SHORTAGE OF
COATS FOR THE COMING WINTER
We urgently need your help with donations to purchase
coats for all of the battalion's soldiers. The cost of each coat
is NIS 117 including VAT. The battalion has 308 soldiers, and
so far 95 coats have been donated. We will be grateful for
your help in donating more coats.

Reservists’ minimum wage raised to NIS 300 a day
• By ARIELLA MARSDEN
The Knesset passed a temporary
minimum wage for reserve
soldiers of NIS 300 a day, in a
special plenum session yesterday.
A reservist’s daily wage was
raised from NIS 215 and will
remain at NIS 300 until the end of
December or the end of the war,
whichever comes first. If the war
continues after December, the
provision can be extended with
the approval of Labor Minister
Yoav Ben-Zur, Finance Minister
Bezalel Smotrich, and Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant.
Usually, a reservist’s daily wages
are calculated by dividing their
civilian salaries over the previous
three months by 90 days, while
ensuring that they get at least NIS
6,455 a month for their service.
The raise means that reserve
soldiers will get a minimum
monthly wage of NIS 9,000, but
will still get the average of their
last three salaries if it comes out
higher.
Some MKs had wanted to add
a clause to the new law giving
reserve soldiers at least one day
off for every 10 days they serve,
but Israel’s National Insurance
told the Labor Committee that if
they passed the law by the end
of the week, the reserve soldiers
could get the higher salary for
October.
In order to allow this, the
Knesset called a special plenum
session on Thursday and decided
to legislate the days off separately.
Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz
said the new wage repaired “the
insulting minimum wage” that
reservists were paid before.
“I want us to remember the
reserve soldiers in the days after
[the war],” he said. “They are right
now risking their lives to protect
us all. This is only the first step.”
You can pay through the attached PayBox link
or directly to the coat supplier:
Ideas Manufacturing Ltd., B.R. 513649483
Bank Hapoalim | Branch 655 | Acct # 532696
Donations of any amount will grant the donor a certificate
of appreciation from the battalion and photos/videos of the
soldiers of the battalion with the new coats.
Thanks in advance
For more details:
Maj. Shlomi Dahan
462nd Deputy Battalion Commander
Tel. 054-7806660
https://payboxapp.page.link/rxaisZvUT3zQjqwM8
6 ISRAEL AT WAR F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

War-wary markets start to attract investors back

ANALYSIS
• By STEVEN SCHEER
and MARC JONES
A month on from the Octo-
ber 7 attack by Hamas terror-
ists that killed 1,400 Israelis,
investors are gradually return-
ing to the country’s financial
markets, warily accepting the
descent into its worst security
crisis in decades.
Although a significant
weakening of the dollar over
the last week has helped, Isra-
el’s shekel marked a remark-
able comeback on Tuesday as
it recouped the last of the 5%
it lost in the days after last
month’s atrocities.
The country’s stocks and
bonds prices have been
clawing back ground too,
although they and the main
market gauges of risk aver-
sion, such as credit-default
swaps, are still flashing warn-
ing signs.
“The fact that the fighting
is only in Gaza [for now] and
not in the North is helping
local investors to focus on the
[economic] fundamentals,”
said Yaniv Pagot, head of
trading at the Tel Aviv Stock
Exchange.
Israel’s response to the
attacks, which included the
abduction of more than 240
Israelis, has been an unre-
lenting air bombardment of
the Hamas-run Gaza Strip,
followed by a ground offen-
sive.
The initial fear of many
analysts was of it spilling into
a more incendiary region-
al conflict involving Iran-
backed Hezbollah in Leba-
non. But so far, the terrorist
group has not waded in.
Israel’s central bank has
played its part too, with a
flurry of support measures,
and has stayed away from
rate cuts. It has acknowl-
edged the economy will slow,
but points out it was in solid
shape prior to the war and
should bounce back, as in
past conflicts, if it eases.
“We have known how to
recover from difficult periods
in the past and to return rap-
idly to prosperity,” Bank of
Israel Governor Amir Yaron
said. “I have no doubt that it
will do so this time as well.”
At the outset of the war,
markets were stunned. The
shekel, which had already
shed 10% in 2023 partly on
MONEY RETURNS
Just two days into the war,
the central bank said it would
sell up to $30 billion of for-
eign currency to defend the
shekel and provide $15b. of
liquidity to the market via
swap transactions.
Data shows it spent less
than a third, or $8.2b., of
that pledge during October. It
still has more than $190b. of
foreign-exchange reserves at
its disposal and has executed
$400 million of dollar-shekel
swaps.
The shekel appreciated
another 0.7% versus the dol-
lar to move back to a prewar
level of 3.86 to the greenback
on Tuesday.
The government’s cost of
THE HEAD of trading at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange said Israeli institutional investors who had borrowing, measured by the
moved money abroad earlier this year due to concerns about changes in the judiciary system benchmark 10-year bond
have now increased exposure to local stocks and bonds. (Avshalom Sassoni/Maariv)
yield, has also fallen back to
4.22%, almost where it was
the government’s contested est rates again. That caused At the same time, Israel’s before the attack and well
plan to overhaul the judicia- the dollar to wilt significant- central bank “has been seen below the 4.67% it peaked at
ry, tumbled 5% and reached ly. as putting together a credible in the aftermath.
an 11-year low. “Market sentiment has been package [in reaction to the MSCI’s dollar-denominated
The tide changed last week stabilizing, and more broad- war’s escalation],” he added, Israel share index has recov-
after Hezbollah signaled ly, this is a dollar move,” said which has helped ease con- ered more than half of its
it was likely to stay on the Geoff Yu, a senior foreign-ex- cerns about a major dive in initial losses too, and it was
sidelines for now, and the US change and macro strategist the currency, creating finan- down 6.3%, compared with
Federal Reserve flagged that it at BNY Mellon, referring to cial instability and fueling 15% lower in late October.
might not need to raise inter- the fall in the greenback. inflation. “The Bank of Israel took
very aggressive action,” said
Gil Moshe, the head of mar-
kets at the Israel unit of US
bank Citi. “Whenever [mar-
ket] players are seeing that
the liquidity is there, and the
Bank of Israel is on top of
things and willing to inter-
vene whenever it’s necessary,
then they get more confi-
dent.”
Local bid-offer spreads have
come right back in after ini-
tially widening when the
worries hit, he said.
Pagot said Israeli institu-
tional investors who had
moved money abroad earli-
er this year due to concerns
about changes in the judicia-
ry system have now increased
exposure to local stocks and
bonds.
“Institutions are bringing
money back home,” he said.
“They think the low shekel
is an opportunity for invest-
ment.”
Looking to next year,
Shmuel Katzavian, a strate-
gist at Israel’s Discount Bank,
expects the shekel to contin-
ue to strengthen. It has been
falling for roughly two years
as sentiment has weakened
generally. (Reuters)

Financial compensation update End of year tax-loss selling

on size of revenues. Once the online of Iron) was enacted on October 18. of speaking with your accountant
YOUR TAXES system is opened up, businesses will It applies to soldiers, hostages, peo- YOUR INVESTMENTS before implementing these strate-
• By LEON HARRIS have 90 days to file compensation ple who were missing, evacuees, the • By AARON KATSMAN gies. The reason is because offsetting
claims. According to reports, the 22% estate of persons who died, hospital- gains and losses have different rules

T
he Israeli government is grad- may be increased in exceptional cases ized people, police personnel, prison in different jurisdictions.
crust eaten in peace is better

ually getting its act together
in providing financial support
for people and businesses. Here is a
brief update as of Tuesday. It is not
complete as the measures are still
evolving.
EVACUEES: Relocation grants are to
be paid automatically by the Nation-
al Insurance Institute (NII) into the
bank accounts of evacuees not in sub-
sidized accommodation, according
to an announcement the NII pub-
lished last week. Payments may range
up to NIS 100 per day per child and
NIS 200 per day per adult. The evacu-
ees must file an online declaration to
start the process (https://www.gov.il/
he/service/yachad).
BUSINESS SUPPORT: Last week,
the government announced a finan-
cial support package for businesses
indirectly impacted by the 2023 Isra-
el-Hamas war. The announcement
updated earlier proposals but is
subject to Knesset approval, which
is expected “in the next few days.”
The proposed program would apply
to businesses with annual revenue
between NIS 18,000 and NIS 400,000
that suffer a 12.5% drop in month-
ly revenues, or 25% for bimonthly
revenues, in the October-November
period as applicable. Most small and
medium-sized businesses with annu-
al revenues below NIS 1,615,000 are
bimonthly VAT filers.
The package contains a number
of sliding scales based on revenue
decline and payroll. If revenues are
between NIS 300,000 and NIS 400
million, government grants may
range from 7% to 22% of the drop in
revenues plus 75% of payroll multi-
plied by the % drop in revenue. This
would be subject to monetary caps of
NIS 300,000 to NIS 1.2m., depending
to 33%.
Expedited down-payment grants of
up to NIS 500,000 may be available
for frontline southern and northern
businesses. Evacuated individuals can
claim getting-organized grants of NIS
1,000 each, or NIS 5,000 per family.
The Israel Innovation Authority
has an expedited R&D grant facility
for hi-tech of up to NIS 7.5m., called
“Runway,” (https://innovationisrael.
org.il/route/fasttrack/#about_route).
Regarding layoffs and unemploy-
ment pay, the minimum period has
been reduced from 30 to 14 days,
and vacation time may need not be
offset for the October 7-November
30 period.
RESERVIST SALARY REIM-
BURSEMENT: Employers of smaller
businesses with up to 10 employees
called up to the IDF reserves may
request expedited reimbursement of
their salaries from the NII (https://
www.btl.gov.il/about/news/Pages/
MarctMkovnet.aspx). There is no
need to provide details of how long
they were called up for, nor must they
provide the usual IDF confirmation.
COMPANY CARS: Last week, the
Israel Tax Authority said employees
with a company car who are called
up to the IDF reserves or laid off may
notify their employer that the vehi-
cle is back “at the employer’s dispos-
al” and stop paying tax on car-usage
fringe benefits from that date, “even
if it is left in the field” (i.e., not at
the employer’s premises). Moreover,
the employee or someone on their
behalf may make that notification
retroactively up to seven days after
the reserve duty ends.
DEADLINES: The Law for Post-
poning Deadlines (Ad Hoc Swords
personnel, fire personnel, full-time
volunteers, spouses of the aforemen-
tioned, and companies owned by five
or fewer people directly or via a parent
company.
The law suspends a range of con-
tractual, governmental, court, pay-
ment, and tax deadlines. The law
does not apply to alimony or salary
deadlines. Initially, the stated delay
period is October 7-November 7, but
it is likely to be extended by the gov-
ernment if approved by the Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Commit-
tee. Note that various exceptions and
conditions apply.
OTHER MEASURES: E-invoic-
ing adoption is postponed by three
months to March 31, 2024.
People wishing to arrange imports
of protective and other equipment for
soldiers should contact the Defense
Ministry (trumot_migun@mod.gov.
il).
Soldiers returning from abroad to
volunteer for the IDF may receive
minimal NII support. If they do not
have an Israeli identity card, that
must be arranged first.
Injured people and/or their families
may apply to the NII, depending on
various things.
The Bank of Israel has issued guid-
ance regarding a three-month post-
ponement of loan repayments for
businesses and households.
Customs is reportedly leaving
transportation costs out of the value
of imports for customs and import
taxes.
As always, consult experienced pro-
fessional advisers in each country at an
early stage in specific cases.
leon@hcat.co
The writer is a certified public accoun-
tant and tax specialist at Harris Consult-
ing & Tax Ltd.
A
than a banquet partaken in anx-
iety. – Aesop
I know that for most of us invest-
ing and personal finance seem far
from our minds currently as we are
dealing with a war. Many of us know
someone who has been killed, or sol-
diers who have been injured, or are
in Gaza fighting. The level of nation-
al anxiety is high. And yet while it
may seem cruel, life continues. For
investors, the time is ticking as year-
end approaches, and with it the need
to be smart about your portfolio to
make it efficient tax-wise.
This year has been good for very
specific sectors of the market and
been quite bad for others. As infla-
tion surged early in the year, interest
rates were raised aggressively. This
has caused a very high level of vol-
atility, especially in what would be
deemed as ‘conservative’ type invest-
ments like bonds. We are closing in
on a second year of big losses in what
are thought of as ‘safe’ investments.
This is coming on the heels of
2022, which was a disaster for inves-
tors. There is a good chance that
somewhere in your portfolio, there
are losses. Whether it’s from bonds
or stocks, it may be hard to believe
but some good can actually come
of these losses. You can be strategic
and potentially save thousands and
thousands of dollars. Here are some
tips to make your portfolio more tax
efficient as well as make sure that it
still matches the goals and risk toler-
ance levels set forth.
LOSSES ARE NOT SO BAD
With all the market volatility you
may have sold positions at a loss and
now have substantial capital losses.
But keep in mind that prior to last
year, the market surged, and we had
some years that were good for inves-
tors. Now is the time to review your
portfolio to see if you have any posi-
tions that are currently at a gain. I
know that many investors shudder at
the thought of selling something at a
loss or hate selling a favorite position
that has appreciated a lot, but even if
you believe that a certain stock will
appreciate over the long-term, sell-
ing off the losers/gainers can actually
make you money.
Market drops can be beneficial.
When the position is sold, the inves-
tor realizes the loss, which has certain
tax advantages. The loss can be used
to offset other gains, thus lowering
the tax bill. In fact, for many inves-
tors, tax-loss selling may be the most
important way to reduce their tax
bill. If done correctly (be sure to speak
to your accountant before making
any trades), it can save a tremendous
amount of money.
Let’s use a real-life example. A
woman has a huge loss in We Work
stock (which declared bankruptcy)
and she decides to sell it. But let’s say
that she also bought shares of Nvidia
years ago, and she has a big gain on
the investment. She can sell part or
all the Apple stock and realize the
gain. Then she can use the amount
of the loss and offset it against the
gain in Nvidia, drastically reducing
the taxes owed.
You might ask why she should sell
the Nvidia stock. By selling it and
using the loss from We Work to offset
any capital gains tax, the investor
can reset their cost basis at a much
higher level, without incurring
any tax liability. Meaning that you
can buy back the Nvidia shares at a
higher price than you had originally
purchased them, thus creating tax
efficiency in your portfolio. Again, I
can’t stress enough the importance
In Israel one can sell a stock and
use the loss to offset gains and can
repurchase the stock the next day.
It’s different in the US. There is a
rule in the US, called the Wash-sale
rule, where the IRS disallows a loss
deduction from the sale of a security
if a ‘substantially identical security’
was purchased within 30 days before
or after the sale. The wash-sale rule is
designed to prevent investors from
making trades for the sole purpose of
avoiding taxes.
REBALANCE
Much has changed in the world
over the last year. Investors should
take the time to make sure that their
portfolios are well positioned for
current conditions. Rebalancing a
portfolio is critical. It’s important for
two main reasons. First, it keeps your
portfolio in tune with your long-term
goals and second, it keeps your asset
allocation in line with your risk level.
Use this time of the year to sit down
and reassess your financial situation.
If there are changes, take the time
now to re-allocate your funds to get
back to the type of allocation that
makes sense for you.
Speak with your accountant and
financial adviser to fine-tune your
portfolio before year’s end.
May all the families of the fallen
be comforted. May the hostages be
released. May the injured have a
speedy recovery. May our dear sol-
diers be safe and protected.
The information contained in this
article reflects the opinion of the author
and not necessarily the opinion of Portfo-
lio Resources Group, Inc. or its affiliates.
Aaron Katsman is the author of Retire-
ment GPS: How to Navigate Your
Way to A Secure Financial Future
with Global Investing. www.gpsinves-
tor.com; aaron@lighthousecapital.co.il

Brown Hotels CEO on hosting evacuees: We need to open our hearts

• By ALAN ROSENBAUM
“Hosting evacuees is not like
hosting regular guests,” says Leon
Avigad, founder of the Brown
Hotels Group in Israel. “They are
families that have been trauma-
tized, and we need to be there
for them. They are not regular
guests.”
On Sunday, October 8, the
day after the Hamas terrorist
massacre in Israel’s South, the
group, which includes 25 hotels
in Tel Aviv, Eilat, and Jerusalem,
closed all of its hotels for a week.
“Toward the end of that week,”
says Avigad, “we understood we
had to be flexible. The Brown
hotels in Tel Aviv began hosting
hospital personnel in between
shifts at no cost. “We opened our
hotels at the beginning for med-
ical staff, when no one was even
speaking about evacuations.”
Avigad says that the Brown
Hotels contacted local munic-
ipalities in cities such as Ash-
kelon and Sderot, offering their
rooms to residents, even before
the National Emergency Authori-
ty began sending evacuees to the
Brown hotels.
Brown Hotels staff immediate-
ly shifted into entertainment
mode, says Avigad, bringing in
entertainers to boost the spirits
of their special guests, offering
free hairdressing services, and
ensuring that guests were able
to have their laundry needs met.
“We are doing beautiful work
with them,” he says.
The issue, continues Avigad, is
that, to date, the government has
not taken charge, and no one
knows who will cover their costs.
“We just need to open our hearts
and our pockets, and hopefully,
at a certain point, the govern-
ment will reimburse us.”
Most of the evacuees elected to
go to the Brown hotels in Eilat,
says Avigad. Tel Aviv was the
second-favored destination on
the Brown list, with Jerusalem
running third. The Brown Hotels
Group is known as a boutique
collection of hotels and has had
to make adjustments to absorb
the many families that have been
evacuated from the Negev and
have had a negative effect on
the local hotel industry, includ-
ing the corona pandemic, the
Ukraine-Russia war, and the
interest-rate crisis, which affect-
ed demand from Germany and
the United Kingdom.
He adds that the protests
against the government in the
summer also harmed tourism
in Tel Aviv. “No one wanted to
spend the weekend in Tel Aviv
because of the demonstrations,”
he says.
In Avigad’s view, the Israeli
government needs to bear this
history in mind. “The govern-
ment needs to remember that
the hospitality industry suffered
in the last three years. They have
LEON AVIGAD, founder of the Brown Hotels Group in Israel: It is beautiful to provide us with flexible ways
to see all the hotel lobbies packed with singers. (Brown Hotels) to employ team members. Taking
unpaid leave (halat) is very rigid,
Israel’s North. now hosting pre-teens for soft but what happens if we need to
“We had to make all of our drinks and children’s entertain- lower the capacity and not zero
hotels kosher, and even though ment as part of the kids’ clubs it completely?” Avigad suggests
some are boutique hotels, we that the hotels have organized for that banks can also be helpful,
have had to provide full board.” their special guests. “It is part of by extending payment deadlines
Chuckling, he adds that many of what we do as hoteliers,” he says. without charging interest.
the Brown Hotel Group’s sophis- Avigad points out that recent Unlike the largest hotels in Isra-
ticated nightclubs and bars are events in the past three years el, many of whom have clubs
for children, offer full board,
and have sufficient resources to
weather the downturn, medium
and smaller hotel groups in Israel
are having difficulty during this
time. Avigad adds that even after
the war is over, it will take time –
perhaps a year or more – for tour-
ists to return in full force.
Despite the difficulties, he says
that the staff at the Brown hotels
have made a huge difference in
helping the evacuees staying in
their hotels. “I am proud of our
teams, and I have great apprecia-
tion for the staff who has opened
their hearts,” says Avigad. “We
had to send people on unpaid
leave, and they still want to
volunteer. They bring toys and
clothes and things for kids.
“All the hotels have a full daily
schedule of entertainment. It
is beautiful to see all the hotel
lobbies packed with singers
and donations. It is a beautiful
example of Kol Yisrael Haverim
(‘All Israel is united’). I am really
proud of it.”
The story was written in coopera-
tion with Brown Hotels.
T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T  F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 2 3 ISRAEL AT WAR 7

Scholz ‘ashamed,’ ‘outraged’ at antisemitism wave

• By SARAH MARSH not German risked their resi-
and ANDREAS RINKE

BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancel-

lor Olaf Scholz said he was
“ashamed and outraged” at
a recent wave of antisemitic
incidents in Germany, warn-
ing Berlin would not tolerate
such anti-Jewish hatred as he
marked the 85th anniversary
of the Nazis’ “Kristallnacht”
pogrom of Jews.
Scholz was speaking at a cere-
mony at a Berlin synagogue to
mark “Kristallnacht” alongside
Jewish leaders. The synagogue
was among 1,000 that were
damaged or destroyed across
Germany and Austria by Nazi
mobs during the “Night of Bro-
ken Glass” in November 1938.
At least 91 Jews were mur-
dered, about 7,500 Jewish busi-
nesses ransacked and some
30,000 Jewish men and boys
arrested during the assaults
which preceded the Holocaust,
or Shoah, in which about six
million Jews were killed.
The synagogue where Scholz
was speaking was also attacked
with Molotov cocktails in a
surge of antisemitic incidents
that followed the Hamas mas-
sacre on October 7 and the sub-
sequent Israeli retaliation.
In the week following
Hamas’s attack, watchdog RIAS
reported 202 antisemitic inci-
GERMAN CHANCELLOR Olaf Scholz cleans the ‘stumbling blocks’ for the couple Hans Goslar
and Ruth Judith Goslar (née Klee) in the government district not far from the Federal
Chancellery, yesterday in Berlin. (Henning Schacht/Getty Images)
dents in Germany related to
those attacks, a 240% increase
from a year ago. Police said
mosques were also targeted
over the same period, with as
many eight receiving parcels
with torn-up Koran fragments
mixed with fecal matter.
“Every form of antisemi-
tism poisons our society,” said
Scholz, who was wearing a
kippah, the traditional Jewish
head covering, as is customary
in a synagogue for men. “We
will not tolerate it.”
Incidents of antisemitism
have surged globally since the
outbreak of the Israel-Hamas
war, causing particular
soul-searching in Germany
which has prided itself on its
culture of remembering its dark
past and drawing from it a his-
toric duty to fight anti-Jewish
hate.
A 10-minute video by Ger-
man Economy Minister Rob-
ert Habeck expressing concern
over rising antisemitism went
viral last week. In it, he warned
that Germans would have to
answer for antisemitism in
court, while anyone who was
dency status.
Indeed, new citizenship rules
make clear that anyone who is
antisemitic cannot receive Ger-
man citizenship, Scholz said on
Thursday.
Teaching about Germany’s
historic responsibility in the
wake of the Holocaust is espe-
cially important as the gener-
ations who experienced it first
hand are no longer around to
share their testimony, Scholz
said.
It is also important given the
fact Germany is now a major
destination for immigrants,
and many immigrants have
not learned about the Shoah
in their countries of origin – or
have learned about it different-
ly, he said.
He added: “At the same time,
we must not be taken in by
those who are now seeing an
opportunity to deny the place
of more than 5 million Muslim
citizens in our society.”
“Never again” also means
friendship with Israel, Scholz
said.
“Israel has the right to defend
itself against the barbaric terror
of Hamas,” he said, reiterating
his government’s commitment
to do anything it can to ensure
the release of the innocent
civilians taken hostage by the
extremist Islamist group.
Berlin Jews hide bar, bat
mitzvah children’s names
• By ZVIKA KLEIN
Due to a surge in antisemitic incidents in Germany, the
Berlin Jewish community has decided to conceal the full
names of young individuals celebrating their bar and bat
mitzvahs.
As reported in the community’s official monthly publica-
tion, Jüdisches Berlin, the privacy measure limits the disclo-
sure of names to only the first name and the initial of the last
name for both 12-year-old girls and 13-year-old boys at their
bar and bat mitzvahs, respectively.
This practice has also been extended to include the abbre-
viated first names of older members marking their birth-
days.
The November edition of Jüdisches Berlin contained an edi-
tor’s note addressing the community members: “In light of
the current anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incidents, including
those in Berlin, we are currently publishing only the first
names and last name initials of our children celebrating
birthdays and bar/bat mitzvahs.
“This decision aims to prevent any potential harm or
endangerment to our community members.”
The magazine listed five community members set to cel-
ebrate in November, presenting the names in the adjusted
format: Rebecca S., 17.11; Constantin K., 18.11; Judea D.,
24.11; Daniel B., 25.11; Lea H., 25.11.
Jüdisches Berlin, established in 1998, is under the purview
of the Board of Directors of the Board of Representatives of
the Berlin Jewish community, which ensures content adher-
ence to German press laws.
The Department for Research and Information on
Antisemitism (RIAS) Berlin highlighted a concerning 240%
increase in antisemitic events in Germany since October 7.

US Rep. Smith: UNRWA schools Israel rally shows unified

are breeding grounds for hatred
• By ZVIKA KLEIN
The Committee on Foreign
Affairs and Global Health on
Capitol Hill, led by Congress-
man Chris Smith (R-New Jer-
sey), took aim at the United
Nations’ long-standing bias
against Israel on Wednesday.
The focal point of this gather-
ing was UNRWA and its trou-
bling promotion of antisemi-
tism among Palestinian youth.
Smith delivered a power-
ful message, highlighting the
urgency of addressing this
issue. He emphasized the need
for the United States and the
international community to
hold the UN accountable for its
actions and to demand an end
to these biased practices.
“Recent genocidal atrocities
committed by Hamas, includ-
ing acts of terrorism and indis-
criminate missile attacks, are a
direct outcome of the unbri-
dled antisemitism fomented
and enabled by the United
Nations. Israel has an absolute
right to defend itself against
such cowardly invasions and
massacres,” Smith said.
The hearing, which featured
distinguished House represen-
tatives, including Rep. Kathy
Manning (D-North Carolina),
Rep. Joseph Markowitz (R-Flor-
ida), Rep. Brad Schneider
(D-Illinois), Rep. Susan Wild
(D-Pennsylvania), Rep. French
Hill (R-Arkansas), Rep. Mike
James (R-Missouri), and Rep.
Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina),
sent a resounding message con-
demning the UN’s consistent
AT CENTER, Subcommittee chairman Rep. Christopher Smith
addresses a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global
Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations
hearing on Wednesday. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
singling out of Israel and calling
for a shift in the international
community’s perspective.
Witnesses who testified
included Hillel Neuer, Execu-
tive Director of UN Watch, who
called for the dismissal of Fran-
cesca Albanese, Special Rappor-
teur on the situation of human
rights in Palestine.
Smith told The Jerusalem Post
that “Recently, Albanese made
concerning statements about
Israel’s right to self-defense. She
argued that Israel has no such
right, which is both absurd and
dangerous.
“During the hearing, we paid
extensive attention to the issue
of UNRWA and children being
exposed to antisemitic hate.
It’s alarming that the United
States, under [US] President Joe
Biden, contributes $1 billion
allocated to UNRWA, despite
the fact that the previous
administration, led by [former]
president [Donald] Trump, had
halted this funding, due to
concerns about the prevalence
of antisemitism within these
institutions. These schools
are, unfortunately, breeding
grounds for hatred.”
Manning pointed out how
the UN’s anti-Israel bias under-
mines prospects for peace in
the region and unfairly isolates
the Jewish state. Other repre-
sentatives voiced similar sen-
timents, stressing the need for
fairness and justice in interna-
tional forums.
Schneider drew attention to
the UN’s failure to take action
on critical issues, such as the
plight of 240 hostages, men,
women, and children in Gaza,
further highlighting the orga-
nization’s shortcomings.
Smith shed light on UNRWA’s
role in perpetuating hatred
against Jews among Palestinian
youth. He referred to reports by
UN Watch and IMPACT-SE that
document the deliberate hir-
ing of teachers by UNRWA who
praise Hitler, glorify terrorist
attacks against Israeli children,
and spread antisemitic conspir-
acy theories.
“The United Nations often
hides behind the veneer of
legitimate criticism of Isra-
el to promote antisemitism.
UNRWA, in particular, has been
criticized for perpetuating the
conflict by fostering hatred of
Jews among Palestinian youth
through its textbooks, curricu-
la, summer camps, and official
media,” Smith stated.
The Orthodox Jewish Cham-
ber of Commerce, represented
by its Founder and CEO Duvi
Honig, submitted testimony
to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs Hearing, underscoring
the unjust treatment Israel
receives at the hands of the UN.
Honig highlighted how the
UN’s original purpose, to pro-
mote global peace and security,
has been increasingly under-
mined by bias against Israel.
“The appointment of Iran to
head the UN Human Rights
Committee, despite its own
human rights violations,
while simultaneously con-
demning Israel for its actions,
raises questions about the
UN’s commitment to justice,”
Honig asserted.
support among US Jews
ANALYSIS
• By ZVIKA KLEIN
Two very different Ameri-
can-Jewish organizations have
called upon their constituents
to participate in next week’s
mega-rally for Israel in Wash-
ington: the ultra-Orthodox
Agudath Israel of America and
the left-wing Americans for
Peace Now (APN).
The somewhat-surprising
invitations extended by Agu-
dath Israel – traditionally, a
non-Zionist organization – and
APN exemplify the huge sup-
port for Israel among Ameri-
can Jewry since the Hamas
massacre on October 7, which
was immediately followed by
an explosion of antisemitism
around the world.
A broad coalition of Amer-
ican communities will gath-
er for the “March for Israel”
rally on November 14 at the
National Mall in Washington.
The event, scheduled take place
under tight security, is expected
to be a display of near-unani-
mous support for Israel among
American Jews as well as a pro-
test against the surge in antise-
mitic incidents in the US.
“In light of the ongoing,
life-threatening danger con-
fronting Israeli soldiers and all
of our dear brothers and sis-
ters in Eretz Yisroel [the Land
of Israel] and with great con-
cern about the extremely vol-
atile political climate here in
the United States, we feel it is
important... that there be a
large turnout at this event,” a
message from Agudath Israel
on Tuesday read.
“Accordingly, and in consul-
tation with our rabbinic lead-
ership, we are circulating to our
friends and constituents infor-
mation about the rally,” the
message concludes.
Hadar Susskind, president
and CEO of the left-wing APN,
also sent out an email blast on
Tuesday.
“Thousands of American
Jews, along with friends and
allies, will gather for a rally on
Washington’s National Mall –
and we will be there,” Susskind
wrote.
“There will be progressive
Jews and conservative Jews.
There will be observant Jews
and secular Jews,” he wrote,
adding that “together with
our colleagues at like-minded
groups, we are organizing a
Peace Bloc and will be there in
solidarity. In solidarity with the
people of Israel, in solidarity
with the hostages held in Gaza
and with their families, and in
solidarity against the alarming
rise in global antisemitism.”
Susskind explained that
although APN encourages
participation at the rally, orga-
nized by the Jewish Federations
of North America and Con-
ference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organization,
“we are not co-sponsoring the
event, nor will we be among
the speakers. And yes, it is near-
ly certain that some speakers
at the rally will say things that
we disagree with, and they will
certainly not say everything
that we believe needs to be
said. But we will not cede this
ground to those with whom we
disagree. We will stand togeth-
er as a community alongside
other Jewish organizations in
our Peace Bloc, and yes, along-
side those who do not share
our views.
Why is this so dramatic?
Agudath Israel acts as a prin-
cipal organization for Haredi
Jews in the US, encompassing
most yeshivas and numerous
hassidic sects, despite some,
like the anti-Zionist Satmar, not
aligning due to differing views
on Israel.
Agudath Israel originally
opposed the Zionist movement
but joined the Israeli govern-
ment after the state’s formation
in 1948 in order to protect the
ultra-Orthodox community’s
interests. Unlike vehemently
anti-Zionist groups, Agudah
actively participates in Israeli
politics to advocate for Haredi
concerns.
For decades, APN has advo-
cated against what it calls the
“occupation.” It promotes the
two-state solution and often
criticizes Israel’s actions.
The call by these organiza-
tions to join the rally signifies a
change in the American Jewish
community, displaying strong
support from surprising direc-
tions for the Jewish state.
The organizers of the rally are
seemingly striving to make it
the largest show of unity and
support for Israel in decades,
hoping that hundreds of thou-
sands will attend.

