Saturday
Yom Shabbat
8 Cheshvan 5785
November 9 2024
UPDATE 8:00 PM ISRAEL TIME
The War In Gaza
From the IDF Spokesman:
“The Chief of Staff, Major General Herzi Halevi, yesterday (Friday) held a situation assessment in the Jabaliya area of Gaza, with the commander of the Southern Command, Major General Yaron Finkelman, the commander of the 162nd Division, Major General Itzik Cohen, the brigade commanders and other commanders.
The Chief of Staff: ‘We are making a very clear statement to Hamas – the IDF does not get tired, we get stronger the more we fight, there is more experience, there are more capabilities, there is more professionalism and there are also more values and determination. We are going very, very hard, and the fact that you are summing up here in three weeks about a thousand dead terrorists and a thousand prisoners is a very, very high achievement . . .
We are giving the residents of the northern part of the envelope much higher security and we are creating the conditions for this security to last for a very long time and not to be volatile. Reaching an agreement is complex, but from the strength that you are demonstrating here, from the strength that the IDF is fighting on seven fronts, in seven arenas, in a very strong way, the State of Israel is saying to the entire Middle East – there is tremendous strength here, there is tremendous ability here.
We care about our kidnapped citizens and soldiers and are ready to fight with great determination, also to pay prices, and we will return them. We don’t stop and we don’t slow down, and this is to return the abductees and this is to ensure security for the localities around here.'”
Speaking of the 101 hostages, they have now been held for 401 days–can you even begin to imagine what they have been through and are going through?
The IDF and IAF continued to strike all over Lebanon overnight, especially hitting the Dahiyeh neighborhood of Beirut, and the city of Tyre:
*The Saudi Al-Hadath newspaper reports that 3,136 Hezbollah “operatives” have been killed since October 7 of last year.
*As of this hour, 70 missiles and drones have been fired out of Lebanon by Hezbollah at northern Israeli communities:
17:33 Kiryat Shmona, upper Galilee; 16:55 Upper Galilee, Mt. Hermon; 16:31 Yeftah; 15:14 Metulla; 15:00 Sde Meron; 14:32 Kedmat Galil; 14:29 Even Menachem; 13:56 Goren; 13:33 Ma’alot Tarshiha; 13:03 Batzat, Shlomi; 12:52 Baram; 12:42 Ben Ami; 11:19 Margaliot; 08:06 Tzfat, Rosh Pinna; 07:51 Manara; 06:58 Kiryat Shmona; 03:04 Al Rom; 01:14 Ramat Magashim.
The Aftermath of Amsterdam
FM Gideon Saar announced today that every Israeli who wanted to be evacuated from Amsterdam has been evacuated: a total of 2000 Israelis on 10 El Al rescue flights.
Meanwhile, the Dutch Police who were slow to respond to the pogram as it was happening (when they responded at all) pathetically announced that of the 60 perpetrators who were detained, 50 of them have already been released; Geert Wilders –head of the Dutch Party for Freedom–has just tweeted this:
Europe is lost.
And so it goes on this Shabbat in Israel.
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.