Tuesday, February 18, 2025

02/18 Links Pt1: BHL: The Hostage Releases Are Obscene; Hamas to release four bodies of hostages on Thursday, six living hostages on Saturday; Agam Berger’s Biblical Heroism in Hamas Captivity

From Ian:

Bernard-Henri Levy: The Hostage Releases Are Obscene
One watches captives on their way to freedom. But what one sees - comparable or not - are survivors of the Nazi death camps.

The same bodies, reduced to bags of bones. The same hollow eye sockets, with that vacant stare. The same despair, gaunt and dazed.

Only one feeling takes hold over these days - rage - at this 3-for-183 exchange. This arithmetic is obscene.

We must revolt against this endless torment.

Israel's allies, in Europe and in the U.S., have only one thing to negotiate with Hamas and its sponsors: the unconditional surrender of those responsible for these sadistic charades and the immediate release of all hostages.
The Devastating Health Impact of Gaza Captivity
Returned hostages are showing severe health impacts including dramatic weight loss of up to 25 kg. (55 pounds), significant muscle deterioration, and complex medical challenges that will require long-term rehabilitation, medical experts told the Knesset Health Committee on Monday.

Dr. Michal Mizrachi, director of medical treatment for returned hostages at Ichilov Hospital, said, "the patients still face significant nutritional deficiencies requiring rehabilitation and ongoing care."

"We've documented substantial functional impairment, including dramatic decreases in physical capabilities resulting from prolonged inactivity."

The Ministry of Health has established a specialized clinic for returned hostages in Kiryat Gat.

Hanna Katzir, 78, who endured seven weeks of Hamas captivity in Gaza before being released, died in December 2024 at age 78.

Her daughter said, "My mother entered captivity taking one blood pressure medication. After 49 days without it, she returned with severe cardiac issues, arrhythmias, and respiratory failure."

"The contaminated conditions in Gaza - polluted water, air, and deadly fungi - contributed to her decline."

"She lost basic functions - walking, standing, using the bathroom, breathing independently. She was sedated and ventilated for months before succumbing to these complications."
Released Gaza Hostages Face Long, Wrenching Recoveries
Interviews with three Israeli hostages who were released more than a year ago, as well as with family members of others and psychologists who are treating former captives, indicate that many released hostages struggle with physical and psychological aftereffects.

"I don't sleep much at night anymore," said Luis Har, 71, who was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak.

"Many times, a noise - a motorcycle or an ambulance - takes you right back. You have to tell your body that you are here, you aren't there."

Mia Schem, 22, said, "People think you are out, you are safe, and that it's over, but it's not. Every day is a battle to get up and fight."

She said she vividly recalls piles of dead bodies at the Nova music festival.

Schem was shot in the arm. Her elbow was destroyed. Four surgeries later, her right arm is a few inches shorter than her left.

Moran Stela Yanai, 41, said she can't tolerate being indoors or in a closed room for more than a few minutes.

Yanai lost much of her hearing in captivity and now wears hearing aids.

Both of her legs were broken during her kidnapping, and she has had multiple surgeries on them since her release.
Brett McGurk: Hamas Is Playing Games with Releasing Hostages
Last week, Hamas once again showed why reaching a ceasefire deal was so elusive for so long: the group threatened to stop releasing hostages and return to war with Israel. As someone who helped lead months of ceasefire talks for the Biden administration, this did not come as a surprise.

Throughout the ceasefire negotiations, Hamas consistently held back on a commitment to release hostages and aimed to ensure it remained in power after the war ends. President Joe Biden was right to stand firmly by Israel and demand the release of hostages by Hamas. And President Donald Trump is right to do the same.

Hamas is a terrorist group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades. Its Oct. 7 attack, however, was not just an act of terrorism but a full-blown military invasion. More than 3,000 Hamas fighters in military formations attacked on multiple fronts, with a mission to inflict mass casualties and to take hostages, including mothers and toddlers, back inside Gaza to deter an Israeli response. A U.S.-mediated deal to release hostages in exchange for a ceasefire broke down less than two months into the crisis when Hamas refused to free young women it had agreed to release. Hamas then rejected continuing talks unless Israel accepted a permanent truce up front, with a return to the Oct. 6 status quo.

While Hamas and its defenders claim it accepted another ceasefire framework in July 2024, that is not true. Hamas reinserted demands for a permanent truce. And never once agreed to a list of hostages that it would release if a ceasefire was agreed. Hamas refused to engage seriously on the essence of the deal: the hostages to be released during the ceasefire. Nor did Hamas seem to care about the civilians of Gaza, whose suffering would be greatly alleviated by a stop to the fighting.

