Tuesday, February 11, 2025

02/11 Links Pt1: Hamas’s Torture Tactics Are Finally in the Spotlight; Why Yitzhak Rabin urged moving Gaza’s Arabs to Jordan; Hostage Shlomo Mansour, 86, was murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Hamas’s Torture Tactics Are Finally in the Spotlight
Now that Hamas’s abuse of Israeli hostages threatens to derail the cease-fire, the subject will get more attention. The hostages, especially those who were freed recently, have been concentrating on recovery. In the future, we expect to learn in much greater detail what happened to the captives in those tunnels and dungeons, but what we know already is troubling enough.

This week the attention is on Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami, and Eli Sharabi because their abuse was evident before they even said a word. But more information has come trickling out: they were, reportedly, burned with hot objects, hung upside down, kept in chains, at times gagged to the point of suffocation, starved and dehydrated.

It is not the first shocking testimony from ex-captives.

Amit Soussana was chained up in a child’s bedroom. After her captor let her bathe, he stripped her of her towel and sexually assaulted her, Soussana told the New York Times in March. Later, she was suspended in the space between two couches and beaten. According to recently released hostages, Soussana’s captors beat her at gunpoint viciously until another captive convinced the Hamasniks that they had mistaken her for an IDF officer.

According to other testimony, sexual assault of the captives was widespread. Hamas also apparently tortured a child with an item similar to a hot branding iron.

Physical abuse is common, according to the captives. Yarden Bibas and Ofer Calderon were beaten and kept in cages. Bibas was also subject to the psychological abuse Hamas takes special pleasure in doling out. His wife and two young children were also taken hostage. At one point, Bibas’s captors told him his family had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, and took a video of his anguish. Hamas has not confirmed the fate of Bibas’s wife and children, even after his release. They reportedly tormented Bibas about his family throughout his nearly 500-day captivity.

The hostages would often be told they were being freed when they weren’t. Gadi Mozes, an 80-year-old farmer released last month, was at one point kept in a hot pickup truck for 12 hours underneath a Red Cross building in Gaza. He hoped he was being processed for release, but it turned out he was just being moved to a new location.

During the initial Oct. 7 attacks, before taking Emily Damari captive, Hamas terrorists shot her dog. While she was comforting the dog as it lay dying, Hamas shot her in the hand, taking off two of her fingers, then dragged her to Gaza.

Another form of torture practiced by Hamas was to let serious injuries go untreated and force the captives to watch them deteriorate.
Elliott Abrams: A Paradigm Shift for the Middle East
A year and a half ago, Iran's nuclear weapons program was steadily producing enriched uranium; by 2024, it had enough for several bombs. Washington was largely not enforcing its sanctions on Iran, greatly improving the regime's finances. And the "ring of fire" of Iranian proxies - Hizbullah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen - seemed to be a problem Israel could not solve.

But since then, Israel has turned the tables. Hamas has survived the invasion of Gaza and remains dominant there. But it will never again pose a serious military threat to Israel. The Israelis have wiped out Hizbullah's leadership and given Lebanon a chance to reclaim its sovereignty. Assad's regime is gone, and the weapons highway that has long run from Iran through Syria to Lebanon, Gaza, Jordan, and the West Bank appears to be closing.

Trump can take advantage of the situation, but only if his administration is willing to abandon Washington's habitual goal in the Middle East - "stability" - and presses instead for dramatic changes that will bolster its interests and allies and actively weaken its adversaries.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio: Hamas Is "Pure Evil," "Needs to Be Eradicated"
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reacted to the video of the latest Israeli hostages released by Hamas on SiriusXM Patriot 125 radio on Monday: "You look at these images of what they - first of all, the humiliation that they have to go through. Just put aside for a moment the horrifying conditions they were kept in and the horrifying things that happened to some of those hostages, on top of the fact that these were innocent civilians. I mean, none of these were soldiers. These are not combatants. These are just people that were abducted for purposes of being used as leverage. And they're getting, what, 200 certified killers in exchange for one innocent hostage. But it reveals who Hamas is."

"Look at the humiliation they put them through before they're released, where they do these big public displays of force. Do any of those Hamas fighters look like they've been skipping meals?...And then the conditions they're held in. So, it's incredibly revealing about what we're dealing with. This is an evil organization. Hamas is evil. It's pure evil. These are monsters. These are savages. That's a group that needs to be eradicated."

