Israel Report - Saturday 09 March 2024
REDLINING.......
Anyone could be forgiven for thinking we now live in a 1938/9 redux this morning.
The world is holding its collective breath as the red lines of 10th and 25th of March 2024 loom as explosive trigger points for an all-out Middle Eastern war that promises to engulf the region from all points of the compass.
It is a “Peace in our Time” moment.
If HAMAS cannot produce the identities of surviving Jewish hostages, if there are any, before the beginning of Ramadan on March 10 the IDF will invade the city of Rafah and destroy what little is left of the terror group.
Yesterday they left off Cairo-based ceasefire talks without an agreement.
A senior Hamas official stated that Israel rejected on March 7 Hamas’ ceasefire counter-proposal, which required a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, a permanent ceasefire, and the return of displaced Gazans without restrictions.
Bold for a near-defeated enemy? Hamas confirmed its delegation left Cairo on Friday.
On the northern border of Israel events are sliding out of control as Iran proxy HIZBOLLAH increase the number and volume of rocket attacks into northern Israel.
If this does not cease before 25 March 2024 the IDF will mount a full incursion of the region and either destroy Hizbollah or push it back far enough for residents of Israel's border cities and villages to return to their homes.
As each hour passes now the Middle East is beginning to resemble the Biblical description for the region in the days just prior to The Time of Jacob's Trouble.
Completely surrounded now by raging Islamic enemies who see an opportunity to finally rid the world of Jewry, her few yet powerful allies are now weakening their resolve to stand by her side if she was ever threatened with destruction.
Not too long ago, the United States of America, Britain, Europe and their ex-colonies stood with Israel and voiced their strong and immediate support.
Now, there has been a not-too-subtle but horrifying change in this attitude as revealed by the "Bobbsey Twins" Biden and Blinken only hours ago.
It was a given that the United States stood firmly with the Netanyahu government that in the matter of a hostage release it would need to be agreed upon prior to any suggestion of a ceasefire.
That all changed with a tweet from Secretary of State Antony Blinken Tuesday, in which he wrote, “While meeting with Israeli War Cabinet Member @gantzbe, I underscored the urgency of reaching a temporary ceasefire to facilitate the release of hostages and surge humanitarian aid and reiterated the need for Israel to take steps to improve delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.”
Later, he doubled down on this strategy in another post in which he is pictured with Qatar’s prime minister, writing, “We will continue to urgently pursue an agreement for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to enable the release of all hostages, the protection of civilians, and the increased provision of critical aid to Gaza.”
Did you catch the sleight-of- hand here??
Now the U.S.administration is saying that Israel must agree to a ceasefire first.
Then and only then, can the release of the hostages be facilitated. A complete turn-around.
Additionally, humanitarian aid to Gaza must be a first priority - even so far as suggesting a distribution hub be sent up on the Gazan coast by the armed forces of the USA. [see article below]
In essence Blinken is stating that Israel must stop fighting and give Hamas all it is asking for.
Washington is trying to force the Netanyahu government to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Total and utter insanity.
The Biden administration wants Israel to admit defeat, lay down their arms, and allow a Palestinian State including HAMAS operatives to be a part of that governing body.
Too bad about the hundreds of IDF young lives having been snuffed out in a battle almost won - Israel must not achieve victory and be free to thwart the plans of the Neocons.
With Trump now breathing down the necks of the cabal intent on dividing the land of Israel it has become a matter of great urgency to bring it all to a halt leaving HAMAS to live another day.
The question now is, will the God of Israel allow such a travesty? He already has them all in derision as His people begin to feel the chill winds of isolation.
The hours ahead will be more critical than in any other time in human history.
His plans involve bringing Israel to a point where He, and He alone will be the only source of their ultimate survival.
All red lines aside, we are about to cross the Rubicon.
“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old” That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God. [Amos 9; 11-15]
Bibi: Israel will push on with Gaza war including in Rafah....
Addressing a graduation ceremony at a training school for Israeli army officers, Netanyahu also said Israel must push back against a "calculated attempt" to blame it for Hamas' crimes.
