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Netanyahu Says Thursday to Be ‘Wrenching Day’ for Israel as Hamas, Islamic Jihad Set to Hand Over Hostage Bodies

Yzhar Lifshitz, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, holds a poster of his father, Oded Lifshitz, 84, who had been held hostage in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, during an interview with Reuters in Karmei Yosef, Israel, Dec. 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Joyce Zhou

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Thursday would be a “difficult” and “wrenching” day for Israel as it receives the bodies of four hostages set to be handed over by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas as part of the ongoing Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal.

“Tomorrow will be a very difficult day for the State of Israel. A wrenching day, a day of grief. We are bringing home four of our beloved hostages, deceased,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Israeli premier’s comments came one day after his office confirmed that “four slain hostages” would be released on Thursday, followed by “six living hostages” on Saturday as part of the Jewish state’s ceasefire with Hamas that has halted the war in Gaza.

“We embrace the families, and the heart of the entire nation is torn. My own heart is torn. So is yours. And all of the world’s heart should be torn, because this demonstrates who we are dealing with, what we are dealing with — with such monsters,” Netanyahu’s statement on Wednesday continued. “We are grieving, we are in pain, but we are also determined to ensure that such a thing never happens again.”

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Iran-backed terrorist group in Gaza allied with Hamas, said on Wednesday that it would release the body of Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz, who was 84 years old, on Thursday. The group said Lifshitz was one of the hostages killed during Israeli strikes on Gaza.

Hamas is set to release the bodies of three other hostages on Thursday, members of the Bibas family. A spokesperson for the terrorist group announced on Tuesday that it would transfer the bodies of the four Israelis, including the two youngest hostages, Kfir and Ariel Bibas.

Also on Tuesday, the families of Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu, and Hisham al-Sayed announced they had been informed by Israeli authorities that their loved ones were slated for release on Saturday.

Al-Sayed and Mengistu had been held in Gaza for over a decade after entering the enclave of their own accord. All the others were abducted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel, murdered 1,200 people, and kidnapped 251 hostages into Gaza.

An additional four hostages would be released next week, according to Netanyahu’s office.

The fate of Kfir and Ariel Bibas — who were nine months and four years old, respectively, at the time of their abduction — and their mother, Shiri, has remained uncertain since the Oct. 7 massacre, during which they were snatched from their home in kibbutz Nir Oz. Shiri’s husband, Yarden Bibas, was released earlier this month as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

In a statement, the Bibas family said it had not received confirmation from Israeli authorities on Hamas’s declaration of their deaths.

“In the past few hours, we have been in turmoil following a Hamas spokesperson’s announcement about the planned return of our Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir this Thursday as part of the hostages’ remains release phase,” the family said in the statement, which was released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. “We want to make it clear that while we are aware of these reports, we have not yet received any official confirmation regarding this matter. Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over. We ask the media and the public to respect our privacy and refrain from contacting us about this matter.”

The Israeli health care system and the National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv are preparing to receive the deceased hostages and conduct examinations to confirm identification and attempt to determine the cause and time of death.

Before then, the Red Cross will take custody of the bodies from Hamas at a designated transfer point and hand them over to the Israeli military.

Hamas has so far only released living hostages, and mental health organizations are reportedly making preparations for the devastating emotional impact that the first hand-over of hostage bodies will have not only on the families but also Israeli society more broadly.

The first phase of the ceasefire, which went into effect on Jan. 19 and is set to last 42 days, calls on Hamas to gradually release 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom are believed to be dead, in exchange for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been serving lengthy sentences for terrorist activity.

About 70 captives remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 35 confirmed dead by the Israeli military.

Negotiations for the next phase of the ceasefire deal are set to begin this week. That phase is supposed to include the release of all the remaining living hostages and a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, although differing views over Gaza’s future, including the role of Hamas in the Palestinian enclave, still need to be addressed.

The post Netanyahu Says Thursday to Be ‘Wrenching Day’ for Israel as Hamas, Islamic Jihad Set to Hand Over Hostage Bodies first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration

(Source: Reuters)

(Source: Reuters)

NYC Dyke March, a public demonstration held by members of the lesbian community in New York City, has banned self-proclaimed “Zionists” from its annual event, citing a desire to stand against the so-called “genocide” occuring in Gaza. 

