I stopped writing Gaza war entries a while ago, mostly because my wife was not well. She is home from the hospital now and I am resuming updates. I want to start by reminding all of you who read this that the overall status of the most popular media that I follow has not changed, … More Truce 22 Jan
Israel may bear some of the responsibility for the way the media is dominated by Hamas reports. Netanyahu may be a good politician, but he doesn’t know how to handle the media, and he has done much to ensure that the Israeli government doesn’t have anyone else that can. The public relations aspects of the … More Gaza War 24 Jun
Last night Hezbollah resumed launching rocket into Israel. The (Muslim) holiday break lasted for only 2 of the 3 day Eid Al-Adha festival. The IDF also refrained from most attacks in Lebanon. Israeli observers noted that Hezbollah did not stop shooting on Jewish holidays. Hezbollah is setting the tone. More important was the publication of … More Gaza War 19 Jun
The idea that the US government does not understand the Arab world has been mentioned here before. President Biden’s decision to withhold some US weapons from delivery to Israel is another manifestation of this, but with a lot of extra stupidity thrown in. Biden may have been trying to bolster his position for the coming … More Gaza War 10 May
Yesterday the Israeli Supreme Court delivered a bombshell decision. The law exempting Yeshiva students from military service expires on April first. A replacement law has not been drafted. Prime minister Netanyahu wanted an extension of a month in order to work out a new law that would be acceptable to his ultra-orthodox coalition partners. The … More Gaza War 29 Mar
Apart from an excess of media commentary about US Israeli relations, nothing is really happening in Gaza. IDF troops are revisiting several schools and hospitals because Hamas has returned to them. One terrorist called them Hamas safe havens, a refuge from Israeli attack. The operations in As-Shifa hospital have been conducted with great care to … More Gaza War 27 Mar
We are in a tragic era. Yesterday, the guards at the gate to our village shot and killed a man in his 60’s. No one, so far, has a reasonable explanation for why. The man was an Arab from Hebron who had converted to Judaism. He had a kitchen knife in his bag. But that … More Gaza War 22 Mar
The main news item this morning is actually mostly speculation. Hamas has presented a new proposal that might even be acceptable to Israel. The Israeli war cabinet will discuss it today. That means any real commentary about it will only appear on my posts after Shabbat. The leaks, as reported so far, involve a release … More Gaza War 15 Mar
While the IDF continues to slowly go about the business of rooting out Hamas terrorists and destroying their underground tunnel network, there is still some kind of 3 way discussions going on about freeing the remaining 136 hostages that Hamas is holding. Don’t expect any news of major progress from these talks. Hamas is holding … More Gaza War 30 Jan
In Israel the civil administration is broken down into two types of local government. One is the municipal council which is the equivalent of an American city government and headed by a mayor. The other is the regional council which is similar to an American county government. These bodies deal with local issues like garbage … More Gaza War 15 Jan
Wetherhorn 