Marco Rubio appears before the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. Senate in Washington D.C. on Jan. 15, 2025. Photo by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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Rubio vows pro-Israel moves, including lifting sanctions on Israelis
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Trump's nominee for state secretary also called for limiting Iran and described a ceasefire with Hamas as a foundation for Israeli-Saudi relations.
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At a confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said that as state secretary he’d belong to “perhaps the most pro-Israel administration in American history,” pushing Israeli-Saudi normalization and lifting sanctions from Jews in Judea and Samaria, among other actions.

The emerging ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, Rubio said, was “a foundation to build upon” in working toward peace between Israel and Palestinians and normalization of Israeli-Saudi ties as an extension of the Abraham Accords.

“We’re still going to have some issues with [United Arab Emirates] and with Saudi Arabia, but we also have to be pragmatic enough to understand what an enormous achievement it would be if, in fact, you not just get a ceasefire but that leads to the opportunity of a Saudi-Israeli partnership and joint recognition,” Rubio, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for state secretary, said in response to question about the accords by Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.)

In 2020, during Trump’s first term, Israel entered the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

“There are opportunities now in the Middle East that did not exist 90 days ago,” said Rubio. “There are now factors at play in the Middle East that I think we can build upon and may open the door to extraordinary and historic opportunities, not just to provide for Israel’s security but ultimately begin to confront some of these other factors,” he added.

Rubio said “yes” after he was asked during the hearing before the  Senate Foreign Relations Committee whether under him, the Department of State would lift sanctions on Israelis living in Judea and Samaria, which the Biden administration extended this week by an executive order. Rubio did not say when this would happen.

The sanctions, first imposed in February, concern 17 individuals and 16 entities that are alleged to have perpetrated or orchestrated violent acts against Palestinians. The sanctioned parties have denied the allegations.

The International Criminal Court’s allegations of genocide against Israel had created a false “moral equivalency” between Hamas and the Jewish state, Rubio said in response to another question.

“I think the ICC, if they don’t drop this, will find its credibility globally badly damaged and I think the United States should be very concerned, because I believe this is a test run for applying it to American service members and American leaders in the future,” he said.

He also advocated a tougher line on Iran.

“Any concessions we make to the Iranian regime we should anticipate that they will use, as they have used in the past, to rebuild their weapons and to try to restart their sponsorship of Hezbollah and other related entities around the region because they seek to become the dominant regional power. That’s their stated goal and it's been clear by the actions that they’ve taken,” said Rubio.

To come up for a vote in the Senate, nominees must first be confirmed in the Senate committees before which they appear. Senate confirmation vote dates have not yet been announced.

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The Trump administration formally notified Congress last week that it plans to sell Israel more than $8 billion in weapons, advancing sales that the Biden administration slow-rolled for months. The administration’s decision to use lawful means in this instance to bypass one member of Congress’s efforts to block the sales demonstrates the White House’s more assertive approach to security cooperation, as well as its support for the Jewish state, and the realization that a strong and well-armed Israel advances America’s interests. This laudable step by the Trump administration demonstrates an eagerness to restore regular order in Congress when it comes to security assistance and may signal a political willingness to undertake a much broader and desperately needed effort to reform the process by which the United States delivers weapons and munitions to allies and partners.

The State Department formally notified Congress on Feb. 7 of four different arms sales cases to Israel consisting of three foreign military sales (FMS) and one direct commercial sale (DCS). FMS is a mechanism in which a foreign government places an order but the Defense Department contracts with industry on behalf of the foreign government to procure the system or service. In the DCS mechanism, U.S. defense companies sell directly to foreign buyers. The export licenses, however, are approved by the U.S. government and submitted to Congress if they are above a designated dollar threshold.

One FMS for Israel announced last week consists of $6.75 billion in air-launched munitions, including 2,166 GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs and 2,800 MK 82 500-pound bomb bodies, as well as thousands of Joint Direct Attack Munition Guidance Kits and associated fuzes for a variety of munitions, including large 2,000-pound bombs and BLU-109 bombs designed to penetrate bunkers. A second FMS, worth $660 million, includes 3,000 AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, which are launched by Israeli AH-64 attack helicopters. A third FMS, worth $312.5 million, is for 10,000 155mm artillery shells.

This sale was not widely reported because it was a modification or addition to an existing contract and therefore did not require a second public press release. The package of notifications also includes a $688 million DCS for 15,500 JDAMs and 615 SDBs. In January, the Trump administration released a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs that the Biden administration decided to stop in May over concerns related to Israeli operations in southern Gaza.

These munitions will help Israel deter and defeat future aggression by replenishing stockpiles depleted in combat with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon after the terrorist groups started attacking Israel again in October 2023. The Small Diameter Bombs and BLU-109 bunker penetration bombs, as well as the guidance kits that convert unguided bombs into precise munitions, are especially useful for striking high-value targets while mitigating civilian casualties in urban operating environments. Even as Israel seeks to buy as many munitions as possible from the United States, it is simultaneously seeking to create additional domestic production capacity for the weapons that a future U.S. administration might refuse to provide Israel—namely, air-launched munitions.

Once the State Department adjudicates and approves a requested arms sale to a foreign government above a certain dollar threshold, the department submits an informal notification to the Senate and House Foreign Relations Committee. This process, known as a “tiered review,” permits the leaders of these two committees and their staffs to raise concerns, ask questions and potentially impose a “hold” on the proposed arms sale.

If one of the four leaders of these two committees places a hold on a proposed sale, the State Department usually does not proceed with the formal notification to Congress necessary to advance the sale. This practice is intended to facilitate a constructive consultative process between the executive and legislative branches but in practice permits a single member of Congress to prevent the provision of American weapons to an ally or partner before the U.S.-government-approved sale has even been submitted formally to the legislative branch for consideration.

This practice, while longstanding and usually respected by administrations controlled by both parties, is not required by law as noted by the Congressional Research Service and the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General. Accordingly, the administration can lawfully decide to move ahead with formal notification to Congress even if a “hold” is in place, and that is what the Trump administration did last Friday.

In this case, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, opposed the weapons sales to Israel and used a “hold” to try to stop them, consistent with his previous actions. The DCS case had been in informal, or tiered, review since October, according to one source, and the three FMS cases had been under review for more than 20 days. These delays were exacerbated by the fact that the Biden administration had slow-rolled many Israeli requests for months.

The Republican chairs of the two committees supported the sales, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) lifted her hold. Trump’s State Department answered questions from Meeks and offered briefings, but he kept his hold in place. Only then, after a significant amount of time, the Trump administration decided to proceed with formal congressional notification.

Meeks responded by issuing a press release on Feb. 7 that accused the Trump administration of making a “decision to bypass Congress and immediately proceed with billions of dollars in arms sales to Israel.” That is not accurate. In fact, the Trump administration submitted the sales to Congress for review under the Arms Export Control Act and is now waiting the required time period before proceeding with the sales, consistent with the law.

If he chooses to do so, Meeks can file a joint resolution of disapproval in an effort to stop the sales. But if the past is prologue, such an effort will fail to muster even a simple majority in either chamber, much less the super-majority in both the House and Senate necessary to overturn a presidential veto. Perhaps that’s because Americans understand the horror of what happened in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, support Israel’s right to exist and want the world’s only majority Jewish state to have the means to defend itself against enemies that hate the United States as much as they do Israel.

To be sure, the tiered review process offers a valuable mechanism for key congressional leaders and staff to conduct oversight, ask questions, raise concerns and shape outcomes. That process should be retained and respected, but no administration should allow one or two members of Congress to abuse non-statutory tools indefinitely to unilaterally cancel a government-approved arms sale to our closest beleaguered democratic allies even before other members of Congress and their staffs have had a chance to review the facts.

It is widely understood that the American foreign military sales process is broken. It takes far too long for valuable allies and partners confronting current or potential aggression to acquire from the United States the weapons they need, leaving them vulnerable or encouraging them to look elsewhere for self-defense. One of the causes for many of those delays is a congressional-tiered review process that is too often abused. It is time for reform, and the Trump administration has now taken a vital first step to begin to fix a broken process.

