Monday, March 10, 2025
Arsen Ostrovsky: Blame Hamas for Israel Halting Aid to Gaza
On March 2, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would halt the entry of all goods and supplies to Gaza. This decision came after Hamas rejected a framework proposed by U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff intended to continue the hostage-ceasefire talks—a framework Israel had already agreed to.Seth Mandel (Jan 2025): Hamas’s War on Gaza’s Electric Grid
Of course, it was not long until the usual politicians, pundits and armchair quarterbacks playing lawyer started accusing Israel of the war crime of starvation. And, as usual, they did so with vague references to unspecified provisions of "international law."
For the record, international law is very clear on this point: Israel is not obligated to provide aid that will be used by an enemy in a time of war, and anyone who argues differently is either illiterate or willfully ignorant.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt certainly were not expected to provide aid to Nazi Germany during WWII, yet there is a systematic double standard and misapplication of the law against the Jewish state.
To begin, those who ignorantly claim that all blockades are automatically a war crime, are simply wrong. Blockades, which are a lawful military tactic in the course of war, are regulated by international humanitarian law, but are not prohibited by it, as long as it is not used to intentionally starve the local civilian population. To that end, siege law does have humanitarian aspects, namely the requirement of facilitating the passage of food and medicine by third parties, which is governed by Article 23 of the 4th Geneva Convention.
Article 23 is very explicit in outlining that a High Contracting Party, such as Israel, shall allow the free passage of humanitarian supplies, but that is if, and only if, there are no serious reasons to believe these supplies are being diverted from their destination or used for military purposes.
Nor are these points controversial; for example, both the U.S. Defense Department Law of War Manual and the UK Joint Service Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict reiterate and mirror Article 23 of 4th Geneva Convention. So where does that leave Israel?
There has been indisputable and overwhelming evidence that Hamas systematically steals the aid, and uses it to advance their military goals, including the ongoing captivity of hostages. Everyone from The New York Times to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations has reported on this fact for years. And if that's not enough, even Hamas themselves has admitted it.
It is also imperative to dismiss the libelous charge that by halting the aid, Israel is committing the war crime of starving the civilian population of Gaza, which is patently untrue here.
Here’s how the electricity in Gaza works. Israel provides 50 percent of the enclave’s power—and I do mean “provides.” Technically, Israel is selling electricity to Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority is supposed to pick up the tab. But they very often don’t, and certainly Hamas doesn’t pay, and every so often Israel threatens to cut off electricity for lack of payment—the debt is usually somewhere in the neighborhood of half a billion dollars. But Israel always backs down or accepts low partial payments.Seth Mandel: Like a Boehler in a China Shop
How much does Hamas value that electricity? Well, it is not uncommon for their own rockets to hit the power lines and cut off parts of the grid. Usually, Israel just fixes the lines when Hamas destroys them. (Israel is terrible at doing genocide.) But on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas knocked down more than half of their own power lines and Israel did not fix them; it had, if you remember, a few other priorities.
The other half of Gaza’s electricity is split into two main categories: 25 percent comes from Gaza’s diesel-run power plant and the other 25 percent comes from the sun. Gaza has a high concentration of solar cells, because there are lots and lots of roofs and lots of sun. Some of the solar power comes from Israeli companies, much of it from EU and UN projects (meaning, in part, the American taxpayer).
Some Gazans with solar-power systems sell electricity to their neighbors. Some who have their own diesel generators do the same. And the hospitals have been known to set up diesel generators in their bottom floors for public use.
What this means is that about a quarter of Gazan power doesn’t, in general, require the main grid. There’s a problem, however: in addition to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad rockets knocking down power lines, the fact that these groups operate from private homes means that the return fire from Israel knocks out solar roof panels. Hamas fires from civilian homes with the intent of getting those civilians killed, but doing so also kills the lights. Hamas is indescribably evil.
It should go without saying that Hamas does not have much trouble accessing electricity. Hundreds of miles of tunnels used only by Hamas are outfitted with electrical and communication wires. Which means the terror group simply built a second Gaza and sabotaged the first Gaza’s power grid—the one used by civilians.
Everyone could have power in Gaza, and it would not be particularly difficult, as Hamas has proved. In fact, the money spent on the Hamas tunnels just shows the wide range of services that everyone in Gaza could have access to, if Hamas wanted them to. For over 15 years, Hamas has governed the strip with an iron fist and built absolutely nothing for ordinary Gazans while destroying nearly everything for ordinary Gazans.
When one realizes all that Hamas is preventing, one should be furious at them—so long as one actually cares about Palestinian life.
The Trump administration has gone from carrot-and-stick diplomacy to selfie-stick diplomacy.
A heretofore unknown envoy named Adam Boehler has been conducting back-channel talks with Hamas on behalf of the White House, and his inexperience is on full display. Boehler spent the weekend doing TV interviews, and in each one he sounds like an overexcited tourist who thinks the past few weeks in his life have been just so cool. It isn’t entirely clear why Boehler is even here, given the previous inexperienced envoy Steve Witkoff’s very public role in the first month of the administration as Washington’s man at the table.
So let’s back up: Last week it was revealed that Boehler, on behalf of the Trump administration, has been negotiating for the return of the one living American hostage remaining in Gaza and the bodies of other American hostages who were killed by Hamas in captivity. Boehler appears to have offered Hamas a pathway to remaining in Gaza after the war without releasing the remaining Israeli hostages…though he insists that isn’t his goal.
Still, whatever Boehler thinks he might have done is irrelevant because what he has actually done is offer Hamas the option of restoring the pre-October 7 status quo with minor adjustments. Or at least, he has given Hamas reason to believe that option is on the table. In so doing, this Donald Trump “apprentice” has already done damage to the cause of bringing the hostages home as soon as is humanly possible. He would have been the first one fired at the end of the first episode of his season of The Apprentice for what he’s done.
Let’s examine what Boehler said during his disastrous Sunday talk show tour. Hamas, he said, offered a hostage exchange “and a five-year to ten-year truce where Hamas would lay down all weapons and where the US, as well as other countries, would ensure that there are no tunnels, there’s nothing taken on the military side, and that Hamas is not involved in politics going forward.” This, said Boehler, was “not a bad first offer.”
Sorry, first offer? Talks have been ongoing since well before Boehler got in the game. Indeed, the first hostage release was negotiated in November 2023, nearly 16 months ago. Apparently Boehler was busy at the time with his Nashville investment firm and wasn’t reading the newspaper.
And: It is a bad offer. The hudna play, in which Hamas offers a temporary truce so it can draw up an Oct. 7-style truce-breaking extravaganza, is quite literally the oldest trick in Hamas’s playbook. It’s the Mideast version of a strange man rolling up in a windowless van and offering a lollipop. That’s not an opening bid; it’s the opening scene to a paint-by-numbers horror flick.
Asked about the experience of negotiating with bloodthirsty monsters, Boehler said that rather than focus on how evil Hamas is, it’s better “to realize that every piece of a person is a human and to identify with the human elements of those people and then build from there.” Just what we needed: Barney the Dinosaur negotiating with modern-day Nazis.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Do Not Be Fooled By Hamas's 'Long-Term Ceasefire' Ploy
As part of the deception, according to the IDF report, Hamas was working to convince Israel that it was interested in calm and was working for economic prosperity. The IDF investigation concluded that Hamas had planned the October 7 attack for more than 10 years.Grim Lessons From Phase One of the Israel-Hamas Deal
Today, everyone knows that the talk about a long-term truce was nothing but a smokescreen to conceal Hamas's real intention of launching its October 7 attack against Israel.
Hamas anyway is not known for honoring ceasefire agreements.... On July 26, 2014, Hamas announced a 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire at 14.00. Hamas violated its own ceasefire a short time later.
For Hamas, a hudna is a temporary break from war -- it does not indicate a desire to end it and achieve peace. While Hamas was talking, for ten years before October 7, 2023, about its desire to reach a long-term truce, it was busy preparing for the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
It is plainly uninformed to believe that Hamas would ever lay down its weapons and agree to end its jihad (holy war) against Israel.
