🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 585, 2023 - May 13, 2025 🎗️
US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander freed from Hamas captivity, reunites with family
Following direct talks with US, terror group releases 21-year-old in overture as Trump to start Mideast trip; hostage families torn between elation, concern for remaining captivesAmerican-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander reunited with his parents in Israel on Monday, after being released by Hamas in a gesture of goodwill to the United States, as President Donald Trump was set to embark on a visit to the Middle East.
Alexander, the last living hostage with American citizenship, was freed following direct talks between the US and Hamas in Qatar that were aimed at securing his release. The negotiations sidelined Israeli officials, who were updated only after the deal was struck.
After arriving in Israel, the 21-year-old lone soldier embraced his teary-eyed parents, Yael and Adi, and his siblings, at an army facility near the Gaza border community of Re’im, following 584 days in Hamas captivity.“Look how massive this kid is!” Alexander shouted, as he hugged his little brother.
Hamas handed Alexander over to Red Cross officials in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis at around 6 p.m., without staging a propaganda ceremony, as was typical of the terror group in past hostage releases.
In the first photo taken after his release, Alexander was seen standing unassisted while flanked by a Red Cross worker and three armed, masked Hamas terrorists. He was dressed in a baseball cap and black Adidas t-shirt, as opposed to the mock army uniforms other hostage soldiers were made to wear.
According to Channel 12 News, a Red Cross official said Alexander’s “physical condition was poor, but he is smiling,” and that he required assistance getting into the car.
Alexander told soldiers who received him in the Strip that Hamas subjected him to harsh torture for weeks on end and kept him in a cage over a long period of time with his hands and feet bound, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
He was apparently held in a Hamas tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, alongside other hostages.
Once in the hands of the Red Cross, he was handed over to IDF special forces stationed in the enclave, who brought him back over the border to a facility at the Re’im base in Israel, where his parents anxiously awaited him.
Alexander’s mother flew with relatives from the US to Israel with American hostage envoy Adam Boehler, leaving on Sunday night in order to arrive in time for her son’s release. His father arrived separately on Monday evening.
Accompanying his family Monday evening were US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hostage point-man Gal Hirsch. Waiting at the base, Edan’s mother Yael Alexander elatedly spoke by phone with her son, once he was released by Hamas.
“You’re out, my love, you’re out!” she exclaimed in a video shared by the Prime Minister’s Office. “You are strong. You are safe. You are home. We’ll see each other soon. I love you.”
Yael Alexander (center) speaks on the phone with her son Edan Alexander, following his release from Hamas captivity, May 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)On his way to the hospital by helicopter from the Re’im base, Alexander posed for a photo while holding a sign that read: “Thank you President Trump! The people of Israel live! Let’s go Golani 51,” referring to his army battalion.
Alexander, a dual citizen who grew up in New Jersey, was serving in the IDF’s Golani Brigade at the time of his abduction. Hamas kidnapped him from his base near the Gaza border community of Nirim, known as the White House post, during its October 7 onslaught.
Staff Sgt. Edan Alexander is airlifted along with his family from the Re’im base in southern Israel to Sourasky Hospital in Tel Aviv, May 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)Hamas took 19 male soldiers hostage — not all of them on duty — and seven female surveillance soldiers, the latter of whom have all since been returned to Israel. Five were released in a deal with Hamas, one was rescued, and the body of one was recovered by troops.
‘Beacon of hope’
In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum rejoiced over Alexander’s release, but noted the hostages who remain in Hamas captivity.
“Edan’s release is a beacon of light and hope, but also a stark reminder that 58 men and women remain captive in Gaza. We must not leave a single hostage behind,” the statement read. “The return of all hostages is our generation’s most urgent and critical mission.”
Released hostage soldier Staff Sgt. Edan Alexander, center, arrives at an IDF base near Re’im, May 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)Hamas and other terror groups are holding 58 hostages, 35 of whom have been confirmed dead — 32 Israelis, and three foreigners.
While Israel’s official estimate of the number of living hostages stands at 23, Netanyahu announced last week that there was grave doubt about the fates of three hostages — Israeli Tamir Nimrodi, Bipin Joshi, and Pinta Nattapong, from Nepal and Thailand, respectively.
Asked at a press conference whether Monday’s release marked a step toward a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, Trump said that “we hope that we’re going to have other hostages released.”
Doha talks
In light of Alexander’s release and after speaking with Trump, Netanyahu announced Monday that he would send a delegation to Doha on Tuesday to try to negotiate another temporary hostage release and ceasefire deal.
Netanyahu discussed in an earlier meeting with Witkoff and Huckabee “the recent effort to implement the hostage release framework presented by Witkoff,” ahead of the IDF’s potential expanded ground campaign in Gaza, his office said in a statement.
“To that end, the prime minister instructed that a negotiation delegation be sent to Doha tomorrow,” his office continued, clarifying that “the negotiations will take place only under fire,” with the military campaign against Hamas ongoing.
Released hostage Edan Alexander reunites with his family at an IDF base near Re’im, May 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)Netanyahu later Monday evening claimed in a video that Alexander’s return was “achieved thanks to our military pressure and the diplomatic pressure applied by President Trump,” calling it “a winning combination.”
Non-American hostages ‘worth less’
Though delighted by Alexander’s release, some of the families of hostages who do not hold US citizenship expressed unease about the remaining hostages’ fates, as Washington’s endgame regarding a comprehensive deal remains unclear.
Kibbutz Nir Oz said it was “deeply moved” by the release of Edan Alexander, calling his return “a bright light in the darkness we find ourselves in,” but made the caveat that it felt as though the lives of hostages without US citizenship “are worth less.”
“A hostage with an American passport is given priority, while the other 58 hostages are left behind — 14 of whom are members of the Nir Oz community — and the fear for their fate is greater than ever,” the kibbutz statement asserted.
“It is hard to ignore the difficult message that the citizens of the State of Israel are receiving today, and which is being conveyed to the entire world: our lives are worth less,” it said
Now after bringing Idan Alexander home, President Trump and his team need to tell Netanyahu to end the war and make the deal to bring the remaining 58 hostages home.
