Israelis want Trump to ‘make Israel normal again’

Supporters and relatives of Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas militants, hold a message addressed to US President Donald Trump during a demonstration in Tel Aviv on January 20, 2025, calling for an immediate end of the war and return of all the hostages. (AFP)
Supporters and relatives of Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas militants, hold a message addressed to US President Donald Trump during a demonstration in Tel Aviv on January 20, 2025, calling for an immediate end of the war and return of all the hostages. (AFP)
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Updated 21 January 2025

Israelis want Trump to ‘make Israel normal again’

Israelis want Trump to ‘make Israel normal again’
  • During his first term, Trump broke with much of the international community and moved the US embassy to Jerusalem

TEL AVIV: For many Israelis yearning for a future free from war and for the release of hostages still held in Gaza, US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Monday is a source of hope.
On the eve of his inauguration, three women hostages were released after 15 months in captivity by Hamas militants, after mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt clinched a Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Trump, whose envoy took part in negotiations even ahead of his return to the presidency, claimed credit for the deal following months of fruitless negotiations.
But many Israelis have been looking forward to his return for a while, even ahead of the ceasefire.
In Tel Aviv’s Sarona commercial district, a massive banner bearing the president-elect’s image was erected weeks ago.
It shows Trump, his fist raised in defiance. The caption, a reference to the hostages, reads: “ALL OF THEM UNTIL THE 20.1 — OR THE FIRE OF HELL WILL OPEN.”
In early December, Trump warned of “hell” if, by his inauguration, Hamas did not release the dozens of Israeli hostages held since its October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the Gaza war.
With the first three releases on Sunday, 91 hostages remain in Gaza.

The Tel Aviv banner was the initiative of Tikva Forum, a campaign group of hostage relatives opposed to a deal with Hamas.
“Hamas has to realize that the rules are about to change in the Middle East and that it’s time to bring back the hostages immediately,” the group said in a statement.
Its members have been anticipating the US billionaire’s return to the helm in Washington, Israel’s closest ally and top military backer.
But it is not just Israelis opposed to a deal that are hopeful.
In the lead-up to the inauguration, his image has become a fixture at weekly rallies calling for the release of hostages.
Red caps handed out at protests alluded to the ones proudly worn by Trump supporters.
But instead of “Make America Great Again,” the ones worn in Israel read: “End this fuc*!ng war.”
Demonstrators carried posters that read: “Trump, thank you for handling this,” “President Trump, bring them home,” and “Make Israel normal again.”
“I know that when he’s going to be back, things will change, but I’m not sure to which extent,” said Gaya Omri, a protester at a recent rally in Jerusalem.
“My only hope is that he can finish this war. This is what we want,” she said.

During his first term, Trump broke with much of the international community and moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.
Israelis claim the city as their undivided capital, while Palestinians claim its eastern sector as theirs.
Trump oversaw landmark normalization deals between Israel and three Arab countries — Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.
He also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, again going against much of the world and numerous UN resolutions.
As a show of gratitude, an Israeli settlement in the territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967, was renamed Trump Heights.
“President Trump put us on the map,” said Yaakov Selavan of the Golan Heights Regional Council.
“He gave us the best PR campaign we’ve ever had, and we hope the new US administration will continue this,” he said.
This time round, some of Trump’s cabinet picks again suggest a favorable line for Israel.
The incoming president’s pick for US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, is a staunch supporter of Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank.


Greta Thunberg among Gaza flotilla detainees to leave Israel

Greta Thunberg among Gaza flotilla detainees to leave Israel
Updated 06 October 2025

Greta Thunberg among Gaza flotilla detainees to leave Israel

Greta Thunberg among Gaza flotilla detainees to leave Israel
  • Those flying out of Israel on Monday include 28 French citizens, 27 Greeks, 15 Italians, and nine Swedes