Israel will push on with its offensive against Hamas, including into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite growing international pressure to stop, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas after its terrorists attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253. More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza during Israel's subsequent offensive, Hamas health authorities estimate, prompting worldwide criticism and condemnation.
"There is international pressure and it's growing, but particularly when the international pressure rises, we must close ranks, we need to stand together against the attempts to stop the war," he said.
LONDON - No-Go Zone for Jews......
Pro-Palestinian protests are turning London into “a no-go zone for Jews”, a counter-extremism Tsar said as he warned that extremist groups have “gone unchallenged for too long”.
Writing for The Telegraph, Robin Simcox, [pictured below] the Home Office’s independent adviser on extremism, said the Government and its agencies had powers to combat extremism but had failed to tackle groups that “lurked” just below the threshold of being terrorists.
He issued the warning after PM Rishi Sunak urged protesters last week not to “let the extremists hijack your marches”, and with Michael Gove preparing to announce a broader definition of extremism.
Mr Simcox said the “permissive environment for radicalization” developing in the UK meant that activities such as pro-Palestinian protests, which he said leave parts of the capital off-limits to Jews, had become “normalized”.
He warned that the same applied to Iran’s sponsorship of British schools and mosques, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas’s support for British charities and extremist TV channels operating on UK soil.
“We have not betrayed democracy if extremists are no longer able to operate television channels,” he said. “And we will not have become an authoritarian state if London is no longer permitted to be turned into a no-go zone for Jews every weekend.
“All these things and more have become normalized in the UK. It is why I have warned of a permissive environment for radicalization developing that needs urgently addressing. These groups have gone unchallenged for too long, and have used their time well. They are now embedded and influential among communities.”
HAMAS - GAZA
Arab Palestinian militias continued to claim attacks on Israeli forces in the Zaytoun area of southern Gaza City on March 7.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) targeted Israeli armour operating in Zaytoun with an improvised explosive device (IED).
PIJ also mortared Israeli infantry on Road 10 in southern Zaytoun.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) concluded a two-week-long operation in Zaytoun on March 2 to re-clear Palestinian fighters there.
Palestinian militia attacks may be targeting semi-permanent Israeli checkpoints in southern Gaza City or Israeli forces building an east-west road in between Gaza City and the central Gaza Strip rather than forces actively clearing the area.
Ongoing Palestinian attacks in the area suggest that Israeli forces did not fully clear Zaytoun and that Palestinian militias in southern Gaza City retain some capacity to fight.
The IDF Nahal Brigade (162nd Division) killed at least 10 Palestinian fighters in the central Gaza Strip on March 7.
The brigade directed an airstrike on a squad loading military equipment and ammunition on a vehicle near Israeli forces.
Israeli forces continued to conduct clearing operations in northern Khan Younis on March 7.
The IDF Maglan and Egoz units (89th Commando Brigade) and the IDF Navy Shayetet unit conducted “secret and precise” raids in Hamad.
The Commando forces clashed with and detained Palestinian fighters in high-rise towers in Hamad. The IDF 7th Brigade (36th Division) raided militia infrastructure in Hamad, including Hamas offices, tunnel shafts, and a weapons factory.
The IDF Bislamach Brigade killed six Palestinian fighters entering a building known to house Hamas infrastructure in Qarara.
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine targeted Israeli armour with an IED in Hamad on March 7.
The al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the self-proclaimed military wing of Fatah and aligned with Hamas in the war, claimed two additional clashes with Israeli forces in Hamad.
Western media reported on March 7 that the United States will establish a temporary port in the Gaza Strip to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid.
White House officials disclosed that the United States plans to build a temporary port off the coast of the Gaza Strip before moving the structure closer to shore.
Western reporting noted that the project would require up to thousands of US service members stationed off the Mediterranean coast.
Unspecified senior Biden administration officials blamed Hamas for holding up a proposed six-week ceasefire deal by refusing to release the ”vulnerable“ category of hostages whom it holds in the Gaza Strip.
