Across all theaters, Israel has achieved significant gains following the blow it suffered on October 7. It has struck its enemies hard and, with American assistance, succeeded in forcing Hamas and Hezbollah into moves they had refused to take – releasing hostages while the IDF maintains its presence in the Strip, and ceasing fire from Lebanon as an expression of solidarity with Hamas, despite Israel's continued freedom of operation in Lebanon and ground presence at five points along the border.

However significant these achievements are, they do not guarantee sustained and strategically meaningful long-term change in the regional landscape. To achieve this goal – which means victory in the war – Hamas must be fully disarmed, and Hezbollah must either be disarmed or at minimum prevented from strengthening and returning to southern Lebanon.

Realizing these objectives is far more difficult than achieving the goals reached so far, because for Hamas and Hezbollah, this is no longer about paying a heavy price to ensure survival and protect strategic assets, but rather about making concessions of existential significance. This is because they require Hamas and Hezbollah to relinquish a central component of their identity and control over territory, and because such a move would amount to Hamas admitting that the October 7 attack was a mistake and accepting that, in Palestinian national memory, the attack that galvanized the Palestinian public will be recorded as a disaster and grave error.

The impression is that the American administration has not yet decided whether to back powerful Israeli force moves that would enable completing the collapse of Hamas, or to prefer, as it currently leans, to begin implementing phase two of the plan (perhaps even without waiting for the return of Ran Gvili's body), at least in the area under IDF control, without disarming Hamas. Each path faces numerous obstacles due to the plan's ambiguity, which requires agreement on small details, the parties' differing interpretations of the plan's intent, the multiplicity of parties meant to be involved, and above all – President Trump's eagerness to demonstrate progress and strengthen the message that the war has ended, even when conditions on the ground actually indicate difficulty in advancing the plan.

To avoid having to make a strategic decision between completing the war objectives and leveraging achievements so far to shape a better security reality for the coming years, versus avoiding an undesired confrontation with an especially friendly American president who operates from his own motivations – Israel must make every effort to convince Trump that backing Israel to complete the mission is also in his interest. Among other reasons, it could help expand the Abraham Accords. One way to do this is to create a broad internal Israeli front on this issue, beyond the government. After all, the hostage dispute is already behind us.

The writer is the head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.

The post On fighting to disarm Hezbollah and Hamas appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Throughout the year he was held captive, Imad Amhaz, "The Captain," methodically laid out the complete picture behind one of Hezbollah's most secret and well-funded initiatives – a strategic, creative, and ambitious project that received the name "The Secret Maritime File." Only now can the existence of this underground project be revealed for the first time, along with new details about the commando operation to kidnap Amhaz from the heart of Lebanon – a daring and extraordinary operation that, due to the torrent of war events, remained buried in the depths of memory. Until now.

Nothing about the apparent IDF naval commando raid on Batroun to capture a single mid-level Hezbollah commander Imad Amhaz adds up.

The IDF doesn't seem to lack info from inside Hezbollah, and they have not been shy about eliminating targets with F-16s as they find them. Could… pic.twitter.com/MVVNbozbG4

— Saul Sadka (@Saul_Sadka) November 2, 2024

The codename: Jarih

A. is a 23-year-old woman, slim and quiet. If you passed her on the street, you wouldn't imagine she was the primary person responsible for one of the war's most impressive operations. She began her career as an "Arabist" in Unit 8200 and later transferred to Naval Intelligence as an analyst. Today, she's a permanent service member with the rank of staff sergeant, whose job is to track anyone who could pose a threat to Israeli Navy vessels.

The Israeli Navy's Shayetet 13 commando unit carried out a raid in northern Lebanon last night, capturing a Hezbollah official, the military confirms.

The Hezbollah operative, Imad Amhaz, is considered by the IDF to be a "significant source of knowledge" in the terror group's… pic.twitter.com/21GZJGcgkh

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 2, 2024

 "At Naval Intelligence, we have operational methods and capabilities that allow us to search for almost anyone's traces," she says.

At the end of 2021, A. began tracking a mid-level Hezbollah operative named Imad Amhaz, whose codename in the organization was Jarih. Amhaz, 39, a Shiite native of the Bekaa Valley, joined Hezbollah as an operative in 2004. In 2007, he completed a several-month military course in Iran, and upon returning to Lebanon, joined Unit 7900 – Hezbollah's shore-to-sea missile unit – as a radar operator. Since the Second Lebanon War and the fatal strike on the INS Hanit, this unit has greatly troubled Naval Intelligence personnel. He managed to assist the Assad regime forces in the Syrian civil war, and his brother was also a Hezbollah operative as a fighter in the Radwan Force.

In retrospect, it would become clear that a few months before A. began focusing on him, Amhaz was chosen as the central axis of Hezbollah's ambitious and secret project. Amhaz, it was decided at the organization's leadership level, would become the captain of "The Secret Maritime File" – "a strategic project, very secret, an event that could have changed the situation against us and also against other countries," says Colonel A., head of the Intelligence Division in the Navy.

"We can grab him"

After two years of surveillance, Naval Intelligence understood there was an opportunity to kidnap Amhaz and bring him for interrogation in Israel. "I realized we could grab him," says A., who initiated the idea. Her proposal advanced up the approval ladder with dizzying speed and received the prime minister's approval as well.

Naturally, the unit chosen to execute the kidnapping was Shayetet 13, the Navy's elite commando unit, which seemed born precisely for operations of this type. The Shayetet took the mission with both hands, extracted from A. all the intelligence she had to provide about Amhaz and his daily routine, and within just a few weeks prepared a detailed raid plan.

The plan was executed in early November 2023 and carried out with stunning success. Amhaz was kidnapped from the apartment where he was staying, approximately 140 kilometers north of the Israeli border, without a single shot being fired.

The full article will be published this weekend on the website and in the "Israel This Week" section.

