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In-Depth Issues:
Israel Strikes Hamas Leader's Underground Bunker at Gaza Hospital - Bar Peleg ( Ha'aretz)
The Israeli army attempted on Tuesday to target Mohammed Sinwar, Hamas's leader in Gaza and the brother of slain former leader Yahya Sinwar. It is not yet clear if he was killed.
Sinwar and other Hamas operatives were located in an underground "command and control center" beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.
Palestinian media reported that at least 16 people were killed and 70 were wounded in the strike.
Footage from Gaza shows residents rescuing wounded individuals buried under the ground.
Senior Hamas member Mahmoud Ishtiwi, who was executed by the group in February 2016, described Mohammed Sinwar as "the monster, the bad cop" in documents found by the IDF in Gaza in 2024.
Ishtiwi compared Mohammed to his brother, former leader Yahya Sinwar, describing Yahya as "the good cop." Yahya was killed in October by IDF troops in Rafah.
See also Israel Estimates that Mohammed Sinwar Was Eliminated - Lilach Shoval ( Israel Hayom)
Eliminating the Most Dangerous Man in Gaza Is Not the End of Hamas - Avi Issacharoff ( Ynet News)
Mohammed Sinwar has been one of the hardest-line figures in the Hamas leadership - arguably even more extreme than his brother Yahya.
He was among the top operatives behind the Oct. 7 attack and has shown a ruthless willingness to sacrifice tens of thousands of lives if it means preserving Hamas's hold on Gaza.
He has repeatedly been an obstacle to any deal with Israel or a ceasefire.
The removal of Mohammed Sinwar, 49, would deal Hamas a significant military and symbolic blow.
He commanded Hamas's Khan Yunis brigade during the 2006 abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and played a direct role in planning and leading the operation.
Houthi Ceasefire Followed U.S. Intelligence Showing Militants Sought Off-Ramp - Phil Stewart ( Reuters)
U.S. intelligence picked up indications around the first weekend in May that Houthi fighters in Yemen were looking for an exit after seven weeks of relentless U.S. bombings, four U.S. officials said.
"We started getting intel that the Houthis had had enough," one source said.
The U.S. bombing campaign came to an abrupt halt on May 6 after 52 days.
Two sources said Iran played an important role in encouraging the Houthis to negotiate, as Tehran pursues its own talks with the U.S.
Follow the Jerusalem Center on:
UN Envoy Took Trips Paid for by Hamas-Linked Groups and Lied about It - Itamar Eichner ( Ynet News)
UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese received $20,000 from pro-Hamas groups to fund trips to Australia and New Zealand in late 2023 - shortly after Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre, according to a UN Watch report.
The trips were funded by several pro-Palestinian organizations, including Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFPA), Free Palestine Melbourne, Palestinians in Aotearoa, Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) and Palestinian Christians in Australia.
AFPA openly announced on its website that it had sponsored her visit.
It also published a video of a woman reading the will of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, rejecting diplomacy and calling for continued armed resistance.
Albanese has compared Prime Minister Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, claimed the U.S. is controlled by Jews, and called for the destruction of Israel.
See also Report: Why Democracies Should Sanction UN Rapporteur
Francesca Albanese for Propagating Antisemitism and Supporting Terrorism ( UN Watch)
Pro-ISIS Man Planned to Attack U.S. Army Base in Michigan - Neil Vigdor ( New York Times)
Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, 19, was arrested outside the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command in Warren, Mich., where he had launched a drone for purposes of aerial surveillance after planning to carry out an attack on the military base outside Detroit for the Islamic State, the FBI said Tuesday.
Said had unknowingly discussed his plans with federal agents since last June.
He said he was "fed up with this country" and had long desired to engage in a violent jihad, either by traveling to an ISIS-held territory abroad or carrying out an attack in the U.S.
Brig.-Gen. Rhett R. Cox, head of the Army Counterintelligence Command, said Wednesday that Said's arrest was a "sobering reminder" of the importance of counterintelligence efforts.
