Israeli emergency services work at the scene of a missile strike by Yemen’s Houthi rebels that landed in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron

Israelis living in the Tel Aviv area recounted to The Algemeiner the panic they felt with virtually no warning time to head into bomb shelters before a missile from the Houthi rebels in Yemen hit near their homes over the weekend.

A ballistic missile launched by the Iran-backed group struck a playground in Tel Aviv, injuring at least 16 people and causing damage to nearby homes — the second attack in as many days — after several interception attempts by Israel’s air defense systems failed.

The Houthis — an internationally designated terrorist organization — claimed responsibility for the launch, stating that the missile, to which they referred as “Palestine 2,” accurately hit its target and that Israeli defense systems were unable to intercept it. The terrorist group declared that the attack was in retaliation for “the massacres against our brothers in Gaza.”

Jaffa resident Meital Cohen described the harrowing moments when the missile strike woke her and her young children. “We were just getting ready to head downstairs to the [building’s] bomb shelter with the kids,” she told The Algemeiner. “Suddenly, there was a deafening explosion. The [window] glass shattered and flew into the house.”

Windows in the Jaffa home of Meital Cohen damaged by a Houthi missile strike on Dec. 21, 2024. Photo: Provided by Meital Cohen

The blast was particularly alarming, Cohen said, as her children were still in rooms close to the area impacted. “It was terrifying,” Cohen said, “because it felt like the building might have been directly hit, and I was petrified for the children.”

No one was injured, although the explosion caused significant panic and the windows of her home blew out.

נזק נרחב לדירות ובתים באזור הנפילה ביפו, בעיקר חלונות וזכוכיות. 14 פצועים קל פונו עד כה. כך נראית הדירה של בת׳ שמספרת שלא הספיקה לרדת למקלט בזמן שכל הזכיות התנפצו בביתה מהפיצוץ בגינה שמתחת לבית pic.twitter.com/UCyD7xmu17

— Bar Peleg (@bar_peleg) December 21, 2024

Another neighbor, Sylvia, who declined to give her last name, said it was “truly miraculous” that the missile struck a tiny playground located in between a dense cluster of residential buildings. “A few meters to the left or a few hours later, it would have been a very different story.”

Sylvia noted that it was the “second time that such a miracle had occurred” in recent days.

Overnight between Thursday and Friday, the Houthis launched another missile toward the center of Israel, and this time the projectile was only partially intercepted. The warhead crashed into a school in the city of Ramat Gan, outside Tel Aviv, causing one building to collapse and severe damage to another. Children were due to arrive at the school hours after the missile impacted.

ראשוני: שריפה פרצה בתל אביב כנראה בעקבות הירי מתימן | לכל העדכונים >>> https://t.co/s35YXgWTOI@AnnaPines_ @hadasgrinberg pic.twitter.com/8HnzAAcS9K

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 21, 2024

This attack adds to a series of assaults by the group on Israel since October 2023, including the launch of over 200 missiles and 170 attack drones.

Israel’s multi-layered air defense system, designed to counter a variety of aerial threats, includes the Iron Dome for short-range rockets, David’s Sling for medium-range missiles, and the Arrow system for long-range ballistic missiles. Nevertheless, the recent failure to intercept the Houthi missile has raised concerns about potential gaps in Israel’s defensive capabilities, prompting the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to announce that it was initiating a thorough investigation into the incident.

Experts attributed the failure of Israel’s missile defense systems to significant advancements in Houthi missile technology. Modifications, including reduced explosive payloads and increased fuel capacity, have extended their range, allowing them to reach Tel Aviv, a stark escalation from earlier strikes limited to Eilat in southern Israel — a closer target. Additionally, maneuverable warheads — likely developed in Iran — detach mid-flight and alter their trajectory, making them harder to intercept.

In response to the attack, the Israeli Air Force conducted retaliatory strikes targeting Houthi positions in Yemen, including strategic locations such as the port of Hodeidah and the capital city, Sana’a. US forces also conducted multiple airstrikes against Houthi positions with the aim of degrading the Houthis’ offensive capabilities and ensuring the security of vital maritime routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel would take forceful action against the Houthis as it had done with Hezbollah, another Iran-backed terrorist organization, in Lebanon.

