T. Belman. It looks like war with Hezbollah is imminent.  Israel won’t be satisfied with a half-measure. I doubt diplomacy will achieve even that.

Defense minister calls for ‘a new reality in the northern arena’ so that displaced Israelis can return to their homes: ‘We will not tolerate the threats posed by the Iranian proxy’

ByEMANUEL FABIAN and AFP  4 January 2024, 7:16 pm

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (right) meets US special envoy to the region Amos Hochstein at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, January 4, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US special envoy to the region Amos Hochstein that there is “a short window of time for diplomatic understandings” to be reached with Hezbollah, as the Lebanese terror group continued to carry out daily attacks on northern Israel.

“There is only one possible result — a new reality in the northern arena, which will allow for the secure return of our citizens,” Gallant said to Hochstein, according to remarks provided by his office.

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T. Belman. Pollard called me a week ago and we had a long conversation. Remember, he was an intelligence officer with the US government before he was imprisoned for 30 years. Mostly, I agree with him.

TOM NASH REPORT

By Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen, BESA   2 January 2024

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:  On the morning of October 7, 2023, the strategic Israeli security concept collapsed, marking the end of the 30-year era since the Oslo Accords. With the shocking force of an earthquake, a cultural concept that had its roots planted in the dream of peace, and in the illusion that the State of Israel could aspire to become a kind of Denmark, disintegrated completely. For Israel to achieve victory in the war with Hamas, it will have to adapt its security concept to reflect a new and deeper understanding of the enemy’s perception of the nature of its struggle with Israel.

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The three analyzed the state of war from a legal perspective and wrote, among other things, that no such duty exists under international law because there are ongoing hostilities and that allowing residents to return northwards would thwart a key military objective in war – finding and returning captives.

By Ariel Kahana, ISRAEL HAYOM  4 January 2024

Gazans move to the south during Operation Swords of Iron/Dana Ben-Shimon

A memo submitted Wednesday to Israel’s political leadership claims that Israel has no legal obligation to allow displaced Gaza residents to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip for the coming months. The opinion was written in recent days in light of claims made within the security establishment that under international law, Israel had to allow residents to return to their homes.

The memo is signed by Dr. Raphael (Rafi) Bitton from Sapir College, Prof. Eugene Kontorovich from George Mason University, and Prof. Avi Bell from the law schools of Bar Ilan University and the University of San Diego.

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Will this desperate country finally see the light?

by Hugh Fitzgerald  JAN 5/24

Information on the loss to Jordan’s economy that the war between Israel and Hamas has entailed can be found here: “Jordan Losing Over $250 Million Per Month Due to Israel-Hamas War,” Algemeiner, December 27, 2023:

Despite major economic headwinds, Jordan announced last month that it would refuse to sign a deal to provide energy to Israel in exchange for water that was planned to be ratified in October, according to Reuters.

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Peloni: Israel should resist the pressure to agree to any plan for the Day After.  Also, when the time comes to formulate a plan, it should recognize the history of the series of failures which came from the use of international forces.  This is an Israeli issue which will affect Israeli civilians and should be dealt with and controlled by Israel alone.

Hamas will not rule Gaza and Israel will not rule Gaza,’ Defense Minister Gallant said, ruling out the building of Israeli settlements in the enclave

By Lahav Harkov, JEWISH INSIDER January 4, 2024

Amir Levy/Getty Images

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant plans to present the war cabinet with a road map for the administration of Gaza after the end of the war, in which Israel, an international force, Egypt and local Palestinians — but not the Palestinian Authority — would all play a part, Gallant said in a briefing on Thursday. After the war, he said, “Hamas will not rule Gaza, and Israel will not rule Gaza.”Gallant’s plan, drawn up by the Defense Ministry with input from the IDF, is based on four major partners.First is Israel, which would need full freedom to act militarily in Gaza to ensure that Hamas and other hostile groups cannot threaten Israel or the people of Gaza, Gallant said. Israel would also provide relevant intelligence to the other partners and would inspect all goods entering Gaza.

