Israel Brief: Tuesday, November 25
Lebanon turns into an axis franchise hub, and Israel starts cutting into the systems that failed on October 7 while the “international community” rebuilds the ecosystem that made it possible.
On every front that matters, the war is still running; only the communiqués pretend it paused. In Rafah, the IDF is treating the ceasefire as a rules-of-engagement document while tunnels collapse, terrorists die on contact and a hostage’s body moves only when Hamas is reminded there is a price for delay. In Lebanon, Hezbollah is burying its chief of staff under Israeli drones, Hamas fighters are queuing up to join the next round and the Vatican is trying to deter war with a papal visit. At home, the system that failed on October 7 is finally paying in careers—inside the IDF, inside Mossad—and the political class is being dragged away from slogans toward real choices on the draft and the Muslim Brotherhood. Around all of it, Iran is spinning missiles and narratives, and Western systems keep wiring money, platforms and legitimacy to people who want Jews dead.
Here’s the day in one glance before we go deep.
⚡️Flash Brief: The Day in 90 Seconds or Less
Rafah: Nahal, Golani and Yahalom dismantle tunnels, kill 11 of 17 emerging terrorists; Hamas hands a hostage’s body to the Red Cross under pressure.
Lebanon: Hezbollah buries Tabataba’i under Israeli drones, Hamas units in Lebanon prep to join fighting, Pope insists on visiting anyway.
Iran / Axis: Tehran boasts expanded missile power, works with Russia on laser tech, Houthis publicly “support Lebanon and Palestine.”
Judea & Samaria: Joint IDF–Shin Bet ops kill Sultan al-Ghani in Jenin and Ala Shetiyya near Shechem, while an Arab mob stones a Jewish shepherd in western Binyamin.
Inside the system: Mossad removes Brig. Gen. G, two 8200 colonels are dismissed, Katz–Zamir clash lands in the PM’s office and Likud holds its first national convention in 13 years.
Info-war and money: X exposes foreign-run protest accounts steering Israeli discourse, while Minnesota welfare and Swedish schools quietly feed jihadist networks abroad.
Diplomacy: Sa’ar signs a security pact in Paraguay, Trump orders a Muslim Brotherhood terror review, and France rolls out the carpet for Iran’s foreign minister.
The full brief and analysis continue below.
The through-line hasn’t changed, it just sharpened. Gaza’s “ceasefire” keeps functioning as a fire-control script for Israel and a meat grinder for Hamas: tunnels wrecked, infiltrators shot on sight, bodies returned home to Israel only under pressure. In the same strip, UNRWA’s school-and-clinic machine is being restored almost to pre–October 7 strength on the very ground that produced the last war. In the north, Israel has broken Hezbollah’s old “equations” by killing its chief of staff in Dahieh, flying drones over his funeral and now watching as Al-Qassam cadres in Lebanon line up to join the next campaign while the Pope is dropped in as a kind of human de-escalation bet. Inside Israel, you can feel the avoidance culture cracking: generals and colonels are being pushed out, Mossad is cutting loose a tainted MI veteran, Katz is forcing the IDF to accept outside scrutiny and Netanyahu is moving to finish the job on the Muslim Brotherhood that Texas and Trump just restarted in American law.
The war is still running on every front that matters — only the communiqués pretend it paused. Today's Israel Brief follows the through-line as it sharpens: tunnels dying in Rafah while UNRWA quietly resurrects Hamas's school-and-clinic ecosystem, Al-Qassam cadres in Lebanon lining up for the next round, Iran's missile lines feeding every vector at once, and the October 7 caste finally paying in careers inside the IDF and Mossad. The full edition reads the whole battlespace, money and all.
The same systems that moralize about “international law” are funding jihad, indulging antisemitism and then losing their minds when Israel defends itself.
The Israel Brief is the Mitzpe Institute's read on Israel and the region — most mornings, Sunday through Thursday. More at mitzpe.org.