Now that the war in Gaza is mostly over and the bodies of only 3 hostages remain the calls for an Official State Commission of Inquiry into Israel’s failures that led to October 7, 2023 are forcing Netanyahu and his coalition partners to respond. And the response?…

Welcome back to the twilight zone known as Israel political leadership. Instead of a Commission of Inquiry the government decided to create what the public considers a Whitewash Commission. It may be hard to believe, but over the past week, the Israeli government’s cabinet decided to set up an investigative committee to unload the blame for the lack of preparedness for the Hamas attack on Israel. The proposed committee is made up of the most irresponsible ministers possible who will supposedly investigate what led up to the events of October 7 and who is responsible.

This week we focus on Sara and Yair Netanyahu who were never elected or even appointed to official office. Why? Because this week two journalists, Yinon Magaland Amit Segal, publicly criticized Sara and Yair’s interference in affairs of state. What makes this news is that among Bibi Netanyahu’s political base, they are possibly the most influential news reporters. Amit Segal has earned a reputation as one of Israel’s leading news reporters despite his right-wing bent. Yinon Magal, meanwhile, hosts a controversial news program called “The Patriots” on Israel’s Channel 14 that is more of a show than a newscast.

This week we focus on the importance of the return of Lt. Hadar Goldin's body who was held by Hamas for over 11 years. This is not just any hostage body, but a symbol for both Israelis and Hamas. We also discuss the importance of other bodies returned and whether Netanyahu will cave into pressure from President Trump to abandon the families of the 4 remaining (dead) hostages. To many of you, this may be a minor issue, but to Israelis it is the difference between the start of a national recovery and a reason to return to active warfare. We also continue with our series of a new generation of potential leaders who might just replace the current leadership (both the Netanyahu and the leaders of our current political opposition). Finally we mention a select few other events that also occurred over the past week.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and for the first time in five years, the government has chosen to hold an official memorial service. Watching the current government pretend to care about the assassination rings as hollow as it did when they were in the opposition and Rabin was murdered.

In this issue we begin a series of articles worth reading: Portraits in Power: Who are the Potential Future Leaders of Israel?

So much has happened since our last newsletter, including the release of the remaining living hostages (20), the revelations about their terrifying captivity, the release of the bodies of 15 hostages, and the promise of a peace “unlike any peace seen in the last 3000 years” (if we’re to believe the rhetoric).

And yet, Israel — or for that matter the rest of the Middle East — cannot return to normalcy as long as the remaining 13 hostages, include two American-Israelis (Itay Chen and Omer Neutra) remain in the hands of Hamas.

As Israel prepares to enter the High Holidays—Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot—we turn our gaze inward. This period, known in Hebrew as the Yamim Nora’im (Days of Awe), is more than a religious observance; it is a season of deep reflection, accountability, and renewal.

In Israel, these days always take on an especially powerful dimension. Beyond the personal prayers of families and congregations, the High Holidays resonate with a broader national spirit of self-examination. Questions of justice, unity, and resilience are carried into the collective conversation, echoing the timeless themes of responsibility and renewal.

For a little humor and perspective, we included a link to the “Remember to Blame Israel” app.

Both characters are almost biblical in pure good or evil that the masses attribute to them, and in their complexity. Each have said or done things that have made a huge positive difference, along with other things that can be extremely damaging.

In this issue we focus on the deal that President Trump put on the table yesterday and may actually come about. Can he scare Netanyahu and Hamas (or its backers like Qatar and Turkey) enough to get a deal done in time for a Nobel Peace Prize?

Democracy is supposed to ensure a bond between elected leaders and the electorate that don’t necessarily exist in a monarchy or dictatorship. Democratically elected leaders are expected to understand their citizens and their needs; but here in Israel the coalition that was duly elected lives in its own “Versailles,” where it not only neglects the hostages that it abandoned 696 days ago, but is cut off from the reality and values of its citizens.

