IDF Intercepts Fifth Houthi Missile From Yemen Since Last Week
The IDF intercepted a Houthi missile that was launched from Yemen Thursday evening (29th), the military announced. This is the fifth missile the Houthis have fired at Israel in the last week.
Sirens sounded in several areas of the country from Tel Aviv to Modi’in.
Israeli police are conducting searches to locate impact sites of munitions. Magen David Adom confirmed that no calls were received about casualties, except for cases of anxiety and people injured on their way to protected areas.
On Tuesday (27th), Houthis also launched two missiles at Israel, both intercepted by the IDF. The missiles were launched only three hours apart. All the missiles in the past week were intercepted by the military.
The IAF attacked Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport on Wednesday (28th) in response to several Houthi ballistic missile attacks fired against Israel over the last week.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the air force destroyed the last airplane the Houthis still had in use at the airport after Israel had already struck it multiple times in the past several months.
Katz continued, saying that Israel had or was in the process of instituting an aerial and naval blockade on the Houthis to try to deter them from future attacks on the Jewish state.
US Firmly Rejects France’s Attempt To Recognize Palestinian State At UN
The United States manifested its support to Israel at the UN Security Council against France by “firmly rejecting any attempt to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state” on Thursday (29th).
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot delivered a speech on Wednesday (28th), reiterating the country’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, urging “the implementation of a two-state solution.” Barrot also announced that France will co-host, alongside Saudi Arabia, a United Nations conference in June regarding the topic.
The American embassy argued in response that the implementation of a two-state solution would constitute a “reward for Hamas’ shocking attack on Israel,” in reference to the May 21st Washington shooting attack at the Jewish Museum in which Elias Rodriguez killed two Israeli embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim.
“The United States will do its part to help forge a new reality alongside Israel and our Arab partners, but at the same time – the United States stands with Israel in unequivocally rejecting any effort to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state or impose conditions on Israel,” the embassy stated.
In response to the French ministry, Israeli Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said that any “recognition of a Palestinian state is a reward for Hamas and their atrocities of October 7, and a resounding message to terrorist organizations around the world to murder, harm, rape and kidnap – that this is the way.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said in April that France could recognize a Palestinian state in June, adding that in turn, some countries in the Middle East could recognize the state of Israel.
“We need to move towards recognition of a Palestinian state. And so over the next few months, we will. I’m not doing it to please anyone. I’ll do it because at some point it will be right,” he said during an interview on France 5 television.
“And because I also want to take part in a collective dynamic that should also enable those who defend Palestine to recognize Israel in turn, something that many are not doing,” the French president declared.
15-Day-Old Baby Buried Beside Mother Killed In West Bank Terror Attack
A 15-day-old infant who was delivered by emergency cesarean section after his mother was fatally shot in a West Bank terror attack was buried Thursday (29th) next to her, following his death in a hospital neonatal intensive care unit.
Ravid Chaim Gez was born after his mother, Tzeela Gez, a 35-year-old mother of three and a mental health counselor from the settlement of Bruchin, was critically wounded when terrorists opened fire on her car en route to the hospital.
Doctors fought for Ravid Chaim’s life for two weeks before they had to pronounce him dead.
The mother, Tzeela Gez, was rushed to Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, where doctors performed an emergency procedure to deliver the baby. She died shortly after; the doctors fought for two weeks to save Ravid’s life, but he died on Thursday (29th). He was buried next to his mother later in the day.
At the funeral, Hananel Gez, Tzeela’s husband and Ravid’s father, spoke emotionally over the graves. “My heart was broken twice,” he said. “Ravid opened his eyes for a moment in the neonatal ICU yesterday. He was sweet, like an angel.”
Gez used the eulogy to call for a stronger national response to terrorism. “We are here because we are allowing those who want to murder us to live among us,” he said. “All those who are trying to murder us, start packing. You have no place here. We respect all people, but if you murder us, you must go.”
Czech PM: Jerusalem Embassy Move Will Occur At The ‘Right Moment’
Czech prime Minister Petr Fiala reiterated his government’s commitment to move the Czech embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, though he indicated the relocation would not be immediate, Reuters reports.
Fiala, addressing a parliamentary hearing on Thursday (29th), emphasized that the question is “not if but when” the embassy, currently in Tel Aviv, will make the move.
The Czech Republic has consistently been a strong ally of Israel on the international stage, often diverging from the stance of its European Union counterparts in United Nations votes concerning Middle East affairs.
Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, Fiala had previously suggested a potential embassy move within months. However, his recent statements indicate a more measured approach.
“Let’s make it clear: The Czech Republic will move the embassy, because it is right, the question is not if, but when,” Fiala told the upper house of the Czech parliament.
He clarified that the move should ideally occur when Israel is not engaged in conflict with Hamas in Gaza and, if possible, when the Abraham Accords are broadened to include more Arab nations.
“Let’s be a little patient, but at the same time ready to make this step as soon as the right moment arrives,” Fiala added.
Last month. Reports in Hebrew-language media suggested that Prague had decided to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Czech embassy in Tel Aviv refuted those claims, saying no decision had been made in the Czech Republic in this respect.
