From: The Jerusalem Post December 22, 2024
Israel and Poland:

In other words, just as ties are becoming normal once again, the current scenario risks reigniting tension. 

This situation also has implications beyond Israel-Poland relations.

If Poland were to act on the ICC warrant, it could strain its ties with the United States, particularly with a Republican administration poised to take office.

US Senator Lindsey Graham recently indicated he is working on legislation to penalize countries that enforce ICC warrants against Israeli officials.

Poland’s alignment with the ICC could be seen in Washington as aligning against Israel, an outcome that could complicate its standing with its key ally.

If it turns out that Poland would indeed honor the ICC warrant were Netanyahu to travel to the country -- rather than grant him diplomatic immunity as France has said it would do if the prime minister would travel there --  then Israel should not send anyone to the ceremony.

This would highlight the absurdity of the situation. 

Netanyahu said at the event in Jerusalem in 2020
1. Auschwitz and Jerusalem An abyss; and a peak;
2. Auschwitz, extermination; Jerusalem, revival;
3. Auschwitz, enslavement; Jerusalem, freedom;
4. Auschwitz, death; Jerusalem, life;

Auschwitz, he continued, “is also the ultimate symbol of Jewish powerlessness.
It is the culmination of what can happen when our people have no voice, no land, no shield.

“Today, we have a voice, we have a land, and we have a shield.

Today, our voice is heard in the White House and in the Kremlin, in the halls of the United Nations and the American Congress, in London, Paris, and Berlin, and in countless capitals around the world.”

If, however, Poland would seriously consider arresting Netanyahu, then it would mean that Israel’s leader would not have a voice at an event commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz.

The irony of that would be astounding, undermining the very purpose of the commemoration and underlining how both historical truth and present-day truth -- in Orwellian fashion --  have been flipped on their head.

Ireland's badge of dishonor in its phony war with Israel
The Jerusalem Post by Alan Shatter 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• Ireland's badge of dishonor in its phony war with Israel - opinion

A week of escalating tensions in the Ireland-Israel phony war, marked by diplomatic clashes, embassy closure and controversial statements

On Tuesday, December 17, 2024 Dr Jilan Wahba Abdul Majid, elevated from Palestine’s representative to ambassadorial status following Ireland’s recognition of the State of Palestine in May 2024 formally presented her credentials, to a joyous Irish President,
Micheal D Higgins

President Higgins used the occasion,
1. to criticize Israel for breaching the sovereignty of two of its neighbors, Lebanon and Syria
2. falsely accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wanting to establish a settlement in Egypt
3. lambasted Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, for his depiction of Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris as an antisemite
4. wrongly conflating Saar's depiction, to be a “slanderous” allegation made against the Irish people

The next day, Wednesday, a picture of the ambassador inspecting an Irish army guard of honor outside the presidential residence dominated the front page of The Irish Times, Ireland’s self-proclaimed paper of record

The picture’s publication fittingly coincided with the Dáil Ireland's principal parliamentary chamber, meeting for the first time that day after the recent Irish general election

Ireland's badge of dishonor in its phony war with Israel
The Jerusalem Post by Alan Shatter 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• Terror against Democracy

Following the election of a new Speaker to chair meetings of the chamber and a variety of speeches, it adjourned to facilitate continuing discussions about the formation of a new coalition government

Both Ireland’s outgoing Prime Minister, Simon Harris and its outgoing Deputy Prime Minister & Foreign Minister, Micheal Martin, singled out Israel for demonization when speaking

Harris accused Israel of “engaging in the most amoral and brutal onslaught of innocent people and terrified children” and Martin of engaging “in the collective punishment of the Palestinian people”  

Neither complicated their narrative by mentioning any other aspect of the ongoing conflict, such as
1. hostages still held captive in Gaza,
2. missiles still targeting Israel,
3. firefights between Hamas and the IDF
4. Hamas’s objective to resume its brutal rule of Gaza
5. and promise to repeat its October 7 atrocities
6. nor spoke of any other foreign affairs issue