Amid Rising Antisemitism, Jewish Life Is Surging on U.S. Campuses - Yossy Gordon ( Jerusalem Post)
Jewish students are seeking meaning, rootedness, something quieter and more lasting than the next headline.
Across 950 universities, students have been showing up at Chabad on Campus in growing numbers: not just to eat, but to feel, ask questions, remember who they are, and figure out what being Jewish actually means to them, outside of politics, headlines, and hashtags.
Oct. 7 revealed something to many young Jews: how deeply their Jewish identity matters to them. They want to feel part of something larger and more enduring than their online profile or their politics.
We have to offer more than responses to antisemitism. We need to offer something to live for, not just something to fight against.
The writer, a rabbi, is CEO of Chabad on Campus International.
Stunning Aerial Photos Capture Israel's Beauty ( Ynet News)
This Independence Day photo feature showcases some of the most breathtaking aerial images of Israel taken over the past decade.
The photos highlight Israel's golden sunsets, Mediterranean shores, blooming fields, city skylines, desert vistas and agricultural groves.
Search the Recent History of Israel and the Middle East
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Trump in Riyadh: "All Civilized People Must Condemn the October 7 Atrocities Against Israel"
President Donald Trump said in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday:
"I've come this afternoon to talk about the bright future of the Middle East...forging a future where the Middle East is defined by commerce, not chaos; where it exports technology, not terrorism; and where people of different nations, religions and creeds are building cities together, not bombing each other out of existence."
"The Gulf nations have shown this entire region a path toward safe and orderly societies with improving quality of life, flourishing economic growth, expanding personal freedoms, and increasing responsibilities on the world stage."
"It's my fervent hope, wish and even my dream that Saudi Arabia...will soon be joining the Abraham Accords....They've been an absolute bonanza for the countries that have joined....It will be a special day in the Middle East, with the whole world watching, when Saudi Arabia joins us...but you'll do it in your own time."
"Now working with the vast majority of people in this region who seek stability and calm, our task is to unify against a few agents of chaos and terror that are left and that are holding hostage the dreams of millions and millions of great people. The biggest and most destructive of these forces is the regime in Iran, which has caused unthinkable suffering in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Yemen and beyond....Iran's leaders have focused on stealing their people's wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad."
"I want to make a deal with Iran....But if Iran's leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero, like I did before...and take all action required to stop the regime from ever having a nuclear weapon....We'll never allow America and its allies to be threatened with terrorism or nuclear attack."
"All civilized people must condemn the October 7th atrocities against Israel....The people of Gaza deserve a much better future, but that cannot occur as long as their leaders choose to kidnap, torture and target innocent men, women and children for political ends." (Roll Call)
- Netanyahu: There Is "No Way" Israel Halts War in Gaza until Hamas Is Defeated - Melanie Lidman
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday there is "no way" Israel will halt its war in Gaza even if a deal is reached to release more hostages. The prime minister said Israeli forces were just days away from a promised escalation of force and would enter Gaza "with great strength to complete the mission....It means destroying Hamas."
Netanyahu said that if Hamas were to say they would release more hostages, "we'll take them, and then we'll go in. But there will be no way we will stop the war. We can make a ceasefire for a certain period of time, but we're going to the end." (AP-Washington Post)
- U.S.-Backed Aid Group to Start Work in Gaza - Michelle Nichols
A U.S.-backed humanitarian organization will start work in Gaza by the end of May under a new aid distribution plan. Israel has said it backs "the American humanitarian plan," which involves private companies - instead of the UN - transporting aid to a number of secure distribution sites in Gaza.
The newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will run the operation. U.S. security firm UG Solutions and U.S.-based Safe Reach Solutions, which does logistics and planning, would be involved. Washington has urged the UN and aid groups to cooperate with the GHF.
