Thursday, October 09, 2025

10/09 Links Pt1: Fighting for Peace in the Middle East; Hamas Still Wants to Win the War; The Mob Can’t Survive Peace; Lawful Protest Is Not a Permit to Menace

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Fighting for Peace in the Middle East
The European leaders’ approach to “peace” was, essentially: Please stop fighting for a few minutes so I can get reelected. The shame of France’s Emmanuel Macron, of the UK’s Keir Starmer, of Spain’s Pedro Sanchez and others cannot be understated.

But that is not all of Europe. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has walked a difficult diplomatic tightrope but has done it well, never throwing Israel’s existence under the bus of European populism. He is surrounded by European leaders with little regard for freedom and democracy, however, and those leaders need to see Israeli victory.

Starmer, Macron, and others who fetishize weakness insisted that “peace” meant giving in to terrorists’ demands. Their version of peace was to recognize a state of Palestine that doesn’t yet exist and half of which is in the hands of Hamas. They believe that peace comes through laziness, through empty declarations, through magical thinking, through kissing the feet of one’s pursuer.

In fact, peace requires hard work. In this case, it required an Israeli and American military alliance willing to neutralize threats emanating from Iran. It required American support for Israeli actions in Yemen, Lebanon, and Syria. And it required the mobilization of U.S. military assets in the Gulf region.

Peace is possible at this point only because the president of the United States ignored the isolationists chirping in his ear that the days of American strength were over. Whatever happens now, we are at least closer to ending the conflict than we have been, and that was made possible by military action.

Canada joined the Europeans who weren’t willing to work for peace. But the United States resisted the pull of laziness, of managed decline, of wishful thinking and decadent weakness. And so there is a chance for peace.

Will this lesson be learned? Not as widely as it should be. But the lesson has been demonstrated, and that is what is most important.
Seth Mandel: To Hell and Back
The efforts to bring home captives are part of Israel’s social compact. As I wrote for the March 2024 issue of COMMENTARY:

“There is also a pragmatic reason for Israel’s commitment to redeeming captives. It is a source of legitimacy for the IDF. As a nation with full conscription, the basic deal Israelis make with their government is this: We give you our sons and daughters, and then you give them back. The common expression in Israel is that its soldiers are ‘everyone’s children.’ This is more than a mere sentimental point; it is a crucial source of military and social cohesion.”

The world has gotten more than a glimpse of this phenomenon over the past two years, unfortunately. But this has also perhaps opened the world’s eyes to how deeply wounding it is for Israelis to be locked in conflict with terrorist groups who have molded their entire forever-war strategy around hostage-taking.

Even Israelis, however, have been forced into new territory by the scale of Hamas’s atrocities. In April, the New York Times wrote a story titled: “A New Medical Discipline in Israel: How to Receive Hostages.” It is, as the headline suggests, a new frontier in physical and mental health: “There were few precedents to learn from, officials said, especially as the captives ranged in age from infants to octogenarians.”

Indeed, in his memoir of his time in Hamas captivity, Eli Sharabi recounts a brief conversation he had with a Hamas official, nicknamed Tippy, overseeing Sharabi’s release. The conversation took place after Tippy showed Sharabi a laptop screen with the faces of dozens of hostages:

“I look at their faces. It’s an emotionally charged moment. There are young women I don’t recognize, some very elderly people, a young woman with a little ginger toddler and a little ginger baby girl. I think it’s a girl. I point at the baby immediately and ask Tippy: ‘What’s that? Did you kidnap a baby?’

“‘No,’ he says. ‘The baby was born in captivity.’

“I stare at him. ‘You kidnapped a pregnant woman?’

“I get no answer.”

They did, in fact, kidnap a baby. Surely Sharabi was seeing a picture of Kfir Bibas, along with his slightly older brother and mother. All three were murdered in captivity. Hamas’s atrocities on and after October 7 stretched the bounds of worldly evil. Even the Hamas commander wouldn’t admit it to Sharabi’s face. No one wanted to believe an entity this evil existed—even, at times, the entity itself.

And the survivors of that unimaginable evil are returning to earth from hell. Once again Israelis’ resilience and recovery will pave a path for the rest of the world, all because of the unique hatred to which they are subjected. As one Welfare Ministry official told the Times in April, “We are now writing the theory.”
The Challenges of the Trump Plan
In his approach to negotiating the release of all hostages held in Gaza, President Trump has thwarted French diplomacy and inflicted a severe snub on President Macron, who wanted to precipitate events by first offering a state to the Palestinians, without obtaining any concessions.

Unlike Macron's plan, the 20 points of the Trump plan were written in concert with Israel. The American plan was carefully and skillfully developed by seasoned experts and diplomats, with the aim of isolating Hamas from the outset and gaining the approval of the Arab-Muslim world. While only a first draft, it is a noble work for future relations between Israel and all the countries of the Middle East.

The plan outlines a roadmap, a framework agreement that sets solid milestones to enable stakeholders to clearly monitor the plan's progress. It has the great merit of being able to achieve those Israeli demands that we have been seeking since the end of the Six-Day War in 1967. For the first time, an American president is boldly proposing a different vision for resolving the Palestinian question.

