Israel Update: June 9 (Day 247)

by | | Israel Updates

Jay Zeidman –

  • Yesterday, four Israeli hostages, Noa Argamani (25), Almog Meir Jan (21), Andrey Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Ziv (40) were rescued in a special operation by the IDF, ISA and Israel Police from 2 separate locations in the heart of Nuseirat after being kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival.
  • They had been held captive in Gaza for 245 days, The name of the rescue operation will change to “Operation Arnon”, honoring Arnon Zamora, head of the rescue team who was killed during the operation.
  • According to Israeli author Hen Mazzig: The emerging details of this mission, renamed “Operation Arnon” in honor of Arnon Zmora, continue to highlight its absolute brilliance. Yet it also shows the tragic reality of how deeply embedded Hamas and the hostages are within the civilian population.
  • Details About the Rescue Operation (compiled from multiple sources)
    • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he authorized the operation on Thursday after months of intelligence gathering.
    • Over the preceding days, the Kafir Brigade’s battle team, bolstered by paratroopers and special forces from the Dovdevan unit, had maintained a strategic presence in the area.
    • Simultaneously, the 7th Brigade’s battle team, comprising armored and engineering forces along with fighters from the Rotem Battalion, worked tirelessly to neutralize terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure, clearing the path for the rescue operation.
    • At 11:00 a.m. the order was given to the Yamam and Shin Bet officers to raid two multi-story buildings in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, where Hamas was holding hostages Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv.
    • Some special forces entered Nuseirat disguised as renters, pretending to move into an apartment in the building where Noa Argamani was held.
    • The forces then split into two groups and headed towards the buildings where hostages were being held in preparation for the operation. The buildings were about 200 meters apart, and the decision to go for both simultaneously, and not just one of the sites, was due to the possibility that Hamas may murder the hostages after identifying the rescue operation.
    • The hostages were held in a heavily civilian populated area, above ground, in buildings of 3-4 stories. Argamani was held by Hamas guards alone in the home of a Palestinian family, while the other three hostages were held at a separate home. According to the IDF, Hamas pays such families to hold the hostages in their homes.
    • The Air Force gathered intelligence from the air in the last few days, and the IDF and Shin Bet created conditions to reach the targets without the terrorists shooting the hostages first, which was key to the operation’s success. Southern Command Colonel “Y” emerged as a pivotal figure in orchestrating the operation’s success, underscoring the collaborative efforts and strategic acumen of Israel’s defense apparatus in safeguarding its citizens against threats from hostile adversaries.
    • The models built by the Yamam (Israel’s counter-terrorism unit) reminded senior military officials of the models established for the Entebbe operation, with buildings, streets, and small areas for practice.
    • The main problem was in the apartment where Andrey, Almog, and Shlomi were held, and where Yamam fighter Arnon Zamora was killed. A major gun battle erupted, during which Yamam officer Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, the commander of the rescue team at the second building, was critically wounded by Hamas fire.
      • IDF confirms Abdallah Aljamal was holding 3 hostages in his home in Nuseirat alongside his family
    • The forces simultaneously broke into the two houses with special weapons developed for the operation. Immediately after extracting the hostages, the forces began to withdraw while fighting dozens of terrorists, but a vehicle with the three hostages got stuck and came under heavy fire. Division 98 forces jumped in to assist in the vehicle rescue battle, and rescue helicopters entered deep into the strip in daylight.
    • As the three hostages and Zamora were being extracted, their vehicle came under fire, leading it to get stuck. Other forces quickly reached the scene to rescue them, bringing them to a makeshift helipad in Gaza.
    • …as the team with the rescued hostages and Zamora tried to exit Nuseirat, their vehicles got stuck in a crowded area. At this time, drones flying overhead spotted dozens of terrorists gathering in several points to attack the Israelis. Colonel “Y” gave swift approval to attack the terrorists, with IDF fire hitting some 30 feet away from the Israeli forces.
