Terrorism

“There is a pogrom currently taking place in Europe in 2024,” Israeli envoy Danny Danon said.

(JNS)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated at about 4:30 a.m. local time that he was dispatching two rescue planes to Amsterdam following a “serious incident of violence against Israeli citizens.”

“The prime minister takes the horrific event very seriously and demands that the Dutch government and the Dutch security forces act firmly and quickly against the rioters and ensure the peace of our citizens,” Netanyahu’s office stated, in Hebrew.

Earlier in the day, Maccabi Tel Aviv lost 5-0 to Ajax Amsterdam in a Europa League soccer game. Various reports indicate that Israeli fans were attacked—with some reports of injuries—after leaving the game.

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, wrote that “we are receiving very disturbing reports of extreme violence against Israelis and Jews on the streets of Holland. There is a pogrom currently taking place in Europe in 2024.”

“These are the true faces of the supporters of the radical terrorism we are fighting. The western world needs to wake up now,” he wrote. “This is the time when the United Nations should immediately and clearly condemn the violence of the Palestinians and their supporters. The Dutch authorities must take decisive action against terrorism now.”

“This is outrageous. The government of the Netherlands must protect Jews from these attacks and prosecute the assailants,” wrote Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.).

Featured Image: Pixabay.com

This is a developing story.

Yahya Sinwar “was hiding in an area surrounded by our forces. We didn’t know he was there. He had a [tactical] vest, a pistol and 40,000 shekels.”

(Israel Hayom via JNS)

The IDF spokesperson unveiled new details and footage from the death in Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip, of Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas and the chief architect of the Oct. 7 massacre.

In a video, captured by an Israeli drone, shows Sinwar sitting on a couch inside a destroyed building. Upon noticing the drone hovering above him, Sinwar, who had lost a hand from earlier gunfire, throws a piece of wood at the drone in an effort to knock it down.

In his statement, the IDF spokesperson said: “For months, IDF and Shin Bet forces have been working to gather intelligence in order to eliminate Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organization and one of the founders of its [Al-Qassam Brigades] ‘military’ wing. Sinwar had been hiding in an area our forces surrounded for an extended period.

“We didn’t know he was there, but we continued to act with determination. The forces found Sinwar with a [tactical] vest, a pistol and 40,000 shekels [nearly $11,000] in cash. He tried to flee, and our forces eliminated him.”

“There were no hostages with the terrorists we eliminated [Sinwar and two others, apparently his body guards],” the spokesperson clarified. “The forces are now scanning the area and are proceeding with the necessary caution.”

Regarding Sinwar’s earlier presence in the Rafah tunnel where the bodies of the six hostages, who were murdered in captivity, were discovered last month, he added: “After an investigation, we can confirm that Sinwar’s DNA was found in an underground tunnel, a few hundred meters from the tunnel where the hostages were killed.

“We had known Sinwar’s estimated location for some time despite the high level of secrecy that Hamas employed regarding his whereabouts,” military sources stated. “We knew he had been in Rafah, and we have been extracting information from underground tunnels there to understand where he was.”

Originally published by Israel Hayom.

Featured Image: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar speaks during a conference in Gaza City on Nov. 4, 2019. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90.

United Hatzalah said that its volunteers were “providing initial treatment to a large number of injured (over 20).”

(JNS)

At least 20 people were wounded, including five seriously, when a Hezbollah drone struck a structure in the Wadi Ara area south of Haifa on Sunday night, the Magen David Adom medical response group said.

United Hatzalah said that its volunteers were “providing initial treatment to a large number of injured (over 20) at the scene of an incident in the Binyamina region. Some are in serious condition.”

This is a developing story.

Image: Courtesy JNS article 

The Iranian-backed proxy Hezbollah blamed Israel for the blasts that also wounded at least 2,700 and killed eight of its operatives in Lebanon.

(JNS)

At least a dozen Hezbollah operatives were wounded in the Damascus area on Tuesday afternoon when their pagers exploded due to an alleged Israeli hack that also injured more than 2,700 terrorists in Lebanon, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced.

According to the group, which is affiliated with the opposition and based in the United Kingdom, at least 14 Hezbollah members “whose nationalities were not disclosed” were wounded in the alleged attack.

In Damascus, four terrorists were said to have been hurt when a communications device exploded in a car on a road near the Kafr Sousa district. In Sayyidah Zaynab, about six miles south of the Syrian capital, seven people were wounded. Another three terrorists sustained wounds in a blast in the Qalamoun Mountains near the Lebanese border.

