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As it fights in Gaza, Israel is girding itself for another potential war in Lebanon
MAHANAYIM JUNCTION, Israel (JTA) — When Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Lea, a former infantry instructor in the Israel Defense Forces, cut short a trip to Central America and booked a ticket back to Israel, hoping to contribute to the war effort.
But like thousands of reserve soldiers, she has found herself far from the fighting in Gaza. After a brief period serving down south, she is one of the many IDF troops who have amassed on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, girded for a full-scale fight with the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah that is threatening to erupt but has yet to materialize.
Like other soldiers up north, Lea, who did not share her full name due to IDF policy, doesn’t feel like passing her weeks up north is a waste of her time. In spite of the potential danger, she described her return to Israel and the army as a “safe space” for her — something that has kept her busy even during this waiting period.
“We are constantly in action,” she said recently while taking a break with dozens of other soldiers near a kiosk at this intersection, where two major highways intersect on their way to the Lebanese border at the town of Metula and the Syrian border in the Golan Heights. ”We keep going to different units to refresh them on how to use their mortars and quicken speed.”
How much those mortars and other weapons will be used remains an open question hanging over Israel and Lebanon as the IDF directs the brunt of its power toward Hamas in Gaza. Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the threat of Hezbollah joining the fight has been top of mind for leaders in Israel and across the region.
If that happens, the fighting could be even more extensive than Israel’s war in Gaza. Hezbollah, which is funded by Iran, is much larger than Hamas and has many more fighters and a bigger stockpile of weapons — including precision rockets that are far more dangerous than those launched by Hamas.
In Hezbollah’s last war with Israel, in 2006, more than 100 Israeli soldiers were killed in a ground invasion that did not end with a clear victor. In the 17 years since, Hezbollah has rebuilt its capacities for another round of conflict.
And sabres are rattling: A Hezbollah strike killed an Israeli civilian on Thursday, and earlier this week an anti-tank missile fired from Hezbollah injured 12 in Israel, following a week of relative calm during Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas, which Hezbollah largely abided by.
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to rain the same firepower on Lebanon that Israel has brought to bear in Gaza.
“If Hezbollah chooses to start an all-out war, it will by its own volition turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Younis,” the Gaza city where Israeli troops are now battling, he said in an address to troops on Thursday.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, meanwhile, has delivered several lengthy sermons expressing solidarity with Hamas, but has yet to indicate any clear plans for his group to escalate its fight with Israel.
Smoke rises during an exchange of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah on the border between Israel and Lebanon on December 3, 2023. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
“It seems like Hezbollah is trying to avoid an escalation or total war,” said Eyal Zisser, a professor at Tel Aviv University who studies the geopolitics of Israel’s northern borders, while cautioning that it’s difficult to predict what may unfold.
“We have to wait and see,” he said. “The war has not come to an end and you don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”
As a precaution following the Hamas attack, Israel evacuated tens of thousands of civilians from the Lebanese border area, including the 26,000-resident city of Kiryat Shemona. Hezbollah has since fired near-daily rockets at Israel and engaged in cross-border skirmishes with IDF troops. Seven Israeli soldiers and four Israeli civilians have been killed so far, as have more than 100 people in Lebanon — the vast majority of them Hezbollah fighters.
One prominent fear is that Hezbollah might attempt a ground invasion similar to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Tal Beeri, who leads the Alma Institute, which focuses on Israel’s northern security, issued a paper last week arguing that Hezbollah’s special “Radwan” forces, who were specially trained by Iran to invade Israel by ground, have not been sufficiently weakened.
“In spite of the army’s preparedness in the north, it is still possible to invade Israel — while their original plans were for thousands of fighters to enter, they can still attempt it with a smaller group of hundreds,” Beeri wrote.
Complicating matters, Beeri does not believe that a diplomatic solution can address the challenge posed by Hezbollah: Previous attempts to demilitarize the region peacefully did not last.
