JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
TRUMP GETS THE WORLD IN CHAOS WITH THE SANCTIONS AND CONTROL OF GAZA.
INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.
2 PETER 3:10-11
10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
(NUKES) shall melt with fervent heat,(BLAST) the earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned up.(BUT ITS NO END OF THE WORLD
HOGWASH)
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,(BY
NUKES INCLUDING 3 BILLION PEOPLE) what manner of persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation and godliness,
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
JESUS
SHED HIS BLOOD FOR US THAT WE CAN BE SAVED FOREVER.AND DURING WW3
PEOPLES BLOOD WILL BE SHED AS A JUDGEMENT FOR HATING HIM AND ISRAEL.GOD
IS NOT MOCKED.
ZEPHANIAH 1:2-3
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
3
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven,
and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I
will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
EZEKIEL 5:15-17
15
So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an
astonishment unto the (ARAB/MUSLIM) nations that are round about
thee,(ISRAEL) when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in
fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
16 When I
shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their
destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase
the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17 So will I
send upon you famine and evil beasts,(WHEN RUSSIA/MUSLIMS GET DEFEATED
THIER BODIES GET EATEN BY BIRDS,ANIMALS IN ISRAEL MIGRATION SEASON) and
they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through
thee;(NUKES) and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have
spoken it.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out
from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to
him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and
gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully
ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and
gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of
the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the
city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the
horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200
MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold,
the LORD will come with fire,(NUKES) and with his chariots like a
whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of
fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17
They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens
behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination,
and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I
know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather
all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity:(GOD/ISRAEL HATE AND BRAKING OF HIS
COMMANDMENTS) the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more
cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die - 3 BILLION).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8
And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;
they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed
one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of
the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land
desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For
the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their
light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall
not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for
their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the
arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of
her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his
fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18
And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the
fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of
the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are
open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed
like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it;
and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that
are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they
shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and
shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be
visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed,
when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and
before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12
And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the
people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume
away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and
their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)
and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM
ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD
PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that
day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they
shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand
shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN
WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say
to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the
Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour
every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall
not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be
burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor
their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath;
but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for
he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC
BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be
stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of
hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with
blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees
was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18
By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the
fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths.(ATOMIC BOMBS)(RUSSIA CHINA DESTROYED BY ISRAELS ATOMIC BOMBS)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water
thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be
prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of
the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD
DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to
the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM
NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a
great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is
done.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that
sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given
unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with
sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE
DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18
By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the
fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE
17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS
KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE
BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND
DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in
that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN
WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4
billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37
And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto
them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered
together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against
Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten
by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE
SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE
CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH
IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
NAHUM 3:13
13
Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are
wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.
Iranian
supreme leader vows to respond in kind if US ‘acts on threats’ against
Iran-Khamenei also suggests ‘there should be no negotiations’ with US
after Trump floated the possibility, but stops short of issuing a direct
order not to engage-By Agencies Today, 12:27 pm-FEB 7,25
Iran’s
supreme leader said Friday that if the United States “threatens” Iran’s
security, “we will threaten them in return,” adding that negotiations
with America “are not intelligent, wise or honorable” after US President
Donald Trump floated nuclear talks with Tehran.“The Americans sit,
redrawing the map of the world — but only on paper, as it has no basis
in reality,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said at an Iranian Air Force event
in Tehran. “They make statements about us, express opinions and issue
threats. If they threaten us, we will threaten them in return. If they
act on their threats, we will act on ours. If they violate the security
of our nation, we will, without a doubt, respond in kind.”Khamenei also
suggested that “there should be no negotiations with such a government,”
but stopped short of issuing a direct order not to engage with
Washington.Khamenei’s remarks upend months of signals from Tehran to the
United States that it wants to negotiate over its rapidly advancing
nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of crushing economic
sanctions worth billions of dollars.What happens next remains unclear,
particularly as reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian campaigned on and
promised as recently as Thursday to enter into a dialogue with the
West.Khamenei’s remarks to air force officers in Tehran appeared to
contradict his own earlier remarks in August that opened the door to
talks. However, the 85-year-old Khamenei has always carefully threaded
his remarks about negotiating with the West. That includes balancing the
demands of reformists within the country who want the talks with those
of hardline elements within Iran’s theocracy, including the paramilitary
Revolutionary Guard.Khamenei noted that Trump in his previous term
unilaterally withdrew from an earlier nuclear deal under which Iran
drastically limited its enrichment of uranium and overall stockpile of
the material, in exchange for crushing sanctions being removed.“The
Americans did not uphold their end of the deal,” Khamenei claimed. “The
very person who is in office today tore up the agreement. He said he
would, and he did.”He added: “This is an experience we must learn from.
We negotiated, we gave concessions, we compromised — but we did not
achieve the results we aimed for. And despite all its flaws, the other
side ultimately violated and destroyed the agreement.”It’s not clear
what sparked Khamenei’s remarks. However, they come after Trump
suggested he wanted to deal with Tehran, even while signing an executive
order to reimpose his “maximum pressure” approach to Iran on
Tuesday.“I’m going to sign it, but hopefully we’re not going to have to
use it very much,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “We will see whether
or not we can arrange or work out a deal with Iran.”“We don’t want to
be tough on Iran. We don’t want to be tough on anybody,” Trump added.
“But they just can’t have a nuclear bomb.”Trump followed with another
online message on Wednesday, saying: “Reports that the United States,
working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into
smithereens, ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED.”“I would much prefer a Verified
Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and
prosper,” he wrote on Truth Social. “We should start working on it
immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed
and completed.”Trump did not elaborate.Khamenei, like other Iranian
leaders, uses elliptical comments to indirectly govern policy while not
boxing himself into any one decision. As supreme leader, he’s also
created a vast bureaucracy that competes with itself for influence,
including with its civilian leadership under Pezeshkian.As recently as
Thursday, Pezeshkian suggested Iran could open itself up to even more
inspections from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International
Atomic Energy Agency.During his previous term in office in 2018, Trump
pulled the United States out of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with world
powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled the country’s
economy.The harsh measures prompted Tehran to violate the pact’s nuclear
limitations.A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that
Iran is ready to give the United States a chance to resolve disputes.
New
footage said to capture airstrike that killed Hezbollah chief Nasrallah
in bunker-CCTV clip shows eruption of debris after single strike,
reportedly in vicinity of terror group’s underground headquarters, where
IAF bunker-busting bombs killed him in September-By ToI Staff Today,
10:54 am-FEB 7,25
Previously unpublished footage circulating on
Arabic media Thursday purported to show the Israeli airstrike on Beirut
that killed longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in the terror
group’s underground headquarters last year.The video, whose September
27, late-evening timestamp matches the time Nasrallah was killed, was
reportedly captured on a surveillance camera of a building near the
Hezbollah bunker where he died. The location could not be verified.The
soundless, minute-long video shows an unidentified man exiting a
building and preparing to mount his motorcycle when a single strike
tears up the street and the man sprints back inside for shelter.The
earth visibly shakes as multiple blazes ignite on the street, and the
cloud of smoke and dust slowly dissipates. One car appears to have had
its trunk ripped open.Israel confirmed on September 28 that Nasrallah
and other top commanders of the terror group were killed in a massive
Israeli airstrike on their underground headquarters. Nasrallah was
targeted by dozens of bunker-busting bombs dropped by Israeli Air Force
fighter jets while he was at Hezbollah’s main headquarters in the
southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold known as the Dahiyeh,
the IDF said at the time.Hezbollah has not commented on the video, and
Al-Mayadeen, Al-Nahar and Al-Akhbar — major news outlets affiliated with
the terror group — do not appear to have reported on it. However, the
video was carried by Quds News Network, which is affiliated with fellow
Iran-backed group Hamas.Israel’s assassination of Nasrallah came at the
height of the intense two-week bombing campaign that preceded its
invasion of Lebanon, following over 11 months of persistent rocket fire
by Hezbollah, which forced the displacement of some 60,000 residents of
the north. — شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) February 6, 2025-In an
interview broadcast on Channel 12 Thursday night, Yoav Gallant, the
defense minister at the time, said he had ordered the IDF to double,
from 40 to 80 tons, the ordnance used on Nasrallah, to achieve
near-certainty that the strike would work.Nasrallah’s successor Naim
Qassem announced Sunday that the terror group would hold a “grand
funeral” for its slain chief in Beirut on February 23, five days after
the IDF is set to withdraw from Lebanon under the its ceasefire
agreement with the terror group.The November 27 agreement originally
gave Israel 60 days, until January 26, to withdraw.The deadline was
pushed back to February 18 amid Israel’s accusations that Hezbollah had
failed to withdraw northward as required. On Thursday night, Israel said
it had struck Hezbollah weapons caches that violated the
ceasefire.Unprovoked, the terror group began attacking northern Israel
on a near-daily basis on October 8, 2023 — a day after thousands of
Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people
and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
Hours after
Hamas invaded on Oct. 7, UK anti-Israel group began planning mass
protest-As massacre was unfolding, Palestine Solidarity Campaign asked
police in London to approve demo the following week; Campaign Against
Antisemitism: PSC ‘rushed to activism while Jews were being
slaughtered’By ToI Staff Today, 4:24 pm-FEB 7,25
Pro-Palestinian,
anti-Israel activists in the UK began organizing a large anti-Israel
demonstration in central London even as the Hamas onslaught in southern
Israel was unfolding, UK news outlets have reported, citing information
revealed by the Freedom of Information Act.Soon after midday on October
7, 2023, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign sought and obtained police
approval for a mass protest to be held a week later, the reports said on
Thursday.A recent request for information from the Metropolitan Police
Service (MPS) showed that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign called the
police shortly after noon on October 7 — some eight hours after Hamas
breached the Israel-Gaza border in multiple places, invaded Israel and
began its slaughter — to inform the police of its intention to hold a
demonstration against Israel the following Saturday, on October 14,
2023.At the time that the request was filed, the massacre was ongoing
and the IDF was scrambling to regain control of the southern communities
invaded by Hamas. Israel was still far from fully understanding the
scale of the unfolding disaster. In total, some 1,200 people were killed
that day, most of them civilians, and 251 were taken hostage and
dragged back to the Gaza Strip.The police approved the October 14
demonstration, and it went ahead, as did other anti-Israel marches and
protests elsewhere in the UK. Numerous anti-Israel demonstrations have
been held in the UK since.“The Met was contacted on Saturday, Oct. 7 at
approximately 12:50 p.m., via telephone call and informed of the
intention to protest,” a police spokesperson said in response to the
request for information, as cited by the Telegraph. “The Met committed
this to our systems on the same day and are satisfied being contacted by
telephone was a sufficient means in which to notify the MPS as the
event was taking place seven days after notification.”Responding to the
report, the Campaign Against Antisemitism told the Daily Mail that “this
revelation ends the charade that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign is a
peaceful advocacy group.”“For sixteen months, the Metropolitan Police
has allowed regular anti-Israel marches by a group that rushed to
activism while Jews were being slaughtered,” the group added.In a
statement to the Telegraph, PSC defended its decision to begin
organizing a protest on October 7, while the mass-murder of Israelis was
in progress, claiming that “it was already clear” Israel would respond
to the Hamas onslaught with “indiscriminate violence.”“It is entirely
appropriate, therefore, that PSC would call for a protest that would
seek an immediate ceasefire and call for the root causes of Israeli
occupation and apartheid to be addressed,” a spokesman for the group
said.He accused those opposed to the PSC’s actions on October 7 of
attempting to “deflect attention from the crimes against humanity that
Israel has committed.”Thousands of people rallied on October 14 in
London and other UK cities, demanding “Freedom for Palestine” and
denouncing Israel. In London, demonstrators massed near BBC News’
headquarters before an afternoon rally near then-prime minister Rishi
Sunak’s Downing Street office and residence. There were clashes in
Trafalgar Square when activists threw bottles, placards and flares at
the police, according to the Daily Mail, and at least 15 people were
arrested.
THIS IS AWESOME
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU GIVES TRUMP A PAGER LIKE THE ONES THAT BLEW UP LIMBS
AND DEATH AGAINST THE LEBANESE TERRORISTS A WHILE BACK.A REMINDER OF
WHAT GOD BLESSES ISRAELI MINDS WITH AGAINST THE DEATH CULT ENEMIES.
Netanyahu
gifted Trump a golden pager at White House meeting, PM’s office
confirms-Referencing Israeli operation that decimated Hezbollah, PMO
says gift ‘symbolizes the Prime Minister’s decision that led to a
turning point in the war’By Lazar Berman and ToI Staff Today, 9:09
am-FEB 7,25
The Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday confirmed
reports that Benjamin Netanyahu gave a golden pager as a gift to US
President Donald Trump during their meeting at the White House on
Tuesday, a reference to the clandestine operation that decimated the
Hezbollah terror group.The gift “symbolizes the Prime Minister’s
decision that led to a turning point in the war and the starting point
for breaking the will of the terrorist organization Hezbollah,”
Netanyahu’s office said.The operation “expresses the power,
technological superiority and cunning of Israel against its enemies,”
according to the PMO.The golden pager displayed text that read: “Press
with both hands,” and was given to Trump on a trophy-style display with a
placard saying: “To President Donald J. Trump, our greatest friend and
greatest ally. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”“That was a great
operation,” Trump responded, according to Channel 12 news.In return,
Trump reportedly gave Netanyahu a photo of the two of them from the
visit, with the dedication “To Bibi, a great leader.”On September 17,
2024, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah across Lebanon suddenly
exploded, killing dozens of operatives and maiming thousands, marking
the beginning of Israel’s escalation against the terror group, after
almost a year of persistent Hezbollah rocket fire that displaced some
60,000 residents of the north.The pagers, laced with explosives, were
detonated via an encrypted message that required users to hold the
devices with both hands, maximizing the likelihood of the subsequent
blast causing debilitating injuries.A day later, hundreds of
walkie-talkies also blew up, killing and injuring scores more.The
attacks came as Israel began to step up a counter-offensive against the
Iran-backed Hezbollah, which began striking Israel almost immediately
after the allied Palestinian terror group Hamas’s October 7, 2023,
attack. The pager operation was immediately linked to Israel, which
claimed responsibility in November 2024.The pager and radio attacks were
the result of a highly sophisticated Israeli intelligence operation
years in the making in which Hezbollah was fooled into purchasing the
compromised devices.Israel invaded Lebanon 10 days after the targeted
explosions, beginning with airstrikes in which most of Hezbollah’s
leaders, including Nasrallah, were killed. By the end of November, a
battered Hezbollah signed a ceasefire agreement with Israel.
IDF
fighter jets hit Hezbollah weapons depots that Israel says violated
ceasefire-Military confirms airstrikes in Nabatieh and Beqaa Valley
areas late Thursday; separate strike reported by Lebanese media on
Friday morning By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff Today, 10:46 am-FEB 7,25
The
Israeli Air Force carried out strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
on Thursday night, targeting weapons storage sites in the Nabatieh area
and the Beqaa Valley.After Lebanese media reported the attacks, the
Israel Defense Forces confirmed striking Lebanon, saying fighter jets
hit a pair of sites where the Iran-backed terrorist group was storing
weaponry in violation of the ceasefire reached in November.A statement
from the IDF described the strikes as “targeted” and vows the military
“will prevent any attempt by the Hezbollah terror organization to rearm,
in accordance with the understandings of the ceasefire agreement.”Both
Nabatieh and the Beqaa Valley areas are north of the Litani River,
beyond which Hezbollah is required to withdraw under a ceasefire
agreement.On Friday morning, Lebanese media outlets reported a fresh
Israeli airstrike near the village of Tebna, south of Sidon. There was
no immediate comment from the IDF.Lebanon’s government did not comment
on the strikes.-Al-Akhbar (@AlakhbarNews)February 7, 2025-A fragile
ceasefire has been in place since November 27, 2024, after more than a
year of hostilities, including two months of all-out war.The conflict
began with Hezbollah cross-border rocket and drone attacks on October 8,
2023, the day after the Palestinian terror group Hamas led thousands of
terrorists in a devastating invasion of southern Israel, killing 1,200
people and triggering war in the Gaza Strip.The Iran-backed group said
its attacks were to support Gaza. By the time the ceasefire came into
effect, Israel had decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and depleted its
fighting capabilities.Under the deal, Hezbollah must pull back north of
the Litani — some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Israel’s border — while
Israel is entitled to strike threats it considers imminent, and forward
less imminent threats to a monitoring committee comprising
representatives of Lebanon, Israel, France, the United States and
UNIFIL.Israeli soldiers on theUnder the truce deal, Lebanon’s military
was to deploy in the south alongside UN peacekeepers as the Israeli army
withdrew over 60 days.The withdrawal period for Israeli forces was
delayed to February 18 after Jerusalem requested an extension from the
original January 26 deadline. Israel said that it needed to stay longer
because the Lebanese army had not deployed to all areas of southern
Lebanon, as agreed.In addition to pulling back its forces north of the
Litani River, Hezbollah is also committed to dismantling any remaining
military infrastructure in the south.Israel’s military says its forces
have continued to uncover and seize Hezbollah weapons in prohibited
areas and that the Lebanese army is not keeping to its part of the
deal.AFP contributed to this report.
