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The debate over what should happen in Gaza after the war, explained

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel and the United States agree on how the Israel-Hamas war started — with the terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre. They agree on how it should end — with the removal of Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip. 

But there are differences over how to get there, which are becoming more pronounced. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden openly criticized Israel’s conduct in the war.

“Israel’s security can rest on the United States, but right now it has more than the United States,” Biden said at a fundraiser at a Washington hotel convened by Lee “Rosy” Rosenberg, a major donor to Democrats and pro-Israel causes. 

“It has the European Union, it has Europe, it has most of the world,” he said. “But they’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place.”

Over 18,000 Gazans have been killed so far in the fighting, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, and over 1,200 Israelis were killed on Oct. 7. Close to 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas, and over 100 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat.

There are even greater differences between Israel and the United States over what happens the day after the war ends. Does Israel stay in the Gaza Strip? If so, for how long? And who takes its place?

“Yes, there is disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas’ and I hope that we will reach agreement here as well,” Netanyahu said Tuesday in a statement, describing what he called an “intensive dialogue” he had just completed with Biden. 

Netanyahu made clear what the differences are: Biden has pushed for the Palestinian Authority — which governs Palestinian population centers in the West Bank — to take control of Gaza. Netanyahu rejected that idea, referencing the Oslo Accords, the 1993 agreement that created the P.A., which is led by the Fatah Party.

“I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo,” Netanyahu said. He referenced longstanding Israeli complaints about the P.A.: that it glorifies violence against Israelis and pays stipends to convicted Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prison. 

“After the great sacrifice of our civilians and our soldiers, I will not allow the entry into Gaza of those who educate for terrorism, support terrorism and finance terrorism,” he said. “Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fatahstan.”

Netanyahu has said Israel will retain security control of the Gaza Strip after the war, though he has not elaborated on who will govern its day-to-day affairs or how long the Israeli security presence would last. That’s frustrating the Biden administration, said David Makovsky, a fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, which has ties with the Israeli and U.S. governments.

“The Americans want to know, like, OK, you have a military strategy. I get that. And maybe a very reasonable one, but tell me how it leads to political outcomes? The outcome is no Hamas. Okay. That’s good. That’s necessary. But is it sufficient?’”

Here’s a look at the outcomes the United States, Israel and other actors are talking about.

Will the Palestinian Authority govern Gaza?

The Biden administration, for several weeks after Hamas’ massacre, talked about bringing the Palestinian Authority into the Gaza Strip.

“We must also work on the affirmative elements to get to a sustained peace,” Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, said in Tokyo during a summit of the G7 industrial giants on Nov. 8.  “These must include the Palestinian people’s voices and aspirations at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza. It must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.”

Netanyahu has emphatically counted out any P.A. role in the Gaza Strip, pointing to its continued payments to the families of jailed and killed terrorists and what he says is continued incitement in its textbooks and media. 

That may explain why Blinken has been more circumspect in recent statements, in which he has envisioned the establishment of an independent Palestinian state uniting Gaza and the West Bank but hasn’t named the Palestinian Authority. 

“When the major military operation is over, this is not over, because we have to have a durable, sustainable peace, and we have to make sure that we’re on the path to a durable, sustainable peace,” Blinken said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “From our perspective, I think from the perspective of many around the world, that has to lead to a Palestinian state.”

Netanyahu is not the only obstacle to such an outcome. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, is not too eager to be seen as assuming control of the Gaza Strip on the heels of an Israeli invasion. Polls show that Abbas, who hasn’t run in (or won) an election in nearly two decades, has low approval ratings among Palestinians. 

“I will not return on top of an Israeli tank,” the Associated Press quoted Abbas as telling his confidants last month.

The P.A. itself is seen as corrupt and weakened by decades of cooperating with Israeli security measures in the parts of the West Bank it governs. Some major West Bank cities, such as Jenin, are home to large concentrations of militant groups. 

But a paper published this week by Israel Policy Forum scholars Michael Koplow and Shira Efron says the end of the war is an opportunity for Israel to expand its relationship with the P.A. — and demand that it undergo reforms that address Israel’s concerns. IPF has long advocated for a two-state solution.

“Despite hopes to the contrary, no other players in the international community are willing to entertain long-term commitments to Gaza, let alone ruling the Strip, leaving the PA as the only viable option,” Efron and Koplow write.

Will Netanyahu preserve his hardline coalition?

Efron and Koplow added, however, that Netanyahu is rejecting cooperation with the P.A. in Gaza because of pressure from far-right parties in his coalition. Those parties, they said, wield an “absolute veto” over strengthening the P.A.

Regarding Netanyahu’s political interests, Makovsky was blunter. 