The post Without firing a shot: How Israel captured 'The Captain' of Hezbollah appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Two weeks ago, a first meeting took place between Israeli and Lebanese representatives, laying the groundwork for ongoing talks concerning both preventing Hezbollah's re-armament and issues related to the border line and IDF activity in Lebanese territory. A follow-up meeting was already scheduled, and at the Netanyahu-Barrack meeting they agreed on a framework for talks and topics to be discussed between the sides, including coordination on the return of residents from southern Lebanon to their homes, specifically those not from pro-Hezbollah villages.

Israel's active defense rights

According to the sources, the meeting reinforced coordination between Israel and the US on Syria and Lebanon issues. They say there is a consensus that Israel has the right to defend itself actively, meaning to strike terrorist organizations and terrorists wherever they pose a real threat. On the Lebanese front, discussion focused on tightening coordination with the Lebanese army to enable it to fulfill its mission of uncovering Hezbollah's weapons and ammunition stockpiles in the country's south. Barrack was presented with data and intelligence showing that the Lebanese are not sufficiently determined in this mission and that the IDF, therefore, needs to conduct strikes on sites where the Lebanese army cannot or does not want to operate.

Warning about al-Sharaa forces

In the Syrian sector, Israel presented intelligence showing that the forces of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa cannot be trusted. One member of these security forces carried out an attack in which two soldiers and an American civilian were killed. The Damascus administration was quick to declare that this was a terrorist from ISIS, and Washington adopted this version. Israel warns that this is not a lone terrorist and that al-Sharaa's forces are responsible for massacres of minorities, including Druze and Alawites.

The American representatives requested that Israeli activity in Syria be coordinated and that Israel allow government forces to impose order. This week, in one of the Syrian villages not far from the Israeli border, a patrol of Syrian forces was filmed passing by an IDF checkpoint in what appears to be a coordinated passage between the sides.

Turkey's regional involvement

Another topic raised was Turkey's involvement across all sectors. The meeting clarified that Israel's firm opposition to Turkish forces entering the Gaza Strip remains in place. Regarding Syria, Israel seeks to preserve aerial freedom of operation in the country, and the Americans propose strengthening coordination in this context through CENTCOM headquarters to avoid clashes with the Turks. The meeting was attended by, among others, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, acting National Security Advisor Gil Reich, Military Secretary Brig. Gen. Roman Gofman, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter.

Saudi normalization disappointment

Meanwhile, an American source says that Washington's disappointment over the lack of progress toward normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia and the latter's joining the Abraham Accords is directed at both sides. He confirmed our Israel Hayom report that the Saudis, therefore, did not receive immediate signing of the F-35 aircraft deal, nor their request regarding the nuclear facility. He added that Israel's actions in Judea and Samaria (establishing new settlements) and reports of Jewish violence against Arabs are among the factors in the failure to achieve rapprochement with Saudi Arabia.

President Trump is disappointed, the source says, but he is not giving up, as this move (bringing Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords) is a key move for a comprehensive Middle East solution. The source confirmed that the White House and State Department conveyed messages of dissatisfaction about the assassination of senior Hamas figure Raad Saad, but described as "exaggerated" the publications on this matter. "Israel is entitled to defend itself and strike terrorists, but in the background, there is a ceasefire and moves to end the war, and care must be taken not to torpedo that. Trump's plan returned all the living hostages and almost all the deceased, Israel needs to give it a chance to be completed," the source said.

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For years, Saad topped Israel's target list, evading numerous assassination attempts until Saturday's successful strike. Together with Izz al-Din Haddad, who now leads Hamas' military apparatus in Gaza, he stood as the sole survivor among the organization's pre-war senior leadership and among the handful who knew the intimate details of Hamas' assault blueprint, which Israel designated "Wall of Jericho" (Hamas's operational code for the October 7 attack).

Israel justified Saad's elimination by pointing to his ongoing efforts to reconstitute Hamas' capabilities and an explosive device that injured two reserve soldiers near the southern Strip on Friday. Yet these explanations appear tailored for Washington's consumption: The authentic motivation boils down to a score Israel had to settle with him – or stated plainly, vengeance.

By Saturday evening, Hamas had yet to acknowledge Saad's death. The silence might reflect internal disarray, though questions remain whether the organization retains meaningful retaliatory capacity. Hamas has hemorrhaged most of its military strength alongside its military and civilian leadership throughout the war, leaving it organizationally shattered. Currently it channels its remaining resources toward consolidating control over the Strip's western sector, which stays under its authority. Israel presumably factored this weakness into its assassination calculus, which earned unanimous backing from the diplomatic-security establishment's uppermost echelons.

The singular gamble Israel appears to have accepted concerns the Washington administration. Saad's elimination provides Israel an opportunity to gauge President Donald Trump's temperature, for whom the Gaza accord stands as his first presidential term's marquee diplomatic accomplishment. Trump recently pressed Israel to throttle back its Gaza operations, affording space for the agreement's advancement; if he refrains from erupting now, Israel can interpret his silence as tacit authorization to persist in eliminating Gaza's senior hierarchy, mirroring its Lebanon approach.

Hamas will naturally strive to derail this trajectory, mobilizing its Qatari and Turkish sponsors hoping they'll persuade Trump to muzzle Israel. This contest for the president's attention – and by extension his policy direction – will dictate Gaza's near-term landscape. Israel seeks maximum postponement of transitioning to Phase 2, apprehensive it will mandate further withdrawals absent fundamental shifts in Gaza's circumstances. It partially attributes delays to Hamas' failure to return fallen hostage Ran Gvili, with Hamas contending that Israeli intelligence leads proved fruitless in pinpointing his location.

Three unpalatable paths

Meanwhile, Americans wrestle with assembling a multinational contingent to shoulder Gaza's security burden and execute its demilitarization. Simultaneously, mobilizing the billions required for the Strip's reconstruction proceeds at glacial speed: precisely as before, a chasm yawns between verbal pledges and written commitments. Trump must deploy his full leverage extracting promised funding – including from prosperous nations, principally Saudi Arabia – lest he grow tempted to embrace Qatari financing once more.

