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As Funerals Held for 11 Children Killed in Hezbollah Attack, Israel Weighs Retaliation
Thousands of mourners gathered in Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the Golan Heights, on July 28, 2024 to pay their respects at the funerals of 11 of the 12 children who were killed a day earlier in a Hezbollah rocket attack. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Thousands of mourners gathered in Majdal Shams to pay their respects at the funerals of 11 of the 12 children who were killed a day earlier in a Hezbollah rocket attack.
The attack on the small Druze town in the Golan Heights — a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria — prompted sharp warnings of retaliation from Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed that Hezbollah would “pay a heavy price.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz stated that Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed terrorist group that wields significant military and political influence across Lebanon, has “crossed all red lines.” He added that while Israel “would pay a price,” Hezbollah would pay a much higher one.
“We are facing an all-out war,” Katz predicted.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief Herzi Halevi said the attack “will result in a very, very significant reaction.”
Nevertheless, Israel’s strategic approach toward Hezbollah may not shift drastically. Some senior officials, while expressing their condolences, on Saturday indicated that the country’s “policy of containment” may continue.
Col. (res.) Dr. Barak Ben-Zur, an expert on Hezbollah, said it was incumbent on Israel to weigh all its options before retaliating. He cautioned that acting hastily in response to the magnitude of the tragedy, while emotions are high, could lead Israel into another prolonged conflict in Lebanon — an outcome that might not serve the country’s best interests militarily, diplomatically, or economically — especially while it is still fighting a war in Gaza.
Lt. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, another Hezbollah expert and the founder and president of the Alma Research and Education Center, said that while she agreed that the “scale, nature, and timing” of a campaign in Lebanon should be chosen with care, “doing nothing” wasn’t an option.
“The very, very limited attacks that we had until now in Lebanon, focused mainly just on the other side of the border and without truly damaging Hezbollah’s capability to execute rocket launches of [the type] we saw yesterday is something that should be changed,” Zehavi told The Algemeiner.
“There must be a strategy of how and when Israel is going to protect its citizens,” she added.
More than 80,000 Israelis evacuated Israel’s north in October due to constant drone, rocket, and missile fire from Hezbollah and have since been unable to return to their homes. The majority of those spent the past nine months residing in hotels in safer areas of the country.
Members of the Druze community have vowed to avenge Saturday’s attack, in which more than 40 people were wounded — 17 of whom remain in critical condition. Many criticized the Netanyahu-led government for not doing more to protect northern Israeli communities amid near-daily barrages of between 100-200 rockets from neighboring Lebanon.
Ynet military correspondent Yoav Zitun cited a senior Israeli official as saying that he “estimates that there will be a very sharp response” but one that will put Israel “into a round of several days of limited combat,” during which Hezbollah will extend its reach to Haifa. More than 6,000 rockets have been fired by the Iran-backed terrorist group into northern Israel since October, but none have yet extended as far south as Haifa.
Israel has so far refrained from targeting civilian infrastructure in Lebanon that indirectly supports Hezbollah, such as key bridges, major highways, power plants, sea and airports. However, if a decision is made to strike such targets — as long as the casualty count is extremely low — it will serve as a strong message to the government in Beirut, Zitun noted. Such a strategy may serve to assuage the Israeli public and deter further attacks from Hezbollah.
Meanwhile reports from Lebanese media, citing American and Lebanese diplomatic sources, indicate that Israel has made the decision to conduct a broad offensive against Lebanon.
Majdal Shams is located at the foot of Mount Hermon, directly in the line of fire from the rocket launch site in Shebaa in southern Lebanon. Despite Hezbollah’s retraction of accountability and outright denial later on, when it emerged that the victims of the attack were Arab Druze children, the missile that hit Majdal Shams was the same one they claimed responsibility for firing at the Hermon region at 19:30.
