Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 18-19/2023
Gallant threatens 'five-fold stronger' response against Hezbollah
Israeli Foreign Minister: Hezbollah Endangers Lebanon, Region
Report: Israel prepares plan to invade south Lebanon
US Secretary of Defense calls on Hezbollah to avoid expanding the conflict
UNIFIL Commander: Situation in southern Lebanon is tense and dangerous
French foreign minister: UN Resolution 1701 on Lebanon must be implemented by both sides
French Foreign Minister Colonna from the Pine Palace: If Lebanon plunges into war, recovery will be nearly impossible
Colonna after meeting Mikati: Mechanism to pave way for a lasting stability in south Lebanon is necessary
French top diplomat in Beirut for talks on calming Israel border
Israel strikes near Hezbollah funeral in Aita al-Shaab
FPM to appeal army chief's extension before Constitutional Council
Franjieh meets army chief over dinner
Israel accuses Hezbollah, Iran of cyber attack on northern Israel hospital
Army rescues 51 people from sinking migrant boat
A Cabinet meeting at the Serail at 9:30 AM on Tuesday
Sami Gemayel meets Egyptian and Greek ambassadors, highlighting the need to protect Lebanon
Hezbollah ‘dragging Lebanon into war,’ IDF warns/Yaakov Lappin/JNS/December 18, 2023

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 18-19/2023
France to Act against ‘Radical’ Israeli Settlers, Pushes to Defuse Lebanon Tension
US Defense Secretary, Israeli Leaders Discuss More Targeted Approach in Gaza
Israel sees gradual transition to next phase of Gaza operations
Pentagon chief says he discussed with Israel transition to ‘surgical operations’ in Gaza
In Israel, U.S. defence chief to look to next phase of Gaza war
Israel finds large tunnel near Gaza border, raising questions about prewar intelligence
Benjamin Netanyahu Brags He's ‘Proud’ To Have Prevented A Palestinian State
Hamas posts video of three elderly Israeli hostages
Gaza Health Ministry: More than 100 killed in Israeli airstrikes on Jabalya refugee camp
Another commercial ship attacked in Red Sea
US launches new multinational operation to safeguard Red Sea commerce
US says ‘building international coalition’ to counter Red Sea attacks
US warship responds to an attack on commercial ship in Red Sea
Ukraine's army chief says situation at front line is not a stalemate
EU hits Russia's diamond industry with new round of sanctions over the Ukraine war
Iran Fuel Stations Hit By Possible Hack in Sign of Tensions
Jordan Says It Foiled Plot against Its Security by Gunmen from Syria
Egypt's Sisi wins presidential election with 89.6% of vote

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 18-19/2023
The Curious Case of the Biden Administration and Hamas/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./December 18, 2023
Syria: The Policy of Silence and the Silence around This Silence/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 18/2023
Europe May Be Headed for Something Unthinkable/Hans Kundnani/The New York Times/December 18/2023
Abou Ammar, Al-Sinwar and Questions about the Siege/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 18/2023
Israel’s allies lose control of narrative as death toll soars/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/December 18, 2023
Untying the Gordian Knots and Peace-Making/Charles Chartouni/This is Beirut/December 18/2023
Soaring attacks on US forces and others in the Middle East demand firm response to send a message, former top commander says/Jake Epstein/Business Insider/December 18, 2023
Hamas: Origins, Nature, and Goals/Raymond Ibrahim/December 18/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 18-19/2023
Gallant threatens 'five-fold stronger' response against Hezbollah
Naharnet/December 18, 2023
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has threatened Hezbollah for the umpteenth time, as the group continues to carry out daily rocket, missile and drone attacks on Israeli troops in northern Israel. “If Hezbollah wants to go up one level, we will go up five,” Gallant told reservist troops on Lebanon’s border. “And it will be up to you,” he added to the soldiers. “We don’t wish for that, we don’t want to get into a war situation. We want to restore peace,” Gallant said. The defense minister also vowed to restore security in northern Israel so that Israeli residents can return to their homes. “And we will do this either through an agreement process, or with forceful action, with all its implications,” he said. “We don’t want war, but we won’t hold it for too long,” Gallant added. Despite the daily attacks from Hezbollah, the Israeli army has said that its main focus remains on the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Foreign Minister: Hezbollah Endangers Lebanon, Region
Asharq Al Awsat/18 December 2023
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Sunday that Hezbollah endangers the security of Lebanon and that of the entire region. The Minister wrote on his X account that, “If this threat is not removed diplomatically, we will not hesitate to take military action.” In a meeting with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna, Cohen said: “We discussed preventing war in the north by distancing Hezbollah from the border with Israel, in accordance with UN Resolution 1701.”He then affirmed that the fight against “Iranian-funded terrorist organizations” is not only in the interest of Israel, but of the entire western world. Since the conflict between Hamas and Israel started in the Gaza Strip last October 7, Hezbollah has launched rocket attacks on Israel on a near-daily basis. In return, Israel shelled the south of Lebanon with airstrikes and artillery, killing tens of Hezbollah fighters and civilians.

Report: Israel prepares plan to invade south Lebanon
Naharnet/December 18, 2023
Israel’s army has drawn up plans to invade southern Lebanon, British newspaper The Times said Monday. "What happened in the south (of Israel during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack) is nothing compared to what they could do here," a senior Israeli officer told The Times. "Israeli doctrine is to take the war to the other side," the officer added. Since October 8, the day after the Israel-Hamas conflict started, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, which says it is acting in support of Hamas.
Fears of a widening war have been growing, with other Iran-backed groups attacking U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria, and Yemen's Houthi rebels targeting shipping in the Red Sea. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen warned Sunday that ensuring the security of Israelis near the border meant pushing Hezbollah "north of the Litani River", some 30 kilometers north of the border. "There are two ways to do that: either by diplomacy or by force," Cohen said. On Sunday, senior Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad, whose son was killed in an Israeli bombing last month, said the group was "not afraid of (Israel's) intimidation or the slogans it puts out via international intermediaries to remove our people" from parts of south Lebanon.

US Secretary of Defense calls on Hezbollah to avoid expanding the conflict
AFP/December 18, 2023
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin urged the Lebanese Hezbollah, backed by Iran, on Monday to avoid escalating the conflict with Israel amid the ongoing war between the Israeli state and Hamas.Austin stated in Tel Aviv, "We do not want to see this conflict widen into a larger war or a regional war, and we call on Hezbollah to ensure that actions are not taken that would lead to a broader conflict."

UNIFIL Commander: Situation in southern Lebanon is tense and dangerous
LBCI/December 18, 2023
UNIFIL's Commander, General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz, has affirmed that the situation in southern Lebanon is tense and dangerous, with escalating tensions between Hezbollah and Israel. Speaking to journalists before meeting with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, General Del Col stated, "the current situation, as everyone knows, is tense. It is difficult and dangerous."He clarified that UNIFIL is working to maintain the current situation, especially playing a role as a mediator between the two parties "to avoid miscalculations or interpretations that could be another cause for escalation." He emphasized that Hezbollah is increasingly using long-range weapons while Israel violates Lebanese airspace. "But in the past three days, we have noticed a decrease in the exchange of fire," he said. He also highlighted the close connection between the conflict in Gaza and the rising tensions in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah supports the Hamas movement.

French foreign minister: UN Resolution 1701 on Lebanon must be implemented by both sides
Arab News/December 18, 2023
BEIRUT: The UN Security Council Resolution 1701 on Lebanon must be implemented by both sides, France’s Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said in Beirut on Monday. The resolution, which was passed at the end of the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, states that no armed factions should be present between Lebanon’s Litani River and its border with Israel. Her remarks came as Israeli hostilities on the Lebanese southern front significantly escalated on Monday. An Israeli drone fired a guided missile at a building just 40 meters away from the funeral of Hezbollah member Hassan Maan Srour in the border village of Aita Al-Shaab.The missile caused damage to the building, but no casualties were reported. Mourners came together after being separated for a while following the incident and continued the funeral, chanting slogans against Israel. Aita Al-Shaab was subjected to additional Israeli strikes later, with no casualties reported. The Israeli army bombed Al-Mary Valley using 155 mm artillery shells, injuring a farmer and damaging the machine he was working on in his field. Sirens sounded in Shlomi and Matzuva in western Galilee and Yiftah in the Galilee Panhandle. Israeli media stated that around eight missiles were fired from Lebanon toward western Galilee and that the infiltration of a drone from southern Lebanon is suspected. The French minister’s arrival in Beirut from Tel Aviv coincided with the escalation of the confrontations between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
Her talks aim to prevent a deterioration in the situation on the border between Lebanon and Israel amid international warnings that hostilities in southern Lebanon could turn into full-scale war. Colonna’s visit includes meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun. During her meeting with Berri, it was reported that Colonna reiterated her country’s stance, which calls for “sparing the region of any conflict.”Colonna commended the Lebanese parliament’s decision last week to extend Gen. Aoun’s term, as well as those of security officials, namely generals and major generals, for one year. The term of Maj. Gen. Imad Othman — director-general of internal security forces — has also been extended. According to the defense law, the army chief’s mandate ends upon reaching the retirement age of 60 on Jan. 10, 2024.
The discussions between Berri and Colonna touched on “the possibility of addressing other political issues, starting with the presidency.” Colonna had called from Tel Aviv for an “immediate and sustainable” ceasefire in Gaza and a de-escalation with Lebanon.
During her visit to a military base near Tel Aviv, she expressed concern about possible escalation and called for caution, emphasizing that it would not benefit anyone, including Israel, if things spiraled out of control. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said after his talks with Colonna on Sunday that France could play a positive and important role in preventing a war in Lebanon.
Cohen stressed that Israel “has no intention of opening another front on our northern border, but we will do everything necessary to protect our citizens.”He pointed out: “More than 50,000 Israelis were displaced from the border areas in northern Israel, and we must ensure their security so that they can return.
“The only way to do this is to force Hezbollah to withdraw to the north of the Litani River. There are two ways to do that: through diplomacy or by force.” The outskirts of the town of Aitaroun were subjected to intermittent Israeli artillery shelling from Israeli army positions on the opposite side of the border. Israel also bombed the villages of Al-Dahaira and Alma Al-Shaab. Artillery shells targeted homes in the town of Al-Jabayn, the Labbouneh area, the outskirts of Naqoura, the Ruwaisat area, the northern outskirts of Mays Al-Jabal, and the outskirts of Hula and Wadi Al-Jamal. On Monday morning, Hezbollah targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and vehicles in the vicinity of the Hamra site.

French Foreign Minister Colonna from the Pine Palace: If Lebanon plunges into war, recovery will be nearly impossible
LBCI/December 18, 2023
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna emphasized the extremely dangerous escalation of tensions on both sides of the Blue Line. Speaking at a press conference held at the Pine Residence in the evening, Colonna underscored that her visit to Lebanon aims to avert the highly elevated risk of war, emphasizing the responsibility of all parties to work towards preventing a regional explosion. She stated that diplomacy, not military action, is the solution in the current situation. Colonna addressed Lebanese officials, warning that if Lebanon plunges into war, recovery will be nearly impossible, highlighting the gravity of the situation. She also conveyed a message to external actors, particularly Iran and its proxies in Iraq, Syria, and the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, stating that their actions contribute to a significant and dangerous mistake. She called for an end to the escalation.
"Lebanon, a cherished friend of France, holds a special place in the heart of the French, and France is committed to preserving stability in the country," she noted. She stressed the importance of implementing UN Resolution 1701 for the benefit of all and its impact on improving the ground situation. Colonna commended the extension of the Army Commander's term, deeming it highly beneficial for Lebanon's stability, but emphasized that it is insufficient. She appealed to all officials to demonstrate responsibility and proceed with the election of a president.

Colonna after meeting Mikati: Mechanism to pave way for a lasting stability in south Lebanon is necessary
LBCI/December 18, 2023
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati emphasized on Monday the priority of stopping Israeli aggression against Lebanon during his meeting with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. He stressed the importance of implementing Resolution 1701 with Israel committing to its provisions. Colonna, in turn, highlighted the necessity of de-escalating tensions on the southern borders from both sides and finding a mechanism to pave the way for a lasting stability in the south. After his meeting with Mikati, Caretaker Minister of Public Works Ali Hamieh announced that discussions tackled the need to increase the allocations for the ministry in the 2024 budget. “This is crucial for urgent maintenance work on roads, as the proposed budget does not allow for any such activities,” he added. Hamieh pointed out that Mikati expressed understanding and agreed to explore a suitable solution for this matter.

French top diplomat in Beirut for talks on calming Israel border
Agence France Presse/December 18, 2023
France's top diplomat arrived Monday in Beirut for talks on de-escalating near-daily exchanges of fire on the Israel border, which have triggered fears of all-out conflict. Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna met with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. She is expected to call for responsibility and restraint in her meetings with Lebanese leaders. Since October 8, the day after the Israel-Hamas conflict started, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, which says it is acting in support of Hamas. Fears of a widening war have been growing, with other Iran-backed groups attacking U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria, and Yemen's Houthi rebels targeting shipping in the Red Sea. In Israel on Sunday, Colonna called on all parties to "de-escalate" along the Lebanon-Israel border. "If things were to spiral out of control, I don't think anyone would benefit," she said. Gripped by political paralysis and a crushing four-year economic crisis, Lebanon can ill-afford another devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which last went to war in 2006. A French diplomatic source, requesting anonymity, expressed concern that Beirut could underestimate Israel's determination to protect its borders after the shock of Hamas's October 7 attacks. Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said Sunday that Israel "has no intention to start another front on our northern border" and that France could play a "positive and significant role" in preventing an all-out war. But he warned that ensuring the security of Israelis near the border meant pushing Hezbollah "north of the Litani River", some 30 kilometers north of the border. "There are two ways to do that: either by diplomacy or by force," Cohen said.
'Not afraid'
France maintains contacts with Hezbollah, unlike other Western governments. On Sunday, senior Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad, whose son was killed in an Israeli bombing last month, said the group was "not afraid of (Israel's) intimidation or the slogans it puts out via international intermediaries to remove our people" from parts of south Lebanon. Since the cross-border exchanges began in October, more than 130 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including a Lebanese soldier and 17 civilians, three of them journalists, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, four civilians and seven soldiers have been killed, authorities have said. French diplomats say Israeli bombardments have been intensifying, adding to fears of a major escalation. Israel insists on applying United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and called for the removal of all weapons from south Lebanon, except for those of the army and other state security forces. Since that conflict, Hezbollah has not had a visible military presence in the border area, which is patrolled by United Nations peacekeepers. Colonna is to discuss the situation on the ground with the commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, Major General Aroldo Lazaro. France, which contributes some 700 troops to the U.N. force, has condemned recent attacks on peacekeepers and their facilities. The Israel-Hamas war began with unprecedented attacks by the Palestinian Islamist group on October 7, which reportedly killed 1,139 people and saw some 250 more abducted to Gaza, according to Israeli figures. The health ministry in Gaza says more than 18,800 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel's retaliatory campaign.