Laments that ruling Likud
party 'has strayed from its path'Gallant: ‘Israel’s greatest missed
opportunity’ was not attacking Hezbollah in Oct. 2023-Fired defense
minister accuses Netanyahu of being overly hesitant to use force in Gaza
and Lebanon; also says Israel could have returned ‘more hostages,
earlier, at a lower cost’By ToI Staff Today, 3:47 am-FEB 7,25
Ex-defense
minister Yoav Gallant, in an interview aired Thursday, accused Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being overly hesitant to use military
force against Hamas and Hezbollah, of undermining a viable
hostage-ceasefire deal in May, and of failing to produce a political
plan to capitalize on military successes in Gaza.In the interview —
Gallant’s first with Israeli television since he was fired from his post
by Netanyahu in November — the general-turned-lawmaker also addressed
the failures of the government and military to prevent and respond to
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which started the ongoing war.Gallant
called for a state commission of inquiry into what happened and said he
would cooperate fully and accept whatever it found with respect to his
own failings.Among the first topics discussed in the interview with
Channel 12 news was Gallant’s push behind the scenes to launch a major
attack against the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon, on October 11,
2023, just four days after Hamas had launched its invasion from the Gaza
Strip.The ex-defense minister called the government’s failure to heed
his advice on that day “the State of Israel’s greatest missed
opportunity, security-wise, since its founding.”“We knew that senior
officials from Hezbollah were going to convene. We could have attacked
from the sky and taken out [censored] heads of Hezbollah, and also
Iranians, [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah, all the rest. The entire
top echelon of Hezbollah,” Gallant said.Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu (L) meets with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (C) and military
chiefs at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv for a security assessment on
October 8, 2023. (GPO)-“Immediately after that, we could have carried
out a plan of attack against the entire missile and rocket system, the
way we did almost a year later, in September, and we would have gotten
not just to 70 or 80 percent of them, but 90% or more, because a great
portion of them were concentrated in storehouses,” he added.Hezbollah
‘would have ceased to exist’In addition, Gallant said, the “beeper
operation” — in which thousands of Hezbollah pagers exploded, marking
the start of Israel’s eventual offensive against the terror group some
eleven months later — was “ready long before the war,” and could have
been executed in concert with the strikes he advocated in October
2023.“Hezbollah as a military organization would have ceased to exist —
no leadership, no missiles or rockets, most of its operatives killed in
the field,” Gallant asserted.According to the ousted defense minister,
when he presented the plan to Netanyahu, the prime minister insisted on
discussing the proposal with the United States — at which point, Gallant
said, he knew the attack would not come to pass.“In accordance with his
request, I spoke with [US National Security Adviser] Jake Sullivan.
After a few minutes, [Strategic Affairs Minister] Ron Dermer joined the
conversation, and I received an absolute ‘no,'” Gallant recalled.“I went
back to the prime minister, and I told him, ‘We have to do this.’ He
pointed out the window at all the buildings, and told me: ‘You see these
buildings? All of this will be destroyed, by Hezbollah’s leftover
capacity. After we hit them, they’ll destroy everything you see,'”
Gallant said.Netanyahu defended his decision to block Gallant’s October
11 proposal, telling the friendly Channel 14 network on Thursday that it
would have been “a horrible mistake” to open a two-front war so soon
after the Hamas attacks of October 7.The premier also claimed there were
only around 150 booby-trapped beepers in Hezbollah hands in October
2023 “as opposed to thousands that we accumulated” in the ensuing
months.That assertion drew a swift response from Gallant, who wrote on X
that “the pager operation was prepared years before the war and was
ready for activation on October 11.”“Contrary to what was said,
thousands of pagers were in the hands of the terrorists by the time I
suggested attacking Hezbollah,” Gallant said.He asserted that had the
plan been activated in October 2023, the damage caused by the pagers
would have been secondary to the damage caused by walkie-talkie devices
that had also been rigged with explosives.While dozens of Hezbollah
operatives were killed and thousands more were wounded in the September
16-17 pager and walkie-talkie attacks, far more were put out of
commission by the pager blasts than by the walkie-talkies.The reason for
this, Gallant said, was because by September 2024, “the vast majority
of walkie-talkies were in warehouses, and their explosion caused no
damage.” Speaking with Channel 12, Gallant said the devices were being
inspected after raising the suspicions of Hezbollah.In the interview,
Gallant also discussed the strike that killed Nasrallah , recalling how
he and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi phoned Netanyahu — who was
visiting the United States — to get permission for the attack. After
giving them the green light, Netanyahu asked that they wait until after
he delivered his speech to the UN General Assembly, Gallant
recalled.“Eighty-four tons of bombs fell… and Nasrallah passed from this
world.”Gaza ground invasion-According to Gallant, Netanyahu was not
only overly hesitant to attack Hezbollah early in the war — he was even
reluctant to send ground troops into Gaza, again issuing grim
predictions about the cost, that did not pan out.“Before the ground
operation, the prime minister told me there would be thousands [of
soldiers] killed in Gaza. I told him, there won’t be thousands killed —
and beyond that, what do we have an army for? If after they kill a
thousand of our citizens and kidnap them and kill women and children and
elderly people, we won’t carry it out?”“And then came the reasoning:
‘They’ll use the hostages as human targets,'” Gallant recalled.“I told
him, we and Hamas, those human animals, have only one thing in common:
We both want to protect the hostages,” Gallant said, explaining that
Hamas needed the hostages alive to use them as a tool against Israel.“It
was a struggle,” Gallant said again, of the effort to convince the
government to launch a ground operation. “This whole thing took time —
in the end, the IDF chief of staff and I, we came to this decision,” he
said.Hostage deal and ‘day after’ in Gaza-Asked whether he believes the
government did all that it could to return those abducted on October 7
and held hostage in Gaza, the ex-defense chief said, “I don’t think
so.”“We could have brought [home] more hostages, earlier, and at a lower
cost. The proposal in early July, that Hamas agreed to, is identical to
the deal now, just [the current one] is worse in several ways,” Gallant
said.“There are fewer hostages alive, I’m sorry to say, more time has
gone by, and we’re paying a heavier price — because there are at least
110 more murderers who will be released in this process.”Asked who he
thinks is to blame for the July deal failing, Gallant told the following
story, from the end of April:“In the war cabinet, we made a unanimous
decision to move toward a deal, during which we would withdraw from the
Netzarim Corridor, and there were different keys for how many hostages
would be released in exchange for how many prisoners.“In the evening,
there was a cabinet discussion, and in walked Finance Minister Bezalel
Smotrich, who didn’t know — or wasn’t supposed to know — about the plan,
and he said: ‘There’s a plan to return 18 hostages in exchange for
withdrawing from Netzarim,’ and he said he would oppose it and leave the
government,” Gallant recalled.“I don’t know [who told him]. I didn’t
tell him. We said in the security establishment — we needed to bring
[home] 33 hostages, and the minimum number was 18. The number that went
out, several hours later, to the media, was 18.Channel 12 reported late
last year that Netanyahu’s office was behind the leak to Smotrich.“It
took a few days for Hamas to understand what was happening from the
Israeli media, and they said, we’re backing out of the deal — and, in
practice, the whole thing fell apart. And it only came back at the end
of May, through the president’s speech.”Asked if it was pressure by
Trump that led to Netanyahu’s finally accepting the deal, in its worse
form, this time around, Gallant responded:“Netanyahu takes Trump into
consideration more than he does [Itamar] Ben Gvir,” he said, referring
to the far-right leader whose Otzma Yehudit party quit the government to
protest the ceasefire agreement that took effect January 19. “That
wasn’t true of [US president] Biden. That’s the whole story.”Asked why
his recollection of how Netanyahu torpedoed hostage negotiations doesn’t
line up with that of the Biden administration, which repeatedly blamed
Hamas as the lone obstacle, Gallant suggested that the Biden
administration became influenced by domestic political considerations,
which would not have judged kindly a president blaming Israel over Hamas
ahead of a presidential election.“I heard the Americans throughout the
entire war. Something changed sometime around August when the US
[entered] election [season],” he said.Pressed as to why Biden officials
haven’t changed their tune now that the election is over, Galant
responded, “People are invested in their legacies.”Gallant also — not
for the first time — accused the government of failing to capitalize on
military gains in Gaza by refusing to execute a plan to replace Hamas as
a governing force in the Strip.“For a year… I said ‘build an
alternative.’ The prime minister, even though they attacked me, agreed
to this,” said Gallant. “But what was needed wasn’t done.”Gallant
strongly objected to the prospect of Israeli military rule in Gaza “to
fulfill the dreams of people that are disconnected from reality, of
establishing settlements in the heart of Gaza.”“The results will be
disastrous,” he warned.Likud ‘has strayed from its path’Other topics
raised in the interview included Gallant’s future in the ruling Likud
party and the efforts to advance legislation to cement into law the
exemptions from mandatory military service enjoyed by ultra-Orthodox
yeshiva students.“The issue of Haredi enlistment is a clear example of
where the Likud faction has strayed from its path,” he said, while
tearing into the party’s backbenchers for “thinking they can outflank
[Itamar] Ben Gvir on the right.”He also lamented attacks by Knesset
members on the heads of the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet.“Likud
must continue to lead and the State of Israel needs Likud, and we’ll fix
these things,” he added.Despite his firing by Netanyahu and subsequent
decision to resign as a MK, Gallant was adamant he would remain in
Likud. Asked whether he could remain as a viable political figure after
the failures of October 7, Gallant said “The public will decide,
preferably after it hears [from] a state commission of inquiry who is
responsible and why.”
WAY TO GO TRUMP.THIS IS THE FIRST STEP IN DISINTAGRATING THE ISRAEL HATER USELESS UNITED NATIONS.ONCE AND FOR ALL.ALLSO.
Trump
signs order sanctioning ICC over Israel arrest warrants, probe of US
soldiers-Court officials and their families to face financial and travel
restrictions, as US president decries The Hague’s ‘illegitimate and
baseless actions’ against America and Israel By Agencies and ToI Staff
Today, 2:03 am-FEB 7,25
US President Donald Trump on Thursday
authorized economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on
International Criminal Court investigations of US citizens or US allies
such as Israel, repeating action he took during his first term.The move
coincides with a visit to Washington by Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, who along with his former defense minister is wanted by the
ICC over the Gaza war started by the Hamas-led terror onslaught on
October 7, 2023. The court also issued arrest warrants for three Hamas
leaders, all of whom have since been killed, but has so far only
rescinded the warrants for two of them.Trump’s order said the court in
The Hague had “abused its power” by issuing the arrest warrant for
Netanyahu, who was hosted at the White House on Tuesday. The order also
said the tribunal had engaged in “illegitimate and baseless actions
targeting America,” referring to ICC probes into alleged war crimes by
US service members in Afghanistan, “and our close ally Israel.”It was
unclear how quickly the US would announce the names of people
sanctioned. During the first Trump administration in 2020, Washington
imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top
aides over the ICC’s investigation into American troops in Afghanistan.
President Joe Biden lifted the sanctions soon after taking office in
2021.The ICC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
Thursday’s executive order. The sanctions include freezing any US assets
of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting
the United States.The 125-member ICC is a permanent court that can
prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide
and the crime of aggression against the territory of member states or by
their nationals. Neither Israel nor the United States are members of
the court.Trump signed the executive order after US Senate Democrats
last week blocked a Republican-led effort to pass legislation setting up
a sanctions regime targeting the court.The court has taken measures to
shield staff from possible US sanctions, paying salaries three months in
advance, as it braced for financial restrictions that could cripple the
war crimes tribunal, sources told Reuters last month.In December, the
court’s president, Judge Tomoko Akane, warned that sanctions would
“rapidly undermine the court’s operations in all situations and cases,
and jeopardize its very existence.”
Countries vow ‘unwavering’
support for ICC as Trump hits it with sanctions-79 signatories to letter
argue court ‘serves as a vital pillar of the international justice
system by ensuring accountability for the most serious international
crimes’By Reuters and ToI Staff Today, 8:06 pm-FEB 7,25
NEW
YORK/AMSTERDAM — Dozens of countries expressed their “unwavering
support” for the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday, a day
after US President Donald Trump authorized potentially far-reaching
economic and travel sanctions against the court’s staff.“We reaffirm our
continued and unwavering support for the independence, impartiality and
integrity of the ICC,” a group of almost 80 countries said in a joint
statement.“The court serves as a vital pillar of the international
justice system by ensuring accountability for the most serious
international crimes, and justice for victims.”The 79 signatories came
from all parts of the world, but make up only about two-thirds of the
125 member states of the permanent court for the prosecution of war
crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression.Among
the countries who agreed to the statement were France, Germany and
Britain. Among those absent were Australia, the Czech Republic, Hungary
and Italy.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had earlier on Friday
made it clear he supported Trump’s move, which coincided with a visit to
Washington by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted
by the ICC over the war in Gaza.Trump’s sanctions target people who
work on ICC investigations of US citizens or US allies, such as
Israel.“It’s time for Hungary to review what we’re doing in an
international organization that is under US sanctions! New winds are
blowing in international politics. We call it the Trump-tornado,” Orban
said on X.The Czech and Italian governments had no immediate comment on
why they had not signed the declaration.The court’s host nation, the
Netherlands, said it regretted the sanctions and would continue to
support the ICC’s work.“We don’t know the exact impact yet, but it could
make the court’s work very hard and possibly impossible in certain
areas,” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof told reporters.“We will do all
we can to make sure the court can fulfill its tasks,” he said, adding he
had not talked to Trump about the sanctions yet.German Chancellor Olaf
Scholz and other EU leaders said Trump was wrong to impose sanctions on
the ICC.“Sanctions are the wrong tool,” said Scholz. “They jeopardize an
institution that is supposed to ensure that the dictators of this world
cannot simply persecute people and start wars, and that is very
important.”The ICC itself condemned the sanctions and said it “stands
firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and
hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in
all situations before it.”Court officials convened meetings in The Hague
on Friday to discuss the implications of the sanctions, a source told
Reuters on condition of anonymity.The US sanctions include freezing any
US assets of those designated and barring them and their families from
visiting the United States.It was unclear how quickly the US would
announce names of people sanctioned. During the first Trump
administration in 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor
Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides over the ICC’s investigation
into alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan.The United
States, China, Russia and Israel are not members of the ICC.Trump signed
the executive order after US Senate Democrats last week blocked a
Republican-led effort to pass legislation setting up a sanctions regime
targeting the war crimes court.The court has taken measures to shield
staff from possible US sanctions, paying salaries three months in
advance, as it braced for financial restrictions that could cripple the
war crimes tribunal, sources told Reuters last month.In December, the
court’s president, Judge Tomoko Akane, warned that sanctions would
“rapidly undermine the court’s operations in all situations and cases,
and jeopardize its very existenceץ”Russia has also taken aim at the
court. In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir
Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of
children from Ukraine. Russia has banned entry to ICC chief prosecutor
Karim Khan and placed him and two ICC judges on its wanted list.Last
year the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defense
minister Yoav Gallant over Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group
in Gaza.The ICC’s charges allege that Netanyahu and Gallant committed
the war crimes of directing attacks against the civilian population of
Gaza and of using starvation as a method of warfare by hindering the
supply of international aid to Gaza.Israel has strongly rejected the
substance of the allegations, noting that it has funneled massive
amounts of humanitarian aid through the crossings along the Gaza border,
and blaming distribution issues inside the Strip in cases of failure to
reach the civilian population. Israel has also rejected allegations
that it targets civilians, noting efforts to avoid civilian casualties
despite Hamas’s systematic use of human shields.The ICC is a permanent
court that can prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against
humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression of the territory of
member states or by their nationals.The court has said its decision to
pursue warrants for the Israeli officials was in line with its approach
in all cases, based on an assessment by the prosecutor that there was
enough evidence to proceed, and the view that seeking arrest warrants
immediately could prevent ongoing crimes.
Hostage's brother:
Feels like 2nd phase is 'disintegrating'Three more hostages due to be
freed on Saturday amid uncertainty over deal’s future-Hamas supposed to
say Friday which captives it will release; Jerusalem reportedly
dispatching negotiators to Doha over weekend for talks on rest of 1st
phase, but not 2nd stage-By ToI Staff Today, 1:16 am-FEB 7,25
Hamas
is expected to release a fifth batch of Israeli captives on Saturday as
part of the hostage release and ceasefire deal, as US President Donald
Trump’s controversial proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza fueled
further uncertainty on whether the multiphase agreement will hold up.A
list of the three hostages to be released is expected in Israel by 4
p.m. on Friday.According to Channel 12 news, Israel is pressuring
mediators to secure the release of Shiri Bibas and her young sons,
Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 2. Hamas was to release living women and children
first under the deal, and Israel has said it has “grave concern” for
their lives. The father, Yarden Bibas, was released last Saturday.A
Hamas official cited by the network said the terror group would see how
Trump’s plan to “take over” the Gaza Strip progresses before deciding on
the fate of the deal. According to the network, the terror group is
unlikely to thwart the rest of the first phase, including Saturday’s
expected hostage release.On Thursday, the government approved a list of
Palestinian prisoners to be released in return for the hostages. Three
prisoners were removed from the list at the last minute, including
Mahmoud Atallah, a terror convict accused of raping a prison guard, who
was replaced with an identically named security prisoner, according to
the Israel Hayom newspaper.In total, Israel has said it would release up
to 1,904 Palestinian prisoners — including 737 serving life terms for
dozens of murders — in return for 33 Israeli hostages during the deal’s
first phase.So far, 13 Israelis have been released, along with five Thai
hostages freed outside the framework of the deal.Though talks for the
second phase were supposed to commence Monday, Netanyahu has pushed off
sending a negotiating team, reportedly until he returns from Washington
next week.A working-level negotiating team, led by the outgoing Shin Bet
deputy director — known by his Hebrew initial “Mem” — is expected in
Doha over the weekend, but is empowered to discuss only the first phase,
not the second, according to Channel 12. Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s
spokesman denied reports that the premier presented in Washington a plan
to end the fighting in Gaza — a sine qua non for the second stage, but a
red line for the right flank of Netanyahu’s coalition.The delay in
talks on the second phase has deeply worried the families of male
hostages who are not set to be released until phases two and three.Moshe
Or, brother of hostage Avinatan Or, told Channel 12 that “there is a
feeling that the second phase is disintegrating. [People are] starting
to talk about all sorts of other things, flattening Gaza, moving the
Palestinians… In our view it’s unacceptable and scary that [they’re]
starting to talk that way and forget about [the hostages].”Avinatan
marked his 32nd birthday on Thursday. His girlfirend Noa Argamani, who
was rescued from Hamas captivity in June, wrote on Instagram that she
was “doing everything to get you back, to get to the second phase of the
deal so you’re not left behind.”Argamani herself is currently in
Washington with a delegation of hostage families determined to ensure
that the deal proceeds to its second phase.On Thursday, Trump honored
her in a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, saying she “showed
unwavering strength and courage and faith as she endured the
unendurable.”“By the grace of God, she was rescued by the Israel Defense
Forces and now she’s come back to pray with us this morning,” said
Trump.“As president, I will not rest until every remaining hostage has
been returned to their families,” he vowed.According to Channel 12,
Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel introduced Argamani and other
hostages at the event to Massad Boulos, Trump’s Middle East envoy and
the father-in-law of Tiffany Trump, the US president’s daughter.Boulos
was said to have reiterated to the hostage delegation the Trump
administration’s commitment to bringing the captives home, and tell them
he planned to visit Israel in the coming months.Hamas took 251 hostages
on October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern
Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.Seventy-six of
the hostages abducted on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies
of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.Hamas has so far released 18
hostages — civilians, soldiers, and Thai nationals — during the
ceasefire that began in January.The terror group freed 105 civilians
during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were
released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive,
and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three
mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their
captors.Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the
Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was
killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014,
was recovered from Gaza in January.
