Sunday, February 02, 2025

02/02 Links: Trump’s Second Shot at Peace in the Middle East; BHL: The Imperative Remains: Destroy Hamas; Jordan seeking to deport 2001 Sbarro bomber

From Ian:

Jonathan Schanzer: Trump’s Second Shot at Peace in the Middle East
With Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Washington is bracing for a reprise of the president’s now-famous unpredictable and mercurial approach to governance. But if there was one area of Trump’s presidency that was more-or-less consistent last time around, it was the Middle East.

Trump’s support for Israel was unwavering. His "Peace Through Prosperity" plan promoted a performance-based path to statehood for the Palestinians. The Abraham Accords cemented normalization between Israel and several Arab states. The maximum pressure sanctions policy on the Islamic Republic of Iran squeezed the regime financially. Trump’s hard-nosed approach to the regime in Tehran was punctuated by the January 3, 2020, killing of IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani.

Just before Trump’s return to Washington, two of his top Middle East foreign policy advisers released new books. And they may provide a hint of the president’s policies on Israel.

David Friedman, the president’s former attorney who then became America’s ambassador to Israel, encourages Israelis to "begin a national conversation regarding the future of Judea and Samaria"—the disputed territory also known as "the West Bank" inhabited by both Jews and Arabs who lay claim to it. In his book, One Jewish State, Friedman describes this sought-after real estate as "Israel’s biblical heartland," which must be preserved by Jews and Christians, alike. He asserts that "Palestinians would be receptive to life under Israeli sovereignty if accompanied by the opportunity for better health, education, and prosperity and the assurance of human dignity."

Friedman throws shade upon the "peace process" that has consistently failed to serve American interests for more than three decades. He notes that consecutive presidents, Democrat and Republican alike, have failed to achieve the two-state solution, primarily because of Palestinian rejectionism. Friedman believes that the Palestinians are simply not willing to make the compromises necessary for such a diplomatic outcome. And it is for this reason that he proposes a completely different paradigm—one that will be viewed by traditional Palestinian nationalists with disdain.

Friedman writes that the United States should embrace the Puerto Rico model for Middle East peace. He notes that Puerto Rico (Spanish for "wealthy port") is an alternative standard for Palestinian autonomy. He notes, "the residents of Puerto Rico do not vote in U.S. national elections. They do, however, benefit from well-recognized human rights and elect their civilian leaders. While not a perfect analogy to Israel, Puerto Rico ensures the human dignity of its citizens while forgoing collective national rights." Under Friedman’s vision, "Palestinians will be free to enact their own governing documents, as long as they are not inconsistent with those of Israel."

Friedman’s book suggests a wholesale change in the diplomatic paradigm that would certainly provoke controversy. By contrast, Victoria Coates proposes a series of more modest steps that would merely mark a return to sensible previous Trump policies. The final chapter of The Battle for the Jewish State enumerates these policies, most of which were conceived when Coates was deputy national security adviser for the Middle East and North Africa on the Trump National Security Council.
JPost Editorial: Israel must seize the momentum to prevent Hamas's return
Objectively, it is a bad deal – Israel is releasing prisoners who rightfully earned their cell spot, some with blood on their hands. But it is a deal that must continue to the end because we don’t leave our people behind.

Since taking office, as well as for some time before, Trump’s messaging was loud and clear: These images of war, this active conflict, must end. He has, so far, held up that pressure.

The problem is the conflict between the goals of the two sides in this war – Israel and Hamas. Israel would be willing to end the war if Hamas ceased to exist as a military, civilian, and political power – effectively volunteering to cease to exist.

Hamas’s stated goal is exactly the opposite: Israel withdraws from Gaza while Hamas retains control. These conflicting goals are going to bubble up and may challenge the endurance of the deal because the war won’t be over if Hamas is still in charge.

Trump doesn’t want to see Hamas leading Gaza any more than Jerusalem does. Netanyahu must use all the tools at his disposal to convince the president that the conflicting goals of Israel and Hamas can’t coexist. This would mean even more support for Israel should it eventually return to active fighting in the enclave.

As breathtaking and moving as the scenes are of families reunited, we must remember that in the last week of the first phase, Israel is set to receive the bodies of hostages killed on October 7 or in captivity.

This whole process is and will be marred with tragedy, which only adds more layers and nuances.

On Saturday, the Bibas family said, “Yarden is home. There are no words to describe the relief we feel to hold him, hug him, and hear his voice. Yarden is back, but the home is lacking. He is a father who left his safe room to protect his family, bravely survived captivity, and returned to an incomprehensibly difficult reality.” His wife, Shiri, and their two boys, Ariel and Kfir, remain in captivity.

Trump says he wants peace; Israel must leverage that momentum while it is alive and push for the next best stages of the deal it can achieve so that Hamas has no chance, ever again, of posing a terror threat to the Jewish state, like it once did.
Bernard-Henri Levy: The Imperative Remains: Destroy Hamas
The Jewish people respect the imperative to redeem captives. I know no one in Israel who could watch, without immense emotion, the images of the four young IDF women soldiers reuniting with their families.

But there was another image that preceded the magnificent moment of reunion. It was the image of the small stage on which the four were forced to stand, wearing strained smiles, waving at - whom? The Palestinian crowd perched across from them on rubble? Their jailers? Then they were handed over to the Red Cross, the same Red Cross that did not visit one hostage over the past 481 days.

This second image was chilling because of the childlike smiles of the petrified prisoners, knowing that everything could still go wrong. Chilling because of the black-clad, masked men surrounding them - some pressed close. Chilling because of what the scene signified to the crowds who watched it live, from Jabalia to Rafah, from Jericho to Ramallah, from Cairo to Amman. An army of criminals, wounded but not sunk, weakened but not defeated. An army that often returns only the remains of its captives.

It is vital to remember that Israel has always pursued two objectives in this war. The first is the release of the hostages. The second is the total defeat of the last pogromist squads, which would otherwise emerge from this disaster cloaked in a dark aura that would again inspire those tempted, in Israel and elsewhere, by jihad.

Nothing would be more dangerous than leaving behind, as Machiavelli put it, a wounded prince. As long as Hamas retains even a fraction of its capacity to strike - or to govern - Israel can tolerate neither a "durable ceasefire," a "peace of compromise" nor a "political solution." Hamas must be destroyed. Israel didn't seek this war, but it must decisively win.


Why Trump’s plan for Gaza’s people makes perfect sense
President Donald Trump recently floated a fantastic idea: Arab nations, he said, should accept large numbers of Gazans as refugees, a move that “could be temporary or long term.”

