IDF Commences Its Largest War Game Ever; Report: Biden May Visit Eastern Jerusalem as Tensions Spike

As tensions boil over in the West Bank amid a string of deadly terrorist attacks in Israel, the IDF has launched the largest military exercise in its history. Thousands of soldiers and reservists will take part in the drill, dubbed “Chariots of Fire,” including the air force, navy and regular and reserve forces. The four-week drill will simulate a multifront and multidimensional war against Israel’s enemies in the air, at sea, on land and on the cyber front.

The goal of the drill is to improve the readiness of the entire military and examine the ability of troops to carry out a powerful and prolonged campaign against enemy forces. The war game aims to improve cooperation between the IDF, government ministries, security organizations and civilian bodies, including their capabilities to transition from a routine to a full emergency scenario.

Alongside the massive exercise, the military is continuing to thwart terrorist attacks. Israeli security forces arrested four suspected accomplices of the terrorists who committed the May 5 attack in Elad and the April 29 attack in Ariel, the IDF said in a statement on Monday.

Eleven additional arrests were made following counter-terror operations in the Balata Refugee Camp and in the villages of Aida, Bayt Rima, Bil’in, Azzun, Qatanna and Hizma. Israeli forces seized two knives and two handguns.

United States President Joe Biden is said to be weighing a visit to eastern Jerusalem during his upcoming trip to Israel, according to a local media report. Biden is considering an excursion to Al Makassed Hospital, the largest Palestinian medical center in eastern Jerusalem.

The report explained that the proposal was raised during preparation meetings ahead of the US leader’s trip. Biden would also reportedly not be accompanied by any Israeli officials during the visit. Biden’s consideration of a visit to eastern Jerusalem comes as tensions spike over issues of sovereignty over the area. On Sunday, a Palestinian Authority spokesperson said that the “State of Palestine” had rights to eastern Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

No previous US president has made a similar visit.

News of the commander-in-chief’s prospective visit comes with Washington having condemned Israeli plans to construct nearly 4,000 housing units in the West Bank. Israel’s Civil Administration announced late last week that it plans to advance the construction of thousands of new homes despite objections from the US.

Biden’s trip to Israel has not yet been finalized but is expected to be scheduled around the G7 summit, which is taking place June 26-28.

Two no-confidence motions against Israel’s coalition government were rejected on Monday at the start of parliament’s summer session. The Knesset plenum voted down a measure submitted by the opposition Likud factions by a tally of 52 in favor and 61 against. Another no-confidence measure led by the Orthodox Sephardic and Mizrahi Shas party failed to pass with 52 for and 56 against.

The Islamist Ra’am party of the coalition was absent from the votes. The party led by MK Mansour Abbas froze its membership in the coalition on April 17 over violence at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount amid a wave of terror in Israel.

MK Idit Silman, who abruptly resigned from the government last month, was also absent. Silman, a member of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party, left the coalition in favor of Likud — a move that made the government lose its parliamentary majority.

To use a vote of no-confidence to change the government, lawmakers must propose an alternative government to the current one, which then must win the support of at least 61 Knesset members, and not just the simple majority of those in attendance that a declarative vote requires. The Likud proposal was thought to include a clause making opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu prime minister.

Seventy Harvard-affiliated faculty have condemned the university’s student newspaper for endorsing the boycott movement against Israel 10 days ago, a move that whipped up a firestorm of controversy and was seen as a possible omen of changing sentiment toward Israel on college campuses across the United States.

The faculty statement released on Monday was signed by leading scholars including Steven Pinkner, Ruth Wisse, Jesse Fried, Gabriella Blum, and Lawrence Summers, who is also a former president of the university and was the US secretary of treasury under former president Bill Clinton.

“In seeking to delegitimize Israel through diplomatic, economic, academic, and cultural isolation, and by opposing the very notions of Jewish peoplehood and self-determination, BDS is disrespectful of Jews, the vast majority of whom view an attachment to Israel as central to their faith identity,” the faculty said in a statement, adding that the BDS movement denies the Jewish people’s right to self-determination, and is against coexistence and dialogue.

The statement said the signatories were “deeply concerned” about the endorsement’s impact “on the morale and well-being of Jewish and Zionist students at Harvard.”

The professors called on the newspaper’s editors to better educate themselves about Jewish identity, Israel, and antisemitism, and to reach out to Jewish students on campus.

An editor at The Crimson and at least eight former staffers also condemned the editorial board’s endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement on April 29.

Recommended Reading

• Israel Must Go on Offensive to Take War on Terror Away From the Homefront – Analysis (Anna Ahronheim, Jerusalem Post) 

• The PA Condemns Terror With One Hand, Rewards It With the Other (Lt. Col. (Res.) Maurice Hirsch)

• Time to Change Israel’s Election System (Nechama Duek, Israel Hayom)

• It’s Time for Israel to Fight Harder on Social Media (Jonathan Frenkel, Algemeiner)

• Zionism Remains a Freedom Struggle (Bret Stephens, Sapir)