๐️Lonny's War Update- October 707, 2023 - September 12, 2025 ๐️
๐️Day 707 that 48 of our hostages are still in Hamas captivity๐️
Egyptian source says Cairo will continue Gaza mediation efforts after Israeli strike in Doha
Egypt will continue mediating ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in the wake of Israel’s strike on Hamas leader in Doha, an “informed Egyptian source” tells the Qatari al-Araby al-Jadeed outlet.
“Egypt will not allow its mediation efforts to turn into cover for Israel to continue its attacks,” says the source.
At the same time, say Egyptian diplomatic sources, Cairo “will not allow the continuation of the situation as usual after this dangerous development,” and will avoid meeting Israeli delegations in the near future.
“As long as [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu continues his current policies, engagement will be minimal and will serve only Egypt’s national security interests,” says a senior Egyptian official.
Israeli-Egyptian ties mostly revolve around close security and intelligence relations, and the export of Israeli natural gas to Egypt.
Hamas says Israeli attack against group’s leaders in Doha won’t alter its terms on ending Gaza war
Hamas says the Israeli attack that targeted its leaders in Doha will not alter the Palestinian group’s terms on ending the war in Gaza.
Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum, in a televised speech, says the attack targeted its negotiation delegation while they were discussing US President Trump’s ceasefire proposal.
“This crime was… an assassination of the entire negotiation process,” Barhoum says.
“We affirm that the US administration is a full accomplice in this crime,” he adds.
No senior Hamas members have been confirmed killed in the strike.
Barhoum says in the pre-recorded speech that Israel struck the home of the head of Hamas’s negotiating delegation, Khalil al-Hayya. His wife, as well as the wife of his son Himam al-Hayya — who was killed — were injured in the strike. Other family members were also wounded, Barhoum says.
Barhoum says the failed attempt to assassinate Hamas’s leadership would not change the movement’s positions in the ceasefire negotiations: ending the aggression, a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, a “genuine” prisoner exchanges, and Gaza’s reconstruction.
He adds that the strike was an attempt to create a false image of victory for Israel, after it failed to achieve gains during 23 months of war.
- Killing Hamas leadership won't end the war or bring the hostages backOpinion: Even if Doha strike eliminated key Hamas masterminds of October 7, hostages remain at risk and the war shows no sign of endingIsrael’s strike on Hamas leadership in Doha was bold and lethal, and on one level, morally justified. The men targeted were not politicians but among the masterminds of the October 7 massacre and responsible for the death and destruction inflicted on both Israelis and Palestinians before the attack and since. Few will mourn them.But the strike leaves one glaring question: what does it achieve? Families of hostages are still pleading for their loved ones. The United States and the rest of the world are still pressing for a ceasefire. Instead of opening a path toward ending the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose an operation that could make it even longer and bloodier. If the Trump-brokered ceasefire proposal was used as bait to gather Hamas leaders in one place before striking, the implications are damning. It would mean Israel’s leadership deliberately raised the hopes not only of hostage families but of much of the nation, turning a promise of peace into a trap. The message of possible release and resolution was dangled, then broken for the sake of another military blow. And yet the hostages remain in Gaza, no closer to being saved despite assurances from the usual state officials.Their situation now may be even more perilous. No one knows how Hamas will respond. The hostages could be executed in retaliation, tortured further or used as pawns in a new spiral of abuse. By striking in Doha, Israel may have satisfied the demand for revenge, but also increased the risk to its own citizens in captivity. And for the Israeli public, the strike does not bring a sense of victory. It brings dread. After nearly two years of fighting since the October 7 terrorist attack, even striking senior Hamas leaders abroad, if successful, feels less like a turning point and more like another exhausting step in a war with no end in sight.
Attacking Hamas leaders overseas, if it succeeded, also does not guarantee the collapse of the terrorist group in Gaza. It may do the opposite, pushing commanders there to fight to the last man rather than surrender in humiliation. Pride and defiance can keep a conflict burning well beyond the point where logic would dictate its end. Then there is the question of where the strike happened. Qatar is not at war with Israel. It has been a mediator in ceasefire and hostage talks, one of the few channels—however flawed—still open. By striking in Doha, Israel has not only expanded the battlefield but also jeopardized a fragile line of diplomacy. The message is clear: Israel will use force anywhere, even if it undermines negotiations that might one day bring its people home. Yes, those targeted in Doha, if they were killed, deserved their fate. But eliminating them—or even striking at them—does not equal victory. Israel has once again proven it can strike its enemies anywhere. What it has not proven is how these strikes bring the war closer to an end, free the hostages or prevent the next cycle of bloodshed. Power without strategy is not strength. It is drift. Bad leaders focus on being right; good leaders focus on doing what is right. link Report: White House ‘frustrated’ with Netanyahu, fears he wants to tank negotiations
US President Donald Trump’s staff has reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, following Israel’s targeting of Hamas leadership in Qatar, is concerned that he wants to undermine negotiations toward a ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
The report in Politico quotes an unnamed source it describes as “close to the president’s national security team,” who says the Tuesday bombing against Hamas’s top brass in Doha may have been an intentional move to hinder the talks.
