DAY 145 OF THE GAZA WAR: Humanatarian Aid, Galant Draws A Line, US Public Opinion, Election Results

Tel Aviv Diary, February 28, 2024

Combat continued in the same two sections of Gaza’s Khan Younis and Zeitoun neighborhoods. Fighting in both locations is progressing much slower than expected. Three weeks ago, I heard one of the leading military correspondents assert it would require “another few days to finish clearing Khan Younis.”

The fact the Army has been engaged in battle in Northern Gaza for at least ten days is alarming. As I have mentioned previously, this is an area we believed had been cleared of Hamas before the IDF withdrew. If Hamas returns to the areas that the IDF vacates, then the sacrifices made by our soldiers will have been in vain.

Yesterday, we suffered two losses in Zeitoun, when a group of soldiers entered a building that was subsequently detonated on top of them. I mentioned the incident yesterday without full knowledge of the specifics, or the identity of the second officer who was killed. The casualties were identified as Maj. Iftah Shahar (25), a company commander in the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion, from Paran, and Cpt. Itai Seif (24), a platoon commander in the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion, from Yerucham

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HUMANITARIAN AID

The IDF has been actively working to ease the humanitarian crisis through two main efforts. They coordinated the airdrop of humanitarian aid in 17 different locations, with the aid being delivered by planes from the US, France, UAE, Egypt, and Jordan. Additionally, the IDF has initiated a pilot program, dispatching aid trucks at irregular hours to the Northern part of Gaza, and then handing over the aid to either former Palestinian Authority workers, or heads of large families. So far, this approach appears to be working

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The UN complained about the IDF’s detention of two Red Crescent paramedics. Below is the IDF’s response:

Detained Palestine Red Crescent's paramedics, what you should know:

Feb 25, the IDF responded to the OCHA-oPt, (UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs– Occupied Palestinian territory) request for an urgent coordination to evacuate patients from the Al Amal hospital. We coordinated the movement, but did not approve the individuals in the convoy at any stage.

Hamas systematically uses ambulances for transporting terrorists. After starting the movement, following intel that raised the possibility that there are terrorists within the convoy, the IDF checked the identity of the passengers of the convoy upon leaving the hospital. During the inspection, 3 Palestine Red Crescent staffers were stopped for questioning due to info. regarding their possible involvement in terrorist activity. After questioning them in the field, 2 of the staff members were arrested for further investigation, the 3rd was released. The UN 's response to the paramedics' detention — halting humanitarian coordinations for 48 hours — is shocking.

Despite repeated warnings from Israel about the Red Crescent's ties to terrorism, the UN fails to verify who they are coordinating movements for. As mentioned in the statement, this is not the 1st time. Did UN orgs take steps to prevent such abuse of humanitarian coordinations? Blaming the IDF for not coordinating terrorists and the suspension of humanitarian coordinations as a result is nothing short of appalling.

NORTH

Hostilities continued in the North, with none of the attacks extending beyond the geographical boundaries that have defined this conflict. Reports emerged tonight of Israel targeting Iranian positions near Damascus, Syria.

ULTRA ORTHODOX DRAFT

Defense Minister Galant drew a line in the sand between himself and Prime Minister Netanyahu. In a speech tonight, Galant emphasized that while studying Torah has spiritually sustained Judaism, there can be no spiritual Judaism without the physical defense that only the IDF can provide. The Defense Minister argued that the IDF needs more personnel; and therefore, the entire country must share the burden. Galant asserted that a new military draft law must be presented and passed with broad support.

In a bold act, Galant also maintained that he would only present a bill on behalf of the Defense Ministry if all coalition members — including Gantz and Eisenkot — agree. This move effectively grants Gantz and Eisenkot veto power and provides another reason for the pair not to exit the government. Galant's statement puts Netanyahu in a challenging position. Without a new bill that provides an exemption for Yeshiva students, they will no longer be able to receive any of the funding they have been receiving. Clearly recognizing the will of the people and acknowledging his lack of a future within Likud, Galant's stance represents a significant political maneuver.

THE TEMPLE MOUNT

The War Cabinet has wisely decided to ignore Minister of National Security Ben-Gvir’s plan to limit the access of Arab Israelis to Al Aqsa during Ramadan. The State’s Attorney-General had ruled that such an order would be illegal, and the Security Services, as well as the Army, strenuously opposed Ben-Gvir’s plan.

ADDRESSING MENTAL HEALTH

The IDF announced the opening of a new mental health center. During this war, the IDF has taken a notably more proactive approach in addressing potential cases of PTSD than it has in the past. Field psychologists have been with units in the field, to help manage day-to-day stress. Over the course of the war, 30,000 soldiers have received group counseling. Additionally, 1,730 have received individual counseling from psychology teams, which includes intensive care outside the battlefield. Of those who received assistance, 85% returned to the battlefield, while 290 were referred for more intensive, specialized care. All these efforts are coordinated and implemented by the regular Army psychologists and 270 psychologists serving in the reserves.

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Municipal elections were held yesterday throughout Israel — except for municipalities that remain evacuated. In Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai was re-elected for a sixth term. The argument of Huldai’s main opponent was that he’s been in office too long. Despite this fact, most of Huldai's supporters greatly appreciate all the new parks, bike lanes, boardwalks, and schools that continue to pop up around the city. A majority of Tel Aviv residents acknowledge that while Huldai may no longer be a young man, his ongoing accomplishments are impressive.

In Jerusalem, Moshe Leon, narrowly won his first term as mayor, cruised to an easy victory. The former accountant is considered an effective, albeit not especially charismatic, mayor. Many incumbents won, and a few were replaced. The turnout was 10% lower than the last municipal election, dropping from 59% to 49%. The ultra-Orthodox emerged as the clear winners of these races, turning out in high numbers to elect their candidates to positions of power.

