Important Takeaways:
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he will soon speak face-to-face with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who demanded a day earlier that the premier publicly rule out the possibility of Israeli military or civilian rule in Gaza, suggesting instead that “Palestinian entities” and other “international actors” should govern the Strip
- Netanyahu’s public disagreement with Gallant came about after the premier dismissed any discussions of the “day after” in Gaza as meaningless until Hamas is defeated.
- Gallant warned in his address that he will not consent to Israeli civil or military governance of Gaza, and that governance by non-Hamas Palestinian entities, accompanied by international actors, is in Israel’s interest.
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Important Takeaways:
- Shani Louk, 22; Amit Esther Bouskila, 28; and Itzhak Gelerenter, 58, were named as the hostages killed on Oct. 7
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his condolences to the families in a statement on X, restating his commitment to “return all our hostages, the dead and the martyrs alike.”
- U.S. military personnel began moving aid to Gaza using a floating pier anchored to the Palestinian territory’s coastline, as aid groups warned of famine in the enclave.
- U.S. Central Command said aid trucks started moving in using the temporary pier, adding that no U.S. troops went ashore in Gaza.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israeli Leaders Could Face War Crimes Charges as White House Pushes Hostage-Ceasefire Deal
- President Biden has again told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the White House opposes Israel’s planned invasion of the Gazan city of Rafah.
- Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Saudi Arabia for the first leg of a Mideast tour to lobby for a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages in Gaza.
- White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told ABC, “That’s going to be right at the top of the list for Secretary Blinken to keep pushing for this temporary ceasefire. We want it to last for about six weeks. It would allow for all those hostages to get out, and of course to allow for easier aid access to places in Gaza, particularly up in the north.”
- The website Axios reports the Israeli government has proposed a possible hostage deal with Hamas that includes discussing an end to fighting in exchange for the hostages.
- Hamas reportedly has no objections to the deal and is sending a delegation to Cairo.
- While ending the war has been a key Hamas demand, right-wing party members of Israel’s governing coalition have threatened to leave if it agrees to what they call a “reckless deal.”
- Today Hamas took credit for launching about 20 rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel. The IDF says they were all intercepted.
- Thousands demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday, demanding the release of the hostages and the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, after a Hamas propaganda video showed two Israeli hostages in captivity: 47-year-old Israeli Omri Miran and Israeli American Keith Siegel, who said, “I want to tell my family that I love you very much.” He then begins to weep during his message.
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Important Takeaways:
- Netanyahu’s response to Oct. 7 has been ‘terrible,’ Pelosi says
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an “obstacle” to peace and called on him to resign this week.
- “We recognize Israel’s right to protect itself. We reject the policy and the practice of Netanyahu — terrible. What could be worse than what he has done in response?” she said. “He should resign. He’s ultimately responsible,” she added.
- “I don’t know whether he’s afraid of peace, incapable of peace, or just doesn’t want peace. But he has been an obstacle to the two-state solution,” she added.
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Important Takeaways:
- Netanyahu Sets Date for Rafah Invasion, Rejects Ceasefire Deals that Don’t Include Victory over Hamas
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that a date has been set to invade Rafah, Hamas’ last stronghold.
- The prime minister insists Israel won’t accept a ceasefire deal that prevents such an invasion and the achievement of total victory over Hamas.
- He made the announcement Monday, declaring, “We are working all the time to achieve our goals – primarily the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas. This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen – there is a date.”
- The U.S. has also reportedly proposed a new ceasefire deal. It would seek a six-week halt in the fighting, exchange 40 of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas for 900 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, including some who have murdered Israelis.
- Hamas is expected to respond to this latest proposal by Tuesday night. If they agree, the truce could begin as soon as Wednesday.
- The White House indicated President Joe Biden has assured Israel the U.S. will stand with it if Iran launches directly at the Jewish State.