The accommodation would allow Israel to eliminate the remnants of Hamas, which, in turn, would allow the international community to rebuild Gaza.

Not only would such a policy enhance the prospects of peace, but it’s also humane.

While Gazans shouldn’t be compelled to move from their homes, they should be allowed to escape the generational tragedy foisted on them by the Arab world and their nihilistic leaders. And Israelis should monetarily incentivize them to move to safer environs.

Because one of the prevailing myths of the Israel-Arab conflict is that Palestinians have a deep historic connection to the land that goes back centuries.

It’s debatable, considering evidence shows that most Arabs immigrated to British Palestine from Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the late 19th and early 20th century, lured by the prosperity created by returning Jews.

But Gaza? There are over 2 million people in Gaza. There were perhaps 50,000 people there when Arab nations rejected the partition plan in 1947.

For years after that, the Arabs of Gaza lived under Egypt, which used it as a launching site for Fedayeen terrorists into Israel. (Oct. 7 was the culmination of a long tradition.)

Even today, you can hear Gazans talking about how they merely bide their time to return to their homes in Jaffa or elsewhere within Israel proper. The United Nations runs an entire organization devoted wholly to the “Palestine Refugees in the Near East,” even though no such country has ever existed.

How long is a Palestinian considered a refugee in Gaza by the UN? As long as possible.

The UN creates permanent “camps” — in reality, bustling cities — for the descendants of people dislocated by wars that Arabs started over 70 years ago. By contrast, there are over 2 million ethnic Arabs living as citizens in the Jewish state.

OK, then. If Gazans are just refugees, why can’t they move to other Arab nations?
Trump's Vision for Transforming Gaza
Israel Hayom has learned that mass evacuation from Gaza, including both Hamas operatives and those categorized as the "uninvolved population," represents a cornerstone of American regional strategy - beyond mere public statements as many Israeli observers believe.

During his visit to Israel, presidential envoy Steve Witkoff's messages indicated that through substantial Gazan emigration, the administration seeks to align Trump's war conclusion objectives with his stance, shared by many in the new administration, that Hamas must cease controlling Gaza.

Witkoff stressed that considering Oct. 7's atrocities, he too considers future Hamas governance of Gaza untenable.

A senior Israeli official suggested Hamas might voluntarily surrender Gaza control and considers this the most probable outcome.

"Within Palestinian faction discussions, Hamas recognizes the necessity of transferring authority," the official said.
What Should Be Done with Gaza?
Throughout the war, Hamas has maintained civilian control over Gaza, seized humanitarian aid and shelters, enforced its authority through internal security forces, and leveraged its control and the dire civilian conditions to continue indoctrinating the public. Palestinian society in Gaza does not see any ideological, political, or governmental horizon beyond what Hamas offers as a pathway to recovery from the destruction.

Hamas is unlikely to hand over all the remaining hostages, as it seeks to retain them as bargaining chips for its survival. The Trump administration is expected to exert direct pressure on Israel to steer the dynamics in Gaza in line with the administration's broader strategic interests. Halting the war and withdrawing IDF forces without stabilizing Gaza or establishing an alternative to Hamas will create a power vacuum that will only reinforce Hamas's rule.

A proposal put forward by Egypt, the UAE, and Jordan would establish a technocratic administration in Gaza composed of local bureaucrats and professionals with no ties to Hamas - of which there are thousands in Gaza, many affiliated with Fatah.

The Arab states behind the proposal acknowledge that, in the initial stages, Israel would need to retain operational freedom to combat terrorism and prevent Hamas from regaining strength - a shared interest. However, Israel has hesitated to accept the proposal due to the requirement for the Palestinian Authority's involvement, doubting its ability to effectively counter terrorism, given its history of incitement and radicalization.
71% of Israelis oppose Palestinian state; 68% support sovereignty in J&S: poll
Seventy-one percent of Israelis oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. Nearly 70% want to extend Israeli sovereignty over the area, according to a poll conducted on Jan. 29.

The survey comes on the background of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure on Sunday to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C.

“The findings are public just in time for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit with President Trump. Bibi can now go to the president of the United States with a clear statement that this is the will of the people of Israel,” Avi Abelow, CEO of Pulse of Israel, which co-sponsored the poll, told JNS.

The future of Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank, is likely to be discussed between the two leaders as diplomatic relations with Arab countries is expected to be a key topic.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has signaled that a Palestinian state is a condition for normalization of relations with Jerusalem. (Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said during a Jan. 22 speech in the Knesset plenum that Israel has made “no such promise.”)

The survey asked respondents whether they would support a Palestinian state as part of an Israeli-Saudi peace deal. More than half said they would not even do so when attached to Saudi normalization.

Thirty-nine percent said they would support a Palestinian state linked to a Saudi agreement. Eight percent had no opinion.

The results echoed a survey conducted in May 2024 by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, which found that 64% of the Israeli public opposed the creation of a Palestinian state as part of normalization with the Saudis.


JNS senior contributing editor Caroline Glick appointed as adviser to Netanyahu
Prominent Israeli-American columnist and JNS senior contributing editor Caroline B. Glick is returning to the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem to serve as International Affairs Adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Glick, who worked with Netanyahu over a quarter century ago before becoming a widely-read columnist, took up her new position on Sunday, almost three years after the first episode of her record-breaking “The Caroline Glick Show” premiered on JNS TV in 2022.

“Life takes you in different directions, and I am going back to the office where I worked nearly three decades ago as the prime minister leads Israel through the most difficult period in the history of the Jewish state,” Glick told JNS on Wednesday. “I take it as a profound compliment that at this critical juncture in our history, Prime Minister Netanyahu has asked me to join him as he continues his historic fight to secure the future of the Jewish state and people.”

Glick, who has been a critic of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, said that the war has been especially hard because of the difficulty in getting the 251 hostages seized by the terror group during its Oct. 7, 2023, massacre out of Gaza alive via a military operation.

Netanyahu is still committed to annihilating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel, she said, two of Jerusalem’s three declared war goals which, she added, have not been met yet.
What Netanyahu and Trump hope to achieve together in Washington
Barely two weeks after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will arrive in Washington as the first foreign leader to make an official state visit to the White House.

The invitation is a demonstration of respect and friendship to a key American ally and one of the world’s longest-tenured and most accomplished leaders. More importantly, Netanyahu’s visit signals the importance and strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship, which took a beating under the Biden administration.