Trump is the only person in the world with real leverage over Netanyahu. Trump needs to tell Hamas together with the Arab neighbors that they can no longer rule Gaza and their armed struggle is over. Trump will advance the two states solution during his visit in Saudi, UAE and Qatar - he will hear from the Arab partners, including Abbas, Sharaa and Aoun in his meetings in the Gulf that there must be a political framework to advance Palestinian statehood if they all want to see Hamas’s political and military demise in Gaza and in the West Bank. There is day light between Trump and Netanyahu - which is really quite amazing. Trump is moving forward with his America first agenda and his promise to end wars. This is quite significant - if he now sees the opportunity for bringing an end to the Gaza war. Netanyahu will have no choice -even if it means that his government will fall. Ben Gvir is not the biggest threat to Netanyahu because Ben Gvir with his hubris believe’s that he will come out better in the next elections. Smotrich, according to all polls is finished and he will kick, scream and threaten, but if Trump wants the war to end, Netanyahu will have no choice. It is not by chance that in all of the recent video messages that Hamas released from hostages, they all called on Trump to force the deal. Trump brought home a hostage today and while Israel can say that they didn’t “pay” anything for it - Israel did pay - and a big price - the direct over stepping of the United States to Hamas without involving Israel. Trump now has more leverage with Hamas, but he has to deliver the end of the war and a serious humanitarian aid project that will bring relief to the Palestinian people in Gaza where a humanitarian disaster is taking place. There is a chance that Trump will tell Netanyahu that he cannot expand the war and that it has to end. This all may be some very wishful thinking on my part, but it appears that there is something new here in the changing and evolving US-Israel relationship. (Gershon Baskin, May 12, 2025)In photo from his release, Edan Alexander stands unassisted, flanked by Hamas terrorists
The Al Jazeera news network publishes an image of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander in the moments before his release.
In the photo, Alexander is standing unassisted, with his hands folded in front of him. He is flanked by a Red Cross worker, and three armed and masked Hamas terrorists.
Alexander, despite being a soldier, is not seen wearing the quasi-military uniform that Hamas forced other released hostages to wear during their release.
Israeli official: ‘Dramatic window’ open for Witkoff deal with Trump in region
An Israeli official tells Channel 12 news that the arrival of US President Donald Trump in the Middle East and the impending release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander create a “dramatic window of opportunity” to advance a hostage deal, based on a framework led by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and backed by Egypt.
The unnamed official says Israel is ready to send a negotiating team “if and when we determine that conditions are ripe,” adding that “we hope Hamas seizes what may be its last chance to reach an agreement.”
Conflicting reports indicate that Israel may send a team to Cairo as early as today.
Yesterday, Walla reported that Witkoff has been engaged in talks with Hamas, Qatar, Egypt, and Israel aimed at securing a hostage release and broader regional calm. link Yes, there is a 'dramatic window' during Trump's visit but whether we are able to go through that window is dependent on one person only, Netanyahu. He is the sole decision maker if there will be a deal and we will get our hostages home. The big problem is that Netanyahu is only willing to go along with an interim agreement that will bring a handful of hostages home and extend a ceasefire for as long as 2 months. That will leave most of the hostages to remain in the hell of Hamas captivity for at least another 2 months. And that is on condition that Hamas will agree which is highly doubtful. Their bottom line is th end the war which Netanyahu will not agree to unless Trump will be willing to pull the hammer and put unbearable pressure on Netanyahu and basically, not leave him with a choice which is what happened with Phase 1 of the last agreement. Phase 2 was part of that which stipulated making concrete plans to end the war and bring hom all the hostages. Netanyahu breeched that agreement on the 16 day of Phase 1 when he refused to send a negotiating team to work out the details of Phase 2 and then fully broke the agreement by refusing to plan for and implement phase 2. Our only hope is for Trump to apply this necessary pressure to force Netanyahu do what he should have done 19 months ago, bring them all home.
The announcement on the release of Idan Alexander and the silence in the coalition
In the opposition, they congratulated the expected release of the Israeli-American hostage and attacked Netanyahu for diplomatic failure, against the background of direct contacts between Hamas and the United States • Gantz: “The stomach turns to see how the government of Israel lacks all initiative and acceptance of responsibility” • Chairman of the Democrats: “The release in a deal bypassing Netanyahu – the nightmare fulfilled” • Member of Knesset in the coalition criticized the government: “A reality where a foreign passport becomes a criterion for saving lives, a moral difficulty”
The announcement of the release of the kidnapped soldier Idan Alexander led to a multitude of reactions from politicians, mainly from opposition leaders, and to silence from coalition members. Not a single minister referred to the statements from Hamas and the American administration, except for the Prime Minister, whose office published a statement saying that the release would be “without compensation and without condition.”
“The expected release of IDF soldier Idan Alexander without compensation will be possible due to the firm policy that we led with the backing of President Trump, and thanks to the military pressure of IDF soldiers in the Gaza Strip,” said the Prime Minister’s Office. “Israel did not commit to any ceasefire or to the release of terrorists, but only to a safe corridor that will allow the release of Idan. We are in critical days in which a deal that would enable the release of our hostages is placed before Hamas. The negotiations will continue under fire and in parallel to preparations for intensifying the fighting.”
Idan AlexanderOpposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) welcomed the expected release – and attacked Netanyahu:
“The release of Idan Alexander is blessed and moving, but we must not stop there. It must lead to a broad hostage deal that will return all the hostages home. They have no time.”“The reports about direct contacts between Hamas and the United States are a disgraceful diplomatic failure of the government of Israel and its leader,” said Lapid last night. “The hostages are ours, and the responsibility to bring them back is the government’s. Our hearts are with the families.”
Chairman of the National Unity party Benny Gantz wrote on X:
“The heart expands ahead of the anticipated return of Idan – the stomach turns to see how the government of Israel lacks all initiative and acceptance of responsibility. All 59 female and male hostages are citizens of Israel and the responsibility to return them is ours. It is time for the Prime Minister to fulfill this responsibility.”Chairman of the Democrats Yair Golan responded last night to the announcement:
“Dear Alexander family, all of the people of Israel wait with you, in worry and in hope, for the return of Idan. 583 days too late. An IDF soldier, a Golani fighter, who was kidnapped during a mission to defend the communities of the south – is returned in a deal between the United States and Hamas. The release in a deal bypassing Netanyahu is the fulfillment of the nightmare of the hostages’ families and of all Israeli citizens. Netanyahu, in practice, abandoned his citizens to the mercy of foreign powers. We must bring them all back. Now.”His party colleague, Member of Knesset Merav Michaeli, responded:
“So good that Idan Alexander is returning. Our hostages cannot wait for gestures of goodwill to President Trump. And it cannot be that whoever does not have a foreign passport has no exit ticket from captivity. How terrible that the hostages’ families must go and plead before the American administration, knowing that their own government is not doing what it must. A comprehensive deal now. End the war now.”Member of Knesset Matan Kahana (National Unity) responded:
“The expected release of Idan Alexander is joyous and emotional news. But joy must not cause us to move on as if everything is normal. This is a clear signal from Trump to Netanyahu – your policy is stuck, and therefore we will take care of our interests, even if it means negotiating directly with Hamas. The result is clear: Hamas grows stronger, Israel’s position weakens. A vacuum is destined to be filled. Netanyahu’s policy is a vacuum.”In contrast to the opposition members, only a few in the coalition responded to the announcement on Alexander’s expected release.
