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Destroy Hamas, deradicalize the Palestinians: Netanyahu lays out preconditions for peace in Wall Street Journal op-ed
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out his preconditions for peace with Gaza in a Monday op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, saying, “Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized, and Palestinian society must be deradicalized.”
“These are the three prerequisites for peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in Gaza,” Netanyahu wrote.
The outline for a peace agreement came as Israel pushed its ground offensive farther into Gaza in its campaign to destroy the Hamas terrorist group. The counter-offensive sparked by the Oct. 7 atrocities against Israelis has caused widespread destruction and suffering in Gaza, and continues amid mounting international pressure for a ceasefire.
Netanyahu said in his op-ed that international allies including the U.S., U.K., France and Germany back Israel’s campaign to destroy Hamas by dismantling its military capabilities and political rule over Gaza. Since Hamas’s leaders have vowed to repeat the Oct. 7 massacres, he argued, the group’s continued existence will lead to more war.
The Israeli leader, who visited soldiers in northern Gaza Monday after a weekend in which 17 soldiers were killed, said Gaza needed to be demilitarized to prevent future attacks, and that disarmament will require a temporary security zone on the border and inspections on Gaza’s border with Egypt to prevent weapons smuggling.
Netanyahu dismissed calls to involve the Palestinian Authority in Gaza’s demilitarization, saying the P.A. “glorifies terrorism” and was unwilling and unable to disarm Hamas. He lashed out at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for not condemning the Oct. 7 attack.
Hamas seized power in Gaza in a bloody 2007 coup, leaving the P.A. in control of the West Bank. The P.A. is more moderate and secular than Hamas, and has long cooperated with Israel on security, including by cracking down on Hamas operatives in the West Bank. The P.A. has a contentious relationship with Israel, which has complained that Ramallah pays stipends to terrorists and their families. Abbas is also deeply unpopular in the West Bank, and is 88 years old, with no clear successor.
The Biden administration has called for the P.A.’s participation in rebuilding Gaza after the war. Netanyahu’s op-ed also did not mention a Palestinian state, another priority for the United States, a key backer of Israel’s war effort.
“For the foreseeable future Israel will have to retain overriding security responsibility over Gaza,” Netanyahu wrote.
For deradicalization, Netanyahu called for changes to Palestinian school curricula, civil society and religious sermons. He compared his deradicalization goals to the process that took place in Germany and Japan after World War II.
“Once Hamas is destroyed, Gaza is demilitarized and Palestinian society begins a deradicalization process, Gaza can be rebuilt and the prospects of a broader peace in the Middle East will become a reality,” Netanyahu wrote.
The op-ed did not mention the hostages captured by Hamas on Oct. 7. During the terror onslaught in southern Israel, attackers killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 240 hostages, the majority of whom remain in captivity.
Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, on Monday vowed to continue fighting Israel.
Israel pressed farther into Gaza this week, including in the area of the southern city of Khan Younis, thought to be home to some of Hamas’ top leadership, who have eluded Israeli forces.
Fighting also continued in northern Gaza, despite the Israel Defense Forces’ claim that it was mostly in control of the area.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi warned on Tuesday that the Gaza campaign will continue for months, amid mounting international pressure to end the violence. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says more than 20,000 people have been killed. The figure is not verifiable and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
The IDF on Tuesday evening said three soldiers were killed in Gaza, bringing the military toll since the start of the campaign to 161.
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The post Destroy Hamas, deradicalize the Palestinians: Netanyahu lays out preconditions for peace in Wall Street Journal op-ed appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
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 – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.