The NY Times is reporting that Haniyeh was killed by a remote-controlled explosive device placed in his apartment weeks ago, and not by a missile. That makes more sense and sounds like an episode of “Teheran.” The Iranians are beside themselves – furious, and yes, scared. Just watch the “Supreme Leader” looking fearfully all around during Haniyeh’s send off, expecting, no doubt, to hear the whizz of a missile any minute. Ha ha.

There is no question that our enemies are looking for “opportunities” to hurt us as badly as they can. Nasrallah, who spoke about an hour ago, said as much. He denied any responsibility for what happened in Majdal Shams. He admitted that the senior Hezbollah commander taken out by Israel, Fuad Shukr, had trained and educated all the Hezbollah operatives Israel has killed, and that he and Shukr were in touch on a daily basis. I’m sure they weren’t talking about Taylor Swift.  

But honestly, he didn’t sound like his old, threatening jihadi self. He sounded a bit tired, a bit defeated. Hezbollah doesn’t know what to do. They don’t want a war, because they aren’t sure they’ll win, as so many senior officers who might have helped to win such a war are dead and at the moment have no replacements.

We are also not in an easy situation. First of all, we are in the period of the “Three Weeks,” the historic time before the 9^th of Av when the worst catastrophes have befallen the Jewish people:

• the day the Biblical spies came back with a bad report, demoralizing the people, who were then punished by not being allowed to continue on to the Promised Land;
• the destruction of the first and second Temples;
• the expulsion of Jews from Spain and England.

I could go on. I’m hoping that this revenge, or war, or whatever is going to happen, happens before or after the 9^th of Av, which comes out this year on the evening of August 12 and ends on August 13. It is a day spent in fasting and prayer.

When I went down the list of threats one after another, I thought: this is exactly like that scene in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” where some Arab takes his sword and waves it threateningly in front of Indiana Jones, until Jones nonchalantly takes out his gun and shoots him.

Someone asked me if I thought this was going to make the hostage “negotiations” more difficult. I answered that after the first release of hostages, there never was any intention on the part of Hamas to release our hostages unless Israel capitulated, withdrew, and allowed them to rebuild and attack again. And we all know that was a doomsday scenario to which Israel could not, and cannot, agree.

If anything, I think this will actually speed up negotiations. Let me put it this way, if you were Yahya Sinwar, sitting in your rat-hole deep beneath the earth, with your wife and small children, and you heard that Haniyeh had been blown up in the middle of Teheran, and Deif was lying not far away in a thousand tiny pieces, wouldn’t you want to find a way to save yourself and your family? But who knows? We are dealing with fanatics to whom human life – even their own and their children’s – has no value.

I understand that Haniyeh’s coffin was double wrapped in plastic wrap because it stank so badly.

The death of Mohammed Deif, head murderer, responsible for untold terrorist acts including the kidnapping and murder of soldier Nachshon Wachsman, my dear friend Esther’s son, has been confirmed by Israel. Apparently, not enough of him was left for a burial, which is why getting proof took so long.

It’s been a phenomenal month, as Abu Ali Express points out:

1. The head of the political wing of Hamas was killed – Ismail Haniyeh.
2. The head of the military wing of Hamas was eliminated – Mohammed Deif.
3. The Hezbollah Chief of Staff (according to the definition of the Minister of Defense) was eliminated – Fuad Shukr.
4. The commander of the Aziz unit in Hezbollah was killed (equivalent to a member of the General Staff) – Mohammed Nasser, Hajj Abu Neema.
5. The commander of the Nasser unit in Hezbollah (equivalent to a member of the General Staff) Taleb Abdullah was killed.
6. The commander of the Khan Yunis brigade in Hamas (equivalent to a member of the General Staff) and Mohammed Deif’s right-hand man – Rafa’a Salameh, was killed.

There is a photo of Defense Minister Gantz crossing Deif off his wall poster. Many more to go.

As in WWII, this present conflict is truly a war between good and evil. I’d like you to keep this picture in your head: the video of a Hamas terrorist chasing down two desperately fleeing, unarmed young women whom he shoots without any hesitation, even as one of them kneels and begs for her life. Whatever your nationality, religion, or ethnicity, all decent people must side with Israel against this monstrous terrorist hate movement headed by Iran.

We are nothing like them. In response to the deliberate murder of 12 Israeli children on a soccer field, Israel did not seek out twelve Arab children to murder. They took out the adult responsible – Hezbollah “general” Fuad Shukr.

There is nothing we can do except fight. There is only one thing antisemites hate more than Jews: Jews who fight back, hard, and win. Let’s give them something to hate with all their hearts.

Anyone who continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah and their puppet-master Iran has joined the evil of our time. What such people say, whether they are in the White House or wearing silk robes in Brussels, or waving Hamas flags in elite universities, or reporting for the BBC or the Guardian, doesn’t matter. It’s all Goebbels-propaganda being spouted by the new Nazis.

Don’t be influenced.

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