Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 02-03/2023
As a Christian, how can I empathize with the Palestinian cause after it has been Islamized and embraced by Jihadist countries and organizations?/Elias Bejjani/October 30/2023
French defense minister fears ‘untenable situation’ for UN peacekeepers in Lebanon
Adraee shares video of combat helicopters attacking Hezbollah sites
Exclusive to LBCI: U.S. State Department's Wooster Stresses Lebanon Must Avoid War, Sees Renewed Push for Two-State Solution
Visiting French minister says Lebanon 'doesn't need war' with Israel
Hezbollah simultaneously attacks 19 Israeli posts as Hamas fires rockets from Lebanon
Hezbollah targets Israeli post with suicide explosive drones
What will Nasrallah say in his speech on Friday?
UN plans to cut number of refugees receiving cash aid in Lebanon by a third
South Lebanon farmers brave Israeli fire to harvest olives
Army finds bodies of 2 shepherds shot by Israeli troops near Wazani
Qaouq says Hezbollah to continue operations against Israeli army
Mawlawi visits south in show of support amid daily clashes
Geagea: If we enter war, Hezbollah will have committed a major crime
In Lebanon, a Christian village hopes for the best and plans for the worst
A regularly updated visual tracker of northern border attacks by Hezbollah, the IDF, and Palestinian groups during the 2023 Hamas-Israel war./Hanin Ghaddar & Ahmad Sharawi/The Washington Institute
Hezbollah’s Escalation Ladder/Matthew Levitt/The Washington Institute
Hezbollah’s Terror Threat In Latin America/Emanuele Ottolenghi/1945 web site
Nasrallah’s Big Speech/Jonathan Schanzer/ Commentary
Will Hezbollah drag Lebanon into war?/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 02-03/2023
Israeli forces push into Gaza City amid fierce fighting
Second Israeli airstrike in two days pummels Gaza refugee camp, deepening a growing outcry
Blinken says US 'determined to deter any escalation' in Mideast
Israel says Gaza City encircled as Hamas vows invaders will go home 'in black bags'
'A curse to be a parent in Gaza': More than 3,600 /Palestinian children killed in just 3 weeks
Jordan to tell Blinken Israel must immediately stop war on Gaza -official statement
US intelligence warns Russia may provide Hezbollah with air defense systems — report
Bahrain expels Israel envoy, cuts economic ties: Parliament statement
Israeli civilian, 4 palestinians killed in West Bank
Confusion, frustration and hope at Gaza's border with Egypt
Arab leaders don’t care about the Palestinians
Biden calls for 'humanitarian pause' in Israel-Gaza violence
Blinken will enter diplomatic maelstrom over Gaza war on new Mideast trip
Diplomacy to pause fighting and ease siege intensifies as Israeli ground troops advance on Gaza City
Hamas using Ukraine war tactics to ambush Israeli soldiers in Gaza
UN experts warn time is running out to prevent genocide in Gaza
IDF soldiers will ‘in no circumstances’ enter Hamas tunnels, says ex-military chief
House Republicans push ahead with $14.5 billion in US assistance for Israel without humanitarian aid for Gaza

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 02-03/2023
There is still time for Biden to deter Iran and support Israel/Anthony Ruggiero/The Hill/November 02/2023
The second war against the Jews/Clifford D. May/The Washington Times/November 02/2023
The Muslim ‘Vatican’ Declares Open Season on All Israelis/Raymond Ibrahim/November 02/2023
The 'Two-State' Solution to Murder Jews/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/November 02/2023
Comparing Israel to the Nazis is a grotesque inversion of truth/Alan Johnson/The Telegraph/November 02/2023
The West may be too weak for the fight against Hamas/Con Coughlin/The Telegraph/November 02/2023
Time For 'Uniting the Fronts?' Or Not Yet?/Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez*/MEMRI/November 01/ 2023
Rules of war are being rewritten in Gaza/Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/November 02, 2023
How Israel can win the other Gaza battlefield: public opinion/Robert Satloff and Dennis Ross/The Hill/November 02/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 01-02/2023
As a Christian, how can I empathize with the Palestinian cause after it has been Islamized and embraced by Jihadist countries and organizations?
Elias Bejjani/October 30/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/123750/123750/
As a Lebanese Christian, and even Palestinian Christianو how can I empathize with and support those who call for the liberation of Palestine, including the throwing of Jews into the sea and the eradication of the state of Israel, especially when most countries, groups, and organizations that pursue this mission are Islamic Jihadists?
For example, Hezbollah’s name is the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, and Hamas is known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, and all the organizations claiming to be part of the resistance and aiming to liberate Palestine adhere to Jihadist concepts, cultures, and practices, as do states like the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The most dangerous curse that hit the Palestinian cause is its Islamization and the transformation of the conflict into a Jihadist war against Jews and the throwing of Israel into the sea.
Amid the current political and ideological debate about the Palestinian issue, and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the destructive war and devastation in Gaza, important questions are raised: How can a Lebanese Christian, or anyone who is Christian, including Palestinian Christians, sympathize with and support those who call for the liberation of Palestine through Jihadist means, including actions such as throwing Jews into the sea, and the elimination of the state of Israel? Especially when most countries, led by Iran, and all groups and organizations opposing Israel embrace Islamic Jihadist concepts and goals?
Answers depend on personal values and beliefs, and may vary from one person to another. However, it is essential to carefully consider the deadly and destructive consequences that have arisen due to the transformation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a Jihadist war against Jews.
The Islamization of the Palestinian cause, and its transformation into a Jihadist Islamic war has largely been rejected by the majority of countries and people worldwide, causing it to lose sympathy and support from those who are not Jihadists, whether they are states or organizations.
To correct the course of the Palestinian dilemma and return it to a national cause, rather than a religious one, the following steps are required:
First, we must recognize that there is a significant difference between supporting the rights of Palestinians and working towards a peaceful and just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and promoting violence and Jihad against Jews. Aligning with groups that embrace Jihad can be dangerous for the people of the Middle East and regional security. In this context, we need to acknowledge the facts and understand that movements and states like Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Boko Haram, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and all their likes have brought destruction, chaos, and conflicts to many countries, (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria etc), exacerbating the problem rather than reaching a permanent and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue.
Second, everyone, particularly the Palestinian people, must contemplate the positive effects of mutual cooperation and constructive dialogue among religions and cultures, rather than supporting Jihad and violence. Christians, Muslims, Jews, and people of other faiths can work together to achieve peace, tolerance, and coexistence in the Middle East and specifically, address the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In conclusion, the Palestinian cause includes legitimate rights for the Palestinians, and there are peaceful, civilized, and national ways to reach a permanent solution. Islamizing it as it stands today will not lead to solutions, neither today nor any other day.
Cooperation, dialogue, and accepting others are the keys to its success and finding peaceful solutions, which is why local, regional, and international stakeholders must earnestly seek ways to support efforts aimed at peace and justice in the region, rather than endorsing Islamic and jihadist violence, destruction, death, and devastation.

French defense minister fears ‘untenable situation’ for UN peacekeepers in Lebanon
Reuters/November 03, 2023
PARIS: France has passed messages to Hezbollah and Israel to not destabilize the United Nations’ Lebanon peacekeeping force UNIFIL and said that any broadening of the Hamas-Israel war to Lebanon would plunge the country “into an abyss.”France has sought to use its historical relationship with Lebanon to try to defuse tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, but violence has spiked. Some 700 French soldiers are part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) established in 1978 following violence on the Israel-Lebanon border. “It is clear that we must not put UNIFIL in an untenable situation in which it will not be able to carry out the mission that the United Nations has given it,” Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu told France Info radio. “This is the message we are sending to the various actors, on the Lebanese side as well as on the Israeli side.”Speaking after meeting the French contingent in Lebanon and ahead of a much-anticipated speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, Lecornu said all of Lebanon’s leaders needed to understand the risk of going to war.“The war here in Lebanon would plunge part of the Middle East into an abyss, into an abyss which we would have difficulty collectively to get back up from,” Lecornu said. President Emmanuel Macron appointed a former foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in June to try to come up with a method to convince Lebanon’s political elite to put rivalries aside and appoint a new head of state after more than a year of blockage to carry out economic reforms and unlock vital foreign aid. However, that has led to nowhere. “It’s clear that in the difficulties we are experiencing, not having a contact person for over a year now makes no sense. This weakens Lebanon even more,” Lecornu said. Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces across the Israeli-Lebanese border since the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel went to war on Oct. 7, in the deadliest violence at the frontier since a 2006 war.

Adraee shares video of combat helicopters attacking Hezbollah sites
LBCI/November 02, 2023
Spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, shared a video on the X platform showing combat helicopters attacking Hezbollah sites, coinciding with artillery shelling.

Exclusive to LBCI: U.S. State Department's Wooster Stresses Lebanon Must Avoid War, Sees Renewed Push for Two-State Solution
LBCI/November 02, 2023
In a telling interview with LBCI, Henry Wooster, the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the U.S. State Department, spoke at length about the pressing issues in the Middle East, especially the situation in Gaza.
Touching on a topic of global concern, Wooster was questioned about the feasibility of completely eradicating Hamas and the implications for civilians in Gaza. He made it clear that while the existence of a terrorist organization like Hamas at the borders of Israel is intolerable, the loss of innocent lives in any military campaign is deplorable and unacceptable. Wooster deferred to Israel regarding their tactics in contending with Hamas, yet underscored the U.S. position that the status quo is untenable. On the issue of U.S. support for Israel's plans post-conflict in Gaza, particularly concerning governance, Wooster avoided conjecture, instead emphasizing the U.S. commitment to diplomatic efforts. He maintained that it is paramount to end the status quo but left the determination of Gaza's future governance to the Palestinian people. The Deputy Assistant Secretary also addressed the future of peace negotiations, indicating a strong international willpower to lay the foundations for a two-state solution. While immediate concerns focus on the Israel-Hamas conflict, he noted the strategic objectives of the U.S. to support stability and peace through the normalization of relationships in the region. Amidst concerns about increasing tensions at Lebanon's southern border and Israel's northern border, Wooster highlighted U.S. efforts to prevent any escalation. He noted ongoing diplomacy aimed at containing the situation, signaling no interest in Lebanon's involvement in the conflict. With the escalation of military activities in the region, including the U.S. deployment of warships and defense systems, Wooster addressed the potential for a wider conflict. He stated these actions represent a deterrent to ensure stability and prevent conflict expansion.

Visiting French minister says Lebanon 'doesn't need war' with Israel
Agence France Presse/November 02, 2023
French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Thursday that Lebanon "doesn't need a war" with Israel and warned against a regional escalation as Israel bombards Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Lebanon's southern border has seen near daily exchanges of fire, mainly between Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah, since Hamas launched a shock attack on Israel from the Palestinian territory on October 7. "Lebanon doesn't need a war, that's the least we can say," Lecornu said during a visit to French peacekeepers in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Such a war "could have major escalatory effects on the whole region," he added. The cross-border exchanges have left 66 dead on the Lebanese side -- 48 of them Hezbollah fighters but also including seven civilians, one of them a Reuters journalist, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, nine people have died -- eight soldiers and one civilian, the army says. On Saturday, a U.N. peacekeeper was wounded by shelling, the mission's spokesman said, hours after reporting a hit on its headquarters. Iran-backed Hezbollah has been targeting Israeli observation posts and military positions near the border. The group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is to speak on Friday for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war broke out. Lecornu said there was no interest in interrupting UNIFIL's mandate in the face of the current border tensions, adding he had heard "here and there that UNIFIL should stop its patrols." "If there was ever a time in which we needed oversight and deterrence to prevent an escalation, it's now," he said. UNIFIL acts as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel, which remain technically at war, and counts around 10,000 peacekeepers, some 700 of them French. Israel says its aim in Gaza is to destroy Hamas following the October 7 attacks, the deadliest in Israel's history, in which Israeli officials say militants killed 1,400 people and kidnapped 242 others. It has bombed Hamas-ruled Gaza relentlessly since then, a bombardment the Hamas-run health ministry says has killed more than 9,000 people.

Hezbollah simultaneously attacks 19 Israeli posts as Hamas fires rockets from Lebanon
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/November 02, 2023
Hezbollah on Thursday said its fighters carried out a simultaneous attack against 19 Israeli military posts along the tense Lebanon-Israel border, in the group's fiercest escalation against Israel since October 8 and on the eve of an anticipated speech by Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on the Israel-Hamas war and the border clashes. Hezbollah said the attacks in which mortar fire and antitank missiles were used coincided with two suicide drone attacks on the main Israeli post in the occupied Shebaa Farms. Media reports said Israeli helicopters were seen transporting a large number of casualties from the site. The military wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas for its part said it fired 12 rockets from Lebanon toward the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. The Qassam Brigades said in a statement that Thursday's rocket attack came in retaliation for the “occupation’s massacres against our people in Gaza.” The firing of the rockets coincided with Hezbollah's massive attack. The Hamas attack wounded two people in Kiryat Shmona, Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service said. One of the wounded was "a 25-year-old man in moderate condition who was injured by shrapnel," the medical service said.
An AFP photographer saw Israeli emergency crews checking the debris of burnt out vehicles following the strikes in Kiryat Shmona. Videos released by the fire department and circulating on social media showed a street ablaze, a wrecked car and a damaged building in the town that had been mostly evacuated at the beginning of the war. The Israeli military later said warplanes and helicopter gunships retaliated massively by striking at Hezbollah command centers, arms depots and sites from where the rockets were fired. Unprecedented Israeli artillery shelling also targeted Lebanese border areas along the entire frontier with Israel. The National News Agency said the Israeli attacks killed five people and wounded two others in south Lebanon. Four people were killed in Israeli shelling in the al-Slouqi Valley, NNA said. Lebanese national Hisham Ismail was meanwhile killed when Israeli shelling targeted his home in the southern border town of Mays al-Jabal while another man was wounded. An Israeli shell also wounded a Syrian man when his tent was bombed in the al-Wazzani area. The Israel-Lebanon border has seen escalating tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah, since the Palestinian militants launched a shock October 7 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, stoking fears of a regional conflagration. Israel has carried out relentless strikes on Gaza since Hamas militants attacked border communities and military outposts on October 7.

Hezbollah targets Israeli post with suicide explosive drones
Naharnet/November 02, 2023
Hezbollah attacked Thursday the headquarters of the Israeli Zebdine's brigade in the Shebaa Farms with two suicide drones loaded with explosives, after it simultaneously targeted Israeli army posts along the border with Lebanon. Earlier on Thursday, Israel shelled Khallat al-Mahafer near the southern town of Adaisseh, the outskirts of Ramya, Blat, Abou Laban near Aita al-Shaab, Tayr Harfa, al-Jebbayn, and al-Naqoura. It also shelled Wadi al-Olleik with incendiary and flare bombs, hours after the army retrieved the bodies of two Lebanese shepherds killed by Israeli fire as they passed with their herds by the Wazani river along the border. Hezbollah, for its part, targeted the al-Abbad Israeli military post facing the town of Houla, Avivim, al-Assi, al-Marj, Raas al-Naqoura, al-Jerdah and other posts with mortar shells and guided missiles, as alert sirens wailed in the Galilee along the border. Israeli media said twenty-five missiles and shells simultaneously targeted Israeli army posts along the border with Lebanon. Israel responded by shelling the southern towns of Meis al-Jabal, Aitaroun, the outskirts of Maroun al-Ras and Markaba, Marwahin, Yarin, and other southern towns.
Hezbollah said it had intercepted and destroyed overnight an Israeli drone with a surface-to-air missile over the villages of al-Malkia and Hounin.

What will Nasrallah say in his speech on Friday?
Naharnet/November 02, 2023
The time has become “appropriate for speaking” and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s anticipated speech on Friday will carry “surprises,” sources close to Hezbollah said. “Regardless of appeals and overbidding, Sayyed Nasrallah will not send reassurance messages to anyone but the Palestinian side,” the sources told al-Liwaa newspaper in remarks published Thursday. Nasrallah will tell the Palestinians that “the (Lebanese) resistance will not abandon them,” the sources added. “Sayyed Nasrallah will address a clear threat to the Israelis that any shot fired on Lebanese territory will ignite the war and the targeting of any civilian on Lebanese territory will also ignite the war,” the sources said. “The resistance will not accept any restrictions on its people and after Nasrallah’s speech everyone will return and they will pick the crops in the border villages,” the sources added. The Nidaa al-Watan newspaper has meanwhile learned that Nasrallah will declare that “Hezbollah is not seeking war but is ready for it should it be imposed on it."He will “warn Israel of the consequences of any foolishness it might commit or any crossing of the red lines, by saying that it will see what it has never seen in its history and what will make it forget the day of October 7,” the daily added. “He will not declare war but rather preparedness for it, knowing that Hamas will emerge victorious and that the countdown for Israel’s demise has begun,” the newspaper quoted its sources as saying.

UN plans to cut number of refugees receiving cash aid in Lebanon by a third
Associated Press/November 02, 2023
Faced with an increasing funding crunch, the United Nations will cut the number of refugee families receiving cash assistance in Lebanon by nearly a third next year, a spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency said Thursday. Due to "significant funding reductions," UNHCR and the World Food Program will give monthly cash aid to 88,000 fewer families in 2024 than in 2023, UNHCR spokeswoman Lisa Abou Khaled said. About 190,000 families will continue receiving the assistance, which is capped at a monthly maximum of $125 per household, she said. In the past, some families received extra assistance in the winter months for heating fuel expenses, but this year that program will also be halted, Abou Khaled said. That aid "was critical for vulnerable families to survive the winter season," she said. Lebanon, which has been in the throes of a severe financial crisis since 2019, hosts some 790,000 registered Syrian refugees and potentially hundreds of thousands more who are unregistered, the highest population of refugees per capita in the world. About 90% of Syrian refugees in the country are living below the extreme poverty line. Syria's uprising-turned civil war, now in its 13th year, has killed nearly half a million people, displaced half of its prewar population of 23 million and crippled infrastructure in both government and opposition-held areas. Recent months have seen a substantial uptick of violence in the largely frozen conflict, but international attention has largely turned away from Syria to the conflict in Ukraine and now to the Israel-Hamas war. UNHCR's Lebanon office has only received funds to cover 36% of its annual budget so far this year, while at the same time last year it was 50% funded, Abou Khaled said.
The office has already cut staff and reduced programs this year and may make further cuts in 2024, she said. Earlier this year, the U.N. slashed assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan, also citing funding shortfalls. Since Lebanon's economic meltdown began in 2019, officials have increasingly called for a mass return of Syrians, saying they are a burden on the country's scarce resources and that much of Syria is now safe, while human rights organizations have cited cases of returning refugees being detained and tortured. Over the past year, the Lebanese Army has deported hundreds of Syrians. Many of those were intercepted while entering the country at illegal crossing points, but others were registered refugees who had been living in the country for years.

