Israel News
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In Gaza City, Israel Looks for a Way to Kill Hamas but Not Its Hostages
on September 17, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) Dov Lieber -
As Israel's military closes in on Hamas in Gaza City, Hamas has warned it will kill the Israeli hostages if the IDF tries to free them by force. The densely packed battlefield also raises the risk of accidental deaths. Israel's security services say they are moving troops into Gaza City cautiously because of the danger to the hostages, slowing the ground offensive.
Being on the ground in Gaza City will give Israel's troops a chance to gather real-time intelligence on the hostages' whereabouts, said Brig.-Gen. (res.) Danny Van Buren. Hamas has a vested interest in keeping them alive as a hedge for the militants' own safety, he said. According to Israel, 42 of the hostages taken alive during Oct. 7 were killed in captivity in Gaza.
U.S. Designates Four Iran-Aligned Militias as Terrorist Organizations
on September 17, 2025
(U.S. State Department) Secretary of State Marco Rubio -
The State Department on Wednesday designated Iran-aligned militia groups Harakat al-Nujaba, Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, and Kata'ib al-Imam Ali as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
As the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran continues to provide support that enables these militias to plan, facilitate, or directly carry out attacks across Iraq. Iran-aligned militia groups have conducted attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and bases hosting U.S. and Coalition forces.
Israeli Air Force Targets Hamas's Hidden Explosive Devices
on September 17, 2025
(Ynet News) Yoav Zitun -
Moments before Israeli Merkava tanks risked encountering a massive explosive device at a street junction in central Gaza City, an Apache helicopter intervened, triggering an explosion. Dozens of airstrikes targeted explosive booby traps identified overnight, many hidden in rubble, high-rise floors or walls, camouflaged to evade detection. Hamas is using hidden cameras for remote detonation and is focusing on explosive devices due to depleted anti-tank missiles and sniper ammunition stocks.
The ground operations in Gaza City saw minimal initial resistance. Unlike the previous operation, where troops hesitated to dismount armored vehicles, this time, the infantry moved on foot from the start.
IDF Confirms Strikes on Yemen's Hodeidah Port
on September 17, 2025
(Ynet News) Lior Ben Ari -
The Israeli Air Force on Tuesday struck "a military infrastructure site belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime at the Hodeidah Port in Yemen," the IDF said. The port is "used by the Houthi terrorist regime for the transfer of weapons supplied by the Iranian regime, in order to execute attacks against the State of Israel and its allies."
The strike was carried out in response to repeated Houthi attacks on Israel by UAVs and surface-to-surface missiles. Israel issued a public warning in Arabic two hours before the strike to enable those present at the port to evacuate immediately.
Israel Arms Thousands of Druze in Southern Syria
on September 17, 2025
(Ynet News) Lior Ben Ari -
Two senior Druze officials said Tuesday that Israel has been arming and financing Druze militias in Sweida in southwest Syria, providing rifles, ammunition, and salaries to thousands of fighters.
Israel Slams EU Move to Suspend Trade Agreement
on September 17, 2025
(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar on Tuesday wrote to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen ahead of a meeting of the EU College of Commissioners regarding her proposal to put political pressure on Israel by suspending trade-related provisions in the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
"This unprecedented proposal, that has never been implemented against any other country, constitutes a clear attempt to harm Israel while we are still fighting a war imposed on us by the October 7 terror attack - the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. This existential war is being fought against Hamas and the terrorist organizations in Gaza, while we are still being attacked also by the Houthis in Yemen."
"The war continues because Hamas refuses to release the hostages and insists on maintaining its military power in Gaza. Had Hamas agreed to disarm and release the hostages, the war would have ended long ago. It is profoundly disturbing that you, by advancing such a proposal, are in practice empowering a terrorist organization responsible for and continuing to perpetrate heinous crimes, while Israel, a longstanding partner of the EU, fights an existential war. It also jeopardizes the ongoing efforts to end the war."
"Pressure through sanctions will not work. The State of Israel is a proud sovereign nation, and we will not be bent through threats while Israel's security is at stake. As has been clearly stated by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, initiatives of this nature embolden Hamas, harden its stance, and undermine progress toward potential agreements."
"Eighty years have passed since the Holocaust on European soil occurred, taking the life of 6 million of our people. We have established a homeland for our people in our ancestral land, fighting relentlessly for our lives and security. Europe harming Israel while there is an attempt to annihilate the surviving remnant of the Jewish people and its only state marks the trampling of every moral standard and disregards Europe's historical responsibility."
