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What’s happening in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza? The latest and what could come next, explained
(JTA) — Shortly after Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400, wounding thousands and taking 200 captive, Israel declared war and vowed to defeat the terror group.
Since then, Israel has conducted punishing airstrikes in Gaza, killing thousands and preparing for a ground invasion as it is still counting bodies and learning of atrocities from Hamas’ incursion. It is also exchanging fire with Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group, and cracking down in the West Bank.
The international response has also changed: alongside widespread horror at Hamas’ mass murder, Israel and its supporters are calling for a return of the hostages while its critics are pushing for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza. President Joe Biden has staunchly backed Israel, traveling to the country this week and delivering an Oval Office address calling for aid — a question on which Americans appear split.
“We are fighting for our home, and it will take a long time,” Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and Israeli military chief who recently joined the government, said earlier this week. “The war in the south and, if needed, also in the north or anywhere else will take months, and the rebuilding will take years — and only when that is completed will we win.”
Here’s what is happening in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza — and what might happen next.
What is happening right now in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza?
In the days following Hamas’ invasion, Israel’s leaders made clear that their goal would be to defeat and dismantle the terror group. Since Oct. 7, Israel has been bombing Gaza from the air, destroying Hamas positions and senior commanders, and exacting a heavy death toll.
Hamas is an Islamist organization that is designated as a terror group by the United States and European Union, and is dedicated to Israel’s destruction. It is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and has controlled Gaza for more than 15 years.
Israel has killed at least 1,500 Hamas terrorists who invaded the country and, as of Friday, was still finding Gazans in Israel.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, and footage has shown ruins of whole neighborhoods in the coastal territory.
Hamas and other terror groups have continued barraging Israel with rockets, and some of the casualties in Gaza have been due to failed rocket launches by those groups. That includes, according to the United States and Israel, a Palestinian rocket that struck a Gaza hospital earlier this week. Hamas has claimed that Israel is responsible for that blast.
Israel has been preparing for a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip, and has called up more than 300,000 military reservists. Last week, it also called on residents of the northern half of the Gaza Strip — more than 1 million people — to evacuate to the territory’s southern half. Hundreds of thousands have reportedly evacuated, though Hamas told residents to stay put.
“We’ve moved to attack,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Oct. 12. “I say now to everyone: We will wipe out this thing called Hamas. We will wipe it off the earth. This thing won’t continue to exist.”
A member of the Bedouin community on October 14, 2023, stands next to vehicles destroyed in an rocket attack allegedly fired from the Gaza Strip in the village of Arara in the Negev Desert, that the residents say is constantly hit. In Israel’s southern Negev desert, Bedouins fear the war is coming closer to them after Israel declared war on the Islamist group Hamas on October 8, a day after waves of its fighters broke through the heavily fortified border and killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians. (Photo by Yuri CORTEZ / AFP) (Photo by YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
What could happen next?
How, exactly, Israel could defeat Hamas — and what happens afterward — remains unclear. Israel has fought several rounds of conflict with the Gaza terror group over the past 15 years, but none that promises to be this extensive.
The most major Israel-Hamas war up to this point took place in 2014, but in some measures it already pales in comparison. More than 2,100 Palestinians and 70 Israelis were killed in that conflict, numbers that have already been dwarfed since Oct. 7. And while that war lasted 50 days, a former senior Israel Defense Forces official estimated that this one could take six to eight months.
On Friday, Gallant said Israel’s war on Hamas would unfold in three stages: a campaign from the air and on the ground; a lower-intensity campaign that will aim to “eliminate pockets of resistance”; and the establishment of a new Palestinian governing entity in Gaza that would remove Israel’s responsibility for running the territory. The operation will reportedly focus on the Hamas stronghold of Gaza City
But who would that be? Right now, no one has the answer. Israel could attempt to install the Palestinian Authority, which governs Palestinian areas of the West Bank, in Gaza — but the P.A. was expelled from the territory in 2007 after a brief civil war with Hamas. On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a handoff to the P.A. “All talk of decisions to hand over the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority or any other party is a lie,” he said.
Gaza is also home to other terror groups, the largest of which is Islamic Jihad, which also fires rockets at Israel.
When Israel’s ground invasion will begin is also, as of now, an open question. On Oct. 19, Gallant said it would come “soon.” But former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is currently out of political office, urged “patience” in a post on social media, saying that it was safer right now for Israel’s air force to “crush, crush, crush” Hamas.