Chairman of the Religious Zionism faction, Member of Knesset Ohad Tal, congratulated and criticized the government:
“The expected release of Idan Alexander is an emotional and joyous moment. Every returned hostage – is an entire world. But we must also acknowledge that a reality in which a foreign passport grants priority and becomes a criterion for saving lives, is a moral difficulty that shakes the foundations of our mutual responsibility.”Chairman of Noam, Member of Knesset Avi Maoz, said:
“The defeat of Hamas and its destruction, the return of all the hostages together with Israeli sovereignty over the Gaza Strip, that is the only path to the security of Israel. Now!” link. Netanyahu, a long time ago, lost all legitimacy to be the Prime Minister of Israel. He is the prime minister of the Netanyahu family only. He abandoned the hostages from day 1 and has not taken a single shread of responsibility for their lives and their return to Israel and it all happened in his watch and because of his policies for the last decade and a half. This release of Edan Alexander is wonderful as the release of every hostage is wonderful, but it is also very strong evidence that the State of Israel and every citizen cannot depend on the government under Netanyahu to secure their safety and deliverance back home. Once again, it is the Americans who are doing everything to get back out hostages while Netanyahu and his failed and corrupt government allow them to die in captivity.Edan Alexander suffered severe torture in captivity, was kept handcuffed in a cage
Released hostage Edan Alexander suffered severe torture and was held handcuffed in a cage for an extended period of time, according to his initial testimony, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
Alexander, who was abducted on October 7, 2023, was reportedly interrogated for weeks and held in a Hamas tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip alongside other hostages.
- Source involved in efforts to free US hostage says Hamas told it will ‘go a long way’ with Trump
A source involved in the mediation effort bringing about American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander’s release tells The Times of Israel that Hamas has agreed to release him as a gesture of goodwill to the Trump administration in the hope that Washington will coax Israel to end the war in Gaza.
The source says Hamas has received assurances from the US through mediators that Alexander’s release “would go a long way” with US President Donald Trump who wants to see the remaining hostages released and for the war in Gaza to
Hostages forum says Edan Alexander’s release must be the start of a deal to free all 59
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says that the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander in the coming days “must be the start of a single agreement that will return all 59 hostages.”
“There is only one moral, proper, and necessary agreement: the immediate return of all the hostages and the end of the war,” says the forum, which has long been calling for the government to agree to a deal that will return all the remaining hostages at once, rather than in phases.
“Now is the time to bring about a breakthrough in negotiations. The responsibility lies with the Israeli government,” it adds. “Nobody can be left behind.”
Parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin celebrate return of Edan Alexander
As Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander crosses the border back into Israel, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the parents of murdered hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, post a message on social media.
“In 584 days, we’ve come to know and love the Alexander family,” says Polin. “Adi, Yael, Savta Varda, Aunt Iris and Uncle Levi and all of the extended family, today we are celebrating with all of you.”
The Goldberg-Polins and Alexanders were part of the group of American-Israeli dual citizen families fighting for their loved ones since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, where their sons were taken hostage.
“And most important, Edan, we’ve grown to love you without ever having met you,” says Rachel Goldberg-Polin. “We’re so relieved that you are home, welcome home.”
“And to everyone,” says Goldberg-Polin, raising her finger in warning, “we have 58 more people that have to come home.”
Qatar: 'Pleased with Idan Alexander's release, he faced same dangers as Gaza residents'
Qatari network Al Jazeera quoted Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who told The Washington Post that 'we are happy that Idan Alexander will be returned to his family and wish the same for all hostages.' According to him, 'his release is the result of ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire. We hope to bring both sides back to negotiations to end the conflict and allow aid in. We spoke with Israel and the U.S. to find ways to bring aid into Gaza. The hostages are exposed to all the same dangers that Gaza's civilians face. The central question is how to end the war.'As Israeli negotiators head to Doha, PM assures coalition partners Israel won’t end war
Netanyahu reportedly says Israel will only accept a temporary truce that frees some of the hostages, unless Hamas agrees to disarm, in what increases chances for continued impasse
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a call with coalition party chiefs on Monday, reportedly trying to assure them that Israel wasn’t going to agree to end the war before Hamas is defeated after he agreed to a request from the Trump administration to send a negotiating team to Doha in order to jumpstart long-stalled hostage negotiations with the terror group.
Netanyahu agreed to the US request after meeting with US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff and holding a brief phone call with US President Donald Trump after Hamas released American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander after he spent 584 days in captivity. Hamas released Alexander in what has been characterized as a gesture of goodwill to Trump after the group received assurances from a third-party mediator that the step would go a long way with Washington, opening the door to the administration potentially coaxing Israel to end the war in Gaza.
But Netanyahu told coalition partners that he won’t budge from his refusal to end the war before Hamas’s military and governing capabilities have been dismantled, according to multiple Hebrew media reports.
This could put him at odds with not just Hamas, but also the United States, whose officials for the first time in months are employing rhetoric about “ending the war” in Gaza, as Israel threatens to massively expand its military operations in order to re-occupy the entire Strip.
Trump characterized Hamas’s decision to release Alexander as a “step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators… to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones.”
His ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee expressed the administration’s hope that Alexander’s release “marks the beginning of the end to this terrible war,” which was sparked over 19 months ago by Hamas when its fighters invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 253 hostage. Fifty-eight people are still being held in Gaza — at least 23 of whom are believed to be alive.
Over 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures have not been credibly verified and don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. On March 2, Israel began blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, arguing that enough had gone in during a six-week ceasefire and asserting that Hamas has been stealing that assistance from civilians. But even IDF officials have acknowledged privately in recent weeks that the Strip is on the brink of starvation, and an Israeli plan to resume assistance faces mounting obstacles.
While repeated polls have indicated that a clear majority of Israelis backs ending the war in exchange for the hostages, Netanyahu has rejected this trade, arguing that it would leave Hamas in power. His far-right coalition partners have also threatened to collapse his government if he were to approve such an exchange.
All of this raises the stakes as an Israeli delegation takes off for Doha on Tuesday for another round of indirect talks with Hamas co-mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US. The Israeli officials Netanyahu is sending to Doha are his diplomatic adviser Ophir Falk, the government’s hostage point man Gal Hirsch and a former Shin Bet deputy chief — whose name is barred from publication.
Trump will also arrive in the region on Tuesday, starting in Saudi Arabia before continuing to Qatar and then the United Arab Emirates — with the Gaza war likely to come up during his meetings with Gulf leaders, even if the issue is not expected to dominate a trip largely focusing on US economic interests in the region.
Israel has threatened to launch its major military operation in Gaza once Trump leaves the Mideast on Friday if Hamas doesn’t agree to a hostage deal by then.
