Yom Shabbat
Saturday
23 Shevat 5784
February 3 2024
SPECIAL NOTICE
Please note that OneIsrael will appear intermittently over the next week January 31-February 5 as your humble servant is in transit.
UPDATE 11:30 PM
On the Ground in Gaza
According to AP reports, HamISIS has returned to northern Gaza deploying its “police officers” (aka terrorists) to control the area.
Unbelievable.
*A Feeling . . .
We do not usually engage in “feelings” here at OneIsrael preferring instead to focus on facts; however, the events of the last few days lead me to feel that we are finally closing in on Yahya Sinwar and the hostages.
First, the news on the ground in Khan Younis has been striking as IDF troops have uncovered tunnel after tunnel in an ever tightening circle around what is believed to be Sinwar’s bunker/tunnel headquarters. Just yesterday, it was reported that the IDF had found 3 tunnels where Sinwar lived surrounded by our hostages.
Second, we have reportage from Arab sources that Sinwar and Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh are clashing over what is to be done. Sinwar is strongly pushing for an immediate ceasefire, while Haniyeh preserves to wait until a total end to the war and removal of Israeli troops from Gaza takes place.
Taken together, these two bits of information suggest to this writer that we may be zeroing in on Sinwar and hopefully our hostages that he uses as human shields.
The question has become “can Israel hold out against the calls for ceasefire long enough to get the job done?”
*The Ever Egregious Biden Administration . . .
Israel’s entire interaction with the Bidenites in Washington is a never ending roller coaster of positives followed by negatives.
In recent blogs we have pointed out the great debt that Israel owes to President Biden for supplying our soldiers with badly needed armaments. Yet every time we accept U.S. largesse, we are smacked in the face by Biden.
A few days ago, it was the announcement that 4 Israelis who live in Judea and Samaria would be denied entry into the U.S. because of their “violence” against Palestinians. Aside from the fraudulent claim of violence, the problem with this announcement is that it opened the door for other countries–particularly in Europe–to suddenly announce similar restrictions against “settlers”.
Yesterday, we had another absurd announcement meant to appease the Palestinians. The U.S. State Department is “urgently” demanding that Israel investigate supposed IDF violations of the Leahy Act in Gaza. In case you are unfamiliar with Leahy, it calls for the cessation of providing weapons to foreign forces that are accused of war crimes including rape, torture, and murder.
You can imagine where the anti-Israel media world will run with this egregious announcement.
On the Ground in the North
The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has intensified.
An attack from Lebanon at Shtula destroyed this car (fortunately no one was inside:
In response, an attack on Taybe in southern Lebanon killed two Hezbollah terrorists.
The IDF spokesman just issued this statement:
“The IDF is exacting an increasing price from Hezbollah and denying its capabilities in southern Lebanon.
Instead of the usual one division, we have deployed three divisions along the border, with tens of thousands of regular and reserve IDF fighters and troops – on land, in the air and at sea.
Like Hamas, Hezbollah has also located its terrorist infrastructure in the heart of the civilian population. We will know how to attack any house used by Hezbollah as a terrorist infrastructure . . .
We have so far eliminated over 200 Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, and attacked more than 3,400 targets, including 40 warehouses that Hezbollah hid along the border.”
In the Red Sea
In the last few hours, the U.S. and Britain have carried out intensive bombing rates on the Yemeni capital of Sana’a.
Elsewhere
In the last 24 hours, B1 bombers and other U.S. aircraft struck dozens of Iranian proxy targets in Syria and Iraq.
In Other News
*For weeks now, there has been a report that the IDF has in its possession information about UNRWA involvement in the October 7 massacres and in other acts of terror, but for political reasons (who knows what) is not releasing it yet.
*The Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have approved a $17.6 billion aid package to Israel–without any conditions. It will be voted on by the entire House next week.
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.