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In-Depth Issues:
U.S. to Establish Military Presence at Damascus Airbase under Israel-Syria Pact - Suleiman Al-Khalidi ( Reuters)
The U.S. is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help enable a security pact that Washington is brokering between Syria and Israel.
The U.S. presence would be a sign of Syria's strategic realignment with America.
The base sits at the gateway to parts of southern Syria that are expected to make up a demilitarized zone as part of a non-aggression pact between Israel and Syria being mediated by U.S. It would be used to help monitor the agreement.
Israeli Medical Delegation Heading to Assist Hurricane-Struck Jamaica - Diana Bletter ( Times of Israel)
An Israeli medical delegation left for Jamaica on Wednesday to provide humanitarian assistance following the hurricane that struck the island last week.
Health Ministry deputy director general Dr. Sefi Mendelovich and Shaare Zedek Medical Center director Prof. Ofer Marin will lead 30 doctors, nurses and paramedical staff.
A Roadmap for Israel-Lebanon Peace - Hanin Ghaddar, Robert Satloff, and Ehud Yaari ( Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
Since the Nov. 2024 Lebanon ceasefire with Israel, the idea of peace has featured in public discourse in Lebanon, appearing in television debates, newspaper articles, and interviews with officials.
Hizbullah's military defeat undermined the appeal of the long-dominant "resistance" rhetoric and convinced a broad swath of Lebanese that only peace could end the wars that have pummeled the country for the past four decades.
Yet even in its weakened state, Hizbullah remains armed and dangerous, able to cow other political forces in the country.
Thus, disarming Hizbullah is the main prerequisite for peace.
Pursuing even incremental steps toward peace will be an uphill climb in a country long dominated by Iran's chief regional proxy.
Follow the Jerusalem Center on:
Israel Transforms the Security Landscape of Judea and Samaria - Mitchell Bard ( JNS)
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has scored a clear and decisive victory in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), striking a long-overdue blow against the terrorist infrastructure threatening its heartland.
Hamas had hoped that its massacre would ignite a new intifada that would engulf Israel. However, while some West Bank Palestinians cheered the atrocities and a few joined in, the region never erupted.
Many Palestinians in the West Bank share Hamas's genocidal ideology.
Yet, watching the IDF's relentless operations in Gaza, one poll found that 74% were concerned that the West Bank could be destroyed like Gaza. Fear of losing everything can temper Palestinian extremism.
On Jan. 21, 2025, the IDF launched "Operation Iron Wall" to dismantle the terror networks spreading in the West Bank.
With global attention fixed on Gaza, Israel was able to act decisively without the paralyzing glare of international outrage.
The campaign began in the terrorist stronghold of Jenin. Bulldozers cleared IEDs, blocked escape routes and flushed out militants.
Operations expanded to Tulkarem and Nur al-Shams, other terror hubs, to end decades of unchallenged lawlessness.
By fall, Israel had killed more than 1,000 terrorists and seized more than 2,000 weapons.
Most senior terrorists on the wanted list and Iranian arms smuggling networks have been neutralized.
IDF operations in the Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur al-Shams refugee camps were intended to end their historical role as breeding grounds for terror.
Why October 7 Strengthened Israel - Rabbi Avi Weiss ( Jerusalem Post)
Israel is suffering from deep PTSD. Almost one thousand soldiers were killed, forever altering the lives of their families and friends. Thousands of wounded face years of rehabilitation.
Yet there is another side to the story. Some say Oct. 7 proved that Israel's founding purpose was breached, that Jews were once again slaughtered mercilessly.
I contend the reverse: Israel's reason for being was reaffirmed. In the past, when attacked in pogroms and massacres, Jews lacked the means to fight back. Now we did.
Reservists donned their uniforms again, some returning from abroad, putting their lives and limbs on the line.
Israelis fought like lions and lionesses - with courage and with a moral compass unmatched in the history of war - proving to the world, and to ourselves, that Jewish blood would never again be cheap.
There remained a deep sense that we are not only a nation but a family.
Walking through the streets of Jerusalem these days, one senses a weight lifted from the nation's shoulders. We can finally breathe again: the living hostages are home.
The writer is founding rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, N.Y.
Israeli Economy Proves Resilient, despite Wartime Pressure - Shimon Sherman ( JNS)
Since the outbreak of war on Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli economy has continued to demonstrate remarkable resilience.
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange rose by 81% between October 2023 and October 2025.
The shekel has appreciated by 9.3% against the U.S. dollar.
The Bank of Israel reported that gross domestic product grew by 3.7% (annualized) in the first quarter of 2025, a pace close to the country's long-term average.
In the first half of 2025, Israeli startups raised $9.3 billion.
