Israel Update: Day 607

Humanitarian Aid

• According to FDD: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) rejected reports of civilian casualties at the organization’s Safe Distribution Sites after CNN, the BBC, The New York Times, the Associated Press, and several other news outlets claimed dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire near the humanitarian aid distribution zones. “While we have seen false news reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos at our distribution sites, yesterday’s false reporting was the most egregious in terms of outright fabrications and misinformation,” the GHF said. The organization reiterated “that there were no injuries, fatalities or incidents” during its operations on June 1, adding that it has “yet to see any concrete evidence that there was an attack at or near our facility.”
• U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee condemned on June 2 what he described as “reckless and irresponsible reporting by major U.S. news outlets” covering the alleged incident. Huckabee added that such “sloppy journalism” contributes “to the antisemitic climate that has resulted in the murder of two young people at an Israeli Embassy event in Washington last month and the attempted murder and terror attack on a group of pro-Israel demonstrators in Colorado” on June 1. “The efforts of GHF have resulted in over 5 million meals to civilians without incident,” Huckabee stated.
• Here is just one example of the original headline (viewed 2.4M times) and subsequent correction from the Washington Post:

• Joe Truzman with FDD writes: The GHF stated in an update that it ‘succeeded in exploring a new women-only distribution lane today’ and safely delivered 21 truckloads of food totaling over 1.1 million meals at its Tal Sultan site. To date, GHF has distributed more than 7 million meals across Gaza.

Listen

[MUST LISTEN] How Qatar Bought America on Honestly with Bari Weiss: Frannie Block and Jay Solomon published a massive investigative report on Qatar’s seismic influence strategy which is well worth the read (click here for the full report)

• Listen to the full podcast below or click this link to access the website.

• In the past 15 years, Qatar has developed a sophisticated apparatus to embed itself into American society in a way that would shock most Americans. They’ve done it by investing in our politicians, universities, newsrooms, think tanks, lobbying firms, and corporations—all on an unprecedented scale.
• In all, the tiny Gulf nation has spent almost $100 billion to establish this influence.
• Qatar gave $50 million to Newsmax—and soon after, their editor in chief reportedly told staffers to tone down their criticism of Qatar’s slave labor in the buildup to the World Cup. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) posts: Boulder, CO Firebomber Mohamed Sabry Soliman Recorded Video Before Attack Declaring: Jihad Is More Beloved to Me Than My Mother, Wife, and Children; Allah Is Greater Than the Zionists and America

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a strong response to the terrorist attack, issued the following statement:

In light of yesterday’s horrific attack, all terrorists, their family members, and terrorist sympathizers here on a visa should know that under the Trump Administration we will find you, revoke your visa, and deport you.

• In response, we get these types of headlines from the media. It’s nice to see that actions have consequences.

Rocket Alerts

It has been months since I have included the most recent numbers of rocket alerts in Israel. Given the increase recently, including rare alerts in the north, I wanted to include these in today’s update. Remember, every alert means Israelis have only seconds to run to the nearest bomb shelter, no matter what they are doing, where they are, or what time of day it is. This is no way to live.

• Yesterday, there were 627 red alerts
• In the past week, there were 2,619 red alerts, and a total of 6,760 in the past month

Source: Rocket Alerts in Israel

Israel/Middle East Related Articles

[MUST READ] How the Muslim Brotherhood Is Capturing Europe by Simone Rodan-Benzaquen with The Free Press: A new report found that, in France, Brotherhood-linked schools have distributed texts that praise Sharia law as superior to man-made law, denounce interfaith marriage, and vilify Jews.

