ISRAEL-HAMAS SIMCHAT TORAH WAR NEWS AND DISCUSSION

[TimT]

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1723540261215592795

[TimT]

Probably doesn't belong in this thread, but since most of the conversation about was here:

https://www.foxnews.com/us/detroit-police-arrest-suspect-murder-jewish-leader-samantha-woll

Released without charges!!

[joewei]

"The Houthis entered the war against Israel - so the hackers took down their internet."

"The Associated Press reported this morning (Friday) that the Yemeni internet network, YemenNet, providing access to around 10 million users in the country, collapsed. The internet service failure in Yemen follows the recent attacks by Houthi rebels against Israel and the U.S.

The Israeli hacker group, We Red Evils, claimed responsibility and posted the following message: 'It was a simple message to the Houthis; we managed to take down the entire internet throughout Yemen and disconnected over 10 million people from the internet. Attached is documentation from one of the major communication providers that we managed to breach, holding hundreds of thousands of users.'

'We won't elaborate on the details of that operation and what we currently possess. The next strike will be more severe,' threatened the mysterious hackers to the Houthis, concluding with an assurance: 'We will continue to act, and together we will prevail.'"

[WayBackMachine]

Israeli Arab YosephHaddad

https://twitter.com/YosephHaddad/status/1723317069280604388

You understand❗️
 Most of the people in the video are actually immigrants who fled the dictatorships they lived in and moved to a democratic country and received rights they never dreamed of...and this is their gratitude?!

I wasn’t exaggerating when I said that if the world doesn't stand by us right now, then they are next in line!

It's already happening!!!
New York, London, Paris and other cities in the world are under attack by terrorist supporters, by the way some of them are also terrorists who are just waiting for the order to act!

Just as we need to change our worldview and engage as necessary to fight cynical terrorist forces in the Middle East, the countries in the world that brought the Middle East into their home now need to behave with the supporters of terrorism as they would have treated them in the Middle East, otherwise it will be perceived as a weakness of that country and from here there will be no way back.

[WayBackMachine]

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1723266042800042405

residents of Gaza, especially the residents of the northern Gaza Strip, the beach, and the Jabalia camp. I would like to inform you of several important messages:

🔴 First, the safe passage remains open today between nine in the morning (09:00) and four in the afternoon (16:00) for humanitarian purposes through the Salah al-Din axis towards the area south of Wadi Gaza. Please, for your safety, join the hundreds of thousands of residents who have moved south in recent days, including some senior media figures, as we want to protect you.

🔴 Secondly, in light of the ongoing fighting in the beach area and the control of the IDF forces over it, you can go to the seashore and move from there along the same coastline south towards the marina in order to preserve your lives and the lives of your families.

🔴 Thirdly, we send the following message to the residents of Jabalia camp: We will make a tactical suspension of military activities during the day today, specifically between ten in the morning (10:00) and two in the afternoon (14:00) for humanitarian purposes and in order to make room for you to join the hundreds of thousands who have moved south via Saladin Axis.

We call on you, in order to preserve your security, to take advantage of the time period available to move south, because the northern Gaza Strip area is an area of ​​widespread combat.

🔴 We know that Hamas is trying to prevent your movement, so if Hamas members block your way, contact us via text messages on the number.
+97250-341-0322 or on the Telegram account
@gaza_saver
We encourage you to seize the time and move south!

[joewei]

"The lies of Hamas blew up in their faces: Gaza residents shocked by tanks in the streets."

"Friday, Palestinians are circulating video footage and images on social networks showing Israeli tanks on the streets of Gaza City, near hospitals and in close proximity to Shifa Hospital, where Hamas has its central command post.

A blogger self-identified as 'Avi Ali,' who follows events on Arabic social networks and provides reliable reports, writes that 'the images of the Israeli tanks in the Nasser neighborhood, this morning near the Ar-Rantisi Hospital, have shaken the Gaza users on social media.'

