Global Outlook

  U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee suggested on Tuesday that it was better to strike Iran rather than be forced to constantly deal with the Islamic State’s terror proxies. His comments come as the United States is increasing its military presence in the region amid threats to attack Iran in the wake of the violent repression of anti-government protests there. “Many plates of poison — Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis — are being served all out of the same kitchen, Tehran,” Huckabee said in conversation with JNS CEO Alex Traiman at the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem. “You can change the menu; better to burn the kitchen down and not let them serve those plates anymore.” He said that Christians need to understand that they will be the next target of the Islamists. “You have been the appetizer; we are the entrée,” he said. Trump as the ‘ultimate pragmatist’ Huckabee said that he sees U.S. President Donald Trump as the “ultimate pragmat...

 Syria strongly condemned an Israeli military incursion into the town of Beit Jinn in rural Damascus, denouncing the assault on civilians and their property, which resulted in casualties and widespread panic. In an official statement, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the incursion as a war crime, stating it followed Israel’s failed attempt to target the town. The ministry held Israeli authorities fully responsible for the aggression and its consequences. Syria called on the UN Security Council, the United Nations, and the Arab League to take urgent action to halt repeated violations. It reaffirmed its commitment to defending its sovereignty and people through all means permitted under international law.

  Thousands of Israelis protested  across the country against the government, calling for all  remaining deceased hostages to be released  and the establishment of a state commission of inquiry  into the October 7 massacre. ■  Maxim Herkin,  who was released from  Hamas captivity  in October, thanked  protesters at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square,  saying, “I’m here because of you, and I’m finally making my dream come true.” Fellow freed hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal shared that before he was taken into Hamas’ tunnels, he “caught a glimpse of photos from the square. You gave me strength and hope.” ■  Iran  confirmed its  Revolutionary Guards  seized a tanker carrying  petrochemical cargo  bound for Singapore in Gulf waters, Iranian media reported. ■  Opposition lawmaker  Vladimir Beliak said that the  violence perpetrated by settlers  across the West Bank is “ institutionalized terror,”  a...

  Since Israel ‘s war with Hamas began more than two years ago, Israel has erected nearly 1,000 barriers in cities and towns in the occupied West Bank, further stifling movement for Palestinians and hindering daily lives, a local government body says. While Israel’s military has long imposed movement and access constraints after capturing the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, the number of new barriers is unprecedented, residents say. According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, an official Palestinian governmental body, 916 gates, barriers and walls have been installed since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel. Israeli military raids throughout the West Bank have also increased, with Palestinians killed or detained. Israel says it is trying to root out militancy. Among the new barriers are metal gates stationed at many village and town entrances and between cities, blocking access in and out. Sometimes the Israeli military is stationed at them. Palestinian...

  “Israel won’t do anything in the West Bank, don’t be afraid,” Donald Trump said at the White House in response to a French reporter’s question whether the Knesset vote for sovereignty over that territory was a challenge to him. The question arises from the fact that the right-wing rivals of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have narrowly passed a West Bank annexation bill in the first parliamentary reading, prompting criticism from the US, while the allies promote a peace plan for Gaza whose regional support depends on the recognition of Palestinian territorial claims. “Personally, I consider it an insult,” said US Vice-President J.D. Vance, at the end of his visit to Israel, in response to Wednesday’s vote in the Knesset, with 25 votes in favour and 24 against. Last month, Trump declared that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, an area where, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, Palestinians want to establish an independent state. “Don’t worry abou...

  Egypt's Intelligence Chief Hassan Rashad arrived in Israel on Tuesday for Gaza ceasefire talks with Israeli officials. Israel’s public broadcaster KAN said Rashed met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News channel said Rashad’s talks in Israel will also take up the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The Egyptian intelligence chief will also meet with US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff during the visit. The visit is the first by a senior Egyptian official to Israel since Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023. The ceasefire deal took effect on Oct. 10 in Gaza, based on a phased plan presented by US President Donald Trump. Phase one included the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The plan also envisages the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas. Since October 2023, the Israeli gen...

  Israel said Thursday that the date for the opening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt would be announced at a later stage and that it would only be open for the movement of people. “The date for the opening of the Rafah crossing for the movement of people only will be announced at a later stage, once the Israeli side, together with the Egyptian side, completes the necessary preparations for the crossing’s opening,” said a statement from COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories. “It should be emphasised that humanitarian aid will not pass through the Rafah crossing. This was never agreed upon at any stage,” the statement said, adding that “aid continues to enter the Gaza Strip” through other crossings. The Rafah crossing is a strategic gateway to the outside world for the Gaza Strip, and international organisations hope that the crossing point will enable a surge of aid to be delivered to the devastated territory...

