The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."
The Civilians at War project represents two years of listening and documenting by the Edut 710 staff.
DEFENSE SQUAD from Kibbutz Kerem Shalom reenacts a moment for Edut 710. (photo credit: Kfir Amir/Courtesy Edut 710)
Edut 710,
an organization that collects and presents digital documentation of the
Oct. 7 massacre (www.edut710en.org), has just launched a new project to
mark the second anniversary of the outbreak of the war: public
testimonies of rapid-response squad members and civilians who stood on
the frontline to defend their families, homes, and communities.
This
interactive project is called Civilians at War. Its unveiling
represents two years of listening and documenting by the Edut 710 staff.
Edut
710 is a nonprofit organization established two days after Oct. 7. It
began to collect and record survivor testimonies on October 9, in Eilat
and at the Dead Sea. For approximately a year and a half, the
organization operated on a volunteer basis, and even today most
activities are carried out by 400 dedicated volunteers.
To
date, more than 1,700 personal stories have been collected, with over
800 testimonies already published online after thorough editing by
teams, with several professionals working on each story. Many of the
accounts have been translated into English, Arabic, Russian, French,
German, and Spanish.
The
site allows users to search for testimony from varying locations, such
as towns, kibbutzim, military bases, cities, and the Supernova music
festival.
SCREEN GRAB shows images from the Civilians at War section of Edut 710. (credit: Courtesy Edut 710)The
content is displayed on a digital platform developed specifically for
the project called NarraCiv (a fusion of the words “narrative” and
“civil”), which layers the documented materials across a timeline and a
3D map. Thus, users take part in a virtual and interactive tour,
selecting their own viewing path from among many points of view, thereby
creating a personalized experience. The project has been developed in
partnership with Xsite, developer of the NarraCiv application.
The Civilians at War section currently focuses on Kibbutz Sufa, where three people were killed and where the kibbutz defense squad fought heroically on their own for close to six hours.
The
ordeal of the Sufa residents on that dark day is documented by means of
a timeline. Users can click anywhere on it and watch testimonies and
videos. Other locations will be added.
Micha
Livne, co-founder of Edut 710 and head of the Civilians at War project,
said, “The project is a living, breathing mosaic of memory, experience,
and documentation. It tells the story of ordinary people who leapt from
their beds on the morning of Oct. 7, threw on a shirt, shorts, and
sandals – and in a moment became unwilling but courageous fighters.”
He
continued, “Its uniqueness is not only in what is told but in how it is
told. We tend to think of history as a straight line. But life, and
certainly the events of Oct. 7, are not like that. They scatter into
moments, experiences, and perspectives. Only when the parts are
connected does the picture emerge.”
The
Civilians at War section, Livne said, “is also a milestone for how our
full digital archive will be built. But most important is the process
itself. This is not a ‘film’ by a single director but a collective
creation – together with the citizen fighters and their communities.
Alongside them, hundreds of volunteer professionals – filmmakers,
researchers, therapists, and more – contributed to create a sensitive,
complex, and unique work.”
Preserving memory and history
Gil
Levin, the CEO of Edut 710, said, “Oct. 7 was a formative event in the
history of the State of Israel – and it is not over. Our mission is to
document this history in real time, and our duty is to do so first and
foremost for the people and communities who are documented.
“Our
goal is that the memory we preserve does not gather dust in archives
but serves as a living and current tool for research, education, and
creation, for us and for future generations. More than 400 volunteers
have contributed – and continue to contribute – their time, talent, and
especially their spirit, with deep listening for this important
endeavor.
“The
sheer scale of the testimonies, each processed by professional teams
investing dozens of hours, is unprecedented – even compared to archives
that have been active for decades. And we still have thousands of
additional testimonies to hear and record, which include the voices of
populations, sectors, and age groups that have not yet been adequately
represented.”
The testimonies will eventually be preserved in the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem as well.
The organization draws on the work of the late Prof. Dori Laub,
a Holocaust survivor and psychoanalyst at Yale University, who
emphasized that testimony empowers witnesses by granting them control
over their stories and recognition from their listeners.
To
make the testimonies as accessible as possible, Edut 710, in
partnership with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is building an
AI-based archive.
The
staff of Edut 710 are working as quickly as possible to collect as many
testimonies as they can before memories fade. Edut 710 has also
launched a crowdfunding campaign via GiveBack to support and expand its
vital activities.
Hamas is “unearthing” the captives, alive and deceased, “as we speak,” Trump tells reporters.
Hostage Squares in Tel Aviv, Oct. 5, 2025. Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90.
The 48 hostages still held in the Gaza
Strip are expected to return home by 6 a.m. on Oct. 13, two years and
one week after they were kidnapped by Hamas-led terrorists in the
northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel’s Kan Reshet Bet radio reported the revised deadline, as did Al Jazeera
and other media outlets. The Qatari station cited a document outlining
the implementation stages of the Trump plan for ending the war.
While previous rounds of hostage releases were characterized by humiliating
“handover ceremonies” carried out by Gazan terrorist groups, this time,
according to the document, the hostages’ return should take place
without any such proceedings.
Terrorists
from Hamas’s “Shadow Unit” hand over Israeli hostage Keith Siegel to
the Red Cross during a ceremony in Gaza City, Feb. 1, 2025. Photo by Ali
Hassan/Flash90.
The flow of supplies into the Strip will begin immediately, with at least 600 trucks entering the territory daily.
Humanitarian aid operations will resume under the oversight of the United Nations and other international organizations.
The first hostages could be redeemed at any time on Sunday, with the Red Cross handling their release from Gaza into Israel, according to the Al Jazeera report.
An Egyptian delegation, accompanied by Red
Cross representatives, will visit prisons in Israel to ensure the
release of Palestinian terrorists as agreed in the ceasefire terms, the
report added.
Palestinian
terrorists who were released in a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas
are welcomed in Beitunia, near Ramallah, on Jan. 20, 2025. Credit:
Flash90.