Australia investigating
potential foreign influence amid wave of antisemitic attacks-Twelve
people arrested by counterterror task force don’t share antisemitic
ideology expressed in their crimes, cops say, as Australia passes new,
bipartisan hate crime laws By AP and ToI Staff 6 February 2025, 10:18 pm
A
wave of antisemitic attacks has roiled Australia, with a dozen arrests
for vandalizing or setting homes, schools, and synagogues on fire since
October and hundreds more charged in just over a year with crimes
targeting Jews.The attacks in areas where Jewish people live have
provoked an outpouring of condemnation — and a fraught and complicated
debate about who’s to blame. But in a rare moment of unity, Australia’s
federal lawmakers on Thursday advanced hate crime laws almost
unanimously.“We want people who are engaged in antisemitic activities to
be caught, to be charged and to be put in the clink,” Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese told reporters.“This is a time of national crisis,”
opposition leader Peter Dutton said.Jewish organizations and hate
researchers have recorded drastic spikes in hate-fueled incidents
against Jews since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel — when
some 3,000 terrorists invaded the Jewish state, killing some 1,200
people and taking 251 hostages — that triggered the subsequent war in
the Gaza Strip.Antisemitic episodes in the two biggest cities, Sydney
and Melbourne — home to 85% of Australia’s Jewish population — have
drawn the highest profile because they are severe, unusual and public.
Since November they’ve included:
A trailer filled with explosives used in the mining industry and a list of Jewish targets discovered on Sydney’s outskirts;
Firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue, with one person hurt. Defacement of another with Nazi symbols and pro-Palestine graffiti;
A Jewish childcare center set on fire;
Jewish schools in Sydney and Melbourne daubed with white supremacist graffiti;
Three Jewish businesses torched;
The former home of a prominent Jewish leader sprayed with graffiti;
Cars defaced and windows smashed in areas where Jews live.
Counter-terrorism
officials have arrested 12 people in connection with those crimes.
Nearly 200 more have been charged since October 2023 in the state of New
South Wales – where Sydney is located – with crimes linked to
antisemitism, police say.Who’s committing the crimes? Investigators are
examining whether criminals for hire were paid by foreign actors to
carry out the recent attacks, leaders of the task force said in January.
They did not specify what foreign interests they believed were
responsible.Days later, officials said the 12 arrested by the task force
don’t share the antisemitic ideology expressed by their crimes,
underscoring suggestions that the acts were orchestrated abroad.The
revelations were strange — but not unprecedented, analysts said.“It’s
not completely new, the connection between ideological groups and
criminal groups,” said Matteo Vergani, a researcher of hate and
extremism with Deakin University. “What’s new is that it usually happens
in relation to larger scale terrorist attacks. So that is
surprising.”What’s behind the rise? Lawmakers in speeches this week said
the October 7 attacks by Hamas provoked an outburst of antisemitism at
levels Australia had not registered before.In tense public debates
echoing those in the United States and elsewhere, right-leaning
lawmakers and some Jewish leaders — among them Peter Wertheim from the
Executive Council of Australian Jewry — have accused pro-Palestinian and
anti-Israel demonstrators, particularly “progressives” and university
students, he said, of fueling the crimes.Demonstrators use opposition to
Israel to target Jews and give antisemitism “a new social license,” he
said.What’s the government’s response? Albanese’s center-left government
on Thursday approved measures in the House of Representatives that will
create new and bolstered hate crime offenses protecting a raft of
characteristics, including race, religion and gender.Amendments from the
opposition include the imposition of mandatory prison terms for
terrorism offenses — which the prime minister had rejected before —- and
for displaying hate symbols.The bill passed 117 votes to 13. It’s
expected the Senate will pass it into law.
Other initiatives since last January include:
Imposing sanctions on Terrorgram, an online white supremacist terrorism financing network;
Criminalizing Nazi salutes;
Making
doxing — the sharing of personal information online — illegal after a
list of Australian Jews was published on the internet in 2024;
Appointing national envoys to address Islamophobia and antisemitism;
Some states have passed their own laws; New South Wales also revealed proposed hate crime measures Thursday.
What’s
different in Australia? By all measures, anti-Jewish hate has spiked
across the US, Europe and the United Kingdom since the October 2023
Hamas attack — even though many leaders have denounced the surge —
prompting tens of thousands of Jews to leave Europe, according to some
figures.However, Australia’s situation had distinctive factors, analysts
said. One was the claim that the primary agitators could be based
abroad.Another was the shock of such hate in a country far from the
Middle East where a small community of Jews — fewer than 120,000 people,
or about 0.5% of the population — has lived relatively peacefully, said
Wertheim.Australia’s restrictive gun laws might have led the
perpetrators to commit vandalism crimes, Vergani said. Semiautomatic
rifles were outlawed in Australia after a gun massacre in 1996.But the
episodes have also driven a fraught political climate ahead of a
national election due by May 17.Why are politicians debating it?
Antisemitic attacks have led national news and prompted daily questions
for Albanese — and claims of inaction from his main political opponent,
conservative Liberal party leader Dutton.Meanwhile, Dutton’s detractors
have lambasted him for politicizing the crimes — a charge he has
rejected — and for urging a freeze on visas for Palestinians fleeing the
war.Vergani said Jewish people tell him they have not experienced such
hatred in Australia before.“They’ve never in their lives had this
continuous feeling that something bigger could happen,” he said.
First
new US sanctions under Trump target network delivering Iranian oil to
China-Measures against alleged front company for Iranian military come
after Trump signs order resuming ‘maximum pressure’ campaign, aimed at
‘driving Iran’s oil exports to zero’By AFP 6 February 2025, 8:23 pm
WASHINGTON
— The US Treasury announced financial sanctions on Thursday, the first
under the new administration of Donald Trump, that target an
“international network” accused of shipping Iranian oil to China to fund
Tehran’s military activities.The sanctions target the network for
“facilitating the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil
worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the People’s Republic of
China,” the Treasury Department wrote in a statement.The oil was shipped
on behalf of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and a sanctioned front
company called Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars, the Treasury statement
noted.“The Iranian regime remains focused on leveraging its oil revenues
to fund the development of its nuclear program, to produce its deadly
ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, and to support its
regional terrorist proxy groups,” said US Treasury Secretary Scott
Bessent.“The United States is committed to aggressively targeting any
attempt by Iran to secure funding for these malign activities,” he
added.The Treasury’s actions follow US President Trump’s recent decision
to reinstate his so-called maximum pressure campaign against Iran over
allegations that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons.Trump signed a
memorandum on Tuesday reimposing the tough policy of sanctions against
Iran, similar to those he levied during his first term, adding he hoped
he would not “have to use it very much.”The memorandum instructs every
department in the US government to design sanctions on Iran, especially
in relation to nuclear activities, a White House aide told Trump at the
signing ceremony.It also directs the Treasury and State Department to
implement a campaign aimed at “driving Iran’s oil exports to zero.”Times
of Israel staff contributed to this report.
As religious
immigration rises, OU expands presence in Israel, investing in
integration-After 47 years in Israel, one of North America’s largest
Orthodox institutions switches strategy to operate in neighborhood hubs,
reflecting changing community trends-By Zev Stub 6 February 2025, 4:38
pm
When it moved its office from central Jerusalem to a larger
facility in the Har Hotzvim Hi-Tech Park this week, one of North
America’s largest Orthodox institutions cemented a strategic decision to
invest more in its Israeli operations, reflecting changing perceptions
about the relationship between religious communities in Israel and the
Diaspora.The Orthodox Union has had a presence in Israel for 47 years.
Now, however, its management is investing more resources in developing
the organization’s programs for new North American immigrants to Israel
and expanding its services for English-speaking communities living
there.“It is very clear that the OU in America is now seeing the
centrality of the State of Israel in its future,” said OU Israel
president Stuart Hershkowitz. “I have been told very clearly that the
focus will now be much more on Israel, and our budgets here have gone up
substantially.”Hershkowitz said the organization will focus more on
integrating new immigrants to Israel through an innovative decentralized
model with hubs in different neighborhoods that will allow it to better
connect with local communities.“For many years, we expected people to
come to us for programs and services,” Hershkowitz said. “Now, the plan
is for us to go out to them.”Increasing integrationThe goal of the new
klita (immigrant integration) initiative, as Hershkowitz calls it, is to
provide more of the types of community infrastructure that will help
English-speaking religious immigrants feel at home in Israel.Immigration
numbers from North America have risen continuously in recent years,
even after the Hamas-led terror onslaught of October 7, 2023, with some
4,000 people moving to Israel in 2024 alone. Some 65% of families moving
from the US identify as Orthodox, according to data from Nefesh
B’Nefesh, an organization that helps North Americans navigate the
bureaucracy of immigration.“As more and more English speakers [move to
Israel] at different stages of their lives, the OU is trying to address
their needs to help them thrive culturally, spiritually, and
religiously,” said OU Israel director of marketing Laya Bejell.“People
go through significant lifestyle changes when they move to Israel,”
Bejell said. “Many people tell us that in America, they had social lives
built around their synagogues and community centers, while that dynamic
doesn’t work the same way here. So we’re trying to create those
communities here.”These include weekly Torah classes in synagogues in
the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Rehavia, Baka, Arnona, Ramot and others,
as well as in the towns of Modiin and Ma’ale Adumim. More communities
around the country will be added in the future, Hershkowitz said.Women’s
programming in Rehavia on Monday nights also attracts large crowds,
partially because it addresses an audience typically underserved by
other organizations, the OU noted.These are in addition to a variety of
social programs the OU has in place, including Yachad Israel for
individuals with disabilities, JLIC Israel (Jewish Learning Initiative
on Campus) for students on 10 university campuses, and the NCSY Israel
(formerly known abroad as the National Conference of Synagogue Youth)
youth movement.Other activities run by OU Israel include youth
initiatives, charities, volunteer programs, continuing education classes
for women and retirees, summer camps, tours, and event.“We already have
centers working with youth in 19 cities around Israel,” Hershkowitz
said. “Now, we are looking to add more services that aren’t being
provided by other aliyah [immigration] organizations,” such as Nefesh
B’Nefesh, AACI (Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel), Yad
L’Olim, and others.Growing in Israel-The shift has come gradually for
the OU, which has been one of the most powerful organizations in the
Jewish world since it was founded in 1898 to certify kosher foods in the
United States.The OU opened its first office in Israel on Jerusalem’s
Strauss Street in the late 1970s to serve primarily as a place where
NCSY students and alumni could gather or meet with visiting rabbis,
explained Rabbi Sam Shor, director of Torah initiatives for OU Israel.
In 1999, as the center added Torah classes and became a hub for
Jerusalem’s then-small English-speaking community, it moved to a more
central location in the Rehavia neighborhood, where it remained for the
next 25 years.Meanwhile, OU’s footprint in the community expanded with
the popularity of its Torah Tidbits publication. Distributed every week
in synagogues around the country, the parsha, or weekly Torah portion,
sheet (with weekly columns and listings of OU classes, along with
copious advertisements) has become essential reading for religious
English-speaking families, and is now read by more than three million
people a year, according to the OU.“Torah Tidbits is a staple read by
people in virtually all synagogues and communities that have religious
Anglos in Israel,” said Max Rabin, a programmer who attended an event on
Sunday to mark the OU’s move to Har Hotzvim. “No matter how many copies
they distribute, they always disappear by the end of Shabbat.”OU’s
success in Israel is also largely attributable to Rabbi Avi Berman, the
powerhouse executive director it brought on in 2006 who is seen as the
organization’s energizing force.Meanwhile, a partnership with the
Jerusalem municipality helps keep many of the OU’s programs going.“One
of the first things I did when I came into office at city council 11
years ago was to contact the OU, because I saw that they would be our
best partners to help us not only bring immigrants to Jerusalem but to
help keep them here,” said Jerusalem deputy mayor Arieh King. “Now, the
city works closely with them to implement different social and cultural
programs for the English-speaking population, and the municipality has a
special budget set aside for OU projects. It’s a very fruitful
partnership for both sides.”Perhaps as a result of its municipality
partnership, OU Israel has recently catapulted to greater public
awareness. Thousands attended a massive public prayer service put on for
Israel Independence Day in Jerusalem’s Liberty Bell Park last May, and
High Holiday learning conferences in different cities attracted hundreds
of participants in October, Shor said.Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion,
center, at a celebration of the OU’s new office in Har Hotzvim, February
2, 2025 (Shmuel Ungar)While other immigrants tend to merge more into
broader society the longer they remain in the country, many
English-speaking immigrants prefer to associate with their own kind long
after they have made the move to Israel, Shor posited.“When my wife and
I moved to our neighborhood seven years ago, neighbors quickly started
approaching me with rabbinical questions,” Shor recalled. “Why? The
community had a rabbi of 38 years, but he didn’t speak a word of
English, and 60% of the congregants were immigrants, so no one ever
asked him a question. All of a sudden, within a few weeks of being
there, I started getting dozens of questions.”“That’s the reason we need
to go out into the communities,” Shor said. “To cultivate a support
network that empowers immigrants to thrive here in Israel.”
DANIEL 2:37-45
37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38
And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and
the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made
thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
39 And after
thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third
kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40 And
the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh
in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these,
shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas thou sawest the
feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom
shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron,
forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle
themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to
another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of
these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never
be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it
shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand
for ever.
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of
the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the
brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known
to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is
certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
DANIEL 7:17-26
17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
19
Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from
all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his
nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue
with his feet;
20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of
the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn
that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was
more stout than his fellows.
21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
22
Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of
the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
23
Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,
which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole
earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the
ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and
another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first,
and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words
against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High,
and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his
hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
THE WORLD IN 10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS LEAD BY THE EUROPEAN UNION THE WORLD LEADER, NOT AMERICA.I PREDICT.
THE EUROPEAN UNION AND REVIVED ROMAN WORLD GOVERNMENT
DANIEL 2:31-33,36-43, DAN 7:3-8,17
First From Daniel Chapter 2
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (HEAD OF GOLD) DAN 2:31-32,36-38, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (CHEST & ARMS OF SILVER) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (WAIST & HIPS OF BRONZE) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (2 LEGS OF IRON) DAN 2:33,40, ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) (FEET IRON & CLAY) DAN 2:33,41-43,10 TOES
Now From Daniel Chapter 7
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (LION WITH EAGLES WINGS) DAN 7:4, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (BEAR ON HIND LEGS) DAN 7:5, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (LEOPARD 4 WINGS, 4 HEADS) DAN 7:6, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (HUGE IRON TEETH) DAN 7:7 (10 HORNS), ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) DAN 7:8,19-20,23-25 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS
REV
17:9,12, 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS, 7 HILLS ROME. REV 13:1 BEAST WITH 7 HEADS.
THE E.U LEADER OF WORLD GOVERNMENT DAN 2:40-45, 7:7-8,23-25,27, 8:23,
REV 13:3,7,8,12,14,16
REVELATION 17:10-12
10 And there are
seven kings (7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY) five are fallen, (EGYPT,
ASSYRIA, BABYLON,:MEDO-PERSIAN,GREECE and one is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS
DAY-ROME) and the other is not yet come; and when he
cometh,(FUTURE-REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE-EUROPEAN UNION TODAY) he must
continue a short space.(7 YEARS OF WORLD DOMINATION-BUT 3 1/2 YEARS OF
NEW WORLD ORDER OR ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT)
12 And the ten horns (10
WORLD TRADE BLOCS OR REGIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which
have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour
with the beast.
REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (10
WORLD TRADE BLOCS-NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have
received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the
beast.
13 These have one mind,(WORLD SOCIALISM) and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
We
shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only
question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or
consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February
1950
Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in
1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a
man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection
to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten
to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept
him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.
DICK
MORRIS-This truly creates a global economic system. From now on, don’t
look to Washington for the rule making, look to Brussels.
THE CLUB OF ROME FOUNDER AURELIO PECCEI WANTS THE WORLD IN 10 REGIONAL TRADING BLOCKS
HERES WHAT THE WORLD WOULD LOOK LIKE (SINCE THERE WILL BE WORLD GOVERNMENT IN THE FUTURE)-UPDATED VERSION
01 CANADA, U.S.A, MEXICO
02 EUROPEAN UNION,WESTERN EUROPE
03 JAPAN
04 AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND, S AFRICA, ISRAEL AND PACIFIC ISLANDS
05 EASTERN EUROPE
06 SOUTHERN, CENTRAL AND LATIN AMERICAS
07 NORTH AFRICA, AND MIDEAST (MOSLEMS)
08 CENTRAL AFRICA
09 SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
10 CENTRAL ASIA
THE
CLUB OF ROME WANTS A WORLD CHARISMATIC DICTATOR (EITHER RELIGIOUS,
POLITICAL OR SCIENTIFICAL) TO HEAD THIS WORLD GOVERNMENT. REV 13:3,7-8,
DAN 7:23-24
WORLD POWERS IN THE END TIME
NORTH - RUSSIA EZEK 38:1-2, 39:1-2
SOUTH - EGYPT DAN 11:42
EAST - CHINA DAN 11:44,REV 16:12
WEST - EUROPEAN UNION DAN 7:23-24 (NOT THE U.S.A)
http://israel7777777.blogspot.ca/2012/03/10-world-trade-blocs-one-world.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2006/09/how-eu-takes-world-control.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2012/05/one-world-religion-crislam.html
I
NOTICE SINCE DONALD JOHN TRUMP MENTIONED THE TARIFFS.CANADA IS NOW
TALKING ABOUT ALL OF CANADA TRADING WITH EACH OTHER TO KEEP IT CANADIAN
FOR THE CITIZENS.THIS MIGHT BE HOW THE 10 WORLD TRADING BLOCS COME
TOGETHER.ALL THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD TRADING INSIDE THEIR COUNTRIES.