• France didn’t plan to blow the whistle on the Muslim Brotherhood’s attempt to take over Europe. But that’s exactly what it did.
• The 73-page document, marked confidentiel-défense, lays out a stark diagnosis: The Muslim Brotherhood has built an extensive ideological infrastructure in France—not through violence, but through schools, charities, mosques, and soft power. “The Brotherhood’s strategy is to install a form of ideological hegemony by infiltrating civil society under the guise of religious and educational activities.”
• The Brotherhood operates as a political project. Its goal is not sudden revolution, but gradual transformation. Its strength lies not in secrecy, but in strategic ambiguity.
• The Muslim Brotherhood is a transnational Islamist movement that seeks to impose Islamic law through gradual, ideological means—primarily via schools, charities, and religious networks.
• The Brotherhood’s French network comprises 280 associations, including 139 officially affiliated mosques and 68 more considered “ideologically close.” The movement also controls or influences 21 private schools and 815 Quranic schools, where over 66,000 minors are taught to see themselves as part of a global Muslim community in moral and cultural opposition to Western secularism.
• Brotherhood-linked schools have distributed texts that praise Sharia law as superior to man-made law, denounce interfaith marriage, and vilify Jews. “Hatred of Jews,” the report states unequivocally, is a core ideological element, often laundered through anti-Zionist slogans.
• In one mosque near Paris, a speaker recently declared “Je suis Hamas” (“I am Hamas”) to a cheering audience. Hassan Iquioussen… claimed that “the Jews control the media,” and that they “manipulate historical memory to maintain their grip on global opinion.”
• Lycée Averroès in Lille… was receiving foreign funding from Qatar. The report names Turkey as the movement’s regional hub.
• The Brotherhood has constructed what the report calls “ecosystems”… that together create parallel structures of authority. These networks aren’t illegal. They’re influential.
• The report emphasizes the movement’s use of “double discourse”—projecting moderation in public while promoting antisemitism, gender segregation, and ideological separatism in private.
• The Brotherhood’s new frontier is digital. Some present as activists fighting “Islamophobia”; others cloak Islamist ideology in therapeutic or entrepreneurial language.
• It doesn’t hijack planes—it lobbies school boards. It doesn’t bomb cafés—it builds halal start-ups, Muslim schools, and marriage platforms.
• France has taken a first step by naming the problem. The United States? Here, the conversation barely exists.
• But the warning is clear. The threat is not just in France. It’s in Europe. It’s crossed the Atlantic. It’s all around you.
• Link: How the Muslim Brotherhood Is Capturing Europe

Why No One Should Want a Ceasefire in Gaza Until There Is a Clear Defeat of Hamas by John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the War Institute

• Imagine what would have happened if Japan hadn’t agreed to surrender in 1945. Or if Germany had remained undefeated after World War II. That is exactly the scenario we are confronting with Hamas today.
• Hamas is not suing for peace. It is not seeking a ceasefire in good faith. It is actively planning the next October 7th.
• The goal for Hamas has never been a two-state solution or co-existence. Its charter—still unchanged—calls for the annihilation of Israel.
• For Hamas, mere survival is victory.
• A ceasefire without victory rewards war crimes—mass hostage-taking, torture, mutilation, rape, the deliberate use of human shields, and the slaughter of civilians.
• Hamas has built its entire doctrine around this—deliberately violating every principle of international humanitarian law while relying on those same laws to constrain its adversary.
• This is not just hypocrisy. It is a form of calculated warfare sometimes called lawfare.
• A Hamas victory would establish a new, horrific standard.
• Each ceasefire became a strategic pause, not a step toward peace. October 7th was the result.
• Even if Hamas returned every hostage tomorrow but remained the de facto armed leadership in Gaza, it would not change the strategic calculus. In fact, it would mark a Hamas victory.
• If Hamas survives, it will not rebuild Gaza. It will rebuild tunnels. It will not return hostages. It will capture more.
• The just purpose of war is not vengeance—it is justice, deterrence, and the restoration of peace.
• Wars of self-defense must end with unmistakable clarity.
• Ending this war without defeating Hamas means condemning Israelis—and Palestinians—to unending conflict.
• Operation Gideon’s Chariot has transitioned from massed maneuvers to coordinated clear-and-hold operations across Gaza.
• For the first time in nearly two decades, signs of civilian defiance are emerging: Gazans protesting Hamas’s theft, rejecting their authority, and calling them out publicly.
• This war must end not with a ceasefire, but with a clear and irreversible outcome: the defeat of Hamas as a military and governing power.
• Peace will never come while Hamas remains intact.
• We would live in a very different world if the Allies had not pursued victory in 1945. We will live in a dark and dangerous world if Hamas is allowed to claim one now.
• Let it be clear—to Hamas and to the world—that they lost this war. Anything less guarantees a future of endless violence.
• Link: Why No One Should Want a Ceasefire in Gaza Until There Is a Clear Defeat of Hamas

