Friday, March 7, 2025

Hostage Deal Talks Have Reached a Deadlock: This Is What Could Happen

by Itamar Eichner ~ Ynetnews

Thursday, 6 March 2025 | Four days after the first phase of the hostage deal ended, negotiations for its continuation have reached a deadlock. Mediators informed Israel that Hamas is refusing to show flexibility or discuss the framework proposed by US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff. Instead, Hamas insists on proceeding with the second phase of the deal and accuses Israel of violating the agreement.

Despite Hamas’ refusal, Israeli officials remain hopeful that the terror group will soften its stance at the last moment, knowing that Israel is moving closer to resuming military operations. Jerusalem believes that as Hamas recognizes Israel’s full coordination with Washington and the strong backing of the US president, it will opt for compromise.

While Israeli officials estimate that military operations may not resume immediately, they do not rule out the possibility of renewed fighting as early as next week. In the meantime, newly appointed IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir begins his tenure Wednesday, and the political leadership aims to give him a few days to settle into his role.

Israel also does not expect a breakthrough before Witkoff visits the region. As of now, no date has been set for his trip, and it appears that, if he does come, it will not be before next week. A senior Israeli security official said Witkoff is in no rush to arrive due to the lack of progress in negotiations.

Over the weekend, Israel’s political leadership decided to halt humanitarian aid to Gaza in response to Hamas’s refusal to engage in further talks and the expiration of the ceasefire. Israel is now preparing to escalate pressure on Hamas, including cutting off water and electricity to the Strip. Under Witkoff’s proposal, half of the remaining hostages — both living and dead — would be released on the first day of the agreement. The second half would be freed at the deal’s conclusion, contingent on an agreement for a permanent ceasefire.

Foreign Minister: Hamas Must Commit to Hostage Release

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar declined to comment on whether Israel had set a deadline for Hamas to comply, after which military operations would immediately resume. “If we decide to act, we will,” he said regarding a potential return to fighting. “We are ready to proceed with the second phase, but we demand a commitment to the release of the hostages.”

Referring to the decision to halt humanitarian aid, Sa’ar stated: “We cannot allow aid to be used to sustain Hamas’s war against Israel.”

In a briefing with foreign media, he emphasized that Israel had fully implemented its commitments in the previous hostage deal. “Israel accepted US envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal to extend the agreement, but Hamas refused. That is why Israel has halted the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Any aid that reaches Hamas is not humanitarian — it has become the terror group’s main source of revenue. Hamas exploits it to fund terrorism, rebuild its capabilities, and recruit more terrorist operatives.”

Proposed Interim Solution for Ramadan

A senior Israeli official revealed that Israel had proposed a temporary “bridging solution” in Cairo, which would include the release some hostages in exchange for a short-term arrangement during the current week. However, after Hamas rejected the proposal, Israel decided to shut down border crossings. The official dismissed the term “humanitarian aid,” instead describing the halted shipments as “logistical supplies,” despite Israel’s previous decisions — led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — to allow food, electricity, and fuel into Gaza.

“I would like to see hostages released and allow the entry of goods suitable for Ramadan celebrations,” the official said. “If Hamas releases hostages, we will certainly consider allowing in supplies needed for the holiday and for Iftar meals [to break Ramadan fast each evening]. But first, we must take care of our own people. We need to bring back both the living and the dead.”

The temporary arrangement, according to the official, was meant to create a buffer period between the completion of the first phase and negotiations for the next step. Israel sees this next phase as discussions over Witkoff’s framework, rather than a continuation of the original second phase of the hostage deal. “We wanted a window of time between negotiating Witkoff’s plan and the first phase of the deal,” the official explained. “We don’t view it as moving on to ‘Phase II,’ but rather transitioning to a new stage.”

According to Israeli officials, Witkoff’s framework would require several weeks of negotiations to address key issues. In the meantime, Israel insists that hostage releases must take place as a condition for continuing talks. Officials argue that Hamas’s refusal to release hostages before further negotiations is what could ultimately derail the entire process.

“Israel’s policy is clear — there is no such thing as a ceasefire without the release of hostages,” the official stressed. “For us, negotiations must take place either under fire or within an agreed framework. Hamas simply refused to continue talks in a mutually acceptable manner, which is why the government decided on Saturday night” to halt humanitarian aid transfers.

Source: (This article was originally published by Ynetnews on March 5, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit/wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia

Prayer Focus
Continue to pray for those hostages still being held in the tunnels of Gaza, crying out “How long, O Lord, how long?” Pray for Israel’s leaders and those who have been on the negotiating team, asking the Lord to give them wisdom. Pray for the release of all the hostages, both alive and dead, without compromising Israel’s security needs.

Scripture

Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head.

- Psalm 83:1–2

With Trump’s Backing, Hamas’s Defeat Is Now Possible

by Jonathan S. Tobin ~ JNS

Wednesday, 5 March 2025 | For the last year and a half, it has been a self-fulfilling prophecy. Those who have claimed that Hamas couldn’t be defeated were right—but only because the rules of engagement of the war that the terrorists launched on October 7, 2023, were set up to ensure that it survived. Those rules may now be about to change. Or at least they will if the Jewish state takes advantage of two factors that could alter the balance of power between it and the genocidal terrorists it seeks to destroy.

The change in power in Washington and the shocking exploitation of the ceasefire deal on the part of Hamas that so outraged the Israeli public has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an opportunity to reset that agreement in a way that could either free all the hostages or lead to Hamas’s demise. The question is: Does he have sufficient support from his own people to do it?

