2024-04-16 14:00:08
Israel promised to respond to the numerous attacks from Iran while working with the U.S., but it sounds like Israel will not cower. GOOD.
“Israel will act out of strategic wisdom, and will respond in the place, time and manner it chooses. And this is not the place to elaborate,” stated war cabinet minister Benny Gantz.
From The Times of Israel:
The Israeli military said Iran would not get off “scot-free” following its unprecedented missile and drone attack early Sunday, as the country’s leaders continued to mull how to balance a forceful response with calls by the United States and other allies to keep the round of fighting from snowballing further.
“We cannot stand still from this kind of aggression,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters in English at Julis military base near Kiryat Malachi, while displaying the remains of an intercepted ballistic missile. “Iran will not get [off] scot-free with this aggression.”
It was the latest threat from military officials, after IDF chief Herzi Halevi vowed Monday night that “there will be a response” to the approximately 350 drones and missiles launched at Israel late Saturday and early Sunday.
No matter what, Israel will respond to Iran’s attacks. World leaders have had the nerve to tell the country not to retaliate. The absolute nerve of these people.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told Israel “to be mature and act according to the rules of international law” when responding to Iran.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed to American Jewish leaders that escalating any violence with Iran “is not in Washington or Jerusalem’s interests.” He insisted the U.S. is not telling Israel what to do and the response “is ultimately Israel’s decision.” But still…don’t do it, right?
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak obviously received his talking points because he also told Israel “that significant escalation was in no one’s interest and would only deepen insecurity in the Middle East.”
Imagine telling America these exact same things after 9/11.
Hamas Hostage Deal
Hamas reportedly handed over a new proposal for a hostage-truce deal:
Having rejected the terms of last week’s Cairo proposal for a hostage-truce deal, the Hamas terror group on Sunday reportedly presented mediators with a proposal of its own that requires Israel to end the war in the first, six-week phase of a three-phase process. No hostages would be freed in those first six weeks. Rather, all the hostages would be freed over the second and third phases, each of them also lasting six weeks, in exchange for large numbers of Palestinian security prisoners.
The proposal, whose terms are far more demanding of Israel than those put forward by US-coordinated mediators last week, further specifies that, during the initial, six-week phase, displaced Palestinians would be allowed to return unimpeded to northern Gaza, and the IDF would withdraw from all urban centers in the Strip.
According to the Qatari-funded Al Jazeera, Hamas has submitted the proposal to the mediators. As of this writing, Israel has not publicly commented on it.
Yeah, not releasing the hostages in the first six weeks?
I haven’t been around much, but last I remember (and correct me if I’m wrong), Hamas has no idea where the hostages are located.
Killed Hezbollah Senior Commander
Israel also announced it killed Muhammad Shahouri, a senior commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, in Southern Lebanon:
Shahouri was targeted while driving in the village of Kfar Dounine, adjacent to Chehabiyeh.
The IDF says Shahouri was “responsible for the planning and execution of many rocket [attacks] towards the Israeli home front,” from the western and central areas of southern Lebanon.
Alongside Shahouri, another Hezbollah commander, Mahmoud Fadlallah, was killed in the strike. The IDF says he was also a member of Hezbollah’s rocket unit.
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