“Every time they’re making progress, it seems like he bombs someone,” the source says, according to Politico. “That’s why the president and his aides are so frustrated with Netanyahu.”
The source also told Politico that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken with Qatari leaders about increasing defense cooperation between their two countries.
Trump has criticized the strike on Qatar, a US ally, and promised that it would not happen again, while also saying that killing Hamas leaders is a “worthy goal.” Hamas has claimed its leaders were not killed in the strike.
“That was the most publicly critical I’ve seen a Republican president be of an Israeli leader in quite some time,” the source told Politico, regarding Trump’s social media post following the attack. link There are many questions about Trump giving the green light to Netanyahu or, as the White House has claimed, Trump was informed minutes before the explosion. It is hard to believe that Trump didn't know for a number of reasons. The largest US Military base and largest airbase in the Mid East is in Qatar and the bombing was a mere minutes by air away from those bases. Due to the US military bases being there, the US basically owns the Qatari airspace and would quickly identify and defend against anything like a ballistic missile attack, unless it was told to stand down due to prior knowledge. If that was the case, why would Trump and Netanyahu deny it. There are several reasons. One is that it gives Trump plausible deniability to one of his closest political and financial allies, the Qatari government. But the second and most probable reason is that Trump likes success and to take credit for others' successes. If this had been a successful attack and Israel did take out all or most of the senior Hamas leadership, Trump would have hailed its success and claimed coordination with Netanyahu, and would have told the Qataris very clearly that it was not an attack on Qatar, it was a pinpoint attack on the barbaric terrorists who were among the planners of October 7 and deserved to be eliminated. But it was far from a success and Trump, like Netanyahu hate failures and neither will take responsibility for failures. And it is this failure that probably is making Trump furious. He was put in the middle of a flop for which he has to distance himself as far as possible in order to maintain his credibility with the Qataris, Emirates and Saudi Arabia. In addition, this failure is moving him further away from his coveted Nobel Peace Prize for which he feels very entitled.
All our hopes are that Trump will truly be so frustrated and angry at Netanyahu that he will tell him in no uncertain terms to end the war and bring home the hostages according this his latest proposal and to do it immediately. As far as I am concerned, if Trump is the catalyst for bringing home the hostages and ending the war, I don't care one bit what his motivations are. Let him win the Nobel Prize.- ‘Keep Qatar deeply involved’: Mossad plane landing in Doha could hint revived Gaza talks
Private jet linked to Israeli spy agency lands in Qatari capital, sparking speculation of renewed indirect ceasefire negotiations, as Hamas and Egyptian officials hold renewed discussions in CairoA private jet previously linked to the Mossad spy agency landed in Doha on Thursday, fueling speculation that Mossad Director David Barnea arrived in the Qatari capital for the first time since negotiations faltered last month.The visit coincides with ongoing talks in Cairo between Hamas leaders and Egyptian officials, marking a revival of Barnea’s engagement with Qatar. The move follows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to re-engage the spy chief, leveraging his unique ties in Doha.U.S. officials also support Qatar’s continued role, and a breakthrough in Cairo could shift key discussions to Doha. Egyptian sources told Al Qahera News that talks with a Hamas delegation have entered their third day.“Egypt is intensifying contacts with all parties to overcome disputes and secure a ceasefire to end the war,” they said. The discussions, which began after Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya arrived in Cairo two days ago to review a new proposal, focus on a comprehensive deal. Israel remains outside direct negotiations, amid the Cabinet’s decision to take over Gaza City, with Netanyahu hinting that partial deals are off the table. Hamas politburo member Taher al-Nunu told Saudi channel Al Sharq on Wednesday that the delegation, led by al-Hayya, met Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, who is coordinating with Israeli officials. “The Hamas delegation discussed ways to advance ceasefire talks in Gaza with the intelligence chief," an Egyptian source told the outlet. "Hamas expressed a desire to quickly return to a ceasefire, negotiations and calm, thanking Egypt for its efforts.” Meanwhile, Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya reported that Egypt received Hamas’ demands, including a commitment to protect hostages’ lives and withdraw fighters in exchange for an Israeli pullback to agreed-upon points, while seeking to halt Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City. Hamas also requested a written agreement with international guarantees against renewed fighting, though the report’s reliability remains unconfirmed. Despite Arab reports suggesting progress, Israel has not received an official proposal and no developments are acknowledged from its perspective. Analysts expect mediators to refine a proposal post-meeting and approach relevant teams. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich opposes any partial deal, contrasting with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer’s view that a pause could preclude resuming combat. At a press conference earlier this week, Netanyahu justified relinquishing partial hostage-release deals, promising “sophisticated methods to surprise Hamas.” He revealed orders to the IDF to accelerate the Gaza City takeover timeline, aiming to “move faster and earlier” to conclude the war. link Netanyahu discussing plan to allow ‘voluntary emigration’ of Gazans starting next month
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding a high-level meeting on the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, the office of one of the attendees tells The Times of Israel. Senior defense officials and cabinet ministers are attending.
