Thursday
Yom Chamishee
27 Adar 5785
March 27 2025
May His Memory Be For A Blessing
Sgt. Yosef Chaim Zvi Serlin, 19 from Jerusalem, a soldier in training in Unit 504 collapsed during a Krav Maga exercise in the north. He was immediately treated by IDF medics in the field, but was unable to be resuscitated.
The View from Ashdod
The last 24 hours have “sounded” like the war is back to full-scale in Gaza with extremely loud “booms” rocking our house throughout the night. One particularly concussive blast jolted us awake at 12:23 am. At the same time, we continued to hear naval cannonfire off the coast. As usual, we have no idea what was being attacked except what the IDF Spokesman tells us–and what people on the ground report.
Missile Attacks Yesterday
Not long after we wrote on OneIsrael yesterday about having no missile attacks for 24 hours, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza launched missiles at southern Israel:
3 missiles at the Gaza Envelope (the border communities) at 12:03 pm yesterday focused on Alumim and Kfar Maimon. Two missiles were intercepted; the other exploded on the ground near Zimra.
Afterwards, the IAF destroyed the launchers and killed at least one terrorist at a launch site.
Around 8:30 pm, the Houthis in Yemen launched another ballistic missile at Israel; fortunately, it disintegrated in the skies above Saudi Arabia. No incoming shrapnel alarms were sounded in Israel.
The U.S. Air Force continues to pound Yemen. Numerous targets were hit yesterday, and the White House announced that the commander of the Houthi drone unit, his deputy, other drone experts, and several senior Houthi leaders were killed in recent strikes.
President Trump declared: “The attacks on Yemen will. last a long time.”
Around 9:20 pm last night, Palestinian terrorists in northern Gaza launched a missile towards Beersheva. The missile was intercepted en route (one of the explosions we heard), and no alarms were sounded in the area.
On the Ground in Gaza
*Where the IDF is now:
What you can see from this map:
1. The IDF never withdrew from the Philadelphi Corridor bordering Egypt.
2. The IDF never withdrew from part of the Netzarim Corridor dividing north and Central Gaza.
3. The IDF never withdrew from the buffer zone along the entire Gaza peripery.
4. The IDF is now advancing on all fronts (perhaps the explosions we heard all night) moving the perimeter inward into Gaza. Just yesterday, PM Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz both discussed how Israel is beginning to “take” more land in Gaza.
*The IAF continues to eliminate Hamas leaders. Yesterday, 4 missiles hit the Jabaliya tent of long-time Hamas main spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanu. Eleven of the 20-man Hamas Political Bureau have now been killed.
*More demonstrations in Gaza during the day–ostensibly against the war and against Hamas; however, if one looks closely at the signage at the demonstrations, one sees that what the demonstrators are demanding is exactly what Hamas wants–a return to Phase 2 and the withdrawal of the IDF out of Gaza.
What you do not see are signs that read:
“Stop the War: Free the Hostages”
“Hamas: Return the Hostages”
“Return the Hostages and End the War”
The reason that you do not see signs like this is that many of those demonstrating participated in October 7, and others have abetted Hamas in keeping the hostages buried in tunnels for hundreds of days.
As a number of released hostages have said: “No one in Gaza is innocent.”
On the Ground in Lebanon and Syria
*In Syria, the IAF carried out strikes on the naval base at Latakia.
The strikes in Syria are not only meant to degrade Syrian Army capabilities, but also to destroy Syrian Army assets that Turkey plans to take over following the agreement between Turkey and Syria yesterday.
*In Lebanon, an IAF drone strike in Tyre eliminated Hezbollah terrorist Hassan Sabra:
On the Ground in Judea and Samaria
*Female IDF observers spotted a masked terrorist in the area of Lev HaShomrom (Heart of Samaria). The observers notified soldiers in Unit 636 who eliminated the terrorist.
*Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis with Molotovs near the Tekoa Junction wounding a female driver.
*Palestinian terrorists attacked a bus south of Shiloh. No Israelis were wounded; the terrorists escaped.
The Judicial Selection Law That Just Passed the Knesset
From Walla!:
“The Knesset approved today in second and third reading the change in the composition of the Committee for the Selection of Judges, which constitutes a change to the Basic Law of the Judiciary . . .
According to the law, which is based on an outline formulated by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, the committee for selecting judges will consist of 9 members: the President of the Supreme Court and two judges, two ministers, two Knesset members, and two lawyers to be chosen by the coalition and the opposition, who will replace the representatives of the Bar Association who have been on the committee to date.”
As you might expect, the Law was passed over the objections of the leftist political opposition, demonstrators surrounding the Knesset for the past few days, and the abominable Attorney General who claims that “the appointment of judges into a political process and undermine the separation of powers and the independence of the judicial system.”
What a joke.
Of course, the reason the law needed to be changed is that the appointment of judges has become a purely political process controlled by leftists. There is no separation of powers between the Knesset and the Supreme Court as the Justices regularly ride roughshod over every Knesset decision.
As they probably will regarding this new law as well.
And so it goes in Israel this morning . . . 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.