Monday, October 13, 2025

10/13 Links Pt1: Netanyahu and Trump have been vindicated; We must never forget the ‘progressive’ betrayal of the Israeli hostages; Israel recovers four bodies from Gaza

From Ian:

Elliott Abrams: No, the Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Could Not Have Happened Earlier
How did the Gaza ceasefire happen? The anti-Israel left, and Democrats rushing to explain why former president Joe Biden could not achieve it, have invented the phony argument one can find prominently displayed in a New York Times "analysis" that asks, "Why Now?" and in the sanctimonious X threads of former Biden officials explaining how they laid the groundwork for this historic deal.

It goes like this: Biden offered similar ceasefire plans a year ago. The hostages would have been home in 2024, and lots of deaths and injuries avoided, if Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not been so nasty and right wing, and had not sought to prolong the war for his personal political advantage.

The truth is that the war ended because Israel and the United States exercised power—political, diplomatic, and military. In June, Israel bombed the Iranian nuclear sites and eliminated many of its top scientists and generals. President Trump followed days later with devastating strikes on the largest Iranian nuclear sites. Israel’s assault on Gaza City, Hamas’s last stronghold, began in late August and taught Hamas that holding hostages would not prevent such an assault. Then on Sept. 9, Israel struck at Hamas leaders in Doha, scaring the Qataris into begging for protection from Trump. He offered it—but it is no coincidence that this was the moment when the Qataris began to pressure Hamas to agree to a ceasefire and to release all the living hostages on day one. It was Qatari diplomatic pressure that brought Turkey to push Hamas for the same concessions.

Democrats acknowledge all this in a backhanded way, though they won’t say it in so many words. Former secretary of state Antony Blinken, for example, told the New York Times that "this is a different moment—we didn’t have then what President Trump has now. Hamas is defeated as a military organization, isolated diplomatically, it’s lost its patrons—Iran, Hezbollah, and the Houthis ... ." Blinken was silent as to how everything that "Trump has now" came about—that is, the use of military power by Netanyahu and Trump in ways that Biden urged the Israelis against and would never have contemplated himself.

Blinken claims that the Biden administration had a plan that would have achieved everything, but when Trump came in, "the moment was squandered." Some people never learn. There is more candor from former negotiator Brett McGurk, who told the New York Times "the 12-day war with Iran really moved the needle."

So did Trump’s repeated statements that if Hamas did not agree to stop fighting, he would back Israel fully. Trump said on Sept. 29 that if Hamas did not agree to his 21-point plan, he would "let Israel do what you have to do," adding that Israel "would have my full backing to finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas." Standing next to Netanyahu at the White House, Trump had—much to the chagrin of some New York Times reporters—delivered "an ultimatum to Hamas."
Seth Mandel: Trump’s Affection for Israel
Why was it a “catastrophic defeat”? Because, Bannon said, the Israelis “pushed this Greater Israel project and it came crashing down around them.” He then ranted about the Mossad for a while and got angry on behalf of the Qataris, par for the woke-right course.

The “Greater Israel” comment is intended to convey worry that Israel is seeking to expand its borders through war, but of course Netanyahu does not want Gaza, just as Egypt was glad to be rid of it and refused to take it back when Israel offered in 1967. Gaza is a millstone not a medal—that’s why we’re in this situation to begin with.

Why would a grizzled veteran of the woke right like Bannon feel the need to pretend this was a “catastrophic defeat” for anybody but his own angry faction of the party?

One reason is the way Trump described the Gaza deal today at the Knesset: “What a victory it’s been, all right, what a victory.” That victory is not just Israel’s but America’s, and therefore it is a victory for the alliance of democracies. American victory is the isolationists’ kryptonite, as it vindicates the idea that America has an important role to play in the world and that it is fully capable of doing so.

Another way of saying “American victory” is “American success,” and the Bannon-Tucker-Owens wing of the right cannot abide American success. They can only tolerate American humility.

The other reason has to do with the sentimental nature of Trump’s attachment to Israel. Bannon and Tucker Carlson and the rest obviously lost their fight against the pro-Israel contingent within the administration, that’s not exactly news. But they could handle their defeat better if the president’s support for Israel in a military conflict at least required him to hold his nose. Instead, Trump is having the time of his life. He loves it when Israel wins. Bannon is the one who is tired of all the winning.

What this past year has revealed is that Trump likes Israel. That the special relationship between the two countries is still there, still holding on, despite the woke right’s attempt to sabotage it. The haters don’t like it, but the fact remains: America and Israel are good together, and together they are good for the world.
God’s Shelter Still Stands By Abe Greenwald
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The success of those wildly complicated and audacious operations speaks for itself. But three months later, it’s clear that the miracles never stopped. While media, foreign governments, activists, and NGOs launched a blood-libel campaign about a false Israeli starvation plot, the IDF was busy routing Gaza City of Hamas and fielding the world’s first operational laser-light missile-defense battery. In September, Israel struck at Hamas’s leadership in Qatar, a move that was both broadly condemned and framed as a complete failure. But it was that very strike that would, in time, convince the Qataris to pressure Hamas into a cease-fire and a total release of Israeli hostages.

