Utterly Confused, Demoralized Ukrainian Troops

"They don't understand where our side is, where the enemy is, what's under our control, and what isn't."

"They don't understand the operational situation, we so act at our own discretion."

Ukraine troop commander

"There's no other option. We'll fight here because if we just pull back to our borders, they won't stop; they'll keep advancing."

"All the military can think about now is that Donbas has simply been sold."

"At what price?"

Ukrainian drone unit commander

In this photo taken from a video released by Russian Defense Ministry press service on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, Russian serviceman aims a D-30 howitzer towards Ukrainian positions in Kursk region.  Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

Ukrainian troops, once so buoyed by their initial success in pushing Russian troops back from their own national territory over the border into Kursk during their shock offensive, are now bludgeoned by the inevitable response, repulsed, bloodied and demoralized. The early heady days of success are now behind them; what lies ahead is quite different; the prospect of defeat and retreat from Kursk. Uncertainty is now their constant companion.

They have faced intense battles, so much so that commanders have found themselves in the position of having to abandon all thought of recovering the bodies of their dead servicemen. Communication is sporadic and lagging, lives have been lost thanks to poor timing, leaving troops little opportunity to counterattack, according to front-line commanders and soldiers speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Russia has recovered from its humiliatingly unexpected surprise of being caught unaware by the Ukrainian incursion whose lightning advance five months ago was so stunningly staged. Since then, Moscow has amassed over 50,000 troops in the region. Russia's ally, North Korea, has stepped forward with the offer of supplemental troops from its own military.

 

A destroyed Russian tank sits on a roadside near the town of Sudzha, Russia, in the Kursk region, on Aug. 16, 2024, in an image approved by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry before publication. 

 

The counterattacks by Russia have been responsible for killing and wounding thousands. The Ukrainian military, badly overstretched, has lost over 40 percent of the 984 square kilometres of Russian territory it had amassed and seized back in August. Russia, on the other hand, since its invasion three years earlier now holds a fifth of Ukraine. The hope is now fading that the Kursk tactic might present a counterweight in negotiations, convincing Moscow to release Ukrainian territory in exchange for a negotiation over the Kursk region and an end to the war.

Matters have reached a new low for Kyiv whose internal advisers and western officials envision that the gamble on Kursk may weaken the entire 1000-kilometre front line, while Ukraine continues to lose more of its territory in the east. "We have, as they say, hit a hornet's nest. We have stirred up another hot spot", Stepan Lutsiv, a major in the 95th Airborne Assault Brigade, admitted.

 

A Ukrainian soldier walks past a city hall in Sudzha, in the Kursk region of Russia, on Aug. 16, 2024. This image was approved by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry before publication

 

According to Army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine launched the Kursk operation when officials felt Russia was on the cusp of launching a new attack on northeast Ukraine. An order to leave Ukraine's Sumy region on August 5 for what was generally felt to be a nine-day raid to stun the enemy, instead turned into an occupation, enabling Ukraine's smaller military to gain leverage while embarrassing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

 

The Ukrainian military ordered an advance beyond the original mission to the town of Korenevo, 25 kilometres into Russia, to take greater advantage of the success that was achieved. And in the end, more latterly Korenevo was one of the first towns that Russian troops counterattacked for retrieval. Russians steadily and swiftly regained their territory by early November.

Once so proud of what they had accomplished, Ukrainian troops' optimism has been turned around, forced to come to terms with massive losses. One company commander spoke of half his troops dead, or wounded. Conditions are tough, morale is low and troops question command decisions. The very end-purpose of occupying Kursk is being questioned.

Some soldiers question more vocally whether Kursk has been worth the more recent losses experienced by their units, given their front-line losses in the eastern region of the Donbas where Russia is now closing in on a crucial supply hub.

"For three days in a row, the enemy has been conducting intensive offensive operations in the Kursk region, actively using North Korean army units."

"North Korean mercenaries have already suffered heavy losses. The Ukrainian defenders are steadfastly holding the defence, destroying enemy personnel and equipment."

"[The] most difficult situation [is currently around Kurakhove and the mining city of Pokrovsk -- two areas Russia is aiming to seize."

"[The] operational and strategic situation remains difficult [across the 1,170-kilometre (730-mile) front line, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia's troops had seized] the strategic initiative across the front."

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky

In this image taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Nov. 7, 2024, Russian soldiers fight with Ukrainian troops in the Sudzhansky district of the Kursk region of western Russia.   AP

Hamas Supporters Degrade Boxing Day With Jew-Hate

"It is unfathomable that our leaders continue to embolden and enable those who wish to compromise the well-being of all Canadians through their callous acts of intimidation and incitement."

"As a society, we cannot allow for the continued denigration of our morals and values."

"[The protest was] nothing short of a hate-filled attempt to unduly target a Jewish-owned business."

Richard Robertson, director, research and advocacy, B'nai Brith Canada

 

"Like the vast majority of Canadians, we believe this kind of threatening behaviour has no place in our society. This is just the latest among many examples of the hostility and extremism being whipped up by these protests."

"It's long past time for authorities to take action against the brazen intimidation and extremism taking place in cities across Canada. Because while these protests may be targeting Jews, they ultimately threaten the democratic values that define Canada."