Israel's Population Grows to 10.1 Million
on September 17, 2025
(Ynet News) Yaron Drukman -
On the eve of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), Israel's population stands at 10,148,000, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said Wednesday. 7.76 million are Jews (78.5%), and 2.13 million are Arabs (21.5%). Another 260,000 are foreign residents. CBS found that 91.1% of Israelis are satisfied with their lives - including 92.4% of Jews and 85.5% of Arabs.
As Gaza City Evacuation Expands, Pressure on Hamas Increases
on September 17, 2025
(Jerusalem Post) Amir Bohbot -
About 400,000 Palestinians have moved south from Gaza City so far, according to the IDF. "The movement of the population in general, and from Gaza City in particular, is what most frightens the Hamas leadership. Why? Because in their minds the word 'Nakba,' the disaster, the catastrophe describing the 1948 War of Independence and the refugee phenomenon, is burned in," an Israeli security source told Walla.
"Every time the Palestinian public comes down from buildings, leaves their homes, and moves south, Hamas comes under pressure. Why? Because...there is resentment and anger that is directed toward Hamas."
"The more people move south, the more power Hamas loses....The assessment is that once more than half a million Palestinians have moved to al-Mawasi and the coastal area in the south, criticism of the Hamas leadership will intensify to the point where signs of its collapse may begin to appear."
How Israel Helped Gaza before Oct. 7, 2023
on September 17, 2025
(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh -
Several years ago, Israel came under pressure from many in the international community to ease restrictions on Hamas-controlled Gaza, despite Hamas's repeated terror attacks against Israel, including more than 31,000 rockets and mortars fired at civilian communities in Israel before 2023. Since then, an additional 19,000 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza. Which European country would tolerate 50,000 rockets, mortars and missiles fired at it - or even one rocket?
Israel allowed Qatar to send billions of dollars to Gaza, primarily for humanitarian aid, civil servant salaries and infrastructure, often channeled through international organizations. Qatar funded fuel for Gaza's electric power plant, construction materials for infrastructure projects, and food rations for impoverished families. Israel approved much of this funding, delivered in cash, in a humanitarian gesture of goodwill to alleviate the impoverished condition of many Gazans.
Israel went to unprecedented lengths to help the Palestinians in Gaza. It even issued work permits to increasing numbers of workers to enter Israel from Gaza, that reached 18,000 by Oct. 7. Egypt, Qatar, and the UN kept assuring Israel that the best way to achieve calm and stability was by improving Gaza's economy and issuing more work permits.
Shortly after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Hamas seized control and transformed it into a large base for Jihad against Israel. Hamas's leaders did not care about medical treatment or schools in Gaza. They also never cared about the unemployed laborers. Rather, they had only one thing in mind: the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews.
Israel had been led to believe that jobs, money and humanitarian aid would bring stability and calm. However, Hamas and many Palestinians viewed these conciliatory measures as signs of weakness on the part of Israel. With or without the funding and humanitarian aid, Hamas anyway would have carried out its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
What the international community fails to understand is that since the establishment of Hamas 35 years ago, its stated goal has been the elimination of Israel. For Hamas, the conflict has never been about improving the living conditions of Palestinians. Hamas regards Israel as one big, illegitimate "settlement" that needs to be uprooted and replaced with an Islamist state.
The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
The Battle of Gaza City: The Jewish State Must Be Victorious over the Islamist Hysterics of Hamas
on September 17, 2025
(Spiked-UK) Brendan O'Neill -
You can judge a person by which side they're taking in the clash between Israel and the neo-fascists of Hamas. Much of the media coverage leaves one with the wholly post-truth impression that the IDF is raiding Gaza City for sport. Or for land. Or in further, feverish pursuit of its curiously unsuccessful "genocide" of the Palestinian people.
The other side in the battle - Hamas's army of apocalyptic Jew-haters - has been virtually invisibilized. It's as bizarre as if newspapers had reported on the Battle of Raqqa without mentioning ISIS, or the Battle of Berlin without ever saying the word "Nazi." It's a kind of wartime censorship to erase the side that started the war in the first place.
A UN commission of inquiry reported that Israel is committing genocide. Its proof? That "Israeli security forces were aware that their military operations since 7 October 2023 would cause the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza." By this infantile definition - basically, your military action caused casualties - every war in history has been a genocide.