The Trump administration is advised to listen to what Hamas leaders say in Arabic to their own people, and not what they tell US officials during secret meetings in Qatar. Earlier this month, for instance, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri, speaking in Arabic, reassured his people that his group rejects demands by Israel and the US to disarm...
A ceasefire deal will allow Hamas to remain in power and prepare more massacres against Israel. The only solution for the current crisis is for Hamas to disarm, cede control over the Gaza Strip and leave the Palestinian arena.
Over the weekend, Israel shut off its supply of electricity to Gaza—which can continue to use its own power sources for some time—and made clear that it won’t be leaving the Philadelphi corridor (which separates Gaza from Egypt) any time soon. But even with such measures, and the backing of the Trump administration, Israel seems unable to secure the release of the remaining hostages. Peter Berkowitz takes stock of why negotiations haven’t been more successful:Seth Frantzman: How Hamas got a Ramadan ceasefire and released no hostages
First, Israel’s political echelon and defense establishment wrongly assumed in the winter of 2024 that Israeli military force would in the coming months swiftly and decisively weaken Hamas’ senior leadership. Notwithstanding Israel’s killing of Marwan Issa (deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing) in March 2024, Mohammad Deif (Hamas’s military chief) in July 2024, and Yahya Sinwar (top leader of Hamas in Gaza) in October 2024, much of Hamas’s core leadership fled underground—literally—and survived. This substantially diminished Israel’s ability to dictate terms at the negotiating table.
Second, Israel’s political echelon and defense establishment wrongly assumed that intensified fighting and mounting death and destruction in Gaza would open a rift between Hamas and the rest of the Palestinian population that would impel the people to drive out the jihadists. . . . Too few on the Israeli side appreciated how thoroughly Hamas’s jihadist spirit is woven into the fabric of Palestinian society and how tightly it is bound up with Gazans’ identity.
Third, Israel’s political echelon and defense establishment wrongly assumed that if military pressure compelled Hamas to come to the negotiating table, Qatari and Egyptian mediators would persuade the jihadists to compromise.
ANOTHER ASPECT of the ceasefire that continued were reports that US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, would come and hammer out a deal as he did in mid-January during the lead-up to the first deal.Trump’s Gaza plan: Change of narrative
However, Witkoff has many things on his plate. Reports indicated that in the absence of phase two, he favored a proposal where half the remaining hostages in Gaza would be released on the first day of a new deal and half at the end of the deal when the war would perhaps end or at least when Ramadan and Passover would be over.
However, Hamas apparently felt it could negotiate better terms. Thus, after a few days, reports of another deal emerged. Maybe the terror group would release 10 living hostages for a 60-day ceasefire. Hamas played for time and didn’t seem to care for that deal either.
Now, reports indicate that it has been in direct contact with the Trump administration. Adam Boehler, the US special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, did rounds of interviews on Sunday discussing the initiative to discuss a deal with Hamas. Washington wants the hostages released, and Trump has met with the hostages. The president wants something to happen. He is willing to do what it takes to get the hostages, including Americans, out of Gaza.
In some circles in Israel, there has been concern about the direct talks with Hamas. The Jewish state doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to do a deal, while the US appears to be in more of a rush to get the hostages out of Gaza. Hamas understands the interplay here and assumes it can sit for Ramadan and that nothing will happen.
Israel has said it has cut off aid to Gaza and also now cut off electricity. These decisions seem more performative than effective.
Hamas has electricity in the enclave and has stockpiled aid from the first phase of the ceasefire. Therefore, Hamas continues to relax. It reads the Israeli reports about Jerusalem incrementally increasing pressure and considering other operations in Gaza.
Hamas thinks nothing is going to happen, and it also seems to believe it can play the US off against itself by stalling and carrying out various tracks of discussions via Doha and Cairo.
The overall story here is simple. It’s in Hamas’s interests to have a ceasefire and recuperate and rebuild. So long as Israel and the US are willing to talk endlessly with Hamas – just as happened throughout 2024 with no resulting deal – Hamas and its allies in Doha and Cairo will continue to outplay Israel and the US.
This is the story of how Hamas received a Ramadan ceasefire and so far has not had to do anything in return.
U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, when asked about the negative Arab reactions to Trump’s plan, said, “I think it is going to cause the entire region to come [up] with their own solutions.”Knesset Caucus explores Trump relocation plan as only realistic alternative
The Egyptian government has responded, drafting a plan calling for a five-year, $53 billion reconstruction of Gaza, which the Arab League adopted on March 4. It is an opening bid, flawed in many ways, including one-sided condemnations of Israel, and it may be overcome by events if as many expect Israel resumes its counter-offensive and re-occupies Gaza in order to further diminish Hamas.
But the Egyptian plan does offer a glimmer of a future possible deal. It departs ever so slightly from the Washington consensus belief in a “reformed” P.A. overseeing Gaza; instead it calls for a transitional “technocratic” government of Gaza “under the umbrella” of the P. A. It also foresees roles for an International Contact Group to support reconstruction and for international peacekeepers (albeit under the United Nations, which has a bad history in both Lebanon and Gaza and is unacceptable to Israel).
A possible way forward hinted at in the Egyptian plan would be a non-U.N. multi-national mission to deploy to Gaza, following a full Israeli dismantling of Hamas’s military, to provide security, restore public services and replace the Hamas civilian government. Over time, such a mission would oversee economic reconstruction contingent on and linked to Palestinian governance progress. A group of American former officials (disclosure: including me) produced just such a plan for Gaza, based on successful international missions in Bosnia and Kosovo. That plan is consistent with a UAE proposal; it addresses Israel’s focus on reforming Gaza’s educational system and de-radicalizing the population; and it meets American concerns with not putting U.S. troops on the ground (rather they provide organizational leadership, logistical and intelligence support).
A multi-national mission could also be consistent with elements of President Trump’s vision—it would be temporary but of sufficiently long duration to allow for a full reconstruction contingent on governance progress; it could allow for American financial smarts and entrepreneurial ingenuity. Special Envoy Witkoff spoke of 20 years; the international mission in Bosnia is still there 30 years later, though reduced in size.
Gaza was once a jewel of the Mediterranean. Byzantine jurists educated in Gaza participated in the drafting of the Justinian Code, the basis for much of Western law. The word “Gaza” means treasure house in medieval Arabic (and in ancient Egyptian). If we discard the old narrative, and encourage Israelis and Arabs to respond to the alternative Trump vision, we could be on the path to another peace breakthrough in the Middle East.
The Knesset Land of Israel Caucus, the largest lobby in Israel’s parliament, representing some 80 Knesset members, threw its weight behind U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza relocation plan during a special conference it hosted in the Knesset on Sunday.Dermer lobbied for moving Gazans to Sinai during ‘tense’ meet with Egyptian official
The conference, titled, “The New Middle East: The Plan for Voluntary Migration from Gaza,” featured numerous speakers, both Knesset members and activists.
“It’s amazing how issues that would have sounded completely absurd a few years ago … have today become the consensus,” said Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, chairman of the Religious Zionism Party. “We were thought of as crazy, delusional. It turns out that the crazy people are the knowledgeable realists,” he added.
“I was in the United States last week and they asked me on several occasions what I thought about President Trump’s plan. I told them… ‘It’s the only plan that is realistic for peace, for security. The only one—there is no other way,” Smotrich said.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana of the Likud Party said that the world had sadly become “accustomed” to the two-state paradigm as the only solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
He noted the idea had been tested with the 2005 disengagement, in which Israel evacuated some 8,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria. Israel was rewarded with terrorism and thousands of rockets fired at its cities, culminating in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre.
Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, one of the co-chairmen of the Land of Israel Caucus, and chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, agreed that “those who thought that the Oslo Accords would bring us a new Middle East were doomed to failure from the outset.”
Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionism Party, another co-chairman of the caucus and who also serves as chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, indicated that the two-state solution was dead, noting that 99 Knesset members voted against the establishment of a Palestinian state in February of last year “with a clear understanding that the path that the State of Israel has taken over the past years had been mistaken.”
Referring to Trump’s comments that the world was witnessing “a revolution of common sense,” Rothman said it is “now our duty to bring solutions based on common sense.”