"If they still are the dominant power in Gaza when all this is done, there is not going to be peace in the Middle East, as long as a group like Hamas physically controls territory and is the most dominant power in Gaza or anywhere in the Middle East. And I hope people can see who these people actually are, in the condition of these hostages."

"The big challenge for this whole two-state solution has not been Israel. It's been: Who's going to govern that second state? Who's going to be in charge of it? If the people in charge of it are Hamas or Hizbullah or anybody like that, these are groups whose goal is the destruction of the Jewish state." "I don't know how you're going to have peace if you're turning over territory to a group whose stated purpose is the destruction of the Jewish state. Why would any country in the world agree to create a second state on their border that is governed by armed elements who kidnap babies and murder babies and rape teenage girls and abduct innocents and whose stated goal and purpose for existing is your destruction? Who would agree to that?"


Why Yitzhak Rabin urged moving Gaza’s Arabs to Jordan
U.S. President Donald Trump might be surprised to learn that long before he proposed moving Arabs from Gaza to Jordan, Yitzhak Rabin recommended the exact same thing.

It happened in 1973. Rabin, a former chief of staff of the Israeli army, was serving as Israel’s ambassador in Washington. In an interview with the Israeli daily Ma’ariv, on Feb. 16, Rabin discussed the question of what should be done about the large number of Palestinian Arab refugees residing in the Gaza Strip. Much of Gaza’s population consisted of Arabs who had settled there during the 1948 War of Independence and their descendants.

Here’s what Rabin said: “The problem of the refugees of the Gaza Strip should not be solved in Gaza or el-Arish [in the Sinai] but mainly in the East Bank”—that is, Jordan.

Rabin continued: “I want to create conditions such that during the next 10 or 20 years, there will be a natural movement of population to the East Bank. We can achieve that, in my opinion, with [King] Hussein and not with Yasser Arafat” (Page 17).

As far as I know, he never backtracked on that comment.

Rabin was not a “racist,” “fascist,” advocate of “ethnic cleansing” or any of the other harsh names now being hurled at Trump. The future prime minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate was simply taking a long, hard look at a difficult problem and proposing what he considered to be a practical solution.

The heart of the problem facing Rabin was that when Egypt illegally occupied Gaza from 1948 to 1967, it refused to absorb the refugees into the Egyptian population. The Egyptian government kept the Gazans impoverished, languishing in shanty towns and refugee camps administered by the United Nations. What’s more, Egypt sponsored Gaza-based terrorist groups, known as fedayeen, to attack Israel.

Under Egypt’s rule, the United Nations set up schools in Gaza run by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East—the same UNRWA we’ve been hearing so much about lately. In UNRWA schools, young Gazans were educated to hate Jews and Israel, and glorify Arab terrorism.

Following the 1967 war, Israel found itself saddled with all these hate-filled Gazans. So unless something was done to change the situation, Israel would continue to face constant terrorist attacks from Gaza.

And that’s exactly what happened. Nobody listened to Rabin’s advice to move the Gazans to Jordan. The Gazans stayed in Gaza, launched constant attacks on Israel and eventually voted Hamas into power in 2007. The horrors of Oct. 7, 2023, followed.
Expand Gaza into Sinai
Calling the proposal to depopulate Gaza completely (if temporarily) “unworkable,” Peter Berkowitz makes the case for a similar, but more feasible, plan:

The United States along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE should persuade Egypt by means of generous financial inducements to open the sparsely populated ten-to-fifteen miles of Sinai adjacent to Gaza to Palestinians seeking a fresh start and better life. Egypt would not absorb Gazans and make them citizens but rather move Gaza’s border . . . westward into Sinai. Fences would be erected along the new border. The Israel Defense Force would maintain border security on the Gaza-extension side, Egyptian forces on the other. Egypt might lease the land to the Palestinians for 75 years.

The Sinai option does not involve forced transfer of civilian populations, which the international laws of war bar. As the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other partners build temporary dwellings and then apartment buildings and towns, they would provide bus service to the Gaza-extension. Palestinian families that choose to make the short trip would receive a key to a new residence and, say, $10,000.