Evangelical Christians to plant 1,400 red tulips on Gaza border

• By MAAYAN HOFFMAN
Christians worldwide will come
together during the winter season
to plant 1,400 vibrant red tulips
in remembrance of the 1,400 lives
lost to Hamas terrorists on October
7, according to David Parsons, vice
president and senior spokesman for
the International Christian Embassy
in Jerusalem.
Just two days before the Hamas
massacre, ICEJ led a group of 700
Christian pilgrims to the Negev and
along the Gaza border fence to dedi-
cate the “Christian Embassy Nature
Park,” land that had been rehabili-
tated through Christian gifts in part-
nership with Keren Kayemeth LeIsra-
el-Jewish National Fund.
The Christians had chosen to reha-
bilitate a section of Be’eri Forest that
had been burned over recent years by
Gaza arsonists launching incendiary
kites and balloons from Gaza.
The 126-acre forest was replant-
ed with native oak, eucalyptus, and
other broadleaf trees that are less
flammable, provide plenty of shade,
and grow fast even in the dry desert
climate. At the dedication ceremony,
ICEJ President Dr. Jürgen Bühler had
said that the project was meant not
only to be beautiful but to help “visi-
bly shield Israelis from harm coming
from Gaza.”
KKL-JNF’s Ronnie Vinnikov, head
of KKL-JNF’s resource development
and external relations division, said,
“We heal the environment, and
during the process, we have also
established safety and security mea-
sures for the residents of the area.”
Unbeknown to them, a mere
two days later, a group of terrorists
breached the fence, wreaking havoc
upon the serene forest and slaughter-
ing Israelis.
Parsons noted that Israeli tanks had
also been traversing the area as part
of their response, but said he is not
worried about the trampled flowers.
“There’s time to replant,” Parsons
said. “You cannot regain the lives
lost.”
When the Christian delegation
came to the Gaza border on October
5, they also took part in a mass soli-
darity rally at the local high school
to encourage Israelis living along the
shelters that you help us to buy and
to put here in the area, we live better
lives. And I promise to do everything
to keep the Land of Israel and build it
stronger.”
Parsons said: “We had a relation-
ship with Mayor Libstein and all the
regional council leaders. We were
the first ones to start putting mobile
bomb shelters here – almost 150 – and
to deliver firefighting equipment [to
stop the balloon fires]. We’ve come
down with the Jewish National Fund
to replant some of the burned areas.
We’ve invested millions of dollars.”
He said that October 7 “touched a
raw nerve” for the pro-Israel Chris-
tian community, which has dedicat-
ed so much of its efforts to restoring
broken ties with the Jews after years
ICEJ PRESIDENT Dr. Jürgen Bühler plants a tree in the Christian Embassy of Christian persecution.
Nature Park near Gaza two days before the Hamas massacre. (ICEJ) “This is unlike anything we’ve seen
or endured or witnessed here in the
Gaza border to learn resilience. That in Sha’ar Hanegev, we are keeping land since ICEJ was founded 43 years
event was hosted by the head of the the Land of Israel. We are keeping ago,” Parsons told The Jerusalem Post.
Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, the border with the Gaza Strip… We “But we’re committed to helping
Ofir Libstein, who became the war’s have doubled our population in the these communities rebuild.”
first named casualty. last 10 years, and everything is with Earlier this month, Parsons and a
During his speech that day, Lib- your help. Because with your help, handful of other Christian leaders
stein said, “The people who live here we feel safe here. With your [bomb] went to visit the scenes of the trag-
edy on a mission organized by the
Knesset Christian Allies Caucus and
its co-chair MK Sharren Haskel. The
visit included a briefing by the IDF on
the likely events that led to the death
Libstein, his mother-in-law, and son.
“He came here to defend his own
family,” an IDF officer explained,
pointing out Libstein’s home.
“The ICEJ roundly condemns this
evil and horrendous assault on Israel
on a Jewish holy day by Hamas and
its patrons in Iran,” Parsons shared
that day among the ruins. “We have
urged Christians worldwide to pray
for Israel’s safety.”
Parsons said many of the people
in Kfar Aza were peace-loving people
who, like Libstein, wanted a better life
for both Israelis and Palestinians.
“The Jewish people has faced this
before and, somehow, they managed
to survive – and today they have the
IDF,” Parsons continued. “I thank
God that Israel has an army and a
nation.
“We’re going to stay with this
nation and help do what is necessary
to bring peace and security to the
whole region.”
8 ISRAEL AT WAR F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

NYC hate crimes against Jews US antisemitism

surge by over 200% amid war
• By ELIZABETH KEOGH
and LEONARD GREENE
NEW YORK – The breakout of
war in Gaza and Israel in Octo-
ber led to a surge in hate-filled
incidents aimed at Jews, new
NYPD crime data shows.
Bias crimes in the city
increased by 124% in October
compared to October 2022,
according to the Police Depart-
ment data released Wednesday.
Police counted 101 bias inci-
dents in New York City in Octo-
ber, up from 45 in October last
year.
Leading that surge was a
spike in anti-Jewish incidents,
of which 69 were reported last
month in the city compared
to 22 in October 2022 – a 214%
increase, officials said.
“We’re feeling it 100%,” Bob
Moskovitz, executive coordina-
tor of the Flatbush Shomrim
Safety Patrol in Brooklyn, said of
the uptick in hate crimes. “Our
hotline, which the community
utilizes to report any incident,
has probably increased in this
last month and a half by 300%.
The phone is simply not stop-
ping.”
In October, the same month
highlighted by the NYPD’s
crime stats, the Shomrim
patrol received nearly 1,600
calls, Moskovitz said. A normal
call volume is about 500 per
month.
“The community is obviously
anxious and stressed by every-
thing that is going on overseas
and here,” Moskovitz said.
“We are out there 24/7. Keep
in mind we are volunteers – we
POSTERS OF some of the civilian hostages kidnapped by
Hamas are displayed on a pole outside of NYU in Manhattan.
(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
don’t get paid for this. We’re
the eyes and ears for the Police
Department because they are
simply overwhelmed with 911
calls and running all over the
place.”
He said many of the calls are
from Jewish institutions, syn-
agogues and yeshivas, asking
them to post someone outside.
“Now it’s to the point where
people are panicking,” Mosko-
vitz said. “There’s a definite,
definite high level, increased
level of stress in the communi-
ty. A lot of the stuff that would
have been swept under the rug
is now being reported.”
Moskovitz said most calls
involve kids from middle
school to high school, and oth-
ers in cars driving through the
neighborhood shouting at peo-
ple on the streets and waving
Palestinian flags. He said people
also wake up to find the Israe-
li flags they put outside their
homes stolen or destroyed.
“For the most part it’s the
youth,” he said. “They’re just
lashing out. They don’t even
have an idea of what’s going on
overseas.”
New York City is not alone in
seeing a hate crime surge.
In recent weeks, research-
ers for the Southern Poverty
Law Center “have tracked an
increase in documented and
reported incidents of antise-
mitic harassment of individu-
als and ‘fake’ bomb threats to
Jewish institutions,” the center
said in an email.
“In addition, antisemitic graf-
fiti has also been reported and a
large number of online activity
that denigrates Jewish people
using age-old tropes,” the SPLC
said. “This increase in antise-
mitic activity has been coupled
with an increase in anti-Mus-
lim and anti-Arab activity as
well.”
Institutes of higher educa-
tion have seen outbreaks of
anti-Jewish hate.
Jewish students at Columbia
University, Cooper Union and
other higher-education insti-
tutions have said they have
felt particularly vulnerable as
tensions from the war between
Israel and Hamas spill over
onto college campuses, where
threats and antisemitic inci-
dents have been reported.
Upstate, a Cornell University
student was charged by federal
authorities with making online
threats “calling for the deaths
of Jewish people.” He could
face five years in prison.
The rise in bias crimes has
sparked reaction among elected
officials.
“It’s been well-known that
the Jewish community makes
up about 2% of the population
but has long been the target
of the majority of religiously
motivated hate crimes,” Rep.
Ritchie Torres, D-New York,
told the Daily News.
“Antisemitism takes on a new
intensity when a war breaks
out in the Middle East,” Torres
said. “It feels to me there are
more incidents, not only more
reporting of incidents, but inci-
dents. Antisemitism is like a
cancer that can go into remis-
sion but it resurfaces every so
often.”
“It’s a global outbreak of
antisemitism,” he said.
Torres believes social media
has a big role in fueling antise-
mitic rhetoric. “Social media
enables antisemitism to spread
at a pace and on a scale and to
an extent never seen before.”
“I feel the Jewish community
has been victimized and trau-
matized not only by October
7th (when Hamas terrorists
unleashed an invasive attach
of kidnapping and killing in
southern Israel) but by the
antisemitism that has taken
hold in its wake.”
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
joined lawmakers on Monday
to announce legislation that
would expand the definition
of hate crimes and close loop-
holes that protect perpetrators
of bias crimes.
“If a group of people beat
someone up because of their
race, that gang assault, as the
law calls it, cannot be charged
as a hate crime. That needs
to change,” Bragg said. “Hate
crime does not discriminate. It
has targeted all of our commu-
nities.”
Meanwhile, US Sen. Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New
York, has said he is pushing for
$1 billion in federal funding to
protect places of worship and
religious schools that have
been the target of antisemitism
and Islamaphobia in New York
City and across the nation.
“At-risk religious-based orga-
nizations across New York and
the nation not only want more
help – they desperately need
it,” Schumer said.
(New York Daily News/TNS)
strategy ‘under
pressure’ – WH
• By RON KAMPEAS/JTA
WASHINGTON – The Biden
administration’s plan to com-
bat antisemitism is “under a
lot of pressure” because of the
sharp rise in antisemitic inci-
dents since the launch of the
war between Israel and Hamas,
according to a top White House
official.
Neera Tanden, President
Joe Biden’s top domestic pol-
icy adviser, held an online
briefing with national Jewish
communal leaders on Wednes-
day, about one month after
Hamas’s October 7 invasion
of Israel. The landmark strate-
gy Biden launched in May to
combat antisemitism created
a cross-department “architec-
ture” to track and respond to
reported incidents of antisemi-
tism, especially on college cam-
puses, she said, adding that the
system is now being strained.
“Unfortunately, that archi-
tecture is under a lot of pressure
now with the rise of events”
since October 7, Tanden said.
“The last several weeks we have
seen, on campus and off, a
real rise of targeting of Jewish
people and antisemitic slurs,
actions, threats of violence.”
Jewish watchdogs have
recorded a spike of antisemit-
ic incidents worldwide and in
the United States since Octo-
ber 7, when Hamas terrorists
invaded from the Gaza Strip,
killing 1,400 people, wounding
thousands, taking more than
200 captives, and sparking an
Israeli counterattack in Gaza.
The Hamas-run Health Min-
“We understand that people
are scared in this moment,”
she said in the webinar. “Peo-
ple are scared who have gone
their whole lives without being
scared.”
Just before the briefing, Jew-
ish organizational leaders met
with the top two US law-en-
forcement officials, Attorney
General Merrick Garland and
FBI Director Chris Wray, to ask
for greater protections against
antisemitic harassment since
the launch of the war, especial-
ly on campuses.
“We are comforted by the
very active focus of the Depart-
ment of Justice and the FBI in
investigating and prosecut-
ing the tsunami of increased
cases since October 7 of hate-
ful crimes against members of
the Jewish community,” Wil-
liam Daroff, the CEO of the
Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Orga-
nizations, said in a statement
immediately after the meeting
ended at noon.
The meetings are among a
flurry of efforts by American
Jewish organizations to back
Israel, fight antisemitism, and
advocate for the hostages. Jew-
ish organizations are planning
a mass rally next week in Wash-
ington to galvanize support for
those goals.
Tanden said she and Educa-
tion Secretary Miguel Cardona
had met with Jewish students
on campuses recently.
“We spent a significant time
hearing from kids, honestly,
who are being threatened for
who they are, for being Jew-

Colleges could face funding cuts if they don’t

istry in Gaza said more than ish,” she said.
10,000 Palestinians have been On October 30, Jewish lead-
killed in the fighting. ers had a meeting with Car-
A Jewish man died after being dona, days before he warned

address Jew-hatred – US education secretary

• By RON KAMPEAS/JTA
WASHINGTON – Education Secretary
Miguel Cardona said colleges could lose
federal funding if they fail to address
antisemitism, following up on a meeting
last month with Jewish leaders alarmed
by rising antisemitism on campuses in
the wake of war.
Cardona made his warning in an
interview on CNN on Monday ahead
of the release the next day of a letter
reminding federally funded schools
of their obligation to protect Jews and
other minorities.
“I would want to provide support for
these universities, provide guidance,” he
told the network. “And if there are egre-
gious acts, I want to make sure that we’re
investigating. Ultimately, if we have to
withhold dollars from a campus refus-
ing to comply, we would.”
Cardona’s comments do not repre-
sent a new policy, but they suggest that
Cardona is prepared to be aggressive in
pressing colleges to act. In a release on
Tuesday formally announcing the letter,
Cardona tied the letter’s instructions to
what Jewish organizations have said is a
massive spike in antisemitism on cam-
puses since Hamas terrorists struck Israel
on October 7, launching the war.
“The rise of reports of hate incidents
on our college campuses... is deeply trau-
matic for students and should be alarm-
ing to all Americans,” he said. “Antisem-
itism, Islamophobia, and all other forms
of hatred go against everything we stand
for as a nation.”
The letter sent Tuesday to colleges that
receive federal funds, signed by Cath-
erine Lhamon, the department’s assis-
tant secretary for civil rights, describes
in its first paragraph “an alarming rise
in disturbing antisemitic incidents and
threats to Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab,
and Palestinian students on college cam-
puses and in P-12 schools.”
In her second paragraph, Lhamon ties
the money the schools get from the
government to their legal obligations to
protect minority students. Both public
and private universities receive federal
funds through a variety of pathways.
“I write to remind colleges, univer-
sities, and schools that receive federal
financial assistance of their legal respon-
sibility under Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 and its implementing regu-
lations (Title VI) to provide all students a
school environment free from discrim-
ination based on race, color, or nation-
al origin, including shared ancestry or
ethnic characteristics,” Lhamon said in
her letter. “It is your legal obligation
under Title VI to address prohibited dis-
crimination against students and others
on your campus – including those who
are or are perceived to be Jewish, Israeli,
Muslim, Arab, or Palestinian – in the
ways described in this letter.”
In his October 30 meeting with Jewish
leaders, Cardona said the Biden admin-
istration had already, prior to the Octo-
ber 7 Hamas deadly attack on Israel,
extended Civil Rights Act protections
to religious minorities, including Jews
and Muslims. He promised a two-week
deadline to come up with a plan.
Jewish leaders at that meeting said
the federal government in recent years
has expanded Title IX of the same act,
which bans gender discrimination, to
allow for funding to be withheld from
universities that do not address sexual
harassment and assault. They suggested
that the department could apply similar
measures to Title VI as an incentive for
compliance.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, last week sent a letter
to the Education Department, urging
it to issue “updated guidance to college
and university administrators making
clear the consequences of failing to
ensure the safety of Jewish students,”
among other measures.
wounded in an altercation with
pro-Palestinian demonstrators
this week near Los Angeles.
Jews have also been assaulted
and faced death threats on col-
lege campuses.
“We continue to see an alarm-
ing trend of antisemitic threats
and attacks targeting Jewish
communities across the coun-
try,” White House press sec-
retary Karine Jean-Pierre told
reporters just before Tanden’s
briefing. “Disturbing acts like
ripping down posters of Jewish
hostages held by Hamas, van-
dalizing Jewish institutions,
threatening to commit acts
of violence against Jewish stu-
dents, Jewish faith leaders, and
Jewish communities inflame
tensions, stoke fear, and are
completely unacceptable.”
Tanden said the White House
was aware of how deep fears
are running among American
Jews.
federally funded colleges that
they could lose funding if they
failed to address harassment of
religious and other minorities.
Shelley Greenspan, the White
House Jewish outreach director
who was on the webinar, said
the Education Department’s
Office of Civil Rights com-
plaint form now had “antisem-
itism” designated as an area of
harassment.
“There is an actual drop-
down, so if you feel like you
are being targeted at a universi-
ty, you can actually click [that]
it’s because of antisemitism,”
she said. “The department will
then investigate.”
Other organizations repre-
sented at the Justice Depart-
ment meeting included the
Anti-Defamation League, the
Jewish Federations of North
America, the American Jewish
Committee, and Hillel Inter-
national.

‘Finish them’: GOP hopefuls unite at debate In rare move, House censures
• By RON KAMPEAS/JTA

It was one of the few questions that united

all five candidates at what was a no-holds-
barred Republican primary debate: What
would they advise Israel’s prime minister as
he wages war against Hamas?
The uniform answer: “Finish them.”
Israel and antisemitism featured large in
the latest GOP primary debate in Miami
on Wednesday, in part because a cospon-
sor of the debate was the Republican Jew-
ish Coalition, which got to ask two ques-
tions, a first for a Jewish group. But they
would have been asked even without the
RJC’s influence, because Hamas’s October
7 attack on Israel and the resulting war in
Gaza has roiled the world and US politics.
NBC moderator Lester Holt made his sec-
ond question what the candidates would
advise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Net-
anyahu. First to answer was Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis.
“I will be telling Bibi finish the job once
and for all with these butchers,” said
DeSantis, using Netanyahu’s nickname.
“They’re terrorists. They’re massacring
innocent people. They would wipe every
Jew off the globe, if they could.”
The unalloyed backing for Netanyahu
comes as President Joe Biden, who also at
first unquestioningly backed Netanyahu,
has in recent days faced Israeli resistance
to his pressure for humanitarian pauses in
the fighting.
All four candidates echoed DeSantis’s
reply. Nikki Haley, the former US ambas-
sador to the United Nations, suggested she
had spoken with Netanyahu since Octo-
ber 7, when Hamas terrorists invaded Isra-
el, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians,
launching the war. “The first thing I said
to him when it happened was, I said ‘Finish
them. Finish them.’”
Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who
often bucks the Republican establishment
on foreign policy, hewing to isolation-
ism, was as bellicose, but also pivoted to
a favored topic, the Mexican border, and
suggested that he would seek to kill people
there.
“I would tell him to smoke those terror-
ists on his southern border,” he said. “And
then I’ll tell him as president of the United
States, I’ll be smoking the terrorists on our
southern border.”
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said he
would tell Netanyahu, “Not only do you
have the responsibility and the right to
wipe Hamas off of the map, we will support
you, we will be there with you.” He took it
a step further, saying he would also strike
Iran, which is a sponsor of Hamas.
“You actually have to cut off the head of
the snake and the head of the snake is Iran
and not simply the proxies,” he said.
Chris Christie, the former New Jersey
governor, said Israel should have free rein,
but also, unusually for a foreign politician,
criticized Netanyahu for not being pre-
pared.
Absent was Donald Trump, the front-
runner who is so far ahead in the polls he
does not feel the need to join the debates.
The first question posed by NBC moder-
ator Lester Holt was how each of the five
candidates would defeat Trump. That out
of the way, Trump, who attended a rally
elsewhere in Florida while the debate was
under way, was barely mentioned again.
RJC’s CEO Matt Brooks posed two ques-
tions and earned a shout out from DeSantis
for enduring a tough month. “I know it’s
been very difficult for the [Jewish] com-
munity and appreciate you guys rallying
together in difficult times,” DeSantis said.
Brooks’ first question was whether the
United States should use military force
against Iran given strikes by its proxies
on US forces. DeSantis and Haley, who
answered the question, avoided saying
explicitly they would hit Iranian territory
but said that they would retaliate more
robustly than Biden has against the strikes
by the proxies.
Brooks’ second question was about the
spike in antisemitism at US universities.
“Jewish students across the country are
threatened and under attack,” he said.
“What do you say to Jewish students on
college campuses who feel unsafe, given
the dramatic rise in antisemitism?”
DeSantis noted that he recently barred
some pro-Palestinian groups from operat-
ing on Florida campuses, and Scott sim-
ilarly backed pulling federal funds from
universities that do not adequately deal
with antisemitism, something the Biden
administration this week said would be its
policy. Christie spoke about his experience
dealing with antisemitic and anti-Muslim
attacks as a US attorney immediately after
9/11.
Haley gave one of the most impassioned
responses, saying that rising antisemitism
revealed a country with a troubled soul.
“We don’t need to celebrate terrorists,”
she said, referring to protesters who have
at times characterized Hamas’s actions as
“resistance.” “We don’t need to celebrate
genocide. We don’t need to celebrate vio-
lence towards anybody. We need to go
back and soul-search in our country and
remember what we are about and we are
about taking care of people not going and
making them live in fear.”
Rashida Tlaib for Israel remarks
• By RON KAMPEAS/JTA
WASHINGTON – The US
House of Representatives has
censured Michigan Rep. Rashi-
da Tlaib, a Palestinian Ameri-
can Democrat, for her rhetoric
in the wake of Hamas’s October
7 invasion of Israel, including
using the term “from the river
to the sea.”
The 234-188 vote late Tues-
day night, in which 22 Dem-
ocrats voted to censure Tlaib,
was sure to sharpen divides
among Democrats over Israel’s
war with Hamas in Gaza. Some
Democrats vehemently defend-
ed Tlaib’s right to free speech,
while others said the “from the RASHIDA TLAIB addresses a pro-Palestinian rally in Washington
river to the sea” term signifies last month. (Ali Khaligh/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
the elimination of Israel.
The vote was largely on party mick, a Georgia Republican, used the phrase to describe a
lines, reflecting the Republican and focused on statements by democratic outcome for all in
majority, though four Repub- Tlaib since Hamas launched the region.
licans voted against censuring the war. The resolution said “From the river to the sea is
Tlaib. Tlaib had used the phrase an aspirational call for freedom,
Tlaib said she would not be “from the river to the sea” on human rights, and peaceful
intimidated by the censure November 3 on social media, coexistence, not death, destruc-
vote, which will require her to adding that it is “widely rec- tion, or hate,” she said. “My
stand in the well of the House ognized as a genocidal call to work and advocacy is always
chamber and listen to House violence to destroy the State of centered in justice and dignity
Speaker Mike Johnson explain Israel and its people to replace it for all people no matter faith or
why she is being censured. with a Palestinian state extend- ethnicity.”
“I will not be silenced, and ing from the Jordan River to the Several Jewish Democrats
I will not let you distort my Mediterranean Sea.” decried the use of the phrase,
words,” Tlaib said. Tlaib in her November 3 post but they said limiting her
The censure resolution was on X, the platform formerly speech set a dangerous prece-
initiated by Rep. Rich McCor- known as Twitter, said she had dent.
T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T  F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 2 3 INTERNATIONAL NEWS 9

Actors reach deal with studios to end strike

• By LISA RICHWINE,
DAWN CHMIELEWSKI
and DANIELLE BROADWAY
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hol-
lywood actors reached a ten-
tative agreement with major
studios on early Thursday
to resolve the second of two
strikes that rocked the enter-
tainment industry, as writers
and performers demanded
higher pay in the streaming
TV era.
The 118-day work stoppage
ended just after midnight on
Wednesday, the SAG-AFTRA
union said in a statement
after its negotiating commit-
tee unanimously backed the
deal with Walt Disney, Net-
flix, and other companies.
Valued at more than $1 bil-
lion, the three-year contract
includes increases in min-
imum salaries, and a new
bonus paid by streaming ser-
vices, the union said.
The deal also provides pro-
tections against unauthorized
usages of images generated
by artificial intelligence in an
area that had emerged as a
major concern for performers
who feared being replaced by
“digital doubles.”
“We have arrived at a con-
tract that will enable SAG-AF-
TRA members from every
category to build sustainable
careers,” the union said in a
note to members.
SAG-AFTRA president and
The Nanny star Fran Drescher
wrote on Instagram: “We did
it!!! The billion plus dollar
deal!”
Celebrations erupted across
Los Angeles. The resolution of
the actors’ strike means Hol-
lywood can ramp up to full
production for the first time
since May, when film and TV
writers went on strike.
At one brewpub, a jubi-
lant crowd of actors cheered,
pumped their fists and chant-
ed: “When we fight, we win!”
“It’s just such a feeling of joy
and of triumph over adversity,
and not quitting,” said actor
Evan Shafran.
Another SAG-AFTRA mem-
ber, Jessica Brown, was still
absorbing the news. “My
brain is still just trying to
catch up and process,” she
said. “Oh my god. We did it.”
SAG-AFTRA’s national board
will consider the agreement
raised hopes among actors
who had spent months pick-
eting outside studio offices in
New York and Los Angeles,
instead of working on sets.
“Preliminary chatter was
that a vote was imminent,”
said Rati Gupta, best known
as Anu in the CBS comedy
The Big Bang Theory. “Hearts
have been pounding for sev-
eral hours today.”
When SAG-AFTRA’s bar-
gaining team voted to sup-
port the deal, “there were
definitely some tears, a lot
of big smiles, a lot of hugs,”
chief negotiator Duncan
Crabtree-Ireland said. “It is
a really intense thing to be
going through a strike that’s
PEOPLE CELEBRATE at a brewery in Los Angeles after the SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical Committee this long and so challenging.”
approved a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers,
Actors had similar concerns
which ended the 118-day actors’ strike. (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)
to film and television writ-
ers, who argued that compen-
on Friday, and the union said ment represented “a new par- difficult for most people in sation for working-class cast
it would release further details adigm” that gave the union the industry, especially peo- members had dwindled as
after that meeting. A final rat- its “biggest contract-on-con- ple of color. As it is, we don’t streaming took hold, making
ification vote by members is tract gains” in its history. have as many opportunities. it hard to earn a living wage.
expected to take place in the The organization said it We aren’t big celebrities that TV series on streaming have
coming weeks. “looks forward to the indus- have money in the bank for not offered the same residual
The Alliance of Motion Pic- try resuming the work of tell- months.” payments that actors enjoyed
ture and Television Producers, ing great stories.” Word of a potential agree- during the heyday of broad-
which negotiated on behalf “I’m relieved,” actor Fanny ment had spread across Hol- cast TV.
of the studios, said the agree- Grande said. “It’s been really lywood earlier on Wednesday, Performers also became
alarmed by recent advances in
artificial intelligence, which
they feared could lead to stu-
dios manipulating their like-
nesses without permission, or
replacing human actors with
digital images.
George Clooney and other
A-list stars voiced solidarity
with lower-level actors and
had urged union leadership
to reach a resolution.
Many film and TV sets shut
down when the Writers Guild
of America called a strike in
the spring. While WGA mem-
bers returned to penning
scripts in late September, the
ongoing SAG-AFTRA work
stoppage left many produc-
tions dark.
The disruptions cost Cali-
fornia more than $6 billion
in lost output, according to a
Milken Institute estimate.
With little work available,
many prop masters, costume
designers, and other crew
members struggled to make
ends meet. FilmLA, the group
that approves filming permits,
reported scripted production
during the week of October 29
had fallen 77% from the same
time a year earlier.

US concerned by N. Korea-Russia ties Argentina election puts

• By SOO-HYANG CHOI and JU-MIN PARK

SEOUL (Reuters) – US Secretary of State

Antony Blinken said on Thursday he
shares South Korean concerns about
growing military cooperation between
North Korea and Russia, which he
called a “two-way street” involving
arms flows and technical support.
Blinken and South Korean Foreign
Minister Park Jin also said they had
discussed a so-called extended deter-
rence strategy in countering threats
from North Korea, meaning the use of
US military assets, including its nuclear
forces for protection from attacks, and
improving cooperation with Japan.
“We have real concerns about any
support for North Korea’s ballis-
tic-missile programs, for its nucle-
ar technology, for its space launch
capacity,” Blinken told a press con-
ference in the South Korean capi-
tal. “We’re working to... identify, to
expose, and as necessary, to counter
these efforts.”
Blinken’s two-day visit to South Korea
is his first in two and a half years and
part of a broader Asia trip that included
a visit to Japan and will include a stop
in India.
He came to Asia from the Middle East,
where the conflict in Gaza has com-
bined with the war in Ukraine to over-
shadow Washington’s efforts to focus
on the Indo-Pacific region.
North Korean weapons have report-
edly appeared in use in Gaza, and
the United States and its allies have
condemned what they say is the
flow of arms and military equipment
from North Korea to Russia for use in
Ukraine.
North Korea and Russia have denied
any arms deals, although their leaders
have pledged closer military coopera-
tion when they met in September in
Russia’s far east.
Blinken said North Korea was sup-
plying military equipment to Russia
for use in its war with Ukraine, while
Russia was in turn providing technical
support to help the North make mili-
tary progress.
“That’s a real concern for the security
of the Korean Peninsula, a real concern
for global nonproliferation regimes, it’s
a real concern for the Russian aggres-
sion of Ukraine and a real concern for
the violation of multiple UN Security
Council resolutions,” he said.
Blinken said the US and its two east
Asian allies were increasing coopera-
tion on North Korea, which has been
developing its nuclear weapons and
missiles in defiance of UN Security
Council resolutions.
Park said China had a constructive
role to play over the tensions that the
ties between North Korea and Russia
were creating, describing them as not
in Beijing’s interest.
BRICS relations in spotlight
ANALYSIS
• By LUCILA SIGAL
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina could
see a resetting of some global ties depending
on the result of its runoff presidential elec-
tion later this month – although the value
of trade with partners such as China and
Brazil may outweigh any short-term political
posturing.
While Economy Minister Sergio Massa, a
pragmatist in the ruling Left-leaning coali-
tion, has signaled policy continuity, radical
libertarian candidate Javier Milei has sharp-
ly lambasted China, Brazil, the pope, South
America’s Mercosur trade bloc, and the Chi-
na-led BRICS group.
Massa and Milei will compete in a November
19 head-to-head contest that looks likely to be
a tight race, with angry voters deeply divided
amid inflation running at nearly 140%, two-
fifths of the population in poverty, sky-high
helped cash-strapped Argentina pay back its
IMF debt. China is also a big investor in local
lithium, hydro, and nuclear projects.
“What we are not going to do are secret con-
tracts,” Mondino said. “Argentina, this gov-
ernment, in the last 20 years has had multiple
secret negotiations. That is not normal, and it
is what we have said we are not going to do.”
A current senior Foreign Ministry source,
from the same Peronist coalition as Massa,
predicted that Argentina’s ties with Brazil and
China would continue regardless of who won
the election.
“Relations with China are going to go as
they have until now with either of the two
candidates,” the source said. “The intense
trade that exists with them cannot be dis-
solved. The same thing would happen with
Brazil; bad personal relations do not affect
trade.”
Trade blocs: Mercosur and BRICS

‘You’re just scum’
Haley swipes at Ramaswamy during Republican debate
• By ALEXANDRA ULMER
Presidential candidates Nikki Haley
and Vivek Ramaswamy make no secret
of their dislike for each other, and
their animosity came to a head at
the Republican debate on Wednesday,
with Haley muttering under her
breath that her rival was “just scum.”
Ramaswamy, a pugnacious
entrepreneur who delights in making
outrageous statements, provoked
groans from the audience during a
discussion on banning TikTok when
he mentioned that Haley’s daughter
had used the Chinese short-video app.
“You might want to take care of your
family first,” he told Haley, a former US
ambassador to the United Nations and
a former governor of South Carolina.
“Leave my daughter out of your
voice,” Haley shot back, adding under
her breath, “You’re just scum.”
It was not the first time Haley, a
foreign-policy hawk, and Ramaswamy,
an anti-interventionist on foreign
conflicts, have clashed over TikTok.
“Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit
dumber,” Haley said after they crossed
swords about the app during a previous
encounter in September.
FLORIDA GOV. Ron DeSantis is flanked by former South Carolina governor Nikki
Haley (left) and former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy at the third Republican
presidential candidates’ debate in Miami on Wednesday. (Mike Segar/Reuters)
On social-media platform X, Haley’s
son, Nalin Haley, said Ramaswamy’s
attack was “desperate,” adding that his
sister’s TikTok account was deleted a
“very very long time ago.”
Haley is vying with Florida Gov. Ron
DeSantis to become the top challenger
to front-runner former president
Donald Trump in the Republican
nominating contest. Ramaswamy, a
relative unknown at the start of the
year, gained buzz earlier this year but
appears to have since lost momentum.
(Reuters)
interest rates, and capital controls hurting the
economy.
The vote could impact the global position-
ing of Argentina, South America’s No. 2 econ-
omy, which is a major grains exporter as well
as a lithium and shale producer. But years
of volatility have made some international
investors wary, and it is the top debtor to the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Gustavo Martinez Pandiani, currently the
Argentine ambassador to Switzerland and
Massa’s likely foreign minister, said a future
Massa government would seek to improve the
country’s global partnerships.
“While some promise to cut ties with Brazil
or China, we want more markets and more
trading partners, not less,” he said.
Milei has said he “won’t make deals with
communists” in China or Brazil, although
he does back private trade. He has described
climate change as a “lie of socialism” and
said Argentine Pope Francis is “on the side of
bloody dictatorships.”
Diana Mondino, Milei’s likely foreign min-
ister, said some of his statements had been
blown out of context, and that, in fact, he
would look “to reinsert Argentina into the
world.”
“Not only is there not a problem with Brazil,
but we hope to be able to trade as much as
possible with Brazil,” she said, adding that
with China – a key trade partner, creditor, and
investor – Milei would simply stop opaque
state-to-state deals.
That could include the country’s $18 billion
currency-swap line with China, which has
Massa and Milei have also clashed on Mer-
cosur, the regional trade bloc led by Argentina
and Brazil that has faced internal tension from
other members who say it is not an effective
trade mechanism for negotiating global deals.
The Peronists want to strengthen the bloc,
while Milei has threatened to pull Argentina
out of it.
Member countries needed to “modernize
Mercosur to make it more efficient,” Pandiani
said, adding that a Massa government would
consider it their “main platform” for global
trade.
“Argentina has a very promising future
because it has what the world demands: pro-
teins; traditional, green, and transition ener-
gy; critical minerals, such as lithium and cop-
per; rare earths and qualified human resourc-
es,” he said.
The current government has also pushed to
have Argentina in the China-backed BRICS
group of developing countries, which also
includes India, Brazil, Russia, and South Afri-
ca. Argentina was invited to join the group in
August. Milei opposes joining.
“The BRICS are not a trading bloc,” Mondino
said. “As of now, it’s not clear why we would
want to have membership in this group.”
The BRICS are a relatively loosely formed
group with diverse political and geographical
positions.
Pandiani disagreed.
“Rejecting entry into BRICS is nonsense,”
he said. “We believe that Argentina should
always sit at the negotiating tables where
important issues for our future are discussed.”

