🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 538, 2023 - March 27 2025 🎗️
🎗️Day 538 that 59 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!!!”
We’re waiting for you, all of you.
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!אין נצחון עד שכל החטופים בבית
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*1:15pm - Jerusalem areas and Gush Dan areas - 2 ballistic missiles from Yemen intercepted. Reports of shrapnel in a few areas. No injuries reported
Houthi supporters chant slogans during an anti-US and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, March 17, 2025. (AP/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Houthi supporters chant slogans during an anti-US and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, March 17, 2025. (AP/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Hamas threatens hostages will return ‘in coffins;’ Islamic Jihad fires rockets at Israel
No injuries as rocket lands in Zimrat near southern border, IDF intercepts another projectile; Gazans protest against Hamas rule over the Strip for 2nd consecutive day
Two rockets were launched from the central Gaza Strip at southern Israel, the military said on Wednesday, as the Hamas terror group warned Israel that if it pushed ahead with military operations, the hostages would return to Israel in coffins.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket attack. One rocket was intercepted by air defenses and a second impacted outside Zimrat, causing no injuries.
The IDF issued an evacuation warning for Palestinians in and around Gaza City, where the projectiles were fired from, before it carried out strikes in the area.
The IDF later said it struck a terror operative behind the rocket fire who was spotted at the launch site.
The IDF added that it also hit a building in the area used to set off the launches and two other nearby rocket launching sites.
It published footage of the strikes.
Meanwhile, Hamas threatened that the hostages would return “in coffins” should Israel continue air strikes and ground operations in the Strip.
“Every time the occupation attempts to retrieve its captives by force, it ends up bringing them back in coffins,” it said in a statement.
The group claimed they are “doing everything possible to keep the occupation’s captives alive, but the random Zionist bombardment is endangering their lives.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to hit back at Hamas during a speech in the Knesset, warning that Israel would seize territory in Gaza if Hamas continued to refuse to release the remaining hostages.
“The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release our hostages, the stronger the pressure we will exert,” Netanyahu said in the plenum. “This includes the seizure of territories, along with other measures I will not elaborate here.”
Wednesday also saw dozens of Gaza City residents gathered in the Shejaiya neighborhood to protest Hamas rule in the Strip. They burned tires and chanted “Hamas out,” calling for an end to the war.
The demonstrations, exceedingly rare in the past due to the terror group’s often violent suppression of political dissent, marked the second consecutive day of anti-Hamas protests.
Similar protests against the terror group took place across the territory on Tuesday, in Beit Lahiya, the Jabalia refugee camp and Khan Younis. Full article
- In hostage-style video, Einav Zangauker asks captors, in Hebrew and Arabic, to keep son safe
Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, 25, releases a video addressing the US president and her son’s captors.
“We, like our sons, also feel that we are captives of Hamas, for over 500 days,” Einav states in the video, which was filmed in a similar style to a Hamas propaganda video of Matan in captivity published last December. In that clip, which was the first and, to date, last sign of life from Matan, the 25-year-old Zangauker identified himself and called on the Israeli public to continue protests in support of a deal with Hamas.
Einav speaks in both Hebrew and Arabic in her video, asking commanders of Gaza’s Qasam Brigade to provide proof of life for the remaining hostages and to “keep them safe until the implementation of a ceasefire.”
She also appeals to US President Donald Trump, stating, “Please do everything in your power [to release the hostages],” adding that the Israeli government must ensure the return of all the remaining hostages, “otherwise the war will not end.” Video of Einav Tsengauker
Gaza and the South
- For second day in a row, dozens said protesting against Hamas in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya
Gaza media outlets report that dozens of residents of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza are protesting against Hamas and the war with Israel for the second consecutive day.
Earlier today, it was reported that dozens of people also protested against Hamas in the Shejaiya neighborhood in Gaza City. video of the Gaza protests against Hamas
Media outlets in Gaza report that dozens of residents from the Shejaiya neighborhood in Gaza City participated in a protest against Hamas rule. They burned tires and chanted, “Hamas out.”
This is the second day of protests against Hamas, calling for an end to the war. Similar events took place yesterday in Beit Lahiya, the Jabalia refugee camp, and Khan Yunis.
Such protests have been exceedingly rare in the past. video of the protests
Anti-Hamas demonstration held in northern Gaza for 3rd consecutive day.
Anti-Hamas media in Gaza report that dozens of demonstrators have gathered in Jabalia in northern Gaza, calling for the overthrow of Hamas’s rule.
According to footage, the protesters carry signs that read: “Hamas out” and “Hamas are terrorists,” as well as “The people want to overthrow Hamas.”
This is the third consecutive day that such rare demonstrations are being held in Gaza.
