For over a month the IDF has been engaged in intense fighting in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, centered on the city of Jabaliya. The military reports that it has killed hundreds of terrorists, but the Israeli death toll has also been higher than usual. To some, the ongoing battle is a sign of failure: Hamas managed to reemerge in strength, well-organized and resilient after more than a year of fighting, in the part of Gaza that the IDF took first. To others, it is a sign of continued success: a slow and systematic campaign has trapped a large fighting force and driven it out of the tunnels, exposing it to attack and destruction.

I’ll leave this dispute to the experts. But I certainly learned something from Yoav Zitun’s analysis of Israeli tactics:

The IDF estimates that 500–600 terrorists remain entrenched within the core of Jabaliya’s refugee camp or in nearby towns such as Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, with some blending into the civilian population still present in the area.

Despite most residents having been evacuated, Israeli forces continue to face numerous challenges in their prolonged operation in Jabaliya, with explosive traps posing the greatest threat. Since the beginning of the raid, IDF forces have discovered over 200 booby-trapped buildings in the area. In two incidents, explosives were triggered inside homes, killing six soldiers.

As the operation continues with no clear end in sight, commanders in the field are unsure how long they will need to remain in Jabaliya. “In previous operations, we didn’t reach Hamas’s core areas here, but that’s what we’re doing now,” they explained. “Hamas has surrounded these areas with large rings of booby traps, and in recent days, civilians have been killed by these devices. According to testimonies from hundreds of detainees, Hamas terrorists have also executed civilians who attempted to flee the city.”

Central to this operation is Israeli control of the Netzarim corridor—established early in the war—which runs east-west through the Strip and cuts off its northern third, including Jabaliya, from the rest. Lazar Berman spoke with a tank officer operating there:

Hamas, though significantly weakened, is still able to initiate attacks in central Gaza. . . . “In general, their motivation is high to act and try to create victory images, and to create achievements,” said Lieutenant Colonel Dori.

In the area where he was operating, Hamas gunmen “are still working as a system and trying to carry out attacks,” Dori said, but generally avoid direct confrontation with troops. . . . Dori believes finishing off Hamas is achievable, but not at all imminent: “We are continuing to take apart its capabilities. It takes time; it’s long and hard, no question. But it’s not endless. We strike hard in the areas where we know they are organizing, and destroy more weapons. . . . The Netzarim corridor is a bone in Hamas’s throat.”

In October, a young Mauritanian national murdered an Orthodox Jewish man on his way to synagogue in Chicago. This alone should be sufficient sign of the rising dangers of anti-Semitism. Nathan Diament explains how the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA) can, if passed, make American Jews safer:

We were off to a promising start when the AAA sailed through the House of Representatives in the spring by a generous vote of 320 to 91, and 30 senators from both sides of the aisle jumped to sponsor the Senate version. Then the bill ground to a halt.

Fearful of antagonizing their left-wing activist base and putting vulnerable senators on the record, especially right before the November election, Democrats delayed bringing the AAA to the Senate floor for a vote. Now, the election is over, but the political games continue.

You can’t combat anti-Semitism if you can’t—or won’t—define it. Modern anti-Semites hide their hate behind virulent anti-Zionism. . . . The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act targets this loophole by codifying that the Department of Education must use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism in its application of Title VI.