Arsen Ostrovsky: The actions of the Hind Rajab Foundation amounted to “lawfare,” a term used to describe the strategic use of legal action to damage an opponent.

The biggest impact here will be a reconsideration of soldiers’ travel plans to certain destinations and an adverse effect on diplomatic relations between Israel and those countries that entertain these baseless legal assaults.

The incoming Trump administration will also have a key role to play. They have already threatened to unleash a fury of sanctions against the International Criminal Court, which ought to be extended to any country that seeks to entertain this egregious abuse of the law by extremist anti-Israel groups hounding IDF soldiers.

Published in The National News, January  6, 2025.

Asher Fredman: Every time Hamas saw American pressure on Israel, it gave Hamas hope that it would survive, and only led to further ‘hardening of its heart’, making a hostage deal more difficult. A US-led maximum pressure campaign on Tehran, or even joint US-Israel strikes on Iran, could reduce the fear of Iranian arms smuggling into Gaza.

The interview took place on the channel on January 5, 2025.

https://youtu.be/5VODrPS9idI

Prof. Kobi Michael: It was clear for a long time that with the aid of Iran, Hamas had been collecting intelligence methodically and doing so in a professional manner. This also shows Israel’s great permeability; it wasn’t too hard of a job.

Hamas did an excellent job using OSINT (open-source intelligence) and gained access to CCTV cameras, which are so prevalent today. Together, this was an endless source of intelligence.

Published in The Media Line  and in The Jerusalem Post  January 01, 2025.

UN representatives demand Israel free a senior Hamas terrorist. Citizen Spokeswoman Ruth Wasserman Lande explains that murderers don’t get immunity just because they wear a stethoscope.

January 1, 2024.

Prof. Kobi Michael: 2025 will not be a less challenging and turbulent year than 2024, but it will be less bloody.

Israel is entering the new year in a much better situation than the previous year.After the attacks of October 7, 2023, Israel’s regional partners began to perceive Israel as vulnerable. Allied countries in the region, particularly the Abraham Accords countries, had not anticipated Israel being caught off guard by Hamas, suffering such heavy losses, or appearing unprepared to respond. Israel had built a reputation as the region’s leader in countering the threat posed by Iran, and the attacks raised doubts about the value of normalizing ties with Israel.

Israel has had successful military achievements in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, and mainly with Iran, a country that has now been stripped of many of its capabilities and assets. It is now exposed and in a very embarrassing position.

Published in The Media Line, December 31, 2024 and Ynet News, January 2, 2025.

Prof. Kobi Michael: Israel is unlikely to be able to degrade the Yemeni group as effectively as it did Hamas and Hezbollah. They are located across a very large area in mountains and deserts so their locations are not easy to detect. We don’t have intelligence as good as we have with regard Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, or Hamas. And we are talking about a distance of 1,200km, so the circumstances are pretty complicated.
Israel is likely to lean on the US-led alliance, which includes the UK, which is already engaged in a military campaign against the Houthis over their attacks on Red Sea shipping, and to try to impose a maritime blockade to cut off the group’s weapons supply lines.

Netanyahu is willing to attack Iran and he understands that this is a very narrow window of opportunity, suggesting that president-elect Donald Trump would prefer Israel to strike before his inauguration on 20 January.

Published in MSN, December 27, 2024.

Arsen Ostrovsky on News Organization decision to give its ‘U.N. Persons of the Year’ award to Francesca Albanese, the head of UNRWA and Antonio Guterres.

Ostrovsky: “The organization claims to be a ‘women-led non-profit’ that covers the U.N., women’s issues and human rights,” he added. To honor this group of U.N. individuals who have peddled in relentless Jew-hatred, rape denial and justification of Hamas crimes, is obscene, unconscionable and just inexcusable. They may as well have given the award posthumously to Yahya Sinwar.”

Published in WND, December 25, 2024.

Dr. Yossi Mansharof : I believe the main idea is to deter Iran from launching an attack against Israel in response to Israel’s recent and unprecedented strike on Iranian targets. For the first time in the history of the Iranian regime, it has been attacked at 20 different locations, including one nuclear facility and numerous military installations.

Israel’s primary goal now is to prevent Iran from carrying out its promised retaliatory attack. Iran has repeatedly vowed to launch an offensive, and Israel is doing its best to deter such actions. So far, we have seen significant successes on various fronts. In Gaza, Hamas is nearly eliminated. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has suffered a substantial blow, and the broader resistance appears weakened following yesterday’s attacks on Israel.

The interview took place in Al-Arabiya on December 24, 2024.

Prof. Kobi Michael: The territory guarantees strategic control over the whole southern Syrian arena, which generates an immediate threat to Israel. There is no higher vantage point than the Syrian part of the Golan.
Power in Syria is now de-centralized, with the country fragmented between several groups, most of them extreme Islamist, potentially posing a new array of threats to Israel.

Israel is not looking to apply sovereignty to the buffer zone, but rather to militarily control the area in order to prevent danger under conditions of instability.

This is an unprecedented event in which the Israeli army has the ability to completely destroy an enemy army without a war. This opportunity is being used wisely by Israel in order to ensure a better reality…

Published in The Media Line, December 21, 2024.

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Dr. Yossi Mansharof: Israeli operations in July and September failed to hit the Houthis hard enough to lower their motivation. Israel is realizing only now the importance of the Yemeni theater. It must cooperate with the incoming Trump administration to hit hard on the Houthis’ economy and its military assets.

Published in The Sun, December 19, 2024.