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We Need a Ceasefire Based on Reality, Not Fantasy
A supporter of Hamas demonstrates outside the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Photo: Reuters/Piroschka van de Wouw
The prime ministers of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada have issued a joint statement calling on Israel not to enter Rafah, saying the “military operation would be devastating.” Instead, they are pushing for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire.” In doing so, they have joined many other international voices calling for Israel to stop its defensive actions against Hamas, arguing that Israel “must listen to the international community.”
While their statement does eventually call for Hamas to “lay down its arms and release all hostages immediately,” this part only appears in the fifth paragraph, making Israel the focus of opprobrium and criticism.
This statement — and the similar calls for a ceasefire made by so many over the past few weeks — betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation in Israel, and blames Israel for the actions it is taking to defend its people from murder and mass destruction.
This war only came about because Hamas broke the “ceasefire” that existed on October 6, when it launched a genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 that included rape, mutilation, torture, and the murder of 1,200 men, women, and children as well as kidnapping more than 240 people.
Every single death that has occurred since that day in Gaza is directly attributable to Hamas’ actions.
Yet, despite the abundance of evidence, including interviews with Hamas officials, testimonies of survivors, and video of the atrocities taken by the terrorists themselves, much of the world still quite inexplicably fails to understand and accept the true nature of Hamas and its intentions.
The very idea that a genocidal terror organization can sit down with a democratic, free country and negotiate some kind of lasting truce — leading to a peaceful outcome — is so preposterous and ludicrous that it defies common sense.
There is zero-chance that Hamas will listen to Western governments and lay down its arms permanently. And there is zero-chance that Hamas will free all the hostages, unless faced with overwhelming coercion.
Hamas’ very existence is predicated on the condition that Israel and its Jewish residents must be annihilated, as stated clearly in its founding document. Hamas’ fundamentalist and extremist ideology doesn’t allow for long-term compromise, and those who think it does are kidding themselves.
Yet those who call for ceasefires ignore this reality, effectively placing the onus on Israel alone to halt its activities and initiate an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in order to save lives — knowing that Hamas will never do the same.
Israel is implored to “listen” to the international community. Yet that same international community refuses to listen to Hamas itself, which has shown quite unequivocally through its human shield strategy, and genocidal actions against Israel, that it does not care about saving civilian lives.
Israel does indeed want a ceasefire, but one that is based on the reality of the threat it faces, not the fantasy of those whose “virtuous” calls for peace actually invite and encourage more conflict and death — both in Israel and in Gaza.
It is shameful and morally repugnant that Israel is expected to stop defending its citizens and abandon its hostages, allowing Hamas to survive to commit genocidal acts again and again, as it has promised it will do.
The world can be extremely generous with Jewish lives. But Israel cannot.
For Israel, every civilian death is a tragedy, but for Hamas, every civilian death is a strategy. The world cannot be allowed to ignore the fact Hamas has turned Gaza into the largest terror state in history, where so many buildings, schools, and hospitals are terror structures designed to wage war on Israel. What the world refuses to acknowledge is that a structure of terrorism has been embedded into all aspects of Gazan society and infrastructure. And Hamas did this right under the nose of the international community, which continued to pump money into the terror enclave through corrupt United Nations organizations and others.
Israel is on the front-lines of the global battle for peaceful coexistence, human rights, and the sanctity of life. Just as the Nazis and ISIS had to be destroyed, so too must Hamas. The future of Israel — and the free world — depends on it.
Justin Amler is a Policy Analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).
The post We Need a Ceasefire Based on Reality, Not Fantasy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Strikes Houthis in Yemen’s Capital Sanaa: Local Media
Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike on Houthi infrastructure, in Sana’a, Yemen, May 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Israel attacked the Houthi rebels in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Tuesday, Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV and other local media said, and eyewitnesses reported four strikes, after the Israeli military warned people to leave the area around the main airport.
The attack followed Israeli airstrikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Monday in response to a Houthi missile that landed near Israel‘s main air hub.
لقطات جديدة للغارات الجوية الإسرائيلية التي أصابت مطار صنعاء الدولي في اليمن. pic.twitter.com/DlzAqg5xES
— الأحداث العالمية (@NewsNow4USA) May 6, 2025
Tensions have escalated between Israel and Yemen’s Houthis as the Iran-backed terrorist group continues to launch attacks in response to Israel expanding operations in Gaza.
“Not evacuating puts you in danger,” the Israeli military said in its warning. It published a map of the area surrounding Sanaa International Airport.
Israel carried out strikes in the vicinity of Hodeidah on Monday which killed four people and injured 39, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate after a missile launched by Houthis landed near Israel‘s Ben Gurion Airport, which led to European and US airlines canceling flights.
The Houthis, an internationally designated terrorist group, have been firing at Israel and shipping in the Red Sea since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians.