“Diplomatic processes do not have teeth, as we learned from [United Nations Security Council Resolution] 1701,” he said, referring to a U.N. decision at the end of the 2006 war that called on Hezbollah to disarm. “There needs to be a reckoning with the clear, physical danger and the physical elimination of Radwan and its infrastructure.”
In the meantime, Hezbollah fighters have been seen roaming freely within sight of the Israeli-Lebanese border, and many residents from the evacuated communities say they will not return to their homes before the area is more fully secured.
Avital Salab, a mother of five from Kiryat Shmona, spent a few weeks in a Jerusalem hotel before renting an apartment “because you can’t really live a normal life with children in a hotel.” She said that she is “terrified” to return to her “beautiful, green home” because “we do not feel like they have done enough to make it safer.”
Soldiers who spoke with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency said they felt they were providing a vital service in guarding civilians against a looming threat, even if the war never arrives on their frontier.
“We are a first line of defense here to help keep the residents safe in the north against the threat that is Hezbollah,” said Jeremy, a native Midwesterner and former IDF paratrooper. “The whole big picture is to make sure that what happened down south does not happen again up north and the residents can feel a sense of security.”
The waiting game can be difficult. Jeremy, who is a parent, said the time away from his family has been a challenge. Guy, a 28-year old infantry soldier from Haifa, was glad that he was recently able to return home for his daughter’s first birthday before going back to his base. Oriel, another soldier at Mahanayim Junction, managed to return to base with an unexpected furry friend: his therapy dog, Zeus.
“The uncertainty of the northern front adds to the stress,” he said, adding that he hopes that petting Zeus will allow soldiers on his base to relax a bit.
Soldiers stand in line in November 2023 at a rest stop in Israel’s north that offers discounted fare to troops. (Eliyahu Freedman)
The soldiers were also getting a bit of a break at a shop called Route 90 Hamburgers and Beer, which has been offering a free beer tap and eats for soldiers during the war. Ran Sasson, the restaurant’s owner, said a few weeks ago that about 60 kegs had been served so far, along with about $16,000 worth of free burgers, “to help lift their spirits in a little way — without exaggerating — and also for ourselves to feel good by giving.”
He is no longer serving the fare for free, instead charging a discounted rate and soliciting donations to cover the difference. He’s also trying to collect gear for his IDF customers.
“We have turned into a little center here for any soldier that needs something —someone said that the rain is coming, we need wooden frames to not sleep on the floor, I helped arrange it for them from a local kibbutz,” Sasson said.
Israel’s Druze community in the north — which only a few months ago held major demonstrations against a planned windmill energy project in the Golan Heights — has rallied behind the army’s defense of the border.
“When we were first stationed here, there were Druze people driving trucks with a Druze flag that stopped and dropped off cookies and food in a show of support,” said Jeremy.
He added that American Jewish donations have also helped. The Orthodox Jewish high school he attended has offered to tutor kids whose parents are on reserve duty and has offered to send meals to his family. Other schools and volunteer efforts have mobilized to purchase gear and creature comforts for soldiers up north.
With winter approaching, Zack added that many soldiers feel “the rain is scarier than Hezbollah” and that there still is a need for more winter gear.
Most of the time, however, soldiers are on base, and are still “adjusting to the situation,” said Zack, who had just finished his term as an IDF infantry soldier and moved back to California when he learned of the Oct. 7 attack.
“After an initial shock, it is becoming more regular,” he said of serving up north. “We are on the edge of our seats most of the time, preparing in defensive positions, but our commander said honestly that nobody knows what will happen tomorrow.”
Ofek, 24, an artillery combat soldier waiting for an army shuttle to take him back to his base, agreed that “there is some tension in the air waiting.” But he added, “We feel like at the moment of truth we will do what we are doing in Gaza to Hezbollah.”
If Hezbollah joins the war, he said, “We will enter with full force.”