In a list of Israel’s divine blessings, the presidency of Donald Trump ranks right at or near the top. Neither influenced by the famine fraud nor moved by the stunt of Palestinian-state recognition, Trump stood by Israel for as long as it needed to fight. Once Israeli victory presented the opportunity, however, he coordinated an unprecedented diplomatic effort to initiate the cease-fire and the return of the hostages. And so, here we are.

Nor has Trump been a blessing only to those Jews who reside in Israel. It may not seem like much of a miracle to some, but the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown on anti-Semitism in higher education is something I never thought we’d see.

It can be very hard to see sometimes, but God continues to protect the Jewish people. And, as Sukkot comes to a close, I’m dumbstruck with gratitude. As for the harvesting aspect of the holiday, it feels as if the Jews are about to reap a great bounty. Considering what Israel has accomplished while under deadly attack from all sides, there’s no telling what it will be able to achieve in the wake of a victorious war.


Jake Wallis Simons: Netanyahu and Trump have been vindicated
I dream of a world in which all the marches we saw in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and elsewhere, which commenced on October 7 before the killing had even abated, were targeting the true culprits: Hamas. In my mind’s eye, I see hundreds of thousands of activists thronging the streets of Kensington, flying the Palestinian flag and proudly displaying the yellow ribbon. Out with Hamas! Bring them home! Free, free, Palestine, from the scourge of jihadism!

It is a sobering truth that we saw far more demonstrations of this sort inside Gaza, where the price is paid in blood, than on the streets of our allegedly free cities.

Such mass displays of revulsion for Hamas would surely have forced our eunuch Prime Minister to take that message to the United Nations, insisting that he would not recognise a “State of Palestine” until Hamas laid down its arms and freed the hostages.

Yes, Britain is complicit in this war, and not in the way you think. When those hoards of Israelophobic fanatics dominated our towns and cities, demanding all the concessions that would have ensured victory for Hamas, how did the country respond? With indulgence and excuses. These were not anti-Semites, we said, but “decent people” who were simply overwhelmed with disgust at the Jewish appetite for the blood of children.

After two years of looking upon these brazen racists with kindliness, Starmer even decided to form his foreign policy on the basis of their warped world-view.

How must Gazans feel about all this? There are a great many who hate Hamas from the depths of their souls, having lived under its yoke for decades. Since the ceasefire took effect, the jihadis have taken advantage of the window between war and international supervision to launch a campaign of retribution against those clans who criticised the way they brought such devastation into the Strip.

Footage has emerged of torture and summary executions. Hamas has made no attempt to hide these crimes against its own people, just as it has made no attempt to mask its hatred of “al-Yahud” and revelled in the butchery of October 7. But the West? As ever, the West has made excuses for Hamas that even Hamas itself has not made.

The BBC, which consistently mistranslates “Yahud” as “Israelis” rather than “Jews” in an apparent effort to reframe jihadism as fashionable “anti-Zionism”, described the peace deal as a “hostage exchange”.

Much has been written about how Hamas won the propaganda war. In truth, however, it wasn’t Hamas that achieved this global success. It was the West that fought it for them. As the continued marches demonstrate, even if the jihadis can be persuaded to lay down their arms, their depraved supporters in our own societies are only just beginning.
Brendan O'Neill: We must never forget the ‘progressive’ betrayal of the Israeli hostages
We need a reckoning with this ‘progressive’ betrayal of Jews brutalised by Islamofascists. Here in London, there has been one surefire way to know you’re in a Jewish part of town: you will see yellow ribbons. Jews were left almost entirely alone to rally for their co-religionists who were being tyrannised by genocidal gunmen – something I thought we had promised they would ‘never again’ have to do.

The silence on the hostages wasn’t even the worst of it. The hatred for them was. Do you remember – there was a blind, demented loathing for these men, women and children on the streets of the West. In New York, London, Paris and Sydney, posters of the hostages were attacked and destroyed. Feral Jew-haters clawed at them with a burning animosity until the faces of the Jews were reduced to tatters. People scrawled ‘coloniser’ across their faces. In New York City, faeces were smeared on the poster of Yagil Jacob. Yagil was just 12 years old when he was kidnapped by Hamas. He was held captive for more than 50 days. A society fully loses the right to call itself civilised if it fails to reflect on how such a grotesque desecration of an image of a Jewish child could occur in the 21st century.

To see the true depths of moral dishonour to which the West sank after 7 October, think about David Cunio. He was released today. He is 35. He is a former actor. In 2013, he starred with his twin brother, Eitan, in a film called Youth. It premiered at the Berlinale Film Festival in Germany. And yet 11 years later, as he languished in the captivity of violent Jew-haters, not one person at the 2024 Berlinale saw fit to mention his name, far less call for his release. (Berlinale tried to make up for this sick ‘oversight’ by showing a film about David at this year’s festival.) Worse, when a poster of his three-year-old twin daughters was put up in London, someone daubed Hitler moustaches on them. Jewish infants reimagined as Nazis – such was the gleeful sadism that tore through the West after 7 October.