The forum is discussing a plan to allow Gazans to leave as early as October, reports Channel 13.
The Prime Minister’s Office does not respond to a request for comment.
According to the Channel 13 report, the defense establishment has presented a plan under which Gazans could begin leaving the war-torn Strip beginning next month by air and by sea.
Defense sources tell the outlet that Israel is in talks with a number of African countries about receiving Gazans, but no agreement has been reached.
Critics of the policy accuse of Israel of trying to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza, given that many of those pushing the policy in the middle of a devastating war haven’t pledged to allow those who leave to return, as they push for the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the enclave. link This plan of Netanyahu's which has been encouraged and promoted mostly by his most extreme, racist and messianic coalition partners, Smotrich and Ben Gvir is completely tied in to their plan to expel all Palestinians from Gaza and to cover Gaza with all Jewish settlements and never to allow any of the Gazans who 'voluntarily' leave to ever return. The plan is patently illegal, no matter what euphemisms they use such as 'voluntary emigration'. During a war and occupation, any forced, encouraged, 'voluntary' emigration is illegal under the Geneva Convention to prevent genocide. It is part of the codes of ethnic cleansing. Netanyahu already has a warrant for his arrest by the ICC for war crimes of "starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024."
Since May 2024, it is fully expected that many more charges will be brought against him and many others who have managed this horrific war and the crime of ethnic cleansing is definitely a charge that he and his extremist partners have earned. Yes, Netanyahu jumped on the bandwagon of this 'voluntary emigration' as soon as Trump presented his "Trump Gaza Riviera" plan but that plan is also entirely based on the same crime of ethnic cleansing. Crimes that are encouraged by other world leaders does not reduce the severity of the crimes. The only thing it does is include the other world leaders as accessories to the crimes and all should be indicted and put on trial.IDF claims it killed dozens of terrorists in recent days of operations in Gaza City outskirts
The IDF says it has expanded its operations on the outskirts of Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood and the Kafr Jabalia area in recent days.
During the operations, the 162nd Division’s forces located and destroyed dozens of Hamas sites, including booby traps, weapon depots, and two tunnels spanning hundreds of meters, the military says.
In addition, the IDF says dozens of terror operatives were killed by the forces and in strikes, including a platoon commander in Hamas’s Sheikh Radwan Battalion and the commander of a Nukhba Force cell who invaded Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Palestinians in Gaza City face dilemma as Israeli forces advance
Palestinians in the relatively unscathed Nasser area of Gaza City are having to decide whether to stay or go after the Israeli military dropped leaflets today warning that troops would take control of the western neighborhood.
Israel has ordered the hundreds of thousands of people living in Gaza City to leave as it intensifies its all-out war on Hamas, but with little safety, space and food in the rest of Gaza, people face dire choices.
“It has been almost two years, with no rest, no settling down, not even sleep,” says Abu Ahmed, a father, as he and his family prepared to flee the city in a truck pulled by a motorcycle, laden with some of their belongings.
“We can’t sit with our children just to sit with them. Our life revolves around war,” he says. “We have to go from this area to that area. We can’t take it anymore, we are tired.”
