A massive explosion at a strategic Iranian port killed at least 14 people and injured 750 others on Saturday, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency in the coastal city that serves as a vital shipping hub for the Islamic Republic.
The explosion occurred at the port of Bandar Abbas in southwestern Iran, sending a massive plume of thick gray smoke into the air, with footage showing the blast originating in what appears to be a warehouse facility, according to videos <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/26/middleeast/iran-bandar-abbas-port-explosion-intl/index.html">geolocated</a> by CNN.
Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani indicated the explosion likely involved chemical containers, stating that they were stored in a “corner of the port that likely contained chemicals which exploded.”
However, she cautioned, “Until the fire is extinguished, it&#8217;s hard to ascertain the cause.&#8221;
Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni confirmed that six people remain missing as firefighters battle the blaze amid challenging high winds.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
BREAKING: Massive explosion hits the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas <a href="https://t.co/PDNvcmCVOi">pic.twitter.com/PDNvcmCVOi</a>
— BNO News (@BNONews) <a href="https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1916063449383153959?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The state-controlled oil company denied responsibility for the explosion, with state media company IRIB reporting that the explosion took place in the chemical and sulfur section of the port.
The blast caused widespread destruction, shattering windows within a radius of several kilometers and leaving buildings at the port complex severely damaged, with reports indicating some people may be trapped in collapsed structures.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has <a href="https://x.com/drpezeshkian/status/1916111653445284183">ordered</a> an investigation into the incident and dispatched the interior minister to the region to &#8220;examine the dimensions of the accident&#8221; and conduct &#8220;a comprehensive assessment&#8221; to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Health authorities have advised citizens to remain indoors, avoid outdoor activities, and keep windows closed due to significant air pollution concerns, while many Iranians were seen lining up at health centers to donate blood for the injured.
The now-decimated facility is a critical infrastructure asset for Iran, spanning 2,400 hectares with 35 shipping berths and handling approximately 70 million tons of cargo annually, including oil shipments and general cargo, per CNN.
Regional governor Mohammad Ashouri Taziani confirmed that injured people were being transferred to local medical centers in Bandar Abbas, while the port has been closed and all maritime operations suspended until further notice.

TOPSHOT-IRAN-PORT-EXPLOSION

Massive Explosion Rocks Major Iranian Port, Killing 14 And Injuring 750

Explosion

General

Iran

Middle East

Oil and Gas

World

President Donald Trump&#8217;s counter-terrorism operation has been humming in the first three months of his second administration, taking out 74 terrorist leaders who were planning attacks on United States soil, according to National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
Among those neutralized in Trump&#8217;s airstrikes were terrorists from al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, and ISIS. None of the 74 terrorists taken out by Trump-approved strikes were being pursued by the Biden administration, Waltz told <a href="https://justthenews.com/government/security/wedtrump-has-killed-74-leaders-terror-groups-hoping-strike-us-homeland-mike" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Just The News</a>. Waltz said the Biden administration&#8217;s failure to find these terrorist leaders and its lack of border security created an &#8220;incredibly dangerous&#8221; situation that the Trump administration is seeking to fix.
“I can tell you, from ISIS to al-Qaeda, to groups like Al-Shabab, all have plots and plans to hit the homeland once again, And if you look under the Biden administration, with a wide-open border, that was incredibly dangerous,” he said. “President Trump has eliminated 74 named terrorist leaders that the Biden administration wasn&#8217;t going after. You add to that 45 Americans who are being held hostage by various regimes and groups around the world that he&#8217;s brought home and that is just an incredible achievement in just a couple of months.”
In March, a top ISIS leader was killed in a precision airstrike in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. A senior military leader of a terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaeda was taken out in a separate strike in Syria in February, and on February 1, a U.S. Africa Command operation took out 13 high-ranking Islamic State operatives, along with an attack planner.
&#8220;Americans should sleep better at night,&#8221; Waltz added. &#8220;We&#8217;re only three months in, and look at the results President Trump is getting. The mainstream media doesn&#8217;t want to talk about those.&#8221;
Trump has also ramped up strikes against Houthi terrorists in the Middle East, vowing to protect U.S. military and commercial ships. On Tuesday, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-orders-troops-to-middle-east-to-counter-houthi-attacks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that he was ordering more U.S. forces &#8220;equipped for combat into the Middle East to enhance the defensive capabilities available to United States forces and facilitate necessary military actions.&#8221;
The continued pressure on the Houthis — and other radical Islamic terrorists in the Middle East — comes as the Trump administration is also seeking to negotiate a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-saturdays-nuclear-talks-between-the-u-s-and-iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nuclear deal</a> with Iran, which funds the Houthis. The president is hoping to bring more stability to the Middle East after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage.

U.S. airstrikes

Trump Strikes Have Killed 74 Terrorist Leaders Planning Attacks On U.S. Soil: Mike Waltz