Tehran’s proxy war in Syria against Washington, Jerusalem escalates

ANALYSIS
• By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
Syria is once again in the spot-
light in the Middle East, after the
US carried out airstrikes against Ira-
nian-backed militias on Wednesday.
This follows more than 40 attacks on
US forces by Iranian-backed militias
in Iraq and Syria.
Iran has openly bragged in its
media about these attacks. The US
has, so far, responded twice.
On October 7, the Associated Press
reported: “Fighter jets launched
airstrikes early Friday on two loca-
tions in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s
[Islamic] Revolutionary Guard Corps,
the Pentagon said, in retaliation for
a slew of drone and missile attacks
against US bases and personnel in the
region that began early last week.”
One month later, on Wednesday,
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
said America, at the direction of US
President Joe Biden, had conducted
a “self-defense” strike on a “facility”
used by the Iranian IRGC in Syria.
The strike was carried out by two
F-15s. The US has said further action
could be taken if the threats contin-
ue, as Iran remains undeterred.
US Central Command said: “Fol-
lowing a series of attacks against US
persons in Iraq and Syria, US Central
Command (US CENTCOM) forces
conducted an airstrike against a facil-
ity in Syria used by Iran’s IRGC and
affiliated groups. We will take all nec-
essary measures to defend our people
against those who are responsible for
the attacks and will respond at a time
and place of our choosing.”
CENTCOM has many more assets
in the region now after the Hamas
attack on October 7: two US aircraft
carriers and other vessels in its arma-
da, even more aircraft, and a subma-
rine. Yet Iran’s allies also continue
attacks on the US, with the Houthis
in Yemen targeting a US Reaper drone
just this week.
“Syrian state media said Israeli air-
strikes hit military sites in southern
Syria on Wednesday, causing mate-
rial damage,” Al Arabiya reported
Wednesday. “At approximately 22:50
p.m., the Israeli enemy carried out an
air attack from the direction of Baal-
bek in Lebanon, targeting some mil-
itary points in the southern region,
causing some material losses,” official
news agency SANA said, quoting a
military source.
Last month, “Israeli strikes had put
Syria’s two main airports in Damas-
cus and Aleppo out of service several
times in two weeks,” Al Arabiya also
reported.
White House spokesman John
Kirby told CNN: “We know that it
had a practical impact on their ability
to arm these groups, but also to send
a strong signal of deterrence,” adding
that it was not clear how much Iran
has been deterred.
Pro-Iranian news site Al Mayadeen
reported Thursday: “The Islamic
Resistance in Iraq announces the
targeting of the American base in
the Green Village deep in Syria, the
American base in Al-Shaddadi, south
of Al-Hasakah, and the one in the
Conico gas field in the countryside of
Deir ez-Zor.”
Clearly, Iran is openly bragging
about its attacks on US forces.
The 40 attacks that took place
before Wednesday may rise, and they
could reach unprecedented levels if
Iran is not deterred. Pro-Iranian mili-
tias carried out about 70 attacks prior
to October 7. The attacks are now
spreading, and Iran has encouraged
its militias to attack the US because
Tehran believes this is a war against
the US and Israel. Iranian-backed
groups have said they see this as a
joint conflict, a “single” front, a con-
cept that Iranian media – and the
Houthis – have broadcast.
In 2018, the Syrian regime retook
an area near the Golan Heights,
thrusting it back into the spotlight.
At the time, US-Hamas tensions also
escalated. Foreign reports said Iran
had moved missiles to Iraq’s Anbar
province, making it possible for Iraq
and Syria to retake the border area of
Albukamal and Al-Qaim. Iran then
established its Imam Ali base in Syria,
and Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq moved
units to Syria.
Israel has systemically opposed
this Iranian entrenchment in Syria,
known as the “war between the wars”
campaign, or MABAM in Hebrew. In
2019, tensions grew as Iran sought to
move Hezbollah members and drone
threats toward the Golan. In the years
since, the threats have only grown.
Iran began attacks on US forces in
2019. A while later, in January 2020,
the US killed IRGC commander
Qasem Soleimani in Iraq, and the
attacks continued. The US has carried
out retaliatory strikes in the past, usu-
ally when US soldiers or contractors
have been killed or wounded. This
puts a low bar in terms of retaliation.
Iran feels impunity to use rockets
and other threats against US forces. It
is clear now that the conflict is grow-
ing in Syria. Tehran has also sought to
use militias to attack the US-backed
Syrian Democratic Forces.
The US has a deconfliction mech-
anism with Russia in Syria in terms
of use of the airspace, but Russia-US
tensions have escalated. Turkey-US
tensions have also grown, creating a
combustible mix in Syria. This week
brought more wood to the base of
that potential fire.
10 ISRAEL AT WAR F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

Grant protected status to Public defense refuses to

Palestinians, Dems tell Biden represent Oct. 7 terrorists
• By TED HESSON
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A
group of Democratic law-
makers on Wednesday urged
US President Joe Biden to
allow Palestinian tourists,
students, and workers in the
United States to remain in
light of the conflict in the
Gaza Strip and unrest and
violence in the West Bank.
In a letter to Biden, more
than 100 Democrats led by
US Sen. Dick Durbin called
on Biden to grant residents
of the Palestinian territories
deportation relief and access
to work permits through US
programs for people whose
homelands are affected by
conflicts, natural disasters,
or other extraordinary cir-
cumstances.
“In light of ongoing
armed conflict, Palestin-
ians already in the United
States should not be forced
to return to the Palestinian
territories, consistent with
President Biden’s stated
commitment to protecting
Palestinian civilians,” the
lawmakers wrote.
The humanitarian protec-
tions would only be avail-
able to Palestinians already
in the US, not those in
the war zone or refugees
in other countries. It was
not clear how many Pales-
tinians in the US would be
covered.
Around two-thirds of
Gaza’s 2.3 million popula-
tion are internally displaced
due to the fighting, accord-
ing to UN figures.
The lawmakers called on
Biden to use the Temporary
Protected Status (TPS) or
Deferred Enforced Depar-
ture (DED) programs to pro-
vide the relief. Biden has
granted TPS to hundreds
of thousands of people
since taking office in 2021,
including Venezuelans and
Haitians.
The White House did not
immediately respond to a
request for comment.
The Democratic pres-
sure on Biden comes as
some Republican presiden-
tial candidates, including
former president Donald
Trump, have backed immi-
gration restrictions against
people coming from Gaza.
Last week, Republican
Rep. Ryan Zinke and 10
other Republicans intro-
duced a bill to expel Pal-
estinians from the US on
security grounds and bar
entry of people holding
passports issued by the Pal-
estinian Authority, a gov-
erning body set up under
the Oslo interim peace
accords 30 years ago.
Some Democrats, civ-
il-rights and immigrant
advocates criticized the bill,
with Democratic Rep. Bill
Pascrell calling it “absolute-
ly despicable.”
• By ARIELLA MARSDEN
Israel’s Public Defender’s
Office (PDO) in the Justice
Ministry refuses to represent
captured October 7 terror-
ists who are awaiting trial, it
announced on Thursday.
“Thus far, no lawyer from
the public defense has been
appointed to a single case of
Hamas terrorists or any other
terrorist related to October 7,”
said the PDO. “In our opin-
ion, the procedure against
these terrorists is not suited to
the judicial procedure avail-
able today to deal with terror-
ists and terrorism.”
The office added that, in the
current situation, a solution
is needed for a judicial system
that suits the extreme circum-
stances. The announcement
was praised by Justice Minis-
ter Yariv Levin.
“I support the public
defense’s refusal to represent
the Hamas murderers who
carried out the war crimes of
the October 7 massacre,” he
said. “The Justice Ministry
under my leadership will con-
tinue to work toward bring-
ing the captured terrorists to
justice.”
Legislation Committee
chairman MK Simcha Roth-
man also said the public
defense shouldn’t have to rep-
resent the terrorists.
“From the beginning of the
Swords of Iron war, in numer-
ous Legislation Committee
meetings and outside them,
I repeated my principled
opinion that criminal law
isn’t the correct tool to deal
with terrorism in general and
Hamas’s atrocities specifical-
ly,” he said. “We need a new
infrastructure that’s suited to
dealing with lowly murder-
ers who committed crimes
against humanity, such as
barbaric rape and massacre
that criminal law cannot pos-
sibly understand.”
Public defense generally
acts as legal representation
for people facing charges
who cannot afford lawyers, as
every person on trial has the
right to legal representation.
Another case in which Isra-
el’s public defense refused to
represent someone on trial
was the trial of Holocaust
architect Adolf Eichmann in
1961. Due to their refusal, a
lawyer was brought in from
Germany to represent him.

IAI signs $1.2 billion deal to supply defense systems to foreign customer
• Jerusalem Post Staff tems to a foreign customer, IAI tem in all areas – on land, sea, The transaction between IAI The air defense system has of transactions in air defense sys-
announced Thursday. air, and in space – and at the and the foreign customer is being advanced technological capabili- tems signed recently, strength-
Israel Aerospace Industries has “IAI is in an accelerated process same time, it is also working with carried out through the Defense ties, which have been operation- ening the company’s position as
signed a major $1.2 billion agree- of supplying systems and solu- its customers around the world,” Ministry. The IAI will serve as the ally proven. a world leader in the field,” Levy
ment to supply air defense sys- tions for the Israeli defense sys- said Boaz Levy, CEO of IAI. primary contractor in the project. “This transaction joins a series said.

AGREES
Continued from Page 1
Netanyahu, however, had pre-
ferred one that lasted for an
hour or two.
Biden told reporters as he left
the White House for a campaign
stop on Thursday that he had
sought a longer pause.
“I’ve asked for a pause longer
than three days.”
Asked if he was frustrated with
Netanyahu, Biden said, “It’s
taken a little longer than I
hoped.”
Kirby said the agreement on a
daily humanitarian pause
emerged out of discussions
between US and Israeli officials
in recent days, including talks
between Biden and Netanyahu.
Israeli officials hastened to
underscore the fact that the
pause was localized, that the
military campaign would con-
tinue, and that all ceasefire
requests had been rejected.
The Prime Minister’s Office
said on Thursday there will be
no ceasefire without the release
of the hostages.
The pauses, it explains, allow
for a safe transit corridor from
the north of the Gaza Strip to
the south. It noted that 50,000
Palestinians in Gaza traveled this
route on Wednesday.
“We once again call on the
civilian population in Gaza to
evacuate to the south,” the
Prime Minister’s Office said.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
stated, “We are undertaking
localized and pinpoint measures
to enable the exit of Palestinian
civilians from Gaza City south-
ward so that we do not harm
them. These things do not
detract from the warfighting.”
Israeli forces completely encir-
cled Gaza City in recent days
and the military has been allow-
ing civilians safe passage along
the main route south for three
or four hours each day, with
ever-growing numbers of fami-
lies opting to escape.
There would be no full cease-
fire for now, Gallant told report-
ers.
“We will not stop fighting as
long as our hostages are in Gaza
and as long as we have not
completed our mission, which is
toppling the Hamas regime and
eliminating its military and gov-
ernance capabilities,” Gallant
said.
PIJ on Thursday afternoon
released a video, which showed
two of the hostages, Hanna Kat-
zir, 77, and Yagil Yaakov, 12,
both of Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yaakov
was kidnapped alongside his
father, his father’s partner, and
his brother Or, 16.
“I am Hanna Katzir, from Kib-
butz Nir Oz,” the silver-haired
Katzir said. “I am currently here
in a place that isn’t mine, I miss
my home my children, my hus-
band, Rami, and all my dear
family. I am sending regards,
telling you I love you. I hope I
will succeed in seeing you next
week. I hope everyone is
healthy.”
Yaakov states in his message.
“I miss my family like crazy, and
my friends, and I love you all.”
He also urged the IDF to halt its
aerial bombings of Gaza.
“I want to say to Netanyahu,
that all these explosions are
crazy. You are killing us, hostag-
es. You don’t return the water,
the electricity, or medication. We
as hostages also need this.”
The approval of the pauses
and the video release came after
the CIA and Mossad chiefs met
with the Qatari prime minister in
Doha on Thursday to discuss the
parameters of a deal for hostage
releases and a pause in the fight-
ing in the Gaza Strip, a source
briefed on the meeting told Reu-
ters.
Qatar, where several Hamas
political leaders are based, has
been leading efforts to mediate
between Hamas and Israeli offi-
cials for the release of hostages
when they rampaged into Israel
on October 7, killing 1,400 peo-
ple.
Israel then launched an aerial
and ground campaign to oust
Hamas from Gaza. Hamas has
asserted that 10,000 people
have been killed in war-related
violence, with 40% of them
believed to be children.
US officials have been increas-
ingly clear that humanitarian
pauses are linked to hostage
releases, with reports on
Wednesday of a potentially larg-
er swap of 10 to possibly even
50 people for a three-day pause
in the fighting.
Last month, Hamas freed four
women in two separate releases
believed to be tied to humanitar-
ian pauses.
The United Nations as well as
many in the international com-
munity have called for an imme-
diate ceasefire in Gaza, explain-
ing that the death toll due to IDF
aerial bombardments was dis-
proportionate and unjustified.
France on Thursday held a
special conference to discuss
ways to provide humanitarian
relief to Gaza and to promote a
UN campaign to raise 1.2 billion
for the enclave.
US Special Envoy for Middle
East Humanitarian Issues David
Satterfield told reporters that
while the situation had
improved in the last weeks,
more needed to be done.
Israel has closed its two pas-
sages into Gaza until such time
as the hostages are released. It
has since allowed for an alterna-
tive system of limited aid to
enter Gaza through the Egyptian
border at Rafah.
Satterfield said that 100 trucks
a day are now entering Gaza
with the goal of increasing that
to 150. “Fuel is now available
from within Gaza for their use
for desalination plants, for provi-
sion to hospitals in the south
and center, and for the move-
ments of the UN implementers
themselves.
“We are working to make cer-
tain that there will be further
fuel available for the UN –
UNRWA, the ICRC, World Food
Program – as this moves ahead,”
he stated.
The availably of fuel, which at
present is coming from storage
areas in Gaza, has meant that
water can now be purified. Israel
has also opened up its two pipe-
lines of water into the Strip, he
said.
“I hope that the four to five-
hour humanitarian pauses for
safe passage north to south”
will allow for increased humani-
tarian aid as well s “getting
wounded civilians out” and
allow for foreign passport hold-
ers to leave, Satterfield stated.
He cautioned Israel to protect
civilians as it conducts is military
campaign but stated that he
understood this was difficult
given that Hamas has placed its
infrastructure in civilian areas.
“For 15, for 16 years, Hamas
has deliberately embedded itself
in, around, and under many
..humanitarian sites. It increases
the complexity of any campaign
of this kind enormously,” he
said. • Lubin learned how to cook
WORLD
Continued from Page 1
by a 16-year-old Palestinian in a
terrorist attack near the Herod’s
Gate entrance of Jerusalem’s Old
City. Another border policeman
was wounded in the attack.
Breaking down as he spoke at
her funeral, her immediate com-
mander said he wanted Lubin to
know that he had been there
with her, and that he had run to
the scene as quickly as he could
to change her fate.
“I want you to know that
though my heart has been shat-
tered, it will always love you and
remember you,” he said.
There was no denying Lubin’s
uniqueness, said her younger
brother, Alec, as he eulogized
her.
Despite her petite stature, he
said, “She always stood tall, with
her head held high. Rose was
strange, but not so strange. She
lived life free of judgment… She
had the ability to block out the
white noise that didn’t matter.
She was the most understand-
ing person I’ve ever met. She
could take a bad situation and
make it bearable. I will never
have another person I can talk to
like I did with Rose.”
Alec called her his “first friend”
and “first best friend.” She loved
to laugh and had an infectious
laugh, he said, adding: “If Rose
began to laugh, everyone began
laughing.”
Members of Lubin’s family,
including her parents, David
and Robin, stepmother Stepha-
nie, siblings Alec, Joseph, Lily,
and half-brother Isaac, and peo-
ple from the Atlanta Jewish com-
munity, including Rabbi Biny-
omin Friedman of Congregation
Ariel flew to Israel for the funeral.
Her funeral was attended by
hundreds of people, including
her friends, family, and other
Israelis. Her friends from Kibbutz
Sa’ad also were present, along
with her adoptive kibbutz par-
ents, Idan and Tamer James,
who recalled how the vibrant
Lubin quickly became a part of
their family.
It has become customary at
the funerals of lone soldiers –
who often have not been in the
country long enough to have
formed a large network of
friends – for scores of Israelis to
come to pay their respects,
despite not having known them,
to give support to the family.
“Rose was skipping and
laughing, painting and writing,”
Friedman said. “Rose was as
bright as possible. She was light
itself. She was bright and
focused, and lived every
moment with focus. In her few
short decades of life, she gave
her life absolutely to God and
her people.”
If you ever had an interaction for urban warfare, military out-
with Lubin, you knew you had posts, warehouses, and various
something special, Friedman munitions factories, which have
said. been used to produce rockets,
“Rose was different; she was anti-tank missiles, UAVs, and
somewhere else,” he said. other weapons.
Yifat, a relative from Moshav As the IDF has documented
Bethlehem of Galilee, recalled throughout Gaza, these military
how Lubin was always positive installations are located under or
about her experience in the Bor- close to civilian facilities, includ-
der Police and never com- ing schools, kindergartens, med-
plained, saying everything was ical clinics, and mosques. The
wonderful, and that she was IDF and the Shin Bet have
exactly where she wanted to be. released documentation of
Hamas terrorists admitting that
not only kosher meals but also tunnels and operation rooms
vegan dishes, Yifat said. are located under hospitals,
“My heart is breaking now, especially Shifa Hospital.
but I know one day I will be able The IDF also said Thursday it
to look at your photos and hear had found a rocket and drone
your voice singing, and that is production site in the middle of
exactly what you would want,” a residential building and close
she said. to schools in Gaza City’s Sheikh
Lubin’s mother read an edited Radwan neighborhood.
version of her bat mitzvah The IDF published a phone
speech in which she had urged number alongside a Telegram
people to “care for each other channel for Gazan residents to
and forgive each other.” report when Hamas terrorists
“Let’s make the world a better are preventing them from flee-
place, one apology at a time,” ing southward. The phone
she had written. number to contact is +972
Happiness, the young Lubin 50-341-0322. The Telegram
had written, is not something account is called @gaza_saver.
you search for; “it is something “I am addressing the Gazan
you find within the people and public: Your power is stronger
things you love.” than you think,” IDF Arabic-lan-
She had all the happiness she guage spokesman Lt.-Col. Avi-
needed with her friends, family, chay Adraee said. “Share with us
and… the Internet, she wrote. if Hamas prevents you from
“We argue and get frustrated moving south on the Telegram
with each other, but we will account at the attached num-
always love each other,” Lubin ber.”
had written about her relation- In the North on Thursday,
ship with her friends and family. Hezbollah continued firing small
“For all eternity I will love them rounds of rockets and anti-tank
and stand by them.” missiles into Israel. No casualties
Her father said he would miss or damage were reported.
most the Shabbat dinners with The IDF responded with multi-
Rose, when the conversations ple counterattacks each time to
were inspiring and full. the sources of the attacks.
“She was everything the In the West Bank on Thursday,
world needed and everything 14 Palestinian terrorists were
the world will need,” Alec said. killed in armed clashes with
“Shewasthebest.” • Israeli forces in Jenin. The IDF
conducted multiple drone
strikes in Jenin amid the clashes,
GAZA including one that targeted a
Continued from Page 1 building, according to Palestin-
ian reports.
been told there were multiple During the clashes in Jenin,
rounds of battles in the area over the IDF reportedly dropped leaf-
a period of days. lets that said: “The IDF remains
Soldiers from the Givati Bri- here and will return again and
gade, along with the 162nd again until terrorism is com-
Armored Division and special pletely eradicated. Stay away
forces, raided Hamas’s military from terrorism; live in peace.”
quarter, which is situated near Since the beginning of the
Shifa Hospital, where some top war, more than 1,430 suspects
Hamas officials are said to be have been arrested in the West
hiding. Bank, and at least 900 of them
IDF forces killed 50 Hamas were affiliated with Hamas or
members in some of the fiercest other terrorist groups, the IDF
combat of the invasion to date, reported.
the IDF said. They also secured The Arrow missile-defense sys-
and neutralized a wide under- tem had shot down another bal-
ground network of tunnels. listic missile in the Red Sea area,
The IDF found Hamas military which appeared to be targeting
intelligence documents and Eilat, Hagari said Thursday night.
destroyed several significant Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
underground tunnel access said the indications were that
points, factories for the produc- the impetus for the attack was
tion of anti-tank missiles, and from Iran, which sponsors the
anti-aircraft rocket launchers. Houthis in Yemen who have
“We have killed several Hamas started to fire missiles and
commanders of anti-tank battal- launch drones against Israel.
ions,” IDF Spokesman R.-Adm. An explosion was heard in
Daniel Hagari said Thursday Eilat on Thursday afternoon after
night. an unmanned aircraft crashed in
The military quarter of Gaza the Tze’elim Elementary School.
City consists of strategic Hamas Israel Police officers, including
installations, including its central bomb-disposal units, were
intelligence headquarters and investigating the incident and
government offices, including closed off several roads in the
the Interior Ministry. city. Local residents were asked
The area also contains the to keep away from the site.
largest training facilities in Gaza “Everything is under the con-
trol of the security forces,” Israel
Police Eilat Region Ch.-Supt.
Moshe Karadi said.
The IDF said an unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) had hit the
building, but it did confirm
whether it was an Israeli drone.
“A short while ago, a UAV hit a
civilian building in the city of
Eilat, in southern Israel,” the IDF
said in a statement. “The identi-
ty of the UAV and the details of
the incident are under review.”
Hagari said the IDF would
probe why the drone had not
set off warning sirens.
At the time of the explosion,
some 37 students of the kinder-
garten and six communication
students were in the lower
building. They were immediate-
ly evacuated to the bomb shel-
ter. With the approval of the
Home Front Command, the stu-
dents were then evacuated and
picked up by their parents.
“Due to concerns about a
security incident that occurred
in the last hour at the Tze’elim
Elementary School, Eilat Mayor
Eli Lankri has ordered the cancel-
lation of after-school activities
today in all settings,” the Eilat
Municipality said in a statement.
Studies were also canceled on
Friday.
Eilat had been relatively quiet
since the IDF response to
Hamas’s October 7 attacks, but
it has now come under multiple
attempted attacks from Yemen’s
Houthis.
COWBOYS
Continued from Page 1
Montana. They join other
faith-driven volunteers in Israel
through the Hayovel organiza-
tion, which for two decades has
been bringing several hundred
Christians to Israel each year to
help harvest the grapes of the
biblical heartland.
These Evangelical Christians
are usually focused on restoring
Christian-Jewish relations and
confirming Israel’s right to its
ancestral homeland. However,
after the October 7 Hamas mas-
sacre, “We understood the mor-
bid reality that we are facing, a
serious enemy, and the world
does not recognize it,”
explained Hayovel Director of
Operations Joshua Waller. “If we
did not say yes [to helping Judea
and Samaria], no one was.”
Hayovel launched Operation
Itai to raise $29 million for secu-
rity supplies for Judea and
Samaria. So far, more than $2
million has been raised from
American Christian Zionists for
bullet-proof vests, helmets, night
vision binoculars, drones, flash-
lights, and more.
Itai was the non-Jewish com-
mander of King David’s 600-
men army, mentioned in II Sam-
uel, chapter 15.
“We did not set a budget,”
said Waller. “We asked the com-
munities what they needed, and
Operation Itai responded.”
In addition, Hayovel decided
to bring a group of “hardcore
guys” to help install security
roads, build warehouses for sup-
plies, deliver supplies, and do
24/7 guard duty, Waller said.
These 15 cowboys were select-
ed. “Because of their farming-
can-do attitudes, we knew these
would be the right guys,” Waller
said.
“Everyone is talking about a
proportionate response,” he
added. “A proportionate Chris-
tian response would be to bring
the supplies needed to stop
another Jewish massacre from
happening.”
He said Gaza is only one front.
Syria and Lebanon are two other
fronts, and the West Bank is the
fourth front.
“This is one of the most severe
fronts. You have around
500,000 Jewish people scattered
among 200 different communi-
ties living next to two- to
three-million Palestinians, and
there are no security fences
between them and us,” Waller
added.
“No one wants to say it, but
these Palestinians, many of them
are also involved with Hamas or
another terrorist organization,
and if they believe they are
strong enough and Israel is
weak enough, they will strike.”
The cowboys stay on Har Bra-
cha with Hayovel, but work
throughout Judea and Samaria,
including in the southern
Hebron Hills. They participate in
what they call “farm watch” –
staying up all night to catch cat-
tle and sheep thieves and terror-
ists.
These boys are the real deal.
“A lot of people think we are
dressing up,” Strain, 22, wear-
ing a large Star of David metal
belt buckle, told The Jerusalem
• Post. “We just have a different
style and culture.”
Strain, whose family farm
trains horses and rides them in
rodeos, said he had been to Isra-
el three times before, and his
parents were “pretty support-
ive.”
And none of the cowboys
seemed very afraid of violence.
Charles Hutsler, 19, from
Huntsville, Arkansas, said he
was “not scared” about being
in the country during a war,
because “God has my back.”
Ezekiel (“Zeek”) Strain, 20,
Yosef Strain’s brother, said he
believes in Israel, in the prom-
ised land, specifically, the bibli-
cal heartland.
“I ain’t scared of what could
happen or might happen. I
just want to help,” he said.
“God put a special calling on
my life and has given me cer-
tain talents, direct my life in a
certain path, that I can do
something when the time
comes,” added Johnny Plocher,
24. “I am not on Earth for
money, a new truck or proper-
ty, a vacation – that is not my
purpose. I feel called here now
and am glad to be here.”
The cowboys stressed that
they do not represent the
Biden administration or liberal
Americans. “Biden does not
represent these cowboys,”
Waller said. “Americans sup-
port Israel, including Judea and
Samaria. The Biden administra-
tion believes in a two-state
solution and would like to see
500,000 Jews pushed out of
here, their biblical heartland.
“These cowboys represent
the America behind Israel and
the Bible,” he continued. “We
are here to say: No way to have
to cut the State of Israel in half
and the ability to create an
Arab state in the cradle of Isra-
el’s heartland. These cowboys
arenotgoingtoseeit.” •
11
SPORTS F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

Blue-and-white aims to lift country’s spirits

• Sports Editor: URIEL STURM
Comments/Questions: sports@jpost.com

Weather Tiberias
Kiryat
Shmona
23/13
Soccer secondary to situation as National Team embarks on 4-games-in-10-days qualifying stretch
STANDINGS
Euro 2024 Qualification
Today Haifa Group I
Partly Cloudy 25/18 29/18 GP W D L GF GA Pts
Romania 8 4 4 0 13 4 16
Switzerland 7 4 3 0 20 8 15
Israel 6 3 2 1 7 7 11
Netanya Kosovo 7 1 4 2 8 8 7
27/19
Saturday Ariel
Belarus 8 1 3 4 7 14 6
Unchanged Andorra 8 0 2 6 3 17 2
Tel Aviv 24/14
27/19 “As Yossi said, many things have now
become very marginal. ”
The bench boss knows that he can’t
Sunday
Mostly Sunny Jerusalem look too far ahead in preparing for such
25/15 a jam-packed schedule and will need to
Ashkelon take it game by game, while also appre-
27/19 PREVIEW ciating the players who have all come to
Dead Sea • By JOSHUA HALICKMAN play for the blue-and-white during the
28/22 country’s time of need.
Beersheba

T
he Israel National Team won’t have “I know you are looking at this stretch
28/16 an easy path in order to punch its of games as 10 days, but we are just focus-
ticket to the 2024 European Champi- ing on the first game. At the moment,
onships as it begins a stretch of four match- we only have one game and that is Koso-
es in nine days on Sunday at Kosovo. vo. They are a quality opponent and our
Saturday Mitzpe Ramon Head coach Alon Hazan’s 31 players ISRAEL COACH Alon Hazan (left), midfielder Neta Lavi (middle) and Sports Director Yossi group is very tight and competitive. We
Kiryat Shmona 24/13 24/13 Benayoun speak ahead of the upcoming set of Group I Euro 2024 qualifiers. (IFA/Courtesy)
will be returning to action after having are a good team and from the beginning
Tiberias 30/18 had two of their qualification games post- of this campaign we have encountered
Haifa 25/18 poned from October due to the atrocities those who were murdered and I pray that or if it just woke everyone up here in the some obstacles. We have the best players
Netanya 27/18 committed by Hamas against the State the injured recover and that the hostages country. I think about the horrors that in the most ideal situation that we can get
Ariel 24/14 of Israel and the subsequent war that is are returned quickly. One of the Nation- the country experienced from that day them in and with that we will go out and
Tel Aviv 27/19 being waged in Gaza. al Team doctors’ daughter has been kid- and event and now the war that is going do the best that we can.”
Jerusalem 26/16 Israel is currently in third place with 11 napped and we are doing everything we on right now. I don’t think it stopped One of the players who put his differences
Ashkelon 27/19 points in Group I, behind Romania and can to support her and we want everyone time, but set the wheels of time in motion aside with Benayoun after a disagreement
Dead Sea 28/21 Switzerland with 16 and 15 points, respec- to come back home swiftly.” for the State of Israel. with the National Team is Zahavi, who will
Beersheba 28/16 tively, and will need the entire roster with “I want to share some of what the Israel “Maybe we forgot what our reality is a be available for these four critical matches.
Mitzpe Ramon 24/13 so many games in very few days. Football Association has been doing over little bit. We are trying to find a way to have “Eran can only add to the team. Everyone
Eilat 32/21 Following Sunday’s contest at Koso- the past little while, which includes receiv- a routine during the war, but every time we knows that professionally there has never
vo, Israel will then “host” Switzerland on ing the support of the President of the Hun- try and the fact that our people are being been a problem and the players are also
Eilat Wednesday and Romania on Saturday garian Association as well as UEFA’s in order held hostage, including children, brings me happy that he is coming back. I have no
32/21 in Felcsut, Hungary, with the final group to move the games around. Without their back to that day and it gives me the tremen- doubt that he will only give us more con-
North America Weather Today game taking place on Tuesday, November support, as well as the support of respective dous meaning of what it is to be the State of fidence and help us complete the goal of
21 at Andorra. associations of the countries we are facing, Israel and how important it is to appreciate advancing to the Euro.”
Just ahead of the challenging journey this all would not have been possible. We the country we live in.” Zuares is aware as to what is at stake for
ahead, the Israel Football Association insisted on playing in front of our fans even Benayoun also spoke about the tragedy the team, but also knows they will do their
Chairman Moshe “Shino” Zuares, Sports though we will not be playing in our home, that has occurred and the role that soccer utmost to achieve the goal of going to the
Vancouver Director Yossi Benayoun and Hazan spoke but this will allow Israelis and Jews to come can play for the country. Euros for the first time ever.
10/6 Montreal
Toronto 5/2 about the upcoming games and the return and support us. I am happy that we were “From October 7, everything has “We all understand the magnitude of
11/8 Boston of Eran Zahavi to the national team fold, able to accomplish this. become marginal, yet soccer is perhaps the hour and the mission in front of us
Chicago
12/4 while also reflecting on the country’s diffi- “We will be playing in a small stadium, one of the only things that can bring a and the joy that it will bring by advancing
Denver 10/3
New York cult situation. but I believe that it will be full. We will be smile - though it’s hard to say that it can to the Euros. I admit that during these
San Francisco 11/-2 13/6
Washington DC “Normally, I would not be speaking ahead trying to bring some of the families and make people happy. I do hope that we can days it’s hard to know how happy we can
17/8
14/5 of National Team games, but after Octo- children from the Gaza periphery in order bring a smile to the State of Israel. We can be, but I wish we could bring a bit of com-
Los Angeles Dallas Atlanta
22/10 21/10 ber 7, normalcy ended,” Zuares began. to give them some joy and make them feel only pray that the hostages return home fort to our people.
19/9
Orlando “That day saw 1,400 people slaughtered, that they are part of us.” as soon as possible.” “I want to wish the greatest success to the
31/20 240 kidnapped and being held hostage Hazan reflected on the horrific events Hazan picked up on Benayoun’s com- players and the team and explain to all of
Miami and over 3,000 people injured in a diffi- that unfolded on Simchat Torah and ment about how everything has become you that we are strong and that we all have
29/24 cult event that is still unfolding. I want to showed appreciation for the State of Israel. marginalized since the attacks and what one goal - to do everything we can to get to
offer my condolences to the families of “I don’t know if life stopped that day the National Team’s role is during this time. the Euros.”

