News Digest — 7/11/25
Netanyahu: ‘I Hope 10 Living Hostages Will Be Released In A Few Days’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed Washington for Israel Thursday evening (10th) aboard the “Wing of Zion” plane, concluding a four-day visit during which he met twice at the White House with President Donald Trump.
The Prime Minister’s Office stated, “All the goals Netanyahu sought to achieve during the visit were accomplished.”
Meanwhile Netanyahu gave an interview to Newsmax in which he expressed cautious optimism regarding the potential release of an additional ten living Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
In the interview, the Prime Minister detailed ongoing negotiations for a temporary ceasefire agreement, aiming to secure the freedom of those abducted on October 7, 2023.
Netanyahu described the ordeal of the 252 initial hostages as “hell,” unequivocally labeling Hamas as “monsters” due to their treatment of captives. “Well they’re monsters, I mean what they do to the hostages and the stories we get are horrible,” Netanyahu stated. “So it’s not easy for us when we’re negotiating.”
The prime minister reiterated Israel’s unwavering commitment to bringing all remaining hostages home.
“We have 50 left, 20 definitely alive, and some 30 that are not alive, and I want to take them all out,” he told Newsmax. “We now have a deal that supposedly we’ll get half of the living and half of the dead out, and so, we’ll have 10 living left, and about 12 deceased hostages. But I’ll get them out, too, I hope we can complete it in a few days.”
The proposed deal reportedly includes a 60-day ceasefire, during which the initial group of hostages would be released, followed by further negotiations to end the conflict. Netanyahu asserted that the conflict could cease immediately “if Hamas lays down its arms.”
Beyond the plight of the hostages, Netanyahu highlighted the oppressive nature of Hamas’ rule over Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, noting the terrorist group’s use of its own civilians as human shields.
“It is a fighting force and a governing force in Gaza that oppresses its people, targets our people, our civilians, and uses their civilians as human shields. And then they complain that the civilian losses are because of us,” he told Newsmax. “No, we say to the civilians, ‘leave, leave the war zone’… and Hamas says, ‘you can’t go. You try to leave the war zone, we’ll shoot you.’ And they shoot them because they want the pictures of dead civilians that they are causing, put on Israel’s head. And that’s what you get in Tik Tok and social media: ‘Israel is deliberately killing civilians,’ no, we’re not. Hamas is deliberately killing its own people, preventing them from escaping the war zone. So they’re monsters.”
At the same time, the Prime Minister noted an unprecedented development: a growing defiance among Palestinian Arabs against Hamas.
“There are Palestinians fighting Hamas because we weaken them to this point,” Netanyahu told Newsmax. “We are seeing something that has never happened before. Palestinians in Gaza are fighting Hamas. Palestinians in Gaza are defying Hamas. Palestinians in Gaza are saying, ‘We don’t want them. We don;t want to be tyrannized and subjugated by these monsters.’”
Netanyahu concluded with a resolute message: “Gazans never acted against Hamas before, and we think we can bring the hostage deal to completion. I wouldn’t say we have a war goal that is unachievable. We’re going to defeat these monsters and get our hostages back.”
22-Year-Old Shalev Zevuloni Murdered By Palestinian Policemen In Gush Etzion
It has been cleared for publication that the victim of the terror attack at the Gush Etzion Junction Rami Levi shopping complex on Thursday (10th) was Shalev Zevuloni, aged 22, from Kiryat Arba.
Two terrorists assaulted him, stabbed him several times, and shot the victim apparently with his own handgun, which they stole from him. The two terrorists were eliminated at the scene by an armed civilian and a soldier.
Zevuloni was laid to rest on Thursday evening at 10:30 local time in the old Jewish cemetery in Hebron.
The Kiryat Arab Municipality wrote in a statement: “Kiryat Arba-Hebron bows its head and extends condolences to the Zevuloni and Ozel families on the murder of their son Shalev Zevuloni, a resident of Kiryat Arba-Hebron. On behalf of all the residents of the town; we send condolences to the dear family and send our warm embrace at this difficult time.”
The Gush Etzion Regional Council stated: “The council mourns the murder of Shalev Zevuloni, who was murdered today in the severe terror attack at the Gush Etzion junction. We extend our condolences to the family and embrace his father Shai, a council employee during this difficult time. The council will continue to assist the family with anything it needs.”
The terrorists were identified as Mahoud Yusif A’abed, 23, from Halhul in Gush Etzion, and Salim Malik, 23, from Bizzariya, near Nablus (Shechem). Both were police officers in the Palestinian Authority police force.
In ‘Direct Message’ To Khamenei, Katz Warns Iran Of Israel’s ‘Destructive Power’
Speaking at the IAF pilots’ graduation ceremony on Thursday (10th), Defense Minister Israel Katz said the graduates symbolize the long arm of the IDF, which can strike anywhere in Iran, from Tehran to Isfahan to Tabriz.
The graduates were also “a direct message to the dictator [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei and to the Ayatollahs in Iran about the destructive power of the air force should Iran test the Jewish state’s patience,” he said.
“There is no place where Iranian officials who harm Israel can hide,” he added.
IAF Commander MG Tomer Bar said: “We bridged the challenge of 1,800 kilometers and transformed Iran from a ‘third circle’ [faraway] country to a ‘first circle’ [nearby] country.”
“The military campaign has not ended,” he said. We are ready to act again anytime it is needed.”
Katz shared a personal note that he grew up near an airforce base. The loud noise of aircraft taking off did not scare him; instead, they deepened his sense of safety, since he knew who was protecting him, he added.