Hamas had no serious intent to release hostages so long as Iran and Hizbullah backed its maximalist demands with ongoing attacks against Israel. Then Israel, with U.S. backing, turned north to Lebanon, where it decimated Hizbullah and, with U.S. mediation, forged a ceasefire that severed Hizbullah's support for Hamas in Gaza.

Iran on Oct. 26 fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles toward Israel - the largest ballistic missile attack in history. U.S. and Israeli forces defeated that attack, and Israel soon responded with an attack of its own, eliminating Iran's strategic air defenses and its capacity to produce new missiles.

The final stages of talks that began in December took place with the backdrop of a transformed Middle East. The talks ultimately succeeded because the military equation across the region changed, with Hamas isolated and no longer able to count on a multifront conflict. All this was achieved without the U.S. being drawn directly into an all-out Middle East war that so many analysts had predicted.


Hamas to release six living hostages on Saturday, Israel says
The Hamas terrorist group agreed to double to six the number of hostages scheduled to be freed as part of the seventh release on Saturday, the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem announced on Tuesday.

Hamas named the Israelis to be freed as Tal Shoham, Omer Shem-Tov, Omer Wenkert and Eliya Cohen, who were all kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. The terror group also said it would release Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who reportedly suffer from mental illness and entered the Strip on their volition a decade ago.

In addition, the bodies of four hostages murdered in Hamas captivity will be handed over on Thursday, in line with the ceasefire deal, which stipulates that the remains will be returned on the 33rd day of the truce.

“Pursuant to the agreement, four additional deceased hostages are due to be returned to Israel next week,” the PMO statement added.

A political source cited by Ynet earlier on Tuesday said that Jerusalem was making “great efforts to secure the release of all six remaining living hostages in the first phase, as well as four hostages who are no longer alive.”

In exchange for releasing the three additional living hostages, the Israeli government has reportedly signaled its willingness to allow the entry of hundreds of additional caravans for the reconstruction of the Strip.


Israel prepares to receive most likely four bodies of hostages on Thursday
Israel expects to receive the bodies of four hostages on Thursday, people familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

Hamas intends to announce the names of the victims on Thursday morning, and their bodies will be taken to the L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv, where tests will be conducted to verify their identities, the sources said.

In return, Israel will release all female Palestinian prisoners and anyone under the age of 19 who were arrested during the October 7 massacre and the days that followed. Israel will also allow mobile homes to enter the Gaza Strip.

The news about the caravans is surprising because last week, the defense establishment and the Prime Minister’s Office denied reports by Hamas that caravans would be brought into the enclave for Gazans whose homes were destroyed by Israeli airstrikes.
PM’s office urges public not to spread rumors regarding names of slain hostages slated for return to Israel
The Hostages Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office asks the public and Israeli media not to spread rumors relating to names of the dead hostages to be returned to Israel on Thursday.

It says that the request was made “in order to protect the privacy of the families in their difficult hour.”

Hamas has announced some of the names of bodies it says will be released on Thursday, but Israeli authorities are expected to wait until their own forensics teams can confirm the identities of the remains. Israeli media is also largely abstaining from publishing the names released by Hamas.
Seth Mandel: The Meaning of Kfir Bibas
If Hamas’s statement is true, this week will bring a tragic, though not unexpected, close to a painful episode: the fate of the rest of the Bibas family.

Yarden Bibas was released this month by Hamas after nearly 500 days in captivity, and the terror group is claiming it will soon deliver the bodies of his wife, Shiri, and two sons, Ariel and Kfir. Ariel was four when he was taken on Oct. 7, 2023, and Kfir was nine months old.

To be Jewish has meant experiencing a crushing disappointment in the world since the Hamas attacks that started this war. A stray line in one of the many articles about the Bibas family today unintentionally offers a crystal clear explanation for that disappointment. “For many Israelis,” the New York Times writes, “the story of the Bibas family has become a symbol of the brutality of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.”

That sentence is accurate. But in another universe, one where the “international community” cares a whit for justice and human decency, the sentence would read this way: “For everyone, the story of the Bibas family has become a symbol of the brutality of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.”

In such a world, the faces of the Bibas children would be everywhere at all times. In the world in which we live, by contrast, posters with those faces get torn down from bulletin boards. In the kind of world we hope to deserve to inhabit, no children’s charity or NGO would go a day without drawing attention to Kfir and Ariel and the monsters who stole them.

The crimes against the Bibas family are indeed the symbol of the anti-civilizational menace that is Hamas—but also of the cowardice of the political and cultural leaders of the enlightened West. Yes, we should be ashamed of our fellow Americans, who not only won’t mention the Bibas family but won’t even learn the name of a single American hostage held in Gaza throughout the war.

