Sorry for the two week interruption to my column. I flew to Paris on November 27, almost exactly two years from the last time I left the country, a month after October 7, 2023. It was supposed to be a business trip to promote the publication of the French translation of my book An Unorthodox Match, but turned into something else when I discovered my longtime French publishing house, Yodea, decided behind my back to use an unauthorized translator. The book reads like a high school student assignment (grade C-), or a bad case of ChatGPT. I’ve cut all ties, and refused to promote this travesty at bookfairs. But what could I do? The tickets to France had already been purchased.

Luckily I have family in Paris, and a longing to see snow up in Chamonix.

I returned to an impending storm named with literary panache Byron which rattled the windows of my Zichron Yaakov home with thunder, lightning and rivers of rain.

Except for that, nothing much has changed in those ten days I was away.

They are still “looking” for our dear martyred hostage, Police Officer Ran Gvili.

Until that happens, there is no chapter two.

Hamas is not looking forward to moving on, because the next phase sees them turning in their weapons and leaving, along with their Gazan hostages/supporters (take your pick).

In the meantime, Israel has made some interesting discoveries. An entire warehouse stuffed with baby formula and nutritional supplements for children hijacked by Hamas and sequestered so that the “poor starving children” narrative could be made more effective by actual poor, starving children. https://t.me/ILtoday/16168

This is the leadership these parents chose for themselves.

The heavy rain, which is only the beginning, has ravaged the tents of Gaza. Well, as Israelis are all saying, they wanted a “flood,” right? The complaint department for whining Gazans is Hamas leadership, who has ushered in this new era for their people, who once lived in apartment houses and visited shopping malls, hotels, and fancy restaurants. So much better now, Hamas, right?

Turkey’s Erdogan, who somehow remains a friend of the usually perspicacious Trump, continues to say out loud exactly what he is fighting for. At the “Turkey for Humanity” conference yesterday, he said: “The patience of the downtrodden in Palestine will end in victory, and their turn will come just as it did in Syria. In Palestine as well, we will yet sing songs of triumph, just as we did in Syria.”

Despite this open jihadi hostility, he is asking the U.S. to allow Turkey to rejoin the F-35 Lightning IIprogram – a multinational initiative led by the United States and developed primarily by Lockheed Martin to produce a family of fifth-generation stealth fighter jets. These jets are designed to perform multiple roles – air-to-air combat, air-to-ground strikes, intelligence gathering, and electronic warfare – within a single platform.It isthe most expensive weapons program ever undertaken, with lifetime costs in the trillions of dollars. Turkey is currently ineligible to join because it has the Russian S-400 air defense system. Don’t ask me why this is the only thing on which their elgibility hangs. We are hoping Trump wakes up in time to prevent this weaponry from falling into the jihadi dictator’s hands.

Despite its absolute, ludicrous outcome last time, yesterday the “Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza” convened in Dublin (Ireland) to discuss yet another selfie yacht launch. The initiative has been titled “A Thousand Madleens,” named after one of the ships that attempted to reach Gaza (on which Greta arrived and was photographed enjoying her delicious Israeli sandwich.) Now they want 1,000 vessels. Since Israel is keeping these boats, I think we need to start auctioning off the future merchandise, which is supposed to arrive in April. Perfect yachting weather. My son-in-law actually has his yachting captain’s license. Go for it Oren!

Listen, all you Western governments in your starry-eyed love affair with the new head of Syria, the Al Qaida operative al-Julani, there is no doubt going to be a war between this drek and his jihadis and Israel. It’s coming. In their parade to mark the anniversary of the fall of Assad, Julani’s “troops” sang:

“Gaza, Gaza, our rallying cry,

Victory and steadfastness, night & day…”

The shooting incident yesterday in southern Syria is just the beginning. Abu Muhammad al-Julani’s soldiers passed through an IDF checkpoint in Khan Arnabah, in the eastern part of the buffer zone shouting: “Allahu Akbar” at the moment of crossing. They rode in familiar white jeeps, waving weapons. Sound familiar? A short time later, the Israeli shooting took place, in which 3 Syrians were wounded. Good for the IDF! We are ready for you, whatever hat you’re wearing, jihadi morons. https://t.me/englishabuali/62993

The defense of our little New Jersey-size homeland never stops. The worst threat is not in Syria, or thousands of miles away, but in our backyard Judea and Samaria, where jihadis armed to the teeth are planning the next “flood” and missile launch to Herzliya and Tel Aviv. Palestinians claim 100 arrests were carried out last night by IDF forces in Jericho, Nablus, Bethlehem, Salfit, Jenin, and more. Among those arrested are dozens of released prisoners, some of whom were freed in the recent deals with Hamas – such as Muhammad al-Arda – one of the six prisoners who once managed to escape through a tunnel from Gilboa Prison. Weapons factories, rockets, and rocket launchers were uncovered. Thank you, our sons and daughters in the IDF, for your vigilance!

At this critical juncture, Prime Minister Netanyahu is on his way to another strategic meeting with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago from December 28 to January 1. According to Israel Today, on top of the agenda is Gaza disarmament. Other key issues include:

🔹️ Qatar and Turkey trying to shield Hamas from disarmament

🔹️ Israel says: no weapons left in Gaza – or we’ll disarm Hamas ourselves

🔹️ Disputes over “decommissioning” vs. real disarmament

🔹️ Turkey’s proposed presence in Gaza? Israel says: absolutely not

🔹️ F-35s for Erdogan? Also a red line

🔹️ A warning on Iran’s nuclear restart

“This isn’t a routine visit – it’s strategic alignment at a moment of hard choices.”

Let us all pray the meeting goes in the right direction.

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