This tangle poses difficulties for Israel by generating three unpalatable paths. First, the grandiose promises yield nothing and Hamas continues governing overtly. Second, Americans declare victory prematurely, accepting a phantom governing structure masking Hamas' continued dominance. Third, the accord disintegrates entirely, forcing Israel back into comprehensive Gaza combat – bearing its physical, economic and diplomatic toll.

Israel will likely endeavor provisionally, at least publicly, to afford the agreement implementation opportunities as Trump desires. The assassination will be rationalized, as noted, through immediate operational necessity, simultaneously insisting Hamas cease its ongoing violations. Meanwhile, deliberately avoiding excessive administration irritation and projecting restraint, Israel shelved plans Friday to strike Hezbollah installations in Lebanon.

Israel maintained the scheduled operation was aborted because the Lebanese Armed Forces requested (and obtained) the intended target and pledged to address it independently. This signals encouragingly that threats of escalating military pressure toward renewed warfare are producing results, propelling the Lebanese Armed Forces toward action. Prudence nevertheless counsels withholding definitive conclusions: presently the probability of another Hezbollah confrontation remains elevated, merely deferred temporarily.

The post The calculated risk of killing Hamas' last October 7 mastermind appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

However, in 1975, when she was 10 years old, her life was turned upside down. "The fear of dying shaped my worldview more than anything," Gabriel, an American journalist and author, said in an exclusive interview. "My September 11 or October 7 happened when a combined force of Palestinians and Muslims bombed my family's home. I was injured and hospitalized, and we found ourselves living in a shelter.

"I remember running to the shelter almost every night at the beginning of the Civil War, and the sounds of bombs around us. We expected death every day. We lived in constant fear. One day, we heard that our town was about to be attacked, and that our Christian militia would not hold the line. I remember putting on my burial clothes and waiting to be slaughtered. I wanted to look beautiful when I was dead, knowing that when they came to slaughter me, there would be no one to bury me. At this stage, I was 13, and I didn't plan to go to college or think about any future, because I didn't believe I would live to age 20."

Tragedy, ultimately, saved the Lebanese girl from additional, larger tragedies. Her mother was wounded in an attack, and Hanaan (who later changed her name to Brigitte) accompanied her when she was taken for medical treatment in Israel. The experience at Ziv Medical Center in Safed was formative for her. The Israeli doctors treated all the wounded with endless dedication, which profoundly affected her opinion and her values.

Later, she settled in the US, and after the September 11 attacks, she established the organization ACT for America there, designed to curb Islamic extremism. In other words, she survived a tangible danger in her country - and dedicated her life to an activity no less dangerous.

And today, in an era when many prefer to avoid confrontation with Islamic extremism and ignore the threats it poses to the free world, Brigitte Gabriel is a rare figure: a woman who does not hesitate to stick to uncompromising truth, even when it costs her dearly, in a stubborn and dangerous struggle for the freedom of democratic societies.

The enormous political influence of her activity includes, among other things, legislation, public campaigns, and exhausting work with the American Congress. Honesty, courage, and willingness to stand against political currents and cultural fashions have become her hallmarks. In a world that prefers political correctness and caresses, she is the loud and clear voice of the uncomfortable truth. A voice that does not hesitate to declare that "Israel is the pillar of light of freedom in the Middle East."

When Gemayel wanted peace

As a daughter of a Christian family, she visited here for the first time even before her mother's injury. "It was in 1979 or 1980," she recalled. "We made contact with my father's uncles in Haifa and joined them at the 'Good Fence' (the border crossing between Israel and Lebanon during the civil war). We lived with them for a week in Haifa, on Hagefen Street, at the foot of Stella Maris, near the French consulate. My parents were full of admiration for Israel, for its progress and its beauty, and I also fell in love with Israel and with what I saw in it: the order, the cleanliness, the equality between women and men, the respect of the leaders for the citizens. All this was very, very different from war-torn Lebanon that I knew.

"I remember the emergency room at Ziv Hospital, which was full of wounded from Lebanon – Muslims, Christians, and Druze – alongside Israeli soldiers. The doctors treated everyone according to the severity of the injury. They didn't see political affiliation, religion, and not nationality. They saw human beings who needed help. I couldn't believe my eyes. For my mother, it was a life-saving experience. For me, it was a life-changing experience.

"The stay at the hospital changed the way I listen to information, the way I see people, and my understanding of the conflict. I saw up close the love, the compassion, and the desperate desire for peace among the Jews toward their neighbors. Israelis from all over the country came to help the Lebanese wounded."

She described all this in her book, a New York Times bestseller, "Because They Hate," which she describes as "a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the conflict and its human impact."

Q: As a daughter of a Christian family in Lebanon, did you understand the conflict in the country and its background?

"Yes. The Christians in Lebanon welcomed the Palestinians, gave them shelter and food, while no other Arab country wanted more refugees. Lebanon was the only country that absorbed a third wave of Palestinians. As a country with a Christian majority, we lived based on Judeo-Christian values of kindness, love, compassion, empathy, tolerance, and generosity - and what was the reward from the Palestinians? Massacre, hatred, killing, and intolerance.

"They wanted to use Lebanon as a base for attacks against Israel and to throw the Jews into the sea. And out of pure hatred, they were also willing to kill those who extended a loving hand to them. This is something we, Christians and Jews, don't understand. It's contrary to everything we believe in. Therefore, the Christians in Lebanon understood very well, and at a very early stage, what Israel is dealing with regarding the Palestinians. This is also the reason Lebanese Christians worked with Israel from 1975 until almost 2000, and why Bachir Gemayel, Lebanon's president-elect, was assassinated. He sought to bring peace between Lebanon and Israel."

Q: And what's happening there today, after Israel's war with Hezbollah? Does the possibility of an alliance with Lebanon's Christians still exist?

"Yes, but action must be taken quickly. My generation, the one that experienced the war before Hezbollah's brainwashing, which began in 2000, wants peace with Israel. Christians in Lebanon have much more in common with Israel than with other Arab countries. We share the same Judeo-Christian values.

