Israel Intercepts Missile From Yemen Friday Morning, Two On Thursday
Israel came under a missile attack from Houthi rebels early on Friday (23rd). Sirens were heard in central Israel including the greater Tel Aviv area and the Ben Gurion Airport, where operations were temporarily suspended. The IDF said the missile was intercepted.
On Thursday (22nd) two ballistic missiles were launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis rebels and were intercepted by air defenses, the military said.
There were no reports of direct injuries or damages in the attack, though Magen David Adom emergency service said one person was lightly injured while dashing to a shelter during the first attack.
The Houthis took responsibility for the missile attacks saying it had targeted Ben Gurion Airport.
Last Friday (16th), the Israeli Air Force struck the Houthi-controlled Hodeida and Salif ports in Yemen in response to the Iran-backed attacks on Israel.
Earlier this month, a Houthi missile slipped through air defenses and landed on the grounds of Ben Gurion Airport, injuring six people.
Israel responded to that attack with strikes on Sanaa airport in Yemen causing an estimated $500 million in damages.
The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “Death to America, “Death to Israel, and a Curse on the Jews”– began attacking Israel and general maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7th massacre.
Since March 18, Iran-backed Houthis have launched 37 ballistic missiles and at least 10 drones at Israel, with several falling short.
PM Netanyahu: “Free Palestine Is Just Today’s Version Of ‘Heil Hitler’ ”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday evening (22nd), issued a statement following the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy employees In Washington, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim.
“Last night in Washington, something horrific happened,” Netanyahu said. A brutal terrorist shot in cold blood a young beautiful couple – Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. Yaron had just bought an engagement ring for Sarah. He was planning to give it to her in Jerusalem next week. They were planning to start a new and happy life together. Well, that tragically did not happen.”
Netanyahu stressed that the victims “weren’t the victims of a random crime,” adding, “The terrorist who cruelly gunned them down did so for one reason and one reason alone – he wanted to kill Jews. And as he was taken away, he chanted ‘Free Palestine.’
“This is exactly the same chant we heard on October 7,” Netanyahu stated. “On that day, thousands of terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza. They beheaded men. They raped women. They burned babies alive. They butchered 1,200 innocent people and took 251 innocent people hostage to the dungeons of Gaza.”
Referring to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s reaction to October 7th, Netanyahu said, “A short time afterwards Chancellor Scholz of Germany visited Israel. And after he saw the horrors, he said to me, “These Hamas terrorists are exactly like the Nazis.”
He continued: “He was right. And if they could get away with it, these Hamas terrorists would have slaughtered every last Jew on earth. For these neo-Nazis, ‘Free Palestine’ is just today’s version of ‘Heil Hitler.’”
Netanyahu declared, “They don’t want a Palestinian state. They want to destroy the Jewish state. They want to annihilate the Jewish people, who have been in the Land of Israel for 3,500 years.”
“I could never understand how this simple truth evades the leaders of France, Britain, Canada, and others,” he said. “Thay are now proposing to establish a Palestinian state and reward these murderers with the ultimate prize.
“Well, for 18 years, we had a de facto Palestinian state. It’s called Gaza. And what did we get? Peace? No. We got the most savage slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.”
“You won’t be surprised to learn that Hamas thanked President Macron and Prime Minister Starmer and Carney for demanding that Israel end its war in Gaza immediately,” Netanyahu said. “Hamas was right to thank them.”
“Because by issuing their demand – replete with a threat of sanctions against Israel, against Israel, not Hamas – these three leaders effectively said they want Hamas to remain in power,” he added. “They want Israel to stand down and accept that Hamas’ army of mass murderers will survive, rebuild and repeat the October 7th massacre again and again and again because that’s what Hamas has vowed to do.”
“I say to President Macron, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer: When mass murderers , rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice. You’re on the wrong side of humanity and you are on the wrong side of history.”
“These leaders may think they are advancing peace. They’re not. They are emboldening Hamas to continue fighting forever,” Netanyahu asserted. “And they gave them hope to establish a second Palestinian state from which Hamas will again seek to destroy the Jewish state.”
“And mind you, it’s not going to be a state free of Hamas,” he added. “When you establish a Palestinian state, we’ve seen it, the radicals take over. Iran sends them in and they take over. So don’t give us this talk that it will be a peaceful Palestinian state, it won’t be.”
Netanyahu also addressed accusations regarding humanitarian conditions in Gaza. “The hypocrisy doesn’t stop there,” he said. These and other leaders have bought into Hamas’ propaganda that says Israel is starving Palestinian children.”
“And not only Hamas is putting out this lie,” he continued. “A few days ago, a top UN official said that 14,000 Palestinian babies would die in 48 hours. As you see, many international institutions are complicit in spreading this lie.”