Israel strikes near Hezbollah funeral in Aita al-Shaab
Associated Press/December 18, 2023
An Israeli strike hit a building opposite a Hezbollah fighter's funeral procession in southern Lebanon on Monday without causing casualties, official media reported. The frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen regular exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah, since the conflict in the Gaza Strip began on October 7. Israel "targeted people who were participating in the funeral procession" of Hezbollah fighter Hassan Srour in the border town of Aita al-Shaab, the National News Agency (NNA) reported. The strike hit a building less than 40 meters from the procession, causing damage but no casualties, the agency said, adding that "the Israeli enemy was trying to intimidate hundreds" of mourners, who nonetheless continued with the ceremony. An AFP correspondent who later arrived at the scene said the strike hit the top of an uninhabited building. Not long after, artillery shells also fell near the funeral procession for another Hezbollah fighter in Beit Leef, a few kilometers further north, the correspondent said. Israeli artillery and warplanes also struck the outskirts of several border towns including al-Naqoura, Aitaroun, al-Jebbayn, Dhaira, Yaroun, Mays al-Jabal, Houla, and Blida in south Lebanon. Hezbollah for its part targeted a group of soldiers in al-Hamra post and fired artillery shells at two Iron Dome launchpads in the northern Israeli settlement of Kabri. The attack was a direct hit, Hezbollah said. More than 130 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also a Lebanese soldier and 17 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP tally. Hezbollah said Sunday that three of its members had been killed, without specifying where or when. On the Israeli side, four civilians and seven soldiers have been killed, according to officials. Iran-backed Hezbollah says it is acting in support of Hamas, while residents of south Lebanon say Israel's retaliatory bombardments have increased in intensity. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna was meeting with senior officials in Beirut on Monday, a day after visiting Israel and the occupied West Bank, as part of efforts to de-escalate the situation on the border. Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire along the border nearly every day since the war began, and other Iran-backed militant groups have attacked U.S. targets in Syria and Iraq. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have attacked ships in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, portraying it as a blockade of Israel. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is due to visit Lebanon on Monday, after she met her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Tel Aviv on Sunday. Cohen said Israel "has no intention to start another front on our northern border" and that France could play a "positive and significant role" in preventing an all-out war. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, warned that Hezbollah was "dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war that would have devastating consequences."The sides fought a devastating monthlong war in 2006. U.S. defense leaders are hoping to prevent the risk of wider regional conflict, both through a sustained high level of U.S. military presence and by urging Israel to scale back operations.

FPM to appeal army chief's extension before Constitutional Council
Naharnet/December 18, 2023
The Free Patriotic Movement will begin to move against parliament’s extension of the army chief’s term, informed political sources said. “The FPM’s MPs will submit an appeal before the Constitutional Council as soon as possible,” the sources told al-Liwaa newspaper, adding that the appeal will be filed once the law extending the terms of the army commander and security chiefs gets published in the official gazette. FPM chief Jebran Bassil meanwhile described the extension as “part of the continuation of the conspiracy.”

Franjieh meets army chief over dinner
Naharnet/December 18, 2023
Army Commander General Joseph Aoun hosted Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh over dinner on Thursday evening, media reports said. “The discussions tackled all the current files, especially the presidential juncture and the deteriorating relation with the Free Patriotic Movement,” the reports said. Sources close to Franjieh said the Marada chief met Aoun’s invitation because he “believes that he is his only serious contender for the presidency, to send a message that democratic competition is possible and to preserve good ties.”“Franjieh wanted to normalize the ties with the army chief after a tepid relation period and he understands that Aoun’s election as president depends on his decision to withdraw from the race, something that is not on the table at the moment,” the sources said. The meeting came a day before parliament extended Aoun’s term as army chief for another year to avoid vacuum in the army command. The country has been without a president since the end of the term of former president Michel Aoun on October 30, 2022.

Israel accuses Hezbollah, Iran of cyber attack on northern Israel hospital
Naharnet/December 18, 2023
The Israel National Cyber Directorate accused on Monday Iran and Hezbollah of a cyber attack last month against Ziv Medical Center in the northern Israeli city of Safed. The hack was partially successful, the INCD said. Hospitals in northern Israel have reportedly received more than 1500 injured soldiers and civilians as Israel and Hezbollah traded fire along the border nearly every day since the war on Gaza began on October 8. On Monday, nearly 70% of Iran's gas stations went out of service following possible cyberattacks. Israeli media blamed the problem on an attack by a hacker group dubbed "Gonjeshke Darande" or predatory sparrow, a group reportedly linked to Israel. A past attack on Iranian gas stations claimed by the group was attributed to Israel by two unnamed US defense officials, according to The New York Times.

Army rescues 51 people from sinking migrant boat
Agence France Presse/December 18, 2023
Lebanon has rescued more than 50 people, mostly Syrians, from a sinking migrant boat off the country's north coast, the army said .The military obtained "information about a vessel that was sinking off the coast of Tripoli while it was being used for illegal people smuggling", the army said in a statement. Naval forces were able to "rescue 51 people aboard, including two Palestinians and 49 Syrians", the statement added. The Lebanese Red Cross helped provide assistance to those rescued, according to the statement, which did not specify where the boat was headed. Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees leaving by boat from Lebanon are generally seeking a better life in Europe, and often head for the east Mediterranean island of Cyprus, less than 200 kilometers away. Lebanon hosts around two million Syrians, authorities say, while some 800,000 are registered with the United Nations -- the world's highest number of refugees per capita. Lebanon's economy collapsed in late 2019, turning the country into a launchpad for migrants. Authorities often announce they have thwarted smuggling operations by sea, or the arrest of both smugglers and would-be migrants. Lebanese nationals have also been making the treacherous voyage towards Europe alongside Syrians fleeing war and economic woes in their country, as well as Palestinian refugees. On December 1, Lebanon's army said it disrupted a smuggling operation that saw 110 people, mostly from Syria, attempting to leave the country by sea. Sunday's rescue comes amid weeks of conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, with skirmishes also across the Lebanon-Israel border, mainly between the Israeli army and Lebanon's Hezbollah group, a Hamas ally.

A Cabinet meeting at the Serail at 9:30 AM on Tuesday
LBCI/December 18, 2023
A Cabinet meeting will take place tomorrow, on Tuesday, at the Grand Serail at 9:30 AM.

Sami Gemayel meets Egyptian and Greek ambassadors, highlighting the need to protect Lebanon
LBCI/December 18, 2023
In a meeting at his office in Bikfaya, the head of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, MP Sami Gemayel, met with the new Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon, Alaa Moussa. The meeting focused on fostering mutual understanding, discussing bilateral relations, and examining the ongoing developments in the region and their impact on Lebanon.During the encounter, they delved into Egypt's role within the Quintet Committee for Lebanon and its calls for expediting the presidential election. Gemayel stressed the importance of shielding Lebanon from the perilous events unfolding in the region. He emphasized that, given the country's current state, Lebanon is ill-equipped to bear the consequences of regional conflicts. Gemayel stressed the imperative need to concentrate efforts on Lebanon reclaiming its institutions and the democratic path that distinguishes its system. He argued that this would enable Lebanon to reintegrate into the global arena, playing its historical role alongside its Arab friends.In an introductory visit, Gemayel also met with the new Greek Ambassador, Despina Koukoulopoulo. The discussions revolved around bilateral relations and the current developments in the region.

Hezbollah ‘dragging Lebanon into war,’ IDF warns
Yaakov Lappin/JNS/December 18, 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/125265/125265/
80,000 Israelis displaced from the north; since Oct. 8, Hezbollah has fired over 1,000 munitions at Israel.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist army in Lebanon “is dangerously dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war,” Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus warned on Monday. He noted that since Oct. 8, a day after Hamas’s mass murder attack on the northwestern Negev, Hezbollah has fired more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition of different types, including rockets, missiles, drones and mortar shells, towards Israel, causing civilian and military casualties. Five Israeli civilians and nine military personnel have been killed by enemy fire. More than a hundred Hezbollah members have been killed by Israeli retaliatory strikes, according to estimates. “The situation along the northern border along the [U.N.-delineated] Blue Line is not one that we can tolerate, and we are looking for safety for Israeli civilians living behind our internationally established and recognized borders,” said Conricus.
“We as the IDF will welcome any diplomatic solution that will be found to the presence of Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon and their systemic violation of [U.N. Security Council Resolution] 1701 and their continued acts of aggression towards Israel. If a diplomatic solution will be found, that would be very good if it is a sustainable and solid solution. If not, the IDF is prepared and will use the tools at its disposal in order to defend its civilians and allow them to return safely to their homes and continue living their lives,” he cautioned. “We’re talking about more than 80,000 Israeli civilians that have been evacuated from their homes as a preventive measure now for more than 70 days,” Conricus said.
“And just as Israel didn’t start and didn’t ask for the war that started on the 7th of October by Hamas attack against Israel, we have not started the fighting with Hezbollah, Hezbollah is entirely the aggressor. And we will of course defend ourselves, defend our sovereignty and defend our civilians,” he said. Hezbollah has fired across the Blue Line from Rosh Hanikra in the west to Mount Dov in the east with assorted weapons, according to IDF data. Hezbollah’s attacks since Oct. 8 have triggered air-raid sirens as far south as Haifa’s bayside suburbs. “We’re talking about 60 and 80 millimeter mortar shells, which are typically shorter range and more tactical weapons. We’re talking about 120mm mortars, different Grad rockets, Grad 20, hundreds of those, and other short and medium range rockets that have been aimed at both military and civilian targets,” the military spokesman said. “They have also fired dozens, and I cannot be more accurate than that, dozens of anti-air missiles towards obviously Israeli aircraft and other aerial targets.”
Consequences for Lebanon
Hezbollah has been increasing attacks against Israel and targeting both civilians and military, he added. “We have been responding by striking Hezbollah targets, military targets in Lebanon, of course, south of the Litani [River] specifically, and we have been striking Hezbollah targets at various locations. Hezbollah, who as everybody knows, is a proxy of Iran, is dangerously dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war that could have potential devastating consequences for the state of Lebanon and for the people of Lebanon,” said Conricus. “And as we said before, we understand that Israeli civilians cannot go back to the situation that existed along our borders, not around Gaza, the ‘Gaza envelope,’ and not along the Blue Line with Lebanon, before the security situation changes significantly,” he said. “Today, Israelis are not safe and it is our top priority to return safety to Israeli civilians, and we see it as an existential threat to Israeli civilians who live close to the border,” he continued. “We see Hezbollah’s continued violation of U.N. Security Resolution 1701 as very severe. Frankly, 1701 has been rendered effectively null and void,” he stated. “There is not one single component of 1701 that is relevant and active today, and that has of course international and regional consequences,” Conricus said. Israel is not rushing towards a military or kinetic solution to the problem, he stressed.
He drew attention to a reoccurring pattern by Hezbollah from the first days of fighting, whereby it deliberately fires from very close to Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL positions, “most likely with the intention of causing our retaliatory fire towards them to injure or kill Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL [personnel]. “We of course take extra precautions,” said Conricus. “We do everything we can in order to focus our fire and to strike only the military targets that endanger our civilians or troops according to the laws of arms conflict, contrary to the activity and behavior of our enemies.”In the north on Monday, an Israeli Air Force attack struck the area from which launches were fired from Lebanon earlier in the day. Terrorists fired anti-tank missiles towards the area of Moshav Avivim in the Eastern Galilee. In response, IDF artillery struck in Lebanese territory. Earlier, following air-raid sirens that sounded in northern Israel, the IDF Aerial Defense Array intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory. A siren indicating rocket fire sounded as a result of shrapnel from the interception. Furthermore, launches from Lebanon toward the area of Moshav Ya’ara in the Western Galilee were identified on Monday morning. IDF artillery struck in Lebanese territory. In addition, IDF soldiers and aircraft attacked an anti-tank missile terrorist cell in Lebanon. Furthermore, following the sirens that sounded in northern Israel warning of the infiltration of a hostile aircraft in the afternoon, it was determined that the sirens were activated due to rockets fired from Lebanon. IDF artillery struck the sources of the launches. IAF fighter jets attacked a series of Hezbollah terror targets, including infrastructure, a launch post and a “military” site.
The 252nd “Sinai” Division
Turning to the south, the IDF said on Monday that in recent weeks, the reservists of the 252nd “Sinai” Division fought in the Beit Hanun area in the northern Gaza Strip, adding that it has now taken control of the area.
“The infantry, armored, engineering and fire support forces of the division decisively defeated the [Hamas] Beit Hanun Battalion, taking control of command and control centers and Hamas terrorist outposts, including schools and public buildings where tunnel shafts and numerous combat means were located,” the military said. “The division’s forces eliminated many terrorists, destroying weapon caches, missile launch sites aimed towards Israel and underground command centers used by the terror organization. The underground infrastructure of Hamas in the Beit Hanun area was significantly damaged, with the tunnels being dealt with along with their main tunnel routes,” it added. As part of the operation, forces of the division’s 10th “Harel” Armored Brigade, in cooperation with special forces, exposed the main terror tunnel route of Hamas’s Beit Hanun battalion, which was located in the heart of the eponymous urban center, between city hall, a mosque, a soccer field and a kindergarten. In the same area, a Hamas combat training compound was uncovered, which included laser shooting training equipment, the IDF said.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 18-19/2023
France to Act against ‘Radical’ Israeli Settlers, Pushes to Defuse Lebanon Tension
AFP/December 18, 2023
France will impose measures on Israeli settlers who have attacked Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, its foreign minister said on Monday, a day after meeting Palestinian farmers in Ramallah, who had been targeted in recent weeks.
UN figures show that daily settler attacks have more than doubled since Hamas' surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and the ensuing assault on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the violence this year, including in attacks by settlers. "We will not accept these acts. France will not wait any longer. We've asked Israeli authorities to put an end to this and it will take national measures against certain radical Israeli settlers," Catherine Colonna told a news conference in Beirut after a two-day visit to Israel, Ramallah and Lebanon. The European Union is studying the prospect of sanctions against violent Jewish settlers. "This land is Palestinian and will be part of a Palestinian state," she said. Colonna was in Beirut on Monday to meet Lebanese officials, UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, and pass messages to Iran-backed Hezbollah. Paris is hoping to broker with its partners some sort of an arrangement to ensure all sides keep to the terms of Security Council resolution 1701. "We are far from it," she said. The resolution, passed at the end of the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, stated that no armed factions should be present between Lebanon's Litani River and the border. The resolution banned all unauthorized weapons between the Litani River and the UN-monitored border between Israel and Lebanon. Under the resolution, Lebanon's army is responsible for security on its side of the border in a zone from which any other armed force, including Hezbollah, is banned. Colonna, who did not meet Hezbollah during her visit, called on both sides to abide by the resolution and begin putting steps in place to ensure its full implementation. "Neither side is implementing it. Both sides accepted it," she said. "We need to engage a form of de-escalation. We can't continue like this without a serious risk of escalation," she said, without saying whether either side was willing to take steps.

