πŸŽ—️Lonny's War Update- October 675, 2023 - August 11, 2025 πŸŽ—️

 πŸŽ—️Day 675 that 50 of our hostages are still in Hamas captivityπŸŽ—️

    **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

    There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!
    ‎ΧΧ™ΧŸ Χ Χ¦Χ—Χ•ΧŸ Χ’Χ“ Χ©Χ›Χœ Χ”Χ—Χ˜Χ•Χ€Χ™Χ Χ‘Χ‘Χ™Χͺ

    For anyone who watched Netanyahu's press conference with the Foreign Press, you must Watch the CBC News interview with Dr. Gershon Baskin - Benjamin Netanyahu the ‘biggest liar’ in Israel: former hostage negotiator
    The Orwellian Press Conference of Netanyahu

    August 10, 2025

    Netanyahu gave a very long press conference today in Israel to the foreign media. He spent more time speaking and answering questions to the foreign media than he has done accumulatively in 22 months of the Gaza war to the people of Israel. There were simply too many lies to cover in a short article like this. But Netanyahu excelled in spewing the “war is peace” narrative - over and over again. Does anyone seriously believe that killing more people in Gaza and destroying the little that still stands will bring us peace? Did anyone really believe that the expanded military operation will rescue the 20 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of the other 30 bodies of hostages as he promises? For way more than a year Netanyahu has been telling us that we are a breath away from totally defeating Hamas. We only need to take the Shifaa hospital where Hamas is hiding underground. We only need to conquer Khan Yunis. Capturing Rafah will finish the war. The Philidephi corridor threatens Israel’s existence and we must control it. All more lies, lies and lies. Did anyone believe him?

    Why hasn’t Netanyahu given such an extensive and open press conference in Israel to the Israeli media – in Hebrew? Because he can’t tell all of his lies to the Israeli public because we know the truth. The overwhelming majority of the Israeli public does not want to expand the war, they want it to end. The Israeli public wants an agreement with Hamas that will bring the Israel hostages home, even at the cost of freeing Palestinian prisoners and even knowing that not every Hamas militant will be killed by Israel. The majority of Israelis understand that the ultimate victory over Hamas will be political when Gaza will be governed by a non-Hamas Palestinian technocratic government supported by an Arab-led temporary international security presence. Hamas will not govern. Hamas will not be a threat to Israel. Hamas was defeated months ago. Hamas will eventually be disarmed – but not by Israel. Hamas will never surrender to Israel. And as long as there are Israeli soldiers in Gaza, they will have the ability to kill them. Netanyahu’s plan is to continue the reality in which this war will never end.

    I want to address a couple of key issues that were brought up in the press conference.

    Most of the criticism against Israel is 100% legitimate and definitely called for. Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza and they have to end now. Some of the criticism against Israel is anti semitic. Anti-semitism is illegitimate at all times and in all places. There is no international witch-hunt against Israel today motivated by anti-semitism. The international criticism of Israel is justified by the outrageous and criminal actions of the State of Israel that have made Gaza - the home of 2.3 million people, uninhabitable. Israel has erased a civilization making 2 million people homeless, erasing almost all schools, all universities, all public buildings, libraries, mosques, churches, roads, water and electricity infrastructure. If anything, the international community has not done nearly enough to stop this war.

    In order to deflect criticism, Netanyahu recalls what the Christian world did to Jews throughout history eventually leading to the Holocaust. That is the tactic of Israel - to deflect all criticism by calling it anti-semitic and by recalling the memory of the Holocaust. Jewish history is full of prejudice and hatred against Jews.

    The State of Israel was created after the Holocaust to provide the Jewish people with a safe haven. But in reality, Israel has become the least safe place in the world for Jews. But it doesn’t have to be. What I have been saying since the very beginning of the war is that October 7 has to be a wake-up call for Israelis – we have to learn and to understand that you cannot occupy another people for almost six decades and expect to live in peace. You cannot lock up more than 2 million people in a small territory like Gaza with 80% poverty and expect to have calm and quiet. Israel did not give the Palestinian people the opportunity to create a prosperous Palestinian state in Gaza after Israel left Gaza in 2005 as Netanyahu claimed. Israel refused to coordinate or negotiate the future of Gaza with the Palestinian president who was elected in 2005 on a campaign against Palestinian terrorism and violence. Israel left Gaza and locked the gates to Gaza promising a future of despair and poverty. Israel gave Gaza to Hamas, and the frustrated, angry and foolish Palestinian public elected Hamas which re-branded itself as the Party of Change and Reform and claimed that they were responsible for kicking Israel out of Gaza. They were not responsible – the success of the Geneva Initiative – presented a few months before Ariel Sharon announced the disengagement from Gaza was what prodded Sharon to devise the unilateral disengagement from Gaza. Sharon was no less dedicated to preventing a Palestinian state than Netanyahu has been since 2009.

    Netanyahu doesn’t want us to see the reality of what Israel has done in Gaza. Yes, he announced after international abomination and real pressure against Israel because of preventing the international press from covering the war, Israel will now allow international media will to enter Gaza. What he didn’t say is that they will be embedded with the Israeli army. They will not be free to report on what Israel does not want them to see. But the truth will eventually come out – you cannot hide what Israel has done in Gaza forever.

    Netanyahu wants us all to forget that he is the Israeli leader who headed the Israeli government on the day when the most horrific attack in Israel’s history took place - the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. He wants us to forget that he holds primary responsibility for Israel not defending its border on October 7. We will not forget that Hamas has direct criminal responsibility for that attack and they have been paying the price for it since October 7 when they made the decision to launch a war of collective national suicide. But let is also not forget that it was Netanyahu that for years enabled Hamas to control and gain strength in Gaza, funded by many, including Qatar at the request of Netanyahu - for the only purpose of preventing a Palestinian state from being established next to Israel by ensuring that there was no Palestinian partner for peace. Israel, under Netanyahu systematically delegitimized the Palestinian Authority (which owns a lot of the responsibly as well) and ensured that Hamas would continue to rule Gaza. (Hamas is an asset and the Palestinian Authority is a liability – stated as clearly as can be said by Smootrich – the ideological compass of the present Israeli government).

    Netanyahu was right about one big thing – this war must end; the hostages must be brought home. I will add, Israel has to stop the killing and destruction in Gaza, the Israeli army has to be sent home to the border of Israel and Gaza. The Palestinian people need to ensure that monsters like Hamas will no longer be ruling over them.

    We all need a restart that will happen only after this war end. It will happen when Hamas, Netanyahu, and Abbas are no longer the directors of our fate. It will happen sooner than most people believe.  link




    Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements

    *


    Hostage Updates
      Until the last hostage


  • PM insists conquering Gaza City is only way to free all 50 hostages, living and dead I will not dignify anything that Netanyahu said in this press conference as it is full of more Netanyahu lies than any truth. To fully understand, read the top post that was penned by my brother.


