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Israel Sends Delegation to Cairo Hostage Talks Despite Escalation
People walk past images of hostages kidnapped in the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas from Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 11, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay
JNS.org – Israel’s negotiating team was traveling to Cairo on Sunday despite tensions in the north with Hezbollah.
The delegation reportedly consists of Mossad Director David Barnea, Ronen Bar, director of the Israeli Security Agency and IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, who heads the Missing and Captive Soldiers Division.
A foreign source told the Israeli news outlet that it’s still unclear how Hezbollah’s missile and drone attack will affect Sunday’s negotiations.
(According to Al-Madayeen, Hezbollah’s media outlet, the Iran-backed terror group said it had concluded its attack for Sunday, calling it a success. Israel said it successfully preempted the attack.)
Israel’s government has highlighted its efforts to free the remaining 109 hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel.
“This is a national mission of the highest order,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Aug. 18.
“Up until now, Hamas has been completely obstinate. It did not even send a representative to the talks in Doha. Therefore, the pressure needs to be directed at Hamas and [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar, not the Government of Israel,” he added, referring to the terror group’s decision not to send representatives to the last round of ceasefire talks.
Hamas’s delegation arrived in Cairo this weekend, according to reports.
Negotiations have been “constructive” and media reports of a “near collapse” of the talks are inaccurate, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told reporters on Friday.
“The process is actually moving forward. It’s moving forward in the way we had outlined earlier in terms of these next rounds of talks,” he said.
Last week, the IDF recovered the bodies of six hostages who were abducted on Oct. 7, from a tunnel in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The six men, who were alive when terrorists kidnapped them, were identified as Yagev Buchshtav, Alex Dancyg, Yoram Metzger, Avraham Munder, Chaim Peri and Nadav Popplewell.
Efrat Machikawa, the niece of Margalit Moses, 78, a cancer survivor who was freed from Gaza last November, and Gadi Moses, 79, who is chronically ill and remains in Hamas captivity, spoke to JNS on Sunday while en route to Dancyg’s funeral.
“Four of the six bodies that were recovered by the IDF last week were from Kibbutz Nir Oz. My parents belong to the group of pioneers who established the kibbutz,” explained Machikawa.
“My aunt and others were held with them in the tunnels; we know that they were alive. Yet they returned as bodies and while it gives us some sense of closure, it also angers us to know they could have been saved,” she said.
On Tuesday, Machikawa will also attend Peri’s funeral.
“I am always hopeful, and these days when people ask me what hope is for me, I say it is acting. We should not let the negotiators out of the room unless they seal a deal, and they should be given a full mandate,” she said.
“I am a 100% believer in cultural diplomacy. We have to bridge the gaps among all our cultures and talk diplomacy. This will bring us to an agreement,” Machikawa continued.
Last week, she co-signed a letter addressed to CIA director William Burns, Egyptian intelligence head Abbas Kamel and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, all of whom have played central roles in the hostages-for-ceasefire-and-terrorist-release talks.
“Your previous diplomatic efforts have already resulted in a deal that has set free more than one hundred hostages,” the letter stated in reference to the week-long November deal.
“We back your efforts to bring back all the remaining hostages, end the war in Gaza, prevent regional escalation, and pave a diplomatic path to healing and peace,” it continued.
“Signing a deal will be a decisive step forward on the way out of the disastrous status quo and towards a better future,” the letter added.
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French Police Arrest Man Suspected of Attempted Arson Against Synagogue
French police stand guard after cars were set on fire in front of the city’s synagogue, in La Grande-Motte, France, August 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Manon Cruz
French police have arrested a man suspected of trying to set a synagogue ablaze in the southern French city of la Grande-Motte on Saturday, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
About 200 police officers had been hunting for the suspect, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said earlier, adding that the attacker had set fire to several entry doors to the synagogue and several cars nearby.
BFM TV said the suspect was a 33-year-old Algerian. Local police declined to give details.
The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office, which was put in charge of the investigation, said early on Sunday that a suspect had been arrested in Nîmes on Saturday evening.
