Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan: Interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour | With Arabic Subtitles

Oct 25, 2023 | Queen Rania’s interview on the Israeli war on Gaza with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Amman, Jordan/ 24th October 2023 @CNN

There is a shorter version of this interview here.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Calls for Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza

Oct 25, 2023 | In a wide-ranging speech to parliament, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an immediate ceasefire and proposed an international conference to reach a lasting peace. Al Jazeera’s correspondent Resul Serdar who's covered Turkey extensively joins us now in our Doha studio to discuss more about this.

Cornell Professor Who Found Hamas Attack ‘Exhilarating’ and ‘Energizing’ Now on Leave of Absence

NEW YORK POST: The Cornell professor who called the Hamas terror attack on Israel “exhilarating” and “energizing” is now on a leave of absence until at least the end of the semester.

Russell Rickford, an associate professor of history, went viral for the incendiary remarks to students during a pro-Palestinian protest soon after the surprise attack on Israel killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

“It was exhilarating. It was exhilarating, it was energizing,” he was seen telling the crowd, claiming “you would not be human” into to feel the same.

“I was exhilarated!” he said to a smattering of applause.

After initially standing by his statements, the embattled professor later apologized “for the horrible choice of words,” admitting they were ‘reprehensible” — before his students were told he would no longer teach this semester. » | Yaron Steinbuch | Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Yuval Noah Harari Backs Critique of Leftist ‘Indifference’ to Hamas Atrocities

GUARDIAN EUROPE: Exclusive: Sapiens author among 90 signatories to statement of dismay at ‘extreme moral insensitivity’

The author Yuval Noah Harari said peace activists in Israel felt ‘abandoned and betrayed by supposed allies’. Photograph: De Fontenay/JDD/SIPA/Rex/Shutterstock
The Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari has backed academics and peace activists in his home country in an attack on the “indifference” of some American and European progressives to Hamas atrocities, accusing them of “extreme moral insensitivity” and betraying leftwing politics.

Harari – the author of bestselling books including Sapiens and Homo Deus – joined 90 signatories of a statement expressing dismay with “elements within the global left … until now, our political partners” who had, on occasion, “justified Hamas’s actions”.

The 47-year-old, who has recently become a high-profile political activist in Israel, opposing Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing populist coalition and its plan to weaken judicial oversight, told the Guardian he intervened after speaking with peace activists in his home country who were “completely devastated” and “feeling abandoned and betrayed by supposed allies” in peace efforts, after academics, artists and intellectuals signed letters which failed to condemn Hamas.

Harari’s aunt and uncle lived in one of the kibbutzim targeted by Hamas in attacks that killed more than 1,400 people and saw more than 220 people taken hostage. They had survived after hiding while gunmen went house-to-house killing neighbours.

Speaking about the reaction from parts of the left in the US and Europe while on a visit to London, Harari said it was “shocking to hear some of the responses that did not only not condemn Hamas, but placed all responsibility on Israel” and to see “the lack of solidarity with regard to the horrific attacks on Israeli civilians”. » | Robert Booth | Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Queen Rania: There's a 'Glaring Double Standard' in How World Treats Palestinians

Oct 24, 2023 | Queen Rania of Jordan talks to Christiane Amanpour about the world's reaction to the Israel and Hamas war.

In Full: Senior Hamas Leader Says Hostages Will Be Freed If Israel Reduces Gaza Bombing

Oct 24, 2023 | The key Hamas negotiator over the fate of more than 200 hostages held by the group inside Gaza has told Sky News all the civilians among them will be released - if the right conditions are met.

Emmanuel Macron propose à Benyamin Nétanyahou que la coalition contre l’EI « puisse lutter aussi contre le Hamas »

LE MONDE : Lors d’une déclaration commune à Tel-Aviv, le chef de l’Etat français a fait valoir que la France était aux côtés d’Israël dans sa lutte contre ce « groupe terroriste ». Il a également insisté sur la nécessité d’une « relance décisive du processus politique avec les Palestiniens ».

Le premier ministre israélien, Benyamin Nétanyahou, et le président français, Emmanuel Macron, lors d’une conférence de presse conjointe à Jérusalem, le 24 octobre 2023. CHRISTOPHE ENA / AFP
« C’est une page noire de notre propre histoire » : Emmanuel Macron, en visite en Israël mardi 24 octobre, a exprimé avec émotion sa solidarité après l’attaque sanglante du Hamas, et proposé une « coalition » internationale pour « lutter » contre le mouvement islamiste palestinien qui contrôle la bande de Gaza.

