This Week Today Current Events from Israel I saw a video this week of the head singer of the “Green Day” band wearing an Arab terrorist flag during some semblance of a performance. First of all, obviously I would never listen to white music during Black History Month and secondly, I had optimistically thought that his heartbeat had gone the same route as music career, but alas, it still exists. Anyway, I will admit that I listened to his music about 30 years ago and even then I thought he was an idiot, but I can confidently say that in answer to his question, I certainly have no time to listen to him whine. Some might think that all this is a bit harsh, but if we did like this to all of these terrorist supporting Jew-haters maybe they would think twice before doing stupid things. Anyway, it’s worth it for laughs alone. The Bibas Family The Bibas Mother and two young children were buried this week after their bodies were returned by Hamas as part of the current ceasefire agreement. Initially, Hamas returned the body of some random Arab woman instead of Shiri Bibas, hy’d. After Israel performed forensic tests, it was determined that it was the wrong body. After that, Hamas sent the right body. As if that wasn’t enough, the Israeli coroners were able to determine definitively that the Bibas children were killed by the terrorists with their bare hands and not in a bombing, as Hamas had erroneously claimed. Pretty awful, but not too surprising considering Oct. 7th. You would think that this news might cause some of the anti-Jewish folks on US campuses and in Hollywood to change course, but they seem to just double down. It reminds of that old physics theory: “Stupidity in motion, tends to stay in motion”. Tens of thousands of Israelis lined the roads of the procession of the funeral. Many of them wore orange which has become a symbol of the Bibas children because of their orange hair. Very ironically, orange was also the color of the Jewish communities in Gaza and was prominent in the demonstrations against their destruction. A popular meme that spread on social media said “If we had listened to the orange of 2005, then we wouldn’t have arrived to the orange of 2025”. Yep. Ceasefire Deal After 6 live Israeli hostages were released this past Shabbat, Israel refused to release the requisite Arab terrorists from Israeli prisons. Israel cited Hamas’ many violations of the agreement and the disgusting ceremonies with the hostages as the reason for the delay. Eventually a deal was brokered where Hamas would transfer 4 bodies of Israelis they previously killed to Egypt and the Egyptians would then deliver them to Israel, with no ceremony party, and then Israel would release all the terrorists that they had originally agreed to release. With the release of the bodies and the terrorists, the first phase of the deal is theoretically concluded. The second phase of the deal is supposed to be under negotiation now, but that isn’t really happening. Instead, Israel is offering an extension of the current phase. Basically, the ceasefire would be extended and Israel would release more terrorists in exchange for more live hostages. There are currently believed to be 24 living hostages in Hamas custody, including 2 foreign workers. Among the 22 Jewish hostages, 4 are fathers and it’s likely Israel will strongly attempt to secure their release. Any potential deal reached will probably include a ceasefire extending through the month of Ramadan. Alternatively, pretty much effective immediately, the war could be back on and that could include Hezbollah in the north and the moronic Houthis from Yemen. And there are crazy rumors going around now about Egypt and Jordan as well. Syria It was quite a dramatic week between Israel and the new regime in Syria. Basically, Israel announced a whole new policy that they were now guaranteeing the safety of the minority Druze communities in southern Syria. Some leaders of these communities had explicitly pleaded for this publicly in the recent past. Now they got it. Needless to say, the new Syrian jihadi junta was none too pleased by all this. They arranged to meet with Druze leaders in an attempt to reassure them. Subsequently, Israeli forces, both air and land, attacked targets of the new regime in southern Syria for the first time. This was a clear sign that Israel was very serious about enforcing the recent declaration. Unclear how the regime will respond, but it could actually end up being very similar to the way that the Assad regime consistently responded to Israeli attacks - not at all. They got a lot going on and it just ain’t worth it right now and might never be. Lebanon Israeli forces continue to hold positions within southern Lebanon and Lebanon continues to complain about it. Despite this, there has been no discernible offensive action by Hezbollah. What there has been are attempts by Hezbollah to rearm through the smuggling of weapons into Lebanon and the smuggling of terrorists to the south. They also had a funeral for Nasrallah and a bunch of other dead Hezbollah leaders. One might think if Hezbollah is in the process of rebuilding and is weak, then now is the time to hit them even harder. Apparently that one must not be Prime Minister Netanyahu. During the funeral this week in Lebanon, Israeli Air Force fighter planes flew low over the stadium, but did not fire, despite the abundance of significant potential terror targets below. There are rumors that maybe both Israel and the US are planning to hit Iran very hard soon, maybe that explains it. Not much else does. Judea and Samaria The IDF continues to operate extensively in northern Samaria, even employing tanks for the first time in decades. More terrorists were eliminated and arrested. A bit of a recurring theme. There are reports that large numbers of residents from areas with high concentrations of terrorism have been evicted and aren’t being allowed to return. Not sure how accurate any of that is, but would be a good idea. There is more and more chatter about applying Israeli sovereignty to areas throughout what the goyim called the “West Bank”. Some folks are talking about the Jordan Valley, parts of Area C, the whole thing, all of Gaza - you get the point. Ironically, former Prime Minister and inmate, Ehud Olmert, thought that this week would be a good time to revisit his offer to Mahmoud Abbas almost 20 years ago where he tried to give away everything and Abbas just laughed at him. Now everyone is laughing at him. What a clown. An evil clown. He will be remembered as one of the biggest losers in the history of the country. Speaking of being remembered, Jewish social media is abuzz this week with posts for and against the opinions of the late Rav Meir Kahane, hy’d. Needless to say, he was right. -Ben Packer +972-54-447-0221