The speed of the invitation may have come as a bit of a surprise to some, but like many other items on his policy agenda, Trump is wasting no time putting diplomacy into motion. The president has stated repeatedly that he wants the wars raging around the world to come to a close.

Even before stepping into office, Trump said there would be “all hell to pay” if the remaining hostages—including American citizens—held by Hamas and other Gazan terror factions were not released prior to his inauguration. To make sure that happened, the incoming president dispatched Special Envoy-designate Steve Witkoff to the region to negotiate a hostage release and temporary ceasefire.

Phase 1 of such an agreement was agreed to just days prior to Trump’s inauguration, and the first three hostages were released the same day Trump was sworn into office. So far, over a dozen hostages have already been released by Hamas, with at least a dozen more living hostages set to be released in the coming weeks. Israelis are roundly celebrating the slow-drip return of the hostages, who have suffered over 15 months of cruel captivity.

An immoral deal
Yet the deal is both imbalanced and unjust. Israel is releasing approximately 1,900 Palestinian prisoners in return for only 33 of the 98 hostages Hamas was holding when the ceasefire took effect. Many have blood on their hands and are serving life sentences.

Of the 33 to be released in phase one—the only phase to be negotiated thus far—only 26 are believed to be alive. It is not clear how many hostages in total are still alive. Yet for Israel, the return of all hostages, both living and dead, is a national priority.

While phase one calls for a six-week ceasefire, the Israel Defense Forces has withdrawn from key positions throughout Gaza, including the Netzarim Corridor the army paved to divide north and south Gaza, which allows Hamas to regroup and would make the restarting of hostilities more complicated.

Hamas has consolidated its forces, established a new command structure following Israel’s assassinations of its top leadership and recruited new fighters to its ranks. Now it is being bolstered with additional fighters released from Israeli prisons.

In protest against this lopsided deal, hardline minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and his right-wing Otzma Yehudit Party resigned from the government, shrinking Netanyahu’s coalition to a bare majority of only 62 out of 120 Knesset members. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has also threatened to resign unless fighting resumes after the initial six weeks of the truce. Any further resignations risk collapsing Netanyahu’s right-wing government and careening the country into new elections amid an unfinished war.


Jordan’s King Abdullah to meet Trump at White House on Feb. 11
Jordan’s King Abdullah II has been invited to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Feb. 11, the Royal Hashemite Court announced Sunday, claiming an invite was received last week.

“King Abdullah II will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, after His Majesty received an invitation letter from President Trump last week,” the palace stated.

Abdullah is one of the first foreign leaders to receive an invite to the White House since Trump returned for his second term on Jan. 20.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took off for the United States on Sunday ahead of a Tuesday meeting at the White House.

“The fact that this would be President Trump’s first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration is telling,” the premier stated ahead of his departure, calling it “a testimony to the strength” of the U.S.-Israel alliance, as well as his “personal friendship” with Trump.

On Jan. 25, Trump called on Arab nations, including Jordan and Egypt, to take in more Palestinians to “clean out” Gaza. Both Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi have rejected the proposal.

An estimated 70 percent of Jordan’s 12 million residents are Palestinian.

Asked by a reporter on Jan. 30 what Trump planned to do to make the two Arab countries take Palestinians in, the U.S. president declared, “They will do it. They will do it. They’re gonna do it, OK. We do a lot for them, and they’re gonna do it,” he said of the billions in economic assistance the U.S. has provided to Jordan and Egypt since the 1950s.

“We do a lot for them, and they’re gonna do it,” he said of the billions in economic assistance the U.S. has provided to Jordan since the 1950s.
Jordan said to tell Hamas it will extradite Sbarro bomber Tamimi to US if no alternative by day’s end
The Qatari Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news outlet corroborates an earlier report from Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV channel that Jordan is seeking to deport Sbarro pizzeria bomber Ahlam Tamimi.

According to the outlet, Jordanian intelligence authorities informed Hamas earlier today that the terror group must either find a country willing to take in Tamimi by the end of the day, or she will be extradited to the United States, where she is wanted by the FBI for the murder of two US civilians in the 2001 Jerusalem pizzeria bombing.

Tamimi was sentenced to 16 life sentences by Israel for orchestrating the August 9, 2001, Sbarro pizzeria bombing, but was released in 2011 as part of a deal with Hamas for the release of captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

The family of Israeli-American victim Malki Roth has been battling ever since, seeking Tamimi’s extradition to the US.

During US President Donald Trump’s first term in office, his administration said it was considering withholding aid to Jordan until it agreed to extradite Tamimi, but ultimately no action was taken.

It is unclear what triggered Jordan’s reported ultimatum to Hamas, but it comes on the heels of an invitation for King Abdullah II to visit Trump in the White House later this month.

Last week, Trump said Jordan and Egypt should take in Palestinians from Gaza, which he called a “demolition site,” after more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas. Both countries appeared to reject the demand, and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that the country’s stance against any displacement of Palestinians from Gaza remains “firm and unwavering.”

At the same time as it is reportedly seeking to deport Tamimi, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports that the Hashemite Kingdom has also refused to take in any Palestinians with Jordanian citizenship who are released from Israeli prisons on the condition of deportation during the ceasefire-hostage release deal with Hamas.


The Terrorist Who Murdered My Cousin Now Walks Free
Douglas Murray is off this week but we are certain he will agree with us that the essay we are running today in his stead is among the most affecting we have ever published.

It is by Gideon Black, whose cousin’s murderer was among the scores of terrorists released in exchange for the innocent Israelis captured and enslaved by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Black, who was wounded in the bus bombing that killed his cousin, Yoni, and five others, knows all the political and strategic arguments against releasing hundreds of murderers to bring home a handful of citizens. Nevertheless, he writes, “We must move mountains to bring them home, even as we fear that those very mountains may bury our loved ones in the future. The moral dilemma is excruciating.”

Such moral asymmetry has loomed over the conflict from the beginning.

For years, Hamas and Hezbollah have derided Israel’s “love of life.” That value was so powerful in Yoni’s family that they donated his organs to three people, including an 8-year-old Muslim girl from East Jerusalem: Yasmin Abu Ramila.

Hamas sees this impulse as no match for its own professed love of death, which serves as an assertion of faith and a promise of ultimate victory. In a recent conversation, our friend Haviv Rettig Gur pushed back against the notion of Hamas as a death cult; he sees its professed love of death as an assertion of faith anchored in a deep religious ideology not easily uprooted.