Netanyahu told coalition partners that despite sending a negotiating team to Doha, his position hasn’t changed. The negotiators only have a mandate to discuss what the premier has referred to as the “Witkoff proposal,” which would see as many as half of the hostages released in exchange for a weekslong ceasefire. During that truce, Israel is prepared to hold talks regarding a permanent end to the war, but will accept nothing less than Hamas agreeing to disarm and give up governing control of Gaza.
Hamas has said it is prepared to cede control of the Strip and agree to a yearslong truce with Israel that includes security guarantees. However, it has long refused demands that it permanently disarm.
It has also demanded guarantees from the mediators — potentially in the form of a binding UN Security Council resolution — that Israel be prevented from resuming the war if Hamas agrees to release hostages. Arab mediators say they face an uphill battle convincing Hamas to release hostages without assurances that Israel will end the war because the previous deal was supposed to see the sides enter talks regarding the terms of a permanent ceasefire, but Netanyahu largely refused to do so and the truce collapsed after its first of three phases.
Netanyahu, in his Monday call with coalition heads, said Israel would not accept any guarantees that it end the war absent the complete dismantlement of Hamas.
The US has backed this goal in the past, and Arab stakeholders are principally supportive, but they have argued that it will be a gradual process that requires Israel allowing for a viable alternative to be stood up in Gaza, with the foundation being a reformed Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu has refused to grant the PA a significant foothold in Gaza. The stance has stopped nearly half a dozen Arab countries from taking part in the post-war management of the Strip, given that they’ve conditioned their support on the establishment of a political horizon for an eventual two-state solution.
Amid the lack of alternatives to Hamas, the war in Gaza has dragged on, as Hamas has managed to continue recruiting fighters, frequently returning to areas briefly cleared by the IDF. After asserting during the war’s initial months that Israel did not seek to re-occupy Gaza, such a result is seen as increasingly likely, and Netanyahu and his coalition partners are now openly framing it as their goal.
In a meeting with wounded IDF soldiers on Monday evening, Netanyahu said that “within days, things are going to happen in Gaza… that you have never seen before until now,” according to Hebrew media reports.
The meeting was held with the hawkish forum “Wounded Soldiers for Victory,” which was established about two weeks ago with the aim of promoting the “destruction of Hamas,” according to a Ynet report.
In the hour-and-a-half-long meeting, Netanyahu listened to the soldiers’ accounts of their combat injuries and said to them that, while he is “giving a chance” for the return of the hostages, if these efforts do not succeed, the fighting will be intense and “to the end,” says Ynet.
Netanyahu was also quoted as having said that Israel will “occupy” Gaza and will take over security control over Gaza “forever.”
Last week, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel claimed on CNN that those calling for Israel to occupy Gaza are part of a fringe and don’t represent the position of the Israeli government.
Far-right MK urges Netanyahu to have US Jews settle Gaza
During closed-door testimony before the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that Israel is “destroying more and more houses [in Gaza and Palestinians accordingly] have nowhere to return,” according to quotes leaked to the Maariv daily.
“The only obvious result will be Gazans choosing to emigrate outside of the Strip,” Netanyahu continued. “But our main problem is finding countries to take them in.”
Netanyahu told the lawmakers that he had recently discussed Trump’s plan for the US to take over Gaza with the president but acknowledged that there have been difficulties in implementing it.
While Trump initially called on Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians, both countries quickly pushed back against the idea, insisting that Palestinians should be allowed to remain on their land.
Israel has also refrained from publicly assuring Gazans that those who leave will be allowed to return, further reducing the incentive for countries to take in Gazans, given the perception that they’d be interfering in a decades-old land conflict.
Dozens who have left Gaza as part of a pilot program offering them work abroad were reportedly required to sign documents upon departure acknowledging that there is no timeline for when they can come back due to the security situation. Children who have been evacuated for medical treatment abroad have also been prevented by Israel from reuniting with their families back in Gaza after the completion of their hospital stay.
Palestinians sift through debris following an Israeli strike in the Bureij refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip, May 7, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)During Sunday’s Knesset committee meeting, Netanyahu claimed that despite the lack of success in finding countries to take in Gazans, the US is still interested in taking over Gaza.
Sources familiar with the matter have told The Times of Israel, however, that the Trump administration has put minimal effort into actually advancing Trump’s Gaza takeover plan, following the massive pushback it received from Arab allies since it was announced in early February.
Still, Netanyahu told the lawmakers. “I know I will disappoint some people here, but we are not talking about Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip right now.”
MK Limor Son Har-Melech replied, “Bring the Jews of the United States (to settle Gaza). That way, we can kill two birds with one stone,” according to Maariv.
Palestinians try to receive a hot meal prepared by volunteers in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)Netanyahu also briefed the committee on Israel’s plan to soon resume the distribution of aid in Gaza through a new system that aims to prevent assistance from being diverted by Hamas.
Netanyahu said that those who pick up aid from newly established distribution hubs in southern Gaza will be barred from returning to places in Gaza outside of the new humanitarian zone being set up in southern Gaza. Israel’s aid plan envisions squeezing Gaza’s entire population of 2 million people into an area in and surrounding Rafah that makes up between 10 and 25 percent of the Strip. Those entering will be vetted by the IDF, according to officials briefed on the plan.
A new organization called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was established in order to manage the new aid program. GHF was supposed to announce its rollout last week, but has faced major setbacks after the UAE, the UN and other international bodies refused to cooperate or fund the initiative due to concerns that it doesn’t adequately address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where aid has been banned by Israel since March 2. LINK Everyone, and I mean everyone in the world who has been working on getting the hostages home and has any knowledge of the situation knows that Netanyahu is the one preventing a deal as he has done since the beginning of the war, and it is also known that the only one who can force Netanyahu into a deal that he doesn't want because it doesn't serve his personal interests, is Trump. Netanyahu has continually given excuses of why the war must go on and has enlisted anyone and everyone he can find to support his excuses. Now, a new group, that I am hearing about for the first time "the hawkish forum “Wounded Soldiers for Victory,” which was established about two weeks ago" has come to the spotlight. I have very little doubt that Netanyahu's well oiled poison machine which is made up of cronies in the PMO and the Likud had a major hand in getting this group to form. They were also the ones behind the formation of the small hostage families group 'Tikva Forum' which has supported Netanyahu's continuing war over making a deal to get the hostages home, even at the expense of their loved ones' lives. Netanyahu and his ilk are totally despicable in their lack of the values that Israel is built upon: value of life, redeeming prisoners, leaving no one behind and more. His self interests overtake all of those sacred values and we are all left to pay the price, with the first ones to pay being the hostages left in Gaza and the 41 who were killed in captivity.
- US envoys tell hostages families of ‘genuine chance for progress’ in Doha
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US hostage envoy Adam Boehler told the families of hostages still in Gaza that they think there is a chance to make progress on freeing their loved ones as they head to Qatar for indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum says.
