Israel At War Monday May 20

Israel at war day 227

- Netanyahu: ‘Absurd’ ICC bid to arrest Israeli leaders is ‘the new antisemitism’

“It is directed against the IDF soldiers, who are fighting with supreme heroism against the vile Hamas murderers,” he said in a video statement. “With what chutzpah do you dare compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the world?” Netanyahu asked. “With what audacity do you compare between the Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, raped and kidnapped our brothers and sisters, and the IDF soldiers who are fighting a just war that is unparalleled, with a morality that is unmatched?”

- Biden - “The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security”

- The bodies of the four Israeli hostages recovered from the Gaza Strip last week, were found in a Hamas tunnel in the Jabaliya camp, the military permits for publication.

- US Senator Graham says he will work with congress to impose sanctions on the ICC over its decision to request arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.

- The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah  on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Monday.

 - Far-right ministers slam ‘antisemitic’ ICC decision to go after Israeli leaders for alleged war crimes. Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir accuse the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of antisemitism after he sought arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, alongside three Hamas leaders. “We have not seen such a show of hypocrisy and hatred of Jews like that displayed by the court in the Hague since Nazi propaganda,” says Finance Minister Smotrich. “The Nazis also spoke in the name of ‘morality’ and there was nothing there besides antisemitism.” “Arrest warrants for them are arrest warrants for all of us,” he says.

Ben Gvir calls on Israel to halt its participation in “antisemitic” international court proceedings in the Hague. “.

-Another soldier killed in Gaza bringing death toll to 283. Gal Shabbat, 24, from Katzir.

-Israeli official: Israel not involved in Raisi's death

- 6 Hezbollah terrorists killed in IDF attack in Lebanon 

- Defense Minister Yoav Gallant pushed back at the White House’s objections to a major Rafah operation, during a meeting he held Monday with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

"We are committed to broadening the ground operation in Rafah to the end of dismantling Hamas and recovering the hostages," a statement from Gallant’s office quoted him as saying during the meeting.

-Rabbis claim helicopter crash is God's punishment for Iran's Raisi

Rabbi Meir Abutbul starkly referred to Raisi as "the hangman from Tehran" and condemned him in a post on Facebook for his antagonism towards Israel and the Jewish people. 

"This dog wanted to hang Jews, so God scattered him to the winds in a helicopter crash, him and his entire Israel-hating crew," 

Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi, noted for his focus on Kabbalah, linked the event to divine displeasure. In his Facebook post, Ben Artzi warned, "Have mercy on yourselves; God said enough is enough; you have angered Him," 

Tabbi Batzri, Comparing Raisi to Haman 

"Haman the wicked was hurt in a helicopter accident," Batzri wrote.(Jpost)