The post As Funerals Held for 11 Children Killed in Hezbollah Attack, Israel Weighs Retaliation first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Obituary: Elexis Schloss, 78, an Edmonton entrepreneur and philanthropist who also performed quiet acts of kindness
Elexis (Conn) Schloss, a vibrant entrepreneur and philanthropist who supported a wide array of causes, both in and beyond Edmonton, died in Victoria on Oct. 31. She was 78. Her […]
The post Obituary: Elexis Schloss, 78, an Edmonton entrepreneur and philanthropist who also performed quiet acts of kindness appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Saudi Arabia Ups Anti-Israel Rhetoric Amid Iran Rapprochement, Raising Questions About Abraham Accords Expansion
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a virtual cabinet meeting from his office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 28, 2024. Photo: Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler accused the Israeli military of committing “collective genocide” in Gaza while also pressing Israel to respect Iranian sovereignty, amid reports that Tehran has postponed its planned attack on the Jewish state.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s remarks, made in Riyadh on Monday during a summit of leaders of Islamic nations, underscored the evolving rapprochement between the erstwhile archenemies Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The crown prince, also known by his initials MBS, urged the international community to demand that Israel “respect the sovereignty of the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran and not to violate its lands.”
The two regional heavyweights restored relations last year after decades of animosity.
MBS’s anti-Israel rhetoric came days after Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election. For Israel, the statement from Riyadh may signal a setback to the normalization process with Saudi Arabia, a long-sought goal within the framework of the Abraham Accords, brokered by Trump during his first term in the White House, that has seen Israel establish formal ties with several Arab states in recent years.
According to a Sky News Arabia report published two days later and citing Iranian officials, Tehran has shelved a planned third direct strike on Israel, with the delay attributed to possible forthcoming diplomatic talks with Trump. Israel Hayom published a similar report the following day, citing officials in Jerusalem familiar with the matter.
Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref expressed his hope that the incoming Trump administration would put a stop to Israel’s campaigns against its terrorist proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“The American government is the main supporter of the actions of the Zionist regime [Israel], and the world is waiting for the promise of the new government of this country to immediately stop the war against the innocent people of Gaza and Lebanon,” Aref said at Monday’s gathering.
Observers noted that Saudi Arabia’s shift could stem from both domestic and regional considerations. For the kingdom, improving relations with Iran is a strategic move to de-escalate conflicts in Yemen, where both countries have backed opposing sides. By opening diplomatic channels with Iran, Saudi Arabia also aims to reduce its dependence on Western security guarantees amid growing regional autonomy. According to Dr. Eyal Pinko, a Middle East expert who served in Israeli intelligence for more than three decades, Saudi Arabia is also under pressure from France, a major arms supplier, to maintain a moderate stance and promote regional peace.
“Saudi Arabia understands [it] cannot rely on the Americans” for arms, Pinko told The Algemeiner.
For its part, Iran may be seeking closer ties with the Gulf kingdom as a result of recent Israeli operations that have decimated the senior leadership of Hezbollah, Iran’s most influential proxy in the Arab world that has long served as a strategic partner.
“Iran is spreading its bets all around, not to be on one side or another,” Pinko said.
Hezbollah, along with Hamas in Gaza, had in the past been blacklisted as terrorist groups by Riyadh.
The New York Times last month cited a Saudi tycoon with ties to the monarchy as saying that the war in Gaza has “set back any Israeli integration into the region.”
“Saudi Arabia sees that any association with Israel has become more toxic since Gaza,” Ali Shihabi told the newspaper.
In another blow for Saudi-Israel relations, Riyadh announced it would revoke the license of the Saudi news broadcaster, MBC, after it labeled the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar a terrorist.
But according to Pinko, the chance of Saudi-Israel normalization is not entirely lost, pending a ceasefire.
“If nothing extreme happens with Iran until Jan. 20 [when Trump takes office], I believe that the Abraham Accords will come back to the table,” he said.