But the same can be said for the Jewish love of life. Many of the residents of southern Israel—who drove Gazans to the hospital, dialogued for peace, and were disproportionately victimized by Hamas—have been identified with left-wing politics, but they were also living out the commandment in Leviticus to “love your neighbor as yourself,” an injunction that also impressed Jesus, who quotes it in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew.

That such unrelenting faith in human worth has been so easily demonized is part of an old story, as is the ultimate failure of those trying to dislodge those values from our own society.

What makes Black’s piece so powerful is its acceptance of the moral asymmetry that will remain as long as Israel’s enemies deride its love of life as a sign of weakness and faithlessness. Despite his anguish, in the end Black is writing about love.


Cages, starvation and fasting on Yom Kippur: More testimonies from freed hostages emerge
As more hostages are released from over 15 months of captivity in the hands of terrorists in Gaza, testimonies of their experiences have begun to emerge, painting a picture of consistent deprivation, solitude and abuse.

According to a report Sunday on the Ynet news site, the five freed IDF surveillance soldiers, Agam Berger, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag, were frequently moved around the Gaza Strip from tunnels to apartments and were often separated from each other for weeks on end.

The report added that Naama Levy was kept in solitary confinement for much of her time in captivity, and said that some of the surveillance soldiers were forced to work in a sort of indentured labor for the families of their captors, including cooking, cleaning and childcare.

According to Ynet, despite significant deprivation of food and water, which forced them to even ration grains of rice, the hostage soldiers sought to preserve their Jewish identity and decided to fast on Yom Kippur and refrain from eating leavened bread on Passover.

Agam Berger, the last of the five soldiers to be released, was reportedly strict in her observance of Shabbat.

Freed hostage Daniella Gilboa wrote Sunday in her first Instagram post since she returned from Gaza eight days ago after 477 days in Hamas captivity that her “last wish before I was kidnapped” was for people to not give up on her.

“What an insane year I have gone through,” Gilboa wrote at the outset of the lengthy post, thanking the public for supporting her family, praying for her, not giving up on her and not believing the “horrible rumors” spread by the Hamas terror group about her supposed death.

“I didn’t want to despair and say goodbye, so instead I prayed and wholeheartedly believed that the end of me wasn’t there, in that bomb shelter,” she writes.

“I prayed for all the girls with me for 30 minutes because I felt like I couldn’t do anything better at the time… I knew that the only thing that could save us was faith.”
Hamas killed Thai nationals deliberately
Among all the casualties Hamas brought upon foreign nationals, Thai workers suffered the highest number of casualties in this war.

One of the Thai survivors recounted his near-death experience on Oct. 7. In the morning, four armed Hamas militants stormed the labor camp, indiscriminately gunning down every Thai worker in sight. He managed to hide inside a bunker, narrowly escaping the same fate.

In the afternoon, Hamas fighters regrouped around the labor camp. They setting fire to the room where he was hiding. He held his breath for over 20 minutes, but as the smoke thickened, he could no longer endure it. Desperate, he broke down the door and ran into the nearby forest. Miraculously, by then, Hamas had already left.

Another survivor, who found himself in a similar situation, described how Hamas meticulously raided each labor camp, slaughtering every unarmed worker they encountered. Those who did not die from gunfire were executed with knives in gruesome beheadings.

According to Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 44 Thais were killed during Hamas's murderous attack on Oct. 7.


Keith Siegel forced to write thank-you letter to Hamas captors ahead of release
Freed US-Israeli captive Keith Siegel was forced ahead of his release to write a letter thanking his Hamas captors for his treatment while being held in captivity for 484 days.

His family has asked that the letter he was forced by Hamas to write, dated January 18, not be published by the media.

“Hamas terrorists forced Keith to write them a detailed thank you letter while holding him captive,” his family said in a statement. “This is just one example of many that demonstrates Hamas’s cruel and cynical behavior, and highlights the urgency of bringing all remaining hostages back home.”

Siegel was released on Saturday in Gaza City. He and his wife, Aviva, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023. Aviva was freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.

During his handover to the Red Cross, he appeared thin and pale but was able to walk, aided by masked and armed Hamas fighters. He was forced to accept two Hamas “gift bags” and a lanyard around his neck with a Palestinian flag and the insignia of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades. He was also forcibly paraded on a Hamas stage in front of a banner proclaiming “Nazi Zionism will not win.”

He reportedly told his loved ones that food was extremely scarce while in captivity, and that though he is a vegetarian, he occasionally ate meat products that were given to him in order to survive.


Witkoff to freed IDF soldiers: Trump ‘could not be more happy’ you are home
Meeting with four IDF soldiers who were freed from Hamas captivity just days earlier, US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff told them the White House has a goal “to bring everybody home.”

On Sunday, the US embassy published footage of Thursday’s meeting in the Rabin Medical Center between Witkoff and Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, Liri Albag, and Karina Ariev, four IDF surveillance soldiers who were freed five days earlier, after more than 15 months in captivity. The fifth surveillance soldier, Agam Berger, was released the day of their meeting.

Speaking to the soldiers and their families, alongside Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Witkoff told them that US President Trump “could not be more happy” about their return to Israel.

“The people of the United States stand with you, the president stands with you, and we have a common goal to bring everybody home so everybody can have this, every family can have this moment,” Witkoff said.

Speaking on behalf of her comrades, Albag told Witkoff that seeing the efforts of those working to get them home “gave us the hope to stay alive.” Now, she said, they want to spread “love. This is our first goal,” she added, as she and her three comrades made a heart symbol with their hands.

“That’s a big thing that you tell us,” the US diplomat responded.


Tensions rise as Red Cross blocks Israel's prison transfer documentation
The useless and despicable Red Cross blocked Israel's prison cameras as terrorists walk free in yesterday's hostage trade.

Tensions escalated Saturday as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) attempted to block the Israel Prison Service (IPS) from documenting the transfer of Palestinian prisoners being released under the latest hostage exchange deal.

The dispute centered on IPS efforts to film prisoners moving from prison vehicles to Red Cross buses headed for Khan Yunis in Gaza. IPS officials defended the filming as essential documentation against potential future claims regarding prisoner treatment during release.

"You stage photo ops on platforms in Gaza, but forbid filming here," IPS officials reportedly told Red Cross representatives, highlighting what they viewed as inconsistent standards. The standoff ended with IPS being allowed to proceed with their documentation.

The Red Cross declined specific comment, stating only that they "do not respond to claims from anonymous sources or discuss dialogue with authorities."


