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New York Post
28-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
With Iran set back, Trump can now pursue peace in the Middle East
Donald Trump has stumbled into a position of extraordinary power in the Middle East. Through a combination of Israeli military audacity and his willingness to take risks, Trump has humiliated Iran, proven his ability to rein in Israel, and positioned himself as the only actor who can now impose a postwar settlement. He has leverage over everyone, and he should use it now. Iran tried to negotiate with the United States as an equal. It hoped to deter Israel with missile threats, proxies, and nuclear brinkmanship. But Israel just proved how hollow that posture was — launching an astonishingly successful preemptive strike on June 13. Ten days later came something astounding. US B-2 bombers flew deep into Iranian territory and struck nuclear infrastructure directly. 7 President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have an opportunity to achieve lasting peace across the Middle East. REUTERS 7 Benjamin Netanyahu surveying damage to the Soroka Hospital in the southern town of Beer Sheba during Israel's recent 12-day war with Iran. MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Washington wasn't just supporting Israel — it was in the fight. And then Trump essentially imposed a cease-fire. Israel stopped. Iran accepted. The war ended not with negotiations but with an American command. This is military might combined with psychological dominance. Trump effectively used Israel as a proxy to break Iran's posture — then proved he could rein in his proxy the moment it suited him. For Iran, the implications are brutal. If Israel wants to strike again, it very well might. If Trump wants to stop them, he will. This is the context in which US-Iran talks will now resume. They must not be open-ended — Iran cannot be allowed to play for time as they did with President Obama. Trump must make clear that the war demonstrated the limits of Iran's options. The regime survived, but just barely. Its nuclear and missile programs were mauled. Its proxies have been badly weakened. And its people are more skeptical than ever of a leadership that promised strength and delivered only humiliation. 7 Massive bombs such as these were used by American forces against Iran to help dismantle the nation's nuclear armament efforts. AP The terms must be firm, final, and immediate: 1. All uranium enrichment must halt above the 3% civilian threshold allowed under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The carrot is that civilian use should be allowed — it is Iran's right under the NPT. 2. The missile program must be ended — especially long-range and precision systems that threaten Israel and Arab capitals. 7 A massive fire at an oil storage depot in Iran illustrates the vast range of targets hit by Israel as it sought to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. AP 3. All support for regional proxy militias must end. That includes Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and the Shiite militias in Iraq. These groups are not bargaining chips — they are the core of Iran's regional aggression. They must go. Iran may protest, posture, and delay. But it is cornered. The Arab world was largely silent during the Israel-Iran war — a signal of tacit approval. Europe's main governments, though nervous, largely backed the US-Israel axis. Tehran has few friends, little credibility, and almost no cards left to play. But the job is only half done. The war in Gaza — at this juncture, pointless, devastating, and politically toxic — must now end. And here, too, Trump has leverage. 7 A graphic detailing Israel's strikes on Iran on June 13 – Operation Rising Lion. Merrill Sherman / NY Post Design Just weeks ago, Netanyahu's government was under siege at home. Protests filled the streets. The hostage crisis dragged on. His coalition teetered. Then came the Iran strike. It gave him breathing room and a narrative of victory. But it came with a debt, and Trump holds the note. Trump can now demand something Netanyahu has blocked because of pressure from far-right figures who can bring down his coalition: end the war in Gaza, and do it in a way that creates a path forward. The plan is clear: The Palestinian Authority must be allowed to return to Gaza. It must come with Arab security backing — likely from Egypt, Jordan, and Gulf partners — and billions in reconstruction aid from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Read the latest on the Israel-Iran conflict: Hamas must disarm and go into exile. And in return, Trump must deliver the next phase of the Abraham Accords. Indeed, the Yisrael Hayom newspaper on Thursday reported that Trump already spoke with Netanyahu about ending the Gaza war within two weeks. The report was not confirmed by authorities. This is where the opportunity becomes historic. Saudi Arabia has signaled that normalization with Israel is possible — but only in the context of serious steps toward Palestinian statehood. With Gaza pacified and the PA in place, Saudi normalization is achievable. 7 An infographic explains how a bunker buster bomb works Merrill Sherman / NY Post Design That, in turn, could bring along others: Oman, maybe even Lebanon, under its new political leadership. Syria's new regime, desperate for international legitimacy because of its jihadist past, has signaled positive intentions as well. Either way, Netanyahu announced that Israel is working for 'dramatic expansion of peace agreements' on Thursday. Trump could expand the Abraham Accords into a true regional security architecture — uniting Israel, moderate Arab states, and even a weakened Iran under US oversight. 7 A scene of destruction in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has waged a war against Hamas for more than 20 months. AFP via Getty Images This would reshape the region. Israel would gain unprecedented legitimacy and regional integration. The Palestinians would get governance, reconstruction, and a foothold toward political relevance. Iran would be contained. And the US would restore its position as the indispensable power in the Middle East. None of this is guaranteed. But all of it is possible — and Trump holds the cards. Dan Perry led Associated Press coverage in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, including the Israel and Iran bureaus. He publishes Ask Questions Later on Substack.
