![Israel must continue to be able to deter Hezbollah, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar stressed on Wednesday, speaking amid efforts to reach a ceasefire with Iran's Lebanese terrorist proxy. "We need to keep the freedom to act if there will be violations. And we will have to act in time, before the problem will grow," the minister told a gathering of nearly 100 foreign ambassadors in Jerusalem, the Times of Israel reported. A deal to end more than a year of fighting on the northern border must be durable, Sa'ar said, saying Jerusalem “would like to reach an agreement that will stand the test of time." He added that a ceasefire would be an "opportunity" for Lebanon to regain its sovereignty after the Israeli military severely degraded the Iranian-backed group in recent months. He called for the Lebanese Armed Forces to be strengthened and urged the international community to invest more in the economically devastated country, which is drowning in debt following years of mismanagement and corruption. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also emphasized on Wednesday the necessity for Jerusalem to be able to act against any Hezbollah threats that may arise after a ceasefire deal is implemented. “The condition for any political settlement in Lebanon is the preservation of the intelligence capability and the preservation of the [IDF’s] right to act and protect the citizens of Israel from Hezbollah,” Katz said. Meanwhile, U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein remained in Beirut for a second day on Wednesday to discuss "technical details" of an American ceasefire proposal with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement. President Joe Biden's point man in the Land of the Cedars announced he would travel to Israel on Wednesday night, speaking after he made "additional progress" in a second meeting with Berri. Hochstein was scheduled to meet with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer shortly after his arrival, followed by a tête-à-tête with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the following day. “The meeting today built on the meeting yesterday, and made additional progress,” Hochstein said. “So I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can.” The Biden envoy added that he will work with the incoming Trump administration on ceasefire efforts, saying that he has kept the president-elect's transition team informed of progress. Hochstein described as "very productive" his meetings with Lebanese officials on Tuesday. “We have a real opportunity to end the conflict, and now is the moment to decide. We are committed to doing everything we can to work with Lebanon and Israel to end this conflict,” Hochstein said at a press conference on Tuesday. Hochstein also met on Tuesday with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and he was scheduled to meet with Lebanese Armed Forces commander Gen. Joseph Aoun. Mikati emphasized that Lebanon’s primary objectives are achieving a ceasefire and safeguarding its sovereignty. He highlighted the need to implement international resolutions and bolster the Lebanese Armed Forces in the southern part of the country. Lebanon delivered its written response to the latest U.S. proposal on Monday. According to Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Berri, the response included “comments” that were “presented in a positive atmosphere.” He did not provide details on the nature of the comments, saying only that they “affirm the precise adherence to [U.N. Security Council] Resolution 1701 with all its provisions,” according to Reuters. Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said in a speech on Wednesday that the terrorist group had "read the ceasefire proposal. "We have our comments, and Nabih Berri has comments, and ours and the Lebanese government's comments are, Inshallah ['God willing'], identical," Qassem said. "We have decided not to discuss these ceasefire proposals or our comments in the media. All I will say is that Israeli is trying to obtain through negotiations what it couldn't through war." The terrorist leader vowed to “continue our efforts on the ground, whether the negotiations succeed or not. “We are confronting a savage enemy, and we will remain on the ground, no matter the cost, as we will also increase the cost for the enemy. We are facing Israeli human monsters supported by American human monsters,” threatened Qassem. Disarm and retreat Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, stipulated that Hezbollah must disarm and retreat north of the Litani River, but was never enforced. The Litani lies some 20 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border. Its enforcement, along with Israeli freedom of operation in Lebanon should Hezbollah violate the terms of a ceasefire agreement, are the key sticking points in the current negotiations. Netanyahu emphasized during a speech in the Knesset plenum on Monday that Israel will not allow Hezbollah to “return to the state it was in on Oct. 6, 2023. “We will be required, in order to ensure our security in the north, to systematically carry out operations—not only against Hezbollah’s attacks, which could come. Even if there is a ceasefire, nobody can guarantee it will hold. So it’s not only our reaction, a preventive reaction, a reaction in the wake of attack but also the capacity to prevent Hezbollah from strengthening,” he said. Hezbollah has launched some 16,000 rockets, missiles and drones from Lebanon at Israel since joining