News Update
Iran has reportedly conveyed diplomatic messages to various Arab states, including Egypt, Bahrain and Oman, indicating plans for a complex attack on Israel, using more powerful warheads than previously deployed, alongside other advanced weaponry. The attack would probably occur after the U.S. elections but before the next president takes office. According to U.S. intelligence agencies, Iran prefers Kamala Harris over Donald Trump.
Iran’s leadership is reportedly debating the scope and nature of the attack and whether it should be directly from Iran or via its proxies. Israel has stated that would retaliate against Iran is attacked by its proxies. On Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran can’t let Israel’s attack go unanswered. However, he said “the type and intensity of our response” could change if there were a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon. The size, nature and effectiveness of an Iranian attack would dictate the scope and severity of an Israeli response. The U.S. announced the deployment of heavy B-52 bombers to the region.
IDF commandos captured an Iranian spy operating in Syria, near the Golan Heights. The spy was a Syrian citizen. Commandos also captured a Hezbollah operative in a raid on a coastal Lebanese town. For more, click here.
The Israeli air force eliminated Hezbollah’s Radwan Force’s anti-tank missile system commander, Riad Rida Ghazzawi, in an airstrike on the Sultaniyeh area of southern Lebanon today.
The IDF continues combat operations in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, where at least 600 Hamas terrorists are said to be entrenched. Some IDF officials said that it could take at least six months to clear northern Gaza of Hamas forces.
Two more soldiers were killed in combat in Jabaliya: Staff Sgt. Itay Parizat, 20, from Petah Tikva, and Staff Sgt. Yair Hananya, 22, from Mitzpe Netofa, both of the Givati Brigade.
A Jewish Iranian man, Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani, was hanged at the central prison in the western city of Kermanshah after being convicted of a murder during a street fight, in which he acted in self defense after being stabbed by a Muslim man. Islamic law discriminates against non Muslims who act against Muslims, regardless of the circumstances. For more, click here.
The defense budget approved by the government for 2025 is NIS 117 billion, or 6.5% of Israel’s GDP. The amount is NIS 15 billion above the Ministry of Finance’s original proposal, and almost NIS 60 billion more than in a regular year. For more, click here.
American Airlines has announced that it is canceling all flights between Tel Aviv and New York indefinitely. Delta and United have also cancelled their flights indefinitely. El Al is the only airline flying direct from NY to Tel Aviv.
[This weekend the Wall Street Journal published an Op-ed titled, There’s a Reason Israelis Prefer Trump Over Harris, by Elliot Kaufman, an editorial writer and the Journal’s letters editor. Since the WSJ is only accessible by paid subscribers, I’ve decided the publish the entire article here, because I believe it makes important points that should be read prior to the election.
There’s a Reason Israelis Prefer Trump Over Harris
Americans may be closely divided on the presidential election, but Israelis aren’t. Channel 12, the country’s leading news station, finds that Israelis prefer Donald Trump to Kamala Harris by 66% to 17%, or nearly 4 to 1. They probably aren’t thinking about abortion, but they know how U.S. policy affects their region.
As president, Mr. Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and recognized Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights. Israel had waited decades for these solidifying steps. Far from alienating Arab allies, Mr. Trump delivered the momentous peace agreements of the Abraham Accords, which even this war has been unable to dislodge. The Trump difference was to ignore the professional peace processors, overcome the Palestinian veto, and focus on stopping Iran, the subject of his “maximum pressure” sanctions.
President Biden and Vice President Harris see the world differently. They stopped enforcing oil sanctions in a bid for Iran’s goodwill. Since January 2021, this has brought Iran more than $40 billion in extra revenue. In trying to expand the Abraham Accords, they push for more concessions to the Palestinians than even the Saudis seek.
Mr. Trump had blocked most Iranian oil sales, the proceeds of which Iran uses to fund Hamas, Hezbollah and the rest. He also ordered the January 2020 strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, architect of Iran’s terror empire. Ms. Harris condemned that strike, warning it “could lead to a new war in the Middle East.” Iran, however, responded by backing down. It went to war instead under the Biden administration’s policy of appeasement.
