ISRAEL (IINO)
SCREAMS BEFORE SILENCE Full Video [57:00] A documentary film on the sexual violence committed by Hamas on October 7th, Screams Before Silence is a documentary film led by American businesswoman Sheryl Sandberg, that explores the sexual violence by Hamas during the Hamas-led attack on Israel, on 7 October 2023, including events at the massacre at the Nova Festival and abductions to the Gaza Strip.
Catastrophe Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer
To save 33 tragically kidnaped hostages (and they won’t all be alive), Israel will be consigning thousands of Jews to their future deaths. This is not “maybe.” This is guaranteed. It happens every time.
Jan 14, 2025, 7:54 PM (GMT+2) Israel National News – They are talking about inking a deal between Netanyahu and Hamas. As I write, the deal is not yet done. In the Talmud, Masekhet (Tractate) Brakhot, King Chizkiyah (Hezekiah) actually lectures the Prophet Yishaya (Isaiah), who had been sent to him by G-d to tell him that his life soon would be over.
The King, upon learning the sin for which he was being punished, declared his repentance. The Prophet said it was too late; the decree had been issued. The King responded with a fundamental Jewish concept: even when a Jew has a murderer’s knife pressed on his throat, it still is not too late to pray. Accordingly, until such a Netanyahu-Hamas deal is done, it is not too late to pray. Even if — G-d forbid — such a deal is inked, it will not be too late to pray.
Or to act.
The media reports say Israel will be agreeing to a three-phase deal. Phase One would include (i) an immediate six-week ceasefire, (ii) the Arab release of 33 (but not all) of their kidnaped hostages, some alive and some dead, and (iii) Israel releasing hundreds of convicted Arab murderers. But, in Netanyahu’s show of great “fortitude”, he will not release the corpse of Yahya Sinwar under any circumstances. Only living Arab murderers with documented blood on their hands, just waiting to get back in the game.
Much of Israel will be celebrating wildly. Dancing in the streets. Champagne, though not from Milchin, will be flowing. Cigars, though not from Milchin, will be puffing. Channels 11, 12, and 13 will be leading the celebrations. Front pages will cheer at least from Haaretz to Maariv to Yediot and maybe Makor Rishon.
Those who would cheer are fools.
They cheered after Sharon’s 2005 Disengagement, and they lived to weep while burying their children who died for the moment of joy 18 years earlier.
It is a HORRIBLE, TRAGIC deal. One Hundred of Israel’s leading rabbinic authorities have publicly declared what almost every Torah scholar who supports IDF service knows: The Halakha (Judaic law) forbids endangering the nation even for the precious mitzvah of redeeming the captives. Tractate Gittin sets forth laws and limits on Pidyon Shvuyim (Redeeming Captives). One does not — may not — pay just any price. The Shulchan Arukh (Code of Jewish Law), at 252:4, declares: “Captives are not to be ransomed at an unreasonable cost, for the safety of society.” Read the letter of the 100 Torah Sages here and see the [Hebrew] letter of organizations such as the Heroism Forum, Hope Forum, Reservists Forum and more.
The mainstream left-wing media in Israel, who brainwash half the population, are thrilled with the agreement. Much of the Likud government coalition love it, too, because Likud Members of Knesset (MKs) follow Netanyahu like lemmings. He dispenses their crumbs, committee assignments, ministries — even who gets to be a consul or ambassador in a country although he barely speaks their language, who gets a free trip to America at government expense, who gets to be on the next election list in a safe spot so as to build up a millionaire’s lifetime pension. So they will vote like lemmings as others did for Sharon.
The Haredi parties in the government coalition will support the deal not because the halakha demands Pidyon Shvuyim “at any cost” — it does not and they know it — but because, as the IDF soldiers come back from Gaza, it will reduce pressure on Haredim to shoulder their proper responsibility in the defense of the nation, beyond their incredibly holy and blessedly critical Torah learning, as do Yeshivat Hesder boys. Israel cannot survive without their Torah learning, their yeshivot and kollelim. Absolutely. But they don’t want even the haredi young men who are not learning, of which there are many, to join the army. But the return of the soldiers will relieve their shoulders.
