Hostages Since 2023 and Tomorrow is 2025, Held By Hamas and What All Is Involved

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

Eden Alexander, A happy-go-lucky guy, a champion swimmer for his high school team, and a big fan of the New York Knicks, Edan spent most of his young life in Tenafly. But he was born in Israel just a few months before his parents moved to the U.S. He spoke Hebrew at home and visited Israel often to see both sets of grandparents. He even celebrated his bar mitzvah there.  He's one of the 7 American hostages.  

Hamas is reportedly willing to release only 22 of the 34 hostages on the list submitted by Israel during the phase of a potential deal. Instead of the other 12 hostages, Hamas wants to release 12 bodies.  It was on October 7, 2023 that Israel was attacked by Hamas, an arm of Iran doing their dirty work.  Now, today is New Year's Eve, shortly to become January 1, 2025.  

Iran's population was 89.17 million in 2023.  As of December 27, 2024, Iran's population is 91,982,642, almost 92 million.  

Yemen's population was 34.45 million in 2023.

Israel turned this down and made it clear that it would only accept living hostages during the initial stage of a deal.

Coincidently, the census of population count occurred at this time.  Israel's population grew by 1.1% over the past year to just over 10.027 million, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. The rate of population growth fell from 1.6% in 2023 to 1.1%. 7.707 million (76.9%) of Israel's citizens are Jewish and 2.1 million (21%) Arabs.                                              

At the same time, we keep hearing of the IDF losing a few soldiers in the battle every day, and we can't afford to do this.  Sergeant Uriel Peretz, 23, from Beitar Illit, a soldier in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion in the Kfir Brigade, fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip. Peretz was killed by an anti-tank missile fired by Hamas terrorists at a building in Beit Hanoun where the force was stationed. Seven other soldiers were wounded in the attack.

Every day, Israelis are facing missile attacks from Yemen.  A missile fired by the Houthis from Yemen last night was intercepted before entering Israeli airspace. Sirens sounded throughout central Israel, sending millions to shelters. U.S. and British forces reportedly struck Houthi targets in Yemen.  

Authorities have named 825 soldiers, 68 police officers, killed in this Gaza war.  Six colonels among the dead, the most senior officers killed in combat in recent memory; 393 IDF troops killed in Gaza ground offensive.

"The IDF announced that 891 soldiers have been killed since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, including that day. The number includes 65 soldiers killed in operational accidents and several dozen in traffic accidents and by suicide." This was news on January 2, 2025.   

The conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen has intensified, marked by missile and drone attacks on Israel and retaliatory airstrikes on Houthi-controlled infrastructure. The Houthis have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel in recent months, with notable incidents including a December 18 missile strike that destroyed a school in Ramat Gan and a deadly July 19 drone attack on an apartment building in Tel Aviv. These attacks, often involving Iranian-made weapons, highlight Tehran's role in supporting the Houthis’ operations.

In response, Israel and the U.S. have conducted multiple airstrikes targeting Houthi assets. On December 21, U.S. forces struck a rocket storage facility and command sites following a missile attack on Tel Aviv, while the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have repeatedly targeted ports, power stations, and oil reserves to cripple the Houthis’ military capabilities. On December 26, the IDF launched another major airstrike, hitting Sana’a International Airport, key power stations, and western ports like Al-Hudaydah, aiming to disrupt the Houthis' ability to wage attacks and further destabilize the region.

Resource:

Update: 1/2/2025

https://www.ajc.org/news/meet-the-seven-american-hostages-still-held-by-hamas

https://www.timesofisrael.com/authorities-name-44-soldiers-30-police-officers-killed-in-hamas-attack/

Pride In Being Jewish In A Non-Jewish World

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                    

We Jews are different from others in one way, and that is attending our Synagogue on Shabbat  (the Sabbath) which will also include (Friday Night) and (Saturday).  This can interfere with activities with Gentiles whose Sabbath is on Sunday.  Above, one is Orthodox and the other might be Conservative as both are wearing a kippah on their head.  

So many of us are afraid of exposing the fact that we are Jewish to our Gentile friends. I admire those in politics who are Jewish and are proud of the fact, not fearful.  It's mainly because anti-Semitism is so high right now, and people are against Israel and for Palestinian terrorists, which blows our minds.        

Joshua David Shapiro (born June 20, 1973) is an American lawyer and politician who is the 48th governor of Pennsylvania. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the attorney general of Pennsylvania from 2017 to 2023 and was on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners from 2012 to 2017.  

Governor-elect of Pennsylvania, Joshua Shapiro, is another of the few Jewish politicians open about his faith and practice. Even while on the campaign trail, he was Shomer Shabbos and always made sure to be home by sundown at his family's home in Philadelphia, even if he had meet-and-greet downstate that morning. He won't be the first Jewish governor of Pennsylvania, more like the third, but he'll be the most overtly observant one we've ever had.

Joseph Isadore Lieberman (February 24, 1942 – March 27, 2024) was an American Democrat politician and lawyer who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013.  

First Jewish nominee for Vice President of the United States on a major party ticket, and first Jewish candidate to receive an electoral vote, excluding faithless electors: Joe Lieberman (2000)

• Joe Lieberman was also amazing in keeping observant considering the political position he opted for.  He was the first Jewish nominee for Vice President of the United States on a major party ticket, and first Jewish candidate to receive an electoral vote, excluding faithless electors:   (2000).   
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• Lieberman's religious observance was mostly viewed in terms of refusal to campaign on the Jewish Sabbath. This changed when Al Gore chose Lieberman as the running mate; a Lieberman press officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said: "He refers to himself as observant, as opposed to Orthodox, because he doesn't follow the strict Orthodox code and doesn't want to offend the Orthodox, and his wife feels the same way.  
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• I'd say he really is acting as a Conservative Jew.    Regardless, he's not embarrassed about being Jewish.  

The Liebermans kept a kosher home and observed the Sabbath. In one notable instance, then-Senator Lieberman walked to the Capitol after Sabbath services to block a Republican filibuster. Lieberman said that there was currently "a constitutional place for faith in our public life", and that the Constitution does not provide for "freedom from religion."

• Lieberman was born on February 24, 1942, in Stamford, Connecticut, the son of Henry, who ran a liquor store, and Marcia (née Manger) Lieberman. His family is Jewish; his paternal grandparents emigrated from Congress Poland and his maternal grandparents were from Austria-Hungary.

In May 2021, Lieberman expressed support for Israel in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and praised "the quiet and effective diplomacy of President Biden, who was not drawn in by the left of the Democratic Party to essentially take a stand against Israel."

His personal life is most interesting.  Lieberman met his first wife, Betty Haas, also Jewish,  at the congressional office of Senator Abraham Ribicoff (D-CT), where they worked as summer student interns.  They had 2 children.  They divorced in 1981 over religion;  differing on being more orthodox or not, and she was not interested. Lieberman described himself as an "observant" Jew."   His first wife, Betty Haas, is a Reform Jew. After the death of his grandmother, a deeply religious immigrant, in 1967, he found a renewed interest in religious observance. 

 The next year he met his 2nd wife,  Hadassah Freilich Tucker, while he was running for Attorney General of Connecticut.  His second wife, Hadassah, is also an observant Modern Orthodox Jew. "Hadassah calls herself my right wing", said Lieberman.   Hadassah Tucker's parents were Holocaust survivors. According to Washington Jewish Week, Lieberman called her for a date because he thought it would be interesting to go out with someone named Hadassah. (Hadassah is the Hebrew name of Esther in the biblical Book of Esther, and subsequently also the name of the Women's Zionist Organization of America). 

Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders may have a lot in common—proud Jews born less than a year apart, failed presidential candidates representing New England, political independents willing to buck the Democratic party line (though Lieberman skewed right and Sanders left).

But despite having overlapped in the Senate together for six years, Lieberman did not have nice things to say about Sanders’s proposed single-payer healthcare plan when asked by The Daily Beast.

“To me the best thing to do is to fix Obamacare,” he said. “For Democrats to respond to the Republican failure on health care by sort of offering a kind of a panacea for all your ills, this is like the wonder drug stuff that people used to sell at county fairs in America. It won’t work and it will really hurt the country financially.”

We have had 33 Jewish governors.  Oregon alone had the following 2:

Oregon

Julius Meier

Independent

January 12, 1931

January 14, 1935

Oregon's first Jewish governor

Oregon

Neil Goldschmidt

Democratic

January 12, 1987

January 14, 1991

We had  Jewish mayors in Portland, Oregon:

• First Jewish mayor of a major American city (Portland, Oregon): Bernard Goldsmith (1869):  He was a Democrat before the Civil War, then shifted to the Republican party in opposition to slavery and in support of Abraham Lincoln, following the national pattern. He ran for mayor on the Union (Republican) ticket, then switched back to the Democratic party in 1875.
  • Two years later, Philip Wasserman succeeded him as mayor.

• Joseph Simon (R-Portland, OR: 1909–1911)

• Neil Goldschmidt (D-Portland, OR: 1973–1979)

• Vera Katz (D-Portland, OR: 1993–2005)

Other Notables:

First Jewish Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: Louis Brandeis (1916)

• First Jewish Secretary of the Treasury: Henry Morgenthau Jr. (1934)

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• First person of Sephardic Jewish ancestry to run for President of the United States: Louis Abolafia (1968)

• First Jewish Secretary of State: Henry Kissinger (1973)

• First independent Jewish member of the U.S. Congress (U.S. House of Representatives): Bernie Sanders (1991) (Votes against Israel most all the time)

• First Jewish female members of the U.S. Senate: Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (1993)

• First Jewish female Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1993)

• First Jewish U.S. Senate floor leader: Chuck Schumer (2017) (also first Jewish minority leader in either chamber of Congress)

• First Jewish U.S. Senate majority leader: Chuck Schumer (2021)
• 
  
• First Jewish female (and the first woman) Secretary of the Treasury: Janet Yellen (2021)

Any Republican Jews of importance?  4 as Secretary of State;  

State Attorney General:  13 of which 4 were from New York.  

New York

Albert Ottinger

Republican

January 1, 1925

December 31, 1928

New York

Nathaniel Goldstein

Republican

January 1, 1943

December 31, 1954

New York

Jacob Javits

Republican

January 1, 1955

January 9, 1957

New York

Louis Lefkowitz

Republican

January 10, 1957

December 31, 1978

State Treasurer: 3 below 

Rhode Island

Nancy Mayer

Republican

1993

1997

Nevada

Dan Schwartz

Republican

January 5, 2015

January 7, 2019

Ohio

Josh Mandel

Republican

January 10, 2011

January 14, 2019

  Jewish voting patterns after World War II reflected sustained engagement with the Democratic Party. In summarizing voting studies of the past 40 years, 50 percent of American Jews identify with the Democratic Party. Another 30-35 percent are Independents, while some 13-17 percent define themselves as Republicans.

By contrast, the high point for Republicans was 32 percent of the Jewish vote garnered in House races in 1988.

 During the 1990s, Democrats secured at least 73 percent of the Jewish vote in House of Representatives races.

A Jewish couple walking to synagogue could be attacked today because of this traditional way of dressing that attracts anti-Semites.  They are no longer safe in the USA as before in more heavily populated Jewish cities. We are facing anti-Semitism almost as bad as before 1939 in Germany.    

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Goldsmith

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_American_politicians

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_political_milestones_in_the_United_States

In a Palestinian Gaza Hideout Hospital and and Israeli Hadassah Hospital Holding PM Netanyahu

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

This is a picture from  2012.  It's the House in the Jabalia refugee camp, destroyed by Israeli bombing 2012.  Once again, a hospital was the hideout of Hamas terrorists.  

IDF forces completed a week long operation targeting the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya, killing 20 terrorists and arresting over 240.

The IDF evacuated the patients and staff from the hospital prior to the raid. 

Staff Sgt. Yuval Shoham, killed in the northern Gaza Strip on December 29, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces).  However, an IDF soldier was killed in the operation:  An IDF soldier was killed in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, the military announced, as a months-long operation in Jabalia appeared to approach its end, despite several instances of rocket fire from the enclave, which has been a rare occurrence at this stage of the war.  The slain soldier was named as Staff Sgt. Yuval Shoham, 22, of the 401st Armored Brigade’s 9th Battalion, from Jerusalem.  
                      Jabaliya is in  the very northern part of Gaza

The hospital was the last Hamas stronghold in Jabaliya, where the IDF has been fighting for the past 3 months. Fighting continues in Beit Hanoun, the army's primary target in northern Gaza. Five rockets were fired from the town yesterday. The IDF had hit it several other times previously, and one would think it was devoid of people, but evidently not.                                     

           Jabalia is in northern Gaza.           

Hamas operated a command center inside the hospital, and the surrounding buildings were all rigged with explosives and booby traps. 

Some terrorists attempted to disguise themselves as patients or hide in ambulances. 

The camp is located at the northern end of the Gaza Strip, close to the Israeli border and a village with the same name. The camp only covers an area of 1.4 km² making it one of the most densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip. The First Intifada in December 1987 began in Jabalia. The camp has been the scene of much violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. It is also considered a major stronghold of the Hamas movement. The camp is the largest refugee camp in Palestinian territory.               

   A picture of Netanyahu in June 2024 speaking in Ramat Gan.   

     Previous Hernia surgery here   

Prime Minister Netanyahu underwent successful surgery last night at Hadassah Medical Center, to remove his prostate. He is expected to remain hospitalized for several days. Netanyahu received antibiotic treatment over several days after being diagnosed with a urinary tract infection caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia. Justice Minister Yariv Levin is serving as acting prime minister during the surgery while Defense Minister Israel Katz is responsible for convening the Security Cabinet.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent successful surgery 

Sunday to have his prostate removed, hospital officials said, a procedure that 

came as he manages multiple crises including the war in Gaza and his trial for 

alleged corruption.

Netanyahu, who has had a series of health issues in recent years, has gone to 

great lengths to bolster a public image of himself as a healthy, energetic leader.

 During his trial this month, he boasted about working 18-hour days,

 accompanied by a cigar. 

But as Israel’s longest-serving leader, such a grueling workload over a total of 

17 years in power could take a toll on his well-being.

Netanyahu, 75, is among older world leaders including US President Joe 

Biden, 82, President-elect Donald Trump, 78, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio 

Lula da Silva, 79, and Pope Francis, 88, who have come under scrutiny for 

their age and health issues.

Netanyahu’s latest condition is common in older men, but the procedure has 

had some fallout. The judges overseeing his trial accepted a request from his

 lawyer on Sunday to call off three days of testimony scheduled this week. The 

lawyer, Amit Hadad, had argued that Netanyahu would be fully sedated for the

 procedure and hospitalized for “a number of days.”  It would be cruel, in my 

mind, to continue the moment after his operation!  Give him some time to re-

focus his mind, for goodness sake !!!!!  Three days is barely enough!!!!!

Resource:

Israel AM  email news

https://www.timesofisrael.com/soldier-killed-in-northern-gaza-as-five-rockets-fired-into-israel/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabalia_refugee_camp

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/29/middleeast/netanyahu-prostate-operation-successful-intl-latam/index.html