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Blinken Warns Israel, Hamas of Closing Window for Gaza Ceasefire: ‘Maybe Last Opportunity to Get Hostages Home’
US Secretary of State Blinken meets with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 19, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/Pool
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Monday that the latest push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal was probably the best and possibly last opportunity, urging Israel and Hamas towards an elusive agreement.
However, with Palestinian terrorist group Hamas announcing a resumption of suicide bombing inside Israel after many years, and with Israeli airstrikes still pounding Gaza, there was little sign of conciliation.
Hamas and another terrorist group, Islamic Jihad, said they were behind a blast near a synagogue in Tel Aviv on Sunday that killed the bomber and wounded one other person. Suicide bombings “will return to the forefront” while the Gaza war continues, Hamas said in a statement.
The talks in Qatar last week paused without a breakthrough, but the negotiations are to resume this week based on a US “bridging proposal.”
Blinken met Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday morning.
“This is a decisive moment, probably the best, maybe the last opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security,” Blinken told reporters before meeting Herzog.
Months of on-off talks have circled the same issues, with Israel saying the war can only end with the destruction of Hamas as a military and political force and Hamas saying it will only accept a permanent, and not a temporary, ceasefire.
There are disagreements over Israel‘s continued military presence inside Gaza, particularly along the border with Egypt, over the free movement of Palestinians inside the territory, and over the identity and number of prisoners to be freed in a swap.
Despite US expressions of optimism, both Israel and Hamas have signaled that a deal will be difficult.
Hamas accused Netanyahu on Sunday of “thwarting the mediators efforts” and Turkey said Hamas envoys had told it that US officials were “painting an overly optimistic picture.”
Netanyahu told Israel‘s cabinet on Sunday that “we are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give,” his office said.
However, a US official, asked if Hamas’ comments amounted to a rejection of the deal, said Washington believed the bridging proposal it outlined last week addressed various concerns and would iron out difficult implementation aspects.
The current war in Gaza began on Oct. 7 last year when Hamas gunmen stormed across the border into Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign in neighboring Hamas-ruled Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling the terrorist group’s military and governing capabilities. Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza say about 40,000 Palestinians have died during the offensive, although experts have cast doubt on the reliability of casualty figures coming out of the enclave, in part because they do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
ESCALATION RISK
Blinken’s visit comes as US President Joe Biden faces mounting pressure over his stance on the conflict, with his Democratic party holding its national convention on Monday amid worries about Muslim and Arab-American votes in swing states.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri was dismissive of the chances that Blinken would press Netanyahu to accept a deal. “Blinken acts as if he was a minister in Netanyahu’s government,” Zuhri told Reuters.
Families of Israeli hostages, who have staged protests urging a deal, spoke out again on Monday. “Don’t sacrifice my daughter and the dozens of helpless hostages,” said Ayelet Levy-Shachar on Kan Radio. Her daughter Naama, 20, was captured at an army base.
Inside Gaza, Palestinians said they had little optimism that Blinken’s visit would bring a ceasefire.
“They are lying just to destroy us more and more. Kill us and kill our children, starve us and make us homeless. Blinken is useless, his visit will harm the Palestinian people,” said Hanan Abu Hamid, who was displaced from her home in Rafah.
The conflict has put the entire Middle East region on edge, triggering months of border clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, and threatening a wider escalation drawing in major powers.
Blinken warned against any provocations. “It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process, and so we’re working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations.”
Israel‘s military said there had been more Hezbollah drone strikes on the country’s north near the frontier with Lebanon on Monday. Blinken is to meet Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after meeting Netanyahu.
The post Blinken Warns Israel, Hamas of Closing Window for Gaza Ceasefire: ‘Maybe Last Opportunity to Get Hostages Home’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
The post Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
The post Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.