They were evacuated to several hospitals around Damascus, activists affiliated with the Syrian war monitor reported.

A source with links to Hezbollah confirmed to AFP that some terrorists were wounded in explosions in Syria, without disclosing how many.

Iran-backed Hezbollah blamed Israel for the pager blasts that wounded at least 2,700 and killed eight of its operatives in Lebanon, saying the Jewish state will get “its fair punishment” in response.

The statement warned that “this treacherous and criminal enemy will certainly receive its just punishment for this sinful aggression from where it expects it or does not expect it,” according to a translation by Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen, which is affiliated with the terror group.

Approximately 200 terrorists were in critical condition in 100 Lebanese hospitals, Beirut’s health minister, Firass Abiad, announced some three hours after the blasts were first reported at 3.30 p.m. local time.

Senior Hezbollah officials were said to have been wounded in the blasts. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also hurt in one of the explosions, Tehran’s semi-official Mehr outlet reported.

The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on the incident, which came just hours after the Israeli Cabinet added the return of citizens displaced from their homes in the north to the country’s war goals, bringing a potential major clash with Hezbollah closer to reality.

The IDF’s Home Front Command has reportedly informed local authorities of a possible escalation on the border with Lebanon but stressed that there are currently no changes to instructions for citizens.

Image: Dummar, a northwestern suburb of Syria’s capital Damascus, June 29, 2019. Credit: T Foz/Unsplash.

“Please enter the houses, close windows and doors and wait for instructions,” the Samaria Regional Council instructed residents of Avnei Hefetz.

(JNS)

Local authorities in the Samaria town of Avnei Hefetz ordered residents to remain indoors due to a suspected infiltration on Wednesday night.

“Due to fear of a security incident, please enter the houses, close windows and doors and wait for instructions,” the Samaria Regional Council, which administers the area, said in a message to residents.

According to initial reports, the alert was issued after security forces discovered a breach in the town’s fence near a local synagogue. Israel Defense Forces soldiers were said to have been dispatched to the scene.

This is a developing story.

Image: Courtesy JNS article

“Unfortunately, many people repeat the narrative that in fact we are the ones preventing a deal,” said Gal Hirsch. “But this is a lie.”

Ruthie Blum

(JNS)

Protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheva, Netanya and other locations across Israel on Saturday night in what is being reported as one of the largest demonstrations in the state’s history. According to some figures, there were some 500,000 people at the main rally in the White City and an additional 250,000 spread out elsewhere.

Whether or not these numbers are accurate, anybody observing the crowds in person or on TV could see that they were massive. The explanation for the exceptional turnout was twofold.

First, the entire country was reeling from the recovery the previous weekend of the bodies of six hostages who had been executed in cold blood by their Hamas captors a mere two days or so before they were discovered by Israel Defense Forces troops. The victims of the barbarians who abducted them 11 months ago were identified as 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 25; Alexander Lobanov, 32; Carmel Gat, 40; and IDF Master Sgt. Ori Danino, 25.

It was believed by the families of these and other hostages that the first stage of a rumored deal for their release would have seen at least three of the above on the list to return home.

The second reason for the increase in participants in the otherwise waning anti-government protests—the key goal of which all along has been to topple Prime Minister Benjamin (“Bibi”)Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition—is the looming one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre.

Not a single Israeli is apathetic to the terrifying plight of the 101 remaining captives, and all can only imagine with horror what the spouses, parents, grandparents, siblings and children of the captives are going through every minute of every hour of every day.

To make matters worse, the war against terrorists in Gaza is continuing and claiming the lives of heroic soldiers, while the north is being bombarded by Hezbollah rockets and drones.

IDF Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for the captives and missing, set two records straight on Sunday at the Middle East-America Dialogue (MEAD) summit at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C.

“Unfortunately, many people repeat the narrative that … we [Israelis] are the ones preventing a deal,” he told Israel Hayom senior diplomatic correspondent Ariel Kahana, who interviewed him on stage at the event. “But this is not the truth. It is a lie. We have never stopped a deal that was on the table.”

That was one necessary restating of the obvious. Another related to domestic protests and foreign treatment of the Jewish state.

