Tonight, we received another tragic “Hutar L’pirsum,” (authorized for publication), which announced the death of 22-year-old tank crewman First Sergeant Yuval Shoham from Jerusalem. Sergeant Shoham fell in combat in the Jabaliya area, where another soldier was critically injured
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Today, Hamas launched five rockets at the Sderot area from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. The Iron Dome intercepted three of these rockets, while the remaining two landed in open fields. This latest rocket attack was once again characterized as a “use it or lose it” scenario for Hamas, as Israeli troops continue to advance on Hamas positions.
GAZA
The Army released additional details about their operation at Kamal Adwan Hospital. While foreign media have reported that the actions there may constitute a war crime. However, the Army regards this as a highly successful operation. It represents the largest single capture of prisoners to date—including those responsible for atrocities committed on October 7th. According to the Army, all 240 detainees have been verified as members of either Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
Here is additional information released by the IDF Spokesman regarding the event:
The combat teams of the 401st Brigade, operating under Division 162 and Unit 504, completed a focused counterterrorism operation at the “Kamal Adwan” hospital.
The forces carried out a swift and covert raid, and within less than an hour surrounded the Kamal Adwan hospital located in the heart of the Jabaliya refugee camp.
The brigade’s forces safely evacuated civilians from the hospital area as part of the operation.
The area surrounding the hospital, where the forces have been fighting over the past month, is an active combat zone filled with terrorists and traps. During the operation, approximately 20 terrorists were eliminated, and several powerful explosive devices planted by the terrorists were neutralized.
The operation was executed following the development of an extensive intelligence picture based on various sources within Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), which indicated the presence of hundreds of terrorists in and around the hospital area.
Field investigators and Unit 504 operatives guided the arrests and conducted dozens of field interrogations, resulting in over 240 terrorists from the PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) and Hamas being taken for further questioning within Israel. The detained individuals are expected to provide valuable intelligence to support ongoing wartime efforts.
This operation marks one of the largest arrests of terrorists at a single concentration point since the war began. During the arrests, several terrorists attempted to disguise themselves as patients, with some even hiding in ambulances. However, they were identified by the forces and apprehended. Among the detainees were 15 terrorists identified as having infiltrated Israeli territory and participated in the brutal massacre on October 7.
ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE?
Today marks exactly two years since the establishment of the current government. When this government was established, I wrote a piece in Newsweek titled: “Israel's Greatest Enemy Is Now Itself.” At the time, I could not have predicted how tragically accurate that statement would prove to be.
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Setting aside the catastrophe of October 7th—which is obviously impossible to ignore—the reality is stark. If you were to ask a member of the current government what they have accomplished in the past two years, you will receive a series of non-committal, mumbling responses like “hmm,” “ah,” “aha,” but no concrete answer. From an objective standpoint, it’s challenging to pinpoint any area that the government has accomplished anything significant during this period.
Tonight, Prime Minister Netanyahu underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove his prostate. Netanyahu is expected to recover within a few days. While Netanyahu is in surgery, Yariv Levin will serve as the acting Prime Minister.
TWO WORTHWHILE READS
On The Houthis … By Ari Heistein— “How the Houthis turned their weaknesses into strengths”: Despite domestic unpopularity, the organization has leveraged Yemen's misery and its strategic location to wield outsized power.
GUEST ESSAY— American Jewry in the Aftermath of October 7
I am happy to share an excellent article written by Howard Wach, one of our readers. I first met Howard over 25 years ago when our children were in nursery school together. We both share a love of history and have each been teaching in our own ways for all these years. I found Howard’s insights into what is happening within a large swath of American Jewry enlightening.
Now What? by Howard Wach hwach12@gmail.com
This seems like the right question to ask about our diasporic Jewish existence in the wake of a monumental crisis that, while it will not end before the hostages are free, seems to be winding down. Israel has magically disappeared from the everyday headlines, replaced by the daily adventures of Elon Musk. I can walk through Union Square again without enduring vile chants in a sea of keffiyahs.The crisis is winding down, but what has shifted over the past year? What residue will this terrible year leave behind? Now what?
It’s too soon to know if actual eruptions of anti-Jewish violence will recede into rhetoric in the uglier corners of the internet. As a semi-retired American academic, I’m confident, sadly, that in elite colleges and universities the moral idiocy excusing, condoning, or celebrating the murder of Jews in the name of “liberation” isn’t going anywhere. Impressionable young minds, future elected officials and leaders in corporate, foundation, and education C-suites, will continue to be fed this poison for a long time. Academia never changes quickly.
More likely candidates for reform are the corporate and educational “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) bureaucracies that mushroomed after George Floyd’s 2020 murder in Minneapolis. I was in the thick of it then, directing academic policy at a community college in the City University of New York. DEI was and remains an important initiative. I learned a great deal during that feverish—and unfinished—confrontation with anti-Black racism. But an uneasy dissonance always lay between my Jewishness and a core DEI premise—that white privilege defined my place in the world. It never felt true.