“The press repeats it. The mobs believe it. And a young couple is then brutally gunned down in Washington,” Netanyahu concluded.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke with US President Donald Trump, who expressed “deep sorrow over the shocking murder in Washington of two Israeli Embassy employees: Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, of blessed memory.”
Netanyahu thanked President Trump “for the efforts he and his administration are making against displays of anti-Semitism in the US.”
The two leaders also discussed the war in Gaza, with President Trump expressing his support for the “objectives set by Prime Minister Netanyahu for releasing the hostages, bringing about the elimination of Hamas and advancing the Trump plan.”
The Israeli Prime Minister and the US President also agreed on the need to ensure that Iran will not obtain nuclear weapons.
IDF Launches Wave Of Airstrikes Across Lebanon, Citing Hezbollah Targets
Ahead of a strike in the southern Lebanese village of Toul, the IDF issued an Arabic -language evacuation warning, identifying a Hezbollah-linked building. The site was hit about an hour later, followed by multiple strikes across the country.
The Israel Defense Forces launched a broad wave of airstrikes across Lebanon on Thursday (22nd), targeting what it described as Hezbollah military infrastructure, including rocket launchers and weapons depots. The assault began with an unusual public warning: an Arabic-language message from IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee directed at residents of Toul, a village north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon.
In the hours that followed, the IDF expanded its operation, striking additional targets across Lebanon. Attacks were reported west of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, in the southern city of Tyre and in several other villages in the south.
The IDF later confirmed responsibility for the broader wave of attacks, stating that fighter jets struck a “military site containing rocket launchers and weapons” in the Bekaa valley, where Hezbollah activity had been detected. “Additional Hezbollah rocket and missile launchers and terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon were also targeted,” the IDF said. “The presence of weapons and Hezbollah operatives in these areas constitutes blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
Earlier in the day, Lebanese sources reported the death of a Hezbollah operative in an Israeli strike on the southern village of Rab Thalathin. The operative was identified as Hadar Mohammad Fakiya, reportedly affiliated with the Hezbollah elite Radwan unit. The IDF later stated that it had carried out the strike using a drone.
Iran Warns Israel It Will Take ‘Special Measures’ To Defend Nuclear Sites
The United States will bear legal responsibility in the event of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said on Thursday (22nd), following a CNN report that Israel might be preparing strikes on Iran.
Iran and the US, Israel’s closest ally, will hold a fifth round of nuclear talks on Friday (23rd) in Rome amid deep disagreement over uranium enrichment in Iran, which Washington says could lead to developing nuclear bombs. Iran denies such intent.
Citing intelligence sources, CNN said on Tuesday (20th) it was not clear whether Israel had made a final decision on military action and that US officials disagreed about whether the Israelis would ultimately decide to attack.
“Iran strongly warns against any adventurism by the Zionist regime of Israel and will decisively respond to any threat or unlawful act by this regime,” Aragchi said in a letter addressed to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Aragchi said Iran would view Washington as a “participant” in any such attack, and would have to adopt “special measures” to protect its nuclear sites and material if threats continued.
In a separate statement released on Thursday (22nd), Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards warned that Israel would receive a “devastating and decisive response” if it attacks Iran.
The Rhetoric Of Hamas And Abbas On Israel Is Identical – Bassam Tawil
When one listens to leaders of the PA and leaders of Hamas in Arabic, it is almost impossible to tell the difference between them. Their rhetoric to vilify Israel is identical. “The Zionist Enemy,” “the Zionist Entity,” and “the Apartheid State.” Hamas and the PA both call for flooding Israel with millions of Palestinian “refugees” so that Jews become a minority to eliminate or cast out.
Most of the so-called refugees are not real refugees. Most are descendants – now quite distant – of refugees who lost their homes when the Arab armies attacked Israel in 1948 in an attempt to prevent it from coming into existence. For Hamas and other Palestinians and Arabs, the fact that they failed to thwart the establishment of Israel is a “catastrophe.” The real ‘nakba’ was that they started a war and lost it. Well, if you start a war, that is what can happen.
Statements by Hamas and Abbas show why talk about a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is, unfortunately , just a sick joke. If Palestinians consider the existence of Israel as a “catastrophe” and “tragedy” this means that they will not recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Those who continue to advocate for the creation of a Palestinian state need to consider that such a state would be backed, politically and militarily , by Iran and its ruling Mullahs, whose declared goal is to eliminate the “Zionist entity, ”Israel, as well as the United States. In the years leading up to its invasion of Israel on Oct. 7th, 2023, Hamas developed a concrete plan to destroy the Jewish state, in full coordination with Iran and Hezbollah.
Iran was a critical player in funding Hamas’ plan to destroy Israel. The Palestinians and the Iranian regime do not want Israel or America in the Middle East – period – and are prepared to do anything to achieve this goal, including with nuclear weapons.