If you tell only one side in an existential war to cease fire, then you're objectively aligning with the other side. When I hear the opinion-forming classes squawk "Stop Israel," they've decided, however witlessly, that the security of the Jewish nation is of less moral worth than the deranged ambitions of Hamas. This is a battle between the army of a democratic nation and a terrorist militia that loathes the infidel West as much as it does the Jews. Pick a side.
The Economy of Hamas and How Israel Should Deal with It
on September 17, 2025
(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Eliyahu Haddad -
Hamas operates a billion-dollar economy that exists largely because of Israel's direct participation in Gaza's monetary system, creating a self-defeating arrangement that transforms Israel from adversary into inadvertent sponsor. This wealth flows almost entirely through Israeli-controlled financial channels, denominated in Israeli currency, and facilitated by Israeli banking infrastructure.
Hamas's economic success stems from its complete integration into Israel's monetary sphere through the New Israeli Shekel (NIS). Gaza lacks sovereign currency and operates as a cash economy where 90-95% of all transactions occur in Israeli Shekels.
Until October 7, 2023, the Bank of Israel exchanged worn Israeli banknotes for new ones for banks operating in Gaza. This service enabled Hamas to maintain the currency liquidity necessary for its operations.
The writer is a serial entrepreneur and investment professional specializing in disruptive technologies and financial analysis.
Israel's "Iron Beam" Laser Defense System Is Fully Operational
on September 17, 2025
(Jerusalem Post) Yonah Jeremy Bob -
The Israel Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that Israel's "Iron Beam" is now operational and that a full series of cutting-edge air defense batteries will be deployed across the country. Iron Beam can shoot down not only drones, but also missiles, rockets, and mortars.
Iron Beam will reduce the cost of shooting down aerial threats. Arrow interceptors cost millions of shekels, Iron Dome interceptors cost tens of thousands, but firing the Iron Beam is the cost of the electricity. Iron Beam also has the capacity to counter barrages of simultaneous aerial threats. Lasers can shoot down enemy rockets and drones much earlier because light energy travels much faster than any interceptor.
Although other countries are at various stages of developing laser defense systems, Israel's Iron Beam is the only one that has moved beyond test firings to actual use in the field.
IDF Reservists: Why We Keep Going Back to Fight
on September 17, 2025
(Jerusalem Post) We seven reservists, ranging in age from 23 to 65, men and women, have together served nearly 2,000 days since Oct. 7. We repudiate those few, but well-publicized, reservists who have taken to the New York Times to vow not to serve - which means to abandon their comrades now in the field.
Three of us are mobilized now. One of us, will return to duty soon - on crutches. We represent most reservists, who keep showing up to protect our country - and watch each others' backs. We're all absolutely sure of our duty to keep serving. Since Oct. 7, we have buried dozens of friends.
We repudiate the illegal, immoral, pile-on against Israel during this seven-front war for our existence, continuing the 100-year-war against Zionism. Defending the State of Israel, the Jewish people, and Western civilization against these jihadists is the only way we can survive.
Having watched this war up close, none of us believes Hamas will ever release all the hostages willingly. If we stop fighting now, Hamas will declare victory. Arab states considering expanding the Abraham Accords will spurn what they perceive to be a weak Israel. Even worse, we will be forced to fight again soon.
We've had necessary military operations aborted abruptly to avoid killing civilians. That's why we reject "war crime" accusations and the "genocide" libel. Our commanders keep choosing between destroying the enemy's infrastructure and risking our lives. We buried a 23-year-old newlywed whom a Hamas sniper killed because the army didn't collapse a six-story building. We wonder how many friends we've lost by constantly warning terrorists before attacking.
Yes, we're tired, aching to return to normal. Yet we know that a just war like World War II didn't end until the evil instigators surrendered unconditionally. We serve because we recognize the lethal threats to our nation. We serve because if we don't do it, no one else will. We serve for our comrades in arms because we need each other. And we serve for our children - and our shared future.
IDF Officer Who Survived 5 RPG Hits in Gaza Insists on Fighting
on September 17, 2025
(Ynet News) Ron Crissy -
On Oct. 7, Lt. A., then a platoon commander in the IDF Engineering Corps, was stationed at Kerem Shalom next to Gaza, where he fought attacking terrorists. A. later entered Gaza with his troops and was wounded by an RPG in Jan. 2024. "Even as I lay in the hospital, I was already thinking about what comes next. The memories of Oct. 7 were fresh in my mind, and I realized it was stronger than me - I had to go back," he recalls.