the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after the Gaza-based terrorist group’s massacre in southern Israel. More than 60,000 residents of northern Israel remain internally displaced due to the ongoing rocket and drone attacks from Lebanon. Seventy-six people in northern Israel have been killed by Hezbollah cross-border rocket, missile and drone attacks since the start of the war, including 31 soldiers and six foreign citizens, according to the latest data provided by the Prime Minister’s Office, updated on Sunday. In addition, 729 people have been wounded, including 497 civilians and 232 soldiers. Of these, 29 civilians and 37 soldiers were severely injured; 63 civilians and 38 soldiers were moderately injured and 405 civilians and 157 soldiers were lightly injured. Hezbollah’s leadership has been left in tatters following a series of targeted killings by Israel, including that of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Sept. 27. This was preceded by Israeli sabotage of Hezbollah communication devices that killed 39 people and wounded more than 3,400 members of the terrorist group. Israel has been waging a devastating aerial campaign against Hezbollah throughout Lebanon, including its stronghold of Dahieh south of Beirut. According to Israeli estimates, the terrorist group has lost most of its arsenal to the ongoing strikes. Then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in late October that Hezbollah had lost an estimated 80%-plus of its long-range rockets since the start of the war. Israel also continues to battle Hamas terrorists in Gaza. The terrorist group still holds 101 hostages in the Strip, 97 of whom were kidnapped on Oct. 7. Many of the captives are believed to be dead. Brazil summit Meanwhile, G20 leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro for a summit put out a joint statement on Monday calling for “comprehensive” ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. The leaders of the world’s biggest economies called for U.S. proposals to end fighting in Gaza and free the hostages, and one for Lebanon “that enables citizens to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line.” The 13-point U.S. proposal presented to Lebanese officials on Nov. 14 includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon would redeploy its troops along the border. The proposal also calls for Moscow to prevent Hezbollah from resupplying itself via Syrian land routes. Hezbollah would retreat north of the Litani River, with the border area then being under control of the Lebanese Armed Forces, overseen by the United States and Britain. Israeli officials are emphasizing, however, that the Israel Defense Forces must retain freedom of operation in Lebanon to thwart attempts by Hezbollah to violate the agreement and rearm and reestablish itself. A senior Israeli diplomatic official told Israel Hayom on Saturday that the IDF will retain operational freedom to respond to any security threats from across the northern border, regardless of any diplomatic arrangements. However, a source close to Hezbollah told The Washington Post that the group’s “condition for progress remains clear: Israel must be prohibited from conducting operations within Lebanese territory.” Berri emphasized at the time that any ceasefire agreement must not include the ability for Israel to attack by land, sea or air, Channel 12 reported. “Otherwise, what’s the purpose of an agreement?” he remarked. Another sticking point is Lebanon’s objection to the United Kingdom and Germany monitoring the implementation of U.N. Resolution 1701. Beirut reportedly favors the United States and France. If the ceasefire efforts fail, there are plans in the works to expand ground operations in Lebanon, an Israeli military official told the Post. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer discussed the proposal with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump during a visit to his Florida estate earlier this month, as well as with senior Biden administration officials in Washington. Dermer also traveled to Russia to discuss the ceasefire proposal. Tehran is telling its Lebanese terrorist proxy Hezbollah that it supports ending the war against Israel, The New York Times reported over the weekend. Ali Larijani, senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, met with senior Lebanese officials in Beirut on Nov. 15 to discuss the matter. Two Iranians affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps told the Times that Larijani conveyed messages to Hezbollah from Khamenei that he supported the end of the war and that the regime would assist with rebuilding the terrorist group’s forces and recovering from the war.](https://jewishwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Gideon-Saar-1320x880-2-218x150.jpg "Sa’ar: Israel must be free to act against Hezbollah truce violations")
It was a big biblical year for Americans.
Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School sophomore Jacob Colchamiro of Short Hills, N.J., placed second in the world at the International Chidon HaTanach (Bible Quiz), which took place last week in Israel on Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day), while Torah Academy of Bergen County senior Nathanael Vinar of Teaneck, N.J., placed sixth. Epstein Hebrew Academy eighth-grader and St. Louis’s Yechiel Shulman represented the United States in the middle-school division, and Elianna Sokoler from Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills, Calif., was America’s delegate in the English division.
