Aryeh Wetherhorn is a graduate of the University of Michigan. He served as a Naval Reserve officer in the Vietnam War, earning a Naval Achievement Medal for his performance of duty in USS Okinawa. His biography appears in the Marquis edition of “Who’s Who in the World” in 1998, 2002, and 2003 editions. He has written several full length articles on naval history that appeared in the Polish magazine “Okrety Wojenne” (Warships).
There’s been some attention called to an American order to postpone delivery of some JDAM bombs to Israel. (JDAM is an acronym for Joint Direct Attack Munitions – in other words, bunker busters). The excuse given was to ensure the bombs would not be used in Rafah where they might cause civilian casualties. The real … More Gaza War 8 May
Hamas has an experienced propaganda department. It showed when they announced acceptance of a cease-fire deal just in time for the Israeli main evening TV news. In previous cease-fire deals they regularly fired rockets just minutes before the agreements went into effect in order to claim they were still fighting. This evening the announcement was … More Gaza War 7 May
The mooted hostage deal doesn’t look likely. Hamas had been holding out for a cease fire with guarantees that they would remain in power. It seems they thought that other countries would not allow Israel to move against Rafah, and international pressure would make the Israelis accept Hamas demands. That situation may be changing. The … More Gaza War 6 May
Israel is subjected to rocket attacks aimed (imperfectly or sometimes even unintentionally) at civilian targets on a daily basis. Those attacks rarely hurt anyone because the IDF is effective in defending against them. This morning a large missile was launched against Israel from Lebanon. It fell inside Lebanese territory and caused a loud explosion. The … More Gaza War 5 May
CNN trotted out a Jewish history (Barnard) to tell us that all she saw were peaceful demonstrations. That might even be true. But it was presented as if to show that the many videos showing violent confrontations (and anti-Semitic placards) are fake news or manipulations. That isn’t true. There have been a lot of demonstrations … More Gaza War 3 May
Warning! I am about to complain (again) about one of my least favorite TV news programs. If you guessed it was CNN, you’re right. This is the way I saw it. Today I watched CNN ‘report’ on an alleged IDF air attack on an Arab ‘refugee’ camp. The report said they checked with the IDF … More Gaza War 2 May
There has been a lot of media coverage over a possible ICJ indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu (and other senior Israelis) for war crimes. What’s missing is any mention of any Hamas leaders, especially Yihyah Sinwar, for the same crime. I don’t see any reason for an indictment against any Israeli leader. Acting in … More Gaza War 1 May
The American Gaza temporary port for receiving humanitarian aid is now being constructed. As this is happening some new items are coming to light. Some of these may be fake news, but the idea that someone would take the trouble to report them is even interesting on its own. First. There is another report that … More Gaza War 30Apr
The Passover holiday is now over. During the past week little has changed here. No hostages have been released. The IDF has not moved into Rafah. Hezbollah is still launching rockets into Israel.The US emergency port in Gaza is being assembled. The Turkish “humanitarian” flotilla is underway (with a declared destination in Egypt).If it tries … More Gaza War 29 Apr
The Jewish Passover holiday starts tonight. I will not be posting during the holiday. The single most important thing I want to say before this break is that there are still 133 hostages that have not been released. I suspect that between 40-60 of them are no longer alive. It’s hard to be specific about … More Gaza War 22 Apr
Wetherhorn 