Israel has agreed to release 250
Palestinians serving long terms, and another 1,700 Gazans detained
during the war. Their release will take place after all 48 of the
Israeli abductees are redeemed.
Twenty hostages are believed to be alive,
with 26 presumed dead and the fate of two more unknown, according to
Israeli estimates.
One of the bodies is that of IDF Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed in action in 2014.
Speaking to reporters at the White House
on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that Hamas was “getting them
now. They’re in some pretty rough places under earth … where only a few
people know where they are.
“They’re also getting the bodies,” he
continued. “Approximately 28 bodies. Some of these bodies are being
unearthed as we speak.”
Trump added that Israelis were “dancing”
in the streets when news of the ceasefire was announced, as were people
in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
The president said he was going to travel to the Middle East and address the Knesset, followed by a possible trip to Cairo.
“Everyone wants this deal to happen,” he said.
Trump said he believes that the ceasefire will hold.
“Hopefully you’re going to have great
success, I call it everlasting success. I think you’re going to have
tremendous success, and Gaza is going to be rebuilt. And you have some
very wealthy countries over there, and it would take a small fraction of
their wealth to do that, and I think they want to do it,” he said.
“They’re all tired of the fighting. Don’t
forget, you had Oct. 7, which was a horrible day, but Hamas has lost
58,000 people. That’s big retribution. I think they’re all tired of
fighting. This is beyond Gaza; this is peace in the Middle East, and it
is a beautiful thing.”
U.S.
Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff (right) and Rabbi of the
Western Wall Shmuel Rabinovitch (second from right) at the Western Wall
in Jerusalem’s Old City, Oct. 10, 2025. Photo by Shlomi Cohen/Flash90.
Meanwhile, U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve
Witkoff was seen visiting an Israel Defense Forces base in Gaza to
oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops according to the ceasefire
terms, Fox News and Reuters reported on Saturday.
Fox News correspondent Jennifer
Griffin posted a photo of Witkoff alongside Israeli military personnel,
including IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
Must credit Fox News. Photo of President Trump’s Mideast Envoy Steve Witkoff accompanied by LTG Eyal Zamir, IDF Chief of Staff, and Adm Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander (not seen in photo), on visit to IDF base in Gaza to observe the ceasefire. @SEPeaceMissions@SteveWitkoff… pic.twitter.com/xJCn8fz5Lh
The first stage of the ceasefire came into effect
on Friday. It could end the war that started a little over two years
ago, when Gazan terrorists murdered some 1,200 people in Israeli
communities along the border and kidnapped 251 into Gaza, in the
deadliest single-day terror attack in Israel’s history.
President Trump will host a Gaza summit in Egypt next week, joined by global leaders to support his peace plan.
US President Donlad Trump Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian
US President Donald Trump is expected to convene a summit of world leaders focused on Gaza during his upcoming visit to Egypt, Axios reported on Friday, citing four sources familiar with the matter.
The
summit, aimed at bolstering international support for Trump’s Gaza
peace plan, comes as key agreements on post-war governance, security,
and reconstruction remain unresolved.
Sources
indicated that Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is organizing
the summit and has extended invitations to several European and Arab
leaders. Leaders or foreign ministers from Germany, France, the U.K.,
Italy, Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and
Indonesia are expected to attend.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not expected to participate at this time, according to a US official quoted by Axios.
American officials confirmed Trump’s attendance at the summit, though the White House declined to comment.
President Trump is scheduled to arrive in Israel
on Monday morning, where he will deliver a speech before the Knesset
and meet with families of hostages. Later that day, he will travel to
Egypt to meet with President Sisi and take part in a signing ceremony
alongside the other guarantors of the Gaza peace deal: Egypt, Qatar, and
Turkey.
The summit is expected to take place Tuesday
morning in Sharm el-Sheikh, the site of previous negotiations, though
sources say it may be moved to Monday.
Trump’s bold Gaza peace plan achieves a historic first step—cease-fire, hostage release, and Arab-Israeli cooperation few thought possible.
Yesterday, at noon Egypt time, Israel and Hamas agreed to implement
the first stage of President Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan by
implementing an immediate cease-fire, a partial withdrawal of Israeli
forces, and the release by Hamas of 48 Israeli hostages, 20 of whom are
believed to be alive. Israel also agreed to release almost 2,000
Palestinian prisoners, including about 250 who were serving life
sentences, primarily for terrorism-related charges.
As I explained in my October 3 American Greatness article,
Trump’s peace plan is bold and may not ultimately succeed. There is
work to be done to finalize other stages of this agreement.
Nevertheless, it is hard to exaggerate the significance of Israel and
Hamas agreeing to the critical first stage.
Just a few weeks ago, few believed Hamas would ever release its
hostages, never mind all of them at once. It also appeared unlikely that
either side would agree to a cease-fire. Moreover, Hamas’s initial
answer on October 3 of “yes, but” to the 20-point plan appeared to be
the same response that caused previous peace plans to fail.
President Trump and his negotiating team were not deterred by Hamas’s
initial ambiguous answer to the 20-point plan. Diplomats from the U.S.,
Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE instead engaged in intensive negotiations
over the last week to get past Hamas’s objections and implement the
first stage to quickly free all of the Israeli hostages, a cease-fire,
and a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Releasing all the Israeli
hostages is a significant concession for Hamas because it has regarded
them as essential bargaining chips.
There will probably be difficult negotiations ahead to convince Hamas
to agree to other parts of the deal, such as disarming, barring the
terrorist group from any role in post-war Gaza, the international force
that will be deployed to Gaza, how reconstruction will be conducted, and
other issues. I believe it is likely that Hamas’s agreement to the
first stage bodes well for its agreement to the rest of the deal.
The 20-point peace plan is a masterpiece because it gained Arab and
Israeli support and provided a way to end the war with or without
Hamas’s agreement. If Hamas rejects this deal, it has nowhere to go, and
rebuilding of the Gaza Strip and a new administration will occur
without it.
