Yom Reva’ee
Wednesday
3 Adar II 5784
March 13 2024
The Wonderful Photos of the Morning
After a week of hard fighting, an IDF soldier raises the flag over the Qatari neighborhood of Khan Younis (photo: Avihai Shorshan).
As you may not know, the Qatari neighborhood was built on the ruins of the Katif neighborhood that we abandoned in 2005. As you can see, there is not much left of the Qatari neighborhood now.
May His Memory Be For A Blessing
Itay Chen, 19, murdered on October 7–his body was taken to Gaza by the murderers and is still there.
Another hostage, Itay Chen–an IDF soldier and also an American citizen, has been declared dead by the IDF.
Out of 134 “hostages” being held in Gaza, 34 have now been declared “dead.”
The Quote of the Day
“The State of Israel has lost its deterrence and may not be able to bring it back. The IDF’s hesitant activity in Lebanon under the directive “not to light too big a fire”must change in order to actually create an area free of Hezbollah north of the border and no less importantly, to create a real deterrent – including significant damage to the built-up areas close to the border, most of which serve as Hezbollah observation and firing positions.
Giora Zaltz, Head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, speaking after Hezbollah fired more than 100 more missiles into northern Israel and the Galilee yesterday.
UPDATE 9:00 AM
On the Ground in the North
Following the criticism (above of Zaltz) and others about the lack of IDF response to Hezbollah after another day in which northern Israel was rocked by more than 100 missiles from Hezbollah, the IDF spokesperson released this statement and the following graph yesterday:
“In the last 5 months, IDF forces led by the Northern Command’s fire center and the Air Force have attacked more than 1200 targets from the air and more than 3100 targets from the ground of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in the territory of Lebanon and Syria. Among the targets attacked: weapons warehouses, military buildings intended for activity Hezbollah offensive and operational headquarters where terrorists were.
The sites that the IDF has attacked in Lebanon (graphic: IDF Spokesman).
Since the beginning of the fighting, we have killed more than 300 terrorists and wounded more than 750 terrorists, including 5 senior commanders, and dozens of terrorist squads have been attacked which directed or fired anti-tank missiles and rockets at the State of Israel.”
On the Ground in the South
*In yet another absolutely insane decision, the IDF General Command has decided to dramatically reduce security forces in communities along the Gaza border.
Currently there are 28 members in each standby security squad in each community consisting of IDF soldiers and members of the community.
As of next Wednesday, each standby squad will only have 12 members–and none of them will be IDF soldiers.
Unbelievable.
On the Ramadan Front
*There has been a terror attack at the Tunnel Checkpoint to Jerusalem this morning. A Palestinian terrorist stabbed a man (25) and a woman (19); both were “moderately” wounded. The terrorist was killed.
*The scene on the Har HaBeit last night:
Of course they are praying toward Al-Aqsa with the Kipat HaSela (Dome of the Rock) in the background. Despite clashes in the city, the Mount has been relatively quiet for the first two days of Ramadan.
*It turns out that in the thwarted “mega-attack” on the first night of Ramadan, the terrorist was headed to Tel Aviv with 20 kilograms of explosives in his backpack in addition to having a suicide vest.
*Yesterday, a bag with 6 pipe bombs was discovered in Jerusalem. Since October 7th, 38 attacks have been foiled in our capital city.
Some of the Most Egregious Anti-Israel Signs Yet
In case you missed it, New York City’s Time Square was the scene of mass Muslim prayer in the streets at the outset of Ramadan.
It was also the scene of this sickening signage:
Free Palestine by butchering babies.
And:
Raping Israeli women is an acceptable way to free Palestine.
How have we ever reached a moment where murdering babies and raping women have become barbarism to be applauded?
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.