At last year’s Oscars, a line of “pro-Palestine” stars—Mark Ruffalo, Billie Eilish, Ava DuVernay and others—wore a pin of a red right hand that is meant to valorize the murderers of Jews. In a just world, all these celebrities would instead be using their time on the red carpet to do anything, anything at all, other than express public sympathy for the Bibas children’s kidnappers.
Bibas family: Our journey is not over until we see confirmation of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir’s fate
Hamas has reportedly confirmed that the bodies of the two Bibas children, Ariel and Kfir, will be among those returned to Israel this Thursday.

Reports suggest the remains of at least four desceased hostages will be returned to Israel, and that the terror group has identified the Bibas children as part of this group.

The two boys were the youngest Israelis abducted by Hamas during the October 7 terror attacks, with Kfir just nine months old and Ariel aged four at the time.

They were taken along with their parents, Yarden and Shiri, from their home in Nir Oz.

Shiri’s fate remains unknown , while Yarden has been freed and returned to Israel.

In a statement the family said “In the past few hours, we have been in turmoil following Hamas spokesperson’s announcement about the planned return of our Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir this Thursday as part of the hostages’ remains release phase,” the statement said.

“We want to make it clear that while we are aware of these reports, we have not yet received any official confirmation regarding this matter. Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over.”


Sa’ar: Israel to start Phase 2 talks with Hamas
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told reporters on Tuesday that Jerusalem decided to start talks on Phase 2 of the ongoing hostage release and ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

“We had a Security Cabinet meeting last night. We decided to open negotiations on the second phase,” Jerusalem’s top diplomat said during a briefing for journalists at the Foreign Ministry.

As part of the talks set to begin later this week, the Israeli government will demand the complete disarmament of Iranian-backed Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations in Gaza, the minister stressed.

A “Hezbollah model” in which Hamas retains its “military” capabilities is unacceptable for Israel, “and therefore we need a total demilitarization of Gaza and no presence of the Palestinian Authority,” stated Sa’ar.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told reporters in Doha earlier on Tuesday that “there is a positive atmosphere regarding the second phase of the agreement.” He added, “The arrival of the delegations depends on the decisions of the parties involved.”

Jerusalem’s negotiating teams in Egypt and Qatar have so far focused only on the implementation of the current Phase 1 of the Gaza truce.

An Israeli political source cited by Ynet on Tuesday said that Jerusalem was making “great efforts to release all six remaining living hostages in the first phase, as well as four hostages who are no longer alive.”
Ruthie Blum: Netanyahu’s tightrope, Trump’s net
The Israeli opposition and so-called “international community” have spent most of the past 16 months lobbing two key demands—or accusations—at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu. One is that he must introduce a clear plan for the “day after” Hamas. The other is that he “bring home all the hostages now.”

Busy fighting an existential defensive war against the terrorists who gleefully perpetrated the massacre of 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, he has been unable to give a definitive answer. He did assert, however, that the Palestinian Authority could not assume any role in Gaza. “I will not allow us to replace Hamastan with Fatahstan,” he told the now-former administration in Washington.

The second rebuke was akin to alleging that Bibi was holding the hostages in his basement. Never mind that he was deploying the might of the Israel Defense Forces to search for them while battling the barbarians responsible for their plight—those continuing to commit the worst atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump answered both. First, he announced that the United States would take control of Gaza. Then—after witnessing the condition of the three men emerging last Saturday from captivity looking as though they’d been liberated from Auschwitz, and hearing Hamas say that it wouldn’t free the next three the following week—he delivered an ultimatum.

“If all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday, [Feb. 15] at 12 o’clock … I would say, cancel [the ceasefire deal] and all bets are off and let hell break out,” he declared to reporters at the White House. “And if they’re not returned—all of them, not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two–by Saturday at 12 o’clock … all hell is going to break out.”
Evelyn Gordon: Israeli Territorial Concessions Worsen Anti-Semitism in the West
The peace process had damaged Israel's standing overseas. Every bit of territory ceded to the Palestinians has become a base for lethal terror, necessitating military operations that inevitably produce more Palestinian casualties than policing Israeli-controlled territory ever does. And nothing hurts Israel's image overseas more than pictures of dead Palestinians.

In America, the ADL recorded three times as many anti-Semitic incidents in the twelve-month period starting on Oct. 7, 2023, as in the previous twelve months. In France, the number of incidents rose 384% in 2023 compared to 2022, with the vast majority occurring after Oct. 7. In the UK, 2023 saw an increase of 247%, again mostly in the final three months of the year. The ADL's latest global survey, released in January, found that 46% of adults worldwide "harbor deeply entrenched anti-Semitic attitudes, more than double compared to ADL's first worldwide survey a decade ago."

