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In-Depth Issues:
Videos Challenge Claims of Starvation in Gaza - Lior Ben Ari ( Ynet News)
Though some markets in Gaza have been photographed empty, residents have also shared images and videos showing bustling food stalls, especially in Gaza City's Al-Zawiya market.
Despite war-related shortages and disruptions, food remains available in many areas.
"Even during the worst times in northern Gaza, people could still buy things - it was just expensive," said Jackie Peleg, director of Imshin, a project documenting life in Gaza.
"There are gaps. Some people can pay, some can't. The poor go to soup kitchens, and many of those are privately run."
Peleg added that the narrative of starvation in Gaza long predates the war. "Even when the crossings were open and supplies came in, people still claimed they were being starved."
White House: "The Idea that We Would Abandon Israel Is Absurd" - Daniel Adelson ( Ynet News)
The White House has denied a Washington Post report claiming that President Trump "threatened to abandon Israel if it doesn't end the war."
An official source told Ynet: "This is false. The idea that we would abandon Israel is absurd."
Additionally, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told Ynet, "We continue to work in close cooperation with Israel to ensure the release of the hostages, make sure Iran never obtains nuclear weapons, and strengthen regional security in the Middle East."
U.S. Middle East Envoy Witkoff Pledges Action Against Hamas, Iran ( Jerusalem Post)
U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said Monday that the Trump administration remains determined to see Hamas defeated, prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and expand the Abraham Accords.
Since Oct. 7, the world has witnessed "Houthis, Hamas, and Hizbullah wage a cowardly, immoral war, hiding behind civilians and clutching hostages. This is not just a conflict; it is evil. And let me be clear, evil will not triumph."
The IDF's New Border Protection Doctrine with Syria - Ron Ben-Yishai ( Ynet News)
In the Syrian Golan Heights, the buildings are riddled with holes from bullets and shells from the civil war. There is no longer any agriculture there but for a few sheep, goats and the random herder.
The IDF has succeeded in bringing a sort of normalcy to the area, based on its new border protection doctrine devised after the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7.
The defense of Israeli communities would no longer begin on the border. Any future enemy would encounter the IDF before approaching the frontier, which would be defended by a land barrier.
Military commanders remind me that Al-Sharaa's rebel forces, like ISIS, arrived in civilian pickups and took over vast areas. Therefore, any vehicle able to travel faster than 30 km/hr is considered a threat.
There are 10 new IDF forward outposts inside Syrian territory, intelligence gathering, and surveillance by drones.
After diplomatic and military efforts, the other side agreed to avoid friction with the IDF and to keep their distance.
A new barrier is being built along the entire length of the border made up of boulders and ditches dug deep into the ground that would block any vehicle from overrunning Israeli communities.
This will ultimately force any traffic on the Syrian side to use existing roads and not open terrain.
The Israeli Druze are the first to benefit from the construction of the barrier because they own the heavy machinery used. They stand to make a fortune.
Why Is the Gaza War Taking So Long? - Maj. (ret.) John Spencer ( X)
Anyone who believed Hamas could be swiftly dismantled was never a serious student of war.
Hamas spent decades transforming Gaza into a fortress: a vast subterranean network of tunnels, a militarized landscape of civilian infrastructure, and a society indoctrinated for jihad.
It was an autonomous warfighting entity - an entire region engineered for protracted conflict.
Now, that war is being met with clarity of purpose. Israel is not merely engaging in a military offensive, it is a campaign to dismantle the machinery of terror and reshape the strategic future of the region.
The writer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point.
Hamas: Number of Newborn Babies in Gaza Equals Number of Martyrs Killed in War ( MEMRI-TV)
Senior Hamas Official Sami Abu Zuhri told Al-Tanasuh TV (Libya) on March 30, 2025,
"The wombs of our women will give birth to many times over the number of martyrs."
"Did you know that the number of newborn babies in Gaza equals the number of martyrs who were killed in this war? At least 50,000 babies were born in Gaza during the war."
He called the war with Israel "eternal" and claimed its impact extends beyond the region, citing anti-Israel protests on U.S. campuses and people in the U.S. and Europe converting to Islam.
Israel Bonds Has Raised $5 Billion since Oct. 7 ( Jerusalem Post)
Israel Bonds President and CEO Dani Naveh said Monday:
"On Oct. 7, really, on that same day, I initiated a special campaign of support for Israel."
