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Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has tapped Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to attend next Thursday’s inaugural Board of Peace gathering in Washington, DC, instead of going himself, according to a diplomatic source who spoke with The Times of Israel.

Netanyahu traveled to Washington last week for talks with President Donald Trump during a period of heightened strain between the United States and Iran. He has chosen not to make another trip for AIPAC’s annual conference or for the Board of Peace session, where the Trump administration is seeking to secure financial commitments for the new international framework.

Sa’ar is expected to take part in the February 19 meeting alongside senior representatives from Argentina, Cambodia, Hungary, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam. Bahrain’s King Hamad Al Khalifa is also expected to be present, an Arab diplomat said. While all 28 member states on the panel plan to send delegates, each government is determining the rank of the official it will dispatch, the diplomat added.

The Board of Peace has been established to supervise Gaza’s move toward a postwar administration that excludes Hamas, in line with Washington’s 20-point blueprint for the territory.

Still, Saudi Arabia has signaled it is not yet ready to pledge reconstruction funds. Speaking Saturday, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said Riyadh needs greater certainty about Israel’s eventual military pullout from Gaza and about Hamas laying down its arms before committing financial support. He suggested the upcoming meeting could provide further clarification.

When asked at the Munich Security Conference whether Saudi Arabia would finance rebuilding efforts in Gaza and under what conditions, Prince Faisal said his country is “fully supportive” of the Board of Peace and Trump’s 20-point plan. However, he stressed that, “We need to see a real end to the conflict.”

“That means we need to have clarity on when Israel is going to withdraw, when Hamas is going to disarm, when everyone is going to comply with all 20 points of the 20-point plan,” Prince Faisal said.

“The US is working on that. There’s a meeting on the 19th that will give us a lot more clarity,” he noted, referring to the Board of Peace fundraising meeting.

According to a US official and two Arab diplomats who spoke earlier this week with The Times of Israel, Washington hopes to unveil $1.25 billion in contributions from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. The New York Times has reported that the United States intends to match that figure with its own pledge.

Prince Faisal said Saudi Arabia would be better positioned after the meeting to assess “where we can best contribute toward — not just reconstruction, but also that the people of Gaza and Palestine can have a better future.”

The American proposal for Gaza was first presented in September and was conceived as the intended outcome of the ceasefire and hostage-release agreement Washington brokered between Israel and Hamas, following two years of fighting that began with the Hamas-led assault on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Although the US-mediated truce moved into its second stage last month, clashes have persisted in Gaza, with Israel and Hamas each accusing the other of violations.

Under the terms of the second phase, Israeli troops are to withdraw in stages from the Strip while Hamas dismantles its armed capabilities. An international stabilization force would then be deployed to maintain order.

Hamas, however, has consistently declared that disarmament is a red line, even as it has hinted it might consider transferring its weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority.

New York’s sole publicly financed law school is under fire after a campus organization announced it will host a program depicting Hamas’s sprawling tunnel system in Gaza as an example of “decolonial land use.”

The program, titled “The Underground in Gaza,” is set for March 4 in a community space at the City University of New York School of Law in Manhattan. It is being arranged by the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, part of a nationwide network that has been highly visible in anti-Israel demonstrations since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.

Flyers promoting the event state that Columbia University anthropologist Hadeel Assali will present a lecture exploring “the history and usage of tunnels in Gaza, focusing on land use and social organization in resistance to colonization.” The materials characterize the subterranean system constructed by Hamas as a model of “decolonial” activity.

To critics, that framing amounts to an attempt to recast a terror apparatus in academic language. They argue that describing the tunnel network in such terms obscures its function in facilitating deadly attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Hamas, designated by the United States as a terrorist organization, spent more than a decade building an intricate maze of passageways beneath heavily populated sections of Gaza. Israeli officials have repeatedly said the effort consumed massive financial resources and construction supplies that could have gone toward civilian infrastructure. Rather than investing in schools, hospitals, or protective shelters for residents, they contend, Hamas directed materials into underground routes used to transport operatives, conceal weaponry, and coordinate assaults.