South Lebanon farmers brave Israeli fire to harvest olives
Agence France Presse/November 02, 2023
Farmer Ghassan Hassan and his laborers have been toiling tirelessly to harvest olives in fields near Lebanon's southern border, undeterred by nearby Israeli bombings and the whirr of surveillance aircraft. Olive harvesting is a main source of income for villagers, but this year the season has coincided with tit-for-tat cross-border exchanges between Israeli troops and Hezbollah as the Israel-Hamas war rages in Gaza. "Aircraft hover over our heads day and night while we work, making the workers anxious. They sometimes get so frightened they leave," said Hassan, in his 50s, who is picking green and purple olives near the town of Hasbaya. "This year is unlike the ones before," he added. As he spoke, one of his workers received news his village had been hit by a bombardment. Stopping work, he frantically tried to call relatives with trembling hands before hearing they were all safe, breathing a sigh of relief as he returned to work.
Since Hamas militants stormed across the Gaza border on October 7, allegedly killing 1,400 people, Israeli warplanes have been bombarding the Palestinian territory, killing more around 9,000 people in violence that has also triggered a wave of unrest along the Israel-Lebanon border. So far, at least 63 people have been killed in Lebanon according to an AFP tally, mostly combatants but also five civilians. And eight people have been killed in Israel, among them both soldiers and civilians. The escalating exchanges of fire have made olive picking near the border particularly dangerous.
But despite the frequent nearby shelling and non-stop buzzing of reconnaissance aircraft, the farmers have not stopped coming to their lands.
'Risking their lives' -
Lebanese farmers mostly rely on Syrian laborers during harvest season, but many living near the border have fled, Hassan said. "It has become difficult for us to find workers," he told AFP. So far, thousands have fled the south due to the border tensions with nearly 29,000 people displaced across the whole of Lebanon, figures from the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration show. Israeli attacks have also set olive groves and greenery ablaze, with caretaker Agriculture Minister Abbas al-Hajj Hassan accusing Israel of carrying out white phosphorus attacks, saying the incendiary substance had burned down 40,000 olive trees. Rights groups and Lebanese officials have repeatedly accused Israel of using white phosphorus which catches fire on contact with the air and can inflict serious burns -- allegations Israel has previously denied. Farmer Hussein Shaheen, in his 70s, was one of those picking the tiny fruit outside Hasbaya as explosions resonated in the distance. But he has been clear with his workers: they must have the olives packed up and ready for transport so they can move quickly if shelling hits. Across the border regions of Hasbaya and Marjayoun, families and laborers are out and about in the olive groves, resting in the shade or climbing trees to pick the fruit. "People are risking their lives" because olives are their main source of income, Shaheen said. "Every year, they await harvesting season so they can sell olive oil and make a living," he said."When bombs fall, they go home" only to return the next day, he said.
'The harvest is like your child'
The Hasbaya region counts about a million and a half olive trees, according to Rasheed Zuwaihed of the local olive cooperative. "Whether there is bombing or not, people have no choice but to go out to the fields," said the 73-year-old, a retired teacher who owns an olive press. "They certainly take risks, but they are forced" to do so to survive, he said. In a nearby field, the Shaar family are picking olives together. "We are not afraid, but the buzzing of aircraft... is playing with our nerves," said Mona Shaar, 54, smiling as she gathered olives in her apron. Some of her relatives covered the ground with a plastic sheet to catch the fruit while others took turns hitting the branches with a stick to harvest the fruit. Working nearby, Mona’s cousin Adnan said he's used to the sound of explosions, now a regular occurrence in the area. "I know people who couldn't harvest because they are closer to the border and under bombardment," he told AFP. "They left their harvest, their land... It's hard," he said. "Your harvest is like your child, you care for it as you would for your own son."

Army finds bodies of 2 shepherds shot by Israeli troops near Wazani
Associated Press/November 02, 2023
Two Lebanese shepherds who were caught in crossfire during clashes on the Lebanon-Israel border were found dead Thursday, a spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force on the border said. The Lebanese army had called UNIFIL in to help evacuate the two men Wednesday evening after they were reported injured but had to call off the search “due to the darkness and presence of land mines in the area,” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said. He said Thursday morning that the men’s bodies had been found. A Lebanese security official said the shepherds died from gunshot wounds. Lebanon’s state-run news agency said the shepherds were shot by Israeli troops as they passed with their herds by the Wazani river along the border. The border has been the site of regular clashes between Israeli forces on one side and Hezbollah and Palestinian armed groups in Lebanon on the other. The shepherds’ death raised the numbers of civilians killed on the Lebanese side of the border to six since the exchanges of fire started following the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian Hamas group on southern Israel.

Qaouq says Hezbollah to continue operations against Israeli army
Naharnet/November 02, 2023
Hezbollah central council member Sheikh Nabil Qaouq on Thursday stressed that it is his party’s “national, religious and humanitarian responsibility” to “continue the battle against the Israeli enemy, in order to exhaust, weaken and defeat it.”
“Today the battle is the same battle and the fate of Lebanon and the region is hinging on the results of the war in Gaza,” Qaouq said. “All the aircraft carriers, fleets and destroyers have not and will not affect the resistance’s decision as to the operations against the Israeli enemy, and it is our promise for our people in Palestine that the resistance’s operations in the South will continue and increase in quantity and nature,” the Hezbollah official added. He also reiterated that “the resistance’s equation in protecting civilians is deep-rooted and firm” and that “the resistance will not hesitate or delay the response to any Israeli aggression targeting civilians in Lebanon.”

Mawlawi visits south in show of support amid daily clashes
Naharnet/November 02, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi visited Thursday Sidon, Nabatieh and Tyre, in a show of solidarity with the south as Hezbollah and Israel traded cross-border fire on the border. "Activating the emergency plan in all governorates is necessary and the goal is not to scare people but to reassure them,” Mawlawi said from Sidon. He later visited Nabatieh Governorate and the city of Tyre to inspect the centers sheltering the displaced southerners, and the readiness to the government's emergency plan. Since Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, Israel has exchanged cross-border fire with Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions in Lebanon's south, stoking fears of a regional spillover. Nearly 29,000 people have been displaced from the border villages in Lebanon due to the clashes, and more than 64 people have been killed, including six civilians.
Authorities have scrambled to develop an emergency plan, and Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday he was doing his best to ensure the state, with its "humble means", would be able to respond in case of war.

Geagea: If we enter war, Hezbollah will have committed a major crime
LBCI/November 02, 2023
Head of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea said on Thursday that war should not reach Lebanon because it will destroy the country, adding that we must do the impossible to prevent it. He said, "Should we sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the Hezbollah? The Lebanese government must implement Resolution 1701."Geagea, in an interview on LBCI, believed that the Palestinian cause is not just talk, adding that it consists of restoring rights to the Palestinian people, asking: "Is the Palestinian living the victory of October 7? Strength is not confronted only with other strength but with strength that 'achieves results.' What did the Palestinian gain today from the war other than facing poverty and death?"He also believed that "Hamas unintentionally saved Israel as the October 7 operation led to international sympathy with Israel. “What has the Axis of Resistance done for the Palestinian cause for 80 years until today?" he asked. Geagea considered that "the decision of war and peace is hijacked by Hezbollah and Iran," pointing out that "no one is more involved in the Palestinian cause than Yasser Arafat, who reached the conviction that he must go to the 'other way.'On another note, Geagea stressed that Mahmoud Abbas “is the dearest official in the world to him,” adding that he is more committed to the Palestinian cause than many others. Geagea called for a real solution to the Palestinian issue and affirmed full solidarity with the people of Gaza. Geagea also stressed that "war must not happen.”“If we enter the war, Hezbollah will have committed a major crime," he said. "Our humanitarian stance towards Shiite citizens is one thing, and our political stance towards Hezbollah is entirely different," he continued.

In Lebanon, a Christian village hopes for the best and plans for the worst
Riham Alkousaa and Abdelaziz Boumzar/Reuters/November 02, 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/123824/%d8%b1%d9%88%d9%8a%d8%aa%d8%b1%d8%b2-%d8%b1%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%b4%d8%8c-%d9%82%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%84%d8%a8%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%85%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%ad%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%aa%d9%85%d9%86/
Lebanese village sets up impromptu security amid Israeli-Hezbollah border clashes in Rmeish
RMEICH, Lebanon: At Lebanon's border with Israel, residents of a Christian village are hoping war can be avoided even as they prepare for the possibility of worsening hostilities between the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah and Israel.
Located just a couple of kilometres (miles) from the frontier, the village of Rmeich has already suffered fallout from three weeks of clashes along the border between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, the dominant force in south Lebanon.
Half of its residents have fled north since shells began crashing into hills nearby. With the olive harvest disrupted, their livelihoods have also been affected by south Lebanon's worst violence since Hezbollah and Israel went to war in 2006.
The village, along with the rest of Lebanon, is feeling the turbulence unleashed by the conflict raging some 200 km away between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, an ally of the heavily armed Hezbollah. Those who remain in Rmeich appear reluctant to discuss the politics of the crisis that has brought conflict to their doorstep, trying to preserve some normalcy in the village whose 18th century church still holds a mass three times a day. "I won't say we're feeling safe but the situation is stable," the village priest Toni Elias, 40, said as a military drone buzzed overhead. "If we don't hear the drone, we think something odd is going on. We're used to it everyday, 24/7," Elias said. Rmeich is one of around a dozen or more Christian villages near the border with Israel in predominantly Shi'ite Muslim south Lebanon. During the 2006 war, some 25,000 people from surrounding towns sought shelter in Rmeich. Memories of the 2006 conflict loom large. Rmeich locals and charities have set up a makeshift hospital at a school, in case the clashes between Hezbollah and Israel - so far largely contained to areas at the border - get worse. "We won't use it unless there is a war and roads get closed, and inshalla (God willing) this won't happen," said Georges Madi, a doctor from the village.
WAR AND PEACE
The tensions are weighing on the local economy, compounding hardship for people still suffering the effects of Lebanon's devastating financial collapse four years ago.
"If the war is prolonged, we can't stay here. There is no work or money," said Charbel Al Alam, 58, who makes his living from farming tobacco, historically an important industry for south Lebanon. "In the 2006 war, tobacco plants dried out in the fields and no one was able to harvest it. No one compensated us," he said. While farmers had been able to gather this year's crop, they worry whether they will be able plant next year's. Business in Rmeich has generally come to a halt, several local said. Unlike the surrounding areas, there is no sign of the yellow and green Hezbollah flag in Rmeich. While avoiding any criticism of Hezbollah, Rmeich mayor Milad Al Alam said the Lebanese army should be the sole military force in Lebanon - a view voiced by Hezbollah's opponents who say its arsenal has undermined the state. "We wish the decision of war and peace were in our hands. If it were, the situation would have been different," he said. The town has no shelter or official evacuation plan for its 4,500 remaining residents if war intensifies, he added. "People were stuck in the village for 17 days in 2006," he said. Elias, the priest, said he was confident Rmeich would not be hit: "As long we're here, living in the village. We don't want war, we're a peaceful village ... so the village remains safe if others flee to it."
(Writing by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Tom Perry and Gareth Jones)

A regularly updated visual tracker of northern border attacks by Hezbollah, the IDF, and Palestinian groups during the 2023 Hamas-Israel war.
Hanin Ghaddar & Ahmad Sharawi/The Washington Institute/November 02, 2023
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/mapping-clashes-along-israel-lebanon-border
Since war broke out on Israel’s southern frontier with Gaza last month, the country’s forces have also faced daily skirmishes with Lebanese Hezbollah to the north. Despite the limited geographical scope of these border clashes, many observers worry that their trajectory is one of dangerous escalation, with several Hezbollah attacks pushing beyond the normal rules of engagement, making greater use of advanced weapons (such as antitank missiles), or hitting different military targets (like the drone downed on October 29).
To minimize the risks of full-scale war, Hezbollah has simultaneously been playing a calculated and coordinated game of plausible deniability, often allowing other groups to launch rockets against Israel from south Lebanon. Yet its margin for error and miscalculation is shrinking every day, and even the limited escalation seen thus far has killed numerous Hezbollah fighters and displaced thousands of civilians in the south due to fears of another war. Israel has responded by bombing sites where missiles are launched and targeting some of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, losing several soldiers in the process.
View the map on Google Maps.
Using the Interactive Map
To better understand these trends and document individual attacks, the above map tracks all known incidents since the Gaza war erupted on October 7, 2023, and will continue adding new entries daily, marked as follows:
Blue pins: Israeli attacks
Yellow pins: Hezbollah attacks
Green pins: attacks claimed by Hamas (Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades)
Black pins: attacks claimed by al-Quds Brigades (Palestinian Islamic Jihad)
Orange pins: attacks claimed by al-Fajr Forces (al-Jamaa al-Islamiyah)
The pins represent approximate attack locations, with a precision radius ranging from zero to two miles. Click on a pin to show attack information, dates, and sources (which include Israeli, Lebanese, and wider Arab media outlets, social media posts by reporters, official Israeli and Hezbollah sources, and more).
Armed Factions in South Lebanon
Hezbollah: Lebanese Shia Islamist group formed in the 1980s, known for its paramilitary activities, deep opposition to Israel, and involvement in terrorist attacks against Americans and other Western powers operating in the Middle East. Functions as an Iranian proxy.
Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades: Military wing of the Palestinian organization Hamas. Operates primarily from Gaza but is also active in south Lebanon. Partly funded and armed by Iran.
Al-Quds Brigades: Armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), funded by Iran. Active in Gaza, the West Bank, and south Lebanon.
Al-Fajr Forces: Military wing of the Lebanese Sunni organization al-Jamaa al-Islamiyah (the Islamic Group).
Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades: Armed wing of the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Had not claimed any attacks from Lebanon as of this map’s initial publication, but did announce that it was mobilizing.

Hezbollah’s Escalation Ladder
Matthew Levitt/The Washington Institute/November 02, 2023
In his highly anticipated first speech since the Hamas massacre, Secretary-General Nasrallah can be expected to offer plenty of bluster and a possible step up the escalation ladder, but his group has an interest in avoiding all-out war.
Nearly a month into the war triggered by the October 7 Hamas massacre, Hezbollah attacks targeting Israel reveal a pattern of restrained escalation. Eager to fight Israel but wary of the impact such a war would have on Lebanon, Hezbollah has so far limited its rocket and drone attacks to mostly military targets within about one mile of the Blue Line marking the Israel-Lebanon border. Hezbollah has, in turn, been the target of memes and satirical songs mocking its sniper attacks targeting Israeli cell towers as meek contributions to the war effort. Over the past week, Hezbollah released video clip teasers to build up anticipation for Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah’s first public speech since the Hamas massacre, scheduled for November 3. While Nasrallah is certain to ratchet up the rhetoric, what remains to be seen is whether his speech heralds an acceleration of Hezbollah’s operational tempo, which could include firing rockets at civilian targets deeper into Israeli territory.
Background: Shifting Rules of the Game
For at least the past three years, Hezbollah has been slowly trying to move the goalposts on the longstanding, informal rules governing attacks between the Lebanon-based Shia group and Israel. Hezbollah’s previous red lines dictated that it would only launch a direct attack on Israeli soil if Israel initiated strikes on Lebanese soil or killed Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon or abroad. So the group would show restraint as long as Israel stuck to targeting weapons shipments in Syria, assuming those attacks did not kill Hezbollah operatives. But over the past few years, Hezbollah has redrawn its red lines in an effort to strike at Israel in ways that would not elicit a fierce Israeli response. Consider Hezbollah’s launch of a drone at Israel’s Karish offshore gas platform in July 2022 or the group’s infiltration of a terrorist operative sixty kilometers into Israel in March 2023.
Hezbollah’s success expanding the rules of the game with new operations targeting Israel prior to October 7 emboldened the group to act as aggressively as it could without incurring a massive response and leading to full-scale war. Now, in a post-October 7 Middle East, Hezbollah is looking to rewrite the rules again and redraw its red lines as it escalates its activity along Israel’s northern border.
Wartime Rules of the Game
In assessing the first few weeks of the Hamas war, Israeli military officials see Hezbollah as largely deterred from engaging in a full-scale escalation but committed to demonstrating support for Hamas by attacking Israeli military targets over the border and allowing other groups to attack Israel from Hezbollah-controlled areas in southern Lebanon. Israeli authorities remain concerned, however, that the group could quickly climb a structured escalation ladder that presents the greatest non-Hamas threat to Israel in this stage of the conflict.
Based on a preliminary analysis of IDF reports covering the northern border, as of November 2, Hezbollah, Hamas, and other militant groups launched around eighty-eight attacks against Israel from Lebanon and Syria, including antitank guided missiles, rocket and mortar fire, drone attacks, and shootings (see chart, “Attacks Against Israel on Its Northern Border”).
Open imageiconChart showing attacks on Israel from the North, Oct 8-Nov 2, 2023
The Israeli military assesses that Hezbollah’s new wartime rules of the game involve a three-tiered escalation ladder. The potential for miscalculation, or an attack that hits a sensitive target by mistake, remains dangerously high. So far, Hezbollah has stuck to the first tier of its strategy, which involves targeting primarily military, not civilian, sites in northern Israel, within approximately one mile of the Blue Line (see map of Hezbollah attacks below). In a few cases, civilian targets—like empty private vehicles—were hit by Hezbollah missiles, but Israeli authorities assess these were errant strikes, not intentional targeting of civilians. Civilians are unlikely to be hurt in such attacks, since Israel evacuated forty-two communities in the north, including the city of Kiryat Shmona. Hezbollah fire has targeted nearly every Israel Defense Forces post along the Blue Line, often more than once. Antitank guided missiles have featured heavily in Hezbollah attacks so far, but these are short-range weapons that are only effective when fired within a clear line of sight of their target. To date, the attacks targeting Kiryat Shmona were claimed by Hamas, not Hezbollah. By allowing and likely facilitating such attacks, which are carried out and claimed by other groups, Hezbollah hopes to limit the nature of the Israeli response.
An expanded campaign (tier two) could see Hezbollah firing three to five miles into Israeli territory, rather than one mile. The group could continue to primarily target military bases within that range, but the significant escalation would entail hitting larger military facilities that host hundreds of soldiers, as opposed to the small posts along the border. These facilities are often located close to cities, increasing the risk of an errant missile hitting a civilian target. Hezbollah could also decide to move beyond military targets and start targeting critical infrastructure, cities, and towns in northern Israel. And Hezbollah could facilitate still more aggressive attacks against civilians by other groups operating in areas it controls.
Finally, Hezbollah could further climb the escalation ladder (tier three) by initiating attacks ten to forty miles into Israel. While Israel might be able to tolerate the three-to-five-mile targeting, it could not tolerate an expansion that extended toward Haifa.
Anticipating Nasrallah’s Speech
While Nasrallah has been eerily silent since the Hamas massacre, other senior Hezbollah officials have sought to portray the group as being on the frontlines. Nasrallah’s deputy, Naim Qassem, insisted on October 24 that “Hezbollah is at the heart of the battle for the resistance to defend Gaza and confront the occupation and its aggression in Palestine, Lebanon, and the region, and its hand is on the trigger to the extent that is required in the confrontation.” Yet Hamas officials have been vocal in their disappointment at Hezbollah’s limited engagement, with figures like Ghazi Hamad saying they “expect more” from group.
In his forthcoming speech, Nasrallah will likely try to thread the needle by using fiery rhetoric and warning of unspecified intervention should Israel truly pursue its stated goal of ending Hamas rule and terrorist safe haven in Gaza. In the meantime, Hezbollah will likely intensify its operational activities along the Blue Line, possibly expanding into the three-to-five-mile strike range. It may also recruit other Shia militants to carry out attacks from Syria, effectively opening up a third front with Israel.
But absent a triggering event, Hezbollah is still unlikely to pursue a full-scale war with Israel. The group understands that the Israeli military has prepared extensively for Israel’s “next war” with Hezbollah, which would be of a completely different magnitude than the 2006 war. They understand that almost no one in Lebanon wants such a war, especially not in the context of the country’s current economic-political crisis. And they understand from a flurry of public and private messaging—and the positioning of two U.S. aircraft carrier groups in the East Mediterranean—that President Biden meant what he said when he warned parties like Hezbollah against opening new fronts in the Hamas war. Finally, Hezbollah understands that Iran wants the vast majority of the group’s rocket arsenal kept in reserve to deter Israel or anyone else from attacking its nuclear program.
The Hamas massacre caught Israel and the world by surprise, which means that analysts must revisit all their previous assumptions and paradigms about whether and when the region’s rejectionist groups will carry out spectacular attacks. Miscalculation and misperception could still lead Hezbollah to change its current posture and draw Israel into a second front in the north. The challenge in interpreting Nasrallah’s speech will be separating his inflammatory language from the group’s probable plans.
**Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Fellow and director of the Eli and Jeanette Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute. He hosts Breaking Hezbollah’s Golden Rule, a podcast about the group’s worldwide criminal, militant, and terrorist activities.
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/hezbollahs-escalation-ladder

