Israel Retaliates

 For full article see https://tinyurl.com/muh4p7mr

Israel retaliated overnight against Iran’s massive drone and missile attack on its territory, people familiar with the matter said—with what appeared to be a limited strike aimed at avoiding an escalatory cycle that could push the countries closer toward war. 

The strike targeted the area around Isfahan in central Iran, one of the people said. Iranian media and social media reported explosions near the city, where Iran has nuclear facilities and a drone factory, and the activation of air-defense systems in provinces across the country after suspicious flying objects were detected. 

Iranian state television repeatedly played down the episode in its broadcasts, saying three small flying objects had been downed by air-defense systems and suggesting they had been launched from within the country. 

The attack appeared to be similar to earlier drone strikes attributed to Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, said Ronen Solomon, an independent intelligence analyst in Israel.

He said the attack signaled to Iran that Israel’s Mossad could covertly hit a nuclear or military site without overtly using the Israeli military or its aircraft. Israel likely wanted to avoid an attack on nuclear sites, or a broader assault, because Israeli officials were concerned Iran would use strikes as an excuse to move ahead with its nuclear program, he said.  

The Israeli action was a response to an unprecedented direct attack by Iran that involved more than 300 drones and missiles aimed at Israeli territory. That attack itself was retribution for a strike attributed to Israel that killed top Iranian officers in Damascus.

Israel has remained officially silent about the strike. 

Palestinian Christians grateful for Israel’s missile defense system

For full article see https://tinyurl.com/yzpweap7

In the aftermath of Saturday night’s Iranian missile attack, Palestinian Christians living in the Bethlehem area expressed gratitude for Israel’s air defense system.

“I said, ‘Thank God for the presence of the Iron Dome system.’ It absolutely saved lives here. We don’t have any safe rooms to guard us, so if a rocket would fall here, there would be a great number of casualties,” an eyewitness from the Christian community of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem.

The resident, a middle-aged man who is married with children, spoke on condition of anonymity because he fears his family and business will be targeted by Palestinian Muslims.

 “In the beginning, we thought it would be like usual, Iran just talks,” he recalled. “Then in the middle of the night, I went to the balcony and saw the rockets of Iron Dome were coming out. I live in the area near some Jewish residences on one side and on the other are all Arab residences, and the rockets were coming right towards them. That’s when I witnessed the interception.”

The missile defense he saw was not the well-known Iron Dome system, but the Arrow-3, which is designed to intercept ballistic missiles at high altitudes, even outside the earth’s atmosphere.

“As a Christian, we are a minority group here, and one loss equals thousands because of the statistics and the ratio against the Muslims in the area, so the damage I imagine could have been even greater,” he insisted.

Elias Zarina, a Jerusalem-based Christian activist, said he looked at the high-tech protection through the lens of coexistence.  “David’s Sling guards the City of David,” Zarina remarked, referring to the name of Bethlehem from the Christian Bible.

Palestinian Christians in Judea and Samaria have been facing discrimination and harassment for years, forcing members of the community to leave the Middle East.

The population has been dwindling ever since the Oslo accords brought the Palestinian Authority into power. Using Bethlehem as an example, in 1993, when the accords were signed, Christians made up 88 percent of the city’s population. Three decades later, Christians now make up just 12 percent of Bethlehem’s population of roughly 29,000. Most Christians have emigrated in the face of Muslim extortion

 

What the Iranian People Want

 

Meanwhile in the Iranian Launch Center

With permission from www.benherskowitz.com 

 

Source of Iran's Missile Attack

 

WCK Aid Workers Killed

 

The IDF has revealed that Hamas PURPOSELY drew fire to the World Central Kitchen (WCK) vehicles. At around 10 pm, the IDF noticed suspicious activity as the WCK vehicle was joined by a convoy of several other Hamas vehicles.

Hamas terrorists then climbed ONTO and INTO the WCK truck and FIRED several times indiscriminately into the air to ensure the IDF would see them.

The convoy then split up and entered a hanger, where it became difficult to distinguish between the Hamas vehicles and the WCK vehicle.

IDF attempted to call both the WCK workers and WCK HQ on TWO separate occasions to confirm whether they were with the Hamas convoy but their calls remained unanswered.

When the vehicles left the hangar OVER AN HOUR LATER the IDF drone unit misidentified the WCK vehicle for a vehicle from the Hamas convoy and mistakenly struck.

The result, a great propaganda victory for Hamas at the cost of civilian lives yet again.

Full IDF report can be seen here https://t.co/rBLG4KmwdZ

NGO: Red Cross facilitating Palestinian terror payouts

(With thanks the Palestinian Media Watch)

 Since Oct. 7, the International Red Cross has been helping imprisoned Palestinian terrorists receive controversial stipends from the Palestinian Authority, according to Israeli NGO Palestinian Media Watch.

According to PMW, incarcerated Palestinians fill out forms to receive the stipends, and the Red Cross delivers the paperwork to Ramallah.

“The role of the International Red Cross in this process is central,” explained PMW director Itamar Marcus. “The international health organization is involved in this because as they visit prisoners, they’re able to bring in forms. Israeli security is not looking at the forms or preventing the terrorist prisoner access to the forms they need to sign.”

The prisoners’ paperwork needs to be completed by the end of 2023 in order to receive stipends in 2024. Terrorists imprisoned before Oct. 7 are also sending renewal forms via the Red Cross to Ramallah, according to PMW.

A Fatah directive dated Dec. 4 and translated by PMW instructs Palestinians to “please produce a [Red] Cross document for those who have no sentence whose names appear below; a [Red] Cross document accompanied by a new administrative [detention] order for the administrative detainees; and a [Red] Cross document accompanied by a verdict for the sentenced prisoners.

Lists of prisoners from Bethlehem and Hebron districts were circulated on social media to encourage prisoners and their families to claim the payouts. Other Palestinian organizations, such as the PLO’s Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, joined the publicity campaign.

Since Oct. 7, around 2,400 Palestinian terror suspects have been arrested throughout Judea and Samaria, of whom about half are associated with Hamas.

Israel argues that these stipends are nothing more than economic incentive to commit murder, and refers to them as “pay for slay.”

The International Red Cross did not respond to a request for comment.