He is taking seriously all the factors supported by the overwhelming majority of Israelis: the historical rights of the Jewish people to their land, no withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines, secure and defensible borders, Jerusalem indivisible under Israeli sovereignty, the Golan Heights under Israeli sovereignty, Hamas and all "resistance" movements against the Jewish state are now terrorist organizations, no to recognition of a Palestinian state before final status negotiations.
Amb. Michael Oren: Hamas Still Wants to Win the War
President Trump's peace plan did indeed promise to achieve all of Israel's goals: the release of the hostages and the end of Hamas's rule in Gaza. The president declared that Hamas had accepted the plan and was prepared for peace. He ordered the IDF to stop firing in Gaza City to facilitate the safe release of the hostages.

Once relieved of Israeli military pressure, Hamas will try to drag the U.S. into protracted negotiations and obtain approval to remain in Gaza and keep its "defensive weapons." In short, in exchange for the release of the hostages, Hamas wants to win the war.

Our goal, therefore, must be to uphold Trump's original plan and not allow Hamas to water it down. We must secure the unconditional release of all the hostages, without allowing Hamas to keep its weapons or take part in a postwar Gaza government.
Gaza Deal Is Not a Total Victory
It may well be that the deal Israel is preparing to sign with Hamas is unavoidable. But it is far from a "total victory." Israel is to release from prison 250 terrorists convicted of multiple murders. Israel rightly sanctifies the lives of its hostages, but at the same time mortgages the lives of its citizens. More than 85% of terrorists released in past decades have returned to terrorism, to attack or kill Israelis again. We are releasing ticking time bombs.

Israel has achieved significant accomplishments: large parts of Gaza have been flattened; we've established a perimeter, eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists, destroyed miles of underground infrastructure, and taken control of the Philadelphi Route along the border with Egypt. But we've also sent a clear message that the way to secure the release of killers is through more abductions.

Our commitment to redeeming captives and to mutual responsibility has now proven to be our weakness, leading to the emptying of our prisons of those who murdered, and who are almost certain to murder again or orchestrate more killings.

The terrorists freed in the 1985 Jibril deal became the backbone of the First Intifada, in which 165 Israelis were murdered. Half of the terrorists released under the Oslo Accords joined the Palestinian terror apparatus, with many playing key roles in the Second Intifada, which killed 1,178 Israelis. Those released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal went on to bring about the Oct. 7 massacre.


Brendan O'Neill: Trump has dealt a devastating blow to Israelophobia
To some of us, it’s long been clear that the contagion of Israelophobia plaguing our cultural establishment had little to do with securing peace in the Middle East. But that became super clear over the past 10 days. Israel accepted Trump’s peace deal on 29 September and yet still its shrill haters beat the streets to say ‘Ceasefire now’. Why were they still haranguing the Jewish State after it had agreed to a ceasefire, and Hamas had not? Because they desire more than Israel’s laying down of arms. They want it to lay down its entire existence. Nothing less than Israel’s capitulation to its racist enemies in Hamas and its self-righteous haters in the West will satiate their unhinged animus for the Jewish homeland.

The protest in London on Saturday gave the game away. A vast banner hung in Trafalgar Square. ‘Disarm Israel’, it said. There it was, the true meaning of ‘Ceasefire now’ – not peace, not a deal, but the confiscation of all weapons from the Jews of the Holy Land. The seizing of their guns and rockets so that they might be more nakedly exposed to the ‘just’ punishments of the Palestinian people. The disarming of Israel is a feverish obsession of the activist class, for they understand that in order for Israel to be replaced ‘from the river to the sea’, in order for this sinning settler-colonial nation to be scrubbed from humanity’s records, first its Jews must be denuded of all means of self-defence.

They’re iffy about Trump’s plan for some one simple reason: it leaves the Jewish State intact and it demands the surrender of Hamas. It thwarts their dystopic dream of dragging the Middle East back to 1948, before the modern state of Israel existed. Everyone can now see that what falsely presented itself as a peace movement was in truth a ruthless campaign of delegitimation, demonisation and even destruction waged against the world’s only Jewish nation by our post-reason elites.

The failure of Hamas and its Western simps to erase Israel ‘from the river to the sea’ is a wonderful moment for humanity. We should celebrate both the possibility of peace in Gaza and the miracle of Israel’s survival. In the face of hostile Arab armies, Iranian plotting, neo-fascist militias and the obsessive defamations of our own cultural establishment, Israel stubbornly survives and thrives. That is a testament less to Trump’s ‘art of the deal’ than to the valour and self-belief of Israel’s people, in particular its young soldiers who took the fight to Hamas after 7 October. We cannot know what will happen next, but we know that Israel lives, in glorious defiance of the unholy alliance of murderous Islamists and woke nihilists who long for its annihilation. I’ll raise a glass to that today.
The Mob Can’t Survive Peace By Abe Greenwald
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Yesterday in New York, on the second anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel, hundreds of Jew-haters hit the streets to celebrate their terrorist heroes. You know the scene all too well by now. Unkempt college students wrapped up like keffiyeh mummies, young and mighty Muslims, moldy ex-hippies, a sea of Palestinian flags, chants and signs calling for a global intifada and Israel’s destruction, echoing drums, the occasional harassment of an outspoken Israeli supporter.

The New York Times thought it a fitting day to run an opinion piece titled “Israel Cannot Go On Winning Like This,” in which Mairav Zonszein levels all the worn out, false charges against the Jewish state. But she gets this one thing right: “Israel has been brazen, unpredictable and, until the recent proposed cease-fire, all but unstoppable.”

