DAY 433 OF THE WAR: Sullivan in Israel Discusses Hostages and Syria; Trump Speaks about the Middle East; Justice Minister Clashes with Court Over Appointments; Israel to Build Missile Boats
Tel Aviv Diary, December 12, 2024
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Next ZOOM BRIEFING
Sunday, December 15th, 6 PM Israel Time • 4 PM GB • 11 AM EDT • 8 AM PDT.
Invitations will go out on Sunday morning.
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This morning, we woke up to the tragic news that the 12-year-old victim of last night’s terror attack had died. His name was Yehoshua Aharon Tuvia Simcha. He was merely sitting on the bus when a Palestinian terrorist fired dozens of rounds as the vehicle approached the al-Khader junction near the tunnel checkpoint. The bus subsequently proceeded to that junction to seek assistance.
JAKE SULLIVAN RETURNS TO ISRAEL
Jake Sullivan visited Israel today and met with both Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister Dermer. When asked if he felt that Prime Minister Netanyahu was waiting for Trump to reach an agreement, Sullivan said “No,” and added that he believed Netanyahu was eager to secure an agreement as soon as possible. Sullivan also commented on the Israeli strikes against Syrian military targets, endorsing them as measures against threats to Israel’s future security. He confirmed that the U.S. was closely coordinating with Israel regarding the situation in Syria. Additionally, Sullivan also mentioned Israeli actions in the buffer zone, noting that the situation was very fluid and acknowledging Israel’s need to protect itself under these conditions
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When asked about the apparent shift in Hamas’s stance regarding the hostages and the possibilities of brokering a ceasefire, Sullivan explained that the change followed Hezbollah’s decision to enter into a ceasefire agreement. He suggested that Hamas had initially been waiting, hoping for external intervention, but with no such support forthcoming, Hamas now appears more inclined to negotiate an agreement.
During a discussion on Channel 14 (a very right-wing outlet), concerns were raised about Hamas exploiting civilian aid, and questioned whether pressuring Israel to send aid was a mistake. Sullivan responded unequivocally, “Absolutely not.” He emphasized that, despite Hamas’s tactics of using women and children as shields, the civilians are innocent and rightfully deserve access to basic necessities like food. Sullivan also stressed that neither the U.S. nor Israel wants the third famine of the 21st century to occur in Gaza.
Sullivan issued a cautionary warning regarding the hostage situation, reminding all that despite progress, previous negotiations have failed to produce an agreement. Moreover, Sullivan stated that he is collaborating effectively with his counterparts in the Trump administration and assured that all actions on behalf of the hostages are being fully coordinated with them.
The U.S. position on Syria is interesting and reflects a concern rooted in the experiences of Iraq and Libya, where the collapse of their armies led to widespread proliferation of weapons.
PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP’S STATEMENTS REGARDING MIDDLE EAST
During an interview today, President-Elect Trump made three statements of particular interest to Israel. First, he stated his clear expectation for a hostage deal to be finalized before his inauguration. When questioned about his trust in Prime Minister Netanyahu, Trump paused before asserting that he does not trust anyone. Lastly, when asked about the possibility of the United States ending up at war with Iran, he responded, “Anything is possible.”
HOSTAGE RELEASE AGREEMENT
The ongoing question remains: Is there a genuine possibility of reaching an agreement? There is no definitive answer. However, Arye Deri, leader of the Shas party and a member of the Security Cabinet, shared his perspective today:
I am among the decision-makers and participate in closed forums, including on the issue of the hostages. I am telling you that there are almost no remaining military capabilities inside Gaza. Our main mission is to do everything, absolutely everything, to ensure that a deal for the release of the hostages goes through. Try to imagine what they have been enduring there for 14 months. We must immediately advance their release deal at any cost.
IAF STRIKES IN SYRIA
Here’s the official information released by the Air Force regarding its recent series of attacks in Syria:
These waves of strikes have destroyed numerous weapons systems, including Scud missiles, cruise missiles, coastal defense missiles, surface-to-air missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, drones, fighter jets, and attack helicopters. This is in addition to the destruction of radar systems, tanks, hangars, and more.