The post Israel Strikes Houthis in Yemen’s Capital Sanaa: Local Media first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Next Round of Iran-US Nuclear Talks Likely to Be in Oman at Weekend
A general view of Muscat, ahead of the awaited negotiations between US and Iran, Muscat, Oman, April 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A fourth round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States is likely to take place over the weekend in the capital of Oman, with Iranian state media pointing to May 11 as a probable date.
Iran‘s Nournews outlet was the first to report the resumption of Iran-US nuclear talks for Sunday, citing an unnamed official.
Cautioning that the timing was not yet finalized, an Iranian source close to the negotiating team told Reuters: “The talks will take place over two days in Muscat, either on Saturday and Sunday or Sunday and Monday.”
Initially scheduled for May 3 in Rome, the fourth round of negotiations was postponed with mediator Oman citing “logistical reasons.”
Top US negotiator Steve Witkoff also said Washington was trying to hold the next round of talks this weekend, according to the news site Axios, a day after Iran‘s foreign ministry reiterated Tehran’s commitment to diplomacy with Washington.
Separately, President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday discussed the progress in talks between Iran and the United States with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the Kremlin said.
Putin said Russia was ready to facilitate dialogue between Iran and the US to reach a fair agreement.
US President Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, has threatened to bomb Iran if no agreement is reached with his administration to resolve the long-standing dispute.
Western countries say Iran‘s nuclear program is geared towards producing weapons, whereas Iran insists it is purely for civilian purposes.
The post Next Round of Iran-US Nuclear Talks Likely to Be in Oman at Weekend first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Druze Near Damascus Resist Demand to Turn in Arms as Tensions Boil
Syrian security forces stand together, following deadly clashes between Sunni fighters against armed Druze residents, at the entrance of Jaramana, Syria, May 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar
Druze residents near Syria’s capital are resisting a demand by the Islamist-led government to hand in their light weapons, saying authorities have yet to address fears of new attacks by Sunni Muslim militants after days of sectarian violence.
Clashes last week pitted Sunni fighters against armed Druze residents of the town of Jaramana southeast of Damascus, later spreading to another district near the capital and then south to the predominantly Druze province of Sweida.
Such violence threatens the new government’s control of Syria, where armed gangs are attacking religious minorities and Israel is stepping up its military intervention under the banner of protecting the Druze community.
Syrian authorities have negotiated deals to allow Druze fighters to protect their own areas as enlisted members of Syria’s security forces, but this week asked that all weapons held by residents of these areas be turned into the state.
“We told them, as soon as there is a state capable of regulating its forces, we’ll have no problem handing in our weapons,” said Makram Obeid, a member of the Jaramana committee that is negotiating with the Syrian government.
Obeid said his committee had told government officials it would be better for them to focus on disarming the gangs now harassing minorities.
“It’s our right to be scared, because we saw what happened in other areas,” he told Reuters, an apparent reference to killings in March of hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority to which former President Bashar al-Assad belongs.
It was the deadliest episode of sectarian violence in years in Syria, where a 14-year war ended last December when rebels toppled Assad, who fled to Russia.
“People want to feel safe. It’s enough to have [more than] 11 years of killing, strikes, and worries,” Obeid said. “And we’re coming to another phase that we thought, with the collapse of the regime, would leave us in a much better place. But until now, we don’t feel reassured.”
Fahad Haydar, a resident of Jaramana, echoed those fears.
“These weapons that are turned against us – that’s what we’re afraid of. If those weapons get handed in, then we’ll hand in ours,” he told Reuters.
SEEKING GUARANTEES
Mowaffaq Abu Shash, a Druze cleric in Jaramana, said the Druze had already compromised enough.
“We take one step, they ask for a second. We take the second step, they ask for a third,” he said. “We ask for a guarantee that what happened on the coast will not happen to us.”
One influential Druze spiritual leader, Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hajri, has called for international intervention to protect his community from Syria’s leaders, whom he has branded “terrorists.”
The Druze, an Arab minority sect who practice a religion originally derived from Islam, live in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and the Golan Heights. Israel has vowed to protect Syria’s Druze militarily if they face threats.
Last week’s violence was ignited by a voice recording purportedly cursing the Prophet Mohammad, which Sunni militants suspect was made by a Druze. More than a dozen people were killed in Jaramana before the violence spread west and south.
It also drew in Israel, which carried out a drone strike on what it said were fighters preparing to attack Druze in the town of Sahnaya, west of Jaramana. A Syrian security source told Reuters one member of the security forces was killed in the strike.
As the clashes reached Sweida province, Israel bombed near the presidential palace in Damascus – the clearest sign yet of its hostility towards Syria’s new leaders.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa once headed a branch of al Qaeda before renouncing ties to the group in 2016.
The post Druze Near Damascus Resist Demand to Turn in Arms as Tensions Boil first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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