Meanwhile, Gideon Sa’ar’s four votes will support it, too, so Sa’ar can remain Foreign Minister and take a shot at Bibi’s seat some day.
That leaves the two on the right, Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party (RZP) and Ben-Gvir’s Otzmah. One does not bring down a right-wing-oriented Israeli government over a budget cut. However, one does do so over a perfidy to the nation and to future generations. Smotrich and Ben-Gvir surely will denounce the deal and will have their 14 MKs vote against it. However, it is not clear whether they will quit the Coalition. If they do, great. But what will that achieve? Will it risk losing momentum on further building in Judea and Samaria? Does that matter enough?
If Smotrich and Ben-Gvir remain in the Coalition but simply vote against this deal, the deal would pass easily anyway. The leftist opposition all will vote for it — especially the two Arab parties. Lapid, who promised a safety net for the vote, may even offer to hand over some natural gas properties to Hamas. So, if Netanyahu proposes it, it will pass smoothly with more than 100 votes of the 120. Think back to the Gaza Disengagement. To all the retreats.
The deal would free 300 or more Hamas murderers right away, some held in prison for more than a decade. Some sentenced to 20 and more life sentences without parole. (What a joke!) So, to save 33 tragically kidnaped hostages (and they won’t all be alive), Israel will be consigning thousands of Jews to their future deaths. This is not “maybe.” This is guaranteed. It happens every time.
To save one precious Jewish life who previously was taken hostage by Arabs (not his fault at all, but his father and the willing media’s fault, and I feel bad for him that his name always is mentioned in this regard, so I won’t), Israel ultimately released a lop-sided thousand of these same types of Arab cutthroats. One was a guy named Yahya Sinwar. A whole bunch of Arab psychopaths like him. That led to Intifada in Judea and Samaria, to building of Hamas, to several deadly wars, and now to the over 2,000 who have died since October 7, 2023 (1,200 that day and over 800 Israeli soldiers since).
It is a terrible deal. It leaves Hamas alive to govern Gaza and to fight again in five years, with all their old pals back in the fray. Hamas will dance in the streets, a scene we see after every “ceasefire” that they regard as an Israeli “capitulation and surrender.” It eliminates the restored specter of Israeli invincibility and deterrence. It shows that Israel is afraid to win. It emboldens other Arabs. So the question is “Why”? Netanyahu always declared he would not leave without “Nitzachon Mushlam” (“Complete Victory”). My best guess:
Biden is irrelevant. He is out in less than a week. He cannot do anything. An embargo? Trump can overrule it his first day. A UN vote for a “Two State”? No UN vote matters, just as Obama’s and Kerry’s Security Council Resolution 2334 of December 2016 never ended up mattering, even though it was the Security Council, not just the General Assembly, declaring that Israel is barred from the eastern part of Jerusalem, even the Kotel. It meant nothing. Soon after, America was moving its embassy into Jerusalem and declaring that Israeli communities anywhere in Judea and Samaria are totally legal as long as Israel’s Supreme Court does not say otherwise.
So Bidem and Blinken do not matter. Therefore, again, one asks: “Why the Netanyahu perfidy this time?”
I have only one guess that I can process. Nothing else is remotely conceivable to me. My guess. It is only a hunch:
Trump forced Netanyahu to do the deal in order for Trump to brag that it happened because of his threat that “all Hell would break loose” if a deal was not done by January 20. (Biden will brag, too, but that was like Jimmy Carter, of accursed memory, y’rakvu atzmotav, bragging that he freed the Iran hostages as Reagan was being sworn in.)
For Netanyahu to agree to such a terrible thing — and he knows how disastrous this is — I can only guess that, in return, Trump promised Netanyahu that, if Israel does the deal to make Trump look good, then Trump will assist Netanyahu in wiping out Iran’s nuclear sites and maybe even in assassinating Khameini and maybe even in taking down the whole Iranian regime. (Trump would not send American troops because he is committed to avoiding all future ruinous wars that other presidents before him have entered. But he could send bunker-busting bombs and aerial support and all kinds of stuff, and twist NATO arms including Turkey, as when he assassinated Qassen Soleimani and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.)