US Defense Secretary, Israeli Leaders Discuss More Targeted Approach in Gaza
Reuters/December 18, 2023.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed with Israeli leaders Monday ways to scale back major combat operations in Gaza but said Washington was not imposing a timetable despite international calls for a ceasefire. Austin and other US officials have repeatedly expressed concern about the large number of civilian deaths in Gaza, even while underscoring American backing for Israel's campaign aimed at crushing Hamas. Neither side elaborated Monday on what needed to change on the ground for a shift to more precise operations after weeks of devastating bombardment and a ground offensive. At a press conference alongside Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Austin said, “This is Israel’s operation. I’m not here to dictate timelines or terms.” The US has vetoed calls for a ceasefire at the UN and rushed munitions to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will keep fighting until it ends Hamas rule in Gaza, crushes its formidable military capabilities and frees the dozens of hostages still held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7 attack inside Israel that ignited the war. Israeli protesters have demanded the government relaunch talks with Hamas on releasing more hostages after three were mistakenly killed by Israeli troops. Talks were underway Monday to broker freedom for more hostages, as CIA Director William Burns met in Warsaw with the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and the prime minister of Qatar, a US official said. It was the first known meeting of the three since the end of a weeklong ceasefire in late November, during which some 100 hostages were freed in exchange for the release of around 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. More than 100 people were killed in Israeli strikes on residential buildings in northern Gaza on Sunday, a Health Ministry official in the Hamas-run territory said. The 10-week-old war has killed more than 19,000 Palestinians and transformed much of the north into a moonscape. Some 1.9 million Palestinians — nearly 85% of Gaza's population — have fled their homes, with most packing into UN-run shelters and tent camps in the southern part of the besieged territory.
US PRESSURE ON ISRAEL Austin, who arrived in Israel with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown, said he and Israeli officials exchanged “thoughts on how to transition from high intensity operations” and how to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. American officials have called for targeted operations aimed at killing Hamas leaders, destroying tunnels and rescuing hostages. Those calls came after US President Joe Biden warned that Israel is losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing.” Speaking alongside Austin, Gallant said only that “the war will take time.” Last week, Gallant said Israel would continue major combat operations for several more months. European countries also appear to be losing patience. "Far too many civilians have been killed in Gaza," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell posted on X. “Certainly, we are witnessing an appalling lack of distinction in Israel’s military operation in Gaza.”Under US pressure, Israel provided more precise evacuation instructions earlier this month as troops moved into the southern city of Khan Younis. Still, casualties have continued to mount and Palestinians say nowhere in Gaza is safe as Israel carries out strikes in all parts of the territory. Israel reopened its main cargo crossing with Gaza to allow more aid in — also after a request from the US. But the amount is less than half of prewar imports, even as needs have soared and fighting hinders delivery in many areas. Israel blocked entry off all goods into Gaza soon after the war started and weeks later began allowing a small amount of aid in through Egypt. Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Israel of deliberately starving Gaza's population — which would be a war crime — pointing to statements by senior Israeli officials expressing the intent to deprive civilians of food, water and fuel or linking the entry of aid to the release of hostages.
UNPRECEDENTED DEATH AND DESTRUCTION The war began with an unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas that overwhelmed Israel's border defenses. Thousands of militants rampaged across southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 240 men, women and children. Hamas and other militants are still holding an estimated 129 captives after most of the rest were freed in return for Israel's release of 240 Palestinian prisoners during a truce last month. Hamas has said no more hostages will be released until the war ends. More than 19,400 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry, which has said most are women and minors, and that thousands more are buried under the rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Israel’s military says 127 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground offensive. It says it has killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas, saying it uses them as human shields. But the military rarely comments on individual strikes. At least 110 people were killed in Israel's bombardment of residential buildings in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on Sunday, Munir al-Boursh, a senior Health Ministry official, told Al Jazeera television. The area has seen heavy fighting in recent days. “No one can retrieve the martyrs or take the wounded to hospitals," said Amal Radwan, who is staying at a UN shelter in Jabaliya. The military released pictures of what it said was around $1.3 million in Israeli currency found in the home of a senior Hamas operative in the camp.
REGIONAL TENSIONS Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militias continued attacks on shipping in the Red Sea in a campaign that has prompted a growing list of companies to halt their operations in the major trade route. The latest company was oil and natural gas giant BP, which said Monday it was suspending shipments through the Red Sea. Multiple projectiles were fired at the Swan Atlantic, a Cayman Islands-flagged tanker, in the Red Sea off Yemen on Monday, a US official said. The USS Carney, an American warship, responded, the official said without providing further details. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the attack and so spoke on condition of anonymity. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, confirmed the attack and said the group would continue targeting ships bound for Israeli ports as long as the blockade of Gaza continued. The tanker was not heading toward Israel, according to ship tracking website VesselFinder, and there was no indication it was linked to the country. Austin said he would hold talks Tuesday morning with his counterparts in the Middle East and beyond on an international coalition to respond to the attacks. “It is an international problem. That’s why it deserves an international response,” he said. Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have traded fire along the border nearly every day since the war began, In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, over 300 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, including four overnight during an Israeli military raid in the Faraa refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. This has been the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005. Most have been killed during military raids, which often ignite gunbattles, or during violent demonstrations.

Israel sees gradual transition to next phase of Gaza operations
JERUSALEM (Reuters)/December 18, 2023
Israel will gradually transition to the next phase of its operations in Gaza in which the local population would likely be able to first return to the north of the coastal strip, the country's defence minister said on Monday. "I can tell you that soon we will be able to distinguish between different areas in Gaza," Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a joint news conference with his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin in Tel Aviv. "In every area where we achieve our mission we will be able to transition gradually to the next phase and start working on bringing back the local population," Gallant said. "That means that it can be achieved maybe sooner in the north rather than in the south."U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that he was not in Israel to dictate any timeline or terms for Israel's military campaign, but he did discuss making the transition to lower intensity operations. "That doesn't signal an end to the operation. It sometimes means that you're being more precise, you're being more focused on a specific target set," he said.

Pentagon chief says he discussed with Israel transition to ‘surgical operations’ in Gaza
The Hill/December 18, 2023
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday he discussed with Israeli officials a transition to more targeted and “surgical operations” in Gaza, as the U.S. appears to be nudging its ally to begin a slowdown in the fighting against Palestinian militant group Hamas. Austin, who met with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, along with the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said at a press conference the group discussed the “status of the campaign” and the objectives of the war during a Monday meeting in Tel Aviv. “We also have some great thoughts about how to transition from high-intensity operations to lower intensity and more surgical operations,” Austin said of the U.S. perspective. “We had great discussions on all of those those issues.”Gallant, who said last week that the war against Hamas could take “several months,” signaled that Israel was open to a new phase of the war that would slow down the fighting. “The circumstances are changing, [so] you change your efforts and you do something different in a different phase,” Gallant said. Still, the Israeli defense chief cautioned there is no “clock running” that would force Israel to wind down operations at a certain point of time. “We will find the proper time to do so,” Gallant added. Austin’s trip comes just days after White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to Israel, where he also discussed with Israeli officials ways to lower the intensity of the conflict in the near future. While there is no established timeframe to wind down the intensity of the military campaign, the Biden administration has pushed to move toward targeted efforts as soon as early January, The New York Times reported. The discussions have centered on Israeli forces conducting more surgical, targeted attacks that would reduce civilian casualties while allowing Israel to continue its effort to dismantle Hamas. The next phase could see Israeli soldiers focusing on the leadership of Hamas, Gallant said Monday. More than 19,000 people have died in Gaza since the war began in early October, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Israel is also facing renewed pressure to scale down the war effort after two deadly setbacks last week. Nine of its soldiers were killed in an ambush and three hostages held by Hamas were mistakenly killed by Israeli forces. Austin said the U.S. will continue to stand by Israel, and Israeli officials will dictate when the war transitions to a new phase. But he said most wars tend to shift over time from higher-intensity phases to lower-intensity ones. “As you transition from one phase to another, that doesn’t signal an end to the operation,” Austin said. “You’re being more precise, you’re more focused on a specific target set.”“In any operation like this, any campaign, there will be phases,” he continued. “The most difficult part is as you shift from one phase to the next, making sure that you have everything accounted for and you get it right. That requires detailed planning and very thoughtful planning.”

In Israel, U.S. defence chief to look to next phase of Gaza war
TEL AVIV (Reuters)/December 18, 2023
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel on Monday for talks expected to focus on Israel's eventual end to high intensity war in Gaza and its transition to a more limited, focused conflict, officials say. For Austin, the trip is a delicate balancing act. He has steadfastly supported Israel's right defend itself following Palestinian militant group Hamas' surprise Oct. 7 attacks. But he has also become increasingly vocal about the plight of civilians in Gaza as Israeli strikes drive up casualties. In a speech earlier this month, Austin went as far to call civilians the "center of gravity" in Israel's war with Hamas, Gaza's ruling Palestinian Islamist movement, and warned about the risks of their radicalization. A senior U.S. defense official told reporters traveling with Austin that he was expected to discuss Israel's planning for a transition to the next phase of the war in his talks with senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. "What you see in terms of the high-intensity ground operations, plus air strikes, today is not going to go on forever. It's one phase of a campaign," the official said. "We have an interest in supporting the Israelis in planning for what a transition looks like when they make the decision that major ground operations should end and they're ready to transition."Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said both the U.S. and Israel seemed to agree on an eventual transition to a next phase of the campaign. But Washington wants that to happen sooner, perhaps in a few weeks, while Israel feels it needs more time, he said. "So they are in basic agreement about the way ahead, and the need to eventually transition to a more targeted approach, but there are differences regarding the timeline," he said.
When U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visited Israel last week, Netanyahu told him Israel would fight "until absolute victory". Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the war would "last more than several months". With fierce ground fighting having expanded this month across the length of the Gaza Strip and aid organizations warning of a humanitarian catastrophe, Biden said last week that Israel risked losing international support because of "indiscriminate" air strikes killing Palestinian civilians.
Austin, a retired four-star general, oversaw U.S. forces in the Middle East and even led U.S. forces in Iraq while in uniform, giving him perspective on battlefield transitions in military campaigns that could aid discussions with Israeli officials, the defense official added. Austin, the official said, had familiarity with how to undertake military actions "on the other side of high-intensity conflict to ensure that the military reconstitution of Hamas in this case is not viable or feasible". In a sign of the Biden's administration's intense focus on the Israel-Hamas conflict, Austin will be accompanied in Israel by the chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Charles "C.Q." Brown. Austin and Brown are also grappling with regional fallout from the war, with Iran-aligned groups carrying out waves of attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria and Yemen's Houthi movement striking vessels in the Red Sea in support of Hamas. The Iranian-backed Houthis said over the weekend they had attacked the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat with a swarm of drones. The U.S. Central Command said the destroyer Carney on Saturday shot down 14 Houthi drones over the Red Sea. Britain also said one of its warships had shot down a suspected attack drone targeting merchant shipping.

