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Evacuees From Israel’s Northern Border Warn US: ‘We Won’t Allow Another Oct. 7 to Happen Here’
Israeli soldiers stand by, as a mobile artillery unit fires on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Gil Eliyahu
Evacuated residents from northern Israel on Monday issued a harsh call to the Biden administration to prevent Hezbollah from carrying out a massacre similar to the Hamas attack on Israel’s south on Oct. 7, saying that the Iran-backed terror group in Lebanon must be forced to retreat further away from the border.
In a letter to US President Joe Biden and senior administration officials, Lobby 1701, a civilian organization representing the residents of northern Israel, called on the US to give “its full support to the government of Israel to act with the necessary force” to safeguard the north.
Of more than 230,000 evacuated citizens, more than 60,000 are residents residing within five kilometers of the northern border, now effectively a front line.
Lobby 1701, established in the wake of the Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7, gets its name from United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006 during the Second Lebanon War. It called for the disarmament of Hezbollah and the deployment of Lebanese and UN peacekeeping forces, UNIFIL, in southern Lebanon.
Monday’s letter slammed the ineffectiveness of both the resolution and UNIFIL in preventing an assault on Israel’s north, which has seen intense fighting since Oct. 7.
“We speak in the name of the 60,000 residents of northern Israel who were evacuated from their homes and turned into refugees in their own land. For more than 70 days, we have been ‘living in exile’ due to Hezbollah firing daily at our homes, and the inability of Lebanon to properly implement UNSCR 1701,” the letter stated.
It called on the US and “the international community to prevent the next massacre.”
Nisan Zeevi, co-founder of Lobby 1701, expressed frustration over the collapse of the Security Council resolution’s stated aim and called for a terror-free buffer zone. “The failure of UNSCR 1701 has left us with no choice but to demand genuine security through a Hezbollah-free buffer zone. We refuse to return to our homes without concrete assurances of safety. We demand a change of the present reality: From a buffer zone within Israel to a buffer zone within Lebanon,” Zeevi said.
“The time for diplomatic resolutions has passed. Oct. 7 showed the whole world what these jihadi organizations are capable of, and our safety demands a clear and resolute stance against terrorism,” he said.
According to a report by the Axios news site last week, Israel told the US that a diplomatic agreement designed to reduce tensions with Lebanon must include the withdrawal of Iran-backed Hezbollah forces to a distance of 6 miles from the border.
The Wall Street Journal on Saturday reported that Israel had intended to carry out a preemptive strike against Hezbollah on Oct. 11, but that the action was averted at the last moment after Biden intervened. Netanyahu’s office later denied the report.
Zeevi told The Algemeiner that the ultimate decision regarding Israel’s security should be made by Israel alone. While acknowledging Biden as “a great partner and ally of Israel,” he went on to say the US president “can’t be the one to decide how to take care of the security of tens of thousands of families living here on the border.”
The Biden administration cannot “decide the future of me and my family,” he said.
“This is only our decision; this is not the US’s decision,” Zeevi added.
Despite being within a few miles of the border, some of Israel’s northern residents are not in the official evacuation zone and have self-evacuated. They are forced to either manage the expenses of dual residences or stay with family elsewhere in the country.
Kibbutz leaders from Manara, a northern community, reported on Sunday that since the onset of Hezbollah-led attacks in October, 86 out of 155 houses in their area have suffered damage due to rocket strikes as well as anti-tank missiles launched by terrorist groups operating out of Lebanon.
A Hezbollah-affiliated correspondent for the Al Mayadeen network, Ali Mortada, this week released a taunting video in which he mockingly greeted his Israeli audience and commented on the damaged state of Manara, which he filmed from a distance. “Hello my enemies; I hope you are having a bad day,” he said. Mortada chuckled over the destroyed kibbutz and ended with a warning: “Manara is a ghost city. Don’t go back. Don’t ever go back.”
Hello my enemies pic.twitter.com/xUPyg2HASF
— Ali Mortada || علي مرتضى (@aliimortada) December 24, 2023
The post Evacuees From Israel’s Northern Border Warn US: ‘We Won’t Allow Another Oct. 7 to Happen Here’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
The post Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.