Hezbollah’s Terror Threat In Latin America
Emanuele Ottolenghi/1945 web site/November 02/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/123858/123858/
In the land of symmetrical war, the asymmetrical warrior is king. The U.S. and Israeli governments are rightly concerned that Hezbollah – Iran’s oldest and best-armed proxy – could open a second front in the Israel-Hamas conflict. But who says Hezbollah would limit itself to striking U.S. or Israeli targets in the Middle East?
For decades, Hezbollah has patiently built a global web of networks, engaged in illicit financial activities, and supported terrorist plots. Hezbollah and Iran have repeatedly struck at Israeli, Jewish, and other Western targets overseas. Latin America is a region of particular concern in this respect, for several reasons.
To begin, Hezbollah is not considered a terrorist organization in most countries south of the Rio Grande – in fact, only Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Paraguay consider Hezbollah a terror organization. Without this designation, local authorities’ ability to monitor or prosecute Hezbollah and its local operatives is limited.
On the flip side, Hezbollah enjoys open support from local authoritarian regimes aligned with Tehran, such as that of Nicolas Maduro’s Venezuela – which, for all intents and purposes, has become Iran’s forward operating base in Latin America.
Hezbollah and Iranian fronts, always closely coordinating, commingle with pro-Palestinian radical activism, a popular cause with radical leftists in Latin America. This gives them access to political leaders and a cover for their activities.
Finally, because of its decades-long involvement with organized crime – a critical component of Hezbollah’s funding strategy – the group has extensive connections with local crime syndicates. These connections provide access to weapons, explosives, counterfeiting, and most critically, corrupt public officials in key positions at migrations, customs, and ports of entry.
Hezbollah recently declared that it sees itself as part of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. It has threatened to intervene when Israel’s ground forces enter Gaza. Hezbollah could create a second front in northern Israel, and it could add pressure on Israel and the U.S. by launching terror attacks abroad.
It has a track record of doing just that in Latin America.
In 1992, for instance, the terror group bombed Israel’s embassy in Buenos Aires. Two years later, Hezbollah struck Buenos Aires again, blowing up a Jewish cultural center. That attack murdered 85 people and wounded more than 200, making it the deadliest terror attack in the Western Hemisphere before 9/11. The next day, evidence shows that a Hezbollah terrorist blew up a commercial airliner in Panama, killing everyone on board. Many among the 22 passengers and crew were members of the local Jewish community.
Hezbollah has also planned deadly attacks in Latin America more recently. In 2014, Peruvian authorities detained Mohammad Hamdar, a Hezbollah agent who had spent much of the year prior to his arrest scouting potential targets. In 2017, U.S. authorities arrested Samer el Debek, another Hezbollah agent, who, court documents reveal, had scouted potential targets that included the Israeli and U.S. embassies in Panama, as well as the Panama Canal. In 2021, Hezbollah operatives attempted to assassinate U.S. and Israeli nationals in Colombia.
While these plots were disrupted, Hezbollah’s infrastructure in Latin America was largely left intact.
In Peru, authorities arrested Hamdar, but not his accomplices. Because Peru does not consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization, Hamdar was only prosecuted and convicted on immigration fraud. A proper counterterrorism investigation was never conducted, despite a U.S. Department of Treasury 2016 designation identifying Hamdar as a Hezbollah agent.
U.S. authorities did a more thorough job with El Debek in 2017 – his case is still pending, likely a sign El Debek is cooperating. Nevertheless there is no indication so far that the local networks he surely relied on have been disrupted or dismantled.
Likewise, Hezbollah’s network in Columbia remains alive and well. Only weeks before Hamas launched its Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Amer Akil Rada, a member of the Hezbollah cell that carried out the 1994 Buenos Aires bombing. Sanctions extended to Amer’s brother, Samer Akil Rada, and son, Mehdi Akil Helbawy. The Akils are all Colombian-Lebanese dual nationals, and Samer and Mehdi resided in Colombia until shortly before Treasury’s sanctions. They moved to Venezuela, according to local authorities, soon after media reports exposed their connections to Hezbollah, and well before U.S. sanctions were published.
Elsewhere in Latin America, Hezbollah’s networks remain undisturbed. One key center is the Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, where Hezbollah financiers and supporters have historically been involved in money laundering. The area, with its porous borders, is a perfect hiding place for criminals and terrorists, giving them access to resources, a sympathetic population from the 30,000-strong local Lebanese expatriate community, and access to three countries with U.S. and Israeli diplomatic presence and large Jewish communities (including Argentina and Brazil). In Brazil, the sympathetic government of Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva has allowed Hezbollah and Iranian fronts to quietly expand with little risk of scrutiny from authorities. In Chile, with a strong and radicalized Palestinian diaspora, Iranian agents and Hezbollah networks have infiltrated government, media, and academia, in addition to running illicit financial networks.
Finally, Iran and Hezbollah are poisoning the well through shrill propaganda and incitement. Iran has a Spanish-language satellite network, HispanTV, that broadcasts disinformation to Latin American audiences, while Hezbollah spreads its message through the Al Mayadeen Espanol platform. Iran’s agents of influence have paired up with pro-Palestinian organizations and leftist groups to agitate against Israel. And Iran’s cultural centers and academic presence through cooperation frameworks are actively recruiting acolytes on and off campuses to radicalize them and turn them into terror supporters.
The explosive cocktail of illicit financial networks capable of mobilizing resources, and their intimate cooperation with crime syndicates, all point to a growing risk. There is radical mobilization in favor of the Palestinian cause across the region, much of which is fomented by Iran-backed disinformation. Hezbollah may or may not join the war against Israel. It has retained the option to strike at Israel and America through terrorism for decades. If there ever were a propitious moment to sow death and chaos in support of Iran’s ambitions, it is now.
Washington should heighten its security measures in Latin America. But beefing up security, a defensive posture, is not enough. The U.S. government needs to be proactive and take to the offensive against Iran and Hezbollah’s pervasive soft-power and hard-power operations in the region. It should do so asymmetrically.
Washington should admonish its allies and friends in the Western Hemisphere, warning them about the imminent risks these networks pose. The Biden administration should encourage more governments to sanction Hezbollah as a terror group. Washington should lead law enforcement investigations to go after Hezbollah’s illicit finance networks. The U.S. government should disrupt Iran and Hezbollah’s disinformation campaigns. And Washington should sanction and punish Hezbollah’s local facilitators.
For far too long, Hezbollah and Iran have been allowed to build their Latin American regional networks with impunity. It is time the Biden administration reversed this trend.
**Emanuele Ottolenghi is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Nasrallah’s Big Speech
Jonathan Schanzer/ Commentary/November 02/2023
Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah—Iran’s terrorist proxy in Lebanon—is set to deliver the most important speech of his life on Friday afternoon. There are signs Nasrallah is preparing to announce an all-out war against Israel, opening a second major front where the Israeli military will face an adversary that is better armed and more entrenched than Hamas in Gaza.
Within days of the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, Hezbollah began launching attacks on northern Israel from across the Lebanese border. Employing rockets, mortars, and missiles, the group claims to have carried out more than 105 strikes since October 8. Hezbollah numbers are suspect, but they underscore its ambitions. The group claims to have “killed and wounded 120 [Israeli] soldiers and destroyed nine tanks, two personnel carriers, and two Humvees. “Additionally, Hezbollah claims its attacks “destroyed 69 communication systems, 140 cameras, 17 jamming systems, 33 radars, and 27 intelligence systems.”
Whatever the real numbers, these are not just pinpricks. Israel has evacuated more than 40 communities near the Lebanese border, forcing tens of thousands of Israelis out of their homes.
Hezbollah has also drawn significant attention to its fallen fighters. The group claims to have lost 50 in battle, yet based on the number of reprisals and pre-emptive strikes reported by the IDF, that number is likely far higher.
Nasrallah himself has been conspicuously absent from the limelight during the past three weeks. But on Tuesday he announced he will deliver that major address to his supporters from Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut.
There are essentially two paths that lie ahead for Nasrallah, although it’s not clear if he has chosen one.
The first is an all-out war against Israel. Destroying the Jewish state has been Hezbollah’s ultimate objective since Iran’s Revolutionary Guards helped found the group in the early 1980s. With Tehran’s unstinting support, Hezbollah has been planning, training, and equipping itself for such a war since its 34-day clash with Israel in 2006. According to the State Department, Iran provides Hezbollah “with the bulk of the group’s annual operating budget, an allocation estimated in recent years to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Hezbollah has an arsenal of around 150,000 rockets, approximately ten times what Hamas had in its arsenal when the current crisis erupted. The most lethal weapons in this arsenal are the hundreds of precision-guided munitions (PGMs), furnished by Iran, that can potentially strike strategic targets in Israel—air bases, seaports, power plants— with pinpoint accuracy. Fired en masse, even Hezbollah’s “dumb” rockets may overwhelm Israeli air defenses such as Iron Dome, which already have to contend with continued launches from Gaza. Israel has never sustained a strike of such magnitude on its home front.
We also know that Hezbollah has planned to capture Israeli towns, whose residents would likely suffer the same fate as the Israelis in the south whose homes fell to Hamas.
A Hezbollah assault would also invite horrific destruction upon Lebanon. Indeed, the moment Israel sustains a significant strike by Hezbollah is the moment Israel unleashes a firestorm on Hezbollah infrastructure all across Lebanon. Many figures in Lebanon have already voiced grave concern about such a scenario. The country is already reeling from political dysfunction and economic collapse. Yet Hezbollah subordinates the lives of Lebanese citizens, not just Israelis, to its ideological mission.
But there is a chance that Nasrallah’s speech will be an exercise in chest-thumping and excuse-making rather than a declaration of war. He may declare that Hezbollah will continue to “resist” Israel’s invasion of Gaza by carrying out limited strikes that would fall short of eliciting a major response to Israel. The Hezbollah chief might even lament that his hands are tied because the United States has warned his group not to widen this war. This is exactly what the Biden administration would like to hear. Israel is prepared to fight on two fronts, but would prefer to focus on Gaza, at least for the time being.
If Hezbollah remains mostly on the sidelines, one can envision a scenario in which Israel announces in a few days or a few weeks that its military objectives in Gaza have been met, thereby opening the door for a new political, economic, and diplomatic order in Gaza. This all depends on the effectiveness of American deterrence.
But the American goal is to deter the Lebanese terror group, as well as Iran and its other proxies. The White House has sent a clear message that it will be listening closely to Nasrallah’s speech on Friday. Accordingly, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby warned, “One of the reasons why the president sent an extra carrier strike group into the region and parked one in the Eastern Med is to make sure we send a strong message to any actor, including Hezbollah, who may want to widen the conflict: They ought not to do it…Nasrallah can say what he wants to say. And we’ll certainly be paying close attention to it. But our message is the same to him, to them, to any other actor in the region.”
Will American deterrence hold? Will Israel have to fight as hard in the north as it is now fighting in Gaza? Tune in on Friday 3pm Beirut time to find out.
*Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. Follow him on X @JSchanzer.

Will Hezbollah drag Lebanon into war?
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/November 02, 2023
Rockets penetrated the Iron Dome and hit Kiryat Shemona. Several military posts in northern Israel were targeted by Hezbollah. This is the most significant confrontation between the militant group and the Israeli army. So far, the clashes have been limited to skirmishes on the border. However, there is no guarantee that we do not have an all-out war. Speculation has been high over whether Lebanon will be dragged into the Israel-Hamas conflict. Most analysts suggest that Hezbollah will not enter the war and end an important deterrence Iran has against Israel. However, it is hard to tell whether the group will have a full-scale confrontation, or only “distract” the Israeli army as it is doing now. What is remarkable is that both parties have exercised restraint, with, of course, urging from the United States to both sides. After Oct. 7, the US ambassador in Lebanon warned against any foolish action by Hezbollah. However, many infiltrators crossed the border. The militant group reluctantly said that those were Palestinian fighters. It has been striking a delicate balance between the domestic mood and what is happening in Gaza.
More than 70 percent of the Lebanese population is against entering the war, despite the deep sympathy they have for Palestinians in Gaza. However, public opinion could shift overnight if Israel hits Lebanon. The narrative can change from “do not enter the war” to “do your job and protect Lebanon.”
So far, Hezbollah appears to be controlling the “tempo” of events. It is keeping the Israeli army busy, the Israeli intelligence confused and Israeli people scared. Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is accustomed to long speeches, but has not said a word. His silence is significant. He does not want to give any clues to the Israelis. It is a message of “wait and see.” Everyone is waiting for his speech on Friday to get an indication of the group’s position regarding the war. Nasrallah’s deputy, Naim Kassem, announced recently that Israel and the US do not know what is coming for them. Despite the US statement that there is no proof that Iran or Hezbollah were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks, pro-Hezbollah media have signaled that that the ongoing battle is being managed by the group. This brings us back to the important question, will Hezbollah enter the fight? It is a tough question that even Hezbollah will not be able to answer right now. Much depends on how the fight goes on in Gaza. If a ceasefire is announced and negotiations start, this will kill any possibility of Hezbollah entering the war. We are currently in the middle of an Israeli ground campaign. How it goes will determine Hezbollah’s actions. In such a situation, rarely is a decision taken in advance. What is likely happening is that Hezbollah has conducted contingency planning. It will launch a full-scale war if it needs to, and this is the case in two situations. The first is if Hamas is close to being eradicated.
The Israeli government needs to show its people and the world that it is strong
Hezbollah knows very well that if Hamas is eradicated, it is next, whether in this round or a future one. If Israel achieves its aim of finishing off Hamas, it will be emboldened and will gain confidence to eliminate other enemies. It is also not in Iran’s interest that Hamas is eradicated because after going for Hezbollah, Israel will probably go after Iran. It must be remembered that Iran looks at Hamas and Hezbollah as a deterrence against Israel. If they are destroyed, its ability to fend off Israel will be hugely reduced.
The other option would be if Israel strikes. Logically, Israel should remain focused on Gaza. However, the issue is much deeper than this. This is not only about the Gaza operation and about freeing the hostages, it is about restoring the Israeli people’s confidence in their army. It is about giving them the guarantee that something like Oct. 7 will never happen again. How can the average Israeli have this trust again if Hezbollah is still strong in Lebanon? Restoring this trust will require finishing off Hezbollah.
A strike on Hezbollah might not be the logical step to take and the US is trying to tame Israel. Nevertheless, the Israeli government is under enormous pressure. It needs to show its people and the world that it is strong. Hence, a strike on Lebanon cannot be discounted. It might happen, especially if the Israeli army has no “success” against Hamas in the Gaza campaign. Targeting Hezbollah civilian facilities is relatively an easy task, and can always be promoted to the Israeli public as eliminating the group’s infrastructure. In this case, the group will have no choice but to respond. Hezbollah is open to all possibilities and is reevaluating its options as the Israeli bombardment and fighting in Gaza continues.
Hence, it is difficult to say whether Hezbollah will enter the war. However, one thing is for sure: If Hezbollah enters the war in full capacity, this will be a regional war. Hezbollah today is different from 2006. During 17 years of calm, it has beefed up its capabilities, acquiring precision-guided missiles that can target desalination plants, power plants, and even military facilities inside Israel. This can be a deterrence for Israel, which logically will not want to take the risk at this time.
Having said that, we should not underestimate the domestic pressure in Tel Aviv and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire to save his skin. He might take desperate measures. Alternatively, the hostage issue can also push Israel to compromise and accept a ceasefire. As videos of hostages emerge, public opinion is shifting and prioritizing their release. “Hostage first,” said Gershon Baskin, the Israeli historian and journalist, in a tweet signaling the change in public opinion. The only option that can halt any possible escalation between Hezbollah and Israel is a ceasefire and a hostage release.
*Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is president of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization focused on Track II.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 02-03/2023
Israeli forces push into Gaza City amid fierce fighting
Robert Dex/Evening Standard/November 2, 2023
Israeli forces have pushed into Gaza City but are facing hit-and-run attacks from militants in its tunnel complex, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Palestinian death toll from nearly four weeks of Israeli air and artillery strikes on the blockaded enclave meanwhile rose past 9,000 on Thursday, Gaza health authorities said.
The Gaza Strip's main population centre in the north has become the focus of attack for Israel, which has vowed to annihilate the Islamist group's command structure and has told civilians to flee to the south. "We're at the height of the battle. We've had impressive successes and have passed the outskirts of Gaza City. We are advancing," Netanyahu said in a statement. He gave no further details. Israeli military chief Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi said in a televised statement: "Our forces are now in the heart of a ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip."Brigadier General Iddo Mizrahi, chief of Israel's military engineers, said troops were in a first stage of opening access routes in Gaza but were encountering mines and booby-traps."Hamas has learned and prepared itself well," he said. Israeli troops have faced resistance from Hamas and allied Islamic Jihad fighters who have been seen emerging from tunnels to fire at tanks, then disappearing back into the underground network. "They never stopped bombing Gaza City all night, the house never stopped shaking," said one Palestinian man, asking not to be identified by name. "But in the morning we discover the Israeli forces are still outside the city, in the outskirts and that means the resistance is heavier than they expected." Aware of the difficulties of fighting in an urban environment, Israeli officers' strategy appears for now to be concentrating large forces in the northern Gaza Strip rather than launching a ground assault on the entire territory. As international calls for a humanitarian pause in hostilities go unheeded, Palestinians are suffering shortages of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine. Sewage is leaking, some are drinking salt water and the trickle of aid permitted in by Israel is a tiny proportion of what is needed.
Over a third of Gaza's 35 hospitals are not functioning, with many turned into impromptu refugee camps and some rescuers using donkey carts instead of ambulances.
"The situation is beyond catastrophic in the hospitals," said the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, describing packed corridors and many medics themselves bereaved and homeless. The head of Israel's armed forces signalled willingness on Thursday to ease its embargo on fuel for Gaza, saying that if hospitals run out they could be resupplied under supervision. The latest war in the decades-old conflict began when Hamas fighters broke through the border on October 7. Israel says they killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 hostages in the deadliest day of its 75-year history.
Israel's ensuing bombardment of the small Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million people has killed at least 9,061 people, including 3,760 children and 2,326 women, according to Gaza health authorities. After a total blockade of Gaza for more than three weeks, foreign passport-holders and some wounded were allowed out. Palestinian border official Wael Abu Mehsen said 400 foreign citizens would leave for Egypt via the Rafah crossing on Thursday, after some 320 on Wednesday. Dozens of critically injured Palestinians were to cross too. Israel asked foreign countries to send hospital ships for them. Violence has also spread to the occupied West Bank, with Israeli raids touching off clashes with gunmen and people throwing stones. Palestinian medics said three teenagers and a 25-year-old were killed there in clashes on Thursday. Israel's army had no comment. Separately, the military and medics said Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli motorist in the West Bank.