That’s the context for the announcement this past weekend that Israel was halting the entry of humanitarian goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip until Hamas agrees to the framework for a second-phase deal along the lines proposed by the Trump administration. The goal is to set up a negotiation that would achieve at least one of Israel’s two main war goals: freeing all of the remaining hostages taken by the Palestinians on October 7 and eradicating Hamas.

The problem with those goals is that they are mutually exclusive.

Will Hamas Be Allowed to Win?

The only way to get all the hostages back is by assenting to an accord that will mean full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. In spite of the various plans being floated for what will happen in the Strip after fighting truly ends, that means Hamas will emerge from the war not only alive but still in control of its ruined fiefdom.

At the same time, the only way to completely defeat Hamas—something difficult but not impossible—involves a decision on the part of Jerusalem that its war effort cannot be held hostage along with the Israelis still held by the terrorists.

This is glaringly obvious, though not being acknowledged by Netanyahu or the Trump administration. Yet the aid cutoff is a sign that Israel’s government is finally starting to act as if it is not committed to fighting Hamas with one hand tied behind its back.

An Incomplete Victory

The Israel Defense Forces destroyed Hamas’s organized military formations, killed much of its leadership and demolished a sizeable portion of its infrastructure—both above ground and in the hundreds of miles of tunnels it had built in the coastal enclave. But when a ceasefire/hostage release deal halted the fighting in January, it was also clear that the Islamist group that had ruled Gaza as an independent Palestinian state in all but name since 2007 was far from eradicated.

The constant admonitions of the Biden administration demanding that Israel avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, even if it meant letting the terrorists escape, was one part of the problem. Those warnings couldn’t be entirely ignored because they were backed up by threats of halting the supply of vital arms shipments, as well as the slow-walking of deliveries of those shipments that were allowed to be sent to Israel.

The other was that even while it was fighting the Islamist group, in addition to its allies and collaborators, Israel was forced to do something unprecedented in the history of warfare: aiding the civilian population under the control of its enemies. Moreover, it did so while knowing that much of the food, fuel and other supplies being shipped into Gaza daily were winding up in the hands of the very same group that started the war with unspeakable atrocities on October 7.

Despite being falsely accused of war crimes and even committing “genocide” in Gaza, the IDF conducted urban combat in a situation in which its foes deliberately tried to get its own people killed. They did this by fighting around and even underneath them in tunnels and bunkers under hospitals, schools, mosques and civilian homes. Even when taking into account that the casualty statistics supplied by Hamas were wild exaggerations, roughly half the number of those killed in Gaza included Hamas and combatants of other terrorist groups. More than that, when realizing that approximately 80% of fatalities were Hamas members or their families, it’s clear that the charges against the IDF were utter falsehoods.

A Dangerous Ceasefire

Nevertheless, the ability of Hamas to maintain its much-diminished numbers is the result of pressure exerted on Israel by a Biden administration that was primarily interested in ending the war at any cost, even if it meant that the terrorists emerged triumphant.

Just as important, the terms of the ceasefire/hostage deal that President Joe Biden’s foreign-policy team crafted with their duplicitous Qatari partners seemed to lead to that same outcome. And though President Donald Trump was opposed to Hamas’s continued existence and threatened to unleash “all Hell” on the region if all the hostages weren’t released by his inauguration on January 20, his desire to have the shooting stop in time for his swearing-in led his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to accept those same terms as he pushed the deal over the goal line in the days before Trump 2.0 took power.

That agreement did lead to the release of 30 hostages. But even as Israelis and every decent person celebrated their return home, their condition and the humiliating ceremonies that Hamas staged for their release, including a celebration when the bodies of the Bibas children were handed over, has also transformed the situation.

Netanyahu is under enormous domestic pressure to try to ransom the remaining living hostages, which may number no more than two dozen. He has also been empowered by the outrage against Hamas to not accept the same terms for a second phase of the ceasefire that would simply drag out the same process. That would further empower the terrorists and encourage them to believe they can continue to hang on amid the ruins of a war they started.

The Trump Factor

The aid stoppage represents a fundamental change in the way Israel is treating an enemy that makes no secret of its desire to destroy the Jewish state and commit the genocide of its population. It puts Hamas on notice that the gloves may soon be coming off in the war unless it stops playing for time.

That has only been made possible by Trump’s victory last November.

Europe and much of the world still act as if Israel is the only country in the world not allowed to fight to win a war forced on it. But unlike Biden, Trump isn’t worried about international opinion about Gaza. Nor is he constrained to avoid whole-hearted support of the war on Hamas by a faction of his party as Biden was by the left-wing base of the Democrats, where hostility to Israel has gone mainstream. Trump wants the hostages freed, but he’s also floated a plan for not just ousting the terrorists but resettling Gazans elsewhere and turning the Strip into a resort. If Israel chooses to resume the war—the only way to make that or any other postwar plan that is predicated on a non-Hamas government there—he won’t protest or continue advocating for the fantasy of a Palestinian state as Biden did. Indeed, it’s likely that Trump will be cheering on an Israeli offensive.

The next days and weeks will be something of a game of chicken as Hamas and Israel go right up to the brink of war, with both sides daring each other to take responsibility for blowing up the ceasefire talks. The question of which of them has more to lose from such an outcome is open for debate. Netanyahu can’t let Hamas survive, but he also can’t be seen as writing off the lives of any remaining living hostages. Hamas wants to hold onto the hostages because so long as they do, they think they are safe. But they also know an Israel unfettered by American pressure could mean their doom.