THEN PUT IN THESE 10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS.YOUR COUNTRY THEN CAN TRADE WITH
COUNTRIES IN YOUR TRADE BLOCS. AND ALLSO WITH ANY OTHER TRADE BLOC.THE
EUROPEAN UNION WILL LEAD THIS WORLD ECONOMY OF TRADING BLOCS.AND THE
WORLD HAS THE TRADE BLOCS PRETTY WELL SET UP ALREADY.
BREAKING
NEWS WHILE I'M GETTING MY STORIES-DADDYS LITTLE BOY THE INTERIM PM OF
CANADA JUSTIN TRUDEAU WAS CAUGHT ON AN OPEN MIKE TELLING PEOPLE. DONALD
TRUMP WANTS CANADAS CRITICAL MINERALS AND REALLY MEANS CANADA SHOULD
BECOME THE 51ST AMERICAN STATE. WE NEED A TRUMP OVER HERE. SO LETS JOIN
DONALD JOHN TRUMP AS CANADA 51 IN AMERICA. SINCE TRUDEAUS OUT ANY WAY IN
MARCH. GO FOR IT JUSTIN. WE WANT TRUMP AS OUR PRESIDENT INSTEAD OF
PRIME MINISTER.YOU CAN BET IF CHRISTA FREELAND BECOMES THE LIBERAL
LEADER AND PRIME MINISTER IN MARCH. SHES A NEW WORLD ORDER NUTJOB. AND
SHE WOULD BE REALLY HAPPY IF CANADA WOULD JOIN AMERICA. SHE COULD GET
MORE POWER HUNGRY IN A BIG GOVERNMENT IN AMERICA. AND OF COURSE CLAUS
SCWAB IS SAD TO SEE TRUDEAU HIS LITTLE IMITATION GO. BUT CHRISTA
FREELAND IS HIS NEXT CANADIAN PET. AND SHE WILL BE FOR A ONE WORLD
GOVERNMENT.
What’s behind Trump’s tariff orders on
Canada, Mexico and China-By Daniel Flatley and Brendan Murray-February
05, 2025 at 9:13AM EST
After promising during his election
campaign to put import taxes back at the center of U.S. economic policy
during his second term as president, U.S. President Donald Trump has
taken steps in that direction. Across-the-board tariffs of 10% on
imports from China went into effect on Feb. 4. Trump had also ordered
25% tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico but paused them for 30
days after leaders of the two countries committed to addressing demands
he’d made on them.How radical is Trump’s approach? Some U.S. tariffs on
goods from those three counties already approach or even exceed the
levels mandated by Trump. But these only apply to select categories of
goods. Levying them across the board is a major departure.Currently, for
imported industrial goods, which make up 94% of U.S. merchandise
imports by value, the U.S. has a trade-weighted average tariff rate of
2%, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Half of
industrial goods enter the country duty-free.What’s Trump trying to
achieve? Scott Bessent, Trump’s treasury secretary, provided clues about
how his boss might employ new tariffs during his confirmation hearing
in early January.Bessent, a former hedge fund manager who helped his
former boss George Soros bet against the currencies of other countries,
told senators that people should expect Trump to use tariffs in three
ways: to remedy unfair trade practices (which Trump has said would
revitalize American industry), to raise revenue for the federal budget
(important to help pay for Trump’s plans to extend his 2017 tax cuts),
and to use as a lever in negotiations with foreign powers in place of
sanctions, which Trump believes have been overused.Boosting American
manufacturing: Trump has talked about using tariffs to revitalize
manufacturing and stop the U.S. getting “ripped off” by other countries
due to trade imbalances. He’s floated the idea of using a mix of tariffs
and incentives such as expedited permitting approval as a way to entice
companies to build their facilities in the US.“We’re going to bring the
companies back,” he said during an interview with Bloomberg
Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the Economic Club of Chicago in
October. “We’re going to lower taxes still further for companies that
are going to make their product in the USA. We’re going to protect those
companies with strong tariffs.”Trump imposed several rounds of tariffs
on Chinese goods during his first term and said he was just getting
started using them to remake the U.S. economy when the Covid-19 pandemic
hit and scrambled his plans. His nominee for commerce secretary, Howard
Lutnick, framed the tariff plan as a means to regain the world’s
respect during his confirmation hearing, telling senators that U.S.
allies and adversaries alike “are taking advantage of us, they are
disrespecting us and I would like to see that end.”Raising
revenue-Income from tariffs could help pay for the tax cuts promised by
Trump. He wants to extend reductions in income taxes that were approved
in 2017 during his first presidency, many of which are due to expire at
the end of 2025. He’s even floated proposals for expanding these tax
breaks, for example by exempting tips and social security earnings from
taxation. He also aims to slash the corporate tax rate to 15% from
21%.These measures are expected to lead to a loss in government revenue
of $4.6 trillion over 10 years. Trump’s overall plan to hike tariffs, if
implemented in full, could bring in as much as $2.5 to $3 trillion over
that same period of time, according to Bessent.Peter Navarro, a Trump
trade adviser, told CNBC on Jan. 31 that the tariff effort can replace
the revenue of tax cuts. “Tariffs can easily pay for that,” Navarro
said. “President Trump wants to move from the world of income taxes and
countless IRS agents to the world where tariffs, like in the age of
[President William] McKinley, will pay for a lot of government that we
need to pay for and lower our taxes.”Wielding a weapon of
diplomacy-Trump has become skeptical of sanctions because they drive
other countries away from the dollar, and sees tariffs as a way to gain
leverage in negotiations, according to Bessent.Trump’s brief January
standoff with Colombia — in which he threatened to impose tariffs over
repatriation flights for undocumented migrants — provided a glimpse of
Trump’s strategy. For a few hours, it seemed that a trade war between
the US and one of its closest allies in Latin America was inevitable.
Then Trump pulled back on his threat after an agreement was reached
between the two countries. The White House said Colombia had “agreed to
all of President Trump’s terms” and would accept deportees on US
military aircraft. President Gustavo Petro said he’d sent a Colombian
military plane to the US to pick up 91 nationals.Trump’s tariff orders
on Canada, Mexico and China are intended to address what he calls a
“threat to the safety and security of Americans, including the public
health crisis of deaths due to the use of fentanyl.” Trump’s decision to
delay tariffs on Mexico and Canada for a month came after their
governments agreed to step up efforts to address illegal migration and
drug trafficking at the border.Is Trump’s approach new? The U.S. taxed
imports heavily for much of its history before largely abandoning the
policy beginning in the 1930s, as government leaders embraced the idea
of free trade.A big reason for that was the reaction to the Smoot-Hawley
Act of 1930, which led to an estimated increase of roughly 20% in
average import duties. The act provoked retaliatory tariffs from foreign
governments, resulting in a drop in global trade and a deepening of the
Great Depression. That debacle kicked off a multidecade period that saw
the rise of free trade, which culminated in the creation of the World
Trade Organization in 1995. During that time, tariffs became anathema to
the Republican Party.They made a comeback during Trump’s 2017-2021
presidency, when he turned to them in an effort to revitalize American
industry and counter what the US regards as China’s unfair trade
practices. President Joe Biden kept the trend going.How does China
figure into all of this? For decades, the belief in free trade was
backed by a bipartisan consensus in the US and by multinational
corporations that wanted access to cheap and efficient supply chains
overseas. China’s ascension as a global economic power broke that
consensus. Admitted to the WTO in 2001, China gained greater access to
global markets even as its critics say it violated the letter and spirit
of free-trade rules, for example by subsidizing its industries and
compelling foreign companies operating in China to part with their
know-how. A number of researchers have concluded that competition from
China triggered a decline in US employment among manufacturers that
faced a surge in imports.During Trump’s first presidency, his
administration imposed new tariffs on Chinese imports that were worth
about $380 billion in 2018 and 2019. The Biden administration maintained
those levies and raised more of them in 2024 on goods worth an
additional $18 billion. The new enthusiasm for tariffs has spread to the
European Union. It voted in early October to impose duties as high as
45% on electric vehicles from China, which in turn has threatened to
retaliate against European products.Can Trump raise tariffs without
Congressional approval? Yes. Through a number of statutes, Congress has
empowered the U.S. president to modify tariffs to address a variety of
concerns. These include a threat to national security, a war or
emergency, harms or potential harms to a U.S. industry, and unfair trade
practices by a foreign country. While companies might try to fight
higher tariffs in court, because of past deference given to presidential
powers, such challenges “would face a steep uphill climb,” according to
an article posted by the Center for Strategic & International
Studies and co-authored by Warren Maruyama, a former general counsel for
the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.How do tariffs work? A
tariff, also known as a duty or levy, is usually calculated as a
percentage of a good’s value (as declared during the customs clearance
process.) It can also be levied as a fixed amount on each item. Goods
that cross borders are given numeric codes under a standardized
nomenclature called the “international harmonized system.” Tariffs can
be assigned to specific product codes relating to, for example, a truck
chassis, or to broad categories, such as electric vehicles. Customs
agencies collect tariffs on behalf of governments.Who pays tariffs?
Tariffs are paid by the importer, or an intermediary acting on the
importer’s behalf, though the costs are typically passed on. Trump
argues that, ultimately, it’s the exporter who effectively ends up
shouldering the cost of a tariff. Studies have shown the burden is more
diffuse. The foreign company that makes the product may decide to lower
prices as a concession to the importer. Or it might spend significant
sums to build a factory somewhere to sidestep the tariff. Or an importer
— Walmart and Target are among the biggest in the U.S. — could raise
prices of the item when it’s sold on. In this case, it’s the consumer
who shoulders the tariff cost indirectly.How do tariffs affect the
economy? It can be difficult to sort through the economic effects of
tariffs. They can stimulate employment by attracting investment as
companies try to get around tariffs by moving factories to the taxing
country. At the same time, they can provoke retaliatory tariffs that
cost jobs in other parts of the economy.Moments after the new U.S.
tariffs on China took effect, Beijing blacklisted a handful of American
companies, imposed import levies on some US oil and other goods and
placed export controls on a selection of critical minerals. Before Trump
delayed the tariff hikes on Canada and Mexico, those two countries had
also said they would retaliate if the levies were increased.When a
country imposes import tariffs, domestic manufacturers don’t always leap
in to start making the products affected. And if the nation has no
alternative domestic supply of the goods concerned, then prices of those
goods can go up.Economists are still untangling the inflationary
effects of Trump’s initial tariffs from a much bigger shock to supply
chains and economic activity that started not long after the US-China
trade war began: the Covid-19 pandemic.In February 2019, the Federal
Reserve Bank of San Francisco estimated that the tariffs were adding 0.1
percentage point to consumer price inflation and 0.4 percentage point
to a metric that measures the costs for businesses to invest. Erica
York, senior economist at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, estimated that
the higher tariffs imposed by Trump and Biden increased annual costs
for the average U.S. household by $625.In addition, York estimated that
the hikes would eliminate 142,000 full-time jobs and, over the long run,
would reduce long-run gross domestic product by 0.2% on average.
Critics of Trump’s further tariff increases say they will have the same
kinds of effects at a greater scale.Bloomberg L.P.
EZEK 39:11-16
11
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a
place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the
east of the sea: (IN THE JORDAN VALLEY) and it shall stop the noses of
the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and
they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
13
Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to
them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God.
14
And they shall sever out men of continual employment, (NUCLEAR
SPECIALISTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those
that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of
seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass
through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a
sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
MEANING OF HAMONAH
Hamonah,
ham-o'-nah (Heb.)-- host; multitude; noise; tumult; commotion of mind.
The prophetic name of a city that is mentioned in conjunction with
Hamon-gog: "And Hamonah shall also be the name of a city.
Metaphysical meaning of Hamonah (mbd) - Truth Unity
Strong's Lexicon-Hamonah: Hamonah-Original Word: הֲמוֹנָה
Part of Speech: Proper Name Location-Transliteration: Hamownah
Pronunciation: hah-mo-NAH-Phonetic Spelling: (ham-o-naw')
Definition: Hamonah-Meaning: Hamonah
Word
Origin: Derived from the Hebrew root הָמוֹן (H1995), meaning
"multitude" or "abundance."Corresponding Greek / Hebrew Entries: There
is no direct Greek equivalent for "Hamonah" in the Strong's Greek
Dictionary, as it is a specific Hebrew proper noun. However, the concept
of a multitude or abundance can be related to Greek words like πλῆθος
(G4128), meaning "multitude."Usage: The term "Hamonah" is used as a
proper noun referring to a specific location mentioned in the prophetic
literature of the Old Testament. It is associated with the aftermath of a
significant battle, symbolizing the multitude of the slain.Cultural and
Historical Background: In the context of the Hebrew Bible, names often
carry significant meaning and are used to convey theological and
prophetic messages. "Hamonah" is mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, a
prophetic text that addresses the restoration of Israel and the judgment
of the nations. The name reflects the abundance of God's judgment upon
the enemies of Israel, serving as a reminder of divine justice and
sovereignty.
US envoy says Hezbollah ‘defeated,’ must not be in
Lebanon government-Morgan Ortagus warns this would violate ‘clear red
lines’ set by Washington; says US ‘very committed’ to February 18
Israeli withdrawal date By AFP and ToI Staff Today, 5:21 pm-FEB 7,25
A
senior US official visiting Beirut warned Friday against any Hezbollah
presence in Lebanon’s new government, saying the Iran-backed group was
“defeated” in its war with Israel.After a year of cross-border attacks
by the terror organization, Israel launched a major offensive against
the group in September that eliminated much of its top leadership and
severely weakened it. This allowed Lebanon’s divided parliament to elect
Joseph Aoun as president and approve Nawaf Salam as premier after more
than two years of political deadlock.The visit by US Deputy Special
Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus comes with Salam struggling to
form a government as he faces political pressure from Hezbollah and its
allies.“We have set clear red lines in the United States that
[Hezbollah] won’t be able to terrorize the Lebanese people, and that
includes by being a part of the government,” Ortagus said after meeting
President Aoun, long seen as Washington’s preferred candidate.She went
on to declare “the end of Hezbollah’s reign of terror in Lebanon and
around the world.“Hezbollah was defeated by Israel and we are grateful
to our ally Israel for defeating Hezbollah,” Ortagus said.Aoun later
distanced himself from her comments, with his office saying some of what
she said after the meeting “represents her own point of view and is not
the concern of the presidency.”Israel decimated much of Hezbollah’s
leadership and capabilities, and killed its chief of more than three
decades, Hassan Nasrallah.The ousting of Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad in
December further disrupted the group’s arms supply lines.Ortagus was in
Lebanon for her first official visit abroad after being appointed by US
President Donald Trump.Hezbollah has played a major role in the
country’s politics for decades, flexing its power in government
institutions while its fighters tangle with Israel.Ortagus voiced hope
the incoming government “will ensure that we start to end corruption,
that we end influence from Hezbollah, and that we embark on the reforms
for a greater country.”The international community has long demanded
reforms to unlock billions of dollars in aid after a financial crisis
took hold in 2019, widely blamed on corruption and mismanagement.Salam
said Wednesday that his government would exclude all members of
political parties and anyone who planned to run in parliamentary
elections. In Lebanon, traditional political parties are widely accused
of corruption.The prime minister said he did not want to allow “anyone
inside [the government] to obstruct its work in any way
whatsoever.”Political power has long been shared according to sectarian
quotas in Lebanon, and Hezbollah and its ally Amal, whose leader Nabih
Berri is also parliament speaker, have insisted they approve any Shiite
ministers Salam wants to name.Salam has refused to do so.Sectarian
power-sharing has often been used to obstruct political life when
parties refuse to compromise — a strategy that had left Lebanon without a
president for two years until Aoun’s election.Salam has vowed to enact
reforms and “rebuild a state,” as well as implement a UN resolution that
calls for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon and for Lebanon’s army and UN
peacekeepers to be the only forces deployed in the south.After meeting
Ortagus, Aoun said that “consultations to form a new government are
nearly completed,” while also calling on Israel to withdraw from
Lebanon’s south.“The Lebanese army is ready to deploy in villages and
towns from which Israeli forces withdraw,” he said, insisting they pull
out within the agreed timeline.Washington played a key role in brokering
the November 27 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, which
ended more than a year of hostilities, including two months of all-out
war.Under the deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south
alongside UN peacekeepers as Israel withdrew over 60 days.Hezbollah was
also to pull back north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20
miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military
infrastructure in the south.The withdrawal period was extended to
February 18, after both sides accused each other of violations, and
Israeli troops still remain in some areas.Ortagus said Washington was
“very committed” to the new withdrawal date.
Jeremiah 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Isaiah 57:21
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
1 Thessalonians 5:3
3
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not
escape.
Ephesians 2:2
2 Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience:
EZEK 39:11-16
11 And it shall come to pass in
that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel,
the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: (IN THE JORDAN
VALLEY) and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall
they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley
of Hamongog.
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
13
Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to
them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God.
14
And they shall sever out men of continual employment, (NUCLEAR
SPECIALISTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those
that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of
seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass
through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a
sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
MEANING OF HAMONAH
Hamonah,
ham-o'-nah (Heb.)-- host; multitude; noise; tumult; commotion of mind.
The prophetic name of a city that is mentioned in conjunction with
Hamon-gog: "And Hamonah shall also be the name of a city.
Metaphysical meaning of Hamonah (mbd) - Truth Unity
Strong's Lexicon-Hamonah: Hamonah-Original Word: הֲמוֹנָה
Part of Speech: Proper Name Location-Transliteration: Hamownah
Pronunciation: hah-mo-NAH-Phonetic Spelling: (ham-o-naw')
Definition: Hamonah-Meaning: Hamonah
Word
Origin: Derived from the Hebrew root הָמוֹן (H1995), meaning
"multitude" or "abundance."Corresponding Greek / Hebrew Entries: There
is no direct Greek equivalent for "Hamonah" in the Strong's Greek
Dictionary, as it is a specific Hebrew proper noun. However, the concept
of a multitude or abundance can be related to Greek words like πλῆθος
(G4128), meaning "multitude."Usage: The term "Hamonah" is used as a
proper noun referring to a specific location mentioned in the prophetic
literature of the Old Testament. It is associated with the aftermath of a
significant battle, symbolizing the multitude of the slain.Cultural and
Historical Background: In the context of the Hebrew Bible, names often
carry significant meaning and are used to convey theological and
prophetic messages. "Hamonah" is mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, a
prophetic text that addresses the restoration of Israel and the judgment
of the nations. The name reflects the abundance of God's judgment upon
the enemies of Israel, serving as a reminder of divine justice and
sovereignty.