  • Hostages Families Forum rails against Netanyahu for referring only to ‘20 hostages’ at press conference

    The Hostages Families Forum demands Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarify his comments last night and commit to bringing home all 50 hostages remaining in Gaza — including those declared dead by Israel.

    In response to a question at a press conference last night for local media on whether he would agree to a partial hostage release deal, Netanyahu did not answer directly, replying instead that he is “committed to… the release of all 20 of our hostages,” referencing only those believed by Israel to still be alive.

    “Assure the people of Israel that you are committed to returning everyone — the living and the dead,” the forum says in a statement.

    “The prime minister must clarify that he was wrong, and that his commitment is to all 50 hostages, alive and dead, to ensure the return of the living for rehabilitation and the dead for a proper and respectful burial.”

    Israel has declared 28 of the 50 hostages still in Gaza dead based on intelligence findings, some of whom were killed on October 7 and others who were slain in captivity, as well as the body of one IDF soldier being held since 2014. Authorities have expressed “grave concern” for the lives of two other hostages who have not been seen or heard from in close to two years of captivity.


  • Report: Hamas delegation set to visit Cairo, Doha, possibly signaling interest in restarting negotiations

    As Israel continues to prepare for its operation to take over Gaza City, Channel 12 reports that its negotiating teams may nevertheless return to indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar and Egypt.

    The news outlet reports that a delegation of Hamas officials based in Turkey is expected to depart for Cairo and Doha in the coming days, leading mediators to believe that ceasefire and hostage deal talks will be able to resume after they ground to a halt last month.

    The mediators expect that this time around, both sides will be able to compromise on their demands enough to reach an agreement that all parties find acceptable, it says.

    According to the report, the deputy head of the Shin Bet, identified only as “Mem,” told a recent security cabinet meeting that he believes Hamas is becoming more flexible in its demands, due to Israel’s successes in Operation “Gideon’s Chariots.”

    “Returning to negotiations is a likely scenario,” he is said to have told the cabinet.

    Channel 12 acknowledges, however, that some cabinet members believe Mem’s expectations are too high, and that Hamas is nowhere even close to being ready to return to the negotiating table.


  • High Court orders government to respond to petition demanding it explain hostage negotiation policies

    Mothers of Israeli hostages and their supporters take part in a demonstration calling for their release outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, July 31, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
    Mothers of Israeli hostages and their supporters take part in a demonstration calling for their release outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, July 31, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

    The High Court of Justice orders the government to respond to a petition demanding that it explain its policy regarding negotiations for the release of the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.

    The petition was filed by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and requests that the court order the government to explain its various considerations when weighing whether to accept a deal for obtaining the release of the hostages.

    “The principle essence of the petition is the demand that the government provide a detailed justification for its policy [on the issue of negotiations for the return of the hostages] so that it can stand up to the test of the public,” writes Judge Chaled Kabub.

    The judge therefore instructs the government to submit a response to the petition detailing how governmental discretion is exercised “in all matters relating to determining the conditions for ending the war and releasing the hostages.”

    Kabub gives the government until August 24 to file its response.  link It's very doubtful that the real truth will come out from this petition. All of those providing the responses will be spoon-fed the lies from Netanyahu and the Prime Minister's Office. But the real truths are known by so many especially anyone and everyone who has been part of the negotiating teams. I know the truth because it was given first hand to my brother by multiple members of the teams, who each time put it very plainly "Netanyahu doesn't want to end the war" and therefore, there was never a chance for making a deal to bring home all the hostages. Every single time that there were negotiations, Netanyahu, at the last minute would introduce a new 'critical' demand claiming that without achieving it, the country would be endangered. A few examples were controlling Rafah, then controlling the Philadelphi Corridor, then the Netzarim Corridor, then the Morag Corridor. What is most interesting is that each time he came with his last minute can't do without demand, the security establishment was totally surprised because the demand was never discussed with them and they never demanded any of them. Each time, he put in a demand that he knew that Hamas couldn't agree with, so just he could kill the negotiations. He and his people will make absolutely sure that none of that comes to light before a Supreme Court Judge.

  • After harrowing video, US-based family of hostage Rom Braslavski lobbying Trump to grant him US citizenship
    Anat Braslavski Ben-Menahem, left, Roye Ben-Menahem and Yael Braslavski, the aunt, cousin and grandmother of hostage Rom Braslavski on June 27, 2025 (Courtesy screengrab)

    • When the US-based family of hostage Rom Braslavski watched the recent Palestinian Islamic Jihad video of their grandson, nephew and cousin, lying on the floor in a Gaza tunnel, saying he is suffering and “at death’s door,” this was deeply painful, says Roye Ben-Menahem, Braslavski’s first cousin.

    Ben-Menahem’s mother, Anat Braslavski Ben-Menahem, is the only sibling of Braslavski’s father, Offir Braslavski. The Ben-Menahem family lives in California.
    “It was difficult to watch,” says Roye Ben-Menahem in a phone interview with The Times of Israel. “Seeing his distress and seeing him crying — Rom doesn’t do that. He’s very rowdy and in your face; seeing him reduced to this is so soul-crushing.”
    The family has turned their distress into their strength, says Ben-Menahem, describing their ongoing push to grant Rom Braslavski American citizenship.
    “We are hoping for that Trump card, for the American citizenship route,” he says. “To see that bear fruit could be the greatest gift so that Rom could get the same treatment as Edan Alexander” — a reference to an American-Israeli hostage who was released in May as a gesture to the United States.
    Ben-Menahem and his mother are sending letters to various officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, requesting that Braslavski be granted US citizenship based on the American status of his grandmother, aunt and cousin.
    Ben-Menahem says he is now seeing headlines that Trump is considering granting US citizenship to all remaining living 20 hostages.
    “We’re worried about Rom surviving,” says Ben-Menahem.  Link

     



  • Israel and Iran

  •  

    Gaza and the South

  • Netanyahu: Israel is nearing the ‘end of the campaign’ against Hamas in Gaza

    How many times have we heard Netanyahu's say this same lie in the last 2 years?

    Watch the CBC News interview with Dr. Gershon Baskin - Benjamin Netanyahu the ‘biggest liar’ in Israel: former hostage negotiator

    In a press conference with international journalists, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended his plan to take over Gaza City, claiming it’s the fastest way to end Israel’s military offensive in the Palestinian territory. But former hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin says Netanyahu would be the ‘only winner’ in that plan.