    • This allowed Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers (APC) to enter the refugee camp and tow away the vehicle that was stuck. Meanwhile, the team transferred to an APC where they were taxied to the Gazan beach. The Yamam doctor fought all the while to provide first aid to Zamora. Due to the high risk of a surface-to-air attack, the helicopter was ordered to wait while the Israeli forces were out of danger.
    • There was a large amount of gunfire and RPG fire on the rescue forces amid the operation, leading the ground troops and the Air Force to carry out major strikes in the area to protect themselves and the rescued hostages
      • The military releases headcam footage showing the moment when the Israeli hostages rescued from Hamas captivity in central Gaza’s Nuseirat by special forces were brought to a helipad to be airlifted to Israel. Additional video is here.
    • Three brigades participated in the rescue battle, during which Zamora was also evacuated to the hospital: Brigade 7, Paratroopers, and Kfir with Flotilla 13, along with other special forces. “The fire plan that was executed was focused but extremely powerful,” the IDF added. “The cooperation with Shin Bet and Yamam rose to several levels into a single operational system, under the direction of the Shin Bet chief and the Chief of Staff. Four keys to the operation: deception, surprise, determination, and power.”
    • To maintain the secrecy of the operation, thousands of soldiers in the brigades that participated in the rescue were unaware of the nature of the operation before it happened to preserve the element of surprise.
    • Per Marc Shulman, the proficiency with which the forces located and stormed the hostage site and eliminated the guards without harming the hostages was very impressive and brought back some swagger, along with a sense of pride to Israeli Special Forces. In some ways, even more remarkable was the fact that the armored force managed to extract the initial team without suffering any casualties despite facing numerous RPG attacks.
    • Analysis from Amos Harel: Rescue of Four Hostages From Gaza Is Shot in the Arm for War-weary Israelis, but Far From ‘Total Victory’
     
     
    Situational Update
    • Israeli army Chief Herzl Halevi said on Tuesday during a tour in northern Israel that the country is approaching “the point where a decision will have to be made,” and that the IDF is ready to transition to an offensive in Lebanon.
    • IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari: “Dealing with Hamas takes time; anyone who says otherwise is presenting an illusion to the public. Rafah is one of the most complex areas in the world to deal with. The IDF evacuated one million civilians — this is an unprecedented event. Hamas’s lifeline has been addressed, and we are now destroying the underground infrastructure. We are dealing with the Hamas brigades in Rafah with precision, and it is good that this is happening while we maintain security relations with Egypt and preserve international legitimacy.”
    • Women and children of Gaza are killed less frequently as war’s toll rises, AP data analysis finds.
      • The proportion of Palestinian women and children being killed in the Israel-Hamas war appears to have declined sharply, an Associated Press analysis of Gaza Health Ministry data has found, a trend that both coincides with Israel’s changing battlefield tactics and contradicts the ministry’s own public statements.
      • The trend is significant because the death rate for women and children is the best available proxy for civilian casualties in one of the 21st century’s most destructive conflicts.
    Numbers
    Casualties
    • 1,589 Israelis dead, including 647 IDF soldiers (2956IDF soldiers during the ground operation in Gaza) – an increase of 3 since our previous Update
      • Per the IDF, early Friday, a Hamas terror squad crossed the first border fence in Rafah, and exited a tunnel 200 meters from the border, with the plan to enter Israel and carry out an attack. Warrant Officer Zeed Mazarib (34), a tracker in the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade, was tragically killed in the initial confrontation with the terrorists.
      • Those wounded yesterday in Northern Israel earlier this week were soldiers. Distressingly, the soldier who suffered mortal wounds has died. He was the battalion’s Rabbi, Staff Sgt. (res.) Rafael Kauders (39).
      • Chief Inspector Arnon Zmora (36) was injured during the rescue operation, and later succumbed to his injuries. He is survived by his wife and two young children.
    • Additional Information (according to the IDF):
      • 1,902 IDF soldiers have been injured during ground combat in Gaza, including at least 371 who have been severely injured.
