(Prime Minister's Office) "We believe that President Trump's plan will lead to peace and prosperity because it insists upon full demilitarization, disarmament, and the deradicalization of Gaza. True to President Trump's vision, this will lead to further integration of Israel and its neighbors as well as expansion of the Abraham Accords." "We expect to receive all of the deceased hostages with no delay and to begin the process of disarming and demilitarizing Gaza and ending Hamas's rule over Gaza." "Israel extends its hand in peace and prosperity to all of our neighbors and calls on them to normalize relations with Israel and join us in expelling Hamas and its supporters from the region."

(Wall Street Journal) Michael R. Gordon - President Trump said Monday that the U.S. would sell advanced F-35 jet fighters to Saudi Arabia. "We will be doing that. We will be selling F-35s," he said, the day before he meets at the White House with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The deal has spurred concerns that it could erode Israel's military advantage in the Middle East.

(Deutsche Welle-Germany) Alex Berry - The German government announced Monday that it was ending the partial suspension of weapons deliveries to Israel for use in Gaza on Nov. 24. Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced the partial suspension of weapon deliveries in August.

(Ha'aretz) Josh Breiner - An Israeli man in his 30s was killed and three others were wounded in a stabbing and ramming attack at Gush Etzion junction south of Jerusalem. A car struck pedestrians, then the attackers exited the vehicle and stabbed others before they were shot dead.

(Jerusalem Post) Amichai Stein - The UN Security Council on Monday approved a resolution supporting an International Stabilization Force (ISF) for Gaza. The resolution also states: "After the PA [Palestinian Authority] reform program is faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood. The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence." This language is identical to that of President Trump's 20-point plan. The new development is that it has now been incorporated into the main text of the proposal itself, not only in the annex.

(Ynet News) Itamar Eichner - Prime Minister Netanyahu told Israel's Cabinet on Sunday, "Our opposition to a Palestinian state on any territory has not changed." He told the Security Cabinet that the phrase "path to a Palestinian state" is accompanied by "a long series of conditions the Palestinians are unlikely to meet." Israeli officials said the conditions are so stringent that the chances of Palestinian compliance are "virtually zero." "They would have to become Sweden," one official said. "These conditions would create, at most, a long corridor full of requirements before anything could even begin."

(Jerusalem Post) 70% of Israelis oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks, according to a new survey by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA) conducted on Nov. 16-17 by the Lazar Research Institute. Among Jewish Israelis, opposition is 79%. 62% of Israelis said they would still oppose a Palestinian state even if it were part of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, with 73% among Jewish Israelis.

(Times of Israel) An Israeli security source said that since the White House is having trouble getting commitments from other countries to participate in disarming Hamas, it has since begun pursuing "interim solutions, which are currently unacceptable to Israel," Israel's Channel 13 reported Saturday. "There can be no rehabilitation before demilitarization. It is contrary to Trump's plan. Gaza must be demilitarized," the security official said. Most countries that have expressed interest in participating in the International Stabilization Force (ISF) have said they would not be willing to enforce the disarmament of terror groups in Gaza.

(Jerusalem Post) Yonah Jeremy Bob - On some days, as many as 20 drones might fly across the Egyptian border into Israel from different points. Egyptian smugglers may be sending hundreds of drones per month into Israel with weapons. IDF sources have said most of the drones originate in Israel. Smugglers send them to Egypt, where they are loaded with weapons and then sent back. To counter the drones, the Iron Dome has gotten better at tracking and shooting them down, the Iron Beam is now in the mix for specific border threats, and a variety of electronic-warfare weapons are now available to down or hack and take control of enemy drones. Israel has made significant strides in setting back the drone weapons-smuggling threat from Egypt, but the battle is far from won.

(Jerusalem Post) Mukhtar Mammadov - Azerbaijan's Victory Day, celebrated last Saturday, is the day when Karabakh and all the territories occupied as a result of nearly 30 years of Armenian control were liberated, allowing us to rebuild and reunite as a nation. For many years, Azerbaijan stood almost entirely alone, with little support from the international community. The international mechanisms meant to help resolve the conflict served instead to perpetuate the status quo. When it became clear that diplomatic efforts were leading nowhere, Azerbaijan was compelled to act on its own to liberate its lands. There were a few close friends and partners who stood by our side during those difficult years. Israel was one of them, and Azerbaijan will never forget it. The writer is the ambassador of Azerbaijan to Israel.