  • IDF: Air Force struck Hamas launch point used to fire two rockets at Israel earlier today

    An Israeli Air Force fighter jet bombed a Hamas rocket launching position in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, which was used to fire two rockets at Kibbutz Sa’ad earlier today, the military says.

    The site was struck within an hour of the rocket attack, according to the IDF.

    The two rockets struck open areas, without causing injury.


  • IDF says it foiled weapons smuggling attempt from Egypt using drone

    Weapons and a drone that were seized by IDF troops following an attempted smuggling on the Egyptian border, August 10, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
    Weapons and a drone that were seized by IDF troops following an attempted smuggling on the Egyptian border, August 10, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

    The IDF says it foiled another attempt to smuggle weapons into Israel from Egypt using a drone today.

    The drone had been identified crossing the border from Egypt into Israel before it was downed.

    Troops located the drone, which was found to be ferrying 10 rifles, the military says, adding that the contraband and drone were handed over to the police.

    In the past year, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Egyptian border using drones. There have also been attempts to smuggle similar contraband from Israel into Gaza using drones.


  • Gaza’s Hamas-run authorities claim 37 killed by IDF fire Saturday, mostly aid seekers

    Displaced Palestinians carry food parcels as they raid trucks carrying humanitarian aid in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip on August 9, 2025. (AFP

    Two nephews of senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said killed by Israeli shelling in Gaza City; IDF says 106 tons of humanitarian aid airdropped into Gaza

    Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency said at least 37 people were killed by Israeli fire on Saturday, including 30 civilians who were waiting to collect aid.


    Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 12 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded when Israeli forces allegedly opened fire on them as they gathered near a border crossing in northern Gaza that has been used for aid deliveries.


    Six more people were killed and 30 wounded after Israeli troops targeted civilians assembling near an aid point in central Gaza, he asserted.


    Strikes in central Gaza also resulted in multiple casualties, according to Bassal, while a drone attack near the southern city of Khan Younis killed at least three people and wounded several others.


    Elsewhere, two nephews of senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza City, the Hamas mouthpiece al-Risala reported.

    According to the report, Abd al-Salam al-Hayya and Mu’az Abd al-Salam al-Hayya were cutting firewood in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shejaiya when they were killed by Israeli shelling.


    Hayya leads Hamas’ negotiating team and is based in Doha.

    Palestinians hustle around a humanitarian parcel dropped by a military aircraft in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on August 9, 2025. (Bashar Taleb/AFP)

    Thousands of Palestinians congregate daily near food distribution points in Gaza, including four managed by the controversial  US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been plagued by near-daily shooting incidents that have seen hundreds killed as they try to reach the GHF distribution centers.


    The United Nations says more than 1,300 people have been killed trying to obtain aid supplies in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites.


    The IDF has acknowledged firing warning shots at crowds that get too close to its soldiers, but called the UN tallies exaggerated, though it hasn’t provided alternate numbers.


    The deadly incidents are not limited to GHF sites, and last week 20 people were said killed and dozens more were injured when a truck carrying goods and aid into the Strip overturned in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza.


    In recent weeks, images of starving Palestinians, particularly children, have alarmed the world, ramping up international pressure on Israel to enable more aid into the coastal enclave, where war has been raging since the devastating Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.


    Palestinians collect humanitarian aid packages from the United Arab Emirates after they were airdropped into Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza Strip, August 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

    Among the steps that Israel agreed to take to improve the humanitarian situation in the Strip was the resumption of airdrops into the Palestinian enclave.


    While the decision was welcomed abroad as a step in the right direction, airdrops are only able to deliver a small fraction of what can enter Gaza by land, and pose safety risks for civilians due to the possibility of being hit by packages from above.  Link



  • UN slams Israeli killing of Al Jazeera journalist as ‘grave breach’ of international law

    Al Jazeera presenter Anas al-Sharif reports in a broadcast segment posted to X on August 8, 2025. (Screenshot: X)
    Al Jazeera presenter Anas al-Sharif reports in a broadcast segment posted to X on August 8, 2025. (Screenshot: X)

    The UN human rights agency condemns Israel’s targeted killing of six journalists in Gaza as a “grave breach of international humanitarian law.”

    “Israel must respect and protect all civilians, including journalists,” the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk writes on X.

    The IDF has published documents it says show that Anas al-Sharif, who was killed in the strike, was a “terrorist operating under the guise of a journalist.”


    Media groups speak out after Israeli strike on Gaza journalists

    The Foreign Press Association, which represents international journalists stationed in Israel and the Palestinian territories, says it is “outraged” by Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza in a targeted strike overnight.

    “These colleagues were carrying out their duty as journalists and reporting on events as they occurred,” the FPA says in a statement. “The Israeli military has repeatedly labelled Palestinian journalists as militants, often without verifiable evidence, turning them into targets.”

    The IDF has published documents it says show that al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif, who was killed in the strike, was a “terrorist operating under the guise of a journalist.” A second journalist and three videographers were also killed in the strike, according to the Qatari network.

    The FPA also criticizes the Israeli government for slinging accusations of bias at foreign reporters and says it has “vilified foreign press reporting,” while barring independent access to Gaza.

    “We call on Israel to cease its attacks on journalists in Gaza and allow journalists to enter and report freely,” the statement reads.

    Media advocacy group the Committee to Protect Journalists says Israel is guilty of war crimes if it targets journalists.

    “Journalists are civilians. They must never be targeted in war. And to do so is a war crime,” Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of the Committee to Protect Journalists, tells AFP.

    UK’s Starmer ‘gravely concerned’ about targeting of journalists in Gaza


    Northern Israel, Lebanon and Syria

  • Jordan to host US, Syrian officials on Tuesday to discuss rebuilding Syria

    Jordan is to host a meeting with US and Syrian officials on Tuesday to discuss supporting the rebuilding of Syria after more than a decade of civil war and the ouster of former leader Bashar al-Assad by an Islamist-led rebellion in December.

    Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shibani and US envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack will attend, Jordan’s foreign ministry says in a statement.

    On Wednesday, Damascus signed 12 agreements worth $14 billion, including a $4 billion agreement with Qatar’s UCC Holding to build a new airport and a $2 billion deal to establish a subway in the Syrian capital with the United Arab Emirates’ national investment corporation.


  • Israeli troops arrested arms dealer in southern Syria, says IDF

    IDF troops operate in southern Syria in a photo cleared for publication on August 11, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

    The Israel Defense Forces says troops arrested an arms dealer overnight in the southern Syrian village of Trinjeh, inside the Syrian buffer zone.

    The raid was conducted by the 226th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade, with support from field investigators in Military Intelligence’s Unit 504. The arrest followed intelligence leads and prior surveillance, the military says. Weapons discovered in the area were seized, and the suspect was taken in for questioning.

