Israel’s top command was unaware regional division was not functioning for nearly 10 hours during onslaught; army failed to build a picture of the situation, backup didn’t reach the right areas

Posted on February 28, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Entire Gaza Division was overrun for hours, and IDF didn’t know it; 767 troops faced 5,000 terrorists
Emanuel Fabian
February 27, 2025

An Israel Defense Forces series of investigations into the battles that took place during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught found that it was only recognized months after the invasion and slaughter that the military’s Gaza Division, the regional unit responsible for the Strip and for protecting southern Israel, was “defeated” for several hours. The chaos and confusion catastrophically slowed the fightback on the day…The investigations into the battles found that the IDF failed to protect Israeli civilians and it was not prepared for a wide-scale surprise attack. READ MORE

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“His family murdered in Gaza, freed hostage says he misses nibbling on baby Kfir, hopes there are butterflies in heaven for Ariel; asks slain wife: ‘Guard me so I don’t sink into darkness’”

Posted on February 27, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all’: Yarden Bibas’s eulogy for wife Shiri, sons Ariel and Kfir
February 25, 2025

In a heartbreaking address, Yarden Bibas eulogized his wife Shiri and children Ariel and Kfir at their funeral. Shiri, Ariel, 4, and baby Kfir were abducted by Hamas-led terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, and murdered in captivity in Gaza…“Mishmish, who will help me make decisions now? How am I supposed to make decisions without you? Do you remember our last decision together? In the safe room, I asked if we should ‘fight or surrender.’ You said fight, so I fought. Shiri, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all. If only I had known what would happen, I wouldn’t have fired. I think about everything we went through together—there are so many beautiful memories. I remember Ariel and Kfir’s births. I remember the days we would sit at home or in a café, just the two of us, talking for hours about everything under the sun. It was wonderful. I miss those times deeply. Your presence is profoundly missed.” READ MORE

WALL STREET JOURNAL Bernard-Henri Levy: Ponder How the Bibas Boys Died One must imagine the life of Kfir and Ariel as hostages if, as is probable, they were torn from their mother’s arms. Imagine the life of a baby who spends most of his time in dark, damp tunnels. Imagine the life of a toddler, ripped from his family without understanding. Picture them playing, because children always play. Did they have stuffed animals or spent shell casings? Legos or guns to lick instead of honey-coated letters? Were they hungry? Thirsty? Did they scrape mud with their tiny nails or drink contaminated water?

FREE PRES Seth Mandel: The Meaning of Kfir Bibas The crimes against the Bibas family are indeed the symbol of the anti-civilization menace that is Hamas—but also of the cowardice of the political and cultural leaders of the enlightened West. Yes, we should be ashamed of our fellow Americans, who not only won’t mention the Bibas family but won’t even learn the name of a single American hostage held in Gaza throughout the war…As the “pro-Palestinian” mobs filled the streets of every major city to celebrate Hamas’s slaughter, Jews around the world looked at them dumbfounded; they kidnapped a baby. How much does one have to hate Jews to side with the monsters who kidnap babies? A lot is the answer—an unpleasant realization Jews came to over the past 16 months.

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“The Israeli Air Force was carrying out a new ‘Sword of Damocles’ operation as it was carrying out the ‘Hannibal directive'”

Posted on February 27, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JPOST
IDF carried out Hannibal Directive, new ‘Sword of Damocles’ operation on October 7
Yonah Jeremy Bob
February 27, 2025

The Air Force was carrying out “the Sword of Damocles” operation – a code name only being revealed on Thursday for the first time – to attack many Hamas commanders and their headquarters around 10:30 a.m. on October 7, 2023, just as it was carrying out the “Hannibal Directive” of gunning down anything that moved around the Israel-Gaza border. The Air Force has been questioned about if the forces it had invested in attacking Hamas commanders deep in Gaza would have been better used to defend the Gaza border and to attack Hamas invaders in Israeli villages. Air Force sources have said that they wish this air power had been used differently on October 7, given that protecting the villages and the border should have been a higher priority than killing top Hamas officials. READ MORE

WIKI The Hannibal Directive is the name of a controversial procedure used by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces… According to the directive, once it had been declared by a field officer, Israeli forces were to open fire on enemy forces carrying away an IDF prisoner. Vehicles suspected of removing such a prisoner from the battlefield could thus be attacked, even at the risk of harming, or even killing, the abductee himself.

