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Israeli Defense Minister Warns Terrorists Not to Make Ramadan a ‘Month of Jihad’ Amid Gaza War
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at Israel’s Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wished Muslim worshipers a peaceful Ramadan, while issuing a stern warning to those looking to use the Muslim holy month to perpetrate terrorism amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Beginning in Arabic, Gallant wished the Muslim community a blessed Ramadan and year ahead in a statement. He then switched to Hebrew, saying “We are aware that the month of Ramadan may be a month of jihad. We tell everyone who is thinking of trying us: We are ready; don’t make mistakes. I want to bless you and say to everyone, the State of Israel respects freedom of religion, at Al-Aqsa [known to Jews as the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem] and all holy sites.”
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan began on Sunday evening, following an announcement by Saudi Arabia, the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites. With the ushering in of the month of daily fasting, the Middle East braced for what has been historically a tense time between Israelis and Palestinians.
In Israel, many people refer to Ramadan as “Ramadam,” with the “m” allowing the end of the word to read “dam,” which means blood in Hebrew, to signify the history of terrorism during the month.
This year in particular, with the war raging in Gaza, onlookers abroad, including US President Joe Biden, have warned about the dangers of the conflict continuing into Ramadan, with efforts to secure a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza before the holiday falling short.
Israeli officials pointed the finger at Hamas, with Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad releasing a statement last week saying, “At this stage, Hamas is fortifying its position that it is not interested in the deal and strives to burn the region during Ramadan at the expense of the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip.”
Despite the war, Muslim worship at the Temple Mount is set to go uninterrupted. However, thousands of police officers are stationed throughout Jerusalem, with the highest concentration in the Old City. Additionally, a special police station will be set up close to the Temple Mount, where police teams, in consultation with Israel’s security establishment and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will discuss daily if anything needs to change.
Biden issued a statement to Muslims on Sunday in which he discussed the war in Gaza, saying Ramadan “comes at a moment of immense pain. The war in Gaza has inflicted terrible suffering on the Palestinian people. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, including thousands of children.”
Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza say over 30,000 people have died during Israel’s military offensive.
In October, Biden expressed doubt about the accuracy of Hamas’ casualty statistics, which do not distinguish between terrorist combatants and civilians. In recent weeks, however, Biden has made an apparent 180, citing them in his State of the Union address last week.
A recent report from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy found that Hamas’ statistics are “inconsistent, imprecise, and systematically manipulated to downplay the number of men and militants killed.”
Additionally, a professor of statistics and data science at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania found a significant number of anomalies and almost impossible trends within the data released by the terror group, further throwing its credibility into question.
Biden also mentioned in his Ramadan statement that he hoped for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“The United States will continue working non-stop to establish an immediate and sustained ceasefire for at least six weeks as part of a deal that releases hostages,” he said.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 253 others as hostages during its Oct. 7 invasion of Israel, launching the current war.
The post Israeli Defense Minister Warns Terrorists Not to Make Ramadan a ‘Month of Jihad’ Amid Gaza War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel’s Supreme Court Orders Improved Food for Security Prisoners
Israel’s Supreme Court. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday instructed the Prison Service (Shabas) to guarantee adequate food supplies for security prisoners, ruling that current conditions fall short of minimum legal standards. The decision followed an appeal filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
In a 2–1 ruling, the court found that the food situation posed “a risk of non-compliance with legal standards.” Justice Dafna Barak-Erez stressed that the matter concerned “basic conditions necessary for survival, as required by law,” not comfort or privilege. Justice Ofer Grosskopf agreed, noting the state had not shown the policy was consistently applied to all inmates.
Justice David Mintz dissented, maintaining that the existing policy already met legal requirements.
The court underscored that Israel’s legal obligations remain binding, even in light of the ongoing hostage crisis in Gaza and the fact that many of the prisoners include Hamas members involved in the October 7, 2023 attack.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir condemned the ruling, arguing that while hostages in Gaza lack protection, “terrorist murderers, kidnappers, and rapists in prison” benefit from the Court’s intervention. He added that prisoners would continue receiving only the minimum conditions required by law.
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Ukrainian Government Building Set Ablaze in Record Russian Airstrike
Illustrative. More damage caused by the Russian drone that hit the Perlina school in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 30, 2024. Photo: Jewish community JCC in Kyiv, Kyiv municipality, and Yan Dobronosov
i24 News – The Ukrainian government’s main building in Kyiv was hit overnight Saturday by Russian airstrikes for the first time since the war, igniting a fire in the building, authorities said. Firefighters are working to put out the flames.
