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Dear A.,
One of the nation's top military experts says "Israel has implemented more measures to avoid civilian casualties than any other military in the history of war."
John Spencer, the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point's Modern War Institute, published a
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must-read thread (included in full at the bottom of this email) detailing Israel’s unprecedented efforts to prevent collateral damage despite fighting in conditions that "no military in modern history has faced."
From the IDF's use of precision weapons to avoid striking civilians, to texts and calls warning civilians ahead of airstrikes, to evacuating urban areas before attacking Hamas outposts, "No military in history has ever done this."
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TAKE ACTION TONIGHT: Share this analysis with your senators and House members, and urge them to stand with Israel by supporting the full $14.3 billion emergency funding package without added political conditions.
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UNRWA exposed: Congress holds hearing on UN agency's ties to Hamas
After new Israeli intelligence revealed that UNRWA staff directly participated in the October 7 massacre, members of Congress held a hearing to examine the agency's track record of supporting Palestinian terror groups and promoting anti-Israel and antisemitic incitement in Gaza.
"Let me be clear that we are examining UNRWA because the agency directly and indirectly supported Hamas and other terrorist organizations in many different ways," said Rep. Brian Mast.
"I am outraged by reports that at least 12 of UNRWA's own employees participated in or helped plan the heinous October 7 terrorist attacks against Israel," said Rep. Kathy Manning. "It is simply intolerable to allow a UN agency to have employees who are members of Hamas."
The problems with UNRWA are grave, systemic and beyond repair. The time has come for the U.S. and other donor countries to find an alternative to UNRWA.
Watch the remarks by Reps. Mast and Manning below. A video of the full hearing is
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here .
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House members demand Hamas release the hostages
Today marked 116 days of captivity for 136 Israelis who are still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle delivered speeches on the House floor sharing stories of Israelis who were abducted and demanding that Hamas release them.
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Rep. Angie Craig told the story of Naama Levy. "Before October the 7th, she was fully of joy, with dreams of helping people in need. She was last recorded on a cellphone, being dragged by her hair at gunpoint, injured and bound by Hamas terrorists in Gaza."
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Rep. Michael Guest dedicated his remarks to 52-year-old Eitan Levy, who was abducted and killed by Hamas and whose body is still held in Gaza. "I stand here today to demand that Hamas release the body of Eitan...We must stand with Israel as it works to destroy Hamas and free its citizens wrongly held by the terrorist group."
Reps.
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Steny Hoyer ,
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French Hill ,
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Lois Frankel ,
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David Joyce and
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Brad Schneider also delivered powerful remarks from the floor telling the hostages' stories.
MUST LISTEN
‎Call Me Back Podcast: UNRWA & Hamas, the Perfect Affair
Dan Senor, Haviv Rettig Gur
Call Me Back Podcast
Dan Senor and Haviv Rettig Gur discuss the history of UNRWA and the role it plays in the Gaza operating system, following Israel's intelligence revealing the agency's direct role in the October 7 massacre.
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Follow
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AIPAC on social media for the latest updates.
Sincerely,
Cory Meyer
Digital Engagement Director
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Support our work to keep Israel safe.
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Share Tal Shoham's story on
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X ,
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Instagram and
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Facebook .
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John Spencer on X:
IMO Israel has implemented more measure[s] to prevent civilian casualties in urban warfare than any other military in the history of war. This includes many measure[s] the U.S. has (or has not) taken in wars & battles but also many measures no military in the world has ever taken.
Precautions during the initial air campaign to target enemy military capabilities to include using precision guided munitions and strict targeting protocols in both pre-planned and dynamic strikes against only military targets.
Use of precision guided munitions (PCMs). Despite the ignorance of reporting on ratios of PCMs to non-PCMs, Israel has used many types of PCMs to include lower collateral damage munitions/small diameter bombs & technologies & tactics that increase the accuracy of non-PCMs (dive bombing) limit civilian causalities (sat imagery, AI, cell phone presence)
The idea that a military must use more PCMs vs non-PCMs in a war is a myth. In the Frist Gulf War the U.S. fired 250,000 individual bombs and missiles in just 43 days. A small fraction of those would fit the definition of PCMs.
Also myths about choose of munitions & proportionality assessment/value of target/collateral damage estimate such as saying a 500 lbs bomb would achieve the same military task of a 2,000 lbs bomb with no mention of tunnels that would require greater penetration or availability of types/quantity of munitions.
Call/Text ahead of a strike with (at times) roof-knocking (no military has every implemented in war). In some cases, IDF will call, text, drop small munitions on the roof of a building. While limited in the context of the strike it has been used in this war.
Provide warning and evacuate urban areas/cities before the full combined air and ground attack begins. While the tactic does alert the enemy defender and provide them the military advantage to prepare further, it is one of the best ways to prevent civilian casualties.
The U.S. did not do this in the invasion of Iraq or attack of Baghdad in 2003. Did not do this in the 2004 1st Battle of Fallujah but did do this in the Second Battle of Fallujah 6 months later because of the different context.
In the 2016-2017 Battle of Mosul, the Iraq government told the civilian to not evacuate and shelter in place during the battle for both Eastern and Western Mosul, but later changed instructions further into the battle.
Israel provided days and then weeks of warnings and time for civilians to evacuate multiple cities in Northern Gaza before starting the main air-ground attack of urban areas.
Use of air dropped flyers to give instruction on evacuations and establishing evacuation corridors (U.S. implemented in 2nd Fallujah & assisted 2016-2017 Mosul). Israel dropped over 520,000 pamphlets, broadcasted over radio and through social media messages to provide instruction for civilians to leave combat areas using corridors.
Use of real phone calls (19,734) to civilians in the combat areas, SMS texts (64,399) and pre-recorded calls (almost 6 million) to civilians to provide instructions on evacuations. No military has never done this in urban warfare history.
Daily pauses for civilian evacuations. Israel conducted daily 4-hour pauses over multiple consecutive days. While pauses for civilian evacuations after a war or battle have started is not completely new but the frequency and predictability used in Gaza may have been historic.
The distribution of Israel military maps and urban warfare graphic (GRG - gridded reference graphic) to the civilians to assist with day to day evacuations, alerting civilians and enemy to where the IDF will be operating. No military in history has ever done this.
There is no modern comparison to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel is not fighting a battle it is fighting a war.
No military in modern history has faced 30k defenders embedded in more than more than 7 cities, using human shields and hundreds of miles of underground networks purposely built under civilian sites while holding hundreds of hostages and launching over +12k rockets at the attacking military's civilians areas.
The mission of AIPAC is to encourage and persuade the U.S. government to enact specific policies that create a strong, enduring and mutually beneficial relationship with our ally Israel.
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