DAY 62 OF THE GAZA WAR: IDF Casualties Mount, Firing by Hezbollah Increases, Antisemitism @ Tiktok
Since the start of the ground war, ninety IDF soldiers have died. Every day, the names of those who have fallen are shared on the news. The anchor takes a deep breath and first says “cleared for release.” Then, a photo, together with the name, rank, age and hometown of the deceased soldier appear. Each time I see those photos, I groan.
Today, while I was out, my phone started lighting up with notifications — another soldier had fallen. There was nothing unusual about this soldier. He was another seasoned reserve soldier killed in northern Gaza, seemingly by an IED. What made this loss different was that this soldier’s father was a member of the War Cabinet. This soldier was the youngest son of former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot.
I froze where I stood, and tears once again filled my eyes. I do not personally know either the father or the son. However, one of my close friends, who worked with several IDF Chiefs of Staff, always said that Eizenkot was the finest among them and a true mensch. My daughter, who served in the army, encountered many high-ranking officers in passing, but Eizenkot was the only one who stopped to ask her how she was doing. I extend my most heartfelt condolences to every family that has lost a son or daughter. Today, five new families became members of the circle of the bereaved — the circle no one wants to join. Yet, somehow, the loss of Gal Eizenkot, whose father (knowing the risks) took part in sending Gal out on his final mission, hurts just a little more.
ISRAELI HEALTH
Yesterday, I referenced a study about the current mental and physical well-being of Israelis. The survey results were not surprising. Beyond the fact that there's a war going on, in which many have children or spouses engaged in combat, our TV stations are continuously broadcasting news around the clock. As a result, after a month of listening to the stories of those who fell on October 7th, we now hear the life stories of each fallen soldier and, in most cases, hear portions of the eulogies at their funerals. Who wouldn't be depressed?
BACK TO GAZA …
Today was another day of intense fighting in all three main locations in Gaza: Khan Younis, Shuja’iyya, and Jabaliya. Dozens of men surrendered in Jabaliya today, marking the first mass surrender seen in this conflict. Additionally, there are a growing number of public complaints regarding Hamas’s theft of humanitarian aid coming into Gaza. Once the three areas in northern Gaza currently surrounded and being slowly cleared are under control by IDF forces, much of Gaza (except for Rafah and some central Gaza refugee camps) will be in Israeli hands — This refers only to the above-ground portions of Gaza, and does not include what is known as “subterranean Gaza,” the entire unground city Hamas built within their terror tunnels.
After a significant number of rockets were fired yesterday. Today the number of rocket launches dropped to a total of 10, all aimed at the Gaza envelope area.
At the request of President Biden, Israel will be opening the Keren Shalom Crossing to allow additional humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
BACK TO OUR NORTHERN BORDER…
While the rocket fire from Gaza has significantly decreased, that is not the case on our Lebanese border, where there were repeated attacks today. One attack on a civilian vehicle killed a 56-year-old farmer who had returned home briefly to tend to his orchards. Israel responded with attacks on Hezbollah targets in Southern Lebanon. It's estimated that 100 Hezbollah members have been killed by Israeli counterattacks, in this conflict, to date.
THE FAR-RIGHT MARCH
Police had authorized a procession of far-right extremists who sought to traverse through the Muslim Quarter to the entrance of the Temple Mount, with marchers calling for the rebuilding of the Temple on the Temple Mount. However, it seems that at the last moment, saner minds prevailed, and near the Old City, a large force of police blocked their way.
Yesterday, Defense Minister Galant signed an order to hold a right-wing activist in the West Bank, accused of provoking attacks on Palestinians, in administrative detention. Minister Ben-Gvir responded by tweeting that this is the third Jewish Israeli to be held in administrative detention since the beginning of the war, questioning whether Galant has “forgotten who the enemy is, and who are those we love.”
US, ISRAEL, AND THE HOUTHIS
Reports indicate that the United States has asked Israel to refrain from responding to attacks originating by the Houthis in Yemen, asserting that the US will respond at the appropriate time. The White House stated tonight (Israel time) that it has not imposed a deadline on Israel to conclude its ground campaign. The US emphasized and that ending the war now would not achieve Israel’s goal of objective of permanently neutralizing Hamas as a threat.
MISCONCEPTIONS
One of my readers sent me an article published in Foreign Affairs this week, titled "Israel's Failed Bombing Campaign in Gaza." As the title suggests, it claims that Israel’s air campaign failed and has not decreased support for Hamas. However, the article overlooks the fact that Israel never intended to win the war solely from the air. The air campaign's purpose was to facilitate the ground campaign, and any elimination of senior Hamas leaders, prior to the ground offensive, was a bonus. Therefore, the article's premise is flawed. Will the ground campaign achieve its goals? Tactically, without a doubt. Strategically, I have no idea
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POLITICS
A major political development occurred today, when Merav Michaeli, head of the Labor Party announced she would call for an election in four months to choose a new Party head. Michaeli is considered by many responsible for the fact that Labor and Meretz did not merge into a joint list during the most recent last election, and thus Meretz did not achieve the threshold of votes required for Knesset representation. As a result, many votes were wasted. (In the Israeli system, if a party neglects to meet the minimum threshold of votes required, any votes for that party are disqualified). In all recent polling, the Labor party has not met the required threshold, while Meretz has consistently received enough support to earn representation. The Director-General of Meretz immediately tweeted that the mistakes made last year should not be repeated and the upcoming Party election should be for a joint (Labor-Meretz) list. Michaeli has stated she would not run.
ELECTRIFICATION FOR ISRAEL’S RAILROADS
The Israeli Railroads are currently undertaking a major project to electrify all of their lines. This project has been progressing at a slow but steady rate. However, all the workers from the Spanish company implementing the project have left the country due to the war, casting uncertainty on how long the project will be delayed.
ANTISEMITISM @ TIKTOK
Jewish and Israeli employees at TikTok, a company owned by the Chinese firm ByteDance, have reported increasing hostility in the workplace since the start of the Gaza War. According to interviews with Fox Business News, Jewish and Israeli TikTok employees have experienced a lack of management support, despite encountering antisemitic and anti-Israel remarks in the company's internal chat system. The chat system includes a Palestinian support group, but the creation of a similar group for Israelis was not allowed. These employees also pointed out that TikTok's content moderation team, responsible for monitoring user content, often fails to remove anti-Israeli and antisemitic content, which is influenced by personal biases. Furthermore, TikTok’s Jewish and Israeli TikTok employees are facing stress and physical threats in their corporate offices around the globe, including those in the USA, Europe, and the UK.
BUSINESS
The Israeli fintech company PONTERA, formerly known as FeeX, raised $60 million. The fundraising, completed in November amid the Gaza war, was led by the investment fund Iconiq, which includes major companies like Volt, Zoom, Uber, and Canva in its portfolio. The managers of Iconiq are known in the USA for managing investments for big names in Silicon Valley, from Mark Zuckerberg to Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, and Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn. PONTERA, has developed software that helps bridge savers with pension advisors to enhance economic welfare at retirement. PONTERA currently employs 220 workers, 65% of whom are in Israel.