The Sinai option is flawed. . . . Then again, all conventional options for rehabilitating and governing Gaza are terrible.
Trump’s Bold Middle East Strategy – No Patience for Empty Diplomacy
In an exclusive interview to Dr. Dan Diker at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, Jason Greenblatt, former Special Envoy to the Middle East under President Trump, discusses the failures of traditional diplomacy and the need for innovative solutions. Greenblatt highlights Trump’s pragmatic approach to Gaza, emphasizing the necessity of addressing Hamas before any political agreements can be reached. He also sheds light on Trump’s strong ties with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, and how these relationships could reshape the region’s future.


Khaled Abu Toameh: 'Qatar is Hamas, and Hamas is Qatar'
The Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas and other Palestinians on October 7, 2023 could have been released a long time ago had the Biden administration exerted pressure on Qatar to use its good relations with the Islamist group to force it to do so.

All Qatar had to do was to summon the Hamas leaders in Doha and give them an ultimatum to release all the hostages immediately or face deportation from the Gulf state. It is hard to see how the Hamas leaders would have been able to say no to their major political and financial patrons and backers.... The Qataris were never under the slightest pressure.

"For years, Qatar supported the Taliban, and last year [2021] it helped it in its coup against the democratically elected Afghan government, and 13 American service members were killed in the violence. Today, Qatar is doing everything it can to give the Taliban international legitimacy and aid." — Yigal Carmon, President and founder of the MEMRI, who served as counterterrorism advisor to two Israeli prime ministers, Haaretz, May 10, 2022.

"Any Arab who hears American officials say that Qatar is America's ally would burst into laughter.... Ask Egypt, not just the rulers, but the people and journalists. Ask the Emirates, the government and people. Ask Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan. They all know that for decades Qatar has been promoting Islamist and terrorist organizations. There are lawsuits against Qatar in the U.S. and Europe in connection with its support for terrorism." — Yigal Carmon, MEMRI, November 1, 2023

The Trump administration needs to understand what Arabs have known for years: that Qatar's support for Hamas and other extremist Islamist groups is the main reason thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have died over the past few years.
Netanyahu: Ceasefire ends unless hostages are freed on Saturday
Unless Hamas returns Israeli hostages by noon on Saturday, Feb. 15, the ceasefire will expire and the Israel Defense Forces will resume fighting until it defeats Hamas totally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

The statement by Netanyahu announcing the ultimatum followed remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, who also named Saturday, Feb. 15 at noon as the time after which “all hell will break loose” unless Hamas frees all hostages.

Netanyahu addressed Trump’s demand and credited him for his “revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza, which we all welcomed,” he said, referencing the security cabinet. Netanyahu’s ultimatum followed an “in-depth, four-hour discussion” by the cabinet, he wrote.

“We all expressed outrage at the shocking state of our three hostages who were freed last Saturday. We all also welcomed President Trump’s demand for the release of our hostages by noon on Saturday,” the prime minister wrote. He has ordered the IDF to amass forces in and around the Gaza Strip “in light of Hamas’s statement about its decision to violate the [ceasefire] agreement,” Netanyahu said. This action is being carried out and would be completed shortly, he added. “Unless Hamas returns our hostages by noon on Saturday, the ceasefire will end and the IDF will resume intensive fighting until Hamas is totally defeated,” his statement concluded.


Strained relations: Egypt's Sisi cancels trip to US after Trump aid threats - report
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's visit to Washington has been postponed indefinitely, according to Al Arabiya on Tuesday.

Sisi was originally meant to visit Washington on February 18 but has been delayed due to Cairo's opposition to US President Donald Trump's plans to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan, Al Arabiya reported.

Senior Egyptian officials who spoke to Al Arabiya described relations with Washington as the "most strained in three decades," and Sisi on January 29 stated that Egypt "cannot participate in the injustice of displacing the Palestinian people," according to local news site Ahram Online.

Another alleged slight felt by Egyptian authorities is Trump's referring to Sisi as "the general," which has been viewed as dismissive, the officials added.

A summit involving Trump, Sisi, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), and Jordanian King Abdullah II is also likely to be postponed as a consequence.

