π️Lonny's War Update- October 284, 2023 - July 16, 2024 π️
π️Day 284 that 120 of our hostages in Hamas captivity
**There is nothing more important than getting them home! NOTHING!**
“I’ve never met them,But I miss them. I’ve never met them,but I think of them every second. I’ve never met them,but they are my family. BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!”
There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!ΧΧΧ Χ Χ¦ΧΧΧ Χ’Χ Χ©ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧΧ€ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧͺ
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*4:45pm yesterday - north - rockets Kiryat Shemona, Tel Hai, Beit Hillel, Kfar Giladi, Kfar Yuval, Maayan Baruch, Hagoshrim*6:10pm yesterday - south - rockets Kerem Shalom
*11:30pm yesterday - north - rockets Kiryat Shemona, Margaliot, Manara, *11:40pm yesterday - north - rockets Kiryat Shemona, Metulla, Kfar Giladi, Kfar Yuval, Maayan Baruch, Tel Hai, Beit Hillel1:05pm - south - rockets Sderot, Ibim, Nir Am, Givim, Sapir College- 2 rockets struck open areas and a third was intercepted
*11:30pm yesterday - north - rockets Kiryat Shemona, Margaliot, Manara,
Hostage Updates
Only a week after being forcibly removed from a Knesset committee meeting, the brother of hostage Itzik Elgarat stages a sit-in at the entrance to the Knesset alongside several Labor MKs to protest not being allowed back into the building.
Returning to the legislature at the invitation of Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy, Danny Elgarat is stopped by Knesset security and sits down next to a door. He is soon joined by Labor chairman Yair Golan and MKs Gilad Kariv and Naama Lazimi — who block passage through the security checkpoint and appeal to members of the opposition to take part in their protest.
“After being forcibly removed from the Rothman committee last week, Danny Elgarat is not allowed to enter the Knesset today. Is this the attitude toward kidnapped families? This is the attitude towards those whom the state has abandoned,” tweets Golan.
Sitting at the Knesset entrance, Elgarat states that he was told he needs to draft a letter of apology and commit not to disrupt Knesset proceedings before being allowed to return to parliament.
absolutely disgraceful treatment of the brother of a hostage held in Gaza. Unfortunately, this is the treatment of this government who have turned the families into 'traitors' and are not embarrassed by their abandonment on October 7 or of their treatment and abandonment since.
Last Monday, Knesset guards on Monday forcibly dragged Elgarat out of a meeting of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman on the orders of chairman Simcha Rothman after he interrupted the brother of another abductee speaking out against the latest hostage agreement being negotiated between Israel and Hamas.
After Rothman ordered Elgarat’s removal, the latter refused to move, yelling that he would not comply and was dragged out of the room. He was subsequently photographed receiving medical attention while lying facedown in a Knesset hallway.
This is the second time that Elgarat has been blocked from returning to the Knesset since the incident.
Two days after he was removed, Elgarat came back but was refused entry.
US-Israeli hostage’s family fights to keep American public
interested in fellow citizen
Set to speak at Republican convention on Wednesday, Omer
Neutra’s family say it’s a struggle to maintain media awareness of the 8 US
citizens held by Hamas since Oct. 7 massacre
NEW YORK — It has been over 280 days since Hamas terrorists
kidnapped 22-year-old Omer Neutra, a dual American-Israeli citizen, from his
army base near Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel.
Omer was abducted during the
October 7 onslaught, in which thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel
from Gaza, massacring 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251 to the
Strip amid acts of horrific brutality.
For Omer’s family, it has
been nine months of anguish, phone calls with elected officials, speaking at
synagogues and Jewish community centers, and working to make sure no one
forgets that Hamas is still holding 116 hostages — including eight Americans —
in Gaza.
As Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar led a delegation to Cairo for
further mediated deliberations on a hostage-for-ceasefire deal with Hamas,
Omer’s mother Orna and father Ronen spoke with The Times of Israel on Zoom from
their Plainville, New York, home about what they’ve experienced since October
7.
“It’s almost like drowning
for nine months. It’s a helpless feeling. So we try to be active and strategic
with everything we do. It’s day-to-day,” Ronen said.
Wearing a black t-shirt
bearing Omer’s picture and the words “Bring Them Home,” Orna said it’s a
continued challenge to get the mainstream media in the United States to pay
attention to the plight of the hostages.
“The general news cycle makes
it tougher and tougher,” Orna said.
Nevertheless, the Neutras are
persisting.
“I pray our leaders do the right thing, but that we have to fight
for his release is mind-blowing,” said Ronen. “The fact that our government,
the Israeli government, has not made the hostage release the number one
priority is beyond us and is unacceptable. We constantly have to fight together
with the other hostage families for their release. It’s urgent; our children,
our families are dying there.”
“We cannot stop the war until
the hostages are home, otherwise we’ll never see our son. But any other actions
needed [the total elimination of Hamas], the military can do later,” he added.
The Neutras last spoke with
their son, who was a tank commander, on October 6, the day before the massacre.
Footage from the day of the onslaught showed Hamas terrorists setting Omer’s
armored vehicle ablaze and dragging him and his fellow soldiers from the tank.
The Neutras have since met the families of the other three soldiers, two of
whom were murdered on October 7.
Dual US-Israeli citizens, the
Neutras moved from Israel to New York in 1999. Born one month after the 9/11
terrorist attacks, Omer grew up in Plainview, where he attended Solomon
Schechter Day School.
Omer Neutra, an American-Israeli citizen and lone soldier was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023. From left: Ronen Neutra, Omer Neutra, Orna Neutra, and brother Daniel Neutra in an undated photo. (Courtesy)In 2020, Omer deferred his acceptance to Binghamton University,
moved to Israel and enlisted as a lone soldier, after spending a year in Israel
on an educational leadership program.
“Our son drafted himself, not
because he had to, but because he wanted to,” Ronen said.
The choice was very much in character for Omer, his parents
said.
Omer volunteered at the local
community center and was captain of his high school basketball, volleyball, and
soccer teams. He was also a leader with the United Synagogue Youth, the
Conservative movement’s youth group.
During these past months, the
Neutras have attended scores of events to highlight their son’s story and that
of the other hostages. On July 7, they joined the New York Hostages and Missing
Families Forum in Central Park, and next week they will fly to Wisconsin to
speak at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.
The family of 22-year-old Omer Neutra, who is being held hostage by Hamas, in Gaza speaks at a rally in New York’s Central Park on July 7, 2024. Left to right: Orna Neutra, Ronen Neutra, and Daniel Neutra. (Dani Tenenbaum and Liri Agami)“So many kids crossed paths with Omer. He made connections with
people really easily. Even if someone just met him for a brief moment, they
felt like they knew him. He’d leave some part of him with you. He was always
inclusive and funny. He drew a lot of people to him,” Orna said.
There was the time Omer ended
up in the hospital after a teammate accidentally elbowed him in the eye.
“I just learned that Omer
called the kid from his hospital bed and told him not to worry, that he wasn’t
angry,” Ronen said.