"We mobilized all our professional staff around the world...and I am so proud to tell you that...in one month, 30 days, we raised $1 billion for Israel....Since Oct. 7, Israel Bonds has raised almost $5 billion."
Naveh emphasized that this level of investment is more than financial - it is symbolic of a united front.
Life on the Edge of War - Adele Raemer ( Times of Israel)
589 days ago, the life I had known imploded. The community and home I had built and lived in for my entire adult life became a fire-and-brimstone war zone and I became a refugee in my own land.
Following the invasion of 150 marauding terrorists, Kibbutz Nirim was evacuated.
At first, I returned to Nirim cautiously, fearfully. Rockets were still exploding - some landing inside the kibbutz - compounding the devastation inflicted by the terrorists on October 7.
But I was on a mission: to raise funds for rebuilding, to share our stories with anyone willing to listen, and to reconquer and reclaim my home.
I guided people through the ruins. I told the story of that day - the day when terrorists stole so much from my life. I lost more friends than I can even count.
I almost lost my daughter and granddaughters. My son and I escaped the terrorists' murderous wrath by a sliver - they were on my front porch, breaking in through the window, before being lured away.
Still, my heart clenches every time I drive past Nir Oz, to get to Nirim. The atrocities committed there - just a mile from home - are impossible to forget.
As a community, we made a decision: we wouldn't just fix what was broken. We would rebuild. Bigger. Better. Safer. Stronger. More beautiful.
We are here. We are rebuilding. We are living with the noise from the war in Gaza, the unknown, and the memories.
And I am certain that one day this land, and our lives, will be whole again.
The writer, an educator for 38 years in the regional school, has been living and raising her family on Kibbutz Nirim since 1975.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- U.S. Envoy Witkoff: We Cannot Allow the Iranians an Enrichment Capability - Jonathan Karl
U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday regarding the negotiations with Iran: "We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1 percent of an enrichment capability....Everything begins from our standpoint with a deal that does not include enrichment. We cannot have that. Because enrichment enables weaponization, and we will not allow a bomb to get here."
"Everyone is concerned about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza....Logistically, I don't think there's any daylight between President Trump's position and Prime Minister Netanyahu's position....There are many initiatives that we are working on to address this. There are going to be mobile kitchens that are going to be sent in there. We have trucks with flour waiting at the border. The Israelis have indicated that they're going to begin to allow a lot more of these trucks to get in." (ABC News)
U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Monday, "There is no doubt that the Iran deal Trump is planning will include 'no enrichment.'" (Jerusalem Post)
- Netanyahu Says Allies Pressed Him to Resume Aid to Gaza - Tia Goldenberg
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that his decision to resume limited aid to Gaza came after pressure from allies who said they wouldn't be able to grant Israel the support it needs to win the war so long as there were "images of hunger" coming out of the Strip. On Sunday Israel said it would allow a "basic" amount of aid into Gaza to prevent a "hunger crisis" from developing. (AP)
In a video statement Monday, Netanyahu said, "We must not reach a situation of famine. From the beginning of the war we said that in order to complete the victory, to defeat Hamas and to free all our hostages - two missions that are intertwined - there is one essential condition. We must not reach a situation of famine - both for practical and diplomatic reasons. We simply won't have support and we won't be able to complete the mission of victory."
"We are conducting an immense, intense and tremendous battle. There is progress. We are going to take control of the entire territory of the Gaza Strip. That's what we're going to do." (YouTube)
- UK Government Defends Supplying Fighter Jet Parts to Israel
The UK government Thursday defended supplying F-35 jet components to Israel in response to rights groups that took the government to the High Court over the issue. Government lawyer James Eadie said the UK's trade department had acted lawfully and that suspending the export licenses would have affected a wider international F-35 program, resulting in "extremely serious risks to the UK and international security." He added the court was not placed to rule on the legality of Israel's actions in Gaza, and that attempting to do so could have a "potentially deleterious" effect on "foreign relations with a friendly state, namely Israel." (AFP)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- IDF Expands Operations in Gaza, Kills Dozens of Hamas Terrorists - Lilach Shoval
The IDF launched simultaneous ground maneuvers in northern and southern Gaza following a
week-long aerial bombardment campaign, it announced Sunday. The targets struck were weapons depots, terrorist operatives, underground infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch sites.
