Jerusalem, Israel - April 10, 2025 - This is the perfect opportunity to take a break from all the arduous Passover cleaning, grab yourself a nice glass of smooth Kedem Apple Juice, with ice, sit back and enjoy this brilliant news update. It hardly gets better than this.
A flurry of pre-Passover international diplomatic activity this week. After an exceptionally friendly visit in Hungary, Prime Minister Netanyahu traveled to DC to meet with also very friendly President Trump and other US Administration officials. In Hungary, not only was Netanyahu not arrested, despite an official request from the International Criminal Court, but Hungary just up and quit the whole stupid thing. Boom! There were rumors that Hungary would announce that they would be moving their embassy to Jerusalem, but it didn’t happen. It’s likely that both Hungary and the Czech Republic are planning to do so at some point in the near future.
As is often the case these days, especially when concerning President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, this is where facts are replaced with political polarization. The Israeli leftist media would have the whole country/world believe that Netanyahu’s trip to the US was a complete failure. Like their secular religion, this is almost certainly very far from the actual reality. It’s nearly impossible to believe and therefore, like with Islam and other fake religions, you shouldn’t believe this nonsense either.
The first criticism was that Netanyahu failed to get the recently Trump-proposed tariffs removed from Israeli products. Anyway, President Trump has now announced a pause for the tariffs, except for Covid-producing China, so no loss there just yet.
Second criticism was that during Netanyahu’s visit, President Trump announced upcoming direct negotiations with Iran. Iran promptly declared that this would absolutely not happen. In the meantime, it appears that extensive preparations for an attack on Iran continue full speed ahead. This includes the US Air Force continuing to light up Iranian proxy Yemen on a nightly basis. Additionally, more US anti-missile batteries have arrived in Israel in the past week. In short, there is talk of diplomacy, but does not seem in any way to be to Israel’s detriment. Of course, no one really knows what was discussed by the two prominent world leaders, but the press conference didn’t look at all like that Ukrainian one.
Out of seemingly nowhere and in classic President Trump style, the President suggested that Israel and Turkey negotiate splitting up parts of Syria between themselves. Reportedly these discussions between the two not very chummy countries are already taking place. Under normal circumstances, this would seem to be completely insane, but…. The IDF has already authorized tours for Israelis in parts of Syria under Israeli military control for the Passover holiday, so a permanent Israeli presence does seem like a distinct possibility. I’m not going to suggest that Netanyahu negotiated this situation, but if he played any active role whatsoever, this would be one of the most impressive diplomatic achievements in the history of the State of Israel. At least until Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir travels to the US after Passover, as currently planned, and wins over the American masses.
President Trump reiterated that there was no place for Hamas in the future of Gaza, that the population should be allowed to leave (Indonesia announced this week that they are willing to take 1000 initially) and he even met with freed hostages to emphasize that all Israeli hostages should be freed asap.
Finally, what might have been discussed is the very real possibility of Israel imposing sovereignty on all or some of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley in the near future. Meanwhile, on the other side, victim of teacher/student sexual exploitation, French Premier “Little Manny” Macron announced that France will soon recognize a “Palestinian State”. Ambassador Mike Huckabee was just confirmed as US Ambassador to Israel and there is no bigger proponent for extending Israeli sovereignty than him. Although equally supportive would be the current Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter. Needless to say, the current Israeli Government Coalition adamantly supports such a move. All the pieces are coming together. Stay tuned on this one. Stopping this from happening could be a carrot to try to entice Saudi Arabia into a deal with Israel, but it could just as easily go the other way.
Gaza
While Hamas has refused to free any more Israeli hostages, the IDF has continued to move further into Gaza. Airstrikes continue to take their toll on Hamas terrorist leaders and hiding among large groups of other Gazans does not seem to be a working strategy any more. A Hamas “Battalion commander” was taken out this week along with 35 of his closest friends. The self-imposed “rules” have obviously changed. So far, Hamas terrorists are mostly fleeing before Israeli incursions and seeking shelter in more highly populated areas. However there is a limited amount of space to operate in such a fashion for long. If negotiations continue to fail, then the intensity of the combat will most likely quickly escalate.
The leftist defeatist Israeli media danced for joy as they triumphantly announced this week that Israel had only destroyed approximately 25% of Hamas’ tunnels. Whether this is true or not would seem very unimportant. Clearly Israel has held back for the entire war in order to try to safeguard the hostages. Now that nearly 90% of living hostages have been safely returned, it’s going to be about time to take the fight to areas not yet engaged, ie. where the hostages have been held. This will have to happen eventually, regardless of whatever statements released hostages and families of current hostages continue to endlessly make.