Al Jazeera
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Israel's media amplifies war rhetoric, ignores Gaza's suffering
Last Thursday, just days after he had ordered strikes upon Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood outside Beersheba's Soroka Hospital and spoke of his outrage that the building had been hit in an Iranian counterstrike. 'They're targeting civilians because they're a criminal regime. They're the arch-terrorists of the world,' he said of the Iranian government. Similar accusations were levelled by other Israeli leaders, including the president, Isaac Herzog, and opposition leader Yair Lapid, during the conflict with Iran, which ended with a ceasefire brokered by United States President Donald Trump on Monday. However, what was missing from these leaders was an acknowledgement that Israel itself has attacked almost every hospital in Gaza, where more than 56,000 people have been killed, or that the Strip's healthcare system has been pushed to near total collapse. It was an omission noticeable in much of the Israeli press reporting on the Beersheba hospital attack, with few mentions of the parallels between it and Israel's own attacks on hospitals in Gaza. Instead, much of the Israeli media has supported these attacks, either seeking to downplay them, or justifying them by regularly claiming that Hamas command centres lie under the hospitals, an accusation Israel has never been able to prove. Weaponising suffering According to analysts who spoke to Al Jazeera, a media ecosystem exists in Israel that, with a few exceptions, both amplifies its leaders' calls for war while simultaneously reinforcing their claims of victimhood, all while shielding the Israeli public from seeing the suffering Israeli forces are inflicting on Gaza and the occupied West Bank. One Israeli journalist, Haaretz's media correspondent Ido David Cohen, wrote this month that 'reporters and editors at Israel's major news outlets have admitted more than once, especially in private conversations, that their employers haven't allowed them to present the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the suffering of the population there'. 'The Israeli media … sees its job as not to educate, it's to shape and mould a public that is ready to support war and aggression,' journalist Orly Noy told Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem. 'It genuinely sees itself as having a special role in this.' 'I've seen [interviews with] people who lived near areas where Iranian missiles had hit,' Noy added. 'They were given a lot of space to talk and explain the impact, but as soon as they started to criticise the war, they were shut down, quite rudely.' Last September, a complaint brought by three Israeli civil society organisations against Channel 14, one of Israel's most watched television networks, cited 265 quotes from hosts they claimed encouraged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide. Among them, concerning Gaza, were the phrases 'it really needs to be total annihilation' and 'there are no innocents.' A few months earlier, in April, the channel was again criticised within the Israeli media, this time for a live counter labelled 'the terrorists we eliminated', which made no distinction between civilians and fighters killed, the media monitoring magazine 7th Eye pointed out. Analysts and observers described how Israel's media and politicians have weaponised the horrors of the past suffering of the Jewish people and have moulded it into a narrative of victimhood that can be aimed at any geopolitical opponent that circumstances allow – with Iran looming large among them. 