This deal was only possible because of President Trump’s dogged
determination to end this war by establishing himself as a trusted
mediator between Israel and Arab states. Trump started this effort a
week after he won the 2024 election when he named Steve Witkoff as his
Middle East peace envoy and immediately sent him to meet with Gulf state
leaders. Witkoff’s efforts resulted in a cease-fire agreement on
January 19, 2025, that lasted three months and the release of 30
hostages.
Trump also took his first working foreign trip to the Persian Gulf to
discuss his peace efforts with regional leaders and repair U.S.
relations with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, which President
Biden’s incompetent foreign policy had damaged.
President Trump also salvaged U.S. relations with Israel. President
Biden feuded with Prime Minister Netanyahu, withheld weapons from
Israel, and tried to force it into surrender deals with Hamas. Trump
backed Israel’s war against Hamas and established himself as the most
pro-Israel president in history. Trump also supported—and later
joined—Israel’s unprecedented air strikes last June to destroy Iran’s
nuclear weapons program.
President Trump said at a cabinet meeting yesterday that the U.S.
bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites was a crucial element in the peace plan
because if Iran were still close to producing nuclear weapons, there
would be a “big dark cloud” over the plan.
At the same time, Trump proved that he would pressure Prime Minister
Netanyahu to make peace. He told Netanyahu that it was time to end the
war because “Israel cannot fight the world.” Trump said he would not
allow Israel to annex the West Bank or Gaza. Trump also opposed Israel’s
recent attack against Qatar and directed Netanyahu to apologize for
this attack to Qatari Prime Minister al-Thani. These statements and
actions were crucial to convincing Arab states that Trump would be an
honest broker to end the Gaza War.
Trump didn’t back down after previous peace plans failed. He ignored
demands by the UN, European leaders, and critics at home that Israel
halt the war and allow Hamas to resume control of Gaza. While European
states were trying to appease Hamas by recognizing a Palestinian state
without any concessions from the terrorist group, Trump’s negotiators
were working behind the scenes with America’s Arab allies to prepare a
comprehensive peace plan and broad support for the plan.
Even if the 20-point plan only succeeds in freeing the remaining
Israeli hostages, this will be a significant accomplishment for
President Trump’s peace efforts. But if both sides accept and cooperate
with the entire 20-point plan and end the war in Gaza, it will be a
monumental diplomatic achievement for President Trump and his
negotiating team that will more than qualify Trump for the Nobel Peace
Prize. But more importantly, Trump’s success as an honest broker in
ending the Gaza War will give him significant leverage to achieve
another huge diplomatic victory: convincing Russian President Putin and
Ukrainian President Zelensky to end the horrific Ukraine War.
This week’s events in the Middle East are more evidence that the second Trump term is proving to be a truly historic presidency.
***
Fred Fleitz previously served as National Security Council chief
of staff, a CIA analyst, and a House Intelligence Committee staff
member. He is the Vice Chair of the America First Policy Institute’s
Center for American Security.
Supreme Court dismisses a petition against releasing terrorist prisoners in the Hamas deal, citing the issue as a core security matter under government discretion.
Supreme Court Chaim Goldberg/Flash 90
The
Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the release of
terrorist prisoners as part of the ceasefire and hostage release
agreement with Hamas.
The
ruling, authored by Justices Yael Vilner, Alex Stein, and Gila Canfy
Steinitz, emphasized that the matter falls outside the legal domain.
“The decision on the matter rests with the government, and the court must refrain from interfering in it,” the justices wrote.
The
court clarified that the decision is “of a distinct security nature,”
and therefore “at the most difficult core of the government's powers and
discretion.”
In
a rare personal note, the judges concluded their ruling with a
heartfelt message: “We sign our ruling in the hope of a year of peace
and security for all citizens of Israel; for finding a remedy for the
pain of the bereaved families and victims of hostilities; for the speedy
return of all the hostages; for the safe return of all the soldiers to
their homes and to their families; for the healing of the mind and body
of all the wounded; And to heal the rifts in the nation. May it be.”
Starting on Friday morning, personal notices have been given
to the families of Israelis who were murdered in terrorist attacks,
that the terrorists involved in the murder of their loved ones are
expected to be released as part of the hostage deal.
The
notices to the families of the murdered civilians are delivered through
National Insurance employees. Notices to the families of the fallen
Israeli soldiers will be delivered by representatives of the IDF, the
police, and the security agencies.
The ceasefire officially went into effect at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, after IDF units started withdrawing from footholds inside Gaza toward the agreed yellow line.
Once the ceasefire formally began, a 72‑hour period set by the agreement for the release of the living hostages kicked off.
The memo was found on a computer unconnected to any network in an underground complex used by Muhammed Sinwar while he was in hiding.
Sinwar escaping in civilian attire(photo credit: SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT)
After the assassination of Muhammed Sinwar, an Israeli special unit found a digitalized copy of Yahya Sinwar’s six-page handwritten memo explicitly calling for Hamas to target Israeli civilians ahead of the October 7 invasion, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
The memo was found on a computer unconnected to any network in an underground complex used by Sinwar while he was in hiding.
The
letter, dated August 24, 2022, includes directives written in Arabic to
target both military and civilian targets, seven Israeli officials told
the NYT.
Record the massacre
The American newspaper, which viewed the letter, reported that Hamas
was instructed to broadcast the atrocities committed during the
invasion to evoke fear and a feeling of instability across the Jewish
state.
“It
needs to be affirmed to the unit commanders to undertake these actions
intentionally, film them, and broadcast images of them as fast as
possible,” the memo said.
“Document
the scenes of horror, now, and broadcast them on TV channels to the
whole world,” a commander from Gaza City called Abu al-Baraa told
operatives in the area of Kibbutz Sa’ad, according to a message
intercepted by Israel. “Slaughter them. End the children of Israel.”
