News Digest — 8/6/25
Security Cabinet To Discuss Potential Full Gaza Takeover
The Israeli Security Cabinet is scheduled to convene on Thursday (7th) to discuss a potential full military takeover of the Gaza Strip, including areas where hostages are believed to be held.
The decision to hold the meeting was made following a high-level discussion on Tuesday (5th), led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the participation of Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Eyal Zamir, and other top defense officials.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a closed security consultation that lasted about three hours, during which the Chief of Staff presented various options for continuing the military campaign in Gaza,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Netanyahu stated: “We need to change the approach taken so far, only then will we be able to free the hostages.” Zamir, following the decision to pursue a full occupation of Gaza, warned that it could become a strategic trap.
“This proposal endangers the hostages, but the IDF is preparing to implement the decision immediately once it is made,” Zamir added.
Ahead of the meeting, during a visit to Gaza, Katz emphasized that the main objectives of the war are to defeat Hamas and create the conditions necessary for the return of the hostages. “Once the political echelon makes the necessary decisions, the military will execute them professionally, just as it has in all arenas of the war thus far. As the Defense Minister responsible for the IDF, it is my duty to ensure this happens, and I will,” Katz said.
Regarding the ongoing hostage negotiations, a source familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post that “there are internal disagreements within Hamas over the current proposal on the table. Which involves the release of 10 hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire.”
In recent days, most senior Hamas officials have left Qatar for Turkey and have reduced their contact with Qatari mediators. A diplomatic source told the Post that “the door has never been closed to a potential deal, but at the moment, such a deal does not seem realistic.”
Hamas responded to the reports about the intent to conquer Gaza, saying, “Israel’s threats are repetitive, worthless, and have no influence on our decisions.”
The cabinet meeting follows months of talks in Doha between Hamas, Israel, and mediators to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Don’t Even Talk To Hamas Until All Captives Freed, Says Israeli President
Israeli President Isaac Herzog told the President of Latvia that Hamas must release hostages before there can be peace.
During a diplomatic visit to the Baltic states, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics welcomed President Herzog on Tuesday (5th).
Answering a question about the future of Gaza and Palestinian statehood, Herzog reiterated his long-held support for a peace resolution with the Palestinians, but added that at the present time, peace will remain elusive unless they take certain steps.
“If you ask an average Israeli whether they believe Palestinian statehood is possible, the answer will be no,” Herzog said, citing the October 7 Hamas massacre as a turning point in public opinion.
Calling for global unity, Herzog urged the international community to take a firm stance. “How about presenting a unanimous, tough position… and saying to Hamas and its allies, we’re not talking to you until you release the hostages.”
Herzog emphasized that the return of the hostages remains the key to any progress, “in order to finish the tragedy in Gaza… one has to get the hostages back home”
Displaying photos of captives recently shown in Hamas videos, he described their deteriorating condition, accusing Hamas of deliberately starving them while enjoying adequate provisions themselves.
The president also revealed he had contacted the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, urging greater efforts to deliver food and medicine to the hostages.
Herzog noted that Israel has significantly increased humanitarian aid to Gaza, with 23,000 tons of supplies delivered over the past 10 days, including 30 tons in the last 24 hours and 120 airdrops from international partners.
He said this was occurring even as Israeli captives remained in “a very, very dire situation.”
Herzog repeated a call for global unity, urging the international community to take a firm stance: “How about presenting a unanimous, tough position…and saying to Hamas and its allies: ‘we’re not talking to you until you release the hostages.”
9 In 10 MAGA Voters Back US Military Support For Israel, Poll Finds
President Trump’s voters remain staunchly pro-Israel, with 90% of self-described “MAGA conservatives” backing US military support for the Jewish state as it fends off threats from Iran and Hamas, according to a new poll by the Vandenberg Coalition and TargetPoint.
“Trump voters remain united behind Israel,” the Vandenberg Coalition wrote in its summary of the survey, which found that 90 percent of self-described “MAGA conservatives” – and 83 percent of all Trump voters – agree with the statement “Israel has a right to defend itself against threats and threats from its hostile neighbors, and the United States should continue its strong military support for Israel.”
The poll looked into the opinions of Trump voters, who could describe themselves as “Traditional Conservatives,” “MAGA Conservatives” or “Moderates.”
Only 7 percent of MAGA conservatives disagreed with the pro-Israel statement.
The Vandenberg Coalition-TargetPoint poll comes as the Trump administration cracks down on anti-Semitic protests across the United States, which surged following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist massacre.
The administration has revoked billions of dollars in federal funding from universities that failed to rein in anti-Semitic protests and protect Jewish students.
According to the poll, 78 percent of Trump voters approve of the Trump administration’s policy of revoking visas of foreign students who support Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
Trump voters also view Iran negatively, the poll found, with 82% of respondents seeing the Islamic Republic as a national security threat to the United States and 93 percent saying that stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon is “important” to them.
The United States in June destroyed Iran’s underground nuclear facilities using heavy-duty bunker-buster bombs.
If Iran tries to proceed with uranium enrichment anyway, Trump warned last month,” We’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it.”
Lebanon Authorizes Army To Prepare Plan To Secure Monopoly On Arms Before Year-End
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Tuesday (5th) that the cabinet had authorized the army to prepare a plan to secure a monopoly on arms before the end of the year, as pressure mounts on the Iran-aligned Hezbollah terrorist organization to disarm.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem threatened Israel directly for the first time in months in a televised speech, also on Tuesday (5th), saying missiles would fall on it if it resumed a broad war on Lebanon.