Only she says it like it’s a bad thing. Because if you suffer from Israel Derangement Syndrome, it is. Israel’s indefatigability in matters of self-preservation is your number-one problem. It’s also what has made possible the first seemingly real opportunity for regional peace.

If that peace arrives, what will become of the anti-Israel mob? We know that the prospect of peace hasn’t slowed them down. Why would it? They’re calling for bloodshed, not harmony. But an end to the war is a different story. Peace would mean that Israel won, and there’s little point in cheering on defeated and disbanded terrorist armies that have surrendered in the fight for your cause—your lost cause. Israel’s victory is the mob’s defeat.

Sure, those in denial would rage on a bit longer. But that won’t last forever, especially among the mob’s dominating youth faction. College kids (and Greta Thunberg) sign on to protests the way the rest of us choose TV shows. They’re stuck with whatever is currently running. Anti-Zionism will be taken off the air. Almost literally, in fact. Because peace would also be the end of the foreign-backed social media campaign that’s been feeding the TikTok generation its anti-Israel propaganda. China and Russia will continue to stoke anti-American causes online, but they’ll need better material than a recent war in which an American ally was victorious. And their young audience will again follow their lead.

The rest of the apoplectic Israel-hating coalition gained its courage from the size of the horde they were a part of. If that’s thinned out by the students’ departure, they’ll go back to their hiding holes.

The establishment media will keep pushing the anti-Israel narrative. That long predates October 7, and it will long outlast the war. But the establishment media doesn’t speak to the protester demographic. And their all-consuming obsession with Donald Trump ensures that they’ll move on to fresh apocalyptic terrain in no time.

In her Times piece, Zonszein wrote, “Israel is not a victor, but a perpetual fighter.” But that’s more of a wish than a considered assessment of the facts. In reality, Israel is both a victor and a perpetual fighter. Its existence depends on it. Israel’s enemies are, by contrast, losers and cowards. Should the war end, they’ll slink off accordingly.

Until, of course, the next time.
David Horovitz: Hamas Is Not Ready for "Lasting Peace"
Hamas has been reduced from a 24-battalion army to a guerrilla force primarily focused on survival. But its ideology is unchanged: destroy Israel and kill Jews at any cost. And it has galvanized ever-widening global backing for its cause from hate-filled antisemites and their useful idiot allies.

President Trump may have welcomed Hamas's ostensible acceptance of his plan as evidence that the Islamic extremist group is "ready for a lasting PEACE." But, in fact, Hamas is ready for nothing of the kind.

Neither are Qatar and Turkey - two Trump-allied nations taking central roles in mediating the current talks - remotely interested in Hamas's demise. Turkish President Erdogan repeatedly brands Israel as a terrorist entity and lauds Hamas as its victim. Qatar relentlessly poisons minds worldwide courtesy of its Al Jazeera outlet.

Let nobody think this would spell the end of Hamas, active and widely supported in the West Bank, bent on eventual revival in Gaza, anticipating a major boost through the release of notorious terrorist murderers from all Palestinian factions, and still publicly reveling in its "glorious" Oct. 7 invasion.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Who Should NOT Play a Role in Post-War Gaza: The Foxes in Charge of the Chicken Coop?
Qatar's rulers appear to see their mission -- with the aid of their Al Jazeera television empire, as well as big cheques -- as spreading radical Sunni Islam throughout the region and the world. Qatar has been Hamas's leading patron since 2007.

Trump seems to be looking toward Qatar as one of the main funders that will rebuild Gaza. If Qatar's ruling family accepts this role, they will doubtless expect a role just as important in governing it, which could well include appointing who else might share that privilege. Candidates include the Palestinian Authority, the 2,000 returning terrorists, and, if not precisely Qatar's longtime client, Hamas, then "Son of Hamas," or "Hamas 2.0," or "Hamas the Sequel." One could call the enclave the "Democratic Republic of Gaza," but it would still be home to genocidal terrorist groups...

How serious is Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas when he says that the Iran-backed Hamas terror group "will have no role in governance" of the Gaza Strip and it must hand over its weapons to the PA? Not even slightly.

Put bluntly, Abbas is not interested in returning to the negotiating table: he has been waiting for the UN and other international parties to impose a solution on Israel, just as French President Emmanuel Macron so helpfully offered to do just last month. The recent one-sided recognitions of a "Palestinian state" by France, Britain, Canada, Australia and other countries only reinforced Abbas's determination not to resume any peace process with Israel. After all, why should he negotiate with anyone when the West is handing him a state on a silver platter without even a single condition attached?

Trump's peace plan is peachy as long as Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Tony Blair are there to make sure everything stays in place. What, however, happens if and when they are not there anymore? A Middle East saying goes, "You have the watches, but we have the time."

Abbas, and whoever succeeds him, will always prefer peace with Hamas over peace with Israel. He knows that Hamas continues to enjoy widespread support among Palestinians, most of whom, according to public opinion polls, are passionately opposed to disarming the terror group.

Those who state that Hamas should not be permitted to play any role in governing Gaza after the war ends should also demand the exclusion of the PA and Qatar from such a process. Allowing either Qatar or Abbas's PA into the Gaza Strip will only pave the way for a new Hamas to enter through the back door.
Free Gaza's Palestinians from Hamas
Two masked Hamas gunmen came to the door of my Gaza City apartment in July and ordered me to report to al-Shifa Hospital for an interrogation. I had been active in the anti-Hamas protests that month.

