‘Horrified’: Torah scrolls in Israel desecrated in Holy Ark attack
JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief
Torah scrolls in Israel desecrated in synagogue attack
Shock in Bat Yam: Arab from Nablus Breaks into Synagogue and Defiles Torah Scroll
Worshippers at the “Uri Tzafon” synagogue in Bat Yam were horrified to discover that the synagogue had been broken into and a Torah scroll desecrated.
Several hours later, the Israeli police… pic.twitter.com/Cpkpuq4ulK
— Dr. Fundji Benedict (@Fundji3) January 28, 2025
Vandals on Sunday night broke into a synagogue located in a public bomb shelter on Bat yam’s David Remez Street, throwing a Torah scroll on the floor and stepping on it, Israel National News reported.
The vandals used electric tools to saw open the Holy Ark, apparently with the knowledge that the noise would not be heard outside, since the synagogue was in a bomb shelter.
The scene was discovered early on Monday morning, by worshipers arriving at the synagogue for prayers. Police were called in, and according to the worshipers, the officers who arrived at the scene displayed indifference and left within a short time, saying that anyone bothered could file a complaint at the police station.
Avichai Shalom, one of the worshipers, said that the vandalism had been nationalist in nature, since, “No Jew would invest so much time in breaking into the Holy Ark only in order to desecrate the Torah scroll.”
Released hostage: ‘There are 2 million terrorists in Gaza’
BREAKING: Liri Albag, who was just released from Hamas captivity, tells what she saw in Gaza while she was a hostage:
“I sat with children aged 4 and 8 who were saying ‘spit on the Jew.’ There are 2 million terrorists in Gaza, don’t be mistaken. They’re all terrorists there.” pic.twitter.com/vG0v9jkWZE
— Vivid. (@VividProwess) January 27, 2025
Liri Albag, the 19-year-old Israel Defense Forces lookout released on Saturday after 477 days as a captive of Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, told her parents that there are “two million terrorists” in the coastal enclave.
“Dad, there are two million terrorists there, make no mistake. I sat with children aged 8 and 4 who were cursing ‘the Jews,’” Albag was cited as having told her father since being released as part of the truce deal, the Jewish News Syndicate reported.
Albag’s family has emphasized that while she and the three other female IDF hostages released on Saturday experienced “insane things that are hard to tell everything about” during their 15 months in Hamas captivity, they are afraid to speak due to the fact that 90 hostages have yet to be freed from Gaza.
Former hostage Mia Shem, who was released during the previous truce with Hamas in November 2023, told Israel’s Channel 13 News channel in an interview on Dec. 28, 2023, “Everyone there [in Gaza] is a terrorist.
Iranian young people ‘hate Palestinians,’ see Netanyahu as a hero
Sadegh Zibakalam, a senior professor at Tehran University in Iran:
“Since October 7, you’d be surprised how much hatred Iranians have for Palestinians. The sympathy for them is gone, evaporated. And the Iranian youth praise Israel prime minister @netanyahu as their hero!” pic.twitter.com/ofW0fGEgmC
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) January 27, 2025
Sadegh Zibakalam, an Iranian author and political analyst, expressed awe at the number of Iranian young people who “hate Palestinians,” Israel National News reported.
“You’d be surprised today,” he said in a video shared by Iran International. “Since Oct. 7, 2023, you’d be surprised at the number of Iranians who HATE Palestinians. What happened to that sympathy? It’s gone – it’s evaporated.”
“If someone would have told me that, ‘Sadegh, a day would come that Iranian people hate Palestinians and they would praise [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu – of all the people – they would praise Netanyahu as the hero, I would’ve thought that he or she was out of his mind, he or she was talking nonsense, he or she didn’t know ANYTHING about Iranian people. But I saw it with my own eyes during the past 15 months, the degree of hatred of younger generation of Iranians against Palestinian. And their hero was Netanyahu.”
Trump considers relocating 100,000 Palestinians to Albania, country’s PM denies in discussion with Washington
Donald Trump is reportedly talking about relocating at least 100k Gazans to Albania. pic.twitter.com/Pb3FudgMri
— ♛ ︎ (@NiohBerg) January 27, 2025
The prime minister of Albania forcefully denied a report by Israel’s Channel 12 news claiming that his government has been in talks with the Trump administration about taking in as many as 100,000 Palestinians from Gaza, the Times of Israel reported.
“I haven’t heard something so fake in quite some time – and there’s been a lot of fake news lately! It is absolutely not true,” Edi Rama posted on X, along with a screenshot of the Channel 12 reporter’s purported scoop.
“Full respect and solidarity for the people of Gaza, who have been dehumanized by the savage Hamas regime and have endured a hellish war following the medieval horrors of Oct. 7,” Rama added.