THE BIBLE
SAYS SAUDI-ARABIA WILL BE ON ISRAELS SIDE IN THE FUTURE.SO NO WORRY
SAUDI-ARABIA WILL WORK WITH TRUMP AND ISRAEL ON TRUMPS PLAN. NO MATTER
HOW MUCH CRYING ABOUT A TWO-STATE SOLUTION BY SAUDI-ARABIA.
Analysts
argue Trump’s Gaza plan derails progress toward Israeli-Saudi
normalization-Riyadh looks to US for defense against Iran, but would
face instability on its borders should Trump succeed in ousting Gazans
to Saudi neighbors Jordan and Egypt, experts contend-By AFP and ToI
Staff Today, 3:22 pm-FEB 7,25
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — US President
Donald Trump’s plan to take over Gaza will imperil attempts to forge
landmark ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel and fuel anti-American
sentiment in the oil-rich kingdom, some analysts are warning.Trump
announced the plan to redevelop Gaza, and oust its more than two million
residents, during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday.Netanyahu, a longtime proponent
of Saudi normalization, has applauded Trump’s proposal as a solution
for Gaza on the “day after” the war there, which was sparked when
thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel on October 7,
2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.However, Trump’s
proposal has prompted a global backlash and enraged the Arab world,
making it difficult for the Saudis to consider normalization.“If this is
going to be his policy, he shut the door on Saudi recognition of
Israel,” James Dorsey, researcher at the Middle East Institute of the
National University of Singapore, told AFP.Recognition of Israel by
Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, is seen as a grand prize of
Middle East diplomacy intended to calm chronic tensions in the
region.But Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and the Middle
East’s largest economy, now faces the specter of instability on its
borders if neighboring Jordan and Egypt suddenly house large numbers of
Gaza exiles.At the same time, Riyadh must maintain cordial relations
with Washington, its longtime security guarantor and bulwark against
Iran, which is also Israel’s chief adversary.The Islamic Republic
operates an “axis of resistance” network of regional terror proxies that
includes Yemen’s Houthi rebels — against whom Saudi Arabia has waged a
bloody war — as well as Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, all of whom are
sworn to destroying Israel.“When it comes to security, Saudi Arabia has
nowhere to go but to Washington,” Dorsey said. “There’s nobody else.
It’s not China. They’re not willing and they’re not able.”“And
post-Ukraine, do you want to rely on Russia?”Quick reaction-The Saudis
were engaged in tentative talks on normalization via Washington until
the outbreak of the Gaza war, when they paused the negotiations and
hardened their position.They reacted with unusual speed to Trump’s
proposal.At around 4 a.m. Saudi time — about an hour after the comments —
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry posted a statement on X that “reaffirms
its unequivocal rejection of… attempts to displace the Palestinian
people from their land.”In the same statement, the Saudis rejected
Netanyahu’s comment that normalization was “going to happen” and Trump’s
claim that Riyadh had dropped its longtime demand that any deal include
a credible pathway to a Palestinian state — repeating their insistence
on this precondition, which is a red line for Netanyahu’s hard-right
government.#Statement | The Foreign Ministry affirms that Saudi Arabia’s
position on the establishment of a Palestinian state is firm and
unwavering. HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown
Prince and Prime Minister clearly and unequivocally reaffirmed this
stance. pic.twitter.com/0uuoq8h12I— Foreign Ministry ????????
(@KSAmofaEN) February 5, 2025-Trump’s plan carries real risks for
Riyadh, which is throwing everything at an ambitious post-oil economic
makeover that relies on stability to attract business and tourism.If
Gazans are displaced to Egypt and Jordan, it “will weaken two countries
essential to regional stability and particularly to Saudi security,”
said Saudi researcher Aziz Alghashian.“Trump’s plan, coupled with
Netanyahu’s approach, poses major risks for Saudi Arabia. It highlights
that they are not true partners for peace in Riyadh’s eyes — especially
Netanyahu, who appears to want all the benefits without making
concessions.”‘Making normalization harder’Trump’s declarations “will
further destabilize the region and fuel anti-American sentiment,
particularly in Saudi Arabia,” said Anna Jacobs, of the International
Crisis Group think tank.“He is makingSaudi-Israel normalization harder,
not easier.”Andreas Krieg of King’s College London said Saudi Arabia
would not agree meekly to normalization if ordered by Washington.Prior
to the Gaza war, the Saudis were negotiating for security guarantees and
help in building a civilian nuclear program in return for Israeli
ties.“They are not a US vassal state and so they’re not just taking a
diktat from Trump,” said Krieg. “And I think it will stand firm on their
positions, willing to negotiate here and there. But the principal red
lines remain.“Nobody in Saudi Arabia has an interest in selling out
Palestinian statehood. That is the last and the most important
bargaining chip that the Saudis have in terms of authority and
legitimacy in the Arab and Muslim world.”But the question is how Saudi
Arabia and its 39-year-old de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman, will proceed.“I don’t think that the Saudis will take any major
steps now,” said Krieg. “They obviously have their own levers that they
can use for pressure on America, particularly in the energy sector. I
don’t think the Saudis will want to use it at this point.”
Reports:
Morocco, 2 disputed Somalia regions considered as destinations for
Gazans-Somaliland and Puntland named as locations under discussion for
Gazan relocation per Trump’s plans; Israeli official says any talk of
destinations is ‘extremely premature’By ToI Staff Today, 4:33 pm-FEB
7,25
Israeli and US officials are reportedly looking into Morocco
as well as two autonomous regions of Somalia as potential destinations
for relocating Gazans under US President Donald Trump’s proposed plan to
move Gazans from the war-torn enclave.Two reports in recent days have
named the three potential destinations.On Wednesday Channel 12 news
reported that Morocco, Puntland and Somaliland were being considered by
the White House.The Telegraph on Thursday cited an Israeli consul
general to the US as making a similar statement, though he seemed to
indicate it was Israel that was looking into the locations. Israel
Bachar, the consul general to the US’s Pacific Southwest region, told
The Telegraph: “From what I’m hearing we’re talking about three
different states.“We’re talking about one [in] Morocco, two [in] Somalia
and adjacent to Somalia there is another area; it’s called Puntland,
and that’s what they’re looking at, maybe, to relocate them to these
three places,” Bachar said.The report also quoted an anonymous Israeli
official as saying that any discussion of locations for the relocation
of Gaza’s Palestinian population was “extremely premature.”The Telegraph
report quoted Puntland’s deputy information minister Yacob Mohamed
Abdalla as saying that his region would happily accept Palestinian
refugees, but only if they voluntarily choose to come there.“There is no
reason to deport someone from his country to another country without
that person choosing to move,” said Abdalla.The report also quoted
Abdulahi Mohamed Jaha, a former Puntland spokesman, as saying Gazans
would “contribute” to the “modernizing” and “security and economic
development” of the region, and would improve Puntland’s status in the
world.“It’s best to take advantage of the unplanned opportunities that
sometimes arise,” Jaha added.Trump’s repeated calls for the relocation
of most or all of Gaza’s residents have been met with staunch opposition
from Arab countries as well as the larger international
community.Morocco normalized relations with Israel in 2020 as part of
the Abraham Accords. The Telegraph report said that Rabat did not
respond to a request for comment and was unlikely to accept plans for
Palestinian resettlement within the country.Puntland and Somaliland,
while internationally recognized as states within the Federal Republic
of Somalia, hold varying degrees of autonomy and the local governments
of both regions do not recognize the government of Somalia.Somaliland,
which is located along most of Somalia’s Red Sea coastline, has
effectively acted as an independent country since the region declared
independence in 1991 during Somalia’s decades-long and ongoing civil
war, and is in many respects a more stable and functioning state than
Somalia itself.While not recognized by any other country, the region
signed a memorandum of understanding with neighboring Ethiopia in 2024
for future recognition in exchange for Ethiopia’s lease of the Red Sea
port of Berbera.The autonomous region of Puntland, on the other hand,
has never officially declared independence from Somalia, but after
legislative disputes in early 2024, declared that it no longer
recognized the government in Mogadishu and would “operate as a state
that’s independent from Somalia” until a constitution is passed.The
Channel 12 report speculated that both Somaliland and Puntland could
request recognition from Israel in exchange for the absorption of
Palestinian refugees, similar to how Jerusalem and the US recognized
Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region as part of
the normalization deal.Channel 12’s political analyst Amit Segal, who is
regarded as close to figures in the Israeli government, posted on X
that Puntland and Somaliland “seek international recognition,” and
Morocco is “concerned with maintaining recognition of its sovereignty
over Western Sahara, and all three are countries with an overwhelmingly
Sunni Muslim majority.”The Telegraph quoted Will Brown, an Africa expert
at the European Council for Refugees, as saying that the idea of
sending Gazans to Somalia was “insane.”“Somalia is a failed state
plagued by jihadist violence. The idea of dumping deeply traumatized
people there is hellish,” he added.
Inside story'I was asked by
Trump's team to think outside the box'The man with the plan: DC prof
sent Trump study on Gaza relocation, development in July-GWU economics
professor Joseph Pelzman wrote detailed proposal for Trump’s team; says
‘you have to destroy the whole place, restart from scratch’By Tal
Schneider-Today, 5:47 pm-FEB 7,25
US President Donald Trump’s
proposal to relocate Gaza’s Palestinians and then redevelop the Gaza
Strip has sent shockwaves worldwide. Rejected by the Arab world and much
of the international community, it has been welcomed by Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu as an idea that “could change history,” “worth
listening carefully to,” and “the first original idea that has been
raised in years.”For one man in Washington, however, the proposal Trump
unveiled when hosting Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday came as no
shock: George Washington University Professor Joseph Pelzman.An expert
in economics and international relations and head of the university’s
Center of Excellence for the Economic Study of the Middle East and North
Africa (CEESMENA), Pelzman authored the plan and submitted it to
Trump’s team as early as July 2024.The details of Pelzman’s plan were
first made public by Dr. Kobby Barda, an Israeli historian specializing
in American politics and geo-strategy, during a discussion he held with
Pelzman on the podcast “America, Baby!” in August 2024.“I figured, well,
why don’t I write sort of an out-of-the-box perspective on how to fix
Gaza after the war is finished,” Pelzman told Barda. “The paper went to
the Trump people because they were the ones who initially had an
interest in it – not the Biden people. I was asked [by Trump’s team] to
think outside the box on what do we do after [the war], as nobody was
really talking about it.”Pelzman’s paper, titled “An Economic Plan for
Rebuilding Gaza: A BOT Approach,” has since been published in the Global
World Journal. (He wrote it up in July, but it was put online in
October.)Professor Joshep Pelzman speaks about his Gaza redevelopment
plan with podcaster Dr. Kobby Barda on 25 August 2024 (in English)It
presents a viewpoint whereby Gaza’s economy has reached absolute rock
bottom. Pelzman cites World Bank data, which states that between 2007
and 2022, Gaza’s annual GDP growth averaged 0.4%, while per capita GDP
declined by 2.5% per year due to high population growth.Moreover,
because of the war that erupted following Hamas’s attack on Israel on
October 7, 2023, the destruction in Gaza has become so extensive that it
is beyond repair or reconstruction, according to the professor. In
fact, according to Pelzman, no private or international investment
entity would enter Gaza as things stand. “You have to restart it from
scratch,” he told Barda.Pelzman presented additional data, already known
to the public: As of 2022, Gaza’s unemployment rate stood at 45%, and
53% of the population lived below the poverty line, compared to about
13% of the Palestinians living in the West Bank. According to World Bank
estimates from March 2024, cited by Pelzman, approximately 1.2 million
people in Gaza were homeless and destitute “due to Hamas actions.”
Additionally, 62% of the buildings still standing had sustained severe
damage that rendered them uninhabitable and 90% of the main roads had
been destroyed.“You have to destroy the whole place, you have to restart
from scratch,” Pelzman said on Barda’s podcast. “And then you have an
economy which actually has three sectors: you have tourism potential,
you have agriculture potential, and then you have – because a lot of
them are smart – high-tech.”He said his plan “started with a
three-sector model of Gaza, but it requires that the place be completely
emptied out. I mean, literally emptied out, dug up from scratch – and
the concrete can be recycled.“This is a triangular-sector model, but its
implementation requires the area to be completely vacated so that the
destroyed concrete can be recycled – ensuring that nothing remains of
the vertical construction extending deep underground.”The plan presented
by Pelzman, who previously worked with USAID on economic developments
in China, utilizes the BOT method – Build-Operate-Transfer – a model
implemented in developing countries. According to this method, private
sector companies and organizations enter into investment partnerships
with governmental entities, receiving a property lease from the
government for 50-100 years.Under this system, a private entity
constructs and operates the project for several decades, after which
ownership is transferred to a public authority. During the operational
period, the private entity is allowed to charge fees for the use of the
infrastructure.China-styled housing units-In his research paper, Pelzman
characterizes his approach as treating Gaza “from a purely economic
perspective,” which seeks “the investment solution to a failed
experiment” – namely, the Gaza Strip since Israel withdrew from it in
2005.Among other things, Pelzman’s plan would see a Gaza Strip powered
entirely by solar energy, traversed by a light rail system and serviced
by air- and sea-ports. The Strip will be independent of Israel for its
energy needs.Meanwhile, he writes, “there are no ex-ante restrictions on
the mobility of local residents to exit Gaza.”According to Pelzman’s
plan, “the cost of this massive reconstruction of Gaza will range from
$1 to $2 trillion and will take 5 to 10 years to complete.” His estimate
is based on a model that analyzes a Gazan post-war economy driven by
the agriculture, tourism and tech sectors.Pelzman envisions restaurants,
hotels and other luxury amenities on the Strip’s western, seafront
side; and residential buildings – “[People’s Republic of China]-styled
30-floor housing units” on the eastern side. In between, he writes, will
be agricultural areas and greenhouses. The reconstruction will require
“the complete excavation of the terror tunnels,” though Pelzman says the
IDF has already done much of the work.Pelzman indicates repeatedly in
his paper that his preferred mode for Gaza’s governance is e-government,
meaning government that makes use of technological means. In
particular, “the exchange of funds between residents and businesses will
be exclusively via an online exchange network,” precluding the need for
paper money, credit cards or foreign aid. The Strip will have no
monetary authority and “all capital flows will be controlled by foreign
stakeholders.”Furthermore, Pelzman suggests that experts appointed by
the foreign shareholders would oversee an educational system based on
deradicalization, “with external oversight to assure the development of a
skilled population.” Pelzman suggests importing curricula – from
kindergarten to university – from the educational models of the UAE or
Saudi Arabia, based on their recent reforms and Sunni-Sufi Islamic
teachings.Security must be assigned to “partners who share the common
interest of removing Hamas and their co-conspirators from any role,” and
are “interested in demilitarizing Gaza permanently.”Per Pelzman, Hamas
has no property rights in Gaza, under the 1993 Oslo Accords, which he
says were left intact when Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
Israel
to show prisoners clip of Gaza destruction prior to release under truce
deal-Media reports say video meant to demonstrate costs of war to
terror convicts who have had little access to media, serve as a
deterrent-By ToI Staff Today, 7:32 pm-FEB 7,25
The IDF and Israel
Prison Service have prepared a video clip depicting the magnitude of
the devastation in the Gaza Strip, to be shown to prisoners prior to
their release under the ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza.Israel is
freeing hundreds of Palestinian terror convicts in return for hostages
under the first phase of the accord, including many individuals
sentenced to life in prison for their part in deadly attacks.The
three-minute video seeks to demonstrate the costs of the war to the
prisoners, many of whom have not had much access to media during their
incarceration, according to several Hebrew media outlets reporting on it
Friday.It is also meant to serve as a deterrent to the freed terror
convicts, according to Walla.The Israel Hayom newspaper reported that
one prisoner fainted from shock after watching the video recently.Much
of Gaza has been decimated by the 15 months of fighting in the Strip,
which were brought on by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, when thousands
of terrorists invaded southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people,
taking 251 hostage.In July, the UN estimated that some 55 percent of all
structures in the Gaza Strip had been destroyed, damaged or possibly
damaged since war erupted. The analysis, based on satellite imagery,
showed more than 137,000 buildings were likely affected at that
time.Earlier this month, Haaretz reported that the International
Committee of the Red Cross had protested to Israel that some prisoners
were being released with their hands bound behind their heads while
wearing bracelets stating in Arabic: “The eternal nation does not
forget. We will pursue our enemies and overcome them.”The Prison Service
replied to Haaretz with a photograph showing a prisoner bound in this
way while wearing such a bracelet. Calling the prisoners “the worst of
Israel’s enemies,” the statement added that the prison service “will not
compromise on the security of our people.”
Israelis respond to
Trump’s Gaza proposal with jubilation, disbelief, and dark humor-After
bombshell press conference in which US president pledged to ‘take over’
war-torn enclave, some Israelis call the plan ‘delusional,’ while others
say it’s ‘terrific news’By Deborah Danan 6 February 2025, 10:56 pm
JTA
— On Wednesday morning, cars driving down Tel Aviv’s main freeway were
greeted with a new set of giant billboards bearing American flags, a
photo of Donald Trump, and a message in English: “Thank you, Mr.