While Martin at least criticized Hamas for “ terrorizing their own people” and committing “terrible acts” no criticism of Hamas featured in Harris’s inflammatory commentary

Neither had anything to say about,
1. Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis
2. the extraordinary events in Syria since Ireland’s election took place
3. the catastrophic famine in Sudan
4. nor the Russia/ Ukraine war

Ireland's badge of dishonor in its phony war with Israel
The Jerusalem Post by Alan Shatter 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• Lowering the Israeli flag - Dublin Embassy

Friday morning, outside Israel’s Dublin Embassy, the Israeli flag was lowered and removed by embassy officials in the absence of Dana Erlich, Israel’s ambassador to Ireland, who was recalled to Jerusalem last May

A symbolic prelude to the embassy’s closure as announced by Gideon Saar at the start of the week

The day before, a group of Israel’s vitriolic Irish adversaries and protestors gathered outside the Israeli embassy building, to celebrate what they perceived as
1. Israel’s capitulation to their obsessive campaigning and weekly street protests
2. and their victory in effecting Israeli Embassy closure
3. and Israeli ambassador Erlich’s permanent departure

Just a normal week of non diplomatic engagement in the escalating Ireland / Israel phoney war

Pending the election of a new Prime Minister and agreement on a new program for government, the outgoing Irish administration continues to be in office with caretaker responsibilities

The new Irish government will essentially be a reincarnation of the old, formed by two centrist parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, who are now politically indistinguishable and only differ in personalities

Centrist in everything save for their adoption of the extreme left-wing anti-Israeli invective of Ireland’s opposition parties

Ireland's badge of dishonor in its phony war with Israel
The Jerusalem Post by Alan Shatter 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• Demonizing of Israel

In the realm of international affairs, most time was spent in the last Dáil after October 7, 2023 by both the government and all opposition parties engaged in a repetitive orgy of relentless demonizing of Israel with occasional ritual references to the plight of the hostages

A form of political amnesia set in, resulting in initial government condemnation of the Hamas pogrom of October 7 being rapidly replaced by a cross-party narrative of Israel for no reason arbitrarily bombing and killing civilians in Gaza, in particular children and then repeating its conduct in Lebanon

This replicated a narrative popularised by various Irish media outlets, including RTE Ireland’s state-funded national TV and radio broadcaster and favored by Ireland’s student unions and trade union movement, including its National Union of Journalists

Ireland's badge of dishonor in its phony war with Israel
The Jerusalem Post by Alan Shatter 22 December 2024

Extracts:
During 2024 this was accompanied by the Irish government

• Ignoring Iran’s malign role in the Middle East when it directly attacked Israel, its dedication to Israel’s destruction, and its sponsoring and arming of its self-proclaimed Axis of Resistance, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other fanatical Islamic groups against Israel
• Deepening its relationship with Iran throughout the conflict, Ireland’s President in July described Iran as playing a crucial role in achieving stability and the peaceful resolution of disputes across the Middle East in a fawning congratulatory letter, to Iran’s new President and Ireland opening an embassy in Tehran in September 2024
• Ignoring Hamas’s use of civilians as human shields, the existence of an extensive Hamas tunnel network throughout Gaza either under or adjacent to mosques, UN facilities, hospitals, schools and residences, the firing of missiles from such locations, storage of armaments and the hiding of Hamas combatants within them as well as captive hostages
• Ignoring the thousands of missiles fired by Hamas and Hezbollah at Israel from 7 October 2023 onwards and refraining from any public criticism of Hezbollah, despite its actions placing at risk the lives of Irish UNIFIL troops located in Southern Lebanon
• Embracing unquestioned all statistics of Palestinian fatalities  published by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Authority for which it held Israel solely responsible, ignoring the statistics inconsistencies, the absence of any reference to combatant deaths or to deaths resulting from Hamas and Islamic Jihad missiles falling in Gaza
• Criticizing any criticism voiced of UNRWA employees participating in the October 7 atrocities, allegations of UNRWA employees' membership of terrorist organizations and increasing its financial donations to UNRWA
• Ignoring all allegations of terrorist organizations stealing aid delivered to Gaza and repetitively accusing Israel of weaponizing starvation
• Doing nothing to counter escalating antisemitism in Ireland and false narratives about Judaism and Israel contaminating school texts and online educational material
• Failing to send a single government representative to the Dublin Jewish communal service held in October 2024 to commemorate those barbarically slaughtered a year earlier, despite 22-year-old Kim Damti, an Irish citizen, being one of those murdered at the Nova Music festival and another Irish citizen, then eight-year-old Emily Hand of Kibbutz Be’eri, being abducted to Gaza and due to Israeli government engagement being released in December 2023
• Promising to enact an Occupied Territories Bill that violates EU law to criminalize all trade with any business located in East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank that will impact all communities, both Israeli and Palestinian, ludicrously will criminalize Irish pilgrims who, when visiting the Holy Land purchase goods in Nazareth, Bethlehem or East Jerusalem and is a Trojan horse that could be applied to all trade with Israel