Bodies of Two Hostages Recovered

Hostage Families Continue Efforts, Pressure to Release the Remaining Hostages

Last week, the IDF recovered the bodies of two of the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza: 56-year-old Ilan Weiss, a Kibbutz Be’eri security squad volunteer, and 28-year-old Nova festival photographer, Idan Shtivi. Idan was killed on October 7, 2023, and his body taken captive by Hamas terrorists from the Nova desert rave. Prime Minister Netanyahu hailed Idan as a hero, “On October 7, 2023, he took part in the Nova music festival, and when the terrorist attack began, he acted to rescue and save many participants at the party,” said Netanyahu.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has practically decided that he wants the IDF to conquer all of Gaza City, much of which has escaped much of the house to house street fighting in this war. Among Netanyahu’s other concerns, such as his corruption trials, his attempts to fire Israel’s Attorney General, and Israel’s growing diplomatic isolation from other liberal democracies in the world, the Israeli Prime Minister is busy preparing for a long, and possibly drought and disastrous military campaign into the heart of the enemy’s stronghold.

Senior analysts within the IDF are convinced that Netanyahu’s primary goal is to keep his right-wing coalition intact for a few more months. The Israeli Prime Minister is under pressure from an emboldened right flank both within his own Likud party, and from the even more extreme right Religious Zionist party, lead Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. Since the beginning of this war, the more extreme right-wing factions in Israel have struggled to push a narrative that they can guarantee the safety of Israeli civilians.

This week's issue covers a lot of ground. In addition to our main focus, we cover the shock of the hostage families when they heard U.S. President Trump say that fewer than 20 hostages are still alive despite not getting any updates on this from the Israeli government.

There are also plenty of other issues covered that occurred this week like the E1 Controversy, Life in Israel's Parallel Universe and Antisemitism in Europe.

Strikes and Demonstrations Across the Country

Sunday saw the largest day of protests in Israel since the murder of six hostages by Hamas last August in Gaza. Organizers say 500,000 attended the rally in Hostages Square that culminated the day-long strike, where over 1 million people from all political backgrounds protested across the country with one unified message: release the hostages and save our soldiers by ending the war.

Other topics include:

• Israel’s Fragile Government Faces New Challenges

• Israel’s Channel 14

• Bringing Home the Hostages: 50 Hostages / 20 Presumed Alive

• What Else Happened This Week

This week we've decided to focus on the hypocrisy of world opinion outside of Israel, with an emphasis on the lack of journalistic standards in the mainstream media and Europe's own treatment of Palestinians vis-a-vis other "refugee groups". We chose not to focus on events inside Israel because the pace of this weeks events were too fast for us to analyze them properly, especially in regards the governments decision regarding the war in Gaza and the possibility that enough reservists will refuse to report to duty if called now when the coalition is pushing hard to formally exempt the Haredi community from military service.

While the mainstream media around the world is accusing Israel of a crime that it isn’t committing - intentional and active starvation of innocents in Gaza - it is ignoring the real crime of intentional and active starvation of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. We don’t deny that civilians in Gaza are starving, Israel has allowed aid to enter Gaza, while Hamas prevents the food from actually reaching the poor civilians. While international aid organizations blame Israel for not allowing them to distribute aid that goes almost entirely to Hamas, Israel’s attempts at a different distribution aid have had problems (to say the least), but that is different from intentional and active starvation attempts.

In the meantime, for nearly two whole years, all of the international aid organizations have failed to lift a finger to prevent or even publicize the torture and intentional starvation of innocent Israelis who were stolen from their homes by Hamas and who are being actively starved. The New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe and many other mainstream media have been putting pictures of starving babies on their front pages (including those of children suffering from other medical conditions and starving children in Houthi-controlled Yemen) with accusations about Israel, but bury stories of real intentional starvation - and inside showing photos of protests rather than the actual victims of starvation.

Regardless of whether the U.N. can be trusted to deliver food to anyone other than Hamas or if a siege is legitimate, the sudden flip-flop gave Hamas a clear victory at the expense of the hostages and hope of ending the war. The timing of the sudden decision highlights the Israeli governments total failure to plan ahead or create a strategy for the release of the hostages. The Israeli government has had nearly two years to develop a strategy regarding “humanitarian aid”, but it either failed to develop one or created a secret strategy that provided Hamas with the diplomatic victories it needed to survive.

