Iranian UAV Strike on Tel-Aviv July 2024 and Other Updates

I have put together another blog with a few updates and a variety of issues - since there are so many different things going on here. This is really just a limited snapshot of a few things I wanted to highlight - so I hope you find it interesting and informative.

UAV Attack on Israel

Tel-Aviv was hit today by an Iranian UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), which was launched by the Houthis (a proxy of Iran, operating out of Yemen).  Apparently, at least 5 of these UAVs were launched from Yemen and four of them were shot down by the Americans, from somewhere off the coast of Yemen.  The Israeli military claims that it was tracking the UAV but decided not to shoot it down.  It is hard to understand why this gross miscalculation occurred but the the bottom line is that the military failed to shoot down the threat.

The UAV crashed into an apartment building in Tel-Aviv, just two blocks from two of our immediate family members.  This was around 3:30 a.m.  One person was killed and 8 others were injured, all civilians.  Within a short period of time, as slew of ambulances arrived to care for the injured.  Thankfully, none of our family members were injured though we are obviously deeply concerned about the loss of life of the one victim and hopeful for the speedy recovery of the other eight. 

A military spokesman for the Houthis announced that this attack was "in sympathy with the Palestinians of Gaza" and promised that further attacks would be carried out.  Although Israel is technically in a state of war with Yemen and has no peace treaty with that country - Israel has never previously been engaged in any kind of direct hostilities with Yemen (or with Iran for that matter) prior to October 7, 2023.

This is a crazy situation and it is unclear how Israel will respond. It is obviously completely untenable for the security of Israel to sit back and absorb lethal attacks like this from Yemen without responding.  

The War

As you  probably know, the war in Gaza and the war with Hezbollah in the north both continue to rage on.  There is some sense that the Israeli army is operating in Gaza at a greatly reduced capacity - though there is still a great deal of fighting still taking place in several areas.  Last week, Israel carried a targeted assassination attempt on the life of Mohamed Deif, who is or was one of Hamas' top military commanders - and one of the masterminds behind the October 7, 2023 massacre.  Deif was surrounded by several Hamas military personnel and other top Hamas commanders.  There has been no official confirmation by Hamas or by the Israeli army that Deif was killed but the top commander with whom he was meeting was identified by Hamas has having been among those killed.

Israeli reports have indicated that  somewhere in the range of 15,000 to 18,000 Hamas military personnel have been killed in the fighting since October 7, 2023 - with estimates of the Hamas forces in Gaza running up to 40,000 or so.  Many others have been injured or taken into custody.  

Although the Hamas military has suffered a significant blow, the Hamas leader, Yehiah Sinwar, still seems to view this whole war as a victory for Hamas.  Hamas has managed to tilt the public and political opinion in several countries towards the Palestinians - some of whom have even decided to declare recognition of a "Palestinian State" (without any defined borders).  Sinwar has stated that he would be willing to sacrifice the lives of several hundred thousand Palestinians to achieve his long term goals (presumably as long as he and his family members are not among those being "sacrificed.").

While there are apparently ongoing talks to try and reach some sort of agreement to free the 120 Israeli hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza and reach some sort of cease fire, there is no reason to believe at this point that a deal is imminent.

Prime Minister Netanyahu's government relies on the support of the far right parties, led by Itamir Ben-Gvir, Betzalel Smotrich and others, all of whom have stated that they will not accept this type of deal.  They are looking for a complete surrender by Hamas - and they compare this to the deal the Allies were seeking when fighting the Nazis in World War II.  Essentially, they are less interested in trying to save the lives of whichever hostages are still alive (possibly 30-60, according to some reports) and more interested in trying to achieve a "complete victory."

There are many in Israel challenging this perspective, including past and current heads of the Mossad, various high ranking military personnel, and a wide range of politicians - even some on the "right."  They are concerned that this "complete victory" may not be achievable, that all of the lives of the hostages will be lost and that there is no plan for what comes next, even if this type of victory can be achieved.

The long and the short of it is that Netanyahu does not seem to be in any hurry to end this war - and certainly not on the terms that have thus far been proposed.  Or at least, he does not seem willing to abandon his coalition partners to agree to a proposal of the type that is currently on the table.

In my view, this is not something that is easy to navigate.  It is clearly in Israel's best interests to do everything possible to save as many of the lives of the hostages as possible.  This has always been an expectation of every Israeli government - and is like a contract with the citizens of Israel.  If there is a deal that can be made that will save a large number of lives - that must be an urgent priority for Israel.

The flip side is that if the deal that is envisioned would allow Hamas to resume importing weapons, underground, from Egypt, Israel will simply face the same types of attacks weeks or months later.  There needs to be a second track that is dedicated to figuring out how Gaza can be run or administered in a way that will not present an ongoing threat to Israel - and which entity will be responsible for that administration.  I am not even sure that there is an appetite for this on the Gaza side of the border - but the status quo is obviously untenable.

The war in the north has also been raging on with daily hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.  Hezbollah has continued to launch all sorts of attacks against cities and towns in the Israeli north and many have been lethal.  Homes and institutions have been destroyed throughout the north and more than 100,000 Israelis are currently displaced from their homes and living in make-do arrangements in different parts of Israel.  Aside from the human cost - in terms of civilians and military personnel who have been killed and injured in the north, the economic damage has also been massive.  For example, many of the wineries in the north have suffered massive damage.  This week a sizeable percentage of the Pelter vineyards were set aflame and destroyed.  Many other wineries have suffered massive damage.  That is just one example of an industry that has paid an enormous price for this war.

Yet the Israeli military response to all of this in the north has been relatively restrained. Israel has stated repeatedly that it is trying to finish the Gaza war first but this has led to a horrible situation for Israel's northern residents who are feeling abandoned.  In this regard, even many of Netanyahu's critics on the left have called for a much greater response from Israel towards Hezbollah, even at the risk of escalation with Iran.  Some have speculated that the U.S. has dictated this policy - to avoid a direct and massive confrontation with Iran - but that is unclear.  For its part, Hezbollah has stated that if an agreement is reached between Hamas and Israel - it will cease its attacks against Israel.  From Israel's perspective, that will only be good  enough if Hezbollah withdraws its forces from the border and agrees to abide by previous cease fire agreements which have required Hezbollah to adhere to a demilitarized zone within a defined area of Lebanon.

The ICJ

Amidst all of this, Israeli TV broadcast some of the proceedings of the ICJ - the International Court of Justice - attacking Israel. Led by a Lebanese judge - the level of bias, irony and pure ridiculousness is, frankly outrageous.  It is in many ways even worse than watching a group of Trump-appointed judges on the U.S. Supreme Court rule that he is immune from most criminal prosecution.  But I digress. 

I won't dignify the ICJ further by spending more time on it - but the whole situation in Israel since October 7, 2023  has demonstrated the incredible double standard and bias to which Israel is subjected on the world stage.  Much of that is attributable to the fact that there are some two billion Muslims in the world and only about 13 million Jews.  But you can be sure that if any other country were subjected to the type of massacre that Hamas carried out in Israel, the type of response would be virtually unlimited.

Imagine, for example, what the U.S. would have done, if 9/11 had killed ten times as many people proportionately - and had resulted in the taking of hostages and  ongoing missile attacks against U.S. territory.  You can be sure that the U.S. would have taken every possible step to eliminate the threat completely. Of course if this type of attack were carried out against other UN luminaries, like  Russia, Iran, China or others, you can imagine what they would do.

Managing in Israel

Medical Issues and Getting an MRI

I have from time to time written about different issues relating to life in Israel.  Some people reading these sections might not be interested at all and some might be curious about how some of these things work in Israel.

As you may know, the Israeli medical system is a universal health care system, similar to the system in Canada but with some twists.  Unlike the Canadian system, Israelis can choose to pay more and see a doctor privately.  As well, instead of a monopoly system, like OHIP in Ontario, there are four or five competing HMOs and Israelis can choose which one they would like to have as their provider.  

The Israeli universal system includes dental coverage, a subsidized pharmaceutical program and  a range of other components.

I recently suffered a bit of leg injury and required urgent care.  The HMO that I use (Maccabi) runs a fractures and urgent care clinic and urges you to attend that clinic for non-life threatening injuries.  If you go to the emergency section of a hospital and you are not actually hospitalized, you can face a "co-pay" of approximately $500 Cdn.

The urgent care clinic conducts x-rays on site but not ultrasounds or MRIs.  So I was able to have an x-ray taken relatively quickly with the good news that nothing was broken.  However, the treating physician recommended an ultra-sound.

Booking this is somewhat centralized - so we were able to phone a few times and find a cancelled appointment opening in Jerusalem the next day (about an hour's drive).  After that, we were assured that the radiologist would provide a report within a  week or so, which was exactly the time it took.