Thus, maybe Netanyahu did an analysis: “If I let the 300 bestial Arab murderers out, that will lead to, say, the murder of 3,000-5,000 Jews over the next 10 years. On the other hand, if Iran’s nuclear system is knocked out and Khameini is assassinated and the Khameini regime taken down, that will save more than multiples of 5,000 Jews who could get killed by Iranian nukes. It also could strangle all the Iranian proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and Abbas in the AEJS, the Arab Entity in Judea and Samaria,)
That’s my best guess. It offers the only rationale I can grasp. Netanyahu’s heart is in the right place, but Bibi likes to over-think himself into a cleverness that means well and that makes him proud that he is the smartest guy in the neighborhood — but is not. Like letting Qatar send Hamas a billion shekels a year so that Gaza and the AEJS each would be led by a competing murderous government that never would be able to unite as a pretextual “Palestine.” Or clever ceasefires that always kept the Arabs divided, with Hamas alive to threaten Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas). Clever. But it didn’t work, did it?
A further wistful thought: And maybe Trump would agree to recognize Israeli annexation of Judea and Samaria? That would help make some sense of all this, but I don’t think so. Ambassador Mike Huckabee would push for it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio would back it. So would Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Vivek Ramaswamy supports it, too. Musk could be persuaded. But I don’t think that’s in this deal’s background. Nor would even that justify this catastrophic deal.
My prayer is that Hamas somehow insanely will turn down and sabotage the proposed deal at the last moment. A similar hopeless moment came when Clinton forced an all-too-willing treacherous Ehud Barak to give Arafat 97% of the land he demanded for a country to be called “Palestine,” including the eastern part of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, plus land within interior Israel in the primarily Arab-populated Galilee Triangle comprising territory equal in size to the 3% of Judea and Samaria Barak could not cede. Clinton and Barak offered Arafat — on a silver platter — a nightmare of a deal.
And, by G-d’s miracle, He hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and Arafat turned down the deal. That made no sense then and is one of the greatest Divine Miracles I have seen in my lifetime, that Arafat turned down everything he asked for.
That’s my hope. But we do not rely on miracles. And lightning does sometimes strike twice. Especially when Israeli prime ministers get the insane idea that they will be advancing Israeli security by giving Arabs territory that belongs to Israel and that Jewish, Druze, and even some Arab boys and girls died for on Israel’s behalf.
[Ed.: I still (really) do not think that The “all Hell will break loose” comment was directed at Israel, but directed at Hamas’s negotiators and Iran. Trump simply would not threaten Israel or issue ultimatums to Israel about what they should do.]
In Trump we trust? Ilan Goodman
No matter who is in the White House and the Knesset, no matter how much they disappoint us, the Jewish people only have one Leader. Op-ed.
Jan 14, 2025, 10:45 PM (GMT+2) – In a few days, Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated as the nation’s 47th president. The nation in this case is America, not Israel. But among many Jews in both countries, you’d never know that. Indeed, the common joke in shuls after his landslide victory was if one should recite Hallel with or without a bracha.
Jews certainly have cause for celebration, or thought they did. In his last term, Trump proved to be perhaps the most pro-Jewish, pro-Israel president in American history. This is the leader after all who finally made good on America’s promise to move its embassy to Jerusalem, who formally recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel, and who hammered out the historic Abraham Accords, securing peace treaties between Israel and UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morrocco. Here is a man who has done more for peace in the Middle East in four years than the US achieved in the previous four decades.
His love of the Jewish people is no less proven. His famous visit to the Rebbe’s ohel during the election, his invitation to the White House to Jewish leaders after his win, and the clear love he shows to his own Jewish daughter and grandchildren, all speak to the hope that the incoming president is someone who is can truly be called “A righteous among the nations.”
If he shone in the past, his future looked even brighter. He already came out strongly in support of releasing the hostages and it seemed clear that he would finally let Israel do what it needs to in order to win this war once and for all.
So why, when I see so many Jews celebrating his win, am I filled with a cold sense of unease? Why am I so worried? I should be giving thanks that our protector has come at last.
It’s because his threats to Hamas hid the contents of the proposed hostage deal that keeps Hamas in power and able to regroup. It seems planned to be a deal Hamas can agree to rather than a deal that allows Israel the victory over Hamas that is in its grasp. It reminds me of another defender of Israel, one who was also supposed to save the country. Ariel Sharon.