This week's focus is on the campaign of violence against Druze civilians in Syria that has left over 1,000 dead in just over a week. We know that you want insights into Israel - not Syria or the Druze minority, but the Israeli Druze are a small, but important Arab-speaking minority in Israel that has tied itself to the future of the country since the War of Independence. The Israeli Druze are drafted into the IDF and serve alongside Jewish Israelis in Gaza and elsewhere. We also report on the fate of the hostages and their families, which unfortunately has not changed this week. This is followed by some interesting and positive news about the competition between cities in northern Israel to host NVidia's planned hi-tech campus. As usual, we also give a short sampling of what else happened this week.

This week's focus is a little blurry because the impact of what we believe to be the most significant event is completely different for Americans and Israelis. From an American perspective, Friday's New York Times headline article "How Netanyahu Prolonged the War in Gaza to Stay in Power" offers a window into the question that has haunted Israelis for weeks and even months. The issue in Israel is not HOW, but rather "IF Netanyahu Prolonged the War in Gaza to Stay in Power". Regardless of the answer, the very question is the proverbial Elephant in the Room. If you haven't read New York Times article, we strongly recommend that you read it at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/magazine/benjamin-netanyahu-gaza-war.html.

From an Israeli perspective, the content isn't news at all. Bibi's response is the real story here - and the one that our readers can't see. Netanyahu's quick categorical denial only served to spotlight just how isolated he has become. Here in Israel, you can almost smell that elections are in the air even if we don't know when, who the main candidates and parties will be or even which issue will dominate the campaign. Will it be the hostages? Continued exemption of the Haredi community from military conscription? A backlash against corruption and mismanagement? Or will most Israelis continue to vote for the same parties led by people they don't trust (true across the entire electoral spectrum)?

In this issue we also discuss:

* The Dinah Project Report on Hamas’ Sexual Assaults

* The Rising Toll of Soldiers Killed in Gaza

* The plight of the Hostages and Hostage Negotiations

* Ask "Will 'Free Palestine' Antisemitism Succeed Where Joseph Goebbels Failed?" Spoiler alert - we don't have an answer.

This is the question to ask while following news reports this week about Israel, Gaza, Syria and the rest of the Middle East. It is clear to us (the editors of this newsletter) that Israel’s national interest demands bringing ALL of the hostages home in a deal that ends the war in Gaza. The price will be high and Hamas will continue to be a threat - but it is almost a certainty that Hamas will quickly give Israel a reason to respond and finish the job.

A partial deal like the one being discussed is NOT in Israel’s interest, even if it is better than no deal. It appears that Prime Minister Netanyahu is the one who has been insisting on partial deals in order to continue the war indefinitely, or at least until he thinks he can be reelected. President Trump on the other hand, appears to want to bring the Gaza war to an end. Like Biden, he cares more about the hostages than Netanyahu does. In other words, Trump’s is more in tune with Israel’s national interest than Netanyahu is.

Furthermore, unlike former President Biden, Trump has a short fuse (or works on a very short timeline) and Netanyahu’s political base does not want to anger Trump. This all means that it is possible that Trump can pressure Netanyahu into accepting a deal that is in Israel’s national interest, but not in Netanyahu’s political interest.

The articles in this issue all deal with different aspects of the hostage deal being discussed, especially regarding the hostages and the framework for delivery of humanitarian aid that will enter Gaza. The What Else Happened This Week section contains a few interesting events worth reading about.

After successfully assisting Israel destroy or at least seriously damage Iran’s nuclear facilities without getting bogged down in a foreign war, President Trump turned his fire on the State of Israel. His recent tweet (that he later repeated) calls for the State of Israel to end its corruption charges against the Prime Minister that led Israel to its greatest defeat against its weakest enemy ever!

Even though Prime Minister Netanyahu deserves credit for many of his decisions in the wars against Hezbollah and Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, his dismantling of Israel’s judiciary and other national institutions has left Israel divided and weak.

