Australia / Israel Review

ROCKET AND TERROR REPORT

At least 19 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel from Aug. 13 to Sept. 14. As of Sept. 18, Israel had suffered 348 casualties in ground operations in Gaza. 

There have been multiple attempted and successful terrorist attacks emanating from or in the West Bank since mid-August. On Aug. 18, a civilian security guard was killed in a hammer attack near Kedumim. The same day, an alleged suicide bomber injured a civilian in Tel Aviv. Hamas claimed the attack, as well as twin car bombings on Aug. 30 near Gush Etzion that injured three soldiers. A shooting on Sept. 1 near Hebron killed three police officers. On Sept. 8, a Jordanian truck driver shot dead three Israeli workers at the Allenby Crossing before being killed. On Sept. 12, a soldier was killed near Givat Asaf in a truck ramming. 

MURDERED HOSTAGES’ TORTUROUS FINAL MONTHS

The families of the six murdered hostages whose bodies were recovered from a Hamas tunnel in Rafah at the end of August – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov and Carmel Gat – have revealed that their loved ones were starved and severely mistreated during their 330-day captivity, before being executed just hours before IDF soldiers reached them. The six endured months in a tiny tunnel with no air vents, minimal food, and no showers or sanitation, in an area so small that only two could lie down at a time. Eden Yerushalmi weighed a mere 36 kilograms at her death. Forensic analysis also revealed that the four male hostages had struggled with their captors, trying to defend Eden and Carmel, before being murdered.

A few days previously saw the successful rescue of Qaid Farhan al-Qadi, a Bedouin Israeli abducted by Hamas. Al-Qadi, a 52-year-old father of 11, said he was shot by the terrorists on October 7 for refusing to “tell them where the Israeli Jews were.” 

MAJOR OPERATION IN THE WEST BANK

On Aug. 28, the IDF launched a major pre-emptive counterterrorism campaign in the cities of the northern West Bank dubbed “Operation Summer Camps”, said to be largest such operation since 2002. The stated goals of “Summer Camps” were the dismantling of terrorist battalions established, co-ordinated and armed by Iran; destruction of infrastructure, including laboratories used to create explosives; and seizure of weapons and wanted terrorists. As of Sept. 17, the ongoing operation had killed 25 terrorist operatives via airstrikes and exchanges of fire, some being commanders of terrorist networks, and led to the arrest of hundreds more. 

NEW ESTIMATE: 6,000 PALESTINIAN INVADERS ON OCTOBER 7

New Israeli security agency assessments now estimate that around 6,000 Gazans breached the Israel border last October 7, double the previously estimated number. The invaders included 3,800 members of Hamas’ elite Nukhba unit, and 2,200 Gaza civilians or members of other terror groups. 

In addition, an estimated 1,000 terrorists in Gaza fired 4,300 rockets into Israel on that day, also a notably higher number than previously believed.

POLIO VACCINATION CAMPAIGN IN GAZA

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Sept. 13 that more than 560,000 Gazan children under the age of ten had successfully been given the first of two doses of the polio vaccine. The vaccination campaign relied on agreed daily eight-hour pauses in fighting between Israel and Hamas in specified areas. The campaign to vaccinate some 640,000 children in Gaza began on Sept. 1, following confirmation by WHO in August that a baby had been partially paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years. A second round of vaccinations is scheduled for mid-October.

HEZBOLLAH ESCALATES ATTACKS ON ISRAEL

From October 8, 2023 to mid-September, there have been 3,002 attacks on Israel from the north, largely but not solely by Hezbollah. They have mainly involved rockets, anti-tank missiles and drones, and most attacks featured multiple projectiles in a single attack. These attacks have escalated recently, with 560 rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel in the first half of September alone. Some recent attacks have also been aimed at cities and towns not previously targeted. 

On Aug. 25, Israel disrupted a massive, planned Hezbollah attack, intended to be in retaliation for the Israeli killing of Hezbollah military leader Fuad Shukr on July 30, by pre-emptively striking and neutralising roughly two-thirds of the thousands of projectiles that the terrorist group planned to launch from southern Lebanon. However, Hezbollah did still manage to fire about 250 missiles and drones, doing little damage.