BBC apologizes for calling Israeli hostages ‘prisoners’
The BBC has apologized after a news anchor on Jan. 31 referred to Israeli hostages held by Hamas as “prisoners” in a report about the next day’s upcoming hostage release.

BBC News anchor Nicky Schiller said three “Israeli prisoners” were due to be released by the terrorist group on Saturday.

“Confirmation in the last couple of hours, first from Hamas, that three Israeli prisoners, all men this time, will be released tomorrow and then we will see 90 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails,” Schiller said.

On Friday afternoon, the BBC apologized on air for the remarks.

“Earlier today on BBC News we reported on the names of those three Israeli hostages who are due to be freed tomorrow,” the channel said. “At one point during the coverage we mistakenly called the hostages ‘prisoners’ and we would like to apologize.”


“I Was Hounded, Day In, Day Out”
Last November, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres declined to renew the contract of U.N. Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu, who did not label Israel’s war against Hamas a genocide, even while other U.N. officials have either done so or released reports which make this claim.

On November 26, an editorial in The Wall Street Journal cast Nderitu’s ousting as part of an unofficial U.N. campaign against the Jewish state and called her “refusal to endorse a lie in service of a political agenda” a “profile in courage.”

But it wasn’t until this week, after attending Monday’s 80th commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz in Poland, on the site where more than 1.1 million people, the vast majority of them Jews, were murdered in the Holocaust, that Nderitu decided to speak out to tell the story of her contentious U.N. tenure.

“This push that I should say that there’s a genocide going on in Gaza? They knew that I’m not a court of law, and it’s only a court of law that can determine whether a genocide has happened,” says Nderitu, in an exclusive interview with Air Mail. “But I was hounded, day in, day out. Bullied, hounded, with protection from nobody.”

“It’s instructive that this never happened for any other war. Not for Ukraine, not for Sudan, not for D.R.C. [Democratic Republic of Congo], not for Myanmar,” she says. “The focus was always Israel.” “This was a war,” she says. “Palestinians were killing Israelis, Israelis were killing Palestinians. It needs to be treated like other wars. In other wars, we don’t run and take one side and then keep going on and on about that one side… By taking one side, condemning it every day, you completely lose the essence of what the U.N. was created for.”
Brinkmanship over Israel's Ban on UNRWA
Jan. 30 marks the implementation deadline for two Israeli laws passed on Oct. 28 that prohibit any government contact with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Many in Israel believe that UNRWA does not seek to solve refugee cases but instead has an institutional interest in perpetuating them. The agency's preference for returning millions of refugees to Israel rather than permanently resettling them could undermine Israel's viability and threaten the prospects for coexistence.

After Oct. 7, at least nine UNRWA employees were revealed to be involved in the atrocities committed that day. Additionally, Israel found Hamas members employed as principals and teachers in UNRWA schools, Hamas infrastructure and weapons in the basements of these schools, and Hamas data centers in tunnels underneath the agency's headquarters in Gaza.

Israeli officials have privately said that if the UN does not work out an alternative to UNRWA in the West Bank, then the agency's services there should automatically come under the PA's purview. They also believe that food distribution can be managed by the UN World Food Program, which already handles a sizable portion of Gaza food aid.

Yet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres instructed his agencies not to engage in any contingency planning related to Israel's deadline, arguing that such action would imply acceptance of such policies.

UNRWA has a smaller role in eastern Jerusalem than in the West Bank and Gaza. The Jerusalem Municipality has indicated that it will work out educational alternatives for the few UNRWA schools located in the eastern part of the city. In the West Bank, UNRWA runs 19 refugee camps, employs 3,700 workers, provides social security and other such payments to 150,000 residents, and operates one hospital, 43 clinics, and 96 schools (serving 47,000 children).

In Gaza, before the war, UNRWA was the main provider of schooling and health services, serving over a million residents in its eight refugee camps. UN officials say the ban on contact with Israel will prevent the agency from functioning. Areas affected include monthly visa renewals for UNRWA international staff, vehicle registration, customs agreements to facilitate the import of food and medicine, and Israeli bank transactions related to salary payments and supply chains.

Israel and the Trump administration seem more focused on the longer-term goal of reshaping the administration of Palestinian territory and aid in the wake of Oct. 7. In their view, lasting peace is unattainable as long as the Palestinian refugee issue continues to derail proposed peace deals, so efforts to rebuild Gaza must move beyond persistent refugee camps and a "right of return" model rooted in hostility toward Israel's existence.


The Next Phase of the War
The war that began on Oct. 7, 2023, has entered its next phase - the stage of political agreements. On Monday, negotiations will commence on the second stage of the hostage deal with Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday.

The negotiations on the second stage will focus on three main issues: Israel's demand for the release of all hostages; Hamas's demand for an end to the war, along with guarantees from the U.S. that Israel will uphold a lasting ceasefire; and Hamas's push for the release of hundreds of terrorists - not only convicted murderers but also high-risk individuals who could pose a severe security threat to Israel. In exchange for all remaining hostages, Hamas is demanding the release of key figures whose leadership and connections could enable the terror group to rebuild its military and operational networks.

Meanwhile, Israel, with U.S. support, will aim to prevent that outcome - not only by ensuring Hamas is excluded from Gaza's civilian governance but also by blocking any military resurgence. Israel will also demand what it sought in the Lebanon agreement: the demilitarization of Gaza - removing weapons, military infrastructure and tunnels - to prevent another deadly attack on Israel in the future. However, Gaza lacks any governing or military authority capable of restraining Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In his meetings in Washington, Netanyahu is also expected to present Israel's new defense doctrine, shaped by the lessons of Oct. 7. This doctrine emphasizes a proactive strategy along all borders and in Israel's ongoing "campaign between wars," targeting military buildups in Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, and potentially Syria.
Seth Frantzman: How IDF is sending a message against terrorism in Jenin
A series of explosions in Jenin yesterday conjured up the kind of fighting that has become hallmarks of the war against Hezbollah and Hamas.

The blasts were part of the IDF’s latest operation to uproot terrorist infrastructure in Jenin and other areas of the West Bank. However, the large explosions that sent smoke rising into the sky from several locations represent a new way of war in the territory.

The images and their meanings were not lost on commentators. People seeing the videos of the explosions were reminded of Gaza. This sense that we are now seeing the war in Gaza expand to the West Bank, with similar tactics, is acknowledged on the Right and Left, among both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian commentators. The explosions, designed to destroy terrorist infrastructure, have thus had the effect of spreading shock and awe far beyond Jenin.

