News Digest — 11/4/25
Netanyahu Won’t Okay Terrorists’ Passage Into Hamas-Controlled Area
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out on Monday (3rd) the safe movement of some 200 Palestinian terrorists from the Yellow Zone in Gaza, under the control of the Israel Defense Forces, to the territory ruled by Hamas, Channel 12 News reported.
This came on the back of an earlier report that Israel green-lit the safe passage under the condition that they lay down their arms.
“The IDF Chief of Staff’s position is that these terrorists should be eliminated. Allowing their passage unarmed – only in exchange for the fallen hostages held in Gaza,”Channel 12 cited anonymous senior IDF officials as saying.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded to the initial report on X, calling the move “complete madness” and appealing to the premier to prevent it.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also reacted to the news, saying that “IDF soldiers managed to capture dozens of terrorists in tunnels in the Rafah area. Our dear soldiers are closing in on them. Their choice is to surrender or die. These are terrorists with blood on their hands.”
“Some of them probably attacked Israel on October 7, 2023; others recently murdered three of our dear sons,” Bennett added, referring to IDF Master Sgt. (res.) Yona Feldbaum, Maj. Yaniv Kula and Staff Sgt. Itay Yavetz, who were all killed in October in the southern Gaza Strip.”
An Israeli security source told Channel 12 News on Monday (3rd) that Israel had agreed to allow their passage to protect the lives of our soldiers and to disarm the terrorists on their own ground. That way we’ll be able to search for additional hostages.”
Also on Monday (3rd), the IDF said that several terrorists were identified crossing the Yellow Line toward Israeli troops in the southern Strip.
The military “from the air and the ground eliminated the militants” to remove the threat they posed to the troops, the military said.
IDF Southern Command forces are deployed in the area in accordance with the ceasefire agreement framework and will continue to act to remove any immediate threat,” the army added.
On Sunday (2nd) Al Jazeera reported that Hamas via mediators had asked Jerusalem to permit the passage of hundreds of terrorists isolated in underground tunnels and other pockets in Gaza that are surrounded by Israeli forces.
According to the ceasefire terms, the IDF withdrew to a designated area that runs north, center and south through the Gaza Strip. Thus, some 53% of the Palestinian territory is in Israel’s control, where many terrorists are believed to still be in hiding.
Terrorists still hold the bodies of eight hostages in the Gaza Strip, and are required to return all captives — both living and deceased – as part of the US-backed ceasefire agreement.
With PM’s Support, MKs Advance Bill On Death Penalty For Terrorists Who Kill Israelis
The Knesset National Security Committee advanced a bill Monday (3rd) to introduce the death penalty for terrorists, after government hostage pointman Gal Hirsch told the panel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports the measure.
The bill could have its first reading in the Knesset plenum as soon as Wednesday (5th), Hebrew media reported.
The controversial legislation stipulates that courts will be able to impose the death penalty on those who have committed a nationalistically motivated murder of a citizen of Israel.
Hirsch, who had initially voiced opposition to the bill during a National Security Committee meeting in September, reversed course on Monday (3rd), saying that both he and Netanyahu were in favor of the bill.
Hirsch said he was revoking his own opposition to the bill – which was due to fear of Hamas harming the living hostages it was holding – since the reason for it is no longer relevant.
Hirsch said on Monday (3rd), “We are in a different situation today,” given that the final 20 living hostages have now been returned to Israel.” Therefore the resistance I expressed in the previous debate has become redundant.”
The bill was introduced by Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech, and has been championed by her party’s leader, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Ben Gvir has previously claimed that the legislation will “bring deterrence” by proving to Hamas that “There is a price tag for what they did” on October 7, 2023, when it led thousands of terrorists into Israel, killing some 1200 people, most of them civilians, and seizing 251 hostages.
Son Har-Melech said on Monday (3rd) that the legislation was also personal for her.
In 2023, the lawmaker’s husband, Shuli Har-Melech, was killed in a terror attack in the West Bank and she was severely wounded. One of her husband’s attackers, Khaled Najiar, was handed seven life sentences but was later released from prison in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and was sent to Gaza, where he continued overseeing operations in Hamas’ West Bank Division.
Najiar was killed in Rafah, in southern Gaza, in 2024.
He was killed, Son Har-Melech said, “When it was already too late.”
“A dead terrorist does not strike again,” she said. “He does not leave prison, he is not released in deals, and does not become a danger to our people again.”
Most Palestinians Still View The Oct. 7 Massacre As A Triumph – Dr. Fiamma Nirenstein
According to a recent survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 53% of Palestinians still believe that the decision to carry out the Oct. 7 massacre was “correct,” including 59% of Palestinians living under the Palestinian Authority. 53% oppose the concept of a two-state solution. These numbers represent a society still enthralled by the myth of “resistance,” not the idea of coexistence.
Shany Mor writes of the intoxication of violence. This was visible on Oct. 7, in videos of young men calling their parents to boast about killing Jews with their own hands, and in the mobs cheering as kidnapped Israeli girls were paraded through Gaza’s streets. Even academics such as Cornell’s Russell Rickford called the massacre “exhilarating.”
