Important Takeaways:
- Hamas Cuts Off Hostage Negotiations; Refuses to Talk Under Fire
- The Times of Israel reported:
- A Hamas statement claims that it will not agree to free any more hostages or even negotiate over them until the end of fighting.
- The stance, which has been trotted out by the terror group before, comes amid intense talks for a possible deal that would see hostages released in exchange for Palestinian inmates in Israeli prison. The group already claims it won’t accept a temporary truce.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel would continue the war to “eliminate” Hamas even if negotiations continued.
- Pressure for talks rose last weekend, after the tragic deaths of three Israeli hostages who managed to escape their Hamas captors. Israeli soldiers mistook them from afar for terrorists.
- The Israeli public, however, remains committed to the fight, even though there is also support for talks to free the hostages.
- Palestinian rocket attacks against Israel continue: a large salvo was fired from a Hamas-controlled area of central Gaza toward Tel Aviv and central Israel on Thursday, but caused no injuries.
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Important Takeaways:
- After initial videos of women’s nearly-naked corpses being paraded through Gaza, and eyewitness accounts of rape, more and more evidence has been emerging of Hamas gang-raping and torturing women — and even men — during their attack. Though Israeli investigators were often unable to collect forensic evidence, due to ongoing fighting, those who examined the bodies of Israeli victims found evidence of sexual abuse and torture, and more eyewitnesses have emerged in Israel’s investigation.
- UN Women, the main United Nations organization for women’s equality, did not react to allegations of sexual violence against Israeli women until late last week, nearly eight weeks after the attack. “Progressive” Democrats have equivocated on the issue, pushing back against allegations by noting that Israel, too, has been accused (often falsely) of (other) rights violations.
- Israel’s mission to the United Nations held a special session on Monday and in a press conference Tuesday, Netanyahu blasted the hypocrisy of the world’s human rights groups and women’s groups.
- In Hebrew, he said:
- I must say that until recent days, I haven’t heard the international human rights organizations, I haven’t heard the women’s organizations, I haven’t heard the women’s organizations in the United Nations — I have not heard their cry. And I say to them: Where are you? You went silent because we’re talking about Jewish women?
- Switching to English, he said:
- I say to the women’s rights organizations, to the human rights organizations: You’ve heard of the rape of Israeli women, horrible atrocities, sexual mutilation? Where the hell are you? I expect all civilized leaders, governments, nations to speak up against this atrocity.
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Important Takeaways:
- Quick Facts
- Over 1,400 Israelis (392 soldiers) have been killed, and over 7,000 have been injured.
- The IDF has notified families of 240 being held hostage in Gaza.
- The IDF has struck over 15,000 Hamas targets.
- Over 9,500 Rockets have been fired by Hamas toward Southern and Central Israel from Gaza (over 500 failed launches have fallen inside Gaza), with Lebanon and Syria also firing from the north.
- His visit came during the four-day fire pause in the fighting, part of a deal with Hamas to release Israeli hostages.
- “We are here in the Gaza Strip with our heroic soldiers,” Netanyahu said.
- “We are making every effort to return our hostages, and in the end, we will return them all. We have three goals in this war: Eliminate Hamas, return all of our hostages, and ensure that Gaza will not go back to being a threat to the State of Israel.”
- These comments came just hours before seventeen more hostages were released by the terror organization Hamas on Sunday evening and transported by the International Red Cross to the Israeli border.
- One of the hostages, 84-year-old Alma Abraham, was evacuated by a helicopter to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba directly from the border, reportedly in serious condition.
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘Beat that f**kin’ Jew!’ UCLA students batter Netanyahu piñata
- Pro-Hamas University of California Los Angeles students concealed their faces Wednesday to batter a blue piñata bearing an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- Several students wearing keffiyeh scarves on their heads and over their faces took turns pummeling it with a wooden stick.
- “Beat that f**kin’ Jew!” a woman yelled into a bullhorn as the crowd chanted, “Free, free Palestine.”
- At one point, a man grabbed the pinata and began punching it, ripping it off the rope and destroying it.
- Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA were demanding the U.S. “end funding to Israel”.
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Important Takeaways:
- Vladimir Putin turns on Netanyahu as he sees Israel ‘as Russia’s enemy’
- Vladimir Putin will now see Israel as an “enemy” as he moves closer to Iran and sides with Hamas in the Middle East, a former speechwriter for the Russian President tells Daily Express US.
- Hamas has called Russia its “closest friend” as the terror group vows to release eight Russian hostages kidnapped during its October 7 attack in Israel.
- Putin appears to be breaking from his previous line of neutrality over Israel and Palestine. This week he called on Israel to cancel its ground invasion into Gaza.
- Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Putin from 2008-2012 who lives in Tel Aviv, tells Daily Express US that Putin has become more reliant on Iran for weapons, and this is why he has shifted to a more pro-Palestine stance.
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Important Takeaways:
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered reassurances of ongoing U.S. support to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, heading into a meeting in Tel Aviv, in the wake of bloody attacks perpetrated by Palestinian militant group Hamas against Israel over the weekend.
- Separately, Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said on X that Blinken will convene with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on Friday.
- The U.S. has firmly denounced the Hamas attacks and previously proposed a humanitarian corridor for civilians in the Gaza Strip.
- The death toll meanwhile continues to mount in Israel and Gaza, as sirens blare and war wages.
- Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Israel Katz said Thursday that the Gaza siege will not be lifted until the country’s hostages, taken by Hamas, are returned home.
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Important Takeaways:
- Turkish education official tells Israel’s Netanyahu ‘you will die’
- A top official within Turkey’s Ministry of National Education has posted a message on X telling Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “One day they will shoot you too” and “You will die.”
- The inflammatory remarks by Nazif Yilmaz, a married father of three and deputy minister of the Turkish agency, was posted in response to a video Netanyahu shared on his account Tuesday appearing to show the Israeli military carrying out airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
- The same day, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan raised concerns about the U.S. moving a carrier strike group closer to Israel following Hamas’ attacks on the country.
- “What will the aircraft carrier of the U.S. do near Israel, why do they come? What will boats around and aircraft on it will do? They will hit Gaza and around, and take steps for serious massacres there,” Erdogan said, according to Reuters.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword
Important Takeaways:
- In Direct Broadcast, Netanyahu Warns Iranian People of ‘Horrible Nuclear War’ if Iran Gets Atomic Weapons
- It was the first time Netanyahu, speaking with Iran International’s Pouria Zeraati, has directly addressed the people of Iran in a broadcast, and it came just hours after the prime minister met with U.S Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
- “If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, this will be a problem all of us will face. It will change the world,” he said the interview, which was translated into Farsi for Iranians.
- When pressed to elaborate on comments he made at a recent conference that “the only thing that can really prevent the Islamic Republic (of Iran) from obtaining a nuclear weapon is a credible military plan and action,” Netanyahu replied, “It’s exactly what it means. I don’t think it needs elaboration.”
- The prime minister praised the courage of the Iranian people carrying out street demonstrations in the face of killings and imprisonment. When asked about the regime’s response to the protest movement, Netanyahu said, “Well, I think the regime is terrified.”
- He added, “Because they know they’ve been the enemy of the Iranian people for so long. But now, the whole world knows that it (the protest movement) has unmasked the true nature of this regime for all the world to see, you know, they were trying to hide their true character.”
- When told that millions of people would be watching the interview, the prime minister was asked what message he had for the Iranian people. He said, I stand with you. But now, most of the world stands with you. You should know that. Don’t lose heart. Be strong.”
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- IAEA Claims Attacking Iran Nuclear Sites Would Be ‘Illegal’; Netanyahu: ‘Are We Permitted To Defend Ourselves?’
- Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a 2021 interview with Jerusalem Post, warned that international appeasement of Iran could lead to Israel having no other option but to use military means to prevent a nuclear Iran.
- Following two days of talks with Tehran, IAEA Director General Raphael Grossi issued a statement asserting that “any military attack on nuclear facilities is outlawed.”
- Netanyahu stated on Sunday. “Against which law? Is Iran, which openly calls for our destruction, permitted to defend the destructive weapons that would slaughter us?”
- “Are we permitted to defend ourselves?” the Israeli Leader asked. “It is clear that we are, and it is clear that we will do so. And we will do so in discussions or actions around the clock, which I will not detail here, of course.”
- Netanyahu went on to liken the current situation with Iran to the Biblical account of Esther and the Persian empire as the Jewish holiday of Purim takes place Monday through Tuesday.
- “2,500 years ago an enemy arose in Persia who sought to destroy the Jews. They did not succeed then, neither will they succeed today,” the Prime Minister stressed.
- The situation has grown more dire as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl last week warned that Iran could have enough material for a nuclear bomb within “12 days.”
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Israel’s window to strike Iran narrows as Putin enters equation
- Iran is seeking sophisticated new air-defense systems from Russia that Israeli officials believe will narrow the window for a potential strike on Tehran’s nuclear program, according to people familiar with the matter.
- The prospect of Iran getting the systems, the S-400s, would accelerate a decision on a possible attack, people in Israel and the U.S. with knowledge of the discussions said.
- Russia hasn’t said publicly if it will supply the weapons, but Moscow and Tehran have drawn closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
- “The longer you wait, the harder that becomes,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said
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