Prior to the airstrike against Iran, Katz said he had met with many pilots and asked them how they felt about the very real scenario in which they could be shot down and killed or captured forever in Iran.
Katz said he was told: “We have no hesitations. We are determined to do everything we can to defend the State of Israel.”
“The IDF’s blockbuster accomplishments in June were akin to its game-changing surprise attacks on the Egyptian and Syrian air forces during the Six Day War,” Katz said.
IDF Chief of Staff LTG Eyal Zamir said the IAF’s preparation and courage were critical to the success of operations against Iran.
“The daring and audacious nature of the mission would not have been possible without the ultra-rigorous training the pilots go through before they get to fly advanced fighter jets,” he said.
IDF: Document Found Under Gaza Hospital Shows Hamas Used Facility For Attacks, Abandoned Fighters
The IDF on Thursday (10th) released what it described as a handwritten document authored by a Hamas operative, allegedly proving that the terrorist group used the European Hospital in Khan Yunis as a base for combat operations and fired on Israeli troops from within the facility.
According to the military, the document was discovered in February by Israeli soldiers beneath the hospital. It outlines an incident in which Hamas company commander Mohammed al-Bakri ordered an underground tunnel sealed shut while Hamas terrorists were engaged in a firefight with Israeli troops outside.
“Let them die outside,” al-Bakri reportedly told those with him, instructing them to tie the tunnel door closed. The operatives attempting to reach the tunnel were subsequently killed.
The document also describes how al-Bakri and his men retreated into the tunnel system beneath the hospital and opened fire on IDF troops from underneath positions.
“This is irrefutable evidence that Hamas uses civilian areas for military purposes,” said Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, in a post on X. “The document proves the cynical use of the hospital, both above and below ground, by Hamas terrorists – as well as their abandonment of their own fighters.”
Israel has long accused Hamas of embedding its military infrastructure within civilian sites in Gaza, including hospitals, schools and residential buildings. Hamas denies the claims, saying Israel uses such accusations to justify strikes on civilian infrastructure.
Most Israelis Value Their Security Over The Opinions Of Spectators – Jonathan S. Tobin
Since the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terrorist attacks on Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, the strategic situation in the Middle East has been substantially altered in favor of the Jewish state. Although Israel has become extremely unpopular around the globe and even lost favor with many Americans as a result of the war with Hamas in Gaza post-Oct.7, most Israelis value their security over the opinions of spectators. Israelis prefer to be live pariahs rather than a fondly remembered people to be memorialized.
The choice facing Israel and the Jewish people is clear: If they refuse to let themselves be slaughtered and their state demolished, then they’re going to be mightily judged by a double standard applied to no other nation or people on the planet. Somehow, Israelis are portrayed as heartless people because they support removing existential threats in the form of genocidal Islamist terrorist movements such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and their Iranian paymasters.
If Israelis are indifferent to international opinion, it’s because they know they’ve taken risks for peace and paid for them not only in bad press clippings, but in oceans of blood. Israelis and Jews understand what it means to be faced not only with fanatics who seek their deaths but the very real possibility that they may succeed. The mass murder, torture, rape, kidnapping and wanton destruction that took place on Oct. 7 was just the trailer for what the Palestinian Arabs intend for the rest of Israel.
Anyone who thinks Israelis should choose policies that put their lives at risk to avoid being falsely accused of genocide knows nothing of Jewish history or the reality of the Middle East. The Jews need a state and the ability to defend themselves far more than the good opinion of the multitudes that didn’t wait until the bodies of the Oct.7 victims were buried to start sympathizing with the murderers. (JNS)
(jns.org)
For Israel, It Pays To Be A Winner – Bret Stephens
• A core misconception about Israel’s policy since Oct.7 is that the country has favored military action at the expense of diplomacy. The truth is that Israel’s decisive battlefield victories have created diplomatic openings that have been out of reach for decades and would have remained so if Israel hadn’t won.
• In Beirut on Monday (7th), Tom Barrack, the U.S. special envoy for Syria, said he was “unbelievably satisfied” by the response he got from President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon on U.S. proposals to disarm Hezbollah, reportedly in exchange for critical financial aid. It’s because Israel destroyed Hezbollah as an effective fighting force last year that it is now possible for the Lebanese state to again possess the most basic form of sovereignty, a monopoly on the use of force within its borders.
• There’s a similar hopeful story in Syria, where the Trump administration lifted sanctions on the government of President Ahmed al-Shaara. Now there are reports of talks between Jerusalem and Damascus aiming at a de facto peace agreement. It’s unlikely that al-Shaara’s insurgents could have come to power if Israel hadn’t first destroyed Hezbollah, depriving Bashar al-Assad’s regime of its most effective military arm. And neither Jerusalem nor Damascus might have been amenable to talks if Israel hadn’t first destroyed many of Syria’s remaining weapon stockpiles in December.
• In Gaza, Hamas’ growing diplomatic flexibility is almost entirely a result of its proximity to total defeat. Many Gazans have turned against Hamas, looting the offices of its security headquarters and increasingly turning to local clans for food and protection.
• With its military success over Iran, crowned, from an Israeli point of view, by America’s participation in the campaign, Israel humiliated its most formidable adversary, (and Hamas’ principal patron), demonstrating not only its capacity but also its courage to take on the mullahs directly and survive their reprisals intact.
• Israel exists to protect Jewish life and uphold Jewish dignity in a world too intent on destroying both. If diplomacy now has a chance of succeeding, it’s because in geopolitics, as in life, it pays to be a winner.