Gaza City families continue to stream out of their homes in areas targeted by Israeli aerial and ground operations, heading either westward toward the center of the city and along the coast, or south toward other parts of the strip.
But some are either unwilling or unable to leave.
“We don’t have enough money, enough to flee. We don’t have any means to go south like they say,” says Ahmed Al-Dayeh, who was attending the funeral of one of the people killed in Thursday’s strikes, who was his friend.
**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!!!”
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*4:00pm yesterday - Eilat, Arava region- explosive drone launched by the Houthis- Air Force lost track of it, search underway. IDF announces incident over without elaboration
Suspect in stabbing at Kibbutz Tzuba was reportedly hotel employee who used knife from kitchen
The suspected terrorist who carried out a stabbing attack at a hotel in Kibbutz Tzuba was an employee at the establishment, Hebrew media reports.
The assailant is reportedly a 42-year-old man from Shuafat in East Jerusalem, and has a history of security offenses.
Channel 12 reports, citing eyewitnesses, that the assailant took a knife from the hotel kitchen and shouted “Allahu akbar” before perpetrating the attack.
He stabbed a 50-year-old man, seriously injuring him, and a 23-year-old man, moderately injuring him.
He was subdued and arrested by an off-duty police investigator staying at the hotel, according to law enforcement.
The officer who arrested the attacker had been at a family event at the hotel, where he noticed a mass of people hurriedly leaving the building earlier.
After heading in the direction from which the civilians fled, he spotted the terrorist and confronted him.
“I overpowered the terrorist with my hands rather than gunfire to reduce the danger to the civilians at the scene,” the officer says. “With the help of other brave civilians, I laid him on the floor and handcuffed him.”
One of the injured stabbing victims was the officer’s cousin, according to a police statement.
Magen David Adom paramedics arrived at the scene of the stabbing to find the wounded 23-year-old sitting in the hotel’s parking lot. He was taken to the hospital in moderate condition.
Paramedics later found the 50-year-old in the hotel dining room, suffering from a stab wound to the chest. He was also transported to the hospital.
Jerusalem District police commander Amir Arzani is currently conducting a situational assessment at the scene of the attack.
IDF: Suspects recently arrested in Syria terror cells were working for Iran’s IRGC
Several suspects detained by Israeli troops in southern Syria in recent months were in terror cells and operating on behalf of Iran’s Unit 840, a clandestine unit within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force, the IDF says.
The members of the terror cells who were nabbed in the series of recent raids had been directed by Unit 840 to carry out attacks against Israel, according to the IDF.
The IDF details that in March and April, two Unit 840 field operatives, identified as Zeidan al-Tawil and Muhammad al-Kuryan, were arrested in Syria.
In recent weeks, several more terror cells, whose members had been activated by Salah al-Husseini and Muhammad Shuayb — IRGC operatives who were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon in July — were also arrested, the military says.
The IDF says the two slain IRGC operatives in Lebanon were among “the most prominent operatives” involved in smuggling weapons from Iran to the West Bank, as well as to Lebanon and Syria.
The interrogations of the Syrian suspects revealed that not all of them knew who they were working for, the IDF says, “and that their recruitment to work with Unit 840 was in many cases done without revealing the unit’s true motives, but rather through financial bribery.”
Reports: Settlers sprayed graffiti, set vehicles on fire in Palestinian village overnight
Palestinian media reports that several settlers sprayed graffiti reading “Ramot, revenge, hit hard, get to work” — apparently calls for revenge following Monday’s deadly terror attack at the Ramot junction in northern Jerusalem, carried out by two Palestinian shooters — and also set vehicles on fire last night in the Palestinian village of Atara, near Ramallah in the West Bank.
There were no casualties.
Security camera footage from the scene overnight shows two figures spray-painting the graffiti and setting the vehicle ablaze. video
IDF detains dozens following attack yesterday on army vehicle in West Bank
Following an explosive device attack against an army vehicle near the Palestinian West Bank city of Tulkarem yesterday, the IDF detained dozens of men in the city.
The attack, claimed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, took place near the Nitzanei Oz Crossing at the West Bank border. Two soldiers inside a Panther armored personnel carrier that was targeted were lightly injured.
The IDF confirms that troops detained and questioned numerous suspects in Tulkarem yesterday following the attack, but declines to say how many are currently in custody.
- Politics and the War and General News
‘Shame’ Israel still denying media access to Gaza, watchdog says
The Foreign Press Association condemns Israel for continuing to deny independent access to foreign journalists nearly two years into the war in Gaza.