'It isn't just this war,' Noy, an editor with the Hebrew-language Local Call website, said. 'The Israeli media is in the business of justifying every war, of telling people that this war is essential for their very existence. It's an ecosystem. Whatever the authority is, it is absolutely right. There is no margin for doubt, with no room for criticism from the inside. To see it, you have to be on the outside.' 'The world has allowed Israel to act as some kind of crazy bully to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants,' Noy added. 'They can send their troops into Syria and Lebanon, never mind Gaza, with impunity. Israel is fine. Israel is bulletproof. And why wouldn't they think that? The world allows it, then people are shocked when Iran strikes back.' The Israeli media largely serves as a tool to manufacture consent for Israel's actions against the Palestinians and in neighbouring countries, while shielding the Israeli public from the suffering its victims endure. Exceptions do exist. Israeli titles such as Noy's Local Call and +972 Magazine often feature coverage highly critical of Israel's war on Gaza, and have conducted in-depth investigations into Israel's actions, uncovering scandals that are only reported on months later by the international media. Joint reporting from Local Call and +972 Magazine has revealed that the Israeli military was using an AI system to generate bombing target lists based on predicted civilian casualties. Another report found that the Israeli military had falsely declared entire Gaza neighbourhoods as evacuated, which then led to the bombing of civilian homes in areas that were still inhabited. A more famous example is the liberal daily Haaretz, which regularly criticises Israel's actions in Gaza. Haaretz has faced a government boycott over its coverage of the war. A partially sighted media 'It's not new,' Dina Matar, professor of political communication and Arab media at SOAS University of London, said. 'Israeli media has long been pushing the idea that they [Israel] are the victims while calling for actions that will allow them to present greater victimhood [such as attacking Iran]. They often use emotive language to describe a strike on an Israeli hospital that they'll never use to describe an Israeli strike on a hospital in Gaza.' Take Israeli media coverage of the siege of northern Gaza's last remaining functioning healthcare facility, the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in December. While descriptions of the attacks on the hospital from United Nations special rapporteurs spoke of their 'horror' at the strikes, those in the Israeli press, in outlets such as Ynet or The Times of Israel, instead focused almost exclusively upon the Israeli military's claims of the numbers of 'terrorists' seized. Among those seized from the hospital were medical staff, including the director of Kamal Adwan, Dr Hussam Abu Safia, who has since been tortured in an Israeli military prison, his lawyer previously told Al Jazeera. In contrast, Israeli coverage of the Soroka Hospital attack in Beersheba almost universally framed the hit as a 'direct strike' and foregrounded the experience of the evacuated patients and healthcare workers. In this environment, Matar said, Netanyahu's representation of Israel as home to a 'subjugated people' reinforced a view that Israelis have long been encouraged to hold of themselves, even amid the decades-long occupation of Palestinian land. 'No one questions what Netanyahu is saying because the implications of his speech make sense as part of this larger historical narrative; one that doesn't allow for any other [narrative], such as the Nakba or the suffering in Gaza,' the academic said.