During a press conference by IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin this evening, the military reveals for the first time a map showing its ongoing ground offensive against Hamas (source: Times of Israel Military Correspondent Mannie Fabian and Raylan Givens)

• NORTH GAZA: The 162nd Division is operating primarily around Jabalia, and according to the map has captured large parts of city and the coastal areas. The Beit Hanoun area has not yet been fully captured. The 252nd Division is operating in the eastern neighborhoods of Gaza City, primarily Saja’iya and Darg Tufah – and has penetrated several kilometers deep into the area.
• SOUTH GAZA: The elite 98th Division and the 36th Division are assaulting Khan Yunis with a pincer movement from two directions. The 98th is coming from the North and the 36th from the South and the Morag Axis. The 143rd Division is still operating in Rafah, which has already been completely occupied and almost completely cleansed, and continues to work to cleanse the Jenin and Shabura neighborhoods, and to consolidate control of the Morag Axis.

War By Other Means by Andrew Fox’s Substack: Today’s alleged shootings in Rafah

• Today’s headlines are once again filled with horror. “31 dead after Israeli forces attack near Gaza aid centre, says Hamas-run health ministry,” blares the BBC.
• Why on earth would the BBC immediately lead with Hamas’s version of events?
• We are not yet 24 hours from the alleged incident, and already the framing is clear: Israeli tanks opened fire near an aid centre, and the result was mass death. The information source? Hamas’s health ministry, repeated without caveat.
• The IDF denies that any Israeli forces opened fire at the alleged time. The IDF further states that there is no evidence indicating that any civilians were harmed by Israeli fire inside the aid distribution zone.
• The US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation… asserts that the entire story is fabricated. This is not a minor dispute; it is a fundamental challenge to the whole narrative.
• One of the quotes doing the rounds today comes from a British doctor reportedly working in a Gaza hospital: “It’s absolute carnage here,” he says. “All injuries are gunshot wounds.” Horrific. But the implication is clear: Israeli bullets, Israeli guns, Israeli responsibility.
• Gunshot wounds and tank round injuries (and for that matter, sniper wounds… are not easy to confuse). There is no way these things can be mistaken for one another.
• They cannot see who fired the shots… or whether Hamas fighters were using civilians as cover, or whether this was a tragic crossfire incident, let alone whether it was staged, fabricated, or falsely reported afterwards.
• In a media ecosystem that thrives on immediacy and moral clarity, it serves as another brick in the wall of public opinion.
• Let me be clear: it seems definite that civilians died today. It is even possible that Israeli fire was involved. War is messy. Urban warfare is messier. Gaza is one of the most densely populated battlefields on Earth, and Hamas deliberately embeds its fighters within civilian areas as a tactical strategy. That is not speculation. That is a fact.
• What we have witnessed today is not just a war over land or lives; it is a war over narrative.
• Israel… must verify, must wait, must provide evidence; and by the time it does, the damage is done.
• This is the disinformation war at its most effective. Not necessarily a lie, but a framing, a rush to judgment, an overwhelming emotional narrative.
• It works. Not just on the fringes of the internet but in the most trusted newsrooms in the world.
• How do you conduct a war, especially a defensive war, when your enemy’s most potent weapon is not its rockets or rifles, but its ability to shape how the world sees you?
• The truth may still matter, but in a war of narratives, whoever gets their version out first usually wins.
• Link: War By Other Means

Antisemitism

The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) publishes weekly information from over 300 million online data sources including public social media, traditional media, websites, blogs, forums, and more. The bigger the phrase on the above image, the more total mentions it had in the time period.

