American envoi Amos Hochstein will be heading to Lebanon next. His mission is to avert a ground war in Lebanon. There are a couple of indications that he may be able to succeed. The IDF is limiting activity in Gaza. Hamas and Hezbollah have also halted their attacks (temporarily?). This may just be due to the 3 day Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha, but it could be a step towards a full cease-fire (not part of a deal, just unilateral actions to reduce tensions). It would leave a lot of unanswered questions and problems, but at least there would be less open fighting. Oh. And don’t expect the IDF to halt all activities in Gaza. Israeli troops are still finding more underground tunnels. Especially leading to Egypt (where the Egyptian government has long denied that any ever existed).
Israeli government members Gantz and Eizenkot reigned from the war cabinet (where they really did not have much influence) and Netanyahu promptly dissolved that body as superfluous. Netanyahu now faces a new challenge from the Shas party. Shas leader Aryeh Deri is threatening to bring down the coalition if his law creating some 1,000 new government jobs for his followers is not passed. The ultra-orthodox parties keep pushing for a larger slice of money and benefits, and this is not going down well with the other 80% of the population. Local politics is replacing the war as the main story in the media in Israel. It means the hostages are not coming home and the public will not be happy about that.
Wetherhorn 