Wednesday
Yom Reva’ee
4 Nisan 5785
April 2 2025
The Sobering Facts of the Day
From the National Council for Child Welfare
The toll of the war on Israeli children:
*56 children have been murdered during the war:
–36 of them on October 7.
–14 were killed in missile attacks.
—4 in other terrorist attacks.
—2 (the Bibas children) were murdered in Hamas captivity.
*More than 23,000 children are recognized as “victims of hostilities”–-3,000 of these suffer severe physical or mental disabilities.
*612 children and youth have been orphaned by a parent who served in the security forces.
*359 more children lost one “civilian” parent in the war. 30 of these lost both parents. Most of these occurred on October 7.
*More than 1000 children have lost a brother or sister in the war.
The devastating effects of the war on children will be felt for generations to come.
UPDATE 10:00 AM ISRAEL TIME
On the Ground in Gaza
From Defense Minister Israel Katz this morning after yet another Hamas rejection of a ceasefire/hostage release proposal: “The operation in Gaza is expanding to crush and cleanse the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and seize large areas that will be annexed to the security zones of Israel. I call on the residents of Gaza to act now to eliminate Hamas and return all the abductees. This is the only way to end the war. I wish success to the IDF soldiers who are fighting bravely and powerfully in Gaza for the return of the kidnapped and the defeat of Hamas.”
Here in Ashdod, we can attest to the fact that the attack in Gaza is expanding. We were up all night because of the constant bomb explosions and artillery shell explosions emanating from Gaza.
The attacks covered all of Gaza; two of them:
*10 terrorists were killed in a building in the center of Khan Younis.
*Massive artillery and airstrikes targeted the Rafah area.
Elsewhere in Gaza:
In a strange turn of events yesterday seen widely on social media, members of the Abu Samra clan in Deir al-Balah executed a Hamas policeman (by firing squad) who killed their son.
On the Ground in Lebanon
More information has been revealed about the Hezbollah terrorist who was the ticking time bomb eliminated in Dahiyya two days ago.
He was Hassan Ali Mahmoud Bdeir, a terrorist in Hezbollah’s Unit 3900 and the Iranian Quds Force who was working with Lebanese Hamas.
He and his fellow terrorists were about to leave for Cyprus where they planned to blow up an Israeli plane.
On the Ground in Yemen
At 8:23 pm last night, the Houthis launched another missile towards Israel. Fortunately, it was shot down over Saudi Arabia by American aircraft.
On the Iran Front
At least 25 heavy American C17 Globemaster and C5 Galaxy transport aircraft, which took off from Osan base in South Korea, have landed in recent days at US bases in the Persian Gulf region. The planes brought brought Patriot and THAAD interception systems to the Gulf.
Coupled with the bomber buildup at Diego Garcia and another aircraft carrier on the way, it is obvious that the U.S. is trying to apply maximum pressure on Iran before a possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Strange Developments Regarding Aircraft
What you see above is one of the IAF’s most advanced aircraft, the Nachson Oron reconnaissance plane.
Here we are in the middle of wars, and the plane took off yesterday from the Nevatim AFB.
Not to go to war, but to go an international military “exercise” in Greece which includes among other countries, Qatar.
Unbelievable.
In Israel
Yesterday PM Netanyahu and Finance Minister Smotrich ordered all tariffs removed from imported U.S. goods in order to stay in the good graces of President Trump.
In reality, 99% of American imports were already not subject to tariffs, but still some existed in the agricultural realm.
As you may not know, the U.S. is Israel’s most significant trading partner exporting $17.3 billion dollars worth of goods and $16.7 billion dollars worth of services to the U.S. in 2024.
On the Israel Political Scene
It was only a matter of time until former PM Naftali Bennett (he who became PM on June 13 2021 despite only having 7 seats in the Knesset) succumbed to the flattering pressure of Channel 12 polls, and created a new party to run in the next election. Bennett2026 takes the place of Bennett’s failed Yamina Party which remains in massive debt following Bennett’s previous runs.
On the basis of those Channel 12 polls which have been urging Bennett to run ever since Benny Gantz faded from the scene, a Bennett led party would win 20 seats if an election were held tomorrow. However, it should be known that Channel 12 polls are remarkably biased and usually completely unreliable.
It should also be remembered that Bennett’s short term as prime minister was characterized by junkets abroad to the U.S., UAE, Bahrain, and Russia. None of these visits accomplished much if anything, and in fact, after meeting with Putin, Bennett’s offer to mediate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war was met with ridicule.
His government which only had a 1 seat majority in the Knesset fell apart shortly after that on June 30 2022. (Yair Lapid then became prime minister for 6 months until the next election).
Now Bennett is back again.
Your humble servant doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
And so it goes on a sunny 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.