"[The protests] threatened Indigo staff and negatively impacted customers simply wanting to enjoy their day."

Noah Shack, interim president, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

"This isn't a lawful demonstration for peace."

"It's antisemitic hatred targeted at a Jewish-owned business -- Indigo -- designed to create chaos in public and intimidate the employees and shoppers who do business there."

"It's a crime."

Marco Mendicino, MP, Eglinton-Lawrence riding, Toronto

The scene outside Indigo at Toronto's Eaton Centre on Boxing Day. Photo by X

On Boxing Day, predictably enough given past performances, anti-Israel protesters shouted "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" through megaphones inside Toronto's mid-city located Eaton Centre. This is a busy downtown shopping mall, and at this time of year throngs of shoppers can be found there. A video in later circulation shows protesters chanting "Free, Free, Free Palestine", along with "While you're shopping, bombs are dropping", as they assembled at the Indigo bookstore, Jewish-owned.

A huge banner depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was hung by the group from a railing. Under the crude portrait, "Arrest This Criminal" appeared; a reference to an International Criminal Court warrant in a judgement reached concluding that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been alleged. During the turmoil of the demonstration from an upper balcony protesters threw flyers over the railing to the bottom level, accusing Israel of genocide.

Chants blared out such as "There is a genocide happening with our tax dollars". And the putrid charges levelled by the hate-mongers were not referencing the homicidal planned attacks that took place in southern Israel when it was invaded from Gaza by Palestinian terrorists geared up to assault, mass rape, torment, torture, mutilate Israeli girls and women, burn entire families alive in their homes, slaughter 1,200 infants, elderly and ill civilians along with members of the Israeli military; men and women alike.

These are the groups who idolize Hamas 'martyrs' while reviling Israeli survivors, caring nothing for the plight of the 251 Israelis of every age group and health condition, along with foreign farm workers and Israeli soldiers, held in hellish captivity in deep, dark, dank tunnels where contaminated air, scarce food and water, torture and humiliation became the order of their endless days, deprived of freedom, of all that makes life worthwhile. 

 

 

When mall Security and Toronto police finally got around to clearing the protesters out of the mall, no arrests were made; they simply dispersed from the two levels of the mall where they had installed themselves for greatest visibility and impact on those witnessing the event. Families who had come out to see the blue-and-white-lit Christmas tree (the colours, incidentally, of the Israeli flag), and to take advantage of Boxing Day sales items, as part of a family outing.

"Indigo Kills Kids" represents an online campaign calling for an Indigo boycott: "Due to its CEO's involvement in the oppression of Palestinians and its complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza", reads the website. Indigo's Heather Reisman, the CEO of the successful book chain, along with her husband, CEO of Onex Corporation, Gerry Schwartz, had founded a charitable organization named the HSEG Foundation, providing scholarships to 'orphan' soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.

At the same time this was happening in Toronto, another hot-spot of vicious antisemitic activity by pro-Hamas groups in Canada saw protests being rallied on Robson Street in Vancouver outside the Indigo bookshop, blocking Boxing Day shoppers from entering the store, bearing banners reading: "Indigo Kills Kids". This is the Canada that has infested itself obliviously with the presence of individuals from the Middle East and North Africa from antisemitic backgrounds fostered by fundamentalist Islam. 

Their presence is a byproduct of a Liberal-led government headed by Justin Trudeau whose contempt for Canada's history, its culture and its values has been expressed on countless occasions, including his assertions that Canada is a 'racist' society, that indulged in 'genocide'. He would improve the country by ensuring it became a 'post-national' agglomeration of people from all over the world, never bothering to ascertain whether those he invited to Canada would make good citizens by accepting its laws and values and integrating into its culture of equality and respect for one another.

"Toronto Police paid duty officers and CF [Cadillac-Fairview] Security were in the area and immediately engaged the group, who complied with direction to remove the banner and disperse from the property."

"Cadillac Fairview respects the right of individuals to express their opinions through peaceful demonstrations. However, it's crucial to highlight that our centres are private property and we neither condone nor permit these activities within our properties."

"We are committed to providing a safe and secure environment and there are a number of steps we undertake to ensure our property management team and security personnel are prepared to manage this activity."

Emily Ngai, Cadillac Fairview Account Director, North Strategic

Striking Back at Houthi/Yemen Israel Attacks Earns UN Censure

"These military targets were used by the Houthi terrorist regime to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials."

"This is a further example of the Houthis' exploitation of civilian infrastructure for military purposes."

"The Houthi terrorist regime is a central part of the Iranian axis of terror and their attacks on international shipping vessels and routes continue to destabilize the region and the wider world."

"The IDF will not hesitate to operate at any distance against any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens."

Israel Defense Forces statement 

"Israel's deterrence has failed against our country."

"The Israeli enemy knows that our operations continue, they are effective and influential. Our missiles, which the [Israeli] defence systems did not succeed in intercepting, have caused great frustration in Israel and the U.S."

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi

"Like them, we are striking at our enemies. ... The Houthis will also learn what Hamas, Hezbollah, the Assad regime and others have learned, and this will also take time."

"This lesson will be learned across the Middle East."