"Many Christians aged 50 and above remember the friendship between Israel and Lebanon in the '70s and '80s. Many of them were also trained in Israel or by Israel. They remember how Israel stood by their side in the civil war, and their beloved president-elect, Bachir Gemayel, who wanted peace with Israel. Unfortunately, today Christians are led by fear of assassination, threats to their families' lives, and therefore they're afraid to speak.

"After Israel crushed Hezbollah and killed Nasrallah, I reached out to Lebanon's president-elect through a mutual friend, and proposed holding a private and secret meeting at my home in the US with an Israeli official, to begin drafting a peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel. I said that even if Lebanon isn't ready now, secret talks could begin and a framework could be prepared to be presented in two or three years. The answer was a big 'no.' They were afraid even to consider it. I hope that now, as they see what President Trump is doing with other Arab countries, they'll dare to move forward."

Q: As someone who fled civil war and persecution, do you also feel identification with the Palestinians?

"Palestinians, like Jews who were scattered across the world following persecution, live today in different countries with different passports. These people are not refugees – they are citizens of those countries. Children born and raised in those countries are not Palestinian refugees, and must not be viewed as such.

"Jews were expelled from Arab lands and dispersed throughout the world, including to Israel. There are more than one million Jewish refugees from Arab countries, and they live today in different countries and hold different citizenships. Their children are Americans, French, Canadians – not Yemenites, Egyptians or Iraqis. While they still celebrate their culture and cook their foods, they are proud citizens of the countries they live in. Palestinians, on the other hand, still call themselves refugees after four generations - even though they have lived in the West for decades, and their children and grandchildren are no longer connected to the land of Judea and Samaria or Gaza."

Convert or die

Since October 7, Gabriel has felt that Israel is losing the public relations battle, and offers explanations: "Jews try to speak for Israel using legal language and historical facts, and Palestinians use emotion to distort facts. Israel's spokespeople are usually middle-aged men with heavy Israeli accents, who go on air and start talking about this or that clause in UN Resolution 242. They present a logical argument.

"Palestinians, in contrast, talk about the suffering of children, and paint the conflict in graphic words. The moment people start to feel the child's pain, emotion takes over, and they stop listening to logic. This is why Israel loses the PR war. Israel needs more fluent women, speaking perfect English, who will tell stories about children in trauma."

Q: There are quite a few Jews today in international media, and yet Israel's side is barely heard. How do you explain this?

"They want to show both sides to prove they are decent people. Therefore, they invite their enemies on air and give them 50% of the time to present their claims. Palestinians, in contrast, play on one team –Q:  the Palestinian team. They will never give a platform to their enemies. Their time is dedicated 100% to Palestinian propaganda, and in addition, they receive another 50% of others' media time. I can't count how many times I was prevented from appearing on programs because of Jewish journalists who feared I was 'too tough' on Palestinians, and wanted someone 'less controversial.'"

Q: What, in your opinion, don't people in the West understand about Israel's struggle against terror?

"They simply don't perceive terrorists as terrorists. Western media calls them 'freedom fighters', 'an oppressed people fighting for freedom.' They don't understand the depth of hatred and the thirst for revenge in the Islamic world. The Muslim Middle East views Jews as 'najis', impurity according to the Quran, and requires them to convert to Islam or die. This is an idea so foreign to Western ears that they simply don't know how to deal with it. They don't understand why Israel 'kills and oppresses' people who supposedly 'just want freedom.'

"Israel is fighting extremist Islamist terrorists who hate Jews, Christians, and non-Muslims. Islam divided the world in two: 'Dar al-Islam' – the House of Islam (the Islamic nation and land), and 'Dar al-Harb' - the House of War (the land and peoples not yet conquered by Islam). ISIS, al-Qaida, al-Shabab, the Houthis, Boko Haram, Hamas, or any other name you choose for terror organizations - they all share the same ideology of hatred and intolerance toward everything non-Muslim. Israel holds the line in the Middle East, and helps us with intelligence and everything we need to defend ourselves and Western civilization from these jihadists."

Gabriel identifies the problem also among circles and figures from the conservative side in the US, like Tucker Carlson and his ilk. "People around the world tend to see reality through their own experience," she explains. "They're incapable of understanding that Palestinian mothers educate their children to die just to kill those they hate. That parents put an explosive belt on a child, send him to blow himself up at a checkpoint, and when he dies, they celebrate and name streets after him.

"Today even conservative voices in the US are turning their backs on Israel, because they pity 'innocent Palestinian women and children', and accuse Israel of 'genocide.' This is why our work in educating conservatives is so important. The good news is that American conservatives understand that Israel and the US share a common enemy – Islamic extremists."

Toxic algorithm

Q: You've been warning for years about the penetration of Islamist ideology into Western societies. Does it seem to you that the West has already awakened to the danger, or does denial still prevail?

"The West is beginning to wake up, especially after October 7. The pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas demonstrations, in which protesters in various Western countries tore their country's flag while waving PLO flags, shocked many. People in the West are now worried about Islamic penetration and the open expression of resentment toward the culture and host countries.

"Crime, lawlessness, property destruction, and demonstrations of resentment toward Western countries - all these are happening today in every major Western city, from Sydney to London, from New York to Paris. Muslim immigrants are not assimilating – they organize within their communities, create enclaves, and threaten the local way of life and the authorities."

Q: Do you identify a similarity between today's radical Islam and movements in Lebanon in the '70s and '80s?

"There is nothing new under the sun. In the '70s, Palestinians massacred Christians, slit throats, severed limbs, and stuffed them into mouths, tore children in half, and cut open the bellies of pregnant women. They did this in Turkey against the Armenians in the 19th century, in Lebanon, and two years ago in Israel. When I said this 25 years ago, people in the West didn't want to believe it and accused me of exaggeration. Now you in Israel understand it, because you lost family members and friends - and still, the world doesn't believe Palestinians are capable of such acts."