“Israel must stop killing journalists in Gaza and give the foreign press free and independent access to the territory,” says the association, which has more than 350 members working for foreign media outlets in Israel and the territories.
“This continued and institutionalized delay in the process is a mark of shame on Israel and its allies, who have too often chosen not to speak up in defense of basic press freedoms,” the board of the association says in a statement.
The association points out that Israel’s Supreme Court has repeatedly postponed hearings on its petition demanding access to Gaza.
The association “notes with dismay that it has been a full year since it submitted its second petition to the Israeli Supreme Court for free and independent access to Gaza,” the statement says.
“Despite the urgency, the court has repeatedly agreed to the government’s request for delays and postponed one hearing after another.”
The association also slammed Israel for targeting Palestinian journalists operating inside Gaza.
“Palestinian journalists have been directly targeted. Places where they habitually gathered have been bombed,” it says, adding that at least 200 of them have been killed by Israeli fire.
“Despite all of these dangers, they continue to inform the world while facing not only violence, but also hunger and repeated displacement.”
Last month, Israeli strikes on a hospital in Gaza killed more than 20 people, including five journalists, according to local authorities.
The FPA also criticized Israeli leaders and the military for going to “extreme lengths to discredit the work of our Palestinian colleagues, and to a great extent, the work of the foreign press as a whole.”
“This campaign of delegitimization has created and amplified hazardous working conditions for journalists, leading to the normalization of incitement, harassment, and attacks on foreign press both from Israeli civilians and members of Israel’s security forces.”
Israel’s military has accused many of the journalists killed in its strikes of being “terrorists,” members of the Palestinian terror groups Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
During the war, the Israeli military has taken only a handful of foreign journalists into Gaza via military embeds. link There are several reasons that the Israeli government has not and still is not allowing any foreign journalists into Gaza. They don't want the world to see close up the level of destruction and decimation that he have perpetrated on Gaza, or the real story of the humanitarian crisis that we have created. They don't want witnesses to the starvation and prior deliberate deprivation of humanitarian aid or the deliberate shooting of Gazans who are trying to attain the aid to feel their families. They don't want the world to see the forced evacuations of hundreds of thousands of refugees who have already evacuated as many as 20 times. They don't want to show the lace of sanitary facilities for the masses of refugees causing many to use whatever is around for their outdoor bathrooms which can easily cause outbreaks of diseases such as cholera. There are so many things that this corrupt government was to hide, the most of which are the war crimes being committed by their orders and in our names. The only journalist allowed have been Israeli journalist who are taken in and out by the army and only allowed to go where the army wants them to go. The Israeli journalists have been complicit in this blackout of journalist into the war zone and have deliberately shielded the Israeli viewership from seeing any of the horrors that are reaching the international press coming from the Palestinians Gazan Journalist on the ground. They are the only ones reporting what no one else is reporting. Yes, there have been many cases of false information, pictures that have been set up or from other wars by some of the inscrutable journalists who are either Hamas members or supporters of Hamas but most of what they are reporting is real. And that could very well be the reason that so many of the Palestinian journalists have been killed, which itself becomes a crime of international standing.
- The Region and the World
UAE said weighing Qatari request to close Emirati embassy in Tel Aviv over Doha strike
The UAE is reportedly considering a Qatari request to close Abu Dhabi’s embassy in Tel Aviv as part of a series of steps Doha is pushing against Israel in retaliation for Jerusalem’s strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha.
The UAE, which is already eager to rid itself of Israeli Ambassador to Abu Dhabi Yossi Shelley over his reported misconduct, has attentively received the Qatari request, Haaretz reports, citing unnamed diplomatic sources in Gulf states.
While Qatar didn’t respond to the June Iranian strike on the al-Ubeid airbase near Doha that houses US troops, it is not planning to take that approach this time around, a regional diplomat tells Haaretz.
“The gloves are off,” the diplomat says.