"We are determined to cut off this terrorist arm of Iran's axis of evil." 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

IDF Chief Herzi Halevy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz at IDF control center during airstrikes in Yemen (Photo: IDF)

On the first night of Chanukah, speaking in Jerusalem at his office, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke of Israel once again facing a Maccabean struggle in the modern era. Beside him, Defence Minister Israel Katz repeated that anyone responsible for attacking Israel becomes a target for retribution: "We will hunt down all the Houthi leaders --we will strike them as we have done in other places. No one will be able to evade Israel's long reach".

 

Yemen, 2000 kilometers' distance from Israel has also had a surprisingly 'long arm'. It has been sending missiles into Israel as though that distance doesn't exist. For a relatively  undeveloped country, a Third World nation at war with itself in a protracted civil war that has left the country in a perilous state of economic drift and social incontinence where children of Yemen are suffering from malnutrition, where land mines and IEDs make it impossible for farmers to work their fields to grow life-sustaining crops and where children and adults become minefield casualties, their lives forever changed.

A country whose young boys, from pre-teens to their teen years are taught the noblest lessons of all, to inflict pain and suffering on Houthi enemies in the defence of their brand of triumphalist Islam -- from whom there are videoed attestations by proud young boys caparisoned in army gear, handling lethal weaponry with the ease they were taught, setting out to sacrifice their lives as martyrs whose honour and courage will be celebrated by the conscienceless Houthis -- the poorest nation in the Middle East is in constant upheaval.

 

Smoke rises near Sanaa International Airport after Israeli strikes hit Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on Thursday    Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

 

There is no money for the basic necessities of life, there is no concern from Sanaa, their capital, over needed civil infrastructure, over employment for the mass of the people living in poverty. For them the allure of conflict extended beyond its shores at the behest of the Persian Islamic Theocratic Republic which supplies it with ever-increasingly sophisticated weaponry they can flaunt with pride and target the hated Jews with, has attained a state of heightened compulsion.

For over a year Yemen's Houthi terrorists have turned their attention from tormenting their Yemeni governmental opponents to exercising their Iranian-terror-proxy credentials by shooting first crude missiles and more latterly technically advanced weaponry capable of eluding Israel's vaunted self-defence systems, sending missiles into the heart of Israel. 

From initially harassing merchant marine vessels in the Red Sea and searching out any that are aligned with Israeli shipping or Israeli owned, in the war they have declared on the Jewish State in solidarity with Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis have become a threat to world shipping through the critical sea routes linking east and west, drawing the United Kingdom and United States' navies into action against their piracy. 

 

Emergency services personnel walk at a damaged site after a ballistic missile fired from Yemen was intercepted, in Ramat Gan, Israel December 19, 2024. (credit: STOYAN NENOV/REUTERS)

 

With advanced missiles launched from Yemen into Israel there was little question but that Israel would respond in kind. A situation that appears to have exercised Secretary General Antonio Guterres to protest on behalf of the United Nations, condemning Israel for attacking Yemen. No agency of the United Nations can rest content without the routine condemnation of Israel for feeling entitled to defend itself from violent attacks by enemy nations surrounding it.

"Israel has been attacked hundreds of times by Houthi terrorists. Millions of Israelis are being terrorized by Houthis missile attacks every night. All of these attacks on Israel were unprovoked and carried out by terrorists operating 2,000 kilometers away from Israel."

"And yet, Secretary-General Guterres couldn’t bring himself to mention that the State of Israel and its citizens have been relentlessly attacked by the Houthis—and that Israel was acting in self-defense."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein

Last Thursday evening, the Israeli Air Force conducted a series of strikes on the western coast of Yenen and deep within the country. Sanaa International Airport in the capital of the Houthi-controlled portion of Yemen was not immune to attack.  Also targeted were Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations. Terror infrastructures in the Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Kanatib ports of Yemen were also struck.

Israel's Arrow 3 air-defence system intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile hours following the Thursday attack. Leading Israel's Defence Minister to threaten the Houthi leadership with targeted attacks. The latest Houthi projectile was shot down before crossing into Israeli airspace. Millions of Israelis were alerted to go to shelters when air-raid sirens sounded across much of central Israel.

A DAMAGED BEDROOM in a home in Jaffa after a ballistic missile fired from Yemen hit a nearby playground last week.   (photo credit: ITAI RON/FLASH90)

Flying Passenger Jets Into Aerial War Zones

"The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing."

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev

"Azerbaijan Airlines flight was likely shot down by a Russian military air-defence system."

"This incident is a stark reminder of why we do what we do."

"It is painful to know that despite our efforts, lives were lost in a way that could have been avoided."

Osprey CE Andrew Nicholson

 

"It looks like the tail section of the plane was damaged by some missile fragments."

"Perhaps some of the plane's systems kept working for some time and the crew believed that they could make it and land normally."

Yan Matveyev, independent Russian military expert 

 

A reminder of January 2020 when, flying out of Tehran, a Ukrainian passenger jet, Ukraine International Airlines Jet 752, was shot down by an IRGC flight command post, in anticipation of 

a retaliatory missile from an American base in Iraq following an Iranian missile aimed at the base that wounded a number of American personnel. And that was in retaliation for an American strike that killed top Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps al Quds Commander Qasem Soleimani.

