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A report from Channel 12 describes a private White House meeting between President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that allegedly ended with the president feeling “disappointed and angry,” according to two senior American officials and another source who was briefed on the discussion.
The account claims that Trump personally brought up the question of normalization with Israel, pushing the crown prince to advance the process without delay. Bin Salman, the report says, countered that although he does not reject the idea outright, public sentiment across Saudi Arabia has sharply hardened against Israel since the war in Gaza, making such a move politically impossible right now.
Despite the respectful tone in the room, one senior U.S. official told the network that Trump left the meeting frustrated over the crown prince’s stance. That same official emphasized that “bin Salman did not say ‘never’ in the meeting regarding normalization with Israel. He left the door open to doing it in the future — but the issue of a two-state solution is a major problem” — a condition the Saudi leader articulated during his public remarks at the White House.
Channel 12 noted that the Saudi embassy in Washington declined to comment on the report. The White House, for its part, offered only a brief statement saying that “President Trump calls on all Middle Eastern countries to join the Abraham Accords.”
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump announced that he is sending his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of an intensified effort to finalize a comprehensive agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump revealed the move in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, saying that negotiations have reached a critical point, with “only a few remaining points of disagreement” separating the sides from a deal.
“In the hopes of finalizing this Peace Plan, I have directed my Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with President Putin in Moscow,” Trump wrote, adding that the peace framework — an expanded version of the original 28-Point Plan drafted by the United States — has been “fine-tuned, with additional input from both sides.”
According to Trump, parallel talks will take place with Ukrainian officials, with US Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll set to meet them as discussions continue “on all progress made.” Trump noted that senior members of his administration, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, will be fully briefed as the talks advance.
The president emphasized that he intends to personally meet with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “soon,” but added a clear condition: such a summit will take place “ONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or, in its final stages.”
Trump highlighted recent momentum, claiming that “over the past week,” his team has made “tremendous progress” toward ending the conflict. He also asserted — as he has repeatedly — that the war “would have NEVER started if I were President!!”
“As soon as that is accomplished,” Trump concluded, “let’s all hope that PEACE can be accomplished AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!”
{Matzav.com}
Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is attempting to rein in a rapidly escalating confrontation between Defense Minister Yisroel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, amid reports that the premier is weighing a dramatic shake-up at the top of the defense establishment.
Following an Israel Hayom report that Netanyahu is considering replacing Katz with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a brief statement urging the public to ignore politically motivated leaks.
“It is best not to listen to briefings to journalists by interested parties,” Netanyahu’s office said. “The prime minister is determined to solve the issues, and will solve them in the best way possible.”
The feud between Katz and Zamir has spilled into the open in recent days. The defense minister has ordered a re-examination of the military’s review of its internal investigations into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre — a move Zamir strongly opposes.
On Monday, Zamir published a pointed statement accusing Katz of harming the army’s readiness by imposing a 30-day freeze on senior promotions the chief of staff had already authorized.
The public exchange infuriated Netanyahu. According to the Kan public broadcaster, the prime minister instructed both men to halt the verbal attacks immediately. He was said to be especially displeased with Zamir’s lengthy press release targeting Katz.
The clash comes at a sensitive moment for the government, and Netanyahu is now working to defuse the confrontation before it destabilizes the coalition or undermines military cohesion.
{Matzav.com}
In a notable shift announced during Tuesday’s session of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, a Defense Ministry representative revealed that the ministry is advancing a military directive to nullify the longstanding prohibition on Jews buying land in Judea and Samaria. This directive, they noted, is being pushed in tandem with the parliamentary process and may take effect even before the bill completes its passage through the Knesset.
The announcement came as MK Boaz Bismuth presided over a meeting in which the committee voted to send legislation to its first reading. The measure seeks to do away with the 1953 “Jordanian Law,” a regulation that has, until now, barred Jews from directly obtaining land rights in Judea and Samaria.
Lawmakers explained that the new legislation is crafted to permit any Israeli citizen, as well as any individual eligible under the Law of Return, to acquire property in these areas without needing to rely on complicated loopholes or alternative frameworks.
For many years, those wishing to purchase land had to maneuver through an indirect structure — often establishing a locally registered company — solely to circumvent the prohibition. The process was notoriously cumbersome and slowed or prevented many transactions.
Following the committee’s debate, the leaders of the Land of Israel Lobby welcomed the developments, saying: “Today we took a significant step towards correcting a historical and racist injustice. It is unacceptable that in the Land of Israel there should be a restriction on Jews acquiring land simply because of their Jewish identity. We expect the law to pass as soon as possible in the plenary so that we can move forward with the second and third readings and end the racist discrimination against Jews.”
{Matzav.com}
Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara sent a firm letter to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Tuesday evening, urging him to immediately move forward with enforcement actions targeting young chareidi men who are not reporting for military service, in accordance with a recent ruling by the High Court of Justice.
Baharav-Miara emphasized that the court’s decision—issued unanimously by a panel of five justices—determined that the government is failing to fulfill its obligation to ensure equal military conscription. She noted that the ruling requires the government to formulate effective, proportionate, and uniform enforcement policies that would supplement the military’s existing powers.
The attorney general pointed out that the High Court gave the government 45 days to finalize an enforcement framework and made it clear that benefits connected directly or indirectly to avoiding the draft should no longer be allowed.
Given that timeline, Baharav-Miara wrote that the government must now urgently begin developing a full enforcement plan that applies across all sectors. She stated that her office, working together with relevant professional ministries, has already prepared material and proposals for immediate civil enforcement tools that do not require legislation.
She offered to brief the prime minister or whoever he designates, adding that her office is fully prepared to assist in completing the required work.
{Matzav.com}
Senator John Fetterman used sharp language to call out Iran’s leadership after new reporting exposed the depth of the nation’s drought disaster. Responding to a Washington Post examination of Iran’s chronic water failures, he posted on X, “Iran spent billions to build a nuclear bomb and the proxies to destroy Israel instead of a water infrastructure.”
The senator followed with an even more direct rebuke, writing, “Iran or Gaza: stop attacking Israel and rebuild your own failed nations. Israel isn’t going anywhere.” His comments came as warnings mount that Tehran’s taps could run dry within weeks, with the capital already strained by a half-decade of drought.
The Washington Post report that triggered Fetterman’s reaction outlined how years of reckless water-use policies — particularly draining reserves for agricultural overproduction — have left the country with dangerously diminished supplies of clean water.
Analysts have long pointed out, and Fetterman echoed, that the Iranian regime has poured tens of billions into its nuclear ambitions and its network of terror groups throughout the region. Those funds, critics argue, could instead have been invested in desalination facilities and other lifesaving water-infrastructure projects needed to keep Iran’s population afloat.
{Matzav.com}
United Arab List leader MK Mansour Abbas pushed back forcefully this week when asked why he has not explicitly demanded the elimination of Hamas. Speaking on Channel 12, he responded pointedly, saying, “Maybe I don’t want them to assassinate me?” He reminded viewers that “since October 7th, I was interviewed a lot, I condemned [the attack], and I expressed sorrow and pain,” adding that he answers questions “as much as possible, what I can do, and what I can’t.”
During the broadcast, Abbas also addressed recent statements from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who implied that he intends to take steps toward banning Ra’am altogether. Abbas said the campaign against his party has been unrelenting, explaining, “I haven’t calmed down since yesterday. Since we were part of the previous coalition, there has been a political delegitimization campaign against us. There has also been incitement, accusations that we support terrorism, and they say that we are affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The goal is to get us out of politics. Despite its expected loss in the next election, Netanyahu will refrain from forming an alternative government.”
He went on to describe what he sees as a sequence of actions that could threaten his party’s political future. “After the US decides to classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, and affiliate us with them, disqualifying the Islamic Movement, the third step is to disqualify Ra’am from running in the next election,” he warned.
Abbas also criticized opposition leaders, arguing that they never accepted him or his faction as genuine partners. Reflecting on his entry into the previous coalition, he noted, “They allowed me to join the coalition in the ‘Government of Change’ (the previous government) only after I went to Netanyahu and he said that I was a legitimate partner. Only then did Lapid reach out to me, and we began to advance the formation of the government. They never gave me legitimacy, they never spoke with sympathy, love, or understanding.” He concluded with a sharp rebuke, saying he wants attention placed on the real challenges in Arab communities: “I don’t want them to talk about Ra’am, but rather about the problems in the Arab sector. Our blood spills in the street daily. Let them form a government without Ra’am.”
{Matzav.com}
