Zoom Briefing Sunday 6 PM Israel Time 11 AM New York 8 AM Pacific invites will go out in the morning.
It's rare these days for me to commend our government, but today, they deserve praise for a job well done: Since Iran’s unprecedented attack last Saturday, the War Cabinet spent time formulating a strategy to respond to Iran. The main objective was to demonstrate our capabilities without provoking a significant Iranian response that could lead to a direct confrontation—a scenario we can hardly afford. So, it was up to Israel to thread the needle. It appears that’s precisely what Israel managed to accomplish. While details are still somewhat vague, it seems that Israel launched three standoff missiles at the anti-aircraft system protecting the Natanz nuclear facility.
The Iranians have invested a great deal in protecting their nuclear sites. Now, Israel demonstrated that these defenses are ineffective against an Israeli strike since Israel’s missiles reportedly reached their target undetected, launched from a plane outside Iranian airspace. Despite their bluster, the Iranians do not want an escalation at this point, enabling them to deny the attack even occurred.
Likewise, it does not serve Israel’s interest to say anything. Except for National Security Minister Ben-Gvir, who issued a one-word tweet in Yiddish—“Dardaleh,” which translates best to weak, disappointing, or poor—the Israeli government has managed, for once, to keep quiet, thus allowing the Iranians to claim nothing happened. It looks like this incident closes this particular chapter in our ongoing quiet war with Iran. Of course, this is only a chapter, and Iran is closer than ever to becoming a nuclear state — with little we can do to stop it.
I want to reflect on one fundamental historical fact. One of the major reasons that Prime Minister Rabin was willing to go ahead with Oslo and take risks on the Palestinian front was his fear of a future threat from Iran. Rabin felt that to confront Iran effectively, Israel needed first to neutralize the conflict with the Palestinians. Unfortunately, for a myriad of reasons, primarily due to the Palestinians, we have not succeeded in neutralizing that threat and now find ourselves having to address both simultaneously.
GAZA
Low-intensity fighting continues in Gaza, with a limited number of troops engaged. The Army described the last days’ activities as follows:
The combat teams of the Nachal Brigade continue to fight in the center of the Gaza Strip and have eliminated several terrorists over the past day. In one of the attacks, after being identified from the air, two terrorists approaching our forces were killed by an aircraft strike
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Last night (Thursday), a rocket was launched toward the city of Ashkelon and fell in an open area. Within a few minutes, the 215th Fire Brigade responded with artillery fire at the area from which the launch was identified in Beit Lahiya, and an aircraft struck a weapons storage facility in the area.
Over the last day, Air Force aircraft attacked and destroyed about 25 targets, assisting the maneuvering forces. The targets included military buildings, observation posts, launch sites, and other military infrastructures.
Secretary of State Blinken stated yesterday:
The world needs to know that the only thing that's standing between the Gazan people and a ceasefire is Hamas. They have rejected generous proposals from Israel.
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LEBANON
It has been a particularly combative day on the Northern border, marked by eight barrages or drone attacks from Lebanon throughout Saturday. Israel responded with airstrikes against targets in Southern Lebanon. This afternoon, the IAF struck a building in South Lebanon, which, according to Hezbollah, resulted in the deaths of three of its members at one location and another three at a different site. Currently, there is no plan to end our war in the North, and we still have 80,000 people displaced from the towns and villages in the North, with no clear strategy on how to resolve this situation.
Over the past two days, the IDF conducted an extended operation in Tulkarem. According to IDF reports, they killed ten terrorists and arrested another eight. Additionally, there were reports of clashes between settlers and Palestinians, in which two Palestinians were killed.
Both the US and the EU have announced sanctions against additional settlers as well as the extremist right-wing organization Lehava, led by Bentzi Gopstein, who was personally sanctioned. Gopstein, a close ally of Itamar Ben Gvir, was barred from running for the Knesset by the Supreme Court due to his racist views.
POLITICS
Yesterday, I attended what may become a historic meeting—a joint session of the leadership of Meretz and the Labor Party, together with Yair Golan, former Deputy Chief of Staff of the IDF, who is currently running—unopposed—in the Labor primaries. Golan announced that the day after he becomes the head of Labor, he intends to merge Labor and Meretz along with other interested parties. His goal is to create a single party that will span between the Arab parties and the center parties. Almost all the significant figures from both Labor and Meretz, as well as the head of the Kibbutz movement, spoke at the meeting. All lamented the fact that due to egos and misguided politics, this merger had not happened earlier. They all pledged to make this union happen.
Golan himself is impressive. He enters this race as a national hero, thanks to his selfless efforts on October 7th to rescue participants at the Nova festival. In the last election, Golan failed to be elected the head of Meretz due to concerns about having too many generals in our politics. However, everyone realizes that Golan is the only natural choice this time. While he is not left-leaning enough for some, Golan believes that one of our highest priorities has to be separation from the Palestinians. Yet, he also acknowledges that the path to Palestinian statehood is a very lengthy one.
ECONOMY
Standard & Poor’s downgraded Israel’s long-term credit risk from A-Plus to AA-. This decision will increase Israel’s borrowing cost. Standard & Poor stated in its decision, "We forecast that Israel’s general government deficit will widen to 8% of GDP in 2024, mostly as a result of increased defense spending.”
US CONGRESS
Tonight, the House of Representatives passed four foreign aid bills after months of delays. Despite facing significant opposition, particularly from the far-right faction of his own party over aid to Ukraine, House Speaker Johnson pushed the bills forward, risking his speakership. The aid package to Ukraine passed 311 to 112, with Democrats providing most of the votes. Aid to Israel passed by a wider margin of 366 to 58. Reflecting the urgency of recent events, the bill for Israel substantially increases the initial amount proposed by President Biden. It allocates over $3 billion for Israel’s missile defense program and an additional $1 billion for the laser defense program. The bill is anticipated to pass the Senate by midweek and be immediately signed into law by President Biden.
After the past week's events, United Airlines has decided to suspend its flights to Israel for the next two weeks. In addition, Air Canada, scheduled to resume service in another week, has indefinitely postponed its return to Israel.
BUSINESS
Magnus Metal, a company that develops new manufacturing processes in the field of metal casting, has successfully raised $74 million. The funding, achieved through several rounds and stages over the last nine months, was led by Entrée Capital and Target Global funds. The company's total funds raised now amount to $88 million. Magnus Metal, based in Tzurah, was founded in 2017 by a group of veteran entrepreneurs from the semiconductor and advanced industry sectors and currently employs about 100 workers. The company associates itself with the "Industry 4.0" sectors. It aims to introduce innovation to the traditional field of metal casting by integrating existing methods with new techniques from the world of 3D printing. It calls its technology “Digital Casting”
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A PIECE OF HISTORY
Preparing for the Sinai War
In the early months of 1956, the pace of attacks from Gaza on Israel increased steadily, killing more and more Israelis. All of the killings were glorified by Egyptian media, which hailed the terrorists as heroes returning from the battlefield. President Nasser stated in a speech: “We must be strong in order to regain Palestinian rights.” Abdel Hakim Amer, Commander of the Egyptian Army, declared, “The hour is approaching when we will stand in the front ranks of the battle against imperialism and its Zionist ally.”
It was clear that Israel would need to respond. Fortunately, Nasser was not just taking actions against Israel, but had also nationalized the Suez Canal, which the French had constructed in the 19th century, and was predominantly owned by British interests. The canal was also a vital waterway for French and British commercial interests. Initially, the British and French contemplated military action but were blocked by the United States, which opposed all military action. In the meantime, the French approached Israel to gauge their interest in a joint military operation against Egypt. Israel promptly agreed. They requested additional military assistance from France, which was immediately approved, and the supply of arms began to arrive.
The poet Nathan Alterman was invited to witness the arrival of the arms one night and subsequently composed a poem. Here are two stanzas:
This is a night that was or yet will be. Either way, it is no lying vision.
It is night without a name,
a festival night that will be remembered beyond the bounds of time.
Happy the people with such a fate,
whose faults are open to the eye of friend and foe,
whose finest, boldest deeds are hidden till the time is ripe,
for darkness covers them.
Perhaps this is a night of dreams,
but wide-awake and what it saw was the melting away of the terror gap
between us and the forces of destruction.
Iron comes on steadily and the bowels of the earth tremble…
Let Israel’s day know that it draws from the night power of life,
the power of fire.
Let Israel’s body know this…its spirit too will add its touch of steel.
Soon, plans began to be put in place for military action. Initial discussions between the French and Golda Meir, the new Israeli Foreign Minister and Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan, set the groundwork. However, plans were finalized on October 22nd and 23rd, 1956, when Ben-Gurion and Dayan were secretly flown by the French to Paris for high-level meetings. It was decided there that Israel would initiate an attack in Sinai, which would provide the British and French with an excuse to deploy troops to seize control of the canal, ostensibly to protect it. Ben-Gurion was concerned about the risks that Israel would be taking and secured additional support: the French agreed not only to supply arms but to dispatch the French Air Force to defend Israel’s airspace and the French Navy to guard the coastline, while the Israeli army attacked the Egyptians.
The Treaty of Sèvres was signed by Israel, the UK, and France on October 24, 1956. It called for Israel to take action on October 29th that would endanger the canal. France promised both military and public political support, while the UK agreed to use its influence in the Arab world to limit its actions against Israel.
Marc, great reporting as always. I appreciate your informative content. This week’s edition of A Piece of History was especially poignant.