And before that, a Malaysian passenger jet was shot down flying over Ukraine airspace when it was shot down by ethnic Russian Ukrainian rebels who had been supplied by Russia with a Buk missile. The separatists supported by Russia in east Ukraine, denied responsibility, but it was clear they were responsible, reacting to a belief that they were shooting down a Ukrainian war jet. In both instances all aboard both passenger jets were instantly killed.

Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190, en route from the capital of Azerbaijan to Grozny in the North Caucasus Wednesday, diverted by bad weather, crashed while attempting to land in Aktau, Kazakhstan, flying east across the Caspian Sea. Some 3 kilometres from Aktau, online circulating cellphone footage show the aircraft in a steep descent, then smashing to the ground, a fireball lifting from the explosion that ensued.

Rosaviatsia, the Russian civil aviation authority, was quick to say that preliminary data indicate the pilots diverted to Atau when an emergency situation emerged following a bird strike. Experts, on the other hand, charge that holes in the plane's tail section likely indicate that the plane could have been under fire from Russian air defence systems, reacting to a perceived Ukrainian drone attack.

OPSGroup, which monitors the world's airspace and airports for potential risks, concluded their analysis of the images of fragments of the crashed plane almost certainly indicate the plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). "Much more to investigate, but at high level we'd put the probability of it being a SAM attack on the aircraft at being well into the 90-99 percent bracket", stated Mark Zee of OPSGroup.

Osprey Flight Solutions, based in the U.K., provides analysis for carriers still flying into Russia int he wake of Western airlines having halted their flights during the war warned its clients of the likelihood of a Russian military shoot-down of the Azerbaijan plane. According to Osprey CEO Andrew Nicholson, his company issued over 200 alerts respecting drone attacks and Russian air defence systems during the conflict.

"It looks like the tail section of the plane was damaged by some missile fragments", remarked independent Russian military expert Yan Matveyev after noting images of the plane's trail reveal damage compatible with shrapnel from small surface-to-air missiles. Why the pilots decided to fly across the Caspian Sea rather than attempting a landing at a closer airport in Russia once the plane was hit, intrigues him.

An Azerbaijani news website questioned why Russian authorities failed to close the airport in view of an apparent drone raid in the area. Khamzat Kadyrov, Chechnya's Security Council head, mentioned air defences downed drones attacking the region on Wednesday. Why Russian authorities failed to permit the plane an emergency landing in Grozny or other Russian airports nearby once it was hit, puzzles Caliber.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a ‘tragic incident’ following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people. He stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible, but an official Kremlin statement issued on Saturday said that air defence systems were firing near Grozny Airport during the flight.  Still from video/CBC

Making Friends and Influencing People

"For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity."

"If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving [The US move to have Panama return the Panama Canal to the US] are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in full, quickly and without question."

"I can proudly proclaim that the Golden Age of America is upon us."

"There's a spirit that we have now that we didn't have just a short while ago."

U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump

Donald Trump speaks at a Turning Point conference in Arizona.  Getty Images

There's a certain familiarity with that message, it rings a familiar tone. One we've heard before. Leaving one to wonder, are Russia and the United States leading the world into a new order, leaving the international rules-based order respecting sovereignty of other countries, endeavouring not to intrude on the internal affairs of other nations, observing borders and the right of governance in the hands of freely elected politicians reflecting the agency of individual countries without interference from outsiders, about to undergo change?

 

The human right of nations comprised of populations sharing a history and heritage, in democratic fairness, their security and values reflecting a wide consensus, now endangered by two heads of state of powerful military nations thirsting to expand their control and command by absorbing territories not their own as the presumed manifest destiny of the largest, the strongest, the most militarily inclined, not shirking at imposing war and violence, death and destruction, millions of displaced and refugees in the process?

"Every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to."

Panama President Jose Raul Mulino

 

Greenland is ours. We are not for sale, and will never be for sale."

"We must not lose our years-long fight for freedom."

Mute Bourup Egede, Greenland head of government

Oh yes, and Canada, Canada too. The great northern neighbour of the United States of America. Why not make Canada the 51st State of the Union? It would become the "Great State of Canada". Canadians, like Panama and Greenland citizens take exception. Suddenly the world is faced with another bully in the food chain of territorial ambition and acquisition. By any means necessary.

 

Mr. Trump giving fair warning before he once again assumes office, that a new U.S. is in the offing. A grasping Republic eyeing the natural resources of other countries, feeling justified in envisioning those countries as American protectorates at best, swallowing them whole with whatever means are required and readily justified at worst, by the world's sole super-power with China and Russia heavy-breathing from behind to produce a super-power triumvirate.

In previous years at the helm of government, Trump as President made offers for the U.S. to buy Greenland from Denmark. More latterly, Trump's designs on Greenland as well as taking control of the Panama Canal whose shipping rates for the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific are 'ripping off' American shipping. Everyone is taking advantage of the avuncular nature of the United States. And the incoming president simply will not take it any longer.

To Panama President Jose Raul Mulino's defiant response of ownership of the Canal, Trump's answer was: "We'll see about that!" And presto...a photo of a U.S. flag set up in the canal zone shouts out: "Welcome to the United States Canal!" Built in the early 1900s by the U.S., control was relinquished to Panama in 1999 under a 1977 treaty.

Greenland is sited between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, the largest island in the world, 80% mantled by an ice sheet. Where a large U.S. military base happens to sit. Since 1979, it gained its independence from Denmark. Its head of government has not been entertained by a suggestion of sale to the U.S., as unwelcome now as it was first time around.