On Holocaust Envy by Seth Mandel with Commentary Magazine

• If you’re going to plausibly accuse Israel of committing a war crime, you’ll have to get creative: The IDF’s unprecedented minimization of civilian casualties is a major obstacle to anti-Zionist hyperbole.
• Israel’s critics, forced to find a way to denounce feeding hungry Gazans, settled on the fact that the Palestinians being fed had to wait on orderly lines.
• The post showed a picture of Gazans lined up in five rows at the site where they were about to be handed boxes of free food juxtaposed with a picture of concentration camp inmates penned in by barbed wire. Above the photos was the text: “What Happened to Never Again”?
• Taleb, a superstar academic and bestselling author, knows the magnitude of the falsehood he reposted.
• “‘Holocaust envy’ has only become more explicit: We see Palestinian journalists and activists calling themselves a ‘Holocaust survivor’ or saying ‘everyone in Gaza is a Holocaust survivor.’”
• Holocaust envy isn’t new, nor do the Palestinians have a monopoly on it.
• It is behind the International Criminal Court’s prosecution (and persecution) of Israel on the charge of genocide.
• The founder of Palestinian Arab nationalism was literally a Nazi official during the Holocaust.
• His life and work, from the beginning of Palestinian Arab nationalism in about 1920, was centered on the extermination of the Jewish people.
• Holocaust envy, then, is a demented inversion of the current conflict’s modern origin story.
• For Europe, it’s even simpler.
• Some in Europe choose to attempt to dispel this demon by denying it ever happened. Others do so by erasing the level of evil attached to the great crime of the 20th century: If the Jews are capable of perpetrating such atrocities too, then nothing more is owed them.
• But what if it was unique? What accounts for Holocaust envy in that case?
• The Holocaust becomes a trump card; for the anti-Semites whose self-perception is based on their victimhood, the Holocaust inspires literal jealousy.
• The Jews are back to being a problem the world has to deal with.
• Krajewski points out that many people believe that the ability to attribute a death to a Holocaust-level act “somehow ennobles them… it is not just any death.”
• Instead, one must think of the Holocaust as a holy war against the Jews.
• The Holocaust was a revolt against God’s having chosen the Jewish people.
• To be the victims of the Holocaust, therefore, meant first being the one and only chosen nation.
• And that is both unique and ennobling—and the source of a poisoned global public discourse about Israel.
• Link: On Holocaust Envy

Open season on Jews in America by Danielle Pletka with What The Hell Is Going On?

• Egyptian illegal alien Mohamed Sabry Soliman tossed two homemade Molotov cocktails at a peaceful march to call for the release of the hostages in Boulder, Colorado, injuring eight, including a Holocaust survivor.
• He reportedly screamed “Free Palestine” and “End Zionists.”
• The FBI was less politically correct, believing the evidence of their eyes and ears — flames, victims, a march for the hostages, “free Palestine” — that this was indeed a terrorist attack.
• Threats against Jews and “Zionists” — usually another word for Jews — are now commonplace.
• The justification of Hamas’s actions, and the first wave of Jew hatred, broke out before the Israel Defense Forces even entered Gaza.
• It has created a “context” for attacking Jews in America (and abroad) that has amounted to a license for open season on anyone or anything Jewish.
• Far from wariness over the “weaponization of antisemitism” to defend Jews, we must be up in arms about the literal weaponization of antisemitism, and its transformation from an ideology of hate to an actual terrorist movement.
• As a result, Jews must now be afraid in America; afraid to wear a Magen David and be “visibly Jewish,” afraid to join protests in support of Jewish hostages, afraid to visit the Holocaust Museum, afraid to take their kids to Jewish schools, afraid to stick a mezuzah on their doors.
• This fear is exactly what the proponents of violence seek.
• Stand up, be proud to be Jewish, support Jews, support Israel’s right to live in peace and security, and be loud and insistent in support of arrests, deportations, prosecutions, and the evisceration of the pro-Hamas caucus everywhere it can be found.
• This is about the “again” in “never again,” and if it is to be true, it will require a movement as strong as the haters’.
• Link: #WTH Open season on Jews in America