Ireland's badge of dishonor in its phony war with Israel
The Jerusalem Post by Alan Shatter 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• Israeli ambassador excluded

Iran’s ambassador to Ireland was an honored guest at all of Ireland’s main political parties' spring 2024 political conferences, with Israel’s ambassador excluded and boycotted

Upon Simon Harris becoming leader of Fine Gael, Harris arranged that an invitation already issued to Israel’s ambassador to his party’s conference be withdrawn;

Harris, in his party conference speech denouncing Netanyahu’s “repulsive” actions in the presence of Iran’s ambassador and demanding “ceasefire now” and a two-state solution, pretending Israel could unilaterally end the war and implement such solution in the immediate aftermath of October 7 and ignoring its total rejection by Iran, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian groups

Ireland’s parliament distinguished itself during 2024 by both government and opposition parties when addressing Israeli-related issues, abandoning Ireland’s much-vaunted attachment to a concept of neutrality and just prior to its dissolution, with no dissenting voices, determining Israel guilty of genocide

This was followed after the election by Martin announcing Ireland’s intention,
1. to join South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel
2. to invite the court to broaden its interpretation of genocide
3. and to apply it, to Israel’s conduct, in its war with Hamas

Ireland's badge of dishonor in its phony war with Israel
The Jerusalem Post by Alan Shatter 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• The Irish government's contradiction and hypocrisy

The Irish government is simultaneously accusing Israel of genocide while recognizing nothing done by Israel to defend its citizens against Hamas terrorism currently falls within the existing international law concept of genocide

This, together with Harris’s much-repeated blood libel allegation that Israel is deliberately killing Palestinian children, is what triggered Gideon Saar’s antisemitic depiction of Harris and the closure of Israel’s Dublin embassy

It is a pity that before announcing its closure and handing a victory to Israel’s adversaries, Saar didn’t fully realize,
1. Harris is merely a political opportunist who has never visited the Middle East
2. Harris' initial knowledge of the conflict derives from TikTok and Irish media,
3. Harris knows nothing of Jewish history,
4. Harris is addicted to media-friendly student soundbites
5. and determined to appease Ireland’s Israel haters

At the commencement of the new Dáil last Wednesday, Martin observed that “one of the things that most encourages cynicism about politics is when our time is wasted on empty gestures and grandstanding”

At that moment, Martin presented as oblivious to that being a succinct depiction of the Irish government's over-year-long pronouncements on the Israeli / Palestinian conflict

Ireland's badge of dishonor in its phony war with Israel
The Jerusalem Post by Alan Shatter 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• Tehran issued congratulatory statement from Hamas to Ireland

Save for the Israeli embassy closure and rewarding terrorism by Ireland’s announced recognition of the State of Palestine, the fulminations of Harris and Martin during 2024 achieved absolutely nothing

Other than the unique distinction of Ireland becoming the only state within the European Union to be the recipient of a Tehran issued congratulatory statement from Hamas, for engaging in lawfare by joining South Africa’s ICJ genocide case

• Trump and Ireland

How this badge of dishonor and the Irish government's conduct since October 7, 2023
1. is viewed by the incoming Trump administration in the United States,
2. what impact it may have on Ireland / US diplomatic relations and trade