Israel finds large tunnel near Gaza border, raising questions about prewar intelligence
Associated Press/December 18, 2023
The Israeli military said it has discovered a large tunnel shaft in Gaza close to what was once a busy crossing into Israel, raising new questions about how Israeli surveillance missed such conspicuous preparations by Hamas for the militants' deadly Oct. 7 assault. The entryway to the tunnel is just a few hundred meters from the heavily fortified Erez crossing and a nearby Israeli military base. The military said that it stretches for more than four kilometers (2½ miles), links up with a sprawling tunnel network across Gaza and is wide enough for cars to pass through. The army said Sunday that the tunnel facilitated the transit of vehicles, militants and supplies in preparation for the Oct. 7 attack. That day, militants used a rocket-propelled grenade to break past the portion of wall close to the Erez crossing and stormed the base, killing at least three soldiers and kidnapping some back to Gaza, the army said. It was one of several places along the border wall where militants easily blew past Israel's security defenses, entered Israeli territory and killed around 1,200 people and took about 240 others hostage. The unprecedented attack triggered a devastating war that has raged for more than 10 weeks and claimed more than 18,000 lives in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel says the destruction of Hamas' tunnel network is a major objective and that much of the underground network runs beneath schools, hospitals and residential areas. Israel's military, intelligence and political officials have come under heavy criticism for failing to detect the attack ahead of time. Maj. Nir Dinar, a military spokesperson, said that Israeli security services didn't know about the tunnel before Oct. 7 because Israel's border defenses only detected tunnels meant to enter Israel. "As far as I know, this tunnel doesn't cross from Gaza into Israel and stops within 400 meters from the border, which means the indicators won't indicate that a tunnel is being built," Dinar said. He added that the entrance, a circular cement opening leading to a cavernous passageway, was located under a garage, hiding it from Israeli drones and satellite images.
While the military was aware that Hamas had an extensive tunnel network, Dinar said they didn't think the militants would be able to carry out their plans for a large-scale attack. "It's no surprise that this was the Hamas strategy all along," Dinar said. "The surprise is that they have succeeded and the size of this tunnel … was really shocking."The Erez crossing, a fortress-like facility that processed the movement of Palestinians into Israel for work, medical care and transit to neighboring Jordan, held great symbolic value for Hamas. The massive crossing was protected by security cameras and military patrols and the adjacent military base. The crossing suffered heavy damage on Oct. 7 and hasn't reopened.
The army said its special "Yahalom" unit, which specializes in tunnel warfare, has worked to excavate the tunnel since it was first detected. They say they've found weapons inside. "At this point, this is the biggest tunnel in Gaza," Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, told reporters in a tour of the tunnel's entrance on Friday. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Hagari said troops had discovered at least two other "city-sized" tunnels of similar in scope, which they are still mapping. "This was a flagship project that was waiting, finished and ready," Hagari told a news conference. He noted that tunnel was in use during the war and that Israeli soldiers had killed Hamas militants inside the tunnel. The army also showed reporters soldiers' barracks at the nearby base that it said were set ablaze by the militants. They looked like the ashes of a furnace, with blackened walls and smelted bunks. The military announced Friday that it had recovered in Gaza the bodies of two soldiers who were working at the base on Oct. 7. Dinar, who visited the tunnel Friday, said it was twice the height and three times the width of other tunnels found in Gaza. He said it is equipped with ventilation and electricity and dives 50 meters underground in some points. He said it was clear that millions of dollars as well as a great deal of fuel and workforce had been needed to build and sustain the tunnel. Hagari said the military planned to destroy the tunnel and continue to "hunt" militants hiding in others. "We will hunt them even if we need to go down to the tunnels," Hagari said. "We also need to do it with attention to the rescue of our hostages and the understanding that maybe some of them are in the tunnels."

Benjamin Netanyahu Brags He's ‘Proud’ To Have Prevented A Palestinian State
Matt Shuham/HuffPost/December 18, 2023
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that he was “proud” to have prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state, putting him at odds with what for decades has been the United States’ policy priority for the region. “I’m proud that I prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state because today everybody understands what that Palestinian state could have been, now that we’ve seen the little Palestinian state in Gaza,” Netanyahu said at a news conference. He then talked about the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which he referred to using the biblical term “Judaea and Samaria.”“Everyone understands what would have happened if we had capitulated to international pressures and enabled a state like that in Judaea and Samaria, surrounding Jerusalem and on the outskirts of Tel Aviv,” Netanyahu said. Netanyahu also took aim at the Palestinian Authority, the governing authority in Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank. He described the Oslo Accords ― the 1993 diplomatic agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization that led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority ― as a “mistake,” and said he had “inherited” the agreements.
Reaction to Netanyahu’s remarks was swift.
“So all those promises to world leaders about his commitment to a 2 state solution were a bunch of lies,” Martin Indyk, the United States’ former ambassador to Israel, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “And all those enablers who swore Bibi was serious about peace have some [e]xplaining to do.”
The United States has for decades prioritized the “two-state solution,” which would involve the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state, facilitated by various land swaps and other concessions from both sides. U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly called for a two-state solution in recent months.
“As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution,” Biden wrote in The Washington Post on Nov. 18. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) characterized Netanyahu’s comments as a “direct response” to Biden’s calls for a two-state solution. “[Netanyahu] has continued to weaken the Palestinian Authority — this is the organization that recognized Israel’s right to exist decades and decades ago,” Van Hollen said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “Instead of trying to find peace or at least preventing the conditions on the ground from changing with additional settlements to allow a two-state solution, he has shut the door on that effort.” Netanyahu has long tried to undercut the prospect of a two-state solution. Ahead of winning reelection in 2015, for example, he declared: “I think that anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state today and evacuate lands is giving attack grounds to the radical Islam against the state of Israel.”
Netanyahu and others in Israel’s hard-right governing coalition have for years supported the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a major obstacle to any peace talks. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis now live on land that might otherwise be considered part of a potential future Palestinian state. In 2019, Netanyahu claimed to have told then-President Donald Trump that he would not agree to evacuate “a single person” from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Earlier this year, he reportedly said during a meeting with lawmakers that Israel needed to “crush” Palestinian ambition for an independent state. Netanyahu’s remarks Saturday also came just hours after the Israeli military acknowledged killing three Israeli hostages who’d been held in Gaza. The New York Times noted that Netanyahu “appeared to be trying to change the subject.”
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that claimed the lives of some 1,200 Israelis and allowed Hamas and other Gazan militants to take some 240 hostages, Israel has killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians with air strikes and a ground invasion, according to Gaza health authorities. The military action has displaced millions of Palestinians within Gaza. Following the Oct. 7 attacks, observers have noted Netanyahu and his allies’ occasional expressions of support over the years for Hamas, the governing party in the Gaza Strip. As prime minister, Netanyahu allowed millions of dollars to flow into Gaza, though he claimed Saturday that the money was used for humanitarian purposes and did not benefit Hamas. In 2015, Bezalel Smotrich, who is now Israel’s far-right finance minister, said: “The Palestinian Authority is a burden, and Hamas is an asset.” Referring to Hamas, he pointed out that “no one will let it put forth a resolution at the U.N. Security Council.” Netanyahu himself reportedly said in 2019 that “whoever opposes a Palestinian state must support the delivery of funds to Gaza, because maintaining separation between the PA in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza will prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

Hamas posts video of three elderly Israeli hostages
Reuters/December 18, 2023
Hamas released a short video on Monday showing three elderly Israeli hostages whom the Islamist group seized during its October 7 rampage Israel denounced it as a "criminal, terrorist video."The three men - identified by Israel as 79-year-old Chaim Peri, 80-year-old Yoram Metzger and 84-year-old Amiram Cooper - were taken hostage over 10 weeks ago with about 240 others by Hamas infiltrators who carried out a killing spree in Israeli communities.The three men, all with beards, are seen sitting next to each other in the video, which Hamas posted to Telegram.
Military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari called it "a criminal, terrorist video" that shows "Hamas' cruelty against very elderly civilians, innocents who need medical care."

Gaza Health Ministry: More than 100 killed in Israeli airstrikes on Jabalya refugee camp
UPI/December 18, 2023
Health officials in Gaza said Monday more than 100 people had been killed and dozens injured during Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza in the past day. Health Ministry Director-General Munir Al-Bursh told CNN that 110 bodies had been buried at a disused cemetery in Jabalya as of Monday morning, with dozens more believed still trapped beneath the rubble of bombed-out buildings. Speaking from a Hamas-run field clinic in the camp, Al-Bursh said most of those killed and injured were women and children. The Israeli military said it was unable to comment without more specific details but acknowledged that it was operating in the area and blamed Hamas for "deliberately and systematically" embedding itself in schools, hospitals and homes. Significant portions of the Jabalya district, north of Gaza City, and the camp in particular, lie in ruins from repeated airstrikes and raids by ground forces on what Israel Defense Forces have called a Hamas hotbed. Claims by the Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem that two women taking refuge in a church in Gaza City had been killed by an IDF sniper over the weekend prompted Pope Francis to add his voice to French, British and German calls for an immediate truce. French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, speaking during a visit to Israel, said an "immediate and durable" truce would help get more humanitarian supplies into Gaza, allow the release of more hostages and nudge the warring sides toward "the beginning of a political solution".
In a joint op-ed published in Britain's Sunday Times, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, made the case for a "sustainable" cease-fire, warning the civilian death toll was too high. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel to push Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet on transitioning from general war tactics to a lower-intensity strategy that prioritizes targeting Hamas' fighters and leaders. Washington wants to see that happen within weeks and Austin will quiz his hosts on "what metrics they're looking at in order to transition to the next phase of their campaign in Gaza," according to a senior Pentagon official. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli government of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the Gaza Strip, which is a war crime. The group cited examples of public statements by Israeli officials expressing their aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of food, water, and fuel -- which the country has endeavored to have its military accomplish. HRW singled out Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Energy Minister Israel Katz for criticism, urging the government to refrain from targeting infrastructure necessary for the survival of the civilian population, to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, and restore electricity and water. "For over two months, Israel has been depriving Gaza's population of food and water, a policy spurred on or endorsed by high-ranking Israeli officials and reflecting an intent to starve civilians as a method of warfare," said HRW Israel and Palestine director Omar Shakir. "World leaders should be speaking out against this abhorrent war crime, which has devastating effects on Gaza's population."Other unnamed Israeli officials were rebuked for conditioning humanitarian aid to Gaza either on the release of hostages held by Hamas or Hamas' destruction. HRW also accused Israel of "willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival."

Another commercial ship attacked in Red Sea
Associated Press/December 18, 2023
A Cayman Islands-flagged tanker has been attacked in a crucial shipping route off Yemen, a U.S. military official said Monday. The attack that targeted the Swan Atlantic, a chemical and oil products carrier, is the latest in a series of assaults on vessels in the Red Sea and its strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The attacks have been claimed by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who say they are targeting vessels linked to Israel in support of Palestinian militants. The U.S. official said the vessel was attacked by multiple projectiles at about 9 a.m. local time. The USS Carney, a U.S. warship which provides security to ships in the area, responded to the incident, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the attack. The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which monitors Mideast shipping lanes, also reported an incident in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, off Yemen's port of Mocha, and warned vessels in the area to exercise caution. It reported "a possible explosion in the water" about 2 nautical miles from the vessel.The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the assault.

US launches new multinational operation to safeguard Red Sea commerce
MANAMA (Reuters)/December 18, 2023
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday announced the creation of a multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea following a series of missile and drone attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis. Austin, who is on a trip to Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's headquarters in the Middle East, said participating countries include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain. He said they would conduct joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. "This is an international challenge that demands collective action. Therefore today I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative," Austin said in a statement early on Tuesday. Austin's statement leaves many questions unanswered, including whether those countries are willing to do what U.S. warships have done in recent days -- shoot down Houthi missiles and drones, and rush to the aid of commercial ships under attack. The Houthis have waded into the Israel-Hamas conflict by attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and even firing drones and missiles at Israel more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. Just hours before Austin's announcement, the Houthi group said it launched a drone attack on two cargo vessels in the region. The Houthis have threatened to target all ships heading to Israel, regardless of their nationality, and warned international shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports. About 15% of world shipping traffic normally transits via the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, passing then as well into the Red Sea waters off Yemen. But the unrest has disrupted maritime trade, as freight firms reroute around Africa instead, adding costs and delays which are expected to be compounded over coming weeks. Combined, the companies that have diverted vessels "control around half of the global container shipping market," ABN Amro analyst Albert Jan Swart told Reuters. Oil major BP temporarily paused all transits through the Red Sea and oil tanker group Frontline said on Monday its vessels would avoid passage through the waterway, signs the crisis was broadening to include energy shipments. Crude oil prices rose on those concerns on Monday. During a visit to Israel on Monday, Austin squarely blamed Iran for the Houthi attacks. "Iran's support for Houthi attacks on commercial vessels must stop," he said. At a news conference in Tel Aviv, Austin said: "As we are driving to stabilize the region, Iran is raising tensions by continuing to support terrorist groups and militias."

US says ‘building international coalition’ to counter Red Sea attacks
AFP/December 18, 2023
TEL AVIV: Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said Monday the United States was working toward forming an international coalition to counter what he called “dangerous” attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militia on shipping vessels in the Red Sea. Increasing maritime attacks since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in early October have forced some companies to halt transit through the troubled but vital waterway. “These attacks are reckless, dangerous, and they violate international law,” Austin told a news conference during a visit to Israel. “We’re taking action to build an international coalition to address this threat,” Austin said. “This is not just a US issue. This is an international problem, and it deserves an international response.”Austin said a virtual meeting on Tuesday would bring together ministers from Middle Eastern countries to address the issue. His remarks came after the Iran-backed Houthis said they had attacked two “Israeli-linked” vessels in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians in Hamas-ruled Gaza. The attacks on the Norwegian-owned Swan Atlantic and another ship identified by the Houthis as the MSC Clara are the latest in a flurry of maritime incidents that are disrupting global trade in an attempt to pressure Israel over its war against Hamas militants. Austin also warned Iran against providing assistance to the Houthis. “Iran’s support for Houthi attacks on commercial vessels must stop,” he said.