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The post As it fights in Gaza, Israel is girding itself for another potential war in Lebanon appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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How One University Dealt with Pro-Hamas Protesters
Anti-Zionist protesters at Rutgers University, New Brunswick on December 23, 2023. Photo: Kyle Mazza via Reuters Connect
JNS.org – In the four academic semesters since Oct. 7, 2023, anti-Israel protests organized by Hamas sympathizers have overtaken some US colleges and tarnished the reputation of American academia. Ivy League schools have been particularly soiled by a combination of ignorant students, radical professors and weak administrations that coddle them.
On the contrary, the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where I teach, dealt with pro-Hamas, antisemitic protests differently. While many schools are destroying their brands, RIT fought back.
The RIT brand has always centered on innovative and creative uses of technology. The university prides itself on its career-driven, motivated students of engineering, imaging, and computer science, and more recently, game design, film and animation. It has US Army and Air Force ROTC programs, and various defense and military research, including funding from the Space Force.
Just as important as what RIT has is what it doesn’t; there is no Middle East Studies department and no Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter. The absence of the former protects us from the most educated Israel haters, while the absence of the latter protects us from the least educated Israel haters.
However, nearby are the University of Rochester and Syracuse University, which have both, so we are not immune to Israel haters.
Anti-Israel, pro-Hamas demonstrations seemed ubiquitous on college campuses almost immediately after Oct. 7, though RIT was spared such ugliness for a month. On the lookout for demonstrations, I was proud of students for not aping the antics of those at other colleges in the state. Nor were there any fliers around campus commenting on the war in the Gaza Strip or announcing upcoming protests.
On Oct. 13, I saw about a dozen masked people—some sporting keffiyehs—loitering on one of the green spaces, but there were no chants or signs. If this was a protest, then these were amateurs.
A month later, on Nov. 13, the pro-Hamas infection came to RIT. The Muslim Students Association (MSA) held a demonstration during which protesters, many of them masked, openly cheered for the elimination of Israel, defended the Hamas murder-rape-decapitation massacre and called for an intifada “from New York to Palestine.” This was not the school I knew. The event was dominated by outsiders. Speakers were from the University of Rochester’s SJP chapter; the Party for Socialism and Liberation; and local, non-academic, anti-Israel organizations. The ringleader was Basem Ashkar, a local protester active in anti-Israel demonstrations since at least 2021.
Evidence of professional agit-prop organizations was visible in the protestors’ signs. Black lettering on a yellow background provided by the ANSWER Coalition proclaimed that “Resistance is justified when people are occupied.” Black lettering against a white background provided by the Party for Socialism and Liberation proclaimed that “Resistance against occupation is a human right!”
The crowd did not look like a typical gathering of the RIT students I have seen in the last 26 years. I wondered how many of those in attendance were paid professionals. One person who stood a head taller and looked decades older than most college students held a hand-written sign in Arabic that translated to “We will sacrifice ourselves for you, holy Aksa mosque. Freedom and independence for Jerusalem and Palestine.”
Shouts of Allahu Akbar (Arabic for “God is great”), the jihad battle cry, rang through the crisp November air, and sounds of ululating women reminded me of the infamous video of Palestinians in Jerusalem celebrating news of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States as their loathsome leaders handed out candy to children.
At one point, protesters were led in an Arabic chant that former PLO leader Yasser Arafat used to promote suicide bombings during the Second Intifada in Israel. The translation? “With our souls and blood, we will sacrifice for Al-Aqsa. With our souls and blood, we will sacrifice for Palestine. With our souls and blood, we will sacrifice for Gaza.”
I wondered how many students, gleefully repeating what someone had instructed them to chant, knew what they were saying.
I believed that the hostile and antisemitic protest constituted a violation of RIT policy, so I initiated a complaint. I had meetings with the provost, and eventually, the president about the event.
RIT’s lawyers determined that the “river to the sea” chant was protected speech open to interpretation. And since the MSA had permission for its protest, it was determined that no policy had been violated.
What happened next was remarkable among most college campuses, as far as I can tell. Instead of inaugurating a new era of campus unrest, that November protest was the last one of the year. As the spring 2024 semester turned into the semester of tent encampments throughout North America, there were no more protests at RIT.