    • Note: we have always included the number of casualties in Gaza, as reported by the Gaza Health Ministry. We feel it is important to include this information with the caveat that this reporting ministry is not a trusted source of data by many. Most recently, The United Nations has begun citing a much lower death toll for women and children in Gaza, acknowledging that it has incomplete information about many of the people killed during Israel’s military offensive in the territory.
      • According to unverified figures from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, 36,550 people have been killed in Gaza, and 82,959 have been injured during the war.
      • We also encourage you to read this well documented piece from Tablet published in March: How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers
      • The Associated Press, an outlet with a demonstrated anti-Israel bias, conducted an analysis of alleged Gaza death tolls released by the Hamas-controlled “Gaza Health Ministry.” The analysis found that “9,940 of the dead – 29% of its April 30 total – were not listed in the data” and that “an additional 1,699 records in the ministry’s April data were incomplete and 22 were duplicates.”
     
    Hostages (recovery and identification of 4 since Sunday and 4 were rescued)
    • On October 7th, a total of 261 Israelis were taken hostage. During the ceasefire deal in November, 112 hostages were released. Including yesterday’s action, a total of seven hostages were rescued and the remains of nineteen others have been recovered. Tragically, three hostages were killed by Israeli forces.
    • This leaves an estimated 120 hostages still theoretically in Gaza, with 35 almost certainly deceased. Thus, at most, 85 living hostages could still be in Gaza.
    • Bodies: Israeli officials have confirmed the deaths of at least 43 of the 133 hostages captured on October 7
      • Nadav Popplewell (51) of Kibbutz Nirim was killed in captivity
      • Kibbutz Nir Oz reported that Chaim Peri (79), Amiram Cooper (84), and Yoram Metzger (80) were killed in captivity. It is unclear how they died, but they were being held in Khan Yunis at the time IDF troops were there. Perri, Cooper, and Metzger were among the founders of the Kibbutz.
      • The body of Dolev Yehud had been identified. Dolev was murdered in Nir Oz on October 7th, when he left his house to aid the wounded. His body had been found but never identified until now. An exhaustive study ultimately concluded the remains belonged to Dolev. Previously thought to have been taken hostage in Gaza, Dolev left behind a wife and four children, one of whom was born after his passing.
      • Many of the current hostages are foreign or dual nationals, including up to 5 American nationals, 6 German nationals, 13 Thai nationals, 4 Portuguese nationals, 3 British nationals, 2 Italian nationals, 4 Romanian nationals, and 2 Mexican nationals.
    Humanitarian Aid
    For more detail, please visit COGAT’s website: Israel Humanitarian efforts – Swords of Iron (govextra.gov.il)
    • There are 9 operational field hospitals, additionally 3 hospital initiatives are being reviewed.
      • The Indonesian Hospital (northern Gaza), is operational as of June 3, 2024. This is part of the plan, together with international partners, to strengthen the health system in the Gaza Strip
      • So far, 3,273 sick and injured individuals and 754 escorts, left Gaza for medical treatment abroad.
     
    Watch
    Douglas Murray brilliantly delivers another poignant, emotional speech in Paris
     
    Listen
    [PODCAST] Call Me Back with Dan Senor: The last Israeli to negotiate with the Palestinians – with Tzipi Livni
    • Tzipi Livni has served as a minister of eight different cabinet ministries under three prime ministers: Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert, and Benjamin Netanyahu. Her positions have included Justice Minister, Foreign Minister and Vice-Prime Minister. She has also been the official leader of the opposition.
    • As foreign minister, Tzipi Livni led negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, she was a key government figure during Israel’s disengagement from Gaza and during Hamas’s subsequent takeover of Gaza. She was foreign minister during Israel’s Second Lebanon War and during Israel’s operation to take out Syria’s nuclear reactor.
    • Earlier in her career, Tzipi served in the Mossad (including in the elite unit famous for being responsible for the assassinations following the Munich massacre).