Donald Trump is on a tear through the unwarranted complacency of countries now feeling somewhat vulnerable to his impromptu and volatile mood swings and declarations zeroing on in their uneasiness at his return to the White House. "Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State", he recently posted on social video with an AI-generated self-image superimposed on a mountain summit, looking out over territory below, a Canadian flag beside him.

 

Mr. President ...  you're joking!

 

"Don't Mess With Us!"

"When they are buying from us, they have zero clue that they are buying from the Mossad."

"We make like Truman Show, everything is controlled by us behind the scene."

"Those people without hands and eyes are living proof, walking in Lebanon, of 'don't mess with  us'."

Gabriel, pseudonym for former senior Israeli Intelligence agent 

60 Minutes

 

There were two retired Israeli Intelligence agents who revealed details of a clandestine operation that had taken years to fully develop. The deadly operation focused on targeting Hezbollah terrorist operatives in Lebanon and Syria to remove them from the business of violence against Israel. With the development, implantation and triggering of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies three months ago, Israel performed an undercover technical feat meant to warn off and disable its enemies.

In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas coordinated attack on southern Israel from Gaza, with other Palestinian terrorist groups that took the lives of over a thousand Israelis, from infants to the elderly, a campaign that deliberately delivered carnage to entire families, many of whom were incinerated in their homes, along with systematic rapes of girls and women who were mutilated and tortured while being gang raped, Hezbollah's leadership saw fit to attack Israel from the North, raining missiles down on Israeli towns and farms in the Golan Heights.

A low-intensity conflict ensued, one that saw tens of thousands of Israelis forced to vacate their homes and relocate to safer areas in Israel. The two retired agents were interviewed for a revelatory program with CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday night. Wearing masks, speaking with altered voices to protect their identities, the two agents were given names: 'Michael' and 'Gabriel'. "We created a pretend world", Michael revealed during the interview.

 

Lesley Stahl speaks with a former Mossad agent "Gabriel"   60 Minutes

The operation began a decade ago, to develop a technology that would allow for the use of walkie-talkies filled with hidden explosives. When Hezbollah bought the devices it did not occur to them that they were acquiring these devices from their enemy, Israel. In 2022 once Israel's Mossad intelligence agency discovered that Hezbollah had been buying pagers from a Taiwan-based company, phase two of the plan was initiated.

The pagers, slightly larger than the norm, to accommodate hidden explosives, were tested on dummies to find the just-right amount of explosives that would harm only the Hezbollah individual carrying the device, and not anyone else in close proximity. Numerous ringtones were also tested to select one that sounded sufficiently urgent to compel the user to pull the pager out of a pocket.

According to 'Gabriel' patience was required to convince Hezbollah to switch its choice to the heftier pager. Misleading ads were used on YouTube to promote the devices as dustproof, waterproof, the use of a long battery life and other user-tempting promises. Shell companies, one based in Hungary, were used to dupe the Taiwanese company to partner with the Mossad.

Hezbollah operatives ended up with 5,000 of these explosive pagers in their pockets by September. The attack went operational on September 17, when pagers all over Lebanon began to beep. Even if the person failed to push the buttons to read an incoming message, the devices would still explode. The day following the devices being triggered, the activated walkie-talkies began exploding at funerals taking place for some of the 30 people who were killed in the earlier pager attacks.

The goal of the operation was really meant to send a message, rather than actually killing Hezbollah operatives. "Don't mess with us!"

"We want them to feel vulnerable, which they are."

"We can't use the pagers again because we already did that. We've already moved on to the next thing."

"And they'll have to keep on trying to guess what the next thing is." 

Michael to CBS

People react around a car after a reported explosion occurred during the funeral of those killed when hundreds of paging devices exploded across Lebanon the previous day, in Beirut's southern suburbs on September 18.    Fadel Itani/AFP/Getty Images

Jew-Hate Target ... Jewish Children's School/Toronto

"We are here to educate children, and that's what we're here for, and that's what we will continue to do, and we  hope that this is the final time, and this will come to an end soon."

"As Hanukkah is coming up, light will always prevail, and the message to the world out there is increasing goodness and kindness."

Rabbi Yaacov Vidal, Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School principal

 

"I can assure you, we will leave no stone unturned trying to find the perpetrators."

"Everyone, from the chief right on down, is putting all the resources that we can into this. We have stepped up our patrols."

"We have a couple of guns and gangs teams working on these shootings. We are making progress."

"There is a frustration, because what we've seen in our city in the past year with the antisemitic incidents, it's horrifying."

"It is quite simply horrifying."

Toronto Police Superintendent Paul MacIntyre

Toronto police are investigating another incident of gunshots fired outside a Jewish girls elementary school in North York. Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School was the target of two previous overnight shootings in October and May. CBC still from video

 

"And we're doing what we can, standing with the Jewish community, and we are throwing everything at these shootings."

"[The shootings are the direct result of the] incitement of mobs that have taken over our streets."

"What you're seeing is an entire societal failure, all the way from Ottawa down to the local government, to grapple with the lawlessness that is going on in our streets and in our cities."

"What has become of the city? What has become of this country?"