    According to the IDF, forces remain deployed in the sector to block the entrenchment of terrorist elements in Syria and safeguard residents of Israel, particularly in the Golan Heights.



    West Bank, Jerusalem, Israel and Terror Attacks

  • Palestinian killed in clash with settler filmed his own final moments, new footage shows

    Awdah Hathaleen (right) in Umm al-Khair. (Courtesy)

    The B’Tselem human rights organization has released new footage of the death of Awdah Hathaleen, a resident of Umm al-Kheir in the southern West Bank, who was killed about two weeks ago in his village in the South Hebron Hills during a clash with a settler.

    The footage was filmed by Hathaleen himself, moments before his death.

    It shows Yinon Levy, the extremist settler who was briefly arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide, confronting Palestinians.

    After several people positioned between Levy and Hathaleen are seen throwing stones, Levy fires in the direction where Hathaleen is located.

    The recording then cuts off.  video

    Levy was arrested by police after the incident, but was released to house arrest, which ended about a week and a half ago.

    Last Monday, he returned to overseeing construction work on a new neighborhood in the Carmel settlement, adjacent to the village of Umm al-Kheir.  link OMG, I watched the shocking video. It is so clear cut that the settler terrorist killed Hathaleen in cold blood. He was not threatened as he is sure to claim, he was not defending himself. He was the instigator, the provocateur. It will be interesting, and hopefully not disheartening the see how the courty will action and apply the proper judgement to ghis Settler Terrorist.
    No judge in his/her right mind could dismiss this video or release the settler terrorist to house arrest, or even worse, reduce the charges or eliminate charges altother



I will not dignify anything that Netanyahu said in this press conference as it is full of more Netanyahu lies than any truth. To fully understand, read the top post that was penned by my brother.

 

  • Coalition of mothers march to memorial for slain female soldiers with demand to end war

    • A coalition of mothers marches leads a march to a site near the Gaza border memorializing female soldiers killed at Kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023, to launch a new movement aimed at stopping the war in Gaza and returning the remaining 50 hostages.

      The women will camp for at least five days next to Kibbutz Sa’ad in southern Israel.

      On the night between Thursday and Friday, Israel’s war in Gaza took a new turn, when the security cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take over the densely populated Gaza City.

      The decision came in spite of warnings from the IDF that such an operation would risk the lives of the remaining hostages and Israeli soldiers, and would likely worsen the humanitarian situation for Gazan civilians.

      Omer Steinmetz Haskel, from the women’s group, Building an Alternative, says the movement is inspired by the “Four Mothers” campaign launched in 1997 to bring the IDF out of southern Lebanon — something the Israeli leadership finally ordered in May 2000, with the Four Mothers earning much of the credit.

      Orna Shimoni, one of the original Four Mothers, addresses Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, suggesting that he present the prime minister with additional alternatives that do not involve occupation.

      Israel has already proposed a hostage deal, she says, which can be used to end the war. “We are one step away from a clearly illegal order that must not be carried out,” she states.

      Steinitz Haskel says that the memorial for the fallen female soldiers marks not only the place where blood was shed, but where a line was also broken “between Israel and Gaza, between responsibility and lawlessness, between human life and moral loss.”

      She continues, “On October 7, Israel entered the most just war there is. Our army fought bravely. It scored great military achievements. But almost two years have passed, and these achievements have not been translated into any diplomatic reality.”

      “Instead of using this military power to bring about an agreement that will return the kidnapped and end the war, this government insists on continuing a political war.”

      She charges that the government has chosen ” the ideology of eternal war and the death of soldiers over human lives.”

      “We will be here until our leaders choose life, not death,” she pledges. “And we will remember, as the four mothers remembered then, that there is no victory without life, and no security without freedom. This struggle will not end until the last of the kidnapped men and women return home, alive.”

      Sigal Price, whose daughter, Staff Sgt. Noa Price was killed on October 7, when Hamas terrorists overran the Nahal Oz military outpost, also addresses the crowd.

      “Here at the memorial we erected in their memory, I, Sigal, mother of Noa Price, would like to express the pain of all the bereaved families, call for the return of the kidnapped and an end to the war, and pray for the safety of the regular and reserve soldiers who have been fighting bravely and with sacrifice for almost two years, and for the recovery of all those wounded in body and mind,” she says.

  • IDF officials say unclear how many troops needed for Gaza City op but reservists to be called up

    IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip, in an image published on July 14, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
    IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip, in an image published on July 14, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

    The IDF is still examining how many troops it will need for the planned offensive against Hamas in Gaza City, according to military officials.

    Military officials say it may take at least another week to complete the general outline of the plans, and from there, the IDF will know how many troops are required and for how long.

    Regardless, reservists will need to be drafted for the offensive itself and/or in order to swap out standing army forces on other fronts, the officials say.  link All of the talk is about 250,000 reservists to be called to Gaza. A great many of them will be deployed after serving hundreds of days of reserves in the last 22 months and there is no understanding of when this reserve call up will end or with how many casualties.
    This war must end and the hostages brought home, the soldiers to leave Gaza and the reservist to go back to their lives and try to repair the damage that hundreds of days of reserves has done to their personal lives, their work or their bussinees.

  • AG to PM: Delaying state inquiry into October 7 is harming investigation

    Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on April 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
    Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on April 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

    Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the government’s ongoing delay in establishing a mechanism to investigate the failures leading up to the October 7 Hamas invasion and atrocities is harming the ability of any future investigation to uncover what went wrong.

    The government has steadfastly refused to establish a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 disaster, initially claiming such an investigation could not be conducted during a war, and then arguing that a state commission, which would be led by a senior judge, would be politically biased against it.

    The government has said in response to petitions to the High Court that it is examining alternatives to a state commission, but has yet to decide what form such an investigation would take.

    “By default, refraining from making a decision changes the reality on the ground in an irreversible manner, and harms a future investigation and the possibility of arriving at the truth,” Baharav-Miara tells Netanyahu in a letter.

    “The substantive amount of time [which has passed since October 7] leads naturally to evidentiary damage and injury to the effectiveness of any investigation that will take place, including harm to testimony that will be given.”

    The attorney general also asserts that a state commission of inquiry — which by law has the power to summon witnesses, compel them to answer questions, and compel state agencies to provide the investigative materials it seeks — is the best mechanism for investigating the events surrounding the October 7 attacks.

    The High Court ordered the government in December 2024 to hold a hearing on how it would investigate the October 7 catastrophe, which it did. The government has subsequently requested and received two extensions for answering how it will do so.