Israeli forces operating on the ground have killed dozens of terrorists. (Israel Hayom)
See also IDF Calls to Evacuate Khan Yunis - Amichai Stein
IDF Arabic spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee on Monday called on residents of Khan Yunis, the second largest city in Gaza, to evacuate westward, as the IDF would operate against terror groups in the area. (Jerusalem Post)
- Israel to Allow Food Aid into Gaza - Jonathan Lis
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that Israel will immediately resume the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. "At the recommendation of the IDF, and due to the operational need to enable the expansion of the intensified fighting to defeat Hamas, Israel will bring in a basic quantity of food for the population to ensure a famine crisis does not develop in Gaza," the Prime Minister's Office said. Israel "will act to deny Hamas the ability to take control of the humanitarian aid distribution."
A senior official said the decision is "a temporary, one-week measure" until the establishment of humanitarian aid distribution centers is completed.
(Ha'aretz)
See also Aid Renewal to Gaza Part of Edan Alexander's Release - Danny Zaken
The renewed supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza was part of a promise made by the U.S. to Hamas, as part of the arrangements surrounding American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander's release, sources said. The focus would be on infant formula, medical supplies, fuel for bakeries and hospital generators, and other basic foodstuffs.
There is now an attempt to prioritize aid transfers to organizations that have tried to prevent Hamas from seizing control of the supplies, such as World Central Kitchen. However, all parties acknowledge that, as in the past, Hamas will likely seize a significant portion of the goods. An Israeli official noted that Washington is aware of this problem but considers the arrangement a necessary evil to maintain support for Israel's military operation.
(Israel Hayom)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Israeli Security
- Dan Diker, Jason Greenblatt: Giving Arafat Nobel Prize Harmed Israel's Fight Against Terror
Dr. Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, told the Jerusalem Post conference in New York on Monday that the problematic nature of the Oslo Accords was "not because it offered a compromise solution, but because we actually inverted our own legitimacy with the PLO....We handed a Nobel Prize to Yasser Arafat, and Yasser Arafat then became the moral standard so that we could not act against terror because you were then acting against a Nobel Prize winner. The PLO and today the Hamas has become, in large part, in many circles, the new Israel."
Jason Greenblatt, who served as Trump's special envoy for Middle East peace, said, "Let's understand why the Trump administration never used the words 'two-state solution.'...If a Palestinian state means that the Palestinians could attack Israel, how could you ever argue for a Palestinian state?" He added that President Trump's "strengthening of ties with the Arab countries only helps Israel." (Jerusalem Post)
- Israel's Role in Trump's Vision for the Mideast - Dr. Fiamma Nirenstein
Yes, Trump's team negotiated directly with Hamas to secure the release of American hostage Edan Alexander. And yes, the U.S. struck a side deal with the Houthis to prevent attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. But at the core of Trump's Middle East policy remains a strategic call for Saudi Arabia and the broader Arab world to join the Abraham Accords.
According to Netanyahu's strategic doctrine, Israel's role is to provide regional security by defeating Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Without that, any regional architecture involving the Saudis, Emiratis, Egyptians and Jordanians risks collapse. Yet Israel faces international condemnation driven by a tidal wave of lies about the IDF, a military that, unlike any other, goes to extraordinary lengths to minimize civilian casualties.
The goal of the war in Gaza is to corner Hamas until it relinquishes its weapons and returns the hostages. If Hamas were to surrender its hostages and weapons, the fighting would end.
What kind of twisted logic imagines that Israel fights for pleasure? This is a war for survival. In the near-unanimous global condemnation of Netanyahu's refusal to capitulate there lies an implicit endorsement of the Oct. 7 atrocities, and a disturbing societal absorption of lies about supposed Israeli war crimes.
It was Hamas that made the humanitarian situation in Gaza catastrophic by seizing food at gunpoint. Video evidence confirms this, even as Israel is scapegoated. Civilian casualties are the direct result of Hamas's militarization of homes, schools, hospitals, children's bedrooms, and its deliberate policy of preventing civilians from sheltering in its underground tunnels. Israel cannot allow this terror regime to survive.
The writer, a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, served as vice president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. (JNS)
The Gaza War
- Humanitarian Bodies Have a Duty to Support the New U.S.-Israel Aid Plan for Gaza - Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp
Two of Israel's war aims are to destroy Hamas's military capabilities and prevent it from continuing to govern Gaza. Last week, the IDF began an intensive campaign to finish off the terrorist group. This has been prepared over the past 11 weeks by blocking supplies into Gaza.
That has been necessary because until now Hamas has been hijacking food and other aid entering the Strip, stockpiling some for its own use and selling the rest to the population at inflated prices. The proceeds of aid sales have been essential for Hamas to fund its terrorist activities.