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Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar on Thursday called on the World Baseball Softball Confederation to act after Jerusalem's team was banned from the annual PONY U-19 Palomino tournament in Stuttgart, Germany.

The Stuttgart Reds club reportedly vetoed the participation of Israeli athletes due to the "political situation" and fears that "troublemakers" would attack visiting Israelis.

"The decision seriously violates the fundamental values ​​of sports, which stand first and foremost on principles of equality, unity and a complete separation between sports and politics," Zohar wrote to the World Baseball Softball Confederation.

"I urge you to reconsider your decision, in accordance with the values ​​of fairness and sportsmanship so that the Israeli team can participate in the tournament as any other team is entitled to do," he continued.

"If the reason for your decision is security considerations, then it is the responsibility of local and international authorities to ensure the safety of all participants—and not to exclude an entire team because of its origin," Zohar wrote.

Earlier this week, the Israel Association of Baseball blasted the move by the Stuttgart club, saying that Israeli athletes were being banned from competing "based on hypothetical scenarios and perceived risks.

"The IAB categorically rejects the notion that Israeli teams cannot participate safely in international events. This exclusion is a troubling precedent that could have far-reaching implications for the inclusion of teams from Israel and other nations in future sporting events," it noted.

In November, a pogrom led by at least 100 Arab Dutchmen wounded 25 visiting Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam as they were returning from a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local Ajax team.

Police were deployed in large numbers near the stadium but failed to protect the Israelis in the city center, where they walked into an ambush that had been planned days in advance by numerous Jew-hating rioters.

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The issue of drafting Haredi men to serve in the Israel Defense Forces was temporarily shunted aside due to the launch of the Gaza ceasefire and emotional hostage returns.

But it returned to the headlines in recent weeks with a vengeance. On a single day, Israel saw street protests by Haredi hardliners, threats by Haredi Knesset members to destroy the coalition and a promise by one Knesset minister that his son would opt for a prison cell, where he would continue to learn Torah over any army service.

For many, a recent Israeli High Court ruling that a decades-long yeshivah exemption is no longer valid first drew their attention to the matter. That court decision prompted the government to work on a new law in which only some Haredi young men will be drafted, exempting the rest.

But for families like mine, this issue is always in the “headlines” of our hearts and souls.

The eve of Chanukah was the first yahrzeit of our son-in-law, Naftali, an Israel Defense Forces reserve tank officer killed by a Hamas RPG fire in Shejaiya in the Gaza Strip. The pain and grief have not subsided. Even the bare fact of his death hasn't entirely sunk in. Alongside these emotions, anger at Haredi draft evaders grows with every passing day.

As a people, we are confronting armed forces near our borders and even within our midst. Other enemies are active overseas, embedded within populations where Jews once lived in safety for decades but now face attacks on an unprecedented scale.

It is only natural that the slogan “Together, we will win” now permeates our existence. So, it may seem unreasonable to be incensed at our Haredi brethren in Israel. But there are times when unity, while deeply desirable, is not an option.

Those targeting the Haredi population are a substantial contingent. According to a survey by the Israel Democracy Institute published last month, support for drafting Haredim rose from 67% in January 2024 to now 84.5%.

Many have publicly berated them for their refusal to serve in the IDF and have begged them to reconsider. But that hasn’t produced even a dent in their intransigence. If anything, they have dug their heels in even deeper and grown more outspoken in insisting that they will never take up arms to defend their country.

Neither the horrific loss of lives nor the heavy burden of reserve duty, which the rest of us have endured, has moved them or their leaders.

And lest anyone point to the tiny minority of Haredim who have enlisted, please note that they are just that—a minuscule drop in the bucket, who often suffer censure from their own families and communities.

Here are some recent comments from Haredi “holy” men that set the tone. Most are the same hackneyed excuses we’ve heard for decades. In the context of the past year’s new reality, however, they sound far more scathing and malign.

The American Haredi news site Yeshivah World News reported that religious, heads of yeshivahs and Knesset members from the Degel HaTorah political party gathered on Dec. 4 for “an emergency meeting” regarding the status yeshivah student and the draft.

There, Rabbi Dov Landau, a religious leader, reportedly said that Haredi men “will not enlist in any shape or form, but the unclear situation we are in causes legitimate fear and tension” for the heads of the yeshivas, the students and the families of those who have received a draft order. He went on to say that “unfortunately, the number of b’nei yeshivahs receiving orders is increasing.”

Shortly afterward, Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef caused a firestorm when he said that even Haredi men who aren’t learning in yeshiva will not serve in the IDF. “It is forbidden to go to the army, even for one who is idle,” the rabbi said.

The underlying truth is that the Haredis are fine with dumping the burden of defending Israel on the rest of us. Their efforts at a “piety spin” cannot disguise what this is: brazen parasitism.

Many of our heroic soldiers were, and are, religious, God-fearing, devoted Torah-learners. That hasn’t stopped them from taking up arms.

Encountering Haredi men of draft age in various settings can be unsettling. I regularly pass them by when I go to my local swimming pool and gym. “Excuse me,” I am so tempted to say, “but aren’t you supposed to be in the beit midrash [house of religious study]? How do you justify hanging out here, swimming and using the treadmill?”

Even more upsetting is that many of my close relatives—siblings, nephews, cousins—are draft dodgers. They are undoubtedly kind in every other way, and are devoted fathers, husbands and sons. But their embrace of the Haredi platform is an anathema. They never discuss the draft issue, and they rarely mention the war at all. When they do, it is only to bemoan the intrusion of sirens and the lack of Palestinian workers for their businesses. We seem to live on different planets.

As I am certain that our relationship would not survive my broaching this issue, I have never taken that irreversible step.

But this conflict isn’t something peripheral to our lives. It is a festering wound threatening to rip our society asunder.

And so, it was music to my ears to hear that a group of Dati Leumi “national religious” women whose husbands serve in the IDF banded together to pressure the government to impose the draft equally on the entire population.

Penina Pogoda of Alon Shvut, one of the group’s founders, said: “We aren’t interested in imprisoning Haredis or in toppling the government, but we will see to it that it doesn’t pay to dodge the draft ... thanks to our activities, our community leaders understand that what has been, is not what will be.”

To start, they organized a conference in the Knesset in which military spokesmen warned Knesset members that the IDF needs some 15,000 additional draftees in every intake and explained to the legislators how to achieve Haredi enlistment.

Sadly, even the wives of our overburdened reservists are aware that success in enlisting Haredi men is an uphill battle that will be won only in the distant future.

Some of them have circulated calls on social media to pressure the IDF to use the pool of non-Haredi reservists who have been overlooked. They could and should be more easily drafted to relieve those who have already served hundreds of days in this war.

While I understand the motivation behind that, I fear that such a move would divert attention from the fight for an equal draft law. We can’t risk having it shoved onto the back burner again.

In Pogoda’s words, what has been is not what will be. How this change will be achieved—whether by carrot or stick—remains to be seen. Imprisonment, the denial of the right to vote and the cancellation of various financial perks are all options that have been proposed. It’s time we found out which will work.

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While the United Arab Emirates regards U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza as "difficult," Abu Dhabi has yet to see "an alternative to what's being proposed," the Emirati envoy to the United States said Wednesday.

Speaking with Al Arabiya's Hadley Gamble at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, UAE Ambassador to the United States Yousef al-Otaiba said Abu Dhabi was "going to try" to find common ground with Trump.

"We are agile, we make our voices heard and we are very outspoken and unapologetic about this, so just like any relationship, sometimes our friends listen to us, sometimes they don't, sometimes we agree on certain positions, sometimes we disagree. We've always strived to find common ground," said al-Otaiba.

"But at the end of the day, we're all in a solution-seeking business; we just don't know where it's going to land yet," he continued.

Asked whether the UAE was working on an alternative to Trump's plans to relocate the Gazan population, al-Otaiba said, "Not yet."

"I don't see an alternative to what's being proposed. I really don't," the Arab diplomat admitted, before adding: "So if someone has one, we're happy to discuss it, we're happy to explore it, but it hasn't surfaced yet."

https://twitter.com/_HadleyGamble/status/1889722131157512530

Trump has suggested that the United States will "take over" the war-torn Gaza Strip, speaking during a press conference at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Feb. 4.

Initially, Trump said Palestinians could later opt to return to Gaza, but he reversed himself on Feb. 10, telling Fox News host Bret Baier that Palestinians who leave the Strip would not return under his plan "because they're gonna have much better housing" elsewhere.

Trump has suggested that Gazans would be moved to one large site or various locations. In an unverified report, Israel's Channel 12 News claimed that areas under consideration are Morocco, Somaliland and Puntland, a region in northeast Somalia that declared itself a country in 1998.

Netanyahu has voiced his support for Trump's proposal, and a survey found that a majority of Israeli Jews support it as well.

Previously, Netanyahu had said that he was working to establish an administration in the Strip by Palestinians "who are not committed to our destruction, possibly with the aid of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other countries that I think want to see stability and peace."

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The Oct. 7, 2023, attacks marked the end of the two-state solution, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana told visiting European Parliament President Roberta Metsola in Jerusalem on Thursday.

"Today, I welcomed @EP_President Roberta Metsola back to the Knesset to discuss the hostages, Iran & UNRWA's role in fueling terror," Ohana tweeted. "I told her Hamas also killed the so-called 'two-state solution' on October 7th—and thanked her for her solidarity ever since."

https://twitter.com/AmirOhana/status/1889971182516199666

Ohana, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party and ruling coalition, blamed Gaza's education system for inciting violence and suggested that only the approach proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump offers a fresh perspective.

The American president's plan includes the resettlement of Gazans to other countries while the war-torn coastal enclave is rebuilt, deradicalized and turned into a developed hub at peace with Israel.

Metsola also met at the Knesset on Thursday with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar.

She described the meetings as "open discussions in Jerusalem," adding that the immediate priority for the European Parliament "is to ensure that all the hostages are released, that the ceasefire holds and humanitarian aid increases."

https://twitter.com/EP_President/status/1889986805325591018

Hamas currently holds 76 hostages in Gaza, including 73 kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attacks in which over 250 were taken hostage and some 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel. Three captives are scheduled to be released on Saturday as part of the first stage of a ceasefire that took effect on Jan. 19, with the second stage being negotiated.

Israel has threatened to resume combat against the terrorist group if the hostages are not released by noon on Saturday. Trump also warned Hamas after the organization said earlier in the week that Saturday's release would be postponed, although reports indicated on Thursday that the Islamist group will move forward with freeing three men.

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Australian lawmaker Andrew Wallace said on Wednesday that there has never been a more important time to support Israel and the Australian Jewish community.

Addressing the Australia-Israel Allies Caucus, which he chairs, at Parliament House in Canberra, Wallace said: “Australia is facing an antisemitism crisis, and it is incumbent upon all Australians—and especially those elected to lead the country—that we stand up, speak up and show up for Israel and the Jewish people.”

The remarks come after video footage emerged on Wednesday of two Australians nurses threatening to murder any Israelis under their care, and claiming to have already done so. Australia has seen a surge in antisemitic incidents over the last year, including the torching of two synagogues and vandalism of homes, vehicles and a childcare center.

"The world is watching—allies and competitors alike," the lawmaker continued. "We must have each other’s backs in the fight against antisemitism.”

Jewish community leaders in Australia have attributed the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents amid Israel's 15-month war with Hamas in Gaza to inaction or hostility on the part of the Labor-led government.

"The vast majority of Australians support Israel and are dismayed by the actions of the present Labor government in both their voting pattern in the United Nations, their public statements and their lack of action to quell the resurgence of antisemitism by criminal minorities in the country, " Danny Lamm, former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told JNS on Thursday.

Wallace, who is part of a network of more than four dozen faith-based Israel caucuses in parliaments around the globe, said that it is “for such a time as this” that such alliances are needed.

“Australia and Israel are two pioneering and freedom-loving nations sharing a rich Judeo-Christian and democratic tradition,” said the MP. “There has never been a more important time for political leaders to support Israel and the Jewish community in Australia,” he added.