Additionally, aircraft, in coordination with the Northern Command’s fire center, targeted over 130 sites in Syrian territory, including weapons storage facilities, military structures, launchers, and firing positions.
In a briefing, the Air Force reported that with Syrian airspace now completely open and 85% of its anti-aircraft batteries destroyed, the path to Iran is unobstructed. It is evident that the Air Force is fully prepared to act if necessary. However, it seems probable that there may first be another significant strike against the Houthis before undertaking such an operation.
GAZA
Media reports have surfaced about two strikes in Gaza that resulted in several fatalities. Here is the statement issued by the IDF Spokesperson:
Following intelligence indicating the presence of Hamas terrorists, the IDF conducted targeted strikes overnight against armed Hamas operatives at two concentration points in the southern Gaza Strip. The operatives were operating along a route used for delivering humanitarian aid in southern Gaza, and the strike was intended to ensure the safe arrival of humanitarian aid to the residents of the region.
All the terrorists eliminated were Hamas operatives who were planning to violently seize humanitarian aid trucks and divert them to the Hamas terrorist organization for the purpose of carrying out terror attacks, harming, and killing residents of the Gaza Strip, as had occurred in previous incidents.
It is emphasized that the IDF did not target humanitarian aid trucks, and the route for aid trucks remains open and operational. The IDF continues to conduct targeted operations against the Hamas terrorist organization while making every effort to avoid harm to uninvolved civilians. Through COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), the IDF will continue to act in accordance with international law to enable and facilitate humanitarian assistance for the residents of the Gaza Strip.
JUDICIAL REFORM CRISIS
In recent weeks, several aspects of the judicial revolution have resurfaced, with a number of key issues emerging prominently last week. One issue that has now reached a critical point is the selection of the new President of the Supreme Court. Traditionally, this role is filled by the justice with the longest tenure, a practice designed to prevent political maneuvering. However, Justice Minister Yariv Levin is challenging this tradition by opposing the appointment of Justice Amit, who is known for his liberal leanings.
Chief Supreme Court Justice Chayut retired over a year ago, and Justice Minister Levin is responsible for convening the committee to appoint new justices. However, knowing he lacks a majority on the committee, Levin has delayed convening a meeting. The Supreme Court issued an order mandating Levin to gather the committee.
Although Levin held two meetings, he refused to put the matter of a new President of the Supreme Court to a vote. Today, in an unprecedented ruling, the court ordered Levin to appoint a High Court President by January 16th. In response, Justice Minister Levin strongly hinted he’s considering renewing the judicial reform—which would provide the coalition an absolute majority in the committee for appointing judges.
ISRAEL TO BUILD MISSILE BOATS
One of the lessons from the ongoing war is the need for greater self-sufficiency in arms production. This was a longstanding policy of Israel until the 1980s when production of the Lavi fighter jet was discontinued. Recently, several local production agreements have been announced, including two with Elbit Systems and another with Israel Shipyards. Just a few weeks ago, Israel Shipyards secured a contract to construct smaller vessels for Israel’s Navy.
The Ministry of Defense has recently announced its decision to acquire five advanced Reshef-Class missile boats from Israel Shipyards Ltd. for 2.8 billion shekels. Both the Ministerial Procurement Committee and the Knesset’s Joint Budget Committee approved the deal. Under the agreement, Israel Shipyards will manufacture and supply the Navy with five Reshef-Class boats over approximately six years, with an option to purchase additional vessels in the future. Following the announcement of this deal, shares of Israel Shipyards surged by 13.51%, reaching 9900.
The Reshef-Class boats will be the most advanced missile boats in the Navy’s fleet, set to replace the aging Nirit-Class (Saar 4.5) vessels, which have been in service for four decades. These multi-role ships, developed in collaboration with the Navy, are equipped with advanced weapon systems from the Israeli defense industry.
