DAY 59 OF THE GAZA WAR: Fighting Intensifies in Gaza as the IDF Advances on Southern Part,Israel Issues a Travel Advisory For Most of the World
Tel Aviv Diary,December 4, 2023
Today the battle continued in Gaza. In Northern Gaza, IDF Golani forces entered the city of Shuja’iyya — the same area in which Golani suffered severe losses during Operation Tzuk Eitan in 2014. Fighting in Shuja’iyya involves difficult house-to-house, urban combat, which forces soldiers to vacate their armored vehicles to engage Hamas.
Hamas members in Shuja’iyya face one of two choices: surrender, or fight to the death, as they have nowhere to retreat. So far, Hamas continually chooses to fight to the death, a decision that is prolonging the conflict. There is a belief that our hostages are being held in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood. IDF soldiers are currently fighting in a location known as “Palestine Square”, from where Hamas had released several of our hostages. Three Israeli soldiers were killed yesterday during the fighting in this area.
In addition to the ongoing combat in northern Gaza, Israeli tanks have been advancing southward along the main north-south road.
The Air Force has been conducting continual massive bombings in parts of Khan Yunis, as Israel attempts to persuade residents to evacuate that area. So far, only a small number of residents have heeded the warnings and moved.
THE LEBANESE BORDER
Also today, Hezbollah undertook nine separate attacks on Israeli positions along our border with Lebanon. Although, given that all the attacks continue to fall within the bounds of what has transpired until now, it is clear Hezbollah does not seek to escalate the situation — at least for the time being. A French delegation is scheduled to arrive in the region next week to try to find a diplomatic solution to the confrontations with Hezbollah.
THE WEST BANK
Israeli troops targeted a terrorist cell in Qalqilya in the West Bank. The IDF killed two terrorists and arrested two others.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD AUSTIN
Much has been said about a speech made by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday, December 2nd. Austin stated:
In this kind of fight—the center of gravity is the civilian population. If you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.
Austin emphasized to Israel’s leaders the dual importance of protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza as a moral responsibility and a strategic imperative. One friend interpreted Austin’s warning as evidence the Biden Administration has become anti-Israel. While what Austin asserted may accurately reflect U.S. aspirations, the challenge lies in the fact that no one has yet successfully developed a method of urban warfare that only minimally displaces civilians, and, at the same time, doesn't overly result in their deaths. Nevertheless, Israel does aim to do its utmost to limit civilian casualties.
The portion of Austin's speech that many Israelis struggle with was his portrayal of Hamas as an external force in Gaza, suggesting that Israel’s actions might lead to increased support for Hamas. The opinion polls I presented a week ago indicates that the overwhelming majority of people in Gaza support Hamas. Moreover, many thousands, if not tens of thousands in Gaza, are employed by Hamas. The critical question is not what actions might drive Gazans into Hamas' arms, but what actions can be taken to separate Gazans from Hamas.
Yuval Doron Castleman
The soldier who shot and killed Yuval Doron Castleman, the hero who singlehandedly ended last week’s terror attack in Jerusalem, was interrogated by the Military Police and subsequently arrested. We will see how this incident develops. Today, both President Herzog and former Defense Minister Gantz paid Shiva calls to the Castleman family.
TRAVEL ADVISORY
The Israeli National Security Council issued a new and heightened travel advisory for Israelis traveling overseas. The warning, which includes: Great Britain, France, Germany, and Australia, along with, essentially, the entire world — except for the US and Canada. This heightened concern was triggered due to the combined rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment.
ANTISEMITISM
Denmark announced that the army will now protect Jewish and Israeli institutions. The Minister of Justice stated that the rise in antisemitism in Denmark is completely unacceptable. I believe it's time we acknowledge that much of the rise in antisemitism worldwide is a direct result of the large number of Muslim immigrants who emigrated to Europe and, to a lesser extent, to the US.
We cannot be afraid of being accused of Islamophobia for pointing out facts. I have no doubt that most Islamic immigrants are not antisemitic. However, it is estimated that at least 10% of Muslims have embraced radical Islamic ideas in some form, which is becoming an increasingly significant problem for Jews worldwide.
On the same topic, I was gratified and sad to receive the following email from a new Australian reader of the Tel Aviv Diary earlier today. I share this note with the reader’s permission…
I just want to say that I have always admired the tenacity of the Israeli people and want to apologize on behalf of the Australian people who seem to have lost their way. We have demonstrations here by people who came to this country whom we held out our arms to and assisted them through the tough times but unfortunately they brought their hate and antisemitism with them. They carry on about genocide but do not understand what they are saying if Israel wanted to commit genocide on Gaza you could have bombed it into oblivion and bulldozed it into the sea. But no it's too much unfortunately there does not seem to be any forgiveness in Islam for anyone else. — Roy
TRADING ON TERROR
One story received a great deal of coverage in Israel today — a paper written by Robert J. Jackson, Jr., Joshua Mitts, and colleagues, titled “Trading on Terror?” which was published on SSRN on Sunday. Jackson, a former commissioner of the SEC, and Mitts, a Columbia professor specializing in short selling, discovered that someone had placed a significantly large short bet on an index of Israeli companies, known as EIS, in the days leading up to the October 7th Massacre. This short bet was 100 times the size of the daily average of shorts on EIS and expired on October 13th. They concluded that through intermediaries, Hamas placed this bet as a means to finance their terror operations. In several interviews, Mitts advocated for a thorough investigation into this matter by U.S. authorities. While placing a short is not against U.S. law, however, financing Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization, is undoubtedly illegal.
WOMEN VICTIMS OF HAMAS
A spokesperson for the US State Department today asserted that Hamas is reluctant to release the young women it is holding captive due to concerns that their release would lead to public disclosure of the atrocities they have suffered at the hands of Hamas.
"I believe it's time we acknowledge that much of the rise in antisemitism worldwide is a direct result of the large number of Muslim immigrants who emigrated to Europe and, to a lesser extent, to the US."
Yes. Too many have brought their culture here -the US- and try to supplant our Western values; they take advantage of our rights and freedoms to force their ideology onto our country. This is not sustainable and will lead to violent clashes if not contained.