The same thing occurred during the 2014 war with Hamas. During the first month of that 50-day conflict, anti-Semitic incidents rose by 130% in America, 436% in Europe, 600% in South Africa, and 1,200% in South America compared to the same month of 2013.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was beloved by the peace processors. In Sep. 2008 he put forth the most generous peace proposal any Israeli leader has ever offered. PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas never responded. Olmert was forced to go to war in Gaza on Dec. 27, 2008, due to incessant rocket fire on Israel from Gaza, which Israel had evacuated in 2005. The war prompted a fierce anti-Israel backlash. The UN set up a special inquiry commission, which resulted in the infamous Goldstone Report accusing Israel of committing war crimes.

For the radical activists in the West, any hint of an Israeli "defeat" is empowering. That's precisely why anti-Israel mobs erupted in gleeful celebrations on Oct. 7 before Israel had even begun fighting in Gaza. These activists also find generous peace proposals and territorial withdrawals empowering, since they invariably see them not as evidence of Israel's desire for peace, but as capitulations forced by either diplomatic or military pressure.
The U.S. Must Avoid Two Traps in the Middle East—and Neither Is about Gaza
For much of the world, insofar as it is paying attention to the Middle East, the big story is about President Trump’s plans for the Gaza Strip. But, Michael Mandelbaum argues, the fate of Gaza isn’t the most pressing question Washington faces when considering the region. The first of these, according to Mandelbaum, is Palestinian statehood, which Arab governments—and especially Saudi Arabia—seek to put back on the table:

On the Palestinian question, a succession of American presidents, going back decades, has held two convictions: first, that its resolution—which all of them came to believe entailed creating a Palestinian state—was imperative for the peace of the region and American interests there; and second, that establishing such a state was eminently feasible. Both propositions were and are false.

To his credit, President Trump has shown no sign of sharing the erroneous if persistent beliefs of his predecessors, but he risks getting bogged down in the Palestinian question all the same. . . . Since a Saudi-Israeli peace agreement would be the crowning achievement of Trump’s Middle East diplomacy, he has a powerful incentive to pursue it; but doing so could once again ensnare him and the United States in a futile effort to establish such a state.

Even more important than the danger posed by such efforts is the danger of Iran building nuclear weapons. Mandelbaum explains that this possibility can only be averted with military action or a credible threat thereof.
Netanyahu: Why Not Give Gazans a Choice? - Not Forcible Eviction, Not Ethnic Cleansing
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem on Sunday: "Within a year and some months, we decimated much of Hamas. We haven't finished the job, we will. Israel will destroy Hamas's military and governing capabilities; Gaza will look differently."

"We're in a position to change the Middle East and give Israel the kind of horizon, the kind of hope, the kind of security and the kind of peace that would have been unimaginable....The possibilities that loom today before us have never been before us before....Now, we intend to pursue them to the full. We see eye-to-eye with the U.S. administration."

"President Trump has presented a bold new vision and the only plan that I think can work to enable a different future for the people of Gaza, for the people of Israel, for the surrounding areas. Why not give Gazans a choice?...Over the last two years, 150,000 Gazans left. You know how they left? Because they bribed their way out....Give them a choice, not forcible eviction, not ethnic cleansing. In a war zone people leave."


Let their people go!
All of this dovetails with what a poll of Gazans found shortly before the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The survey was taken by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. It found that 44% of Gazans between the ages of 18 and 29—and 31% of the overall population—were considering emigrating. Their “most preferred destination for immigration is Turkey, followed by Germany, Canada, the United States and Qatar,” the poll reported.

“Economic reasons” were the explanation most often given for wanting to leave. That was when Gaza was still intact. Today, much of the territory resembles “a demolition site,” as Trump put it. If 44% of them wanted to leave even before the war, then you can be sure that a much larger number want to leave today. Only Hamas and its fellow travelers and cheerleaders want to keep them imprisoned there.

That seems ironic because for years Israel’s left-wing critics, including groups like J Street, were calling Gaza “an open-air prison.” Now those same critics want to keep the Gazans in that prison.

Do you suppose any of those “peace” activists would be willing to give up their comfortable homes in Manhattan or San Francisco to live in Gaza? Of course not. Yet they have the chutzpah to demand that other people stay in such horrid conditions. These supposed champions of “choice” want to deny others the right to choose a better life for themselves and their families.

What makes the Jewish left’s position especially ironic is that the idea of relocating Gazans to Jordan was once advocated by one of the left’s most iconic figures, Yitzhak Rabin. He told the newspaper Maariv on Feb. 16, 1973: “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. “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.”

