DAY 108 OF THE GAZA WAR: Heavy Fighting with Serious Casualties, Hostage Families Protest, Musk Visits Auschwitz, US GB Attack Houthis
Tel Aviv Diary January 22, 2024
Following a prolonged period during which the IDF's advance in Khan Younis seemed sluggish, a major strategic shift was initiated today. The Army has resolved to bring the conflict in Khan Younis to a decisive conclusion. Departing from their earlier approach of gradual, incremental progress, the IDF initiated a comprehensive offensive on four fronts, representing a significant change in tactics.
The Army’s objective is to gain total control of the Western part of the city, including the Shuk, the refugee camp, and two hospitals. The four brigades: Givati, Paratroopers Commandos, and all came from different directions, cutting Khan Younis off from Rafah. It was a day of intense combat, as Hamas tried to stop IDF advances — without much success — and at a high cost to Hamas. Regrettably, Hamas did have one success, when they fired an RPG at a building that functioned as a command post for the paratroopers, resulting in the deaths of three officers from the Paratrooper Brigade. Maj. David Nati Alfasi, (27), a deputy Battalion Commander from Beersheba; Maj. Ilay Levy, (24), a Company Commander from Tel Aviv; and Cpt. Eyal Mevorach Twito, (22), a Platoon Commander from Beit Gamliel were all killed. A significant number of soldiers were also wounded.
The IDF may indeed have surprised Hamas in these latest maneuvers. Amid the discussion about the war drawing to a close, Hamas could have been caught off guard by such a large-scale offensive deep within the heart of an area they still control. The next 72 hours will be critical. However, we must remain cautious, as we have been disappointed in the past and sometimes the price we pay can be very significant.
HOSTAGES
The families of the hostages have begun to escalate their efforts. Today, they disrupted a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee, demanding actions are taken to secure the return of their loved ones. A group of the family members met with Prime Minister Netanyahu. At the meeting, the Prime Minister claimed there was no actual Hamas proposal currently on the table. This contradicts his statement yesterday when he claimed that Israel could not accept the Hamas proposal for returning the hostages since it included ending the war.
During the meeting, Netanyahu asserted that Israel is advocating its own plan. While similar to Hamas's proposal, Israel’s bid does not call for ending the war or releasing all of the security prisoners. The country is deeply divided over the issue of what price should be paid for the return of the hostages, particularly as the number of our service members lost is approaching 200 (198 as of today).
The pressing question being asked is, whether the sacrifices of these service members will be in vain, if Hamas is not decisively defeated both as a governing and military entity? It is a relief that I’m not in the position of having to make such decisions.
HOUTHIS
The United States and Great Britain launched a joint strike against the Houthis tonight. For the US, it was the seventh time they have attacked the Houthis in the last week. However, this was only the second joint operation of the US and Great Britain. The allies struck eight targets, including an underground storage facility. Here is the Joint Statement from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States on Additional Strikes Against the Houthis in Yemen
FALSE FLAG?
A very disturbing article appeared in the Washington Post today, titled: Growing Oct. 7 ‘truther’ groups say Hamas massacre was a false flag, written by Elizabeth Dwoskin. The article underscores the fact that despite the Hamas massacre being one of the most thoroughly documented atrocities in history, an increasing number of people are subscribing to the belief that it's a fabrication constructed as a pretext for Israel to launch attacks on Gaza.
In the article, Dwoskin quotes Mirela Monte, who argues, “the Oct. 7 attack was a ‘false flag’ staged by the Israelis — likely with help from the Americans — to justify genocide in Gaza.” “Pure evil,” Monte said. “Israel is like a mad dog off a leash.” At a recent Oakland City Council meeting many speakers denied there was ever a massacre. “Israel murdered their own people on October 7,” said Christina Gutierrez, an analyst in the city’s housing department, where some in the crowd shouted: “antisemitism isn’t real.”
Read the whole article (and do not check your blood pressure while reading.)
ANOTHER IMPORTANT READ
A Tel Aviv Diary subscriber suggested I read a New York Times article, titled: What Is ‘Settler Colonialism’? A look at the academic roots of the idea, which has stirred fierce debate when applied to Israel.
MUSK VISITS AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU
I am not a great fan of Elon Musk, especially in matters related to Twitter. My conflicting perceptions regarding Musk were certainly not eased by his seeming flirtation with antisemitism a few months ago. Musk might have had ulterior motives when he visited Israel and communities attacked by Hamas on October 7th a few weeks ago. However, Musk’s visit to Auschwitz today was an important moment, particularly considering his remarks at a subsequent conference in Krakow.