- IDF says it struck Gaza terror operative responsible for rocket fire yesterday
The IDF says it struck a terror operative in the Gaza Strip who was responsible for rocket fire on southern Israel yesterday.
The operative was spotted at the launch site used to fire two rockets at Israel, the military says.
The IDF adds that it struck a building in the area used to set off the launches, and two other nearby rocket launching sites.
- IDF issues evacuation warning for Gaza City after rockets fired from area
Following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on communities near the border a short while ago, the IDF issues an evacuation warning for Palestinians in the Gaza City area, where the projectiles were fired from.
In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, publishes a map of the area that is to be evacuated, saying that it is a “final warning” before the IDF carries out strikes there.
The order includes the Gaza City neighborhoods of Zeitoun, Tel al-Hawa, and Sheikh Ijlin. Adraee calls on Palestinians to leave the area and head, via the coastal road, to “known shelters” south of the Wadi Gaza stream.
Two rockets were launched in the attack, one of which was intercepted by air defenses and a second of which impacted outside Zimrat, causing no injuries.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad took responsibility.
100 Gazans set to move to Indonesia as part of pilot work program — report
If the trial is successful, Israel said to hope thousands will join the program and possibly permanently resettle in south Asian country
The first group of 100 Gazans is set to fly to Indonesia for work as part of a pilot program to encourage the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the Strip, according to a Hebrew media report Wednesday.
The pilot will be run by Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, who heads the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, a Defense Ministry body known by its acronym COGAT, Channel 12 news reported.
The report added that the Gazans will likely be employed in construction.
Israel hopes that if the pilot program is successful, thousands of Gazans will be encouraged to voluntarily move to Indonesia for work and potentially decide to permanently resettle in the country — which would require Jakarta’s consent, according to Channel 12.
Israel and Indonesia — the world’s largest Muslim country — do not have diplomatic relations, therefore, a special communication channel was opened between Jerusalem and Jakarta to develop the pilot, the report said.
If the pilot is successful, a “migration administration” being established by the government will become responsible for the program, according to the report.
Palestinians fleeing Israeli bombardment drive vehicles carrying their belongings on a main axis in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on March 25, 2025. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)Defense Minister Israel Katz, responsible for the administration, is likely to appoint Brig. Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter, a controversial senior officer in the military who is beloved by the national religious community, to lead the project.
According to a United Nations analysis from September, over two-thirds of Gaza’s structures have been damaged or destroyed during the war sparked on October 7, 2023, when Hamas rampaged through southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 hostages.
US President Donald Trump triggered global perplexity in early February by suggesting the US “take over” Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East” while forcing its Palestinian inhabitants to relocate to Egypt, Jordan, or other countries.
While senior ministers in the government who have urged using the war as an opportunity to reestablish Israeli settlements in the Strip lauded the plan, the Palestinian Authority and Arab nations rejected it outright.
Earlier this month, two key Arab nations’ organizations instead endorsed an Egyptian counterproposal for rehabilitating Gaza that is based on leaving inhabitants in place, a stipulation that undermines the far-right vision of largely clearing the enclave of Palestinians.
Despite public opposition among the region’s leaders, the government has moved forward with plans to encourage Palestinians to relocate, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announcing earlier this month the plans to establish the “migration administration” that will oversee the exodus of Palestinian residents.
In January, The Times of Israel’s sister site, Zman Israel, learned that the coalition was conducting secret contacts for accepting thousands of immigrants from Gaza with Congo, in addition to other nations.
