Wednesday
Yom Reva’ee
26 Adar 5785
March 26 2025
Quote of the Day
“They are a vicious people, they treated the hostages cruelly, so I don’t think so.”
President Trump when asked last night if Hamas can stay in power in Gaza after the war.
UPDATE 10:00 AM ISRAEL TIME
The View From Ashdod
The last 24 hour have been relatively quiet.
In the sense that there have not been any missiles from Gaza, and only one failed missile launch from Yemen. In other words, 24 hours without any incoming missile or missile shrapnel alarms, 24 hours of nobody having to run to a bomb shelter.
However, it is never really quiet here. Starting at about 7pm yesterday and continuing throughout the night and into early this morning, we have heard continuous naval cannon fire from the sea in front of our house which sounds at times like artillery booms and at times like heavy machine gun fire. We never know what the navy is shooting at. Possible infiltrators? A terrorist attack on the gas wells?
And, as always, we had the steady whine of drones overhead–drones that you can sometimes see and sometimes not. This is not to mention IAF jets overhead at extremely high altitudes–by the time you hear them, you can no longer see them, and at low altitudes when carrying heavy payloads. All of this was to the accompaniment of combat helicopters moving back and forth from Gaza to the helicopter base just north of here at Palmachim.
Oh yes, and there were the booms from Gaza during the evening and night— though with much less frequency than during the most intense fighting of the war.
So yes, it has been a relatively quiet 24 hours here in Ashdod.
On the Ground in Gaza
*8 terrorists were eliminated in an IAF strike on a Hamas headquarters in Jabaliya.
*Jaber Ammar, one of the founders of Hamas, who had been released in the hostage deal was killed. This is a recent photo of Ammar haranguing a crowd in Gaza:
*Since the “limited” fighting resumed last week, the IDF reports that it has eliminated more than 150 terrorists including 10 senior Hamas leaders, and destroyed 420 “terror sites.”
*Remember our report from yesterday about the Toyota pickup trucks being targeted by the IAF. Yesterday, this leaflet was dropped in Gaza:
The literal meaning of the Arabic is:
“Whoever eats what is forbidden (haram), the forbidden will eat it.”
*Perhaps the biggest development of the day was the sudden emergence of marches in all sections of Gaza calling for an end to the war:
The crowds of marchers called on Hamas to end the fighting–while not explicitly condemning Hamas for what has happened to Gaza. Nevertheless, just the fact that thousands of Gazans were in the street chanting something other than “Death to the Zionists” was interesting.
On the Ground in Lebanon
In what is undoubtedly fake news, Lebanese media reported that Hezbollah no longer possesses weapons south of the Litani River.
Of course, it would be excellent news if it were true, but continuous IAF strikes on Hezbollah assets in southern Lebanon indicate otherwise.
On the Ground in Judea and Samaria
*A Palestinian terrorist tried to run over a policeman near Ma’ale Adumim beside Jerusalem. The policeman was not injured; the terrorist fled but was spotted at a nearby checkpoint where he jumped out of his car and ran. When police finally caught up with him, he pulled out a weapon, and was then shot and killed.
*Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis with “rocks” on the Gilad Road between the small Yitzhar Junction and the IDF outpost at Sela. No Israelis were wounded, the terrorists escaped.
On the Yemen Front
*The IDF detected another ballistic missile launch from Yemen yesterday, but the missile fell on its own (without being shot down) before arriving here.
*The Al-Masira channel of the Houthi rebels in Yemen reports 17 US airstrikes on the Saada province in Yemen overnight.
In the United States
The Senate confirmation hearing for Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel was interrupted by protesters yesterday. Among their chants:
“Huckabee is using his Christianity to justify ethnic cleansing.”
“Let the people of Gaza live.”
“Jews say no to Huckabee.”
Yes, you read that last one correctly. The disruptors were Jews or people pretending to be Jews–probably the same group that invaded Trump Tower in Manhattan a few weeks ago.
By the way, “Jews say no to Huckabee” is most certainly not true here in Israel where Ambassador to be Huckabee is widely admired for his stalwart defense of this country.
By the way, the protesters were forcibly ejected from the Senate chamber.
On the Entertainment Front
As we are sure you are aware, Israeli actress Gal Gadot received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame last week–much to the dismay of anti-Israel forces.
From an entertainment website this morning (emphasis mine):
“Last weekend, the film “Snow White” starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot was released. The film was a resounding box office failure with global revenues of only $87 million in its first weekend of release – a particularly disappointing result for a film whose production cost reached $270 million. But what is interesting is the story behind the scenes. A report in the American entertainment magazine “Variety” stated that tensions had arisen between the film’s star, Zegler, and Disney Studios. A few days after the official trailer was unveiled at a fan event, Zegler posted a message on the X network in which she thanked her fans and wrote: “And always remember, to free Palestine.” That tweet received millions of views and shocked Disney Studios executives. As a result, death threats against Gal Gadot increased and Disney was forced to pay for additional security for her.”
And so it goes in Israel thus far this morning . . . so far . . .
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.