"One of the reasons for this is social media, which spreads propaganda. Most young Americans have no knowledge of the world. They don't know the history of their own country, much less the history of another country. People today get their news from Instagram, and not from reading newspapers or articles that explain the conflict. Everything is driven by emotion and fake images, which spread faster than truth, and the algorithm, of course, plays a central role in shaping consciousness, by feeding them only one point of view, and showing them more of what they want to hear - without exposing them to opposing opinion."

Q: You criticize the idea of multiculturalism when it becomes cultural relativism. What's the alternative you propose?

"The West must control immigration policy better. In the past, there were immigrants who chose to come to the West to be educated, build new lives, and assimilate into the new land. Today, they import people who didn't really want to immigrate to France or America because they were impressed by the culture, but also because of the benefits these countries offer.

"We have a new wave of immigrants arriving with a sense of entitlement. They don't just feel they have a right to enjoy our tax money – they demand that we adapt ourselves to their culture, to their way of life, to their way of thinking. They try to transform Western countries and the freedoms that enabled our prosperity into the same hellish countries they fled from. They demand that we limit our freedom of expression and our exchange of ideas so we don't offend them.

"So yes, we need fresh blood in our countries – it's good, it renews and brings ideas - but we must be selective about who enters and how we assimilate them, for everyone's benefit. Europeans ignored this problem for too long, and Europe has become Eurabia. They tried to silence everyone who warned. For years, people like me and othershave  warned against importing an ideology that completely clashes with Judeo-Christian values and with Western freedoms. The West's problem is that we project our Western values onto evil people who don't share them with us."

Q: Why, in your opinion, do many Western feminists remain silent about the oppression of women in Islamist societies?

"They're silent because if they speak, they'll have to criticize Islam as an oppressive religion. They'll have to discuss, for example, the marriage age, which is 9. In our culture, this is considered pedophilia. In Islam, the Prophet Muhammad married a 6-year-old girl and had sexual relations with her at age 9, and he is considered the perfect person whom every Muslim man tries to emulate. According to Islam, women are property of men, as stated in the Quran and hadith. If Western feminists want to talk about beating, rape, and oppression of women in Islamic countries, they need to look at the Quran and at the ideology driving such cultures, but they're incapable of doing this and connecting Islam to anything negative."

Q: Is there hope for reformist and moderate voices within Islam?

"Yes, there is hope, but many such voices are needed, and they need to speak about real reform – adapting the religion to the 21st century. The problem is that many of them don't truly understand the religion, and they're 'reformers' only in their imagination. Therefore, when radicals and moderates argue, the radicals win, because the law is on their side. While we view ISIS as something evil, they are actually implementing Islam as Muhammad himself did, including beheadings and throwing homosexuals off buildings."

Power brings respect

The October 7 massacre returned her to the horrors of childhood and triggered the post-traumatic stress disorder she has carried with her since then. She was in complete shock for five days. Only on October 12, while sitting in her hotel room, did she gather the strength to watch the news, and broke down.

"I knew I had to do something," Gabriel recalled. "I immediately posted my first video from the hotel. I wanted to come volunteer in Israel, but I understood I could help more through the media and my platforms. I reach 8 to 10 million people per day through them, and in the first two months of the war, my videos reached 50 million views. People copied and shared them. I did every possible interview. There were days when I did 14 interviews in a row, from 7 in the morning until 11 at night."

She was not surprised by the wave of pro-Hamas demonstrations after October 7. According to her, the massacre awakened the hidden antisemitism in the West, and Jews (in the diaspora) were more surprised by the demonstrations than other people. "Jews lived in denial. They thought that if they showed understanding to the enemy and neglected their own people, then the enemy, meaning Palestinians and Muslims, would love them and see how 'nice' they are. After October 7, they were forced to understand that they had very few friends outside the Jewish community – and people like me, whom the Jewish mainstream sought to distance, were the only ones trying to help."

Now, with Zohran Mamdani's victory in the New York City mayoral election (and following support from a Jewish governor and 30% of Jewish voters), Gabriel's thesis gains reinforcement. She predicts that Mamdani's win will be a disaster, and notes that the man is surrounded by Palestinian activists of the worst kind, like Linda Sarsour, who will serve in senior positions on his team.

Q: What message would you like to convey to Israelis who feel quite isolated in the world today?

"You will never be alone. There are good people in the world who will stand by your side, fight for you, and with you. There are those who see the truth clearly – and are willing to pay a personal price to defend you and your right to live in your Jewish state. Because of my uncompromising support for Israel, I lost my Lebanese community, I can't visit Lebanon, and I live with death threats against my family and me. I paid a heavy price, but I would do it again, because it's the right thing to do. This is how I was raised: to stand by good and fight evil."

The post The Lebanese woman helping Israel win appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Iran had functioned as one of Damascus's most essential supporters throughout the civil war that ignited in 2011 after the regime's brutal response to pro-democracy demonstrations, sending military advisers and Revolutionary Guards forces to Syria, AFP reported.

Revolutionary Guards units and regional allies – chiefly Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon, plus combatants from Iraq and Afghanistan – had occupied strategic locations and propped up Assad's regime, only to vanish as Islamist-led forces charged toward the capital, according to AFP.

Syrian military officers and troops operated under Revolutionary Guards command, whose influence grew during the conflict while Assad's authority weakened, AFP reported.

A former Syrian officer posted at a Guards security facility in Damascus said that on December 5, 2024, his Iranian commander ordered him to an operations center in Mazzeh district the next day to address an "important matter," according to AFP. The ex-officer, requesting anonymity over safety concerns, said his commander – identified as Hajj Abu Ibrahim – delivered a bombshell announcement to about 20 Syrian officers and soldiers assembled for the briefing, AFP reported.

"From today, there will be no more Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria. We're leaving," those present were informed, according to AFP. "It's all over. From today, we are no longer responsible for you."

They were instructed to destroy or burn classified documents and extract hard drives from computers, AFP reported. The declaration came as Islamist forces secured massive gains, yet it still caught Syrian soldiers by surprise, he said, according to AFP.

"We knew things hadn't been going well, but not to that extent." They received advance payment covering one month and departed for home, AFP reported.