    Today is the court’s deadline to the government to provide it with its latest update on the matter.  link. The last thing that Netanyahu wants is for the establishment of a State Committe of Inquiry into October 7 and the war. It has nothing to do with the false and diversionary claims that he and his cronies have stated since the beginning of the war. He is deathly afraid of the results of all the findings because he knows what we all know that he, Netanyahu had direct responsibility for all that happened on October 7 but has rejected taking any responsibility whatsoever. He has tried to pin all blame on the security organizations and claims that he wasn't given any of the information that could have prevented a war and the massacre of October 7. The truths are vastly different. For years, Under his nose, and with his encouragement, Hamas was funded and built all of its infrastructure and weapons, as well as their training. He was convinced that the only danger to Israel was Iran and allowed the security organizations to pretty much abandon Gaza and the Gaza Envelope communities. There are so many more factors that will go into it as well as the terrible mishandling of the war. He knows that this commission will have many powers including either the ability to bring charges or recommend the bringing of criminal charges. When everything comes out, that can and probably will mean that he will be charged with  high crimes that will mean prison time.
    No matter how much he doesn't want this commission, no matter what he does to try to prevent it from happening, we the people of Israel will not allow him to get away with it. We will not forget and we will not forgive. The commission will happen and it will find those responsible, as well as make hard recommendations for changes to avoid another October 7 in the future.

  • Opposition pans Netanyahu as a ‘failed prime minister’ who ‘lies with brazen audacity’

    After press conference in which PM said Gaza City takeover is aimed at toppling Hamas and ending the war fast, Golan calls claims ‘ridiculous,’ Lapid says plan will cause disaster

    The Knesset opposition slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following a pair of rare back-to-back press conferences on Sunday evening, accusing him of lying to the nation and placing his own political interests above those of the public.

    “It was a horror show by a failed prime minister who replaced reality with a presentation,” declared Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, arguing that the outcome of Netanyahu’s policies in Gaza would be that “the hostages will die, soldiers will die, the economy will fall apart and our international standing will collapse.”

    “Netanyahu has no majority in the Knesset, and he has no majority among the people,” Lapid stated. “He heads an illegitimate minority government, and he is unable to even manage it. This government cannot [be allowed to] drag us into the occupation of Gaza.”

    Days after his cabinet approved a new major offensive in Gaza City to root out Hamas forces there, the premier denied that Israel intends to occupy Gaza, saying his intention was to swiftly end the war rather than prolong it. He described how a future “civilian administration” would be established in the Strip to govern Palestinians in a manner that does not threaten Israel, while avoiding saying who would take part in it.

    As security forces and hostages’ families decried the Gaza City plan as potentially endangering the hostages’ lives, Netanyahu argued that an Israeli takeover of Gaza would in fact enable the return of the living hostages.

    Netanyahu also claimed that he was working to recruit the ultra-Orthodox community into the IDF, rejecting claims that he is deliberately delaying this process to gain political support from the Haredi parties.

    He appeared to blame the delay in passing a law regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment on former Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, whom he said had tried “every way to prolong committee meetings again and again so that there would be no legislation.”

    “Now we have moved to a process where there will be legislation, there will be a law, and there will be enlistment,” he asserted.

    Last month, the Haredi United Torah Judaism party quit the coalition, after being presented with a copy of a proposed enlistment bill prepared by Edelstein which, it argued, had violated the terms of a supposed compromise reached in June. They were quickly followed by Shas, which, while quitting the government, has remained part of the coalition. Netanyahu’s Likud then ousted Edelstein, replacing him with MK Boaz Bismuth, who is expected to seek an arrangement that will satisfy Haredi parties.

    “The one who just fired the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to pass an evasion law cannot tell our fighters that they must go and be killed in Gaza,” argued Lapid in his statement, calling Netanyahu’s defense policies “a danger to the State of Israel and its security.”

    “Instead, a deal needs to be made, all the hostages returned, the war ended, and Egypt brought in to run Gaza over the coming years,” he argued.

    Other opposition party heads condemned Netanyahu’s remarks as well.

    “After 22 months of war, after promising that ‘we are one step away from total victory,’ after 674 days of our hostages languishing in captivity, Netanyahu tonight declared: ‘I have instructed the IDF to defeat Hamas.’ Ridiculous. As if until today, IDF soldiers were touring in Gaza,” tweeted The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan.

    “What we saw tonight is not ‘one step from victory,’ but the most severe security failure in Israel’s history,” he wrote.

    Netanyahu “continues to lie with brazen audacity” and is sacrificing the hostages “on the altar of preserving the coalition just as he sacrifices the regular service and reserve soldiers” in order to placate the Haredi parties, declared Yisrael Beytenu party chairman Avigdor Liberman.

    “Too many words, too few actions — too much time,” added Blue and White-National Unity chairman Benny Gantz.

    ‘Like a knife in the heart’

    Netanyahu’s comments also sparked a spat between former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, after Netanyahu was asked about Deri’s recent remark urging yeshiva students not to even think about abandoning their studies to enlist in the army and contribute militarily to the current war in Gaza.

    “I didn’t hear it, but he told me he denied these words. I don’t know. I didn’t see it and they told me he didn’t say it,” Netanyahu stated, prompting Bennett to tweet a video of Deri’s comments along with the assertion that somebody who “calls for draft refusal cannot send soldiers to battle.”

    Deri’s words “are like a knife in the heart,” Bennett stated.

    In remarks made late last month at the Shaar HaMelech yeshiva in Jerusalem and aired by the i24News network last week, Deri could be heard discouraging the students from enlisting, stating: “God forbid it should occur to anyone here in a moment of weakness that maybe at a time like this when the people of Israel are in a state of war… that anybody should, God forbid, perhaps think… maybe we really need to do something different, maybe we need to contribute. God forbid.”

    Rather than respond to the substance of Bennett’s accusation, Shas attacked the former premier — who rose to power in 2021 by joining the anti-Netanyahu bloc despite declaring days earlier, shortly before Knesset elections, that he would only join a Netanyahu-led government — as a “swindler” who “stuck a knife in the heart” of the voters when he took “the votes of the right and transferred them to the left.”  Link


  • Israel’s march of folly in Gaza: Leadership failures endanger war goals 

    Opinion: Gaza strategy is marked by flawed decisions and missed lessons, risking the war’s key objectives; government’s half-measures and reluctance to fully govern enclave threaten to prolong conflict and erode global standing and internal unity


    On paper, the government’s objectives for Gaza seem broadly agreeable: dismantle Hamas’ military capabilities, demilitarize the region, establish Israeli security control, install a new governing authority and, above all, secure the release of hostages.
    Yet, as with most government decisions since the war began, a yawning gap separates these seemingly strategic resolutions from reality. This disconnect fuels global skepticism about Israel’s judgment, eroding trust in its leadership.