It’s time for everybody who sincerely cares about the welfare of Gazans to organize protest rallies outside the offices of J Street, Americans for Peace Now and all the other groups demanding that the residents of Gaza be kept there. The protesters should carry signs bearing the slogan of the newest worldwide protest movement: “Let Their People Go!”
Why Arabs continue to reject better lives for Palestinians in Gaza
The hypocrisy of the Arab governments could not be more transparent in their bogus arguments that U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza means uprooting a people from their land. First and foremost, the plan calls for voluntary and temporary relocation. It will replace the ramshackle “housing” in the camps with apartments equipped with running water and sewer facilities, instead of sewers spilling into the streets, causing disease and foul smells. The Arab brethren of the Palestinians say they care so much about them yet do nothing to improve their living conditions. Meanwhile, they—particularly the Gulf Arabs—reside in luxury.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia illustrated this duplicity in its tactical negotiations over normalization with Israel. A month before the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Saudi regime claimed that it was seeking to improve Palestinian life. Yet when Trump seeks to do that now, he is condemned by the Saudis and throughout the Arab world for trying to uproot the refugees. Similarly, while the Saudis keep insisting that normalization with Israel is dependent on the creation of a path toward a Palestinian state, behind closed doors and in private conversation, they continue to seek an alliance with the United States and Israel against the looming threat of a nuclear Iran.

Vast sums of foreign assistance from Western nations, Qatar and others were invested in Gaza—perhaps more than in any other place in the world. Hamas, though, chose not to improve the lives of those who voted them into power. Instead, they built terror tunnels, smuggled weapons, and fed an industry of death and destruction with the full support of its population. When asked in private and away from Hamas ears, Gaza residents often say that they are inclined to move out but only to Western nations that can provide them with generous welfare. This leads us to call upon those hypocritical Western states—Ireland, Spain, Norway—to put their alleged “love” for the Palestinians into action.

Voices throughout the Arab world and in some Western countries say Trump’s plan will undermine Palestinians’ right to self-determination. These voices ignore the fact that Hamas is committed to the destruction of Israel and not the creation of a Palestinian state, using the deaths of as many Gaza residents as suits its cause. Islamist ideology supposedly holds that the Arabs are one nation guided by Sharia law and rejects Arab particularist nationalism. Instead, it has been using terrorism to accomplish its aims in the name of Palestinian identity.

From a strictly humanitarian point of view, providing for Gaza’s Palestinians is morally right. Trump wants to provide the area with livable housing, but that will take time. Gazans who participated in the killings, looting and raping of Israeli civilians will not benefit, but the Palestinian generation of tomorrow might, especially in an environment of calm with no oppression and violence from Hamas. It is indeed possible for Gaza to flourish and become a place to live and be well.
Seth Frantzman: Saudi Arabia's diplomatic ambitions: From Iran to Ukraine, Riyadh seeks bigger role
A new dynamic from a changed Syria and Lebanon?

There are other issues involved. The new Syrian government has helped remove Iran’s conduit to Hezbollah over land. Hezbollah is weakened but is not down for the count. Saudi Arabia has historically played a key role in Lebanon. It brokered the Taif agreement to end the 13-year Lebanese Civil War.

There has also been talk about Israel-Saudi Arabia normalization. During the first Trump term in office, Riyadh sought to spend billions to acquire US arms.

It’s not clear if Saudi Arabia can achieve success on so many important fronts, from Ukraine to Iran, but it is well positioned these days. Back during the Qatar crisis, Riyadh faced many hurdles.

For instance, the crises also became a public relations headache for Riyadh as enormous resources were put in play, including in Washington, to tarnish Saudi Arabia’s image.

Reconciliation has benefits. Riyadh is now less a target of the powerful lobbies linked to Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, both of which have pillars of power in the region and also in the West.

In some ways, Saudi Arabia can now position itself to play a key role with the new Trump administration. It tried this before in 2017. In those days, Mohammed bin Salman had just become crown prince and he was navigating a changing world. Now, he is older and wiser and he can manage expectations better.
Israel will act against Hezbollah violations ‘at full strength,’ Katz vows
The Israel Defense Forces will continue to act against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon “at full strength,” Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Tuesday morning in a post on X as the military reportedly completed its withdrawal from most of the territory.

“We will not allow a return to the reality of Oct. 7,” Katz declared, referring to the 2023 Hamas-led massacre in Israel’s south and the 16-month-long Hezbollah terrorist campaign that followed the attacks.

Katz reiterated in his statement that, “starting today, the IDF will remain in the buffer zone in Lebanon at five control posts along the border line, to ensure the protection of the northern communities.”

Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster reported that the withdrawal from the Land of the Cedars was completed ahead of the midnight deadline. IDF officials told the outlet overnight that “the challenge is to preserve the [military] achievements and prevent Hezbollah from returning.”

On Monday, the army’s Northern Command confirmed that soldiers would remain deployed at five strategic outposts in Southern Lebanon beyond the Feb. 18 deadline set out in the ceasefire deal with Beirut.