• St Patrick's Day shindig in the White House

and whether it may result in Trump canceling the annual invitation to Micheal Martin, who will by then be Ireland’s Prime Minister, to the annual St Patrick's Day shindig in the White House remains to be seen

*The writer, Alan Shatter is a former Irish Minister for Justice, Equality, & Defence, a former member of the EU Council of Justice and Home Affairs Minister and a former Chairperson of the Irish Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee. Shatter is currently the voluntary Chairperson of Magen David Adom Ireland

Slovenia public broadcaster, first to demand banning Israel from Eurovision
The Times of Israel by Amy Spiro 21 December 2024

Extracts:

• Slovenia public broadcaster, first to demand banning Israel from Eurovision over Gaza war

Slovenia’s public broadcaster becomes the first, to demand Israel be barred from the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest over the war in Gaza

Slovenian media report:
The management of the RTV public broadcaster voted last week to immediately call for the European Broadcasting Union EBU to ban Israel from participating in next year’s competition in Switzerland

The network’s council however voted down two other resolutions, which called for,
1. Slovenia to back out if Israel is allowed to participate;
2. or for the country to black out the Israeli performance during the show

The EBU steadfastly refused calls earlier this year to bar Israel from the 2024 competition in Malmo, Sweden, noting that the contest is between public broadcasters, not governments and that Israel remained fully eligible to participate

Riding a wave of backlash to the boycott calls, Israel’s Eden Golan received the second-highest vote total from the public and finished Fifth overall with her song “Hurricane”

The EBU which runs the contest, has indicated that it will not accede to calls for Israel to be banned next year

However the EBU warned this week that shutting or privatizing the Israeli public broadcaster Kan could put Israel's future participation in the contest, in jeopardy

many of Israel's so-called 'allies'
1. turning against Israel, in Israel's dire need
2. United Nations anti-Israel voting
3. No solidarity visits to Israel following 7 October 2023 when terror was unleashed on Israel

• antisemitism cancer rampant, around the World including the Vatican

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch:
expressing optimism about the future, at Sydney Australia Chanukah [hanukkah] event, held 17 December 2024

From: The Jerusalem Post December 23, 2024
Iran considering aerial routes to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah - report

With flights between Tehran and Beirut resuming, the Islamic Republic may look to turn the Lebanese capital into a center for its deliveries. 

Iran is considering smuggling weapons to Hezbollah via air to Lebanon since the overland routes it previously used in Syria are no longer practicable, according to a Times report on Monday, citing a source with knowledge of the matter. 

With flights between Tehran and Beirut resuming, the Islamic Republic may look to turn the Lebanese capital into a center for its deliveries. 

'Next escalation':
The West is “concerned that Iran has lost [Damascus as] its go-to airport in the region for smuggling weapons and is now trying to turn Beirut airport into its new logistics hub, just as they did in Syria,” the source was cited as saying. 

The source further noted that this "could lead to the next escalation."

Recently, the rebel regime in Syria, led by Abu Muhammad al-Julani, announced its decision to prevent Iranians from flying over Syrian skies.

From: The Jerusalem Post December 23, 2024
Canada - antisemitism skyrockets

1. 'Something's rotten in the state of Canada,' as antisemitism skyrockets - editorial
2. If Jews aren’t safe in Canada, they won’t be safe anywhere.

Something is rotten in Canada, not just the crumbling coalition government.

Some 400,000 Jews – the fourth-largest Jewish population center in the world after Israel, the US, and France – live in the beautiful, spacious country that takes pride in its heritage of tolerance and pluralism. Now, this population is under attack.

B’nai Brith Canada (BBC) saw a record high of 5,791 antisemitic incidents in 2023 a 109% increase from years prior

As Post columnist David Weinberg wrote on Friday, Shimon Koffler Fogel, the outgoing CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) the leading Canadian Jewish community advocacy agency told the committee that since Hamas’s October 7 massacre and Israel’s retaliation in Gaza,

Toronto:
there has been a 93% rise in hate crimes in Toronto, nearly half of them directed at the Jewish community. 

shots have been fired on three different occasions at Bais Chaya, a Jewish girls’ school, with the most recent incident occurring on Friday night.