Director General of the Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Eyal Zamir shared:
The new boats will be an additional pillar in the Navy’s growing maritime power. The decision to manufacture them in Israel will preserve and expand Israel’s sole strategic production line for combat ships, strengthen operational independence and continuity, and secure hundreds of jobs in northern Israel. I am confident that other countries will seek to equip themselves with Israeli combat ships, further enhancing Israel’s defense exports.
BUSINESS
Evinced
Evinced, a startup developing accessibility tools for digital products, has secured $55 million in funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from existing investors including Microsoft's M12 fund and new investor Vertex Ventures from Israel. The company has now raised $112 million total.
Operating in the digital accessibility market (valued at $721M in 2023), Evinced differentiates itself by focusing on the development phase, providing tools for designers and developers to make products accessible to users with disabilities. Unlike competitors like accessiBe that modify existing websites, Evinced helps companies like Verizon and Hyundai implement accessibility standards during initial development.
The company was founded in 2018 by Navin Thadani and Gal Moav, who previously worked together at Ravello (acquired by Oracle) where they identified the need for better accessibility solutions in software development.
eSelf
eSelf has successfully raised $4.5 million in Seed funding, led by M-FUND's Lior Elkan, with participation from Explorer Investments and Ridge Ventures. Notable angel investors include Eyal Manor, the former VP of Engineering at YouTube and Head of Product and Engineering at Twilio.
What makes eSelf interesting is their innovative approach to AI chatbots. They've developed a platform that lets companies create specialized virtual "representatives" in various fields. Their platform is said to be user-friendly compared to similar solutions in the market. The platform is currently available for trial, and they've already secured some impressive clients, including Christie's auction house and AGI, a Brazilian bank (whose name cleverly references Artificial General Intelligence).
The company brings together some impressive talent. CEO Dr. Alan Bekker previously founded Voca.ai, which Snap acquired for $70 million in 2020. After the acquisition, he led Snap's conversational AI division. His co-founder, CTO Elon Shoshan, brings expertise from Unit 8200 (where he won the Israel Defense Prize) and holds a Technion master's degree specializing in Natural Language Processing.
By using text input, or website links, the creation of an AI agent is straightforward. Users can choose from existing character options or design one that matches their appearance. The system then asks for a Knowledge Base—either through text input or website links—from which it automatically extracts data and generates conversational scripts. These scripts can be customized, and companies can set specific objectives like collecting email addresses or phone numbers for sales leads.
The platform's simplicity combined with its sophistication suggests eSelf could be a significant player in the growing AI chatbot market. Their early customer success with major institutions like Christie's particularly caught my attention, as it demonstrates the platform's ability to serve sophisticated enterprise needs.
Perception Point
The public company Fortinet announced the acquisition of the Israeli cybersecurity startup Perception Point. The deal’s financial details have not been disclosed. Fortinet is one of the largest cybersecurity companies in the world, with a market value of $75 billion. This is not its first acquisition in Israel; in 2019, it acquired the Israeli cybersecurity company enSilo.
Perception Point provides protection against advanced content-based attacks originating from organizational content channels, such as email and data storage platforms. The company was founded in 2015 by Shlomi Levin and Michael Aminov and is currently led by CEO Yoram Zellinger. According to PitchBook, Perception Point has raised approximately $74 million since its inception from investors such as Red Dot, State of Mind Ventures, and Pitango.
Stigg
Israeli startup Stigg has raised $17.5 million in a funding round led by Red Dot Capital Partners, bringing its total funding to $24 million. The November fundraise comes at a pivotal moment in the software industry, as exemplified by Salesforce's recent announcement of its transition from user-based to results-based pricing.
The shift highlights a growing challenge in software pricing models. While traditional software products have predictable cloud costs, AI-powered solutions require substantial computational resources from the outset, making the conventional “per-seat” pricing model potentially unprofitable for companies. This issue is particularly relevant as AI automation reduces the number of direct system users while increasing system value.
Stigg's API-based system addresses a critical pain point in this transition. Traditional billing systems require development teams to spend months implementing pricing changes across multiple platforms - from company websites to CRM systems and payment processors. Stigg's solution streamlines this process by integrating directly with existing infrastructure and enabling real-time pricing adjustments.