Families of Americans being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, from left, Jonathan Dekel-Chan, Ruby Chen, Ronen Neutra and Orna Neutra, are interviewed by The Associated Press, June 5, 2024. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)And there was the soldier who attended officer training with
Omer who told his parents that he looked for Omer every day during his recent
deployment to Gaza.
“He’s a goofball and
disarming on the one hand. On the other hand, he could also be a serious guy.
He loves people and his passion is to make an impact,” Orna said.
Omer’s connection to Israel was also bolstered by the stories he
heard growing up about his great-grandparents who survived the Holocaust.
Several months
ago, Ronen started wearing a hostage ribbon pin that his sister Louise, a
jewelry designer, made from the gold coins their Yugoslavian-born grandfather
Yossef kept hidden during World War II. A trained mechanical engineer, Yossef
joined the Yugoslav partisans in 1943. He kept a few gold coins “just in case,”
according to a Bring Them Home Now post on X.
As they wait for news about
hostage negotiations, Omer’s parents remain determined.
“So many Americans do not
understand the scope of October 7; 45 Americans were slaughtered and there are
still eight American hostages. Our job is to raise awareness about this
humanitarian crisis facing all the hostages,” Ronen said. link
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told relatives of IDF observation soldiers held hostage by Hamas at a meeting earlier today that a hostage-truce deal is closer than it has ever been and that the security establishment sees no insurmountable security obstacles to it, Channel 12 reports.
He reportedly advised the families to schedule a meeting in the next few days with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make sure the opportunity is not missed.
“When a deal was not possible, I told you,” the report, which it says is based on multiple sources, quotes Gallant as saying. “Now it is [possible], so I’m telling you: it’s closer than it has ever been. There is complete unanimity in the defense establishment — the IDF, the Shin Bet and the Mossad — that there is no insurmountable security obstacle to the deal from their point of view.”
Gallant reportedly went on: “The matter is not parked with us [in the defense establishment]. It is critical to move ahead with decisions in the near future. It’s important to finalize the processes in the coming days, before the prime minister’s trip to Washington or in the course of his visit. After that, it will be much more difficult and complicated.”
Netanyahu heads to the US next week, to address a joint session of Congress and for talks at the White House with President Joe Biden.
The families reportedly asked Gallant how exactly they should proceed, and whether Netanyahu is sabotaging the deal.
The defense minister, in response, reportedly said: “You should arrange a meeting with the prime minister before he flies to the US. He’s the one who decides.”
Clockwise, from top left: Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Agam Berger and Liri Albag, who were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)In response to the report, Gallant’s office says that he holds frequent meetings to update families of hostages, but does not comment on the reported content of such meetings and is unhappy when material is leaked from them.
A source in the Prime Minister’s Office says that to secure the release of the hostages, pressure must be increased on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and not on Netanyahu.
The families of five surveillance soldiers held hostage in Gaza say they will release images from the women’s first days in Gaza at 7 p.m.
A still from footage showing the capture and abduction of Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy at the Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023. (The Hostages Families Forum)The images will apparently show Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, and Naama Levy. All five are still held by Hamas in the Strip.
According to Channel 12 news, a few months ago the families received the photos of their daughters being held in a home in Gaza, dressed in clothing that did not belong to them.
The outlet says the images were initially shown to the families by the IDF spokesperson and were among materials uncovered by troops.
“As the return of their daughters and other hostages seems closer than ever, the families will demand an immediate meeting with the prime minister,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum says in a statement.
“They will plead with him to sign the deal before his trip to Congress,” the forum says. Netanyahu is set to head to the US early Monday ahead of his Wednesday address at the Capitol.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum released harrowing footage in May showing the abduction of the five female soldiers from the Nahal Oz base by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, describing the video as a “damning testament to the nation’s failure to bring home the hostages.”
The video was taken by body cameras worn by Hamas terrorists that day as they attacked the base near the Gaza border.
US, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators have been working to reach a deal between Israel and Hamas that would see the release of the hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners and a ceasefire in the ongoing war, which began on October 7 when Hamas led a devastating attack that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 abducted to Gaza.
Clockwise, from top left: Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Agam Berger and Liri Albag, who were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)Dozens of Hebrew University students are demanding a hostage deal in a protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.
The students formed a human chain and marched from the entrance of the university’s Givat Ram campus to Kaplan Street.
Shay Dickmann, the cousin of Hamas-held hostage Carmel Gat, addresses the crowd before they set out.
“Now there is a chance that all the hostages will once again be with us. There is a deal on the table, a deal that our own government presented,” she said.
Sasha Ariev, the sister of Hamas captive Karina Ariev, also joins the demonstration.
“We have come to the closest point we’ve ever been at [to a deal],” she says while urging the government to sign off on a deal.
Student demonstrations are also being held in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
“The semester ended, we are supposed to be out for summer vacation but for the hostages there is no freedom, they’re not out for summer vacation, they are still in Gaza,” says Ella Lotan, a Hebrew University student and one of the demonstration organizers.
According to Lotan, students at Tel Aviv University blocked the entrance to their campus this morning.
Hostage Updates
Only a week after being forcibly removed from a Knesset committee meeting, the brother of hostage Itzik Elgarat stages a sit-in at the entrance to the Knesset alongside several Labor MKs to protest not being allowed back into the building.
Returning to the legislature at the invitation of Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy, Danny Elgarat is stopped by Knesset security and sits down next to a door. He is soon joined by Labor chairman Yair Golan and MKs Gilad Kariv and Naama Lazimi — who block passage through the security checkpoint and appeal to members of the opposition to take part in their protest.
“After being forcibly removed from the Rothman committee last week, Danny Elgarat is not allowed to enter the Knesset today. Is this the attitude toward kidnapped families? This is the attitude towards those whom the state has abandoned,” tweets Golan.
Sitting at the Knesset entrance, Elgarat states that he was told he needs to draft a letter of apology and commit not to disrupt Knesset proceedings before being allowed to return to parliament.
absolutely disgraceful treatment of the brother of a hostage held in Gaza. Unfortunately, this is the treatment of this government who have turned the families into 'traitors' and are not embarrassed by their abandonment on October 7 or of their treatment and abandonment since.Last Monday, Knesset guards on Monday forcibly dragged Elgarat out of a meeting of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman on the orders of chairman Simcha Rothman after he interrupted the brother of another abductee speaking out against the latest hostage agreement being negotiated between Israel and Hamas.
After Rothman ordered Elgarat’s removal, the latter refused to move, yelling that he would not comply and was dragged out of the room. He was subsequently photographed receiving medical attention while lying facedown in a Knesset hallway.
This is the second time that Elgarat has been blocked from returning to the Knesset since the incident.
Two days after he was removed, Elgarat came back but was refused entry.
US-Israeli hostage’s family fights to keep American public interested in fellow citizen
Set to speak at Republican convention on Wednesday, Omer Neutra’s family say it’s a struggle to maintain media awareness of the 8 US citizens held by Hamas since Oct. 7 massacre
NEW YORK — It has been over 280 days since Hamas terrorists kidnapped 22-year-old Omer Neutra, a dual American-Israeli citizen, from his army base near Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel.