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
From Beersheba to Babylon: Netanyahu casts himself as liberator of Iran
It was in the Beersheba, about 1,000km and 2,500 years from Babylon, that Benjamin Netanyahu suggested on Thursday that the time had come for the Jews to repay their ancient debt to Cyrus the Great and bring liberation to Iran. The Israeli prime minister had just made a tour of Soroka hospital, which a few hours earlier had sustained a direct hit from an Iranian ballistic missile on one of its buildings. The strike came shortly after the upper floors of the building had been evacuated – an escape already being described by Israeli leaders as miraculous. If the hospital director had not acted, Soroka could have seen the worst loss of Israeli civilian life since the Hamas massacre on 7 October 2023. Netanyahu's long grip on power had looked irretrievably broken on that date 20 months ago, as his security forces had been powerless to save Israeli lives. But now, two wars and more than 55,000 people dead, the prime minister is carrying himself as a man of destiny. Increasingly confident of fundamentally redrawing the map of the Middle East, he toyed with the idea of regime change in Iran – the leader of a 10 million-strong nation calling on a population almost 10 times bigger to overthrow the clerical regime that has ruled the country since the 1979 revolution. 'People ask me – are we targeting the downfall of the regime?' Netanyahu said, talking to the press in a hospital compound strewn with broken glass. 'That may be a result, but it's up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom. Freedom is never cheap. It's never free. Freedom requires these subjugated people to rise up, and it's up to them. But we may create conditions that will help them do it.' If Israeli bombs were to break down the pillars of the Islamic Republic, Netanyahu said it would represent the paying of millennia-old dues, dating back to the liberation of the Jews from captivity in Babylon, by the Cyrus of Persia, the legendary predecessor of the ayatollahs. 'I want to tell you that 2,500 years ago, Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, liberated the Jews. And today, a Jewish state is creating the means to liberate the Persian people,' he said. When Cyrus stormed ancient Babylon, it was by land invasion. There are fewer guarantees that an aerial bombing campaign – not an option for the ancients – can change another country's leadership in the way favoured by the bombers. So far there are signs that even fervent opponents of the oppressive regime are rallying to its cause in the face of an outside threat. At worst, bombing campaigns can bring monsters to power, as the US bombing of Cambodia helped create the Khmer Rouge. On this occasion, Netanyahu had come to the southern city of Beersheba, on the edge of the Negev desert, to paint Iran's leaders as monsters for the bombing of the Soroka hospital. 'We're targeting missile sites. They're targeting a hospital,' he said. 'They're targeting civilians because they're a criminal regime. They're the arch-terrorists of the world.' An hour earlier, Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, had stood in the same spot, with the same charred building behind him, and made the same argument, telling Iran's leaders: 'Your crimes against humanity, your war crimes, won't deter us.' Herzog left without taking questions, nor was Netanyahu challenged with questions over Israel's relentless destruction of the hospitals and clinics of Gaza, where 2.2 million Palestinians remain trapped under siege conditions some have compared to medieval warfare. Aryeh Myers, a spokesperson for the Israeli Magen David Adom emergency services, argued that there was a critical distinction, pointing to Israeli claims of Hamas strongholds under Gaza's medical facilities. 'The main difference between this hospital is it is a totally civilian hospital,' Myers said, as he helped oversee the evacuation of patients to other hospitals in the region. 'There are no tunnels underneath [Soroka] – it's not housing terrorist headquarters. This hospital is for the civilians who live in the Negev region – whether they are Jewish residents, Muslim residents, whoever it is. 'We've got a huge Bedouin community that live in this area who are served very much by this hospital. And the fact that this hospital was targeted is a horrendous state of affairs,' he said. International humanitarian law affords strong protections to hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and their staff, who are to be protected at all times. The bar for infringement is set very high. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, argued that the Iranian missile had been aimed at a nearby Israeli military headquarters and claimed Soroka hospital only suffered 'superficial' damage from the blast wave. There was no question the damaged hospital building had been hit directly, however, and the map Araghchi used to illustrate his online claims bore little relation to the actual downtown area of Beersheba. On the other hand, Netanyahu's claims that he knew all of Israel's military sites and there was no such site 'for miles and miles around' also seemed open to interpretation. The prime minister has a reputation for creativity when it comes to spinning a narrative, especially in this mood, as he surveyed thousands of years of history. Ultimately, he suggested, final liberation for Jews and Persians could depend on another latter-day king far beyond these shores, whose evangelical supporters have also likened to Cyrus the Great. Netanyahu described Donald Trump as a saviour in waiting – 'a tremendous friend, a tremendous world leader', who he praised for 'his resolve, his determination, and his clarity'. The message has been consistent for several days now: if Israel is to play the transformative role for the ages that Netanyahu has in mind, it is clearly going to need a lot of help.