Al Qaeda

Donald Trump

Houthis

Mike Waltz

Military

Politics

Radical Islamic Terror

Terrorism

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Once again, the Islamic Republic of Iran is drawing the United States into talks through the Sultanate of Oman. Some Western officials and analysts frame this as an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-us-start-talks-oman-under-shadow-regional-conflict-2025-04-12/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opportunity</a> for de-escalation, but the evidence suggests otherwise. The regime’s decision to engage is a tactical maneuver aimed at delaying pressure, repositioning itself diplomatically, and benefiting from potential external shifts. If not met with firm containment, this round of diplomacy will mirror past failures.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Iran’s</a> current position is fragile. The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/06/us-will-collapse-irans-economy-by-shutting-down-its-oil-industry-treasury-secretary-says.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">economy</a> is deteriorating rapidly, with persistent inflation and currency depreciation undermining basic economic stability. Domestically, the regime continues to face discontent that, while suppressed by force, has not been resolved through legitimacy. 
Regionally, its power projection has eroded. Hamas has been severely degraded, Hezbollah has suffered significant military setbacks, and Iran’s network of militias faces growing pressure from Israel and Western-aligned actors. The regime is seeking time for political dynamics in Washington to shift, for global energy markets to realign, and for Persian Gulf partners to return focus to short-term economic stabilization over long-term isolation strategies. None of this signals readiness to change course — it signals a regime buying time, again.
Engagement with Iran does not support the Iranian people. Every round of diplomacy has ended with the IRGC stronger, dissidents more isolated, and Tehran more defiant. Historically, sanctions relief and renewed <a href="https://www.meforum.org/mef-observer/how-the-iranian-regime-seeks-to-build-its-power-upon-american-naivete" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diplomatic engagement</a> have bolstered the regime’s internal security networks. Resources gained through these openings are funneled to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), intelligence services, and patronage systems that reinforce regime control. The October 7 massacre was the price of appeasement. Billions flowed to Iran under Biden — and blood flowed in Israel.
The coalition pushing for a deal does not have American interests in mind. China and Russia want breathing room for their ally. The Europeans want to claim progress ahead of their own elections. And some in the Persian Gulf would rather appease Tehran than risk direct confrontation. 
<div id="attachment_911379" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-911379" class="size-large wp-image-911379" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2210316600-864x576.jpg" alt="Italian police officers outside the entrance of the Omani embassy, in Rome, Italy, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. Iran and the US on Saturday began a second round of talks aimed at reaching a deal over Tehran's nuclear program, according to Iranian state television. Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2210316600-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2210316600-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2210316600-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2210316600.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Italian police officers outside the entrance of the Omani embassy, in Rome, Italy, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
President Donald Trump has an opportunity to break this cycle of failure. His administration must recognize that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is not a rational actor. He does not negotiate in good faith, he does not reform, and he does not seek peace. Like Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar, Khamenei sees both survival and martyrdom as victory — an outlook rooted in radical Islamist ideology that glorifies death over compromise. As Gaza burned, Sinwar sat gripping a stick, waiting for the drone that would kill him — convinced he had already won. Khamenei would do the same to Iran. He would rather watch cities collapse and millions suffer than compromise with the West. 
Some argue that if Tehran <a href="https://allisrael.com/is-the-libyan-disarmament-a-viable-model-for-iran-understanding-the-option-netanyahu-would-like-to-see" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismantles</a> its nuclear program and allows missile inspections, a deal might be acceptable — similar to the Libya model. But that view misunderstands the nature of the Islamic Republic. Its nuclear ambitions are a symptom, not the root of the threat. The regime’s hostility toward the U.S. and Israel is ideological, rooted in its identity. That identity cannot be negotiated away. A deal now would prolong the regime’s survival and empower the institutions behind its repression and aggression. 
Tehran’s use of calibrated escalation further underscores the risks of engagement without parallel containment. In 2019, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-refineries-drone-attack.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regime</a> struck Saudi oil infrastructure expecting a restrained U.S. response. Israeli <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr0yvrx4qpo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strikes</a> on IRGC-affiliated targets have been met with limited, symbolic responses rather than strategic confrontation. This behavior is consistent with a <a href="https://www.iiss.org/globalassets/media-library---content--migration/images/comment/analysis/2017/december/2-mcinnis2125.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doctrine</a> of calculated, limited escalation designed to generate leverage and delay decisive retaliation. It is not evidence of de-escalation.
While indirect negotiations may appear diplomatically useful, they allow Tehran to manipulate outcomes while avoiding direct commitments. Engagement becomes a form of enablement. The danger is not the act of negotiation itself, but the repetition of a failed process in which pressure is relieved while Tehran stabilizes, regroups, and continues regional destabilization.
To protect U.S. and allied interests, the correct response to the regime’s current posture is neither renewed engagement nor war, but the full activation of isolation mechanisms. This includes triggering the UN snapback sanctions mechanism under <a href="https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/sres81/BILLS-119sres81is.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNSCR 2231</a>, designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization at the <a href="https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-838780" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EU level</a>, freezing <a href="https://financialpost.com/pmn/us-imposes-sanctions-on-a-chinese-refinery-accused-of-buying-iranian-oil" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assets</a> linked to Chinese and Malaysian brokers facilitating regime oil exports, and exposing the logistical infrastructure that allows the IRGC to operate regionally. European banks and Persian Gulf financial institutions still transacting with regime-linked entities should face coordinated diplomatic and financial pressure. Isolation must be operational and enforced.
<div id="attachment_911393" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-911393" class="wp-image-911393 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209282209-864x576.jpg" alt="An Iranian driver sits in his vehicle, which is parked under an anti-U.S. mural in downtown Tehran, Iran, on April 12, 2025, during the day of the Iran-U.S. nuclear discussions. According to Iranian officials, indirect nuclear discussions between Iran and the United States begin in Muscat, Oman, on April 12. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209282209-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209282209-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209282209-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209282209.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />An Iranian driver sits in his vehicle, which is parked under an anti-U.S. mural in downtown Tehran, Iran, on April 12, 2025, during the day of the Iran-U.S. nuclear discussions. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</div>
In the likely event of further regime degradation, the United States and its allies must be prepared for a leadership vacuum. Any transition scenario must include support for figures with broad-based legitimacy, cross-generational appeal, and a clear public commitment to secular democratic governance. The <a href="https://www.meforum.org/mef-observer/the-u-s-must-engage-with-reza-pahlavi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">son of the late Shah</a> is uniquely positioned as a unifying figure with broad-based legitimacy and recognition required to facilitate a post-regime transition. He consistently advocates a referendum-based process to empower Iranians in determining their political future, explicitly refraining from promoting any particular system, including monarchy. His value lies in providing political continuity, grounded solely in his national stature and widespread public recognition during a potentially volatile transition period. During recent national celebrations — including Nowruz and Chaharshanbe Suri — <a href="https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-847541" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Iranians</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUrz6uoeRXc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chanted</a> his name in cities across the country. These were not isolated incidents or orchestrated campaigns; they were widespread, public expressions of recognition. No other figure inside or outside Iran has generated this level of organic visibility. 
There are additional risks that must be managed. Steve Witkoff, appointed as special envoy by the Trump administration, currently leads the Iran talks. His extensive <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2024/11/steve-witkoff-middle-east-envoy-real-estate-mogul-donald-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">business</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/us/politics/witkoff-trump-middle-east-envoy.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">connections</a> with investors in Persian Gulf states, notably Qatar and Saudi Arabia, raise legitimate concerns about regional influence over U.S. policy direction. Some regional partners could advocate for a &#8216;stability-focused&#8217; agreement that sustains a weakened yet intact Islamic Republic, rather than supporting a genuinely secular and democratic alternative beyond their sphere of influence. This scenario would replicate the strategic failures of the JCPOA, entrenching regime survival without accountability, and directly compromising U.S. and Israeli national security interests.
If negotiations stall, Tehran’s fallback is limited, survivable conflict. The regime has long embraced a strategy of controlled escalation — not to win wars, but to provoke just enough confrontation to shift global focus, fracture internal dissent, and reset its legitimacy. In its calculus, limited war is safer than isolation. That’s why containment must be decisive. If neither diplomacy nor confrontation offer the regime an exit, internal collapse becomes inevitable.
The current diplomatic track with Iran is not designed to prevent conflict or nuclear escalation. It is designed to create space for the regime to survive. That calculation must be reversed. The United States and its allies must pursue containment and isolation as the strategic baseline — not the fallback. That’s how you flip the script — and how you make Tehran fear American resolve again.
* * *
Dr. Aidin Panahi is an Iranian-American research professor, energy expert, and political activist. He is the cofounder of the “From Boston to Iran” initiative and his analyses on security and policy issues have appeared in outlets including The Jerusalem Post, Washington Times, Middle East Forum, Homeland Security Today, and Visegrád24. X: @Aidin_FreeIran 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Iran and US Begin Second Round of Mediated Nuclear Talks in Rome

A Tactical Trap. Why It’s Time To Flip The Script On Iran.