Lebanon
There was evidence this week that Hezbollah, while now claiming to be open to disarming, is actually attempting to reconstruct its capabilities to attack Israel. Shocking. So Israel resumed bombing deep into Lebanon as well as hitting other terrorist targets of both Hezbollah and Hamas in the southern area. Israel openly threatened that if there isn’t any meaningful progress toward a more permanent solution, then Israel will return to full combat throughout southern Lebanon up until the Litani River.
Judea and Samaria
The situation continues to be relatively stable, despite Hamas’ best efforts to encourage terror. The IDF’s nightly arrest operations have remained highly effective in nipping most terror in the bud. A high-ranking terrorist from the Shechem area was captured this week and successful ambushes were conducted to combat attacks on the roads. An Arab teenager with American citizenship decided to play stupid games and he probably would have been better off, and still alive, if he had stayed in America and also not thrown rocks at moving cars because there were Jews in them. Maybe some of those stupid American college kids will take up his cause and cost the schools even more hundreds of millions of dollars in withheld funding by the Trump Administration.
Domestic Israeli Issues
-The Israeli Supreme Court heard arguments this week over whether the current democratically elected Israeli Government can fire the head of the Shin Bet. So far they have decided to not let it happen for now. Why not? Because. Because this is part of how they cling to power, because democracy ain’t going so well for them.
Speaking of democratic rights and such, a recording was released this week in which a high-ranking police official encouraged another police official to arrest “settlers” without any evidence of wrongdoing. This would surprise no one who has any contact whatsoever with the reality of what goes on in Judea and Samaria. Who knows, maybe they’ll appoint this guy to the Supreme Court, he’s perfect for the job.
World Zionist Congress Elections
Voting continues for elect delegates for the upcoming World Zionist Congress in the fall. After the more right-wing parties were clearly off to a strong start, the leftist parties have protested and lodged official complaints against some of them. Sore losers before they have even officially lost. What’s important to realize here is how much they are panicking and how much is at stake. This proves just how important it is to vote and defeat them. That is why I highly encourage everyone who is potentially eligible to vote for Eretz HaKodesh, slate #11. Get yo’ friends to vote as well.
Chag Kasher and Sameach!
Jerusalem, Israel - April 10, 2025 - This is the perfect opportunity to take a break from all the arduous Passover cleaning, grab yourself a nice glass of smooth Kedem Apple Juice, with ice, sit back and enjoy this brilliant news update. It hardly gets better than this.
A flurry of pre-Passover international diplomatic activity this week. After an exceptionally friendly visit in Hungary, Prime Minister Netanyahu traveled to DC to meet with also very friendly President Trump and other US Administration officials. In Hungary, not only was Netanyahu not arrested, despite an official request from the International Criminal Court, but Hungary just up and quit the whole stupid thing. Boom! There were rumors that Hungary would announce that they would be moving their embassy to Jerusalem, but it didn’t happen. It’s likely that both Hungary and the Czech Republic are planning to do so at some point in the near future.
As is often the case these days, especially when concerning President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, this is where facts are replaced with political polarization. The Israeli leftist media would have the whole country/world believe that Netanyahu’s trip to the US was a complete failure. Like their secular religion, this is almost certainly very far from the actual reality. It’s nearly impossible to believe and therefore, like with Islam and other fake religions, you shouldn’t believe this nonsense either.
The first criticism was that Netanyahu failed to get the recently Trump-proposed tariffs removed from Israeli products. Anyway, President Trump has now announced a pause for the tariffs, except for Covid-producing China, so no loss there just yet.
Second criticism was that during Netanyahu’s visit, President Trump announced upcoming direct negotiations with Iran. Iran promptly declared that this would absolutely not happen. In the meantime, it appears that extensive preparations for an attack on Iran continue full speed ahead. This includes the US Air Force continuing to light up Iranian proxy Yemen on a nightly basis. Additionally, more US anti-missile batteries have arrived in Israel in the past week. In short, there is talk of diplomacy, but does not seem in any way to be to Israel’s detriment. Of course, no one really knows what was discussed by the two prominent world leaders, but the press conference didn’t look at all like that Ukrainian one.