In 2021, the Czech republic opened a diplomatic office in Jerusalem.
The Czech Republic recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December of 2017, following US President Donald Trump’s recognition of the city as Israel’s capital.
CPAC Speakers Slam Qatar For Funding Terrorism
At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hungary. Speakers vigorously criticized Qatar and European nations that fund the Muslim Brotherhood and similar organizations.
Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism, Amichai Chikli, spoke about the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in France and the role played by Qatar and Turkey in funding the organization.
He added that the Muslim Brotherhood’s goal is to impose Sharia law in Europe, and therefore, EU institutions that fund the organization are causing “Europe to finance its own death.”
Chikli added, “We do not ask others to fight for us, we fight ourselves. We don’t do it because we like war, but because we don’t have the luxury to retreat.”
Israel’s Minister of Transportation Miri Regev urged French President Emmanual Macron to “open his eyes” to the Muslim Brotherhood’s activities in France and warned, “Remember, not only the Jews are threatened on French soil, but France itself.”
At the CPAC conference, Yair Netanyahu called Qatar a “Muslim Brotherhood regime” that seeks to enforce Sharia law in the West and donates money to university campuses to “brainwash” students.
“The left and the Islamists want to destroy Western civilization for different reasons, but they have the same goal, Israel is just the first target,” he said.
Israel’s Latest Crime? Feeding The People Of Gaza – Brendan O’Neill
Israel is behaving criminally again. It is trampling even harder than usual all over international law. What inhuman act has the pariah state committed now? It is seeking to feed the people of Gaza. The Jewish state, in tandem with the U.S., has launched the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to get foodstuffs to the people of Gaza.
You would think the activist class would be pleased at this news. They’ve been rending their garments for months over an alleged tyranny of famine in Gaza. Alas, they hate this initiative, because Israel is behind it, and everything Israel does is evil.
After a year-and-a-half of this infernal war Hamas started, this should be cause for celebration. Gazan lives have been sacrificed by Gaza’s autocratic religious regime at the altar of its racist crusade against the Jews’ homeland.
Why does this aid initiative feel “so problematic,” asks one headline? It’s because the Jewish state is spearheading it. What’s really bugging the anti-Israel elites is that this uppity little state has the temerity to circumvent the UN and put grub directly into the hands of Gazans who need it.
An AP headline said, “UN agencies warn that Israel’s plans for aid distribution will endanger lives.” Drink in the Orwellianism of that. Providing aid is deathly now. Feeding the hungry kills. The doublethink of Israelophobia has rarely been so beautifully illustrated. War is peace, freedom is slavery, giving people the essentials of life will end their lives. Imagine the arrogance and outright inhumanity it must require to wring your manicured hands over the delivery of life-saving aid just because you hate the state that’s delivering it.
In these people’s eyes, if Israel bombs Gaza in pursuit of the Jew-hating militants that attacked it, that’s a war crime. But if it pleads with civilians to flee before it drops its bombs, that’s a war crime too. Yet when it brings in truckloads of necessities, that also “endangers lives.” Israelophobia is underpinned less by an opposition to war than by a frothing, post-truth hatred for the world’s only Jewish nation. (Spiked-UK)
The Israeli Raid On Syria That Exposed The Weakness Of Hardened Targets – Maj. (ret.) John Spencer
• On Sept. 8, 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) executed a deep-penetration commando raid into Syria targeting an underground missile-production facility near Masyaf. The site had been constructed by Iran to supply precision-guided missiles to Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies – posing a strategic threat Israel could not ignore.
• Buried more than 400 feet underground, it was close to reaching the capacity to produce missiles with ranges capable of striking major Israeli cities and military installations. Traditional airstrikes alone are insufficient to neutralize this kind of fortified and subterranean facility, designed to counter the well-developed air superiority of Israel and other Western-allied forces.
• The raid redefined the limits of special operations in the region, and signaled a new era in how states counter adversaries operating from hardened spaces on enemy territory. With this mission, Israel changed its playbook, shifting from a largely reactive posture – focused on retaliatory airstrikes and the maintenance of deterrence by aggressive responses to attacks – to a proactive doctrine of deep penetration, operational surprise, and joint-force Synchronization, aimed at denying the enemy the ability to attack in the first place.
• The raid was executed by 120 commandos from the Israeli air force’s elite Shaldag unit. To suppress air defenses and divert attention from the infiltration corridor, simultaneous Israeli airstrikes were launched against Syrian military sites. These initial strikes also targeted and reportedly eliminated many of the 30 Syrian guards and soldiers stationed at the missile complex.
• The entire assault concluded without a single Israeli casualty. This remarkable feat reflects both the tactical prowess of the units involved and the deliberate preparation – underpinned by highly accurate intelligence, mock-site rehearsals, and precision timing – that made the operation possible.
• The raid on Masyaf was a demonstration of capability with profound strategic implications. In its wake, Iran and its network of proxies and allies will be forced to reassess the survivability of even their most hardened infrastructure. Israel has shown it can penetrate not just underground facilities, but the illusions of impunity that those facilities have offered to its enemies.
The writer is a chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point.
