Ex-IDF. Unfiltered strategic analysis on Israel security, the region & US policy. No spin, real experience. Author of Contested Land, Uncontested Truth.
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Defending Israel shouldn't mean defending extremists. Rejecting false equivalence with Palestinian terrorism doesn't require excusing settler violence. These extremists damage Israel’s standing and leave its defenders explaining conduct we never supported.
The death toll from Monday’s Houthi missile attack on a government training camp in Yemen’s Shabwa province has risen to 58, Governor Awad bin al-Wazir told Al Arabiya. More than 200 people were wounded and 14 remain missing. The new figures update the earlier official toll of 53 killed; the missing have not been counted as dead.
JUST IN: A Capital One bank on Manhattan’s East 86th Street had its windows smashed and its door marked “Drop Elbit” and “Pal Action” on Monday morning.
The NYPD says it is investigating possible bias in the criminal-mischief case. City Council Speaker Julie Menin has urged an inquiry into whether this was an antisemitic hate crime.
Israel’s military has ordered a leave freeze from Thursday, October 22, as it prepares to secure the October 27 election. In its October 19 announcement, the IDF says the Paratroopers Brigade headquarters and additional troops will reinforce the West Bank, with more senior commanders present in command centers and other forces allocated as needed.
Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said the mission is to let the vote proceed safely and on time. The measures remain subject to ongoing assessments; the announcement identifies no specific imminent attack.
JUST IN: Lebanese outlets reported Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on the evening of October 19. Lebanon Debate’s correspondent reported two strikes on Wadi al-Hujeir, while MTV reported a strike on Kfar Tibnit. The specific targets and any casualties were not established in those reports.
Benny Gantz has withdrawn from Israel’s October 27 election, eight days before the vote. The Blue and White leader and former IDF chief announced on October 19 that he will not run, reversing his promise last week to stay in the race. He says he will continue working for a national unity government.
Houthis put on hold...
Egypt’s parliament has postponed further debate on military support for Saudi Arabia until October 26, Egyptian outlets reported on October 19.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi requested authorization to help defend the kingdom if Riyadh asks. The latest parliamentary session ended with discussions due to resume next Monday. Authorization remains under debate; this is not an announcement that Egyptian forces are deploying.
Britain warned companies and individuals on October 19 against bidding to build the E1 settlement project near Jerusalem, citing powers to sanction those involved in settlement construction.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband issued the warning on the tender’s bid deadline and urged prospective bidders not to proceed. His statement does not announce new sanctions against named companies or individuals.
Saudi Civil Defense issued emergency warnings for Riyadh and Al-Kharj on October 19, then announced that the danger had passed, Saudi outlet Ajel reports.
The announcement did not identify the threat’s origin or weapon type. Reports of ballistic missiles from Yemen or an impact near Riyadh’s airport remain unverified.
Germany summoned Iran’s ambassador on October 19 over Tehran-directed assassination plots against Josef Schuster, president of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, and Volker Beck, president of the German-Israeli Society. The move follows the October 15 convictions of two men who prepared attacks on Iran’s behalf.
Berlin says it will not tolerate attacks on Jewish life or those defending it. The diplomatic summons now puts that judicial finding directly before Tehran’s representative.
Inside_Israel_Intel retweeted
🚨 REPORT: U.S. MISSIONS ACROSS 11 MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIES ISSUE WARNINGS
U.S. embassies and missions reportedly issued warnings to American citizens overnight amid threats from Iran and the Houthi terrorist organization.
The reported alerts cover the UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Iran, Israel, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iraq.
WATCH: A Palestinian attacker hurled a rock through the window of a car carrying Knesset candidate Fleur Hassan-Nahoum in Turmus Ayya today. One passenger was reportedly injured. Police are collecting evidence to identify the suspects.
A rock through a car window can kill. Calling it “stone-throwing” does not make it harmless, and a young attacker does not make the weapon less lethal.
Israeli lives are not worth less. This attack deserves serious coverage, unequivocal condemnation and prosecution. Nobody should have to die before the violence against them is taken seriously.
At least 18 people were killed in a Houthi attack on a Yemeni government military training camp in Shabwa on October 19, four government and medical sources told Reuters.
The target matters. This was a strike against the forces of a rival Yemeni authority, not against Israel or a ship at sea. The Iranian-aligned Houthis’ regional campaign runs alongside their struggle for power inside Yemen. Yemenis remain directly in their line of fire.
Elbit has won a $235 million contract to supply precision rockets and PULS launchers to an unnamed European country, Bizportal reports on October 19. The three-year deal is being carried out under an agreement between Israel’s Defense Ministry and the buyer’s government.
That is a concrete investment in Israeli military technology. The package includes ammunition, launchers and logistical support, linking the customer’s ability to operate these systems to an ongoing relationship with an Israeli supplier. Defense exports give Israel a practical role in European security that extends well beyond diplomatic statements.
bizportal.co.il/capitalmarke…
Israel has 76,809 people classified as draft evaders and has made just 437 arrests for draft evasion this year, according to IDF figures reported by Ynet on October 19.
Those numbers expose how far compulsory service has drifted from meaningful enforcement while the army needs more personnel. The IDF says it applies the law equally and has invested substantial resources in arrests. But the government and military owe the Israelis who serve a credible explanation of how this gap will be closed. National defense cannot depend indefinitely on the willingness of the same families to keep shouldering the burden.
Inside_Israel_Intel retweeted
Breaking News… and it’s damning
Official IDF Release:
An internal Hamas planning document detailing plans to plant explosive devices adjacent to displaced persons camps in the Gaza Strip during the war
This was part of Hamas’ preparations to protect its leadership and operatives and evacuate them from areas where the IDF was expected to operate, while endangering and exploiting the civilian population in the area, fully aware that these actions were likely to cause direct harm to civilians.
The document, written in April 2024 and now revealed for the first time, shows that Hamas' engineering department proposed planting explosive devices around displaced persons camps and detonating them as IDF troops approached, placing the civilian population in the camps at risk, in order to create panic as a smokescreen for the escape of its operatives.
In the document, the Hamas terrorist organization proposed an additional method of planting explosive devices along routes used by residents of the Gaza Strip, as part of an attempt to delay the advance of IDF troops in the area. It was even proposed to fire stun grenades into the camps to create chaos and panic, in order to allow Hamas terrorists hiding in the area to flee.
This is further evidence that the Hamas terrorist organization is willing to endanger the lives of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip in order to advance its terrorist activities.
Attached is also a video showing exactly such an explosive device planted under civilian routes where civilians were killed by a Hamas IED in the road. When you slow down the footage to the moment of detonation, you can clearly see the explosion is underneath them as they step on the IED. There are dozens of similar videos depicting these Hamas IEDs killing Gazan civilians, including a well known one where a little girl carrying a pale of water was killed after standing on an IED near a building.
Police arrest 8 suspects after West Bank settler attacks on diplomats, photographer
Read more: toi.li/mj124U