For those too young to remember, or those who wish to forget, Ariel Sharon was a celebrated Israeli general, famous for his military victories. He then served as the 11th prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006.
When he defeated Ehud Barak, I remember there being a sense of elation in this country. Finally, we were getting rid of the inept and crooked leadership that had so weakened the country in recent years. Sharon’s credentials couldn’t have been better. From the 1970s through to the 1990s, Sharon had been a staunch supporter of annexing the so-called “West Bank” and Gaza Strip. He had long championed the construction of Israeli communities in those areas.
Now Sharon was finally in power. Now he would finally be able to put his ideas into practice. Now, the nation would finally have a leader who would protect Israel’s inherent right to its native land.
Anyone who knows Israeli history will give a shudder remembering what happened next. For reasons that may never be known in this world, although theories are rampant, once he was in office, Sharon’s policies completely reversed. As Prime Minister, it was none other than Sharon who orchestrated Israel’s unilateral disengagement, more accurately known as the Katif Expulsion, from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
The tragedy of his action was evident even then, when thousands of Jews were expelled from their homes not by invaders or foreign powers, but by their own leadership.
Since then, the insanity of this decision has only become more apparent. Immediately after they were given Gaza the Palestinian Arabs elected Hamas, a terrorist organization, as their leaders. They dismantled the Jewish farms and greenhouses left behind for them and used the materials, as well as the cement the West made Israel allow into the Strip ostensibly to buld homes and schools, to make weapons and dig tunnels to attack the Jewish state.
The terror that came from Gaza led to no less than three wars within less than ten years of the withdrawal. The First Gaza War called Operation Cast Lead in 2008, the 2012 Gaza War called Operation Pillar of Defense, and the 2014 Gaza War called Operation Protective Edge. It also led to countless terror attacks against Israel.
These attacks culminated in the horror that was October 7th. October 7th was in fact nothing other than the natural conclusion to Ariel Sharon’s calamitous decisions as Israel’s leader. All the death and destruction, all the pain this country has endured in the past months, it is Sharon who is directly responsible for it.
Mercifully for the country, Sharon suffered a stroke on January 4, 2006. Had he stayed in power and won the next election, he was planning on “clearing Israel out of most of the ‘West Bank'” in a series of unilateral withdrawals. Had he been successful, the damage to Israel today, if there was still an Israel, would be unimaginable.
This was the same Sharon who was initially greeted as Israel’s hero, if not its savior. No one would ever have guessed, or even suspected that he would be perhaps the most dangerous leader in Israel’s history. Now, when I see the same excitement surrounding Trump, I can’t help but feel worried that history, as it’s been known to do, will repeat itself.
To be perfectly clear, I cannot prove that Trump has done anything to suggest such an about-face, although the terms of the proposed ceasefire are suspiciously bad for Israel. But neither did Sharon, that’s what makes it so scary. I am also not suggesting that Trump will follow down Sharon’s corrupt path. I sincerely hope that I am worrying for nothing and that Trump does indeed turn out to be Israel’s truest friend among the nations.
But I remember the pasuk in Mishlei (21:1), “Like streams of water is the heart of a king in the hand of Hashem, wherever He wishes, so He directs it.” In a Midrash, R. Yishmael expounds this pasuk: “Just as water, when put in a vessel, can be tilted to any side that you wish, so too, when a person rises to greatness, his heart is given in the hand of Hashem. If the world merits — G-d tilts the king’s heart to good, and if the world does not merit — He tilts it to harsh decrees.”
In the end, Trump is nothing more than a tool for Hashem to use as He sees fit. All of Trump’s promises and praises come to nothing if Hashem has other ideas for him. We have already seen this in the case of Sharon. That’s always the danger of pinning our hopes on any leader.
Once again, I am not insinuating that this is what will happen. Instead, I am reminding the Jewish people Who our true leader is, and Who we should always be turning to for our help. It is Hashem, not any temporary leader Who will decide the fate of Israel. It’s to Hashem alone that all our hopes should turn.
