Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 161?

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi toured the Binyamin area of Judea and Samaria on Friday, along with Yaki Dolf, commander of the Judea and Samaria division, Liron Biton, commander of the Binyamin Brigade, and other commanders, for a situational assessment at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

While there, he met with IDF soldiers and Border Police deployed on high alert.

During the tour, Halevi noted that "this week there have already been several attempted terror attacks at different places and your challenge is to manage to be safe this entire month, and after - it does not end with Ramadan. We have to be very vigilant, very strict, with very good security."

"We are in a multi-front war – Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria, and Gaza, and there are also things far afield,” he later added.

Halevi also stressed to the soldiers that all of these 'fronts' are important, and that events that happen on one affect the others as well.

The United States military reported on Saturday night that it had intercepted a drone shot by the Houthi rebels over the Red Sea, and that another had crashed into the water. 

There are no reports of casualties or damage.
 

Israeli missiles launched from the Golan Heights towards Syria in the early hours of Sunday wounded a Syrian soldier, the Syrian army said.

The statement by the Syrian army came following reports of military air activity, presumed to be Israeli, in the Damascus area. 

US President Joe Biden threw his support on Friday behind the dramatic speech Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) gave on Thursday in which he called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be replaced through new elections.

“He made a good speech, and I think he expressed a serious concern shared not only by him but by many Americans,” Biden said during a joint press event with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

He added that Schumer had contacted his senior staff to let them know he planned to deliver the speech.

During the unusual 45-minute speech Schumer delivered on Israel, he said that “Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.”

The majority leader, who is the highest-ranking elected Jewish official, charged that the Israeli leader had become an obstacle to peace.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the Senate floor, March 14, 2024. (credit: PUBLIC DOMAIN)

Democrats applaud Schumer, Republicans attack, Israelis bristle

Schumer's speech was issued as the Democratic Party, including Biden, is attempting to distance itself from Netanyahu amid voter turnout concerns ahead of the November presidential election.

His words were lauded by his fellow Democrats but attacked by Republicans, while many Israeli politicians said they were outraged that a US politician, even one who is a strong Israel supporter, would so openly interfere in the domestic politics of a strong ally.

Senator Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) called it an “extraordinary speech. A historic moment when truth speaks to power.”

“No one else could have done it other than Chuck. No one has the spiritual and emotional connections to Israel. No one has done more to expand the hope of a peaceful, progressive Jewish democratic state than Chuck. 

“Now it’s our turn to stand with him. To speak out for justice and humanity,” Reed said in a statement he published on X.

Representative Derrick Van Orden (R-Minnesota) said, “Schumer does not speak for the American public and certainly not for this Republican member of Congress. 

“At a minimum, he should be censured for foreign election interference, and I believe he should resign immediately. 

“He is in lockstep with Biden working against Israel,” Van Orden wrote on X.

Shany Granot, who leads the pro-democracy movement in New York, told The Jerusalem Post that the pro-democracy movement of Israeli expats around the US appreciates everything Schumer has done for Israel over decades. 

“In this critical moment, he's doing what a real best friend would do, and is fighting for the future of Israel as a safe country for all and is reflecting the real truth that every Israel lover should hear and understand,” Granot said 

Granot said the members of the pro-democracy movement in NY and across the US are happy with Schumer’s remakes and are sharing this appreciation all over WhatsApp groups and on social media. People are grateful to Schumer, Granot said. 

“In every relationship, there is a moment where your best friend needs to put you in front of the mirror and make you see the things that you don't want to see. But it is what a best friend does,” Granot said. “So in this very sad moment, we had to have our best friend reflecting to us. We thank Chuck Schumer for being this person, and being a true ally of the Israeli people.”

The government is expected to approve on Sunday, during its weekly meeting, a proposal to set a national memorial day for the October 7 massacre.

According to the proposition, every year on the 24th of Tishrei (the first month of the Hebrew calendar) there would be a national Memorial Day to remember the horrors of October 7 and honor those who fell.

During the suggested Memorial Day, there will be ceremonies in all institutions, including the army, and a state ceremony to memorialize the soldiers who died during Operation Iron Swords. According to the decision, this year, the Array for Ceremonies and State Events (ACSE) will hold a state ceremony on October 7.

It was written in the proposal that "October 7 is etched into the public consciousness as the day of a horrible massacre." The proposal then explains that in answer to public feelings in Israel, there needs to be a one-time ceremony on October 7.

Rabbi Leo Dee is seen speaking at an Israel Remembrance Day ceremony. (credit: Ariel Ohana)

It also draws a phonetic parallel between the date and the Jewish custom for mourning: “The saying ‘shiva beOctober’ has multiple meanings and has a connection to the Jewish term ‘Shiva,’ which marks the mourning at the end of the first year of mourning for the war.”