After months of attacks directed at the Jewish community, Australia‘s parliament last week enacted stringent laws to address hate crimes, introducing mandatory minimum sentences for terrorism offenses and the display of hate symbols.

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  • Words count:
    340 words
  • Type of content:
    Update Desk
  • Publication Date:
    Feb. 13, 2025
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Justice Yitzhak Amit was sworn in as president of Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday, in a ceremony that was boycotted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Amit, who is widely considered a left-wing judge, was officially sworn in at 5:30 p.m. in the presence of state President Isaac Herzog.

Netanyahu, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana all announced they would not attend the swearing-in ceremony.

The decision, which received support from coalition lawmakers who sit on the Judicial Selection Committee, was taken following what Levin last month labeled an "illegitimate" appointment process, as well as allegations of fraud and conflicts of interest leveled against Amit.

On Jan. 13, it emerged that Amit failed to disclose that he was involved in legal proceedings involving Tel Aviv real estate under a different name, which right-wing lawmakers said amounted to fraud.

Maariv cited senior sources inside Netanyahu's Likud Party as saying on Thursday that the prime minister considers Amit's selection "null and void" and was considering not signing his appointment letter.

Article 12 of Basic Law: The President of the State says that the decree appointing the court president requires the signature of Netanyahu or "another minister assigned by the government," in addition to Herzog's.

It took more than a year for Amit to replace Esther Hayut, the previous Supreme Court chief, who retired in October 2023 at the mandatory retirement age for judges of 70. Justice Uzi Fogelman then served as the acting court president, until he too retired, in October 2024, at age 70. Since Jan. 26, Amit, 66, has served as acting court president.

Levin had resisted convening the Judicial Selection Committee due to his opposition to the seniority system, the custom whereby the most veteran justice, in this case Amit, is selected as president.

According to a survey the Jewish People Policy Institute published on Thursday, half of the Israeli public regards Amit as "problematic." At the same time, 20% think his appointment should have been canceled, even if the move would have led to a constitutional crisis in the Jewish state.

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  • Words count:
    357 words
  • Type of content:
    Update Desk
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  • Publication Date:
    Feb. 13, 2025

Two Arab Israelis have been arrested on suspicion of planning a series of terrorist attacks against security forces and civilians, the Israel Police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) revealed in a statement on Thursday.

The suspects, aged 18 and 21, from the towns of Qalansawe and Zemer in central Israel, expressed support for the Hamas terror group following its Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, according to the statement.

The two had planned several attacks, including "a shooting at a military facility and a combined ramming and shooting attack targeting IDF soldiers or civilians," it continued.

According to the investigation, one of the suspects purchased materials to make fire bombs and "conducted tests" to produce explosive charges with the intent to attack a bus transporting Israeli troops.

Following the arrests, a court extended the suspects' detention. Charges were set to be filed against them on Thursday.

In November, two minors from Israel's "triangle region" were indicted on charges of conspiring to carry out terrorist acts against security forces.

The triangle region contains 11 Arab Israeli communities adjacent to the Green Line and the Samaria security barrier, including Qalansawe and Zemer, and is home to approximately 250,000 people.

According to the indictment, one of the minors was recruited to a terror cell in August 2023. He allegedly received training in explosives and subsequently acquired chemical materials to conduct experiments.

He then recruited three additional members, including the second minor in the indictment. The pair allegedly worked in collaboration with others, attempted to make bombs and demonstrated an intent to cause harm.

Since the start of the Iron Swords war 16 months ago, there has been growing radicalization among some segments of the country's Arab population. 

A poll conducted in December 2023 by the Israel Democracy Institute's Center for Democratic Values and Institutions discovered that one-third of Israel's Arabs disagree with the statement that the Oct. 7 attack "does not reflect Arab society, the Palestinian people and the Islamic nation."

According to a June poll, some 14.7% of Arab Israelis believe Hamas should govern Gaza after the war. That number represents some 308,700 Israeli citizens out of an Arab Israeli population of around 2.1 million.

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  • Words count:
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  • Type of content:
    Opinion
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U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to take over Gaza, resettle its 2 million residents and redevelop the territory have been excoriated in the United States and elsewhere as ruinously expensive and likely to see American troops mired in another conflict. Those criticisms have things entirely backward.