Israel’s decision to keep boots on the ground in Lebanon was made in conjunction with the Trump administration. The company-size posts, located within several hundred meters of the border, are manned by hundreds of soldiers until the political echelon decides otherwise.

The five outposts are located on a hill near Labbouneh, opposite the Israeli border town of Shlomi; on the Jabal Blat peak, opposite Moshav Zar’it; on a hill opposite Moshav Avivim and Kibbutz Malkia; on a hill opposite Moshav Margaliot; and on a hill opposite the town of Metula.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem warned Israel on Sunday that if it does not withdraw its forces by Tuesday, “we will know how to deal with it.
FM Sa’ar to US senators: Turkey cooperating with Iran to smuggle money to Hezbollah
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday accused Turkey of cooperating with Iranian attempts to smuggle money to Hezbollah in a meeting with a bipartisan group of US senators.

During the meeting at the Foreign Ministry, in which seven senators and Deputy Middle East Special Envoy Morgan Ortagus were present, Sa’ar told the group that Iran has stepped up its efforts to finance Hezbollah, and that Turkey has been an active participant in the process.

“There is an intensified Iranian effort to smuggle money into Lebanon for Hezbollah to restore its power and status,” Sa’ar said, according to his office. “This effort is being carried out, among other channels, via Turkey and with its cooperation.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been vocal in denouncing Israel since the beginning of its war on Gaza last year and has consistently expressed support for Hamas, which like the Turkish leader’s AKP party has close ties to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement. His rhetoric has been more lukewarm, however, on the gains Israel has made against Hezbollah in the past year, including the killing of the Shiite terror group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in September 2024.


Why the IDF Is Remaining in Five Key Posts in Southern Lebanon
The IDF announced on Monday that it will maintain a presence in five key strategic locations in southern Lebanon. These positions, close to the Israeli border, are deemed essential for ensuring the security of northern Israeli communities until the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is fully able to assume control over southern Lebanon.

The five locations are the Hasullam mountain range overlooking Shlomi in northern Israel, the Hashaked mountain range overlooking Avivim and Malkiya, the Hatzivoni mountain range overlooking Margaliot, Jabal Blat mountain, overlooking Zarit, Nurit and Shtula; and Hamamis hill, overlooking Har Dov, Metula and surrounding communities.

These locations provide vantage points that allow Israeli forces to monitor and prevent Hizbullah attacks or new attempts to entrench near the Israeli border, said IDF spokesman Lt.- Col. Nadav Shoshani.


Agam Berger’s Biblical Heroism in Hamas Captivity
In the past weeks, much new information has become available to the public about the terrible abuse and mistreatment the hostages endured. Stories of remarkable resilience and heroism have also come to light. One such example is that of Agam Berger, age nineteen, who insisted on observing Shabbat and avoiding non-kosher meat in captivity. In doing so, she almost certainly went beyond any requirement of rabbinic law, but was following a lofty precedent. Meir Soloveichik writes:

Scripture informs us of Daniel, who found himself in the court of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon. Daniel refused to “defile” himself with the forbidden food of the king and requested that he be allowed to subsist on seeds. Hundreds of years after the destruction of Jerusalem, a similar scene would repeat itself.

Daniel’s faith inspired admiration among members of the Babylonian court. God made him an object of “loving kindness and mercy before the minister” of Nebuchadnezzar. . . . The same can’t be said of Gaza, where Ms. Berger was held in cruel captivity. It is, by all accounts, a society soaked with Jew-hate.

It is with this in mind that her name becomes all the more striking. Agam is Hebrew for a small pool in the desert. Psalm 114 describes the wonders of God, who “turned the rock into water,” agam, “the flint into a fountain.” Remarkably, as Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Daniel Feldman noted, Jews around the world recited this psalm as part of their liturgy on January 30, the day Ms. Berger was released.

The past sixteen months have been difficult for Israel and Jews around the world, but they have also been filled with wonder: namely, that the heroes of the Bible live among us again.
Trump posts video message from freed hostage Agam Berger: ‘Thanks to you, we are home’
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday posted a video clip of released Israeli hostage Agam Berger, thanking him for helping negotiate her freedom from Hamas captivity and asking “to bring everyone home.”

Berger, 20, was abducted from the Nahal Oz military post during the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist invasion, along with several other female field observers who had tried to alert the military of suspicious movements along the Gaza border before the attack. The Israel Defense Forces soldier was released on Jan. 30, after 482 days in Gaza captivity, as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas.

“I want to take this chance to say to you, President Trump: Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you have done and continue to do for the hostages,” Berger said in the recording shared on Truth Social.