    • No major Israeli political figure has had more recent experience trying to negotiate a two-state solution than Tzipi Livni.
    • Link (Part 1): Call Me Back with Tzipi Livni
    • Link (Part 2): Call Me Back with Tzipi Livni
     
    What We Are Reading
    Biased Coverage of Gaza Hostage Rescue Serves Hamas by Honest Reporting
    • Media outlets went out of their way on Saturday (June 8) to make Israel’s heroic rescue of four Gaza hostages look tainted or even immoral, with a reframing that served Hamas’ strategy.
    • Instead of simply reporting the news — that Israeli hostages Noa Argamany, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv had been rescued in a rare and complex operation in the heart of Gaza — media outlets chose to label it as one of the “bloodiest” raids of the war.
    • They used three tactics to achieve that goal, which effectively turned justice into injustice:
      • Minimizing the achievement by using the term “freed” instead of “rescued” to describe the hostages
      • Emphasizing the Palestinian death toll based on Hamas figures
      • Whitewashing the terrorists’ use of civilians as human shields
    • Link: Biased Coverage of Gaza Hostage Rescue Serves Hamas | HonestReporting
    Plenty of Food Aid Is Getting to Gaza: More, in fact, than before the war. If Palestinians are starving, it is Hamas’s fault, not Israel’s. By Joel Zivot and Matthew Rabinowitz in the WSJ
    • The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court accuses Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of violating a law against “intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.” The statute requires a proof of intent, and the facts disprove the accusation. A new study by a group of Israeli academic nutritionists and physicians finds that more food is being delivered to Gaza today than before the war.
    • The study analyzed airdrops and food shipments delivered by land from January through April 2024, based on shipping details provided by international donors and recorded by Cogat, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. These records list the shipment date, consignee, weight and contents of trucks entering Gaza and include aid delivered from multiple sources such as national and private donations. Unrwa lists only U.N. aid through Kerem Shalom and Rafah, the latter now closed by Egypt, ignoring other crossings. In May, Cogat lists 6,335 trucks, OCHA counts 2,797 and Unrwa 1,656. Adding private-sector trucks to the OCHA figure brings the total above 6,000, close to Cogat’s count.
    • The study revealed that the supply provided an average of 3,374 calories per person daily, well above the 2,100 recommended by the Sphere humanitarian movement as the minimum standard. It also confirms the daily availability of 101 grams of protein and 80.6 grams of fat per person, in compliance with the standards.
    • The ICC’s charges reflect a double standard against the Jewish state that is widespread in international organizations. The study illustrates that the case is factually baseless. Israel has taken concrete actions to ensure the provision of humanitarian aid into Gaza in the heat of battle. This should be recognized as a new standard for the world—the furthest thing imaginable from a war crime.
    • Link: Plenty of Food Aid Is Getting to Gaza – WSJ
    Why Israel should NOT have a “day after plan” for Gaza by Daniel Pomerantz in Clarity
    • …it is impossible to hold serious discussions with potential partners, whether local or international, until it is certain that Hamas will never regain control of Gaza.
    • A case in point: in March, Israel and the United Nations attempted to bypass Hamas’s rampant theft of humanitarian aid by instead working via local community leaders in Gaza. Hamas, which habitually tortures and murders those they consider “collaborators,” threatened to “come down with an iron fist” on the local partners: thus creating a terrifying deterrence against this, as well as any future, local partnership.
    • the world cannot even begin to seriously build a “day after” plan based on meaningful participation from local and international partners until all such partners are confident that Hamas will no longer threaten their safety and survival.
    • There are relatively few examples of successful post-war reconstruction in history, yet the two most prominent are the rebuilding of Germany and Japan after World War II. In both cases, post-war planning did not begin in earnest until after the prior regimes were fully and reliably removed from power: in the case of Germany, the Potsdam Conference commenced two months after VE Day, and in the case of Japan, two years of war crimes tribunals and other forms of social and political deconstruction preceded the true work of reconstruction. In both Germany and Japan, it was only after total victory that the Allied Powers were able to form the partnerships necessary for a successful transition to reconstruction.