S PO RT S S H ORT S Mac TA’s Jake Cohen reflects on war and basketball

and Israelis because I have a long connection to Israel and are not
INTERVIEW history with both. What hap- Jewish still sent me messages to
Israeli women’s Nations League moved • By JOSHUA HALICKMAN pened last month was unprece- check in and to make sure our
Israel’s home games in the Women’s Nations League which were to dented and something like that situation was good. That really

J
be played in Tel Aviv in December have been moved to Armenia and ake Cohen has always been
Hungary, Europe’s soccer governing body UEFA said on Thursday. a voice of reason, a voice of
Israel was due to host Armenia and Estonia next month, but due honesty and a voice of con-
to the Israel-Hamas war, the matches have been moved. scientiousness.
Israel will now play Armenia on December 2 in Yerevan, Arme- In good times as well as bad,
nia, while the game against Estonia will be played three days later Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Israeli-Ameri-
in Felcsut, Hungary. UEFA added that both games will be played can forward has always been
with spectators in attendance. • Reuters there to offer just the right
words.
Tottenham faces test of top-4 ambitions Cohen always gives his opin-
ions and thoughts straight to the
LONDON (Reuters) – Ange Postecoglou has transformed the point and he recently did so in a
mood at Tottenham Hotspur in his first three months as manager, special session with The Jerusa-
but faces the biggest test of his short reign over the next few weeks, lem Post from the yellow-and-
starting with Saturday’s trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers. blue’s temporary home in Bel-
Before the mayhem of Monday’s home defeat against Chelsea, grade, Serbia.
Wolves away would have been viewed as another opportunity When speaking about the situ-
for Tottenham to underline its top-four credentials. ation that everyone in the coun-
But that 4-1 reverse, Postecoglou’s first setback in the Premier try was thrust into following the
League, could cost the north London club more than a return to Hamas attack and massacre on
top spot and the loss of three points. Simchat Torah, Cohen began:
A tumultuous derby ended with Spurs having only four of their “My heart goes out to all of the
starting line-up left on the pitch. Victory at 14th-placedWolves on victims and their families who
Saturday would see Tottenham move two points clear of Manches- have been affected by the events
ter City at least until Sunday when the leader travels to Chelsea.
of October 7. It was an unspeak-
A home game against City will perhaps say a lot more about
able tragedy and our hearts are
whether or not Chelsea has turned a corner. with them.
Chelsea, in 10th, has struggled at home, winning only one of “We want to thank all those
six games at Stamford Bridge, that against promoted Luton who have been able to help us
Town back in August. continue on in Belgrade and
Manchester United’s late 1-0 victory at Fulham last weekend eased continue to do our job which is
a little pressure on manager Erik Ten Hag but he found himself a big blessing. Thanks to Macca-
immediately back under the microscope on Wednesday after losing bi, Serbia, Partizan, Red Star and
4-3 at FC Copenhagen in the Champions League despite at one the government who have all
stage leading 2-0. Anything less than victory against Luton on Satur- helped us being here.”
day will have the alarm bells ringing again for the Dutchman. The 33-year old Bryn Mawr,
Fourth-place Arsenal hosts Burnley on Saturday while Liver- Pennsylvania, native spoke about
pool, which sits in third, entertains Brentford on Sunday. the fateful morning and his initial
thoughts and reactions as Israel
England eyes proper effort vs Pakistan was under invasion.
“I woke up with the siren early
England captain Jos Buttler said the team has shown a desire to
in the morning and an hour after
“put things right” in India after a dismal World Cup campaign and
that we started seeing what was
is determined to secure a spot in the 2025 Champions Trophy with
going on. That day was really
a top-eight finish.
tough, we didn’t know what was
The 2019 champion earned a 160-run win over the Netherlands
going on and it was something
in Pune on Wednesday to end a five-match losing streak and climb
off the bottom of the standings to seventh place on four points. that had never happened before.
Ahead of the bottom three – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the It was hard to figure out what to
Neteherlands – on net run rate, England heads to Kolkata for its do with my kids and what to do
final match against fifth-placed Pakistan, wich will host the next with my wife while a lot of peo-
edition of the eight-team Champions Trophy. ple were reaching out back
“We haven’t performed the way we wanted to this whole trip home. It was a really tough day.”
and we’d like to leave India putting in a proper performance,” said While there have been flare-
Buttler.“I think everyone’s been frustrated, but the guys have stayed ups over the years from Gaza,
tight... the guys probably trained as hard as they trained all trip, foreign players signing with
which shows the level of commitment and desire to put things right. Maccabi Tel Aviv have never
“Not playing for what we wanted to be playing for, but a really been thinking that a full out war
vital match for us in the grand scheme of things,” he added. “It’s would break out.
great to be heading there with something on the line.” • Reuters “I am in a unique position
that I can relate to the Americans
has not happened the entire
time I was in Israel and can’t just
be explained away. There is no
formula for this and we have to
do the best we can.”
Maccabi players were offered
the opportunity to head to
Cyprus, while others opted to
stay in the Holy Land. Whatever
decision each individual and
family made was respected by
everyone, whether it was to stay
or whether it was to go.
“When things unfolded I was
in the same boat as everyone
else. I had to see what was best
for me and my family, whether
in Cyprus or in Israel we were
kind of riding the wave, so to
speak, whatever we could do to
get them into a good situation.”
For the past month, Cohen
and his teammates have been
nomads flying around
Europe, from Cyprus to Valen-
cia and from Athens to Bel-
grade, having to live out of
suitcases and hotels.
“It’s definitely something new
and we have to keep things in
perspective. We are playing bas-
ketball for a living, what we are
going through is nothing com-
pared to what is going on in
Israel. Flights and being away
from our families are hard, but
we are keeping in mind the situ-
ation as a whole. We are fortu-
nate and we are lucky to have
these jobs which allows us to
keep playing basketball.”
Cohen is very involved with
the Euroleague Players Associa-
tion and has been an active par-
ticipant. With that, he was very
thankful as to how many peo-
ple reached out to him during
this trying time to offer a word
of support.
“I have received a lot of posi-
tive support from the people
around me whether it’s players
on opposing teams, friends of
mine from around the league
and even guys that I have never
spoken to before sent me mes-
sages, which I really appreciated.
That’s the positive side of things
in the face of this darkness and
hatred; that players who have no
meant a lot to me.”
Maccabi will be playing its
“home” games at the Pionir
Arena, the same facility that the
club won its first ever European
championship back in 1977.
However, fans will not be
allowed to attend the games and
those home contests where a
packed Yad Eliyahu would make
a huge difference against any
Euroleague club will now be
played in front of the teams
themselves and media.
“12,000 yellow fans in Menora
is really special. We miss them
and we’re going to miss them a
whole bunch for this next month
or however long it is. We’re going
to try to make them proud and
us proud at the same time.”
Many Maccabi fans had to trade
in their yellow-and-blue T-shirts
for their IDF uniforms in order to
protect the country, and some MACCABI TEL AVIV big man Jake Cohen has played in Israel for more
fans made a video for the players than 10 years and is also part of the National Team. (Yehuda Halickman)
which made a huge impact on
Cohen and his teammates. The Israeli league has been watching what is going on
“The message from the fans speaking about ramping up oper- around the world. Seeing how
was really great and shows the ations near the end of November, people are treating Jews concerns
love that they have for us. It really but for Cohen that is eons away me, not only for my safety but for
brings everything into perspec- from the here and now. my kids because I have one of the
tive when you see the fans who “I don’t have any idea, if they most Jewish names possible. It’s
we see in the arena now in uni- say we are playing then that’s it. I very hard to go under the radar.
form who are protecting our have to worry about what’s So what is going on concerns
country and our families. It goes going on today and tomorrow me. I wish I had a solution for it,
beyond words and I’m not artic- before I can worry about what but a lot of people smarter than
ulate enough to explain what it will be in two weeks from now.” me haven’t been able to figure it
means for them to put their lives As one of four Israeli teams out to cure racism, or antisemi-
on the line to defend me, my currently competing in Europe- tism or hatred at all for that mat-
family and my children, it means an competition, Cohen is sup- ter. What I can do is worry about
everything to me. porting each and every one of what I can control.”
“I can’t imagine the sacrifice them as he usually does because Although Cohen is well spo-
that they are making for all of us, the better they play, the better ken and is somebody who is
for us to give back a little bit with for the country. part of both the Israeli and Amer-
the game of basketball is some- “I’m always rooting for the ican fabric, he doesn’t want to
thing that is super special. It Israeli clubs in Europe, the better consider himself as some sort of
seems kind of silly that playing they are then the better for Israeli ambassador.
basketball can have such an basketball. But I don’t think I am “I don’t consider myself an
impact compared to the people cheering them on more than ambassador. I am just a guy who
who put their lives on the line, usual. With all four teams getting has lived in the US and Israel for a
but it does and I don’t take that wins, we want to see that con- long time. I’m Jewish, if that
lightly. It’s a privilege to represent tinue. If it helps Israeli basketball, makes me one, fine, that’s not up
things that those people care I am in favor.” to me. All I can do is represent
about and we want to make There has been a massive rise myself, I don’t pretend to repre-
them proud when we win in antisemitism in the United sent someone else and I just rep-
games and it’s astonishing really. States, around Europe and the resent my opinion and what I
I want to continue to represent world and that is something that think. Whether someone wants to
to the best of my abilities that as is very concerning to Cohen. listen to me, it’s up to them, those
much as I can going forward.” “Of course it worries me titles are not up to me.”
12
ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

Desperately seeking Spielberg

Holocaust survivors call on the ‘Schindler’s List’ director to speak out about the massacre
By HANNAH BROWN filmmaker in the world, your silence now was incorporated in 2001 and joined by 40
is a comfort for our enemies... We do not Holocaust survivor organizations through-

W
hile the Hollywood Jewish
community has been look-
ing to Schindler’s List direc-
tor Steven Spielberg, perhaps
the most influential and respected Jew in
the movie industry, to comment publicly
about the massacre of thousands of Jews
and the kidnapping of hundreds by Hamas
that started the current war, an organiza-
tion of Holocaust survivors has decided it
can no longer wait patiently.
On November 2, nearly a month after
the horrific slaughter of October 7, the
Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation-USA
published an open letter by its president,
94-year-old David Schaecter, calling on
Spielberg to make a statement condemn-
ing the massacre.
Schaecter begins the letter by expressing
his admiration for Spielberg, especially for
documenting the horrors of the Holocaust
in Schindler’s List. He went on to describe
how most of his family members were mur-
dered in the Holocaust and how he sur-
vived four years in Nazi camps Auschwitz
and Buchenwald, where he watched his
brother die.
Expressing his frustration, Schaecter
wrote: “That is why I, along with countless
other survivors, are so heartbroken that,
since Oct. 7, 2023, you have not spoken out
and publicly taken a stand against terror-
ism, against Hamas and the millions who
celebrate the shedding of Jewish blood –
and want more.
“With all my heart, I urge you to speak
need another film in three years about the
horrors of October 7th. Instead, we need
you and others to speak out NOW, when it
truly matters.”
He signed off with the words, “With
great sadness.”
Spielberg has spoken out about his Jew-
ish identity in recent years, saying that
the antisemitism he experienced while
growing up was a key part of his semi-auto-
biographical 2022 movie, The Fabelmans,
which was nominated for seven Oscars.
When he was awarded the Honorary Gold
Bear at the 2022 Berlinale, the Berlin Inter-
national Film Festival, he said, “This honor
has particular meaning for me because I’m
a Jewish director. I’d like to believe that
this is a small moment in a much larg-
er, ongoing effort of healing the broken
places of history – what Jews call Tikkun
Olam, the repairing and restoring of the
world... I established The Shoah Foun-
STEVEN SPIELBERG on the set of ‘Schindler’s List.’ (HBO) dation because I’m convinced that what
historian Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi wrote is
out for the children, women, and men including 1.5 million children? On Oct. true: The opposite of justice is forgetting.
kidnapped and held hostage, and in sup- 7, Hamas committed the worst atrocities Reconciliation is possible only when we
port of Israel and Israel’s right to defend against the Jewish people since the Holo- remember what’s happened.”
herself.” caust.” A member of the Holocaust Survivors’
Referring to the USC Shoah Foundation Schaecter praised celebrities such as Gal Foundation confirmed that the letter was
that Spielberg founded, which collects Gadot and Jerry Seinfeld, who did speak sent to a representative of Spielberg, who
the testimonies of Holocaust survivors, he out to condemn the massacre, adding: works for the director’s company. Spiel-
wrote: “Wasn’t the purpose of recording “Mr. Spielberg, Schindler’s List was about berg’s representative confirmed that the
50,000 testimonies of our fellow survivors one man having the moral courage to risk director had read the letter. About a week
to make sure the world would never be his life to save others. We are not asking later, the representative stated that no
able to deny, and must never forget, the you to risk your life. We are asking you response would be forthcoming.
Nazis’ systematic murder of 6 million Jews, to use your voice... As the premier Jewish The Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation
out the US, at the time representing some
20,000 survivors. Over the years, many
have passed away, but the group continues
to represent thousands of them, along
with many organizations that include sec-
ond- and third-generation survivors.
While many Hollywood celebrities
including Barbra Streisand and Natalie
Portman, among others, have raised their
voices about the massacre, Jews in Hol-
lywood have privately expressed surprise
and sadness that Spielberg, who has spo-
ken out on other issues, has stayed silent
on this issue. Hollywood insiders whom
I interviewed for this article, who pre-
ferred not to give their names, all told me
that notwithstanding the eloquence of
Schaecter’s letter, it will not inspire Spiel-
berg to break his silence. “If he were going
to comment, he would have said some-
thing right away,” one said.
Asked whether Spielberg is afraid of
offending those in Hollywood who are
focused only on Israel’s response to the
attack without even mentioning the
attack itself, one of them said, “That, and
he doesn’t want to be seen as supporting
the Israeli government in any way... Could
he have made a statement that would have
condemned the massacre and made it clear
that he is very critical of Bibi [Netanyahu]
and his policies? Sure. But he didn’t. And
he won’t.”
The full text of the letter can be seen at
http://www.hsf-usa.org/open-letter-to-steven-
spielberg/

Broadway stars sing ‘Bring Him Lifeline project offers fine art print
Home’ in tribute to Gaza hostages to help rebuild Kibbutz Re’im
• Jerusalem Post Staff DEBRA MESSING • By KARIN KLOOSTERMAN
(Andrew Kelly)

A I
video released on
Wednesday docu-
ments Broadway com-
munity members join-
ing together to sing a rendition
of the Les Misérables classic,
“Bring Him Home” (in which
the protagonist begs God to save
and return Marius to Cosette –
even if he has to sacrifice his
own life for Marius’s safety).
Broadway stars, including
Debra Messing and Jeremy
Jordan, gather together in a
recording booth and recorded
both voice and film.
At the beginning of the
video, before the Broadway
stars are shown, an introduc-
tion is made.
“On October 7, 2023, over
240 people were abducted and
taken hostages. They represent
over 30 nationalities.”
The words, “Members of the
Broadway community have
come together to send out
love to their families and our
prayers for their safe return,”
are seen as the captivating
piano intro grabs the atten-
tion of the viewers.
At the bottom of the video,
the names and ages of all of
the hostages are shown as the
stars sing.
In another tribute, filmed
shortly after the start of the
war, the Israeli Opera singers
offer their rendition of “Bring
Him Home” from the timeless
Broadway musical based on a
novel by Victor Hugo.
In the viral video, direct-
ed by Tal Almog, two singers
Anat Czarny and Oded Reich
THE BRING Them Home Now poster featuring photographs of
the hostages. (Screenshot)
sing in an empty theater in
Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Their soulful
voices can be felt through the
screen as their emotions shine
through.
The video shows short clips of
some of the children who were
kidnapped and are now held in
Gaza with captions like “first
time saying my name,” and
“first time meeting my brother.”
They finish the song by
changing the lyrics from
“bring him home” to “bring
them home” as a way of beg-
ging for the release of all the
hostages, so that they may
return to Israel.
Both of the videos end with
a photo collage of the hostages
and the hashtag #BringThem-
HomeNow.
t was 6:25 a.m. on October 7, and
Gal-Lee Maroodi’s husband Omer
put his ear to the window as dozens
of rockets fired from Gaza hit his
agricultural village, Kibbutz Re’im, 5
km. from the Gaza border area.
“We were used to hiding in the safe
rooms to protect us from rockets,” she
said. “But this time it sounded different
because there were rockets raining down
on us non-stop. I told him, “It’s not safe
by the window,” but coming from a spe-
cial guerrilla unit in the IDF, he told me,
“Something doesn’t sound right.” He
heard AK-47s, machine guns that Israel
would never use. He told me to take the
baby and run.
“We dodged rockets and sped off down
the road, warning others from the com-
munity that we are being attacked by
terrorists. If we had been two minutes
later on the road, we would have been
shot,” she said.
Her kibbutz is a community of 400 peo-
ple who farm and run a factory producing
laser-cut machine parts. Five people from
the kibbutz were murdered. Another six
are now being held hostage in Gaza.
Maroodi, 25, has become the spokes-
person for Lifeline, an art print and his-
torical project that is documenting the
painful communication between the
kibbutz members on October 7. They
hope to raise money through sales of
the prints to rebuild the kibbutz.
The prints include the sentences: “They
are coming closer. They are in my back-
yard. Urgent, urgent to Dvir’s house.
Daria and Levi are alone. Dvir was mur-
dered. Urgent. Please! Friends, lock the
house and stay inside. Urgent, urgent.
Please. The children are alone. Please.”
These words are a sample from several
hours of WhatsApp messages during the
morning of the Hamas attack. They are
inscribed on a high-quality art print,
THE LIFELINE art print and historical
project. (Gal-Lee Maroodi)
written in cursive Hebrew by kibbutz
member Adi Drimer. She created the
pattern, a mandala, as a form of therapy
after the terror attack.
Mandala means “circle” in Sanskrit.
Mandalas are used as spiritual guidance
tools, in meditation, or for creating
sacred spaces. For Kibbutz Re’im and
Jews everywhere, this mandala will be
a symbol of standing against terror, as
well as historical evidence to ensure
that October 7 will never be forgotten.
The project’s name, Lifeline, was
chosen because the kibbutz WhatsApp
group chat was the actual lifeline for kib-
butz members on that day. Through the
app, they managed to save two children
whose father and partner were mur-
dered right in front of them. It helps
the members tell their story: how they
warned each other about the invaders;
about the heroic acts of men who ran
through hellfire to rescue children who
couldn’t close the door of their bomb
shelter because their dad’s dead girl-
GAL-LEE MAROODI (Karin Kloosterman)
friend’s arm was in the way.
“It’s a strange situation now because
we are terrified about going back to
the kibbutz, but we also miss it terribly
because it’s our home.”
Maroodi’s home was used as a com-
mand center by Hamas. When her
husband went back he found blood on
the floor, pictures broken. “They went
through everything. We heard them
through our baby monitor.”
“It is such a beautiful area and we can’t
let them win. If we don’t go back and
rebuild the kibbutz, then they’ve won. So
we need to rebuild, even if it’s painful.”
Lifeline is not an easy object to hold
but it is essential: “We must never forget,”
Maroodi insisted.
“People risked their lives helping
each other here. That’s the beauty of
the kibbutz. We are really family. Every-
one feels the pain of the other. As a Jew,
or even non-Jew standing by our side,
Lifeline is art that every single one of us
should have; it looks like a fingerprint
and it’s to make sure we will never for-
get October 7.”
All the proceeds will go towards rebuilding
Kibbutz Re’im: lifeline-art.com/

National Library of Israel online program helps children cope with the war
• By HANNAH BROWN the spirit and promise of the National teachers about the power of writing and These include worksheets to foster con- letters written by children in past wars,
Library of Israel will not be put on hold. the written word during times of crisis. versation about communal responsibility will be collected and preserved in the NLI

T
he National Library of Israel (NLI)
had planned to hold an open-
ing celebration for its new build-
ing in October, but since the war
broke out it has delayed the festivities and
instead is offering a program of online
materials to help children in Israel and
around the understand and cope with the
conflict and tragedy.
Oren Weinberg, the CEO of NLI,
thanked supporters from all over the
world in a statement and offered prayers
for the families of those who were killed
and kidnapped, as well as for soldiers and
their families. He promised that the new
building would open as soon as possi-
ble, and said that the National Library is
working on programs that will be helpful
during the war:
“While the celebrations are delayed,
In the meantime, we continue to work,
remaining focused on the noble mission
of Israel’s renewed National Library − a
resource not just for this country but for
the world. In the words of our country’s
national anthem, ‘Hatikvah’ (‘The Hope’)
we do not lose hope.”
Since late October, several reading
rooms have been opened and many schol-
ars and readers have been enjoying the
new building, ahead of its official open-
ing.
For Israeli children, with many schools
closed due to the war, NLI has launched
a series of online writing and creativity
workshops for schoolchildren. The initial
Hebrew-language activity was over-sub-
scribed almost immediately with 100 reg-
istrants. The program was then expanded
to 10 sessions, including a session for
“Children are being exposed to the
news about what is happening in Israel
and there is already a need to help them
process these events,” said Neta Shapira,
the head of the Israel Center for Human-
ities Education (INCHE) at the NLI.
“We realized that we would have to
move fast – as fast as the 24-hour news
cycle – to equip teachers with relevant
classroom materials and tools. We intend
to continue producing more, based on
the feedback we receive from our online
educator communities because we expect
that these events will reverberate and
raise questions for a long time to come.”
For teachers and students abroad, the
Global Education Center has created a
program to help teachers abroad talk
about the war, using materials from NLI’s
collections.
and solidarity; texts and primary sources
that highlight the idea of support and
collaboration between Jewish communi-
ties and individuals around the world at
different times in history; and letters writ-
ten by children during times of war – as
well as lesson plans for guiding students
in trying to understand the thoughts and
emotions of the children who wrote the
letters. A lesson plan for reading and
discussing the power of prayer in difficult
times is also part of the program.
In addition, the Global Education Cen-
ter is offering an initiative, called, “Words
Make a Difference,” giving students out-
side of Israel the opportunity to express
their thoughts and feelings about the
events in the country through letters and
drawings that will be sent to Israeli sol-
diers and families. These, like the many
collections.
“We, in Israel, have felt the outpouring
of concern and goodwill from abroad,”
said Shuvi Hoffman, NLI Global Jewish
Education Manager.
“We wanted to give children in com-
munities around the world the chance to
do something that can really lift people’s
spirits here during this very difficult time.
Letters and drawings that kids can upload
directly to our site are a wonderful way
to make contact and express support and
care.”
‘Words Can Make a Difference’ at: edu-
cation-en.nli.org.il/specialprograms/words-
can-make-a-difference
English-language worksheets and source
materials at: education-en.nli.org.il/
Hebrew-language resources for students and
teachers at: merkazruach.nli.org.il/together

T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T  F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 2 3
PEOPLE HOLD Israeli flags during a ceremony this week in Jerusalem to mark the one-month anniversary of the October 7 Hamas massacre. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)
A month into the war against Hamas, the atrocities of October 7
have instilled a sense of solidarity and purpose not felt in Israel for decades
I
sraeli history will, for at
least a generation if not
longer, be divided into
before and after. Before
October 7, 2023, and after
October 7, 2023.
The Simchat Torah massa-
cres on that date will be the
point of reference marking
the time when Israel changed
fundamentally, when its
security philosophy changed,
when its political landscape
was rearranged, when its
attitude toward the enemy
was altered, and when its
solidarity and cohesion were
regained.
Historians will talk about
a pre-October 7, 2023, Israel,
and a post-October 7, 2023,
Israel, and they will not be
the same.
A grieving nation marked
30 days this week to the hor-
rific events of October 7.
In Jewish tradition, the
mourning period for close
relatives, particularly for par-
ents, is divided into separate
units of time – there is the
period before the burial, the
seven-day shiva period, the
30-day – or shloshim – period,
the 11 months of saying kad-
dish, and the yahrzeit that
marks the end of 12 months
of mourning.
As time passes, the laws of
mourning are relaxed. Things
permitted during the shiva,
are not permitted before
the burial; things permitted
during the 30 days are not
permitted during the shiva,
and on and on. The under-
lying philosophy is that the
enormity of the grief lessens
as time passes.
Israel marked the shloshim
this week to the October 7
massacres, but the national
sense of grief and bereave-
ment has not eased with the
passing of this time, perhaps
because there are still 240
hostages cruelly and inhu-
manly held in Gaza, perhaps
because each day additional
names are added to the list
OBSERVATIONS 18-21, 24 ■ CLASSIFIEDS 22
FRONTLINES 13
INSIDE
LINES
Why are the Houthis
attacking us?
Page 15
A reservist’s journal
Page 16
As resolute as on day one Coming to
America
Page 17
Battles
of states
of fallen soldiers, perhaps have never seen this degree forward so that the enemy of minds
because of the enormity of NATIONAL AFFAIRS of keenness. The morale is understand that we are here.” Page 24
the crime against humanity • By HERB KEINON
high from all segments of That sentiment is heard
perpetrated – again – against the nation. It is moving to repeatedly by soldiers lying
the Jewish people. see – people from all over, in ambush on the northern
The Jewish laws of mourn- having dropped the ball, first instilled a sense of solidarity all different lines of work, are border or blowing up tunnels
ing are structured so that in not protecting Israel’s cit- and purpose not felt here for all harnessed together toward in Gaza. And it is a sentiment
by the shloshim, life starts izens as it should have, and decades. one task. It is very strong.” that is as strong on the 35th
returning to normal. second for not rising to the “How is the morale?” Lt.- A people disastrously divid- day of fighting as it was on
Life in Israel, however, has occasion and providing solu- Col. (res.) Ido, the command- ed before October 7 has uni- the first. Even as the num-
not begun to return to nor- tions to those displaced from er of a tank battalion in the fied afterward: “From all seg- ber of IDF casualties inside
mal a month after the slaugh- their homes as fast as it could. Harel Brigade, was asked in ments of the population,” Ido Gaza mounts, even as hun-
ter. a radio interview on Thurs- said, “haredim and religions, dreds of thousands of reserv-
Normal in Israel is happy BUT IT is not a country inca- day from “somewhere in the Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, ists have now been away from
and vibrant and joyful and pacitated or paralyzed by south.” Druze and Jews – everyone, their families for more than
optimistic. A month after this sadness, grief, and fury. “I’ve been doing reserve with a fighting spirit and a
October 7, the country has Rather, these emotions have duty for 15 to 20 years, and I willingness to keep moving See RESOLUTE, Page 23
slipped into a certain war-
time routine, but the nation-
al sense of grief, bereavement
and deep, deep sadness has
not dissipated.
It’s everywhere. It’s on the
television. It’s in the papers.
It’s in conversations around
the Shabbat table. It’s on peo-
ple’s faces in the supermar-
ket. It’s on everyone’s mind,
and it’s in everyone’s heart.
You can feel it.
Those not directly mourn-
ing anyone killed on October
7 or its aftermath are wor-
ried about sons and daugh-
ters, fathers and mothers,
husbands and wives, or just
friends and co-workers called
up to defend the north-
ern border, keep Judea and
Samaria from exploding,
and fight Hamas and Islamic
Jihad terrorists inside Gaza,
often in face-to-face battles in
narrow alleyways, or through
the ruins of bombed out
buildings. And that, too, is a
worry you can almost taste.
A month after Kibbutz
Be’eri and Kibbutz Re’im, Kfar
Aza and Nir Oz were seared
into the nation’s conscious-
ness, Israel is sad and bereft.
It is also full of fury and
anger. Fury at those who
did this to us. Fury at those
around the world who cele-
brated the massacre of Jews
and gave cover to those who
perpetrated this crime. And
anger at the government for
14
FRONTLINES F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

THE
JERUSALEM POST
Founded in 1932 by GERSHON AGRON
‘We’re taking matters
AVI MAYER
Editor-in-Chief

ZVIKA KLEIN, Deputy Editor-In-Chief DAVID BRINN, Managing Editor

into our own hands’
Families of hostages held in Gaza embark on global campaigns
TAMAR URIEL-BEERI, Editor, Jpost.com SARAH BEN-NUN, Night Editor
TOVAH LAZAROFF and BENJAMIN GLATT, Deputy Managing Editors
HERB KEINON and SETH J. FRANTZMAN Senior Contributing Editors
ERICA SCHACHNE, Magazine Editor DAVID JABLINOWITZ, Op-Ed Editor
LIAT COLLINS, International Edition Editor
MARC ISRAEL SELLEM, Chief Photographer ELAINE MOSHE, Archivist HOSTAGE AFFAIRS
• By JOY BERNARD

Media redlines
E
arlier this week, Palestinian social media
accounts were filled with eulogies for the two
men who kidnapped Yaffa Adar on the day of

M
any questions arise from the HonestReport-
ing media watchdog report published earlier
this week that showed several major news
outlets, including the Associated Press (AP) and Reu-
ters, had Palestinian photojournalists on the ground
during the early hours of the October 7 Hamas inva-
sion and terrorist atrocity.
The introduction to the HonestReporting study
notes: “On October 7, Hamas terrorists were not the
only ones who documented the war crimes they
had committed during their deadly rampage across
southern Israel.”
The NGO noted some serious ethical concerns:
“What were they [the photojournalists] doing there
so early on what would ordinarily have been a quiet
Saturday morning? Was it coordinated with Hamas?
Did the respectable wire services, which published
their photos, approve of their presence inside enemy
territory, together with the terrorist infiltrators? Did
the photojournalists who freelance for other media,
like CNN and The New York Times, notify these out-
lets? Judging from the pictures of lynching, kidnap-
ping, and storming of an Israeli kibbutz, it seems like
the border has been breached not only physically, but
also journalistically.”
The National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the
Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement, saying
it viewed the matter “with utmost gravity,” adding:
“These journalists were accomplices in crimes against
humanity; their actions were contrary to professional
ethics.”
The Journalists Association in Jerusalem also issued
a statement, saying: “If indeed representatives of
news agencies and major networks knew in advance
about the planned massacre, this raises a prima facie
concern of complicity in a crime or failure to pre-
vent murder. The investigation raises serious ethical
questions, not only about the conduct of field per-
sonnel, but also about the management of networks
and news agencies, and the question is whether
they knew about Hamas’s intention, and yet lent it
a hand.”
Like other organizations, the Journalists Associa-
tion called for a thorough investigation – not only to
determine whether the photojournalists knew of the
massacre ahead of time, but whether they could have
acted differently and saved the lives of the more than
1,400 murdered in the mega-atrocity and prevented
the abduction of the more than 240 people of all ages
still being held hostage in Gaza.
Israeli journalist Amit Segal shared on X (formerly
Twitter) disturbing footage, showing freelance pho-
tojournalist Hassan Eslaiah, who has done work for
both AP and CNN, riding on a motorcycle equipped
with a grenade.
Government Press Office Director Nitzan Chen
demanded explanations from the bureau chiefs of AP,
Reuters, CNN, and The New York Times.
In a KAN Reshet Bet interview on Thursday, Chen
said regardless of whether the photojournalists had
arrived with the first wave of terrorists who broke
through the fence or with the second wave of those
who carried out the atrocities, they had clearly violat-
ed journalistic ethical codes and perhaps internation-
al law. The networks should not hide behind excuses
that these were freelance stringers, he said.
These so-called photojournalists made no effort to
stop or distance themselves from the barbaric events.
On the contrary: They were mobilized by the Hamas
terrorists to glorify their acts, help promote their ter-
rorism, and spread fear among their enemies – Israel
and the West. In this way, too, Hamas recalls ISIS,
which deliberately recorded its beheadings and other
barbaric murders.
Looking ahead, the HonestReporting report’s find-
ings have implications regarding future coverage by
these major networks and others as Operation Swords
of Iron progresses in Gaza. It calls into question, of
course, the objectivity of foreign media coverage of
the events in Gaza and elsewhere and how Israel is
portrayed.
Many Israeli journalists have faced a painful dilem-
ma during the endless waves of Palestinian terrorism
and during other humanitarian disasters: whether to
carry on recording the events or to put down their
cameras and help save lives.
In the case of the photojournalists who arrived
from Gaza specifically to record the acts of terrorism,
they have made a clear statement on which side
they stand. They used their cameras as weapons,
shooting footage to help promote terrorism against
an innocent population. They breached the border,
they breached journalistic ethics, and they crossed a
redline clear to all decent human beings.
INBAR ASHKENAZI, CEO Jerusalem Post Group
MAAYAN HOFFMAN, Deputy CEO - Strategy and Innovation
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Hamas’s brutal assault on Gaza border com-
munities last month. Adar, an 85-year-old resident
of Kibbutz Nir Oz, has become one of the best-re-
membered hostages due to a video of her abduction
that her captors filmed and published on social
media. Now Israeli media outlets, which reported
the deaths of the two men, were claiming that the
pair were not directly affiliated with the terrorist
organization ruling the Gaza Strip – a development
that could influence any deal to release the hostages.
This was the second time in one bleak and sleepless
month that the Adar family had received updates
about their beloved matriarch through social and
traditional media. The first report, the heart-cur-
dling affirmation that their grandmother was indeed
kidnapped and taken into Gaza, came in the form of
a blurry video showing the elderly Adar seated in a
golf cart, covered in a pink blanket and flanked by
Hamas terrorists on all sides.
A day after the attack, Adva Adar, one of Yaffa’s
grandchildren, published a snapshot of the video
showing her grandmother and followed by a written
plea for help: “This is my grandmother! Kidnapped
into the Gaza Strip with nothing standing in the way
[of the abductors]. Her name is Yaffa Adar, she is 85!!
My grandmother – who founded the kibbutz with
her very hands, who believed in Zionism, who loved
her country, which abandoned her – was kidnapped.
She is probably dumped somewhere, suffering from
severe pain, without medicine, without food or
water, scared to death, alone. No one is talking to us,
no one has any answers, all the information we have
was gleaned from videos that have been spread.”
The video left no room for doubt, and soon there-
after Adar and her family were officially notified by
the government that Yaffa Adar is held hostage in
Gaza.
In the time that lapsed between then and now,
four whole agonizing weeks passed by before they
were told that Adva’s cousin Tamir Adar had been
kidnapped, too. Leaving behind his wife and two
children, who hid in the safe room of their home,
the 38-year-old Adar, a member of the kibbutz’s
emergency standby squad, set off to protect his com-
munity from the terrorists who had infiltrated that
Saturday morning.
“At first we were told he was kidnapped. Then we
were told that he was actually unaccounted for, that
he is missing. Then we were updated again that there
is a high likelihood that he had been abducted. We
still have no idea what condition he is in; we don’t
know whether he’s alive, dead, wounded. Nothing.”
In the interim, Adar decided that she cannot sim-
ply sit and wait. When she is not tending to her one-
year-old baby daughter, she is constantly speaking to
local and foreign press as well as to foreign diplomats
and delegates in order to apply pressure on the inter-
national political landscape. Her hope is that these
endeavors will eventually lead to the release of all
240 hostages.
“Since the second week of the war, my family has
joined forces with the headquarters of the families
of the hostages. Through them we constantly give
interviews and hold meetings with envoys and rep-
resentatives of countries from all over the world,”
she tells The Jerusalem Post in a telephone conversa-
tion from her home in a moshav in the South.
“Two days after the attack I was approached by the
Israeli Foreign Ministry and asked to join a meeting
with the Czech foreign minister. Last week I trav-
eled to Paris as part of a delegation of families in
order to hold diplomatic meetings and speak to the
European press,” Adar shares. “We believe that the
international powers have sway over Hamas, as well
as over Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt, who are all assumed
to play a part in the negotiations. Their support also
means Israel gets diplomatic backing.
“But that’s not the only reason [it is important to
do this diplomatic work and speak out]. When peo-
ple hear names and numbers, it all seems very dis-
tant. But when they can connect the name to a face,
to a life story, to a family, it’s harder for them to look
away. I feel it each time I talk about my grandma.
When people suddenly understand that this video
they saw of an elderly woman on a golf cart in Gaza
is Yaffa, that she has children and grandchildren,
that there are things she loved to do in life – they
can’t remain indifferent.”
The beginning of the military ground incursion as
well as Israel’s intensifying retaliatory aerial assault
on Gaza, where her grandmother and cousin are
held captive, are all causes for concern. Nonetheless,
Adar says she “wants to believe that the military and
the political powers have the hostages at the top of
their priorities. I have to believe that because I need
a reason to wake up in the morning. I need to believe
that they will come back home. But I don’t have any
special intel. I can’t know for a fact that when Israel
is bombing Gaza it isn’t hurting my family. One can
only hope that they know what they’re doing and
are not jeopardizing my family.”
Her real concern, Adar admits, is the passage of
time. “A month in captivity is way more than a
woman my grandma’s age can or should bear. This
is a race against the clock. My grandma suffers from
all sorts of medical conditions: Heart failure, high
blood pressure, kidney problems, four prolapsed
discs – which means she can hardly sit, stand, or
walk. She’s not a healthy woman. Time is not on our
side.”
“It’s our mission to make the world care”
The 32-year-old Liri Roman, Yarden Roman-Gat’s
brother, shares Adar’s feeling that time is of the
essence. This sentiment has been captured by his
family in a campaign it has started in Europe and
AN HOURGLASS stationed in front of Germany’s Reichstag as part of a global campaign by the Roman
family meant to raise awareness of the situation of Israeli hostages in Gaza. (Roman family)
THE ROMAN siblings together (from left): Liri, Roni, Yarden, who is held in Gaza, and Gili. (Roman family)
in the US, where it is using the symbol of an hour-
glass to remind people overseas that each passing
minute could be crucial for Yarden and the rest of
the hostages.
Roman, an architect by training who works in
hi-tech and lives in Tel Aviv with his husband, has
been staying at his parents’ home in Givatayim
since the first few days after the family learned
that the eldest daughter, 36-year-old Yarden, was
kidnapped into Gaza. The family home has become
an operation center from which the Romans are
strategizing, reaching out to international figures,
interviewing with the press, and setting out on dip-
lomatic missions.
Roman, in the meantime, has been focusing most
of his efforts on caring for his sister’s three-year-old
daughter, Geffen, who survived an attempted kid-
napping with her father, Alon.
“My brother and sister have been traveling the
world, speaking to leaders and waging this cam-
paign. I decided with a heavy heart that I won’t join
them overseas for the time being, because Geffen
needs to be surrounded by the people she knows
and loves in order to maintain a sense of normalcy;
she’s already been so traumatized,” he explains, ADVA ADAR (right) embraces her grandmother, Yaffa
Adar, who is held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
adding that his little niece is fully aware of the hor-
(Adar family)
rific ordeal she and her parents had gone through.
“When she plays with her toys she reenacts the
scenes she has been through, and she keeps asking Roman, “out of the understanding that this is an
for mommy, whom she knows is ‘lost.’” event of a scope our country was simply unprepared
On October 7, Yarden, a physical therapist, was for. We constantly speak to officials who are well-
celebrating the holiday weekend in Be’eri with her versed in handling cases of hostages, and they all say
partner and daughter. The trio, who previously lived no one was prepared to deal with the sheer amount
on the kibbutz, had left it a month earlier due to of hostages currently held in Gaza. The rules of the
Yarden’s concerns that it wasn’t a safe place to raise game have changed; we live in a world where Hamas
a child. They had just returned from a family trip to uploads videos of abductions on TikTok.”
South Africa, a long-awaited vacation that came in Roman says his family will continue doing its best
the wake of the death of Yarden’s mother less than to spread Yarden’s story “because we know that pub-
a year ago. lic opinion influences the decisions of policy-mak-
Yarden, Alon and Geffen were all kidnapped by ers. When we just began our campaign vis-à-vis Ger-
terrorists and taken into a vehicle that sped toward many, we were making moves that the government
Gaza. At the last minute and under heavy fire, the wasn’t making yet. Germany is an important and
couple jumped out of the car in an attempt to escape influential country, and now it’s on our side. But
and started running for their lives. Yarden, who had where was the state in all of this? So we said: ‘Ok, we
been carrying her toddler in her arms, realized that won’t wait.’ We literally met with anyone important
Geffen would have a better chance of surviving if who was willing to listen, because we wanted them
Alon carried her. She handed her daughter to him to be better informed and much more empathic
and tried to hide. Alon kept running, with Geffen when they finally met with [Prime Minister Benja-
in his arms, until he was able to reach what he min] Netanyahu.”
thought was a safe hiding spot. After many hours of The Roman family is also acting to keep the hos-
hiding with his daughter in an open field, he came tages on the minds of Israelis, too.
back out, walked in the direction of the kibbutz and Asked what he would tell his sister if he could
was able to join an IDF force that was in the area. A talk to her, Roman says: “I would tell her that I’m
thorough search mission led by the family in col- doing my best to watch over her daughter. I would
laboration with the military in the following days tell her that her daughter is alive and well, because
made it evident that there was no trace of Yarden she [Yarden] doesn’t know that, and I imagine she
left behind. Since then, she has been assumed kid- must wonder all the time whether Geffen made it
napped by Hamas. out alive.
At first the family directed its diplomatic efforts “People here need to realize that it’s no one’s duty
mostly at Germany because Yarden holds German to care. It’s our mission to make the world care about
citizenship. In the past month it has expanded its the hostages,” Roman concludes.
campaign, gearing it at anyone who would listen. “I feel sorry and sad for the Palestinians of Gaza
The campaign includes a website, an Instagram because I know that Hamas doesn’t care about them.
account that has amassed a large following, hun- So when I approach my task of explaining to the
dreds of interviews given to the media by Yarden’s world what happened to my sister and to the other
three siblings, mass rallies in large cities such as New hostages, I keep in mind that this terror organization
York and Berlin, and meetings with diplomats from has changed the rules of the game, and they are
all over the world. treating both Israeli civilians and their own people
“We’re taking matters into our own hands,” says as pawns in that game.”
T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T  F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 2 3
FRONTLINES 15

Why are the Houthis attacking Israel?