Vancouver:
In Vancouver, reports of antisemitism increased by 62% in 2023 over 2022 marking a 70% rise after October 7

Montreal:
In Montreal, antisemitic incidents rose by 250%.

assailants last week firebombed Congregation Beth Tikvah, a modern Orthodox synagogue in the Montreal suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, for the second time in just over a year.

“This is a terrifying reminder that Montreal is increasingly unsafe for Jewish people,” the synagogue’s cantor, Henry Topas, said in a statement. 

An accountability failure 
“This is the result of the failure of leaders at all levels to hold accountable those responsible for the hate and violence that is infesting Canadian society,” Topas, who is also the BBC’s regional director for Québec and Atlantic Canada, added.

Richard Marceau, the vice president of external affairs and general counsel at the CIJA said, “In a matter of months, Canada has become a country in which, masked thugs took over our streets, to
1. burn Canadian flags,
2. burn Israeli flags,
3. salute Hitler,
4. celebrate terrorists
5. call for violence

Prime Minister Justine Trudeau said he was “sickened by reports of shots fired at a Jewish elementary school in North York.”
He called it “a hateful, antisemitic attack.”

Trudeau issued a similar statement last week after the Montreal attack, but many Jews in Canada say that his government’s desire not to provoke the country’s large Muslim population has muted any concrete response.

Additionally, they say that Canada’s lukewarm support of Israel post-October 7 (Trudeau is one of the few Western leaders who did not pay a solidarity visit to Israel) has emboldened the anti-Jewish sense of empowerment.

On Friday, however, the Canadian government announced that it has created a National Forum on Combating Antisemitism, which will be held in Ottawa in February 2025

“The Government of Canada recognizes the urgent need for national leadership to ensure Jewish Canadians feel safe in their synagogues, schools, and communities,” a statement read.

Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, welcomed the forum, saying, “Jews are the number one target of reported hate crimes in Canada despite making up just over 1% of the population.

Antisemitism shouldn’t be a partisan issue.”

How Canada responds and deals with the scourge of antisemitism will have far-reaching implications for Jews in the rest of the Diaspora. If Jews aren’t safe in Canada, they won’t be safe anywhere.

Let’s hope that the platitudes of protecting the Jewish community will translate into concrete action that demonstrates there will be zero tolerance for targeting anyone solely because they’re Jewish.

From: All Israel News December 20, 2024

Israeli minister in letter to Pope Francis: 'Jesus lived and died as a Jew'
Chikli slams pope for perpetuating ‘blood libel,’ endorsing false display showing Jesus as Palestinian

Following several instances in recent months where Pope Francis appeared to endorse Palestinian narratives, Amichai Chikli, Israel's Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, issued a strongly worded protest letter to the Pope.

Chikli began his letter: “H.H. Pope Francis, Shalom.
It is a well-known fact that Jesus was born in the city of Bethlehem, as described in Chapter 2 of the Gospel according to Matthew: ‘Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king.’”

The minister’s first argument referenced a nativity scene featuring the baby Jesus lying in a manger draped with a Palestinian keffiyeh that was showcased in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Italy.

After significant backlash, the Vatican chose to remove the display shortly later.

Chikli continued, “It is a well-known fact that
1. Jesus was born to a Jewish mother,
2. lived as a Jew,
3. and died as a Jew,”

“It is also a well-known fact that
1. the term ‘Jew’ originates from Judah,
2. the fourth son of Leah, from whom the Tribe of Judah descended.”

“Two weeks ago, you took part in a display that echoes the Palestinian narrative, portraying Jesus as a Palestinian Arab.
There is no other way to understand the decision to present his image in a cradle, wrapped in a keffiyeh.

Had this been a one-time matter, I would not have written,” Chikli emphasized, before turning to the second event that prompted him to write the letter.

“As a nation that lost six million of its sons and daughters in the Holocaust, we are especially sensitive to the trivialization of the term ‘genocide’ – a trivialization that is dangerously close to Holocaust denial.