As they do in most Gaza hospitals, Hamas maintains a hidden torture dungeon at al-Shifa. I am familiar with this because I have been arrested by Hamas on 20 occasions and tortured more than once.

I knew what complying with the gunmen meant: I would be lucky to leave only with broken bones.

During the war, the number of dissidents murdered by Hamas's Arrow Unit enforcers has increased sharply, their bodies dumped in the street or delivered to the front door of their families.

A few weeks earlier, Hamas militants tortured local journalist Ahmed al-Masri for joining the protests, breaking his feet and shooting him in the legs. They stabbed activist Uday al-Rubaie to death and hurled his body from a tower.

I chose to take my chances by escaping the city, staying on the move in areas no longer held by Hamas.

My hope is that this war ends with the end of Hamas's tyranny and the rebirth of Gaza as a place open to peace and prosperity.
Jake Wallis Simons: After two years of agony, relief: the hostages are coming home
So we are not on the brink of peace with Israel. We are not even on the brink of peace inside Gaza itself, let along between Hamas and the corrupt and pathetic Palestinian Authority so favoured by Macron and Starmer. Moreover, the hard truth is that deradicalisation is almost as necessary in the West as in Gaza; the conditions are in place for further unrest, agitated from within our own countries. Serious problems remain.

When I interviewed Sir Niall Ferguson for my podcast The Brink, which I present with former Parachute Regiment officer Andrew Fox, he pointed out that the war has been the best thing that has ever happened for the radical Left.

“The activists have tried various things,” he said. “The climate change movement had a shot at this. Greta Thunberg tried to mobilise young people on the ‘save the planet, extinction is coming’ platform. It actually wasn’t that successful. It wasn’t really that good. Just a bunch of people throwing soup at paintings doesn’t get you there. So what do you try? You try a whole bunch of different things. And it turns out the one that works is pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel… They’ve never been to Israel and they’d struggle to name the river and the sea. No: This is their social life.”

Palestinians no longer being killed by Jews? That’s surely got to bum their days. The irony is that while this landmark is an astonishing achievement, many bloody months are to follow, though it is unlikely to be the Jews who do the killing, so nobody will care. How will the Hamas hordes in the West react to the evaporation of their cause? How will our leaders respond? Our media? The United Nations? What will be the excuse to exert sectarian political pressure on Parliament? This has never really been about Israel, after all.

What dawns today, however, is a new era of tentative and qualified hope, carried to the world by the unlikely figure of Donald Trump. He has shown a combination of strength and a refusal to be gaslit into forgetting who the good guys are in all this, two lessons that must be learned by the West.

And the hostages are coming home.


Is Gaza war over? The concessions made by Israel, Hamas to reach deal
If the current Israel-Hamas deal holds and the war is in fact over, a major key to ending the war was new concessions by both sides and the sequencing of the strategic military issues in dispute.

The final sequence to end the war was completely different from both Israeli and Hamas positions at other key points, such as in the summer of 2024 and early 2025, when the war might have ended.

Qatar, Turkey, and US President Donald Trump brought new levels of pressure to bear on both sides. A scorecard of concessions and “ties” between the sides shows that both sides are making concessions now that they did not make in prior rounds, though ultimately Israel has more of the upper hand in terms of leverage.

1. Israel conceded on holding its fire:
While little discussed, Israel stopped shooting and bombing on Saturday, having received nothing in return. In fact, this situation of Israel holding its fire for nothing concrete, and only a promise of a deal, lasted for five days until early Thursday morning.

Going even further, if the first hostages come home on Monday, Israel will have given Hamas nine days without being attacked before receiving the first hostage back. In all past hostage negotiations, Israel’s position was that it would not hold its fire until Hamas signed a deal to return hostages on a specific timetable, with the timetable usually starting almost immediately after fighting was halted.

Over and over again, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would never hold fire until Hamas made concrete concessions – that is, until he changed his mind this past Saturday under orders from Trump.

2. Hamas conceded on giving up all of the hostages and all at once:
Despite Israel’s lead concession, Hamas’s concession here is larger and more substantive. In the other rounds of negotiations, Hamas leaders either wanted to hold on to some hostages as an insurance policy to avoid being killed or to force a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

That was until Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt all ordered Hamas – also under threat from an endless onslaught by Israel, backed by Trump – to release all of the hostages and all at once for a mere partial Gaza withdrawal and general promises from Trump to guarantee that Israel would not restart the war.

Giving up all of the living hostages gives away Hamas’s top “ace in the hole” card, which has given it numerous advantages against Israel, which Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria all lacked.
Full terms of peace agreement released: No propaganda ceremonies and hostages back in 72 hours

Clock for hostage release starts ticking, as Israel approves first stage of deal
The Israeli government voted, after more than six hours of debate, to approve the first stage of a U.S.-brokered plan to end the war in Gaza and return the hostages, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

“The government has just now approved the framework for the release of all of the hostages—the living and the deceased,” Netanyahu’s office stated early in the morning on Friday, Israel time.

The breakdown of votes wasn’t immediately clear at press time, although the public Israeli broadcaster Kan News reported that the deal was approved over objections from Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, Orit Strock, Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Amichai Eliyahu.

Steve Witkoff, a White House special envoy, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a former senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump in his first term, attended the meeting.