(Reuters)
See also Israel to UN: "Aid Will No Longer Reach Hamas"
Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the current UN humanitarian aid system enables Hamas to benefit and must be stopped. "Aid will no longer reach Hamas," Danon said.
In March, former hostage Eli Sharabi told the UNSC that as an "eyewitness," he saw what happened to the aid. The aid was stolen by Hamas and fed the "terrorists who tortured me and murdered my family." The "terrorists would eat many meals a day from the UN aid in front of us," while the hostages never got any of it. (Jerusalem Post)
- Trump Asks Syria to Join Abraham Accords, Normalize Ties with Israel in Return for Sanctions Relief
President Donald Trump asked Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to fully normalize relations with Israel in exchange for sanctions relief during their meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Wednesday. The White House reported that Trump encouraged al-Sharaa to sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel, tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria, deport "Palestinian terrorists," help the U.S. prevent the resurgence of ISIS and assume charge of ISIS detention centers in northeast Syria. (Fox News)
- U.S. to Sell Saudi Arabia Arms Worth $142 Billion - Callum Sutherland
The U.S. has agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, the White House announced Tuesday. The package includes deals with more than a dozen American defense companies in sectors including air and missile defense.
(TIME)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Palestinian Terrorist Murders Pregnant Israeli Woman on Her Way to Hospital to Give Birth - Elisha Ben Kimon
Tzila Gez, a pregnant Israeli woman, was killed in a shooting attack Wednesday night while on her way to give birth. Her husband was wounded. A Palestinian terrorist opened fire on them near Bruchin in Samaria. Three vehicles were targeted by gunfire on Highway 446 from a passing vehicle. The baby, delivered by C-section, is in serious but stable condition.
Magen David Adom paramedic Erez Vogel said, "We saw a private vehicle with signs of gunfire. Inside was a woman in the driver's seat, unconscious and suffering from severe gunshot wounds. In the passenger seat sat a man in his 40s, fully conscious, who was also wounded by gunfire. He was trying to treat the injured woman next to him, attempting to stop her bleeding. We pulled both of them out of the vehicle and provided medical treatment." (Ynet News-Ha'aretz)
- IDF Intercepts Houthi Missile Targeting Israel on Wednesday
The IDF intercepted a missile fired at Israel by the Houthis in Yemen on Wednesday morning. Sirens sounded in central Israel and the Jerusalem area. This is the third missile attack in the past 24 hours after two missiles were fired on Tuesday, one intercepted by IDF aerial defenses and the other fell short.
(Ynet News)
- IDF Anti-Terror Operations Transform Tulkarm - Elisha Ben Kimon
IDF Lt.-Col. Netanel Shamkeh says 3 1/2 months after the launch of operations initially focused on Jenin and later expanded to Tulkarm and Nur Shams, the landscape in the northern West Bank has been transformed. "Of roughly 100 terrorists who once controlled the [Nur Shams] camp, only 20 to 30 remain, either in hiding or on the run. The entrances, once booby-trapped and patrolled by armed men under Hamas and Islamic Jihad flags, are now quiet. Today I can walk through the area unarmed."
Life continues in the nearby city of Tulkarm, where markets are open and schools have resumed. "People used to throw stones at us and open fire. Now they understand we're not going anywhere," Shamkeh said. (Ynet News)
See also IDF Destroys Explosives Lab in Tulkarm in Samaria
IDF soldiers located an explosives lab in the West Bank city of Tulkarm containing 200 explosive devices and 150 kg. of raw materials, the military announced Wednesday. The lab was destroyed.
(Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War
- How Hamas Used American Hostage Edan Alexander as a Pawn - Dr. Dan Diker
While we celebrate the release of Israeli/American hostage Edan Alexander, we should not be fooled that this is a Hamas gesture to the U.S. Rather, this is Hamas's further weaponization and exploitation of hostages as acts of political and cognitive warfare against Israel. It is designed to further legitimize Hamas as a viable negotiator and keep Hamas in power.