ATHENS: Swedish activist Greta Thunberg will be among more than 70 people of different nationalities to leave Israel on Monday after they were seized aboard an intercepted Gaza aid flotilla.
Most, if not all, those being released from Israeli detention will be flown to Greece, where they will be able to get flights to their home countries, their respective governments said on Sunday.
Those flying out of Israel on Monday include 28 French citizens, 27 Greeks, 15 Italians, and nine Swedes.
Twenty-one Spaniards separately returned to Spain on Sunday from Israel.
The release still leaves several foreigners in Israeli custody, including 28 Spanish nationals.
All had been on board the 45-vessel Global Sumud Flotilla carrying activists and politicians, who had been aiming to get past an Israeli blockade to deliver aid to Gaza, where the United Nations says famine has taken hold.
Israel started intercepting the ships in international waters on Wednesday. An Israeli official said on Thursday that boats with more than 400 people on board had been prevented from reaching the Palestinian territory.
The Italian and Greek foreign ministries said their released nationals would on Monday fly from Israel to Athens. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on X that the 15 Italians would have assistance for a subsequent transfer to Italy.
France’s foreign ministry said the 28 French citizens would be flown to Greece. They accounted for most of the 30 French nationals Israel seized aboard the flotilla.
The Swedish foreign ministry did not say where the Swedes would fly to, but Swedish media said they, too, could be put on the flight to Greece.

- ‘Treated like monkeys’ -

A first group of 26 Italians already left Israel on Saturday. But the last 15 had to wait for their judicial expulsion from the country as they refused to sign a form allowing their voluntary release.
Several of the Italians in the first group said after returning to their country that they were subjected to degrading treatment by the Israeli authorities.
Saverio Tommasi, a journalist for the online media site Fanpage, said he was hit in the back and on the head by his Israeli captors.
“We were treated like old monkeys in the worst circuses of the 1920s,” said Tommasi, cited by the Ansa press agency.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told AFP that embassy staff in Tel Aviv had been able to visit the nine Swedes in detention.
“Late Sunday, the Israeli authorities informed us that they were set to authorize the Swedish citizens to leave Israel tomorrow (Monday) by plane,” she said.
One of the Spaniards who returned home on Sunday, Rafael Borrego, told reporters that those detained by Israel had suffered “repeated physical and mental abuse,” including receiving blows and being forced to the ground.


Trump urges Gaza peace negotiators to ‘move fast’

Trump urges Gaza peace negotiators to ‘move fast’
Updated 06 October 2025

Trump urges Gaza peace negotiators to ‘move fast’

Trump urges Gaza peace negotiators to ‘move fast’
  • I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST”

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged Hamas and Israeli negotiators gathering in Egypt for crucial talks aimed at ending the war in Gaza to “move fast,” adding that there had been “very positive discussions” with the Palestinian armed group.
“There have been very positive discussions with Hamas, and Countries from all over the World (Arab, Muslim, and everyone else) this weekend, to release the Hostages, end the War in Gaza but, more importantly, finally have long sought PEACE in the Middle East,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
“These talks have been very successful, and proceeding rapidly. The technical teams will again meet Monday, in Egypt, to work through and clarify the final details. I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST.”
 

 


Turkiye bans Oct 7 Robbie Williams concert over ‘safety concerns’

Turkish anti-riot police officers stand guard in Diyarbakir, on November 4, 2024. (AFP)
Turkish anti-riot police officers stand guard in Diyarbakir, on November 4, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 06 October 2025

Turkiye bans Oct 7 Robbie Williams concert over ‘safety concerns’

Turkish anti-riot police officers stand guard in Diyarbakir, on November 4, 2024. (AFP)
  • Several NGOs urged Turkish authorities to cancel the October 7 concert, and others including the Islamic Solidarity Platform had planned protests under the slogan “Zionist Robbie Williams, get out of Turkiye!“

ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities have banned a Robbie Williams concert scheduled for October 7 in Istanbul over “safety concerns” following several calls for protest, a source from the city governor’s office told AFP Sunday.
The concert would have occurred on the anniversary of the devastating Hamas-led attacks in Israel that triggered war in Gaza and a global protest movement against it.
The organizing company announced the concert’s cancelation “in line with a decision made by the Istanbul governor’s office,” adding that ticket refunds would be processed shortly through the platform where they were purchased.
Speaking to AFP, the source from the governor’s office cited “safety concerns” without elaborating further.
The British singer Williams, whose wife is Jewish, performed in Israel in 2015 and 2023 despite calls from pro-Palestinian activists to boycott the country.
Several NGOs urged Turkish authorities to cancel the October 7 concert, and others including the Islamic Solidarity Platform had planned protests under the slogan “Zionist Robbie Williams, get out of Turkiye!“
“I am extremely sorry that I will not be able to perform in Istanbul next week,” the 51-year-old announced on his Instagram story.
“City authorities have canceled the show, in the interests of public safety,” he said.
“The last thing I would ever want to do is to jeopardize the safety of my fans — their safety and security come first.”
In September, Turkish authorities banned an Enrico Macias concert in Istanbul after calls to protest the French singer’s pro-Israel views.
The 86-year-old singer told AFP at the time that he had performed in Turkiye for 60 years and was “deeply surprised and saddened not to be able to see my audience, with whom I have always shared values of peace and fraternity.”
 