Netanyahu now has far more weapons to pressure Hamas than he did before January. By having a partner in Washington who doesn’t believe that Hamas is an “idea” that can’t be defeated but a terror group that can and should be eradicated, he can finally start waging war on it in a way to accomplish that goal.

Such a decision will bring down more opprobrium on Israel than before. And it will likely further fuel the surge of antisemitism spreading across the globe from those who believe that one Jewish state on the planet is one too many. But if anything is certain, it’s that Hamas won’t give up the remaining hostages unless it retains its power and arms. And that is something neither Israel nor the Trump administration should accept.

It remains to be seen if Netanyahu can resist the pressure on him to throw away the sacrifices made by Israel’s soldiers to secure the lives of the hostages. If he does, the primary reason won’t be an American ally that doesn’t think an evil terrorist organization should be allowed to get away with mass murder.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate).  Follow him: @jonathans_tobin

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on March 4, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Ali Hassan/Flash90/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Give thanks for the change of attitude toward Israel in the new US administration while at the same time acknowledging that President Trump is not her savior. Pray for Prime Minister Netanyahu and the security cabinet, asking that they will seek wisdom from God alone and will not put their trust in the United States. Remind Israel’s leaders that only God is sovereign and is faithful to carry out His Word and keep the covenant He made with Abraham and his descendants.

Scripture

For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special treasure. For I know that the LORD is great, and our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries.

- Psalm 135:4–7

Wartime Baby Boom: Birth Rates Surge despite War

by Or Hadar ~ Ynetnews

Wednesday, 5 March 2025 | In the early days of the war that erupted in October 2023, Hadar Raphael, 34, from Ramat Gan, was called up for reserve duty under an emergency mobilization order. His wife, Shir Noy Feiner, 34, was left at home with their two children — Sol, 5, and Ofek, then just three months old.

“It was a difficult time for the country and for us at home,” Feiner recalled Monday. “I found myself on maternity leave with two small children while my husband was away in the reserves.”

Despite the challenges, the couple welcomed their third child, a daughter named Libi, two months ago.

“I grew up with deep Zionist values and love for this country,” Feiner said. “My grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and my late father was an air force navigator who served in all of Israel’s wars. Even when I was recovering from childbirth at Sheba Medical Center, and later at home, we found ourselves running with three little ones to the safe room during air raid sirens.”

Bringing children into the world during a war, she added, was not easy, but she and her husband remained hopeful. “We believe Israel will get through this, and our children will know a life without war. That is our strength as a people — we have endured wars, loss and sorrow, yet we continue to build families.”

War-time Birth Rates Surge

The Feiners are not alone. A report by the Knesset Research and Information Center, obtained by Ynet, reveals a significant increase in births between August and October 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. In September 2024, for example, 15,968 births were recorded — about 7% more than the 14,878 births reported in September the previous year.

According to the report, more than 80% of women in Israel give birth between weeks 37 and 40 of pregnancy, indicating that most of the women who gave birth during those months likely conceived in the first few months following the outbreak of war, between November 2023 and January 2024.

The report was compiled at the request of Knesset Member Pnina Tamano-Shata (National Unity Party), chair of the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality. It includes data only on Israeli women and does not account for births among foreign nationals or Palestinian women who gave birth in Israel.

The rise in births is particularly striking against the backdrop of a declining birth rate in Israel from 2021 to 2023. According to the Population and Immigration Authority, 172,500 births were recorded in 2023, while in 2024, the number jumped to approximately 181,000.

The trend has continued beyond the Knesset study period. Data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics shows an increase in births from November 2024 through February 2025. Hospitals across the country have reported overflowing maternity wards, with some likening the trend to the “baby boom” seen in the United States after World War II.

“Despite the unimaginable hardship of the past year, we see how the people of Israel choose to grow from grief,” Tamano-Shata said. “The rise in births is proof of our inner strength and our ability to create new life even in the most difficult times.”

Families Choosing Life over Uncertainty

For some, the decision to have children during wartime was not in spite of the conflict — but because of it.

Moran Bouzaglo, 40, a Pilates instructor from Tel Aviv, and her husband, Shimi, 35, welcomed their first child four months ago. She became pregnant several months after the war began, and she said the decision was a deliberate one.

“It gave us some light and sanity in a dark time,” she explained. “At the same time, there were fears. I kept asking myself: What will happen when he reaches the age of military service? It was terrifying, but we decided to go for it anyway. After October 7 took so many lives from us, bringing a life into the world felt like the right thing to do.”

The night Bouzaglo gave birth, maternity wards were unusually crowded. “At Lis Maternity Hospital alone, there were more than 50 births that night, and they had to open an additional ward,” she said.

Even in moments of joy, reality intruded. “Just minutes after I gave birth, a siren went off. Luckily, the hospital was fortified. But yes, this is what it means to have a baby during wartime — running to shelters with a newborn.”

A family Grows despite War

For Rotem, 30, and Hanan Sasson, 32, from Rehovot, the war interrupted their family life almost immediately. Their firstborn son, Itamar, was just six weeks old when the war broke out, and Hanan was called up to reserve duty that same day. The couple did not see each other for two months.

“We could only communicate through letters,” Rotem said. “I sent him pictures so he could see how our son was growing. We had no direct contact at all.”