In January 2024, rumors spread that the administration had rejected all subsequent petitions for protests. I wasn’t able to confirm those rumors. RIT’s provost, Prabu David, told me that a single attempt to set up an “encampment” was quickly dismantled, and the people pitching tents were immediately removed from campus.
David Munson, the university’s president, is retiring this week. I met with him in November to discuss the RIT protest and how to prevent more in the future. He told me that he believes “RIT has done a good job of navigating the area between free speech and harassment. It has been easier because of the kindness of our student body and the availability of local law enforcement.”
He discussed policy changes, such as setting a limit of six hours for any approved protest, so that RIT would not become an encampment campus. We discussed the troubles that RIT’s previous provost, Ellen Granberg, now president of George Washington University, faced during the academic year when she called the Metropolitan Police in Washington, D.C., to clear an encampment on April 26, 2024, and they refused to come. Munson told me that he knew the sheriffs in Monroe County, N.Y., would respond if he called.
The fall 2024 semester was quiet, and so, too, was this current spring semester—or it was until we returned from spring break in late March.
It started with a single person on March 21, “protesting” in a central location with a Palestinian flag and signs decrying the “genocide in Gaza,” urging RIT to “divest from death” and calling to “Free Khalil.” I called campus security, and the responding officers stopped it quickly and professionally.
On March 26, the same student, along with several others, was in the same spot with the same flag and signs. Again, I called campus security, and, again, they shut it down quickly.
On April 4, there were more protesters. One addressed me by name. When I asked why he was dressed like a jihadi on Halloween, he responded that he was protecting himself from doxxing. I called security, and for a third time, they shut it down. I have seen no evidence of any protests on campus since then.
The university’s president and provost have won the battle, but the war continues. As RIT prepares for a new administration and new president, it will have to watch for the disruptive and potentially illegal SJP front.
To complicate matters, there is now an “unofficial” chapter of SJP at RIT, using the school’s name and violating its brand. The group’s website proclaims that its goal is to “agitate, demonstrate and otherwise make our voices heard on the RIT campus.”
RIT’s struggle with pro-Hamas demonstrations shows that even when a university does what is right and necessary, it must maintain vigilance against the Jew-hatred of today’s anti-Israel demonstrators.
Like preventing dandelions from taking over a pristine lawn, keeping such protests at bay requires continual deterrence. There is no one-time, magical panacea.
The post How One University Dealt with Pro-Hamas Protesters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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The Iran Nuclear Deal Trump Wants
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
JNS.org – A fourth round of talks between Tehran’s envoys and Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s lead negotiator, did not take place in Rome over the weekend as had been expected.
Neither Tehran’s spokesmen nor the US State Department gave a clear explanation for why, but I’ll venture a guess: Iran’s rulers want concessions in exchange for continuing to talk.
They think Trump needs negotiations more than they do. Their assessment is based on years of palaver with presidents Obama and Biden.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei hopes that, concession by concession, he can convince Trump to embrace a warmed-over version of Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, the fatally flawed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump called “a horrible one-sided deal that should never, ever have been made.”
Sunday on “Meet the Press,” President Trump reiterated what he wants: “Total dismantlement [of Tehran’s nuclear weapons program]. That’s all I would accept.”
That means no uranium enrichment or reprocessing, and a halt to the regime’s development of missiles that can deliver nuclear warheads to American cities.
Witkoff is not a career diplomat. That may prove advantageous. Too often, career diplomats are overly eager to conclude deals because doing so brings them professional plaudits.
If those deals turn out to be bummers, so what? By then, the diplomats will have been promoted or awarded a professorship at an elite university where they can hold forth on The Art of Diplomacy.
That’s how North Korea became nuclear-armed after decades of negotiations and agreements.
That’s how Syria retained a stock of chemical weapons after the Obama administration claimed a Russian-mediated dialogue had brought about the destruction of the Assad regime’s CW arsenal.
The 2015 JCPOA is an especially egregious example. As Sen. Tom Cotton observed: “The deal didn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb; it paved the path.”