Second Israeli airstrike in two days pummels Gaza refugee camp, deepening a growing outcry
CNN/November 02/2023
Israel bombed the densely-populated Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza for the second time in two days Wednesday, prompting warnings of war crimes as more nations took diplomatic measures and condemned Israel’s offensive in the besieged enclave.
Israeli airstrikes also hit the vicinity of the Al Quds hospital in Gaza City where doctors say up to 14,000 displaced people are sheltering, according to the director of the hospital. The strikes that began Wednesday evening continued into Thursday morning and were “getting closer to the hospital,” Dr Bashar Mourad told CNN by phone.
It also came as the first sanctioned exodus from the besieged enclave in weeks began, with injured Palestinians and hundreds of foreign nationals crossing from Gaza into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing. More civilians are expected to cross on Thursday.
The massive second strike on Jabalya created further catastrophic damage, destroying several buildings in the Falluja neighborhood of the camp, with video from the site showing a deep crater and people digging through the rubble searching for bodies.
The Civil Defense in Hamas-run Gaza described the strike as a “second massacre.” The airstrike killed at least 80 people and injured hundreds more, according to Dr. Atef Al Kahlout, the director of Gaza’s Indonesian hospital. He told CNN more bodies were being dug out of the rubble, and the majority of casualties were women and children.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the Wednesday attack targeted a Hamas command and control complex and “eliminated” Hamas terrorists “based on precise intelligence.”“Hamas deliberately builds its terror infrastructure under, around and within civilian buildings, intentionally endangering Gazan civilians,” the IDF added in a statement. The airstrike came a day after Israeli jets hit the camp in an area near Falluja on Tuesday, killing or injuring hundreds of people according to medics and triggering fresh outcry over spiraling civilian casualties in Gaza.
Survivors and eyewitnesses spoke of apocalyptic scenes in the aftermath of Tuesday’s strike, with one eyewitness saying “It felt like the end of the world.”
“Children were carrying other injured children and running, with grey dust filling the air. Bodies were hanging on the rubble, many of them unrecognizable. Some were bleeding and others were burnt,” Mohammad Al Aswad told CNN by phone.
The IDF said the first strike killed several Hamas members, including Ibrahim Biari, whom it described as one of the Hamas commanders responsible for the October 7 attack on Israel, in which more than 1,400 people were killed and hundreds taken hostage. Hamas, however, strongly denied the presence of one of its leaders in the refugee camp. The United Nations Human Rights Office said on social media that the attacks on Jabalya, which is Gaza’s largest refugee camp, “could amount to war crimes” given “the high number of civilian casualties and the scale of destruction.”
Israel’s weeks long bombardment of Gaza has killed at least 8,700 people, according to figures released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, drawn from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave. That’s an average of more than 300 people dying every day, according to CNN’s analysis. Women, children and the elderly make up more than 70% of those killed, the ministry said on Monday.
The devastation wrought by the strikes, which are part of Israel’s expanded offensive in Gaza, appeared to be a tipping point in the war for a number of countries who responded with diplomatic measures in condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis. Jordan on Wednesday became the latest country to recall its ambassador to Israel, following Chile and Colombia, due to the strikes on Gaza. Bolivia on Tuesday cut its diplomatic relations with Israel citing “crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people.”The strikes continue amid increasingly urgent calls for a ceasefire by the UN and aid organizations, and despite a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution backed by over 100 countries calling for a “sustained humanitarian truce.”
New strikes, a hospital goes dark
A barrage of new explosions was seen over Gaza City – the largest urban center in the enclave – in the early hours of Thursday, a live camera feed from AFP showed.
IDF commander Brigadier General Itzik Cohen said Wednesday that the Israeli military is “at the gates of Gaza City.” And IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari claimed Israeli forces had breached Hamas’ defensive frontline in northern Gaza and is expanding its fighting into the strip. On Thursday, the IDF announced the death of another soldier who was killed in Gaza on Wednesday. The total number of Israeli soldiers to have died since the start of the ground incursion is now 17. Of that figure, 16 were killed inside Gaza. The scale of the tragedy for the more than 2 million people, half of them children, trapped inside the war-torn enclave is “unprecedented,” the head of the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency said following a brief trip to Gaza Wednesday.
“Everyone was just asking for water and food. Instead of being at school, learning, children were asking for a sip of water and a piece of bread. It was heart wrenching. Above all, people were asking for a ceasefire. They want this tragedy to end,” said Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Nearly half of all hospitals in Gaza are out of service due to bombardments and fuel shortages, including the leading cancer hospital in the strip, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. It warned Gaza’s largest hospital Al Shifa would be forced to stop operating in less than a day.
Meanwhile, the main generator for the Gaza Indonesian Hospital – one of the few remaining hospitals serving the northern part of the coastal enclave – went out of service Wednesday night, Dr. Atef Al Kahlout, the head of the hospital, told CNN Thursday, deepening fears for patients in intensive care. The hospital is considered a backbone in providing health services in northern Gaza and the outage has affected ventilation systems in the operating rooms, the hospital’s only oxygen station, and the hospital morgue refrigerators, Al Kahlout said.
On Wednesday, injured Palestinians and hundreds of foreign nationals started crossing from Gaza into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing.
They included more than 360 foreign passport holders, many of them Palestinian dual nationals, with dozens making their way to Cairo where some will catch flights back to their home countries, an Egyptian government official told CNN.
Among those who crossed into Egypt Wednesday was 71-year-old Seattle resident Ramona Okumura, an American medical volunteer who was working with child amputees in Gaza. Her niece Leah Okumura told CNN Ramona was now resting at a hotel. Forty-five injured Palestinians are also currently getting treatment in three hospitals across Egypt, an Egyptian government official told CNN. They are part of a list of 81 severely injured people expected to enter Egypt for treatment. Heading into Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Wednesday were 55 humanitarian aid trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent containing food, water, medicines and medical supplies. A total of 272 aid trucks have crossed into Gaza so far – a drop in the ocean of the assistance needed – but no fuel has been allowed to enter, it said.

Blinken says US 'determined to deter any escalation' in Mideast
Agence France Presse/November 2, 2023
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday he would work to avoid escalation of the Israel-Hamas war after Yemen's Huthi rebels and Lebanon's Hezbollah, both backed by Iran, fired on Israel. "We've been very clear in some of the actions we're taking that we are determined to deter any escalation," Blinken told reporters as he left on a new crisis trip to the Middle East.

Israel says Gaza City encircled as Hamas vows invaders will go home 'in black bags'
Agence France Presse/November 2, 2023
Israel's military said Thursday its forces have surrounded the Hamas stronghold of Gaza City after a day that saw the Palestinian territory pounded by deadly fire. The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, warned Israel its invading soldiers would go home "in black bags".
Spokesman Abu Obeida said: "Gaza will be the curse of history for Israel."The Hamas warning came after Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops had completely surrounded Gaza City after days of expanding ground operations.
"Israeli soldiers have completed the encirclement of the city of Gaza, the center of the Hamas terror organization," Hagari told journalists. "The concept of a ceasefire is not currently on the table at all," he added. Hundreds more foreigners and dual nationals managed to escape war-torn Gaza for Egypt Thursday as Israel's forces bombarded and fought ground battles in the besieged territory where thousands of people have died. Egypt said it eventually plans to help evacuate 7,000 foreigners through the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip. The health ministry in Cairo said 21 wounded Palestinians and "344 foreign nationals, including 72 children" passed through the Rafah border crossing on only the second day it has opened for people to leave Gaza in nearly four weeks of fighting. A list of those approved to travel shows hundreds of US citizens and 50 Belgians along with smaller numbers from various European, Arab, Asian and African countries. "There was no food, no water, no gas, nowhere to take shelter," said US passport holder Salma Shaath, 14, as she prepared to cross. "People were going to hospitals to sleep, there are a lot of martyrs, there is no internet, no communications and no electricity. Our house was bombed ... so we came here to Rafah."The evacuation marks a tiny proportion of the 2.4 million people trapped in Gaza under ferocious Israeli bombardment since Hamas launched their bloody cross-border attack into Israel on October 7. Britain said it had begun sending 30 tonnes of aid to Egypt -- such as forklift trucks, belt conveyors and lighting towers -- to help Rafah process aid deliveries faster. President Joe Biden says the US supports a humanitarian "pause" in the conflict to relieve pressure on civilians but opposes calls for a ceasefire, saying Hamas has no intention of holding fire and Israel has a right to defend itself. In northern Gaza, ground fighting flared again overnight as Israeli troops battled Hamas. Israeli army chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said troops were inside Gaza, besieging Gaza City and "deepening infiltration" of Hamas-held areas. "Israeli soldiers are fighting face-to-face with a brutal enemy," he told reporters. Hamas' assault on October 7, which Israel says claimed 1,400 lives, was the bloodiest in Israel's 75-year-history.
- 'Whole families killed' -
The Israeli army is also seeking to free around 240 hostages, both civilians and troops, captured by Hamas during the attacks. Some 332 soldiers have already died in the October 7 attacks and in the Israeli offensive the Hamas assault triggered. Now gruelling urban warfare lies ahead deeper inside Gaza, where Hamas is fighting from a tunnel network spanning hundreds of kilometers. Global concern has risen sharply over Israel's response, in which the army says it has struck more than 12,000 targets so far. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 9,000 people have died, mostly women and children. Special concern has focused on repeated heavy strikes on Gaza's largest refugee camp -- densely populated Jabalia, north of Gaza City -- where explosions brought down residential buildings. Gaza's Hamas-ruled government said 195 were killed in two days of Israeli strikes on Jabalia, with hundreds more missing and wounded. Hamas said seven of the hostages it holds died in Tuesday's bombings. Major strikes also hit Gaza's Bureij refugee camp and an area near a U.N.-run school in Jabalia Thursday, where the health ministry said 27 had died. Outside the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, displaced residents seeking shelter from Israeli strikes told AFP that civilians would not withstand the barrage much longer. "This is not a life. We need a safe place for our kids," said 50-year-old Hiyam Shamlakh. "Everybody is terrified, children, women and the elderly." Another Gazan, Mahmoud Abu Jarad, said civilians would not be able to tolerate another week of strikes. "We demand a ceasefire. This is the most important thing," the 30-year-old said.
- 'Death every day' -
Israel has sought to justify the first Jabalia attack by saying it targeted a senior Hamas commander in a tunnel complex below the camp. AFP has witnessed rescuers desperately clawing through the rubble and twisted metal in frantic attempts to bring out survivors and bodies. Emergency responders say "whole families" have died. The wounded were rushed away by cart, motorcycle and ambulance as anguished wails and blaring sirens filled the dusty air. But Gaza's hospitals are overwhelmed, short of medical supplies and often without electricity. Violence has also flared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where more than 130 Palestinians have died since October 7 according to the Palestinian health ministry. Three Palestinians were killed Thursday by Israeli fire in the West Bank, the ministry said, and an Israeli was killed in a Palestinian shooting attack, according to first responders.

'A curse to be a parent in Gaza': More than 3,600 /Palestinian children killed in just 3 weeks
Associated Press/November 2, 2023
More than 3,600 Palestinian children were killed in the first 25 days of the war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry. They were hit by airstrikes, smashed by misfired rockets, burned by blasts and crushed by buildings, and among them were newborns and toddlers, avid readers, aspiring journalists and boys who thought they'd be safe in a church. Nearly half of the crowded strip's 2.3 million inhabitants are under 18, and children account for 40% of those killed so far in the war. An Associated Press analysis of Gaza Health Ministry data released last week showed that as of Oct. 26, 2,001 children ages 12 and under had been killed, including 615 who were 3 or younger. "When houses are destroyed, they collapse on the heads of children," writer Adam al-Madhoun said Wednesday as he comforted his 4-year-old daughter Kenzi at the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. She survived an airstrike that ripped off her right arm, crushed her left leg and fractured her skull. Israel says its airstrikes target Hamas militant sites and infrastructure, and it accuses the group of using civilians as human shields. It also says more than 500 militant rockets have misfired and landed in Gaza, killing an unknown number of Palestinians.
More children have been killed in just over three weeks in Gaza than in all of the world's conflicts combined in each of the past three years, according to the global charity Save the Children. For example, it said, 2,985 children were killed across two dozen war zones throughout all of last year.
"Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children," said James Elder, a spokesperson for UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency. Images and footage of shell-shocked children being pulled from rubble in Gaza or writhing on dirty hospital gurneys have become commonplace and have fueled protests around the world. Scenes from recent airstrikes included a rescuer cradling a limp toddler in a bloodied white tutu, a bespectacled father shrieking as he clutched his dead child tight to his chest, and a dazed young boy covered in blood and dust staggering alone through the ruins.
"It's a curse to be a parent in Gaza," said Ahmed Modawikh, a 40-year-old carpenter from Gaza City whose life was shattered by the death of his 8-year-old daughter during five days of fighting in May.
Israeli children have also been killed. During Hamas' brutal Oct. 7 rampage across southern Israel that sparked the war, its gunmen killed more than 1,400 people. Among them were babies and other small children, Israeli officials have said, though they haven't provided exact figures. About 30 children were also among the roughly 240 hostages Hamas took. As Israeli warplanes pound Gaza, Palestinian children huddle with large families in apartments or U.N.-run shelters. Although Israel has urged Palestinians to leave northern Gaza for the strip's south, nowhere in the territory has proven safe from its airstrikes. "People are running from death only to find death," said Yasmine Jouda, who lost 68 family members in Oct. 22 airstrikes that razed two four-story buildings in Deir al-Balah, where they had sought refuge from northern Gaza.
The strike's only survivor was Jouda's year-old niece Milissa, whose mother had gone into labor during the attack and was found dead beneath the rubble, the heads of her lifeless twin newborns emerging from her birth canal.
"What did this tiny baby do to deserve a life without any family?" Jouda said.
Israel blames Hamas for Gaza's death toll — now more than 8,800, according to Gaza's Health Ministry — because the militant group operates from jam-packed residential neighborhoods. Palestinians point to the soaring casualty count as proof that Israeli strikes are indiscriminate and disproportionate.
The war has injured more than 7,000 Palestinian children and left many with lifechanging problems, doctors say. Just before the war, Jouda's niece Milissa walked a few paces for the first time. She will never walk again. Doctors say the airstrike that killed the girl's family fractured her spine and paralyzed her from the chest down. Just down the hall from her in the teeming central Gaza hospital, 4-year-old Kenzi woke up screaming, asking what had happened to her missing right arm. "It will take so much care and work just to get her to the point of having half a normal life," her father said. Even those physically unscathed may be scarred by war's ravages. For 15-year-olds in Gaza, it's their fifth Israel-Hamas war since the militant group seized control of the enclave in 2007. All they've known is life under a punishing Israeli-Egyptian blockade that prevents them from traveling abroad and crushes their hopes for the future. The strip has a 70% youth unemployment rate, according to the World Bank.
"There is no hope for these children to develop careers, improve their standard of living, access better healthcare and education," said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director for Defense for Children International in the Palestinian territories.
But in this war, he added, "it's about life and death."And in Gaza, death is everywhere. Here are just a few of the 3,648 Palestinian children and minors who have been killed in the war.
ASEEL HASSAN, 13
Aseel Hassan was an excellent student, said her father, Hazem Bin Saeed. She devoured classical Arabic poetry, memorizing its rigid metric and rhyme scheme, and reveling in its mystical images and florid metaphors. During the war, when Israeli bombardments came so close that their walls shook, she would regale her relatives by reciting famous verses from Abu Al Tayyib al-Mutanabbi, a 10th-century Iraqi poet, her father said. "When I asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up, she would say, read," said 42-year-old Bin Saeed. "Poems were Aseel's escape."
An airstrike on Oct. 19 leveled his three-story home in Deir al-Balah, killing Aseel and her 14-year-old brother, Anas.
MAJD SOURI, 7
The explosions terrified Majd, said his father, 45-year-old Ramez Souri.
He missed playing soccer with his school friends. He was devastated that the war had canceled his Christian family's much-anticipated trip to Nazareth, the town in Israel where tradition says Jesus grew up. "Baba, where can we go?" Majd asked again and again when airstrikes roared. The family, devout members of Gaza's tiny Christian community, finally had an answer — St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City. Souri said Majd calmed down when they arrived at the church, where dozens of Christian families had taken shelter. Together, they prayed and sang.
On Oct. 20, shrapnel crashed into the monastery, killing 18 people. Among the dead were Majd and his siblings, 9-year-old Julie and 15-year-old Soheil. Israel says it had been targeting a nearby Hamas command center. Majd was found beneath the rubble with his hands around his mother's neck. His face was completely burned.
"My children just wanted peace and stability," said Souri, his voice cracking. "All I cared about was that they were happy."
KENAN AND NEMAN AL-SHARIF, 18 months
Karam al-Sharif, an employee with the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, could barely speak Wednesday as he knelt over his children's small shrouded bodies at the hospital. Gone were his daughters, 5-year-old Joud and 10-year-old Tasnim.
Also gone were his twin 18-month-old sons, Kenan and Neman. Al-Sharif sobbed as he hugged Kenan and said goodbye. Neman's body was still lost beneath the rubble of the six-story tower where the family had sought refuge in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza. "They had no time here," Sami Abu Sultan, al-Sharif's brother, said of the baby boys, a day after the building was destroyed. "It was God's will."
MAHMOUD DAHDOUH, 16
On Oct. 25, Al Jazeera's livestream caught the chilling moment when its Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, discovered that an Israeli airstrike had killed his wife, 6-year-old daughter, infant grandson and 16-year-old son, Mahmoud. Swarmed by TV cameras at the hospital, Dahdouh wept over his teenage son, murmuring, "You wanted to be a journalist." Mahmoud was a senior at the secular American International High School in Gaza City. Set on becoming an English-language reporter, he spent his time honing camera skills and posting amateur reporting clips on YouTube, Dahdouh said.
A video that Mahmoud filmed days before he died showed charred cars, dark smoke and flattened homes. He and his sister, Kholoud, took turns delivering a monologue, straining to be heard over the wind. "This is the fiercest and most violent war we have lived in Gaza," Mahmoud said, chopping the air with his hands. At the end of the clip, the siblings stared straight into the camera. "Help us to stay alive," they said in unison.

Jordan to tell Blinken Israel must immediately stop war on Gaza -official statement
AMMAN (Reuters)/November 2, 2023
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi will tell U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman on Saturday that Israel must end its war on Gaza where he said it was committing war crimes by bombing civilians and imposing a siege. In a foreign ministry statement, Safadi warned that Israel's unreadiness to end the war was pushing the region rapidly towards a regional war that threatened world peace. "Safadi will stress (to Blinken) the need to move immediately to stop the Israeli war on Gaza ... and that Israel abide by international law and stop its breaches," Safadi said. Speaking to reporters moments before departing on his second. Middle East trip in less than a month, Blinken said discussions on the future of Gaza when and if Hamas is defeated, and ways to ensure the conflict does not spread will also be areas of focus during his trip. The conflict has stirred long-standing fears in Jordan, home to a large population of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, that a wider conflagration would give Israel the chance to implement a transfer policy to expel Palestinians en masse from the West Bank. Jordan, which shares a border with the West Bank, absorbed the bulk of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of their homes when Israel was created in 1948. King Abdullah on Wednesday said Israel's "military and security solution" against Palestinians would not succeed, adding the only path to a just and comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace were negotiations leading to a two-state solution.

US intelligence warns Russia may provide Hezbollah with air defense systems — report
The New Voice of Ukraine/November 2, 2023
According to U.S. intelligence, Russia’s Wagner Group private military company might transfer an advanced air defense system to Hezbollah terrorists, the Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 2, citing an anonymous U.S. official.. The U.S. intelligence community believes the system in question to be the SA-22, known as Pantsir-S1 in Russia. Read also: Former Wagner mercenaries among new National Guard unit being formed at 10,000-tent camp in Zaporizhzhya Oblas. One source quoted by the newspaper stated that Washington has not confirmed the dispatch of the system. "However, it is closely monitoring discussions involving Wagner and Hezbollah, viewing any potential transfers as a significant concern," the article reads. The U.S. has positioned an aircraft carrier in the Eastern Mediterranean to deter Hezbollah from opening a northern front against Israel, according to the publication. "Wagner has personnel in Syria, where Hezbollah fighters have also been present," the report said. On October 28, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out another strike against Hezbollah's infrastructure in southern Lebanon. This followed a strike on Lebanon by the IDF on October 26.