    • In short, by appeasing Hamas, Arab partners can safely discuss the WEF plan, but cannot develop a vision realistic enough to actually implement. A realistic “day after” plan, one that is safe for Israel, that includes local and international cooperation, and that ends Hamas’s reign of terror, cannot be safely discussed until Hamas is fully removed from power.
    • Link: Why Israel should NOT have a “day after plan” for Gaza (substack.com)
    How Israel worked to renew Gaza’s water supply amid the war, with help from locals. Despite ministers’ early bravado and international accusations, Jerusalem went to great lengths to fix enclave’s ‘screwed-up’ infrastructure after October 7 damage, say officials. By Aviv Lavie in the Times of Israel
    • It now emerges that direct contacts and cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian elements in Gaza took place early in the war to ensure the renewal of water supply from Israel to Gaza. This cooperation between Israeli and Gaza professionals under fire demonstrates the disparity between the inflammatory statements of government ministers and the complex reality on the ground.
    • “The ones who run the water system at the national level are the Water Authority, whose base is in Ramallah, and which receives salaries from the Palestinian Authority,” said Shaham. “After the water enters the Gaza Strip, it is divided among the municipalities, such as Gaza, Beit Lahiya, etc., which are Hamas-run authorities. Hamas then sells the water to the populace at an exorbitant rate, and cuts itself a fat check.”
    • “I don’t want to defend this government or everything Israel does in Gaza,” he continued, “but after hearing the prosecutor in The Hague talk about deliberate water deprivation, it’s important for me to say that the Israeli side made great efforts to replenish the water supply to the Gaza Strip, by repairing the pipeline on our side and by helping the Palestinians fix [the pipeline on] their side.”
    • Link: How Israel worked to renew Gaza’s water supply amid the war, with help from locals | The Times of Israel
    Islamists Keep Stabbing People. Why Aren’t We Talking About It? Many in the West seem resigned to violence that once shocked us.
    • The last time Islamist violence swept Europe, from 2014 to 2017, when the Islamic State controlled much of Syria and Iraq and its adherents were pummeling France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium, it felt like a much bigger story. It was more shocking, more outrageous.
    • Now, people seem resigned to the violence. They seem to grasp that this has become a permanent feature of Western society. That this is something we simply have to learn to live with.
    • The danger is not the people who did the killing, but the people who might be provoked by the killing—their specter of violence a bigger threat than the violence itself.
    • The reluctance to call the attackers what they are, or the jump to shift the blame for the attack to their victims, is how right-thinkers insert some cognitive space between themselves and those with unpopular opinions.
    • “Islam cannot be fought with liberal naivety or with democratic laws,” he went on, “because Islam does not believe in democracy, but exploits it to invade the West and Islamize the country.” Is he right? Or can the West fight the Islamist threat without turning its back on the values, like democracy and liberalism, that made it the West?
    • Link: Islamists Keep Stabbing People. Why Aren’t We Talking About It? | The Free Press (thefp.com)
    Hezbollah, Iran have turned the Galilee into a weapons-testing ground. Tehran and Hezbollah using northern Israel as staging ground for broader conflict; recently, Hezbollah began using 3rd-generation anti-tank missiles and array of experts from Iranian military industry investigates each launch by Yoav Zitun  in Ynet.
    • In Wednesday’s incident, two relatively small but accurate explosive drones were launched in a coordinated manner, in a way that not only caused fatal damage to the rescue and medical teams that arrived within a few minutes, but also penetrated into Israeli territory and reached the Druze town located in a mountainous area without being detected by IDF detection systems. An alarm was not sounded and, from the point of view of the army, this is the worst case scenario: Not only that precision weapons from the air manage to penetrate Israeli territory without being intercepted, but also that no warning is triggered so that people on the ground find shelter.