On Sept. 17, at least 11 people were killed and nearly 3,000 were wounded in Lebanon when thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah operatives exploded almost simultaneously. Those injured included Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon. On Sept. 18, an additional wave of explosions reportedly involving walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives killed at least 20 people and injured more than 450. Israel has not acknowledged responsibility for either series of attacks.

ISRAELI OPERATION TARGETS SYRIAN MISSILE FACTORY

What was initially reported as an IDF airstrike on Sept. 8 in Syria targeting weapons facilities was subsequently alleged to have involved a major ground assault by Israeli special forces on a large underground missile production factory. The site in Syria, known as CERS, is near the Lebanon border some 200 kilometres from Israel, and is part of the country’s military hi-tech weapons industry, including making precision missiles used by Hezbollah. The weapons facility was reportedly destroyed. 

IRAN SHIPPING BALLISTIC MISSILES TO RUSSIA

On Sept. 10, the US officially confirmed that Iran had begun sending hundreds of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine. The deal for such a transfer was first reported in October 2022, but for unknown reasons, actual shipments of ballistic missiles were not confirmed until now. 

In response, the US imposed sanctions on multiple individuals and entities involved in the transaction, while the UK, France and Germany cancelled their bilateral air services agreements with Iran and are working to sanction Iran Air – which allegedly has been helping ship arms to Russia – as well as other individuals and entities.

HOUTHI ATTACKS THREATEN ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE

On Aug. 21, Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked the Greek-flagged oil tanker Delta Sounion as it passed through the Red Sea, forcing its crew to abandon the ship. The tanker, holding 150,000 metric tons of oil, posed a spill risk four times larger than the infamous Exxon Valdez disaster (35,000 metric tons) in 1989. European Naval Force photos showed fire still raging on the tanker drifting near Yemen for more than three weeks before it was finally successfully towed out of the area on Sept. 15. 

Since November 2023, the Houthis have targeted more than 70 vessels, including multiple oil tankers, threatening environmental catastrophe. 

On Sept. 2, two more crude-oil carrying tankers were targeted: the Panama-flagged Blue Lagoon 1 and the Saudi Arabian vessel Amjad. 

SWITZERLAND TO END UNRWA FUNDING

Swiss parliamentarians voted on Sept. 9 to stop funding to UNRWA because of its ties to terrorism. The decision passed by a vote of 99 to 88 but still needs the approval of the Swiss Senate and would likely only affect next year’s funding. 

Stranger than Fiction

SURELY YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS

Sometimes people make a claim so bizarre it’s hard to believe they expect anyone to believe it.

When the IDF rescued Israeli Bedouin hostage Qaid Farhan al-Qadi from Gaza, Hamas claimed it released him because he’s Muslim. Apparently, Hamas took 326 days to realise that, and  the terrorists still haven’t worked out the other two Bedouins they’re still holding are also Muslims.

After Israel killed its military chief Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah planned a massive retaliatory Aug. 25 attack involving hundreds of missiles and drones, with the aim of destroying major Israeli military bases and intelligence headquarters. Israeli pre-emptive air raids destroyed thousands of Hezbollah missiles and launchers less than an hour before the attack was due to be launched, so Hezbollah only fired around 300 missiles, damaging some houses and a chicken coop. Yet Hezbollah claimed the operation was completely successful, and Israel was covering up the damage to the bases and huge casualties.

Former SBS newsreader Mary Kostakidis on Sept. 6 accused the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) of trying to “curb criticism of Israel”. The ZFA had lodged a racial discrimination complaint against her for sharing a video showing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declaring Palestine from the river to the sea is for Palestinians only. Apparently, the esteemed journalist can’t distinguish between “criticising Israel” and calling for the ethnic cleansing of all Israeli Jews.

In Parliament on Aug. 22, Greens Deputy Leader Senator Mehreen Faruqi accused Senator Jacqui Lambie of “attack[ing] and vilify[ing] Muslims.” What was Lambie’s crime? Senator Faruqi had moved a motion, easily defeated, demanding the production of all documents showing contact between Jewish groups and the Human Rights Commission relating to Commission staff. And Senator Lambie had simply asked how Faruqi would react to a similar motion targeting Muslim groups.