J’Accuse by Clarity with Michael Oren (Substack)

• Throughout the day, Monday, June 2, CNN ran the headline, “Dozens shot dead and injured near Gaza aid hub, health ministry and doctors say.”
• The article remained online and unedited even after the IDF released videos of Hamas terrorists gunning down Palestinian civilians waiting in line for food aid.
• “Israeli Soldiers Open Fire Near Gaza Aid Site. Gaza Officials Say 27 Are Killed,” it claimed.
• Again, there was no correction after the IDF posted the incriminating videos.
• The answer was an unequivocal “no.” Israeli troops never once opened fire on Palestinians seeking aid.
• The media’s message is, simply, that Jews are an inherently bloodthirsty people who enjoy slaughtering innocent people.
• Even if the 54,000 is accurate—and serious studies have shown that it is grossly distorted—deducting all those other numbers yields the lowest civilian to combatant fatality rate in modern military history.
• Instead of a tragic byproduct, collateral damage is implicitly portrayed by mainstream outlets as the goal of Israel’s war.
• When it comes to Israel, the mainstream media is not in the business of reporting reality. Their business, rather, is blood libel.
• Not once, not even obliquely, did the reporters and anchors pause to consider what role they and other self-declared middle-of-the-road journalists play in creating an atmosphere of Jew hatred.
• After all, if their audiences are being told hour after hour how Jews are blithely butchering women and children, why wouldn’t some of those viewers seek justice in shooting and incinerating some of those wicked Jews?
• One can only conclude that the media’s need to portray the Jews as coveters of innocent blood overrides their commitment to even the most basic journalistic norms.
• Link: J’Accuse

Where have all the Jews gone? by Joel Kotkin in Spiked: Jews are fleeing from cities and nations that were once safe havens.

• The killing of two young Israeli embassy staffers, allegedly by a college-educated, left-wing activist earlier this month, provided yet more evidence – if any were needed – of the perilous situation in which Western Jews now find themselves.
• Rodriguez worked for leftist non-profits, supported Black Lives Matter and later enjoyed a dalliance with the communist Party for Socialism and Liberation, a vehemently anti-Israel group.
• Once the beloved object of Jewish ardour, universities are now one of the principal sources of anti-Semitic inculcation.
• Given the extent of ideological indoctrination it’s no surprise that young Americans are far more likely than older cohorts to side with the Palestinians than with Israel.
• Indeed, the majority of people under 25 wrongly think Israel, not Hamas, has controlled Gaza over the past decade.
• Harvard student organisations openly excused Hamas and blamed Israel for the rape and murder of its own citizens.
• At Cornell University, one professor called Hamas’s pogrom ‘exhilarating’ and ‘energising’.
• What is nurtured in universities does not stay there. The frothing violent fringe of campus activism is becoming increasingly mainstream.
• In Washington, a local rabbi, assaulted by pro-Hamas demonstrators, alleged that cops told him that they were instructed not to protect Israeli or Jewish institutions.
• History shows that it’s the continued existence of Israel itself that really motivates its critics around the world.
• Anti-Zionism the world over has always been entwined with an intense Jew hatred – a hatred that is, ironically, pushing Jews towards Israel.
• In the Middle East, some of the oldest Jewish communities have been obliterated.
• Europe has gone from a ‘safe space’ to an increasingly dangerous one.
• Israel is clearly going to be home to the majority of Jewish people soon, as it is already home to nearly a majority of all Jewish children.
• The Jewish community in America feels menaced by the growing anti-Jewish mentality inculcated in the universities and now rife in the graduate-employment hubs of the media and the culture industries.
• They focus on conserving tradition and a sense of community, epitomised by the Chabad movement, which is arguably the most dynamic force in American Jewry.
• Jews may be in the depths of despair, as their havens throughout the West sometimes seem to be turning into an anti-Zionist, Jew-hating hellscape. But they have hope, too.
• Link: Where have all the Jews gone?