“He can’t say the word ‘P.A.’ — he can’t say it,” Makovsky said. “If the government seems completely shut down over being able to talk about the day after, that’s a function of the politics.”

On Tuesday, Biden suggested that it was time for Netanyahu to cut off his far-right partners, whom the president has long reviled.

“Bibi’s got a tough decision to make,” he said at the fundraising event, using Netanyahu’s nickname. “This is the most conservative government in Israel’s history,” that “doesn’t want a two-state solution.”

He called for Netanyahu to bring in the center-left opposition and drop the extremists. Netanyahu “has to strengthen and change” the government, he said.

That’s not going to happen as long as the far right is ready to keep Netanyahu in office and shield him from the political consequences of the Oct. 7 attack, said Nimrod Novik, another IPF scholar and a member of the executive committee of Commanders for Israel Security, which also favors a two-state outcome.

“The longer [the war] is, the farther the trauma of Oct. 7,” Novilk said. “The longer it is, the farther the investigations of the  responsibility for it all. Maybe people will forget, maybe something good will happen and he’ll get credit for it.”

Jonathan Schanzer, a vice president with the right-leaning Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Netanyahu had every incentive to pursue the war until victory somewhat repairs his legacy shattered by Oct. 7.

“He said ‘everybody will have to give answers’ [about what went wrong] when the war is over,” Schanzer said. “And he’s hoping that he can postpone that discussion until such a time that events on the ground will have swung in his favor.”

Will Israel reoccupy Gaza?

Although Netanyahu has discussed maintaining control of security in Gaza, he has not yet said the word “occupation”: For one thing, it would set off a firestorm at home. Before Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, many Israelis remember weeks of military reserves duty spent occupying the dangerous strip of land, and the costs it incurred in lives and resources.

For another, the Biden administration has said indefinite Israeli occupation of Gaza is not an option. 

At the G7 summit in Tokyo last month, Blinken rejected every possible iteration of occupation that has apparently bubbled up  under consideration by Netanyahu, according to leaks to the Israeli media. These include resettlement of Israelis in Gaza, military occupation, “buffer zones” that Israel would control along Gaza’s border, a return to blockading the strip — which was the status in place until Oct. 6 — and the removal of a portion of the Palestinians, an action that would bolster charges of ethnic cleansing against Israel.

“The only way to ensure that this crisis never happens again is to begin setting the conditions for durable peace and security, and to frame our diplomatic efforts now with that in mind,” Blinken said. “The United States believes key elements should include no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza — not now, not after the war. No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks.  No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza.”  

Many Palestinian commentators have focused their attention on the Gaza death toll over the past two months. But Diana Buttu, a former Palestinian negotiator, wrote in The New York Times on Tuesday that ongoing Israeli occupation of Gaza would be the worst possible option. 

“The future of Gaza — like that of the West Bank — is for Palestinians to decide,” she wrote. “That is the essence of self-determination. The international community must not continue to place Israel first, as has been done for decades.”

She added, “Palestinians must live freely, without the faintest sense of an Israeli noose around our necks.”

Will Israel’s Arab partners play a role in Gaza’s future?

Blinken has shuttled between Arab capitals for weeks seeking buy-in for the postwar scenario. But in public comments after meeting foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,and Turkey, as well as a Palestinian Authority senior official, he was vague about what that scenario involves — beyond expressing hope for a Palestinian state. 

Behind the scenes, reports have said, he has been more explicit, seeking pledges of funding for whatever form the government of Gaza takes after the war. He has also weighed asking Arab countries to commit troops to Gaza to help maintain the peace.

Arab states, which have been calling for a ceasefire, have not bitten at that offer, for myriad reasons: They, like Israel, distrust Abbas, who has gained a reputation for corruption and fecklessness. And while four Arab states have normalized relations with Israel in recent years, they are not ready to join with it in a military effort to keep Gaza calm.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the United Arab Emirates, which has cultivated increasingly close ties with Israel in recent years, said it would help with the reconstruction of Gaza only if there’s progress toward a two-state solution. 

“We need to see a viable two-state solution plan, a road map that is serious before we talk about the next day and rebuilding the infrastructure of Gaza,” said the Emirati ambassador to the United Nations, Lana Nusseibeh.

In their paper, Efron and Koplow propose a U.S.-led rehabilitation of Gaza that melds Arab buy-in with reconstituting the Palestinian Authority in the territory. Preparing for that future, they wrote, needs to begin even as the fighting is ongoing. 