We were lucky enough to have a connection to an orthopedic doctor - which can normally take several weeks to see, if not longer, like in Ontario (unless you want to pay privately).  We were willing to visit late at night and wait two hours in a reception room to see the doctor.

In the meantime, we received the report and the report included a recommendation to book an MRI.  This can take several months to book, unless you can find a cancellation.  But there is a process that is available - which we followed.  You get the approval form from the HMO and then send an email to each hospital's MRI department individually and request an appointment.  We sent out 14 such requests by email  - and - ta-da - managed to get an MRI scheduled for the next day at 1 a.m.  We were told that it could take up to 3 weeks to get a radiologist's report and we are still waiting - but it does seem that if you are willing to travel and flexible on timing - you can get an MRI scheduled reasonably quickly in Israel.  (If you want to pay privately, you can apparently pay about $1,200 USD - which is another option).

Identity Cards And Driver's License Renewals

My driver's licence was due to expire next month.  For renewal of a licence in Israel, the process was ridiculously easy.  You simply go online, pay the fee - and they use their existing file photo of you to renew the licence for a ten year period.  Perhaps on the downside, it was not necessary to do a vision test, a health test or any other kind of check. I'm not complaining - since my new licence is on the way - but it was even easier than renewing a licence in Ontario which is really not that bad. And it was about $200 Cdn for a 10 year renewal.

Renewing a vehicle permit is much more rigorous.  You have take your car to a testing centre, each year, and have it pass a test in order to renew the permit.  This is a full test of all aspects of the vehicle - brakes, lighting, steering, exhaust, you name it.  The line-up at these testing centres can be quite long.  Our car apparently had a lighting problem - where the front headlights were  insufficiently intense.  We were told that there was a "recall" on our vehicle for this problem and the dealership should fix the problem for free - even though we had just recently gone for full service at the dealership.  So we went back to the dealership - and after some back and forth - they finally agreed to change the lighting  as part of the recall.  Then we had to go back to the testing centre - and wait in a  line again (a slightly shorter line for follow-up visits) and get retested.  But it all worked out.  Overall, much more time-consuming than renewing a licence - but this probably explains why all of the cars on the road in Israel are in such great shape....(If you are not laughing, you are overdue for a visit here).

Israelis also have to have and carry around a "National Identity Card" which serves as a combination of an SSN/SIN and/or a photo ID that can be used instead of a drivers' licence.  You would not normally think that this was not something that would expire - but I was advised that Israel is moving to a fully biometric system and that my current ID would expire in January 2025.  If I didn't renew mine - I would be left without an identity....

So I went online to find a date to book an appointment and found a date in mid-September.  But of course there are new cancellation dates released every day as long as you are flexible.  So we found an appointment the next day and drove up to Hadera (about 45 minutes north) for an early morning meeting.  I had my old ID card - which is a photo ID - but that is apparently not enough for the clerks.  I also needed to answer a whole pile of questions -  my parents' first names, my wife's parents' names, my kids names, the date of  my anniversary, the year we arrived in Israel - and a few others.  I managed to pass (turns out that I really was who I said I was....) - and then posed for a new photo and was assured that my new identity card would be in the mail within three weeks or so.  Obviously not nearly as efficient as renewing a licence but perhaps the ID card is even more important in Israeli society.  Of course I am comforted in knowing that I will not lose my identity.

I probably have several other anecdotes that you might find amusing - but I have to save some material for future blogs.

For now, as with my past blogs, I am continuing to hope for  the safe return of all of our hostages, the safety of all of our military and other security personnel, an end to this war with some type of viable solution in place for long term peace  and my general best wishes for health and safety for all of us.  Shabbat Shalom.

Blog from Israel - March 2024

I have had a look and it has been about three months since  I have written a blog.  So I thought it was time for an update.  I plan to cover a range of topics - not necessarily with significant depth - but there are so many things going on here that I thought it would be worthwhile covering a few of them.  Things are quite busy at work (my day job) so it is hard to devote a great deal of time to an unpaid hobby - as important as my updates might be.  I will try to include some headings so you can skip to whatever you might find interesting....

1. Getting to and from Israel

I thought I would start with this one - since some of you might be planning or thinking about planning trips to Israel in the coming months.  Since October, 2023, "commuting" has become extremely challenging.  As you might know, Air Canada suspended its service to Israel on October 7, 2023 as did many other airlines.  Only El Al continued its service to Israel uninterrupted as did a handful of other airlines - including Emirates Airlines.  (Though has you know, El Al had cancelled its direct Toronto service more than a year ago in any case).

Air Canada has announced that it will be resuming service effective April 8, 2024, but there is still no end to the war in sight - so I guess what I would say is "I'll believe it when I see it."  

Over the years, as you may know, I have been doing my best to fly Air Canada as often as I can.  The Aeroplan program is better than the available alternatives and Air Canada has been the only airline with direct service since El Al cancelled its direct service to Toronto.

So since October, I have tried to find ways to get to Israel from Toronto by combining Air Canada and El Al.  I have flown through Rome, Amsterdam and London with these combinations.  These were challenging connections to say the least, especially if you have luggage.  Since there is no sharing agreement between airlines, you have to land, exit the airport, collect your baggage and then check in again.  I would say that the Rome airport was reasonably efficient - especially for Canadian passport holders - as they have a quick line for holders of passports from certain countries, including the EU, U.S. and Canada.  Amsterdam was a disaster.  The immigration line alone there took more than an hour.  

In London, the exit was almost as quick as Rome - but then I had to take a train - (way, way, way down) to switch terminals.  The whole process  took forever.

Considering everything, I was prepared to make the best of it and arrange a few more flights via Rome.  The problem is that the connection is great leaving Israel going back to Toronto.  But from Toronto - you have to plan on spending a day in Rome.  

Okay - things could be worse.  For one of my flights, I locked up my baggage and spent a day in Rome.  I went for lunch at a Kosher Tunisian restaurant -  (which was interesting - but I probably should have gone with the Kosher Italian food instead....) and walked around the city for several hours.  I managed to visit the Trevi Fountain, several other sites and, ultimately, a great gelato place.

But more recently, all of the airlines have upped their fares considerably.  To fly via Rome this time, the fares were over $3,000 Canadian for economy class, with a lengthy delay.   I couldn't find any other reasonable alternatives.

So I wound up trying Air France via Paris - with a 1.5 hour connection in Paris.  It sounded questionably optimistic but it was less than 1/2 the price of other alternatives.  The flight itself from Toronto to Paris on Air France was fine.  Reasonably comfortable seats, decent entertainment system and fairly good service.  We arrived in Paris a bit early - but... sat on the tarmac for almost an hour and  missed the connection.  So me and seven other Israelis - my "lonsmen" (actually there were no women in the group so it was really only lonsmen) were put on an alternate flight - the next day.  We were given vouchers for a hotel near the airport, vouchers for food at the hotel and at the airport - and instructions for a free shuttle to and from the hotel.  

I suppose things could be worse than an overnight in Paris. After resting for a while in the hotel (a medium end airport Moxy Hotel), I shared an Uber ride with some of my fellow Israelis and headed off to the Eiffel Tower. From there, we walked over to the Left Bank area, taking in the sights and sounds of Paris along the way.  It was quite an inconvenient stopover but we made the best of it.  I have applied for the EU compensation (which is supposed to be 600 Euros for the missed connection, at the fault of the airline) but let's see if that arrives.

On the way back to Toronto - I am travelling through Amsterdam with one of my family members and we have an overnight there.  The alternative is paying 3-4 times as much.  So we will see how that goes.  

For now, all of this has meant fewer  Aeroplan points, travelling without any benefits - and very inconvenient connections.  There are El Al flights through New York and other cities in the U.S., though the prices have also increased dramatically.  I am also not a big fan of transiting through the U.S. if I an avoid it - due to the incredibly long and inefficient security (especially compared  to most of the big European airports).  As well, the El Al loyalty program is terrible comparatively.  

All in all, these are small problems compared to challenges that Israel is facing with an ongoing war. Our soldiers are in constant danger including our standing army and our reserve soldiers.  The civilian population is also under threat of terrorist attacks, missile attacks, and other threats.  The Northern border is in a state of all out war - or close to it.  And of course all of the  areas surrounding Gaza have been devastated.  So my concerns about getting to and from Israel - are minor in comparison to everything else.  But for people considering coming here, I thought it might be worth writing about the options.

I have also seen available flights on Ethiopian Airways, Emirates/Air Dubai and Lot Polish.  Some of these flights can include total flying time of 30-40 hours with lengthy stopovers in different places - sometimes with two or three connections.

So I have joined the Air France loyalty program and used the opportunity to practice my French a bit.  "Un vin rouge s'il vous plait"....and "Un  autre vin rouge s'il vous plait...".  Merci.  Actually there was more - "un cognac s'il vous plait" - Air France is well stocked with beverage options.