Ali Khamenei

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

China

Iran Nuclear Deal

Nuclear Weapons

Oman

President Trump

Russia

Saudi Arabia

Steve Witkoff

The United States is moving serious military assets near the Middle East as President Donald Trump continues to pummel Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen and has warned Iran that it must enter a nuclear deal in the next several weeks or else its nuclear program will be eliminated.
The War Zone <a href="https://www.twz.com/air/signs-u-s-massing-b-2-spirit-bombers-in-diego-garcia">reported</a> that multiple B-2 Spirit stealth heavy bombers were en route to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, an island in the British Indian Ocean Territory where the U.S. military has staged assets for attacks in the Middle East.
At least three B-2 bombers, three C-17 cargo planes, and 10 aerial refueling tankers were deployed to the strategic base over the last 48 hours, the report said. A fourth B-2 bomber appears to have also been en route to the base when it was forced to make an emergency landing in Hawaii.
The report said that additional information pointed to more B-2 bombers departed Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, where all of America&#8217;s B-2 bombers are located, earlier today and are now bound for Diego Garcia.
The report said that the deployment of the bombers was &#8220;a force package that is significantly larger&#8221; than any kind of routine deployment or training exercise.
The B-2 bomber is the only aircraft capable of carrying the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), the world&#8217;s most powerful bunker-buster bomb. The 30,000 pound is capable of penetrating up hundreds of feet of pure rock or concrete before detonating a massive 6,000-pound high-explosive warhead.
The MOP is the weapon that the U.S. and Israel would need to use to reach some of Iran&#8217;s underground nuclear weapon facilities that are buried under ground.
The move comes as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered two carrier strike groups to the Middle East last week, each of which has more firepower than most countries have.
There has also been a recent deployment of additional Air Force F-35A Joint Strike Fighters, an advanced fifth-generation stealth fighter, to the Middle East, the report said.

230912-O-IR506-4772

U.S. Military Staging Serious Firepower Near Middle East

President Donald Trump secured a $1.4 trillion commitment from the United Arab Emirates earlier this week to invest in American energy, manufacturing, and technology over the next decade.
“This new framework will substantially increase the UAE’s existing investments in the U.S. economy in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, and American manufacturing,” the White House said in a Friday statement announcing the framework, per Bloomberg.
The investment framework resulted from Tuesday&#8217;s Oval Office meeting between Trump and the UAE’s national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, combined with Vice President JD Vance and Cabinet members negotiating with a UAE delegation over dinner, a White House official with knowledge of the matter <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/after-trump-meeting-uae-commits-10-year-14-trillion-investment-framework-us-2025-03-21/">told</a> Reuters. The UAE delegation included leaders of several major national sovereign wealth funds and companies.
Bin Zayed <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-21/uae-to-pledge-1-4-trillion-us-investment-after-trump-meeting">said</a> the UAE is committed to “strengthening its economic ties with the U.S. by accelerating investments in artificial intelligence, advanced technology, infrastructure, energy, and healthcare.&#8221;
As part of the framework, according to Reuters, UAE investment fund ADQ and U.S. partner Energy Capital Partners announced a $25 billion initiative targeting American energy infrastructure and data centers, while XRG, the international investment arm of UAE state oil company ADNOC, committed to supporting U.S. natural gas production through an investment in the NextDecade liquefied natural gas export facility in Texas.
The companies involved in these negotiations reportedly have additional plans to make substantial investments in additional U.S. assets, such as gas, chemicals, and energy infrastructure, beyond what the framework already lays out.
Trump had previously highlighted the importance of foreign investment during his campaign, arguing that bringing significant capital back to American shores would help revitalize manufacturing and create new jobs in technology sectors.