'They're making numerous allegations against Hamas's official media, accusing them of concealing Israeli forces' advancement to avoid showing their defeat. As a result, Palestinians are compelled to wake up to the sight of tanks in the heart of Gaza.'

Avi Ali explains that 'Hamas's official channels, especially the military wing, claim evidence of dozens of assets destroyed by the IDF every day. These lies are perpetuated by Arab media outlets supporting Hamas (even major ones), creating a different narrative for their consumers. Therefore, waking up to a tank on your doorstep can be surprising...'

'Even senior Hamas figures claim in media interviews that the IDF hasn't made any significant progress since the ground incursion and has only taken 'soft areas' (مناطق رخوة) with no military significance,' he writes. Therefore, he notes, 'the term "soft areas" has become one of the bitter jokes for Gazans in the past two days as reality clashes forcefully with their perceptions.'"

[Euclid]

"The lies of Hamas blew up in their faces: Gaza residents shocked by tanks in the streets."

"Friday, Palestinians are circulating video footage and images on social networks showing Israeli tanks on the streets of Gaza City, near hospitals and in close proximity to Shifa Hospital, where Hamas has its central command post.

A blogger self-identified as 'Avi Ali,' who follows events on Arabic social networks and provides reliable reports, writes that 'the images of the Israeli tanks in the Nasser neighborhood, this morning near the Ar-Rantisi Hospital, have shaken the Gaza users on social media.'

'They're making numerous allegations against Hamas's official media, accusing them of concealing Israeli forces' advancement to avoid showing their defeat. As a result, Palestinians are compelled to wake up to the sight of tanks in the heart of Gaza.'

Avi Ali explains that 'Hamas's official channels, especially the military wing, claim evidence of dozens of assets destroyed by the IDF every day. These lies are perpetuated by Arab media outlets supporting Hamas (even major ones), creating a different narrative for their consumers. Therefore, waking up to a tank on your doorstep can be surprising...'

'Even senior Hamas figures claim in media interviews that the IDF hasn't made any significant progress since the ground incursion and has only taken 'soft areas' (مناطق رخوة) with no military significance,' he writes. Therefore, he notes, 'the term "soft areas" has become one of the bitter jokes for Gazans in the past two days as reality clashes forcefully with their perceptions.'"

Gaza Greg

[YitzyS]

It's interesting how this war has impacted website traffic for frum media outlets.

For the last 10 months, I've been tracking traffic on a number of media sites, based off numbers from similarweb.com. In October, a number of frum media websites doubled (or nearly doubled) their traffic from September. This is my data:

[ExGingi]

It's interesting how this war has impacted website traffic for frum media outlets.

For the last 10 months, I've been tracking traffic on a number of media sites, based off numbers from similarweb.com. In October, a number of frum media websites doubled (or nearly doubled) their traffic from September. This is my data:

And the number of people who joined telegram grew exponentially.

[yelped]

@ElonMusk triggered

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1723237964262551801

Finally this issue getting some attention.

[AsherO]

It's interesting how this war has impacted website traffic for frum media outlets.

For the last 10 months, I've been tracking traffic on a number of media sites, based off numbers from similarweb.com. In October, a number of frum media websites doubled (or nearly doubled) their traffic from September. This is my data:

People with restrictive filters have limited sources of news. Those without filters of less restrictive ones go to cnn, Israeli outlets, Twitter, etc.

[AsherO]

Finally this issue getting some attention.

Not nearly enough

[yelped]

Not nearly enough

Agreed, as an American and a FM of a veteran, this is absolutely disgusting.

[imayid2]

The basic process Israel uses in determining when the need for a strike overrides inevitable civilian deaths:

https://open.substack.com/pub/futureofjewish/p/how-the-hostages-became-just-another

It has been well-known for many years that Hamas purposefully placed its headquarters underground beneath the largest hospital and medical complex in Gaza. In doing so, international law holds that the hospital is no longer just a civilian target; it is a legitimate military target.