“Thanks to you, we are home. But we must remember that there are still people who truly depend on you and are waiting for you to save them,” Berger continued. “They are waiting for your help and you have the power to do it. I beg you: Don’t stop until all the hostages—both the living and the deceased—are brought back as quickly as possible.”

The ex-hostage added, “You are my hope. I want to say that I went through many hardships there. The days didn’t pass; they stood still. Every night and day felt like eternity. That’s how those still there feel.”

Berger noted that Monday marked 500 days since Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages back to Gaza as part of the Oct. 7 massacre.

“We must act fast to bring everyone home. They’re just waiting to be rescued,” the freed Israeli captive urged in her message to Trump.


Congress members mark 500 days since Hamas-led assault in Israel on Oct. 7
U.S. Congress members took time on Tuesday to recognize day 500 of the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 others, dragging them into the Gaza Strip.

“500 days ago, Hamas terrorists waged the deadliest assault on the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement. “They murdered more than 1,000 men, women and children; kidnapped hundreds more; and committed unspeakable atrocities against innocent people. The excruciating pain experienced on that day was almost unimaginable, and for many, it is still felt just as strongly today as it was 16 months ago.”

“We vow to the families whose loved ones have languished at the hands of Hamas—to Israel and her people, and for those who stand for freedom—that we’ll work to ensure another Oct. 7 never happens again,” he added.

He thanked U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for securing the most recent release of hostages on Feb. 15, saying he prays that “every hostage held by Hamas returns home soon.”

“The United States has made clear that we will apply maximum pressure to any government or terrorist group who aims to terrorize Israel or the world,” Johnson stated. “Because with strength and light, we will overcome the darkness.”

Other members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate marked the solemn day.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) wrote that “500 days ago today, the world witnessed the bloodiest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust as Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists brutally attacked the State of Israel.”

“We must never forget the 1,200 innocent civilians that Hamas murdered that day,” she added. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we will not rest until all the hostages are brought home, and we will always support our most precious ally Israel as they continue to fight for their right to exist.”

Stefanik, who has been nominated as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, also stated that Israel has a “biblical right” to Judea and Samaria.

“Israeli hostages have endured a level of torture and trauma that most of us cannot begin to comprehend,” wrote Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), who has been one of Israel’s biggest supporters in Congress. “Five hundred days of captivity at the hands of Hamas is too hellish to imagine, let alone experience. The onus falls on Hamas: Let them go.”


Freed hostage tells family David Cunio alive in Gaza, in first sign of life
Hostage David Cunio was recently seen alive in Gaza, relatives said Monday, after the family received word from a recently released captive, in the latest sign of hope regarding scores of remaining captives whose conditions remain largely unknown.

Cunio’s wife, Sharon Aloni Cunio, said the family had been encouraged by the news, though she and others expressed fears for the fates of David Cunio and other hostages marking their 500th day of captivity since being taken hostage during the Hamas terror group’s deadly rampage through southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

“We indeed received a sign of life. David is alive,” Aloni Cunio told Channel 12 news. “And that gives us so much strength and so much air to breathe. There is no way to describe how much happiness I’ve been feeling from the moment that we heard the news. It gives us renewed strength to fight until he is returned, until everybody is returned.”

Cunio, 34, was taken hostage from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the onslaught, along with Aloni Cunio, and their 3-year-old twin daughters, Yuli and Emma. Sharon’s sister, Danielle Aloni, 44, and her daughter, Emilia, 5, who were visiting them for the holiday weekend, were also kidnapped by terrorists who stormed their kibbutz home. Cunio’s brother Ariel Cunio was also taken captive, along with his girlfriend Arbel Yehoud.

Aloni Cunio, Aloni, and the three young girls were all released from captivity during a ceasefire in late November 2023. Yehoud was released on January 30, as part of phase one of a mediated ceasefire-hostage release deal.

Neither of the Cunio brothers are on the list of hostages to be released in the first stage, and the prospect of keeping the truce going into future stages remains up in the air, with Jerusalem largely cool to restarting negotiations. A total of 24 hostages — civilians, female soldiers, and five Thai nationals — have so far been released in weekly transfers since the ceasefire began in January.


Call me Back Podcast: Resuming the Gaza War? - with Nadav Eyal
As we mark the 500th day of the war in Gaza, and 500 days of captivity for the Israeli hostages who remain there, the future of this fragile ceasefire-hostage deal is looking increasingly less stable. With every day bringing new twists and turns, we turned to a “Call Me Back” regular to help us make sense of where the war stands and where it may be going.