Omer was abducted during the October 7 onslaught, in which thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel from Gaza, massacring 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251 to the Strip amid acts of horrific brutality.
For Omer’s family, it has been nine months of anguish, phone calls with elected officials, speaking at synagogues and Jewish community centers, and working to make sure no one forgets that Hamas is still holding 116 hostages — including eight Americans — in Gaza.
As Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar led a delegation to Cairo for further mediated deliberations on a hostage-for-ceasefire deal with Hamas, Omer’s mother Orna and father Ronen spoke with The Times of Israel on Zoom from their Plainville, New York, home about what they’ve experienced since October 7.
“It’s almost like drowning for nine months. It’s a helpless feeling. So we try to be active and strategic with everything we do. It’s day-to-day,” Ronen said.
Wearing a black t-shirt bearing Omer’s picture and the words “Bring Them Home,” Orna said it’s a continued challenge to get the mainstream media in the United States to pay attention to the plight of the hostages.
“The general news cycle makes it tougher and tougher,” Orna said.
Nevertheless, the Neutras are persisting.
American-born Omer Neutra was taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)“I pray our leaders do the right thing, but that we have to fight for his release is mind-blowing,” said Ronen. “The fact that our government, the Israeli government, has not made the hostage release the number one priority is beyond us and is unacceptable. We constantly have to fight together with the other hostage families for their release. It’s urgent; our children, our families are dying there.”
“We cannot stop the war until the hostages are home, otherwise we’ll never see our son. But any other actions needed [the total elimination of Hamas], the military can do later,” he added.
The Neutras last spoke with their son, who was a tank commander, on October 6, the day before the massacre. Footage from the day of the onslaught showed Hamas terrorists setting Omer’s armored vehicle ablaze and dragging him and his fellow soldiers from the tank. The Neutras have since met the families of the other three soldiers, two of whom were murdered on October 7.
Dual US-Israeli citizens, the Neutras moved from Israel to New York in 1999. Born one month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Omer grew up in Plainview, where he attended Solomon Schechter Day School.
Omer Neutra, an American-Israeli citizen and lone soldier was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023. From left: Ronen Neutra, Omer Neutra, Orna Neutra, and brother Daniel Neutra in an undated photo. (Courtesy)In 2020, Omer deferred his acceptance to Binghamton University, moved to Israel and enlisted as a lone soldier, after spending a year in Israel on an educational leadership program.
“Our son drafted himself, not because he had to, but because he wanted to,” Ronen said.
The choice was very much in character for Omer, his parents said.
Omer volunteered at the local community center and was captain of his high school basketball, volleyball, and soccer teams. He was also a leader with the United Synagogue Youth, the Conservative movement’s youth group.
During these past months, the Neutras have attended scores of events to highlight their son’s story and that of the other hostages. On July 7, they joined the New York Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Central Park, and next week they will fly to Wisconsin to speak at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.
The family of 22-year-old Omer Neutra, who is being held hostage by Hamas, in Gaza speaks at a rally in New York’s Central Park on July 7, 2024. Left to right: Orna Neutra, Ronen Neutra, and Daniel Neutra. (Dani Tenenbaum and Liri Agami)“So many kids crossed paths with Omer. He made connections with people really easily. Even if someone just met him for a brief moment, they felt like they knew him. He’d leave some part of him with you. He was always inclusive and funny. He drew a lot of people to him,” Orna said.
There was the time Omer ended up in the hospital after a teammate accidentally elbowed him in the eye.
“I just learned that Omer called the kid from his hospital bed and told him not to worry, that he wasn’t angry,” Ronen said.
Families of Americans being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, from left, Jonathan Dekel-Chan, Ruby Chen, Ronen Neutra and Orna Neutra, are interviewed by The Associated Press, June 5, 2024. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)And there was the soldier who attended officer training with Omer who told his parents that he looked for Omer every day during his recent deployment to Gaza.
“He’s a goofball and disarming on the one hand. On the other hand, he could also be a serious guy. He loves people and his passion is to make an impact,” Orna said.
Omer’s connection to Israel was also bolstered by the stories he heard growing up about his great-grandparents who survived the Holocaust.
Several months ago, Ronen started wearing a hostage ribbon pin that his sister Louise, a jewelry designer, made from the gold coins their Yugoslavian-born grandfather Yossef kept hidden during World War II. A trained mechanical engineer, Yossef joined the Yugoslav partisans in 1943. He kept a few gold coins “just in case,” according to a Bring Them Home Now post on X.
As they wait for news about hostage negotiations, Omer’s parents remain determined.
“So many Americans do not understand the scope of October 7; 45 Americans were slaughtered and there are still eight American hostages. Our job is to raise awareness about this humanitarian crisis facing all the hostages,” Ronen said. link
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told relatives of IDF observation soldiers held hostage by Hamas at a meeting earlier today that a hostage-truce deal is closer than it has ever been and that the security establishment sees no insurmountable security obstacles to it, Channel 12 reports.
He reportedly advised the families to schedule a meeting in the next few days with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make sure the opportunity is not missed.
“When a deal was not possible, I told you,” the report, which it says is based on multiple sources, quotes Gallant as saying. “Now it is [possible], so I’m telling you: it’s closer than it has ever been. There is complete unanimity in the defense establishment — the IDF, the Shin Bet and the Mossad — that there is no insurmountable security obstacle to the deal from their point of view.”
Gallant reportedly went on: “The matter is not parked with us [in the defense establishment]. It is critical to move ahead with decisions in the near future. It’s important to finalize the processes in the coming days, before the prime minister’s trip to Washington or in the course of his visit. After that, it will be much more difficult and complicated.”
Netanyahu heads to the US next week, to address a joint session of Congress and for talks at the White House with President Joe Biden.
The families reportedly asked Gallant how exactly they should proceed, and whether Netanyahu is sabotaging the deal.
The defense minister, in response, reportedly said: “You should arrange a meeting with the prime minister before he flies to the US. He’s the one who decides.”
Clockwise, from top left: Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Agam Berger and Liri Albag, who were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)In response to the report, Gallant’s office says that he holds frequent meetings to update families of hostages, but does not comment on the reported content of such meetings and is unhappy when material is leaked from them.
A source in the Prime Minister’s Office says that to secure the release of the hostages, pressure must be increased on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and not on Netanyahu.
The families of five surveillance soldiers held hostage in Gaza say they will release images from the women’s first days in Gaza at 7 p.m.
A still from footage showing the capture and abduction of Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy at the Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023. (The Hostages Families Forum)The images will apparently show Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, and Naama Levy. All five are still held by Hamas in the Strip.
According to Channel 12 news, a few months ago the families received the photos of their daughters being held in a home in Gaza, dressed in clothing that did not belong to them.
The outlet says the images were initially shown to the families by the IDF spokesperson and were among materials uncovered by troops.
“As the return of their daughters and other hostages seems closer than ever, the families will demand an immediate meeting with the prime minister,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum says in a statement.