The tunnel system played a pivotal role in Hamas’s October 2023 assault on Israel, when terrorists killed approximately 1,200 people and kidnapped hundreds. Captives were taken into Gaza and confined below ground. Israeli officials and former hostages have recounted brutal conditions in the tunnels, including starvation, torture, and sexual abuse. Some abductees were killed while held underground.

Opponents of the upcoming event say labeling the network as “resistance” disregards the suffering it enabled and overlooks Hamas’s choice to position military infrastructure within civilian areas. Entrances and command hubs were located beneath residential buildings, mosques, and schools, intensifying combat in Gaza as Israeli forces worked to dismantle the system while seeking to limit harm to noncombatants. Gaza’s civilians were not allowed to use the tunnels as bomb shelters.

Assali, a faculty member at Columbia’s Center for Science and Society who teaches a course titled “Science Underground,” has addressed the tunnel network in scholarly and public discussions. In 2024, she referred to the system as “a space that evades colonial capture,” and described tunnels as “an essential form of resistance in Palestine,” though she did not specifically mention Hamas in those remarks.

Her scholarship draws on the “settler-colonial” framework, an approach that has gained traction in certain academic circles. Supporters employ it to portray Israel as an imposed foreign entity. Detractors counter that the model dismisses the Jewish people’s ancient ties to the land and fails to account for the many Jewish Israelis whose families fled oppression in Europe and across the Middle East.

The dispute has renewed scrutiny of the broader atmosphere at CUNY Law, which in recent years has faced criticism over provocative commencement speeches and legal activism linked to strongly anti-Zionist causes. Many of the school’s graduates go on to serve in public-sector legal positions throughout New York City, including as public defenders and attorneys for nonprofit organizations.

A spokesperson for the law school said it is “committed to open dialogue, academic freedom, and free speech,” adding that events organized by student groups do not represent the official positions of the school or the wider CUNY system.

Israel’s consul general in New York, Ofir Akunis, has urged administrators to call off the program, stating that portraying Hamas’s tunnel network as legitimate resistance “constitutes the normalization of terror and crosses a moral red line.”

For numerous Jewish students and advocates for Israel, the controversy reflects a deeper worry that, in some academic settings, the rhetoric of decolonization is being deployed to soften or rationalize violence against the Jewish state. They maintain that serious debate over Israeli government policy is both valid and necessary, but argue that rebranding a terrorist organization’s underground combat infrastructure as creative land use shifts from criticism into a distortion of moral reality.

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Former President Barack Obama sharply criticized the current political climate in the United States, describing it as a “clown show” during an interview released today. In his remarks, Obama suggested that many Americans are disturbed by the tone and rhetoric emerging from the White House during President Trump’s second term.

Obama made the comments while discussing a controversial video that appeared earlier this month on President Trump’s Truth Social account. The video briefly portrayed Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, as apes, drawing widespread criticism.

Despite bipartisan condemnation, Trump has not issued an apology for the post. The White House instead attributed the upload to a staff member who had “erroneously” shared it, and the video was later removed.

“I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,” Obama told host Brian Tyler Cohen on his “No Lie” podcast.

Cohen had asked Obama how the country could recover from what he characterized as the “de-evolution of discourse,” referencing both the video and the administration’s description of two U.S. citizens killed during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis as “domestic terrorists.”

In response, Obama argued that while inflammatory rhetoric may attract attention and serve as a “distraction,” most Americans “still believe in decency, courtesy, [and] kindness.”

“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening on social media and on television,” he said.

“And what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right? So that’s been lost,” he continued.

Obama also rejected the idea that Republicans are simply seizing whatever power they desire, asserting instead that the GOP “haven’t actually codified or institutionalized anything” beyond what he referred to as the One Big, Beautiful Bill since taking back control of Congress.

