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Netanyahu Gears Up for Critical Discussions With Trump in Washington on Gaza, Iran, Saudi Relations

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, Sept. 15, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Tom Brenner

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has landed in Washington, DC ahead of a planned series of discussions with US President Donald Trump and other top American officials, as he is set to become the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Trump’s inauguration last month.

“I’m leaving for a very important meeting with President Trump in Washington,” he said in a statement. “The fact that this would be President Trump’s first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration is telling. I think it’s a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance. It’s also a testimony to the strength of our personal friendship.”

The Israeli premier listed “victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages, and dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components” as being among the “very important issues” he expected to discuss.

Trump used similar language to discuss the significance of their meeting.

“The discussions on the Middle East with Israel and various and sundry other countries are progressing,” Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday. “Bibi Netanyahu’s coming on Tuesday, and I think we have some very big meetings scheduled.”

Before meeting Trump on Tuesday, Netanyahu was slated to hold a Monday meeting with US Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, during which the two men were expected to hammer out details of the second phase of Israel’s ceasefire with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

Under phase one of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal reached last month, Hamas will, over six weeks, free a total of 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom are deceased, and in exchange, Israel will release over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are serving multiple life sentences for terrorist activity. Meanwhile, fighting in Gaza will stop as negotiators work on agreeing to a second phase of the agreement, which is expected to include Hamas releasing all remaining hostages held in Gaza and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave.

Observers expect Netanyahu to press for an extension of the first phase of the ceasefire — meaning, the continuation of the release of three to four Israeli hostages every week — which would buy Israel more time to negotiate the freedom of its citizens without having to vacate troops from Gaza.

Netanyahu and Trump are also expected to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire deal during their sit-down on Tuesday. Trump is expected to push Netanyahu to accept concessions to end the war against Hamas, which could include the removal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphi Corridor separating Gaza from Egypt — a route that Hamas has used in the past to smuggle weapons into Gaza.

In addition, Trump and Netanyahu are likely to discuss the potential of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia shelved normalization discussions with Israel as a result of the war in Gaza, accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide.”

Recently, however, Riyadh has softened its position, indicating that any normalization agreement with Israel would need to include a pathway to the formation of a Palestinian state. A permanent end to the war in Gaza could open the possibility of strengthening and expanding the Abraham Accords, a series of historic, US-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and several countries in the Arab world during the first Trump administration.

However, many lawmakers within Israel’s parliament oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state at this time, arguing such a proposal would both reward terrorism and create a launching pad for attacks on the Jewish state’s borders. Moreover, Netanyahu faces immense pressure from within his right-wing voting base and governing coalition inside Israel to resume the war against Hamas, which started the conflict with its invasion of the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023.

Another topic of conversation between Netanyahu and US officials will likely be Iran, particularly how to contain its nuclear program and combat its support for terrorist proxies across the Middle East. In recent weeks, many analysts have raised questions over whether Trump would support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which both Washington and Jerusalem fear are meant to ultimately develop nuclear weapons.

This week’s trip marks Netanyahu’s first visit to Washington since last summer, in which the prime minister delivered a speech to a joint session of the US Congress. A large number of Democratic lawmakers, including presidential nominee Kamala Harris and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, skipped Netanyahu’s speech. 

When departing for the US on Sunday, Netanyahu expressed optimism about his upcoming meeting with Trump. 

“I believe that we can strengthen security, broaden the circle of peace, and achieve a remarkable era of peace through strength,” Netanyahu said.

The post Netanyahu Gears Up for Critical Discussions With Trump in Washington on Gaza, Iran, Saudi Relations first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Mike Huckabee, Israeli Government Push Back Against Claims of ‘Famine’ in Gaza

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

The Israeli government and the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, are pushing back against international criticism after a UN-backed authority declared a famine is taking place in Gaza.