One of the main proponents of this new blood libel against Israel is the human rights organization Amnesty, which opened its report with the distressing claim that Israel launched an unprovoked attack on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023” the minister wrote.

“Next year, we will celebrate a significant milestone in the relationship between the Jewish people and Christianity:
the 60th anniversary of the Nostra Aetate Declaration from the Second Vatican Council.

We know you are a close friend of the Jewish people.

Just this past year, you met with families of,
1. hostages, injured soldiers, rabbis,
2. and Jewish leaders from around the world.”

In conclusion, Chikli wrote: “Your guidance, actions, and leadership have tremendous influence worldwide.
This is why I kindly ask you to clarify your position regarding the new accusation of genocide against the Jewish state.

Truth and God are one.“

From: Haaretz December 23, 2024
Trump's Incoming National Security Advisor,
1. Showers Netanyahu With Praise,
2. Hints at Saudi Normalization

President-elect Donald Trump's pick for National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, hailed recent Israeli military accomplishments giving credit to Netanyahu, while warning Hamas it will have 'hell to pay.'

Waltz also called Saudi normalization a 'natural next step'

Incoming U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deserves much of the credit for the rapid changes occurring in the Middle East.

Difference between Yemen and the Houthis
The Jerusalem Post by Ohad Merlin 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• What's the difference between Yemen and the Houthis?

The Yemeni capital of Sanaa has been controlled for more than a decade by the Ansar Allah organization, also known simply as the “Houthis”

Early Saturday morning, a ballistic missile fired from Yemen hit the midst of a residential area in Jaffa, leaving 16 civilians, Jews and Arabs alike, injured

As seen from the footage of the aftermath, had the missile fallen only a handful of meters in any direction, it would have resulted in a much more dire situation, potentially killing dozens

This attack came a mere 48 hours after another ballistic missile was launched from Yemen into Israel, which led to the partial destruction of a school in Ramat Gan, although there were no casualties

• Houthis threat remains

Despite successful retaliations from Israel, the US and other allies, which reportedly targeted ports, tugboats, oil installations and missile warehouses in Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Sanaa, the issue of the threat from Yemen remains

Difference between Yemen and the Houthis
The Jerusalem Post by Ohad Merlin 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• Houthis - antisemitic ideology

Houthis slogan Allahu Akbar – leaves little doubt about the group’s antisemitic ideology
1. death to America
2. death to Israel
3. curse on the Jews
4. victory for Islam

Even in the context of the current war as early as October 18, 2023 less than two weeks after the October 7 massacre, a decision was made in Sanaa (or perhaps more accurately in Tehran) to join the multi-tiered war against Israel, not only by firing long-range missiles but also by terrorizing international trade in the Red Sea

Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, the Houthis have launched over 130 attacks in the crucial international shipping waterway

Today, it has become common knowledge that the Houthis are a Shi’ite sect supported by Iran, like many terrorist organizations throughout the Middle East that effectively serve as the “shield” of the Islamic Republic

Difference between Yemen and the Houthis
The Jerusalem Post by Ohad Merlin 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• The Houthis are different

However at the same time, it is also necessary to emphasize the difference between the Houthis and Iran’s other arms in Israel’s vicinity

In Iraq and Lebanon, there are armed militias, some of which take an active part in local government but do not wield control of their respective countries and have never pretended or aspired, to do so openly

This is not the case when it comes to the Houthis
The Houthis are the state;
1. they speak on behalf of the Republic of Yemen
2. and the Yemeni people,
3. they call their military “The Yemeni Armed Forces,”
4. they enact laws and they force their oppressive rule in areas under their control –
5. including Sanaa and the important port city of Hodeidah.