At that Krakow conference, Musk stated he had been “naïve” when it came to antisemitism:
The circles that I move, I see almost no antisemitism,” he said. “Two-thirds of my friends are Jewish. I’m Jewish by association, aspirationally Jewish. I never hear about it at dinner conversations; it’s an absurdity in my friend circles. But looking at the pro-Hamas rallies that have taken place at almost every city in the West, it’s blown my mind.
Musk went on to say “All of the riots that were in the major cities and college campuses, I think, that was a shocking wakeup call to any sort of civilization or civil-minded person. Really quite a shock,
Musk also said that it was very important to stop the indoctrination of Palestinian children to hate Israel and Jews
ANTISEMITISM @ HARVARD
On another front, it looks like Harvard is not doing a very good job addressing the issues of antisemitism on campus. The following is a statement by Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary, and former President of Harvard. I thought it was worth including here:
After Friday’s new antisemitism task force announcement, I have lost confidence in the determination and ability of the Harvard Corporation and Harvard leadership to maintain Harvard as a place where Jews and Israelis can flourish.
The previously touted advisory committee has disbanded without any ripple, except for the resignation in frustration with the Harvard Administration of its most respected member, Rabbi David Wolpe.
Now we are to have a new task force, whose members have remarkably not yet been chosen, but we have been told that Professor Derek Penslar will be a co-chair.
I have no doubt that Prof Penslar is a profound scholar of Zionism and a person of good will without a trace of personal anti-Semitism who cares deeply about Harvard.
However, I believe that given his record, he is unsuited to leading a task force whose function is to combat what is seen by many as a serious antisemitism problem at Harvard. Recall that AMCHA ranked Harvard worst among over 100 institutions on antisemitism. Harvard is subject to Title Vi litigation and to both Congressional and Executive Branch investigations over antisemitism. Note also that Harvard has suffered worse admissions drop off than any major university in memory because of the events of last semester.
Prof Penslar has publicly minimized Harvard’s antisemitism problem, rejected the definition used by the US government in recent years of antisemitism as too broad, invoked the need for the concept of settler colonialism in analyzing Israel, referred to Israel as an apartheid state and more. While he does not support BDS he has made clear that he sees it as a reasonable position.
None of this, in my view, is problematic for a professor at Harvard or even for a member of the task force, but for the co-chair of an antisemitism task force that is being paralleled with an Islamophobia task force, it seems highly problematic.
Could one imagine Harvard appointing as head of anti-racism task force someone who had minimized the racism problem or who had argued against federal anti-racism efforts? This is yet another example of a double standard between antisemitism and other forms of prejudice.
As interim President, Garber made clear increasing the sense of belonging of Jews is a central objective of the task force. Recent media reports confirm my view that whatever the intellectual merits of his arguments, Prof Penslar is far from the ideal chairman of the task force.
I hope Prof Penslar will recognize that he can best serve the task force’s objectives by stepping away from serving as co-chair. Perhaps his colleagues on the task force can help him to the right conclusion. I also hope Harvard’s leadership will recognize that they have exacerbated Harvard’s credibility problems on antisemitism with the Penslar appointment and take steps to restore their credibility.
As things currently stand, I am unable to reassure Harvard community members, those we are recruiting or prospective students that Harvard is making progress in countering antisemitism.
BUSINESS
CDX, a company that developed a blood test for cancer diagnosis, announced last week that it has raised 75 million dollars. This funding is expected to lead the company to an IPO on Wall Street. Novo Holdings, the holding company of the Danish pharmaceutical corporation Novo Nordisk, led the fundraising.
This is an interesting story … Israel has been saving the world’s eel population.
Cell-cultured seafood start-up Forsea Foods, Ltd. sails on its mission to save wild eel populations from near extinction by unveiling its first prototype of cell-cultivated freshwater eel. Forsea successfully replicated the traditional Japanese unagi eel (Anguilla japonica) featuring the same tender, succulent texture and rich savory flavor as real eel.
The visionary start-up has been working together with the celebrated executive chef Katsumi Kusumoto to create two popular traditional Japanese dishes – unagi kabayaki (marinated grilled eel over rice) and unagi nigiri. Kusumoto runs the vegan restaurant SAIDO in Tokyo, which was voted the world’s best vegan restaurant in 2019 by the online vegan and vegetarian restaurant guide Happy Cow.
The company has achieved a working proof-of-concept that embodies the sensory attributes of real eel meat and is now prepped for scale-up. In the collaboration, Forsea contributes its novel technology for cell-cultivating eel cuts, while Kusumoto contributes his culinary mastery to refine the product to perfection in texture and flavor. Forsea was the winner of the Startup Pitch Hour Prize at the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit last October in Singapore.
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