“They will plead with him to sign the deal before his trip to Congress,” the forum says. Netanyahu is set to head to the US early Monday ahead of his Wednesday address at the Capitol.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum released harrowing footage in May showing the abduction of the five female soldiers from the Nahal Oz base by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, describing the video as a “damning testament to the nation’s failure to bring home the hostages.”
The video was taken by body cameras worn by Hamas terrorists that day as they attacked the base near the Gaza border.
US, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators have been working to reach a deal between Israel and Hamas that would see the release of the hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners and a ceasefire in the ongoing war, which began on October 7 when Hamas led a devastating attack that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 abducted to Gaza.
Clockwise, from top left: Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Agam Berger and Liri Albag, who were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)Dozens of Hebrew University students are demanding a hostage deal in a protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.
The students formed a human chain and marched from the entrance of the university’s Givat Ram campus to Kaplan Street.
Shay Dickmann, the cousin of Hamas-held hostage Carmel Gat, addresses the crowd before they set out.
“Now there is a chance that all the hostages will once again be with us. There is a deal on the table, a deal that our own government presented,” she said.
Sasha Ariev, the sister of Hamas captive Karina Ariev, also joins the demonstration.
“We have come to the closest point we’ve ever been at [to a deal],” she says while urging the government to sign off on a deal.
Student demonstrations are also being held in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
“The semester ended, we are supposed to be out for summer vacation but for the hostages there is no freedom, they’re not out for summer vacation, they are still in Gaza,” says Ella Lotan, a Hebrew University student and one of the demonstration organizers.
According to Lotan, students at Tel Aviv University blocked the entrance to their campus this morning.
Gaza
- Access to war-torn Gaza has become increasingly difficult for humanitarian groups, 13 leading NGOs warn, accusing Israel’s military of blocking much-needed aid from reaching the besieged Palestinian territory.
Denouncing “Israel’s systematic obstruction of aid and its ongoing attacks on aid operations,” the humanitarian organizations say that Israel had facilitated only 53 — less than half — of the 115 relief missions they had planned.
The aid groups slam what it called Israel’s “siege tactics” in its struggle against Palestinian terror group Hamas.
It says the so-called “humanitarian zone” where most of the strip’s population of 2.4 million people now reside had become “an active combat zone” and “extremely unsafe.”
The charities also criticize the bombing of United Nations schools used as shelters by displaced Palestinians.
At least six schools have been hit over the past nine days.
Israel has provided evidence that Hamas and other terror groups use schools, including those run by the UN, to store weapons and stage attacks against Israel.
“These recent events are exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe at a time when NGOs continue to come up against the obstacles imposed by the continuation of Israeli military operations on the ground,” a press release summarizing the 13 NGOs’ views warns.
Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council are among the charities to contribute to the document.
Since Israel began its ground offensive in the far-southern city of Rafah in May, humanitarian workers have faced major difficulties in delivering aid to the Gaza Strip’s south.
Israel’s capture at the beginning of May of the Rafah crossing brought aid deliveries to a “complete halt,” the NGOs added, without mentioning that it is Egypt that has refused to send trucks through the crossing while it remains under Israeli control.
Tons of “absolutely necessary aid” were left blocked at the crossing points in the south “due to the deterioration in security conditions,” the statement says.
More than 1,500 trucks of humanitarian aid containing medicines, first-aid kits, and basic necessities are stuck in the Egyptian city of Al-Arish as a result.
Meanwhile, in the north of the Gaza Strip — which has been isolated from the south by the Israeli army — aid delivery is “very limited.”
Oxfam says it took it five weeks to transport just 1,600 food parcels from Jordan to Gaza — a journey it said “should take no more than six hours.”
At Kerem Shalom, designated since May as a priority crossing point for humanitarian aid, the situation had “deteriorated significantly since Israel’s offensive in May,” the aid groups say.
This had made the crossing “unsafe to access from within Gaza and currently not logistically viable.”
Israel has repeatedly said there are no restrictions to the amount of aid that can enter Gaza and accuses the United Nations and other aid groups of failing to distribute aid deliveries.
“Yesterday, 211 trucks entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom,” Israeli government spokesman David Mencer says.
In addition, “eight trucks were collected on the Gaza side” of the Erez along with “103 from the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom,” he adds.
Israel is currently demanding that terrorists convicted of murder who are released as part of a hostage deal be exiled to Gaza or another country, Channel 12 news reports, citing senior Israeli officials aware of the details.
The demand has been made to avoid opposition to a deal from far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who have said they would withdraw from the government if such prisoners are released in exchange for hostages.
Israel could request that at least 50 terrorists convicted of murder — who are released in exchange for hostages — be exiled to Gaza or sent to another country, the report says.
Senior Hamas and Fatah officials are set to meet in China next week for talks on the Gaza Strip’s postwar administration, The New York Times reports, citing officials from both groups.
According to the report, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh will lead the terror group’s delegation while Fatah deputy chair Mahmoud al-Aloul will lead his party’s representatives for meetings in Beijing.
The officials will meet China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 21 and July 23, while the two delegations will hold talks on their own during their time in China. While Hamas has expressed openness to handing over civilian administration in Gaza, it has refused to give up its armed struggle against Israel, the report notes.
The terror group violently ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip in 2007 and has ruled there ever since. link
More than 40 targets in the Gaza Strip were struck by fighter jets and drones over the past day, as part of support for ground forces, the IDF says.
According to the military, the targets included sniper positions, observation posts, buildings used by terror groups, booby-trapped buildings, and other infrastructure.
The strikes come as troops continue to operate in southern Gaza’s Rafah, where the IDF says it located several tunnels and killed gunmen over the past day.
Troops are also operating in the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, carrying out raids against Hamas infrastructure, the IDF adds.
Denouncing “Israel’s systematic obstruction of aid and its ongoing attacks on aid operations,” the humanitarian organizations say that Israel had facilitated only 53 — less than half — of the 115 relief missions they had planned.
The aid groups slam what it called Israel’s “siege tactics” in its struggle against Palestinian terror group Hamas.
It says the so-called “humanitarian zone” where most of the strip’s population of 2.4 million people now reside had become “an active combat zone” and “extremely unsafe.”
The charities also criticize the bombing of United Nations schools used as shelters by displaced Palestinians.
At least six schools have been hit over the past nine days.
Israel has provided evidence that Hamas and other terror groups use schools, including those run by the UN, to store weapons and stage attacks against Israel.
“These recent events are exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe at a time when NGOs continue to come up against the obstacles imposed by the continuation of Israeli military operations on the ground,” a press release summarizing the 13 NGOs’ views warns.
Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council are among the charities to contribute to the document.
Since Israel began its ground offensive in the far-southern city of Rafah in May, humanitarian workers have faced major difficulties in delivering aid to the Gaza Strip’s south.
Israel’s capture at the beginning of May of the Rafah crossing brought aid deliveries to a “complete halt,” the NGOs added, without mentioning that it is Egypt that has refused to send trucks through the crossing while it remains under Israeli control.