- Protests in Gaza: How Hamas is Responding – and How Far the Uprising Could Go
The protests are not limited to one location but have spread to several key areas across the Strip, including regions known as Hamas strongholds. Hamas is attempting to suppress the uprising, including through the Islamic Jihad’s firing of rockets from areas where protests are planned. Hamas is also threatening demonstrators via its security forces and mobilizing clans to quell the crowds.In recent days, a shift has been taking place in the Gaza Strip. These are the largest civilian protests since the start of the war, erupting against Hamas’ rule and in favor of ending the war across Gaza, challenging the familiar framework and unchallenged control of the terrorist organization. A senior security official described the protests this evening (Wednesday) as "the most significant since the beginning of the war."The protests are not confined to one place but have spread to several central locations in the Strip, including areas known as Hamas strongholds such as Shejaiya, Jabalia, and Khan Younis, the hometown of the Sinwar brothers. Although the protest is partly organized externally by anti-Hamas elements, its authenticity speaks for itself and reflects a deep crisis among the Palestinian public.The Roots of the Popular Revolt(left) demonstrating against HamasThe reasons for the popular uprising are directly linked to the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Strip. Hamas is seen as having failed to provide basic services to residents after halting the distribution of aid. Dramatic price hikes of hundreds of percent for goods, the lack of water supply, and the organization’s conduct during the war—hiding in underground tunnels while Gazans suffer—have led to public anger that is now erupting in an unpredictable manner.demonstrating against HamasThe protests and anger of the Gazan public are not only directed at Hamas but also at the primary promoter of the terrorist organization’s narrative: Al Jazeera. Demonstrators have protested the pro-Hamas network’s failure to broadcast and cover the protests, as well as its active role in promoting the terrorist organization.Hamas’ Response Signals UneaseHamas’ response to the protests indicates unrest within the organization. It is trying to quell the uprising through various means, stopping short of outright violence, fearing that a heavy-handed response would only inflame tensions and lead to a broader revolt.The organization’s strategy includes having Islamic Jihad fire rockets at Israel from areas where future protests are planned, aiming to provoke an Israeli response and airstrikes that would suppress the demonstrations. Additionally, Hamas is threatening protesters through its security forces and enlisting clan leaders to condemn the protests and redirect anger toward Israel.Another event symbolizing the depth of the crisis occurred this week at Al-Amal Hospital, where hospital administrators clashed with Hamas, with the organization threatening retaliation against those trying to distance themselves from it. The incident even escalated to physical violence between the sides. This is another sign of the growing tension between the organization and the civilian population.A Potential Turning PointMarch in Gaza demostrating against HamasThe protests mark a possible turning point, where the Palestinian population is beginning to rebel against the leadership of the terrorist organization. Hamas, in distress, is attempting to control the outburst of anger while fearing an escalation beyond its control.Israel, for its part, is closely monitoring developments, with security officials viewing the protests as a significant challenge to Hamas’ rule. The remaining question is just how intense the flames of unrest will grow. Link
- Hamas, in 1st response to protests, claims they are against Israel, not itself
Hamas issues its first official response to the demonstration against the organization, claiming they are actually against Israel and that “there are those who are trying to divert the spontaneous protests to serve the occupation’s agenda.”
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim tells the Qatari channel Al-Araby that “demonstrations are expected from people facing extermination, against war and destruction… People are calling to stop the aggression, but the enemy and other parties with political agendas are diverting the spontaneous protests to serve the occupation’s agenda and trying to portray it as if the demonstrators are against the resistance” — a reference to Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza.
This is Hamas’s first on-the-record response to the anti-Hamas and anti-war demonstrations in Gaza in the last few days.
Hamas says spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou killed in Jabalia by Israeli strike
Hamas announces that the terror group’s spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou has been killed in an Israeli strike in northern Gaza’s Jabalia.
- IDF says overnight drone strike in southern Lebanon killed senior Hezbollah commander
The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike last night in the Tyre District of southern Lebanon, killing a senior Hezbollah commander.
According to the IDF, the strike in the village of Derdghaiya, adjacent to Maaroub, killed Ahmed Adnan Bajija, a battalion commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.
The military says the commander was involved in directing numerous attacks on Israel and IDF troops during the war and that in recent months, amid the ceasefire, he “continued to engage in advancing terror attacks against the Israeli home front.”
- Lebanese prime minister rejects idea of normalization with Israel
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam says in a meeting with journalists in Lebanon that no one in Lebanon wants normalization with Israel, and everyone opposes it.
He also asserts that the five points held by Israel in southern Lebanon have no military or security value other than to continue to pressure Lebanon.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of an interview the Lebanese prime minister gave to a Saudi channel last week, where he criticized Hezbollah and stated that the war it waged with Israel did not help Lebanon.
- Gantz to PM: ‘You know why you’re afraid of a state commission of inquiry’
- Lapid to Netanyahu: You failed on October 7, you’ve failed on the economy
Even as the prime minister boasts of leading Israel to “complete victory,” rocket alerts sirens are going off in the Gaza envelope, Opposition leader Yair Lapid declares following a speech by Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum.
Addressing lawmakers following Netanyahu during the so-called 40-signatures debate, Lapid says Netanyahu will be remembered as the “October 7 prime minister.”
“They will not remember anything from you except that: 1,800 dead and murdered, 14,000 injured,” he says, referring to the costs of the attack and the subsequent war. “You are indeed doing something that no government has done.”
Turning to the 2025 state budget, which passed its final reading on Tuesday evening, Lapid accuses Netanyahu of “squeezing the Israeli middle class in order to survive politically.”
“You failed to maintain security on October 7, and now you have failed to manage the economy, and you are again doing everything to shift responsibility onto others,” he continues.
“If you want proof that this is a terrible budget, ask yourself how come we didn’t see Netanyahu in all the budget discussions? He didn’t speak once. He didn’t release a single video. I remember budget discussions with you. Every time there was the smallest achievement, every time there was a tiny piece of news, we would find you in front of the camera,” Lapid says.