Hamas's control of aid distribution is the most powerful tool it has to retain a stranglehold over the Gaza population. A new U.S.-Israel initiative aims to put a stop to that by establishing secure aid posts inside Gaza from where those in need would collect food under strict control.
I know of no other conflict in which the UN has not actively encouraged the removal of populations from a dangerous combat zone. The same applies to the failure of the UN or any major power to pressure Egypt into opening its borders to allow temporary refuge. There have been few other conflicts worldwide where neighboring countries have not opened their borders to let civilians escape to safety. Refusing to co-operate in proposals to get civilians to safety so that Hamas terrorists can be killed while minimizing collateral damage certainly helps frustrate Israel's war efforts.
The best way to end this war and get the hostages out is the rapid and efficient defeat of Hamas, and that depends to a very large extent on the success of the new food-distribution project. All responsible governments and humanitarian bodies have a duty to support it.
The writer, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, was chairman of the UK's national crisis management committee, COBRA. (Telegraph-UK)
Israel-U.S. Relations
- Trump Is Reshaping the U.S.-Israel Relationship - Aviva Klompas
The Trump administration has taken a series of foreign-policy steps in recent weeks that are quietly reshaping the U.S.-Israel relationship. The moves acknowledge that the two countries' interests overlap in many ways but aren't identical. The Trump administration appears to be acting on its own priorities, and Israel is free to do the same.
Trump appears to be investing in stronger ties with regional actors such as Qatar and Syria to pull them away from Iran's orbit. Drawing adversaries away from Tehran is less costly in both blood and treasure than confronting Iran head-on. For Israel, this new U.S. posture reinforces the country's conviction that it must be able to defend itself by itself.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, the Biden administration often expressed support for Israel while simultaneously applying pressure - urging restraint, pausing arms shipments, and setting conditions on military operations. Too often, this limited Israel's ability to act on its own assessments.
The Trump administration has taken a different tack, reflecting a broader willingness to act unilaterally and let Israel do the same. This model is more honest than a relationship based on symbolic gestures and behind-the-scenes friction. It lets both nations act on their interests without pretending perfect alignment.
Still, the security of both nations is linked. Iran doesn't view Israel as its final adversary, but rather as a stepping stone toward confronting the West. Instability in the Middle East never stays in the Middle East. A stable region isn't only in Israel's interest - it's in America's, too.
Real partnership isn't built on being in perfect sync - it's built on candor, and the confidence to stand side-by-side without always pretending to stand as one.
(Wall Street Journal)
The Arab World
- How Arabs See Trump's Deals with Islamists - Khaled Abu Toameh
As President Trump was being hosted in Saudi Arabia by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at Israel - right over their heads.
A pro-Houthi social media account posted a cartoon that depicted the U.S. president squeezing money out of the Saudis as a Houthi missile is seen soaring over his head on its way to Israel.
The Houthis may have agreed to a temporary cessation of attacks on American targets, but they have certainly not abandoned their jihad to murder Israelis and Americans. Moreover, the Trump administration's direct negotiations with Hamas, as well as his visit to Qatar - Hamas's major sponsor and funder - is seen by many Palestinians and Arabs as a victory for the Palestinian terror group.
Palestinian political analyst Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib noted, "Hamas accounts on Twitter and Telegram are exploding in orgies of joy, arrogance, foolish proclamations, and declarations that they're finally being recognized and legitimized by the USA...making the unconditional release of an American-Israeli hostage, Edan Alexander, from Gaza's tunnels completely worth it."
"One 'analyst' for the terror group declared that this is the first direct 'political agreement' between the United States and Hamas, while another bragged about how Sinwar's October 7th attack ultimately made it possible for Hamas to force Trump to 'kneel' before the group to retrieve hostages."
Trump and his advisors undoubtedly have good intentions, but they appear not to have taken into consideration that engaging Islamist leaders such as Syrian President al-Sharaa and Turkey's President Erdogan, and trying to strike deals with Iran and its Hamas and Houthi terror proxies, instead emboldens these terrorists and enemies of the U.S.
Iran, Hamas and the Houthis will continue to call for death to Israel and America. Qatar will continue to provide political and financial support to anti-American Islamists and other Jihadis.
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)
Israel-India Relations
- India Adopts Israeli Model in Fight Against Cross-Border Terror - Israel Kasnett
Tensions flared once again between India and Pakistan following the terror attack in which Pakistani Islamists killed 26 civilians in Pahalgam, in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, on April 22.