Hanan has since completed more than 300 days of reserve duty, first in Gaza and later on the northern front with Lebanon.

In April 2024, while Hanan was home on a month-long break, Rotem discovered she was pregnant again. “I told him I wanted another child,” she said. “Strangely enough, during the war, we felt an even stronger urge to expand our family.”

Rotem learned she was pregnant while Hanan was deployed in Gaza. “I waited two weeks until he was home to tell him,” she recalled. She had hoped the pregnancy might keep him from returning to the battlefield, but for Hanan, it became another reason to fight.

“He felt he was fighting for our children’s future, so they wouldn’t have to fight when they grow up,” she said. When they learned they were expecting another son, Hanan told her, “We need more soldiers.”

Their second son, Roee, was born in January 2025 at Shamir Medical Center. “Throughout his reserve duty, I kept praying he would make it home for the birth,” Rotem said. “Thankfully, he did.”

Source: (This article was originally published by Ynetnews on March 4, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.

Photo Credit: pixabay.com

Prayer Focus
Rejoice with those who are bringing new lives into a world of uncertainty, because they call upon a covenant-keeping God. Pray for all the young families who are affected by the war in Gaza, asking the Lord to sustain them and give them hope.

Scripture

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

- Deuteronomy 30:19

A Look at the IDF Counter Terror Offensive in Jenin

by Col. (res) Dr. Ronen Itsik ~ Ynetnews

Monday, 3 March 2025 | This week, tanks entered the city of Jenin again, after 22 years, and in fact since the Second Intifada (2000), with an emphasis on Operation “Defensive Shield”. This action, which indicates an escalation in the operation taking place in Judea and Samaria over the past three years, since the beginning of Operation “Wave Breaker” (2022), may in fact indicate from perspective the effectiveness of the State of Israel’s security doctrine in Judea and Samaria, with an emphasis on the interfaces with the Palestinian Authority [PA].

The maneuvering operations in Jenin in the last generation began even before Operation Defensive Shield, a series of operations called “Blunt Knife” began at the end of 2021, and their goal was to damage the terror infrastructure emanating from the city, with an emphasis on its refugee camp. Later on, the fighting in the city intensified and became one of the most famous of the Second Intifada, with an emphasis on the city as a perpetrator of attacks in the Afula and Haifa areas.

It should be remembered that the Jenin area was evacuated from IDF troops as early as 2005, with the disengagement that included the settlements of northern Samaria, Homesh, Ganim and Kadim, in addition to what took place in the Gaza Strip, but with a significant difference—Jenin was supposed to have full control of the PA, both civil and security.

In contrast to what happened in the Gaza Strip after the 2005 disengagement, it was actually more convenient for the PA to have security control in Jenin than in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas was under control, and with an emphasis on the violent coup that took place against PA members there in 2007—in fact, there is no reason in the world that the Palestinian Authority should not succeed in fulfilling its responsibility in the Jenin area given the territorial contiguity towards Nablus vis-à-vis Ramallah.

But what has been happening in Jenin over the past decade points to a clear fact—the PA has been completely weakened in the fight against the terrorist elements in Jenin, which has re-empowered the city and its environs as a terrorist “generator” that requires particularly powerful action, once again, against the terror that has emerged from this area, and which illustrates, like Gaza, that every area that the IDF evacuates becomes a dangerous center of terrorism.

From this perspective, it can be clearly stated that the PA is not a reliable address when it comes to fighting jihadist (“struggle,” war with unbelievers) Islamist terrorism, which proves that the vision of a “two states solution” is a mirage, at the very least. This can also be attributed to the fact that the Hamas movement has become very strong in Judea and Samaria, and certainly in light of the growing support from the Palestinian public for the events of October 7, 2023. This indicates that Fatah [Palestinian nationalist and social democratic political party] has lost its grip and that the area has become particularly radical, and therefore it is necessary to ask: Where are we headed in the context of the security doctrine in Judea and Samaria?

It is absolutely clear that a fundamental change is required to the security concept in the Judea and Samaria area, but the choice will remain between military control by IDF and continued civilian control by the PA, and at the very least, including the context of repeated operations in Area A, including the possibility of full occupation and military rule, or in other words, Jenin as a metaphor for Gaza. Matter-of-factly, this is the collapse of the Oslo Accords, with all that it entails, and the possible consequences are the collapse of the PA as a whole, with an emphasis on the fact that the Judea and Samaria region is already talking about the post-Abbas era, and the lack of a clear forecast of what might happen.

One way or another, the situation today is not similar to the situation in the early 2000s—the number of Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria has doubled, and the disintegration of the existing arrangements poses a clear security threat to the Jewish settlements in the area, and to the substantial impact on the entire fabric of life even west and north of the Green Line. Hence, it is absolutely clear that the logic of “Defensive Shield”, including the separation barrier that was erected at the time, must take a real turn, and that what was can no longer be.

Col. (res.) Dr. Ronen Itsik is a senior researcher at the Israel Defense and Security Forum – IDSF and the author of “The Man in the Tank.”

Source: (This article was originally published by Ynetnews on March 1, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia

Prayer Focus
Pray for the military and security strategists who are responsible for ensuring the safety of the 500,000 Jewish residents of Israel’s biblical heartland. Pray that they will look to the Lord to understand how to protect Israeli citizens—both in Judea/Samaria and in Israel proper. Pray for a biblical foundation that will replace the concepts put forth by the Oslo Accords, which have resulted in hotbeds of terrorism such as Jenin and Tulkarm.