A woman and a girl hold pet carriers and other belongings as they prepare to depart from Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, Oct. 19, 2023. (Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)
Could there be a regional war?
Israeli officials appear to be most anxious about a second front opening on Israel’s northern border, where the major Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has shot missiles at Israel and Israel has fired back. Israel fought a month-long war in 2006 with Hezbollah that, until this month, was its bloodiest in decades.
Hamas and Hezbollah are both funded by Iran, a chief Israeli adversary that warned earlier this week that “other multiple fronts will open and this is inevitable” if Israeli strikes continue.
On Thursday, the United States intercepted three missiles heading toward Israel that were launched by an Iranian proxy in Yemen. The action was extraordinary in two ways: Israel has not considered the Iranian allies in Yemen to be an immediate threat, and has rarely relied on the American military to defend against attacks aimed at its territory. The United States has moved forces to the region as a warning to regional adversaries of Israel not to get involved in the fight.
Facing the prospect of escalating fighting, Israel has evacuated tens of thousands of residents on its southern and northern borders. Most of the city of Sderot, with a population of 30,000, has been evacuated, and on Friday, the northern town of Kiryat Shemona, which has 20,000 residents, was evacuated.
Israel is also cracking down on Palestinians in the West Bank. In overnight raids on Friday, the IDF arrested dozens of Hamas operatives, including the group’s spokesman. Israel has conducted hundreds of arrests in the West Bank since Oct. 7, and 70 Palestinians have been killed, according to Palestinian groups. That toll includes 13 Palestinians and one Israeli who were killed in clashes in the Nur Shams refugee camp Thursday.
The IDF is also investigating a unit that, according to footage, abused Palestinians and left-wing activists in the West Bank. According to Haaretz, a group of soldiers and settlers beat, stripped and burned cigarettes on the Palestinians, leading to the dismissal of an officer.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with people affected by this month’s attacks by the terrorist group Hamas on Israel, in Tel Aviv, Oct. 18, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
How is the United States involved?
Biden has spoken out multiple times in support of Israel since Oct. 7 and traveled there on Oct. 18 — a rare if not unprecedented trip by a U.S. president to a war theater where American troops aren’t fighting. He also called for humanitarian aid to Palestinians and for Israel to obey the laws of war. The vast majority of Congress also supports Israel’s war effort, though the absence of a speaker of the House means that its members can’t approve an aid package.
On Thursday night, Biden delivered a rare Oval Office address in which he made the case that aid to Israel’s and Ukraine’s war efforts was vital for protecting American interests across the globe. On Friday, he made his formal aid request: more than $100 billion in total across the globe, including more than $14 million for Israel to bolster its military supplies, including its Iron Dome missile defense system.
“Hamas and Putin represent different threats,” Biden said in his address, referring to the Russian president who launched an invasion of Ukraine last year. “But they share this in common. They both want to completely annihilate neighboring democracies.”
Pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian rallies have taken place across the country, and a recent poll by CBS and YouGov shows that Americans at large support Israel. More than 50% of Americans sympathize with Israel “a lot,” compared to 28% with the Palestinians.
When it comes to aiding Israel with weaponry, though, opinions are mixed. On one hand, most Americans approve of Biden’s support for Israel or say he should be more supportive. But on the other hand, only 48% said the United States should send weapons or supplies to Israel.
Israel supporters hold images of Hamas hostages at a rally demanding their release, in New York City, October 18, 2023. (Luke Tress)
What is happening with the hostages?
Hamas took more than 200 hostages during its invasion of Israel, including citizens of the United States and countries across the globe. Israel confirmed that approximately 30 of the hostages are children and up to 20 are elderly. More than a dozen are American citizens.
Families of the hostages have embarked on a global campaign, rife with symbolism, to keep the world’s eyes on their captured family members. They have met with world leaders, including Biden and Netanyahu. They have enlisted celebrities such as Gal Gadot and Helen Mirren to advocate for their loved ones’ release. They have set up empty Shabbat dinner tables in public spaces worldwide. And they have wallpapered cities around the world with posters bearing the hostages’ photos and names.
World leaders including United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres have called for the hostages’ immediate release. Earlier this week, Hamas released a video of one of the hostages, and on Friday, it freed two American hostages — a mother and a daughter reportedly from the Chicago area.
Israel has also led small military incursions into Gaza to recover hostages, though none has yet been rescued alive.
