RSS
Biden Administration Urges Israel to Tone Down Response to Hezbollah Aggression in Bid to Avert Wider Conflict
Mourners carry a coffin during the funeral of Wissam Tawil, a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces who according to Lebanese security sources was killed during an Israeli strike on south Lebanon, in Khirbet Selm, Lebanon, Jan. 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher
The Biden administration has been pushing the Israeli government to de-escalate hostilities with Hezbollah to prevent a full-scale war from breaking out along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where the powerful Iran-backed terrorist group wields significant political and military influence.
In Israel’s north, Hezbollah terrorists have been firing rockets at Israel daily from southern Lebanon since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, leading Israeli forces to strike back. Tensions have been escalating between both sides, fueling concerns that the conflict in Gaza — the Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas, another Iran-backed Islamist terrorist group, to Israel’s south — could escalate into a regional conflict.
More than 80,000 Israelis evacuated Israel’s north in October and have since been unable to return to their homes. The majority of those spent the past eight months residing in hotels in safer areas of the country. The mass displacement has ramped up pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to find a swift resolution to the situation.
The ongoing conflict between both sides escalated on Tuesday when senior Hezbollah commander Taleb Sami Abdullah was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah responded by launching over 200 missiles into northern Israel.
During Abdullah’s funeral, senior Hezbollah official Hachem Saffieddine vowed that the terrorist group would intensify its strikes on Israel.
“Our response after the martyrdom of Abu Taleb will be to intensify our operations in severity, strength, quantity and quality,” Saffieddine said. “Let the enemy wait for us in the battlefield.”
In Israel, meanwhile, officials have said they prefer a diplomatic solution to the current crisis but are prepared to escalate military action to push Hezbollah back from the border in order to allow internally displaced Israelis to return home. Polling has shown that the majority of the Israeli public wants the military to engage in expanded actions against the Lebanese terrorist group, which is committed to Israel’s destruction.
The Biden administration has been advising Netanyahu against pursuing the idea of a “limited war” against Hezbollah, arguing that it could spark a regional war throughout the Middle East. According to multiple reports, US officials have warned Israel that Iran could dispatch militants from Syria, Iraq, and Yemen into Lebanon to bolster Hezbollah’s effort.
The White House has also expressed concern that Israeli officials do not have a clear strategy on how to keep the war contained to solely Lebanon. Fear of a broader regional war has intensified the Biden administration’s urgency to finalize a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which launched the ongoing war in Gaza by slaughtering over 1,200 people throughout southern Israel and kidnapping more than 250 others on Oct. 7.
“We are concerned about an increase in activity in the north. We don’t want this to escalate to a broad regional conflict and we urge de-escalation,” a Pentagon spokesperson told reporters this week.
The Pentagon also released a statement saying that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin discussed efforts to “de-escalate tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border in the wake of Lebanese Hezbollah’s increased aggression.”
According to multiple reports, Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to US President Joe Biden for energy and investment, will head to Israel on Monday in an effort to temper tensions between the Jewish state and Hezbollah. Hochstein will meet with Netanyahu and Gallant with the goal of swaying them against green-lighting a “limited ground invasion” in Lebanon. Hochstein will reportedly also journey to Beirut to conduct discussions with Lebanese officials.
“There was a lot of work, diplomatic work done behind the scenes by several folks in the US administration, working with regional powers and our allies to try and tamp this down,” Hochstein has said regarding the prospect of a regional war erupting in the Middle East.
Hochstein argued that preventing a large-scale war between Israel and Lebanon requires “active engagement” with both parties and for the public of both countries to “understand the risks” of further escalation. He added that “despite the bravado talk” coming from government officials, Lebanese people do not to go to war with Israel.
“The bottom line is a lot of civilians will die,” Hochstein said.
Despite chest-thumping by Hezbollah leaders, experts believe that the elimination of Abdullah might cause Hezbollah to exercise caution in engaging further with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“The powerful elimination worries Hezbollah members. They now understand that the IDF knows much more about them than we do,” Professor Amatzia Baram told The Jerusalem Post. “Additionally, the operation indicates that Hezbollah’s field security is not airtight and that the organization’s intelligence system has been penetrated to such an extent that we were able to eliminate such an important sector commander. The IDF managed to infiltrate their networks and systems and identify the right people for elimination.”
The post Biden Administration Urges Israel to Tone Down Response to Hezbollah Aggression in Bid to Avert Wider Conflict first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Dozens of Terrorists Eliminated in Central Gaza, Weapons Seized from UN School in Raid
Some rises after an Israeli strike as Israeli forces launch a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
i24 News – Israel Defense Forces continue to operate in the Shejaiya area at the same time as fighting in the Rafah area and in the center of the Gaza Strip, the army said.