“But let me be clear: Albania has not been asked by anyone, nor can we even consider to take on any such responsibility.”
“We are proud of our strong friendships with Israel, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and, of course, the Palestinian people, whose state Albania recognized a very long time ago,” the Albanian premier continued.
“But Albania is not in the Middle East itself, and from the heart of Europe, we cannot do more than any other European country in such a matter.”
Sens. Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham urge Trump to restore security details over Iran threat
Two Republican senators urged President Donald Trump to reverse a decision to end government security details for his former aides who are at risk of revenge from Iran https://t.co/fjTxanxeL6 via @bpolitics
— Clifford D. May (@CliffordDMay) January 27, 2025
Two prominent Republican senators close to Donald Trump urged the president to rethink his decision last week to pull the security details of several former officials over what they called ongoing threats from Iran.
The advice from the close Trump allies who are also prominent Iran hawks is some of the first pushback yet on the administration by senior members of his party, according to Iran International.
Trump ended the Secret Service protection for former national security advisor John Bolton, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and former special envoy for Iran Brian Hook last week.
All had previously run afoul of Trump politically.
The security details had been in place during Joe Biden’s administration since intelligence and law enforcement officials assessed Iran sought to kill them for their role in President Trump’s decision to assassinate IRGC Qods Force General Qassem Soleimani on Iraqi soil in 2020.
“I would encourage the president to revisit the decision for those people who are being targeted by Iran,” chair of the U.S. Senate intelligence committee and longtime Trump backer Sen. Tom Cotton told Fox News Sunday.
Israel’s Mossad aims to thwart released Palestinian terrorists from committing atrocities worldwide
Israel’s Mossad Aims to Thwart Terrorist Attacks Abroad by Released Palestinian Terrorists https://t.co/jK9nGjlt8j
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) January 27, 2025
One of the biggest challenges facing the Israeli Mossad in the near future will be combating the terrorist activities of approximately 230 dangerous terrorists who will be deported abroad as part of the hostage deal and the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
The terrorists will initially be deported to Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, but some are expected to travel to other countries.
The Israeli security establishment fears many will return to terrorist activities against Israel, including attacks on Jewish and Israeli institutions abroad, kidnappings of Israelis, smuggling operations to Iran, establishing terrorist infrastructures abroad, and directing terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria, as well as within Israel itself.
According to Israel Security Agency data, approximately 50 percent of the terrorists released abroad as part of the 2011 Shalit deal returned to terrorist activity.
About 80 percent of those not released abroad resumed their operations in Judea and Samaria.
Senior security officials state that the release of terrorists in other countries provides a significant boost to Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure, further strengthening its leadership abroad.
Israeli female astronaut to go to space with NASA
Israeli female astronaut will go to space with NASA, minister announces https://t.co/ly0gDysdwL
— Ynetnews (@ynetnews) January 27, 2025
Israel has reached an agreement with NASA to send the first Israeli woman astronaut into space, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Gila Gamliel said on Monday.
The remarks come as Israel is expanding cooperation in space technology with longtime allies such as the U.S., Italy and Azerbaijan, as well as with regional parties to the landmark 2020 Abraham Accords such as the United Arab Emirates, according to the Jewish News Syndicate.
“I received a confirmation from NASA to send the first Israeli woman astronaut into space,” Gamliel said at the 20th Ilan Ramon International Space Conference in Tel Aviv. “We in Israel have now begun the process of searching for our candidate among our brave women.”
“Israel, despite being a small country, stands at the global forefront of the space field and serves as a significant factor in leading international space programs,” President Isaac Herzog said in a recorded video address from New York, where he is attending the U.N. General Assembly’s event marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Israeli hostages held in tunnels without sunlight for 8 months, after seeing friends murdered on Oct.7
Reuters reports some of the release hostages were held in tunnels for over 8 months, deprived of daylight and starved. Their conditions only improved just before their release – obviously for show by Hamas.https://t.co/oWN5K8fp8L pic.twitter.com/CV9NLdfYgm
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) January 27, 2025
Col. Dr. Avi Banov, the deputy chief of the IDF medical corps, shared some of the testimonies of the hostages who were returned as part of the ceasefire deal last week, Israel National News reported.
Some of the hostages were held in dark underground tunnels for eight months straight.
“Some of them told us they’ve been … in tunnels, underground,” Banov said. “Some of them were alone through the entire time they were there. Those who said they were together were in better shape.”
He said hostages who were held together with other hostages were allowed to shower, change clothes, and even received better food than hostages who were held in isolation.
The treatment of the hostages improved in the days leading up their release as Hamas attempted to pretend the hostages had been treated well for the entire 15 months they were held captive. Despite this, multiple hostages showed signs of wounds which had gone untreated in the year that followed the Oct.7 massacre and “mild starvation.”