It’s good to always bear in mind what David, a king himself, wrote in Tehillim (146:3-6) “Do not trust in princes, in the son of man, who has no salvation. His spirit leaves, and he returns to his soil; on that day, his thoughts are lost. Praiseworthy is he in whose help is the God of Jacob; his hope is in the Lord his God. Who made heaven and Earth, the sea and all that is in them, Who keeps truth forever.”
We must never lose sight of the fact that whoever is running the country, is still Hashem Who is running the world.
I don’t know what the coming months will bring. I don’t know what Trump will do about the situation here in Israel once he is in office. I pray that President Trump will be a righteous messenger of Hashem, and that Hashem will use him to do only good to the nation of Israel and to the Jewish people. I pray that his presidency is a time of blessing for Israel as well as America.
Certainly, we Jews must certainly pray for Trump’s success. But as we do so we must always have in mind where our blessings are truly coming from. Trump is an instrument of Hashem, no more, no less. I sincerely hope that he will be an instrument for good. Whatever happens, good or bad, we must never forget that it’s Hashem and Hashem alone Who we should look to for help.
Jews were able to outlast Biden. We will outlast Trump as well. Only Hashem is eternal.
Ilan Goodman is a museum collections professional and exhibition curator. He also serves as a rabbi and educator. He made Aliyah to Israel in 2011 and lives with his wife and children in Beit Shemesh.
‘Price we’re paying for the deal is unbearable. Disaster’ Dudu Sa’ada
Adv. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner to Arutz Sheva: ‘If the Chief of Staff can’t collapse Hamas, he should leave and let someone else do the job.’
Jan 14, 2025, 3:57 PM (GMT+2) Israel National News – Adv. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, founder of the Shurat HaDin organization, which fights terrorism in the legal arena, spoke to Dudu Saada.
“Five hundred families of terror victims have asked us to represent them in a multi-billion shekel lawsuit against Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, by deducting the money transferred to them – the Palestinian Authority’s budget is 12 billion shekels. There is a precedent of such a lawsuit, when families of victims in the Second Intifada fought in the courts for twenty years, and won,” says Darshan-Leitner.
“Finance Minister in Naftali Bennett’s government Avigdor Liberman, along with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, refused to transfer the money for fear of collapsing the Palestinian Authority. On one of my flights, I sat next to Gantz and we talked, and he said to me, ‘Nitsana, you’re right, but it’s complicated, we’ll talk about it when we get back to Israel…’ Then the government fell and he was saved from making a decision. Bezalel Smotrich was appointed Finance Minister and the first thing he did when he took office was to pay 130 million shekels to the victims of terror,” she added.
On the hostage deal, Darshan-Leitner says: “Hamas is on the verge of collapse. We see that if the IDF is not in Gaza, Hamas finds a way to reestablish themselves very quickly. We entered this war not only to rescue the hostages, but to eradicate Hamas, and it will not happen if we pour new prisoners into it and withdraw from Gaza. If we leave the Philadelphi Route and allow the return of a million Palestinian residents to the northern Gaza Strip, we will lose all our achievements, and this is not what our dear soldiers who sacrificed their lives on the soil of Gaza fought for.”
“We cannot achieve a complete victory this way. We should have eradicated Hamas a long time ago. Every day we pay with the blood of our soldiers because we don’t stay there continuously. If the Chief of Staff can’t do it, let him leave and someone else can do the job. It is inconceivable that Israel will have a terrorist organization on its border, that continues to fire missiles and murder IDF soldiers, and continues to pose a threat to the country. We have to put an end to this,” concludes Darshan-Leitner.
Related articles:
- Watch: MK objects to deal in speech at Mar-a-Lago
- ‘The deal of surrender necessitates elections’
- ‘Do not agree to deal that endangers Israel’s security’
- ‘I am against any deal that does not include all hostages’
Republicans in Israel Chair: ‘Netanyahu should politely tell Trump ‘no” Shimon Cohen
Republicans in Israel Chairman Marc Zell tells Arutz Sheva that he sees the emerging hostage deal as a larger agreement between the US and Israel, but believes Netanyahu should politely refuse it.
Jan 14, 2025, 3:21 PM (GMT+2) Israel National News – In an interview with Israel National News-Arutz Sheva, Republicans Overseas Israel Chairman Marc Zell calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to politely refuse the deal with Hamas that President-elect Trump is pressing on Israel to reach before he takes office. “Israel’s interests must come first,” Zell stated.
