Yom Chamishee
Thursday
1 Iyar 5784
May 9 2024
FIRST UPDATE 8:00 PM
May His Memory Be For A Blessing
Sgt. Haim Sabah.
Sgt. Chaim Sabah, was killed in action on the northern border. 20 years old from Holon, Sabach was a fighter in the 869th Battalion Border Protection Unit.
OneIsrael’s Campaign For Our Soldiers
As seen by the Hezbollah attack several days ago near Metulla in which 2 IDF soldiers were killed and the murderous attack earlier this week at the Kerem Shalom Crossing in which 4 soldiers were killed, IDF soldiers on the ground need basic protective gear, armaments, and supplies.
Even during the recent Iranian attacks soldiers were forced to lie in open trenches to protect themselves from incoming missiles and drones as they have been doing for months on the Gaza and northern borders.
OneIsrael is now engaged in a campaign to help protect our soldiers. This campaign will extend to Shavuot.
Please consider donating to our campaign by clicking on the donate button in the right hand column on this page. All donations go directly to our soldiers.
Thank you to those of you who have already contributed to the protection of our brave men and women in uniform!
Yom Hazikaron Approaches
Israel Memorial Day, Yom Hazikaron, will begin at sundown on May 12.
The Ministry of Defense published these numbers as this morning:
25,034 have died in defense of Israel between 1860 and today.
Since October 6 (one day before the HamISIS attacks), 524 IDF soldiers, 68 Israel Police, 39 members of border community security standby units, and 6 members of Shin Bet have fallen.
Since October 6, the number of those “Bereaved” has increased dramatically with 1,294 more bereaved parents, 248 more widows, 520 more orphans, and 2,174 more bereaved brothers and sisters.
Biden Strikes Again
President Biden was on American television against yesterday delivering this blast on CNN:
“If Israel invades the city of Rafah, the US will stop supplying it with artillery shells, aircraft bombs and other offensive weapons.”
PM Netanyahu has responded that Israel will go it alone if necessary and will fight with “our fingernails” if necessary.
In fact, the U.S. has already delayed munitions shipments to Israel and threatened yesterday to halt even more. State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said this in a press briefing: “We stopped one shipment and we are examining others, but our long-term commitment to Israel has not changed.”
Our long-term commitment to Israel hasn’t changed?
What a pathetic joke. The Bidenite commitment to Israel has absolutely changed.
Or has it?
In light of Biden’s comments to CNN, a number of news outlets have pointed out, that then-Senator Joe Biden similarly threatened Israel way back on June 22, 1982.
On that day, in a closed meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden banged on the table and “jabbed his finger at then Israeli PM Menachem Begin threatening that the U.S. would cut off aid to Israel if more Jewish communities were created in Judea and Samaria. This was at a time in the First Lebanese War when Israel badly needed armaments.
The most commonly accepted version of how Begin responded is this:
Begin’s forceful response.
Following Begin’s response, aid was not cut off or threatened again to be cut off.
By the way, after his comments to CNN, Biden was on the phone again to King Abdullah in Jordan. What was the subject? How to create a path forward for “a Palestinian state and a secure Israel.”
There is no security for Israel with a Palestinian state on our border.
On the Ground in Gaza in the Last 24 Hours
A map of eastern Rafah:
The blue areas are where the IDF has advanced into eastern Rafah. There are reports that the IDF is setting up a permanent base there (graphic source on image).
IDF Spokesman:
“The forces of Division 162 went out on Monday night for a targeted activity in the area of eastern Rafah. Before the entry of the troops, fighter jets began coordinated and timed opening flights, in which about 100 designated targets were attacked from the air.
Fighters of the 401st Brigade Combat Team gained operational control over the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing. The forces began targeted raids on the terrorist infrastructure surrounding the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing and raids on suspicious buildings in the area from which Hamas terrorists fired at our forces.
During the operation, the fighters eliminated about 30 terrorists and acted against many terrorist infrastructures in the area.
As part of the raid by the forces, Air Force aircraft attacked and closed dozens of circles with close assistance to the forces.”
*An IAF air strike killed Ahmed Ali, the commander of the Hamas naval force in Gaza City.
*HamISIS fired twice in the last day at the “temporary” wharf being constructed by the Americans to receive “humanitarian” ships from Cyprus.
*For the first time in the Gaza War, the IDF is operating unmanned D9 bulldozers in the area.
On the Ground in the North
*There have been 5 suicide drone barrages from Lebanon today which destroyed many homes and buildings in the areas of Metulla and Kiryat Shmona, and 2 major missile attacks targeting Shlomi and Netua huge Barkan missiles. Fortunately, there are no reports of casualties.
*The IAF is attacked Hezbollah targets in the town of Aita al-Sha’ab in southern Lebanon.,
*Hezbollah Radwan force terrorists were killed in a targeted attack on their vehicle near Balfia in southern Lebanon near Tyre.
Population Statistics
The Central Bureau of Statistics has released the following information in advance of Independence Day:
Israel’s population grew to 9.9 million people in the last year an increase of about 200 thousand people since last year.
This number includes:
7.247 million Jews (73.2% of the total population)
2.089 million Arabs (21.1% of the population)
564,000 “others” (5.7% of the population). “Others” primarily consist of people who immigrated to Israel via the Law of Return but are not registered as Jewish.
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.