This breakdown in talks indicates that a deal is unlikely to be reached before the March 10 deadline that high-level Israeli officials set as a red-line to reach a deal before conducting an offensive into Rafah.
Israeli officials have signaled since February 18 that the IDF may delay its operation into Rafah to evacuate the displaced civilians currently sheltering there.
Netanyahu reaffirmed on March 7 his intent to expand Israeli operations into Rafah.
HEZBOLLAH
Lebanese Hezbollah conducted at least seven attacks from southern Lebanon into northern Israel on March 7.
Hezbollah also conducted at least two attacks targeting IDF bases in the Golan Heights.
Israeli media reported that Hezbollah is using its indirect fire attacks to test Israeli air defences and identify the location of Iron Dome batteries.
Hezbollah separately claimed that it conducted two attacks targeting towns in northern Israel in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon.
The IDF targeted Hezbollah observation posts and unspecified military infrastructure near the Israel-Lebanon border on March 6.
IRAN
Iran is behind a wave of violence throughout the Middle East in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, arming and encouraging proxy groups like the Houthis in Yemen and increasing the risk of direct attacks on U.S. and Western interests in the region, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East told lawmakers on Thursday.
Army General Michael E. Kurilla, [pictured below] head of U.S. Central Command, also told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Islamic State-Khorasan Province, the terror group’s Afghan affiliate, has the capability and the will to launch a strike in six months with “little to no warning.”
Only a year ago, the region was on the verge of “improbable, unprecedented and transformative progress.” But today, the Middle East faces its most volatile security situation in the past half century, General Kurilla said, a fallout from the Hamas attack on Israel last Autumn that has yet to subside.
“This is not the same central region as last year,” he said. “The events of October 7 not only permanently changed Israel and Gaza, it created the conditions for malign actors to sow instability throughout the region and beyond.”
He painted a grim picture of the situation on the ground in the Middle East following the Hamas rampage in southern Israel.
“Iran exploited what they saw as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape the Middle East to their advantage, Iran has worked for decades to strategically encircle the region with its proxies.” said he.
Over the past six months, Iran has activated its entire network of militant allies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank and Yemen.
They have been equipped with advanced, sophisticated weapons and are threatening some of the most “vital terrain” in the world, while direct attacks have slowed in Syria and Iraq, Iran‘s financial and logistical support for its anti-U.S. allies continues apace.
YEMEN
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched more than 50 drone and missile attacks against U.S. and international vessels in the Red Sea, including Wednesday’s strike on the “True Confidence,” a Greek-owned cargo ship registered in Liberia. [pictured above]
Three merchant sailors were killed in the attack, the first reported fatalities since the Iran-aligned Yemeni group began lashing out against ships passing through one of the world’s busiest waterways.
The vessel lies abandoned and in danger of sinking. That would be the second vessel to have been sunk in the last few days.
Iranian military and security leaders are increasingly discussing the need to expand the Iranian military presence around the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea.
Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi—[pictured below] a senior military adviser to the Iranian supreme leader—stated on March 6 that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy and Aerospace Force should “focus” on the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea.
Safavi described the Mediterranean Sea as part of Iran’s strategic depth and that Tehran must accordingly “increase [its] strategic depth [by] 5,000 kilometres, which would extend to the Strait of Gibraltar.
Safavi’s remarks come after IRGC Coordination Deputy Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naghdi threatened in December 2023 that Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance” could someday disrupt maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea and around the Strait of Gibraltar.
The Iranian desire to develop a military presence, especially a naval one, around the Mediterranean Sea and its periphery is not entirely new, as senior military officials have discussed the idea since at least 2016.
The remarks from Safavi and Naghdi are noteworthy, nevertheless, given recent Iranian efforts in the area.
Western media reported on March 3 that Iran requested Sudanese permission to establish a permanent naval base on the Red Sea, which would support Iranian out-of-area naval operations and attacks on international shipping.
Iran would probably use an expanding military presence around the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea to threaten commercial traffic, as Iran has long done so around the Persian Gulf and is currently supporting Houthi attacks on global commerce.