Hamas-affiliated media have branded the release as the Edan deal, portraying Hamas as a rising international player and sidelining Israel from direct talks with Washington. However, President Trump has stated clearly that Hamas must be dislodged from Gaza. The U.S. is committed to regional security, Israeli-Saudi normalization, and the end of Islamic extremist terror.
The writer is president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. (Jerusalem Post)
- Freed Hostage Edan Alexander Bound with a Bag over His Head - Lihi Gordon
Edan Alexander, who was released from Hamas captivity on Monday, spent part of his time in captivity bound and with a bag over his head. He described the first days after his abduction as "hell." During his captivity, he was held by senior Hamas officials, considered a valuable asset due to his American citizenship. His captors subjected him to abuse and severe torture during the initial days. He returned covered in flea bites and with visible injuries. He told Prime Minister Netanyahu that he feels weak and will need time to recover.
(Ynet News)
- Hamas Has Got to Go - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee interviewed by Harry Moskoff
Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in an interview: "What [Hamas] did on October 7 was not an act of war. It was an act of the most vicious, uncivilized terror that we've seen....There was an intent to inflict the highest level of pain and humiliation upon the victims. The victims were targeted to be civilians. They were targeted to be vulnerable people, elderly people, pregnant women, babies."
"When you target people like that for the actions that they carried out, those are not acts of war. Those are acts of criminal, uncivilized, savage behavior that can only be met with the desire to say: this can never be. If you put it in biblical terms, it's like going after the Amalekites in the Old Testament. And God says don't let any of it last. It's all got to go." (Jerusalem Post)
Iran
- Republicans in Congress Say No Nuclear Enrichment for Iran - Editorial
A letter on Wednesday signed by 52 GOP Senators and 177 House Republicans asks President Trump to "reinforce the explicit warnings that you and officials in your administration have issued that the [Iranian] regime must permanently give up any capacity for enrichment." They aren't buying that the regime can be trusted to enrich only a little.
Last week, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said "an enrichment program can never exist in the state of Iran ever again. That's our red line. Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan - those are their three enrichment facilities - have to be dismantled. They cannot have centrifuges. They have to downblend all of their fuel and send it to a faraway place." Unlike the 2015 deal, "there will never be a deal where obligations are allowed to sunset." (Wall Street Journal)
See also Text: Congressional Letter Calling to Dismantle Iran's Nuclear Program (U.S. Senate)
Israel-U.S. Relations
- Witkoff: We Can't Tell Our Ally Israel What to Do - Bar Peleg
U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met in Tel Aviv on Tuesday with families of Israeli hostages, one of whom asked, "Why aren't you forcing the Israeli government to stop the war?"
Witkoff responded, "We're not the Israeli government. We don't disagree. The Israeli government is a sovereign government. They can't tell us what to do, and we can't tell them what to do. You're our ally. It's not for us to tell a sovereign country how to engage in foreign policy. It's just not."
There "may be a lot of things that you're not aware of that the Israeli government is doing that's actually helpful. And there's just things that can't be said or can't be talked about....But you have an elected government today. We have to be working with them. They are at the table with the negotiating team in Doha." (Ha'aretz)
Israel-Europe Relations
- Israel-Bashing Eurovision Has-Beens Shame Themselves by Targeting October 7 Survivor - Angela Epstein
The Eurovision Song Contest, the world's largest song festival, prides itself in being tone deaf to politics.
This year there are calls to ban the Israeli entry sung by Yuval Raphael. The last time she attended an event celebrating music, song and peace was at Israel's Nova festival on Oct. 7, 2023. As Hamas stormed in from Gaza, Yuval fled for her life, taking refuge in a bomb shelter, crammed in with 50 others as the terrorists fired guns and threw in grenades.
Hiding under a pile of dead bodies for eight hours, the singer was one of only 11 people in the shelter to survive. She still has shrapnel in her leg. But instead of applauding Yuval's resilience, as well as her repeated messages of peace and hope, 70 former contestants are calling for a discussion over Israel's inclusion.