President.”The billboards, erected by Republicans Overseas Israel, did
not say why they were thanking the president. But by the time Israelis
embarked on their morning commutes, many of them could guess: Just hours
earlier, in Washington, DC, the US president had declared that “all”
Palestinians would leave Gaza — and that the United States would “take
over.”It was a shocking promise — one that would fulfill the wildest
dreams of the Israeli far right and offer an unexpected answer to who
would govern Gaza after the war. But notwithstanding the billboards,
Israelis reacted with a range of emotions. Some were elated. But others
were skeptical, confounded — or horrified.“I woke up in total shock. I
always think, that’s it, we’ve reached the bottom of the bottom, but
then I’m shocked anew,” said Orian Canetti, sitting in a Jaffa coffee
shop across the street from the bilingual Hebrew-Arabic school her
children attend. “I want to imagine that he has a plan but I just don’t
have the tools to even begin to understand him. What he said just
doesn’t compute.”Barak Moore, who hails from the West Bank settlement
bloc of Gush Etzion, also had reservations about the plan — but only
because the Bible says the land of Israel belongs to the Jews, not the
United States.“This is terrific news other than the part about America
taking ownership of the land that God gave to the Jewish people,” he
said. “Having said that, if President Trump is able to dismantle the
Hamas death cult and set free the many Gazans who are desperate to flee
from it, it would be among the greatest political achievements
ever.”Ever since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that launched the
war, Israelis have wrangled with each other and with international
interlocutors over what will happen next with Gaza.The government hasn’t
released a “day-after” plan, and surveys show that Israelis remain
split on the question. But nearly all of them agree on one thing — Hamas
cannot be allowed to retake power in Gaza — and for some, Trump’s
bombshell proposal guaranteed that would never come to pass.“We woke up
in Israel to wonderful news!” said Adalia Citron, from the central
Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. “Obviously Trump will not have to ‘own
Gaza’ but he means business and is sending out a clear and strong
message that we will no longer allow history to repeat itself.“Gazans
have proven decade after decade that the billions of dollars received in
aid was used for weapons and terror tunnels, jihadist training and
terrorism. This will no longer be an option for them,” Citron said.The
news dominated Israeli social media as well, where one meme showed a map
of Gaza renamed the “Magaza Strip,” a mashup featuring Trump’s
trademark MAGA slogan.Another superimposed the Trump International Hotel
in Las Vegas onto a scene of northern Gazans returning to their homes
amid a landscape of rubble — a visual that evokes a Wall Street Journal
report that said Trump had urged Netanyahu last summer to “think about
what kinds of hotels could be built there.”One Israeli-American quipped
on Facebook, “Ooh, can we bring Target? And Starbucks and Sephora?” to
which another replied, “Let’s dream big: Nordstrom.”בקרוב…
pic.twitter.com/dVZwLVDMAW— Esi (@_Gold_1948) February 6, 2025-By late
Wednesday, the White House was backtracking on Trump’s comments, saying
that Trump does not intend to supply US money or troops to aid in
rebuilding and that any resettlement would be temporary, not permanent.
But Trump was also drawing kudos for injecting a radical new idea into a
dynamic that has long been stuck.Yovav Kalifon, from Tel Aviv, said the
radical plan clashed with the reputation Netanyahu has gained in Israel
for being risk-averse. Still, he said, using the prime minister’s
nickname, “Bibi’s pledge to topple Hamas and restart Gaza is aligned
with Trump’s declaration. Israel’s military liberates Gaza from Hamas,
then we look for entities to manage that territory. The USA is one such
entity.”But others said the plan displayed ignorance about Palestinians’
ironclad connections to their land. Huda, an Arab mother who was
sitting alongside Canetti in the Jaffa cafe and did not disclose her
last name, said that Trump had no understanding of the Palestinian
people and their “unmovable faith in God to continue to fight for their
basic rights and their ties to the land.”She added, “They would rather
live in a hut in Gaza than any luxury place Trump could offer them.”Not
far from Huda, Avner Goren, an employee at the cafe, was unsure what to
think.“Trump is so unpredictable, but still, I was so shocked to hear
it,” he said. “And because of that, I haven’t yet formed an opinion.
That’s probably the most important thing I’ll say. People are always so
quick to form opinions.”He continued, using the Arabic term that
describes the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s
founding, “But I’ll tell you one thing. The Nakba is the biggest
founding stories of the Palestinians. I don’t know how that can be
overcome.”Others said they didn’t trust the United States to manage the
massive undertaking of moving Gaza’s entire population, clearing out its
many tons of rubble and building it anew.“I’m nervous that it will
create much more mess,” said Shlomi Ben Shimol, who was evacuated from
his home near Israel’s northern border because of Israel’s war with
Hezbollah. “Every place we’ve seen the Americans try and control ends up
worse.”Daniel Ohana, a fellow evacuee from the north, said, “If Trump
would manage to get 20% of the population of Gaza out, I’d consider that
a success.”Matthew Kalman, a Jerusalem-based journalist, described the
idea as delusional.“Yes, Hamas is evil and has no right to govern
anything,” he said. “Yes, October 7 was a horrific, murderous turning
point whose brutal lessons cannot be ignored. But real problems cannot
be solved through magical thinking. Trump and Psycho-Bibi have stepped
through the looking glass and are lost in space.”Some were more
confident. Michael Bassin, an American-Israeli, echoed Trump’s own
reasoning — that decades of violence demanded out-of-the-box
solutions.“Resettling Gazans in surrounding countries will be good for
Gazans and good for us,” he said. “Refugee resettlement is nothing new
and happens all the time. Rebuilding Gaza into something positive is a
great idea. I don’t know if it’s realistic or not, but it’s new
thinking, and that’s just what we need. We need to do away with what has
not worked in the past and move forward towards something new.”In the
Jaffa coffeehouse, Canetti was resigned — and invoked another territory
Trump has vowed to conquer.“What does it matter anyway?” she said. “I’m
moving to Greenland.”
Trump’s bid to push out Gazans is an
‘existential threat’ to Jordan, say analysts-King Abdullah II has
rejected the scheme, is set to meet Trump next week; Jordan, which
relies on US aid, has a fraught history with its sizable Palestinian
population-By AFP and ToI Staff 6 February 2025, 9:20 pm
AMMAN,
Jordan — Donald Trump’s plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza poses a
major threat to Jordan, with analysts saying the US president’s proposal
would upend the balance the kingdom must strike between ensuring its US
aid lifeline and safeguarding its security.In a joint press conference
with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday,
Trump, to audible gasps from those in attendance, announced a proposal
for the United States to take over Gaza and to move its residents
out.Trump had previously floated Jordan and Egypt — both US allies, and
neighbors of Israel and the Palestinian territories — as possible
destinations. But both countries have flatly rejected the proposal,
reiterating their support for the eventual creation of a Palestinian
state.Netanyahu, whose coalition rejects a Palestinian state, has not
said who he wants to take the reins in Gaza after the war sparked on
October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern
Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.The premier and
his allies have applauded Trump’s plan, which was excoriated by most of
the international community, especially the Arab world.“This project not
only seeks to eliminate the legitimate national rights of the
Palestinian people on their land, but also affects security, stability,
identity and sovereignty in Jordan,” said Oraib Rantawi, who heads the
Amman-based Al Quds Center for Political Studies.“In Jordan, we would be
looking at an existential threat, not just a security threat,” he said,
warning that such a move would export the Israeli-King Abdullah II on
Wednesday rejected “any attempts” to take control of the Palestinian
territories and displace their people, and held talks with Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the matter.On February 11, he is
due to meet Trump in Washington, after Netanyahu this week became the
first foreign leader to meet the US president at the White House since
his inauguration.‘Recipe for ruin’Despite widespread backlash, Trump has
insisted that “everybody loves” the plan, which he said would involve
the United States taking over the Gaza Strip, though he offered few
details on how more than two million Palestinians would be removed.“The
US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too.
We’ll own it,” he said, sparking a global outcry.Rantawi called the plan
“a recipe for ruin, not a recipe for stability and peace.”Former
Jordanian information minister Samih al-Maaytah said it would be
“political suicide” for Jordan and Egypt, with both countries “accused
of colluding to crush the Palestinian cause.”“For Jordan, it would
change our demography and the political equation while destroying our
national identity,” he added.Half of Jordan’s population of 11 million
is of Palestinian origin, and since the establishment of Israel in 1948,
many Palestinians have sought refuge there.According to UN figures, 2.2
million Palestinians are registered as refugees in Jordan.The West Bank
and East Jerusalem were under Jordan’s control from 1948 until Israel
captured them during the Six-Day War of June 1967.Over the following
years, the Jordanian military and Palestinian factions fought Israel
together. But in 1970, clashes erupted between the Jordanian army and
Palestinian groups in what became known as “Black September.”Sparked by a
decision by armed factions to start operating in Amman and other major
cities and to set up illegal checkpoints, the violence ultimately led to
the groups’ expulsion from the country.Part of the uproar over Trump’s
proposal emanated from the departure it would entail from long-standing
international efforts toward self-determination for Palestinians and an
eventual two-state solution.“Who gave Trump the moral, legal, and
political authority to intervene in Gaza, take it over and invest in it?
He talks about Gaza like a real estate developer, not like a head of
state,” Rantawi said.‘No choice’For Jordan in particular, the outrage
also stems from a perceived lack of recognition for its
sovereignty.Jordan is also well aware of the economic pressure the
United States could exercise, given how small its economy is and how
greatly it relies on international aid, chiefly from Washington.Every
year, Jordan receives from the United States around $750 million in
economic assistance and another $350 million in military aid.Still, King
Abdullah is unlikely to give Trump any room for maneuver when they meet
later this month.“The king has no choice but to reject this proposal
outright,” Rantawi said, adding it was “non-negotiable.”“Trump wants us
to sell Jordan for $1.5 billion in aid,” he added.Mustafa al-Amawi, a
Jordanian MP, said that US aid “was not a gift.”“But if it comes down to
making a trade-off, we will not accept the aid,” he said.Maaytah
agreed.“It is true that Jordan would be affected if aid were cut off,
but it isn’t worth bartering for,” he said.Fears of coming under
pressure over Trump’s proposal sparked legislators to prepare a bill on
national sovereignty and reject any forced displacement of Palestinians
to Jordan “as an alternative homeland.”“Parliament stands with the king,
and categorically rejects the US president’s statements on the forced
displacement of Gazans from their homes to Jordan, Egypt or any other
country,” Amawi said.
Trump says Israel would hand Gaza to US
when war ends, no American troops needed there-Controversial plan
reportedly caught Netanyahu, top White House aides off guard; Rubio says
Gazans’ displacement would be only temporary, contradicting US
president By Jacob Magid,Lazar Berman and ToI Staff 6 February 2025,
7:04 pm
US President Donald Trump on Thursday expanded on his
plan to push out Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, pledging that the Strip
“would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion
of fighting,” and rejecting American boots on the ground as a
precondition for the reconstruction of the devastated enclave.Given that
there is currently a ceasefire, his use of the phrase “at the
conclusion of the fighting,” appeared to at least leave the door open
for the possibility that the war will resume, per the demand of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing flank.Writing on his social
media platform Truth Social, Trump specified: “The Gaza Strip would be
turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of
fighting.”Gazans “would have already been resettled in far safer and
more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region,”
he continued, apparently repeating his suggestion that the Strip’s
population would be permanently displaced, despite a statement to the
contrary by the top US diplomat on Wednesday. “They would actually have a
chance to be happy, safe and free.”“The US, working with great
development teams from all over the world, would slowly and carefully
begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most
spectacular developments of its kind on Earth,” Trump continued, adding
that “no soldiers by the US would be needed.” Trump’s Mideast envoy was
said to have offered similar assurances to Republican lawmakers amid
their concerns about foreign entanglements.The US president signed off:
“Stability for the region would reign!!!”Trump explains how his plan for
the Gaza Strip would work pic.twitter.com/GoZi3gMTVk— johnny maga
(@_johnnymaga) February 6, 2025-Trump has in recent days repeatedly
floated the idea that Egypt and Jordan take in some Gazan refugees while
the Strip was being rebuilt — an idea vociferously rejected by Cairo
and Amman. But on Tuesday, Trump went much further during a statement to
the media at the White House alongside Netanyahu, when the new US
president suggested that “the US will take over the Gaza Strip,” while
the enclave’s residents should be resettled in other countries.Trump
reportedly did not hold consultations on his new plan, and his
announcement Tuesday was said to have even caught Netanyahu by surprise.
The premier later applauded Trump’s “totally different” thinking, and
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday ordered the IDF to prepare for
Gazans to voluntarily emigrate.Posing with Senate leaders on Thursday,
Netanyahu was asked whether “US troops are needed in Gaza to make
Trump’s plan feasible?”“No,” he answered.By contrast, the international
community — including allies of Washington and Jerusalem — has largely
panned Trump’s plan, with Cairo reportedly warning Trump that pushing
out Gaza’s residents could jeopardize Egypt’s 1979 peace deal with
Israel.Hamas roundly rejected the plan, with top official Sami Abu Zuhri
saying that “what is required is to end the occupation and aggression
against our people, not to expel them from their land.” Mahmoud Abbas,
president of Hamas’s rival Palestinian Authority, also said the
Palestinians would not relinquish their land, rights, and sacred
sites.Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said
Trump’s remarks on Thursday were shocking and would ramp up tensions in
the Middle East.“Any populist, frivolous, or shocking arguments about
any other palliative measures at the present stage are counterproductive
and do not contribute to solving the problem,” she said.Iran’s Foreign
Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, said Trump’s proposal was “a
continuation of the Zionist regime’s targeted plan to completely
annihilate the Palestinian nation, and is categorically rejected and
condemned.”Israel’s Western European allies also assailed the plan, with
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying Palestinians “must be
allowed home, they must be allowed to rebuild, and we should be with
them in that rebuild on the way to a two-state solution.”Germany’s
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Trump’s plan “would also lead to
new suffering and new hatred,” adding that “there must be no solution
over the heads of the Palestinians.”French Foreign Ministry spokesman
Christophe Lemoine said Paris “reiterates its opposition to any forced
displacement of the Palestinian population of Gaza, which would
constitute a serious violation of international law, an attack on the
legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians, but also a major obstacle to
the two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Bishara
Bahbah, who founded Arab Americans for Trump and helped rally support
for him in Michigan and other battleground states, said his group
believes Trump’s “ideas, as well-intentioned as they might be, rubbed a
lot of people the wrong way.”“We’re opposed to any transfer of
Palestinians, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, out of their
homeland,” he said, adding that he still supports Trump as the best
option to avoid conflict in Gaza. He said his organization changed its
name to Arab Americans for Peace two days ago, reflecting its shift in
focus following Trump’s election.Trump, Netanyahu aides appear to walk
back parts of plan-A top aide to Netanyahu was quoted by Channel 12 on
Wednesday portraying Trump’s plan as “a ‘hold me back,’ which we don’t
know will actually take place,” meant to add a “psychological component”
in ongoing negotiations with Hamas about the second phase of the
nascent Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal.Meanwhile, some of Trump’s top
aides have attempted to soften certain aspects of his plan, including US
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and White House Press Secretary
Karoline Leavitt.On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said
Gazans’ displacement would be a temporary measure to facilitate the
Strip’s reconstruction, contradicting Trump’s comment on Tuesday that he
wants all Palestinians “permanently” removed from the Strip.Speaking
with reporters in Guatemala City, on his first diplomatic trip abroad,
Rubio said what Trump “very generously has offered is the ability of the
United States to go in and help with debris removal, help with
munitions removal, help with reconstruction, the rebuilding homes and
businesses and things of this nature so that then people can move back
in.”Meanwhile, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri told reporters Wednesday
that Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, had assured
Republican senators in a closed-door lunch at the US Capitol that Trump
“doesn’t want to put any US troops on the ground, and he doesn’t want to
spend any US dollars at all” on Gaza.Witkoff also told lawmakers that
the administration had been “gestating on this plan for some time,”
according to Hawley.Gaza takeover plan was reportedly unknown to top
White House staff-The Missouri senator’s assertion ran counter to a
Thursday report in The New York Times that Trump had not held
discussions to explore the practicalities or legalities of his plan for
Gaza before announcing it.According to The Times, prior to the
announcement, “his administration had not done even the most basic
planning to examine the feasibility” of such a proposal and the
potential level of US involvement.Citing several unnamed officials, the
newspaper reported that there had been no meetings with either the
Pentagon or the State Department to discuss such a plan, as well as “no
estimates of the troop numbers required, or cost estimates, or even an
outline of how it might work.”One US official said Trump had never
mentioned the involvement of US troops in Gaza before his pronouncement
on Tuesday. Other advisers told the newspaper that they “expected the
Gaza ownership idea to die away quietly as it became clear to Mr. Trump
that it was unfeasible.”Trump told Netanyahu about the Gaza takeover
plan shortly before their joint press conference on Tuesday, in a
surprise to the premier, the Times said, citing two people briefed on
the leaders’ interactions.Asked at the press conference about the
“authority” that would enable the US to take control of a foreign
territory, Trump said only that it was “not a decision made lightly” and
that “everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States
owning that piece of land.”According to a report in The Times of
Israel’s Hebrew sister site, Zman Yisrael, the outline of the plan
originated with Joseph Pelzman, a professor at George Washington
University, who published a paper in July 2024 entitled “An Economic
Plan for Rebuilding Gaza.”The proposal outlines a plan for outside
countries and figures to “invest” in rebuilding Gaza under a 50-year
lease, after which “sovereignty” for residents would be addressed.
According to the plan, the primary focus of reconstruction would be on
the tourism sector, including building beachfront hotels.The Wall Street
Journal reported on Tuesday that Trump told Netanyahu in a phone call
in late summer 2024 that Gaza is a “prime piece of real estate” and that
it could be an ideal site to construct hotels.Pelzman told a podcast in
August 2024 that his paper “went to the Trump people because they were
the ones who initially had an interest, not the Biden people.” He said
that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, “wants to put money in it…
they’re salivating to get in.”Pelzman said that under his proposal, the
Gaza Strip would be “completely emptied out,” noting that “the United
States can lean on Egypt” to accept refugees from Gaza because “Egypt is
a bankrupt state” with significant debt to the US.While Egyptian
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has not publicly responded to Trump’s
proposal, Egypt has warned that the plan could undermine its peace
treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of stability and American influence in
the Middle East for decades.Kushner, who served as a senior adviser in
Trump’s first administration but has so far remained behind the scenes
this time around, said in February 2024 that Gaza’s waterfront property
“could be very valuable.”The comments were widely panned at the time,
with viewers suggesting Kushner wanted to expel the Palestinians and
privately develop the land. Kushner has said that, when listened to in
full, the recording demonstrates he was only making a point about the
misuse of resources by Hamas to build tunnels and attack infrastructure
rather than foster a peaceful economy.Hamas sparked the war in Gaza with
its thousands-strong assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed
some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.Agencies contributed to
this report.
