Almost everything today runs right up to the last step and stops. Frameworks get signed, resolutions get drafted, money gets promised — the certificate, the transfer and the charge against whoever gave the order are the parts that never turn up. The Israelis who got anything done today did it at that far end, without waiting for a signature.
Flash Brief: The Day in 90 Seconds or Less
Lebanon: Israel tells Washington the south Lebanon pilot has failed, and Hezbollah refuses to give up Ali al-Taher. See The War Today.
Jenin: An air force drone kills Hamas's Jenin commander, Israel's first air strike in Judea and Samaria since October. See The War Today.
Hormuz: CENTCOM declares the shipping lanes cleared of Iranian mines, and transit traffic stays about ninety percent below pre-war. See The War Today.
Qusra: Masked Israeli terrorists barricade themselves inside a Palestinian house, and soldiers clear them out and seize three vehicles. See Inside Israel.
The ballot: Ben-Gvir rules out running with Religious Zionism, and Netanyahu has nine days before lists close. See Inside Israel.
The defense budget: Zamir stops reserve call-ups in two commands at Rosh Hashanah unless the Treasury releases the money. See Inside Israel.
Greece: Athens signs a $3.6 billion air-defense package, the largest export contract Israel's defense industry has closed. See Israel and the World.
The Senate: Van Hollen, Kaine and Sanders force a floor vote that can stop American security assistance to Israel. See Israel and the World.
The CBC: Canada's broadcaster gives 9/11 back the word terrorism and keeps the rule barring it everywhere else. See Israel and the World.
Bondi: Australia's antisemitism commission ends hearings without the former ASIO officer who says he warned it. See Israel and the World.
Golders Green: Four men plead guilty to burning four Hatzola ambulances, and nobody is charged with ordering it. See Israel and the World.
Attribution is what the missing acts have in common. A certificate carries a chief of staff's name and a charge carries a prosecutor's, and neither man wants to be holding it when it goes wrong. Hezbollah has worked that out, and is betting the whole framework on it.
Today: why Israel says the Lebanon pilot is finished, the first air strike in Judea and Samaria in ten months, and an army out of money.
The Jewish State — Mitzpe's eight-session live course on Israeli history from the Mandate to October 7, taught the way the brief reads. Cohort 1: eight Sundays from Oct 11. mitzpe.org/the-jewish-state