Hostage Update (no change)

There are now currently 57 hostages taken on 10/7 currently in captivity in Gaza (there are 58 hostages remaining in total)

• Of the 58 hostages still theoretically in Gaza
  • 35 hostages have been confirmed dead and are currently being held in Gaza
  • Thus, at most, 23 living hostages could still be in Gaza. It has been reported that only 20 are actually alive.
  • Hamas is now holding the body of 1 IDF soldier who was killed in 2014 (Lt. Hadar Goldin’s body remains held in the Gaza Strip)
• 20 hostages remain in captivity and have not been declared dead.
  • 4 hostages are Americans: Meet the Four American Hostages Still Held By Hamas: Itay Chen is assumed to have been killed on 10/7, and Gadi Haggai, Judi Weinstein Haggai, and Omer Neutra have been confirmed to have been killed.

• On October 7^th, a total of 251 Israelis were taken hostage.
• During the ceasefire deal in November of 2023, 112 hostages were released.
• 38 hostages were released in the first phase of the 2025 cease fire agreement (including 5 Thai nationals)
• 194 hostages in total have been released or rescued
  • The bodies of 40 hostages have been recovered, including 3 mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
  • 8 hostages have been heroically rescued by troops alive

Casualties (+4)

• Staff Sgt. Lior Steinberg, 20, a combat medic; Staff Sgt. Ofek Barhana, 20, a combat medic; and Staff Sgt. Omer Van Gelder, 22, a squad commander, were killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb Monday during operations in the Jabalia area in the northern Gaza Strip, the military announced Tuesday morning.
• The Times of Israel reports: It was the most deadly loss for the Israel Defense Forces since it renewed combat operations in Gaza after a ceasefire collapsed in March.
  • Along the same route, the IDF later discovered some 20 more roadside bombs that had been rigged for detonation.
  • It was unclear why the others did not explode. Evacuation of the injured soldiers was complicated and prolonged, as the troops in the convoy realized they were in a booby-trapped area. The IDF also carried out numerous strikes in the area to enable the evacuation.

• Master Sgt. (res.) Alon Farkas, 27, was killed and four soldiers were wounded in separate incidents fighting against the Hamas terror group in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening

1,880 Israelis have been killed including 861 IDF soldiers and police since October 7th

• The South: 420 IDF soldiers (+4 since Sunday) during the ground operation in Gaza have been killed. The toll includes three police officers (two of which were killed in a hostage rescue mission) and two Defense Ministry civilian contractors.
• The North: 132 Israelis (84 IDF soldiers) have been killed during the war in Northern Israel
• The West Bank: 63 Israelis (27 IDF and Israeli security forces)
• Additional Information (according to the IDF):
  • 5,928 (+13 since Sunday) IDF soldiers have been injured since the beginning of the war, including at least 884 (+1 since Sunday) who have been severely injured.
  • 2,692 (+5 since Sunday) IDF soldiers have been injured during ground combat in Gaza, including at least 519 (+1 since Sunday) who have been severely injured.

• The Gaza Casualty Count: According to unverified figures from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, 54,510 total deaths have been reported, with a civilian/combatant ratio: 1:1.
  • [MUST READ] Report: Questionable Counting: Analysing the Death Toll from the Hamas-Run Ministry of Health in Gaza by Andrew Fox with The Henry Jackson Society
  • On October 7th, Ohad Hemo with Channel 12 Israel News – the country’s largest news network, a leading expert on Palestinian and Arab affairs, mentioned an estimate from Hamas: around 80% of those killed in Gaza are members of the organization and their families.”
  • Read this well documented piece from Tablet published in March of 2024: How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers
• The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes official details on every civilian and IDF casualty.

Regular sources include JINSA, FDD, IDF, AIPAC, The Paul Singer Foundation, The Institute for National Security Studies, the Alma Research and Education Center, Yediot, Jerusalem Post, IDF Casualty Count, algemeimer, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Institute for the Study of War, Tablet Magazine, Mosaic Magazine, Commentary, The Free Press, The Jewish Institute for Strategy and Security, and the Times of Israel