“It is an unambiguous global call to arms,” said Robert Greenway, of the Heritage Foundation. “It will be heeded. There will be blood.”

David Swindle

(JNS)

An official statement from the Hamas terrorist organization and comments from a former Hamas leader—both calling for global mobilization against Israel this Friday, Oct. 13—are raising alarm at Jewish organizations and among those who monitor the Middle East.

“The real threat here is that there is no way of knowing who, if anyone, will take up the call or if there are pre-planned actions already staged elsewhere in the world just waiting for the greenlight,” according to James Carafano, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation and senior counselor to its president.

Carafano cited the Biden administration’s “open door” immigration policies and said that the U.S. president has “thrown virtually every post 9/11 caution to the wind.”

“Given that preparations and attention for dealing with global terrorism in the West have lapsed in recent years, who knows if anyone has been paying attention to this threat?” Carafano told JNS.

On Oct. 10, Hamas called for an “Al-Aqsa Flood Friday” on Oct. 13, according to a translation from the Middle East Media Research Institute. In the statement, the terror organization sought reinforcements from “our Palestinian people, the masses of the Arab and Islamic world, and free people worldwide” in its “declaration of mobilization.”

Also on Oct. 10, the Qatar-based Khaled Mashal, who led Hamas from 2014-2017, called for Muslims to “take to the streets” on Friday in a global protest against Israel. “To all scholars who teach jihad,” he said, “to all who teach and learn, this is a moment for the application [of jihad].”

“It is an unambiguous global call to arms,” Robert Greenway, director of the Center for National Defense at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Signal. “It will be heeded. There will be blood.”

Melissa Lantsman, the deputy Canadian opposition leader, stated that the “dangerous and hateful rhetoric from Hamas terrorists inciting violence this Friday around the world must be taken seriously.”

“They have already inspired large protests in support of their evil acts. All levels of government must ensure adequate security and protective measures are in place for Jewish schools, synagogues and community centers across the country,” she said.

The UJA Federation of Greater Toronto said that it was monitoring the situation but there was no known specific threat.

The terrorist organization is “ISIS on steroids,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

(JNS)

The ongoing Israel Defense Forces offensive will leave Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization with “zero military capabilities and zero motivation to carry out attacks” for decades, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told journalists on Wednesday.

“We regard Gaza as a huge terror base, the new caliphate as you will. This is ISIS on steroids because it has a state behind it: Iran,” the spokeswoman said as she announced Israeli officials are examining “new indications” of direct Iranian involvement in Hamas’s Oct. 7 shock attack.

“We are a country at war, but not only we are at war: This is a war of the entire civilized world against savagery,” the official said.

On Saturday morning, Hamas terrorists infiltrated several Israeli communities, killing at least 1,200 people and taking at least 100 hostages back to Gaza. Some 3,000 people were wounded in shooting and rocket attacks over the weekend, and the toll continues to climb.

As part of “Operation Swords of Iron,” the IDF is conducting wide-scale strikes on several strategic centers belonging to Hamas.

Overnight Tuesday, the Israel Air Force hit more than 200 targets in Gaza City’s Al Furqan neighborhood, which it called “a terror nest for Hamas” from which “many activities against Israel are carried out.”

The IDF “will continue to act powerfully against the infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hamas, which aim terror against Israel, and continues extensive waves of attacks in the Gaza Strip,” it added.

The more than 2,450 Hamas targets that have been hit across the Strip in five days of war included weapons storage facilities, command and control centers and naval assets, according to the military.

According to IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military has defined killing senior Hamas terrorists as the its “top priority.”

Palestinian sources reported on Wednesday that Abdel-Fattah Diab Deif, the brother of Hamas military commander Muhammad Deif, was killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip.

Overnight Monday, Hamas “Economy Minister” Jawad Abu Shamala was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Abu Shamala managed the finances of the organization and earmarked the funds for financing and directing terrorism both inside and outside the Gaza Strip, according to the IDF.

He previously held security positions in the terrorist organization and led several operations aimed at harming citizens of the State of Israel, the army added.

Zakaria Abu Muammar, a senior member of the Hamas political bureau who headed the terrorist group’s National Relations Office, was killed in a separate strike.

“Abu Muammar was known to be close to [Hamas leader in Gaza] Yahya Sinwar and, as part of his position, worked to incite and act against the sovereignty of the State of Israel and endanger its residents,” the IDF noted.

“We have released all restraints, regained control of the [border] area and are moving to full offense,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops during a visit to the south on Tuesday night.

“Hamas wanted a change in Gaza. It will change 180 degrees from what it thought,” the minister said. “Gaza will never return to what it was. Whoever comes to decapitate, murder women, Holocaust survivors—we will eliminate them with all our might and without compromise.”