After several weeks of recovery, A. returned to the battlefield. "I never saw an option where I wouldn't return to lead my soldiers. I know the risks, but I also understand the mission - we're fighting for our home, and our brothers are still being held hostage there. We'll carry out the missions any way possible, at any cost."
For many months, A. continued fighting with his unit in Gaza and was hit three more times by RPG fire but miraculously escaped harm. The next strike, in October 2024, left him injured and hospitalized again. "My legs were full of shrapnel," he recalls.
"By then I was deputy commander, and I knew I had a company waiting for me. I was going back the moment I could. It was very important to me to remain part of it, so I didn't let myself give up. After just a month of rehab, I was back."
He told his family: "You'll think I'm crazy, but only those who have been through this, who truly understand the meaning of this war, come back stronger. There are many like me. I'm part of countless fighters who returned after being wounded because we know what's there, and that we must and can give more."
Lt. A. stresses that the troops "still have enormous motivation to keep fighting and defending the country." He bristles at those who claim the fighters are worn out. "The soldiers at the front haven't lost their sense of purpose. They understand the meaning behind every mission and continue risking their lives for the hostages still in Gaza and for the defense of the homeland."
Resilience Is Imperative for Modern Warfare. Israel's Military Proves Why
on September 17, 2025
(USA Today) Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nadav Padan -
Resilience is not just a personal trait or moral principle. It is a national security asset. Nearly two years after Hamas's heinous Oct. 7 attacks, the Israel Defense Forces continue to grapple with fierce, urban combat.
In the Friends of the IDF-supported Soldier Recharge Program, combat units are periodically rotated out from the front lines and brought to a week-long stay in a decompression environment. There, they receive warm meals, hot showers, clean clothing, a bed to sleep in, PTSD screenings, and access to trained mental health professionals. Many soldiers return to their units refreshed, re-centered and recharged.
Emotional resilience is a hard necessity, as central to operational readiness as ammunition and logistics. Resilience is not the absence of pain; it is the will to confront it, endure it and return with resolve. In modern warfare, that is a strategic imperative.
The writer, former Head of IDF Central Command, now serves as CEO of Friends of the IDF.
Israeli Tech Turns Rifles into Drone Killers
on September 17, 2025
(ILTV-Ynet News) Maayan Hoffman -
Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) has developed the Arbel system that allows soldiers to use their AR-15 rifles to shoot down drones. Arbel includes an electronic trigger and internal computer that takes over after the first shot, firing a follow-up shot only when the shooter is stable on target. All the shooter needs to do is aim at the target, pull the trigger, keep it pulled, and concentrate only on correctly aiming.
The West Is Playing a Dangerous Double Game with Qatar
on September 17, 2025
(Israel Hayom) Amb. Freddy Eytan -
The recent Israeli strike on Hamas political leaders in Qatar demonstrates Israel's determination to pursue Islamist terrorists to the bitter end, wherever they may be - similar to the hunt for the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes. No country in the world can lecture Israel or stop our fight against Islamist terrorism. We are following exactly the American and European policies following the attack of Sep. 11, 2001, in New York.
Doha has become a sanctuary for Islamist terrorism. Why does the Free World, led by America, let this happen? The U.S. must demand that Qatar expel all Hamas members from its territory. Normalization within the framework of the Abraham Accords and the resolution of Gaza cannot be advanced as long as Hamas has a strong presence in Doha and sabotages any attempt at rapprochement between the Arab world and Israel.
In 1996, the Emir of Qatar launched Al Jazeera, a television channel with a clear political agenda influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood. It has been a key player in shaping public opinion against Arab regimes and, above all, in inciting hatred of Israel. It was responsible for the fall of Mubarak in Egypt, Ben Ali in Tunisia, and Gaddafi in Libya, and for the rise of fanatical Islamist movements, in collusion with Shiite Iran.
The writer, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, is a former Foreign Ministry senior adviser who was Israel's first ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
Israel's Attack on Hamas in Qatar Was Aimed at Eliminating Its Intransigent Faction
on September 17, 2025
(Free Press) Michael Doran -
For President Trump, Israel remains the security partner of choice in the Middle East, and Israel's attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, has done nothing to change that status. While Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu both issued statements insisting that Israel acted alone, their denials of coordination strain belief. Israel often acts without guarantees, and when its bets fail, it suffers the consequences alone. Trump embraces the wins and distances himself from failures.