• The October 7 massacre could not have happened if our Prime Ministered hadn’t systematically appointed military leaders unable or unwilling to respond to warning signs that were uncomfortable for their boss.

• The internal strife and chaos caused by the current coalition’s attempts to dismantle Israel’s judicial system under the guise of “Judicial Reform” opened the door for Hamas to attack.

• By systematically replacing the heads of all of Israel’s civil service and other national institutions with unqualified patronage appointments - Netanyahu condemned us to the total chaos and failure that occurred for months on end in the wake of the attack.

• Empowering putting messianic and racist extremists like Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir in charge of the Treasury and the Police simply to hold onto power threaten to return Israel from a successful state with thriving democracy with a strong and stable OECD economy to a failed or struggling Third World government (where corruption is rampant or led by an all powerful despot) with a weak economy.

Saving Bibi from criminal prosecution does not help Israel - it helps destroy it! Rather than serving as an example of a vibrant democracy for neighboring countries (and the Palestinian Authority) to copy, Netanyahu has been trying to import the political culture of Abu Mazen where elections are delayed indefinitely.

Since your news sources are already covering the bombing of the nuclear weapons facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan by the United States, we’ve decided to focus on two important topics that you won’t find much information in U.S. news sources:

• The state of bomb shelters and safe rooms in Israel

• The loss of focus on the plight of the 53 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza

This week’s focus is followed by an analysis of the Democratic Party’s response to President Trump’s decision to bomb of Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. We compare the response to that of Shimon Peres’ in the immediate aftermath of Menahem Begin’s success in 1981 when Israel destroyed the nuclear reactor in Iraq. Nearly 45 years later, the Labour party has failed to recover. Regardless of which party you prefer - the lack of a reasonable alternative is a serious problem.

This is followed by an explanation why Israel had to attack Iran. Note: we also recommend that you read Why Israel Had to Attack by Amos Yadlin that appeared in the New York Times yesterday.

On June 13, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a coordinated and highly targeted military operation against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and senior Revolutionary Guard figures. It was a strategic necessity, not a political whim. Iran has made no secret of its intentions toward Israel. Its leaders have repeatedly and publicly threatened to destroy the Jewish state. Meanwhile, it has continued to enrich uranium to levels approaching weapons-grade, in clear defiance of international norms and oversight.

Just days before the strike, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Iran was enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity, a hair’s breadth from the 90 percent needed for a nuclear bomb. The report also stated that Iran had refused to cooperate with nuclear inspectors, hiding crucial details about its weapons program. Iran ignored repeated diplomatic efforts to return to the negotiating table and cease enrichment, including those made during the Trump administration. Instead, it escalated.

Given these developments, Israel had both the right and the obligation to act.

Waiting any longer would have risked waking up to a nuclear-armed Iran. The mission struck key nuclear sites in Natanz, Fordow, and Arak, with the clear goal of setting back Iran’s nuclear timetable and deterring further escalation.

And yet, the timing of the operation is impossible to ignore. Just one day earlier, Netanyahu’s government survived a crucial domestic challenge. His coalition passed a deeply divisive bill to maintain draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men, despite widespread public resentment and national protests.

Both Shas and UTJ, sought to preserve long-standing exemptions from mandatory service enjoyed by the Haredi community, had threatened to back the dissolution bill over the enlistment issue, which would have left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without a majority needed to stay in power.

For many Israelis, this was a deeply cynical political deal. Netanyahu gave the religious parties what they wanted to hold his coalition together – no military service for now, no serious sanctions and the right to keep all the money he poured on them to get them into and keep them in the coalition.

Then, less than 24 hours later, came the most dramatic military strike Israel has launched in years.

The sudden pivot from internal political firestorm to global military engagement struck many observers as too perfect. This pattern isn’t new: Netanyahu has often shifted focus to national security at moments when his political survival was under threat.

Critics argue that the Iran strike served not only military objectives, but also political ones by resetting the domestic conversation and reframing Netanyahu as a wartime leader.