Witkoff “assured the families that if he and Boehler didn’t believe there was a genuine chance for progress in negotiations, they wouldn’t be making the trip to Doha,” the Forum says, noting that the meeting lasted nearly two hours.
“Both officials emphasized their personal commitment to bringing back all 58 remaining hostages – both the living and the deceased,” the statement says. “Witkoff emphasized that they will accept nothing less than the return of everyone, as this is the President’s mission.
Witkoff also told the families that “everyone would prefer to see a diplomatic solution,” the Forum says.
Hamas says dialogue, not bombs, led to release of AlexanderHamas is rejecting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that military pressure helped secure the release of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander.
“The return of Edan Alexander is the result of serious communications with the US administration and the efforts of mediators, not a consequence of Israeli aggression or the illusion of military pressure,” the Palestinian terror group says in a statement.
“Netanyahu is misleading his people and has failed to bring back his prisoners through aggression,” Hamas adds.
“The return of Edan Alexander confirms that serious negotiations and a prisoner exchange deal are the way to bring back the prisoners and end the war,” the Hamas statement adds.
🎗️Day 585 that 58 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
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- Israeli Air Force resumes Gaza strikes after brief pause for hostage release
The Israeli Air Force has resumed its airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian media reports, after a pause of several hours during the release of hostage soldier Edan Alexander.
The IDF limited its activity in Gaza today to enable the release of Alexander.
- 'Our lives are worth less': Kibbutz Nir Oz pushes back against Israeli gov't
Kibbutz Nir Oz said that it's hard to ignore the message received by Israelis and the entire world that their lives are worthless following the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander in a statement on Monday evening."At the same time, it is hard to ignore the harsh message received today by the citizens of the State of Israel — and conveyed to the entire world: our lives are worth less. A hostage with an American passport is given priority, while the other 58 hostages are left behind — including 14 members of the Nir Oz community, and the anxiety for their fate is greater than"The Nir Oz community is deeply moved by the release of Edan Alexander after 584 days in captivity. We embrace his family, the community of Hatzor, and the Jewish community in the United States. Every hostage who returns is a great light in the darkness we are in," the statement read. - Hunger-stricken Gazan kids could be permanently affected, WHO warns
Malnutrition rates are rising in Gaza and hunger could have lasting impacts on “an entire generation,” the World Health Organization’s representative for the Palestinian Territories says.
Rik Peeperkorn said he had seen children in clinics who looked years younger than their age.
“Without enough nutritious food, clean water and access to health care, an entire generation will be permanently affected,” Peeperkorn tells a press briefing by video link from Deir al-Balah inside the Strip, warning of poor health, stunting and impaired cognitive development.
Gaza health ministry says two killed in hospital attackThe Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip says an Israeli attack on Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital killed two people and injured an unspecified number of others, including patients receiving treatment and medical staff. It does not immediately name the casualties.
Reports earlier indicated that among those killed was Hassan Eslaiah, whom the Israel Defense Forces said last month was a member of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade.
On October 7, Eslaiah, who was freelancing for the Associated Press, took photos of a burning tank on the Gaza border which had been attacked by Hamas operatives. He also invaded Israel with the terrorists and photographed them entering Kibbutz Nir Oz, where dozens of civilians were massacred. “During the massacre, he documented and uploaded footage of looting, arson, and murder to social media,” the IDF said last month.
The IDF announced in early April that it had targeted Eslaiah in an airstrike, but he managed to survive.
The IDF said overnight it carried out a “targeted strike” on “key” Hamas operatives inside the hospital compound, but did not say if any were killed in the strike.
The Gaza toll cannot be verified. Gazan health authorities in general do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
The IDF says that its forces carried out a “targeted attack” on “key” Hamas operatives who were operating a command center in the Nasser Hospital compound in Khan Younis.
Palestinian media reported multiple casualties in the strike.
Among those reported killed is Hassan Eslaiah, whom the IDF and Shin Bet have previously said was a member of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade.
On October 7, Eslaiah, who was freelancing for the Associated Press, took photos of a burning tank on the Gaza border which had been attacked by Hamas operatives. He also invaded Israel with the terrorists and photographed them entering Kibbutz Nir Oz, where dozens of civilians were massacred. “During the massacre, he documented and uploaded footage of looting, arson, and murder to social media,” the IDF said last month.
The IDF announced in early April that it had targeted Eslaiah in an airstrike, but he managed to survive.
- PM said to tell MKs: Israel destroying homes in Gaza, so Palestinians have nowhere else to go but outside the Strip
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers during closed-door testimony before the the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday that Israel is “destroying more and more houses [in Gaza and Palestinians accordingly] have nowhere to return,” according to quotes from the session leaked to the media.
“The only obvious result will be Gazans choosing to emigrate outside of the Strip,” Netanyahu continued. “But our main problem is finding countries to take them in.”
Netanyahu told the lawmakers that he has discussed Donald Trump’s plan for the US to take over Gaza with the president in recent days but acknowledged that there have been difficulties in implementing it.
While Trump initially called on Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians, both countries quickly pushed back against the idea, insisting that Palestinians should be allowed to remain on their land.
Israel has also refrained from publicly assuring Gazans that those who leave will be allowed to return, further reducing the incentive for countries to take in Gazans, given the perception that they’d be interfering in a decades-old conflict over land.
Dozens who have left Gaza a pilot program for work abroad have reportedly been required to sign documents acknowledging that there is no timeline for when they can come back due to the security situation. Children who have been evacuated for medical treatment abroad have also been prevented from reuniting with their families back in Gaza after the completion of their hospital stay.
Palestinians sift through debris following an Israeli strike in the Bureij refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip, May 7, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)During Sunday’s Knesset committee meeting, Netanyahu claimed that despite the lack of success in finding countries to take in Gazans, the US is still interested in taking over Gaza.
Sources familiar with the matter have told The Times of Israel, however, that the Trump administration has put minimal effort into actually advancing Trump’s Gaza takeover plan since it was announced in early February following the massive pushback it received from Arab allies.
Still, Netanyahu told the lawmakers. “I know I will disappoint some people here, but we are not talking about Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip right now.”
MK Limor Son Har-Melech replied, “Bring the Jews of the United States (to settle Gaza). That way, we can kill two birds with one stone,” according to partial transcripts from the meeting leaked to the Maariv daily.
Palestinians try to receive a hot meal prepared by volunteers, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)Netanyahu also briefed the committee on Israel’s plan to soon resume the distribution of aid in Gaza through a new system that aims to prevent assistance from being diverted by Hamas.