France 24
20-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Iran missile barrage leaves 19 injured in Israel's Haifa: hospital
Iran has been firing daily missile salvos at Israel for the past week, since a wide-ranging Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic's nuclear installations and military bases triggered war. At least one projectile appeared to evade Israel's air defences, slamming into an area by the docks of Haifa where it damaged a building and blew out windows, littering the nearby ground with rubble, AFP images showed. A spokesman for the city's Rambam hospital said 19 people had been injured, with one in a serious condition. Earlier, Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service reported two people had been injured by falling shrapnel after the attack but did not specify the location. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement that Haifa's Al-Jarina mosque "was struck by an Iranian missile, injuring Muslim clerics and worshippers at prayer". Foreign Minister Gideon Saar later shared a similar message on social media, adding that "the Iranian regime is targeting Muslim, Christian and Jewish civilians, as well as civilian sites. These are war crimes." A military official said that "approximately 20 missiles were launched towards Israel" in the latest Iranian salvo. Around 20 minutes after the air raid sirens were activated, the army released a statement saying people were allowed to leave bomb shelters. Earlier Friday, sirens rang out in parts of the country following another Iranian missile launch. AFP footage showed police operating in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, alongside emergency response teams and bomb disposal expert. Security forces there inspected a crater near residential buildings, where the wreckage of charred cars lay below the mangled metal of destroyed balconies. The Soroka Hospital in the city was struck on Thursday, injuring 40 people. Israel, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, launched a massive wave of strikes on June 13, triggering an immediate retaliation from Tehran. Residential areas in both countries have suffered, while Israel and Iran have traded accusations of targeting civilians. At least 25 people have been killed in Israel by Iranian missile strikes, according to authorities.
DW
20-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
How Israelis view the conflict with Iran – DW – 06/20/2025
As people in Israel wait out repeated missile attacks, some wonder how the conflict with Iran will impact the war in Gaza and the fate of hostages still held there. In one of Tel Aviv's underground bomb shelters — little more than a narrow corridor with thick walls — time seemed to stand still. There was no internet connection to get any information about the explosions heard outside, as exchanges of fire between Israel and Iran continue. "We can make the distinction by now what is an interception or a hit, but obviously you worry about how close it is or if someone you know might be in danger," said Lior, a young Israeli man who declined to give his surname, who was trying in vain to find reception on his phone. Since Israel attacked Iran a week ago, life in Tel Aviv has been dictated by the rhythm of phone alerts issued by Israel's Home Front Command and air raid sirens warning of incoming ballistic missiles from Iran. On Thursday morning, Iran launched another missile barrage at Israel. While most were intercepted by Israel's defense systems, some hit buildings in the city of Holon and the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan, as well as the Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheba in southern Israel, leaving a trail of destruction in the surgical ward. Israeli media reported that the complex had been evacuated the previous day. Israel: Hospital in the south hit after Iran missile attack To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'A very strange and unsettling time' Alerts come at any time, and it can take some time for the all-clear. "Life must go on, and we've been through many other crises, but this is certainly a very strange and unsettling time," Lior told DW. When another alert was recently triggered in the early morning hours, one of the missiles evaded the defense systems and hit a building just a kilometer (0.6 miles) away. The shelter shook from the impact, leaving people gasping. "It's scary. We understand that the missiles are deadlier and that the situation feels different from previous conflicts. I wonder how long this can go on for. People are already on edge from not sleeping most nights," said Shira, who also declined to give her last name. Many in Israel are scared by the attacks from Iran, but they also said 'life must go on' Image: Tania Krämer/DW Netanyahu eyes his legacy after October 7 attacks For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran is the greatest threat to Israel's security. Iran insists that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, but Netanyahu believes it serves military purposes. Iran's leadership has vowed to annihilate Israel and its people, and Iran y also poses a threat through its ballistic missiles and its many proxies in the region. Netanyahu had threatened for years to attack Iran and reportedly came close it several times, but in the end, a larger conflict was always avoided. Instead, Israel fought a so-called "shadow war" against Iran through cyberattacks, rhetorical threats and against the many pro-Iranian proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen. But all this had changed last Friday June 13. "For many years [Netanyahu] chickened out. He was not really ready to take up steps that may end up with fatalities and destruction. So what happened now?" Akiva Eldar, a veteran Israeli journalist and commentator, told DW. Like other analysts, Eldar believes Netanyahu has to recover from "his "legacy" of the 7 October massacres. Some analysts believe Israeli Prime Minister Benjami Netanyahu wants to reestablish himself as a guarantor of Israeli security Image: Marc Israel Sellem/POOL/IMAGO Until 7 October, 2023, Netanyahu had presented himself as the ultimate safeguard of Israel's security. But this image was shattered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage in what has been described by many as the country's worst security failure. This also triggered the war in Gaza, where some 55,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israeli's war on Hamas began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Widespread Israeli support for attacks on Iran Netanyahu's domestic critics accuse him of not wanting to end the war in Gaza and of failing to agree to a new deal with the Hamas militant group that would secure the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for a ceasefire. But his far-right coalition partners threatened to leave the coalition and trigger early elections if he ended the war without toppling Hamas. In light of his corruption trial, critics also accuse Netanyahu of using the war as a means of maintaining his hold on power. Following last week's attacks on Iran, which were widely praised on Israeli television broadcasts, Netanyahu appears to have corrected some of his failures. There is broad support among Jewish Israelis for the strikes in Iran. Some 83% back Israel's military operations and express their confidence in Israel's security institutions and preparedness for a prolonged conflict. That's according to an opinion poll conducted this week by Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. A recent study shows broad support among Israelis for the attacks on Iran Image: Matan Golan/ZUMA Press Wire/IMAGO In contrast, the majority of Palestinian Israeli citizens said they opposed the strikes and favored diplomacy over military action. In Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, Ronny Arnon looked at the widespread damage in his neighborhood in disbelief. A missile breached the defense system and hit a building, killing one person. "I am in the minority here, so many people are supportive," Arnon told DW on Saturday at the start of the Israel-Iran conflict. "Our prime minister is called the magician, because he knows how to make a show, how we are winning and beat all our enemies. We started a fire we don't know how to end." A window of opportunity One of the factors that paved the way for the attack was Israel's systematic weakening of Iran's regional proxies over the past months, analysts say. During the last direct exchange of fire between Iran and Israel in October 2024, Israel claimed to have struck vital air defense systems, reducing Iran's defense capabilities and creating an opportunity to attack. In December, the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, another Iranian ally, was overthrown. Israeli military officials told DW this provided Israel the aerial freedom of movement it needed and paved the way for its air force to strike Iran. All eyes are now on US President Donald Trump, who is said to be considering whether the United States will engage alongside Israel in military action in Iran. Israel's attack on Iran: Dragging Trump into the conflict? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Although Trump had advised Netanyahu against resorting to military action, he has since changed his tune. This is despite the fact that his administration had pursued negotiations with Iran, mediated by Oman, regarding Irannuclear program. On Tuesday, Trump said that the US would not kill Ayatollah Khamenei "for now," but demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender." "[Netanyahu] feels comfortable that he can also drag Trump into this war," Eldar said. "And what will be remembered? Netanyahu will be the Israeli leader who saved us from another Holocaust," referring to the stated goals of Iran's leadership that Israel should be destroyed. Hostages and the war in Gaza But Israel also fighting on another front: The war in Gaza. In Tel Aviv's central Dizengoff Square on Wednesday, a small group of protesters held up large photos of the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Among them was the mother of Matan Angrest, a soldier who was taken hostage on October 7. "When the war in Iran began, we were really afraid our precious one, my son, will be forgotten there in Gaza, his situation is bad, his life is in danger," Anat Angrest told DW. "But a few hours later, I got a lot of messages from many Israelis that they felt that with the success in Iran, this will help to bring [the hostages] back." Protesters in Tev Aviv call for the release of Israelis held kidnapped by Hamas in Gaza Image: Tania Krämer/DW Angrest is critical of Netanyahu's government for not doing enough to bring her son and the other hostages home sooner. But she believes that a weakened Iran will lead to less support for Hamas and to the end of the war in Gaza. "We hope that the decision to act now is connected to Gaza; that it is part of a strategic plan and that the Israeli government will finally be able to end the war in Gaza," Angrest told DW. "Because when we take out the leaders of the terrorists, Iran, we can finish what we started in Gaza, and we won't be in danger anymore." Edited by: Sean Sinico