Israeli-made defense systems featured prominently in India's military operations.
Joseph Rozen, a senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, told JNS: "India supported Israel's war against terrorism following the Oct. 7 attacks and supplied arms despite international criticism. Therefore, it was natural for Israel to stand in support of India's right to self-defense in its fight against terrorism." He cited Israeli assistance to India during India-Pakistan conflicts in 1965, 1971, and during the 1999 Kargil War.
Joint ventures, technology transfers and defense procurement form the bedrock of Israel's defense partnership with India. India sources a wide array of Israeli systems, including UAVs, the Barak-8 air defense system, advanced radar and surveillance technology, and loitering munitions.
"Pakistani reports of India's use of Israeli drones serve as excellent marketing for Israeli industries," Rozen noted. He also underscored the broader ideological context: "Pakistan maintains anti-Israeli and antisemitic views, which it has expressed more vocally since Oct. 7."
Lauren Dagan Amoss, a researcher of India at Bar-Ilan University, told JNS:
"For years, Indian officials were cautious about invoking Israel too directly in their domestic security discourse. That caution now appears to have faded....Israel is no longer just a behind-the-scenes partner. For many in India - especially among nationalist circles - it is a benchmark for how a sovereign democracy should confront terror." (JNS)
Antisemitism
- The "Nakba" Was a Catastrophe for Sephardi Jews - Ben Cohen
On May 15, a date which the UN General Assembly has named for an annual "Nakba Day,"
a cluster of Jewish-owned businesses in the English city of Manchester found the building housing their offices badly vandalized overnight and splattered with red paint with the words, "Happy Nakba Day." The culprits were a group called Palestine Action, a pro-Hamas collective whose sole mission is to intimidate the Jewish community in the UK in much the same way as Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists did back in the 1930s.
Ideological constructs like nakba play a key role in enabling the intimidation of Jews, with dimwitted formulas equating the nakba with the Nazi Holocaust. It enables these thugs to camouflage hate speech and hate crimes as human-rights advocacy. These are not independent civil society organizations, as they pretend to be, but rather extensions of terrorist organizations like Hamas.
We need to stop thinking about the nakba as a Palestinian narrative of pain by exposing it as another tool in the arsenal of groups whose goal is to bring about the elimination of Israel.
When it was originally introduced in the late 1940s, the word nakba had nothing to do with the plight of Palestinian refugees. The late Syrian writer Constantine Zureik popularized the term in a 1948 book titled The Meaning of Disaster, describing it simply as "the failure of the Arabs to defeat the Jews." He saw it as fundamentally a story of national humiliation and wounded pride.
As Mizrahi Jews know well (my own family among them), the nakba really was a "catastrophe" - for us. The Arabs compensated for their defeat by turning on the defenseless Jews in their midst. From Libya to Iraq, ancient and established Jewish communities were the victims of a spiteful policy of expropriation, mob violence and expulsion.
The writer is a senior analyst with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. (JNS)
Observations:
- The Trump administration has entered advanced negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, signaling a potential agreement that would see Tehran limit its uranium enrichment to below weapons-grade levels, permit enhanced IAEA inspections, and accept phased reductions of its enriched stockpile. In exchange, Washington is reportedly prepared to lift economic sanctions. These terms mirror the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that President Trump condemned as a strategic capitulation.
- However, the strategic reality is that no permanent nuclear deal with Iran is possible.
The regime's core orientation remains structurally incompatible with long-term resolution. The Islamic Republic is a revolutionary regime, committed to ideological expansionism, proxy warfare, and the managed pursuit of nuclear latency. Agreements can be struck, but they cannot be sustained. They will be violated, reinterpreted, or collapsed.
- The notion that Iran could be induced to accept permanent limits on its nuclear capacity, or to forgo its regional proxy network in exchange for sanctions relief and international reintegration, reflects a fundamental misreading of Iran's behavior.
- The JCPOA allowed Iran to relieve economic pressure, deepen its regional footprint, and continue R&D on advanced centrifuges. The current Trump administration's attempt to reengineer a similar framework will face the same fate.
- The only viable posture is one that treats Iran's revolutionary character as enduring, and its negotiation behavior as inherently opportunistic rather than cooperative. Any effort to resolve the Iranian nuclear file through a permanent diplomatic arrangement fails not merely because of Iran's duplicity, but because such a framework misapprehends the nature of the threat.
The writer is an Egyptian-American author and researcher at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) in Washington.
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