Tell me: what did David Cunio do to deserve 738 days in captivity? What did he do to deserve the snubbing of his film-world colleagues in the darkest hour of his life? What did he do to deserve having his infant daughters be treated as legitimate targets for the most sickening bigoted invective? We all know the answer: he was born a Jew. That is it. That is the sole reason for his abduction and for the defiling of the likeness of his lovely girls. In both Gaza and the West, his Jewishness marked him out as an unperson, ripe for humiliation.

It is incumbent on those of us who still value reason and decency to confront the West’s moral treachery over the hostages. What we have seen these past two years is the twin savageries of the modern era. The savagery of violent Islamism, and the savagery of identity politics. The barbarous contempt for Jews that motors Hamas, and the barbarous dearth of sympathy for Jews that is a core feature of wokeness. The former see Jews as the arrogant, marauding ‘white colonisers’ of the Holy Land, and so do the latter. ‘Progressives’ in the West were all but complicit in Hamas’s abduction of the Jews, either by ignoring it, or by making excuses for it, or by outright doing Hamas’s bidding and destroying the hostages’ posters. Today we celebrate the liberation of 20 men from the hell of fascistic persecution – tomorrow we ask why so many in our own societies took the side of their persecutors.
Two years of chains, torture, and isolation: What is known about the hostages' time in captivity?
After two years in Hamas captivity, the newly released hostages shared a little information about the hardships imposed on them during their time in Gaza, Israeli media reported on Monday night.

The Cunio brothers
Ariel Cunio was reportedly held alone for his captivity, according to Channel 12, while his brother David was held with Nimrod Cohen and Eitan Horn in multiple tunnels across the Gaza Strip.

While in the tunnels, David Cunio was denied access to any media. It was only during a brief encounter with Yarden Bibas, after the Hamas video was filmed of them, that David learned his twin brother, Eitan Cunio, survived October 7.

Gali and Ziv Berman
Gali and Ziv Berman were held separately and cut off from all media access, Channel 12 reported. The pair were said to have been held in the same city and were not told that they would finally be reunited today.

Terrorists reportedly spoke Hebrew to both men during their captivity.

Elkana Bohbot
Elkana Bohbot spent most of his time in captivity, chained in tunnels, where he lost all sense of time and space.

Bohbot told his family on his wedding anniversary that he had asked a guard to allow him to shower. The Hamas guard initially denied his request and demanded he sit back down, but eventually relented and allowed him to clean himself.

Matan Angrest
Matan Angrest was treated for injuries to his fingers and hands without anaesthesia, causing further medical problems, N12 reported.

Unlike other hostages, Matan was allowed to occasionally watch media clips of Hostages’ Square, where he heard his loved ones speak.

Avinatan Or
Avinatan Or, who was reunited with his loved ones on Monday, was held in a camp in central Gaza. It was here the terrorists starved him and where, according to an initial medical report, he lost between 30-40% of his bodyweight, N12 reported.

Avinatan was completely isolated from other hostages and was told very little about what happened in Israel following Hamas’s invasion.

Evyatar David
Evyatar David's father told Israeli media that his son had experienced both psychological and physical abuse during captivity. He was separated from fellow hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal two months ago.

Alon Ohel
Alon Ohel was chained in the same tunnel for almost the entire two years he was in captivity, and moved only once to a new tunnel 40 days ago, Channel 12 reported.

Alon was moved unexpectedly to the new tunnel located in the center of the Gaza Strip after hours of journeying. The IDF reported that the move was to use him as a human shield to prevent the military from taking over the city.
Trump's Knesset 'pep talk' a ringing endorsement of Israel — and of peace
One thing we’ve learned in recent months is that isolationists and malicious enemies of Israel are part of Trump’s coalition, but the president absolutely does not number himself among them.

“I love Israel,” Trump said at the end of his Knesset speech. “I’m with you all the way.”

Again and again, he emphasized this theme.

He boasted of being the best friend Israel has ever had.

He bragged about how much aid he’s given Israel, and the lethality of the weapons he’s sold to the Jewish state.

He hailed close US-Israel military cooperation, and went on at length about the brilliance of the mutual US-Israel attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

He said the United States and Israel share the same values, and we will always be vital allies.

He celebrated the achievements of the Jewish people, and marveled at how much Israel has been able to accomplish on a small speck of land in the Middle East.

Sometimes Trump lacks subtlety, and one wishes he’d be more circumspect — while sometimes he lacks subtlety, and one marvels at his willingness to speak the truth of the matter in a way no one else will.

The Knesset speech was an instance of the latter, and will long be remembered as a deep-felt statement of the unique bond between America and the Jewish state.

Trump pushed back against the image of himself as a warmonger, and instead argued — now with a lot of evidence — that he’s much more interested in peace.

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It’s a testament to Trump’s real-estate background that his foreign policy is based to a large extent on deal-making and economic development.