Within two days, Islamist forces captured Damascus without fighting after Assad escaped to Russia, according to AFP. Two Syrian staff members at Iran's Damascus consulate, requesting anonymity for security purposes, also recounted a hurried Iranian departure, AFP reported. The consulate stood empty by December 5 evening as Iranian diplomats scrambled across the border into Beirut, they informed AFP.

Multiple Syrian employees "who held Iranian nationality left with them, accompanied by senior Revolutionary Guards officers," one former employee stated, according to AFP. At Jdeidet Yabus – Syria's primary Lebanese border crossing – taxi operators and former staff documented enormous congestion on December 5 and 6, with eight-hour delays to cross the frontier, AFP reported.

Both ex-consulate workers said Iranians instructed Syrian personnel to remain home and compensated them three months' wages, according to AFP.

The embassy, consulate and all Iranian security installations were abandoned by December 6 morning, they said, AFP reported.

Throughout the conflict, forces under Iranian authority concentrated in critical Damascus zones and suburbs, especially Sayyida Zeinab district – site of a significant Shiite Muslim shrine – and around Damascus airport, plus near Lebanese and Iraqi frontiers, according to AFP.

Sections of northern Aleppo and other provincial sites also functioned as major deployment zones for personnel and combatants, AFP reported.

At a location that formerly operated as a crucial Iranian military base south of Aleppo, Colonel Mohammad Dibo said when the city fell early in the rebel campaign, "Iran stopped fighting," according to AFP.

Iranian forces "had to withdraw suddenly after the quick collapse" of Assad's military, stated Dibo, who participated in the rebel offensive and currently serves in Syria's new armed forces, AFP reported. On severely damaged walls at the deserted base, an AFP journalist observed Iranian and Hezbollah slogans plus a mural showing a sword slicing through an Israeli flag, according to AFP.

Israel – Tehran's foe – had conducted hundreds of airstrikes on Syria during the war, primarily claiming it targeted Assad's forces and Iran-backed organizations, AFP reported. The anonymous former Syrian army officer said that on December 5, a high-ranking Iranian military official known as Hajj Jawad and several Iranian troops and officers were transported to Russia's Hmeimim base on the Mediterranean coast, then airlifted to Tehran, according to AFP.

At the deserted site near Aleppo, Dibo said following the city's collapse, "some 4,000 Iranian military personnel were evacuated via Russia's Hmeimim base" where they had sought refuge, AFP reported. Additional personnel escaped overland through Iraq or Lebanon, he stated, according to AFP.

The departure proved so hurried that "when we entered their bases" in Aleppo province, "we found passports and identity documents belonging to Iranian officers who didn't even have time to retrieve them."

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"They do not want to move ahead and bypass the Saudis", he explains from Washington, where he is a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "Today the Saudi leadership conditions formal ties with Israel on what it calls a credible path to a Palestinian state", meaning substantial progress with Ramallah that appears far from reach. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam made the point himself recently when he said that normalization between Beirut and Jerusalem depends on the Saudi initiative, which includes an agreement to establish a Palestinian state.

Even so, many in Lebanon have expressed optimism about the civilian channel created within the cease-fire oversight committee. "Direct engagement could help prevent escalation, bolster the Lebanese government against Hezbollah and create conditions for future arrangements", former senior officials in the Coalition for Regional Security told Israel Hayom. "Israel should work with the Trump administration to ensure the talks bolster the Lebanese government and encourage it to fulfill its responsibility to disarm Hezbollah. Doing so will pave Lebanon's path to joining the Abraham Accords and breaking away from Iranian influence."

Hussain stresses that although peace still seems distant, there is broad potential for cooperation between Israel and Lebanon even below the threshold of normalization. That includes economic issues but also other areas of mutual interest. "If we can reach understandings on disarming Hezbollah, that would be beneficial", he says.

What are the Lebanese government's main obstacles regarding disarming Hezbollah? Analysts say the organization has weakened, yet the state continues to stall.

"Look, in Lebanon there is a profound lack of trust in the US", he says. "Over the years, two schools of thought emerged in Lebanon about how to deal with Hezbollah. Lebanese politicians are focused on survival and holding on to power. They fear that if they act to dismantle Hezbollah's arsenal, Iran and the US might suddenly reach an agreement and Washington will throw them under the bus, leaving them exposed to Hezbollah's return. As long as they doubt the consistency of American policy toward Lebanon, that remains the central obstacle. Statements made in the past by people like Tom Barrack only deepened Lebanese concerns that the US could change its mind.

"Second, some Lebanese argue that disarming Hezbollah could lead to war, but I disagree, he continues. I do not think the army would fight Hezbollah. My assessment is that Hezbollah would behave toward the Lebanese Armed Forces as it has toward UNIFIL. UNIFIL sent personnel to inspect sites that Israel had identified as suspicious. Hezbollah operatives, disguised as civilians, blocked the roads and confronted them. So UNIFIL, being UNIFIL, withdrew. But the Lebanese army cannot withdraw because it represents a sovereign state. If the army found itself in a situation where it had to open fire and kill a Shiite civilian, that could create momentum for dismantling Hezbollah. That is what the government fears. It is ultimately political."

Could another Israeli military operation help?

"I think Israel will likely continue intensifying its strikes against Hezbollah, but it will never fully destroy it", he says. "It is too complicated and too dirty. The Lebanese themselves must make that final mile. It ultimately depends on the Lebanese state. I have heard that Israel may escalate its strikes against Hezbollah. That could persuade the Lebanese that there is no alternative to disarming the group. Lebanon needs these strikes to stop in order to rebuild its economy. As long as they continue, investors from the Gulf will stay away. Unless Lebanon finds a way to halt the attacks, it will remain in distress."

What do you think about the appointment of a civilian representative to the cease-fire oversight committee?