2. The Government

The current Israeli government is facing a wide range of challenges and grappling with many different fault lines.   As you may know, it still has a 64-56 coalition majority. None of the coalition partners have anywhere else to go, ideologically, so I would be surprised if the government were to collapse any time soon notwithstanding the apparently vast unpopularity of the current leadership.

One of the most interesting issues - is the enlistment of the Ultra-Orthodox (the "Haredim").  A whole megillah could be written about this issue.  The short version is that the first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion, agreed to a "compromise" with the ultra-religious community back in 1948 whereby a relatively small number of yeshiva students would be exempt from military service to be able to continue their religious studies full-time.

Over the years since 1948, through various coalition deals, the number of exempt ultra-orthodox has ballooned greatly -  to the point where the entire community of ultra-orthodox Jews have been granted exemptions from the army, provided that they study in yeshivahs.  

Various court challenges were brought by different groups - and the Israeli Supreme Court decided, on several instances, that these arrangements were not fair - since different classes of citizens were being treated differently.  The Court gave the government time to negotiate and enact a law to address the situation.  But the ultra-religious have been having none of it and have been demanding a blanket override law - a "notwithstanding clause" if you will - that exempts all of them permanently - even while their population is growing at a dramatic rate relative to the non-haredi population.

This current government is made up of close to 25% ultra-orthodox members - which demanded support for this exemption as a term of supporting Netanyahu.

Now the Supreme Court had given the government until April 1, 2024 to enact a law to address the situation.  While there have been negotiations - there is no law - and nothing close to a law.  So the Court has stated that effective April 1, 2024, the government will need to cease funding any yeshivas that are not sending their students to the army.

Needless to say the Haredim are promising full civil disobedience.

The ultra-religious parties are threatening to quit the government but they have nowhere to go.  No other party will give them a better deal.  Causing an election now is almost certainly a recipe for disaster for the ultra-religious (and perhaps for the rest of the extreme right wing).  So it seems like they are going to huff and puff quite a  bit - but it is hard to imagine that they will actually blow the house down (i.e. cause the government to fall).

Even so, this promises to be a fascinating issue to watch in the coming weeks.

3. The War

It is hard to know what is really going on with respect to the progress of the war.  There are reports across world wide media - and there are daily reports from the Israeli military spokesperson and various Israeli media outlets.

According to one report I read yesterday, that seemed reasonably reliable, Israeli intelligence had estimated that there were about 30,000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters before the war.  Revised estimates seem to put the numbers closer to 40,000-45,000.

Israeli reports of dead, injured and captured Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters total between 25,000 and 30,000.  So Israel seems to believe that it has immobilized approximately 3/4 of the fighting forces that it was facing.  It seems that the majority of the remaining forces are in Rafiah -which is likely to be the final area of fighting - even as other fighting continues across Gaza.

Note that the Hamas "Health Ministry" claims that the number of dead Gazans is around 30,000.  That number includes civilians and fighters.  In other words, if Israel's numbers are correct and the number of dead fighters in the range of 20,000-25,000 - the number of dead civilians is actually quite low for a conflict of this scope and nature, which includes urban fighting with Hamas using its people as human shields.

That is not to say that anyone feels good about dead Gazan civilians.  But this is hardly a "genocide" or the intentional killing of civilians.  Gaza has a population of approximately two million.  If Israel was setting out to kill civilians intentionally, the numbers would be in the hundreds of thousands.  But Israel is not Russia - or Syria - or other constituent member countries of the UN that routinely carry out those types of massacres but only vote to sanction Israel.

While Israel is fighting a messy campaign in Gaza against a ruthless terrorist army, it is also fighting a major war with Hezbollah on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.  This war has been escalating constantly since October 7, 2024.  As of today, Hezbollah and Lebanon have not decided to unleash a full scale war with Israel - which would involve sending thousands of rockets all over Israel.  In response, Israel would almost certainly flatten Beirut and many other Lebanese cities.  So far, Hezbollah has been fighting an aggressive war, launching RPGs and killing many Israelis - while shelling a range of northern Israeli cities.  In response, Israel has been shelling Hezbollah locations, launching air raids and attacking Hezbollah locations across Lebanon.  But it has not launched a full out attack on Beirut or turned the fighting into a "full-scale war."  But effectively, there is a very dangerous war going on in the north and thousands of Israelis have been displaced from their homes and cannot return.  

Cities like Kiryat Shemona are ghost towns - with only solders and various armored units in place.

Many Israelis believe that Israel will need to launch a full out war with Hezbollah before this all ends - to push Hezbollah back from the Israeli border to where it should be (in line with UN resolutions).  The only other alternative is a negotiated arrangement with Hezbollah whereby Hezbollah would agree to move back from the border.  This does not seem to be close.

4. The Hostages

As you know, it is believed that Hamas is continuing to hold approximately 130 Israeli hostages.  Some reports have indicated that anywhere from 30 to 50 of these hostages have been reported dead.  But the family members of these hostages - and indeed - all Israelis - continue to hope that all of the hostages will return to Israel alive.

Some of the released hostages have provided detailed reports of the atrocities they faced while in Hamas captivity - including sexual violence  - which is still being denied in some circles of pro-Hamas supporters.  The New York Times, to its credit, has recently published extensive details of many of these atrocities.

Many Israelis are calling on the government to do everything it can to win the release of the hostages - even if that means making an unpalatable deal with Hamas.  But the Hamas demands are not just unreasonable - there are completely unacceptable - not just to Netanyahu but across most of the Israeli spectrum of opinion.  Hamas has stated quite publicly that it would like to take a "pause" and then do this again - on an even bigger scale.

So is is unclear what kind of deal, if any, can be made with Hamas.  In my view, Israel will need to launch a full scale operation in Rafiah and destroy the remaining Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighting forces.  There really aren't many other choices.

5.  World Response

At the outset of the war, President Biden visited Israel, sent aircraft carriers and demonstrated complete support for Israel and its response.  It is hard to imagine that any President (including the orange headed guy) would have demonstrated such significant support for Israel at a time of crisis.

But as the war has progressed, the relationship with the United States has unquestionably deteriorated.  For one thing, Biden has been losing support to Trump.  Some commentators have claimed that this is because  of the Israel-Gaza file.  I'm actually not convinced - since it is hard to imagine that the Republicans would be better for the pro-Gaza crowd.  But the perception seems to be that Biden needs to shore up his left, "progressive" wing - which means putting more distance between his government and the Israeli leadership.

President Biden now seems to be intent on "rewarding" the Palestinians for this massive terror operation by setting up a Palestinian State, perhaps even unilaterally.  While this is  not yet official U.S. policy - there is a definite sense that this is emerging as a U.S. option.

Granted, Prime Minister Netanyahu is part of a very extreme government that has no interest (and probably never has had any interest) in reaching any kind of agreement with any Palestinians.  So that does not make things easy for Biden or anyone else.

But the real narrative here  -  is that Israel is dealing with a very extreme, radical, movement, intent only on Israel's destruction, that launched an all out war on October 7, 2023.  There is no proposal by Hamas or by the Islamic Jihad for peace or anything close to it.  Historically, we know what must be done to fight these types of regimes. They must be defeated completely.  It doesn't seem to me that this war  will end until Yihyah Sinwar and his henchmen are caught, dead or alive and until Hamas effectively surrenders.

I believe that President Biden would get much more traction pushing for that result - even as a negotiating tactic.  If Hamas understands that the U.S. will support Israel in finishing off the Hamas military, whatever the cost - for Israel and for Gazan civilians - Hamas will lessen its demands dramatically and perhaps even surrender.  But failing to veto a UN resolution calling for an "immediate cease fire" is a completely unhelpful move.  Just imagine  supporting a call for a U.S. cease fire while the U.S. was fighting the Nazis.  

As for Canada - the situation is completely embarrassing, ridiculous and at all odds with any reasonable morally supportable position.  Perhaps that is where the Canadian leadership figures it will obtain its votes or perhaps they have simply shown their true colours.  But joining the company of Ireland, Turkey, Iceland and  other anti-Israel protagonists is just not a well thought out position for Canada - which may well face its own security challenges down the road as the numbers of extremist Muslims  in Canada continue to rise.  So far, Canada has seen a massive growth in anti-Semitic activity - which has included blockading bridges in Jewish neighbourhoods, demonstrating outside synagogues, attacking Jewish owned stores and businesses and a whole host of other activities.

Instead of unequivocally condemning these incidents - the Federal government has used some very questionable language and has exacerbated the situation.  For the Jewish community at least, it is quite clear that Canada is in drastic need of a change of leadership.