“But this time, silence. A budget is passed, [and] you’ve gone AWOL. Not a word. You’re distancing yourself in every possible way from this budget. Suddenly, you respect the finance minister, leaving the stage for him for an opening speech, leaving the stage for him for a closing speech, letting him bury himself before the nation.”
Unlike Argentine President Javier Milei and US Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk, “today you are the head of the fattest, most wasteful and most reckless government in the history of the country,” he says.
Police employ controversial National Guard to disperse anti-government protesters
Force championed by far-right police minister Ben Gvir was initially formed to quell riots in Arab locales and mixed cities
As protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government ramped up in recent days, police began deploying officers from a newly formed National Guard, who have been accused of using excessive force to quell the demonstrations.
Members of the force — a controversy-laden brainchild of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir — were filmed in recent days punching, kicking, and hurling protesters to the ground at protests in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
On Sunday, as hundreds of demonstrators railed against the cabinet’s no-confidence vote against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miaraoutside Netanyahu’s private residence in Jerusalem, around a dozen National Guard officers pushed their way to the front of the masses to man crowd control barricades, alongside police already stationed there.
Clashes broke out soon after, with security forces arresting three demonstrators, according to police. At the scene, officers were seen forcefully shoving protesters to the asphalt.
The establishment of a civil defense force — ostensibly to secure the country against internal threats — had long been one of the top demands of Ben Gvir, who returned to his post on Wednesday, after quitting the government in January in protest of the ceasefire in Gaza.
The notion of a National Guard first surfaced during former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s government, spurred by the police’s bungled response to inter-communal riots that broke out in mixed cities in May 2021, during a previous war with Gaza.
The reliance on Border Police officers dispatched to suppress the violence that erupted between Jewish and Arab residents put the latter force under strain, prompting calls to bulk up its personnel with an auxiliary force. But the government’s nascent plans came apart with the collapse of the Bennett-Lapid coalition in 2022.
Upon becoming national security minister later that year, Ben Gvir began to advocate for the formation of a National Guard, with the added demand that the force report directly to him. Contrary to Ben Gvir’s plans to steer the force, the National Guard was eventually folded into the Border Police gendarmerie.
Members of the force dress like regular Border Police officers, and are only distinguishable by patches on either arm with the force’s name and insignia, respectively.
The distinguishing patches of the National Guard force, subordinate to the Israel Border Police, in photos taken during an anti-government protest in Jerusalem on March 23, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)The coalition agreement that Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party signed with Likud following the 2022 election showed that the far-right minister had sought to subordinate the force directly to his own office.
But his proposal drew flak from ex-police chief Yaakov Shabtai, who said the prospective arrangement would come with “a very heavy price, to the point of harming citizens’ personal security.”
Before his sacking, former defense minister Yoav Gallant also came out against the idea in a letter to Ben Gvir, cautioning him that “there is no place in Israel for private militias.”
Ben Gvir’s initiative became official in January, in an inauguration ceremony at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh. Ben Gvir placed the force under the command of Maj. Gen. Nahshon Nagler, formerly the chief of the Israel Police’s Negev precinct.
Speaking at the event, Israel Police Chief Danny Levy defined the aims of the force as “dealing with riots and dealing with crime, with an emphasis on the Arab community.”
Ben Gvir also delivered remarks at the event, praising the National Guard’s establishment as a “realization of my personal vision.” He added that the force would “operate in the Negev and the Galilee, in mixed towns and cities and in every place where there is an issue of governance.”
But now it appears that the force is taking on a more active role in cracking down on anti-government protests, concurrent with a noticeable uptick in police violence against demonstrators in recent days.
“Five days ago, after several weeks of relative calm, a worrying wave of severe and unbridled police violence erupted,” wrote police violence watchdog group Alimut Israel on Sunday in an X post. “Reports of recent incidents continue to stream in, sometimes several days late, as those documenting them manage to recover from the trauma and share what is happening.”
Ben Gvir has often complained that police have not taken a tough enough hand against anti-government protesters, whom he derides as “anarchists,” and in the past has thrown his support behind policemen under criminal investigation for harming protesters.
In August 2024, the minister promoted police officer Meir Suissa to a senior rank, while he was under investigation for ordering stun grenades thrown at protesters a year prior, landing two people in the hospital.
National Guard officers were caught on film in recent days punching and kicking protesters as they sat on the ground, a departure from the typical police conduct of hoisting and dragging them off the road.
During a particularly brutal dispersal of an anti-war protest Tuesday evening in Jerusalem, one National Guard officer could be seen rolling up his sleeve as he approached a kneeling protester who appeared to be trying to aid another demonstrator, only to grab her by the shoulders and fling her away. She landed on her back.