Bahrain expels Israel envoy, cuts economic ties: Parliament statement
Arab News/November 02, 2023
RIYADH: Bahrain has recalled its ambassador to Israel and suspended economic ties with Tel Aviv, the country’s parliament announced on Thursday. The statement published on the Bahraini parliament website confirmed that the Israeli ambassador had left Bahrain, while Bahrain called back its ambassador from Israel and decided to suspend all economic relations with Israel. It added that its decision to recall its envoy and suspend economic relations is based on the kingdom’s “solid and historical stance that supports the Palestinian cause and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”The parliament statement continued: “The Council of Representatives affirms that the Israeli ambassador in the kingdom of Bahrain has left Bahrain and the kingdom of Bahrain has decided on the return of the Bahrain ambassador to Israel. The cessation of economic relations was also decided. “The Council affirms that the continuation of war and military operations, and the continuing Israeli escalation in light of the lack of respect for international humanitarian law, prompts the Council to demand more decisions and measures that preserve the lives of innocent people and civilians in Gaza and all Palestinian areas.”Bahrain’s National Communication Center confirmed the move and said that the “priority of efforts at this stage must be focused on protecting the lives of civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law and working to secure urgent humanitarian corridors to deliver relief and medical aid to the Gaza Strip.”
It added that there is a “need to spare the region from the consequences of a new cycle of violence and work to find a clear political horizon for a just, comprehensive, and sustainable peace that guarantees stability and security for all.”The Bahraini Ministry of Foreign Affairs is yet to issue a statement, but the story has been widely reported by several news agencies, including Israeli ones. In September 2020 Bahrain signed the Abraham Accord with Israel and the UAE in the US with their host the then President Donald Trump.

Israeli civilian, 4 palestinians killed in West Bank
Associated Press/November 02, 2023
Palestinian militants shot and killed an Israeli civilian in the northern part of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Israel’s military and rescue services said. Militants began firing at a car in Einav, an Israeli settlement, causing it to turn over and killing a 35-year-old man inside, they said. Israel’s military said it set up roadblocks in the area and was pursuing the attackers. The death was the latest in the violence which has gripped the West Bank. Four Palestinians, including three teenagers, were shot dead in different parts of the occupied West Bank early Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. More than 130 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the war, mainly in violent protests and gunbattles during Israeli arrest raids.

Confusion, frustration and hope at Gaza's border with Egypt
Associated Press/November 02, 2023
Hundreds of foreign passport-holders and dozens of other seriously wounded Palestinians desperate to escape Israel's bombardment of Gaza crowded around the black metal gate on the Egyptian border Wednesday, hoping to pass through the enclave's only portal to the outside world for the first time since the war began. Restless children pressed their faces against the wire mesh as families with backpacks and carry-on suitcases pushed and jostled. The air was thick with apprehension. Everyone was waiting for the Hamas authorities to call their names over the scratchy loudspeaker. Each name represented another individual with a chance to escape the punishing war that has killed over 8,800 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, and forever altered the enclave they had called home. "We are relying on God and hoping that we get out," said Rania Hussein, a Jordanian resident of Gaza, as she breathlessly described the horrors she had fled — entire Palestinian neighborhoods razed and families crushed to death since Oct. 7, when Hamas mounted its unprecedented attack on Israel. "If it wasn't for what had happened, we wouldn't leave Gaza," she said. After three weeks of repeatedly dashed hopes and torturous negotiations between Egypt, Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers, the first group of Palestinians left the besieged strip through the Rafah crossing, swarmed by TV cameras. Squeezing through the border gates were 335 foreign passport-holders, mostly Palestinian dual nationals but also some foreigners, 76 critically wounded patients bound for Egyptian hospitals and some staffers from aid organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. The breakthrough for the hundreds of Palestinians traveling by foot and in ambulances into the Sinai peninsula left many others holding their breath. Confusion reigned as hundreds of people who had braved Israeli air raids to flock to the Egyptian border found themselves stranded after the roll-call ended. There are thousands of foreign passport holders stuck in the Gaza Strip, including an estimated 400 Americans who want out. A widely shared Google spreadsheet outlining just a few hundred names of those cleared for departure Wednesday raised even more questions. The list included citizens from a handful of European countries as well as Australia, Japan and Indonesia. There were no Americans or Canadians, but the U.S. State Department later confirmed that a few U.S. citizens had managed to cross.
"No one understands how you get on this list or why you're not on this list," said Hammam al-Yazji, a Palestinian businessman trying to get out of Gaza with his 4-year-old American son. Phone and internet connections were down early Wednesday across the strip, adding to the frustration."We came here today to the Egyptian borders hoping to leave Gaza, but our Canadian Embassy didn't contact due to the bad network," said Asil Shurab, a Canadian citizen. Dr. Hamdan Abu Speitan, a 76-year-old Palestinian American physician from Syracuse, said he had no idea what to expect. "All I can do is wait and pray," he said.
The terms of the deal between Israel, Egypt and Hamas — reached with the help of Qatar and the United States — remained shrouded in secrecy as diplomats promised more foreign passport-holders would be able to cross Rafah in the coming days.
"We expect exits of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to continue over the next several days," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Wednesday. It still was not clear how long the departures of foreign nationals would go on, which countries' citizens would depart when and how that order would be decided. None of the roughly 240 hostages believed to be held by Hamas were released. Most are Israeli citizens, but roughly half hold foreign passports, according to Israel's Foreign Ministry. For some, the past weeks of false starts and thwarted plans did not instill much confidence. "We have little hope," Shurab said, "to leave and save our lives."

Arab leaders don’t care about the Palestinians
Ivor Roberts/The Telegraph/November 2, 2023
President Biden claimed credit this week for talking to Egyptian President Sisi “to convince him to open the door” – a door that has remained resolutely shut since the Israel-Hamas conflict began nearly four weeks ago. Egypt’s miserly approach to admitting refugees from Gaza is disappointing but not surprising. The Arab world’s response to the Palestinian drama has down the decades been long on rhetoric but short on meaningful and constructive action, such as offering to take in Palestinian refugees in significant numbers.
For many Arab countries, the Palestinian question has frequently threatened to become a domestic problem, which they are disinclined to import. And there is a disconnect between public opinion in many countries in the Middle East, seen in the demonstrations in support of the Palestinians, and the key Arab governments. Jordan had a civil war, also known as Black September, in 1970 after Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War led to 300,000 Palestinian refugees fleeing there. As the Palestinian militants, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), established themselves in Jordan, they came increasingly into conflict with King Hussein’s Hashemite monarchy, who they sought to overthrow. After a bitter internecine conflict, the PLO finally surrendered in July 1971 and was allowed to relocate to Lebanon.
This didn’t end well, either. Lebanon had been home to tens of thousands of refugees since the creation of the state of Israel. The PLO’s arrival vastly increased the numbers, destabilising the already delicate institutional balance between the various confessional groups there.
The PLO, not surprisingly, became involved in the long-running Lebanese civil war until the organisation was in turn expelled by an Israeli invasion in 1982 and it relocated to Tunis. In 1994, the Palestinian leadership returned to Gaza and the West Bank before splitting in 2006, with Hamas ruling in Gaza and the UN-recognised Palestinian Authority governing the West Bank. Egypt under Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is no friend of Hamas. The group is an off-shoot of the Islamist organisation the Muslim Brotherhood, whose leader, Mohamed Morsi, was briefly Egyptian president in 2012 until he was overthrown by Sisi the following year. (The Brotherhood has now been declared an illegal terrorist organisation not only in Egypt but also in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.). While Sisi talks the talk about not wanting to indulge wishes to remove Palestinians to Sinai, he has in truth more than enough to worry about domestically as it is. The Egyptian economy is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and the consequent social unrest poses enough security concerns for the Egyptian leader without an influx of Palestinian refugees. Saudi Arabia has the space and the money to accommodate many thousands of refugees if it wished, but Mohammed Bin Salman has his own development plan, Saudi Vision 2030, to diversify economically, socially and culturally. A massive refugee influx doesn’t feature. One country that has stepped up to the plate is the UAE, which was also among the first countries in the region to open diplomatic ties with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020. It has just announced that it will treat 1,000 children from Gaza. While a welcome step, it is a drop in the ocean. As for the Arab League, it has received a request from Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority for an emergency summit to be held on November 11. Yet few will be holding their breath in the hope of a major humanitarian gesture, such as taking in, even temporarily, a large number of Palestinian refugees, not just 1,000 children from Gaza. There will certainly be strident declarations of support for Gaza. But the reality is that the rhetoric would appear to conceal a sense of guilt. Arab countries’ solidarity with the Palestinians has never been channelled into finding any kind of constructive solution to what has been an intractable and, to their governments if not their people, a profoundly unwelcome problem. As for the two-state solution agreed by Israel and the PLO in 1993 – rehashing a UN-approved partition plan of 1947 rejected by the Arab states – its time will come again. But, sadly, not before a good deal more blood has been shed.
*Sir Ivor Roberts is a former British ambassador

Biden calls for 'humanitarian pause' in Israel-Gaza violence
Mark Moran/UPI/November 2, 2023
Nov. 2 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden has called for a "humanitarian pause" in the Israel-Gaza conflict to allow more time to extricate "prisoners" from the war-ravaged region.
"I think we need a pause," Biden said in response to a question from a protester who interrupted the president while he was speaking at a campaign event in Minnesota. "A pause means give time to get the prisoners out. Give time," he said.
The protester identified herself as Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, and said she wanted Biden to call for a cease-fire. "Mr. President, you care about Jewish people. As a rabbi, I need you to call for a cease-fire right now," she said.
After the crowd quieted her, Rosenberg said, "I would love for you to answer my question," at which point Biden called for a pause. Negotiations to free 239 hostages, including children and elderly people, have continued since Hamas' terrorist attack killed about 1,400 people in Israel Oct. 7. Biden's comment Wednesday night seemed to run counter to the White House narrative that has avoided telling Israel how to respond to Hamas' deadly terror attack. "The fact of the matter is that Hamas is a terrorist organization -- a flat-out terrorist organization," Biden said Wednesday evening.
Still, the president touted his recent record in convincing leaders to bolster humanitarian assistance for people seeking freedom in the region. "I'm the guy that convinced Bibi to call for a cease-fire to let the [hostages] out. I'm the guy that talked to Sisi to convince him to open the door," Biden said of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the latter remark seemingly a reference to the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza. The U.S. had called for a humanitarian pause in recent days to get aid to civilians stuck in Gaza.

Blinken will enter diplomatic maelstrom over Gaza war on new Mideast trip
WASHINGTON (AP)/November 2, 2023
Just weeks after a frenzied trip to the Middle East, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is returning to the region with a somewhat more nuanced message than he offered in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel's military response. As he did last month, Blinken will stress U.S. support for Israel and try to prevent a wider Mideast war as he visits Israel and Jordan starting on Friday. But Blinken's agenda this time is more crowded and more complex as the conflict intensifies and the Biden administration grapples with competing domestic and international interests and anger.
He'll push for the evacuation of more foreigners from Gaza and more humanitarian aid for the territory. He’ll press Israel to rein in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank committed by Jewish settlers. And, he’ll stress the importance of protecting civilians — even though the administration has yet to offer any criticism of Israel for strikes that have killed thousands of civilians in Gaza. So, while calling for brief pauses in airstrikes and fighting for humanitarian purposes he will continue to oppose growing calls for a broader cease-fire. President Joe Biden said Wednesday he thought there should be a humanitarian “pause” in the Israel-Hamas war in order to get “prisoners” out. But, Blinken will also be introducing a new element to the U.S. list of priorities: the need for Israel and its neighbors to begin to consider what a post-conflict Gaza will look like, who will govern it, how it can be made secure and how to establish an independent Palestinian state. U.S. officials, including Biden and Blinken, have said repeatedly that they do not believe an Israeli re-occupation of Gaza is feasible, and Israel agrees. But what comes next has been little explored beyond brief comments Blinken made Tuesday in congressional testimony when he talked about the possibility of a revitalized Palestinian Authority and perhaps Arab states and international organizations playing a significant role in post-conflict Gaza.
Blinken will speak about “the U.S. commitment to working with partners to set the conditions for a durable and sustainable peace in the Middle East to include the establishment of a Palestinian state that reflects the aspirations of the Palestinian people in Gaza and in the West Bank,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. The change in messaging reflects a shift in the international view of the war, of which Blinken has heard plenty since his last trip to the region when he traveled to Israel and six Arab states — several multiple times — in a frenetic shuttle diplomacy mission that required numerous last-minute schedule changes. His itinerary after Jordan remains uncertain, although he will attend a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Japan next week before traveling on to South Korea and India for much broader discussions, including on Russia's war in Ukraine and China.
The shift in public opinion has been palpable. After receiving a wave of global sympathy after the Oct. 7 attacks, Israel now faces widespread criticism for its massive military response, something that many believe is fueling a worldwide spike in antisemitic violence as well as incidents targeting Muslims.
As the situation in Gaza deteriorates, U.S. officials are keenly aware that they risk severe damage in ties with the Arab world and beyond if the U.S. fails to use its influence with its close ally Israel to keep what’s already a humanitarian disaster from getting even worse. Underscoring those concerns, Blinken will be flying into a diplomatic maelstrom between Israel and Jordan, which on Wednesday recalled its ambassador to Israel and told Israel's envoy not to return to Amman. Jordan's foreign minister said the decision would not be reconsidered until after the Gaza operation is stopped.
Miller said the U.S. shares Jordan's concerns about "the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza” and that Blinken will make that a priority on his trip.
“But ultimately,” he said, “we believe that increased diplomacy is important and steps to reduce diplomatic channels are not productive to our shared goals of promoting a long-term solution to this crisis.”Jordan, Egypt and Turkey, along with Gulf Arab nations, are on tenterhooks as anger grows throughout the region at Israel's tactics despite the horrific nature of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and will be watching the visit closely.
Before leaving Washington, Blinken met on Wednesday with the Saudi defense minister, whose country has effectively suspended U.S.-mediated normalization talks with Israel. But neither man spoke as they posed for photos for roughly 10 seconds at the State Department. And, although there was some progress in securing the evacuation of foreigners from Gaza, including a small number of Americans, into Egypt on Wednesday, thousands more want to leave. Yet, even resolving that situation will still leave more than 200 Israelis and others held captive by Hamas.
“I personally spent a lot of time speaking with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and the President Sissi of Egypt and others, to make sure that we could open this access for people to get out,” Biden said Wednesday. “I want to thank our partners, in particular Qatar, who worked so closely with us to support negotiations to facilitate the departure of these citizens.” Biden added that much work needs to be done to “significantly step up the flow of critical humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”

Diplomacy to pause fighting and ease siege intensifies as Israeli ground troops advance on Gaza City
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP)/November 2, 2023
Israeli troops advanced toward Gaza City on Thursday, as the Palestinian death toll rose above 9,000. With no end in sight after weeks of heavy fighting, U.S. and Arab mediators intensified efforts to ease Israel's siege of the Hamas-ruled enclave and called for at least a brief halt to the hostilities in order to aid civilians. President Joe Biden suggested a humanitarian “pause” the day before, as an apparent agreement among the U.S., Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, allowed hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports and dozens of wounded to leave Gaza for the first time. Dozens more left on Thursday. Arab countries, including those allied with the U.S. and at peace with Israel, have expressed mounting unease with the war. Jordan recalled its ambassador from Israel and told Israel’s envoy to remain out of the country until there's a halt to the war and the “humanitarian catastrophe” it is causing.
More than 3,700 Palestinian children have been killed in 25 days of fighting, and bombings have driven more than half the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes, while food, water and fuel run low. Israeli troops pushed into Gaza in larger numbers over the weekend after three weeks of heavy airstrikes that have demolished entire neighborhoods. The war, the fifth and by far deadliest in Gaza, began when Hamas launched a bloody Oct. 7 rampage into Israel, killing hundreds of men, women and children. Some 240 were taken captive. The U.S. has pledged unwavering support for Israel as it seeks to end Hamas' rule over Gaza and crush its military capabilities, even as the two allies seem to have no clear plan for what would come next. White House officials said a pause in fighting would allow for more aid to be sent in and potentially facilitate the release of hostages. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected back in the region on Friday. The departure of Palestinians through the Rafah crossing into Egypt on Wednesday came after weeks of talks. It was first time people left Gaza other than four hostages released by Hamas and another rescued by Israeli forces. Israel has also allowed more than 260 trucks carrying food and medicine through the crossing, but aid workers say it’s not nearly enough. At least 335 foreign passport holders left Wednesday and approximately another 100 left Thursday, according to Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority. Seventy-six Palestinian patients, along with their companions, were also evacuated, he said.
The U.S. has said it is trying to evacuate 400 Americans with their families. Egypt has said it will not accept an influx of Palestinian refugees, fearing Israel will not allow them to return to Gaza after the war. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain in the path of the fighting in northern Gaza, despite Israel’s repeated calls for them to evacuate to the territory’s south, which is also being bombarded. Israeli troops appear to be advancing on Gaza City along three main routes; from the northeast, from the northwest along the Mediterranean coast, and from the south after reaching the territory's main north-south highway. Israeli officials have provided only vague statements about troop movements. Airstrikes on Tuesday and Wednesday destroyed apartment buildings in the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City, but the number of dead and wounded remained unknown. Israel said the strikes killed militants and demolished Hamas tunnels. Palestinian militants fired antitank missiles, set off explosive devices and hurled grenades at Israeli troops during an overnight battle, the Israeli military said Thursday. It said soldiers returned fire and called in artillery, as well as strikes from a helicopter and a naval ship. The report could not be independently confirmed. Casualties on both sides are expected to rise as Israeli troops advance toward the dense residential neighborhoods of Gaza City. Israeli officials say Hamas’ military infrastructure, including tunnels, is concentrated in the city and accuse Hamas of hiding among civilians.
The Palestinian death toll includes
At least 9,061 Palestinians have been killed in the war, mostly women and minors, and more than 32,000 people have been wounded, the Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday, without providing a breakdown between civilians and fighters. The figure is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence, and is around four times the toll from the 2014 Gaza war, which lasted over six weeks. Four Palestinians, including three teenagers, were shot dead in different parts of the occupied West Bank early Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. More than 130 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the war, mainly in violent protests and gunbattles during Israeli arrest raids. Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas’ initial attack, also an unprecedented figure. Seventeen Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation.
Rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, and daily skirmishes between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militants, has disrupted life for millions of Israelis and forced an estimated 250,000 to evacuate towns near the borders in the north and south. Most rockets are intercepted or fall in open areas.
Those remaining in Gaza face an increasingly dire humanitarian situation, with basic supplies running low and hundreds of thousands packed into hospitals and U.N.-run shelters. Hospitals say their emergency generators are running dangerously low on fuel amid a territory-wide blackout. The World Health Organization said the lack of fuel puts at risk 1,000 patients on kidney dialysis, 130 premature babies in incubators, as well as cancer patients and patients on ventilators. Israel has refused to allow fuel in, saying it fears Hamas would steal it for military purposes. The military released a recording of what it said was a Hamas commander forcing a hospital to hand over some fuel. The recording could not be independently verified. Only hours of electricity remained at Gaza City’s largest hospital, Shifa, according to its director, Mohammed Abu Salmia, who pleaded for “whoever has a liter of diesel in his home” to donate it.
The Turkish-Palestinian Hospital, Gaza’s only facility offering specialized treatment for cancer patients, was forced to shut down Wednesday because of lack of fuel, leaving 70 cancer patients in a critical situation, the Health Ministry said. The Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, where many of those wounded in the Jabaliya strikes were being treated, was forced to turn off most lights and its mortuary refrigerators. “These exceptional measures will allow the Indonesian Hospital to work for a few more days,” Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said. “However, if we cannot secure electricity or fuel then we will face a disaster.”