(Israel Hayom) Danny Zaken - Israel removed its opposition to the UN Security Council Gaza resolution's "pathway to Palestinian statehood" framework while receiving compensation across multiple dimensions. The U.S. has guaranteed it wouldn't restrict Israel's military actions against Hamas should the organization breach the ceasefire. The U.S. additionally pledged not to constrain Israel if Hamas declines disarmament and maintains weapons buildup while constituting a threat. Israel could restart the war for Hamas dismantlement, contingent on American coordination. The U.S. further committed to accepting an Israeli-determined schedule for subsequent pullbacks, aligned with Israel's security perception. Both also established that Israel's deployment in the Gaza perimeter and Philadelphi Corridor wouldn't face time restrictions and would be contingent on security conditions. With regard to a prospective Palestinian state, should one materialize eventually, the administration specified that such a state's foundational principles would conform to the 2020 "Deal of the Century" - a state formed solely on partial West Bank territory, with complete demilitarization. Furthermore, advancement toward such statehood should transpire exclusively following extensive Palestinian Authority restructuring, de-radicalization, educational curriculum overhauls, and total termination of payments to Palestinian terrorists and their relatives. Palestinians would likewise renounce any "right of return" and conclude the refugee designation for Palestinians in Middle Eastern camps.

(New York Post) Aviva Klompas - When the UN Security Council approved a U.S.-backed resolution Monday to deploy an International Stabilization Force in Gaza, it acknowledged a core truth: The security vacuum that enabled Oct. 7 cannot be allowed to return. Two realities must remain immovable as the world designs Gaza's future: Hamas cannot retain any foothold, and Israel cannot be expected to outsource its security to external actors. Last week I traveled to Kibbutz Nir Oz, where 117 of its 415 residents were murdered or kidnapped on Oct. 7. I walked around with Irit Lahav, who hid in her home with her daughter for 12 hours as Hamas terrorists tried five separate times to break down her door. She jammed a boat oar beneath the handle and prayed it would hold. Before the attack, Irit believed deeply in coexistence. She was one of the many Gaza-border Israelis who advocated for Palestinians and regularly drove sick Gazans to Israeli hospitals. "I thought the Palestinians were good people like me who want peace," Irit told me. "Now I understand they really, really hate us - and they think that rape, murder, and kidnapping are legitimate." Two days later, I stood in Sajaiya in Gaza, a former Hamas stronghold. From Sajaiya, I could see the homes of Nahal Oz, another Israeli border community a five-minute drive away. The distance between a Hamas command complex and the homes of Israeli families is measured in minutes. What happened in Nir Oz and the other border communities was the predictable result of leaving a heavily armed, ideologically-driven movement embedded minutes from Israeli homes. Two years later, the threat remains. Tunnels still run beneath Gaza, weapons caches remain, and Hamas's ideology is wholly intact. No international plan can succeed while this reality persists. The writer is a former speechwriting director at the Israeli Mission to the UN.

(Fox News) Ken Isaacs - For months, headlines warned of an impending famine in Gaza. On Aug. 22, 2025, experts indicated famine was underway. Yet today, the word "famine" has nearly vanished from the headlines. What happened? Recovery from famine typically takes 8-12 months, even under ideal conditions with full humanitarian access and functioning medical systems. If Gaza truly met famine standards this summer, the signs would still be unmistakable: rising mortality, overwhelmed clinics, and a generation of weakened children. Yet no such surge has been confirmed by independent medical reporting. In August, 84% of Gaza aid convoys were reportedly looted. Yet after the Oct. 10 ceasefire, UN data show interceptions fell to 6%, and by November, below 1%. Where did the desperation go? Recent videos show bustling markets and calm streets. Within six weeks, famine conditions seemingly vanished. If famine had truly taken hold, it would not have dissipated so quickly. Either the crisis was overstated, the data manipulated, or public perception deliberately managed. The writer is vice president of programs and government relations for Samaritan's Purse, a Christian humanitarian aid organization.

(Sapir) Jonathan Schanzer - It is likely that Israel spent more than $1 billion on Arrow-3 interceptions alone since the start of its multifront war. That estimate does not include the cost of shooting down dozens of cruise missiles, hundreds of drones, and thousands of rockets launched against Israel. Then there is the price of offensive operations, using thousands of precision, high-tech munitions fired at targets in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Iran, at a cost running into the billions. Don't forget the price required to fuel Israel's fighter jets for thousands of sorties. Keeping troops in the field over hundreds of days of fighting, while maintaining, repairing, or replacing their equipment, adds additional billions. So do repeated military mobilizations, which remove tens of thousands of people from the civilian workforce. There is the cost to Israel of preparing for the next war. Israel has already decided it needs a far more independent defense-industrial base after the Biden administration decided to suspend deliveries of 2,000-pound bombs. The development of cutting-edge military technologies such as the Iron Beam laser involves additional costs. There's also the cost of the wars to the home front. The destruction wrought by Iranian ballistic missiles - especially in central Israel - will require massive reconstruction, including $1.5 billion in property compensation and over $300 million to rebuild a single tower in Tel Aviv. Multiple towers were destroyed. Rebuilding the kibbutzim in the Gaza Envelope and northern communities such as Metula adds further billions. Earlier this year, the Bank of Israel estimated that the war's total cost through the end of 2025 could reach $68 billion. The writer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Treasury Department, is executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

(Jerusalem Post) The Muslim Brotherhood stole $500 million from donations for Gaza, Egyptian researcher Maher Farghali reported on Sunday. Hamas condemned the theft. The Waqf al-Ummah/Ummet Vakfi association, founded by the Muslim Brotherhood and operating out of Turkey, took the funds which it had raised in a fundraiser for Gaza. Hamas member Khaled Mansour, who was investigating Waqf al-Ummah, wrote Monday: "How is it conceivable that many Brotherhood elites and Islamists remain silent about the biggest theft scandal in the history of the Islamic movement of the funds of the people of Gaza?"

(Ynet News) Yoav Zitun - The Israel Air Force has raised strong objections to a possible U.S. sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, warning the move could weaken Israel's military advantage in the region, according to a position paper delivered to the political leadership on Sunday. The document says Israel's air superiority in the Middle East depends on maintaining exclusive access to fifth-generation stealth aircraft. The document also warns that if Riyadh purchases F-35 squadrons from Lockheed Martin, the deal could occupy key production lines, delaying Israeli orders.

(Ynet News) Ron Ben-Yishai - Israel has the ability to influence the features and capabilities of the F-35s that the U.S. intends to sell the Saudis. Even if the deal goes ahead soon, the first jets will be supplied only in about six years. There is reason to fear a plausible scenario in which the Saudi royal house changes its policy toward Israel and extremist Islamist elements come to power. In that case, if Saudi Arabia were to have F-35s, Israel's air-defense systems would find it hard to detect and intercept them if they are launched from airfields in northwestern Saudi Arabia, 5 minutes flying time from Israel. These F-35s would be able to launch precision glide bombs and U.S. air-to-surface missiles from inside Saudi airspace. Moreover, the advanced radars of the F-35 could monitor every movement of Israeli aircraft, UAVs and cruise missiles throughout Israel and beyond. But the F-35s the U.S. will sell to Saudi Arabia will likely differ in many important capabilities from those in Israel's "Adir" model, which include Israeli-installed improvements, avionics and electronics. Moreover, the Israel Air Force knows the aircraft very well and thus knows its weaknesses. It is worth recalling the technological and operational restrictions American manufacturers embedded in the aircraft at the Pentagon's request. The Americans feared that the new technologies in the jet might leak to undesired actors. So the operating software includes switches and codes that allow the Pentagon to monitor how the jet is used at any time. For example, if a plane changes its route and signals intent to strike a target of interest to the U.S., these systems allow Washington to disable the F-35 via software-coded "kill switches." Israel, in contrast, is exempt from most of these restrictions.

(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - According to Arab media reports, 145 Palestinians who arrived in Cairo upon their release from Israeli prison "did not find any Arab or Islamic country willing to host them." Some Arab leaders, especially in neighboring countries such as Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, are apparently concerned that the prisoners, who were serving one or more life terms for deadly attacks on Israelis, would pose a threat to their security and political stability. So far, no country other than Turkey and Malaysia has received Palestinian prisoners. Arab leaders often make strong statements, issue condemnations of Israel, and attend summits that express solidarity with the Palestinians. Their gestures, however, are often not matched by decisive steps. By now, most Arab heads of state see Palestinians as having caused immeasurable harm wherever they have gone and as having rewarded with treachery whoever stretched out a hand to them. The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

(Wall Street Journal) Seth M. Siegel - After a devastating earthquake in 1962, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi quietly invited Israeli experts to advise Iran on modernizing its water infrastructure. Hundreds of Israeli water experts worked on Iran's water restructuring and rethinking of agricultural practices. By the time the shah fell, Iran's water systems were flourishing. The country had productive water-focused agricultural planning, major cities' plumbing upgraded to reduce leaks, and several desalination plants designed, built and operated by Israelis, in partnership with Iranian experts and engineers. After the revolution, the Israelis left quickly and many of the Iranian engineers who had worked with them were exiled or executed. The regime's religious leadership largely outsourced water issues to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose engineering and construction companies handled Iran's hydrological problems, enriching its leadership with billions of dollars. Nik Kowsar, an exiled Iranian journalist, described billion-dollar "dam and transfer schemes" that were adopted "not because they worked, but because they meant massive commissions."