We ask Zell if Trump’s threats are aimed also or even mostly at Israel, and if maybe, for that reason Netanyahu is rushing to reach the deal before the inauguration. Zell answers that he does not want to see it as threats or pressure on Israel, but rather a deal between Israel and the US which is the true deal here.
“Trump is a man of deals and negotiations,” says Zell and notes that his two main interests at the moment are to fulfill his promise to the American public to end the war in Gaza and to return the hostages, or at least a large number of them and two present himself to the world as a serious leader who knows how to run things and start a new era. To him, says Zell, the goal is a strong America first.
On the other hand, says Zell, “Israel has its interests, the destruction of Hamas, the release of the hostages, and so on.” To meet these interests, according to him, Trump is offering Netanyahu a deal in which there will be a short ceasefire and the hostages will be released, and in return, Netanyahu will get important leverage in another important issue – the Iranian nuclear issue. “Trump is offering arms and military and diplomatic support, and Netanyahu will get a green light to destroy the head of the Iranian Kraken.”
While that is what Trump is offering Netanyahu to Zell’s estimation, personally, he has a surprising stance. “I, Marc Zell, a Trump supporter, a Republican, and the chairman of the party in Israel; if I were in Netanyahu’s place, I would say that I thank Trump for everything he did in his first term and what he said he would do, and even apologize for that phone call to Biden (congratulating him in 2020), but just like you, Donald, put America first, I need to put Israel first and I can not agree to a situation where Hamas has six weeks to get stronger and we don’t get all the hostages back in one shot. Therefore, I say with all due respect and appreciation, no.”
Zell is careful to stress that Netanyahu should state his refusal with the required courtesy and as part of the negotiations. “I very much appreciate Netanyahu and support what he’s done, and I’m a proud Israeli and Likud member, but in these negotiations, which I don’t know much about, I would say ‘no,’ but politely. We aren’t enemies. We are on the same side, but ‘believe me, Donald, I need to worry about my country and that’s what’s needed. Sorry, but that’s the situation.'”
We spoke with Zell as he was traveling to the airport where he will board a flight to attend Trump’s inauguration next week. On that note, he says: “I know that the entire official world will come after me and I don’t know what’s expected for me there, but as a plain American and Israeli citizen who understands both sides, that’s what I think. In the end, I need to care for the fate of my people here in Israel.”
Related articles:
- In Trump we trust?
- ‘Increasing Jewish communities is correct response to terrorism’
- ‘If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble’
- ‘Progress in talks driven by Trump’s ‘hell to pay’ warning’
[Ed.: I am surprised to learn that Trump’s “Hell to pay” promise was directed at Israel in any way. I thought all along that it was directly addressed to Hamas and their negotiating team. I still cannot imagine that Trump would threaten Israel. I must be missing something here!]
Disillusionment Among Israeli Jews and Arabs Grows After 15 Months of War
January 12, 2024 JBN – After 15 months of war in Gaza, disillusionment is uniting Israel’s Arab and Jewish citizens.
According to a new survey released by Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), confidence in the government remains low at 25% among Jewish respondents and 9% among Arabs. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal approval ratings showed a similar pattern, with 33% support among Jewish Israelis and 8% among Arab citizens.
Both sects showed mixed optimism about the war’s objectives. While 51% of Jewish respondents believed the war in Gaza could be won fully or to a large degree, 38% predicted few or no objectives would be met. Arab respondents were more skeptical, with only 22% expecting significant achievements for Israel and 52% anticipating few or no successes.
Meanwhile, 64% of Jewish Israelis now oppose the creation of a Palestinian state “under any condition.” Among the Arab-Israeli population, 59% opposed a Palestinian state, while 12% supported it, with 29% uncertain. It marks a significant change from historical trends. Between 2006 and 2019, support among Jewish Israelis for a conditional Palestinian state dropped from 71% to 55%, and by 2022 had fallen to 50%.
A third of Jewish respondents also support Israeli annexation of Gaza, with more than half of those (52%) favoring the reestablishment of settlements. Just over half (51%) preferred transferring control to either a moderate Palestinian party or an international entity, while 10% were undecided. Among Arab respondents, only 8% supported annexation, with 54% favoring regional or Palestinian control, and 38% uncertain.