Tons of “absolutely necessary aid” were left blocked at the crossing points in the south “due to the deterioration in security conditions,” the statement says.
More than 1,500 trucks of humanitarian aid containing medicines, first-aid kits, and basic necessities are stuck in the Egyptian city of Al-Arish as a result.
Meanwhile, in the north of the Gaza Strip — which has been isolated from the south by the Israeli army — aid delivery is “very limited.”
Oxfam says it took it five weeks to transport just 1,600 food parcels from Jordan to Gaza — a journey it said “should take no more than six hours.”
At Kerem Shalom, designated since May as a priority crossing point for humanitarian aid, the situation had “deteriorated significantly since Israel’s offensive in May,” the aid groups say.
This had made the crossing “unsafe to access from within Gaza and currently not logistically viable.”
Israel has repeatedly said there are no restrictions to the amount of aid that can enter Gaza and accuses the United Nations and other aid groups of failing to distribute aid deliveries.
“Yesterday, 211 trucks entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom,” Israeli government spokesman David Mencer says.
Israel is currently demanding that terrorists convicted of murder who are released as part of a hostage deal be exiled to Gaza or another country, Channel 12 news reports, citing senior Israeli officials aware of the details.
The demand has been made to avoid opposition to a deal from far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who have said they would withdraw from the government if such prisoners are released in exchange for hostages.
Israel could request that at least 50 terrorists convicted of murder — who are released in exchange for hostages — be exiled to Gaza or sent to another country, the report says.
Senior Hamas and Fatah officials are set to meet in China next week for talks on the Gaza Strip’s postwar administration, The New York Times reports, citing officials from both groups.
According to the report, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh will lead the terror group’s delegation while Fatah deputy chair Mahmoud al-Aloul will lead his party’s representatives for meetings in Beijing.
The officials will meet China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 21 and July 23, while the two delegations will hold talks on their own during their time in China. While Hamas has expressed openness to handing over civilian administration in Gaza, it has refused to give up its armed struggle against Israel, the report notes.
The terror group violently ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip in 2007 and has ruled there ever since. link
More than 40 targets in the Gaza Strip were struck by fighter jets and drones over the past day, as part of support for ground forces, the IDF says.
According to the military, the targets included sniper positions, observation posts, buildings used by terror groups, booby-trapped buildings, and other infrastructure.
The strikes come as troops continue to operate in southern Gaza’s Rafah, where the IDF says it located several tunnels and killed gunmen over the past day.
Troops are also operating in the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, carrying out raids against Hamas infrastructure, the IDF adds.
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria
Around 20 projectiles were launched from Lebanon not long ago, with the majority of them intercepted over Israel, the military says.
Incoming rocket sirens sounded at 11:30 p.m. in the northern communities of Kiryat Shmona, Margaliot and Manara. Nine minutes later, alerts blared again in Kiryat Shmona as well as Metula and several other towns.
The IDF says there are no reports of injuries.
Hebrew media says some of the rockets landed in the evacuated city of Kiryat Shmona, including one that hit a shopping mall.
Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for launching “dozens” of rockets, saying it is in response to Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
- Overnight, Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon’s Houla, Kafr Kila, and Bani Haiyyan, the IDF says.Troops also shelled areas near Blida, Deir Mismas, and Rmeish with artillery to “remove threats,” the military adds.
Around 20 projectiles were launched from Lebanon not long ago, with the majority of them intercepted over Israel, the military says.
Incoming rocket sirens sounded at 11:30 p.m. in the northern communities of Kiryat Shmona, Margaliot and Manara. Nine minutes later, alerts blared again in Kiryat Shmona as well as Metula and several other towns.
The IDF says there are no reports of injuries.
Hebrew media says some of the rockets landed in the evacuated city of Kiryat Shmona, including one that hit a shopping mall.
Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for launching “dozens” of rockets, saying it is in response to Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
West Bank and Jerusalem
- The IDF acknowledges that troops mistakenly shot and wounded Israelis in the West Bank after falsely identifying their vehicle as a threat.
“After an initial examination, it was concluded that the gunfire was mistakenly directed at an Israeli vehicle,” the military says in a statement, adding that the incident is being probed.
The IDF says two Israelis were lightly injured and taken to the hospital for treatment. Earlier reports said three were wounded, one moderately.
Police say a Gazan man stabbed an officer near the West Bank city of Ramallah overnight and was shot dead.
According to police, the Palestinian alleged assailant ran toward the troops with a knife, stabbing a Border Police officer and lightly wounding him.
Troops on the scene shot the 19-year-old attacker dead.
The troops were carrying out an operation in Al-Bireh alongside the Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces, the statement says.
No details are given on the reason the Gazan man was in the West Bank.
“After an initial examination, it was concluded that the gunfire was mistakenly directed at an Israeli vehicle,” the military says in a statement, adding that the incident is being probed.
The IDF says two Israelis were lightly injured and taken to the hospital for treatment. Earlier reports said three were wounded, one moderately.Police say a Gazan man stabbed an officer near the West Bank city of Ramallah overnight and was shot dead.
According to police, the Palestinian alleged assailant ran toward the troops with a knife, stabbing a Border Police officer and lightly wounding him.
Troops on the scene shot the 19-year-old attacker dead.
The troops were carrying out an operation in Al-Bireh alongside the Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces, the statement says.
No details are given on the reason the Gazan man was in the West Bank.
Politics and the War (general news)
- Falling trust in government leading to weakened national
resilience, researchers say: Nine months into war, study at Tel Aviv University and Tel Hai college sees potential harm to Israel’s ability to cope with future crises
Researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and Tel Hai Academic College say Israelis are showing a sharp decline in trust in their government and national institutions, which they believe could have serious implications for what they term “national resilience.”
The researchers define national resilience as a way to measure a country’s ability to withstand, and recover, from challenges such as wars, natural disasters, social unrest, or pandemics.
The results of the poll of 2,000 Israelis over six months since the October 7 Hamas attacks show that respondents feel a growing distrust in their leaders, national institutions such as the army, the police, the courts, and the education system, and declining feelings of patriotism, community cohesion, and a sense of safety.
The researchers, who presented their findings on June 19 at TAU’s annual convention, titled “Israel’s Future,” called for an intervention to stop the decline.
Prof. Bruria Adini from Tel Aviv University’s Emergency and Disaster Management Department led the recent study published in the leading peer-reviewed journal Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being.
National or societal resilience is the capacity of society to cope with different adversities, Adini told The Times of Israel. Insights into what impacts resilience can also help leaders guide their country’s recovery from disasters.
“It means not only being able to bounce back but to ‘bounce forward,’ and to feel even more empowered after a crisis,” she said.
For the study on Israel, Adini worked with Dr. Hadas Marciano and Prof. Yohanan Eshel of Tel Hai, and Prof. Shaul Kimhi of TAU, all of whom work at Tel Hai’s Stress and Resilience Research Center. One of the center’s goals is to conduct annual surveys of Israeli resilience. Kimhi and Eshel are social scientists who have collaborated on researching Israeli national resilience since the 1990s and say they have developed metrics to gauge it.