Protesters did not go so far as to block roads that night, and, rather, sat on the pedestrian-only Ben Yehuda Street without disrupting traffic — but the demonstration erupted into violence regardless.
Prominent anti-government activist Michal Deutsch told Haaretz that one officer kicked her, breaking her arm, as she tried to prevent him from punching another protester.
Another activist told The Times of Israel that she and other protesters collected some 80 videos documenting police violence from that night alone.
In a statement to Haaretz, the Israel Police said that “all the units in all areas of the country are operating to maintain public order and the safety of citizens,” adding that the police chief “can activate the National Guard, just like other police units, in accordance with operational demands.” Video of Ben Gvir’s militia’s attacks on civilian protesters
Protesters set up mock Qatari embassy outside Knesset
Protesters outside the Knesset set up a mock “Qatari embassy” featuring multiple people in white robes fanning themselves with money as Arabic music plays in the background. One demonstrator uses ropes to control the arms of a person wearing a Benjamin Netanyahu mask as though they are a marionette.
“Welcome to the Qatari embassy in Jerusalem,” they announce on a microphone.
Hebrew media reported yesterday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned at least twice before the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, that the terror group’s military chief Muhammad Deif was appropriating funds provided by Qatar to Gaza with the premier’s approval.
According to near-identical reports by Channel 12 and the Kan public broadcaster, Netanyahu was warned in 2019 by then-Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman and again in 2020 by the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.
Under Netanyahu, Israel has allowed suitcaseswith millions in Qatari cash to enter Gaza through its crossings since 2018, to maintain its fragile ceasefire with the Hamas rulers of the Strip.
Several of Netanyahu’s top aides are currentlyunder investigation over alleged financial ties with Qatar. Video
Opposition lawmakers say Knesset ‘no longer represents the people,’ open temporary outdoor bureaus
Opposition MKs set up temporary “bureaus” in two rows of tents lining the road to the Knesset as protesters carrying Israeli flags begin to gather outside the building ahead of a large demonstration planned for this evening.
The protest comes as lawmakers are debating a controversial bill that would greatly increase political control over the judicial appointments process.
In a post on X, Democrats MK Gilad Kariv writes that he “opened my office outside the Knesset, along with my other colleagues and MKs, to stand shoulder to shoulder with the protesters and deliver a clear message [that] the people’s house no longer represents the people.”
“The majority of the people are disgusted by this government, the majority of the people are demanding the return of the hostages, the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, and the holding of elections.”
- PM ‘inspired’ by Trump to act after Biden’s warnings against altering Israeli democracy
- IDF chief, state comptroller agree on framework for examination of October 7
New IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman announce they’ve reached an agreement on a framework for Englman’s examination of the events of October 7, 2023, and the events leading up to it.
“This framework builds upon the agreements reached in November 2024, based on which dozens of reviews have been conducted within the IDF in recent months, covering 70 percent of the topics,” they say in a joint statement.
“As part of the agreement between the comptroller and the chief of staff, it was clarified that the State Comptroller’s Office will consider operational needs and the dynamic operational reality, engaging in discussions with the IDF to regulate the audit workload. Additionally, it was determined that the investigations and documents on which the audit is based will be transferred from the IDF to the State Comptroller’s Office by the end of April.”
IDF raising concerns over deepening crisis in reserves force
The IDF has raised concerns over a deepening crisis within the reserves force as the military prepares to escalate operations in the Gaza Strip, Haaretz reports.
Tens of thousands of reservists are expected to be called up, but officials report a decline in motivation, with an increasing number indicating they will not report for duty, due to a combination of weariness, a lack of clarity on the goal of continued fighting and anger at government policies.
A senior reservist commander tells Haaretz that brigade and battalion leaders are handling numerous cases of reservists declaring their refusal to report, adding that the primary reason cited is a perception that the government has not done enough to free the hostages, followed closely by opposition to plans for a law exempting ultra-Orthodox from conscription and concerns over the government’s judicial overhaul.
According to a reserves officer who spoke to Haaretz, both fighters and commanders are experiencing significant exhaustion after completing hundreds of reserve days over the past year. He noted that many reservists are struggling to commit to additional deployments, not only due to political concerns but also because of sheer fatigue.
Among those refusing to serve is combat navigator Alon Gur, who publicly announced his resignation from the Air Force last week after 16 years of service. “The line was crossed,” he wrote online, accusing the government of prioritizing politics over human lives. Gur’s subsequent removal from duty has since prompted other reservists to follow suit, raising concerns within the military leadership.
According to the IDF, the rate of reservists showing up for duty, as of February, was 85 percent. In contrast, the IDF reported at the start of the war that more than 100% of reservists called up for duty had shown up, marking the largest-ever call-up of reservists in Israel’s history.