    Every aspect of the plan raises serious questions about its feasibility. How exactly will nearly a million Palestinians be evacuated from Gaza City, and what happens if some refuse to leave? Has the government not realized that decisively defeating Hamas and freeing hostages may be mutually exclusive goals?
    Who is the vague entity supposed to govern Gaza? And why expand the failed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is likely to falter further under an increased workload? The government’s decision is merely the latest chapter in a series of fantasies that are proposed, fail, go unexamined and perpetuate the same flawed assumptions.

    Instead of a full takeover of Gaza, the government opted for a halfway measure: seizing and emptying Gaza City. This reflects a harmful tendency to choose compromise over decisive action, as seen in past reliance on raids instead of territorial control or the creation of the GHF as an indirect means to topple Hamas.
    Deep down, most of the government seems reluctant to govern two million Palestinians, thus prolonging the war through indecision. “The world must unite to stop this oppression,” the rhetoric goes, but half-measures only extend the fighting.
    Even before implementation, the plan is exacting a heavy toll on Israel, accelerating a global backlash expected to peak in a month with widespread recognition of a Palestinian state. Beyond international criticism, troubling signs include Germany—a steadfast ally—refusing to sell Israel weapons that could be used in Gaza.
    Israel seems unwilling to acknowledge that the sympathy and credibility it gained after the October 7 massacre are fading. The world no longer accepts its actions and doubts the government has clear objectives beyond perpetuating the war.

    Netanyahu stands out among Israel’s prime ministers, who, since the state’s founding, have grappled with Gaza’s dilemma: a desire to control the territory but a reluctance to manage its largely refugee population, what Levi Eshkol called “a problematic bride accompanying the dowry of the Land of Israel.”

    After much deliberation, leaders like Rabin, Sharon, Ben-Gurion, Olmert and even Netanyahu himself in 2014’s Operation Protective Edge chose to withdrawal or avoided occupation. During that operation, a leaked IDF presentation, likely aimed at pressuring against a takeover.
    Those in Israel advocating for conquest, dismissing ceasefires as “reckless,” fail to honestly explain the costs: abandoning hostage releases, prolonged entanglement in Gaza’s quagmire, unprecedented strain on reservists and deepening global isolation.
    They also avoid reflecting on the flaw of a leadership responsible for October 7—a possible minority—imposing a drastic move that could reshape Israeli life and the nation’s image. Some mask ideological motives for takeover with arguments about strategy and security, perhaps to make the idea more palatable or because messianic slogans lack broad public support.
    Χ˜Χ Χ§Χ™Χ Χ™Χ©Χ¨ΧΧœΧ™Χ™Χ Χ‘Χ¨Χ¦Χ•Χ’Χͺ Χ’Χ–Χ”
    IDF forces in Gaza (Photo: Amir Levy/Getty Images)
    This takeover decision reinforces the sense that Israel is steadily losing the war’s impressive gains while accumulating severe strategic damage, particularly a sharp decline in its global standing and growing internal divisions over the war’s purpose.
    History rarely sees such a confident march toward disaster, despite countless warning signs and opportunities to pause. If historian Barbara Tuchman were alive, she would likely dedicate a chapter—or an entire book—to Israel’s folly in Gaza.
    Dr. Michael Milshtein is an expert on the Palestinian Arena and the Head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel-Aviv University.

  • Gaza fault line: Netanyahu's plan threatens to rip Israel apart 
    article worth reading

  • Smotrich says he won’t quit coalition, will attempt to ‘change course’ of government
    Of course, he won't quit the coalition. Smotrich is a chicken shit who threatens but never has any intention to fulfill his threats. He knows that if he brings down the government and new elections will follow, the chances that he will succeed to enter the Knesset, let alone the government in new elections are close to nil. In every poll since the beginning of the war, except for one, he and his party don't reach the election threshold for making it into the Knesset (The threshold is 4% of the votes). In this extremist messianic government, he has more power and more budgets to fulfil his messianic dreams than he will ever see again. He, Ben Gvir and Netanyahu are the triumvirate who make up the most dangerous and damaging government in Israel's history. Smotrich is the most unqualified Finance Ministry ever and has caused the most damage to our economy than anyone ever. For the first time in our history, our credit rating was lowered, not once but 3 times during the war and it doesn't even phase this so-called Finance Minister. He has given more money and resources to illegal West Bank settlements than ever and together with Ben Gvir, have spurred the exponential increase of settler terrorism against Palestinians all with the same end goal: to make the lives of the Palestinians so bad that they want to leave or are forced to leave their homes and lands so the settlers can steal more of the Palestinian lands to set up more Jewish settlements. These two, Ben Gvir and Smotrich, are the extremist tails wagging Netanyahu's dog with their threats to leave the government and Netanyahu's insatiable need to stay in power have led us to an unending war that is destroying our country and killing the hostages and soldiers.


  • The Region and the World

  • Merz: Germany’s support for Israel hasn’t changed, but we cannot support Gaza City takeover

    Germany’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel comes in response to Israel’s plan to expand its operations in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz says an interview with public broadcaster ARD.

    “We cannot deliver weapons into a conflict that is now being pursued exclusively by military means,” Merz says. “We want to help diplomatically, and we are doing so.”

    The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s plans to expand military control over the enclave have pushed Germany to take this historically fraught step.

    The chancellor says in the interview that the expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza could claim hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and would require the evacuation of the entirety of Gaza City.

    “Where are these people supposed to go?” Merz sats. “We can’t do that, we won’t do that, and I will not do that.”

    Nevertheless, the principles of Germany’s Israel policy remain unchanged, the chancellor insists.

    “Germany has stood firmly by Israel’s side for 80 years. That will not change,” Merz says.  link Netanyahu will continue to say that anything the foreign governments say and do against his horrendous plan to occupy Gaza as rewarding Hamas and/or antisemitic. It is neither. Most of the government and the people who oppose Netanyahu's plans and continuing this awful war are not against Jews or the State of Israel. They/we are against Netanyahu's war of political survival which is killing the hostages, killing and maiming soldiers, killing massive amounts of Gazans. We are against him, his megalomaniac narcissism and total disregard for the lives of others. We are against his war crimes and dragging us all into the gutter of international war crimes with him. We are in favor of: getting our hostages home immediately, ending this god awful war, starting to deal with our national trauma and being the healing process, the setting up of a State Commission of Inquiry to investigate everything that brought us October 7 and the mishandling of just about everything since then, and of new elections to get rid of the most damaging, most dangerous, most self interested and corrupt government in our history. None of this is Anti Israel or Antisemitic and no one should allow Netanyahu's lies to tell us anything different.