Israeli Remembrance Days

In Israel, there are currently only two national remembrance days. The first commemorates the approximately six million Jews who were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime as well as the courage of Jews who fought in revolts against the Nazis, and the second Remembrance Day is in honor of all Israeli military personnel who lost their lives in the struggle which led to the founding of the State of Israel, as well as those who were killed since during active duty, and those who have been killed in terrorist attacks.

In Israel, Holocaust Remembrance Day is colloquially known as “Yom HaShoah” and is held on the 27th of Nisan (the eighth month in the Hebrew calendar, normally in April or May.) This date was chosen because it is the date on which the Jewish rebellion in the Warsaw ghetto began.

Yom HaShoah first occurred in Israel in 1949 and was linked to a traditional Jewish day of mourning and fasting. In 1951, the Knesset discussed a new date for Memorial Day, and eventually settled on the 27th of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, a week after Passover, and about a week before Israeli Independence Day.

The second Remembrance Day in Israel is called “Yom HaZikaron” which directly translates to “Remembrance Day.” It was decided that it should take place the day before Israeli Independence Day, so Israel would not forget the sacrifices that the fallen took so the rest would be safe in their own country.

This day was enacted into law in 1963, and in 2023 the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry added a new policy, according to which non-Israeli diaspora Jewish victims of antisemitic terror attacks are also included in Remembrance Day ceremonies.

The IDF detected a suspicious aerial target above the sea near Acre on Saturday night, according to a statement issued around 01:00 Israel time.

The target was shot down, and no warning was activated, in accordance with policy.

The statement came after residents of the Nahariya area reported on social media that they had heard a loud explosion.

An estimated 34,000 Israelis took to the streets on Saturday night to protest the Netanyahu government. In Caesarea, four were arrested, in Tel Aviv police shot water cannons at demonstrators blocking the Ayalon highway, and in Jerusalem, protesters temporarily shut down the city-center intersection at Paris Square. 

Across the different protests, speakers denounced not only the members of the governing coalition, but also those who sit in the opposition or are seen as alternatives to Netanyahu in a post-war re-alignment: 

In Tel Aviv, Moshe Redman, who was a leader of the movement to oppose the government’s proposed judicial reforms last year, called on “[Ministers-without-portfolio Benny] Gantz and [Gadi] Eisenkot”— who sit with Prime Minister Netanyahu in the war cabinet— “the leaders of the opposition, the chairman of the Histadrut, the heads of local governments, leaders in the economy, the heads of universities, and others who look at this disaster and don’t take action— wake up!”

Yair Golan calls for “mother of all protests” to bring elections

In Haifa, at a protest that centered calls for a hostage deal and early elections, Major General (res.) and former Member of Knesset Yair Golan, who is looked to as a candidate to lead the political left in the coming period, called the current government shameless, telling the crowd, “the shame is lost, and all we have left is a determined, hard, bitter struggle.” 

Golan said this struggle had “two stages: First, we all must feel rage— holy rage, deep rage, restless rage. With this rage,” he said, “we will bring down the government and bring about new elections.” 

Demonstrators blocking the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv are hit with water from a cannon during a protest yesterday calling for the release of the hostages. (credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)

Golan called upon the crowd to build the “mother of all protests,” saying “it is on us to go out into the streets, in the thousands, all day, every day,” encouraging demonstrators to “besiege the Knesset,” to “stand at intersections,” and to “fill the streets and paralyze the [government]’s ability to govern,” referring to the coalition as memshelet ha-ason— the “government of the catastrophe.”

“We must bring Netanyahu himself to the inevitable conclusion that he must disband the Knesset and set a date for early elections,” Golan concluded. 

“Secondly,” he said, “we must build an alternative,” saying that such an alternative must have “a cohesive worldview, with a real vision, and a practical ideology,” and rejecting any of the current leaders in the Knesset— including the opposition— as its leaders.

Crowds call for action on haredi draft evasion

Political figures and community leaders addressed the large crowds about drafting ultra-Orthodox Israelis to the IDF, a perennial issue that has erupted anew in the wake of greater need for soldiers following October 7 and the war against Hamas and its allies. 

In Jerusalem, where protestors have been gathering for ten weeks to demand early elections, haredi rabbi Bezalel Cohen said that within the haredi community there is a desire to come to a compromise, but that the current Israeli leadership was not up to the task of brokering one.

“Many in the haredi community strongly feel that the current situation is inappropriate and must be changed, significantly, as soon as possible,” Cohen said. “They feel it, deep in their hearts, the illogic and injustice of the current situation, and they seek to correct it and to share in the defense of the nation and the land. Unfortunately, I fear that we do not have leadership, [religious] or public, capable of leading this process.” 

Lt. Col. (res.) Benny Barbash, the writer and screenwriter, invoked the Bible’s blessings and curses, telling the Jerusalem crowd: “We are at the most important and critical period in the entire history of the Zionist movement. One path, of Netanyahu and his government, leads to an abyss of corruption, degeneracy, crash, and destruction. A second path leads towards repair, restoration, reconciliation, and— if we try hard enough— also to peace, prosperity, and security for us and our neighbors." Barbash then quoted Deuteronomy 30:19:

“I have given life and death before you; the blessing and the curse; choose life so that you and your descendants will live.”