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer held a “tense” meeting with a senior Egyptian official late last month in Jerusalem, during which the latter sought to convey Cairo’s fervent position against moving Gazans into the Sinai Peninsula, an Israeli official and a second source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.MEMRI: Gaza – The Day After And The Way Forward
The Egyptian official relayed that Cairo is alarmed by calls from Israeli politicians to push Palestinians into Gaza and stressed that Egypt views any such effort as an existential threat, the sources said.
According to the sources, Dermer responded by maintaining that the Egyptian people are not as opposed to taking in Gazans as the Egyptian government is.
Alarmed by the answer — in addition to disagreeing with it — Egyptian officials have since sought to arrange a meeting for Dermer with some of the country’s more senior leaders in Cairo in order to further make the case against the relocation of Palestinians into the Sinai.
While Egypt was hoping that the meeting would take place earlier this month, it has not yet been finalized, the sources said.
A spokesperson for Dermer said his office wouldn’t comment on private meetings.
Dermer was last in Cairo in January, quietly traveling there for meetings to discuss bilateral security coordination, the sources said.
The idea of moving Palestinians to Egypt is also being pushed by US President Donald Trump, who proposed that the US take over Gaza and relocate all of its roughly two million residents.
The media, which should have known better, are talking about the day after the Gaza war as if it will be characterized by a political solution for peace. This is the last thing that will be possible after the war ends, if and when it does. Arab positions have become severely radicalized, and this is because the war in Gaza and on Israel's northern border have given rise to new hope in the hearts of the Palestinians and the Arabs. This new hope is based on the belief that Israel is not as strong as they thought and as it presented itself, and that in fact according to the testimony of Israelis themselves – on numerous television shows – had Hizbullah done as expected, that is, fire thousands of missiles a day out of its arsenal of 150,000 and unleash its Radwan force to raid the Galilee, it is not clear that Israel would still be in existence today.Alan Baker: 'Hasbara' has failed: Israel must adopt rights-based diplomacy
The Arabs have also learned that taking hostages is a strategic weapon to be used against those with Western values. It should be assumed that in any future war in which one side is Western, whether Israel or anyone else, this weapon will be used.
For these reasons, the chance of a successful arrangement is now much lower than it was previously.
In addition, in light of the catastrophes that the war has brought, the Arabs have learned that the use of Arab civilians as human shields is highly effective against Israel and similar foes. This is because in the end, the Western world does not blame Hamas for taking hostages and using their own people as human shields, but blames Israel for fighting for its life.
All this has given the Arabs and Palestinians new hope. It is not yet the time to make peace – only temporary arrangements.
In light of this situation, there are two approaches: One is that of President Trump, and the other is that of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Qatar, Hamas, and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Trump's approach is drastic: Free all the hostages, or there will be hell to pay. Or, in the absence of peace, evacuate everyone from Gaza and turn it into a riviera.
In contrast, there is the phased approach of agreements – another five hostages, another 10 hostages, another cohort of several hundred Palestinian security prisoners released, another 30 days, another 42 days. This is the approach favored by the Netanyahu-Qatar-Hamas-Witkoff quartet.
Without judging the practicality or morality of either of these approaches, and while many protest against the Trump plan as immoral, but have nothing to say about immorality of Hamas's plan to transfer all the Jews out of Israel after they win (that is, the Jews who survive the coming massacre), what is clear is that at this point, no solution is possible. Inter alia, this is because the Arab countries, including those who signed peace agreements with Israel such as the UAE, have no real interest in peace with Israel. This is after Israel proved to be treacherous – namely, after the UAE made peace with Israel, Israel went with Qatar, the UAE's enemy and the foremost sponsor of Islamist terrorism worldwide. As for Egypt, all it wants is a fat cut of the Gaza reconstruction funds.
Tomorrow, March 4, the Cairo conference postponed from February 27 will take place. Today, they are already saying that there will be another conference in Riyadh on March 6. The disagreements among all the Arab elements and the Palestinians vis-à-vis the future are such that it is hard to believe that anything will emerge from these conferences.
In order to fuel such hatred the Palestinian leadership, supported by Muslim states, has incessantly sought to manufacture fictitious accusations against Israel. These include blatantly and knowingly false claims of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, genocide, and the like.New study shuts down ICC charges against Israel over Gaza starvation claims
The supposed paragons of international virtue manufacturing such fake accusations, whose motives and utter hypocrisy and duplicity are clear to all, are motivated and led by the dubious South African regime, at the initiative of Iran, with the active support of an unbelievable mafia of like-minded hypocrites such as Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Spain, Turkey, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
Israel’s hasbara policy has not been able to cope with, or to halt, this. The massive renaissance of international antisemitism on the streets of Western capitals since the October 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas, the growing international campaign to delegitimize Israel, the growing influence of Islamic fanaticism – all these have occurred despite Israel’s failed attempts at hasbara.
ACCORDINGLY, IN the light of this situation, one may indeed ask why the continued need to explain, to apologize, to excuse, and to ingratiate ourselves on an international community that has consistently resented and continues to resent Israel and to cynically and openly demonstrate its aversion?
Why should Israel continue to grovel before the world with its failed hasbara policies?
The time has come to reverse this negative and self-flagellating policy. Israel must now openly, proudly, assertively, and not embarrassedly demonstrate to the world its rights-based diplomacy.
If Israel’s territorial integrity or political independence is threatened by terrorism or by any rogue regime, Israel has the right to take whatever military action is necessary, without having to apologize for this, to excuse or to justify it.
It is high time that Israel’s approach to the international community be one of confidence and assertiveness, not of apology. This in the knowledge that in fighting to protect its own integrity and rights, it is also protecting the integrity of those other states throughout the world threatened by Islamic fanaticism.
By adopting such an assertive rights-based attitude, it is highly likely that the other states in the international community will finally acknowledge Israel’s vital contribution to their own survival, rather than constantly criticizing Israel.
A newly released study is challenging the International Criminal Court's (ICC) investigation of starvation claims against Israel and exposes the Hamas terror organization's role in controlling aid distribution.Eli Lake: How Trump Loosened the Rules for Hunting Terrorists
Just last week, as a result of Hamas terrorists' refusal to extend the ceasefire deal and start releasing the 59 hostages still held in Gaza, the Israeli government decided to halt all goods and supplies going into Gaza.
Yet despite howls of criticism from U.N. relief chief Tom Fletcher, who called the decision "alarming," the Trump administration has given its blessing to the move.
Retired Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF international spokesperson and now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, dismissed claims of starvation, telling Fox News Digital that Hamas hoards supplies while Israel ensures aid enters. "Over 25,200 trucks arrived during the ceasefire – enough for four months. If there’s hunger, it’s because of Hamas corruption, not a lack of food," he said.
The study published by Israeli public health experts, based on data from Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), challenges these claims, showing no evidence of famine or intentional deprivation.
The study, named "Food supplied to Gaza during seven months of the Hamas-Israel war," was led by nutrition and public health experts Aron Troen and Ronit Endevelt, along with researchers from multiple Israeli universities and the Ministry of Health. The study analyzed food shipments into Gaza from January to July 2024.
Using international food composition databases and the Sphere humanitarian standards, they tracked calorie intake, nutritional value, and humanitarian aid efforts, providing an objective, data-driven analysis of food supplies delivered to Gaza during the first seven months of the war.
The research assessed food shipments from international donors processed through COGAT. Each item was categorized based on its energy content, protein, fat and micronutrient composition. The total nutritional supply per capita was then measured against international benchmarks to ensure accuracy.
"We didn't enter politics," said professor Ronit Endevelt. "We just wanted to know if, from a nutritional perspective, the food entering Gaza was sufficient. We double-checked our data multiple times to avoid exaggeration."
Between January and April 2024, 14,916 trucks carrying 227,854 tons of food entered Gaza, averaging 124 food trucks per day. The study found that the daily per capita caloric supply averaged 3,374 kcal, with 101 grams of protein and 80.6 grams of fat – meeting or exceeding international humanitarian food aid standards.
"In March 2024, the United Nations Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned of imminent famine in Gaza. Within days, cautious technical language gave way to media headlines and political statements claiming mass starvation was already underway," professor Troen told Fox News Digital.