And it’s no accident that he tapped two men with backgrounds in real estate, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to cinch the Gaza deal.

Trump offered a vision of a Middle East newly focused on building in his speech, and the Gaza deal does indeed open up a vista of extending the historic Abraham Accords in momentous ways.

Still, there is much hard work ahead that will require US commitment and staying power.

How will Hamas, which is already undertaking violent reprisals against its internal enemies, be disarmed and displaced from power in Gaza?

Who will provide security in the portions of Gaza not controlled by Israel?

Will Qatar and Turkey, who have done so much to support malign actors in the region, get on board a Trumpian vision of peace and prosperity — of normality — for the region?

These and other questions will do much to determine the future of Gaza.

But there’s no question, as far as Trump is concerned, about the United States’ commitment to its Israeli ally.
Trump has done the impossible in Gaza, and the media still sneer
As the long, horrific nightmare draws to a close, the oppressors continue to put themselves on even footing with the more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign visitors they’ve slaughtered, raped, tortured or held for years.

This libel is parroted uncritically by the useful media idiots. It’s unlikely to stop. But we know the truth.

Today, there is celebration amid the mourning. There is pride amid the anger. There is life. And every life is precious.

Meanwhile, many Palestinian people are now daring to join Israelis in cheering Trump for freeing them from Hamas’ iron grip. For ending their suffering as well. For bringing them peace.

Addressing Israel’s parliament Monday, the US president sounded energized, cordial and victorious. In just scant weeks, Trump engineered a laying down of arms, ending, we can only hope forever, a conflict that had dogged the region for many years.

He’d brought on board the governments of other Muslim-majority nations that are sick and tired of terrorists’ stranglehold on the beleaguered Gaza Strip.

Trump helped convince them to pressure Hamas to give up on this thankless war with Israel, and allow the Palestinians, as well as the rest of those in the Middle East, to live without fear of looting and extreme violence committed by the thugs who controlled the area.

It seemed impossible. Trump made it reality.

In coming days and years, decent people will mourn the dead. Former hostages will begin traveling the long road to recovery. Normal life should return to Gaza.

Trump made it happen.

Will the media, the Democrats and his critics ever put their hate aside to thank him?
The Well-Deserved, Utter Humiliation of Palestinian Terrorists and Their Friends
There is a lot of rejoicing in America, Israel, and among normal people around the world about the peace deal in Gaza, but the Palestinian terrorist-huggers are heartbroken. And, of course, they should be. This isn’t really a peace deal. This is an utter capitulation, a total surrender by the losers of Hamas who have completely and utterly failed. They started a war and got their asses kicked, yet again. Their fight from the sewers, where they hid behind women and children, was not an example of brave resistance as they steadfastly endured victimhood. Every single misery that the Palestinians have suffered over the last two years was utterly deserved – in fact, they deserved much, much worse.

That’s why my beef with Israel is that it has been far too kind. Because of the unique aspects of Israeli politics and culture, and because Joe Biden’s puppet masters refused the total support America should’ve given, this absolutely necessary war has dragged on unnecessarily for two years. If I were in charge, this would’ve been over in November 2023, and the semi-human savages who started this war would use my name to scare children for the next hundred generations.

But I’m not in charge, nor are you, nor are any of us except the Palestinians and the Israelis. It’s those in charge who get to make the choices and bear the consequences. The Palestinians got here because they chose to continue a war they’ve been losing since 1948. The Israelis got here because they chose not to allow themselves to be murdered by the people who’ve been trying to kill them since 1948. But I’m not interested in history, not anymore. There’s a time to argue and there’s a time to fight, and it’s time to fight. But you can still see people, both smart and dumb, arguing about history all over the media, both mainstream and social, yet it doesn’t really matter. Certainly, the Israelis are right on the facts – it’s their land, both in terms of historical precedence and the more important fact of physical reality. The owner of the land is the guy who you can’t knock off it; that’s how history works. Here, history just happens to align with justice. The idea that Jews only turned up in the Holy Land in 1946 after Hitler failed to complete his Holocaust is utter nonsense, and people pushing it know that. They don’t care. History is just another weapon for them in their quest for actual genocide, like Kalashnikovs, flotillas of moronic Westerners, and suicide bombers. That it’s all a lie doesn’t matter to them in the least. Their idols are the people who invented Pallywood and made stars of the guys who would portray honor students, a doctors, and a future Nobel Prize winners who just happened to be murdered by the Israelis for no reason, and whose deaths – complete with subtle breathing by the ubiquitous thespians – just happened to be captured on video by their fake reporters.