"Israel's economy is one of the most resilient in the entire developed world," said Dan Ben-David, president of the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research at Tel Aviv University.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- U.S. Seeks Two-Year UN Mandate for Gaza Stabilization Force - Adam Rasgon
The U.S. is seeking a mandate of at least two years from the UN Security Council for an international stabilization force to be deployed in Gaza. According to a draft resolution, the force would work with Israel and Egypt to ensure the process of demilitarizing Gaza, including the "permanent decommissioning" of weapons from armed groups. It would also train and support Palestinian police personnel, protect civilians and work to secure humanitarian corridors.
It was not clear how the international force would ensure that Gaza is demilitarized. Hamas has long regarded giving up all its weapons as tantamount to surrender, with armed struggle against Israel a crucial part of its ideology. A Security Council mandate is seen as necessary to persuade many countries to consider sending troops to Gaza.
A number of countries have been skittish about committing soldiers to the force, fearing they could potentially come into direct conflict with Hamas. The draft resolution would also sideline the Palestinian Authority until it completes unspecified changes. (New York Times)
See also Israel Worried about Weak Gaza Stabilization Force - Ron Ben-Yishai
The U.S. is not seeking a Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force, but rather a vaguely worded document that would allow the council to endorse the formation of a stabilization force for Gaza established by the U.S. in coordination with Arab and Muslim countries.
The original plan presented by Trump concerning the disarmament of Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorist groups used the term "disarmament." However, the draft proposal to the council uses the term "decommissioning." This softer and vaguer phrase may allow Hamas to avoid surrendering all its weapons to an external authority.
Another point of concern for Israel is the reliance on the UN as the source of authority for establishing the stabilization force. This could give the UN influence over the rules of engagement granted to the force. Israeli officials fear a repeat of the UNIFIL experience in southern Lebanon, where international forces repeatedly failed to disarm Hizbullah. Its presence could hinder Israel's ability to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities and infrastructure. (Ynet News)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israel: International Stabilization Force Must Focus on Disarming Hamas, Not Becoming Another Ineffective UN Force - Amichai Stein
Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon warned Wednesday in an interview that the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza should not become another "ineffective mechanism, like UNIFIL," referring to the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.
"We have to learn from the mistakes of the past. You want something constructive and effective, not an international presence that looks good on paper but actually destabilizes the situation....Israel's red line is effectiveness. We can't afford a symbolic force that doesn't act."
Asked about a possible Gaza role for the Palestinian Authority, Danon said: "We've seen the weakness of the PA in Judea and Samaria.... Looking purely at capabilities, they simply don't have them. They can't control large areas even in the West Bank, so expectations for them in Gaza are unrealistic today." He noted that the U.S. plan envisions a future role for the PA, conditional on significant reforms and capacity-building. "But that's a long way off."
"The ISF has to have the ability and the authority to act, to neutralize those tunnels, to remove Hamas's weapons." If Hamas is allowed to survive militarily, "it will be a failure of the entire mission."
(Jerusalem Post)
- Remains of Hostage Itay Chen Returned to Israel
The remains of Gaza hostage IDF St.-Sgt. Itay Chen were identified at the National Institute for Forensic Medicine on Wednesday, the Prime Minister's Office announced. An Israeli-American dual national, Chen was killed on Oct. 7 while serving in the armored corps.
(Jerusalem Post)
See also Hamas Returns Body of Tanzanian Agricultural Intern - Emanuel Fabian
The body of Tanzanian national Joshua Mollel, an agricultural intern at Kibbutz Nahal Oz who was murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, was returned to Israel by Hamas on Wednesday. The bodies of six slain hostages still remain in Gaza. (Times of Israel)
- Israel Declares Closed Military Zone along Egypt Border to Combat Drone Smuggling - Yoav Zitun
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF on Thursday to declare the area adjacent to the Israel-Egypt border a closed military zone to confront a surge in drone-enabled weapons smuggling. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir has ordered the creation of a special unit to deal with smuggling by drones from Egypt.
"Smuggling weapons by drone is part of the war in Gaza and is meant to arm our enemies," Katz said. "We must take every measure to stop it. Just as we created deterrence against Hizbullah in Lebanon on the issue of unmanned aerial systems and attacks on communities, we must create deterrence here and make clear to those involved in smuggling that the rules of the game have changed and they will pay a very heavy price if they do not stop." (Ynet News)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War
- Why Gaza Does Not Need "Peacekeepers" and "Monitors" - Khaled Abu Toameh
On Nov. 4, Musa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official, told Qatar's Al-Jazeera that there is a "Palestinian consensus that the security force in Gaza should be Palestinian, under the leadership of the committee managing the Strip." Is Hamas planning to thwart U.S. efforts to deploy an international force in Gaza?
