Bein haMitzar in Hebrew roughly translates to between the narrow places. Between a rock and a hard place. The straits are narrow and the sides are tall. So what do we do? Take it day by day, pray and push through. That seems to be the Israeli way.

At present we are in a period of relative (relative!) calm. The Houthis are inactive. Hizbulla has been mostly dismantled on the Lebanese border. They have violated their end of the ceasefire on numerous occasions, and the IDF is staying put in 5 strategic places to ensure that they cannot invade Israel Hamas-style as was their original intent in July/August.

The Syrian rebels, although a threat, are fairly well contained in Syria. Israel has the entire Mt. Hermon area, the highest peak and most strategic outlook in the area, with views deep inside both Syria and Lebanon. The Druze and Christian communities, on what was Syrian territory before they abandoned it, are literally begging to be annexed into Israel. They form a protective edge on the Israeli border with Syria. Personally, I say ‘go for it.’ Annex them. They will fight to defend Israel, and if caught by the Rebels, they would face (the peaceful Christians) extreme persecution, even death. Israel is still carrying out precision air strikes to take out lead Hizbulla operatives in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. They are also targeting weapons transfers and weapons storage facilities.

In Lebanon, the new president, Joseph Aoun, has kicked Iranian diplomats out, refusing to let them attend the funeral of Nazralla last week. The new Suni Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in his speech to Parliament, “ We want a country that will have the decision on war and peace in its own hands. A country that is not run with an aggressive mentality but with a defensive mentality, one that will protect its people, and if it has to go to war, it will be done according to the constitution.” With that, they are trying to oust the country of Iranian influence as well as its proxy in terror, Hizbulla. It is asserting its own independence, finally. The country and people have been impoverished and ravaged by endless wars for decades and it seems that they want an end to all this.

Judaea and Samaria remain a huge problem. Over a thousand convicted felons…murderers and those who have planned suicide attacks on Israelis, have been let out of prison into Judaea in Samaria. It is a hotly contested land with both Jewish cities, towns and farms and Arab cities, towns and farms. In Samaria, Jenin, which has always been a hotbed for terrorists, weapons smuggling, drug running and general violence is now being cleaned out by the IDF. They are actively seeking weapons caches and terrorists. Also, Tulkarem is a nest of nefarious activity and is being closely monitored. Several car rammings nd stabbings have been reported in Samaria. Just Friday, 12 people were injured, 2 critically, in a car ramming attack.

In Gaza, phase 1 of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel has ended. The agreement, led by US envoy Witkoff, Qatar and Egypt require Israel to pull out of the Philadelphi Corridor. This is the narrow border between Egypt and Gaza. Israel refuses as they need to be able to prevent terrorists from freely crossing the border with weapons. They cannot be allowed to rearm and regroup. We have seen the myriad troops in their uniforms and carrying weapons at the captive release ceremonies. Hamas considers Israel’s non withdrawal policy a breach of the agreement, which they have completely violated on all accounts.

Negotiations are still ongoing, although intelligence reported that Hamas had relocated operatives from southern Gaza back to the North. They still have tunnels ands hidden weapons stockpiles as well as suicide drones laden with explosives, so they still pose a very viable threat to the citizens of Israel. Defense Minister Yisrael Katz staged, “the cease fire was not due to troop exhaustion or lack of munitions, but solely to facilitate the return of the hostages.” Israel has agreed to extend the ceasefire through Ramadan, which is happening now. They will pause in any hostilities for 42 days in exchange for the release of all the non-soldiers male hostages and all in desperate need of medical attention (Alon Ohel) still being held. This would eventually lead to a permanent ceasefire. Hamas has absolutely negated that deal. They have flatly refused. Israel has said that there will be no truce without the release of ALL the hostages. The hostages are their one bargaining chip…

Israel now has three options:

• Return to fighting an all-out, no-holds-barred with Hamas in Gaza
• Extend ,Phase l and continuing the release of the captives, completely nixed by Hamas last night. Whether this option remains viable, who knows, as Hamas always negates an agreement, then backs down at the last minute and acquiesces.
• Push forward to Phase ll of the proposed agreement. Israel will continue to release more prisoners in exchange for captives. Hamas demands the release of 150 convicted prisoners in exchange for each body/hostage released. Israel will completely pull out of Gaza.

The Trump administration is fully backing Israel in its decision. Trump has already demanded a release of those being held or there will be “hell to pay.” It seems Hamas is being backed up against a wall with only two possible options – complete surrender or resume fighting until the end. We are waiting to see what will happen next. Our troops are ready whatever the outcome.

Tuesday, the seven leaders of the Arab League will begin their summit in Cairo to discuss the proposals made by Trump and the question of what will be in the Gaza Strip. Who will live there? Who will govern? Who will rebuild? What will be rebuilt? Also being discussed are relocation possibilities and regional security issues. Most of the plan has already been hashed out by Egypt.

Through this entire war, hostage release debacle, and all the internal affairs of the nation of Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu has been testifying in court. He has been made to stand on trial in the middle of the most insane war. The fact that he has been held in a room, having to testify for hours and hours instead of dealing with the war, shows a little of Israel’s deep state issue. Elon Musk last week called out those people who are actually unelected officials running the bureaucracy of the country. The deep state here is much more impactful than people realize. The vast majority of Israel are against this.

Intelligence has come out about the events surrounding 7 October. As it turns out, a young girl (soldier in intelligence) wrote a full report about the intended plans of Hamas to invade on a holiday Shabbat and do as much damage as possible, massacring, bombing, kidnapping hostages, and using massive continual rocket barrages as a distraction. She gave the written report to her immediate supervisor, who completely dismissed the entire write-up as complete fantasy. He tried to rationalize that there was absolutely no way this could happen, that Israel’s defense was strong. The girl was told to stand down, and the report never reached the higher ups. That’s ego. The commander has been fired. I hope he will be held partially responsible.

Further details are coming forth from the released hostages as to their treatment while in Gaza. It is horrific, for the most part. Here is the testimony of Eli Sharabi, whose wife and two daughters were killed that day, unbeknownst to him. Just so you know can see, this is a photo of him before he was kidnapped:

https://youtu.be/jVPAlnqDorc?si=-JETR8oeq8TkeHBy

I pray that all the hostages will be liberated miraculously, through negotiations or daring rescue operations.

I will be leaving for a month in California. My daughter is due with baby #2 at any moment. Hopefully, my husband and I can be of some help. We also have another daughter and her family in the area. And our youngest daughter in Seattle will also try to join us with her family for a long weekend.

In the meantime, I have several “feature articles” which I hope to release in the coming days. I have already done the interviews. We will be watching the news very closely and if anything happens, or if war breaks out, I will try to cover it as much as I can find out. In the meantime, we remain in the narrow straits, a time of quiet for now-