Netanyahu said that those who pick up aid from newly established distribution hubs in southern Gaza will be barred from returning to places in Gaza outside of the new humanitarian zone being set up in southern Gaza. Israel’s aid plan envisions squeezing Gaza’s entire population of 2 million people into an area in and surrounding Rafah that makes up between 10 and 25 percent of the Strip. Those entering will be vetted by the IDF, according to officials briefed on the plan.
A new organization called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was established in order to manage the new aid program. GHF was supposed to announce its rollout last week but has faced major setbacks after the UAE, the UN and other international bodies refused to cooperate or fund the initiative due to concerns that it doesn’t adequately address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where aid has been banned by Israel since March 2. link If this is true, Netanyahu has just provided the ICC with direct evidence of Ethnic Cleansing by the Israeli government of Palestinians in Gaza, an international crime covered in the laws against genocide. There is no doubt that Netanyahu is already guilty of this crime and he is taking the entire country with him but now he is providing the evidence on a silver platter. He truly does belong in prison for so many crimes.
Gaza and the South
Syria’s Sharaa skips Iraq summit after firestorm over invitation to Gaza-focused gathering
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will not attend the Arab League Summit in Baghdad this weekend, Syrian state media says, after Iraq’s invitation spurred controversy over the rebel-turned-leader’s potential return to a country where he fought and was jailed.
Syria’s delegation to Saturday’s summit will be headed by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani, state-owned Ekhbariya TV reports, without providing a reason for Sharaa’s absence. The summit is expected to focus on Gaza reconstruction and the Palestinian issue.
Sharaa’s decision highlights Syria’s mixed results establishing ties across the region after former President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster last year. Sharaa has made rapid inroads with Sunni-majority Gulf Arab states Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but has tread more carefully with others where Iran has had strong influence, like Shi’ite-majority Iraq.
Sharaa fought with Al Qaeda in Iraq after the U.S-led invasion in 2003. He was imprisoned there for more than five years, then released for lack of evidence in 2011, according to a senior Iraqi security official.
He then opened Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria, breaking away in 2016 to form what became Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group that ousted Assad.
Iraq’s prime minister invited Sharaa last month to the summit, prompting criticism from mainly Shi’ite Muslim factions who accuse Sharaa of orchestrating attacks against Shi’ites during his years in Iraq.
- Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers bring message of hope for a better future
Peace will only come from a change in outlook, from one of separation to one of reconciliation, say Gershon Baskin and Samer Sinijlawi ahead of their speaking tour.Gershon Baskin (left) and Samer Sinijlawi bring a shared message of peace
In the shadow of war, trauma, and deepening divisions, it may seem unfathomable to talk about hope —let alone peace. Yet amid the rubble of October 7 and the devastating 18 months that have followed in Gaza, two voices are daring to speak of a different path.Later this month, Israeli peace negotiator Gershon Baskin and Palestinian political leader Samer Sinijlawi will address Australian audiences as guests of the New Israel Fund, in a conversation titled Negotiating Peace: How to salvage a two-state solution.
Gershon Baskin was a negotiator in the release of Gilad Shalit and is a researcher of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace process. Samer Sinijlawi is Head of International, Israeli and Diplomatic relations (Fatah Shadow Leadership) and Chairman of the Jerusalem Development Fund. Their message is both radical and simple: peace is possible, but only if we build it together.
I spoke with Baskin and Sinjwali from Jerusalem ahead of their visit, which will include events in Sydney and Melbourne.
Firstly, why are they choosing to travel to a country so far removed from the day-to-day realities of the conflict?
“We do have an obligation to speak about peace everywhere,” Sinjwali answered. “Most of our time is focused on convincing Israelis and Palestinians to trust each other again, to believe that coexistence is possible. But we also need to deliver this message to the Jewish community around the world and the Palestinian diaspora.”
Coexistence is possible
Baskin agreed. “Any opportunity for the two of us to spend time together is valuable. We think, we plan, we strategise. But it’s also about the message. When people see an Israeli and a Palestinian working side by side, it breaks the myth that there’s no partner for peace on the other side.”
Baskin also hopes to use the visit to urge Australia to recognise the State of Palestine, joining 147 UN member states that already do. “If you support a two-state solution, you need to recognise both states,” he said. “Put up or shut up.”
This message of principled pragmatism carries particular urgency now, as both men acknowledge the profound trauma experienced by Israelis on October 7 and the unprecedented devastation in Gaza since. For Baskin, who has been critical of the war from its early days, the facts are inescapable.
“We Jews often equate between genocide and the Shoah. So first, I want to say what's happening in Gaza is not the Shoah. It is not a systematic extermination of a people. But according to how genocide is defined in international law, Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza and crimes against humanity in Gaza, and we're doing it every day. Even Netanyahu himself has said of the 50,000 people Israel has killed, 20,000 of them were Hamas combatants.
“That means we killed 30,000 people who are not Hamas combatants. And we know from the statistics that 17-18,000 of them were children. We have wiped out Gaza. We have wiped out the infrastructure. We have wiped out the schools, the universities. The public institutions. There is nothing left in Gaza physically This is a genocide in terms of how genocide is defined. We need to confront that. This is the darkest period in our history. And it will bite us. For a very long time.”
Destruction of Gaza
Asked about the cause of this war, Baskin replied: “There's no doubt October 7 was the most traumatic event that happened to the Jewish people and to Israel since the Holocaust. There's no question about it, we're still traumatised.”
For Sinjwali, October 7 is a wound committed by Hamas that will not easily heal. “In the Israeli collective memory, we Palestinians were barbarians that day,” he acknowledged. “And in our memory, Israel committed genocide in Gaza. We need to live with these twin truths.”
And yet, both men insist that these traumas must become starting points — not stopping points — for a new kind of dialogue.
I asked Sinjwali how he would respond to the widespread fear among Israelis that any future Palestinian state could lead to more violence.
“We Palestinians need to start seeing the conflict through Israeli eyes,” he replied. “From that perspective, it’s about one word: security. If I can convince Israelis that we are not a threat — that our national interest includes their security — then we can begin to build trust.”
Baskin added that fear cannot be addressed with fences alone. “Walls won’t bring us peace. What will [bring us peace] is a change in the paradigm — from one of separation to one of reconciliation. Peace is not a piece of paper signed by leaders; it’s what’s taught in schools, spoken in homes, and practiced in daily life.”
So where does the reconciliation begin?
Language is the key
“Every Israeli should learn Arabic from grade one, and every Palestinian should learn Hebrew,” Baskin proposed. “That’s not controversial — it’s essential.”
Sinjwali agrees that education is critical but argues that real change must begin from the top. “We’ve engineered meetings between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, including Ehud Olmert and [former Palestinian foreign minister] Nasser al-Qudwa. The psychological barrier was the hardest part. But once they met, they quickly reached a shared proposal.”