This does not give the Israeli military free reign to attack hospitals, schools, and mosques; however, it does mean that an Israeli attack on civilian infrastructure which has been turned into a military target by use of human shields is not illegal under international law.

Instead, such attacks must be analyzed through a balancing test. One part of this test performed by Israel before each strike is to determine whether the human shields in question are being used voluntarily or involuntarily. If they are being used voluntarily — meaning the human shields are there, on their own volition, to deter Israeli strikes — the target remains a completely legitimate military target.

If the human shields are being used involuntarily — meaning Palestinian combatants are forcing people to act as human shields to protect themselves and/or their military infrastructure or equipment — the Israeli military must go back to the balancing test to determine whether the anticipated military advantage of a successful strike would outweigh the reasonably anticipated loss of civilian life.

Importantly, Israeli military guidelines state that if it cannot determine whether a human shield is being used voluntarily or involuntarily, military personnel must presume civilians are being used against their own will. In other words, the Israeli military treats such civilians as involuntary participants.

Assuming that there is a military target and that there may be human shields who are there involuntarily, the next step in proportionality analysis for each individual strike is an effort to determine the likely amount of damage to civilians and/or civilian property that would result from a strike.

In other words, under international law, Israel must be able to give a “value” to the anticipated impact on civilians (including potential civilian deaths) and civilian property. Simply, a smaller number of anticipated civilian casualties may make the strike proportionate if there is a significant military advantage to be gained by conducting the strike.

However, if Israel determines that the anticipated impact of a strike could cause many civilian casualties, it must make the difficult determination of whether the anticipated military advantage is so significant that it warrants carrying out the strike anyway.

For instance, if Palestinians have a weapons depot underneath a house with two civilians inside, and this house has been used to fire 500 rockets indiscriminately at Israeli civilians, and it is reasonably expected that there are hundreds more rockets under that house, Israel can almost certainly carry out the strike within the confines of international law.

If that same house, however, had 10 families living inside, including many children, it could — and likely would — tip the scales of a proportionality balancing test toward Israel not being permitted to carry out the strike, even though the house has been used to attack Israeli civilians indiscriminately and is expected to continue to be used to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians indiscriminately.

Now, that balancing test can always change. If that same house is being used to fire long-range, precision-guided missiles at Israel’s major population centers in places like Tel Aviv (effectively putting millions of Israeli civilians in danger), the balancing test might tip back in favor of Israel being legally permitted to carry out the strike.

This all suggests the third and final step in a proportionality balancing test: The Israeli military must determine and place a “value” on the anticipated military advantage that would be gained if it was to carry out a particular strike.

An attack on Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad leadership and/or their weapons manufacturers would be considered a high-value target. An attack on a single Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad member who has no special skill, would be a much lower-value military target.

Similarly, an attack on a small cache of mortars would have less military value that an attack on a large cache of advanced rockets which can reach large Israeli civilian population centers.

Once the Israeli military determines an anticipated “value” of the likely effect on civilian persons and property, and the anticipated “value” of a likely military advantage to be gained if a strike is carried out, a balancing test is performed, and a certain amount of judgment goes into determining whether that strike would or would not be “proportionate.”

This decision is so vital that the Israeli military does not permit a single soldier on the ground or in an aircraft to have their hands on the proverbial (or actual) “trigger” to make such a determination. In fact, the decision of whether a strike is proportionate is not relegated to military officers or even generals.

Instead, before any Israeli strike can take place, Israeli military guidelines provide that proportionality balancing tests must be presented to and analyzed by Israeli military lawyers who then determine whether a strike is legally permissible as “proportionate” under international law and the rules of war. These military lawyers are not easily manipulated to simply “rubber stamp” Israeli military requests.

As a matter of fact, Israeli military lawyers work in complete independence of the Israeli military. They are outside the chain of command and do not answer to anyone in the military, including generals. Plus, every military lawyer is personally accountable if they make wrong decisions based on evidence available at the time.