Hezbollah re-emerging in Lebanon
WATCH
Residents of Houla, a town in southern Lebanon, return following the deployment of the Lebanese army in its neighborhoods.
Not a Lebanon flag in site, it’s all Hezbollah flags. pic.twitter.com/UBOwSu7AzC
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 27, 2025
On the evening of Jan. 26 in Lebanon, there were several protests and demonstrations by Hezbollah activists. One of the videos showed men on motorcycles with Hezbollah flags.
The Jerusalem Post reported it was difficult to confirm the place and time of the videos, but overall the sense is Hezbollah is trying to make itself known in Lebanon after several months of quiet. Hezbollah was lying low during the first 60 days of the ceasefire with Israel.
The goal of Hezbollah was to keep quiet and make it seem that the ceasefire deal was achieving something. The Lebanese Army is supposed to deploy in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah’s threats are supposed to be reduced.
However, like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah is not defeated and it is re-emerging from its hideouts. On January 26, Lebanese civilians were killed in clashes with the IDF in several places in southern Lebanon, according to reports in Lebanese media.
Herzog in U.N. address: ‘You’re exhibiting moral corruption
President Isaac Herzog addresses UN at the annual Holocaust memorial, drawing a direct line between the Hamas atrocities on October 7 with the antisemitism of the Nazis – and calling on all member states to work to bring all the hostages back pic.twitter.com/fL4S24gw6g
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) January 27, 2025
“Near my heart, I wear a yellow pin. A pin that symbolizes anticipation, hope, and a resounding cry to all humanity: bring back our tortured children and elderly, our women and men, from the tunnels of terror in Gaza – home, to Israel. We call it “The Hostages Pin,” Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said from the dais at the United Nations General Assembly on International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday.
“On the massacre of Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists attacked our people, they murdered, raped and mutilated women, tortured, beheaded and burned innocent people and entire families, and kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children,” reported Ynet.
“Today we find ourselves yet again at a dangerous crossroads in the history of this institution. Rather than fulfilling its purpose, and fighting courageously against a global epidemic of jihadist, murderous, and abhorrent terrorism, time and again this assembly has exhibited moral bankruptcy.International forums and institutions such as the International Criminal Court opt for outrageous hypocrisy and protection of the perpetrators of the atrocities.
They blur the distinction between good and evil, creating a distorted symmetry between the victim and the murderous monster. I ask you: how is this possible? How is it possible that international institutions, which began as an anti-Nazi alliance, are allowing anti-Semitic genocidal doctrines to flourish uninterrupted in the wake of the largest massacre of Jews since World War II.
Hamas begins to publish names of its dead members
Unofficial notices of “martyrdom” are beginning to surface online of Hamas fighters killed by Israel during the war. The terrorist group maintained a policy of not publishing the majority of its fallen members during the conflict. pic.twitter.com/rczLZufEU7
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) January 27, 2025
Hamas recently officially acknowledged the deaths of senior members Rawhi Mushtaha and Sami Odeh, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies reported.
During the war, Hamas, along with most armed groups in the Gaza Strip, implemented a policy of generally not publishing the names of fighters or members killed by Israeli forces. It appears now that Hamas has changed the policy. However, there are many more dead senior members and fighters that the group has yet to state have been killed in the war.
Hamas’s acknowledgment of the deaths is a positive sign for Israel. It demonstrates that the Israel Defense Forces successfully eliminated both Mushtaha and Odeh, who were responsible for Hamas’ internal security apparatus. Nevertheless, Mushtaha and Odeh are only two senior figures among many whom the IDF claimed to have eliminated in the war. Hamas has yet to publicly acknowledge the deaths of other senior leaders like Muhammad Deif and Marwan Issa. However, statements will likely happen, as it does not serve Hamas’s interests to keep these men “alive” long after the war is over.
There is also the inevitable acknowledgment of dead foot soldiers and field commanders. For most of the war, Hamas, other Palestinian terrorist groups, and their backers claimed Israel was waging a genocide against Palestinians. In part, to support this false assertion, Hamas and other Palestinian factions mostly refrained from publishing so-called martyrdom notices. The high death toll among fighters would have damaged the genocide narrative.
On Jan. 21, outgoing IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi remarked Israeli troops had killed almost 20,000 Hamas fighters during the war. It’s unclear if Halevi was referring to all enemy combatants or only Hamas, because the figure will likely be higher if all terrorist groups are included.
