Weekly roundup of world briefs

IAF strike in Lebanon kills senior Hezbollah terrorist

(JNS) — An Israeli Air Force strike in Southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed a senior Hezbollah terrorist responsible for firing rockets and missiles at the Jewish state, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Since the Iranian terrorist proxy joined the war against Israel in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, Ismail Baz, who commanded Hezbollah’s coastal sector, “organized and planned various terrorist plots,” the IDF said.

The military added, “Ismail served in several positions as a senior and veteran official in the military wing of Hezbollah. His current rank is equivalent to the rank of brigadier general.”

The IAF strike on a vehicle in Ain Baal, near Tyre, came shortly after attack drones launched by Hezbollah lightly wounded three Israelis near Moshav Beit Hillel in the Eastern Galilee.

“Two explosive drones crossed from Lebanese territory towards Israeli territory and exploded in the area of ​​Beit Hillel. The incident is under investigation,” the IDF said.

No alarms were triggered during the incident. Beit Hillel, located three miles from Kiryat Shmona, has been largely evacuated since October due to the cross-border attacks by Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists.

In a statement, Hezbollah claimed it hit an Iron Dome missile-defense battery near Beit Hillel and that soldiers were killed and wounded.

Hezbollah has engaged in near-daily attacks on Israel’s evacuated border region since Oct. 8.

In response, the Israeli Air Force has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes, including targeted killings of Hezbollah commanders.

‘Take matters into your own hands’ when ‘pro-Hamas mobs’ block traffic, Tom Cotton says

(JNS) — Drivers who find themselves stuck in front of “pro-Hamas mobs” blocking traffic should “take matters into your own hands to get them out of the way,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote.

“It’s time to put an end to this nonsense,” he added.

In another post, he endorsed video footage of people forcefully dragging protesters out of a road. “How it should be done,” he wrote.

An opinion columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer with more than 85,000 followers on social media wrote that Cotton was “advocating the murder of dissenting Americans who are trying to end the slaughter of Palestinian children through civil disobedience.”

Dumisani Washington, founder and CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, also rejected Cotton’s post but did so without claiming it was a call for murder.

“You could use your position as a U.S. senator to help force/empower law enforcement to do their jobs and arrest the terrorist-supporting idiots blocking traffic and shutting down airports,” Washington wrote.

“Cops know they’ll get arrested for enforcing the law. The people know they’ll be arrested for ‘taking matters into their own hands,’” he added. “Hell, criminals are assaulting police officers (in blue cities/states) and nothing happens to them. Do better, senator.”

“Mr. Cotton ignited furor in 2020 with an opinion essay in The New York Times in which he called for the use of military force to put down riots across the country amid a rash of civil unrest that followed the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by the police in Minneapolis,” The New York Times reported.

Western Wall prayer notes removed ahead of Passover

(JNS) — Ahead of the Passover holiday, which starts at sundown on April 22, cleaning staff at Jerusalem’s Western Wall on Tuesday removed thousands of prayer notes from between the stones of the holy site.

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which administers Judaism’s second-holiest site, removes the notes twice a year—before Passover and the High Holidays—in accordance with Jewish religious laws.

The cleanup is done under the supervision of Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Places Shmuel Rabinowitz, who this year offered a prayer for unity amid Israel’s war with Hamas.

Since the High Holidays in September of last year, an average of 3,000 notes were submitted each month through the website of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the organization said. This is in addition to the countless notes that visitors personally placed between the stones.

Over the past year, foreigners sent some 100,000 notes through the foundation’s website from all over the world, including the United States, Canada, Germany, India, Mexico, Ukraine and other countries.

In the months following the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and the ensuing war against the terror group in the Gaza Strip, the organization also received numerous prayer notes from Israel Defense Forces soldiers, terror victims, bereaved families and relatives of hostages held in the Strip.

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation said that while tourism to the Jewish state had plummeted due to the war, the number of notes sent through its website had significantly increased.

The Western Wall, once known as the Wailing Wall, is a remnant of a retaining wall encircling the Temple Mount built by Herod the Great and is the holiest site where Jews can freely pray. The Temple Mount, where the First and Second Temples stood, is the most sacred site in Judaism.

The traditional Birkat Kohanim (Priestly Blessing) ceremony at the Western Wall will this year take place on the morning of April 25. It will this year be followed by special prayers for peace, the return of the hostages, the well-being of IDF soldiers and the healing of the wounded.