Qatar has fumed at Israel for the Tuesday strike, highlighting that both Jerusalem and Washington were the ones who had asked Doha to host Hamas leaders in recent years, believing it would be best to keep an eye on them inside of a US-allied country, as opposed to other places where adversaries have more influence. link The UAE and Bahrain became the first Arab countries to formally recognize Israel since the peace agreement with Jordan in 1994. Prior to October 7, it looked like there was going to be major expansion of the Abraham Accords and there still could have been if not for how the war has progressed and Netanyahu's overpowering hand in the humanitarian crisis and continuation of the war. While the 12 day war with Iran was privated lauded by the moderate Arab countries who also saw Iran as a major threat to the region, the Israeli successes apparently went to Netanyahu's head and he has proved increasingly a total lack of restraint in our attacks, the destruction of Gaza, the alienations of just about every world ally, and this latest attack on Hamas senior leadership in Qatar. Netanyahu stopped caring about world leader condemnation a long time ago, at least since Trump re-entered the White House. Trump is the only world leader that Netanyahu cares about and thinks that, as long as he has Trump on his side, no one else matters. Well, it matters to Israel and every Israeli. We are increasingly under threat of everything from embargoes to arrests in foreign countries to physical attacks and ever killing around the world. All thanks to Netanyahu's mismanagement of the war for his political survival and his lack of caring about anything else. He is the one who saw normalization with Saudi Arabia as the thing that would be his crowning glory and keep him as Prime Minister and on the world stage forever. Since October 7, Saudi Arabia was no longer willing to put the Palestinian issue on the sidelines and demanded that the resolution of the Israel/Palestine crisis with a real path to a Palestinian State be a concrete plan and not a passing non-committal statement as it was prepared to agree to in the past. That demand is something that Netanyahu has spent his political life fighting and his actions to prevent any dialogue, discussion and negotiations towards that end is the prime basis for everything that led up to October 7. And he hasn't relented one iota leading us to the situation we are all facing today: alienation from the world of nations, being a pariah state warranting embargoes and cutting off of cultural, sports, arts, education, research trade and other agreements with a growing number of countries and the list is getting bigger with each passing day. The statements and potential actions of the UAE could mean the end of the Abraham Accords, and we also have Egypt under pressure due to the attack on Qatar. From a country that was on top of the world and admired throughout, with more countries wanting ties with us, Netanyahu threw everything away for his own political survival and put the entire country into an abyss that will be very difficult to come back from. Our only chance is to end the war immediately, bring back all the hostages, being the State Commission of Inquiry and call for new elections. The only hope we have is a major change in leadership and direction.
UAE condemns Netanyahu’s ‘hostile remarks’ against Qatar
United Arab Emirates condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “hostile remarks” against Qatar, adding that any attack on a Gulf state is an attack on the Gulf’s “joint security system,” UAE official Afra Al Hameli says.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu warned Qatar to either expel Hamas officials or “bring them to justice, because if you don’t, we will.”
Netanyahu’s warning came a day after Israel attempted to kill Hamas political leaders in an airstrike on Doha, escalating its military campaign in the Middle East and prompting a flurry of international condemnations.
- Netherlands to ban imports of goods from settlements
Foreign Minister David van Weel says the measure will be implemented soon; the move follows earlier sanctions on Israeli ministers and echoes steps by Spain and IrelandThe Netherlands announced Thursday it will ban imports of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, citing Israel’s plans to annex parts of the territory and expand fighting in Gaza.Foreign Minister David van Weel told parliament he had instructed his department to draft a government decree on the ban, saying the measure “would be implemented as soon as possible.”The move follows a July decision barring Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from entering the Netherlands, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians, promoting settlement expansion and calling for “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza. Earlier this week, the government also said the ban on the two ministers would extend to all 29 Schengen states, but until now it had taken no additional measures.The Netherlands is one of the largest buyers of Israeli goods worldwide, though van Weel did not specify how much of that trade comes from settlements.Last month, former Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp — who once served as ambassador to Israel — resigned after failing to persuade coalition partners to impose sanctions. “I see that I am insufficiently able to take meaningful additional measures to increase pressure on Israel,” he said in his resignation announcement. He later added, “I have felt pushback in the cabinet for additional measures.”The Netherlands also supports a European Commission plan to partially suspend the EU’s trade agreement with Israel. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday she will propose sanctions on hardline Israeli ministers and a partial freeze of the EU-Israel association agreement. She said the proposal would suspend bilateral aid while sparing programs linked to civil society or Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial center.The Netherlands is not the first country to take such steps. Earlier this week, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sรกnchez announced measures he said were intended “to stop the genocide in Gaza,” including a ban on settlement imports. His statement referred to “illegal settlements in Gaza and the West Bank.” Since there are no Israeli settlements in Gaza, the wording raised questions about whether the ban might also cover goods produced near the enclave.In July, Ireland passed a similar measure and has been advancing the so-called Israeli Settlements Bill, which would make it a criminal offense to import goods from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. link
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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