The real weapon of Hamas, though, is the suffering of their own people. With it, and its documentation, both real and fraudulent, they hope to leverage the humanity of Westerners to get them to choose suicide rather than righteous resistance to Jihadi savagery. It doesn’t just work on millions of morally illiterate leftists – and some ridiculous idiots on the right – in America and Europe. It even works on some Israelis. The October 7 atrocities fell mostly on the leftist “peace” people in the Jewish state who were trying to show solidarity with the Palestinians by living adjacent to Gaza. They died at the hands of the people they wanted to be friends with, horribly, but that didn’t stop many on the Israeli left from trying to undermine the war. Some people will choose suicide over admitting they were wrong.
At Sharm summit, Trump and world leaders sign up for peace in Gaza, with Netanyahu absent
US President Donald Trump called for a new era of harmony in the Middle East on Monday during a global summit on Gaza’s future held in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, urging countries to sign up for the Abraham Accords and trying to advance broader peace in the region after visiting Israel to celebrate a US-brokered ceasefire with Hamas.

“We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to put the old feuds and bitter hatreds behind us,” Trump said, and he urged leaders “to declare that our future will not be ruled by the fights of generations past.”

Trump’s whirlwind trip to the Middle East, which included the summit in Egypt and a speech at the Knesset in Jerusalem earlier in the day, came at a fragile moment of hope for ending two years of war between Israel and Hamas.

“Everybody said it’s not possible to do. And it’s going to happen. And it is happening before your very eyes,” Trump said alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

Nearly three dozen countries, including some from Europe and the Middle East, were represented at the summit. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited at the last moment but declined, with his office saying it was too close to the start of Monday night’s Simchat Torah festival.

Trump, el-Sissi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani signed a document that Trump said would lay the groundwork for Gaza’s future. However, a copy was not made public.

The document was “going to spell out rules and regulations and lots of other things,” Trump said as he signed it, repeating twice that “it’s going to hold up.”
Netanyahu declines invite to join world leaders in Egypt for Trump peace summit
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined a last minute invitation to join world leaders in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday to finalize the U.S.-brokered deal aimed at ending the war on Hamas.

Netanyahu “was invited by U.S. President Trump to participate in a conference taking place today in Egypt,” the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed in a Hebrew-language statement on Monday afternoon.

The premier “thanked President Trump for his invitation, but said he would be unable to attend due to the timing being too close to the start of the holiday” of Simchat Torah, which starts on Monday at sundown.

“The prime minister also thanked President Trump for his efforts to expand the circle of peace—peace through strength,” the PMO said.

Media reports that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani threatened to cancel their participation if Netanyahu were to attend.

The Sharm el-Sheikh summit “will soon begin with the participation of 30 countries and international and regional organizations, to celebrate the signing of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip,” a spokesman for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s office told Arabic media.

In addition to Trump and other world leaders, Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas was also expected to attend the conference.
Indonesia denies president to visit Israel
Indonesia’s government on Monday dismissed reports that President Prabowo Subianto plans to travel to Israel this week, saying no such trip is scheduled.

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono told local media there was “no such plan,” explaining that Prabowo will return to Jakarta following his participation in the Gaza peace summit held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The statement contradicts multiple reports in Israeli media suggesting preparations were being made for a groundbreaking visit by the Indonesian leader as early as Tuesday or Wednesday.

Israel’s Channel 12 and other outlets cited unnamed sources indicating Prabowo could arrive this week for what would have been a historic first visit by a head of state from the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

Such a visit would have portended a potential normalization of ties with the Jewish state, and Indonesia had been named as one of those states with which Washington is seeking to expand the Abraham Accords cemented during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term.

On Sep. 23, Subianto delivered a speech at the United Nations General Assembly annual convention in New York, suggesting a shift in his country’s stance on Israel.

“We must have an independent Palestine, but we must also, we must also recognize, we must also respect, and we must also guarantee the safety and security of Israel. Only then can we have real peace. Real peace. No more hatred and suspicion. The only solution is this one: the two-state solution,” he said.
IN FULL: Trump and Netanyahu address Israel’s Knesset as all hostages are freed
United States President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address the Israeli Knesset on the return of Israeli hostages.




‘Two years of torture’: Foreign Minister discusses ‘tragic’ state of the Israeli hostages
Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel discusses the state of the Israeli hostages live from the Knesset in Jerusalem.

“This is going to take quite a while to actually assess,” Ms Haskel told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“We know from other hostages that returned back that recovering from such a tragedy from two years of torture.

“Our heart is with their family.”


TV host breaks down in tears as Israeli hostages released
Sky News host Sharri Markson has broken down in tears as Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas following a historic peace deal brokered by US President Donald Trump.


Commentary Podcast: The Victory
Settle in; This is a long one. We discuss the release of the hostages, Donald Trump's extraordinary speech to the Knesset, the meaning of deterrence, the changing atmosphere in the Middle East, and the question of...providence.


Ben Shapiro: TRIUMPH: Trump Frees Hostages, ELECTRIFIES Knesset
Ben reports directly from Jerusalem after watching President Trump electrify the Knesset; all living hostages have been released from Gaza; and we examine what comes next.




Hamas stages video calls between hostages, families in lieu of handover ceremonies
Shortly before releasing them, the Hamas terror group on Monday morning orchestrated video calls between some of the living hostages and their families, who were anxiously awaiting their return.