The prime minister’s office has said that within 24 hours of the cabinet approving the deal, the Israeli military will pull back to the “yellow line,” as demarcated in the U.S. president’s plan, leaving the Jewish state in control of about 53% of Gaza.

Under the terms of the deal, Hamas commits to release all of the hostages, both living and deceased, within 72 hours. That means that the U.S.-designated foreign terror organization must release all the 48 hostages by around 1:30 a.m. on Monday, Israel time.
From Hamas to Red Cross to the IDF in Gaza: How the hostage releases will be handled
Israeli officials on Thursday set out the process by which the military will pull back its troops in Gaza, and then handle the subsequent release of hostages, once the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan for peace in Gaza goes into effect.

The Israeli government was convening on Thursday evening to officially ratify the Gaza hostage release and ceasefire agreement, after which the Israel Defense Forces would begin to pull back troops in the Strip, the officials said.

Within 24 hours of the government’s approval, the IDF is expected to retreat to agreed-upon deployment lines, which will see the army remain in control of just over half of the Strip’s territory, or 53 percent — most of which is outside of urban areas.

The IDF will retain control of a buffer zone along the entire Gaza border, including the Philadelphi Corridor — the Egypt-Gaza border area — along with Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in the Strip’s far north, a ridge on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City, and large portions of Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the officials said.

Within 72 hours of the IDF’s retreat, Hamas is set to release the 48 hostages it is holding, beginning with the 20 believed to be alive. The terror group has, in the past, told mediators it does not know where some of the bodies of slain hostages are located, which may delay the release of some of the bodies.

The living hostages will be handed over to Red Cross representatives by Hamas without a release ceremony. The Red Cross will then bring them to IDF troops waiting inside Gaza, the officials said.

The hostages will then be escorted outside of Gaza to the military’s Re’im base near the border for an initial physical and mental health checkup. Some family members of the hostages are expected to wait at the Re’im facility for their loved ones.

The IDF says it is prepared to handle the simultaneous release of all 20 living hostages if Hamas chooses to free them all together.
Hospitals gear up to receive returning hostages after over 734 days in Gaza captivity
Before Sheba Medical Center took in 46 hostages released from Hamas captivity in November 2023 and early 2024, Dr. Noya Shilo, head of the hospital’s Return to Life Center for hostages and their families, said there was no “protocol and few guidelines in medical literature for how to handle this.”

But on Thursday, a Sheba spokesperson said the hospital was “in the midst of final preparations” to receive some of the approximately 20 living hostages returning from Hamas captivity.

In its statement, the Health Ministry also said the health system has issued “specific guidelines” to the designated hospitals, adapting the protocol to the expected medical condition of the hostages after more than 734 days in captivity.

The preparations, led by Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, head of the Medical Division at the ministry, are based on “lessons learned from previous releases and rescue operations.”

In addition to Sheba, Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center in Tel Aviv, and Beilinson Medical Center in Petah Tikva have been designated as medical centers receiving the returnees. If urgent medical care is required, freed hostages may be taken to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba or Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, which are closer to Gaza.

The National Center of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir) is completing preparations to receive the bodies of the fallen hostages, as it has in previous cases, where it will confirm their identities.
Multinational force to search for dead hostages Hamas has lost track of
A joint multinational task force will be established to locate the bodies of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip whose locations are unknown, according to multiple reports on Thursday.

Turkey will take part in the task force, alongside Israel, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, a senior Turkish official said.

Turkish officials took part in negotiations in Egypt that resulted in a ceasefire and hostage deal earlier, joining the US, Egypt, and Qatar as mediators.

The formation of the task force was agreed upon during mediated negotiations in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, that led to an agreement for a ceasefire and hostage release announced overnight by US President Donald Trump, reports said.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 48 hostages, including 47 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 26 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Among the bodies held by Hamas is that of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.

Under the terms of Trump’s plan, all of the hostages are supposed to be returned to Israel within 72 hours of the ceasefire coming into effect.

However, during the negotiations, Hamas told mediators and Israel that it does not know the location of some deceased hostages. The terror group said it will struggle to meet the 72-hour deadline for all of the hostages, and Israel is aware of this but believes all of the bodies will eventually be returned.
US to deploy 200 troops to Israel in ceasefire plan
The United States will deploy 200 troops to Israel to support the ceasefire agreement, senior White House officials told reporters on Thursday.

Speaking on background at a press briefing, the officials said that the troops, under U.S. Central Command’s Adm. Brad Cooper, would not enter into Gaza.

“He’ll initially have 200 people on the ground. His role will be to oversee, observe, make sure there are no violations-incursions. Everybody’s worried about the other side,” one of the senior officials said.

“Much of this is going to be oversight. Embedded within his team of 200 people will probably be a bunch of people from the Egyptian armed forces who will help, the Qatari armed forces who will help, as well as the Turks and probably the Emiratis,” the senior official told reporters.

JNS sought comment from the White House about where the Egyptian, Emirati, Qatari and Turkish forces would go.

U.S. troops have previously deployed to Israel during the Persian Gulf War to operate Patriot missile batteries and most recently in 2024, when American troops helped defend Israel against Iranian missile attacks. For decades, Washington has also kept a peacekeeping force in Sinai to observe the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement.
IN FULL: President Trump's first interview since historic Gaza peace deal
US President Donald Trump has spoken exclusively with Fox News host Sean Hannity about his historic Gaza peace deal which both Israel and Hamas have signed off on.