Hamas using Ukraine war tactics to ambush Israeli soldiers in Gaza
Nicola Smith/The Telegraph/November 2, 2023
At first, the drone flies high above a neighbourhood of Beit Hanoun, now a crumpled wasteland of ruins in the barren desert of northern Gaza after repeated Israeli airstrikes.
The chilling footage, shot by the Hamas-operated device itself, shows how it robotically shifts focus to find and hone in on its target. A black bomb, with a bright orange tail to help guide it, dangles mid-air for a few seconds and then drops.
The wide-angle shot narrows to reveal the explosive’s impact, just feet from a dozen resting soldiers of an Israeli infantry unit. Most jump to their feet, scattering through the smoke and running through the wasteland. Some appear to remain on the ground, their fate unknown. The footage, released by Hamas’ military wing on social media, could not be independently verified, but it does point towards the terrorist group’s adoption of tactics seen widely in the Ukraine war, where the use of remodelled commercial drones to attack the enemy has become routine on battlefield frontlines.
The strategy was first deployed by Hamas to devastating effect on October 7, when it launched its surprise attack on Israel by first using adapted commercial quadcopter drones to drop explosives that disabled surveillance towers along the border fence with the Gaza Strip. From the very start of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia deployed commercial drones carrying explosive devices – a strategy that was quickly replicated by Ukraine, which is now scrambling to build as many drones as possible for reconnaissance and to strike enemy soldiers.
In what has been described as a “war of drones”, footage released on social media has revealed multiple times how Russian troops sheltering in trenches have been surprised by an attack from a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can be difficult to spot until directly overhead. The new video from Gaza suggests Hamas may have learned this lesson, although experts point out that the number and scale of drones used in the Middle East does not come close to Ukraine. In the days after Hamas’ horrific assault on Israeli border villages, analysts said they had been taken aback by the group’s ability to recalibrate off-the-shelf drones. Liran Antebi, a drone technology expert at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv told Deutsche Welle she was “surprised by the unexpected and complex use of Hamas drones”. She added: “This proves that, even if they are technologically quite primitive, they can be much deadlier in a complex mission than we previously would have admitted.” On Thursday, the Israeli military confirmed 15 soldiers had been killed in battles in northern Gaza since Tuesday – the first Israeli casualties inside the enclave. It did not mention the purported drone bombing.
General Vincent Desportes, professor of strategy at Sciences Po University, explained the complexities of a ground invasion in an interview on France 24, suggesting Hamas would likely aim to cause mass casualties to shock the public and force a retreat. “Israel knows that it is entering a trap prepared by Hamas for years and years, so Israel must be very careful in the way it is going to make its invasion,” he said. “We saw (on Tuesday) people coming beyond the Israeli troops and fighting them from behind, so they have to advance and secure everything very slowly.”

UN experts warn time is running out to prevent genocide in Gaza
Arab News/November 02, 2023
The independent experts highlighted ‘decades of hardship and deprivation’ endured by Gazans, and urged Israel and its allies to agree to an immediate ceasefire
They also called for the immediate release of all civilians who have been held captive since the attacks by Hamas militants on Israeli towns on Oct. 7
NEW YORK CITY: A group of independent UN experts issued an urgent warning on Thursday in which they sounded the alarm that time is rapidly running out to prevent potential genocide and a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
They painted a grim picture of the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip and expressed deep frustration with Israel’s refusal to halt its plans “to decimate” the territory.
“We remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide,” the experts said. “The time for action is now. Israel’s allies also bear responsibility and must act immediately to prevent its disastrous course of action.” The group of seven experts included the UN’s special rapporteurs on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation; the right to food; the human rights of internally displaced people; and contemporary forms of racism; as well as Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
Expressing “deepening horror” about the Israeli airstrikes that have relentlessly targeted the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza since Tuesday night, killing and injuring hundreds of residents, they described the attacks as “a brazen breach of international law.”They added: “The Israeli airstrike on a residential complex in the Jabalia refugee camp is a brazen violation of international law — and a war crime. Attacking a camp sheltering civilians, including women and children, is a complete breach of the rules of proportionality and distinction between combatants and civilians.”
The experts welcomed a recent UN General Assembly resolution, passed with the support of an overwhelming majority of member states on Oct. 27, that emphasized the need to protect civilians and adhere to legal and humanitarian obligations. However, they stressed that the situation requires more than only a resolution. “We received the resolution with hope but the need for action is now,” they said, warning that all the signs point toward a rapidly approaching critical breaking point in Gaza. They highlighted disturbing reports of people being forced to resort to desperate measures to survive, such as desperately grabbing flour and other essentials from a UN warehouse, children forced to drink sea water because of a lack of clean water, and surgery being performed on patients, including children, without anesthesia. In addition, they said, many elderly residents of Gaza and people with disabilities have been displaced from their homes, which are now rubble, and forced to live in tents. The situation in Gaza has reached a catastrophic tipping point, the experts warned, in which a dire need for food, water, medicine, fuel and other essential supplies is compounded by a looming health crisis, given the prolonged lack of fuel and damage to water infrastructure as a result of the constant shelling for the past three weeks, which has left the population of Gaza with little or no access to safe drinking water.
About 1.4 million people in Gaza are now internally displaced, with about 630,000 seeking refuge in 150 UN Relief and Works Agency emergency shelters. The agency has reported that 70 UN workers have died so far as a result of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. The UN experts also called for the immediate release of all civilians held captive since the attack by Hamas militants on Israeli towns on Oct. 7. “All parties must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law,” they said. “We demand a humanitarian ceasefire to ensure that aid reaches those who need it the most. A ceasefire also means channels of communication can be opened to ensure the release of hostages.”While expressing grave concern for the safety of UN and other humanitarian workers, as well as the hospitals and schools that are providing refuge and lifesaving medical services to the people of Gaza, the experts also raised an alarm about the safety of journalists and other media workers, and their families. They noted that internet and communication connections have been disrupted, hampering essential reporting of developments in Gaza. “We want to remind all parties that humanitarian and medical personnel and facilities are protected under international law,” they said. “States have an obligation to ensure their safety and protection during times of war. “As the secretary-general (of the UN, Antonio Guterres,) has repeatedly reiterated, Israel and Palestinian armed groups must bear in mind that even wars have rules.”The experts concluded by reiterating the immense hardship and deprivation the Palestinian population of Gaza is enduring, and issuing a powerful call for Israel and its allies to agree to an immediate ceasefire, warning that swift action is imperative. “The Palestinian people in Gaza, particularly women, children, persons with disabilities, youth, and older persons, have endured decades of hardship and deprivation,” they said. “We are running out of time.”Special rapporteurs are part of what is known as the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council. They are independent experts who work on a voluntary basis, are not members of UN staff and are not paid for their work.

IDF soldiers will ‘in no circumstances’ enter Hamas tunnels, says ex-military chief
Nataliya Vasilyeva/The Telegraph/November 2, 2023
Israel will in “no circumstances” send troops into the Hamas tunnels, a retired general has said. The sprawling tunnel network would be a “death trap” for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) if they enter them, said Yair Golan, former deputy chief of staff of the IDF.
Hamas started building the labyrinth underground system almost two decades ago, initially to bring goods into the besieged enclave and later for military purposes.
“The moment that we get to the tunnels, or regarding the tunnels we’ve already reached – they become a death trap for the enemy,” reserve Maj Gen Golan told Army Radio. “The wisdom is to find the entrance and seal them, or send in smoke that will cause the enemy to come out and will harm them.” Footage released by the IDF on Thursday morning showed troops engaged in street battles, with tanks firing in the midst of urban areas and soldiers holed up in a building responding to gunfire from across the road. Israeli media reported IDF troops engaging an elite Hamas unit in an undisclosed location as they came under mortar and anti-tank shelling. No Israeli casualties were reported there. In Israel’s highest-ranking casualty of the ground operation, Lt Col Salman Habka on Thursday was reported killed in fighting in Gaza. He was involved in saving children in Hamas’s attack on the south last month, according to reports.
Meanwhile, an IDF spokesman said on Thursday the ground operation was proceeding as planned. “The troops continue to topple Hamas’s defence lines in the northern Gaza Strip and to take over central areas. We continue to intensify our actions and to progress according to the plan and the objectives that we set ourselves,” Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said. Social media posts from Gaza suggest that the IDF is continuing to advance deep into the Strip towards the Mediterranean Sea coast. Open source-data showed that by Thursday the troops could be a few kilometres away from cutting the north of Gaza from the rest of it. Israeli forces were also seen making advances along the Gaza border, feeding into previous speculation that Israel might be seeking to establish a buffer zone there.

House Republicans push ahead with $14.5 billion in US assistance for Israel without humanitarian aid for Gaza
AP/November 03, 2023
WASHINGTON: The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is pushing ahead Thursday toward passage of $14.5 billion in military aid for Israel, a muscular US response to the war with Hamas but also a partisan approach by new Speaker Mike Johnson that poses a direct challenge to Democrats and President Joe Biden. In a departure from norms, Johnson’s package is requiring that the emergency aid be offset with cuts in government spending elsewhere. That tack establishes the House GOP’s conservative leadership, but it also turns what would typically be a bipartisan vote into one dividing Democrats and Republicans. Biden has said he would veto the bill. Johnson, R-Louisiana, said the Republican package would provide Israel with the assistance needed to defend itself, free hostages held by Hamas and eradicate the militant Palestinian group, accomplishing “all of this while we also work to ensure responsible spending and reduce the size of the federal government.”Democrats said that approach would only delay help for Israel. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has warned that the “stunningly unserious” bill has no chances in the Senate. The first substantial legislative effort in Congress to support Israel in the war falls far short of Biden’s request for nearly $106 billion that would also back Ukraine as it fights Russia, along with US efforts to counter China and address security at the border with Mexico. It is also Johnson’s first big test as House speaker as the Republican majority tries to get back to work after the month of turmoil since ousting Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker. Johnson has said he will turn next to aid for Ukraine along with US border security, preferring to address Biden’s requests separately as GOP lawmakers increasingly oppose aiding Kyiv.
The White House’s veto warning said Johnson’s approach “fails to meet the urgency of the moment” and would set a dangerous precedent by requiring emergency funds to come from cuts elsewhere. While the amount for Israel in the House bill is similar to what Biden sought, the White House said the Republican plan’s failure to include humanitarian assistance for Gaza is a “grave mistake” as the crisis deepens.
Biden on Wednesday called for a pause in the war to allow for relief efforts.
“This bill would break with the normal, bipartisan approach to providing emergency national security assistance,” the White House wrote in its statement of administration policy on the legislation. It said the GOP stance “would have devastating implications for our safety and alliances in the years ahead.” It was unclear before voting Thursday how many Democrats would join with Republicans. The White House had been directly appealing to lawmakers, particularly calling Jewish Democrats, urging them to reject the bill. But the vote could be difficult for lawmakers who want to support Israel and may have trouble explaining the trade-off to constituents, especially as the large AIPAC lobby and other groups urge passage. To pay for the bill, House Republicans have attached provisions that would cut billions from the IRS that Democrats approved last year and Biden signed into law as a way to go after tax cheats. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says doing that would end up costing the federal government a net $12 billion because of lost revenue from tax collections. Republicans scoffed at that assessment, but the independent budget office is historically seen as a trusted referee. As the floor debate got underway, Democrats pleaded for Republicans to restore the humanitarian aid Biden requested and decried the politicization of typically widely bipartisan Israel support. “Republicans are leveraging the excruciating pain of an international crisis to help rich people who cheat on their taxes and big corporations who regularly dodge their taxes,” said Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee. “The Republicans say they are friends to Israel. If I was Israel, I would un-friend them.”Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said he looks forward to voting for Biden’s full aid package, but the GOP bill “is insulting to Jewish Americans and an insult to our ally Israel.”The Republicans have been attacking Democrats who raise questions about Israel’s war tactics as antisemitic. The House tried to censure the only Palestinian-American lawmaker in Congress, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, over remarks she made. The censure measure failed. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., said he was “so thankful there is no humanitarian aid,” which he argued could fall into the hands of Hamas. In the Democratic-controlled Senate, Schumer made clear that the House bill would be rejected. “The Senate will not take up the House GOP’s deeply flawed proposal, and instead we’ll work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package” that includes money for Israel and Ukraine, as well as humanitarian assistance for Gaza and efforts to confront China. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is balancing the need to support his GOP allies in the House, while also fighting to keep the aid package more in line with Biden’s broader request, believing all the issues are linked and demand US attention. McConnell said the aid for Ukraine was “not charity” but was necessary to bolster a Western ally against Russia. In other action Thursday, the House was scheduled to vote on a Republican-led resolution that focused on college campus activism over the Israel-Hamas war. The nonbinding resolution would condemn support of Hamas, Hezbollah and terrorist organizations at institutions of higher education.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 02-03/2023
There is still time for Biden to deter Iran and support Israel
Anthony Ruggiero/The Hill/November 02/2023
President Joe Biden warned Iran to “be careful” after Hamas killed 1,400 Israelis and 22 Americans in its Oct. 7 terrorist attack. But Tehran ignored his empty threats, and the Middle East is on the cusp of a regional war.
Biden has only himself to blame. His policy of maximum deference to the Islamic Republic has backfired, creating a dangerous situation for Washington and Jerusalem. Yet there is still time for Biden to reverse himself and strengthen deterrence; above all, he should start enforcing U.S. sanctions already on the books and authorize U.S. troops to retaliate when fired upon by Iran-backed militias.
Within days of the massacre, the administration began to downplay Iran’s role in the Hamas attack. Unnamed senior officials suggested the U.S. intelligence community was still looking for evidence of Iran’s direct involvement. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan acknowledged Tehran provides “support and capabilities to Hamas” but stopped short of pointing fingers at the Islamic Republic.
These word games miss the point: Tehran has spent decades training, funding and arming Hamas precisely so it could murder Israelis. Its direct responsibility is already established.
To remind Iran to be careful, Biden is moving military assets, including two U.S. aircraft carriers, to the Eastern Mediterranean. The message isn’t getting through. Tehran-backed Houthis in Yemen responded by launching four cruise missiles and 15 drones toward Israel that were intercepted by USS Carney in the Red Sea. U.S. troops in Syria and Iraq have been targeted several times by Iran-backed militia since Biden’s warning. Hezbollah, with its arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets and missiles, is launching daily attacks on targets inside Israel.
The Islamic Republic’s approach is not surprising. For nearly three years, the administration has offered Tehran concessions while Iran expanded its nuclear program and attacked Americans in the region. Washington’s deliberately lax sanctions implementation has allowed the Islamic Republic to earn an additional $26-$29 billion from oil exports, according to calculations by my colleague, economist Saeed Ghasseminejad.
Biden additionally acquiesced to Iran’s hostage diplomacy by releasing $6 billion held by South Korea to facilitate the release of unduly held Americans. Washington also approved Iran’s access to $10 billion transferred from Iraq to Oman.
The administration’s appeasement has also allowed Tehran to approach the threshold of nuclear weapons. Following Biden’s election, Iran significantly increased its nuclear activities, for example enriching uranium to unprecedented levels. Now, Iran could sprint to nuclear weapons with little or no warning. One estimate suggests Iran could produce nuclear material for a weapon in as little as 12 days.
The Islamic Republic knows that nuclear weapons could provide a way to drive a wedge between Washington and Jerusalem. Tehran likely noticed that the administration’s fear of Moscow’s nuclear threats in the Ukraine war led the U.S. to moderate its support for Kyiv. Israel has its own undeclared nuclear arsenal, complicating Tehran’s calculus, but Iran could move toward weaponization to coerce Biden to push Israel to deescalate the situation.
Biden faces an inflection point in his presidency. He must realize that Tehran does not care about its international standing; the mullahs only respond to force and resolve.
First, Washington should respond with force to the attacks from Iran-supported proxies in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. The administration should go beyond last week’s strikes on weapons and ammunition storage facilities in Syria, hitting Iranian interests and personnel responsible for the attacks. At the same time, Washington should send a strong private message to Iran: Stay out of this conflict and hands off Americans, or we take wider action to cripple you, your nuclear program, and your proxies.
Next, Biden should authorize the Treasury Department to disrupt the funding of Hamas and other Iran-backed terrorist groups, even if it requires Washington to confront nominal allies such as Qatar that have been playing a double game. Doha has provided more than $100 million to Hamas while Turkey, Malaysia, Algeria and Kuwait also provide support. The administration should remind them that America will not sit by as terrorists target Israelis and Americans. These countries should know that continued terrorism financing will jeopardize their continued access to the U.S. financial system.
Third, Washington should immediately reverse its Iran nuclear policy. Biden should direct the secretary of the Treasury to implement fully all Iran sanctions, including oil sanctions. The administration could then reach across the aisle and embrace congressional efforts to invigorate sanctions against Iran. The U.S. should also work with France and the United Kingdom to initiate the return or “snapback” of all UN sanctions against Iran.
Finally, the president should state publicly that any effort to aid Iran’s sanctions evasion will be met with severe consequences. Senior Treasury and State Department officials should travel to key countries that have previously evaded Iran sanctions to reinforce this message.
The Hamas terrorist attack against Israel will shape the remainder of Biden’s presidency. He has allowed America’s adversaries to challenge his resolve; now he must respond by reminding them that America stands with its allies.
*Anthony Ruggiero is a senior fellow and senior director of the Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He previously served as the National Security Council’s senior director for counterproliferation and biodefense from 2019 to 2021.

The second war against the Jews
Clifford D. May/The Washington Times/November 02/2023
World War II was also “The War Against the Jews.” That was the title of Lucy Dawidowicz’s landmark 1975 book. But the Nazis took pains to conceal the fact that their goal was the physical extermination of Europe’s Jewish communities.
For example, they told international observers that the Theresienstadt concentration camp in what is now the Czech Republic was a “spa town” for elderly Jews.
That was then, this is now: Iran’s rulers have been vowing “Death to Israel” since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
And the Hamas terrorists who invaded Israel on Oct. 7 – Tehran’s allies and pawns – are proudly genocidal. A video record compiled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and screened for reporters includes a young invader from Gaza telling his family via cell phone: “I killed 10 Jews with my own hands! Put on Mom! Your son is a hero!”
IDF troops are now searching Gaza for these murderers, rapists, and kidnappers of children, as well as hundreds of civilian hostages. Israeli soldiers have been trained to do everything possible to spare Gazans who don’t want to fight for Hamas.
But you know who is eager to see Gazan civilians dead in the streets? Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s leader. “We need the blood of women, children, and the elderly of Gaza so as to awaken our revolutionary spirit,” he declared from Qatar, whose government hosts him. “Hamas is the only ‘army’ in history that has planned its operations deliberately to have its own civilians killed by its enemy,” observes retired British Army Col. Richard Kemp. “Its whole strategy is based on that.”
And an effective strategy it is judging by the crowds from London to Sydney to New York that have been cheering the slaughter of Jews and the use of dead Palestinians for propaganda. And then there are those attempting to get in on the action – for example the mob that stormed an airport in the Russian Republic of Dagestan looking for Jews to lynch. (Footnote: Dagestan is a Muslim land conquered and ruled by the Russian Empire.) U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres infamously excused Hamas’s war crimes, saying that Palestinians have suffered from “occupation” – though he must know that Israelis withdrew from Gaza almost two decades ago.
He added that “hopes for a political solution have been vanishing.” He also must know that two-state solutions – meaning both sides agreeing to compromises and peaceful coexistence – were rejected by Palestinian leaders in 1937, 1947, 2000, 2001, and 2008. The Hamas Charter articulates a principle: Infidels cannot be permitted self-rule on lands conquered by Muslim armies at any point in history. Hamas considers such lands “endowments” from Allah “consecrated for future Muslim generations.”
The Charter adds that “there is no solution to the Palestinian question except through Jihad.”
Since 2007, after winning a civil war against Fatah, its main rival, Hamas has ruled Gaza, tolerating no dissent. Israelis tried to keep them from importing weapons (unsuccessfully, it turns out) while providing electricity, water, and other humanitarian goods.
Why didn’t Hamas utilize the enormous flow of aid they’ve received to become self-sufficient? Because if Hamas’s enemies are willing to assist them – in the quaint hope of ameliorating their hatred – why should Hamas leaders bother?
Even after the atrocities of Oct. 7 and the war that has followed – with rockets still launcing from Gaza every day – the “international community” insists that Hamas is entitled to Israel’s help.
Human Rights Watch last week angrily complained: “Prior to hostilities, about 500 trucks entered Gaza from Israel and Egypt daily” but now Israelis are allowing “no more than 20 supply truckloads per day.”
The Israeli military now says it is planning to increase the flow of assistance and has designated a zone in southern Gaza to accommodate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the fighting in the north where military operations are concentrated.
Why can’t the displaced take refuge in Egypt? Hamas is preventing that because it wants as many human shields as it can get. And the Egyptian government is uninterested in helping its neighbors.
Though we don’t know how this war will end, we can predict that Gazans will be much worse off – and that will be thanks to Hamas, which will pay a steep price, and to Iran’s rulers who don’t expect to.
Is there a chance they’re wrong?
Among the key revelations in Lucy Dawidowicz’s book is that Hitler’s obsession with murdering Jews became detrimental to his broader strategic interest: not being defeated by the Allies.
Trains that could have moved German troops to battles were instead used to send Jews to death camps. Jews that could have been deployed as slave laborers were instead sent to gas chambers.
Israel has mostly just observed as Tehran transformed Lebanon into an impoverished satrapy, sent foreign Shia settler-colonists to replace Sunni Arabs in Syria, used Shia militias to take over Iraq, and backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
At the same time, Iran’s rulers have been lighting a “ring of fire” around Israel: backing, training, and arming anti-Israeli terrorist groups across all Israel’s borders and armistice lines.
Israelis are now viewing these developments through a different lens.
Could Tehran’s War Against the Jews, its determination to bring about a “Final Solution” to the “Israel problem” – the Nazis called it the “Jewish problem” – undermine its strategic interest in empire-building?
That would be a good outcome for the Middle East and the oppressed people of Iran. And for Americans, of course.
Because the long-term goal of Tehran’s jihadis is and always has been “Death to America!” even if they understand that Constantinople was not destroyed in a day.
*Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times.