Egypt said privately warning Trump’s Gaza plan
endangers peace treaty with Israel-Officials say message has been passed
to State Department and members of Congress and also conveyed to Israel
and its Western European allies, including Britain, France and Germany
By AP and ToI Staff 6 February 2025, 4:21 pm
CAIRO — Egypt has
launched a behind-the-scenes diplomatic blitz to try to head off US
President Donald Trump’s proposal for the mass relocation of
Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.Egypt has warned that such a plan could
undermine its peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of stability and
American influence in the Middle East for decades.Egyptian President
Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has not publicly responded to Trump’s stunning
proposal that most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians be
relocated and the United States take charge of rebuilding the territory.
The 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas, which began when
the Palestinian terror group led thousands of terrorists on a
devastating invasion of southern Israel, had reduced large parts of Gaza
to rubble before a fragile ceasefire took hold last month.But Egyptian
officials, speaking Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the
closed-door talks, said Cairo has made clear to the Trump administration
and Israel that it will resist any such proposal, and that the peace
deal with Israel — which has stood for nearly half a century — is at
risk.One official said the message has been delivered to the Pentagon,
the State Department, and members of the US Congress. A second official
said it has also been conveyed to Israel and its Western European
allies, including Britain, France, and Germany.A Western diplomat in
Cairo, also speaking anonymously because the discussions have not been
made public, confirmed receiving the message from Egypt through multiple
channels. The diplomat said Egypt was very serious and viewed the plan
as a threat to its national security.The diplomat said Egypt had
rejected proposals from the Biden administration and European countries
to take in some Gazan refugees early in the war, which was sparked by
the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel that killed
1,200 people, mostly civilians. The earlier proposals were broached
privately, while Trump announced his plan at a White House press
conference alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.The Trump
administration has already dialed back aspects of the proposal after it
was widely rejected internationally, saying the relocation of
Palestinians would be temporary. US officials have provided few details
about how or when the plan was intended to be carried out.In a social
media post on Thursday, Trump said Israel would turn Gaza over to the
United States after the war and that no US soldiers would be needed for
his plan to redevelop it.The Palestinians have vehemently rejected
Trump’s proposal, fearing that refugees would never be allowed to
return.Saudi Arabia, another key US ally, has also rejected any mass
transfer of Palestinians and says it will not normalize relations with
Israel — a key goal of the Trump administration — without the creation
of a Palestinian state that includes Gaza.Saudi Arabia’s former
intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal on Thursday slamed Trump’s
proposal, calling it a “mad ethnic cleansing plan” in lockstep with the
agenda of Israel’s far right.“It is a fantasy to think that ethnic
cleansing in the 21st century can be condoned… There’s no way that I can
explain it,” he said, warning that the plan will cause “more conflict
and more bloodshed.”He called on the international community to take the
matter up in the United Nations, but noted that “with the American
veto, I cannot expect that there will be much success in passing any
resolution.”Trump and Israeli officials have depicted the proposed
relocation from war-ravaged Gaza as voluntary, but the Palestinians have
universally expressed their determination to remain in their
homeland.Trump and Israeli officials have not said how they would
respond if Palestinians refuse to leave. But Human Rights Watch and
other groups say the plan, if implemented, would amount to “ethnic
cleansing,” the forcible relocation of the civilian population of an
ethnic group from a geographic area.Defense Minister Israel Katz said he
has ordered the military to make preparations to facilitate the
voluntary emigration of large numbers of Palestinians from Gaza through
land crossings as well as “special arrangements for exit by sea and
air.”There were no immediate signs of such preparations on the ground
and Israeli officials stressed that this was only for Palestinians who
wanted to leave.US officials scale back Trump’s proposal-Trump said he
wanted to “permanently” resettle most of Gaza’s population in other
countries and for the United States to take charge of clearing debris
and rebuilding Gaza as a “Riviera of the Middle East” for all people. He
did not rule out the deployment of US troops there.US officials later
appeared to walk it back, saying the relocation of Palestinians would be
temporary and that Trump had not committed to putting American boots on
the ground or spending American tax dollars in Gaza.The Egyptian
officials said their government does not believe the Palestinians need
to be relocated for reconstruction to proceed and is committed to the
creation of a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank, and East
Jerusalem, territories Israel gained control of in the 1967 Six Day
War.Israel’s government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and has said
it will maintain open-ended security control over both Gaza and the
West Bank. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognized by
most of the international community and considers the entire city its
capital. Trump during his first term of office moved the US embassy to
Jerusalem in a move seen as giving legitimacy to Israel’s holding of the
unified city.Last week, Egypt hosted a meeting of top diplomats from
Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates — which was
the driving force behind the 2020 Abraham Accords Trump brokered with
Israel. All five Arab nations rejected the transfer of Palestinians out
of Gaza or the West Bank.In an editorial on Thursday, Egypt’s main
state-run daily, Al-Ahram, warned that “the Arab countries’
independence, their peoples’ unity and their territorial integrity are
under grave threat.”
Report: Trump held no meetings on Gaza
takeover plan before announcement-New York Times says president did not
explore ‘feasibility’ or outline any details; George Washington
University prof says he presented Trump’s campaign with similar plan
last year-By ToI Staff 6 February 2025, 2:21 pm
US President
Donald Trump did not hold meetings or discussions or explore any of the
practicalities or legalities behind his proposal to take “ownership” of
Gaza and displace its 2 million residents before announcing it at a
press conference this week, according to a report Wednesday in The New
York Times.Trump had recently repeatedly floated the idea that Egypt and
Jordan take in some Gazan refugees while the Strip was being rebuilt —
an idea they have both rejected. But on Tuesday the new US president
went much further during a statement to the media at the White House
alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when he suggested that “the
US will take over the Gaza Strip,” while the enclave’s residents should
be resettled in other countries.According to The Times, prior to the
announcement, “his administration had not done even the most basic
planning to examine the feasibility” of such a proposal and the
potential level of US involvement.Citing several unnamed officials, the
newspaper reported that there had been no meetings with either the
Pentagon or the State Department to discuss such a plan, as well as “no
estimates of the troop numbers required, or cost estimates, or even an
outline of how it might work.”One US official said Trump had never
mentioned the involvement of US troops in Gaza before his pronouncement
on Tuesday. And other advisers told the newspaper that they “expected
the Gaza ownership idea to die away quietly as it became clear to Mr.
Trump that it was unfeasible.”Asked at the press conference on Tuesday
about the “authority” that would enable the US to take control of a
foreign territory, Trump said only that it was “not a decision made
lightly” and that “everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United
States owning that piece of land.”During an interview on Fox News on
Wednesday, Netanyahu said: “I don’t think [Trump] talked about sending
US troops to complete the job of destroying Hamas — that’s our
commitment, that’s our job and we’re absolutely committed to it.”He
added, “I also don’t think he said he’s going to fund it. He said that
neighboring states, wealthy states, would do it.”According to a report
in The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site, Zman Yisrael, the outline
of the plan originated with Joseph Pelzman, a professor at George
Washington University, who published a paper in July 2024 entitled “An
Economic Plan for Rebuilding Gaza.”The proposal outlines a plan for
outside countries and figures to “invest” in rebuilding Gaza under a
50-year lease, after which “sovereignty” for residents would be
addressed. According to the plan, the primary focus of reconstruction
would be on the tourism sector, including building beachfront hotels.The
Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Trump told Netanyahu in a
phone call in late summer 2024 that Gaza is a “prime piece of real
estate” and that it could be an ideal site to construct hotels.Pelzman
told a podcast in August 2024 that his paper “went to the Trump people,
because they were the ones who initially had an interest, not the Biden
people.” He said that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, “wants to put
money in it… they’re salivating to get in.”Pelzman said that under his
proposal, the Gaza Strip would be “completely emptied out,” noting that
“the United States can lean on Egypt” to accept refugees from Gaza,
because “Egypt is a bankrupt state” with significant debt to the
US.Kushner, who served as a senior adviser in Trump’s first
administration but has so far remained behind the scenes this time
around, said in February 2024 that Gaza’s waterfront property “could be
very valuable.”The comments were widely panned at the time, with viewers
suggesting Kushner wanted to expel the Palestinians and privately
develop the land. Kushner has said that, when listened to in full, the
recording demonstrates he was only making a point about the misuse of
resources by Hamas to build tunnels and attack infrastructure rather
than foster a peaceful economy.
Full text: Trump, at press
conference with Netanyahu, says US ‘will take over’ Gaza-US president:
We’ll be ‘somewhat more violent’ if Hamas breaches hostage deal;
Netanyahu: Trump’s Gaza plan ‘could change history,’ October 7 probe
‘will surprise a lot of people’By ToI Staff 6 February 2025, 3:21 pm
The
following is a transcript of the February 4, 2025 press conference held
by US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in
the East Room of the White House.President Donald Trump: Thank you very
much. That’s a lot of press. Congratulations, you bring them out, you
really bring them out.Today I’m delighted to welcome Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu back to the White House. It’s a wonderful
feeling and a wonderful event. We had fantastic talks, and thank you
very much, with your staff.He’s the first foreign head of state to visit
during our administration. And Bibi, I want to say it’s an honor to
have you with us. Over the past four years, the US and the Israeli
alliance has been tested more than any time in history, but the bonds of
friendship and affection between the American and Israeli people have
endured for generations, and they are absolutely unbreakable. They are
unbreakable.I’m confident that under our leadership the cherished
alliance between our two countries will soon be stronger than ever. We
had a great relationship. We had great victories together four years
ago. Not so many victories over the past four years, however.In my first
term, [the] prime minister and I forged a tremendously successful
partnership that brought peace and stability to the Middle East like it
hadn’t seen in decades. Together, we defeated ISIS, we ended the
disastrous Iran nuclear deal — one of the worst deals ever made, by the
way — and imposed the toughest ever sanctions on the Iranian regime. We
starved Hamas and Iran’s other terrorist proxies, and we starved them
like they had never seen before; resources and support disappeared for
them.I recognized Israel’s capital, opened the American embassy in
Jerusalem and got it built, by the way — built it too — just, not only
designated it but got it built, at a price that nobody has seen for 40
years. We got it built. It’s beautiful, all Jerusalem stone, right from
nearby. And it was, it’s something that’s very special.And recognized
Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, something that they talked
about for 70 years and they weren’t able to get it. And I got it. And
with the historic Abraham Accords, something that was really an
achievement — that was, I think, and they become more and more
important, because we achieved the most significant Middle East peace
agreements in half a century. But the Abraham Accords in particular.And I
really believe that many countries will soon be joining this amazing
peace and economic development transaction. It really is a big economic
development transaction. I think we’re going to have a lot of people
signing up very quickly.Unfortunately for four years, nobody signed up.
Nobody did anything for four years except in the negative.
Unfortunately, the weakness and incompetence of those years, those past
four years, the grave damage around the globe that was done, including
in the Middle East. Grave damage all over the globe. The horrors of
October 7th would never have happened if I were president, the Ukraine
and Russia disaster would never have happened if I were president.Over
the past 16 months, Israel has endured a sustained aggressive and
murderous assault on every front, but they fought back bravely. You see
that, and you know that. What we have witnessed is an all-out attack on
the very existence of a Jewish state in the Jewish homeland.The Israelis
have stood strong and united in the face of an enemy that has
kidnapped, tortured, raped and slaughtered innocent men, women, children
and even little babies.I want to salute the Israeli people for meeting
this trial with courage and determination and unflinching resolve. They
have been strong.In our meetings today, the prime minister and I focused
on the future, discussing how we can work together to ensure Hamas is
eliminated and ultimately restore peace to a very troubled region. It’s
been troubled, but what has happened in the last four years has not been
good.I want to thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for working closely with
my transition team. Special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is here somewhere:
Steve? Stand up, Steve, please. What a job you’ve done. What a good job
you’ve done. Proud of you. Done a fantastic job. National Security
Advisor Mike Waltz. Thank you, Mike, for working so well with us. Thank
you. We have, in addition, Marco Rubio, who is on the phone right now,
listening to every single word that we say. And he’s going to be great.
And Pete, congratulations. And Scott, congratulations. I see you’re
here. And Karoline’s been doing a great job. She’s really probably
talked about more than anybody here. She’s done a fantastic job. And
thank you very much, Karoline, we’re proud of you.But we’ll only be
satisfied when all of these problems are solved. And we have the team to
solve them. And that’s going to happen and it’s going to happen, I
think, very quickly.I also strongly believe that the Gaza Strip, which
has been a symbol of death and destruction for so many decades and so
bad for the people anywhere near it, and especially those who live
there, and frankly who’s been really very unlucky. It’s been very
unlucky. It’s been an unlucky place for a long time. Being in its
presence just has not been good. And it should not go through a process
of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood
there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a
miserable existence there.Instead, we should go to other countries of
interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them that want
to do this, and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied
by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza, ending the death and
destruction and frankly bad luck.This could be paid for by neighboring
countries of great wealth. It could be one, two, three, four, five,
seven, eight, twelve. It could be numerous sites, or it could be one
large site. But the people will be able to live in comfort and peace and
we’ll get sure, we’ll make sure something really spectacular is done.
They’re going to have peace. They’re not going to be shot at and killed
and destroyed like this civilization of wonderful people has had to
endure.The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they
have no alternative. It’s right now a demolition site. This is just a
demolition site. Virtually every building is down. They’re living under
fallen concrete that’s very dangerous and very precarious.They instead
can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can
live out their lives in peace and harmony, instead of having to go back
and do it again.The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a
job with it too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of
the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the
site and get rid of the destroyed buildings.The US will take over the
Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it and be
responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and
other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed
buildings. Level it out. Create an economic development that will supply
unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. Do a
real job. Do something different. Just can’t go back. If you go back,
it’s going to end up the same way it has for a hundred years.I’m hopeful
that this ceasefire could be the beginning of a larger and more
enduring peace that will end the bloodshed and killing once and for all.
With the same goal in mind, my administration has been moving quickly
to restore trust in the alliance and rebuild American strength
throughout the region, and we’ve really done that. We’re a respected
nation again. A lot’s happened in the last couple of weeks. We are
actually a very respected nation again.I ended the last administration’s
de facto arms embargo on over one billion dollars in military
assistance for Israel.And I’m also pleased to announce that this
afternoon, the United States withdrew from the antisemitic UN Human
Rights Council and ended all of the support for the UN Relief and Works
Agency, which funneled money to Hamas, and which was very disloyal to
humanity.Today, I also took action to restore a maximum pressure policy
on the Iranian regime, and we will once again enforce the most
aggressive possible sanctions, drive Iranian oil exports to zero and
diminish the regime’s capacity to fund terror throughout the region and
throughout the world.We had no threat when I left office. Iran was not
able to sell oil. Nobody was buying oil because I said: Don’t buy it. If
you buy it, you’re not doing any business with the United States.And
Hamas was not being funded. Hezbollah was not being funded. Nobody was
being funded. There would never have been an October 7th.Two weeks ago, I
once again designated the Houthis as a terrorist organization. They’re
trying to destroy world shipping lanes. And that’s not going to
happen.And over the weekend, I ordered air strikes against senior ISIS
leaders hiding in the caves of Somalia, and took them out.Here in
America, we’ve begun the process of deporting foreign terrorists,
jihadists and Hamas sympathizers from our soil, just as we have people
that are extremely evil. And we’re sending them out of our country. They
came from jails. They came from mental institutions and insane asylums.
And they were dumped into our country. They’re gang members. And we’re
getting them out at numbers that nobody can actually believe. And every
single country is taking those people back. They said they would never
take them back, and they’re all taking them back. And they’re taking
them back very gladly.Together, America and Israel will renew the
optimism that shined so brightly just four years agoAnd I recently
signed an executive order combating the vile wave of antisemitism that
we’ve seen in the aftermath of the October 7th attacks.Together, America
and Israel will renew the optimism that shined so brightly just four
years ago. It was really a bright, beautiful light. We will restore calm
and stability to the region and expand prosperity, opportunity and hope
to our nations and for all people of the Middle East, including the
Arab and Muslim nations. Very important. We want the Arab and Muslim
nations to have peace and have tranquility and have great lives.I’d like
to now invite Prime Minister Netanyahu to say a few words. And we’ll
take some questions afterwards. Thank you, very much.Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu: Thank you, Mr President. I’m honored that you
invited me to be the first foreign leader to visit the White House in
your second term. This is a testament to your friendship and support for
the Jewish state and the Jewish people.I’ve said this before, I’ll say
it again: You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White
House. And that’s why the people of Israel have such enormous respect
for you.In your first term, you recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s
capital. You moved the American embassy there. You recognized Israel’s
sovereignty over the Golan Heights. You withdrew from the disastrous
Iran nuclear deal. I remember we spoke about it, and you said this is
the worst deal I’ve ever seen. I’m elected. I’m walking out of it.
That’s exactly what you did.And I think it speaks loudly for just common
sense, just looking at things and seeing them as they are.And of
course, you also brokered the groundbreaking Abraham Accords in which
Israel made peace with four Arab states. We did this in four months.
Nothing happened for a quarter of a century. But in four months, we were
able, working together under your leadership, to have four historic
peace accords. And now, now in the first days of your second term, you
picked up right where you left off.Your leadership helped bring our
hostages home. Among them, American citizens.You freed up munitions that
have been withheld from Israel. They had been withheld from Israel in
the midst of a seven-front war for our existence. And you just freed
it.You ended unjust sanctions against law-abiding Israeli citizens.You
boldly confronted the scourge of antisemitism.You stopped funding, as
you just said, international organizations, like UNRWA, that support and
fund terrorists.And today, you renewed the maximum pressure campaign
against Iran.Ladies and gentlemen, all this in just two weeks. Can we
imagine where we’ll be in four years? I can. I know you can, Mr
President.For our part, we in Israel have been pretty busy too. Since
the horrendous October 7th attack, we’ve been fighting our common
enemies and changing the face of the Middle East.On that infamous day,
Hamas monsters savagely murdered 1,200 innocent people, including more
than 40 Americans. They beheaded men. They raped women. They burned
babies alive. And they took 251 people hostage to the dungeons of
Gaza.And after this worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, Iran and
its henchmen in the Middle East were absolutely ecstatic. Haniyeh
praised the massacre. Sinwar said that Israel was finished. Nasrallah
boasted that Israel was — here’s what he said — “is feeble as a spider’s
web.”Well, Mr President, Haniya is gone. Sinwar is gone. Nasrallah is
gone. We’ve devastated Hamas. We decimated Hezbollah.We destroyed
Assad’s remaining armaments. And we crippled Iran’s air defenses.And in
doing this, we’ve defeated some of America’s worst enemies. We took out
terrorists who were wanted for decades for shedding rivers of American
blood, including the blood of 241 Marines murdered in Beirut.Today, the
roar of the Lion of Judah is heard loudly throughout the Middle East.