US warship responds to an attack on commercial ship in Red Sea
CNN/December 18, 2023
The USS Carney responded Monday to a distress call from a commercial vessel after it was attacked by “multiple projectiles” in the southern Red Sea, a US military official said. The merchant vessel Swan Atlantic was attacked at roughly 9 a.m. Sanaa time, the official said. More information regarding what kind of projectiles were launched and from where was not immediately available, though the attack follows a string of others in recent days by Houthi forces, who are funded and trained by Iran, on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on the Swan Atlantic later on Monday. The group claimed it attacked another ship as well and that both ships were linked to Israel, and that the ships’ crews refused to respond to calls from the Houthis. The Houthis also said that “no harm will be dealt” to ships heading to ports around the world, “except for Israeli ports.”The ship’s owner, Inventor Chemical Tankers, said in a release there is “no Israeli link in the ownership (Norwegian), technical management (Singapore) of the vessel, nor in any parts of the logistical chain for the cargo transported.”“We note that information provider Marine Traffic has wrongfully claimed that the vessel is managed by an ‘Israel affiliated company’ on their web site. This is believed to be the reason for her having been targeted now on her southward passage through the Red Sea. This is incorrect,” ICT said. The attack came as US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is in the region for meetings with senior Israeli officials in Tel Aviv amid ongoing violence between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Houthi forces in Yemen have been targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea, claiming the attacks as revenge against Israel. Oil giant BP announced Monday that it would pause all shipments through the Red Sea due to the “deteriorating security situation,” marking the latest shipping firm pausing routes through the channel. CNN has reported that the US is considering beefing up protections for commercial ships around the vital shipping route, according to military officials, with members of the Combined Maritime Forces – a multi-national naval task force charged with protecting commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The discussions about bolstering the task force reflect growing concern in the region over the Iran-backed Houthis’ interference in the Red Sea through which millions of barrels of oil passes daily. US officials have said publicly that discussions have centered on the possibility of escorting ships operating in the Red Sea and through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait into the Gulf of Aden — the narrow channel that separates Yemen and the Horn of Africa. On Saturday, the USS Carney shot down 14 drones launched from “Houthi-controlled areas” of Yemen, according to US Central Command. The unmanned aircraft systems “were assessed to be one-way attack drones and were shot down with no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries,” CENTCOM posted on X on Saturday. Last month, the USS Thomas Hudner shot down multiple one-way attack drones launched from Yemen. And in another instance, two ballistic missiles were fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen toward the USS Mason in the Gulf of Aden after it responded to a distress call from another commercial tanker that had come under attack by five armed individuals believed to be Somali. The US has responded to attacks in recent months by launching strikes in eastern Syria and Iraq, targeting weapons depots and storage facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxy militia groups.

Ukraine's army chief says situation at front line is not a stalemate
(Reuters)/December 18, 2023
Ukraine's army chief said on Monday the situation on the front line of the war against Russian forces had not reached a stalemate. In comments published last month, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi described the war with Russia as moving towards a new stage of static and attritional fighting and, drawing comparisons with World War one, said a level of technology had been reached that "puts us into a stalemate."President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later denied there was a stalemate in the war. Asked on Monday whether he considered the battlefield situation now a stalemate, Zaluzhnyi replied "No", Ukraine's RBC media reported. He declined to comment on whether Ukraine plans counteroffensive operations over winter. "This is a war, I can't say what I plan, what we should do. Otherwise, it will be a show, not a war," he was quoted as saying. A Ukrainian counteroffensive this year has made little progress against deeply entrenched Russian positions. A senior military commander told Reuters separately that frontline troops were facing shortages of artillery shells and had scaled back some military operations because of a shortfall of foreign assistance.

EU hits Russia's diamond industry with new round of sanctions over the Ukraine war
BRUSSELS (AP)/December 18, 2023
The European Union said Monday that it has imposed fresh sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine, targeting the lucrative diamonds industry, more than 140 officials and organizations, and closing loopholes that Moscow has used to bypass previous punitive measures. It’s the 12th round of sanctions and restrictions that the EU has slapped on Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine almost two years ago. The measures have targeted the energy sector, banks, companies and markets, and made over 1,000 Russian officials subject to asset freezes and travel bans.
EU headquarters said the latest measures would “deliver a further blow to Putin’s ability to wage war by targeting high-value sectors of the Russian economy and making it more difficult to circumvent EU sanctions.”The import, purchase or transfer of Russian non-industrial natural and synthetic diamonds and diamond jewelry will be banned starting Jan. 1. The ban applies to diamonds originating in Russia, exported from Russia and transiting through Russia, as well as Russian diamonds processed elsewhere. The EU estimates the diamond sector to be worth around $4.5 billion each year to Moscow. The new round of sanctions also obliges EU companies to prohibit in their contracts the export of certain goods so buyers can’t sell them on to Russia, particularly “sensitive goods and technology” that could be used by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. Additional chemicals, lithium batteries, thermostats, certain electric motors that could be used in the manufacture of drones, and some machine tools and parts have been put on the EU’s list of restricted items banned for export to Russia. Imports into the EU of some goods that generate significant revenue for Russia also were tightened, including on copper and aluminum wire, foil, quantities of tubes and pipes above a certain limit, and restrictions on liquefied propane. The EU also added 29 more “entities” – often organizations, agencies, companies or banks – alleged to be supporting Russia’s military and industrial complex in the war against Ukraine. The entities and people whose assets have been frozen were not immediately named. The sanctions were expected to be published in the EU’s official journal shortly, which allows for them to formally enter force.The 27 EU countries will now consider imposing sanctions against people who benefit from the seizure of European assets or parts of companies in Russia. The member states will also come under tighter control to ensure they are actively tracing the assets of people targeted for sanctions.

Iran Fuel Stations Hit By Possible Hack in Sign of Tensions
Bloomberg/December 18, 2023
Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji said cyber attacks disrupted fuel supply at gasoline stations in multiple provinces across the Islamic Republic, blaming Israel, the US and the ongoing war in Gaza. More than 60% of Iran’s fuel sites were put out of commission by the apparent strike, which affected machines that read special cards used to pay for gasoline and diesel, Deputy Oil Minister Jalil Salari said in a separate interview televised Monday. “Israeli and American enemies wanted to challenge our people because they have suffered blows in other fronts,” the minister Owji said on state TV. Israel, which has been fighting Hamas in Gaza since early October, claims that Iran is helping to finance the militant group’s war effort. A representative of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declined to comment. The gas-station machines are expected to be operating as normal within “a few hours” and until then fuel is being distributed offline where pumps can be operated manually, the news agency Shana reported. Shana had earlier reported the problem was caused by an “enemy conspiracy.”Iran previously blamed Israel for a 2021 cyber attack on the same payment system, which paralyzed gasoline stations nationwide. Israel has in turn accused Iranian hackers of targeting water systems and hospitals since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip. Iran supports Hamas as one of its proxy groups in the region, alongside Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

Jordan Says It Foiled Plot against Its Security by Gunmen from Syria
AFP/18 December 2023
The Jordanian army said on Monday dozens of infiltrators from Syria crossed its border with rocket launchers, anti-personnel mines and explosives in what it said was a foiled plot against the kingdom's security. State broadcaster al Mamlaka said the army blew up a vehicle laden with explosives in the biggest armed cross-border operation to smuggle weapons and drugs in recent years. Earlier, the army on Monday said it had seized weapons and drugs after clashes with armed drug dealers along the Syrian border at dawn, and officials said the gunmen were linked to pro-Iranian militias seeking to undermine the country's security. The army said the infiltrators had fled back across the border after injuring several army personnel. The weapons seized included automatic rifles and rockets, it added in a statement. Jordanian officials say that Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group and militias who control much of southern Syria are behind the surge in drug and weapons smuggling. Hezbollah denies the accusations. Iran says the allegations are part of Western plots against the country. "The last few days have seen a spike in these operations that are changing from infiltration attempts and smuggling to armed clashes with the goal of crossing the border by force and targeting border guards," the army said in a statement. The army said it would "continue to track these armed groups and prevent any attempt to undermine the kingdom's national security". UN experts and US officials say the illicit drug trade finances a proliferation of pro-Iranian militias and pro-government paramilitary forces created by more than a decade of conflict in Syria.