"The Jewish community will not be intimidated. We helped build this city. We helped build this country. "We're going to go about our daily lives as Jews, living as Jews, and going around without intimidation and harassment."

Toronto Councillor James Pasternak

Yet again a Jewish girls' school in Toronto was targeted. The Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School located in North York, for the third time was riddled with bullets. The day following the shooting the school opened as usual, but some parents decided to keep their children at home in fear for their safety. The shooting had taken place in the early morning hours on Friday. When police responded to the call they discovered "evidence of firearm discharge". 

 

According to police reconstruction, a vehicle with multiple individuals drove up to the school. One person emerged and fired six shots at the school, then the vehicle and its occupants left the scene.

According to school officials the fencing and school building sustained damage. Security guards hired by the school are not present overnight. Their concern is that during the day when children are in attendance at the school, they remain safe from harm. Police henceforth, according to Toronto Police Superintendent Paul MacIntyre, will have a command centre installed at the school property seven days a week, 24 hours a day to operate for the foreseeable future.

Police are open to assistance from the wider public; whether anyone saw or heard anything suspicious, or should anyone be in possession of dashcam footage. Toronto has the largest group of Jews in the country resident in the city. Resulting in the city seeing major protests over the war in Gaza. It seems evident that the large number of Jewish Canadians living in Toronto may be matched by a large number of Jewish-hating residents from backgrounds other than Canada, bringing with them historical antipathies finding expression following the atrocities of October 7, 2023 when terrorists from Gaza committed mass murder in southern Israel.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford expressed confidence in a thorough investigation by Toronto police. "I'm outraged and disgusted to hear that, once again, shots have been fired at a Jewish girls' school in Toronto. These antisemitic hateful attacks have no place in Ontario", he messaged on social media. Just coincidentally the Congregation Beth Tikvah synagogue in Montreal was hit a day earlier with a crude firebomb. 

 

"Enough is enough. Antisemitism and antisemitic attacks have no place in Toronto", Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow responded, while taking care not to commit to putting an end to the disruptive and hate-filled, threatening weekend pro-Hamas protests in the city targeting the Jewish community.

"Canada has become a more dangerous place for the Jewish people under the divisiveness of the weak and now [politically rejected] wounded Justin Trudeau."

"Another day brings another cowardly act of antisemitic hate, and it's well overdue that the [federal] government do something, or anything, to protect Canadians."

Melissa Lantsman, Conservative MP representing GTA's Thornhill

Toronto police in an October 2024 update, pointed to 358 confirmed hate crimes in Toronto for the year. Close to 75 percent of the hate crimes were specifically directed at Jews. Over 160 people had been arrested, with 403 charges laid, according to Toronto Police Force statistics.

 

Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School was previously targeted on Yom Kippur. That shooting broke a window, in addition to other damage to the building. (CBC)

"I reiterated to him my great concern over the intolerable wave of antisemitic attacks against the Canadian Jewish community."

"I stressed that words would not suffice, and that firm and decisive action must be taken to bring the perpetrators to justice, to stamp out antisemitism, and to educate and legislate in order to ensure the safety and well-being of the Jewish community."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog

Debating Free Expression in France

"I am moved, and I am relieved. Hearing the word 'guilty' — that's what I needed."

"I spent this week listening to a lot of rewriting of what happened, and it was hard to hear, but now the judge has stated what really happened, and it feels good."

"I think my brother died for nothing, [teachers were still being targeted by violence and threats]."

Gaëlle Paty, Samuel Paty's sister

 

"It's something that really shocks the family."  

"You get the feeling that those in the box are absolutely unwilling to admit any responsibility whatsoever."

"Apologies are pointless, they won't bring Samuel back, but explanations are precious to us. We haven't had many explanations of the facts."

Paty family lawyer Virginie Le Roy

The fallout from Paty’s killing reinforced the French state’s commitment to freedom of expression and its firm attachment to secularism in public life. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

French teacher Samuel Paty was murdered on October 16, 2020 outside the school where he taught, in a horrific killing that shocked France. At that time, there were protests in many Muslim countries along with online incitement for violence to target France and Charlie Hebdo, the satirical French newspaper which had republished the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad several weeks before Paty's death, to mark the trial opening of the deadly 2015 attacks on the newspaper's newsroom by Islamic jihadists.

Mr. Paty had thought he would discuss the issue with his students in the classroom, using a cartoon of the Prophet as an illustration and to focus on how a well-balanced society has a respect for freedom of speech, however insulting it may appear to some. That in a free society people have the right to speak as they see fit, and to say what they believe as long as that speech is not used to promote hatred and violence. What his lesson for the day did, however, was to inflame already-heightened social unrest.

One of his students went home to tell her father how her teacher had insulted her and assaulted her belief in Islam's Prophet Mohammad by mocking the religion and its Prophet. Her father began an online agitation promoting vengeance against the teacher, inciting young Muslim men to conspire to take revenge against an unforgivable blasphemy. The trial of eight co-conspirators to the murder concluded on Friday at France's anti-terrorism court when those convicted of involvement in Samuel Paty's beheading were sentenced.

The actual assailant, an 18-year-old Chechen Russian had been shot to death by police at the time of the murder. The eight who were convicted on terrorism charges stood accused of providing assistance to the perpetrator of the grisly killing; among them others charged and convicted of organizing a hate campaign that led to the murder of Samuel Paty. Central Paris's 540-seat special terrorism court was packed for the verdict, the atmosphere charged.