Ms. Harris says she wants a new nuclear deal with Iran, but so did Mr. Biden, and there was none to be had. Iran pocketed the sanctions relief, including another $16 billion in unfrozen funds, and marched to the doorstep of a nuclear breakout.
Ms. Harris repeats the Obama line: “All options are on the table.” Mr. Trump offers sanctions enforcement with a more credible deterrent. After Iran’s Oct. 1 missile attack, Mr. Biden told Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear program. Mr. Trump replied, “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to hit? It’s the biggest risk we have, nuclear weapons.” He reportedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “Do what you have to do.”
Compare that with the clash over Rafah in May. Mr. Biden stalled weapons shipments and threatened to halt even more if Israel invaded Hamas’s southern stronghold. Mr. Trump remarked, “He just abandoned Israel. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Ms. Harris backed Mr. Biden, saying about Rafah: “I have studied the maps. There’s nowhere for those folks to go.” She was wrong. Israel evacuated a million Gazans from Rafah in a few weeks. Taking the city then allowed Israel to cut off Hamas’s supply lines and kill its leader, Yahya Sinwar.
In March Ms. Harris led the call for an immediate cease-fire. U.S. policy hardened Hamas’s stance. Sinwar told associates to refuse a hostage deal at the time because Hamas had the upper hand, the Journal reports. Sinwar cited mounting U.S. pressure over suffering in Gaza as evidence.
At the Republican convention, Mr. Trump told the world, “We want our hostages back, and they better be back before I assume office or you will be paying a very big price.” Ms. Harris has never said that to Hamas, Qatar or Iran. Her comments on the war blame both sides. And when she says “Israel has a right to defend itself,” a “but” is sure to follow.
That was the case in Lebanon, where Ms. Harris pressed Israel not to escalate even after 11 months of rockets on Israeli towns. If Israel had listened, Hezbollah’s leaders would still be alive and Israel’s north would never be safe. Mr. Biden later proposed a 21-day cease-fire that would have let Hezbollah regroup. Israel kept its foot on the gas and is now offered far better terms.
The war won’t go on forever. Mr. Trump, too, says Israel should “finish up,” reportedly by Inauguration Day. But on whose terms? He tells Israel to do what it needs to do to end the war quickly in victory. Ms. Harris piles on restrictions and insists a cease-fire lead to a two-state solution disconnected from reality.
If personnel is policy, a Trump administration will be solidly pro-Israel. Harris staffers will reflect today’s Democratic Party: uniformly hostile to Israel’s government and increasingly hostile to Israel’s security needs, with a sizable wing hostile to Israel’s existence. It says something that Israeli officials consider Mr. Biden the most pro-Israel member of his administration.
Mr. Biden, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, has at times held back his deputies from throwing Israel under the bus. Would Ms. Harris have the conviction to do the same? She must negotiate between her party’s factions, as she does with activists who shout “genocide” at her rallies.
This dynamic may explain why the Biden administration created a sanctions regime against Israel. The rapidly expanding blacklist—against any Israeli deemed an obstacle to peace—may be the most dangerous innovation in U.S.-Israel policy. Harris staffer Ilan Goldenberg reportedly played an enthusiastic role in developing the sanctions. He’s now her Jewish outreach director.
Mr. Biden early on nixed Mr. Trump’s sanctions on the International Criminal Court and restored the funding Mr. Trump had cut from Unrwa, the conflict-perpetuating forever-refugee agency for Palestinians only. Now, as the ICC expands and abuses its powers to attack Israel, and Unrwa is exposed as compromised by Hamas, Mr. Biden blocks new sanctions against the ICC and tries to preserve Unrwa.
Mr. Trump would likely restore his old policies, and he pledges to revoke the visas of antisemitic foreign students. From Ms. Harris, Israel can expect more sanctions and deference to international bureaucrats. Forget her snub of Mr. Netanyahu’s speech to Congress; Israel would worry about being abandoned at the U.N. Security Council.
Israel isn’t the central issue in the U.S. election. But those who care about it will recognize that it was one of Mr. Trump’s strongest policy areas as president. It could be one of Ms. Harris’s weakest.]