In the Shejaiya area, forces of the 98th Division attacked dozens of terrorist sites with the help of airstrikes from the Israel Air Force.
Over the weekend, Israeli soldiers raided a UN school in Shejaiya, where terrorists hid and stored weapons, grenades and valuable intelligence documents
This is yet another example of how Gazan terrorists use civilian structures to carry out attacks against Israeli forces pic.twitter.com/9oA9KLJehC
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) June 30, 2024
A UN school was raided where terrorists hid and stored weapons, grenades, and sensitive documents. In addition, a Hamas command center was discovered in a clinic.
Since Saturday, division forces located weapons, raided and captured terrorist compounds, and eliminated a number of terrorists.
IDF strikes Hamas target in Gaza
Israeli forces continue to operate in the Shejaiya area while continuing to push in Rafah and in central Gaza
The IDF attacked and destroyed a mortar launch position located within a tunnel shaft in Rafah pic.twitter.com/JqTACvuMys
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) June 30, 2024
The 162nd Division meanwhile continues in the Rafah area, eliminating a number of terrorists in various encounters and destroying tunnel shafts in the area.
The 99th Division 99 the center of the Gaza Strip carried out raids and destroyed terrorist infrastructure in the area.
Also on Saturday, an airstrikes destroyed a mortar launch position located inside a tunnel shaft in Rafah.
The post Dozens of Terrorists Eliminated in Central Gaza, Weapons Seized from UN School in Raid first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israeli Government Approves Danny Danon as UN Ambassador
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon at a briefing on Iranian aggression on May 6, 2020. Photo: Screenshot.
i24 News – The Israeli government unanimously agreed on Sunday to appoint Likud lawmaker Danny Danon as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, succeeding the current ambassador, Gilad Erdan.
Danon, who previously held this position, will soon serve a second term. Danon’s appointment to this important position comes at a particularly crucial time, as he is expected to represent Israel on the international stage as the country faces challenges at home and abroad.
“I am proud to return to serve the State of Israel as Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations during this critical period,” he said on Twitter.
“As Israel faces battles on numerous fronts, each and every one of us must do his utmost within his skills and experiences,” he said in an earlier statement. “This is how I have behaved in the past, and this is how I will continue to behave in the future.”
I am proud to return to serve the State of Israel as Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations during this critical period.
With Israel confronting challenges on multiple fronts, it is imperative for each of us to contribute to the best of our abilities and experiences. This…
— Danny Danon דני דנון (@dannydanon) June 30, 2024
“In the face of the diplomatic terrorism that is rearing its head these days, I am forced to present the truth and hold my head high for the people of Israel and our common future here,” he concluded.
It is expected that Avihai Boaron, a former member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, will enter in place of Danon.
The post Israeli Government Approves Danny Danon as UN Ambassador first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
‘Los Angeles Is Becoming Unsafe for Its Jewish Residents” Says Israeli Minister
Governor Newsom speaking at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Photo Credit: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom.
i24 News – Amichai Shikli, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora and Antisemitism, has urgently called upon California’s governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles’s mayor Karen Bass to address a concerning escalation of antisemitic incidents in the city.
In a strongly worded letter sent following a surge in antisemitic activities since October 7, 2023, Shikli expressed deep apprehension about the safety of Jewish residents in Los Angeles.
“Los Angeles is becoming more and more unsafe for its Jewish residents,” Shikli stated, emphasizing the urgent need for proactive measures to combat the rising tide of antisemitism.
He highlighted recent violent demonstrations on campuses that endangered Jewish students, alongside two serious incidents that he believes were mishandled by authorities.
One incident he pointed to was the tragic murder of Paul Kessler in November 2023 during a pro-Israel demonstration. Shikli criticized the court’s failure to classify the attack as a hate crime, stating, “It is shocking to see that the court did not recognize this as a hate crime. Paul was attacked for the sole reason that he was a Jew and a Zionist.”
Additionally, Shikli referenced an incident earlier in the week where an anti-Israel group disrupted an event at Adat Torah synagogue, resulting in an attack on Jewish attendees. Despite prior knowledge of the demonstration, law enforcement allegedly failed to take preventive actions to ensure the safety of Jewish residents.
Concerned about the city’s largest Jewish community in North America, Shikli urged immediate steps to enhance security around Jewish institutions and to ensure law enforcement is adequately trained to handle antisemitic crimes effectively. “At a time when antisemitism is at an all-time high, I urge you to implement measures to combat it,” he asserted.
The minister concluded his letter by proposing collaboration with local authorities and inviting the Los Angeles Police Department to participate in an international training program aimed at equipping security forces worldwide to combat antisemitism effectively.
The post ‘Los Angeles Is Becoming Unsafe for Its Jewish Residents” Says Israeli Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.