The two leaders held a 50-minute conversation on Sunday amid growing tension between the two countries as Moscow tightens its military cooperation with Tehran, as the Iranian-backed Houthis kept up its threat against global shipping routes in the Red Sea in response to the Gaza war.

A Houthi military spokesperson said all ships sailing to Israeli ports are banned from the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea until Gaza receives all the food and medicine it needs.

The US has said that Iran is responsible for those attacks.

Netanyahu’s phone call with Putin

Netanyahu in his talk with Putin expressed his “displeasure” with Russia’s support of the United Nations Security Council for a ceasefire resolution that did not involve a condemnation of Hamas’ October 7 attack against southern Israel. Hamas killed over 1,200 people and seized some 250 hostages on that day.

The United States blocked the UNSC ceasefire call and the United Kingdom abstained while Russia, China, and France supported the ceasefire call. All five countries are permanent UNSC members and they all have veto power, but the US was the only one who used it.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Doha Forum virtually that while his country “strongly condemned” the October 7 attack, “we do not believe it’s not acceptable to use this event for collective punishment of millions of Palestinian people with indiscriminate shelling of the civilian quarters.”

Hamas has asserted that some 17,000 Palestinians have been killed in violence related to the Gaza war. Israel has said that some 7,000 Hamas terrorists are among those fatalities.

The UNSC resolution should have been stronger but even the one that vetoed was ‘better than nothing,” Lavrov said as he called for the international community to pressure Israel to halt the war.

“The Americans are very good at cancel culture. When they don’t like some part of history or events, they just cancel what preceded it,” Lavrov said. But it’s important to remember what the roots of the conflict were, as he blamed Israel for events going back to its 1948 War of Independence.

There is a reason that Palestinians in Gaza feel victimized, Lavrov said.

“The single most dangerous factor igniting extremism in the Middle East is the unsolved nature of the Palestinian state,” he said.

Lavrov did not respond when pressed as to whether he was hypocritical about his criticism of Israel given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “That’s up to you to judge,” he told the reporter who interviewed him from the Doha Forum stage.

The Kremlin said Russia was ready to give all possible assistance to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and de-escalate the conflict.

“Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the principle position of rejecting and condemning terrorism in all its forms,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

“At the same time, it is extremely important that countering terrorist threats does not lead to such grave consequences for the civilian population.”

At the Doha Forum Lavrov also spoke of his country’s relations with Hamas’ political branch in Qatar, noting that it had used those ties to help secure the release of the hostages. Qatar last month mediated a deal by which 105 captives were freed, including an Israeli-Russian citizen.

Israel must act with force

Netanyahu in his conversation with Putin said that “any country that would suffer a criminal terrorist attack such as Israel experienced would act with no less force than the one in which Israel operates,” the PMO said.

Netanyahu thanked Lavrov for Russia’s efforts to free the hostages, adding that “Israel would use all means, both political and military, to release all of our abductees.

Netanyahu also asked Russia to pressure the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the captives in Gaza.

Separately in a statement to his government on Sunday Netanyahu lauded the Biden administration for its support of Israel both in Washington and at the UN, including sending Israel needed military supplies for the war.

“An additional shipment of important ammunition for continuing the war will arrive today; in effect, it is already here.

“I thank President Biden, who I spoke with on Friday about both the US taking the correct and just stand in the UN Security Council and – of course – the material assistance that the US is providing to the IDF,” he said.

Netanyahu noted that he had also spoken over the weekend with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as with other international leaders.

“I told them that it is impossible to support the elimination of Hamas on the one hand, while on the other pressing us to end the war, which would prevent the elimination of Hamas.

“I think that in this fight, justice is on our side and unity as well. When we are united as a people and a state, no force can prevent us from doing the right thing,” he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

We mourn our brave soldiers who fell in the battle to defeat an enemy who were determined to destroy the State of Israel and brutally kill every Jew in their path. We feel the pain of the families, and we pray that the Almighty may comfort them among all the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. With God’s help, we shall smite the enemy and free the hostages.

We are now experiencing one of the worst wars since our War of Independence in 1948. If you think that I am stating the obvious, then please remember that for a young country like ours, to have to defend our existence once again is a major event that affects every citizen of Israel – in fact, every Jew in the world.