Sisi also urged for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip without displacing Palestinians, according to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Egypt offers 'comprehensive proposal' to rebuild Gaza after refusing refugees
Egypt plans to offer a "comprehensive proposal" to rebuild Gaza while ensuring Palestinians remain on their land, according to a foreign ministry statement on Tuesday.

It said it is looking forward to cooperating with US President Donald Trump to reach comprehensive and just peace in the region.

However, Egypt rejected any proposal to allocate land to Gaza residents, the state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV reported, citing Egyptian sources.

The statement comes as Trump continues to press for his plan to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle its population to neighboring Egypt and Jordan despite rejection from Arab states.

Additionally, on Tuesday, Trump met with Jordan's King Abdullah, stating, "Palestinians will live safely in another location that is not Gaza," he said, adding that the US wasn't going to buy Gaza but rather "run it very properly."

Trump said he thinks there will be parcels of land in Jordan and in Egypt where Palestinians will live, to which the King replied that he would do what is best for his country and that a future plan has to be in everyone's best interest. Abdullah did, however, say that Jordan would take in 2000 sick children from Gaza.
Will Egypt Save Itself From Total Collapse by Going to War With Israel?
What is unfolding in Egypt is not about politics or the economy, it is simply a medieval carnival of grievance and rage, where every appetite, no matter how vicious, can be indulged, because no one feels a stake in preserving any larger, inclusive whole—however that whole is described. It is easier for Western commentators to get a fix on the chaos when it appears to be motivated by religious hatred. Last week, four members of Egypt’s minuscule Shia community were surrounded, beaten, and stabbed to death in their village outside Cairo. Since the mob was incited to murder by a Salafi sheikh, it was clear who was responsible for this bit of butchery, an Islamist fanatic.

The chain of accountability is a little more difficult for those same Western analysts to track when it’s the anti-Morsi forces who are drawing blood. All of the Muslim Brotherhood’s offices across Egypt have been stormed, and the national headquarters was torched. Sixteen people are dead, allegedly including Brotherhood supporters, whose apparent sin was backing a political party that won a free election—the last one that Egypt is likely to see for quite a while.

If foreign journalists and analysts have failed to be appropriately appalled by the demonstrations, it is because in their worldview, the Islamists are the bad guys and the secularists are the good guys. Now that Egyptians are mad at Morsi, the thinking goes, the Egyptians will get their liberal revolution back—along with that cool guy from Google. Reporters are told in man-on-the-street interviews that Morsi is the problem. The complaint should sound familiar because that’s exactly what the same protesters said about Mubarak. The one thing everyone is definitely agreed on is that the problem with Egyptian society isn’t the Egyptians themselves.

A competent leader, likely not Morsi, will soon come to see that he has no choice but to make a virtue of necessity and export the one commodity that Egypt has in abundance—violence. So, why not bind the warring, immature, and grandiose Egyptian factions together in a pact against Israel, the country’s sole transcendent object of loathing? Indeed, it’s not entirely clear why Egypt’s venomous strains of anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic sentiment have not yet hit fever pitch. Yes, Morsi doesn’t want to get the White House angry. And there’s also the obvious fact that Egyptians are too divided against themselves right now to be unified against anyone else. But that can’t last for long, or else Egypt will implode.

So, here are the facts that Egyptians and Western reporters alike would rather not face: There is simply no way that today’s Egypt can feed its own people, or fuel the tractors that harvest its crops—let alone attract tens of billions of dollars in foreign investment to grow a hi-tech miracle along the banks of the Nile. That’s fantasyland stuff—like the fantasy of an American-style constitutional democracy run by the Muslim Brotherhood and guaranteed by the Egyptian army.

So, what’s left? A short war today—precipitated by a border incident in Sinai, or a missile gone awry in the Gaza Strip, and concluded before the military runs out of the ammunition that Washington will surely not resupply—will reunify the country and earn Egypt money from an international community eager to broker peace. Taking up arms against Israel will also return Egypt to its former place of prominence in an Arab world that is adrift in a sea of blood. But even more important is the fact that there is no other plausible way out: Sacrificing thousands of her sons on the altar of war is the only way to save Mother Egypt from herself.
Stop Rewarding Qatar for Helping Terrorists
Another place where American Middle East policy could use a shake-up is in Qatar, a country that advertises its ability to serve as a mediator between the West and various terrorist groups, but was only able to arrange for the release of Israeli hostages piecemeal and at a high cost to Israel. Jonathan Schanzer and Natalie Ecanow observe that such results are typical when the natural-gas-rich emirate is in the middle of things. Take the case of American hostages held in Afghanistan:

Upon their release, the two Americans in Taliban custody—Ryan Corbett and William McKenty—departed Kabul for Doha, where U.S. officials were waiting to hand over notorious Afghan narco-terrorist Khan Mohammed. . . . At the time of his conviction, the U.S. Department of Justice described Mohammed as a “violent jihadist” bent on killing American soldiers. Locals reportedly showered Mohammed with garlands when he arrived back in his home province in eastern Afghanistan.

Qatari mediation also yielded the disastrous American withdrawal from Afghanistan. And then there is the war in Gaza:

Doha is eager to end the war in a manner that will ensure Hamas’s survival. This is hardly surprising considering that Qatar has showered Hamas with hundreds of millions of dollars and sheltered the group’s senior leaders for over a decade. What is surprising: that the Trump administration, like the Biden administration before it, appears content to treat Qatar as an honest broker in this deal, even as it is plainly apparent that Qatar is not a disinterested party.


Majority of Israelis support Trump's Gaza plan, exclusive 'Post' poll finds
Almost two-thirds of Israelis (65%) support US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and believe it is the best solution to end the war in the coastal enclave, a Jerusalem Post poll revealed on Tuesday.

The poll, carried out by Menachem Lazar’s Panel4All over the past two days, included responses from 500 Israeli Jews and Arabs 18 years old and over.

Only 16% of respondents stated that they do not support the president’s plan, with 10% saying the plan is morally reprehensible due to it necessitating the forced displacement of Palestinians, while 6% say there are more preferable solutions to be implemented.

Trump’s plan carries significant support among coalition voters, with 88% of right-leaning people voicing their support for the plan. In comparison, 51% of opposition voters support the plan.

One-in-three Israelis support Jewish state 'from the river to the sea'
A plurality of 35% of respondents stated that one Jewish state, “from the river to the sea,” is the best solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while 29% support a two-state solution. In contrast, only 6% said they would support the establishment of an inclusive state for all its citizens.

The remaining 30% said none of the options constitute an appropriate solution to the conflict.

When asked about Trump’s motivations behind his plan to take control of the Gaza Strip, 14% of respondents said the president has Israel’s best interests in mind, while 49% said that, while Trump did have Israeli interests in mind, they were not his main consideration. This sentiment was shared by 57% of right-wing voters and 44% of left-wing ones.

Twenty-seven percent said Trump’s Gaza plan mainly serves American national interests or the president’s own personal interests, a figure that includes 19% of people who support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. Some 3% said Trump failed to take Israeli interests into account, with 7% saying they did not know.
Smotrich vows 5% Gaza annexation for every harmed hostage
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that Israel has full backing from former US President Donald Trump for a policy linking Gaza annexation to harm inflicted on Israeli hostages and reiterated his opposition to drafting Haredim into the IDF while speaking at the Institute for Haredi Strategy and Policy on Monday,

Smotrich argued that Israel should cut off electricity, water, and humanitarian aid to Gaza while warning Hamas that “every hostage who is harmed” would result in Israel applying sovereignty over “5% of Gaza.” He reiterated, “We have full backing” for this policy, citing Trump’s support.

Smotrich suggested that Hamas be presented with a clear ultimatum: “Once the war resumes, all the released terrorists must be re-arrested. This would take very little time, and a very simple message must be conveyed: for every hostage harmed, on that same day, we will apply sovereignty over 5% of Gaza. Another hostage, another 5%, and we have full backing from President Trump on this matter.”

Rejecting any halt to the war, he emphasized, “There is currently a debate about whether the war can be stopped. The war cannot be stopped just before the complete destruction of Hamas.”

Meanwhile, security officials said that they are preparing for the possible re-entry of the IDF into Gaza. “At the same time,” they noted, “the IDF today has the capabilities, knowledge, experience, and understanding that, given an order from the political leadership, it can within hours capture parts of Gaza, including re-securing the northern Gaza area, the Netzarim corridor, and maneuvering in the southern part, including Khan Yunis.”