"One of the most persistent falsehoods has been the claim that before the war, 500 or more humanitarian trucks entered Gaza daily, and that this number was necessary to meet the population’s needs. In reality, the number of food trucks was around or fewer than 100 per day before the war, and has since increased substantially," he continued. "Our study aimed to address that gap by analyzing verified food shipments. The numbers show that while there were variations, at no point did the food supply drop to starvation levels."
When Dr. Sebastian Gorka started his job as the senior director for counterterrorism at the White House’s National Security Council, one of the first things he did was order new lanyards for his team with eight letters and an ampersand: WWFY & WWKY. These cryptic abbreviations were drawn from a quote from Gorka’s boss, President Donald Trump: “We will find you, and we will kill you.”MEMRI: Advisor To Saudi King: We Must Unite Behind Trump's Vision For Peace And Stability In The Region As We Rallied Behind The U.S. During The First Gulf War
Gorka has fashioned that directive into a new policy that streamlines the process for the CIA and U.S. military to find, fix, and finish terrorists all over the Islamic world. The old protocols held that the president or national security adviser had to sign off on every strike. Now the authority to approve these air strikes and drone strikes sits lower down the chain of command.
“We undid four years of the insanity of the 8,000-mile UAV joystick,” Gorka told The Free Press.
In practice, one U.S. intelligence official told The Free Press, midlevel CIA and military officers in charge of targeting teams now have the authority to approve the operations. Another senior Trump administration official told The Free Press, “There are still significant levels of checks and balances in place, and the president has confidence in his military to act within their lawful authorities.”
To demonstrate the change in approach, Gorka relayed a story of a visit to a facility where analysts were watching an ISIS command center near Bosaso, Somalia, composed of a complex of caves. Gorka learned that the analysts had been watching the ISIS recruiter and facilitator, Ahmed Maeleninine, for a year and a half.
When Gorka briefed Trump in early February, the president was bewildered that Maeleninine and his henchmen had not been taken out. “What do you mean, we’ve been surveilling them for a year and a half? Kill them,” Gorka recalled Trump saying. On February 11, U.S. Africa Command announced that Maeleninine had been killed along with 13 other ISIS operatives. Gorka said he watched the operation unfold at a secure location with national security adviser Mike Waltz. “We watched that cave complex turned into a sheet of glass,” Gorka said.
Since Trump took office in January, the U.S. has killed at least 23 jihadists in air strikes in Syria and Somalia. These strikes include a February 23 drone attack that killed a facilitator for al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, Hurras al-Din, trumpeted a week later on social media by U.S. Central Command. That strike appeared to use a missile known as the “Ninja bomb” that slices and dices the target instead of exploding on impact, a munition designed to minimize civilian casualties.
Gorka said that one of the first things he did after taking the job on January 20 was to tour the intelligence facilities and military locations where “our patriots are sitting in places watching bad actors, staring at massive computer screens, tracking people who killed Americans.” According to Gorka, these targeting teams were often frustrated. “For four years these patriots were watching terrorism foment and report[ing] it up through the chain of command, and nothing happened,” Gorka said.
On March 4, 2025, senior Saudi diplomat Hassan Yassin,[1] who serves as an advisor to King Salman bin Abdulaziz, published in the English-language daily Arab News an article titled "Let the World Join Forces, as It Did in 1991." In the article he welcomed the efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump to form a new world order grounded in coexistence and cooperation and called on the Arab countries to support this initiative, as they supported the U.S.-led coalition during the first Gulf War in 1991. Trump's policy of reconciliation and resolving conflicts, he said, can bring an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict and usher in a new age of peace, stability and cooperation in the region.Call me Back Podcast - with Dan Senor: Former Defense Minister YOAV GALLANT (Part 2) - The Hostage Dilemma
It should be mentioned that, on December 17, 2024, Yassin published a similar article in which he argued that the current developments in the Middle East create an opportunity for advancing peace, including with Israel, after many years of chaos.[2]
The following are excerpts from Yassin's recent article:[3]
"On Nov. 29, 1990, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 678, empowering a US-led coalition to use 'all necessary means' to remove Iraqi troops from Kuwait if [they did not leave] by Jan. 15, 1991. It was a historic vote in the UNSC, with neither China nor the Soviet Union resorting to their veto power. China abstained and the Soviet Union voted for the resolution. This ultimately led to a 42-country coalition enforcing the UN resolution militarily and with success. Just as in 1991, the world order is today shifting and there are new opportunities for the world to come together to end disputes and foster a new atmosphere of cooperation.
"There is no denying that US President Donald Trump is upending old methods and alliances, forcing a new world order. While we may not all be fans of the new president or his impulsiveness, there is clearly an opportunity to contribute to a new world order that can be focused on ending disputes and promoting greater cooperation worldwide. On a geostrategic level, President Trump is moving from confrontation to greater dialogue and cooperation with the great powers that are Russia and China. The US remains the world’s most influential power and has the capacity to provide an impulse similar to that which led to a global coalition removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.
Last month we published the first in a series of interviews with former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, telling the story of the October 7th War from his unique vantage point. Our first interview, “Four Days in October,” focused on the intense deliberations that took place behind closed doors regarding the possibility of Israel responding to its stronger adversary first, Hezbollah in Lebanon, rather than Hamas in the Gaza Strip. If you have not heard or seen that interview, you can find it here.
For the second interview in our series with General Gallant, we focused on the most difficult aspect of this war - the hostages in Gaza and the efforts to bring them home.
Yoav Gallant served as Israel’s Defense Minister from 2022 until 2024. He was fired by Benjamin Netanyahu twice in those two years, first in 2023, when massive protests in Israel led Netanyahu to reverse his decision, then again in November of 2024. Gallant is a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party. His military career spans five decades, beginning in 1977 as a naval commando in Shayetet 13, and serving as chief of the IDF’s Southern Command during Operation Cast Lead, an early war with Hamas that lasted from late 2008 to early 2009.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:28 Reflecting back on taking in the trauma of Israeli hostages being taken
05:18 What were the real-time reactions to the situation at the time?
08:21 Looking back on previous hostage situations in Israel and Israeli policy in dealing with these situations
16:31 Reaction to interview with Eli Sharabi
22:00 Gilad Shalit and the high price of a hostage deal
26:44 Early assessments that no hostages would come back alive
34:49 Early intelligence about the Bibas family
37:24 Operations that were planned but not executed
41:22 Getting the hostages back vs Destroying Hamas: paradoxical objectives of the war
48:10 Negotiations prior to Nasrallah’s death and Iran’s weakened state
59:10 Intelligence on the hostages’ conditions
01:03:20 How could Hamas’s takeaway from the war be anything other than the merit of taking Israeli hostages?
Seth Frantzman: US envoy Boehler faces scrutiny after Israeli media interviews
AT THE end of the day, Boehler has a thankless task. Hostage talks have often become a snake’s den, with competing agendas, sabotage, and appearances of Doha’s double-dealing.One of Israel's goals in Doha – repair damage caused by Boehler
Israel held fruitless talks for a year since the breakdown of the first ceasefire on December 1, 2023. In many cases, it didn’t appear Jerusalem took the issue of the hostages seriously, and some Israeli politicians openly said returning hostages was not a priority; they even voted against bringing them home.
Commentators slandered the hostage families and claimed their protests were helping Hamas. In one of the most bizarre incidents in January 2024, Israel claimed to transfer medicine to the hostages in a cardboard box in a deal with France and Qatar. The box looked more like a prop – it looked quickly taped together – than a serious effort, leaving questions as to whether anyone in Jerusalem even believed the aid would reach the hostages.
Boehler understands the challenge that lies ahead. He was involved in the effort to free Marc Fogel from Russia. However, stepping into the limelight of Israeli media and competing interests in Israel may be more of a challenge than dealing with a more simple linear issue of freeing an American from Russia.
In terms of freeing Americans abroad, the road may be hard, but the coverage will be positive because everyone wants people like Fogel to come home. This is a big difference from how hostages are treated in some sectors in Israel.
One Israeli politician, when asked if he had seen an interview with former hostage Eli Sharabi, said he had “more important things to do.”