This is not the first time Hamas has taken hostages. In 2006, it captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was exchanged for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners five years later this month. It is currently holding two Israelis who entered Gaza before this year, as well as the bodies of two soldiers killed in the 2014 war.
The Al-Abbas Mosque in Gaza City, Oct. 12, 2023. (Momen Faiz/NurPhoto/Getty Images)
What is happening with the Palestinians and humanitarian aid?
Israel has blockaded Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory more than 15 years ago, and days after Hamas’ invasion, Israel initiated a “complete siege” of Gaza. Israel did not let food, water, electricity or fuel into the territory.
Since then, the humanitarian situation in the territory has become increasingly dire, with reports of residents drinking salty water and medical care scarce and dwindling. Guterres traveled to the Rafah border crossing on Gaza’s border with Egypt in support of humanitarian aid, and while in Israel, Biden negotiated a deal for aid to travel into Gaza via that border crossing.
It appears, however, that the aid hasn’t yet entered the territory. On Friday, trucks of aid were seen sitting on the Egyptian side of the border, an Egyptian aid worker told CNN.
In addition, Israel has weighed creating “safe zones” for Palestinian civilians in the southern Gaza Strip where they would receive protection from the war, though at this stage, Israel is conducting airstrikes throughout the territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seated third from left, holds a meeting with his security cabinet in Tel Aviv, Oct. 7, 2023. (Haim Zach/GPO/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
How is the war changing Israel’s politics?
Hamas’ attack, the most lethal day for Jews since the Holocaust, appears to have completely taken Israel’s right-wing government by surprise, and in recent days, several military and intelligence officials, and government ministers, have apologized or taken responsibility for failing to prevent the massacre.
“We are responsible. I, as a member of the government, am responsible,” Education Minister Yoav Kisch said. “We were dealing with nonsense.”
Days after the invasion, Netanyahu brought Gantz’s centrist National Unity party into the government to form an emergency coalition to prosecute the war. Gantz, Gallant and Netanyahu now form a three-person war cabinet that is in charge of the campaign. All other government legislation, including Netanyahu’s controversial push to weaken the judiciary, has been shelved for now.
But Netanyahu has yet to publicly take responsibility, something 80% of Israelis want him to do.
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The post What’s happening in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza? The latest and what could come next, explained appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Occidental College Settles Antisemitism Complaint
A general view of the US Department of Education in Washington, DC, on Dec. 1, 2020. Photo: Graeme Sloan via Reuters Connect
Occidental College in Los Angeles has agreed to “sweeping reforms” of its handling of antisemitism to settle a civil rights complaint brought by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.
According to the ADL, which issued an announcement of the agreement on Tuesday, the college will refer to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism during its investigations of antisemitic conduct and add a section on antisemitism to its educational programming on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prevents education institutions receiving federal funds from practicing or allowing the practice of discrimination based on race, religion, and ethnic origin.
The ADL and the Brandeis Center jointly filed their complaint against Occidental College, a measure which allows for negotiating a resolution to the matter before the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) renders a ruling. The civil rights organizations charged in their claim that the college failed to correct a “pervasive and hostile environment” in which Jewish students were subject to “severe antisemitic bullying, intimidation, and physical threats” amid an explosion of anti-Jewish hatred precipitated by Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7.
“This agreement demonstrates Occidental College’s commitment to counter all forms of contemporary antisemitism and underscores their recognition that effectively combating antisemitism requires understanding the relationship between Jewish identity, Israel, and Zionism,” Brandeis Center president Alyza Lewin said in a statement. “We are gratified by the school’s engagement in meaningful discussions at the highest levels of the administration, and we are heartened that Occidental has committed to creating a safer environment for Jewish students. When implemented, this agreement will help ensure that Jewish students are able to learn and thrive in an environment free from antisemitic hate, discrimination, and harassment.”
ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt added, “This outcome demonstrates how the Title VI OCR process can work to effectively protect Jewish students. We are deeply grateful for the US Department of Education’s dedication and assistance in resolving this case. It is our hope that this resolution will lead to other college administrators implementing these or similar measures proactively to address antisemitism on campus.”
Occidental College’s settlement treads a path taken by other institutions of higher education against which legal action was taken to address a surge of campus antisemitism over the past year, amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
In June, Columbia University settled a civil lawsuit in which it was accused by a student of neglecting its obligation to foster a safe learning environment amid riotous pro-Hamas protests that were held at the school throughout the final weeks of the academic year.
