Sunday
Yom Rishon
12 Tevet 5785
January 12 2025
May Their Memories Be For A Blessing
Four more soldiers–three more from the Nahal Brigade–were killed yesterday by yet another roadside IED explosion in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Their deaths are another black testament to the badly flawed IDF strategy of taking an area, leaving it, and returning to it–which gives Hamas terrorists time to plant roadside IEDs and booby-trap houses.
L-R:
Staff Sgt. Danila Diakov, aged 21 from Ma’ale Adumim, served in the 931st Battalion of the Nahal Brigade. He is survived by his parents Alexander and Natalia and sisters Alina and Maya.
Sgt. Maj. (res.) Alexander Fedorenko, 37 from Bat Yam, served as a heavy truck driver in the 79th Battalion of the 14th ‘Machatz’ Brigade. He is survived by his wife Irina and his children Daniel and Tom.
Sgt. Yahav Maayan, 19 from Modi’in, served as a soldier in the 931st Battalion of the Nahal Brigade.
Sergeant Eliav Astuker, 19 from Ashdod, served as a soldier in the 931st Battalion of the Nahal Brigade.
UPDATE 8:00 AM ISRAEL TIME
On the Ground in Gaza
*PM Netanyahu met with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff yesterday following Witkoff’s arrival from Doha. Subsequently, Netanyahu decided to send the head of Mossad and the head of Shin Bet to Doha to resume ceasefire/hostage negotiations.
It seems that all parties are now operating under Trump’s deadline of January 20 to release hostages–and a “phased release” seems closer than ever.
*Palestinian terrorists in Gaza launched missiles at Sederot (10:29) and Kerem Shalom (11:02) yesterday morning. This was the incoming missile alarm for the Sderot area:
*Not only did the IAF attack the area from which the launches occurred but also terrorists who were operating in a command and control complex in the area that previously served as the “Halawa” school in Jabaliya.
On the Ground in Lebanon
Two days ago, Biden’s egregious envoy Amos Hochstein strode to the microphone in Beirut and declared that “all Israeli forces will withdraw from Lebanon by January 26.”
This flabbergasting statement caught Israel by surprise, especially considering that it had already been announced that the IDF will be extending its stay in southern Lebanon for at least another 30 days after the 60-day term of the original ceasefire expires.
Yesterday, former Defense Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu Party Chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman responded to Hochstein: “An IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon by January 26 would be a betrayal of the residents of the north and a blatant lack of responsibility. It is clear to everyone that the Lebanese army will not collect weapons from Hezbollah, and Hezbollah will not give up even a single bullet. A buffer zone must be created inside Lebanon in order to maintain the security of the residents of the north.”
Lieberman is exactly correct.
*In the meantime, the IAF struck more Hezbollah terrorists in a vehicle in the town of Kunin.
And so it goes in Israel 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.