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Important Takeaways:
- “We [have been] dealing with Iran since the 7th of October, and [on] every single front possible – Houthis in Yemen, militias in Iraq, militias in Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas… so, Israel is in full readiness for any scenario”
- Israel has also suffered widespread GPS disruptions on applications, which Israeli outlet Haaretz reported as deliberate attempts to confuse Israeli drone threats.
- “We are in a multi-front war. We are looking not only at Hamas but all our enemies. We look at all fronts and all threats in order to be ready for any scenario.”
- McInnis argued that any success Iran finds in drawing support and condemnation over the attack is “not likely to translate into much international support for Iranian action against Israel, the United States or anyone else they hold accountable for the strike.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Netanyahu CANCELS Israeli diplomatic trip to Washington after the US refuses to veto United Nations resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire over Ramadan
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday announced that he is canceling the planned visit of a delegation to Washington after the United States refused to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
- Minutes before the resolution was carried by 14 votes to zero, Netanyahu told Israeli news media that the visit would not happen if Washington failed to veto it.
- ‘In light of the change in the American position, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided the delegation would not leave,’ his office said after the vote, calling the decision a ‘clear retreat’ from its previous stance.
- highlights how the relationship between the U.S. is breaking down amid the bloodshed in Gaza
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Important Takeaways:
- Netanyahu Renews Israel Victory Pledge as Biden Calls for Ceasefire, Two-State Solution
- The U.S. and Israel stand at a diplomatic and military crossroads.
- Israel says it needs to finish the war against Hamas in the key Gazan city of Rafah, yet the U.S. is threatening that Israel won’t be able to use American weapons if Israel launches its military campaign against the Hamas stronghold.
- On the northern border, Hezbollah continues to fire rocket volleys on Israeli communities.
- In his State of the Union address, President Biden put the burden on Israel to protect Gazans.
- “Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population like cowards under hospitals, daycare centers, and all the like. Israel also has a fundamental responsibility, though, to protect innocent civilians in Gaza,” Biden declared.
- He added what he says is the solution: “As we look to the future, the only real solution to the situation is a two-state solution (between Israel and the Palestinians) over time.”
- To increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, the administration announced plans to construct a port in Gaza
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Important Takeaways:
- How the US Abandoned Israel under Biden
- “Israel must again be a safe place for the Jewish people. And I promise you: We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that it will be.” — US President Joe Biden, October 18, 2023.
- It did not take long, however, for the Biden administration to completely turn that promise on its head. The reversal began with US demands on Israel to scale down military operations, which were already scaled down….
- “Israel implemented more measures to prevent civilian casualties than any other nation in history…. Israel’s use of real phone calls to civilians in combat areas (19,734), SMS texts (64,399) and pre-recorded calls (almost 6 million) to provide instructions on evacuations is also unprecedented.” — John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, United States Military Academy West Point, newsweek.com, January 31, 2024
- The only relevant country that has apparently not been invited to the “urgent” discussions [to reward terrorists unilaterally with a soon-to-be-militarized Palestinian State] is Israel.
- Biden, clearly, seems not that intent on making Israel or the Free World a safe place again. At least not if it might compromise his reelection.
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Important Takeaways:
- U.N. Chief Guterres Warns Israel: Rejection of a Two-State Solution Threatens World Peace
- Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of a two-state solution indefinitely prolongs a conflict that threatens world peace and emboldens extremists everywhere, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday.
- AP reports Guterres told a ministerial meeting of the U.N. Security Council “the right of the Palestinian people to build their own fully independent state must be recognized by all, and a refusal to accept the two-state solution by any party must be firmly rejected.”
- The alternative of a one-state solution “with such a large number of Palestinians inside without any real sense of freedom, rights and dignity … will be inconceivable,” he further warned, adding to his previous comments on the matter.
- On Sunday the European Union’s top diplomat claimed a two-state solution for Israel-Gaza has “the whole international community” behind it, as Breitbart News reported.
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