Sharabi was held in Gaza for 491 days, and his wife and daughters were murdered on October 7. Trump met with him and embraced him, in contrast to how he was treated by some back in Israel.
At home, Israeli hostages are sometimes treated like they are unwanted, and their supporters have been slandered and accused of helping Hamas. It is in this lion’s den that Boehler ends up finding himself when talking to local media. In America, most don’t hate on the families of hostages or accuse them of helping the enemy; no politicians say: “I have more important things to do” when asked about Americans such as Fogel.
The way people discuss this issue in Israel is completely different from that in the US. Amit Segal, chief political analyst for the N12 news site, wrote on social media that if this person was an envoy of former US president Joe Biden, “he would be burned here in the fires of hell for his delusional words and his meetings with Hamas.”
Others have pointed out that Boehler might have misspoken in his interviews, appearing to describe Hamas members who were released as “hostages” and Israelis as “prisoners” at various points.
“I want to be CRYSTAL CLEAR – as some have misinterpreted. Hamas is a terrorist organization that has murdered thousands of innocent people. They are BY DEFINITION BAD people. And as President Donald Trump has said, not a single Hamas member will be safe if Hamas doesn’t RELEASE ALL HOSTAGES IMMEDIATELY,” Boehler wrote on social media on Sunday.
The fallout from the engagement with Hamas and the interviews may blow over, or it may not – time will tell. If a deal happens, then many will be able to take credit. As is often said, victory has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.
It’s worth reaching out to Hamas if something happens. If the terrorist group feels empowered and a deal is now further off, then this will not be a positive development.
Israel conveyed strongly worded messages to the White House Sunday following controversial statements made by Trump administration's hostage release envoy, Adam Boehler. Following these diplomatic communications, the senior American official published clarifications and corrections to statements he made on television networks – this was reported Sunday at the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet meeting.Not all of Trump's envoys truly speak for him
In response to a headline quoting him saying Hamas members are "good guys," Boehler posted on X: "I want to be CRYSTAL CLEAR as some have misinterpreted. Hamas is a terrorist organization that has murdered thousands of innocent people. They are BY DEFINITION BAD people. And as [the president] has said, not a single Hamas member will be safe if Hamas doesn't RELEASE ALL HOSTAGES IMMEDIATELY."
Boehler's clarification came after a series of controversial statements he made on US and Israeli television networks Sunday, where he stated among other things that "I don't care," in his words, what Israelis think, that the US is "not an agent of Israel," that a long-term ceasefire could be reached with Hamas, and that Hamas members he met "don't have horns growing out of their head. They're actually guys like us. They're pretty nice guys."
The statements provoked widespread condemnation in both Israel and the United States. Senior conservative commentator Mark Levin described Boehler's words as "shocking" and questioned "who is this envoy." Former US Ambassador David Friedman wrote that Boehler had deviated from the policy guidelines established by President Trump. "This past week, President Trump brilliantly presented Hamas with a binary choice: release all the hostages and surrender, or be destroyed. It is the only path to ending the war. on the Sunday news shows, he took the unprecedented step to meet with Hamas to consider a third way — whether a deal could be struck where Hamas "would not be involved" in governing Gaza. A deal with Hamas is a waste of time and will never be kept. Attempting one is beneath the dignity of the United States. Adam, I know you mean well but listen to your boss. The choice must remain binary," Friedman wrote on X.
During Sunday's Cabinet meeting, ministers received a briefing on the situation, and according to the presentation, following communications from Jerusalem to Washington, the White House instructed Boehler to issue the clarification. A political source responded that "there is full coordination with the United States. Boehler's tweet Sunday night clarifies this well."
Adam Boehler statement controversy offers insight into Trump administration's inner workings. The controversy surrounding Adam Boehler's bizarre statements provides a good opportunity to examine the inner workings of the Trump administration, and not just in the Israeli context.US hostage envoy Boehler defends direct talks with Hamas
The 47th president returned with a very deep lesson from his tenure as the 45th president. Complete trust. These are the magic words. That is, there are many officials who hold very senior positions in the administration. However, there is only a small circle of actual trusted individuals. They and only they are involved in decision-making.
All the others, no matter how impressive their title or position, are in the second circle. Sometimes even less than that. The implication is that not everyone who appears on screens as a Trump administration representative actually fully represents the president. Complex and unusual, but that's just the way it is.
Steve Witkoff, Trump's friend of decades and who holds the title of "United States special envoy to the Middle East," is definitely included in the inner circle. Adam Boehler, who is defined as the "United States envoy for hostages," is not included in it.
And so Witkoff is the one entrusted with the most important missions. He crafted phase one of the hostage deal that is indeed within his mandate, but he was also sent to finalize a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, which are not exactly located in the Middle East.
Witkoff is also the one who went to Moscow on Trump's behalf to bring home American prisoner Marc Fogel. Boehler, whose ostensible role this is, did not join that dramatic trip to the Kremlin. Boehler also did not participate in the meeting between Netanyahu and Trump at the White House a month ago and was not involved in crafting the first deal. On the other hand, he did receive approval – apparently as a result of his own initiative – to meet with senior Hamas officials in Qatar.
Since Boehler holds an official position, it cannot be said that he did not represent the US in his meetings with senior Hamas officials. However, those familiar with the internal dynamics know that he was not speaking on behalf of Trump. And what he certainly did not do – Boehler did not represent Israel, although he created such an impression with Hamas officials and the general public. No one authorized him to talk about "a long-term ceasefire of five or ten years," while the consistent Israeli position is the destruction of Hamas.
Boehler's bigger mistake was publicizing the problematic conversations with Hamas. As long as he conducted them covertly, he indeed caused damage but at least spared the embarrassment. His choice yesterday to move between countless American and Israeli media outlets, and to release strange statements in those interviews, some sympathetic toward Hamas and hostile to Israel, both elevated Hamas and angered quite a few people in the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem and the White House in Washington.
U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler confirmed on Sunday in a series of television interviews with American and Israeli media that direct talks with Hamas had indeed taken place, despite long-standing American policy against negotiating with terrorists.Israel asks for clarifications after Boehler’s Hamas ‘nice guys’ comment
“The reason that I met Hamas is because I want to work to help to get Americans and Israelis out,” he said during an interview with Israel’s Kan News, adding that he wanted to know the terror group’s demands for ending the war. “Some of the things that they talked about were relatively reasonable things and workable things,” he said.
Boehler claimed that Hamas had suggested a prisoners-for-hostages swap—releasing the remaining 59 hostages in Gaza, both living and deceased, for an unspecified number of Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons. The terror group had also suggested a five- to 10-year truce, “where Hamas would lay down all weapons and where the United States would help as well as other countries [to] ensure that there are no tunnels, there’s nothing taken on the military side and that Hamas is not involved in politics going forward.”
The emissary emphasized that he is acting on the orders of U.S. President Donald Trump, “who instructed me to get every single person home.”
U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling to Doha, Qatar on Tuesday for ceasefire talks, joining an Israeli delegation that arrived at the Qatari capital on Monday.
The talks will be the first since Trump took office on Jan. 20 and since the initial Israel-Hamas agreement that established a 42-day ceasefire in Gaza, which ended on March 1 after securing the release of 33 hostages, both living and deceased.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Boehler said negotiators had “very productive talks” and that Hamas “provided some very interesting views.” He posited that Hamas saw “a long-term truce where we forgive prisoners, where they would be disarmed, a truce where they would not be part of the political policy, and a truce where we would ensure that they are in a place where they can’t hurt Israel.”Adam Boehler speaks to i24NEWS on direct Hamas talks
Boehler also used language equating Israeli hostages, most of whom were taken from their homes or a music festival, to Palestinian prisoners detained due to security offenses and, in some cases, convicted on multiple counts of murder.
On Channel 13, Boehler criticized Israel for “exchanging massive amounts of hostages” in reference to the number of Palestinian prisoners Israel has freed for each hostage.
On Channel 11 and in The Jerusalem Post, Boehler referred to the potential to free more hostages as prisoner exchanges.
The equivalence Boehler drew was disturbing to Israeli officials, Jewish Insider has learned.
