US President Donald Trump speaks at a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not pictured), at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder

US President Donald Trump on Monday called for the outright defeat of Hamas, posting on social media that the only path to the safe return of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza is through the Palestinian terrorist group’s destruction.

“We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” Trump said on Truth Social.

His remark came as Israel continued to wage its military campaign in Gaza to free the hostages and dismantle Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, military and governing capabilities in the enclave following the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel, where Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages.

Nearly two years later, 50 hostages still remain in Gaza, including 20 believed to still be alive.

“Remember, I was the one who negotiated and got hundreds of hostages freed and released into Israel (and America!),” Trump added on Truth Social.

Israel has said it will ramp up military pressure on Hamas by seizing control of Gaza City, a major hub for the terrorist group, while simultaneously pursuing negotiations for a potential ceasefire and hostage-release deal. Hamas has reportedly accepted the latest proposal for a 60-day ceasefire with Israel that includes the return of half the hostages the terrorist group holds in Gaza and Israel’s release of some Palestinian prisoners.

Many families of current and former Israeli hostages have argued against escalating operations on Hamas, expressing fear that such a move could lead the terrorist group to execute their loved ones. Others have argued that military pressure is the best way to force Hamas to release hostages as part of a ceasefire on more favorable terms for Israel.

On Monday, Trump also touted his decision to authorize the US military to bomb Iranian nuclear sites in June, an act which was intended to prevent the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism from building nuclear weapons. 

“I was the one who ended 6 wars, in just 6 months. I was the one who OBLITERATED Iran’s Nuclear facilities. Play to WIN, or don’t play at all! Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT,” he wrote.

Illustrative: Supporters of Hamas gather for a rally in Melbourne, Australia. Photo: Reuters/Joel Carrett

Israel announced it will revoke the residency visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in response to Australia’s increasing hostility toward the Jewish state, further escalating tensions as relations between the two countries deteriorate.

“I decided to revoke the visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a post on X on Monday.

“I also instructed the Israeli Embassy in Canberra to carefully examine any official Australian visa application for entry to Israel,” he continued.

In his statement, Saar linked this latest decision to Australia’s announcement last week that it intends to recognize a Palestinian state in September.

He also said this move follows “Australia’s unjustified refusal to grant visas to a number of Israeli figures,” among them former Minister Ayelet Shaked and Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee chairman MK Simcha Rotman.

Rothman’s visa was denied this week, only a day before he was set to travel to Australia for community events.

“If you come here to spread hate and division, we don’t want you,” Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement about Rothman’s visa denial.

He also noted that Rothman would not be eligible to reapply for another three years, stressing Australia’s commitment to being a place where “everyone can feel safe.”

Australian officials have argued that Rothman’s visit could offend the country’s Muslim population, drawing condemnation from the local Jewish community and Israeli leaders, who accused the government of being lenient toward Hamas supporters while barring a senior Israeli lawmaker.

“While antisemitism is raging in Australia, including manifestations of violence against Jews and Jewish institutions, the Australian government is choosing to fuel it by false accusations, as if the visit of Israeli figures will disrupt public order and harm Australia’s Muslim population,” Saar said in his post on X. “It is shameful and unacceptable!”

Last week, Australia announced it will formally recognize a Palestinian state during the United Nations General Assembly’s annual debate next month, joining a growing list of European nations backing the move despite sharp criticism from Israeli leaders and the country’s Jewish community.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as “humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering, and starvation in Gaza.”

Albanese also said he had received assurances from the PA — which has governed much of the West Bank without holding elections for two decades — that there would be “no role for the terrorists of Hamas in any future Palestinian state.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned Australia’s decision, calling it “a reward for terror, a prize for the enemies of freedom, liberty, and democracy.”

“This is a grave and dangerous mistake, which will not help a single Palestinian and sadly will not bring back a single hostage,” the Israeli leader said during a press conference, referring to the dozens of Israeli hostages still being held by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

Ties between Israel and Australia have soured since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, with Canberra becoming one of the country’s most outspoken critics on the global stage.

Meanwhile, antisemitism spiked to record levels in Australia — especially in Sydney and Melbourne, which are home to some 85 percent of the country’s Jewish population — following the start of the war in Gaza.

According to a report from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), antisemitism quadrupled to record levels following the Oct. 7 atrocities, with Australian Jews experiencing more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024.