Après un entretien avec le premier ministre israélien, Benyamin Nétanyahou, à Jérusalem, le président français a présenté les « condoléances » d’un « pays ami, éploré devant l’acte terroriste le plus terrible de votre histoire et saisi par votre chagrin et votre douleur ». « Je vous apporte aujourd’hui l’émotion et la solidarité des Français. Nos deux pays sont liés par le même deuil », a-t-il ajouté, le ton grave, au côté M. Nétanyahou. » | Le Monde avec AFP | mardi 24 octobre 2023

France proposes widening anti-Islamic State coalition to fight Hamas: Emmanuel Macron visits Israel and emphasises ‘common enemy’ in terrorism »

Macron Says Israel Must Fight Hamas ‘Without Mercy but Not Without Rules’: The French president also suggested that the international coalition once deployed to fight the Islamic State could also fight Hamas. »

Son of Hamas Leader Spies for Israel: The Green Prince [HD] | Saturday Extra, ABC RN

Nov 19, 2014 | Israel’s surveillance relies almost entirely on human intelligence, primarily Palestinians living in the occupied territories, that are recruited by Israel’s secret security service Shin Bet.

One of the most notorious cases involves the son of a Hamas’ founder, 17 year old Mosab Hassan Yousef, who was recruited in the late 1990s to spy on his own people for over a decade.

He was given the code name ‘The Green Prince’. And his relationship with his Israeli handler Gonen Itzhak was unconventional to say the least. The Green Prince is also the title of a documentary which brings Mosab Yousef’s story to the screen for the first time. It was released nationally in Australia on December 4, 2014.


WIKIPEDIA : The Green Prince (film) »

The Son of Hamas | Full Version

Jun 12, 2018 | ¨Rejecting what i am in this book was a lot more dangerous and challenging than hanging out in a room full of explosives and suicide bombers.¨

Related video about Mosab Hassan Yousef here.

Mosab Hassan Yousef : What Is Hamas?

Apr 14, 2010 | Since he was a small boy, Mosab Hassan Yousef has had an inside view of the deadly terrorist group Hamas. The oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founding member of Hamas and its most popular leader, young Mosab assisted his father for years in his political activities while being groomed to assume his legacy, politics, status ... and power. But everything changed when Mosab turned away from terror and violence, and embraced instead the teachings of another famous Middle East leader.

In Son of Hamas, Mosab Yousef — now called Joseph — reveals new information about the world's most dangerous terrorist organization and unveils the truth about his own role, his agonizing separation from family and homeland, the dangerous decision to make his newfound faith public, and his belief that the Christian mandate to love your enemies is the only way to peace in the Middle East.


WIKIPEDIA: Mosab Hassan Yousef »

Powerful Saudi Prince Breaks Ranks to Condemn Hamas

THE TELEGRAPH: Prince Turki al-Faisal, a key power broker in the Middle East, hits out against the murderous tactics adopted by the terror group

Prince Turki al-Faisal: ‘I categorically condemn Hamas’s targeting of civilian targets of any age or gender as it is accused of’ | Leigh Vogel/Getty
An influential Saudi prince has issued a strong condemnation of Hamas in a rare rebuke from one of the Middle East’s main power brokers.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi ambassador to the UK and US, said he preferred “civil insurrection and disobedience” to the murderous tactics adopted by the Palestinian terror group.

“I categorically condemn Hamas’s targeting of civilian targets of any age or gender as it is accused of,” Prince al-Faisal said in a speech at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, a US think tank housed at Rice University in Texas.

“But equally, I condemn Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian innocent civilians in Gaza and the attempt to forcibly drive them into Sinai,” he added, citing Israel’s recent bombardment of the enclave and order for its residents to flee south towards Egypt ahead of an expected ground offensive.

Prince al-Faisal’s remarks underline recent comments from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and indicate Riyadh may still be amenable to a historic normalisation deal with Israel, despite having put on hold talks amid the current war. » | Sophia Yan | Friday, October 20, 2023

Saudi, Israeli officials spar at regional conference: Prince Turki al-Faisal called Israel a 'Western colonising power' »

Why the West can no longer ignore Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia: The calculated moves that have returned the pariah prince to the centre of diplomacy »

I concur with Prince Turki al-Faisal’s wise words. His forthrightness is both refreshing and courageous.

Hamas’s crimes were vile and depraved, but peace will never be achieved unless the root causes of the enmities and hatred between the Palestinians and the Israelis are addressed and corrected.

Whilst it is undeniable that Israel has a right to respond to the atrocities committed by Hamas, it is in the Israelis’ own interests to ensure that their responses are measured, appropriate and proportionate. Civilised behaviour demands that the punishment should always befit the crime. If Israel’s reaction turns out not to fit the crimes committed by Hamas, their disproportionate punishments will engender even more anti-Semitism throughout the world – a cancerous phenomenon which in many countries is already at fever pitch.

Decent people naturally want the best for Israel and the Israelis. Please don’t let them down, Mr Netanyahu. The world is watching. – © Mark Alexander

Israel-Hamas War: Two US Hostages Released by Hamas | DW News

Oct 20, 2023 | Hamas said that its armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, had released two American hostages who had been held by the group after the terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7.

The news was initially confirmed by Israel's Channel 13 News and public broadcaster Kan.

The release of the hostages, Judith and Natalie Raanan, was confirmed via statement by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

"In response to Qatari efforts, (the Qassam) Brigades released two American citizens (a mother and her daughter) for humanitarian reasons," Hamas said in a statement posted on Telegram.

The Islamist group did not provide any additional information as to where the hostages were released. Israel's government estimates that roughly 200 people are being held by Hamas in Gaza, of which at least 10 are believed to be American nationals.