The resolution of the case, first reported by Reuters, called for Columbia to hire a “Safe Passage Liaison” who will monitor protests and “walking escorts” who will accompany students whose safety is threatened around the campus. Other details of the settlement included “accommodations” for students whose academic lives are disrupted by protests and new security policies for controlling access to school property.
In July, New York University agreed to pay an undisclosed sum of money to settle a lawsuit brought by three students who sued the school for responding, allegedly, to antisemitic discrimination “with deliberate indifference.”
By resolving the case, NYU avoided a lengthy trial which would have revealed precisely who and which office received but failed to address numerous reports that — according to the court documents filed in November — NYU students and faculty “repeatedly abuse, malign, vilify, and threaten Jewish students with impunity” and that “death to k—es” and “gas the Jews” were chanted by pro-Hamas supporters at the school.
NYU did not merely pay money to quell the complaints of its accusers, however. Over a month after the settlement was reached it updated its Non-Discrimination and Harassment Policy (NDAH), including in it language which identified “Zionist” as a racial dog whistle that sometimes conceals the antisemitic intent of speech and other conduct that denigrates and excludes Jews. As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the policy acknowledges the “coded” subtleties of antisemitic speech and its use in discriminatory conduct that targets Jewish students and faculty.
NYU went further, recognizing that Zionism is central to the identities of the world’s 15.7 million Jews, an overwhelming majority of whom believe the Jewish people were destined to return to their ancient homeland in the land of Israel after centuries of exile. “For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity. Speech and conduct that would violate the NDAH if targeting Jewish or Israeli people can also violate the NDAH if directed toward Zionists,” the university said.
Anti-Israel activity on college campuses has reached crisis levels in the year that followed Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, according to a report published by the ADL in September which revealed a “staggering” 477 percent increase in anti-Zionist activity involving assault, vandalism, and other phenomena. Titled “Anti-Israel Activism on US Campuses, 2023-2024,” the document painted a bleak picture of an American higher education system poisoned by political extremism and hate.
“The antisemitic, anti-Zionist vitriol we’ve witnessed on campus is unlike anything we’ve seen in the past,” Greenblatt said in a statement accompanying the unveiling of the organization’s research. “Since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the anti-Israel movement’s relentless harassment, vandalism, intimidation, and violent physical assaults go way beyond the peaceful voicing of a political opinion. Administrators and faculty need to do much better this year to ensure a safe and truly inclusive environment for all students, regardless of religion, nationality, or political views, and they need to start now.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Occidental College Settles Antisemitism Complaint first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Rashida Tlaib Uses Thanksgiving Message to Express Solidarity With ‘Palestine,’ Other ‘Indigenous People’
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, US, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) used the holiday of Thanksgiving to “mourn” the “indigenous people” of “Palestine” and elsewhere “fighting for freedom on their own land,” portraying one of America’s most storied celebrations in a negative light.
“This Thanksgiving we mourn the Indigenous people killed by European settlers and the United States in order to steal their land,” Tlaib reposted on Instagram. “From here to Palestine, we stand in solidarity with all Indigenous people as they fight for freedom on their own land.”
Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman elected to the US Congress, has long been an outspoken critic of Israel. The congresswoman was slow to issue a public statement acknowledging the Palestinian terror group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, and since the onslaught, she has repeatedly accused Israel of committing “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “apartheid.” She has also alleged that American support for Israel stems from “anti-Palestinian racism.”
US Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), another staunch critic of Israel and progressive lawmaker, also used Thanksgiving as an opportunity to take shots at America, arguing that the beloved holiday represents “stolen land and broken treaties” for Native Americans.
Lee has been on the receiving end of immense criticism over her anti-Israel rhetoric in the year following the Oct. 7 atrocities. In the weeks following the slaughter, Lee co-sponsored a resolution calling for a “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas. She has similarly accused the Jewish state of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza. In a statement commemorating the anniversary of Oct. 7, Lee only wrote that she mourned “those killed one year ago and those massacred in the year since,” seemingly drawing an equivalence between Hamas’s terrorism and Israel’s defensive military operations.
“Thanksgiving is a time of gratitude and togetherness for many, but it’s also a reminder of stolen land and broken treaties for others. Today, let’s honor Native communities by committing to the fight for sovereignty, justice, and the promises this country has failed to keep,” Lee wrote.
In contrast, some other members of Congress called attention to the American hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza in their Thanksgiving statements.
“As we gather with family today, we must not forget the families who are missing their loved ones who were taken hostage by Hamas 418 days ago — including New York’s own Omer Neutra,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said. “Let us pray that by this time next year, they will be reunited safely with their families.”
“As you spend Thanksgiving with your family and friends, don’t forget the 100+ families whose loved ones are being held hostage by Iran-backed Hamas for the second holiday season in a row. It’’ been 419 days. Enough! Bring them home NOW!” US Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said in a statement, referring to the 101 hostages still in captivity in Gaza.
Of the remaining hostages, seven are Americans.
The post Rashida Tlaib Uses Thanksgiving Message to Express Solidarity With ‘Palestine,’ Other ‘Indigenous People’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Antisemitism in Berlin Surges to Record Levels This Year, New Data Show
Pro-Hamas demonstrators marching in Munich, Germany. Photo: Reuters/Alexander Pohl
The number of antisemitic incidents in Berlin in just the first six months of this year surpassed the total for all of 2023 and reached the highest annual count on record, according to a new German report.
Germany’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) on Thursday released data documenting 1,383 incidents of antisemitism in the German capital from January to June, averaging nearly eight a day.
The figure compiled by RIAS, a federally-funded body, was a significant increase from the 1,270 antisemitic outrages tallied in 2023 and the highest count for a single year since RIAS began monitoring antisemitic incidents in 2015.
Of the 1,383 incidents documented in the first half of this year in Berlin, two were cases of “extreme violence,” another 23 were attacks (six of which were against children), and 37 were targeted acts of property damage, including 21 acts involving memorials.
In the first extremely violent incident, a Jewish student in Mitte was punched several times in the face on the street and then kicked in the face after he fell to the ground in February 2024. The victim, a member of student groups working to combat antisemitism, had been doxed online as a “right-wing Zionist,” according to The Jerusalem Post.
The second incident also occurred in Mitte, this time in May, when a visibly Jewish Ukrainian was physically attacked by an unknown assailant while on the way to synagogue. The attacker yelled “Free Palestine” while assaulting the victim, and no one reportedly intervened.
RIAS also documented 28 threats, such as direct messages on social media, and 1,240 cases of abusive behavior.
“The content of antisemitism also continued to be more violent and uninhibited. Seventy-one incidents contained threats of annihilation, including graffiti that openly called for the killing of Jews,” the report noted.
In the first half of 2024, 74 antisemitic incidents were documented in educational institutions in Berlin, including 27 incidents in schools. “The nature of the incidents is alarming: Jewish or Israeli children were beaten, spat on, threatened, and treated with hostility by their classmates,” according to RIAS. “Antisemitic incidents occurred in schools in 9 of 12 Berlin districts.”
A striking 71.6 percent of all antisemitic incidents during the first half of 2024 in the German capital were related to Israel.
RIAS previously reported a major spike in antisemitic incidents across Germany since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.
There have been 230 antisemitic outrages per month since Oct. 7, 2023, compared to around 50 such incidents per month before the onslaught.
“These data indicate a lasting change in the dynamics of incidents: the number of antisemitic incidents in Berlin remained at a significantly higher level in the first half of the year than in the months and years before, starting with the sharp increase following Oct. 7,” RIAS summarized.
However, many antisemitic incidents had nothing to do with Israel or its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.
“It can be observed that in this context the boundaries of what can be said have shifted overall and some antisemitic statements seem to be acceptable even to [normative] society,” RIAS wrote. “They range from the demonization and delegitimization of Israel, to antisemitic conspiracy myths, trivialization of the Holocaust and reversals of perpetrator and victim, to open antisemitic insults.”
The antisemitism monitoring group concluded that rates of antisemitism show no sign of letting up in Berlin: “A downward trend is not foreseeable at the time of publication of the report.”
Europe has experienced an explosion of antisemitic incidents in the wake of the Hamas atrocities of last Oct. 7. In many countries, anti-Jewish hate crimes have spiked to record levels.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), police registered 5,154 antisemitic incidents in Germany last year, a 95 percent increase compared to the previous year.
However, experts believe that the true number of incidents is much higher but not recorded because of reluctance on the part of the victims.
“Only 20 percent of the antisemitic crimes are reported, so the real number should be five times what we have,” Felix Klein, the German federal government’s chief official dealing with antisemitism, told The Algemeiner in an interview last year.
The post Antisemitism in Berlin Surges to Record Levels This Year, New Data Show first appeared on Algemeiner.com.