After October 7, those chickens came home to roost. DEI administrators and consultants never offered traumatized Jews the same care, the same delicate concern and commitment to inclusion afforded to other ethnic and racial groups. Jewish employees and Jewish students suffered on their own. It was a betrayal, a silent assault. More broadly, as we enter 2025, DEI has lost much of its purchase to the momentum shifting politics and culture from left to right. The residue? We are awake now, and pointedly not woke.
I speak as a disillusioned, assimilated Jewish-American baby-boomer—the beneficiary of a decades-long and now-expiring post-Holocaust cultural truce—and that’s a critical data point. For many of my boomer peers and me, the torrent of lies and hate aimed at Israel and Jews who dare to support her, or at Jews generally, punctured our assimilationist dream and forced our understanding of massive gaps in knowledge and experience that separate Jews and gentiles. Did we really melt into a happy multi-cultural pot? The answer is in. No, we did not.
But a very large Jewish generation gap has opened. For many—perhaps most—diaspora Jews under 40, the only Zionism they know is the politically expedient revisionism of Bibi, the forever prime minister. The Zionism of lunatic West Bank settlers, “hilltop youth” uprooting olive groves and trashing Arab villages, and their enablers in the current government. The near-total absence of knowledgeable or fair reporting on Israel and its people strips away history and context. Most young Americans—including young Jews—have no sense of the vast range of opinion and feeling in the actual Israel, as opposed to the villainous cartoon Israel they see on their phones.
Without context, without historical knowledge, they see only an unending occupation that cleanly fits a definition of “apartheid”, a brutal, scorched-earth campaign in Gaza, and authoritarian racists in high government positions. If that’s all you know, Zionism becomes a nasty epithet, not the realization of Jewish self-determination, safety, and freedom. And that’s a very big problem. Many of us know the cost personally, in broken friendships and fractured families. This too is part of the residue.
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“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” So said Mark Twain. Much of the world is retreating from the postwar liberal order in which Western diaspora Jews prospered. The further that turn proceeds—whether from the left or the right—the more anti-Jewish hostility will find fertile ground and Israel will attract wildly disproportionate and skewed attention. October 7, the Gaza war, and the world’s reaction are in that sense a disconcerting historical rhyme. Now our very own American avatar of right-wing illiberalism and general chaos is about to ascend again. Nobody can predict what that means for Israel or the Jewish diaspora. I certainly won’t try.
If there’s a light somewhere in this tunnel, it shines on emotional consequences, personal consequences we could not have predicted. We’ve witnessed pillars of our diaspora world undermined, and felt our anger and anxiety create, paradoxically, a stronger solidarity and intensified, proud Jewish identity. At the same time a new intimacy has grown with those gentiles who’ve shown their love in the past year, who truly listened, who received our anguish and vulnerability with grace and empathy.
Now what? No more complacency, no more illusion. We’ll monitor, appraise, and guard against the conditions around us. We will live with and embrace the knowledge that we are what we have always been, a people apart. We’ve been torn from a waking dream and put back into history.
In a testament to its resilience, Israel's technology sector demonstrated impressive growth in 2024, marking its first expansion in three years despite significant challenges. According to the Tech Review 2024 report, jointly published by IVC Data and Insights and LeumiTech, Israeli tech companies successfully raised $9.58 billion across 443 funding rounds, representing a substantial 38% increase in capital raised and a 13% rise in the number of rounds compared to 2023.
Large-scale investments played a crucial role in this growth, with mega-funding rounds (those exceeding $100 million) accounting for nearly half—approximately 48% of the total capital raised. Notably, even when excluding these mega deals, the sector still showed positive growth compared to the previous year, indicating broad-based strength across the ecosystem.
Cybersecurity emerged as the dominant force within Israel's tech landscape, capturing 38% of total investments. This concentration in cybersecurity underscores Israel's continued leadership in digital security innovation and its critical role in the global technology ecosystem.
The investment landscape saw interesting shifts in investor demographics. While domestic Israeli investor participation continued to decline, foreign investor interest showed renewed vigor, particularly in the fourth quarter of 2024. This trend brought investor activity back to levels comparable to 2018 and 2019, suggesting a normalization of investment patterns.
The final quarter of 2024 was particularly notable, with five mega-funding rounds totaling $850 million accounting for 36% of all capital raised during that period. This strong finish to the year highlights the continued confidence of major investors in Israeli technology companies despite regional challenges.’
Wizz Air announced today that it will resume several routes to Israel on January 15, following the reinstatement of the Larnaca route, which resumed operations from Ben Gurion Airport on December 21.
To attract passengers back, Wizz Air is offering competitive starting prices. The routes being reinstated include:
Abu Dhabi, starting at $195 for a round-trip ticket.
Rome and Milan, starting at $130 for a round-trip ticket.
London, starting at $182 for a round-trip ticket.
Warsaw and Krakow, starting at $182 for a round-trip ticket.
Budapest, starting at $141 for a round-trip ticket.
El Al has announced new fixed roundtrip prices to four locations. The cost for flights to Vienna, Dubai and Frankfort is set at $349, while the price to Athens will be $299.