All of this aside, Israel drastically needs its own  change  of government though that is unlikely to happen any time soon.  Nevertheless, the response from this current Israeli government to the October 7th attacks by Hamas would have been pretty much the same from any Israeli government that might have been in power, in my view.  Israel needs to destroy the threat from Hamas, find a way to return the hostages, or as many of them  as possible - and only then move to considering a long term solution for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

6. The Holidays

On a lighter note (in some ways), Israel celebrated the holiday of Purim last week.  Unfortunately, I picked up a case of Covid while visiting the City of Lights - and had to skip my usual Megillah reading.  I usually read chapter 8 - and sometimes 9 and 10 here at our shul in Israel.  

We still received a few nice mishloach manot (Purim gift baskets) including one really interesting one.  Friends of ours gave us a "do-it-yourself" Tabouleh kit - with fresh vegetables from Israeli farms in the vicinity of Gaza.  It was quite a fun and thoughtful idea and we enjoyed putting it together.

I ate my share of hamentaschen, even  while under the weather.  There was definitely a subdued feel to Purim in Israel this year as I am sure there was in the Jewish community throughout the world.

It is  now time to start getting ready for Pesach though we still have a few weeks.  Enough time for a trip back to Toronto before the holiday and maybe a chance to get some  work done. 

I think that is about all I am going to cover for now.  I know there is lots more to say and hopefully I will have the chance to write another blog shortly.  

We are continuing to hope and pray for some good news here in Israel. We have lost so many of our soldiers - 598 as of the time of writing of this blog - and so many more have been injured (more than 3,100).  Since this is a people's army - that means that we all know someone who was injured or killed in the fighting.  We know of friends and neighbours and their children who are now stationed in Gaza or  on Israel's northern or eastern borders. And unfortunately, we know of people from our city, our synagogue, our children's schools and other places that have been killed or injured since October 7, 2023.

At this time, I think the best we can do is hope that the Israeli army can win a decisive victory or otherwise cause Hamas to surrender as soon as possible and we can then look to how to deal with the broader conflict with a long term view.

On a final note - I have to point out that Israeli clocks are officially moving ahead by one hour tonight - yes we are finally "springing ahead" - a few weeks after North America.  So as I finish off this blog - and perhaps watch a bit of the Leafs-Capitals game before going to sleep - it is with the unfortunate knowledge that I will be losing an hour of sleep tonight.

Shabbat Shalom and best regards from Israel.

Israel Wrap Up Update 2023

Fallen Soldiers

Captain Shaul Greenglick z"l was killed this week in northern Gaza.  He was 26 years old.  He was an officer in the Nahal brigades, unit 931.  He was from Ra'anana.  Just a few weeks ago, he participated, in uniform, in Israel's reality singing contest "Kochav Nolad" ("A Star is Born") and passed into the next round. He impressed the panel of four judges with his rendition of a Hanan Ben Ari song, "Blind Bat."  After performing, he returned to Gaza to fight with his unit.  He was killed along with 26 year old Captain Shay Shamriz. In total, six soldiers were killed on Monday.  The IDF has just announced three more names of soldiers killed yesterday, including Eliezer Chitiz z"l, who was also from Ra'anana.   In total, 164 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of the ground operation in Gaza and a total of 498 soldiers have been killed since the start of the war on October 7, 2023.

Captain Greenglick's funeral was today in Ra'anana.  We joined thousands of Ra'anana residents to line the streets and wave Israeli flags as the military hearse drove by, escorted by several security vehicles.  I would think the same scene will take place again tomorrow in Ra'anana for the funeral of Eliezer Chitiz, who will also be laid to rest in the military cemetery in Ra'anana, which is two blocks away from our home.

Military Situation - State of the War

Israel is in a very dangerous phase of the war now.  The country's military forces are fighting actively (to different degrees) on seven different fronts.  One area of heavy fighting is in Gaza, where thousands of Israeli troops are fighting Hamas guerillas in many different locations.  The Israeli army has gone into the tunnel network in various locations and has been fighting in many different areas in northern and southern areas of Gaza.  Since the temporary cease fire deal ended, the casualty rate for Israeli soldiers has spiked dramatically.  I have not heard any reports to suggest that the fighting is close to a conclusion.

In the north, Israel is fighting on two fronts.  On the Lebanon border, from Israel's west coast to the point where Lebanon, Syria and Israel all meet, Israel is fighting a very active and very difficult war against Hezbollah.  Hezbollah is stationed right at Israel's border and has been launching anti-tank missiles against civilian and military targets, unmanned suicide drone attacks, weaponized, controlled drone attacks and other military and terrorist campaigns.  Israel has been defending against these attacks and launching its own counter-offensive measures on an ongoing basis.  Many Israeli soldiers have fallen in these northern battles.

In the northeast, Israel is fighting against Syria and Iraq, with Hezbollah and other Iranian backed military groups launching attacks from Syrian territory.  Israeli has responded to these attacks in many different ways, some  of which have been reported in the media - reaching as far as the Damascus area.

Israel is also fighting against Hamas-backed groups of terrorists in areas of Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank").  Some areas have seen particularly heavy fighting including Jenin and the Tulkarem area.

In the south, Israel has had to deal with proxy attacks from the Houthi rebels, an Iranian-sponsored military organization situated in Yemen that has vowed to attack any and all ships travelling through the Red Sea Strait en route to or from Israel.  The Houthis have fired several long-range, Iranian-supplied missiles at Eilat and other places in Israel.  To date, these missiles have been shot down by U.S. or Israeli defence forces using anti-missile systems.

The big "mastermind" behind all of this - and the main enemy is, of course, the Republic of Iran, which has armed, trained, sponsored and, largely, controlled all of these forces.  Iran is using Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and other groups as proxies to attack Israeli while, to date, avoiding any direct attacks on Israel.  As recently as yesterday, Iran threatened to begin direct attacks against Israel soon. Iran has, for several years, called for the destruction of Israel and is certainly the most hostile country in the region towards the State of  Israel.  Iran has also been the sponsor of virulent anti-Semitic propaganda including Holocaust denial and other poisonous forms of anti-Jewish bigotry.

To get to seven fronts, you can separate the Syrian forces from the Iraqi forces - though attacks and activity from these two groups are largely originating from the same place.

Now with that all in mind, calling for an "unconditional cease fire" is tantamount to calling for Israel to surrender to these various enemies, which Israel certainly will not do.  The Hamas leadership, in interviews since October 7, 2023, has stated that they plan to carry out the same types of attacks "over and over again" until "Israel is destroyed."  Iran has made similar threats. Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah started this war and they have not offered any proposals or concessions that would form the basis for a short or long term cease fire.

For now, the prospects of all of this ending any time soon seem bleak.  At this point, it seems unfathomable that Israel will conclude the war in Gaza without destroying the Hamas leadership or coming to a deal whereby the Hamas leadership leaves Gaza (like the Lebanon war deal in the 1980s in which Arafat and the PLO left Beirut and went to Tunisia).  Israel will also need to insist on a deal whereby Hezbollah moves back, several kilometres, from the Israeli-Lebanon border and the Israeli-Syrian border.  If there is no deal with Hezbollah, there may will be a full-blown war with Lebanon, that could start any time now.

As for Iran, I don't believe that Israel is about to launch a major attack on Iran, though there are certainly scenarios in which Iran could draw the U.S. into the conflict and provoke U.S. operations against Iran.  This does not seem too likely as of now, but the Middle East is quite unpredictable.

Israeli Appreciation towards Soldiers

One of our family members was home for a break from reserve duty in Gaza.  We went to grab breakfast before he had to return.  He was in uniform.  As we were sitting in the cafe, some Ra'anana residents came over to talk to him.  They thanked him for his service and insisted on paying for whatever he wanted to order (as well as anything his friend and fellow soldier ordered).  Of course we would have been happy to pay the bill but this was such a nice gesture.  It is something that happens all  over Israel wherever civilians see soldiers in uniform, especially these days.

Hostages

According to current reports, there are still about 133 hostages being held by Hamas who were taken into captivity on October 7, 2023.  Some were soldiers, some were residents of the various Kibbutzim and communities near Gaza that were attacked and some were concert-goers attending the Nova music festival. Some very young children are still in captivity, assuming they are alive.  No list has been provided by Hamas or the International Red Cross - or anyone else.  We really don't know how many of  these hostages are still alive, what condition they are in or where they are being held.  

Based on information we have received from released hostages, we know that the hostages were being held in very difficult conditions with very little food  and water provided each day.  Some of the women were separated out and kept in different areas.  There are reports (from the released hostages and others) about widespread sexual abuse.  Some of the other hostages were quite elderly, in their 80s, with various medical conditions.  

Israelis have been demonstrating in support of the families of these hostages and demanding that the government take all appropriate steps to return the hostages home.  But so far, there is no available deal on the table that would bring this about.  There are rumours of different negotiations taking place, brokered by Egypt, Qatar or others - but I have not heard any reports that a deal is close.