While the Israeli government has not commented publicly on Boehler’s latest remarks, Knesset Law, Constitution and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman, a close confidant of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, criticized Boehler.
“Whoever is quoting what Hamas says and negotiating with Hamas directly is making a huge mistake that endangers the hostages,” Rothman said. “I’m not arguing about the importance of saving hostages and not about the need to free them all … I think Adam Boehler and anyone who is negotiating with Hamas is doing significant damage to [the effort to] return the hostages.”
US Special Hostage Envoy Adam Boehler speaks to i24NEWS' Amichai Stein after reaching out to Hamas for direct talks that Washington is conducting without Israel's direct involvement
France working with Arab states for one-stage hostage release
France supports a one-time release of all hostages held in Gaza as part of a comprehensive agreement to end the war, Ofer Bronchtein, the Israeli advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron, said in a statement released on Monday.The absurd naivety of HTS’s Western cheerleaders
“France supports a one-time release of all hostages. We stand with the families and back the effort to make this happen—a single, inclusive deal that returns all the hostages to their families and ends the war,” said Bronchtein, who has served as Macron’s mission officer for rapprochement between Israelis and Palestinians since July 2020.
Diplomatic push for a post-war plan
According to Bronchtein, France is engaged in diplomatic efforts involving all relevant actors, including Arab states, to facilitate such an agreement.
“It’s time to end the war and move to the next phase—working together on a joint post-war initiative that will ensure Israel’s security and replace Hamas rule in Gaza, creating a better future for the entire region,” he said.
France has been involved in ongoing negotiations aimed at securing a hostage release deal, and Macron has previously emphasized the need for a long-term political solution that would stabilize the region.
Sharaa has condemned this mass slaughter of Alawites, and claimed that ‘anyone whose hands are stained with the blood of Syrians will face justice sooner rather than later’. Yet there’s an unmistakably hollow sound to his words, given the involvement of his own forces.Who is the real al-Julani? West still preplexed
This weekend’s violence, as old ethnic grievances were pursued with new HTS-backed vigour, ought to shatter any illusions that Western politicos and pundits have about Sharaa’s new Syria.
The question is why so many harboured such illusions about Sharaa and HTS in the first place. Just look at his background. He is a product of the militant Islamist reaction that has swept parts of the Middle East over the past few decades. As a teenager, he was inspired by Hamas’s first uprising against Israel at the turn of the millennium and later al-Qaeda’s attack on the Twin Towers in 2001. By the mid-to-late 2000s, he was fighting for al-Qaeda in Iraq against the US and its allies, after which he returned to Syria to take up arms against Assad, eventually taking a leading role in al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front, during the Syrian civil war.
In Syria in 2016, al-Nusra Front, which was to become what we now know as HTS, broke with al-Qaeda. Sharaa and his Islamist militia developed a formidable reputation as a fighting force, specialising in suicide bombings, improvised explosive devices and merciless attacks on the Syrian military. By 2017, HTS had taken effective control of a significant part of north-western Syria where, backed in part by Turkey, Sharaa established the ‘government of salvation’, with its capital in Idlib.
Its governance of north-western Syria always provided a grim hint of what an HTS-run national government might look like – if anyone cared to look. Its militants menaced Christian and Druze communities, suppressed minorities’ freedoms and even carried out executions of some of those who refused to convert to Islam. Its rule was theocratic and repressive. Women were made to dress conservatively, and some were even forced to step down from public roles.
Despite Sharaa’s recent West-friendly talk of protecting minority rights, promoting women’s inclusion and establishing the rule of law, there’s little to suggest this is sincere. Many of the senior roles in Sharaa’s new provisional government have been filled by his associates from the government of salvation. There have already been attempts on the part of certain officials to suppress women’s freedoms and introduce an Islamic education system.
More disturbingly, there have also been ongoing reports that HTS security forces have been rounding up and executing alleged Assad supporters. Last week’s slaughter of Alawite civilians was not quite the aberration Sharaa is attempting to portray it as.
Yet despite the many reasons for maintaining a critical distance from Assad’s Islamist topplers, Western politicians and midwit pundits like Stewart and Campbell have rushed to embrace them. This is mainly because of their long-standing, simple-minded view of foreign affairs. Since the 2011 uprising against Assad, they have effectively spent the past 14 years calling for his regime to be toppled, viewing it as pure evil. Little wonder, then, that they were so willing to anoint Assad’s topplers as the good guys, the liberators, the bringers of peace – whoever they might be. They spent so long reducing the complex reality of the Syrian conflict to a battle between a wicked tyrant and virtuous rebels, that they have ended up celebrating a group of vicious Islamists.
The civil war may be over. But Syria remains a fractured, volatile country, pushed and pulled by forces both external and internal. HTS may be in control of central and north-western Syria, but Turkish proxies operating under the banner of the Syrian National Army dominate the northern border regions. And they are in conflict with the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which effectively govern the east.
Syria, as it stands, is a patchwork of violently antagonistic forces controlling far-from-secure territories, with regional and international powers still exerting influence from afar. Politically fuelled, ethnically framed friction abounds. To have ever seen Sharaa and HTS as Syria’s saviour was always beyond naive.
The interim president has worked to rebrand both himself and Syria, touring provinces and meeting with Christian, Alawite, and Druze minority representatives. While maintaining an Islamist outlook, his government has not banned alcohol or imposed dress codes on women, The New York Times reported.Israel redrawing its borders in Syria and Lebanon
In his diplomatic engagements, al-Sharaa has tailored his message to each host. When meeting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, he wore a green tie reflecting the Saudi flag, while choosing a red tie for his meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey. Breaking with conservative Muslim traditions of keeping wives out of public view, al-Sharaa's spouse Latifa al-Droubi has accompanied him on official visits, including meeting with Erdogan's wife.
Regarding regional relations, al-Sharaa has spoken cautiously about Israel, calling on it to respect a decades-old truce along their shared border. He has also measured his comments about Russia, despite its military support for Assad and bombing of rebel communities. His contact with the Trump administration appears limited, though in a recent interview on the podcast The Rest Is Politics – Leading, he praised President Trump for his interest in "peace building" and his "positive approach to both the Middle East and future US policy in the region."
Critics accuse al-Sharaa of telling audiences what they want to hear while downplaying his extremist background and the violent records of some associates. One rebel who appointed him president, Ahmad al-Hayes, stands accused by the United States of overseeing torture, killing detainees, trafficking women and children, and running extortion schemes. Another supporter, Mohammad al-Jasim, is accused by the US of commanding forces that displaced residents to seize property and kidnapped people for ransom.
The current government consists primarily of al-Sharaa's loyalists, including some who have been with him since his jihadist days, and his brother serves as health minister. Social media videos showing Justice Minister Shadi al-Waisi presiding over street executions of two women in 2015 have horrified many Syrians. The new government's media relations office did not respond to The New York Times request for comment.
Extreme religious influences were evident in al-Sharaa's administration as recently as last August, when ultraconservative clerics forced the cancellation of a Paralympic-style event in northwestern Syria after accusing participants of "worshiping fire" – considered sinful in Islam.
Despite this, Fuad Sayed Issa, founder of Violet, the organization that arranged the games, expressed optimism about the new leadership. "We now feel that things are going better," he told The New York Times. "The leader has an open mind-set and they are taking Syria to a better place."
Al-Sharaa's allegiances shifted repeatedly during the war. Originally entering Syria from Iraq with Islamic State support, he later broke with the group and pledged allegiance to al-Qaida before announcing a split in 2016. His original group, the Nusra Front, fought against and alongside other rebels over the years, rebranding twice and becoming Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2017.
Orwa Ajjoub, a doctoral candidate studying HTS at Malmo University in Sweden, suggested al-Sharaa's history indicates he is guided more by power considerations than rigid ideology. "He has changed a lot, and he is genuine in this change," Ajjoub told The New York Times. "On one hand, there is a pragmatism that is encouraging and it gives you some hope. But on the other, the lengths to which he is willing to go to stay in power are scary.