The group revealed in a statement that their decision to ban Israel supporters from their ranks came after multiple members dropped out of the organization due to differences in “political beliefs and values.” After engaging in discussions with frustrated members, the NYC Dyke March committee agreed to adopt “an explicitly anti-Zionist position.” The organization claims that it will “strengthen our commitment” to fighting against Israel and advocating on behalf of Palestinians. 

Last year, the NYC Dyke March previously came under scrutiny after organizers settled on “genocide” as the theme of its 2024 event. In a statement, decrying “ethnic cleansing, violence, and dehumanization,” the organization compared the ongoing war in Gaza, to the mass slaughters occurring in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan. 

The organization plans on recycling the same theme for this year’s march, titling it “Dykes Against Genocide.” The group released a statement clarifying that Jews are allowed to attend and condemned the Oct. 7 slaughters as a “senseless loss of life.” After an apparent uproar from its members, the organization deleted the post and wrote that the group “unapologetically stands in support of Palestinian liberation.” In addition, the group affirmed that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and any language we put out which is not clearly opposed to a Zionist, imperialist agenda is harmful to us all.”

In the 17 months following the Hamas-led massacre of roughly 1200 people throughout Israel, the NYC Dyke March has produced numerous statements lambasting Israel and declaring “solidarity” with Palestinians amid their so-called “ongoing genocide.” The organization also accused Israel of engaging in supposed “pinkwashing” and “manipulative use of Jewish and queer identities,” with the aim of justifying its war efforts in Gaza. 

Israel offers an expansive set of rights for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transngender (LGBT) community, including recognition of same-sex marriages. Every year in June, Tel Aviv holds one of the largest LGBT Pride celebrations in the world. Meanwhile, members of the LGBT community are routinely imprisoned or murdered in other parts of the Middle East, including the Palestinian territories. 

The NYC Dyke March’s announcement was met with widespread condemnation. 

“You cannot exclude the majority of Jews and call yourself inclusive,” said the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in a post on X/Twitter, adding that the group “essentially equates Zionism with racism” in their announcement. 

The post NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with journalists onboard Air Force One en route to Miami, Florida, U.S., April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura

The Trump administration reportedly plans to terminate $510 million worth of federal contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, according to media reports.

Brown University’s failure to mount a satisfactory response to the campus antisemitism crisis, as well as its embrace of the diversity, equity, and, inclusion (DEI) movement — perceived by many across the political spectrum as an assault on merit-based upward mobility and causing incidents of anti-White and anti-Asian discrimination — prompted the alleged pending action by the federal government, according to the right-leaning outlet The Daily Caller.

The announcement comes as Brown scrambles to cover a $46 million budget shortfall and other universities across the country have faced similar funding cuts.

Brown University officials, however, denied that the university had received any directives from the Trump Administration.

“We have no information to substantiate these rumors,” Brown University provost Francis Doyle issued a statement. “We are closely monitoring notifications related to grants, but have nothing more we can share as of now.”

Meanwhile, Brown’s Jewish community rushed to the university’s defense, issuing a joint statement with the Brown Corporation which said that the campus is “peaceful and supportive campus for its Jewish community.”

The letter, signed by members of the local Hillel International chapter and Chabad on College Hill, continued: “Brown University is a place where Jewish life not only exists but thrives. While there is more work to be done, Brown, through the dedicated efforts of its administration, leadership, and resilient spirit of its Jewish community, continues to uphold the principles of inclusion, tolerance, and intellectual freedom that have been central to its identity since 1764.”