“Just as we acted forcefully against the terrorist arms of Iran’s axis of evil, so we will act against the Houthis,” he said.

“We will act with strength, determination and sophistication. I tell you that even if it takes time, the result will be the same,” he added.

מכתש בגן שעשועים: זירת הנפילה במרכז. pic.twitter.com/kn4gZmWaf2

— אור רביד | Or Ravid (@OrRavid) December 21, 2024

One day after Netanyahu’s statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Monday that the military shot down an attack drone launched by the Houthis from Yemen before it crossed into Israeli territory.

The Houthis have been waging an insurgency in Yemen for two decades in a bid to overthrow the Yemeni government. They have controlled a significant portion of the country’s land in the north and along the Red Sea since 2014, when they captured it in the midst of a civil war.

The Yemeni terrorist group began disrupting global trade in a major way with their attacks on shipping in the busy Red Sea corridor after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, arguing their aggression was a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza.

The Houthi rebels — whose slogan is “death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam” — have said they will target all ships heading to Israeli ports, even if they do not pass through the Red Sea.

Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught, which launched the ongoing war in Gaza, Houthi terrorists in Yemen have also routinely launched missiles toward Israel.

The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released a report in July revealing how Iran has been “smuggling weapons and weapons components to the Houthis.” The report noted that the Houthis used Iranian-supplied ballistic and cruise missiles to conduct over a hundred land attacks on Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and within Yemen, as well as dozens of attacks on merchant shipping.

While the Houthis have increasingly targeted Israeli soil in recent months, they have primarily attacked ships in the Red Sea, a key trade route, raising the cost of shipping and insurance. Shipping firms have been forced in many cases to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa to avoid passing near Yemen, having a major global economic impact.

In September, the Houthis’ so-called “defense minister,” Mohamed al-Atifi, said that the Yemeni rebels were prepared for a “long war” against Israel and its allies.

“The Yemeni Army holds the key to victory, and is prepared for a long war of attrition against the usurping Zionist regime, its sponsors, and allies,” he was quoted as saying by Iranian state-owned media

“Our struggle against the Nazi Zionist entity is deeply rooted in our beliefs. We are well aware of the fact that this campaign is a sacred and religious duty that requires tremendous sacrifices,” added Atifi, who has been sanctioned by the US government.

Beyond Israeli targets, the Houthis have threatened and in some cases actually attacked US and British ships, leading the two Western allies to launch retaliatory strikes multiple times against Houthi targets in Yemen.

The post ‘Terrifying’: Israelis Recall ‘Deafening Explosion’ From Houthi Missile Strike on Tel Aviv first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Jude Law in “The Order.” Photo: screenshot.

Jude Law is usually the romantic lead. In The Order, he is a tough FBI agent hunting neo-Nazis. Based on the book, The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, it chronicles the actions of a white supremacist group that robbed and assassinated Jewish radio host Alan Berg in June 1984.

Law does a fine job as Terry Husk, a man who knows he is up against very bad people. Nicholas Hoult is convincing as the villain, Bob Matthews. He doesn’t look imposing physically, but Hoult is able to use a lack of expression to convey evil.

Jewish comedian Marc Maron plays Berg, and while he does a good job, I would have liked to see him get more screen time. We only hear a bit of what he said on the radio, as he’s arguing with antisemitic callers.

It’s not very glamorous in Idaho, and this is a gritty film that is better than you’d expect it to be, while the source material is also more harrowing than you could imagine. The film makes reference to The Turner Diaries, a science fiction book that was actually a primer and guide for racists and antisemites. Written by William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym of Andrew Macdonald, it depicts a revolution in America where Jews and non-whites are murdered. Timothy McVeigh, a domestic terrorist who carried out the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City, was found with pages of The Turner Diaries.

