Fern Musing is offline this week. We will return next Sunday, assuming Iran wasn’t successful :)
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Top News:
* Israel is under widespread Iranian attack.
* There are reports that the Gazan Health Ministry admitted that there are errors in the death records of over 11,000, bringing the actual total death count in Gaza to 21,720. 13,000 of those are terrorists. Only 8,720 civilian deaths - a combatant to civilian ratio at less than 1:1 if this report is true.
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/04/09/hamas-run-gaza-health-ministry-admits-to-flaws-in-casualty-data/
* Qatar and Kuwait have told the US they won’t allow it to use their bases to attack Iran in the event of an escalation against Israel.
* Devastating: Hamas, negotiating for a possible ceasefire deal, said it doesn’t have 40 live hostages in the women-children-elderly category; their number is significantly lower. (Please tell me we’re not considering this unless there are live hostages.)
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/388139
* Iran and Qatar gave Hamas’ Yoyo Sinwar millions.
https://m.jpost.com/opinion/article-796511
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/iran-hamas-israel-payments-letters-6l6mtpnbw
* Hamas reportedly throwing away large quantities of the humanitarian food aid that has been collected; there is video of this.
* Israel to evacuate Gazans from Rafah to 40,000 tents
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-to-buy-40000-tents-to-evacuate-palestinians-from-rafah-ahead-of-ground-offensive-official-says/
Terrorism (Isn’t it sad that this gets its own headline?):
* Stabbing attack thwarted Monday in Jordan Valley; undercover police caught Palestinians being smuggled into Jerusalem in a hidden compartment of a bus Monday; attack on soldiers in Gilboa; terrorist throw stones at Gush bus; East Jerusalem teen terrorists try to blow up Jerusalem light rail; attempted knifing near Hebron; terrorist infiltration in Neve Daniel; 14-year-old Jewish shepherd who disappeared found stoned to death; West Bank erupting as a result.
https://m.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-796779
And the rest of the news, in roughly chronological order:
* Sunday, the IDF withdrew all offensive forces from Gaza, leaving only troops along the borders, and along the new road that divides the Gaza Strip in half.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-withdraws-ground-troops-from-south-gaza-leaving-just-one-brigade-in-enclave/amp/
* Finland, which in November bought a $350 million dollar David’s Sling air defense system from Israel, just voted to impose an arms embargo on Israel.
https://m.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-795553
* After 19 masked pro-Hamas students refused to disband at Pomona College in California, they were arrested by anti-riot police for trespassing and are threatened with expulsion.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-06/pomona-college-protesters-arrested
* Iranian rial dropped 30%; Iranian government trying hard to keep public focused on Israel, not economy.
https://m.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/rial-collapses-loses-30-percent-of-value-iranians-report-795902
* Lebanese Christian kidnapped, probably by Hezbollah
https://m.jpost.com/middle-east/lebanese-christian-official-kidnapped-sectarian-tensions-flare-795874
* McDonalds is going to buy back all of its 225 franchised restaurants in Israel. The franchises had donated thousands of meals to Israeli soldiers after Oct. 7. Apparently the resulting international boycotts that have hurt McDonalds’ business.
https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/sj2wyflec
* Elizabeth Warren announces Israel guilty of genocide.
https://m.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-796063
* The UN Security Council moving to declare Palestine full UN member.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/4/8/un-security-council-refers-palestines-full-membership-bid-to-committee
* Hamas sexual assault denial
https://m.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-796051
* There is an exhibition in NYC, “6:29 AM: The Moment Music Stood Still," featuring cars from the Nova Festival Massacre.
https://pagesix.com/2024/04/05/entertainment/nycs-nova-music-festival-exhibit-to-have-extra-security/amp/
* “Death to America” chants at Michigan Al Quds protest; Rashida Tlaib refuses to condemn.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2024/04/08/death-to-america-chant-dearborn-jihad-rally-al-quds-day-draws-condemnation/73247053007/
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/rashida-tlaib-refuses-to-condemn-death-to-america-chants-at-rally-in-district/amp/
* Germany is giving Holocaust survivors $238 each for war. There are 270,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel, half of the total number of living survivors.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/germany-gives-each-holocaust-survivor-in-israel-a-wartime-238-solidarity-grant/
* Busdrivers’ Union is demanding guards on each Israeli bus, after latest bus stoning terrorism.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/388173
* Turkey boycotts Israeli products
https://www.timesofisrael.com/opening-trade-war-turkey-imposes-restrictions-on-israel-until-gaza-ceasefire/amp/
* US support for a peace deal amongst Democrats plunged 30% when Hamas was included. (Well, thank goodness.)
https://m.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-796134
* Chicago and rat poison
https://m.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-796154
* Amongst rush to recognize Palestinian state, Australia also considering jumping in.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/australian-fm-says-canberra-to-consider-recognizing-palestinian-state/
* NYT article on how Iran is arming the West Bank.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/world/middleeast/iran-west-bank-weapons-smuggling.html
* White House and top Dems dragging feet on arms to Israel.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjb97qme0
* Britain Labor Party headquarters sprayed with red paint in protest of Israel support.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/uk/2024/04/08/israel-arms-embargo-activists-daub-red-paint-on-labours-london-hq/?outputType=amp
* South African politician tries to close Jewish schools.
https://m.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-796295
* French Foreign Minister of France suggests sanctions on Israel to press them for more humanitarian aid.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/french-fm-threatens-possible-sanctions-to-force-israel-to-boost-gaza-aid/amp/
* The Ministry of Education directed schools to have students bring books home over Passover vacation.
https://m.jpost.com/israel-news/article-796401
* After months of secret talks. Indonesia will normalize relations with Israel in return for being allowed to join the OECD. (They later denied this though it was widely reported.)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/indonesia-agrees-to-normalize-ties-with-israel-if-it-joins-oecd-report/amp/
* East Jerusalem teen terrorists tried to blow up the light rail.
https://m.jpost.com/israel-news/article-796495
* Haredi (Shas) minister acknowledges need for Haredi national service.
https://m.jpost.com/israel-news/article-796584
* Latest polling: Asked, if a Palestinian state is established, if they expect Hamas to cease its struggle against Israel,” half (52%) of Arab respondents agreed, but only 5% of Jews did.
https://m.jpost.com/israel-news/article-796672
* Argentina’s Catholic president Javier Milei is - Jewish?
https://m.jpost.com/diaspora/article-796673
* COGAT says 600 trucks of humanitarian aid are piled up but not entering the Strip; the bottlenecks are on the Palestinian, not the Israeli side.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel-at-war/artc-hundreds-of-aid-trucks-await-pickup-on-gaza-side-cogat
* Russia thwarted a terrorist attack on Moscow synagogue.
https://m.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-796621
* German teens arrested in suspected Islamist terrorism.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/german-police-detain-3-teenagers-suspected-of-islamist-terror-attack-plot/
***
Catch up on last week’s most-read pieces:
* Biden and Iran
https://open.substack.com/pub/fernmusing/p/war-day-188-biden-and-iran
* Israeli feistiness and conspiracy theory https://open.substack.com/pub/fernmusing/p/war-day-185-more-israeli-feistiness
* Last Week’s Sunday Round-Up
https://open.substack.com/pub/fernmusing/p/war-day-184-sunday-news-round-up
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Please keep in mind that numbers are sometimes corrected by the press after their initial publication; aka, there might be a disconnect between what the linked article ends up concluding and what I’ve written here.
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This was a pre-scheduled post. Updates will be on hold this week for shiva.