Furthermore, the decisions to be made while balancing the likely military advantage against the likely civilian casualties can sometimes be so difficult, that the legality of the strike is first brought to the Israeli Supreme Court for instant review.

Another important concept: The comparison of civilian body counts of Israelis versus Palestinians (to the extent those numbers can be trusted since they come directly from Hamas-only sources) is not relevant to a proportionality analysis. Each strike must be viewed individually to determine proportionality. It is not a test of the cumulative nature of Israeli versus Palestinian strikes, or Israeli versus Palestinian civilian deaths.

Also, by simply comparing body counts, it does not factor in how many people killed were actually Palestinian terrorists and how many terrorist collaborators were there voluntarily. And it does not consider what military advantage was gained by Israel carrying out any individual strike.

As Israel is now in the process of seeking to secure the military advantage of preventing Palestinians from having the capacity to carry out repeated attacks of the kind and nature seen on October 7th, Israel is permitted to act proportionately insofar as necessary to achieve that military objective. In other words, the political and military elimination of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists organizations in Gaza.

[AsherO]

The podcast episode you shared with him was really
compelling, including the part two. He talked about Political Islam and its threats, and it sounded like there was a lot of similarities between that and secular liberalism in Israeli politics, kind of like Political Judaism.

ETA: And now that I watched this he says it here again

And now a post-Oct. 7th follow-up that was recorded live and is an unedited conversation. Worth watching if you’re fluent in Hebrew:

[WayBackMachine]

paypal blocked funds towards Gas and electricity for shul thinking its for Hamas
https://www.yiddish24.com/interviews/12/94802

[ExGingi]

https://x.com/amjadt25/status/1723737808718725617

[UKinNYS]

Interview of the day.

[TimT]

The sad & scary reality here in America

https://twitter.com/ProfDBernstein/status/1723706927807336625

“The reaction to 10/7 and its aftermath is an earthquake for American Jewish life. My parents' generation felt like strangers in the US, tolerated but not fully accepted. My generation and below felt fully accepted. Now, if one is in a host of social environments, including many elite colleges, it's more like something between tolerated and barely tolerated, and only if you don't mind people celebrated pogroms against Jews and displays of genocidal antisemitism...

I could give you a host of anecdotes from acquaintances of mine. What's remarkable is that many of these anecdotes are from people on the margins of organized Jewish life. Maybe they hold a Passover Seder, light Hanukkah candles if they think about it, but aren't synagogue members, aren't involved in "advocacy" and so on. But they are talking about crossing desirable colleges off their kids' list, adult children looking for new employment opportunities because they no longer feel comfortable as Jews at their firms, moving school districts to avoid rampant antisemitism tolerated by administrators...

Just to give you one indication of what's going on Facebook group Mothers Against College Antisemitism started last month, and went from zero to 50K members in a week.... Moms (and dads) are trading tips on how to deal with outbreaks of antisemitism on their kids' campuses, and what schools are now "safe" for Jews.”

[Just A Jew]

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-we-supplied-300-liters-of-fuel-to-shifa-hamas-barred-hospital-from-getting-it/

The Israel Defense Forces says it supplied 300 liters of fuel for “urgent medical purposes” at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, but Hamas prevented the medical center from receiving it.

Early this morning, troops placed the jerrycans near the hospital, as had been coordinated in advance with officials at Shifa.

It says that later, “the IDF received evidence that Hamas officials prevented the hospital from receiving the fuel.”

The military publishes a call between an IDF officer and a senior Gazan health official, who says that Yousef Abu-Al Rish, the deputy health minister in Gaza, forbade the hospital from receiving the fuel.

The IDF doesn’t say what happened with the fuel after that.

The army has accused Hamas of having its main base of operations under Shifa Hospital, and has called on Palestinian civilians in the area, as well as in the entire north Gaza, to evacuate south.

https://twitter.com/manniefabian/status/1723747056852893702