“Stabilizing Gaza, resuming necessary services, rebuilding infrastructure, and preventing the return of Hamas — assuming that Israel is successful in removing it from effective power — will require a concerted effort from multiple stakeholders: Israel, the Palestinians, Middle Eastern countries, the international community, and particularly the United States,” said the paper.

Ghaith al-Omari, a former adviser to Palestinian officials and a fellow at the Washington Institute, told the Washington Post last week that bringing in the P.A. was a prerequisite to getting other Arab countries to play a role in postwar Gaza. 

Arab nations, “to even be able to engage with us, they need that framing, the two-state solution framing and the transitional framing,” he told the Post. “Because this way they can always claim, ‘We’re doing this to support the Palestinians.’”


The post The debate over what should happen in Gaza after the war, explained appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Trump Holds 10-Point Lead Over Harris With New York Jews, Poll Finds

Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump speaks as he campaigns at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, US, August 12, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump holds a commanding lead over her Democratic opponent Kamala Harris among New York Jewish voters in the 2024 election, according to the latest Siena College poll. 

The poll found that Jewish New Yorkers prefer Trump, who previously served as the 45th US president, over Harris, the current vice president, by a margin of 54 percent to 44 percent when including third-party candidates. If the US presidential election were held today and it was just a two-person race, the figures would only change slightly, with Trump beating Harris among Jewish voters in the Empire State by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent.

Conducted from Sept. 11-16, the findings suggest that Trump has made significant inroads with the Jewish community. 

Additional polling data from Siena indicates that Jewish voters are rapidly warming up to Trump as Election Day in the US inches closer. Trump led Harris 50 percent to 49 percent among Jewish New York voters in August, according to Siena College. In June, Jewish voters preferred then-presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden over Trump 52 percent to 46 percent.   

Trump’s favorability among Jewish voters has also significantly increased in recent months, according to the polling data. In July, 44 percent of Jewish voters indicated a “favorable” view of Trump and 52 percent indicated an “unfavorable” view of the former president. That number has surged since then, with 52 percent of Jewish voters revealing a “favorable” view of Trump and 48 percent revealing an “unfavorable” view of the Republican nominee in the latest poll.

The poll represents the latest indication that at least some Jewish voters could be fleeing the Democratic Party, potentially over frustrations stemming from the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war and surging antisemitism within traditionally-liberal institutions. 

The data also indicates that Harris possesses notably weaker support among New York Jews than Biden, potentially suggesting dissatisfaction over the vice president’s positions on Israel or a lack of trust that she will forcefully defend the Jewish state’s interests. 

Trump has made numerous overtures to the Jewish community in recent months, attempting to win over a significant share of the traditionally-liberal voting bloc. He has delivered speeches at various events catered toward the Jewish community, including the Republican Jewish Coalition. The former president also co-hosted an event focusing on antisemitism at his Trump National Golf Club Bedminster alongside prominent Jewish donor Miriam Adelson.    

The former president has touted his former administration’s support for Israel as a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign. During his single term in office, Trump recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria. He also moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, recognizing the city as the Jewish state’s capital. The Trump administration also helped to broker the Abraham Accords, which normalized Israel’s relations with four Arab countries in 2020.

Evidence of Trump’s success in wooing Jewish voters has been replicated by other polls. A July survey conducted by pollster Richard Baris showed that Jewish voters nationally prefer Harris over Trump by a margin of 52.7 percent to 45.9 percent.

However, a poll commissioned by the Jewish Democratic Council of America released earlier this month found that 72 percent of Jewish Americans plan on casting a ballot for Harris and 25 percent are poised to do the same for Trump.

The post Trump Holds 10-Point Lead Over Harris With New York Jews, Poll Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israel’s Ambassador Tells UN Security Council: ‘Wake Up,’ Stop Turning ‘Blind Eye’ to Iran’s Support for Terrorism

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon addressing the UN Security Council on Sept. 19, 2024. Photo: Screenshot

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon lambasted Iran for being a puppet master “pulling the strings” of terrorist groups across the Middle East, describing them as “Iran’s attack dogs” while addressing the UN Security Council on Thursday.

Danon stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran, which he described as “the most oppressive regime in the world,” wants “dominance, not diplomacy.” The country’s “grand ambition” is the “creation of a Shiite supremacist empire that stretches across the entire Middle East and beyond,” he insisted.

“This council and the world must wake up to the reality of the threat Iran poses,” Danon added. “The dark force driving the violence we see today is not a collection of independent groups. It is Iran pulling the strings. The Iran proxies — Hezbollah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, and terrorist cells in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] — are all Iran’s attack dogs unleashed to spread death and destruction across the region.”

Danon also described the different terror cells as the “claws of a beast” that is Iran.