Obama argued that no one could have achieved a better deal than he had—an unfalsifiable argument. He also said that the only alternative to his deal was war—another unfalsifiable argument.
A policy of “peace through strength”—which was not Obama’s policy but is Trump’s—implies that your adversaries are more fearful of you than you are of them because they recognize your superior might and don’t doubt your willingness to act if push comes to shove.
To be fair, 10 years ago, Tehran had what was believed to be a first-rate missile-defense system supplied by Russia, and commanded powerful terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East and beyond.
You know what happened next: In 2017, Trump became president. The next year, he withdrew the United States from the JCPOA and began to impose serious strains on Iran’s economy.
On Jan. 3, 2020, Trump terminated with extreme prejudice Qassem Soleimani, the skillful commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans and determined to kill hundreds more.
No war resulted and, by the end of that year, Tehran had just $4 billion in accessible foreign exchange reserves, limiting the support it could provide to Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, its Shi’ite militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
These effective policies came to a halt when Trump moved out of the White House and Biden moved in.
Hoping to seduce Iran’s rulers back into some version of the JCPOA, Biden gave them sanctions relief, pouring tens of billions of dollars into their coffers. He lifted the terrorist designation from the Houthi rebels.
Iran’s rulers smelled weakness, which did not mitigate their hostility toward “the Great Satan,” their determination to exterminate “the Little Satan” or their grand ambition to become the most powerful Islamic empire since the fall of the Ottomans.
Deploying thousands of advanced centrifuges, they expanded their nuclear weapons program, producing highly enriched uranium, and began the computer modeling necessary to make a nuclear warhead.
They sold oil to Beijing and drones to Russia for use in its war of aggression against Ukraine. Scores of attacks by Iran’s terrorist proxies in Iraq and Syria against American troops went unanswered by the Biden administration.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas, bolstered by Iranian funds, weapons and training, invaded Israel and staged the worst massacre of Jews—and anyone who happened to be Jew-adjacent—since the Holocaust.
Since then, Israel has fought on multiple fronts. Hezbollah has been decimated. Tehran’s proxy in Syria has been overthrown.
Following two missile and drone attacks on Israel directly from Iranian soil in 2024, the Israeli Air Force destroyed most of Iran’s missile defense systems and severely degraded the regime’s ballistic missile production capability.
Iran’s rulers are now weaker and more vulnerable than they’ve been since the end of its war with Iraq in the 1980s.
President Trump has stated clearly: “We will not allow a regime that chants ‘Death to America!’ access to the most deadly weapons on earth.”
Others who support “dismantlement” include presidential advisers Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Mike Waltz and the Senate Republican Conference, along with evangelical leaders.
So, too, does Witkoff. He has Trump’s ear and trust. If his Iranian interlocutors remain intransigent, there’s no reason for him not to report that to the president. No deal is better than a bad deal.
George Shultz, one of the most skillful American diplomats of the 20th century, left us this insight: “Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table.”
Shultz had the experience and wisdom to recognize how the real world works. He understood that “peace through strength” is not just a catchy phrase. It’s a policy that must be implemented with confidence, courage and determination.
The post The Iran Nuclear Deal Trump Wants first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas in Talks with US About Gaza Ceasefire and Aid, Says Senior Palestinian Official
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military offensive, shelter in tents, in Gaza City May 11, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Talks between Hamas and the US administration regarding a ceasefire in Gaza and the entry of humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave were underway, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the discussions told Reuters on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump recently repeated a pledge to help get food to Palestinians in Gaza. A US-backed mechanism for getting aid into Gaza should take effect soon, Washington’s envoy to Israel also said on Friday.
There was no immediate comment from the US State Department.
The US had previously conducted discussions with the Palestinian terrorist group on securing the release of US hostages held in Gaza.
Since March 2, Israel has completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of Gaza, and food stockpiled during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out.
On March 18, Israel effectively ended the January ceasefire agreement with Hamas and renewed its military campaign in Gaza.
The post Hamas in Talks with US About Gaza Ceasefire and Aid, Says Senior Palestinian Official first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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