TWO ARTICLES WORTH READING …

At the beginning of February, New York Times Magazine ran a long piece, titled: The Road to 1948, featuring a discussion moderated by Emily Bazelon. Upon the article’s release, one of our readers asked me what I thought. I found the piece to be remarkably one-sided, despite the inclusion of one renowned Israeli scholar. However, Benny Morris, author of the authoritative book on the 1948 War of Independence, has done an excellent job of effectively demolishing the article in a publication that was new to me, but seems quite intriguing— the Australian, quillte.com. Morris critique: The NYT Misprepresents the History of Israeli- Palestinian Conflict is a must read. Here’s the first paragraph:

As we saw from the savage Hamas assault on southern Israel on 7 October, the Palestinians have certainly been active protagonists in their more-than-century-long battle against Zionism and Israel. But the New York Times would have it otherwise. Indeed, the underlying narrative in their magazine piece of 6 February 2024, “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Long Shadow of 1948,” is that the Palestinians have always lacked agency and have no responsibility for anything that has befallen them over the decades. This, plus a welter of factual errors and misleading judgments, has produced a seriously distorted description of the history of the first Arab–Israeli war and its origins.

Foreign Affairs asked the question: In the Wake of the War in Gaza, Is the Two-State Solution Still Viable? The esteemed journal consulted 19 “experts” on the conflict to gauge their agreement or disagreement. The results were as follows: 4 strongly disagree, 9 disagree, 3 were neutral, 3 agreed, and 3 strongly agreed. Equally interesting is the distribution of opinions among the respondents. Among those who agreed, there were 3 Israelis and 3 Palestinians. Notably, the majority of Israeli experts disagreed. It's worthwhile to review the list and their brief arguments.

THE AMERICAN PUBLIC AND THE GAZA WAR

This morning, I appeared on i24News to discuss the state of the war, focusing specifically on the Michigan primary results and Netanyahu's response to Biden's criticism of his government. Starting with the Michigan results, Arab Americans organized a campaign encouraging people to vote ‘uncommitted’ as a protest. They claimed that achieving over 10,000 'uncommitted' votes would be a significant victory. This was a strategy of managing low expectations since, in previous years, the average number of ‘uncommitted’ votes was 30,000 or more. This time, the number exceeded 100,000.

Voter turnout was very high, and the actual percentage of 'uncommitted' votes, 13.5%, was slightly higher than in other Democratic primaries, but not dramatically so. The crucial question is whether this act makes a difference. I would argue that this effort has no impact. The concern is that these voters, mostly Arab Americans, will stay home instead of voting for Biden. I believe this won’t be the case for two reasons.

First, while Israel’s war with Gaza is a major issue now, we all hope the war will end in the next few months; and there will be other issues at that point. Moreover, as long as Trump is the Republican nominee, it's unlikely that any Democrat will stay home. Trump incites such strong emotions that people feel compelled to get out and vote.

The second issue we discussed was Netanyahu’s push back against Biden’s criticism of his extremely right-wing government, claiming that a new poll by Harvid Caps/Harris shows 82% of Americans support Israel. I should have read the poll before appearing on the air since I labeled the poll an outlier, a view I still maintain. However, what was more important was the wording of the question posed by the poll. The initial question asked was, “In this conflict do you support more Israel, or more support Hamas?” Given this binary choice, it’s not surprising that 82% expressed a preference to Israel over Hamas terrorists

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Here’s another interesting question raised by the poll: “Do you think Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties in fighting its war against Hamas, or not trying to avoid such casualties?

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The results of this survey seem much more positive towards Israel than others we have seen. Let’s hope it's accurate.

BUSINESS

Ag-tech start-up, WeedOUT, Ltd., announces it has secured USD8.1 million in A-round funding. Leading the round is Fulcrum Global Capital, a prominent US agri-focused VC with ties to a vast network of farmers across the US. The infusion of new capital will advance the company’s mission to combat weed resistance through its breakthrough green solution. Other participants in the equity round include Bunge Ventures, the investment arm of the leading agriculture and food company Bunge (NYSE: BG), and the Singapore Headquartered agri-food tech fund Clay Capital (formerly VisVires New Protein, VVNP).

WeedOUT’s solution solves one of the greatest threats to agriculture and food security: herbicide-resistant weeds. The company created a novel and environmentally conscious approach to significantly curbing proliferation of weeds that no longer respond to commonly used chemical herbicides.  This method revolves around a proprietary weed pollen derived from the male plants.

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A PIECE OF HISTORY

The Peel Commission

In 1936, in partial response to the ongoing Arab disturbances, the British appointed a royal commission led by Lord Peel to recommend a solution to the problems in Palestine. The Peel Commission undertook extensive hearings to come up with a solution to the Palestine problem. After considerable deliberation, the Commission recommended the partition of Palestine into a small Jewish and a larger Arab State. The Commission posited that Jewish settlement had been beneficial for Palestine as a whole, and that the Jews had taken some of the most arid, unmanageable parts of Palestine and brought them to life.

The Jews of Palestine deliberated on whether to accept the plan, as the State being promised was much smaller than anything the Jews had envisioned. At the same time, this was a concrete opportunity for the establishment of a Jewish State. Most importantly, this new Jewish State would have control over its immigration policies, and would thus be able to ensure a homeland for the mass of European Jewry. With this last point in mind, the Jews reluctantly decided to accept the Peel Commission’s plan. The Arabs, conversely, categorically rejected the plan. The British had initially promised to implement the plan, but soon backed off, due to Arab pressure.