Yom Shleeshee
Tuesday
26 Sivan 5784
July 2 2024
UPDATE 9:00 AM ISRAEL TIME
May Their Memories Be For A Blessing
Sgt. Ori Hadad.
Sgt. Hadad, 21, from Beersheva was a combat soldier in the 931st Battalion in the Nahal Brigade who fell in Rafah.
Lt. (Res) Yehuda Geto
Lt. (Res.) Yehuda Geto, 22, from Pardes Hana-Karkur was an operational driver who fell during an operational activity in Nur Al-Shams in Samaria. Click here to see the moment when his Panther vehicle was destroyed by an IED.
May Her Memory Be For A Blessing
Noa Argamani and her mother Liora shortly after Noa’s rescue.
Liora Argamani (61) died at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv this morning. Liora was the mother of Noa Argamani who was recently rescued by IDF forces. Since October 7th, the country had become aware of Liora’s heroic battle with brain cancer. Numerous attempts were made to gain Noa’s release through humanitarian venues so that she could see her mother before she died; HamISIS refused to release her.
But Liora managed to survive until her daughter came home, and Noa was by her side when she died this morning.
On the Ground in Gaza
From the IDF Spokesman:
“The brigade combat teams of the commando formation, brigade 401 and the Yalam unit under the command of division 162, under the direction of the intelligence wing, raided an outpost and an underground production site of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in the area of the Tel-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah.
The forces located the largest underground site for the production of rocket parts and long-range rockets of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Strip. During the raid, commando fighters and the Yalam unit fought above and below ground at the same time and eliminated terrorists with precision drones and missiles.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad has produced hundreds of rockets at this site over the past few years. The destruction of the outpost and the underground lathes damaged the organization’s ability to produce rockets to be launched towards the territory of the country.”
On the Ground in the North
There were six separate barrages of Hezbollah missiles yesterday stretching all along the Lebanese border and inland. Places targeted included Kiryat Shmona, Tel Hai, Dafna, Goren, Kfar Giladi, and Dovev.
On the Ground in Judea and Samaria
The IED attack in Nur Al-Shams near Tulkarm that took the life of Lt. Yehuda Geto unfortunately demonstrates an important fact, namely that the threat of IEDs has increased exponentially in recent months.
Every time our soldiers go into cities such as Jenin or Tulkarm, they immediately encounter increasingly sophisticated IED ambushes–despite all efforts by IDF bulldozer engineers to clear the way.
There is increasing speculation that these sophisticated IEDS and instruction in how to use them are coming into Judea and Samaria from Iran–and even Iranian advisors who may have crossed the Jordanian border.
Talk About Lying
President Biden’s campaign team is desperately trying to camouflage his failing cognitive ability–which was on full display during the recent debate–by focusing on the alleged lies told by former President Trump during the event.
However, Biden told his own share of lies–some of which were directly related to Israel. He went to some length to portray himself as the savior of Israel (“I saved Israel’) when Iran launched more than 300 missiles at Israel, and as “the great humanitarian” in saying that he had only denied Israel one weapon during the course of the war–2000 pound bombs. Biden said that those bombs had been denied because he was concerned about how Israel might use them in densely populated Gaza.
Yesterday came news from U.S. Representative. Michael McCaul, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that, in fact, Biden has withheld 7 different weapons systems from Israel.
Not only that, we have news this morning that the Biden Administration is also refusing to allow Israel to jump the purchase line to buy 15 badly needed Apache combat helicopters.
The Disgusting, Unbelievable Fiasco of the Day
In an astonishing revelation yesterday, news leaked out that Israel has released 50 more terrorists from Gaza back to Gaza–including the director of Shifa Hospital, Muhammad Abu Salmiya. Salmiya was captured and arrested back in November (while trying to escape) following the discovery of plentiful evidence that the hospital under his direct management served as a Hamas headquarters.
Not only that, Salmiya also oversaw the events on October 7th when Israeli hostages were brought broken, bleeding, and dead into the hospital, and HamISIS terrorists rushed there to hide.
In short, Salmiya is a terrorist’s terrorist.
In the last 18 hours, all of Israel has been asking how in the world he was released.
As you can imagine, no one wants to take responsibility. PM Netanyahu’s Office said that a furious PM Netanyahu knew nothing about it. Defense Minister Galant said that he knew noting about it. The IDF took him back to Gaza, but blamed the Shin Bet. The Shin Bet said that it wasn’t their fault and absurdly blamed Minister of National Security Ben Gvir.
The prison service (Shavas) blamed the IDF and Shin Bet.
And no one seems to know why he was released.
The prison service said that he was not released due to the conditions of his incarceration. An anonymous Shin Bet official said that “The claim that he could not be held due to a lack of prison places is a spin on the backs of the public.”
The reaction was swift:
Minister Kahana: “The decision to release the Shifa manager was made by the Shin Bet. The organization did not respond to my inquiry on the matter.”
Minister Shikli wrote to Defense Minister Galant: “Can we get an explanation as to why this man, in whose hospital our hostages were murdered and where the Hamas headquarters operated, was released?”
Minister Ben Gvir: “It’s time to send the head of the Shin Bet home. He does what he wants and Gallant is with him to the fullest.”
Yossi Fox, the government secretary wrote: “It is unthinkable to carry out such a move without a cabinet meeting. I demand that everything be stopped and a government meeting be held.”
Chairman of the Yisrael Beitenu party, MK Avigdor Lieberman: “We came to find out that the director of Shifa Hospital is not a doctor, he is a Doctor Mengele, and the decision to release him is a moral, security and ethical negligence.”
Minister Orit Struck: “We all know that Hamas used the Shifa hospital as a refuge for its terrorists and even transferred there Israeli hostages who were kidnapped on the day of the massacre. The IDF also mentioned that a pathology report confirmed that the murder of Corporal Noa Marciano was carried out on the hospital grounds. You are seriously asking, by what authority”?
The reason that Struck asks the rhetorical question (seriously asking) is that everyone knows that it was Shin Bet who approved the release. It turns out that the actual order, which turned up yesterday, was signed by Brigadier General Meir Chen.
Still, there is no answer to the question of why Salmiya was released.
The bottom line is that the people in Shin Bet who approved the release should have been fired yesterday–but no one in this country ever gets fired no matter how egregious their behavior.
And the absurd releases of terrorists back to Gaza in the absence of any releases of our own hostages must be immediately stopped.
One final thought: why hasn’t the IDF gone back to Shifa Hospital today and taken Salmiya back into custody?
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.