Hundreds of reservists and retired officers in Israel’s air force signed a letter on Thursday urging the Israeli government to agree to a deal with Hamas to return hostages to Israel, even at the price of stopping the war in Gaza. The letter, signed by roughly a thousand people, including a former chief of staff … Read more
There aren’t a lot of countries Israel’s prime minister can visit without risking arrest. Which makes the red-carpet treatment Benjamin Netanyahu received in Hungary — Europe’s only proud “illiberal democracy” — all the more noteworthy. Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, invited Mr. Netanyahu right after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant last November … Read more
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Thursday began a visit to Hungary, confident that Europe’s self-declared bastion of “illiberal democracy” would ignore an arrest warrant issued against him in November by the International Criminal Court. The visit is Mr. Netanyahu’s first to a country that has recognized the jurisdiction of the court, raising the … Read more
A spending plan approved by Israel’s Parliament hands Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a big political victory and devotes a significant chunk to military spending, signaling that Israel expects to stay on a war footing for the longer term. The $206 billion budget was approved on Tuesday with broad enough support — 66 votes to 52 … Read more
Sixteen months after the Oct. 7 massacre, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has concluded his official visit to Washington a victor. The Israeli leader — who spent years actively strengthening Hamas’s rule in Gaza and bears deep responsibility for the events leading up to the worst disaster in modern Jewish history since the Holocaust … Read more
The State Department has given Congress formal notification that it plans to move forward with sales of more than $8 billion in weapons to Israel, bypassing an informal review process that was still ongoing in one House committee. The move took place just two days after President Trump met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of … Read more
Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for 183 Palestinians jailed by Israel, in a staged handover where rifle-toting Hamas fighters prodded their gaunt captives to give short speeches, effectively at gunpoint, thanking the militants who had held them captive for 16 months. The events made an already tenuous cease-fire more fragile, possibly … Read more
President Trump’s Middle East envoy is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu. The visit by the envoy, Steven Witkoff, was set to take place as Israeli and Hamas officials prepared for a new round of negotiations aimed at cementing the current cease-fire in … Read more
Three hostages have been freed in the first phase of the cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel. The hostages, all women, were released into Red Cross custody in Gaza on Sunday and were transferred to Israeli forces, who took them to meet their mothers, the Israeli military said. About 100 hostages, living and dead, are … Read more
With the long-sought cease-fire agreement now in place, both President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump can claim credit for the accomplishment, while Israel and Hamas ponder what precisely they have signed up for. The agreement’s first phase calls for the release of 33 of the about 100 hostages still being held in Gaza, a six-week … Read more