‘An outrage, if true,’ says Friedman of reports Biden negotiated scale of Iran attack

By David Isaac

(JNS) — Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said he believed “there’s some truth” to reports that U.S. President Joe Biden negotiated in advance with Iran on the extent of its massive missile attack on Israel on Saturday night.

During the Tuesday edition of the New York City-based radio show, “Sid & Friends in the Morning,” host Sid Rosenberg said he believed that Biden was “behind the whole thing” referring to the missile barrage on Israel.

“I was kind of skeptical, but as the stories are coming out… Look, if this ends up being true, this will be an absolute outrage and a scandal the likes of which I haven’t seen before,” Friedman agreed.

The former ambassador accused Biden of being unprincipled enough to do such a thing, and that he would presumably be motivated by the fear of losing the presidential election over high gas prices, an inevitable result of a regional Mideast conflagration.

The White House has categorically denied the rumors with National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby telling the press on Monday, “I’ve also seen this speculation about messages passed back and forth and warnings.

“We did receive messages from Iran. And they received messages from us, too. But there was never any message to us or to anyone else on the timeframe, the targets, or the type of response,” he said.

“In fact, before yesterday it was presumed that 100 ballistic missiles might overwhelm even the best defensive systems. That was Iran’s intent. And as you all saw for yourself, it didn’t work,” Kirby added, crediting “Israel’s remarkable defensive systems.”

On Monday, Reuters cited an unnamed Turkish diplomatic source, who said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had acted as a kind of go-between between his U.S. and Iranian counterparts over the past week to discuss the upcoming Iranian attack.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Fidan to relay to the Iranians that a regional escalation was not in anyone’s interest, the report said.

“Iran informed us in advance of what would happen. Possible developments also came up during the meeting with Blinken, and they (the U.S.) conveyed to Iran through us that this reaction must be within certain limits,” the source said.

IDF strikes terrorists in Gaza as focus centered on Iran

(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces eliminated several terrorists and destroyed enemy infrastructure in the central Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the military announced Wednesday.

IDF aircraft struck some 40 targets, including a terrorist cell operating an armed drone. Warplanes also hit rocket launchers, booby-trapped buildings and underground infrastructure.

Concurrently, troops from the 162nd Division continued their activity to neutralize threats on the ground.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his commitment to eradicating Hamas, including in Rafah, where several terror battalions remain standing. The comments came hours after the military announced the withdrawal of troops from southern Gaza, leaving only one brigade in the northern and central Strip. 

On Tuesday afternoon, Palestinian terrorists fired two rockets from the northern Gaza Strip at southern Israel, setting off sirens in Kibbutz Nir Am.

Both rockets struck open areas in Israeli territory, causing no injuries or damage, according to the IDF.

Israel’s War Cabinet is in the process of deciding on a “painful” response to Iran’s massive drone and missile attack over the weekend, with Netanyahu insisting on Tuesday that Jerusalem is determined to achieve victory over its enemies in “all sectors.”

Over 100 orphans celebrate their bar mitzvah at Western Wall

(JNS) — One hundred and twenty-two orphans celebrated their bar mitzvahs at Jerusalem’s Western Wall this week as part of an event organized by the Colel Chabad charity group. 

The celebration was nearly canceled in the aftermath of Saturday night’s first-ever direct Iranian attack on Israel, in which the Islamic Republic fired over 300 armed drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles at the Jewish state. 

“This year’s bar mitzvah celebration is certainly different than any other year, but it reminds us that we need to be here for families in need more than ever,” said Rabbi Zalman Duchman, Colel Chabad’s director of development. 

“The painfully large number of orphaned children all across Israel need to know that life will go on for them, and they deserve to have happy days like these,” he continued. 

At the event, which is held annually on the 11th of Nissan, the Hebrew birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, each participant received his own set of tefillin and a new clothing for the occasion.

“We are here to give these kids strength, but in truth it is often them and their mothers who give us strength by inspiring us through their grit and tenacity to carry on in the face of some of the most difficult tragedies,” added Duchman. 

After the ceremony, the families attended a gala event in Jerusalem’s International Convention Center hall, where they enjoyed a three-course meal, concert and photo session, and were given gifts. 

The event was sponsored by the Shlusberg Family and the Meromim Foundation.

“I don’t have a husband and my two older children live abroad so I was forced to recognize that I wouldn’t be able to give Refael the type of celebration and experience he deserves for becoming a bar mitzvah,” said Gila, who lost her husband to cancer. 

Gila faced numerous health challenges since her husband’s passing, and suffered the death of a nephew on Oct. 7. 