President Trump Signs Executive Orders At The White House

Trump Secures $1.4 Trillion UAE Investment Deal For American Industries

America First

Economy

Executive

Foreign Policy

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

A myth pervades Western societies that is unbelievably dangerous and stupid.
The myth is that all cultures are like ours and all other people outside ours are really just like us. They think the same way. They want the same things. All that is required is a little bit of kindness and education for everyone to blossom into a good Westerner.
That is a lie.
It is a truly dangerous lie because granting that credibility to people who actively want something different, who foment evil, and who teach their children evil — when you say, “they don&#8217;t really want evil, they&#8217;re not really evil, and they don&#8217;t believe evil things; really, it&#8217;s just about us not being nice enough” — results in surrendering to the evil.
That is the story of the Palestinian nationalist cause for the last 80 years. The Palestinian nationalist cause is based on an evil supposition, which is the destruction of the state of Israel. It is about the extirpation of the Jews and the destruction of the state of Israel.
How do we know this? Because the call for a Palestinian state originally ended with the creation of one in Jordan. The original territory of Israel was supposed to include both Jordan and Israel. Then, under the British mandate, Jordan was segmented and made into a Palestinian state for the Arabs. Under a variety of negotiations and white papers from the British, the supposition became that Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip would eventually become an Arab state from the Partition Plan of 1947. 
That was rejected by the Arabs. The Arabs said there can be no Jewish state under any circumstances at all. Palestinian nationalism is rooted in rejectionism of a Jewish presence anywhere in that area and the extirpation of all Jews from that area, which is why every two-state solution that has ever been proposed by anyone has included the complete, Judenrein nature of a Palestinian state — no Jews living within an Arab Palestine — despite the fact that 20% of Israel is actually Arab Muslim.
This also became clear between 1948 and 1967 when Egypt was in control of the Gaza Strip and Jordan was in control of Judea and Samaria; there was no attempt at a Palestinian state.
In fact, in 1964, when the Palestine Liberation Organization was originally founded, calling for a Palestinian state, Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip were not in Jewish hands. So the call for a Palestinian state when the PLO was founded was genuinely for the destruction of the state of Israel. The Palestinian cause has always been about the destruction of the state of Israel.
That is why the Palestinians will simultaneously insist that Gaza is their home but also a refugee camp. A refugee camp from where? Tel Aviv.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2143-member-exclusive">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
It&#8217;s why the Palestinians have always called for a “right of return” that would allow them to enter Israel and destroy it from within. This has always been the Palestinian nationalist cause.
Because of the West’s own stupid idea that everyone thinks like the West, the West has decided this is just a territorial dispute, that if the sides could just get over themselves and if lines were drawn in the right places, everybody would go home happy. What everybody wanted was two states side by side in peace and prosperity. 
But that was a lie. It is a lie. And it will always be a lie because the Palestinian nationalist cause is to reject the Jewish state and eliminate Jews. 
That is the only way to understand what happened on Thursday.
Israel and Hamas had an ongoing hostage deal, a so-called cease-fire. The deal was that Hamas was supposed to trickle out live hostages and dead bodies of the people kidnapped on October 7, and in return, Israel was to turn over murderous terrorists.
Israel has foolishly agreed to these sorts of deals in the past and is agreeing to those deals now because Israel puts a high priority on not only getting live citizens home, but also getting dead bodies home for proper burial.
It is a policy with which I disagree because it only further incentivizes hostage-taking. But that is the policy of the state of Israel. That&#8217;s why a cease-fire is in place. 
The Hamas terror group runs the Gaza Strip with the acquiescence and support of the civilian population, which supports the destruction of Israel, as does is the Arab civilian population in Judea and Samaria, with Arab children inculcated in the idea of eradicating the Jewish people.
A couple of days ago, Hamas announced that three members of the Bibas family — the mother and her nine-month-old and three-year-old sons — were dead when they were kidnapped by Palestinian civilians on October 7. Hamas claimed the boys were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
<div id="attachment_881297" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-881297" class="size-large wp-image-881297" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199956192-864x576.jpg" alt="TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - FEBRUARY 20: Poster of hostages Shiri Bibas, Kfir Bibas and Omer Shem Tov are displayed in hostages square prior the handover of four bodies taken by Hamas fighters on February 20, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Four bodies of hostages believed to include those of the Bibas family - Shiri and her young children Kfir and Ariel taken by Hamas fighters in the October 7 raids on Israel are released from Gaza. President Netanyahu has said it &quot;..will be a very difficult day for the state of Israel. An upsetting day, a day of grief. We bring home four of our beloved hostages, deceased. We embrace the families, and the heart of an entire nation is torn. My heart is torn.&quot; (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199956192-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199956192-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199956192-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199956192.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Amir Levy/Getty Images</div>
The bodies were returned to Israel. After a forensic analysis and autopsy, we now know from the IDF that the two little boys did not die of malnutrition. They were apparently murdered roughly one month into their captivity. 
Even if they&#8217;d been killed in an airstrike, that would still be on Hamas; Hamas initiated this war with its murderous attack.
The IDF has now made public the physical details of the bodies of these babies to various other countries. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/20/middleeast/israel-bibas-boys-among-dead-hostages-not-shiri-intl-latam/index.html">said</a>, “Ariel and Kfir were brutally murdered in cold blood during their captivity in Gaza in the first weeks of the war. The terrorists didn’t murder them with gunfire – they murdered them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed terrible actions in order to try and hide the horrific acts.”
So they mutilated the bodies to make it look as though they were not, in fact, beaten or strangled to death. Remember, they were taken by people not in Hamas uniforms. They were taken by Gazan civilians. This is what evil sounds like. True evil.
There&#8217;s no other word for it. There are no synonyms that do justice to the barbarity, cruelty, and horror of what this ideology generates. So Hamas was supposed to release the bodies of these children they had murdered along with their mother in exchange for live terrorists.
One party is seeking to bring back the dead bodies, the corpses of children who were murdered. The other is celebrating the release of terrorists who murdered children. This is the moral logic being utilized. Not all cultures are the same. Not all people think the same way. Not all people inculcate the same values in their children.
That is a stupid, idiotic, foolish, counterproductive, and dangerous Western conceit.
That is the only way to look at what happened on Thursday in the Gaza Strip. Hamas held a parade, an actual parade, with the coffins of Jewish babies as celebratory music played. Representatives from all of the various terror groups, including Fatah, were present. Fatah is the military wing of the so-called moderate Palestinian Authority that is supposedly ruling Judea and Samaria at this point. People cheered as celebratory music played in the background. The voices of children can be heard in the massive crowd. The crowd showed up to cheer, to celebrate the dead bodies of babies. 
This is a culture of death. It is an evil culture.
I&#8217;ve never even heard of a culture that celebrates the death of babies — who celebrates the actual murder of children, not civilian casualties, which are tragic and awful and should be avoided. But the actual purposeful murder of babies? There is no culture on earth that I&#8217;ve even heard of that does this. And yet that&#8217;s what it was.
The “innocent, starved, genocided” Gazan civilians cheered as the coffins of babies were transported. By the way, children took part in this too. 
The awful evil tragedy of children being indoctrinated into something like this is beyond words. It is unspeakably evil and horrifying. A full stage and sound production was built; there were exhibits with the coffins. Children came on stage to dance and sing where the babies’ bodies had been just one second prior. They were somewhere between five and ten years old, smiling, cheering, dancing up and down. 
These are the people that Western leftists support, these human pieces of debris. 
These people.
Western self-flagellation, Western self-hatred, Western belief that all sins in the world can be laid at the feet of the West is not just self-defeating. It is wrong. It foments evil. It makes evil more common. 
Hamas initiated this war knowing precisely what would happen, and they did so knowing the Western Left would come to their defense. And, indeed, they were not disappointed. The Western Left did come to their defense because the Western Left is of the opinion that the more barbaric, evil, and angry a group of people is, the more they must have been victimized by evil overlords.
By the way, Hamas actually labeled the coffins with the supposed “date of arrest,” which was October 7.
Further, the coffins were locked. The Israelis had to run them through metal detectors to ensure they were not booby trapped with bombs because that is something that Hamas absolutely would do. Hamas gave them keys to the locks, but the keys did not match the locks. They gave them false keys to the locks.
Then, when Israel was finally able to open the coffins, they found them filled with leaflets of Hamas propaganda. As a final indignity, Israel had to do forensic analysis on the charred bodies of a baby, a toddler and a mom.
They did this on purpose. They kidnapped babies to murder them, and then they held their bodies to free terrorists.
That is evil. And a culture that celebrates it in the streets is evil. Every aspect of it was celebrated by a huge percentage of the population in the Gaza Strip. That means that the “two-state solution” is, was, and always will be completely unworkable because one side wants to kill everyone on the other side in any case.
The final indignity involved was the mother&#8217;s body. When analyzed, it turned out it was not her body at all. Hamas handed over a random woman&#8217;s body instead. 
On this same day, five buses were loaded with bombs in Israel. Three of them blew up near Tel Aviv. The initial assessment from the security establishment is that the plan for the attack came from Iran. It was carried out by Hamas terrorists from Judea and Samaria.
It was only through the grace of God that the bombs did not kill hundreds of people. The goal was presumably to set off bombs simultaneously around Israel; draw troops to those areas; breach fences between the Arab areas of Judea, Samaria, and the Jewish areas; and then rush into various Jewish villages and commit another October 7, this time from the Judea and Samaria area. 
President Trump is absolutely right. The time to unleash hell is long past. President Trump acknowledges realities on the ground better than any politician I&#8217;ve seen. He recognizes that the “two-state solution” nonsense is precisely that. It is rooted in wishful thinking, not in reality. When President Trump suggests that Gaza be cleared of its population and turned into a place of investment and decency with people being allowed to go elsewhere, he is posing the only decent solution that I have heard to this entire situation for decades.
This bizarre, stupid Western notion that you can project your own values onto people who celebrate, cheer, and train their children to cheer the death of babies, the purposeful murder of babies, is morally perverted. And the sick, false equivalence by some people in the media infrastructure who suggest there is somehow an equivalence between attempting to target a terrorist who hides behind a child (and the child being a civilian casualty) and breaking into a family&#8217;s home, kidnapping and carrying babies to terror tunnels, and murdering them is morally perverted.