The Muslim ‘Vatican’ Declares Open Season on All Israelis
Raymond Ibrahim/November 02/2023
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2023/11/02/the-muslim-vatican-declares-open-season-on-all-israelis/
The more than 1,400 Israelis who were brutally slaughtered by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, got what they deserve—according to the most prestigious university of the Muslim world, Al Azhar, located in Cairo.
A fatwa, or authoritative decree, issued on Oct. 19, 2023 by Al Azhar’s Fatwa department, asserts that
The term “civilians” does not apply to the Zionist settlers of the occupied land. Rather, they are occupiers of the land, usurpers of rights, deviators from the straight path embodied by the prophets, and blatant disregarders for the sanctity of the historic city of Jerusalem, which encompasses the city of Jerusalem’s respectable Islamic and Christian heritage.
Needless to say, that last bit about “respectable … Christian heritage” was included for PR points. On Al Azhar’s very own native turf, Egypt, the indigenous and ancient Coptic Christian heritage is far from respected—and often thanks to Al Azhar’s own teachings.
But the main point of the fatwa seems clear enough: because the entire nation of Israel is seen as an illegal occupier of “Palestinian”—or more to the point, Muslim—land, not a single Israeli can, according to the Islamic law experts of Al Azhar, be seen as a “civilian.” They must all—including the 1,400 Israelis slaughtered on Oct. 7—be seen as enemy combatants, and dealt with accordingly.
To be sure, the fatwa is careful to mention only “settlers,” but this appears to be a bit of tawriya to fool the infidel, since virtually every Muslim will understand this ruling as applying to every single Israeli citizen, as the entire state of Israel is widely seen as occupying Muslim land.
On the one hand, this may appear to be a startling development. Al Azhar, after all, is regularly hailed—including in the West—as the world’s most prestigious Muslim university. In 2009, Barack Obama chose it as the site from which to deliver a speech to the Muslim world. Of the Islamic university, he said:
For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning…. As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam – at places like Al-Azhar University – that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment.
So, the Muslim university that has all but just legitimized the killing of every Israeli as an enemy combatant, is also, according to this “student of history,” the same university to “pave the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment.”
On the other hand, none of this is shocking—including Obama’s absurd remarks. Al Azhar is, indeed, the Muslim world’s most prestigious school, but that is precisely because it treats all branches of Islamic study seriously and with care. It does not teach politically correct or “progressive” Islam, but authentic Islam. As such, not a few Muslims, including former students, accuse it of promoting the same brand of Islam that terrorist groups such as ISIS do.
For instance, after being asked why Al Azhar, which is in the habit of denouncing secular thinkers as un-Islamic, refused to denounce the Islamic State as un-Islamic, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah Nasr said:
It can’t [condemn the Islamic State as un-Islamic]. The Islamic State is a byproduct of Al Azhar’s programs. So can Al Azhar denounce itself as un-Islamic? Al Azhar says there must be a caliphate and that it is an obligation for the Muslim world [to establish it]. Al Azhar teaches the law of apostasy and killing the apostate. Al Azhar is hostile towards religious minorities, and teaches things like not building churches, etc. Al Azhar upholds the institution of jizya [extracting tribute from religious minorities]. Al Azhar teaches stoning people. So can Al Azhar denounce itself as un-Islamic?
Similarly, while discussing how the Islamic State burned some of its victims alive—most notoriously, a Jordanian pilot—Egyptian journalist Yusuf al-Husayni remarked that “The Islamic State is only doing what Al Azhar teaches.” He then pointed to a standard text (by Ibn Kathir) used by Al Azhar that extolls the exploits—or rather atrocities, including burning infidels alive—that Islam’s early heroes engaged in.
One need only look to the head of Al Azhar—its Grand Imam, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, once named the “most influential Muslim in the world”—to understand what the university is all about. While saying one thing to the West—namely, what it wants to hear about “tolerance” and “coexistence”—he is (when speaking Arabic) on record legitimizing virtually everything that is otherwise dismissed in the West as a product of “radical” thinking, including the punishment of apostates and blasphemers, and the inferior status of women and religious minorities. He has also pronounced Christians and Jews as “infidels”—a rather deadly classification in Islam—and called on Muslims in the West not to assimilate but keep their Islam in their “hearts.”
None of this really matters, of course. Just as Obama praised Al Azhar, so other Western leaders, such as Pope Francis, take the university’s Grand Imam, al-Tayeb, as a confidant and trusted advisor.
According, for example, to one of their many joint statements:
In the name of God … Al-Azhar al-Sharif [the Noble] and the Muslims of the East and West, together with the Catholic Church and the Catholics of the East and West, declare the adoption of a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard. In short, the world’s leading Muslim university has all but just decreed that no Israeli—by Muslim definition an “occupier”—is a civilian, that all are enemy combatants, to be treated just as they were on Oct. 7, while the West offers only praise and friendship to this same Islamic entity.

The 'Two-State' Solution to Murder Jews
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/November 02/2023
Every Palestinian child knows that if presidential elections were held today, the terrorist group Hamas would win. The most recent PSR poll, published one month before the Hamas massacre, showed that 58% of the Palestinians would vote for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as opposed to 37% for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The poll also showed that 58% of the Palestinian public supports "armed confrontations and intifada" against Israel.
Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have proven again and again that they hate Israel as much, if not more, than Hamas hates Israel.
There is a dangerously false idea that Abbas or any other Palestinian leader would rein in Hamas in the West Bank. Abbas has no problem with Hamas operating in the West Bank, as long as the terrorist group is targeting Israel, and not him or the Palestinian Authority leadership.... but everyone who lives in the West Bank and Gaza Strip knows that this is a lethal lie.
Creating a Palestinian state in the West Bank would mean turning it into another Iran-led base for Jihad against Jews.
What appears to be missed by many in the West is that it is Israel's security and civilian presence in the West Bank that is preventing Hamas, or groups such as Al Qaeda or ISIS, from seizing control of the area.
It is high time for Biden and other Western leaders to stop pushing delusional ideas that will quickly lead to a repeat of the October 7 massacre. How many Jewish babies must be beheaded or baked alive in an oven, one wonders, for them to see that Palestinian leaders have radicalized their people against Israel to a point where they brag about slaughtering Jews with their own hands.
Creating a Palestinian state in the West Bank would mean turning it into another Iran-led base for Jihad against Jews. How many Jewish babies must be beheaded or baked alive in an oven, one wonders, for Westerners to see that Palestinian leaders have radicalized their people against Israel to a point where they brag about slaughtering Jews with their own hands. Pictured: Palestinians in Ramallah demonstrate in support of Hamas, on October 27, 2023. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Since Hamas's October 7 massacre, thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank have been taking to the streets almost on a daily basis to voice support for the Iran-backed terrorist group based in the Gaza Strip.
This is the same West Bank that the Biden administration and many Westerners are hoping will be part of a future Palestinian state next to Israel. Those who continue to promote the dangerous idea of a "two-state solution" are ignoring the fact that Hamas is sitting not only in the Gaza Strip, but in the West Bank as well.
Bizarrely, President Joe Biden and some Western leaders are continuing to talk about the need for establishing a sovereign and independent Palestinian state, even after the Hamas atrocities in October. What they are actually saying is: Now that Hamas has used the Gaza Strip to invade Israel and slaughter Jews, let's give this Islamist terror group the West Bank so it, too, can use it to butcher Jews.
The pro-Hamas demonstrations show that the terrorist group is popular among the Palestinians, including those living in the West Bank. The demonstrations also serve as a reminder that a large number of Palestinians support terrorism against Israel, including sickening crimes such as rape, beheadings, torture and burning women and children alive.
Recent public opinion polls conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) have shown that most Palestinians support Hamas and the "armed struggle" (murder) against Israel. Every Palestinian child knows that if presidential elections were held today, the terrorist group Hamas would win. The most recent PSR poll, published one month before the Hamas massacre, showed that 58% of the Palestinians would vote for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as opposed to 37% for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The poll also showed that 58% of the Palestinian public supports "armed confrontations and intifada" against Israel.
The pro-Hamas demonstrations have been taking place mostly in those areas of the West Bank that are controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA), headed by Abbas. Although Abbas and other senior PA leaders hate Hamas, they are not doing anything to stop the Palestinians living under their rule from taking to the streets to celebrate the murder of 1,400 Israelis and the wounding of more than 5,000 others during the October 7 carnage.
It is worth noting that in 2007, Hamas expelled the PA from the Gaza Strip after killing hundreds of Abbas loyalists, some of whom were dragged through the streets and lynched, while others were thrown from rooftops of tall buildings.
By failing to curb the pro-Hamas demonstrations, the Palestinian Authority is not only complicit in incitement to murder Jews, but also acting against its own interests by emboldening its rivals in Hamas. One of the reasons why the PA is not taking any measures to stop the pro-Hamas demonstrations is because its leaders themselves are also involved in the campaign of incitement against Israel and replacing it with an Islamic state.
Abbas's anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric sometimes appears to surpass that of his rivals in Hamas. One month before the Hamas massacre, Abbas repeated a number of antisemitic canards he has uttered over the years, including that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler had Jews slaughtered because of their "social role" as moneylenders, not because of his racist enmity toward Jews.
In a speech broadcast on Palestine TV on September 3, Abbas told leaders of his ruling Fatah faction during a meeting in Ramallah:
"They say that Hitler killed the Jews because they were Jews and that Europe hated the Jews because they were Jews. Not true. It was clearly explained that [the Europeans] fought [the Jews] because of their social role, and not their religion... The [Europeans] fought against these people because of their role in society, which had to do with usury, money, and so on and so forth."
It is also worth noting that it was Abbas who initiated the campaign of incitement against Israel surrounding visits by Jewish individuals and groups to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the Western Wall of which is all that is left of the Jewish Temples (destroyed in 586 BCE and 70 CE), and which is Judaism's holiest site.
In a notorious speech in 2015, Abbas falsely accused Jews who visit their holy Temple Mount of desecrating the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located on the Temple Mount:
"We salute every drop of blood spilled for the sake of Jerusalem. This blood is clean, pure blood, shed for the sake of Allah... Every martyr will be placed in Paradise, and all the wounded will be rewarded by Allah... The Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are ours. They are all ours, and they [Jews] have no right to defile them with their filthy feet. "
Abbas's blood libel was interpreted by many Palestinians as a license to murder Jews. In fact, shortly after Abbas made the accusation in 2015, Palestinians embarked on a spree of terrorism in which dozens of Jews were murdered in stabbing and car-ramming attacks.
Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have proven again and again that they hate Israel as much, if not more, than Hamas hates Israel.
The PA leadership has been waging an unceasing campaign to vilify Israel and demonize Jews, especially in the international arena. The Palestinian leadership has repeatedly accused Israel of "genocide," "war crimes," ethnic cleansing," and "apartheid." It has also consistently threatened to file "war crimes" charges against Israelis with the International Criminal Court.
For decades, Abbas has used every available podium, including the United Nations General Assembly, to spread messages of hate and lies against Israel. His ultimate goal has been to undermine and delegitimize Israel to a point where Israel would be completely isolated in the international arena. His daily incitement against Israel has not only empowered Hamas, but also promoted antisemitism around the world.
Since the Hamas pogrom last month, Abbas has refrained from condemning the terrorist group. Instead, he has chosen to hold Israel responsible for the ensuing war. Essentially, Abbas is saying that Israel has no right to defend itself in the face of Hamas's atrocities. He is also implying that he sees no problem with Hamas having sent thousands of terrorists to invade Israel and brutally murdered innocent Israeli civilians.
There is a dangerously false idea that Abbas or any other Palestinian leader would rein in Hamas in the West Bank. Abbas has no problem with Hamas operating in the West Bank, as long as the terrorist group is targeting Israel, and not him or the Palestinian Authority leadership. That is why he has permitted Hamas supporters to march in the streets of Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin and other West Bank cities and chant slogans in favor of Hamas.
On October 29, dozens of schoolgirls marched in Jenin, chanting: "We are the daughter of [Hamas arch-terrorist Mohammed] Deif" and "We want Jihad [holy war], we want to die for the sake of Allah," and "We want to blow up the head of the Zionists." At other demonstrations by Hamas supporters, some of which were held not far from Abbas's office, Palestinians chanted: "Anyone who has a rifle, should either shoot a Jew or give it to Hamas."
The idea of establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank means turning this area into another launching pad for attacking Israel and slaughtering Jewish men, women and children. US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken can continue to argue as much as they want that Hamas does not represent the Palestinians, but everyone who lives in the West Bank and Gaza Strip knows that this is a lethal lie. Every Palestinian is aware of, and often admires, the pro-Hamas demonstrations that have been taking place in the West Bank since October 7.
Every Palestinian sees, and often admires, the Hamas-affiliated armed groups that emerged in the West Bank over the past two years. Every Palestinian has also seen how Hamas won student council elections at major universities in the West Bank, including Birzeit University and An-Najah University. Every Palestinian, in addition, sees how the Palestinian Authority is unwilling to combat Hamas and other terrorist groups in the West Bank.
What appears to be missed by many in the West is that it is Israel's security and civilian presence in the West Bank that is preventing Hamas, or groups such as Al Qaeda or ISIS, from seizing control of the area. What they also do not seem to realize is that Abbas is in power in the West Bank thanks to Israel's presence there. Without Israel's presence, Hamas would have taken control of the West Bank a long time ago. Creating a Palestinian state in the West Bank would mean turning it into another Iran-led base for Jihad against Jews.
It is high time for Biden and other Western leaders to stop pushing delusional ideas that will quickly lead to a repeat of the October 7 massacre. How many Jewish babies must be beheaded or baked alive in an oven, one wonders, for them to see that Palestinian leaders have radicalized their people against Israel to a point where they brag about slaughtering Jews with their own hands.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
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Comparing Israel to the Nazis is a grotesque inversion of truth
Alan Johnson/The Telegraph/November 02/2023
People believe a Big Lie, wrote Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf, because ‘it would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths,’ and so ‘they would not believe others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.’
Palestinian real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid, father of the supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, may have made the same cynical calculation when he posted a graphic on Instagram on Saturday, since deleted, equating the world’s only Jewish state, reeling from the murder of more Jews than on any day since the Holocaust, to the Nazis, the architects of the Holocaust.
Hadid has not been the only one to make that comparison. The ‘Nazi Analogy’ or ‘Holocaust Inversion’, as it is dubbed by academics of antisemitism, has been ubiquitous since 7 October. It is present on the placards or cell phones held aloft on mass street demonstrations, routinely linking the Star of David to the Swastika with a = symbol. It is there in the calculatedly wounding speeches of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who praised Hamas as ‘liberators’ and likened Israel’s response to the Hamas atrocities to the Nazi’s gas chambers.
The Nazi analogy has a long history, is uniquely wounding to Jews, and is a grotesque inversion of morality and truth. I fear its ugly presence in our public square is now laying the ground for the designs of our own western pogromists-in-waiting, whose existence we can no longer doubt.
Comparing Israelis to Nazis always verged on the demonic in its cruelty, but especially now, after the Hamas pogrom which bore many resemblances to the depredations of the Einzatsgruppen killing squads in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust, from the eliminationist antisemitism to the killing of babies and the elderly, from the humiliations and picaresque torments inflicted on defenceless and hunted Jews to the trophy photographs, today the social media videos. ‘Look at my WhatsApp! I killed 10 Jews!’ exulted one Hamas killer in a phone call to his parents.
The inversion of truth involved in the Nazi analogy is also grotesque. For example, the graphic posted by Hadid depicted Israel and Nazi Germany as alike in being states that ‘put racial groups in ghettoes and camps’. Israel’s treatment of the Gaza Strip was framed as the equivalent of the Nazis treatment of the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. Lies seldom come bigger.
When Israel left Gaza in 2005, the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said: ‘We desire a life living side-by-side, in understanding and peace. Our goal [in disengaging] is that the Palestinians will be able to live in dignity and freedom in an independent state, and, together with us, enjoy good neighbourly relations.’ Israel built border infrastructure to facilitate 40,000 Gazans crossing each day to work in Israel each day. Settlements were left intact, advanced greenhouses too, the basis of a new industry.
The reply from Mohammed Deif, then the Hamas bomb-making chief (now its Commander and an architect of the 7 October massacre) was instant. On the website of the Izz-al Din Qassam Brigades he declared: ‘I thank Allah the exalted for his support in the Jihad of our people. I ask for your assistance to our jihad… We shall not rest until our entire holy land is liberated … To the Zionists we promise that tomorrow all of Palestine will become hell for you…’ Deif began timing the rockets for the school run.
Israel had left Gaza only after signing an Agreement on Movement and Access with the Palestinian Authority which gave the Palestinians control over their own borders for the first time in history, allowed for imports and exports, and even approved construction of a seaport and discussions on an airport.
But then came Hamas. The group launched a coup in 2007, took over the Strip, drove out its Palestinian political rival Fatah, threw their fellow Palestinians from rooftops, and declared themselves as the new rulers of Gaza who would now use the Strip as a base to destroy Israel, fulfilling the commitments in its founding Charter, never revoked, to ‘obliterate Israel’ and ‘kill the Jews’. More rockets, more terror.
Only then, and as a direct result, did not just Israel but also Egypt put restrictions on the borders with Gaza. Israel also instituted a legal maritime blockade around Gaza to keep rockets and other weapons out of the hands of Hamas, while letting in food and other humanitarian aid. In March 2014, Israel intercepted an Iranian ship, with a cargo of weapons to Hamas in Gaza, including advanced M-302 surface-to-surface missiles.
David Horovitz, the British-born editor of the Times of Israel, expressed the exasperation of many Israelis when he pleaded for the world to ‘exercise just a smidgen of intellectual honesty’, and stop contriving not to see that ‘If there was no rocket fire from this non-disputed enclave, there would be no Israeli response, and nobody would be dying.’
There was no intellectual honesty in Hadid’s post, but nor was there meant to be. The point of the Nazi Analogy is not to portray reality but to wound and demonise Jews. The anti-Zionist writer Norman Finkelstein admitted as much. ‘If you want to touch a nerve’ he said ‘make the analogy with the Nazis’, because it resonates with Jews. Dave Rich of the Community Security Trust says ‘another word for that is Jew-baiting.’
It has been described by legal scholar Lesley Klaff as an inversion of reality because it casts the Israelis as the ‘new’ Nazis, and an inversion of morality because it turns the Holocaust into an indictment of the Jews. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance warns that ‘Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli Policy to that of the Nazis’ is one example of how antisemitism can manifest itself today under the guise of anti-Israelism.
Originating in cold war Soviet antisemitic anti-Zionist propaganda, adopted by the Western far-left, and some Churches, after the 1967 Six-Day War, the comparison of Israel to the Third Reich, the IDF to the SS, Israeli leaders to Hitler, and so on, has long been an essential part of the discourse of the global social movement that is dedicated to the destruction of only one state in the world—the little Jewish one.
The normalisation of the Nazi analogy today is, I believe, preparing the way for antisemitic pogroms in the west. It renews the core motif of antisemitism, that the Jews are not just ‘Other’ but also malign. The supposed content of this malignity has always changed with the times and the needs of the antisemites: the ‘God-killer’ of one era became the ‘rootless cosmopolitan’, dissolving every nation, in the next, or, somehow, simultaneously the ‘stubborn particularist’, an obstacle to Enlightenment universalism. ‘The Jew’ morphed in time into the ‘world-controlling capitalist-but-also-Bolshevik conspirator’, later, fatefully, the ‘Untermenschen’, the biological pollutant of all races. Today, the Nazi analogy, and the entire ecosystem of antisemitic anti-Zionism of which it forms a central part, updates the core motif of Jewish malignity for the era of the Jewish state.
Hitler’s big lie was that ‘the Jew’ had stabbed the Fatherland in the back, causing Germany’s defeat in the First World War and that ‘international Jewry’ was now engaged in conspiracy against the Volk. ‘The Jew is our Misfortune’, the Nazis proclaimed. They used that big lie to pave the road to the Holocaust.
The last three weeks of mass demonstrations have been revelatory. ‘The Zionist is our misfortune’ the mass demonstrations have, in effect, proclaimed. There are western pogromists-in-waiting among us as well as tenured western pogrom-apologists-in-waiting. Equating Israelis with Nazis may be thoughtless for some, but it is knowing and strategic for others. Those they would subject to pogrom must first be turned into monsters. And no one is more monstrous than the Nazis.
**Alan Johnson is a professor of democratic theory and practice, editor of online journal Fathom: for a deeper understanding of Israel and the region and works for BICOM (Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre)