Footage of the calls, in which masked terrorists could be seen alongside the hostages, came after the terror group agreed not to reprise the propaganda ceremonies it held when it released hostages under previous agreements.

The hostages released on Monday appeared to be wearing the same fake military uniforms that Hamas had made the previously released captives wear at the ceremonies.

The calls were placed to family members who were already at the Re’im military base preparing to be reunited with their loved ones.

At least one family refused to accept a call from Hamas, Channel 12 news reported.

In at least one other case, a masked terrorist appeared to address a hostage’s family members, though his comments were inaudible in the footage.

Julie Kuperstein, mother of hostage Bar Kuperstein, recalled: “We were at the [Re’im] compound, and suddenly there was a missed call. I saw ‘Al Aqsa Brigades’ — I called them back, and they answered me! All of a sudden I see Bar!”

“He said, ‘Mom, everything is okay! Mom, everything is okay!’” she told Channel 12 news, weeping.


Israel recovers four bodies from Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) announced on Monday that they had brought the coffins of four deceased hostages into Israel from Gaza.

The bodies have not yet been identified forensically.

“Four coffins of deceased hostages, escorted by IDF and ISA forces, crossed the border into the State of Israel a short while ago and are on their way to the National Institute for Forensic Medicine, where identification procedures will be carried out,” the security services stated. “IDF representatives are accompanying the families.”

Before the crossing was completed, the IDF held a “military protocol” in Gaza in memory of the dead.

“During the protocol, IDF soldiers will drape the hostages’ coffins with Israeli flags, salute them and recite a chapter from the book of Psalms,” the agency stated.

Hamas has misidentified remains that it has handed over in past ceasefire deals. If the terrorist group has handed over the correct bodies, 24 deceased hostages now remain in Gaza.

Earlier on Monday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum stated that Hamas’s failure to return all of the deceased was a “blatant breach” of the ceasefire agreement.
Israel receives remains of Daniel Peretz, IDF hero who saved lives on October 7
Captain Daniel Peretz, from Yad Binyamin, was a Division Commander who was commended for his bravery during the October 7 massacre, when he was murdered by Hamas terrorists.

Originally from South Africa, Perez moved to Yad Binyamin in 2014 with the rest of his family before serving in the IDF's 77th battalion of the 7th "Storm from the Golan" formation.

Daniel's father and chairman of World Mizrahi, Rabbi Doron Peretz, described his son's bravery on October 7, as well as the events surrounding his captivity, in a previous interview conducted with The Jerusalem Post.

On October 7, Daniel immediately ran to his tank and fought valiantly, saving the lives of many of his fellow soldiers, as well as civilians. Eventually, terrorists surrounded his tank, and he was taken hostage, according to his father, Doron, in an interview with the Post.
Light shining beyond the grave: Who is deceased Gaza hostage Yossi Sharabi?
On October 7, 2023, Nira Sharabi, along with her daughters, watched in horror as her husband, Yossi, was abducted from his home in Be’eri and forced into a car along with 16-year-old Ofir Engel.

Nira told the Friends of Zion Museum that while the girls hid under a blanket, Yossi was “guarding the door of the fortified room.” She continues to describe how, once the terrorists broke in, they gathered them together, brought them to a road near their house, and forced Yossi and Ofir into a vehicle before driving away.

In an interview with Channel 12, 16-year-old former hostage Amit Shani described his time with Yossi and Ofir Engel. They were held in an apartment until Amit and Ofir were freed in late November. During their time there, Amit describes feeling safer with him there, whose 16th birthday occurred during his captivity. He describes how “it was a comfort that he was there.. He always tried to care for us.” The three of them stuck together, surviving through reassurances that “it would be ok.” Ofir and Amit did not get to say farewell to Sharabi.
Remains of hostage Guy Ilouz, taken from Nova and murdered in Gaza, returned to Israel
Ra'anana resident Guy Ilouz was kidnapped at the Nova music festival massacre in Re'im on October 7, 2023, and was murdered during Hamas captivity in Gaza, where his remains were held for some two years since.

The IDF informed the family of his death on December 1, 2023, 56 days after his capture and subsequent kidnapping into Gaza by Hamas terrorists on October 7.

He was 26 at the time of his murder.

Illouz was music and sound technician who took part in the festival and worked with prominent Israeli musicians including Shalom Hanoch, Matti Caspi, and the band, HaYehudim.
Bipin Joshi, Nepali hero claimed dead, among deceased hostages returned in Hamas list
Bipin Joshi, a Nepali national who arrived in Israel in an agricultural educational work program just three weeks before his kidnapping, has been published in Hamas’ list of the four bodies of hostages set to return to Israel on Monday night, hours after the release of the remaining 20 living hostages.

Coming to Israel was Joshi’s first experience leaving home. Coming in September 2023 for the Learn and Earn Program, the then 24-year-old spent his days working in citrus fields on Kibbutz Alumim. He was lauded by survivors as a hero, saving the lives of several other foreign workers. Ten Nepalis were killed, five were wounded, and one escaped unscathed.