Al-Qassam hands over bodies of Israeli hostages killed by army shelling in Gaza

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Benjamin Netanyahu

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President Donald Trump will speak at a Saudi Arabia-backed summit on Wednesday in Miami, just a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian officials in Riyadh.
The FII Priority Summit is hosted by Saudi Arabia&#8217;s sovereign wealth fund and attended by global tech executives and financiers, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-poised-attend-saudi-backed-conference-miami-february-sources-say-2025-02-12/">Reuters first reported</a>. The president will deliver remarks at the summit, several people with knowledge of the event told Reuters. FII describes itself as a &#8220;global non-profit foundation&#8221; with interests in AI and robotics, education, healthcare, and more.
According to White House scheduling, Trump will participate in the summit at 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday and will return to the White House Wednesday evening.
It&#8217;s not immediately clear what the president will speak on, but the event comes only a day after Rubio <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-team-meets-russian-officials-in-saudi-arabia-to-discuss-ending-ukraine-war">met</a> with Russian officials in the Saudi capital to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine, as well as foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union&#8217;s High Representative for Foreign Affairs. Trump&#8217;s appearance, like Rubio&#8217;s meeting, could signal the Trump administration&#8217;s interest in forging a strategic partnership with the Saudis.
Trump&#8217;s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff will also participate in a session moderated by Jared Kushner, Trump&#8217;s son-in-law and the CEO of Affinity Partners, a private equity firm.
That session will deal with the question: &#8220;Is a new era of US-Middle East economic cooperation dawning?&#8221;
<div id="attachment_879147" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-to-speak-at-saudi-backed-conference-as-washington-makes-inroads-to-riyadh/us-politics-trump-148" rel="attachment wp-att-879147"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-879147" class="wp-image-879147 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199857457-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199857457-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199857457-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199857457-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199857457-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199857457-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199857457-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2199857457-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
Trump&#8217;s remarks also come as he seriously considers plans to relocate around two million Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab countries, allowing for the United States to “take over&#8221; the region and to create an economy that would “supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
Trump has also said that America would work “with great development teams from all over the World” to rebuild the territory that has been controlled by Hamas terrorists, adding that no American troops would be needed on the ground.
“With the United States being in control of that piece of land … you can have stability in the Middle East for the first time,” Trump <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2jz020ny0o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> reporters at the White House earlier this month. “And the Palestinians, or the people that live now in Gaza, will be living beautifully in another location.”
Zach Jewell contributed to this report.

President-Elect Trump Holds Press Conference At Mar-A-Lago

Trump To Speak At Saudi-Backed Conference As Washington Makes Inroads To Riyadh

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The U.S. Navy said on Thursday that a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was involved in a collision with a large cargo ship in the Mediterranean Sea this week.
&#8220;The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M at approximately 11:46 p.m. local time, Feb. 12, while operating in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea,&#8221; the U.S. Sixth Fleet said in a statement.
&#8220;The collision did not endanger the Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) as there are no reports of flooding or injuries,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;The propulsion plants are unaffected and in a safe and stable condition.&#8221;
Navy officials said they have launched an investigation into the incident and will release more information as it becomes available.
The USS Harry S. Truman, named after America&#8217;s 33rd president, was the eighth aircraft carrier built in the Nimitz class.
The aircraft carrier was built in the 1990s under President Bill Clinton and cost $4.5 billion — well over $10 billion today.
The U.S. Naval Institute <a href="https://news.usni.org/2025/02/13/breaking-uss-harry-s-truman-collides-with-merchant-vessel-in-mediterranean-sea">noted</a> that the ship deployed in September from Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia to the U.S. Central Command.
The report said in part:
<blockquote>Port Said, Egypt, is at the northern tip of the Suez Canal, where it meets with the Mediterranean Sea. The indications from the position of Truman was the carrier was returning to the Red Sea after a port visit to Souda Bay, Greece.
Based on AIS data, Besiktas-M had just transited the Suez Canal and was bound for the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania. Besiktas-M, a bulk carrier, is more than 550 feet long with a deadweight of 53,000 tons. The ship’s owner and manager was not immediately clear.</blockquote>
The last time that a U.S. aircraft carrier collided with a merchant vessel was in 2004, when the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) collided with a small ship in the Persian Gulf, the report said.