“They have poured a huge amount of money into ICE and their immigration agenda, and they’ve cut taxes for really wealthy people, and now they’re trying to unravel a bunch of rules and norms and laws that are already in place; that’s an easier job,” he said. “I say that because we should accept the responsibility and the challenge that our job is going to be a little bit harder.”

While acknowledging that Democrats have at times hesitated to dismantle institutional barriers that slow legislative progress, Obama warned his party against adopting tactics similar to those of their political opponents.

“I don’t want us to simply duplicate the behavior on the other side. I don’t want us to have a slash and burn strategy where we don’t care about rule of law, we don’t care about some of the guardrails around our democracy. We start lying and having no regard for the truth, the way the other side seems to be comfortable with right now, because if that’s how we fight, then we lose what we’re fighting for,” Obama said.

Addressing frustration among some voters who believe Democrats are not forceful enough in pushing back against Trump, Obama suggested that criticism of his party can sometimes be excessive.

“Sometimes I think we’re tough on Democrats,” he said, before contrasting his own approach in office with that of the current administration.

“When I was President of the United States, I suppose I could have simply unilaterally ordered the military to go into some red state and harass and intimidate a governor there or cut off funding for states that didn’t vote for me, I could have exercised that prerogative, but that is contrary to how I think our democracy is supposed to work, and I think we shouldn’t get discouraged by the fact that we have a tougher job,” he said.

{Matzav.com}

Four astronauts from the U.S., France, and Russia arrived at the ISS on Saturday for an eight- to nine-month mission, returning the station to full capacity after a January medical emergency cut a previous crew’s stay short.

SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, sending 24 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit.

The IDF carried out airstrikes a short time ago in the Khan Yunis area in Gaza.

A teenager jumped into action after seeing a child fall through the ice in Queens on Friday afternoon.

❄️ TRI-STATE AREA: A light snowfall is possible Sunday night into Monday, with minor accumulations expected. Forecast totals generally range from 1 to 2 inches across the New York City metro area, northeast New Jersey, and Long Island. Areas north of the city are expected to see lighter amounts.

Washington police say a suspected drunk driver was brought to a stop with a grappler after fleeing a traffic stop and driving the wrong way.

Tens of thousands of pro-Monarchist Iranians gathered in Munich, Germany, to protest the Iranian regime.

A group of terrorists emerged from a tunnel in northern Gaza and approached Israeli troops on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line earlier this evening, according to the military. Soldiers monitoring surveillance cameras spotted the terrorists exiting an underground site and entering a damaged building near forces from the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade stationed […]

SOUTHCOM announced it carried out a lethal strike on Friday against a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean, killing three narco-terrorists.

Two Palestinians suspected of attempting to infiltrate the settlement of Karmei Tzur have been captured. The suspects were spotted approaching the community that evening, prompting local security teams and IDF troops to launch a search to prevent a potential breach. According to the IDF, forces from the Etzion Regional Brigade, the Oketz canine unit, and […]

Colombian Aerospace and Naval Forces destroyed a clandestine shipyard near Bahía Hondita in Uribia, La Guajira, where semi-submersibles for the Clan del Golfo were being built. Authorities said the vessels were intended for cocaine trafficking to Europe.

A new IDF General Staff order designed to regulate the integration of chareidi soldiers has been presented to the broader public as a dramatic breakthrough. Supporters claimed the detailed provisions would ensure that a chareidi recruit entering the army would remain chareidi upon discharge, potentially encouraging large numbers of young men from the chareidi community to enlist. However, beneath the celebratory headlines, serious concerns are emerging that the reality on the ground may be far more complicated. In a report published in the newspaper Besheva, several experts outlined what they describe as a significant gap between the promises and the practical implications of the order.

