JERUSALEM, Israel – After the 12-day war against Iran, attention is now focused on freeing the Gaza hostages and ending the war against Hamas. Yet, it appears that trouble with the Iranian regime is far from over. One cleric is calling for what some say is a terror war against the world.
Both President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believe that the victory over Iran created momentum to end the Gaza war against Hamas, free the remaining hostages, and work for peace across the region.
Netanyahu declared, “Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both tasks. But beyond that, broad regional possibilities open up.”
The prime minister added, “Many new opportunities have opened now as a result of this victory. Many opportunities.”
Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is in Washington on Monday, where The Times of Israel reports that the White House plans to lean on him to wrap up the war.
Not all Americans or Israelis believe Israel should capitulate to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority in the negotiations.
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is troubled by a clause in one draft between U.S. and Israeli negotiators that refers to a two-state solution headed by a “reformed” Palestinian Authority.
The ZOA wrote last week, “After so many Israelis suffered on October 7th, and so many fought, died and suffered in the recent and ongoing wars to dramatically set back Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities and its terror proxies’ encirclement of the Jewish homeland, the last thing Israel needs is a Palestinian terror state in the Jewish heartland.”
Gazans indicated that after many failed efforts to halt the war, they are ready for it to end now.
Abdel Hadi Al-Hour, who was displaced from Deir al-Balah in Gaza, stated, “This messes with one’s psyche. From time to time, you hear that there is a truce, and a little later, you hear that there is no truce. Our psyche and nerves are exhausted.”
Israeli hostage families, who have had their share of frayed nerves in the past 632 days, are also demanding that their loved ones be freed.
Ruby Chen, the father of hostage Itay Chen, said, “Bring the hostages back, the living and the deceased, because we want all of them.”
Now that Israel and the U.S. have crippled the Iranian regime’s nuclear program, they don’t plan to let the Iranian regime rebuild it.
Trump suggested he would absolutely consider bombing the nuclear sites again, while Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to come up iwth plans to repeatedly derail Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs in the future.
A leading Iranian Muslim cleric has issued a fatwa, or religious order, calling for the killing of both Trump and Netanyahu.
The New York Sun reports that Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi claims the two must die for waging war against God and threatening Islam during the 12-day war.
A British commentator labels the Fatwa a call to global terrorism. On his X account, Niyak Ghorbani posted, “The West must realize the Islamic Republic is not only targeting its own people, it is preparing for global violence in the name of religion.”
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In Gaza, the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – or GHF – has been serving millions of meals to Gazans while preventing Hamas from stealing the food aid. The United Nations has failed to thwart the effort many times.
Now, the world body is attempting to derail the GHF, as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was quoted by Reuters, accusing the GHF of “killing people” and being “inherently unsafe.”
Guterres reportedly said, “People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families.”
Now, Israel and the U.S. are working behind the scenes to prevent the U.N. Security Council from voting on a resolution that calls for the GHF to be dissolved.
GHF Chairman Rev. Johnnie Moore said the U.N. is spreading “disinformation.”
