Israel at war: What happened on Day 38?

Israel will allocate an additional NIS 200 million for the immediate reinforcement of the security infrastructure of hospitals across the country, the Finance and Health ministries announced Monday morning.

The decision after an agreement was reached between Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Health Minister Uriel Busso.

Israeli forces uncovered a weapons cache hidden in a child's bedroom in the home of a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad official in Gaza, the IDF said on Monday morning.

The hidden arsenal was discovered in a raid carried out by reservists from the IDF's 551st Brigade, which lost four of its fighters during fighting in Gaza. The brigade also located a tunnel shaft in a civilian area of Beit Hanun, which contained various weaponry and intelligence gathered by Gazan terrorist groups.

Elsewhere in the Strip, forces from The IDF's 401st Brigade uncovered Hamas terror infrastructure inside civilian centers in the al-Shati camp in northern Gaza, including inside the Abu Bakr Al Sidiq Mosque and the al-Quds University in the camp. 

The forces found and confiscated dozens of weaponry and other combat equipment. In addition, Hamas intelligence including operative plans were seized.

Minister Benny Gantz is opposed to a potential political move brewing to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, KAN Reshet B reported on Monday morning.

Gantz was quoted in private conversations as stating that a prime minister cannot be replaced during wartime. Furthermore, sources close to Gantz said that talks to unseat Netanyahu are "nothing more than a delusion," as per the report.

Hamas's original plan for October 7 went beyond just a massacre in the Gaza border area and taking hundreds of hostages, but to continue their assault up to the border with the West Bank, The Washington Post reported Sunday, citing Western and Middle Eastern security officials briefed on collected evidence.

This information was obtained from numerous maps, notes, supplies, and other written instructions found among the bodies of dead Hamas terrorists in the Gaza border area, as well as from interrogations of Hamas captives.

"We know from interrogations that Hamas came in with detailed plans of their attack, including which commander should rape which soldiers in different places," Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explained to The Washington Post.

The IDF released the names of two soldiers who were killed in combat in the northern Gaza Strip early Monday morning.

The two were named as Maj. Isachar Natan, 28, from Kiryat Malachi, an officer in the Commando Formation, and Staff-Sgt. Itay Shoham, 21, from Rosh Ha’ayin, a soldier in the Commando Formation.

Additionally, a soldier in the Oketz Unit was seriously wounded in combat in the Gaza Strip on Sunday.

A popular Shabbat dinner with New York City politicians at the Somos political conference in San Juan was interrupted multiple times by pro-Palestinian protesters.

The following day, an inert grenade was found at Holocaust Memorial Park in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and a false bomb threat was called into Central Synagogue in Midtown Manhattan.

The threats and disruptions on Shabbat come more than a month into the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and amid a significant uptick in antisemitic incidents in New York City. The number of anti-Jewish hate crimes in the city in October was 214% higher than in October 2022, according to the NYPD. The bomb threats also come following a rash of similar fake threats at Jewish institutions nationwide earlier this year.

The Somos Conference is a large political conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico that draws thousands community leaders and senior New York politicians each year to discuss issues of importance to Latinos in New York state and beyond. A Friday night dinner at the conference, sponsored by the UJA-Federation of New York and the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty — which has evolved into an “essential stop on the circuit,” as City & State reported last year —  was interrupted several times by protesters opposing Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza.

Both UJA and Met Council have mobilized in support of Israelis since Hamas’ invasion of Israel on October 7, but the Somos event was not focused on Israel or the war.

Anti-war protesters raise their ''bloody'' hands behind US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Biden's $106b. national security supplemental funding request to support Israel and Ukriane, on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, October 31, 2023. (credit: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS)

Protesters covered their hands in fake blood and shouted slogans in at the crowded event. One protester wore a scarf with the colors of the Palestinian flag and shouted, “Stop it!” Another chanted, “Never again for anyone! Plenty of Jews in New York hate genocide!”

The anniversary of Kristallnacht

“On the 85th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, ‘protestors’ BLOCKED people from observing Shabbat at our Friday night reception,” David Greenfield, a former New York City council member and the CEO of the Met Council, wrote on social media, regarding the 1938 Nazi anti-Jewish riot. “Was this an ‘Israel’ event? Nope. But it was a Jewish one.”

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a left-wing Jewish group based in New York that has accused Israel of genocide, also held a Friday night event at Somos in which members prayed “for an end to the brutal siege on Gaza, and the return of all hostages.”

The following morning, in New York City, the NYPD bomb squad was called when someone found a grenade at Holocaust Memorial Park in Sheepshead Bay, a city park. Police determined the grenade to be inert.

Soon afterward, police arrived at Central Synagogue after a caller notified 911 of two bags there that were going to explode. The threat appeared to be non-credible. The threat did not appear to disrupt the synagogue’s services, according to a livestream on Facebook.

Swastikas were found on gravestones at the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in Cleveland on Sunday, according to the local Jewish Federation.

Photos from the scene showed red swastikas scrawled on a number of gravestones.

Thank you to the approximately 20 people who took it upon themselves to remove the graffiti discovered at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery today. The photos below are from members of Suburban Temple-Kol Ami who have a loved one buried there and shared these photos. #jewishcleveland pic.twitter.com/OAgzBnPsYJ

— Jewish Cleveland (@jewishcleveland) November 12, 2023

"It is absolutely sickening that anyone could have so much hate for the Jewish people that they would desecrate Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery," said the Cleveland Jewish Federation. "This cowardly act to violate the memory of our elders only confirms what we already know: the hatred of the Jewish community here and around the world now is at a level not seen in generations."

"We will support law enforcement in any way we can to see that those who are responsible face the consequences of their actions. We will restore the damage of the cemetery and return the dignity to the damaged gravesites. And we will continue to combat hate against all communities with an unbending resolve."

Cleveland skyline (Illustrative) (credit: Erik Drost/Wikimedia Commons)

Local authorities had not responded to the incident as of early Monday morning.

Local community cleans off graffiti

According to the Federation, about 20 people went out to the cemetery after the incident to help clean off the graffiti, saying this was "further proof of the strength of our community and the unwavering commitment to one another that connects us."

US Rep. Shontel Brown condemned the vandalism, posting on X (formerly Twitter) "Saddened and outraged that a Jewish cemetery in Brooklyn has been desecrated. Sending my thoughts to the local Jewish community- we are with you. Antisemitism is clearly on the rise and we must speak out. Antisemitism and all forms of hate have no place in NE Ohio or anywhere."

Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery was founded in 1902 for Jews in need in Cleveland, according to the local Jewish Federation. The cemetery did not have any affiliation to a specific synagogue for most of its tenure, although it is now affiliated with Menorah Park synagogue. The cemetery was neglected and vandalized for years until the Jewish Federation took control of the cemetery and raised funds for upkeep and improvements.

The security cabinet approved regulations that would allow the government to close foreign broadcasters who broadcasts harm national security, KAN reported early Monday morning.

The decision comes as Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi pushes for the Qatari Al-Jazeera and Lebanese Al-Mayadeen networks in Israel to be closed.

New Zealand's government on Monday said 11 New Zealanders left Gaza overnight on Sunday and entered Egypt via the Rafah border crossing.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) spokeswoman in an email said the people were met by a New Zealand consular team and provided with support.