The military has said that the reserve army is operating at the relevant level of competency and is fulfilling its missions.
“Repeating a lie does not make it the truth,” National Unity chairman Benny Gantz tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, after the former engaged in an extended tirade against the so-called deep state earlier.
Accusing Netanyahu of lying about the existence of a deep state, as well as about Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and the management of the war, Gantz says that “the truth cannot be obscured. Only after we joined the cabinet was the return of the hostages included in the war’s objectives.”
Netanyahu is working to fire both Baharav-Miara and Bar, claiming that the attorney general is working to thwart his government’s agenda and that he cannot work with the Shin Bet chief. Critics assert that he mainly wants to oust Bar because of a Shin Bet investigation into ties between PMO officials and Qatar.
“We pressured you to enter a ground maneuver, otherwise it would not have happened because you were afraid,” Gantz says. “We demanded to advance the entry into Rafah and Khan Younis, and to move north [on Hezbollah in Lebanon] sooner so as not to lose another year, and you said ‘What’s so urgent?’
“You know the truth, you also know why you are so afraid of a state commission of inquiry [into the Oct. 7 disaster] that will expose not only your failures and those of your government’s before the massacre, but also your and your government’s underperformance when the war began,” Gantz alleges.
Biden envoy says US alarm led Netanyahu to slow judicial overhaul; Israeli official laughs at prospect of Trump expressing similar concern over effort to oust Shin Bet chief and AG
After returning from his meetings with US President Donald Trump and his top advisers in Washington last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave impassioned remarks at a February 11 cabinet meeting that those present have dubbed the “loyalty speech,” according to an Israeli official familiar with the matter.
“Look at Trump. He has done three things in America: He has surrounded himself with people who are loyal to him and only him; he has fired all the people who are not loyal to him; and he is eliminating the ‘deep state’ methodically and thoroughly,” the official quoted Netanyahu as having said, confirming reporting by the Walla news site.
It was during this trip that Netanyahu decided to move ahead with the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, the Israeli official said, describing the premier as having been “inspired” by Trump.
Netanyahu announced the move roughly a month later, citing his lack of trust in the security chief. The High Court has since frozen the dismissal, pending its adjudication of petitions against the move on the grounds that Netanyahu is facing a conflict of interest due to the Shin Bet’s ongoing investigation into his office’s allegedly illicit ties to Qatar.
As part of the Qatar probe, police detained a pair of Netanyahu’s aides last week. Netanyahu later tweeted: “In America and in Israel, when a strong right-wing leader wins an election, the leftist Deep State weaponizes the justice system to thwart the people’s will. They won’t win in either place! We stand strong together.”
For his part, Bar responded to the move to dismiss him with a letter suggesting that the real reason for his ouster was his refusal to acquiesce to an “illegitimate” demand of granting personal loyalty to the prime minister.
Despite being the apparent inspiration for the move, the Trump administration has avoided weighing in on the Israeli government’s efforts to fire Bar or Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. The cabinet unanimously voted no-confidence in Baharav-Miara on Sunday, formally setting in motion a complex process for her dismissal.
Responding to a query from The Times of Israel, a State Department spokesperson said Friday, “This is an internal matter for the government of Israel, so we refer you to them for more information.”
The Biden approach
The response — or lack thereof — was a clear departure from the Biden administration’s approach to moves by Netanyahu that the premier’s critics have warned are aimed at fundamentally altering Israel’s liberal democratic character.
In 2023, it was the Netanyahu government’s judicial overhaul that triggered massive public protests and a gradual drumbeat of concern and criticism from then-US president Joe Biden.
For over a month, Biden held off on publicly commenting on the controversial planned package of legislation, which would radically curb the power of the country’s judicial branch.
But in February of that year, he gingerly broke his silence.
“The genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances, on an independent judiciary,” Biden said in a statement. “Building consensus for fundamental changes is really important to ensure that the people buy into them so they can be sustained.”
In the months that followed, the criticism became less subtle.
Biden urged Netanyahu to “walk away” from the judicial overhaul legislation in March 2023, saying he was “very concerned” about the health of Israeli democracy and warning that Israel “cannot continue down this road.”
In July, Biden warned that continued advancement of the legislation risked irreparable damage to the “special relationship” between the US and Israel.
“Given the range of threats and challenges confronting Israel right now, it doesn’t make sense for Israeli leaders to rush this — the focus should be on pulling people together and finding consensus,” Biden said in a statement nearly three months before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught that started the Gaza war.
Did it work?
Explaining the previous administration’s approach, Biden’s ambassador to Israel Tom Nides told The Times of Israel last week that he was careful to stress that changes to the judiciary were an internal matter.