Israel's ability to go on offense places it in a rare category among U.S. allies. Most lack the will or capacity to wage war independently. Unilateral Israeli military operations spare American forces and serve U.S. strategic goals. In just two years, Israel has blunted Iran's nuclear ambitions, hammered Hizbullah, neutered Hamas, and weakened the Houthis - achievements many Americans view as enhancing their own security. Trump understands that Israeli military power elevates U.S. global status. The public distance he strikes from Israel fools no one.
In Gaza ceasefire negotiations, the Israelis perceive significant differences between Hamas in Gaza and Hamas in Doha. Gaza's leaders - second- and third-tier figures elevated by the deaths of their commanders - show greater readiness for compromise than Doha's leaders, some of whom are close to Iran. Israel's attack aimed to eliminate this intransigent wing.
Destroying Hamas aligns with the Netanyahu Doctrine: no monsters on Israel's borders. Before Oct. 7, Israel allowed groups like Hamas and Hizbullah to grow, believing deterrence and diplomacy could manage them. That assumption no longer holds.
The writer is a senior fellow and Director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute.
Israel Foreign Ministry: UN Commission Serves as Hamas Proxies for Genocide Claims
on September 17, 2025
(Jerusalem Post) The Israel Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denounced the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry's "fake report" on Israel's committing genocide in Gaza. The ministry said commission chair Navi Pillay, as well as commission members Chris Sidoti and Miloon Kothari, are "notorious for their openly antisemitic positions" and are "serving as Hamas proxies." The commission's report "relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others," which have been "thoroughly debunked."
Hamas is the party that has attempted genocide, due to its Oct. 7 massacre and "openly declaring its goal of killing every Jew." Israel has called for the abolition of the commission.
The UN Commission of Inquiry Promotes Genocide Against Jews
on September 17, 2025
(Times of Israel) Anne Bayefsky -
A new report of the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI), published Tuesday, charges Israel with committing genocide. The COI was created by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to demonize Israel. Its three members were selected precisely because of their rabid anti-Israel bias.
The COI's latest report fails to contain a single recommendation for Hamas, rationalizing the crimes against humanity committed by Hamas and other Palestinians on Oct. 7 as an understandable reaction to Israeli wrongs. The COI claims that if Palestinian civilians are dead, then Israelis must have committed the crime of targeting and wrongfully killing them, although the law of armed conflict anticipates civilian casualties, which are lawful provided that conditions related to proportionality and the military advantage gained are satisfied.
All the COI reports are part of a campaign to manufacture Israeli "crimes" that mirror actual Palestinian crimes.
The writer is president of Human Rights Voices and director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust.
Exposing the UN's Genocide Smears
on September 17, 2025
(Telegraph-UK) Jake Wallis Simons -
The UN has released a laughable report alleging that Israel is committing "genocide." Pretty poor genocide, given that more than two million Gazans remain alive despite Israel's military machine possessing the means to wipe them all out in an afternoon. But common sense isn't a concern, as the UN has no reason to believe that people won't swallow this stuff.
If people were starving en masse, don't you think there'd be evidence of it on TikTok? Instead, the briefest of browses on platforms like Snapchat's heatmaps will reveal what Gazans are posting in real time. Spoiler: You'll see a lot of food. And no dead babies. Sooner or later, people will realize that they've been had.
Hamas Gets a Gentle Reproach at the UN
on September 17, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) Elliot Kaufman -
"For the first time today, the United Nations adopted a text condemning [Hamas] for its crimes and calling for its surrender and disarmament," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot tweeted on Friday. "For the first time"? Why didn't the UN General Assembly condemn Hamas's massacre before? Oct. 7, 2023, was almost two years ago.
Was there any doubt about what happened that day? No, the Hamas death squads live-streamed it. Was the UN too busy with other matters? No, the UN General Assembly voted down a condemnation of the Oct. 7 massacre 20 days after the fact. Canada had proposed it but was unable to muster majority support - 55 states voted against it, with 23 abstentions.
The way the General Assembly finally condemned the massacre on Friday is also instructive. It passed a resolution endorsing the French-led "New York Declaration" from July, which condemns the massacre only as part of a moral equivalence. In other words, Hamas is only as bad as Israel, and perhaps not even. The declaration's emphasis is on committing to create a Palestinian state. Coming as a result of the war Hamas started, Israelis and Palestinians alike consider this a reward to Hamas.