Ben Shapiro: THE PEACE PRESIDENT: Trump Brokers Israel-Hamas HOSTAGE RELEASE, Ceasefire
President Trump mobilizes the entire region to achieve the release of 20 Israeli hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza; Hasan Piker comes under scrutiny after appearing to shock his dog for the crime of moving from her on-camera spot; and Zohran Mamdani signs into chat on October 7 to massage Hamas.


Commentary Podcast: Our Theme Song Is Wrong Today
We must not hope for the best while expecting the worst today; today is a day to celebrate while cautiously looking forward. Jonathan Schanzer joins us to talk about the terms of the deal that will bring the Israeli hostages home while ensuring Israel retains military options and territory in Gaza—a better deal for Israel than most of us ever expected would be the final case. How did it happen? What happens next?


Call me Back Podcast: Hamas and Israel agree to end the war - with Nadav Eyal
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement tonight to end the Gaza war based on the outline of President Trump’s plan. The agreement includes the imminent release of all remaining living hostages in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. In an emergency pod, Ark Media Correspondent Nadav Eyal joins Dan to share his initial impressions of the first phase of the deal, what this means for the short and long term balance of power in the region, and whether Hamas gets to claim this as a victory.


Ask Haviv Anything: Episode 50: Hostage Deal - A new day for Gaza, a bad day for Hamas
On October 8, President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to his peace and hostage release deal. Israel's tormented hostages will soon be home.

The agreement delivers almost everything the pro-Palestinian campaign claimed to want. No Israeli annexation, no Gazans have to leave and any who do can return, and a full rebuilding and rehabilitation under Arab and international auspices - all of it confirmed in an explicit Israeli commitment to the United States.

It's the best possible deal for Gaza.

And that's exactly why it's the worst possible deal for Hamas. Only Hamas loses here, only Hamas is required to disarm - or pretend to for a while. To relinquish authority - or pretend to for a while. It's no longer possible to pretend that Gaza's interests and Hamas's interests are the same. You can support one or the other, but not both.

So will it work? And what does it tell us about the past two years, and about the future of Israelis and Palestinians?

Chapters
00:00 A Monumental Moment: The Announcement of a Ceasefire
03:38 The Silence of Pro-Palestinian Campaigners
10:03 Trump's Strategic Maneuvering in the Conflict
15:36 Hamas's Position and Future Prospects
20:25 Israeli Resolve and the Future of Gaza


Richard Goldberg on Israel and Hamas agreeing on first phase of ceasefire deal
Rich joins Fox LiveNOW to react to Israel and Hamas agreeing to the first phase of President Trump's peace plan, pausing fighting and releasing hostages and prisoners.


Jonathan Sacerdoti: Two years of jihad against the Jews | The Brendan O’Neill Show
Writer and broadcaster Jonathan Sacerdoti returns to The Brendan O’Neill Show to discuss the horror in Manchester, the West’s capitulation to Islamism, and why the hate marchers are furious with Trump’s Gaza peace deal.


Jonathan Sacerdoti: A pause, not peace: the truth behind Trump's hostage deal
For almost two years, Jews around the world have prayed for the return of the hostages — in synagogues, homes, public squares, even parliaments. Now, a deal has been reached which will bring them home. But it also sets hundreds of convicted terrorists free. Among them are men who have murdered, maimed, and planned the destruction of entire families. Many will do it again.

This is not peace. It’s a pause — fragile, temporary, morally exhausting. Yet it is also a success of sorts. If we can blame our leaders for their failures, we must also credit them for their successes, however uncomfortable that may be.

The truth is harsh: every living hostage is being traded for around a hundred terrorists. That’s the price of compassion in a brutal world. But leadership means facing those choices, not pretending they don’t exist.

Qatar and Iran have once again played both sides — funding Hamas, sheltering its leaders, and now posing as peacemakers. The West, desperate for calm, rewards duplicity instead of confronting it. We mistake leverage for peace, appeasement for progress, and moral performance for strength.

What matters is that we don’t forget what this “deal” really is — not an ending, but a warning.


'America did this': Updates on hostage release facilitated by Trump
Sky News host Sharri Markson celebrates the commencement of United States President Donald Trump's peace plan in Gaza.

“20 living hostages who have been held in underground tunnels in horrific conditions for 732 days,” Ms Markson said.

“They’re coming home. Set to be freed on Monday.

“America did this. Trump did this. Israel did this. Not the UN. They did nothing but criticise Israel. Not Albanese, Macron, Starmer, and Carney, who did nothing but reward terrorism.

“This deal, and the release of the hostages within days, is entirely thanks to Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.”


‘Critical Turning Point’ | Hamas Agrees To Release All Hostages Under Gaza Peace Plan
Israel and Hamas’ agreement to the initial phases of a plan to end fighting in Gaza is a “moment of profound relief that will be felt around the world”, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

The US president said late on Wednesday that the warring parties have agreed to the “first phase” of his peace plan to pause fighting and release at least some hostages and prisoners.


Hamas caves to ‘diplomatic pressure’ as they are ‘more isolated’ than ever before
Former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy discusses the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and the influence of United States President Donald Trump.

“They were going to get obliterated if they continued fighting and because of diplomatic pressure,” Mr Levy told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“Hamas is more isolated than it has ever been before.”