  Israel says Hamas has handed over the first seven hostages to the Red Cross in the first phase of the Israel-Gaza ceasefire. There are 48 hostages still in captivity, and 20 are believed to be alive. According to the hostage families forum, those released are: Eitan Mor, Gali and Ziv Berman, Matan Engerst, Omri Miran, Guy Gilboa Dalal and Alon Ohel. Families and friends of hostages broke out into wild cheers as Israeli television channels announced that the hostages were in the hands of the Red Cross. Tens of thousands of Israelis are watching the transfers at public screenings across the country, with a major event being held in Tel Aviv. The packed crowd in Hostages Square erupted in cheers as the names of the hostages to be released were read on local television. They clapped and chanted “bring them home now”. The hostage release is the first stage of a ceasefire agreement with Israel, which is also set to release hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli jails. All 1,966 Palestin...

  United States President Donald Trump has announced that both Hamas and Israel have agreed to the first phase of his proposed plan for a ceasefire in Gaza and an exchange of captives. “I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first phase of our Peace Plan,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account on Wednesday. According to him, all hostages will be released soon, and Israel will withdraw its troops to a mutually agreed line. Qatar, one of the main mediators, confirmed that an agreement had been reached on the first phase of the ceasefire. “The mediators announce that tonight an agreement was reached on all the provisions and implementation mechanisms of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement,” said Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He added that the plan would lead to an end to the war, the release of hostages and prisoners, and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Full details will be shared l...

  Documents show that the United States and Israel have sent complaint letters to top United Nations officials contesting the impartiality of their staff over the Gaza conflict, as hundreds of UN staff protested outside its European headquarters,   Reuters   reports. UN staff carried placards saying “Peace for Gaza” and “Not a Target”. They laid over 370 white roses next to a memorial plaque in Geneva to represent each UN aid worker killed in the nearly two-year conflict. “Today, the UN staff are coming together to say that enough is enough, to say that we cannot kill our colleagues in Gaza with such impunity and to say stop to all these murders,” Nathalie Meynet, president of the UN refugee agency staff council, told  Reuters  at the protest. The letters highlight the rising tensions between the UN and its top funder, the US, which has already disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council over what Washington says is its anti-Israel stance.

  Golda Meir,  Israel’s prime minister  during the Yom Kippur War, had a particular way with words. “If we have to have a choice between being dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image,” she said in the late Sixties. That sentiment, expressed with characteristic dryness, is even more relevant today than it was then. October 7, 2023, fell almost exactly 50 years since Meir’s defining conflict. After almost two years of war, both in Gaza and in the realm of public opinion, her message of five decades ago is coming to define the new Israel. If we are to be hated, at least let us live. If we cannot be loved, then we must be feared. That, then, is the message of the 10 Israeli bombs that were  dropped in the heart of Qatari power today . If you are bent on killing Jews, nowhere is safe. Details are still emerging, but at the time of writing, Israel is optimistic that the princes of Hamas, who have enjoyed lives of luxur...

  Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Monday said the ongoing Israeli war against the Palestinian people had become a “war of starvation” aimed at “liquidating the Palestinian cause.” Speaking on behalf of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Plus summit in Tianjin, China, Madbouly said the Palestinian people are facing “all forms of killing, terror, starvation, and a flagrant violation of their rights.” “This war is no longer a war to achieve political goals or release hostages, but a war of starvation and to liquidate the Palestinian cause,” he said, noting that civilian casualties had reached nearly 60,000 killed and about 119,000 injured. Madbouly stated that Egypt condemns in the strongest terms Israel’s expansion of its military operations in the Gaza Strip and its attempts to “make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable in an attempt to displace the Palestinian people from their land.” He also condemned Israeli practices in the West Ban...

  Israeli forces have killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza and wounded dozens in the south of the enclave, local health officials said, as residents reported intensified military bombardment in the suburbs of Gaza City. The military is preparing to take Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban centre, despite international calls on Israel to reconsider this over fears that the operation would cause significant casualties and displace the roughly one million Palestinians sheltering there. In Gaza City, residents said families were fleeing their homes, with most heading towards the coast, as Israel forces bombarded the eastern suburbs of Shejaia, Zeitoun, and Sabra. The latest deaths took to 71 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry said. The UN considers these figures reliable. Israel officials describe Gaza City as the last stronghold of Hamas, which ignited the war with its deadly October 2023 attack on Israel. Th...