world news
Israel’s High Court rejects petition of east Jerusalem family facing eviction
Israel’s High Court of Justice rejected on Sunday a petition by an east Jerusalem family seeking to challenge a previous court decision – which ruled that the family must vacate their home in Silwan in favor of Jewish residents, the Israeli NGO Peace Now reported.
The Shhadeh family, from Batan al-Hawa in Silwan, challenged Judge Noam Solberg’s ruling, which rejected their appeal request. However, the Shhadeh family claimed that the court did not seek their response to the Jewish buyers’ applications in the case, leading to a flaw in the court’s decision-making process. Their voices were not heard before the decision – contrary to procedural rules.
However, on Sunday, the High Court rejected the petition.
Peace Now, an Israeli NGO working to promote a two-state solution, made a statement on the ruling, saying, “This is a political move, under the guise of legal proceedings, for the forcible displacement of a Palestinian community and its replacement by settlers in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem.”“The responsibility to prevent the injustice lies with the government,” Peace Now added. “It must determine that if settlers have rights to properties from before 1948, they should be compensated for them, not to have the right to evict families who lawfully purchased the property and lived there for decades.”
Currently, all legal paths have reportedly been exhausted, and the family will need to evict its four-floor home by June 1. If they do not leave willingly, the Jewish buyers can file a procedure that would see police forcefully evict residents.
Background on the case
In November 2022, the District Court rejected the Shhadeh family’s appeal and ruled that they must vacate their home. The family then filed a request to appeal to Israel’s High Court. Solberg, the judge who received the case, decided in 2023 to wait for the position of the Attorney General in a similar eviction case.
In the months that passed, while waiting for the Attorney General’s decision, the Jewish buyers’ lawyer submitted six requests to the court to expedite the decision and rule on the case.
Following their sixth request in April 2024, Judge Solberg decided not to wait for the Attorney General’s decision and determined that the family must vacate their home. The family submitted a motion for reconsideration, which was also rejected by the judge. Last week, the family filed a petition to the High Court against the decision, which was rejected on Sunday.
Ateret Cohanim, a right-wing group, was involved in the case and has filed numerous eviction lawsuits against some 84 Palestinian families in Silwan, Peace Now stated. Since 2015, 14 families have been evicted from Batan al-Hawa.
Special forces killed four terrorists in a vehicle during an operation in Nablus in the West Bank, army radio reported on X/Twitter Wednesday evening.
They were seen armed moments before they were killed, footage published by army radio showed.
A source told Kan that the terrorists killed in Nablus were a squad of terrorists from the Balata Camp that were preparing to carry out an attack against Israelis.4 מחבלים חוסלו ברכב במהלך פעולה של כוחות מיוחדים בשכם, כך הם תועדו רגע לפני שנהרגו pic.twitter.com/mFUGTHFqYg
— הוד בראל Hod Barel (@hod_barel) October 9, 2024
Riots in Nablus
Riots broke out on Wednesday afternoon, during which the IDF killed four terrorists following intelligence provided by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Maariv reported.
Commander of the Balata Battalion of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade (which is aligned with Fatah) Issam a-Salaj was allegedly eliminated in the operation, Walla noted.
This is a developing story.
Following Hezbollah’s success at striking the Haifa area on Tuesday, the IDF later Tuesday and early Wednesday significantly increased its pace of airstrikes to try to roll back the groups’ rocket attacks.
The IDF announced on Wednesday that it had upped its airstrikes over the last 24 hours to 185 targets across all of Lebanon.
This was a significant increase compared to days when the strikes were in the dozens or even from Monday when the air force struck around 120 targets, but almost exclusively in southern Lebanon.
IDF strikes in southern Lebanon (Credit: IDF’ Spokesperson’s Unit)
Also, the targets were once again more spread out as opposed to being focused on the south, which had been the trend since the IDF invasion started on September 30. These changes could also mark a shift in strategy as the IDF possibly moves into a third phase of its major moves against Hezbollah, which started in mid-September.
The phases in question
The first phase saw two days of Hezbollah operatives and communications being torn apart by beeper and walkie-walkie explosions. It also included the killing of Ibrahim Aqil and around 20 of his top sub-commanders of the Radwan special forces. On September 23, it included the air force hitting 1,300 targets in only one day. Finally, on September 27, it included the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as well as a number of other top Hezbollah officials, like Ali Karaki.