‘What are they protesting?’: Pro-Palestine rally banned from the Opera House
Sky News host Sharri Markson elaborates on the Supreme Court judges' decision to ban a pro-Palestinian rally from taking place at the Opera House.

“They said given the extreme safety risks, as outlined by New South Wales Police, it could not proceed at the Opera House, which only holds 6,000 people on the forecourt,” Ms Markson said.

“What are they protesting? A peace deal has been agreed - Palestinians are celebrating. Israelis are celebrating. So, what are they still protesting?

“No one is stopping free speech. No one is stopping their hateful protests.

"It's just the attempt to take over major landmarks that's so deeply objectionable.”


‘Perfect decision’ to block protest for ‘blissfully unaware’ pro-Palestine protestors in Sydney
Sky News host Steve Price has said the blocking of a pro-Palestine protest at the Sydney Opera House was the “perfect decision to make”.

“NSW Court of Appeal has said the planned protest at the Opera House will not go ahead,” Mr Price said.

“I can’t believe that anyone could be so blissfully unaware of what’s happened since October 7 to even contemplate going there.”


Gazans cheer news of ceasefire deal as Hamas calls it ‘fruits of tremendous sacrifice’
Palestinians broke into wild celebrations on Thursday after news of an agreement between Israel and Hamas on the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan that is ultimately intended to lead to an end to the two-year war in Gaza.

In the Strip, where most of the more than 2 million people have been displaced by the war, young men applauded in the devastated streets, even as Israeli strikes continued in some parts of the enclave.

People in the enclave wept and chanted, “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest”), voicing hopes that the deal would end the war and let them return to their homes.

Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq said in a statement that “the ceasefire is the fruit of the tremendous sacrifices and the legendary patience of our people, as well as the strength and steadfastness of the resistance.”

The Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, second only to Hamas in Gaza, appeared to welcome the deal, going so far as to acknowledge the US and Arab mediation involved.

“What was achieved in the ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal is not a gift from anyone, yet we do not deny the Arab and international efforts,” the group said in a statement.

The statement emphasized “the tremendous sacrifices made by the Palestinian people” and rejected the idea that the agreement involves any capitulation.


Sa’ar rejects French Mideast summit: ‘Nothing about Israel without Israel’
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar sharply criticized French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday for the European leader’s decision to convene a high-level meeting in Paris on Thursday to end the Gaza war.

“France’s new initiative, concocted behind Israel’s back at the sensitive timing of the negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh, is unnecessary and harmful, just like its predecessors,” Sa’ar posted to X.

Macron, who has led an international effort to recognize a “State of Palestine,” is seeking to keep France at the forefront of Middle East peace efforts. Representatives from the United States, the European Union, Arab states and major European nations are attending. Israel is not.

Sa’ar framed the summit as another attempt by Macron “to divert attention from his domestic problems at Israel’s expense.”

Macron is in the midst of a political crisis as his third prime minister in a year, Sébastien Lecornu, resigned on Monday after only three-and-a-half weeks on the job.

The gathering—part of the Franco-Saudi initiative for a two-state solution—came as a deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump to bring an end to Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages neared approval by Israel’s government on Thursday night.

Sa’ar said Macron’s summit was an attempt to disrupt the Trump plan. “The invitation of openly hostile governments toward Israel, such as [Spain’s] Sánchez government, to discuss Israel’s affairs is especially outrageous,” Sa’ar said.

“The participants may, of course, discuss whatever topics they wish, but there will be no arrangements in Gaza formulated without Israel’s consent,” Sa’ar said.

“French hypocrisy is particularly astonishing given that France itself coined the principle ‘Ukraine’s future cannot be decided without Ukraine.’ It’s another example of double standards,” the foreign minister said.

“Today, we make it clear: Nothing about Israel without Israel. Israel will not agree to the internationalization of the conflict,” Sa’ar concluded.


IDF carries out airstrike in Gaza City as cabinet meets to approve ceasefire deal
The IDF carried out an airstrike in Gaza City Thursday night as government ministers convened to vote on a US-backed hostage release and ceasefire deal aimed at permanently ending the Gaza war.

Palestinian media, citing the Hamas-run Gaza civil defense agency, reported that the strike in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood caused a building to collapse, trapping some 40 people under the debris.

Civil defense said four lifeless bodies were recovered from the building, adding that “more than 40 people are still under the rubble.”

Confirming the strike, the IDF said it targeted a cell of Hamas operatives whose members were “operating close to forces and posed an immediate threat to IDF troops operating in the area.”

The impending ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, announced late Wednesday night by US President Donald Trump, had yet to take effect at the time of the attack. The signed agreement states “the war will immediately end upon the approval of the Israeli government,” which was expected to ratify the deal during a meeting that continued into early Friday morning despite some opposition from far-right ministers.

The strike came just after Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya confirmed the deal’s terms and said the terror group received US guarantees that the war would end.


October 7 and Our Changed World | Niall Ferguson & Bari Weiss
Two years ago today, Hamas slaughtered some 1,200 Israelis—and took another 250 hostage.

It was the single worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. It was the beginning of a war between Israel and Iran. It was also a litmus test for the civilized world—one that too many have failed.

As peace negotiations continue in Egypt, there is nobody better suited to make sense of this moment—the lessons learned, America’s role in the war, and the changing global order—than Niall Ferguson.