Scripture

Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just; for the righteous God tests the hearts and minds. My defense is of God, Who saves the upright in heart.

- Psalm 7:9–10

Ex-hostage Amit Soussana: ‘I Fought Off Many Men’

by Nina Fox ~ Ynetnews

Tuesday, 4 March 2025 | Amit Soussana, a survivor of Hamas captivity who bravely shared her experience of sexual assault during her ordeal, was honored with a special award from the Michal Sela Forum for her groundbreaking efforts in the fight against sexual violence.

Soussana, 40, a lawyer at Luzzatto & Luzzatto, was kidnapped on October 7 and released after 55 days of captivity in Gaza.

Upon receiving the award, Soussana said, “I chose to speak about the trauma I endured. I wanted justice for the women and men who have been hurt, justice for our country and justice for myself. I couldn’t bear the denial.”

“After sharing my story, many women reached out to me, sharing their own experiences. We, women, are the stronger sex—we just need a more balanced playing field. This is the strength of this forum, which seeks solutions to prevent violence. I fought off many men; I know how much determination and willpower are required in this battle. My struggle may have been lost from the start, but that’s not the case for this forum. I thank you for your valuable work.”

In her harrowing testimony, which was published after her release in a hostage-prisoner swap with Hamas in November, Soussana described how, days after being abducted from her home in Kfar Aza, one of her captors—an armed Hamas terrorist named Mohammed—began asking her about her sex life. She was held alone in a children’s room, which she recalled was covered in posters of the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants, chained at her ankle. According to her, her captor would sleep in an adjacent room, often entering while only wearing underwear, sometimes sitting on her bed, lifting her shirt and touching her.

Soussana recounted how he repeatedly asked when her menstrual cycle was due. When her period ended around October 18, she tried to avoid being assaulted by pretending her period was still ongoing, even for an entire week. The severe sexual assault occurred several days later, around October 24, when her captor freed her from her chains and insisted that she take a shower. After resisting, he took her to the kitchen, showing her a pot of boiling water on the stove, before leading her to the bathroom, where he forced her to pour the hot water on herself.

After washing for several minutes, she heard him calling her from the door, demanding she hurry. As she turned around, she saw him standing there with a weapon. She tried to cover herself with a towel, but he struck her. “Amit, Amit, take it off,” he demanded, and she was forced to comply, with the weapon in his hand.

“He pushed me onto the edge of the bathtub. I closed my legs and resisted. He continued hitting me, placing his weapon in my face, then dragged me to the bedroom,” she recalled. After the assault, he took a shower, leaving her naked in the dark. When he returned, she said he showed remorse, saying, “I’m bad, I’m bad. Please don’t tell Israel.”

She explained that after the assault, she feared being attacked again at any moment. “You can’t look at him, but you must. He’s the one guarding you, you’re with him—and you know it could happen again at any moment. You’re completely dependent on him.”

Source: (This article was originally published by Ynetnews on March 3, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Nizzan Cohen/wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia

Prayer Focus
Cry out to the Lord on behalf of all those who experienced the trauma of October 7—hostages as well as the men, women and children who witnessed unspeakable horrors. Pray for the complete healing of women who were raped by their captors—physical, mental and emotional healing. As Solomon prayed when he dedicated the Temple, may these, who know their own grief, spread out their hands to You.

Scripture

…when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple.

- 2 Chronicles 6:28b–29

75 Years Ago, Iraq Stripped its Jews of Citizenship

by JNS

Thursday, 6 March 2025 | On March 9, 1950, Iraq’s Chamber of Deputies and Senate approved the “Supplement to Ordinance Cancelling Iraqi Nationality” law. It stipulated that Jews could leave the country, on condition they renounce their citizenship and their right to return.

Of the 135,000 Jews living in Iraq, some 125,000 would be airlifted to Israel between 1950 and 1951. Only about 10,000 stayed behind, essentially ending more than 2,500 years of Jewish history in Mesopotamia.

The law’s clause stating that Jews would never be allowed to return is “unprecedented” in the history of immigration, according to the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda, a city located near Ben-Gurion International Airport.

The law stated, “The Council of Ministers may decide to revoke the Iraqi citizenship of any Iraqi Jew who voluntarily prefers to leave Iraq permanently, after he signs a special form before a clerk appointed by the Minister of the Interior.”

Initially, the law remained in force for one year. It applied only to Jews.

According to the Jewish Virtual Library, an individual could take no more than [US] $140 and carry 66 pounds [30 kg.] of luggage. Taking jewelry was forbidden.

The law did not say what would happen to the property of Jews who emigrated. But on March 10, 1951, a day after it expired, the Iraqi government enacted another law that confiscated Jewish property—“A Law for the Supervision and Administration of the Property of Jews who have Forfeited Iraqi Nationality”—the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center notes on its website.

A February 18 report issued by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) estimated the total value of Iraqi Jews’ financial losses, in present day numbers, at [US] $34 billion.

The citizenship renunciation law was meant to bring order to the illegal flight of Jews from Iraq, which had created social disruption.

An unregulated wave of Jews leaving Iraq began in December 1949, when emergency laws in force since mid-May 1948 were repealed. (Those laws were put in place when the Iraqi Army joined five other Arab armies intent on destroying the newly revived State of Israel.)

During the emergency period, exiting Iraq illegally was punishable by heavy prison terms. In normal times, the maximum sentence was six months in prison and a fine of 100 dinars.