Israeli leaders have condemned Australian officials for anti-Israel bias and inaction on antisemitism, while the country’s Jewish community has consistently called for stronger measures to combat the growing wave of targeted attacks and anti-Jewish hate crimes.

On Monday, an Israeli man looking for a haircut in Melbourne was turned away after the salon owner recognized his accent and accused him of being a “baby killer” responsible for “genocide in Gaza.”

In recent months, several Jewish sites in Australia — including schools, synagogues, homes, and cars — have been targeted with vandalism and even arson.

Pro-Hamas demonstrators at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, US, on Feb. 5, 2025. Photo: David Ryder via Reuters Connect

A coalition of leading Jewish civil rights groups is calling on the higher education establishment to prioritize fighting campus antisemitism during the upcoming academic year, citing an unrelenting wave of anti-Jewish hate that has swept the US in recent years.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Jewish Federations of North America, Hillel International, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations issued their joint statement on Monday, putting forth a policy framework that they say will quell antisemitism if applied sincerely and consistently. It included “enhanced communication and policy enforcement,” “dedicated administration oversight,” and “faculty accountability” — an issue of rising importance given the number of faculty accused of inciting discrimination.

“These recommendations aren’t just suggestions; they’re essential steps universities need to take to ensure Jewish students can learn without fear,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “Jewish students are being forced to hide who they are, and that’s unacceptable — we need more administrators to step up.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, colleges campus across the US erupted with effusions of antisemitic activity following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, an uprising which included calling for the destruction of Israel, cheering Hamas’s sexual assaulting of women as an instrument of war, and dozens of incidents of assault and harassment targeting Jewish students, faculty, and activists.

At the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), anti-Zionist protesters chanted “Itbah El Yahud” at Bruin Plaza, which means “slaughter the Jews” in Arabic. At Columbia University, Jews were gang-assaulted, a student proclaimed that Zionist Jews deserve to be murdered and are lucky he is not doing so himself, and administrative officials, outraged at the notion that Jews organized to resist anti-Zionism, participated in a group chat in which each member took turns sharing antisemitic tropes that described Jews as privileged and grafting. At Harvard University, an October 2023 anti-Israel demonstration degenerated into chaos when Ibrahim Bharmal, former editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, and Elom Tettey-Tamaklo encircled a Jewish student with a mob that screamed “Shame! Shame! Shame!” at him while he desperately attempted to free himself from the mass of bodies.

More recently, Eden Deckerhoff — a female student at Florida State University — allegedly assaulted a Jewish male classmate at the Leach Student Recreation Center after noticing his wearing apparel issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“F—k Israel, Free Palestine. Put it [the video] on Barstool FSU. I really don’t give a f—k,” the woman said before shoving the man, according to video taken by the victim. “You’re an ignorant son of a b—h.” Deckerhoff has since been charged with misdemeanor battery.

Majorities of Jewish students continue to describe their campuses as hostile environments.

According to a recent Spring Campus Poll conducted by The Daily Northwestern, the official campus newspaper of Northwestern University, 58 percent of Jewish students reported being subjected to antisemitism or knowing someone who has. An even higher 63.1 percent said antisemitism remains a “somewhat or very serious problem.” Meanwhile, a Columbia University “climate survey” conducted last academic year found that 53 percent of Jewish students have been subjected to discrimination because of being Jewish, while another 53 percent reported that their friendships are “strained” because of how overwhelmingly anti-Zionist the student culture is. Meanwhile, 29 percent of Jewish students said they have “lost close friends,” and 59 percent, nearly two-thirds, of Jewish students sensed that they would be better off by electing to “conform their political beliefs” to those of their classmates.

Nearly 62 percent of Jewish students reported a low “feeling of acceptance” at Columbia on the basis of their religious identity, and 50 percent said that the pro-Hamas encampments which capped off the 2023-2024 academic year had a negative “impact” on their daily routines. Also, Jewish students at Columbia are more likely than their peers to report these negative feelings and experiences, followed by Muslim students.

“Campus antisemitism demand continued commitment from universities and colleges,” William Daroff chief executive of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, said in a statement on Monday. “Schools that implement these recommendations will not only better serve their Jewish students but strengthen the entire campus community’s dedication to academic excellence.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.