I was at a wedding in Caesarea this week. Both the bride and groom are French and live in Paris. Almost all the guests were French and live in France. I was there because my daughter and son-in-law (who also live in Paris, along with their kids) are the groom’s uncle and aunt. I got a “save this date” for this wedding two years ago! In those two years, many things changed, but one thing did not: the determination of the bride to be married in Israel. In the last year, the entire world worked together to prevent this lovely Jewish girl from realizing her dream. Airlines cancelled the tickets of the wedding guests FOUR TIMES. Israel was under bomb threat too many times to count, and bombs fell and destroyed homes, hospitals, universities and research centers.

My daughter told me that everyone in France was pressuring the bride to change her plans, to have the wedding locally, and she said NO. A week after the Iranians bombed us, and we bombed them, my daughter finally got the news from her airlines (Austrian) that her tickets were back on and she could use them.

Many guests came, and many more did not have their tickets reinstated and so did not. The chuppah was set up before the sea in Sdot Yam near Caesarea. It was covered in the most beautiful flower arrangements. And as we took our places and saw a Jewish bride and groom walk down to stand beneath it, receiving all the traditional Jewish blessings that have been said for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years by Jews, I thanked a gracious God for not letting our enemies win; for protecting this couple from the combined world hatred and attempts at sabotage meant to thwart them from creating another Jewish family in the world in their homeland. The dancing and celebration went on way past midnight. One of the songs the guests danced to is very popular right now all over the Jewish world: “God, may His name be blessed, has a love for me that is everlasting, and it will always be good for me, and will get better and better and better.”

Amen.

I felt that sentiment in my bones at that wedding. But it is very difficult to feel hopeful when you read the news. Netanyahu’s declaration that Israel will take over the Gaza Strip has caused a fury of controversy both at home and abroad. Germany has immediately issued an arms embargo. Likewise the Netherlands has condemned it. Among Israelis, the Kaplan group who has been eager almost the entire war for Israel to surrender leaving Hamas in place to rearm and reattack, are not happy. The Chief of Staff reportedly wanted to surround the 25% of Gaza still not completely under IDF control and wait them out. The Prime Minister wants something less passive, quicker. But for MK Smotrich, Netanyahu isn’t being decisive and fast enough. He said yesterday that he felt Netanyahu’s will to win the war was “weakening.”

I personally have a different complaint. Prime Minister’ Netanyahu’s declaration that Israel will take control of the entire Gaza Strip but will not occupy it, but “hand it over to a peaceful civilian administration,” is infuriating. Who are we kidding here? Why shouldn’t Israel occupy Gaza, rebuild Jewish settlements and keep complete security control? We have tried everything else, and that’s the only thing long term that will work long term.

 If TikTokers are right and Israel is universally hated anyway all over the world for defending herself, why shouldn’t we behave according to all the norms of international law and tell Germany and the Netherlands and Great Britain (who still maintain control over the Falklands, for goodness sake!) and weaselly France to go to hell? Why shouldn’t we take over Gaza?

Only Israel isn’t allowed to gain any of the spoils of war. I’m sorry, but we didn’t lose so many soldiers and innocent civilians just to tie Gaza up in a red bow and hand it over to yet another Muslim group that can be coerced and undermined and turned to terror in a heartbeat.

Meanwhile, this morning, the IDF announced the start of a surprise exercise, “Dawn’s Rise,” aimed at testing the readiness of the General Staff, main headquarters and operational forces to handle a “sudden, large-scale, complex and multi-front event.”

That sounds tough, not weak, to me.

As Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said today: “Beyond the horrific massacre it committed, [Hamas] is an extremist organization that is part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and continues to strive to destroy Israel. Israel is determined to achieve the goals of the war: a complete defeat of Hamas, return of all the hostages, and ensuring peace in Israeli communities through a strong perimeter security zone in Gaza. Gone are the days when Jews did not defend themselves.”

Nearly 1,900 trucks that had been waiting at the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings were collected and their supplies also distributed by the United Nations and other international organizations. Now cigarettes, canned meat, yeast, black coffee, and instant coffee are available in abundance again.

The Gaza Strip is being supplied with food and aid to the tune of about 200 trucks per day, about 100 airdrops per day, about 1.5 million meals per day via the American aid fund GHF. Still, the Gazan “Ministry of Health” is announcing that in the last 24 hours, five more Gazans have died of “starvation.” More like over-eating and stomachs exploding if you ask me… Look at this Gazan hawking stolen sugar. Does he look hungry to you?

The Lebanese Parliament’s decision to disarm Hezbollah isn’t – surprise! –  going down easily with that Iran-backed terror proxy. According to Abu Ali, Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese parliament, said in an interview this evening: “To hand over the weapons is to hand over our honor. To hand over the weapons means to commit suicide, and we do not wish to commit suicide.” He followed that declaration with: “We will die before we hand over our weapons.” Inconsistent? But hey, if you have to die, go right ahead. Die.

Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party (Christians) responded this way: “Your main weapon, ya Haj, is your state, and we want to put an end to the suicide that you have started.”

But let me end on a positive note: According to AFP News Agency, President Trump is demanding a one billion dollar fine be imposed on the University of California (UCLA) due to the anti-Israel protests on the university campus in 2024. The administration is requiring the university to transfer a sum of 172 million dollars to a claims fund to compensate Jewish students who were harmed by antisemitism at the university following the protests. The university’s board of directors includes the Governor of California and former candidate for the Democratic Party in the US presidential race Gavin Newsom. Now, that’s something to smile about.

Thank you, best U.S. President in my lifetime!

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