South Korean And US Navies Conduct Joint Maritime Exercise

U.S. Aircraft Carrier Collides With Cargo Ship In Middle East

Egypt

U.S. Navy

I was raised to hate Jews. Before I ever met a Jewish person, before I knew anything about Israel, I was already taught that they were my enemies.
It was not an opinion I formed on my own. It was fed to me, day after day, year after year — woven into the culture, the education system, the religious teachings, and even the conversations at my family’s dinner table. That is how propaganda works. It does not scream all at once; it whispers, drips like poison, and seeps into the cracks of a mind until it is no longer questioned but accepted as absolute truth.
For decades, this same poison has been fed into the minds of young people in universities — but this time, not in the Middle East. This time, it is happening on American soil.
Radical Islamists have infiltrated universities, manipulated the narrative, and slowly shifted the sentiment away from Israel — not by force, but by brainwashing generations of students into believing that Israel is the oppressor and the terrorists are the victims.
And now, the fruit of that deception is being harvested.
<h3>Trump’s Executive Action: A Bold Stand Against The Lies</h3>
President Donald Trump has done something no leader in recent history has dared to do — he has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-to-sign-executive-order-to-deport-anti-semitic-foreign-students-and-protesters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taken executive action</a> to put an end to the rampant anti-Semitism that has been spreading like wildfire in universities across America.
This is not just a policy decision. This is a battle for truth.
Trump’s executive action directly confronts decades of propaganda that has systematically been planted by radical Islamic influences in American institutions.
The executive action will:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Cut federal funding to universities that allow anti-Semitism to spread unchecked</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Hold radical professors accountable for pushing hate under the banner of “free speech”</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Expose the deep infiltration of Islamic extremists in academic institutions</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Send a clear message: The U.S. will no longer tolerate the spread of radical, anti-Israel propaganda on its soil</li>
</ul>
<h3>How Radical Muslims Use Propaganda</h3>
I grew up in Turkey and I was never encouraged to ask questions about what I was taught about Jews and Israel. The lies were presented as undeniable facts.
<ul>
<li>“Jews are evil”</li>
<li>“Israel is stealing our land”</li>
<li>“Jews are the reason for our suffering”</li>
</ul>
It was constant, relentless, unchallenged. This is how you change a generation.
This same method has been used in American universities for decades, and today, we are seeing the terrifying results:
College students march with Hamas flags, chanting for Israel’s destruction. Professors justify terrorism in the name of “liberation.” Jewish students are harassed, silenced, and even physically attacked on campuses. Universities host anti-Semitic speakers, normalizing hate under the guise of “academic freedom.”
This is not an accident. This is the result of a well-planned infiltration designed to shift America’s loyalty away from Israel and toward radical Islamic ideologies.
And it has worked because nobody stopped it … until now.
<h3>Radical Islam’s Long Game</h3>
Radical Islam never conquers all at once. It conquers through patience, manipulation, and deception. Step by step, it:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Victimizes itself by portraying Muslims as the oppressed, even when they are the aggressors</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Demonizes Israel by rewriting history to make Jews appear as invaders rather than defenders of their homeland</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Controls the language by introducing terms like “Israeli occupation” while ignoring the true occupation of terrorist groups like Hamas</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Hijacks social justice movements by turning causes like feminism, Black Lives Matter, and indigenous rights into platforms for anti-Israel rhetoric</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Infiltrates media and universities by controlling the narrative to brainwash the next generation into becoming useful tools in their war against Israel</li>
</ul>
They don’t need guns or bombs to destroy a nation. They just need to control how young minds think. And for years, they have been winning the battle in American classrooms. But truth has power, and that truth is finally being defended.
<h3>It’s Time To Stand Strong With Israel</h3>
I have spent years undoing the lies I was raised with and fighting against the same deception that once held me captive. And I cannot stay silent while I see those same lies poisoning a new generation.
This is personal because I was once one of those deceived students. I was once one of those young minds, taught to hate Israel without ever questioning why. If I had stayed on that path, if I had never encountered the truth of Jesus Christ, I might have been among the masses today — marching, chanting, screaming for the destruction of a people I didn’t even know.
But I was set free and now, I am here to fight for the truth. This is not just a political battle, it is a spiritual war.
The Bible tells us in Genesis 12:3a (NIV): “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” This is not just about Israel — it’s about America’s future. Any nation that turns against Israel will suffer the consequences. The time to wake up is now.
Trump has taken action. Now, we must do our part and speak up, spread truth, pray for Israel, and expose the lies. And never be silent in the face of deception again.
* * *
Işik Abla is the President and CEO of <a href="http://isikabla.com/">Işik Abla Ministries</a> (IAM). Abla was born in Turkey and raised as a Muslim. She eventually fled to America. Işık Abla Ministries leverages the power of TV and radio broadcasting, social media, and innovation to preach the Gospel in Turkish, Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Indonesian, and English.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Radical Islam’s Long Game Of Propaganda In The West Is Over — Because Of Trump

Radical Islam's Long Game Of Propaganda In The West Is Over — Because Of Trump

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Egypt is reportedly working on a plan to fund and facilitate the rebuilding of Gaza within three to five years after President Donald Trump proposed that the U.S. take control of the war-torn territory.
According to multiple <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/egypt-reportedly-release-details-plan-rebuild-gaza-theres-no-mention-cooperation-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>, Egypt&#8217;s proposal for the reconstruction of Gaza includes Arab-led nations, the European Union, and the United Nations — with no mention of cooperation with the U.S. government. Egypt&#8217;s reported plan comes as Trump has doubled down on his goal to relocate around two million Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab countries, allowing for the United States to &#8220;take over.&#8221;
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/arab-states-wake-up-to-fact-that-trump-means-what-he-says-on-gaza-56380703" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Egypt&#8217;s plan includes keeping Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and setting up a &#8220;committee of technocrats drawn from across Gaza to administer the enclave.&#8221; Security for Gaza would be provided by Palestinians who are trained by Arab forces. The Egyptian proposal reportedly kicks the question of &#8220;Palestinian statehood&#8221; down the road and instead focuses entirely on the immediate reconstruction of Gaza.
“For the Arab world, recognizing that Trump actually means what he says in terms of Gaza means the necessity of coming up with an alternative to push forward,” Middle East security expert H.A. Hellyer told the Journal.
On Tuesday, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/king-abdullah-of-jordan-agrees-to-accept-refugees-during-trump-white-house-meeting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">met with King Abdullah II</a> of Jordan at the White House, where the two leaders discussed the situation in Gaza and how to address the rebuilding. During the meeting, King Abdullah said his country would take in 2,000 sick children from Gaza, an offer Trump said was &#8220;beautiful.&#8221; Before agreeing to help with any more refugee resettlement, King Abdullah said he would wait for Egypt to present its plan.
Last week, the president said that the United States would seek control of Gaza to create an economy that would “supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.” Days later, Trump elaborated on that plan, writing that America would work “with great development teams from all over the World” to rebuild the territory that has been controlled by Hamas terrorists, adding that no U.S. troops would be needed on the ground.
&#8220;With the United States being in control of that piece of land &#8230; you can have stability in the Middle East for the first time,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2jz020ny0o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> reporters at the White House on Tuesday. &#8220;And the Palestinians, or the people that live now in Gaza, will be living beautifully in another location.&#8221;
King Abdullah, however, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2jz020ny0o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that every Arab-led nation would reject Trump&#8217;s proposal.
Trump invited Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi to discuss the issue, but Al Sisi has not yet accepted the offer. Earlier this week, Egypt said it would host a summit of Arab leaders at the end of the month to discuss “the new and dangerous developments in the Palestinian issue.”
Trump has given Israel the green light to let &#8220;hell break out&#8221; if Hamas doesn&#8217;t release the remaining hostages by Saturday at noon. Hamas suspended the release of hostages after accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement.