The Yemeni Shi’ite Islamist group is Iran’s preferred instrument for strategic attacks
BEHIND THE LINES
• BY JONATHAN SPYER

I
srael last week made history
when its Arrow air defense
system intercepted a mis-
sile aimed at Israel – in space.
While this first Arab-Israeli battle
in space caught the imagination of
many news outlets, the identity of
the force responsible for launching
the missile was equally notable.
The Yemeni Houthis, known also
as the Ansar Allah movement since
2012, immediately claimed respon-
sibility for the launch. This was the
fourth attack by the organization
on Israel since October 7.
For many Israelis, the involve-
ment of this distant organization
in the current war effort against
Israel is one of the most mysteri-
ous, even outlandish, aspects of
the current moment. No one is
entirely surprised by the desire of
Lebanese Hezbollah to try to tie
down Israeli forces in the North as
part of an effort to relieve the pres-
sure on its Gaza ally.
But the Houthis? What can they
possibly be looking for? And no
less interestingly, how did a Yeme-
ni insurgent movement acquire
the capacity to launch a stream
of drones and missiles, including
long-range ballistic missiles, at
Israel?
Answering this question requires
understanding a little more about
the Ansar Allah/Houthis move-
ment itself, and also regarding its
relations with its patron, the Islam-
ic Republic of Iran.
The Houthis are a north Yemen
Arab tribe, originating in Saada
province in northwest Yemen.
Along with around 35% of the
Yemeni population, they are
adherents to a stream of Shi’ite
Islam known as Zaidiya, which dif-
fers significantly from the more
familiar Twelver stream followed
by Iranian and most Arab Shi’ite
Muslims.
The political movement bear-
ing their name was established by
tribal leader Hussein Badr al-Din
al-Houthi in the 1990s. Then in
2004, it turned to insurgent activi-
ties against the regime of president
Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Saleh, also a Zaidi Shi’ite Mus-
lim, was a military officer who
seized power in 1978 and presided
over the reunification of Yemen in
1990. His regime was backed by the
US and Saudi Arabia. The Houth-
is, meanwhile, were from the out-
set supported by Iran. In 2004,
Hussein al-Houthi was killed by
Saleh’s forces. The leadership of the
movement and its insurgency then
passed to Abd al-Malik al-Houthi,
Hussein’s brother, who continues
to lead it today.
THIS BACKGROUND is important
because it is noteworthy that Ansar
Allah resembles Hamas and differs
from the Lebanese or Iraqi Hezbol-
lah movements in that it is a client
of Tehran but not entirely a proxy
of it. Hezbollah in Lebanon, Kataib
Hezbollah in Iraq, and the other
militias that resemble them, such
as Badr in Iraq, are direct franchis-
es of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps (IRGC).
Tehran established them and
stewarded them in their formative
period. They are directly support-
ive of the Iranian form of govern-
ment and would have little basis
for their existence without Iranian
financial and other support.
Hamas, by contrast, is a move-
ment with genuine roots in the
local Palestinian Sunni context.
Ansar Allah/Houthis, similarly,
emerged from an authentic local
context and have ideological and
religious roots distinct from the
IRGC’s various franchise groups.
For this reason, it was for a time
common to hear analysis that
depicted emphasis on Ansar Allah’s
links to Tehran as overly formulaic.
Such criticism, however, tended A VIEW of missiles during a military parade held by the Houthis on September 21 to mark the anniversary of their takeover in Sanaa, Yemen.
(Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)
to overlook the fact that (again
similarly to Hamas), Ansar Allah’s
military capacities derive not from Allah, the Saudi-backed official IN RECENT years, Iran has begun tion on itself and is indifferent to pretense of a formal political pro-
its local status, but entirely from its government of Yemen, and the to use Ansar Allah as its preferred the lives of those who crew or live cess. And while a 2014 UN embargo
alliance with Tehran. UAE-supported separatists of the deniable client for strategic-level under its proxies. against weapons transfers to the
As a result of Iranian arms and Southern Transitional Council. strikes on its regional enemies. But the Houthi-controlled part of Houthis has been in place since
training, Ansar Allah was able to Iran officially denies arming the Until the current war, the most Yemen has additional advantages. 2014, it remains poorly enforced.
leverage the period of internal Houthis, but such denials are no famous instance of this was the Iran controls or maintains a mili- For these reasons, the Houthis
unrest in Yemen in 2011, first par- longer taken seriously. The weight September 14, 2019, attack on the tary capacity in several Arab states have become Tehran’s preferred
ticipating in the unrest and demon- of evidence is formidable, show- Saudi oil processing facilities at – it is dominant in Iraq and Leba- tool for the carrying out of strate-
strations that brought down the ing that Tehran has been in recent Abqaiq and Khureis. non and has freedom of action in gic attacks by proxy. The use by the
Saleh regime, then from 2014 join- years supplying by sea routes the In this sophisticated, two-wave parts of Syria. But in all three of Houthis/Ansar Allah of ballistic
ing forces with the deposed Saleh, small arms, missiles, and rockets attack, a swarm of drones and these areas, the Iranian proxy must missiles against Israel brings this
and seizing control of the capital that have enabled the organization cruise missiles overcame Saudi take into account complex local process to its highest point yet.
city, Sanaa, and much of north and to transform itself from a rag-tag air defenses and caused seri- political realities and the interests The remaining question is wheth-
west Yemen. militia into a force that can strike ous damage to the two facilities. of other players – the Russians er, and for how long, Israel and
The Houthis turned on Saleh in at Israel and Saudi Arabia. Ansar Allah claimed responsibil- and the Assad regime in Syria, the the West will continue to indulge
2017 and executed him. The Saudi Tim Lenderking, UN Special ity. The sophistication and range non-Iran aligned Shi’ites, and non- the obvious fiction of the Houth-
intervention of 2015 failed to Envoy on Yemen, told Reuters of the attacks led to this claim Shi’ite populations with their own is’ independent advanced missile
reconquer areas lost to Ansar Allah in May 2023, “The Iranians have being immediately dismissed by political connections and interests capacity. On the one hand, this
but prevented the disaster of an continued to smuggle weaponry US, Saudi, and Western officials, in both Lebanon and Iraq. is a clear absurdity. On the other
Iran-backed militia seizing control and narcotics toward this conflict, who concluded that Iran itself was In Yemen, this is not the case. hand, pointing that out would
of the Bab al-Mandeb, a strategic and we are very concerned that behind the strike. There, the country is divided, and mean acknowledging that Iran has
choke point between the Gulf of this would continue, despite the Ansar Allah is of particular use to in the Houthi-controlled areas, the launched drone and missile attacks
Aden and the Red Sea. benefits that would come from a Iran for attacks of this kind for sev- movement maintains a monop- on Israel – i.e., carried out clear acts
Yemen remains divided between Saudi-Iran deal. So I think that is a eral reasons. Firstly, and obviously, oly of power by openly coercive of war – on four occasions since
the Iranian-backed Houthis/Ansar space we have to watch.” Iran doesn’t want to invite retalia- means, with only the most flimsy October 7.

Who are we fighting?

A
s the Black Sabbath war
enters its second month,
a strange question aris-
es: Who is the enemy – A city?
An organization? A country? A
nation? An idea?
It used to be a simple question.
The enemy was the Arab world,
and its enmity’s fuel was nation-
alism. The enemy was the Arab
world because every Arab govern-
ment denied Israel’s right to exist
and actively fought it, if not mil-
itarily, then diplomatically and
economically.
That’s not what we face today.
With more than 150 million Arabs
formally at peace with Israel, this
war is not with the Arab world.
If anything, many Arab govern-
ments detest Hamas and would
welcome its decimation. In fact,
Israel’s current fighting is not with
any state but with three seditious
organizations.
In Gaza, Hamas won a legislative
election, but it never won a general
election. Instead, its goons violent-
ly removed the Palestinian Author-
ity’s representatives in 2006 and
have since ruled Gaza’s streets.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah was
never elected to lead the country.
Even so, it has effectively hijacked
the Lebanese government, ignored
Lebanon’s army, and paralyzed
its parliament. Lastly, in Yemen,
the Houthis, who have just fired
missiles at us from across the Red
Sea, are also rebels, insurgents who
launched a gruesome civil war in
2004 and seized the capital, Sanaa,
in 2014.
The common denominator
among these three insurgencies,
besides their hostility toward Israel,
is that they are driven by religion,
and more specifically by Islamist
jihadism. Is this, then, the enemy?
MIDDLE ISRAEL
• By AMOTZ ASA-EL
THE ARAB challenge to Israel was Kristallnacht’s sequel.
originally secular. Gamal Abdel Jihadism, then, is the moral
Nasser, Hafez Assad, and Saddam engine that drives the people
Hussein were all secular. Yes, they fighting us these days from their
deployed religious rhetoric, espe- foxholes in Gaza, Lebanon, and
cially against Israel, but domesti- Yemen. Even so, the ultimate
cally they fought Islamism, often enemy we face nests not in Gaza,
violently. Beirut, or Sanaa but in Tehran.
Technically, Israel faces Hamas,
Hezbollah, and the Houthis,
but strategically it all leads
to one address – Tehran
If anything, what we now face is THE ENEMY’S transformation took
this record’s inversion: religious a while to notice, not only because
fanatics citing nationalist con- its cause shifted from nationalism
cepts in which they don’t believe. to religion but also because its eth-
Most laughable in this regard is nicity shifted, from Arab to Persian.
their usage of terms like “resis- The new enemy’s transfigura-
tance,” “occupation,” or “decol- tion became even trickier to notice
onization,” all of which connote because it was careful to deploy
one land’s fight for freedom. In non-Iranians wherever it kindled
fact, they are part of an effort to its revolution’s fires. In some cases,
impose their faith on the whole Tehran deployed Arab Shi’ites.
world and eradicate the freedom That’s what happened in Iraq and
they claim to hail. Lebanon.
The jihadist scourge is not In others, they harnessed Arabs
local. It’s global. It has stuck with looser affiliations to Shi’ism.
everywhere, from London, Paris, That’s what happened with Syr-
and New York to Bali, Mumbai, ia’s Alawites and Yemen’s Houthis.
and Sharm el-Sheikh. So yes, And in some cases, they inspired
morally speaking, the enemy Arab Sunnis. That’s what happened
we face is jihadism, for which in Gaza.
Israeli Jewry is a version of the Strategically, all this is academ-
warm-up act that German Jewry ic. What matters is that all the
was for Nazism while it prepared violence we now face has a clear
for World War II. If it’s up to source, not only ideologically and
the jihadists, the Black Sabbath spiritually but also financially and
massacre will be recalled as militarily.
IRANIAN DEMONSTRATORS burn US and Israeli flags during a protest in Tehran on October 18.
(Majid Asgaripour/WANA/via Reuters)
The extent to which Iran has
been directly involved in the Black
Sabbath massacre has yet to be
established. Intuitively, millions of
Israelis, as well as many elsewhere,
especially in foreign intelligence
services, assume Iran was involved,
at least in conceiving and planning
the slaughter, and in training and
equipping its perpetrators.
But even in the unlikely event
that Iran played no role at all in
this atrocity, it had enough of a
role elsewhere. Hezbollah’s artil-
lery barrages are clearly ordered
from Iran, and clearly an act of
war, as are the Yemeni shots. The
casus belli that sparked the 1967
Six Day War – Egypt’s blockading
of the Red Sea – was less flagrant
than firing rockets into Israelis’ liv-
ing rooms. This is besides Tehran’s
enthusiastic applause of the Black
Sabbath massacre.
It follows that whatever the
aftermath of the fighting in Gaza,
Iran emerges from this cataclysm
as an active aggressor toward the
Jewish state, and also of the Jewish
people, as Tehran openly and con-
sistently denies the Jews’ right to
their ancestral land, in addition to
having assaulted Jewish commu-
nities abroad.
What this implies in terms of
action is a separate discussion, one
which had best be conducted in
arenas less public than a news-
paper. Two principles, however,
should be said publicly. The first
is that, unlike Arab nationalism,
Iranian fundamentalism threatens
not only Israel, and not only the
Middle East, but the entire world.
The second is that the enemy,
as argued here in the past (“Don’t
bomb Tehran,” November 4,
2011), is not the Iranian people.
The enemy is the Iranian regime;
the ayatollahs and mullahs who
have let our blood.
The Iranian nation, by con-
trast, was Israel’s friend for three
decades. We Jews don’t forget
such things, just like we don’t
forget Cyrus, the Persian king
who restored the Land of Israel
to the Jews; just like we don’t for-
get Haman, the Persian minister
who sought “to destroy, kill, and
annihilate all the Jews, young and
old, women and children”; just
like we don’t forget how that man
of hatred ended up hanged on the
very gallows he had built for the
first man in any literature to be
called “the Jew.”
www.MiddleIsrael.net
The writer, a Hartman Institute fel-
low, is the author of the bestselling
Mitzad Ha’ivelet Ha’yehudi (The
Jewish March of Folly, Yediot Sefar-
im, 2019), a revisionist history of the
Jewish people’s political leadership.
16
FRONTLINES F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

A WAR JOURNAL:

Uncertainty and death in Kissufim

keeping watch for further terrorist
MILITARY AFFAIRS infiltrators. Rumor was that higher-
• By MICHAEL STARR ranking officers were going in and out
of briefings to decide deployments, as
their own superiors were in deliberation

T
he sickly sweet odor of death hung
heavy in Kissufim as my battal-
ion entered the kibbutz. We were
greeted by the bloated body of a
Hamas terrorist, dressed in a black com-
bat vest and dark clothing. Milky white
eyes popped from his engorged face like
a fish on display at the shuk. Nearby lay a
tattered IDF uniform, a sticky stain, and a
tourniquet.
Our infantry unit was the first full bri-
gade of reservists called up in response to
Hamas’s October 7 massacre of Israelis.
My phone had rung just after the first
rocket warning sirens echoed throughout
Jerusalem. It was Shabbat and the holi-
day of Simchat Torah, but the sickening
feeling that something was terribly wrong
twisted my stomach. I broke the Sabbath
and answered the sergeant of my reserve
platoon.
“Starr, pack a bag and come to the meet-
ing site,” he said.
I stepped out of my apartment into a
changed country. Jerusalem on Shabbat
is usually calm, but on this day it crackled
with tension. Some families on their way
back from synagogue stared curiously at
me as I marched in uniform down the city
street to meet with other members of my
company. Other reservists trickled out of
their apartments, exchanging solemn nods.
“Do you need a lift anywhere?” one offi-
cer asked me.
I hopped into the car with my reservist
friends, and we asked the same question
to soldiers waiting on the side of the road
at the exit from the capital. The exchange
of glances, the queries about hitchhiking,
all spoke to a shared feeling: This was an
emergency unlike any we had faced, and
we needed to act. We had no idea what we
would face, but until we did we needed to
help each other to prepare. There wasn’t
time to question the situation. I couldn’t
help but be reminded of the accounts of
the early hours of the Yom Kippur War
when soldiers and reservists dropped
everything at a moment’s notice and cob-
bled together informal public transporta-
tion and rides to the front lines.
We arrived at the meeting site for our
brigade, a base full of warehouses of equip-
ment. We pulled in to see a sea of cars
parked in a typically chaotic fashion. Even
the massive parking lots of American
mega-malls were rivaled by the assembly
of vehicles. From the rows upon rows of
cars, the trickle of reservists had become a
mighty current. We joined them and filed
into the warehouses, which were marked
for each battalion, each company. We
IDF RESERVISTS unpack their belongings after being called up to duty after the October 7 massacre. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)
lined up, registered in, and signed out kit
bags of equipment which were marked by
specialization.
What the mission was, we had no idea.
No officer within sight had a clue either.
The general sense, as more information
and rumors about the attacks on the Gaza
border towns proliferated, was that we
could be sent from the warehouses straight
into combat. We could soon be in the
besieged Israeli towns, which had yet to be
fully secured, or we could be sent straight
into the Gaza Strip itself.
We quickly unloaded the bags, prepared
our gear, and tried to filter out what we
would and wouldn’t need. When the
armaments and ammunition arrived,
we unloaded the cabinets and crates and
assigned them. As we slid cartridges into
magazines, we shared details of Hamas
atrocities that had been reported in the
news or videos we had seen on social
media. Our vests were soon loaded with
full magazines, and our hearts laden with
grief and fury.
The frantic pace of preparations came
to a pregnant halt. We waited for the next
step as darkness fell, falling asleep in our
boots and gear. Our expectation was to be
awoken and sent into the fray.
WE AWOKE to exercises, inducting mem-
bers new to our units into the order of
movement for each platoon and squad.
Then the word came, as sudden as the
first phone call, that we were heading out.
We loaded onto the bus, each of us like so
many bullets in a magazine, expecting to
be chambered and released at any second.
We arrived at another base in the South,
where were quickly zeroed our sights and
scopes. Night fell again. Instead of stars
we saw only flares released by aircraft and
the interception of rockets launched from
Gaza. Another night in boots, another
night of waiting. If we had known what
we were doing, what came next, perhaps
it would have been more bearable, but the
unknown was more daunting than any
enemy. No one wanted to go into combat,
no one wanted to go into Gaza – but if we
had to, we would. If the army had to go
in, perhaps it would be best that it was us,
many of us said.
The next day, more exercises, more wait-
ing, more expectations that any second
we could be loaded onto another bus with
yet another unset destination. Finally, the
buses came, and by nightfall we were in
a field near the Gaza border. The sense
was that we were supposed to be headed
to an attacked town, but we had stopped
in the field while orders were being reca-
librated. Rocket launches from the Strip
were a shockingly loud rumble, like an
avalanche rising into the air. Red alerts
sent us leaping to the ground since we were
right under the interception zones, where
shrapnel could fall. At one point, my rifle,
a marksman-type Micro-Tavor, fell over
and the Picatinny mount bridge broke.
It was a light fall, and I had never seen a
rifle break in such a way in over a decade.
Nothing felt safe, nothing felt in control,
and the impossible break seemed to make
perfect sense.
“Great, now I’m going into Gaza with
a broken gun,” I grumbled to any officer
who would listen.
We waited forever for our orders,
patrolling the perimeter of the field,
on final strategies. Then, finally, we were
transported to Kibbutz Urim, where we
slept in our vests and bags under the
awning of the kibbutz dining hall.
IN THE morning, we were sent to Kissufim,
one of the towns that had been attacked.
We filed into the dining hall, which
became our temporary headquarters.
Another terrorist’s corpse lay on the lawn
less than 50 meters away. They couldn’t yet
be moved until the site had been secured
and sappers could be brought in – some
of the bodies had been booby-trapped.
The terrorist, and his companion who also
lay dead in the bushes, had attacked in
an ambush a day or so prior. They leaped
from the bushes where they had been
hiding, wounding IDF commandos. The
kibbutz had been searched multiple times,
but they had remained hidden, and the
suspicion was that there were more Hamas
operatives waiting to strike, surviving on
dates and cherry tomatoes, just like the
now rotting terrorists.
We set out into the kibbutz, weapons
raised, every corner a potential ambush.
The town was a scene straight out of a zom-
bie horror film: a town that should have
been bustling and full of life but was all but
devoid of it. We weaved through burned
husks that were once homes. Cars and
windows were riddled with bullet holes.
Between frequent patrols, we managed to
sleep for only a few minutes at a time,
fading in and out of consciousness before
heading back out into another area of the
abandoned town.
A team from Bezeq came in the night to
repair a communications array. The terror-
ists had struck systematically, cutting off
connection to the outside, and shooting
electrical transformers and water mains.
They reportedly knew where the head of
the civilian security team had lived, but he
had managed to fight them off.
Another escort mission allowed sappers
to mark down unexploded ordnance and
bodies at the entrance near the cowshed.
Once they saw humans, the cows moaned
and screeched, begging to be milked,
pleading to be fed. They licked desperately
at their metal fence. A few dead cows lay
in fetid water that sloshed at the knees of
the living cattle. In the course of combat,
a water main must have been destroyed.
After the initial attack, a rancher had
snuck back into the kibbutz in a bid to take
care of the cows but had been murdered by
a terrorist squad that had lain in ambush.
See UNCERTAINTY, Page 23

The young, unsung heroes of October 7

IDF Medical Corps soldiers tended heroically to the wounded in the South

T
hinking about grades, sports,
girl/boyfriends, and maybe
a trip abroad before enlist-
ment, they graduated from high
school only a few years ago.
Today, these highly motivated
men and women – graduates of
the Israel Defense Forces’ Bahad
10 Training Base (Medical Corps
School) – think obsessively about
saving the lives of fellow soldiers
and civilians by stopping bleeding,
relieving pain, and treating the
physical trauma of the wounded.
They wouldn’t admit it, but they
are heroes.
Early on the accursed Shabbat of
October 7, teams were awakened by
messages from medical officers of
“something big, something unusu-
al” that required them to rush to
a base in the South and treat large
numbers of wounded soldiers and
civilians. Taking with them their
medical equipment that is always
ready for use, they raced to their
mission and were shocked by the
unprecedented number of people
who needed their urgent care.
Located in Tzrifin until Septem-
ber 2015, Bahad 10 was then trans-
ferred to “Bahad City” in the Negev
for training for all medical posi-
tions needed in the IDF. Its cur-
rent commander is Lt.-Col. Miki
Almakias.
Every year, thousands of soldiers
interested in becoming paramed-
ics, combat and general emergen-
cy medical technicians (EMTs),
registered nurses, mental-health
officers, ambulance drivers, dental
assistants, and more, take courses
for up to 14 months at Bahad 10.
The proportion of male and female
trainees is about equal. Some go
on afterward to study for a degree
in medical school, while others
continue in the IDF as reservists.
The courses are taught by senior
expert doctors, paramedics, and
EMTs, most of whom are Bahad 10
graduates.
It isn’t a medical school teach-
ing students to become MDs – the
MEDICAL AFFAIRS
• By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Israeli universities do that. The Post’s four interviews with Bahad
Hebrew University-Hadassah Med- 10 soldiers, he recalled: “I woke up
ical Faculty has a special program at home. Sirens were screaming. I
for preparing medical students to called officers who work for me and
serve in the military; Magen David tried to calm them down.”
Adom (MDA) and United Hatzalah His team arrived at the base in the
(UH) train people to be paramedics South at around 9.30 a.m., about
and EMTs. But Bahad 10 is the only three hours after the Hamas ter-
Israeli facility that trains people for rorist infiltration. Seventeen teams
military service in these specialties. of five got to work treating some
Thirteen years ago, Bahad 10 90 wounded soldiers and civilians,
was accredited by the prestigious women, children, the disabled,
American Association of Surgeons and the elderly. “We witnessed
and is the only body of its kind in very difficult things. Our people
Israel that holds such an American were under fire. But we did what
license. The facility has a simu- we were trained to do – applying
lation center – one of the largest tourniquets, administering pain
in Israel that enables trainees to medication, and tying bandages.
practice procedures on real-look- The bread-and-butter of paramed-
ing dummies whose “bodies” react ics and EMTs is to stop bleeding,
like those of humans. and we spend months in Bahad 10
learning the various techniques.”
BAHAD 10 Company Commander What they saw was acutely trau-
Capt. Barak Mahdoon, a 25-year- matic, but Bahad 10 graduates
old raised in Rehovot who lives are taught to work professionally
in Ashkelon, is in charge of 100 without allowing emotions to take
people. In one of The Jerusalem over at catastrophic events. All the
MANEUVERS AT the Bahad 10 Training Base. (IDF)
teams are brought quickly to talk
in small groups with commanders
and mental-health officers to relate
what they saw, describe their feel-
ings, and prevent the development
of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mahdoon said that “the women in
the teams were as strong emotion-
ally as the men. No one suffered
acute trauma, and all were ready
to return to their work. Our teams
trust their commanders. We had
many heart-to-heart discussions.
We know what our enemy is like
– lacking human values. They are
our opposites. Our people are eth-
ical, humane, strong, and united.”
SGT. EVIATAR KIRSHENBOIM, a
21-year-old Bahad 10 paramedic
from Rishon Lezion who graduated
from his course two years ago, told
the Post that he will soon begin
teaching around 50 others.
“Like hi-tech professionals, we
always try to learn new things and
update ourselves. After going out
on missions to treat the wounded
and sick, we always meet, exam-
ine statistics, and try to reach
conclusions – and suggest how to
do things even better.” He was at
FROM LEFT, Eviatar Kirshenboim, Barak Mahdoon, Ariel Yalonensky, and
Ziv Meir. (IDF)
his Negev base on the day of the
Hamas incursion (launched at 6.30
a.m.).
“I got a call at 7.30 a.m. from a
good friend who was also on week-
end duty. He said that, apparently,
we have to prepare because we are
being brought in on an emergency.
We got into our military ambu-
lances and were the first military
medical force to arrive at the base
in the South where the wound-
ed were brought. We had all our
equipment – which is always ready,
even for the most extreme events,
but since so many needed treat-
ment, we had to call for replenish-
ment, and everything was brought
to us.”
According to instructions they
received, almost all the wounded
they treated were transported to
Soroka-University Medical Center
in Beersheba because it’s a tertiary
medicine center, with some of the
less-seriously hurt going to Barzilai
Medical Center in Ashkelon.
Kirshenboim said he is used to
being at home one weekend, and
then at Bahad 10 the following
week. His father – who works in
marketing at a hi-tech company
– and his mother – who teaches
sports to special-needs children –
worry about him, of course, but “I
tell them that I am protected with
people who back me up, so they
shouldn’t be concerned.”
After the teams had finished
treating the wounded for several
days, they returned to Bahad 10 for
debriefing and emotional support.
“We got all the help we needed in
our talks. We knew that our pro-
fessions involve dealing with the
seriously wounded. We have a holy
mission; and we felt strong. We are
now united as a people.”
SGT. ARIEL YALONENSKY, a
20-year-old Haifa resident and
EMT, has a physician role-model
in his family. His father, Sergei, is a
cardiologist; his mother an English
teacher who made aliya (immigrat-
ed) from Russia. Yalonensky was
born in Israel and has a 14-year-old
brother.
“We were raised with the idea
that we would be physicians. I
See HEROES, Page 23
T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T  F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 2 3 FRONTLINES 17

Coming to America
Israelis who left Israel find themselves embraced
by day schools in the American Jewish community
DIASPORA AFFAIRS
• By AMY KLEIN

O
n October 7, Danielle
Zuckerman woke up in a
panic to sirens and yelled
to her husband, “We
need to go!” but he was calm, tell-
ing her, “Everything’s fine, we have
to see where it’s coming from.” The
38-year-old Danielle grabbed their
14-month-old daughter and head-
ed for the stairwell, since the old
Tel Aviv apartment building has no
working bomb shelter.
“From that point on, everything
changed,” she recalled. They went
to her parents’ house in Herzliya,
where her sister’s family was also
staying. Even though it has a shel-
ter, and is in the center of the coun-
try, she still felt a mounting panic.
“It was terrifying: we didn’t know
what was happening, so at any
given moment we thought there
would be terrorists jumping over
the fence and shooting [through]
the window and killing everyone.
There were messages circulating
that they’re going to attack our
electricity and our water and all
the major things we need, like the
Internet, and we won’t know what’s
going on – everything’s going to
be down.” Like most Israelis, her
social media feed was filled with
obituaries or people kidnapped.
Four days after the attack, Zuck-
erman got her family group of 10
to go to Athens. But soon her hus-
band wanted to return to Israel,
so for the sake of marital harmo-
ny she went back with him. That
night, though, she found herself
in the stairwell with the baby three
or four times because of rocket
attacks.
At any other time, Zuckerman
says, she might have been okay,
going to a shelter, dealing with the
sirens, but this was her first time in
wartime with a baby.
“It was really, really, terrifying,”
she said. “I couldn’t do it with my
daughter.”
Zuckerman returned to Athens
and ultimately went to Florida
with her daughter, her parents, her
sister and her kids, while their hus-
band stayed in Israel.
“We’ve been here in Miami/
Aventura for three weeks,” said
Zuckerman, whose daughter is at
a Jewish early childhood center,
sponsored by a local donor. (Her
sister’s kids are also in a Jewish
day school there). “We feel very
safe here, and we’ve been very wel-
comed by the Jewish and Israeli
community.”
Zuckerman is one of thousands
of Israeli parents who left the coun-
try because of the war. Many left in
order to protect their children, to
get help with the kids while their
husbands are serving reserve duty,
and to provide children with some
sense of normalcy. Since Israeli
schools and daycares are on hia-
tus or only open intermittently,
the first stop for Israelis coming to
America is Jewish day schools.
“After Hamas attacked Israel on
October 7, 2023, many Jewish day
schools and yeshivas began shar-
ing that they were receiving inqui-
ries from families that included
Israelis who were already located
in or had traveled to North Amer- A FIRST GRADE class at Hillel Day School posts a sign on their door to
welcome a new student from Israel to their classroom, at the Hillel Day
ica who wanted their children
School of Metropolitan Detroit. (Arielle Endelman)
in a Jewish setting at this time,”
according to “Enrollment Trend
Report: Israeli Transfers to Jewish
Day Schools and Yeshivas during
the War in Israel,” published by
Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day
Schools. In October there were
almost 1,000 inquiries requesting
enrollment for Israeli students at
114 Jewish schools in North Amer-
ERELA NORNBERG, founder of the Israeli Hug program at Rodeph Sholom
ica that participated in the survey,
in New York. (Amy Klein)
with 80% of the schools reporting
they are already enrolling students.
“It’s mostly new Israeli families communities like Las Vegas. Since students in our class?’” she said,
who are coming to North America Israel joined the Visa Waiver Pro- noting that the community has
and Canada – they’re thinking it’s gram on November 1, Israelis no been more than generous to help
temporary, but they’re not sure for longer need a visa to get to the US. situate families, donating school
how long they’re going to stay,” “Many of these families are seek- supplies, art supplies, clothes, and
said Sarah Eisenman, chief com- ing safe and supportive places for car seats, sponsoring lunches for
munity and Jewish life officer at their kids where they wouldn’t see new students. One family that
the Jewish Federations of North antisemitism,” Eisenman said. owns a car dealership even offered ACTIVITIES IN the Los Angeles ‘war room’ for displaced Israelis. (Liat Franco)
America. “Our students are beyond excit- cars, she said. “Our students have
She said Israeli families coming ed to welcome the new students been so warm and welcoming to in New York City with 137 students ing and disorienting. I think all
here are comprised of working to the classroom,” said Arielle make these students feel like this is that has taken in 13 Israeli students parents, no matter what’s going
professionals, mothers whose hus- Endelman, director of enrollment their school and home.” to date. “It was pretty obvious to on in your life, if you know kids
bands were called up for reserve management, Hillel Day School of Even though it may be difficult us that this is what we had to do. are being taken care of, your whole
duty, with kids “in and out of Zoom Metropolitan Detroit, a day school for schools to absorb new students Everyone was on the same page: level of anxiety is substantially
school.” Israelis are going to places with 585 students that has accept- on the spur of the moment – espe- ‘Yes, let’s do it, let’s figure it out.’” reduced. Part of our role, of the
where they know people, to com- ed some 20 Israeli students in the cially during fall enrollment sea- While Israelis who can come to Jewish people, is to help these par-
munities that have “significant last month and is expecting five son for next year – it is something America now may be privileged ents have slightly less anxiety,” she
Israeli populations,” she said, like more. “The classes that don’t have that must be done, said Stephanie – with citizenship, or family in said. “There’s never been a time in
New York, Boston, Miami, Boca, new students are complaining, Ives, head of school at Beit Rabban, America, or financial means to stay
Toronto and LA, as well as growing ‘Why don’t we get to have new a nondenominational day school here, Ives said, “it’s so destabiliz- See AMERICA, Page 23

Putting the October 7 culprits on trial

f you are failing to plan,

‘I you are planning to fail.”