“Before the police could intervene, (the suspect) opened fire on the (police), which returned fire. The man was wounded in the face,” the office said in a statement, adding that two other people were taken into custody.
A policeman was slightly injured when a gas bottle exploded as police secured the site of the attack on Saturday morning, Attal said.
“This is an antisemitic attack. Once more, our Jewish compatriots are targeted,” Attal said on X. “In the face of antisemitism, in the face of violence, we will never allow ourselves to be intimidated.”
After visiting the synagogue, Attal said an “absolute tragedy” had been narrowly averted after firefighters and police arrived quickly at the scene.
Local media reported earlier that the suspect had set fire to two cars, one of which contained at least one gas bottle, in the synagogue’s parking area at about 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT).
Police protection of synagogues, and Jewish schools and shops would be stepped up across France, the government said.
France, like other countries in Europe, has seen a surge in antisemitic incidents following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s retaliatory action in Gaza.
Le Parisien, franceinfo and other media said the suspect had been seen on CCTV shortly before the attack with a Palestinian flag tied round his waist.
“Exploding a gas bottle in a car in front of the Grande Motte synagogue at the expected time of arrival of the faithful: it’s not just attacking a place of worship, it’s an attempt to kill Jews,” Yonathan Arfi, who leads the CRIF, an umbrella organization of French Jewish groups, said on X.
La Grande-Motte is a port and resort city on the French Mediterranean coast.
The post French Police Arrest Man Suspected of Attempted Arson Against Synagogue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘First Phase’ of Attack Against Israel is ‘Over,’ Hezbollah Declares, Amid Fears of Regional War
Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters through a screen during a rally commemorating the annual Hezbollah Martyrs’ Day, in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Photo: Reuters/Aziz Taher
i24 News – A Hezbollah official said on Sunday that the jihadist group does not wish that its rocket and drone attack against Israel early in the morning should trigger a regional war and, as far as it is concerned, the “first phase” of the attack is over.
The official said the group took time to retaliate for the assassination of top commander Fuad Shukr last month due to “political considerations,” chiefly the ongoing talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal for the Gaza Strip.
The terrorist did not elaborate as to why the group decided to launch its attack despite the still-ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
The official stressed the Shiite militia had “worked” to make sure its response to the July 30 assassination would not trigger a full-scale war.
Hezbollah launched over 320 rockets & drones at Israel, responding to the killing of terrorist Fuad Shukr
But before the strike, the IDF preemptively hit thousands of rocket launchers in Lebanon
Here is everything you need to know, including the latest safety instructions: pic.twitter.com/FyHik3aeIz
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) August 25, 2024
The post ‘First Phase’ of Attack Against Israel is ‘Over,’ Hezbollah Declares, Amid Fears of Regional War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syrian President Says Efforts to Restore Ties with Turkey Have Yielded No Results
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks to the Syrian parliament in Damascus, Syria August 25, 2024. Photo: SANA/Handout via REUTERS
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Sunday that efforts to mend ties with Turkey had so far brought no tangible results.
“The initiatives did not yield any results worth mentioning despite the seriousness and genuine keenness of mediators,” Assad said in a speech to the Syrian parliament, referring to conciliation efforts by Russia, Iran and Iraq.
Turkey severed ties with Syria in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, in which it supported rebels seeking to oust Assad. Assad views the rebels as terrorists.
“The solution is openness,” Assad said. “Restoring a relationship requires first removing the causes that led to its destruction.”
The Syrian president made clear that while he wants Turkish troops to withdraw from Syria, that was not a precondition for talks.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said earlier in July he would extend an invitation to Assad “any time” for possible talks to restore relations.
A Turkish newspaper earlier reported Erdogan and Assad could meet in August, but a Turkish diplomat denied the report.
Russia has been trying to facilitate a meeting between the two leaders in an effort to restore ties. Iraq also said in July that it may seek to try to bring the two leaders together.
The post Syrian President Says Efforts to Restore Ties with Turkey Have Yielded No Results first appeared on Algemeiner.com.