Adini said the researchers use objective data collected from polls, surveys, and statistical analyses to measure resilience. They compare that data with subjective analyses such as public confidence in government, community cohesion, and perceived security. These combined factors give a picture of trends in national resilience.
The team studied national resilience after the 2006 Lebanon War, for example, assessing how Israeli society coped with the war. They followed up with studies of national resilience after conflicts with Gaza, including Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
The recent study’s results reveal a drop in Israeli societal resilience over time. This decline might “damage the country’s ability to cope with future disasters,” Adini noted. Adini and fellow researchers began their longitudinal study soon after Israel’s war with Hamas started on October 7, when about 3,000 invading Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people and abducted 251, among other war crimes. Since then, the team has tracked both national and individual resilience four times.
The researchers used the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), a widely used metric to assess resilience in individuals.
Individual versus collective
- Falling trust in government leading to weakened national
resilience, researchers say: Nine months into war, study at Tel Aviv University and Tel Hai college sees potential harm to Israel’s ability to cope with future crises
Researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and Tel Hai Academic College say Israelis are showing a sharp decline in trust in their government and national institutions, which they believe could have serious implications for what they term “national resilience.”
The researchers define national resilience as a way to measure a country’s ability to withstand, and recover, from challenges such as wars, natural disasters, social unrest, or pandemics.
The results of the poll of 2,000 Israelis over six months since the October 7 Hamas attacks show that respondents feel a growing distrust in their leaders, national institutions such as the army, the police, the courts, and the education system, and declining feelings of patriotism, community cohesion, and a sense of safety.
The researchers, who presented their findings on June 19 at TAU’s annual convention, titled “Israel’s Future,” called for an intervention to stop the decline.
Prof. Bruria Adini from Tel Aviv University’s Emergency and Disaster Management Department led the recent study published in the leading peer-reviewed journal Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being.
National or societal resilience is the capacity of society to cope with different adversities, Adini told The Times of Israel. Insights into what impacts resilience can also help leaders guide their country’s recovery from disasters.
“It means not only being able to bounce back but to ‘bounce forward,’ and to feel even more empowered after a crisis,” she said.
For the study on Israel, Adini worked with Dr. Hadas Marciano and Prof. Yohanan Eshel of Tel Hai, and Prof. Shaul Kimhi of TAU, all of whom work at Tel Hai’s Stress and Resilience Research Center. One of the center’s goals is to conduct annual surveys of Israeli resilience. Kimhi and Eshel are social scientists who have collaborated on researching Israeli national resilience since the 1990s and say they have developed metrics to gauge it.
Adini said the researchers use objective data collected from polls, surveys, and statistical analyses to measure resilience. They compare that data with subjective analyses such as public confidence in government, community cohesion, and perceived security. These combined factors give a picture of trends in national resilience.
The team studied national resilience after the 2006 Lebanon War, for example, assessing how Israeli society coped with the war. They followed up with studies of national resilience after conflicts with Gaza, including Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
The recent study’s results reveal a drop in Israeli societal resilience over time. This decline might “damage the country’s ability to cope with future disasters,” Adini noted. Adini and fellow researchers began their longitudinal study soon after Israel’s war with Hamas started on October 7, when about 3,000 invading Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people and abducted 251, among other war crimes. Since then, the team has tracked both national and individual resilience four times.
The researchers used the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), a widely used metric to assess resilience in individuals.
Individual versus collective
The study indicates that on an individual level, Israelis’ resilience has actually gone up since the war began.
Adini cited the case of a mother who, at the start of the war, was so distressed she wasn’t able to take care of her children, and a teacher who couldn’t go to work.
Now, she said, people are more used to “living alongside the war and forming a new emergency routine. They’ve gone back to work, they take care of their kids, and they’re functioning better than they did.”
Yet the researchers found a significant drop in societal resilience that stems from Israelis’ growing distrust in government leaders and institutions.
When people trust their government, they are more likely to follow its directives. When trust drops, people may not adhere to the government’s laws, or resist government orders.
As an example, Adini said, if the government tells people they can go back to their homes from which they were evacuated, they will be less compliant with directives.
“They’ll say, ‘No, we’re not going back, we don’t trust you, we don’t believe that you can defend us and ensure our security,’” she said. Soon after the war began, volunteering for social projects and in the military was very high, Adini said. “This reflects Israeli solidarity, one of the four components of societal resilience.” But by April 2024, “that sense of solidarity decreased substantially.” Although there are still many citizen initiatives, the study factors in how the respondents “view civil engagement,” not the number of projects and activities.
The decline in national resilience may ultimately lead to “an unprecedented crisis in the attitude of the Israeli public toward the state,” the researchers said.
This could be expressed in a drop in civic engagement, they warned.
“People may no longer volunteer for reserve duty and military service and will become less involved in the country’s advancement,” they said.
The researchers give several possible reasons for the decline in national resilience.
“There is great disappointment with the way the war is progressing,” Adini said. “It has gone on much longer than previous ones, and no one can predict when it will end.”
There is also the “very tangible threat” of a full-blown war with Hezbollah. There are continuing rifts within Israeli society, with different groups blaming one another for the country’s problems.
But Adini said that Israeli decision-makers can use this research to implement government policies that would improve the nation’s sense of resilience.
When she has trained leaders in emergency and disaster management, she’s suggested that they be “transparent” about what they are doing.
“Leaders need to start talking about ‘the day after’ to show people that the situation will be better,” she said. “It is not sufficient to say that we will continue until there is a total victory.’”
She said it is more important to “tell people where their children will go to school on September 1.” Additionally, local municipalities need to be given the wherewithal to help their communities. The strength of local communities is vital in building resilience. When people work together for common goals, they strengthen national resilience.
Finally, decision-makers need to make plans to give people hope.
“They need to show how they’ll strengthen the economy, how people will be able to go back to their communities in the north,” Adini said.
“The trajectory continues to go down, which is concerning,” she said. “But decision-makers can make plans to build hope. When hope is elevated, so is the level of resilience.”
- Outcry at Knesset as bereaved parents protest plans to fund legal defense of Hamas terrorists
Families of October 7 victims at a meeting of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in Jerusalem, on July 15, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Bereaved parents vocally object to the state funding the legal defense of Hamas terrorists during a heated debate in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice committee.
“If someone here supports legal representation for terrorists stand up. If not let’s end the discussion,” right-wing news site Israel National News quotes Itzik Bonzel, who lost his son Amit during the fighting in Gaza, as declaring during the hearing.
“It’s a shame for the people of Israel that this discussion is being held over our children’s blood. There’s no way that the murdered victims will fund the Nukhba terrorists’ legal representation,” he says.
Bonzel also complains that lawmakers delayed arriving at the hearing in order to avoid hearing from him and other bereaved parents.
“This isn’t stupidity, this is deliberate evil against our people,” states Galia Hoshen, who lost her daughter Hadar on October 7. “My daughter was murdered and I have to fund legal representation for those who murdered her?”
