DAY 41 OF THE GAZA WAR:Hostage Body Found,Terror Attack Outside Jerusalem, Biden's Continued Support

Tel Aviv Diary, November 16,2023

The body of 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss, from Kibbutz Be’eri, was found by the IDF in Gaza. Her husband had been killed on the day of the attack. Yehudit was murdered by a terrorist in Gaza

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Today was a day of cleanup in Gaza City, where the captured areas are now being carefully searched for arms, intelligence, and hidden terrorists. So far, the searches have uncovered large caches of arms, including RPG rockets, hidden under children's beds

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The army has been in the Shifa Hospital complex for 48 hours, gradually uncovering more information. The IDF found a tender full of unused arms. They also discovered one of the entrances to Hamas’s underground tunnel system, which the army has begun to explore very cautiously— aware the tunnels are likely booby-trapped. Various rumors have been circulated about other IDF discoveries inside Shifa, including additional corpses sent back to Israel, but none that have as of yet been confirmed.

The army announced that three additional soldiers were killed during the last day, all of whom were officers.

Talks on release of our hostages appear to be paused, with Hamas declaring it refuses to negotiate until Israel leaves Shifa Hospital. Commentators agree there must clearly be something there that Hamas leaders do not want us to find. Another stumbling block with the talks is Israel’s insistence that all the children be returned with their mothers. Hamas claims it does not have control over all of the hostages (i.e., Islamic Jihad and other terrorists factions could be holding some of them). Regardless of their location in Gaza, Israel holds Hamas responsible for all of the hostages.

For the second consecutive day, Hamas was unable to fire any rockets beyond the area surrounding Gaza. Exchanges of fire continue with Hezbollah in the North. It seems increasingly clear that Hezbollah is unlikely to intervene further on behalf of Hamas. The problem is after October 7th, the current status quo where Hezbollah fighters are meters from Israeli communities is no longer acceptable. The decision to evacuate towns along the border has created a challenging dynamic. Residents of the North have stated they will not return to their homes unless Hezbollah fighters are no longer on the border. According to the UN Resolution under which Israel withdrew from Lebanon, Hezbollah is prohibited from having any presence south of the Litani River. There are even UN troops in Lebanon to assure Hezbollah stays out of that area, but of course Hezbollah ignored the agreement, and the UN has stood mutely aside.

TERROR ATTACK OUTSIDE JERUSALEM

There was a terror attack today outside of Jerusalem. Three Hamas terrorists arrived at the checkpoint at the entrance to Jerusalem, exiting a tunnel from the South. When stopped, the terrorists opened fire on the soldiers and police, killing one and wounding five. Fortunately, all three terrorists were killed by the soldiers and police at the site. Evidence found in the terrorists' car indicated their plan was not to attack the checkpoint, but rather, to carry out a major terror attack in Jerusalem.

GANTZ VISITS EVACUEES

Former Defense Minister and IDF Chief of Staff Gantz visited evacuees from Nir Oz, where a quarter of the Kibbutz members were either killed or kidnapped by Hamas. Gantz stated that as a former Defense Minister and Chief of Staff, he is ashamed to stand in front of them, acknowledging his failure.

The total failure of the government was highlighted today when the head of the Sderot Negev regional council resorted to crowdfunding to pay for defense equipment and other needs of the council, citing a lack of support from the government.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN, A TRUE FRIEND OF ISRAEL

One fortunate aspect of this war is that President Biden is the President of the USA. Yesterday, after meeting with Chinese President Xi, Biden held a press conference. It was not a prepared speech, but a live, open press conference where the President had to answer questions. Two of those questions related to Israel. The full text of the Israel-related portion of the press conference is included at the end of this update. However, I would like to highlight selected parts of two answers: the first question concerns the IDF entry into Shifa Hospital.

President Biden began …

Here’s the situation: You have a circumstance where the first war crime is being committed by Hamas by having their headquarters, their military hidden under a hospital.  And that’s a fact.  That’s what’s happened.

Israel did not go in with a large number of troops, did not raid, did not rush everything down.  They’ve gone in and they’ve gone in with their soldiers carrying weapons or guns.  They were told -- told -- let me be precise.

When asked how long the war is going to go on:

With regard to when is this going to stop, I think it’s going to stop when the -- when Hamas no longer maintains the capacity to murder and abuse and -- and just do horrific things to the Israelis.  And they are in -- and they still think they -- at least as of this morning, they still thought they could.

I -- I guess the best way for me to say it is that I take a look.  The IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, acknowledges they have an obligation to use as much caution as they can in going after their targets.  It’s not like they’re rushing in the hospital, knocking down doors, and, you know, pulling people aside and shooting people indiscriminately.

But Hamas, as I said, said they plan on attacking the Israelis again. And this is a terrible dilemma.  So, what do you do?

SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I want to direct you to a number of articles published today. By coincidence, three of them are in The Atlantic, which has become one of the most thoughtful magazines/websites. The first is an article titled: "The One State Delusion," which unequivocally explains why those calling for some sort of one-state solution to our situation are detached from reality.

The second article, which appears in Forbes, discusses the “Trending of TikTok videos praising 9/11.” The part gaining most attention is Bin Laden's justification for his attack, claiming that by supporting Israel the US is oppressing the Palestinian people.

The Forbes article leads directly to an excellent article by Tom Nichols on campus antisemitism The Juvenile Viciousness of Campus Anti-Semitism, which primarily comes from left-wing Palestinian supporters. And if that's not enough, we also have to combat antisemitism from the other side of the spectrum, such as the white nationals whose views Elon Musk seemed to endorse by tweeting "You have said the actual truth" regarding a very antisemitic tweet. You can read the whole story in "Elon Musk’s Disturbing Truth.”