The ambassador then shifted his attention to the Palestinian Authority, accusing it of “standing by, utterly weak and impotent,” by turning a blind eye to Iran’s terrorist actions or “actively collaborating with these terror networks.” He once the PA’s leadership, including President Mahmoud Abbas, for refusing to condemn Hamas since the terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.

“With leaders such as them, is it any wonder that terrorism continues to worsen in Judea and Samaria?” he asked, before noting how Iran is funding, arming, and recruiting terrorists in the West Bank to target Israelis.

“Iran has transformed our region into a railway of terror” and is operating a “murderous Orient Express” that is “right under the world’s nose,” Danon said. He talked at length about the “dark web of terror Iran and its proxies continue to weave in Judea and Samaria, and said these reasons are why Israel must take “preventative steps” to protect its borders and civilians.

“Let me ask you all: What would your security forces do if they had intelligence about terrorists planning a massive attack on your civilian populations?” he asked the Security Council. “Think about your capital cities. Would there be any doubt about what to do? Well, we have no such doubts and neither do any of you … but when Israel takes reasonable steps regarding intelligence to neutralize a threat, preventing terror attacks against our civilians, we are condemned.”

“This council remains paralyzed by indecision,” he added. “We are not dealing with isolated acts of terror. We are dealing with an orchestrated campaign of distraction directed by the ayatollahs in Iran. And while this body debates restraint and diplomacy, Iran’s terror network grows stronger. The time for half-measures, blind eyes, and empty statements are over. What is required now is not talk about the symptoms, but action against the disease itself, which is the Iranian regime.”

He concluded his remarks by calling for Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to be designated as terrorist organizations worldwide, and urged the UN to apply more sanctions against the Iranian regime until its “capacity to support terror is completely diminished.”

“We expect this council to stop them at the root,” Danon said of Iran, before reiterating that Israel will take all measures necessary to protect itself.

“Israel will defend itself with all the force necessary to protect our people,” he said. “We will dismantle every terrorist network, uproot every Iranian proxy and strike down those who seek to harm us. The international community for must stand with us, for the very future of the Middle East. The stakes could not be higher [and the] time for inaction has passed.”

Also on Thursday, Danon sent a letter to UN Security Council President Samuel Zbogar that pressured the 15-member Security Council to condemn a ballistic missile attack from the Houthis in Yemen that hit central Israel on Sunday. The Israeli ambassador sent an identical letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

On Wednesday, the UN General Assembly passed with an overwhelming majority a non-binding Palestinian resolution that demands Israel end its “occupation” of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem within 12 months.

The resolution, which calls for the end of Israel’s “unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” was passed by a 124-14 margin with 43 abstentions. It backs an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July, which ruled that Israel is illegally occupying the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip against international law.

The General Assembly resolution also called on states to “take steps towards ceasing the importation of any products originating in the Israeli settlements, as well as the provision or transfer of arms, munitions and related equipment to Israel … where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they may be used in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” It further urged Israel to withdraw all military forces and Israeli Jewish settlements from those territories. Those who voted against the resolution on Wednesday included the United States, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Hungary, Malawi, Nauru, Paraguay, and Papau New Guinea.

The resolution made no mention of Israel’s security concerns and terrorist threats from its neighboring countries, the state of Israel or the Jewish people’s historical ties to the land, or the deadly Oct. 7 terrorist attacks orchestrated by Hamas that took place across southern Israel.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said that by omitting all these facts, the resolution “tells a one-sided, fictional story.” The MFA condemned the resolution in a released statement on Wednesday, describing the General Assembly as a “political theater” that has adopted “a distorted decision disconnected from reality, encourages terrorism and harms the chances for peace.”

“This is what being disconnected looks like; this is what cynical international politics looks like,” the MFA added.

“The General Assembly decision bolsters and strengthens the Hamas terrorist organization and the Iranian terrorist state that stands behind it,” the ministry continued. “The resolution sends a message that terrorism pays off and yields international resolutions. The decision only encourages Hamas’ rejectionism with regards to the deal for the release of the hostages and a ceasefire and further distances the possibility of reaching such a deal.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry went on to argue that the resolution “undermines the foundation of any attempt to promote a peaceful solution to the conflict,” arguing that the PA, which initiated the measure, “is not interested in peace, but in defaming Israel.”

The Jewish state “will respond accordingly,” the statement warned.

Danon called the resolution “a shameful decision that backs the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic terrorism.”

“Instead of marking the anniversary of the October 7 massacre by condemning Hamas and calling for the release of all 101 of the remaining hostages, the General Assembly continues to dance to the music of the Palestinian Authority, which backs the Hamas murderers,” he said.