Regular listeners to my radio programs will recall the many occasions on which I stressed that we are living in a period that is equivalent to the mid 1930s in Germany, when Jews had to keep a very low profile for fear of being attacked and when groups of Nazis went hunting for Jews. I was not believed, but it happened again. Having lived in Germany during those years, I have experienced it all before – the daily increasing attacks on us and our property. To help to put an end to such antisemitic outrages, I fought the Nazis as a British soldier for four years, convinced that after the war, the slogan “Never again” had real meaning; but I soon realized that antisemitism is used as the panacea to take the people’s mind off all problems that occur around the world, economic or political. I am old enough to recognize the signs of things to come and was very often accused of exaggerating when I warned about growing physical antisemitism. I was told that the future for Jews in the world is secure and that Israel needs a strong Jewish Diaspora. Oh, really?

In the US, Jews constitute 2.4% of the population, yet as FBI Director Christopher Wray said recently, 60% of all religious-based hate crimes have targeted Jewish people.

Just look what happened at the airport in the Russian Republic of Dagestan; or in Paris, where Jewish homes were daubed with Stars of David, and their cars were vandalized. French Jews are removing the mezuzot from their front doors for fear of being identified. In Vienna, the Jewish cemetery was vandalized and set on fire. Did you see how many hundreds of thousands marched in Madrid, Paris, London, New York, and many smaller centers around the world, calling “Death to Jews”? It’s 1938 all over again. The world was silent then, and it is silent now.

The marches in support of Palestine and Hamas are driven by ignorance. What more evidence is needed than seeing rainbow flags being waved among those who shout “Free Palestine.’’ Homosexuality is a criminal offense in Muslim-controlled areas, so they effectively vote for their own destruction.

It is evident that when the international reporters are continually reinforcing the concept of occupied Palestinian land and stress the difficult conditions of the Gazan population, clearly brought about by their Hamas rulers, those reporters not only contribute to the ignorance of the demonstrating masses, but also show their own lack of knowledge.

The media bosses would do well to educate their young journalists about the history of the area to which they assign them, so that they do not infuse what should be factual reports with their own ignorant and biased views.

There is scant mention in their dispatches of the IDF’s humanitarian actions to supply incubators for the enemy’s bases or medications for their hospitals, all while engaged in heavy fighting.

We didn’t hear a word about the civilians from Gaza who followed the terrorists into the villages to loot, or that War Cabinet minister Benny Gantz disclosed that photographers working with AP, CNN, The New York Times, and Reuters were embedded with Hamas terrorists as they were butchering innocent Israelis on October 7. This is a sickening disclosure that requires the outrage and strongest condemnation of those media organizations and by the international community. It means, in fact, that they had advance notice of intended atrocities and should be judged accordingly.

The new buzzword used by our so-called friends is “proportionality.”

I suppose they mean that we should suffer the atrocities and respond as usual by sending a bomb or two to destroy a building already evacuated by Hamas. Well, this time they have miscalculated. Israel will no longer be the one who is sacrificed on the altar of humanitarian response.

Anyway, the term “proportionality” means exactly the opposite from how it’s being used. It means “in proportion to that which the enemy did.” It means ayin tachat ayin – an eye for an eye – respond equivalently to their actions. Notes were found on the terrorists that the IDF showed on CBS TV. They contained an order to kill Jews because they are a plague, or similar words, that can only be cured by cutting off their heads and tearing out their hearts and livers. “Go and fight,” the notes concluded. Therefore, every Hamas terrorist must and will be killed. We will not lower ourselves to their inhumane ways and gouge out their eyes or cut up their bodies. In fact, whereas the Arab terrorists mutilate Jewish bodies, the Israeli humanitarian organization ZAKA places even dead terrorists into body bags. Not what I would recommend.

Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas leader, was more aware of the truth than the international press and TV when he said in his video on YouTube:

“There is a movement in the West, angry in the street, protesting. Some call themselves pro-Palestine, some call themselves free Palestine, others shout end occupation. What occupation are you talking about? Do you mean in Israel and give Hamas what they want? Weaponry, territory, army, so that they can mess more with the global security? Are you totally blind, how can’t you see the things in common between the West and Israel? And how can’t you see the brutality and the violence of the Hamas movement. You have nothing to do with Palestine. You’re just inflecting hatred and emotional pain on the Jewish people as they mourn a modern-day Holocaust? Do you think this is how you help Palestine? There is no such a thing as Palestine. Palestine what? Yasser Arafat’s Palestine, PLO Palestine, PA Palestine, Hamas Palestine, Islamic Jihad Palestine? What Palestine are you protesting for? You have no idea what you are talking about. I have the right to be emotional because I speak on behalf of the children as a Palestinian, as a child of the land. I qualify to talk about the subject, but you have never been there, you did not live the pain of that land. So what are you protesting against or about? What is your problem? Let me be clear. This war will go the way we want it to go. Your opinion doesn’t matter; even if you were a majority. It’s not your business. You can protest against your politicians in London in Paris, wherever you want. That’s your business. But in the Middle East we deal with business [in] the Middle East style. We are going after Hamas leaders and kill all of them and nobody can get in the way. Those are criminals, those are terrorists with lots of blood on their hands/ Hamas prisoners in Israeli prisons must be executed. We are going to destroy Hamas infrastructure, and that’s the answer for their brutality. There is no way around it…… This act of Hamas did not only bring the wrath of Israel, against Gaza. It brought the wrath of God and you will see God in action.” 

We are accused of perpetrating a Palestinian genocide, yet their population has been increasing. Some 50% of the Gazan population are children under age 15. But for Hamas, dead Palestinian children are an integral part of their military strategy. So they inflate the figures.

To our fellow Jews in the Diaspora, I speak from the heart, based on my personal experience. Please learn from the past, and wake up to reality. The current wave of antisemitism will not pass but will get even more virulent. I can hear you are calling me a fearmonger. Well, just as events exonerated me for frequently comparing the present with the 1930s, so you will recall my words in time to come.

Although we are in a difficult war with Hamas, have no illusions – we shall destroy them totally. Israel will emerge from the ordeal even stronger than before.

Do you remember when for political reasons some reservists refused to report for duty? But when it matters, we are all as one.

Therefore, only in Israel will you be safe from the ever-increasing antisemitism, so don’t get caught by surprise. Consider your children’s future. Relocate to Israel, the home for all Jews.

Antisemitism will only get worse, all Jews must move to Israel

However, there are Jews who seem to believe that their children will have a better future among belligerent antisemites than in Israel.

Here is a report from the Jewish News, an influential UK newspaper:

“British born Richard Binstock, who moved to Israel in 2009, has come back to London with his Israeli wife and three children aged 7, 5 and 2. He felt forced to flee their home in Rishon Lezion south of Tel Aviv, and is now not sure if they will ever move back to the Jewish state. He said: ‘Leaving Israel was not an easy decision, but it was made easier when you have three young children living in the firing line. ….We don’t know how safe it is in Israel anymore.’”

It is true that Rishon Lezion on the Israeli coastal strip is the target of occasional rocket attacks, but to say that he lived “in the firing line” is a gross misrepresentation of the situation.

He neither lived near the Gaza border nor on Israel’s border with Lebanon.

How dare this family take their children back to London, where any identification of being Jewish can invite physical attack? Instead of abandoning the safe home that Israel gave him, he should see what all other Israeli citizen do for their country. It’s been reported that 600 liters of mothers’ milk have been collected. My neighbors in their eighties are repeatedly staying four days and nights in an army base to do whatever is required of them.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently paid another visit to Israel to influence the government’s conduct of the war. But unlike on the previous occasion when he expressed his government’s unqualified support, he pushed for a pause to promote negotiations to free the hostages. This is, in effect, a ceasefire, which benefits Hamas to regroup, rearm, and reconsider their strategy, following their heavy losses. By remarkable contrast, the newly installed Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson said, “We will provide Israel with [all] the aid it needs.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that Israel will not stop pursuing Hamas until they are totally defeated. It seems that the US is more concerned with its US citizens among the hostages than with the total defeat of the terror regime in Gaza. Blinken has already expressed his government’s plans to install the PA, the Palestinian Authority, to rule over the whole of Gaza.