“Nothing pains our enemies more than land. They only understand force. They don’t care about tens of thousands of casualties and destroyed buildings—that’s what needs to be done," Smotrich continued.

"Issue an ultimatum, completely halt the absurdity of humanitarian aid, electricity, and water. Gather all Gaza residents into one area, maintain minimal control, and remove them to a different future.”
Hostage Shlomo Mansour, 86, slain by Hamas on Oct. 7
Kibbutz Kissufim on Tuesday announced the death of Hamas hostage Shlomo Mansour, 86.

Mansour was abducted from his home and murdered by terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, military representatives told his family. His body is being held in the Gaza Strip.

The kibbutz described his death as a profound loss, calling him the “beating heart of Kissufim.”

Mansour was to have been among the 33 hostages released by Hamas during the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. However, according to Israel, while the hostage list provided by the terrorist group indicated that eight of the 33 were already deceased, it did not identify them.

Mansour, who was the oldest hostage in Hamas captivity, was born in Iraq in 1938 and is recognized as a Holocaust survivor. When he was three years old, he experienced the 1941 Farhud massacre in Baghdad, during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

“This is one of the most difficult days in the history of our kibbutz. Shlomo was much more than a community member to us—he was a father, a grandfather, a true friend and the beating heart of Kissufim,” the kibbutz said.

“His smile, modesty and human warmth were an inspiration to us all. Our hearts are broken that we were unable to bring him back to us alive. The entire community grieves his loss and is united in grief and pain.”


Family of twins held hostage receive first sign of life
The family of Hamas hostages Gali and Ziv Berman has received the first sign of life from the twin brothers in nearly 500 days.

The brothers were abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023, along with Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Amit Soussana, who have since been freed.

“On one hand, we can breathe a little easier, but we also know whose hands they are in and the grave danger to their lives,” said the twins’ aunt, Makabit Meyer. “They are alive, and we must save them. We know what they are going through. We saw on Saturday that they have no time,” she added, referring to the release of hostages Or Levy, 34, Eli Sharabi, 52, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56.

“These are the images we will have to face from now on. We must finalize a deal to free every last hostage,” said Meyer.

In an interview with Israel’s Kan Reshet Bet radio, she stated that Gali and Ziv are not being held together, but are alive.

In every media interview, members of the kibbutz, as well as the survivors who returned from captivity, have vowed that they will not stop fighting for Gali and Ziv’s release. One of those survivors is Damari, who was with Gali during the Oct. 7 attack.

Gali and Ziv worked together at a sound and lighting company, and as a result, many well-known figures have joined the fight for their release. Both are devoted fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv and Liverpool soccer clubs, and even played soccer for their kibbutz team, the “Kfar Aza Foxes.”

This past September, the twins marked their 27th birthday in captivity. Their mother, Talia, spoke at a gathering with their friends: “My beautiful Gali and Ziv, we love you and miss you. I can barely breathe. Stay strong in the darkness. Hold on, we are here waiting for you, ready to embrace and help you heal with all the love in the world. My body keeps functioning, but my soul is shattered. Just a little longer, my princes, just a little longer.”


Call me Back Podcast - with Dan Senor: Could Trump’s Vision for Gaza Be Real? - with Amit Segal & Nadav Eyal
President Trump’s dramatic and unprecedented press conference on Gaza, suggesting U.S. control and some form of relocation of its residents, has immediately shifted the conversation beyond the default two-state framework. In this episode, we break down how the Israeli public is reacting to Trump’s proposal, what it means for Netanyahu’s political standing, and the implications for the ceasefire and the hostage deal negotiations.

Nadav Eyal is a columnist for Yediot Aharonot and one of Israel’s leading journalists. He has been covering Middle Eastern and international politics for over two decades across Israeli radio, print, and television news.

