I was interviewed on Galei Tzahal today about my new book, The Enemy Beside Me, which has come out this week in its Hebrew version. The soldier doing the interview asked me if my book’s heroine, Nazi-hunter Milia, is comparable to the “brave” Israelis who are demonstrating for the release of the hostages. I told her I didn’t see any comparison. Unlike fighting against an enemy, as Milia is doing, Israeli leaders of the protests are artificially separating themselves from the rest of us, who all want to see the hostages released as soon as possible. All the violence and noise they are creating in the streets are counterproductive and simply give our enemies hope not to surrender. We all need to grit our teeth and stand united behind our soldiers and let them do their work.

During the week that was, the UNWRA Chief declared that “in a few days there will be no food.” Yes, he actually said that, revealing that all this time that they were whining about a famine and starving Gazans there was actually plenty of food. In fact, on Thursday, after a Hamas “policeman” gratuitously killed a few pesky Gazans standing in line for the flour sacks and was subsequently dragged off by the victim’s clansmen and shot, mobs invaded an UNWRA warehouse and made off with 20,000 sacks of flour (get your head around that number!). You couldn’t actually call it stealing, since it came in as humanitarian aid and they were humans. So who are the actual thieves and murderers here? Perhaps everyone?

The big story about the IDF ambush of Red Crescent vehicles is being milked for all it is worth by hostile journalists everywhere. Let me remind everyone that Hamas regularly uses ambulances to transport hostages, weapons, and terrorists, adhering to no civilized norms.

The IDF was attacking a Hamas command and control center filled with terrorists. Previously, a car coming through with three terrorists had opened fire on the soldiers, and so they were on high alert. Of the 15 “medics and humanitarian workers” killed when their convoy came through reportedly (by some eye witnesses ) without lights and without coordination with the IDF, six were identified as connected to Hamas. It was believed the ambulances were coming in to evacuate the terrorists who were under fire. They wound up as part of the battle. While claims are being made that one “medic” was found with his hands tied, this is a lie. They were not deliberately executed. Since it was during a battle, their bodies were buried in a mass grave, which the IDF says is “an approved practice to prevent wild animals eating corpses left out in the open.” The IDF later told the Red Cross about the locations of the graves. There was no attempt to hide them. Likewise, the ambulances had been moved and buried the next day to clear the road.

I repeat, if Hamas didn’t choose to use hospitals and ambulances to hide weapons and terrorists, this wouldn’t have happened. Better these 15 are dead than any of our soldiers. War isn’t fun.

 The Gazans continue to excoriate Hamas now that they are losing. Last week, Abu Ali quoted a Gazan woman at the demonstration in northern Gaza Strip:

“We want peace

For Hamas to take its hands off us

What has Hamas done for us?

Destroyed us

Killed our children

What benefit did we get from you, Hamas?

May Allah take revenge on whoever is the cause of all this”:

Do we feel sorry for her? No, sorry not sorry. She doesn’t like Hamas now. But when they were killing and kidnapping our people, she and her children were out celebrating. Crimes have to be paid for. This is where the paying starts.

Today, Fatah-affiliated channels claim that a demonstration against Hamas is currently being held in the Jabaliya RC in the northern Gaza Strip where protestors are chanting:

“Neither siege nor destruction, we want to live in dignity and stability.

Convey the message: Hamas is garbage

Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Osama Hamdan is a spy

Sami Abu Zuhri is a collaborator. ”

Fatah and Hamas are calling for a general strike tomorrow. Why should we care if they close their stores? It just means they are losing. They are hungry. Afraid. Forced to wander from place to place. Good.

As for the debate over whether Iran is enriching uranium for “energy,” Iranian MP Mohammad Qassem Othmani today called upon the regime to immediately develop a nuclear bomb to deal with the threats facing Iran, which have increased since the beginning of the year. According to him, only after Iran has nuclear weapons will it be able to negotiate with the West as equals.

Glad to have settled that debate.

It is no secret that there is a massive US military buildup in the Middle East, including strategic bombers within striking distance of Iran and Yemen. Abu Ali tells us that according to the Saudi al-Hadath channel, another advanced American air defense system (THAAD) arrived in Israel yesterday. And then there is the unplanned trip by Netanyahu to the United States tomorrow. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a statement today claiming a direct and unequivocal link between the events of October 7 and Iran. Despite its own economic hardships, Iran transferred half a billion dollars to Hamas ahead of the events of October 7 under the heading of “the destruction of Israel,” because the struggle against the US and Israel is Iran’s top priority. According to Reuters, the Supreme Leader of Iran instructed Iranian forces to maintain the highest level of alertness.

Aside from Israelis, and most straight-thinking Americans, the idea of an attack on the fanatical Iranian mullahs also fills the Iranian people themselves with joy. Yesterday, a brave Iranian woman arrived with the Israeli flag at Palestine Square in Tehran, stuck the flag on the sign with the square’s name and declared that from now on it’s – Israel Square. She sent the video to the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Persian page. OMG! Guts!

Last Wednesday there were huge attacks on Syrian territory. According to these reports, a building belonging to the Institute for Scientific Research and an air defense battery were targeted. The same sources now claim that Israeli Air Force jets also struck the T4 Airport in Homs and the Hama airfield. Is this connected to the plans of Erdogan to open a Turkish military base there?

Over the weekend, Syrian militias in Damascus Province (about 30 km from the Israeli border) rallied to the cry for vengeance against Israel “if the massacres in Gaza and against Muslims do not stop,” threatening another October 7. They are our best public relations campaign to explain why the IDF is wise to demilitarize as much of Syrian territory as it can, now that it is in the hands of the Al Qaida devotees the West happily recognized as Syria’s new rulers.

It was a very strange Ramadan. Most of the years I’ve lived in Israel, Ramadan was a time for Israelis to be fearful of terrorists attacks. But this year, terrorists are the ones shaking in their boots.

And if you are worried about the hungry Gazans, looks like they survived their month-long two heavy meals a day fast. Israel estimates there are sufficient supplies of flour and fuel in Gaza to last at least two months. By then let’s hope our hostages will be home, and the Gazans on their way to their new homes.

Given these difficult conditions, Is it any wonder hundreds of Gazans are quietly leaving every day from Ramon Airport in Israel for “medical treatment” in countries willing to take them? The Gaza Ministry of Health estimates 13,000 Gazans want to leave for such treatment. It will be interesting to see how the “humanitarian liberals” try to prevent this!

The IDF continues to actively clear buildings and uproot terrorists from the new Morag Axis dividing the Gaza Strip, which will create a larger buffer zone, moving the Gazans even further away from Israeli towns.

As we in Israel prepare for the Passover festival of freedom, let me end my column with words from this week’s inspiring Haftorah: (Malachi III, 19):

“For lo the day is coming, glowing like a furnace, and all the audacious sinners and all the perpetrators of wickedness will be dry stubble, and they shall burn up, leaving behind neither root nor branch, says the God of Creation.

Happy holiday!

---