That would be a serious slap in our face. Do they really think that Israel spilled the blood of our people and suffered such unspeakable atrocities, only to replace one terror regime with another?

Who do they think are the terrorists who carry out the shootings and stabbings in Israel? They are the supporters of the PA, who are encouraged by Mahmoud Abbas and his administration to kill our people by financially supporting the perpetrators and their families for life according to the number of Jews they kill.

So how should Gaza be administered after Hamas? First, the area should be incorporated as a sovereign part of the State of Israel. Then, based on my experience of Germany after World War II, for one year there must be military rule in the Gaza Strip, and all administrators and UNRWA personnel installed by Hamas must be arrested and their background checked before possible release. Then an Israeli control commission should be installed to bring the country back to a democratic system of government. Only when this has been accomplished should we consider installing a competent vetted civilian Arab administration to administer a part of the Strip that has been designated for the Arab population. The rest should be available for Jewish settlement. Under no circumstances can we allow the PA or any other entity to control Gaza.

There are many who will not agree with this suggestion. Foremost among them are the leaders of the Sovereignty Movement. If I understand them correctly, they have suggested to give Israeli citizenship to the Arabs of Gaza and immediately treat the area as another part of Israel. I fully agree with sovereignty, but citizenship? That would create a demographic disaster. Do they really want two million-plus Arabs to vote for Ahmed Tibi and his Ta’al party that advocates a one-state solution, the fastest way to lose our country? That would also place the responsibility of reconstructing Gaza on Israel. As we see in Judea and Samaria, they are quite skilled in erecting illegal multi-story blocks; now they will soon be able to do it legally in Gaza.

So let’s not fool ourselves to believe that all will be rosy when Hamas is defeated. Yes, we shall be rid of the rockets from that rats’ nest, but there are others who would like to see our precious homeland Judenfrei. We still have a large task ahead of us.

The newly confirmed US Ambassador to Israel, Jacob Lew, has presented his letters of credence to President Isaac Herzog. It was a low-key ceremony without honor guard, music, or red carpets. During the Obama administration, Lew was secretary of the Treasury and instrumental in delivering $400 million in cash to the Iranian regime on the day of the implementation of the ill-considered nuclear deal in 2015. “He was an ATM to the Iranian Ayatollah,” said Senator John Barrasso during Lew’s confirmation hearing. “He oversaw the ransom payment to Iran, the massive influx of cash that was ultimately a direct deposit into Iran’s terrorism account. Lew played a major role in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal that sanctioned s millions of dollars for Iran.”

Leading Senate Republicans have expressed concern over Biden’s choice for ambassador to Israel because of his Iran deal in 2015. In my view, his appointment as ambassador to Israel is like inviting a fox into the hen house.

A Jewish youth leader from the city of Malmo in Sweden has publicly stated that he is afraid for his life. Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city with a population of more than 345,000, houses more than 100,000 militant Muslims. Its Jewish community has declined amid frequent threats and attacks, mostly by Muslims, from 1,200 several years ago to an estimated 600 or fewer members today. It is estimated that by 2029, it will cease to exist.

Jews in the UK no longer feel safe, writes Manchester-born Rabbi Jonathan Lieberman from Netanya in The Jerusalem Post. He quotes Lord David Wolfson, a Jewish member of the House of Lords, who made a speech on the floor of the House, in which he stated that he was more fearful for the safety of his daughter on the London Underground wearing a Magen David than he was for his son currently wearing the uniform of the IDF in the battlefield.

The Daily Mail recently reported that a football match between a Jewish and a non-Jewish team of eight-year-olds had to be abandoned because some parents of the non-Jewish children refuse to let their kids play against Jews. Jews, not Israelis. Imagine if that had been white kids refusing to play against Blacks, what the reaction would have been.

The Golden Age for British Jews – in fact, I believe for Jews in the entire Diaspora – is over. Here in Israel, we are praying for the victory of the IDF and the total destruction of the Hamas-dominated rule in Gaza.  ■

The writer, who is almost 100 years old, was an eyewitness to Nazi book burning and Kristallnacht. He is the world’s oldest working journalist and radio host, with Guinness world records