 

It was clear from some of the comments of those present, the families of the convicted, that remorse over the event for many was completely absent. Women whose sons were sentenced to prison were distraught and disbelieving over the sentences; their sons had done nothing wrong. From among them gasps were emitted as the lead justice delivered the sentences. Cries, shouts and mocking clapping erupted, leading the judge to pause repeatedly and call for order.

 

Francis Szpiner, a French lawyer representing Samuel Paty' son, speaks to the press on Dec. 20, 2024, at the Paris Special Assize Court after the verdict in the case against eight people charged in connection with the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty in 2020.  STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images

Some of the more obstreperous were led away by police. Over 50 police officers kept order throughout the tense session. Sentences ranging from 18 months of suspended imprisonment to 16 years in prison as had been requested by prosecutors. The defendants included friends of the assailant -- Abdoullakh Anzorov -- who had aided in procuring weapons for the attack. The father of the schoolgirl whose lies had begun the fatal spiral of events included. 

When the national anti-terrorism prosecutor asked the court to downgrade offences of four of the eight defendants, the Paty family expressed their ire: "It's more than a disappointment. In a moment like this, it feels like one is fighting for nothing", said Paty's sister Mickaelle. The charge of complicity in favour of a lower charge of association with a terrorist enterprise was dropped against the two  young men accused of providing logistical support to the killer.

The father of the student whose false account of Paty's use of the caricatures triggered a wave of social media posts targeting the middle-school teacher was among those sentenced. Brahim Chnina was given 13 years in prison for criminal terrorist association. Chnina had published videos falsely accusing the teacher of disciplining his daughter for complaining about the class, naming Paty and identifying his school. Essentially making him a target for murder.

Founder of a hardline Islamist organization, Abdelhakim Sefrioui received a 15-year sentence. Both Sefrioui and Chnina were found guilty of inciting hatred against Paty.Two associates of Paty's killer were also convicted. Naim Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov were sentenced to 16 years in prison for complicity in a terrorist killing. Both had denied wrongdoing.

French high-school teacher Samuel Paty (pictured in centre) was murdered by a radicalised Islamist teenager in 2020   AFP

 

Russian Missiles On Civilian Sites in Kyiv

"Early this morning Russia launched a ballistic missile attack against the capital [Kyiv], killing a civilian and resulting in debris and fires around the city."

"[The United States and its partners were] surging security assistance and energy support [to the country] in response to these brutal attacks."

U.S. Ambassador Bridget A. Brink  

"[Several embassies housed in the same building were damaged in the 'barbaric' attack]."

"These are the embassies of Albania, Argentina, Palestine, North Macedonia, Portugal and Montenegro."

"Windows and doors were smashed in the premises."

Heorhii Tykhvi, Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesman

 

"In response to the actions of the Kyiv regime, supported by Western curators, this morning a group strike with long-range precision weapons was launched against the SBU command post, the Kyiv Luch design bureau, which designs and manufactures Neptune missile systems, Olkha ground-based cruise missiles, and the positions of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system."

"The strike targets were achieved. All objects were hit."

Russia’s Ministry of Defense 

"More sanctions against Russia are needed."

"I would also like to thank all of our partners who are responding to this and other Russian attacks by being ready to provide more air defense systems."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

A rescue worker walks by as firefighters work to extinguish a fire near the site of a building destroyed during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 20, 2024.  Thomas Peter/Reuters

Moscow claims its ballistic missile attack on Kyiv early Friday was a response to a Ukrainian strike on Russian soil with the use of American-made weapons. Shortly before sunrise three loud blasts were heard in Ukraine's capital city. According to the Ukraine air force, five Iskander short-range ballistic missiles fired at the city were intercepted. Heating to 630 residential buildings, 16 medical facilities, 30 schools and kindergartens and the city administration had their heating knocked out by the attack.

Falling missile debris was the cause of additional damage, while sparking fires in three districts. "We ask citizens to immediately respond to reports of ballistic attack threats, because there is very little time to find shelter", the air force stated. Russia regularly bombards civilian areas of Ukraine with the clear intention of unnerving Ukrainians while trying to destroy the power grid in Ukraine.

Ukraine, on the other hand, in its struggle to restrain Russia's larger military on the front line, has made an effort to strike Russian infrastructure that supports Moscow's war against Ukraine. Falling debris smashed into the city centre in Kyiv, damaging several dozen highrise office towers, as well as the city landmark of the Catholic Church of St. Nicholas along with the Kyiv National Linguistic University. So much for Russia claiming to aim for Ukrainian military installations.

 

Ukrainian officials said Moscow had launched a fresh attack on Kyiv. Reuters

 

Blast waves from an intercepted low-flying missile blew out windows at six embassies, according to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, among other damage caused. Air raid sirens rang out again about five hours on. Those sheltering at home in the early morning attack, felt the walls of their apartments shaking in the blasts, while outside fire engines and ambulances raced through city streets. One resident explained: "With the naked eye you could see that many buildings ... were damaged, with glass shards on the ground, far from the explosion epicentre", said Valeriia Dubova while sheltering in a packed subway station.