Jews took advantage of the more lenient laws. They had suffered politically and economically in the previous 18 months. They had been dismissed from government positions. Jewish merchants had been denied import licenses. And Jewish academics found themselves facing restrictions, the Babylonian Jewry Heritage center notes.

Thousands crossed the border into Iran, with many making their way to Israel. From January to May 1950, about 4,000 Jews who arrived in Tehran were flown to Israel, the Heritage Center says.

Iraq’s government had expected most Jews to stay, estimating that the “Renunciation of Citizenship” law would result in only 6,000 to 7,000 emigrating. Even Israeli estimates fell short of the actual number, predicting 30,000 to 70,000 Jews would leave.

Iraq’s government was stunned by the number of Jews who registered to emigrate. Within two months of the law’s promulgation, 90,000 Jews had registered to leave, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.

Starting on May 18, 1951, Iraqi Jews began to fly from Baghdad to Israel via Cyprus. Afterward, the flights went directly to Israel. The airlift was dubbed Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.

The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center notes the paradox of Iraq’s citizenship law. The same government that had sent its army to help annihilate the Jewish state in 1948 ensured two years later that nearly all its Jews would go to Israel, increasing the nascent state’s population and contributing to its long-term survival.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on March 6, 2025. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Israel Government Press Office/jns.org

Prayer Focus
We remember the Iraqi Jews who made aliyah in the early days of Israel’s statehood because the country in which they were living was turning against them. We pray today for Jewish people who are living around the world in increasingly antisemitic nations. We beseech You to once again bring large numbers of Your people home from the four corners of the earth until, at last, they are all here in the Land of their inheritance.

Scripture

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

- Psalm 107:1–3

Elite Universities Failed Jewish Students ‘Utterly,’ Stefanik Tells ADL

by Vita Fellig ~ JNS

Thursday, 6 March 2025 | The so-called “most elite” US universities have failed their Jewish students “utterly” after “the bloodiest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), told attendees of the Anti-Defamation League’s [ADL] “Never Is Now Summit” in New York City on Monday.

“We will not and must not rest until every single hostage is returned home and Hamas terrorists are eradicated from the face of the earth,” the nominated US ambassador to the United Nations said at the event. “The world saw, in what is now the most viewed congressional testimony in history with over 1 billion views, the moral rot of America’s higher education.”

During a four-hour hearing on December 5, 2023, Stefanik questioned then-Harvard University president Claudine Gay about Jew-hatred on campus. When Stefanik asked if calling for the genocide of all Jews violated Harvard’s policies, Gay said it depended on context. (Gay later resigned as Harvard leader.)

Stefanik said at the ADL event that the House Committee on Education and the Workforce held the hearing to demand accountability but instead was “met with weak and morally bankrupt university leaders, who evaded our questions and refused to answer direct questions with direct answers.”

Stefanik criticized ongoing Jew-hatred on campuses, citing Barnard College, where anti-Israel protesters took over an administrative building last week, demanding amnesty for two students expelled for disrupting a modern Israeli history class at Columbia University.

“On the same day that the world was mourning the murders of the Bibas babies by Hamas terrorists, pro-Hamas terrorist sympathizers took over a Barnard College campus building, spewing antisemitic and anti-Israel hate, assaulting a staff member and sending him to the hospital,” she said.

“Meanwhile, Barnard’s leadership held off on calling in the law enforcement stationed outside instead offering up a meeting with the college president to negotiate,” she said at the ADL event. “This is not leadership.”

Stefanik said that college leaders continue to “pander” to the demands of anti-Israel protesters, while Jewish students continue to fear for their safety.

“To the Jewish students listening, do not relent or give in,” she said. “America and the force of the Trump administration are behind you, and we will not stop fighting.”

US President Donald Trump has prioritized combating Jew-hatred on college campuses and at the United Nations, according to Stefanik.

“The United Nations is indeed a deep den of antisemitism, infected with the same rampant anti-Israel and anti-American hate and moral rot that has polluted America’s higher education system,” she said. “Especially since the barbaric Hamas attacks of October 7, the UN has continuously betrayed Israel, betraying America in the process, acting as an apologist for Iran and their terrorist proxies.”

“Under President Trump, as United States ambassador to the United Nations, the days of propping up organizations that run counter to our interests are long gone,” she added. “We will no longer fund terrorism, antisemitism and anti-Israel hate.”

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on March 5, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the office of Rep. Stefanik/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Pray for educators all around the world who are in positions to influence the next generation, praying that any antisemitic views or Jew-hatred would be exposed as opposing God Himself. Pray for those educators who do hold biblically sound views, asking that they would be strengthened to stand in the face of political correctness. Finally, pray for Jewish students who are encountering violent hatred on university and college campuses where they have a right to expect physical safety and a place where they can thrive.

Scripture

The earth, O LORD, is full of Your mercy; teach me Your statutes. You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe Your commandments.

- Psalm 119:64–66

One Mountain for Two Peoples: Assad’s Fall Is Opportunity for Better Relations between Israel, Syria

by Shadi Martini, Dr. Nir Boms ~ Ynetnews

Monday, 3 March 2025 | With a mere two years separating their respective births, Israel and Syria have never known a time in which they weren’t at each other’s throats. Since 1948, the Syrian Arab Republic has participated in every major war against Israel, proudly waving the banner of resistance. Even after signing the 1974 armistice agreement, Syria tied its fate to Iran and Hezbollah, perpetuating its aggression against Israel through Lebanon and serving as a forward base for Tehran’s proxies. Yet now, as a new chapter unfolds in Syria, perhaps the time has come to write a new chapter in its relations with Israel as well.