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By Brooke Mallory, OAN    – Thursday, January 4, 2024

People visit the scene of Wednesday’s bomb explosion in the city of Kerman 820 km (about 510 miles) southeast of Tehran, Iran. (Photo by MAHDI/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

In one of the largest terrorist attacks to hit Iran in decades, Wednesday’s suicide explosions targeted a memorial service for an Iranian commander killed in a 2020 U.S. drone strike.

The attacks came while the Middle East as a whole is still in a state of tension. The Islamic State organization, ISIS, claimed credit for the attacks on Thursday.

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T. Belman. Why is the Army investigating the Army. Half the people on the committee should be right wing civilians. There is no urgency for doing it now while the fighting is ongoing.  There is absolutely no need to discuss the day after while the fighting is ongoing.

Meeting of Political-Security Cabinet ends abruptly after ministers blast Chief of Staff over appointment of a team to investigate the events of October 7.

Israel National News    Jan 5, 2024, 2:10 AM 

A meeting of the Political-Security Cabinet ended abruptly on Thursday night, after a confrontation erupted between several ministers and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, against the background of the appointment of a team that will investigate the events of October 7.

Kan 11 News reported that Ministers Miri Regev, Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben Gvir and David Amsalem claimed that the members of the investigating team supported the Disengagement from Gaza. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tried to silence the ministers who attacked the Chief of Staff and said that he supports Halevi, before senior officials in the defense establishment walked out of the meeting.

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GO HERE FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW

GO HERE FOR A 5 MINUTE CLIP

Dear Tommy,

??Eng Sub pic.twitter.com/UqTd3kDt1p

— Rubi Yona ??? ???? ???? (@RubiYona) January 4, 2024

By Hana Levi Julian, JEWISH PRESS

Muslim girls study the Koran during a summer camp at a mosque in Gaza City, June 13, 2023.

A Gaza with frequent electrical outages due to a lack of fuel. A people forced to live with unclean water due to old, broken-down sewage facilities. Families desperate for a little more food for their children.

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Peloni:  This is both a very important and very happy development.  The US needs to respect Israel as an ally, and Israel must demonstrate her own sovereignty by making decisions which are in her own interest which may conflict with the desires of her allies in Washington.  These two necessities can only be restored by removing the leverage which the US has recklessly manipulated against the existential interests of the Israeli state and people.  A very important development to be certain.

By Simone Ledeen, Real Clear Defense  January 04, 2024

Israel’s declaration that it intends to expand its domestic munitions production heralds a new chapter in U.S.-Israel relations, where strategic recalibration meets the challenges of an evolving international arms landscape. Israel’s announcement signifies a dual aim: to diminish U.S. leverage in its military operations and to confront the relentless shortages prevalent in the global market. In the volatile landscape of global munitions sales, the Black Sabbath massacre orchestrated by Hamas has seemingly propelled Israel into a serious reassessment of how much leverage over its military decision-making it is willing to give the United States.

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The first of its kind from the Ivy League since October 7th

By Avi HYMAN <avi@avihymancommunications.com>

Dozens of senior professors from the University of Pennsylvania return home after a three-day solidarity mission, the first of its kind from the Ivy League since October 7th

Jerusalem, 4 January 2024 – Dozens of senior members of faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, including chaired professors, return home this evening after a three-day solidarity mission, facilitated by tour operator Israel Destination -Yaad Yisrael. This was the first Ivy League faculty solidarity mission to visit Israel since the recent congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses, and the first since the Hamas massacre on October 7.

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By David Israel, JEWISH PRESS  4 January 2024

Nasrallah’s deputy Hussein Yazbek was assassinated in south Lebanon, January 3, 2024./Twitter Screenshot

It appears that Israel is honing its message to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, to get his army behind the Litani River or else. On Wednesday night, 90 minutes after Nasrallah finished his speech that included references to the previous day’s assassination of Hamas bigwig Saleh al-Arouri in Dahieh, the Shiite neighborhood of Beirut and Hezbollah’s stronghold, an air strike destroyed a house in Naqoura on the Mediterranean shore in southern Lebanon, killing Nasrallah’s deputy Hussein Yazbek and three underlings.