Jurnee Smollett does a decent job as a woman helping to try to take down part of the Aryan nation. Many viewers would expect more explosives, more blood, more violence, and a big love story between Law and an actress, but the makers of the film resist all of the common expectations to present a film that stands out for being a bit more realistic than you’d expect.

While the film doesn’t go deep into why these men are racist, antisemitic, and bent on killing, it’s true that they follow a leader. In our current climate of rising antisemitism, one can only hope that the Federal authorities are on top of things and the threats from these leaders and these groups are monitored — as well as the possibility of agents from other countries that could have been sent as sleeper cells.

Should the FBI have been more proactive to prevent the assassination of Berg? It’s hard to say, as the white supremacist group showcased in the film was not that well-known at the time. Law sports an unflattering mustache in the film, which contrasts to the clean-shaven Hoult. Directed by Justin Kurzel, the film is well-paced and Maron, speaking as Berg, says on the airwaves that America is a great country, but some of us are trapped in our own minds.

The downsides of the film are that the plot is predictable and there is not particularly any dialogue you will find inspiring, moving or provocative. But it is still an entertaining and engaging film, based on the true story of hate-filled people who believed in things that many Americans still believe in.

The Order makes one think about what law enforcement can do against white supremacy today, and to what extent their numbers are growing or not.

The film doesn’t try to do too much, but executes what it sets out to do very well. The Order is a story that is timely and upsetting, and features Law and Hoult doing fine work.

The author is a writer based in New York.

The post Jude Law Hunts Neo-Nazis in ‘The Order’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

People gather in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to mark the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre. Photo: Paulina Patimer

On November 4, 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s henchmen stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held Americans hostage for 444 days, releasing them on January 20, 1981. On October 7, 2023, Hamas storm troopers and Gazan civilians paraglided and marched into Israel and took hundreds of American and Israeli hostages after killing over 1,200.

Comparing the two situations shows how much has changed in the last four decades — none of it for the better.

Hostages, Then and Now

The Americans taken hostage by Khomeini’s followers were all adults working at the US embassy. The captives in Gaza today, both male and female, range from infants to the aged. One hostage, Kfir Bibas, born on January 18, 2023, was only 262 days old when he was stolen from his bed. He celebrated his first birthday as a hostage and has spent the majority of his life as a Hamas prisoner.

Some of the American diplomats were beaten during and after the November 4 siege of the U.S. embassy. They were undoubtedly held in inhumane conditions and sometimes threatened with execution. But unlike those seized on October 7, not one was executed. Not a single one was raped.

After the first few days of their captivity, unless they were being moved from one location to another or paraded in the street, the American diplomats were not blindfolded. Aside from when they were kept periodically in a damp, windowless warehouse on the embassy grounds, which the hostages named “The Mushroom Inn,” they could see outside.

Hamas’ hostages, on the other hand, have likely been kept underground in the maze of tunnels that constitute subterranean Gaza for most of their 445 days of captivity. Many have likely not seen the sun in all that time. They have been severely beaten.

On November 17, 1979, Khomeini ordered the female and African-American hostages released because “Islam has a special respect toward women” and because blacks had been forced to suffer “under American pressure and tyranny.” Some of the women released by Hamas in the November 2023 ceasefire were sexually assaulted and constantly intimidated.

Those Americans held by Iran who were injured or ill received medical care, albeit inferior to what they deserved. One hostage, Richard Queen, the State Department’s Vice Consul, suffering the early stages of undiagnosed multiple sclerosis, was released after 250 days. His symptoms baffled the Iranian physicians who treated him, and his captors feared the consequences of his dying in captivity. Hamas has no such fears.

UN Responses, Then and Now

In 1979, the United Nations was not quite as corrupted as it is today. The Security Council responded if not quickly (on December 4) at least decisively with Resolution 457 calling for the immediate release of the hostages. On December 31, it issued Resolution 461, condemning Iran and citing an International Court of Justice order for the release of all hostages.

In 2023, after weeks of failing to reach a consensus, the Security Council finally issued Resolution 2712 on November 15, calling for the release of all hostages, but it did not condemn or even mention the October 7 attack.