Their proposal, released at a meeting with the Pope last October, called for a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders with a 4.4% annexation of the West Bank by Israel, and with land swaps and a corridor linking Gaza and the West Bank. Their agreement supported then President Biden’s plan for a Council of Commissioners to govern Gaza and prepare for elections, along with a temporary Arab Security Presence. Jerusalem would be divided, with the Old City managed by an international trusteeship.
Sinjwali recalled a recent meeting with an Israeli minister, a religious man from a centrist party, who had never met a Palestinian before. “This is the leadership making decisions about our future, yet they don’t even know us. We must give leaders the opportunity to learn about the other side.”
The conversation also returned often to the role of the Diaspora—especially in Australia. Both men believe that Jews and Palestinians abroad have a responsibility not only to support peace, but to avoid importing conflict into their communities.
“Often Diaspora communities are more extreme than people here,” Baskin warned. “Sometimes they’re more Zionist than Ben-Gvir. That’s dangerous. You can be a proud supporter of Israel and still support a solution.”
Sinjwali added that visiting Australia is not only a moral obligation — it’s also an opportunity to learn. “I’ve never been to Australia. It’s one of the few places I haven’t visited. I want to understand Australian culture, history, politics. This is a learning experience for me.”
On the topic of Aboriginal and Palestinian comparisons, both men offered nuanced views. Baskin acknowledged the injustices inflicted upon indigenous Australians and said Israel could learn from Australia’s recognition of Aboriginal history. But he cautioned against drawing direct parallels.
“British colonialism in Australia is not the same as Zionism. Zionism is a return to an ancestral homeland. But we should still recognise the history of others and take responsibility for past wrongs.”
Sinjwali was less equivocal. “We Palestinians and Israelis both belong here. Maybe we spent 70 years fighting over who belongs more. It’s time to work on how we both equally belong.”
The conversation ended on a practical, urgent note: how to combat the rising tide of antisemitism in Australia and elsewhere, a trend both men attribute in part to conflation between criticism of Israel and hatred of Jews.
“We must draw a clear line,” said Baskin. “Antisemitism is always illegitimate. Criticism of Israel is legitimate — and necessary.”
Sinjwali echoed this sentiment. “We must fight all discrimination together — antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism of all kinds. Otherwise, we harm our cause.”
As we finished our discussion, I was struck by the stubborn determination that animates both of these men. Baskin and Sinjwali do not deny the darkness. They have seen it up close. But they also believe that even now — especially now — peace is possible.
“It’s time,” Sinjwali said, “for a peace of no choice. We Palestinians can’t survive 75 more years of conflict. And neither can the Israelis.”
This sentiment was echoed in comments made later by Michael Chaitow, Executive Director of the New Israel Fund Australia. “In the context of the ongoing Gaza war and assault on Israel's democracy by the current far-right wing government, it's critical we hear from leaders like Baskin and Sinjwali.
“Between them, these two experts have first-hand experience negotiating hostage releases and advocating for peace, even when their respective leaders have shown little interest. They demonstrate that a better future is possible when we work together. We know this is the message Australians want to hear in this critical moment and the tangible actions they are taking will no doubt bring hope to us all."
Negotiating Peace: How to salvage a two-state solution. link
- The Region and the World
- Chair of UK Oct. 7 report: ‘Denial started while the massacres were still ongoing’
Historian Andrew Roberts led a parliamentary commission aimed at gathering irrefutable proof of Hamas atrocities to ensure that in future decades ‘deniers’ can still be challengedWith its minute-by-minute timeline, copious testimony from survivors and eyewitnesses, and wealth of forensic evidence and open-source footage, the 316-page report produced by British parliamentarians last month detailing the terrible events of October 7, 2023, is a comprehensive and meticulous account of the Hamas onslaught on Israel.
That is unsurprising. The panel responsible for the “7 October Parliamentary Commission Report” was chaired by Andrew Roberts, a renowned historian, biographer and expert on warfare, from the Battle of Waterloo to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
It isn’t simply Roberts’s longstanding support for Israel that led him to agree to chair the commission, but his concern over continuing attempts to whitewash Hamas’s atrocities — an effort he compares to Holocaust denial.
“There’s a movement afoot on behalf of Hamas and its sympathizers to pretend that October 7 never happened,” he tells The Times of Israel. The report’s aim was to compile “a large amount of unimpeachable evidence to prove that it did.”
With an eye on history, Roberts also wanted to gather irrefutable proof to ensure that, in future decades, “the deniers” can still be challenged, even in the absence of living eyewitnesses.
Roberts, who is not Jewish, does not underestimate the scale of the challenge.
“It took decades for Holocaust denial to really get going,” he says, “but October 7 denial started while the actual massacres were still going [on].”
He recognizes that Hamas’s denial of its crimes contains multiple grim ironies. Pointing to the GoPro cameras worn by the terrorists as they perpetrated murder, torture and rape, he notes the group and its allies are “attempting to deny something that they themselves have provided the best evidence for.”
Roberts also believes that Hamas is trying to “have their cake and eat it.”
“They are trying to celebrate something they deny happened, and deny something that they’ve celebrated happening,” he says. “It’s unlike anything else, really. Speaking as a historian, you’ve got to come down on one side or the other about an occasion [or] a big historical event like October 7, and you’ve got to say that either it happened, and it was terrible, or that it didn’t happen.”
“You can’t have it both ways, and yet that’s what Hamas and its supporters in the West are trying to get,” he adds.
Depravity of human nature, filmed in real-time
Roberts, who sits as a Conservative member of the House of Lords, and fellow members of the panel — who include Labour and Liberal Democrat parliamentarians and a former UK chief prosecutor — visited Israel and the scenes of some of the October 7 attacks. Roberts says it was both the “breadth as well as the depth” of the assault that struck him — not just the murder of some 1,200 people and abduction of 251, but the “depravity of human nature that was seen, the sheer cruelty, the sexual violence and the humiliation.”
Roberts speaks of the “bloodlust” displayed by the assailants — they killed a 10-month-old baby and a Holocaust survivor in his 90s — as well as the “premeditation of the cruelty.”
Blood is seen splattered in a child’s room following a massive Hamas terror onslaught on October 7, 2023, in Kibbutz Nir Oz, October 19, 2023 (AP/Francisco Seco)Historically, he says, this is unusual. “Bloodlust happens a lot in history, but it’s very rare that it’s been set up so diligently and with such foresight — ‘malice aforethought’ as it used to be called,” he says.
The report of the 7 October Parliamentary commission, which was established by the All Party UK-Israel Parliamentary Group, isn’t an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. Roberts accepts that it has already been written off by some on social media as “Zionist propaganda” — the internet, he jokes, has become “the universal lavatory wall” — but he believes it cannot easily be “intellectually and rationally written off.”