“To the uninformed who claim Israel is starving Gaza, get the facts & read the thread below,” Huckabee said on X on Friday. “Tons of food has gone into Gaza but Hamas savages stole it, ate lots of it to become corpulent, sold it on [the] black market but they didn’t give it to the hostages.”

His comments came hours after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the global body that monitors hunger crises, reported that famine thresholds had been met in Gaza City and surrounding areas, with more than half a million people already experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger. The IPC warned that the number could rise to 641,000 by the end of September if conditions do not improve.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a post on X, dismissed the IPC’s conclusions as “an outright lie,” insisting Israel “does not have a policy of starvation” but rather “a policy of preventing starvation.” Israeli officials note that thousands of aid trucks have entered Gaza and blame the ruling Hamas terror group for diverting supplies.

Huckabee’s remarks echoed that position, framing the Islamist group as the central cause of hunger. Israeli leaders and their allies accuse Hamas of stealing food, hoarding aid, and reselling goods on the black market at inflated prices instead of distributing them to civilians or releasing Israeli hostages.

The United States and Israel set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) earlier this year to coordinate aid deliveries outside of UN channels, after accusing Hamas of exploiting international assistance. The group says it delivers more than a million meals a day, but humanitarian organizations counter that the aid falls far short of what is needed.

Distribution sites have often descended into chaos, with starving crowds surging around convoys. Human rights groups have described the alleged famine as a “man-made catastrophe” and accused Israel of weaponizing hunger.

Israel recently increased the flow of humanitarian supplies into Gaza, after imposing a temporary embargo in an effort to keep them out of the hands of Hamas. While facilitating the entry of thousands of aid trucks into Gaza, Israeli officials have condemned the UN and other international aid agencies for their alleged failure to distribute supplies, noting much of the humanitarian assistance has been stalled at border crossings or stolen. According to UN data, the vast majority of humanitarian aid entering Gaza is intercepted before reaching its intended civilian recipients.

Last week, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) released a report saying that Hamas has been inflating the death toll of Palestinians due to malnutrition and that most of those verified to have died had preexisting medical conditions.

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Italian Hospital Staff Discard Israeli-Made Medicine as Concerns Mount Globally of Antisemitism in Health Care

In Italy, Dr. Rita Segantini and nurse Giulia Checcacci throw products of the Israeli company Teva Pharmaceutical in the garbage in protest against Israel. Photo: Screenshot

Two medical workers in Italy filmed themselves discarding Israeli-made medicine in protest against the Jewish state at their workplace, fueling global concerns of antisemitism in health-care facilities as a doctor in the United Kingdom who praised Adolf Hitler was allowed back to work this month.

A doctor and a nurse who work at a community hospital in Pratovecchio Stia, near Arezzo in Tuscany, recently posted on social media a video of themselves dramatically throwing away products from Teva Pharmaceuticals, an Israeli company.

Dr. Daniel Radzik, a senior member of the Italian Jewish Medical Association, told Ynetnews that his organization is “very concerned about the event.”

“It’s evident that this act was not accidental, but carried out with the intention of encouraging the boycott of medicines produced in Israel,” he added.

Dr. Rita Segantini and nurse Giulia Checcacci apologized for the video following backlash, saying, “We apologize to anyone offended by the video. It was a symbolic gesture for peace. We did not actually throw away any medicine.”

In Italy, Dr. Rita Segantini and nurse Giulia Checcacci throw products of the Israeli company Teva Pharmaceutical in the garbage in protest of Israel. Photo: Screenshot

However, the Italian Jewish Medical Association was skeptical of the apology.

“They tried to explain in a very naive way. Because they say that their act was only symbolic, made for peace and that the medicine was only integrator and they don’t want really to throw them to the rubbish,” Radzik said.

The doctor and nurse claimed the items were not medications purchased by the hospital, but rather items such as wet wipes that are given out for free, and that they removed them from the trash after filming. Additionally, they claimed the video was filmed after working hours.