“But the one thing I repeatedly made very clear was that the thing that binds our two countries together is this idea that we are truly living democracies and that anything perceived to be chipping away at our shared democratic values is not good for the bilateral relationship,” he recalled.
“People may have interpreted that as us putting our fingers on the scale,” Nides said. “I didn’t shy away from having people make that interpretation.”
Asked whether the warnings from the US had an impact, the former American ambassador surmised that they did. He clarified that the protests in Israel were the main driving force in pushing Netanyahu to hold off on much of the overhaul drive before Hamas’s October 7 attack led it to be largely shelved.
Netanyahu’s critics argue that the government’s current effort to remove gatekeepers is part of a renewed effort to take on the country’s independent institutions. The government is next week expected to pass a lawthat would remake the procedures by which Israel chooses its judges, handing more influence to the political echelon than it has in the current process.
“The Israeli people have to decide what’s going on here. Clearly, there is a sense among some people that again, [Netanyahu’s] trying to bend traditionally non-partisan positions, Nides said.
“President Trump is also going to have to decide how important these issues are to him, since he has a lot on his plate,” he continued, highlighting the president’s efforts to end wars in Gaza and Ukraine and broker a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“For our administration, this was very important to us. But again, this was before October 7. Israel was not at war at the time. So it was a different time and place,” Nides said.
The Israeli official speaking to The Times of Israel laughed at the notion that Trump would weigh in against Netanyahu’s dismissal of Bar and Baharav-Miara.
“On what grounds would he go about doing that? The prime minister is using Trump’s playbook,” the official said.
How to Achieve Israeli-Palestinian Peace
In 2007, I conducted in-depth research on the public opinion of Israelis regarding the two-states solution and peace with the Palestinians. The results were quite dramatic and pointed to very clear steps that need to be taken to change the opinion of the majority of Israelis to support peace with the Palestinians based on two states. Today the overwhelming majority of Israelis are even more against the idea of a Palestinian state than they were in 2007. Obviously, October 7 heightened the fear of Israelis from any form of Palestinian independence. Yet, none of those who oppose the two-states solution has any other formula that has the potential to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the possibility of more attacks by Palestinians against Israel. Even when this horrible war in Gaza will come to an end, there will remain more than seven million Israeli Jews and more than seven million Palestinian Arabs on the small piece of land between the River and the Sea. Eventually, we always come back to the idea of partition and two states for two peoples. There is no other logical possibility.
Whether Israelis like it or not, whether they agree or not, the Palestinian people have legitimate claims for self-determination on part of the land where they have been living for generations. Just as Israeli Jews relate to the Land of Israel as their homeland, the Palestinians relate to the Land of Palestine as their homeland. That is not going to change. In fact, the more the Palestinians are oppressed and abused by Israeli control, land grabs, settlement building, imprisonment, military and settler violence, checkpoints, control on movement, and the strangling of their economy, the more resolved they become in their demand for national recognition and legitimacy. The Palestinian strategy to achieve independence over the past 76 plus years has been to pressure Israel, either through violence or through the international community and international courts. This strategy has not led to their liberation, independence, dignity nor security. The Palestinian strategy has led to a hardening of positions in Israel against the Palestinians and a strengthening of the right-wing and the general public in Israel against a Palestinian state. This has been a failed strategy. Even as the Palestinians claim that international law gives them the right to resist occupation by all means, being “right” as they say, is not always the same thing as being smart. The Palestinian strategy has failed and they are trapped in their failure. Israel has had no peace strategy since the time that Ehud Olmert was Prime Minister and Israel is trapped in its failed “no-strategy” vis-à-vis the most existential issue facing it – the Palestinian issue.
Even if the Palestinians are successful in getting 191 member states of the United Nations to recognize the State of Palestine (leaving only the USA and Israel out), the Israeli occupation over the territories that the Palestinians claim as their state will not change. Essentially, the Palestinians really only need the recognition of the State of Israel in order to achieve their freedom, liberation, security and dignity. It should be in the national interests of the State of Israel to see the creation of the State of Palestine in the lands occupied by Israel in 1967 (with agreed territorial swaps to deal with realities created since 1967). This is not only the best solution for Israel in terms of real security and Israel’s international relations, it is also the most Zionist solution there is. Israel describes itself as the democratic nation-state of the Jewish people, but in reality, between the River and the Sea, Israel is neither democratic nor Jewish. With 50% of the population under its control being Palestinian, Israel does not have a clear Jewish majority nor does democracy exist for all those living on this small piece of land. Even within the city of Jerusalem, the eternal, undivided capital of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, 40% of the residents of Jerusalem are Palestinians who are not citizens of Israel, not Jewish and do not enjoy full equal rights.