Hezbollah acknowledged on Wednesday morning the killing of four of its members, including Yazbek, identifying the others as Ibrahim Afif, Hadi Ali Reda, and Hussein Ali Muhammad Ghazala.

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By A Correspondent on the Ground, AMWAJ.MEDIA  2 Jan 2024

Senior Hamas commander Saleh Al-Arouri and former Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani at a commemoration ceremony in Tehran, Iran on Jan. 16, 2018. (Photo via Fars News Agency)

A suspected Israeli drone strike has killed senior Hamas military commander Saleh Al-Arouri in southern Beirut. The rare precision attack targeted an office of the Palestinian movement in Dahiyeh, a suburb known as home to many supporters of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. Given the choice of target as well as the location and timing, the incident is seen as a major escalation by Israel, which is mired in bloody fighting in Gaza.

The assassination of Arouri, who for the past six years was deputy political bureau chief of Hamas, has significant dimensions in the context of the Gaza war and the regional confrontations it has sparked. Importantly, the killing also puts the spotlight on the triangle of relations between Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran’s Quds Force—and what may be next.

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Peloni: Also, Alan Dershowitz Asked to Represent Israel in the ICJ Hearing on the Gaza Genocide

Alan Dershowitz  COMPACT, January 3, 2024

Critics of Israel have charged the Jewish state with committing atrocities and even “genocide” in its ongoing war with Hamas. The South African government has even brought these charges before the International Court of Justice. The accusations are without merit: Israel has committed no war crimes in seeking to degrade and destroy Hamas in Gaza. Hamas, by contrast, has committed at least four categories of war crimes.

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By Gadi Taub and Michael Doran, TABLET  JAN 02, 2024

Gadi Taub and Mike Doran see Israeli politics returning with a vengeance. The Israeli left, with an assist from elements in the military, is promoting a campaign depicting “settler violence” in the West Bank as the impediment to a two-state solution. Meanwhile the Israeli Supreme Court has nullified an amendment to a semi-constitutional Basic Law, thus taking for itself veto power over the formation of what Israel has for a constitution. The campaign against the settlers and the move to overturn the law both target the right. These developments come as the Biden administration pushes Prime Minister Netanyahu to ride roughshod over his rightwing coalition partners who oppose the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza.

T. Belman.  Both Mudar and Abed spoke at my 2017 Conference and 2022 Webinar.

Abed Amaala tweeted:

Queen Rania gave orders to the intelligence services of the Royal Hashemite Court regarding assassinations to develop a secret plan to assassinate the leaders of the Jordanian foreign opposition and the leaders of the new Jordan, namely Dr. Mudar Zahran, who lives in London, and Abdul-Ilah Al-Mualla, who lives in Washington. Western intelligence services obtained intelligence information about Queen Rania’s plan and her decision to carry out the assassination plan. In turn, we warn Queen Rania and King Abdullah II against playing with fire against these satanic attempts, which will not deter us from the new Jordan project, which is the savior of the Jordanian, Palestinian and Arab people and stopping the series of violence, terrorism, displacement and starvation.

Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer, INN     Jan 1, 2024, 7:34 PM 

Oct. 22, 2023 — Israel next faces the compelling existential urgency to undertake a very horrible ground invasion into Gaza. Had she done it fifteen or even ten years ago, it would have been like the way Ariel Sharon crushed the “Palestine Authority’s” PLO and Fatah (same thing) in Jenin and throughout Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”) in 2002 during Israel’s “Operation Defensive Shield” that substantially ended the Second Intifada.

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T. Belman. Chuck Freilich said a lot of things that I disagree with but was he more realistic then I tend to be. In other words, am I living in a fantasy world?

INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with INSS senior researcher Prof. Chuck Freilich, who served for over 20 years in Israel’s national security establishment, as a senior analyst and then as deputy national security adviser.