NYC Mayoral Nominee Mamdani Wants to Arrest Netanyahu
on September 17, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) Alan M. Dershowitz -
Zohran Mamdani has pledged that he will order the New York City Police Department to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister visits the city while Mamdani is mayor. Has Mamdani even heard of diplomatic immunity?
The Democratic mayoral nominee claims he would be carrying out the will of the International Criminal Court, but that position defies both U.S. foreign policy and law. Neither the U.S. nor Israel ever joined the court, and presidents from both parties have dismissed it as unaccountable, politicized and a threat to sovereignty. In 2002, Congress enacted the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, which flatly prohibits state and local officials from helping the ICC target U.S. personnel or leaders of allied nations.
The ICC's charges against Netanyahu are a travesty. Its arrest warrant accuses him of intentionally starving civilians in Gaza - never mind that Israel has facilitated the delivery of more than a million tons of food to the strip.
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan had planned to travel to Israel to conduct an investigation. I arranged the trip with his deputy. Then Khan was charged with sexual misconduct. He immediately canceled the trip and issued the arrest warrants. That prompted the U.S. to impose sanctions on Khan.
Should a Mayor Mamdani attempt such a stunt, I would happily represent the prime minister in a federal lawsuit, which would be the easiest win of my career.
The writer is a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School.
Why Do Lebanon and the Arab World Still Deny Palestinians Citizenship?
on September 17, 2025
(JNS) Israel Kasnett -
Lebanon has once again reiterated that Palestinian refugees in the country will not be granted citizenship. This reflects a regional approach shared across the Arab world. Most Arab states deny Palestinians citizenship, even after decades of residence and multiple generations born on their soil.
Leaving Palestinians stateless was designed to avoid permanent integration and to reinforce the idea that refugees should one day return to Palestine. Jacques Neriah, a Middle East analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, said, "No Palestinian has been given citizenship in any Arab country because this would mean assimilation and de facto recognizing the Zionist entity." This includes Syria, Egypt, and the Gulf States. Jordan stands out as the one exception.
Arab governments argue that full integration in host countries would amount to acceptance that Palestinians will never return to their "ancestral lands." Keeping them stateless preserves both their identity and their political utility.
Israel's Strike in Qatar Was Justified
on September 17, 2025
(Daily Wire) Mark Goldfeder and Maj. (ret.) John Spencer -
The UN Security Council has condemned Israel's strike last week against the leaders of Hamas in Qatar. However, this position is legally uninformed. Harboring a terrorist organization is an outright violation of binding international law, and any state that does so should expect an appropriate response.
International law has acknowledged that if irregular forces caused destruction on a scale comparable to that of a regular army, those acts could be considered armed attacks. Hamas has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to inflict destruction on a massive scale, as seen in its October 7, 2023, massacre of Israeli civilians, its ongoing rocket fire, its continued holding of Israeli hostages, and its declared intent to repeat such attacks. By any reasonable military or legal standard, Israel has the right to target those directing such operations wherever they are located.
After 9/11 in 2001, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1373, stating that states must "refrain from providing any form of support, active or passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts" and must "deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist acts, or provide safe havens."
Countries around the world consistently rely on this doctrine to go after terrorists. Turkey has conducted operations in Iraq to go after the PKK. India cited it to justify surgical strikes within Pakistan to go after groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, and France applied it to conduct operations against violent jihadist groups in Mali, Niger, and Chad.
After 9/11, President Bush stated: "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them." President Obama repeatedly invoked the notion of denying terrorist groups safe havens when justifying U.S. strikes and operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and Iraq.
International law requires necessity and proportionality. Here, necessity is obvious because Qatar is not detaining Hamas leaders or halting their activities. Proportionality is satisfied, since these are precise, intelligence-driven strikes aimed not at Qatari civilians but at individuals orchestrating terrorist campaigns. In modern military terms, this is a textbook example of how a state can apply force in a manner that is both lawful and restrained, targeting the enemy while minimizing civilian harm.
History shows that when states allow terrorist sanctuaries to fester, violence metastasizes. Israel's strike in Qatar is part of a long-established, legally grounded, and militarily necessary practice: denying safe haven to those who would continue to massacre innocents if left untouched.
Mark Goldfeder is CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center and a law professor at Touro University. John Spencer is chair of urban warfare studies at West Point's Modern War Institute.
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