In 2011, protests erupted in Syria against Bashar Assad’s regime. Assad responded with brutal repression, igniting a devastating war that claimed nearly a million lives and displaced two-thirds of the Syrian population, either as refugees abroad or internally. However, amid war atrocities, an unexpected moment of hope emerged. In 2015, Israel made the unprecedented decision to open its borders to provide humanitarian aid to areas across the border, which were controlled by various opposition groups, including Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, led by Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Through Operation Good Neighbor, Israelis and Syrians collaborated to assist approximately 1.5 million Syrians trapped under the siege of Assad’s forces. This initiative, in which the authors of this article were involved, began to shift Syrian perceptions as they saw their supposed sworn enemy saving lives while their own government bombed cities and hospitals.

Through these efforts, Syrians and Israelis ceased to be complete strangers. Over the years, visits by Syrians to Israel became more common, and partnerships between civil groups began to emerge. Recently, Israelis have even been seen in Syria, and Jews, including Syrian Rabbi Yosef Hamra, have returned to visit the Jewish Quarter in Damascus.

On October 8, 2023, Hezbollah opened a Syrian front, adding yet another theater to the ring of conflict encircling Israel. A year later, following Russia’s substantial withdrawal of its assets from Syria to focus on its war in Ukraine, and in light of Israel’s extensive operations against Hezbollah and Iranian targets in Syria, Assad found himself exposed. His army, demoralized and weak, lacked the motivation to defend him. The day after a ceasefire agreement was reached between Israel and Lebanon, Syrian opposition forces, led by the Liberation Front under al-Sharaa’s leadership, launched a blitz offensive.

They captured Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and pushed south toward Hama. Meanwhile, opposition forces in the south advanced toward Damascus. Within days, Syria fell, and President Assad fled the country on December 8, 2024. The nearly 14-year-long Syrian war ended with an 11-day military victory that stunned the world. Many Syrians credited Israel’s actions against Hezbollah and Iran as a significant factor in the opposition’s triumph over Assad.

The new leaders of Syria, who are also the leaders of the Liberation Front, have started sending positive signals toward the region and toward Israel. They have stopped referring to Israel as the “Zionist entity” or “Occupied Palestine.” While they have criticized Israel for its military actions, they referred to it by name for the first time.

Israel, however, launched a military operation that destroyed most of Syria’s aerial assets, along with other military and research facilities. It also sent its forces across the 1974 armistice line and seized the Syrian Hermon. While Israel might see these actions as justified, particularly in its demand to demilitarize the area south of Damascus, Syrians interpreted them as an act of war rather than an invitation for dialogue.

Many Syrians believe that their true enemies were Assad, Hezbollah and Iran, and that the emergence of a new Syria could foster relations with Israel based on something other than military hostility.

Perpetual war has been the defining reality for both Syria and Israel, and the past years have been no exception. Syria is only beginning to recover from a long war that tore apart its land and people. Ravaged and divided by years of conflict, it lacks even the most basic infrastructure, such as electricity and water.

Israel, too, has endured its share of wars, especially after the tragedies of October 7. Both nations have seen too much bloodshed, too many tears. Both peoples are shaped by trauma, exhausted by endless existential struggles. Yet, the Israeli–Syrian relationship that has quietly developed over the past 15 years has demonstrated that cooperation is possible. Both nations have fought to secure a better future for their people, and recently, even against the same enemies. Both have sought hope—and Israel offered a glimpse of it by providing medical care to tens of thousands of Syrians. Could this aspect of their relationship be transformed into the foundation for a better future for both countries?

As Syrians begin to rebuild their country and Israel looks toward the day after its most recent war, the time has come to consider a different future for both peoples. Syrians have reclaimed their land. The majority, long marginalized from their own country, now find themselves back in control. Syrians need, and are ready for, a fresh start. With the right efforts, a new relationship between the two nations can be forged.

It is time to envision a future where Syrians and Israelis ski together on Mount Hermon rather than fight over it. It is time for a new beginning for both peoples.

Shadi Martini is a Syrian businessman who became a refugee, an activist and humanitarian leader.

Dr. Nir Boms is a research fellow at Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University and at the International Center for Counter Terrorism in Herzliya.

Source: (Excerpt of an article originally published by Ynetnews on February 26, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia

Prayer Focus
Pray that Israel’s outstretched hand of friendship that has treated tens of thousands of sick or wounded Syrians will be the foundation for a new relationship between these neighboring countries. Pray that Syrian citizens will be willing to put aside the military hostility of the former Assad regime held toward Israel and truly desire to be good neighbors, for the benefit of all.

Scripture

Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

- Psalm 37:3 (ESV)

Egypt Presenting Gaza Reconstruction Plan

by Kate Norman, BFP Staff Writer

Tuesday, 4 March 2025 | Egypt is presenting its own plan for rebuilding and governing Gaza to an Arab League summit in Cairo today.

The plan is Egypt’s counter to US President Donald Trump’s proposal for Gaza, which the president released last month and would see the US take control of the enclave and relocate its current residents. The plan was rejected by Palestinians and Arab states.

Egypt’s vision would see terrorist group Hamas dethroned from its rule over Gaza and an interim rule by a coalition of Arab, Muslim and Western states, according to a Reuters report citing an exclusive preview of the draft proposal.