Their position is ill informed and pathetic - a grotesque inversion of morality and an utter betrayal of human dignity and decency. It is unthinkable that a young woman who survived the Oct. 7 massacre should be vilified this way. Yuval was just a music fan. She had no appetite for war or politics. And yet, through no fault of her own, she is being forced to travel with a full security detail. (Daily Express-UK)
See also The Repugnant Campaign Against Israel's Eurovision Star - Andrea Seaman
The Swiss singer Nemo, the winner of last year's Eurovision Song Contest, is leading the charge for Israel to be excluded from the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland. Nemo preaches "human rights," while attempting to strip the survivor of the worst anti-Jewish attack since the Holocaust of her voice. It is an astonishing spectacle of moral inversion, in which the victim is punished for having the temerity to survive.
To sing after a massacre is nothing short of heroic. Shame on those Israelophobes who want to silence Yuval Raphael. (Spiked-UK)
- Backing Palestinian Sovereignty Now Would Reward and Strengthen Hamas - Editorial
Before Oct. 7, few serious voices in Europe called for recognizing a Palestinian state. There was a quiet consensus that doing so would be reckless, given the division, corruption and radicalization of the current Palestinian leadership. Then, Hamas carried out the most gruesome mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust - and the response in some European capitals has been to reward it with exactly what they wanted, recognition.
Spain, Ireland and Norway recognized Palestine a mere seven months after the massacres. French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea last month. Some MPs urged the UK to follow suit.
Recognizing a Palestinian state after Oct. 7 would be a moral and strategic blunder. It would strengthen Hamas, undermine moderate Palestinian voices, and send the grotesque message that the more brutal the violence, the more urgent the international support. It would betray every peace-minded Palestinian as well as every liberal value Europe claims to uphold.
The call for recognition rests on a fiction that Palestinians are innocent victims without agency, perpetually denied a state by Israeli intransigence. History says otherwise. Palestinian leaders have rejected every serious offer of statehood since 1937. Each time, the answer was no, usually followed by violence.
Is there another national movement that has been offered statehood - repeatedly - only to reject it every time? Palestinian leaders have consistently prioritized fighting the Jewish state over building their own. Yet after every rejection, it is Israel that is blamed. Oct. 7 obliterated any Israeli hope that a Palestinian state would bring peace. (Jewish Chronicle-UK)
Observations:
- When Hamas launched the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, its immediate goals were to murder as many Jews as possible and to take as many hostages as possible to use as bargaining chips to secure the release of other genocidal terrorists sentenced by Israel to prison.
- Hamas's additional goals were to provoke Israel into a massive military response that would take the lives of thousands of Gazans, who would then be used to vilify and castigate Israel in the international arena.
- Finally, Hamas sought to survive the war, maintain its position of governance and dominance in Palestinian society, and enjoy the fruits of the inevitable international effort to rebuild Gaza.
- Following Oct. 7, Israel's government set the goal of dismantling Hamas's military and governance capabilities. Only by destroying Hamas - through the elimination or capture of its members in both Gaza and Judea and Samaria, and the complete dismantling of its governing infrastructure - can Israel prevent a Hamas victory.
- Until January 2025, external forces compelled Israel to undermine its goals and allow Hamas to continue fulfilling its governance roles in the guise of humanitarian aid distribution.
- While Israel has secured the release of 197 hostages, Hamas continues to hold 58 people in captivity. Of these, there have been signs of life from 20 and another three may be alive.
While some try to promote the false narrative that the terrorists would release all the hostages if Israel agreed to end the war before destroying Hamas, the truth is that the hostages are Hamas's ultimate insurance policy. Hamas will never release all of the hostages simply through negotiation.
- Accordingly, the Israeli military has no alternative other than to systematically comb through Gaza, inch by inch, in search of the hostages.
The writer, former director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria, is director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center.
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