Children's toys and personal items lie on the bloodstained floor of a
child's bedroom, following a deadly infiltration by Hamas terrorists
from the Gaza Strip, in Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel October 17,
2023. (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)Similar
instructions had also been issued by commanders then issued on Oct. 7,
according to hours of previously unreported communications between
commanders and subordinates intercepted by Israel during the assault and
shared with the NYT.
In
the early days of the war, Hamas denied targeting civilians and claimed
to have taken women and children hostage for their own safety.
The
majority of the children were released in a November 2023 deal, though
the bodies of the young Bibas brothers and their mother, Shiri, were not
released for over a year. It was discovered that the family, except
father Yarden Bibas, were beaten to death by Palestinians shortly after
their abduction.
Burning the kibbutzim
While
Sinwar’s instructions did not include taking civilians hostage, it
ordered terrorists to enter residential neighborhoods and set them on
fire “with gasoline or diesel from a tanker.”
“Two
or three operations, in which an entire neighborhood, kibbutz, or
something similar will be burned, must be prepared,” the memo said.
An intercepted message from a Hamas commander revealed that the directive was followed on October 7.
Abu Muhammed, a Hamas commander from Gaza City, told subordinates: “Start setting homes on fire.”
“Burn, burn,” he said, according to the intercepts. “I want the whole kibbutz to be in flames.”
“Set fire to anything,” a Hamas Commander, Abu al-Abed, said around the same time.
Hamas
Commander Abu Muath instructed terrorists to “Kill everyone on the
road…Kill everyone you encounter” in one intercepted message. “Guys,
take a lot of hostages…Take a lot of hostages.”
Cruelty to soldiers
The memo also called for acts of cruelty to be carried out against Israeli soldiers, focusing on painful and symbolic acts.
“Stomp on the heads of soldiers,” it said.
It listed “opening fire on soldiers at point-blank range, slaughtering some of them with knives, blowing up tanks.”
Izzat al-Rishq, the Qatar-based director of Hamas’s media office, refused to comment on the New York Times report.
Palestinian sources report security chaos in the Gaza Strip, as Hamas gunmen clash with local clans in Beit Lahia and the Sabra neighborhood, and the son of a Hamas official was reportedly killed.
A Palestinian man points a weapon
in the air, after US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and
Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, in the central Gaza
Strip October 9, 2025.(photo credit: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa)
Following
a wave of armed clashes between Hamas terrorists and local Palestinian
groups, Palestinian sources are reporting a widespread breakdown in
security across the Gaza Strip.
In
Beit Lahia, an exchange of gunfire erupted between gunmen affiliated
with Ashraf al-Mansi and Hamas forces. At the same time, another
confrontation was reported in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City
between the Dajmash clan and Hamas, during which Muhammad Imad Aql, the
son of a senior Hamas military commander who was previously
assassinated, was killed.
Hamas
forces surrounded the al-Dhamsha family neighborhood in the al-Sabra
area of Gaza City on Friday night. Schools and residential towers were
evacuated, while snipers and a large number of masked, armed men were
deployed throughout the area.
Hamas views the rebellious clans as a direct threat to its control over Gaza City,
according to Palestinian sources. During the war, Hamas executed the
mukhtar (chief) of the Dajmash clan — one of the armed families in
northern Gaza — fearing that Israel might try to use the clan against
it. As part of its efforts to suppress the uprising, Hamas sent senior
fighters to attempt an assassination of Yasser Abu Shabab, leader of the
Rafah militia. The assassination attempt failed.
Meanwhile,
Hussam al-Astal, commander of an armed group opposed to Hamas in Khan
Yunis, published a defiant post on his Facebook page, harshly attacking
the organization.
members of the Abu Shabab Popular Forces militia in the Gaza Strip. (credit: SCREENSHOT/X, SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT)“To
all the Hamas rats,” he wrote, “your tunnels are destroyed, your rights
no longer exist. Repent before it’s too late — there is no Hamas from
today onward.”
Al-Astal
also referred to last week’s clashes, when Hamas allegedly tried to
launch an attack against the al-Majaida clan in Khan Yunis. According to
him, Hamas gunmen hid inside Nasser Hospital and a nearby mosque, from
where they fired RPGs and explosives at the clan’s members. The IDF,
he claimed, assisted in eliminating the Hamas cell through an airstrike
that killed at least 22 militants. The IDF spokesperson confirmed the
existence of the strike.
Following
these events, Hamas officials issued calls for revenge against the
armed groups that, according to them, cooperated with Israel. Channels
affiliated with the organization reported their intention to “settle
accounts” with the groups’ leaders — including Abu Shabab, al-Astal,
Rami Khalas, and al-Mansi.
The rival groups — among them Abu Shabab’s
“Popular Forces” — operate mainly in areas that, according to the first
stage of the ceasefire arrangement, will not be evacuated by the IDF:
eastern Rafah, parts of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, and eastern Khan
Yunis — regions located outside both the “yellow line” and even the “red
line” on the proposed map of the agreement.
Al-Astal
declared that his men continue to operate: “Let the Hamas dogs not
rejoice — we are here, and they are the ones who will fall.”
Sources close to Abu Shabab likewise stated that his forces are undeterred by the threats.
A
senior member of the group was quoted as saying, “Just as Hamas gave in
under pressure and agreed to release hostages, so too will it
eventually give up its heavy weapons.”
The North American Values Institute (NAVI) called the inclusion of the map in the NEA email “an inexcusable lapse,” arguing the union must be held accountable for disseminating content that rationalizes anti-Israel sentiment.
The National Education Association (NEA), which represents millions
of U.S. educators, sent an email to its approximately 3 million members
with a map omitting Israel and labeling the territory as “Palestine.”
The email was described as a resource packet for teaching about
indigenous peoples, but critics argue it was promoting not recognizing
Israel.