 


Hamas chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya arrives in Egypt ahead of talks: statement

Hamas chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya arrives in Egypt ahead of talks: statement
Updated 06 October 2025

Hamas chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya arrives in Egypt ahead of talks: statement

Hamas chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya arrives in Egypt ahead of talks: statement
  • Khalil Al-Hayya broke his silence earlier on Sunday with a pre-recorded TV appearance that aired in Qatar
  • Both Hamas and Israel have responded positively to US President Donald Trump’s roadmap for Gaza

CAIRO: Hamas’s top negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya arrived in Egypt on Sunday at the head of a delegation, the Palestinian movement said, set to engage in indirect talks with Israel for a hostage-prisoner exchange and a ceasefire in Gaza.
The meetings set to take place Monday in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm Al-Sheikh will be Hayya’s first since Israel targeted him and other Hamas leaders in strikes on Doha last month.
He broke his silence earlier on Sunday with a pre-recorded TV appearance that aired in Qatar, which had mediated successive rounds of talks along with Egypt and the United States.
The Palestinian movement said the delegation led by Hayya arrived in Egypt “to begin negotiations on mechanisms for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of occupation forces and a prisoner exchange.”
Both Hamas and Israel have responded positively to US President Donald Trump’s roadmap for an end to the fighting and the release of captives in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, though the details remain to be ironed out.
The Israeli delegation will depart for Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Trump has sent two emissaries to help finalize the deal: his special envoy Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Hayya had made no mention of the talks or a possible ceasefire in his address Sunday, in which he mourned his son and five others who were killed in the Doha strike.
Hamas’s top officials are believed to have survived the targeted strike on Doha, which killed six people and sparked a wave of criticism, along with a rebuke from US President Donald Trump and an apology to Qatar from Netanyahu.


Jordan, Syria carry out first anti-narcotics operation since Assad regime’s collapse

Jordan, Syria carry out first anti-narcotics operation since Assad regime’s collapse
Updated 05 October 2025

Jordan, Syria carry out first anti-narcotics operation since Assad regime’s collapse

Jordan, Syria carry out first anti-narcotics operation since Assad regime’s collapse
  • The operation was the result of months of field coordination and intelligence sharing
  • It is the first joint Jordanian and Syrian crackdown on drugs since the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024

LONDON: Jordanian and Syrian anti-narcotics authorities have cracked down on drug networks in a cross-border coordination effort, foiling several smuggling attempts and seizing large quantities of toxic substances.

The Anti-Narcotics Departments of Jordan and Syria announced in a joint statement on Sunday that their forces have foiled seven smuggling attempts along the Jordanian-Syrian border and seized nearly one million narcotic pills that were intended for illegal distribution across the Middle East.

It is the first major operation between the two countries’ anti-narcotics authorities since the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024, which has been accused of profiting from the production and trafficking of drugs, specifically the Captagon pill.

Jordanian and Syrian authorities said that the joint operation was the result of months of field coordination and intelligence sharing, which led to the dismantling of organized criminal networks that posed a direct threat to the security of both countries.

Authorities arrested multiple individuals involved in criminal activities in both Jordan and Syria, disrupting their plans to manufacture, smuggle, and distribute illegal drugs, according to the Petra news agency.

The anti-narcotics departments of Jordan and Syria reaffirmed their commitment to ongoing security and intelligence cooperation to combat drug trafficking and smuggling across the region.

They reaffirmed their determination to protect society from the dangers of narcotics and their destabilizing effects on regional security, the Petra added.

The operation follows a Jordanian-Syrian agreement in January to establish a joint security committee aimed at securing their border, combating arms and drug smuggling, and preventing the resurgence of the terror group Daesh.