“We will continue to defend Israel in the international arena and fight against the diplomatic terrorism of the Palestinians,” he added.

The UN General Assembly resolution politically isolating Israel was passed days before world leaders will assemble for the annual UN gathering. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are both due to address the 193-member General Assembly on Sept. 26.

The post Israel’s Ambassador Tells UN Security Council: ‘Wake Up,’ Stop Turning ‘Blind Eye’ to Iran’s Support for Terrorism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israel Used Shell Company to Make Hezbollah’s Exploding Pagers: New York Times Report

An ambulance arrives at a hospital as thousands of people, mainly Hezbollah fighters, were wounded on Sept. 17, 2024 when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

A Hungary-based company suspected of supplying Hezbollah with the pagers that exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday was actually an Israeli shell company established by Israeli spies, The New York Times reported on Thursday citing three American intelligence officers.

The large-scale operation killed several Hezbollah members and injured thousands across Lebanon, where the Iran-backed terrorist group is based, and Syria.

Rather than tampering with existing devices during production or distribution, Israel actually “manufactured them as part of an elaborate ruse,” the report said. While the company did indeed manufacture standard pagers for other customers, these were “produced separately, [and] contained batteries laced with PETN,” a highly explosive stable material.

Following the first round of explosions, hundreds of walkie-talkies used by the group also detonated on Wednesday, causing mass panic across Lebanon.

According to The New York Times, the firm, BAC Consulting, was listed as an LTD in 2022 but its website was established in October 2020.

Two other shell companies were also reportedly created to obscure the connection between BAC and Israel, the unnamed officers said.

The devices reportedly began arriving in small numbers to Lebanon in 2022, with production increasing as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah publicly urged followers to avoid cellphones due to concerns they could be tracked by Israel.

Nasrallah warned supporters during a speech in February, saying, “The phone in your hands, in your wife’s hands, and in your children’s hands is the agent … Bury it. Put it in an iron box and lock it.”

“Israeli intelligence officials saw an opportunity,” the Times report noted.

With Hezbollah relying more heavily on the explosive-laden pagers, Israeli intelligence viewed them as “buttons” that could be triggered at any moment, ultimately leading to Tuesday’s explosions.

The pagers that detonated in Lebanon were branded with the logo of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. While BAC was authorized to use Gold Apollo’s branding, the latter stated that “the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC.”

Lebanese authorities said the explosions were catastrophic, killing 12 people and injuring nearly 3,000 bystanders, most of whom were either Hezbollah operatives or civilians nearby. Another 20 died when walkie-talkies exploded the following day. Both devices, the report claimed, were rigged with PETN.

BAC Consulting denied any involvement, with its CEO Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono saying that her firm only acted as an intermediary in the transactions and was not responsible for manufacturing the pagers. “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediary. I think you got it wrong,” Bársony-Arcidiacono told NBC News.

A Hungarian government spokesperson echoed this, stating that BAC merely facilitated the trade and that the pagers had never actually entered Hungary. “Authorities have confirmed that the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary. It has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary,” wrote Zoltán Kovács on X.

Hezbollah holds Israel responsible for the explosions and has vowed retaliation. Israel has neither publicly confirmed nor denied responsibility for the blasts.

In a televised address on Thursday, Nasrallah admitted that the terror group had sustained a “major and unprecedented massacre.”

“We have undoubtedly experienced a significant security and military setback, one that is unparalleled in the history of the resistance and in the history of Lebanon,” Nasrallah stated in his address.

“This kind of killing, targeting, and crime may be unprecedented in the world,” he added, saying the attacks were “a declaration of war.”

“The enemy has lost all control, laws, and morals,” he said. “Israel intended to kill 4,000 people in one minute by detonating the pagers. Many of them were civilians,” Nasrallah said, despite the fact that the devices were carried exclusively by Hezbollah operatives. “The following day, 1,000 more in one minute. In two minutes, Israel intended to kill 5,000.”

He vowed that the more than 60,000 Israelis from northern Israel who have been evacuated from their homes would not return.

Hours after his speech, Israeli fighter jets targeted more than 60 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, in one of the biggest waves of attacks since the beginning of the war.

Earlier in the day, two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers were killed and nine more wounded after Hezbollah launched a barrage of anti-tank missiles and drones in the north.

During a visit to Northern Command on Wednesday, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi alluded to the fact that Israel has yet unseen methods of war to be deployed against Hezbollah.

“We have many more capabilities that we have not yet used,” he said. “We are well prepared and we are laying the groundwork for these plans going forward.”

The post Israel Used Shell Company to Make Hezbollah’s Exploding Pagers: New York Times Report first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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