Sunday
Yom Rishon
25 Shevat 5785
February 23 2025
UPDATE 10:00 AM ISRAEL TIME
*As noted previously, there are now 63 hostages, 36 who have been previously declared dead. Simple math suggests that 27 might still be alive.
However, the government has come forward with a new estimate this morning that there are only 21 live hostages remaining in Gaza—meaning that the 36 number should be increased to 42 dead.
*Remember hostage Hisham Al-Sayed, the Israeli-Arab who was “honored” with a separate release yesterday “because he is a Palestinian”? His father had this to say this morning:
“Hamas are liars. If they had any respect for people, they would have released him a long time ago. He is in a bad state. He hardly speaks, his head hangs down. He was in a torture camp.”
*The IDF is deploying tanks in Samaria to battle the terrorists there. This comes after the massive bus/light rail terror attack that was thwarted two nights ago.
*Lebanon is having a grand funeral today for its grand terrorist Hassan Nasrallah and Nasrallah’s cohort Hashem Safi Al-Din. Lebanon and other Arab countries have asked the U.S. to require that Israel not attack during the funeral.
The IAF has carried out a series of strikes this morning on the outskirts of the villages of Janata and Zabkin, in the western sector of southern Lebanon.
Tweets of the Day
From Donald Trump Jr:
No wonder that President Trump has barred the egregiously biased AP from the White House, and Defense Secretary Hegseth has greatly restricted its access to the Pentagon.
From Elon Musk:
Musk retweeted this tweet from another person:
“The whole world was more outraged and devoted more media coverage to a fabricated story about Elon Musk doing a Nazi salute than about the torture and brutal murders of Jewish babies in Gaza.”
UPDATE 6:00 AM ISRAEL TIME
The View from Ashdod
Just plain sick.
*How sick are the evil savages in Gaza?
It turns out that Hamas “brought” hostages Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal to the release ceremony of other hostages yesterday in order to further torture them psychologically. How do we know? Because Hamas posted a video (photo above taken from the video) of the two inside a vehicle beside the platform area in Nuseirat–restrained and guarded.
Just plain sick.
*We pointed out yesterday that the release ceremony was punctuated by Omer Shem Tov’s smiling and waving to the crowd–and even kissing two of his heavily armed captors.
It turns out that Shem Tov was forced to do what he did under pain of “punishment”–a fact he revealed in conversations with his parents last night who in turn told the media.
Just plain sick.
*Concomitant with the release “ceremony”, Hamas staged a march of the “sons of senior ‘martyrs’ in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades holding signs lauding Muhammad Deif.
As you can see, this next generation of terrorists was not merely holding signs.
Just plain sick.
*In light of the sordid episode with the body of Shiri Bibas and the humiliating “release ceremony”, the government postponed the release of the 602 terrorist prisoners until today.
What we didn’t delineate is that the murderers being released killed more than 100 Israelis in stabbing, car-ramming, and shooting attacks. The group also includes would-be suicide bomber. Almost all of this murderous group is being released within Israeli territory and not being deported abroad as was promised.
As you know, more than 1700 terrorists are being released in Phase 1.
Just plain sick.
*Yesterday we reported on how the 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and 4-year-old Ariel Bibas were choked to death and then had their skulls crushed.
According to the Israel National Council of the Child, 38 Israeli children were slaughtered on October 7th. 42 more children were kidnapped by Hamas on the same day. 12 more children were blown to pieces by a Hezbollah missile on July 27th of last year.
All of this is nothing more than a monstrous war on children.
Just plain sick.
*This article appeared in the Israeli media yesterday. It is quoted here (emphasis mine):
“The state itself openly publishes the names of terrorists it releases at various stages of the deal. But on the other hand, it turns out that it refuses to publish the names of terrorists who have been released to Israel or the West Bank, so that the public is informed and cautious.
When the civil rights organization Lavi and attorney Yitzhak Bem asked the District Court to publish the identities of terrorists who were released in the period before the war, a period when the issue was not prominent in the headlines, suddenly privacy became a paramount value. The court cited the Privacy Protection Law and argued that prisoners – even those who were involved in the murder of Israelis – “are not deprived of their constitutional rights,” and especially not of their right to privacy.
What about the right of the public not to be murdered and kidnapped in the future? The court ruled that while there is a public interest in disclosing the information, it is “not strong enough” to outweigh the terrorists’ right to privacy.
And that’s not all. The prosecution cited in court the importance of “encouraging the rehabilitation of the person with a criminal record and his full integration into society and the labor market, so that his sin will not be remembered for the rest of his life… and the importance of integrating the person with a criminal record into the labor market due to the connection between employment and rehabilitation.” While the state refuses to publish critical information that could save lives, it is busy worrying about the professional rehabilitation of convicted murderers. What’s next? Resume writing workshops for Hamas members?
There is no need to worry about the employment of terrorists, all of whom, as is known, receive salaries from the PLO and tens of percent of whom reintegrate into their previous place of work, the terrorist organization to which they belonged . . .
Just plain sick.
In the Midst of All This Sickness
The Hand of God?
Na’el Abid, a vile terrorist who was sentenced to 7 life sentences and 30 years for murders of Israelis, was released in the recent terrorist prisoner release last week.
Yesterday, he fell off the roof of his home in Issawiya (eastern Jerusalem).
And died.
And so it goes on this rainy and snowy morning here in Israel so far . . .
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.