On Sunday night, Nepal’s Ambassador to Israel Dhan Prasad Pandit told The Post in a phone call that despite the hostage return being scheduled for the next day, his embassy had received no new information, leaving them in the dark about not only what to expect the next day, but without any potential news to share moving forward.

Bipin's fate confirmed
Still, in the hours that followed the release of the remaining living hostages, Bipin’s fate was confirmed by a Hamas-published list of deceased hostages to be returned to Israel.

NGOs working with migrant workers have declined to comment until confirmation is received by official forensic testing.


Aharon Mizrahi, 76, dies of wounds sustained in Iranian missile attack in June
Aharon Mizrahi, 76, a resident of Ramat Gan, who was hit by an Iranian missile during Operation Rising Lion, died from his injuries last night, according to Hebrew news outlets.

Iran retaliated to Israel’s June strikes targeting Tehran’s nuclear program and military sites by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel.

The attacks killed 32 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals.


Israel frees nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including hundreds of terror convicts
Israel on Monday freed nearly 2,000 Palestinians — including hundreds of terror convicts serving life terms — from its prisons as part of a deal to reach a ceasefire and release the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Shortly after 20 living hostages were freed, Israel put 1,968 Palestinian prisoners on buses that departed for the West Bank and Gaza.

Among those freed were 250 security prisoners, most of them serving one or more life terms for deadly attacks on Israelis. They include a Palestinian police officer who joined in the notorious lynching of two reservists at the start of the Second Intifada in 2000, a Gaza resident who raped and murdered a 13-year-old boy and dozens of other terrorists responsible for a series of suicide bombings and other attacks.

Hamas said 154 of the prisoners were deported to Egypt.

At the same time in southern Israel’s Ketziot Prison, 1,718 Gazan detainees uninvolved in the October 7, 2023, massacre, who were arrested as unlawful combatants during the war, went free. Among the detainees were a handful of women and children.

Families of the terrorists’ victims, who were notified by the government ahead of their release, expressed intense pain and grief coupled with joy for the returning hostages and their loved ones.

Early in the morning, police and prison forces arrived at Ofer Prison near Ramallah in the West Bank to prepare the release of the security prisoners. Some 88 of the prisoners were sent back to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Posters hung up on the outer walls of the Ofer detention facility read: “He who threatens a flood is drowned and wiped out,” referring to “the Al Aqsa Flood,” Hamas’s name for the October 7, 2023, massacre.


CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Says Starved and Tortured Israeli Hostages Were Treated ‘Better Than the Average Gazan’
CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour claimed Israeli hostages, who were tortured and starved for two years by Hamas, were treated better than Gazans.

"They're probably being treated better than the average Gazan because they are the pawns and the chips that Hamas had," Amanpour said Monday morning on CNN News Central. "Now Hamas has given up all its leverage, by the way, by giving them all up. So that is a victory for the Israeli side."

Videos released over the past two years have shown malnourished Israeli hostages enduring brutal treatment. Survivors have said they were starved, tortured, electrocuted, and forced to dig their own graves. One freed hostage, Ron Krivoi, said "ordinary Gazans" beat him. Another, Evyatar David, was forced to dig his own grave in a Hamas propaganda video released in August.

The last 20 living hostages, including David, were released Monday morning as part of the first phase of President Donald Trump’s peace deal.

Amanpour also lamented that the freed hostages will have access to mental health care in Israel while Gaza, which was controlled by Hamas at the time the terrorist organization started the war with its Oct. 7 massacre, doesn’t have the facilities to treat such issues.

"The medical facilities [in Gaza] are destroyed," she said. "I mean, the idea that there's any mental health facilities that can help 2 million people is just a farce."

The road to better mental and physical health for Gazans will be "long and very, very difficult," Amanpour added.


The Free Press: The Hostages Come Home | Haviv Rettig Gur, Michael Oren & More
On Thursday, Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan. Hamas has agreed to release all remaining hostages, both alive and dead. The release could begin as early as Sunday evening.

In exchange, Israel will release around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including hundreds serving life sentences, and the Israel Defense Forces has completed its initial partial withdrawal in Gaza.

The deal marks a historic moment after over two years of war—for the families who have fought tirelessly to bring their loved ones home, for the hostages who have endured months of starvation and abuse, and for the Gazan civilians who have been living under two years of relentless war.

Still, critical questions remain: What happens next? Will Hamas agree to disarm and relinquish control of Gaza in phase two and allow Gaza to be rebuilt?

Early signs suggest otherwise. Over the weekend, Hamas reportedly began to execute Palestinian rivals in the streets in an effort to maintain control.


The Hostage Release Changes Everything: Exploring Trump’s Deal, the Future of Gaza and Hamas
In this Rapid Response episode of The Brink, we react to the breaking news that Israeli hostages have finally been freed after two years in Hamas captivity. A moment of relief, sorrow, and reckoning for Israel and the wider West.