IDF officials have said that the strategy for Phase I was to disable Hezbollah’s capability to harm the Israeli home front in a devastating way as well as to lay the groundwork for a potential invasion if needed.
Phase two saw the invasion of southern Lebanon to take apart Hezbollah’s Radwan potential invasion weapons, tunnels, and positions. The air force, likewise, since September 30, has focused much more on southern Lebanon, especially providing real-time support to maneuvering ground forces facing ambushes from Hezbollah.
Every few days, the IDF sent in an additional division: first Division 98, then Division 36, then Division 91, and on Tuesday, Division 143, with more increases expected. They have increased the pace of destroying Hezbollah infrastructure in certain southern Lebanon villages, such as Mavarchin.
However, in what might be Phase 3, Division 98 is already receiving new maneuvering orders and IDF sources have said that they believe some initial missions of clearing Hezbollah positions will soon be taken care of sufficiently to move on to additional missions.
In turn, the air force may be refocusing on wider rocket threats throughout Lebanon.
If by September 30, it was assumed that Hezbollah’s failure to fire deeper into Israel and cause serious damage had shown they were truly losing that capability, Tuesday’s attacks on the Haifa area may have convinced top defense officials to return to striking beyond southern Lebanon to cause greater damage to those long-range capabilities.
All of this could be a prelude to the IDF shifting its focus from merely clearing southern Lebanon of Hezbollah’s presence to also trying to truly get the longer-range rocket threat under control.
These new efforts come with as the military also faces increased time pressure to succeed in restoring security for 60,000 northern border residents as Lebanon’s mountainous winter and the November 5 US presidential election both bear down on the timing calculus.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. Announced on Tuesday that it will be showcasing its latest defense capabilities at the defense AUSA exhibition October 14-16 in Washington D.C., including a new Lite Beam laser-based interception system integrated into the Trophy multitasking defense platform.
While not as much of a watershed moment as when Israel can finally deploy its Iron Beam laser defense system, the Lite Beam is still a powerful example of Israel succeeding in using layers, at least for short-range defense.
Defense sources told the Jerusalem Post that the Lite Beam’s operational capabilities have been proven, though they declined to disclose exactly when and how the IDF has used such capabilities in the field in Gaza or Lebanon.
The implication was that the Lite Beam would be effective against drones and possibly against mortars but would not shoot down most rockets or long-range missiles, which Israel eventually hopes the Iron Beam will do.In general, laser defense technologies are viewed as a major part of future air defense because they would end the arms cost race in which Israel and other wealthy countries constantly waste huge amounts of money to protect themselves from weaker adversaries using low-attack cheap forms of threats.
The sources added that the Lite Beam has hard kill neutralization capabilities which can be integrated on any vehicular platform and operational capabilities, and that it also can be a component of the drone dome which utilizes both soft kill and jamming.
The advantage of Lite Beam
Rafael said that Lite Beam “offers advantages such as engagement at the speed of light, an unlimited magazine, and negligible cost per interception.”
Further, Rafael stated that its “latest modular C-UAS solutions for force protection can operate alongside the Trophy Active Protection System (APS) in a combat formation to enhance ground maneuver capabilities across the battlespace.”
Moreover, it said, “The C-UAS Drone Dome solution, with its laser interception capability, can be integrated on 4×4, 6×6, and 8×8 wheeled and tracked vehicles to support counter-drone missions as well as other force protection missions.”
As part of its display, Rafael will introduce a unique modular Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) concept, combining advanced detection and interception technologies.
One of the defense systems on this platform is the Lite Beam laser-based interception system, but it also includes “the Samson 30mm Remote Weapon Station (RWS), on a 4-wheeled platform. These solutions provide maneuvering forces with robust force protection and flexibility against a wide range of airborne threats, including UAVs.”
Also, the Trophy’s “cutting-edge technology is operational on over a dozen platforms worldwide, including Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs), Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFVs), and Main Battle Tanks (MBTs). It has consistently demonstrated its adaptability and reliability in complex combat scenarios, providing comprehensive protection for vehicles and crews,” said Rafael.
“This latest presentation at AUSA highlights RAFAEL’s ongoing commitment to delivering advanced battlefield defense solutions. As global threats evolve, we continue to equip armed forces with cutting-edge technologies to ensure their operational superiority in diverse and challenging environments,” said Mr. Tzvi Marmor, EVP & General Manager of the Land & Naval Systems Division.
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