"Simon Karam spent his life opposing the Assad regime and Hezbollah, so his appointment is positive. You can see how furious Hezbollah's media outlets are, which only reinforces that it was a good choice. The fact that the talks are now face to face is also encouraging. Everyone in Lebanon believes that what Karam can achieve through direct negotiations cannot be compared to what was possible until now, in military-level discussions. I hope the talks withstands this, despite Israeli strikes and the criticism that follows."

How does the Lebanese public view Hezbollah today?

"Lebanese society is divided, as you know. Shiites are the ones who support Hezbollah. Among Christians and Sunnis, support is at most 10 percent, which is extremely low. Among Shiites, if you look at the 2022 elections, 13 percent voted against Hezbollah. I believe that percentage has grown given the war and the destruction of the past two years.

"The only reason Shiites cling to Hezbollah is their belief that without it, they would be weaker than Sunnis and Christians. It has nothing to do with Israel. When Hezbollah harms them more than it helps them, that will have an impact. Today countless Shiites cannot return to their villages. These people have been displaced for a long time. We are moving in the right direction."

A recent idea raised in Israel proposes creating a welfare network to compete with Hezbollah in order to weaken it. What is your view?

"We should not think of the Shiites as the only bloc in the country. Lebanon is a big country and its economy must grow. We should not think in terms of alternatives meant to help the Shiites specifically. Before the war, Sunni communities in northern Lebanon were suffering the worst economic conditions. In truth, Shiites received funding from everyone. That is why I believe the focus should be on helping all Lebanese expand their GDP. That is how the issue should be addressed. I oppose approaches based on welfare networks designed as substitutes."

A bleak reality

The Lebanese scholar grew up in Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. He later studied at the American University of Beirut and spent years moving between Lebanon, Iraq and the US. From Washington, he watches with sadness the situation of Lebanon's Christian community.

"Unfortunately, Christian emigration from Lebanon is massive, he says. When I grew up in Baalbek, Catholics made up one third of the city's population. That was in the 1980s. Today if you go to Baalbek, you will find three Catholics. The Christian share fell from about 35 percent. We know the figures for Shiites and Sunnis because they are updated every few years in elections. That is how we track demographics. Based on that, Christians now make up 28 percent of the population, and in reality probably less."

To conclude, I ask Hussain about the renewed tensions with Syria. Until the Cedar Revolution almost two decades ago, Syria maintained military forces inside Lebanon. Now, with Ahmed al-Sharaa's new government in Damascus, old fears have resurfaced among parts of the Lebanese public.

"Lebanon suffered historically from Syrian dominance", says Hussain, "and it is now relieved that Syria is weak. That is the main point. Because Hezbollah fought in the Syrian civil war, the al-Sharaa government opposes Hezbollah and is tense toward Lebanon's Shiite community. Shiites fear Syria and want to distance Lebanon from it. Sunnis, by contrast, welcome the change and want closer ties. Among Christians and within the government, many believe it might be best if each country simply focused on its own affairs."

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The statement released by the Prime Minister's office after the meeting said that under Netanyahu's direction and as part of the ongoing security dialogue among the US, Israel and Lebanon, Resnick met Ortagus and Lebanese civilian representatives in Naqoura. According to the statement, the meeting was held in a "positive atmosphere" and the sides agreed to formulate "ideas for potential economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon". Israel clarified that "disarming Hezbollah is a fundamental requirement that stands independently of any progress on economic issues. The sides agreed to hold follow-up discussions."

Earlier statements described the meeting as a first attempt to establish the basis for economic cooperation and a future relationship between Israel and Lebanon. Beyond the immediate discussions on monitoring the ceasefire, this was presented as the early groundwork for eventual normalization, even if actual political agreements remain distant. The process, Israeli officials say, has now begun.

These contacts mark a significant shift. During the maritime border negotiations in previous years, Lebanon, under pressure from Hezbollah, refused to send civilian officials, and the talks were conducted indirectly through the US and France and handled by military officers. Even then, Beirut participated only after Israel agreed to relinquish nearly all of the disputed maritime area. The current civilian-level dialogue is a strong indication of the decline in Hezbollah's influence over Lebanese government policy.

For Israel, this represents a policy adjustment coordinated with and encouraged by Washington. Two tracks are now separated: the campaign against Hezbollah and efforts to dismantle its arsenal, and the political process with Lebanon. Israel will continue to strike Hezbollah targets as the organization works to rebuild and rearm, while Lebanon's government continues pursuing its stated commitment to disarm the terrorist organization. Separately, Israel and Lebanon will engage in civilian talks. The US administration has given Israel a green light to continue its military actions against Hezbollah, while at the same time pressing Jerusalem to support steps that bring the Lebanese government and President Joseph Aoun closer to Washington and promote confidence building measures.

The content of the civilian talks is not yet clear. One of the primary expected avenues is cooperation related to natural gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, including securing offshore gas fields and the shipping lanes used by oil tankers. Agricultural cooperation may also be explored, along with mechanisms to oversee the return of residents of southern Lebanon to their homes. Many of these residents are Christians, whose return Israel views as a moderating factor compared with Shiite communities, many of whom have been Hezbollah members or supporters.

According to an Israeli political official, the dialogue is expected to lay the foundation for broad negotiations between Israel and Lebanon on all outstanding issues, including formalizing the land border and resolving disputes created largely by Hezbollah. Still, the official added that as long as Hezbollah remains active, progress on matters such as an IDF withdrawal from positions inside Lebanon or halting Israeli strikes against Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure will remain extremely difficult.

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"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Acting Director of the National Security Council to send a representative on his behalf to a meeting with government-economic elements in Lebanon," Netanyahu's office said on X. "This is an initial attempt to establish a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon."

The representative will be Dr. Uri Resnick, signaling the start of civilian negotiations with Lebanon that include civilian – not only military – representatives on both sides, unlike in the past. Earlier on Wednesday, the Lebanese Presidential Office announced the appointment of former Ambassador Simon Karam, an attorney, as the head of the Lebanese delegation to the meetings of "the mechanism" (supervision committee that governs the implementation of the 2024 ceasefire). That representative will participate in a committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday in Naqoura, on the border. This is the first time a Lebanese civilian representative has been added to the committee.