Nadav Eyal of Yediot Ahronot is one of Israel’s leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
04:20 Where are we in Phase Two, and why is it so fragile?
12:36 Trump tweets in support of "whatever Israel wants to do"
16:56 Netanyahu’s position
28:03 Interview with Israeli hostage negotiations team
34:15 What would the IDF do differently if the war resumed?
38:27 Hamas’s theory of future war fighting
42:45 Could the war be over for good?
47:40 Outro


Jonathan Conricus on the situation in Gaza and antisemitism in Australia — Sky News Australia

Pinsker Centre: Ep. 56 - Israel in a Changing Middle East, with Elhanan Miller
In this episode, Jacob Gibson, a Policy Fellow at the Pinsker Centre, interviews the Shalom Hartman Institute's Rabbi Elhanan Miller. The pair discuss leadership changes in some of Israel's neighbouring countries, and what those changes might mean for Israel. They then go on to discuss Israel's strategy in Gaza and its relationship with the new US administration.

TIMESTAMP: Please note that this episode was recorded on Wednesday February 12th, amid speculation that Hamas planned to halt the hostage release which had been agreed in phase 1 of the ceasefire negotiations.


Erin Molan: ‘IS SHE KIDDING?!’ UN’s Albanese demands REPARATIONS from US & ISRAEL 🤯 Bat Beep Crazy
Francesca Albanese is demanding reparations from the US & Israel… 😳🤯 Is she kidding?! No… of course not 🙄

Amnesty International is posting pathetic poems and celebrating the release of a man convicted of funding Hamas - but can’t quite find the space or time to advocate for innocent HOSTAGES 500 days in… 🤯 (I fix their poem fyi)

Al Jazeera hosts Hamas leader who boasts of epic victory over IDF… 🤯

A teenager dies in Gaza but no one cares all of a sudden… guess why?! 🤯

The latest episode of ‘BAT BEEP CRAZY - Israel v Terrorists’ has dropped…


LYING UN rep caught red-handed…AGAIN! Special Guest Daniel-Ryan Spaulding | The Quad
Comedian Daniel-Ryan Spaulding joins this episode of “The Quad” and he does not disappoint! He’s visiting #israel once again to bask in the sunshine, share some laughs and, of course, to piss off the blue-haired, terminally online, watermelon trolls. If you’re around, be sure to check out his live show in Tel Aviv!

In this episode of “The Quad”, Spaulding joins host and Israel innovation envoy, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, and co-hosts Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll and Barbara Heller. They’ll be covering everything from United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca P. Albanese’s outrageous statements this week to the hot-button conversation around the lack of Jewish celebrities speaking up for Israel and the #Jewish people since October 7th. You don’t want to miss this episode!

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the Conversation
01:51 Activism and Identity in the LGBTQ Community
03:44 The Resurgence of Hitler's Ideology
05:41 The Role of Academia in Anti-Zionism
07:57 Polarization in American Politics
10:10 Recognizing the Signs of Communism
12:54 Trump's Impact on Global Politics
15:19 The Moral Collapse of the Left
19:54 The UN and Global Governance
21:49 The Subversion of Western Civilization
24:29 Cynthia Nixon and Activism Against Israel
29:32 The Impact of Misinformation on Youth
31:15 Globalization of Intifada and Its Consequences
32:46 Anti-Semitism in Healthcare and Education
34:05 Hypocrisy in the Jewish Community
37:47 Heroes Amidst the Crisis
39:41 The Power of Prayer and Community
42:44 Censorship and Free Speech in Europe
45:58 The Role of Celebrities in Social Issues
52:33 Understanding the Complexity of Identity and Activism




Fury as washed-up Pink Floyd rocker makes inflammatory fashion statement while addressing the UN Security Council
Pink Floyd's Roger Waters gave a rambling 'peace speech' while wearing a pin of the Palestinian flag during a gathering at the United Nations on Monday.

The controversial 81-year-old musician addressed diplomats via Zoom at a Security Council meeting in New York about the war in Ukraine as the third anniversary approaches.

Waters was presented as an 'activist,' despite being known for supporting Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel and appearing to dress as a Nazi during a live performance in Berlin back in 2023.

The former Pink Floyd bassist spoke mainly about the conflict in Ukraine during his rant - but he also made a brief reference to the carnage in Gaza while wearing a small Palestine flag pinned on his lapel.

'Palestine isn't really a war, is it? Don't get me started,' he said in the middle of his monologue. 'Back to Ukraine.'

Waters began his speech by addressing questions about his 'credentials' to speak on international politics because he's 'just a musician'.

'I sense an objection, somewhere out here in this room, a questioning of my credentials, so forgive me,' he said.

'I may be just a musician, but I'm here to talk about war and peace and love, and my credentials are firmly in place.'

He went on to imply that his father being killed in 1944 while defending the Anzio Bridgehead in Italy from the Nazis when he was five months old qualified him to speak about the Ukraine war.




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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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