Civilian Deaths

Israel is obviously facing a difficult situation trying to extricate Hamas from Gaza while they have embedded their fighters in civilian populations and launched attacks from schools, mosques, hospitals and other crowded areas.  Even the Hamas leadership is apparently now using groups of hostages as human shields to avoid being killed or captured.

The Hamas Health Ministry has been reporting more than 20,000 Gazans as having been killed.  But there are a few things to remember.

First of all, the numbers are not verified and Hamas has notoriously exaggerated or fabricated numbers of casualties (remember the hospital incident early this year).  

Secondly, Hamas does not announce the numbers of fighters who are killed.  By Israel estimates, the numbers of Hamas fighters killed are 1/2 to 2/3 of the total number killed.  In other words - the actual Hamas numbers of total casualties my be anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 - we just don't know.

Of those, the number of Hamas fighters killed is between 8,000 and 12,000, according to different Israeli sources.

Suffice it to say that the civilian casualty numbers are therefore much lower than the numbers that are simply accepted and printed by publications and news media around the world.

This is not to say that anyone in Israel is happy to see high numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza.

But at the same time - we are dealing with an enemy that is trying to kill as many of us as possible- civilians and military personnel.  In that circumstance - Israelis feel that we are better off killing our enemies than being killed ourselves.  This is the same type of reaction that the Allies had when dealing with Germany - or Japan in World War II - or that any nation has when confronted with an armed conflict started by an enemy.

The Israeli army would rather protect the lives of as many Israelis (soldiers and civilians) as possible, even if that means that there are civilian casualties while fighting Hamas. That's unfortunate but it is a by-product of war.  Certainly the civilian casualties in Gaza or far lower than the casualty numbers in conflicts involving Russia, Syria or even the United States (see Afghanistan, Iraq or other places).

To call the Israeli war against Hamas a "genocide" is  nothing less than a morally vacuous blood libel.  Yet that is the language coming from Turkey, Iran, Hamas-sponsored university groups across the United States and Canada and other places.

Volunteers and Visitors

Amidst all of this, people are still visiting Israel, as difficult as it might be to get here (with El Al and Emirates being the only airlines that are currently flying to Israel).  One of our friends arrived last week and is volunteering with "Sar-El" a group that stations volunteers for two-week periods at army bases around Israel to help pack supplies, equipment, food and assist in other ways.  Another friend has been visiting and volunteering to pick fruit and vegetables at various sites around the country.  Israel normally relies on labour from Thailand, Judea and Samaria, some Gazans and other foreign workers for much of the seasonal agricultural work.  Very few workers from any of these places are available.  Farmers around the country have been begging Israelis and others to come help  out - sometimes on a paid basis and sometimes as volunteers.  Israelis and people from all over the world have been answering the call.

Many synagogues from across  North America and other places have been bringing "missions" to Israel.  A group from the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York came earlier this month.  In mid-January, a group will be visiting Israel from Beth Tikvah Synagogue in Toronto.  Just today, some friends told us that they will be arriving in mid-January for a 10 day trip - including some time volunteering in different places.

In short, there are lots of volunteer opportunities and I think Israelis are very grateful for the help - both from non-Israelis - who have shown up to volunteer - and from Israelis - many of whom are volunteering in different ways.

Of course, many other tours have been cancelled - including the various birthright groups. Some friends who were planning to come cancelled - and others postponed their trips. I think the short term future of tourism to Israel is very much up in the air - like so many other things for Israelis now including academic programs, social events, work and so many other parts of a normal routine. So many of our young people are cancelling all of these events to serve in life and death missions in Gaza, Israel's north, or wherever else they might be stationed.

Getting Here

As I mentioned above, only El Al and Emirates (as well as the Emirates subsidiary "Fly Dubai") are flying to Tel-Aviv now.  El Al is flying to several cities in the U.S. - so if you are flying from New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami or some other cities - and don't mind flying El Al - there are still available flights.

In my case, as I have written in different articles in the past, I tend to stick with Star Alliance airlines,  flying  Air Canada as often as I can.  So I have been joining Air Canada flights with El Al flights.  They don't have a baggage sharing arrangement - so I have had to collect my bags, go through immigration and then re-check-in to drop off my bag.  It is very cumbersome.  If you are doing this, you need to allow about four hours for a transfer.

For my flight back to Toronto, I flew through Amsterdam without a checked bag.  This was much better than flying with a bag since I did not have to go through immigration, security or anything else.  I was just able to make my way over to the Air Canada gate with lots of time to spare and even managed to spend time in the lounge in Amsterdam (which was nothing exciting).

On my way back to Israel, I flew Air Canada to London.  That part of the flight was fine.  I then had to collect my bags and walk quite a long distance to the subway system to take a train to terminal 4.  This took quite a while and was a bit of a pain since I had a suitcase with me - along with a carry on bag and a knapsack.  There were lots of escalators, moving walkways, corridors and other parts to this journey - which took close to an hour in total.

Once I arrived at terminal 4 - things were fine - though the El Al gate was not even open yet.  So I wound up sitting around in a coffee bar waiting for the El Al desk to open.

Overall, it was certainly better than Amsterdam but it was not fun. At least the immigration line was efficient.

I haven't found the ideal arrangement yet though I will have to go back to Toronto in mid-January.  My current plan is to travel again through Rome.  (El Al to Rome and then Air Canada to Toronto).

Although some airlines have announced a resumption of service to Israel, scheduled for mid-January, I don't believe that these flights will begin again until there is a cease fire of some sort. I guess we will have to see.

Entertainment

Throughout all of this, Israeli TV has continued to broadcast episodes of "Eretz Nehederet" ("It's a Wonderful Country") which is the closest thing Israel has to Saturday Night Live. The show is replete with satirical sketches involving impersonators of many of Israel's political leaders and other public figures.  Eretz Nehederet has aired some sketches in English poking fun at the BBC's coverage of the war, the U.S. college campus situation and other world events.  Much of the humour is very dark - but they are trying to bring a bit of levity to a very difficult situation.  The skits are hit or miss.  Some are extremely funny, some not so much.  Isn't that the case with any satirical show?

Last week's show included an impersonation of Tzvi Yehezkeli - an Israeli commentator who is fluent in Arabic and has been on Israeli TV continuously, providing interpretations of Arabic news releases and statements.  The Eretz Nehederet version was quite spot-on, making fun of Yehezkeli's  explanation of Arabic phrases and idioms.  At one point - the impersonator provided a sentence in Arabic - and then offered the translation - "The world is like a cucumber....one day you are holding it in your hand - and the next day it is stuck up your butt."  I'm not here to interpret these things - I am just passing on what I heard (and laughed at, I have to say).

Last  night, Eretz Nehederet aired a very serious sketch involving a traumatized soldier showing up to watch his family arguing about politics as usual. This one was tear-inducing and difficult to watch. The skit was done with an overlay of the song "Kama Tov She'bata Habayta" - ("How great it is that you have come home") - sung originally in 1971 by the late Israeli singer Arik Einstein. The song was originally written as a group effort by Yankele Rotblitt, Shalom Hanoch and Itzkhak Klapter.  The original version was written welcoming someone back after returning from a long trip abroad. Eretz Nehederet changed the words somewhat. Not sure if there is a translation available yet - but if your Hebrew is up to it - and the link works wherever you are - you can use the link above to watch it. Even without the Hebrew translation, you can probably get the mood from the sombre tone and the scene itself.

The other Israeli show that has been airing twice a week is "Zehu Zeh"  ("That's that") which is also a satirical show but a very different format. I think I have written about it in the past. They have also been airing skits making fun of the Houthis - implying that they are launching rockets at Israel from Yemen because they are bored. Zehu Zeh usually features two songs each episode, one with a guest singer.  Over the past few weeks - many different guests have appeared including Eidan Reichel, Chava Alberstein, and others.  The music has generally been excellent.  The comedy sketches - hit or miss.

Israeli singers have continued to travel the country performing for soldiers all over - whether in bases near Gaza, Gaza itself - or in different places in the north.  Some stand-up comedians have also been entertaining soldiers.  As you might have seen, Jerry Seinfeld showed up in Israel last week as a gesture of support - though I am not sure that he entertained troops anywhere.

December Holidays in Israeli

As you might know, Christmas is largely a non-event in Israel, outside of pockets of Christian communities.  It is a regular workday, everything is open.  It is quite something to see - for someone who is used to being bombarded with Christmas music in restaurants, shopping malls and everywhere else for two months before the holiday in Canada.

I have nothing against people celebrating Christmas - I wish all of my friends the very best in enjoying their celebrations. And if I am in Toronto and invited to a party or a dinner, I am certainly happy to join them.

At the same time, it is a season where, when I am in Toronto, I am constantly reminded how I differ from everyone else - how I stick out as a minority - and how I don't belong.  