Meanwhile, a doctor in the UK was allowed to return to work this month after praising Hitler during an antisemitic rant and making racist comments about a colleague.

“All this antisemitism … if Hitler was around today, I would support him as he got rid of horrible f—kers like him,” Dr. Mili Shah said in reference to a colleague in 2021, according to British media.

In response, Shah was reportedly suspended for four months. However, a review by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in July concluded Shah, who is no longer employed by NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, is fit to return to work.

These recent incidents come as concerns mount globally over antisemitism in health-care spaces, with Jews feeling unsafe due to medical professionals expressing antisemitism or even outright death threats against Israelis.

In the UK, for example, the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH Trust) issued an apology this past week following a patient’s complaints about the placement of anti-Israel posters at a facility. These posters — which read “Zionism is Poison,” called for a “Free Palestine,” and accused Israel of wantonly starving and killing Palestinians — led a patient to reach out to the group UK Lawyers for Israel, expressing fear of receiving subpar treatment if the hospital staff discovered she was Jewish. The chief executive of UCLH Trust released a statement apologizing for the posters.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, midwife Fatimah Mohamied, who resigned from her position after UKLFI highlighted her anti-Israel social media posts, has now filed a claim against Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, alleging a violation of her rights. Mohamied’s posts included her defending and celebrating the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion and massacre across southern Israel.

Other Western countries have seen health-care providers’ antipathy toward Israel manifest as violent threats.

In the Netherlands, police opened an investigation into Batisma Chayat Sa’id, a nurse who allegedly stated she would administer lethal injections to Israeli patients.

Although Sa’id denied making the comments, claiming someone was “pretending to be me,” an account under her name also posted threatening messages aimed at Jewish people last year, including “Your time will come — don’t spare anyone,” and another in which she described the burial of Israelis in Gaza as “a dream come true.”

The nurse’s alleged threat mirrors a similar incident in Australia, in which video showed two nurses — Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh — posing as doctors and making inflammatory statements. The widely circulated footage showed Abu Lebdeh declaring she would refuse to treat Israeli patients and instead kill them, while Nadir made a throat-slitting gesture and claimed he had already killed many.

“Now they actually brag online about killing Israeli patients,” Shira Nussdorf, a US-born Jewish woman who moved from Israel to Australia six years ago, told The Algemeiner earlier this year when the video first emerged. “I don’t know how safe I would feel giving birth at that hospital.”

Following the incident, New South Wales authorities in Australia suspended their nursing registrations and banned them from working as nurses nationwide. They were also charged with federal offenses, including threatening violence against a group and using a carriage service to threaten, menace, and harass. If convicted, they face up to 22 years in prison.

The issue of antisemitism in medical facilities also extends to North America.

A December 2024 study by the Data & Analytics Department of StandWithUs, a Jewish civil rights group, found that 40 percent of 645 Jewish American health-care professionals surveyed reported experiencing antisemitism in the workplace. A similar study of Canadian Jewish health workers conducted last year reached 80 percent.

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Gore Websites, Antisemitic Propaganda Radicalized School Shooters, New ADL Report Finds

A demonstration in Schwerin, Germany, with a banner reading “Against Nazis.” Photo: Bernd Wüstneck via Reuters Connect

The Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Center on Extremism has released a new report detailing how two young persons’ drifting into viewing macabre content online degenerated into an obsession with white supremacist propaganda and, ultimately, the perpetration of a school shooting.

“Kids and teens today have lived their entire lives with easy internet access, putting them even more at risk of encountering violent extremism online,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement on Thursday. “ADL has been alerting about the dangers of these online communities and activity for years. Extremist ideas combined with gore websites can inspire others to love for evermore violent content.”

He added, “It’s a vicious cycle, especially for young people. We hope this research guides all stakeholders in taking action to prevent future attacks.”

