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Why Is Now the Right Time to Make a Deal with Hamas?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a ceremony marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of Israel’s wars and victims of attacks, at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery, May 13, 2024. Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool via REUTERS
JNS.org – There has been an enormous, misleading perception concerning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to agree to the latest blackmail, extortion hostage agreement with Hamas.
For those who have criticized the prime minister for waiting until now to sign a deal with Hamas, the fact is that if Netanyahu had agreed to its prior terms, it would have assured that many hostages would remain in Gaza, including Americans. The reason is that it is only recently that Hamas dropped its insistence that Israel agree at the outset of an agreement to a permanent ceasefire, and to leave the Egyptian-Gaza border and the Philadelphi corridor through which the terrorist group has smuggled in weapons.
Netanyahu understood months ago that if Israel gave into Hamas’s terms, it would lose any leverage or pressure it had on the terror. It was only after Israel changed the course of the war in its favor with the decimation of Hezbollah and its leadership; the loss of Syria’s military equipment and assets; the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria; and the success Israel had in knocking out Iran’s missile-defense system that Hamas began to drop its extortionist demands.
Adding to the pressure was then-President-elect Donald Trump’s threat that there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas didn’t return the hostages, and new National Security Advisor Mike Waltz saying Hamas would get a worse deal if it waited for Trump to take office before making a deal.
Even with Israel’s stronger leverage, the terms Israel agreed to were outrageous as the Jewish state is releasing many mass murderers and more than 1,000 terrorists for the return of a third of the hostages.
The fact that some terrorists set to be released have American blood on their hands makes it clear that the United States needs to implement the 20-year-old Koby Mandell Act. Named for a 13-year-old boy with dual citizenship who was stoned to death, along with a teenage friend, by Palestinians, the law requires the US government to investigate and prosecute terrorists who killed Americans overseas. If these terrorists are convicted and imprisoned in the United States, Israel would not be able to release them in prisoner exchanges. It is possible that after all these years, those in government may not be aware of the Mandell Act. A video from about eight years ago of then-Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), now governor of Florida, leading a congressional hearing on the Obama administration’s lack of compliance with the act is on YouTube.
The big question going forward is how can Israel and the United States get back all of the hostages, whether alive or dead, while ensuring Hamas does not remain in power in Gaza.
The only way this can be accomplished is if Washington puts pressure on those Hamas most rely upon to survive—namely, Qatar and Egypt. If the United States told Qatar that it intends to withdraw its military base from the country if all the remaining hostages, including Americans, are not released immediately, there is no doubt they would be released without Hamas’s outrageous terms.
If the United States told Egypt there would be no more US aid unless it opened its border and took in the massive numbers of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza who want to leave, Egypt would open that border.
Civilians must be allowed to leave the Gaza Strip, thus ending Hamas’s ability to hide among the population. Trump’s envoy for the peace talks, Steve Witkoff, floated this idea saying if citizens in Gaza were relocated to Indonesia, it would be a significant help to end Hamas rule in Gaza.
Israel never had an offer from Hamas to release all the hostages at once. Instead, its leaders—as they did in November 2023 when more than 100 hostages came home—have prioritized the return of women, children, the elderly and the infirm. This shows Israel’s high moral principles while negotiating with the evil Hamas regime. With this deal, Israel will hopefully get back alive more than half of the hostages taken on Oct. 7.
The post Why Is Now the Right Time to Make a Deal with Hamas? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
The post Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
TRUMP THREAT
Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
The post Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
The post Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.