(Henry Thoreau)
LEGAL AFFAIRS
• By STEVE ADLER

Like the special public trial

of Hitler accomplice Adolf
Eichmann in Jerusalem in
1961 and 1962, Israel is fac-
ing an unprecedented sce-
nario for the perpetrators of
the October 7 massacre in the
South.
Recent media reports indi-
cate that the attorney-general
and the Justice Ministry are
considering a law to estab-
lish an ad hoc court to try
the Hamas prisoners who on
October 7 committed mon-
strous acts of sadistic murder,
torture, sexual violence, rape,
kidnapping, and other hor-
rors that go beyond what we
typically associate with ter-
rorism or war crimes.
Since the crimes were com-
mitted within Israeli bound-
aries, Israel should prosecute
the perpetrators, but many
legal experts believe that the
existing legal frameworks for
court proceedings against
these criminals are unsuit-
able. Therefore, it is necessary
to establish a special court
that will emphasize the sever-
ity of the crimes and serve as
an educational tool for both
Israelis and people around
the world.
Israel has existing laws to
try terrorists for crimes com-
mitted within its official
borders and in Judea and
Samaria. Trials take place in
both the general court sys-
tem and military courts.
Terrorists can be prosecuted
under existing laws, such as
the Penal Law, the Military
Justice Law, the Counterter-
rorism Law, and laws relat-
ing to arrests and imprison-
ment of illegal combatants.
These laws define terrorism,
set penalties, and establish a
framework used today for tri-
als of terrorists.
Israel’s criminal court sys-
tem and military justice sys-
tem include all the necessary
institutions for prosecuting
prisoners of war. These courts
have extensive experience,
professional judges, prosecu-
tors, defense attorneys, and
the required administrative
infrastructure.
However, prosecuting
Hamas prisoners within the
general or military court sys-
tem appears to be unsuitable.
A unique crime demands a
special trial to ensure that
justice is served and for edu-
cational purposes.
A special law and court
would underscore the
uniqueness of the crimes
committed on October 7.
This trial is not just a typi-
cal murder case. Israeli courts
deal with many cases involv-
ing rape and sadistic murder.
This trial involves unimag-
inable horrific actions,
including murdering groups
of bound children, burning
babies in ovens, shooting or
kidnapping children who
watched their parents being
tortured and murdered, rape,
sadistic acts of murder, and
kidnapping. These actions
go beyond the scope of war
crimes and are a stain on
humanity.
In addition, the Hamas
prisoners are not soldiers of a
recognized army or country;
they are zealots whose
ultimate goal is to destroy
Israel. The motivation
behind these acts is not
purely criminal but driven by
religious fanaticism. There is
adequate evidence that the
October 7 attack was part
of a plan involving Iran,
Hezbollah and Hamas to
destroy Israel.
A special court hearing
would also provide survivors
of the massacre an opportu-
nity to appear and be heard in
public. We recall the opening
speech of chief prosecutor
Gideon Hausner at the Eich-
mann trial, held in 1961 and
1962: “Where I stand before
you, judges of Israel, to pros-
ecute Adolf Eichmann, I do
not stand alone. With me, at
this hour, stand six million
prosecutors.”
Telford Taylor, who was the
prosecutor at the Nazi doc-
tors trial, said in his opening
remarks on December 9, 1946:
“The defendants in this case
are charged with murders,
tortures, and other atrocities
committed in the name of
medical science.... To their
murderers, these wretched
people were not individuals
at all.... The victims of these
crimes are numbered among
the anonymous millions who
met death at the hands of
the Nazis and whose fate is
a hideous blot on the page
of modern history. [Prosecu-
tion of these defendants] is
owed... to the victims and to
the parents and children of
the victims....”
There are parallel historic
trials that addressed crimes
committed against the Jew-
ish people. In 1950 Israel
enacted the Nazi and Nazi
Collaborators (Punishment)
Law, which provided a legal
framework for prosecuting
crimes against Jews by Nazi
Germany. The planning paid
off, and Eichmann was tried
ADOLF EICHMANN during his trial in Jerusalem. (Reuters)
in 1960 according to this law.
German courts prosecut-
ed 22 Nazi war criminals in
what is called the “Frank-
furt Auschwitz trials,” held
between December 1963 and
August 1965. In this highly
publicized trial, most of the
Nazi war criminals, many of
whom held senior postwar
government and business
positions, were convicted of
war crimes. This trial exposed
the German public to the
horrors of the Holocaust.
World War II was the first
major conflict where victors
conducted trials and pun-
ished war criminals who
had committed horrific war
crimes which were outside
the scope of regular warfare.
Thus the Nuremberg trials of
Nazi war criminals and the
Tokyo war crimes trial of Jap-
anese war criminals.
Another relevant trial,
although not concerning
the Jews or Israel, was the
2003-2006 trial of Saddam
Hussein, the deposed dic-
tator and president of Iraq,
by the Iraqi Interim Gov-
ernment, for crimes against
humanity while in office dat-
ing back to the 1980s. The
Iraqi provisional government
established The Iraqi Special
Tribunal, consisting of Iraqi
judges. Saddam and other
defendants were tried; he was
convicted and sentenced to
death, his appeal was denied,
and he was hanged December
30, 2006. American White
House spokesman Tony Snow
expressed approval of the pro-
cedure and praised the Iraqi
people for replacing “the rule
of a tyrant with the rule of
law... today, the victims of
this regime have received a
measure of the justice which
many thought would never
come.”
Another reason for a specif-
ic law is that it could include
provisions for the death pen-
alty, even though it is not
allowed under existing Israeli
court precedents. It could also
include provisions allowing
those injured by the Hamas
massacre and their survivors
to sue countries sheltering
Hamas leaders and/or that
are patrons and financiers of
the Hamas terrorist organi-
zation.
We must, however, be aware
of the challenges associated
with establishing a special
A SCREEN CAPTURE from video released last month showing a
Hamas terrorist who was captured on October 7. (IDF)
court to try the Hamas crim-
inals.
A special trial would require
the most talented and experi-
enced state attorneys to han-
dle the prosecution. The only
comparable instance was the
Eichmann trial, where the
prosecutors were among the
most talented Israeli jurists.
An additional difficulty
is who to try in the special
court. Past experience indi-
cates it should be the Hamas
leaders and those terrorists
against whom there is clear
evidence that the specific
prisoner committed a partic-
ular heinous act. Some have
already confessed to mur-
dering Israelis, and there are
recorded phone calls made
by specific terrorists bragging
about murdering or raping
Israelis. These are the terror-
ists who can clearly be tried
by a special court.
Another situation involves
Hamas terrorists who partici-
pated in the October 7 attack
and massacre, but for whom
there is no specific evidence
of their actions. Is participa-
tion enough to warrant pros-
ecution under a special law?
There are also Hamas sol-
diers involved in combat
against Israel from October 8
onward, and who were cap-
tured. They are Hamas terror-
ists, fighting to destroy Israel,
and this could be considered
a war crime.
FINDING AN Israeli defense
attorney willing to represent
the Hamas criminals may be
challenging. While pro-Pal-
estinian NGOs represent or
provide representation for
terrorists, they may be reluc-
tant to defend those who
committed the October 7
heinous crimes. If an Israeli
defense attorney cannot be
found, perhaps an attorney
from abroad can be allowed
to appear in the special Israeli
court.
Some might argue that
establishing a special court
diminishes the uniqueness
of the Eichmann trial. No
trial can truly compare to the
Eichmann trial, which pre-
sented the Holocaust in full
detail and horror, capturing
the attention of the Israeli
public and arousing inter-
national interest. The Eich-
mann trial was educational,
highlighting the immensi-
ty of the Holocaust and the
importance of “never again.”
However, this does not mean
that there cannot be other
unique events of horrendous
crimes, on a lesser scale, that
merit a special trial. Such a
trial of Hamas leaders and a
See TRIAL, Page 23
18 COMMENT & FEATURES F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

The PA cannot govern Gaza

• By SANDER GERBER direction.” (Perhaps there’s a home for
and EZRA GONTOWNIK some of these students on American cam-
puses, where they’ll enjoy the company

I
t is a maxim among policymakers that
there are no good choices in the Middle
East – only options that are less terrible
than others.
Hamas’ eventual defeat and the after-
math of Israel’s Operation Swords of Iron
will present challenges that embody the
rule, chief among them the question
of who will govern Gaza. Naturally and
justifiably, Israel is focusing its political
and military capital on victory instead of
addressing this question.
Nonetheless, it seems that the Biden
administration has reached an early con-
sensus on this looming quandary. At a
congressional hearing on November 1, Sec-
retary of State Antony Blinken floated that
a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority (PA)
might oversee Gaza after Israel hopefully
cripples Hamas’s military and governing
capabilities. Just four days later, Blinken
met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas
and is said to have envisioned the PA tak-
ing center stage in Gaza after the war.
This would be a terrible mistake.
Proponents of the US administration’s
idea tend to frame the PA’s credo as “mod-
erate,” relative to Hamas’s explicit goal
from their founding charter to actualize
Israel’s destruction. But being “moder-
ate” does not equate to being palatable:
exchanging masks and fatigues for suits
and ties hardly changes the character of
the individuals donning either. It also
fails to recognize history: After Israel’s
unilateral disengagement from Gaza in
2005, the PA was put in charge of the
territory and failed miserably to maintain
power or order, or to bring any peace or
growth.
While it was Hamas terrorists who com-
mitted the October 7 genocide, it is the
PA’s “pay for slay” program the PA will
provide financial rewards to families of
the thousands of Hamas terrorists killed
and captured that day. On a low estimate,
the PA will provide almost $3 million per
month to these monsters who explicitly
targeted and butchered 1,400 innocent
Israelis on October 7.
US SECRETARY of State Antony Blinken meets with Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas at PA headquarters in Ramallah, this
week. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
In fact, the PA makes its “pay for slay”
payments while thumbing its nose in
the face of the US taxpayer. Much of the
money the PA distributes comes from US
foreign aid, despite the 2017 Taylor Force
Act prohibiting the PA from distributing
US foreign aid to terrorists or the fami-
lies of “martyrs.” As long as incentives to
slaughter exist and the US remains ambiv-
alent on the misuse of its foreign aid, the
only thing a “revitalized” PA will accom-
plish is refilling the powder keg for yet
another round of violence.
Believing the best of people is admirable
among friends, but not in foreign policy
and especially not in war. The American
and Western obsession with defaulting to
the PA governing a post-Hamas Gaza is
myopic. The reality is that the PA finan-
cially incentivizes and rewards terror – spe-
cifically terror that targets Jews and Israe-
lis. Additionally, once these Palestinian
prisoners are released, they are guaranteed
employment in the PA. While reputable
companies hire those with capable back-
grounds and impressive prior employ-
ment, the PA intentionally hires those
who have committed terror acts against
Jews and Israelis – this is truly a govern-
ment by terrorists for terrorists.
The PA’s true intentions are evident in
their invidious cradle-to-martyr project.
Rather than encouraging tolerance and
cross-cultural understanding, the PA pro-
vides its young pupils with textbooks that
glorify terrorism and the prospect of Isra-
el’s destruction. The curriculum’s results
are clear as day. Fatah’s student group at
Palestine Polytechnic University penned
a response to the October 7 massacre that
called upon Allah to slaughter Jews “one
by one” and to “scatter them in every
of many whose calls for Jewish genocide
and blatant antisemitism go unheeded by
university administrators).
Others in the Fatah faction urged indi-
viduals and groups in the West Bank to
emulate Hamas’s brutality. These students
are the supposed level-headed, reasonable,
and moderate crop of future “leadership”
from which the PA will select Abbas’s suc-
cessor. He is presently in his 18th year of a
four-year term.
Society cannot accept any arrangement
installing PA rule over Gaza due to the
sheer laziness or willful blindness of West-
ern leaders, as the PA fosters, funds, and
furthers violence.
Downgrading Hamas, a regime of boil-
ing, bloodthirsty killers, to a “moderate”
simmer and expecting positive results is
delusional. Groupthink and age-old “solu-
tions” have yet to yield positive outcomes
in the region.
If there is to be a more peaceful and
prosperous future in Gaza, world leaders
must think outside the box and not mono-
lithically.
We must tap into the creativity and inno-
vation that yielded the Abraham Accords,
which have produced positive diplomatic
and economic results. The powers that
be must not settle on a failed, corrupt,
and terror-sponsoring PA to govern Gaza
after Israel defeats Hamas; it is a genera-
tional opportunity to implement new and
creative solutions of governance that can
drive economic growth and carve a path
toward a better future for Palestinians and
Israelis alike.
Sander Gerber is the chief executive of Hud-
son Bay Capital Management, a distinguished
fellow at the Jewish Institute for National
Security of America (JINSA), and a mem-
ber of the State Department’s Middle East
Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA) advisory
board. Ezra Gontownik is the founder and
managing partner of private equity firm Rock-
post Capital, a former investor at Berkshire
Partners, and the co-founder and president of
Kol HaNearim, a nonprofit supporting at-risk
Israeli youth.

The ‘crime’ of grieving

while Israeli
• By LIZA ROSENBERG let them go instead of forcing them to stay,
which also happens), but I never saw it as a

D
uring my 32 years in Israel, my politics
have shifted Left, and, while I certain-
ly have Israeli friends whose political
leanings are considerably further to the Left
than mine are, I’m more to the Left than
quite a few of my friends here. I’ve never been
afraid to call out and criticize the Israeli gov-
ernment, its policies, or military policy vis a
vis the Palestinians. I’ve been called a traitor
for being a vocal proponent of a two-state
solution – which I still believe should happen,
though at this moment, I have no idea how.
At times, my writing has been controver-
sial, causing explosive exchanges. I’ve been
chastised by some Jews and Israelis for being
too far Left, and I’ve been chastised by leftists
outside of Israel for not being Left enough.
I’m an Israeli who will often take the time to
point out that the Palestinians elected Hamas
in 2006 because at the time, the Fatah lead-
ership was seen as being very corrupt, while
Hamas was providing the bulk of social wel-
fare services that were desperately needed by
the local population.
Their terrorist activities might not have
been a red line, but for most civilians in Gaza,
they were voting for what they hoped would
be a better, easier life – who wouldn’t want
that? So much has happened in the 17 years
since that election, but the one thing that
“good” solution – one that would serve any of
us well or somehow lead to something better,
even when I also believed that Hamas needed
to be stopped somehow.
TO THE best of my ability, I tried never to lose
my humanity, to think about and mourn the
losses on both sides. To cling to the notion
that both sides deserve to live in safety and
security, in Israel and in Palestine – two sov-
ereign countries side by side (I still want that,
for all of us). Sometimes, it made me feel quite
alone – never patriotic enough for some on
my own side, and never vocally condemning
my own side enough for some on the other
side and others. But despite these periodic
clashes (a word that some probably believe is
inadequate), I thought we managed to hold
on to the good bits, and that’s what got us
over the bumps.
On October 7, though, the murderous ram-
page of Hamas broke it all, including the
illusion that these “friends” would, at the PROJECTILES ARE launched during a military maneuver near Sanaa, Yemen, last week. (Houthi Media Center/Reuters)
very least, deem my anguish and anger fol-
lowing the massacre of 1,400 people and the
kidnapping of hundreds more to be valid and
understandable. Even before Israel began to
respond, though, I witnessed almost no words
The Yemen front: Contain or respond?
of condemnation from them for what had • By YOEL GUZANSKY tions for other countries in the region, to Yemen, have struggled to deal with
happened, no words of comfort, no words of particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Houthi attacks over the years.

hasn’t happened since is more elections, and
I’d be willing to bet that this is not the life that
the people of Gaza envisioned for themselves
when they cast their votes so many years ago.
I’ll be the first one to say that stating that “the
Palestinians voted for Hamas” is not the argu-
ment or the justification you think it is.
Over the years, I’ve managed to connect
online with others around the region – Pales-
tinians, Egyptians, Jordanians, and Lebanese,
as well as other Israelis and Jews with views
similar to mine. While some of these online
connections were limited to the occasional
“like” or comment, others have felt more like
friendship, inasmuch as friendship is pos-
sible without meeting in person, or having
met only once or very long ago. Beyond the
politics, we talked about our lives, we cracked
jokes. We got to know each other as people,
and I really liked these people! I’d be lying if I
said there were no challenges along the way,
especially during Israeli incursions into Gaza
after repeated rocket attacks.
It was always during those times when I
hated Hamas the most. I hated them for not
caring about their own people. I hated them
for poking us repeatedly until we responded.
I hated that innocent Palestinian civilians
were dying as a result. When people would
point out that Israel was telling the Palestin-
ians to leave their homes before air strikes, I
would ask where they were supposed to go, as
though displacing hundreds of thousands of
people already living in hell should be seen as
a good thing.
If we are comparing this to seeing them get
killed instead, I suppose it’s the less worse
option (and that’s if Hamas would actually
horror (though I have been moved to tears of
gratitude by those who have). No concern for
me or my loved ones.
And after years of showing support, of
neither trying to delegitimize their pain and
anger nor judging them for it, I’ve been hit
with the harsh reality that they have no
interest in doing the same for me. I’ve been
quietly unfriended, called a supporter of war
crimes, and more. People who don’t see my
grief and rage as acceptable. People who
have chosen to block out all of the good that
they’ve ever seen in me and leap to erroneous
conclusions instead of acknowledging that
I have been writing from a place of over-
whelming pain – as I have acknowledged in
them for years.
If they had chosen to speak to me instead of
judging me, or if they had chosen to give me
space to grieve and be angry, they would have
discovered that my beliefs haven’t changed. I
still want peace for Israel and Palestine, and
I still hate that innocent civilians are dying
regardless of what side of the fence they’re on.
I grieve for this catastrophe that Hamas has
violently foisted upon all of us – Palestinians
and Israelis.
Maybe I’m naïve, but it never occurred to
me that my grief wouldn’t count. It never
occurred to me that condemning evil could
be conditional. And it never occurred to me
that I would be thrown away by people I cared
about for the “crime” of grieving while Israeli.
The writer is an American Israeli living in
northern Israel. She has written for various local
and international publications and news organi-
zations and works as a grant writer for a nonprofit
organization in the education sector.
T
he ongoing ground operation by
the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)
in the Gaza Strip has had ripple
effects in the wider Middle East region.
Notably, it has heightened the motiva-
tion of Iranian proxies in the area to
align with Tehran’s pressure and inten-
sify acts of aggression against Israel.
These actions aim to present a “united
front” and demonstrate solidarity with
the Palestinian cause. One such proxy
is the Houthi militia, which controls
substantial portions of Yemen and has
received support from both Iran and
Hezbollah.
The Houthi militia joined the fight-
ing against Israel by launching a series
of missile, cruise missile, and drone
attacks. These attacks aimed to strike
at Israeli targets but were intercepted
successfully by Israeli defense systems.
The Houthis declared their intent to
participate in the conflict on the second
day of hostilities, emphasizing their sol-
idarity with the Palestinian people and
their role within the broader “axis of
resistance.” They stated that they would
continue to attack Israel if they per-
ceived Israel’s actions as detrimental to
the Palestinian cause.
One of the most significant attacks
occurred on October 18, involving the
launch of cruise missiles and drones.
These missiles briefly entered Saudi Ara-
bian airspace, leading to a heightened
state of alert in Saudi Arabia, which
shares a border with Yemen. The Houthi
involvement in the conflict has implica-
Arab Emirates (UAE). There have been
accusations that these Gulf states col-
laborate with Israel in its conflict with
Hamas, further complicating the situ-
ation.
The Houthi militia’s involvement and
statements have added to the regional
complexity, particularly regarding Saudi
Arabia. While the conflict between the
Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi forc-
es has continued for years, a ceasefire
had been in place since April 2022. The
Houthi government recently reached
a draft agreement with Saudi Arabia,
according to which many of their finan-
cial demands were met. The ongoing
ceasefire allowed the Houthis to focus
on military buildup, making it less likely
for them to risk their newfound gains by
provoking a wider regional conflict.
The Houthis receive substantial sup-
port from the Quds Force branch of Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This
includes assistance with weapons smug-
gling, combat training, funding, and
weapons manufacturing. However, their
influence over the Houthis is relatively
limited in comparison to Hezbollah, and
the lack of territorial connection also
makes direct support more challenging.
The challenges and restraints that
influence the Houthi militia’s actions
also apply to Israel. The geographical
distance and the complexity of the
Yemeni front make it difficult for Israel
to develop effective responses to deter
further Houthi attacks. Even Saudi Ara-
bia and the UAE, despite their proximity
Any Israeli response to Houthi attacks
would require coordination and consul-
tation not only with the United States,
which seeks to prevent a broader con-
flict, but also with regional partners like
the UAE and Saudi Arabia, who share an
interest in containing the conflict and
avoiding its spread to their territories
– Israel has an interest not to risk its rela-
tions with them. This dilemma places
Riyadh in a complex position; while it
seeks to undermine Hamas and the “axis
of resistance,” it prefers to remain out-
side the conflict.
Israel’s primary focus should remain
on the conflict with Hamas. Houthi
attacks, while concerning, do not pose
as significant a threat as groups like Hez-
bollah and Hamas. Efforts should be
made to contain Houthi attacks as long
as they do not escalate. However, if the
situation worsens, Israel should be care-
ful with its response in order to avoid
wider regional implications. The Houth-
is, under pressure from Iran, Hamas, and
Hezbollah, could seek alternative meth-
ods of attack, potentially with more sig-
nificant consequences.
While the Houthi attacks are not as
imminent a threat as other regional con-
flicts, they should not be underestimat-
ed, and careful consideration of respons-
es is crucial.
The writer is a senior fellow at the Insti-
tute for National Security Studies, an inde-
pendent think tank affiliated with Tel Aviv
University, and a non-resident scholar at the
Middle East Institute.
T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T  F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 2 3
This war is not just about security
• By YAAKOV KATZ
I
t was a period of euphoria. In June 1967,
Israel defeated three Arab armies in just
six days and tripled in size. The country
was on a high and Jews from around the
world responded in kind.
If aliyah to Israel in 1967 was just 15,000,
by 1968 it had jumped to 20,000 and by
1973 to almost 55,000. During this five-year
period, some 30,000 American Jews moved
to Israel, an unprecedented number. In 1966,
for example, only 826 Jews immigrated from
North America. By 1973 that number had
skyrocketed to almost 5,000. Even today,
despite the existence of special organizations
to ease the aliyah process from the US, the
numbers are barely half of what it was 50
years ago.
And while this large number of olim
(immigrants) seemed impossible just a few
years earlier, it was clear why it was happen-
ing: Israel was perceived as successful and
powerful. Fresh out of a miraculous victory,
Israel was a place to which people wanted to
tie their fate. It was riding a wave that came
crashing down with the outbreak of the Yom
Kippur War in October 1973.
Aliyah came crashing down as well. In all
of 1974, about 32,000 people moved to Isra-
el, a drop of 23,000 and by 1975, the number
was down by almost 70%.
The lesson was obvious. Perception of Isra-
el and its power is important, not just for
the country’s efforts to deter its enemies,
but also for how it is perceived by fellow
Jews around the world. When the country is
perceived as strong and successful, Jews rally
behind it and decide to tie their fate to it.
When, after the Yom Kippur War, Israel was
perceived as vulnerable, weak, and failing,
the number of people who wanted to be
connected to here fell.
And this is an important lesson today as
Israel’s war against Hamas continues in the
Gaza Strip. On the surface, in wake of the
attacks on October 7, Israel is creating a new
Diaspora Jews are also at war
Antisemitism is spiraling out of control
• By REVITAL YAKIN KRAKOVSKY
H
ours after Hamas’ terror attack on the State of
Israel, the attack on the Jews of the Diaspora
began. Hundreds of thousands of pro-Pales-
tinians took to the streets with the message that the
State of Israel is a murderous state that has no right
to exist. Swastikas returned to the demonstrations
and took us eighty-five years to the Kristallnacht
pogrom marked yesterday on November 9. On
that date, November 9, 1938, a mob that had been
brainwashed for years under the Nazi propaganda
machine took to the streets and murdered 91 Jews,
burned and smashed 1,400 synagogues and Jewish
businesses throughout Germany, Austria, and parts
of Czechoslovakia.
This year, the anniversary of Kristallnacht comes
in chilling proximity to the thirty-day anniversary
of the Hamas massacre – the pogrom in the south of
Israel. Then and now, Jews were defenseless against
the enemy who came to destroy them. There are
many differences between the two pogroms, but the
motivation for exterminating the Jews is the same.
Since the massacre, I have spoken with a number
of Holocaust survivors around the world. These
heroes travel each year – some have attended for
the past two or three decades – to the March of
the Living in Auschwitz-Birkenau, accompanied
by thousands of youth from around the world,
Jews and non-Jews, to show them what happens
when antisemitism is rampant, and no one does
anything.
The Holocaust survivors I spoke to are heart-
broken. The massacre flooded them with painful
childhood memories. But more than that, they
are afraid. Some are afraid to leave their homes.
Some are afraid for their families, “They mark us,”
a Holocaust survivor from Europe told me. Another
survivor from the United States said to me that
Jews had never been attacked with such intensity
since the Holocaust, and a Holocaust survivor from
Canada begged me to “fight antisemitism before
it’s too late.”
They’re not alone. A wave of terror is sweeping
Diaspora Jewish communities in response to their
support for Israel. This is nothing new. Every time
Israel acts to defend itself, the “quiet” antisemi-
tism that is constantly on the ground erupts in
monstrous proportions. It has become normalized.
We have become accustomed to calls to destroy
the State of Israel in the streets and seeing people
holding signs bearing the symbol of the regime that
exterminated six million Jews.
Nevertheless, there are points of light opposite
the enormous darkness and the wave of hatred
sweeping through Europe and the United States.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer declared that
the call ‘Palestine will be liberated from the Jordan
River to the sea’ would be considered incitement to
murder and would be a criminal offense. German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a sweeping ban
on Hamas activity in the country and said regard-
ing the antisemitism that has raised its head in Ger-
many: “In times like these, it should be very clear:
antisemitism cannot be tolerated in any way. The
antisemitism we see at the demonstrations requires
a tough political response. There is no place for
antisemitism in Germany.”
These responses are welcome but are not enough.
What is needed is a more aggressive and harsh
response by Western governments and law enforce-
OBSERVATIONS 19
It is also about Jewish peoplehood
really do “stand together,” then there are
significant changes that Israel needs to make
to the way it treats Jews who do not fit into
the Orthodox way of life.
This war has shown us that no matter
where a Jew lives, their identity and feeling
of safety is connected to the State of Israel.
That brings with it a responsibility that Israel
cannot ignore.
***
Tuesday marked a month from the Hamas
invasion on October 7 and I spent it moving
between two very different experiences. In
the morning, I watched as our daughter,
who has been in the IDF for the last 18
months, graduated from Bahad 1, the IDF
Officer Training Academy and became an
officer.
In the afternoon, I went to Kibbutz Nir
Oz along the border with Gaza and walked
between the burned and bullet-ridden
homes to see up-close what had happened
STUDENTS DEMONSTRATE in support of Israel at Columbia University in New York City, last month. All Israelis have been moved to see there a month earlier.
how Jews from around the world have stood up to assist Israel during this difficult time. (Jeenah Moon/Reuters)
Nir Oz was attacked like the rest of the bor-
derline communities and while the death
security paradigm in southern Israel. It is and European Jewry. While Jews in Israel are What Israel needs to do now is twofold. On toll was lower than Be’eri as an example,
operating in Gaza to degrade Hamas’s mili- obviously most at risk of physical harm, the the one hand, it should prepare for a possi- more than 70 of the 240 hostages are from
tary capabilities, to kill or capture its leaders, killing of Paul Kessler at a pro-Israel rally in ble increase in aliyah. As Jews face growing Nir Oz. The reason was because of Nir Oz’s
and to remove it as the governing authority Los Angeles, and the death chants against antisemitism, there might be a rise in the proximity to Gaza but also the fact that there
in the Gaza Strip. The days of containing the Jews in Dagestan, as well as on the streets of number of people who want to move here. are roads that cut through the field and con-
Hamas enemy are clearly over. London, indicate how antisemitism shows, The second step is to empower Jews around nect Gaza directly to the Kibbutz making it
No matter how this war ends, Israel will to some extent, how all Jews are in a similar the world with the knowledge that Israel easy for Hamas to drive straight there with
also now need to change the substance of situation. is the home of all Jews, no matter where pickup trucks and load up hostages.
its relationship with Diaspora Jewry and What we have to keep in mind is the they come from and how they practice their The sequence of events – watching my
declare that what was, will no longer be. All objective of the protesters against Israel and religion. daughter become an IDF officer and then
Israelis have been moved to see how Jews the threat it poses to Jews. They want people When Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, visiting Nir Oz, makes it clear what this
from around the world have stood up to to be afraid to speak up, to appear in public for example, praised Diaspora Jewry this country is about and what it is fighting for.
assist Israel during this difficult time. There in support of Israel and to proudly identi- week for donating over $1 billion to Israel When the hundreds of soldiers stood
are those who donated money, others who fy as Jews. They want Jews to be afraid, to Bonds, he wrote that “Diaspora Jews and the on the parade ground at the Bahad 1 near
have come here on solidarity missions to removed mezuzot from their front doors like people of Israel stand together in the battle Mitzpe Ramon and took upon themselves
volunteer, and even more who have lined in Paris and to remove their kippot (skull- for the victory of light over darkness.” the mantle of command in the IDF, they do
the streets of New York, London, Sydney, caps) or any other Jewish markings. While that sounds nice in a tweet, Smo- not have to wonder what they will be asked
and Paris, with posters of the hostages and The explosion in antisemitism shows just trich needs to back that up with practi- to do. This country is at war, and these youth
Israeli flags, at rallies in support of Israel’s how intertwined the fate of Jews around the cal steps. Over the last decade, his party are our inspiration.
battle to defeat Hamas. globe is to Israel, whether they support or members have been some of the most vocal As a parent, as an Israeli, and as a Jew I
care about what is happening here or not. opponents to allowing Diaspora Jews to pray could not be prouder.
THEY HAVE done so despite the explosion They are immediately blamed for the IDF the way they want at the Western Wall, to The writer is a senior fellow at the Jewish
of antisemitism and the risk that it now action and, as a result, Israel cannot ignore convert to Judaism the way they want and People Policy Institute and the immediate past
poses to the future of American, British, the Diaspora plight. to simply believe in what they want. If we editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post.
Harvard’s bankruptcy
• By YEDIDIA STERN
H
arvard University’s coat of
arms, essentially its logo,
depicts three open books
with the Latin word “veritas” (Latin
for “truth”) written across them. Yale
University, its chief competitor, also
has an interesting coat of arms: an
open book with the Hebrew words
“Urim v’Thummim” inscribed upon
it. Yale scholars have interpreted
these words as “light and truth.”
What remains of the pursuit of
“truth” on these campuses today?
Jewish students at Harvard are
forced to conceal their Jewishness:
THE OCTOBER 7 massacre carried out by Hamas has They are harassed, insulted, and spit
flooded Holocaust survivors with painful childhood upon, and there have been reports of
memories, says the writer.
physical attacks on Jewish students
(Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
on the campus pathways; the iden- GRADUATING STUDENTS hold up a sign that reads ‘Justice for Palestine’
tity of the attackers remains unclear. during Harvard University commencement exercises, in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, in May 2022. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)
ment agencies against those who riot against Jews, On the steps of Harvard’s iconic Wid-
deface homes, and those who sow fear among Jews ener Library, a temple of knowledge
on the streets and on campuses. The normalization and American culture, placards were I remember different times: My wife of course) to the world between Bos-
of calls to destroy the State of Israel must stop now hoisted emblazoned with the slogan: and her friends built a glorious Suk- ton’s Charles River and the Hudson
before it is too late. “Intifada, intifada, from the river to kah in the center of the campus, and River in New York.
We are one step away from significant harm to the sea, Palestine will be free.” This everyone, Jews and non-Jews, flocked And today? It seems that Harvard,
Jews. The moment when a grenade will be thrown is a clear and unequivocal call for the to it. At their request, the univer- along with a significant number of
at a synagogue or when someone will shoot stu- annihilation of the State of Israel – sity agreed that its commencement campuses on both the East and West
dents on their way to synagogue is not far off. One all of it. The issue is not “occupation” ceremonies, the most momentous Coasts, no longer extols human rights
Jew was beaten to death in the United States when or “human rights,” but a fundamen- day in the lives of many, would not (unless you are deemed by the trend
he defended the State of Israel holding an Israeli tal opposition to the right of Jews to take place on the Shavuot holiday so setters to belong to an “oppressed
flag, and a Jewish woman was stabbed in her home have a national home. that observant Jews could attend. On group”). Harvard’s face wears a thick
in Lyon. We cannot close our eyes to this. This is And what is the response of the Yom Kippur, due to the great demand layer of makeup: It has a special office
not a horror scenario detached from reality but is a president of the world’s most ven- of Jewish students to participate in dedicated to promoting “equity,
real threat. It has already happened. It happened in erable university to this blatant prayer services, the campus syna- diversity, inclusion, and belonging”
the synagogue in Halle in Germany, in 2019 and in antisemitism? “Harvard is commit- gogue, Beit Hillel, was too cramped to on campus. But if you are Jewish, as it
Pittsburgh the year before. We already understood ted to preserving freedom of expres- accommodate them all. So, a spacious turns out, you don’t “belong.”
that we cannot rely on the empty promise of ‘Never sion.” lecture hall at the Law School hosted
Again’ – not then and certainly not today. After some criticism, the president the Conservative community’s ser- I DREAD to think about the nature
Israelis and Jews around the world are going attempted to balance her response vice, and Memorial Church in the of American leadership in the next
through difficult days, the toughest in recent somewhat with tepid, unsatisfactory center of Harvard Yard – how strange generation. Barack Obama was
decades. In the midst of shared grief and fear, there rhetoric. for us Israelis – hosted the Reform ser- president and editor of the Harvard
is shared comfort. During the past two weeks, at the This is disgraceful hypocrisy. In vice. The church became a synagogue Law Review, the best of its kind in
initiative of the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, delega- the United States, there is a rank- for a day. Today, Jewish students hide the world. From there he went on
tions of the families of the victims of the massacre ing of the preservation of freedom their identity: kippot, mezuzot, and to become president of the United
and the families of the abductees have embarked on of expression in colleges. Harvard, Stars of David have become danger- States and leader of the free world.
a public information campaign around the world. which is ranked first academically, ous in Boston 2023. The current editor of that same Law
They traveled to London, Rome, Brussels, the Unit- is, shamefully, in 254th place among During my tenure as dean of a Review was seen last week, together
ed States, and Canada and received a huge embrace American universities in terms of Faculty of Law in Israel, I awarded with a group of students, blocking
from Diaspora Jews. Hundreds greeted them with freedom of expression on campus. subsistence scholarships to dozens the path of a student on campus,
Israeli flags at airports, and thousands showed up Unrelated to us, the Jews, Harvard of outstanding Israeli students to forcibly waving a keffiyeh in his face
for demonstrations of support. Galit Goren, the has long betrayed its commitment pursue their master’s and doctorate while taunting him with insulting
aunt of Tiferet Lapidot, of blessed memory, who to “truth” by suppressing voices con- degrees in law at elite universities in and racist chants, just because he is
was murdered at the Supernova Festival in Kibbutz sidered politically incorrect more the United States. Many of them are Jewish. It appears that antisemitism
Re’im, told me how much the embrace she received than almost any other US campus. now serving as professors in Israeli is no longer the exclusive domain of
from Canadian Jews encouraged and strengthened This is no coincidence; Harvard universities. At the time, I believed ignorant rednecks in the back rows.
her. And she’s not alone, as other participants said excels in everything. that alongside the excellent pro- Harvard University, as an institution,
the same. However, when 34 student orga- fessional education these students is very far from antisemitic, but the
The cliché of ‘we are one people’ has become a nizations placed all blame for the would receive, they would also be cowardly conduct of its current lead-
reality. Monise Neumann’s pain in Los Angeles is Hamas massacre squarely on the exposed to, and internalize, the ership may very well normalize it.
the same as Galit Goren’s pain in Israel. The lives shoulders of the State of Israel, the commitment to liberal values and Harvard is richly endowed with
of Diaspora Jews also came to a halt on October 7. university administration decided to the discourse of human rights. As assets exceeding 50 billion dollars
They, too, are at war. sanctify freedom of speech at the a Religious Zionist yeshiva student (2.5 times the annual education
The cry of world Jewry, including Israelis, must expense of the truth. Can a worse who was beneficially influenced by budget of the State of Israel). Never-
be heard. Jewish blood is not free for the taking, “double standard” be imagined? the education I received at Harvard, theless, it is in serious risk of bank-
and Israel’s allies around the world, who have come I wanted to enable others, promis- ruptcy. A moral bankruptcy. Will it
here and demonstrated unwavering support for I EARNED my advanced degrees at ing young women and men, to have wake up?
Israel’s right to defend itself, should be concerned Harvard, as did my wife and others similar opportunities. I thought The writer is president of the Jewish
about the security of Jews in their country. in the family. There, on that amazing that those who grew up between People Policy Institute (JPPI) and holds
The writer is deputy CEO of the International March campus, my wife and I first met, and Israel’s Yarkon and Kishon Rivers a doctoral degree from Harvard Law
of the Living. there our first daughter was born. should also be exposed (not only, School.
20 OBSERVATIONS F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