Reports emerged on Saturday night of an Israeli attack in the Damascus area and the activation of the Syrian anti-aircraft system. 

These reports could not be independently verified. 

Israeli political officials have received an updated outline of the ceasefire proposal that the US will present to the UN, which allegedly focuses on an "immediate and lasting ceasefire," Maariv reported on Saturday.

According to the report, the new draft has more severe language regarding a ground operation in Rafah, claiming that conditions on the ground wouldn't allow it to happen.

The report also stated that the updated proposal can not be changed further at this time.

This is a developing story.

“Those who were responsible for the return to the occupation to Gaza Strip and caused the Nakba which our Palestinian people live… have no right to dictate national priorities,” wrote a statement made by Fatah, marking a first time in which a formal Palestinian voice blames Hamas for the disastrous outcomes of the October 7th massacre.

These fierce accusations came as response to Hamas’s critique of the appointment of the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Mustafa, described as a close partner of President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas claimed that this appointment was an “individual decision,” claiming that the PA is “being preoccupied with formal steps devoid of substance,” and arguing that the new Palestinian government would be devoid of national consensus.

Hamas also rejected what they called a “policy of exclusivity and a deepening of division at a pivotal historical moment,” calling for national consensus and unity, as well as the formation of a unified leadership and the holding of “free, democratic elections.”

In their reply published on Friday, Fatah aggressively slammed Hamas, demanding: “Did Hamas consult the Palestinian leadership or any Palestinian national party when it made its decision to carry out the ‘adventure’ of last October 7th, which led to a catastrophe more horrific and crueler than the Nakba of 1948? And did Hamas consult the Palestinian leadership as it is now negotiating with Israel and offering it concessions after concessions, which have no goal other than securing guarantees of personal security for its leadership to receive, and to try to reach an agreement with Netanyahu to maintain its divisive role in Gaza and the Palestinian arena?”

Palestinians parade during celebrations after Hamas said it reached a deal with Palestinian rival Fatah, in Gaza City, October 12, 2017. (credit: REUTERS/SUHAIB SALEM)

Fatah also resorted to historical schisms, referring to Hamas’s bloody coup in 2007 and questioning whether “Hamas consulted anyone when it carried out its black coup against Palestinian national legitimacy in 2007, and it refused all initiatives to end the division?”

As for the appointment of Muhammad Mustafa, Fatah teased Hamas arguing that he “is armed with the national agenda and not with false agendas that have brought nothing but woes to the Palestinian people and have not achieved a single achievement for them,” also asking cynically if Hamas would rather they “appoint a prime minister from Iran, or let Tehran appoint a Prime Minister for the Palestinians,” pointing at Hamas’s alliance with the Shi’ite Islamic Republic.

The Fatah statement also made a point to refer to the lavish lifestyles which Hamas leadership lead in Qatar, criticizing the actions and practices of the terror group’s leadership and noting that “it seems that the comfortable life that this leadership lives in seven-star hotels has blinded it from what is right.” Fatah also added that “most of Hamas leaders live abroad” and wondered why they and their families fled Gaza and left the Palestinian people to face a “brutal war of extermination” without any protection.

 Fatah and Hamas: A bloody history of rivalry

Fatah and Hamas have long been rivals within the Palestinian arena, with tensions escalating at times to bloody gang wars. The most notable one was the Hamas coup of Gaza in 2007, where, following a victory for Hamas in the last Palestinian elections held over a decade and a half ago, Hamas members launched an all-out war against Fatah, killing many of its members and taking control of the Gaza Strip, which lasts until today.

Several unsuccessful attempts at reconciliation on the political level were made in the past, yet the two leading organizations in the Palestinian street still view each other in disdain.

Both nationalist-oriented Fatah and Islamist Hamas openly voice their support for armed struggle against Israel and Israelis and as a means to achieve the “liberation of Palestine," and both have been participating regularly in terror attacks against Israelis and laud terrorists who committed such terror attacks targeting civilians.

However, as part of the Oslo Accords, Israel decided to accept the overwhelmingly Fatah-led PLO by signing a series of agreements on issues such as coordination, cooperation, and implied mutual recognition, which led several militaristic fractions within Palestinian society to view Fatah as ‘sellouts’ or ‘agents’ of Israel.

Lately, Hamas has been gaining more and more popularity in the Palestinian streets, recording major successes in local and student elections. According to a poll conducted by Khalil Shikaki during the temporary ceasefire of December 2023, Hamas enjoyed more popularity since the October 7th massacre.

The poll showed that 57% of respondents in Gaza and 82% in the West bank believed that Hamas was correct in launching the massacre; while in both areas Hamas enjoyed around 43% of popular support at the time.