Even though Israel is a majority Jewish state, the malls are not generally decorated with any particular holiday's decorations - and there is no time of the year where Jewish holiday-themed music is on the radio 24/7.  On the actual holidays, everything is closed. But it seems to me it would be a lot less "in your face" than the way Christmas is celebrated in North America - even though Canada is not supposed to be a "religious" country by definition.

In Toronto this year, the local Second Cup starting playing Christmas music right after Canadian Thanksgiving ended (in October). I would have thought that even people who celebrate Christmas would be happy with two to three weeks of Christmas music at most.  But maybe I'm wrong.

Anti-Semitism Around the World

One of the major effects of this war has been a massive ramp up in anti-Semitism around the world.  The U.S. Ivy League schools (many of which receive huge donations from Qatar) have been at the forefront of anti-Israel demonstrations - many of which have blended into anti-Jewish hatefests.  

In Canada, the universities have not been much better.  Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) has been the source of some of the most vitriolic anti-Israel - and anti-Jewish hate speech.  York University has not been far behind. University of Toronto's "Varsity" publication has been spewing repugnant disinformation. CUPE (the Canadian Union of Public Employees) has a leader who "rejoiced" the day after the October 7th massacres and has engaged in an outrageous smear campaign against Israel.

Through all of this, Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was the proud recipient of thank you video put out by one of the Hamas leaders - obviously an ignominious and dubious honour.  I think that Australia and New Zealand also received this fine mention from Hamas - and perhaps Ireland as well.

There have also been demonstrations across Europe and around the world, chanting "from the River to the Sea..." which is a call for the destruction of Israel. As a result, there is quite a feeling of isolation here right now. Israel seems to have very few real friends - the United States, Germany - and some days Britain  Maybe a handful of others.

Interestingly, there was a poll published last week in Israel - in which Israelis were asked "who is a better friend of Israel - Trump or Biden?" Far more Israelis went with Biden - which was a new phenomenon for Israelis, many of whom had viewed Trump as one of the best U.S. Presidents that Israel ever had as a friend in the White House.

But really - aside from all of this - for those European Countries that are wavering, and others, the situation is not that complicated.  You have on the one hand an axis of Russia, Hamas, Turkey, Qatar, Hezbollah, Iran and a handful of others. On the other hand - Israel, the U.S., Germany, Great Britain and some others.  I don't even think one needs to say more than that. For the countries supporting the Hamas-Qatar-Iran group - unfortunately, they will probably wind up next on the list soon enough.  And frankly, this is probably a very real warning to Trudeau and his government who want to bring hundreds of thousands of Hamas sympathizers to Canada. All I can do here is quote President Biden - "Don't!....just don't!..."

And I think that is about it for now.  I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2024 and hope that it will be a much more peaceful year.  Best regards from Israel.

War in Israel - Day 16 - Update

We are in day 16 of war and there are no signs that we are anywhere near any kind of cease-fire.  On the contrary, there are significant signs that this war will expand very soon.  It is evident that Israel is fighting a war against Iran, to this point, against Iran's proxies - Hamas, Hezbollah, Syrian-based fighters and now, the Houthis, in Yemen.  Many different articles, including articles in Reuters and other places (often pro-Hamas) have quoted Iranian sources as all but admitting that Iran is pulling the strings and controlling the extent to which Hezbollah, the Houthis, and others, will be involved.  

Iran has stated many times, for years, that it would like to destroy Israel and plans to so. To that end, it has armed Hamas, Hezbollah and other forces, and worked on developing nuclear weapons, with the primary intention of carrying out attacks against Israel.  If Iran views this war as the opportunity it has been waiting for, it may join the war directly. That would almost certainly mean fighting directly against the U.S. On the optimistic side, it is far from clear at this point that Iran is ready for or interested in that entanglement.

With that opening, I would like to cover a few different areas in the limited scope of this blog. Call it news or items that jump out at me since I could not possibly write this as a comprehensive blog. Even in non-war times, the task would be Herculean.  In times of war it would be impossible.

Fall Out from October 7 - Simchat Torah Massacre 

As of now, the Israeli government reports that Hamas and its allies are holding 212 hostages in Gaza - the majority of whom are civilians including young children, senior citizens, men and women of all ages.  Some soldiers are also being held captive.  More than 1,300 Israelis were killed in the attacks on October 7, the vast majority of whom were civilians.  More than 3,000 were injured. More than 300 are still in the hospital and at least 50 of those are in serious or critical condition.

Since October 7, extensive information has emerged about what took place, about Hamas'  preparations, plans, weaponry and goals. The details are often too gruesome to recount. Victims were burned alive, often tied together with wires before being set on fire. Some of the bodies have not yet been identified. Infants were murdered and in many cases decapitated. Whole families were tortured and then murdered. Civilians of all different ages were murdered in horrendous fashion.

Investigators found Hamas instruction booklets carried by many of the terrorists with detailed plans.  The plans specifically noted where the schools, nurseries and  synagogues were with instructions for  murdering everyone in those places. These Hamas terrorists also brought with them extra blood supplies, food provisions, medicines and sufficient provisions to last for one to two months. They also brought large quantities of captogen (fenethylline), a psychostimulant, which is mainly produced in Syria, a drug that was also used by members of ISIS. The plans that Hamas terrorists were carrying included instructions for massacring civilians in Ashqelon and Kiryat Gat.

This mass terrorist attack has devasted most of the Israeli communities that were situated near the Gaza strip. Whole neighbourhoods were destroyed, the homes were burned down, everything nearby was set aflame or destroyed. The survivors have been placed in hotels in different places in Israel - or with other communities or Israelis in different places. Israelis across the country have organized groups to help with supplies, fundraising, food and every other possible type of help.  

Israel's Reaction So Far

How is a country to react to this type of attack? Since Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005, Gaza has been controlled and run by Hamas, a terrorist organization, which acts as the Gaza government. Hamas has dedicated itself to building up weaponry, tunnels, military forces and it has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction. It has fostered hatred of Jews in its schools, training camps and throughout the Gaza strip. This is our neighbour.

Israel has fought several wars with Gaza during which Gaza has launched rocket attacks at civilian targets across Israel and targeted Israeli civilians in every way possible. On each occasion, world leaders have called for "restraint" and "proportionality" while Israel has tried to get to the source of these attacks by going after Hamas and Islamic Jihad forces - while trying to minimize civilian casualties. That is a challenging task since Hamas sets up its headquarters and its munitions depots in densely populated centres including schools, mosques, hospitals and underground beneath residential areas.

But the scope of this 2023 attack is on an entirely different scale. More than 1,400 people killed in an  attack in Israel is an unimaginable number. On a per-capita basis, this would be the equivalent of an attack on the U.S. from a neighbouring country that killed more than 40,000 people (in gruesome  ways) in several different cities - and injured more than 90,000.   

It is also worth noting that at the time Hamas carried out these attacks on Israeli communities, it announced that it was "declaring war" on Israel. Contrary to some reports you may have read, Israel did not just go ahead and launch a war on Hamas. Rather, it responded to Hamas.

When a country is faced with a murderous, terrorist regime next door, that carries out these types of attacks, it should be fairly evident that there are few alternatives. Israel has no alternative now but to fight to destroy and overthrow the Hamas regime, much in the same way the Allies had to rid the world of the murderous Nazi regime or the Japanese leadership during World War II. Israel will target the entire Hamas leadership, its military infrastructure, its tunnel systems and its military arsenals. I think it is unlikely that this war will end until the vast majority of this has all been destroyed. Anything short will leave Israel fighting these wars over and over and over, every two or three years.

What are the alternatives?  Around the world, some Hamas allies, supporters and other apologists are calling  for an immediate "cease fire."  What would that mean?  It would pretty much be a surrender for  Israel and would allow Hamas to rebuild its arsenal and prepare for the next attack. This is not happening. Israel cannot function with this type of regime continuing to threaten and carry out attacks repeatedly.

Political  Solution?  There isn't really one at this time. Although many Israelis are hoping that it will be possible to reach a political deal with the Palestinians, especially those currently living in Judea and  Samaria (the "West Bank"), there is no possibility of reaching a deal with a terrorist group like Hamas, dedicated to destroying Israel. Ultimately, the regime will need to be replaced with some other form of government, with careful controls to keep the area demilitarized - and a build up of economic infrastructure and opportunity, rather than military infrastructure. Alternatives might include another Palestinian leadership, some type of international coalition or some other arrangements. If the Palestinian people in Gaza are able to install a government that is focused on economic, health care, infrastructure and other initiatives, rather then on destroying Israel, there may be a chance for future, peaceful co-existence.

Since 2005, Israel and Egypt have both controlled different parts of the border to Gaza. Palestinian advocates are constantly arguing that Israel should "open its borders" and let Gazans into Israel to work, travel etc., But look at what happened now. For one thing, Hamas has spent years building up weaponry, rockets, all kinds of military equipment, while planning its attacks. Nothing about what Hamas has done since 2005, and especially in these attacks, provides any reason for Israel to open or ease its border with Gaza.

