Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Trump takes the reins! Middle East scrambles before inauguration

“Israel Undiplomatic” with Ruthie Blum and Mark Regev, Ep. 31

What exactly did President-elect Donald Trump mean when he said on Dec. 3 that there will be “all hell to pay” if Hamas doesn’t release the remaining hostages from the Gaza Strip?

Join JNS senior contributing editor Ruthie Blum and Mark Regev, former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom—both former advisers at the Prime Minister’s Office—for a heated discussion on what Trump’s inauguration might mean for the hostages and the entire Middle East.

They will also deconstruct the chaos in Syria; French President Emmanuel Macron’s snub of Jerusalem; Iran’s latest positioning; and the ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon.

All this and more on “Israel Undiplomatic!”

Ruthie Blum, a former adviser at the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is an award-winning columnist and a senior contributing editor at JNS. Co-host with Ambassador Mark Regev of the JNS-TV podcast “Israel Undiplomatic,” she writes on Israeli politics and U.S.-Israel relations. Originally from New York City, she moved to Israel in 1977. She is a regular guest on national and international media outlets, including Fox, Sky News, i24News, Scripps, ILTV, WION and Newsmax.
Mark Regev is an Australian-Israeli diplomat, government advisor, and former ambassador. He served as Israel’s Ambassador to the UK (2016–2020) and as Senior Advisor for Foreign Affairs and International Communications to Prime Minister Netanyahu (2020–2021). Currently, he is the Chairman of the Abba Eban Institute for Diplomacy and Foreign Relations at Reichman University. Regev co-hosts Undiplomatic on JNS TV’s YouTube channel alongside Ruthie Blum.
“Of all the things to come after, you chose the good boys. Bold move. Wrong move,” the mission wrote on X.
Emphasis was placed on sweets “to provide troops with a real holiday atmosphere.”
Israel’s military called it a “cynical exploitation of Lebanese civilians.”
An American Jewish Committee spokesman told JNS that the group is “grateful for the severity with which the Justice Department is handling this case.”
NYPD said the investigation into the death of Albert Itzkowitz, 75, a former Hatzolah volunteer and kosher bakery owner, remains ongoing and that no arrests have been made.