The panel was careful to stick to verifiable facts, avoid speculation and focus simply on the events of October 7, he says.
“We were not attempting to do what other reports could do better, which is to look into the intelligence failures and everything else that happened in the background to it,” Roberts says.
The report argues that Hamas knew that “military victory was unlikely” and instead sought to trigger an Israeli retaliation, which would isolate the country internationally and spark global outrage. However, Roberts disputes the notion that, on these terms, Hamas has already emerged victorious.
Israeli soldiers at the forensic center in the Shura military base near Ramle, where hundreds of bodies arrived after the October 7 Hamas onslaught, October 24, 2023. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)“In terms of the propaganda war, I think they have won in that on these disgusting, ridiculous social media sites, like TikTok and Instagram, you’re getting… 10 times more anti-Israel propaganda than pro-Israeli facts and truth,” he acknowledges.
But, he continues, the war itself is not over and it won’t be possible to say either side has won until both sides have stopped fighting — a prospect that seems some way off. Indeed, quoting Winston Churchill’s famous words upon becoming UK prime minister in 1940, Roberts believes that Israel will eventually prevail, but it will take “a lot more blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
Checkered history of surprise attacks
Roberts’s belief that Hamas can be vanquished rests in part on the checkered history of surprise attacks. They may give the attacker a momentary advantage, but, with a “very few” exceptions — such as the 1967 Six Day War, when Israel launched a preemptive strike — they rarely lead to ultimate success. The Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Yom Kippur assault on Israel in October 1973, Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands in April 1982, and Saddam Hussein’s grab for Kuwait in August 1990 did not see the aggressor triumph.
While undertaking a surprise attack “seems like a good idea at the time… ultimately, it leads to a much worse situation for the people who launch [it],” believes Roberts. “If you launch a barbarous and vicious surprise attack, you shouldn’t be surprised about the response,” the historian says, noting the “holy rage and fury” that is stirred on the part of those who have been attacked.
The author of an acclaimed biography of Churchill, Roberts has previously compared Israel’s position to that of Britain in 1940.
“In that 12-month period from June 1940 to June 1941, Britain and her Commonwealth formed the tip of the spear against ‘the menace of tyranny,’ just as brave Israel today represents the tip of civilization’s spear against the tyranny and barbarism of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism and exterminationism,” he wrote in the Jewish Chronicle last October.
Roberts readily admits, however, that Britain, which had not yet been joined by the US and Russia but had strong backing from the Empire and Commonwealth, was less alone than Israel is today. With the exception of the US, he says, “it’s difficult to look around the world and see countries that are really four-square behind Israel in what is essentially a struggle between civilization and barbarism.”
He worries that people in the West “enjoy attacking ourselves… and berating ourselves” for “perfectly reasonable” responses to surprise attacks such as 9/11 or October 7. He contrasts the response to Pearl Harbor.
A handout photograph released by the UK Parliament shows Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, making a statement on the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the situation in the Middle East, in the House of Commons in London on October 7, 2024 (JESSICA TAYLOR / UK PARLIAMENT / AFP)“Nobody attacked FDR [who was US president at the outbreak of World War II], or, indeed at the time, [US] president Truman [under whose administration a nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki], for punishing the attack on Pearl Harbor as condignly as they did, whereas today, everybody seems to be leaping up and down, criticizing the West for punishing these equally horrific attacks,” Roberts says.
Nonetheless, Roberts is convinced that Churchill would have recognized and sympathized with Israel’s position today.
“He was a Zionist. He didn’t subscribe to [the] antisemitism that so many of the people of his age, class and background did. He was a supporter of the Balfour Declaration and believed that the ‘Judeo’ side of Judeo-Christian civilization… gave Christianity its ethics and its positive moral angle,” he says.
Roberts says that Churchill’s daughter had once warned him never to assume what the former prime minister would have said about any event after his death in 1965, but he is happy to wager an opinion.
“It strikes me as very clear that he would have been as outraged as any other decent, rational, logical human being about what had happened on October 7, and he would certainly have been in favor of a terrible punishment raining down on Hamas,” Roberts says. “He was a humanitarian and so he’d have wanted to have minimized the civilian casualties in Gaza, and I believe that the IDF have done that to the best of their ability.”
Perhaps, like Roberts, Churchill would also have seen a commonality between the enemy he defeated and that which Israel faces.
“The overlap between Hamas ideology and Nazi ideology is so well colored in on the Venn diagram,” Roberts says.
Of course, he adds, it is always “difficult and dangerous” to draw direct historical analogies. Hamas’s murderous rampage cannot be compared with the industrial-scale killing carried out by the Nazis, even if the former wore GoPro cameras and broadcast their “monstrous actions” on Facebook while the latter tried to cover up their crimes and destroy the gas chambers in 1945.
“The analogy between Hamas and the Nazis strikes me as completely obvious one,” Roberts says. “I think you’d have to be deliberately obtuse not to see the connections.”
The Hamas attacks of October 7 and the ensuing conflict have confirmed Roberts’s belief that launching a war is a “profoundly immoral” act.
“Wars are truly terrible things, which is why you shouldn’t start them,” he says, “and why you should fight them in as humanitarian a way as you can, which I think is what Israel has done.” link
- Trump says US ‘may very well’ lift sanctions on Syria, give them a ‘fresh start’
US President Donald Trump hails Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and thanks him for hosting direct talks between Russia and Ukraine on Thursday.
He tells reporters during a White House press conference that he may even fly to Turkey to join those talks. He is flying to Saudi Arabia later today, and will be in Qatar and the UAE on Thursday.
Trump says Erdogan and others have asked him to lift US sanctions on Syria.
“We have to make a decision on the sanctions, which we may very well relieve. We may take them off of Syria because we want to give them a fresh start,” Trump says.
Turkey is the largest foreign backer of the new Islamist regime in Syria led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the overthrow of dictator Bashar Assad.
Israel has cautioned the US against warming up to Erdogan and the new regime in Syria.
Israel normalization won’t be on table as Trump visits Saudis, sources sayAs US President Donald Trump makes his way to Riyadh, sources tell Reuters that both the Americans and Saudis will likely avoid the topic of normalization with Israel during talks, which are expected to focus on economic deals rather than diplomacy or statecraft.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said last week that he imminently expected progress on expanding the Abraham Accords, a set of deals brokered by Trump in his first term under which Arab states including the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco recognized Israel.
But opposition by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a permanent stop to the war in Gaza or to the creation of a Palestinian state makes progress on similar talks with Riyadh unlikely, sources tell Reuters.
Trump is expected to land at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport at 9:45 a.m. He is slated to hold meetings with Saudi leaders starting at noon, according to the White House.
Trump’s second and third stops – in Qatar on Wednesday and the UAE on Thursday – are similarly expected to focus on economic issues.
Personal Stories
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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