Friday

Yom Shishee

10 Tevet 5785

January 10 2025

UPDATE 9:00 AM ISRAEL TIME

On the Ground in Gaza

The IDF announced yesterday that the IAF has eliminated Osama Abu Namus, commander of Hamas’ “Sabra” battalion in its Gaza City Brigade; Muhammad al-Tarq, the deputy commander of the “Sabra” battalion and previous commander of the battalion’s Nahba Company; and Hamza Diri and Mahmoud Shaheen, commanders in the Nahba Company in the “Sabra” Battalion.

Concerning the hostages, these signs have gone up in Tel Aviv:

On the Ground in Judea and Samaria

Shin Bet Ronen Bar described recent events in Judea and Samaria in the most recent Cabinet meeting (emphasis mine): “The significant decrease in the scope of attacks in Judea and Samaria is deceptive and does not reflect the scope of terrorism on the ground. We identify a consistent trend of upgrading to shooting and bomb attacks . . . Israel should learn from October 7th not to allow the strengthening of terrorist elements, and therefore a broad move must be created, changing reality, that will collapse and eliminate the phenomenon of the terror battalions in Judea and Samaria; we need freedom of action.”

On the Ground in Lebanon

A banner touting the election of Gen. Aoun yesterday in Beirut (with an obvious sop to incoming U.S. President Trump):

Lebanon is gushing with excitement after the Lebanese Parliament elected Gen. Joseph Aoun–the favored candidate of Saudi Arabia and the U.S.–as Lebanon’s new president.

That excitement extends here to Israel where FM Gideon Saar tweeted yesterday that he hoped that Aoun’s election will stabilize Lebanon and create neighborly relations between Lebanon and Israel.

Fat chance.

In his acceptance speech, Aoun promised (without mentioning Hezbollah) that the army would be the only group in Lebanon to have weapons, and that Lebanon will work with the new government in Syria to solve common problems.

But then he also promised that no Palestinians would be granted citizenship in Lebanon “so as not to harm their right of return”, and further promised “to prevent Israeli aggression on Lebanese lands.”

Very neighborly.

On the War with the Houthis

Apparently, actions are taking place under the radar on the ground in Yemen. According to various reports a number of Houthi military and political leaders have recently been killed in their vehicles by “mysterious” airstrikes. Suspecting spies, the Houthis have initiated arrests in Sana’a.

Meanwhile, the Houthis launched 3 drone attacks on Israel yesterday. Two of the drones were intercepted over the Mediterranean; the third was shot down by a helicopter over an agricultural field in the western Negev near Gevulot (at 20:05).

Yesterday, the IDF posted the statistics that since the beginning of the war, the Houthis have launched 40 missiles and 320 drones at Israel.

Kolakevod to the U.S. House of Representatives!

By a vote of 243 to 140 the House passed a bill to impose sanctions on senior officials of the International Criminal Court. The bill will now move to the U.S. Senate where a vote is soon expected.

What does the bill say?

It condemns the warrants against Israeli officials and imposes sanctions with respect to the court over “any effort to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies.” The sanctions include prohibiting U.S. property transactions and blocking and revoking visas.

And so it goes this morning in Israel . . . so far . . .

 

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