Egypt Reportedly Plans To Fund Gaza Rebuild With Arab-Led Nations, Countering Trump’s Proposal

Global Politics

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As soon as the first three young female Israeli hostages were finally released from Hamas captivity as part of the latest deal, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was already <a href="https://www.icrc.org/en/news-release/israel-and-occupied-territories-icrc-helps-facilitate-release-3-hostages-and-90-detainees?utm_source=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lauding themselves</a> for their role in the transfer.
The reality, however, is that the Red Cross utterly and unconscionably abandoned the hostages to the dungeons of Gaza — and now to the preying mobs surrounding them during their release.
In almost 500 days of captivity, under the most horrific of conditions, including torture, starvation, and sexual violence, not once has the Red Cross visited a single hostage or provided any proof of life for their families. The relatives of one of the released captives from November 2023, Elma Avraham, 84, who spent four months in the hospital upon her return, heartbreakingly <a href="https://x.com/N12News/status/1729138757540905130?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">described</a> how the Red Cross refused to even accept the medicine they tried to give them to deliver to their elderly mother in Gaza.
Simply put, the Red Cross’ role has been relegated to no more than that of a glorified Uber driver, ferrying the hostages from Gaza into the hands of the IDF. But they cannot do even that while providing the hostages with even a shred of dignity. Instead, they have aided Hamas in turning the whole release of the hostages — including terrified young girls — into a propaganda circus, with sickening images of Hamas terrorists standing on top of Red Cross vehicles with guns and cameras, while Red Cross officials now routinely <a href="https://x.com/HenMazzig/status/1885780814165688552" target="_blank" rel="noopener">join Hamas on stage</a> in these obscene ceremonies and parades.
One of the released hostages, Gadi Mozes (80), <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/gadi-mozes-tells-family-he-paced-7km-every-day-in-his-2x2-meter-cell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">described</a> how, at one point during his time in captivity, he was held in a truck right under the offices of the Red Cross in Gaza. Mozes was also in “mortal fear” during the release that he and fellow hostage Arbel Yehoud would be lynched by the frenzied mob around them.
Just this week we witnessed with absolute horror the release of three starved, emaciated male hostages, in scenes, as President Trump himself noted, were unmistakably reminiscent of the Holocaust. These scenes only underscore the chilling effects of the Red Cross’s abandonment. Inexcusably, instead of condemning Hamas, one member of the Red Cross was seen happily <a href="https://x.com/Ostrov_A/status/1888151925180272805" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shaking hands</a> with the masked Hamas terrorist on stage, as the three hostages were about to be gruesomely paraded.
<div id="attachment_874327" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-874327" class="size-large wp-image-874327" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2197719002-864x576.jpg" alt="Palestinian Hamas fighters escort Israeli hostages before handing them over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025, as part of the fifth hostage-prisoner exchange of a fragile ceasefire. The swap comes after US President Donald Trump proposes clearing out the Gaza Strip of its inhabitants and for the United States to take over the Palestinian territory--a plan that sparks global uproar and is rejected by Hamas. (Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2197719002-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2197719002-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2197719002-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2197719002.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</div>
It is also telling that whilst the Red Cross has managed to express <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-02-01/ty-article-live/unrwa-chief-calls-claims-hostages-held-in-facilities-deeply-disturbing-shocking/00000194-bf47-dbd4-a9dc-bf4fc89d0000?liveBlogItemId=1644304712&amp;utm_source=site&amp;utm_medium=button&amp;utm_campaign=live_blog_item#1644304712" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;outrage&#8221;</a> at the way Palestinian prisoners were released from Israel — even though it was fully in accordance with international law, and bearing in mind that unlike the innocent Israeli hostages coming home these were terrorist murderers with blood on their hands being let out of prison — they have refused to condemn Hamas over the obscene spectacles of the hostage releases in Gaza, instead jumping on stage with them for photo-ops. So much for that famous ‘neutrality’ they like to extol so much.
So much for that famous &#8220;neutrality&#8221; the Red Cross likes to extol. And, although the Red Cross likes to <a href="https://www.icrc.org/en/document/debunking-harmful-narratives-about-our-work-israel-and-palestinian-occupied-territories" target="_blank" rel="noopener">note</a> that they have repeatedly (if passively) called for the hostages’ release, or that the macabre displays during the hostage release are outside of their control, that is woefully and pathetically inadequate, as is the excuse that they cannot do anything in the absence of an agreement between Hamas and Israel.
The fact that Hamas does not abide by any norms of international law or human dignity, or that they repeatedly rejected prior hostage release and ceasefire deals, does not absolve the Red Cross of their <a href="https://www.icrc.org/en/who-we-are/mandate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mandate</a> under the Geneva Conventions to provide “humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict,” as well as ensuring that the hostages&#8217; release transfers “<a href="https://www.icrc.org/en/news-release/israel-and-occupied-territories-icrc-completes-second-phase-release-operations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">take place in a way that is both safe and dignified</a>.” Nor is it enough to merely politely ‘call’ for the hostages’ release and then just give up when Hamas says no.
The Red Cross prides itself on being unwaveringly neutral, but when it comes to Israeli and Jewish lives, they are just unwaveringly absent. 
In addition to the hostages kidnapped on October 7, Hamas is also still holding the body of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, who was killed and taken captive during the 2014 war with Israel, and two civilians, Avner Mengistu, a 37-year-old Israeli with mental health issues, who has been held hostage by Hamas also since 2014, and Hisham al-Sayed, a Bedouin Israeli, who is seriously ill and has been held hostage since 2015.
Not once has the Red Cross seen any of these men in captivity.
And the entire time former IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was held captive in Gaza for almost 6 years, until finally his release in 2011, the Red Cross never once visited or provided him humanitarian assistance.
The reality is, when it comes to Israeli lives, the Red Cross is just nowhere to be seen. Nor is this the first time that the ICRC has failed Jews: the organization has already acknowledged and <a href="https://www.icrc.org/en/document/icrc-wwii-holocaust" target="_blank" rel="noopener">apologized</a> for its abject failure to help protect the millions of Jews who were exterminated in the Nazi death camps. They used the same excuse back then that they are using now – they asked the Germans for permission, and were told no, so they just backed off.
Unforgivable.
As it relates to Gaza, not only have they failed to see even a single hostage, they have also ignored the irrefutable evidence right under their noses that Hamas is systematically <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5077022-war-gaza-hospitals-israel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">using hospitals</a> and UN sites as terrorist staging grounds.
With a new U.S. Administration in the White House, the Red Cross must be held accountable for their wholesale abrogation of duty.
<div id="attachment_874331" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-874331" class="size-large wp-image-874331" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2197718583-864x576.jpg" alt="Hamas fighters stand in formation as Palestinians gather on a street to watch the handover of three Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025. Hamas militants hand over three Israeli hostages on February 8, as part of the fifth exchange under a fragile Gaza ceasefire, with 183 prisoners held by Israel due to be released later in the day. (Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2197718583-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2197718583-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2197718583-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2197718583.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</div>
On his first day in office, President Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/reevaluating-and-realigning-united-states-foreign-aid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed an Executive Order</a> stating that “no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.”
The United States is currently the single largest state donor to the Red Cross, contributing about <a href="https://library.icrc.org/library/docs/DOC/icrc-annual-report-2023-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$550 million</a> in 2023. Given the Red Cross’s abandonment of the hostages, including American nationals still being held in hellish terror dungeons, and their effective whitewashing of Hamas’ crimes, not only does ongoing funding of the Red Cross not align with the foreign policy of the President of the United States, it runs entirely and dangerously counter to it.
Accordingly, if President Trump and the U.S. seek to eliminate wasteful spending, including under the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, they should cut funding to the Red Cross entirely — at least until they are restructured — and use some of that money instead to help the families of those whom the Red Cross has abandoned.
* * *
Arsen Ostrovsky is a human rights attorney who serves as CEO of The International Legal Forum and is a Senior Fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security. You can follow him on ‘X’ at: <a href="https://x.com/Ostrov_A" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@Ostrov_A</a>.
Mark Goldfeder is a law professor and CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center. Follow <a href="https://x.com/MarkGoldfeder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@markgoldfeder</a> on X. 
They both serve as counsel to families of Hamas hostages and victims of October 7.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Three More Israeli Hostages Released As Part Of Ceasefire Deal