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A PIECE OF HISTORY
Trump and Netanyahu Meet at White House
In February 2017, shortly after President Trump’s inauguration, Prime Minister Netanyahu visited the White House to meet with the new President. I believe what I wrote in Newsweek at the time has stood the test of time:
The meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump highlighted Trump's strengths and weaknesses—specifically, Trump is very skilled at theatrics but relatively inexperienced with the details of governing. The goal of this White House visit was to create a warm and friendly welcome for Netanyahu and to demonstrate how Trump differs from Barack Obama. Trump clearly achieved this. He and Melania were waiting for Netanyahu and his wife Sara on the South Portico. All the conditions were in place, and the atmosphere was right, but when it came to details, Trump was clearly not fully prepared.
I am not sure what made both sides think holding a press conference before they actually met was a good idea—perhaps they felt comfortable because, as Trump said, they had known each other for so long. The music was great, but the headlines regarding the event in most of the press indicated that the US government no longer supported the necessity of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, the real headline should be that, aside from being a friend of Israel and his desire to be the ultimate dealmaker, Trump has no clear strategy for achieving a peace deal.
The major weakness of having a real estate deal-making mogul as President of the United States was evident at the meeting. To Trump, everything revolves around closing deals, with his primary experience being in real estate. Those deals involve money, zoning, or financing. Now, Trump aims to broker a deal in the Middle East. However, deals in the Middle East encompass ideology, religion, and history; they involve competing narratives of suffering. These disagreements are much harder to settle. When negotiating a real estate deal, it's relatively easy to consider concessions; but when concessions concern your history or religion, it becomes much more challenging. Trump was very clear when he stated, "To make a deal, everyone will have to make concessions." Then, Trump turned to Netanyahu and said, "You know you will have to make concessions." Netanyahu did not know how to respond.
Trump specifically stated, “I want you to hold back on your settlements.” Netanyahu was silent. Subsequently, headlines publicized Trump's statement: “I do not care, one state, two states, whatever the parties agree to.” In other words, any deal both sides agree to will be acceptable to him, as long as a deal is reached. Of course, there is almost no one—other than right-wing Israelis—who believes there is any solution agreeable to both sides, other than a two-state solution. Speaking to Israeli reporters after his meeting with the President, Netanyahu shared that Trump had offered Israel much closer cooperation but asked for settlement building to be halted. Netanyahu stated that no agreement was reached, but that Israel should try to satisfy such a great friend.
Two other things stood out at the meeting. First, Netanyahu tried multiple times to positively contrast President Trump with President Obama—a narrative many Israelis believe. In a discussion this morning with my taxi driver about the joint press conference, he was quick to say, “At least it was not the Israel-hating Obama.” When I asked him to tell me what terrible thing Obama had done to Israel, he was unable to name one thing (other than his last abstention at the UN). I had an almost identical discussion with the barista when I picked up my morning coffee.
Netanyahu was playing to his supporters in Israel and some of his Republican donors in the United States. Once again, for his own short-term political gain, Netanyahu is doing long-term damage to the traditional bipartisan support of Israel and is creating an even greater divide with much of American Jewry.
When Israel's Channel 10 reporter, Moav Vardi, asked Trump about rising antisemitism in the U.S., Trump promptly changed the subject to something he is more comfortable discussing—namely, the size of his election victory. He did not directly address the topic asked, other than delivering an updated version of the "some of my best friends are Jewish" line. In this case, he said, “My daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren are Jewish.”
Trump's inability to address the rising number of antisemitic incidents in the US is truly puzzling. Just as baffling were Netanyahu's comments at the end of the conference:
I've known the President and I've known his family and his team for a long time. There is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than President Donald Trump. I think we should put that to rest.
So, to all the Jews in America who fear rising anti-Semitism, they no longer need to worry—since the Prime Minister of Israel has given the Trump administration its seal of approval, even though the President refuses to say anything to denounce anti-Semitic acts or allay the fears of those targeted. Strange.