Egypt's Sisi wins presidential election with 89.6% of vote
Agence France Presse/18 December 2023
The Egyptian election authority announced Monday that sitting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had won a new six-year term with 89.6 percent of the vote. Authority head Hazem Badawy said turnout reached an "unprecedented" 66.8 percent of Egypt's 67 million voters. Over 39 million voted for former army chief Sisi, who has ruled Egypt for a decade. Sisi's victory comes as no surprise and secures his third -- and, according to the constitution, final -- term in office.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 18-19/2023
The Curious Case of the Biden Administration and Hamas
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./December 18, 2023
Hamas is currently fighting to keep on ruling Gaza and the opportunity to regroup, rearm and destroy Israel -- which is why it is pleading for a ceasefire. Hamas's eyes are now set on the Biden administration and the United Nations, which they hope will prevent Israel from stopping the Hamas reign of abuse.
Did anyone call for a ceasefire when the US was routing ISIS in Syria and Iraq, or demanded that the US end its military campaign by a certain date?
The Hamas official... is saying that Palestinian terrorism pays -- even the US administration is turning against Israel.
The grotesque irony, of course, is that -- no matter how careful Israel is to avoid civilian casualties -- the more the West blames Israel for civilian deaths, and the more Hamas will place civilians in the line of fire in order to keep the international community blaming Israel.
The Biden administration should be telling Hamas, not Israel, to minimize the number of civilian casualties. The real cause of these casualties, besides Hamas, is therefore actually the Biden administration, the United Nations and the international community: they incentivize Hamas to place their own people in harm's way to be killed -- the more the better -- so that everyone can then accuse Israel. The act of blaming Israel for the casualties that were orchestrated by Hamas is, in fact, what is causing them. Hamas can only be looking around and saying to themselves, "Hey, it's working! So let's keep on doing it!"
If Israel were engaged in "indiscriminate bombing," it would not have asked Palestinian civilians to move to safe zones. If this were a war against the Palestinian population, Israel would have bombed the Gaza Strip only from the air, without risking the lives of its soldiers.
The message Biden is sending to the terrorists is: Hold on, we are with you and we want to remove Netanyahu and his government from power.
[T]he mounting pressure by the Biden administration on Israel to end the war is a sign that the US does not want to see Hamas destroyed. Hamas is undoubtedly hoping to be rewarded for their October 7 carnage with an independent, Iran-backed Islamist Palestinian state right next to their "mark," Israel.
Is it appropriate for a foreign leader to demand that the Israeli prime minister replace his democratically-elected coalition partners while Israel is in the midst of a war, or even if it were not? Has Biden ever demanded from any Arab leader, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, to make changes in his cabinet?
The Biden administration also doubtless understands that the war on Hamas cannot be conducted with a stop-watch or a certain timeline. The war to destroy Hamas and remove its threat to Israel could take additional weeks or months. As with routing ISIS or Al-Qaeda, the timing should not be a consideration at all. The Biden administration might please stop meddling in the war effort.
Instead of issuing deadlines for ending the war, the Biden administration should be voicing full support for Israel's war on Iran's terrorist proxies. Israel is fighting to defeat terrorism and preserve freedom for all of us in the free world. Israel is sacrificing its heroic citizens so that we will not have to. Instead of hampering Israel, we should be thanking it and doing all we can to help.
Hamas already recently broke two ceasefires in two months; there is no reason to think they would not break a third, fourth and fifth. As they keep openly admitting, their chief goal is to murder Jews and wipe Israel off the map. How is it, one wonders, that Hamas has the right to pursue its declared aim of destroying Israel while Israel is not entitled to battle those who seek its destruction?
Hamas is currently fighting to keep on ruling Gaza and the opportunity to regroup, rearm and destroy Israel -- which is why it is pleading for a ceasefire. Hamas's eyes are now set on the Biden administration and the United Nations, which they hope will prevent Israel from stopping the Hamas reign of abuse. Pictured: Hamas terrorists on a pickup truck "escort" trucks carrying humanitarian aid that they intend to loot, near the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on December 10, 2023. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)
As Israel is waging war on the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group, whose members murdered more than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 240 others to the Gaza Strip on October 7, the Biden administration appears to be doing its utmost to sabotage Israel's efforts to defend itself against terrorism.
Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthis, can only be ecstatic about the Biden administration's new restrictions, especially the pressure it is reportedly exerting on Israel to end the war in the coming weeks.
Hamas is currently fighting to keep on ruling Gaza and the opportunity to regroup, rearm and destroy Israel -- which is why it is pleading for a ceasefire. Hamas's eyes are now set on the Biden administration and the United Nations, which they hope will prevent Israel from stopping the Hamas reign of abuse.
US President Joe Biden's latest bizarre statements, in which he warned that Israel was losing international support because of its "indiscriminate bombing" of the Gaza Strip, are the best gift he could have given to Hamas and its patrons in Iran. By accusing Israel -- falsely -- of "indiscriminate bombing," Biden is actually parroting the bogus accusations made by Israel's fiercest enemies around the world, such as Hamas and Iran's mullahs, who are trying to stop Israel from defeating a terrorist organization akin to ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Did anyone call for a ceasefire when the US was routing ISIS in Syria and Iraq, or demanded that the US end its military campaign by a certain date?
"Israel's security can rest on the United States, but right now it has more than the United States. It has the European Union, it has the Europe, it has most of the world supporting them," Biden said during a fundraiser on December 12. "They're starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place."
Biden went on say of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
"I think he has to change his government. His government in Israel is making it very difficult."
According to AP:
"Biden specifically called out Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of a far-right Israeli party and the minister of national security in Netanyahu's governing coalition..."
Ben-Gvir, who has no authority over Israel's military, is not a member of the three-person war cabinet.
Biden's remarks were quickly and jubilantly picked up by Hamas's media outlets. The Palestinian Information Center, which serves as a mouthpiece for Hamas, was so pleased with the Biden statements that they wrote:
"The US administration attacks the extremism of the Netanyahu government and the dispute [between Israel and the US] over Gaza explodes into the open."
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon, also rushed to express deep satisfaction over Biden's statements:
"The Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip have prompted US President Joe Biden to realize the madness of the Israeli military operation."
The Hamas official is saying, in fact, that Palestinian terrorism pays -- even the US administration is turning against Israel.
By accusing Israel of "indiscriminate bombing" of the Gaza Strip, Biden is intentionally ignoring that Israel's aerial assaults have meticulously targeted only military sites.
Hamas, however, in keeping with one of its favorite war crimes, has continued to use its own citizens as human shields precisely because it hopes that whenever Israel targets a military site, Hamas's own Gazan civilians will be killed.
The international community can then fall for the trick and do exactly what Biden did: tell Israel to stop because of civilian casualties. The grotesque irony, of course, is that -- no matter how careful Israel is to avoid civilian casualties -- the more the West blames Israel for civilian deaths, and the more Hamas will place civilians in the line of fire in order to keep the international community blaming Israel.
The Biden administration should be telling Hamas, not Israel, to minimize the number of civilian casualties. The real cause of these casualties, besides Hamas, is therefore actually the Biden administration, the United Nations and the international community: they incentivize Hamas to place their own people in harm's way to be killed -- the more the better -- so that everyone can then accuse Israel. The act of blaming Israel for the casualties that were orchestrated by Hamas is, in fact, what is causing them. Hamas can only be looking around and saying to themselves, "Hey, it's working! So let's keep on doing it!"
Hamas commits further war crimes for which Israel also gets unfairly blamed. There is clear, abundant evidence that Hamas terrorists deliberately place their weapons and ammunition in schools, kindergartens, hospitals and mosques, which, under international law, are "protected zones," and they use these sites to fire rockets at Israel and ambush Israeli soldiers.
Under international law, however, once combatants use "protected zones" for military purposes, including for storing weapons, these protected zones lose their protected status. As US Senator Tim Cotton said:
"If Hamas uses schools, and kindergartens, and mosques for military purposes, Israel has every right under the laws of war to strike back.... It is Hamas that is committing war crimes by using those civilians...."
There is also evidence that Hamas fires rockets at Israel from protected safe zones, designated by Israel in southern Gaza specifically for Palestinian civilians who have fled their homes in the north, as Israel requested them to do, to protect them from getting caught in the fighting. It was Hamas who were shooting at their own citizens to try to keep them from leaving, and it was the Israelis who stood guard along Gaza's main road south to prevent Hamas from shooting them.
Israel's airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have, in reality, been astonishingly precise, not in the least "indiscriminate." Israel has, for instance, been able to take out a specific apartment on the 2nd floor where terrorists were hiding, while leaving the rest of the building, including the 3rd floor, untouched.
Biden appears to have gotten it the other way round: It is Hamas that is firing rockets indiscriminately at civilians in Israeli cities -- the same Hamas that, on October 7, sent thousands of heavily armed terrorists to butcher Jews, Muslims and Christians; Israelis, Americans, French, Filipinos, Nepalis and Thais. The Hamas terrorists that invaded in Israel did not even try to differentiate between one person and another. They were on a murder spree to slaughter, full stop.
Israel's war is not directed against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. This is a war, the main purpose of which is to release the approximately 130 of the 240 Israeli hostages who Hamas has not yet exchanged or murdered. If Israel were engaged in "indiscriminate bombing," it would not have asked Palestinian civilians to move to safe zones. If this were a war against the Palestinian population, Israel would have bombed the Gaza Strip only from the air, without risking the lives of its soldiers. More than 100 Israeli soldiers have been killed in action in Gaza, and hundreds more wounded.
The current makeup of Israel's coalition government is -- contrary to defamatory swipes -- entirely irrelevant to the war. Israel's war cabinet consists of Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz. Other Israeli cabinet ministers, including Ben-Gvir, have virtually no say in the war effort. It is out of place in the extreme that US officials believe they have the right to decide for Israeli voters who their representatives in their government should be. Ironically, the Biden administration seems to have more influence on Israel's war cabinet than Ben-Gvir and other members of Israel's government. Both Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have personally attended meetings of the war cabinet – a privilege denied to Ben-Gvir and other Israeli ministers.
By calling for a change in the makeup of the Israeli government in the midst of the war, Biden is giving hope to Hamas and the rest of Israel's enemies that the US is on their side. The message Biden is sending to the terrorists is: Hold on, we are with you and we want to remove Netanyahu and his government from power.
How would a cabinet reshuffle in Israel contribute to the war on Hamas? Is it appropriate for a foreign leader to demand that the Israeli prime minister replace his democratically-elected coalition partners while Israel is in the midst of a war, or even if it were not? Has Biden ever demanded from any Arab leader, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, to make changes in his cabinet?
Biden has shifted the talk from the need to eliminate Hamas and remove it from power, to the need undemocratically to change the Israeli government.
Not only Hamas but also the Palestinian Authority, whose leaders have yet to condemn Hamas's October 7 massacre, are also pleased with Biden's anti-Israel rhetoric. Hussein al-Sheikh, the Palestinian Authority's No. 2, commented:
"US President Biden's statements yesterday must transform into actions, starting with calling for an immediate ceasefire and putting forward a comprehensive political plan based on international legitimacy and international law... and establishing an independent Palestinian state."
Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have every reason to be satisfied with Biden. As far they are concerned, the mounting pressure by the Biden administration on Israel to end the war is a sign that the US does not want to see Hamas destroyed. Hamas is undoubtedly hoping to be rewarded for their October 7 carnage with an independent, Iran-backed Islamist Palestinian state right next to their "mark," Israel.
Biden's statements make Hamas and the Palestinian Authority think that they are close to achieving their goals.
"Biden's comments only feed the antisemitic rhetoric that Joe Biden himself claims to find so disgusting," remarked former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. "These are really unfortunate comments."
The Biden administration, which has been seeking to appease the Iranian regime, doubtless understands that statements such as Biden's are likely to sabotage the war on terrorism. When Iran and Hamas terrorists hear Biden criticizing Israel during a war, it simply encourages them to escalate their attacks. For the terrorists, these attacks on Israel are proving to be effective: even the president of the US appears to be close to throwing Israel under the bus.
The Biden administration also doubtless understands that the war on Hamas cannot be conducted with a stop-watch or a certain timeline. The war to destroy Hamas and remove its threat to Israel could take additional weeks or months. As with routing ISIS or Al-Qaeda, the timing should not be a consideration at all. The Biden administration might please stop meddling in the war effort.
Instead of issuing deadlines for ending the war, the Biden administration should be voicing full support for Israel's war on Iran's terrorist proxies. Israel is fighting to defeat terrorism and preserve freedom for all of us in the free world. Israel is sacrificing its heroic citizens so that we will not have to. Instead of hampering Israel, we should be thanking it and doing all we can to help.
Contrary to what Biden believes, Israel should not be worried about global reactions to the war on Hamas. Most countries, and the United Nations, would probably denounce Israel because that is what they always do, no matter what Israel does. In the manner of the boy who cried wolf, they have thrown at Israel so much defamatory sewage, so unjustly, for so long, that it no longer carries any credibility.
Many apparently believe that Israel has no right to defend itself -- or even exist. Yet it was not Israel's perennial virtue-signaling critics -- the international community -- who were slaughtered on October 7. It was Israeli civilians, men, women and children, which is why Israel has an absolute obligation to defend itself against murderous Jihadis to make sure they will never try it again. There should be no negotiations and no ceasefires.
Sadly, Israel is dealing with bloodthirsty Islamists who never honor their commitments, anyway (here, here and here). Hamas already recently broke two ceasefires in two months; there is no reason to think they would not break a third, fourth and fifth. As they keep openly admitting, their chief goal is to murder Jews and wipe Israel off the map (here, here and here). How is it, one wonders, that Hamas has the right to pursue its declared aim of destroying Israel while Israel is not entitled to battle those who seek its destruction?
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Syria: The Policy of Silence and the Silence around This Silence
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 18/2023
Some observers have not shied away from admitting their bewilderment at Syria’s official stance on the war on Gaza which has, for what has become a long time now, been accompanied by the absence of President Bashar al-Assad, who is only making fleeting quick appearances.
Some of the observers attributed Syrian’s position to the history of the once turbulent relationship between Hamas and Damascus. Some attributed it to the “threats” aimed at deterring Assad that he is said to have received through intermediaries. Others find that Syria is in a difficult and critical position because of the battle it is fighting against Takfiri terrorism and the economic and financial war that the United States has waged against it. But these arguments do not seem very compelling: the regime's relationship with Hamas has improved immensely, with the two parties now part of the same “Axis” and both becoming proponents of “uniting the arenas.” Besides, Damascus could see what is happening in Gaza, regardless of Hamas, as a devastating assault on the Strip and its people, and act accordingly.
As for the “threats” made by its enemies, they are supposed to come with the territory. They should not frighten a regime whose officials, as well as those in their orbit, have been repeatedly insisting, for years, is preparing to fight fateful battles on the side of justice. The same is true of the measures taken by the US and other Western countries; indeed, lifting the “unjust siege on Syria” is an added reason to join the battle.
As for the argument that Syria is still fighting a war against Takfiri terrorism, it is not consistent with the constant celebration of the defeat inflicted on these terrorists and their backers. Other arguments made along the same lines are no more convincing, even before accounting for the fact that Israel targeted Syrian territory 33 times between October 7 and December 12.
In the Syria of Assad we know, lip service is typically more vigorous and louder than artillery when it comes to Palestine. Today, we hear neither lip service nor artillery fire. In turn, anyone who remembers the extremely bloody campaigns to defeat “Arafatism,” “its capitulation,” and the “Lebanese isolationists allied with Israel,” or to crush the Syrian opposition that “serves the interests of Zionism and imperialism,” is left with the impression that Assad’s Syria is tantamount to terrible memory loss.
That much could be said before getting into the “liberation of Palestine” that the “beating heart of Arabism” had once been expected to propel, or the Baathist lineage of the regime currently in power, which had scorned Gamal Abdel Nasser for failing to liberate Palestine. Since President Assad is unlikely to suddenly transform into Olof Palme or Desmond Tutu, raising doubts and voicing rebukes becomes valid, as does allowing this skepticism to lead us to reassess some chapters of the past and some of its rhetoric through the lens of the present, with its experiences and discoveries.
The aim of this exercise is not to call for expanding the scope of the war through Syrian involvement, though Israel has not stopped expanding it through attacks on Syria. Indeed, artillery falling silent is always desirable, be it in Syria or elsewhere. Of course, plunging people into wars is not consistent with having affection for them or wishing them the best. However, that has no bearing here, as this is a dissection of how Syria's official position compares to its discourse and actions, and perhaps also because the regime understands what the brazen Israeli genocide of Gaza, which has reminded many of the Syrian regime's brazen genocide against its people, means better than most.
Nonetheless, more bizarre than the silence of Damascus is the silence around its silence. While many Arab countries that are geographically further and laid less of a claim to Arabism, liberation, etc. are constantly criticized and slandered for allegedly neglecting their duty to support Gaza, the Syrian president has not been blamed or even reproached. Instead, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah is tasked with justifying the Syrian silence and Assad's absence. Hamas circles, in its leadership and grass roots, had complained of what they saw as Hezbollah not doing its duty by them, though these doubts were walked back on. However, no one said anything about the Syrian regime, though its non-contribution is not at all comparable to what Hezbollah has contributed and offered. This, in turn, calls for a reexamination of the concept of solidarity, which is using Gaza as a pretext. It entails accepting factors that mitigate blame on a “strategic ally” that are only applicable to “strategic allies.” It is not an exaggeration to say that this silence around Syria's silence is an added reason to doubt many of the notions that had been presented as beyond doubt and self-evident.
As for the retrospective view, the developments we are now seeing allow us to reexamine the past few years and develop a reading that makes us understand that while killing Syrians and killing Palestinians may not necessarily be the same thing, these two things are certainly not contradictory.

Europe May Be Headed for Something Unthinkable
Hans Kundnani/The New York Times/December 18/2023
As 2023 comes to an end, there is a growing sense of panic in Europe. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union has been preoccupied with integrating the country — widely seen as a geopolitical necessity — and with the internal reform required to make that possible. But over the course of this year, as the much-hyped Ukrainian counteroffensive stalled, tensions among member states have increased.
As members have disagreed on issues such as climate policy and the war in Gaza, the unity around supporting Ukraine has shown signs of cracking, too. With no end to the war in sight, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary has stepped up efforts to limit the bloc’s backing of Ukraine; the election of Robert Fico in Slovakia has given him another ally in the cause. In an even bigger shock last month, Geert Wilders’s far-right party became the biggest force in the Dutch parliament. Whether or not Mr. Wilders can form a government, his strong showing may lead to further disruption in Europe, on Ukraine and much else.
European elites are right to worry. But the focus on divisions within the bloc obscures a much more disturbing development taking place beneath the surface: a coming together of the center right and the far right, especially on questions around identity, immigration and Islam. With European parliamentary elections next year, this convergence is bringing into clearer view the possibility of something like a far-right European Union. Until recently, such a thing would have seemed unthinkable. Now it’s distinctly plausible.
For the past decade, European politics have widely been understood in terms of a binary opposition between liberalism and illiberalism. During the refugee crisis in 2015, for example, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Mr. Orban were seen as political opposites — she the figurehead of liberalism, he of illiberalism. Yet their parties, the center-right Christian Democrats and far-right Fidesz, were in the same grouping in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party. In other words, they were political allies. (Fidesz was suspended from the grouping in 2019 and finally quit in 2021.)
Since then, the convergence between the center right and the far right in Europe has gone further. The lesson that center-right parties drew from the rise of right-wing populism was that they needed to adopt some of its rhetoric and policies. Conversely, some far-right parties have become more moderate, albeit in a selective way. At a national level, parties from the two camps have governed together, both formally, as in Austria and Finland, and informally, as in Sweden.
Yet the most striking illustration of this convergence is the harmonious relationship between the European center right and Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy, who became prime minister of Italy last year. As soon as she indicated that she would not disrupt the bloc’s economic policy and would be supportive of Ukraine, the European People’s Party was willing to work with her — and its leader, Manfred Weber, even sought to form an alliance with her. The center right, it turns out, doesn’t have a problem with the far right. It just has a problem with those who defy EU institutions and positions.
The two, in fact, can agree on a lot — something that plays out most clearly in immigration policy. In contrast to its progressive image, the European Union has, like Donald Trump, sought to build a wall — in this case, in the Mediterranean — to stop migrants from arriving on its shores. Since 2014, more than 28,000 people have died there as they desperately tried to reach Europe. Human Rights Watch said earlier this year that the bloc’s policy could be summed up in three words: “Let them die.”
The European Union’s distinctive approach to migration depends on what might be called the offshoring of violence. Even as it has welcomed millions of Ukrainian refugees, the bloc has paid authoritarian regimes in North African countries to stop migrants from sub-Saharan Africa from reaching Europe, often brutally. Through this grotesque form of outsourcing, the union can continue to insist that it stands for human rights, which is central to its self-image. In this project, the center right and far right are in lock step. In July, Ms. Meloni joined the head of the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, and the Dutch prime minister to sign one such deal with Tunisia.
The blurring of boundaries between the center right and the far right is not always as easy to spot as it is in the United States. Partly that’s because the process, taking place in the complex world of the bloc, is subtle. But it is also because of a simplified view of the far right as nationalists, which makes it seem incompatible with a post-national project like the European Union. Yet today’s far right speaks not only on behalf of the nation but also on behalf of Europe. It has a civilizational vision of a white, Christian Europe that is menaced by outsiders, especially Muslims.
Such thinking is behind the hardening of migration policy. But it is also influencing Europe in a deeper way: The union has increasingly come to see itself as defending an imperiled European civilization, particularly in its foreign policy. During the past decade, as the bloc has seen itself as surrounded by threats, not least from Russia, there have been endless debates about “strategic autonomy,” “European sovereignty” and a “geopolitical Europe.” But figures like President Emmanuel Macron of France have also begun to frame international politics as a clash of civilizations in which a strong, united Europe must defend itself.
In this respect, Macron is not so far from far-right figures like Wilders who talk in terms of a threatened European civilization. His electoral success in the Netherlands could be a prelude, many fear, to a major rightward shift in the European parliamentary elections next June. That would give the far right substantial power to shape the next commission even more than the current one — both directly, with the possibility of far-right figures in top positions, and indirectly, with their concerns channeled by the center right.
Supporters of the bloc tend to see European unity as an end in itself — or to assume that a more powerful European Union, long idealized as a civilizing force in international politics, would automatically benefit the whole world. But as the union unites around defending a threatened European civilization and rejecting nonwhite immigration, we need to think again about whether it truly is a force for good.