‘Obscene Ceremonies’: Why The Behavior Of The Red Cross In Gaza Is Unconscionable

'Obscene Ceremonies': Why The Behavior Of The Red Cross In Gaza Is Unconscionable

Holocaust

Hostages

October 7

Red Cross

Last summer, I went undercover in the West Bank, sneaking in with a Muslim film crew while hiding my Jewish identity to ask Palestinians the kinds of questions no other journalist had dared to since the war broke out. And that’s the real scandal — because before October 7, I wasn’t exactly a journalist. I was a comedian. The fact that it took a comic to go in there and do their jobs for them is outrageous. The mainstream press, with all its resources, all its foreign correspondents, all its Middle East &#8220;experts,&#8221; refused to ask the most basic questions. Arguably the most viral report of the war — what the Palestinian people actually think — wasn’t broken by a major network. It was broken by me.
If you follow my three-part series, you’ll see that <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAYxi4WpYJ4/?igsh=MXVsdXBob2Y3Y2hlMQ==" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I almost died</a> just for asking simple questions. That’s how deeply ingrained the hatred is. That’s how dangerous it is to expose the truth.
My raw, unfiltered interviews — conducted randomly on the streets of Ramallah — exposed the depths of Jew-hatred and propaganda in Palestinian society. But the most chilling encounter came when my Muslim producer arranged a private, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9xWl1ZJshF/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==">one-on-one interview</a> with a man who had been freed from Israeli prison not once, not twice, but four times — an alleged terrorist.
When I released the interview this January, after the first wave of prisoner releases, it went viral for its shocking revelations. In our conversation, Arafat Mudar Mohamed displayed just how deeply the Palestinian people have been indoctrinated. He claimed — with absolute certainty — that Hamas is incapable of killing women and children for &#8220;religious reasons,” that Israel never actually left Gaza in 2005, that no Israel civilians died on October 7, and, perhaps most disturbingly, that the hostages in Hamas captivity were actually enjoying their time there.
To prove this last claim, he pulled up photos from Hamas’s staged propaganda during the 2023 ceasefire — a grotesque spectacle in which hostages were forced to smile as they were paraded before cameras, surrounded by armed terrorists. But we now know that freed hostages have revealed the full extent of this deception: not only were they forced to smile, but they were drugged beforehand to appear happier and more cooperative.
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This moment from the interview is what I believe the world must grasp most urgently. Propaganda doesn’t just work on the privileged Ivy League liberals bending over backward to reinforce their absurdly black-and-white principles of DEI — it is most effective on the Palestinian people themselves. DEI has conditioned the West to see the world in terms of the oppressed versus the oppressors, the weak versus the powerful, the dark-skinned versus the white. And this is precisely where Hamas’s propaganda succeeds.
The narrative they are selling to the world is simple: they are David, the small, brown-skinned, slingshot-wielding underdog, standing against the monstrous Goliath of Israel. But in reality, Israel is David. A tiny Jewish state — just the size of New Jersey — surrounded by 54 Muslim and Arab nations, many of whom openly call for its destruction. The real Goliath is the Islamic world, which seeks to erase the one Jewish country from existence, create a caliphate across the Middle East, North Africa, and ultimately extend its rule across the entire world. This is not just a regional conflict — it is a global mission for domination, and Israel is the only thing standing in its way to go after the rest of The West.
The irony, of course, is that Israel is just as brown-skinned as Gaza. While the media works tirelessly to paint Israelis as &#8220;white colonizers,&#8221; in truth, over half of Israel’s Jewish population are Mizrahim — Jews kicked out of Arab and North African countries who look just like their Palestinian neighbors. Many Israelis are darker-skinned than the very Hamas leaders orchestrating these terror attacks. Yet because it doesn’t fit the pre-packaged DEI narrative, the media ignores this truth entirely.
And while Gaza has suffered a year and a half of destruction as Israel tried to find its hostages and destroy terror tunnels and rockets, Hamas’s propaganda machine is somehow bigger and more sophisticated than ever. The cruder, shaky videos of a year ago have now evolved into Hollywood-style productions with drones, stedicams, and professionally built sets with fancy laminated backdrops. They’re not just spreading disinformation — they’re refining it, making it more convincing, more visually compelling, more impossible to argue against. Instead of using their resources to rebuild Gaza, Hamas is pouring money into selling their war narrative to the world, but even worse to convince the Palestinian people that they are winning a war which they are by all measures losing. All Hamas has left is PR.
And with the latest hostage releases playing out like a scene from “The Hunger Games” — a dystopian horror show in which Jewish captives are thrown to the mobs like meat to a pack of hyenas — it’s clear that this continued indoctrination will only fuel the next generation of so-called “martyrs” in Gaza and the West Bank.
The mainstream media refuses to confront the reality behind these disturbing images: innocent women and elderly men, tortured for months, swarmed by thousands of Palestinians clamoring to spit on them, kick them, and take selfies — while their terrorist captors force them to smile and wave like puppets in a twisted performance. The media also won’t show you the child abuse Hamas broadcasts proudly: Palestinian children, dressed in headbands and military gear, brandishing machine guns and chanting “Death to the Jews.” This is clearly not a genocide, but a continued call for genocide from the Palestinian people against the Jewish people.
And one of the biggest reasons the mainstream media won’t show you this? Because it doesn’t fit their narrative — the lie that Palestinians are simply innocent bystanders to Hamas’s crimes. In reality, after years of indoctrination, much of Palestinian society has become Hamas itself. This is not just a war against a terror group but against an ideology that has consumed an entire generation.
Arafat Mudar Mohamed said it himself in our interview: &#8220;The Palestinian people like Hamas.&#8221;
This is what the media refuses to acknowledge. Since they won’t show you this Nazi-level brainwashing, I will. My interview with this freed Palestinian terrorist offers a chilling look inside the mind of a man who fits the pattern we’ve seen time and time again: every time he was released, he went back to terrorism. And with thousands more just like him now walking free, we can be certain — this cycle of terror is far from over.
* * *
Zach Sage Fox is a comic, writer, and CEO of Fat Camp Films. An NYC based production company that has made movies and shows for Disney, Hulu, and Amazon, as well as pioneered viral video marketing for big brands and non-profits.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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I Went Undercover In The West Bank To Interview A Freed Palestinian Terrorist

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