This surging, widespread hatred against Jews seems like the product of a perfect storm — the left-wing and the right-wing appear to agree on only one thing: the Jews are responsible for all the world’s ills. We are living in dangerous times!

BUSINESS

Vulcan Cyber, a company that develops a platform for managing vulnerability risks, raised $55 million in a Series-B round. In the first part of the round in 2021, the company raised $21 million. The additional round was led by Maor Investments and Ten Eleven Ventures, with participation from existing investors such as Dawn Capital and Wipro Ventures.

Vulcan Cyber was founded in 2018 by Yaniv Bar-Dayan, Tal Morgenstern, and Roy Horev, and has since raised a total of $70 million. The company has offices in Tel Aviv, the USA, and Europe, and employs about 100 people. Its clients include Deloitte, Skechers, and Google's Mandiant, which manages its millions of cyber vulnerabilities using the platform

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TRANSCRIPT OF PRESIDENT BIDEN’S PRESS CONFERENCE—

November 16, 2023

Q:   And because of the news of the day, sir, I do have a question about the IDF raid on the Al-Shifa Hospital, as it tries to contain and take out the Hamas operative that is there.

This week, you also said that we must protect hospitals.  So, when you weigh the target against the number of civilians inside the hospital, is the operation underway justified?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, look, we did discuss this, by the way.  We can’t let it get out of control.

Here’s the situation: You have a circumstance where the first war crime is being committed by Hamas by having their headquarters, their military hidden under a hospital.  And that’s a fact.  That’s what’s happened.

Israel did not go in with a large number of troops, did not raid, did not rush everything down.  They’ve gone in and they’ve gone in with their soldiers carrying weapons or guns.  They were told -- told -- let me be precise.

We’ve discussed the need for them to be incredibly careful.  You have a circumstance where you know there is a fair number of Hamas terrorists.  Hamas has already said publicly that they plan on attacking Israel again like they did before, to where they were cutting babies’ heads off to burn -- burning women and children alive.

And so, the idea that they’re going to just stop and not do anything is not realistic.  This is not the carpet bombing.  This is a different thing.  They’re going through these tunnels; they’re going in the hospital.

And if you notice, I -- I was mildly preoccupied today.  I apologize, I didn’t see everything.  But what I did see, whether -- I haven’t had it confirmed yet -- I have asked my team to answer the question.  But what happened is they’re also bringing in incubators.  They’re bringing in other -- other means to help the people in the hospital, and they’ve given the doctors and -- I’m told -- the doctors and nurses and personnel an opportunity to get out of harm’s way.

So, this is a different story than I believe was occurring before, an indiscriminate bombing.

What do you got?  Washington Post.  I think that’s right.

Q: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, there you are.  Sorry.  I couldn’t see you in the light.

Q: That’s okay.  Mr. President, Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians in just over a month and created --

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m sorry, you’re breaking up.  I didn’t -- would you --

Q: Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians in just over a month and created a humanitarian disaster.  Israeli officials have said this war could take months or even years.  Have you communicated to Prime Minister Netanyahu any sort of deadline or timeframe for how long you are willing to support Israel in this operation?  Are you comfortable with the operation going on indefinitely?  And is there any deal underway to free hostages?  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, no -- working backwards forward.  Look, I have been deeply involved in moving on the hostage negotiation, and I don’t want to get ahead of myself here because I don’t know what’s happened in the last four hours.

But they’re -- I have -- we’ve gotten great cooperation from the Qataris.  I’ve spoken with them as well a number of times.  I think the pause and that Israeli -- that the Israelis have agreed to is down to -- I’m getting into too much detail.  I know, Mr. Secretary.  I’m going to stop.

The -- but I am -- I am mildly hopeful.  I’m mildly hopeful.

With regard to when is this going to stop, I think it’s going to stop when the -- when Hamas no longer maintains the capacity to murder and abuse and -- and just do horrific things to the Israelis.  And they are in -- and they still think they -- at least as of this morning, they still thought they could.

I -- I guess the best way for me to say it is that I take a look.  The IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, acknowledges they have an obligation to use as much caution as they can in going after their targets.  It’s not like they’re rushing in the hospital, knocking down doors, and, you know, pulling people aside and shooting people indiscriminately.

But Hamas, as I said, said they plan on attacking the Israelis again.  And this is a terrible dilemma.  So, what do you do?

I think that Israel is also taking risks themselves about their folks being killed one-to-one going through these hospital rooms, hospital halls.  But one thing has been established is that Hamas does have headquarters, weapons, materiel below this hospital and, I suspect, others.  But how long it’s going to last, I don’t know.

Look, I made it clear to the Israelis that -- and to Bibi and to his War Cabinet that I think the only ultimate answer here is a two-state solution that's real.  We got to get to the point where there is an ability to be able to even talk without worrying about whether or not we're just dealing with -- they're dealing with Hamas -- that’s going to engage in the same activities they did over the past -- on -- on the 7th.

So, it’s -- but I can’t tell -- I’m not a fortuneteller.  I can’t tell you how long it’s going to last.  But I can tell you I don’t think it ultimately ends until there’s a two-state solution.  I made it clear to the Israelis I think it’s a big mistake to -- for them to think they’re going to occupy Gaza and maintain Gaza.  I don’t think that works.

And so, we’re going to -- I think you’re going to see efforts to bring along -- well, I shouldn't go into it anymore, because that’s -- that’s things I've been negotiating with Arab countries and others about what the next steps are.

But anyway, thank you all very much.  Appreciate it very much.

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