What do we tell our kids?

As global antisemitism surges, parents struggle to advise their children
faced such a dilemma. Her child lives in stu- of this, including one that hit the headlines
dent accommodation on campus. One of his from my alma mater, Leeds University. Can
• By ANDREA SAMUELS neighbors put up a Palestinian flag, which anyone in the current circumstances sensi-
made him feel uncomfortable, nevertheless, bly argue that these types of incidents will
he thought it would be a good idea to put up not grow in frequency? Further, does anyone

T
he Hamas atrocities of October 7
brought the IDF into sharp focus
for the entire nation and Jews across
the globe, as tens of thousands of reserv-
ists were called up, while those who were
already in active service were mobilized
for the difficult, dangerous, and crucial battle
that lay ahead – Operation Swords of Iron.
Israel was forever altered on that day when
thousands were injured, hundreds were kid-
napped into Gaza, and over 1,200 were mur-
dered.
Tragically, the death toll arising from the
ground operation continues to rise. We check
the news with dread each hour, fervently
hoping that it won’t contain announcements
of more fallen soldiers.
And yet, despite our ongoing torment and
heartbreak, which is far from over, I – and
many others like me, who made aliyah when
their children were younger, knowing that
one day, they would be called upon to serve
their country – don’t regret making Israel my
home.
While it’s extremely tough to have a child
in the army, especially at a time like this, my
heart still goes out to all of my old friends in
Britain, whose children are facing a battle of a
different kind: antisemitism.
The antisemitic genie, now truly out of
the bottle, is not going to go back in and the
issues that arise are only going to become
more acute and intense as time goes on.
It seems to me that one of the difficulties
for my British contemporaries, which I don’t
face, is what advice to give to their children
when dealing with such problems on a direct,
personal, and immediate level.
The balance between encouraging your
children to be proud of their Jewish identi-
ty, while remaining safe, is now something
which all Jewish parents in the Diaspora must
wrestle with.
For example, a friend in London, who
prefers to remain anonymous, has recently
an Israeli flag in response. When he asked his
mother for advice, she was torn.
What would your advice be? Keep your
head down and don’t cause a scene, or go for
it – be proud to support Israel – knowing that
your child may be on the receiving end of ver-
bal, or even physical abuse, as a result.
SIMILAR ISSUES will doubtless have to be
addressed when considering which universi-
ties to apply to in the first place. In my day, it
was easy. Although a couple of universities in
Britain were not particularly “Jew-friendly,”
back in the late ’80s, most welcomed Jewish
students.
Alarmingly, nowadays, some universities in
Britain are considered off-limits for Jews, such
is the level of antisemitism, not just among
the students, but the staff too, who in some
cases are even more of a threat. Even those
institutions which had previously been safe
havens for Jews in the past are less so now.
And then there are the problems that Jew-
ish students face when actually applying for a
place at university. In order to avoid potential
discrimination, does one omit references to
anything Jewish – and Israel? A gap year in
Israel? Never happened. Summer spent vol-
unteering on a kibbutz? Not me. You get the
flavor.
Antisemitism, thinly veiled as anti-Israel
sentiment, is something that has already
begun to blight academic life in recent years.
There have been instances where universi-
ty professors, consumed by their singularly
unhealthy obsession with the one Jewish
state, have made life for their Jewish students
extremely uncomfortable.
The very real problem for these students
is that standing up for themselves and their
beliefs in such circumstances could lead to
poor grades and limit their job prospects.
Knowing this, should they keep quiet to max-
imize their chances of success?
There have already been isolated examples
really believe that this will remain restricted
to universities and not spread into the work-
place?
POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS present similar
issues. Will parents feel compelled to advise
their children to craft their CV carefully in
order not to reveal anything that might stir
antisemitic sentiment and result in rejection,
whereas omission might produce the oppo-
site result?
And having secured the job, what of the
working atmosphere in the office or work-
place? Of course, ultimately, it’s up to our
children to make those decisions for them-
selves, but it’s hard for parents to have to
watch them go through this.
We all control what personal information
we give out when chatting with colleagues.
In order to ensure a quiet life at work, do you
conceal the fact that you are Jewish? If you’re
going on holiday to Israel, should you men-
tion it or simply lie and say you’re going to
Spain, for example?
If, having decided that the course of least THE WRITER visits her alma mater, Leeds University, where life for Jewish students is
becoming increasingly difficult. (Jeff Samuels)
resistance is to keep schtum, what happens
when the office banter is mocking Jewish
victims of October 7 or replete with talk of to me by friends in Britain since October 7: comes to an end. The idea that this will all
Palestinian resistance? What then? Do you In Manchester, for example, a certain taxi blow over is misguided. It’s here to stay. This
keep your head down? Do you join in? firm has fallen out of favor with the Jewish is now the new normal in Britain and it’s only
Or is that the moment when you speak out community there, as the drivers are known to going to get worse.
and risk isolation in the office or even losing make their Jewish clients feel uncomfortable Just as we fear for the safety of our young
your job? with antisemitic remarks. soldiers here in Israel, the fear among Jews
Even if there’s no office banter to contend Many have started to hide items that give in the Diaspora for the younger generation
with, what happens when you’re scrolling away their identities, such as the Magen is very real too, due to the rise in antisemi-
through social media to find the person who David (Star of David) necklace and kippa tism.
sits next to you has added “free Palestine” to (skullcap) which is either removed or cov- While the anxiety that goes hand in hand
their bio? Do you say something? Carry on ered with a baseball cap when out of the with living in Israel – namely, having children
going to Starbucks together? Or slowly detach house. Some have even gone to the lengths in the army – can be paralyzing at times, the
yourself, hoping no questions are asked. of removing their mezuzot from their front fact that I, and more importantly, they, don’t
If you think this is fanciful, only this week, doors so passersby and delivery drivers won’t have to hide the very essence of their being,
a Jewish journalist from The Guardian blew know that Jews live there. And of course, it their Jewishness, makes it easier to bear.
the whistle (anonymously) detailing all this won’t stop there. The writer is a former lawyer from Manchester,
and more. It is difficult to see how these are mere tem- England. She now lives in Israel where she works
Other troubling things have been related porary expedients until the current conflict at The Jerusalem Post.

Why is it so hard to be a Jew? Guns and governance

• By JONATHAN LIEBERMAN Arming civilians while maintaining law and order
y article in last week’s Jerusa-

M
• By RUTH WASSERMAN LANDE icant number of officers and personnel is needed
lem Post, in which I suggested than that which currently exists in the Firearms

that the Golden Era for Brit-
ish Jewry was over and it was time for
them to consider their future, seems
to have hit a nerve.
I have had literally hundreds of
responses, most of them agreeing with
the sentiments expressed. Jews from the
US, Canada, France, Belgium, and South
Africa also said that the same phenome-
non of ugly antisemitism was rife in their
countries too.
But there were two responses in par-
ticular which made me sit up and think
deeply about their implication.
The first was from a man, named
Chaim in his late thirties in the UK who
I have known from the day he was born,
who has himself suffered significant ver-
bal antisemitic abuse since the latest war
broke out.
He agreed with me that it was time to
leave Britain, but “Where should I go?”
he asked, before continuing, “I’m really
not sure about Israel, I’m not sure it’s for
me – where else can I consider?”.
This response shook me a little because
I couldn’t answer him.
The fact is, unpalatable as it is, nobody
wants us.
This is the same phenomenon that
occurred before and during the Second
World War – many countries closed
their doors to Jewish refugees fleeing
the Nazis, while others had strict quotas
and very harsh criteria to fulfill before
being allowed in – and we know how
that ended.
Only this time it is different, because
this time, we have somewhere to go. We
have “Home” – The State of Israel which
passed the Hok Ha-Shvut (The Law of
Return) on Theodore Herzl’s birthday,
July 5, 1950.
The criteria applied were, with a deli-
cious but tragic irony, those used by the
Nazis: anyone with one or more Jew-
ish grandparents and their spouses were
given the right to come to Israel and
acquire Israeli citizenship.
From that moment on, we, the Jews of
the world knew, and know now, that we
have a Home.
As Robert Frost, the American Poet,
wrote as early as 1914: “Home is the place
where, when you have to go there, they
have to take you in.” So, Chaim, my
dear friend, where should you go? Come
Home to the one place that unequivocal-
ly welcomes Jews.
AND THIS brings me to the next response
which stopped me in my tracks. This was
from the very intelligent and insightful
editor of this column.
She complimented me on my article
(which was nice!) and then asked, “Why
is it so hard to be a Jew?”
Of course, she was not the first Jew in
the world to express this sentiment. This
A NEW immigrant kisses the ground upon his arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport.
Come home to the one place that unequivocally welcomes Jews, says the writer.
(Flash90)
millennia-old question has plagued our
people since the first Jew trod the earth.
The term Ivri or Hebrew, attributed to
our Patriarch Avraham, originates from
the idea that he stood apart from the
world, recognizing the One God amid
widespread polytheism.
From then on, it has been the Jew’s
destiny to be “different” from the rest of
the world.
And that is the answer to the question
– it is hard to be a Jew because we are
different and being different is a hard-
ship, a burden, an opportunity for others
to treat us as scapegoats for the world’s
problems.
When you stand out from the crowd,
you are under intense scrutiny and your
every action is pored over and analyzed.
When you are different as a kid, you are
the subject of bullying and teasing, or
worse.
As an adolescent, If you don’t fit in
with the milieu, you may be ostracized,
and excluded. In adult life, being differ-
ent can lead to fewer opportunities at
work or in social scenarios.
All of these negative feelings and con-
notations around being different have
applied to the Jews for over 2,000 years.
Jews have, at various times in history,
tried not to be different, to blend in,
to assimilate, only to have the door
of acceptance slammed in their faces,
because at the end of the day, you’re a
Jew, like it or not.
The assimilated, cultured German
Jews ended up in the same place as the
conspicuously distinct shtetl Jews from
Poland and Lithuania. A Jew is a Jew,
regardless of the attempts to blend in. So
it has been our lot throughout history to
be different and, yes, to suffer for it.
But that’s not the whole story: While
being different can be tough, it is also
a privilege, a responsibility, a charac-
ter-building, strength-inducing life expe-
rience, which gives deep meaning to
existence on this earth.
When you are different for a reason
– because you have a faith, a history, a
people to be part of, and a rich culture to
cling to, then it is no longer being differ-
ent – it is being unique.
The more the world rails against us, the
more we are seen as different, and the
more our resolve to be special surfaces.
Never is that clearer than today.
DESPITE THE very welcome support
from the leaders of many Western coun-
tries, we know full well that we are dif-
ferent. As Jews, we are seen as different,
and as Israelis, we are held to different
standards. But that shouldn’t faze us, it
should spur us on, encourage us, and
strengthen our resolve to continue to
be different and to be true to that very
difference that defines us.
We are part of a nation stretching back
to that very first Ivri, Avraham, the con-
trarian Hebrew. He stood alone, unwav-
ering in his convictions, and his legacy is
one of courage and determination.
That history, replete with its spectacu-
lar successes and heartbreaking failures;
its times of profound joy and its times
of unimaginable tragedy; that knowl-
edge that, “YES! We are different – and
proud of it!” This is the response to the
question.
Yes, sometimes it can be hard to be a
Jew, but always it is a privilege. We must
never lose sight of that, because if we do,
the world will remind us pretty quickly.
The writer, a rabbi, lives in Ramat Poleg,
Netanya, and is a co-founder of Techelet –
Inspiring Judaism.
O
nce upon a time, before October 7, I
thought that allowing civilians to buy and
own guns was definitely not a desirable
step. There are many cases in which such a weapon
could be used to harm innocent people, lead to the
murder of women suffering domestic violence, cause
unnecessary bullet discharges, and more. The reality
practiced in the US – where any person, provided he/
she does not have a criminal record, is allowed to pur-
chase firearms – is certainly a worthy example of the
grim reality that may arise when someone’s unstable
mental state and/or murderous ideology could lead
to the murder of innocent civilians.
However, following October 7 and the atrocities
perpetrated that day against unarmed and harm-
less civilians, including gang rapes, beheadings,
murders, carnage, and massacre, my worldview
has changed. Not only have I asked for a personal
license for owning and carrying a firearm, but I
also practice, methodically, at the range, in order to
make sure that I become very skilled at using it, if
necessary. Furthermore, I welcome the plan led by
the ministry of National Security for the establish-
ment of an orderly and wide array of armed local
emergency units, whose civilian members under-
go professional training in order to protect cities,
towns, and villages across the country.
The State of Israel has an excellent army, one of
the best in the Western world. Any thoughts to the
contrary, which may have arisen before the horrif-
ic events of the past month, have vanished given
the courage, determination, wisdom, and fighting
spirit currently seen on the battlefield in Gaza.
And that is coupled with a unique characteristic
shared by no other army in the world - humanitar-
ianism, despite the unforgiving and often hypo-
critical criticism seen in the foreign press.
Nonetheless, despite these exceptional qualities,
neither the IDF nor the Israel Police forces can
provide an individual response to each citizen
in real time in the face of the challenges we face
– at least not in the first and critical minutes of a
potential attack. Hence, responsible handling of
private weapons, along with appropriate training,
is inevitably needed for self-defense and for the
protection of our children.
ONE OF the things we learned following the atroc-
ities perpetrated on October 7 is that there is no
geographical area in the country that justifies the
title “geographic periphery.” The country is small,
and the locations for potentially hostile activity
are many. Thus, the widespread creation of the
aforementioned civilian emergency units – not
solely in the South or the North, but throughout
the entire country – is important and appropriate.
Also important is the fact that the entire operation
is overseen and under the overall command of the
National Police and that there is, and will contin-
ue to be, a well-controlled oversight mechanism.
Moreover, there is a need to continue to make sure
that all firearm carriers undergo regular profession-
al training, in order to preserve their abilities and
repeat the safety instructions relevant to the issue.
Yet, most important is the issue of enforcement;
that is, the constant control over weapon carriers
– their conduct, compliance with the conditions,
and prevention and arrest if they violate any of the
procedures. For this purpose, a much more signif-
Division of the ministry of National Security and in
the Israeli National Police forces.
Much has been written about the severe shortage
of police forces in the country. During Operation
Guardian of the Walls in May 2021, when the streets
ignited in the mixed Arab-Jewish cities and then
beyond, the lack of police officers was evident. Too
little was done following those events to change
the situation. In order to shorten the time frame
for integrating police officers into the police force,
the training of police officers was shortened to mere
weeks, which does not allow for proper training at
all, and the criteria for accepting new police officers
became less strict.
This “band-aid” solution is faulty and far from
sufficient. A national and strategic plan is needed
to strengthen the policing mechanisms in the
country, including raising the salaries of police
officers, who clearly risk their lives for the pro-
tection of Israeli civilians – a fact that became
abundantly clear during the recent horrific attacks
in the South. The criteria for accepting police
officers into the ranks of the organization must be
maintained and become even stricter, rather than
softer, in order to preserve the level and quality of
those who protect the citizens. It is also import-
ant to allocate a budget for their enrichment and
training including additional courses, as well as
creative and out-of-the-ordinary tools with which
to perform their work, due to the extraordinary
challenges facing Israelis. Police officers must be
tasked not only with protecting, but also with
enforcing the law in a non-aggressive manner on
the one hand, while at the same time, in a manner
completely unforgiving of any violence.
THIS, UNFORTUNATELY, was not been the case
before October 7, due to a lack of manpower, a lack
of funding, as well as a too-tolerant culture. From
now on, it is key that the policy of zero tolerance
towards any kind of incitement – on social net-
works, in houses of worship, and more– which the
police began to enforce after October 7, will indeed
continue. It is just as important to make sure that
violence of any kind is treated with severity, wheth-
er in schools, on the roads, or anywhere else.
Furthermore, there must be a proactive, system-
atic and uncompromising national effort to collect
all illegal weapons from criminals, given the fact
that over the last few years, tens of thousands of
them have been being held mostly by Arab-Israeli
citizens. Until now, the criminals among them
have used their weapons mainly against other Arab
citizens – a serious and horrid phenomenon in and
within itself. However, these weapons could one
day be used against Jewish citizens out of national-
istic or ideological considerations or simply because
a foreign role-player, with completely foreign inter-
ests – for instance, Iran – would be willing to pay
generously for such violence.
In conclusion, given the current complex reality,
Israel must allow and even encourage the arming of
citizens, but, at the same time, invest careful thought,
planning, and execution to the confiscation of illegal
weapons and make the strict law enforcement that
began the day after October 7 permanent policy.
The writer is a former MK from the Blue and White
party, a former adviser to president Shimon Peres, and
past deputy ambassador in Cairo.
T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T  F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 2 3 OBSERVATIONS 21

Don’t you dare!

Israeli leaders have no mandate to scale back the assault on Hamas
deepest desire – and, in retrospect, I guess
KNOW COMMENT his ultimate task in life – was to fight for the
• By DAVID M. WEINBERG freedom and safety of the Jewish People in
the Land of Israel.
so that others will have to die in yet another
war in two or five years’ time. The price that
Israeli society has paid since that evil, horrible
day of massacres on October 7, Simchat Torah
5784, is intolerable. No more!

P
ressures on Israel from Washing-
ton and other Western capitals are
mounting to curtail the campaign to
destroy Hamas, because of the humanitar-
ian toll in Gaza.
Israeli government leaders must resist these
pressures with all their might. They must
persist in pounding Hamas-ISIS to smither-
eens until every last Hamas commander is
dead, every last Hamas terror attack tunnel is
destroyed, and every last Hamas missile bun-
ker is obliterated.
That is the only justification for the ten-
ure of this government; that is its promise
to Israeli society. That is the only way Israel
can restore basic security to a battered and
traumatized public, the only way Israelis will
return to their homes in the Negev and the
Galilee.
It is the only way Israel can restore some
of its deterrent posture and survive in the
predatory Middle East. It is the only way Israel
stands a chance of pushing back against rad-
ical Islam’s attempt to strangulate Israel and
achieve regional hegemony.
The war cannot and must not end until
Israel has achieved its legitimate military
objectives in full, with no fudging, no obfus-
cations, and no hesitations. Israel cannot tol-
erate ceasefires along the way – no truces, no
armistices, no fall backs, no restrictions on
its use of (overwhelming and simultaneously
precise) force – until total victory is achieved.
Complete capitulation or annihilation of
Hamas is the goal, nothing less. No more
Hamas in Gaza, or in Judea and Samaria (the
West Bank). No more Hamas terrorists alive
elsewhere in the world either. They all must
be hunted down and eliminated.
In the history of modern warfare, there is
no more justified military campaign than this
one. And only such a campaign to absolutely
end the Hamas threat to Israel justifies the
heavy losses that Israel already has suffered
and the pain of what almost certainly will be
further losses.
YONADAV LEVENSTEIN is one of the more than 30 brave warriors, pressed into military
service to defend their country, whom Israel has buried over the past 10 days.
(Levenstein family)
Israeli leaders have no mandate from the
Israeli public to call off or scale back the
assault on Hamas. Should they do so, under
pressure from well-meaning and fickle allies
alike, Israelis will explode in anger, assuredly
filling the streets of every city in this country
with millions of protesters demanding that
the war against Hamas be fully prosecuted.
Compromise with Hamas would be defeat.
Bending to US President Biden (who, it must
be acknowledged, thus far has been rock solid
in his backing of Israel) would be considered
collapse.
OVER THE past 10 days, Israel has buried
more than 30 brave warriors – fine and fear-
less young men pressed into military service
to defend their country, many of them with
tender wives and beautiful, little, now-or-
phaned children.
One of them was my beloved young friend
Yonadav Levenstein, may the Heavens
avenge his death. Yonadav was a physical
giant (known as the “Viking” of the Giva-
ti brigade’s elite reconnaissance unit) and a
singer-scholar of a soul. He fought heroically
in Nahal Oz on October 7-8, and then in
Jabalya and Shati in Gaza before being felled
by Palestinian barbarians who popped out of
a terrorist attack tunnel.
Just two months ago, I danced with him at
his wedding to the delicate Hadar Karavani,
singing together about happiness and joy in
the streets of Jerusalem.
Yonadav was the youngest son of my closest
friends, Leora and Dr. Michael (Mordechai)
Levenstein of Ma’aleh Adumim, who, like
me, made aliyah from Canada many decades
ago. Tragically, Michael died of cancer three
years ago.
Michael’s last request, pressed on me the
night before he passed away, was to assist
Yonadav in his wish to serve in a frontline IDF
combat unit. Michael knew that Yonadav’s
YONADAV’S ELDEST brother, Elnatan, a
prominent lawyer and rising community fig-
ure, is a fighter for the Jewish People too, hav-
ing served in an elite, secret commando unit
on Israel’s southern border, and this month
in an elite reserve unit on the northern bor-
der. I see Elnatan and his cohort as the next
generation of Israel’s leaders, a new genera-
tion of principled and wise leaders whom this
country desperately needs.
Elnatan was laying in ambush against Hez-
bollah when he was called offline to travel
home for Yonadav’s funeral on Mount Herzl
in Jerusalem. Standing over the fresh gravesite
of his youngest brother, Elnatan gave majestic
voice to the defiant demand that the Israeli
government stand firm in pursuing the war
goals without flinching. This is what he said:
“Yonadav, you were intimately familiar
with our people’s history. You loved this
country with all your heart. You built your-
self up and fought to be accepted as a warrior
in the Givati reconnaissance unit, where you
excelled.
“Alas, now you too are part of our history;
part of a bloody war that is a historical turn-
ing point. A tough but necessary war. A war
for the future of our people in our land. A war
that should have been over a long time ago,
a war that your generation should not have
had to fight.
“In Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, I
and my army unit, along with the entire IDF,
were trained and ready to complete the task.
We had detailed battle plans and received
clear instructions – only to have these plans
and orders canceled repeatedly at the last
moment. And over the years since then,
there were other opportunities (to crush the
enemy) that were not taken.
“And now, you, little Yonadav, the baby of
our family, were forced to fight this fight on
behalf of us all.
“This war must be Israel’s last war! Other-
wise, the price is too high. Yonadav, you and
your comrades-in-arms did not die in battle
“Therefore, I call from here upon the prime
minister, the minister of defense, other gov-
ernment ministers and decision-makers:
Don’t you dare stop! Don’t you dare hesitate!
Don’t you dare fold!
“Don’t you dare allow even one drop of
fuel into accursed Gaza until the rats, the
evil terrorists of Hamas-ISIS, those who mur-
der Jewish babies and rape little Jewish girls,
those who rain rockets down upon all Israelis
without discrimination – until they come out
of their rat holes and are eliminated. Don’t
you dare!
“It is the obligation of the government of
Israel to ensure that every Israeli can live in
quiet, peace, and security without fearing
that terrorists will overrun their homes or fire
missiles at them.
“David Ben-Gurion once said that ‘Our
future is not dependent on what the goyim,
the nations of the world, say, but on what
the Jews do.’ And now is the time to do, to
act decisively. We did not want to lose in bat-
tle Yonadav or any of our brave young men
and women. But this war has been forced
upon Israel, and we must finish it once and
for all.
“I say to our government: The People of
Israel stand firmly behind you for this pur-
pose, putting aside all internal disagreements.
We, our family, already have paid the highest
price in grief. Our lives will never be the same.
Now you must finish the job, for us, for the
fallen soldiers, for our people, for the sake of
future generations.
“And if you are not up to the task, if you
don’t have the guts to win the war – stand
aside, vacate your seats at the cabinet table,
so that others, better leaders, can take your
place.”
The writer is senior fellow at the Misgav Insti-
tute for National Security & Zionist Strategy. The
views expressed here are his own. His diplomatic,
defense, political, and Jewish world columns over
the past 27 years are at davidmweinberg.com.

Recognizing Druze inclusion and sacrifice

GRAPEVINE
• By GREER FAY CASHMAN

I
n addition to the letter that he sent to Prime Min-
ister Benjamin Netanyahu requesting that the
Nation-State Law be revised to ensure equality for
Israel’s minority populations, Druze leader Sheikh
Mowafak Tareef also raised the issue in person with
President Isaac Herzog when the latter paid a con-
dolence call on the families of two Druze officers who
fell in battle. Lt. Col. Salman Habak, who was among
the first to fight Hamas terrorists on October 7, and lat-
er moved with his forces to Northern Gaza, where he
was killed; and Lt. Col. Alim Saad who was killed in
battle along the Lebanese border.
Both men were married residents of Yanuh-Jat, and
left behind widows and young orphaned children.
Each was known for being an inspiring commander,
who cared for his men, and who was staunchly patri-
otic. The Druze are very circumspect about making
their traditions public, but one thing that is known is
that they have a rule about fierce loyalty to their host
countries.
This has created a degree of family friction between
Israeli Druze and their relatives in Syria, although they
do communicate, and wave to each other from safe
distances. Following Habak’s death, his relatives and
friends disclosed how angry he had been at the enact-
ment of the Nation-State Law which causes the Druze
community to feel excluded, despite the fact that they
have given so much to Israel’s security and defense, as
well as to diplomacy, politics, and journalism.
Herzog told the grieving families and members of
the Druze community in general, that he had come in
the name of the whole nation of Israel to try to com-
fort the families in their sorrow.