Unlike Trump’s proposal, the Egyptian plan would not call for the relocation of Palestinians living in Gaza, Reuters reported. But like Trump’s plan, the Egyptian vision for Gaza’s future does not include rule by Hamas.

“There will be no major international funding for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Gaza if Hamas remains the dominant and armed political element on the ground controlling local governance,” the Egyptian plan’s preamble reads, according to Reuters.

The coalition under Egypt’s proposal would govern Hamas for an unspecified period of time, and Reuters reported that it’s unclear whether the plan would go into effect before or after a permanent peace deal to end the war in Gaza.

Hamas has been in control of Gaza since 2007, when the terrorist group forcibly expelled its rival for power in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority (PA), from the enclave. Since then, Hamas has launched frequent attacks against Israel, including the brutal invasion on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas terrorists entered Israel and murdered some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage.

Israel responded by launching a ground war in Gaza with the goals of returning the hostages and removing Hamas from power.

One of the biggest post-war question marks is who will rule Gaza once the smoke has cleared.

A Hamas official told Reuters in response to Egypt proposing its plan today that “The day after in Gaza must only be decided by the Palestinians. Hamas rejects any attempt to impose projects or any form of non-Palestinian administration, or the presence of any foreign forces on the land of the Gaza Strip.”

Egypt’s proposal reportedly does not outline the action to be taken if Hamas refuses to step aside. It also does not outline a specific plan for funding the rebuilding of Gaza, which the UN has estimated will cost more than US $53 billion.

The first phase of the current short-term ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that went into effect on January 19 expired Saturday, and it’s unclear whether or when they will enter phase two.

Source: (Bridges for Peace, March 4, 2025)

Photo Credit: WAFA (Q2915969)/wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia

Prayer Focus
Pray that God’s plan for the Gaza Strip, not those of man, will be fulfilled. Pray that the Gazan citizens who have experienced the destruction of their homes and economy would be able to return to a normal life.

Scripture

The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.

- Proverbs 21:1

“Those Who Carried Out the October 7 Attack Are a Disgrace to Islam”

by Einav Halabi ~ Ynetnews

Tuesday, 4 March 2025 | The investigation into the battle at the Nahal Oz base on the morning of October 7, 2023, exposed severe operational failures but also highlighted the extraordinary bravery of the soldiers stationed there, including Warrant Officer Ibrahim Kharuba, who is one of two soldiers recommended in the investigation to receive the Medal of Valor, the second-highest decoration in the IDF. “He acted admirably — this is how I raised him. He was a man of values,” his father, Hassan, said.

Kharuba served as a tracker in the northern brigade of the Gaza Division. On October 7, 2023, he joined the deputy commander of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion, who had taken control of the area. Realizing the magnitude of the attack, Kharuba took command of the fighting at the entrance to the lookout post’s command center. Together with two officers from the 13th Battalion — Lieutenant Nimrod Eliraz and Lieutenant Yohai Duchan — and a soldier, Staff Sergeant Itai Ron, Kharuba fought to block the terrorists at the command center door. He fought until his last bullet and was later found at the position closest to the door. According to reports, before he fell, Kharuba told the terrorists that he would never surrender.

The investigation revealed the trackers and female lookouts performed their duties effectively, identifying and warning of the threats early on. However, these warnings were blatantly and systematically ignored. During the battle, Kharuba reportedly stood and told the female lookouts that it was an honor for him to die protecting them and the State of Israel. “It was my greatest honor to defend you,” he said, according to details uncovered in the investigation.

His father, Hassan, shared in an interview with Ynet that he was not surprised by the details revealed in the investigation. “Ibrahim called us that morning. He said the situation was dire and that dozens of terrorists had reached the base. He told us he was protecting the female lookouts. In our culture, the least one can do is protect women and daughters. I know exactly the kind of man I raised — Ibrahim was a man of values who would use his own body to shield others,” he said, his pride mixed with grief

Hassan added that his son was a traditional, observant man who prayed regularly. Ibrahim came from a Bedouin family, many of whom volunteered to serve in the IDF. Hassan noted that his son spoke to the terrorists in Arabic, trying to convince them to leave the female lookouts alone in the name of Islam. “Those who carried out the October 7 attack are a disgrace to Islam. Their behavior is despicable and unacceptable; it shames every true Muslim,” he said.

Regarding the recommendation to award his son the Medal of Valor, Hassan said: “Ibrahim was extraordinary. That morning, he asked us to take care of his wife and children. He already understood it was the end. He is deserving of the medal; he is a war hero.”

The Medal of Valor was last awarded in 2007 to six soldiers who fought in the Second Lebanon War. Since the founding of the state, it has been awarded a total of 220 times. Only two soldiers have received the medal twice: Oved Ladizhinsky, who was killed by shielding a fellow soldier from a grenade explosion and saving his life, and former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak.

Source: (This article was originally published by Ynetnews on March 3, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Baruch Niv Pikiwiki Israel/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia

Prayer Focus
Pray for Israel’s Muslim population, especially the Bedouins, during the month of Ramadan (March 1–31), asking that during this time of increased spiritual intensity many will receive a revelation of Jesus (Yeshua) as the Son of God instead of just a great prophet. Pray for the family of Ibrahim Kharuba, who died defending the women field observers of the IDF, asking the Lord to comfort his wife, children and parents.

Scripture

Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause—Who does great things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number.

- Job 5:7–9