The North American Values Institute (NAVI) called the
inclusion of the map in the NEA email “an inexcusable lapse,” arguing
the union must be held accountable for disseminating content that
rationalizes anti-Israel sentiment.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) also condemned the action, saying it
crosses from careless oversight to “a shocking act that denies both
history and present reality.”
A federal judge’s ruling that a deported foreign student has First Amendment rights blurs the line between citizen and non-citizen, raising profound questions about U.S. sovereignty.
On September 30, 2025, a federal trial court
in Massachusetts found that the Trump Administration violated the First
Amendment in March when it moved to detain and deport Mahmoud Khalil, a
former visa student at Columbia University. The case was brought by the
American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Middle
East Studies Association, among other professional groups, whose members
claimed Khalil’s arrest chilled their expression rights. Khalil had
participated in many campus protests about the Middle East; New
Hampshire District Court Judge William Young said the case was “perhaps the most important ever” for his court.
Unfortunately, his opinion blurred the distinction between citizen
and non-citizen, further eroding America’s self-governance. The decision
will almost certainly be appealed, however, so this story is far from
over.
What’s more, Khalil’s situation is further complicated by other court
cases and court actions, including a deportation order issued by a Louisiana immigration judge earlier
in September. There, Judge Jamee Comans found that Khalil had
“willfully misrepresented material facts” when he applied for his
student visa and his green card, all to circumvent the immigration
process. Comans’ opinion will also undoubtedly be appealed, confirming
statements by Khalil’s lawyers that this means “a long legal fight ahead.”
Mahmoud Khalil
is a 30-year-old Algerian/Palestinian, though he was born and raised in
Damascus, Syria. He came to the United States in 2022 on a foreign
student visa to attend Columbia’s graduate program in International and
Public Affairs. He obtained a green card in 2024.
Columbia has been the site of many high-profile protests about the
war in Gaza, which started after the terrorist attacks on Israel on
October 7, 2023. (Columbia has a well-known program on Middle Eastern
Studies, which attracts scholars and students from that region—perhaps
the reason its campus has had so much turmoil.) Thousands have been
injured and killed on both sides of the war, though Gaza has suffered
more civilian deaths—hence the demonstrations. But protesters go further
than objecting to civilian casualties; they also defend and rationalize
terrorist acts, including those carried out on October 7 by Hamas, an
organization long designated as a terrorist by the United States State
Department.
Rationalizing terrorism is bad enough. But protesters go further,
singling out Jewish students—not Israeli government officials—as
culprits and bad actors, chanting “divest or death,” and blocking entrances to classrooms, libraries, and residence halls. Many wear black masks.
Needless to say, this creates a climate of intimidation and hostility
for these students, compromising their educational opportunities. As a
result, numerouslawsuits have been filed not just against Columbia but also against other schools, claiming those schools have failed to secure equal access to education for all students.
Khalil was actually no longer a student at the time he was detained.
Instead, he was working to secure employment with the non-governmental
organization OXFAM. Notwithstanding, he served as lead negotiator to Columbia on behalf of pro-Palestinian protesters in 2024. He is also alleged to have ties with Hamas, which was not disclosed on his application for a student visa or green card, the grounds cited by the Louisiana immigration court in its order to deport him.
Khalil’s case is now known internationally because of its
implications for free speech and assembly. At least three lawsuits about
him are pending—not just in Massachusetts and Louisiana, but also his own lawsuit filed in New Jersey.
Judge Young’s opinion reviews the First Amendment allegations against
Trump as well as the administration’s defenses: Complainants say that
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials violated Khalil’s
free expression rights when they detained him because the actions were
in response to (or retaliating for) the expression of his political
views, ordinarily protected speech. They claim the free speech rights of
others—including faculty members—are also chilled by these governmental
actions. According to the Court, many professors testified to that
effect during a 9-day bench trial, saying they were refraining from
speaking since Khalil’s arrest. No jury was involved.
For most Americans, however, the issue of greatest importance in
Khalil’s case might not be free speech or terrorism, as compelling and
legitimate as those concerns are. Instead, they might care most about
the more threshold question: Do non-citizens enjoy the same rights as
citizens, especially First Amendment rights? Should they?
Judge Young’s opinion states unequivocally, “[Y]es, they do … the
First Amendment does not draw President Trump’s invidious distinction
[between citizens and non-citizens];” the rights, freedoms, and “limits
are the same for both citizens and non-citizens alike.”
With all due respect, these statements cannot be correct.
Non-citizens cannot vote, for example, nor can they serve on
juries. Obviously, the rights and freedoms of citizens differ from
those of non-citizens, and First Amendment law should reflect that.
A panel
at a recent conference sponsored by the Federalist Society and the
Defense of Freedom Institute discussed some of these issues, emphasizing
that non-citizens within the U.S. have considerably more rights than
non-citizens seeking entry—one reason federal officials stress the
importance of vetting and also the reason that fraud to gain entry can
mean deportation once here, as the Louisiana immigration court
reasoned. However, many areas of law are less settled than the
distinction between entering the country and being already present.
So how much free speech protection should extend to non-citizens?
The exact degree matters less than the principle that non-citizens do
not have the same constitutional rights as citizens. Non-citizens are guests.
Like all guests, they have the benefit and comforts of the home they’re
visiting. But guests are not family members. No guest should rummage
through the refrigerator the way the kids of the household might.
The Khalil case may get resolved with his deportation because he
withheld information from his visa and green card applications. But the
legal, constitutional, and political issues will remain as America
continues to grapple with out-of-control immigration and the possible
dilution of citizen rights that results.
In electing President Trump, Americans arguably voted just last year
not just for a fortified border but also mass deportations precisely to
restore the country’s self-governance—specifically, that citizens get to
decide who comes into the country and who has constitutional rights,
such as the right to free speech and to what degree.
For that reason, the Khalil case for many Americans is about citizenship and American sovereignty as much as anything else.