The Chidon was started as an international program in 1958, the 10th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel. Originally it was an adult competition, with the children’s Chidon starting in 1963. Since then, the international Chidon HaTanach for youth has been at the center of Israel’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations, with virtually the entire country tuning in at 11 a.m. each year to watch the competition.
The four Americans joined the approximately 70 other participants from 40-plus countries throughout the world for a Bible camp in Israel that culminated in last week’s Chidon. According to Rabbi Dovi Nadel, the U.S. operator for the Youth Chidon HaTanach from the Jewish Agency, the camp allowed the participants to spend time with kids from around the world, meet dignitaries and tour Israel through the lens of the Tanach they’ve learned.
“Wonderful relationships are forged between the contestants,” he said.
This year’s remarkable achievements from the American competitors came after the four qualified last year in the national Chidon, followed by a year of intensive learning with their coaches, as they prepared by studying nearly 500 chapters of Tanach.
Rabbi Ezra Frazer, a Chidon coach and former competitor who came in second in the world in 2012’s Adult Chidon HaTanach, coordinated the U.S. youth competition from 2008-2015. This year he coached eighth-grader Yechiel Shulman. “The kids started studying soon after they found out that they won in the U.S. They had a year to prepare and had a regular weekly studying routine.” Shulman reported that he learns with Frazer via Skype every week, and when he visited the Teaneck area, where Frazer lives, the two learned together in the Bnai Yeshurun beit midrash.
Nadel explained the Chidon process. “Of the 240 national finalists, there were four winners: two from high school, one from middle school and one from the English division, and those four qualified to go to Israel. This year’s national winners [announced last week] will go to Israel next year.” Chidon appears to be a family affair for this year’s winners; Vinar’s younger brother, Ezriel, placed second in the 2019 national competition and will follow his brother to Israel next year, while Colchamiro’s younger brother, Sammy, placed eighth.
“It is exciting to see kids I remember from middle school keep trying again and again,” said Frazer. “Nathanael Vinar has been participating since middle school from the Moriah School, and he finally made it in his last year of eligibility.”
Colchamiro noted, “I got to know the other competitors during the week prior to the Chidon. I met so many really nice people. They were solid competitors. The Israelis and Americans were really well-prepared.”
Vinar added that “[Bible camp] was very enjoyable, especially for me, never having been to Israel before. I got to meet people from all over. I did not know there were Jews left in Ethiopia, and the competitor from there was well-prepared.”
‘The gateway into a deeper understanding of our history’
During camp, the kids took further qualifying exams to determine which 16 students would participate in the international Chidon and be on the stage on Yom Ha’atzmaut. Colchamiro, Vinar and Shulman all qualified, while Sokoler qualified for the Diaspora competition, which selects one student from each participating country who is not joining the Chidon.
According to Nadel, the three boys each qualified with top scores on their written exams, which set the stage for their performance during the Chidon competition. Colchamiro started the competition as the top seed, ahead of all the Israelis due to his proficiency on the written exam.
“It is very rare for an American to get to the final podium round; it is usually just Israelis,” noted Nadel. The podium round is the final round, with the final question asked of the top contestants by the Israeli prime minister. This is the first year since 2013 that an American has placed this high.
“It is a good feeling to get that kind of reward for the work I put in. The icing on the cake is that last year, the four top spots were all Israelis, and this year three of the four were Israelis,” said Colchamiro. “I certainly thought there were some who didn’t place as high as I did who I felt were better prepared.”
Colchamiro was eliminated in the final round after missing one question. “The question I got wrong I really shouldn’t have missed, but there was one I got right on a technicality,” he said humbly. “I got the place that I deserved. [The first-place winner] totally deserved it. He was very impressive.”
Nadel felt that all the Chidon contestants were already winners.
“We are so proud of all of our international contestants, who devoted so much time and effort to mastering hundreds of chapters of Tanach and competing on the international level,” he said. “Achieving fluency in the verses of Tanach truly is the gateway into a deeper understanding of our history, our people, our land and our tradition. At every level of the competition—from local, to national, to international—contestants in the Chidon HaTanach gain an appreciation and love for Tanach that energizes them and remains with them for the rest of their lives.”