Even if their control is not absolute over the entire country due to pockets of resistance, this is no different from other countries that are embroiled in conflicts with separatist groups, such as
1. Syria under former leader Bashar Assad
2. or even Ukraine with pro-Putin forces driving separatists from within

Difference between Yemen and the Houthis
The Jerusalem Post by Ohad Merlin 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• Houthis - rogue state

The implication of such an insight is simple:

Ansar Allah [Houthis] is not a radical terrorist organization that fires ballistic missiles at a faraway country or dangerously disrupts trade, in the Red Sea
This simple yet unspoken notion has immense repercussions which Israel may have to learn to accept and address

• Houthis - pariah state

Every situation is different and no perfect parallels exist in such a situation

But perhaps Israel should consider leading a line of discourse that insists,

Difference between Yemen and the Houthis
The Jerusalem Post by Ohad Merlin 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• A complicated matter

The matter is more complicated since there is another government in Yemen based in the southern part of the country which enjoys broad international legitimacy even though it controls neither the capital nor the armed forces

There are also further separatist forces in Aden which aspire to establish their own state of “South Arabia”

However there is no shortage of historical precedents for changes of government that earn legitimacy from international forums
Afghanistan, for instance, is currently ruled by the Taliban following the hasty US withdrawal from the country in 2021

Difference between Yemen and the Houthis
The Jerusalem Post by Ohad Merlin 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• Yemen declared war on Israel

A line of discourse arguing that the self-described Republic of Yemen has declared war on Israel unprovoked certainly involves ramifications in terms of international law, the right to self-defense and other measures that should be left for law experts to scrutinize

• Iran’s deliberate strategy

This discourse would also challenge Iran’s deliberate strategy of a non-state proxy war against Israel

The Islamic Republic of Iran carefully crafted a strategy that warned its loyalist militias to refrain from acting as recognized states on the international stage

This was done as a means to avoid scrutiny and accountability and as a way to make the aggression against Israel even more complicated as it does not face ‘organized’ nations in the Western sense of the word but rather fragments of countries embedded in the local population

• deterrence on a different perception of reality

Countless analytical and interpretive articles have already described how deterrence against the Houthis must rely on a different perception of reality since this is a remote and poverty-stricken country that in any case, has only what to gain from firing missiles at Israeli civilians

Perhaps a mindset that steps outside the box, refuses to see the Houthis as an organization and begins to view them as a state as they themselves claim to be – could help pave the way for addressing the Houthi problem through the appropriate international channels

Conflict With Israel Bolsters the Houthis Grip at Home, Worries Gulf Powers
Haaretz by Zvi Bar'el 22 December 2024

Extracts:

• Conflict With Israel Bolsters the Houthis Grip at Home while Worrying Gulf Powers

Constant war preserves the rigid regime of Yemen's Houthis and there is no certainty that the rebels,
1. will stop terrorizing Israel and the Red Sea
2. if the war in Gaza ends
3. or if Iran asks them to stop its attacks

A new directive issued in October by Houthis states,
operators of wedding halls in Sana'a, the Houthi-controlled capital of Yemen
1. must end the festivities by 8PM
2. the use of loudspeakers is also prohibited
3. the windows of the halls must remain closed to prevent the sounds of celebrations from being heard in the streets outside

It is also forbidden to,
1. photograph the bride
2. hire the services of DJs
3. or musicians
4. maintain the tradition of celebratory gunfire

IDF intercepts Yemen missile fired toward central Israel
The Jerusalem Post by Keshet Neev 24 December 2024

Extracts:

• IDF intercepts Yemen missile fired toward central Israel

IDF intercepts Yemen missile fired toward central Israel that triggered wave of sirens

Houthi official Hezam al-Asad vowed to,
The IDF intercepted a projectile fired from Yemen toward central Israel during the early hours of Tuesday morning, Israel's military said shortly after the incident

The projectile triggered a wave of sirens throughout central and southern Israel
There have been no reports of casualties from the incident

However Magen David Adom (MDA) said that paramedics were providing medical care to,
1. over 20 people who were injured while seeking shelter during the sirens
2. or who required treatment due to anxiety

al-Asad in an X post, made approximately 15 minutes after the projectile was launched vowed,

• A series of Houthi attacks 

This Tuesday attack comes after previous Houthi missiles targeted Israel this past week

On Saturday 16 people were lightly wounded by glass shards early on after a rocket fired from Yemen slammed into Jaffa