"Israel must give the government of Lebanon an opportunity" Former President Biden's envoy, Amos Hochstein, addressed the situation in Lebanon at the Israel Hayom summit in New York on Tuesday. He said the ceasefire achieved about a year ago between Israel and Hezbollah was not a result of the organization's goodwill, but instead "a demonstration of military weakness." He revealed that parallel to the ceasefire, efforts began to establish a new presidency in Lebanon – which he views as the most pro-Western in years – to create a stable foundation for a long-term process of disarming Hezbollah.

A year later, Hochstein stated, the picture is much murkier. The government of Lebanon has failed to fulfill its part, and the organization has not been weakened enough to allow for genuine progress. "Hezbollah must disarm, and the government of Lebanon must fulfill what it committed to," he said. However, he emphasized that Israel must allow the Lebanese government a genuine opportunity to act before considering a military solution: "Returning to war will not achieve this – unless Israel plans a full occupation, which nobody wants."

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Netanyahu's visit to Washington and his meeting with President Trump will address at least four central issues. Diplomatic officials indicate that the urgent situation in Syria will top the agenda, alongside an American effort to prevent a flare-up across Israel's various fronts. Netanyahu is expected to depart within weeks for his sixth meeting with Trump.

The conversation followed a post by Trump on his social media platform, in which he dropped a heavy hint for Israel to de-escalate the Syrian front. The post was written in the wake of an incident in the village of Beit Jinn (in southern Syria), where several IDF soldiers were wounded during an operation to arrest two senior terrorists.

Syrian officials condemned the IDF's entry into the village, but it later emerged that some of the Syrian fatalities from the group that opened fire on the troops were members of the regime's security forces. In messages conveyed to the Americans, associates of President Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani) claimed they are doing everything in their power to prevent Iranian terror groups from entrenching themselves in the area between Damascus and the Israeli border.

They argued that IDF activity in the area restricts their maneuvers and hampers operations against terrorist groups. In these exchanges, they highlighted their cooperation with the US military in the south of the country, which led to the elimination of several terrorists from an ISIS-affiliated group.

Satisfaction with al-Sharaa

Trump wrote on TRUTH Social that it is vital for Israel to maintain a strong and genuine dialogue with Syria, expressing satisfaction with the performance of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who made a historic visit to the White House in November. He emphasized that establishing good relations between Syria and Israel would support his efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East following the fragile ceasefire reached to end the Gaza war in October. This implies a strategic linkage between this front, Gaza, and regional peace as a whole.

According to an analysis of the remarks and information from diplomatic sources, this linkage will top the agenda, fitting within the American approach that views the Middle East as a single complex entity and expects all fronts to calm down to pave the way for the grand rehabilitation plan, the "Mega Deal."

Leading up to the meeting, the Americans are expected to accelerate contacts between the parties to reach at least substantive understandings. These include limitations on IDF activity in territories where al-Sharaa's forces operate, cooperation against Sunni terror organizations, and ensuring the safety of the Druze in the Sweida enclave (a Druze-majority province), among other issues. According to an Israeli official, the Syrian demand for an IDF withdrawal from positions established on the Syrian border and the Mount Hermon area will not be met in the near term due to the regime's inability to fulfill its promises to prevent terror activity emanating from Syrian territory toward Israel.

The American intention is for these understandings to drive a de-escalation process aimed at ultimately signing a long-term agreement between the countries. US officials fear that Israeli military responses in Syria and Lebanon could trigger an escalation that would erase the achievements of the past year.

Alongside the Syrian front, the Lebanese front is heating up due to Hezbollah's refusal to meet the agreement's conditions and the Lebanese government's decision to disarm the group. This disarmament is the American condition for assisting the torn country's rehabilitation, yet Hezbollah has refused to cooperate, acting under the direction and with increased assistance from Iran. A series of American envoys, including Morgan Ortagus and Steve Waltz, are scheduled to arrive in the region to attempt to untangle the complex situation.

The Gaza arena and negotiations for implementing the second stage of the Trump agreement have stalled. While Hamas has renewed its commitment to return the two fallen hostages and on Tuesday handed over remains for examination in Israel, it continues to adamantly oppose handing over power and weapons. The joint US-Israel interim plan aims to advance rehabilitation in the area under Israeli control – a process effectively already underway – while preventing similar rehabilitation in areas under Hamas control.

Committee for Gaza reconstruction

The Egyptians oppose this approach. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty announced on Tuesday that his country is coordinating with the United States to jointly chair a committee for the rehabilitation of Gaza, to be convened as soon as possible. A previously planned committee session was canceled due to a lack of responsiveness from Arab states.

Here too, Iran is urging Hamas to continue resisting the handover of weapons and power, a fact that is bringing the issue of the Iranian regime to the forefront of the discussion between Netanyahu and Trump. The Israeli analysis, shared by quite a few administration officials, posits that toppling the regime in Iran is a strategic objective for all countries in the region, as Tehran remains the primary instigator of instability and insecurity.

The US halted the 12-Day War in June, even though an opportunity existed then to initiate a move to topple the regime. It has since intensified sanctions on Iran, which is currently mired in a severe crisis and facing serious economic and infrastructural deterioration. The water shortage is currently the most acute issue, but the government is also encountering liquidity difficulties due to sanctions on oil exports.

This issue will be placed on the table at the White House meeting. As a senior diplomatic official experienced in regional contacts noted, "As long as the Iranian regime holds on, it will do everything to prevent a comprehensive arrangement in the Middle East, the expansion of the Abraham Accords to normalization, and the Mega Deal." According to this source, the White House must decide if and how to actively assist in replacing the Islamist terror regime in Tehran.

An additional issue on the agenda is Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu will hear details of the understandings between Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and will attempt to establish a framework for progressing toward direct talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel Hayom revealed that the Americans were furious at the Saudi insistence on conditioning talks with Israel on ending the war in Gaza and on a personal commitment from Netanyahu to a framework for a Palestinian state.

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