IRGC purchases advanced Russian-made Sukhoi-35 fighter jets
Iran has purchased Russian-made Sukhoi-35 fighter jets, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander said on Monday, amid Western concerns about Tehran and Moscow’s growing military cooperation.https://t.co/oyaSRH5sUC
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) January 27, 2025
Ali Shadmani, the deputy coordinator of the Khatam-ol-Anbia Central Headquarters, said Iran has acquired advanced Russian Sukhoi-35 fighter jets.
Shadmani did not say if Iran had already received the jets, and Iran’s deputy Defense Minister had already declared the purchase last November, JFeed reported.
Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for eliminating senior IRGC officers and affiliated leaders. In return, the IDF air force destroyed vital strategic installations and most if not all of its air defenses.
Report: Driven by anti-Semitism, 50% of U.K. Jews consider relocation
Today, we have released shocking new polling of British Jews which reveals a number of alarming insights.https://t.co/993PQr3oQu
• Only one-third (34%) of British Jews believe that Jews have a long-term future in the UK, and half of the Jewish community has considered leaving…
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) January 27, 2025
New polling by the Campaign Against Antisemitism reveals a bleak outlook among British Jews, with only 34% believing Jews have a long-term future in the U.K. Alarmingly, half of the Jewish community has considered leaving the country in the past two years due to antisemitism, according to the Jewish Press.
The sentiment is even more pronounced among younger Jews: 67% of those aged 18-24 have contemplated leaving the U.K., with 76% citing the surge in antisemitism since Oct.7, 2023, as the primary reason.
Fewer than half of British Jews (43%) feel welcome in the U.K., while nearly half (47%) of 18-24-year-olds report feeling unwelcome. Additionally, a majority (58%) of British Jews say they hide their Judaism due to fears of anti-Semitism.
British Jews consider Islamists to be the most serious threat (95%), compared to the far-right (67%), and the far-left (91%). More than nine in ten British Jews do not believe the authorities do enough to protect the Jewish community from Islamists.
Iranian state media journalist detained in Israel
The head of Iran’s state broadcaster said on Tuesday that one of its journalists has been detained by Israel. https://t.co/RsrkygNdNW pic.twitter.com/YhMdGXVDYm
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) January 28, 2025
The head of Iran’s state broadcaster said on Tuesday Israel has detained one of its journalists, according to Iran International.
“Based on our follow-up efforts, this journalist has been imprisoned and captured by the Zionist [sic] regime,” Iran’s official ISNA quoted Peyman Jebelli as saying.
He said that the family did not wish for the matter to be made public, emphasizing the journalist remains in captivity in Israel, not Gaza.
Without disclosing the journalist’s identity, or the timing of the detention, Jebelli expressed hope the journalist would be freed from captivity soon.
Israeli officials have not yet made any announcements or confirmed the detention of the unnamed journalist affiliated with the Iran and it is unclear how he could have entered the Jewish state with whom Iran has no diplomatic ties.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, Israel has imposed restrictions on foreign journalists entering Gaza. The Israeli High Court ruled in January 2024 that the ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza could continue, citing ongoing security concerns.
Islamic Jihad releases ‘proof of life’ video of Arbel Yahoud
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a propaganda video of hostage Arbel Yehoud, saying it’s filmed on January 25 to prove that she is alive.
She is expected to come home this Thursday. pic.twitter.com/laBhnxjR8i
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 27, 2025
The Islamic Jihad terrorist organization released a video and a sign of life from civilian hostage Arbel Yehud on Monday evening. She is expected to be released this Thursday.
At the beginning of the video, she noted the date as Saturday. She addressed her family and said: “I am fine, I miss you endlessly and hope to return to you soon,” Israel National News reported.
Arbel was kidnapped from Nir Oz with her partner Ariel Cuneo, who is also still in captivity. Her family has not yet confirmed the release of the video.
She is expected to be released along with soldier Agam Berger and another as yet-unnamed male hostage. In addition, three more hostages will be released this coming Saturday according to the agreement.
IDF strike kills leader of Hamas in Tulkarm
The head of Hamas in Tulkarm is now with his 72 goats.
Bye bye terrorist pic.twitter.com/K5JIbNrUSd
— Cheryl E (@CherylWroteIt) January 27, 2025
In a targeted counter-terrorism operation in Samaria, an Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked a vehicle in the Nur a-Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm. The strike was part of a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet, according to the military, according to Ynet.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that al-Qassam Brigades Tulkarm commander Ihab Abu Atiwa, who was killed, was in the vehicle. Three other people were moderately and lightly wounded and were evacuated to the government hospital in Tulkarm. Footage from the scene shows the vehicle engulfed in flames.
Since the start of Operation Iron Wall at the beginning of last week, two commanders of the al-Qassam Brigades in the camp have been reported killed, including Abu Atiwa, as well as the commander of the Jenin Brigade affiliated with Islamic Jihad.