Abou Ammar, Al-Sinwar and Questions about the Siege
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 18/2023
Yehya al-Sinwar wasn’t born yet when memories of the Nakba rattled Palestinians living in Cairo, Kuwait, Qatar and other places. They carried out secret contacts to determine whether they could unite to wage a battle to reclaim all the territories,
Al-Sinwar was three years old when Farah fired its first shot on January 1, 1965. After that, the world would remember the names of the founders: Yasser Arafat (Abou Ammar), Salah Khalaf (Abou Iyad), Khalil al-Wazir (Abou Jihad), Farouk al-Qaddumi (Abou al-Lutf), Mahmoud Abbas (Abou Mazen) and others. Arafat, Khalaf and al-Wazir came from a Muslim Brotherhood background, al-Qaddumi from the al-Baath and Abbas didn’t have a partisan background. The members of the Fatah circle set aside their past affiliations to focus on national resistance.
Al-Sinwar was four years old when al-Qaddumi visited Syrian Defense Minister Hafez al-Assad for a meeting that culminated in the release of Arafat from prison where he was held for 51 days. Soon after, Arafat will be held prisoner in Beirut for his involvement in a resistance operation that was launched from Lebanon.
Al-Sinwar was five years old when Israel waged the 1967 war and turned parts of neighboring countries hostages that it wouldn't release before receiving an acknowledgement of its right to exist.
He was six when Israeli forces nearly arrested an infiltrator called Yasser Arafat. That year, the Battle of Karameh took place in Jordan. The fight would allow Fatah to take on the task of leading the Palestinian struggle and pave the way for a victory-sign wielding Arafat to visit Arab and world capitals.
Al-Sinwar was eight when Dr. Wadih Haddad, comrade of George Habash in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, shocked the world when he hijacked three planes and led them to Jordan’s “revolution airport” in 1970. That same year, the Arab summit would dispatch a senior delegation to release Arafat, who was besieged in Amman.
In all likelihood al-Sinwar probably remembers what happened in Beirut in 1982. He was 20. General Ariel Sharon’s forces tightened their siege of the Lebanese capital and bombarded it from land, sea and air. Arafat didn’t take long to realize the harsh truth. The Soviet Union wasn’t prepared to deliver a warning, not even send a ship to transport the wounded. Egypt was unable to abandon its Camp David commitments. Syria, whose forces fought fiercely in Lebanon during the first days of the invasion, was unable to open the Golan front.
Arafat was in no way willing to listen to Moammar al-Gaddafi, who encouraged the Palestinians to commit suicide in Beirut. He had no choice but to seek a mandatory party, the United States, to lessen the damage and improve his conditions. Habash, for his part, had to acknowledge that his dream of turning Beirut into a new Stalingrad was just a dream.
The siege of Beirut is certainly different than the siege of Gaza. We are talking here about two different arenas and two different time periods. We are talking here about a period that witnessed the death of the greatest casualty of the 20th century: the Soviet Union. It was killed by old age, not a bullet.
Are there similarities between two situations that are separated by four decades of history during which the world changed dramatically and the Palestinian wound continued to fester? Can Hamas seek the same path as Arafat? Is it acceptable? Can Hamas follow the Palestine Liberation Organization and respect its commitments? Can it stand behind Abbas, knowing that the accepting the two-state solution necessarily means recognizing the other state that is Israel? Is al-Sinwar facing the same questions that confronted Abou Ammar in Beirut? Russia, which is present in Syria, is not prepared to deliver a warning, which would spark a major international crisis, for the sake of Gaza.
We can say that Iran prefers to offer support by proxy, not by direct involvement. Does al-Sinwar hold a card to stop the war, even if it meant releasing the hostages in exchange for saving Gaza from complete and total destruction? Does he have the cards that would protect Hamas from the “next day” scenarios that effectively take it out of the equation?
Al-Sinwar was serving four life sentences behind bars when the Oslo Accords were being cooked up in Tunisia by Abou Mazen, Abou Alaa, Yasser Abed Rabbo, Mohsen Ibrahim, Mahmoud Darwish and others under Abou Ammar’s leadership. They held difficult discussions. They must pay a hefty and unavoidable price in order to return the Palestinian cause to its territories. It was a soul-crushing price that meant accepting a smaller dream and fewer lands.
When Fatah fired its first shot, Arafat and his comrades wanted what al-Sinwar wanted today: “All territories”. But the balance of power is merciless and time is threatening both the dream and the territories. In the end, they agreed to obtain a “foothold in the backyard of the house”, as described by Darwish.
In his prison, al-Sinwar learned about how Arafat shook hand of Yitzhak Rabin at the White House. He learned that Hamas and “Jihad” launched waves of suicide operations to scuttle attempts to undermine the Oslo Accords.
Benjamin Netanyahu boasts about undermining the two-state solution. He says the Oslo Accords were an error that would not happen again. We must wait to find out whether the current Gaza war would be the final battle before the two-state solution is adopted or whether it would pave the way for a greater more dangerous confrontation.The question remains: What is al-Sinwar thinking about? What lessons has he derived from Abou Ammar’s experience?

Israel’s allies lose control of narrative as death toll soars
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/December 18, 2023
At London’s Royal College of Arts last week, remarkable developments unfolded. Staff discovered that the Israeli ambassador was due to speak at an event at the RCA building that was being held to promote investment in Israel. Employees immediately walked out en masse and staged a large spontaneous protest, compelling the RCA management to dissociate themselves from the event and its objectives. This outraged reaction from ordinary workers who would normally be serving food, sweeping floors and managing security serves as a vivid metaphor for the grassroots rebellions witnessed worldwide against international elites who tolerate and facilitate the Gaza genocide.
There has been a vociferous reaction from mid-level staff at the US State Department and other ministries at the manner in which President Joe Biden unthinkingly shackled the administration to a far-right regime that is killing tens of thousands of civilians and has displaced more than 2 million. This is mirrored by the reaction among sizable demographics within the Democratic Party; progressives, younger people, minorities and ordinary working-class voters — contributing to cratering support for a president shortly up for reelection.
A similar crisis erupted within Britain’s opposition Labour Party, which scrambled to soften its position following the universal outcry at leader Keir Starmer’s refusal to call for a ceasefire. Britain and Germany’s foreign ministers last week performed a dramatic U-turn and called for a “sustainable ceasefire” after facing mass outrage at their previous staunch support for Israel.
Elsewhere, Gaza has proved uniquely divisive, as millions of ordinary citizens react viscerally to mass killing witnessed in real-time via social media, with huge numbers participating in demonstrations and voicing their rejection of Israel’s actions. Right-wing Republicans accuse social media companies like TikTok of deliberately promoting pro-Palestinian content. But the simple fact is that most people creating and sharing content on social media are young, and young people have come out as disproportionately pro-Palestinian and pro-humanity. Nevertheless, there have been concerted campaigns to remove online content that does not support Israel’s narrative, including material as innocuous as actor Brian Cox reciting a deeply moving poem by Gaza poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike along with much of his family.
Throughout the Western world, artists and public figures — including several who are Jewish — have been canceled for relatively innocuous expressions of support for the plight of Palestinians. In New York, this extended to a campaign to ban a Santa Claus performer after he expressed pro-Arab views.
The most febrile ideological battleground has been universities, where a generation of students has been instantly politicized. This often deeply poisonous firestorm of debate and outrage has been hugely traumatic for Jewish and Muslim students in institutions like Harvard, who through no fault of their own have been caught in the brutal rhetorical crossfire.
However, calls for intifada and other pro-Palestinian slogans have been interpreted by rabble-rousing right-wingers as incitement to genocide — accompanied by demands for university authorities to resign, the disbanding of pro-Palestinian student groups and canceled events, in violation of academic freedom of speech traditions. In fact, recent calls for genocide have emerged primarily from partisans of one side; one of plentiful high-profile examples being former Knesset member Danny Neumann advocating the extermination Gaza’s people and rebuilding of the Strip for Israelis.
Efforts to demonize all pro-Palestinian sentiments as “antisemitism” have been counterproductive, because millions of young people encountering these controversies for the first time immediately perceive such denouncements for what they are: illegitimate efforts by vested interests to monopolize the narrative and shut down debates around crimes against humanity.
The killing of three Israeli hostages while they were waving a white flag and videos showing summary killings of unarmed Palestinians are ample demonstrations of how Israeli soldiers attack everything that moves. Al Jazeera journalist Samer Abu Daqa was killed in recent days. His colleague Wael Dahdouh, who was wounded alongside him, had also lost his family in an Israeli airstrike. So far, at least 64 journalists and media personnel have been killed in the conflict. This is in addition to 101 UN staff killed so far during the war — by far the largest loss during a conflict in the UN’s history, while the overall death toll creeps toward 20,000, 70 percent being women and children.
As Israeli journalist Gideon Levy eloquently put it: A large portion of Israeli society has cut itself off from world opinion by believing that they are God’s chosen people, systematically dehumanizing Palestinians as deserving of extermination — while portraying themselves as the victims. Levy is one of many progressive Jewish figures to have incisively argued that Israel’s actions are morally wrong and practically catastrophic — representing a ferocity of debate within the Jewish community itself, which hitherto we have never witnessed.
The scathing manner in which Israeli officials have dismissed all talk of a return to peace negotiations — as suggested by their closest allies — shows how dissociated they have become from global opinion. Israel’s notoriously radical ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, argued that Israel would “absolutely not” countenance a two-state solution. If these catastrophic events have not convinced educated Israelis of the chronic urgency for peacemaking, then God help us all.
The most febrile ideological battleground has been universities, where a generation of students has been instantly politicized.
Moreover, many pariah regimes are following the Gaza bloodletting with a view to what they can get away with in future bouts of repression and ethnic cleansing. When international law is violated so flagrantly by Israel, we should not be surprised when such crimes become the worldwide norm.
Millions of people around the world view developments in starkly simple terms: Nothing justifies embarking on collective punishment against an entire population, nor the catastrophic death toll, including so many young children. Nothing justifies the illegal displacement of an entire populace, nor the fueling of dangerously irreducible hatred on both sides. Israel’s cheerleaders cannot credibly dispute these elementary facts. Their failure to control the narrative offers hope that this brutality has inadvertently stimulated a worldwide awakening of sufficient potency to irrevocably reconfigure the contours of this conflict.
Israel, wounded and lashing out, has inadvertently done more than anyone to ensure that Palestine is not an “Arab” or a “Muslim” issue — but rather a cause concerning global humanitarian justice, with the deepest reverberations for all humankind.
**Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Untying the Gordian Knots and Peace-Making
Charles Chartouni/This is Beirut/December 18/2023
Political and military events are overlapping and questioning notions, dynamics and taxonomies. The Gaza war and its immediate bloody antecedents have elicited a set of political, strategic and ethical controversies that question notional equivocations, sequential linearity and clear-cut scenarios.
The terror attack on South Israel is a blatant declaration of war based on a clear representation of its immediate outcomes, impact on the Israeli and Jewish psyche, and backlash within various Islamic and emerging strategic and ideological power blocs. What they have failed to foresee are the adverse reactions, their chain effects and the short-sightedness of this whole conjecture. However expedient and spectacular was the attack, the planners underestimated its disastrous humanitarian and urban costs and consequences, the irreversible political dynamics it propelled, and the flimsiness of the political and military projections.
The declaration of war has inevitably led to an official act of war by Israel which straddles the entire strategic network weaved by the Iranian power player. The Gaza war episode is part of an integrated strategic platform that has been building over three decades and whose obvious threats have been underrated and overlooked by the ultranationalist and messianic coalition in Israel, at a time when internal divisions and security hazards were exponentially increasing, and the peace prospects fading away from the horizon. The genocidal nature of the terrorist attacks left Israel with very few choices on how to deal with their dire consequences and ideological subtexts.
The withdrawal from Gaza in 2007 was part of territorial concessions that Israel was willing to consider as part of an overall normalization plan which proved to be wishful thinking. Gaza was hijacked by radicals as a counter-strategic platform to challenge the Palestinian Authority and derail the Oslo dynamics while perpetuating the Palestinian dependency and instrumentalization by Arab and Muslim power politics. The cumulative deficiencies of the Palestinian Authority, the resurgence of Palestinian radicalism and its Islamization, and the countervailing radicalization of Israeli politics and its judaïsation generated common distinctive hallmarks: heightened strategic security concerns, ideological polarization, zero-sum politics, further colonies, resumption of violence and terrorism, stringent stigmatization and recoil of multilateral diplomacy. They have jointly led to the re-institutionalization of enmity, the unraveling of a whole legacy of mediation, international resolutions and peace agreements, peace-making narratives, and revived security concerns on both sides.
The nihilistic turn of events unveiled major miscalculations on the part of Hamas, highlighting its dismal military ineptitude and moral depravity and the cynical political calculations of the Islamic regime in Teheran. The Iranian plot was predicated on the presumption of the “unified battlefields,” the cementing of regional and international power blocs and the recast of left-wokeism around Palestinian radical militancy. On their side, Israelis and Jews, by and large, woke up to the resuscitated historical traumas of the Holocaust, antisemitism and pervasive ontological insecurity. However challenging the Gaza war and its metonymies, Israelis have no choice but to engage in a war of necessity whose goal is to destroy Hamas military infrastructures, dismantle the human shields strategy and manage their interfaces. The strategic, ethical and operational challenges are part of the overall plot and cannot be disassembled, and the nihilistic nature of the terrorist attack is no coincidence. Israel is compelled to oversee the military defeat of Hamas, confront Hezbollah, various Iranian militias and Houthi rebels on a strategic continuum extending between the Near East and the Southern end of the Arabian peninsula (Yemen and the Bab al-Mandeb strait), and deal, jointly with its nemeses, with the risks of a generalized war. The Iranian grandstanding and ideological rambling is going awry with the negative military developments in Gaza, and the imperiled political and military gains garnered throughout the last three decades.
We should never overlook the fact that the strategic purview of this attack and its incidence on the mapping of the new Cold War coordinates. The topical nature of the terrorist assault cannot conceal its ultimate geopolitical and ideological motives: the derailment of the regional normalization process engaged by the US-Saudi joint venturing, the completion of the Abraham accords and the restart of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Iran’s scheme encountered multiple obstacles that betray basic misperceptions, let alone ideological and strategic scotomes: the determination of the Israeli retaliation, the head-on confrontation with the Iranian security threats, the support of the transatlantic community assorted with prudence, proportionality and respect of the Geneva convention stipulations, the disintegration of the BRICS and the new Cold War power blocs with India’s alignment to Israel’s counter-fighting, the distancing of China, the confrontation with Russia and the weakened standing of its offensive politics, the solidification of the European strategic limes with the endorsement of the Ukraine and Moldavia candidacy to the community, the enduring military support to Ukraine despite its imponderables, the obvious distancing of Arab politics from Iranian power politics and the counter-mobilization against the ideological obfuscations of left-wokeism in academia, media and public debates.
The October 7th, 2023 genocidal massacres and the tragic plight of Gaza and civilian Palestinians dragged onto the surrogate battlefields are the outcomes of an intentional criminal framing that merely instrumentalized the impasses of the conflict and its compounded destructive effects. Tragically enough, the truce cannot be enforced unless Hamas is defeated and the strategic demarcation lines are definitely set at the regional level. The cynical and criminal miscalculations of Iranian power politics and their muddled frontlines are part of the strategic counterplot and should be dealt with as such. Nonetheless, Israelis and Palestinians should put an end to their everlasting procrastination insofar as moral reciprocity, mutual acknowledgment, dual statehood and strategic security, there is no more room for waffling and indefinite deferred decision-making.
These cycles of violence should come to an end and usher in a new dynamic of diplomatic engagement, conflict resolution, confidence-building measures, and integrated security and economic strategizing. The completion of the Abraham Accords, the US-Saudi normalization and stabilization plan for the region is inevitably on a collision course with the Iranian regime and Islamist warmongering politics, ideological polarization and civil war projections. The defeat of Hamas or its deliberate surrender is the shortcut to end the war travails and cumulative tragedies. The takeover of moderates, on both Israeli and Palestinian sides is imperative if we were to oversee an end to this outlasting war and its deleterious consequences.