Under Trump’s plan, no troops would be needed. Israel’s military will be taking responsibility for Gaza’s long-term security.

Rather than being ruinously expensive, Gaza’s redevelopment stands to be massively profitable. Those who mock Trump’s assertion that Gaza has the potential to become a “Riviera of the Middle East” ignore the deep pockets and business acumen of those in Trump’s circle.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a Middle East real estate developer, lauded the development potential of Gaza’s Mediterranean coastline in a February 2024 interview with Harvard Middle East Initiative Faculty chairman Tarek Masoud. Kushner’s business associates include the Saudis, Emiratis and Qataris, who have invested a combined $3.5 billion in his Affinity Partners’ investment fund.  According to George Washington University economics professor Joseph Pelzman, author of a detailed plan for Gaza’s redevelopment, Kushner’s investors “are salivating to get in.”

Seconding Kushner’s assessment of Gaza’s development potential is Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, another real-estate developer, and Trump, himself, who considers Gaza prime real estate. The Trump Organization and its partner, Saudi-based Dar Al Arkan, have been developing hotels, luxury apartments and golf courses in Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 

The value of hotel developments along the Gaza Strip’s 25-mile coastline could amount to tens of billions of dollars, dwarfing the $60 million a year for the estimated 20 years the United Nations says would be required to clear the 50 million tons of rubble left behind by the war.

Once the United States takes the “long-term ownership position” that Trump proposes and offers concessions to bidders in the tourism industry, the Gazan properties would start spinning off massive amounts of lucre. As icing on the cake, the Gaza Riviera would benefit from the 5 million tourists per year who already come to Israel, one of the world’s largest vacation destinations, many of whom may well include Gaza in their itinerary.

Gaza’s inland development would also be profitable, albeit much less so. Development of the areas adjacent to the coast would be driven by the need for housing for the tourist industry’s workforce and facilities for its suppliers. With the rest of Gaza resembling a demolition zone bereft of infrastructure and replete with unexploded ordinance, and with the United Nations estimating that rebuilding homes there will take decades, few would rush to develop communities further inland.

An exception would be Jewish communities.

With the Trump administration viewing Gaza as an “international place where everyone can live,” Israel would be able to right a historic wrong when it forcibly uprooted Jewish communities in Gaza in 2005 in the vain hope that peace would come of unilaterally giving Gaza to the Palestinians. Those uprooted communities could now be re-established, along with needed roads and other infrastructure. No U.S. financial or military commitment would be required; the private sector or the Israeli government would provide the wherewithal. Over time, other communities, including Arab settlements that found financing and were committed to peaceful coexistence with Jews, would also emerge.

Gaza’s petroleum-rich offshore represents another multibillion-dollar bounty for U.S. taxpayers. By awarding mining concessions to America-friendly corporations, the United States would augment America’s energy resources and its treasury.

While the U.S. military wouldn’t be needed to secure Gaza, it would benefit by establishing bases there to complement its facilities in some 20 other Middle East locations, many of which are subject to attack from hostile neighbors. Gaza bases adjacent to Israel, which would share its extensive intelligence, would be subject to far fewer attacks.

Trump expects America to sell Gaza eventually. When that occurs, this Mediterranean Riviera would represent an unparalleled financial windfall for the U.S. Treasury. Whether a country or an Israeli or Arab consortium proves to be the highest bidder, the new owners would want to protect their investment by keeping it a safe venue for tourism. 

Critics of Trump’s plan, such as Houchang E. Chehabi, professor emeritus at Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies, condemn the “forced resettlement of 2 million Gazans [as] mind-bogglingly appalling.” They have it backward: It is the Arab countries and others who are forcing Gazans to stay in Gaza, by barring their entry elsewhere. By persuading other countries to accept Gazan immigrants, Trump would be setting Gazans free to leave the uninhabitable calamity that Hamas has brought down on them.

Trump’s plan provides hope for Gazans who seek a brighter future, for Israelis who would finally share a border with a friend and ally, and for Americans who will take pride in turning one of the world’s most vicious terrorist enclaves into a profitable and peaceful oasis.

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