Yom Shnee
Monday
6 Tevet 5784
December 18 2023
UPDATE 10:00 PM
A Soldier Update
129 IDF soldiers have now fallen in defense of Israel in the Gaza war.
These three have been announced since our first update this morning:
Capt. Yarin Gahali, 22, from Rehovot, a platoon commander in the Givat patrol, was killed in battle in southern Gaza.
Capt. (Res.) Netanel Silberg, 33, a team commander in the Yalam unit, was killed in battle in northern Gaza.
Sgt. (res.) Lidor Yosef Karavani, 23, from Eilat, 23, a fighter in the 8163 Engineering Battalion, Southern Command. He was killed in combat in the northern Gaza.
May Their Memories Always Be For A Blessing
All Missiles and Mortars Launched At Israel Today
In the north:
Tel Hai, Kiryat Shmona (19:42); Dishon, Mt. Hermon Regional Council (15:56); Dishon, Mt. Hermon Regional Council (14:57); Shlomi, Metzuba (14:37); Dishon, Mt. Hermon Regional Council (11:38); Ya’ara (09:01)
In the south:
Kissufim (13:13)
On the Jordanian-Syrian Border
At least one Jordanian soldier has been killed in an ongoing firefight between the Jordanian army and Iranian proxies trying to smuggle missiles and other weapons into Judea and Samaria.
In Samaria:
Thanks to donations totaling nearly $4 million dollars from Friends of Samaria in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, the Samaria Council was able to purchase 400 assault rifles, 25 drones, and 640 “Roni” devices (for converting handguns into rifles) for use by security patrols in Samaria.
UPDATE 7:00 PM
A Hostage Update
130 people (alive or dead) taken on October 7 are still in captivity.
They include:
2 children (the Bibas children that HamISIS says are dead–unverified by Israel)
18 women (5 soldiers, 13 civilians–one civilian is the Bibas mother whom HamISIS says is dead–unverified by Israel).
110 men (87 civilians, 11 soldiers, 1 policeman, 11 foreign workers)
Of these 130, 20 have been verified “dead” by Israel.
In addition to the 130 there are the bodies (or body parts) of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin who were taken hostage in 2014. Also Israel adds Bedouin Hisham Al-Sayed (wandered into Gaza in 2015) and Ethiopian-Israeli Avra Mengistu (crossed into Gaza in 2014)–two mentally challenged Israelis who went to Gaza on their own and are held by HamISIS.
Two Incidents in Gaza in the Last 24 Hours
Two incidents have occurred which illustrate some of the horrible difficulties facing our brave soldiers:
*A Palestinian terrorist in Gaza dressed in an IDF uniform and wearing religious tzizit almost ambushed our soldiers. Fortunately, they recognized at the last minute that his clothing was a ruse, and they captured him.
*It was bound to happen after the incident in which our three hostages were inadvertently killed while waving a white flag. Subsequently, orders have gone out to respect any white flag and not fire. It is now being reported that a woman and young girl yesterday emerged from a building yesterday with a white flag. When our soldiers stopped to offer assistance, it turned out to be an ambush, and one of our soldiers was shot by a terrorist sniper. The condition of the soldier has not been released.
UPDATE 1:00 PM
*A Palestinian terrorist opened fire on the car in the above photo this morning (10:55) near Ateret–not far from where the stabbing attack at the gas station occurred yesterday. The woman who was driving the car was wounded; her husband in the front seat and two children in the back seat were not wounded. Miraculously, the woman was able to continue driving until she reached the entrance to Ateret at which point she was taken by paramedics to Sha’are Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem. A manhunt is underway for the terrorist.
*A drone from Lebanon was intercepted at Mt. Hermon this morning (11:38). It is not known whether it was another suicide drone of the type that killed the IDF soldier two days ago.
*In the last 24 hours, the IDF attacked more than 150 terror targets in Gaza by land, sea, and air. As you can see, this is a dramatic decrease in the number of attacks which had been averaging some 450 per day. Obviously this drop is because of pressure from the U.S. to reduce the number of Palestinian casualties. And just as obviously, decreasing the number of these attacks means increasing the number of Israeli soldier fatalities.
*The Israeli Society for Infectious Diseases has reported that many wounded soldiers who are brought back to Israel for treatment have been diagnosed with anti-microbial infections. Apparently the soil in Gaza is rife with bacteria and fungi.
UPDATE 9:00 AM
The names of four soldiers who were killed in battles in southern Gaza were released this morning. The soldiers came from some of the IDF’s most elite units:
Maj. Uriah Bayer, 20, from Ma’lot Tarshiha, a fighter in the Maglan unit, the Commando Brigade
Sgt. Liav Aloush, 21, from Magdera, a fighter in the Duvdevan unit, the Commando Brigade
Sgt. Etan Naeh, 26, from Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, a fighter in the Duvdevan unit, the Commando Brigade
Maj. Tal Filiba, 23, from Rehovot, a fighter in the Yahlam unit, Combat Engineering Corps
On the Ground in Gaza Overnight and This Morning
*Extensive IAF attacks on Balia, El Safetavi, Nusayrat: more than 1oo terrorists have been killed.
*There have been renewed infantry forays into Gaza City, especially in the A-Derg and Al Buraij neighborhoods.
Unbelievable Bidenite Arrogance Puts Israel At Risk
Our democratically elected Netanyahu Coalition has made it perfectly clear that the day after this war is over, the PLO will not be put in charge of Gaza and that Israel will provide security.
But never mind what Israelis and our government think.
Biden has decided that the PLO will run Gaza and has sent his emissaries to PLO Chairman Abu Mazen to discuss how PLO security forces could take over security in Gaza.
Can you believe this?
In case anyone has forgotten, PLO forces were involved in the October 7th massacres–a fact that they are extremely proud of. And in case anyone has forgotten, Abu Mazen has never condemned what happened on October 7th–and at one point even sent out a statement that the massacres were carried out by Israelis.
It would be sheer insanity and an invitation to more massacres to put the PLO in charge of Gaza.
What Is Happening To The U.S.?
Take a look at the Empire State Building in New York last night:
In case you don’t recognize the colors bedecking the building, they are the burgundy and white colors of the flag of Qatar which was being honored on its independence day.
This is the same terrorist state of Qatar that has basically constructed HamISIS via the construction of the tunnels, subsidized HamISIS with more than a billion dollars over the years, provided a home for the HamISIS billionaire elite to live in luxury, and paid for the command and control missile facilities in the tunnels that continuously fire into Israel.
It is also the same Qatar that has funded academic departments all over the world–especially in the U.S.– to spread anti-Semitic venom at every venue.
And to think Qatar was “honored” by the Empire State Building.
Of course, that’s not too surprising given that seven years ago Qatar purchased 10% ownership of the building for $622 million dollars.
Fast forward to the latest Harvard Caps Harris Poll . . .
Talk about nauseating poll results. As you look at the following, focus on the 18-24 age group responses.
What do most of them think is the long term answer to the Israeli-Palestinian “dispute”?
51% in this age group believe that Israel should be “ended” and handed over to Hamas.
And this is despite the fact that 76% of the same group believe that Hamas attackers committed rapes and other crimes against women on October 7th.
On the question of whom do you stand with, the age group is equally divided between Hamas and Israel.
As if we didn’t know, it would appear that the 18-24 U.S. tiktok generation has been thoroughly indoctrinated by propagandist social media and the “progressive left” in the United States which on the college level has been increasingly funded by the likes of Qatar. This bodes nothing but evil for the future.
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.