Iran has invested in recent years in building surface vessels that are capable of hosting fast attack craft, drones, helicopters, and missiles.
These vessels would not likely survive conventional engagements against the US Navy or other modern militaries—but they are optimized for the sort of commerce raiding that has long been a feature of Iranian regional strategy.
IRAQ
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq—a coalition of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias—appears to have refocused its attacks to target primarily Israel rather than US forces for the moment.
The group has claimed four attacks targeting Israel in the first week of March, compared to three attacks targeting Israel in the month of February.
The group has contrastingly not claimed any attacks targeting US forces since February 4.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq described its three most recent attacks as part of the “second phase of operations to . . . support our people in Gaza.”
Iranian-backed Iraqi militia leaders have praised the Islamic Resistance in Iraq attack targeting Kiryat Shmona Airport on March 6 as the beginning of this second phase, which involves targeting Israeli airports and ports.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq released a statement on March 6 stating that it means to expel US forces from Iraq and support Palestinian militias by continuing attacks targeting Israel until there is a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
UKRAINE
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were reportedly in the vicinity of a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa yesterday.
The Greek prime minister described the incident, which came during a scheduled visit to Ukraine, as “intense.”
The timing, location, and weapon used in the strike have led some to propose that it was a decapitation attempt by Russia.
The Russian attack on port infrastructure in Odessa on Wednesday killed five people and left an unspecified number of wounded, according to the Ukrainian Navy.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that Odessa came under attack from Russian Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), [pictured below] one of which may have landed as close as 220 yards from the two leaders.
Iskander-Ms are among Russia's most advanced stand-off weapons and have dwindled in number, and their use has become far more limited than early on in the war.
They can also make it to their targets much faster than their cruise missile counterparts and hit far harder once they arrive.
“We heard the sound of sirens and explosions that took place near us,” said Mitsotakis, who was holding talks with Zelenskyy. “We did not have time to get to a shelter. It is a very intense experience,” Mitsotakis added.
Spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk confirmed that the Odessa strike came as the Greek delegation was visiting the port with Zelenskyy.
State of the Union
Having successfully raged, ranted, lied, and yelled through the State of The Union, President Biden can go back to his cellar now..
Whatever 'they' gave Biden, every American man, woman, and the other should be allowed to take it - though it seems the cocktail brings out 'dark Brandon'?
Tucker Carlson's response sums it all up perfectly: "that was possibly the darkest, most un-American speech given by an American president. It wasn't a speech, it was a rant..."
Carlson continued: "The true measure of a nation's greatness lies within its capacity to control borders, yet Bid refuses to do it." "In a fair election, Joe Biden cannot win"
US ‘will not bow down’ to Russia – Biden
The US president urged Republicans to unblock military aid to Kiev in his State of the Union address.
The US will not stop supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address on Thursday night.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is hell-bent on “sowing chaos around Europe,” Biden claimed. “If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop in Ukraine, I assure you he will not,” Biden told Congress.
He went on to renew his appeal to House Republicans to stop blocking additional military aid to Kiev.
Macron; West may have to step in to save Ukraine .....
France's Emmanuel “Napoleon” Macron warned that the West may have to step in to save Ukraine if Russia makes a breakthrough on the Eastern front, according to reports on Thursday.
The French president produced maps to show opposition leaders, invited to the Elysee Palace, points of potential Russian breakthrough towards Odessa or Kyiv.
He told them there should be “no more red lines” on his country’s involvement in the conflict.
“These are maps of the Ukrainian front line freely available anywhere,”
Speaking after the two and a half-hour meeting, the party chiefs said the talks with Mr Macron had left them concerned, with some accusing him of seeking to exploit the conflict for domestic gain ahead of key European elections in June.
It came as Britain's resurrected Foreign Minister David Cameron [above] said Europe must rein in the wars in Ukraine and Gaza before the next US president is sworn in.
Speaking at a Berlin press conference alongside Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign secretary, he said the crises needed to be in the “best possible place” by the time of the presidential election.
Israel Report