That is a good thing.

I do find it humorous though that the government is demanding the IDF hurry up and finish its own investigation into the events of October 7 while the government itself has done nothing but delay even starting an investigation because it does not want to either learn the lessons of what happened or bear the responsibility for what happened.

Al-Dhaya said that they should not have perpetrated the attack so as not to destroy the lives of the affected people. They should not have attacked. Further, Hamas had committed to distancing the fighting from the local civilians and to distribute aid and security in various forms. The Koran and Suna, Dr Al Dhaya says, lay out the conditions for jihad and in jihad one is supposed to avoid actions that will cause an exaggerated and disproportionate response from the enemy that will create a response more costly than the benefits of the jihad.

source: N12

The good cleric better watch himself, considering he just issued a psak against Hamas...

That being said, despite this psak being against Hamas, he isnt perturbed by the brutal massacre and horrors perpetrated by Hamas on innocent Israeli civilians. He is only upset at them for having caused Israel to respond disproportionately and hurt Palestinian civilians. 

On the eve of the 25th, this year will be October 26 at night, a Motzei Shabbos, the Day of Mourning will begin at 7:45pm. Flags will be flown at half mast. On the 25th of Tishrei, October 27, educational institutions will be instructed to spend some time having memorial ceremonies, as will army units. All places of entertainment will be closed - theaters, cafes, restaurants, etc. 

There will be a State ceremony on the Day of Mourning, in cooperation with all four symbols of the State - the Prime Minister, the President, the Speaker of the Knesset, and the President (in this case the interim President) of the Supreme Court.

No siren will be sounded.

The Day of Mourning will conclude at sundown.

I understand some people are good with this and some want different aspects of it changed...

Personally, I have no problem with the form of memorialization and I think a Day of Mourning is a natural outcome for the event that is being memorialized (nor do I have a problem with Miri Regev running the show, as some people do). However, like the Oct 7 State (not private), "official" ceremonies, I think this should wait until after the war. I dont understand the idea of commemorating an event we are still in. We are commemorating the soldiers who fell in a war we are still in the middle of? On the 26th or 27th of Tishrei or the 5th of Cheshvan, or whenever, more soldier will, god forbid and bite my tongue, fall in battle in a war that was already commemorated? Just last week they announced one of the hostages was actually killed on October 7th - in a month maybe they will say that about another, and we already commemorated the murdered on the 25th of Tishrei? 

It does not make sense to me. Finish the war and the following year on the 25th of Tishrei commemorate it. 

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Obviously there are laws and everyone has to follow them. I am not privy to the evidence for or against whatever is claimed they did so I am not going to comment on their innocence or guilt. 

However.

However.

October 7, 2023 was an outrageous day, a chaotic day, a day of fear and adrenaline. A day the government and the IDF took 8-10 hours before responding. A day that private citizens from all around the country grabbed a personal weapon, if anything, and drove down south to fight the terrorists and save lives while the government and IDF did nothing. Private citizens, amidst overwhelming chaos and fear, with no organization, with perhaps not enough knowledge of laws and/or ability to evaluate the situation.

I don't know what they did or did not do. If it is clear and obvious that they were just murdering terrorists already in captivity, that is one thing and that situation has to be stopped. if it was not so clear and there is room to think the terrorists might still have been a threat in some way, the authorities should approach this differently. These were unusual and exceptional circumstances. The authorities should be saying thank you to all those people who went in and filled the void and prevented the situation from being even worse than it was. If there is any room for leniency, any way to see that the situation at the time was unclear and uncertain, they should be treated with the utmost leniency

Desperate times calls for desperate measures. Exceptional times calls for exceptional measures. Unusual times calls for unusual measures.

Yarin Shriki, a survivor of the Nova massacre, won the gold medal today at the Ju Jitsu Grand Prix competition in Paris today. Congratulations! and he uses the opportunity to memorialize the victims of the October 7 massacre and specifically his friend

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Sorry, or maybe not. 

The Palestinian government of Hamas didnt respect our holiday and attacked us on it. I do not really see any reason to press pause just because they have a holiday now. If they want us to press pause they can send back our brothers and sisters that are being held hostage in their tunnels and then maybe we'll give them a holiday vacation from the war.  

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only posting this to honor Emily Schrader for her valiant efforts against the other two..

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This is a picture of a female soldier, Elya Azoulay, in the Caracel brigade arresting several Hamas terrorists in Gaza and leading them to detention. (photo by Shay Yadel ElPorat)

This picture made the rounds a few days ago and I debated posting it and decided not to. Posting it made it feel to me like this is or should be unusual and unique, and I dont think it should be or is.

So why post it now?

Because now it has made an even bigger splash. Initially it went viral as everyone shared it proud of the female soldiers taking part in the war. Since then it has been published by some Haredi publications, including Yated Neeman, while cutting her out of the image. And that makes it more interesting.

While some find it upsetting and disturbing, personally it is not surprising. the Haredi media now have this policy and dont sway from it, even for the most bizarre situations (pictures of hostages, pictures of world leaders, pictures of Rabbaniyot, etc), so it is not surprising they cut this warrior out of the picture. If one does not have unreasonable expectations, they wont be frustrated by such stupidities. 

(I wonder if the photographer in these situations, if he cared to, would have a valid case for a lawsuit for doctoring his picture)

Ynet spoke to her mother about this situation and while unpleasant they dont let it bother them. The interesting part of what Proud Mama said is that the world is not just a world of men. It is also a world of women. Women are fighters and I think it is pride to post the picture of a woman as a combat soldier, that she was in the biggest war in the history of Israel. She is fighting for the women who experienced what they experienced on October 7 that were raped and abused. I think she serves with pride to show that women can also fight in battle.

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  -- Finance Minister Betzalel Smotritch

I am not sure what he is talking about. Were the communities attacked in the October 7 massacre not settled? Were people not living there? Who were the victims of the massacre if people were not living there? If the soldiers would not be protecting the communities in Judea and Samaria, would they be safe just because people live there?

I also generally do not like it when Smotritch says the West Bank settlements are important because they create a security buffer for Israel. No citizen wherever he lives within the borders of Israel is meant to be a security buffer - not the people living in Judea and Samaria, not the people living in the Gaza envelope, not the people living near the border up north, or anywhere else within Israel. As long as Israel is responsible for the land, whatever that includes, Israel is responsible to keep the people living there safe. No one group of people or communities is supposed to be the buffer for another.