The strike, according to the Russian Defence Ministry, was  a response to Russia's Rostov border region being attacked by Ukraine making use of six American-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, and four Storm Shadow air-launched missiles courtesy of the United Kingdom. In that attack of two days earlier, Ukraine's aim was to target a Rostov oil refinery, part of its campaign to strike Russian infrastructure supplying Moscow's war plans.

 

A view shows buildings damaged during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 20, 2024.  State Emergency Service Of Ukraine via Reuters

 

The Vile Wave of violence, Hatred and Intimidation of Jews in Canada

"[The] fire-bombing of the synagogue is not a one-off event."

"[It is] part of a pattern of an exponential rise in hate crimes and incendiary hate speech incentivized by a culture of impunity as in the absence of accountability of the crime of willful promotion of hatred."

"What is so necessary now is strategic policy direction at the governmental and municipal level around the four Ps:

• Prevention of the crime to begin with;
• Protection of the target;
• Prosecution of the perpetrators; and
• Partnerships among federal, provincial and municipal authorities. 

Irwin Cotler, human rights lawyer, founder, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights

"There is no question that Canada has become a more dangerous place for the Jewish people under the divisiveness of Justin Trudeau that has stoked it."

"Another day brings another brazen act of antisemitic hate, and it's well overdue that the government do something or anything to protect Canadians."

"These lawless mobs of lowlifes must be brought to justice."

Conservative Party deputy leader Melissa Lantsman

"These hate activities are overwhelmingly directed against the Jewish community, students and faculty, and ordinary citizens on our streets."

"They are also being directed against people living in quiet residential neighbourhoods in Westmount and merchants around them."

"As a result, most within the Jewish community and many other residents of the Montreal Island are feeling unsafe."

"We are asking you, as the Mayor and chief of staff to ensure, through policy direction, that there is zero tolerance for antisemitic crime activity in our city, and that as a matter of policy and strategic guidance, the police robustly use the criminal law tools and municipal bylaws available to them to protect the public."

Cote Saint-Luc Mayor Mitchell Brownstein, Westmount Mayor Christina Smith, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather

A damaged window is seen at Congregation Beth Tikvah in Montreal after its second arson attack in a little more than a year, Wednesday December 18, 2024. Photo by John Mahoney/Postmedia

For the second time since the October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel by Palestinian Hamas terrorists, a Montreal synagogue was firebombed. A fire had been reported at Congregation Beth Tikvah at 3:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. When police arrived they found remnants of a firebomb that had been thrown through a window of the building. In Toronto, several days later, a Jewish parochial school was shot at again, at the front doors. These events occur early in the pre-dawn hours, wreaking double damage; to the buildings themselves and to the security of mind and person of the targeted community.

 

On news of the fire-bombing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau let loose with his usual verbal reaction, that Service de Police de la ville de Montreal is investigating the "hateful act. This vile antisemitic attack against Montreal's Jewish community is cowardly and criminal", he responded. He speaks the language of responsible government, but has never yet -- in a year-and-a-half of street mobs shouting threats at Jewish Canadians, of stalking them in their communities to hurl invective at them, of calling for the destruction of Israel -- undertaken any direct action to put a stop to the unlawful events.

Anthony Housefather, Mount Royal Liberal MP, called on authorities to "make every effort to quick[ly] arrest anyone responsible" for the firebombing. He, along with others in municipal authorities co-wrote and addressed an open letter to Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante for stricter law enforcement to provide due protection to the city's Jewish community. She, like other municipal authorities, like their provincial counterparts, like the federal government itself, have verbally deplored these unlawful, hateful events, but have done nothing within the law to put a stop to them, nor instructed police to follow the law.

The errant, unforgivable failure to pursue hate speech criminal law, along with an "over-reliance on non-enforcement as a form of de-escalation", pointed out the letter co-signers "has emboldened protesters and demonstrators to engage in intimidating, violent acts and unequivocal hate speech, and thus, ultimately, has not successfully addressed the unsafe and toxic situation in our city". Toronto's mayor too, has done nothing to address the lack of safety and security for the public in that city; a permissive aura for tolerating intolerable Jew-hating marches and volatile speeches have marked her as a failure.

"Over the last 14 months, this is the seventh instance where a Jewish institution has been targeted in Montreal and the second time these specific institutions were targeted, chilling reminders of what happens when politicians fail to call out antisemitism and prevent the escalation of violence on our streets", wrote the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, along with Federation CJA, a Montreal-based Jewish organization.

After local Montreal police responded to the synagogue call, to find a flammable projectile had broken a window and ignited within the building, scorching nearby walls before first responders arrived, law enforcement later that morning discovered two windows destroyed at a nearby Federation CJA Jewish community building.

Both properties had been attacked in similar manner with a Molotov cocktail thrown at the synagogue and a fire started at the back exit of the Federal CJA building in November of 2023, a month following the Hamas invasion of southern Israel on October 7.

"The attack on the synagogue is] appalling, yet another example of the vile wave of violence, hatred and intimidation to which Jews in Canada -- and all over the world -- have been subjected in recent weeks and months."

"The world must wake up, words are not enough: synagogues burned, Jews attacked -- NEVER AGAIN IS NOW."

"Following this terrible attack especially, I call on the Canadian government to act decisively, and show that such hatred will not be tolerated."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog