At a meeting held Sunday in Yerushalayim, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu received U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham at the Prime Minister’s Office, where the two discussed regional security and the path ahead.
During the conversation, the senator offered his assessment of the situation, warning about militant activity and setting his goals for the coming year. “Bibi, you look great. Happy Hanukkah to everyone! I came here with one goal – we accomplished a lot in 2025. I want to make sure that 2026 is a year of peace and victory over the bad guys. My impression is that Hamas is not disarming, but rearming. I have the impression that they are trying to consolidate their control over Gaza, not relinquish it. And I also have the impression that Hezbollah is trying to produce more weapons. That is an unacceptable outcome.”
Netanyahu responded by agreeing with Graham’s evaluation, adding a touch of humor to his reply. “You are right on both counts. You are usually right. I could even say always, but one has to leave a little room for error.”
Earlier in the meeting, the prime minister warmly welcomed the visiting lawmaker and emphasized their longstanding relationship. “I am delighted to welcome Senator Lindsey, a great friend of Israel and a very dear friend of mine, here. We have no better friends than him. Welcome,” Netanyahu said.
{Matzav.com}U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that disarming Hamas is “absolutely going to happen” and that he expects to see other countries in the region join the Abraham Accords next year.
He spoke as U.S. President’s Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan is expected to move to its second stage next month following the president’s anticipated meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida after Christmas.
“The challenge of getting Hamas disarmed is not a goal that has been abandoned,” Huckabee told JNS in an exclusive interview in his Jerusalem embassy office. “The president has been very clear: They have to disarm and recognize they have no future in Gaza.”
The U.S. envoy noted that despite Hamas’s very public refusal to disarm—calling into question how the ceasefire can move forward—the Trump administration backed by the international community is determined to see it happen.
“Am I concerned? Of course. … But do I feel it won’t happen? No. In part because of the consistency of the president’s message and demand, and in part because all the Arab partners are holding firm to that same commitment on the peace plan,” Huckabee said. “No one has backed off on that. Everyone still agrees to that.”
The ambassador continued, “It is absolutely going to happen. President Trump said they can do it the easy way or the hard way. Iran didn’t take him seriously. He told them the same thing: the easy way or the hard way. They took the hard way.”Huckabee noted that the Oct. 10 ceasefire has held despite intermittent skirmishes in Gaza, with recruitment underway of countries to take part in an international security force for the Strip, and aid supplies reaching the enclave daily.
“We are definitely in a much better place than we were two months ago,” he said, heaping praise on Trump for forging the ceasefire agreement. “It’s the first time in two years that Israelis can go to bed without anticipation of missiles.”
In the interview, Huckabee acknowledged that Israel has “somewhat of a veto role” regarding the participation of Turkey in the future international security force, which the U.S. favors, but said that some role could be found for the Anatolian nation, in comments that suggested that a compromise was likely.
“We recognize Israel has a right to say—somewhat of a veto power on certain participation,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that the Turks can’t have some role.”
Steve Witkoff, the United States envoy to the Middle East, held talks in Miami later on Friday with senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey as efforts continue to advance to phase 2 of the Gaza ceasefire.
Expansion of the Abraham Accords
The ambassador also told JNS that he expects additional countries to make peace with Israel next year as part of the Abraham Accords.
“I’m just an ambassador not a prophet …, but based on everything I’m seeing and being a part of, I do anticipate that we will see the expansion of the Abraham Accords [in 2026],” Huckabee said. “I would not be overwhelmingly surprised if you didn’t see something that would happen very close to Israel, in Syria, Lebanon.”
The ambassador said that the regional situation was “fragile to be sure,” but that neighboring countries increasingly understand that there is far more to be gained from normalization with Israel than to be at odds with the Jewish state.
“President Trump is in a very good place to help deliver that,” Huckabee said. “I don’t think anybody else could do that. He has an uncanny ability to do things that everybody said cannot be done.”
‘Journalism is for the most part dead’
The U.S. envoy said in the interview that one of his greatest frustrations in an otherwise “dream job” was to follow the hostile media coverage of Israel during the war.
“There is an enormous level of evil in the world and a lot of it gets printed on the pages of what once were respected newspapers and sites,” Huckabee said. “I think for the most part journalism is dead. What we have now is an international opinion market.”
He cited false claims, including from U.S. allies such as the U.K, that Israel deliberately prolonged the war and was starving Gazans as canards that “gullible people soaked in like poisons.
“It has been so frustrating to watch this from a front-row seat right in the middle of this,” he said.
Huckabee also blasted continuous anonymous sources and leaks—frequently highlighted in the Israeli press—reporting tensions between the governments of Israel and the U.S., saying such reporting is purely agenda-driven.
“If there was some major dustup between the U.S. or President Trump and the prime minister of Israel, don’t you think his representative in Israel would be informed of that?” Huckabee asked. “It’s absurd. Do you really think I am sitting here in the U.S. embassy … and something of that magnitude is going on and I am oblivious to it?”
At home in Israel
The 70-year-old Baptist pastor, former Arkansas governor, television host and two-time Republican presidential candidate—who bills himself as a Maccabee—visited Israel scores of times and led thousands of participants on solidarity tours since his first trip to Israel right out of high school, just before the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
From his Jerusalem embassy perch, Huckabee lived through the multi-front war for six months after taking up his position in April (“I haven’t seen this much war since the Baptist Convention in 1982”) and expressed relief and appreciation that the days of scurrying to the bomb shelter at night have passed (“my wife no longer has her ‘missile clothes’ at the foot of the bed”), even as he voiced concern that the scourge of violence against Jews around the globe continues unabated.
He blasted the atmosphere of “irrational Jew-hatred” that has spurred a blast of antisemitism, including within his own party.
“I am constantly saying to my fellow Christians that every enemy that Israel has and the Jewish people has is ultimately the enemy of the Christian people and of America because our values systems are based on the same platform,” he said. “There is a Judeo-Christian underpinning not only to Israel but to the U.S. Without the heritage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob there would be no Israel but there would also be no America.”
Huckabee said that he feels right at home in Israel in “the assignment of a lifetime.
“We went back home to Arkansas for the first time in November for five-and-a-half days, and it was great to see the grandkids, friends and neighbors,” he said. “And as we were packing up getting ready to come back, my wife and I looked and each other and said it is time to come back home.”
{Matzav.com}
Israeli Finance Minister and Religious Zionism party chairman Bezalel Smotrich weighed in on the storm surrounding Israel’s draft legislation and the status of yeshiva students, declaring that he intends to lead a process that will result in the enlistment of thousands of chareidim into the Israel Defense Forces.
Speaking in an interview with Kikar HaShabbat, Smotrich said: “We will enlist thousands upon thousands of chareidim. We will make a historic change in which chareidi society takes all of its values and charges into the State of Israel. Unlike others, I am not looking for a campaign, not looking for populism, and not looking to turn them into enemies. I want them leading—in the army, in the economy, and in public service in Israel.”
According to Smotrich, many within the chareidi community want to integrate and be part of the broader society. “I believe there are enough chareidim who want to integrate,” he said. “I am determined to bring about a dramatic change in chareidi responsibility for the State of Israel.”
He added that he wants to see chareidim playing a central role in Israel’s economy and contributing their abilities. “I am working on several amendments,” Smotrich said, declining to provide details. “I’m intentionally not saying what they are, because I want to succeed.”
In a previous interview in the studio of Kikar HaShabbat, Smotrich addressed the draft law more broadly, stating: “Only a law that leads to a real process in which the chareidi public participates in the great mitzvah of defending the security of Israel and the eternity of Israel can work. This has to happen. The situation cannot remain as it is.”
He continued: “Anyone who thinks I will be a rubber stamp doesn’t understand what he’s talking about. In my worldview, there is no exemption from this mitzvah. Let’s see what kind of law is brought. I understand that this is a process and I am prepared for that patience—but I demand that it be real and fast.”
Smotrich said he is demanding “a genuine process that will enlist thousands of chareidim every year into the IDF, including combat service and other roles where they are needed.”
He also noted that he has conveyed his position directly to Prime Minister Netanyahu. “I tell the prime minister all the time that the chareidim will support it,” Smotrich said. “We will not be a ‘Shabbos goy,’ and I demand that this law be real.”
{Matzav.com}
Rav Dovid Schmidel, chairman of Asra Kadisha and head of the Tiveria–Kommemiyus Kollel, is hospitalized in serious condition and has been sedated and placed on a ventilator.
Rav Schmidel is receiving care at Maayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak. He was admitted last week after developing pneumonia. Early Shabbos morning, he fell while in the hospital, after which doctors decided to sedate and intubate him.
Last night, in Bnei Brak, a tefillah gathering was held at the large beis midrash on Chiddushei HaRim Street. In Yerushalayim, tefillos were held at Beis HaKnesses Ohel Sarah on Nachum Blacher Street and at the kever of Shimon HaTzaddik.
All are asked to daven for Dovid Michoel ben Miriam.
{Matzav.com}
U.S. peace envoy Steve Witkoff is pressing ahead with efforts to move the Gaza process into its next stage, urging swift implementation of Phase 2 of President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan, including the creation of a new governing force intended to prevent Hamas from renewing attacks.
In a detailed statement published on X on Shabbos afternoon, Witkoff outlined recent diplomatic activity and the objectives now being pursued by Washington and its regional partners. He wrote that senior representatives from the United States, Egypt, Qatar, and Türkiye convened in Miami to evaluate progress and lay the groundwork for the next phase of the ceasefire framework.
“We, the representatives of the United States of America, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the State of Qatar, and the Republic of Türkiye, met yesterday in Miami to review the implementation of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire and to advance preparations for the second phase.”
According to Witkoff, the initial phase has already produced tangible results on the ground, including humanitarian gains and reduced violence.
“The first phase has yielded progress, including expanded humanitarian assistance, the return of hostage bodies, partial force withdrawals, and a reduction in hostilities.”
Turning to the next stage, Witkoff said the discussions focused on establishing a governing structure inside Gaza capable of enforcing order and protecting civilians once the transition begins.
“In our discussions regarding phase two, we emphasized enabling a governing body in Gaza under a unified Gazan authority to protect civilians and maintain public order.”
He added that broader regional cooperation was also addressed as a critical component of long-term stability and recovery for Gaza.
“We also discussed regional integration measures, including trade facilitation, infrastructure development, and cooperation on energy, water, and other shared resources, as essential to Gaza’s recovery, regional stability, and long-term prosperity.”
Central to the next phase, Witkoff said, is the rapid establishment of a new transitional body tasked with overseeing civilian administration, security, and rebuilding efforts.
“In this context, we expressed our support for the near-term establishment and operationalization of the Board of Peace as a transitional administration for the civilian, security, and reconstruction tracks of the reconstruction. We reviewed next steps in the phased implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza, underscoring the importance of sequencing, coordination, and effective monitoring in partnership with local Gazan institutions and international partners.”
Witkoff concluded by stressing that the parties remain committed to the full scope of President Trump’s plan and warned that cooperation and restraint will be essential as the process moves forward.
“We reaffirm our full commitment to the entirety of the President’s 20-point peace plan and call on all parties to uphold their obligations, exercise restraint, and cooperate with monitoring arrangements. Further consultations will continue in the coming weeks to advance the implementation of phase two.”
{Matzav.com}
Rav Dovid Batzri, one of the senior mekubalim and rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat HaShalom in Yerushalayim, is hospitalized in serious condition at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, where he is sedated and on a ventilator.
Rav Batzri was admitted to the hospital several days ago, and while there had been some improvement in his condition last week, his health deteriorated sharply late Thursday night. Doctors were forced to sedate and intubate him, and he is now in need of extensive rachamei Shomayim.
Over Shabbos, several of Rav Batzri’s grandchildren remained at his side. On Motzaei Shabbos, his son, Rav Yitzchak Batzri, released a message from the entrance to the intensive care unit, making an emotional appeal to the public. Rav Yitzchak implored Klal Yisroel to daven for his father, stressing repeatedly that his condition is grave and that he urgently needs the tefillos of the Jewish people.
All are asked to daven for Dovid Shalom ben Victoria.
{Matzav.com}