We discuss the emotional weight of their return, the moral clarity of this moment, and what it reveals about the divide between those who stand for life and those who justify terror. From the international reaction and Western media’s coverage to the political failures that allowed Hamas to endure, we explore what this means for Israel’s future and for the moral state of our own societies.

We also break down Donald Trump’s role in securing the deal, the geopolitical fallout with Qatar and Turkey, and what the next phase of this war could look like. This is a raw and timely Substack Rapid Response from The Brink.


FDD Morning Brief | feat. Jonathan Conricus and Ariel Oseran (Oct. 13)

Jonathan Conricus reacts to the release of the hostages — NewsNation
Jonathan joins NewsNation to react to the release of the first seven of twenty living hostages as President Trump prepares to land in Israel.


‘I hope they feel ashamed’: Tony Abbott ridicules ‘Jew hate’ protests
Former prime minister Tony Abbott condemns Australians spreading Jew hatred.

“What is wrong with our country and our people … they never demanded the release of the hostages, they never demanded an end to Hamas rule, they never demanded that Hamas recognises Israel’s right to exist,” Mr Abbott told Sky News host Peta Credlin.

“Effectively, it was Jew hatred.

“I hope a lot of these people feel ashamed of themselves, frankly.”




Jonathan Sacerdoti: “I won’t stay silent”: Terror victim Tal Hartuv slams BBC, Labour, & Britain’s hypocrisy over Israel
When Israel agreed to release hundreds of convicted terrorists in exchange for its hostages, Tal Hartuv discovered that one of them was the man who stabbed her 18 times and murdered her friend.

In this deeply moving and unsparing conversation, Tal speaks to Jonathan from Jerusalem, describing the impossible emotions of watching her attacker walk free — anger and disbelief mixed with relief that Israeli hostages are finally coming home.

She reflects on her survival, on the moral price Israel is being forced to pay, and on the West’s complicity in distorting that reality. From the BBC’s “prisoner exchange” headlines to Labour’s recognition of a Palestinian state, she argues that Britain has lost its moral bearings — and that these lies have consequences measured in blood.

This is a story of justice and betrayal, faith and fury — and of a survivor who refuses to let others decide what her suffering means.




On Eve of Hostage Release, Kamala Harris Accuses Israel of Genocide
Former vice president Kamala Harris accused Israel of genocide during an interview that aired just hours before Hamas began releasing hostages it took during its Oct. 7 massacre.

MSNBC's The Weekend cohost Eugene Daniels asked Harris during an interview that aired Sunday morning if she agreed with other Democrats who call "what’s happening in Gaza a genocide."

"I think that, listen, it's a term of law that a court will decide," Harris responded. "But I will tell you that when you look at the number of children that have been killed, the number of innocent civilians that have been killed, the refusal to give aid and support, we should all step back and ask this question and be honest about it, yeah."

After two years in captivity, Hamas released the 20 living Israeli hostages early Monday morning, marking the first stage of President Donald Trump’s peace plan. They were taken to a military base in southern Israel and then to hospitals throughout Israel.

The ceasefire deal also requires Hamas to release the remains of deceased hostages, though the timing remains unclear. Israel released around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and withdrew military forces from about half the territory of Gaza.

Harris, during her interview, also commented on the peace unfolding in the region.

"I really do hope it becomes real and that the hostages are out, that Gaza is no longer being treated with such brutality of force, that aid goes in," Harris said. "I commend the people who have been a part of this process. I commend the Qataris, the Egyptians, and the president."


Mamdani runs NYC ‘Gaza 5K’ raising money for UNRWA despite agency’s Hamas ties
Mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani fundraised for an infamous United Nations relief agency with well-documented ties to Hamas over the weekend — drawing outrage from Republican North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik.

Stefanik, who has said she’ll run in next year’s gubernatorial election, also tore into Gov. Kathy Hochul over her support for the Democratic mayoral nominee, Mamdani, as she denounced him as an “antisemite.”

“On the eve of all the living hostages held by Hamas terrorists finally returning home, @KathyHochul endorsed Antisemite Communist NYC Mayor candidate is raising funds for an organization that participated in the October 7th terrorist attacks and brutally held hostages captive,” Stefanik raged on X.

“Do not let the pro-Hamas jihadis win and destroy NY! FIRE HOCHUL.”

Mamdani had proudly posted an image of himself running the “New York City Gaza 5K” to raise money for the notorious UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on Sunday.

The Big Apple mayoral frontrunner billed UNRWA as a benevolent organization that “delivers critical humanitarian aid and services to Palestinians in Gaza.”

Following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack against Israel, multiple investigations found that several planners and participants in the massacre were on UNRWA’s payroll.

UNRWA later fired 10 of the 12 staff members allegedly involved in the attacks after being informed by Israel. The other two were confirmed to have died.

Over 10% of UNRWA’s main and senior education staff in the Gaza Strip were members of Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to a November 2024 report from the Israeli non-profit organization IMPACT-se.

In 2023, the US sent $154 million to UNRWA. Trump quickly yanked funding for the group after roaring back into the White House in January.




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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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