***
Teresa R. Manning is Policy Director at the National
Association of Scholars, President of the Virginia Association of
Scholars, and a former law professor at Virginia’s Scalia Law School,
George Mason University.
Ian Oxnevad is a senior fellow of foreign affairs and security studies at the National Association of Scholars.
The case has been before a grand jury for several weeks investigating whether Bolton improperly possessed classified national security information in his Maryland home.
John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, is facing criminal charges as soon as next week, MSNBC investigative journalist Carol Leonnig reported Friday afternoon while on air.
The acting U.S. attorney in Maryland is moving forward with the
charges, Leonnig reported, citing two people familiar with the case.
The case has been before a grand jury for several weeks investigating
whether Bolton improperly possessed classified national security
information in his Maryland home.
Bolton was fired by Trump during his first administration and has been a frequent critic of the president.
The FBI conducted a surprise raid of Bolton’s home in Bethesda,
Maryland, on Sept. 22 in what was reported as a search for suspected
classified records based on information from the CIA and approved by a
federal judge.
Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said he had done nothing improper. He
has stated that documents with classified markings kept by Bolton were
from his time as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the George
W. Bush administration and were typical of those kept by some long-time
government employees, according to the outlet.
by Corrine Baum, Jerusalem Post Staff, Amichai Stein
The deal is expected to be signed in Egypt on Thursday afternoon, sources in the Hamas terrorist organization told Lebanese outlet Al Mayadeen.
People hug next to banner with
photos of hostages at the "Hostages square", after U.S. President Donald
Trump announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a
Gaza ceasefire, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 9, 2025.(photo credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
Negotiators
in Egypt reached a deal to free the remaining hostages in Gaza and
eventually end the Israel-Hamas War, US President Donald Trump announced early Thursday morning.
"I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan," Trump wrote.
"This means that ALL of the Hostages
will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an
agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and
Everlasting Peace."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that he will bring the cabinet for a vote on the deal Thursday.
N12, citing a senior American official, stated that the hostages will be released 72 hours after the cabinet approves the deal.
"The
whole world has come together on this one, Israel, every country has
come together. This has been a fantastic day," Trump told Reuters in a
brief telephone interview.
"This is a great day for the world. This is a wonderful day, a wonderful day for everybody," he said.
Trump, Netanyahu congratulate each other on Gaza deal
Netanyahu and Trump spoke shortly after the president announced the deal on Thursday.
A
press release from the Prime Minister's Office said the two "held a
very emotional and warm conversation, congratulating each other on the
historic achievement of signing the agreement for the release of all the
hostages."
"The
Prime Minister thanked President Trump for all his efforts and for his
global leadership, and President Trump congratulated the Prime Minister
for his determined leadership and the actions he led," the release
added.
Israeli officials are preparing for a visit by President Trump on Sunday. He will reportedly address the Knesset.
In
a later Fox News interview, Trump said that he believed Iran would be
part of the Middle East peace he brokered after he ended the war in
June.
The
president said Iran was "one month, maybe two months away from having a
nuclear weapon" before he acted, claiming "if I allowed that to happen,
this deal would not have been possible."
Trump
said Iran "blessed the deal" and he's had "very good conversations"
with the country. He told Netanyahu, "Israel cannot fight the world,"
and credited taking out Iran's nuclear capability as key to the
agreement.
"It's brought the whole world together. I've never seen anything. It's so good for Israel," Trump said.
Living hostages to be released in a single batch
The
agreement means that Hamas will release all of the remaining 20 living
hostages within the next 72 hours. A Hamas source told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that all of them will be released in a single batch during the first phase of the deal.
The deal is expected to be signed in Egypt on Thursday afternoon, sources in the Hamas terrorist organization told Lebanese outlet al-Mayadeen.
However,
the release of the remaining deceased hostages might be delayed, as
Israel has doubts that Hamas can locate all of them.
The Israel-Hamas War
began over two years ago after the Palestinian terror group killed over
1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 250 men, women, and children to the Gaza
Strip on October 7, 2023.
Trump's peace plan is peachy as long as Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Tony Blair are there to make sure everything stays in place. What, however, happens if and when they are not there anymore? A Middle East saying goes, "You have the watches, but we have the time."
Qatar's rulers appear to see
their mission -- with the aid of their Al Jazeera television empire, as
well as big cheques -- as spreading radical Sunni Islam throughout the
region and the world. Qatar has been Hamas's leading patron since 2007.
Trump seems to be looking toward Qatar as one of the main funders
that will rebuild Gaza. If Qatar's ruling family accepts this role,
they will doubtless expect a role just as important in governing it,
which could well include appointing who else might share that privilege.
Candidates include the Palestinian Authority, the 2,000 returning
terrorists, and, if not precisely Qatar's longtime client, Hamas, then
"Son of Hamas," or "Hamas 2.0," or "Hamas the Sequel." One could call
the enclave the "Democratic Republic of Gaza," but it would still be
home to genocidal terrorist groups...
How serious is Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas
when he says that the Iran-backed Hamas terror group "will have no role
in governance" of the Gaza Strip and it must hand over its weapons to
the PA? Not even slightly.
Put bluntly, Abbas is not interested in returning to the
negotiating table: he has been waiting for the UN and other
international parties to impose a solution on Israel, just as French
President Emmanuel Macron so helpfully offered to do just last month.
The recent one-sided recognitions of a "Palestinian state" by France,
Britain, Canada, Australia and other countries only reinforced Abbas's
determination not to resume any peace process with Israel. After
all, why should he negotiate with anyone when the West is handing him a
state on a silver platter without even a single condition attached?
Trump's peace plan is peachy as long as Trump, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Tony Blair are there to make sure
everything stays in place. What, however, happens if and when they are
not there anymore? A Middle East saying goes, "You have the watches, but
we have the time."