On Feb. 24, 2025, protests erupted in southern Syria, with several hundred demonstrators rallying in multiple locations against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent call for the demilitarization of the area south of Damascus.Israeli FM: Alawite massacre shows Israel took the right approach to Syria
The protesters chanted against Netanyahu and denounced any infringement on Syrian sovereignty.
A day earlier, on Feb. 23, during a ceremony marking the completion of an officer training course—shortly after the funerals in Lebanon of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his deputy Hashem Safi al-Din, who Israel assassinated—Netanyahu declared that Israeli forces would remain stationed at various strategic locations in Lebanon and Syria.
“We demand the full demilitarization of southern Syria from forces loyal to the new regime. Additionally, we will not tolerate any threats to the Druze community in southern Syria,” Netanyahu stated.
He further emphasized: “In Syria, IDF forces will remain on Mount Hermon and in the buffer zone indefinitely to protect our communities and neutralize any threats. We will not allow HTS [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham] forces or the New Syrian Army to enter the area south of Damascus.”
“As for Lebanon, we will continue to maintain a presence,” he added.
“We are holding strategic positions along our northern border inside Lebanon, facing our communities, until the Lebanese Army and government fulfill all their commitments under the agreement,” he said.
Senior Israeli political sources assert that the war imposed on Israel by the “Axis of Evil” led by Iran is reshaping the Middle East.
In full coordination with the Trump administration, Israel is drawing lessons from Hamas’s surprise attack on Israeli communities near Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.
As a result, Israel is redefining its borders in Syria and Lebanon according to its security needs while strengthening ties with its Druze allies in Syria.
According to these officials, Israel will not return to the pre-Oct. 7, 2023, reality.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar defended Israel’s cautious approach to the new Syrian government and its leader, former Al-Qaida member Ahmed al-Sharaa, in a Knesset speech on Monday, citing the regime’s mass killings of members of the country’s Alawite minority over the weekend.Israeli gov't approved five year plan for Druze, Circassian communities in the north
Sa’ar noted that on a recent trip to Brussels, he warned his European counterparts that the new Syrian government, led by Al-Sharaa, who previously was known as Mohammed Al-Jolani, “is not a democratically elected regime but rather a Jihadist group that ruled the Idlib enclave and seized additional territories in Syria by force, including the capital, Damascus.”
“I warned my colleagues about the sweet talk of Al-Jolani and his men and cautioned against acts of revenge and violence against the Alawite minority, as well as their intention to annihilate the Kurdish autonomy,” Sa’ar said.
Syrian security forces reportedly massacred 830 Alawite Syrians on Friday and Saturday. The Alawite sect, to which deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belonged, is about 10% of Syria’s population. Al-Sharaa, said his regime will hold anyone who killed civilians accountable, but also blamed “remnants of the foreign regime” whom he said were “trying to incite new strife and drag our country into a civil war.”
Sa’ar said, “This past weekend proved that our approach was realistic and, unfortunately, that my warnings were accurate. [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the paramilitary group led by al-Sharaa until he became president in January,] mercilessly slaughtered their own people, their own citizens.”
“They were jihadists and remained jihadists, even if some of their leaders have put on suits,” he added.
The Israeli foreign minister called on the world to “come to its senses” and end its legitimization of the Syrian regime.
The government has approved a plan for the economic and social development of Druze communities on the Golan Heights and the Druze and Circassian communities in the Galilee and Carmel regions for 2025-2029.Syrian Druze allowed to enter Israel, work in Golan Heights, Katz confirms
The five-year plan will have a budget of NIS 3.9 billion and will include an additional budget of NIS 2.6b., the prime minister and finance minister’s offices announced in a joint statement.
The plan will see a subsidized development cost in tending land for security personnel and rehabilitating and developing infrastructure, public spaces, public institutions in the towns, and more.
Among its key provisions is that NIS 650 million will be allocated for urban planning and housing solutions. This includes establishing a dedicated planning committee for Druze and Circassian localities to accelerate detailed planning. A new framework for electricity connections will also be implemented, and subsidies will be provided for new housing projects, benefiting discharged soldiers and young couples.
Additionally, over NIS 1b. will be spent on improving municipal services, increasing local government budgets, improving public service efficiency, and developing independent revenue streams through economic initiatives.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday confirmed reports that Israel intends to allow Syrian Druze and Circassians to work in the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.
The unusual move of allowing foreign citizens of a hostile state, such as Syria, to work in Israel could have geopolitical ripples across the region and is a testament to how radically the Middle East has changed in just a few months.
Assad regime was toppled by rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is led by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, last December 7-8. Until then, the regime had abided by a 1974 ceasefire with Israel. Nevertheless, it was formally in a state of war with Israel, while it served as a critical link in the chain of smuggling Iranian weapons to Hezbollah.
This also presented a direct threat to Israel from Iranian militias that might invade and from the Syrian military’s air force, long-range missiles, and chemical weapons.
The Syrian Druze were a minority in the Assad era who mostly kept to themselves, with some past positive history with Israel, especially with the Israeli Druze community. But it still mostly considered Israel to be a hostile party.
Sharaa changed all of that. His ascent to power sowed fear within Israel of a jihadist invasion and among Syrian Druze that they would be oppressed or attacked, even though he said he wants quiet within Syria and along its borders.
Not trusting Sharaa due to his jihadist background, Israel moved quickly to create a buffer zone in southern Syria to prevent even the possibility of a new invasion; included in this zone were large segments of the Syrian Druze population.
The fact that no one is talking Turkey’s role in what’s happening in Syria is extremely concerning. pic.twitter.com/bTIbqgTcPl
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) March 10, 2025
Alawites to Israel: 'Strike Al-Julani's forces from the air, they won't stop slaughtering us'
Nearly 1,000 Alawites have been murdered in recent days in horrific massacres carried out by Islamist forces in western Syria. While the UN stammers and the world once again stands idly by, the regime in Damascus is attempting to project an image of control and has announced the formation of an investigative committee into the attacks carried out by its own forces. Alawites who spoke with Israel Hayom are calling on Israel to strike the ruling militias and are distancing themselves from the Assad regime.MEMRI: Syrian Women Fear For Their Status And Rights Under Rule Of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham
Meanwhile, a security official from the Syrian coastal region claimed last night that remnants of the Assad regime are receiving indirect assistance from Iran and that "foreign elements are seeking to exploit the situation" to provide logistical and media support to the militants.
"The [Syrian government's] committee is dismissed by us. This is not what will satisfy us. Only decisions by the UN, human rights organizations, and countries that stand with the Syrian people will be acceptable. They are the ones who need to establish an investigative committee," said an Alawite from the coastal region in a conversation with Israel Hayom. He had lived in a village near Tartus and fled with his children to the city to escape the massacres. "Al-Julani and his group are failing to govern. But they won't admit it and are trying to shirk responsibility." Syrian Security Forces detain a man suspected former Syrian regime supporter in Latakia, Syria, March 8, 2025 | Photo: Mohamad Daboul/EPA
He sends a direct plea to Israel: "We are calling on you and on everyone. We don't want him [Al-Julani]. Get rid of him. When we decided to hold protests to overthrow Al-Julani's regime, they raised their weapons and opened fire on demonstrators. I hope you convey the message that this is a corrupt regime, just like its predecessor, a murderous, criminal regime. It must not survive. Israel must defend us and strike with its air force all factions affiliated with Al-Julani in the Syrian coastal region, including in Latakia, Tartus, and their suburbs. No country is responding to our cries, not even the Russians, who have been in our land for years. Israel is the only one that can protect us."
The takeover of Syria by the Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) organization, headed by Ahmed Al-Sharaa (until recently known as Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani), has sparked many concerns regarding the status and role of women under the new regime. These fears stem from HTS’ rigid and even abusive treatment of women in the past, when it was affiliated with the Al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorist organizations and later when it controlled the Idlib district in northwest Syria after severing its relations with those organizations.[1]
With the organization's takeover of Syria and the establishment of its transitional government, senior officials in the new administration began sending reassuring messages regarding the status of women, stating that the new regime would grant women all their rights and not exclude them from any domain. It is not clear, however, that these declarations reflect a genuine change in the organization's views on the issue of women. They are more likely meant to appease the international community and the West in order to gain legitimacy for the new regime and achieve the lifting of sanctions and the delivery of aid that is urgently needed for Syria’s reconstruction.