There were many workers from Gaza with permits to work in Israel, who were crossing into Israel to work regularly. We now know that many of these workers were cooperating with Hamas - taking pictures, providing information about military bases, security arrangements in communities and detailed drawings and plans of places in Israel. Much of this information was used by Hamas in its attacks. I do not see a situation in the near future where Gaza residents will be crossing into Israel, for any reason after this war ends. If one of the supposed "reasons" for this Hamas massacre was to "open the gates," this type of terrorism will certainly set back any discussion of looser borders.

Other Conflict Areas

As I mentioned above, it is quite clear that much of the current anti-Israeli activity is being controlled by the Iranian regime, which is the primary sponsor of Hamas. Iran also sponsors, equips, trains and controls the Hezbollah regime, which is the largest non-state military actor in the region and which controls Lebanon.

Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Hezbollah has been making all kinds of threats against Israel. As well, Hezbollah has been launching increasingly severe attacks against Israel from the north.  They have launched rockets, drones, anti-tank missiles and artillery fire at Israel, killing several  Israelis and wounding many others. Israel has responded with attacks that have killed several Hezbollah fighters and that have corresponded to the intensity of the Hezbollah attacks.  

There is a growing sense that Israel will soon be embroiled in a full scale war with Lebanon. Israel has ordered the evacuation of many of its northern cities, including Metullah. The U.S. has moved two aircraft carriers to the region. Canada has announced an evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon. Israel has called up a massive number of reserve soldiers and has an enormous number of troops ready to fight on its northern border. It is all up to the leaders in Iran - to give the signal to Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah - to launch a full scale war. The U.S. has, thus far, indicated that it will not put "boots on the ground" in Lebanon - but it may well be that aircraft from the U.S.S. Gerald Ford or the U.S.S. Eisenhower would become involved if Israel were to be attacked by Lebanon.

It seems unlikely that Israel will launch a pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah, even though some Israeli military leaders now believe that would be better for Israel than waiting to be attacked. But President Biden seems to be urging Israel to refrain, with the hope that Hezbollah may ultimately choose to stay out of the conflict. It is really hard to predict at this point. But if Hezbollah goes all in for a full military conflict with Israel, that may well spread to include Iran and the U.S.

Iran also has armed forces in north eastern Syria that have been arriving from Iraq. Israel has already launched some defensive actions against some of these forces as they progress towards Israel.

On Thursday night - the Iranian backed Houthis, a Yemenite group, loyal to Iran, launched several drones at Israel, destined for Eilat. These attacks were reportedly thwarted by the U.S. navy - but we  now have an indication that another Iranian proxy, the Yemenite Houthis, want to become involved as well. I don't think they were really on Israel's radar - and the Houthis have had enough problems fighting their own civil war in Yemen. But here we are, adding in another possible party to the conflict.  As a breaking news addition to this update, just before I complete it, the Houthis have just announced that if Israel begins a ground incursion into Gaza, the Houthis will launch an all out attack on all Israeli ships in the Red Sea. I would imagine that Israel and/or the U.S. would strike the Houthis very hard if they carry out these threats.

Overall, it is quite evident that Israel is now fighting a broad, regional war, sponsored by Iran and its proxies, which has become more of an existential threat than what I might have previously described as a more localized but large-scale Hamas terrorist attack. The war is still simmering in some places but it may boil over soon and the scale of this war may be unfathomable. 

The World

This past week, leaders from around the world visited Israel, including President Biden, French President Macron, British Prime Minister Sunak, German Chancellor Scholz. For the most part, these leaders were sympathetic to Israel, aware of the situation - and at the same time, trying to do whatever they can to limit the spread of the war and to minimize civilian casualties. Israelis were particularly comforted impressed by President Biden who showed extraordinary leadership. He sent two aircraft carriers to the region immediately. He visited Israel during war time, in dangerous conditions. He met with families of hostages and with Israelis who acted heroically to save others. Further, President Biden delivered three speeches, two of which were exceptional (the two speeches he gave in Israel). 

As a side note, President Biden's second speech in Israel included a mini "dvar-Torah" - a Bible-related discussion - during which he spoke about the holiday that the Jewish people were celebrating the day of the Hamas massacre. He mentioned the tremendous loss that the Jewish people faced when Moses died at the end of the last book of the Torah. The President spoke about how the holiday marks a point in the year where the Jewish people conclude the annual reading of the Torah, by reading the final chapter, with all of its sadness, and then somehow move on to a new beginning, by starting the reading of the Torah over again, right away. I thought was very well done, whether it was written by the President himself, one of his speech writers or hired rabbi somewhere.   

All of this support and empathy stands in enormous contrast to the U.S. stance 50 years ago, during the Yom Kippur  War, in which President Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger were reluctant to support Israel in any way at the war's outset.  The U.S. initially turned down Israel's requests even though the U.S.S.R. was providing airlifts of military equipment to Egypt and Syria, the countries that had launched the 1973 war. President Biden still has to deal with some  in his party who would prefer a less "pro-Israel" stance but for now, in my view, just as he has done in the case of the Ukraine, President Biden has shown some real leadership. 

The Press

The war is just over two weeks old but we have already seen some examples of outrageous reporting.  The New York Times reported on an alleged Israeli attack on a Palestinian hospital just minutes after it  occurred, promptly blaming the Israelis and claiming that Israel had killed more than 500 civilians. As we now know, the attack was from an Islamic Jihad missile, aimed at Israel, that misfired. This has been verified by U.S., French, British, Israeli and even Canadian intelligence (the Canadians took the  longest time to confirm). The rocket landed in the hospital parking lot and killed less than 50 people.  So it wasn't Israel targeting a hospital, it wasn't an airstrike and the rocket, sent by the Islamic Jihad, killed less than 50 people and not 500. How does the New York Times get something like this so wrong?  And how do they repair the damage they caused? The NYT headlines and those of media outlets around the world led to Arab demonstrations around the world, in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and other countries. We should expect more from the New York Times and other media outlets. Is it too much to ask for the truth?

The CBC in Canada continues to avoid calling Hamas members terrorists. Instead we get "fighters," "gunmen" or "militants." Surely those are the right labels for these types of attacks including burning people alive, rapes, hostage taking, beheadings, torture and other atrocities. Even though the UK lists  Hamas, officially, as a "terrorist organization," the BBC has, to date, refused to call Hamas members "terrorists," preferring "Hamas Fighters" and other labels. Needless to say, all of this is shameful.

There are a great many other points to cover over worldwide media issues, but I will leave this for another blog.  I would just say, for one, I have seen and read some outstanding speeches and articles over the past few weeks that have made the case for Israel very well, including some talks by Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Rabbi Cosgrove of the Park Avenue Synagogue and many others.  

I have also read about the backfire against the Harvard students who are upset that they have been "doxxed" and "outed" for making statements supportive of Hamas after its brutal attacks.  They claim  "freedom of speech."  But I really don't think that freedom of speech means anonymously supporting terrorist attacks and remaining free of any accountability or consequences. If these people were lauding other terrorist attacks (like 9/11) or promoting attacks against blacks, women, other minorities, etc., they would almost certainly be sanctioned, in some cases, dismissed from their jobs or they would face other consequences. Anyone who has any justification to offer for these obscene and outrageous crimes against civilians obviously has other motives.  

Other

Most international airlines have suspended their service to Israel, though El Al and a handful of other airlines continue to fly.  I was scheduled to fly to Canada this week but all Air Canada flights have been suspended at least until October 31, 2023. Looks like I will have to fly El Al to leave the country in early November (and change somewhere in Europe or the U.S.) to attend to different matters that require me to be in Canada. Will have to see what things look like at that point in time.

We supplied about 160 soldiers (one of whom was a family member) with Jachnun for Shabbat along with the usual accompaniments - hard boiled  eggs, grated tomato sauce, hot sauce etc.,  The soldiers  were thrilled.  They have food and are not short of supplies. But they are always happy to get something special, especially for Shabbat. Israel is a small country and the distances are manageable, so many parents make food deliveries to bases where there children are stationed - when that is possible. I won't give a detailed description of "Jachnun" other than to say that it is originally a Yemenite Jewish food, eaten on Shabbat, that has become a Shabbat morning delicacy for Israelis everywhere over the years.

Our drive to meet up with the soldiers was a bit nail-biting, even though it was uneventful, thankfully.

For now, Ra'anana has been relatively quiet. We have had several sirens go off, which require us to go to the "secured room" - a form of bomb shelter.  But I'm not aware of anything landing in Ra'anana so far. If Hezbollah joins the war, things may be very different.