The ADL examined the cases of Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, 15 — a rare female mass shooter who committed suicide after murdering two people at a Christian private school in Madison, Wisconsin — and Solomon Henderson, 17 — who murdered a female classmate at a public high school in Nashville, Tennessee, before fatally shooting himself. Their journeys towards unconscionable violence, the ADL explained, began in the dark corners of the internet, when each enrolled to become members of a website titled “WatchPeopleDie” (WPD).

“WatchPeopleDie” is one of hundreds of shock websites which traumatize audiences with images and videos of beheadings, sexual violence, and other appalling acts of antisemitism, sexism, and self-degradation. Such websites can also function as recruiting grounds for white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

Rupnow and Henderson proved vulnerable to the content’s assault on the psyche. Within 19 months, each teenager “posted, reposted, endorsed, replied to, or otherwise engaged with extremist content,” the ADL said, including that which referenced “mass killers” and “764,” an online network of miscreants who extol “obscene” depravities.

“The interconnected network of accounts that post extremist content on WPD included Rupnow and Henderson, who both followed and were followed by other explicitly white supremacist accounts,” the ADL explained. “Because both teens would commit their shootings roughly 19 months after joining the site, this shows that online engagement with extremist ideologies and depictions of heinous acts of violence can lead to on the ground attacks. Furthermore, this network acts as an echo chamber that normalizes violence, gore, and white supremacy.”

The ADL said that the teenagers’ stories and the atrocities they committed showcase the dangers of failing to supervise the online activity of the youth, at home and at school, and it is launching a campaign to brief 16,000 superintendents on its findings and mobilize law enforcement, parents, and teachers around a course of action for thwarting online predators.

“Extremism, hate, and violent gore are just a click away for many children, making it urgent for schools and parents to implement safeguard,” said Oren Segal, senior vice president of counter extremism and intelligence at ADL. “These toxic online spaces can cause devastating harm in our communities and are increasingly becoming central to the broader violent extremist landscape.”

The ADL is spearheading multiple efforts to combat antisemitism.

Earlier this month, it launched the Jewish Policy Index (JPI), a “first interactive tool of its kind” for evaluating the efficacy of policies that US states have adopted to combat antisemitism.

According to the ADL, JPI has already identified positive and negative trends. Nine states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New York, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia — have all passed legislation to address a surge of antisemitic discrimination and violence across the country, earning a JPI designation as “Leading States.” But, the ADL noted, 41 other states failed to merit the distinction.

The distribution of the first JPI ratings forms a bell curve, with most states, 29, clustered in the middle, having been classified as “Progressing States” which have adopted “some key pieces of the policy agenda” the ADL recommends. Twelve received the poorest mark, “Limited Action States,” for showing “little systematic effort to address antisemitism through policy.”

The ADL and its partners say the JPI can facilitate democratic action which “empowers residents” to challenge their states to fight antisemitism with vigor.

“Jewish communities know that if we are to flourish through difficult times, we must mobilize to fight antisemitism,” Eric Fingerhut, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federations of North America, said in a statement commending the initiative. “The most important responsibility of government is keeping its citizens safe. The Jewish Policy Index is an important tool to help inform and advance how state governments respond to antisemitism and protect their Jewish communities.”

The advent of JPI came on the heels of harrowing new FBI statistics which reveal the extent to which violent antisemitism has become a pervasive occurrence in American life.

While hate crimes against other demographic groups declined overall last year, those perpetrated against Jews increased by 5.8 percent in 2024 to 1,938, the largest total recorded in over 30 years of the FBI’s counting them. Jewish American groups noted that this surge, which included 178 assaults, is being experienced by a demographic group which constitutes just 2 percent of the US population.

Additionally, a striking 69 percent of all religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the FBI in 2024 targeted Jews, with 2,041 out of 2,942 total such incidents being antisemitic in nature. Muslims, the second most targeted religious group, were victims in 256 offenses, or about 9 percent of the total.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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