Soaring attacks on US forces and others in the Middle East demand firm response to send a message, former top commander says
Jake Epstein/Business Insider/December 18, 2023
US forces in the Middle East are continuously coming under attack by Iran-backed militia groups.
Most attacks in Iraq and Syria go unanswered, and the US military not yet hit the Houthis at all.
A former top US commander says a more aggressive response may be needed to send a message.
Iran-backed groups are launching attacks across the Middle East at an alarming rate, regularly targeting US forces and commercial ships with attack drones, rockets, and missiles in response to Israel's ongoing war against Hamas.
These relentless attacks have compelled the Pentagon to carry out a small number of retaliatory strikes against some of Iranian proxies, while also raising questions over whether additional defensive actions should be taken as the Biden administration considers its options. One former top US commander who oversaw military operations in the Middle East told Business Insider that a more aggressive response might be needed to send a clear message against the region's malign actors.
"It does not appear to me that the actions we've taken so far have really caused them to change their behavior," said Gen. Joseph Votel, who served as the commander of US Central Command, or CENTCOM.
The US has around 3,500 troops based in Iraq and Syria, where they carry out counterterrorism missions alongside local partner forces with the ultimate goal of defeating the Islamic State. For years, Iran-backed groups have attacked American service members in those two countries as part of Tehran's longstanding goal of expelling Washington's presence from the region. Between January 2021 and April 2023, for example, there were 83 strikes alone.
But since mid-October, as the Israel-Hamas war heated up, this number has skyrocketed; the past two months have seen at least 101 attacks against American forces in Iraq and Syria carried out by Iran-backed groups, a US defense official told Business Insider on Monday. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank tracking these attacks, pegs the figure slightly higher. Though many attacks go unanswered, the US military has retaliated on a few occasions, carrying out "self-defense strikes" in Iraq and Syria with fighter jets, combat drones, and gunships. These have targeted weapons storage facilities, training facilities, and drone-launching sites used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Tehran-backed militias.
These limited retaliatory actions, however, have not deterred the attackers. Votel, who oversaw the fight against ISIS during his time at the helm of CENTCOM between March 2016 and March 2019, said the US needs to stop the aggressive behavior of Iran-backed perpetrators and "remove uncertainty" from the situation before casualties mount. Already, one civilian contractor has died from a cardiac incident while dozens of service members have been injured. "They have to be held accountable and we have to go after them, I think, more aggressively than we have," he said. Votel, now a distinguished senior fellow on national security at the Middle East Institute, also raised concerns that the attacks against US forces risk seriously interfering with the fight against ISIS, as some of the resources needed to carry out counterterrorism missions are now being redirected to protecting the American footprint in Iraq and Syria. These resources include the use of aerial assets like drones and gunships, and also the general focus of service members. It's an unnecessary distraction. It's a dilemma facing commanders who are supposed to be tackling defeat-ISIS missions but are now dealing with another consistent threat that they can't ignore, Votel said. Convincing malign actors that it's more costly than beneficial to attack the US means diverting critical and finite resources toward a response — which contributes to the problem. But the former commander argues a tough response is needed just the same. A majority of the Pentagon's counterterrorism missions, however, are done in partnership with local groups like the Syrian Democratic Forces or Iraqi Security Forces. And it's clear that these are continuing despite the attacks on US forces; November alone saw 40 operations, which is a figure that's consistent with past months, according to US military data.
"Even in the midst of complex challenges within the region, CENTCOM remains steadfast to the region and the enduring defeat of ISIS," Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, the current commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement earlier this month.
Sending a message
While the US has taken some retaliatory measures in response to the attacks in Iraq and Syria, the same cannot be said in Yemen, where Houthi rebels have stepped up attacks on international shipping in response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Over the past two months the Iran-backed group has lobbed missiles and drones at, hijacked, and threatened commercial vessels transiting key waterways off the coast of Yemen. American, French, and British warships on patrol in the area have shot down dozens of one-way attack drones launched by the Houthis, as well as some missiles, but some threats have made it through to their targets. These multi-pronged attacks — some of which have caused damage to commercial vessels — have forced multiple companies to pause shipping through the Red Sea and led the US to discuss increasing a military footprint in the area. The regular attacks have also raised questions about the possibility of a more kinetic response and led the Biden administration to consider strikes on Yemen directly, reports say.
Navy destroyer USS Carney the Suez Canal
"The fact that the threat has gotten to this point — to freight companies routing around Africa instead of transiting the Suez Canal via the Red Sea — shows a failure in the US effort to establish effective deterrence against Iran and its proxies in the Middle East and to protect freedom of navigation," said Katherine Zimmerman, a counterterrorism expert and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. "Today's problems were predictable and possibly preventable," she said in remarks emailed to Business Insider. "The unanswered question that remains now is not just how to defend against such attacks but how to stop them."
Striking the Houthis in Yemen would not be unprecedented. The US did this in 2016, for example, after an attack on an American warship in nearby waters. But the region is teetering on the brink of wider conflict, which is one reason why experts say the US has shown caution and restraint in its response to Iran-backed aggressions. Votel said the Houthis are a distinctive entity in these circumstances in that they're trying to play a big part in Iran's so-called "axis of resistance," which is the band of proxy groups across the Middle East that opposes Israel and the US. This reality is also precisely what makes them dangerous, he said, and why their frequent provocations warrant a firm response. The Houthis' missiles and attack drones aren't much of a challenge for the powerful and well-armed US Navy warships on patrol, and there have been no direct hits. But a lucky shot is always a possibility, and the rebels still pose a major threat to commercial shipping, which has wide-reaching impacts on the global economy and has caused alarm. "Our ships that are operating down there are doing really darn good work in terms of protecting themselves and, to an extent, protecting others there," Votel said. "But we can't just always be in an absorb attack and defeat attack kind of world."
"We will, at some point, have to go after these capabilities, whether they're radar sites or shore-based missile sites or whatever it is that they're doing," he added, noting that the US will need to "go after them and destroy them, and send a very, very clear message that this can't happen."

Hamas: Origins, Nature, and Goals
Raymond Ibrahim/December 18/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/125269/raymond-ibrahim-hamas-origins-nature-and-goals-%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%85%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%a7%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%87%d9%8a%d9%85-%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a3%d8%b5%d9%88%d9%84-%d9%88%d8%a7/
Although most in the West consider Hamas, which brutally massacred some 1,400 Israelis on October 7, 2023, to be anything from a terrorist to a nationalist organization, the group sees itself first and foremost as a religious—namely, Islamic—movement, dedicated to enforcing Muslim law (sharia), including through jihad.
“Hamas” means “zeal” in Arabic and is an Arabic acronym from harakat al-muqawamah al-islamiyyah (the Islamic Resistance Movement). The group is primarily concentrated in the Gaza Strip.
Created primarily by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 1987 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas has the stated goal of replacing the entire state of Israel with a Muslim state governed by sharia. Jihad and Islamist indoctrination are its two principal means of instituting this new state.
Although its official membership is around 20,000, more than 200,000 Palestinians—5.26 percent of the then total population of the Palestinian Territories—attended the funeral procession for Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004, suggesting that its local sympathizers are ten times its official number.
In addition to its immediate goals, Hamas’s founding charter also illustrates the organization’s commitment to Islamic principles in general. The slogan—“Allah is its goal [theocratic rule], the Prophet its model [example of the Muhammad], the Koran its Constitution [sharia], Jihad [terrorism] its path, and death [suicide-bombings] in the cause of Allah its most sublime belief” —fully demonstrates its Islamic, as opposed to territorial or nationalistic, motivations.
Though most Hamas members are Palestinian Sunni Arabs, the charter “welcomes all Muslims who share its beliefs and thinking, commit themselves to its course of action, keep its secrets and aspire to join its ranks in order to carry out their duty.”
The Hamas Charter echoes the sentiment of observant Muslims in regard to the land of Palestine, all of which is believed to be “waqf land” that has belonged to Islam “since it was conquered by the Companion [Caliph Omar I] of the Prophet [c. 640].” In accordance with Islamic law, observant Muslims stress that the entire land of Palestine belongs to Islam by right and must therefore be re-conquered by Islam, not necessarily by Palestinians, but by Muslims. Hamas clearly defines “Nationalism as part and parcel of the religious faith,” thereby universalizing the notion of “nationalism” to include the entire Muslim umma, irrespective of actual nationality. And like global jihadists, Hamas clerics have publicly expressed their support for re-establishing the Caliphate.
Based on all the above, it is unsurprising that Hamas includes statements such as the following (from Article 7 of its charter):
The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews [related by al-Bukhari and Moslem].
To achieve its immediate goal of an Islamic Palestinian state, Hamas has steadfastly denounced the Oslo Accords, the Annapolis conference, and other diplomatic efforts to establish a long lasting peace in the region, referring to them as “initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences … [which] are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement.”
“The so-called peace process is futile,” Hamas leader Khaled Mashal declared in 2015. “There is no peace. Only the path of jihad, sacrifice and blood.”
However, when addressing Western audiences, Hamas leaders (such as Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshal) have stated that they are willing to recognize Israel with pre-1967 borders, even as the organization continues to reiterate, on a regular basis, its total rejection of Israel’s existence. Such doublespeak is a common tactic that finds its roots in Islam’s doctrine of deception, known as taqiyya, which the various PA factions even implement against one another.
As was the case with its parent organization, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas has gained the support of the Palestinian people by providing social and welfare services and by presenting itself as Israel’s implacable foe, as well as an opponent of the more corrupt, effete Fatah.
Hamas is also steadily Islamicizing Palestinian society through indoctrination and propaganda. This method is a fundamental part of the organization’s charter: “We must imprint on the minds of generations of Muslims that the Palestinian problem is a religious one,” an “Islamic education based on the implementation of religious precepts [Sharia].” Hamas has gone to extreme lengths to indoctrinate young Palestinians into its beliefs, including the use of “jihadist” Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny lookalikes in its television programs.
Hamas’s principal sources of funding traditionally include Iran, which, according to the U.S. State Department, spends approximately $100 million annually supporting Palestinian groups including Hamas; private charities, including those operating in the West (the most notorious being the Holy Land Foundation, now defunct, which channeled $12 million to Hamas ); and individual donors from the Gulf States.
Between 1993 and 2009, the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din Qassam Brigades, is believed to have killed over five hundred people in more than 350 separate terrorist attacks, many of them suicide bombings. Since then, Hamas’s brigades have continued to launch rocket attacks against towns in southern Israel. By far, its most successful jihad occurred last October 7, 2023, when the Hamas jihadists slaughtered 1,400 Israelis.
*Editor’s note: The above article is an updated adaptation of the World Almanac of Islamism 2011’s entry on Hamas, which was written by Mr. Ibrahim.