His comments came as Lebanon’s cabinet met to discuss the fate of Hezbollah’s arsenal, after Washington pressured Lebanese officials to commit to disarming the Iran-backed group and amid fears that Israel could intensify strikes if they fail to do so.
Qassem said that, should Israel engage in a “large-scale aggression” against Lebanon, Hezbollah, Lebanon’s army, and Lebanon’s people would defend themselves.
“This defense will lead to missiles falling inside the Israeli entity, and all the security they have built over eight months will collapse within an hour,” he said.
A US-brokered ceasefire in November brought an end to months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. The war killed much of Hezbollah’s leadership – including Qassem’s predecessor Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah – and destroyed much of its arsenal.
Qassem said the war had killed 5,000 Hezbollah fighters and wounded 13,000, the first official toll the group has given. But he said the organization remained in good order, with fighters ready to make “the harshest sacrifices,” if needed.
Minutes after he spoke, dozens of men on motorcycles, carrying Hezbollah yellow flags emerged from its strongholds in Beirut’s southern suburbs for the second day in a row.
“Death To The IDF:” American IDF Soldier’s Family Home In St. Louis Vandalized, Cars Burned.
An American IDF serviceman’s family home in St. Louis, Missouri, was graffitied with “Death to the IDF,” and the family’s vehicles were torched in an anti-Semitic hate crime, the Justice Department chair of the Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, Leo Terrell, said in an X post on Wednesday (6th).
The incident occurred after the serviceman had returned to his family home.
Terrell said he had contacted the family, the FBI, and alerted Attorney General Pam Bondi. The FBI is engaging with the St. Louis law enforcement to investigate the incident.
“I am outraged. Anti-Semitic violence has no place in America, not in St. Louis and not anywhere,” Terrell commented.
“We will pursue every avenue to bring the perpetrator to justice. If you commit anti-Semitic hate crimes you will be caught, and you will be held accountable,” he concluded.
Terrell said he was alerted to the crime by the Israeli Embassy.
Several Jewish organizations issued a joint statement saying that the attack was “a hateful act of intimidation and only the latest example of what happens when anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric are normalized.”
The statement was signed by the American Jewish Committee (AJC)-St. Louis, The Anti-Defamation League (ADL)-Heartland, the Jewish Community Relations Council(JCRC) of St, Louis, the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) St. Louis, and the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum.
Hamas Is Now Deploying Its Most Powerful Weapon – Ignorant Western Public Opinion – Melanie Phillips
In the face of an unprecedented global campaign of lies demonizing Israel as a means to its destruction, there is a duty based in Jewish values, as well as in common decency, to call this out as a great evil.
Israel is certainly not using starvation as a weapon of war. On the contrary, it has allowed into Gaza tens of millions of tons of food since the war began. It has also instituted with the U.S. the only means of delivering food safely to Gazan civilians to stop Hamas from stealing it for its own purposes.
There is no evidence of starvation. Images of skeletal children published by the New York Times and other media were fraudulent. These children weren’t skeletal because they were being starved in Gaza. They were either suffering from dreadful congenital diseases, or the pictures had been taken in Yemen. The giveaway was that adults and other children in the pictures were obviously well-fed. The Times cropped one horrific picture they prominently displayed to exclude just such a normal-looking child.
The relentless bombardment of words and images denoting intolerable suffering in Gaza has been so overwhelming – striking the deepest chords of our humanity, even though the words and images may be false, this manipulative campaign has had its intended effect. Conscience and compassion have been weaponized to service pure evil.
Yes there is hunger and misery in Gaza as a result of the war started by Hamas on Oct.7, 2023. But this has been caused not by Israel but by Hamas. Gaza’s civilians are an enemy population. Yet Israel is aiding them, in accordance with Jewish values of compassion, even to the enemy.
The writer is a columnist for The Times-UK (JNS)
(jns.org)
The West Is Complicit In Hamas’ Torture Of Israeli Hostages – Brendan O’Neill
• We know why Hamas would drag two Jews underground and starve them: because it is an army of anti-Semites founded with the express intention of persecuting Jews. It revels in the psychological torment of what it views as a “lesser people.”
• How do we explain Hamas’ lack of shame over what it inflicted on the two skeletal men seen in videos: Evyatar David, 24 and Rom Bravslavski. 21? What lies behind the pride with which it paraded its crimes before the world media?
• It’s because it feels emboldened. It senses that it enjoys a kind of moral impunity among the opinion-shaping classes of the West. The grim clips of the two emaciated Jews was a boastful display by Hamas of the cultural power it enjoys over many in the West, of its virtual untouchability in a world driven half-mad by hatred for Israel.
• Hamas knows it is treated as a blameless entity by many in the West. It knows the Gaza calamity is widely – and falsely – viewed as an evil of Israel’s making. Hamas’ release of those images of two Jews it abducted and starved for the titillation of the world’s anti-Semites was an assertion of the mad power it enjoys over the Gaza narrative.
• Worse, Hamas senses that its crimes are not only forgiven but rewarded, too. It released the clips after the leaders of the UK, France and Canada said they would recognize the State of Palestine. Hamas has clearly gotten the message that persecuting Jews has benefits.
• That carrying out a pogrom can be fruitful. That killing more Jews in one day than anyone else has since the Nazis has its rewards. To confer statehood on a territory that is still part-ruled by these barbarous militants who take pleasure in the persecution and murder of Jews is a grotesque betrayal not only of Israel but of basic decency.
• It feels like Hamas is holding not just 50 Israelis hostage but the West itself. Its atrocities are overlooked, even forgiven, in the maniacal rush to damn Israel as the world’s wickedest state. Now we know: our cultural elites didn’t only take the wrong side in this war started by Hamas – they emboldened that side, too.
