Hours after Netanyahu spoke of a historic victory over Iran, Israel was hit by a painful reminder
In a televised address to the nation on Tuesday night,
Israeli
prime minister
Binyamin Netanyahu
outlined the achievements of the 12-day
war with Iran
.
He said Israel had achieved a historic victory that would last for generations.
But a few hours later came a painful reminder that Israel is bogged down in another war, in
Gaza
, with the news that seven soldiers had been killed in Khan Younis.
In the latest incident it is believed that a Palestinian gunman managed to attach a bomb to an armoured personnel carrier and the vehicle caught fire as a result of the explosion. The incident brought to 879 the number of troops killed in the 20-month Gaza war.
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The Iran war had kept Gaza out of the news in Israel over the last fortnight, but during this period more than 1,000 Gazan residents were killed, including more than 240 who were collecting food from distribution centres, where chaos continues on a daily basis. Fifty hostages remain in Hamas captivity, of whom 20 are believed to be alive, on day 628 of the war.
Qatar hopes indirect talks can resume in the coming days between Israel and Hamas as part of a renewed push to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
US president Donald Trump said on Wednesday that great progress was being made with Gaza ceasefire negotiations and that the strikes on Iran would help to get the hostages released.
[
Trump basks in Iran ceasefire success despite doubt over extent of damage
]
The ceasefire with Iran has led to calls from across the political spectrum to bring an end to the Gaza war.
Moshe Gafni, from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, a key Netanyahu ally, said: 'We are facing a sad day in which seven soldiers were killed. I don't understand what we're fighting for and for what purpose. What are we even trying to achieve there, when soldiers are being killed all the time?'
But Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners believe an end to the Gaza war will only be achieved by a crushing defeat of Hamas.
Bezalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionist party, said Israel should escalate the fighting to defeat Hamas within two months.
'We have removed an immediate existential threat from Iran. Now [we turn] with all our strength to Gaza to complete the task: to destroy Hamas and return our hostages and to ensure, with God's help, many years of security and growth from strength for the people of Israel.'
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RTÉ News
39 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
NATO summit commits to higher spending and mutual defence
NATO leaders have backed a big increase in defence spending and restated their commitment to defend each other from attack after a brief summit tailor-made for US President Donald Trump. In a short statement, the organisation endorsed a higher defence spending goal of 5% of GDP by 2035 - a response to a demand by Mr Trump and to Europeans' fears that Russia poses a growing threat to their security following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. "We reaffirm our ironclad commitment to collective defence as enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty - that an attack on one is an attack on all," the statement said, after Mr Trump had sparked concern yesterday by saying there were "numerous definitions" of the clause. But just before the summit opened, he had said of fellow NATO members: "We're with them all the way." However, Mr Trump said that the US will make Spain pay twice as much for a trade deal after the country refused to meet the new NATO defense spending target. While NATO leaders backed a big increase in defense spending, Spain declared that it does not need to meet the goal and can meet its commitments by spending much less. Mr Trump called Spain's decision "very terrible" and vowed to force the country to make up the difference. "We're negotiating with Spain on a trade deal. We're going to make them pay twice as much," Mr Trump said. As a member of the European Union, Spain does not negotiate directly with the US on trade - the European Commission handles those talks for the entire 27-nation bloc. Mr Trump may have a hard time following through on his threat to punish Spain through a trade pact unless he gets language on the issue into a broader EU agreement. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Spain is always the solution and "never the problem", adding that it will defend its position with conviction. "We're talking about the fact that if we had accepted what was proposed, Spain would have had to allocate more than €300 billion between now and 2035. "Where do these resources come from? From more taxes on citizens? From cuts to the education system, healthcare, and pensions?" he said. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte acknowledged that it was not easy for European countries and Canada to find the extra money, but said it was vital to do so. "There is absolute conviction with my colleagues at the table that, given this threat from the Russians, given the international security situation, there is no alternative," the former Dutch prime minister told reporters in his home city of The Hague. The new spending target - to be achieved over the next ten years - is a jump worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year from the current goal of 2% of GDP, although it will be measured differently. Countries would spend 3.5% of GDP on core defence - such as troops and weapons - and 1.5% on broader defence-related measures such as cyber security, protecting pipelines and adapting roads and bridges to handle heavy military vehicles. All NATO members have backed a statement enshrining the target, although Spain declared it does not need to meet the goal and can meet its commitments by spending much less. Mr Rutte disputes that but accepted a diplomatic fudge with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as part of his efforts to give Mr Trump a diplomatic victory and make the summit go smoothly. Spain said that it did not expect its stance to have any repercussions. Mr Rutte has kept the summit and its final statement short and focused on the spending pledge to try to avert any friction with Mr Trump. Mr Rutte also likened Mr Trump to a "daddy" intervening in a schoolyard brawl after the US president used profanity when describing the war between Israel and Iran. In comments to the press during the summit, Mr Trump had compared fighting between Iran and Israel to children quarrelling. "They've had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard," Mr Rutte said, adding "let them fight for about two to three minutes, then it's easy to stop them". The NATO chief added: "And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get (them to) stop." Following the ceasefire deal between Iran and Israel, Mr Trump said the countries had been fighting "so long and so hard that they don't know what the f*** they're doing." Trump says US to hold talks with Iran after US 'victory' US President Donald Trump hailed the swift end to war between Iran and Israel and said the US would likely seek a commitment from Tehran to end its nuclear ambitions at talks with Iranian officials next week. Mr Trump said his decision to join Israel's attacks by targeting Iranian nuclear sites with huge bunker-busting bombs had ended the war, calling it "a victory for everybody". "It was very severe. It was obliteration," he said, shrugging off an initial assessment by the US Defense Intelligence Agency that Iran's path to building a nuclear weapon may have been set back only by months. He said he did not see Iran getting involved again in developing nuclear weapons. Iran has always denied decades of accusations by Western leaders that it is seeking nuclear arms. "We're going to talk to them next week, with Iran. We may sign an agreement. I don't know. To me, I don't think it's that necessary," Mr Trump said. Meanwhile, Mr Trump indicated that he will consider providing more of the Patriot missiles that Ukraine needs to defend against mounting Russian strikes, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin "really has to end that war". His remarks came after a 50-minute meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of a NATO summit in The Hague. Both leaders described it as a positive step in a conflict that Mr Trump described as "more difficult than other wars". During a press conference in which he celebrated his own diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, Mr Trump said the Patriots were "very hard to get" but that "we are going to see if we can make some of them available". Mr Zelensky mentioned air-defence systems but it was not immediately clear whether Trump was referring to more missiles or complete batteries.
Irish Daily Star
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Star
NATO's 'grotesque gesture at glorified baby' Trump covers up alarming threat
There are many indignities a NATO Secretary General might endure in the name of diplomacy - backroom compromises, bruising negotiations, and the occasional awkward photo op with despots in suits. But calling Donald Trump 'daddy' isn't one of them. At least, it never was until Mark Rutte arrived. The former Dutch prime minister and now NATO's top official referred to Trump as 'daddy' - a grotesque, grovelling gesture that might have raised eyebrows in a diplomatic dispatch but instead exploded into public farce during a high-stakes summit of alliance leaders. 'Sometimes daddy has to use strong words,' Rutte beamed, defending Trump's crude outburst in front of reporters, where the president shouted, 'They don't know what the f--- they're doing,' in reference to the Iran-Israel ceasefire fiasco he claims to have masterminded. It comes as new dementia fears were raised about Donald Trump after viewers spotted a mysterious clue in his suit . Read More Related Articles Lip reader reveals world leaders' brutal 6-letter gossip about Trump Read More Related Articles Donald Trump branded 'dumbest President ever' after six-word comment about Congo Forget diplomacy. Forget leadership. NATO, under Rutte, has started to resemble a glorified babysitting service for a toddler with nuclear launch codes. It would be laughable if it weren't so dangerous. Rutte's nauseating sycophancy is not just a personal humiliation, it's a strategic collapse. Trump posing with other world leaders (Image: AFP via Getty Images) At a moment when the alliance should be asserting its independence and clarity of mission, it has instead wrapped itself around Trump's ego like a silk cravat on a noose. Gone is the guarded caution of past NATO heads. In its place, we now have something akin to Joseph Goebbels writing fan mail to Hitler - an image that feels uncomfortably close when you read the actual text message Rutte sent to Trump, which the president gleefully published. 'Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran,' Rutte wrote, referring to Trump's unilateral bombing campaign. 'That was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer.' It doesn't. And Rutte surely knows that. The strikes were condemned as reckless and 'unwise and unnecessary' by senior officials, who warned they could provoke the very conflict they were supposedly meant to deter. Trump's claim to have held the Israel-Iran ceasefire together lasted barely 24 hours. Rutte's message, meanwhile, read less like praise and more like erotic fiction. 