Out of seemingly nowhere and in classic President Trump style, the President suggested that Israel and Turkey negotiate splitting up parts of Syria between themselves. Reportedly these discussions between the two not very chummy countries are already taking place. Under normal circumstances, this would seem to be completely insane, but…. The IDF has already authorized tours for Israelis in parts of Syria under Israeli military control for the Passover holiday, so a permanent Israeli presence does seem like a distinct possibility. I’m not going to suggest that Netanyahu negotiated this situation, but if he played any active role whatsoever, this would be one of the most impressive diplomatic achievements in the history of the State of Israel. At least until Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir travels to the US after Passover, as currently planned, and wins over the American masses.
President Trump reiterated that there was no place for Hamas in the future of Gaza, that the population should be allowed to leave (Indonesia announced this week that they are willing to take 1000 initially) and he even met with freed hostages to emphasize that all Israeli hostages should be freed asap.
Finally, what might have been discussed is the very real possibility of Israel imposing sovereignty on all or some of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley in the near future. Meanwhile, on the other side, victim of teacher/student sexual exploitation, French Premier “Little Manny” Macron announced that France will soon recognize a “Palestinian State”. Ambassador Mike Huckabee was just confirmed as US Ambassador to Israel and there is no bigger proponent for extending Israeli sovereignty than him. Although equally supportive would be the current Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter. Needless to say, the current Israeli Government Coalition adamantly supports such a move. All the pieces are coming together. Stay tuned on this one. Stopping this from happening could be a carrot to try to entice Saudi Arabia into a deal with Israel, but it could just as easily go the other way.
Gaza
While Hamas has refused to free any more Israeli hostages, the IDF has continued to move further into Gaza. Airstrikes continue to take their toll on Hamas terrorist leaders and hiding among large groups of other Gazans does not seem to be a working strategy any more. A Hamas “Battalion commander” was taken out this week along with 35 of his closest friends. The self-imposed “rules” have obviously changed. So far, Hamas terrorists are mostly fleeing before Israeli incursions and seeking shelter in more highly populated areas. However there is a limited amount of space to operate in such a fashion for long. If negotiations continue to fail, then the intensity of the combat will most likely quickly escalate.
The leftist defeatist Israeli media danced for joy as they triumphantly announced this week that Israel had only destroyed approximately 25% of Hamas’ tunnels. Whether this is true or not would seem very unimportant. Clearly Israel has held back for the entire war in order to try to safeguard the hostages. Now that nearly 90% of living hostages have been safely returned, it’s going to be about time to take the fight to areas not yet engaged, ie. where the hostages have been held. This will have to happen eventually, regardless of whatever statements released hostages and families of current hostages continue to endlessly make.
Lebanon
There was evidence this week that Hezbollah, while now claiming to be open to disarming, is actually attempting to reconstruct its capabilities to attack Israel. Shocking. So Israel resumed bombing deep into Lebanon as well as hitting other terrorist targets of both Hezbollah and Hamas in the southern area. Israel openly threatened that if there isn’t any meaningful progress toward a more permanent solution, then Israel will return to full combat throughout southern Lebanon up until the Litani River.
Judea and Samaria
The situation continues to be relatively stable, despite Hamas’ best efforts to encourage terror. The IDF’s nightly arrest operations have remained highly effective in nipping most terror in the bud. A high-ranking terrorist from the Shechem area was captured this week and successful ambushes were conducted to combat attacks on the roads. An Arab teenager with American citizenship decided to play stupid games and he probably would have been better off, and still alive, if he had stayed in America and also not thrown rocks at moving cars because there were Jews in them. Maybe some of those stupid American college kids will take up his cause and cost the schools even more hundreds of millions of dollars in withheld funding by the Trump Administration.
Domestic Israeli Issues
-The Israeli Supreme Court heard arguments this week over whether the current democratically elected Israeli Government can fire the head of the Shin Bet. So far they have decided to not let it happen for now. Why not? Because. Because this is part of how they cling to power, because democracy ain’t going so well for them.
Speaking of democratic rights and such, a recording was released this week in which a high-ranking police official encouraged another police official to arrest “settlers” without any evidence of wrongdoing. This would surprise no one who has any contact whatsoever with the reality of what goes on in Judea and Samaria. Who knows, maybe they’ll appoint this guy to the Supreme Court, he’s perfect for the job.
World Zionist Congress Elections
Voting continues for elect delegates for the upcoming World Zionist Congress in the fall. After the more right-wing parties were clearly off to a strong start, the leftist parties have protested and lodged official complaints against some of them. Sore losers before they have even officially lost. What’s important to realize here is how much they are panicking and how much is at stake. This proves just how important it is to vote and defeat them. That is why I highly encourage everyone who is potentially eligible to vote for Eretz HaKodesh, slate #11. Get yo’ friends to vote as well.
Chag Kasher and Sameach!