“I am so deeply grateful to everyone at Colel Chabad who thought to make this happen, and we can promise that this is a memory that will stay with us for the rest of our lives,” she added.

Iran: ‘Tiniest invasion’ by Israel will prompt ‘harsh’ response

(JNS) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned on Wednesday that the “tiniest invasion” by Israel would precipitate a “massive and harsh” response, the Associated Press reported.

Iran’s massive April 14 drone and missile attack against Israel, dubbed “Honest Promise” by Tehran, “brought down the glory of the Zionist regime,” Raisi added, according to Agence France-Presse.

He was speaking at an annual military parade in Tehran.

The attack was celebrated in the Iranian capital with festive crowds gathering in Palestine Square, waving Palestinian flags and dancing.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei tweeted that, “The malicious Zionist regime will be punished.”

Raisi’s threat comes as Israel’s War Cabinet is in the process of deciding on a “painful” retaliation to the Islamic Republic’s , with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting on Tuesday that Jerusalem is determined to achieve victory over its enemies in “all sectors.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday urged the international community to confront Iran.

“The whole world must work decisively and defiantly against the threat posed by the Iranian regime, which is seeking to undermine the stability of the entire region,” Herzog said after meeting the foreign ministers of Britain and Germany in Jerusalem.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday told Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz that the Biden administration wants to prevent any further escalation in the Middle East.

IDF destroys homes of deadly Ra’anana attack terrorists 

(JNS) — Israel Defense Forces troops overnight Tuesday demolished the homes of terrorists Mahmoud Zaidat, 44, and Ahmad Zaidat, 24, who killed Edna Blustein, 79, and wounded 17 others in a combined stabbing and ramming attack in Ra’anana, north of Tel Aviv, in January.

Despite not having work permits and being blacklisted from entering Israel by the Shin Bet as security risks, the Palestinians had jobs at a Ra’anana car wash.

The IDF demolished their homes in Bani Na’im, five miles east of Hebron in Judea. Troops also interrogated additional terror suspects there.

In separate overnight operations across Judea and Samaria, soldiers arrested six Palestinian terrorism suspects. Since the Oct. 7 massacre, the IDF has detained some 3,850 wanted Palestinians across the area, of whom more than 1,650 are affiliated with Hamas.

On Saturday, Israeli forces found the body of 14-year-old Jerusalem resident Binyamin Achimeir, who went missing while working as a shepherd based in Gal Farm, near the Palestinian village of al-Mughayyir, 17 miles northeast of Ramallah.

Palestinian terrorists killed him in the late morning or early afternoon on Friday, according to a preliminary investigation.

As Iran attacked, anxious Israelis put trust in the IDF and watched news

(JNS) — More than 77 percent of the Israeli public experienced varying levels of anxiety during Iran’s April 14 aerial attack, but watching news helped them cope, a Bar-Ilan University survey found.

Only 20 percent of respondents reported no symptoms of anxiety during the attack. Approximately 3.6 percent said that they experienced extreme anxiety, including difficulty breathing, confusion and feeling terrorized.

Forty percent of Israelis consumed more than three hours of news during the attack. The majority, 75 percent, said they trusted the IDF spokesman and Home Front Command information.

Approximately 60 percent of the public said that the information they consumed from the media was helpful to them during the hours of the attack.

“An emergency event of this sort affirms the role of traditional media in notifying, preparing and providing commentary to the public during such an extreme moment of fear and anxiety,” said Gal Yavetz of Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Information Science, who, together with iPanel, conducted the survey of 504 Israelis. 

A previous survey by Yavetz during the fourth and fifth weeks of “Swords of Iron,” the current Gaza war, found that about half of the public reported increased news consumption of more than three hours a day.

The current findings also mirror previous research on the war conducted by Yavetz, which found that in the eyes of the public, the IDF spokesman provides a reliable picture of the situation that can be trusted, even when it comes to events of historical significance such as that which took place on Saturday night.

Gazans flock to beach after IDF withdrawal

(JNS) — Gaza residents flocked to beaches in the central part of the coastal enclave on Wednesday as temperatures topped 35 degrees Celsius (95 F), according to footage shared on social media.

The images out of Deir al Balah, where the Israeli Air Force operated against terror targets only two weeks ago, came a week after the Israel Defense Forces withdrew almost all ground troops from the Strip.

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told soldiers that the decision to withdraw troops was made in preparation for the looming offensive in Rafah, where Hamas’s final battalions are concentrated and where the senior leadership and remaining hostages are believed to be.