  • Italy’s defense minister says Israel has ‘lost humanity’ on Gaza, weighs sanctions

    Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, December 14, 2023. (David Mareuil/Pool Photo via AP)
    Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, December 14, 2023. (David Mareuil/Pool Photo via AP)

    Italy’s defense minister says in an interview published today that Israel’s government has “lost reason and humanity” over Gaza and signaled an openness to potential sanctions.

    “What is happening is unacceptable. We are not facing a military operation with collateral damage, but the pure denial of the law and the founding values of our civilization,” Defense Minister Guido Crosetto tells La Stampa daily. “We are committed to humanitarian aid, but we must now find a way to force Netanyahu to think clearly, beyond condemnation.”

    Asked about possible international sanctions against Israel, Crosetto says that “the occupation of Gaza and some serious acts in the West Bank mark a qualitative leap, in the face of which decisions must be made that force Netanyahu to think.”

    “And it wouldn’t be a move against Israel, but a way to save that people from a government which has lost reason and humanity,” he continues. “We must always distinguish governments from states and peoples, as well as from the religions they profess. This applies for Netanyahu, and it applies to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, whose methods, by now, have become dangerously similar.”

    Italy has declined to join other nations in saying it would recognize a Palestinian state — a decision Crosetto defends, saying that “recognizing a state that doesn’t exist risks turning into nothing but a political provocation in a world dying of provocations.” link And the dominoes keep falling. Netanyahu, through his insatiable narcissistic need to keep his power, continues to alienate the entire world and turn our allies into our enemies. This, from the man who sees the greeting processions when meeting world leaders as signs of his 'excellency' and 'king-ship', and has publicized his meetings with these leaders in all of his election ads throughout the years, has turned every one of them into his biggest critics and making Israel a pariah nation. Yet, none of this seems to matter to him as long as he has the favor and backing of Trump, his seeming savior. Due to the power of the US Presidency, he sees that single support as the only one he needs at this time, at least domestically and while he is a non-stop war for his political survival and every cost is legitimate in his eyes, he can ignore everyone else. Trump is the one person he cannot say no to and we have seen this power over Netanyahu on 3 separate occasions. The first was the last hostage deal that Netanyahu refused to make. Trump pushed it and magically a hostage deal was made. Netanyahu, however breached it before it reached the second phase that would have brought all the hostages home and ended the war. He was able to 'justify' it to Trump who bought Netanyahu's lies. The second instance of Trump's power over him was the day the ceasefire with Iran began and Iran immediately breached it with a missile attack. Netanyahu chose to retaliate in a major attack of 54 fighter jets who were going to bomb significant positions in Iran. Trump called him and told him in no uncertain terms to call it off, which he did. Instead, one fighter jet bombed a minor Iranian radar position as a symbolic message. The third and most current instance was following Trump's seeing the starvation in Gaza due to the limited humanitarian aid reaching the refugees. Trump publicly demanded an end to the aid crisis and magically, without going to his cabinet, Netanyahu ordered a major change in the aid going into Gaza. All of a sudden, more trucks were entering, many more countries were actively enlisted by Netanyahu to airlift aid and Trump was happy. This last instance of Trump's power over Netanyahu also emphasized Netanyahu's autocratic rule. He does whatever he wants without any cabinet discussion or approval and no one says anything. The only occasions he brings things to the cabinet is when he wants a negative decision to make the excuse to Trump and the world that his government is against the action that he doesn't want to take, or when his coalition is threatened by his extremist partners and he needs to work out a compromise to keep them in his government and still do what he wants to do.
    The bottom line is that the only one who has the power over Netanyahu is Trump. He disregards everyone else. Therefore, we pin our hopes on Trump to force him to end the war and bring the hostages home. The problem here, however, as we have seem multiple times is that even when Trump has stated that he wants the war to end, Netanyahu every time has succeeded in convincing Trump to let him do things his way, which means stretching things out for his political needs and sacrificing both the hostages and the soldiers on his alter of power. Only when Trump will get frustrated enough and angry enough with Netanyahu, then maybe he will put his foot down and not allow Netanyahu to manipulate him.



