This Week Today Current Events from Israel Happy Black History Month to one and all! Of course President Trump would pick this auspicious time to make possibly the most consequential comments by an American president concerning Israel since President Truman first recognized the State in 1948. Here's how it went down: Prime Minister Netanyahu traveled to DC for meetings with President Trump and the new Administration. This alone was a huge political victory for Netanyahu. He was the first world leader to be invited to the White House and at an extremely delicate time. President Trump was exceedingly gracious towards Netanyahu and this was clearly broadcasted on all Israeli and international news channels. Pretty much every day leading up to the meeting, President Trump made a point of mentioning how all the Gazans should be relocated from the Gaza Strip, preferably to Jordan and Egypt at least initially. During this time, opposition to this idea was voiced by numerous countries including but not limited to Jordan and Egypt, but seemed to have no effect whatsoever on President Trump's message. No big surprise there! After the meeting between the two world leaders, a press conference was held. Some of the best TV in history. More or less what President Trump said was this: -All Gazans would leave the Gaza Strip. -As many hostages as possible will be released, but it's a difficult and unpredictable situation. -Hamas would be completely eliminated. -America would be heavily involved in the future of the Gaza Strip. -The Abraham Accords would be expanded to include more countries. -Normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia is very possible and isn't dependent on anything connected with the "Palestinians". -When asked by an Israeli reporter about potential American support for Israeli sovereignty being applied to Judea and Samaria, President Trump said that there was a lot of support for such a move but that a decision would be made in about another month. Giving an exact date for a decision is hardly a dodge and shows very clear intent to provide an answer in the near future. This is something that was completely absent in the Biden Administration, must like Biden's own cognitive abilities. -In response to a question by a female Afghan reporter, President Trump remarked that the Afghan accent is very pretty, but hard to understand, so he moved on to the next question. Additionally, President Trump announced a permanent end to US funding for UNRWA as well as withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council. Subsequently, Israel announced that they too would be quitting. About time! What the heck was Israel doing there in the first place? Furthermore, the US will now be sanctioning Iran and applying pressure on them to cease trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability. Needless to say this press conference sent shockwaves throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world. The memes are incredible! Future Pesach programs in Gaza are already being advertised. The Israeli right praised President Trump's ideas, although some expressed apprehension concerning the extent of the proposed intensive American role in Gaza. This may seem reasonable, however Netanyahu has been (very wrongly) adamant from the beginning of the war that Israel has no territorial goals in Gaza, so somebody has to deal with it. "In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man" (Pirkei Avos 2:5). Itamar Ben Gvir even suggested that his party might be able to rejoin the Coalition if the plan moves forward in any kind of practical way. Opposition "leader" DJ Yair Lapid spoke against the proposals but absolutely nobody cares what he has to say these days. If this plan is in any way successful, there is certainly no reason why it can't be applied in Judea and Samaria, even if in stages. Jenin would be a good place to start. This week there was once again a terrible terrorist attack in the Jenin area. A lone terrorist entered an IDF fortification and murdered two reserve soldiers. Additional soldiers were wounded before the terrorist, wearing a bullet-proof vest, was eliminated. Over the past few weeks, at least 55 terrorists have been killed in the Jenin area. More have been wounded and arrested. Airstrikes and the use of anti-tank missiles have become common. This was all predicted to take place once the ceasefire began in Gaza. The proliferation of weapons throughout the area, many provided by Iran and smuggled from Jordan, has also heavily contributed to the deterioration of the security situation. Local Arab leaders are already comparing the destruction in Jenin to that in Gaza. Ken Yirbu! Hostages Released Earlier in the week, three more Israeli hostages were released from Gaza. American Keith Siegel was released along with Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas. All three were kibbutz residents along the Gaza border when they were kidnapped on Oct. 7th. Both Siegel and Kalderon were reunited with their children and partners. Bibas's wife and children are still being held in Gaza and are presumed to have been killed during their captivity. More hostages are scheduled to be released in the next few weeks, with most of them being older kibbutz men. Some hostages holding Russian and American citizenship may also be released. Despite the joy at seeing the hostages freed after so much time in captivity, the number of savage terrorists being released in exchange is very worrying for much of the Israeli population. This hasn't stopped the families of the hostages released and of some of those still being held from saying incredibly stupid things on a regular basis. Maybe this is the result of trauma, but it aligns very closely with their well-known leftist political views. It's terribly annoying and they should really stop. One cannot easily ignore the irony of the despicable displays of the images of the way Hamas and the other terror groups go about releasing the hostages and not think about the very public celebrations of the local kibbutz members when the Jews were expelled from their houses in Gaza a few years back. Lebanon The current extended ceasefire in Lebanon is scheduled to finish in about 10 days time. In the meantime, Israel continues to bomb Hezbollah targets on a pretty regular basis. What will happen in 10 days is anyone's guess. Maybe the former southern Lebanon residents can join the Gazans wherever they end up. Whatever happens, this has been quite the momentous start to Black History Month 5785!! -Ben Packer +972-54-447-0221 To receive weekly on WhatsApp: https://chat.whatsapp.com/J1sIjzUbYOD2uAXubYr4I3 Follow the Rabbi Ben Packer channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaniA3YJZg475AzRF00J To receive weekly by email: https://mailchi.mp/dd9d88d97a17/israel-current-events