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Israel to Declare Return of Northern Evacuees An Official War Goal
Israeli firefighters work following rocket attacks from Lebanon, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, near the border on its Israeli side, June 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Avi Ohayon
JNS.org – Israel’s Security Cabinet is reportedly set to approve on Sunday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to make the return home of the country’s northern residents a formal war goal.
In a statement on Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office said that the goal “is agreed upon by all Cabinet members.”
Netanyahu has stated in the past that the safe return of some 60,000 residents evacuated from towns and villages along Israel’s border with Lebanon due to ongoing attacks by Hezbollah is a national goal, but has not yet made it an official government policy.
The premier was cited by Israel’s Channel 12 on Friday as saying that, “The situation in the north cannot continue. We must change the equation and we must bring back the residents.”
Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah has stated on more than one occasion that the Iranian proxy will halt its fire only if a truce is reached in the Strip.
Senior officials in Jerusalem, have noted that Israel may have no choice but to launch a full-scale ground invasion into Lebanon to create a security barrier for Israel’s north, which would allow the safe return of displaced Israelis.
Meanwhile, US special envoy Amos Hochstein is set to arrive in Israel on Monday. Hebrew media reported that the purpose of the visit is to prevent an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Shi’ite terror group has joined Hamas’s war efforts since Oct. 7, launching barrages of rockets and drones into Israeli territory, killing Israeli soldiers and civilians and causing massive damage to property in the north.
Tensions between the warring sides have reached seething levels in recent weeks, with the Israeli Air Force reportedly destroying thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in Southern Lebanon in late August.
The terrorist organization subsequently fired more than 200 projectiles into Israel. Out of the 230 rockets and 20 UAVs that crossed into Israeli territory, 90% “were launched from the heart of civilian areas,” according to the military. Nearly all of the launchers were positioned near mosques, schools, gas stations and U.N. sites.
The escalation of cross-border fire began after a Hezbollah strike murdered 12 Israeli children of the Druze community in the Golan Heights on July 27.
Israel responded three days later with the assassination of Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah military commander, in southern Beirut.
The post Israel to Declare Return of Northern Evacuees An Official War Goal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump’s administration will release more than $5 billion in previously approved funding for K-12 school programs that it froze over three weeks ago under a review, which had led to bipartisan condemnation.
“(The White House Office of Management and Budget) has completed its review … and has directed the Department to release all formula funds,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the U.S. Education Department, said in a statement, adding funds will be dispersed to states next week.
Further details on the review and what it found were not shared.
A senior administration official said “guardrails” would be in place for the amount being released, without giving details.
Early in July, the Trump administration said it would not release funding previously appropriated by Congress for schools and that an initial review found signs the money was misused to subsidize what it alleged was “a radical leftwing agenda.”
States say $6.8 billion in total was affected by the freeze. Last week, $1.3 billion was released.
After the freeze, a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states sued to challenge the move, and 10 Republican US senators wrote to the Republican Trump administration to reverse its decision.
The frozen money covered funding for education of migrant farm workers and their children; recruitment and training of teachers; English proficiency learning; academic enrichment and after-school and summer programs.
The Trump administration has threatened schools and colleges with withholding federal funds over issues like climate initiatives, transgender policies, pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Republican US lawmakers welcomed the move on Friday, while Democratic lawmakers said there was no need to disrupt funding in the first place.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon separately said she was satisfied with what was found in the review and released the money, adding she did not think there would be future freezes.
The post Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Israel will resume airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday night, the Israeli military said, a few days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations,” the military added in a statement.
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Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – US President Donald Trump on Friday said the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal,” Trump said.
The comments followed statements by Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the effect that Israel was now considering “alternative” options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the terror rule of Hamas in the coastal enclave.
Trump added he believed Hamas leaders would now be “hunted down.”
On Thursday, Witkoff said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas’s latest proposal. Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, with Netanyahu concurring.
Trump also dismissed the significance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Macron’s comments, “didn’t carry any weight,” the US leader said.
The post Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.