Today’s UN is focused on condemning Israel. It has whitewashed the complicity of the Palestinian people in October 7 and exaggerated their suffering. The Secretary-General’s statement was one half condemnation of Hamas and one-half warning that Israel exercise “maximum restraint” and pursue a “two-state solution.” The International Court of Justice took South Africa’s charges of genocide seriously and opened an investigation into Israeli conduct, and the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Media Coverage

In 1979, the media at first repeated the false narrative that the hostage takers were merely religious students, not Khomeini’s agents carrying out his will. But as one hostage, Barry Rosen, put it, “Khomeini was supporting our captivity; it was not just these students acting in his name.” Rosen adds that, “the students couldn’t have continued to hold us without the Imam’s approval.”

Throughout the 444-day ordeal, the media focused on the hostages, their families, and efforts being made to free them. On ABC, Ted Koppel’s career was made by a show called The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage, which eventually became Nightline.

By contrast, today’s media have not made the hostages the focal point of the story. Rather than seeing the hostages as victims of Islamist aggression, much of today’s media are more sympathetic with Palestinians and Hamas than with their hostages. They focus on “Israel’s War in Gaza,” celebrate anti-Israel protests, and mindlessly repeat Hamas’s inflated casualty and death statistics.

When Israel killed Ismail Haniyeh, the media harped on how much more difficult a “hostage deal” would be and accused Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu of belligerence.

When Israel decimated (or more) the leadership of Hezbollah — another terrorist organization responsible for holding Americans hostage — in a brilliant pager/walkie-talkie sabotage like something out of a James Bond movie, much of the media vilified it as terrorism.

Like the UN, the media have whitewashed the complicity of the Palestinian people on October 7. One of the greatest differences between the coverage of the hostages held in Iran 45 years ago and of the hostages in Gaza today is that no one was on Iran’s side then, while many are on Hamas’s side today.

Academia Reacts

For Americans, and indeed for much of the Western world, the seizure of our diplomats in 1979 was an affront too outrageous to endure. People were angry at the Iranians, Khomeini, and Jimmy Carter. In the days before memes, Americans adopted a line from a popular song by Tony Orlando and Dawn (“Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree”). Yellow ribbons appeared around trees throughout the nation as symbols of their suffering and the American people longing for their return.

Most American academics were as outraged as everyone else in 1979, and all but the most virulently anti-American among them who weren’t outraged likely kept it to themselves.

By contrast, today’s academics are more likely to celebrate October 7, especially Middle East studies “experts.”

College students were firmly on the side of the US in 1979. If there were any protests, they were anti-Iran protests. As a freshman at the University of Miami in November of 1979, I saw many cars sporting the famous bumper sticker, and people wearing the t-shirt, featuring Mickey Mouse holding an American flag in his right hand while giving the middle-finger salute with his left hand with the caption “Hey Iran.”

By contrast, today’s college students are more likely to wear keffiyehs and chant “From the River to the Sea” or “Globalize the Intifada” and other slogans they don’t understand.

End of the Crises

The 52 Americans held in Iran were released only after one-term president Jimmy Carter left the White House and Ronald Reagan was inaugurated. Reagan called Khomeini and his henchmen “criminals and thugs” and promised a very different approach than the weak coddling that the Carter administration had pursued.

When the hostages were finally released, there was a ticker-tape parade in their honor as they were celebrated in New York City’s “Canyon of Heroes.”

Will the hostages in Gaza have to wait until one-term president Joe Biden leaves the White House and Donald Trump is inaugurated? That will make it 472 days in captivity. Will there be a ticker-tape parade?

President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to get the hostages back and threatened that “there will be hell to pay” if they are not returned by his January 20 inauguration. It will be well-deserved if Hamas doesn’t release the hostages.

Chief Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) Political Correspondent A.J. Caschetta is a principal lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a fellow at Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum where he is also a Milstein fellow. A version of this article was published by IPT.

The post Monday Marks Day 445 for Hostages in Gaza — Longer Than the Iranian Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.