All posts tagged: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

‘Be absolutely quiet. Not a word.’

‘Be absolutely quiet. Not a word.’

Published by skeptic

The Israeli journalist Amir Tibon and his family were trapped inside a safe room in their house on the Israel-Gaza border when they heard gunshots outside. Tibon speaks Arabic, so he knew what was happening. Hamas terrorists had somehow made it into their Israeli village. Tibon spoke with me and my colleague Yair Rosenberg about the experience, and in this episode of Radio Atlantic we hear Tibon’s story—hiding out with his two young children, their improbable rescue—and his first, raw thoughts about why this happened to them. Listen to the conversation here: The following is a transcript of the episode: Amir Tibon: Saturday, six in the morning, and we hear a very familiar sound: the sound of a mortar about to explode. It’s like a whistle. It’s almost like this [whistles]. Hanna Rosin: Amir Tibon lives in a community in Israel, right near the Gaza border. Mortars fly overhead once in a while, but the family has a routine for that. Amir, his wife, and their two young girls go to a reinforced safe room …

Israel’s Two Reckonings – The Atlantic

Israel’s Two Reckonings – The Atlantic

Published by skeptic

On April 22, 1979, four Palestinian terrorists set out from southern Lebanon on a rubber dinghy and landed on the Israeli coast, near the northern town of Nahariya. They proceeded to an apartment building, breaking through the front door of the Haran family. Inside, they seized Danny Haran and his 4-year-old daughter, Einat. Meanwhile Danny’s wife, Smadar, hid in the attic with her 2-year-old daughter, Yael. The terrorists took their two hostages to the beach, where they shot Danny and smashed Einat’s skull against a rock. Back in the attic, Smadar, attempting to quiet Yael, accidentally smothered her to death. Of all the Palestinian terror attacks of the era, none had as great an impact on the generation that came of age around the 1973 Yom Kippur War as the destruction of the Haran family. The fate of the Harans hit so hard in part because the ultimate Israeli nightmare is helplessness. Zionism promised to empower the Jews; the Haran family’s fate belonged to Eastern Europe, not the Jewish state. This week, the Jewish state …

What Could Come Next in the Middle East

What Could Come Next in the Middle East

Published by skeptic

Hamas’s attacks could be a daring single-day raid, or the start of a regional war of a scale not seen since 1973. Hatem Moussa / AP October 7, 2023, 1:01 PM ET War is a perpetual concern in Israel, but it has been decades since Israelis have had to wonder whether today might be the day that their borders will be overrun and their enemies will go building to building deciding whom to slaughter. Early this morning a few Israeli military outposts and settlements saw an apparent preview of that nightmare—an operation by Hamas that could be a daring single-day raid, or the start of a regional war of a scale not seen since 1973. Hamas rocketed Israel thousands of times, then began a land-air-sea operation against targets in southern Israel. Commandos in gliders, trucks, and dune buggies raided Israeli military posts around Gaza. Images on social media show Israeli soldiers in states of dress and undress, apparently dead in the dirt, and Hamas fighters celebrating the destruction of armored vehicles and the looting of …

A Devastating Attack by Hamas

A Devastating Attack by Hamas

Published by skeptic

The attacks by Hamas against Israel beginning early this morning, some of which are ongoing, will be met by Israel with force. How this all will unfold, and its impact on domestic and global politics, is not clear, but a simple answer may suffice for now: It will not go well. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already warned his citizens that they are at war, civil reservists have been called up, videos are showing hand battles on the streets. The country is on lockdown, with the potential for future strikes in the south by Hamas and new ones by Hezbollah in the north. A country torn apart by domestic divisions seems to be united against a common enemy. As of this writing, the death toll is confirmed at a minimum of 70 Israelis, with hundreds more wounded. One aspect of this needs little analysis, but a lot of explanation: How did Israel’s extensive counterterrorism efforts fail to pick up an attack waged by land, sea, and air? How did its defenses fail so extensively? This …