Israel Brief: Sunday, September 21
Fires in the North, Tunnels in the South, Pressure in the UN
Israel enters the High Holidays with the war pressing on every front. In Gaza, Hamas has rebuilt tunnels and packed fighters underground. The IDF strikes heavily but halts certain missions where hostages may be held. Above ground, Hamas fires on UN teams, steals baby formula, and hijacks vehicles to script a famine story. Its propaganda poster invoking missing navigator Ron Arad shows how it weaponizes memory as much as rockets.
At home, the mood is a mix of resolve and vigilance, sharpened by the calendar: Rosh Hashanah is here, and Jews know that enemies often choose holidays for escalation. The echoes of 1973 and 2023 are not lost. Freed hostage Edan Alexander vows to rejoin his Golani unit.
Abroad, Western nations prepare to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations—even as many of their citizens oppose it. The Netherlands records another attack on Israel’s embassy.
These converging pressures—military, political, psychological—continues just as the shofar readies to sound.
Israel walks into the High Holidays with the war pressing on every front, and Hamas reaching for theater. Today's Israel Brief opens on rebuilt tunnels, ten thousand fighters underground, and a propaganda poster turning all forty-eight hostages into Ron Arad to deepen the wound. The full edition carries the rest: Iran suspending IAEA cooperation, Western capitals preparing to reward statehood at the UN while their own publics say no, and a calendar that Israel's enemies have always read as an opening.
Hamas is gambling with tunnels, hostages, and hunger theater to survive.
The Israel Brief is the Mitzpe Institute's read on Israel and the region — most mornings, Sunday through Thursday. More at mitzpe.org.