Tonight at 7 p.m. ET, join Niall and Bari Weiss for a live conversation on our post–October 7 world.


John Anderson: "What starts with the Jews never ends with the Jews" | Josh Hammer
In this conversation, Josh Hammer examines the perilous moral confusion of our age through the prism of Israel and its survival. The attacks of October 7 and the confused global response revealed, he argues, a civilisation that has lost confidence in truth itself. When so many can no longer distinguish between barbarism and freedom, the very survival of Western civilisation is at stake.

Hammer maintains that the West’s survival depends on rediscovering its biblical foundations in Judaism and Christianity. Without recovering that foundation, the West cannot withstand the mounting pressures of relativism, Islamist extremism, and cultural Marxism. This is a sobering but vital discussion on Israel, anti-Semitism, and the future of the West.

Joshua Hammer is the author of Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West. He is a syndicated columnist through Creators Syndicate, senior editor-at-large for Newsweek, and host of The Josh Hammer Show.

00:00 Trailer
01:21 Introducing Josh Hammer
02:06 The West's perilous moment
6:57 – Relativism, Separation of Church & State, and the Loss of Truth
16:02 – Judaism’s Profound Contribution to America & the West
22:40 – Feelings Over Facts: Debate, Universities & “Emocracy”
25:59 – Rising Antisemitism: Immigration, Wokeism & the Red-Green Alliance
36:00 – Populism, Tucker Carlson & Divisions on the Right
44:55 – Israel, Nationalism vs Globalism, and the Future of the West
55:09 – Netanyahu, Gaza War & the PR Battle
1:02:27 – Recognition of Palestine, Abraham Accords & The Path to Peace


Jonathan Conricus on the conflict in the Middle East two years after October 7 — TBN
Jonathan joins 'Stakelbeck Tonight' on Trinity Broadcasting Network to reflect on the Israel-Hamas war, Israel-Iran conflict, and more on the second anniversary of Hamas' October 7 terror attack.


EXCLUSIVE: Harsh Truths About Hamas, Gaza & the West | Former Israeli Defence Minister
In this episode of The Brink, we sat down with General Yoav Gallant, former Israeli Defence Minister during October 7th and the first year of the war, to discuss the future of Gaza, Britain’s stance under Keir Starmer, and the survival of Israel in the face of unprecedented threats.

Gallant reflects on the horror of October 7th, the necessity of military force to bring hostages home, and why he believes leaders must act with strength rather than politics. We explore his “bubble programme” for Gaza’s future governance, the double standards Israel faces in the international arena, and his personal story as the son of Holocaust survivors who has dedicated his life to the principle of “Never Again.”

We also discuss Britain’s role, the tension between values and interests, and what a long war with Hamas will mean for the Middle East and the West.

This is a rare and candid conversation with one of Israel’s most senior military and political figures about war, survival, and the hard lessons of leadership in a time of crisis.

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:07 General Gallant's Political Career and Military Experience
4:30 General Galant's Personal Story and Israel's Values
8:15 The Future of a Palestinian State
19:19 The Role of Military and Political Solutions
24:54 The Role of International Forces in Gaza
30:14 The Double Standard Against Israel
34:15 The Need for a Comprehensive Reconstruction Plan
36:52 The Importance of Military Strength and Political Will


UKLFI: Daniel Berke discusses the Manchester synagogue terror attack on GB News
Daniel Berke, Director of UKLFI Charitable Trust and a solicitor specialising in criminal and professional discipline law, speaks to GB News following the Manchester synagogue terror attack.

In this interview, Daniel describes his personal experience responding to the attack as part of his synagogue’s security team and reflects on the wider context in which it took place.

He discusses:
Why he believes this was not a “lone wolf” attack but part of a wider network.
The rise in anti-Israel rhetoric and the impact of misinformation and incitement.
How slogans such as “globalise the intifada” link to previous terror attacks including Manchester Arena, Bataclan in Paris, Mumbai, and 7/7.
The Jewish community’s longstanding warnings to government about rising threats.
His concerns about the response of political leaders and the failure to act on incitement to violence.
How antisemitism reflects wider societal issues, and why many in the Jewish community are feeling unsafe.
This interview is part of UKLFI Charitable Trust’s ongoing work to provide legal and strategic insight on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias in the UK.




Lawful Protest Is Not a Permit to Menace
On Yom Kippur, worshippers outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester were rammed and stabbed by a terrorist in a deadly rampage. Then within hours, in London's streets eliminationist slogans were chanted with gusto.

Lawful protest is a jewel in the crown of British liberty. But a protest is not a permit to menace.

It is not a day-pass to call for the eradication of a people or the dismantling of the world's only Jewish state. It does not entitle anyone to transform the public square into a theater of intimidation.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, we have witnessed a marked rise in antisemitic incidents, the normalization of chants once thought beyond the pale, a creeping tolerance for placards and slogans that would, not long ago, have prompted a collective inhalation of horror.

The reaction of the government is widely read as weakness. Radicals see that a state that asks nicely and retreats at the first refusal is a state that can be played.

If your strategy is to plead with radicals and shrug when they refuse, you have mistaken governance for wishful thinking.

The right to assemble is not the right to terrify; the right to speak is not the right to incite.

Britain at her best is steadfast and decent, with a national instinct toward fairness that is one of the wonders of the world.

However, fairness is not paralysis. The time for law, applied without flinch, is now.




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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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

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