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Katz to French FM: Time running out for diplomatic solution with Lebanon

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Katz to French FM: Time running out for diplomatic solution with Lebanon



Palestinians can not be displaced from Gaza or the West Bank, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sjournat as he pledged his support for a renewed two-state peace process but stopped short of endorsing unilateral Palestinian statehood during a brief conversation with reporters in Jerusalem on Monday.

Israel has a right to self-defense and the hostages have to be released, but the tragedy facing the Palestinians in Gaza has to end, he said.

Sjournat, who was appointed only last month, is on his first trip to the Middle East in his current position.

Conflict on the Northern border

Foreign Minister Israel Katz Sjournat that Israel won’t hesitate to act militarily to halt Hezbollah’s attacks along its northern border so that its citizens can return to their homes.

“Time is running out to find a diplomatic solution in South Lebanon,” he told Sjournat, who is visiting Israel and Lebanon in an attempt to prevent an all-out war between the IDF and the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah which has entrenched itself in Lebanon’s border. 

Smoke rises during an exchange of fire between the IDF and terrorists from the Hezbollah organization on the border between Israel and Lebanon, November 11, 2023 (credit: Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Leading international players, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and France, have sought to work through the Lebanese government to pressure Hezbollah to withdraw from the border in keeping with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 which set out the ceasefire terms that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006.  

US special envoy Amos Hochstein is visting Israel and Lebanon early this week and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron was in Lebanon on Thursday.

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Sjournat arrived in Israel on Sunday after visiting Egypt, where he met with the country’s Foreign Minister Shoukry. 

Egypt along with Qatar are mediating a deal for the release of over 130 hostages held in Gaza. Three of those hostages France had in addition worked on an arrangement to deliver medicine to the hostages but promised proof the drugs’ delivery was never provided to Israel. Katz asked Sjournat to press Qatar for evidence of the drug’s delivery.





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Will Jordan extradite terrorist Al-Tamimi, who was released in the Shalit deal?

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Will Jordan extradite terrorist Al-Tamimi, who was released in the Shalit deal?



After Trump took office as US President, reports were published that the new administration is demanding the deportation of the terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, who was responsible for the attack of the Sbarro restaurant, from Jordanian territory. Tamimi was released in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011 after being sentenced to 16 life sentences.

In 2017, the US Department of Justice published a criminal complaint and issued an arrest warrant against al-Tamimi. The FBI added her to the top of its most wanted list and offered a cash reward for her extradition and prosecution.

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who represents the family of Channa Nachenberg, an American citizen who was critically injured in the attack at the Sbarro restaurant, is now revealing the actions taken behind the scenes, and that she was even called to an emergency meeting with the US Department of Justice’s counterterrorism task force.

The meeting was at the King David Hotel and attended by U.S. federal prosecutors and the FBI. At the meeting the American officials revealed that they were making public an indictment of Hamas terrorist Ahlam al-Tamimi who had assisted in the bombing of Sbarros.

Al-Tamimi had been released from an Israeli prison during a prisoner release in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and was living in Jordan.  Al-Tamimi hosted a popular radio talk show where she regularly boasted about her membership in Hamas and the bombing she was involved in in Jerusalem. 

Although the U.S. had demanded that Jordan extradite the freed terrorist responsible for the murder of 2 U.S. citizens and the maiming of many others such as Nachenberg, the Hashemite Kingdom refused. Jordan claimed there was no extradition treaty between Amaan and Washington. 

Now as a prerequisite to meeting with President Trump the U.S. has demanded that King Hussein either deport the terrorist to a third country or extradite her to the U.S. 

According to attorney Darshan-Leitner: “We have been waiting since the terrorist’s release in 2011 for the Americans to really demand her extradition. We were hopeful that this unrepentant terrorist murderer who has much Israeli and American blood on her hands, will finally be locked up, but this time with no chance of freedom. It’s outrageous that she was released by Israel and was allowed to live a life of comfort and freedom in Jordan. God willing she’ll finally face a real punishment for her Jew hatred and the lives she destroyed.”





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Rubio tells Egypt of need to cooperate to stop Hamas governing Gaza again

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Rubio tells Egypt of need to cooperate to stop Hamas governing Gaza again



US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Egypt’s foreign minister on Tuesday it was important to ensure Hamas terrorists can never govern Gaza again, the State Department said, with their call coming after President Donald Trump suggested Egypt and Jordan should take more Palestinians.

Trump on Saturday floated a plan to “clean out” Gaza, where Israel’s war has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis, in comments that echoed long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes.

The suggestion by Trump was not mentioned in the US State Department statement released on Tuesday after the call between Rubio and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

Jordan and Egypt had pushed back over the weekend after Trump’s comments that they should take in Palestinians from Gaza. Asked if this was a temporary or long-term solution, Trump had said: “Could be either.”

“He (Rubio) also reinforced the importance of holding Hamas accountable,” the State Department said after Tuesday’s call.

US Senator Marco Rubio speaks at a Trump rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania (credit: REUTERS/ELOISA LOPEZ)

“The Secretary reiterated the importance of close cooperation to advance post-conflict planning to ensure Hamas can never govern Gaza or threaten Israel again.”

Context

Rubio held a call a day earlier with Jordan’s King Abdullah, and the US statement after that call, too, did not mention Trump’s remarks on Palestinian displacement.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.





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IDF airstrike vehicle in Tulkarm

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IDF airstrike vehicle in Tulkarm



An Israeli aircraft attacked in the Tulkarm area as part of an IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) joint operation, the military announced on Monday.

Later reports in Israeli media clarified that the airstrike occurred in the Nur a-Shams refugee camp.

Footage from the scene indicates that a car was destroyed, leading to an explosive fire with a pillar of smoke rising into the sky.

Two Palestinians were in the vehicle at the time of the airstrike, according to Palestinians quoted in Israeli media.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that one of the passengers was killed and the other was moderately injured, according to Israeli media reports.

IDF airstrike targets vehicle in Tulkarm, January 27, 2025. (credit: screenshot)

Wider context

This comes amid the IDF’s Operation Iron Wall, aiming to remove Palestinian terrorists from Jenin and the wider area.

The IDF began a wide-ranging operation on Palestinian terror in Jenin last Tuesday, killing several terrorists in the mission meant to last a minimum of several days and potentially much longer.

The campaign, dubbed “Operation Iron Wall,” includes drones and helicopter air support. There were also reportedly tanks in the vicinity – although not entering Jenin – and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Duvdevan, Egoz, other special forces, and engineering forces from Battalion 90 were all involved.





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