When we speak of “shock and awe,” it is worth recalling that this terminology came from the opening US salvo of the 2003 war on Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Shock and awe are supposed to show an enemy what their adversary is capable of. This is a big difference from how Israel had waged war for many years before October 7, 2023.

Before that fateful day, the IDF sought to conduct precision strikes that often were so precise people might not have even known they happened with a lot of investment in special forces in the era between 2014 and 2023. However, the war against Hamas and Hezbollah has shifted the dynamic back to using more destructive power in West Bank operations.

Sending a message
But in the West Bank, the people cannot turn away from these images. Anyone in Jenin would have seen and felt what happened, which was clearly designed to send a message.

The IDF has expertise in demolitions, having conducted many home demolitions over the years. The way they are usually carried out is that a home is mapped, civilians are removed, and the home is demolished in the middle of the night – the goal is to have as little friction with civilians as possible.

In many cases, the homes are part of larger buildings, and the demolition team is careful to only affect the one apartment or home linked to the terrorist.

Yesterday, the explosions in Jenin were in broad daylight when it was obvious they would be caught on video. This is “shock and awe.”
PA’s Abbas calls for emergency UN Security Council meeting on IDF West Bank op
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called for an emergency UN Security Council session on the “ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people” in the northern West Bank, where the IDF is conducting a major counterterrorism operation.

According to the PA-affiliated Wafa news agency, Abbas’s request to the UNSC demands that it put an end to Israel’s “systemic destruction of the infrastructure” in the West Bank cities of Jenin, Tulkarem, Tamoun, and Tubas, and to the “policy of killing” that he asserts Israel has implemented throughout the counterterrorism operation.

Wafa reports that Abbas has also called on US President Donald Trump and his administration to intervene, and force the IDF to halt its operations in the West Bank.

Separately, the PA foreign ministry condemns the IDF’s destruction of buildings in Jenin earlier today.
IDF says 50 terrorists killed in West Bank since offensive started two weeks ago
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that it has killed over 50 Palestinian terror operatives in the northern West Bank since launching a major counterterrorism offensive nearly two weeks ago.

Over 35 gunmen were killed by troops during operations in Jenin, Tulkarem, and the Tamun area, while another 15 were killed in drone strikes, the military said.

The IDF has acknowledged mistakenly killing several civilians amid the operation, including a toddler.

More than 100 wanted Palestinians have been detained, and troops have seized some 40 weapons and neutralized over 80 explosive devices during the operation, according to the IDF.

The offensive, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, was launched on January 21, and the military expects it to last several more weeks.

The operation, which has primarily focused on the city and refugee camp of Jenin, was expanded to Tulkarem last week, and to Tamun on Saturday night.


Israel thwarts ‘imminent terrorist attack’ in Samaria
Israel conducted a series of airstrikes on terrorist cells in Jenin and Qabatiya in northern Samaria on Saturday, thwarting an “imminent terrorist attack,” the military said on Sunday morning.

Secondary explosions were observed after the Israeli Air Force strike in Qabatiya, indicating the presence of explosives in the terrorists’ vehicle. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the cell had been en route to carry out an attack.

The strike neutralized terrorists Saleh Zakarneh and Abed al-Hadi Kamil, the latter of whom was released by Israel in November 2023 as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

An IAF aircraft also carried out two strikes against armed terrorist cells in Jenin.

The strikes come amid a large-scale Israeli counterterror operation launched last month to destroy terrorist infrastructure in Jenin and surrounding areas in northern Samaria.

Dubbed “Iron Wall,” the operation includes IDF troops, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) officers and Border Police.

The IDF has expanded its 12-day counterterrorism operation from Jenin and Tulkarem, now focusing on the town of Tamun, the army said on Sunday morning.


Israeli UN Envoy Warns of Egypt's Military Buildup: "Why All the Submarines and Tanks?"
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told Israel's Kol Barama radio that Egypt's growing military arsenal was a cause for concern.

"They spend hundreds of millions of dollars on modern military equipment every year, yet they have no threats on their borders. Why do they need all these submarines and tanks?"

"After Oct. 7, alarm bells should be raised. We have learned our lesson. We must monitor Egypt closely and prepare for every scenario. We need to ask the United States why Egypt requires all this equipment."


Jewish women pelted with eggs, homes in three states vandalized in Australia
Jewish women were pelted with eggs in the Sydney area on Saturday, in an attack that coincided with a weekend wave of antisemitic vandalism of homes in the New South Wales capital, Perth, and Melbourne.

Jewish women were egged by men in a car at Bondi Beach on Saturday, according to statements by the NSW Police Force and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. Detective Superintendent Darren Newman said Sunday that it appeared that the victims were targeted because of their appearance.

The vehicle was found Saturday night with a petrol can and egg cartons inside, after it had crashed into a curb in Rose Bay, according to police. Three men were seen fleeing the scene.

The NSW Jewish board said in a Sunday statement that the incident was a “grotesque and depraved” antisemitic attack.

“Throwing eggs at innocent women simply because they’re Jewish is beyond contemptible,” the board said.

The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) wrote on X/Twitter on Sunday that the attack directly on Jewish people represented an escalation from attacks on buildings and cars.

Homes and vehicles were defaced with antisemitic graffiti over Saturday night in the Kingsford and Randwick Sydney suburbs, according to statements by the NSW Jewish Board and NSW Police Force. Authorities said that multiple vehicles, garages, and walls had been spray-painted.

As with other recent antisemitic vandalism incidents, the graffiti proclaimed “F*k [sic] Jews,” according to photographs published by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin and the AJA.

Israeli ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon denounced the incident on X, describing it as an “ongoing barrage of attacks” and “deliberate intimidation” against Jews.

A man was arrested in Kingsford on Friday, according to police, for allegedly defacing a wall with “a number of drawings and writings, including a Nazi symbol and a swastika.”
Sydney’s spate of antisemitic attacks continues | 9 News Australia

Alex Ryvchin on the rise of antisemitism in Australia
Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Alex Ryvchin discusses the “terrifying” reality of antisemitism running rampant throughout Australia following the latest attacks against the Jewish community in Sydney.

“We are in the throes of a terrible movement in this country of antisemitism,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“What is happening in our country right now is truly terrifying. It's a bad moment for the Jewish community. I feel like the community has been remarkably strong and resilient in the face of everything that's been thrown in it from the hate preachers to the boycotts and the doxing’s … and all of these phenomena.

