Israel has ‘not stopped trying’ to revive Hamas talks, Netanyahu tells hostage families
(JNS) — Israel “has not stopped trying” to revive the hostage talks with Hamas since recalling its negotiating team from Doha last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed to captives’ families Tuesday.
“I have just finished an additional consultation on the issue,” he said in a public address to the families on Tuesday night. “There was a meeting yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that as well. Since the return of the delegation from Qatar, we have not stopped trying.”
However, “there is one big obstacle, and everyone knows what it is — Hamas. It is persisting in its refusal,” continued Netanyahu, adding: “President [Donald] Trump said it. [U.S. Middle East envoy Steve] Witkoff said it. We are saying it. Whoever knows the facts, including the mediators, everyone knows it,” he added.
Religious Zionism’s Zvi Sukkot receives death threats from ‘Israeli Revengers’
(JNS) — Israeli lawmaker Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism Party) has received threatening letters from a group calling itself “The Israeli Revengers Organization,” he confirmed to JNS on Wednesday.
“We expected our previous letters to be taken seriously and that our severe warnings would lead to action on your part, and that there would be real action to bring down the criminal government,” the group wrote in its most recent letter to Sukkot.
According to copies of the letters obtained by Israel’s Channel 12 News, the group demanded that Sukkot take a stance against the government — including by opposing the firing of Israel Security Agency chief Ronen Bar and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, as well as by voting against the budget and the military exemption of Haredi Jews.
IDF downs Houthi drone from Yemen
(JNS) — The Israeli Air Force on Wednesday evening intercepted a drone launched by Houthi terrorists in Yemen, the military said.
The Israel Defense Forces noted that sirens were activated in accordance with protocol. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
On Tuesday night, the IAF intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis that set off air-raid sirens in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other parts of central Israel.
The IAF also intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile on July 25, less than 24 hours after downing a UAV fired by the Iranian-backed terror group.
Rare First Temple-era seal impression found in Jerusalem
(JNS) — A rare First Temple-era seal impression (bulla) bearing a Hebrew inscription was unearthed three weeks ago by the Temple Mount Sifting Project, Hebrew media reported on Wednesday.
A bulla is an inscribed clay, soft metal, or wax token used in commercial and legal documentation.
Based on the shape of the letters, the bulla is dated from the second half of the 7th century BCE to the beginning of the 6th century BCE.
The well-preserved clay seal was found by archeologist Mordechai Erlich, outlet Ynet reported. Epigrapher Anat Mendel-Geberovich and Zachi Dvira deciphered the letters as reading, “Yed[a‛]yah (son of) Asayahu,” which is understood to mean “Belonging to Yed[a‛]yah (son of) Asayahu.” Presumably this person was the owner of the seal.
Witkoff meets Netanyahu after Hamas torpedoes ceasefire talks
(JNS) — “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently meeting at his office with the U.S. president’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff,” the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday afternoon.
Witkoff’s trip marks his first visit to the Jewish state since May and comes after the collapse of indirect ceasefire negotiations between Jerusalem and the Hamas terrorist group in Doha last week.
Witkoff is also expected to meet with other officials to discuss urgent next steps, including expanding aid access to Gaza. He is also expected to visit aid distribution facilities in the Strip operated by the American Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Hamas currently holds 50 hostages — 49 of whom were taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of the western Negev, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 kidnapped and taken to Gaza. According to Israeli estimates, 20 of the hostages are believed to be alive.
In a first, Arab League countries condemn Oct. 7 attack, call on Hamas to disarm
(JTA) — The 22-nation Arab League has signed onto a declaration that condemns Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and calls on Hamas to disarm.
The league includes Qatar and Egypt, which have served as mediators in talks between Israel and Hamas during the subsequent war in Gaza. It also includes Turkey, which has adopted a stance of overt hostility toward Israel during the war.
The league joined the entire European Union and 17 other countries in backing the declaration at a United Nations meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia and France. The meeting’s goal included discussion of a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an objective that not all Arab League states had previously endorsed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes a two-state solution and his government panned the U.N. confab as a form of appeasement. The United States also boycotted the meeting, held in New York.
Hezbollah chief says calls to disarm terror group serve Israel
(JNS) — Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem declared on Wednesday that calls for the terrorist group to disarm served Israeli interests, following renewed international pressure on Iran’s Lebanese proxy.
Qassem insisted that such demands align with Israel’s strategic goals. He vowed that Hezbollah will resist efforts to disarm it or to convince it to withdraw from Southern Lebanon.
“Anyone calling today for the surrender of weapons, whether internally or externally, on the Arab or the international stage, is serving the Israeli project,” AFP quoted the terrorist leader as saying in a televised address marking the first anniversary of the targeted killing by Israel of senior commander Fuad Shukr.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that Beirut is resolute in its intention to disarm Hezbollah. Speaking during an address for Army Day, Aoun said: “Lebanon is committed to asserting state authority across all its territory, to removing all weapons from armed groups—including Hezbollah — and to transferring these arms to the Lebanese army,” according to AFP.
Archaeologists decipher ravaged scenes in Negev after Oct. 7
(JNS) — Public tours at an exhibition portraying the events of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel — as seen through the eyes of archaeologists — will open in Jerusalem next week.
This is the first time that the involvement of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in the Swords of Iron war will be presented to the public, starting on Aug. 6.
In the wake of the war, the official body found itself operating in the scene of modern destruction, using its arsenal of archaeological tools and experts to decipher the ravaged scenes in the western Negev.
“Professionals who developed their skills and tools to engage in interpreting ancient archaeology found themselves digging amongst the rubble of just-destroyed houses, and through their unique expertise were able to see and identify the scant human remains, and thus restored their faces, names and memory,” said project director Leora Berry.