Abbas, and whoever succeeds him, will always prefer peace with
Hamas over peace with Israel. He knows that Hamas continues to enjoy
widespread support among Palestinians, most of whom, according to public
opinion polls, are passionately opposed to disarming the terror group.
Those who state that Hamas should not be permitted to play any
role in governing Gaza after the war ends should also demand the
exclusion of the PA and Qatar from such a process. Allowing either Qatar
or Abbas's PA into the Gaza Strip will only pave the way for a new
Hamas to enter through the back door.
Qatar's rulers appear to see their mission -- with the aid
of their Al Jazeera television empire, as well as big cheques -- as
spreading radical Sunni Islam throughout the region and the world. Qatar
has been Hamas's leading patron since 2007. Pictured: Qatar's then
Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani holds hands with then Hamas
leader Ismail Haniyeh during their visit to the Islamic University in
the Gaza Strip on October 23, 2012. (Photo by Wissam Nassar/AFP via
Getty Images)
How serious is US President Donald J. Trump about his peace plan?
While everyone is eager to celebrate the successful completion of Phase
One, with the return of the Israeli hostages in exchange for 2,000
imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, the rest remains to be seen.
The Trump Peace Plan began as an ultimatum: If Hamas would not
release all the hostages within 72 hours, Israel would have the blessing
of the US to "finish the job" full blast.
It is admirable that Trump wants peace and that, in his first term,
he astonishingly produced the Abraham Accords. Now, he has brilliantly
secured an agreement for release of all the hostages by October 13. If,
however, the negotiations continue to go in the direction they seem to
be going in, peace is the last thing Trump will achieve.
The main concern is that, with the US wishing to collaborate with
countries that support terrorists, such as Qatar, Turkey and Egypt --
whose government Qatar has reportedly been planning to oust in a new "Arab Spring" -- where could this collaboration end up?
Yigal Carmon, president of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), cautions:
"There is no propaganda trick that they [Erdoğan's
Turkey, Qatar and now Al-Sharaa's Syria] would not play to pretend to be
America's friends. By now, Qatar's trick is well known: Create a
problem, like supporting the Taliban for years up to their takeover of
Afghanistan with American casualties, then help move American troops to
safety, in what Trump called the 'the greatest foreign policy
humiliation' in U.S. history.
"Qatar does this everywhere on the planet. It supports Hamas, which
committed the atrocities of October 7, and then presents itself as a
mediator. Qatar supports every Islamist terrorist organization against
its Westernized opponents."
Qatar's gallant offer to negotiate a "settlement" in Afghanistan
ended up with a Taliban that is stronger than ever -- and 20 years of US
progress in human rights, treasure and countless lives have all gone
for nought.
"In every Muslim country where there is a battle between
the Islamists and the secularists, Qatar supports the Islamists, as in
Gaza supporting Hamas for years, building its military might and
enabling October 7... wherever Qatar is allowed to be involved with its
money, such as financing the Lebanese army, rebuilding Gaza, or
investing in the West, it does so under the lofty goal of promoting
radical Wahhabi Islam in the world. In the case of Gaza and Lebanon, and
possibly Syria, it will only build a new cycle of Islamism and
terrorism."
Qatar's rulers appear to see their mission -- with the aid of their
Al Jazeera television empire, as well as big cheques -- as spreading
radical Sunni Islam throughout the region and the world. Qatar has been
Hamas's leading patron since 2007.
Qatar has already spent a reported $100 billion in the United States alone just to buy influence there.
Trump seems to be looking toward Qatar as one of the main funders
that will rebuild Gaza. If Qatar's ruling family accepts this role, they
will doubtless expect a role just as important in governing it, which
could well include appointing who else might share that privilege.
Candidates include the Palestinian Authority, the 2,000 returning
terrorists, and, if not precisely Qatar's longtime client, Hamas, then
"Son of Hamas," or "Hamas 2.0," or "Hamas the Sequel." One could call
the enclave the "Democratic Republic of Gaza," but it would still be
home to genocidal terrorist groups, committed to destroying Israel for
the glory of Islam, smuggling in as many weapons as before the October 7
massacre. That is just what Qatar is – reportedly with aspirations of someday replacing Saudi Arabia as the keeper of Islam's holy sites.
The negotiators
in Egypt's resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh presently include Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi; Qatar, Turkey, the Palestinian
Authority-Hamas, and various Islamist terror groups. As Trump will not
be expecting Egypt or Turkey to fund any reconstruction of the Gaza
Strip, that basically leaves primarily Qatar and the Palestinian
Authority as long-term future stakeholders.
"[Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan acted like an
ally of Trump by helping him eliminate the ISIS commander Abu Bakr
Al-Baghdadi, and thereby won Trump's trust. However, Erdoğan did it for
his own sake, because Al-Baghdadi had claimed the role of leader of the
believers (amir al-mu'minim ) – which Erdoğan saw as unnecessary
rivalry. He was not doing Trump any favors."
Erdoğan has also long had designs on Jerusalem as a legacy of the Ottoman Empire, which he wishes to recreate -- with himself as sultan.
How serious is Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas when he says that the Iran-backed Hamas terror group "will have no role in governance" of the Gaza Strip and it must hand over its weapons to the PA? Not even slightly.
In July 2024, almost a year after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023
attack on Israel, Abbas's ruling Fatah faction, under the auspices of
China, signed an agreement with Hamas for joint control
of the Gaza Strip after the war. Hamas's atrocities on October 7
included murdering 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, and the
abduction of 251 others.
"A Palestinian national unity government will be
temporarily formed with the consensus of all Palestinian factions and by
a decision from the president [Abbas]."
According to commentary by Al-Monitor:
"Said government will exercise its powers over all
Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,
unify all Palestinian institutions and begin the reconstruction process,
as well as prepare for holding general elections."
Abbas was prepared to form a joint government
with Hamas 10 months after thousands of Israelis and Palestinians were
killed in that war. Notably, Abbas did not rule out the possibility that
Hamas would be given a role in governing not only the Gaza Strip, but
also the West Bank, as outlined in the Beijing Declaration.
