Huge, long standing ovation for Trump in the Knesset where it's actually against the rules to clap, but no one is going to enforce that. Trump looks very pleased. Trump is now giving Bibi a standing ovation

Netanyahu is giving his first press conference to the foreign press in a year after his plan for Israel to take control of Gaza City has proven unpopular with the Israeli Right and Left. Netanyah: Hamas still has 1000s of terrorists in Gaza...Hamas refusing to lay down its arms, Israel has no choice but to finish the job...Contrary to false claims, this is the best way to end the war and to end it speedily.

Interesting background for a press conference with the Foreign Minister Sa’ar: Israel refuses to sit on the bench of the accused in the UN’s politicized circus. No country in its position would. It is the UN and UNRWA that should be on trial, not Israel…

The ICJ is attempting to deny Israel its basic rights, rights that every sovereign country has, above all, the right to defend ourselves.

Remember when Netanyahu was like “excuse me, a two-state solution is bad actually” in the Oval Office and Obama supporters were like “he’s lecturing the president! So disrespectful!” Ben Rhodes 2011 and now

Trump said his meeting with Netanyahu was “wonderful” and that the friendship between the US and Israel is unbreakable. On the Abraham Accords Trump said he’s sure “many countries will be joining this peace and economic development transaction.”

Netanyahu:

This is a difficult day. The entire nation’s hearts are broken. I and all of Israel were shocked to the depths of my soul at the terrible murder in cold blood of six of our hostages…

I say to the Hamas terrorists…we will not rest. We will hunt you down, we will reach you and you will pay the price.

We are fighting on all fronts against a cruel enemy who wants to murder us all. Just this morning they killed 3 police officers in Hebron…

The fact that Hamas continues to commit atrocities like on Oct. 7 requires us to do everything to ensure they can’t commit those atrocities again. Netanyahu on hostage negotiations:

Since December, Hamas refuses to really negotiate. 3 months ago Israel agreed to a deal to free the hostages fully backed by the US. Hamas refused even after the US updated the deal on August 16 — we agreed, Hamas refused again…Hamas continues to refuse every offer. Even worse, at the same time they murdered six of our hostages.

*Whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal.*

We won’t give up. The govt of Israel is committed and I personally commit to continuing to work towards a deal that will bring back all our hostages and ensure our security and our existence.

Some of the guests for Netanyahu’s speech who I’ve spotted so far:
Rivka Kidron
@lightstonea
@DouglasKMurray
Rabbi Levi Shemtov
@JGreenblattADL
Sander Gerber
@NDiament
Falic family
Daniel Bonner
Eric Fingerhut
Rabbi Abraham Cooper
Pastor Hagee
Richard and Phyllis Heidemen Also in the audience: Former Netanyahu spokesman David Keyes who was forced to resign over sexual misconduct allegations.

#BREAKING Israel's cabinet voted unanimously to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel This proposal was raised repeatedly since Oct. 7 in light of Al Jazeera reporters' membership in Hamas, giving away IDF positions, etc - but it was delayed again and again, in part bc Qatar, which owns Al Jazeera, is the mediator in hostage negotiations.

This is what Israeli Health Ministry representative Gilad Bodenheimer said at the same Knesset meeting: "We know of only a few cases of suicide. We must be cautious with numbers that could do public damage."

https://twitter.com/thewebbie/status/1780197826800054702

I don't necessarily take the government at its word, but I also question how the survivor would know about 50 cases. (I'm not attributing malice to the survivor, to be clear.)

#BREAKING Netanyahu announces that if the US doesn't veto the UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire today, he's canceling Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi's White House meetings. Dermer and Hanegbi's trip to Washington came after Biden asked Netanyahu on the phone last week to send a delegation to discuss alternatives to a major IDF operation in Rafah.

Blinken: “While there are some clear nonstarters in Hamas’ response, we do think it creates space” to negotiate a hostage release deal.

Also talks about negotiations to get Hezbollah off the northern border so Israelis can return to their homes. Blinken spends much more time talking about humanitarian aid to Gaza and the toll of the war on civilians than about everything else combined. Calls on Israel to open the Erez crossing to northern Gaza, improve coordination w aid providers, stop anyone from blocking aid.

I’m going to make a thread of ways this Sky News take is egregious

https://twitter.com/lahavharkov/status/1729502721621811427

Elma Abraham, 84, not given any of the life-saving medicine she needed and returning to Israel straight to hospital where she’s in critical condition

https://x.com/lahavharkov/status/1729470610613399661?s=46

Hamas trying to move the goalposts. Senior Hamas terrorist in Beirut says that they won't release hostages today unless Israel allows 300 trucks into Gaza and releases prisoners in order of how long they're in prison "as promised."
Except that was never what Israel agreed to.

https://twitter.com/kaisos1987/status/1728734487289471359

Unfortunately, I would expect another nerve-wracking night.

I was wondering about this.

https://twitter.com/noahpollak/status/1722307821159735644

Btw did you notice the caption of the photo of Shani Louk thrown in the back of a pickup truck calls her an Israeli soldier?

Red Cross, Hamas say 2 more hostages have been released. Per Hamas, their names are Nurit Yitzhak & Yehudit Lifshitz, chosen for “health reasons.”
Lest you think Hamas are humanitarians, remember they are still holding another 220 civilians hostage, including children. Yitzhak is 85, Lifshitz is 79 and volunteered with her husband for years to take Palestinians to Israeli hospitals for treatment.

When American Jewish intellectuals publicly debated earlier this year
whether US military aid is good for Israel or not, Israelis largely ignored it. Now, Israelis are finding the debate very relevant - and realizing they may be having it too late. 1/ I wrote about the start of this public discussion in Israel last week 2/jewishinsider.com/2023/10/u-s-is…

Briefing reporters, Israel's new point man on hostages and captives Gal Hirsch said the authorities are still working on getting a clear picture of who Hamas killed, who they took hostage and whose status is unknown. 126 families have been contacted. Asked about negotiations for their release, Hirsch would not comment other than to say "we are talking about a bitter enemy." This is soon after Hanegbi said "we don't have a way currently to negotiate with an enemy that we want to erase from the earth."

The EU, the biggest donor to the Palestinians, is suspending all aid

https://twitter.com/OliverVarhelyi/status/1711362068056613294

In July, the EU representative to the Palestinians was...wait for it...paragliding in Gaza. facebook.com/EUandPalestini…

The coverage of FM Eli Cohen’s statement about no Saudi consulate in Jerusalem is driving me nuts. It has been so misleading. There was no announcement and no veto of a Saudi request. A day and a half after the Saudis announced their envoy, to the Palestinians, Cohen was asked 1/ on the radio if the step was coordinated with Israel. He said no, and that they don’t have to. In other words - the Saudis didn’t ask at all, let alone for a consulate in Jerusalem. Then Cohen was asked if Israel will allow a consulate in Jerusalem if asked, and Cohen said 2/

Channel 13 poll

National Camp (Gantz) 30
Likud 25
Yesh Atid 17
Shas 10
UTJ 7
Yisrael Beytenu 6
Raam 6
Religious Zionism 5
Otzma 5
Hadash-Ta'al 5
Meretz 4

Opposition 63
Coalition 52 54% concerned about Israel's security following the new law
37% not worried

56% worried there will be civil war
35% not worried

54% Netanyahu doesn't want to compromise
33% He does

55% Gantz and Lapid should return to talks about the judicial reform
26% they shouldn't

It was very striking to see these and other newspapers with this cover - the text days "a black day for Israeli democracy" - but, as it turns out, it's an ad! The hi-tech protest group paid for the ads