The committee is debating a bill to prohibit the Public Defender’s Office’s from proving legal representation to those defined by law as illegal combatants.
Last week, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich both harshly condemned the Israel Courts Administration over its request for funding for legal representation for captured combatants suspected of carrying out the October 7 atrocities in southern Israel.
Their comments came after it emerged that courts dealing with Palestinian detainees captured during the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza ruled that the prisoners needed legal representation when appearing before them.
Since the Public Defender’s Office has refused to represent these detainees, who are among the approximately 2,000 suspected Palestinian terrorists caught inside Israel or in Gaza since October 7, the courts ordered that they be given private counsel in accordance with Israeli law, which also stipulates that funding for such legal representation come from the state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet tomorrow for the first time with the families of the IDF observation soldiers who were killed on October 7 when Hamas terrorists overran their Nahal Oz base on the Gaza border.
File - The torched command center of the Nahal Oz IDF base, overrun by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, during a visit by relatives of slain lookout soldiers on December 19, 2023. (Courtesy/Eyal Eshel)
The meeting will take place in his office in Jerusalem.
The meeting comes after the families created a forum called “Their Voices” to lobby for an inquiry into the events at the base. They are also asking for the IDF to release the recordings of their daughters speaking over the radio during their final shifts.
The attack on the Nahal Oz base, less than a kilometer from the Gaza border, came at the start of the assault carried out by Hamas, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and seized 251 hostages.
During the attack on the base, 15 IDF surveillance soldiers were killed and six were taken hostage. In total, 66 soldiers were killed in the assault on the base.
Top US and Israeli officials held a meeting at the White House earlier today focused on combating the threats posed by Iran, according to a US readout.
It was the latest gathering of the US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group. It was supposed to meet last month, but the US postponed the sitdown after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly accused the Biden administration of withholding weapons from Israel.
The US team was headed by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and the Israeli team was headed by National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. They were joined by senior representatives from their respective foreign policy, defense and intelligence agencies.
Hanegbi and Dermer held a smaller meeting just with Blinken earlier today as well.
During the Strategic Consultative Group, “Sullivan affirmed President [Joe] Biden’s ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, including in the face of ongoing and reckless attacks against Israel by Lebanese Hezbollah. He emphasized that Israel has every right to defend itself against these attacks, and affirmed US support for a diplomatic resolution that permits Israeli and Lebanese families to safely and securely return to their homes,” the White House readout says.
“They also discussed developments with respect to Iran’s nuclear program, and discussed mutual coordination on a series of measures to ensure that Iran can never acquire a nuclear weapon,” the readout continues.
The sides discussed ongoing efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal, with the Israeli side reaffirming its support for the proposal laid out by Biden in May.
Netanyahu said Saturday that he hasn’t moved a “millimeter” away from the Biden-backed Israeli proposal.
However, he listed a series of new demands that appeared to go further than what was written in the text of the proposal obtained by The Times of Israel.
US President Joe Biden says Saudi Arabia wants to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for security guarantees from the United States.
“I got a call from the Saudis — they want to fully recognize Israel,” Biden says in an interview on “360 with Speedy.”
Riyadh has not publicly gone this far, and its officials have reiterated that their country will not normalize relations with Israel unless Jerusalem agrees to establish a pathway to a future Palestinian state — a condition Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flatly rejected.
Biden doesn’t mention the Palestinian condition, and instead asserts that what Saudi Arabia wants in exchange for normalizing relations with Israel is a guarantee that the US will provide them weapons “if they’re attacked by other Arab nations — one just around the corner.” He appears to be referring to Riyadh’s Mideast rival Iran, which is not an Arab country.
The US president says Washington would also establish a civilian nuclear facility in Saudi Arabia, which the US army would operate “so they can move away from fossil fuels.”
This appears to be the most detail any US official has publicly given regarding the terms of the defense guarantees sought by Saudi Arabia, particularly the nuclear component.
“That’s a big game changer in the whole region,” Biden says.
A Democratic lawmaker and a senior Republican Senate aide told The Times of Israel last week, though, that the window has closed for the Biden administration to broker a normalization deal before the November presidential election, because there is not enough time left for the Senate to hold the hearings necessary to approve the defense guarantees for Saudi Arabia.
US President Joe Biden says he identifies as a Zionist — a distinction he hasn’t publicly highlighted since February as the Israel-Hamas war drags on.
“You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and a Zionist is about whether or not Israel is a safe haven for Jews because of their history of how they’ve been persecuted,” Biden says in an interview with Complex Networks’ Speedy Morman on “360 with Speedy.”
“If there weren’t an Israel, every Jew in the world would be at risk. There’s a need for it to be strong, and there’s a need… after World War II… for Jews to have a place that was their own,” Biden says.
Biden has voiced these beliefs before, but he indicates that he has not moved away from them amid recurring spats with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government before and after the outbreak of the war.
Asked if he identifies as a Zionist, Biden responds that he does, but then laments that the term is often misinterpreted.
“Now, you’ll be able to make a lot of that because different people don’t know what a Zionist is,” he says, before asking the interviewer whether he even knows what a Zionist is. Morman smirks and declines to answer.
Biden stresses that he continues to supply Israel with defensive weapons while denying Jerusalem 2,000-lb (900-kg) bombs that he fears would be used in civilian areas. link No president has shown and done more to support Israel in our history than Joe Biden and the hold up on the 2000lb bombs doesn't change that in the least. Even with all the frustrations, deceptions and political dirt that Netanyahu has thrown at Biden, Biden doesn't let go or his support for Israel by one iota. And he has done more in the fight to get our hostages home than our own government, in particular Netanyahu. Biden regularly speaks to hostage families and meets with them, as well as officials in his administration, such as Secretary of State Blinken. These are the things that our government doesn't even do. If hostages' families want to speak to Netanyahu, it can take weeks and lots of begging until it happens, if it happens. Anyone who really believes that Trump will support Israel better than Biden has no understanding of what has gone on since October 7.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet tomorrow for the first time with the families of the IDF observation soldiers who were killed on October 7 when Hamas terrorists overran their Nahal Oz base on the Gaza border.
The meeting will take place in his office in Jerusalem.
The meeting comes after the families created a forum called “Their Voices” to lobby for an inquiry into the events at the base. They are also asking for the IDF to release the recordings of their daughters speaking over the radio during their final shifts.
The attack on the Nahal Oz base, less than a kilometer from the Gaza border, came at the start of the assault carried out by Hamas, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and seized 251 hostages.
During the attack on the base, 15 IDF surveillance soldiers were killed and six were taken hostage. In total, 66 soldiers were killed in the assault on the base.
Top US and Israeli officials held a meeting at the White House earlier today focused on combating the threats posed by Iran, according to a US readout.
It was the latest gathering of the US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group. It was supposed to meet last month, but the US postponed the sitdown after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly accused the Biden administration of withholding weapons from Israel.
The US team was headed by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and the Israeli team was headed by National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. They were joined by senior representatives from their respective foreign policy, defense and intelligence agencies.