“The government building was damaged by an enemy attack — the roof and upper floors,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said. The blaze is is burning in the area of the office of the prime minister.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched a total of 805 drones and 13 missiles overnight on Ukraine — a record number since the start of the war.
Also as a result of the strike, a baby and a young woman were killed after a nine-story residential building was hit in the Svyatoshynsky district, also in Kyiv. Rescuers are still looking for a third body, authorities said. A woman was also reported killed in the strike in Novopavlivka village.
“The world must respond to this destruction not only with words, but also with actions. We need to increase sanctions pressure – primarily against Russian oil and gas. We need new restrictions that will hit the Kremlin’s military machine. And most importantly, Ukraine needs weapons. Something that will stop the terror and prevent Russia from trying to kill Ukrainians every day,” wrote Sviridenko after the attack.
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‘Trump’s Legacy Crumbles’: Israelis Call on US President to End Gaza War
Israeli protestors take part in a rally demanding the immediate release of the hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and the end of war in Gaza, in Jerusalem September 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, issuing direct appeals to US President Donald Trump to force an end to the Gaza war and secure the release of the hostages.
Protesters packed a public square outside the military headquarters, waving Israeli flags and holding placards with images of the hostages. Some carried signs, including one that read: ‘Trump’s legacy crumbles as the Gaza war persists.’
Another said: “PRESIDENT TRUMP, SAVE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
“We think that Trump is the only man in the world who has authority over Bibi, that can force Bibi to do this,” said Tel Aviv resident Boaz, 40, referring to the Israeli prime minister.
There is growing despair among many Israelis at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has ordered the military to capture a major urban center where hostages may be held.
Families of the hostages and their supporters fear the assault on Gaza City could endanger their loved ones, a concern the military leadership shares, according to Israeli officials.
Orna Neutra, the mother of an Israeli soldier who was killed on October 7, 2023 and whose body is being held in Gaza by militants, accused the government of abandoning its citizens.
“We truly hope that the United States will push both sides to finally reach a comprehensive deal that will bring them home,” she told the rally. Her son, Omer, is also American.
Tel Aviv has witnessed weekly demonstrations that have grown in size, with protesters demanding that the government secure a ceasefire with Hamas to obtain the release of hostages. Organizers said Saturday night’s rally was attended by tens of thousands. A large demonstration was also held in Jerusalem.
There are 48 hostages held in Gaza. Israeli officials believe that around 20 are still alive. Palestinian terrorists abducted 251 people from Israel on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led its attack. Most of the hostages who have been released were freed after indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
NO PURPOSE
Trump had pledged a swift end to the war in Gaza during his presidential campaign, but nearly eight months into his second term, a resolution has remained elusive. On Friday, he said that Washington was engaged in “very deep” negotiations with Hamas.
Israeli forces have carried out heavy strikes on the suburbs of Gaza City, where, according to a global hunger monitor, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are facing famine. Israeli officials acknowledge that hunger exists in Gaza but deny that the territory is facing famine. On Saturday, the military warned civilians in Gaza City to leave and move to southern Gaza.
There are hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in the city that was home to around a million before the war.
A video released by Hamas on Friday featured Israeli hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24, saying that he was being held in Gaza City and feared being killed by the military’s assault on the city. Rights groups have condemned such videos of hostages as inhumane. Israel says that it is psychological warfare.
The war has become unpopular among some segments of Israeli society, and opinion polls show that most Israelis want Netanyahu’s right-wing government to negotiate a permanent ceasefire with Hamas that secures the release of the hostages.
“The war has no purpose at all, except for violence and death,” said Boaz from Tel Aviv. Adam, 48, said it had become obvious that soldiers were being sent to war for “nothing.”
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since it launched its retaliatory war after Hamas fighters attacked Israel from Gaza in October 2023. Around 1,200 people were killed in that attack on southern Israel.
The terrorist group, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but today controls only parts of the enclave, on Saturday once again said that it would release all hostages if Israel agreed to end the war and withdraw its forces from Gaza.
Netanyahu is pushing for an all-or-nothing deal that would see all of the hostages released at once and Hamas surrendering.
The prime minister has said Gaza City is a Hamas stronghold and capturing it is necessary to defeat the Palestinian militant group, whose October 2023 attack on Israel led to the war.
Hamas has acknowledged it would no longer govern Gaza once the war ends but has refused to discuss laying down its weapons.