Sunday
Yom Rishon
19 Tevet 5785
January 19 2025
BREAKING NEWS 10:30 AM ISRAEL TIME
Hamas has just released the names of the three female hostages to be released today: Romy Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbracher (l-r below):
The ceasefire has just come into effect. Supposedly.
UPDATE 9:05 AM ISRAEL TIME
May His Memory Be For A Blessing
It has been permitted to be published that in a special covert operation by the IDF and Shin Bet, the body of Sgt. Oron Shaul, has been rescued. He fell in battle in Sajaiya on July 20, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, and his body was abducted by Hamas. After all these years, may his family finally have closure.
The View from Ashdod
Your humble servant and my wife went to Tel Aviv yesterday to visit our daughter. We had just sat down to eat breakfast at 10:15 our favorite restaurant, NOLA (named for New Orleans), when alarms sounded across the city. We quickly filed out with all the other patrons and went to the shelter in the hotel next door. Fifteen minutes later we returned to our table.
The reason for the alarm was yet another ballistic missile from the Houthis in Yemen–with the same shrapnel alarm target pattern as many times before:
Yet another Houthi ballistic missile was fired at Eilat 5 hours later at 15:39—both of these missiles coming after the Houthis said they were halting all attacks on Israel.
About one hour later at 16:30, there was a Palestinian terror attack in front of a restaurant in the Florentine section of Tel Aviv (about 2.5 miles from NOLA). The terrorist from Tulkarm who was living and working illegally in Israel stabbed two Israelis before being killed by a civilian:
The Israeli most seriously stabbed (a 30-year-old man) remains in critical condition in Ichilov Hospital this morning.
By the way, there are an estimated 40,000 Palestinians living and working in Israel illegally.
On the Ground in Gaza
Of course, all of Israel is on pins and needles this morning awaiting the ceasefire which was supposed to start thirty minues ago at 08:30. This follows a night of heavy bombing in different sections of Gaza. At 16:30, the first three hostages are set to be released.
However, nothing is going according to plan.
Just now, at 9:00, Sderot was again the target of missiles from Gaza.
Moreover, ludicrously claiming “technical difficulties”, Hamas has yet to fulfill its obligations under the ceasefire to provide Israel with a list of hostages to be released/returned. PM Netanyahu issued a statement this morning that there will be no ceasefire until that list is received.
The IDF published this map last night of areas of Gaza in which the IDF will remain during the ceasefire warning Palestinians not to approach or enter them:
*After almost a year and a half of heavy fighting in the Gaza Strip, the Givati Brigade left Gaza yesterday evening without orders to return. The Brigade lost many soldiers but eliminated massive numbers of terrorists.
The Utterly Disgusting Red Cross
The Red Cross, which has done absolutely nothing to try to ameliorate the situation of our hostages since the October 7 massacre, declared this yesterday concerning the release of hostages and release of criminal Palestinian prisoners:
“We will not provide photographs of kidnapped or released prisoners during the release operation, in order to preserve the dignity of the released and given the situation they may be in, as well as to maintain their safety. We recommend that media outlets act in a similar manner.”
Kidnapped or released “prisoners”? It is nauseating how the Red Cross equates our hostages with murderous Palestinian prisoners.
To preserve the dignity of the released? When has the Red Cross ever had one scintilla of concern for the dignity of our hostages?
To maintain their safety? Again, when has the Red Cross ever given a damn about the safety of our hostages.
We recommend that media outlets act in a similar manner? What unbelievable gall the Red Cross has to recommend anything to anybody.
The Utterly Disgusting United Nations
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed former Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag as the interim UN Middle East envoy.
In addition to this new role, Kaag will retain her position as the UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza.
In case you don’t know, Kaag is married to Anis al-Qaq, a Palestinian Arab who served as a deputy minister under former arch-terrorist and head of the PLO Yasser Arafat in the 1990s and as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative to Switzerland.
She has made a career out of castigating Israel at every possible opportunity. Below is a photo of her (far right), and her husband (far left) with their four children and Yasser Arafat:
And so it goes here in Israel this morning as we wait . . .
more updates will come as events unfold . . .
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.