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Right-wing Israeli TV channel boots pundit for calling to free Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin
TEL AVIV (JTA) — A right-wing TV channel in Israel has banned a guest from its programs after he called for the release of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin, drawing applause from the audience.
Ari Shamai, a lawyer, made the remark on Sunday amid discussion of an Israeli Supreme Court decision that barred a right-wing candidate from running this year for mayor of Tiberias, a northern Israeli city. Shamai has voiced support for the Israeli government’s ongoing effort to weaken the Supreme Court. The first element of that effort passed last week and has sparked ongoing mass protests across Israel.
On Sunday, conflict between the governing coalition and the judiciary continued, as the Supreme Court postponed the implementation of a law that would have allowed the mayoral candidate to run. Shamai said the ruling amounted to a condemnation of “personal laws” meant to benefit one individual, and suggested that legislation denying the possibility of parole to Yigal Amir, Rabin’s assassin, was also an example of a “personal law.”
“The time has come to free the assassin Yigal Amir,” Shamai said on Sunday on “The Patriots,” a panel show on Israeli Channel 14. “Because personal laws were also legislated against him.”
Shamai, who has represented Amir in legal proceedings, was interrupted by his fellow panelists as members of the audience applauded. Following the incident, Channel 14 barred Shamai from its programs and, according to the Israeli publication Walla, cut his statement from replays of the discussion.
“The severe words that Ari Shamai said reflect his opinion only,” the channel said in a statement. “In light of the severity of the statements, Mr. Shamai will no longer be invited to appear on the channel’s programs.”
On Monday, Strauss Group, one of Israel’s leading food manufacturers, sent a letter to Channel 14 informing the network that it would pause its advertising due to “various hurtful expressions.” It did not mention Shamai’s statement specifically, but added, “We choose to advertise according to a code of ethics and demand the same from all of the channels and media platforms.”
Channel 14 responded to the letter by calling it an “embarrassing statement of condescension and an attempt at reeducation,” according to Raz Shechnik, a reporter for the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
Shamai is one among several voices on the right who have called for Amir’s freedom. In 2008, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician who now serves as Israel’s national security minister, promoted a film calling for Amir’s release. More recently, a senior aide to Ben-Gvir has taken an active role in a nonprofit that donates money to the assassin and other Jewish extremists serving prison terms.
This is not the first time Shamai has stirred controversy on Channel 14. In February, amid protests of the judicial overhaul, he was suspended from the channel for saying that the legislation’s opponents were descended from Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto who declined to fight the Nazis.
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The post Right-wing Israeli TV channel boots pundit for calling to free Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.