The post Saudi Arabia Ups Anti-Israel Rhetoric Amid Iran Rapprochement, Raising Questions About Abraham Accords Expansion first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany Opposes EU Foreign Policy Chief’s Proposal to Suspend Dialogue With Israel
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a session of the lower house of parliament Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday publicly rejected a proposal by the European Union’s foreign policy chief to suspend regular political dialogue with Israel in response to the Jewish state’s ongoing military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
“We are always in favor of keeping channels of dialogue open. Of course, this also applies to Israel,” the German Foreign Office said of top EU official Josep Borrell’s plans, according to the German news agency dpa.
The Foreign Office added that, while the political conversations under the EU-Israel Association Council provide a regular opportunity to strengthen relations and, in recent months, discuss the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza, severing that mechanism would be counterproductive.
“Breaking off dialogue, however, will not help anyone, neither the suffering people in Gaza, nor the hostages who are still being held by Hamas, nor all those in Israel who are committed to dialogue,” the statement continued.
Borrell on Wednesday proposed the suspension of dialogue in a letter to EU foreign ministers ahead of their meeting this coming Monday in Brussels, citing “serious concerns about possible breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza.” He also wrote, “Thus far, these concerns have not been sufficiently addressed by Israel.”
The regular dialogues that Borrell is seeking to break off were enshrined in a broader agreement on relations between the EU and Israel, including extensive trade ties, that was implemented in 2000.
“In light of the above considerations, I will be tabling a proposal that the EU should invoke the human rights clause to suspend the political dialogue with Israel,” Borrell wrote.
A suspension would need the approval of all 27 EU countries, an unlikely outcome. According to Reuters, multiple countries objected when a senior EU official briefed ambassadors in Brussels on the proposal on Wednesday.
While some EU countries, such as Spain and Ireland, have been fiercely critical of Israel since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, others such as the Czech Republic and Hungary have been more supportive.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, launched the ongoing conflict with its invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7. During the onslaught, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and kidnapped over 250 hostages while perpetrating mass sexual violence and other atrocities.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the Israeli military.
Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations, direct attacks, and store weapons.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said last month that Israel has delivered over 1 million tons of aid, including 700,000 tons of food, to Gaza since it launched its military operation a year ago. He also noted that Hamas terrorists often hijack and steal aid shipments while fellow Palestinians suffer.
The Israeli government has ramped up the supply of humanitarian aid into Gaza in recent weeks under pressure from the United States, which has expressed concern about the plight of civilians in the war-torn enclave.
Meanwhile, Borrell has been one of the EU’s most outspoken critics of Israel over the past year. Just six weeks after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, he drew a moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas while speaking to the European Parliament, accusing both of having carried out “massacres” while insisting that it is possible to criticize Israeli actions “without being accused of not liking the Jews.”
Borrell’s speech followed a visit to the Middle East the prior week. While in Israel, he delivered what the Spanish daily El Pais described as the “most critical message heard so far from a representative of the European Union regarding Israel’s response to the Hamas attack of Oct. 7.”
“Not far from here is Gaza. One horror does not justify another,” Borrell said at a joint press conference alongside then-Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. “I understand your rage. But let me ask you not to let yourself be consumed by rage. I think that is what the best friends of Israel can tell you, because what makes the difference between a civilized society and a terrorist group is the respect for human life. All human lives have the same value.”
Months later, in March of this year, Borrell claimed that Israel was imposing a famine on Palestinian civilians in Gaza and using starvation as a weapon of war. His comments came a few months before the United Nations Famine Review Committee (FRC), a panel of experts in international food security and nutrition, rejected the assertion that northern Gaza was experiencing famine, citing a lack of evidence. Borrell’s comments prompted outrage from Israel.
In August, Borrell pushed EU member states to impose sanctions on some Israeli ministers.
Monday’s meeting in Brussels will be the last that Borrell will chair before ending his five-year term as the EU’s foreign policy chief.
The post Germany Opposes EU Foreign Policy Chief’s Proposal to Suspend Dialogue With Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.