    Personal Stories

    • "To sleep is my biggest nightmare": the lives of Mia and Itay Regev after the captivity
      The body is here, the head in Gaza: the siblings Mia and Itay Regev, who survived the captivity, are trying to return to their previous lives, before Gaza, but they are not really succeeding. Outwardly they project that everything is fine, but at night the nightmares come. In the week in which the shocking videos of Rom and Evyatar were revealed, they speak about the memories of the kidnappers and about the support group they established with other captivity survivors in their new podcast.
      A year and 8 months after being released from Hamas captivity, Mia and Itay Regev are trying to return. Not to the life from before, but to a kind of routine that can exist after having been in hell – and returned. "I do yoga twice a week. I feel that it is my moment to leave everything I went through in the day, everything I went through in the week, outside this room, and to focus on my breathing, on my movements, on my muscles," says Mia. "It is my free place to take out all the aggressions, all my anger, the adrenaline is crazy, madness, frenzy. If I store up all week, this is my place to come and release," says Itay, who trains in boxing.
      We accompanied the two siblings in the new routine that they are trying to adapt for themselves. "I pretty much discovered yoga in Sheba, I was hospitalized there for 10 months. And between treatments, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, I decided, 'Come on, I am going to try'," says Mia. "While I still had the rods on my leg and I could not completely walk, and I suddenly felt that it was doing me really good. I am improving, I am getting stronger." Itay says: "In Gaza I knew that I wanted to box. And I always told myself that the moment I return, I want to be the best version of myself."
      Do you really manage not to think during the training?
      Mia: "I will lie if I say yes. Of course thoughts come. Always."
      What goes through your head?
      Mia: "The hostages, mainly the video of Evyatar. How can I be at peace? How can any of us be at peace?"
      Itay Regev boxing (Photo: Channel 12 News)
      "Imagining the Hamas terrorists, all their heads flying in front of my face." Itay Regev in boxing training | Photo: Channel 12 News
      Whom do you imagine when you box?
      Itay: "Honestly I do not imagine anyone. But if I would want to imagine someone from the face, it is all the Hamas terrorists. All the Hamas terrorists, all their heads flying in front of my face."
      "Suddenly there are 60-70 thousand in the square, why not every Saturday?"
      More than 50 days they were held in Gaza. Mia was returned first, four days later Itay was also released. In a certain sense, they are both still there.
      How present is the experience of your captivity in your daily life?
      Mia: "For me, going to sleep is my biggest nightmare. If I even fall asleep, it is to say thank you. It is simply, everything. You suddenly are in perfect silence, and in darkness and you are with yourself. So what is the first thing that pops into the head? Many things. So you start running through them."
      Thousands in protest in Hostages Square
      Itay: "I try not to look at things as 'hard', because I went through the hardest. I think I look at life differently. If it is to appreciate the small things, that I can open the refrigerator whenever I want. I can... I can reach satiety. I did not reach satiety for a month. A month I ate, and I finish eating and I stay hungry. It is a terrible feeling. And to reach satiety, you suddenly appreciate it, and it seems to everyone obvious. The hostages who are there now do not reach satiety for whole months, and it drives me crazy."
      This week the difficult videos of Rom and Evyatar were published. What did it do to you to see them?
      Mia and Itay: "Anger, pain. Everything."
      Mia: "Also what it dragged after it. Suddenly you have 70-60 thousand people in the square, and why is it not like this every Saturday? All the hostages who returned spoke about the hunger, spoke about the abuse, spoke about the thirst, about the difficulty, about the fear to die every moment. And we still continue to speak about it. We are not talking nonsense, we say it because we were there, because we know. And this is only proof, and one must simply every time, every day, think how today I do something for the hostages."
      "I sat at home and felt that I am not doing enough"
      In the months that have passed since they returned, alongside the physical and emotional rehabilitation, they devoted much time to advocacy and to trying to keep the subject of the return of the hostages on the agenda – in the country and in the world. They took part in delegations, appeared in Knesset committees and spoke at rallies. But at a certain stage they understood that they need not only to speak, but also to listen.
      Itay Regev (Photo: Channel 12 News)
      "Today I look at life differently." Itay Regev | Photo: Channel 12 News
      And so the idea was born for their new podcast – "Before the Sunrise", in the content house of NMC. There they host for a conversation captivity survivors and family members. They hope that as many people as possible will listen to the conversations they record. For them it is not only documentation of what was, but a way to try to influence what can still happen.
      Why did you decide to do this podcast?
      Mia: "After we returned, we felt that... first of all it was very strange suddenly that everyone knows us. We did not expect it. And we understood that we have power in our hands. And really, all this period we were flying a lot and speaking and raising awareness for the whole subject of the hostages and the war, and everything that is happening there actually, and suddenly we thought that maybe it is worth finding another way to try to convey it that would interest people because a lot of time has already passed."
      "How can I be at peace? How can any of us be at peace?" Mia Regev | Photo: Channel 12 News
      Itay: "I sit at home and I feel that I am not doing enough. The idea simply came to me, that I want to do a joint podcast of mine and Mia’s, where we will also talk with people who experienced the war up close and that it will be an authentic conversation, and in the end whoever watches it will take a lot from it."
      Do you think the podcast will help in any way?
      Mia: "I very much hope so. That is the goal. It is very different from coming and being interviewed, because in the end we sit with a person who experienced an experience very similar to ours. And we simply talk, forget for a moment about the cameras, share experiences."
      Itay: "I think that as a person who sits at home and hears a conversation of us speaking, I think there is a lot to take from it. That people will really understand the situation we are in in the country, that they will understand what our hostages are going through, that they are there, that it will burn here. This subject must burn."
      Mia and Itay interviewing Omer Shem Tov in the podcast (Photo: Channel 12 News)
      "Whoever watches it will take a lot from it." Mia and Itay interviewing Omer Shem Tov in the podcast | Photo: Channel 12 News
      Mia: "And also I can say that many times, all the hostages who return in the end return to their lives to an extent, but yes, you know, there is Instagram and everyone follows each other, almost the whole State of Israel, and they tend to see in the end that you upload a story that you are filming in a restaurant and you are abroad, and no one knows what is really going on inside you."
      "I happened to read quite a few comments of, also about me I can say, of Instagram, if she is funded by the state, she does this, she is here, she is there. How do you know that I am enjoying and that I am fine? This podcast, it is to put people for a moment in a situation of: they returned, they can travel, they enjoy, but we are still going through something. It is not that we returned and it is over, it is still sitting on us."
      Mia interviewed in yoga (Photo: Channel 12 News)
      "All the hostages who returned spoke about the hunger, about the abuse, about the difficulty, about the fear to die every moment." Mia Regev | Photo: Channel 12 News
      "Also when I am now doing, I do not know, I am at a party and I am smiling, so one moment. I reach the peak of my smile, and it enters my head like that... you know, it is always there. It is always here. No matter where I am, there is some rock here. Something that stops me and pulls me a bit back. And I try with force to go forward, because it is from inside, because they are still there."
      Do you feel that the state is doing everything?
      Mia: "We prefer not to talk about politics so much. Not to get into it."
      I am not asking about this or that politician, the state as a state.
      Itay: "I do not know if the state did everything, I know that... they need to do everything so that this will end as quickly as possible. Because there is not too much time."
      "The drive for revenge is something that is in everyone"
      As people who were there, what do you think about the claims that Israel is starving the population in Gaza?
      Itay: "You need to come to Hamas with claims. Hamas take all the food. Give me one terrorist who looks like our hostages, give me one terrorist who looks like the children in Gaza. Find me a picture. All the terrorists there look great. They take all the food to themselves."
      Mia: "I can tell you that... I would get one portion a day of a bit of rice, and sometimes some piece of chicken, and I would have to share it with two more terrorists who were with me, when one of them was outside every day and eating more. He also eats all day, and then comes and eats from my plate."
      Itay interviewed in boxing (Photo: Channel 12 News)
      "That people will really understand the situation we are in." Itay Regev in the boxing ring | Photo: Channel 12 News
      Do you have a desire for revenge?
      Itay: "Listen, the drive for revenge is a drive that is in everyone, I believe. If someone does something to you, you will always have the drive for revenge. Will it help me? I do not know. I believe that... God above sees everything, and He will do what needs to be done. He will do the justice. Always."
      Mia: "If they would place a terrorist here in front of me right now I would be happy to, you know, take out all that is inside me. But in the same breath I also say that I believe that in the end it will come back to them."
      What is the hardest thing to explain to people who did not experience what you experienced?
      Mia: "How urgent it is. How every minute is important, how every hour, how every day is important. Like, it is not, it is not a joke. Every second, really every second, you can die."
      Itay: "Beyond the difficulty that you live there every day in crazy difficulty, you every day fear for your life. You every day struggle. Beyond the difficulty, there is not too much time. That is what they need to understand."
      Mia: "You know that nothing depends on you in the end. You are dependent on your captors. Even if you say: 'They will come to rescue me', two days before he told me that if they come to rescue me then he will put a bullet in my head. So what does it matter? Nothing depends on you."
      Who is the interviewee you would most want to come to the podcast?
      Itay: "I would want Matan Angrest to sit in front of me."
      Mia: "Matan and Evyatar and Guy. Everyone."
      Itay agrees: "Everyone." Link


    Acronyms and Glossary

    COGAT - Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories

    ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague

    IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague

    IPS - Israel Prison System

    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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