“But now we're at a point where our pride is being subsumed by fear and a fear of what will come.”




Attorney General helped write handbook on fighting ‘Israeli apartheid’
The Attorney General helped to write a handbook on fighting “Israeli apartheid” in his previous career, The Telegraph has discovered.

Lord Hermer, Keir Starmer’s legal chief, contributed a chapter to the book in which he laid out the ways in which “Palestinian victims” could use UK courts to sue companies that sold arms to Israel.

He said that lawyers in the UK were in “a much better position” to take such action than those in America.

The book’s purpose is described in its introduction: “It is our hope that this book will prove useful in the fight against Israeli war crimes, occupation and apartheid.”

The text, entitled Corporate Complicity in Israel’s Occupation, drew together contributions from pro-Palestinian lawyers and academics including Lord Hermer, who is now the UK’s chief legal adviser.

It was published in 2011, when Lord Hermer was still a lawyer working in private practice at Doughty Street Chambers.

In it, Lord Hermer writes critically of British “export licences for weapons used by Israel in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law”.

Last year, Lord Hermer was a key figure in the Government’s decision to suspend 30 arms export licences to Israel.

He was also vocal in urging the Government to comply with an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

In a question and answer transcript attached to the chapter, Lord Hermer is reported as saying: “There’s a much better position here than in the [United] States. In the States, a whole host of important human rights cases have been closed down simply because they touch upon issues of foreign relations.”

In his chapter Lord Hermer gives a list of “proactive steps that the UK could take” to crack down on companies that sell arms to Israel that could be used in human rights violations.

He gives a hypothetical example of how a Palestinian could use English courts to sue a named Israeli arms company, Elbit, saying: “If the company that was producing the drones or the missiles has a factory here, that’s sufficient [to bring legal action]”.

Lord Hermer has been under pressure in recent weeks over possible conflicts of interests related to his previous work as a human rights lawyer.

He had previously represented clients such as Gerry Adams and a group of Sri Lankan asylum seekers on the Chagos Islands, who may have benefited from government decisions made since July.
Jewish doctors in Canada under attack: 'We fear for our lives, considering immigration to Israel'
One-third of doctors and medical staff in Canada's most populous province are considering leaving the country due to rising antisemitism, according to a recent survey by the Jewish Medical Association of Ontario (JMAO).

Before October 7, less than one percent of respondents considered antisemitism a significant issue in Canada. After the Hamas attack, this number has surged to 80%.

Serena Chaya Lee-Ziegel, 44, an occupational therapist, is among the medical professionals reconsidering their future. She vividly remembers that day in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge, when she walked the streets of Toronto with her two children in a stroller and discovered new graffiti at a bus stop: "Jews die." "I cried. I just broke down," she recalls.

‘The graffiti wasn’t just against me – it was against my children’
"That actually was really, really, actually sad for me, because my kids are just over one year old, and they did nothing but deserve someone to say that they should die. They were born Jewish, and that's the only reason why they want them dead", says Lee-Ziegel.

According to her, the situation has worsened since October 7. “At our annual fundraising campaign for Jewish communities, I was walking with my two kids, wearing an Israeli flag and a hat that says ‘Chai’ on it, and there we had lots of anti-Israel protesters yelling out profanities as we're walking by.

The anti-Israel protesters didn’t hold back: “‘Baby killer,’ ‘Zionist pig,’ ‘supporter of genocide.’ They're saying all these other inflammatory statements because there's been a lot in Toronto. My kids did nothing to deserve someone saying that they should die. They were born Jewish, and that's the only reason why they want them dead. They ask, ‘Why do people hate us? Why are they attacking us?’ “Even going to synagogue for the High Holidays, they had to get through security and they were wondering, ‘Why do we have to do this? Mom, what's going on?’ And I told them it is for our protection. Then they asked me, ‘Why do we need to be protected?’ It's so sad that our kids have to live like that.


Israeli Harvard student speaks out on antisemitism behind latest settlement
An Israeli student who attended graduate school at Harvard dealt with hostility due to his religious identity and found himself at odds with a professor who compared the idea of the Jewish state to "White supremacy."

Matan Yaffe is a founder of an organization that helped Israel's Bedouin Muslim population and came to Harvard so he could gain the skills to further his mission of Tikkun Olam or "healing the world." It didn't take long after his arrival for the trouble to begin.

"Pretty soon on the first day, there were already hints that something was kind of off," Matan Yaffe told Fox News Digital.

Yaffe, 40, accepted a scholarship to attend Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in June 2022. Having founded Desert Stars, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that provides educational and employment opportunities to Israel’s Bedouin community. He was excited to attend the Ivy League school to gain skills he could apply back home.

Yaffe, an IDF officer, said his first impressions of Harvard were positive, but when he entered the Kennedy School’s "Organizing: People, Power, Change," course taught by Professor Marshall Ganz, he immediately became aware that his Israeli identity would become an issue.

Yaffe is barred from discussing Professor Ganz by name per the terms of a settlement Harvard just reached with the Brandeis Center, which represented the father of five along with other Israeli and Jewish students, but Ganz is named in the lawsuit.

Yaffe decided to team up with two other Israelis on a project entitled "Organizing a growing majority of Israelis acting in harmony building on a shared ethos of Israel, as a liberal Jewish democracy being a cultural, economic and security lighthouse."

The professor summoned the Israelis to his office and informed them that their project was "offensive" and were told they needed to change topics or face "consequences," Yaffe claimed. Ganz allegedly felt that the phrase "Jewish democracy" was at issue and likened the concept to "White supremacy."
Survey: 83% of Jewish US college students have experienced antisemitism since Oct. 7
Some 83 percent of Jewish American college students have experienced or witnessed antisemitism firsthand since October 7, 2023, according to a survey published by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Hillel International.

The survey, which polled 1,030 Jewish and 1,140 non-Jewish students from 135 colleges and universities across the United States during the fall semester of 2024, painted a grim picture of Jewish campus life.

The survey found that two-thirds (66%) of Jewish students and 60% of non-Jewish students said they were not confident in their university’s ability to prevent antisemitic incidents.

About 41% of Jewish students said they felt the need to hide their Jewish identity on campus, and 13% said they had withdrawn from campus or social activities due to fears of being attacked or harassed.

Some 23% of students felt compelled to take additional security precautions on their own, the report said.

At least 1,200 antisemitic incidents were recorded on US college and university campuses between the beginning of the war on October 7, 2023 and September 24, 2024, ADL noted.