    • The UAVs were flying at a low altitude toward a reserve force camp from the 143rd Division in Hurfeish. Because of the low altitude, there was no identification and detection, and therefore no alarm was triggered
    • Hezbollah preferred to choose weapons that manage to “bypass” the Air Force’s active and soft defense systems; that is, the Iron Dome missile defense system and electronic warfare. Instead of rockets or RPGs, which have also been improved and used for more accurate barrages than before, Hezbollah presents a “small air force” that is constantly being upgraded and changed, with an array of experts and engineers from the Iranian military industry in the “back office” that investigates every launch, fall, misfire or damage on a daily basis, and not just arming the terrorist organization with more and more weapons.
    • So far, nearly 1,000 rockets and drones have been launched from Lebanon,  before a “real war” has even broke out in the north. Most of the launches are in daylight, because that way it is easier to aim and hit. The research and development of the Hezbollah-Iran axis also surprises the Israeli side, so much so that the accurate and long-range anti-tank missiles have already received a third generation version in the last month.
    • Link: Hezbollah, Iran have turned the Galilee into a weapons-testing ground (ynetnews.com)
    Saudi Textbooks Move Further Away from Prejudice and Bigotry according to IMPACT-se, an organization devoted to analyzing educational materials around the world (sourced from Mosaic)
    • Importantly, an entire high-school social-studies textbook, once a breeding ground for anti-Israel hatred, has been removed for the 2023-24 academic year. Students no longer learn content which defined Zionism as a “racist” European movement that aims to expel Palestinians, or that Zionism’s “fundamental goal” is to expand its borders and take over Arab lands, oil wells, and Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. A different version of the textbook is now taught, in which references to Israel as “the Israeli enemy” and “the Zionist enemy” have been replaced.
    • Examples falsely accusing Israel of the 1969 arson at al-Aqsa Mosque and the “occupation forces” of “destroy[ing] the region” were also removed from social-studies textbooks, alongside a lesson teaching that “the occupying Zionist enemy” builds “settlements” in the Negev to sever the connection between Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula. . . . Notable passages omitted from the 2023-24 textbooks include teachings that labeled Jews and Christians as liars, arrogant, and accused them of falsifying their scriptures.
    • Curriculum no longer teaches Zionism as a “racist” European movement and no longer denies historical Jewish presence in the region.
    • All remaining problematic examples relating to violent interpretations of jihad were removed or altered in this year’s textbooks.
    • Nonetheless, . . . the Holocaust is absent from a chapter about World War II, and Israel is still referred to as “the Israeli occupation” and “Israeli occupiers” in the context of the 1948 war.
    • Link: Latest Saudi textbooks reflect increasingly positive shift toward Israel (campaign-archive.com)
    How the Pro-Israel Community Fights Extremism in Both Parties by Josh Kraushnaar in The Liberal Patriot
    • The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel advocacy group that has refocused much of its attention on electoral politics in the last few years, has emerged as a bulwark against radical candidates on both sides of the aisle. Their mission is to elect candidates that support a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, at a time when that relationship has come under strain—mainly from an ascendant left-wing faction of the Democratic Party, but also from increasingly isolationist sentiments percolating among Republicans.
    • Their top targets this year are Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), the lawmaker who pled guilty to a misdemeanor for pulling a fire alarm at the Capitol and has embraced all varieties of antisemitic conspiracy theories, and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who led the charge to “defund the police” in the House and is now under investigation for potential misuse of security funds.
    • But the pro-Israel group is also, more quietly, spending millions in lesser-profile primaries where the difference between two candidates is often stark—and winning. Along with other GOP outside groups, they spent over $1 million to secure a victory for center-right Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) as he faced a serious challenge from a right-wing candidate with a history of antisemitic rhetoric.
    • …they quietly steered pro-Israel donors to block the ascendance of Susheela Jayapal, the sister of House Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal, stopping her from winning a Portland-based House seat.
    • Encouraging strong candidates with widespread appeal to run has also been a key element of AIPAC’s successful playbook this cycle. Westchester County executive George Latimer’s popularity and familiar profile in the district immediately made him a top contender against Bowman.
    • But in the deep-blue districts featuring progressive neighborhoods, college campuses, and sizable Muslim communities, recruitment has been more difficult. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), for instance, isn’t facing any credible opposition, in part because of an Arab-American constituency in Dearborn that isn’t bothered by her virulent anti-Israel attacks.
    • One of the great ironies about the progressive activists’ rhetoric against AIPAC is that it caricatures the group as a handmaiden of right-wing Republicans—even as the group has been mainly engaged on behalf of moderate Democrats and, overall, been a force against extremism on all sides. It’s a sign of the abuse of language—and overall bias in coverage—that a sinister narrative of AIPAC’s deep resources has overwhelmed the reality that they’re the biggest outside force for moderation in politics right now.
    • Link: How the Pro-Israel Community Fights Extremism in Both Parties (liberalpatriot.com)
    Antisemitism
    • The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) publishes weekly information from over 300 million online data sources including public social media, traditional media, websites, blogs, forums, and more. The bigger the phrase on the above image, the more total mentions it had in the time period.
    • According to FCAS: Several antisemitic vandalism incidents occurred over the past week, driving an increase of 26% in online conversations around the topic.
      • Multiple instances of vandalism occurred at Stanford University amid a large pro-Palestinian student protest, where many of the protesters illegally occupied the university president’s office. One student reported that several protesters desecrated Israeli and American flags on campus on Sunday, which were meant to honor the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Other students sprayed antisemitic and anti-American graffiti on a building, including a war memorial.
      • A rock was thrown through a window at the Anshei Minsk Synagogue in Toronto last Friday. This is the same synagogue where FCAS filmed its “Neighbors” television ad, which aired during this year’s Academy Awards. A similar incident occurred at the University of Southern California’s Chabad building, where its glass door was kicked in.
      • A good samaritan was assaulted in Asheville, NC while showing support for a local restaurant that was vandalized with a swastika on Monday. Other instances of antisemitic vandalism occurred recently in Southfield, MI, Highland Park, MI, and Seattle, WA.
    • For more detail, please visit FCAS’s website here.
    Dave Rich writes The conspiracy trap, noting that a graphic making the rounds on the Internet that shows a Venn diagram beneath the words “Palestine is not a single issue. Palestine is the issue.” (Sourced from Mosaic)
    • In this version, the list of phenomena to be hated and feared reflects the politics of the radical left rather than the extreme right: patriarchy, settler colonialism, environmental terrorism, racism and so on. But again, we are told that there is one single thing that connects them all, the locking nut that, if only it can be undone, would release freedom and justice for all: Palestine.
    • There is no meaningful, concrete way in which Palestine connects toxic masculinity with the environment, or misogyny with capitalism. If Palestine really was to become free between the river and the sea, with Israel out of the picture, then judging by its likely rulers it would almost certainly be just another capitalist, patriarchal state. But that isn’t the point. This meme isn’t meant to be a serious analysis of the relationships between any of these things. It is just designed to sell a simple, and very old, idea: that the Jews stand between humanity and utopia.
    • Antisemitism has always been much more than a one-dimensional prejudice towards people who look, pray, eat and speak differently. Instead, it is an all-encompassing way of interpreting and explaining the world, a cosmic guide to uncovering the forces of evil that pollute humanity’s moral relationships. Jews and their money are often placed at the heart of this corruption by antisemites, which is why it feels especially revealing that the only two things to appear in both memes are Israel and capitalism.
    • People on the left who consider themselves anti-racist nonetheless get sucked in to antisemitic ways of thinking, as long as they are cloaked in the language of progressive politics and social justice. And part of the reason this still happens is because leading figures in this movement, instead of educating themselves and their followers about the long and varied traditions of antisemitic thought, prefer to throw around accusations of dishonesty when people complain.
    • Link: The conspiracy trap