“Hamas learns what is happening in Israeli society and wants to divide it by using the issue of the hostages,” Hirsch said. “And I have to put it on the table; for them, this is an achievement. There is a direct connection between the international pressure on Israel and the desire of Hamas to be part of the negotiations. When [it sees] that Israel is under enormous pressure from our best allies, or from the United Nations or Great Britain, or decisions by some and others in the international courts, they say to themselves that they are in no hurry.”

He pointed out that “since November, there have been virtually no negotiations, and they don’t seem to want a deal. Since December, Hamas is not really in the picture. In March, they came for a few days to negotiations in Doha and then disappeared.”

That Hirsch was forthcoming with such an unpopular view among those Israelis whose desperation has blinded them to reality was welcome. Yet it wasn’t actually surprising coming from him.

Far more jaw-dropping—and irresponsibly late in coming—was a similar admission from Benny Gantz, of all people. The former IDF chief of staff and War Cabinet member who resigned from the emergency unity government when he saw polls that indicated he might beat Netanyahu in a non-existent election, has been putting stokes in the wheels of the effort to defeat Hamas by siding with the “anybody but Bibi” crew’s claims that the prime minister isn’t doing enough to “bring the hostages back home.”

Furthermore, Gantz is a member of the choir claiming that Netanyahu’s political considerations are causing him to cater to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich—going as far as to use the inexcusable expression that he’s “held hostage” by the extremist elements in his coalition.

Still, after attending and addressing the MEAD summit, he wrote a post on X indicating his realization that all his maneuvering hasn’t gone over well with the bulk of the Israeli public.

“I met today with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington,” Gantz tweeted on Monday. “I thanked him for the administration’s deep involvement in efforts to return the hostages, and noted that the proposal for their return [to] the table has broad support both in the Knesset and among the Israeli public, and that Netanyahu will also have a political safety net to advance it.”

He followed this expression of gratitude with the following uncharacteristic punchline: “At the same time, I emphasized that after months of Hamas not accepting the proposal, the world is expected to support Israel in increasing civilian and military pressure on Gaza—this is what led to the first hostage deal, and it is also what will expedite Hamas’s decision.”

It’s probably too much to ask of Hirsch or Gantz to make their declarations to the throngs at Hostage Square on Saturday night. But their doing so would send a message to Hamas’s Gaza chief, Yahya Sinwar, that his ploys are failing and that his end is near.

Image: Gal Hirsch, the government’s point man on missing and kidnapped citizens, attends the lobby for releasing the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, at the Knesset, April 10, 2024. Photo by Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90.

The Islamist group is demanding Israel release terrorists serving life terms for murder during the first phase of a ceasefire deal.

(JNS)

Hamas is making the faltering indirect hostages-for-ceasefire talks with Israel more difficult by adding demands, including that Jerusalem commute the sentences of a large number of Palestinian terrorists serving life terms already during the first phase of a deal.

The Washington Post cited a senior U.S. official as saying on Saturday that while the two sides had agreed to the release of terrorist murderers in exchange for Hamas freeing Israel Defense Forces troops, Hamas last week decided that Israeli civilians would also need to be exchanged for these longtime prisoners, an idea the official described as a “poison pill.”

Last week, Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Hamas had increased the number of terrorist murderers serving life sentences that it is demanding to be released during the initial days of the first phase of a deal.

CIA Director William Burns said on Saturday in London that reaching a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas terrorists will necessitate “some hard choices and some political compromises” from both sides.

Burns said that 90% of the proposed deal has been agreed on, but that “the last 10% is the last 10% for a reason, because it’s the hardest part to do.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week dismissed reports suggesting that an agreement was close. “In fact, while we agreed in May, in July and in August to a deal, an American proposal, Hamas has consistently said no to every one of them,” he said on Thursday.

Confidential documents obtained from the computer of a senior Hamas leader by IDF troops have unveiled the terrorist organization’s calculated strategy to exploit hostages, manipulate public opinion and rebuild its “military” capabilities under the guise of the ceasefire negotiations.

The document, which according to Channel 12 News was in the hands of the Israeli military already in April, was found on a computer in the Gaza Strip believed to have belonged to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

The contents of the file, which have not previously been made public, expose how the terrorist group deceives the international community and torment the families of Israeli hostages. This manipulative effort aims to harness them towards the goal of rebuilding Hamas’s military capabilities and securing its continued control over Gaza.

Image: Yahya Sinwar, leader of the Hamas terrorist group, at a rally in Beit Lahia, the northern Gaza Strip, on May 30, 2021. Photo by Atia Mohammed/Flash90.