Israel has never been stronger. And the Iran terror axis has never been
weakerWe accomplished all this with the indomitable spirit of our people
and the boundless courage of our soldiers. The Bible says that the
people of Israel shall rise like lions. And boy, did we rise. Today, the
roar of the Lion of Judah is heard loudly throughout the Middle
East.Israel has never been stronger. And the Iran terror axis has never
been weaker.But as we discussed, Mr President, to secure our future and
bring peace to our region, we have to finish the job.In Gaza, Israel has
three goals: destroy Hamas’s military and governing capabilities,
secure the release of all of our hostages, and ensure that Gaza never
again poses a threat to Israel.I believe, Mr President, that your
willingness to puncture conventional thinking –thinking that has failed
time and time and time again — your willingness to think outside the box
with fresh ideas, will help us achieve all these goals.And I’ve seen
you do this many times. You cut to the chase. You see things others
refuse to see. You say things others refuse to say. And then, after the
jaws drop, people scratch their heads. And they say, You know? He’s
right.And this is the kind of thinking that enabled us to bring the
Abraham Accords. This is the kind of thinking that will reshape the
Middle East and bring peace.We also see eye-to-eye on Iran. That’s the
same Iran that tried to kill us both. They tried to kill you, Mr
President. And they tried, through their proxies, to kill me. We’re both
committed to rolling back Iran’s aggression in the region and ensuring
that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon.Mr President, ladies and
gentlemen, Israel will end the war by winning the war. Israel’s victory
will be America’s victory. We will not only win the war. Working
together, we will win the peace. With your leadership, Mr President, and
our partnership, I believe that we will forge a brilliant future for
our region and bring our great alliance to even greater heights. Thank
you.Trump: Thank you very much, Bibi. Very nice. Thank you.And JD Vance,
everybody. JD, please, vice president, stand up. He’s been doing a good
job. He’s been working very hard on all things, but this in
particular.We’ll take some questions, please. Yes, ma’am, go ahead,
please. Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. Question: Mr President, can a
normalization deal with Saudi Arabia be achieved without the
acknowledgment of a Palestinian state? That question for you, too, Mr
Prime Minister. And Mr President, given what you’ve said about Gaza, did
the US send troops to help secure the security vacuum?The Saudis are
wonderful people. And they want peace in the Middle EastTrump: So, Saudi
Arabia is going to be very helpful. And they have been very helpful.
They want peace in the Middle East. It’s very simple. We know their
leader and their leaders very well. They are wonderful people. And they
want peace in the Middle East.As far as Gaza is concerned, we’ll do what
is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that. We’re going to take
over that piece and we’re going to develop it, create thousands and
thousands of jobs. And it will be something that the entire Middle East
can be very proud of.But everybody feels that continuing the same
process that’s gone on forever, over and over again, and then it starts,
and then the killing starts, and all of the other problems start, and
you end up in the same place. And we don’t want to see that happen.So,
by the United States, with its stability and strength, owning it,
especially the strength that we’re developing and developed over the
last fairly short period of time, I would say really since the election,
I think we’ll be a great keeper of something that is very, very strong,
very powerful and very, very good for the area — not just for Israel,
for the entire Middle East. It’s very important. And we’ll again have
thousands of jobs. And there will be jobs for everyone, not for a
specific group of people, but for everybody. Okay? Please.Netanyahu: I
think peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not only feasible, I
think it’s going to happen. I think if we had another half a year in
your first term, it would have already happened.Trump: It’s true. Many,
many more, I agree, many more nations.Netanyahu: Going to happen. I
think you can’t prejudge and pre-guess how we’ll achieve it. But I’m
committed to achieving it, and I know the president is committed to
achieving it, and I think the Saudi leadership is interested to achieve
it. So, we’ll give it a good shot, and I think we’ll succeed.Trump:
Yeah, please go ahead. Question: First of all, President Trump, did you
hear from Prime Minister Netanyahu [inaudible] guarantees that the
ceasefire will go on, including Phase 2? And Prime Minister Netanyahu,
for you. Why are you refusing to set up a national commission to
investigate the failures of October 7th?Trump: Well, I can’t tell you
whether or not the ceasefire will hold. We’ve done, I think, a very
masterful job. We weren’t helped very much by the Biden administration, I
can tell you that. But we’ve gotten quite a few hostages out. We’re
going to get more out. But we’re dealing with very complex people, and
we are going to see whether or not it holds. We certainly want to have
more come out.They’ve come out damaged in many ways — damaged, very
damaged people. But they’re going to get better, and they’re going to be
strong, and they’re going to have a good life. And we hope to get as
many as possible out. Whether or not it holds, I don’t know. We hope it
holds. We hope it holds.An independent commission… should find out
exactly what happened [regarding October 7]. I’m insisting on it. And
believe me, it will surprise a lot of people when it happens Netanyahu: I
think that at the appropriate time, which I think will enable us to
really investigate what happened, what were the causes of the failures,
by an independent commission, that will be accepted by the majority of
the people. We don’t want it accepted by one half of the people and not
the other. I think we should have it, and we should find out exactly
what happened. I’m insisting on it. And believe me, it will surprise a
lot of people when it happens.Trump: Kelly, go ahead, please.Question:
Mr President, you are outlining something that is really quite striking.
You are talking about — okay. Thank you. Mr President, Mr Prime
Minister, you are talking tonight about the United States taking over a
sovereign territory. What authority would allow you to do that? Are you
talking about a permanent occupation there, redevelopment? And Mr Prime
Minister, do you see this idea as a way to expand the boundaries of
Israel and to have a longer peace, even though the Israeli people know
how important that land is to you and your citizens, just as the space
is inherited by the Palestinians as well? Trump: I do see a long-term
ownership position, and I see it bringing great stability to that part
of the Middle East, and maybe the entire Middle East. And everybody I’ve
spoken to — this was not a decision made lightly — everybody I’ve
spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land,
developing, and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be
magnificent in a really magnificent area that nobody would know.Nobody
can look because all they see is death and destruction and rubble and
demolished buildings falling all over. It’s just a terrible, terrible
sight. I’ve studied it. I’ve studied this very closely over a lot of
months, and I’ve seen it from every different angle. And it’s a very,
very dangerous place to be, and it’s only going to get worse. And I
think this is an idea that’s gotten tremendous — I’m talking about from
the highest level of leadership — gotten tremendous praise. And if the
United States can help to bring stability and peace in the Middle East,
we’ll do that.Bibi? Netanyahu: I mentioned again tonight our three
goals, and the third goal is to make sure that Gaza never poses a threat
to Israel again. President Trump is taking it to a much higher level.
He sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the
focus of so much terrorism, so many attacks against us. So many trials
and so many tribulations.He has a different idea, and I think it’s worth
paying attention to this. We’re talking about it; he’s exploring it
with his people, with his staff. I think it’s something that could
change history, and it’s worthwhile really pursuing this avenue.Trump:
Yeah, please, go ahead. Go ahead.Question: Mr President, a question for
you. Can you hear me?Trump: Yeah.Question: So, before rebuilding Gaza
again and obviously [inaudible] all the hostages, and one of them is
[inaudible], an American soldier, who is alive. How will you be sure
that you will take out all the hostages and then rebuild? Trump: We’re
working very hard to get all the hostages. The word is “all”, and we are
working very hard. So far, it’s been moving along fairly rapidly,
pretty much on schedule. I’d love to have them all out at one time, but
we’re taking them out, and tomorrow more are being released, and over
the days more, and then we’ll go into a phase two. But we’d like to get
all of the hostages.And if we don’t, it will just make us somewhat more
violent, I will tell you that, because they would have broken their
word.Mr Witkoff and his entire group have been working 24 hours, around
the clock, and they want them out. And promises have been made to them.
And we’ll see whether or not those promises will be kept. But we want
all the hostages, that’s right.Question: How much time do you think it
will take? Question: Mr President, do you support Israeli sovereignty in
Judea and Samaria areas, which many believe is the biblical homeland of
the Jewish people? Trump: Well, we’re discussing that with many of your
representatives. You’re represented very well, and people do like the
idea, but we haven’t taken a position on it yet. But we will be making
an announcement, probably, on that very specific topic, over the next
four weeks.Go ahead, please, please.Question: Thank you so much, Mr
President. So, you just said that you think all the Palestinians should
be relocated to other countries. Does that mean that you do not support
the two-state solution?Trump: It doesn’t mean anything about a two-state
or a one-state or any other state. It means that we want to give people
a chance at life. They have never had a chance at life, because the
Gaza Strip has been a hellhole for people living there. It’s been
horrible. Hamas has made it so bad, so bad, so dangerous, so unfair to
people.And by doing what I’m recommending that we do — it’s a very
strong recommendation, but it is a strong recommendation — by doing
that, we think we’re going to bring perhaps great peace to long beyond
this area. And I have to stress: This is not for Israel, this is for
everybody in the Middle East – Arabs, Muslims. This is for everybody.
This would be where they can partake in terms of jobs and living and all
of the other benefits. And I think it’s very important. It just doesn’t
work the other way. You know, you can’t keep trying. It just has been
going along for so many decades, you can’t even count.You just can’t
keep doing – you have to learn from history — you can’t keep doing the
same mistake over and over again. Gaza is a hellhole right now. It was
before the bombing started, frankly. And we’re going to give people a
chance to live in a beautiful community that’s safe and secure. And I
think you’re going to see a tremendous outflowing of support.I can tell
you, I spoke to other leaders of countries in the Middle East, and they
love the idea. They say it would really bring stability, and what we
need is stability.Yes, sir, please. Go ahead.Question: Thank you. Are
you still committed to imposing sanctions on the ICC, despite the move
being stalled in the Senate? And please, a question for the prime
minister as well. The president has been very clear about his desire to
achieve a deal with Saudi Arabia. How do you settle this if Israel is
required to renew the war against Hamas in the future?Trump: Go ahead,
Bibi. Netanyahu: I think everybody understands that just as the
president fought and defeated al-Qaeda and ISIS, that we can’t leave
Hamas there, because Hamas will continue the battle to destroy
Israel.You know, in this temporary ceasefire, one of their leaders comes
out. You know what he says? We’re going to do October 7th, again,
except we’ll do it bigger. So, obviously, you can’t talk about peace,
neither with Hamas or in the Middle East, if this, you know, toxic
murderous organization is left standing, any more that you could make
peace in Europe after World War II, if the Nazi regime was left standing
and the Nazi army was left standing.You want a different future, you’ve
got to knock out the people who want to destroy you and destroy peace.
That’s what we’re going to do. I think that will also bring, usher in,
actually, the peace with Saudi Arabia and with others. And I think there
will be others too.Trump: Yes, ma’am, go ahead.Question: Mr President, I
am from Afghanistan. My name is Nazira Karimi. I am an Afghan-suffered
woman who has high expectations from you. Do you have any plan to change
Afghanistan’s situation? Are you able to recognize Taliban? Because I’m
an Afghan journalist, Afghan-suffered woman. Any comment about
Afghanistan? What’s your future plan toward Afghan people, especially
Afghanistan? Thank you.Trump: I have a little hard time understanding
you. Where are you from?Question: Afghanistan.Trump: Oh. Actually, it’s a
beautiful voice and a beautiful accent. The only problem is, I can’t
understand a word you’re saying. But I’d just say this: Good luck. Live
in peace. Go ahead, please.Question: Thank you. Thank you. Mr.
President?Trump: That’s OK. Yeah. Please.Question: And prime minister.
You said earlier today that it was tough for you to implement these
sanctions on Iran.Trump: Yeah.Question: But you did indicate that you
were willing to negotiate with them. What would that look like? And are
you in conversations with them? And the same for the prime minister,
sir? Trump: Yeah. I hated doing it. I want Iran to be peaceful and
successful. I hated doing it. I did it once before. And we brought them
down to a level where they were unable to give any money. They had to
survive themselves. And they had no money. They were essentially
broke.And they had no money for, as I said, Hezbollah. They had no money
for Hamas. They had no money for any form of terror. The 28, if you
call it, the 28 sites of terror, they had no money for any of it. They
had to do their own and focus on their own well-being. And I hated to do
it then. And I hate to do it just as much now. And I say this, and I
say this to Iran, who is listening very intently: I would love to be
able to make a great deal, a deal where you can get on with your lives
and you’ll do wonderfully. You’ll do wonderfully.Incredible people.
Industrious, beautiful, just an unbelievable group of people in Iran.
And I know them well. I have many friends from Iran and many friends
that are Americans from Iran. And they’re very proud of Iran. But I
hated to do it, just so you understand. And I hope we’re going to be
able to do something so that it doesn’t end up in a very catastrophic
situation. I don’t want to see that happen. I really want to see peace.
And I hope that we’re able to do that.They cannot have a nuclear weapon.
It’s very simple. I’m not putting restrictions. I’m not. They cannot
have one thing. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. And if I think that
they will have a nuclear weapon, despite what I just said, I think
that’s going to be very unfortunate for them.If on the other hand, they
can convince us that they won’t — and I hope they can, it’s very easy to
do, it’s actually very easy to do — I think they’re going to have an
unbelievable future.Yeah, please, sir.Question: Thank you, Mr President.
You just laid out your plan for Gaza. Can you lay out your plan for
Ukraine? And also –Trump: For Ukraine? Question: For Ukraine, yes. You
consider yourself a strong leader. You blame your predecessor for
letting Russia to take over Ukraine. Will you demand from Putin to get
out of Ukraine from sovereign territory of Ukraine? Trump: So we’re
dealing, right now, on the subject. I don’t want to spend a lot of time
because we’re here for another reason. But we are having very good
talks, very constructive talks on Ukraine. We are talking to the
Russians. We’re talking to the Ukrainian leadership. It would have never
happened, that would have never happened, it should have never
happened. I get reports every week — the number of soldiers, mostly
soldiers now. The cities have been largely demolished. You talk about a
very sad sight to see. We talk Gaza, well, many of these cities look as
bad as Gaza and worse, what’s happened to them. And I want to see that
end. And I want to see it end for one simple reason, the life of young
people being absolutely obliterated on both sides.You probably have
700,000 Ukrainian soldiers dead; 800,000, maybe more, Russian soldiers
dead. It’s very flat land. And the only thing that’s going to stop a
bullet is a human body. In this case, usually soldiers. And the numbers
are staggering. When you hear the real numbers in Ukraine, what the
numbers are. And this doesn’t include the cities that have been
demolished and all of the people that were killed.So, I want to see it
stopped. We’re having very good talks. And I think we’re going to get
it. I think something will be — hopefully dramatically — it will rise
above everything. And you have to. You can’t let this continue. You
can’t. This is an absolute slaughter that’s taking place on the
beautiful farmlands of Ukraine. And we have to stop it. We can’t let
this continue. It is a human tragedy. And we’re going to try very hard
to stop it.Yeah, please go ahead, sir. Go ahead.Question: Thank you very
much. Okay. Mr President, what’s your view about Palestinian leader
Abbas’s role in all the regional changes you want to do? And the
question for the prime minister, what’s your view on President Trump
wanting to reach a deal with Iran and not a much more active military
stance towards them?Trump: Go ahead, Bibi. Go ahead.Netanyahu: I think
the president just said something that, I think, is the pivot of
everything that we’re talking about. He said: Iran cannot have a nuclear
weapon. And we fully agree with that. If this goal can be achieved by a
maximum-pressure campaign, so be it. But I think the most important
thing is to focus on the goal, which the president just did. And I fully
agree with him.Trump: Well, I said it and he said it very well. It’s a
campaign of pressure to see if we can get something done. He doesn’t
want to do what some people think will automatically happen. Because
they’re very difficult people to deal with, as you know. But if we could
solve this problem without warfare, without all of the things that
you’ve been witnessing over the last number of years, I think it would
be a tremendous thing.Go ahead, please.Question: Do you have any plans
to visit Israel soon?Trump: To visit where? Question: Israel? And
Gaza?Trump: Oh, well, I love Israel. I will visit there. And I’ll visit
Gaza. And I’ll visit Saudi Arabia. And I’ll visit other places all over
the Middle East. The Middle East is an incredible place, so vibrant.
It’s just one of the really beautiful places. And with great people. And
I think a lot of bad leadership has taken place in the Middle East that
has allowed this to happen. It’s just terrible.And that includes on the
American side, by the way. We should have never gone in there a long
time ago, spent trillions of dollars and created so much death. So it
includes Americans.But, yeah, I’ll be visiting a lot of different places
in the Middle East. I’ve been invited everywhere, but I will be
visiting some, yeah.Okay. Let’s go. Kaitlan, go ahead.Question: Just a
follow-up on what you were saying about the Gazans leaving Gaza going to
other countries. One, where exactly are you suggesting that they should
go? And two, are you saying they should return after it’s rebuilt? And
if not, who do you envision living there? Trump: I envision people
living there, the world’s people. I think you’ll make that into an
international, unbelievable place. I think the potential in the Gaza
Strip is unbelievable. And I think the entire world, representatives
from all over the world, will be there and they’ll…Question:
Palestinians? Trump: … and they’ll live there. Palestinians also.
Palestinians will live there, many people will live there. But they’ve
tried the other, and they’ve tried it for decades and decades and
decades. It’s not going to work. It didn’t work. It will never work. And
you have to learn from history. History has — you know, you just can’t
let it keep repeating itself. We have an opportunity to do something
that could be phenomenal. And I don’t want to be cute. I don’t want to
be a wise guy. But the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be
something that could be so magnificent. But more importantly than that,
is the people that have been absolutely destroyed that live there now,
can live in peace in a much better situation because they are living in
hell. And those people will now be able to live in peace.We’ll make sure
that it’s done world-class. It will be wonderful for the people.
Palestinians. Palestinians — mostly we’re talking about. And I have a
feeling that despite them saying no, I have a feeling that the king in
Jordan and that the general — president, the general — in Egypt, will
open their hearts and will give us the kind of land that we need to get
this done, and people can live in harmony and in peace.Thank you all,
very much. Thank you.
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