“Since the October 7 attack in Israel, Jewish students have felt increasingly threatened, unwelcome, and unsupported on campus, both by students and faculty,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “It is unacceptable that Jewish students cannot be confident in their university’s ability to address and prevent antisemitic incidents, and that they now live in a world in which they feel compelled to conceal their identity and beliefs.”


Following release, elderly Palestinian security prisoner bashes Hamas, price of Oct. 7
Recently released Palestinian security prisoner Mohammed al-Tous spoke out against Hamas’s October 7 massacre in two separate interviews to Arab media this past week, citing the human cost of the ensuing Gaza war.

“Today, I tell my grandchildren not to go down the path of attacks and resistance,” the 69-year-old ex-detainee said in a Friday interview with the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya outlet. “We don’t want our freedom to come at the expense of our children’s’ lives.”

Al-Tous is the oldest security prisoner freed so far as part of the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal.

A member of the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah movement, he was arrested in 1985 for organizing attacks on Israelis in and around Jerusalem. He went on to spend 40 years in prison.

Israeli authorities deported al-Tous to Egypt upon his release in the second round of the exchange, which saw 200 security prisoners traded for four female Israeli hostages. He was one of 121 prisoners serving life sentences freed that day.

He was one of the few prisoners detained before the 1993 Oslo Accords not released as part of those agreements.

On Wednesday, al-Tous gave an interview to the Emirati al-Mashhad news outlet, in which he criticized Hamas leadership when asked about the October 7 attack that ultimately led to his release.

“If I had known the cost of my freedom, I would have stayed in prison… A leader who is thinking of carrying out a large attack must be aware of the cost. It is unacceptable that the cost of our release from prison is a drop of blood from a Palestinian child,” he said.


Iran Is Funding Hizbullah via Suitcases Stuffed with Cash, Israel Warns
Israel has complained to the U.S.-led committee overseeing the ceasefire in Lebanon that Iranian diplomats have been flying from Tehran to Beirut with suitcases stuffed with U.S. dollars to fund Hizbullah's revival, a U.S. defense official said. Turkish citizens have also been used to ferry money from Istanbul to Beirut by air. The ceasefire committee has conveyed the complaints to Lebanon's government.

Israel has targeted Hizbullah's sources of cash to hamper its ability to fight and slow its recovery. Over the past year, Israel killed central figures in Hizbullah and Iran who were responsible for keeping funds flowing. It also struck several sites where Israel said Hizbullah was keeping cash and gold during the fighting last fall. "First, Hizbullah literally has just lost a whole lot of money. Second, they now have massive expenses," said Matthew Levitt, former deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Treasury Department.

Until recently, Iran's main smuggling route for supplying cash and weapons to Hizbullah ran through Syria, though Israeli officials have said Iran also used Beirut airport. The Syrian option was largely removed by the fall of the Assad regime, increasing the importance of the Beirut airport route. Former U.S. officials expressed concern that Hizbullah might hold enough influence over Lebanese security forces for Iranian-backed couriers to escape rigorous searches at the airport.
Holocaust Books Defaced During Amazon Delivery, Arrive With Antisemitic Slurs
This week, the world paused to remember the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust and the memory of six million Jews murdered by the Nazis.

Much of what we know about the tragedy comes from those who survived the concentration camps.

Growing up as a Holocaust survivor's daughter has had its challenges for Melanie Sol. When she decided to write her father's story, Melanie was shocked by the antisemitism that showed itself again.

Melanie's father survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp where more than a million people died in the gas chambers. Born and raised in Poland, Moishe Sol was 17 when the Nazis invaded.

Growing up in the U.S., Melanie knew her father survived the Holocaust, although he didn't share what happened to prevent burdening his children.

Melanie eventually interviewed him when he was 85 and Moishe told her what he remembered. She wrote a book entitled Daughter of the Holocaust.

In it, she writes, "My dad often asks throughout his life, 'Why did I survive, and the rest of my family didn't?' He has a deep sense of guilt that he lived, and his family members died horrible deaths. Many survivors of the Holocaust have this same sense of guilt.”

Melanie Sol told CBN News, "And this book shares his story, but it also shares his coming to faith in Yeshua (Jesus) at the end of the book."

In 2024, Melanie self-published her work through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. She ordered ten copies to be delivered to her son in Manhattan so she could pick them up on a visit to the U.S.

Opening the box led to a disturbing surprise.

"I was shocked to see vandalism – antisemitic vandalism. I flipped through the books because I ordered them to bring back to Israel, to give to friends of mine."

What she found was appalling.

Scrawled across the copies of the books were written sayings like, "Liberate Palestine from the river to the sea."

Melanie observed, "Every single book has something written in (it) 'free Palestine,' – every one of the ten books. So, they're not useful to me at all."


‘September 5’ relives the ’72 Munich massacre
The gripping movie, September 5, which opened around Israel on January 30, depicts how a group of journalists from ABC Sports covered the terror attack against the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics. No one could have predicted when they were making the film that it would be released when Israel was reeling from another terror attack.

The Munich Olympics massacre of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches carried out by the Palestinian Black September terrorist group was the first terror attack broadcast live on television around the world. It’s fitting that the movie is hitting screens now, in the wake of the October 7 terror attack, which was the most comprehensively recorded act of terrorism in history.

The Hamas members who perpetrated it recorded and broadcast footage on their own social media channels and their victims’ social media so that people around the world could view the horrific violence live or almost live. We only know the details of many of the killings and abductions because the terrorists chose to record and share them.

It seems that a pretty direct line can be drawn from the 1972 massacre to the 2023 one, and September 5 marks one of the first moments that terrorists were playing for the camera. That fact gives the movie special relevance.

The film’s director, Tim Fehlbaum, said in an interview with the website, The Reel Roundup, “[Today] everybody has a TV and a camera in their pocket, but what struck me was that even though the technology has changed, I think some of the bigger moral questions that you face if reporting on a crisis are probably still the same.”

Audiences today know what the outcome of the Olympic terror attack was, but the film manages to keep the tension high by telling the story from the point of view of the journalists. Those producers and crew from ABC Sports suddenly find themselves a few hundred feet away from the most brazen terror attack ever – up to that point. Remember, this was four years before the Entebbe hijacking and almost 30 years before 9/11.

For anyone who enjoys behind-the-scenes journalism movies, September 5 is a must-see, because it paints an engaging picture of how this team, who expected to be broadcasting a volleyball game and a boxing match that day, scrambled to cover the attack, with no news experience and no blueprint for what to do.





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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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