THis mindset – rooted in the dream of expanding Dar al-Islam (the land of Islam) – turns every peace proposal into betrayal, and every act of terror into redemption. The much discussed “deradicalization” needed for a peace process is nowhere in sight. The obstacle is the Palestinian culture of hatred.
The writer, a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. (JNS)
(jns.org)
As Hezbollah Rebuilds, Israel Weighs Military Response To Ceasefire Violations
The Security Cabinet held a closed-door meeting Tuesday (4th) to assess possible military responses to Hezbollah’s repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement along the Lebanese border, amid growing concerns over the terrorist group’s renewed activity and the Lebanese army’s inability to disarm it.
The meeting, attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netabyagu, coalition leaders and senior defense officials, focused on Hezbollah’s efforts to rebuild its capabilities, particularly in areas south of the Litani River, in violation of UN Resolution 1701.
IDF officials presented several operational options, including intensified strikes on Hezbollah targets.
These proposals are expected to be submitted for Cabinet approval soon, though their implementation will depend on multiple factors, including diplomatic discussions with the United States and the Lebanese government, as well as broader regional developments.
Since the ceasefire with Hamas came into effect last month, defense officials say Hezbollah has grown bolder, increasing the movement of operatives and commanders near the border. The group is reportedly working to restore damaged infrastructure, rebuild rocket launchers and reestablish weapons production capabilities, including drones.
While Israel has conducted near-daily strikes to prevent Hezbollah’s buildup, military officials acknowledge the trend has not been reversed. The group is believed to still possess tens of thousands of rockets, missiles and drones, along with a large number of armed operatives.
Smuggling routes into Lebanon have been disrupted—by sea, air and land through Syria—following the fall of the Assad regime and the rise of Ahmad al-Sharaa, who is said to oppose both Hezbollah and Iran. However, Iranian funding to Hezbollah has not been fully curtailed, and Israeli defense sources say ceasefire violations have only worsened in recent weeks.
The pace of Hezbollah’s force buildup now surpasses the rate at which the Lebanese Armed Forces are disarming the group. Despite previous commitments from the Beirut government, Israeli officials note that while the Lebanese army launched Operation Southern Shield to counter Hezbollah there is reported cooperation between some of its officers and the group, which is currently focused on internal rivalries rather than launching attacks on Israel.
“If nothing changes, we won’t be able to stand by,” one defense official said, despite the success of U.S.-led ceasefire enforcement mechanisms operating in the area.
The IDF continues to prepare for potential escalation, including refining target intelligence and strengthening air defenses, in anticipation of further developments.
It’s Like 1939: Israeli Jewish Tourist Suffers Brain Bleed After NY Attack-Interview
Israeli educator and lecturer in the IDF, Rami Glickstein, 59, suffered a vicious anti-Semitic attack while in New York last Monday (10/27), resulting in brain bleed and a broken nose.
“I’m not so well,” he told The Jerusalem Post on Monday (3rd). “I can stand up, I can speak, but the doctors are very worried because of the bleeding inside my head. I also have a broken nose. And my head and leg are very painful.”
Glickstein was on his way to a kosher restaurant in Midtown Manhattan a week ago when a man approached and gestured at his kippah, yelling, “what is your religion?”
When Glickstein did not respond the man grabbed his kippah and threw it to the ground. As Glickstein bent down to pick it up, the man punched him in the face, knocking him down.
He was saved by two Orthodox Jewish men, who intervened in the attack. They helped him call the police and an ambulance that took him to Mount Sinai Hospital.
“I don’t know who those two men were, but they were brave. They saw how big this man was, and yet they came to save me. This is the Jewish brotherhood.”
He and his wife are still waiting for their medical insurance to allow them to fly back to Israel as he needs a doctor to accompany him on the plane.
As of now, there has been no arrest, and the investigation remains ongoing by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force. Police are investigating the assault as a hate crime motivated by anti-Semitism.
Glickstein has only good words to say about the police and lawyers who have visited him and helped him during the process. He also met with the FBI, as the attack is being treated as a hate crime.
“I’m not afraid for myself, but I’m worried about my brothers,” he told the Post. “A lot of the Jewish people in New York told me that when they go out, they put a hat on top of their kippah.”
He explained that the attack was very brazen, and therefore, the community is understandably fearful for their safety.
“You have to understand, this guy attacked me in front of a very big and very famous Jewish restaurant. A lot of Orthodox Jews come here. I wasn’t in a dark street in Harlem or somewhere like that. It was in the middle of Manhattan, middle of the city, in the middle of the day.”
It’s only because I’m Jewish. It’s like something out of the past, from 1939.”
“The day after the attack, I said to my wife that I wanted to go back to the restaurant. This will be my victory. My plan was to go and eat something there, so I did it,” he said, and confirmed that the food there was “very good, indeed.”
“I am so proud that I was born in Israel. I’m so proud that I am Orthodox Jewish, that I am a rabbi, that I’m an officer of the Israeli army. And I’m very proud that we have this present, this great present that is the land of Israel, the present that God gave us.”