According to a U.S. official, the proposed International Security Force (ISF) will be an "enforcement force and not a peacekeeping force." According to the draft resolution sent by the U.S. to members of the UN Security Council, the ISF would "stabilize the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarization and prevention of rebuilding of military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups."
Hamas is opposed to an international force, viewing it as a direct threat to its rule over Gaza. It is unrealistic to think that soldiers of any outside force - especially Arab and Muslim troops - would risk being shot at by trying to stop any military reconstruction in Gaza by Hamas or other terrorist groups. This bad bet was made unmistakably clear by the presence of UNIFIL in Lebanon, where it took about a minute for the UNIFIL forces to support the terrorists, not confront them.
The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. (Gatestone Institute)
- Until Hamas Is Disarmed, Gaza Has No Future - Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib
King Abdullah II of Jordan recently told BBC: "What is the mandate of security forces [to be posted] inside of Gaza? If it's peace-enforcing, nobody will want to touch that." He is surely correct that no Arab or Muslim country will want to place its soldiers between Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces.
Hamas regularly speaks of its unwillingness to disarm and has made clear that it wants to maintain its security dominion over Gaza. With each passing day, Hamas further re-entrenches its control. The group is collecting unexploded munitions in order to rearm.
If Israel becomes convinced that Gaza is headed back to the situation that prevailed on Oct. 7, then no amount of U.S. pressure will prevent Israel from acting unilaterally.
Even President Trump has signaled that his commitment to the war's end is contingent on Hamas disarming.
A credible political process cannot be established without first sidelining Hamas's munitions and armaments. But if an international stabilization force is a political mirage that has no realistic chance of working as envisioned in Trump's plan, then who could possibly take on what remains of Hamas to disarm it and decommission its extensive tunnel network?
The writer, a Gaza native, is a resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council.
(Atlantic)
- To Secure Long-Term Peace, Fix Gaza's Schools - Todd L. Pittinsky
For decades, billions have been poured into Gaza. The biggest scandal is what's been taught in Gaza's schools - in large part funded through Western largesse. Every generation in Gaza grows up memorizing the language of martyrdom. Schools, summer camps, mosques and media channels work in concert to instill an uncompromising worldview: violence is virtuous, compromise is weakness, and the annihilation of Israel is a sacred duty.
Few parents in London, Paris or Washington would tolerate their child being taught that violence is noble or that neighbors are subhuman. Yet the international community has subsidized precisely that curriculum for Palestinian children - and then has acted shocked when violence perpetuates itself.
To ensure that hate does not take root again, reconstruction aid must come with nonnegotiable conditions: independent curriculum oversight by external auditors with direct access to materials and classrooms, teacher vetting for extremist affiliations and full donor transparency.
When Western taxpayers fund schools, they have every right to insist those schools don't teach children to become terrorists. Indeed, they have every obligation to do so. We now know what failure looks like.
The proper test in rebuilding a decent society for Palestinians is whether we enforce the standards we would insist upon for our own children. Gaza's children deserve schools that prepare them for life, not death.
The writer is a professor in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at State University of New York at Stony Brook. (Washington Post)
Iran
- How the Iranian Regime Infiltrates French Society, Recruits Agents - Mathilda Heller
The Iranian embassy in Paris acts as a branch office of the IRGC Quds Force to recruit journalists, academics, and students who can act as propaganda tools of the Iranian regime, a French report into Iran's "shadow war" has revealed. The Infiltration of the Islamic Republic of Iran in France was compiled by the France2050 think tank and has been presented to the French Parliament.
The report states that Iran has two major aims: to pressure France on the Iranian nuclear issue and Israel, and to bring "chaos without war" into the heart of democracies as part of the strategy of "global jihad" written into the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iranian spymasters carefully scrutinize political television shows, radio broadcasts, newspapers, and university conferences to spot "compatible profiles" for potential agents and then organize seminars or events to facilitate meetings. "The goal: to seduce them intellectually and reshape their understanding of the Islamic Republic of Iran." While some agents are offered payment for their involvement, "the embassy prefers influence agents motivated by ideology rather than money."
Iran seeks to weaponize pro-Palestinian protests to create tension in French society. The large-scale display of Palestinian flags in France is partially organized by Iran to "bring chaos without war." (Jerusalem Post)
Israel and the West
- The BBC Knowingly Helped Spread Hamas Lies and Hate - Danny Cohen
The leaked Prescott Report is a devastating insider's account of serious and widespread failings of impartiality, systemic bias, and activist journalism spanning years of BBC news coverage. It lays bare how senior BBC executives repeatedly failed to uphold the highest standards of public service journalism. Michael Prescott's memo to the BBC Board exposes in forensic detail a deep and pervasive bias in the BBC newsroom.