TIMES OF ISRAEL IDF’s Oct. 7 probes show it misread Hamas for years, left southern Israel utterly vulnerable Investigations detail military’s decade-long ‘misperception’ of Hamas, its refusal to recognize the imminent invasion even in the last few hours, and the chaos that catastrophically slowed the fightback on the day. Yahya Sinwar was seen as ‘a pragmatist’ who didn’t want war.

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The controversial firebrand rabbi is experiencing a revival—but for whose benefit?

Posted on February 25, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
Kahane Lives
Liel Leibovitz
February 27, 2025

A specter is haunting Judaism’s genteel corners these days: the specter of Meir Kahane. Everywhere you turn, the rabbi and Israeli politician, who was assassinated by a jihadist in New York in 1990, is looming large… Considered with October 7 and its aftermath firmly in mind, there is nothing particularly jarring about this insistence on separation. As President Donald Trump argues, we need a new paradigm if we are to secure the safety and wellbeing of Israelis and Palestinians moving forward. Keep Hamas in power, or hand over the reins to the only slightly less genocidal PLO, and you’ll have another Oct. 7 (and its Israeli reply) next week, next month, next year. This is why the idea of forced relocation is gaining traction. READ MORE

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How the BBC made the terror group its silent partner in Gaza

Posted on February 25, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

FREE PRESS
A BBC Documentary—Brought to You by Hamas
Adam LeBor
February 24, 2025

…Yet now it is the BBC that’s under fire over the documentary’s fishy sources and methods. It turns out that Al-Yazouri was anything but a random child-journalist. He is the son of Dr. Ayman Alyazouri, a deputy minister in the Hamas government. It took an investigation by David Collier, a British media researcher and activist who describes himself as “100 percent Zionist,” to bring this fact to light. Though obviously pertinent information, it was not disclosed to viewers. The ensuing uproar extended across Britain’s political spectrum and forced the BBC first to issue a correction and then to remove the film from broadcast “for further due diligence.” Lisa Nandy, the Labour government’s culture secretary, has said she will demand answers about the film from BBC bosses. READ MORE

NATIONAL REVIEW BBC’s Accidental Hamas Profile Just the Latest Incident in Long Anti-Israel Track Record The BBC removed its new documentary on the war in Gaza from its online streaming service last week, after an investigative journalist found the film unwittingly profiled the son of a Hamas member. But that’s far from the first time the outlet has been caught violating journalistic standards in its reporting on the Israel–Hamas war.

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Chicago: After defending Israel in Gaza, Max Long was assaulted at DePaul University; Long is still dealing with the remnants of concussion from attack

Posted on February 25, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

AISH
This Lone IDF Soldier Was Assaulted at DePaul and Is Still Speaking Out on Campus
Kylie Ora Lobell
February 24, 2025

When October 7 happened, IDF reservist and lone soldier Max Long was called up for duty. He was set to go to DePaul University the next month, but he knew he probably wouldn’t make it back in time. He gave up the apartment he had leased in Chicago and served in the IDF’s explosives unit, which dealt with the explosives Hamas left behind in the kibbutzim…The lone soldier returned to campus in the fall of 2024. After seeing the encampments, as well as hearing about students – including Jews wearing custom yarmulkes that said, “Stop the Genocide” – holding a rally for the “martyrs,” the terrorists from October 7, he decided he needed to do something. Before Rosh Hashanah, he gave out apples and honey to his fellow students and set up a table on campus. He put a sign up that said, “Come talk about Israel with an IDF soldier.” At first, it was positive. READ MORE

EYEWITNESS NEWS CHICAGO IDF reservist concerned about safety as DePaul student after hate crime attack Max Long is in Israel to attend services for two of his fallen IDF comrades. He told the ABC7 I-Team he has had to drop a class at DePaul University after a pro-Palestinian group handed out flyers that target him by name. The “Behind Enemy Lines” flyer accuses the IDF soldier and DePaul student of genocide in a written challenge to their ban from campus. Long and another Jewish student, Michael Kaminsky, were attacked in early November by two masked men in what Chicago police have called a hate crime. 

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“Netanyahu has spread Israel’s protective canopy over the Druze in the area in Syria near the border, called Jabal Druze”

Posted on February 24, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JPOST
Israel’s shield for Syria’s Druze and the regional shakeup no one expected
Herb Keinon
February 24, 2025

…While the Druze inside the 1967 lines are full citizens who fight for the country, those on the Golan – though offered citizenship when Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 – long refused it. They feared that aligning with Israel could endanger their families in Syria or backfire if Israel, as was widely discussed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, withdrew from the Golan in exchange for peace with Damascus. Even before Assad’s fall, however, a shift was under way. Over the past decade, more Golan Druze have begun identifying with Israel. By the end of 2023, about one-fifth of some 27,000 Druze on the Golan had acquired Israeli citizenship. Assad’s downfall has accelerated this trend, and now, even some Druze on the Syrian side of the border are interested in being incorporated into Israel. READ MORE

YNET IDF to remain in parts of Syria and Lebanon indefinitely, Netanyahu says Prime minister says IDF will remain in key positions in Syria and Lebanon to protect Israeli communities and thwart any threat, emphasizing Israel’s demand for the full demilitarization of southern Syria from forces of the new regime. Speaking at a ceremony for graduates of the IDF’s combat officer course, Netanyahu stated: “In Syria, IDF forces will remain in the Mount Hermon area.”

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Ohana: “On the 7th of October, not only Israeli citizens were murdered but also the idea that was mistakenly called ‘the two-state solution'”

Posted on February 23, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Ohana: Israeli sovereignty over Judea, Samaria ‘only way’ to peace
Akivsa Van Koningsveld
February 23, 2025

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on Sunday backed calls for Jerusalem to extend its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, saying full control over the territory was the “one and only way” to achieve peace in the region. “These biblical, original parts of our land, which in the Bible tells the story of our people, are intended for us, for the people of Israel, need to be in the territory of the State of Israel, under the ownership of Israel, under full Israeli sovereignty,” said Ohana, a lawmaker for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, during a visit to northern Samaria. “Today, this thing is clearer than ever,” he added. READ MORE

ALGEMEINER GOP Lawmakers Urge Trump to Recognize Israeli Sovereignty Over West Bank A group of Republican lawmakers is urging US President Donald Trump to formally recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the West Bank, citing the territory’s historical ties and importance to the Jewish people. Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), one of the most strident pro-Israel voices in Congress, spearheaded a letter to Trump, calling on the president to endorse an Israeli annexation of the West Bank. Other signatories to the letter include Mary Miller (R-IL), Barry Moore (R-AL), Nick LaLota (R-NY), Randy Weber (R-TX), and Andy Harris (R-MD). 

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“Two Israeli Jews are accomplices to attempted mass murder. Their betrayal of Israel and its people demands the harshest punishment available under the law”

Posted on February 22, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JPOST
Israel must exact a heavy price for the attempted bombing attacks
Editorial Board
February 23, 2025

On Thursday night, Israel narrowly avoided a massacre. Explosives planted on buses in Bat Yam, intended to detonate during the Friday morning rush hour, could have killed or maimed hundreds of innocent civilians. That did not happen – not because of a change in our enemies’ intentions, but due to a technical failure on their part…What makes this incident all the more appalling is the revelation that two Israeli Jews facilitated the terrorists’ actions, driving them to the attack sites…As The Jerusalem Post reported, “The initial assessment from the security establishment is that the plan for the attack came from Iran, and was carried out by Hamas terrorists from the West Bank.”
READ MORE

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Senator Fetterman: “Hamas’ hostage transfer ceremony indicative of the level of support the terror group has among the Palestinian people”

Posted on February 22, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH INSIDER
Fetterman: Palestinian support of Hamas comes with ‘accountability’
Emily Jacobs
February 21, 2025

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) condemned the scenes in Gaza on Thursday, where Hamas paraded the coffins containing what were believed to have been the remains of four Israeli hostages down the streets of Khan Younis to cheers from Palestinian locals…The Pennsylvania senator said Hamas’ hostage transfer ceremony that took place earlier in the day was indicative of the level of support the terror group has among the Palestinian people. Fetterman argued that such support came with “accountability” attached to it. “I think it just really reflects just how much of a lot of the population in Gaza supports Hamas and the kind of terrible things that they do. READ MORE

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