Legal scholar Professor Talia Einhorn reviewed the multi-section directive and identified what she says are loopholes embedded within the language that could allow violations of the seemingly strict conditions outlined in the document. In a position paper published in cooperation with the Torat Lechima organization, Professor Einhorn first points to what she considers the most problematic clause.

Section 3 of the order states: “This order supplements the provisions of the Joint Service Order regarding the service of members of the chareidi public in the IDF. Commanders shall implement the provisions of this order and the instructions issued pursuant to it, while preserving their dignity and in a manner that enables the observance of the faith of all those serving.”

The Joint Service Order, to which the new directive is effectively subordinate, was originally enacted to address the needs of religious soldiers, particularly concerning separation between men and women. However, under that framework, numerous testimonies have accumulated over the years from soldiers in the religious Zionist community who reported being required to serve alongside female soldiers in field operations, guard duty, and other settings—situations they say directly conflicted with halachic standards.

The next clause details the process for acceptance and placement into designated tracks for chareidi recruits: “A candidate for service or a soldier may request to serve in one of the designated service tracks.”

Here, too, Einhorn identifies what she views as a significant vulnerability. According to her, the phrase “may request to serve” leaves ultimate discretion in the hands of the army, allowing it to assign a chareidi recruit to a non-designated framework if it chooses. “The expression ‘may request to serve’ leaves the army with the authority to send him to a non-designated service track. In my view, it should state: A candidate or soldier is entitled to serve in one of the designated service tracks if he meets the criteria,” she argues.

Rabbi Aviad Gadot, chairman of the Torat Lechima organization, also addressed the issue in the Besheva report, describing the order as a profound failure. In his view, the only factor that could draw chareidim into the army is trust—and that trust, he says, is currently at a low point.

“The trust of the chareidim in the IDF is in very poor condition. All the promises that were made to rabbis and chareidi leadership in the past were violated. The order does not restore trust, because it is effectively the Joint Service Order. It becomes clear from it that the IDF leadership is not prepared to give up the progressive culture in favor of Jewish culture. They do not want to give up radical feminism, and when there is a clash – that value prevails, as the order states. Therefore the order does not contribute to chareidi enlistment; perhaps it does the opposite.”

Rabbi Gadot described the development as “a waste and a historic missed opportunity.” He expressed hope that the chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, who is overseeing discussions on the draft law’s wording, will introduce necessary amendments to both the order and the legislation itself. According to Gadot, Knesset member Boaz Bismuth understands the central place of Torah within the Jewish people and recognizes what he calls the manipulations being carried out around the draft law.

“First of all, he must demand that the General Staff order for chareidim not be subordinate to the Joint Service Order. Because that is like saying that the order regarding kashrut would be subordinate to the order regarding non-kosher food, and so on. The gender agenda is the original sin. The Chief of Staff is introducing into the IDF agendas of far-left NGOs; to this day the IDF has not freed itself from the agenda led by the Gender Affairs Advisor.”

According to Rabbi Gadot, the current version of the order is the product of lobbying efforts by various organizations during deliberations in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, where demands were raised that women be allowed access to all areas of the military.

“Radical feminists said this in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” Gadot said, “and Eyal Zamir comes from those same circles and is now continuing what he did as Deputy Chief of Staff.”

Although the directive asserts that these policies will not affect chareidi soldiers, Gadot argues that the influence of the feminist provisions will ultimately reach even those serving in protected tracks. “According to this order, there could be a chareidi officer who completed a track in the Hasmonean framework, went through an officers’ course in a designated program, but once he finishes he can be assigned as a commander in a mixed battalion. Within the chareidi frameworks there will not be progressive public displays, but in the larger army the chareidi soldier will encounter it in various contexts.”

{Matzav.com}

AOC: “We are shocked at the President’s destruction of our relationship with our European allies, his threatening over Greenland is not a joke, it is not funny. It threatens the very trust of relationships that allow peace to exist.”

Sec. Rubio in Munich: “We, in America, have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline.”