That’s the takeaway re: Gaza from this week’s Netanyahu/Trump summit in Florida. But Israel does not think Hamas will actually cooperate–for good reason:
While Israel has fulfilled all of its obligations for Phase 1 of the ceasefire as of day one, Hamas has not–and actively violates in every day with more fighting in the forbidden yellow zone in Gaza.
Presidents Obama and Biden did not pressure Iran at all regarding their ballistic missiles. And yet, during the 12 day war, once Iran started firing them, they sought to overwhelm Israel’s defense system. The few ballistic missiles that got through were deadly for Israelis.
Yonah Jeremy Bob wrote:
“Israel could live with an Iran that has some ballistic missiles. Until the war, it had around 2,500. That was not the problem. The problem was Iran seeking to develop an arsenal of 5,000 or even 10,000 such missiles. At some point, the volume of missiles could overwhelm Israel’s missile shield. Iran killed 28 Israelis, wounded thousands, and damaged around 13,000 residences in June when 36 of its 550 ballistic missiles got through the missile shield. Imagine if it fired 5,000 missiles and got 500 through.” ¹
President Trump stands apart — to join with Israel to take ballistic missiles seriously. Missiles in the hands of the mullahs are no light matter.
Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee.
Source:
"We'll knock them down:" Trump with Netanyahu:
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/benjamin-netanyahu/article-881727
Related:
Grading the meeting: Yonah Jeremy Bob:
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-881766
Donald Trump reportedly urged Netanyahu to alter Samaria & Judea policy:
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-881764
Disambiguation: Omer Shem Tov is not to be confused with Omer Wenkert, also a Nova festival survivor, also captive 505 days, also released on the same day, but is a distinct person with a different surname:
“Our children’s souls will not be abandoned to politicians.”
Right. Just leave all that to other peoples’ children, because their souls don’t matter.
“It is better to die Haredi and not live as a secular Jew.”
See? This is actually the great divide between secular and orthodox society in Israel. Are they thinking about what happens if suddenly every one is Haredi and suddenly there’s no army and no protection?
🎗️Ran Gvili’s body is still not home. Another Hanukkah has come and gone, and still his family cannot have a proper burial. He died defending Kibbutz Alumim, and Gazans stole his dead body. I still wear the yellow ribbon.
🗞️ The Draft: Haredi Ultra-Orthodox Jewish young men protest the High Court ruling that they must be drafted like everyone else.
📸 Video – when I got caught in a protest last week on my way home from a Bible study in Jerusalem.
📸 Photo: article clip.
80,000 of the Orthodox are currently eligible to serve; the Army desperately needs 12,000 right now. Last thurs, riding buses home from Bible study in Jerusalem, I got caught in this demonstration near Bnei Brak. Evidently there were demonstrations that night in Jerusalem, and last night as well, however my bus routes last night home from Bible study did not go thru that area, thankfully.
Certain (centrist) party leaders quoted in the article accuse Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition of currying votes from the Orthodox by failing to enforce the draft as written in law and affirmed by the High Court.
The slogans claim that the Orthodox would rather die protesting the draft than to serve alongside non-religious fighters under command from a non-religious government.
Note: Even though the government gives them a free pass, it’s still “not religious enough” for them.
A very worthwhile conversation:Former CIA agent Andrew Bustamante debunks the Charlie Kirk conspiracy theories as he evaluates Israel’s existential threats:
Israel’s Psychological Warfare Is Working Better Than You Think (19m37s):
David Harris, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) executive vice chair, on his new book published on Oxford Press, wrote:
“Trying to put first-aid cream on skin cancer doesn’t begin to address the problem Jews today face.” ¹
Jerusalem Post, jpost.com, 16 Dec 2025, captured on 21 Dec 2025.
The problem–the skin cancer–is, of course, antisemitism, otherwise known as Jew-hatred and often disguised as anti-Zionism: The sole Jewish state is uniquely NOT qualified to exist, despite all the horrors done by other states whose very existence is never openly challenged.
Jews paid good money to Arabs for the land that was settled. ² That right there is much better than the founding fathers of most other nations. Only antisemites would bury such facts, and only Jew-haters would trust the revisionist histories created by antisemites when the truth is an open book ready to be researched.
“Globalize the Intifada,” they said, and sure enough, antisemitic violence skyrocketed around the world.
Because, after all, everyone knows who the world’s most evil people are: The ones who force conversion in order to expand their own religion; the ones that seek to colonize everywhere and take over every nation; the ones that exert much effort and treasure to reformat the laws of other nations to fit their religion and to benefit themselves; thus converting the native-born of other nations to slave status; The tribe that tramples human rights of women and children; The group that believes that religious conversion can be achieved through rape, as well as by death threats. That evil group is, obviously, the evil Jews.
/s
“Finally, the fight against antisemitism in the 21st century is not only a fight for Jewish safety and security. In reality, it is every bit as much a struggle for liberal democracy.”
David Harris is executive vice chair of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). He is the author of “Antisemitism: What Everyone Needs to Know” (Oxford University Press, 2025).
Israel HaYom, 31 Dec 2025 pg 1.
