Israel is perhaps more acutely aware than any other government on earth of how disadvantageous it is to have your crimes recorded in the light of day and shared with the world.
Under a canopy of darkness, the roar of bullets punctures the silence of the night along Israel’s borders. The Caracal Battalion, a mixed-gender combat unit of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), is engaged in an intense firefight. At the helm of this tumult is Lt.-Col. Or Ben-Yehuda, leading her troops against the relentless onslaught of Hamas terrorists. This night, they emerged victorious, reportedly eliminating nearly 100 militants, thus defying any lingering doubts regarding the capabilities of female combat soldiers.
Palestinian poet Ahmed Abu Artema was seriously injured in an Israeli airstrike on October 24 that also killed five members of his family, including his 12-year-old son. Artema helped inspire the Great March of Return, a series of nonviolent protests in Gaza starting in 2018 when thousands of Palestinians marched to the militarized fence separating them from their ancestral homes inside Israel, braving deadly Israeli sniper fire that killed hundreds and injured thousands more. Artema spoke with Democracy Now!about the mass protests in 2019. “The Palestinians in Gaza are actually in a real prison,” he said. “When tens of thousands of Palestinians share in the March of Return, they want to say that we never gave up our right to return.”
Palestinian officials, U.N. experts, and even Israeli media say nearly 7,000 men, women, and children have been killed by Israel’s indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling.
An Israeli think tank with ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a report on October 17 promoting the “unique and rare opportunity” for the “relocation and final settlement of the entire Gaza population.”
Israeli propaganda officials are reportedly upset because elderly Israeli woman Yocheved Lifshitz said that she was treated well while she was detained by Hamas in Gaza over the last two weeks.
Freedom of the press is important and critical in any situation, especially now. However, Israel’s public diplomacy officials must issue an unequivocal directive that prohibits live media events of this kind in the future. The public’s right to know is important, but not when national security is at stake. In such times, the public can suffice with a recorded and supervised message.
The Libyan parliament on Wednesday demanded the departure of ambassadors from countries that “support” Israel as it fights Hamas in Gaza, taking specific aim at the United States, Britain, France and Italy.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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