Hanegbi and Dermer held a smaller meeting just with Blinken earlier today as well.
During the Strategic Consultative Group, “Sullivan affirmed President [Joe] Biden’s ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, including in the face of ongoing and reckless attacks against Israel by Lebanese Hezbollah. He emphasized that Israel has every right to defend itself against these attacks, and affirmed US support for a diplomatic resolution that permits Israeli and Lebanese families to safely and securely return to their homes,” the White House readout says.
“They also discussed developments with respect to Iran’s nuclear program, and discussed mutual coordination on a series of measures to ensure that Iran can never acquire a nuclear weapon,” the readout continues.
The sides discussed ongoing efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal, with the Israeli side reaffirming its support for the proposal laid out by Biden in May.
Netanyahu said Saturday that he hasn’t moved a “millimeter” away from the Biden-backed Israeli proposal.
However, he listed a series of new demands that appeared to go further than what was written in the text of the proposal obtained by The Times of Israel.
US President Joe Biden says Saudi Arabia wants to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for security guarantees from the United States.
“I got a call from the Saudis — they want to fully recognize Israel,” Biden says in an interview on “360 with Speedy.”
Riyadh has not publicly gone this far, and its officials have reiterated that their country will not normalize relations with Israel unless Jerusalem agrees to establish a pathway to a future Palestinian state — a condition Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flatly rejected.
Biden doesn’t mention the Palestinian condition, and instead asserts that what Saudi Arabia wants in exchange for normalizing relations with Israel is a guarantee that the US will provide them weapons “if they’re attacked by other Arab nations — one just around the corner.” He appears to be referring to Riyadh’s Mideast rival Iran, which is not an Arab country.
The US president says Washington would also establish a civilian nuclear facility in Saudi Arabia, which the US army would operate “so they can move away from fossil fuels.”
This appears to be the most detail any US official has publicly given regarding the terms of the defense guarantees sought by Saudi Arabia, particularly the nuclear component.
“That’s a big game changer in the whole region,” Biden says.
A Democratic lawmaker and a senior Republican Senate aide told The Times of Israel last week, though, that the window has closed for the Biden administration to broker a normalization deal before the November presidential election, because there is not enough time left for the Senate to hold the hearings necessary to approve the defense guarantees for Saudi Arabia.
US President Joe Biden says he identifies as a Zionist — a distinction he hasn’t publicly highlighted since February as the Israel-Hamas war drags on.
“You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and a Zionist is about whether or not Israel is a safe haven for Jews because of their history of how they’ve been persecuted,” Biden says in an interview with Complex Networks’ Speedy Morman on “360 with Speedy.”
“If there weren’t an Israel, every Jew in the world would be at risk. There’s a need for it to be strong, and there’s a need… after World War II… for Jews to have a place that was their own,” Biden says.
Biden has voiced these beliefs before, but he indicates that he has not moved away from them amid recurring spats with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government before and after the outbreak of the war.
Asked if he identifies as a Zionist, Biden responds that he does, but then laments that the term is often misinterpreted.
“Now, you’ll be able to make a lot of that because different people don’t know what a Zionist is,” he says, before asking the interviewer whether he even knows what a Zionist is. Morman smirks and declines to answer.
Biden stresses that he continues to supply Israel with defensive weapons while denying Jerusalem 2,000-lb (900-kg) bombs that he fears would be used in civilian areas. link No president has shown and done more to support Israel in our history than Joe Biden and the hold up on the 2000lb bombs doesn't change that in the least. Even with all the frustrations, deceptions and political dirt that Netanyahu has thrown at Biden, Biden doesn't let go or his support for Israel by one iota. And he has done more in the fight to get our hostages home than our own government, in particular Netanyahu. Biden regularly speaks to hostage families and meets with them, as well as officials in his administration, such as Secretary of State Blinken. These are the things that our government doesn't even do. If hostages' families want to speak to Netanyahu, it can take weeks and lots of begging until it happens, if it happens. Anyone who really believes that Trump will support Israel better than Biden has no understanding of what has gone on since October 7.
The Region and the World
- The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) says it had received a report of a merchant vessel being attacked by three small craft 70 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah city.
An unmanned small craft collided with the vessel twice and two manned small craft fired at it, according to UKMTO.
The vessel and crew were reported safe, and it was proceeding to the next port of call after it conducted “self protection measures,” UKMTO says. 
A handout picture obtained from Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah Media Center on June 30, 2024, shows what they said is the Tufan Destroyer unmanned boat during exercises in an undisclosed area at sea. (ANSARULLAH MEDIA CENTRE / AFP)
A ship carrying foreign military advisers and materials to manufacture missiles disappeared while en route to Houthi-controlled Yemen on Saturday, the UAE’s Al-Ain Al Ekhbariya reports, citing unnamed security sources in Yemen.
The report did not specify which country the foreign advisers were from, only that they were not from Yemen.
The ship was traveling from the Horn of Africa, and was scheduled to arrive on Friday, the report says.
Top Houthi officials and experts from Iran gathered to discuss the incident in Sana’a, concluding the ship may have been sunk by the United States, or other members of the international coalition currently defending vessels from attacks by the rebel group in the area.
Personal Stories Family members of the hundreds killed at the Nova music festival on October 7 gather at the Knesset to protest the lack of work being done to conserve the massacre site and create a memorial to the fallen.
An unmanned small craft collided with the vessel twice and two manned small craft fired at it, according to UKMTO.
The vessel and crew were reported safe, and it was proceeding to the next port of call after it conducted “self protection measures,” UKMTO says.A ship carrying foreign military advisers and materials to manufacture missiles disappeared while en route to Houthi-controlled Yemen on Saturday, the UAE’s Al-Ain Al Ekhbariya reports, citing unnamed security sources in Yemen.
The report did not specify which country the foreign advisers were from, only that they were not from Yemen.
The ship was traveling from the Horn of Africa, and was scheduled to arrive on Friday, the report says.
Top Houthi officials and experts from Iran gathered to discuss the incident in Sana’a, concluding the ship may have been sunk by the United States, or other members of the international coalition currently defending vessels from attacks by the rebel group in the area.
Many of them tear their shirts, a traditional Jewish act of mourning, during the protest.
“We lost our children, the most precious thing. You could not keep them safe and now for nine months there is no progress, nothing is happening,” says Shimon Buskila, who lost his son Yarden. “I feel like I’m in the first day of shiva [the seven-day Jewish mourning period], and that’s why I have torn my shirt.”
“All we are asking is that someone take responsibility for the Re’im forest, because it is abandoned and no one is taking responsibility,” says Hadas Semel, whose sister Sharon was killed.
Acronyms and Glossary
ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague
IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague
MDA - Magen David Adom - Israel Ambulance Corp
PA - Palestinian Authority - President Mahmud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen
PMO- Prime Minister's Office
UAV - Unmanned Aerial vehicle, Drone. Could be used for surveillance and reconnaissance, or be weaponized with missiles or contain explosives for 'suicide' explosion mission
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