(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Yoni Ben Menachem - The visit of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to the White House marks American willingness to pursue cautious cooperation in exchange for Syrian commitments on regional security, counterterrorism, and shaping the postwar balance of power in the Middle East. However, in recent weeks, large quantities of Iranian weapons have been transferred through Syria to Hizbullah in Lebanon without any effort by al-Sharaa's regime to stop them. According to senior Israeli security officials, al-Sharaa's new regime is weak and lacks the power to control Syria or impose order on the militias and Bedouin tribes. Syria's minorities - Kurds, Druze, Alawites, and Christians - oppose his fundamentalist religious rule, especially after recent massacres against Alawites and Druze. Security officials fear that al-Sharaa is deceiving the West, that he is a "terrorist in a suit" who intends to establish an extreme dictatorship and eventually unleash jihadist terror at a time of his choosing. Even Russia and China remain cautious and condition their cooperation on al-Sharaa dismantling the thousands of jihadist fighters loyal to him who helped bring him to power.

(Spectator-UK) Jonathan Spyer - The Turks have expressed a desire to play a role in the International Stabilization Force (ISF) which is supposed to take over ground security control of Gaza from the IDF (and Hamas). Ankara appears to have played a significant role in securing the 10 October ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza Islamists. Now, Turkey wants a major role in future arrangements on the ground in Gaza, in both the military and civilian sectors. Israel is absolutely opposed to any Turkish role in future security arrangements in Gaza. This is because Israel identifies Turkey in its current form as something very close to an enemy state. Ankara allows Hamas to maintain a large office in Istanbul, from which it has planned both military and terror activities and political and media campaigns. Turkey also facilitates the unimpeded travel of Hamas officials by supplying them with Turkish passports. Turkish President Erdogan has never condemned the massacres of 7 October 2023. Rather, he describes Hamas as a liberation group. Moreover, Ankara has recently issued arrest warrants for alleged "genocide" against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and 36 other Israeli officials. Turkey's consistent pattern of anti-Israel activities fits comfortably with its military incursions into Iraq and Syria over the last half decade, its deployment of drones and proxy fighters in Azerbaijan and Libya, its efforts to build influence in Lebanon, the West Bank and Jerusalem, its burgeoning alliance with Qatar, and its strategy in the Mediterranean, in which it lays claim to expanded exclusive economic zones (EEZs) in the eastern Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas. Israel suspects that Turkey wishes to make use of the ISF in Gaza as a platform by which it can reinsert Turkish troops into the Israeli-Palestinian context. However, the current U.S. administration shares little or none of Israel's perception of Turkey. The writer is director of research at the Middle East Forum.

(X) Amit Segal - Israel's embassy in Ankara has been closed since Oct. 7. At the same time, the Turks have 30 diplomats in Tel Aviv and 20 in Jerusalem, working to undermine Israel from within. The Turkish cultural institute in eastern Jerusalem is a hub of incitement. Israel was added to Turkey's national security threat list in 2024, and 37% of Turks see Israel as an existential threat. Turkey has not abandoned dreams of imperial expansion. Turkey builds military bases in Sri Lanka, supplies air defense systems to Bangladesh, and aids Pakistan against India. The writer is chief political analyst for Israel's Channel 12.

(Israel Hayom) Nadav Shragai - Donald Trump once confessed he was "drawn almost pathologically to complex deals, partly because they tend to be more interesting." This approach succeeded spectacularly in securing the release of hostages from Gaza, both living and deceased. Yet Phase 2 of the Gaza ceasefire agreement has emerged so far as an illusion. Hamas, just like Hizbullah, harbors no dreams of disarmament. It shows absolutely no interest, and its leaders discuss this candidly. Hamas is reconstructing command and control systems, having already redeployed 7,500 operatives across the Gaza territory remaining under its authority. It has resumed street patrols, salary payments, and tax collection. Its members break arms and legs of anyone questioning their continued rule, restore tunnels, manufacture weapons anew, and settle accounts with armed clans that assisted Israel before the ceasefire. Gaza isn't simply a minor irritant, it constitutes the core issue because from there was launched October 7's "gospel" and Israel's destruction blueprint, coordinated with Iran and its proxies. A senior military intelligence official recently informed cabinet ministers that "the plan to annihilate Israel remains alive and operational, with October 7 continuing to inspire all Israel's regional enemies." Trump's America presumes that economic enticements provide the key, and that every problem features a deal awaiting signature once proper incentives materialize. But business principles don't govern everything. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict encompasses identity, religion, security, and national aspiration dimensions, and that Gaza residents and Hamas are essentially identical. The hatred culture centered on Israel's destruction cannot be eliminated through financial means. Israel and its military possess genuine motivation and capability - now with no living hostages remaining in Gaza - to complete the mission there and strip Hamas of weaponry. Trump's peace vision might potentially materialize only after Hamas's Gaza elimination.