■ FOR THE past 126 years, the masthead of the New

York Times has carried the slogan “All the news that’s
fit to print.”
Devised by the paper’s former owner Adolph Ochs, it
is of course an idle boast in that no newspaper is large
enough to publish all the news that’s fit to print, and
editors of every newspaper are selective in what they
consider to be news.
Since the advent of the internet, readers have been
exposed to a much wider selection of both genuine
and fake news, so many people who are neither profes-
sional reporters nor editors have become de facto jour-
nalists choosing items that interest them to forward
to followers of the various social media platforms on
which they have accounts.
The amount of news moving across countries and
continents is mind-boggling and has been given addi-
tional impact through Zoom meetings and podcasts,
both of which are used extensively to broadcast Israel’s
message to the world.
Someone who has been extensively engaged in
doing this is Atlanta-born educator and public speaker
Rabbi Jeremy Gimpel, who is a Sgt. Major in the IDF
reserve forces Givati Infantry Brigade.
Now his mother Lynn Gimpel is also disseminat-
ing information and has forwarded an article written
more than a decade ago by Sebastian Vilar Rodri-
guez and published in a Spanish newspaper in Janu-
ary 2008.
Lynn Gimpel sent the email of this article as a link in
a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews,
20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900
Catholic priests who were murdered, raped, burned,
PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG pays a condolence call to the Druze community. (Courtesy President’s Spokesman’s Office)
starved, beaten, experimented on, and humiliated.
Whoever launched this memorial chain wrote:
“Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claim-
ing the Holocaust to be a myth, it is imperative to
make sure the world never forgets.
“How many years will it be before the attack on the
World Trade Center ‘NEVER HAPPENED’ because it
offends some Muslims in the United States? If our
Judeo-Christian heritage is offensive to Muslims, they
should pack up and move to Iran, Iraq, or some other
Muslim country.
“We must wake up America, England, Australia, and
Europe before it’s too late!”
■ A HUGE number of people have responded to
the call by farmers to come and pick and pack fruit
and vegetables. Among those who answered the call
is Jerusalem lawyer Isachar Bar Hillel, 76, who
says “I’m too old to be a soldier, but I wanted to do
something to help.” In particular, he wanted to help
farmers near Gaza, because he feels that their needs
are more urgent. So far, he has been to farms on two
moshavim near Netivot – and he hasn’t gone alone.
He has room in his car for four passengers, so he took
four lawyers from his firm, including his daughter, and
they went to pick oranges at a moshav near Netivot
under the guidance of the owner of the farm. A week
later, they picked and packed cherry tomatoes. Bar
Hilel intends to take four lawyers to the south every
week to help the farmers.
This was not his first foray into agriculture. When
he graduated High School, he joined the Nahal Bri-
gade, and spent three months on Kibbutz Ein Tzurim
picking cotton. He realized that this was not what he
wanted in life and went back to the army full time,
completed an officers course, and served in the Six Day
War, the Yom Kippur War, and later in Lebanon.
Like the farmers, he is currently short-staffed,
because one of the lawyers in his office is serving in
the army. But Bar Hillel believes that the needs of the
farmers are more important than his own.
■ IN SEPTEMBER of this year, Jerusalem Deputy
Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum was appointed by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Israel’s special envoy for
innovation. The Ministry was impressed by what she
had done as a co-founder of the UAE-Israel Business
Council. Realizing that she could not go beyond her
present role in local politics, Hassan-Nahoum accept-
ed the appointment, and was looking forward to visit-
ing the Gulf States this month to start work.
But then came the war, and municipal elections
were postponed for several months, and her appoint-
ment did not immediately take effect. But that did not
deter her. When an invitation came to be the keynote
speaker at the Texas Association of Business (TAB) on
December 7, she replied in the affirmative, adding yet
another link in the chain of Israel-America coopera-
tion.
“Fleur is instrumental in implementing the Abraham
Accords, which have changed the course of the Middle
East,” said TAB CEO Glenn Hamer. “The Deputy
Mayor is a mastermind, not only in public policy, but
in innovation and communications. We are honored
to have her speak at the TAB Policy Conference.”
“Texas and Israel are bound by economic and cul-
tural ties. Following attacks from Hamas, TAB came
out in strong support of Israel and maintains that
peace is vital to a country’s ability to flourish eco-
nomically,” said TAB Board Chairman Massey Vil-
larreal. “We look forward to hearing how we can
further strengthen ties between the Start-Up Nation
and the Scale-Up State.”
Hassan-Nahoum, who is a dynamic public speaker,
has been appearing regularly on CNN, BBC, and on
Spanish language networks Telemundo, and CNN
Argentina Univision to state Israel’s case.
greerfc@gmail.com
22
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RESOLUTE
Continued from Page 13
a month, even as the difficulties for the families of
those mobilized add up, even as the economy is strug-
gling.
Israel, a small country with an acute sensitivity to
military casualties, is not built for prolonged wars. Its
wars need to be short. And, for the most part, its wars
have been short. This war, at 35 days as of Friday, is
already longer than the 1956 Sinai Campaign (100
hours), the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War (19
days), and the Second Lebanon War (34) days. Only
the War of Independence and the First Lebanon War
lasted longer.
Yet there is little sign of a nation tiring, losing its
resolve, or questioning the need for the war or even
how it is being prosecuted. Israelis across the board
view this as a war of no choice, an undeniably just war,
one that is necessary to win convincingly in order to
ensure the country’s existence down the line.
As the war enters its second month, not only are
almost no dissenting voices being heard, but – on the
contrary – there are calls for the government to stand
firm, hang tough, and not give in to pressure for a
ceasefire. And these calls are coming from all sectors
of the population, even from the Left, even from fam-
ilies of those kidnapped in Gaza who are concerned
that the ground incursion could endanger their loved
ones.
On Sunday, one voice calling for the government to
“finish the job” was heard at the Mount Herzl Military
Cemetery in Jerusalem. It was the voice of Elnatan
Levenstein, who eulogized his younger brother, Yona-
dav, 23, married just two months ago, a soldier in
Givati’s commando unit, who fell Friday fighting in
northern Gaza.
“Now you are, unfortunately, part of history,” Elna-
tan said of his brother, who loved Jewish history. “Part
of a bloody war that we will never forget. A hard but
necessary war. A war over the future of our people in
our land. A war that should have ended a long time
ago and which your generation was not supposed to
fight.
“In 2012, Operation Pillar of Defense, my com-
rades and I, with the whole army, were prepared and
trained for this exact objective. We received orders and
detailed plans that were postponed again and again at
the last minute. And there were many opportunities
over the years that were not taken advantage of [to
finish the job].
“The price we paid since that cursed day in October
2023, Simchat Torah 5784, is unbearable. No more. I
want to call from here to the prime minister, defense
minister, ministers, and all the decision-makers: Do
not dare to stop, do not dare to hesitate, do not dare
to fold.”
A month after the war, that sentiment reflects the
national attitude – both on the Right and on the Left:
Finish the job this time; convincingly and unques-
tionably defeat Hamas this time.
It is not that the country is unaware of suffering
taking place in Gaza, but it is just that the magnitude
of the atrocities on October 7 – the sheer barbarism,
sadism, and unadulterated evil on display – has seeped
deeply into the Israeli psyche and created a sense that
in this war either Hamas’s capabilities are destroyed,
or Israel’s ability to survive and flourish here as it has
done in the past is in question.
For most Israelis, the choice seems that stark. And
this explains why the morale of the army is so high,
why the nation has come together in ways not seen
since the Yom Kippur War a half century ago, and
why – 35 days after the war started – nary a voice in
Israel is being raised questioning the justice, morality,
or necessity of what the IDF is doing.
While around the world the horrific images from
October 7 have been mainly replaced and surpassed
by pictures of the war’s toll in Gaza, those images
have not been eclipsed in Israel. Instead, the images of
October 7, as well as the stories that accompany those
images, stories that still come out day after day – tales
both of agony and of heroism – have deeply pene-
trated the Israeli psyche, surely not to be overtaken
or overshadowed by anything else for the foreseeable
future. • too much; as a result, according to that report, some
UNCERTAINTY
Continued from Page 16
At the nearby gate, motorcycles, bags of armaments,
and Kalashnikov rifles were still strewn about.
Each platoon moved into a house on the edge of the
kibbutz, our new outposts in the apocalyptic waste-
land. We felt guilty about living there, but we told
ourselves it was necessary to safeguard what was left
and restore it to as close as it had once been. We even
cleaned it up, sweeping up and washing the floors.
We had our first showers, one by one, as the others
took up defensive positions around them. One night,
my friend Marco presented me with a rations can of
halva. He lit a lighter in lieu of a candle, illuminating
the words “happy birthday,” which he had written
on the can in black marker. I had forgotten it was my
birthday. I didn’t even know what day it was anymore;
the days had bled together as one.
Mortars were constantly shrieking overhead. The
hum of our own mortar teams returning fire became a
comfort, a lullaby to which we would close our eyes for
our meager night’s sleep.
THE NEXT day, contact: A sniper team reported seeing
an unknown individual running on the periphery
of the kibbutz. An officer from a mandatory service
brigade came in on the radio: “It’s me, don’t shoot!”
he assured, but his location didn’t match up. The inci-
dent was just about dismissed as a mistake, but our vig-
ilant company commander held on to his suspicions
and another platoon was sent to investigate.
“We’re under attack!” our sergeant alerted us, as
explosions erupted down the block. In a flash, we were
maneuvering along the houses to where the other
platoon had engaged with the enemy. As we moved,
an enemy drone hovered in the air, directing mortar
fire against us. The sky sang with the shrieking of
incoming mortar bombs, until they were intercepted
just above our heads. Shrapnel rained down onto a car
nearby. We didn’t know we had an anti-mortar system
set up in the area until that moment. We took up posi-
tions outside the flashpoint house, covering the team
still inside.
A terrorist had ambushed the platoon, which was
still under the impression that the sniper team report
was a false alarm. He had thrown an improvised
grenade from a blind spot down a hall. One reservist
FRONTLINES
was severely wounded in the leg, and two others were
lightly wounded. The concussive force of a second gre-
nade sent the platoon officer flying out of the house
– unharmed besides ringing ears. As the terrorist came
running out of the safe room where he had been hid-
ing, our company commander took him down with a
few quick shots. The wounded reservists were quickly
evacuated in stable condition.
In a separate incident in another town, a sister
company was not so lucky – one reservist was killed
and four more were grievously wounded by a mortar
bomb.
House-to-house searches became all the more nec-
essary after the incident. What was in these homes
was unknown. Sweeping through home after home,
we checked for more terrorists. At this range, the
broken sights of my rifle hardly mattered. We found
homes riddled with bullets, bloody smears across clos-
et doors, and kitchen knives abandoned in safe rooms.
In one home, I recognized the picture of a man I had
seen on the news. Saar Margolis had been killed in
the Hamas massacre, bravely defending his commu-
nity. In many of the houses, we found dogs and cats,
quivering with fear and hiding under furniture. Some
of the dogs, though shaking and crying from the trau-
matic attack, were just happy to see people after days
of isolation.
We fed and cared for any pets as best we could, until
they could be reunited with their families. Finally, a
replacement rifle came for me. Electricity, water, and
communications had been mostly restored. Slowly, we
were securing the kibbutz.
Another reservist battalion soon replaced us in Kis-
sufim, and we moved to another town, not far from
where the Supernova music festival slaughter had
unfolded. One platoon member discovered on the
night we moved towns that a friend had died at the
party.
Rest became more frequent, and we had more time
to hone our gear. Some of us stood guard as kibbutz
members held funerals for their murdered loved ones.
The intensity of Kissufim faded, mortar and rocket
attacks became less frequent, and we felt like we were
again waiting for the next mission. We went out on
patrols, searched for more victims, and staked out
vulnerable sites, but it seemed that we were feeling out
in the darkness, our objectives unclear. The company
expressed its frustration to our commanders.
“War is a state of uncertainty,” said one of the dep-
uty company commanders. Chaos was normal, and
it was part of the battle that we had to appreciate. As
soldiers, we had to conquer territory from chaos, and
establish whatever positions we could in these bul-
warks of sanity. The battlefield for order was not just
in the kibbutzim, more than just in our hearts – the
entire state was on the front lines.
We often take the sanctuary of homes for granted,
but we reservists had seen how they had crumbled.
We hold the conviction that our towns are constant
fixtures of our environments, but concrete and brick
can be leveled as easily as paper torn. The whole state
felt as though it were on unstable ground.
With grim resolve, no matter how great or small the
mission, bit by bit, stone by stone, we had to work to
shore up the country’s broken fences and its breached
sense of security.
I haven’t yet been back to Kissufim, but I hope that
the stench of death has faded away. • out extensive application forms with no guarantee of
HEROES
Continued from Page 16
hope to attend the Technion Faculty of Medicine [in
Haifa] and specialize in trauma medicine. Before I
came to Bahad 10, I was a fighter in an engineering
unit. They are all very proud of me.”
On October 7, he was at home when informed that
he must go to the base about 7 km. from Gaza where
he arrived by military ambulance in the evening.
”We kept working there for about a week. There were
many civilian wounded, most of whom had been shot,
so bleeding was the most common problem.”
There was a report in the Yisrael Hayom newspaper
that some seriously wounded who bled profusely
were treated with tourniquets that were tightened
victims lost limbs because their blood supply had
been cut off completely. However, Yalonensky said
that every soldier upon enlistment and those trained
at BAHAD 10 learn to use tourniquets by being shown
how to do it, with videos and even practicing upon
themselves. They are taught. I haven’t heard of any
cases of improper use of tourniquets to stop bleeding
among the wounded in the South.”
Like the others, Yalonensky was very pleased with
the emotional support he and his team members at
their base received. We saw terrible things – bodies
and body parts. But we have emotional strength.”
BAHAD 10 PARAMEDIC Sgt. Ziv Meir, who was born
22 years ago at Moshav Ramat Magshimim on the
southern Golan Heights, now lives in Rehovot. He is
due to finish his IDF service in another week but has
resolved to remain enlisted until the Gaza war ends.
He was at home when the sirens went off and half
an hour later, he and his teammates were told to go
to the base.
“We really didn’t know much about what had hap-
pened in the South, except that there were many
wounded. On the way, commanders briefed us on
what the specific problems were and how to treat the
victims.”
He said that he avoided watching the videos collect-
ed from body cameras of dead Hamas terrorists that
had been compiled by the IDF Spokesman’s office.
“It’s for foreign ambassadors, leaders, and journal-
ists. Ordinary Israelis shouldn’t watch, because it’s bad
for morale and can cause nightmares.”
“We are young, but we are professionals. We were
joined by orthopedists, surgeons, paramedics, and
EMTs in the reserves who hadn’t been called up for
quite a while. Maybe they have to undergo refresher
courses more often. But we all did good work. We
have high morale. Nobody planned to experience this
catastrophe, but we did the best we could,” he con-
cluded. • “People have said ‘it’s such a mitzvah,’ but it’s really
AMERICA
Continued from Page 17
Jewish history not to open your doors to other Jews.”
NONETHELESS, WITH the high cost of Jewish edu-
cation a constant concern, some question who will
bear the financial burden of hosting more than 1,000
‘THERE’S NEVER been a time in Jewish history not to open your doors to other Jews,’ says Stephanie Ives,
principal at Beit Raban. (Amy Klein)
new families – up to 10% of students at some schools.
The Prizmah survey found that 52% of the schools are
offering free tuition, with others extending “pay as
you can” programs.
In New York, UJA-Federation is offering a grant to
help Jewish schools, with $5,000 per new Israeli stu-
dent.
“It’s fluid, it’s evolving; we don’t know how long
families will be here,” said Chavie Kahn, director of
day school & yeshiva strategy at UJA-Federation of
New York. “If they’re here for 30 days, it’s different
than if they’re here for six months. There’s an ongo-
ing conversation with the schools and UJA-Federation
as they meet the needs of the students and the crisis
continues,” Kahn said.
But not every local Jewish Federation is offering
funding to offset the cost to schools or to help Israeli
refugees. Although the Jewish Federations of North
America surpassed $600 million for its Israel Emergen-
cy Fund, that is devoted to helping people in Israel,
not Israelis abroad – even if they were displaced by
the war.
Some day schools have found themselves at capacity,
and have even asked Israelis to “apply” on the regular
application form before they give them an answer.
That’s what happened to “Beth,” who preferred not
to use her real name. She came to New York hoping
to send two of her children to school here, but after
one Conservative Jewish high school told her to fill
admission or financial aid, she decided to go to Bos-
ton, where Gann Academy has a full-service system in
place to help displaced families.
Other organizers find themselves trying to help
Israeli refugees, only relying on private donations.
Liat Franco and three other Israeli-American women
(Meytal Busani, Liat Lehavi, Dikla Egozi) set up a “war
room” in Los Angeles trying to help some 70 refugee
families who arrived from Israel because of the war.
One girl survived the Supernova music festival. Anoth-
er five teenage boys were displaced from the South.
“It’s so hard – who do you help first? Some people are
displaced from their homes, others just left Tel Aviv,”
Franco said, noting that they don’t differentiate. “You
can’t judge people who left Israel; they’re in trauma.”
But LA – specifically, the San Fernando Valley – pres-
ents its own unique challenge. “Some families are
living in people’s houses, others need cars because
you can’t go anywhere without a car,” she said. She
said some of the Jewish schools in the valley, like Ilan
Ramon Day School, are admitting Israeli students, but
other Jewish schools will not offer free entrance. “If
I had funds to help Israelis, I could get them all into
schools,” she said.
In the meantime, she has arranged for tickets to Dis-
neyland and a visit to a Kfar Saba Urban Farm.
“It’s all therapeutic; it’s a very healing and support-
ive place,” said Israeli-American farm owner Limor
Ness. “The animals give you support and uncondition-
al love,” she said, talking about the 75 animals, goats,
alpacas, tortoises, parrots, and “a turkey that adores
hugs.” When the Supernova party survivor came to
the farm, she sat in the barn and let the animals come
to her. “They have a sixth sense – the horse came and
put her nose on the girl’s back for hours, and gave her
energy,” she said. “It’s a process: it’s very relaxing and
very healing.”
IN EVERY home front war effort – whether it’s supply-
ing equipment for soldiers or sending letters to Israeli
schoolchildren or helping refugee families – there’s
usually one powerhouse of a person who manages to
pull it all together.
On New York’s Upper West Side, that person may
be Erela Nornberg, a parent who founded “Israeli
Hug Center,” a one-stop location for families arriving
from Israel, housed at Congregation Rodeph Sholom,
a Reform synagogue. “Everyone just kept saying yes,”
said Nornberg, a family and marriage therapist whose
children attended Rodeph Sholom school (one is still
in fifth grade). When she asked Rabbi Ben Spratt for
space in the synagogue, it gave her half a dozen spaces
for the “hug” center, which has served dozens of Israe-
li families who fled the war. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 1
p.m. every day, offering breakfast, a workspace, a play
space for children, mental health support, as well as
activities for young children and older ones awaiting
temporary admission into day schools.
a blessing to our community,” said Rodeph Sholom
Head of School Danny Karpf. “It’s really valuable for
our students to feel more proximate to the situation
[in Israel], to feel they are doing something meaning-
ful to support children from Israel at this time.”
Many parents are overwhelmed by the support they
unexpectedly found here, displaced during the war.
Nili Shalam came with her husband and three girls
to the city for the holidays, when the war broke out,
affecting her relatives in Kibbutz Be’eri. They decided
23
to postpone their flight back to Israel, and heard about
Rodeph’s “Hug” center through a friend. Her husband
went back to Israel, and their three girls (ages eight,
seven, and four) started attending Rodeph, while Nili
worked at her hi-tech job from the workspace.
Coming to the center every day, being with other
displaced Israelis, crying, talking about what was
going on, “gave me a connected feeling to the Amer-
ican Jewish community,” she said. “That surprised
me. I didn’t think I would feel like that as a refugee far
from home,” she said. “During such a horrible time
for the State of Israel and for the Jews, the open hearts
that the Rodeph community showed are the light in
the darkness. This will enable to keep the connection
alive.”
But now she feels it’s time to return to Israel, even
though her girls are begging her to stay – going so far
as writing her letters campaigning not to leave. Her
husband wants her to stay in America, but her parents
want her to return. “They’re a different generation,
[the type that think], There’s a war here; you don’t
leave!” So she’s going back on Shabbat. “In the end,
I’m a citizen of Israel and it’s my home,” she said.
“What can I do? We want to go back and lend our sup-
port. I hope it will be okay.”
Not all Israelis feel that way. “People are saying that
we need to be one and help each other, and everybody
needs to be doing something for the soldiers protect-
ing us, for the people who were evacuated from their
homes,” said Zuckerman, who noted that as a new
mother, she couldn’t do much in Israel: she couldn’t
cook meals or volunteer on farms. She feels that
there’s judgment in Israel about the people who left.
They say, “Where are you guys? How can you leave in
such a situation? This is the time to be here, to show
you’re Israeli, to show you’re strong – not to run away,”
she said.
Everyone who was in Israel during the attacks has
PTSD – even if you leave, she said. “If you hear a motor-
cycle and that vroom, you think that’s an alarm. If you
hear an ambulance, you immediately turn around and
look for some type of terrorism event; it doesn’t matter
if you leave.”
She has a ticket back to Israel but is not sure she will
go. “On the one hand, I want to be in my home with
my husband and have stability. On the other hand, if I
got out, am I being naive to want to go back? •”
TRIAL
Continued from Page 17
few Hamas criminals may not carry the same weight
as the Eichmann trial, but it would serve as an edu-
cational tool, informing Israelis and people around
the world about Hamas terrorism and inhumanity, its
goals and its actions.
It would also take place when highly political inter-
national organizations are calling for trials against
Israel for conducting what we define as a defensive
war, while ignoring Hamas crimes.
Attorney Amos Hausner, the son of Gideon Hausner,
and coauthor of the Hebrew book When Eichmann
Knocked at our Door, told me that, in principle, he
favors a specific law establishing a special court to
try Hamas criminals. Such a move should specify the
court’s jurisdiction, and its introductory explanation
should reference laws passed after Israeli indepen-
dence, related to Nazi war crimes. In his opinion, such
a law would be upheld by the Supreme Court.
Another obstacle to a specific law and court is the
current political and legal climate. While the attor-
ney-general is widely respected, her authority is to
recommend that the government approve enacting a
law to establish a special court. At the political level,
it would be difficult to find a highly respected senior
jurist in the current government to justify establish-
ing a special court and persuade world opinion of its
credibility. The justice minister and chairman of the
Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee
are still involved in damaging restructuring of the
prestigious Israeli court system. They do not have the
national or international status to undertake excep-
tional legal measures. It seems that a special court
would only be considered reliable if the judges were
appointed by the president of the Supreme Court and
not by a politician.
Furthermore, a special law and court must be imple-
mented swiftly, and the Knesset is not known for
acting quickly. However, during the war, some gov-
ernment ministries have acted promptly to address
challenges within their jurisdiction. It is possible that
the justice minister and chairman of the Knesset law
committee could redirect their efforts from disman-
tling the independent court system and focus on laws
and regulations relating to the war effort, especially if
directed to do so by the prime minister. Preparation is
the key to success. If Israel plans for the future, it will
get there prepared and successful. •
24
OBSERVATIONS F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 10 , 2 0 2 3  T H E J E R U S A L E M P O S T

Why they tear down hostage posters

dead, and the entire people of
EDITOR’S NOTES the victims, and are, without
• By AVI MAYER doubt, continuing manifesta-
tions of the kinds of dehuman-
ization and disentitlement that

E
arlier this week, a hand-
ful of other journalists
and I sat down with a
senior Israeli official to hear
his insights into the military
campaign against Hamas in
Gaza. Before we began, his staff
directed our attention to a large
television opposite the confer-
ence table and pressed ‘play.’
It took me a few moments
to realize that we were being
shown a condensed version of
the infamous 43-minute video
of Hamas’s atrocities on Octo-
ber 7 – a video I had studiously
avoided seeing, even as some
of my more intrepid colleagues
subjected themselves to the
horrors it depicts in a series of
screenings for the press.
As I watched the raw footage
– much of it captured by the
perpetrators themselves using
bodycams, GoPro devices,
and their own mobile phones
– I could feel my pulse quick-
en and my mouth turn dry.
I saw headless bodies strewn
on the ground, small chil-
dren sprawled unnaturally in
pools of blood, a head shrunk-
en and blackened by fire. I
found myself torn between
the knowledge that what I was
watching had taken place just a
couple of weeks prior, roughly
an hour’s drive from where we
were, and the powerful sense
that I had seen it all before, in
grainy black-and-white footage
from a dark time, far away.
It is difficult to describe
the maelstrom of emotion in
which Israelis and Jews around
the world have found them-
selves since October 7. The
shock, horror, grief, and fear
produced by the massacre and
its aftermath have intermin-
gled with glimmers of hope,
pride, and steely determina-
tion, as embodied by our col-
lective response.
But as we have witnessed the
reactions of those around us,
those removed from the events
on the ground, many of us
have experienced an unusual
feeling: disbelief.
Yes, we know that some
people hate us. We knew
that events in Israel are often
exploited by antisemites as a
pretext for attacks on Jews and
on the Jewish state. But the
ferocity of the loathing, and the
swiftness and openness with
which it has been expressed,
have taken many Jews aback
– as have concurrent efforts to
alternately celebrate, deny, and
erase our suffering.
In the weeks since October 7,
a new phenomenon has swept
through the streets of major
cities around the world: posters
bearing the faces of the 240
Israelis held hostage by Hamas
in Gaza have been plastered by
Jews and their allies on walls,
lampposts, and bulletin boards,
only to be torn down by an
assortment of bigots from a
variety of backgrounds.
Social media platforms have
been flooded with videos of
confrontations between the
vandals and those who have
caught them in the act. A
blond student at the University
of Southern California can be
seen giggling as she carefully
removes the hostage posters
from a campus bulletin board.
A woman in Paris says, “It’s
all propaganda.” A man with
oversized headphones walking
away with a wad of crumpled
posters explains that they are
“perpetuating the narrative of
the victimization of the Israe-
lis, which is completely false.”
A young woman in a green
Nike hoodie peeling posters off
a New York City wall simply
says, “They’re fake.”
At the same time, activists
have been claiming that pho-
tos of the blackened bodies of
Israeli babies were generated
by artificial intelligence and
POSTERS BEARING the photos of Israelis being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza are seen on a street in Port Washington, NY.
(Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
that the events of October 7
were staged. Attendees at a Los
Angeles screening of the full
43-minute video of the Hamas
atrocities were physically
assaulted by protesters; activists
had tried to dissuade invitees
from attending the event, call-
ing the footage “propaganda.”
The irony, of course, is that
it is Hamas that has made a
point of documenting and
broadcasting its savagery. The
number of videos from that
day is staggering; TikTok, Tele-
gram, and other platforms
have been awash with graph-
ic depictions of the carnage.
A Hamas “abduction manual”
recovered following the massa-
cre instructed the perpetrators
to livestream their actions. “Do
not waste the camera battery
and storage but use them as
much as possible,” the manual
read. In at least one case, the
terrorists used an elderly wom-
an’s phone to upload a video
of her murder to her Facebook
profile, which was how her
family learned of her death.
What is happening here?
Professor Israel Charny is one
of the world’s foremost Holo-
caust and genocide scholars.
He is also a prominent psychol-
ogist and has written exten-
sively about the psychology of
Holocaust and genocide deni-
al.
In a 2001 article published
in the academic journal IDEA,
Charny described the motives
that drive those who deny
genocides and other atrocities.
“Denials of known events
of genocide must be treated
as acts of bitter and malevo-
lent psychological aggression,
certainly against the victims,
but really against all of human
society, for such denials literal-
ly celebrate genocidal violence
and in the process suggestively
call for renewed massacres – of
the same people or of others,”
he wrote.
“Such denials also mad-
den, insult, and humiliate the
survivors, the relatives of the
we know are the basic psycho-
logical substrates that make
genocide possible, to begin
with,” he noted.
While comparisons between
the events of October 7 and
the Holocaust are largely off-
base – “Jewish blood now has
a price,” said the senior official
with whom I met this week,
referring to the ongoing mili-
tary operation targeting Hamas
in Gaza – efforts to deny them
are strikingly similar.
Like Holocaust denial, the
minimization, erasure, and
denial of Hamas’s atrocities tar-
get both the dead and the liv-
ing, seeking to perpetuate their
pain with breathtaking cruelty.
They are, as Charny says, acts
of utter dehumanization.
Those who tear down posters
bearing the faces of 10-month-
old Kfir Bibas or 84-year-old
Ditza Heiman, 13-year-old
Alma Or or 59-year-old Michel
Nisenbaum cannot counte-
nance the notion that Jews
can be victims – or that oth-
ers might see them as such. To
them, Jews are invariably evil,
always the aggressors. There is
no such thing as an innocent
Jew. “Perpetuating the nar-
rative of the victimization of
the Israelis,” as the bigot cited
above said, cannot stand – and
facts be damned.
The response to these acts of
malicious vandalism should
be obvious. We should plaster
our abducted loved ones’ faces
everywhere. We should make
them impossible to avoid. We
should project them on build-
ings, print them in newspa-
pers, broadcast them on tele-
vision, and post them online.
Every poster that is torn down
should be replaced with ten.
Our message is simple: These
people are real. They are inno-
cent. They are being held
against their will. And they
need to be brought home now.

The battle of states of mind

beyond the world’s understanding.
Gaza is not a “vast open-air prison,”
MY WORD as the Palestinians like to portray it,
• By LIAT COLLINS but a huge underground terrorist
base. The prisoners being held in its
warrens of terror tunnels are the 240
to know better is stunning.
Mooted plans to place the Pales-
tinian Authority in control of Gaza
are misguided or disingenuous.
PA head Mahmoud Abbas is not
the good guy. He’s not even a nice

J
ust before the start of the Sab-
bath in Israel last Friday after-
noon, there were two notable
speeches. One was by US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken and the other
by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasral-
lah. They were complete contrasts,
of course.
Blinken spoke in English – in fact,
he spoke in “Western.” While he
seemed to understand the problems
Israel is facing in its war on Hamas
and Islamist jihadi ideology, he
nonetheless could not bring himself
to break away from the standard call
for “a two-state solution.”
Nasrallah, on the other hand,
preached dramatically in literary Ara-
bic. While distancing himself from
the Hamas mega-atrocity in which
1,400 people were slaughtered in
southern Israel, saying it was a “100%
Palestinian” operation, the Hezbol-
lah leader nonetheless came to praise
it rather than bury it.
According to Al Jazeera, he praised
the “martyrs,” thanked the “strong
and brave Iraqi and Yemeni hands
who are now involved in this holy
war,” and he described it as “a big
event to shake this oppressive…
occupying, usurping Zionist regime
and its supporters in Washington
and London.” There is a message
there that I hope Blinken didn’t miss
because of the scheduling clash of
their speeches. This is a battle that
goes beyond words.
And while Nasrallah said he would
not be joining in the war at this stage,
the Shi’ite extremist does not invite
trust. More to the point, with con-
stant rocket attacks on northern Isra-
el from Lebanese territory under his
control, it could be argued that he
has already joined in. If Israel has
learned anything from the collapse
of its security “concept” culminat-
ing in the October 7 Hamas terror
monstrosity, it is that the Jewish
state cannot afford to allow sporad-
ic rocket fire and attacks as if they
A WOMAN looks at posters in Tel Aviv showing hostages who are being held by Hamas in Gaza and people still
missing following the October 7 mega-terror attack on Israel. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)
were normal. Terrorist armies cannot
be allowed to build their strength
while Israel refrains from adequately
responding. Just how many rockets
would Western countries tolerate if
their cities were the targets?
European Union foreign policy
chief Josep Borrell is someone else
who seems to have got the picture
– but then distorts it. He told a con-
ference of ambassadors in Brussels
on Monday that he now realizes that:
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no
longer an Israeli-Arab [one] but a
religious and civilization fight.” His
solution? Two states, what else?
The Hamas massacre – which he
at least described as a “barbarity”
– underscored the importance of
resolving the Israeli-Palestinian con-
flict, according to Borrell. Does he
listen to himself, let alone to what
Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and
their Iranian sponsor are saying?
Resolving a conflict over territory
is difficult, but not impossible. But a
religious, ideological clash is some-
thing altogether different. Hamas is
not involved in a border dispute with
Israel: It wants to eliminate the Jew-
ish state. It is literally written in its
charter.
The pro-Palestinian protesters
marching in various cities around
the world chanting “From the River
to the Sea, Palestine will be free,”
are not calling for the map to be
tweaked. They’re calling for Israel to
be wiped off it.
There are at least 22 Arab states
and an even greater number of Mus-
lim countries, but having one Jewish
state? Perish the thought. Or perish
the Jews.
The rise in antisemitic incidents
since the start of Operation Swords
of Iron is frightening. The death of
Paul Kessler as he bravely countered a
pro-Palestinian protest in Los Angeles
is particularly tragic – and alarming.
Where is Western democracy if only
one side is able to hold protests – vio-
lent ones at that – while the Jews and
supporters of Israel are meant to stay
home? Ask the Jews in France, the
UK, and elsewhere, taking the mezu-
zot off their doorposts, how safe they
feel in their homes. Why are Ortho-
dox Jews covering their kippot in
public? Consider what it means that
Jewish students are afraid to wear a
star of David on university campus-
es, the bastion of enlightened val-
ues, with their safe spaces for those
threatened by micro-aggressions.
There is a constant delegitimiza-
tion and dehumanization of Israel;
it is the modern manifestation of
antisemitism.
While the plight of the Palestin-
ians is discussed endlessly in interna-
tional bodies like the United Nations
and parliaments around the globe,
the fact that this is a self-afflicted –
and self-perpetuating – condition is
innocent people of all ages who were
abducted from Israel on October 7.
Were Hamas to stop launching rock-
ets and free the captives, there could
be a ceasefire. When people call for a
humanitarian gesture, this is how it
needs to be interpreted.
Israel is rightly cautious of agreeing
to a broad ceasefire unless it includes
a provision for the return of the hos-
tages. A break in Israel’s anti-terrorist
operations in Gaza would be exploit-
ed by Hamas to strengthen its posi-
tions. Or worse. During the 2014 war
– an Israeli operation to counter the
thousands of Hamas rockets being
launched from Gaza – the terrorists
exploited a UN-sponsored ceasefire
to kill and abduct the bodies of IDF
soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Gol-
din. It’s well beyond time to bring
back their remains for burial in Isra-
el – and to return civilians Avera
Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.
Good people – people who really
support humanity – are campaign-
ing for the return of the captives –
ranging from a 10-month-old baby
who has spent one of those months
in Hamas hell, to people in their
late-eighties and nineties. But the
forces of evil are evident everywhere.
When Palestinian supporters tear
down the posters displaying photos
of the missing, they leave behind the
proverbial writing on the wall.
Most people who pass a poster of a
missing dog either ignore it or – like
me – note the details and hope it
is speedily reunited with its fami-
ly. You don’t rip the poster up, try-
ing to erase evidence of the missing
pet. Who is so driven by hatred that
they can’t stand to see the picture
of a missing Israeli child? And what
are the implications for the society
where they dwell?
THIS WEEK, the focus moved to “The
Day After,” what happens when the
war in Gaza ends. The lack of under-
standing among those who pretend
guy. And he can’t control the areas
currently under his authority, let
alone Gaza where his Fatah regime
was brutally overthrown in 2007.
There’s a reason that he hasn’t held
elections for years: He knows he
would lose to Hamas.
The terrorism emanating from
the West Bank (Judea and Samaria)
is supported by the PA’s “pay-for-
slay” policy, cult of martyrdom, and
anti-normalization fixation. The PA,
whoever heads it, is not going to turn
the Gaza Strip into Singapore or a
Gulf-state success story.
There is no “two-state” solution:
The Palestinians of the West Bank
and those of Gaza are united only in
their desire to destroy Israel. Inevita-
bly, creating an artificial link between
the two entities would be followed
by a call to build a physical link – a
road that would cut across the Jewish
state. As if being stuck between the
devil and the deep blue Mediterra-
nean Sea wasn’t enough.
Promises that international forces
would help keep the peace are some-
where between a dream and a delu-
sion. UNRWA has helped perpetuate
the refugee crisis and indoctrinated
generation after generation to hate
Israel – “The Jews.” And how well
have the UNIFIL forces in Lebanon
succeeded in preventing Hezbollah
from building up and using its rock-
et arsenals? (Hezbollah, like Hamas,
directs its funds to terrorism rather
than the betterment of its own cit-
izens.)
We are living in the same world, but
a different universe. The world needs
to listen to the threats being made in
Arabic by terrorists and understand
not only the words but the mindset
that goes with them. Global jihad
has declared war on the “infidels.” It
doesn’t pretend to say otherwise.
Israel is, yet again, the canary in the
coal mine – or in this case, fighting in
the terror tunnels.
* liat@jpost.com