Hamas is categorized as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, Germany and a number of other countries.


Hamas Releases 2 American Hostages: A 59-year-old woman and her teenage daughter, dual citizens from Illinois, were being reunited with family members on an Israeli military base, Israeli officials said. The two were kidnapped on Oct. 7, along with roughly 200 other people. »

Being Palestinian and Gay in Gaza Prior to the Current Conflict: i24NEWS Exclusive Interview: 'When I Was 17, Hamas Caught Me with My Boyfriend'

Aug 10, 2023 | Years of repeated torture at the hands of Hamas. i24NEWS host Natasha Kirtchuk speaks to a Palestinian man who escaped the Gaza Strip after years of being tortured by the terrorist group for being gay.

The View from Gaza | Palestinian Ambassador to the UK - Husam Zomlot

Oct 18, 2023 | What's it like to live in Gaza? What are the key differences between the PLO, the PA, Fatah and Hamas? How far away are we from the diplomatic high point of the Oslo Accords? On today's episode of The Rest Is Politics, Rory and Alastair are joined by Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK.

WIKIPEDIA: Husam Zomlot »

Related documentary: Balfour: Seeds of Discord.

Israel Has 'No Strategy' to Stop Hamas | Sir Richard Dalton

Oct 13, 2023 | “Clearly, what Hamas has done was an obscene terrorist atrocity. But Israel should not be committing war crimes in response.” Israel’s response to the Hamas attack is “not proportionate” and has “no strategy whatsoever” says former Ambassador to Iran Sir Richard Dalton.

Sir Richard Dalton (diplomat) »

Israel-Hamas War: Sky Speaks to Veteran Palestinian Politician Hanan Ashrawi

Oct 17, 2023 | Sky's Mark Austin discusses the current crisis between Israel and Hamas with the Palestinian politician and activist Hanan Ashrawi. She told him it would be impossible to wipe out Hamas in Gaza as the group was not solely a military organisation. She was speaking from the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank.

Israel Can Defend Itself and Uphold Its Values

OPINION : THE EDITORIAL BOARD
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Israel stands on the verge of invading Gaza in response to the terrorist attacks by Hamas that many, including Israel’s leaders, have compared to Sept. 11 not just because of the scale and savagery but also because the terrorists sought to destroy the tranquillity of daily life. They killed the very young and the very old, the strong and the weak, civilians and soldiers; they took some 150 hostages, including children, and survivors said the attackers raped women — all to send a message that no Israeli was safe.

Israel has a responsibility to its citizens to hold accountable the perpetrators of this violence, but as Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week, “How Israel does this matters.”

Israel cannot win this war just by killing all the terrorists. It is determined to break the power of Hamas, and in that effort it deserves the support of the United States and the rest of the world. But it can succeed only by upholding the rules and norms of behavior that Hamas so wantonly ignores. What Israel is fighting to defend is a society that values human life and the rule of law. To do that, the means and the ends of its military response must be consistent.

Israel’s goal is to destroy Hamas; in doing that, it should not lose sight of its commitment to safeguard those who have not taken up arms. » | The Editorial Board | Saturday, October 14, 2023

Israel-Hamas War: Next Step Is to 'Eradicate This Nazi-type Hamas' - Ex-Israeli PM Naftali Bennett

Oct 12, 2023 | Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett has told Sky News the country's military is currently focused on "eradicating Hamas" - but the interview became heated over questions on possible civilian casualties in Gaza. Mr Bennett stressed that for now the focus of the Israel Defense Forces is to "go on the offensive" and "eradicate this Nazi-type Hamas".

Who Is Funding Hamas? | DW Business Special

Oct 14, 2023 | The terror attacks against Israel have drawn new attention to the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip – and its backers. Host Marie Sina is joined by Matthew Levitt, director of the Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. They discuss Hamas' main sources of funding, its ties to Iran and Russia, and the humanitarian situation for Palestinian civilians.

After the Pogrom in Israel, the Angel of Death Is Licking His Lips

GUARDIAN EUROPE: The horror unleashed by Hamas has brought tragedy to Israel and devastation to Gaza - and fear to Jews across the world

The word pogrom was not meant to exist in Hebrew. In the new Israel, the very idea of Jews being murdered en masse, their children butchered before their eyes, was meant to have been banished to the realm of bitter memory. It was only in the eastern Europe of exile that Jews would have to flee from tormentors bent on killing them, only there that they would hide in the dark, trying to stifle their breath lest they make a betraying sound. Once they had a state of their own, where they could defend themselves at last, there would be no need to speak of pogroms, except in the history books.

But it was a pogrom that came to Israel last weekend, multiple pogroms in fact, as lethal as any that cut down the Yiddish-speaking Jews of the last century or, in repeating patterns, the centuries before. Jews still remember the Kishinev pogrom of 1903, a calamity recalled in poetry recited to this day. At Kishinev, 49 Jews were murdered. Last Saturday, at least 1,200 were put to death, many of them in ways too sadistic to be recounted in a newspaper. » | Jonathan Freedland | Friday, October 13, 2023