Western officials who visited Syria and met with its new leadership expressed the West's expectations that the new regime will respect the rights of women and minorities, and in fact presented this as a condition for supporting it. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, for example, who visited Damascus along with her French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot, said after a January 3, 2025 meeting with Al-Sharaa, in which he refrained from shaking her hand, that she and her colleague had made it clear to the new Syrian government that the status of women is not just a matter of their rights, but is a measure of the degree of freedom in society, and that women, as well as all groups and sects, must be included in the country's transition process if Damascus wants European support.[2]
Alongside the positive signals sent by the new Syrian regime regarding women's rights, several of its leaders have made statements and taken measures that raised concerns within Syria and beyond regarding its stance on the status of women. For example, in several instances women – including non-Muslim women – were required to cover their hair when meeting with Ahmed Al-Sharaa. In other cases Al-Sharaa and senior members of his government avoided shaking hands with women, including Western diplomats, as happened with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. There are also reports that in various areas of Syria women are being encouraged to conform to the Muslim dress code, and that HTS activists are acting to prevent men and women from mixing in public places.
Moreover, the new administration has so far appointed only one woman to a government position: Aisha Al-Debs, who has been named “head of the Women's Affairs Office.” It is noteworthy that, unlike the male members of the government, she has not been given the title of minister. Furthermore, Al-Debs, whose appointment is apparently meant to allay concerns regarding the status of women under the new regime, is actually known for her anti-liberal positions and rejection of gender equality.[3] Another administration official stated that women are unable to perform certain roles in society due to “their biological and psychological characteristics.” A further worrying development is the appointment of Shadi Al-Waysi as Justice Minister in Syria’s transitional government. In 2015 Al-Waysi, then a qadi in the Idlib province, participated in the execution of women on charges of adultery.[4]
Against this backdrop, protests were recently held in various parts of Syria by women and men demanding to respect the rights of women and include them in the shaping of the new Syria. In addition, many voices on the media and social media criticized the new regime’s positions on women and the conservative views of its officials. Syrian women activists stressed that they will not allow such reactionary views to restrict them demanded that women’s rights be enshrined in the new constitution, so that “Syria will be a safe place for women.”
— Angela Van Der Pluym (@anjewla90) March 9, 2025
Ever since the fall of Assad, Israel has been bombing arms depots in Syria, trying to prevent them from falling into the hands of the new HTS regime.
— Han Shawnity 🇺🇸 (@HanShawnity) March 9, 2025
Israel has also publicly spoken out about HTS, calling them radical Islamists, and was one of the first to show the world the… pic.twitter.com/2pcBXGps4e
Israeli baby wounded in terrorist rock-throwing near Nablus
A Jewish baby sustained light wounds in a Palestinian rock-throwing attack on the road that bypasses the hostile Samaria village of Huwara, south of Nablus, the Hatzalah Judea and Samaria rescue group said on Monday.IDF hits terror squads in north, central Gaza
The infant was wounded by glass shrapnel, according to the report, which added that the driver continued to drive and sought medical attention for the child at a nearby Israel Defense Forces base.
The IDF confirmed the rock-throwing attack, which it said took place in the area of the Arab village of Odala. “Upon receiving the report, IDF forces rushed to the scene and began a pursuit of the terrorist,” it said.
In November, the military started work on a security fence surrounding the road around Huwara, which was opened months earlier as an alternative to the route that passed through the terrorist hotspot.
After numerous terrorist attacks against Israelis driving through Huwara, which is located 4.5 miles south of Nablus, Israeli Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety Minister Miri Regev inaugurated the main section of the bypass road on Nov. 12, 2023.
“The inauguration of the first and important section of the Huwara Bypass Road is an exciting closing of the circle for me. This life-saving road will provide the pioneers [in Samaria] with greater safety and security,” said Regev at the ceremony.
“The new section will allow residents to travel on the road safely, not through the hostile village where many attacks against Israelis have taken place, including in the recent period,” added the minister.
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday neutralized two terrorist squads seeking to ambush its soldiers in the Gaza Strip.
“Several terrorists were identified in the Shejaiya area [of Gaza City] operating near IDF troops and attempting to plant explosives,” the army said. The soldiers “fired at them, and a hit was detected.”
In addition, three Palestinian terrorists were spotted in the Nuseirat area of the central Gaza Strip, also attempting to plant IEDs. The military confirmed that an “aircraft attacked them and a hit was detected.”
On Sunday, the Israeli Air Force attacked several terrorists attempting to plant a bomb near IDF troops in northern Gaza. The previous day, an IAF craft struck several Palestinians who had collected a drone flown from Israeli territory into the southern Gaza Strip overnight.
On March 6, an IAF craft attacked a group of Palestinian terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip who had planted an explosive device near troops. Two days earlier, Israeli forces fired on an individual in the southern Gaza Strip who had approached them, posing an immediate threat.
The previous day, Israeli troops fired on a motorboat off the southern Gaza coast near Khan Yunis after it failed to heed warning shots.
The first, 42-day phase of the truce with Hamas, which went into effect on Jan. 19, expired on March 1, after the terrorist group rejected a U.S. proposal, to which Jerusalem agreed, to extend the truce for 50 days.
Commentary PodCast: Trump's War on Campus Anti-Semitism
Tough times at Columbia University as hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money are revoked and a leader of the pro-Hamas protests is taken into custody by ICE. It's a huge development. Not so good: The antics of "hostage negotiator" Adam Boehler.
Inside Israel’s Media War | The PR Battle After October 7
How does Israel manage its global communications during times of war? In this episode, Eylon Levy sits down with Tal Heinrich, former spokeswoman for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, for an unfiltered conversation about the challenges, successes, and failures of Israel’s media strategy in the wake of October 7th.
🔹 The urgent call that put Tal Heinrich in front of the world’s cameras
🔹 The chaos inside Israel’s media war room after October 7
🔹 How the international narrative turned against Israel—and why it happened so fast
🔹 The media’s double standards: Why Hamas isn’t held accountable
🔹 What Israel must do to win the information war
Don’t miss this insider perspective on the battle for global opinion. Subscribe for more hard-hitting conversations on Israel, diplomacy, and the war beyond Gaza.
00:00 - Coming Up
00:20 - Monologue
01:51 - Intro
02:28 - Becoming a Spokesperson on October 7th
13:40 - The Media Strategy
19:00 - Our Most Memorable Interviews
23:08 - The Woke Right
27:18 - How Money Got to Hamas
30:37 - The Case for Total Victory
35:50 - US Presidential Influence
38:08 - Why Tal Left the Prime Minister’s Office
41:40 - Improving the Fight - The Importance of Storytelling
55:27 - Reflecting on Our Work
1:05:03 - Wrap Up
Erin Molan: 'The Parasitic Mind' Exposed: Gad Saad & Erin Molan Conversation
Erin Molan’s complete, unedited conversation with Dr. Gad Saad, originally highlited in 69 X Minutes Episode 3 with Mario Nawfal. While the show gave you highlights, this is the full, uncut exchange where Saad breaks down the "Parasitic Mind" and reveals how it’s distinct from his famous "Suicidal Empathy" concept. Expect a no-holds-barred exploration of toxic ideas, cultural decay, and the fight for reason—straight from the source. Hosted by Erin Molan, this is the raw, untrimmed truth you won’t find anywhere else.
'(Jews) are asking for their religion to be taken off of their medical records because that's how frightened people are.'
— GB News (@GBNEWS) March 9, 2025
Journalist, Nicole Lampert, discusses anti-Semitic abuse towards 'patients and Jewish staff' in the NHS tripling since the October 7th attacks. pic.twitter.com/uh9sL22QXS
My good friend and Wood Cricket @ggreenwald is hopefully going to agree to this t-shirt test. I will raise the funds for his trip to Syria if he agrees to walk around for a day in Damascus wearing the following sign: "I'm a proud gay Jew. I'm Jewish but not a Zionist." We can…
— Gad Saad (@GadSaad) March 10, 2025
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"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022) |
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