The research that we conducted in 2007 showed that up to 70% of Israelis were ready to make significant concessions to enable the establishment of a Palestinian state next to Israel (in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967) if they believed that the Palestinians were truly partners for genuine peace. I believe that if the same research was conducted today, we would find similar results. We asked the Israelis then what would convince them that the Palestinians were truly willing to live in peace with Israel, the answers were the same across all population groups: if the Palestinians taught peace in the classrooms, and if Imams in the Mosques in Palestine preached peace and did not incite against Jews and Israel. Education is the truest reflection of the values of any society and religion in this land has a key role to play in our identities and in our understanding of our connection to this land and our connection with “the others” living in the land. Palestinians and Israelis do not teach even about the possibility of one day living in peace. We don’t learn each other’s language and we don’t learn anything positive about the other people living in this land. From an objective look at both Israeli and Palestinian educational systems, we – both Israelis and Palestinians do not value peace between the two peoples.
We Israelis who understand the urgency of returning to the genuine possibility of Israeli-Palestinian peace have the responsibility and the obligation to speak directly to our Palestinian neighbors with clear messages about our desire to see Palestine liberated from Israeli occupation, but for that to happen, we must be convinced that they are truly willing to live in peace with us. We need to tell our Palestinian neighbors that we too want to live in peace but we don’t believe that the Palestinians are prepared to live in peace. From my personal experience over decades, and especially during the worst times, such as during the second intifada and from October 7 onwards, what I hear from Israelis is similar to what I hear from Palestinians. Both sides claim that they want to live in peace but that they don’t have partners for peace on the other side. The daily reality of both peoples provides both sides with concrete evidence of the lack of partners for peace in both communities.
If we (on both sides) had real leaders, they would know that the most important thing they could do is to decide that they must have a real partner on the other side and they would work day and night to create and build that partnership. Partnership is first and foremost a decision. Once decided, even then it is hard work to develop the partnership and to sustain it. Much of international relations, at the end of the day, is about human relations. It’s about relationships. It’s about building partnerships of shared visions. It’s about working together with respect. It’s about knowing how to listen, how to express empathy that does threaten but compels to demonstrate one’s own humanity. From partnership comes to commitment to work together, in national interests of each side, to create the kind of future that will benefit their own side but also the other side as well. It is only through this kind of relationship that it will be possible to overcome the pains of traumas of yesteryears. Both sides are suffering from the pains of war. Both sides have no promise of a good future unless the other side has the same promise. Both sides must understand that mutual recriminations and arguments over narratives, over who is right and who is wrong will get us nowhere. Eventually, some day in the future we will have the ability and the desire to engage in truth and reconciliation. For now, it is enough to develop the partnership of a joint vision for a peace future. For that to happen, we need new leaders in Israel and in Palestine.
I would like to conclude by quoting the wise words of the Palestinian scholar Rashid Khalidi (taken from several articles that he authored):
Christian and Muslim Palestinians believe in the Jewish people’s connection to this land. Does that give them a real estate deed?… You need to ask yourself: Is there an Israeli people, and do they have rights? … Today there is an Israeli people. The terrible injustices that were inherent in the dispossession of the Palestinians and the denial of their national existence have to be remedied. There’s no way around it…. There has to be a fundamental reorganization of the Palestinian national movement. And there has to be a unified consensus among Palestinians. This is a Palestinian problem. Israel, on the other hand, has to overcome its obsession with force when dealing with the Palestinians. It has to overcome the idea that there’s only one people with a right to self-determination in Israel… Hamas rose because the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] moved away from armed struggle when it formally renounced violence, recognized Israel, and accepted to negotiate with it on the basis of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 beginning in the late 1980s. Hamas took up, in other words, the torch of armed struggle. If the PLO had achieved what it was trying to achieve, which was a Palestinian state on a tiny fraction of about 20 percent of Palestine, Hamas would not be with us today. Hamas opposed this process, and it was successful in doing so, partly because under no circumstances could a fully independent, sovereign Palestinian state be realized under the Oslo process. This process led to a strengthening of Israeli occupation and colonization, an immiseration of the Palestinian people, a chopping of the West Bank into tiny little Bantustans. That’s what turned Hamas into a popular movement… Continued occupation and continued colonization will inevitably produce continued resistance. Whether it’s armed and violent, whether it produces these kinds of atrocities that we’ve seen on October 7 or not, occupation and colonization will inevitably produce resistance. If this conflict is to be resolved, it will have to be resolved between whoever is in power on each side. I don’t get to say that I will not sit down with this Israeli government because this general or that minister have blood on their hands.
This is the elected government of the state of Israel. Whoever the Palestinians end up deciding is their representative, hopefully democratically, are the ones that Israel and the world are going to have to deal with.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gershon Baskin, together with Samer Sinijlaw head the Alliance for Two States
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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