In the BBC's coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, for example, statements referring to "eyewitnesses" included Samer Elzaenen, who appeared on BBC Arabic 244 times between Nov. 2023 and April 2025. Elzaenen called on social media for Jews to be burnt as "Hitler did." Ahmad Alagha, who described Jews as "devils" and Israelis as less than human, appeared 522 times on BBC Arabic.
The Prescott document also exposes how the BBC's flagship current affairs program "Newsnight" highlighted claims that thousands of babies were on the brink of starvation in Gaza that it already knew to be false. And it charts how BBC News gave extensive coverage to stories that painted Israel as the aggressor while burying stories that contradicted that narrative.
Those at the top of the BBC have spent two years assuring me and others within the British Jewish community that they take issues of antisemitism and bias seriously. This report provides hard evidence that the BBC has helped to push Hamas lies around the world and fueled antisemitism at home. Those responsible for overseeing this deep offense to impartial journalism should hang their heads in shame and resign. The BBC is not safe in their hands.
The writer is a former Director of BBC Television. (Telegraph-UK)
- Former UK PM Boris Johnson: "Strange to See Intellectuals Supporting Hamas" - Josh Aronson
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a European Jewish Association conference that it was "strange to see intellectuals supporting Hamas....It is sad and surprising to see a large number of middle-class intellectuals wearing keffiyehs, marching in the streets of London, and calling for Israel to be wiped off the map." Johnson urged political leaders "to tell the truth" about the difference between Israel and Hamas, "an organization that still holds to its charter calling for the destruction of Israel."
Johnson criticized the decision by Britain to recognize a Palestinian state. "Israel has always faced an existential threat. Why choose this particular moment? Under the conditions of the Montevideo Convention of 1933...[a Palestinian state] doesn't even meet the criteria. You don't know the borders of this entity, you don't know who will run it. It was about managing the pressure within the Labour Party...and Muslim constituencies in metropolitan areas." (Jerusalem Post)
Observations:
Avi Dichter, former head of the Israel Security Agency
- "I don't think Hamas will volunteer to put aside its weapons; without weapons, there is no Hamas," MK Avi Dichter, former head of the Israel Security Agency, said Wednesday during the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs conference on the future of Israel and Gaza. Therefore, it is more likely that Israel will be forced to disarm the group through military means. "In this region, what doesn't go with force, goes with extra force."
- Nevertheless, Dichter predicted that "Gaza will not be dominated by the Palestinian Authority, and Gaza will not be dominated by Hamas." Moreover, Gazans will not see the inside of the State of Israel for "two generations at least, only in photos."
- The rebuilding of Gaza depends on the rehabilitation of the people of Gaza, he argued. He recalled how, on Oct. 7, 2023, the third wave of people to enter Israel were "so-called uninvolved Gazan civilians, something which in normal culture we can't even imagine. They applauded when the Israeli hostages were kidnapped to Gaza," saying that the radical ideology and desire for jihad in Gaza remain strong.
- "The main message of our region is if you are weak, you will disappear. If you are small and weak, you will disappear much faster. We are small, but we don't want to be weak. We don't have the option of losing."
Oded Ailam, former head of the Mossad Counterterror Division
- Oded Ailam, former head of the Mossad Counterterror Division, said, "People say that to change Gaza you must change beliefs," but such statements are "useless." "Beliefs are like tattoos. You cannot erase them with speeches. You have to change the incentive environment that causes those beliefs to prevail. And if we have some lessons from the real world, it's that ideas don't kill, but capacity kills, which means the first and the only thing that we have to do is to somehow dismantle the capacity of the Palestinians in Gaza to kill."
- Ailam said there were hardly any examples in the modern era of Islamic terrorist groups that were willing to disarm. More common is the situation with the Houthis in Yemen and Hizbullah in Lebanon, where agreements are reached but the terror groups keep their weapons. However, such an agreement cannot be allowed in Gaza. Otherwise, there's no chance for any entity in Gaza to replace Hamas.
- Regarding disarmament, Ailam said: "I don't see any way that external forces from America, from Egypt, from the Emirates will do it....So I'm pretty much skeptical of the next phase of the Trump agreement. It's not an agreement, it's a letter of intent."
- "If Israel and the United States allow Turkey and Qatar to have a major force within Gaza, you can be sure that Hamas would not be dismantled. We have a major problem right now because this American administration wants [Turkey and Qatar in Gaza] because of their important part in achieving the deal. But the payment will be paid by Israel."
- "Gaza is the only place on earth where the Muslim Brotherhood has managed to take governance of a real state. However, Gaza is not their goal, it's not their aspiration. They want to be everywhere - in Madrid, Dearborn, Paris....Gaza is just their start-up."
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