DAY 36 OF THE GAZA WAR: Attacks in the North, Heavy Fighting in Gaza, Interesting Opinion Polls

Tel Aviv Diary, November 11, 2023

Zoom Briefing Sunday- 6 PM Israel time 11 AM East Coast- Invitations will go out in the morning.

After two days of quiet, a barrage of rockets was fired at Tel Aviv in the middle of Friday afternoon. Portions of one rocket or a rocket interceptor fell a few blocks from my house. A nurse, leaving Icholov Hospital, was moderately wounded from the shrapnel that fell from the sky.

ATTACKS IN THE NORTH

Friday was a difficult day in Northern Israel. Hezbollah fired both anti-tank missiles and also deployed a suicide drone to attack Israeli army positions along the border. Five Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded by Hezbollah. Israel responded with artillery and air strikes.

On Saturday, exchanges continued on the Northern border, with Hezbollah sending drones over Nahariya and to other points on the border, all of which were shot down. Israel responded with air strikes, including one 40 kilometers from the border, the deepest point that Israeli planes have attacked during this war. Defense Minister Galant toured the Northern border today and warned Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah not to make a mistake that would “turn Beirut into Gaza.”

Tonight, a drone was shot down over Ein Hamfratz, just south of Akko.

GAZA

Heavy fighting took place both yesterday and today in Gaza City. Five Israeli reservists lost their lives. One of them was 44-year-old Yossi Herkowitz, Principal of Pelech’s Boys' School in Jerusalem. From October 7 to today, the families of 361 soldiers have received the worst possible news: that their son, daughter, husband, or wife gave their life to defend Israel.

Israeli troops are now located outside every hospital in the Northern part of Gaza, leaving one side open for evacuations. The IDF is coordinating with the administration of Shifa Hospital to evacuate all of the infants from the hospital tomorrow morning. Over the course of the last three days, over 200,000 Gazans have moved south through IDF-protected corridors.

HOSTAGES REMAIN IN CAPTIVITY

Families of the hostages continue to keep their story very much in the forefront of public attention. Tonight, they held a large rally, with over 10,000 taking part in a demonstration. The families’ demand remains: return the hostages now! There are various rumors and reports of movement toward a deal for the release of some of the hostages. Israeli sources stress that while there are ongoing talks, no agreement has been reached. Some people are optimistic about the chances of reaching an agreement, others much less so.

SATURDAY NIGHT JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE

Tonight, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Galant, and Former Defense Minister Gantz held a joint press conference. While there was nothing really new in all of their speeches (except a restating of the goal to end the rule of Hamas in Gaza), Netanyahu did offer one interesting response to a question posed by the press. When asked if he supported the goal of some of the members of his coalition to resettle the settlements in Gaza, Netanyahu definitively answered: “No. The only goal is to ensure Israel has security control; returning to the settlements is not realistic.”

INTERESTING OPINION POLLS

There have been a number of public opinion polls in the last couple of days. One relating to elections showed the Likud dropping to 18 seats. According to that survey, the Machaneh HaMamlachti led by Gantz would get 40; Yesh Atid would get 14; and Israel Beitenu, headed by Lieberman would get 9. Thus, according to this survey those three parties would garner 64 seats, making it easy to form a government.

Another interesting survey asked the question: “Do you identify with the country?” 94% of the Jewish population answered Yes. However, the more interesting response was from non-Jews living in Israel: 70% said they fully identified with the country, which represents a significant increase from 48% stated by respondents in June of this year.

Do you identify with the country and its problems

ISLAMIC STATES GATHER

There was a special meeting of Islamic States today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Islamic States condemned Israel's actions in Gaza and called for a cease-fire. However, those Islamic States with whom we have relations, either overtly or covertly, blocked a demand that all the Islamic States sever diplomatic relations with Israel, or take other steps that would have harmed future relations.

RISING ANTISEMITISM

Last week, I wrote about the increase in antisemitism in the US and how Jews were feeling about their safety. I meant to include the chart below, which represents hate crimes in New York in October 2023

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Incidents of antisemitism worldwide continue to spread — whether in France, the UK, or the Netherlands, where there has been a 400% increase in antisemitic incidents. In the US, the epicenter seems to be US college campuses. An interesting study released by the Network Contagion Research Group is titled: “The Corruption Of The American Mind: How Concealed Foreign Funding Of U.S. Higher Education Predicts Erosion Of Democratic Values And Antisemitic Incidents On Campus.”

The report claims that universities in the US have received billions in unreported funds from Arab states and that this is at least one of the causes of rising antisemitism on US university campuses. I don’t think the report proves cause and effect but it’s an interesting supposition worth additional study.

The phenomenon is not new. When I went to Columbia College from 1972-75, the Middle East Institute was run by J.C. Hurwitz, a renowned scholar of Middle Eastern history who happened to be Jewish. The courses I took with him were excellent and unbiased.

By the time I returned to graduate school in the mid-80s, the Middle East Institute was controlled by Arabists, and back then, there were rumors that the Institute was being funded by Saudi Arabia. I have my own unhappy story to tell about encounters with the Arabists, but that is for another time. What I can say is that there clearly has been a shift from Arabist departments that were by and large anti-Israel to faculty and students that seem simply antisemitic. This crisis requires a whole different level of response.