The West may be too weak for the fight against Hamas
Con Coughlin/The Telegraph/November 02/2023
Waging war against a fanatical Islamist death cult like Hamas presents a significant military challenge, as the recent campaigns mounted by Western forces to defeat al-Qaeda and Islamic State have amply demonstrated.
While it is a cardinal rule of military operations conducted by the West that civilian casualties must be avoided at all costs, Islamist terrorists have no interest in observing such strictures, readily exhorting brain-washed recruits to act as suicide bombers and employing defenceless civilians as human shields to achieve their evil objectives. In their twisted ideology, death is to be embraced in the quest for martyrdom, while the humanitarian instincts preferred by Western democracies abhor unnecessary killing.
Defeating a foe such as Hamas, therefore, will require determination, sacrifice and the resolve to stay the course, no matter how insurmountable the challenge of inflicting a devastating blow against Islamist terror groups might appear.
Destroying Osama bin Laden’s global terrorist network took more than a decade, while it was a good three years before the US-led coalition succeeded in wiping out the self-styled caliphate established in the Syrian city of Raqqa by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Similarly, given the time and resources that Hamas has invested in building its metro terrorist complex beneath Gaza’s residential neighbourhoods, the Israelis face a daunting task.
The reluctance of the Israel Defence Force (IDF) to launch a massive ground invasion of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, involving all its forces, is perfectly understandable given that Hamas – together with its Iranian paymasters – will have anticipated Israel’s response to the terrorist group’s massacres on October 7 by setting deadly traps.
To limit unnecessary casualties – on both sides – the IDF has instead opted to adopt a more measured approach, gradually degrading Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure, thereby diminishing the threat to Israel’s security.
But there is another reason why, as with the military campaigns against al-Qaeda and IS, the Israeli government’s stated objective of wiping Hamas “off the face of the earth” is going to require skill, patience and time. Israeli officials have suggested that they will not be satisfied with merely vanquishing Hamas.
For, as Gilad Erdan, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, made clear in a recent interview, Israel also fully intends to confront Iran and the complex network of Islamist militias it supports throughout the Middle East, once its work with Hamas is done.
“The Ayatollah regime is the head of the octopus and Hamas is only one of its tentacles. Once we’re finished with this war, we will address this global threat that Iran poses.”
The only real obstacle Israel faces in defeating Hamas, as well as other terrorist groups, such as the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon that threaten its existence, is the growing squeamishness among Western leaders about Israel’s right to defend itself after suffering the worst terrorist attack in its history.
Rather than giving the Israelis the unequivocal backing they deserve after the horrors they faced at the hands of Hamas terrorists, a growing number of Western politicians, especially those on the Left, are getting cold feet, and are instead calling on Israel to implement a ceasefire to avoid further humanitarian suffering. Setting aside the fact that it was Hamas, not Israel, that caused the Gaza crisis in the first place, the very notion of calling on Israel to observe a ceasefire so soon after it has suffered such devastating losses is not only hypocritical, but morally bankrupt.
I don’t remember demands being made for the US and its allies, including Britain, to agree to a ceasefire when coalition forces were bombing Osama bin Laden’s Tora Bora hideout in eastern Afghanistan or IS’s caliphate in Raqqa, even though both those operations inevitably incurred civilian casualties.
Yet, just because it is Israeli cities and towns, and not Western capitals, that find themselves under attack by Islamist terrorists, a different set of rules seem to apply – where the emphasis is on ending hostilities at the earliest opportunity, rather than helping Israel to achieve victory against its bitter foe.
This attitude also reveals a fundamental misconception about the scale of the threat Islamist terror groups such as Hamas pose. It is not just the sight of pro-Palestinian demonstrators taking to the streets of the UK and calling for a new intifada, or uprising, against our Western liberal values that should cause us concern. As Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, informed the US Senate earlier this week, Hamas poses the greatest terror threat the West has faced since the emergence of IS in 2014.
If this is the case, then the campaign to defeat Hamas is as much the responsibility of the West as it is that of Israel, and victory will only be achieved through military might, and not self-indulgent agonising over ceasefires.

Time For 'Uniting the Fronts?' Or Not Yet?
Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez*/MEMRI/November 01/ 2023
Iran, Palestine, China | MEMRI Daily Brief No. 537
In peace time and even in war, ambiguity has real value. Keeping an adversary guessing about your plans and objectives can be extremely useful. But it can also backfire, leading an adversary to miscalculate or to act precipitously against a threat that was not really there. The American position before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was vague and may have encouraged Russia. On Taiwan, the Americans have been similarly vague, with President Biden saying that the United States would defend that island nation while the State Department assuring China that U.S. policy has not changed. No one is quite sure.
But it is not just the Americans who have to deal with ambiguity. Over the past years, Iran has created powerful regional tools to implement its "uniting the fronts" doctrine, which sees it as fighting Israel (and the United States) indirectly through a proxy network of terrorist groups, militias, and satellite states in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. The idea is that such a broad network, coupled with Iranian success in acquiring a nuclear bomb and other strategic weapons, would be a powerful deterrent against its adversaries.
Now many, but not all, of Iran's proxies are involved in the Hamas War with Israel. Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), of course, are fully engaged in that war. The Houthis in Yemen are also aiming both attack drones and medium-range ballistic missiles at Israel. And while some missiles have also been aimed at Israel from Syrian soil, the focus for Iran's proxies in Syria and Iraq have so far been American bases in those countries and not Israel itself.
Iran's most powerful surrogate, Hezbollah in Lebanon, has been trying to thread a military needle, making numerous low-intensity attacks along the Israeli border – that have provoked an effective Israeli response – without fully unleashing all its power. Is Hezbollah's most important role to serve as Iran's forward base against Israel in case of a coming direct war between Iran and Israel or to "liberate Palestine" along with its allies in Gaza? Hezbollah is obviously in favor of both, but to go to war now means that Hezbollah would be of little use to Iran later when the bigger conflict comes. Part of the group's strength then is akin to the naval doctrine of "a fleet in being," that by existing and doing little or nothing, it serves as a deterrent against Israel, a powerful potential threat that needs to be considered in war planning.
But once fully in use, Hezbollah would no longer be a deterrent as its adversary would wear it down over time. It is this ambiguity that has led Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to keep a low profile since the war began before deciding to finally make a speech on November 3 on the conflict almost four weeks after it began.
The anticipated speech has been getting major media buildup in pro-Iranian Arab media. Many expect his speech will enunciate a willingness to sit this war out (while no doubt wrapped in bellicose rhetoric), comparing the early "success" of Hamas in 2023 with Hezbollah's steadfastness in the 2006 War against Israel, calling it a victory and going home to fight another day.
So, while Israel, surrounded by Iran's proxies, faces an existential threat in responding to the unprecedented slaughter of October 7, Iran and Hezbollah also confront a challenge in the face of Hamas's initial "catastrophic success." Hamas wants to pocket its winnings and secure a ceasefire in order to be able to survive and repeat another October 7 at some point in the future, an eventuality that Israel will do all in its power to prevent. If the war were to end today, Hamas would hope to use its sky-high profile to replace the PLO as the dominant Palestinian force everywhere. For Turkey and Qatar, the two main Sunni ideological patrons of Hamas, the group's survival is likely even more important than it is to Iran.
Iran very likely would be delighted with Hamas's survival through an early ceasefire after having bloodied its Zionist adversary. There are useful lessons to be absorbed in Tehran about Hamas's performance and Israel's response. But if Israel is too successful in Gaza and the war does not end, Iran faces the question – is this the big one it has always planned and schemed for? Or was that to come later? Are the fronts uniting too soon?
Many are familiar with "the Guns of August," how a confrontation in the summer of 1914 between Austro-Hungary and Serbia spiraled out of control into an all-out global conflict. While few realists expect a global conflict to rise out of the Hamas-Israel War, it does seem that constant war in one place is driving wars elsewhere.
There was a time not so long ago (seems hard to believe now) when the United States counted on Russia to intercede for them with Iran and North Korea. That time is now gone. The Ukraine War, and America's punitive actions against Russia, have driven Moscow far closer to Iran, North Korea, and China than ever before. China, which had been recently relatively ambivalent about Israel has now publicly embraced the Palestinian Cause. Iran has simultaneously benefited from the embrace of both Russia and China and, perversely, from Biden Administration laxity in enforcing sanctions.
While Iran ponders whether to fully activate "uniting the fronts" against Israel in case the war continues, China could well decide that this is the perfect opportunity to "unite its front" against Taiwan. U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen recently said that the Americans could "certainly afford" two wars, in Ukraine and in the Middle East. But can Washington afford three of them? Both Iran and China face an exquisite temptation, are they ready or will a more favorable set of circumstances come again?
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.

Rules of war are being rewritten in Gaza
Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/November 02, 2023
Israel has described its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, and its targeting of hospitals, schools, shelters, refugee camps and civilian cars, as lawful self-defense. While states, like individuals, have that right, international law has long put important restrictions on the exercise of that right. Self-defense is an exception to the prohibition against use of force under the UN charter and customary international law, and as an exception should be interpreted narrowly.
Some of Israel’s supporters, while disagreeing with its excesses, have asserted that it has the right to defend itself, which has been misconstrued as implicitly condoning its relentless attacks against Gaza. There have been clarifications, but not enough to dispel the notion that some Western nations are acquiescing.
Clearly, war to avenge an earlier attack, no matter how gruesome, cannot be legally considered in itself as legitimate self-defense, and even when it is so considered, it needs to be carried out in accordance with those rules of war, including the rules of necessity, proportionality and sanctity of civilians and civilian structures.
According to the Geneva Conventions as interpreted by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Court of Justice, the rule of necessity requires that force may be lawfully used in self-defense only when this is necessary to bring an attack to an end, or to avert an imminent attack, and there must be no practical alternative to the proposed use of force that is likely to be effective in ending or averting the attack. In other words, force should not be the first recourse but the last, when all peaceful means have been exhausted, and when there is no practical non-military alternative. Force must be limited to what is necessary to avert an imminent attack or bring it to an end.
Self-defense must also comply with the rule of proportionality, which has been misapplied in the Gaza conflict. It means that the force used must not be excessive in relation to the need to avert or bring the attack to an end. The human, physical and economic consequences of the force used must not be excessive in relation to the harm expected from that attack. The proportionality criterion also means that the physical and economic consequences of the force used must not be excessive in relation to the harm expected from the adversary’s attack.
The right of self-defense does not permit the use of force to “punish” an aggressor
The right of self-defense does not permit the use of force to “punish” an aggressor and, as such, proportionality should not be thought to refer to parity between a response and the harm already suffered from an attack, as this could turn the concept of self-defense into a justification for retributive force.
Protection of civilians during war should not be controversial. In modern times, that hallowed principle was codified in the Geneva Convention of 1864 and the Hague Convention of 1907. After the Second World War, the rules were rewritten to enhance that protection of civilians, in light of the unspeakable atrocities against them during the war, especially against Jewish communities in European lands overrun by Nazi Germany. The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their additional protocols of 1977 have been signed and ratified by 196 countries — all of the UN 193 member states, plus the two non-member UN observer states (the Holy See and Palestine), and the Cook Islands. There are few international instruments that have been so unanimously accepted.
The Fourth Geneva Convention is dedicated to protecting civilian populations. While Israel has ratified that convention, it has unilaterally declared that it does not apply to its occupation of Palestinian lands including Gaza. It claims that it alone decides how to treat Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The UN has repeatedly reaffirmed the applicability of the Geneva Conventions to the Occupied Territories, as has the US, Israel’s closest ally, and almost every other nation and legal authority addressing this issue. Failure to uphold international humanitarian law in the war against Gaza has been the main bone of contention between Israel and the international community and certainly its neighbors. As Israel refuses to observe international humanitarian law in Gaza, it is not clear what legal yardsticks it uses to guide its military’s conduct. Many were alarmed when, on Oct. 10, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his soldiers: “We have removed every restriction.”Then, on Oct. 29, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared the attacks on Israel to those of the Amalekites in ancient history. Citing the Old Testament, he said: “Remember what Amalek did to you. We remember and we fight,” according to the translation published by his office. Invoking this bloody episode was ominous, because the rest of the text he cited goes on to say: “You must destroy the Amalekites and erase their memory from under heaven. Never forget this.” In another chapter, it said that the memory of the Amalekites was indeed “erased” after they were put to the sword in later attacks. The no-holds-barred policy described by Israel’s defense minister and the genocidal vengeance cited by the prime minister should not be acceptable substitutes for the Geneva Conventions.
**Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the Gulf Cooperation Council assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation. The views expressed here are personal and do not necessarily represent the GCC. X: @abuhamad1

How Israel can win the other Gaza battlefield: public opinion
Robert Satloff and Dennis Ross/The Hill/November 02/2023
On the battlefield, Israel is showing signs of success in its war against Hamas. Following the shock and horror of the October 7 attacks, Israelis put aside political differences that threatened to tear the country apart to focus their collective energy on confronting the enemy on their doorstep.
But on the battlefield of public opinion, Israel is losing. Under pressure from massive street protests, leaders on both sides of the Atlantic have already slid back from the staunch support they promised Israel in the immediate aftermath of the carnage of October 7. In just three weeks, that spirit of solidarity has increasingly given way to calls for a ceasefire.
While the desire to speed humanitarian assistant to Palestinians is understandable, a ceasefire would leave Hamas in control of Gaza, certain to rebuild and rearm, readying itself to launch future attacks. Israel will resist such calls, but the mood internationally is unmistakably shifting.
How can Israel lose a public relations war against killers who committed the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust?
To be sure, much of this reflects the double-standard to which Israel has long been subjected. When thousands of Afghan or Iraqi civilians died in America’s legitimate campaigns against al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups, it was called an unfortunate consequence of war. When Hamas keeps Palestinian civilians as human shields, launches rockets from dense, urban areas and prevents families from fleeing combat zones to seek shelter, Israel is accused of genocide.
In this case, there is only one word to explain the perversity of charging the victim with the crime of the perpetrator: antisemitism. For the antisemites, Israel can do no right. They attack Israel when its people are butchered and attack Israel again when it rises to its people’s defense. They are a lost cause who deserve nothing but condemnation and contempt.
But that alone does not fully explain why so much of the world turned on the Jewish state. Indeed, in the court of public opinion, Israel appears to have lost millions who aren’t antisemites — people of goodwill who saw what happened on October 7, watched what happened since, and believe Israel bears a good measure of responsibility for the human misery they see each night on TV or social media.
To be sure, there is a structural imbalance to the battle of narratives. The butchery of October 7 was so heinous that Israel has refrained from releasing the raw footage Hamas attackers took on their own GoPro cameras out of sensitivity to the victims and their families. Hamas, on the other hand, has no compunction inviting media to film children injured in the fighting, glossing over the inconvenient question of whether they are victims of Israeli bombs or Hamas rockets gone awry. But that’s the reality in which Israel is operating — it makes little sense to harp on the unfairness. Instead, as this war unfolds, we urge Israel to focus on three themes that if repeated, every day, would improve Israel’s information campaign and bring it up to the level of its battlefield prowess.
First, Israel should remind the world what this war is not about. Outlining Israel’s war aims as the destruction of Hamas’s military capabilities and its political capacity to rule Gaza is necessary but not sufficient.
Specifically, Israel should declare it has no plan, desire or goal to occupy Gaza, to evict Palestinians from Gaza or to retain territory in Gaza for its security. While this may be implicit in how Israel is comporting itself in the current fighting, we urge Israel to make it explicit. Second, Israel should make clearer the distinction between Hamas and the Palestinian people. Yes, Hamas earned a plurality of votes in a legislative election 17 years ago when it ran on an anticorruption, good governance platform. But it came to power in Gaza the following year through a bloody, violent coup, not by the democratic choice of local Palestinians. Since then, it has imposed its strict, theocratic ideology on the people of Gaza, denying rights and restricting freedoms — even as it prepared for the October 7 attack.
It is too much for ordinary Palestinians to believe Israel is fighting to liberate them from Hamas tyranny, but it is not too much for Israel to repeat as frequently as possible that its enemy is Hamas, a group that commands the loyalty of a small minority of Gaza’s population, not the more than 2 million people who call Gaza home. Here, Israel needs to impose wartime discipline to prevent fringe cabinet ministers and extremist politicians from blurring this vital message.
And third, Israel should commit the same effort and ingenuity to saving innocent Palestinian lives as it does to killing Hamas leaders and operatives. As the world saw on October 7, that is very different from how Hamas wages war, but this commitment to innocent life is what separates the Israeli way of war from the path of the jihadists. In practice, this means taking special precaution to ensure the accuracy and targeting of precision air strikes south of Gaza City, guaranteeing protection for safe zones in southern Gaza, allowing unfettered access to them for inspected trucks with food and medicine, and working with any international agency or Arab state that wants to assist in supporting Palestinian civilians.
Israel should swallow hard and allow carefully monitored fuel shipments too. While Hamas has cynically hoarded fuel to survive in its tunnels and launch barrages of rockets at Israeli cities, Palestinian civilians should not pay for Hamas venality with hospitals stuck in the dark and water that can’t be pumped.
This is admittedly a difficult task, especially since Israel knows that protecting thousands of innocent Palestinians will come at the price of some Hamas terrorists finding rest and shelter in the safe zones. But on balance, it is a price worth paying — and Israel’s leaders should be continually making the point that they are committed to fighting Hamas with the minimum possible civilian casualties, all the while trying to meet the humanitarian needs of the civilians it has urged to move out of harm’s way to southern Gaza. For the antisemites of this world, none of this will matter. But winning their support is not the goal of Israel’s information battle. The goal is to win the proverbial hearts and minds of millions who need a reason to give Israel the benefit of the doubt. Success in this effort will give Israel the time and space to achieve victory over Hamas.
*Robert Satloff and Dennis Ross are, respectively, Segal executive director and Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute.
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