Brown Divest Coalition — an anti-Zionist group which recently saw its campaign for the university to adopt the boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel defeated by the Brown Corporation — weighed in too, denouncing the reported cut as “a means of suppressing all forms of popular dissent to the renewed violence of the US war machine abroad.” US Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) also criticized the move, accusing the administration “of a broader pattern of behavior…that will negatively impact communities across the country and lead to layoffs, restrict research, and more.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Trump administration is following through on its threats to inflict potentially catastrophic financial injuries on colleges and universities deemed as soft on antisemitism or excessively “woke.” The past six weeks has seen the policy imposed on elite universities including Harvard and Columbia, rattling a higher education establishment that has for better and worse operated for decades with little interference from the federal government even as it polarized the public and contributed to a growing sense that elites are contemptuous of Americans who live outside of their cultural enclaves.

In March, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal contracts and grants for Columbia University, a measure that secured the school’s acceding to a slew of demands the administration put forth as preconditions for restoring the money. Later, the Trump administration disclosed its reviewing $9 billion worth of federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard University, jeopardizing a substantial source of the school’s income over its alleged failure to quell antisemitic and pro-Hamas activity on campus following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. Princeton University saw $210 million of its federal grants and funding suspended too, prompting its president, Christopher Eisgruber to say the institution is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”

Additionally,  60 universities are being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights over their handling of campus antisemitism, a project that will serve as an early test of the administration’s ability to perform the essential functions of the agency after downsizing its workforce to increase its efficiency.

One of those universities, Northwestern University, on Monday touted its progress in addressing campus antisemitism, noting that it has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and begun holding “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions which “all students, faculty, and staff” must attend.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Belgium Joins Hungary in Rejecting ICC Warrant Against Netanyahu, Signaling Shift in International Stance

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

Belgium announced it would not enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, should he visit Brussels—marking a significant shift from the government’s previous policies.

In an interview with Belgium’s VRT broadcaster on Thursday, Prime Minister Bart De Wever was asked about Hungary’s decision to not act on the ICC warrant against Netanyahu during the Israeli leader’s visit to Budapest this week.

“To be completely honest, I don’t think we would either,” De Wever said during the interview.

“There is such a thing as realpolitik, I don’t think any European country would arrest Netanyahu if he were on their territory. France wouldn’t do it, and I don’t think we would, either.”

As Hungary welcomed Netanyahu to Budapest with full military honors on Thursday, ignoring the ICC arrest warrant against him, the country also announced its decision to withdraw from the international court.

After their meeting, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he believes the ICC is “no longer an impartial court, not a court of law, but a political court.”

“I am convinced that this otherwise important international judicial forum has been degraded into a political tool, with which we cannot and do not want to engage,” Orban said during a press conference.

In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and now-deceased Hamas terror leader Ibrahim al-Masri (better known as Mohammed Deif) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war.

The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians — charges vehemently denied by Israel, which until a recently imposed blockade had provided significant humanitarian aid into the enclave throughout the war.

Israel also says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, despite Hamas’s widely acknowledged military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.

Belgium’s center-right government, led by De Wever’s National Flemish Alliance party, took power this year after defeating a left-wing coalition led by the Socialist Party, known for its anti-Israel stance.

Under the previous government, Belgium joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Since December 2023, South Africa has been pursuing its case at the ICJ accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

Last year, Belgium’s former Deputy Prime Minister, Petra De Sutter, said, “War crimes and crimes against humanity cannot go unpunished,” referring to the ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu.

“Europe must comply. Impose economic sanctions, suspend the Association Agreement with Israel and uphold these arrest warrants,” De Sutter wrote in a post on X.

In line with this position, former Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in November that Belgium would “assume its responsibility” towards the ICC, emphasizing that “there can be no double standards.”

After the ICC’s decision to issue the warrants, several countries, including Hungary, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, France, and Italy, have said they would not arrest Netanyahu if he visited.

Germany seems to have a conflicting stance on this matter. During a press conference, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he could not imagine the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu being executed during a potential visit to Berlin.

However, Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, criticized Hungary’s refusal to enforce the arrest warrant against the Israeli leader this week.

“This is a setback for international criminal law,” Baerbock said during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

“In Europe, no one is above the law. And this applies to all areas of law,” she said.

The post Belgium Joins Hungary in Rejecting ICC Warrant Against Netanyahu, Signaling Shift in International Stance first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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