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Hamas Pogrom Has Taken Away Israelis ‘Faith’ in Peace, Absorption Minister Says
Israel’s Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata. Photo: Screenshot
Hamas has “taken away the faith” of Israelis in the possibility of peace with the Palestinians, Israel’s minister of immigrant absorption said in a hard-hitting interview published on Friday.
“Before [the Hamas pogrom of] Oct. 7 had many people hope for peace,” Pnina Tamano-Shata told the Swiss news outlet NZZ. “Now it is more despair at which path the Palestinians have chosen.”
In a wide-ranging conversation on the sidelines of annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos, over a takeaway meal delivered from a kosher restaurant in Zurich, Tamano-Shata discussed the rising wave of antisemitism globally, the perspectives of Israelis in the wake of the Hamas atrocities and her response, as a Black woman, to the accusation frequently advanced by supporters of Hamas that Israel is an “apartheid” state.
Tamano-Shata noted that at many of the kibbutzim near the Gaza border raided by Hamas terrorists, the residents “wanted to live in peace, they employed people from Gaza to give them a perspective.” Many of those Gazan employees spied for Hamas, she said, helping them to prepare the assault.
“Not only Hamas terrorists invaded Israel that day, [there were] civilians who stole everything, televisions, refrigerators, clothes,” she said. “When the terrorists came back with the hostages,with Israeli children and bleeding women, they cheered that. It is a shame. Now many people in Israel realize: They want to throw us into the sea. You want Tel Aviv. You want Jaffa. You want everything.”
Asked about the profusion of pro-Hamas demonstrations in cities around the world, Tamano-Shata was scathing.
“The David-and-Goliath story that Hamas defenders tell is bullshit,” she asserted. “There are 1.9 billion Muslims in the world, we Jews are only 16 million. Seven million Jews live in Israel. We are a small country, but we are strong. And we believe in our friends.”
Tamano-Shata came to Davos to highlight the ordeal of an as yet undetermined number of Israeli women who endured rape and sexual abuse at the hands of the Hamas terrorists.
“We want to show what really happened on that terrible day,” she said. “That women were tortured and raped and burned alive in front of their husbands’ eyes. That children had to watch their parents mutilated and killed. We are getting more and more evidence and testimony. Many come from the terrorists we arrested. Unfortunately, few victims can speak, many were brutally killed.” She roundly condemned the silence of many international women’s organizations over these atrocities, “especially in the United Nations.”
“As a woman, I have the feeling that #MeToo applies everywhere – unless you are Jewish,” she stated.
Tamano-Shata also spoke about her experience as an Ethiopian Jewish immigrant who arrived in Israel as a child.
“There are problems for Black people, like everywhere in the world, unfortunately,” she said. “I’ve fought racism and discrimination all my life. That’s why I went into politics. But in recent years there has been great progress, in education, in the army. And there is a significant difference between the Ethiopian minority in Israel and the African Americans: we have not been abducted, but returned to our homeland – after Jews had lived in Ethiopia for thousands of years. The army saved us.”
Asked about the accusation of apartheid, Tamano-Shata called it “one of the most cynical things I’ve ever heard.”
“Take me as an example,” she continued. “I was a migrant, a refugee child from Ethiopia. And do you know why I did it? Because I got a lot of support from the government and I wasn’t the only one. Minorities are promoted in Israel, including Arabs. They receive scholarships, they study at the university, they have equal rights, they are safe.”
The post Hamas Pogrom Has Taken Away Israelis ‘Faith’ in Peace, Absorption Minister Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.