This is why Abbas's recent statement that Hamas "will have no role in governance" should be taken with a spoonful of hummus. Abbas's statement came during a speech he delivered, via video link, to the United Nations General Assembly last month.
UN Secretary General António Guterres welcomed the China-brokered PA-Hamas deal. According to a UN press release dated July 24, 2024:
"In response to questions at the regular daily briefing
in New York, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said António Guterres
'very much welcomes the signing of the Beijing Declaration by the
Palestinian factions', adding that it was 'an important step towards
furthering Palestinian unity'... 'The Secretary-General encourages all
factions to overcome their differences through dialogue and urges them
to follow up on the commitments that were made in Beijing and the
Declaration they signed on to', said Mr. Dujarric."
The UN, in other words, has no problem with Hamas continuing to play a
role in governance in the Gaza Strip despite the terror group's
responsibility for the October 7 massacre and the ensuing war with
Israel.
The UN position contradicts Trump's 20-point plan for ending the war.
"Gaza will be governed under the temporary transnational
governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee. This
committee will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international
experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international
transitional body, the 'Board of Peace,' which will be headed and
chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of
state to be announced, including Former [British] Prime Minister Tony
Blair."
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated the need to ensure that "Hamas has no role in Palestinian governance." Rubio's statement, on the second anniversary of October 7, was made during a phone call with British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Trump's peace plan is peachy as long as Trump, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Tony Blair are there to make sure everything
stays in place. What, however, happens if and when they are not there
anymore? A Middle East saying goes, "You have the watches, but we have
the time."
Although it took Abbas nearly two years to condemn Hamas's atrocities, senior Fatah officials have consistently voiced support for the terror group.
Abbas Zaki, a veteran member of the Fatah Central Committee, a key decision-making body, defended the October 7 attack and praised the armed wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second-largest terror group in the Gaza Strip:
"The resistance prepared and planed the Al-Aqsa Flood
Operation with clear goals, including lifting the [Israeli naval]
blockade [on the Gaza Strip], a full withdrawal from the West Bank, and a
prisoner exchange."
Jibril Rajoub, another senior Fatah official and a former commander of the PA's Preventive Security Service, remarked this week:
"October 7 was part of the [Palestinian] defensive war
that has been going on since 1948. The armed struggle [against Israel]
cannot be denounced."
Both Zaki and Rajoub had previously come out in support of forming a unity government with Hamas. Last year, Zaki was quoted as saying: "We [Fatah], Hamas, [Islamic] Jihad, and every fighting faction constitute one unit."
Last year, Rajoub said
that any resolution to the Gaza war "must incorporate Hamas because its
ideological and resistance roots resonate deeply within the fabric of
Palestinian society."
If Abbas does not want Hamas to play a role in Palestinian
governance, why -- ever since Hamas completely ousted the PA from Gaza
in a violent coup in 2007 -- has he been working relentlessly over the
past two decades to reach "reconciliation" agreements with the terror
group?
In 2006, after Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections, Abbas and then Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh reached a tentative agreement to form a government of national unity.
A year later, Fatah and Hamas signed the Mecca Agreement, agreeing to stop military clashes between the two parties in the Gaza Strip and the formation of a unity government.
In 2008, Fatah and Hamas signed the Sana'a Declaration in Yemen to end their differences.
In 2011, representatives of the two factions announced an agreement,
mediated by Egypt, to form a joint government. The accord provided for
the formation of a "transitional" government of technocrats to prepare
for legislative and presidential elections one year later.
In 2012, the two parties signed the Doha Agreement, again for a new unity government and elections. In 2014, they signed a "reconciliation" agreement that resulted in the establishment of a new technocratic unity government.
In 2017, Fatah and Hamas signed yet another agreement under the auspices of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
In 2020, Abbas held a joint press conference with Hamas leaders where he announced the launching of a new dialogue for a unity agreement.
In 2022, Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement in Algiers to hold presidential and parliamentary elections.
Unsurprisingly, these agreements were partially or not at all
implemented, but they show that Abbas has spent more time negotiating
unity deals with Hamas than searching for ways to achieve peace with
Israel.
It is safe to assume that once the war in the Gaza Strip ends, Abbas
and his Fatah loyalists will resume their efforts to achieve
"reconciliation" with Hamas under the pretext of ending divisions among
the Palestinians.
All peace talks between Israel and the PA have been stalled since 2014, when Abbas signed a unity agreement with Hamas.
Put bluntly, Abbas is not interested in returning to the negotiating
table: he has been waiting for the UN and other international parties to
impose a solution on Israel, just as French President Emmanuel Macron
so helpfully offered to do just last month. The recent one-sided
recognitions of a "Palestinian state" by France, Britain, Canada,
Australia and other countries only reinforced Abbas's determination not
to resume any peace process with Israel. After all, why should he
negotiate with anyone when the West is handing him a state on a silver
platter without even a single condition attached?
As far as Abbas is concerned, there is no need to return to the
negotiating table: these Western countries have already decided that the
Palestinians should have their own state, cost-free. As such, there is
nothing left to negotiate.
Abbas, and whoever succeeds him, will always prefer peace with Hamas
over peace with Israel. He knows that Hamas continues to enjoy
widespread support among Palestinians, most of whom, according to public
opinion polls, are passionately opposed to disarming the terror group. One poll, published in September 2024, showed that almost 90% of the Palestinian public believes that Hamas terrorists did not commit the atrocities depicted in videos that they themselves filmed and livestreamed on the day of the massacre.
Those who state that Hamas should not be permitted to play any role
in governing Gaza after the war ends should also demand the exclusion of
the PA and Qatar from such a process. Allowing either Qatar or Abbas's
PA into the Gaza Strip will only pave the way for a new Hamas to enter
through the back door.