'You are flying into another big success in The Hague this evening… Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment… You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.' Who knew the nuclear deterrence strategy of the West hinged on breathless love notes? What makes Rutte's behaviour particularly grotesque is the sheer hypocrisy of it. As Dutch prime minister, he consistently failed to meet NATO's defence spending target of two per cent of gross domestic product. Now, in his desperate quest to stay in Trump's favour, he's bragging about getting European leaders to commit to a staggering five per cent of GDP on defence - a militaristic fantasy straight from Trump's own wet dreams. Rutte has gone from pragmatic European liberal to a kind of grinning courtier, performing loyalty rituals for an emperor with no clothes. President Donald Trump seemed to get red-faced (Image: Getty Images) He's not the only one, of course. NATO leaders have spent the latest summit tiptoeing around Trump like terrified interns trying not to spill coffee on a tantrum-prone CEO. The summit was stripped down to three hours. The official communique was slashed to a single page. Not to streamline diplomacy, but to avoid provoking Trump into one of his trademark rage exits. It would be comical if the stakes weren't existential. The alliance was forged to deter tyranny, defend liberal democracy, and confront authoritarianism. Under Rutte, it is flirting with all three. The Secretary General's job is to unify 31 nations in a common cause, not whisper sweet nothings to a man who once threatened to pull America out of the alliance entirely. What kind of message does this send to allies? To Russia? To Iran? To China? That NATO no longer leads, it follows - not strategy, not principle, but personality. And that the only way to hold the West together is to soothe the tantrums of a man who treats global diplomacy like reality TV. We can't afford this. NATO is not Mar-a-Lago with fighter jets. Its credibility is fragile, its mission vital, and its unity under threat from within. Mark Rutte was supposed to bring experience and backbone to the role. Instead, he's turned NATO into a stage for Trump's delusions. While porn star Stormy Daniels may have once called Trump 'daddy', Rutte's humiliation came without even taking off his clothes.
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Comparing US Iran strike to Hiroshima, Trump plays down US intelligence report
US President Donald Trump compared the impact of American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites to the end of World War Two on Wednesday, arguing that the damage was severe even though available intelligence reports were inconclusive. His comments followed reports from several media outlets on Tuesday revealing that the US Defense Intelligence Agency had assessed that the strikes had set back Iran's nuclear program by just a few months, despite Trump and administration officials saying it had been obliterated. The intelligence was . . . very inconclusive," Trump told reporters at a NATO summit on Wednesday while meeting with Secretary General Mark Rutte. "The intelligence says, 'We don't know, it could have been very severe'. That's what the intelligence says. So I guess that's correct, but I think we can take the 'we don't know.' It was very severe. It was obliteration." This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows Iran's Natanz nuclear site near Natanz, Iran, on April 14, 2023. File Picture: Planet Labs PBC via AP The Trump administration has not disputed that the DIA assessment exists, but Trump described it as preliminary. In a series of at-times testy exchanges at a press conference later in the day, Trump sharply criticized journalists for their reporting on the assessment. This ended a war in a different way He suggested the reports were an attack against the pilots who flew the bombing mission over the weekend targeting Iran's key nuclear sites. Trump said the US strikes were responsible for ending the war between Israel and Iran. "When you look at Hiroshima, if you look at Nagasaki, that ended a war, too," Trump said, referring to a pair of US nuclear strikes on Japan in 1945 that essentially ended World War II. "This ended a war in a different way." Success of Iran strikes critical for Trump Trump has an uneasy relationship with the US intelligence community, and the success of the strikes is politically critical to him. His right-leaning supporters had argued loudly beforehand that such military intervention was inconsistent with Trump's domestic-focused "Make America Great Again" agenda and his promise to avoid foreign entanglements. Trump has countered by insisting that Iran must never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon - a goal that an accurate, decisive attack would support. He was flanked at both appearances by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who also cast doubt on the reliability of the DIA assessment. Hegseth in particular cast much of his fury at the news media. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Picture: AP Photo/Alex Brandon "When you actually look at the report - by the way, it was a top secret report - it was preliminary, it was low-confidence," Hegseth said in the appearance alongside Rutte. "This is a political motive here." He said the FBI was investigating a potential leak. Rubio suggested that those responsible for sharing the report had mischaracterized it, saying: "This is the game they play." - Retuers Read More Nato commits to higher spending sought by Trump and mutual defence