On the northern front, Jewish Israelis were divided over the recent ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon. While 50% supported the ceasefire compared to 27% opposing it, 48.5% believe the terms won’t necessarily allow evacuees to return.
Legal protection for IDF soldiers abroad is essential Nitsana Darshan-Leitner
The hostile groups tracking IDF soldiers aren’t really interested in war crimes. For them, mere detention or arrest is already a victory. But we at Shurat HaDin aren’t resting on our laurels.
January 6, 2025 Israel Hayom – The attempt in Brazil to arrest a discharged IDF soldier who fought in Gaza joins a series of concerning incidents where relatively junior IDF soldiers face the threat of lawfare against Israel. While in the past, the threat of arrest was limited and directed at senior officials, it has now expanded to target rank-and-file soldiers. This is certainly worrying news, but through a few simple steps, personal risks can be avoided in most cases. And don’t worry – we won’t remain on the defensive; we will definitely go on the offensive.
First, let’s put things in order. Some countries allow criminal investigations against foreign citizens within their borders on suspicions of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in other countries. This is called “universal jurisdiction.” The risk increases in certain countries where ordinary citizens can initiate criminal investigations in ways that state authorities don’t fully or partially control. This was the case in Britain, for example, in the attempted arrest of Maj. Gen. (ret.) Doron Almog in 2005, about two years after his retirement from the IDF, due to an investigation initiated by citizens.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague is now joining this “celebration,” having opened an investigation and issued arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. While the court focuses only on senior officials, this doesn’t mean a soldier won’t be required to testify before the court in one of the approximately 120 member countries, perhaps to establish charges against senior officials through their testimony.
The heart of the risk lies in social media: soldiers upload documentation of themselves and their comrades during combat. It’s right to review accounts before traveling abroad and delete such past posts, but this doesn’t solve the problem: hostile groups tracking IDF soldiers collect this information, and removing it from the internet won’t eliminate information already collected.
It’s important to understand that these groups aren’t really interested in war crimes. They pursue IDF soldiers as such. They don’t care if there’s operational justification for the uploaded documentation. For them, even if it doesn’t mature into an indictment, the mere detention or arrest is already a victory because it sends a problematic message to every Israeli enlisting in IDF combat roles.
Besides defense, there’s also offense. We at Shurat HaDin aren’t resting on our laurels. Thus, after Spanish authorities sought to investigate Israeli officers, we recruited families of victims killed in Kosovo by NATO bombings, of which Spain is a member, to file a complaint in Spain against officials. Lo and behold, the courts found a way to close the investigations against us, and the law in Spain was subsequently changed.
Meanwhile, awareness and taking steps to prevent unnecessary complications in advance are important. Israeli authorities must, of course, provide our warriors with complete and proper defensive coverage. We, for our part, will continue to stand alongside IDF soldiers.
Report: Israel To Release Over 3,000 Terrorists, Including 48 Released In Shalit Deal
January 12, 2025 Yeshiva World News – As negotiations for a hostage deal continue, details are emerging regarding the number of terrorists to be released as part of the agreement.
Qadura Fares, the head of the commission for Palestinian prisoner affairs, told Palestinian media on Sunday that he’s preparing to release over 3,000 terrorists.
Fares claims that in the first phase of the deal, 25 Israeli hostages held in Gaza will be released in exchange for the release of 1,200 terrorists from Israeli jails. The released terrorists will include 48 terrorists previously released during the Shalit deal in 2011 who were re-arrested after returning to terror activities; 200 terrorists serving life sentences; and all female and minor terrorists.
It should be noted that slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 massacre, was released in the Shalit deal.
Fares added that about another 1,800 terrorists will be released in exchange for the rest of the hostages, including IDF soldiers. Hamas is demanding a “higher price” for abducted IDF soldiers.
Fares also noted that the terrorists who will be released, apart from those sentenced to life imprisonment, will return to their homes in Yehudah and Shomron, Israel, or Gaza. The others will likely be deported to Qatar, Egypt, or Turkey.
[Ed.:
