Israel at War: What happened on day 15?

The air force chief said he “wouldn’t want to swap places with our enemy and face an IDF division or brigade,” as the army continued with its plans for an invasion of Gaza.

Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar’s comments were made on Saturday during a briefing of squadron commanders in preparation for the invasion.

At the briefing, Bar also said the Israel Air Force has struck Hamas with thousands of missiles.

“We will come in with full force and strike them as if [it was] the first day of the battle,” Bar said. “Our role is to ‘embrace’ the land forces and say: ‘The enemy you are about to encounter met us before’” – meaning that the air force had worn down Hamas before the ground forces had to enter.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said, “Gaza is densely populated; the enemy has prepared a lot [for our invasion], but we are also preparing,” during a visit to Golani troops.

Israel Air Force drills with foreign forces in the ''Blue Drill'' exercise in October 2021. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his inner war cabinet, along with National Unity Party leader and war minister Benny Gantz, also met on Saturday. The content of the meeting is classified.

Earlier Saturday, IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari said one-fifth of the rockets fired by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have misfired in the last day, landing inside Gaza and killing civilians.

Over the course of the conflict, 550 rockets have been misfired into Gaza by the terror groups. “They are killing their own people,” he said.

The announcement came only a few days after Hamas accused Israel of firing a rocket that struck Gaza’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, killing dozens of people. The accusation was quickly dispelled by the IDF and independent, international investigators who found the rocket emanated from a PIJ misfire.

Weekend rockets with few hits

Over the weekend, Hamas continued its rocket fire on Tel Aviv and the Gaza corridor, but with even less success in hitting Israelis or disturbing daily life as compared to many other days in recent weeks.

Hagari said, however, that Israel is continuing to attack Hamas military targets in the northern Gaza Strip in preparation for an imminent ground invasion. Israel planned to enter Gaza last week, but delayed due to a variety of factors, including evacuating civilians, US pressure on humanitarian issues, tactical concerns about Hezbollah’s intention, and traps that Hamas might be setting. He said 700,000 residents had already moved to the southern Gaza Strip.

Hagari also updated the number of soldiers killed and hostages taken. He said Israel had been in touch with the families of 307 fallen soldiers so far. He also raised the number of hostages to 210, noting that the country constantly gathers intelligence and informs families as soon as they know something new.

“That number will continue to change, and we will update you every time we tell a new family” that their loved one has been kidnapped.

On Thursday, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon said a complex array of factors meant that the IDF had high certainty about a majority of its estimates, but that there were dozens or more cases that still required more examination of evidence, DNA testing, and other issues.

Some 765 civilians murdered by Hamas since the start of the war have so far been identified, the police said on Saturday.

The police, the IDF, and volunteers from ZAKA at the casualty identification station in Camp Shora have been working to identify the victims of Hamas’s massacre in the South for the past two weeks. They said the 765 victims who have been so far identified comprise approximately 75% of the Israeli civilians who were killed in the conflict.

Meanwhile, the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Saturday arrested 89 wanted terrorists in Judea and Samaria overnight, including 68 members of the Hamas terrorist organization.

Among those arrested were prominent and close associates of Saleh al-Arouri, who, from outside the area, manages military-terrorist networks in the West Bank. These included al-Arouri’s brother and cousin – both members of Hamas – and Abraham Suleiman from Nablus, a prominent Hamas operative and former prisoner.

In addition, the IDF demolished the home of Hamas terrorist Maher Shalon, who carried out the Almog junction shooting attack in February, which killed Israeli-American Elan Ganeles.

During the operation, several suspects threw stones at the forces and fired explosives, prompting the troops to respond with fire. Injuries were reported.

In addition, the army and Shin Bet said forces located and confiscated materials used for manufacturing weapons in the village of Qusra.

Since the start of the conflict on October 7, there have been 670 wanted individuals arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria region, as well as in the Jordan Valley and the Bekaa region, with over 450 affiliated with Hamas, the army said.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report. 

Rocket sirens were heard in Ashdod.

The IDF continued to destroy the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. IDF jets continued to attack many targets throughout the Gaza Strip.

Among the targets attacked were operational headquarters, anti-tank launchers as well as other infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hamas that were used by it for terrorism.

Additionally, the IDF attacked observation, anti-tank, and sniper positions of the terrorist organization Hamas which were located inside high-rise buildings.
 

(JTA) – A Cornell University professor has apologized after saying at a rally that he was “exhilarated” by Hamas’ terror attack on Israel, in the latest example of American university faculty caught up in heated rhetoric over Israel and Gaza on college campuses.

The apology by Russell Rickford, a history professor, was published the same day as another apology from a different university professor in Chicago over her own anti-Israel social media comments.

Both appear to have been prompted by condemnations from their respective university presidents, which came as donors have pulled support from other elite universities over their perceived failure to sufficiently or promptly condemn the attacks.

During the two weeks since the massacre, several other professors have made comments perceived as anti-Israel or pro-Hamas, and some have faced public pressure campaigns as a result. Students at Harvard, New York University and Columbia University who signed onto anti-Israel statements in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks have also had job offers rescinded and in some cases, seen their names spread as part of doxxing campaigns led by pro-Israel groups.

“I apologize for the horrible choice of words that I used in a portion of a speech that was intended to stress grassroots African American, Jewish and Palestinian traditions of resistance to oppression,” Rickford wrote in a statement published in the campus newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. “I recognize that some of the language I used was reprehensible and did not reflect my values.”

Rickford made his initial comments during an Oct. 15 pro-Palestinian rally on the Ithaca, New York, campus. Standing in front of banners arguing that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, he announced, “Hamas has challenged the monopoly of violence” and “shifted the balance of power,” in reference to the terror group’s Oct. 7 attacks that killed 1,400 Israelis, most of them civilians, wounded thousands and took some 200 hostages. “It was exhilarating. It was energizing.”

Claiming that even “Palestinians of conscience” were “able to breathe for the first time in years,” Rickford continued, “And if they weren’t exhilarated by this challenge to the monopoly of violence, by this shifting of the balance of power, then they would not be human. I was exhilarated.”

Initially Rickford had defended his remarks from Jewish and Israeli students’ criticism, saying he was referring to “those first few hours” when the Hamas militants first breached the Gaza barrier and before the full scope of their attacks on Israelis had become known.

“In that context, this act of defiance, of boring across the wall, was a significant symbol,” he told the Daily Sun. “It really signaled that the Palestinian will to resist had not been broken. In subsequent days, we learned of some of the horrifying realities.”

But opposition was also mounting at the highest levels of Cornell’s administration. The university’s president and board of trustees harshly condemned Rickford’s comments in a pair of statements.

“This is a reprehensible comment that demonstrates no regard whatsoever for humanity,” president Martha Pollack and board chair Kraig Kayser said in a statement Tuesday that named Rickford specifically and hinted that the administration might look into disciplining him. That followed an earlier statement from Pollack that did not name Rickford but stated, “I am sickened by statements glorifying the evilness of Hamas terrorism. Any members of our community who have made such statements do not speak for Cornell; in fact, they speak in direct opposition to all we stand for at Cornell.”

Were there any specifications to his apology?

Rickford’s apology did not specify what part of his speech he was apologizing for. According to the Daily Sun, the professor has a history of pro-Palestinian activism, including at rallies protesting racism and other issues.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Claudia Tenney both said Friday that they believed Cornell should fire Rickford. “As a person of authority at an educational institution, to celebrate murder, rape and abducting children and slaughtering children, I think he should be fired,” Gillibrand told CNY Central. Tenney made the request in a letter to Pollack that she also released publicly.

On the same day that Rickford apologized, Mika Tosca, a climate scientist and professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, also apologized for an Instagram post that contained harsh anti-Israel sentiments.

“Israelis are pigs. Savages. Very very bad people. Irredeemable excrement,” Tosca had written Tuesday, nine days after the massacre and in the midst of Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza, according to a screenshot shared by the New York Post. “The propaganda has been downright evil. After the past week, if your eyes aren’t open to the crimes against humanity that Israel is committing and has committed for decades, and will continue to commit, then I suggest you open them.” She concluded, “May they all rot in hell.”

Her post, like Rickford’s, prompted a denunciation from her employer. “One member of our community expressed views on their personal social media account—views that are not reflective of the School or the values we as a community share—causing distress among those both within and beyond our campus,” SAIC president Elissa Tenny wrote in a statement Wednesday. “The School of the Art Institute of Chicago rejects such hateful views, and I want to clarify our values as an educational community.”

In a lengthy apology posted to Instagram that same day, Tosca said she was “deeply sorry for writing what I wrote.”

“I am especially sorry to Israeli people that I broadly placed at fault for the war,” she continued. “You did not — and do not — deserve that, and I was wrong to post what I posted; I know that my words perpetuated harmful stereotypes.”

Rickford and Tosca’s apologies come as university faculty around the country have posted inflammatory statements about Israel. Yale University American studies professor Zareen Grewal tweeted on the day of Hamas’ attacks that “Israel is a murderous, genocidal settler state and Palestinians have every right to resist through armed struggle, solidarity.” An online petition started by the family of a Jewish Yale student to pressure the university to remove her has racked up more than 53,000 signatures, but the university has not commented on her statements.

Another American studies professor, Jemma Decristo at the University of California, Davis, appeared to threaten “Zionist journalists” on social media. Decristo reportedly posted Oct. 10 on X, “one group of ppl we have easy access to in the US is all these zionist journalists who spread propaganda and misinformation,” adding, “they have houses, addresses, kids in school” and concluding with machete, ax and bloodrop emojis. “They can fear their bosses, but they should fear us more,” she wrote.

Decristo has made her social media accounts private since screenshots of the post began to spread on Thursday. UC Davis has yet to respond to the post, although Decristo’s staff page was no longer visible Thursday. The school’s president had posted a statement supporting “our Jewish and Muslim communities” on the same day as Decristo’s post.

And Columbia University is fiercely divided over how to respond to a tenured Middle East studies professor, Joseph Massad, who penned a piece for the anti-Zionist website Electronic Intifada the day after the Hamas attacks describing them as “innovative,” a “major achievement,” and a source of “jubilation and awe.” A student-led petition to remove Massad had reportedly amassed 47,000 signatures this week, although it was not visible as of Thursday; in response, several hundred students, faculty, alumni and “affiliates” of the university signed an open letter backing Massad’s “academic freedom.”

Columbia was also one of a handful of universities where student organizations signed letters blaming Israel for the Hamas attacks, and last week the university was the site of an assault on an Israeli student.

(JTA) — The installation stretches across the entire plaza outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art — a table for 200, pristinely set for Shabbat yet searingly empty.

The high chairs at a handful of seats, the children’s cups in other settings and the white roses alongside some of the plates make the symbolism painfully clear: This table is for the 200 hostages that Israel says Hamas is holding in Gaza.

Hamas took the hostages on Oct. 7, when it attacked Israel, killing and wounding thousands of people. Since then, their families and supporters have quickly snapped into an organized protest movement, applying tactic after tactic to keep the world’s attention on their loved ones despite Israel’s war in Gaza and a global fight over how it should respond to the massacre.

"Kidnapped" posters

Among the most prominent and widespread tactic has been the distribution of “Kidnapped” posters all around the world, in dozens of languages, showcasing the faces and stories of each of the known captives. Now, the empty Shabbat table is poised to join those posters as a symbol of the captives’ plight.

Setting an empty seat for prisoners has been part of the global Jewish protest lexicon since the 1960s, when the movement to free Soviet Jews made it a hallmark of its symbolism. Earlier this year, some Jews committed to leaving an empty seat at their Passover seders for Evan Gershkovich, a Jewish-American journalist imprisoned in Russia.

Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza set a Shabbat table with more than 200 empty seats for the hostages, at the ''Hostages Square'', outside the Art Museum of Tel Aviv, October 20, 2023. (credit: GILI YAARI /FLASH90)

The tables for the hostages are vastly larger in scope. In addition to the Tel Aviv table, tables for hostages were set up in advance of Shabbat in the Jewish Quarter of Rome and on Australia’s famous Bondi Beach.

Jewish families usually gather at the Shabbat table.

A table was symbolically set for Shabbat by @romaebraica at the Jewish Quarter of Rome, with over 200 empty seats, representing the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October.#BringThemHomeNow pic.twitter.com/9jY4pIDFFa

— European Jewish Congress (@eurojewcong) October 20, 2023

An empty shabbat table at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. A seat for each hostage held in a barbaric captivity. We will not rest and we will not forget. #setthemfree pic.twitter.com/t4uLT7EQ9A

— Alex Ryvchin (@AlexRyvchin) October 20, 2023

Israeli singer Noa Kirel finished her series of conferences together with the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF) throughout the USA, during which $29.5 million was donated to the IDF. 

With the help of the donated money during these times, many ambulances and mobile operating rooms have been purchased that will save lives. 

FIDF's total donations are reportedly expected to reach $100 million.

The Ben Yosef family and Kirel organized the evenings to salute to IDF soldiers of the FIDF organization, which were attended by philanthropists and influential businessmen in the US economy.

Kirel to return to Israel

Kirel is expected to arrive in Israel next Monday to participate in a special fundraiser, of which the money raised will be transferred directly to the residents of the south and to the rehabilitation of the settlements that were affected by the murderous terrorist attack by Hamas.

DRAPED IN THE Israeli flag, Noa Kirel performs ‘Hatikvah’ at Barclays Center before the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets played Maccabi Ra’anana last week. (credit: Am Israel Chai)

Kirel will perform a special acoustic performance of the song "Unicorn", with which she represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest, together with the musicians of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. The performance will be broadcasted live from the Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv.

Kirel had also recently performed last week in New York City in honor of those who were murdered on the October  massacre. Kirel performed Hatikvah draped in an Israeli flag at Barclays Center before the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets played Maccabi Ra’anana of the Israeli National League on October 12. 

Hannah Brown and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

US President Joe Biden, when asked by a reporter on Friday whether Israel should delay a potential ground invasion of Gaza until more hostages can get out, said "yes."

Former US Representative Justin Amash said on Friday that several of his relatives had been killed when a Greek Orthodox church in the Gaza Strip was hit overnight by an Israeli air strike.

"Our family is hurting badly," Amash wrote on X. "May God watch over all Christians in Gaza — and all Israelis and Palestinians who are suffering, whatever their religion or creed."

Palestinian officials said at least 500 Muslims and Christians had taken shelter from Israeli bombardments in the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius, and the Hamas-run government's health ministry said 16 were killed.

Israel reviewing the incident

The Israeli military said part of the church was damaged in a strike on a nearby militant command center, and that it was reviewing the incident.

The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned the strike in a statement.

US Representative Justin Amash, recently having left the Republican Party after voicing support for an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, departs after votes at the US Capitol in Washington, US July 10, 2019. (credit: REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST/FILE PHOTO)

Amash, a Palestinian-American, represented Michigan as a Republican in the US House of Representatives from 2011 to 2021. A vocal critic of former Republican President Donald Trump, Amash left the party in 2019 and later joined the Libertarian Party.

Israel has besieged Gaza since Hamas killed 1,400 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7. More than 4,100 Palestinians have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials, and more than 1 million Palestinians have been left homeless, according to the United Nations.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke on Friday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the situation in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Trudeau's office said.

"The two leaders expressed their deep concerns with the humanitarian impact of the conflict in Gaza and stressed the importance that all parties protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access to the affected areas," Trudeau's office said.

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed about 1,400 people aimed to disrupt a potential normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, US President Joe Biden said on Friday.

Saudi Arabia, a Middle East powerhouse and home to Islam's two holiest shrines, gave its blessing to Gulf neighbors United Arab Emirates and Bahrain establishing relations with Israel in 2020 under the previous U.S. administration of Donald Trump.

Riyadh has not followed suit, saying Palestinian statehood goals should be addressed first.

"One of the reasons Hamas moved on Israel ... they knew that I was about to sit down with the Saudis," Biden said at a campaign fundraiser.

Diplomatic priorities

The potential normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states was a top priority for Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his June trip to Riyadh, although he acknowledged no progress should be expected imminently.

SAUDI CROWN Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jeddah, earlier this year. Washington and Riyadh need the peace accord as much or more than Israel does right now, the writer argues. (credit: AMER HILABI/REUTERS)

Blinken told CNN on Oct. 8 that "it wouldn’t be a surprise that part of the motivation (for the attack) may have been to disrupt efforts to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel together."

Biden told CBS' 60 Minutes in an interview that aired last Sunday that the prospect of normalization was "still alive, it's going to take time."

Israel responded to the Oct. 7 attack by pounding Gaza with air strikes, killing more than 4,000 people, and has said it will act to free hostages taken by Hamas militants while wiping out the group.