GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 282

Targets Of Hate

One Down, One Unconfirmed

It really depends on who you talk with when it comes to who was killed in the IDF strike on Hamas leadership yesterday. But everyone seems to agree that one of the masterminds of the October 7th attacks was taken out as we read in a report from The Times Of Israel:

The IDF and Shin Bet on Sunday confirmed that Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, was killed in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday.

The other target and really the big one is not confirmed dead at this time:

They provided no update as to the fate of Muhammad Deif, the elusive commander of Hamas’s military wing, who was targeted in the same strike. IDF chief Herzi Halevi said Sunday evening that Hamas, which claims Deif survived, was “trying to hide” the results of the attack.

More details of the strike were given:

The two senior Hamas members were targeted while in a low building between the areas of al-Mawasi and Khan Younis. Hamas has since claimed that the strike, carried out using large munitions, killed more than 90 people. Military sources have said dozens of Hamas gunmen were in the targeted area.

While Deif’s fate isn’t known, taking out Salameh was still a major blow to Hamas:

The killing of Salameh dealt a “significant blow to the military capabilities of Hamas,” the IDF said in a joint statement with the Shin Bet, adding that he had been one of Deif’s “closest associates,” and “one of the masterminds of the October 7 massacre.”

If Deif survived it would add to the mystique of the man who can’t be killed:

The IDF has yet to definitively confirm whether the strike that killed Salameh was also successful in taking out Deif, who has survived at least seven previous assassination attempts. According to Ynet, military intelligence is still working to determine whether his body is among dozens that were taken to the Deir al-Balah hospital after the strike.

The article gives more on the one terrorist who did perish:

Salameh, according to the IDF, joined Hamas in the early 1990s, and climbed the ranks to become the head of the Khan Younis Brigade’s al-Qarara Battalion, serving directly under the command of Mohammad Sinwar, the brother of Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.

During his time as commander of the al-Qarara Battalion, Salameh “played a significant role” in the 2006 abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, the IDF said, and in 2014, he was in command of Hamas’s “combat support and defensive plans.”

In 2016, Salameh replaced Sinwar as the head of the Khan Younis Brigade, and, in addition to overseeing numerous rocket attacks launched on Israel from the south Gaza area, he was in command of two attack tunnels that were struck during May 2021’s Operation Guardians of the Wall, the military said.

Yes, if Deif is taken out Hamas will be reeling as he is the number two man behind Sinwar, but taking out Salameh is huge, too.

Hamas Is Stalling…Again

As we should expect, Hamas is doing their level best to keep the fate of Mohammed Deif from getting out according to the IDF Chief of Staff and seen in an article from The Jerusalem Post:

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi delivered a situational assessment at the Palmahim Air Force base on Sunday, where he spoke of the recent IDF strike on a compound where Mohammad Deif was located.

"Yesterday, in a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet, we attacked a compound in Khan Yunis where Mohammad Deif, the commander of the military wing of Hamas, was hiding - the man who planned and gave the order for the October 7 attacks."

Halevi mentioned what we already know, and that a high ranking Hamas commander was taken out before talking about Deif:

Halevi noted that the strike killed Rafa’a Salameh, commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade, which was confirmed earlier on Sunday by the IDF.

"Mohammad Deif was afraid to die, so he hid in a way that even action was in his power to command. He hid and sacrificed with him his men and civilians who were around, were in danger, and few were hurt," Halevi said.

"We found him and will find those next in line."

Going back to the Times report we hear more from the PM on the attack:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also acknowledged during a rare press conference on Saturday night that Israel was still lacking “absolute certainty” that Deif was killed, but promised that “one way or another, we will get to the entire Hamas leadership.”

“Muhammed Deif is the arch-murderer, Hamas’s chief of staff, number two in the chain of command,” the premier said. “His hands are dripping in the blood of many Israelis.”

Regardless of whether Deif was killed or not, the fact that they found him is significant all by itself. The Hamas leadership are literally dead men walking now.

The Big Elephant In The Room

I know that this podcast is only about the war in Israel, but a real friend of Israel, Donald Trump was shot in a political rally yesterday while at a campaign stop in Butler, Pennsylvania. As these things usually play out, reporters are doing their best to be first and not necessarily right. As I saw the events play out I watched the video of President Trump talking and then a pop and then he grabs his ear and goes down as one will do when they hear gun shots and feels something hit his ear. I think I speak for everyone will even a scintilla of objectivity and concern for life that this was a heinous act and an assassination attempt on Trump’s life. And I also agree with even Trump himself that only God spared his life. We need to pray for those who were injured or died at the event. Here are comments from Trump’s social media account:

Trump has posted several reactions to his Truth Social site since the attempt on his life. He said the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting, and photos clearly show his ear covered in blood after the shooting.

“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he wrote on his social media page. “Much bleeding took place.”

"Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness. Our love goes out to the other victims and their families. We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded, and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed. In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win. I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin," Trump stated.

Even Israeli leadership alluded to the assassination attempt as they talked about the hateful words about Netanyahu in recent months as we read in another article from The Times Of Israel:

Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs screened a compilation of video clips showing critics of the government engaging in “incitement against the prime minister” during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday, following the attempted assassination of former US president Donald Trump the previous day.

The screening was followed by a two-hour debate on the issue, during which ministers pointed fingers at the justice system, law enforcement, and the attorney general for what they said was unchecked violent speech by members of the public against Netanyahu and his family.

The discussion, entitled “Incitement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu” was not on the cabinet’s original agenda but was added after the attempt on Trump’s life during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Netanyahu himself protested in public remarks at the meeting that “the senior officials” in law enforcement and the judicial system “don’t say a word. They don’t condemn [incitement]. What you have here is legitimization for an assault on democracy, and you have here the normalization of political murder.”

Others said basically the same thing:

“The assassination attempt on President Trump comes following unending incitement against him in the US,” (Communications Minister Shlomo) Karhi said ahead of the meeting. “The serious incitement against the prime minister, his wife, and son, is closer than ever to being implemented,” he warned, claiming that the attorney general and state prosecution consent and encourage the incitement.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli wrote on X that “a horrifyingly identical campaign of incitement is being waged against Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

We pray that both Trump and Netanyahu have the covering of God now.