Elections were held on March 2, 2020, and once again, they were inconclusive. Here is what I wrote in the Tel Aviv Diary entry the day after:
The story in Israel today is how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came so close, yet failed to win. During the final days of the campaign, Netanyahu repeatedly said, "We just need one or two more Knesset seats to win," hoping against hope that he could convince enough last-minute voters to put him over the top. But alas, it seems Netanyahu was right; he needed just a few more seats. However, the voters he needed to grant him those mandates did not answer his call, and now it appears he may be on his way out.
President Bill Clinton was famous for the saying, "It's the economy, stupid." While there are many reasons to explain how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu almost pulled off a victory in Monday's elections, there is no doubt that Israel's bustling economy is one explicit cause. Despite a growing realization that perhaps Netanyahu has been in power too long and that he could be corrupt, many Israelis said things have never been so good, and they didn’t want to risk a change for an unknown.
Of course, that view did not develop all on its own. Netanyahu waged a brilliant three-part campaign, which left his opposition in disarray. First, Netanyahu spent a jam-packed week showcasing his diplomatic prowess. He flew to Washington to receive Trump’s peace plan. On his way back home, Netanyahu stopped in Moscow (where Putin had just been in Jerusalem) to secure the release of Naama Issachar, an Israeli woman incarcerated in Russia for nine months on trumped-up charges. Then, a few days later, Netanyahu flew off to Africa, where he met with the leader of Sudan. Netanyahu orchestrated this trifecta to prove that, despite being charged with multiple crimes, he was perfectly capable of carrying out his responsibilities as Prime Minister.
Before long, the second part of Netanyahu's carefully crafted campaign emerged—one of the dirtiest verbal assaults on a candidate in Israeli history. These attacks, launched directly by the Prime Minister and his closest circle, depicted Benny Gantz, former IDF Chief of Staff under Netanyahu and Netanyahu's main competitor, as an unhinged, corrupt womanizer. Netanyahu's son posted pictures of a random woman who took a selfie with Gantz, suggesting she was Gantz’s mistress. Israeli voters considering a vote for Blue and White saw how persuasive and successful Netanyahu had been, undeterred by the charges he faces.
Despite there being no known truth to any of the accusations made against Gantz, many voters assumed that where there is smoke, there must be fire. Once again, Israelis questioned—given that things are so good, why take a risk on the unknown with a person who might be tainted? At the same time, Netanyahu continued an ongoing fear campaign, insisting that Gantz would form a government with Ahmad Tibi of the Arab Joint List.
Finally came the third part of the campaign blueprint—a ground game to bring out the vote, in which Netanyahu mobilized every Likud Knesset member. Netanyahu had already been traveling to Likud strongholds each day, energizing his base and getting them out to vote. This strategy proved effective. While the leadership of Blue and White sat together plotting their strategy, Netanyahu was actively out in the field.
Netanyahu's efforts almost paid off. When the third election campaign began, it was accepted wisdom that Netanyahu, whose Likud party had dropped from 35 to 31 seats between the first and second elections, would fall even further—especially considering that between the second and third elections, the Prime Minister was indeed indicted. However, thanks to his aforementioned achievements, Netanyahu defied the anticipated outcome, and his party earned 36 seats in this latest election.
But alas for Netanyahu, even though exit polls on election night showed his right-wing, religious coalition having 60 seats, with all the votes counted, that number has dropped to 58—two seats below the necessary threshold to form a coalition.
While Netanyahu and his supporters initially hoped to coax several Gantz supporters to defect, with the final count at 58 seats, that becomes unlikely but still possible. Currently, three more likely possibilities exist. Option #1: The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passes a law stating that someone under indictment cannot serve as Prime Minister.
So far, both Blue & White, Labor/Gesher/Meretz, the Joint Arab List, and now Yisrael Beitenu have said they would favor this option, which gives it 62 votes. If that happens, either a coalition government will be formed with someone other than Netanyahu heading the Likud list, or the country will be thrust into a fourth election, without Netanyahu as the Likud leader. Option #2: A temporary government could be formed by Blue & White and Labor/Gesher/Meretz with the support of the Joint List, expressly to remove Netanyahu from power, to be replaced shortly thereafter by a wider coalition. Option #3: A broad coalition government including Netanyahu, something that did not come to pass last time.
There are several other topics worthy of discussion, including: the growing power of the Israeli Arab Joint List, which has reached its highest numbers ever in this election, winning 15 Knesset seats and thereby preventing the right-wing/religious bloc from forming a government; the decline of Israeli left-wing parties, which merged only to receive seven seats; and finally, the decline of the Israeli right-wing religious party. However, all of this must wait for another time.
Politically, it has been a wild two days in Israel. When the polls closed and the first exit polls were released, it was conventional wisdom that Netanyahu had won and would be able to form a government. Less than 48 hours later, the conventional wisdom has flipped 180 degrees. Now there is a sense that, despite his great campaign, Netanyahu has won the battle but lost the war.
One final thought … I have seen headlines in the world press claiming Israel “voted against a Two-State Solution,” or that Israel “voted for continued occupation”. These headlines miss the point. This election was not about issues. It was about one thing: Were Israelis willing to risk changing from the leader they have known for a decade to a leader they are not sure of? More than expected answered, “No”.