Image: The aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90.

“Part of the launches crossed into Israeli territory and presumably fell in open areas,” confirmed IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.

(JNS)

Mortar shells were fired at Israel from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights on Tuesday evening, mere hours after the Hezbollah terror group fired anti-tank missiles at the Jewish state from Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said.

“Part of the launches crossed into Israeli territory and presumably fell in open areas,” confirmed IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.

The military said its forces responded with artillery and mortar fire towards the source of the Syrian shelling.

Residents of the southern part of the Golan Heights were instructed to stay close to bomb shelters. Israelis in the Golan have approximately 15 seconds to seek shelter from the moment the air-raid siren sounds.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, the Hezbollah terrorist organization based in Lebanon took responsibility for firing anti-tank missiles across the border with Israel, raising fears of the war with Hamas broadening to the northern front, Arab media reported.

An IDF combat helicopter responded by attacking a Hezbollah post.

“The IDF is prepared for all scenarios in all arenas, and will continue to operate in order to protect Israeli civilians,” stated the military.

Earlier on Tuesday, the IDF attacked two Hezbollah observation posts in Southern Lebanon with artillery fire after terrorists there fired rockets at the Jewish state.

“Around 15 launches were detected from Lebanese territory, air-defense fighters succesfully intercepted four launches, ten launches fell in Lebanese territory,” the IDF wrote in a post on X on Tuesday afternoon.

Reuters cited a Lebanese security source as saying that Palestinian terror groups were responsible for the rocket attacks.

The incidents came as IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi held a situational assessment at the Northern Command with the commanders of the forces deployed in the area.

Image: Israeli soldiers guard the border between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights, April 17, 2023. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90.

Israel will win the war and “We will keep the promise that the people of Israel live,” the Israeli prime minister said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Israel’s war with Hamas as “a war for the home, a war to secure our existence” in an address to the nation on Monday.

He condemned the atrocities committed by hundreds of members of the terror group Hamas who broke through the Gaza border fence in a surprise assault on Saturday morning and killed more than 900 Israelis, mostly civilians, in a wholesale slaughter. That number has increased for the past three days.

“This war was forced upon us by a despicable enemy, human animals celebrating the murder of women, children and the elderly,” the prime minister said, speaking in Hebrew. “We have not seen the atrocities that Hamas committed since the horrors of ISIS.”

“Handcuffed children who were executed along with the rest of their families, young men and women shot in the back. They were executed,” he said.

Netanyahu promised Hamas would suffer the same fate as ISIS. “The enemy wanted war, he will get war.”

Netanyahu laid out five immediate goals:

1. to purge the enemy from Israeli towns and communities and repel the entry of additional enemy combatants, a battle he said was still being waged;
2.  to carry out a massive attack on Hamas of “unprecedented intensity”;
3. to fortify the other fronts, including on the northern border against Hezbollah, in Judea and Samaria, and within Israel;
4. to continue to strengthen international support “in order to preserve our field of action against our enemies”;
5. and to establish unity among the people.

Speaking of the last, which referred to the months-long social upheaval around the government’s efforts at judicial reform, the prime minister stated that “the split between us is over. We are all united, and when we are united, we are victorious.”

The leadership must unite, as the country had, Netanyahu said. He called on the opposition leaders to immediately join in an emergency national government, citing the example set by former Prime Minister Menachem Begin during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Netanyahu promised Israel’s citizens that the blow against Hamas had only begun. “We have eliminated many hundreds of terrorists, and we will not stop there,” he said. “I said that every place in which Hamas hides will become a city of ruins. It’s already happening today.”

The prime minister thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for placing American support squarely behind Israel “in words and deeds,” and noted that one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world, the USS Gerald Ford, was en route to Israel.

“Our common enemies in the region fully understand the meaning of this step,” he said.

Netanyahu thanked the soldiers and security forces who were “acting with extraordinary courage.” He cautioned Israel’s citizens against falling for fake news that seeks to divide or frighten them.

“I assure you, dear citizens, at the end of the campaign, all our enemies will know it was a terrible mistake to attack Israel,” he said. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will echo with them for generations.”

Netanyahu also promised that the government would do everything possible to return the Israelis held captive by Hamas. “The hearts of all of us are with the families of those captured,” he said.

“As prime minister of Israel, I tell you candidly: Difficult days lie ahead. We mourn for our brothers and sisters, whose blood was spilled, and we are determined to win this war in order to bring life, blessing and light to our nation and our country,” he said.

“The rebirth of Israel is a miracle. It is a model of faith and action. In the book of Samuel, it is said: ‘The victor of Israel does not lie,'” Netanyahu added. “This time, too, we will keep the promise that the people of Israel live.”