Many businesses are still open around Israel but this war is very different from anything I have seen here since my first time coming to Israel in 1982. There is a real concern that this has been, and will be, one of the most difficult wars that Israel has fought. We are mourning for the more than 1400 victims of this Hamas massacre. Some of the bodies have not yet been identified and many funerals have not yet taken place. We are hoping and praying for the safety and well being of our soldiers and civilians, for the return of all of the hostages and for the full recovery of all those of who have been injured. We also hope for a speedy victory over Hamas with the lowest possible number of civilian casualties among Israelis and innocent Palestinians and a real opportunity to change the reality in this region when this is all over. I cannot say that I am too optimistic at this point but we have no alternative but to hope for the best.

Day 8 of War - Increasing Escalation

We are the midst of day eight of a war with Hamas/Gaza, which is a really a war with several parties, including Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and the Palestinian Authority, even though parts of this war have not yet started.  I don't write this as a scare tactic but rather as my best assessment of where we are currently.

I am not going to recap in this blog the full extent of the massacre conduct by Hamas terrorists last week. I will say that over the past week, we have learned more and more details of the extensive planning that went into this attack with the clear aim of murdering civilians, taking hostages, looting and other outrageous acts. More than 1,300 Israelis were murdered and more than 3,000 were injured - all of this conducted by the official government that runs and controls the Gaza strip -  Hamas - which announced its actions as a "declaration of war" on Israel last week.

Since last week, Israel has launched extensive air raids on Gaza and has killed several of Hamas' senior military commanders. Hundreds of thousands of Israeli troops have been called up and many are massed at the border of Gaza, prepared to enter if and when they receive the order to do so.

Although Israel has warned residents of northern Gaza to leave and take shelter in the south - and has threatened to begin a ground option "at any time" - the extent and nature of the pending Israeli operation is yet to be determined. It is clearly a top priority for Israel to destroy the entire network of Hamas tunnels, weapons and communications facilities and everything else that Hamas has built up underground across Gaza.  How exactly Israel plans to do this remains to be seen. However, Israelis across the political spectrum are largely unified and view the complete destruction of Hamas' military capabilities as an imperative and the key war aim for Israel.

Other Fronts

As we know, Hamas is funded, trained and supported by Iran as well as Qatar and to some extent, Turkey.  Hamas also works closely with Iran's proxy, Hezbollah, which controls Lebanon and parts of Syria.  Hezbollah has pledged, at least in some form, to support Hamas in this war.  It may well be that Hezbollah and Hamas have a detailed plan as to how and when Hezbollah will get involved.  Or perhaps Hezbollah is playing it by ear. 

Since the war  began, Hezbollah has been slowly increasing its involvement - just enough to avoid starting a full scale war. They have fired unmanned drones, missiles, rockets and other weaponry at Israel but in small quantities. Today, Hezbollah stepped up its attacks. In the morning, they fired an RPG that killed one  Israeli and  injured five others. Later this afternoon, they fired another RPG that killed two more civilians.  As I have been writing this blog, Hezbollah has fired 7 more RPGs at Israeli troops. Israel has answered these attacks with air strikes and other retaliatory measures, though still on a relatively restrained scale. However, at this point, it now seems to be a question of when, rather then if, Israel will be in a full scale war with Hezbollah and Lebanon. This may well erupt completely today or tomorrow.

Lebanon has a massive storehouse of missiles, drones, rockets and all types of other weaponry. Hezbollah has thousands of Hezbollah fighters gathered near the border and it seems very unlikely that they will  decide to stay out of the war. The US has two aircraft carriers in place, one in the Mediterranean off the coast of  Israel.  It is unclear what role the U.S. will play in a fight between Israel and Hezbollah, but President Biden's speeches suggest that the U.S. is likely to use its air power if Israel is attacked by Hezbollah/Iran.

To the east of Lebanon, thousands of troops are now ready in Syria, some from Syria and some from Iraq. So far, these troops have fired a few times towards Israel. There are suggestions that Hezbollah would rather attack Israel from the east - and have Syria serve as the war theatre rather than Lebanon. However, Israel is not buying this. If Israel is drawn into an all out war with Hezbollah, Israel will almost certainly flatten parts of Beirut and other areas in Lebanon. That threat may be the one thing that is restraining Hezbollah so far.

Palestinian areas in Judea and Samaria including groups in Jenin are also threatening to get involved, all to help spread the army thinner. Right now, this does not seem to be a major threat but it may develop into one.

The major player behind all of this is clearly Iran, which is controlling the strings of everything that is going on. It is unclear whether Iran is interested in joining this war, though it has threatened to destroy Israel for many years.  The U.S. aircraft carriers may be a deterrent here but we simply don't know what Iran has planned as part of this war.

Stories of Bravery    

There are hundreds of stories of incredible acts of bravery that took place last week by police officers, soldiers, civilians and others. I wanted to mention a few.

In the kibbutz of Nir Am, the leader of the Kibbutz's Readiness Forces, Inbal Lieberman (26), received an early notification of an impending attack. She sprung into action, got all of the forces up and ready and developed an action plan and spread the forces (12 of them) to different stations across the Kibbutz. With her direction, the Kibbutz forces held off and killed waves of Hamas terrorists - until Israeli enforcements were later able to arrive and engage the remaining Hamas forces further. No civilians were killed at Nir Am, one of the few developments that suffered no civilian casualties and was not destroyed by the terrorists on Saturday October 7, 2023.

Another story involves Yair Golan, who is a former Knesset member for the left wing Meretz party. He is also a retired Major General in the IDF. He is  61. He received phone calls from different people early Sunday morning about kids who were trapped at the Nova party - and were reporting that Hamas terrorists were massacring people. Described as a "one-man army," Golan wasted no time. He grabbed a weapon, got into his car and sped to the area. In what sounds like scenes from a Mission Impossible or James Bond movie - he raced to locations provided to him by trapped party-goers, using their cell-phones. Along the way, he killed several Hamas terrorists. He loaded up his car, drove the kids to safety and went back to pick up other groups. It is unclear how many he brought to safety but the stories are simply astounding. Earlier this year, Golan was being called a "traitor" and "anarchist" by some Likud members since he opposed Netanyahu's attack on the judiciary. Now many of those same members are saluting his bravery and thanking him.

I also want to mention the story of Moran Tagdi, a police officer who took control of a dangerous situation involving a group of Hamas terrorists fighting from the rooftop of a two story complex in one of the Kibbutzim.  A group of officers and soldiers were involved in an intense gunfight with Hamas terrorists who had grenades, RPGs and other weapons. Tagdi came up with a plan - and told the other officers to continue to occupy the attention of the terrorists. She sent Whatsapp messages to her kids, telling them that she loved them, since she didn't know if she would survive. She took two fighters with her. They snuck around the rear of the building, made her way up the stairs and killed the three terrorists.  

There are hundreds of other stories but the stories I have cited caught my attention his week. Many stories didn't turn out as well. One Israeli commando apparently killed more than 40 Hamas terrorists himself over a period of three hours before he ran out of ammunition and was killed himself. Another group of Kibbutz Readiness forces tried to fight back but were hit with rocket launchers by Hamas and were all killed - and unable to stop Hamas pillaging, murder and hostage-taking in their kibbutz. More than 250 Israeli soldiers and more than 40 police officers were killed fighting back.  

It is evident that even in the face of a massive surprise invasion by terrorists intent on carrying out all kinds of heinous crimes, there were many points of light in the form of brave police officers, soldiers and civilians who acted quickly and saved lives.

Hostages

As you probably know, there are more than 140 hostages  in Gaza, of all different ages, taken by Hamas. We have very limited information  about them or their whereabouts. It may be that the IDF is trying to rescue some as we speak - though so far - Israel has only managed to retrieve some bodies of hostages who were either killed in Hamas captivity or whose bodies were taken by Hamas for negotiations. We have not heard about any efforts by the Red Cross or any other "humanitarian" organizations to try and release these hostages. President Biden met personally with family members of some of the hostages. While Israel always makes it a key priority to rescue its hostages, it is facing major challenges  in the  context of this current war.  I have to believe that the army is taking whatever steps it can but this is a very difficult  situation.

Personal

We appreciate the many warm messages we have received. Things are extremely stressful here. The war is threatening to spin out of control and grow into a much wider regional conflict. We are concerned for the safety of family members, friends, neighbours, community members and  others - and there is a great deal of uncertainty how long this might go on. It could be several months or longer.

Israel is determined to remove Hamas from Gaza as a threat and to ensure that Gaza cannot threaten Israel militarily.  It is also determined to capture or kill all of those who were responsible for the heinous terrorist acts committed last week. Both of those goals may take a while and may lead to months and months of fighting - while Israel may also have to fight one or two additional fronts at the same time.  

We hope and pray that this will all end quickly and successfully for Israel, however one might describe "success" in these circumstances, given what has taken place so far.