TV News LIES

Thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv and across Israel on Saturday night in weekly protests calling on the government to make a deal with the Hamas terror group for a hostage release deal and ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, while thousands more gathered for a separate Jewish-Arab anti-war protest.

The demonstrations came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had issued instructions for negotiations to be held for the return of all 50 hostages, even as he moved toward approving plans for a military offensive aimed at conquering Gaza City.

Hamas said last week it had agreed to a proposed deal, which would see the release of 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 slain hostages during a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners. During the ceasefire, Israel and Hamas would hold negotiations for the return of all remaining hostages and a permanent end to the war.

More...

US defense officials have blocked Ukraine from using US-supplied long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia since late spring as part of a Trump administration effort to get Vladimir Putin to engage in peace talks , according to a report on Saturday.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Pentagon has blocked Ukraine from using US-made Army Tactical Missile Systems, or Atacms.

Two US officials told the outlet that on at least one occasion, Ukraine had sought to use Atacms against a target but was denied under a “review mechanism” developed by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for policy, that governs how US long-range weapons or those provided by European allies that rely on American intelligence and components can be used.

More...

U.S. President Donald Trump started the week declaring a diplomatic breakthrough in his bid to prod Moscow and Kyiv closer to peace, announcing he had begun arranging for direct talks between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Four days later, the Republican president’s optimism has diminished. Russia’s top diplomat made it clear Friday that Putin won’t meet with Zelenskyy until the Ukrainians agree to some of Moscow’s longstanding demands to end the conflict.

It’s a stinging setback for Trump, who had been touting his diplomatic blitz as resulting in indisputable momentum for a deal to halt a conflict he vowed as a candidate to end on Day One in office.

Trump said Friday he expected to make a decision on his next actions in two weeks if direct talks aren’t scheduled. He raised the possibility of imposing new sanctions or tariffs on Russia, a threat he has previously floated but not followed through on.

More...

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp resigned on Friday after a cabinet meeting failed to agree to sanctions against Israel.

The centre-right New Social Contract Party, of which Veldkamp is a member, withdrew from the governing coalition after the resignation, adding to growing political chaos in the country.

Veldkamp had said on Thursday that he wanted new measures against Israel over its iron-fisted tactics in the Gaza war against Hamas.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp resigned on Friday after a cabinet meeting failed to agree to sanctions against Israel.

The centre-right New Social Contract Party, of which Veldkamp is a member, withdrew from the governing coalition after the resignation, adding to growing political chaos in the country.

Last month the Netherlands declared far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich persona non grata. It was also among 21 countries that signed a joint declaration on Thursday condemning Israel's approval of a major West Bank settlement project as "unacceptable and contrary to international law".

More...

Figures from a classified Israeli military intelligence database indicate five out of six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza have been civilians, an extreme rate of slaughter rarely matched in recent decades of warfare.

As of May, 19 months into the war, Israeli intelligence officials listed 8,900 named fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as dead or “probably dead”, a joint investigation by the Guardian, the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call has found.

At that time 53,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks, according to health authorities in Gaza, a toll that included combatants and civilians. Fighters named in the Israeli military intelligence database accounted for just 17% of the total, which indicates that 83% of the dead were civilians.

That apparent ratio of civilians to combatants among the dead is extremely high for modern warfare, even compared with conflicts notorious for indiscriminate killing, including the Syrian and Sudanese civil wars.

More...

Nearly two years after launching the surprise attack that sparked the war with Israel, Hamas finds itself up against a wall.

Its fighting force has been pummeled by Israel, its charismatic leadership has been all but assassinated and its ceasefire negotiators face unprecedented pressure from Arab governments to give up its weapons and its rule.

"Hamas is facing its worst crisis yet," said Esmat Mansour, a West Bank-based Palestinian political commentator and former militant, who is in touch with figures close to Hamas. "Hamas faces pressures from all directions: from Israel, from the street, from the West and from Arab countries."

The most immediate pressure comes from Israel's latest threat: to besiege Gaza City, after displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the city, and sending soldiers inside to fight in what Israel considers to be one of Hamas' last major strongholds.

More...