Amit Segal is the chief political correspondent and analyst for Channel 12 News and Yediot Aharonot, Israel’s largest-circulation newspaper.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
07:53 - How has Israeli society been processing Trump’s dramatic announcement?
17:00 - Is Trump walking back on the proposal?
26:35 - “Shake the Coconut Tree” policy
33:25 - The impact of the announcement on Israeli politics
36:41 - How does the announcement impact the hostage deal?
43:08 - The impact of the announcement on the Palestinians
50:45 - Estimations on where this situation is heading
55:33 - Nadav’s tweet about the Iranian middleman responsible for coordinating the Axis of Resistance
61:03 - President Trump’s comment on Israeli soldiers




Commentary Podcast: Trump's Hostage Deadline
Today Ruthie Blum joins the podcast to discuss Donald Trump's demand for Hamas to release all hostages by Saturday at noon. What happens next and what choices does Benjamin Netanyahu face?
YOU LOST! Time for Gazans to face reality and consequences | The Quad
What are President #Trump’s true intentions in #Gaza? This question seems to be on everyone’s mind after the horrific #hostage release this past weekend and President Trump’s stern warning to #Hamas that followed. On today’s episode of the Quad, we’ll be discussing all of Israel’s options and weighing in on what may be coming next.


Hugh Hewitt: Bethany Mandel joins Hugh to discuss the hostages released by Hamas
Bethany Mandel of The Mom Wars Substack and pod joins Hugh to discuss the torture and starvation of hostages by Hamas and how she reacted to the release videos choreographed by the terrorists.


‘We will be ready’: Israeli Minister issues warning if Hamas delays hostage release
Israeli Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sharren Haskel discusses Hamas wanting to postpone further hostage release as part of the ceasefire deal.

US President Donald Trump has stepped in and issued an ultimatum to the terrorist outfit.

“This is a complete outrage,” Ms Haskel told Sky News host Peta Credlin.

“On Saturday, if they will not release our hostages, we will be ready as well.”


Hamas is engaged in a 'sadistic' game of 'psychological warfare'
Human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky condemns the 'monstrous evil' of Hamas.

"There is no depths, no ends to the depravity, the cruelty and the monstrous evil of Hamas," Mr Ostrovsky told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

"No one is spared by their evil.

"Hamas is engaged sadistic in a game of psychological warfare and torture."


‘Hell to pay’: Trump threatens to 'end’ Gaza ceasefire if Hamas refuses to release hostages
Sky News host Sharri Markson discusses how Donald Trump has “threatened to end” the Gaza ceasefire if all hostages are not released by Hamas by Saturday.

“Trump has threatened to end the Gaza ceasefire and unleash hell if all the hostages are not back by noon on Saturday,” Ms Markson said.

“His comments came after Hamas said its handover of hostages this weekend will be postponed until further notice.”


Hamas are ‘cynical killers’ who want to ‘prolong psychological terror’
Former Israeli ambassador to Australia Mark Sofer claims the reason given by Hamas for why they are delaying the release of more hostages is “utter rubbish”.

Hamas has delayed the next round of hostage releases, saying the aid that Israel agreed upon has not been sent to Gaza.

“It is absolute and utter rubbish; every single part of the aid that was agreed upon has gone in, that’s not the reason at all, that is just what they are throwing into the international arena,” Mr Sofer told Sky News host Andrew Bolt.

“I think these are cynical killers who just want to prolong the psychological terror of the people, more especially of the families … it has nothing to do with the amount of aid going in."




Magistrate warned after posting pro-Palestine messages and photos on social media - and disciplined for sharing 'politically sensitive' content
A magistrate has been issued with formal advice for putting up 'politically sensitive', pro-Palestinian posts on social media.

Kirk Master - who sits on the Leicestershire and Rutland bench - was given advice for misconduct for the pictures and text on X, formerly Twitter, the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) said.

They included an image of him holding a Palestine flag at a protest from April last year, captioned: 'Palestine must be FREE. Keep the fight alive.'

The former assistant city mayor for Leicester City Council - elected in 2019 but deselected by Labour in 2023 for the March local elections - was told his posts could damage the reputation of magistrates and 'cast doubt on his impartiality'.

It followed concerns being raised, the JCIO said, about Mr Master's 'politically sensitive' posts in 'support of the Palestinian cause in the Middle East'.

One of the posts, from November 2023, showed an image of a poster from a protest, captioned: 'I can't believe I have to protest against genocide.'

The former deputy police and crime commissioner for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland accepted responsibility for the posts - but did not agree they would make people think he was biased as a magistrate, the Telegraph reported.

He said he did not refer to his judicial role in any of the posts, adding he takes his work very seriously and would never consciously let his opinions affect it.


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2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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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