IDF strikes Beirut, southern Lebanon after 2 rockets fired at northern Israel
Two rockets were fired at northern Israel from Lebanon on Friday morning, leading the military to carry out strikes first in southern Lebanon and later in the capital, Beirut, a first since the November ceasefire went into effect.
According to the military, one of the rockets was intercepted and the other fell short inside Lebanese territory, as rocket sirens sounded in the city of Kiryat Shmona and the nearby communities of Tel Hai, Margaliot, and Misgav Am.
It was the second attack within the past week, after three rockets were fired at Metula on March 22, the first such incident since the November 27 ceasefire ended over a year of fighting with the Hezbollah terror group.
A senior source within Hezbollah told the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen news outlet that the terror group has no connection to the rocket fire on Friday.
The source claimed that the recent rocket fire from Lebanon is “part of a suspicious attempt to fabricate pretexts for the continuation of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam issued a statement calling on the military to “uncover those behind the irresponsible rocket fire that threatens Lebanon’s stability and security,” and take them into custody.
Following the attack, the IDF said Friday morning it was carrying out a wave of strikes on Hezbollah targets in the south of the country, and later that afternoon brought down a building it claimed was used by the terror group’s drone unit in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh.
(read more at timesofisrael.com)
Signs of strain: What the anti-Hamas protests in Gaza mean for Israel
Over a photo of a large protest in Israel – pink smoke billowing from the center of the crowd – TRT Global, widely considered a mouthpiece of the Turkish government, ran this headline on Wednesday: “Israel is now a divided nation on the brink of collapse: ex-Knesset member.”
The headline should serve as a cautionary tale – not because Israel is actually on the verge of collapse (though that may be what the headline writer hoped), but as a reminder to resist jumping to conclusions about the impact of protests in someone else’s backyard.
For instance, time and again, when large demonstrations have erupted in Iran – demonstrations that turned violent – some were quick to proclaim that the regime was about to fall. Yet the regime of the ayatollahs still stands. The moral: often, when watching these developments – hoping for a particular outcome – we see what we want to see and disregard the rest.
All of that is worth keeping in mind when considering some truly astounding developments in Gaza this week. Not the targeted killing of more Hamas leaders, but the demonstrations that broke out on Tuesday and continued into Wednesday and Thursday. It may be tempting to look at these and say they are a sign that Hamas is on the brink of collapse. But that may well be wishful thinking – not unlike that TRT headline.
Even so, those protests – their size, the fact that they took place in numerous locations across the Gaza Strip and continued beyond a single day – represent something new and different, something not seen before: the largest anti-Hamas protests ever held in the Strip.
(read more at jpost.com)
Arab mob attacks 2 teenage shepherds on Mt. Hebron
Two 17-year-old Jewish shepherds were nearly lynched this morning (Friday) in an attack by Palestinian Arab rioters on Mount Hebron. The two boys were attacked with stones and clubs.
The boys were conscious and suffered injuries to the head and limbs. They were evacuated to Soroka Hospital for medical treatment.
The police reported that significant forces from the Judea and Samaria District Police and the IDF arrived at the scene and carried out arrests of suspects involved in the attack and stone-throwing. So far, 22 suspects who took an active part in the incident have been arrested, and they are being transferred for further investigation by the police.
The head of the Mount Hebron Regional Council, Eliram Azoulay, said that the attack occurred near the town of Mitzpe Yair. According to him, “A number of terrorists attacked them with stones and clubs. Miraculously, they managed to escape to a nearby farm while still injured and call for help.”
Azulai added that this was the third attack this week against shepherds near the Jewish communities in the area. “In the last two months, we have seen an increase in cases of violence,” he noted, and called on the authorities “to implement the council’s demand for a perimeter around the settlements, to clear the illegal construction adjacent to the settlements. The security of our residents is the top priority.”
Sec. of State Rubio says US has canceled 300 visas of ‘lunatics’ who support terrorism
During a visit to Guyana, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the Trump Administration’s policy of deporting non-citizens who engage in activities that support terror groups.
Rubio said that the US has revoked 300 visas from “lunatics” who openly support Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
He said, “Maybe more than 300 at this point. We do it every day, every time I find one of these lunatics.”
When asked about the visa cancellation Turkish citizen and Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk, Rubio explained, “We revoked [her visa] and here’s why … If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us that the reason that you’re coming to the United States is not just cause you want to write Op Eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students taking over buildings, creating a ruckus, we’re not gonna give you a visa.”
He added, “If you lie to us and get a visa and enter the United States and with that visa participate in that sort of activity, we’re gonna take away your visa. And once you’ve lost your visa, you’re no longer legally in the United States and we have a right, like every country in the world has a right, to remove you from that country.”
(read more at worldisraelnews.com)
Officials estimate 20-24 hostages still alive in Gaza as IDF shifts focus
Gaza. Operation Strength and Sword, which has been conducted in Gaza over the past two weeks, had one central goal: to restart negotiations regarding the hostages. The idea was to deliver Hamas a painful blow and threaten that this blow would turn into a series of strikes, so the organization would quickly calculate profit and loss and prefer words over more rockets.
This decision was preceded by a realization that permeated Israel that Hamas was in a state of “contentment.” The fighting had stopped (meaning the threat to its rule was removed), the quiet allowed it to move and operate freely (meaning rebuild military capabilities), humanitarian aid flowed into Gaza (meaning pressure from the Gazan public was reduced), and it continues to hold 59 hostages (meaning Israel would be required to make concessions in the future). An ideal situation from its perspective, a very problematic situation from Israel’s perspective, which committed to destroying Hamas and returning the hostages, and is failing to accomplish both.
Israel had to decide between two options: return to fighting or return to negotiations under previously agreed terms. Hamas politely rejected the new proposals raised by the American mediator Steve Witkoff. There was one called “Big Witkoff,” which included the release of 10-11 living hostages as well as bodies, and then a second proposal called “Small Witkoff” that included the release of five living hostages, as well as bodies (a similar framework to this proposal was raised this week by Egypt, and is supposedly currently on the table).
Hamas proposed in response to release the hostage Edan Alexander, who holds American citizenship, as well as returning the bodies of additional Israeli-American hostages. Israel flatly rejected this proposal, and rightfully so: it did not want to discriminate between hostages, and it also feared that releasing American hostages would sharply decrease the administration’s interest in releasing additional hostages in the future.
(read more at israelhayom.com)
